An Ear For An Era: 1992

I think I remember watching the olympics in 1992. Not sure what else happened. The gulf war happened. And growing up and whatnot. Lots of music came out. Eventually, I would discover lots of it. And here I am, rediscovering or whatever. But again, let's start with "Weird Al" Yankovic.

Off The Deep End represents a transition to me. 1992 must have been around the time I was really getting into Weird Al because most of his music was pre-existing when I did so. But then my friend Bryden had his brand new album. I think it took me a while to get this one personally. Just listened to it at his house. I think it was the first Weird Album I got on CD too as opposed to tape. So what of the content? Well, the famous "Smells Like Nirvana" was my first exposure to Nirvana. Which is a fine way to be introduced to them I think. "Trigger Happy" was a song I listened to a lot last time the gun control debate got all fired up. "I Can't Watch This" tells me that MC Hammer must have been popular around this time, which gives me some context for the less cool hip hop of the time. Overall though it's kind of an average Weird Al CD. With some great standouts.

Another quick hip hop rundown!
Beastie Boys Check Your Head. I guess this had them playing their own instruments for the first time since the early days so that was the big deal there. There's no insano production on this, a few showy instrumental tracks, and a lot of fun attitude. Like they are known for. Yep. Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde may have been my favorite hip hop album of 1992 because it's so gleefully weird. Like...bizarre! Is it wack? Is that was Del was rapping about when he rapped about wack MCs? Whatever, I dig it a lot.

The Pharcyde "Officer"

Gang Starr's Daily Operation had one of the greatest DJs ever in Premier. So did Pete Rock & CL Smooth. Mecca & The Soul Brother. My buddy raves about this album and for good reason. The beats are pretty amazing and overall it just kind of reminds me of the natural progression from Paid in Full. Speaking of them, I hit another Eric B & Rakim album Don't Sweat The Technique. Rakim hits a little harder this time and got political. Like on "Casualties of War" about PTSD. There was a war going on, wasn't there? A little one called Desert Storm. The several tracks across different genres addressing this reminds me of that war. As a pre-political 9-year-old I didn't know much about it and today it seems quaint compared to the more recent Iraq war, but it sucked for many people.

So that takes us to punk rock, which also had a lot to say about Desert Storm. Fifteen's album Swain's First Bike Ride feels like the new hippie movement or something to me. Tons of songs about loving your neighbor, nonviolent revolution, etc. Very idealistic. Bikini Kill's first record (I have it in the format of "The C.D. Version Of The First Two Records" but this was the self-titled EP) had a lot to say in the era of malls and whatever else stereotypical girls were doing in this time, making "Double Dare Ya" that much more poignant. Back to Desert Storm, Skankin' Pickle was still the goofiest band around and had "The Hussein Skank" on Skankin' Pickle Fever. Not a very political take on the war. They had a few political songs but continue to be remembered for the goofy stuff like "Pseudo Punk," "Whatever Happened," and of course "I Missed The Bus," which is a way better song about missing the bus than Kris Kross.

And Green Day! Those guys. I got Kerplunk after Insomniac was popular. I think I had a gift card to Best Buy so I got that one. I remember getting it because it was a Green Day album my brother didn't already have. In retrospect I can say that it is proof that they've always done catchy punk pop songs and people couldn't justifiably call them sellouts for Dookie. At the time though I mostly just got amused by the joke song "Dominated Love Slave" and liked the cover of "My Generation."

Plays Pretty For Baby by Nation of Ulysses is a very strong, hard album that seems like the midpoint in the path from Gang of Four to Refused. Maybe closer to the side of Refused. Anarchy, hardcore, post stuff, passion. I can't find "Last Train To Cool" on youtube but seek it out. Seek out this whole album. I don't know if I'm in the minority, but I put Plays Pretty For Baby over 13 Point Program in my NoU rankings.

Enough serious punk rock, NOFX were (are still?) the kings of jackass punk rock. White Trash, Two Heebs & A Bean takes me right back to high school. There are some decent straight up punk rock tracks (but Punk in Drublic is better for that purpose) but mostly this album is memorable for its jackass tracks. "Bob" about a guy going straight because his liver is shot, set to a ska beat. A Louis Armstrong style cover of "Straight Edge" by Minor Threat (so dripping with irony). Etc. Etc. And this song, which is probably the snarkiest thing they did.

NOFX "Please Play This Song On The Radio"

What about the super serious punk rockers? Or emo rockers? Bivouac was always my go-to Jawbreaker CD. I never got 24 Hour Revenge Therapy so Bivouac was mine. Very solid, some feel good tracks and some feel bad tracks. I also got it in the midst of a breakup. So kind of my go-to emo album as well.

OK how about Pavement? They made their big debut here. Slanted & Enchanted is a brilliant indie rock album that is so 90s indie rock. My brother got me into them soon after he went to college. Full of great mixtape fodder like this one.

Pavement "Here"

I think diRty is one of my favorite Sonic Youth albums as far as catchy noise goes. It's a catchy one, that's for sure. Were they getting popular around this time? Asking for a friend.

Pulp was really starting to get to be a great band around this time. That is a baseless accusation about their earlier work. I did enjoy the earlier songs I have. But here's where "Death Comes To Town" (and remix "Death Goes To The Disco") come in. A song I was told to put on a dance mix back in '04 or so and have been obsessed with ever since. Separations is the album. Those are bonus tracks though. Separations is great too though.

Pulp "Death Goes To The Disco"

What about those veterans? I've already written so much about them but they had to go and keep putting out solid stuff!

Neil Young's Harvest Moon is one of his best, maybe his best of the 90s. I need to give it more spins. But opening track "Unknown Legend" holds a special place in my heart because Tunde Adebimpe from TV On The Radio sang it in the movie Rachel Getting Married and my wife is from a small town too.

Tom Waits' Bone Machine. My one thing about this album is that it shares its name with a Pixies track. Not sure if that's a coincidence or what. But the album! So great! I can't even figure out how to write about it! But for someone who has put out so much gold, this one manages to stand out as one of his best.

Sorry about all the super short paragraphs about brilliant albums. It's getting late.

Other Stuff:

• Friday I'm in Love. Apparently The Cure were still at it, making giant hits and stuff.
• R.E.M. continued to push boring 90s rock forward. "Everybody Hurts" is so ridiculously sad it's almost funny though.
• A sound clip from Army of Darkness came up. Crazy that that was 1992. I didn't get into it until around '97 but one of my all time favorite movies!
• Thanks to Going Simpsonic With The Simpsons, I know that the softball episode aired in 1992. A long time favorite.
• There's Rage Against The Machine, doing their thing being pissed off about war as well.
• I have some Don Caballero material from 1992 thanks to the Singles Breaking Up collection but I don't yet have much to say about it. Quintessential math rock.
• "Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta" speaks to me as a white collar white male working in a corporate environment. Thanks, Office Space!
• Somewhere Between Heaven & Hell was my first Social Distortion studio album back in the day. It confused me because I thought it'd be more punk rock. Still enjoyable to this day though.
• My first instance of the Flaming Lips! Good spacey indie rock that would be developed and developed more and more.

Next Time...

I might be a minute. I just got some more new stuff that I need to listen to at least a couple times to fully appreciate. Tune-Yards, Cloud Nothings, Lykke Li, The People Under The Stairs...artists that will eventually come up in this thing but it'll be a while still. Here's what's 1993 though:

Indie: My wife got me into Archers of Loaf. Thanks, Wife! Brainiac rules too. Mercury Rev is great. Polvo. Smoking Popes actual album! 

What do you mean "alternative?": An iconic Breeders album. The Flaming Lips break out!Nirvana bows out. Some band called Radiohead debuts (I might have a thing or two to say about this album on a personal level). Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, whatever. Frank Black goes solo! 

Punk?: Fugazi is still amazing. Man or Astroman? I do love Mekons. Mighty Mighty BossTones! And Mustard Plug (ska punk is really rolling!). Emo is extra emo with Sunny Day Real Estate. 

Hip Hop Still Golden: De La Soul continues. So does Del. Digable Planets debut! Did you know A Tribe Called Quest released a landmark album on the same day as Wu-Tang Clan?? Guru is already going jazz? I didn't realize he did that so early in his career! KRS One goes solo. 

Speaking of solo: Liz Phair

And you know the rest: Weird Al.

An Ear For An Era: 1985

I feel like I should have more to say about 1985 music. There were some all-time classics released, mostly ones that I don't have as much personal experience as would be required to do any justice to these albums. But aside from a handful, lots of it was forgettable. So this one's kind of short.

The first album that came up for 1985 was the classic Weird Al piece known as Dare to Be Stupid. One of my favorites by him, for reasons such as the Devo-inspired title track and the Kinks-and-Star-Wars-inspired "Yoda." Yesterday I was skiing in the trees and my dad once said "watch out for that tree," so for the rest of the day I had "George of the Jungle" stuck in my head. But the most memorable track on here was an early favorite for sure. Keep an eye on those background singers/dancers.

"Weird Al" Yankovic "One More Minute"

Talking Heads' Little Creatures is the first albums of theirs that I got once I got cool enough to seek them out. Opener "And She Was" might still be my favorite song of theirs. But I dig the whole thing, from "Creatures of Love" to "Stay Up Late" to "Road to Nowhere." Good travel music and such.

Minor Threat released their last music, the Salad Days EP. These three songs are pretty mellow relative to their earlier output, which I guess suggests the directions Ian MacKaye would head in his post-Minor Threat days. Speaking of stuff Iam MacKaye would go on to do, his future bandmate Guy Picciotto was making waves with Rites of Spring and thanks to him we now have lots of crappy emo music in this world. But in 1985, emo meant something very different. Not to go into a history lesson, but it's much less embarrassing to refer to this music as post hardcore or whatever than emo. End On End has nothing in common whatsoever with whatever '00s emo you have in mind when I use that word (over and over I admit). It's kind of mathy, kind of post rock, and it's very heavy. It's just the wail Guy Picciotto used here, it's otherworldly, it's coming from somewhere so deep and dark and pained.

Rites of Spring "Persistent Vision"

The Cure was also obviously a big influence on what would become fake "emo" or whatever stuff with all the mopin' around. The Head On The Door is one of their better albums in my opinion (I prefer their pop music). "Close To Me" is a top tier Cure pop single. And this album was full of pop with a darkness. I don't know. I like this song though.

The Cure "Screw"

I was a late adapter of The Jesus And Mary Chain's Psychocandy but when Stephin Merritt made all those great comments on it describing its production I knew I had to hear it. It is a huge influence on the indie pop to come. Not only Magnetic Fields, but Best Coast and Animal Collective and everyone in between. All the noise and distortion serving just to obscure the pop melodies just beneath. 

Tom Waits. Rain Dogs. The follow-up to Swordfishtrombones. More experimental jazz sorrow coolness. I can't come up with the right adjectives to describe this album. But duh. It's amazing.

Something completely different again: Remember a couple years ago when that hip hop track came out starring all sorts of giants of the genre? That was cool. And a very similar thing happened in 1985 when Fat Boys, Run-DMC, Sheila E, and Kurtis Blow got together for "Krush Groovin'." That is the jam right there.

Fishbone is red hot!! One of my favorite live shows ever is any time I ever saw Fishbone. They'll get the party going. Strangely I used to not like this song when it was played on the ska show on the college radio station KCSU when I was in high school.  But that has changed. I oddly don't have this full album but this song is worth showing a video for anyway. I need to go more obscure I think. Whatever, Fishbone is red hot!

Fishbone "Party At Ground Zero"

Other things.

• The Smiths. Have I mentioned them yet? I have the "Louder Than Bombs" (their quotation marks, not mine) collection and quite enjoy the song "Asleep." And obvious hit "How Soon Is Now" was also from 1985.
• Dead Kennedys got all serious and long songy in 1985 with Frankenchrist. No more short songs, they were now focused on creating creepy atmosphere.
• They Might Be Giants demo!
• If Kurtis Blow ruled the world...
• Prince just kept being awesome with Around The World In A Day. "Raspberry Beret" was the big hit but the whole album is catchy as hell.
• Brian Ferry's Boys and Girls is pretty awesome.
• Mekons were quite good.
• The Descendents' second album took a turn for the pop. I don't mind that at all, but some of the magic of the first album is gone. They're still good at the pop stuff though.
• Tears For Fears accomplished some strange feat of sounding so dated and 80s yet aging so well. "Everybody Wants to Rule The World," "Head Over Heels," "Mothers Talk," Songs From The Big Chair is just so inspiring to listen to.

Next Time...

I'll do better. Ha! I know I phoned it in this time. Sorry. At least I picked good clips to show you. But I'll have plenty to say about 1986 because The Beastie Boys! And Big Black! And my TWO FAVORITE Elvis Costello albums. And the actual debut of They Might Be Giants. And another classic from "Weird Al" Yankovic.

An Ear For An Era: 1983

All right, here it is. I'm going to see how this music of my birth year defines me as a person. From the timeless to the cheesy to the timelessly cheesy. Okay.

I was born in April of 1983. One album listed on Wikipedia as being released in "April 1983" was Minor Threat's only actual album Out of Step. I have a lot of love for this album. It exemplifies the greatness of Ian MacKaye's lyrics from the clarification of the title track (insisting that he doesn't care if you drink/smoke/etc he just doesn't happen to care for it) to the satire of the closing track "Cashing In." There's a bit more complexity to the music on this album, they started turning into something more. But still with the energy level that I love about them.

Minutemen sure doubled down on Double Nickels On The Dime. (DAMNIT I just saw it was released in 1984, not 1983. Someone needs to go through my music and correct all the dates! I'll still write about it here though because I listened to it in a slightly-incorrect context). This is all I have from them at the moment but I'd like to hear more. I kind of liken this album to a more stripped-down version of Gang of Four. The same rhythm attack is there in the bass and drums, but they were not trying to make you dance. It's thinking music. And it's 43 tracks long, so it's a commitment. It's got punk rock rage without being dumbed down and it's not afraid to slow it down. There's way too much going on for someone like me without more time to devote to it to give it justice, but just listen to "West Germany." I think it covers what I've said here. Unfortunately, people that put stuff on youtube are strange so I can't find just this track. Here's apparently the full album in youtube format. "West Germany" is probably around the 45 minute mark (or just listen to the whole thing, why not??).

Minutemen Double Nickels on the Dime

Latter era Ramones are a strange beast. Oddly enough, Subterranean Jungle is the first Ramones album I got because I gave vague instructions one year that I wanted Ramones albums for Christmas and this is what I got. Of course I knew the classic early hits so this wasn't my first exposure to them as a whole, but this album wasn't exactly what I was looking for. I listened to it quite a bit anyway though, and then didn't, so this album still takes me back to those days. It's more of a classic rock/pop album, not really trying to be punk amongst an era of great artists running with what they had kickstarted only 7 or so years earlier. But it really just feels out of touch, like a band of grandpas trying to fit in. Or dads I guess. At least on tracks like "Time Bomb" about how "I'm gonna break every rule" and "I'm not gonna stay in school." Fake rebellion that is not sold by the music or the vocal delivery. But I do enjoy the songs that play to their pop strengths, like this one.

Ramones, "My-My Kind of a Girl"

Kind of a timeless song on an otherwise cheesy/dated album. Now let's flip it.

Tom Waits' Swordfishtrombones is crazy. And timeless. And one of the greatest albums ever recorded, really. It starts off with Waits screaming over a circus, includes allusions to everything he's done in the past (some spoken word content, some beautiful ballads, etc), but it's all so different. The music particularly. This is where he turns "unclassifiable" in my genre labels. Because what is this, aside from amazing? It's heartbreaking all over the place, but it's a rough-and-tumble ride through rage and such a high level of "cool" that only a few people in music have ever accomplished. Basically he could have farted into the microphone and it would have been amazing. This was ten years into an already incredible career, in the midst of an incredible string of albums, in a way that just makes everything he would do from now on "credible." And he ran with it, producing it himself, throwing everything at the wall, and all of it managed to stick.

Tom Waits "16 Shells From a Thirty-Ought Six"

The only full Daniel Johnston album I have is Yip/Jump Music. Super lo-fi bedroom recordings, simple songs with outrageously simple arrangements, but it's all just straight from the heart and it hits you in the heart in the most direct way that music can. He is such a great writer in the way he manages to distill it down to a few simple words.

Now we'll begin our drift from the timeless back to the dated, but this one is still timeless in a way that it doesn't matter that it sounds exactly like it's from the early 80s. I'm speaking of course about Talking Heads' Speaking in Tongues. Past their original era, past their work with Eno, they were now well-seasoned veterans of great composition. And I guess this is their most popular album because of "Burning Down The House." Which is a great house-burning track for sure. But I think "Girlfriend is Better" is a better single.

David Bowie also was getting very popular with Let's Dance, the title track of which was the #1 song in the UK on the day I was born. I used to like that track, but it's been overplayed which makes me realize that there's just not that much to the song. There are a couple other good songs on the album, but it's just not up there. And looking through what I have coming up, there's barely any Bowie I have from 1983 to 2001. I'm sure there's some good stuff I'm missing, but I think this marked the end of his great era of art rock dominance before some great comeback material he would later come back with.

New Order. "Blue Monday." One of the great house burners of the 80s and 80s revival nights and so 80s but so good. I've heard this song tons of times without getting sick of it. It comes from Power, Corruption & Lies, the only New Order album I actually own aside from their 2005 return. "Age of Consent" is a good opener, "Your Silent Face" is a good deep cut that you should listen to if you haven't, but "Blue Monday" is just one of those songs.

And now for the timelessly cheesy.

Whenever anyone tries to ask me my guilty pleasures, I have a hard time with that question. I don't think musical pleasures should be guilty. No matter what. But then I say something along the lines of "people might consider "Weird Al" Yankovic a guilty pleasure, but there's so much talent and intelligence there, and so many of my peers grew up on him that he's pretty universally loved." I don't know why that's in quotes, that's the first time I've expressed it exactly like that. But he's just great and his self-titled debut already has so much going on. It was my brother that had his self-titled tape on cassette, and the reason I got into Weird Al. We would listen to it a lot and laugh about the moaning/grunting guy that randomly popped up in "Another One Rides The Bus." And the wordplay of "Gotta Boogie." And playing "Happy Birthday" on people's birthdays. And thinking that "Stop Draggin' My Car Around" was an original and someone should reverse-parody it with "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" (turned out that already did exist as a song that was being parodied by Al, of course). And this music video, oh this music video:

"Weird Al" Yankovic "I Love Rocky Road"

Rocky Road is one of my favorite ice cream flavors and now I'm not sure if that is because of this song or not. I just can't remember if it was the reason I first tried it, if it's the reason I repeatedly asked for it afterwards, or what. I'm sure it had some influence though. But marshmallow in chocolate ice cream is a brilliant idea.

Now the guy that probably could be considered a guilty pleasure if I'm being honest. 80s Billy Joel holds a significant place in my heart even though in my heart I know his 70s output has to be better. I think my parents probably just listened to An Innocent Man a lot and because it's so catchy it caught on with me as well. Once I was talking to Neil of The Lawrence Arms about Billy Joel, insisting this was his great achievement, but now I'm kind of embarrassed for saying that because his 70s stuff probably was his great achievement. Even from the perspective of accepting that everything he did was cheesy. But An Innocent Man is all songs I know from my childhood, and I know it's silly but "Uptown Girl!" (particularly thanks to the hippie episode of The Simpsons) and the a capella "For The Longest Time!" Even in college this was one of the albums I would put on before going out, listening to this song to get me excited about hanging out with a girl I had a crush on (nothing ever happened because I didn't "Tell Her About It").

Billy Joel "This Night"

So let's see what defines me based on my birth year. Creative, punk rock, artistic but simple, and not afraid to be silly and downright cheesy. Sounds about right.

Other commentary:

• Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" came up. It's a good rocker.
• Madonna's first single "Holiday" is a pretty good one there.
• I quite enjoyed "Radio Lover" by George Jones. A good story, gets country sad of course.
• "Every Sperm is Sacred," of course. Monty Python and whatnot.
• I don't have Sports, a purportedly great Huey Lewis & The News album according to some media (American Psycho). But according to Bender on Futurama, it didn't age well. All I had was "I Want a New Drug" which is entertaining enough and reminds me of more incoming Weird Al.
• Just a couple Prince singles for 1983, but both are great jams. "Delirious" and a dance remix of "Little Red Corvette."
• Berlin is a very dated sounding band but since Alkaline Trio and others covered them I developed an interest. I have the full album on vinyl, but all I've bothered with obtaining digitally are "The Metro" and "Sex (I'm A)," the latter of which is a pretty good entry into that whole clever sexy dance thing that got so popular in the revival of the early 2000s.
• Into to Pulp! So weird that Pulp was already up and going way back in 1983. They had a ways to go before they got to some of their later era genius though.
• For the moment Elvis Costello & The Attractions are pushed to this category. Punch the Clock is one of his lesser albums in my opinion. It's mostly all bombastic horn driven stuff and some more of that dated 80s sound. Of course there are some absolute classic greats on there. I quite enjoy "Charm School" and "Shipbuilding" is still one of his greatest ballads.
• Rick James' "Cold Blooded," later to be covered by ODB, is a great jam.
• What? They Might Be Giants AND Weird Al got going in 1983? The year I was born? No wonder I'm such a nerd! I never got as much into TMBG as I would have liked to (and I still hope to even though I'm now in my 30s) but some demos here are pretty good...
• Violent Femmes had some singles, "Ugly" and the brilliant "Gimme the Car." Wikipedia says the album I gushed about for 1982 was also actually from 1983 (April even!). Oops. I wonder how many of my dates are inaccurate, screwing this whole project up?
• I only had one hip hop jam for 1983! But it's yet another classic: "Renegades of Funk" by Afrika Bambaataa & Soul Sonic Force.
• R.E.M. had their debut with Murmur. I need to give it more spins before I say much about it. But it probably signals some big step in alt rock that should be noted.

Next Time:

Big Brother is after you! Well I'm sure my 3-year-old big brother was super sweet on 1-year-old me, but watch out! 1984! Bruce Springsteen is back to being cheesy/bombastic, hip hop starts expanding with Fat Boys and Run-D.M.C., Husker Du is the classic punk rock band, a return of Leonard Cohen, The Pogues arrive, Purple Rain falls, Scratch Acid, The Smiths, and another Weird Al classic (I might have this at the end of every "Next Time" for a while since I look in alphabetical order and they were all classics in my eyes).

An Ear For An Era: 1978

You're going to have to bear with me. I usually try to write these as quickly as I can after I finish listening to something, so I remember the thoughts I had, what I'd wanted to write, etc. But in this case I was trying to get done before a vacation, successfully finished listening to 1978 the night before, but had to pack and such and could not find time during the vacation to write it out. You know, I was busy exploring castles and cliffs, visiting whiskey distilleries and seeing the beauty of the world in general. Ireland is beautiful. I hope I can remember enough to make this a good write-up for you.

1978 was the year my older sister came from. It also featured music. A continuation of 1977 really, with expanding landscapes of punk and new wave and crappy rock and disco as well. I would also like to mention that to this point I have been including videos that are usually fan-created photo montages or whatever to the songs. Music videos were a thing now though, and the majority of the videos I've posted in this entry are actual music videos. So enjoy those!

We'll start with the fairly corporate. I didn't like Queen's (singles) output of 1977 but 1978 had three of my favorite songs of theirs. "Don't Stop Me Now" used to get me pumped up (I'd listen to it before going out when in college. Vinyl.) and then was used in Shaun of the Dead to great effect so now it makes me visualize that scene. "Bicycle Race" is my historical favorite Queen song. "Fat Bottomed Girls" is the companion piece to that.

I think this is the end of the line (for this project) for the Rolling Stones.  Some Girls was a decent album, I quite like "Beast of Burden" and "Lies." But I always just kind of think of this album as the one with "Miss You," their attempt at disco.

So while corporate rock dinosaurs were resorting to cheap ploys at relevance like disco songs, the exciting, envelope-pushing new bands like Blondie were innovating with their use of disparate genres like disco. But before I get to that, they had TWO albums out this year. Plastic Letters kind of makes me think of how much fun it would have been to see them in these days at CBGB. Deborah Harry bringing tons of attitude, the band going all over the place with jazz tunes and punk rock. And then Parallel Lines just took it further. The classic pop stylings, robotic rhythms, and yes, disco, that the band is best known for.  And a Buddy Holly cover! I like this album a lot. Here is of one of my favorite styles Blondie did, the sunny pop song.

Blondie "Picture This"

And of course I have to move on to the other big CBGB band, The Ramones. Road to Ruin is kind of their last "classic" album. After this I have a lesser album from 1983 and some various singles (and a live show from '95). They continued their blitz with fast hard songs, including the hit "I Wanna Be Sedated" but some of the songs remind me of that Blondie track above. A little bit slower, while keeping the trademark catchiness they so owned. Here is probably the most blatant version of that. I wonder if the punks were as pissed about this as they were about "Heart of Glass."

Ramones "Needles and Pins"

You know what punk band wasn't slowing down: Buzzcocks! I have Operators Manual, a collection of early singles, and the bulk of it is from 1978. Of all the 1978 examples I have, I feel like the Buzzcocks were the most like the coming-up-generation-of-punk, the focus on playing short fast songs. But the way they did it was still catchy like the Ramones. I get songs like "Noise Annoys," "What Do I Get," "Ever Fallen In Love," and "Fast Cars" stuck in my head all the time.

And The Greatest Punk Band Scratch That The Greatest Band The Clash had an album too, the somewhat unsung Give 'Em Enough Rope. It gets overlooked for not being their debut or their greatest album (London Calling) or their most experimental (Sandinista!) or their most popular (Combat Rock). But I kind of like that about this one. It's got the same energy level as their debut, is still primarily focused on punk over experiments, but it has just enough of that special edge to be interesting. It's the album that sounds like The Clash but has not been overplayed (by me at least).

OK how about new wave though? Devo made their debut with Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! Now this is punk. Completely outside the realm of what rock and roll should be expected to do, yet it's rocking. More of those robot rhythms. Completely deconstructing a rock & roll classic ("(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"), turning everything into machines including the act of prayer. The idea of this band was de-evolution. In that mindset this is the band at its most evolved. And it has to be their best album (we'll see if I take that back next time they come up here!). I've heard people talk about "nerd rock," and crediting Buddy Holly with starting that. I don't think that's accurate. Buddy Holly was super cool, he just wore glasses. Devo gave the nerds something they could understand. In a way that I think had been overlooked by the rock & roll machine up until now. The middle track is the most quintessential Devo song, the most rhythmic, and the one that includes the album title. Please note that the version below is not the one from the album (it's much slower) but this video is so amazing I have to share it. Devo was also streets ahead in regards to music videos.

Devo "Jocko Homo"

You know who else was nerdy? They Might Be Giants. Of course, they weren't around quite yet but The Residents probably were an influence on them...

The Residents "Constantinople"

Elvis Costello is still my favorite artist. Not too nerdy despite the glasses. This year he put out This Year's Model, which showed a shift towards more fast-and-loose rock and roll. The Attractions probably had a lot to do with that. But classics like "Pump It Up" and "Radio Radio" kind of define this early era of his career and they are just full of energy and spit. I also have the live album Live At The El Mocambo, which was a recent release BUT it's a performance from 1978 so I include it here. I mention that because it demonstrates the power of Elvis Costello & The Attractions as a force of nature, rolling through tracks with reckless abandon. I'm not sure if this live video is specifically The El Mocambo but it has the same energy.

Elvis Costello & The Attractions "Lipstick Vogue" (Live)

I feel a little bad for Nick Lowe. Sure, he's great and has continued his music career to this day so he has to be doing just fine, but I always just think of him as the lesser version of Elvis Costello. He produced a bunch of his records, he wrote "Peace Love & Understanding," and he put out new wavy records not too different from those of Elvis Costello's. They just don't hit the same highs for me. Jesus of Cool comes the closest though. He went a somewhat more pop route (the American title for this record was Pure Pop For Now People, which I think is an appropriate title), while undercutting everything with a cynical edge.

I don't know where else to talk about Tom Waits. Blue Valentine is yet another step toward his more experimental side, but it could still be considered part of the early period of his career. Dominated by the same coolness, jazz, and his distinctive vocals that continue to work toward what we now know. "Christmas Card From A Hooker in Minneapolis" is odd in that I have it on my Christmas music playlist but the song really has nothing to do with Christmas. Just a sad tale. I have one song from his 1980 album Heartattack and Vine and then my next Tom Waits album is Swordfishtrombones so...this is going to be the most "normal" he'll be. Next time I write about him it'll be absolutely gushing though.

Is that good enough? I think so.

Other stuff to say something about:

• I like "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty because of The Simpsons.
• Rick James, dude! I dig the song "You And I."
• I have but one early track by The Mekons, who are still going strong. This was when they were still straightforward punk..."Never Been In A Riot"
• Journey served as a fascinating way to see the terribleness that was going on in the mainstream at this time. Why do I keep it on my hard drive though?
• Willie Nelson put his trademark style on standards with the quite enjoyable Stardust.
• Marvin Gaye started emo? Maybe not, but Here My Dear is definitely a precursor to the oversharing overpresent in that genre. Unsurprisingly my favorite parts of the album are the less personal parts, such as "A Funky Space Reincarnation," which is a cool take on Mothership-style funk.
• The Cars' self-titled album to me felt like the start of the 80s. I associate them so closely with the 80s that it was weird hearing them come up, even though I also associate Devo with the 80s. The beginning of the (long drawn out) end for new wave?
• Warren Zevon's Excitable Boy is a good enjoyable album.

On The Next Installment...

The end of the 70s as we know it! I will have made it! What treasures do the rest of the 70s hold for me? How about London Calling?? Yeah. What else could I possibly need? Maybe The Cure?? The Cramps? Dead Kennedys (already!?)? Armed Forces is one of those consensus-favorite Elvis Costello albums so I'll have words about that one. Gang of Four! Michael Jackson's Off The Wall!?! And Pink Floyd's The Wall?? Weird I didn't know those were the same year! And Prince! And Talking Heads' Fear of Music. Lots of giant albums to look forward to here. Mostly London Calling though.

An Ear For An Era: 1976

Well that one just breezed by. Also I just noticed this is my 176th post on this blog. So ever since my last non-AEFAE post they have all matched like that, 175th was 1975, etc...

So 1976. It's punk or who cares, right? Kind of. Obviously there was other worthwhile stuff so I'll talk about that first.

How about the other 'unk? Funk? The first full album to come up was Mothership Connection by Parliament. One very problematic song aside ("Handcuffs," a pretty creepy song about wanting to handcuff one's woman so she doesn't leave), it is a funk party that just keeps going. Get on the Mothership, baby, and let's groove all night.

The other big soul/funk/whatever album I had from 1976 was the masterwork, the apex of the entire discography of Stevie Wonder, Songs in the Key of Life. This is something else entirely from everything else I've had to say about Stevie Wonder thus far (even though it seems I didn't really have much to say before this). It's free, it's less cheesy, it's catchy, it looks at the past, present, and future of black music. The jazz influences on here are great, particularly in the fact that he brought in Herbie Hancock for a song. It's got some disco, some funk, some soul. It has a very famously sampled beat in "Pastime Paradise" which also makes me think of 90s hip hop. I also used this as a way to get excited about my between-AEFAE-listens catchup on new music because I got the new Janelle Monae album and I feel like they share a lineage. There's love songs, there's political songs, and there is this great instrumental.

Stevie Wonder "Contusion"

Where there is funk there is disco. Well maybe not the same exact place. But funk's brother, the overachiever (commercially) of the two children of soul, the polished one that got good grades and etc, established itself alongside the punk kid named funk. Jr Walker seemed to take another turn to the disco side of things with the singles from 1976 ("You Ain't No Ordinary Woman," "I'm So Glad") and the Bee Gees were officially in full disco mode with "You Should Be Dancing." None of these songs caused much derision to me, but I know what was lurking on the charts.

David Bowie was still pretty poppy on Station to Station despite long track times (only one under 5 minutes!). Sources say that this was a transitional album from his disco/soul stuff to his more experimental phase (Berlin trilogy with Brian Eno). So it's gonna be the last "easy" one here.

I wonder if Small Change isn't Tom Waits' greatest album from this early period. Kind of his Rubber Soul, if you will. Meaning it's the one that showed the first real hints at the greatness lying ahead. All his early stuff had shades of it, but this is the album with "The Piano Has Been Drinking." And "Tom Thaubert's Blues." And "I Wish I Was In New Orleans." That last one is the reason I sought this album out. I saw a live performance of that song and it made me miss New Orleans, so I knew I wanted that song. It took me a while to track down the album at a decent price...and now it turns out to be one of his best. Still jazzy, impossibly cool, but showing flaws and maybe a little less calculated.

Tom Waits "The Piano Has Been Drinking"

The Runaways can probably be considered at least a little bit punk. Pop punk. Power pop. Something. Rock & roll. You know. Hard rock? Of 1976. They did cover a Velvet Underground song and the Blondie bassist played on this album (thanks wikipedia!) so they have their creds. I like their fire, I think of them as somewhat a rocked out/updated version of the Shangri-Las. I think mostly because the final track "Dead End Justice" is a story song with talkin' that reminds me of some of the Shangri-Las' cautionary tales. There's something more modern, more liberated (ironic I know since it's about them being in prison) about it though.

Was the first Modern Lovers album considered punk? It's at least in that school of Velvet Underground inspired, rough-and-rumbly, energized rock music. Wikipedia tells me it was actually recorded back in the early 70s but just not released until 1976. How about that. I feel like everyone should already know all these songs. Should I post one? It's one of those albums that has so many great songs that serious music people already know. So maybe I'll leave at that?

Blondie officially let me know that the CBGB scene was in full operational mode at this time. Which makes me very happy. There is something about Blondie. They were part of this scene, one of the first bands in it, and they fit in quite well...but they also played pop music. Anger about them doing a disco song seems silly because while the Velvet Underground influence is apparent and there are some moments of real punk rock (absolutely check out "Kung Fu Girls") they really were a pop band.

Blondie "In The Sun"

Patti Smith's second album Radio Ethiopia did seem to push toward a more punk rock sound, at least in some cases. Particularly the first track "Ask The Angels." But I feel like it looks forward more toward The Clash than any other punk act. It's that diverse in genre exploration while keeping the punk attitude.

So of course this is all to build up to the self-titled debut album by a band called The Ramones. The officially credited "first punk band," I am reasonably confident in saying they are the first band that the word "punk" was used to describe and while they didn't create the sound they created an identity around the sound that I don't believe I heard in this project before them. 2 minute songs, power chords, simple lyrics and simple songs. Played fast. The revolution starts here. Draw the line in the concrete. With a jackhammer. I can't really describe what I felt when it came on in my car. "HEY! HO! LET'S GO!" Turned up the volume, yelled along, and it was just a rush of excitement. We are past the boring 70s rock, time for something with real energy.

Ramones "Beat On The Brat"

Other stuff worth a word or two:

• (My) Tom Petty debut! "Breakdown."
• I may have been missing the full album, but the the hits that Queen released in 1976 were very awesome. Particularly "Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy" and "Somebody To Love."
• Nilsson's ...That's The Way It Is is (currently) the last work I have of his in my collection. He will be missed. Greatly. Appropriate that the first song on the album is called "That Is All" in addition to the album ending with a reprise of that. It's not his finest work and I'm sorely lacking in his latter era stuff but I could stand to spend a lot more time with his latter discography.
• It's for the suits man! Rumours by Fleetwood Mac. It came up after The Ramones had already refreshed me, so I was mostly bored/disinterested. They have some catchy songs (particularly album opener "Second Hand News") but even though this is a mammoth of a popular album and probably pretty critically acclaimed, the only reason I own this album is because I feel like I'm "supposed to." But in the context of this, it just reinforced that I'm a punk rock kid.

On The Next Installment...

It's hard to think that anything besides punk rock would be important in 1977. It's the year of punk! So Plastic Letters, Buzzcocks, The Clash, My Aim Is True (Elvis Costello may be my favorite artist of all time), TWO Iggy Pop solo albums, Joy Division, Rocket To Russia, Sex Pistols, Talking Heads, and Television. Whew!! But besides that, it was also the year of Saturday Night Fever, Billy Joel's The Stranger, Exodus, the first two chapters of Bowie's Berlin Trilogy, Dennis Wilson, and Kraftwerk.

An Ear For An Era: 1974

I'm running out of things to say here. I think I'm missing something. There were a few great albums in here but it mostly seemed pretty insignificant in 1974. Maybe I'm still getting over the highs of 1973 and getting excited about the advent of punk that it's not advancing quickly enough for me. Anyway, this one will be short.

It started with some really great jazz. Billy Cobham's Shabazz, a live album from a 1974 performance (oops! the official release was from 1975! no wonder it seemed so ahead of its time!) in "Europe." This was full of great trombone solos and ridiculously complicated drumming. That's mostly what I remember. I think it'd go over well with some of my friends that don't particularly listen to jazz but would be open minded enough. That whole fusion thing or whatever.

Now I'm going to write about a bunch of artists I've already written about at some point. Because there was so little "new to me" stuff in my collection from 1974. (Looking through rateyourmusic's list, I mostly missed out on King Crimson, Genesis, Brian Eno solo (damnit!), and Leonard Cohen (I thought I had all his significant releases! oops!). Among much other stuff. Remind me not to look at that again, because it reminds me how incomplete this whole exercise is!).

Stevie Wonder will be discussed now. I know Fulfillingness' First Finale is yet another acclaimed release from the golden age of Stevie Wonder, but I wish I hadn't made this promise because I don't know what to say here! It's starting to seem less cheesy as I listen to him more and more. He created quite the grooves in this era; I quite enjoy the Jackson 5 featuring "You Haven't Done Nothin'" and the ballad "Too Shy To Say" is a real showcase of his vocal talents.

But what about that Neil Young? On The Beach is an album I've only listened to once or twice, but I need to spend a lot more time with it. He was at the height of his talent in these days, and I could hang out in the nine-minute "Ambulance Blues" all day long. Is this secretly his best album? I don't know if I'm ready to make any statements like that but it's certainly underappreciated by me. 

The first Tom Waits album I ever bought was The Heart of Saturday Night. This was kind of a random choice (I didn't know where to begin) but it was a pretty appropriate one. It's a great introduction if you need to ease into his more experimental, later work. The coolness that oozes all over this album is undeniable. I think it inspired me to try to come up with a list that have that undefinable "cool" quality and nobody else really had it quite like Tom Waits on The Heart of Saturday Night. It's cooler than a well digger's ass. He'd fit well with the beat poets and whatnot. And because he's Tom Waits, he sang the saddest songs you will hear. And I now present to you: the song to play at my funeral. If it comes down to it and anyone that may read this happens to also help plan my funeral one day, it is my request that this is played.

Tom Waits "Shiver Me Timbers"

Those outlaw country guys were doin' stuff too. Willie Nelson put out Phases and Stages which was pretty good. It's nice that he had the thought to tell the story from both sides of a doomed marriage, and it's just a sad ol' time like good country oughta be. I also have Johnny Cash's Ragged Old Flag on here, for what it's worth. The title track seems like blind patriotism but sounds fairly convincing. If I want to get the people riled up on Memorial Day or something I'd play this I guess. I do still like "What On Earth Will You Do (For Heaven's Sake)" at least as far as the vocals go.

Now we'll move on to the power pop or whatever you'd call it, Big Star's other album Radio City. In my opinion it started out a bit boring but as the album moved along it got more and more interesting, more and more catchy, with the climax being (what I assume was a single) "September Gurls." I think Big Star would have been a good band to listen to in high school. Then listening to it now would be even more nostalgic.

And finally, Roxy Music's famous Country Life. I don't think it quite ranks as high as For Your Pleasure for me, but it's still very very gorgeous. The arrangements are flawless, hitting all the right notes in slow ballads, heavy brooding beats, and catchy pop tunes. I might like Ferry's vocals the most here. Here he is channeling Elvis (?)...

Roxy Music "If It Takes All Night"

Newcomers:

Some of the emerging rock n roll of this era just flew by me in that I only have some singles and not full albums. But there was the first taste of Rush with the song "Working Man." A few Queen songs as well (I have Sheer Heart Attack on vinyl but not digitally if you can believe it). "Killer Queen" and "Stone Cold Crazy" are some quintessential jams.

I guess that's all? 1974 was not a highlight here.

Other stuff worth mentioning:

• Some more James Brown funk singles from the collection I spoke of last time. Still very repetitive, still don't mind it one bit.
• Bob Marley's "No Woman No Cry" came on. I wish all of his music hadn't been ruined by frat boys everywhere. Also Eric Clapton's cover of "I Shot the Sheriff."
• In less-ruined reggae, Toots & The Maytals' cover of "Country Roads" makes me happy.
• Bowie's "Rebel Rebel" came on. Apparently I don't have Diamond Dogs. I know I have it on vinyl.
• I had a Frank Zappa epic track "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" come on. I wish I had more of his stuff.
• Nico covered "The End" by The Doors, and that was my "the end" to Nico.
• Billy Joel may be Mr. Cheesy, but "The Entertainer" is a pretty good scathing critique of the music business.
• Jr. Walker kept up the funky goodness with "Dancin' Like They Do On Soul Train." So now you know the world I've been listening to. 1974.

On The Next Installment...

I will have a lot more to discuss. We'll be past the early 70s and music will move forward with purpose thanks to artists like Bruce Springsteen, Blondie, Patti Smith, Emmylou Harris (two albums!), and Queen, while the veterans will still be putting out landmark albums like Blood On The Tracks, Metal Machine Music (is it that time already??), Nighthawks At The Diner, Physical Graffiti, Red Headed Stranger, Wish You Were Here, Young Americans, and Zuma. Looks good to me.

An Ear For An Era: 1973

Happy 40th Anniversary, All Of The Music Discussed In This Post!

Remember when the Pet Sounds 40th Anniversary Edition came out? That was already several years ago! Now some of the stuff discussed here has gotten such 40th anniversary deluxe reissue treatment but it'd be interesting to wonder why others may have not this year. Of course, it's still only August. And maybe some of the bigger ones are waiting for the big 50th. Who knows.

The stuff that came up this round can be described mostly as refreshing. Something about most of what came up was just such a step up from the last couple years, be it from refreshing "new" artists, returns of those that I hadn't heard from in awhile, or just great improvements. And funk. Somehow there was so much more funk in 1973 than the last couple years. Maybe even more than any of the previous years where I talked about how awesomely funky stuff was. Maybe. So where to begin?

Maybe I'll start with the soul/funk. Because a very indicative song came up very early. Jr Walker & The All Stars' "I Ain't Going Nowhere." This is one of my favorite songs by them, despite it being from such a late point in their career. I love the early stuff, I kind of didn't like most of the early 70s cheesy stuff, but they turned a corner in '73 with this song as well as "Gimme That Beat." Not exactly funk as far as rhythms went, but a strong, hard, northern soul sound exemplified by hard vocals and a driving fast pace that begs to be danced to and whatnot. Most of what I associate with funk without being funk.

Jr Walker & The All-Stars "I Ain't Going Nowhere"

Al Green also stepped it up (quite a bit in my opinion) with Call Me. I appreciated his wispy vocals on the earlier albums mentioned here but found myself getting bored on those ones. Call Me is a different beast to me. More rhythmic without compromising his style, I think it's mostly the production and the arrangements that make it stand out, it's just more dynamic. Just a little bit more of a beat makes it feel like it's going somewhere which makes me feel more invested.

Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On is his "other" greatest achievement after What's Goin' On. The album as a whole might not be as grand of a statement but the vocal achievement alone is his best work in that regard. And yes, the title track has become a gigantic cliche for movies to make cheesy love scenes but damn it if it isn't one of the best vocal efforts in all of music ever. Marvin Gaye puts so much soul into every syllable, running the gamut of everything in his rather extensive vocal range, all to try to seduce that special lady. It doesn't matter how much I hear this song, it doesn't matter how much movie producers try to make me hate it by associating it with garbage cheesy films, I will always love this song. And the rest of the album, yup it's pretty amazing too. Nothing as over-the-top vocally but still full of great ballads.

But what about the funk? I'm not gonna tease you that much, am I? Just mention it and then talk about other stuff? OK now. Most of my funk comes from different soul/funk rarities compilations. Like Eccentric Soul: The Prix Label from Numero Group. This may be my most recommended such compilation. Who would have guessed: Ohio soul! On it I found an irresistible gem by a ridiculously short-lived group called OFS Unlimited, called "Mister Kidneys." At the time when I first heard it I called it the funkiest song I'd ever heard. Now, that's probably not true. But still one of my favorites ever.

OFS Unlimited "Mister Kidneys"

That Prix stuff also included great stuff by Marion Black and Mitch Mitchell. I cannot recommend that compilation enough. Absolute Funk 3 is another great one. Check out Wee Willie & The Winners' "I Don't Know What You Got But I Know What You Need." And The Funky 16 Corners is another great one. Soul Vibrations' "The Dump" is another highlight.

And I can't talk about funk of 1973 without talking about the main man, James Brown! The Payback is a beautiful record, 73 minutes of pure funk gold. Almost all the tracks are marathon sessions as he was known for (all but one track are over 7 minutes, two surpass 12). It's really just the perfect James Brown album, because none of the tracks are overplayed in movie trailers to the point of cliche, it takes its time to build all the tracks out to the way they deserve to be heard, and it never gets old because anything that is repeated (and yes, lots of his work is quite repetitive) continues to sound fresh and exciting. I also have the compilation The Singles Vol. 9 (1973-1975) and four of the eight 1973 tracks are kind of variations on "Stone to the Bone" from this album with the repeated chorus "I've got a good thing, I ain't gonna give it up." And that kind of says it all. He ain't gonna give up this amazing groove, let's just keep it going for 20 minutes because it's working so well.

Let's switch gears. There's not much left to talk about before I get into what I'll call the "Hellos and Goodbyes" section that seems pretty essential to this entry.

Paul McCartney & Wings' album Band On The Run is probably the best thing he did outside The Beatles. Is that a universal sentiment? Probably? I never thought about it too much. I thought maybe his s/t was considered as such. But Band On The Run shows a maturity that most of his solo stuff doesn't seem to have based on what I've heard. These songs have different movements within them, many aspects are explored where I feel like that was missing in lots of his other solo work (as well as mini-reprises within songs of other songs that make the album at itself even more cohesive than it already is otherwise). Apparently he was still a genius in the 70s! He was holding out on us! And the stuff since this, I feel like he's holding out on us some more. Anyway, I'll be speaking later about songs I want played at my funeral...here's a song I want played at my wake. I assume I will have a wake, what with being 1/4 Irish.

Paul McCartney & Wings "Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)"

Johnny Cash is back! Kind of! I counted some stuff on Personal File, a (relatively) recent release of some stuff he worked on that was more personal, not recorded for any commercial reason, during the time he was less "active" in the commercial scene because commercial country music got less good and more bad in the 70s, as 70s because it was recorded then. This Personal File stuff was excellent, mostly completely naked arrangements of just Johnny and his guitar. Lots of covers of old songs (I was excited to hear his take on "Galway Bay" because I'm going to be visiting Ireland in a couple months and will certainly watch the sun set over Galway Bay with this song in mind) as well as some original material (one was written when he was driving from Denver to Cheyenne, which is awesome because I've been on that stretch of highway countless times in my own lifetime and I'm glad it could be inspirational). Lots of gold here.

OK now let's say some "hello"s to the freshman class of 1973, the finest we've had in quite some time. Yes, I understand that some of these artists had stuff going back even back to the 60s but my music collection isn't as all encompassing as it should be. So this is, again, based only on what I have.

There was one major voice in country music (that I can speak to somewhat extensively) emerging in 1973 and that was Willie Nelson. His album Shotgun Willie is quite wonderful, kind of a first step in the direction of "outlaw" country, "anti-mainstream" sounds of traditional country music in the face of emerging pop crap. The album title makes me laugh a bit because in Denver we have a very prominent strip club of the same name, but beyond that it's a wonderful album of country ballads and drinkin' songs. The most indicative song I can think of for what I was talking about above is "Sad Songs and Waltzes," a sad waltz that will break your heart with a chorus stating that "sad songs and waltzes aren't sellin' this year." I don't want to hear the songs that were sellin' this year because this is probably about 1000x better than that stuff.

Let's move on to...jazz? I've never known how to label Tom Waits. This early stuff could probably fit better into the jazz category (or singer-songwriter whatever that means) than other stuff. I always called him the blues even though it's so far different from blues music. But yes, his debut album! Closing Time! It just makes me so happy that from here on out there will be Tom Waits to guide me through the 70s, 80s, 90s, etc. I can keep looking forward to a Tom Waits album. This is before he got crazy experimental, it's traditional music in one sense or another of jazzy, bluesy ballads in his unmistakable voice. Here is a song that was on my shortlist to be played at my wedding. I don't know why I didn't end up putting it on the list I gave the DJ (other than deciding to surrender some creative control in the interest of having my friend that is an actual DJ make some actual DJ decisions and not just play a playlist I created), but here's a great song for other people to dance to at their weddings.

Tom Waits "Little Trip To Heaven (On The Wings Of Your Love)"

I watched a (relatively) recent New York Dolls live set where they verbalized their genre, stating "we're not punk, we're glam." Fine. But seriously, this self titled album of theirs sounds to me a lot closer to The Ramones and maybe Rancid than T Rex, Bowie, or whatever other band you'd call glam. I can see the glam in the way they present themselves, their attitude, etc. But the sound has a lot to do with punk rock. The looseness, the unrestrained energy, it's just so crass and punk rock to me. And they've been covered by pop-punk heroes The Groovie Ghoulies ("Lonely Planet Boy")! I think lots of punk groups were influenced by them (and they probably had some Stooges influence in them) so whether they like it or not they will be associated with this genre that will be fully established in 3-4 years time. It's the energy, man! Is this an actual music video?

The New York Dolls "Trash"

Roxy Music had two albums this year! One with Eno, one without. So that's exciting. It means the Eno influence/hand is entering the picture. First was For Your Pleasure. Art and rock and roll, together at last. I love this album. It's probably my favorite of their releases. There's a good amount of potential energy that builds up as the tracks go on, building and building until the payoff which is great. That sounds like it could be describing stuff from any type of music but I'm using it to describe this. Then their next album Stranded came up. It's been well publicized that this was Brian Eno's favorite Roxy Music album despite not including Brian Eno contributions. It was great but might have been missing something. I don't want to say it was a Brian Eno factor, it was something else I think. But still great. Whatever.

The most out of place entry here is Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. They were definitely around since the 60s but I don't have any of that older stuff. Is it good? Should I check it out? There's not much to say about this because it's been studied more extensively and written about in ways that I could never imagine. It's a pretty perfect LP, front to back. I haven't listened to it as much as I should, but it fit together so logically that I could tell when it hit the final track "Eclipse" that this would be it, that it was the logical conclusion and then it happened. Well played sirs.

And finally, let's say goodbye to the graduating class of 1973. Again, some of these artists released stuff after 1973 (and it's possible I'll pick some of it up in time to hear from them again here!) but it looks like they'll mostly be spent.

The Who has been a presence damn near since I started counting year-by-year. I don't really have any personal history with Quadrophenia, it's an album that I never checked out until relatively recently but it's probably the one that would have spoken to me most directly of all of theirs had I listened to it in high school when I first started getting into them. I still haven't seen the movie but the music itself sounds like a more raw exploration of pure rock & roll, a bit looser and heavier. Maybe I should look into The Who By Numbers as a worthy successor? Maybe I should. But yes, I do quite love that song "Love Reign O'er Me." Who doesn't?

But speaking of loose, heavy, raw rock & roll...Iggy & The Stooges! Their last album (until very recently) was Raw Power. There's something very interesting about the sound of this album. It's so dirty, so full of piss & piss, that it's hard to believe it's the David Bowie mix (and Iggy's sounded even "worse"). Bowie, who was the king of glam, mixed this album, a super raw and opposite-of-glam dirty angry rock & roll. Their first album was kind of a precursor to punk. The second was kind of a precursor to other hard rock styles. And this one doubles down on the punk, sounding as mean as almost any other punk rock album you'll hear. The Stooges go down in flames and they are rocking the soundtrack while it happens. After this we'll find ourselves in Iggy Solo land where he won't sound nearly as dirty or angry as he does here. But just as a finale, my copy of Raw Power came with a bonus disc called Georgia Peaches, a live performance from 1973. It's an odd recording where you can hear a quite loud woman commenting on wanting another drink among other things, Iggy trying to start a fight with someone in the crowd, and oh yeah! Music! Some songs that don't show up on any of their studio recordings, some from Raw Power, and that's it. No older songs. This is a band that didn't look back (until I saw them this century playing old hits). Nope, they knew they were the future of rock & roll and this album shows it. They just didn't care.

Where I Stand: 4833 of 37675 (currently I'm in the middle of a big mistake of ripping lots of my old CDs from high school...I'm sure I'll regret having to listen to all of this when I hit the late 90s...)

Other highlighty stuff worth noting:

• Harry Nilsson put out a standards collection called A Touch of Schmilsson In The Night. It's mostly a showcase of his great vocal work. And he picked songs that match his style well, as far as levels of wit and whatnot.
• Vince Guaraldi's "Little Birdie" was a great pop jazz tune. Yup.
• "Jungle Boogie" by Kool & The Gang. I'm tellin ya, it was a funky year!
• Stevie Wonder's cheesy-but-good streak continued with Innervisions. It probably deserves a full paragraph but I don't know what to say about it right now. I'll probably give his next one a full paragraph though.
• Waylon Jennings snuck in there with "Ain't No God in Mexico"
• David Bowie followed up the great Ziggy Stardust... with the still pretty great Aladdin Sane. I just have to make this post not too ridiculously long and keep room for the newcomers! I don't have the album Pin Ups.
• I had a bunch of stuff by Jane Birkin pop up and let me tell you one thing. Her daughter (Charlotte Gainsbourg) sounds a lot like her. Like, a lot a lot.
• Barry White's Stone Gon' is a sexy good time.
• I got my first Queen single, "Keep Yourself Alive." Yeah!
• There was a live Rolling Stones album called Brussels Affair. I've decided that for live albums I'm trying to associate them with the year of the performance, so this was a 1973 performance (that I think was recently released). I want to visit Brussels someday. In 1973 the Stones had quite a library of great material and they were near their peak, so it's a pretty great performance with lots of great songs. 
• More funk is Aaron Neville's "Hercules" produced by Allen Toussaint. Talk about a groove! It's more laid back than most of the stuff I talked about here but it's still quite great.

On The Next Installment...

Another Roxy Music album that is quite the big deal. More Stevie Wonder. Some more great Tom Waits. Keeping it coming with Big Star, Neil Young, Willie Nelson, and Johnny Cash. Not much else though. This may be the shortest one of all at 176 tracks. So...I'll be back with you soon with a short entry?