I know it's been a while since I last posted. Life, as I knew it eventually would, has hindered my listening. I'm going to attempt to add a playlist of my favorite songs of each week, but that is proving more difficult than I had originally anticipated.
So far the best part of this is discovering music I've had but never listened to. Going to a music school you learn to talk the talk. You know which artist to mention to get a good conversation going, you know what is generally agreed on as good music. So you collect and collect and before you realize you have an iPod with something for everyone to enjoy but that I often never really appreciate myself. Well no longer, today's listening begins with Neo-soul artist Anthony Hamilton who I discovered searching for an artist that used to play XM's The Flow which sadly got canceled. All I knew was that the guy played acoustic guitar and I thought his name started with an "A". I don't think Anthony Hamilton is the one I was looking for but it was a nice discovery none the less.
The album, Ain't Nobody Worryin' is like a tribute to R&B music. It was all over the place, but in a good way. This is what I like about Neo-Soul music. There's this reverence for the past while managing to sound current and new. Ain't Nobody Worryin had gospel elements ("Preacher's Daughter", "Pass Me Over"). Some songs reminded me of that seventy's sound, you know with a string section, horns, percussion, dreamy vocals. The first artist that came to mind (even though he doesn't really sound like him) was Curtis Mayfield. I enjoy hearing the history in the music. It is an example of a culmination of years of this music. You can hear your old favorites singing through a new voice. And in doing that it keeps all of the music that came before relevant. By way of transition, Missy Elliot's All in My Grill single was thrown in between a couple albums. A fun little break from my critical listening.
After enjoying Achtung Baby so much I was surprised by U2's All That You Can't Leave Behind (2000). My first surprise was that I know this album. At least I know it better than some older U2 work. Rather... I know the first two songs, but I never knew that "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of" was a U2 song. See, I'm learning new things everyday with this project. My impressions of this album are luke warm. I am more familiar with it, but never really liked the songs I was familiar with. As I'm listening I'm trying to pay more attention to the lyrics since from what I've read that is one of great things about this band's music. And I want to give the music my full attention, which I never really do when I'm listening to the radio. Frankly... it's difficult to understand what he's saying. I eventually gave up on trying to catch every word seeing as I can't enjoy the music if I have to think to hard. It started off strong and the singles are definitely the best on the album, but I grew tired of the songs. This album lost me after Wild Honey. After that I found the songs corny, the subject matters while socially conscious, did little to stir any passion, and I grew tired of the polished disco rock sound that dominated the albums production. Rock should be gritty, nasty, passionate. The music can be about anything so long as it stirs my blood, this album fell very short of doing that.
Thankfully the next album was The Allman Brothers Band (1969). That had more than enough grit to compensate for U2's lacking. You've got to love that blues shuffle! Here again is another example of that uniquely American sound, I'll take it one further and say it's distinctly southern. I don't understand how my husband can not like this music, it feels so good. I remember watching a documentary about Tom Dowd where he spoke about his experience with the Allman brothers and how after hearing them he felt that as a producer all he had to do was let them play. Which in my experience is a very rare thing for a producer to say. And if you think about it, it's a very unconventional band ( can't think of many popular bands with two drummers), which makes it even more impressive that the producer took a hands off approach to the music. It's a great testament to the quality of the music they were making. I know they're known for being something of a jam band, but that's not what I'm getting from this album, which perhaps makes it more accessible for me. No, it's not just that it's mostly blues rock, it's more that the music is really good. And good music is always easy to listen to. The two guitar lines in harmony is catchy even if what they're playing isn't. My biggest complaint about jam band music is typically it seems to go on forever, and it's really boring. It's the same problem I have with Metal, and some Hip hop. There's always a lot going on, so much so that you end up not listening to anything. The ears need something to focus on, they need to be guided trough the music. This band does that artfully. I can only imagine what it must have been like to experience them live. And "Whipping Post", wow! I think that just became the song of the summer!
The Allman Brothers would have been a nice note to end on for the day, but there are still hours left at work for listening. Next up in the queue is Amos Lee and Smokey Robinson's Anthology. Amos Lee is a nice low key R&B album, this is the kind of album you put on to relax. Surprisingly it sounds a lot like the music I hear at Berklee. Musician's music, a fusion of jazz, blues, and funk. Fun music to play and fun music to listen to. Smokey on the other hand surprised me. I am a huge Motown fan. I love the music and it's from my home town which makes it all the more special for me. But as I'm listening I can't tell on song from the next, nothing is really jumping out or catching my ear. There are the obvious songs which I've known for years, but then there was about an hours worth of music which wasn't really worth the time I'd dedicated to it. I can say this about Smokey, he was prolific. Even with all of the fond memories of my childhood and all of my home town love, I think I may have found the first album to get the axe. I'm sad to say it, but I know I'll probably never listen to most of these songs again. I guess some music doesn't stand the test of time, even when it's Motown. Fortunately the day ended on a high note with Aretha Franklin's version of "The Weight" one of my favorite covers by her. Tomorrow is another slow day so I'll hopefully finish up this first week of listening. Until then...
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