Showing posts with label 1001 Albums. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1001 Albums. Show all posts
Monday, June 28, 2010
Odessey and Oracle - The Zombies
I wanted to write about this album immediately following Costa's Unfamiliar Faces because this is an album literally straight out of the 1960s, but this time I don't mean it as a criticism, in fact the exact opposite. There's poppy piano, there repetition to the point of losing the melody, there's that soft male voice (although this time, accompanied by a chorus at certain points), and there's the singer/songwriter style of lyrics, BUT the comparison ends there. The Zombies album is much more integrated, musically sound, and therefore lasting. Their previous albums contained cover songs and singles making Odessey and Oracle their only true album. Luckily this one album is well done, despite budgeting, mixing, and deadline issues. I can't get "This Will Be Our Year" out of my head and "Care of Cell 44" will be on repeat for awhile. The middle of the album really brings out the Baroque pop element with lots of harpsichord and vocal harmonizing. Its not my style really, but I can appreciate it I suppose. The single everyone knows, "Time of the Season" falls at the end of the album, an unusual place for the hit single.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Songs for Swingin' Lovers - Frank Sinatra
Once again I'm struck by the command in Sinatra's voice. It is instantly apparent that this album is much more uplifting than In the Wee Small Hours, if not from listening, from the album cover and title alone. Another masterpiece in collaboration with Nelson Riddle, arranger, and Capitol Records, it was his fourth studio album, released in 1956. Many of the songs were taken from films or musicals of the 1930's, illuminating an association between film and popular music presented much differently today. I'm no expert, but I might generalize that films back in the 1930's had more diegetic musical numbers than those of today. The actors were not only actors, but also singers and dancers. Today, it seems to me that popular music is produced and then subsequently selected to become part of the soundtrack of a film at least more often than the reverse. These older movies are a different breed. Apparently Riddle and Sinatra were looking to the past to assert the cultural virtues of the standards in a changing music industry.
Frank Sinatra appeared in quite a few films in his day from the 1940's through the 1980's. My favorite would have to be Guys and Dolls with Marlon Brando. I also enjoy Sinatra's 3 movie stint with Gene Kelly for what they are. These all feature him in musical roles, but almost anything through 1959 is pretty good.
This album features some classic Sinatra recordings. Composers such as Mercer, the Gershwins, and Cole Porter are almost always standard. "Love Is Here to Stay" and "I've Got You Under My Skin" are sung by Sinatra like no one else. They are typical favorites, but I could listen to them over and over. After all, they're popular for a reason.
Frank Sinatra appeared in quite a few films in his day from the 1940's through the 1980's. My favorite would have to be Guys and Dolls with Marlon Brando. I also enjoy Sinatra's 3 movie stint with Gene Kelly for what they are. These all feature him in musical roles, but almost anything through 1959 is pretty good.
This album features some classic Sinatra recordings. Composers such as Mercer, the Gershwins, and Cole Porter are almost always standard. "Love Is Here to Stay" and "I've Got You Under My Skin" are sung by Sinatra like no one else. They are typical favorites, but I could listen to them over and over. After all, they're popular for a reason.
Monday, April 12, 2010
In the Wee Small Hours - Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra's voice enters like a dream. It's so rich and smooth, it's almost hard to believe he's real. I love this album - the gloom and melancholy that pervades the room while it plays. As a whole, its a great work of art. It would be difficult not to appreciate his treatment and interpretation of these jazz standards.
The album starts with the title track written for Sinatra. He is lying awake in the morning - the beginning of the album mirroring the beginning the day. This song is an apt introduction to the rest of the album. The theme is loneliness, unrequited love, lost love, etc. Without knowing quite how to phrase this, I'll say that there is no traditional verse- chorus format which my ears are accustomed to. I believe its still strophic form, with a phrase or two in each strophe, usually the title repeated to bring unity to the song, but a catchy hook and a chunk of music designated as chorus does not occur in most if not all of the songs on this album. To me, this creates more of a stream of consciousness feel. In a way, this is a more realistic way to portray dejection, creating a more authentic bleak, despondent atmosphere. The second track, "Mood Indigo" is a jazz piece, composed by Duke Ellington and Barney Bigard a clarinetist in Ellington's band from the late 1920's to the early 1940's. Sinatra pulls off the jazz phrasing smoothly, and puts his own mark on this jazz standard recorded by many great jazz vocalists and instrumentalists both before and after this release. "Glad to Be Unhappy" interests me lyrically. It's another characteristic sad love song, but points to a human quality perhaps not always articulated. As miserable as love can sometimes be, do we not sometimes revel in that emotion? It does allow us, or in this case Rodgers and Hart to write a great standard with universal appeal. Again, it's one of the many tracks on this album to be recorded by a long list artists. The rest of the album follows suite. Sinatra sings about his broken heart backed by the orchestra. His voice is overpowering and follows his own tempo that in turn follows the emotion of each song, but still never abandons or pulls his accompaniment. There are two more Rodgers and Hart songs, a Cole Porter and a Harold Arlen - all names I recognize from Ella's Songbooks. "Can't We Be Friends" is one of my instant favorites, composed by Kay Swift and important female composer of Tin Pan Alley with ties to Gershwin.
Frank Sinatra is famed to have perfected the concept album with this release in 1955 under Capitol Records. It is his second collaboration with Nelson Riddle, featuring darker material than that in his days of bobby soxers appeal. The album is full of contradictions, mostly of the lyrical variety and a careful listen pulled my emotion and understanding of each song back and forth only to be left unfulfilled at the end of each song. It puts you in the head space of Sinatra and if you can relate to the events his sings about it works even better. Althougth Sinatra's separation from Ava Gardner clearly made him less than happy, as we can hear, it sure is appreciated by music lovers and the lonely alike.
I've got a few more Sinatra albums on deck to listen to coming up. I could get sidetracked awhile on Sinatra. If you get a chance to read Reuben Jackson's poem "Frank" it's a good one and mentions the album.
The album starts with the title track written for Sinatra. He is lying awake in the morning - the beginning of the album mirroring the beginning the day. This song is an apt introduction to the rest of the album. The theme is loneliness, unrequited love, lost love, etc. Without knowing quite how to phrase this, I'll say that there is no traditional verse- chorus format which my ears are accustomed to. I believe its still strophic form, with a phrase or two in each strophe, usually the title repeated to bring unity to the song, but a catchy hook and a chunk of music designated as chorus does not occur in most if not all of the songs on this album. To me, this creates more of a stream of consciousness feel. In a way, this is a more realistic way to portray dejection, creating a more authentic bleak, despondent atmosphere. The second track, "Mood Indigo" is a jazz piece, composed by Duke Ellington and Barney Bigard a clarinetist in Ellington's band from the late 1920's to the early 1940's. Sinatra pulls off the jazz phrasing smoothly, and puts his own mark on this jazz standard recorded by many great jazz vocalists and instrumentalists both before and after this release. "Glad to Be Unhappy" interests me lyrically. It's another characteristic sad love song, but points to a human quality perhaps not always articulated. As miserable as love can sometimes be, do we not sometimes revel in that emotion? It does allow us, or in this case Rodgers and Hart to write a great standard with universal appeal. Again, it's one of the many tracks on this album to be recorded by a long list artists. The rest of the album follows suite. Sinatra sings about his broken heart backed by the orchestra. His voice is overpowering and follows his own tempo that in turn follows the emotion of each song, but still never abandons or pulls his accompaniment. There are two more Rodgers and Hart songs, a Cole Porter and a Harold Arlen - all names I recognize from Ella's Songbooks. "Can't We Be Friends" is one of my instant favorites, composed by Kay Swift and important female composer of Tin Pan Alley with ties to Gershwin.
Frank Sinatra is famed to have perfected the concept album with this release in 1955 under Capitol Records. It is his second collaboration with Nelson Riddle, featuring darker material than that in his days of bobby soxers appeal. The album is full of contradictions, mostly of the lyrical variety and a careful listen pulled my emotion and understanding of each song back and forth only to be left unfulfilled at the end of each song. It puts you in the head space of Sinatra and if you can relate to the events his sings about it works even better. Althougth Sinatra's separation from Ava Gardner clearly made him less than happy, as we can hear, it sure is appreciated by music lovers and the lonely alike.
I've got a few more Sinatra albums on deck to listen to coming up. I could get sidetracked awhile on Sinatra. If you get a chance to read Reuben Jackson's poem "Frank" it's a good one and mentions the album.
The rules of the game
It's been done before - blogging through a list or book. More specifically, the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die has been the muse for numerous music enthusiasts to publish their album reviews online. While I admit it's not an inherently unique endeavor, I cannot pass up such a challenge. Albums I *must* hear before I die? If they insist, then I accept. Less famously 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die is also worth considering. This list is more eclectic, containing a greater variety across genres including classical. I'll also be looking at Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. I'm anticipating there will be a lot of duplicates and that's just fine. I plan on adding a lot of albums of my own interest.
There isn't an album I won't listen to at least once. I believe everything is worth hearing. What I hear might become the source of my next obsession, and I am always looking for new music to obsess over, or it might just be worth knowing about - something useful to add to another conversation about music. That being said there are few things more satisfying than crossing an item off a list. Normally a list with so many items or so would be daunting and overwhelming to say the least, but with a topic so intriguing, something I would pursue list or no list, I just can't resist. Although I've already heard a number of these albums, I plan to peruse each book and attempt to recreate my initial fascination with albums and songs I've loved for months, if not years. If 1001+ albums weren't enough, I also plan to indulge any tangent this list inspires me to take, relay my experiences at live concerts and shows, and discuss any additional albums I find in my lap. That's where this blog differs. These albums aren't simply isolated events to briefly consider and dismiss in favor of the next album, instead they will be starting points for new discoveries into the oeuvres of artists and genres previously unknown to me. Hopefully this undertaking will fill in some of the gaps in my knowledge of music history and encourage some conversation about some really great music. So the only rule for this challenge - no rules. Let's see where this takes us.
There isn't an album I won't listen to at least once. I believe everything is worth hearing. What I hear might become the source of my next obsession, and I am always looking for new music to obsess over, or it might just be worth knowing about - something useful to add to another conversation about music. That being said there are few things more satisfying than crossing an item off a list. Normally a list with so many items or so would be daunting and overwhelming to say the least, but with a topic so intriguing, something I would pursue list or no list, I just can't resist. Although I've already heard a number of these albums, I plan to peruse each book and attempt to recreate my initial fascination with albums and songs I've loved for months, if not years. If 1001+ albums weren't enough, I also plan to indulge any tangent this list inspires me to take, relay my experiences at live concerts and shows, and discuss any additional albums I find in my lap. That's where this blog differs. These albums aren't simply isolated events to briefly consider and dismiss in favor of the next album, instead they will be starting points for new discoveries into the oeuvres of artists and genres previously unknown to me. Hopefully this undertaking will fill in some of the gaps in my knowledge of music history and encourage some conversation about some really great music. So the only rule for this challenge - no rules. Let's see where this takes us.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)