“I guess I have to say this album…is dedicated to you…”. And with those words Marvin Gaye begins what is regarded as his most bizarre and strangest record. But while “What’s Going On” may be his most spiritually charged work, and “Let’s Get It On” certainly has the most sensual appeal, “Here, My Dear” is in my opinion the emotional plateau of Gaye’s career.
Conceptually, it is unreasonable to say that these are just a bunch or relationship songs. Avid listeners of Gaye and soul music in general will realize it is much more. He sings of “Anger”, of loss, and of getting it together. And when he sings the horns sound upset, and then the strings may uplift you the next minute. The instrumentation is a wild personification of a man dealing with all these things. And they are still a secondary feature of the main instrument, the voice. Some of the melodies are interpolated into different songs, allowing a theme to resonate throughout the album like a movie score.
Now, do know that this album had other reasons to be made; it was a result of the divorce settlement between Gaye and his first wife Anna Gordy. That explains the sarcastic title. There is a song for “Anna” that only hints at how much of this album was drawn from Gaye’s own personal experiences. He captures his roller coaster love life perfectly, all while still managing to evoke hope at the end of each lyric. And every Marvin falsetto is a climax unlike the one before, and creates more excitement for the next one. Bizarre, they say? Those that do are neither there nor here.
Sooooo, Tim’s posted up one day at a friend’s party, just hanging out and enjoying some light conversation until his buddy happens to mention that Tim is a pretty accomplished musician. This prompts everyone in ear shot to begin begging to hear a little something. As they all gather around, Tim blushes and kindly refuses the demands of the small crowd.
“Aww, c’mon, just ONE song” begs the crowd.
“Haha, I don’t know guys. I’m really not prepared” says Tim.
As disappointment fills the room and everyone begins to slowly walk away, Tim finally gives in. “Okay, I guess I could do a song. Seriously, I really wasn’t prepared for this” says Tim, as he pulls a guitar out of seemingly nowhere and plays the opening notes to “Jungle Fire”. Things start off normal enough, but gradually,Tim gets more and more into the song until he just completely lets loose and begins yelling like Tarzan coming in from the trees. After Tim completes the song, there is a long and awkward pause. Suddenly, the silence is broken by the crowd’s uproarious applause. Tim has done it again!
That was the mental image that flooded my mind as I listened to this album for the first time while staring at the cover. It’s just that welcoming smile; it doesn’t prepare you for the madness that lies ahead. No worries though, it doesn’t take long to recognize this album’s greatness.
“Starsailor” is thought of by some as Tim Buckley’s ‘tour de force’. An instance of an already established singer changing things up a little bit and succeeding every step of the way. This album is a showcase for the many exciting ways it’s creator can contort his unique voice. Let’s just say that if Buckley was a painter and the music was his canvas, he’d be splashing and flipping paint all over the place as opposed to your typical brush strokes. “Come Here Woman” opens the album with a spooky organ melody and spastic percussion under Tim’s twisted vocals before morphing into one of the more upbeat tracks here. The insistent guitar riff of “Monterey” implants itself in your mind while accompanying some truly entertaining vocal acrobatics. Other standouts include: the far out title track and the extremely fun closer, “Down By The Borderline”. If I had to narrow it down to my favourite track, I would undoubtedly go with the achingly beautiful “Song To The Siren”. (Sidenote: My recommendation from last week, John Frusciante, does an amazing cover of this on his last album “The Empyrean”) Tim Buckley’s voice floats longingly over the minimal background music, creating one of the most touching songs I’ve ever heard.
Pick this up if you’re in the mood for a truly unique album with even more unique methods of singing.
The future of the thinking man’s metal, as some call it, is in Mastodon’s hands, or hooves, should I say. With its impeccable blend of pure heavy metal, sludge, progressive, technical, thrash, sludge (did I already mention it?) and even hardcore, the Atlanta-based quartet delivers an incredibly resourceful hybrid of genres. Without losing any of the aggressiveness found in the previous and first release, Remission, Mastodon manages to create a more melodic and available approach, widening their audience. For all of its raw bestiality and touch of ingenuity in terms of sound, Leviathan is a landmark in recent metal. The splendid cover provides a good hint in guessing the main theme of the album. Yep, you got it right; it’s the ocean, and ocean implies whales, giant sharks, waves, storms, beasts and other strange creatures lurking beneath the sea. The album revolves around the Herman Melville classic, Moby-Dick, some of the songs being segments of Ishmael’s journey aboard the Pequod. The other tracks that are not related to Moby-Dick are all linked to the water element, following Mastodon’s concept of each album representing its own element (Remission: fire, Blood Mountain: earth, etc.).
Blood and Thunder starts off the album with a solid and efficient guitar snarl that is a few seconds later boosted by oodles of superb drumming and loud bass. The song is short and somewhat very standard in terms of progression, but it remains an excellent opener. Seabeast is another of Leviathan’s highlights, commencing with a sluggish and dissonant guitar riff that is embellished right after by a dawdling lick. This song is truly representative of the album’s general feel, weighty and unhurried, except for the demented drums in the background. Two tracks later comes the forceful Iron Tusk, which is the very definition of sludge metal. With loud guitar chops, insane drumming and bass heaviness, Iron Tusk stands tall, and is one of the album’s musts. Then, there is the extremely progressive and fast-paced Megalodon (the gargantuan prehistoric shark). Right after the intro, there is an awesome-sounding country-like riff that contrasts the song really well. Megalodon just goes in so many directions and yet remains extremely consistent. Even so, the album’s climax is achieved with Hearts Alive, a fourteen-minute epic. It starts off with wave sounds, which were also used to end the preceding track (Aqua Dementia) and then with a lingering guitar riff fading in, that lasts for about 2 minutes. Then the beast blasts in with a tremendous riff and afterwards the main theme returns to be layered over it; great dual guitar lyricism that will later be developed in Mastodon’s subsequent recordings, where the band’s sound becomes more polished. Hearts Alive also has remarkable vocals; easily the best of the album, even if the intervention is rather short. The song itself is an amazingly grand voyage that will make you feel like a sailor, and is without doubt one of my personal favourites.
If you crave for quality metal like I do, the watery-and-creature-filled Leviathan will definitely leave you in awe. Multiple listens are required though to fully appreciate the album’s tale, as you will keep making discoveries in the depths of the album’s waters. Leviathan is undeniably one of the best heavy albums of the last decade. It’s no wonder why it has garnered so many positive reviews and been praised by critics, cryptozoologists and fans alike.
I strongly recommend this album and my good ol’ pal Nessie would certainly approve this message.
There’s some albums that are essential, not only for the fans of that specific artist, but for everyone who loves music. Charles Mingus’ “The Clown” is one of these albums. You know from the beginning of the album that this is a unique record. An album that will change your life and way to listen to music.
Starting with the explosive, hot and frenetic “Haitian Fight Song”, that introduces the great talent of Charles Mingus from the first minute of the track, the song takes you from the addicting main theme going through the solos parts with Knepper and Mingus, into the climax return to the theme slowing down until the end. This would become one of the most known and loved pieces of Mingus. Right after this explosive feeling that the opening track brings you, you got the weakest piece of the album, not that this is a bad thing, consider “Blue Cee” as a transition, a great enjoyable jazz track that will take you to something bigger, something that you will never forget.
The something I’m talking about, it’s the last two songs of the album, “Reicarnation Of A Lovebird” and “The Clown”. The first one is a tribute to Charlie “The Bird” Parker, with some quotes of his songs, a “having fun” moment of the band and then the medium-up swing with a change of rhythm that will caught you off-guard. Actually this is one of the most beautiful moments of the album, it’s that part of the album that makes you repeat the track just to listen the break of rhythm into a eternal ballad that really pays tribute to the genius that inspired this song.
Then comes the title-track. With a improvised narration of Jean Shepherd, this track will make you see clearly exactly how the history happens, with a circus-like atmosphere created by the Mingus band. The history of a clown that makes everything to satisfy the crowd is relatable to a lot of things. Is he talking about how the artist needs to adjust himself to the people so he can get the recognition he wants? Or Is the clown just a victim of the cruelty of human race? Only the listener can tell. Because, a definition of classic isn’t complete without leaving something to think about and with a taste of “I want to appreciate every piece of this masterpiece”. A real essential album.
During the autumn time I feel very fancy pants. I love walking around the city streets wearing a stylish coat, smoking a cigarette and acting very sophisticated inside my head. But what music to listen to? AC/DC? Insane Clown Posse? How about some jazz…
When talking about sophisticated music you can’t ignore Dave Brubeck Quartet’s “Time Out”. This album sleeps in a suit. This album makes Frasier Crane look like trailer folk. If you’re intimidated by that, don’t worry; there’s no minimum pretentiousness quota that you need to meet. This is strictly a jazz album, and jazz at it’s finest, I might add.
Critically semi-panned when released, “Time Out” has grown to become a classic, and one of the most successful jazz records of all time. It’s a piece of art that almost didn’t get released because Columbia was unsure if the experimental nature of the album would be successful business wise. There’s a whole bunch of stuff about the rhythm patterns on the album’s Wikipedia page, but I’m not a musician so all I can say is that they certainly are unusual.
But let’s get real, the reason why I’m talking about this album isn’t the rhythmic patterns, masterful musicianship or a cool cover picture. It’s Take five. I can guarantee that you’ve heard this song. It’s a masterpiece and possibly the best known jazz composition after Pink Panther and Linus & Lucy. The right holder, Red Cross of America, makes $100,000 every year with this song, it’s that famous. It slightly overshadows everything else on the album but frankly my darling, I don’t give a damn. This is a perfect album, one of the best jazz records ever made and deserves a place in every music lover’s collection.
I had never heard of this album until a few weeks ago. I was new to The Zombies, having only heard the riff of “Time Of The Season” somewhere. I can’t remember where, though. Since I thought the cover was great, I decided to give this album a try and let me tell you, I don’t regret it at all! I still cannot believe that I’ve never heard of such a masterpiece before. After listening to it, I felt like I was missing out on something really great and I think that nobody should pass on something like this.
I fell in love with the album on the first listen and still love it as much, or even more, at this day. If you like the Beatles, The Beach Boys, or just the late 60′s, this album is for you. Throughout it you will go on a 35 minutes emotional trip that is going to make you feel like you were in that trippy universe depicted on the album cover. As soon as it starts off, it makes you go through a plethora of emotion until the last minute. Some songs are sad, slow and even nearly depressing (“Butcher’s Tale”) while other will simply make you feel good and dreamy (“Hung Up On A Dream”). It does have some flaws, but overall it’s an amazing album that truly represents the psychedelic side of the late 60′s pop music.
You can clearly see the ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ influence but this album is definitively not a copy of it. Seriously, if this album had been released before that legendary Beatles’ album, The Zombies would have integrated pop culture in a significant way because of their revolutionary style and melodic approach of different themes that were important at that time.
The vocals and the lyrics are also a really strong point of the album. Most of the songs are sung in a way that makes you literally feel the music with those amazing vocals and harmony that guides you through this enigmatic album. While the lyrics, even if quite simple, get you and are perfectly on point.
As I was listening to it, I couldn’t believe that I was missing on such a great piece of work from a group that I’ve never ever heard of! Of course, I must admit, as a fan of this era’s sound, I was probably a bit biased but I’m sure any music fan can really appreciate this unless they’re totally against melody, voice harmonies, psychedelic, baroque pop sound.
Jamie T earned comparisons with Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys when he burst onto the scene. Providing wonderfully relatable observations on the people he sees around him in South London in a snarling and defiant rap style meant the only real difference between the two was geographical.
The comparisons with Arctic Monkeys do not go far beyond the lyrical. Jamie’s DIY aesthetic yields a stunning album of dirty, brash bedroom rock featuring bold home-made electronic beats, measured guitar licks and healthy shots of reggae. Lyrics move from stand-alone couplets to vivid narratives, and real diversity is displayed between the supercharged delivery of tracks such as Brand New Bass Guitar and the more settled simmering of the likes of Calm Down Dearest.
Tales of fighting, pulling and drinking are inevitable and pulled off with much aplomb, but there is a highly introspective dimension to the album too, not least on the sombre closer Alicia Quays, a slow-burning delight that grows into one of the strongest tracks here alongside the three-part Operation. The whole thing has an understatedly biting criticism to it, as Jamie puts you in his position and makes you feel the exhilaration and despair that characterizes his world, all with a haphazard but surprisingly accomplished musical accompaniment.
InI’s “Center of Attention” is a record you can enjoy whether you want to mellow out for a night or blast something funky from your car. However, you will find that it serves as much more than appropriate background noise; this record simply commands your attention (pardon the pun). You will soar through melodic and bass-heavy Pete Rock productions like “Life I Live”, “Faxin Jax”, and “Don’t You Love It” only to be melted down to the core by the albums most gentle melody in the end – “Microphonist Wanderlust”. This is a fitting finale for an album that meshes mostly Funk, Soul, and Jazzy backdrops with secular raps.
The rich sounding Pete Rock beats are well taken care of with ranging subject matter and engaging lyrics. The collective of Rob-O, Grap Luva, and I Love H.I.M are more than potent on the mic and are assisted by the likes of Q-Tip and Pete Rock himself. They employ a conversationalist style of rapping that can be both contemplative and sharp; a contrast displayed on songs like “Step Up” and “Think Twice” right from the start.
Admirers of A Tribe Called Quest, The Pharcyde, or Little Brother will feel right at home here. Pete Rock has an incredible ability of keeping the atmosphere of a record consistent, and this is certainly the case here as each song fits very well within the context of the album. That is not to say that the album lacks highs and lows as there are plenty mood altering sounds to be found here. And while you ingest the music also keep in mind that it was recorded in 1995 and it sounds like it was cooked up yesterday. You will bob your head all the way through without knowing it.
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