The Kinks Everybody's In Showbiz 1972

This one starts to show some very real weakness at the end of their 1966-72 run, but also features a few very fine Ray Davies tunes in the mix. The 2-record set includes one record of live performances from a two-night stand at Carnegie Hall.

Highlights include the return of the horn section from Muswell Hillbillies, one of brother Dave's best songs (the great road song You Don't Know My Name), and the radio classic Celluloid Heroes, a heartfelt and sincere ode to the theatricality that would unfortunately absorb the next five years of Ray Davies' songwriting output.

There's other good news. Here Comes Yet Another Day is a fast-rocking road song with a nice horn arrangement. Sitting In My Hotel is a sweet ballad about the isolation of stardom that Ray sings wonderfully. Look A Little On The Sunny Side again examines the woes of celebrity done up all music hall style.

There are also three songs about food on the road, and only Motorway is much good, with solid guitar and organ. The first single, Supersonic Rocket Ship, is just too twee. The live material includes an audience chant-a-long Banana Boat Song, the ending chorus (only) of Lola, and a version of the vaudeville chestnut Baby Face.

A hot Top Of The Pops (Lola...) featuring Dave's hard riffing, Brainwashed (Arthur...), and several decent tracks from the recent Muswell Hillbillies almost save the live half.

The record is worth having for the few great songs that are available only here. The better compilations, such as The Singles Collection (1997) include only the Pye/Reprise releases and as such end with Lola in 1970. Needless to say, the Golden Age of The Kinks from 1966-1972 did not go out on a high note.

And so this ends my quest to review all of the Kink's US releases from 1966-1972, a period often called the Kink's Golden Age. The rest are here:
 Face To Face 1966
Something Else By The Kinks 1967
The Kinks Are The Village Preservation Society 1968
Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) 1969
Lola vs. Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part 1 1970
Muswell Hillbillies 1971
The Kink Kronikles 1972

Portishead Third 2008

I know little or nothing about music classified as electronica, let alone the trip hop genre. But I'd heard so much about Portishead, and I do have Beth Gibbon's outstanding solo record (with Paul Webb, aka Rustin Man) Out Of Season from 2002. I was in one of those Exchange stores and there was an inexpensive used copy. What the heck.

It is a beautiful, spacey record that grows on you with repeated exposure. Gibbons is a compelling singer, and the grooves are deep, if not particularly soulful. Jeff Barrow's drums and programming and Adrian Utley's guitars and everything else produce dense layers of sound. The music has an apparently deliberate sterility, broken only by Gibbons achingly beautiful voice, and an occasional loud, distorted guitar.

It's inventive, it's tuneful, and it's very much unlike anything else. You don't really listen to it. Rather, it just washes over you.

Blake Babies / Juliana Hatfield

A friend recently let me borrow her Juliana Hatfield collection, most of which is from the 90s, and does not include Ms. Hatfield's more recent work. But it was some fascinating listening, and a study in the maturing of an artist. I'll deal with them chronologically.

The Blake Babies Nicely, Nicely 1987 is a rough sketch for what the band will become. It has some good songs, but suffers from poor recordings and weak production values. Some people like that. You can hear the melodic songs hiding in punk guises, the loud edge scraping against Hatfield's high thin voice.  

Next up was my friend's favorite from her college days. Sunburn 1990 is surely an early career highlight for Hatfield and Blake Babies, and it features the guitar of John Strohm, who by this point is working hand in hand with Hatfield. It really is a band. Hatfield's girlish voice can deal with heavy themes and still sound like fun, and the songwriting is strong. Strohm is an imaginative guitar player that will be sorely missed early in Hatfield's coming solo career. The first half of the CD is killer, and after that it still holds up pretty well.

When Blake Babies split in 1991, Hatfield moved from bass to guitar for her solo career. The 1992 EP Forever Baby, mostly culled from her 1992 debut Hey Babe, has some good songs, as does the follow-up The Juliana Hatfield Three's Become What You Are 1993. But Hatfield's guitar really doesn't do her songs justice, and instrumentally they come off lacking. Too much rhythm, not enough else. And she was a great bass player with Blake Babies. They both have a couple of great songs, but only a couple.

So just when I'm thinking of giving up on her solo output, along comes Only Everything 1995. She's still not flashy, but she's learned some chops, and her guitar playing has gotten interesting at least, and maybe there's a better fit producing. But what sets this one apart from it's predecessors is the consistent song quality. What A Life, Live On Tomorrow, Bottles And Flowers, Hang Down From Heaven, and several others are notably fine. The sound is getting a bit more aggressive, and it's a good thing.

The follow-up, 1998's Bed is almost as strong, and ramps up the punk noise on a few songs as well. I didn't find quite as many memorable songs, but your mileage may vary.

The last one I got to hear was God Bless The Blake Babies 2001, their generally well-received reunion effort. It left me a little flat, although I couldn't quite figure out why. It just didn't quite sound like that band anymore, and maybe there was some energy lacking.

I didn't hear everything she released during this time span, but I heard enough to understand why Sunburn left an indelible impression on my friend, and how good Only Everything was. The loud punk-pop combined with the girlish voice reminds me of Tanya Donelly's band Belly sometimes, and for me that's a very good thing. Hatfield continues to make music to this day, including five records in the last six years. It's easy to hear why people are still interested.

World Party Goodbye Jumbo 1990

World Party, aka Karl Wallinger, made some darn good music, and this one tops the list.

The blended influences are melded together into a lovely stew, and the best thing is that you hear the references, but the songs are all new, and all Wallinger's. And he plays new rock like a classic- Dylan, Beatles, Stones, Prince.

Put The Message In The Box and Way Down Now deserved their singles success, but the whole record is strong. Is It Too Late, a bluesy jam, opens the record. The swinging Take It Up, the Beach Boys-like choir of God On My Side, the Prince-like funk of Show Me To The Top, the uplifting Sweet Soul Dream, all are excellent.

Wallinger suffered a brain aneurism in 2000 and spent several years recovering and rehabbing from surgery, but he's produced a few newer World Party releases (a 2008 Best Of and a 2012 5-CD box of B-sides, outtakes, and some recent recordings) and continues to tour sporadically. The guy is a living tribute to the sixties music he loves.

Elvis Costello This Year's Model 1978

Here's something I like. I had to buy it twice, import and domestic, when it was originally  released. The UK version, which came out two months before the US release, included I Don't Want To Go To Chelsea and Night Rally, both omitted from the US version. I mean, I Don't Want To Go To Chelsea is maybe the best song on the whole record, and every song is better than the last.

It was Costello's second, but his first with The Attractions. Clover did a swell job backing him on My Aim Is True, and it's an amazing debut. But there is real magic in The Attractions for Costello, and they form a tight group, highly and deeply in tune with each other, Costello's songwriting, and the open anger he is so very good at. He spits out the ballads and snarls through the rockers, while the band plays relentlessly.

Some artists make their first record and then have a hard time writing enough new songs for the second, especially back when most artists released a record almost every year. Elvis Costello did not have any sophomore slump. None. Zero, zip, zilch. The songs on This Year's Model rank among his best.

The Attractions are on fire on every song. Steve Nieve's reedy, thin Farfisa-like organ and Bruce Thomas's bass are a unique combination that bolsters Costello's solid guitar. Bruce Thomas is a seriously hot drummer, and he's in a hurry, always pushing the songs forcefully forward. This band stayed together for eight years, and they did mostly great music during that time, but they arguably never sounded better than this.

I could describe how good this or that song is, or quote some of the venomous lyrics. Costello's wordplay is consistently strong, and the songs are filled with angry observations of stylish, vapid women. But by now you either have heard it or you haven't. If you haven't, it's fast hard pop-rock with a side of punk sass. It is intelligently delivered anger. It is great songs, a great band, and an excellent Nick Lowe production. It is one of Costello's best, even if there are quite a few of them. Turn it up.

The Kinks The Kink Kronikles 1972

After The Kinks left Reprise for RCA to record 1971's Muswell Hillbillies, Reprise went to work on this 1972 kompilation for US-only release. The Kinks had no input into the record, but that doesn't make it any less a klassic. A kollection of hits, singles, B-sides, unreleased tracks, and a few album tracks from 1966 to 1970 (Face To Face to Lola), it's a fine selection, and fills in some of the Kinks' story for the American audience. The producers eschewed a kronilogical sequencing, choosing instead to put four thematically arranged sides together. I don't know if the themes hold up, but the record plays very well in the order it's presented.

The hits are all here: Victoria, Lola, Village Green Preservation Society, Waterloo Sunset, Apeman, Death Of A Clown, and the glorious Days. But many of the lesser-known songs are just as good, or uniquely revealing of some kool Kinksism. Polly sounds just like The Who, She's Got Everything features a reckless, crazy lead guitar, and Did You See His Name? and David Watts are pert slices of Ray's sensitive ego.

It picks up where Greatest Hits! 1966 left off. For kasual Kinks enthusiasts, Greatest Hits! and this one pretty well tell the story of the Kinks' greatness. For the more devoted, it is worth it for the rarities and UK-only releases. But any way you have it, it plays just like a well-structured album, karefully kompiled, and it is excellent.

Spinning Vinyl

It's been a while since I've documented a trip through the stacks. In the interest of transparency, this "session" took place over two days, with my lovely wife along for the ride on the second day.

I started out with Hot Tuna 1970, a traditional acoustic blues from Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Cassidy (from Jefferson Aitplane) that still sounds great today. Hesitation Blues, How Long Blues, Death Don't Have No Mercy, side one is hot.

From there I got more current with The Jayhawks Mockingbird Time 2011. A reunion of the classic line-up with Karen Grotberg, and an unusually good reunion effort, rivaling they're best work. Closer To Your Side and She Walks In So Many ways were standouts.

Side two of The Jimi Hendrix Experience 1967 never ceases to amaze. From there I listened to David Crosby's Almost Cut My Hair from Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's Deja Vu 1970, one of Crosby's finer moments.

Then I got all bluesy. I listened to Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes' fairly recent Messin' With The Blues 2001, and I mean it when I say this guy's still got it (at least he did 12 years ago). It's remarkable, and the title track and Tell 'Em I'm Broke were killer, with knock-out harmonica on both. Then it's on to Born Under A Bad Sign 1967. I took in side two, which had been a while, and Almost Lost My Mind and The Very Thought Of you rocked. The record is pretty much the definition of blues music.

I've always liked T-Bone Burnett's Trap Door from 1982, and I listened to the entire six-song EP. It's a perfect slice of pop-rock from a basic four-piece band and fabulous songwriting. It's a shame Burnett never did it this way again. While into the pop scene, I listened to side two of The Beatles 1969. Aside from Harrison's embarrassing Piggies, it'd got fine tunes from both Lennon (I'm So Tired, Julia) and McCartney (Blackbird, Rocky Raccoon).

Back to blues-rock for The Allman Brothers' Eat A Peach 1972. I always liked One Way Out. I listened to Bill Champlin doing What Good Is Love from Single 1978, his first solo effort, and even if it sounds too much like Earth, Wing, and Fire, it's still good.

Then it's back to blues for Bob Dylan's Modern Times 2006. I've said it before that Dylan has been experiencing an artistic Renaissance of late, and this is a smoking hot record. Thunder On The Mountain and Rollin' And Tumblin' are just superb, as is Someday Baby. That rasp of a voice still carries more weight than most singers half his age.

Lindsey Buckingham's Go Insane from 1984 is a real ear candy treat. I Want You, Go Insane , and Slow Dancing all thrive on Buckingham's studio smarts, but they're also great tunes.

And why not end the evening mellow, with Jack Johnson In Between Dreams 2005. Better Together you have to like if you have any romance in you. But Good People and Sitting, Waiting, Wishing are also solid gold. I haven't bought any other Jack Johnson records because this one is so good. That's not really like me.

Old and new. The Hendrix and Albert King are both available on new remastered vinyl, and they sound great.