Staff Picks for August 2015
August 31, 2015
Donny Hathaway's daughter arrived at the start of the '90s with less glitz and hype than En Vogue and Mariah Carey, but she delivered one of the decade's richest R&B debuts. It's armed with charting singles made with Angela Winbush, Gary Taylor, Heatwave's Derek Bramble, and Rufus' Andre Fischer, as well as some durable album cuts. Look out for her live album due in October.
August 30, 2015
With seven songs clocking in at almost an hour, Conspiracy in Mind delves into some long-winded territory, but the songwriting and weighty production keep the album chugging along at a deft pace. The trio received a lot of comparisons to fellow power/progressive metal act Nevermore, which isn't entirely undeserved, but songs like the searing and soaring "Silence Surrounds" and the churning title track display a band that stands just fine on its own six feet.
August 29, 2015
In a magical year (1979) when Irish rock gave us Thin Lizzy's Black Rose, the Boomtown Rats' Fine of Surfacing, and Stiff Little Fingers' Inflammable Material, this stone killer from Cork guitarist Rory Gallagher was somewhat overlooked. His songwriting had gained a razor-sharp narrative focus ("Philby," "Bad Benny," "Just Hit Town") and the hard-edged, beefy production underscored crackling, performances, making this one of the finest albums in his catalog. Several tunes were so popular with fans, they remained concert staples until his death. This is nasty Irish blues rock at its best.
August 28, 2015
Negativland's Don Joyce passed away recently, which means that his groundbreaking Over The Edge radio collage program will be ending its 34-year run. Nothing could pay tribute to Joyce's legacy better than listening to this extensive double CD collection, which chronicles the rise and untimely death of Dick Vaughn, a slick disc jockey who started a '70s nostalgia program in the early '80s. Listening to the album now, the death sequence at the end seems like a perfect eulogy for Joyce himself. Simply nobody else will ever use radio as an art form this way again.
August 27, 2015
Various Artists
Gary S Paxton made his name through early '60s novelties and made a fortune via inspirational recordings in Nashville but Happy Lovin' Time: Sunshine Pop From The Garpax Vaults lies between those two extremes. Largely dating from 1966 and 1967, this is clever, imaginative sunshine-pop, soft psychedelia and studio pop that encapsulates much of the imaginative best of Southern California in the mid-'60s.
August 26, 2015
Is an album "timeless" if it works every summer? Then Gunther's Euro-trash album Pleasureman is as timeless as tan lines or pina coladas, both of which get a shoutout during the great song "Tuttifrutti Summerlove". The big hit here is the macho track "Ding Dong Song" which helped unseat Crazy Frog as the king of novelty club hits. Plus, if you dig camp, Samantha Fox makes a guest appearance on a cover version of her career-defining "Touch Me." Here's hoping Gunther's promised sophomore effort, Dirty Man Swedish Sex Beast, finally gets released this year.
August 25, 2015
Among the unexpected twists and turns of avant-garde metal pioneers Celtic Frost's comeback album was the revelation of bassist Martin Eric Ain's vocal abilities, especially on the jarringly heavy "A Dying God Coming Into Human Flesh" and the absolutely terrifying, mostly ambient track "Totengott." Quality nightmare fuel.
August 24, 2015
As the Libertines' first album in nearly a decade approaches, it's worth revisiting where it all began. While Up the Bracket works brilliantly as a snapshot of early 2000s British rock revivalism, it still sounds as vital as ever thanks to its fiery songs and playing.
August 23, 2015
Considered "the first hip-hop supergroup," Westside Connection (Ice Cube, Mack 10, and WC) lasted for two glorious albums, the more revered being their 1996 debut, Bow Down. This one, however, is nearly as good, and benefits from a looser, more confident feel overall as the trio learn how to become a unified team. Check "Call 9-1-1," "Lights Out" or "Gangsta Nation" for proof, and listen for the familiar voice of Keith David. the actor who often narrates the interludes on Ice Cube's solo LPs.
August 22, 2015
John Zorn's Masada are not typically known for their dry observational humor, but that's what this 1995 album delivers, as British eccentric improviser Beresford (singing and playing piano) is backed by three-fourths of the inaugural version of Zorn's landmark avant jazz quartet (Zorn on alto sax, trumpeter Dave Douglas, bassist Greg Cohen) with Kenny Wollesen sitting in on drums. Beresford croons Andrew Brenner's witty lyrics over the sophisti-jazz arrangements of tunes like "Unremarkable," whose catalog of everyday mundanities couldn't possibly include this album.
August 21, 2015
Uncle Tupelo weren't the first band to fuse country influences with punk rock's speed and fury, but they did it in a fresh, intelligent, heartfelt way that unwittingly launched the alt-country movement of the '80s and '90s. Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar would go on to make outstanding music with Wilco and Son Volt, respectively, but 89/93: An Anthology shows that even as beer-fueled twenty-somethings, they had a striking view of the world and the talent to turn it into something remarkable; it's a near-perfect summation of this band's brief but impressive run.
August 20, 2015
Looking for an under-appreciated gem of a band from the new wave era? Look no further than these Liverpudlians and their infectious, soaring, drum-strong debut. It includes U.K. Top 20 hit "Love Is a Wonderful Colour" and the rhythmically exhilarating U.S. Top 40 hit "Birds Fly (Whisper to a Scream)," all featuring drummer Chris Sharrock, who would later play for the Lightning Seeds, World Party, Oasis, Beady Eye, and more.
August 19, 2015
Currently I'm working my way through the forthcoming 80-disc box 30 Trips Around The Sun but once I finish, this will be one of the first studio Dead albums I spin again. Always had pretty fond memories of it and the live material proves that, composition-wise, this is one of their best, generating "U.S. Blues," "China Doll," "Scarlet Begonias" and "Ship of Fools."
August 18, 2015
Despite constant musical evolution and personnel changes, Procol Harum's was remarkably consistent. Issued in 1973, it followed the hit, Live in Concert with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and utilized some neo-classical charts. This collection was not so much conceptual, but thematic, reflecting—as evidenced by the album's cover—the toll of excess—wealth, food, boredom and decadence—and the decay that results them. It's a metaphorical epitaph for the British Empire and stands as one of the band's most consistent, memorable recordings.
August 17, 2015
When Connick released his second Columbia album, 1988's 20, he was still a relative unknown, despite his regular appearances at the historic Algonquin Hotel. This was before his career blew wide-open the following year with his big band soundtrack for When Harry Met Sally. Here, he keeps things simple, sticking to standards that combine his bluesy, New Orleans roots with a sharp, urbane jazz aesthetic informed by Thelonious Monk and Oscar Peterson. But even then, it was Connick's baritone that stole the spotlight, especially on his bittersweet rendition of "If I Only Had a Brain."
August 16, 2015
John Martyn's slinky, progressive twelfth album documents his divorce from wife (and former singing partner) Beverly and features a very tasteful Phil Collins on drums and backing vocals. Island honcho Chris Blackwell felt so unsettled by the album's mood, he fought against releasing for an entire year.
August 15, 2015
Perfect soundtrack for a lazy afternoon doing nothing much that comes complete with flutes, congas, nature vibes and enough chill to power your fridge. The title track alone is pretty much all you need to send you deep into a coma. Play it a couple times in a row and you may never get off the couch.
August 14, 2015
Released between Security and So and not as high in profile as his later film music, Gabriel's moody, vaporous work score for Alan Parker's Vietnam-era drama nonetheless stands on its own. Created beside Daniel Lanois, who had just worked on U2's The Unforgettable Fire, Gabriel incorporated elements from his third and fourth albums in a fashion that is finely stunning and kind of chilling, like the film itself.
August 13, 2015
If any album deserves to be rescued from the landfill of '90s college radio detritus and embraced by a new audience, it's this one. Coming off like a twee version of about half the Grand Royal roster, this endlessly cute, creative, and fun album blended American indie-pop with an outsider take on the cutting-edge trip-hop beats of the day, with plenty of cartoon samples for good measure. So many classic songs on this album. Don't ignore this one next time you see it in a used CD bin.
August 12, 2015
Chris Botti's chilled-out trumpet instrumentals always hinted at a Miles Davis influence, though his early albums tended toward a more synthy, groove-oriented vibe. When he finally did embrace a largely acoustic, full-band style on When I Fall In Love, the results were staggeringly beautiful. Framing his warm trumpet tone with orchestrations inspired by Gil Evans' lush '60s arrangements for Davis, Botti pulled off an incredible trick: reinvigorating the smooth jazz genre with a sound that was steeped in tradition.
August 11, 2015
Long before his prickly demeanor managed to offend a multitude of fans and bands alike, Mark Kozelek and Red House Painters delivered one of the most beautiful albums of the 90's in this haunted, minimalist indie rock classic.
August 10, 2015
The '90s were filled with tons of crummy guitar bands peddling second rate grunge and warmed over Brit Pop, so many it could make your eyes water and your ears pop. The Welsh trio 60ft Dolls were an exception. They played guitars and they played them loud, but they had two things most lousy bands didn't. They had unstoppable, infectious energy and they had a brilliant song, "Stay," on their really good, criminally under-rated debut album.
![The Virgin Suicides [Original Soundtrack]](https://fastly-s3.allmusic.com/release/mr0000001306/front/400/V-qE9PQa233fPOCi8YTc7VWnbEN5fCjifro6xhIBuB4=.jpg)
August 9, 2015
Sofia Coppola's 1999 debut film was both a sepia-tone love letter to sexually repressed suburbia in the 1970s and a near perfect encapsulation of the cruel slap of puberty, and Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel's score did little to alleviate that tension, due in large part to the Dark Side of the Moon-inspired main theme "High School Lover," which expertly paired summery sprinkler leaping soft rock with brooding cinematic flair.
August 8, 2015
The Miles Davis Bootleg Series is quickly rivaling Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series in terms of worthy additions to an already deep canon. This four disc set contains four hours of unreleased performances and amounts to a shorthand history of Miles' evolution from his classic sextet with Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans through his second classic quintet of the late '60s and ending up with electric fusion. Always compelling throughout, always entertaining.
August 7, 2015
With Myrkur's full-length debut on the horizon, it's a good time to look back at the one-woman black metal act's introductory EP. It arrived seemingly out of nowhere and shrouded in mystery, alternately sticking to atonal black metal traditions and delivering haunting melodies alongside the pummeling chaos. Simultaneously horrifying and soothing, it's probably not for the purists, but they're no fun anyway.
August 6, 2015
The lone album by the group formerly known as Afro-Blues Quintet +1, was issued between 1968-71 (and since reissued) is a wild mélange of wild, exotic, and delicious meld of Latin bugalu, soul-jazz African and Middle Eastern modes, and rhythms, surf, rock, blues, and hard bop. Their drummer / manager Johnny Kitchen (Jack Millman) was even recording and editing distorted kalimbas at least a decade before Konono No. 1. This is a funky, underground classic.
August 5, 2015
A swaggering trumpeter who performs with a dancer's fluidity on stage, Hubbard appears to literally pluck harmonic and lyrical ideas out of the air. Recorded live in Japan in 1975, Gleam showcases Hubbard backed by an equally adventurous quintet featuring keyboardist George Cables, and others. Culling songs off his High Energy and Polar AC albums (including one of the hippest version of "Midnight at the Oasis" you'll ever hear), Gleam is a perfect combination of groove-oriented funk and gregarious modal jazz improvisation.
August 4, 2015
This sixth studio album from Norwegian chanteuse Susanna Karolina Wallumrød, and the third outing with jazz pianist and bandleader Morten Qvenild, 3 follows up on the promise of 2006's lovely Melody Mountain, offering up a beguiling set of offbeat covers (Rush, Roy Harper) and similarly peculiar originals that flirt with cabaret, electro-pop, and folk.
August 3, 2015
The French electro act took their quintessential mischief to new heights on Wow Twist, a set of songs so bright, so immediate, and so weird that they might as well be fluorescent. The way they incorporate glitch, chiptune and good old-fashioned synth-pop and refashion those sounds on songs like "Viper Eyes" and "Turn My Brain Off" offers delightful proof that electronic music can be experimental and very, very catchy at the same time.
August 2, 2015
Columbia Records' attempts to promote James Blood Ulmer as the "new Hendrix" after signing him in 1981 did much more to puzzle listeners than win fans, given his purposefully jagged sound and unapologetic free jazz structures. The jolly irony was Ulmer's last album for the label was his best and his most accessible, yet still utterly uncompromised. Odyssey teamed Ulmer with violinist Charles Burnham and drummer Warren Benbow, and the give and take between Ulmer and Burnham is graceful but freewheeling and utterly joyous, a bracing exploration of sound and space that speaks to the head and the heart.
August 1, 2015
You can lay the blame for a lot (A LOT!) of bad emo-pop bands at the feet of these guys. That's okay. It was all worth it for the glory of "The Middle." The rest of the album is good too, sure to rip the heart of of anyone who remembers what it was like to be a teenager and angry and sad most of the time.