Cultural Detritus, Reviews, and Commentary
Andrew Hill – A Beautiful Day Palmetto PM 2085 (2002)
A large ensemble live set, with much of the same personnel from Hill’s successful “comeback” album Dusk. The group orchestration recalls Hill’s late-60s vocal choir album Lift Every Voice in many ways.
Anthony Braxton – Six Compositions (Quartet) 1984 Black Saint BSR 0086 (1985)
Here is one of Anthony Braxton’s most accessible albums of the 1980s — at least, one of his most accessible albums from that era featuring all original compositions. The opener “Composition No. 114 (+ 108A)” is a misstep, but the boppish nature of much of the rest of the disc is sure to please many. This is one of the better places to start with Braxton’s 80s output.
Link to an article by Sam Mitrani & Chad Pearson:
“A Short History of Liberal Myths and Anti-Labor Politics”
This article does an excellent job summarizing why Upton Sinclair called Republicans and Democrats “two wings of the same bird of prey” and why Malcolm X said, “The difference between the Republican and the Democrats is that the Republicans stick the knife in your back six inches, and the Democrats pull it out one.” However, there are a few points to quibble about. For instance, there is evidence to suggest Mayor Harrison in Chicago supported the Haymarket Martyrs — though this is tangential if not irrelevant to the overall article. More importantly, there is room to criticize some economic assumptions underlying the article. Take the claim “2. Let the banks collapse, which would have led to an even worse economic crisis than the one we experienced,” which seems dubious. Lehman Bros. collapsed. The government could have wound down the other big banks too — with the “even worse economic crisis” confined largely to the financial parasites and leaving ordinary commercial banks and credit unions intact, an overall positive result. That claim is followed-up by the (false) implication that there is a fixed money supply: “less and less money went into public services, schools, infrastructure, etc. because it had all been given to the already obscenely wealthy.” Modern Monetary Theory demonstrates how fiat money can be created by the government if there is a will to do so — the issue is lack of political will, not, as implied, a lack of actual dollars. After all, the TARP bailout money was created out of thin air! This economic history actually indicates that the government could also create money for socially beneficial programs, but chooses not to. These economic correctives actually reinforce the authors’ points, just in a slightly different way.
Bonus link: “We Need an Alternative to Trump’s Nationalism. It Isn’t the Status Quo”
Link to an article by Ted Rall:
Buffy Sainte-Marie – I’m Gonna Be a Country Girl Again Vanguard VSD-79280 (1968)
Lots of musicians “went country” in the late 1960s — think about country-rock outfits like Rising Sons and Bob Dylan going to record in Nashville. Buffy Sainte-Marie was at the front end of that curve with her 1968 album I’m Gonna Be a Country Girl Again (released shortly before Sweetheart of the Rodeo and Joan Baez‘s incursions into country). While other artists sometimes created hybrid music, Sainte-Marie for the most part made an authentic Nashville album, complete with A-list Nashville session players (Grady Martin, The Jordanaires, Floyd Cramer, etc.). This compares favorably to any late 1960s Loretta Lynn album, for example. Sainte-Marie tried all sorts of different things on her late 1960s and early 70s albums. She was remarkably versatile, and willing to venture outside folk music. Other other hand, while side one of the album is great, side two suffers from having a few songs (“Tall Trees in Georgia” and a re-recording of “Now That the Buffalo’s Gone”) that return to the folk sounds of her early career. Sticking with the Nashville sound throughout would have been more effective. Still, that is a small issue on an otherwise great album — the folk songs are fine, just out of place. For what it’s worth, it is kind of great that Sainte-Marie’s foray into country music is immune to criticisms of cultural appropriation. Would anyone really accuse a musician with native Cree heritage of that?
The album was a flop. There are numerous explanations. But among the more unusual ones was that President Lyndon Johnson sent letters to radio stations on White House stationary to convince them to blacklist her in response to her anti-war song “Universal Soldier” becoming a hit (for Donovan). Despite its lack of success at the time, this is an album worthy of reappraisal. For that matter, Buffy Sainte-Marie’s entire career deserves more attention.
Link to an article by Berîtan Sarya:
“YPJ Spokeswoman: We Also Fight for a Mental and Intellectual Liberation”
Reagan Youth – A Collection of Pop Classics New Red Archives NRA13CD (1994)
Reagan Youth formed in the early 1980s as part of the hardcore punk scene in New York. They were named “Reagan Youth” to criticize President Ronald Reagan (then just a candidate) by associating him with the Nazi Party organization the Hitler Youth. The band satirically appeared in concert in KKK hoods — bear in mind that they also played “Rock Against Racism” concerts and were staunchly anti-racist. The imagery was invoked for the purpose of critique. Their first album was an EP entitled Youth Anthems for the New Order, originally on R Radical Records (founded by MDC). That EP was later released in expanded form as Vol. 1 (AKA Come Now Jim, It Could Never Happen Here) — the added songs “No Class” and “In Dog We Trust” are better than most on the original EP. All of the original songs are classic hardcore. In 1990 they released a second album, Volume Two (AKA For God….and Country). Both of the albums are collected on A Collection of Pop Classics (and also Punk Rock New York, minus “Degenerate” for some reason).
The band’s first album is a nice slab of satirical DIY hardcore, in the vein of early Black Flag (Jealous Again). What really makes it nice is the songwriting. I sing the line ” ‘scuse me I’m not a category” from “No Class” to tease my wife all the time. I really like that song. Other songs like “(You’re A) Gonowhere” and “In Dog We Trust” are well written and performed too.
As for Volume Two, call me crazy, but some of this sounds a lot like later period Royal Trux mixed with early Rollins Band, and maybe even some Iron Maiden-type metal leanings. It was an album that could (and did) alienate fans of Reagan Youth’s pure DIY sounds on their debut, but it is just about as good as their debut. The stylistic shift in some ways mirrored one made by Black Flag in their later years. Most of the songs for Volume Two were actually old ones that the band had played around the time of the first album, but they didn’t feel were developed enough to record back then. In an e-mail, guitarist Paul Cripple (Paul Bakija) said, “it alienated a lot of the punx that only liked Volume I . . . .” He adds, “A lot of people don’t grow, especially musically and to think Reagan Youth was going to release an album, practically eight years later, that sounds just like their first…..well, those people are pieces of shit.”
The MDC song “Born to Die” was revived by Green Day at the 2016 American Music Awards, following the 2016 U.S. presidential election, with the lyrics changed to: “No Trump! / No KKK! / No fascist USA!” Reagan Youth re-formed in 2006, after the tragic death of lead singer Dave Insurgent (David Rubenstein), and seem to still be active. Will they now change their name to “Trump Youth”?