I’m not sure I’ve ever listened to this record front to back before. I never had a Neil Young phase, and my parents were older so this wasn’t their music either. All to say Neil Young has always existed at the periphery of my music listening. I like most of what I’ve heard but never enough to do a deep dive.
The hits still hit - Heart of Gold, Old Man, Harvest, Needle - but wow, there was quite a bit on this that was strikingly not for me. What’s with all the Andrew Lloyd Weber shit (A Man Needs a Maid, There’s a World)? YIKES. With his reedy voice, it sounds like a live recording of a high school musical. Is Neil always this scattershot?
Not sure I need to come back to this one beyond the singles. Words might be the only thing new to me here that I’d want to spend more time with.
This one is difficult for me because I’m a *huge* James Brown fan but also really dislike live records, they make me feel like something is just out of reach, like I hear the audience or the band enjoying something but I can’t see it or feel it, which somehow makes them feel more sterile than a studio recording.
Anyway, weird because James Brown is thought of as essentially a band leader and performer, so you’d think this is the format he’d shine in. But this is also weirdly sequenced – the record itself doesn’t really come alive until the last 3 songs, everything else feels essentially like sketches (maybe because the instrumental interludes only come after a single 2 minute song? Not sure if that’s a setlist issue or, more likely, stuff was just left out), it’s like a Bob Pollard record.
Aside: I really rate James Brown as a vocalist, which is not typically discussed as one of his strengths, but his gravelly voice cuts through horns/backing vocals so well, I like it so much more than the polished Motown sound, where so many vocalists never rise above the backing tracks. James is always working, he is the LinkedIn of singers.
Please Please Please slaps. I rate this a 4 just because it’s James Brown and I know this show fucking killed, even if it doesn’t quite translate to record and I probably wouldn’t put this record on out of habit.
I came to the Pixies a little back asswards. We didn't have college radio or anything of the like in Florida, so my understanding of what was cool mostly came from music magazines, and I remember reading about the Pixies just when I was getting into guitar/alternative music again. And, of course, they opened for U2 on a leg of the Zoo TV tour, which was enough for me to chase them down.
Chasing them down meant looking for their CD in the used racks, because I wasn't really sure where to start. And, of course, the record that was found in EVERY used CD racked around 1991/92 was Trompe Le Monde. So I bought that, and thought, "eh, UMass rocks but there's not a ton here." Then slowly I started hearing more of their stuff, surely by college I was familiar with the hits on Surfer Rosa, but it was awhile before I actually got around to listening to the record itself.
Anyway, at some point this stuff became part of the water in which I (we?) all swam. It was just something everyone agreed upon, so there it was, at every party, every dance night, etc. I tried going back and listening to this fresh as part of this exercise, but it's hard, the songs all seem so firmly rooted in a time and place for me. I'll sing along to Gigantic and Where is My Mind? when they're on at a bar, but wouldn't put them on. Still, the album tracks here more than make up for my exhaustion with the hits. 5 stars, good music.
I took a jazz history class in college and remember how much the music benefited from having someone versed in the genre explain to you what was going where and why. That was a great class, it made me feel really smart. But I don't think I'm smart really, because basically my taste in and opinions on jazz range from "my type" to "not my type."
This is sort of my type, but I found it kind of washed over me? I listened 6 times and kept waiting for something about it to hold my attention. There are jazz records that can, but this one just didn't. Kind of a pleasant wallpaper? I don't know.
I liked I Surrender Dear best, maybe because it had the easiest melody and was less fussy than the rest, since it's just Monk and not all the other players. I don't know. I should go back to college.
