Music Music Music

[akiva]

I just bought this a few days ago, and am impressed at how good it is.

[Phoebe]

Haven't encountered anything not-good with Art Blakey's prints on it, so this is definitely going on the List!

[poorpete]

What happened around 1959 to make all jazz of that era so good? Will add to my list too!

Last week listened to Coltrane's "Giant Steps" of which I soon started skipping the rapid-fire songs ("too many notes!") in favor of more stuff like that and this.

[Phoebe]

Ugh that terrible Ariana Grande song about being sooooo indayu indayu indayu has been in my head all day since AM drive. The breathy, burbly mumbling sounds she makes drive me nuts but the underlying song itself is not so bad. Then I heard Incubus song and felt I could like the other one if it were sung by that guy. He actually sings with his whole voice. I don't know if it's that Grande doesn't ever sing OUT with her whole voice, like it sounds, or if she just has such a limited, constricted sound that the effect is the same. Anyway, it's positively skin-crawly and makes me want to leap up and scream.

[poorpete]

Here's her melismatic ending to Beauty and the Beast, because that's what was missing from the original.

"Off to the cupboard with you chip, aaaa-aaa-aaaa-aa-aaaah, it's past your bedtime."

Queued up to the offending moment:
https://youtu.be/axySrE0Kg6k?t=3m23s

[Phoebe]

[poorpete]

I do like her Trolls song....

My first try at a Benny Goodman trio/quartet album contained many skips (annoying if it's a CD, irresponsible if it's a mp3 that people pay for). So went through 20 different versions of "Body and Soul" until I found one that seem to have been remastered appropriately (not too much hiss, not a complete absence of hiss).

Found "The Complete Benny Goodman (1935-1939)" and it's all I want musically. The title, though, Complete Benny Goodman? More like Complete BS. He released "Sing Sing Sing" in 1937 and it's not here. After some research, it's actually a version of a Benny Goodman's import "Short Combos 1935-1941", with instead of a curated tracklist, everything is in alphabetical order.

Happily, flow issues are minimal and the music is great. I know a lot of these songs from a "Record of the Month Club" 3 LP live album of Benny Goodman and his orchestra playing at Basin Street (which might be my favorite live album, and as far as I can tell unreleased in CD or MP3 form). Since when I transferred it to MP3, I broke it up by side, not track, never knew the names of many of these songs.

Was surprised this favorite of mine is called "On The Alamo". Took me back, and only now am figuring maybe "The Alamo" is a ship, though it predates the war ship USS Alamo. Either way, I still see urban landscapes in this song:

[akiva]

Is it so hard living in your skin
You can't even try?

[akiva]

Or perhaps the first track from this:



He thinks of what could be
It sticks in his throat

[Phoebe]

31. Motley Crue, Dr. Feelgood - has 4 decent-to-great songs (Dr. Feelgood, Same Old Situation, Kickstart My Heart, and Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away!)). Apart from this, pretty much crap.

32. Motley Crue, Shout at the Devil - inexplicably, I like almost the whole thing, including the obviously bad songs, including the surprisingly good cover of Helter Skelter. The "we love Satan" parts are hilariously sad and I'm pretty sure other songs would share the same fate if I could understand whatever he's screeching. This is the Motley Crue I met for the first time way back in ... grade school? Certainly junior high. As time passed, adolescence transpired, etc., I remember having conflicted and confused feelings watching their videos, like, "This man is absolutely ridiculous and without much-needed shame, yet I have feelings for him that make no sense. I am not happy about this, yet it is undeniable." When I consider that this is really not my fault, it is easier to look back with honesty and sensitivity on the forces that shaped my heterosexual life. Unfortunately we don't develop in a vacuum, and all I had to go on was "The Song Remains the Same" movie, early Prince videos, and this:



Imagine junior high Phoebe, puzzled as to why these women are dressed in rags and being herded into a cattle pen by torch wielding little creeps who are wearing more makeup than they are. Why aren't the women just knocking them down, stealing their torches, and getting the heck outta there? The mind boggles. Then a vaguely satanic wonder woman appears and blasts the creepy little dudes with some sort of galactic weapon, freeing the raggedy women. Okay, things are looking up. But why is she apparently welcoming the attention of the creepy little dudes in makeup, despite her evasive maneuvers? Why are there pointy spikes? At some point in here junior high Phoebe has a revelation: someday I might have to produce children by mating with one of these horrible creatures, and my brain is telling me, ok, if necessary, I would pick Vince Neil. What the fuck is that all about? And this right here was my living proof that we don't choose our sexuality, because nobody in their right mind would choose this. And yet.

[poorpete]

I, maybe until recently, preferred my music and sensuality stuff separate. As in, I'd listen to Marvin Gaye's early hits and to his social statements in "What's Going On" but will skip "Let's Get it On" and his later stuff. I think my shyness to music like why so much of my albums so far in the 365 challenge has been by women. Maybe?

I was listening to Solange, going, not only is this great music, but I'd like to hear Radiohead cover a lot of this. Lot of these songs have Radiohead's current favorite aesthetic: introspective lyrics, downtempo, and orchestratic.

[poorpete]

Album #93, picked especially for today.

Been listening to the lastest album from an up-and-coming artist. He started off singing pop in Canada, just like Alanis Morissette. And just like Alanis, as he entered his twenties he has moved to a different music style that suits him, not to alternative rock, but to modern R&B mixed with electronica.

At times he is humble. "I just need one more shot at forgiveness", he states in his song "Sorry", which is tentatively about a relationship, but could also be an apology for his teenage responsibilities.

Sometimes he's sad like in "Where Are U Now" where he woes, "Now I'm all alone and my joys turned to moping."

Other times he is quite pompous. "My life is a movie, and everyone's watching, so let's get to the good part", opens his second song "I'll Show You", makes you think his teenage braggadocio has not left. But here's the thing, half of modern R&B and rap is about bragging, so why can't he?

But as far as this make any sense, the best song is called "No Sense": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcz-XR3HTMk

[poorpete]

This is a good example of the Bieber Appreciation Paradox, the more you look, the more it disintegrates.

Let's start with the basics and work our way up to the video:

The audio production quality: superb
The music quality: very good
The lyrical quality: okay
The honesty of the lyrics: non-existent
The video: god awful. "I miss more than your body..." but all this cares about is their bodies.

I assume the missing subtitle of this song is (Not Sorry)

[Phoebe]

Listening to California Uber Alles, amused by the fact that Jerry Brown is about light years ahead of most people who serve in political office, in terms of the quality of policies he promotes.

[poorpete]

Oh, when I jump into a genre I barely knew, and just kinda knew I'd love it. In this case, Louis Jordan and "jump blues"... a precursor to Rock n Roll and you can def hear it here.



Now onto Dolly's greatest hits..

[poorpete]

[Phoebe]

Adding that one to my list; not adding Bieber!!! I've been trying to get through Bjork album but keep having to DO things, you know, interruptions, interruptions. Anyway, I watched a few of the videos to see what those were like, since Bjork always delivers something good, and because I have to go to the dentist soon.

[poorpete]

That reminded me to add The Sugarcubes to my list.

Christopher Cross' debut album sounds like theme songs to forgotten 80s family tv shows. I might like it better if the songs were titled:
Theme to "Ride Like the Wind"
Theme to "Never Be the Same"
Theme to "Sailing"

[Phoebe]

Oh you keep coming up with things I have to listen to.
Couldn't finish Bjork - will try again when I have more time in one sitting. Instead accidentally got onto something (#33) called The Other People Place - Lifestyles of the Laptop Cafe. The first half of this album is constituted of fairly bland but enjoyable electronic music. The second half sucks utterly. It was like they ran out of good songs and just threw a bunch of shit together to make an hourlong album. The bad part starts with Let Me Be Me. Okay, be you, just do it somewhere else out of my hearing!

[Phoebe]

Listened to 34. Christopher Cross. Certain songs were as beloved as ever (Sailing, Ride like the Wind) and others (OMG, "Poor" Shirley, indeed) were nearly unlistenable!

On to 35, Autechre's Incunabula! What a name. Well, both of the names!