Funeral to Finish

  Welp, it sure does sound like Santana, I'll tell you that much.  Santana is one of those bands with an absolutely one-of-a-kind sound.  You know it the second the needle drops, and Carlos Santana's guitar playing is the reason why.  He is an absolutely sui generis guitarist, immediately recognizable. This album is fine, I guess.  You know "Black Magic Woman" and "Oye Como Va," both covers, incidentally, and even if you don't know the rest of the songs, you'll feel like you do.  It's a pleasant sound, punctuated by sharp percussion and Greg Rolle's rolling Hammond organ.  It feels like a sunny afternoon.  That's about all I have to say. BUT speaking of Santana, did you know yesterday was "Smooth" Day?  That's right; Santana's monster hit with Rob Thomas was released June 29, 1999.  I can remember the summer of 1999, and that song was everywhere.  It was, in fact, one of the best-selling singles in history , and now Carl...

  Bob Dylan again!  Too soon.  Well, not just Bob Dylan, Bob and the Band.  And it really doesn't sound super-Dylany, like John Wesley Harding did.  Which can be a good thing, honestly.  Dylan sings lead on, I think, 16 of the songs, and other members of the band (dudes like Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm, nbd) sing the rest. Recorded between June and October 1967 in the basement, natch, of the house called Big Pink in Saugerties, NY, these tracks were all recorded into one to three mics, and it definitely has that shaggy, let's-record-some-songs vibe.  I think some of my favorite songs on here are some of the non-Dylan ones, like the plaintive and richly melodic "Bessie Smith," sung by Rick Danko, on which I don't think Dylan plays at all.  The majestic drawl of Levon Helm leads "Ain't No More Cane," a traditional Southern work song that Helm really brings to life; it's lovely.  "Ruben Remus" is a great song, with a climbing chorus (...

  I have another confession to make: this was my high school sex album.  I KNOW.  Can you imagine, being in high school and finally getting to hook up with your fellow high schooler because their parents are out of town or whatever and they put on.... Avalon by Roxy Music?????  What the fuck???? (Now, this move made a lot more sense back then because this album came out in 1982 and I was in high school.... closer to 1982 than you'd think.  I remember thinking of this as "cool" at the time and maybe it still was then and wasn't totally Dad music or maybe cool divorced uncle music.) But it makes sense because this album is extremely horny!  Not just the music itself, although there's a reason I'm probably not the only person who this was a Sex Album for, but the whole vibe.  And leaving that aside, this is just a really good album.  I imagine a lot of later synth-pop was influenced by this record.  Check out "To Turn You On," one of the lesser...

  By 1966, Bob Dylan had been on tour more or less continuously for about five years.  He had moved into a rollicking kind of folk-rock that reached its peak with Blonde on Blonde , an album we shall surely see down the road a ways, and angered audiences by playing electric.  How fucking quaint, you know?  Anyway, later that year he had a mysterious "motorcycle accident" that no ambulance was called for and required no hospitalization, giving rise to the theory that it was just an excuse to pull back from the pressures of fame and touring and drugs and god knows what else. Then one day in 1967 he took a two-day train trip to Nashville with a bunch of songs no one even knew he had written and recorded this absolute gem of an album in about three days with Nashville studio musicians like Charlie McCoy. The album is sparse and eerie and is mostly just Dylan singing and harmonica and his weird strumming on acoustic, with a little bass and drums in the background and occa...

  Man, this album is boring as fuck but it did sometimes drown out the kids from the day care next door, so it's got that going for it.  I would recommend this if: (1) there's a party at your house and you're trying to signal that it's over and get people to stop having fun and leave; (2) you're in a fight with your spouse on a long car drive and neither one of you is speaking to the other right now and you want to piss them off but not overtly like by putting on speed metal or something; (3) you are in a guided LSD session and your guide is Brian Eno; (4) you need something a little more involved than "Box Fan Sound [9 hr loop]" but less involved than "Waves Crashing [9 hr loop]." Some of the songs have words, but they are not very good, like in "I'll Come Running," where the chorus is "And I'll come running to tie your shoe/And I'll come running to tie your shoe." Does this album deserve to be in the Top 500?  To...

  Another album I've never heard before!  Well, I think I had heard the title track before, because I was generally familiar with the (instantly earwormy) chorus, but that's about it.  And guess what?  It slaps!  I know, I'm super late to this (this album came out in 1989) but hey, I'm just throwing it out there.   But let's say this: it is very, very, very 80's-sounding.  I'm not sure there's an actual real drum sound on this album, and it's got that slap bass and too-shimmery guitar through a Roland Jazz Chorus that you associate with the 80's.  It's not really my thing, but the songwriting is pretty great, even if the production is the Crystal Pepsi of sound. I think of all the (faintly similar) uptempo tracks, I like "Rhythm Nation" the most.  It's apparently built on a sample from Sly and the Family Stone's "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" which we just saw , but I listened to the song a number of ti...

  Confession: this is the first rap album I ever bought.  Yes, I lived through the 80's and golden age hip-hop but my first album wasn't LL Cool J or Run-DMC or Public Enemy or even De La Soul (although I think 3 Feet High and Rising was my second); it was this filthy, violent, misogynistic, brilliant masterpiece by the kid from Long Beach who would grow up to be friends with Martha Stewart.  Kids, life will take you some strange places. What is it about this album?  Well, the production (by Dr. Dre, of course) is immaculate, establishing the G-funk sound by blending a booming low end with perfectly selected 70's funk samples, but of course it's Snoop's flow that makes the album.  It's so laid-back and hypnotic that you almost don't realize that he's singing about some gritty shit.  And it's hummable , I mean, there is literally no way you can hear "Who Am I (What's My Name)?" and not get it stuck in your head all day.   See?  Don'...