What are you listening to and WHY might anyone be interested? (Vol. XIII)
Posted by: Richard Dane on 01 January 2017
2017 has arrived today, so time to start this thread afresh.
Last year's thread can be found here;
On vinyl.
Ahmad Jamal - After Fajr. CD rip, lovely.
Asia. Eponymous debut on original vinyl from 1982. Remembering John Wetton.
Wishbone Ash. Argus. On original vinyl from 1972. A classic I was oblivious of until seeing all the posts from folks here. Brilliant album.
joerand posted:
Wishbone Ash. Argus. On original vinyl from 1972. A classic I was oblivious of until seeing all the posts from folks here. Brilliant album.
In my top 10 of all time.
joerand posted:
Asia. Eponymous debut on original vinyl from 1982. Remembering John Wetton.
Joining you in this one for the same reason.
Warren Zevon. Excitable Boy. On original vinyl from 1978. A standout classic among classic rock albums. Warren expressed a genuine visceral artistry in his music. Simultaneously upbeat yet dark.
The new Duke Garwood album
(1971)
Via Tidal Hi-Res Masters
Long time ago that I heard this one...
Kind of a strange album, but very special....
Bert Schurink posted:
Kind of a strange album, but very special....
Added a review for those interested....
Photo
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINE
“At Least for Now”
(Behind/Capitol)
Benjamin Clementine sings the chorus of “London” — one of the better songs on his debut album, “At Least for Now” — as if struck by a painful flash of insight. “London, London, London is caaaaalling you,” he urges, opening the throttle on his voice. “What are you waiting for, what are you searching for?” He goes on this way awhile, then lands on a quieter note of a resolve: “I won’t underestimate who I am capable of becoming.”
Mr. Clementine, a Parisian bohemian of London origin, is dead serious about that vow. “At Least for Now” is his declaration of selfhood, an album very much about the act of becoming, with a tightrope balance of dramatic artifice and diaristic detail. “I’m sending my condolences to insecurities,” Mr. Clementine sings on “Condolence,” a bittersweet anthem in which he also reflects on his own birth, declaring: “So when I become someone one day/I will always remember that I came from nothing.”
A singer-songwriter and pianist with a knack for expressionist outpouring, Mr. Clementine, 26, has a striking back story — as a self-taught musician and poet, a busker on the Paris metro, a rambler on the streets. The acclaim that has greeted him in Europe, where “At Least for Now” was released this spring, surely has something to do with his persona. There’s no way it couldn’t, given how deftly his songs build on it, even as the arrangements involve a chamber string section, and his narrative voice toggles between first, second and third person.
As for Mr. Clementine’s actual voice, it’s a strange and frequently stunning instrument, a bladelike tenor that can swoop into either a clarion cry or a guttural scowl. The inevitable comparison, notably on a song like “Adios,” is to Nina Simone — to her demonstrative clarity of phrase, and the flickering incandescence of her timbre. There are other clear influences, some of whom Mr. Clementine acknowledges in album notes: Antony Hegarty, Leonard Cohen. Satie, Puccini, Pavarotti. The poet William Blake.
Despite this rich awareness of artistic precedent, Mr. Clementine holds fast in his songs to an experience of alienation that’s exceptional, unique unto himself. However callow his thinking, it does make for good material. (He’ll perform at the Highline Ballroom on Oct. 15.) In “Cornerstone,” another standout track on the album, he sings of being “alone in a box of my own,” and learning to savor such conditions: “It’s my home.”
Fits very nice in the Trilogy...
Good trio jazz...
CD rip:-
Yello - baby
A + | WAV
(1971)
Relaxing to this after 6 hours or so of D.I.Y. painting...
Rhiannon Giddens - Factory Girl. A quick blast on getting home from work. Looking forward to her new release this month.
Stevee_S posted:A + | WAV
(1971)
Relaxing to this after 6 hours or so of D.I.Y. painting...
I always think Alvin's upset that the drummer's eaten his ice cream. The bottom lip is definitely trembling.
A + | WAV
(2016)
Similar in style to Moon Duo and Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation make this London band very enjoyable.