CD Odyssey Disc 1175: Elton John

I had an annoying day today dealing with the various dehumanizing ways we service people en masse in the 21^st century. It began with an hour and a half of waiting at the medical clinic, all so I could get 10 minutes with a doctor that told me…I have the flu. It ended with my bus not picking me up and me waiting another 40 minutes for the next one.

That experience will garner BC Transit a less than kind review from me, but first a less than kind review of the kind you were expecting.

Disc 1175 is… Honky Chateau

Artist: Elton John

Year of Release: 1972

What’s up with the Cover? It’s a Giant Head Cover! This is early in his career and as you can see Elton cannot yet afford large sunglasses for his Giant Head. Those would come later.

How I Came To Know It: Sheila got me into Elton John and bought most of these studio albums when they were remastered and re-released on CD. I filled in the collection here and there and I’m not sure where “Honky Chateau” fits into those two possibilities.

How It Stacks Up:  We have seven Elton John studio albums and I saved slot #3 for “Honky Chateau”. However, this record let me down and I must drop it down to #5 – moving both “Madman Across the Water” and “Caribou” up one. It still beats out the bloated and overrated “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” but it’s close.

Ratings: 3 stars but only barely

Sometimes I wish Elton John would just lay off the boogie woogie and stick to ballads. On “Honky Chateau” I wished it early and often.

The record starts with “Honky Cat” which if our copy of “Greatest Hits” is to be believed was a hit. Why, I have no idea, with its horn section that sounds like a fart and a bunch of frantic bells and piano trills that are clever enough but don’t make me want to tap my feet, except maybe in agitation.

This is one of two songs that Elton attempts to use the word ‘cat’ in a cool way. The other is “Hercules” near the end of Side Two. Sadly in neither case is an actual cat involved, it is just Elton trying to be hip to the new slang. I don’t think he manages it in either case.

Even on slow songs like “Mellow” Elton warbles around so much that I had a hard time following the melody, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to. By the time “I Think I’m Going to Kill Myself” came on at Track 3 it was starting to sound like good advice.

I just don’t dig Elton John when he’s trying to be groovy or boogie woogie or whatever he is trying to be on these songs. On “Amy” he says of the titular character “you’re far out, you’re fab and insane.” Sadly Elton is not these things, and his efforts to infuse these songs with an urban strut fail.

Instead, the songs seem to dart around frantically, without much purpose or plot, until they eventually wear themselves out and stop. It reminded me of the mentally ill woman who waited with me at the bus stop today, randomly swearing and giving various objects the finger. I was listening to Elton so missed her epithets, but I like to think she was also unhappy with the transit system. But I digress…

For all that frustration, when “Rocket Man” comes on I almost forgive it all. “Rocket Man” is just one of those perfect songs. Elton writes a gorgeous melody and then relaxes into the song’s flow. The guitar and piano play off one another beautifully, the backup singers ‘ooh’ with sublime inspiration and as Elton’s Rocket Man is “burning up his fuse out here alone” (for the record, that’s what he’s doing) he is also tapping into something universal. The loneliness of existence is beautiful, precious and not really alone at all; we’re all slowly swaying within the same feelings of isolation. Great stuff.

I also really love “Mona Lisa and Mad Hatters,” which is another song in taking solace in isolation, although here that isolation exists within the multitude; surrounded by the sights and sounds of New York City. If you’re looking for a place where you can be friends with no one and everyone at once, New York City is it. The song ends with Elton thanking the Lord for the people he has found. You’re not sure if he means all those strangers or a few close friends and really, in the moment it doesn’t matter.

I’m sure for lots of people this record is a classic.  It was certainly successful – the first of six straight #1 records for Elton. But this blog isn’t about critical acclaim or commercial success. It’s about how I feel about a record and apart from a couple of classics lifting it up “Honky Chateau” left me behind. Like the #11 bus earlier.

Yeah, I’m not over that.

Best tracks: Rocket Man, Salvation, Mona Lisa and Mad Hatters

CD Odyssey Disc 1174: Johnny Flynn

I hope you will forgive my brevity, dear reader, for I am not well. I have some kind of throat infection robbing me of my vitality. I’d hoped to go to the clinic today but apparently showing up at a clinic at 1:45 is too late in the day in these troubled times. Argh. I went back to work instead, which I’m almost certain is not the correct treatment for whatever I have.

Anyway, I may try again tomorrow but for now let’s see if I can get through a music review. Aah, writing…my mental pilot light. May it always be the last faculty to fail me.

Disc 1174 is… A Larum

Artist: Johnny Flynn

Year of Release: 2008

What’s up with the Cover? A figure crosses a snowy field in front of what looks like some old and abandoned passenger cars of some kind. Is it just me or does the figure’s head kind of look like it’s part of the painting on the passenger car? Weird…

How I Came To Know It: This was on my oft-referenced “Best 100 Indie Folk Albums” from Paste Magazine. “A Larum” came in at #85 and left an impression.

Then it became impossible to find. I bought Flynn’s 2017 release “Sillion” (reviewed back at Disc 1136) as a consolation prize but still couldn’t find the now out of print “A Larum”. Finally, a couple years later my persistent searching paid off when a used copy showed up in local record store “Ditch”.

How It Stacks Up:  I have two Johnny Flynn albums and I saved top spot for this one but now that I’m here I must admit…I prefer Sillion. That puts “A Larum” into second.

Ratings: 3 stars

Not to be confused with sixties rocker Johnny Kidd and the Pirates – as my wife is wont to playfully do – Johnny Flynn is a South African/English indie folk singer. I have an unfounded suspicion that he is a critical darling although you wouldn’t know it from his lack of commercial success (“A Larum” is one of three albums he’s charted with, coming in at a less than vaunted #98).

Not that charting ever mattered to great music. If it did, you could take over half my collection and turf it into the sea. Don’t do that though – it would be environmentally irresponsible. Also, I like my uncharted gems. Maybe they shine only for me, but it makes the shine that much more lustrous. But I digress…

How does “A Larum” hold up in the Land of Uncharted Gems? Not bad.

Flynn has a sing-songy style that makes you feel like you could encounter him walking down some backwoods English path where he sings to birds and birch trees. He isn’t a vocal powerhouse, but he knows how to match that sing-song style to sparse and whimsical arrangements. The guitar playing is light on strum, heavy on fancy picking, and takes a back seat to the stories that Flynn trills out.

Unfortunately, despite listening to this album four times sequentially over the last four days I often find my mind wandering when I listen. I catch snippets of evocative images like these from “Sally”:

“I’m a plow and you’re a furrow

I’m a fox and you’re a burrow”

Or this from “The Wrote & the Writ”:

“What of all those wayward priests?
The ones who like to drink
Do you suppose they'd swap their blood for wine
Like you swapped yours for ink, for ink.”

When I read the lyrics back online it all makes sense and there are even larger stories within, but there is something in Johnny Flynn’s voice that makes it hard to focus on the developing plot. Instead, like the songs, you trip along like a butterfly to the next flower. It is pleasant, but it didn’t have the emotional gravitas I like in my folk music.

The one exception is “Tunnels” another whimsical hand-picked number about how we are all damaged, trying to repair the holes in our lives even as we dig new ones in the process. The song jumps and skips, but the darkness at the core remains strong. I kind of welcomed that darkness, but maybe that’s just the fevered cough talking.

Anyway, I’d ask this record to slow down and take itself more seriously, but Flynn has obviously decided to do serious at a gallop, and who am I to tell him different. This is good stuff that challenges you to pay close attention and rewards you if you do. At least I assume it would.

Now food and a blanket.

Best tracks: The Wrote & the Writ, Sally, Tunnels

CD Odyssey Disc 1173: Platinum Blonde

My weekend is off to a good start. Last night I hung out with a couple of friends and today I went for lunch with a third. Despite all this, I’m feeling a bit worn out and am looking forward to a quiet night.

Disc 1173 is… Standing in the Dark

Artist: Platinum Blonde

Year of Release: 1983

What’s up with the Cover? This cover has a lot of confusion. Where does that door go? Why am I being shushed? What are those dudes in the background pointing at?

Also of note, both guys in the background appear to have significant leg injuries. The guy on the left has applied a tourniquet and the guy on the right is clutching his knee at an awkward angle. I’d be tempted to say they were hurt in a dancing accident, but I’m not sure there is enough leg movement in eighties dancing to cause those kinds of injuries.

How I Came To Know It: This album is Sheila’s. “Standing in the Dark” was one of the seminal albums of her youth. When she was a teenager her grandma would go to Sam the Record Man (an old record store from back in the day) and buy a bunch of cassette tapes for her Christmas stocking – this was one of them. Other notable albums Sheila remembers getting this way include: Prince’s “Purple Rain”, the Police’s “Synchronicity”, and Brian Adams’ “Cuts Like a Knife”. Good job, grandma!

Sheila tells me that she played “Standing in the Dark” so heavily she wore the writing off of the side of the cassette. I believe it given how well she knows these songs.

As for me, I only know this album on CD through Sheila, who bought it two or three years ago when she was feeling nostalgic.

How It Stacks Up:  We only have on Platinum Blonde album, so it can’t stack up.

Ratings: 3 stars

“Are you sitting comfortably? Then we’ll begin”. This is how “Standing in the Dark” begins, which is funny because this album is really not for sitting comfortably. It is more for frenetic eighties dancing (guard your legs!), or maybe cruising the strip in your convertible.

Platinum Blonde is a Canadian New Wave/ pop band from the mid-eighties. Their style is not in my usual wheelhouse and until I reviewed this record I had never given them much thought. I was pleasantly surprised by “Standing in the Dark.” The eighties production is annoying, but the guys can play and the songs are well structured.

While the band is Canadian, lead singer Mark Holmes is English and he brings that English eighties invasion sound into the band. I could tell he was heavily influenced by David Bowie, with a lot of similar inflections in his voice. That said, he is his own man, and while it can be a bit affected, he has a nice tone to his voice that suits the music well.

The songs have that front-of-the-beat lean that is indicative of New Wave, which loads the songs with a lot of restless energy. The music is very percussion heavy, with the guitar feeling like an afterthought – a common approach to mid-eighties pop. They do it well, though and the drums have a good thump often missing from music from this era.

The opening song “Doesn’t Really Matter” was also the band’s biggest hit, but I was surprised to find it peaked on the charts at #31. I remember this song was pretty ubiquitous back in 1983 (as a heavy metal devotee at the time I hated this). Now I can appreciate the song, which has a great dystopian feel. The eighties weren’t just unbridled optimism and greed; it was a decade where we all felt like we were going to die when the Cold War went hot. This tends to makes your music a little…apocalyptic.

This comes across heavily on the record as a whole, which features songs about emotionally empty relationships, politics gone wrong and the disconnect created by an ever-rising technological world. This last item has just become more true in the intervening decades.

As for lyrics, I wasn’t terribly impressed. On the title track the boys rhyme “no prisoners” with… “no prisoners.” “Leaders in Danger” starts with:

“Disengage the reaction

Bring on the main attraction

Don’t tamper with the facts

Only opposites attract.”

What?

Despite these missteps, the songs are catchy and beyond that, they manage to evoke a mood that overcomes a few bad rhymes.

Overall, while this isn’t an album I’ll put on very often of my own accord the last couple days have given me a deeper appreciation of its good qualities. If you like eighties New Wave and you don’t know this record, it is worth your time to check it out.

Best tracks: Doesn’t Really Matter, Standing in the Dark, Leaders in Danger, Not in Love

CD Odyssey Disc 1172: Josh Ritter

Whenever I’m not having the greatest day, there is always music. Whether I’m facing a hard walk or a long wait, it can all be endured if I’ve got some music to keep me company. And anytime I’m feeling low, or even when I just need to safely feel a little low on my own terms, there is music to help me along.

I wonder what people without music do? Or worse still, those people who listen to the radio, desperately hoping that the next song is going to fill their emotional needs only to be served some random and vacuous hit of the day. Poor bastards.

Disc 1172 is… The Beast In Its Tracks

Artist: Josh Ritter

Year of Release: 2013

What’s up with the Cover? When I first saw this cover I thought there were trees growing out of Josh Ritter’s shoulders. Upon further inspection I see that his shirt is catching fire. The patch on his right shoulder appears to be burning in the shape of a bum, proving this particular fire has a sense of humour.

How I Came To Know It: After I discovered Josh Ritter through his 2006 album “The Animal Years” (reviewed back at Disc 1062) I decided he warranted a full dive. “The Beast In Its Tracks” was one of his albums that I determined was “shelf-worthy”.

How It Stacks Up:  Josh Ritter has nine studio albums, and I own four of them. “The Beast in its Tracks” comes in 3^rd out of those 4. What can I say? Competition is fierce.

Ratings: 4 stars

I see “The Beast in its Tracks” as a comeback album for Josh Ritter, but it really isn’t. Ritter only began charting in the last eight years or so, and “Beast” was part of that popular success. Note that “charting” and “popular” are relative term when you’re talking about indie folk music, but you get the point.

But for me Ritter’s best work spans from 2002-2006 and the records between then and 2013 don’t resonate the same. That is all cured on “Beast” which sees Ritter’s ever evolving style move to something that is gentle and uplifting musically, while still providing thoughtful lyrics. In short, Ritter seems to have mellowed out.

On his earlier records, Ritter’s production is a pretty stripped down folk, with plenty of pretty guitar work. That is all present on “Beast” as well, but the production is lighter and airier, with Ritter singing consistently in his high register. The album takes on a very ethereal quality, and the low end bass notes are muted or missing. It reminded me heavily of early Simon and Garfunkel with the soft recital quality of the Frances Luke Accord. I expect that last reference isn’t much help…look them up in the sidebar if you’re curious.

The guitar work has a gentle jangle, and a light picking style that makes you want to go cycling down a country lane, or maybe hang out at a stream and pick flowers for your girl. It feels pastoral and pleasant.

There are times this sound feels a little twee, and had me wishing for a bit more gravitas, but those times were rare. For the most part, the sound put my head into a receptive reverie, ready to let Ritter’s stories wash over and into me.

The opening tracks on the album are good, but they’re not my favourites. Things pick up at Track 5 with “Nightmares” which has a guitar so whimsical you’d swear it was a ukulele (I checked though – no sign of ukulele in the credits).  Then Ritter cleverly crosses that whimsy with terrifying imagery like:

“Nightmares have their dreams as well

And when they sleep they go to hell

And drink their fill on lakes of blood

Canter ‘cross the skull-paved

And nurse their little colts on fires

Their coltish teeth like kitchen knives

And look down from abysmal cliffs

Their dead hair by the lead wind riffed

On denizens too deep to see

Whose own dreams nightmares’ nightmares in

I know where the nightmares sleep

On what fodder they feed.”

Translation: everyone has nightmares – even nightmares. You’re not alone. No wonder the song has a ukulele-like whimsy; it’s comforting.

On “New Lover” Ritter has a similarly “happy” message, as he tells his old lover he’s happy and moved on, and hopes the same for her…before ending with:

“But if you’re sad and you are lonesome and you ain’t got nobody true

I’d be lying if I said that didn’t make me happy too.”

Here again, is the album’s hidden charm. Ritter has found a way to sing gently about dark thoughts, sugar-coated like a pill from Miracle Max to help it go down easier.

Not all the songs have darkness underneath. Many of the songs on “Beast” are just pretty little romantic songs. The kind of thing you play for your girl to impress her with your love around a campfire. Of course, if you play guitar you know that your girl has heard you rehearse the crap out of that song, so by the time you pull it out at the campfire chances are you’ll be sick of it, and so will she – although she’ll still appreciate the sentiment.

Fortunately, I never heard Josh Ritter sit around his house and compose these perfect little songs – they arrived for me in finished form; thoughtful little songs that wrapped me up in a little doubt, a lot of love and just the right amount of jangle.

Best tracks: Nightmares, New Lover, Heart’s Ease, The Appleblossom Rag, In Your Arms Awhile, Joy to You Baby

CD Odyssey Disc 1171: Run the Jewels

II had planned to give this album another day to soak in, but then I realized I was home alone for the evening with nothing to do. I also had the worst of first world problems; two shows were taping on cable so I couldn’t even watch TV. Faced with the dreadful prospect of having to do something important, I donned my headphones, laid down in the dark, and gave this next album another listen.

Technically I also gave the cat a cuddle, but I think that activity reasonably adheres to the spirit of Rule #4. Also, it is important.

Disc 1171 is… Run the Jewels 3

Artist: Run the Jewels

Year of Release: 2016

What’s up with the Cover? It’s the Run the Jewels logo, featured on every one of their three albums. This time, they have ‘flashed’ it in gold.

A limited number of these albums came with swag as well, and I managed to get that with mine. This included a medallion with the RTJ logo and a bunch of stickers:

In the new world of music downloads, a band going out of their way to provide some real live swag with their album was very cool. This medallion is as cool as it looks – not real gold but shiny and with plenty of heft. If you are wondering “Where would you wear this?” I wore it to a dress up event at an art gallery. Did people give me weird looks? You’re damned right they did, and I loved it.

Some of the stickers (band logo, band members brandishing firearms) now grace my metal lunch bucket. Yes, I have a metal lunch bucket, festooned with band stickers. It goes well with my suit.

How I Came To Know It: I first discovered Run the Jewels (RTJ) through their 2014 album, “Run the Jewels 2” and loved it so much I bought RTJ 3 the week it was released, before I heard a single song.

In case you haven’t noticed, Run the Jewels aren’t terribly creative with their album names. Hey – it worked for Led Zeppelin.

How It Stacks Up:  I have three Run the Jewels albums and RTJ3 comes in second. I absolutely love it, but it still falls just short of the masterpiece that is RTJ2.

Ratings: 4 stars

If you only listened to radio friendly hip hop you might despair for the state of modern rap, but a few songs from rap duo Run the Jewels would quickly cure what ails you.

Composed of two rappers – El-P and Killer Mike – who are already established underground rap legends in their own right, Run the Jewels is a revelation, a visceral blend of old school flow and ultra-modern beats, fused to make something timeless and powerful.

Run the Jewels came into their own on their second album, and on their third album they demonstrate it was no fluke. Their rhymes are intricate, thought-provoking and filled with swagger. Both El-P and Killer Mike have been at their craft for years, honing their skill. They’re good, and they know it.

This frequently leads them to that age old school topic – that they rap better than you. It’s only fun in rap when it is true, and on “RTJ 3” it is true and then some. This album has bold song titles like “Panther Like a Panther” and a lot of hefty bragging, every beat of which both rappers back up and then some. Most of the best stuff is laden with many swear words. Since I don’t want you to blush, dear reader, I won’t quote them. Suffice it to say that every swear is right where it needs to be to make the point more…er…pointed.

Musically, the album is a dense mix of old school drum, techno beats and sparingly used but well-timed samples. On “Call Ticketron” they marry frenetic synthesizer beats with their flow and a clever sample of some announcer saying “live at the Garden” has to be heard to be appreciated.

While most of these songs are rap battle masterpieces, Run the Jewels also throws in a good mix of social commentary. When they mention violence and drugs it isn’t in the vacuous way so many modern rap acts do – it is rare and purposeful, and designed to underscore a point, rather than be the point. “Thursday in the Danger Room” is a heartbreaking song about bad choices and the friends no longer with them as a result and it works better knowing Run The Jewels have had their own bumps in the road.

Another nice touch was the CD booklet came with a complete set of lyrics, which is pretty rare for a rap album. You don’t need this extra; El-P and Killer Mike are both so on point you don’t miss a word, but it is a nice addition.

I was tempted to give “RTJ 3” an extra star just for giving me a medallion and some stickers, but there was no need. This record stands on its own merits, swag or no swag.

Best tracks: Talk to Me, Legend Has It, Call Ticketron, Don’t Get Captured, Panther Like a Panther (Miracle Mix), Oh Mama, Thursday in the Danger Room

CD Odyssey Disc 1170: Conor Oberst

Today I was mistaken for a rock star by a new server at our favourite restaurant. OK – that may be overstating it. She said I looked like “a musician from California” but that’s close enough. I call my style ‘aging rock star’ so it is nice to have an affirmation that people are picking up what I’m putting down. Also, she left out “aging” which was nice.

Disc 1170 is… Salutations

Artist: Conor Oberst

Year of Release: 2017

What’s up with the Cover? Nirvana's "Nevermind" twenty years later and with one less dollar. I wonder how he held his breath that long…

How I Came To Know It: I had liked Conor Oberst’s 2016 album “Ruminations” quite a bit, and while I resisted “Salutations” for a few months (for reasons explored later in this review) I eventually broke down and bought it.

How It Stacks Up:  I have three Conor Oberst albums – his most recent three, in fact. Of those three I must reluctantly put “Salutations” in at…#3. Since this represents my full list of Conor Oberst albums here is a recap:

1. Ruminations: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 1071).
2. Upside Down Mountain: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 961)
3. Salutations: 4 stars (reviewed right here)

Ratings: 4 stars

“Salutations” breaks a lot of my rules for what makes a good album and even invented a new way to annoy me, but I still came away loving it. Rules are well enough, but a love of good music is the one rule that trumps all the others, and this record is loaded with good music.

First, the traditional annoyance: this record has 17 songs, which is way too many songs. Even when the songs are as good as these, I expect an artist to keep things to a maximum of 14 tracks. Anything more and it is just too hard to stay focused.

Now, the new wrinkle: 10 of those 17 songs are repeats from his 2016 album “Ruminations.” On “Ruminations” Oberst went for a stripped down ‘demo’ sound, with just him singing and a single guitar or piano, with a little harmonica here and there. On “Salutations” he has re-recorded all of them with full instrumentation.

The result is a smoother, more polished sound that sometimes had me liking the song more, and sometimes had me longing for the stripped down version on “Ruminations.” While I enjoyed hearing the songs again (“Ruminations” is a 5-star album, so we are talking about a collection of amazing songs) it still felt wrong making me buy them all a second time only a year later. Technically I didn’t have to buy them all a second time, but with seven new songs it was hard to resist.

So how good are the seven new songs? Pretty good, actually. The best of them, “Too Late to Fixate” leads the record off. It is a song about mid-life crisis and desperation. A man decides to meditate to put his mind at ease, but instead his mind wanders through his failing marriage and cheap thrills. The lyrics are a clever mix of awareness, denial and dark humour:

“My wife takes a vacation; one she can’t afford

I go fishing the alleys for someone to escort

No, I don’t mind the money. It beats betting on sports

And though it might get expensive it’s cheaper than divorce

And I love her torn stockings and lipstick of red

Is it too late to fixate on that instead?”

This is brilliant stuff, rich in imagery and speaking to larger, deeper issues that are present in every character Oberst explores. His gift with language is exceptional throughout the album, and put him in the heady company of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and the other greats.

Musically, Oberst is equally gifted. The slow and meandering sway of “Till St. Dymphna Kicks Us Out” perfectly mirrors the experience of too much drinking over way too many hours. Oberst matches his lyrics thoughtfully to the melody as well. At one point near the end of the song he sings:

“Let’s get enabled, great minds think alike

I never was a good judge of when to call it a night.”

Is followed by a walk-down that feels like the song is wrapping up, but instead it lifts up again, whirling through a few more bars, just like our narrator staggers his own way through a few more drinks when he should be calling a cab.

The album has multiple references to the excesses of drugs and drinking, with recurring themes of tipping one back before noon. On “Afterthought” (another excellent “new” tune for this record) Oberst sings:

“I thought about breakfast but settled on wine

Always choose hunger over despair”

And a lot of the songs feature unison background singing, adding a barroom vibe that would make Tom Waits proud.

There isn’t much bad to say about the record, and I’ve deliberately skipped discussing some of the better songs (“Tachychardia”, “Barbary Coast”, “Next of Kin”) simply because I talked about them at length when I reviewed “Ruminations”.

For all that excellence, I was able to find three of the seven new songs (“Napalm”, “Empty Hotel by the Sea” and “Salutations”) that are good but that I could live without. If these were removed, the album would be back down to a tasteful and restrained 14 tracks. Of course, we would have eliminated the title track in the process and what would we call the album then? How about…Ruminations?

If Oberst had really wanted to show the acoustic vs. full production differences of the songs there are other ways to do it. Both Frank Turner (“Positive Songs for Negative People”) and Billy Bragg (“Mr.Love & Justice”) do it by including a bonus acoustic CD in a single package. If he’d done that, “Salutations” would have easily achieved the 5 stars “Ruminations” did – it is that good. But he didn’t, and so I’m going to be a hard ass and drop it down to 4.

However you rank it, “Salutations” is one of the better indie folk album you will ever hear, so don’t let my pet peeves stop you from doing the right thing. Go buy it.

Best tracks: All 10 that are also on Ruminations, plus Too Late to Fixate, Overdue and Afterthought.

CD Odyssey Disc 1169: John Prine

I was up until 1:30 in the morning last night reading and I am a bit knackered, so I was happy to have some relaxed music to walk home with.

Disc 1169 is… Aimless Love

Artist: John Prine

Year of Release: 1984

What’s up with the Cover? John Prine sits in a cheap chair in some portrait studio, leaning in with an earnest slightly resigned look that says, “If you think this is bad, you should see the shots we didn’t use!”  The big-ass ring and cigarette strain to make him look cool and fail badly. The moustache doesn’t even try.

How I Came To Know It: A couple years ago I was digging through John Prine’s back catalogue looking for hidden gems. This was one.

How It Stacks Up:  Having parting with “The Missing Years” a little over a year ago I now have five John Prine albums. “Aimless Love” does pretty well, coming in at #3.

Ratings: 3 stars

John Prine may not look cool on an album cover, but he seems like a grounded and genuinely nice person. On “Aimless Love” he backs this ‘friendly uncle’ vibe up with songs that are heartfelt, honest and kind.

You can do a lot worse than kindness, and while “Aimless Love” walks up to the line of hokey from time to time it is that core of kindness that lets you forgive Prine for his propensity for sentimentality.

By 1984 Prine had been around the block a few times, and “Aimless Love” is his 8^th studio album. He always felt comfortable in his music, and at this point he’s positively chill. And even though he had become a folk icon, he isn’t afraid to poke a little gentle fun at himself. The record begins with “Be My Friend Tonight” which is a song about trying to woo a woman, written from the perspective of a character who has preious little game. The song makes halfhearted suggestions of a backrub, but you can tell our hero is destined for a night on the couch.

Then on “Slow Boat to China” he shows that seen from a slightly different angle, the guy at the beginning trapped in the friend zone makes for quite a hopeless romantic when you give him a chance. Prine’s characters aren’t full of adventure, but they’re good guys and while neither song is musically very interesting, I found myself rooting for the characters they depicted.

“The Bottomless Lake” is Prine exploring whimsy, imagining a car that crashes into a lake so deep the passengers have time to eat some chicken and tell stories as the sink into its depths. The song is a bit silly, but in a good way. Also it has knee slaps, and what song isn’t made better with knee slaps? None, I say. They’re even credited in the liner notes. Congratulations to John Prine and Bobby Whitlock for your excellent…knee slaps. But I digress…

Even when John Prine is criticizing someone, he does it with empathy. On “People Puttin’ People Down” he calls out those people who can only feel better by belittling others:

“People without love

Sometimes build a fence around

The garden up above

That makes the whole world go ‘round

But all the people who don’t fit

Get the only fun they get

From people puttin’ people down.”

Prine doesn’t get angry at these people; he sees them as broken. It’s a warning not to be that way, and a reminder to pity those who are. Even on “Unwed Fathers” a single mother teaches her child not to hate a father for leaving.

Should we forgive these absentee dads for their absence? I’m inclined to say no – and the song is loaded with intergenerational poverty they create in their thoughtless decisions. But while Prine doesn’t pull punches, he also says these men “run like water through a mountain stream” ephemeral and distant, but more a force of restless nature than a deliberate scourge. Prine isn’t afraid to explore tragedy, but he invites you to walk a space in everyone’s shoes before you decide how you feel about the story as a whole.

In the spirit of all this kindness and forgiveness I shall declare John Prine’s vocals…average. He’ll never win a singing competition, but he knows how to write songs in his limited range and he sings with a down-home aww-shucks style that draws you in.

The album ends with “Only Love,” a stripped down song with just vocals, upright bass and an acoustic guitar John leaves you with a lullaby about…love. Love through loneliness, love through loss and heartache, and love through an uncertain future.

With his ridiculous moustache and schmaltzy obvious topics like love and forgiveness you might be tempted to dismiss a song like this as trite, but if you do you haven’t been listening to the album. Go back and play it again. John’s got something to tell you, and it’s important.

Best tracks: Aimless Love, The Bottomless Lake, People Puttin’ People Down, Unwed Fathers, Only Love

CD Odyssey Disc 1168: Little Feat

I was talking with a friend last week and he asked me if I believed in the sophomore album curse. I don’t, although I expect there are some statistical underpinnings that help feed the myth.

The first of these is that those bands that only ever make two albums typically have a bad second one – that’s what makes it their last. Another is that sometimes a band makes a bad first album but it is largely overlooked. As a result everyone thinks their sophomore album is their first record, when in fact it is just the first album that got noticed.

But most of all there are just too many amazing examples of great second albums – like this next one.

Disc 1168 is… Sailin’ Shoes

Artist: Little Feat

Year of Release: 1972

What’s up with the Cover? O boy. A woman made of cake, wearing nothing but high heeled shoes, rides a swing on the manicured front lawn of some estate. Well, one high-heeled shoe – she’s lost the other one to the forces of momentum.

But wait – there’s more! An 18^th century gentleman and a giant snail look on. I’m not very good at reading the moods of a giant snail, but the 18^th century gentleman seems to be taking it all surprisingly in stride. He is certainly calmer than I’d be under similar circumstances. Probably that’s because he hasn’t turned around yet to see the fabric of reality breaking down in the sky over his right shoulder.

I always wondered what the aristocracy did for fun three hundred years ago. Now I know. I expect it is much the same in modern times, only stranger.

How I Came To Know It: My friend Elaine put me onto Little Feat a few years ago when she bought me “Dixie Chicken” and “Feats Don’t Fail Me Now.” I was content with those for a few years but last month I decided to dig through the rest of their catalogue. “Sailin’ Shoes” caught my attention and so…here it is.

How It Stacks Up:  I now have four of Little Feat’s studio albums which is all I want for the time being. Of those four, “Sailin’ Shoes” is in a photo finish for first place with “Dixie Chicken.” I’ll give the edge to the chicken lady, and put “Sailin’ Shoes” in at #2.

Ratings: 4 stars

Lowell George was taken from us too soon, leaving us with precious little of his musical genius. Despite his untimely death, he was here long enough to bring us some classic rock albums, and “Sailin’ Shoes” is one of his best.

While Little Feat’s first album is solid, “Sailin’ Shoes” starts a run of four consecutive albums that represent the band at its absolute height. The band has a fearless mix of southern rock, boogie woogie and some hippy flower-power action that made sense in 1972 and beats the odds by still working 46 years later.

In many ways, “Sailin’ Shoes” is Little Feat’s most straightforward album; at least as straightforward as their strange musical cocktail can be. The record opens with “Easy to Slip” which has a free wheelin’ sound that manages to simultaneously rock your world and chill it out. This is music for cruisin’ down a deserted desert highway in a convertible, hair blowing in the breeze and speedometer well beyond the good humour or forgiveness of local law enforcement.

The weird thing is that “Easy to Slip” is about the sadness of those people who aren’t in your life anymore, but Little Feat manage to turn it into a grooved out celebration. Or as Lowell George sings:

“Well I don’t want to live forever in

The shadow of your leaving me

So I’ll light a mellow cigarette

And try to remember to forget.”

Yeah, man. Lowell is telling you that life is hard, but it’s nothing that a “mellow cigarette” won’t solve.

The theme continues on the bluesy “Cold, Cold, Cold” a song about laying up broke in a cheap hotel. While it doesn’t end with the offhanded “let’s just get high” of “Easy to Slip” you get the feeling that given the choice Lowell George would rather sink into a groove than a state of depression.

The record has two songs that I originally discovered through cover versions. I first heard their classic trucker song “Willin’” as a Steve Earle cover on “Sidetracks” which is great but it is hard to beat the Little Feat original, which switches the lead melody between piano and guitar so effortlessly you don’t even realize it is happening. You just feel like this simple perfect melody has more depth than it should.

I first heard “Teenage Nervous Breakdown” as a Nazareth song when I was about five or six years old. I’ll admit in this case, I love Nazareth’s visceral proto-metal delivery, but when you hear the boogie woogie original you get an appreciation for just how good the bones are of these songs; you can interpret them multiple ways but the music always shines through.

Given this fact, maybe I should be less surprised at how Little Feat consistently sets the songs on “Sailin’ Shoes” against wild arrangements, with instruments coming in and out in a way so casual it seems whimsical, until you realize how incredibly tight the band has to be to pull it off.

The only time this bravery fails them is on the final track, “Texas Rose Café” which sounds like when you are playing one clip on Youtube and you accidentally click a second and they play on top of one another until you manage to get one paused.

However, this is the exception that proves the rule: up to that point, Little Feat had pushed their virtuosity to the limit ten times in a row and walked away unscathed every time. And while I didn’t care for “Texas Rose Café” by the time it came on I knew that all that discordance and loose overlapping was done with an artful purpose.

“Sailin’ Shoes” is an amazing record whether you are a music nerd, or just want to sit back and enjoy a beer on your back porch. Lowell George wasn’t here long, but this is an album that makes you realize he didn’t waste the time he had.

Best tracks: Easy to Slip, Cold Cold Cold, Trouble, Willin’, Sailin’ Shoes, Teenage Nervous Breakdown, Got No Shadow

CD Odyssey Disc 1167: The Pretenders

I sat down to write this hours ago but I was overcome with waves of weariness and went and took a nap instead. Anyway – I am back up off the mat and ready to talk music.

Disc 1167 is… Self-Titled

Artist: Pretenders

Year of Release: 1980

What’s up with the Cover? Band shot. Bassist Pete Farndon is standing a bit apart from his bandmates for some reason. I think he is going for “edgy cool” but it comes off as “angry nerd.” The other two guys manage to land “affable banker” and “sketchy producer.” The “edgy cool” market Farndon was looking for has been thoroughly cornered by Chrissie Hynde.   

How I Came To Know It: I grew up with this album on the radio, but I didn’t buy it until I got a deal on a boxed set of the Pretenders first five albums.

How It Stacks Up:  I have five Pretenders albums. Of those five, the Pretenders self-titled debut comes in at…second, just behind “Learning to Crawl”.

Ratings: 4 stars

It is fitting that the Pretenders released their first album in 1980; it is the perfect mix of experimental seventies rock and the glitz and polish of the decade to come.

Chrissie Hynde is the right ambassador for this journey as well. She is sexy, but it is a tough sexy; the kind whose love boys have tattoos (which in 1980 was a lot edgier than it is now). When her boyfriends get down she doesn’t comfort them – she tells them to stop crying and get over it on a killer cover of the Kinks’ “Stop Your Sobbing”.

In addition to very strong Kinks influences (Hynde is a huge fan) there is more than a bit of Patti Smith in Hynde’s delivery. Both women have deep voices, and like Smith, Hynde has a punk-poet delivery to her songs, sometimes jumping the beat with a frantic pace and sometimes singing in an almost spoken word style, floating above the beat, but always mindful of it.

The music overall has a similar forward-leaning energy. This is pretty polished rock and roll, but there are punk sensibilities lodged within it that give it energy mixed with a New Wave jump and the soul or rock and roll.

To mix this stuff together well requires a tight and talented band, and the Pretenders have exactly that. Martin Chambers keeps a frenetic pace on the drums, always riding on the edge of losing control. James Honeyman Scott’s guitar is wise enough to recognize that Hynde’s vocals are the centerpiece of the sound, but when called upon he delivers a wicked lick. I particularly love his work on “The Wait,” mixing in the chk-chk-chk of deadened strings with a killer walk-down riff that gives the song its power.

The record started a bit rough for me, but it was more a matter of personal taste. The opening track “Precious” is strongly punk and it is followed by the similarly rough around the edges “Phone Call,” which again shows many Kinks elements, including the short sharp guitar barks at the front of the beat. These songs are full of grit, but I like the Pretenders a bit more where they are working in a bit of melodic smooth to counterbalance all the jump.

This is a minor criticism, however, on a record that grows on me with every listen. From “Up the Neck” at track three through to the end, I was continually impressed, and also surprised with the sheer number of sonic choices they make without ever losing the core of their sound. There are hand claps, spoken word, multiple guitar effects and even a bit of doo wop background singing from the boys, who “ooh and aah” on “Up The Neck” in a way worthy of a sixties vocal trio. On the instrumental “Space Invaders” they manage to make a mix stoner groove rock song with video game sounds to good effect.

It is rare to see this kind of bravery on a first album, and I’m happy that in 1980 the Soulless Record Execs were still taking chances with bands willing to try something a little different. They were even rewarded with the Pretenders’ most timeless hit “Brass in Pocket”. I’ve heard this song a thousand times, but it is so good it has never worn out its welcome.  Hearing it lodged artfully among a collection of other great songs, each of which lifts its neighbours up, makes it even better.

And on that happy note, it is time to move on to the next album in the CD Odyssey. What will it be? I don’t even know that…yet.

Best tracks: Up the Neck, Tattooed Love Boys, The Wait, Stop Your Sobbing, Brass in Pocket

CD Odyssey Disc 1166: King Diamond

Sometimes you gotta know when to cut your losses. This next review is me doing exactly that.

Disc 1166 is… The Graveyard

Artist: King Diamond

Year of Release: 1996

What’s up with the Cover? Looks like King Diamond and Andy LaRocque went out one evening to do some amateur photography with their trusty Snap-O-Matic. I don’t know if a Snap-O-Matic is even a thing, but it seems like that would be the name of any camera that takes photos this bad.

How I Came To Know It: I did a deep dive through the entire King Diamond discography a little over a year ago. This was one of the ones I liked.

How It Stacks Up:  I currently have seven King Diamond albums, which I have come to learn is way too many. Of those seven, I rank “The Graveyard” 4^th. And since – spoiler alert – this is the last King Diamond album I plan to review, here’s the full list:

1. “The Eye”: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 1095)
2. The Graveyard: 3 stars (reviewed right here)
3. Abigail: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 1093)
4. Fatal Portrait:  2 stars (not reviewed because…I’m done)
5. Them: 2 stars (not reviewed because…enough)
6. The Spider’s Lullabye: 2 stars (reviewed at Disc 1104)
7. Abigail II: 2 stars (reviewed at Disc 1124)
8. Conspiracy: 1 star (reviewed at Disc 1152)

You read that correctly. I didn’t review “Fatal Portrait” and “Them” and I’m not going to. I’m done with you, King Diamond, and your entire discography.

Ratings: 3 stars

In popular culture, when a father is trying to cure a son of his smoking habit he makes the kid sit in the bathroom and smoke cigarette after cigarette. Eventually the kid is retching into the toilet trying to cough his tortured lungs into the sewers, but he’s cured.

I’m like that kid, except I had a King Diamond problem. Over the course of a few months I bought eight King Diamond albums – five of them in a single boxed set. Finally, the CD Odyssey gods stepped in to cure me by force feeding me what I thought I wanted. Over the past 73 albums, I’ve rolled King Diamond six times. At first this was a novelty, and then it was a fun coincidence. Around album three or four it became an endurance test that I was eager to master. But now, confronted with album #6 and only three quarters of the way through the experience, my ears are starting to develop a gag reflex. I am done with King Diamond.

Although it no longer matters, “The Graveyard” is one of his better albums. It has some scorching guitar riffs from Andy Larocque and some soaring melodies. Even King’s voice, which can screech to the point of incoherence, is restrained by his standards. Maybe the ten years he’d spent contorting his vocals finally took their toll, but the end result was a good thing.

And yet…I could care less. I am done with his brand of theatre and bombast. I was initially drawn to King Diamond because of Larocque’s scorching guitar licks – and I still love those – and I was entertained by the crazy and inventive stories King would weave around those licks. I love a good theme and these records were the ultimate in concept albums.

“The Graveyard” is no exception. And while I have mostly lost interest, let’s recap it for old time’s sake. Here we have a man locked up in an insane asylum but who murders his nurse and escapes. He then kidnaps a man’s daughter, buries her in a grave and forces him to guess which grave she is in. When the man succeeds, the inmate plans to murder him anyway. However, a pane of glass suddenly falls from a crypt window and decapitates the inmate. The little girl then takes the inmate’s head and puts it in her backpack. The End.

In King Diamond’s world, if you are killed and your head is severed in a graveyard your soul is trapped forever in your head. I suppose getting taken home by the little girl could be seen as a silver lining, but I imagine an epilogue where the head spends the next few months decomposing while being forced to play a starring role in a seven year old’s tea party. I mean, at least until mom comes in with some sandwiches and cookies and sees it oozing all over the carpet. “Lucy…I’ve told you a hundred times. If you’re going to play with that head put a towel down first!” Hmmm…I think I have the makings of “The Graveyard II: Tea Time!” But I digress…

As King Diamond stories go, this is far from the weirdest, and there are some pretty cool songs as well but I just don’t give a crap anymore. All those concepts have worn me out. I love a good story, but somehow I forgot how much I hate musicals, and King Diamond albums are basically heavy metal musicals. They belong off Broadway, with lots of crazy costumes and a troupe of Cirque de Soleil dancers flipping around and contorting themselves.

If you count “Abigail II” (which I have already given away) I’ve got over 5 hours of King Diamond music and I’ve heard it all at least three times now. That’s 15 hours of my life I’ll never get back. I’m cutting my losses. These might be meticulously rendered metal nightmares, but it is time someone else dreamed them. I’m moving on and getting rid of the entire collection. If I want creative songs about crazies and axe murderers I’ve got plenty of Alice Cooper and Handsome Family records to get my fix.

Best tracks: I’m sure there are a few but…whatever.