![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/big_stir9.jpg\")
Maybe it\u2019s because I\u2019m a writer, but when I encounter an album that includes liner notes, I tend to read before I listen. Or, at least I\u2019ll start to read as I pop the disc into the player (or if I\u2019m lucky, I\u2019ll drop the needle into the groove.) And that\u2019s the approach I took with this, the ninth installment in Big Stir Records\u2019 ongoing series of compilations.<\/p>\n
Mike Lidskin\u2019s witty, good-natured and hype-free essay introduces the disc in a manner that\u2019s effective for both newcomers and those familiar with the Big Stir Singles discs. But of course, the music is the start of the show, and like previous collections, this ninth disc is a treat.<\/p>\n
This volume follows the established formula, serving up two songs each by ten-ish artists. And Big Stir\u2019s Rex and Christina curate the disc in an inspired manner, serving up artists familiar to devotees of the label (Dolph Chaney, Nick Frater, the Brothers Steve, Jim Basnight, David Brookings) as well as artists whose names they might not recognize.<\/p>\n
The Viewers fall into that latter category; their \u201cBeautiful\u201d is a well-named track. Blake Jones\u2019 voical texture might not be for all tastes (shades of one of the Johns from They Might Be Giants), but his Sgt. Pepper-<\/i>ish melodies are solid. The Persian Leaps successfully mix power and (to coin a phrase) pop. Mike Daly & the Planets has a winning way with melody. Rosie Abbott\u2019s \u201cHold On\u201d is a bit out of place stylewise here, but that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s not lovely. (It is.)<\/p>\n
Only a few tunes are repeats from other sources. Nick Frater\u2019s \u201cLet\u2019s Hear it for Love\u201d first appeared on his Fast & Loose<\/i> album late last summer. But it\u2019s so good that I don\u2019t object at all to finding it on two CDs in my collection. Same for The Brothers Steve\u2019s \u201cBeat Generation Poet Turned Assassin,\u201d which shows up on this disc twice<\/i> after being on the band\u2019s superb self-titled LP. And while Irene Pe\u00f1a\u2019s cover of The Fountains of Wayne\u2019s scintillating \u201cIt Must be Summer\u201d sounds like a repeat \u2013 other than her lovely voice, it\u2019s nearly a copy of the original) a great tune is a great tune.<\/p>\n
Every one of these Big Stir sets seems to hold one buried-deep gem, and in this case it\u2019s an ambitious tune from David Brooking (without<\/i> the Average Lookings, \u2018twoud seem),. \u201cAll I Love is Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll\u201d conjures memories of Jellyfish.<\/p>\n
The new, high-quality music keeps coming fast and furious from Big Stir; Volume Ten<\/i> is already on my desk. I predict that it too shall be swell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Maybe it\u2019s because I\u2019m a writer, but when I encounter an album that includes liner notes, I tend to read before I listen. Or, at least I\u2019ll start to read […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21212,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,49,51,55,62,65],"tags":[4576,2821,4471,4577,3762,3631],"class_list":["post-21211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-compilation","category-new-release","category-pop","category-powerpop","category-rawk","category-review","tag-big-stir","tag-david-brookings","tag-dolph-chaney","tag-irene-pena","tag-jim-basnight","tag-nick-frater","cat-19-id","cat-49-id","cat-51-id","cat-55-id","cat-62-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21211"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21213,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21211\/revisions\/21213"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}