And so it begins. I've had to skip a few albums thus far because I haven't been able to obtain them yet. I've listened to 3 albums this week. I've pondered a few things, but I'll include them in the assessments below.

Louvin Brothers - Tragic Songs of Life (1956)
Thus marks the first album I listened to this week. My initial impression as soon as I started listening to it is that according to my admittedly somewhat limited knowledge of the genre, country music hasn't really changed over the years. I've never really been big on country music, but that's not to say that I think it is bad. After the first couple of listens to the album, I still wasn't really interested. I re-read the listing in the book for the album, to discover that both of the brothers were singing in similar harmony together, which I hadn't picked up until then. As soon as I read it, it was easy to pick up, and notice where they deviated from each other. Which makes me wonder; how does knowledge about the album prior to listening to it affect your appreciation of it? Still, I just couldn't get into the album. A lot of the tracks sounded the same, and the vocal ****didn't seem to change much between songs. I think I could like some country music, but this album didn't do it for me.

Duke Ellington - Ellington at Newport (1956)
Conversely to the previous album, I think this album has got me interested in a genre I've never considered before - jazz. This album is a bit weird to review per se, as it isn't the original recording. The original recording was a live recording that went awry, so the released product was a mix of that live recording, studio recordings and canned applause. The only version I've found is a 1999 2CD re-release that managed to restore the original live recording, but it still seems an eccelctic mix of tracks and fade in/outs, and I'm sure a couple of pieces are repeated with different track names. Nevertheless, brass instruments have never figured big in my music collection. After a few listens, it seems to me that jazz has a lazy seductive quality. That probably sounds a bit wanky, but I don't really know how to describe it. There are a numer of solos from various instruments, and I think this serves well for me. To compare to The Louvin Brothers, their album was very structured and predictable, whereas the variation on Duke Ellingtons album within each song and across the album as a whole was much more appealing to me.

I'm not ready to instantly say I love this album, as it's the first jazz album I've really listened to. Still, I appreciate it and may revisit it. But the rest of this journey will cover other jazz albums, so I will get a better comparison of what I may or may not like about the genre. Megan did advise me that this is not jazz standard, which is apparently a bit structured (like chorus, verse, chorus, verse). This is a bit more erratic and feels a bit improvised. Of course, I did follow this up with a jazz standard album...

Frank Sinatra - Songs For Swingin' Lovers
As mentioned in my prologue, I don't really know anything technical about vocal styIe. What I can say though is that I really like Frank's voice. It just sounds so breezy, like there is no effort at all in sounding so good, a natural talent that just works. It sounds like he is smiling the whole way through. In Duke Ellington there are very few vocal tracks and the music is always at the forefront, where the jazz here is a bit more laid back and Frank is the real star. The music really supports the vocals though, and picks up and drops off at just the right moments depending on the vocals inflection, or between gaps in the vocals. They complement each other well. The standout track for me is Makin' Whoopee. I imagine it may have been cheeky in its day, and it still is, but despite its potential for sounding ridiculous today, it still works. The lyrics throughout the album are well-crafted, as seen in my second favourite song (thus far) on the album, Too Marvelous For Words.

Interesting to note is that this is actually the second album by Frank Sinatra in the book. In The Wee Small Hours is the very first entry in the book, but I haven't been able to obtain it yet, so I've moved ahead a little. Apparently In The Wee Small Hours is a darker album, so having listened to how positive this album is, I'm wondering how his earlier work will compare.The book also notes that the average track length on this album is 3 minutes, and only one track goes over 4 minutes, setting the standard time for quick snappy tracks over the 15 songs on the album. I won't be grabbing this album yet... but I think it is on the cards.

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So here are the remaining albums from the 50's that I haven't been able to obtain yet.

Frank Sinatra - In The Wee Small Hours (1955)
Elvis Presley - Elvis Presley (1956)
Fats Domino - This is Fats (1956)
The Crickets - The "Chirping" Crickets (1957)
Count Basie - The Atomic Mr Basie (1957)
Little Richard - Here's Little Richard (1957)
Ray Charles - The Genius of Ray Charles (1959)

If anyone can help me out with those it would be appreciated.

Any questions about these albums, or the format I'm presenting these in, let me know. Should I let you know what I intend to listen to for the week, or keep you in suspense? I'd say suspense is probably better. Otherwise my initial impression of an album might be coloured by a readers response instead of being open-minded. But then maybe if anyone wants to play along they can listen to one or more of the albums as well if they can obtain them, and compare notes.