Robert Christgau's Music Criticism Blog - Expert Witness - MSN Music

Odds and Ends 001

Country, Sorta

By Xgau Oct 28, 2011 1:03AM

 


Ruth Gerson: Deceived (Wrong)

Nine dead women, a stillborn baby girl, a male suicide, and whatever got thrown off the Tallahatchee Bridge ("Knoxville Girl," "Little Sadie") ***

 

Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs: No Help Coming (Transdreamer)

Down-and-out from inside out, quasi-Appalachian style ("No Help Coming," "Lord Knows We're Drinking") ***

 

Jonny Corndawg: Down on the Bikini Line (Nasty Memories)

Filthy and whimsical, a strange combo anywhere, is even stranger in a Brooklyn weirdo who pretends to sing country music‑-and does, pretty much ("Life of a Bear," "Shaved [Like a Razor]") ***

 

Amy LaVere: Stranger Me (Archer)

She has a small voice for a roots-targeted gal with too much pride to boop up songs that miss the bull's-eye ("Damn Love Song," "Stranger Me") ***

 


Rod Picott: Welding Burns (no label)

Hard labor and its grimy fruits ("Sheetrock Hanger," "Welding Burns") **

 

Blake Shelton: Red River Blue (Warner Bros.)

Although his big voice bogs down making his songwriters' big emotions sound deep, their jokes he's got the attitude for ("Hey," "Get Some") **

 

Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside: Dirty Radio (Partisan)

Appalled by robot radio, 10,000 cellphone conversations, and the premature death of Polaroid photography, she hooks up with a stand-up bassist and sings the way she imagines witchy mountain women do‑-or rather, did ("Thirteen Years Old," "Write Me a Letter") **

 

Martina McBride: Eleven (Republic Nashville)

Megacorny about the right things, including breast cancer, 17-year-old daughters, and connubial love ("I'm Gonna Love You Through It," "Marry Me") *



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228Comments
Cyclops703
Oct 29, 2011 9:13PM
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 Given that jazz seems to be the topic of the evening, I wanted to mention something that happened to me a few weeks ago.  I've listened occasionally to jazz for 30 years but my main loves/experiences have been with Coltrane, Coleman, Mingus, Rollins, Ellington, and Davis.  Anyhow, I fired up a disk of Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven.  I've had them as a cheapie collection for years but never particularly listened to them, although I know their reputation of being one of the landmark accomplishments in 20th century American music.  

 My reaction to the first tune or two was "What is this Looney Tunes crap?"  I persisted and came to enjoy it but I think most non-jazzbos I know would have had a reaction of "How awful [or silly]" and asked me to turn it off if I'd played it for them.  

 I think of  jazz as having an image of itself as a vibrant, "living history" kind of music where one ideally "begins at the beginning" and moves forward in a way that the other major "American musics" don't.  Unfortunately,  I find that I don't really love jazz before the advent of the LP and its associated longer running times.  Has anyone else experienced this or something similar?
JK Morgan (cumbia)
Oct 28, 2011 4:51PM
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Xgau, where's the Old 97's GT Vol. 2? There are, at least, some choice cuts on that record...and, as always, they rock (a bit more raw than Vol. 1).
Greg Teta
Oct 30, 2011 9:00AM
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Being a jazz fan and not liking "Kind of Blue" is like being a

baseball fan and not liking Willie Mays.

Ryan Maffei
Oct 29, 2011 6:21PM
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The notion that the mark of a sincere music fanatic entails equivalent levels of appreciation for all makes models & genres does smack of a certain kind of (awfully admirable) idealism. Though there are exceptions to every rule, jazz really does require a level of appreciation-concent​ration the popform that exists as our base somehow compensates for. Though my two favorite commenters here made the passing case to me that the "transportive" element of good jazz should function as a principal criteria, that still seems vague to me when it comes to assessing the distinction between two jazz platters that feel very good. So if I focus really hard, I can follow every note, and am often surprised. It just happens to be a rather uneconomical way to parse an entire ten years' worth of jazz records with anything like accuracy in the time provided. I'm not complaining, because these polls are fun, and like all forms of fun bear a forgivable element of frivolity. But it's a different thing with different rules and a different digestive process. It is a shame that a form just as innately rewarding and reckless and innovative and American as rock, possibly more so on every count except reckless, is sectioned off from automatically generative strains of popular music discussions and relegated to a thriving-so-eat-it cult encrusted in a certain unattractive kind of snobbery. Yet jazz remains high art for a reason, and it probably has to do with that built-in cerebration req. (Not that I'm not clamoring to get a non-insane 60s jazz ballot drafted by tomorrow's deadline. Which I will, in service of preserving the fun, and honoring the nobility of the fun's construction. I'm just a$$-talkin'.)

EDIT: as should be clear, I just took a bunch of words to prod dumbly & pointlessly what Milo just summed up effortlessly & brilliantly in 30-odd, but of course had no idea while writing it.

An insubstantial note on Monk., A-designated by Christgau as most of you know, which is why in the world I was spending money on it back in old wild 2006. The first time I played it was on a loop while hitting the sack for the night, a method of initial absorption that's proven effective enough for me to try it many more times than it's worked. I was awakened in the earlier wee hours to the news that the first of four beloved childhood pets, a brilliant, eccentric, adoring b&w cat (and my favorite) was having a seizure and probably near the end of a long period of suffering. It was an executive decision (which I fruitlessly and unwisely contested) to put her down that night. This was an emotional blow for too-sensitive 19-year-old me, and I forgot about Monk. for a few weeks. When I decided to try it again it was late enough in the day to where I figured it best to attempt the while-sleeping method again. I was awakened yet again with the news that my other female pet, a very considerate and unassuming pug, had been diagnosed with a cancerous growth near or on her heart (I can't remember with). She lived for three more years, but I haven't played Monk. since. I'll be putting it up for consideration soon, tho' -- so if I die, it's been fun, and if one of your pets dies, I'm real real sorry.
Peterike164
Oct 31, 2011 1:16PM
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I have nothing to say. I just wanted to post from an airplane.

Done.



Dave C90
Nov 1, 2011 12:47AM
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Tom: I found the 75 Dean's List here: http://www.rocklistm​​usic.co.uk/christga.​​html

No essay.
Alinikoff
Nov 1, 2011 12:49AM
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Now that Xgau is doing Honourable Mentions again, may I request the annual Turkey Shoot?  
Cyclops703
Oct 28, 2011 10:44PM
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 How can a music head as big as Cam [edit: whoops, I should have said Shadyshack. Sorry, Cam] never have come across the Raven label? They've been doing reissues for over 15 years.  I second Milo's opinion: they're excellent!  One of my "deaf spots" is that I've never heard the Human Switchboard "official bootleg", which I assume is the live fan club release Cam referred to below.

 Also on the HS, has anyone ever heard anything from their sessions for the aborted second album?  According to legend, they were very good but I guess they couldn't find a label to release them and the band fell apart.  As a reality check, Bob Pfeiffer released a disappointing album in '88 and one would think that he would have included some of "them killer toonz" intended for the second album if they had been anything special.

 As for the stuff that didn't make the new compilation, most of it can be found (with a bit of effort) on the web. (And frankly, none of it comes within a country mile of their album.)  I think the only Human Switchboard studio track I've never found was a supposedly minor effort that someone (IRS, maybe?) included on a various artists compilation years after the group broke up.  I'd be interested in hearing it if anyone has it.
Ioannis Sotirchos
Oct 28, 2011 2:42AM
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oh great, more work for JY!

no mekons???

Alex Wilson (Japadsfdf)
Oct 28, 2011 11:08AM
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Sorry, I haven't been here for a while, and I am too lazy to read. Are all these from '11?
JY49NY
Oct 29, 2011 3:25PM
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Tigster - I have Xgau's 1968 Jazz & Pop ballot in my files.  I'll be home later tonight and will post is sometime this weekend.  I recall the Sweet Inspirations made the list and that one was news to me.

I had never seen Xgau's 1969 Jazz & Pop ballot so thanks for posting that one.  I knew he once loved Tommy but didn't realize how much.  I'll need to check my Definitive Wilson Pickett comp to see how much of Hey Jude is included.  If the answer is not much, then Hey Jude goes on the want list.  And I assume that the Beatles 1969 entry is Abbey Road, not the white album.

 

Bradley - I'm really hoping you get a slew of ballots before tomorrow night.  I'm a bit dismayed at the low number (14) of ballots you've received to date.  Are Xgau fans in general not jazz fans?  I thought we were all music fanatics - all kinds of good music, jazz included.  ??

Bradley Sroka
Oct 28, 2011 6:42AM
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Megacorny about the right things, including breast cancer, 17-year-old daughters, and connubial love
*This!

same thing backwards - patrick
Oct 28, 2011 5:07AM
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Haha, I like that none of those are albums that Witnesses have been clamouring to read about. The first three are pretty intriguing.
Bradley Sroka
Oct 29, 2011 2:32PM
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Major surprise to me is that Ornette isn't getting anywhere near my top ten, whereas he'd finish high on my '50s, '70s, '80s, and '00s lists. Also not close for me: Dolphy, Hancock as leader, various Evanses - all of whom I like.
Agreed. I can't wait to see your ballot! I just turned mine in today. To myself.

I've been listening to '60s jazz constantly for a couple weeks or more now, and the experience was full of surprises. Bob's job is hard. HARD! I enjoyed this, and I found dozens of albums that are new to me for my (virtual) A shelves, and yet making an honest top ten was hard work. I feel like I've listened deeper to these albums these last weeks than I ever had before. And that's coming from someone with an M.A. in jazz history (if that means anything to you; it doesn't have to mean anything). Thank you everyone for taking the time to contribute. One more day! Results on Tuesday! Hooray!

Chris Hurst
Oct 31, 2011 2:05PM
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Musicians are not trained to play music; they're taught to perform notes from a page with absolute precision. And they are precise! But why would a piece of paper transmit music better than a thinking musician with an instrument? Does that make sense to anyone?

It does. Alex Ross has a good line that a successful 19th century concert was one that didn't have a major disaster in it. The training of classical musicians may eliminate a certain kind of freedom, but it also eliminates incompetence.
John Smallwood (jcsmall63)
Oct 30, 2011 8:52PM
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My ship is sinking and I have to quickly grab one jazz cd for my desert island listening. Do I grab Kind of Blue or the first Monk I can find? Tough question.

Jeff Binder (rhandofnixon)
Oct 30, 2011 5:53PM
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My ballot for the jazz poll is in, just shy of the buzzer.

Most of the albums that made it to my top 10 are ones that I've known for a long time.  I did spend some time discovering new stuff in the last few weeks, but I had trouble with numbers 7-10.  I came up with about 25 albums that I could easily see reaching that height.  I had to figure out some criterion, and so I ended up picking the albums that have meant the most to me personally over the years.  An easy way out?  Maybe.  Given that I've only heard about a third of the albums on Tom Hull's 60's list, I've clearly still got some work to do.

I've always found jazz very easy to enjoy, although I sort of came in through the back door, starting with the noisiest free jazz and working my way back towards the mainstream - maybe that's the best path for a rock and roller.  The classic jazz album that I've had the biggest trouble with is Bitches Brew, although I do like "John McLaughlin" (the track) (and the guitarist).  On the Corner does it for me much better, although it's not the easiest thing to listen to.  Neither of those albums comes close to In a Silent Way, which I'm pretty sure is the single album in any genre that I've listened to the most.  There are some moods in which absolutely nothing else will do.

And speaking of Kind of Blue, I just realized that I haven't listened to it in more than a year, and that means I'm gonna play it tonight.
Rodney Taylor (rstay)
Oct 31, 2011 12:55PM
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To specify beyond the cheap comment:

 

I'm not fond of Mozart or Beethoven (classical music in general although there are exceptions) for many reasons.

 

With M & B, I have visceral reaction against their musics when I listen to them.  I tense up inside and feel as if I've swallowed something sour.

 

I'm don't like the hierarchical, controlled feel of much classical music.  It sounds too beholden to the composer or the conductor, whereas great jazz and rock sound loose and communal.  It's the sound of a better politics than what I hear in much classical music.  (Again, exceptions.  Prince's music sounds very controlled with everyone reduced to a tool for his self-expression, but I like it nonetheless.)

 

Similarly, it sounds to me as if there is too much a focus on perfection and control.  One of the reasons why I don't think Sketches of Spain really works is the musicians are too tight and the music sounds a bit leaden as a result.  I'm not naive enough to think that rock doesn't focus on technique (jazz is more complicated, and I can't help but think race and cultural context--US cultural democracy vs European monarchy--make a difference here), but when it gets it right, it leavens the mastery with a populist generosity that does not look down on the untrained listener.  (Metal and indie purism are significant exceptions here, and I'm not fond of either in general.)

 

Basically, classical music emerges from--and shares the convictions of--a cultural context that does not appeal to me.   I don't care for much of the culture of the 18th & 19th centuries: painting, literature, poetry, music, etc.  The politics of the era are moving in the right direction, but the culture hasn't caught up yet.

 

I do love a 2 cd Bach violin sonatas collection I own as well as a collection of Schoenberg piano pieces (and I've had a weird hard-on for Stravinsky for as long as I can remember), but generally I'm happy to avoid classical and in some cases, almost all the M & B I've heard (and I've tried a lot, convinced there must be something wrong with me for not liking this stuff), I actively dislike it.

 

So, yeah, I'm probably full of it.  But hey, my original post sparked sharpsm's reply, and we're all a little better off with those laughs in our lives.

Robert Christgau (Xgau)
Oct 29, 2011 8:52AM
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So here's the deal with Odds and Ends, a title I changed from Honorable Mention to quash expectations and break with the past. Basically, I don't want to write these things. They're a distraction from uses of my writing, reading, and living time that are more profitable for me--not financially, for the most part, but as a person well aware of how much time he has.
However. Looking for records worthy of full EW reviews sometimes requires dedicated listening that comes down on the wrong side of the quality divide. Usually I know the answer by track seven or eight, say, sometimes not till the very end. And sometimes as I listen phrases just pop into my head, or an analysis makes itself clear. And fairly often I know what tracks have me listening. So if I figure I'm 15 minutes or less from an HM-style squib, I invest that time. And sometimes I'll do it even if the time remaining is half an hour, especially if it's a big record I really want to get my mind around. Watching a ballgame with my friend Christian Hoard, the reviews editor at RS, we started talking about a band I happened to have covered in one of these reviews--nothing above. He was astonished to learn that I had any HM style review in the can at all, and told me I should publish them. So I did. This batch has the virtue of flagging some rather obscure records--or in the case of the Gerson, which has been slightly overpraised in that "interesting record" way that gets so many striking concepts some ink, saying yeah it's good but it also has its limitations.
Anyway, there'll be more eventually. But I want to diminish expectations right here. No Turkeys unless I really get on a hobbyhorse about something--they're no fun at all. Unifying concepts not guaranteed. Probably won't happen often 'cause there ain't that many. Comments about layout welcome. Oughta be three pics, but maybe they should all be on top. I like the implied order, though--which you will note is different from quality-proper order, though as is appropriate only a little.
JY49NY
Oct 31, 2011 6:02PM
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As promised a couple of days ago (to Tigster who posted the same for 1969), here's Xgau's ballot for the 1968 Jazz & Pop poll which appeared in February 1969 issue. 

 

1. Bob Dylan: John Wesley Harding (Columbia)

2. The Byrds: The Notorious Byrd Brothers (Columbia)

3. Big Brother & the Holding Co.: Cheap Thrills (Columbia)

4. The Who: The Who Sell Out (Decca)

5. The Grateful Dead: Anthem of the Sun (Warner Bros.)

6. The Byrds: Sweetheart of the Rodeo (Columbia)

7. The Sweet Inspirations: The Sweet Inspirations (Atlantic)

8. The Rolling Stones: Their Satanic Majesty's Request (London)

9. Randy Newman: Randy Newman (Reprise)

10. Otis Redding: The Immortal Otis Redding (Atco)

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about the blogger

Robert Christgau

Starting in 1967, Robert Christgau has covered popular music for The Village Voice, Esquire, Blender, Playboy, Rolling Stone, and many other publications. He teaches in New York University's Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music, maintains a comprehensive website at robertchristgau.com, and has published five books based on his journalism. He has written for MSN Music since 2006.

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