The Album Review Club - Week #137 - (page 1774) - Wet Dream - Richard Wright

[mrbelfry]

Thanks everyone for feedback on the 'best year in music' idea.
Of the ten responses I got safe to say that the reaction was mixed with two mainly against the idea and two supportive with caveats.

Taking on your feedback, this is the idea refined a bit:

My Best Year in Music

Write a 'love letter' to your best year in music demonstrating why;
- it was the most creative year in musical history
- it marked a step change in musical direction
- it spawned an extraordinary number of iconic albums
- a pantheon of artists emerged which would dominate music for decades
- or a combination of all of those things.

You can include up to five albums from that year (UK release dates please) which illustrate your proposal as to why it's the strongest in history.

Given the strength of album reviews you guys write I can imagine some very thought provoking and compelling 'love letters'.

The idea would be to run it in stages
1) participants nominate a year asap after launch (no duplicates)
2) they get a week to post their write ups
3) then another week to review the submissions, write up their own summary of what they found and vote for their favourite submission/year other than their own.
Clearly, this is not about listening to every album proposed, many will be well known to this group, more a bit of thinking, reading, listening and then choosing their favourite year/submission.

Most folk (including myself) wanted this on a separate thread but having thought about it more carefully I would like it to be part of this thread at the end of a cycle (replacing the usual guessing game as a one off). This would make sure there was no time contention as this will take time and I don't think it would succeed if launched parallel to the album thread. Also launching as a separate thread runs the risk of it dying a death or attracting large numbers and making the thing unmanageable. Most importantly, if its done as part of this thread it maximises the chances of you all participating and given the high quality evident weekly on here, I just think keeping it on here would make for a far richer outcome.

Anyway, enough from me.
Views?

1997 for me please boss

 

[threespires]

Very very late to this discussion - but Steve Earle draws me in as he so often does.

I'm not sure where my intro to Steve Earle came - possible through listening to people like Nanci Griffith in the mid-80's. Perhaps he appeared on a show she did with various guests - that was certainly my introduction to John Prine. I certainly knew him before Copperhead road as I bought that the week it came out - then had to take my CD back a couple of time because it jumped all over the place - my wife still expects Copperhead Road to jump. But what an album once I had a version that I could listen to it was probably the most played album of 1988/9

I see there has been a lot of talk about musical genre - country rock etc. But I think Steve Earle has always been more than a musical genre - he is a political and social commentator, he is a storyteller reflecting on the issues of the world. he comes out of small town America - but his vision has always been wider. See Jerusalem and The Revolution Starts Now from 2002/4 - stunning albums from a prophetic voice.

As to Guitar Town - it picks up on elements of that he would develop as time goes on - a harsher guitar style than any country song, that gruff rocky voice, good melodies that get you tapping along. He's beginning to tell his stories of small town America - Good Ol Boy sounds like a prequel to Copperhead Road, and he is beginning to realise there is a bigger world out there - but in Down the Road it is all ahead of him

Though the miles lay long behind you
You have still got miles to go
How's love ever gonna find you
If it ain't here, it's down the road?

As you may gather, I love Steve Earle's music. Only seen him live once - at a festival where he was probably not well known, he was in a morose mood, touring new album and not really in the mood to play his "best of" - so a bit a disappointing - but I good to see him live nonetheless.

Nanci Griffith was a great collaborator and was a gateway to a few different artists for me from Townes Van Zandt onwards. Don't think Earle was one of them but I think they had a lot of time for each other in part I assume in their mutual love of Van Zandt. Last year's Griffith tribute album was testament to the good company she kept.

Sadly I think Earle can be a bit Van Morissoneque in that if he's in a bad mood you'll know about it. As a man who's had the life he has including getting through seven (?) marriages I suppose it's not that surprising he's a bit up and down.

 

[cyan]

Last year's Griffith tribute album was testament to the good company she kept.

and Earles cover of It's a Hard Life is wonderful

 

[BlueHammer85]

 

[RobMCFC]

Very very late to this discussion - but Steve Earle draws me in as he so often does.

I'm not sure where my intro to Steve Earle came - possible through listening to people like Nanci Griffith in the mid-80's. Perhaps he appeared on a show she did with various guests - that was certainly my introduction to John Prine. I certainly knew him before Copperhead road as I bought that the week it came out - then had to take my CD back a couple of time because it jumped all over the place - my wife still expects Copperhead Road to jump. But what an album once I had a version that I could listen to it was probably the most played album of 1988/9

I see there has been a lot of talk about musical genre - country rock etc. But I think Steve Earle has always been more than a musical genre - he is a political and social commentator, he is a storyteller reflecting on the issues of the world. he comes out of small town America - but his vision has always been wider. See Jerusalem and The Revolution Starts Now from 2002/4 - stunning albums from a prophetic voice.

As to Guitar Town - it picks up on elements of that he would develop as time goes on - a harsher guitar style than any country song, that gruff rocky voice, good melodies that get you tapping along. He's beginning to tell his stories of small town America - Good Ol Boy sounds like a prequel to Copperhead Road, and he is beginning to realise there is a bigger world out there - but in Down the Road it is all ahead of him

Though the miles lay long behind you
You have still got miles to go
How's love ever gonna find you
If it ain't here, it's down the road?

As you may gather, I love Steve Earle's music. Only seen him live once - at a festival where he was probably not well known, he was in a morose mood, touring new album and not really in the mood to play his "best of" - so a bit a disappointing - but I good to see him live nonetheless.

You are more than qualified to talk about Steve Earle, and you've already written the review, so feel free to submit a score out of 10 for this album.

My Steve Earle listening/buying follows a strange pattern: after he disappeared from the scene due to drugs and jail, I missed his first album back Train a Comin but bought his next two: I Feel Alright, as I said yesterday is one of his best, and El Corazon was pretty good too.

For some reason, I then stopped buying and listening, so I missed Transcendental Blues, Jerusalem and The Revolution Starts Now. When Spotify appeared, I was able to catch up on these but only played them once through. I repeated them all yesterday and whilst i don't think they stand up to my favourites, there are some great tracks on all of those albums.

I got back into him with the Washington Square Serenade album and bought that and the next two, and I also enjoyed listening to Ghosts of West Virginia during lockdown.

There's probably some decent stuff I've missed from him because I don't bother with all the cover albums he does but overall he has an amazing back catalogue. It's when somebody nominates something like this that gets you back listening to some stuff you haven't heard for years, although I play "Copperhead Road" fairly often because it's one of my favourite songs of all time.

 

[cyan]

I got back into him with the Washington Square Serenade album and bought that and the next two, and I also enjoyed listening to Ghosts of West Virginia during lockdown.

There's probably some decent stuff I've missed from him because I don't bother with all the cover albums he does but overall he has an amazing back catalogue. It's when somebody nominates something like this that gets you back listening to some stuff you haven't heard for years, although I play "Copperhead Road" fairly often because it's one of my favourite songs of all time.

I've spent the morning listening to his latests offering Alone Again (Live) http://www.steveearle.com/ - His chat before It's About Blood says much about his take on songwriting and life. It's also the last original songs we have from him - since then it's been covers of his son's songs and Jerry Jeff Walker. Strange when you think what has been happening in US over the last 4 years that he's had nothing to say about it - but perhaps that is why he is singing his own back catalogue - much that could be said has been said.

 

[Coatigan]

1997 for me please boss

One of my three years to pick from. Probably very different albums though.

 

[Kompany Car]

Thanks everyone for feedback on the 'best year in music' idea.
Of the ten responses I got safe to say that the reaction was mixed with two mainly against the idea and two supportive with caveats.

Taking on your feedback, this is the idea refined a bit:

My Best Year in Music

Write a 'love letter' to your best year in music demonstrating why;
- it was the most creative year in musical history
- it marked a step change in musical direction
- it spawned an extraordinary number of iconic albums
- a pantheon of artists emerged which would dominate music for decades
- or a combination of all of those things.

You can include up to five albums from that year (UK release dates please) which illustrate your proposal as to why it's the strongest in history.

Given the strength of album reviews you guys write I can imagine some very thought provoking and compelling 'love letters'.

The idea would be to run it in stages
1) participants nominate a year asap after launch (no duplicates)
2) they get a week to post their write ups
3) then another week to review the submissions, write up their own summary of what they found and vote for their favourite submission/year other than their own.
Clearly, this is not about listening to every album proposed, many will be well known to this group, more a bit of thinking, reading, listening and then choosing their favourite year/submission.

Most folk (including myself) wanted this on a separate thread but having thought about it more carefully I would like it to be part of this thread at the end of a cycle (replacing the usual guessing game as a one off). This would make sure there was no time contention as this will take time and I don't think it would succeed if launched parallel to the album thread. Also launching as a separate thread runs the risk of it dying a death or attracting large numbers and making the thing unmanageable. Most importantly, if its done as part of this thread it maximises the chances of you all participating and given the high quality evident weekly on here, I just think keeping it on here would make for a far richer outcome.

Anyway, enough from me.
Views?

1971 was a good year, predates me but had some really iconic albums.

 

[RobMCFC]

Thanks everyone for feedback on the 'best year in music' idea.
Of the ten responses I got safe to say that the reaction was mixed with two mainly against the idea and two supportive with caveats.

Taking on your feedback, this is the idea refined a bit:

My Best Year in Music

Write a 'love letter' to your best year in music demonstrating why;
- it was the most creative year in musical history
- it marked a step change in musical direction
- it spawned an extraordinary number of iconic albums
- a pantheon of artists emerged which would dominate music for decades
- or a combination of all of those things.

You can include up to five albums from that year (UK release dates please) which illustrate your proposal as to why it's the strongest in history.

Given the strength of album reviews you guys write I can imagine some very thought provoking and compelling 'love letters'.

The idea would be to run it in stages
1) participants nominate a year asap after launch (no duplicates)
2) they get a week to post their write ups
3) then another week to review the submissions, write up their own summary of what they found and vote for their favourite submission/year other than their own.
Clearly, this is not about listening to every album proposed, many will be well known to this group, more a bit of thinking, reading, listening and then choosing their favourite year/submission.

Most folk (including myself) wanted this on a separate thread but having thought about it more carefully I would like it to be part of this thread at the end of a cycle (replacing the usual guessing game as a one off). This would make sure there was no time contention as this will take time and I don't think it would succeed if launched parallel to the album thread. Also launching as a separate thread runs the risk of it dying a death or attracting large numbers and making the thing unmanageable. Most importantly, if its done as part of this thread it maximises the chances of you all participating and given the high quality evident weekly on here, I just think keeping it on here would make for a far richer outcome.

Anyway, enough from me.
Views?

As it's broadly similar to yours. I might as well say now that the idea I had a few weeks back was: Rock Evolution.

The way this would work is that for each two-week cycle, one person would pick 5 tracks from a year and people would nominate their own favourites from that year. We'd have the usual discussion but no voting.

This would work in chronological order, starting with the birth of Rock N Roll in 1955, working right up to the present day. i.e, it would be a 3-year project. (Maybe we'd have a pre-section covering everything before 1955 and maybe 1955-1959 could be covered in one session).

The idea of doing it in chronological order would be that we would all get to hear the advances in the order they happened. i.e. when did psychedelic music first appear? What was the effect of punk? What about the advance in synths and the appearance of rap? Did grunge really first appear in 1991 or would somebody come up with a grunge track in 1987 etc.

I'm not saying we should do this instead of your idea, just floating the concept for discussion as it was similar to yours. With the focus being on tracks, it's more easily digestible, but as you say, in your setup, there would be no requirement to listen to whole albums, just sample some songs from each.

 

[mrbelfry]

One of my three years to pick from. Probably very different albums though.

You could pick 5 albums and still exclude 50 great albums. Based on what little I know about you I suspect 97 is your year because spice girls released wannabe. Depeche Mode was the other artist that made me think of you. I think Foo Fighters might be a bit too commercial for you. Or I may be totally wrong and you like a little Janet Jackson?