criminally underappreciated albums of the 90s
Well, great to see so much response on this thread. Hope a few more folks still speak to this issue. I can't believe Yates hasn't weighed in yet. I'm guessing he's still scouring his data base and compiling a top 5 list for each of the many genres about which he has encyclopedic knowledge. I purposely kepy my query open ended, but I guess I tend to go with the people who say that a record that for a record to be criminally underappreciated it had to sell less the 50,000 copies (and better still less than 8000). So anyway, here are a couple that I really liked. No twang I'm afraid. Northwesterners may not find these so obscure, but everyone else may: 1. Tarbabies: "Death Trip". The swan song from probably the best band ever to come out of Madison, Wi. That mythical hybrid of James Blood Ulmer and the Minutemen that everyone should have in their life. If you don't own this one and the three SST releases (recorded by Butch Vig--this is the shit he made his indy rock rep on along with Killdozer), you are missing out. Funky Funky FUnky. 2. Love Battery: Straight Freak Ticket. This record defines criminally underappreciated for me. It is a great psychedelic pop record. It's the only one on a major label. If you like Television style noir, check out "Nehru Jacket." This is a beautiful record. Ron Nine can write a pop song. 3. The Gits: "Frenching the Bully," "Enter the Conquering Chicken," Kings and Queens" IMHO, the Gits were the best punk rock band of the '90s (although the New Bomb Turks are close). Aside from maybe Exene Cervenka, there is no other female singer in punk rock who could hold a candle to Mia Zappata. She truly was the Janis Joplin of Punk rock, a singer perfect for the genre and yet so powerful that she transcends the genre's limitations. Unfortunately, this band was short lived. Mia was tragically murdered about five years ago right as the band was on the verge of breaking through to the next level (just think, it could have been them instead of Green Day). All three records are good. Frenching is probably the most fully formed. Chicken was finished after Mia died, so they had to use her scratch vocals. Nevertheless, it's a great work. Kings and Queens was released after Chicken. But it was actually the first demos the band recorded in 1987 live to 2-track. Nevertheless, it's all there and in some ways it's the best of the bunch. 4. The Meices. "Tastes Like Chicken." A real good Replacements style work out. Take a look if you haven't had a chance. Well, that'll have to do for now jake Jake London
Krebs
Neil asks, what about Pete Krebs. What can I say, I was a Hazel fan. First saw him solo on a bill with my little bro down at NXNW 4-5 years ago. I played a show on a bill with him in 1996 at the old club Moe. His thing keep growing on me. Like what I've heard of the record. PST is cool song. Like "Mr Smalltown (I think that's what it's called ) also. Only seen him once with the band. Mix wasn't great that night. I'll be back again though. Much more familiar with Marc Olsen. That guy is the unsung hero of the Seattle scene. His old band Sage was great live. I like their first album better than the second one. His first solo record is cool, but it really doesn't do justice to what he's into now. His band has really jelled in the last year or so. Fender Rhodes player adds a lot. I haven't heard the new record, but I'm looking forward to it. He's one of my favorite guitars players, period. jake Jake London
drake
Confirmed Drake lover. I first heard 5 leaves, like some of it, but it was "Time of No Reply" and "Pink Moon" that did me in. Never heard "Bryter Later" I must confess. Pink Moon rules. I'd go there first. Buy it, dim the lights some night when you're feeling blue, put on the head phones and close your eyes. You won't regret it. If you're a guy who's in the habit of buying boxed sets, I'd have to agree that this would be a good investment. But if you can own just one Drake album, I'd say get Pink Moon. That's Nick at his purest and for me his best. jake Jake London
ASCAP, BMI, etc (long? but of course!)
Thought I'd add a few points to this discussion. I'd agree that there isn't much difference between the two societies, as far as I can tell. They do use different sampling methods to determine who gets paid what. And this can make a difference in some cases. At one time, I think BMI did a better job surveying smaller radio stations and college stations. As such, if you were in a band that got a lot of college radio play, but not much play on big stations, you might have been better served joining BMI. Subesquently, as someone else mentioned, ASCAP has responded to criticisms that it was weak in this area and has moved to do a better job, so at this point I'm not sure how much of a difference there is. Beyond this, I find BMI's web site and online data base to better than ASCAP's. BMI lists every composition registered by a member. ASCAP only lists those compositions that have come up in a survey or census. On the other hand, ASCAP has some title registration software, which simplifies and speeds the process of clearing titles (you can send the info in on a disk). BMI makes you fill out a hard copy form for each song (although I seem to remember that they may add a web based option somewhere in the future). This can be a drag, especially if you end up joining late in the curve and have to register a 40-50 song back catologue (trust me I had to do this for a band once). The hard copy forms at BMI also mean that all the info has to be rekeyed into the computer system at BMI. You know what that means? Plenty of mistakes and misattributions. Not that ASCAP is perfect in this regard either. So whichever society you join, stay on top of them. Make sure that your titles have been correctly registered and make sure to register new titles in a timely fashion. If the titles haven't been registered and you get radio plays or whatever, you may be missing out on getting paid. If you are a singer/songwriter type or the only writer in your band, there is one other tangible difference between the societies that is worth considering: BMI allows you to join as a writer and then have the publisher's share of performance monies sent directly to you, if you have no outside publisher or administrator. This is cool, especially if your thing is fairly small, because it means that you don't have to go to the trouble of setting up a separate publishing company (at least initially). This can save you some scratch. Let me explain this a bit further. Generally, the societies split every dollar they collect in half. They then send .50 directly to the writer. This is sort of built in protection for the writer. No outside publisher gets to touch this cash. Where the other .50 goes depends on whether the writer has an outside publishing or administration deal. If you are a small DIY kind of person, the odds are that you don't have one of these outside deals, so that .50 should go to you to, because you haven't assigned it away to anyone else. With ASCAP, to get that .50 you have to set up a separate publisher affiliate, even if you basically are the publisher. This can cost you money,time, and hassles. But if you don't do it, you don't get the money. With BMI there are instances where you don't have to do this and can elect to have the publisher's share sent directly to the writer, which can be nice for smalltime operators. A couple of other points: I heard from a BMI rep a couple of months ago, that BMI is hoping to move towards a computerized census system for radion play, if it can get the industry on board. This would lead to far more accurate tracking of radio plays and might mean more money for niche artists. We'll have to see how that shapes up. And one final thing, like everything else in life, don't forget about the people involved. If you build a relationship with an ASCAP or BMI rep, this may be worth more by itself than all the other stuff I mentioned above. Not everyone gets this opportunity, but if it presents itself, seek it out. The societies generally have local reps in larger markets. They can and do help people's careers. Anyway, that's about all for now. Below is a little piece I wrote a while back to put on a web site I'm still trying to get together. It's a little overview of what ASCAP and BMI do. I thought some folks might find it useful, as there seemed to be at least a little confusion about the subject of performance rights (it's definitely an easy one to be confused about). One other note, this guy is a little old now. It doesn't really address the changes to the copyright act (digital millenium and the exemption of some smaller businesses from performance license requirements) Take it easy, Jake ASCAP and BMI: What Are They? What Do They Do? By Jacob A. London, Esq., © 1996 All Rights Reserved Have you ever read the songwriting credits on a CD? Ever wondered why the acronym ASCAP or BMI follows almost every credit? Are they seals of quality? Satanic code
diane izzo: mostly alt, little country, but good anyway
Perhaps others have discussed this her before, but I'm a new comer. Last week I went to see this gal from Chicago called Diane Izzo. Really liked her stuff. Bought the CD too. Very nicely done. Not much twang to it, but there are some great moody pop songs. She's got this really wild voice and sounds like about ten different singers I like at different times on the album, without being exactly derivative any single one. If I was a guy who made top ten lists, this would be on mine. I think folks on this list would probably like her stuff. Check it out if you get a chance. The record is on Sugar Free from Chicago. jake Jake London
sxsw
Well, I made it back. As usual, it was a great time. But this year, I'd say it had as much to do with the people as the music. I stayed at the Austin Motel, which was basically P2 central. It was great meeting everyone and reconnecting with a few folks (like Neil Weiss, who I met last year). Big thanks to Laura Fowler for scoring my wristband and mixing a hell of a margarita. What a great crew of people all these P2ers are. And so great to finally put faces with names. I'd be more specific here, but I met so many folks I'm sure I'm gonna miss some. Big props to Meshel and CK, who drove my sorry ass around to a couple of places. Also thanks to Wynn for taking me and Steve M back from Laura's. That was very cool. Sorry I didn't have the stamina to party all night with people on Friday back at the Motel. I got started a little too early in the day for that. It's hard to keep it going when you've been drinking since one in the afternoon (not all of us are blessed with Alex's constitution). Anyway, on the music front there was some good stuff--although I think I'd have to agree with those commentators who have said that this year was a little thinner than years past. Nevertheless I saw some really good stuff. Peak experience: Dave Schramm (sp?) He only played for twenty minutes at the Checkered Past bbque, but this was easily the best thing I saw at the whole conference. I wish he could have played a full set. A couple of his solos literally brought tears to my eyes. I've been hearing about this guy for a long time from some of my NYC friends. I'm just a sucker for the territory he was mining: melodic pop songs and guitar that somehow combines elements of my favorites (Thompson, Neil, Lloyd, Verlaine, etc.). What a treat. And the band weren't bad either. Other cool stuff: * I also enjoyed the hell out of Drew,the steel dude from the Silos. He was great in everything I saw him in (Jim Roll, Silos, etc). * Built to Spill at the Copper Tank. This was a surprise unannounced show. Really good. Were I 22 instead of 35, this would probably have been a religous experience for me. As it stands, it was just a hell of a good show. This band is probably the best thing going in the alternarock arena right now. * Paul Burch: This was really good. I liked him last year at the ND party, and there was more of the same smooth old country at his showcase this year. * Meat Purveyors: Saw them at the P2 BBque. They kick it hard. And that Mando player is a monster. This band just keeps getting better. *Neko: Really first rate show, especially given that it was like the fourth show this particular line-up had played together. Really liked the Mike Ireland dude on guitar. *Mark Rubin's Klezmer band: First rate *Wayne Hancock at Under the Sun: great as always. *Joe Henry: Waterloo Records. Enjoyed this for sure. There's more I'm sure, but I'm forgetting. I was the Zen Warrior this year, just sort of going wherever the flow of the day took me. But it was fun and great to meet everyone. Hope to see you again some time. Jake Jake London
Covers: responding to some comments (was fulks and covers)
I want to make a few more comments on a couple of points raised by Carl and Barry about my covers piece. I started this a week or so ago, and just now kind of finished it off. Hope it's not too stale by now. This'll probably be my last words on the subject (but I'm always psyched to hear what other folks think). I think we've covered some of this ground in other posts, but I don't have the energy to weed that stuff out of here. Sorry. This is long, but hopefully it'll be interesting if you take the time with it (I guess this is starting to be a theme--I'm sorry I didn't have time to make it shorter). first Carl: [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: "I also have some thread-sparking questions (what was the first known instance of the half-ironic cover - is he right in naming the 'Mats's Kiss cover as Patient Zero - and also how to relate this web of analysis to the various levels of irony in alt-country covers of both rock and country so-called cheeze). " Jake: Well, I'm not sure if the Kiss Cover is "Patient Zero" or not. I suspect not. It's a question I've asked myself. But in the end, I'm not sure it really matters. Instead, I prefer to jump off from some ideas I first saw in Fredric Jameson's "Postmodernism or the Logic of Late Capitalism" In the intro, he says the following. Indulge me, it's a little long and dense: "In periodizing a phenonomenon of this kind [here he's talking about the phenonomenon of Postmodernism and Late Capitalism], we have to complicate the model with all kinds of supplementary epicycles. It is necessary to distinguish between the gradual setting in place of the various (often unrelated) preconditions for the new structure and the "moment" (not exactly chronological) when they all jell and combine into a functional system. This moment is itself less a matter of chronology than it is of a well-nigh Freudian Nachstraglichkeit, or retroactivity: people become aware of the dynamics of some new system, in which they are themselves seized, only later on and gradually. Nor is that dawning collective consciousness of a new system (deduced itself intermittently in a fragmentary way from various unrelated crisis symptoms such as factory closings or higher interest rates) exactly the same as the coming into being of fresh cultural forms of expression (Raymond Williams" "structures of feeling" do finally strike one as a very odd way to have to characterize postmodernism culturally). That the pre-conditions for a new "structure of feeling" also preexist their moment of combination and crystallization into a relatively hegemonic style everyone acknowledges; but that pre-history is not in synch with the economic one. Thus Mandel suggests that the basic new technological prerequisites of the new "long wave" of capitalism's third stage (here called "late capitalism") were available by the end of Wolrd War II, which also had the effect of reorganzing international relations, decolonizing the colonies and laying the groundwork for the emergence of a new economic world system. Culturally, however, the precondition is to be found (apart the wide variety of aberrant modernist "experiments" which are then restructured in the form of predecessors) in the enormous social and psychological transformations of the 1960s, which swept so much tradition away on the level of metalites. Thus the economic prepartion of postmodernism began in the 1950s, after wartime shortages of consumer goods and spare parts had been made up and new products and new technologies (not least those of the media) could be pioneered. On the other hand, the psychic habitus of the new age demands the absolute break, strengthened by a generational rapture, achieved more properly in the 1960s (it being understood that economic development does not then pause for that, but very much continues along its own level and according to its own logic). If you prefer a now somewhat antiquated language, the distiction is very much the one Althusser used to harp on between a Hegelian "essential cross section of the present" (or coup d'essence), where a culture critique wants to find a single principle of the "postmodern" inherent in the most varied and ramified features of social life, and the Althusserian "structure in dominance" in which the various levels entertain a semiautonomy over and against each other, run at different rates of speed, develop unevenly, and yet conspire to produce a totality." Then in Chapter one Jameson says the following: "One of the concerns aroused by periodizing hypotheses is that these tend to obliterate difference and to project the idea of the historical period as massive homogeneity (bounded on either side by inexplicable chronological metamorphoses and punctuation marks). This is, however, precisely why it seems to me essential to grasp postmodernism not as a style but rather a cultural dominant: a conception which allows for the presence and coexistence of a range of very different,
Dusty Springfield
Yates wrote: "Yep, Rhino *just* reissued it with a bunch of extra tracks recorded around that same time. On top of the original album, it includes some great singles (like the swamp-poppish "Laura Willie Mae Jones") and some previously unissued recordings, including -- David Cantwell take note -- a coupla Gamble Huff productions." And David should take further note that her next album "Brand New Me" is produced entirely by Gamble and Huff. It is a great album. I doubt most people will agree, but to these ears, I think that overall it is a stronger album than "Dusty Plays Memphis" (preacher man and a few other tunes aside). Nevertheless, they're both great. I've just really gotten into Dusty in the last year or so. And "Brand New Me" is a great album. Sad news to be sure. Jake Jake London
(long) covers: responding to Carl Wilson
Damn there's a lot here. I'll try to respond to a few things. I've also got another response from some your comments yesterday, which may take me a little while longer to get together: Carl Wrote: "I thought it interesting that Jake preceded his piece by saying that he thought Fulks's "Jet" cover was what put the "alt" in his alt-country, as well as Dina's comment about how covers are received from alt-country artists as compared to those of New Country singers. It resonated, of course, but what struck me is that the cheeze-cover syndrome is actually not endemic to alt-country the way it was to post-punk and grunge. What's actually more representative is covering classic folk and country songs, a practice that begins with the 80s roots-punk groups (tho in cowpunk it tended much more to the sarcastic brand of irony rather than the with-a-twist irony of, say, The Pogues, and nineties alt-country) but certainly made its most influential emergence with Uncle Tupelo's version of No Depression and on the March 11-20 album. With the perhaps-exception of Warfare (more a wonky misstep than a deliberately sarcastic cover, in my opinion), the Tupelo covers are definitely tributes, and also attempts to reclaim the material of these old songs as relevant to the post-industrial scene the group grew up and lived in. Likewise with other cases - when Neko Case covers a Loretta Lynn song, or Freakwater does One Big Union, is there anyone who thinks there's any element of mockery there at all? There is irony, but it's irony in this sense: "Ironically, though I'm a young hipster in 1990s America, these defiantly unmodern old songs speak more to my heart and my experience than the glitzy music being produced for the radio in my own time." It's a bittersweet irony at most." Jake: Yes, to me those seem more like pure reverence, although perhaps they come off as ironic because many alt country bands choose to do these tunes even though they don't really have the chops to pull them offg, which is sort of what a lot of indy bands did with 70s pop tunes. It is true that there was a moment when classic country was critically disfavored by the rock crit establishment. But I think Gram Parsons, etc, sort turned the tide on this and made this stuff hip or at least showed clearly its central role in the rock canon. In this regard, I find these sorts of covers indistringuishable from the beatles doing a carl perkins cover. Or the stones doing a blues tune. However, a lot of these bands also have done more straight ironic covers. I know UT did. And I saw Son Volt do "Shake Some Action," which may or may not qualify, and WIlco do a Petty Song. Nothing the matter with it. These guys are of that scene. It's why they've been so influential. They brought the ideas and practices of the 80s midwest indy rock scene with then when they started to get more country. To me, that was the alt that they brought. Carl Continues: "Now, I'd say the reason for the contradiction (dare I say irony) that Dina pointed out is fairly simple: while Garth and Robbie Fulks might both love a Paul McCartney song equally well, the context is very different. For Fulks to assert that he's playing "Jet" for the love of it is to make an intervention in the whole alternaworld narrative of irony, not to destroy the irony but to put it behind him, to say, "yes, I know what the cultural war we've been through was, but now I'd like to reclaim something from it." It is, to use an unfortunate term, post-irony. It's to grasp that, as a character in Todd Solonz's Happiness says of New Jersey, we've grown up "living in a state of irony" -- for all the reasons Jake so smartly elucidated in his essay -- and we can only transcend it, not escape." Jake: I sort of buy this about Fulks but not totally. Fulks is clearly coming from the preemptive irony place. But he's also about my age I think (I'm 35 born in 1963), so he may be old enough now to have left the need for such irony behind (i.e., transcending it). That or he's just maintaining his posture as uber-hippster, jumping off of a particular bus once he sees that all the suburban philistines seem to be on now (read Garth, etc.). In some ways, that would be the next flanking hipster manuever. Carl: "On the other hand, the (very country-traditional) emotional positioning of Garth and most New Country artists doesn't acknowledge the ironic moment to begin with -- the act of covering a Billy Joel song has no relationship to the canonical contest that Jake described. I recently read art writer Arthur Danto saying that in the 1990s, "the art criticism is built into the art," since frequently the only way to affect a jaded viewer is to anticipate the series of historicized responses she'll have and then strategically counter or subvert them." Jake: That Danto line is great. That's exactly what I meant with the preemptive irony. " Unlike Garth doing Billy Joel (or everyone and his mom doing the Beatles tribute
model rockets
Lead MR John Ramberg has also been busy backin' up the divine Neko Case (who's playing the Tractor Tavern on March 11).--don Is he the brown-haired fella or the blonde one (who I always thought looked like a young John Lennon)? Lance . . . Model Rockets are back up and running with Scott (blonde guy) back in the fold. They played a great set at the croc on feb 5 opening for Young Fresh Fellows and there's more to come. John also did a really fun solo set the next night on bill with some other folks (including yours truly and Christy from the Picketts). The guy is a great songwriter and way way underappreciated. Message to people out there. If you like power pop in the Cheap Trick vein, you should buy this band's albums "Hi-Lux" (Lucky) and "Snatch it Back and Hold it" (C/Z). I won't lie to you. John is a friend of mine and I've also done legal work for the Model Rockets. But I think other more unbiased Seattlites will concur with me here. This is a great great band. They also do a great cover of "Sir Duke" by Stevie Wonder and they've also done "Jet" on occassion. Jake London
very long piece on Replacements and Covers (was fulks and covers)
Well, I've held off burdening the whole list with this for a couple of years now, although I have sent to a few folks I thought would enjoy it. But since Dave Purcell brought it up, I'll post this behemoth against my better judgment. I do think it's germane. And I also think that when Fulks covers "Jet" he takes part in the tradition I talk about in the piece. At some level, it's part of what puts the "alt" in his alt country categorization (imho). Actually, I'd argue that it's a big part of what puts the "alt" in alt-country generally. But I won't belabor that here. I think it will make more sense if you read the thing. As you'll see, I'd argue that at this point, it's impossible for Fulks' actions not to be viewed as somewhat ironic by the audience. Nevertheless, I view irony primarily as a shield in this context anyway (although it may not be a shield Fulks himself needs anymore). A good pop song has the power to touch us at the deepest emotional level, especially one from our childhood before we knew all about hipness, etc. Unfortunately, many of us from the post baby-boom generation forgot or have been too insecure to admit this truth, especially in our late teens and twenties. So irony helps create a space for us to safely be nostalgic about some rather absurd times. Anyway, sorry in advance for the length. I also hope the formatting isn't too screwed up. I'm afraid I write in pretty long paragraphs sometimes. This thing has never been published anywhere. Indeed, I'm not even sure why I wrote it. I guess I just think about this stuff too much sometimes. That's why I love this list. It's one of the few places where I've found some kindred spirits. Enjoy or delete. JL Sucking in the Seventies: Paul Westerberg, the Replacements, and the Onset of the Ironic Cover Aesthetic in Rock and Roll (It's Only Rock and Roll But I Like It) By Jacob London, Copyright 1996 All Rights Reserved A while back, my local "alternative" radio station began playing a cover version of the Bay City Rollers' "Saturday Night" by the U.K. band Ned's Atomic Dustbin. The first time I heard it, I didn't even think about changing the station, even though the Rollers were one of the most critically unhip bands of the 1970s. I just sat back and listened, slightly amused, but mostly taking the whole experience for granted. Such is the state of things now that the practice of "alternative" bands covering "bad" songs from the 1970s has become so commonplace. If it isn't Ned's Atomic Dustbin, it's Seaweed or Smashing Pumpkins doing some Fleetwood Mac song like "Go Your Own Way" or "Landslide." Few question the full-on embrace of 1970s popular culture anymore. It's even got it's own "American Grafitti" film in Richard Linklater's "Dazed and Confused." Linklater's take on the past is a little more self-conscious and cynical than George Lucas's vision of the early 1960s in "American Grafitti." But Linklater's remembrance of teen life in 1976 remains a warm one, especially in its unself-consciously reverant use of the period's music. It pushes all the same buttons as Lucas's film, although neither Linklater nor his audience would ever completely admit it. For even as the residue of 1970s has reasserted itself in the American cultural life of the 1990s, a lingering tinge of reticence remains, as people continue to adjust to the idea that openly embracing the mainstream culture of the 1970s no longer entails being instantly labeled a loser or a philistine. Back in the early 1980s, when I was starting college in Ann Arbor, Michigan, things were a lot different. There was plenty of risk involved in embracing the mainstream music of the 1970s, at least among the community of rock and roll hipsters I hung out with. A friend later summarized the stakes very well in a different context: "There's a lot on the line when you tell other people what kind of music you like; people know they'll be judged based on what they say. If they give the right answer they'll be accepted. If they don't, people may look down on them." This was true in Ann Arbor during that time as it has been everywhere I've lived since. The rules determining inside and outside were generally unwritten, but they weren't hard to figure out. Punk rock was cool. Some New Wave was cool. David Bowie, he was pretty cool (his glam rock was sort of New Wave and Punk before they were invented). Dylan, the Beatles, the Byrds, the Stones, the Who, Motown, and the other classics of 1960s rock, that was cool too, as long as you weren't too much of a hippie about it. But the mainstream music of the 1970s was not cool. Disco sucked, including George Clinton and his P-Funk allies. Foreigner was not cool. Lynyrd Skynyrd was not cool. Neither were Black Sabbath, Led Zepplin, Peter Frampton, Foghat, Bad Comp
Westerberg
Amy Wrote: "That article that chronicled his emotional struggles was affecting enough, but he doesn't seem to be able to translate all that emotion into his music (though it sounds like maybe he does so on the new one), and instead just expends effort on one-liners and retreads." Anyone got a copy of this in text form they could send my way. Was it posted to the list? I must have missed it. Jake Jake London
MP3 and MD
An interesting twist on MD and RIO. One guy reviewing the RIO somewhere on the Internet suggested that while it was a cool concept, a portable MD player was actually a better solution for listening to MP3 away from the computer. You just record them on the MD from the computer. If you can't go digital to digital you get a little added noise from the analogue to digital conversion, but probably nothing you couldn't live with through walkman headphones. The upside? Each MD holds 74 min music vs RIO's 30-60 min and you can bring more than one MD with you, so the capacity is actually even larger. I'm sure they'll solve this issue on the RIO side soon enough with ROM cards or something. But my guess is that MDs at $5 a piece will be cheaper for the foreseable future. In addition, a portable MD player/recorder is only $50-$75 more than RIO and much more flexible (especially if you're a musician like me). Don't think of it as replacing CDs. Think of it as replacing cassettes. If this is the comparison you make, you realize it's a pretty cool format. Jake L Jake London
Richard Thompson
Let me also put in a good word for PDLS. It's probably my favorite RL album, although they're all good (except maybe Sunnyvista). Also, I'd agree with Amy. If Rt isn't the greatest guitar player in the history of rock, he is among the 5 or 10 best. To see him live is to have your mind blown every time. Lance, if you get the three disc comp, Check out the live Cavalry Cross or actually any of the live electric tunes. The guitar on it all wailing. Also, if anyone has access to a live electric bootleg from the Amnesia tour, RT was really wailing like a motherfucker on that tour, which he doesn't do on every tour. Some tours he really seems to want to play guitar and others he lays back. As I recall, "Gypsy Love Songs" from that tour was a serious guitar work out and the whole thing rocked (Kenny Arnoff played drums on some of the dates). Saw the Chicago show, awesome, much better than the "Daring Adventures Tour" from a guitar standpoint. Jake Jake London
richard thompson was fairport et al
What can I say. I'm an RT freak. But it wasn't always that way. Back in 1983, I'd barely heard of the guy. Then I taped SOTL from a friend, because of all the critical acclaim. At first it didn't do much for me. I played the tape a few times and then it sat there for quite some time. But I kept coming back to it periodically. Over time it grew on me. Then I heard "Small Town Romance," the solo acoustic album (which I think is back in print again after being gone for a number of years--RT apparently is embarrassed by this album and refused to let it come back in print for a number of years--something I can't really understand). This album is really simple, just RT and guitar. But it really got me. The songs just shine through. RT's voice is an acquired taste. But it really works for his songs. I think he sounds better singing even the songs that LT sang on the duo albums. Then there is his amazing guitar playing. Check out the first tune "Time to Ring Some Changes." Well after that, I was hooked. I moved on to other albums and concert bootlegs and the whole thing. The guy rules my roost. He is one of the few 60s artists who has kept getting better over time (listen carefully, the guy is a better singer now than he was even ten years ago; he also keeps growing as a guitarist). That is an accomplishment. Just think about Eric Clapton or even Dylan and I think you'll see where I'm coming from. I don't say this often, because I usually up or down things on a few listens and I rarely change my mind after that, so I'm sympathetic with that approach, but RT deserves repeated listenings, even if you don't like it or get it at first. That might mean giving SOTL 15-20 listens (I know that's extreme, but this is one of the few artists who is worth the trouble IMHO). There are few people I know who have not come to appreciate his genius if they give it a chance. But beware. Once you get it, you will never shake it. It's a vicious addiction. I went through a few years in the early 90s where RT was the only music that made me feel right. Everything else pretty much seemed like shit by comparison (thank god Neil Young put out that Ragged Glory or whatever it was called and the first UT album came out followed by the that guitar rockin Mathew Sweet album "Girlfriend"; it was really starting to bum me out feeling like all new rock and pop music was shit; fortunately I've gotten my faith back since then). Anyway just one guy's humble opinion. Hope this finds you all well. Jake London
