Category: music
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Huey Lewis and the News, Sports, 1983 on Chrysalis
Pretty hard to ignore this LP if you were listening to the radio (or more accurately watching MTV which showed videos then) in the early 80s. I think at the time I rejected it as too pop, but I’ve come to appreciate it now. Heart of Rock & Roll, I Want a New Drug, even…
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Roberta Flack, Quiet Fire, 1971 on Atlantic
Flack’s third album, with “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” as the hit single, but also including covers of Bridge Over Troubled Water and To Love Somebody (among others). Produced by Joel Dorn. My copy is the Vinyl Me, Please reissue from 2021, with listening notes by H. Zahra Caldwell, newly cut laquers by Ryan…
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Nat Adderley, Autobiography, 1965 on Atlantic
Original 60s pressing in mono via Island Music in Vineyard Haven. This is Adderley doing all his own compositions, with support from Sam Jones, Bruno Carr, Grady Tate, Willie Bobo, Joe Zawinul (who also arranged and conducted), Ernie Royal, Don Butterfield, Benny Power, Victor Pantoja. Julian “Cannonball” Adderley wrote the sleeve notes, including: My reference…
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M. Ward, Think of Spring, 2020 on Anti-
One of my favorite recent buys. M. Ward redoes Billie Holiday’s 1958 Lady in Satin. I loved his cover of Bowie’s Let’s Dance, and these standards take well to his vocal style, perhaps especially “I’m a Fool to Want You” and “You Don’t Know What Love is.” These are all more of less voice and…
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Caroline Rose, Loner, 2018 on New West
Rose’s third full length and first on New West. On red vinyl, packaged with a fold-out poster with lyrics on the reverse. Produced by Rose and Paul Butler with guests including Dan Davine, Brett Lanier, and John Lagone. Great songwriting – Rose builds on her earlier folksy Americana here with more synth-pop elements (lots of…
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Sia, Some People Have Real Problems, 2008 on Monkey Puzzle Records
Sia’s fourth album as a solo artist, and her first on Monkey Puzzle Records. This is right around when I first heard Sia – a version of “I Go To Sleep” ( a Ray Davies song) was on the Sounds Eclectic: Covers Project release (related to the KCRW radio sho Morning Becomes Eclectic). This copy…
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Stephane Grappelli / David Grisman, Live, 1981 on Warner Brothers.
Great combo of two talented musicians: Grappelli on Violin and Grisman on Mandolin. Recorded at the Berkelee Center for the Performing Arts in Boston. Misty, Sweet Georgia Brown, and Satin Doll. My copy found at Vinyl Destination in Lowell MA
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Freddie King, My Feeling for the Blues, 1970 on Cotillion
One of the “three kings” of the blues, this is King’s second album after signing with Atlantic (Cotillion is a subsidiary) before moving to Shelter records (Leon Russell’s label). My copy is a 2021 pressing from Vinyl Me, Please, with listening notes by Andrew Winistorfer and new lacquers cut from the original types by Ryan…
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The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Are You Experienced? 1967 on Reprise
Released in the UK on Track Record but in the US on Reprise. My copy is the 2018 reissue by Music On Vinyl (who do a great job with reissues). All analog mastering from the original mono tapes. This is a must-have, with Purple Haze, Hey Joe, The Wind Cries Mary, and Manic Depression.
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Son of the Velvet Rat, Solitary Company, 2021 on Fluff & Gravy.
11th album from Georg Altziebler and Heike Binder – their third on Portland label Fluff & Gravy. My copy via VNYL curation. I was concerned at first, not knowing the band and just reacting to the name, but I really came to appreciate the record.
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Steve Earle, I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive, 2011 on New West
Earle’s 14 album, produced by T-Bone Burnett, and featuring folks like Dennis Crouch, Sara Watkins, Allison Moorer (to whom he was married a the time). Backing vocals on “This City” from Tim Robbins and horns arranged by Allen Toussaint. Album art, as on so many Earle albums, by Tony Fitzpatrick
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Living Colour, Time’s Up, 1990 on Epic
The sophomore album from Vernon Reid, Corey Glover, Muzz Skllings, and Will Calhoun, following up 1988’s Vivid with its smash hit Cult of Personality. This is really just as strong a record, though it didn’t get as much hype: Love Rears Its Ugly Head, Solace of You, and Elvis is Dead (coming just after Public…
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Leon Redbone, Mystery Man, 1982 on Accord
Redbones’s fifth LP, and his first (and only) on Accord. There’s not much detail on the source of the material – likely recorded in the early 70s, maybe as a bootleg direct from the PA or for radio broadcast? My copy is the 1982 pressing, but this was reissued in 2021 on white vinyl by…
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Gram Parsons, Grievous Angel, 1974 on Reprise
My copy is a 2021 Vinyl Me, Please reissue, on what they call Turquoise Galaxy vinyl, with listening notes by Jonathan Bernstein. Released posthumously in 1974, with vocals by Emmylou Harris (with whom he’d been touring in 1973) and the TCB Band (Ronnie Tutt, James Burton, Emory Gordy, and Glen Hardin, plus pedal steel from…
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John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Bare Wires, 1968 on Decca
French pressing from 1968. This was the fourth Bluesbreaker’s LP, and the last of the peak 60s era (the name was used again for other releases in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s) with a lineup including Mick Taylor, Mayall, Tony Reeves, and Jon Hiseman – a bit more jazz influenced than some of the earlier…
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Katie Schecter, Bad for Business, Soul Step Records, 2021
Sophomore album from Schecter, a Nashville via New York City songwriter, singer and guitarist in a kind of R&B/Soul tradition but modern rock edge. Recorded with her partner Nick Bockrath (of Cage the Elephant), Homer “Funky-Foot” Steinweiss (who played with Amy Winehouse, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Lee Fields and others), and Nick Movshon…
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Lowe Country: The Songs Of Nick Lowe, 2012 on Fiesta Red Records
I’m a huge fan of cover albums, and especially tribute/compilations of covers devoted to specific artists. While they can be uneven, I like hearing an artists work reinterpreted in different ways. This compilation brings country, roots, Americana artists together to cover the songs of English singer/songwriter Nick Lowe. Like Elvis Costello (whom he produced, and…
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She & Him, Volume One, 2008 on Merge
Debut album for the duo of Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward. Covers of “You Really Got a Hold on Me” and “I Should Have Known Better” plus a number of Deschanel originals. Produced by Ward, with performance and mixing by Mike Coykendall and Mike Mogis. My copy via Pitchfork Records in Concord NH