Staff Picks for August 2018
August 31, 2018
Death of Samantha's great albums of the '80s remain frustratingly out of print, but anyone wanting a taste of their high-powered glam/punk/Stones fusion can turn to this live-in-the studio set recorded during rehearsals for a 2011 reunion tour. If Memory Serves Us Well sounds smart, muscular, and full of fire, with the vocals of John Petkovic and the guitar of Doug Gillard boasting enough attitude to live up to their noble Cleveland heritage.
August 30, 2018
Deftly eschewing the use of the Beatles name in the album title, Smith instead chose to focus on the songwriting talents of Lennon and McCartney. The result was an album that smartly recontextualized the band's songs within the pantheon of traditional pop...the Beatles were the one rock band that both teenagers and their parents could agree upon -- a contemporary rock act who still wrote lyrical love songs with standard AABA forms that didn't sound too far removed from the pop of the the big-band era. At least, that's what Smith would seem to want you to believe here.
August 29, 2018
Craft Records just reissued Tom Fogerty's 1972 album Excalibur on vinyl, bringing the record back into circulation for the first time in 45 years. Excalibur is generally overlooked, even dismissed, because Fogerty wound up being overshadowed by his brother John, but the album is an enjoyable period artifact in no small part because he's supported by the Merl Saunders/Jerry Garcia band. Everybody jams with a flair that may be slightly too mellow, but the vibe is amiable and Garcia has some nice turns of phrase, which is enough to make it worth a spin for Deadheads.
August 28, 2018
A memory of sunny days uploaded to a glitchy mainframe, Endless Summer became Fennesz's breakthrough as well as one of the 21st century's first classic electronic albums. Its haunting mix of the producer's deconstructed electronics and Beach Boys melodies didn't just captivate his fans -- Fennesz later returned to this beguiling sound-world with 2014's Bécs.
August 27, 2018
The British art-rockers croon and rollick in off-kilter fashion, like a steampunk dystopia where everything, even an ostensible ballad, is danceable and has an electric guitar solo. Altogether, A Fever Dream is confrontational, warped, emotionally and aurally high-contrast, and full of turmoil, but reliable in its infectiousness.
August 26, 2018
This Is the Kit (essentially an alias of Kate Stables and her ever evolving and revolving group of musicians) have come full circle for her fourth full-length outing, Moonshine Freeze, which maintains an appealing commitment to her very specific take on alternative folk, unfazed by trends or fashions.
August 25, 2018
A small treasure trove of "lost" ultra-poppy synth pop recordings made by the ex-Strawberry Switchblade singer between 1986-88.
August 24, 2018
Getting three major stars to collaborate on a project usually results in a clash of egos as they try to one-up one another. The two albums Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, and Linda Ronstadt recorded as Trio were the polar opposite, with the singers delivering some of the sweetest country harmonies ever committed to tape. The Complete Trio Collection features both albums in full along with plentiful outtakes, and it's a master class in the art of vocal harmony.
August 23, 2018
Various Artists
The inaugural release by London restaurateur/producer, Martin Morales' Tiger Milk Records, Peru Maravilloso offers a captivating mix of 60's and 70's Peruvian pop, cumbia, chicha, Latin, funk, and psychedelia. A window into the country's rich and diverse musical history that also plays well front-to-back, this collection is a straight-up winner.
August 22, 2018
An overwhelmingly celebratory affair, almost joyous in mood, and far removed from the militancy that defined Channel One's sound. The bulk of the riddims are sublime versions of Studio One classics, and although Roots Radics had given most of them a sharp edge, Roy Cousins' production smoothes much of that away.
August 21, 2018
Craft Records just reissued Doug Clifford's 1972 album Cosmo on vinyl. It's the only solo album Clifford released, and while it's easy to figure out reasons why -- for one, the record didn't sell; for another, his warble is slightly awkward -- it's also true that the album is elevated by the professional punch of a supporting band featuring bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn, guitarist John McFee, fellow CCR vet Stu Cook and members of the Walter Harkins Singers and Tower Of Power. Together, they help turn this into an amiable post-hippie roots-rock record.
August 20, 2018
Released in 1972, this is a stone cold, grooving spiritual soul-jazz classic. It marked a sharp detour from the artist's earlier, pop-oriented jazz records yet remains completely accessible in fusing South African rhythms and melodies with more American vanguard jazz explorations delivered by a killer quintet that included saxophonist Dudu Pakwana, drummer Makaya Ntshoko, bassist Eddie Gomez and pianist Larry Willis.
August 19, 2018
Known as Big Fun in North America and Paradise elsewhere in the world, the first Inner City album is an easy candidate for the best dance-pop album ever made. Seamlessly blending Detroit techno and Chicago house when both styles were in their infancy, the album was a crossover hit without compromising underground integrity. Most importantly, the songs are overwhelmingly positive and uplifting, but never feel over-done. Simply timeless.
August 18, 2018
I'm a lifelong fan of Joe Jackson's 1982 masterpiece Night And Day, but until I acquired a copy of Intervention Records' recent reissue, I've never listened to the album on vinyl. Set aside the audio quality, which is indeed stellar. Night And Day was designed to be heard on vinyl, with the two sides -- the bustling, sophisticated Night side (home of "Stepping Out") and the mournful Day side (which opens with "Breaking Us In Two") -- playing off one another. What remains striking a quarter-plus century later is the imagination and playfulness: Jackson swings for the fences, but he's not somber, he's wearing a smile throughout.
August 17, 2018
Pig Destroyer's first "real" full-length is a sort of grindcore equivalent to a rock concept album, at least in terms of the lyrics, which detail the disturbing final thoughts of a stalker parked outside his target's house. Guitarist Scott Hull has come up with plenty of great riffs here, but the real impressive thing about this disc is the constant barrage of aggression and intensity; there are parts where it seems like the energy level and abrasiveness are at a plateau (at the end of "Preacher Crawling"), only to rise again to a new level.
August 16, 2018
The Octopus Project are a clever bunch whose take on indie electronic music is as smart as it is joyful. While the sense of fun that dominated their earlier music is hardly gone from Hexadecagon, the scope and imagination of their compositions and the skill with which they carry them off in the studio confirms this band takes their music quite seriously, and rightly so -- this music is powerfully rewarding and confirms the Octopus Project have moved into the front lines of America's most imaginative and accomplished indie rock bands.
August 15, 2018
Buckingham's largely acoustic 2006 solo release is a deceptively minimalist affair that that stands as one of the most nakedly visible and tender albums of his career. Full of depth, emotional, and typically brilliant guitar work, it marked the first of three excellent late-career solo outings over a five year period.
August 14, 2018
Completely essential collection of the best tracks by Detroit techno producer Daniel Bell, although these days, this CD is about as rare as most of the original vinyl releases. It's minimal techno, but no other minimal techno producer has laced their tracks with so many bizarre, ear-teasing sounds or this much of a biting sense of humor. "Losing Control" is the acknowledged classic and one of the most hallucinatory tracks ever made, but the hilarious "Baby Judy" is even better.
August 13, 2018
With Matt Johnson and band performing live as The The for the first time since 2002 (the 2018 Comeback Special tour), it's a fine time to revisit or discover the beloved act's idiosyncratic dance-rock. This 2002 collection remastered 13 songs from 1983 to 1995, adding eight remixes and two newly recorded tracks, "Pillar Box Red" and "Deep Down Truth" (featuring Angela McCluskey).
August 12, 2018
Released only a month after Straight Outta Compton, Eazy-Duz-It was the first N.W.A spin-off album. Eazy-E rose to immediate superstar status with this solo debut, and it's no wonder why, for the album plays like a humorous, self-centered twist on Straight Outta Compton with Eazy-E, the most charismatic member of N.W.A, front and center while his associates are busy behind the scenes, producing the beats and writing the songs.
August 11, 2018
If Dread Beat An' Blood brought Johnson initial notoriety, then this was the record that cemented his reputation as a major talent. Dennis "Blackbeard" Bovell and the Dub Band swing hard here, especially on the album's opening track "Want Fi Goh Rave." Also included are some of Johnson's most memorable songs, such as the prison saga "Sonny's Lettah" and the confrontational "Fite Dem Back."
August 10, 2018
Game Theory recorded some of the most intelligent and ambitious pop music of the '80s, but nothing in their catalog was more challenging than 1987's Lolita Nation, a sprawling crazy quilt of angular pop melodies, artfully surreal lyrics, and editing full of sonic jump-cuts and edgy experimentalism. Music this idiosyncratic are rarely this much fun, or as endlessly rewarding.
![Peter Gabriel [3]](https://fastly-s3.allmusic.com/release/mr0003124931/front/400/zY0mnKNWFicUCj_UiOW2kipQg_7iAU1wjqLgK_xGXts=.jpg)
August 9, 2018
On his third self-titled solo album, Peter Gabriel ushered in the '80s with razor-sharp social commentary that explored human connection and the utter lack of it. Bubbling chromatic percussion and torqued guitars and electronics mirror the distortion and disorientation of the album's iconic cover image, while Gabriel's songwriting spans the paranoid anti-pop of "Games Without Frontiers" (which was nearly a Top 40 hit) to the protest anthem "Biko." Made during a time when the world seemed to be falling apart, this album is still as arresting -- and relevant -- as the day it was released.
August 8, 2018
Eddie Palmieri is one of the most influential Latino pianists of the 20th century. With smooth, danceable rhythm, lush vocals, and a clear center to the song, combined with sophisticated arrangements, tunes like "Desea Salvaje" and "Nunca Contigo" both swing the dancer and captivate the discriminating listener. Palmieri's interest in stylistic variety, including styles like danzon, guaguanco, and cumbia, not common of '70s era salsa, enrich the album and show off his versatility.
August 7, 2018
Time has been kind to the Fugees' 1994 debut. Decades separated from the hype of The Score, Blunted can be enjoyed as is: a fun, youthful snapshot of mid-90s hip-hop, delivered by a trio still hungry and not yet hardened by fame and success. Here, all three members trade verses (Hill's R&B powerhouse vocals still nascent), echoing forebears Digable Planets, Poor Righteous Teachers, and A Tribe Called Quest. Blunted is well worth a revisit.
August 6, 2018
With his warm tone, and agile improvisational lines, Don Fagerquist was an in-demand trumpeter in California during the '50s and '60s. Though he never achieved the fame of his contemporaries like Shorty Rogers, and Chet Baker, Fagerquist was an immensely gifted player, often featured on albums by saxophonist Dave Pell, as well as with vocalists like Mel Torme, Ella Fitzgerald, and Anita O'Day. His few dates as leader, like 1957's Eight by Eight, are the epitome of swinging, lyrical, and inventive West Coast jazz.
August 5, 2018
This three-disc Rhino collection covers Wilson's career from his first sides with Billy Ward & the Dominoes in 1956 through his final recordings in the early '70s. The former Detroit boxer hit either the R&B or pop chart over 50 times, and every one of those recordings is contained in this set, including such classics as "Lonely Teardrops," and "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher."
August 4, 2018
Achingly gorgeous and hauntingly stark, Mark Hollis' self-titled debut picks up where he left off with Talk Talk's Laughing Stock seven years earlier, re-emerging at the nexus point where jazz, ambient, and folk music collide. It's quite possibly the most quiet and intimate record ever made, each song cut to the bone for maximum emotional impact and every note carrying enormous meaning.
August 3, 2018
It's October 1976, British punk had yet to become a national scandal, and four young men dazzled by its possibilities are recording a demo tape. Time's Up features the earliest recordings of the Buzzcocks, with Howard DeVoto still on vocals, and if the band would become more precise with time, their buzzsaw pop attack was already in place, and the energy and release of this music is irreplaceable.
August 2, 2018
Papas Fritas' brand of pop is charming, innocent, and drawn from classic sources as diverse as the Beach Boys, '70s AM radio, Fleetwood Mac, and classic U.S. indie pop. Tony Goddess and Shivika Asthana's open-hearted, artless vocals can't help but charm all but the most hard-hearted listeners, and the band's playing is always energetic and full of imagination. Pop Has Freed Us is a career summation that includes eight songs from their three LPs and one EP, as well as nine songs previously not found on any album
August 1, 2018
Like so many pop fans, I know "One Night In Bangkok" by heart, yet I never heard Murray Head's 1972 debut Nigel Lived until this year, when I heard the artist-approved Intervention Records reissue. A concept album about a wannabe rock star whose rise to fame gets interrupted by heroin addiction, Nigel Lives occupies an odd space between AOR and prog-rock. This doomed it in 1972, but in 2018, it's a compelling listen: a record that feels simultaneously overblown and introspective.