Rock – Page 13 – Rock Salted

Little Feat – Feats Don’t Fail Me Now

Little Feat – Feats Don’t Fail Me Now Warner Bros. K56030 (1974)

Something definitely changed for Little Feat with Feats Don’t Fail Me Now. The reasons are quite apparent. Lowell George was no longer the dominant guitarist and songwriter for the group. His contributions were increasingly of a more ordinary and secondary nature. Paul Barrere and Bill Payne were taking on more of a role in place of Lowell. And so, the music focused more consistently on feel-good groove rock. There really weren’t any quirky, off-beat lyrics anymore, and the music as a whole was more steady and tame. That isn’t to say the Feat sounded bad. In fact, this is a pretty fun record. It just doesn’t sparkle with quite the charisma that the group’s earlier records had. You can still count this (along with the first three albums) as essential Little Feat though.

Sonic Youth med Mats Gustafsson og Merzbow – SYR 8: Andre sider af Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth med Mats Gustafsson og Merzbow – SYR 8: Andre sider af Sonic Youth SYR 8 (2008)

Gets interesting once Thurston Moore‘s soloing ends and Mats Gustafsson and Merzbow start to take over.

Bob Dylan – Slow Train Coming

Bob Dylan – Slow Train Coming Columbia FC 36120 (1979)

I’ve developed a theory that Dyan’s “christian” phase that began with Slow Train Coming was less about him converting to a particularly dogmatic strain of pentecostal christianity and more about him implicitly moving into the same camp as French academic charlatan Michel Foucault (maybe the “new philosophers” like André Glucksmann could be thrown into the conversation here too). The reasons some people are skeptical of this part of Dylan’s career are the same reasons some people are skeptical of Foucault’s neoliberal historicist/”identity politics” theories, which are complete bullshit and evidenced a questionable kind of pandering and opportunism (not to mention a huge over-reliance on revenge fantasies). But, anyway, this album was recorded in Muscle Shoals, and it has a smooth disco R&B/soul sound, like a mellower, less emotional counterpart to Bowie‘s Young Americans or even a more intellectual counterpart to the lily-white blues rock of Eric Clapton. It’s a little too easy listening for its own good, but it still manages to be decent with a few good new songs. The album benefits tremendously by having Dylan actually trying throughout, and having active involvement of producers other than Dylan.

Prince and The Revolution – Purple Rain

Prince and The Revolution – Purple Rain Warner Bros. 25110-1 (1984)

In the All Music Guide, Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that David Bowie‘s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars had a “grand sense of staged drama” and that “Bowie succeeds not in spite of his pretensions but because of them . . . .” The same could very well be said about Prince’s most acclaimed and best-selling album (over 20 millions copies), Purple Rain. This was the soundtrack to a movie of the same name, which some say was inspired by Samuel R. Delany’s novel Dhalgren. Some of the songs were recorded live (“I Would Die 4 U”, “Baby I’m a Star” and “Purple Rain”), with later overdubs.

Purple Rain just appeals to so many people. There is something for the freaks, something for the squares (aside from the prudes). That wide appeal should not come as a surprise. This is basically a perfect album. Sure, it might be hard to find anyone picking “The Beautiful Ones” as his or her favorite, on an album that also boasts “Let’s Go Crazy” (a rock-gospel party anthem), “When Doves Cry” (an abstract, minimalist pop stunner without a bass line), and “Purple Rain” (a monster ballad to end monster ballads). Not only is there is no filler here, every song is great. It certainly helped that Prince was a prolific songwriter. He had about 100 songs lined up for the film, according to director Albert Magnoli, who had to cull that down to what worked best. The photographer Robert Mapplethorpe once mentioned in a 1977 interview, “It takes me a good week really to decide what negatives and that’s half of taking pictures, is the selection. *** And the framing is very important.” These are analogues to song selection and album sequencing for music. These things do put in perspective what it takes to make something like Purple Rain. A handful of decent songs is simply not enough.

Prince wasn’t exactly an unknown before this album and the movie — from 1979 to 1983 he had even appeared on television a few times — but they were what made him a worldwide superstar. His band The Revolution also played a significant role, with Wendy & Lisa noted for making key contributions. Prince became something of an egomaniac as a result of his fame. Mapplethorpe also said in that interview that all artists he knew were egotistical. This perhaps says something about what it takes to want to put one’s self in the spotlight.

There isn’t much to say about the music itself that hasn’t already been said so many times over. But this album still holds up decades later.

Prince – The Rainbow Children

Prince – The Rainbow Children NPG 70004-2 (2001)

Kind of a forgotten Prince disc, unfairly, because The Rainbow Children is really one of the best from his later years. With the exception of some weird concluding outtro tracks sequenced strangely on the CD and perhaps the novelty song “Wedding Feast,” this is an album that is solid all the way through. The musicianship is top shelf, without succumbing to pandering or self-indulgent showiness. To the extent this was the launch of a more mature sound for Prince, it succeeds completely. Although it is fair to call this contemporary R&B/soul, much of this follows a kind of light soul jazz/jazz-funk approach (reference, for example, Dave Douglas‘ Live at the Jazz Standard from a few years later). It also leans toward gospel-style vocals, which is a big bonus. Of course, there is more than just that here. “1+1+1 Is 3” is very much a throwback to Prince’s iconic style of the mid-1980s, done quite convincingly. It highlights just how versatile his guitar playing is across the album. When people speak, generally, about what a talented performer Prince was, the evidence is right here. This album is kind of like being at the best possible intimate, private concert you cold imagine from Prince around the turn of the Millennium. It was around this time too that Prince appeared on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” on May 3, 2001 and played a couple songs, including “The Work, Part 1” from this album and a great version of his classic “The Ballad of Dorothy Parker” (originally on Sign “O” the Times) with many jazzy keyboard flourishes. The album as a whole is close to the sound of that televised performance. He came back in December of 2002 to perform “The Everlasting Now” on the show too. Now, some people don’t seem to like the album, often because of the religious content. But, really, that is only on a few songs (“The Everlasting Now” etc.) and unless you focus on lyrics to the exclusion of almost everything else, the few religious messages are general enough that they don’t hold this back much. Songs like “Family Name” — one of the funkiest on the album — are political/social commentary anyway. The real reason this isn’t better known is that it wasn’t heavily marketed and was independently distributed. It did set up material for the tour that produced One Nite Alone…Live! Nonetheless, this might be the single most overlooked Prince album.

Prince – The Black Album

Prince – The Black Album Warner Bros. 2-45793 (1994)

When Whitney Houston died, there was much talk about how she was long ridiculed by some for appealing too much to white audiences. That unfortunate sentiment — that only insular identities based on differences were valid — looked down on what has long been called “crossover” appeal. It is the idea that different musical styles that appeal to different groups can be synthesized into a hybrid that appeals to audiences for all its sources. Prince in his prime years of 1981-87 was every bit a crossover success. But some unfortunate pandering reared its head toward the end of the 80s. So he made “The Black Album,” with some overt attempts to appeal to black audiences. For whatever reasons, though, the album was aborted in late 1987 after a few promo copies were given to industry insiders — replaced by the adequate but by comparison inferior Lovesexy album, which had a more mainstream pop sound. Due to its dubious status, this was a much bootlegged album until a belated official release in 1994.

In the mid-/late-80s Prince was working on an album project tentatively titled Crystal Ball, which was never released (another collection later adopted the same name) but evolved into Sign “O” the Times. One of the tracks (“Rockhard in a Funky Place”) intended for Crystal Ball that was dropped from Sign “O” the Times ended up here. Other songs still have a bit of the sonic flavor of Sign too. That is a positive, in that Sign was Prince at his best. But the opening few cuts (“Le Grind,” “Cindy C.”) are made for dance clubs. There are other songs that suggest how “Slow Love” from Sign would be more representative of things Prince would do in the 1990s.

The weakness of the album is the middle section. The P-funk workout “Superfunkycalifragisexy” gets monotonous quickly. “Bob George” is a skit-like song with Prince playing the role of a macho critic of himself. It’s a strange, unsettling performance, much talked about by critics and fans, but also a bit disturbingly violent and the backing track drags on like an afterthought. It is a fascinating song in concept, but actually listening to it is kind of secondary.

The album picks up mightily at the end. The jazzy instrumental “2 Nigs United 4 West Compton” is a highlight, complete with chaotic group segments, stinging synthesizer, and a lengthy bass solo that actually propels the songs forward. The closer “Rockhard in a Funky Place” is also unstoppable. It’s a funny song too. The lyric “I just hate to see an erection go to waste” seems like the same sentiment from Leonard Cohen‘s “Don’t Go Home with Your Hard-on” (Death of a Ladies’ Man).

In the end, The Black Album is weighted down by some filler, and it lacks an obvious candidate for a hit single. Still, it is mostly really good stuff from the tail end of Prince’s finest years. Anyone who has exhausted Prince’s greatest material of the 80s (and that should include, well, everyone) but still wants more should consider checking this out. In spite of the inconsistency of The Black Album, the Purple One scarcely mustered this intensity again at album length.

Jackie-O Motherfucker – The Magick Fire Music

Jackie-O Motherfucker – The Magick Fire Music Ecstatic Peace! E# 70c (2000)

Much like Earth gained notoriety on Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version (1993) playing heavy metal rock at a glacial pace, to the point that the same chords take on a different character, Jackie-O Motherfucker played long jams that vaguely resembled so-called post-rock acts of the preceding decade (Dirty Three, Gastr del Sol, Godspeed You! Black Emperor) but slowed down and with jazzier improvisational choices. The opening song “Extension” is like “Blind Willie” from Sonny Sharrock‘s Guitar (1986), played at a snail’s pace, with an amiable, meandering progression like Sharrock’s “Portrait of Linda in Three Colors, All Black” from Black Woman (1969). The slow tempos also give this album an atmospheric quality, not quite to the point of being ambient, “furniture” music, but to the point that the percussive and rhythmic qualities of the playing subside. The band’s later recordings leaned further toward both folk music and juxtapositions of disparate genres. The way this music takes its time to unfold is refreshing. It is also cautiously optimistic. Worth seeking out.

Prince – The Very Best of Prince

Prince – The Very Best of Prince Warner Bros. R2 74272 (2001)

More appropriately titled “Greatest Hits” than “The Very Best of,” you could stand to get a much better overview of The Purple One than this compilation — The Hits/The B-Sides would be a slightly better choice. Still, for the mildly Prince-curious this gives you most of the biggest hits to use as a starting point.

What Prince stood for in the 1980s — his prime — was a contemporary R&B (as Little Richard has it, that means “real black”) counterpart to David Bowie of the 70s. Prince was this slightly androgynous, racy character who had these incredibly catchy, popular and just plain great songs. Now, the fact that Prince was coming along in the wake of Bowie breaking into the charts might be explained by the somewhat socially conservative streak found in afro-american culture — especially when it comes to sexuality, the core of Prince’s musical subject matter. Strange that Prince died just a few months after Bowie then.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Yeah Yeah Yeahs Shifty SH05 (2001)

[written back in 2001]

Against the weight of circumstance bearing on rock ‘n’ roll there are the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (YYY). They make art punk funk noise. Precisely what these post-no-wave New Yorkers actually have stumbled onto is a mystery of epic proportions. Here is a band willing to cop an attitude.

A holy racket that can level a city like a monster movie, Yeah Yeah Yeahs is “only” a five-song EP. Some garage-quality production values are not a major obstacle (Jerry Teel at Funhouse studios does a good job with probably few tools). EP’s are vehicles and this is quite a ride. This is just the beginning but the YYYs are way out in front of just a casual pace. They are already running.

The trio packs a multitude of delights. They are part rogues, artists, sexaholics and comedians. Karen O rock stars usually come in dreams. Does she embody pleasure or pain, or is she a prankster bent on destroying the distinction? Her sexy snarl is enough to leave a boy or girl confused and hoping for yet more confusion. Nick Zinner on guitar tears through his icy riffs. He can groove in deeper rhythms or attack with slashing solos (and take some nice photographs). Zinner is a major force. Brian Chase adds a deft touch on skins though lo-fi recordings never do drums justice.

The savvy lyrics have a medical efficiency. “Bang” is a pure sex song. “Mystery Girl” flaunts the unknown pleasures of all that lies ahead (with the appropriate lyric “take a deep breathe, babe/ ‘cause we just started”). “Our Time” is their contemporary anthem of disillusionment, chanting, “it’s our time/ to be hated” (patently destroying the essence of Tommy James & The Shondells‘ “Crimson & Clover”). Sometimes they are thinking while sometimes they just feel. Apparently inhibitions are needed urgently elsewhere.

The YYYs play groovy noise rock but with sketchy reference points. Comparisons hardly work (Boss Hog/JSBX? The Cramps? Gang of Four? Swans?). The YYYs stand on their own though. Yeah Yeah Yeahs is loud and subtle. It can move you or intrigue you. In other words, it can hit you in the gut or in the head. Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ empowerment lies in your choosing its target.

This EP is like the ground-floor entrance to the next big thing. Yeah Yeah Yeahs blasts you with the indifference of a finely tuned death trip. Critics have picked up the YYY’s scent. Either everyone else takes the hint now or thirty years later the YYYs will reunite for their first tour with seating for 30,000.

Scott Walker + Sunn O))) – Soused

Scott Walker + Sunn O))) – Soused 4AD CAD3428CD (2014)

Scott Walker continues to challenge himself and audiences. With Soused, he has teamed with drone metal outfit Sunn O))). Comparisons have been drawn to Lou Reed‘s collaboration with Metallica on Lulu (2011), but comparisons could equally be drawn to Tony Conrad working with Faust on Outside the Dream Syndicate (1972). The album opens strongly with the two best tracks, “Brando” and “Herod 2014.” “Brando,” which might have been inspired by the strange Arthur Penn western The Missouri Breaks (1976) starring Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson, sounds the most like Walker’s most recent albums. There is a recurring riff a bit like Guns N’ Roses‘ “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” deflated and blunted. The second track, “Herod 2014,” is the story of a mother hiding her children…from something not really named. The song title is a reference to the biblical king of Judea. There is a small bell that is repeatedly rung throughout the song, somewhat loudly at first but then pushed back into the background so that it is barely perceptible. In an interview, Walker said, “The bell, in a sense, is representing her.” The rest of the tracks, all written by Walker, come closer to the usual sound of Sunn O))). They aren’t quite up to the first two tracks, but they don’t disappoint either. This is a grim, confrontational album that tries to provoke and prod listeners. But it also draws on plenty of dark, gallows humor. It may not be the finest from either Walker or Sunn O))), but it is a worthy collaboration that finds a lot of common ground.