Music – Page 109 – Rock Salted

Jim O’Rourke – Insignificance

Jim O’Rourke – Insignificance Drag City dc202cd (2001)

I’m not entirely sure why, but somehow Insignificance seems to be one of the great albums of its age. As a lyricist O’Rourke may not be Bob Dylan, even if most of the time he’s channeling the same mean spirit that populates “Positively Fourth Street” or Blood on the Tracks. He’s also probably not anyone’s idea of a charismatic singer. But pairing the underachieving, utter non-event of the words and vocals with the the nuanced, finely orchestrated — yet still hard driving — instrumentals and arrangements is a masterstroke of genius. Dylan carried the soul of the Beat generation to someplace new. O’Rourke carried the angst of alternative and indie rock to its pointedly ironic pinnacle. This music has an empty sophistication and sense of aimlessness that mark it as something totally representative of its time. I find the fact that it’s somewhat unnoticed to be all the more a hallmark of the diffuseness of everything it stands for.

Cecil Taylor – The Willisau Concert

Cecil Taylor – The Willisau Concert Intakt Records CD 072 (2002)

Quite possibly the most high-fidelity Cecil Taylor solo piano recording in existence. It would be hard to find another artist as deserving of such attention to detail. The performance is quite excellent too. The speed, percussive force, and density of the music provide an intensity that is very nearly that of Taylor’s monumental 1970s recordings Silent Tongues and Indent, despite his advancing years. It’s so great to see someone as boldly daring and iconoclastic as Taylor still able to keep making music like this, and for music that has changed so little over the years to still sound so fresh. It goes to show that with enough conviction the power of statements like this almost never fades.

Cecil Taylor – For Olim

Cecil Taylor – For Olim Soul Note SN 1150 (1987)

Taylor continued to expand his palette on this mid-1980s solo outing. Although known as an innovator for approaching modern jazz from a background in modern classical, here he incorporates a few R&B influences. Good stuff, though newcomers should probably start with his 1970s solo outings first.

Cecil Taylor – One Too Many Salty Swift and Not Goodbye

Cecil Taylor – One too Many Salty Swift and Not Goodbye HatHut 3R02 (1980)

It’s not often that Cecil Taylor is outdone, but I think his band outdoes him here. The duets and drum solo that open the album are the highlights for me, though the rest ain’t too shabby either.

Cecil Taylor – Cecil Taylor All Stars Featuring Buell Niedlinger

Cecil Taylor – Cecil Taylor All Stars Featuring Buell Niedlinger CBS/Sony SONF01107 (1974)

A grab bag of stuff that doesn’t seem to belong together on one album. But it’s interesting nonetheless. “Jumpin’ Punkins” is the most intriguing because it’s a full-on Ellingtonian piece, and Taylor plays strange yet oddly fitting comping.

Cecil Taylor – Indent

Cecil Taylor – Indent Unit Core 30555 (1973)

Cecil Taylor solo, live, in peak form. Similar to Silent Tongues, and though Silent Tongues may be the better of the two, this one is fantastic nonetheless. Cecil’s playing is more precise and focused here, though on the other it is more dynamic. I recommend both.

Cecil Taylor – Conquistador!

Cecil Taylor – Conquistador! Blue Note BST 84260 (1968)

Good, especially the title track, but hardly anything that unique among mid-1960s free jazz. I’m tempted to call this a “mainstream” free jazz album. But that would be absurd, an unpardonable oxymoron.

The Swan Silvertones – Great Camp Meeting

The Swan Silvertones – Great Camp Meeting HOB HOB290 (1968)

The Swan Silvertones’ over five decade existence can be broken down into about four periods. The first period is their early period from formation in 1938 through 1951, roughly encompassing their time recording for King Records, when they were searching to find their style beyond “jubilee” gospel. During this time they didn’t really have a sympathetic record label to record them, so today we have to just guess what they would have sounded like live. Some surviving notes suggest that the band was holding some of their better material and arrangements in reserve until they found a more willing label to record them. Nonetheless, they had some mild success in this early period, but probably not a tremendous amount on a national scale. The second period is 1951 through the later years of the 1950s. I consider this the classic period of the Swans, when they firmly established their own unique style of “hard gospel”. They were recording for Specialty Records. While Specialty gave them essentially complete creative control in picking arrangements and songs, it seems Specialty didn’t do that much for the group in terms of promoting them and releasing in a timely fashion what had been recorded. During this time they recorded some all-time greats. While I think the group was gaining a reputation, they probably weren’t getting as much exposure through their recordings as they deserved. The third period, and the one that probably brought the group the most commercial success, was when they moved to Vee-Jay records at the end of the 1950s. On Vee-Jay, they added instrumental backing for more or less the first time — previous recordings were mostly a cappella and generally included only minimal percussion accompaniment. They also were releasing full-length LPs of new material for the first time. In this phase, the group was expanding upon the stylistic ideas they had previously developed. Things were going very well, but then Vee-Jay closed down in 1965. They switched over to HOB records, but the group’s long-time leader Rev. Claude Jeter left in 1966. The group continued though. They recorded more for HOB. Starting in 1968, HOB albums were distributed by Scepter Records, but Scepter shut down in 1976 at which time the group switched over to record material for Savoy Records, with longtime manager John Myles departing. In these later years, particularly on Savoy when Louis Johnson took over leadership of the group, they had what has been described as a “seventies gospel” style. This post-Vee-Jay period is the fourth and final period of The Swans’ existence — though the Savoy years could perhaps be viewed separate from the HOB years. Finding albums from this last period can be incredibly difficult, as even discographies covering this period can be hard to find, much less copies of the LPs, most of which have never been re-released on CD in full as of this writing. If anything, the band kept moving in a direction that bore little connection to any of their earlier periods. In some respects, this is the least rewarding period, and that probably goes a long way towards explaining the lack of reissues and willful amnesia among fans and critics. I don’t want to make this period sound like it’s consistently terrible, because these recordings were still well-crafted, just not always very stylistically rich or ambitious. Claude Jeter supposedly came back a few times through the 1980s and early 1990s for live appearances.

That brings me to Great Camp Meeting. This was released on HOB records originally, and did manage to earn a CD reissue. The album represents the peak of the increasingly rock and soul oriented sound the group first suggested with Blessed Assurance and continued into the 1970s with generally diminishing results. When Rev. Claude Jeter left the group, he was replaced by essentially an imitator in new lead singer Carl Davis. It seems like Davis is present on material here like “Little Wooden Church,” where his vocal similarity to Jeter is striking. However, it’s clear that the group is under new leadership (with John Myles in control). A lot of the material here also seems less elaborate than Swan Silvertones recordings from just a few years earlier. The best stuff on the album tends to be the songs with simple, up-tempo instrumentals and Louis Johnson clearly taking the lead on vocals, with his voice swinging back and forth between gravelly shouting and smoother crooning. “Can’t Do Nothing” is one of those, with one of the most grooving, driving beats you’ll find anywhere in The Swans’ catalog. It’s probably my favorite cut from the post-Jeter era. The version of “This Little Light of Mine” here is also really propulsive, one of the best versions of the songs I’ve yet heard, with an intense beat that shows clear signs that soul music was a vital force in popular music at the time. Also really good here are a few of the songs like “It’s Good to Be Saved” with Johnson slowly sermonizing over driving backing harmonies, and “Stand Up and Testify” with Paul Owens delivering some slow, jazzed-out lead vocals.

The kind of offhand, inviting, casual feel of so much of this stuff has really hooked me. There is plenty of good stuff here, and what makes it good is a world apart from what made earlier Swan Silvertones albums good. This may be my favorite Swan Silvertones album of the post-Vee-Jay years, and it might just be one of the group’s best albums period. It feels just a little rough around the edges, but that’s exactly what I like about it.

The Afghan Whigs – Gentlemen

The Afghan Whigs – Gentlemen Elektra 9 61501-2 (1993)

Back in the early 1990s heyday of “grunge” and “alternative rock” that cracked into mainstream airplay, The Afghan Whigs were in the cadre of the most well-known rock bands. Gentlemen was ubiquitous. I must admit to having known about it, but never bothering with it until a full two decades later. Looking back at it, I can’t really say this is my thing. The subject matter inhabits a place that seems a little too juvenile for me to relate to today, but I can still respect what the group achieves here. Greg Dulli’s vocals achieve a kind of burning torment that encapsulates much of what they were about. Yet the group’s real strength was how they blended together so much of what was in the air at the time. The iconoclastic jazz musician and composer Anthony Braxton has theorized that there are three types of musicians: restructuralists (who come up with new ways of thinking), stylists (who expand upon the restructuralists’ new ways of thinking), and traditionalists (who operate within a defined space). By that account The Afghan Whigs were stylists. Frankly, they weren’t the most proficient musicians by this evidence. But bits of this recall everything from alternative hard rock (Smashing Pumpkins), to Seattle grunge (Nirvana, Pearl Jam), to lo-fi rock (Pavement, Dinosaur Jr.), to funky party rock (Red Hot Chili Peppers), to britpop (Pulp, Suede, Blur). They even occasionally adopt the kind of off-key vocals that would come to dominate “indie rock” a decade later. The result comes across like more than the sum of its parts, just because it seems to carry on from beginning to end without ever running out of new bits and pieces to assimilate. This may be a period piece of sorts, but it’s one that perhaps endures because of a slight sense that it’s hardly more than a garage rock experiment that worked out in spite of the odds.

The Discerning Listener’s Guide to Sly & The Family Stone

A guide to the recorded music of Sly & The Family Stone. Enjoy!

	Danny Stewart “A Long Time Away” (1961) Sly Stone — born Sylvester Stewart — first made a name for himself as a jive-talking radio DJ. He also worked as a record producer in the early 1960s, and released a few singles under various aliases and with groups such as The Stewart Four, The Stewart Brothers, and The Viscaynes.
	The Beau Brummels “Laugh, Laugh” / “Still in Love With You Baby” (1964) “Laugh, Laugh” and “Just a Little” were each produced by Sly Stone. These Beau Brummels tracks are some of the best evidence that Sly knew how to produce a record even before Sly & The Family Stone was formed.
	Sly & The Family Stone A Whole New Thing (1967) A decent, if uneven, debut. This is what launched one of pop music’s brightest groups. Sly Stone was still working out the details of his musical vision, but tagging along is a fun ride. Even if they don’t quite fully achieve a “whole new thing” here, they at least established that they were gonna try. “Underdog” is a classic.
	Sly & The Family Stone Dance to the Music (1968) The debut jumped around a bit trying to find precisely what Sly & The Family Stone were going to be about. Dance to the Music locked in to exactly everything that the “whole new thing” title of their debut promised. The songs are all catchy, upbeat, bright, and the lyrics deliver smart wordplay with some social commentary thrown on top. What might be difficult to appreciate in retrospect is that the group was interracial, and included both men and women, at a time when that was not happening elsewhere. They also had a horn section within the group, whereas most soul acts didn’t consider the horn section part of the group proper — like The Memphis Horns who played for just about every Stax Records singer. Most of the songs on Dance to the Music revolve around very similar material. But the group really proves their mettle by making each one sound fresh. Sly gave Miles Davis a copy, and Miles later had to ask for another because the first was worn out from so much use. While that might just seem like a mildly amusing anecdote, it does help explain an underlying strength of the album: the improvisational flair built around irresistible rhythms.
	The French Fries “Danse a la musique” / “Small Fries” (1968)
	Sly & The Family Stone Life (1968) This is like a continuation of Dance to the Music. “M’Lady” is quite similar to “Dance to the Music,” for instance. But when you find a good thing, go with it. While not as essential as some of the group’s other albums, if you like their 1960s stuff this is worth seeking out.
	Sly & The Family Stone Live at the Fillmore East (2015) An archival live collection recorded shortly after the release of Life. This was initially released as a 2-LP limited edition album, then as an expanded 4-CD set.
	Sly & The Family Stone Stand! (1969) Generally considered one of the group’s best albums. With “Everyday People” Sly reached the pinnacle of the unbridled optimism of the 1960s, in the process coining the phrase “different strokes for different folks.” The depth and feeling he fit into the space of a short pop song was a spectacular achievement. Stand! established the group as one of the most important pop acts of their time. This is not a bad place to start in their catalog.
	Sly & The Family Stone “Hot Fun in the Summertime” / “Fun” (1969) If ever one of Sly’s songs demonstrated both his absolution mastery of record producing and his witty, self-awareness in the world of soul music, “Hot Fun in the Summertime” was it. It kind of pokes fun at other soul groups. It also is a masterclass in how to make a record tailored to the talents of individual performers without losing sight of the overall effect of the group effort. This is my personal favorite.
	Woodstock (1970) “Woodstock” has since become etched on social consciousness as a symbol of 1960s counterculture. Sly & The Family Stone were right there for it. The first album of material from the festival features a medley excerpted from the group’s performance. Additional recordings from Woodstock came out on Woodstock Diary, but it was not until 2009 that the full performance was available on an album. The original Woodstock album might help put the music in some kind of context though.
	Sly & The Family Stone The Woodstock Experience (2009) Disc two of this collection features the complete performance of Sly & The Family Stone at Woodstock. Proof that the band put on a fierce live show in their prime is here in abundance (despite a few sound equipment problems).
	Abaco Dream “Life and Death in G & A” / “Cat Woman” (1969) The group released two throwaway singles (this and “Another Night of Love”) under the pseudonym “Abaco Dream”. “Life and Death in G&A” is a straight funk number, with the largely instrumental “Cat Woman” featuring lingering, psychedelic synthesizer — both oddities unlike anything in the proper Sly & The Family Stone discography. “Cat Woman” is the more intriguing side because it’s quite weird, for a major pop group or otherwise, while the A-side is driving but kind of simple.
	Sly & The Family Stone “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” / “Everybody Is a Star” (1969) The group’s all-around best non-album single. The A-side is a hard, funky number lead by the slap bass of Larry Graham that foreshadows Sly’s next moves. The B-side is an uplifting, motivational song rooted in what the group did throughout the Sixties (especially “You Can Make It if You Try”).
	The First Great Rock Festivals of the Seventies: Isle of Wight / Atlanta Pop Festival (1971) Woodstock was only one of many large rock and pop festivals held in that era. The group appeared at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival in England, and also the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival.
	Little Sister “Somebody’s Watching You” / “Stanga” (1970) Little Sister was, yes, Sly’s little sister Vet’s group. This single is historically noteworthy as being the first major (non-underground) release to feature a drum machine. Little Sister would provide backing vocals for numerous Sly & The Family Stone releases in the coming years.
	Sly & The Family Stone There’s a Riot Goin’ On (1971) The defining Sly & The Family Stone album is without question There’s a Riot Goin’ on. Whole books have been written about and around this album, so I will only sketch the key details. It represented an abrupt shift from the last album. Now dark, murky sounds dominated. Original band members were departing. Sly was using a drum machine, performing a lot of the music all by himself, and Bobby Womack appears somewhere in the mix. There really isn’t another album like this. Suffice it to say, it’s one of the all-time great rock/pop/soul albums. An absolute essential.
	Sly Stone “Rock Dirge” (1971)
	Sly & The Family Stone Fresh (1973) Not nearly as militant and obtuse as There’s a Riot Goin’ on, Fresh had a crisper funk sound. It’s yet another classic. Few groups have ever produced a series of albums as good as Sly had from the late 1960s through (at least) Fresh. This is one of the essential Sly & The Family Stone discs.
	Sly & The Family Stone Small Talk (1974) Sly took another turn with Small Talk. It had a much quieter, mellower sound than any of the group’s previous albums. The band was different, with a number of new members added and some old ones departed, and even boasted a violinist. This album really is neglected. The mature sound and lyrics dealing with raising a family and other domestic interests offer a new perspective on Sly’s music. Despite having a few weaker moments (like “Mother Beautiful” and “Wishful Thinkin'”), this has held up pretty well. People used to tell author Joseph Heller that his later books weren’t as good as Catch-22, to which he would respond, but what is? To say Small Talk isn’t as good as something like There’s a Riot Goin’ on, or even Fresh, is kind of unfair. No matter what, Sly had to go downhill at least a little as long as he kept releasing material following such magnificent previous achievements. As long as you don’t come to this looking for more of the same, it should be a rewarding listen. Small Talk deserves to be considered among the group’s better albums, even if it’s on a tier slightly below the all-time classics.
	Sly Stone High on You (1975) High on You was not credited to “& The Family Stone”, which was perhaps a moot point with the original members of the band already disappearing in previous years. This is a respectable funk/soul outing, with a strong title track, though it’s nothing spectacular. The social consciousness that marked so much prior work was now gone and Sly was aiming only for a funky good time, though he generally succeeds in that more modest aim. Sly’s popularity would decline from this point forward. He was not really pushing himself anymore.
	Sly & The Family Stone Heard Ya Missed Me, Well I’m Back (1976) Perhaps due to the critical panning that Small Talk unfairly received, Sly’s next few albums tended to be merely attempts to recreate his “old” aura. Each one was billed as his big comeback. Heard Ya Missed Me, Well I’m Back is arguably the worst album in the catalog, though even Sly at his worst is at least adequate in the bigger picture. This one drifts into disco era fads at times, sports very bland horn arrangements, and the songwriting is completely forgettable.
	Sly & The Family Stone Back on the Right Track (1979) Another lackluster “comeback” album. It is an improvement over Heard Ya Missed Me, Well I’m Back as far as songwriting goes, particularly in the way this one reckons with changing times and Sly’s fading popularity. Worth it for “Remember Who You Are”, a real gem from Sly’s late period. But this is not the place to start.
	Sly Ten Years Too Soon (1979) Well, for better or worse, this is one of the earliest remix albums. It’s a bunch of old Sly & The Family Stone hits recast for disco-era dancefloors. Profoundly unessential.
	Sly & The Family Stone Ain’t But the One Way (1982) Sly all but disappeared for a while, though he briefly surfaced with Funkadelic for The Electric Spanking of War Babies. Then along came Ain’t but the One Way in 1982. In many ways, it marks the first time Sly actually presented a new sound since Small Talk. Unfortunately, the performances are generally lackluster. If the album could muster the intensity of “Underdog” in the horn section, things might have been different. Aficionados will probably want to seek this out, particularly for “L.O.V.I.N.U.” and “Sylvester,” but it’s not essential.
	Sly Stone “Eek-Ah-Bo Static Automatic” / “Love and Affection” (1986)
	Sly Stone I’m Back! Family & Friends (2011) After a very long period of inactivity, and a few brief reappearances touring, Sly released his first album under his name in decades in 2011. What we have are mostly his old hits re-recorded, plus a few new songs. The old songs are all performed with guest artists. The hits are still great, and Sly has updated and modernized things in a way that needs no handicap. Yet, the guest spots add nothing and these re-recordings are somewhat redundant. Fans who love everything else may get a small kick out of this, but it’s nothing essential. It is worth mentioning that due to an ongoing dispute with his (former) manager involving allegations of fraud regarding his royalty payments, Sly was living in a van in a rougher part of Los Angeles since 2009. He indicated that he’s too paranoid to trust record companies to release any new material.
	Sly Stone Recorded in San Francisco: 1964-67 Oddities collection.
	Sly Stone Precious Stone: In the Studio With Sly Stone 1963-1965 (1994) A collection of early material Sly recorded for Autumn Records.
	Listen to the Voices: Sly Stone in the Studio 1965-70 (2010) A collection of tracks produced by Sly Stone, including those for his label Stone Flower. Also available is I’m Just Like You: Sly’s Stone Flower 1969-70 and a few tracks appear on Higher!
	Sly & The Family Stone The Essential Sly & The Family Stone (2003) If you want a compilation of Sly & The Family Stone material, this is the one to get. It supplanted Anthology, which had already supplanted Greatest Hits as the best one available. Any sort of best-of collection will probably be good (though there has been a proliferation of dubious compilations), but the two-CD Essential one is best because it’s longer and you will probably want the additional material. Additional official compilations that might be of interest are The Collection, which is a boxed set of the most essential albums (but is not a complete discography), and Higher!, which collects singles and oddities.