Some Words from the Bird

 Timing is everything. Christmas is right around the corner, so how fortuitous it is that this album found it's way to the top of my listening list. I know that this will be part of the soundtrack to trimming the Christmas tree this year, along with "A Very She and Him Christmas", and a Colonel Sanders Christmas album I found in my album collection. On the cover of the album the Colonel looks like he has just finished some turkey and is nodding off in front of the fire. Good enough for me.  I have been looking forward to this one, not just because of the Christmas tunes, some of which are very familiar, but also the chance to listen for the "Wall of Sound" that is Spector's trademark. The recording stands out as much fuller than some of the other selections that we have been listening to. It is full, the drums aren't an afterthought, they are mixed in loud, and drive the tunes. The vocals are strong and come from the artists that Spector was often wor...

 It has been a while since I have posted. I listened to this album a couple of times, trying to get a feel for it. Knowing that Bob Dylan was referred to as the "Spokesman of a Generation", I was thinking I'd know the songs and they would be phenomenal. It really wasn't what I expected. In fact, I didn't want to listen to it again. It almost derailed the whole project. I have finally realized that enough time has passed, and it is time to get back to work.  I have just put the album on again, and find that it is much easier to listen to than I recall. The first track is "Blowin' in the Wind", which is a bona fide anthem of the 1960's. "Girl From the North Country" is a take on "Scarborough Fair", and "Masters of War" is a darker damnation of those in control. These songs are all listenable. I was starting to wonder if taking a little time to let the music sink in had dispelled whatever had caused my negative rea...

 Here we are kids! The turning point. The first album released by the Beatles. The overall sound is like nothing else we have heard up to this point. Recently, I was chatting with my parents and threw this album on. They knew every song. Intrigued by this, I asked what made the Beatles so special. My stepmother came up with the upbeat tempo and harmonies. Dad weighed in that as much as Ringo was not taken as seriously as the rest of the group, he was a very good drummer. My mother recounted a story where she had attended a party at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario back in the early sixties, and someone had the first Beatles album, and they played both sides over and over again the entire night, to the delight of the dancing party-goers.  There is no doubting the impact the Beatles had on the music that followed them. This album is said to be essentially a recreation of their live act at the time, from the Cavern Club in Liverpool. They wasted little time in getting ...

 You don't get a classic nickname like the "Godfather of Soul" for being unremarkable. There is no doubt that James Brown is an entertainer of the highest order. This live recording is proof of that. The MC lets us know that it is Star time, then rhymes off a list of songs. The horns ring out and the crowd responds with increasing vigour as each song is named. When he finally introduces Mr. James Brown and the Famous Flames, the crowd is ready for anything. The band starts in with a funky guitar riff and horns blaring, and screaming from the crowd can be heard, likely when James Brown himself appears on the stage.  Suddenly the music stops and James lets us know that he is in charge of this situation. He lets us know that he feels alright, then gets down to business. The flow of the show is rather manic. Which I suppose is the problem with recording live music, it is impossible to capture the ebb and flow of the performance from the point of view of a member of the audi...

 Hello Friends! There have been over one thousand views of my posts! I'm thrilled to death. Or I was before I realized that ninety eight percent of those views were not actual people but some computer scan robotic blog reader program. I have no idea what is going on with that, but to the three or four people who have actually stumbled across these posts, welcome, and feel free to stick around or even leave a comment!  So, back to the task at hand. I have listened to this album seven or eight times now, and have determined one thing. I'm digging it. Let's start with the title. The last thing I think of when I hear the name Ray Charles is country music. We already listened to Ray on an earlier recording, and I thought that gave us the picture. Not so fast. Apparently Mr. Charles had grown up listening to country music. He then achieved some success in the recording business and cut a couple of good business deals and winds up with quite a bit of artistic control with regard...

 I had never heard of Bobby Bland prior to seeing this selection as the next up on my listening list. I put it on and was instantly pleased. The horns begin with a melancholy, somewhat Spanish feel. Then he starts to sing. His voice is captivating. The blues is there. Oh, most certainly, but the delivery is so smooth. The horns are not an afterthought, they are the mainstay, with some tasty guitar work adding the frills that give this album its allure.  The album is short; thirty minutes and change in length, but it delivers. I have listened to it several times and it gets better each time. The content varies, there is slow blues that is heartfelt without becoming saccharine, and some tunes with some pop to them which sound like a precursor to the Sam and Dave sound. The horns are everywhere, and very nicely arranged.  The track that has really caught my attention is "I Pity the Fool". I have been playing this one for anyone who will listen. It has it all. Above i...

 It occurred to me this spring, while on the phone with an old friend, that our sports teams are a large part of what define us. I hadn't spoken to my friend in years, and we wound up talking about my Bruins and his Sabres. I don't know the names of his children, but I know what hockey team he cheers for. I brought this up in our conversation, and we came to the realization that with free agency and trades, the people playing the sport are not the object of our affection, it is the team. It is that uniform, that logo, that team. It is part of you; you are affected by the performance of a bunch of people that you have never met. It doesn't make a lot of sense. But that's how it is. I suppose there is the need to be part of something bigger, to have an "us" to cheer for in these contests, a chance to claim victory, now that battles aren't de rigueur for the average Joe. This phenomenon could be a doctoral thesis topic, I'm sure.  What does this have ...

 Wow!  I had heard the name Etta James in passing, and knew that she was held in high regard as a singer. I put this one on expecting some good vocals, and was not disappointed. I believe that everyone who tries out for American Idol should have to listen to this album, and then a recording of themselves. It would definitely thin out the herd. She can growl and wail, but it's all perfectly timed, and comes through with a sincerity that draws you in. She owns these songs. OWNS them.  The content is jazz and Rhythm and Blues. I was listening to the album last night with my parents, who were visiting. My father contends that "At Last" is the best blues song ever.  I don't know if I can say that with any certainty, but it is damn good. She has such a dynamic, yet honest delivery. The music is fabulous as well, the strings create a silky background, and there is a solid beat laid down by the rhythm section.   A favourite moment on the album is the se...

 I put this one on with no knowledge of what I was getting into. I loved "Kind of Blue", and expected more of the same. I was surprised. The title gives away the Spanish flavour of the entire album, but it is a mix of jazz and classical music that I have never encountered before. Apparently this type of music is classified as Third Stream. The first track, "Concierto de Aranjuez",  is a classical piece written for guitar, but it is adapted to horns with great effect. There is an underlying tension in the playing, lingering notes creating a backdrop of intensity, while everything seems to move at a slow pace, like an old western on a Sunday afternoon. I was absolutely enthralled with the piece; it changes gears like a good story with plot twists and different threads to keep us interested. I found the trumpet (or flugelhorn, my ear can't pick up the difference) to be played with that Latin fire that makes Spanish music so interesting. The notes aren't alway...

 I know the name Muddy Waters. I think most people do. I knew he was an important figure in the blues, but really didn't know his music. This is a live album from, you guessed it, the Newport Jazz Festival in 1960.  The quality of the music and the recording sounds more like a studio album. This band is tight. There is little ambient crowd noise until the end of the album, when he gets his mojo working.  Muddy has a really laid back and smooth delivery. The harp and piano that are heard throughout the album are the perfect complement to his delivery. This is straightforward simple blues and it is fantastic. It is easy to see why he is so influential to the artists of the later sixties and seventies. The patter between songs is polite and succinct, he lets the music do the talking. The entire album flows together, kind of like a live performance. Oh wait, this is a live performance. The sound is so good you almost forget.  He starts out with a couple of Willie D...

 Hello again friends! As I type I am listening to CD number three of this 1994 compilation of music recorded at the "Birthplace of Rock and Roll". The discs progress through early blues, country and rockabilly and you can hear how rock and roll was influenced by the output of this early indie label. I don't know what the established pecking order was back in the 1950s for recording companies, but this one definitely made a splash. I am reminded of how Sub Pop took a new genre of music and catapulted it to the forefront of the music world's consciousness in the 1990s, changing the landscape of the music to follow. I can't say that is an accurate parallel, but I am out of coffee, so let's just go with that.  This being a 3 CD set, it takes a while to listen to it all (there are 74 songs). I was listening to Disc 1 yesterday and made some notes. I put a post it on my phone with some titles, and a thought or two that I would want to write about. I just went to...

When I was a kid I spent a lot of time outside. We had a cottage that I lived at for most of the summer, and I wasn't there I attended a summer camp. I was often in or on the water, swimming and boating, and though I likely had some sort of sunblock available, I rarely used it. If I did, it was probably washed off seconds after the application to my skin. Back then it was not mandatory to cake on SPF 100 sunscreen before even considering leaving the house. Perhaps it was due to the comparatively robust ozone layer at the time, I'm not sure. I recall my stepmother and her friends lounging around on the dock; covered in baby oil tinted with iodine to attract the sun to perfect their tan. I have fair skin, so there were many nights of my mother gingerly applying Noxzema onto my lobster red skin to soothe the discomfort of a sunburn.  Anyhow, the sun took its toll. I developed a small lump just below my left eye. I figured it would go away. After a few years of having this blemis...

 I was a little concerned as I queued this one up to play. I am still a little gun-shy on jazz after the Ornette Coleman experience. With trepidation I pressed play and braced myself. The album starts out with chords! A very dynamic chord progression, but a structure that I could make sense of. Then the improvisation starts, and it gets quite busy, but it is very nice to listen to. Coltrane noodles endlessly over the chords, and the bass and drums are off doing their thing, but it is easy on the ears. I find his sound is not as shrill as Coleman's and things aren't as discordant. After a little reading, I stumble across the fact that this album would be categorized as hard bop, as opposed to the free jazz of Coleman, or Coltrane's later career. Again, I must stress that I am an absolute beginner when it comes to jazz, so bear with me if I am missing the point of this completely. I am only trying to give my impressions of this album, not the artist's work as a whole. ...

I know very little about Ray Charles, except that he was blind, and played the piano. I guess I need to watch that biopic about his life. A quick Wikipedia check reveals Ray received some impressive kudos;  Billy Joel allegedly said that he was more important than Elvis, and Frank Sinatra allegedly said that Charles was the only true genius in the business. That is high praise from some influential folks!  So this particular Ray Charles album was a departure from his earlier recordings, in that he went away from the soul sound he had helped to pioneer, and went for a big band sound on side one, and a selection of ballads on side two. Indeed, I was quite puzzled to find that the opening track was a big band track. I was expecting more of a Little Richard vibe. I was completely wrong. The comparison that I made earlier regarding how Little Richard was just a little bit more exciting than Elvis on their respective recordings of Tutti Frutti came to mind. Charles is as good a...

 The late 1950's must have been an exciting time for jazz players. It seems that innovation and exploration of new styles were turning the established rules on their head. Structures were being broken down and fluidity and improvisation were coming to the forefront. Miles Davis had released "Kind of Blue", which was a departure from chord structures and based more on scales and modes of scales for improvisation. Ornette Coleman took that and ran with it. This album is considered a stepping stone into the world of free jazz or avant garde jazz. Clearly, boundaries are being challenged here.  After the smooth flow of "Kind of Blue", I put this one on, expecting something along the same lines. The first track, "Lonely Woman", is considered a jazz standard. Within  ten seconds I knew this was going to be a completely different experience. There are two horns playing a melody, but it is slightly disjointed, just enough to be a little unnerving. I have t...

 Miles Davis decided to go in a different direction with this album. Instead of using the chordal structure that was the norm for hard bop, he decided to go in a modal direction, using scales and modes to create a more melodic atmosphere. This removed some of the structure of the pieces and let the players stretch out a little in their improvisation. There is a rumour that the whole album was done in one take, but apparently that is not true. I wasn't there, so I cannot confirm or deny whether this is the case; and generally I find that fact checking destroys a good story.  The album starts out with So What, which is instantly recognizable, and continues with four other tracks. The lack of the rigid chordal structure allows the music to seem to wander, although there are patterns if you know what you are listening for. I'm not sure that I possess this knowledge myself. The fact is, the mood is so laid back that if you don't get in your own way, you can drift down the musi...

 As I said before with my post on Robert Johnson, there is no way at all that I can be considered a student of the blues. For that matter, a student of music in general. I play a little, I listen to a lot, and I really try to like all types of music, because I think if you shut your mind to something you hear, and don't give it a chance to win you over, the only one who loses in the end is you. Now, there is some stuff that is never going to do it for you, no matter what you try. Some of the albums I am going to post about are almost unlistenable to me. But they are part of the fabric, and those who do like it may take something away from it that you don't hear, and use it to make music you love. We'll discuss that more later. Point being, I know very little about the blues, except that in a sweaty bar, swilling quarts of Molson Ex, it makes a perfect soundtrack.  That being said, Mr. Wolf, (the bluesman, not Harvey Keitel from Pulp Fiction) delivers on this album. It ...

What? No Peggy Sue? Bummer. That came later. This is the debut album from Buddy Holly; the big track on this one was "That'll be the Day" a Billboard #1 in 1957. Also making a strong showing was "Oh Boy". The twangy voice and guitar sound are precursors to the country rock that came a little later. The ubiquitous background vocals are tight and add depth to the sound.  As part of his legacy, Holly is credited with popularizing the lineup of guitars, bass and drums that we are so familiar with today.  The songs are classics, likely given a boost by the singers unfortunate, untimely death. As is well known, Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper were killed when their chartered plane crashed into an Iowa farmer's field en route to the following night's concert. The moment is immortalized in Don McLean's song American Pie. "The Day the Music Died". The symbolic end of innocence for America. The image of 1950's teens leaving the Surf ...