Genre: Rock

Aaron says:

I guess I should be thankful This is Spinal Tap was made in 1984 instead of 1994, because the grunge era arguably provides better material for parody than early 80’s rock.

So much angst! So much heroin! So much flannel!

Honestly, I couldn’t tell you how many tracks there were on this album. They all sounded exactly alike to me. Same tempo. Same chord structure. Same fuzzy guitars. Same overwrought vocals. It’s all the whining of Nirvana, minus the creativity.

Sorry Tom, but the only “glimmer of light” here is the knowledge that the album ends eventually.

Verdict

There’s a difference between making a cohesive album and recording the same song ten different times. One star (out of five), and that’s only because they managed to turn a song about a rooster into a radio hit.

I’m not sure if I’ll get to all of these, but I do have a couple of plane flights ahead of me.

Looking for

• The Muhal Richard Abrams Orchestra, Blu Blu Blu. Need to pick it up from the library or emusic.
• Air, Air Lore. This looks like it’s going to be the first really hard-to-find album.
• Arthur Alexander, The Ultimate Arthur Alexander. Also could be tricky to track down without spending big bucks.

On deck

• King Sunny Adé, The Best of the Classic Years (World/Nigeria)
• Aerosmith, Toys in the Attic (Rock)
• Mahmoud Ahmed, Ethiopiques, Vol. 7 :Erè Mèla Mèla (World/Ethiopia)
• Alice in Chains, Dirt (Rock)
• Mose Allison, Allison Wonderland (Jazz)

Genre: Jazz

Aaron says:

I agree with Tom, and don’t have a lot to add here. This album is tight without being stuffy, upbeat without being saccharine, intelligent without being brainy.

As a pianist, I was consistently smiling at what Victor Feldman brings to this album, especially his original “Azule Serape.” The rest of the rhythm section is rock solid, led by Cannonball teaming up with his brother Nat on cornet up front. Everyone gets a turn, and everyone shines.

If this album had been recorded in a studio, it might have ended up stuffy or at the very least stiff. As a live recording, though, it’s hard not to visualize yourself at the club with the band.

Verdict

Thoroughly entertaining and impressive. Four stars (out of five).

Genere: Rock

Aaron says:

I know Ryan Adams from his overproductive 3-albums-a-year-in-need-of-an-editor phase. Heartbreaker is one of those albums I knew of by reputation but never got around to listening to, probably because his current work is so mediocre.

Now I feel like I’ve lost 9 years of my life having just listened to this album now. It’s an amazing piece of work that lives in the musical ether between rock, alt-country, and blues.

Adams, Gillian Welch, and David Rawlings set up shop in Nashville and somehow cranked out this perfect album in two weeks. That’s something that’s only possible when three people are so in tune creatively that everything they play is coming from some other level.

Eight albums into this little project, and I’ve hit the first recording that goes into my permanent library. That’s what I hoped to find on this journey.

Verdict

Transcendent. Five stars (out of five).

The Real Me: Johnny Adams Sings Doc Pomus

• Genre: Blues
• Year: 1991
• Listened to in: Car via Rhapsody
• Tom says: “Adams spins Pomus’s simple themes into potent, disarmingly casual blues confessions.”

Aaron says:

I appreciate the blues in small doses. I’ve never been able to sit through an entire blues album without a) getting bored or b) thinking how repetitive it starts to sound.

I appreciate blues musicians for what they bring to the table, and this album is filled with amazing players, including Dr. John. Johnny Adams (who died in 1998) isn’t an A-list name when it comes to blues, and after listening to this album it’s clear he should be. Doc Pomus wrote blues at the legendary Brill Building in the 60’s, including Ray Charles’ “Lonely Avenue.” The combination of makes for a close-to-perfect blues experience.

That said, the album is stuck well within the constraints of blues songwriting, both in lyrics and chord structure. There’s nothing (to my ears) particularly groundbreaking here. It’s masterful without being the slightest bit innovative.

Verdict

An absolute tour de force of blues. Perfectly executed, soulful, and moving. If you can sit through 60 minutes of blues at a time, I highly recommend it. If you’re like me, add it to your shuffle mix and enjoy the songs one at a time.

3 stars (out of 5), with a bonus star if you’re in the right mood.

• Genre: Classical
• Year: 1984 (Nonesuch records, 2005)
• Listened to at: Home via Rhapsody
• Tom says: “…you don’t merely appreciate the craft and the way the words figure in, you feel it in your gut.”

John Adams, The Death of Klinghoffer

• Genre: Opera
• Year: 1991 (Nonesuch records, 2005)
• Listened to at: Home via Rhapsody
• Tom says: “His music is as taut as the soundtrack of an adventure film….”

Aaron says:

My classical knowledge is particularly lacking when it comes to 20th century composers. I was familiar with John Adams by name and reputation, but hadn’t listened to any of his work.

Harmonium in particular blew me away. My first thought was “Wow… it’s like Philip Glass–only accessible.” Tom is completely right: you do feel these giant moving chords in your gut. The music supports poems by Emily Dickinson, which puts powerful words and powerful music on the same level. If I saw Harmonium on the Oregon Symphony’s schedule, I’d buy tickets in a heartbeat.

The Death of Klinghoffer is a bit trickier. For starters, there’s the subject matter: The hijacking of the cruise liner Achille Lauro in 1985. Leon Klinghoffer was killed by the hijackers. The opera opened to protests by Jewish groups who objected to an opera that humanized Palestinian terrorists, and it hasn’t been performed much in the U.S.

Stephen Sondheim, whose works have been regulars at The Met, City Opera, and Broadway, has been asked repeatedly to explain the difference between musical theater and opera. His answer goes something like this: “It’s opera when it’s performed in an opera house.” I’d add a second clause there: It’s opera when it’s performed by opera singers.

Opera is a performance style that puts the music ahead of the words. Composers are credited well above librettists. (Alice Goodman wrote the libretto to Klinghoffer by the way. See how I didn’t mention that until now?) Most opera performed in the U.S. is performed in Italian, French, or German, with English subtitles. Here’s where it gets weird: Even English operas are performed with English subtitles!

Opera singers put the music so far ahead of the words that they don’t care whether you understand them, even if you speak their language. And opera companies wonder why their work isn’t accessible to young people. In the case of a work like Klinghoffer, which strives to tell both sides of a complex story and depict terrorists as humans instead of one-sided villains, opera’s treatment of lyrics as a second-class citizen is a serious detriment.

At this point I should note that the 2005 Nonesuch recording I listened to is not the specific recording Tom recommends in 1,000 Recordings, although Sanford Sylvan sings Klinghoffer on both. Tom recommends the 2002 Channel 4 film adaptation, shot on a cruise ship. That version took the unusual and admirable approach of having the performers sing live on the boat, rather than lip sync to a recording. Having not seen the film, I can’t tell you whether that approach produces a more lyric-centric version of the opera.

Verdict

I’m going to seek out more works by Adams, starting with Tom’s recommendation of Harmonielehre. Dr. Atomic is next on my opera list.

Harmonium: 4 stars (out of 5). The Death of Klinghoffer: 3 stars (out of 5), with the right to revise upward when I see the film.

Looking for

• The Muhal Richard Abrams Orchestra, Blu Blu Blu. Need to pick it up from the library or emusic.

On deck

John Adams, Harmonium (Classical)

John Adams, The Death of Klinghoffer (Opera)

Johnny Adams, The Real Me (Blues)

Ryan Adams, Heartbreaker (Rock)

The Cannonball Adderly Quintet, At the Lighthouse (Jazz)

Follow up

jhaas suggested I check out Abba’s “You Owe Me One” from 1982. Synthtastic! Almost makes me wish the band had continued into a grunge phase 10 years later.

Genre: Rock

Aaron says:

A confession: I’m a fan of parody. I think “Weird Al” Yankovic is a genius. Seeing This is Spinal Tap for the first time was a defining moment of my teenage years.

So what am I supposed to do when I play this legendary rock album and can’t do anything but chuckle as I hear it? It doesn’t sound hardcore to me. It sounds silly. Consider the anthem “You Shook Me All Night Long”:

Taking more than her share
Had me fighting for air
She told me to come but I was already there

Oh, c’mon. Was this written by a 14-year-old? Compare to the Spinal Tap classic “Big Bottom”:

My baby fits me like a flesh tuxedo
I love to sink her with my pink torpedo

The authors of one of those songs wrote it as comedy. The other was being serious. I can’t tell the difference.

Verdict:

I’d love to appreciate Angus Young’s screaming guitar solos, but I’m too busy laughing at Brian Johnson’s absurdly high voice sing middle school lyics. I’ve been ruined by Christopher Guest and Michael McKean.

1 star (out of 5).

• Genre: World (Africa)
• Year: 1990
• Listened to on: Laptop via Last.fm
• Tom says: “…music of fierce, transcendent passion–songs that need no translation.”

The Abyssinian Baptist Gospel Choir, Shakin’ the Rafters

• Genre: Gospel
• Year: 1960
• Listened to on: Car via Rhapsody
• Tom says: “The three mortals who make up this screaming locomotive of a rhythm section jolt the 120 Abyssinian voices out of the Sunday-services routine into near-ecstatic communication.”

Aaron says:

These two recordings aren’t actually side-by-side in the book–the free jazz album Blu Blu Blu sits between them. But Blu Blu Blu isn’t readily available online, so I ended up listening to these two very different approaches to devotional music back-to-back.

These happy contrasts are what I hoped to discover making my way through 1,000 Recordings in alphabetical order.  One is an intimate family affair: a wife, husband, and two daughters performing in a small London recording studio. The other is massive recording: 120 singers backed by a red-hot backing band, led by huge-voiced soloists.

What’s more remarkable is what these recordings share. They’re both amalgamations; Moorish Music from Mauritania is a fascinating blend of North and West African sounds, combining Islamic melodies with African rhythms. Shakin’ the Rafters reflects just how much interplay there was between African-American church music and early Rock ‘n Roll.

Above all else, both albums contain the incredible power of devotional music to move the human soul. Even for an agnostic half-Jew like me, listening to these recordings back-to-back can’t be a clinical, detatched experience. You have to feel this music, not hear it.

Verdict:

Would God smite me putting a Christian and an Islamic album on shuffle together? That’s clearly the next step here.

3 stars (out of 5).

• Genre: Pop
• Year: 1992 (Greatest hits compilation, 1974-1979)
• Listened to on: Laptop via Rhapsody
• Tom says: “These tightly scripted songs are an excellent starter kit for those wanting to investigate the DNA of post-Beatles pop.”

Aaron says:

Wait, the first entry in a book on 1,000 essential recordings is a greatest hits collection?! That’s totally cheating. I understand how you’d want to focus on albums rather than individual tracks. But kicking things off with a career retrospective doesn’t sit well with me.

On to the music.

I’ve always appreciated ABBA from a distance. Writing that many catchy pop songs in a five-year period is an impressive feat. Turning those songs into such slick recordings even more so. But the most amazing thing ABBA did was to turn five years of prolific songwriting into a lifetime of royalty checks and spinoffs.

Mamma Mia is the definitive Broadway jukebox musical, and by most accounts the movie was far better than it had any right to be. (I haven’t seen it yet.) Muriel’s Wedding was a terrible movie with a single redeeming line, “my life is as good an ABBA song! It’s as good as Dancing Queen!”

So what is it about these tracks that scream “overproduced late 70′s pop” that makes them compelling today? There’s no depth to the lyrics. Songs like “Money, Money, Money” and “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” sound like rejects from the long lost Andrew Lloyd Webber musical he tried to write between Cats and Starlight Express. (I’m trying very hard to keep this from veering into a discussion of Chess. There, I got it out of my system.) “Lay All Your Love On Me” is a shameless ripoff of Elton John’s “Funeral For a Friend.”

“Dancing Queen” and “Take a Chance” still have those fabulous arrangements, but I haven’t discovered anything deeper or surprising on the album.

Verdict:

I’m still appreciative from a distance, but I can’t imagine adding these songs to my regular listening habits.

2 stars (out of 5) for production quality and catchiness.