What are you listening to? (V)Music
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UKMikey
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OK, I was pranked by some wag who dubbed the US national anthem underneath her caterwauling on another art piece. Roseanne Barr's record for worst performance is still safe.
dandmcguire.substack.com
The Yoko Ono Sings "Star-Spangled Banner"
Don't get me wrong. I'm not one of the haters. I just think Yoko Ono is funny.
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UKMikey
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I'm mostly a jazz, classical, African music, rock, soul, funk and reggae guy who also likes pop, folk and the odd showtune so I guess it's time I broadened my music horizons. Now I've done hip-hop (Cypress Hill was pretty good and I liked Digable Planets' Reachin...'s radio-friendly sound but wasn't keen on the follow-up Blowout Comb) it's time to dip my toe into the country scene.
The lady from Pitchfork says Kurt Vile was heavily influenced by a 1975 concept album called Juarez by outlaw country musician Terry Allen. My C&W knowledge is virtually non-existent but this is very pleasant and easy on the ear so far.
I'm also going to give Ryan Adams's Gold a listen now that I've found out it isn't a greatest hits compilation. Lead single New York, New York sounds extraordinarily commercial and musically unchallenging so far but at least it's better than that Robin Hood song he did (j/k... that's Bryan Adams).
The lady from Pitchfork says Kurt Vile was heavily influenced by a 1975 concept album called Juarez by outlaw country musician Terry Allen. My C&W knowledge is virtually non-existent but this is very pleasant and easy on the ear so far.
I'm also going to give Ryan Adams's Gold a listen now that I've found out it isn't a greatest hits compilation. Lead single New York, New York sounds extraordinarily commercial and musically unchallenging so far but at least it's better than that Robin Hood song he did (j/k... that's Bryan Adams).
- 22
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My first true love: acid house
My second true love: 4 letters that spell DAMM when rearranged
Quite possibly the two are linked ; )
My second true love: 4 letters that spell DAMM when rearranged
Quite possibly the two are linked ; )
UKMikey
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Every so often the fog clears and a long-forgotten tune from my childhood resurfaces. This is faster than I remember it though.
National Youth Choir of Scotland Girls' Choir - Richard Rodney Bennet: The Aviary: The Birds Lament
National Youth Choir of Scotland Girls' Choir - Richard Rodney Bennet: The Aviary: The Birds Lament
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I don’t know why I don’t post about alt-country music more. I love it so much. There was a period of about ten years of my life when my musical appetite was split 50/50 between J-pop and alt-country.
The 1972 eponymous debut album by Willis Alan Ramsey. Every song on this album has been covered dozens of times by numerous artists. It’s full of songs that make you think “Wow. I wish I’d written that.” He was only 21 when he recorded it. We’re all still waiting for his follow-up record.
Willis Alan Ramsey
Another 1972 classic is Will the Circle Be Unbroken by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and dozens of guest country and bluegrass artists going back 30 years. There’s so much love and admiration going back and forth between the band, “a bunch of long-haired West Coast boys”, and the old school country legends who had been left behind by the “Nashville Sound”.
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Will the Circle be Unbroken
In 1968, Gram Parsons was hired to play piano with the Byrds. His influence caused the band to release what is often called the first country rock album. Also listen to his two solo albums he released before his tragic death in 1973.
The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo
The 1972 eponymous debut album by Willis Alan Ramsey. Every song on this album has been covered dozens of times by numerous artists. It’s full of songs that make you think “Wow. I wish I’d written that.” He was only 21 when he recorded it. We’re all still waiting for his follow-up record.
Willis Alan Ramsey
Another 1972 classic is Will the Circle Be Unbroken by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and dozens of guest country and bluegrass artists going back 30 years. There’s so much love and admiration going back and forth between the band, “a bunch of long-haired West Coast boys”, and the old school country legends who had been left behind by the “Nashville Sound”.
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Will the Circle be Unbroken
In 1968, Gram Parsons was hired to play piano with the Byrds. His influence caused the band to release what is often called the first country rock album. Also listen to his two solo albums he released before his tragic death in 1973.
The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo
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And now for some albums a bit newer. And by “newer” I mean less than three decades old. Fred Eaglesmith is a Canadian singer-songwriter known for stories with twists, trouble and unreliable narrators. I first discovered him through his 1997 album Lipstick, Lies, and Gasoline. I was working late at night, driving over the Lake Washington floating bridge, when KCMU (now KEXP) played the song “Time to Get a Gun.” I immediately made a detour from the route I was driving and went to Tower Records and bought the album. It still holds up, decades later.
Fred Eaglesmith - Lipstick, Lies, and Gasoline
Another one from 1997, Stranger’s Almanac by Whiskeytown still punches a strong emotional punch. This was Ryan Adam’s band before he started his successful solo career. The opening chords of the opening track still devastate me. I discovered this album when I first began to come to terms with the bottomless well of my depression. I played this album over and over like I thought it could fill that well. The fact that it couldn’t makes it the perfect alt-country album.
Whiskeytown - Stranger’s Almanac
I was going to finish this up with another one from 1997, Jeb Loy Nichols’ Lovers Knot, but it can’t be found anywhere. It was his major label and solo debut, and it went nowhere. Nothing but rave reviews, but no one bought it, so he was dropped from the label. I’m glad I heard it on the radio and bought it right away, because I don’t believe it’s ever been reissued. He’s spent the last 30 years or so releasing albums, almost every one on a different label. Instead of Lovers Knot, try Parish Bar from 2008. Rather than a thematically cohesive album, it’s a collection of songs he recorded while working on other projects. Precisely because of this, it’s a terrific overview of his eclectic mix of country, soul, and reggae. Seriously, he’s one of my all-time favorites.
Jeb Loy Nichols - Parish Bar
Fred Eaglesmith - Lipstick, Lies, and Gasoline
Another one from 1997, Stranger’s Almanac by Whiskeytown still punches a strong emotional punch. This was Ryan Adam’s band before he started his successful solo career. The opening chords of the opening track still devastate me. I discovered this album when I first began to come to terms with the bottomless well of my depression. I played this album over and over like I thought it could fill that well. The fact that it couldn’t makes it the perfect alt-country album.
Whiskeytown - Stranger’s Almanac
I was going to finish this up with another one from 1997, Jeb Loy Nichols’ Lovers Knot, but it can’t be found anywhere. It was his major label and solo debut, and it went nowhere. Nothing but rave reviews, but no one bought it, so he was dropped from the label. I’m glad I heard it on the radio and bought it right away, because I don’t believe it’s ever been reissued. He’s spent the last 30 years or so releasing albums, almost every one on a different label. Instead of Lovers Knot, try Parish Bar from 2008. Rather than a thematically cohesive album, it’s a collection of songs he recorded while working on other projects. Precisely because of this, it’s a terrific overview of his eclectic mix of country, soul, and reggae. Seriously, he’s one of my all-time favorites.
Jeb Loy Nichols - Parish Bar
UKMikey
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Perhaps the Captain & Tennille royalties set him up for life. Glad he's still alive and well to fend off questions about a follow up.
Thanks for the recommendations. What I've heard of modern chart country brings me out in a rash so it's nice to hear something that doesn't make my ears hurt and gratifying to know a lot of artists feel the same way.
Not sure whether it counts as C&W but I remember buying Gene Clark's No Other album in 1991 and just not getting it at all. Time to give it another try now my tastes have loosened up a little. (O Brother, Where Art Thou? is still my favourite Coen Brothers movie of the ones I've watched (followed by Blood Simple)).
Leo Kottke's 1971 version of "Cripple Creek" got more hits than anything else I ripped and posted on YouTube ever since I heard a couple of tracks from Mudlark on a BBC documentary shortly after I started working there and I looked up the broadcast sheet to find out what it was. Guess there are a lot of good ol' boys and gals out there.
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