poet, interviewer, musician, traveler
The Final Cut was my favorite Pink Floyd album in high school. This, though, was THE Pink Floyd album of my high school years. Released my freshman year, and followed by a massive tour that led to a live album and concert video, the songs on A Momentary Lapse Of Reason were omnipresent when I was a teenager. This album came into the store over the weekend and I’m hearing it for the first time in more than 20 years this morning. It kicks ass.
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The Band is one of my favorite bands. Even so, I’d never heard this album all the way through until tonight. I’d heard live versions of some of its songs — “Ophelia” and “It Makes No Difference” are on the The Last Waltz — but never the original record. On first listen, the production is a little keyboard-heavy in some spots, but overall it’s a solid record with lots of great singing.
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I never used to like Bruce Springsteen. When I was a kid, he represented the kind of mindless jock rock that my friends and I hated. This was, of course, wrong, but it took me years to figure that out. I married a Springsteen superfan, but even then I didn’t come around. It wasn’t till 9/11 and his album The Rising that I reconsidered. I thought that album was perfect and necessary, and so I started to give some time to his other albums. This collection is huge — 10 LPs of live music. The guy who owns the record store here says he always finds them in great condition because most people bought this collection and didn’t play it. My advice? If you own one, play it. And if you don’t…
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I first learned about Fishbone when I saw them in concert in 1991, opening for Primus. Nothing can really prepare you for your first Fishbone experience. I didn’t know what to make of them. Years later I started to spend time with the music, and this album quickly rose to the top. My favorite of its songs (and my favorite Fishbone song) is “Ma And Pa,” but the whole album is fantastic.
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This was the first Elvis Costello record I ever heard, and I came to it in a weird way. During my ten minutes in college, my second roommate had a CD of a Cornell glee club singing an a cappella version of “Veronica.” From that I checked out this record, which remains one of my favorites in EC’s discography. From “Veronica” (with Sir Paul McC on bass) to the perfect anger of “Tramp The Dirt Down” and the beauty of “Satellite” (with Chrissie Hynde on the chorus), this album is a solid winner. Plus, it features the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and guitarist Marc Ribot, among many others.
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I’m going to say it: This is a perfect record. It’s like stepping into the world of Schoolhouse Rock and getting to live there, with all that sunshiny 70s soul. Why Phoebe Snow isn’t a household name can only be because she so strenuously resisted categorization.
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What a killer record. Released in 1980, this album finds Bowie on very solid ground, cranking out left-of-center pop-rock hit after hit. You’ll find “Fashion” and “Ashes To Ashes” here, but every song could be a radio staple.
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Huzzah! My copy of this record just arrived a few minutes ago. I haven’t even opened it yet, but I’m so excited to finally hear it. I heard an excerpt last year and immediately pre-ordered a copy.
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I don’t know how this happened, but somehow I made it 41 years without ever listening to Graham Parker. I had a friend in Tucson who was into Parker, but I didn’t know this friend very long and moved before I listened to any of his records. Today I was flipping through the “P” bin at the store and came across this live solo album. I’m a sucker for records like this: electric guitar + voice + nothing else — think Billy Bragg and Warren Zevon. So this looked right up my alley. I’m writing as side one is finishing, and I really dig it.
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This is my favorite Dire Straits record, followed closely by the live album Alchemy. I was introduced to this record in high school, sometime around 1988 or ’89, by Jeff Smith, who played guitar in a band with a bunch of my friends. Love Over Gold is, for me, the apex of Knopfler’s period of writing extended, complex songs for the band. This album is by turns haunting and lovely and thrilling, with plenty of guitar heroics throughout.
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Sure, I’ve heard the hits, and I was married for years to a big Hall & Oates fan. I also like Hall’s work on Robert Fripp’s album Exposure. But this album was a revelation. Cleverly crafted pop songs with gorgeous production values. You’ll know at least one song — the hit “She’s Gone.” This record is the perfect music for a summer afternoon in 1973, the year both it and I were released. And it sounds pretty darned good now, too.
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This band features three-fourths of the band Circle (the missing member is Anthony Braxton). Right out of the gate, the trio is forceful and free-flying in their take on Wayne Shorter’s “Nefertiti.” And then on the next track, it’s “gaze into one’s soul” time on Corea’s “Ballad For Tillie.” A fun outing by three supremely talented players.
Note: Listen to my 2012 interview with Barry Altschul.
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