A Funk Excursion

A few weeks ago I fell into a funk.

Not the depression thing, but the musical kind.

It all started when I pulled out Disc 2 of James Brown's 4-CD box set Star Time from 1991. I still believe it is the best single artist 4 CD box set. And if you want the funk, here comes Papa's Got A Brand New Bag, I Got You (I Feel Good), Ain't That A Groove, Cold Sweat, I Can't Stand Myself (When You Touch Me), Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose, I Got The Feelin', and I Don't Want Nobody To Give Me Nothing (Open Up The Door I'll Get It Myself).

After that I had to find more. So I went to the LP stacks looking for P-Funk. And I found, and listened to in their entirety, Funkadelic's One Nation Under A Groove, Uncle Jam Wants You, and Parliament's Mothership Connection. All three of those are first rate, and not just for the famous tracks. That led me to Parliament Gold, a 2 CD compilation that hits the high spots in the Parliament oeuvre. Two CDs is a lot of Parliament, even for the devoted. Despite the two bands essentially being the same musicians, I tend to like the Funkadelic records more overall.

Since I had gone down this funky rabbit hole and wanted even more, I pulled out The Funk Box, another 4 CD box from 2000 that is almost flawless. Of course if you are a certified funketeer, it might seem like an introduction, but it includes a lot of great funk from across a wide spectrum of artists. From James Brown's Get Up I Feel Like Being A Sex Machine and Aretha Franklin's Rock Steady to Rick James' You And I and Zapp's More Bounce To The Ounce, the hits are here alongside some less well-known fare. One thing that is especially nice about this box set is that they consistently use the original 12" dance singles or the extended album versions and not the edited for radio singles that shorten the jams. Over the course of a few days, I listened to the whole thing. 

I'm not sure how I got into funk like I did. I always liked soul music, but I was defiantly anti-disco, and there are some clear links between disco and funk. I wasn't really into funk when it was happening in the seventies and eighties. Instead I came late to the party. It was probably that James Brown box set that got the whole thing started, just like it started this recent trip down funky memory lane. Tear the roof off the sucker!

Jackson Browne

Jackson Browne has had an interesting career, and has been willing to wear his heart (as well as his politics) on his sleeve, mostly quite admirably. His early records in the seventies set a romantic singer-songwriter blueprint that Browne has rarely followed since. His eighties output suffered not only from cumbersome political lyrics but tragic eighties "updating" of his sound and production, overusing all of the awful eighties trends of synthesizers and slick studio tricks. Since the nineties, his records have been a mixed bag of styles and lyrical focus, all professionally crafted, and if not quite the equal of his early work, certainly better than his eighties missteps.

It is hard for me not to think of his first five records as the pinnacle of his career, but in retrospect I find this opinion a little too forgiving. I love the debut, but For Everyman 1973 and The Pretender 1976 are not as strong as Jackson Browne 1971, Late For The Sky 1974, and Running On Empty 1977. 

Jackson Browne is very nearly perfect. Great love songs, tragic heartbreak, and even some light rockers. Introspection rarely comes off this well. It has aged remarkably well, thanks to the near-perfect production using only those elements required by each song. My brother, a professional bass player himself, remarked that "Leland Sklar gives a master class in how to play high register melodic, complementary bass lines". So there's another reason to pull it back out and listen again.

For Everyman 1973 comes very close. We didn't need another version of Take It Easy, and the trite take on pregnancy of Ready Or Not are not golden moments. I still can't decide if the rocker Redneck Friend helps things, but I suppose when you write so many slow songs, when you get one to move, you'd best record it. These Days, For Everyman, and most of the rest sound like a continuation of the magic of the debut. This is where Browne's longtime association with David Lindley begins. Lindley's steel guitar and violin will become hallmarks of Browne's sound for years to come.

For me at least, Late For The Sky 1974 is Browne's most fully realized work. It's a break-up record for sure (all of side one), but it also includes Browne's post-apocalyptic warning Before The Deluge, his tribute to a lost friend For A Dancer, and two of his better rockers The Road And The Sky and Walking Slow. Every song a winner, this doesn't happen very often no matter who you are.

Something happens on The Pretender 1976 that infects nearly all of his work to come. Mostly gone are the delicate acoustic arrangements in favor of a middle-of-the road soft rock. Browne's gift for melody is very real, but we can hear him reusing previous ideas and patterns. The lyrics are still good, and the title track is a classic song of acceptance (you can almost see the seventies hippies running out to buy SUVs), but the record's overall impact is slight, and it hasn't aged particularly well.

 Which brings us near the end of the seventies, and Running On Empty 1977. Recorded live on stage and in hotel rooms, backstage, and on the bus, the record is unique and special in several ways. A brilliant and casual record, it became the most successful record of his career. Solid rockers (the title track, You Love The Thunder) mix with introspection and road observations until the lovely The Load-Out/Stay medley ends the record on a high note. 

Enter the eighties, and Jackson Browne gets his sound brought up to the current (and dismal) eighties standard. Synths, ultra-clean (sterile) studio sound, big drums, and Browne's least interesting lyrics make for one tragic mess. That Hold Out 1980 is his only chart-topper is sad commentary. Lots of folks ran out and bought the studio follow-up to The Pretender, because it certainly wasn't the reviews that made it a hit.

Browne's next three records, Lawyers In Love 1983, Lives In The Balance 1986, and World In Motion 1989 all have similar if not equal flaws. All are guilty of some of Browne's lazy melody writing, and the political sentiments (especially on the last two) help to make for some awkward lyrical moments even if you agree with Browne's liberal politics. Lawyers In Love had several solid singles, and Lives In The Balance had a moment (In The Shape Of A Heart).

In 1993, Browne returns to the fragile heart with I'm Alive, equaling his best work from the seventies for the last time in his career. Inspired by his ugly break-up after nine years with Daryl Hannah, the record is just about perfect. The eighties sheen is gone from the sound, and Browne writes his most inspired collection of songs in a long time. Every song a winner. Not many artists do it, but with this one, the debut, and Late For The Sky, Jackson Browne does it three times.

Looking East 1996 finds Browne back at political observation for most of the set. The Barricades Of Heaven is good, and there's a few others that are worth hearing. It's an improvement on his eighties work, but that's a pretty low bar. 

2002 brought The Naked Ride Home, and although a mixed bag, it is mostly strong. Bookended by the killer title track and My Stunning Mystery Companion, what lies between is mostly solid. 

Next up is Solo Acoustic Vol. 1 2005. On this set, as on Solo Acoustic Vol. 2 2008, Browne returns to his catalog and does a fine job of selecting classics mixed with the better work from his more recent output to fine effect. With just Browne and either acoustic guitar or piano, it's an intimate affair. I prefer the more developed original arrangements (especially on his early work), but these are nicely recorded acoustic shows, and Browne's songs hold up well in stripped down versions. 

2008 also brought Time The Conqueror, another blend of political commentary and a few personal tales. The music is good, if not anything particularly new, and we can begin to feel like Browne has run out of new ideas, even if he's pretty good at recycling the old ones. Let's call it Looking East Volume 2.

Standing In The Breach 2014 doesn't rock the boat too much, but it still sounds better than he has in a while. The title track, The Birds Of St. Marks, The Long Way Around, and Here (a single from 2009) are all above average, so a pretty good one overall.

Finally, we have Downhill From Everywhere 2021. You can be impressed that he's still at it, and enjoy one that is better than anything since I'm Alive. It doesn't have that record's consistent theme, but it has his most inspired set of tunes in a long time, and a little bit of rocking with the title cut and the humorous My Cleveland Heart. The other songs find Browne working his craft and working hard at not sounding the same all the time.

You have to admire his tenacity at keeping it going, and his willingness to address political issues despite what that may have done to his sales over the years. His voice has never lost anything, and his convictions remain strong. As a songwriter, he has repeated himself more than a few times, but so has every other songwriter with as much output as his. His live shows remain popular, and there are plenty who will gladly listen to his newer material for a chance to hear him do his early classics. Not many artists have made as many perfect ones as Jackson Browne.

The Best of 2021

Erin McKeown Kiss Off Kiss

Another outstanding outing from Ms. McKeown.  Featuring her pop sensibilities, a good band, and production from Steve Berlin.

Silk Sonic An Evening With Silk Sonic

Bruno Mars and Anderson.Paak channel seventies soul in the best way possible. One sweet groove after another.

Del Amitri Fatal Mistakes

The Dels return, and it's almost like they never left. A great overlooked Scottish band gives us one more gem.

Melody Gardot Sunset In The Blue

Sensual, as usual.

Irma Thomas Love Is The Foundation

A mature soulful voice that has done plenty of great singing gives us the record of her lifetime, which is saying a lot. Technically it came out in 2020, but it was the best record of the year whenever it was released.

St. Vincent Daddy's Home

One of the more creative voices in rock today does it again. She never repeats herself, but you always know it's her. That Jack Antonoff guy is one hit making machine.

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Raise The Roof

These two are so great together, it is lovely they decided to do it again. 

Seratones Power

No sophomore slump for these spiky soul rockers. Hot band led by the smokin' hot pipes of AJ Haynes.

Lord Huron Long Lost

I just recently caught up with this band. Solid songs, interesting lyrics, good band, different if not totally unique sound, lots of reverb.

The Joy Of Cooking

The Joy Of Cooking was a women-led hippy country-folk-light rock band that made three albums and almost attracted enough attention to make it. Led by singer-songwriter-pianist Toni Brown and singer-guitarist (and occasional songwriter) Terry Garthwaite, they produced some interesting music that sounds today like it could only have come from the late sixties- early seventies. Their debut 1971 eponymous record contained the spirited Hush and Brownsville/Mockingbird, both songs featuring percussion and piano breaks that swing and strong vocals from Garthwaite. Too Late But Not Forgotten is a country/folk reminiscent of Carole King. Garthwaite's Did You Go Downtown is a funky jam/romp that goes on just a bit too long. The sad housewife lament of Red Wine At Noon features newly minted feminist sentiment. With Garthwaite's guitar almost imperceptible in the mix, the band is piano, bass, drums and congas, and while the percussion helps keep thing interesting, Brown is a skilled pianist but not really much of a soloist, and the piano leads are often disappointing. This improves a bit on the next two records. Garthwaite's raspy Janis Joplin-esque voice and Brown's smooth contralto make for some nice harmonies. 

Closer To The Ground 1971 was a step forward. The opening title track is a nice percussion-led jam of a song, and Brown's piano seems like an instrument capable of a lead break much more than on the first record. Other highlights include the rocking Humpty Dumpty, the organ-driven A Thousand Miles, the pretty good country break-up tune First Time, Last Time, and another percussion-driven romp Laugh, Don't Laugh that closes the record. The rest isn't terrible, and half solid is better than less than half.

Castles 1972 benefits from improved songcraft, the addition of a real guitarist on two songs, horn and string charts by Jim Horn on four songs, and generally better production, even though all three records were produced by John Palladino. The uptempo Don't The Moon Look Fat And Lonesome kicks things off with nice duet vocals. Three-Day Loser benefits greatly from Jim Horn's horns. Castles is a good Carpenters song, and again the strings and horns add to the song. Beginning Tomorrow is one of Brown's best songs, and again Jim Horn fattens up the sound, and Let Love Carry You Along is a nice tune with a good chorus and good uncredited flute. But again, that's only half the songs, and the rest are a notch or two below.

Brown and Garthwaite would return with Cross Country 1973, recorded in Nashville with local talent, and The Joy 1977. Both Brown and Garthwaite released solo records in the 70s-80s, and Garthwaite released a number of new age/spiritual records more recently. In 1976 Garthwaite was featured on a 45 rpm direct-to-disc audiophile jazz recording titled San Francisco Ltd. that received a limited release, and is a rare and fun find in a used record shop. I've always been partial to Closer To The Ground, but Castles is at least as good. After Fanny,  Joy Of Cooking was one of the earliest women-led bands to get a recording contract.

Zappadan 2021

Zappadan was initiated in 2006 on the defunct blog The Aristocrats. The idea was a 17-day celebration of everything Zappa running from the day of his death (Dec. 4) to the day of his birth (Dec. 21).

There is a Facebook page, and a Tumbler, and Twitter. And there are even a few blogs that make new contributions this year, including CirDecSongs, The Idiot Bastard's Son, and Aaron Pryor's Adventures Into The Well-Known. But the days of many bloggers having much to do with Zappadan seem mostly gone. It is a shame really, since the life of the iconoclastic American Composer is most certainly worth celebrating. 

I usually discuss the year's Zappa additions to the collection, but I did not add any recordings to the stacks this year. I have all the Zappa I probably need, even as more posthumous stuff gets released all the time. In fact, I actually got rid of one Zappa album this year, the pretty terrible Just Another Band From L.A.  from 1972. I continue to be shocked/amazed/disappointed at the short-lived (1970-71) Flo and Eddie version of the Mothers and find the four records they recorded to be some of the least interesting within the Zappa oeuvre. 

What I did do this year is watch Alex Winter's Zappa movie, and listen to the 2-CD soundtrack. I would have to say that the soundtrack is absolutely not the best place to start your Zappa journey, but it probably contains a few goodies for the diehard fan. The movie, on the other hand, while not breaking much new ground, tells much of his story quite well, and hits the highlights of both his musical and political lives.

You can explore my previous Zappadan posts here, and happy Zappadan to all!

The Best of 1971 Fifty Years On

There has been a lot of discussion this year of the music from 1971. And why not. It was 50 years ago, and it was a fine year for music (or was it?). Before I began this post, I went and looked at 1971, but I also looked at 1970 and 1972 to see if there was anything particularly special about 1971. Honestly, it seemed to me that 1970 was just as interesting as 1971, but 1972 did not seem to live up to the 1971 standard. Anyway, it's covid days and distractions are welcome, so let's just say that 1971 was special. I know it was special to me, because I was very into music and I was sixteen years old. Music (and lots of things) from your impressionable teen years can leave a mark. I was surprised just how many of the classics from 1971 I own and still enjoy.

So you can browse the "Best of 1971" sites for yourself, and when you do you'll find many of these classics:

Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers

Joni Mitchell Blue

Marvin Gaye What's Going On

Carole King Tapestry

Allman Brothers At Fillmore East

Rod Stewart Every Picture Tells A Story

T Rex Electric Warrior

John Lennon Imagine

Funkadelic Maggot Brain

Led Zeppelin IV

Harry Nilsson Nilsson Schmilsson

David Bowie Hunky Dory

Beach Boys Surf's Up

Janis Joplin Pearl

Yes The Yes Album, and Fragile

Grateful Dead Grateful Dead (Skull and Roses)

Santana III

 

That does look like an impressive list. In addition to artists, it was an incredible year for engineer-turned-producer Glyn Johns. In 1971 he produced The Who's Who's Next, The Faces' A Nod Is As Good As A Wink (arguably the best records by those two bands), and Boz Scaggs' Moments and Boz Scaggs And Band. He was a busy guy. 

 

And 1971 also included some other bright spots that may not be as well remembered as the classics, but that were no less interesting and/or influential. Some of these include:

 

Can Tago Mago - I didn't get hear Can until many years later, but it amazes me that this record came out in 1971. This music seems so alien to the era, and so different from anything else then, or now.

The Kinks Muswell Hillbillies - Maybe their last great record, and definitely the end of a spectacular five-year run.

Fleetwood Mac Future Games - Bob Welch and Christine McVie head the band in a new direction. Serious candle-lit stoner rock jams.

Laura Nyro Gonna Take A Miracle - Songwriter Nyro, with help from LaBelle, does an all-covers record that stands the test of time. A lesser-known gem that still sounds great.

The Rascals Peaceful World - Although it further alienated their pop fans, this smooth jazz/rock hybrid is a great record that went almost completely neglected.

Elton John 11-17-70 - The big lists like to talk about Madman Across The Water, but this is such a singular and riotous Elton John record, and Madman was only OK.

 

New York Rock Ensemble Roll Over - Great record, great band, should have been, could have been...

The Band Cahoots - Their fourth, and last near-perfect studio album.

 

Poco From The Inside - Paul Cotton's first with Poco, and one of their better ones all things considered.

 

Ten Years After A Space In Time - Again, maybe their last great record at the end of a string of them. Includes the hit I'd Love To Change The World. 

Oh, I almost forgot. 1971 was the year of The Sons Follow Your Heart (the one without horns), the title track of which contains my favorite guitar break, by the fantastic Terry Haggerty.

Bob Dylan Time Out Of Mind 1997

A while back I mentioned Mary Lee Kortes' brilliant live performance of Dylan's Blood On The Tracks. In that post I also included my list of "best" Dylan albums. I got only one comment regarding (mainly) Dylan's Street Legal, an album I am quite fond of, but still one that I didn't deem worthy of the "best of" list. But the whole thing got me going and checking out the many Best of Dylan and Dylan Albums Rated entries on blog and professional publication articles. 

And I began to realize that I maybe never heard Time Out Of Mind more than once, and maybe never. I love Dylan's better work, and as a fan, I bought I don't know how many really crappy Dylan records in the eighties and nineties, only to regret those purchases. I mean, from 1979 (Slow Train Coming, which is pretty good if you don't mind the proselytizing) to 1993 (World Gone Wrong, which could just be called Dylan Gone Wrong) there was a lot of serious dreck. In fact, looking back on his career, he's made more mediocre and worse records than great ones. I know, there's almost always something worth hearing, but if you own all the Dylan albums, you've bought a bunch of terrible records along with the classics.

I went and took Time Out Of Mind out from the library, and by golly, it is indeed a keeper. Even with Daniel Lanois producing (in my view, not a great sign), the record has some of Bob's great songs and performances, and much more than half of it is right there with his best work. I'll let you read everyone else's song by song rehash, but suffice it to say that almost everything is excellent, and everything else is at least solid. I disagree with those who feel that Make You Feel My Love is a lesser track, and even the 16-minute Highlands that ends the album is good Dylan. 

So what do you know, I've got ten now. They are:

Bringing It All Back Home 1965

Highway 61 Revisted 1965

Blonde On Blonde 1966

John Wesley Harding 1967

New Morning 1970

Blood On The Tracks 1975

Desire 1976 

Time Out Of Mind 1997

Love And Theft 2001

Modern Times 2006