Staff Picks for November 2022
November 30, 2022
Hearing the languid and earthy sounds enveloping Bobby Charles' New Orleans R&B and laid-back soul, it is no surprise that this album was co-produced by The Band's Rick Danko and their close collaborator John Simon. The songs roll around the studio with a loose and earnest push, an easy groove perfect for a sunny afternoon or back porch hang.
November 29, 2022
This album blends electronic music, lo-fi, and ethereal vocals for an album that feels like it should be presented to an alien princess. The album travels through individual growth and emotional metamorphosis throughout, with topics like the end of relationships, mental health, and self-doubt all explored.
November 28, 2022
Paul Motian's second late-'70s trio excursion with Charles Brackeen on saxophones substitutes Jean-François Jenny Clark for David Izenson on bass with no drop-off in quality, but definitely one in mood. Tadayuka Naitoh's cover photo -- three blurry figures in black against an amorphous color backdrop (could be bundled-up women waiting at a crossroads) -- is a pretty good visual representation of the introspective, abstract flavor of Le Voyage.
November 27, 2022
Bad Moves play hooky pogo punk that's revved up enough for the kids but smart and literate enough for grown ups, like a more pop-friendly but similarly thoughtful cousin of Superchunk. 2020's Untenable is packed with great tunes, abundant energy, and clever things to say about relationships, working, and contemporary culture, and "Party With The Kids Who Want To Party With You" isn't bad advice.
November 26, 2022
Raw, powerful, and unrelenting while remaining somehow minimal, Duo Exchange is one of the fiercest chapters of early '70s free jazz. The overdriven recording quality emphasizes the volcanic playing of both Ali and Lowe, and the interplay between drums and sax spins euphorically out of control for the entire duration of the album. An essential of free music that set the tone for punk, hardcore, noise, and other outsider avenues of expression that followed.
November 25, 2022
This album balances ridiculous lyrics with fun musical accompaniments and some more serious songs that move away from the rambunctious energy that dominates the first half. This album reflects the weird wild energy of the early 2000s and remains an emotionally fulfilling dance-worthy album today.
November 24, 2022
The guitarist teamed with Pentangle bandmate Terry Cox on percussion and jazzman Ray Warleigh on flute here. Issued in 1968, its first half is composed of traditional English folk, while the latter is devoted to jazz and blues. Highlights include solo guitar miniatures such as "Lady Goes to Church," the epic "Morgana," with its sharply nuanced tempo and timbre changes, and "My Dear Boy.” There’s also the bluesy "Transformation," for acoustic guitar and African drums; while the jazz-tinged “White Fishes," quotes from George Gershwin and Rodgers & Hammerstein, while "Sweet Potato," Chasnnels the Rolling Stones playing "Satisfaction" as an instrumental folk-rock song.
November 23, 2022
The reclusive duo's self-titled debut strips British art-punk to its barest, most distinctive elements: sneered and shouted vocals, guitar and basslines that usually act as witty punctuation, but sometimes, without warning, pull and bend like taffy, and bashed drums that provide commentary as well as a beat. They're all presented in witty, fragmented songs that remain strangely compelling 15 years after their release.
November 22, 2022
Stoney Edwards was one of the finest hard country singers of the 1970s, and scored three Top 40 Country hits in that decade. Sadly, he ultimately fell victim to country radio's reluctance to play any Black artists not named Charley Pride. His three biggest hits all appear on this album compiled from his first three Capitol Records LPs, and it's a superb introduction to an underappreciated honky tonk hero.
November 21, 2022
An early aughts gem from a band that came and went, this jangly, anxious set of geeky jams pays proper homage to inspirations like XTC and Elvis Costello, while falling somewhere between OK Go and Dogs Die In Hot Cars. Fun and urgent, check out indie hits like "Bandages," the Strokes-y "Oh, Goddamnit," and "Talk To Me, Dance With Me."
![Baby Driver [Music From the Motion Picture]](https://fastly-s3.allmusic.com/release/mr0004725474/front/400/iR6IUpDHxia4ynqEWlHKYt_M69_UI9rrJSVvWL2-yAg=.jpg)
November 20, 2022
Various Artists
The two-disc soundtrack to the film Baby Driver is hilariously only 10 minutes shorter than the actual film itself. This makes sense because the film itself relies on sound design and the music on Baby's iPod almost as a character in the movie. The soundtrack feels like a mix tape crafted by the biggest music fan you know, rife with obscure jams, killer hits, and selections from every genre on record.
November 19, 2022
This 2010 album is fully saturated in that post-hardcore sound flirting with pop punk. The result is an emotional oscillation between soft heartbreaking lyrics and the guttural and toxic confessions of a lonely artist. Vic Fuentes really shows his vocal range in this album, and the instrumentals are intricate and energetic.
November 18, 2022
In 1964, Jerry Lee Lewis was a forgotten man in America when he took the stage at a club in Germany and recorded one of the finest, most rollicking live albums in rock history. Live at the Star-Club, Hamburg is a 37-minute blast of insolent intensity, with Lewis pounding his piano like it owes him money as the band desperately try to keep up. If you want to recognize Lewis's recent passing, play this loud.
November 17, 2022
On his third solo album for Drag City, Jim O'Rourke finds as many possibilities in singing and songwriting as he does experimenting with pure sound. His frail voice and sardonic lyrics provide a sharp contrast to the lush arrangements surrounding him on the album's pop epics and twisted yet poignant odes to the strange things we do for intimacy. Meticulously crafted yet warm and immediate, these endlessly listenable songs are just as significant as any of his more experimental work.
November 16, 2022
Drummer T.S. Monk's debut as a leader in jazz found him discarding his earlier R&B-ish music in favor of heading an impressive hard bop revival group. With trumpeter Don Sickler transcribing obscure songs from 1960s-era records, Monk and his band were able to perform little-played numbers by Kenny Dorham, Hank Mobley, Idrees Sulieman, Elmo Hope, Walter Davis, Jr., Clifford Jordan, Donald Brown and Tommy Turrentine in addition to three by Monk's father Thelonious. Sickler and Monk are joined in the consistently exciting group by altoist Bobby Porcelli, Willie Williams on tenor, pianist Ronnie Mathews, and bassist James Genus.
November 15, 2022
This album is a story about some of the hardest things the human experience can produce. Things like addiction, unrequited love, and a lack of self-confidence, are all delivered over these eerily perfect pop melodies and slam-poetry style lyrics.
November 14, 2022
Did you know Bo Diddley invented the elephant? Don't take our word for it, listen to "Elephant Man," the opening track on Bo's wild 1970's album The Black Gladiator, and hear him explain it himself. A manic fusion of proto-funk rhythms, wailing organ, hard rock punch, and Bo's trademark feral guitar, this album moved him past his 1950s and '60s classics into rollicking new territory where he sounded right at home.
![When Lights Are Low [Living Era]](https://fastly-s3.allmusic.com/release/mr0000306429/front/400/_ZZRQAZDD0DYQPxhnvZcCYAf7E_1E-2MlBBPmPAXRBU=.jpg)
November 13, 2022
This chronologically precise double-disc tribute to multi-instrumentalist Benny Carter is one of the very best compilations in the entire Living Era catalog. With loving attention to detail, 51 carefully chosen selections are backed up with concise discographical references to Carter's solos and accompaniments, using a sort of shorthand to specify which instruments he played on each track and even indicating the bar length of each solo.
November 12, 2022
Best known for her work as one third of the vocalese trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, Annie Ross was a star on her own. This was especially true on the west coast where she recorded this swinging 1959 date for Pacific Jazz. Backed by Chet Baker's pianist Russ Freeman, as well other California-based luminaries like saxophonist Bill Perkins and guitarist Jim Hall, Ross displays all the urbane warmth and laidback swagger that would become her trademark. As a quirky bonus, some versions of the LP include a session with saxophonist Zoot Sims, also featuring Freeman.
November 11, 2022
Released in 2003, the solo debut from Prefab Sprout genius Paddy McAloon is a sprawling, unexpectedly poignant, and largely instrumental symphonic opus.
November 10, 2022
The band's second album gets to the heart of its music, showcasing their equally sophisticated and wild mix of post-punk, dance-punk, soul, pop, and whatever else they feel like. Katrina Ford's remarkable voice guides Celebration's mood swings, swooping from a shimmering soprano to feral growls and points in between.
November 9, 2022
Tearing through eighteen songs in fifteen minutes, the Minutemen were already upending the expectations of the hardcore punk audience on their first "album," 1981's The Punch Line. The songs were fast and loud, and also curiously funky in their clipped, abstract attack, as if Wire and James "Blood" Ulmer got together to jam. And if you want a new look at American history, the title track is a fine place to start.
November 8, 2022
Reflecting on the tragic loss of drummer and vocalist Mimi Parker, Low's first "major" album The Curtain Hits the Cast still feels contemporary and soothingly haunting over 25 years later. The highlight is the sprawling and hypnotic "Over the Ocean" featuring an angelic harmony and droning guitar, working both as a lullaby and a eulogy.
November 7, 2022
Randy Newman was still finding his feet as a performer when he released his debut album in 1968, but he was already a unique and fascinating songwriter, opening with a witty but dark meditation on a typical American romance and closing with a subtly horrifying and grotesque tale of friendship and betrayal. Though the production by Van Dyke Parks is a bit on the sweet side, Newman's delivery easily clears away any sentimentality.
November 6, 2022
This 2014 album balances genuine emotional struggles with humor-focused narratives, without undermining the message of a gritty imperfect existence. You're Gonna Miss It All has a nearly obnoxiously optimistic sound that even the raw unfiltered vocals don't take away from. The unrefined vocals actually add credibility to the catharsis the album is attempting to conjure. The affronting realness of the lyrics is calmed by the gentle acoustic melodies maintained throughout the album.
November 5, 2022
A singles collection covering the first few years of New Zealand's pre-eminent alternative pop groups, Juvenilia includes tracks from the very beginnings of the band (Dunedin Double EP), plus noisily tuneful early-'80s singles such as "Death and the Maiden" and "Doomsday."
November 4, 2022
Two of Scandinavian music's finest and most daring practitioners, Willemark and Möller crafted the spookiest of their numerous collaborations in 1994 with this collection of traditional and original songs, many of which rely on Möller's masterful overtone flute playing. Recommended for fans of the film Trollhunter.
November 3, 2022
A folksy album that feels nostalgic despite being released in 2016, Cleopatra showcases handsome vocals exploring themes like heartache, masculinity, identity, and paternal influences. The minimalist instrumental proficiency forces attention onto the lyrics before it transitions into a musical menagerie of piano, cello, keys, and electric guitar.
November 2, 2022
This compilation documents a concert that took place shortly before the trumpeter’s tragic death but in complete control of his musical faculties, playing with energy and speed amid deteriorating health. His singing, too, sounds uncannily like better than it had since the 1950s. Accompanied by pianist Harold Danko, bassist Hein Van Der Geyn and drummer John Engels, Baker plays a surprisingly varied set, from Jimmy Heath's hard bop standard "For Minors Only" to "Four" by Miles Davis and the delicately anguished "Almost Blue.”
November 1, 2022
Since rekindling their musical partnership in 2014, the two former Beautiful South singers have offered distinctive musical merrymaking. There's something refreshingly organic about their big productions, layering strings and horns over a whip-tight combo swaying nimbly between Motown, R&B, and vintage rock & roll within the breadth of just a few notes. They deliver “I Gotta Praise,” "Blackwater Banks" "People Like Us," and “The Fat man,” as a surprisingly egoless, fun duo.