Really listening to the (sort of) title track for the first time (instead of just being aware of it playing on the radio), it’s clear to me why it’s Dr. John’s biggest hit – the song has much more immediacy to it than anything else of his I’ve ever heard.
Tag: Music
Billion Dollar Babies (1973) by Alice Cooper
Though I have known of Alice Cooper the man for most of my life, this is my first Alice Cooper album (band or man). As you might imagine, I’m a bit surprised.
Amabutho (1973) by Ladysmith Black Mambazo
When I listened to Shaka Zulu I vowed one day to hear what this group would sound like not produced by a white American who introduced their music to the States. Apparently, it didn’t take me very long.
Bo Diddley (1958) [Compilation]
I don’t like reviewing compilations normally and I try to avoid them as much as possible. But this record is an exception because, prior to this record, Bo Diddley had never released an LP, just singles, for about 3 years.
Wide Open Spaces (1998) by Dixie Chicks
I understand why this was a hit: it finds a middle ground between the slick sound of Nashville and a rootsier sound of bluegrass that was, I assume, mostly completely out of favour with the Nashville sound due to Garth Brooks, Shania, et al. And Maines is a compelling, alluring lead singer. Though I literally …
Mark Hollis (1998)
Given how world-changing the final Talk Talk albums were, I guess we could be forgiven that Holli’s solo debut (and only record to this point) would somehow also be world-changing. I think there’s a natural desire for us to believe that artistic innovators will always be innovative, and always to the degree that they were …
Moon Safari (1998) by AIR
Due to my podcast, I often find myself listening to music that is outside of my entirely wheelhouse and don’t know what to do with it. But sometimes I find an album like this where I recognize elements but I also don’t have the listening context to know why these elements arranged in such a …
What Up, Dog? (1988) by Was (Not Was)
Imagine if you can a musically less sophisticated but infinitely slicker, but lyrically more earnest Steely Dan, recording with the very latest in ’80s musical technology, and featuring mostly guest vocalists, and you maybe get some idea of what Was (Not Was) sounds like. You also have to up the R&B quotient while dropping the …
What Makes a Man Start Fires? (1983) by Minutemen
This is such a unique take on hardcore – if you can even call it hardcore, since it’s hardly loud enough or musically violent enough to qualify. It’s like something else. I see the descriptor “post punk” thrown around, which might fit, though Minutemen sound absolutely nothing like the British post punk bands (or the …
Duck Rock (1983) by Malcolm McLaren
For much of 2017, there was an ongoing public conversation about “cultural appropriation.” It’s a concept and charge that I have a complicated relationship with because, on the one hand, I believe everyone should be freely able to access and to make use of any cultural artifacts but, on the other, I recognize that there …
Pyromania (1983) by Def Leppard
I struggled with just giving Hysteria my usual three listens and so I was not looking forward to this record. The good news is that it is better than Hysteria. The bad news is that claiming anything is better than Hysteria is damning with faint praise.
Cuts Like a Knife (1983) by Bryan Adams
I’m Canadian, so like every Canadian under a certain age, I know Adams’ hit singles rather well, whether or not I wanted to know them at all. But this is the first record of his I’ve ever heard. It sounds very much like I would expect Bryan Adams to sound (and I’ve heard the title …
Trouble in Paradise (1983) by Randy Newman
Most people who are not fans of Randy Newman seem to be put off by his voice. (Though given his prominence lately, and given the sheer proliferation of unique voices, I think that he sounds a lot less weird than he did when he first starting releasing music.)
Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) (1993) by Eurythmics
I heard my first Eurythmics album after listening to Annie Lennox’s debut and I guess that distorted my expectations for their later work. I also read a lot about how their later work was “weirder” but, well, it isn’t weird… “weird compared to what?” is a question that occurred to me.
The Modern Dance (1978) by Pere Ubu
Imagine New Wave at its absolute quirkiest (i.e. Devo) and then add a dose of avant rock from the late 1960s and you get some vague idea of what Pere Ubu sounds like on their debut. All the herky jerky New Wave stuff is here but so are piercing noises, samples of who knows what, …
Bootsy Player of the Year (1978) by Booty’s Rubber Band
If you’re like me, you sometimes find yourself reading the liner notes for a Parliament or Frunkadelic release and wondering “What exactly is it that George Clinton actually does?” He’s credited as a co-writer on all or most tracks, but he’s usually only one of numerous singers and is rarely credited with playing an instrument. …
City to City (1978) by Gerry Rafferty
I listened to this because it was a big record, for my podcast. That’s the only reason I listened to it. If it hadn’t sold so damn much there’s no way I would have listened to this shit three times.
Excitable Boy (1978) by Warren Zevon
My only previous experience with Warren Zevon is Sentimental Hygiene. An idiosyncratic songwriter backed by REM – I thought it was going to be really up my alley. But, alas, I really don’t love that record. It was enough to put me off listening to him again. So I find myself listening to this record …
Tanx (1973) by T Rex
There are bands that are good at doing many things and bands that are good at doing one or two things. I think if you only listened to T. Rex and not Tyrannosaurus Rex, you’d probably think that T. Rex was one of these latter bands and Bolan was one of these songwriters – pretty …
Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player (1973) by Elton John
I have no idea how this is the Elton John record I ended up first giving three full listens to. Sometimes these things happen, I guess, but after listening to it I’m pretty sure it was the wrong one for me. For some reason I listened to Honky Chateau once last May and then decided …
The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1973) by Rick Wakeman
I can’t say I like programmatic music a lot of time as I often find the concept completely unhelpful in appreciating the music. (The exception to this is a really great tone poem, wherein the program sometimes helps locate the experience.) So frankly I am unconcerned with whether or not this record does anything with …
Approximately Infinite Universe (1973) by Yoko Ono
My first encounter with Yoko Ono as the dominant performer (as opposed to Lennon) was with her Plastic Ono Band. I guess I wasn’t in the right mood for it, as it felt just way too directionless and faux avant garde to my ears at the time. (Some of the stuff they do on that …
Taj Mahal (1968)
It’s interesting and illuminating listening to a a blues musician who came of age in the rock era, as opposed to the older ones making music at the same time. (Mahal was 25 at the time of this record.Albert King and BB King were in their 40s, for comparison.)
Did She Mention My Name? (1968) by Gordon Lightfoot
This is my first experience of Lightfoot outside of hearing 5 or so songs of his ad nauseum on Oldies Radio when I was a kid. I guess I associated those songs with my childhood and so I’ve never had an urge to explore his oeuvre. Reading about this record, I was shocked to find …
Lady Soul (1968) by Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin’s fourteenth studio album could have almost tricked me into believing it was a Greatest Hits/Best Of album focused on a particular era of her career, except for the fact it is missing “Respect” and a few other songs.
Gris-Gris (1968) by Dr. John, The Night Tripper
This is my first Dr. John record for some reason.
Sing Me Back Home (1968) by Merle Haggard and the Strangers
The way I think about music is dominated by the idea of artistic progression: did this artist improve or change from the last album. But country music poses a challenge to this outlook (just like soul does) because, for much of the genre’s history if not all of it, stasis or consistency has been deemed …
Have Twangy Guitar, Will Travel (1958) by Duane Eddy
There’s a stereotype that, before The Beatles, rock and roll LPs were just a collection of previously released singles and their b-sides plus a bunch of filler; just enough filler to pad out the LP to make releasing a full LP justified, and filler that was usually just remakes of the hits. Now, that’s not …
Come Fly With me (1958) by Frank Sinatra
For most of my life I’ve heard about how great Sinatra was as a singer and yet this is the first album I’ve ever heard. instead, I’ve mostly experienced him as an actor. (I generally think he’s underrated.)
Black Inscription (2018) by Rabbit Rabbit
One of the things I love about this band is that I never know what their next record is going to sound like. They normally release one track a month but I always wait until the full album comes out, making the whole thing more of a surprise.