Assorted Ravings and Rantings on Music #3

 Assorted Ravings and Rantings on Music

Entry #3

Dummy - Portishead

Things I like about Dummy

• The sound is so fucking good! That album cover just matches that feeling, it's so rich, textured, subtly bleeding, and almost haunting at points. I get shivers down my spine thinking about "Strangers" and "Wandering Star" because of how effectively it is built. Yet, it is so seductive, my mouth waters thinking about that wonderful sound. God how I love that sound. Have I made it clear that I love that sound? That it is the greatest sound in the world?
• Each and every song is memorable because the vocal hooks are just absolute perfection. Like it's crazy when people tell me the album is monotonous. Yeah, it has a uniform feel, but each and every song has a different personality because each song has such a well-crafted hook. Like can anyone get "Glory Box" or "It Can Be Sweet" out of your head? I certainly can't.
• I think Dummy is the album that made me feel that things like sampling and electronics can have a great deal of value if used tastefully and not substituted for actual musical substance. At least, a lot of the hooks here are still well-developed but still untrivial. It really feels like a gutsy record because of how well they grasp their own sound and are able to make something that it subtle but intense.
• "It's A Fire" should have been on the album, and I feel bad it wasn't because it's the only song on the album I feel is truly meditative and serene. I never listen to the album without it

"Say Yes" - Elliott Smith

I think "Say Yes" is the greatest demonstration of Elliott's genius ever. When it comes to musically talented individuals, often I differentiate the true geniuses from the occasional genius by their ability to come up with short, sweet musical phrases that are deeply moving, and "Say Yes" is simply it. It is such a simple melody at its core, but it is both optimistic and insecure, tender yet deeply encoded. It conveys, in a way, his whole musical personality, but it still manages to be a deeply moving song. Truly, it has been one of my favorite songs of all time, and the fact that it isn't even my favorite song from the album (which is "Alameda") just shows how fucking great that album really is.

"Sad Hours" - Little Walter

All I have to say here is that the harmonica parts simply tear on this song. When he plays that thing towards the end, it sounds like a dissonant scream of a horn section. That tone is unlike anything I've heard a harmonica player do before. Truly, this motherfucker shreds at the harmonica. Just great, great stuff.

Hard Time Killin' Floor - Skip James

I think now pretty much every song exists as a totally separate entity in my brain, and now, I am happy to call this one of the greatest collections of pre-war music I've ever heard. This guy is the only pre-war bluesmen I've heard who can truly be categorized as depressing, and his disillusioned state is so intense that you can viscerally feel it when he plays. And he is a bluesman that does have quite a bit of variety between both the piano and guitar. "Illinois Blues" is a tough, hard rocker, "Hard Time Killin' Floor" is atmospheric, "I'm So Glad" is a meditatively dangerous song, but "Drunken Spree" is him trying to (and failing) to escape it all. And even then, he can produce stuff of meditative beauty like "What Am I To Do Blues" and "Special Rider Blues". He really built a whole musical universe of his own, and on those terms, he is basically unsurpassed. I will say the only thing preventing Skip from being my favorite pre-war dude is that I just don't find as much relatable and nuanced as Mississippi John Hurt, a musician whose musical philosophy is just as unique as his but a bit closer to my own outlook on life. But why castigate one musician for another. I wish I could say "everybody should check Skip James out!", but I know a lot of people will find the sound quality hard to bear, and I understand that. Yet, there is just so much depth and raw humanity to this pre-war stuff that I feel one is missing out on a whole range of emotions to feel if you leave this out of your listening.

In A Silent Way - Miles Davis

Hear it again, still really enjoying it but not fully 100% to the consensus yet. The band gets a crazy awesome groove though.