Discussion: The board does the 1970s

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Jun 13, 2023 12:08:03 GMT -6 monasterymonochrome said:

Anyone who doesn't put this on their list is a weenie

Anyone who doesn’t have this on their list should be banned from the board

[venom]

in 2008, a friend of a friend was selling their record collection. my friend put us in touch and i purchased the whole lot not knowing anything about its contents other than what i saw when i walked into his garage. over the next year, i listened to every record. there was a lot that i didn't care for. there were several duplicates of records i already owned. there was a bunch that i liked. and there were also a few standouts that blew me away. these two warren zevon records fall into the latter. i'd known some singles and had given him a cursory listen after his final letterman appearance. but i didn't go further than that. these records made me regret that. "you mean i could've been listening to warren zevon for the last however many years?"

pretty much immediately on side one of his self-titled album, i loved the songwriting. he told great stories with some dark humor. it clicked right away. then it just got better, capping off with "desperados under the eaves." what a great song that is. over the years, these albums have gotten a ton of play in my homes and i'm sure both are easily on my list with the self-titled probably ranking pretty highly.

[monasterymonochrome]

Jun 13, 2023 13:54:48 GMT -6 venom said:

in 2008, a friend of a friend was selling their record collection. my friend put us in touch and i purchased the whole lot not knowing anything about its contents other than what i saw when i walked into his garage. over the next year, i listened to every record. there was a lot that i didn't care for. there were several duplicates of records i already owned. there was a bunch that i liked. and there were also a few standouts that blew me away. these two warren zevon records fall into the latter. i'd known some singles and had given him a cursory listen after his final letterman appearance. but i didn't go further than that. these records made me regret that. "you mean i could've been listening to warren zevon for the last however many years?"

pretty much immediately on side one of his self-titled album, i loved the songwriting. he told great stories with some dark humor. it clicked right away. then it just got better, capping off with "desperados under the eaves." what a great song that is. over the years, these albums have gotten a ton of play in my homes and i'm sure both are easily on my list with the self-titled probably ranking pretty highly.

Hell. Yes.  Two gorgeous, hilarious, heartwrenching, records.  Hearing those records for the first time was a similarly eye-opening experience for me.  Like, "Oh shit, this guy I knew for that memey Werewolves song is actually one of the great writers of all time?!"  

And agreed, "Desperados Under The Eaves" is almost impossibly good.  Warren was a genius.

[nanatod]

Jun 13, 2023 8:15:04 GMT -6 monasterymonochrome said:

Anyone else here have a take on early Tom Waits?

I like Donna Summer way, way, better than I like early (or late, for that matter) Tom Waits.  

[chvrchbarrel]

Excitable Boy will be in my top 5

[venom]

this will probably be the only salsa album on my list. but it is a titan. the blades/colón duo produced some really good material, though i tend to think the albums apart from this one are a little hit and miss. this one, however, is dynamite all the way through. it's only 7 tracks and 44 minutes but each song cooks. blades' lyrics and storylines are top-notch. "pedro navaja" gets a lot of ears, but i love how "plástico" goes from disco to salsa.

[monasterymonochrome]

Once upon a time I cultivated a take that Ace was the best Dead "solo" album, but over the last year or so I've seen the light and am ready to own my normie Garcia fandom. I will maintain that both of these records are better than any other Dead studio release save for American Beauty, but I don't think that's a scorching take necessary (depending on your opinion on Workingman's Dead. Obviously, the songs on both of these are great. Garcia rests its weight on 3 of the best tunes he and Hunter ever wrote: Bird Song, To Lay Me Down, and The Wheel. The recordings of which all sparkle, especially the latter two.

Meanwhile, Ace feels more crisply recorded to my ears, and has several tremendous full-band moments (I may honestly prefer the studio take of "Looks Like Rain" to any live version, largely due to Jerry's steel playing). Playin' in the Band is another top-tier moment, and IMO the closest they ever got to approximating their live sound mix in the studio.

But my shift in favor Garcia largely hinges upon accepting the "Late for Supper / Spidergawd / Eep Hour" sound collage to be kinda awesome. The early synth experiments are fine, but the back-half when it breaks into a waltz is really cool. Considering it's 10-minutes of the 40 minute album, it can really make or break your opinion on the record. All told, these two will likely be very close in my final list. And who knows, there's still plenty of time for my opinion to shift back Bob's way. You can't go back and you can't stand still.

[monasterymonochrome]

Revisited this one yesterday while walking on a nice evening. The first write-up I've done for an album that has a legit shot at my #1 spot, tho more likely to land in the top 5-8 region. One of the most important albums for getting me to embrace country music back-in-the-day. Kind of a revelatory moment for a stuck-up wannabe folkie - these country guys can really tell incredible stories. From there it was on to Townes and Steve Goodman, then the rest of the Guy Clarke-adjacent Texans and into the mainstream outlaws, etc. etc. etc. But it began with Chicago's mailman poet. Or, more accurately, with my obsession with Ladies and Gentleman We Are Floating in Space, and J's quotation of "Sam Stone" that led me here.

Anyways, enough of that. John Prine's debut is a perfect album. 13 profoundly moving portraits of the struggle for human connection in a changing world. Each of these songs could be a short story. Each of the character therein are portrayed so empathetically, so caringly, that it breaks your heart when things don't quite work out for Sam Stone, for Donald and Lydia, for Loretta and her old husband. The centerpiece of the record, IMO, is "Paradise" - the ultimate masterpiece of John's catalogue. Sometimes I feel like that song encompasses more about our last 50 years / the next 50 years than any other. May John and his songs live forever.

[monasterymonochrome]

I want to specifically call out the 2020 Remix / reordering of this record, because it's both a.) a vast improvement over the original, and b.) an interesting story. The Band are on the short-list for groups most hampered with in-fighting and petty squabbles. Their ego-clashes came to the forefront on this record, as the band self-produced for the first time (then enlisted help from Glyn Johns and a young Todd Rundgren, amongst others) and ordering the album turned into something of a fight for the bands multiple songwriters. The original version led with down-tempo tracks "Strawberry Wine" and "Sleeping," and things don't really pick up until Side 2. According to Robbie Robertson (yes, a dubious source), this was due to Levon Helm and Richard Manuel insisting their respectively penned tracks should lead off the album. Robbie disagreed but ultimately capitulated.

The 50th anniversary re-release, however, saw his original conception of the tracklist restored, literally flipping Sides A and B, and shuffling it to make for a more jaunty experience. And Robbie - for as much as I love Levon - was 100% right. These songs abound with energy and rank among the Band's best (especially "The Shape I'm In" with Garth Hudson's killer organ work, "Stage Fright" with maybe my favorite Rick Danko vocal performance, and the group vocal romp "The Rumor"). Presented in the new order, they have a more natural cohesion and present a sort of side-show narative arc that Robertson claims he was going for originally. Plus Bob Clearmountains remixing clears up the muddiness of the OG.

All told, the remixed version catapulted Stage Fright from a solid release to one of my favorite Band records, period. An album that I'd hold in the same breath as their first two, and oftentimes I think it has an argument as their best. It's probably #2 at best, but either way that's rarified air. Give this one a listen, it's a joyous, rowdy time. Just make sure you cop that reissue.

[monasterymonochrome]

Okay buckle up because the rest of the afternoon is Alice Coltrane Day here in the 70s thread. Alice is one of the inner-circle Great jazz figures of all time, and one of the best things about the last ~5-10 years of music criticism is seeing her finally achieve her rightful place amongst the legends of the genre. I think it's a little reductive to say that Alice carried on the work on her husband after his death, because - honestly, I think she pushed her music in wholly unique directions that no one, not even John Coltrane himself, could come close to actualizing.

This record, 1970's Ptah, the El Daoud is one of the finest examples of her work. It's her third major LP as bandleader (and both her 60s records, Monastic Trio and Huntington Ashram Monastery are amazing too), and it really crystallizes what people mean when they call something "spiritual jazz." Check out "Blue Nile," for instance. Alice's densely textured, ever-flowing harp is probably the signature sound of that movement (tho I'd hear arguments for Pharoah Sanders' skronk too). And you can hear Pharoah on this one too! In fact, but he and Joe Henderson hold down the horns section - the former (in the right channel) blasting the record into outer space, and the latter (in the left channel) tethering it to our mortal plane. That dichotomy - the cosmic explorations and exuberant noisemaking of free jazz vs. the earthiness, the thickly grooved tethers, here provided by the Maestro, Ron Carter - really defines "spiritual jazz" to me. And you can hear it on bascially every track here. Personal favorite moments include: Joe and Pharoah's dueling freak-outs on "Mantra" and Alice's heavy piano melodies on "Turiya & Ramakrishna." Tune into this record with your brain in the right frequency and it can be the most beautiful thing you've ever heard.

[monasterymonochrome]

Journey in Satchidananda is quite possibly the best jazz record of the 1970s. Really, it's up there for best of all time, if you ask me. It accomplishes pretty much everything I look for in music - and especially in improv-based instrumental music. It's emotionally moving, offers glimpses of sublime beauty, harshens the corners with a bit of ugliness and grit, and reaches above and beyond our normal experience to something, idk, further. It opens up your mind to the beauty of the world - to the beauty of being.

I recently read Olga Tokarczuk's terrific book Flights, which ruminates on humankind's search for moments of divinity in the world. When we find something that "operates at the intersection of linear, human time and divine time - circular time. And at the intersection between place and time, at that moment that opens up for just a little while, to situate that single, right, unrepeatable possibility. The point where the straight line that runs from nowhere to nowhere makes - for one moment - contact with the circle." That's the kind of feeling I'm chasing when I'm listening to music / at a show / whatever. Sometimes it just hits and things seem okay for a little bit. Then it's gone and you're back here, waiting for it to strike again. I feel that Journey in Satchidananda achieves this feeling more than nearly any other record I know. Circular time, especially, seems to be something Alice & Pharoah are preoccupied with here, as they work to extend these simple ideas farther and farther until the spool is completely unwound. This is soul stirring music. It's an interdimensional waltz. It's a really fuckin' good record.

(I swear I wasn't on drugs when I wrote this, I'm just really bored at work, okay?)

[monasterymonochrome]

Skipping ahead a bit to Lord of Lords from 1972. World Galaxy and especially Universal Consciousness are great, but the next one I considered for my list is this one. I'll be briefer and less new-agey here, but this is essentially Alice's symphony record. The core personnel is just her, Charlie Haden on bass, and Ben Riley on drums. The trio is flanked by a 20-deep string section, who are the main stars of the show. The record has 3 of Alice's original compositions, flanked by sections from Stravinsky's Firebird and Dvorak's New World Symphony. The latter track, "Going Home," is my favorite - with Alice improvising on keyboard atop the sweeping string arrangements. It's another incredibly unique record. Much more classical than jazz, but straddling the line juuust enough to alienate both fanbases lmao. It's not as eye-popping as the other two I wrote up, but at its best it can be just as pretty. Probably won't make my final list, sadly, but wanted to at least shout it out here.

[monasterymonochrome]

Last but not least we have Joe Henderson - The Elements, one of my most played albums of the last year and change. Alice appears here in a fairly rare spot as non band-leader, working with old sidemen Henderson and - once again - Charlie Haden bass, amongst others. Henderson and Coltrane absolutely dazzle on each of this record's four extended compositions. Alice gets most of her (deserves) plaudits for her harp-playing skills, but I may love her piano work just as much, if not more. The runs on tracks like "Air" are just spellbinding. She excels at making a track feel like it's suspended in, well, air - holding its breath and tightroping walking across the track. Henderson, meanwhile, is full of fire on the sax - not dipping into the deeply free-form pockets of a Sanders or an Ayler, but playing with an overwhelming breadth of pathos. His work on the closing deep-fried funk track “Earth” is fucking killer. So yeah, this record is an absolute gem, and will place super highly on my final list.

[regionrat6337]

Haven't done too much of a deep dive on this yet but off the top of my head I'd be shocked if either Rumors or #1 Record aren't slotted at 1 for me

[monasterymonochrome]

A big summertime favorite for me lately. Listened to it at the gym this morning and then just let it run through a second time while I was getting ready. It feels almost lo-fi at times, in such a scrappy way that endears you to it immediately. Not to mention how much personality the band exudes throughout these 15 songs. Hard to pick a favorite between A Message to You Rudy, Too Much Too Young, and You're Wondering Now. Very much a "dancing through the collapse of society" album.

[monasterymonochrome]

Speaking of gym albums, this one (Overkill) is a GOAT of the genre and - IMO - the best Motorhead record. It just snarls and spits at you for 30 minutes straight and I fuckin' love it.

[monasterymonochrome]

[monasterymonochrome]

Jun 15, 2023 8:15:48 GMT -6 monasterymonochrome said:

For real tho, this album rules.  The massive singles leading things off!  The Skunk Baxter (of Steely Dan fame) guitar solo on "Hot Stuff"!  Everything about Walk Away (my fave from this record)!  The Dim All The Lights beat drop!  The Moroder fuckery of the killer transition into Journey to the Center!  The anthemic chorus of One Night in a Lifetime!  And that's just the first half!  It's like an instant mood booster - get this record into your life.

Edit: Damn, I forgot Side 3 of this one is entirely ballads.  Get some more Moroder fuckery in here ASAP!  Thankfully "Our Love" comes to the rescue.

[monasterymonochrome]

This Year's Model is def my favorite Elvis Costello record, but what does that mean? I've always struggled to really love him as an albums artist. And I know the pieces are all there - sharp lyrics, catchy melodies and hooks, unmissable personality. But something about his records just don't connect with me the way to do for other folks. He's undoubtedly a power-pop genius, but maybe that means I just prefer him as a singles / compilation guy? Like, I could build a 12-15 song killer CD of his stuff. And loads of it would be pulled from TYM. In fact, the whole opening four song run is basically perfect. After that, each individual song is good and fun, but I don't really get knocked off my ass again until "Lipstick Vogue" with that incredible piano run during the chorus. All that said, the songs here are so strong that this record may still crack my Top 150, but it'll be a real close call. One of these days Elvis'll click with me. I'm only 27, there's time. Check back in with me in 2033.

[zircona1]

Jun 15, 2023 10:44:47 GMT -6 monasterymonochrome said:

One of these days Elvis'll click with me. 

Blood and Chocolate was the first Elvis album I heard that I enjoyed front-to-back, try that one. It's from the mid-80s. 

[monasterymonochrome]

If there's one record I post about on this thread that you should check out, it's this one. Batsumi - Batsumi, a folk-jazz record from Soweto, South Africa in 1974. Five incredibly lush, rhythmic, and effortless cool tracks. It's classified as a jazz record, the 11-minute multi-part opener is certainly a statement in that direction. But the middle tracks feel almost like tropicalia to my ears. Take the swaggeringly laid-back rhythm and vocals of "Mamshanyana," with a rock beat that recalls the Meters, and beautiful organ, flute, and trumpet solos. Closer "Anishilabi" hits that same mark too. "Itumeleng" is the epic statement of the record, a 16-minute opus replete with classical interpolations, free jazz drums, then settles into a deep, deep groove where it spends the majority of its run-time. Absolutely killer music.

A shame that it basically wen unheard outside of Soweto, becoming a crate-digger's classic for the next several decades. It was re-released in 2011 and again in 2016. Matsuli Music is pressing it again this month, and I'm honestly considering paying the $21 for shipping from the UK for it.

Here's a nice primer on the group from bandcamp: daily.bandcamp.com/features/batsumi-feature
And here's the link to that repress: matsulimusic.bandcamp.com/album/batsumi

[monasterymonochrome]

I really need to get this one on record - it's the perfect summer chill-out soundtrack. Recorded live at the Lycecum in 1975, it contains the canonical version of "No Woman No Cry," which - if your keeping score - has the best guitar solo of the entire 1970s (non Jam Band edition). Eat ur heart out David Gilmour and Jimmy Page. But it also leads off with my absolute absolute #1 favorite Bob Marley track, the live version of "Trenchtown Rock." I don't generally vibe with hippie platitudes, but "One good thing about music - when it hits, you feel no pain" gives me chills nearly every time. Rest of the album is wonderful as well, of course. Will it make my list? It depends where I end up coming down on live albums. I'm leaning toward including this one largely because the No Woman No Cry version is astronomically more famous than the studio version. And Bob needs some representation on my final list.

[nanatod]

Jun 15, 2023 11:45:43 GMT -6 monasterymonochrome said:

Batsumi, a folk-jazz record from Soweto, South Africa in 1974. 

A shame that it basically wen unheard outside of Soweto, becoming a crate-digger's classic for the next several decades. I

a lot of south african acts used to tour, and play the park west or the china club, and get the resultant press from the sun-times, the tribune, and the reader, but not these dudes. 

[monasterymonochrome]

I'm currently halfway thru Sense and Sensibility, listening to my LP of this, and ya know what? It makes a surprisingly good soundtrack. All this Mr. Willoughby drama is wild enough already, but then you've got John McLaughlin shredding for his life and Billy Cobham tearing shit up? What a combination. This album is so sick tho, feels more like prog-jazz than "fusion" - tho I guess they called any jazz with rock guitars fusion back in the day. Some of the most inventive playing you'll ever hear, and the coolest guitar/violin interplay this side of Fairport Convention.

[monasterymonochrome]

Another impossibly good record - a sure lot of those came out in the 70s, huh? Jorge Ben is a Brazilian legend, and this might be his best work. 40 minute party, mixing samba with funk in a devilishly infectious way. Each song feels like an invitation to get up and dance, and every groove is densely layered and arresting.  It's an eminently accessible record that rewards listeners with new nuggets and surprises 5, 10, 15 spins later. I'm obsessed with the four track run that closes the album, you have the cosmic funk of "A Historia de Jorge," the cooly laid back swagger of "Camisa 10 Da Gavea," followed up the highest energy song on the record, "Cavaleiro Da Cavalo Imaculado," and then closes with the title track, a master class in rhythmic exploration.

Also don't miss "Taj Mahal," the track that Rod Stewart (in)famously ripped off for "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" !

[nanatod]

your post made me look up whether jorge ben had ever played live in chicago, and apparently the only time was a two night span at Hothouse in the south loop in February, 2005. Too bad I didn't know shit about Brazilian jazz then, monastery.

[doso]

Jun 16, 2023 11:41:06 GMT -6 nanatod said:

your post made me look up whether jorge ben had ever played live in chicago, and apparently the only time was a two night span at Hothouse in the south loop in February, 2005. Too bad I didn't know shit about Brazilian jazz then, monastery.

When and how did you become educated vis-à-vis Brazilian jazz?

[monasterymonochrome]

Jun 16, 2023 11:41:06 GMT -6 nanatod said:

your post made me look up whether jorge ben had ever played live in chicago, and apparently the only time was a two night span at Hothouse in the south loop in February, 2005. Too bad I didn't know shit about Brazilian jazz then, monastery.

Damn, I always held out some hope he would come to the States, but I didn't realize his U.S. tours were so rare

[monasterymonochrome]

Ebo Taylor - Ebo Taylor: The eponymous 1977 record from one of Africa's greatest guitarists. Ebo hails from Ghana, and was a pivotal figure in the resurgent high-life scene in the 70s. His leads merge funk rhythm with jammier, jazzier explorations that fuse the brightness of Soweto guitar with the liquidy tone of 1973-74 Jerry Garcia. He's accompanied by a crack band, tossing in horns, call & response vocals, and busy hand-drumming. It's a blast and perfect summer chill-out / cook-out music.

That said, this particular record isn't gonna make my list, but I wanted to write it up b/c Ebo is awesome. His 100% essential album is called Life Stories, but it's a compilation of his best work from 1973-1980, so sadly ineligible for this project. Give "Sanaa" from this album a listen - I mean, those guitars are just gorgeous. Then if you like it, set aside some time to explore Life Stories.

[nanatod]

Jun 16, 2023 11:50:12 GMT -6 doso said:

Jun 16, 2023 11:41:06 GMT -6 nanatod said:

your post made me look up whether jorge ben had ever played live in chicago, and apparently the only time was a two night span at Hothouse in the south loop in February, 2005. Too bad I didn't know shit about Brazilian jazz then, monastery.

When and how did you become educated vis-à-vis Brazilian jazz?

reading the parts of John Swenson's Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide that I had skipped the first times through when I was only interested in what the writers had to say about Miles Davis and the MJQ.  In the 1990's, I used to go see a lot of world music when tours played Chicago, except for the tours of Brazilian music, because I don't speak any Portuguese, and when the Chicago Jazz Festival brought in artists from outside the US, it always seemed to be continental Europe and all parts of Asia, but not Brazil).