Someone called Wainwtright’s voice a “rich kid voice” and I laughed when I read it. Even though I’m Canadian and have been exposed to Wainwright more than most Americans or Brits, I still have a hard time dealing with his affect. As I wrote in my review of his first album, it’s hard to imagine …
Tag: Baroque Pop
Histoire de Melody Nelson (1971) by Serge Gainsbourg
I first encountered Serge Gainsbourg through the Great Jewish Music series. (I was probably more aware of his daughter, who I was barely aware of, than I was him.) I liked the Gainsbourg album the least of those records – and I still wish they had made way more – but it did give me …
If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears (1966) by The Mama’s and the Papa’s
Oof. Every so often you come across a hit album, be it a critical success or a popular success or both, which has aged really poorly. And the Mama’s and the Papa’s debut album has aged as poorly as their terrible use of the apostrophe in their band name.
Boys for Pele (1996) by Tori Amos
So sure, this is denser than her previous albums but I’m kind of mystified by how it’s viewed as “difficult” by so many people. It’s still a woman with a beautiful voice singing relatively conventional songs. I guess we listen to different things…
Felt Mountain (2000) by Goldfrapp
The British really did like a certain sound circa the turn of the millennium. It was one I was entirely oblivious to, living in rural Quebec, even though I had what was then an incredible internet connection. I suspect some of my radio station friends were into stuff like this, but I was honestly unaware.
Hounds of Love (1985) by Kate Bush
Though I have yet to listen to every one of her albums, this strikes me as her most ambitious album, at least to date. Recording a side-long suite of songs is borderline prog rock (and would actually be, I guess, if the music was a little more connected).
Never for Ever (1980) by Kate Bush
It’s funny, for me, that I cam to Kate Bush, because I seem to love just about everything she does. I find her music so compelling that I sometimes struggle to put it into words. There are things I like and clearly her particular brand of theatrical performance, interesting arrangements distinct songwriting is very much …
Close to You (1970) by Carpenters
I know the Carpenters by reputation and a few of their hits, only. The title track and a few other songs of theirs were big enough to find their way into pop culture. (For example, the title track has been used on The Simpsons.) Rockist orthodoxy has it that they are not very good – …
Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) by The Beach Boys
Record labels know best, right? They definitely understand what the people want better than the artists who do all the creative work that lets the label exist. Right?
Tilt (1995) by Scott Walker
Scott Walker had one of the most incredible second acts in popular music, utterly transforming his sound at a point at which most people could be forgiven for having forgotten about him (if they knew about him at all). His late career albums are some of the most vital, original singer-songwriter albums you’ll ever hear. …
Songs for Drella (1990) by Lou Reed and John Cale
I’m not sure why but I find Lou Reed’s memorial lyrics way too explicit for my tastes. He’s so specific that it removes the universal appeal. I don’t normally have a problem with specificity in and of itself, and with Reed’s other lyrics but, for some reason, when it comes to death, that’s how I …
Elton John (1970)
Elton John’s second album is an interesting combination of contrasting styles, with some of it sounding like classic Elton John and some of it sounding like he really doesn’t know what he wants to sound like. It sounds a lot like a debut to me in that it feels like he hasn’t quite found his …
Between the Lines (1975) by Janis Ian
It sure feels like Janis Ian has been mostly forgotten all these years later. She was basically never mentioned in the various music things I consumed as a teen and my first exposure to her was the use of”At Seventeen” in an episode of The Simpsons. I don’t think I heard much about her again …
The Beach Boys Today! (1965)
Well this is the moment when the Brian Wilson who has been endlessly celebrated by the music press truly emerges, at least in album form. Though the lyrical sophistication of these songs has been greatly exaggerated (to a degree I don’t think I can stress enough) the musical sophistication is leaps and bounds beyond most …
Scott 4 (1969) by Scott Engel
I think I just have to face it: the Scott Walker I like is the one who completely reinvented himself later in his life, demolishing his earlier image and creating some of the weirdness, most unique singer-songwriter albums I’ve ever heard. Try as I might, I don’t like the original version of him. This is …
Good Old Boys (1974) by Randy Newman
I have long struggled to “get” Randy Newman, often finding the contrasts in tone within a single record, and the excessive arrangements, to be far more of a problem than his voice. (I assume his voice is the thing that keeps most people from enjoying him.) But I was listening to an episode of the …
The Psychomodo (1974) by Cockney Rebel
I think I got this band confused with a pub rock band. I don’t really know how I did that, but I did. So, as you might imagine, I was in for a surprise.This is extra arty glam rock (or perhaps super glammy art rock, if you prefer) with a fair amount of quirk courtesy …
Ocean Rain (1984) by Echo and the Bunnymen
It’s been a while since I’ve heard Porcupine and even longer since I’ve heard my favourite, Heaven Up Here, so I am having a hard time listening to this record and deciding whether my memory is bad or something else is going on.
Snuffbox Immanence (1999) by Ghost
I got made fun of so much for liking prog rock when I was in my late teens and early 20s, in part because, for the people I knew, prog rock was horribly old and uncool and, moreover, my friends didn’t actually know what they were talking about usually, mistaking “prog rock” for Styx and …
On the Threshold of a Dream (1969) by The Moody Blues
Many people, or at least many rock critics, consider the Moodies to be the first ever progressive rock band or, at the very least, creators of the first ever progressive rock album. Now, I haven’t heard the previous album, but I have heard their album which supposedly invented the genre (Days of Future Passed) and …
Scott 3 (1969) by Scott Walker
I became a fan of Scott Walker through his later music so listening to his earlier music is always a bit of a challenge for me, both because it’s significantly different to what came later (that’s an understatement) and because it’s not my thing.
Bradley’s Barn (1968) by The Beau Brummels
The usual history of country rock goes something like this: The Byrds invented it with Sweetheart of the Radio. A more sophisticated version of that story is that the International Submarine Band invented country rock, but nobody heard their record, so the Byrds popularized the genre when they hired ISB singer-songwriter Gram Parsons and he …
The Hurdy Gurdy Man (1968) by Donovan
Donovan put out so many damn albums in the late ’60s that I have a hard time believing it sometimes. So I stupidly assumed Mellow Yellow was the last one and was going to compare this to it. But no, there was a double album in between – which was confusingly released as two albums …
The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles and Fripp (1968)
This bonkers album is probably only known because Michael Giles and Robert Fripp went on to form King Crimson. Without Crimson, I cannot imagine too many people would be aware of this record.
In Dreams (1963) by Roy Orbison
If there was one artist I grew up with from the ’50s and early ’60s, it was Johnny Rivers. But if there were two artists I grew up from the ’50s and early ’60s it was Roy Orbison. You see, we listened to oldies radio. But when we didn’t listen to oldies stations, we either …
Randy Newman Creates Something New (1968)
For someone with my oft-stated supposed ability to tolerate weird, unconventional voices, I sure seem to struggle with them lately. On first listen to this record, I thought about dropping it, as I wasn’t sure I could deal with the 1968 iteration of Randy Newman’s legendarily unconventional voice.
Rufus Wainwright (1998)
The first time I listened to Rufus Wainwright’s debut album, I was not a fan. A few listens later, I can identify a few reasons.
The Kick Inside (1978) by Kate Bush
The problem with starting mid-career with an artist is that you kind of assume what they sound like in their maturity or prime is how they’ve always sounded. I started with The Dreaming, a record that knocked me out. It was pretty damn unlikely that Bush’s debut would stand up to it. And I certainly …
Pandemonium Shadow Show (1967) by Nilsson
I have been avoiding (Harry) Nilsson since I became aware of him through the Beatles (Lennon and McCartney were big fans). I guess I avoided him because of previous experiences of music the Beatles were fans of. And, well, I knew he was poppy, and for most of my life I have not been into …
Wild Honey (1967) by The Beach Boys
I am not sure anything could have prepared me for this record, a bizarre left turn from Pet Sounds and Smiley Smile (and Smile presumably) in terms of ambition and overall sound, but also in some ways a logical follow up to Smiley Smile‘s bizarre lo-fi aesthetic. The first record the rest of the band …