I always knew about this album, my students in San Francisco introduced to it, and its two big hits were perennially on radio when radio mattered. But I never really gave it a seriously listen... until now.
It's a fantastic album, a signature watermark of the 90s Birtpop scene that was overrunning America at the time. From the opening track "Hello" with its balance of volatility and a great hook to the final magisterial song on the collection, (What's the Story) Morning Glory really holds together well. Most of the tracks bear a Beatles' influence in their melodic compositions and Noel Gallagher's nasally singing that evokes Lennon, but I also feel some of the Psychedelic Furs in there, along with late-period Paul Weller. "Wonderwall", of course is a classic, great lyrics, great tight musicianship. I feel the drum track is key in this entire song. In "Roll With It" the open chord strumming of the guitar gives a song a looseness that runs rampant over the track, and along with "Hey Now", feels like a track built for the live shows, where they really rock out. "Don't Look Back In Anger" hearkens to the good old English rage in Osborne's play, and also contains the best lyric:
"Please don't put your life
In the hands of a rock'n'roll band
Who'll throw it all away."
Damn, it's like yes, Sally, you can screw us, but don't get attached cause we're already leaving, groupie!
The beauty of "Cast No Shadow" is accented with orchestration and wanting background vocals and also come with this kicker: "As he faced the sun/He cast no shadow." The hollowness of daily life was never more succinctly put. There's grunge on this album, but also straight-up beautiful balladry.
And then there's a final crowning track. "Champagne Supernova" is a supremely special song. It starts out slow and measured and then gradually crescendoes to this epic psychedelic peak that strains to keep the hot emotions in check. The lyrics are eminently quotable, and I hear people of ages singing along whenever this track plays. 30 years later, it still resonates with such power and confidence.
A rockin' album. I'm not hot for the Doors, but a transformation happened in this LP and LA Woman that appealed to me. The music is muscular and heavy and there is a sense that the band wants to evolve into something bigger than their previous incarnations. Of course, Roadhouse Blue perfectly epitomizes this desire and it surely has earned its place as a classic rockin' standard. But so do You Make Me Real and Peace Frog/Blue Sunday. The Blue Sunday section bears a mysterious ease that tells me Jim is fully in love.
The album definitely leans more toward the blues in tracks like You Make Me Real and The Spy, which Morrison clearly based on Anais Nin's novel. I wish there were more guitar solos like the one in You Make me Real.
By the time we get to Indian Summer, we are in an acid-fueled blissed out dream of love. I think Morrison's singing is the best on this track. His voice vines with Robbie's guitar strains so beautifully. Best song, too short.
Maggie McGill returns us to the blues and makes Jim snarl so convincingly.
I always thought I'd heard this album in the past, but I was so wrong. Man, this album is sharp. Embedded in the SF psychedelic blues scene, Cheap Thrills fairly smolders. I hear some live tracks and some recorded in the studio. They all have the feel and looseness of a live show.
The opening track, Combination of the Two, starts the whole thing really high and hot, with a searing guitar solo that feels utterly contemporary. The whole album feels like a road movie, or at least a soundtrack for a long road trip.
R. Crumb cover is legendary.
Janis is at the top of her form. Her rendition of Summertime is absolutely killer. In fact, this arrangement of Gerschwin's aria from Porgy and Bess is the best and most original I've ever heard. Those point-counterpoint guitars are effectively wrapping up the song in love.
Piece of My Heart is outrageous. I'm too familiar with it by now to feel its urgency anew. But she sings the hell out of it.
No doubt this Texas girl heard a lot of blues radio in her early years. Her command of Turtle Blues and Ball and Chain are drenched in that slow dangerous country blues grind. The roadhouse piano played by John Simon (producer) in Turtle Blues rings so true.
Oh Sweet Mary is a track rock so propulsive, so fast it feels like it's there simply to tee up the next track....
Ball and Chain, which is almost 10 minutes of live blistering bluesy rock and roll. So soulful. So volcanic. Janis eviscerates herself all over the crowd. This track makes the album an instant classic. The guitar work is stupendous too; in fact, it's here that the whole band is as tight as a bud.
I'm discounting the four tracks that were added to the Apple Music version of the album. I heard them, and they're fine, but really, I'm going to stay true to the original release and only rank those songs that debuted in 1968.
A definite win here.
Louvre is an incredible number. Just crackles.
Liability is such a naked song. "You're a little much for me" Lorde is a lotta much for the world.
Hard Feelings/Loveless. So well produced. Like the rest of the album. Which is what I think makes me pull back some. It's because I'm old. I remind myself that "Dark Side of the Moon:" was also super produced, as was all of Steely Dan. I hear her sing "Bet you wanna rip my heart out", then I let this girl's talent wash over me. She's the real deal.
Sober II (Melodrama). The centerpiece of the album. The afterparty, the afterglow, the dirty sheets, the toxic cleanup. And what I sense is the loneliness of this generation.
The album cover is gorgeous. A post-modernist take on the post-coital moment. She's looking at us as we hold out shoes in our hands and tip-toe out the door... Her looks says it all: "Leaving so soon, bitch?"
Writer in the Dark. What a complex track. The layering of voices, tones, meanings. The vocal is louder than on other songs, saying listen. You don't want to miss this. "I love you till my breathing stops, I love you till you call the cops on me." Desperation like I've never heard it before, raw emotion given a cold gloss. Best track on the LP.
Perfect Place is too oriented for radioplay. I wasn't enamored.
But overall a fine album. I think she's a serious artist.
