Reviews – Page 77 – Rock Salted

Ian Dury – New Boots and Panties!!

Ian Dury – New Boots and Panties!! Stiff SEEZ 4 (1977)

To put Ian Dury in context, I’d say he has a little of the nostalgic and slightly off-kilter, insecure sense of humor of Jonathan Richman (this comes through quite strongly on “Sweet Gene Vincent”), matched with a gritty and edgy lyrical sense and musical vision like Jim Carroll and perhaps less inhibition. Of course, he’s also fundamentally British. You might say he was the wittiest and smartest guy in the same type of scene that would produce working class punk and Oi! like Sham 69 and Cock Sparrer, though his band The Blockheads gives this a funky, sometimes jazzy, almost disco sheen vaguely like Marianne Faithfull‘s Broken English of a couple years later but with more visceral drive. Yet the use of such a nondescript style instrumental backing, almost devoid of personality (not to sell The Blockheads short — what they do here is pitch-perfect), places this, along with The The‘s Soul Mining, as a testament to witty lyrics and vocals that are full of character making any music capable of intimacy and charm. And when they use a prog-rock, jazzy-inflected synthesizer solo on “Blockheads,” it is of course prefaced with a fart sound. There is a sense of wonder about life in this music. Yet Dury never takes himself too seriously. He is always ready to make a fool of himself, and offer a hilariously off-color comment, usually while talking loosely and casually about going out and doing things, having fun, and getting by. Interesting too that Dury released this, his first album, in his late 30s, somewhat a rarity in rock. A great one from the punk era.

Dorgon + William Parker – Broken/Circle

Dorgon + William Parker – Broken/Circle Jumbo 5 (1998)

Dorgon (a/k/a Mr. Dorgon, a/k/a DJ$shot, b. Gordon Knauer) is one of those characters few people know what quite to do with. Allaboutjazz has a series of reviews of his works under the title “Mr. Dorgon: Genius or Charlatan?“. He found a niche in the late 1990s New York downtown jazz scene, and recorded not one but two sessions with the era’s leading bassist in William Parker. And Broken/Circle shows how diverse the New York scene was at that time, providing space both for Dorgon’s methodical and almost (subtly) rock-oriented expositions and Parker’s highly refined and adaptable jazz faculties. Parker is the acknowledged master of the era. A towering figure, and with as many credentials as could possibly be amassed. Dorgon has, well, none of the same credentials (though liner notes on various releases on his own Jumbo Recordings label sometimes attribute fictitious ones, just as the back of this album fictitiously states it was recorded in 1949 on board the ocean liner USS Bhutan). The wooden, plodding noises emanating from Dorgon’s c-melody saxophone have a single-mindedness that forces Parker to adapt and expand the sound all on his own. Nothing Dorgon does gives Parker a clue, so the bassist is constantly on his toes. And that really is the point here. Dorgon throws out sounds like challenges and Parker responds—always admirably. If in performance technique Dorgon’s playing is rudimentary, he certainly succeeds in creating a context for some of William Parker’s most intriguing playing of the day.

Some of Dorgon’s recordings on his label are well worth investigating, especially those that pair him with talented players like on this album and Dorgon Y Su Grupo. Many were released with handmade covers. My copy of Broken/Circle is painted and written on a piece of Kraft paper that seems to be cut from a paper bag.

Count Basie – The Complete Decca Recordings

Count Basie – The Complete Decca Recordings GRP GRD-3-611 (1992)

Good stuff, of course, though I could do without some of the tracks, mostly cuts with vocalists that bore me. For a more potent distillation of what you find here, I heartily recommend The Best of Early Basie. If you want a full overview of the kings of the swing era big bands, try Fletcher Henderson‘s Wrappin’ It Up, Ellington‘s The Blanton-Webster Band (reissued as Never No Lament: The Blanton-Webster Band) and the aforementioned The Best of Early Basie. From there, you can check out Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Teddy Wilson, Jimmie Lunceford, Jay McShann, Artie Shaw, Woody Herman, Glenn Miller, you name it.

FKA twigs – LP1

FKA twigs – LP1 Young Turks YTCD118 (2014)

LP1 is basically music in the style of new electro R&B, like The Weeknd, which makes some overtures to various electronic pop genres mostly originating from the UK. But there is something else going on here. Experiments and outsider music are being co-opted in pursuit of conformist commercial success in the usual channels. The lyrics of this album evidence a sort of low self-esteem protagonist degrading herself for external validation. That at least is what it tries to be. There is a strong sense that this is very contrived music. It resembles the sort of “feminism” that — idiotically — declares adherence to stereotypical gender roles to be revolutionary, like “shopping as identity”. This is immanently self-defeating more than anything. Although perhaps this appropriates some interesting bits from other sources, the conclusion remains: fail.

Funkadelic – One Nation Under a Groove

Funkadelic – One Nation Under a Groove Warner Bros. BSK 3209 (1978)

Landing on major label Warner Bros., Funkadelic combined the more accessible elements of Parliament (the funk version of the band) and Funkadelic (the rock version of the band) to arrive at the sound of One Nation Under a Groove. The edges have been rounded off some of the rock guitar solos, and the funk is a little less hard — you don’t HAVE to dance, but you still very well could. Things glide by pretty comfortably though. This is definitely shooting for the widest possible audience. So, sure, this is probably the easiest entry point. But at the same time, this falls short of the crazy (and I mean CRAIZEE) unique, grooving, classic music the band made elsewhere. But you could more readily play this for some squares you know (yeah, you know some) and they would be less likely to shit their pants listening to this one than some others.

Funkadelic – Free Your Mind… and Your Ass Will Follow

Funkadelic – Free Your Mind… and Your Ass Will Follow Westbound WB 2001 (1970)

The debut was pretty jammy, and this one is too but, for better or worse, it’s even more freaky, loose and psychedelic. The black Grateful Dead? Sort-of. If you come to this looking for well-defined “songs” you’ll be disappointed. But guitarist Eddie Hazel proves the star. He lights up side one. This one has its place. It can’t compete with what came next though, the stone-cold classic Maggot Brain.

Funkadelic – America Eats Its Young

Funkadelic – America Eats Its Young Westbound 2WB 2020 (1972)

Funkadelic made an abrupt turn with their fourth album. Rather than extended psychedelic R&B jams, George Clinton & Co. had shifted away from guitar as a centerpiece of the music to vocal harmonies. Some of this could pass for vintage soul, and one track even could fairly be called country rock. Listeners who appreciate Funkadelic as being one of the stranger and weirder rock acts of their day may not warm up to this much, but on its own terms this is a successful album. It marked the group’s first attempt to be more commercially palatable. The approach makes a certain amount of sense, considering that attempting to duplicate or top Maggot Brain would have been futile.

Bruce Springsteen – Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.

Bruce Springsteen – Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. Columbia KC 31903 (1973)

Bruce Springsteen’s debut delivers brilliant folky rock storytelling. At this point, he was concerned with more than just rock anthems. His purpose was something humanistic. Springsteen had that in common with Van Morrison. This album tells of hope for human perseverance. Triumph over adversity is the common thread through all the songs.

Here he is believable. The songs matter, and they matter to more than just their characters. Springsteen was confident to make the everyday an event. It was kind of a pride thing. The sound is a little sparse. Sometimes Springsteen isn’t quite sure of what lies ahead. He leaves just enough rough edges to give Greetings a homespun charm.

Greetings from Asbury Park N.J. did not make Springsteen a star. He was still just a kid from Jersey. The album is humble and endearing in a way that none of his later albums were.

Bruce Springsteen – The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle

Bruce Springsteen – The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle Columbia PC 32432 (1973)

The Boss took a very significant turn with his second album. His debut Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. was quite obviously influenced by folky singer-songwriters. It also had a youthful exuberance with a sentimental and even romantic attachment to gritty urban concerns. All that managed to be a strength because of the overall sense of earnestness it had. For some reason, that debut wasn’t a big hit (perhaps a very minor one), and continues to be less popular with fans than what came later.

Springsteen’s second album The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle makes a conscious effort to cast off any remnants of folk influence. In place, there is a reliance on heavy production. This album tries very hard to sound contemporary, and simply “big.” Overproduced? Yes! Springsteen’s vocal adopt some dramatic flairs (like “Kitty’s Back” with his reaching vocals, set against a hushed vocal chorus, and similarly with the sappy orchestration of “New York City Serenade”). The keyboards and guitar sound more synthetic, with self-consciously jazzy inflections. And isn’t “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)” just basically a re-write of “Blinded by the Light” from the last album?

So, it’s no wonder that fans who like the Born to Run Springsteen don’t go for the debut, but will probably like this one more. This album is chock full of typically disingenuous Springsteen fare. Springsteen’s attempts to find the glory of middle America have always seemed like something of a joke to this reviewer. For one thing, once Springsteen was a star his attempts to pass as just another “working Joe” seem fraudulent. He was a big star, not the little guy anymore. But it’s the hypocrisy of Springsteen’s writing that really is the most irksome. His tendency to use irony often stumbles when he simultaneously relies on the very things he mocks to do draw in listeners. You know, F. Scott Fitzgerald is often described as writing about the dark heart of the jazz age. Springsteen clearly tries to do somewhat the same type of thing for working-class America of a later time. But, but, but, the problem is that Springsteen becomes more of an enabler for the worst qualities that cause the very problems he laments. It’s this sort of passivity, fatalism and sense of powerlessness in the face of powerful, incomprehensible forces that is really quite pathetic, and it makes its appearance on this album and only grows stronger on later efforts. Fitzgerald never gave his characters the kind of pass that Springsteen does so regularly. For Fitzgerald, his characters have failings, and they most often fail to accept the inevitable consequences of a wealthy lifestyle until it’s too late. For Springsteen, escapism is fine, and he’s gonna glorify the here and now, but he’s never going to set his sights on more. This is found in his songs that pretty consistently stop short of offering any kind of explanation or resolution. It gives the impression of somebody a little naïve about how the world really works, giving comfort to the likewise ignorant. Srsly, fuck you Bruce. This may give short shrift to many great singles and individual songs The Boss has released, that do capture the bleakness of life for ordinary Americans, but the entirety of many of his albums reveal more than a little lack of ambition.

Steve Lacy – Reflections

Steve Lacy – Reflections: Steve Lacy Plays Thelonious Monk New Jazz PRLP 8206 (1959)

Perhaps not a groundbreaking album, but an extremely rewarding one. Steve Lacy doesn’t get as much credit as he deserves for bringing the soprano saxophone into modern jazz. His tone was clear, soft and lively, and he was a superb technician (not an easy accomplishment on the notoriously unruly soprano sax). He greatly admired Monk and this album is entirely covers of Monk tunes. It’s refreshing to hear a selection of tunes that go beyond the most obvious choices into some that, especially in 1958-59, were probably not well known at all outside of a pretty limited circle of jazz performers and aficionados. Lacy invigorates each song without betraying the essence of Monk in them. Probably the best feature of this album is that the tricky rhythms and upbeat quirkiness inherent in the songs are left intact. Yet everything feels modernized with the more mellow textures that give this set less of a be-bop feel and more of a relaxed, cool one. The simple fact that the melodies are carried on sax rather than piano provides a wonderfully different perspective from Monk’s own recordings. This album is also helped by the fact that Lacy’s band is stellar, with Mal Waldron (piano), Elvin Jones (drums), and Buell Neidlinger (bass) each turning in fine performances. I enjoy this album tremendously and come back to it often.