Posted on

Fairport Convention — 491

ALBUM: Fairport Chronicles (1972)

MVC Rating: 4.0/$$$$

Those of you reading my blog know by now, I wasn’t a collector of records for value’s sake. In other words I wasn’t looking for rare; I was looking for cheap.

To this end I went down various paths in my musical tastes and purchases. I am most of the time a fan of ‘best-of’ or ‘greatest hits’ collections. Most ‘real’ collectors are not. I used greatest hits to learn about an artist that I didn’t know too well and see if it led me to a whole new avenue of music. The Kinks were a band like that, I think my first Kinks record was a Pye label greatest hits. I went ‘wow’ and have since collected about 8 or 10 Kinks records, many cut-outs and bargain bin material (Soap Opera anyone?)

This is true with Fairport Convention, in a way.

I  knew virtually nothing about the 1960s and 1970s English folk rock group when I bought Chronicles, a wonderful compilation that sounds like a very well done studio album.

The album led me to other artists and other purchases: the amazing guitarist Richard Thompson and his solo work; the super great vocalist (and Richard’s ex-wife) Linda Thompson; the early folk-rock-jazz groups, Pentangle and the Strawbs; and the angelic vocalist Sandy Denny.

One of the best dark albums of all time is Richard and Linda Thompson’s ‘Shoot out the Lights,’ with songs such as ‘Wall of Death’ and ‘Did She Jump or was She Pushed.’ They recorded it while breaking up and it is heart rendering.

On Fairport Convention, there is a lilting quality of sadness lurking. Sadly Beautiful, to borrow from a Replacements song.

Songs like: ‘Who knows Where the Time Goes;’ ‘Meet on the Ledge;’ Dylan cover ‘Percy’s Song;’ ‘Fotheringay’; ‘Sloth’; ‘Genesis Hall; and ‘Farewell, Farewell,’ come together and set a lost, lonely, ethereal atmosphere that alternately may touch your heart or punch you in the gut.

Posted on

Faces — 492

ALBUM: Snakes and Ladders, Best of Faces (1976)

MVC Rating: 4.0/$$$

Let me preface this by saying the Small Faces  evolved into Faces after Steve Marriott  left. Rod Stewart then hopped on board. They always seemed like they were having a real good time and seemed to be  shit-faced  half the time.

Put this one on and bring the pub to our home.

Feet sticking to the floor. Band so bad it’s the best;  Chuck  Berry chords. Dancing.  Here hold my beer!

You either love Rod Stewart or you don’t. No?

I  think he’s great. His distinct voice always seemingly on the verge of laryngitis,  his vocal skills, timing. his rock and roll sensibilities. Even his highly commercial Top 40 years and brief fling (like the Stones and Bowie, TinaTurner, etc.) with disco. I took heat from my peers about having too much Rod Stewart in my collection.  But these uninformed critics (my HS, college buddies) didn’t know the  early stuff which was raucous rock and roll. He went commercial, sure, with his eye on mass consumption. But come on, the guy is only ranked 23rd on the rock star net worth charts at $235 million.

I mean Stewart  is a guy who can sing ballads with feeling, belt the blues rock songs and do a standard that brings grandmas running to the stage. It Had to be You  ,,,,

Here though it is mostly rock and blues.

He’s been successful for decades. This Faces record is a best-of one of his early bands, the Faces.  It doesn’t feel like a compilation, however. as the party songs flow and nearly every song has that famous Small Faces/Faces live sound. It’s roots music, especially as influenced by the  wonderful Ronnie Lane, before they called it roots music.

Favorite lines from Miss Judy’s Farm:

Miss Judy she could have me
Any hour of the working day
She’d send me in the corn field mid-afternoon
Said son it’s all part of your job
Miss Judy had a cross-eyed poodle
That I would kick if I was given the chance

Best known song here,  probably ‘Stay with Me’ which feels like the prequel to his later smash, ‘Maggie May.’ Although ‘Ooh La La’ has had some staying power over the years.

Strange command in the ‘Stay with Me’ song: Sit down, get up, get out.

All right, already. Make up your mind you sexist pig.

Posted on

Father John Misty — 493

 

ALBUM: Pure Comedy (2017)

MVC Rating: 4.0/$$$$

Lot of things going on here. Josh Tillman           aka Father John Misty is a smart guy. I think he knows it.

Pure Comedy is a song that is near brilliant.

Tillman’s story in one sentence: The drummer of folk rock group Fleet Foxes took some psilocybin mushrooms a few years ago, became enlightened, started using a pseudonym, and began wearing better clothes.

Couple of anomalies to clear up before I go forward. The usual My Vinyl Countdown records are ones I picked in the 1970’s and 1980’s. I’ve been counting them down, 678 in all, to raise awareness of Lewy body dementia, which I have. I have about 500 records to go .

Pure Comedy breaks the mode a bit in that this is a 2017 vinyl recording that I received from family members who want to extend my life under the theory that the more I have the more time I have to live. And it is true that this disease shortens lifespans but that I have vowed to finish the reviews, which on my current pace will be about 2 or more years from now unless I accelerate.

So, anomaly one, this is contemporary. Not my golden 1980s — stop-making-synth records. I will review and countdown new vinyl, when I get it and have done  so at least two other times with Joseph Arthur and Max DeMarco.

I have some more coming up, including, I believe, the Fleet Foxes which connects to the Misty record here.

And, anomaly two, this double record set came with two of the same records – I got two side 3’s and side 4s. I did not get a side 1 and 2.  What the hell? It’s a factory packaging mistake that in no way makes it more valuable. So, I filled in the rest of this record by going on YouTube to listen to the songs I was missing, especially the title track, a key song here.

Opening line is one strong couplet, foreshadowing and outlining the album’s life-is-so-bad-it’s-funny themes. The  comedy of it all. The divine comedy of it all. Star.

The comedy of man starts like this; our brains are way too big for our mother’s hips.

But the album itself cannot stay at that high level and sinks slowly back into the primordial pool. To make this totally work, you would have to love the words so much to hang with this singer who is not working much in traditional pop structures. Dylan could be like that – so could early Billy Joel who went 180 degrees the other way later toward more formulaic derivative pop.

Would it be fair to say Tillman is somewhere between Billy Joel and Bob Dylan? Probably not. More like a day-glo Randy Newman.

But Tillman started something, by starting the album  in this way. He caused me  to be on alert for a real honest-to-God trailblazing singer-songwriter. The rest of the album didn’t tip me over though. So he is still on my ‘watch’ list. Update: I just watched/saw Misty’s ‘God’s Favorite Customer’ on  YouTube.  Excellent. Beautiful. I’m starting to tip. Then I watched ‘Mr.  Tillman video. Wow. Now I have to get this on vinyl  and put the new one on my countdown.

Back to Pure Comedy, here’s the opening that says it all and forecasts more:

The comedy of man starts like this; our brains are way too big for our mother’s hips.

And so nature, she divines this alternative:
We emerge half-formed and hope whoever greets us on the other end

Is kind enough to fill us in

And babies, that’s pretty much how it’s been ever since

Posted on

John Fahey — 495, 494

  ALBUMS: Volume 1 Blind Joe Death; Guitar Vol. 4;

MVC Rating: Blind 4.5/$$$$; Guitar 4.0/ $$$$

John Fahey’s music is hard to categorize. And he may have been the most influential guitarist you’ve never heard of.

Not a shredder, but a plucker.

He said he considered himself a classical guitarist.  But the category he was usually placed under was ‘primitive guitar, blues, folk.’ It was mostly like nothing you’ve ever heard. Light finger-picking guitar delivered  pieces that lulled you into the deeper recesses of the song. Hypnotized without consent.

You listen and think, I could do that. Then he does something so quick and unexpected that you have to stop and reshape or get lost in it.

By Ellis408 at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31511739

To continue my metaphorical ways, the music was like a lazy river, no whitewater. Rolling, rolling through small eddys. Lay a  soft whispery vocal on some of these songs and it would sound like Nick Drake.

There are versions of Blind Joe Death that are rare and expensive. When I found Blind Joe Death in used record store in Leesburg, FL, I thought I had hit the jackpot. I had just read an article about Fahey and how he released only 100 copies of Blind Joe Death. But alas, it was not the valuable one. Although this version is being shopped around out there in the $30-40 range.

From a well-sourced Wikipedia page we learn that he bought his first guitar for $17 from Sears, Roebuck. (Hey didn’t Tom Petty buy his from Sears as well?) And Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong have a record together on the Sears label.

Sears slogan: Where your past is about all we have left.

From WIki:

Fahey discovered his love of early blues upon hearing Blind Willie Johnson‘s “Praise God I’m Satisfied” on a record-collecting trip to Baltimore with his friend and mentor, the musicologist Richard K. Spottswood. Much later, Fahey compared the experience to a religious conversion and remained a devout blues disciple until his death. {FROM MIKE: I like that he took record-collecting trips.}

As his guitar playing and composing progressed, Fahey developed a style that blended the picking patterns he discovered on old blues 78s with the dissonance of contemporary classical composers he loved, such as Charles Ives and Béla Bartók. 

Rolling Stone put Fahey at 35th in their Top 100 Guitarists of all time.

Some traditional songs on the two albums I have include ‘Will the Circle Be Unbroken,’ Oh Come, Oh Come Emanuel,’ “Uncloudy Day,’ and ‘St. Louis Blues.’