City Sun Eater in the River of Light, Woods

It’s What-the-Hell-is-This-Wednesday! Wherein I listen to something I know absolutely nothing about.

City Sun Eater in the River of Light, Woods, 2016, :42

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ 

Odd album name, impenetrable band name, and primitivist drawing of a skull on the cover?  I'm in!  I'm not sure what to call this music.  Maybe psychedelic-folk-funk?  At times it approaches blue-eyed soul.  At times it's sort of druggy and spaced out.  At times it's even eerie, in a laid-back, hippie kind of way.  Some, like "Sun City Creeps," showcase reggae beats.  This array of styles is cohesive, though, with pop hooks and skilled instrumentation; it all sounds confident and assured, not like dabbling or dilettantism.  The falsetto singing lends the whole an unearthly quality, but I did find myself wishing there was another voice or two to give a vocal range to match the musical innovation.  A very pleasant discovery.  Favorite tracks: "Hollow Home," "Creature Comfort."

Flower of Devotion, Dehd

It’s T’Newsday! Wherein I listen to an album less than six months old. 

Flower of Devotion, Dehd, July 17 2020, :38

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

I don't even know how to begin to characterize this.  A power trio.  Low-fi, DYI garage-surf-pop?  The male and female shared vocals, there are shades of Imperial Teen, catchy hooks just peeking out of the fuzz.  Both vocalists use their voices as instruments, growling, yelping, screaming, pleading, whispering.  The drumming is sparse and moody.  Lots of tricks in their bag; each song has its own discrete tone and structure. The songs are taut and emotional, the lyrics simplistic and raw, heart-on-the-sleeve.  "I am a flood for you."  "Do you want to disappear with me?"  "I feel myself falling apart."  "Here's to this hoping / Taking a wing / I want to show you / You are my dream."  "You only want me when you're sad / And I got no time for it."  Favorite tracks: "No Time," "Flood," "Apart."

Father of All Motherfuckers, Green Day

It’s Manic Monday! Wherein I listen to a rocker, a punker, or just a general banger. 

Father of All Motherfuckers, Green Day, 2020, :26

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

I’ve been a huge, huge fan of Green Day since they appeared on MTV, jumping up and down and tearing up their couch like total morons in the "Longview" video. I went out and bought that album, and everything since, and the stuff that came before, and loved practically everything. A brilliant band, absolutely brilliant, playing what they want, saying what they want, and parlaying an obsessive drive to entertain into massive success. But… I just wasn't enthralled by the singles from this album that I heard when they came out. And indeed, they're representative of the whole. It's a little glossy, a little too poppy, for my taste. Slick, pop-perfect production but not much in the way of muscle or snarl. Lots of "yeah whoa"s and "oh oh oh-oh"s and "la la"s in the choruses. "Meet Me on the Roof" sounds like if someone told Prince about pop-punk and he tried to make a song in that genre without hearing any examples. This is Green Day lite, watered down. I'm not angry, Billie Joe, just disappointed. Favorite track: the Beatles-inspired “Stab You in the Heart."

Chelsea Girl, Nico

Chelsea Girl, Nico, 1967, :45

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

The Warhol protégé's first album, after her famous collaboration with the Velvet Underground.  This is chamber-pop-folk set against Nico's icy Teutonic lower register deadpan.  No drums or bass, just guitar and keyboard, plus strings or flute.  I learned that the string and flute arrangements were added by the producer against the wishes of Nico.  She especially hated the flute.  I agree, the strings don’t add anything, and the flute is frankly ridiculous; they tie Nico down to a twee chamber folk sound which she doesn’t fit into. This could have been a great album, but it will have to be filed away with popular music's hypothetical, never-were albums.  What we have in this reality is a sort of curiosity.  The eight-minute "It Was a Pleasure Then" is certainly not one.  Favorite tracks: "Somewhere There's a Feather," Dylan's "I'll Keep It With Mine," and Jackson Browne's "These Days," the world-weary message of which is perfect for Nico's Euro-ennui voice.

Combustication, Medeski Martin & Wood

It’s Jazzurday! Wherein I listen to a jazz album, like a grown-up. 

Combustication, Medeski Martin & Wood, 1998, 1:08

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Keyboard, bass, drums, and... a DJ?  With record scratches and loops added into the power trio, this stands out from the pack and pushes the boundaries of jazz.  Indeed, most jazz people don't consider this jazz, but something akin to rock or dancehall reggae.  Whatever it is, it's generally pretty catchy.  The music is powered by the various keyboards, but the bass lines are impressively funky and groovy.  Sometimes the record scratching overpowers the melody; I could have used a little less of it.  Favorite tracks: "Hey-Hee-Hi-Ho," "Coconut Bugaloo."

Boy, U2

It's Finally-Got-Around-to-It-Friday!  Wherein I discover a classic that everyone else already knows about.

Boy, U2, 1980, :42

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ 

I've never been much of a U2 fan.  I think their best album is Achtung Baby, and not much else interests me.  I was sort of too good for U2 in the late '80s because they were too recent for me.  They were that worst of things, a band that was still making music and was popular.  I listened to classic rock, man.  You trendy modern-day listeners and your pop music didn't know what was up.  So, yeah, that youthful misplaced pride might explain it.  But whatever the reason, this stuff just doesn't move me.  There's nothing here that would make me think these vehement, earnest, technically proficient, glossily-produced lads would become The World's Greatest Band any more than their contemporaries Big Country or The Alarm might.  The way Bono breathes "she cat" on "An Cat Dubh" really exemplifies how this band makes me roll my eyes more than nod along in admiration.  It's so... Intense and Important.  Not for me.  Favorite tracks: "I Will Follow," "Out of Control."

Tombstone Every Mile, Dick Curless

Tombstone Every Mile, Dick Curless, 1965, :31

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

The poor man’s Johnny Cash sings tales of the road and other campy country classics and novelties in a jocular, drawling bass. His covers of “Streets of Laredo” and “King of the Road,” among others, add nothing except enthusiasm and corniness to the originals. He’s the country version of the Big Bopper.  A goofier, more maudlin Marty Robbins.  And why does he wear an eyepatch in later photos? Is it an affectation? A gag? Did he actually lose his eye? Anyway, this album is inessential but inoffensive.  Favorite tracks: "Cupid's Arrow," "Uncle Tom."

Safe At Home, International Submarine Band

It’s What-the-Hell-is-This-Wednesday! Wherein I listen to something I know absolutely nothing about. 

Safe At Home, International Submarine Band, 1968, :28

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

This turns out to be Gram Parsons' first band, right before he quit to join the Byrds.  Once I found that out, I had a good idea of what I'd be hearing, but I didn't know that first, so it still counts as a WTHIT Wednesday.  This album is a lost gem of folk-tock-turned-straight country.  Smooth harmonies, toe-tapping melodies, pedal steel guitar, and originals (four out of the ten tracks) that rival the classic country weepers.  The longhairs add youthful energy and a new shine to covers of "I Still Miss Someone," "A Satisfied Man," and "Folsom Prison Blues," making them their own.  "Luxury Liner" sounds like classic Byrds, or maybe the Monkees.  Just a fun album throughout.  Favorite tracks: "Blue Eyes," "Luxury Liner," "Miller's Cave."

See Here, I Have Built You a Mansion, Josh Ritter

It’s T’Newsday! Wherein I listen to an album less than six months old.

See Here, I Have Built You a Mansion, Josh Ritter, August 28 2020, :30

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

I love me some Josh Ritter!  This eight-song rare and unreleased collection shows that even the stuff he leaves on the floor is gold.  "Time Is Wasting" is a jaunty Ritter-esque romp that brings to mind "Getting Ready To Get Down," one of his best works.  Catchy tunes and literate, exuberant lyrics mark nearly all the songs on this disc.  It includes a version of "Lawrence, KS" recorded live in Lawrence, Kansas, which is a cute gimmick, and a cover of Dire Straits' "Brothers In Arms," a poetic song about war, but which is so somnolent it puts coffee to sleep.  Oh well, six out of eight ain't bad, and if my math is correct, that's exactly the same ratio as four out of five stars.  Favorite tracks: "Time Is Wasting," "Haunt," 'Waiting On You."

Soulforce Revolution, 7 Seconds

It’s Manic Monday! Wherein I listen to a rocker, a punker, or just a general banger.

Soulforce Revolution, 7 Seconds, 1989, :33

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

I've been a fan of 7 Seconds for some years, but only through hearing a song here and there.  Never listened to a whole album through.  I think the strength of this band is in its short, fast, positive, defiant statements.  At just over a half hour, this album feels long by the end.  However, the music on this album, a manic jangle-pop-punk with elements of surf, is more melodic than earlier 7 Seconds stuff.  Indeed, some of this music would not be called "punk" if you were expecting a typical jangle-pop '90s band like Guadalcanal Diary or the Rembrandts.  I was torn on rating this album.  I suppose it's three stars if you're expecting a musical punch in the face, but four stars if you're not.  Favorite tracks: "Satyagraha," "Tickets To a Better Place."

Morrison Hotel, The Doors

Morrison Hotel, The Doors, 1970, :37

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

I've heard and owned a few Doors albums, but not this one.  This... is definitely a Doors album, perhaps the Doors album.  If you like the Doors, this is everything you like about them.  If you dislike the Doors, this is everything you dislike about them.  Basic blues riffs and structures punctuated by psychedelic keyboard lines.  Jim Morrison's stentorian voice and cryptic, moody, hyper-masculine, want-to-be-deep lyrics.  There's nothing here as experimental or as accessible as on L.A. Woman, but it's not really bad, either.  It's angry blues rock, man.  Favorite tracks: "Peace Frog" stands out musically, and "Land Ho!" is Morrison's take on a rough sea shanty.

Journey To the Urge Within, Courtney Pine

It’s Jazzurday! Wherein I listen to a jazz album, like a grown-up.

Journey To the Urge Within, Courtney Pine, 1986, :49

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

The debut album of a saxophonist and clarinetist who apparently revived a moribund British jazz scene.  This is the kind of music that most people usually think of when they think of jazz.  Drums crashing, punctuated by bleats and the sudden wahhhh! wahhhh! of a sax and tinkling vibes.  These pieces pleasantly surprised me; they zig and zag in directions that they don't telegraph ahead of time.  I'd be tapping along to one rhythm when suddenly some other beat snuck in. Some people think of jazz as background music.  This isn't background music.  You gotta pay attention.  Favorite tracks: "Miss Interpret," "E F P."

Talking Heads: 77, Talking Heads

It's Finally-Got-Around-to-It-Friday!  Wherein I discover a classic that everyone else already knows about.

Talking Heads: 77, Talking Heads, 1977, :38

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

I've been a Talking Heads (and David Byrne) fan for a long time.  A long time.  And yet, I never got around to listening to much of their debut album.  What a waste of three decades!  This album remains today so disjointed, so strange, so punk in its ethos and New Wave in its sound, that it must have sounded positively Martian when it was released.  Syncopated rhythms, funky choppy bass, Byrne's staccato yelping, his lyrics gazing puzzled at the daily life of other people through the small end of a telescope. "Don't expect me to explain your indecisions / Go talk to your analyst, isn't that what they're paid for?" I don't think anyone else in music (except maybe Loudon Wainwright, and he'd be doing it self-referentially) would voice such thoughts.  And nobody else would chirp "Oh the boys want to talk / Would like to talk about those problems / And the girls say they're concerned / Concerned with decisiveness / And it's a hard logic to follow / And the girls get lost / And the boys say they're concerned." Presumably, when Byrne finishes his study of humanity he will ascend back to his home in the stars.  Favorite tracks: "Tentative Decisions," "Psycho Killer," "Pulled Up."

Fear, John Cale

Fear, John Cale, 1974, :40

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Some say that John Cale has an uninspiring singing voice.  But I love his deadpan Welsh rasp.  And those gorgeous melodies and enigmatic, poetic, unsettling lyrics!  Cale played a lot of the instruments, but Brian Eno's synths are not to be ignored.  I knew "Fear is a Man's Best Friend" as a Billy Bragg song long before I discovered the Cale original; but this is the better version.  Even if Cale hadn't been in the Velvet Underground, he'd still be one of the great artists of the 1970s based solely on this album.  Favorite tracks: "Fear Is a Man's Best Friend," "Buffalo Ballet," "Barracuda."

Key To the Kuffs, JJ DOOM

It’s What-the-Hell-is-This-Wednesday! Wherein I listen to something I know absolutely nothing about.

Key to the Kuffs, JJ DOOM, 2012, :42

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

No idea what this was before I played it.  DOOM is apparently a British-American hip-hop artist working with a producer with the initials JJ, thus the name.  Cut and chopped soundbites from cartoons and noir films mix with cryptic, absurd, intelligent lyrics. There's the usual self-glorification, but with a tongue-in-cheek attitude and mumbled name-dropping of superheroes, Gundam robots, Thomas the Tank Engine, and lots of other pop culture touchstones. Not to mention Eyjafjallajökull, an Icelandic volcano, somehow. DOOM definitely touches on topics that, in my limited experience with rap, aren't typical; "Wash Your Hands" is a germaphobic rant that has some significance for today : "I'm just sayin', wash ya hands fam / Before ya put your nasty thumbs in the underpants, damn / You like the way she shake her back area / It's like a sex machine that make bacteria."  Plus an attack on Frankenfoods and a desire, born of being stuck in the UK, of seeing people with more melanin.  Also: "Watch DOOM's laser graze you / More worse than Occam's razor / Not to interrupt / But anybody else notice time speeding up?"  Favorite tracks: "Guv'nor," "Banished."

SUGAREGG, Bully

It’s T’Newsday! Wherein I listen to an album less than six months old.

SUGAREGG, Bully, August 21 2020, :38

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Never heard of this band, but I saw a few positive reviews and wanted to give it a try.  It's a grunge-punk therapy session.  Singer Alicia Bognanno shouts, growls, and croons personal lyrics about her bipolar disorder over surging riffs and waves of melodic noise.  The loud-quiet, sweet-shrill delivery reminds me of the Kelley Deal 6000 or Sleater-Kinney.  That harsh to honeyed sound is definitely a retro one but it's effective, with a modern approach to soul-baring millennial angst lyrics: "And I feel pressure to get away / Everyone just settles in this space / And there's so much more that I could do / Than fucking around staring down at my dirty shoes."  It took me a few listens to dig the melodies out from the roar of pain and loud guitar, but I warmed up to it.  Favorite tracks: "Stuck In Your Head," "What I Wanted."

Milo Goes To College, Descendents

It’s Manic Monday! Wherein I listen to a rocker, a punker, or just a general banger. 

Milo Goes To College, Descendents, 1982, :22

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

I've heard a few Descendents songs here and there but never got into them, although all my punk friends in college thought they were the best things since pressed wax.  So I tried this, their first full album and one of the most influential albums of the hardcore California punk sound.  It's just not for me.  I wouldn't call this bad necessarily, but a little too raw for my taste.  The lads' enthusiasm is certainly to be commended, but their straightforward, juvenile, unsubtle lyrics and the lack of a nice crunchy punk riff or shout-along chorus make me lose interest.  Favorite track: "Suburban Home" is Ramones-like minimalism; "Bikeage" is pretty catchy.

These Twenty-Three Days in September, David Blue

These Twenty-Three Days in September, David Blue, 1968, :37

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Never heard of this fellow, who stares at us sullenly like Bob Dylan from the album cover.  Apparently he played in Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue.  His breathy, nearly nasal, drawling, sing-song vocal delivery, while not a Dylan imitation, definitely owes Dylan a thanks for opening the door.  (A cut from another of his albums called "If Your Monkey Can't Get It" is, in fact, a Dylan imitation.)  The enigmatic and literate lyrics are another similarity.  He's not simply a Dylan shadow, though; there's a Caribbean-tinged song on the album, and some of it sounds kind of like if Dylan had been influenced by the Eagles. "The Grand Hotel" struck me as having a Leonard Cohen feel to its lyrics.  Blue died too early, sadly, and while he probably didn't deserve to be memorialized with the greatest songwriters of the era, he certainly doesn't deserve the obscurity he languishes in.  Favorite tracks: "Ambitious Anna," "The Fifth One."

Once Upon a Time, Earl Hines

It’s Jazzurday! Wherein I listen to a jazz album, like a grown-up.

Once Upon a Time, Earl Hines, 1966, :37

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

I stumbled upon an article about Earl Hines that extolled his piano skills.  Apparently one of the best jazz pianists of all time, and one who had an immense influence on jazz music general, a giant with a unique talent.  So I picked this album as one of his peak works and gave it an expectant listen.  But... it seems to be a horn showcase.  Three saxophones, a trumpet, a trombone, a couple of clarinets, all blaring and bopping and screeching.  Lots of jazzy riffs where the horns wail and cry and sing.  Not that this is a bad thing per se.  It's definitely a toe-tapper.  I was just expecting a display of piano virtuosity.  Favorite tracks: "Cottontail," "Hash Brown."

Astral Weeks, Van Morrison

It's Finally-Got-Around-to-It-Friday!  Wherein I discover a classic that everyone else already knows about.

Astral Weeks, Van Morrison, 1968, :47

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

I've listened to this album before, all the way through, once, and I didn't get into it.  I've heard a few of the songs separately since then, and still nothing  But this time, this album finally got through to me.  Maybe all the jazz I've been listening to helped me hear it.  It's hard to say anything about this album.  That upright bass, leading the band, and Van's voice somehow magically blended together in a way that is very rare.  I read that Van hated the strings which were added later, but I think they lend an unearthly quality to the songs, as if they aren't jazz or folk or rock, but some heretofore unheard-of blend. This album takes you into the mystic and you're real real gone.  Like a sort of enlightenment, and it stones you.  Or the healing has begun, and ye get healed.  Favorite tracks: "The Way Young Lovers Do," "Sweet Thing."

Solo! Acoustic (Vol. 1), Steve Wynn

Solo! Acoustic (Vol. 1), Steve Wynn, 2020, :48

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

I've been a Steve Wynn fan ever since his first solo album, Kerosene Man, which came out in 1990, which means I've been a fan for oh my lord thirty years how is that possible I'm so very old.  Anyhoo.  This new release, only available on his website or Bandcamp, is a recreation of his solo acoustic concerts.  It's got some songs from his solo albums, some from his work with the Miracle 3, a Gutterball song, even one from the 2017 Dream Syndicate reunion album How Did I Find Myself Here?, but all slowed down and acoustic.  Now, like I mentioned, this is coming from a big fan, but, well, like a lot of singer-songwriter rock front men, Steve Wynn is not exactly Leo Kottke on the guitar.  So these sparse versions are not as compelling as the full band versions.  The call and response chorus of "My Old Haunts" just comes out flat out of a single throat.  Even on the songs that were originally slow and steady like "Merrittville," Wynn's voice doesn't attain the menacing hiss it does on the original songs.  So.  Three stars for being Steve Wynn and giving the world thirty years of fantastic music after breaking up one of the best bands of the '80s.  Favorite tracks: the beautiful "If My Life Was an Open Book," "Manhattan Fault Line."

Honey Pig, Bosley

It’s What-the-Hell-is-This-Wednesday! Wherein I listen to something I know absolutely nothing about. 

Honey Pig, Bosley, 2011, :37

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Never heard of this band before, and I was missing out! It's modern blue-eyed soul-funk. These guys have a lot more cojones than the unjustly more famous Meyer Hawthorne. The songs on this album range from Prince-style pop-funk jams to muscly Otis Redding-style shouters. There’s even a hint of raspy Tom Waits-style maudlin sob story, but with swinging horns and catchy choruses. From the first moments of the first track, you're strutting through the '70s; by the last track, you're swinging in a '40s club. Excellent, exciting, energetic stuff. I definitely will revisit this band. Favorite tracks: "Neon Magazine," "Coca Cola."

The Mother Stone, Caleb Landry Jones

It’s T’Newsday! Wherein I listen to an album less than six months old.

The Mother Stone, Caleb Landry Jones, May 1 2020, 1:05

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

I know this fellow as an actor, in War on Everyone and as Banshee in one of the X-films. He sings and plays drums, keyboard, and guitar on this album. It's period psychedelic rock. It's not original at all, but if you love late Beatles material, with all the string arrangements and weird voices and such, or heck, even if you love the Rutles, you’ll probably like this. Shades of T-Rex, Pink Floyd, Bowie, and Kramer too. It’s earnest, if a bit long (15 tracks, two over seven minutes and two over six minutes) and not cohesive as an album. Uncharitably, it's self-indulgent; charitably, it proudly follows a muse. I'm going to go with charitable.  Favorite tracks: "Licking the Days," the wild epic "Thanks For Staying."

More Noise and Other Disturbances, Mighty Mighty Bosstones / Where’d You Go, Mighty Mighty Bosstones

It’s Manic Monday! Wherein I listen to a rocker, a punker, or just a general banger.

More Noise and Other Disturbances, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, 1992, :30 

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Who doesn't love ska?  Not me!  This is the Bosstones' second album.  I've loved these guys a long time.  If you've heard anything by them, you've more or less heard them all.  Nothing wrong with that, if that's what you enjoy.  Gravelly voice, loud horns, tongue-twisting, mildly clever lyrics.  Favorite tracks: "Awfully Quiet," "What's At Stake."

--

Where'd You Go, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, 1991, :13

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

This EP — their second release — is a lot heavier than their later stuff. A riotous cover of "Sweet Emotion" basically renders it unrecognizable (but not better); "Enter Sandman," the best track, is much more straightforward.

Hurt Me, Johnny Thunders

Hurt Me, Johnny Thunders, 1985, :38

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

I know the New York Dolls existed, but I haven't listened to anything by them, and I only knew this guy by his name. I'm astonished to find that his voice is a high, fluttery, almost babyish falsetto. His acoustic guitar has a rich, fat sound. Yes, it’s mostly acoustic, but this is rock, baby. This is the same spirit that drives Lou Reed and Syd Barrett. This is androgyny and anger and drugs and loss and a do-whatever-you-want attitude. This gave birth to the Violent Femmes and Daniel Johnston.  Does Thunders include just the first two lines of Dylan's "It Ain’t Me Babe" as its own twenty-second track? Or just two minutes of Dylan’s execrable, eleven-minute "Joey," made into a poppy little ditty called "Joey Joey?" Yes, why not.  Favorite tracks: "You Can’t put Your Arms Around a Memory," "Eve of Destruction," "Sad Vacation.”

These Are the Vistas, The Bad Plus

It’s Jazzurday! Wherein I listen to a jazz album, like a grown-up.

These Are the Vistas, The Bad Plus, 2003, :52

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Drums, bass, piano. That's all this jazz trio needs to make a lot of noise. They describe themselves as democratic, but to me the piano seems the driving force, the skeleton of the sound, and the drum the muscle. A hip modern jazz band that blends rock and theater into free-form, very tight-knit jazz. On this album, they do shambling reconstructions of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Heart of Glass" (piano keeping it grounded, the rhythm going wild).  Favorite tracks: "Smells Like Teen Sprit," "Flim" (an Aphex Twin song, apparently).

Forever Changes, Love

It's Finally-Got-Around-to-It-Friday!  Wherein I discover a classic that everyone else already knows about.

Forever Changes, Love, 1967, :42

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

This is a widely acclaimed album, listed on many best of all time lists, inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and even in National Recording Registry. I'm hesitant in the face of so much hype, but I'm going with my gut anyway. This album grabs me, but it doesn't exactly wow me. I find some of it to be indulgent and pedestrian ("A House is Not a Motel" is nearly unbearable to me), and some admirable and moving.  Definitely a product of the Summer of Love, for the good and bad that may entail. It's Byrds-like, but less jangly and more symphonic, folk with strings and horns. It also strongly evokes the Zombies. Arthur Lee has a beautiful voice, a bit like Ray Davies, and like him is capable of soaring melodies or a sort of rhythmic chanting. Maybe this needs to be revisited sometime (on Follow-Up Friday? Second Tryday? Something like that). Favorite tracks: "Maybe the People Would Be the Times," "Live and Let Live."

50 Song Memoir, Magnetic Fields

50 Song Memoir, Magnetic Fields, 2017, 2:30

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

I sort of cheated on this album; I listened to about 1/5 of it a day over several days, not all in one go. I love 69 Love Songs but have found some of the Fields' work to be not as appealing. Some of his albums can be morose or have a sort of sludgy ambiance. But this five-CD box set of a concept album recalls 69 Songs, and not just in its length. A lot of the songs here are as catchy as anything he’s recorded, but even the more measured songs are inviting and intriguing. This is the kind of album that you stop for a while just to think about the song you just heard; by its very concept, each one represents an important moment, a real emotion. There's a lot to unpack. The post-breakup song "Never Again" is so terribly sad: "I won't know what to do / With these houses for you / I’ve built in my head." Of course, with this many songs there are bound to be a few not to your taste. For example, the clanking noise of "The Day I Finally…" grates on me. The other issue I have is Merritt's tendency to hide his vocals, layering them with echo or distortion or just burying them under loud synths. That's fine for some songs, like about learning to play the synthesizer or dancing, but a lot of these lyrics really should be front and center. Favorite tracks: '74: No," "75: My Mama Ain’t," "86: How I Failed Ethics," "93: Me and Fred and Dave and Ted."

You Look a Lot Like Me, Mel Blum

It’s What-the-Hell-is-This-Wednesday! Wherein I listen to something I know absolutely nothing about.

You Look a Lot Like Me, Mel Blum, 2015, :37

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

I have never heard of this person, who is not famous enough to have their own Wikipedia page. They are apparently a nonbinary transgender individual. It’s very good stuff! I would call this folk punk, or maybe anti-folk. Catchy, introspective, emotive. Their voice and lyrical themes and tempo sounds like Kimya Dawson or that small brunette in Garfunkel and Oates, but deciding to play good music this time. "But I'm not much of a networker / Unless you like non-sequiturs / About mold or ghosts or chubby little dogs." This reference won't mean anything to anyone, but it reminds me of acoustic punk band Defiance, Ohio. Like them, Blum deserves to be more widely known. Favorite tracks: "Reality TV," "The Shrink Thinks," "Better Than I Was."

The Madcap Laughs, Syd Barrett

The Madcap Laughs, Syd Barrett, 1970, :37

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

I know all about Barrett's craziness and his reluctant expulsion from Pink Floyd, but have only heard his second album, Barrett.  This debut album is a bit thinner, less sure of what it wants to say.  The first half of the album is quirky, ragged fun; it seems like the thrill is gone during the last six songs.  I know I should assess the album on its own merits and not compare it to its younger brother, but I knew Barrett first. That's love, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.  Favorite tracks: "Love You," "Here I Go," "Octopus."