Rough and Rowdy Ways, Bob Dylan

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 2020. The final one! Back to the future. 

Rough and Rowdy Ways, Bob Dylan, 2020, 1:10

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

On June 19, the Great One dropped a surprise album, and all anyone could talk about was the 17-minute nostalgia dystopia "Murder Most Foul." I liked that, but aside from its novelty length I don't think it's that much of a standout in the Bob oeuvre.  This album is mostly in the vein of his bluesy growler Together Through Life, one of my least favorite Dylan albums.  But there's a lot to love here, lots of those Dylan lines that make you suddenly stop, start upright, and say, "Wait, what now?"  Like in "Black Rider:"  You're digging the tough blues groove about some mysterious death-like figure and then you hear "Black rider, black rider, hold it right there / The size of your cock will get you nowhere."  With Bob, you just gotta jump into the wagon, love, throw your panties overboard.  If this turns out to be Dylan's last studio album, it will be a definitively apt one, with its looking back at the past through grim-colored glasses.  Favorite tracks: "False Prophet," "Goodbye Jimmy Reed," "My Own Version of You."

Ghosteen, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 2019.

Ghosteen, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, 2019, 1:08

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

This is the album born out of Nick Cave's grief at losing his son in a terrible accident.  This is the album in which he is saying that his son is here next to him, not in his heart, but with him.  It's a gorgeous work of art.  It's also terribly abstruse and poetic and personal and ethereal and insular.  It just is, this album; it doesn't ask for your approval or your understanding.  I think that you can no more quantify or criticize this album than you could a dream.  Favorite tracks: "Bright Horses," "Sun Forest."  It's difficult to take them out of context, however.

Semicircle, The Go! Team

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 2018.

Semicircle, The Go! Team, 2018, :40

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Since I first heard these guys way back on (looks it up) August 27, I found out that the band is an ever-changing organism, led by one Ian Parton.  Their technique is to blend everything into an aural hurricane of shouty fun: obscure samples, funk, hip-hop, dance, indie pop, double-Dutch chants, horns, steel drums, and basically any sound that might make the song a banger.  Apparently on this album there are guest vocals from various choirs and high schoolers and a lot of other singers.  The result is a great deal of eclecticism, but all swagger and sunshine pop.  If you don't like it, you're still too old.  Favorite tracks: "Chain Link Fence," "The Answer's No - Now What's the Question?," "Semicircle Song."

Feel Your Feelings Fool!, the Regrettes

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 2017.

Feel Your Feelings Fool!, the Regrettes, 2017, :46

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Superb throwback punk by sneering feminist band.  Confidence, assured sexuality, and dismissal of what you think about them are all on display.  Buzzy guitars at a breakneck pace, played with a skill that belies their teen years.  Favorite tracks:  "Jukebox Baby," "'Til Tomorrow," "A Living Human Girl."

Phone Power, They Might Be Giants

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 2016.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Phone Power, They Might Be Giants, 2016, :45

I have been a devotee of the Church of They Might Be Geniuses for a long, long time.  The mid 1980s probably.  Maybe longer even than I've worshipped at the altar of the Unblemished Bob.  Anyway, that's a way of saying my assessment of this album is perforce a bit biased.  As it's a Dial-a-Song compilation of 18 tracks, it's definitely going to be a mixed bag.  But the high points of TMBG are high indeed.  I like that one song, "Got Getting Up So Down," began life as a Dunkin' Donuts commercial ("left sock, right sock / T-shirt, wristwatch / bus pass, laptop... I got gettin' up so down, I could do it in my sleep").  It says something either about me or about what the Johns are best at writing about that my favorite tracks all seem to be narrated by an insane person who's hallucinating things: "Apophenia," "Sold My Mind to the Kremlin," "It Said Something," and "Shape Shifter."

Anthems For Doomed Youth, the Libertines

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 2015. 

Anthems For Doomed Love, the Libertines, 2015, :45

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

What a brilliant comeback!  Yes, you can call it a comeback.  Brilliant lyrics, gorgeous melodies, wonderful blending of lead vocals.  But it's far from a retread of their superb self-titled album; it's a step forward.  "Here's a story about the rules of death or glory / To be learned by heart by all children of men / It's the hour of the morning on the day after the dawning / When the sun they said would never set finally set again."  But then the sun did rise again on the likely lads' Albion, at least for a while.  The dry fatalistic poetry of the boozer, wrapped up in sweet guitar licks.  Favorite tracks: "Anthem For Doomed Youth," "Belly of the Beast," "Glasgow Coma Scale Blues."

High Hopes, Bruce Springsteen

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 2014.

High Hopes, Bruce Springsteen, 2014, :56

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Hailed as a masterpiece by "Rolling Stone," panned as a dud by "Pitchfork" (counterpoint: Pitchfork only raves about albums by women or rap artists), this album of castoffs, covers and re-recordings of old material is perforce a mixed bag.  The Boss fills these odds and ends with Bono-like passion, sincerity, and what would be characterized as righteous anger if you're charitable and melodrama if you're not.  I hadn't ever heard the three covers (including the title track), so can't speak to how Bruce might have elevated or desecrated them.  I mostly found the album overblown and tiresome, even though I admire the rockstar power Springsteen put into it.  Favorite tracks: "Frankie Fell in Love," "This is Your Sword."

Magpie and the Dandelion, Avett Brothers

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 2013. 

Magpie and the Dandelion, Avett Brothers, 2013, :43

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

This is indie-bluegrass-folk-rock.  I've heard some of their stuff, but not much.  I'm kind of underwhelmed, frankly.  I mean, this is good stuff.  But I much prefer super-talented Dallas duo the O's.  These guys have heart.  But there's not enough muscle.  Favorite tracks: "Open Ended Life," "Morning Song," "Skin and Bones." 

Break It Yourself, Andrew Bird

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 2012.

Break It Yourself, Andrew Bird, 2012, :59

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Whistling, violin, atmospheric layers of sound, and a singing voice so beautiful that if it weren't so understated you would call it "operatic." Unlike these indie kids, Andrew Bird doesn't need to dazzle with noise or attempts at virtuosity. That's because he is a virtuoso, and everything he does smacks of virtuosity just because he's doing it. Listening to this album after a few days of what is usually thought of as "indie rock" is like returning to the adult table after spending time at the kids' food fight. Intelligent, emotive lyrics accompany skillfully-arranged, ethereal melodies. Favorite tracks: "Orpheo Looks Back," "Danse Caribe," "Eyeoneye."

Thank You Happy Birthday, Cage the Elephant

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 2011. 

Thank You Happy Birthday, Cage the Elephant, 2011, :48

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Indie rock, heavily influenced by the Pixies and post-punk.  Shrieking, yelping vocals, heavy guitar riffs, driving beats.  I would say that this is almost a four star album.  However, the straight hardcore noise of tracks such as "Sabertooth Tiger" and "Indy Kids" not my cup of tea. However, the parts I like, I enjoy a great deal. Not highly original, but extremely effective.  Favorite tracks: "Right Before My Eyes," "Flow," "2024."

The Brutalist Bricks, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 2010.

The Brutalist Bricks, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, 2010, :41

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

For quite some time I have heard good things about and from this band.  So I started this one up with great expectations.  Gradually, I became disappointed.  It's... well, it's a standard rock album.  At times, like on "Even Heroes Have To Die," I was reminded of that '90s indie jangle-rock sound like the Rembrandts and Soul Asylum.  It's a very strong rock album, written and played with skill. don't get me wrong. I just expected... more, something hard-hitting.  Oh, there are hard-hitting tracks ("The Stick"), but there's no overarching cohesion.  Favorite tracks: "Where Was My Brain," "End of Days."

Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 2009. 

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, Phoenix, 2009, :36 

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Indie pop with synth and dance-pop influences.  It's a very pleasant vibe, all fluttery riffs and high percussion and disco falsetto.  It's quite well done, but not really for me.  When they lean more toward rock than disco, though, these guys deliver some catchy beats.  Favorite tracks: "Liztomania," "1901," "Lasso."

We Brave Bee Stings And All, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 2008. 

We Brave Bee Stings And All, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, 2008, :32

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Alternative folk-rock with horns. Catchy and pleasant, with an undercurrent. Jangling banjo, fast-paced riffs, lyrics that are about about doing cannonballs and a mother who works hard for her kids and lost love, and yet somehow dark and distressing. "Love large enough to want to shrink / Been done enough to start to think / I might cut right back on the heart attacks." And: "As sharp as I sing / It still soothes you / Doesn't it? / Like a lick of ice cream." It's quite good, but I guess sometimes I like it a little sharper and less sweet. My favorite tracks are three excellent standouts: "Swimming Pool," "Bag of Hammers," "Travel."

Wincing the Night Away, the Shins

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 2007. 

Wincing the Night Away, the Shins, 2007, :41

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Delicate indie folk-pop with introspective, image-rich lyrics, with bits of post-punk influence. The drums are front and center, which gives it a more muscular sound than a lot of other indie-pop in this vein.  Much of the album is a little more restrained than I'd like, but "Phantom Limb," an ethereal, enigmatic tale of two lesbian outcasts in high school, is worth the price of admission alone. Of course, I didn't pay a price of admission, but that's beside the point. "Phantom Limb," "Turn On Me," "A Comet Appears." 

Hello Young Lovers, Sparks

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 2006.

Hello Young Lovers, Sparks, 2006, :50

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

I'm astonished! What a bizarre and pleasant find. This band has been around since 1967 and still releasing albums, yet I've never heard of them. It's a baroque chamber-pop, art-rock band, reminiscent of Queen but with more of a comic and absurdist streak. The first track on the album, "Dick Around," a six-and-a-half minute vocal tour de force about the idle life, shows that right off.  Voices are used as instruments, lyrics are repeated, choruses burst in and layer upon one another.  It's as if written by a modern, post-ironic, self-effacing Gilbert and Sullivan. Favorite tracks: "Metaphor," "Waterproof," "Dick Around."

Searching for a Former Clarity, Against Me!

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 2005.

Searching for a Former Clarity, Against Me!, 2005, :47

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ 

Against Me! is the best punk band since the Clash.  Growling, snarled, shouted non-rhyming syllable-overloaded personal and political lyrics, percussion-heavy punk riffs.  Laura Jane Grace always-fueled anger at the sickness of the world, anger at not having the courage to be what she wants to be.  Favorite tracks: "Don't Lose Touch," "Unprotected Sex With Multiple Partners," "Pretty Girl (The Mover)."

We Shall All be Healed, Mountain Goats

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 2004.

We Shall All be Healed, Mountain Goats, 2004, :44

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 

I knew almost nothing about the Mountain Goats when I started this one up; I'd heard a couple of songs and enjoyed them.  Judging from this album, they're pretty clearly a one-man operation.  This is a song cycle loosely based around some friends of the singer who got strung out on heroin.  It's an enthralling, literate, unflinching, and dazzling set of songs.  Singer and mastermind John Darnielle sounds like Phil Ochs leading the Decembrists, Collin Meloy if he were writing true life stories rather than fantasies.  It's sad and sharp and uncompromising.  Favorite tracks: "Letter From Belgium," "The Young Thousands," "Against Pollution."

Nocturama, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 2003. 

Nocturama, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, 2003, :56

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

So this is the "bad" Nick Cave album, the one excoriated as a bomb, with critics carping that Nick Cave is at this point in time a contented middle-aged father of three with nothing to bemoan or be gothic about, and the Bad Seeds sounding more like the Wallflowers than the unpredictable band they are.  Now I went into this album not knowing any of that.  I wasn't prepared for the worst, best, or anything in between.  So to me it sounds like... a Nick Cave album.  It's true that the lyrical content leans a lot more toward the love song than the murder ballad, but so what?  Rather than assuming Cave had lost his "edge," I just assume he's being moved by a new muse.  Griping that Nick Cave isn't being as spooooky as you want is like complaining that bands that get discovered by more than five people are "selling out."  It's just such a childish kneejerk reaction.  Favorite tracks: "Still In Love," "There Is a Town," the fourteen-minute rager "Babe, I'm On Fire."

Jackknife To a Swan, Mighty Mighty Bosstones

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 2002. 

Jackknife To a Swan, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, 2002, :40

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

This is one of the Bosstones' lesser works, perhaps.  But really, if you've heard one, you've heard them all.  The final song, "7 Ways To Sunday," is a bit off their beaten track.  But otherwise, it's the same ska-punk formula, all horns, guitar and growly vocals.  If you like it, you like it.  I like it.  Favorite tracks: "Sugar Free," "The Old School Off the Bright," "Go Big." 

Girls Can Tell, Spoon

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 2001, A Space Odyssey.

Girls Can Tell, Spoon, 2001, :36

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

I come to this album from having heard only the later Spoon albums. This, their second, is apparently the album that critics agree was the first to have that "Spoon" sound. From constantly being compared to the Pixies and Wire, they came into their own. They really don't sound like anyone else, it's true. (Well, "Me and the Bean" sounds like Nirvana.) There's a crisp, spare, yet shambling sound, and Britt Daniels' ragged voice is very singular. One of the great modern rock bands. Favorite tracks: "Anything You Want," "Everything Hits At Once," "Talk a Walk."

The Marshall Mathers LP, Eminem

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 2000.

The Marshall Mathers LP, Eminem, 2000, 1:12

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ 

Overlong, bloated with skits, and endlessly rapping about how he can't be kept silent and the people who are gunning for him because he tells it like it is and how fame is something he isn't comfortable with.  And yet... it can't be denied Eminem's a genius when it comes to rhyme, pacing, meter, and lyrical flow.  All those samples and beats and overdubs are the product of a lot of work, but Em makes it look easy.  His raps sound tossed-off, raw, and immediate.  Sometimes too raw and immediate.  The homicide fantasy "Kim" is nightmare fuel that really should have stayed in his private listening booth. But when Eminem is on the top of his game he's impossible to ignore.  Favorite tracks: "The Way I Am," "The Real Slim Shady," "Marshall Mathers."

Get Skintight, the Donnas

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 1999.  Prince?  Not Prince.

Get Skintight, the Donnas, 1999, :38

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

The rough, raw sound of rebellious teen girls mostly re-writing "Bad Reputation" over and over. No angst, but all grrl power with a confident strut. "Now the neighbors are around says turn that shit down / I'm not breakin' the law / I wanna break your jaw." No singing lessons required. Nor are complex lyrics — "I Didn't Like You Anyway" is a feisty puerile kiss-off. It's great! Favorite tracks: "Party Action," Too Fast For Love," "Zero."

Before These Crowded Streets, Dave Matthews Band

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 1998.

Before These Crowded Streets, Dave Matthews Band, 1998, 1:10

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Probably nobody does the shambling, loose-limbed, rat-a-tat funk jam thing better than the Dave Matthews Band, but it's just not my thing.  What really turned me off here was how on some tracks Matthews employs this over-the-top, growling, histrionic voice.  Way too much drama in my jam, man.  The otherwise beautiful, Middle East raga-tinged "The Last Stop" is particularly egregious in this regard.  The overall musicality is superb.  When he keeps things on an even keel, it's much more pleasant.  Favorite tracks: "Rapunzel," "Don't Drink the Water," "The Stone."

Tubthumper, Chumbawumba

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 1997.

Tubthumper, Chumbawumba, 1997, :55

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

This album is the third, I think, out of this entire project's existence that I have previously listened to all the way through. But it was something like one time, back when it first came out, so it's probably due for a reassessment. I make no apologies for liking the smash mega-hit single for which the album is named; it may be dulled by ubiquity but that is a damn fine singalong song. The electro-pop and dance influences are not really my thing, but they do it well, and there is overall an eclectic collection of styles on this album. Also, I like their politics. Union forever! "If any ask us why we died / We tell them that our leaders lied / Sold us out down the riverside / Whose side are you on?" Favorite tracks: "Tubthumping," of course, the beautiful vocal showcase "One By One," "The Big Issue," "Drip, Drip, Drip."

Return Of the Aquabats, the Aquabats!

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 1996. 

Return Of the Aquabats, the Aquabats!, 1996, :34

★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

These guys wear their pop culture nerdiness more openly on their sleeves than even MC Frontalot. This is nerd-ska, full of references to Star Wars and superheroes and Devo and play-doh and GI Joe, and that's just the first song. They're like They Might Be Giants, if the Johns had eschewed books, science, and cleverness and instead just watched a lot of cartoons and science fiction. I read that the drummer, guitarist, and keyboardist all left right after recording this album, and the surf-ska sound here later gave way to pop punk. So now I don't even have a good sense of what this band sounds like. Oddly, though I myself am a nerd, I am repelled by this album. I'm not enthralled by nostalgia for childhood cartoons or songs about Martian girls or five-and-a-half minute long songs about leaving a girl because her breath is bad. All of these are delivered with simplistic lyrics and a goofy, annoying Elvis-like "comedy" voice. Sample lyric: "Chewbacca! Chewbacca! Lake Titicaca! / Chewbacca's on a scooter man, holy crap!" Ugh. At 34 unbearable minutes, this album feels overlong. Reel Big Fish, I was too harsh on you. Favorite track: "Idiot Box." Least favorite track: "Pinch And Roll," a song about scratching your balls, with a bridge consisting of nonsense sung in a shitty fake Jamaican accent. Hilarious! 

Ben Folds Five, Ben Folds Five

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 1995.

Ben Folds Five, Ben Folds Five, 1995, :46

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

I'm familiar with most of Ben Folds Five's work but never got around to their first album, even though "Uncle Walter" was a minor hit on MTV. Since then, I've heard most of these songs in live or demo versions. However, the originals are superior, bright and energetic. Excellent piano-driven power-pop. It's clear from this album that this talented quintet would be going places. Favorite tracks: the beautiful "Alice Childress," "Best Imitation of Myself" (sounds like a lost They Might Be Giants song), "Uncle Walter."

Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age, Public Enemy

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 1994.

Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age, Public Enemy, 1994, 1:11

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Cut out a few of the lesser tracks, throw out the extended skits, shorten the choruses a bit, and give Flava Flav a sedative, and you'd have a Public Enemy album easily as strong as their late '80s classics. Basically Chuck D should probably treat Public Enemy as less of an art collective and more as his backing band. He's still fiery and angry here, and the best moments are all him. It takes guts to stay in a game when you're considered 20 years too old, dis the gangsta rap that brings the big bucks, and point fingers at drugs and alcohol as a crisis in black culture. "Rather rap my black ass off / Getcha hooked on phonics / Good enough to know no endo / Throw it out the window / Along with the Super Nintendo." Now that's a rhyme.  And also "Talkin that drive-by shit / Everybody talking that gangsta shit / Slaves to the rhythm of the master." Preach, Chuck. Maybe a four-star album?  Favorite tracks: "So Whatcha Gone Do Now?," "Race Against Time," "What Side You On?"

Liberation, Divine Comedy

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 1993. 

Liberation, Divine Comedy, 1993, :51

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

This is the second album under the name Divine Comedy, but the first that followed Neil Hannon's artistic vision and marked a change in style.  Hannon played guitar, bass, and keyboard on this, but it's hardly a one-man effort; there's percussion and a string session.  Anyway, this is ornate, lush orchestral pop of the typical Divine Comedy style.  His sound really coalesced quickly.  The instrumental "Europe By Train" gets tiresome and is overlong; Hannon's strength is in his robust, fruity, public-school British voice and literate, witty lyrics.  If you like Belle & Sebastian, and if you don't you're a yokel with no taste, you'll like this.  Favorite tracks: "Your Daddy's Car," "The Pop Singer's Fear Of the Pollen Count," "Lucy."

Slanted and Enchanted, Pavement

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 1992.

Slanted and Enchanted, Pavement, 1992, :39

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

My friend Robert's favorite album of all time!, depending on his mood.  Lo-fi fuzzy buzzing punctuated with guitar feedback squeals, and a deadpan vocal delivery that is very much of its era.  Underneath all that '90s "oh well, whatever, nevermind" slacker indie noise is raw talent, energy, and (if you listen hard enough) melodic jangle pop.  At times it can be quite Beatles-esque, in its way.  I'm not a huge fan of the noisier parts, like "Chelsey's Little Wrists," but those parts are mercifully short.  Favorite tracks: "Zurich Is Stained," "Here," "Perfume-V."

On Every Street, Dire Straits

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 1991.

On Every Street, Dire Straits, 1991, 1:00 

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

The last, and probably worst, studio album by an extremely talented band. This one is more representative of Knopfler's later laid-back Slowhand tendency than I like. Knopfler's Bob Dylan vocal imitation is cranked to maximum Bob.  A Dire Straits album you'll put on at a party when you don't want any dancing to get in the way of the polite conversation.  Favorite tracks: "Calling Elvis," "Heavy Fuel," Bug."