Dave Mason - Alone Together (every bit as good as Traffic's best)
Beach Boys - Sunflower/Surf's Up (recently released two-fer compiles the two BB albums that best demonstrate that Brian wasn't the only talented songwriter in the band)
Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue (BB drummer's Pet Sounds; long OOP, CD copies fetch three figures on eBay)
Townshend/Lane - Rough Mix (perhaps Pete's best non-Who project; Lane's "Annie" is a killer ballad)
Ten Years After - Cricklewood Green (Alvin Lee at his best)
Steve Hillage - Fish Rising (some of the best jazzy progressive guitar playing ever recorded)
Thin Lizzy - Johnny the Fox (no hit single, just hot playing)
Compare Spirit of Eden with any other previous release in the Talk Talk catalog, and it's almost impossible to believe it's the work of the same band — exchanging electronics for live, organic sounds and rejecting structure in favor of mood and atmosphere, the album is an unprecedented breakthrough, a musical and emotional catharsis of immense power. Mark Hollis' songs exist far outside of the pop idiom, drawing instead on ambient textures, jazz-like arrangements, and avant-garde accents; for all of their intricacy and delicate beauty, compositions like "Inheritance" and "I Believe in You" also possess an elemental strength — Hollis' oblique lyrics speak to themes of loss and redemption with understated grace, and his hauntingly poignant vocals evoke wrenching spiritual turmoil tempered with unflagging hope. A singular musical experience. — Jason Ankeny (AMG)
AMG gives this one five stars, and this review:
Connie Smith is perhaps the only female singer in the history of country music who can truly claim to be the heiress to Patsy Cline's throne. It's not that there aren't many amazing vocalists in the field, and plenty of legends among them. But in terms of the pure gift of interpretation of taking virtually any song and making it a country song of class and distinction, Smith is it. This collection, which covers the first eight years of her career from 1964, when she was "discovered" by Bill Anderson, to the turn of that decade in 1972, includes 20 tracks of pure honey and silk. Smith, who hails from Ohio, may not have the pedigree of Loretta Lynn or Tammy Wynette, but she nonetheless possesses that mercurial "thing" that Cline did: the ability to take the most blatantly country & western song and turn it into a thing that does not betray itself, yet has plenty of urban pop appeal. Here are the hits, "Once a Day," "Cry, Cry, Cry," "Burning a Hole in My Mind," "Just One Time," "I Never Once Stopped Loving You," "The Hurtin's All Over," "If It Ain't Love (Let's Leave It Alone)," and the amazing "Ribbon of Darkness" among them. The set ends with the great standard "How Great Thou Art," which is mindblowing in its rousing spirit. With classic production by Anderson and Bob Ferguson, this is one of the best collections in the RCA Essential series to come down the pike. The only problem is that once heard, the listener will be scouring the bins of used vinyl stores for all of Smith's classics. — Thom Jurek
Here's another disc in high rotation at my place that gets five stars from AMG and this fine review by the late, great Cub Koda:
Although completists will have to have the multi-disc set on Collectables, for the rest of their listeners, this seldom championed but nonetheless superlative single-disc compilation will more than fill the bill. At 18 tracks, a few collectors' favorites are understandably absent ("Wishing Well," "Jaywalkin'"), but all of the major and minor hits are well aboard, clearly showcasing the groups' ability to tackle everything from beautiful ballads ("Gloria," "The Girl I Love") to jump numbers ("Speedo," "My Girl Friend") to Coaster-style novelties ("Peek-a-Boo," "Please, Mr. Johnson") and do it all with style, grace, and choreography that burned. Covering their stint with Josie Records from 1954 to 1960 in a straight chronological fashion with excellent liner notes from John Neilson, this particular compilation offers great value for the bread and should be one of your very first stops in assembling a definitive doo wop collection. The Cadillacs were one of the first and one of the very best, and here's where you go to dig their basic message before proceeding further. — Cub Koda
This album released in 1979 by San Fransisco-group Chrome (mates with The Residents) is a strange hybrid of psychedelia, industrial rock, kraut and punk.
I also recommend "Alien Soundtracks", "Red Exposure" and "3rd From The Sun".
The second album by songwriter and vocalist Tom Rapp´s group Pearls Before Swine.
Beautiful and melancholic compositions. A gem!
Released on the ESP label in 1968.
Later Rapp released a string of albums on Reprise that was a bit uneven but contained many very fine songs. Recommended to people who likes Tim Buckley.
A lost masterpiece from 1970 by the great Tim Buckley. His most experimental album.
Last edited by lazarus; November-24th-2003 at 01:18 AM.
"Heat Treatment" is pretty well acknowledged as a classic, I thought.
"801 Live" is a great selection, but one that flies even lower under the radar is the original source for many of its tunes, Manzanera's "Diamond Head." That album, of which I have two copies (one got nicked on "Frontera"), is amazingly well recorded, and its textures are such one can almost reach out and touch them.
Plus, it's got the incredibly cool Spanish-language rocker in "Frontera," sung by Robert Wyatt, and prime Eno.
"Heat Treatment" may still be considered a classic by those of us who found it a bracing antidote to the mid-70s mellow mafia, but I think it's dropped off the radar screen for just about everyone else. I think the same case could be made for NRBQ's "At Yankee Stadium," another wonderful record that I couldn't live without.
"Squeezing Out Sparks" has lessened over time for me; it seems more obvious, for lack of a better word, while "Heat Treatment" and "Howling Wind" were more realized and had those great horns.
I remember seeing Parker and the Rumour opening for label-mates Thin Lizzy. A mismatch that worked!
Hey, Lord, don't ask me questions....
Last edited by Chris D; November-24th-2003 at 01:20 PM.
Reply With Quote
