Music Library: Alex Chilton, Alex de Grassi, Alexander "Skip" Spence, Alison Krauss, Allman Brothers Band

Music library post!

Alex Chilton's collection 19 Years was the last album I listened to, so I'm up to:

Alex Chilton - 1970. Tracks from an aborted album between Chilton's period as the singer of the Box Tops and his time in Big Star. Very influenced by Gram Parsons and the Stones. Some good tracks and a little b.s.

Alex de Grassi - A Windham Hill Retrospective. This was a gift. De Grassi's a decent guitarist, but a little dull and technical for my tastes. A lot of these songs sound like more precise versions of dicking around on an acoustic guitar. I don't think there's a hummable melody throughout.

Alexander "Skip" Spence - Oar. Great damaged-hippie album. If this had come out in the last couple of years, they'd call it "freak folk." I bought this years ago on the recommendation of my old friend Andy, and I've never regretted it for a second. Hmm. A couple of tracks are damaged themselves through what sounds like a poor rip. Reminder to self: fix that.

Alison Krauss - Now That I've Found You: A Collection. This is my beloved wife's album, which both excuses me from listening to it or posting my thoughts on it. I will say that I generally like bluegrass, and some of these songs would qualify as bluegrass.

Alison Krauss - "Jesus Help Me To Stand" from Every Time You Say Goodbye. This is bluegrass gospel, but it's a little too finely sanded for my tastes.

Allman Brothers Band - Eat A Peach. I love the ABB from this period. I don't know what happened to my discs of the first album and Idlewild South, but I'm going to have to pick those up again soon. Eat A Peach is more perfect for its messiness. Duane Allman died with only a few tracks recorded, and this album is meant to capture the emotional highs and lows and pay tribute to him, too. His death haunts the whole affair, but it's not an especially sad collection of songs, but an affirmation of life in the face of death. Plus, between Dickey Betts's contributions and Duane's final recordings, there's a shitload of great guitarwork.

Next time: ABB - Complete Live At Fillmore East. Actually, as long as those songs are, that album may be covered in both the next time and the time after.