Funeral to Finish

  When it came time to pick a punk name, guys would usually go for the abrasive (Johnny Rotten) or the arty (Lux Interior) or the gangy (Ramones), but Peter McNeish borrowed the name of his favorite Romantic poet, Percy Bysse Shelley, and christened himself Pete Shelley.  This gives you some clue about what the Buzzcocks were up to.  Solidly punk - more recognizably "punk" than the Clash, they absolutely go hard - but with a melodic edge and a rejection of the utter nihilism that dominated a lot of British punk of their era. That melodic edge is all over this album, a collection of singles released in the US in 1979 and immediately influential on a lot of American proto-punk bands.  Just check out "I Don't Mind," which is kind of all over the place but which has a vocal melody that is just out of this world: The second song, "What Do I Get?' became famous again after it was used in a few commercials, like for McDonald's in the UK and Toyota here in ...

  "Rocket Man," track 5 on this record, is, of course, one of the best-known songs in rock history and a staple of jukeboxes and karaoke machines worldwide, but I want to talk about a different song, one I have listened to far too many times in the last four days to be healthy, "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters," maybe the finest song John and lyricist Bernie Taupin  ever wrote. The song starts quietly, with just piano and John's vocals: And now I know Spanish Harlem are not just pretty words to say I thought I knew But now I know that rose trees never grow In New York City Until you've seen this trashcan dream come true You stand at the edge while people run you through And I thank the Lord There's people out there like you I thank the Lord there's people out there like you Obviously, it's a callback to Ben E. King's "Spanish Harlem," but what the hell is going on here otherwise?  What is a trashcan dream?  I mean, this is clearly about ...

  Listening back to this for the first time in many years, I was struck by how much this album reminded me of Gang of Four's Entertainment , which came out the following year.  Both are - here comes the rock critic word - angular, kind of herky-jerky, with undeniably weird vocals and a slyly critical take on modern mores (ok, Entertainment  isn't sly about its critique, but you get my point).  I feel like before Devo was the "Whip It" Devo, the flowerpot hats Devo, they were a post-punk band with a lot of interesting musical ideas but not yet a thing. Devo started up in Akron, Ohio in the mid-70's and were probably too advanced for the public at that time.  They really came into bloom later during the 80's when irony was invented, but that's beyond the scope of this entry.  Anyway, their demo found its way to David Bowie and (of course) Brian Eno, who brought the band to Cologne, West Germany to record this record.  In a year when five of the top 100 s...

  Syd Barrett's crowning (well, only) achievement with Pink Floyd, this 1967 release has been hailed as a psychedelic masterpiece and a visionary recording, which is great because I fucking hated it.  OK, maybe that's too strong.  I really did not like it at all.  It combines all the worst parts of jazz and endless noodling and bad singing and unfinished songs into one painful package.  It is truly hard to believe that the band that did this put out something like The Dark Side of the Moon five years later. I must admit, my exposure to early Pink Floyd has been extremely limited - I do like the song "Fearless" from Meddle , a few years after this album - and it's always hard evaluating something I'm not super familiar with and am immediately turned off by but this is just so not in my wheelhouse that it's hard for me to be objective.  There's some stuff that I kind of liked, like the descending bassline on "Lucifer Sam," which starts out sou...

  Longtime readers will know that jazz is my weakest genre in that it's the one I know the least about and, let's be honest, like the least, so when a jazz album shows up on the list I usually sigh heavily and then put it on while I'm working and try to just get through it.  I was expecting pretty much the same here. I was wrong.  The first song, "Chameleon," starts out with a synth bass line that's immediately catchy and then the other instruments build in, assembling a funk-inspirred groove that does not let up.  I've since found out that it's a jazz classic, and I can see why.  There is a ton going on here, multiple layers, with new sounds introduced just as you've gotten used to the last new sound. "Sly," the third of four songs on the album, is named for Sly Stone, whose influence on this album Hancock acknowledged.  It also sits somewhere in that Venn diagram between jazz, soul, and funk.  The last track, "Vein Melter," re...

  Did you notice that every other record so far this week was by a female artist or group?  And now dumb old Bob Dylan comes crashing in on Friday to ruin our Grrl Power vibe.  Oh well. This is the album that turned Bob Dylan into BOB DYLAN,  It was only his second album, but it's full of songs that became nearly instantly famous and remain that way.  Everybody was like "Bob how did you write all these songs so fast?" and he literally said (actual quote) "The songs are there. They exist all by themselves just waiting for someone to write them down. I just put them down on paper."  Which is kinda true because like half of the melodies are lifted or reworked from older songs.  The melody of "Blowin' in the Wind," for example, is based on an old spiritual called "No More Auction Block."  I do not happen to love "Blowin' in the Wind" but that's probably because of the saccharine Peter, Paul & Mary version.  Bob's ver...

  I absolutely remember how inescapable this album was in, for me anyway, 1989 (even though it came out in 1988).  It was just everywhere, especially the first two songs, "Talkin' Bout a Revolution" and "Fast Car," the song that really launched Chapman into the stratosphere.  This album sold 20 million copies. You have to remember that 1988 was an era of slickly-produced pop.  The Top 3 singles of 1988: George Michael's "Faith," INXS's "Need You Tonight," and George Harrison's "Got My Mind Set On You."  All perfectly fine songs in their own regard, but this album offered such a contrast to that highly-produced sheen that it was irresistible to people. (Small digression, but I don't think I realized that "Got My Mind Set On You" was George Harrison, like George Harrison from the Beatles?! I think I just filed it in my mind under "mainstream pop" and didn't think about it.) The first song, writt...