Music Library: R. Stevie Moore, REM, R.L. Burnside, Rachmaninoff, Raconteurs, Radicalfashion, Radio Birdman, Radiohead, Raekwon

R. Stevie Moore - Games And Groceries (1978) and Hobbies Galore (compilation, released 2003). Moore is a basement genius, an Emitt Rhodes type who has released dozens, if not hundreds, of power pop albums recorded by himself in his basement. The man is good.



REM - Chronic Town EP (1982), Murmur (1983), Reckoning (1984), Fables Of The Reconstruction (1985), Life's Rich Pageant (1986), Dead Letter Office (1987), Document (1987), Eponymous (1987), Green (1988), Out Of Time (1991), Automatic For The People (1992), Monster (1994), and Accelerate (2008). Anything left to say about these guys? Life's Rich Pageant is the one I am most likely to play these days, but I am not likely to listen to much REM at this point.

R.L. Burnside - Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down (2000). Mississippi electric blues with a bunch of electronic bloops-and-bleeps and turntablism for texture. Interesting.



Sergei Rachmaninoff - Rachmaninoff Plays Rachmaninoff (Concerto No  3 In D Minor) (recorded 1939). Passionate modern composer plays one of his own difficult compositions.

The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers (2006). Jack White's first exploration of a post-White Stripes career. The larger band lets his Led Zep fantasies go wild.

Radicalfashion - Odori (2006). Ambient compositions.

Radio Birdman - The Essential Radio Birdman: 1974-1978. Excellent protopunk from Australia with the great Deniz Tek (providing the Detroit connection) on guitar.



Radiohead - Pablo Honey (1993), My Iron Lung EP (1994), The Bends (1995), OK Computer (1997), Kid A (2000), Amnesiac (2001), I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings (2001), Hail To The Thief (2003), In Rainbows (2007), and The King Of Limbs (2011). I like this band a lot, but I don't really understand how they became the juggernaut that they are. I mean, they are seriously oddball in approach, song structure, and instrumentation, but despite how difficult people generally find music like this, Radiohead is popular as hell. Gives me hope for the human race.

Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... (1995). More or less a Wu Tang album by another name.