After listening to a couple of the albums listed this week, I've come across some songs I've heard before, but not necessarily by that artist. Usually it is a contemporised cover song. I ponder whether this should factor into my 'review' of these albums. For example, I'm guessing the songs I've heard before from The Sonics are standards and aren't their own work. On the other hand, I'm going to guess that Dusty Springfields standout tracks are hers.
So after writing that sentence I had to check wikipedia. Turns out most of Dusty's songs were covers of her favourite songs. Does knowing things like this affect your outlook on an album? Prior to knowing this, that was already going to be the standout album from this entry for me. I don't think that has changed. Her rendition of those songs is great. Your thoughts?
On another note I haver err... found a way to obtain the first 75 albums in one go. One, this should speed things up a little for me, as they will be in a format I can make easy use of. Two, this should make it easy for anyone else who wants to try and catch up and share this experience with me. Let me know if you are keen.
Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd - Jazz Samba - 1962
Some laid back jazz here, no vocals, with what sounds to my generally naive ears to be a bit Latin in nature. I imagine for anyone interested in this sort of music, they could close their eyes and be in a trancelike state as they focus and appreciate on the music. Actually, I've just done that for the last 30 seconds since writing the previous sentence, and I think this might be the way to appreciate jazz. I felt instantly drawn in more. However I'm not one of those people who can do that. I want my music to appeal to me while I'm on the go. This is still laid back music that you could easily have on the background, but to me that doesn't seem like you are doing the music the justice it deserves.
Yeah, that sounded a bit wanky. But whatever. I'm not really into it as a whole, but if you are into jazz I would recommend it. Having just read the entry in the book, it is Brazilian influenced, not Latin.
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Sam Cooke - Live At The Harlem Square Club - 1963
This is definitely a solid performance by a male soul singer. I can't really fault any of these tracks that are performed live. I can't really think of much more to say though than 'solid'. No better, no worse. A consistently good confident performance but nothing that really stands out to me. If you enjoy this sort of thing, I'd still recommend giving it a listen though.
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James Brown - Live At The Appolo - 1963
James Brown is such an icon. But after listening to this album I just don't really get it. He is obviously energetic, yelling and making noise a lot. The crowd goes wild at the smallest thing that he does. Like Sam Cooke, I find this performance good, but not great. It is perhaps a bit more varied with some swingier sexier feeling rhythms as well as more rockin' ones, but I just can't really get into this either. Every now and then it seems like James Brown just goes crazy and almost speaks in tongues, or wants to see how far he can stress his voice while still being able to pronounce syllables.
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Dusty Springfield - A Girl Called Dusty - 1964
It's interesting the preconceptions we have about music sometimes. Originally I thought that this was going to be country; I think I may have made some correlation with Slim Dusty somewhere in the past for some reason. This is the most contemporary sounding album so far on the list (at least to my ears) and is more pop than soul. Also interesting is that I thought Sarah Vaughn and Ella Fitzgerald were white singers, and they were black. I thought Dusty was black and she is white. Weird.
As mentioned above Dusty is my highlight of this group and I've had the chorus lines of Anyone Who Had A Heart running through my head for the last couple of days. Every now and then I will blurt them out to Megan, who can't believe I still have it rattling around. As mentioned in the intro, most of these songs are covers, but they are delivered brilliantly. The way she pronounces or holds syllables and words for an exact period of time seems to be her hallmark. The short and sharp 'So' in the aforementioned 'Anyone Who Had a Heart' is what makes it stand out in particular, and the way she can repeat a word in a later verse with a slightly different but distinct emphasis is superb.
While this is not what I expect to like, I do, and that is part of this journey. Good thing is Megan loves Dusty and has some of her albums already, so when I get the itch, I can always chuck them on.
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The Sonics - Here Are The Sonics - 1965
This rock album seems pretty rawly produced on all fronts. Drums and guitars are a bit fuzzy, and when the vocalist delivers screams it often distorts. That said, there is still a lot of energy in the performances here. Even if things are a bit sloppy, it still exudes an undeniable energy, and it just feels like the band is having a good time and it rubs off. It's a really big stretch, but it's just reminded me of Nirvana and the grunge movement in that kind of sound; not polished or well produced, but it all comes together.
Even though it is inconsistent there is a bit of vocal range on the album. Weirdest of all is 'Village Idiot' which is Jingle Bells sung like he has mental retardation. I have no idea what this is doing on the album; I can only imagine this is like hidden or bonus parody tracks we've had in recent decades. The album opens with the single 'Witch' , which I presume is their own concoction amongst a number of well known tracks which I can only imagine are covers, but 'Witch' has a really captivating tune that draws you in from the outset.
I don't know whether this is an album that I will revisit, but one of the quotes from the book is interesting. "The Sonics weren't great musicians, but they had this magic thing' - Buck Ormsby, signed the Sonics. After listening to the album, I think I would have to agree.