This is not the first cast recording of Hair but it is the first Broadway cast recording (I think) and, more importantly, it was the hit, it’s the version that hit #1 in 1968 – the last Broadway cast album to do so, according to Wikipedia – and sold millions of copies. So whether or …
Category: Music
Life (1968) by Sly and the Family Stone
Much like Dance to the Music, this is a well-played record that lacks quality songs. I find myself with a bit of deja vu.
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 …
Ingredients in a Recipe for Soul (1963) by Ray Charles
This record was a big success but, despite some positive reviews, doesn’t have the greatest reputation. (Example: the Allmusic review is 4 stars but really feels like a 3 star review.) The idea is that its source material is [i]too[/i] diverse. I call bullshit.
Saturday Night with Mr. C (1958) by Perry Como
So before I get into any details I have to say that the edition I am reviewing here isn’t quite the edition on Google Play. There’s a different track listing though most of the tracks seem to be similar. Anyway…
Hello Nasty (1998) by Beastie Boys
If there is one hip hop album I’ve heard more than any other, it’s this one. Now, I’m not sure I’ve ever actually heard it all the way through, but my brother owned this one, I know a lot of it. Sure, I know the hits – a few of these were played on Much …
South of Heaven (1988) by Slayer
This is only my second Slayer record so I am certainly not as knowledgeable about the change of sound as actual fans of this band. It’s also been a while since I heard the previous record, so it’s additionally hard.
Suicidal Tendencies (1983)
Before listening to this record, I have only ever listened to a “best of record” by these guys. That impressed the hell out of me, but it’s worth noting that they definitely changed significantly over the years, and what we have here is something much, much rawer than what I was expecting.
System of a Down (1998)
I’ve come at this backwards – what else is new? – having heard all their albums but this one a number of years ago, and just getting to this now. Oops.
In on the Kill Taker (1993)
This record makes the fifth Fugazi record I’ve heard and I’ve finally figured out that I like this period the best. I find their earliest records to be a little less musically interesting than this and Red Medicine. And though it’s been a very long time since I heard The Argument, I didn’t enjoy that …
Exile in Guyville (1993) by Liz Phair
Many years ago, after hearing way too many times that Exile in Guyville is a song-by-song response to Exile on Main St. I listened to this right around the time I was obsessed with that Stones album. I listened to this once, didn’t hear a song-by-song response, and decided it was one of the most …
There Is No-One What Will Take Care of You (1993) by Palace Brothers
The impact of this record is dimmed a lot by time and by familiarity with Will Oldham’s career. Apparently this was initially released without credits and the sense of mystery that and the music contained herein created probably has a lot to do with this record’s reputation and the launching of Oldham’s career (as Palace …
Recipe for Hate (1993) by Bad Religion
I was dreading listening to this, as I can’t say I have a love for California punk.
Boces (1993) by Mercury Rev
There is a time in my life where I would have just eaten this up.
Munki (1998)
I have always found these guys overrated, so I am wondering what I am doing here, listening to a later album of theirs that even the fans are divided over. I’m not even speaking to the one Mary Chain fan I know about this record. So what am I doing?
Try Whistling This (1998) by Neil Finn
I don’t know much about Crowded House. I know I’ve heard a few of their songs just due to exposure, but I couldn’t even name them right now. So I have no context for this record. You’ve been warned.
The Good Will Out (1998) by Embrace
I am listening to this record for the third time, and about to talk about it on my music anniversaries podcast, and I’m wondering why the hell I bothered. I don’t like it, nobody requested it and it isn’t really a big deal, is it?
Peloton (1998) by The Delgados
This is some really solid indie pop, full of strong melodies with those classic boy-girl vocals that so many people love.
Bull Durham (1988, Ron Shelton)
Somehow, despite growing up a baseball fan, and despite having seen a Tin Cup (which is the baseball Bull Durham, right?), I missed Bull Durham until now. I think I saw a scene sometime in my teens and decided I had watched it so never thought I should.
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988) by Public Enemy
Though I have no one coming on the podcast to help me with this record, I made a promise to listeners and myself that I would try not to ignore major hip hop releases, even if I feel like an imposter when I try to talk about music I have no context for. So, here …
Texas Flood (1983) by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
When I was first becoming a really serious music fan, Stevie Ray Vaughan was just one of the guitar greats. It was just assumed but it was hard to really question it. If you talked to more knowledgeable (inevitably male) music fans about which guitarists to listen to, SRV was always on the list. I …
Real Life (1978) by Magazine
As an album recorded by a band featuring the former lead singer of one of the original British punk bands, but manifestly not playing punk rock, I think there’s a temptation to say this record could be the original post-punk record. (It literally is “post punk” in that sense.) That in itself would make this …
The Cars (1978)
The Cars’ debut album marks the point where, for better or worse, New Wave goes commercial. Basically very previous (American) New Wave album was too arty, too quirky, too herky jerky to connect with the average listener. But Ocasek and company found how to merge New Wave with that basic American need for big dumb …
Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) by Bruce Springsteen
Sometimes I feel like I go on and on about how I think Springsteen is overrated. At least a little of that is because I feel like I have to compensate for all the rock critics who told people Springsteen “saved rock and roll music from disco” or whatever the fuck. But part of that …
Peter Gabriel [Scratch] (1978)
Because of the nature of the collaboration – my favourite guitarist, Robert Fripp, produced this record – I had sort of viewed this record as the holy grail of early Peter Gabriel records, in spite of the lukewarm reviews. I had just assumed that, whenever I got to it, I would discover this incredible mixture …
janet. (1993) by Janet Jackson
As I say all the damn time, coming at an artist backwards is a bad idea. And yet here I am doing it again. This is only the second Janet Jackson album I’ve ever heard, but the first one I heard was the sequel to this one. The problem for me is that the sequel …
Souvlaki (1993) by Slowdive
What do I do with this? It’s a dream pop record on the shoegaze side of dreampop (as opposed to the psychedelic side) released after the peak of shoegaze. Attacked in the press at the time for being too shoegazey when everyone had moved on to britpop, it seems to be now held up as …
Symphony or Damn (1993) by Terence Trent D’Arby
Somehow I managed to grown up when D’Arby was releasing music and completely avoid him. We listened to an Oldies station primarily, so we didn’t hear him there. And I swear I never saw any of his videos. (If I did, I didn’t see them enough to remember them.) So all I knew was the …
Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion (2013) by Robert Gordon
This book tells the story of Stax Records, but it isn’t just a the story of Stax the record label, as it also places the story in the context of Memphis and the civil rights movement, and there are some very interesting parallels between the rise and fall of Stax and other American businesses.
Felona e Sorona (1973) by Le Orme
I don’t understand Italian, and I didn’t realize there was an English version – and I don’t really want to listen to that – so whatever this grand concept is, I don’t really know or care. Sometimes it’s better to listen to “High Concept” rock music in another language, that way you’re not confronted with …