What Are You Listening To? August 2021
- Thread starter axolotl
- Start date
Unsomnambulist
Staff member
Pixies - Beneath The Eyrie (2019)
Only the Pixies would set out to make a mainstream, commercial pop album and still have it come out weird and twisted. I have grown to love it over time.
Only the Pixies would set out to make a mainstream, commercial pop album and still have it come out weird and twisted. I have grown to love it over time.
Unsomnambulist
Staff member
Ty Segall - Harmonizer (2021)
Unsomnambulist
Staff member
Ozric Tentacles - Jurassic Shift (1993)
Ojai Sam
Staff member
Etta James - Etta James (1973)
Earlier this week I called out Diana Ross for her self-referential album titles. Etta James matched a similarly unimaginative title with an equally unimaginative cover, but behind them lurk a very enjoyable blues rock album. It was produced by the same guy who produced Janis Joplin during her Kosmic Blues Band days. Etta may have been in the depths of drug addiction, but you would never know it from the fiery vocals here.
Earlier this week I called out Diana Ross for her self-referential album titles. Etta James matched a similarly unimaginative title with an equally unimaginative cover, but behind them lurk a very enjoyable blues rock album. It was produced by the same guy who produced Janis Joplin during her Kosmic Blues Band days. Etta may have been in the depths of drug addiction, but you would never know it from the fiery vocals here.
Ojai Sam
Staff member
Conway Twitty - Timeless (rec. 1972, rel. 2017)
Like Jerry Lee Lewis, when Conway Twitty migrated from rock and roll to country in the mid-60's he kept a lot of the rock sensibility in his music. For his nonstop touring, Twitty assembled one of the great road bands of all time, with childhood friend John "Buttermilk" Hughey on steel, Tommy "Pork Chop" Markham on drums and "Big Joe" Lewis on electric bass. They really cranked up the volume, especially Lewis who also added harmony vocals. Back behind his kit, Markham was constantly in motion: chewing gum, twirling drumsticks and adding sotto voce commentary. John Hughey landed in the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame for his ability to wring tears from the highest register.
I had the pleasure of seeing Conway and The Twttty Birds in person several times over the years. They weren't for everyone. At one show from the Shrine Auditorium in L.A. I recall that several older folks who came to see "Whispering" Bill Anderson walked out holding their ears when Big Joe started rolling those fat bass notes. Unfortunately, Conway recorded at Decca with session musicians under the moderating influence of producer Owen Bradley. He never released a live album but these long lost recordings suddenly surfaced a few years ago with the help of his family. During 1972 Conway and the boys went into the studio of Elvis' guitar ace Scotty Moore to record some material for the Defense Department. The 14 songs here do a fine job of presenting a typical show from the period, with a mixture of big hits and shrewdly selected covers. The only serious omission is "It's Only Make Believe", Conway's big teen pop hit with which he closed every performance.
on the Sam-O-Meter. The Holy Grail for Twittyphiles.
Here's an excellent live show from Norwegian TV, featuring the combined talents of Conway and Loretta Lynn. It's interesting to compare the spare, hard edged sound of the The Twitty Birds with Loretta's Coal Miners band. I dig them too.
Like Jerry Lee Lewis, when Conway Twitty migrated from rock and roll to country in the mid-60's he kept a lot of the rock sensibility in his music. For his nonstop touring, Twitty assembled one of the great road bands of all time, with childhood friend John "Buttermilk" Hughey on steel, Tommy "Pork Chop" Markham on drums and "Big Joe" Lewis on electric bass. They really cranked up the volume, especially Lewis who also added harmony vocals. Back behind his kit, Markham was constantly in motion: chewing gum, twirling drumsticks and adding sotto voce commentary. John Hughey landed in the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame for his ability to wring tears from the highest register.
I had the pleasure of seeing Conway and The Twttty Birds in person several times over the years. They weren't for everyone. At one show from the Shrine Auditorium in L.A. I recall that several older folks who came to see "Whispering" Bill Anderson walked out holding their ears when Big Joe started rolling those fat bass notes. Unfortunately, Conway recorded at Decca with session musicians under the moderating influence of producer Owen Bradley. He never released a live album but these long lost recordings suddenly surfaced a few years ago with the help of his family. During 1972 Conway and the boys went into the studio of Elvis' guitar ace Scotty Moore to record some material for the Defense Department. The 14 songs here do a fine job of presenting a typical show from the period, with a mixture of big hits and shrewdly selected covers. The only serious omission is "It's Only Make Believe", Conway's big teen pop hit with which he closed every performance.
on the Sam-O-Meter. The Holy Grail for Twittyphiles.Here's an excellent live show from Norwegian TV, featuring the combined talents of Conway and Loretta Lynn. It's interesting to compare the spare, hard edged sound of the The Twitty Birds with Loretta's Coal Miners band. I dig them too.
axolotl
Nunquam non paratus
The Mysteries of Life ~ Blue Jay (2021)
Unsomnambulist
Staff member
Black Mountain - In The Future (2008)
Unsomnambulist
Staff member
An alternative album from 1994 that I actually never heard/heard of. I'm going to check it out.Velvet Crush ~ Teenage Symphonies to God (1994)
Wish I had a nice pair of hightop Chucks to rock out in.
Glad I'm not a teenager. Kinda. :nunja:
Unsomnambulist
Staff member
Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros - Global A Go-Go (2001)
Released July, 2001. Before times.
Released July, 2001. Before times.
axolotl
Nunquam non paratus
Jakob Olausson ~ Moonlight Farm (2007)
Psych- Folk, except...
[Open for RYM Review]
Psych- Folk, except...
[Open for RYM Review]
This isn't what psych-folk is, this isn't what folk is, in fact this is nothing, nada, it's not even what it is. It's some Swedish guys idea of what it's like to play old American folk music from the 50s when it really was folk and not just acoustic, it's what Devendra Banhart should have been like before he got onto his high horse. It's the soundtrack to a lost early Kurosawa/Leone collaborative project filmed in a fantasyland with a setting (not geographically) half-way between the American mid-west and the Japanese orient. It's the result of years of hiding away in a cave concealed by a dense forest and only communicating with ancient spirits - ok, that might be a little too far, I take that back it's nothing like pseudo-hippy, psychedelic wankery - Smokey Rolls Down Under what? - ahem. What this album is - it's a rarity, something to be played late at night when you're alone, your friends have gone home, and you're feeling happy - that's just how it is.
