The Album Review Club - Christmas Break Until 8th January

GornikDaze said:
Anyone listened to this weeks offering yet? ;)
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Yeah quite a bit. This is probably the first pick that I already had on my not very structured "must get round to listening to that soon" list. Not ready to score it yet but overall really like it, which I expected to even though it's not a facsimile of his other albums. There's a couple of tracks that are a bit 'why' and I was particularly irked by To The Ends of The Earth which adds nothing and has been done better many times before. If it's there as a pausa it doesn't work for me. But apart from that one song I can find merit in everything else and as I've already said overall I love the sounds that he makes. There's a contrast to last weeks pick in that even though this has a real mix of styles on it, he has enough of an identity and presence to carry it off. I enjoyed the Fantastic Negrito pick a while back and this has a similar eclectic vibe whilst also being a more in my default wheelhouse. With this album for some reason I found myself imagining he was Buddy Guy's grandson and the family were discussing how he could have gone off the rails so much but Buddy was very chill about it all.

Anyway back on topic can I just say that as a country our levels of social mobility have collapsed in a way other peers haven't. Go and have a look at the collapse in home ownership of the under 40s here and compare it to others. It's not the absolute position people are in that counts, its the degree to which they feel they can control and improve their own destiny. The worst thing we can ever take from our young people is hope.
 
threespires said:
Yeah quite a bit. This is probably the first pick that I already had on my not very structured "must get round to listening to that soon" list. Not ready to score it yet but overall really like it, which I expected to even though it's not a facsimile of his other albums. There's a couple of tracks that are a bit 'why' and I was particularly irked by To The Ends of The Earth which adds nothing and has been done better many times before. If it's there as a pausa it doesn't work for me. But apart from that one song I can find merit in everything else and as I've already said overall I love the sounds that he makes. There's a contrast to last weeks pick in that even though this has a real mix of styles on it, he has enough of an identity and presence to carry it off. I enjoyed the Fantastic Negrito pick a while back and this has a similar eclectic vibe whilst also being a more in my default wheelhouse. With this album for some reason I found myself imagining he was Buddy Guy's grandson and the family were discussing how he could have gone off the rails so much but Buddy was very chill about it all.

Anyway back on topic can I just say that as a country our levels of social mobility have collapsed in a way other peers haven't. Go and have a look at the collapse in home ownership of the under 40s here and compare it to others. It's not the absolute position people are in that counts, its the degree to which they feel they can control and improve their own destiny. The worst thing we can ever take from our young people is hope.
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Would it surprise you if I said that “To The Ends of the Earth” is one of my favourites? It’s a lovely, cool, laid-back piece with jazzy chords. It’s a bit short, and I understand what you are saying about it having been done before, but it’s a refreshing break after the earlier bombast.

I’d love to hear other artists who put a twist on the blues. Listening to a guy who just plays a guitar is a bit too straight for me, but some of the tracks on here feel a bit too much. There must be a sweet spot somewhere, but Chris Whitley aside, I’ve never found it.
 
RobMCFC said:
Would it surprise you if I said that “To The Ends of the Earth” is one of my favourites? It’s a lovely, cool, laid-back piece with jazzy chords. It’s a bit short, and I understand what you are saying about it having been done before, but it’s a refreshing break after the earlier bombast.

I’d love to hear other artists who put a twist on the blues. Listening to a guy who just plays a guitar is a bit too straight for me, but some of the tracks on here feel a bit too much. There must be a sweet spot somewhere, but Chris Whitley aside, I’ve never found it.
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I was about to write if I want to listen to jazz guitar I put a 'proper' jazz guitarist on like Wes Montgomery or Jim Hall or Joe Pass at which point I realised I'd recently written something in this space that ignores Jazz guitar entirely. Doh! :-)
 
Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
And as timing is everything, here in the US, GCJ will be on Austin City Limits (ACL) season 50, episode 2 airing with the Black Pumas this upcoming Saturday night. I saw Black Pumas in concert 2 weeks ago and they were phenomenal too!

S50 E2 · Gary Clark Jr.; Black Pumas
60 min · Oct 5, 2024
Blues rock musician Gary Clark Jr. performs highlights from "JPEG Raw"; Black Pumas present selections from "Chronicles of a Diamond."
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If the streaming link works in the UK, then you are welcome. If it does not, then I am sorry, I tried.

Bonus is you get Black Pumas right after. I'd have loved GCJ to get the full program, but he's done that before, and the 4 songs are fine for me, even without Stevie (nod to @mrbelfry in including that one!). Naala joining him was very nice, and ending with "Habits" of course was needed.

Gary just announced a winter 2025 leg tour and will be coming close enough by that I'll be seeing him then, so all is good!

video.austinpbs.org

Austin City Limits | Gary Clark Jr. / Black Pumas | Season 50 | Episode 5002 | Austin PBS

Grammy-lauded Gary Clark Jr. and Black Pumas deliver a thrilling hour of rock and soul.
video.austinpbs.org video.austinpbs.org
 
RobMCFC said:
Would it surprise you if I said that “To The Ends of the Earth” is one of my favourites? It’s a lovely, cool, laid-back piece with jazzy chords. It’s a bit short, and I understand what you are saying about it having been done before, but it’s a refreshing break after the earlier bombast.
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It wouldn't surprise ME, but I'm glad you took the time to mention it because the early returns have not been positive. I've always liked it there as a bridge as I've noted prior.
 
threespires said:
Anyway back on topic can I just say that as a country our levels of social mobility have collapsed in a way other peers haven't. Go and have a look at the collapse in home ownership of the under 40s here and compare it to others. It's not the absolute position people are in that counts, its the degree to which they feel they can control and improve their own destiny. The worst thing we can ever take from our young people is hope.
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It's a problem here as well, and certainly things weren't helped by the Covid epidemic just 4 years in the rear view, homes not moving as much, speculative buying impacting prices, etc. I'll only state there's one here who actually has more than just a concept of a plan to address and try to improve it, and leave it at that.

It isn't going to change overnight, but putting positive policies in place to help restore some hope is a start.

As a 20something in the early 90s, I couldn't imagine going back to live at home, but it's what my oldest did for 5 years before she recently bought her own place after years of saving by avoiding rent. It's a different time and situation all around given the rise of home ownership prices most everywhere.
 
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