great albums numero uno
For the past month, I've been struggling to write this review on the Strokes latest album, First Impressions of Earth, with varying degrees of success. Sometimes I get a sentence in, sometimes a paragraph or two, - or the time I got lucky and wrote a six page epic in my physical journal that really turned out to be horseshit.
After several failed attempts, I've realized it's not my incompetence that I can't write the review - it's just that I don't really have a strong opinion on the album at all. At best, it's got few good songs that should be able to beef up a Strokes Best Of collection a couple years down the road, but doesn't compare to the band's first two classic records. My favorite albums have always been the ones that have maintained what I like to call the "one sound, one place" dynamic. All of the material sounds like it's been recorded in the same session (rarely, if ever anymore) and contains a distinctiveness that isn't found anywhere else in the band's catalog.
I've decided that I need an outlet to tell people about all these fantastic ALBUMS I've been listening to lately. I just feel I'm finding so many and that people can't keep up with me. (This is an obvious sign I have way too much time on my hands and it's really time to get a job.)
So, with each update, I'm going to write about one and why someone should listen to it. Simple enough?
Joni Mitchell - The Hissing of Summer Lawns (1975)
Until last weekend, I didn't even know that this album existed. I liked both Blue (1971) and Court and Spark (1974), but I didn't really explore any of her albums outside of those two. Another music blog tipped me off to this one so I immediately went about getting a copy.
It's very different from the other Joni Mitchell music I've heard. The instrumentation is much more eclectic - ever so slightly more vibrant than the usual guitar accompaniment on her earlier records. There's also a very noticable and welcome jazz influence throughout the record. Mitchell also evolves in her songwriting technique, transitioning from straight-ahead confessionals to more elaborately and intricately worded narratives.
The Summer of Hissing Lawns is definately a record you should have in your collection if you don't already. It's unlike anything else I've ever heard, and in this day and age of downloading song by song instead of by album - it's going to be rare to find something like this come along again.
After several failed attempts, I've realized it's not my incompetence that I can't write the review - it's just that I don't really have a strong opinion on the album at all. At best, it's got few good songs that should be able to beef up a Strokes Best Of collection a couple years down the road, but doesn't compare to the band's first two classic records. My favorite albums have always been the ones that have maintained what I like to call the "one sound, one place" dynamic. All of the material sounds like it's been recorded in the same session (rarely, if ever anymore) and contains a distinctiveness that isn't found anywhere else in the band's catalog.
I've decided that I need an outlet to tell people about all these fantastic ALBUMS I've been listening to lately. I just feel I'm finding so many and that people can't keep up with me. (This is an obvious sign I have way too much time on my hands and it's really time to get a job.)
So, with each update, I'm going to write about one and why someone should listen to it. Simple enough?
Joni Mitchell - The Hissing of Summer Lawns (1975) Until last weekend, I didn't even know that this album existed. I liked both Blue (1971) and Court and Spark (1974), but I didn't really explore any of her albums outside of those two. Another music blog tipped me off to this one so I immediately went about getting a copy.
It's very different from the other Joni Mitchell music I've heard. The instrumentation is much more eclectic - ever so slightly more vibrant than the usual guitar accompaniment on her earlier records. There's also a very noticable and welcome jazz influence throughout the record. Mitchell also evolves in her songwriting technique, transitioning from straight-ahead confessionals to more elaborately and intricately worded narratives.
The Summer of Hissing Lawns is definately a record you should have in your collection if you don't already. It's unlike anything else I've ever heard, and in this day and age of downloading song by song instead of by album - it's going to be rare to find something like this come along again.
