Top 10 Albums of 2009

I know, I know.  You've had enough of the opinions of The Knowledgeable And Qualified.  You're asking yourself, "So what does a fat guy with a blog think about 2009 in music?"  Glad you asked!  Considering my poor track record, these are sure to be remembered for a good week or maybe even less.  Here's what I liked:

10. Dinosaur Jr - Farm.  How, you may ask yourself, can I assure myself that this guy is getting old and complacent?  Here's your first hint!  This album is so much of a piece with the earlier Dino Jr albums that it wouldn't be out of place in any Best of 1989 list, and yet it's in my Top Ten list of 20-freakin'-09.  Well, complacent I may be, but I know what I like, and I like this.  Maybe this is the problem with trying to make a long-term assessment of music at the end of the year.  Be sure to keep an eye out for my self-report card coming out this week, in which I'll tell you what my picks for 2004 were and why I was completely wrong about all of them.  Anyway, I know this isn't the greatest Dino Jr album, but it's a damn good one and it works for me. So yeah, it's my No. 10 album for 2009.

9. Akron/Family - Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free.  Akron/Family's last album, 2007's Love Is Simple, was a near-perfect mess. It was my favorite album of that year, a psychedelic mix of choral singing, folk music, skronky freakouts, and an overwhelming emotional need to reach out and connect with the listener, to bring you along on the woolly acid trip of the lyrics.  Man, I loved that album.  This one has all of the same elements, but they are considerably less integrated.  It seems less like a journey to a destination than a time-killing road trip to nowhere with friends.  Which is fun, and this album is definitely pretty good.  But it won't turn your head inside out, which is definitely a step down for the Akron/Family.  Not bad, but not insane.  I will say that the live show I caught with some friends at the Mess With Texas Fest during SXSW was freakin' insane.  More of that, please.

8. Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion/Fall Be Kind EP.  I originally gave this spot to Tortoise, but after listening to both albums again, I switched them.  I seem to be on my own with this opinion, but I think Animal Collective peaked with Feels.  I originally underrated this one for failing to be Feels.  It doesn't contain the folk elements that infuse Feels with such beauty.  Animal Collective have moved on, and their direction into upbeat pop isn't terrible by any means.  It's just not quite as far up my alley, y'know.  Merriweather Post Pavilion dropped in January, and I was unimpressed then.  By the time Fall Be Kind, an EP that basically contains outtakes from MPP, came out last month, I had come around to the sound.  So I don't think it's the album of the year (as Pitchfork does), but I do like it and think it's a significant album of 2009.  Significant enough to be here in my Top Ten in a way that I ultimately denied Tortoise, that is.

7. Oneida - Rated O.  Oneida's getting weirder, and god bless 'em for it.  On this album - a three-disc set! - Oneida lunges from third-world funk to their more typical redefined krautrock to garage-rock jams to screaming noise-rock to head-space chanting to afro-pop guitars to pure brown-noise drone to 60s-style sitars as punctuation.  Nearly two hours of music total, and it's never uninteresting.  This one's definitely not for Oneida neophytes, though.  Start with Secret Wars or The Wedding, both of which are a little more accessible (a relative term with Oneida) and then move along to Rated O or 2008's Preteen Weaponry. These later albums are more rewarding listening experience, even if they require more patience from the listener.

6. Andrew Bird - Noble Beast.  Although not quite as strong as Bird's previous album Armchair Apocrypha, Noble Beast is still an impressive collection of songs.  It took a little while to grow on me, though.  Where Armchair Apocrypha and 2005's The Mysterious Production Of Eggs had a way of rewriting your expectations in an epic sweep that carried you from moment to moment, Noble Beast is more hermetic.  It is still full of surprises, but they are more coy, waiting for you (or, more likely, your subconscious mind) to do the work of unlocking them.  On the fifth listen, though, I was hooked.  The things that took me by surprise were not what I expected them to be, which is quite alright due to the nature of surprise.  And man, Bird writes a gorgeous hook.  Something to whistle along with, should you happen to possess a set of pipes that allow you to whistle along with the man.

5. The Dexateens - Singlewide. This album dropped on my birthday, and it felt like a present.  Over the last few years, the Dexateens have been moving in a direction that dropped the raging guitars of their early work but kept the folk and country aspects with an added pure guitar pop sheen.  I compared them when this album came out to Big Star and the Band, and I think those remain apt comparisons.  This one is more contemplative than the previous albums, but it culminates in the kicker "Can You Whoop It?," which throws a handful of Southern stereotype jokes at the wall and then states bluntly, "Locks are for the honest/Guns are for the wise/Laws are for the frightened for to line their nest with lies/I live in the space created by your compromise/So can you whoop it?"  Now here's a strange thing: when I visited Tuscaloosa over the summer, I heard rumors that guitarist and founding member John Smith, who wrote a bunch of the songs, had left the band, which was later confirmed by Dexateens lead singer Elliott McPherson.  But the website doesn't acknowledge it, nor has the band made much of a fuss about it.  Frankly, with music this good, I hope that whatever is going on with Smith being out of the band is a temporary thing.

4. Isis - Wavering Radiant.  Does it make me a poseur that I like this album almost as much as Isis's magnum opus Oceanic?  Then so be it.  I've long held that Isis is like Sigur Ros with distortion pedals and the occasional cookie monster vocals.  But Isis is actually quite a bit more psychedelic and varied than Sigur Ros, with a musical palette that includes metal and hardcore along with the post-rock melange of krautrock and space rock that the Icelandic band employs.  Anyway, this is one of the headiest and still heaviest albums of the year, and that's a neat trick.

3. Mastodon - Crack The Skye.  Everybody loves Mastodon, and I'm no different.  This is yet another concept album, but I can't follow the story to this album at all, and I don't care.  The music is amazingly intricate and thoroughly thrilling.  There's two 10+ minute tracks, but the music is far too engrossing to notice the song length.  There's elements of all kinds of genres on this album, but the album is overwhelmingly a) metal and b) greater than the sum of its parts.  This is the sound of a band trying to figure out just how far they can push themselves.

1 (Tie). Vic Chesnutt - At The Cut.  I was thinking about putting this in the No. 1 slot all by its lonesome when I heard the SOB had killed himself on Christmas Eve.  I'm still somewhere between heartbroken and furious.  I know it's wrong to dock the album for this.  I didn't know the guy, but I knew he was in pain.  Anyone who listened to his songs knew he was in pain.  But he was also witty and full of sharp humanism, and I wanted more.  I didn't know about his $70K+ medical debt.  And I'm talking about Chesnutt instead of At The Cut, which is his best album yet. Wryer and more incisive than he's ever been, with music so well-tuned to his songs that it freakin' hurts, At The Cut invites intimacy while asking you if you really deserve it.  In retrospect it sounds like a suicide note, but no more than many of his albums.  Why now?  I didn't know the guy, but I feel like I lost a friend.

1 (Tie). Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs.  I gave it a boost in the worst possible circumstances, but it's not like this album doesn't deserve it.  YLT has broken no new ground with this album, but man, I love this ground and they own it.  Does this make me old and complacent?  Maybe!  I don't care.  This is great stuff.

The rest:

11. Tortoise - Beacons of Ancestorship 
12. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
13. Sonic Youth - The Eternal
14. The Bats - The Guilty Office
15. Pelican - What We All Come To Need
16. Darcy James Argue's Secret Society - Infernal Machines
17. Sunn 0))) - Monoliths and Dimensions
18. The Clean - Mister Pop
19. Mission of Burma - The Sound, The Speed, The Light
20. A.C. Newman - Get Guilty
21. The Soft Pack - The Muslims
22. The Clientele - Bonfires On The Heath
23. The Mountain Goats - The Life of the World to Come
24. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
25. Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse - Dark Night Of The Soul
26. The Fiery Furnaces - I'm Going Away
27. Molly Berg and Stephen Vitiello - The Gorilla Variations
28. Sparklehorse + Fennesz - In the Fishtank 15

The Moviegoer Parts V & VI: September - December 2009

After extensive scientific investigation, I have determined that I failed to update readers about my moviewatching habits for September and October of 2009, so this is an extra-special long version of this supposedly bimonthly feature.  Remember that some of these movies are re-viewings.

Movies Watched:

93. Adventureland: B+
94. Kiki's Delivery Service: A-
95. Red Beard: B+
96. A Bug's Life: B+
97. Point Blank: B+
98. Watchmen: F
99. La Strada: B+
100. Anvil!: The Story of Anvil: B+
101. Juliet of the Spirits: B
102. The Virgin Spring: A
103. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang: A-
104. Drag Me To Hell: A-
105. The Night of the Living Dead: A
106. The Earrings of Madame de...: A
107. Songwriter: B
108. The Shop Around The Corner: A+
109. Slumdog Millionaire: B-/C+
110. The Empire Strikes Back: A-
111. Trouble The Water: B+
112. District 9: C+
113. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince: B+

Here's the shameful part.  I have only finished one book in the last four months.  I've been re-reading Gravity's Rainbow for the fourth time, and I'm lingering over it.  I've also been reading occasionally A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again and, in the last couple of weeks, Farber On Film. But I have yet to finish either.  So the only book I finished was Richard Price's Samaritan, which I polished off in a day or so.  Oh, and I read a couple of Roald Dahl books to my son, too: James And The Giant Peach and The Giraffe, The Pelly, And Me.  His mom is reading Mathilda to him now.

I intend to continue to document my pop culture intake in 2010, but I'll have to change the numbering scheme for this feature because the run-on roman numerals just won't work.

Here's the whole list for 2009:

1. Dr. T and The Women: B
   
2. Encounters At The End of the World (this was the third viewing in two weeks): A+
3. Amarcord: A+
4. Out of the Past: A
5. Pineapple Express: B
6. Man on Wire: A-
7. Kung Fu Panda: A-
8. Last Night At The Alamo: A
9. The Order of Myths: A
10. M. Hulot's Holiday: A
11. Peter and the Wolf (2008 short): A+
12. Wagon Master: B
13. Paranoid Park: A+
14. Kiss of Death: B
15. The Night of the Hunter: A+
16. Topsy-Turvy: A+
17. Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains: B-
18. The Day The Earth Stood Still (original version): A
19. Burn After Reading: B+
20. Drunken Angel: B+
21. I Live In Fear: Record of a Living Being: A-
22. Wattstax: B
23. Aliens: A
24. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist: A-
25. Hamlet 2: B-
26. Eyes Wide Shut: B+
27. Lessons of Darkness: B
28. Stroszek: A+
29. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory: A
30. Pootie Tang: C+
31. The Trial: B
32. Trafic: A+
33. This Is Not A Photograph: The Mission of Burma Story: A-
34. WALL-E: A+
35. It Happened One Night: A
36. Beeswax: B
37. American Prince: B
38. Best Worst Movie: A
39. American Boy: A-
40. Wild Strawberries: A+
41. The Face of Another: A
42. Synecdoche, New York: A++
43. Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography: B+
44. The Hemingway Night: A+
45. Around: B-
46. Monsters Vs. Aliens: B
47. Duma: A
48. Bicycle Thieves: A
49. Visages d'Enfants: B
50. The Strangers: B-
51. Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day: B
52. The World's Greatest Sinner: A-
53. F For Fake: A+
54. Tokyo Story: A
55. The Comedians of Comedy: B
56. Zach Galifianakis Live: B
57. Morvern Callar: A-
58. Grindhouse: B-
59. Let The Right One In: A
60. The Burmese Harp: A
61. Futurama: Bender's Game: B
62. Kiss Me Deadly: A
63. Rachel Getting Married: A
64. Torn Curtain: B
65. Real Life: A+
66. Forbidden Planet: A-
67. Star Trek: B+
68. My Neighbor Totoro: A+
69. Mon Oncle Antoine: B+
70. Salesman: A
71. Milk: B+
72. Role Models: B+
73. Fast, Cheap & Out Of Control: A-
74. Up: A
75. She Wore A Yellow Ribbon: B+
76. Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey: B+
77. Hour Of The Wolf: B
78. Directed By John Ford: B
79. Castle In The Sky: A
80. Fury: B+
81. After The Thin Man: B+
82. Monsters, Inc.: A-
83. The Wages of Fear: A
84. The 39 Steps: B+
85. Un Flic: B
86. Only Angels Have Wings: A-
87. The Passion of Anna: B+
88. The Limey: B+
89. The Old, Weird America: Harry Smith's Anthology of Folk Music: B
90. Pinocchio: A+
91. The Incredibles: A
92. Ponyo: A
93. Adventureland: B+
94. Kiki's Delivery Service: A-
95. Red Beard: B+
96. A Bug's Life: B+
97. Point Blank: B+
98. Watchmen: F
99. La Strada: B+
100. Anvil!: The Story of Anvil: B+
101. Juliet of the Spirits: B
102. The Virgin Spring: A
103. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang: A-
104. Drag Me To Hell: A-
105. The Night of the Living Dead: A
106. The Earrings of Madame de...: A
107. Songwriter: B
108. The Shop Around The Corner: A+
109. Slumdog Millionaire: B-/C+
110. The Empire Strikes Back: A-
111. Trouble The Water: B+
112. District 9: C+
113. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince: B+
     
     
     And here's the prior entries.
     

Dear 2009,

While I have to agree with the voices who say that you weren't the worst at your job, I'm afraid that even when taking all of the positives on your resume into account, we cannot discount the frequent black marks against your performance.  On a sheerly personal level, I know your kindness every time I hear my children laugh, and please don't get me wrong: I treasure this.  But I also know your cruelty in the inexplicable health problems I've faced this year, in the suffering and death of those near and distant, and especially in the impending darkness always whispering Collapse! into the ears of all of humanity.  I can hardly blame you for time and human nature, it's true.  However, Time and Human Nature are not up for review at this time, and you, you see, are.  Therefore, it is with deep disappointment in your inability to counter the worst in your colleagues that I must decline to give you the recommendation that you quite possibly deserve.  Security is waiting outside to escort you off of the premises.

Music Library: Arthur Smith, Buck Owens, Charles Mingus, Charlie Rich, George Strait, Jack Rose

Arthur Smith and His Crackerjacks - Fingers On Fire (1949).  This is Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith, not any of the other Arthur Smiths you might suspect. Mr. Smith was the original author of the song you may know as "Duelin' Banjos" or "that song from Deliverance," a fact that he had to sue to have acknowledged.  Besides being a crackerjack guitarist (and wouldn't you want to be his sideman if that meant that you were one of his Crackerjacks?), Mr. Smith has nearly 500 copyrighted songs to his name and owned the studio where James Brown cut "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag."  And this album is a fine example of his crackerjack instrumental prowess.  Fingers on fire, indeed!

Buck Owens and His Buckaroos - Carnegie Hall Concert (1966).  A fine, fine live album with Buck & His Buckaroos buckin' around on stage.  This album contains lots of their biggest hits, some joking back-and-forth with Buck's right-hand man Don Rich, and some truly excellent performances.  This one's fun for not just fans of country music, but fans of popular music.  It's a document of an incredibly tight ensemble at the top of their game.

Charles Mingus - Mingus Dynasty (1959) and Let My Children Hear Music (1972). When I wrote about Mingus back in May, I mentioned a strange album I'd bought many years ago called Shoes of the Fisherman's Wife, which contained one song from Let My Children Hear Music and a bunch of songs from Mingus Dynasty, although not the whole album.  I finally sprung for each of those albums, and man, does that music sound even better in context.  Both of these are fantastic. 

Charlie Rich - Groove Recordings (recorded 1963-1965).  Fantastic compilation of Rich's tracks for Groove.  Many of the best appear elsewhere in my collection in other Rich compilations, but there's nothing by Charlie Rich that isn't worth hearing.  My favorite vocalist, hands down.  Well, either him or George Jones.  Let's call it a tie.

George Strait - Right Or Wrong (1983). Despite my affection for country music, I'll be the first to admit that I'm an urban-dwelling latte-sipping well-educated music-snob liberal, and I've never consciously listened to Strait before.  But Nathan Rabin, who's investigating country music over at the AV Club, liked this album, and all of those adjectives presumably describe him, too, so I figured I'd give it a shot.  And, well, I'm not as taken with it.  "You Look So Good In Love" just sounds like a generic pop-ballad to me (and maybe that's the point of the video Rabin posted of Jamie Foxx covering it).  The Western Swing elements were pretty great, but outside of the cover of "Right Or Wrong," which is a truly great country song that goes back at least to minstrel days, much of the Western Swing sounded like window dressing on these songs.  It's definitely better (and more economical) than a lot of the crap pop-country around today.  But it don't move me.

Jack Rose - Peel Session 5/20/04.  Rose, who was only a year older than me, passed away recently.  I was unfamiliar with his band Pelt, although I've picked up an album now.  I found this Peel Session online, and boy howdy, is his Fahey-style fingerstyle guitar a pleasure.  Wish I'd been with-it enough to be a fan while he was still alive.

Xmas Music Library: Waitresses, Yo La Tengo, Youngsters, Zooey Deschanel & Leon Redbone, Compilations

Last Christmas music post!  It's a Christmas miracle!  From here, I'll work to finish up Coltrane in the next week or so and maybe knock out a few more catch-up albums.

The Waitresses - "Christmas Wrapping."  New wave Christmas song that's ok at best.  Emusic oversold this one.

Yo La Tengo - Merry Christmas From Yo La Tengo (2003). Now here's a great EP.  It starts with YLT loudly covering outsider musician Jan Terri's "Rock & Roll Santa."  Then there's the lovely folk-rock of the Qualities' "It's Christmas Time."  The original, incidentally, can be heard on the lovely Sun Ra album The Singles, which captures a number of singles were Sun Ra served as the sideman.  The final track is a cover of the song-poem "Santa Claus Goes Modern," which is somehow twice as competent and ten times as silly as the original.  This is great stuff here, and I believe that YLT has made it available for free download at their website.

The Youngsters - "Christmas In Jail."  Great little early R&B track about drunk driving.

Zooey Deschanel and Leon Redbone - "Baby, It's Cold Outside."  While decently sung, unlike the Ray Charles/Betty Carter version, this one - from the Elf soundtrack - has absolutely no sex to it, which is okay when you consider the participants, but also the lesser of the two.

A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector (1963). Released on November 22, 1963 (that's good luck!), this Chrismas album has Spector and his stable of artists laying the Wall Of Sound onto mostly traditional Xmas songs.  Although it was a flop when first released, it has become a standard (and Brian Wilson cites it as his favorite album).  You've heard every song on this album, I'm sure.

Hillbilly Holiday 1945-1972. This is a compilation with a bunch of major figures in country music singing off-kilter Christmas songs.  Most of them are about drinking and disappointment.  Happy holidays!

It's Christmas Time Again (Stax, 1990). This compilation has many of the Stax Christmas songs.  Two versions of "Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin'" may be one too many, but Isaac Hayes doing his hurt lover-man thing sorta rules.

The My Pal God Holiday Records #1 and #2 (1998 and 1999).  I only have a few tracks from each.  From the former, I have Universal Life & Accident's cover of Prince's "Another Lonely Christmas," which is awesome.  I also have Lullaby For The Working Class's "Utilitarian Christmas Jingle," which is lovely, if slight.  From the latter, I have four: Neutrino's "Island of Misfit Toys/Little Drummer Boy," Atombombpocketknife's "Candy Cane," Del Ray's "Nutcracker Overture/Dance Of the Sugarplum Fairy," and Drum + Tuba's "Auld Lang Syne."  All good.

The American Song-Poem Christmas (2003).  Four tracks here, including the one that YLT covered on their Christmas EP.  Unlike the songs on the other major song-poem anthology, these are not very good.

Redeye 2008 Holiday Sampler. A free download from eMusic with the Supersuckers, the Fleshtones, and (hmm) Lisa Loeb. Not so good, but the price was right.

Xmas Music Library: Elvis P, Ramones, Raymond Scott, Richard Davies, Shonen Knife, South Park, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Star Wars, Stiff Little Fingers, Stylistics, Sufjan, Summer Hymns, Thurl Ravenscroft, Trashmen, Vince Guaraldi

Elvis Presley - Elvis Christmas (originally released 1957 and 1971). This collection includes two Elvis Christmas albums.  The 1957 one is absolutely fantastic until Elvis gets bogged down in over-serious hymns at the end.  But most of the traditional Xmas songs cook, and "Santa Bring My Baby Back To Me" is a stone classic.  The 1971 album is a thick slice o' Xmas cheese.  Be forewarned.  It may cause constipation.  OK, the version of "Merry Christmas, Baby" (which I always associate with Otis Redding, but I don't know if it's his song) is pretty great.

The Ramones - "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)."  This is a different mix than the classic version of this song on Brain Drain.  I have no idea why or where it's from, but it's about 40 seconds longer, and the sections are mixed up.  It's nowhere near as effective, either.

Raymond Scott - "Christmas in Harlem."  It's Raymond Scott, so it cooks.  Not particularly Christmas-y, but we'll take it.

Richard Davies - "Feed the World."  I love Richard Davies, the Aussie singer-songwriter behind The Moles and Cardinal.  His fractured art-roots-rock songs hit me in my happy place.  And yet this is an electropop version of the famous charity song that Davies recorded for a Kindercore compilation back in 1999.  And it suuuuucks.

Shonen Knife - "Space Christmas" and "All I Want for Christmas."  Xmas, Shonen Knife-style.

South Park - "The Most Offensive Song Ever" and "Merry F***ing Christmas."  Their schtick has worn thin over the years, but "Merring F***ing Christmas" is still a little bit funny.

Squirrel Nut Zippers - Christmas Caravan (1998).  The Zippers do their neo-swing thing on most of these tracks, but the Carter Family treatment on "Gift of the Magi" is swell.  Their version of "Sleigh Ride" is super-fun, too.  Most of the other tracks are originals, and pretty fun for what they are.  In fact, I think the Zippers are more fun doing this kind of music than their regular gig.

Star Wars - Christmas In The Stars: The Star Wars Christmas Album (1980).  Making one long for the relatively high quality entertainment of the Star Wars Christmas Special, Christmas in the Stars features Anthony "C-3PO" Daniels "singing" in character, a certain Jon Bongiovi (sound it out), and a bunch of wookiee and random robot noises. Allmusic says, "Because of its general meaninglessness and obscure commentaries on the holiday, this could be the worst Star Wars related album on the market. To those who enjoy bad music on a camp level, this album is priceless."  Now here's the messed-up thing: George Lucas, the man who has disowned the Star Wars Christmas Special, actually sought to put his name on this monstrosity.  I guess that should have been an early warning about where he was going with the three prequels.  And I can't quite get rid of it, although it actually scars my ears when I listen to it.

Stiff Little Fingers - "White Christmas."  This is the song you think it is, but with buzzsaw guitars and snotty authentic punk delivery.  Necessary to clean one's palate after the amazing shittiness of Christmas In The Stars.

The Stylistics - "When You've Got Love, It's Christmas All Year Long" and "Auld Lang Syne."  I rather like the Stylistics' 70s Philly Soul, but this godawful smoove-synth bullshit recorded long after their heyday (1992, to be exact) would actually sound better if Anthony "C-3PO" Daniels were the lead vocalist.

Sufjan Stevens - Songs For Christmas [Vol. 1: Noel (2001), Vol 2.: Hark! (2002), Vol. 3: Ding! Dong! (2003), Vol. 4: Joy (2005), and Vol. 5: Peace (2006)].  Now that's how you do a Christmas album (or albums, as the case may be).  Five EPs that mix traditional songs and originals with creative arrangements, a flow that moves easily from upbeat to solemn and back again, and songs with titles like "Get Thee Behind Me, Santa!"  I'm tempted to play this occasionally outside of the holiday season but I don't, because that would be just weird.

Summer Hymns - "Santa Couldn't Fit You Under My Christmas Tree."  From another Kindercore comp, this is a Georgia-based mildly psychedelic folk-rock band doing a wispy original.  I have a few of their non-Xmas albums, which are also pretty good.

Thurl Ravenscroft - "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch."  Includes some of the voiceover from the cartoon.  Yes, it's delightful.

The Trashmen - "Dancin' With Santa."  Doo-woppy early rock song that's fun as all get-out.

Vince Guaraldi - A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965).  This is the best Christmas album of all time, sure to give you that bittersweet holiday feeling from the first chord of "O Tannenbaum."  "Christmastime Is Here" is so absolutely wonderful that I can hardly believe it.  And the versions of "What Child Is This"/"Greensleeves" are unsurpassed.  I say this as a man who just listened to the brilliant Coltrane versions on The Africa/Brass Sessions.  And who has also just listened to John Fahey's versions.  But you know this music.  I don't know what else I could possibly tell you about it.  Just go listen.

Music Library: Beasts of Bourbon, Beefheart, Charlie Hunter, Commander Cody, Earth, Eno Moebius Roedelius, Jerry Lee Lewis

Continuing with catch-up of artists I have already passed alphabetically.  I'm still on John Coltrane in the main thrust of this project, but listening to too much Coltrane back-to-back has a staring-at-the-sun vibe, so I'm trying to mitigate that by doing these catch-up posts and a few Xmas posts.

Beasts of Bourbon - The Axeman's Jazz (1984).  Australian cowpunk band that does a great cover of Leon Payne's "Psycho."  I had a copy of "Psycho" already but when I saw a copy of this album online, I snatched it up.  It's pretty decent, somewhere between bar-band country-rock and Stones-y swagger.

Captain Beefheart - Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) (1978). This album was noticeably absent when I reviewed Beefheart back in April.  I picked it up a while back, but I'm just getting around to reviewing it now.  But it's first-rate Beefheart.  I like it as much or maybe even more than Doc At The Radar Station.  It's upset my Beefheart heirarchy!  Of course, there's nothing wrong with that.  I suspect even Beefheart would approve.

Charlie Hunter/Charlie Hunter Trio - Copperopolis (2006), Mistico (2007), and Baboon Strength (2008).  Hunter's a talented and creative guitarist with a silly streak that leads to light-hearted funk-jazz.  It's a bit on the jammy side for me in large doses, but quite alright in smaller ones.

Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen - Lost In The Ozone (1971).  They may have come from Michigan, but Commander Cody and his cohort were Texas-style cosmic cowboys of the first order.  This album mixed country, rock, rockabilly, and Western Swing with an irreverent sense of humor and some genuine country pathos.  I like that they transition from the country lament-with-a-hippie-twist "Seed and Stems (Again)" to the traditional track "Family Bible" in a mere two steps.  And their version of "Hot Rod Lincoln" is pretty definitive.

Earth - Extra-Capsular Extraction EP (1991).  There's elements of drone here, especially in "Ouroborus Is Broken," a track that Earth would re-record for 2007's Hibernaculum.  But the two-part first track (first two of three on this EP, that is) is surprisingly rocking and sounds like fairly standard doom metal.  Not that there's anything wrong with this, but Earth seems so committed to the drone from the beginning that the drums and vocals and rock riffage are a little unexpected to a fan like me of their subsequent work.

Eno Moebius Redelius - After the Heat (1978).  This is Brian Eno with members of Cluster doing that ambient thing they do so well.  Eno sings on several tracks here, which is surprising.  Holger Czukay of Can provides bass for "Tzima N'Arki," which also features a backwards tape of Eno's vocal line from the chorus of "King's Lead Hat."

Jerry Lee Lewis - Who's Gonna Play this Old Piano (1972) and Sometimes A Memory Ain't Enough (1973).  A couple of countrypolitan albums from the early 70s.  Not as great as "What's Made Milwaukee Famous," but what the hell is?  Also, he may The Killer, but I find myself wishing that he'd refrain from referring to himself in the third person just every now and then.  What am I saying?  I'm just happy that he's Jerry Lee and knows it.

Music Library: More Boris

I recently found a website with a number of Boris albums that are out-of-print or were never released in the US.  Yeah!

Demo Vol. 3 EP (1994).  With "Scar Box," "Mosquito," "Matozoa," and "Deep Sucker."  Biiiig Melvins influence.

More Echoes, Touching Air Landscape (Boris and Choukoko No Niwa, 1999).  A split with two very long songs.  The Boris one is a 26-odd minute long drone.  The Choukoko No Niwa track is a 24-minute Boredoms-like psych rock freakout.

Megatone (Boris and Merzbow, 2002).  Like drone?  Like Merzbow?  Like Merzbow droning?  This is that.

Archives: Volume One: Live 96-98, Volume Two: Drumless Shows, Volume Three: Two Long Songs (all three released 2005).  Three discs!  The first one has eight tracks of rocking Melvins-y Boris.  The second, recorded in 1997, has three long drones.  The third, recorded in 2001, has Boris's two long tracks of the time back-to-back.  The recording of "Flood" is amazing.

04092001 (Boris and Merzbow, 2005).  This one has five tracks from Heavy Rocks recorded live in 2001 with Merzbow doing his Merzbow thing.

Soundtrack from Film "Mabuta no Ura" (Essence Mix) (2006).  This is the Brazilian version of an album I already have.  Many of the songs are the same as on the other version, but the sequence is a little different, and the new tracks are pretty great.

Long Hair and Tights (with Doomriders, 2007).  This is a Pink-era live recording that is split with the Massachusetts band Doomriders.  I think I would like Doomriders much more if they weren't getting blown off the stage by Boris.

She's So Heavy EP (Ai Aso/Wata, 2007).  This is a split 7" with Japanese pop star Ai Aso covering King Crimson's "Islands" on one side and a great song by Boris guitarist Wata (fronting a band that is, basically, Boris) on the other.

Walrus and Groon EP (Boris and Merzbow, 2007).  Side A is a super-psychedelic cover of "I Am The Walrus."  Side B shares a name with a King Crimson song and a different Merzbow song, but it is neither.

Cloud Chamber EP (with Michio Kurihara, 2008).  Unlike their prior collaboration with Michio Kurihara, Cloud Chamber is a drone-based composition.

Smile: Live At Wolf Creek (2008).  Featuring songs from Pink and Smile, this is an amazing live album.