Staff Picks for January 2016
January 31, 2016
Recorded in the wake of the heroin-related deaths of Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten and roadie Bruce Berry, 1975's Tonight's The Night is a ragged and harrowing rock & roll wake, a litany of wrong turns and bad choices whose moments of wit and random bursts of joy only make the darkness that much more forbidding. This ranks with Neil Young's darkest and most uncompromised music, as well as his best.
January 30, 2016
This is a weird, funky collection from the Stones, but Sucking in the Seventies gives an alternate, glitzy disco view of the group, one with bits of vicious rock (check "When the Whip Comes Down") spiking through the tracklist. It's also the only Stones comp that mixes well with Grace Jones singles or Todd Terje edits, so there's an argument to be made that it's the "coolest" set in their whole discography.
January 29, 2016
The second installment in Yep Roc's mammoth Robyn Hitchcock reissue series introduces the Egyptians (bass player Andy Metcalfe and drummer Morris Windsor) into the mix, collecting Fegmania!, the live Gotta Let This Hen Out!, and Element of Light, along with a double disc of B-sides called A Bad Case of History.
January 28, 2016
After a fairly brilliant debut album full of snappy indie rock, you might expect the band to struggle a little bit on the follow-up. No such luck. The songs are sharper, the sound is tougher...basically it's an all around improvement on an already first rate product.
January 27, 2016
Arguably the band's masterwork, the fifth LP by Mexican art-rockers Cafe Tacuba framed their wild eccentricities within a decidedly gritty, though no less inventive, rock "n" roll structure. Released in 2003 and assisted by American producer Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips) and Andrew Weiss (Ween), Cuatro Caminos transcended genres, broke boundaries, and yet was easily their most accessible release to date.
January 26, 2016
Muse are currently on a massive tour supporting Drones, the 2015 release which they claimed would bring back the shredding riffage and manic energy of this, their sophomore album. That didn't quite happen (but do check out "Reapers"). As a reminder of their youthful ferocity, Origin packs in some of their biggest fan favorites ("Bliss," "Plug In Baby," "Feeling Good") and madcap galactic rock ("New Born," "Citizen Erased," "Micro Cuts").
January 25, 2016
Pete Astor and company played their smart, hooky and straightforward indie pop songs with a minimum of fuss and left the scene too soon. This 20-track collection of their finest singles and album tracks that gives unschooled indie poppers a chance to do some rediscovery.
January 24, 2016
A short-lived band made of members of Fun Boy Three and the Swinging Cats, the Colour Field's debut offered unexpectedly sweet-sounding, melodic new wave tunes that have more in common with Aztec Camera than either of those bands or certainly leader Terry Hall's prior group, the Specials. The album's biggest hit, "Thinking of You," hit the Top 15 in the U.K. and Ireland, but it's full of solid songcraft that still charms 30 years later.
January 23, 2016
Brown's debut as a leader, this is memorable as an early showcase for the saxophonist's fully developed voice, and for the fiery playing of bassist Ronnie Boykins and drummer Rashied Ali. Brown's unique phrasing and attack shows his tenderness, even in the angriest of these exchanges.
January 22, 2016
The 1972 debut by Hawaiian family trio Hui Ohana would go on to become one of the seminal Polynesian albums and heralded a new wave of island folk music. Between their stunning three part harmonies and thrilling guitar work, led by emerging slack-key ace Ledward Kaapana, Hui Ohana's impact on Hawaiian music would be felt for decades.
![The X-Files [Original Soundtrack]](https://fastly-s3.allmusic.com/release/mr0000782963/front/400/Aq5Po4VTe8uZuNspVeEMXFWnbEN5fCjifro6xhIBuB4=.jpg)
January 21, 2016
Original Soundtrack
With the cult hit returning at the end of January, it's high time to revisit the soundtrack to the 1998 big-budget film. Aside from the very '90s inclusions (Tonic, Filter, Ween, Better Than Ezra), the album is stacked with goodies from Bjork, Sarah McLachlan, The Cure, The Cardigans, and Foo Fighters. Highlights include X's cover of "Crystal Ship" and Noel Gallagher's sprawling trip-hop jam, "Teotihuacan." Get those flashlights out, Mulder and Scully are back.
January 20, 2016
This 22-track collection represents one-fifth of the elegant songbird's total recording output, and it's a well-selected one with signature songs like "Indian Love Call" and "San Francisco," Broadway fare including "Lover, Come Back to Me" from the 1940 film New Moon, and two Gounod arias. The recordings are remastered from original source material, and frequent partner Nelson Eddy does not appear on the album -- it's all about the soprano.
January 19, 2016
One of 2015's most audacious albums was actually a collection of singles: The cheekily named Product gathered SOPHIE (aka producer Samuel Long)'s instantly addictive, ever-evolving reimaginings of pop music. Long's dramatic juxtapositions of sweetness and chaos -- as well as K-pop, J-pop, Euro-dance and other harder-edged strains of electronic music -- bend like taffy, clank like broken robots and sparkle like daydreams, allowing his exuberance and sophistication to complement each other in remarkable, unpredictable ways.
January 18, 2016
Formed by ex-X-Ray Spex saxophonist Lora Logic, this band exemplified the combination of biting lyrics and fun sounds common to many post-punk acts. Nearly every song compiled on this unskippable compilation, highlighted by the ecstatic "Aerosol Burns," is a trebly buzz filled with jerky rhythms and dissonant screeches.
January 17, 2016
At last, these two long out of print albums are available in a two-disc package from Mike Mainieri's NYC Records. Steps recorded them for a Japanese label before becoming Steps Ahead and landing a domestic contract. Step by Step and Paradox feature the same lineup, except that Peter Erskine replaces Steve Gadd on the latter. No disrespect to Gadd intended, but Paradox is the superior album. Recorded live at the now-defunct Seventh Avenue South club in 1981, it finds the band stretching out and taking on more adventurous material.
January 16, 2016
The silky, sensual synthpop of Goldfrapp's sophomore album may have jarred some fans of their lush debut, but their attention to craft remained as sharp as ever and it began an exploratory, shape-shifting streak that they continued to maintain throughout the next decade.
January 15, 2016
The first disc of this twofer might be a skipper as Arthur Baker's vision of house music was smooth to a fault, but the electro on disc two in as necessary as it is infectious. The producer's bubbly sequencers and slapping drum machines drew the interest of everyone from New Edition (although their "Candy Girl" isn't included) to New Order, and even Fleetwood Mac, probably because of that edgy Buckingham fellow.
January 14, 2016
Much like 1974's confusingly titled Jaco (Pastorius' other early-career date with keyboardist Paul Bley and guitarist Pat Metheny), these sessions showcase an expansive, somewhat avant-garde sound that bridges the gaps between post-bop, fusion, and free improvisation. Certainly, we still get Pastorius' bravura solo take on Charlie Parker and Miles Davis' "Donna Lee," but we also get to hear Pastorius lead his band through more liquid, dreamlike compositions including the roiling, steel drum-heavy "Pans" and the rarely heard "Havona/Continuum."
January 13, 2016
Talk about how Renegade Soundwave were ahead of their time and that conversation will go late into the evening, but the electro dub outfit were also brilliant because they willfully hid behind "dangerous" imagery, like the S&M inspired cover here, or the loaded bong they featured on another set. This late career record is a treat, but don't miss their early stuff, not by any means.
January 12, 2016
David Bowie's decision to form a tough, hard-rocking guitar band at the end of the 80's marked a return to form for the ever-inventive Thin White Duke who had mired himself for much of the decade in less-than-stellar mainstream pop. Find himself once again ahead of the curve, Tin Machine's dark, noisy rock predates both the grunge and alt-rock booms that would explode over the next five years.
January 11, 2016
Two keyboardists -- Zawinul and the formidable Herbie Hancock -- form the underpinning of this stately, probing album, garnishing their work with the galactic sound effects of the Echoplex and ring modulator. Earl Turbinton provides the Wayne Shorter-like beams of light on the soprano sax, spelled by Wayne himself on "Double Image." The third founder of WR, Miroslav Vitous, checks in on bass, and hard-bopping trumpeter Woody Shaw proves to be perfectly adept at the jazz-rock game.
January 10, 2016
Various Artists
It's the second soundtrack released around a sequel, but this collection of Old School hits based around Ice Cube's comedy Next Friday plays like the best retro releases from Low Rider or Thump Records. The Gap Band, Mtume, Whodini, and Hot Chocolate are all here with their definitive numbers, and then there's the brilliant addition of David Bowie's "Fame" which sounds extra funky in these surroundings.
January 9, 2016
The Gourds' early run of albums were masterful abstractions of the late-90's Americana boom. With their obscurist humor and artfully loose approach, they came across like Texan hill savants who owned every Robyn Hitchcock album. The quality and range of their second album, Stadium Blitzer, remains a high-water mark in their career.
January 8, 2016
Alec Empire's Digital Hardcore Recordings label changed how I perceive music, but my favorite album of his was actually released on Mille Plateaux. The disc leads off with the heartbreaking dance track "SuEcide" before launching into several gritty delay + drum machine experiments, culminating in the eerie 13-minute epic "Civilization Virus" (a soundtrack to a short film by Philip Virus), and ending with the downright gorgeous ambient track "Limited 05."
January 7, 2016
Verve's lovingly compiled -- and blissfully affordable -- Astrud Gilberto's Finest Hour is as solid a collection of her heady mixture of samba, jazz and pop as you're likely to find. Twenty songs, including the classic "Girl From Ipanema," wash in like waves from the warmest of oceans, carrying with them the soft, reverb-drenched soundtrack to summer.
January 6, 2016
Silent Alarm announced Bloc Party as a band equally comfortable with taut art-punk and anthemic gestures. Kele Okereke and company expanded on their early, edgy singles with heart-on-sleeve ballads, a fiercely political viewpoint (something of a rarity in the mid-2000s) and lots of passion and polish that defined the intensity and integrity of their music.
January 5, 2016
Late night cool, sneering and brash, the debut from these Swedes is not their best (hello, Dying To Say This To You) but it's a stellar punch of NYC-inspired punk and new wave, the catchiest of Blondie and the Ramones. At the time, when the "The" bands were blowing up, they were the shimmery, sexy alternative to all those dirty downtown boys. Every song is an earworm, endlessly addictive for all your midnight adventures
January 4, 2016
When Scott Weiland died, the generation of kids who bought his records in the 90s had ascended to the news desks of many a media outlet, and much of the mockery that was aimed at the band during their initial run was left out of his obituaries. A listen to 1994's Purple now shows that while it's clear why the mega hits were mega hits, the deeper cuts were no slouches, either, particularly the pleading "Still Remains" and monster closer "Kitchen Ware & Candy Bars," which features one of Weiland's best vocals.
January 3, 2016
Neil Finn and his brother Tim Finn's first effort at making an album together led to Tim joining Neil's band Crowded House, and together they crafted the group's masterpiece. A nearly perfect pop album, 1991's Woodface is full of gorgeous and memorable melodies played with the ideal balance of sweetness and bite, married to lyrics that swing from the witty ("Chocolate Cake") and the irreverent ("There Goes God") to the passionately heartfelt ("All I Ask" and "Four Season In One Day"). A huge hit in the UK, and a deserved cult favorite in the US.
January 2, 2016
The mysterious New York collective's follow-up EP to 2004's excellent shape-shifting Incomplete Triangle further cements the group as early-'90s Brit-pop revivalists posing as obtuse art-crowd misanthropes. A Sectioned Beam is chock full of impeccably executed pop songs that are far less pretentious than their crippled social persona would suggest.
January 1, 2016
Downplayed as an EP despite its 50-minute length, and buried deeper with each Badu release that has followed it, this plays out like a loose, informal, and blissed-out session, highlighted by the glistening, 11-minute "I Want You."