Like a lot of people I go through phases when it comes to listening to music. For a while I might listen to Jimi Hendrix or Johnny Winter and then not listen to them for months. Nevertheless there are some albums I listen to at least every couple of weeks since they never seize to amaze and inspire:
UNSHAVEN: Live At Smith's Ole' Bar (Billy Joe Shaver)
Hunter Carmichael turned me onto this guy. Billy Joe is the real deal Texas outlaw. I don't think he ever recorded any Waylon Jennings songs, (and then there is Honky Tonk Heroes...). Billy Joe's son Eddy is playing lead guitar and it is seriously bad-ass. Monster, MONSTER tone, insanely musical playing, and Eddy is solely responsible for my exploring Stratocasters more in a country/rock setting.
Trace (Son Volt)
I use to listen to Uncle Tupelo some, but I never quite could get past Jeff Tweedy's whining. Jay Farrar is an amazingly observative songwriter. He has his way with words (he inspired the names of two of my guitars), and has a quality, not unlike Mark Knopfler, where you have no clue what the fuck he's talking about unless you do some serious homework.
Trace chronicles Jay Farrar's travel from New Orleans to Minneapolis, driving along the great Mississippi river. Americana at it's best. This album also has a line that I kept close to heart after hearing it for the first time:
"Too much living is no way to die"
Interestingly, I read an article in the New York Times (I believe) about how articles written about Son Volt and Jay Farrar were always good and well written.
So turn up the non-profit radio.
Folklore (16 Horsepower)
"Goth-a-Billy" is the best way I've heard this band described. I have no clue what they're singing about, but it calms me down.
Tape Head (King's X)
Although the probably shouldn't be, and can't be labeled this way, this is the only band out of the '80s that I do like (Although Guns 'n Roses was alright too). They can be pretty friggin' heavy, but, like the Beatles, they have never recorded a negative song. That includes songs like "I Hate You" and "Go To Hell".
A Night At The Opera (Queen)
This album, and "A Day At The Races", also by Queen were actually required listening during my music classes when I was in high school. But at the time I didn't understand it completely. Even though I was heavily into the late '60s, early 70's British scene, it was mainly centered around the London blues-rock scene. The Cambridge scene, from which Queen hails, had a more avant garde quality (hell... Allan Holdsworth came from Cambridge), and it took me a while to appreciate that.
This album is the epiphany of a classic rock album. Unlike all these idiots with their "concept albums", who likened themselves to the great classical composers (Tom Schultz anybody?), Queen was one of the few that could pull it off, and that without claiming to be the shit. Great orchestration, great harmonies, great guitar playing. Do I need say more?
Monty Python (John Cleese, Michael Palin, et all) also hail from Cambridge, whom I also didn't appreciate during my high school day, but now totally dig. Nobody expects the Inquisition! Back then I was into Rowan Atkinson, and his various characters (Mr. Bean, Blackadder and the Devil (even though you could call him Toby, if you would have liked), who is definitely from the Oxford school of comedy)
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2 comments:
16 Horsepower is one of the greatest bands I've ever heard. I'm told that many of the members are from Arkansas and they certainly have that feeling one gets from old-timey tales and religious gossips I ran into here and there.
Jonathan Edwards would want to sound like this.
I think I want to have 16 Horsepower's version of Wayfaring Stranger played at my funeral. Their's is the only music that can make the hair on your arms stand up and feel like it is flowing through at the same time - otherworldly and and your grounded core at the same time - does that make any sense?
Jonathan Edwards, the presidential candidate?
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