{"id":16792,"date":"2019-05-14T05:30:18","date_gmt":"2019-05-14T09:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=16792"},"modified":"2019-05-14T07:57:38","modified_gmt":"2019-05-14T11:57:38","slug":"hundred-worders-for-may-2019-vinyl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2019\/05\/14\/hundred-worders-for-may-2019-vinyl\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundred-worders for May 2019: Vinyl"},"content":{"rendered":"

A subtle hint to any press agents or label reps who might happen to read this: a near surefire way to get your client\u2019s album reviewed on Musoscribe is to send me a vinyl record. Unless I wholly detest it \u2013 and that\u2019s not likely to happen if you check in before sending to make sure it\u2019s my kind of thing \u2013 I\u2019ll cover it. As it happens, all of these albums are so good that I\u2019d recommend them even if they were only available on boring old CD.<\/p>\n

\"\"Various Artists \u2013 <\/b>Too Much Booze <\/b><\/i>and<\/b> Bad Hangover<\/b><\/i>
\nThis pair of LPs (available as a single CD called Cheap Old Wine and Whiskey<\/em>) brings together a clutch of thematically-linked songs about a pursuit that\u2019s near and dear to this writer\u2019s heart: drinkin\u2019. Well, not exactly: most of these rollicking, obscure r&b sides concern themselves with over<\/em>-indulging. The song titles tell you what you need to know: \u201cSloppy Drunk,\u201d \u201cI\u2019m a Wine Drinker,\u201d \u201cI Got Loaded,\u201d \u201cFire Water\u201d and the very direct \u201cYou Drink Too Much Booze.\u201d A few artists memorialized here may be familiar, but most won\u2019t. What all these tracks share is that they\u2019re loads of fun.<\/p>\n

\"\"Del Shannon \u2013 <\/b>Greatest Hits & Finest Performances<\/b><\/i>
\nFor casual listeners, knowledge of Del Shannon begins and ends with his 1961 hit single, \u201cRunaway.\u201d That tune \u2013 with its distinctive clavioline solo \u2013 is one of the few hard-rocking hit singles of the pre-Beatles era. And speaking of the Fab Four, the other thing people know about Shannon is that he was the first artist to cover a Beatles tune: \u201cFrom Me to You,\u201d shortly after their version was released. Both tunes are here, plus 14 more. The supremely rocking \u201cMove it on Over\u201d \u2013 co-written with guitar legend Dennis Coffey \u2013 is as heavy as Led Zeppelin.<\/p>\n

\"\"Jewel \u2013 <\/b>Pieces of You<\/b><\/i>
\nWhen Jewel Kilcher released Pieces of You<\/i> in 1995, the singer-songwriter seemed to have come from nowhere into wide prominence. (As it happened, she\u2019s from Alaska.) Pieces of You<\/i> was surprisingly well-formed for an artist who had been playing coffee shops a scant two years earlier. Most will be surprised to know that the album did in fact get a vinyl release on its initial go-round, but the run must have been quite short; used copies go for upward of $40. This new vinyl reissue’s on 180 gram vinyl in a nice gatefold sleeve, and it\u2019s the one to have.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Fall \u2013 <\/b>Bend Sinister\/The Domesday Pay-off Triad<\/b><\/i>
\nTypically, one either treasures or loathes British post-punk heroes The Fall. I fall (so to speak) into the former camp. The revolving-door lineup of the band didn\u2019t mean that its sound changed a whole lot from album to album; they did what they did, often quite well. As is maddeningly typical of the band\u2019s oeuvre, there are multiple versions of this album in circulation. The 2019 CD has the most, but if you can do without remixes and demos, this 2LP set is the best pick. Good as the original songs are, the cover of \u201cMr. Pharmacist\u201d is the highlight.<\/p>\n

\"\"Jonny Polonsky \u2013 <\/b>Unreleashed<\/b><\/i>
\nTypically, I don\u2019t begin my exploration of an artist\u2019s catalog with a collection of demos and rarities, but here we are: Unreleashed<\/i> collects odds and ends from NYC rocker Polonsky\u2019s career, surveying the years 1996 to 2018. He\u2019s not terribly well-known, but it\u2019s worth noting that he counts Frank Black and Reeves Gabrels as fans; that\u2019s enough to warrant further investigation. The noisy, clattering vibe of tunes like \u201cLet Me In\u201d sounds a bit like a less polished Soul Asylum; when he dials things down he might remind you of Paul Westerberg. Notwithstanding a few folky cuts, this set rocks.<\/p>\n

\"\"Anthony Rogers \u2013 <\/b>One Day (A Journal)<\/b><\/i>
\nAs I\u2019ve mentioned before, I know Rogers from my \u201890s bootleg collecting\/trading days. Knowing his tastes, it surprises me not at all that his own work is equal parts intriguing and idiosyncratic. One Day (A Journal)<\/em> seems to draw equally from the wonderfully fussy studio aesthetic of Pet Sounds<\/em>, the intentionally slipshod DIY ethic of R. Stevie Moore and the \u201canything goes but it goes quick\u201d approach of Robert Pollard and Guided by Voices. There\u2019s a messy feel that reminds me of one of Rogers\u2019 musical heroes, Todd Rundgren, especially the mid \u201870s albums A Wizard\/A True Star<\/i> and Todd<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\"\"Tristan Welch \u2013 <\/b>40 Hours<\/b><\/i>
\nIf Robert Fripp had been in a laid-back mood when he created his sound-on-sound works (now known as soundscapes), and maybe had a little bit more pop sensibility, he might have come up with something like 40 Hours<\/em>. There\u2019s a very Frippish mindset at work here, right down to the naming of the tracks: \u201cMonday,\u201d \u201cTuesday,\u201d etc. not unlike Let the Power Fall<\/i>\u2019s \u201c1985,\u201d \u201c1986\u201d and so on. Some of the tracks are glacial and contemplative; others are a bit more dynamic. They\u2019re all hypnotically alluring; Welch calls his music \u201cambient music for the social consciousness,\u201d and I\u2019d heartily agree.<\/p>\n

\"\"Patrick Bates \u2013 <\/b>Salad Days<\/b><\/i>
\nReleased on the Trrrash Records label, this one came to me via the fine folks as Verses Records (see Welch\u2019s album above). But it\u2019s not at all in line with the latter label\u2019s decidedly experimental vibe; Salad Days<\/i> is a collection of chiming, highly melodic alternarock. In a just world, this is what would get played on rock radio. The Virginian musician generally prefers working solo, but here he\u2019s joined by friends on guitars, drums, cellos, violins, and various horns. It\u2019s not easy to put a vinyl LP on heavy rotation, but I\u2019m thinking Salad Days<\/i> is worth the effort.<\/p>\n

\"\"Shane Parish & Wendy Eisenberg \u2013 <\/b>Nervous Systems<\/b><\/i>
\nImagine if you will a kind of music that combines acoustic Appalachian textures and experimental, avant-garde music. Now stop: you don\u2019t have to imagine it. Nervous Systems<\/em> is a collaborative effort between Asheville, N.C. musicians Shane Parish (of Ahleuchatistas) and Wendy Eisenberg. Both are renowned for their improvisational and exploratory approaches, and both often work in electric\/electronic idioms. But this set \u2013 recorded, as they tell us, mere hours after they first met \u2013 is unplugged. Wholly and proudly uncommercial, it\u2019s experimental music in the vein of John Zorn. But for the open-minded, it\u2019s a mesmerizing collection of impromptu works.<\/p>\n

\"\"Lola Bates \u2013 <\/b>Red Hot<\/b><\/i>
\nBates isn\u2019t yet 20, but clearly the Los Angeles multi-instrumentalist has her shit together. She wrote all the words and music on this album, co-produced the sessions, and played nearly all the instruments. A prodigy? Yes indeed. The songs are economical rock-pop (as opposed to pop-rock) tunes. And Bates\u2019 sense of humor shines through: the phased guitar foundation of \u201cStill a Mess\u201d draws the listener into a conventional if catchy song, only to spring a \u201cfuck this shit\u201d on them when the chorus comes ’round. Based on what I hear on this record, I\u2019m wagering she\u2019s an engaging live performer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A subtle hint to any press agents or label reps who might happen to read this: a near surefire way to get your client\u2019s album reviewed on Musoscribe is to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16782,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9,30,49,51,56,59,60,62,64,65,73],"tags":[209,656,3863,3864,3778,3867,3866,3868,3555,3865,3152,3869],"class_list":["post-16792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avant-garde","category-blues","category-folk","category-new-release","category-pop","category-prog","category-punk","category-rb","category-rawk","category-reissue","category-review","category-vinyl","tag-anthony-rogers","tag-del-shannon","tag-jewel","tag-jonny-polonsky","tag-koko-mojo","tag-lola-bates","tag-patrick-bates","tag-shane-parish","tag-the-fall","tag-tristan-welch","tag-verses-records","tag-wendy-eisenberg","cat-7-id","cat-9-id","cat-30-id","cat-49-id","cat-51-id","cat-56-id","cat-59-id","cat-60-id","cat-62-id","cat-64-id","cat-65-id","cat-73-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16792"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16845,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16792\/revisions\/16845"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}