Hello Peeps, what's shaking?
What we have here for you is the albums I enjoyed the most during the month of March; one from each list each week. You might be surprised by at least one I chose. I was supposed to be saving myself time by doing it this way, but I found that once I started reviewing an album I liked, I wrote way too much. What you see below, believe it or not, is the edited versions of these reviews.
I have been a fan of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings since I caught their KCRW Live at West 54th Street set on late night television in 1997. I used to record every episode of Sessions and for the longest time, I had to make do with a cassette tape of the set that I made from the VHS. I just couldn't find any CDs.
What initially blew me away about the pair was Gillian's fabulous voice and incredible guitar work and Rawlings complimentary harmonies and even more incredible guitar work. I was oblivious to Alt Country at the time and obsessed by early Dylan. I was amazed that I was hearing old time folk in a new day and it sounded contemporary and relevant.
Revival contains much of the music Welch played the first time I saw her. Tear My Stillhouse Down, Orphan Girl and Paper Wings still sound like the KCRW performance in my head when I think of them. What wasn't played and is among the best songs on the LP is One More Dollar, a tale of a transient fruit picking worker looking to get home to his family after the next crop brings enough money. The imagery of the Depression and Welch's pining and soaring melody, is heartbreaking. More heartbreaking still, the lonely Orphan Girl is autobiographical, with Welch adopted out at birth.
I can't say enough good things about Gillian Welch. My major gripe with her would have to be no new albums since 2003's solid Soul Journey. Her masterpiece though is the impossibly superb Time (The Revelator) from 2001. Go, get it now.
I hadn't heard of Blind Pilot when I stumbled across them via Accuradio. Their folky hipster melancholy put me in mind of some of my favourite bands, such as Bright Eyes, Vetiver and Dolorean. So I thought I would look further.
What I have since discovered about the band is that they hail from Portland and that 3 Rounds and a Sound is their only full length album, released in 2008. There was an iTunes EP that I don't have and a tour anounced in 2010. But basically, this is it from the Oregon cycling enthusiasts.
The tracks on the album all have the same acoustic folk feel with varying tempos and overall moodiness. The dirge like Poor Boy waltzes along with depressing resignation, while Go On, Say It skips along like a drunken sing-along.
3 Rounds and a Sound is well worth a listen. Paint or Pollen features a little ukelele and a nifty xylophone break, Two Towns From Me sounds like a Scottish folk love song and Things I Cannot Recall is a sweet reminiscence of a life together past. Grab a copy, if you like your indie folk.
This now widely acclaimed ahead-of-its-time classic sits somewhere confidently between the worlds of punk and new wave. It has been listed on virtually every All Time list somewhere near the top. The reason being that this is music with incredible foresight.
The raw and edgy sounds of the other bands on the CBGBs scene at the time (Ramones, Misfits et al) is what became known as Punk. Television's sound has more of a progressive 80s pop / rock feel about it. The guitar work is legendary and quite diametrically opposed musically to the general punk style of thrashing out whatever works.
The jangling, atmospheric riffs of Elevation; the driving crunchy bass on the opener See No Evil; and the sprawling, more than 10 minute long title track are just the start of Marquee Moon's brilliance. On the whole, this LP has not aged a day. If you haven't heard it, get on that right now.
Regardless of whether, at the time, they liked the movie, everybody seemed to have this soundtrack. My first big soundtrack, and the first record I owned, was Grease, but I don't remember there being any in between that had an impact until this one and Stand By Me. There was The Big Chill for the oldies, but for teens, Pretty In Pink was the biggest.
The album has a bit of a UK feel and a pop vibe with tracks by Suzanne Vega, New Order, OMD, Echo & the Bunnymen, The Psychadelic Furs and The Smiths among others.
The New Order track, Shell-Shock and OMD's massive hit If You Leave were the most popular, but the enduring classics are The Smiths' Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want and The Psychadelic Furs' theme for the film Pretty in Pink.
Pretty In Pink, both the film and the soundtrack is a perfect piece of sweet pop bubble gum from the dizzyingly self-absorbed peak of the 80s.
Bye For Now
Thanks for stopping by to see what was going down in March. I'll see you in May for April's run down. Have a great Easter.
Ciao for now!
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