Music – Page 22 – Rock Salted

The Stooges – The Weirdness

The Stooges – The Weirdness Virgin 7243 8 64648 2 8 (2007)

So wrong, so wrong, so wrong. Reviewer BradL wrote about Dylan‘s Christmas in the Heart that “[a]nyone can make a mediocre record. It takes true genius to make a wretched one.” Iggy Pop has earned some ignoble piece of genius here because this is about as bad as they come. You have a band calling itself The Stooges that only manages to sound like a tenth-rate Stooges knock-off. File this alongside Heard Ya Missed Me, Well I’m Back and 15 Big Ones as another “comeback” album that should have never been.

Sinéad O’Connor – Throw Down Your Arms

Sinéad O’Connor – Throw Down Your Arms Keltia KMCD166 (2005)

I do respect Sinéad O’Connor. The media likes to focus on “controversy” in her “personal life.” Mostly that is a product of her refusal to play by the rules of the mainstream media, and they always seek to punish and discredit those people — or else feign doing so to manufacture controversy, which is always good for grabbing attention in the slimiest way possible. But even when doing things like tearing up a photo of Pope John Paul II on television (a stunt excised from most rebroadcasts), and less than two weeks later, after Kris Kristofferson introduced her as becoming “synonymous with courage and integrity,” being booed (quite ironically!) at the Bob Dylan: The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration, in response to which she sung/spoke/shouted a rendition of Bob Marley‘s “War” that was omitted from the CD release, wasn’t she, well, entirely right? It’s hard to look back on the problems the catholic church has faced with child abuse coverups and not find O’Connor vindicated. And there are other examples of her being righteously correct against an onslaught of support for self-serving and brutal exploitation. But much of the press’ reaction to her has to do with what seems like a genuine desire to be a normal person, rather than a complete narcissist myopically dedicated to creating an outrageously artificial public persona (which seems to sustain the profit margins of said same press). As a celebrity musician, the closet comparison might be Neil Young, especially in his later years. Both sometimes seem too normal and well-adjusted to have survived the entertainment industry as long as they have. Though Young never generated nearly the same hostility that O’Connor did.

Anyway, O’Connor is really a great pop singer. That much is beyond question. Her voice can carry a whole song by itself. Yet, the musical accompaniment on her albums, while complete professional and lacking any obvious flaws in performance, can be stylistically rather plain. Throw Down Your Arms, on paper, looks poised to be yet another disastrous reggae album by a white onlooker. But — surprise! — it is actually rather well-executed. O’Connor’s voice is refreshingly well-adapted to this style of music, bringing to bear an astute sense of drama and theatrics, without pushing that too far. The music, produced by stalwarts Sly & Robbie, is effective, never a liability or a distraction. The album dips a bit toward the end. Still, while no great landmark, this album is way better than it deserves to be.

Queen – Greatest Hits

Queen – Greatest Hits EMI EMTV 30 (1981)

Great stuff really. These hits are still ubiquitous. And they deserve to be. What struck me listening to this for the n-th time was how the techniques that Queen use are not altogether that different from the ironic, kitschy mash-ups of tropicália, though this is undeniably camp rather than social protest music. But the underlying musical techniques have similarities. Susan Sontag famously wrote that camp was characterized by artifice, exaggeration, a conversion of the serious to the frivolous, and naïve unpretentiousness. Even with the very exaggerated, flamboyant frivolity of something like “Bohemian Rhapsody” or even “Don’t Stop Me Now” there really is hardly a whiff of pretension. The band never blinks no matter how silly the premise.

One thing I’ll always remember about Queen is that a guy I used to work with (in retail) would stroll along at work and sing “Killer Queen” (or at least a verse or two over and over again) in a kind of stoner drawl. That kind of sums up Queen for me: a band that is a distraction, an escape, greasing the wheels of daily life, and completely and totally okay with being that and no more than that. The thing to question about something like that is how it tends to justify the status quo, no matter what that is, but , still, few convey a poignant sense of motion holding distinct concepts in a particular relationship to each other quite like Queen. As one person put it, “The great thing about Queen was that they could unite both meathead jock-rockers and sexually adventurous drama nerds, whether those two groups wanted to be united or not.”

This collection of hits is all you need from the band. There are also Vols. II and III, but those get lame quickly. Sure, there is still room to quibble with a few of the selections here, like the lack of “Under Pressure,” and “Flash” belongs at the very end. But those are minor concerns.

The Swan Silvertones – Day By Day

The Swan Silvertones – Day By Day Savoy SL-14555 (1981)

Much like The Soul Stirrers and Fairport Convention, The Swan Silvertones were recording long after the original members had left. The current group was led by lead singer Louis Johnson. The songs all have a Memphis soul feel. There are none of the intricate vocal harmonies of years past. Louis Johnson still has a good voice, though he doesn’t seem to have the range he once did. The new singers aren’t prominent enough to be memorable here. Still, the mellow sound of the album has its charms. This might just be the best offering from the group’s years on Savoy Records.

João Gilberto – Chega de saudade

João Gilberto – Chega de saudade Odeon MOFB 3073 (1959)

Chega de saudade was an album credited as the being the very first in an entirely new genre: bossa nova. João Gilberto was the genre’s true master, the epitome of its cool, detached, laid-back qualities, with a voice perfectly suited to the music and an often-imitated but never duplicated style on the guitar. He is supported by some jazzy accompaniment. It is complementary. Yes, this is music of the well-off, but it is music of the most aware and sympathetic among them. In an era before the LP format really came into its own, this is one of the early milestones. It still sounds great more than a half-century later. His next few albums, though still good, lacked the utterly effortless cool achieved here. Then came international success with the excellent collaboration Getz / Gilberto. Also check out Gilberto’s arguably best album, the eponymous 1973 effort João Gilberto.

The Swan Silvertones – You Pray On

The Swan Silvertones – You Pray On HOB HBX 2146 (1972)

A pretty mediocre album. It’s in the soul-inflected style of It’s a Miracle. However, producer John Bowden has done an absolutely atrocious job recording this. The instruments seem incredibly muddy and indistinct. At times the recordings are so murky that it seems like the instrumentalists are just plain out of sync with the vocalists. The murkiness of this recording is just as bad as on In God’s Hands.

The Swan Silvertones – You’ve Got a Friend

The Swan Silvertones – You’ve Got a Friend HOB HBX 2156 (1973)

You’ve Got a Friend is among the more listenable of the albums The Swan Sivertones recorded for HOB Records. The group has better success here melding their vocals with the instrumental backing than in subsequent years. Of note is the increasingly prominent use of raw, slightly twangy electric guitar and rock-inflected organ. Though there really are no standout tracks, the version of the gospel standard “Well, Well, Well” and covers of James Cleveland‘s “Prayer Will Move It” and the recently popular “You’ve Got a Friend” are nice.

The Swan Silvertones – I’ll Keep On Loving Him

The Swan Silvertones – I’ll Keep On Loving Him HOB HOB LP 2172 (1974)

A solid effort. Longtime member John Myles was still around for this mid-1970s album, though his input seems to have been waning. Louis Johnson and Sam Hubbard take lead vocal duties. Most of these songs are respectable but not particularly remarkable. The best of the bunch are the title track, the organ-drenched “Happy With Jesus Alone”, and “Life of a Sinner”. The last of those finds Louis Johnson going much further than usual with some of his most subtly complex songwriting and arranging, with vocals punctuated by a somber horn and a jittery, rambunctious piano. The group does seem to run a bit low on ideas in places. So they borrow a guitar riff straight out of Al Green‘s “Love and Happiness” to open their version of “Leak in This Old Building”. But generally The Swans bring enough energy to the table that it’s easy to let the album’s weaknesses slip by. On the whole, this is a characteristic effort from the group’s tenure on HOB Records, and worth a listen for anyone with an interest in soul-inflected gospel.

The Swan Silvertones – Try Me Master

The Swan Silvertones – Try Me Master HOB HOB LP 2182 (1975)

Try Me Master was the final album The Swan Silvertones released for HOB Records, and their last album with longtime member John Myles. It’s a decent album for the period, with better production values than their many low-budget releases of the previous eight or nine years. The group remakes their perennial favorite “Jesus Remembers” and adapts a few gospel standards. The title track and “Please Help Me” (with keyboards a little like Joy Division‘s “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” of all things) are the highlights. The material is listenable throughout, if a little thin on side two. Fans will probably enjoy this even though it doesn’t break any new ground.

Sun Ra – When Sun Comes Out

Sun Ra and His Myth Science Arkestra – When Sun Comes Out El Saturn LP 2066 (1963)

Though a bit patchy in places, Calling Planet Earth is an unequaled showcase for the Arkestra’s mighty sax section of John Gilmore, Pat Patrick, Marshall Allen and Danny Davis. Sun Ra had a harder time recruiting brass players after relocating to New York City. But the move actually strengthened the sax lineup, as Patrick came back into the fold—he tears up his solo on “Calling Planet Earth.” [side note: Pat Patrick had relocated to New York ahead of Ra and had left his family behind in Chicago, including his son and future Massachusetts governor Deval]