Tom Scott - Tom Scott & the L.A. Express [Yes, we are back!] If you know Tom Scott only for his Starsky & Hutch soundtrack, then … & the L.A. Express, from 1973 is just up your alley - then saxophone-driven funky jazz/fusion songs that marry intricate rhythms and surprising arrangements with absolute accessibility. This is an easy album, easy in the good sense.
Scott has been a session man on more records than can be mentioned here (George Harrison, Blondie, Michael Jackson, Grateful Dead, Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan… I told you there’s a lot of them!), was one of the founders of the Blues Brothers Band, and is also a composer and a producer. His father, Nathan Scott, was the composer of over 850 TV scores - and Tom wrote the score for Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.
The L.A. Express was a formation that originally backed Joni Mitchell on some of her 1970s records. Over the time, the band (that has only two records in its name) featured Larry Carlton and Joe Sample, among others.
The perfect record for a busy morning, Tom Scott & the L.A. Express can be heard on Spotify (where for some reason one of the tracks, the absolutely fabulous Sneakin’ in the Back, is not available - go figure)
https://open.spotify.com/album/1gCpJwlF8TitsUrWU2bNkf
#jazz #fusion #funky #tomscott #laexpress
Tedeschi Trucks Band - Revelator
Formed in Jacksonville in 2010, the Tedeschi Trucks Band built a very strong reputation as a live outfit before debuting in 2011 with Revelator, and incredibly solid selection of blues tracks that the following year won the Emmy Award for Best Blues Recording and topped the Blues charts everywhere.
I have a discontinuous relationship with the blues, mostly thanks to an old colleague whose insufferable attitude and penchant for sombre, funeral-march blues songs, made me extremely wary of the genre.
But I am always very happy to make a happy discovery, and Revelator is a happy discovery indeed, and a happy record - showing all the vitality and energy of the blues.
Fronted by husband-wife guitarists Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, the Band serves a guitars/organ/brass sound that while firmly traditional is also not afraid to update the old standards, with the added value of Susan Tedeschi’s Bonnie Raitt-esque, supple vocals.
A great recording by a great band, Revelator worked just as such for me, and the revelation left its sign.
Check out the Tedeschi Trucks Band - you can listen to Revelator on Spotify, and it’s the perfect record for these hot days of summer.
https://open.spotify.com/album/3nvebrk47Qs9bTipgUgup7
#tedeschitrucksband #tedeschitrucks #blues
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra - Rossini Overtures
Gioachino Rossini, the man who listened to a coloritura soprano thrilling her heart off on one of his works and commented “Nice, who wrote that?” was probably a pain in the backside for musicians - he wanted the music executed exactly as written. No directorial leeway for the guy.
What would he have made of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, that performs without a director after all the members of the orchestra had had their input on the execution?
But Gioacchino Rossini loved good music, loved his own music a lot, and he’d certainly be impressed by this selection of his overtures, published in the mid-80s by Deutsche Grammophon, and aligning his overtures in an energetic, accessible and at the time cheap (that for poor student me was a blessing) recording.
There is not much to say - this is Rossini, it’s light and breezy and subtly (or not-so-subtly) tongue in cheek, and it’s been played by excellent musicians that are clearly enjoying themselves a lot.
You might need to check this out, especially if you are not “into” classical music, and you can find it on Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/album/7h59rlr5MtWfk1fQLu0jYL
#rossini #gioachinorossini #orpheuschamberorchestra #deutschegrammophon #overture
Cold Blood - Thriller!
Cold Blood’s 1973 Thriller! Got alot of press for the wrong reason when in 1978 it was singled out as an example of the kind of album that was somehow related to domestic violence because of the cover art. By that time the band had dissolved, but that was not considered relevant. Things were always weird, apparently, even before the internet.
Bay Area r’n’b funk band Cold Blood featured a full lineup featuring horns, organ and searing guitar, the whole in the service of young Lydia Pense, whose scorching vocals were regularly got her compared to Janis Joplin. Cold Blood was in the same business of outfits like Tower of the Power, Blood Sweat and Tears or the early Chicago but despite Pense’ incredible vocals and fresh arrangements, they failed to make an impact, and after six albums and a Best of they disbanded and went their separate ways, only to reform in the late ‘80s.
Thriller! is a tight and powerful collection of highly energetic songs, seven long and articulated tracks that showcase the band’s skill and inventiveness. Pense, backed by the Pointers Sisters, must be heard to be believed. The record has aged incredibly well, and one could recognize hints of Cold Blood’s influence in artists as different as Steely Dan and Yoko Kanno. The sound is clean without feeling aseptic, and the cover of Stevie Wonder’s You Are the Sunshine of My Life manages to be respectful and innovative at the same time.
Obscure to many, forgotten by most, Cold Blood remain probably my favorite r’n’b/funk band, and Lydia Pense a special icon of mine.
You can listen to Thriller! On Spotify, and be amazed.
https://open.spotify.com/album/0p2lWjdvrFrqhUTgX2W2d4
#coldblood #funk #rhythmandblues #rhythmandbluesmusic #lydiapenseandcoldblood
Kate & Anna McGarrigle - Dancer with Bruised Knees
It took me a while to decide which McGarrigle album to review first - I’ve been listening to a few of their records recently, and on one hand it would have been proper to talk about French Record, because it was the first McGarrigle album I bought, but then I decided to go for the second album I got, that also happens to be the second album by Kate & Anna: Dancer with Bruised Knees, from 1977.
The McGarrigle sisters, from Montreal, usually get labelled as folk rock, and I won’t dispute that: with a sound that reminds me sometimes of Little Feat, at other times of Van Dyke Parks, and alternating upbeat honky-tonk tunes to more traditional vocal harmonies-laden French ballads, the record is very much an artefact of its time. What makes it strong, and unique, and still fresh after forty-odd years is on one hand the beautiful performance of the two singers, and on the other hand a biting humor that sneaks into the folksy ballads and turns them into tongue-in-cheek exercises in social commentary.
After making it big with their first song, Heart like a Wheel, that was covered by Linda Ronsdstand, the McGarrigle sisters became a much respected but not so popular act on their own. Recorded with a support band that included John Cale and Steve Gadd (but high-profile guest musicians were a standard on the sisters’ records), the twelve songs on Dancer with Bruised Knees turn the tables on the folk scene and its sombre, often downright lugubrious aura, and are a fun, heartfelt and wonderfully produced program.
You can listen to Dancer with Bruised Knees on Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/album/6cyx1L2WhlUhxLNABEgUHj
#kateannamcgarrigle #mcgarrigles #mcgarriglesisters #folkrock #folk #1970s
The Left Banke - There’s Gonna Be a Storm
With harpsichord, guitars, drum and bass, a steady beat, occasional strings and vocal harmonies lifted (mostly) from The Zombies, New York-based The Left Banke were the Yankee response to the British Invasion, and contributed to create a sound that would afterwards be associated in popular imagination with California and San Francisco and the Summer of Love.
They published only two records in 1967 and 1968, before a reunion in the mid ‘80s, and are today a cult band whose influence extends beyond the boundaries of ‘60s nostalgia - their songs being covered by unlikely characters such as Alice Cooper, Mathew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs and Belle and Sebastian. And of course they were the band in which David St Hubbins of Spinal Tap (actually musician and actor Micahel McKean) played guitar.
There’s Gonna Be a Storm collects all the material the band recorded between 1966 and 1969, when they disbanded following internal tensions. Certainly an acquired taste, The Left Banke are usually labelled as baroque pop, and it’s a fitting definition. They did not invent anything that had not been done already on the other side of the Atlantic by the Beatles, the Kinks, the Zombies and Manfred Mann. But they were there, in a particular moment in time, and this collection feels like a message from a parallel universe: it’s the end of the ‘60s, There’s Gonna Be a Storm, and the Left Bank are going to sing through it. You can check their songs out on Spotify.
https://open.spotify.com/album/4Tu1drZvE6VDoZNGBtYTVi
#baroquepop #theleftbanke #1960s #spinaltap
Joe Jackson - Live 1980/86
Released in 1988, Live 1980/86 chronicles - as the title says - Joe Jackson’s live performances over six years, during the tours to promote Beat Crazy (1980), Night and Day (1982-83), Body & Soul (1984) and finally Big World (1986). In this span of time, the recordings capture Jackson’s evolution, from new wave hellraiser to a more measured, sophisticated jazz-influenced, unique musician.
This record’s time-span also captures my high school years, and as I listened to it today I was thinking that should I ever choose a soundtrack for those eventful six years (I repeated the second year, having changed school), this double album would be absolutely perfect. There is in the shifting tone of the songs and interpretations, that I can relate quite effectively with the confused years of adolescence and the slow - and stop-and-go - path towards adulthood. And yet Joe Jackson’s songs are very grown up in their looking at adolescence (On Your Radio, Is She Really Going Out With Him, real Men) - and indeed listening to Joe Jackson was a grown up thing back then: let the kids debate Duran versus Spandau, some of us were sophisticates that listened to songs like Stepping Out and Breaking Us In Two as we moved on to concerns that songs like Sunday Papers or You Can’t Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want) perfectly photographed. In this way, Live 1980/86 accompanied us along, and as the notes of the haunting arrangement of Stepping Out sounded through the loudspeakers of our home stereos, we were ready to step out in another act of our life.
The executions on the double record are pitch perfect, the work of a group of musicians working like clockwork, for the delight of an audience that like the tone of the songs shifts from rowdy sing-along crowd to an awed hall clapping.
I am very attached to this record, I’ve got the double vinyl, but you can listen to it on Spotify, and see how it was back then.
https://open.spotify.com/album/5lUGdLmNLEk2GEPzDL14mo
#joejackson #live #newwave #jazz #rock
Rose McDowall - Cut with the cake knife
The title of this collection of songs recorded in the late ‘80s but released in 2004 is perfectly fitting: Rose McDowall sings often cruel lyrics to sparse synth and drum-machine arrangements using the sweetest voice possible, the cutting edge hidden behind a dreamy tone and the guest musicians invisible in the background.
Originally half of the Strawberry Switchblade, Glaswegian McDowall is a tragically underrated songwriter, whose post-Switchblade career has followed a twisting path, appearing on records by a number of bands (notably Coil, Current 93, Death in June, Nurse with Wound) and producing a string of records that ranged from quasi-folk to synth-pop, always showing great courage and inventiveness, originality and vitality.
The songs on Cut with the cake knife, some of which had been written for the second Switchblade album, are pop and fun, alternating ballads and upbeat tunes, and if the overall effect of McDowall’s ghostly voice and unexpected lyrics coupled with the very 80s sound is weird, the artist is probably happy with it, weirdness being one of her things. And this is good weirdness - just listen to Sixty Cowboys, So Vicious, Crystal Days or the killer, almost lo-fi rendition of Blue Oyster Cult’s Don’t Fear the Reaper.
You can get a taste of the weirdness for yourself via Spotify, and listen to Cut with the cake knife.
https://open.spotify.com/album/6pdefPP2o5ZGITAcq2QnCh
#rosemcdowall #indie #synthpop #punk #indiemusic #dark
Camel - Rain Dances
Often incorrectly associated with the Canterbury Scene and other British progressive bands, Camel started in 1971 Guilford and its main connection with the Canterbury Sound was the presence - much later - of various members of Caravan in the line-up.
The brainchild of poly-instrumentalist Andrew Latimer, Camel were originally offered a sponsorship from he eponymous cigarettes brand, but they decided to go their own way. They produced a number of concept albums, most famously The Snow Goose, based on the Paul Gallico novel (Gallico was not impressed) and Naked, about the story of a Japanese soldier abandoned on an island and carrying on the war well in the ‘60s.
Rain Dances, published in 1977, was the first album from Camel I ever heard, having picked it up at random during a shopping spree (it was probably 1985), and showcases the classic style of Camel outside of the strict bounds of a concept album. Ten songs that feature intricate, jazzy instrumentals and occasional vocals. Latimer’s guitar and Peter Bardens’ keyboards and organ are full front and define the texture of the album. Brian Eno and King Crimson’s Mel Collins make an appearance.
Considered at the time by some “a failed attempt at a commercial record”, Rain Dances is extremely consistent and forty-odd years after its release it’s still an incredibly solid record - if you have the patience to listen through it and don’t look for silly pop ditties.
You can judge by yourself listening to Rain Dances on Spotify.
https://open.spotify.com/album/5g9XeA0rKJANXqwOVio3o4
#prog #progmusic #camel #andylatimer #raindances
Elvira Rios - Tropical Nights
Strange connections: you are looking for a book, browsing Amazon, and you find a collection of songs recorded in 1940, and it looks intriguing.
Mexican singer and actress Elvira Rios was born in 1913 and was a major artist in the “half-voice” style of Spanish singing. The eight songs in Tropical Nights are classics of Mexican and Cuban music and the record conveys a black-and-white movie atmosphere, all nightclubs and palm beaches under the moon.
The record is considered a classic, so much so that twelve years after its publication, critics where still enthusing about it:
"If you enjoy Latin American music in a quiet vocal presentation, you may enjoy this record. Miss Rios brings admirable restraint of performance to these eight south-of-the-border standards and takes her place as an outstanding vocalist along with some of the well-known [Mexican] males: Nestor Chayres, Tito Guizar, and others" (High Fidelity Magazine, 1952).
To me, the biggest surprise was finding in this collection a few songs that my grandmother used to sing. Living as she did on the other side of the globe, she had probably learned them through those movies I mentioned.
You can listen to Tropical Nights on Spotify, and it’s quite right for a hot summer night.
https://open.spotify.com/album/1TeZYa6zW1TUH1dyJXymZA
#elvirarios #lounge #tropical #cubanmusic #mexicanmusic #1940sfashion
The Baltimore Consort - La Roque’n’Roll
Published in 1993, La Roque’n’Roll is a fine showcase not only of the musical skills of the members of the Baltimore Consort, but of their approach to early music: this is a collection of pop songs from the renaissance and the middle ages, what they would have played on jukeboxes back then, had they had jukeboxes. This was rock’n’roll, back then.
The Baltimor Consort was established in 1980 as an ensemble performing early music, but their repertoire does not include only “classic” compositions, but also what could be considered popular and folk songs. The classic formation as featured on this record comprises Custer LaRue (soprano), Ronn McFarlane (lute), Mary Anne Ballard (viols, fiddle), Larry Lipkis (bass viol, recorder), Chris Norman (flutes, bagpipes, bodhran), Howard Bass (bandora), and Mark Cudek (cittern, bass viol). The twenty-three songs on La Roque’n’Roll include traditional ballads as well as French and Italian songs by Michael Praetorius, Adrian Le Roy and Giovanni Bassano, among others. Not exactly court music, but a fine selection of what was popular once upon a long ago.
You can listen to La Roque’n’Roll on Spotify, and it makes for some fine, relaxing listening.
https://open.spotify.com/album/7lu22R4cHcZupdP3Oc15Cq
#renaissance #baltimoreconsort #earlymusic #folk #ancientmusic
Tokyo Jihen - Sports
Tokyo Jihen (aka Tokyo Incidents) was superior to the sum of its parts: born as the band supporting Sheena Ringo in her live concerts, it evolved into a “proper band” in which all members shared writing and arranging credits. The band was composed of Ringo Sheena (vocals), Ukigumo (guitars and backing vocals), Ichiyo Izawa (keyboards, synthesizers, electric guitars), Seiji Kameda (bass) and Toshiki Hata (drums, percussion) and it sounded like a million dollars. Fronted by charismatic and diabolically versatile Sheena Ringo, Tokyo Jihen were able to range across the whole spectrum, from jazz to noise, from classic French-style chanson to urban soul to snappy pop numbers, coupling extraordinary technical prowess and an authentic sense of fun. These were musicians doing what they were doing best, and having a ball of it.
Published in February 2010, by the end of the year Sports was the number 1 Japanese record on iTunes. Like all other titles from Tokyo Jihen, the record references a genre of TV program (other LPs are Adult, Variety, Discovery and Education), and the 13 songs share a vague sport theme, but are otherwise all over the place musically. And yet what could sound as an heterogeneous collection of strange songs comes across as a fun and varied programme, full of energy and intelligence. But enough of my fanboy rants - you can listen to Sports on Spotify and judge for yourself if these guys were not the best in the field.
https://open.spotify.com/album/5Gslq3e8XngG3BZfrpvhaU
#sheenaringo #ringosheena #tokyojihen #incidentstokyo #jrock #jazz #synthpop
