Announcement: Post Reduction

The time of university is, sadly, upon us and as such I am going to have to make a reduction in the number of posts I make every week to make sure that I don't suddenly fall behind.

I will still be trying to post 4 days a week, every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

Thanks to everyone who has been reading :)

#34 Night Life by Ray Price

For the purposes of conducting this review I first had to acquaint myself with some of the terminology used in this album. While this may sound a bit over-dramatic I actually had no idea what a honky-tonk was before, and now I know this album makes a greater degree of sense. For those who, like me, don’t really know what a honky-tonk is I have ascertained that it’s a type of bar who’s name is derived from the sound of geese.

Ok that definition didn’t really help, although the derivation information is serious. The music of the honky-tonk is one you would expect to find in these bars in the Southern USA in the middle of the twentieth century. It is a type of country music, one of the main constituent parts of what we would now consider county, and has such all but disappeared having been enveloped into the genre as a whole. As such the ghostly echoes of guitars that reverberate through out these tracks are those that can be heard on many modern songs that take inspiration from the genre, the first coming to mind being Change Is Hard by the M.Ward/Zooey Deschanel project She & Him.

After two listens of this album I was really unsure what I thought of it. The only conclusion that I had definitively reached was that Ray Price’s voice, especially in The Twenty-Fourth Hour reminded me of Morrissey singing country. On the third listen though it occurred to me that upon each exposure of this album I grew to like it even more. Suddenly the subtle nuances of each track began to be uncovered with the subjects of love, loneliness and loss becoming rendered apparent.

One such track, and the first to truly emerge emotionally to me, was A Girl In The Night. As songs go it is a fairly simple portrait of a girl sitting alone in the bar with the singer trying to guess facts about her life and her past. However, it is with Ray Price’s delivery of the spoken passage towards the end of the song that actually moved me to tears. There was a sense of empathy and compassion that came across which to me signifies a great artist.

No, this is not the most exciting or innovative album on the list. I will hold my hands up and admit that. What this album does have though is an amazing capacity for empathic delivery. If someone were just to have this album on in the background as they are going about other business they are excused to thinking that this is just another country album with violins and a rhythm section. It is however when you begin to focus on Ray Price himself that more is revealed. His voice, his ability to convey emotion and the unusual reverberating quality of his vibrato all serve to emphasise the lyrics with such a great subtlety that after a while you are sitting down with tears in your eyes (which happened on my first listen and I had no clue as to why).

This is not just an album for those that can appreciate country music though. In my opinion it is for anyone who can appreciate loneliness, heartache and the need for a good shot of whiskey as you go through it. Also violins.

7.5/10

Top Tracks:
Night Life
The Twenty-Fourth Hour
A Girl In The Night
Pride

#33 Jazz Samba by Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd

First things first, I would like to saw a belated Happy Birthday to my mum before I start this review. So there it is, I hope you like whatever present that I bought you.

Down to business and it’s beginning to dawn on me that I have taken albums with vocals for granted for the most of my life as once again 1962 has gifted me with a completely instrumental record. At least I know tomorrow and Night Life will be different. Either way at least today if an album of a different new genre; bossa nova. As with a lot of these jazz-related genres I am a novice with names and knowing what to expect. The only exception to this is that I am a bit of a fan of Bebel Gilberto, especially the album Tanto Tempo which I will reach one day. With that album being released over 40 years afterwards I actively sought out any form of precursor in Jazz Samba, and lo’ and behold these were found.

The feature of bossa nova that I fell in love with are the use of percussion and guitars that are able to take whatever season you are in and make believe as if it is summer even if you are listening to it on some rainy day in May. These musical elements which, whether it be wrong or not sound distinctly Latin to me, are in constant use throughout the album from the intricate guitar work in Baia to the masterful percussion in Samba Dees Days. So far, everything that I have come to appreciate is on here, and in spades. So surely there is nothing what is there for me to complain about?

Sadly it is, now I can get over the lack of vocals on an album. So far I have given half of my highest ratings to Green Onions and Kind of Blue so I can recognise the merit in them. However, these are songs that you can tell need to be sung not saxophoned. In an attempt to bring bossa nova to the main stream it appears that it was the choice to try and form a fusion with American jazz by the heavy use of a saxophone in lieu of a vocalist. Not only that but on occasions suddenly the improvisation starts and the coherence and flow of the song is lost and I just sit there wondering what might have been. While in song places on Jazz Samba such a fusion is a boon and both genres draw strength from each other there are also times when the jazz becomes a liability.

In the end I can see so many positives in here that do outshine the negatives of the saxophonist, the biggest of them what is going on in the background that could easily be overlooked. However, these sadly do not warrant repetitive listening and as such will rated in such a way. I can only hope that Getz/Gilberto is an improvement on this.

6.0/10

Fab Four:
Desafinado
Samba Dees Days
Sambe Triste
É Luxo Só

#32 Green Onions by Booker T. And The M.G.s

The art of the instrumental record appears to be one that is no longer embraced in the noughties. Where back in the sixties an album such as Green Onions or Back At The Chicken Shack received respectable a placing in the Billboard Charts nowadays they are lucky to even get a nomination for the Mercury Prize. Is this a great loss to music? Maybe it is, but in the end if you are really one for the instrumental then you just need to do a bit of delving and reach albums such as Zoe Rahman’s Melting Pot, which in itself is a reward.

Green Onions in itself has proven to be one of the more surprising albums that I have encountered so far, not only due to the legendary title track. While this may be the second album that I have encountered this week that makes use of a Hammond Organ in all it’s songs but to me it is one that makes good use of it. Don’t get me wrong here as I really enjoyed Back At The Chicken Shack but here on Green Onions Booker T & The M.G.’s have turned this obscure one into one that can show you a good time.

While it pains me to say this, and one can not say this without immediately thinking of Austin Powers, but this is the album that typifies to me the concept of ‘groovy’. It is a complete reminder of the spirit of the sixties and just makes you want to dance around the room to it. I myself found myself doing ‘The Monkey’ in the middle of the kitchen as You Can’t Sit Down was playing.

The highlight of the album is most definitely Green Onions itself. This song is like New Order’s Blue Monday in that it is a miracle of fate. While Blue Monday miraculously escaped from deletion you have Green Onions which was in fact the product of a few artists jamming in the studio while they waited for the recording session to begin. Yet out of such an improvisation a now timeless classic was produced with possibly the most recognisable riff to emerge from the sixties.

While it is hard to explain the sheer feel good factor that exudes from this record you can not blame a guy for trying. In the end though the best advice I can give is that anyone who reads this should give it a go. Whether it be Spotify or in the bargain bin at HMV this is an album that as you listen to it, it’s one that has to be seen to be well and truly believed. Even if you just listen to the title track you will know what I mean. Just amazing.

9.0/10

Fab Four:
Green Onions
I Got A Woman
Twist And Shout
You Can’t Sit Down

#31 Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music by Ray Charles

Well Mr. Charles, so we meet again and for the final time. Maybe this time it shall be under more felicitous circumstances where your hat is not as large as your belt. If you are unaware of what I am talking about then I redirect your attention to my review of The Genius Of Ray Charles where I took great umbrage with the rather liberal use of the word genius. This time however his album sports the far more acceptable title of Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, so let’s see whether this album does exactly what it says on the tin.

The concept of this album is indeed a fascinating one for the realm of country music is still basically a whites-only club. Try to name a successful black country musician, I guarantee that it is not an easy task. So, back in the sixties this was definitely a great undertaking. That is not to say that any of these songs sound remotely country in anyway, because they don’t. Instead what Ray Charles has taken all the cards and then stacked them in his favour by changing the arrangements of these songs to suit how he plays. So instead we have the lavish fifties style production mixed in with blues and jazz. Interesting to note though is the use of Modern Sounds in the title when in fact songs like Born To Lose and Worried Mind have production values that would not sound out of place in the Bambi soundtrack.

It is interesting how some songs contain elements that echo songs that are to come on this list, with Aretha Franklin, Ute Lemper and Rufus Wainwright immediately coming to mind. So there is no question of how influential as an artist Ray Charles was. The songs themselves are also wide ranging withing the scope of jazz and blues an amazing danceable start in the form of Bye Bye Love, or the sumptuous strings in You Win Again. As albums go this is, at least to me, a far better offering than The Genius of Ray Charles. While this may not be terribly consistent it is still a very good listen and earns it place here on the 1001 list not only because of it’s experimental nature but also it’s different when compared to what was around in 1962.

If you want my advice, this is the Ray Charles album you should listen to first as while it is strangely revolutionary it is also a far more gentle introduction than most of his previous offerings.

7.0/10

Fab Four:
Bye Bye Love
You Don’t Know Me
Careless Love
Hey, Good Lookin'

#30 Sunday At The Village Vanguard by Bill Evans

1961. What happened in 1961? John Kennedy was elected to the White House, future reality TV star Susan Boyle was born and Barbie got a new boyfriend in the form of goody two shoes Ken. In terms of music it appears not a lot actually happened this year with it only yielding one album on the list. However, I personally believe that this list missed a trick by leaving out Judy Garland’s Judy At Carnegie Hall. Mind you this isn’t because I particularly like the album but it was meant to be one of the big nights in music and actually won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. But in the end there must me a good reason this was missed out and so that’s the end of that.

So in a way there is even more pressure piled upon Bill Evan’s Sunday At Village Vanguard for not only does it afford a place on such a list but also must represent an entire year. Maybe I am pinning too much hope and expectation on one album before I even know what it is. A live album? Ok that isn’t so bad there‘s been a couple of good ones so far. A live jazz album though, not so good.

Upon the first listen though, I believe that this may be the live jazz album to change my mind. The lack of any brass instruments and the prominence of a piano and a stringed instrument (in this case a superbly played bull fiddle) does a lot to distance this from a lot of jazz albums whilst still maintaining the jazz label. Also there is absolutely no talking from anyone in this album, just brief smatterings of applause, this is the most studio album of the live ones. Again a huge thing in favour of this album.

However, upon the second listen the negatives began to creep in. As you will notice from my Fab Four most of these songs are accompanied by take numbers. This points towards the biggest con of Sunday At Village Vanguard; the use of multiple takes. While it’s not as if these are completely identical but they are easily discernable as the same song. As such this album sounds way too repetitive, with some cuts of the album actually having three takes of one song. On the second listen this becomes a very pronounced weakness that detracts from the enjoyment of this album. This is a real pity as there is so much that is good on this album which is ruined by the multiple use of the same tracks which just makes me feel cheated out of a great jazz experience that would have been better if Bill Evans chose one take and stuck to it.

6.5/10

Fab Four:
Gloria’s Step (Take 2)
Solar
Alice In Wonderland (Take 2)
All Of You (Take 3)

#29 At Newport 1960 by Muddy Waters

I would like to start off this review with a retraction. Yesterday, in my review for Back At The Chicken Shack, I referred to today’s album as another in a long line of jazz albums. This is not the case as Muddy Waters’ At Newport 1960 is very much a blues album. Right, now that is out of the way, it is time to get started.

Again, the name of Muddy Waters was one that I have heard in passing. In fact the most poignant of these asides is the reference made to him in an episode of Family Guy where he is passing some kidney stones while backed up by his band. While this may not count as some form of definitive exposure it actually did mildly introduce me to the jazz riff from I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man so in some unusual way I guess it did contribute to my overall knowledge, however minutely.

Either way, whether or not it be a blues album it is also the third of the live albums to be featured on the list. Having flicked ahead I can see I have plenty more to come in the next few weeks so shall leave my rant until then. As for now what I can say about this that as live albums go At Newport 1960 is up there with Sarah Vaughan’s At Mister Kelly’s for the sheer fact that it knows when to have the artist and the emcee stop talking and allow the music to play.

Unlike Monday’s album this is one that produced an immediate positive impact whereby I found myself immediately transfixed with the artist and the music. While it is true that’s the advantage you gain by of starting off the set with a strong track such as I Got My Brand On You, but this just continues on throughout the album. Songs that follow such as Tiger In Your Tank and the two-part I’ve Got My Mojo Working just go on to further cement how good this album actually is.

The rating may seem low considering that this is almost a glowing review, however, there are some areas that to me are just missed. The largest of these is that this album is too short, being only 35 minutes long. I would’ve liked to have heard more. Now I know length of an album is one that I do use a lot, e.g. Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Gerswin Songbooks, but personally a few more blues numbers couldn’t hurt. Or maybe this is actually the rare art of live album editing in action here. Either way, I am going to need to do some digging into the Spotify available back catalogue. As for the other areas, they are more that of a feeling than of substance that can be articulated. While I am aware that this is in a way of a cop-out but there is a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ that prevents a higher rating.

Still, this is definitely an album that should be checked out as a great introduction to the blues as how they should be played.

8.0/10

Fab Four:
I Got My Brand On You
I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man
Tiger In Your Tank
I’ve Got My Mojo Working