Vinyl blowout II

If my lengthy travelogue didn't bore you the other day, this post is the concluding episode of my record-buying spree. I've listened to all of the records I got, and I've decided to write some quick comments on each of them. I should preface by saying that most of my choices were informed by two books I read recently. The first was a history of post-punk by Simon Reynolds. Post-punk refers to the (mostly British) music from the late 70's after the very first wave of punk had run its course, and it's a progenitor of the American alternative scene in the 80's. The other book was a history of Impulse! Records, which was a jazz label best known in the 60's for being the home of John Coltrane. A lot of the music Impulse released at the time was strongly influenced by Coltrane, both because the musicians were influenced by his style and also because he had a lot of sway in terms of which artists got signed.

Ornette Coleman - The Great London Concert
Ornette Coleman was one of the originators of avant-garde jazz in the late 50's, and I've wanted to have something by him for a while. Anne and I saw him in concert a couple years ago, and the show was incredible, especially considering he's an septuagenarian. The proprietor of The Groove Yard pointed me toward this double-live album as a good example of him at his mid-60's peak. The first side of record 1 is an atonal suite played by woodwinds, which is as weird as it sounds, but not quite as bad, and the rest of the album is him and his band blowing away. It's pretty out there, but worth a listen.

Keith Jarrett - Fort Yawuh
I picked this one up on a whim after reading a little about it in the Impulse! Records book. It's a live recording of a five-piece band fronted by pianist Keith Jarrett. It's a good mix of experimental improvisation with some pleasant, mellow moments on the piano. It seemed pretty refined after listening to the Coleman record.

The New Wave in Jazz
I was hoping to find something by Albert Ayler after hearing him on an internet radio station. There wasn't anything at the record store, but the owner did find me this compilation of "new black music" (again on Impulse) that included a track by him, as well as one by Coltrane and another by the equally experimental Archie Shepp. It's a pretty good record, with some experimental moments that don't really lose sight of the underlying song. Also, Bobby Hutcherson plays the vibes on a couple tracks, which is really cool.

Herbie Hancock - Headhunters
I'm not really sure what it would mean for a record collection to be "complete," but I know mine got a little closer after buying this record.

John Coltrane - Kulu Sé Mama
I told myself I wouldn't get anything by Coltrane when I went into the store because we already own a lot of stuff by him. This trip was all about expanding my musical horizons. But who was I kidding? I couldn't resist the dozens of Trane records on display at Groove Yard. I was interested in exploring some of his more experimental music after he disbanded his "classic" quartet with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones, and the owner of the store pointed me toward this one. The title track is a slightly jarring, 17-minute epic with his quartet plus about five other musicians, including Pharaoh Sanders. The interplay between Trane and Sanders along with the spoken word bits lend it a "this is experimental jazz" air. What's interesting is how the other musicians push things in directions you don't hear on some of his other records, but the sound of Coltrane's horn remains distinctive. The other side is two good tracks that he recorded with his quartet that sounds similar to the other stuff he was recording around the time of A Love Supreme.

The Grateful Dead - Live Dead
This one caught my eye right as I walked into the store. It's a double-live album from 1969 when the Dead were at their trippingest peak. A classic.

Johnny Cash - American V
If you haven't heard any of the records that Johnny Cash did with Rick Rubin just before before he died, you should definitely check them out. This is the latest and it's full of songs about impending death. Kind of a downer, but Johnny Cash's gravelly voice is captivating.

The Cure - The Head on the Door
To say the Cure have been prolific would be an understatement. Although I was looking for "Boys Don't Cry," I was content to find this one. It's the predecessor to my favorite Cure album, "Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me," and is, like most of their 80's output, very good. I find whenever I buy records/CDs that were released before I started collecting music, I stumble on songs that I recognize ("Oh, that song!") but had no idea what they were called. "In Between Days" and "Close to Me" fit that description on this one.

David Bowie - Low
The Simon Reynolds book I read kept referring to this album as a touchstone for a lot of the post-punk bands, so I felt I had to get a copy. It's an interesting mix, with side one consisting of short rock songs that sound a lot like early-seventies Bowie, but with a quirkier edge. The second side is all synthesizer-driven instrumentals, which isn't as bad as it sounds, and clearly shows Brian Eno's influence.

David Bowie - Station to Station
I hadn't planned on buying two Bowie albums, but when I saw this in the $1 clearance rack at Amoeba, I had to get it. My tolerance for disco rock must be increasing, because I kind of like this record.

R.E.M. - Life's Rich Pageant
We had a conversation with Dan and Kristina the other day about who brought which music into our relationship, and Anne got credit for most of the R.E.M. I must say, though, that I really like their early stuff, before Peter Buck learned to play the mandolin. This is one of the last records the band did for IRS, and it's got a lot of peppy songs; it sounds like they're actually having fun playing them. "Oh, that song!" moments: "Just a Touch" and "Superman."

Sleater-Kinney - All Hands on the Bad One
It's a shame I didn't discover how great this band is until a few months before they broke up. Ah well, at least they recorded a lot. This is a great record, and it has one of the coolest song titles in punk rock: "You're No Rock & Roll Fun." If you, like me, waited a decade too long to start listening to these guys, drop whatever you're doing right now (no, I mean it) and go out and buy this or another or all of their albums.

Killing Joke - What's THIS for...!
These guys put out a couple of great proto-industrial rock albums in the early 80's, then turned into a crap, industrial-dance band. This is one of their good ones, which I remember fondly from the KUPS record archives.

The Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings and Food
Another Brian Eno-connected record. This is the first Talking Heads record I've ever bought, but I'm happy I got it.

Gang of Four - entertainment
This band is one of the post-punk heavyweights, so I was eager to get something by them. They sort of set the stage for the discordant, white-boy funk that bands like the Talking Heads perfected. Also, they were unapologetic Marxists, which of course earns them points from me. After listening to their first album, I can see why it's considered a classic. It's one of those records that sounds vaguely like a lot of other records you might know (Interpol springs to mind), only a lot less polished.

Echo and the Bunnymen - Heaven Up Here
I've heard these guys were briefly considered the other U2, before U2 became, well ... U2. It's no surprise after listening to this record, which sounds remarkably like U2's first album. Luckily, "Boy" is one of my favorite U2 records, and this one is equally likeable, if not quite as distinctive.

The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat
I had a feeling my first Velvet Underground record would be full of "Oh, that song!" moments. I also thought it would be full of laconic songs about heroin. Neither of those turned out to be the case. There's as much screeching feedback on this record as anything Hendrix put out, with Lou Reed's (laconic) vocals drolly rolling over the top. I like it, although it's not quite what I expected. On a related note, we just rented the first series of the British sketch comedy Little Britain this weekend. One of the sketches features two guys named Lou and Andy. Lou is a guy with shaggy hair and buck teeth who is constantly looking after and being frustrated by his overweight, wheelchair-bound friend, Andy. Andy doesn't actually need the wheelchair and constantly exploits Lou's good nature. It's a recurring sketch, and the gag gets old after the second or third time you see it, but I still chuckled every time it came on after learning from the commentary that the characters were modeled on Lou Reed and Andy Warhol.