Assorted Ravings and Rantings on Music
Entry #1
Introduction
The reason for creating this sort of thing is a combination of conflicting characteristics that cause crippling conundrums (I hope you enjoyed that alliteration). Whether I like it or not, I do need an outlet for writing about music. I have a bunch of thoughts I want to get out all at once, and it's hard to keep it within myself. Yet, the whole obligation to write a long review is just too much for my brain to put together. I've tried many things as you've all seen, and maybe it wasn't enough trying before giving up. Yet, I can't back myself into a corner because I feel obligated to write something "serious" when I don't really feel like doing so. This is a hobby and not my full-time profession and writing like I am in an article like this is pretty much the only practical way I can move forward.
So, I'll structure it by noting what song/artist/album or general topic I'm writing about, and I'll just write whatever comes to my mind. If you believe anything written in any of these to be good or interesting but wish I would make something nicer out of it, I apologize in advance. Someday I might be able to pull something together, and I still will be writing about 4 or so long pieces a year. Though, if you believe most of these entries are cluttered garbage, well, I didn't ask you to click the link anyways. It's for me, ultimately. These will open at the beginning of the day, and I'll update it throughout. Anyways, let's begin.
Stone Flower - Antonio Carlos Jobim
I am enjoying this album quite a bit more than my first listen. I love Wave because of how beautiful and rich the sound is, and how catchy and even spiritual some of the songs are ("Dialogo" is just transcendently serene). So I decided to listen to Stone Flower after Wave. My first listen yesterday I can't say I really processed it fully, still felt like I was adjusting to a very different approach he took to music-making. Already enjoying it more on my second listen, he definitely made a record much less accessible, and I think it is gonna be worth the time to fully digest it. The bouncy use of the famous "Brazil" melody is really cool!
Blind Willie McTell's 12-String
I learned yesterday what a 12-string guitar actually is, where it is double-stringed. That explains a lot about how McTell's output has so much sonic fullness.
Little Walter vs. Sonny Boy Williamson II
Little Walter is a great harmonica player, but I like him a little less than Sonny Boy Williamson II, at least when comparing their solo careers. I don't think Little Walter was a very unique vocal personality, but his harmonica playing certainly carries most of his weight. Sonny Boy was like Hendrix, but Walter was like Clapton: nobody plays like Hendrix, and most people view him more as a spiritual influence, but Walter actually was much more influential even though barely anyone could really kick ass like he could. Also, I think Sonny Boy was a great singer for whatever kind of music he tried to do, and at the very least, he is at least just as distinctive of a presence as Muddy and Wolf.
Construção - Chico Buarque
This is the first album in a long time that just instantly floored me. I heard it once in the background while I was working and didn't play any real attention to it, but hearing it today just blew my mind. Brazilian music somehow has musical traditions really conducive to great melody-making, and this album has to be one of the most intense experiences I've heard combined with amazing melodies. The only issue is that I really need to properly digest the lyrics since it is in another language, but damn, already know this is gonna be comfortably in my top 200.
Jackson C. Frank
I do think Jackson C Frank is a bit overrated in some circles, and my only gripe about that album is that it veers a bit too close to the typical folk revival sound at the time. He is generally more listenable than Phil Ochs, but at times, he still doesn’t let it loose as much as Bob Dylan would, for example, which is why I don’t think he is quite on the level of Paul Simon or Bob Dylan as some really enthusiastic people say the album is. Still, he is well above the average level, and “Don’t Look Back” is already a political anthem that kicks the booty of all of those typical cold folkie anthems back then. Also, I don't like how every damn zoomer wants to portray these sorts of singer-songwriter loners in a "sad, troubled, depressed loners." As tragic as Frank's past is, his musical personality was far from fragile and helpless. On the record, he sounds more bitter and troubled but without ever fully losing composure and sounding strong at his core. No wonder Nick Drake loved the guy, but Nick sounded more “enlightened” than him since his music sounds as if it was a form of meditation for him. Still, it is clear to me that Nick Drake was the closest to sounding anything like him and not, for example, Paul Simon.
The Blue Album - Weezer
I think I am still somewhat repulsed by some aspects of Weezer. Ultimately, they are responsible for influencing hoards of absolutely shitty, godawful emo and whiney nerdy pop bands, and in some respects, they share at least some of their flaws too. I can't get away from the fact some of the melodies on here are too obvious and shoved in your face, a bit more subtlety would have been nice. Also, at least two of the songs on the record annoy me a significant amount. "In The Garage" is a bit of a lame song without a very good melody and way too focused on the "message" when the message itself is dorky, and "Holiday", even though the melody unquestionably sticks to my brain, is just way too over-the-top both lyrically and in terms of how exciting they want the song to be.
Yet, I am surprised to also find that the other 8 songs still have a profound effect on me, well-written and often quite moving. The production is perfect, there is definitely some depth to what's going on, and as cringy as some aspects of the album are, it is humanely doing that. Being awkward and embarrassing is just how Cuomo is, but he manages to explore something more psychological here with lots of rocking energy and pop hooks that really do stay with me after the record is over. At least, I have a good time hearing most of these songs and a lot of them actually hit quite deeply for me ("The World Has Turned And Left Me Here" is still one of the decade's most beautiful and humanistic anthems). I guess this power pop record will constantly confuse me, but the fact that it does is why I love it anyways.
Time Out - Dave Brubeck Quartet
Gonna say it once again that I love, love Dave's piano playing. I get that some people might dislike this smooth style of playing, but I think it's absolutely gorgeous. He has a gift of performing such perfect, smooth passages, so many ideas perfectly flow into each other that some may not notice all of his elegant phrasings. And even though I may be influenced by the genre title, I still get a very cool feeling from Dave's piano playing: still full of life, but he was interested in playing passages that free up some of the cold beauty of classical and almost animating them in this setting. That's why Paul Desmond is so important here, to provide that warmth of tone to counterbalance Brubeck. Anyways, this album has done a lot of getting me excited about hearing more jazz, and I am sure I'll keep listening to this for all of its catchy passages.
Kimono My House - Sparks
Decided to relisten to this after a long time, and I still find the album unbelievably strong. I guess the only valid reason I can imagine someone putting this down is that it is technically in one imposing style that covers everything with the same glammy coat. Yet, it is still a radically new style, one that takes the Beatles, Beach Boys, and Kinks schools of songwriting and transforms it into something so radically different that you would have to really think about where it is all coming from. Really, I still find small musical ideas stuffed in that I had no idea were there, and with all of these ideas, the songs flow without feeling clunky for a second. In a way, they understand, at a deep level, the emotional power of these hooks, and retain all of the tear-inducing beauty of all of these songwriting schools but transform them by their own, almost alien, emotional pathos. Even with the bits of sarcasm, you can feel all of these emotions are very untrivial: what can one even use to describe "This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both of Us" or "Equator"? Still, these are emotions I feel exist in a very simple form for the Mael brothers, they are just unlike anything else in recording popular music. Just such an amazing record.
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