Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, Courtney Barnett

It's the title word count-up to ten! Ten words! We made it.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Sometimes I Sit and Think and Sometimes I Just Sit, Courtney Barnett, 2015, :44

This Australian singer-songwriter tells rambling stories in her songs, her deadpan, singsong-talky style spinning out unusual rhymes ("Headphone wielding to the Nicholas building / He trips on a pothole that's not been filled in") and lines you don't often hear in pop music ("I'm not suicidal, just idling insignificantly / I come up here for perception and clarity / I like to imagine I'm playing SimCity").  All of those lyrics are from the same wonderful song.  I think she's brilliant, although I prefer her faster material than the slower, longer tracks like "Small Poppies." Another song, "Depreston," features some actual singing, which is also very pretty. Overall, her good stuff is so damn good that this is a five-star album in my blog. Favorite tracks: "Elevator Operator," maybe my favorite find of the year; "Dead Fox;" "Pedestrian at Best;" "Nobody Really Cares If You Don't Go to the Party;" "Debbie Downer."

Everyone Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?, the Cranberries

It's the title word count-up to ten! Nine words.

Everyone Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?, the Cranberries, 1993, :41

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

I'm quite surprised by this album, which I idiotically dismissed as "pop" when it came out because it was new and I was a hip dude who only listened to old music, because old music is great, and new music sucks, except now this album is old, and it's good now.  Good lord, I was a pretentious little jerk.  Anyhoo, this debut album, while perhaps slightly overlong (I'd cut out a couple of tracks), features some astonishing songwriting chops right out of the gate by Dolores, whom I'm sure I dismissed at the time as just a pretty face with a voice, because I was a pretentious jerk.  Favorite tracks: "Dreams," "Linger," "Sunday," and "Still Can't..."

I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One, Yo La Tengo

It's the title word count-up to ten! Eight words.

I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One, Yo La Tengo, 1997, 1:07

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Now, Yo La Tengo isn't always my personal cup of tea.  My tastes run more toward the literate muscular folk or punk than fuzzy indie pop.  However, I generally admire their albums and their musicianship. This album, however, just doesn't do it for me.  Ethereal, delicate, skillful, buried muttered vocals always leave me wanted a bit more clarity.  Those softly crooning vocals are just... very... very.... soporific to me. "Stockholm Syndrome" sounds like Uncle Tupelo. The only places that a song really breaks out are in the Beach Boys cover and "Sugar Cube." But "Spec Bebop" is a 10 1/2 minute long instrumental with feedback and fuzziness, ugh.  They also cover "We're an American Band," turned unrecognizable in a cloud of fuzz.  Favorite tracks: "Sugar Cube," "Little Honda," "Stockholm Syndrome."

The Birds, the Bees & the Monkees, the Monkees

It's the title word count-up to ten! Seven words.

The Birds, the Bees & the Monkees, the Monkees, 1968, :37

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

The album, apparently, that proclaimed that the Monkees are real musicians and play their own instruments!  It's fun, innocuous well-crafted pop.  I mean, they're not exactly the Beatles, but who is?  Besides the Fab Four themselves, I mean.  These Monkees are pretty skilled at what they do; their aspirations to be taken seriously are more or less matched by their talent.  For stars for being consistently pleasant listening and for taking chances.  "P.O. Box 9847" is a fun bit of fluff. "Poster" sounds like they're trying to sound like the Beatles.  "Magnolia Simms" is an attempt at, or a parody of, ragtime.  Favorite tracks: "Dream World," "Daydream Believer," "Tapioca Tundra."

New Skin For the Old Ceremony, Leonard Cohen

It's the title word count-up to ten! Six words.

New Skin For the Old Ceremony, Leonard Cohen, 1974, :37

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

The sage of carnal Zen's fourth album.  At this point his voice hadn't quite become the skirt-droppingly golden raspy timbre of later years, but it was no longer the Arlo Guthrie-like piping of his earlier stuff. His voice is gruff and assured and, in places, a little more forceful and even aggressive than in other recordings.  With strings added to the typical sparse instrumentation, this batch of songs has a sort of arch dignity.  Cohen himself said of this album that it's no masterpiece, but it's a little gem.  Cohen contains it all, from the sanctified to the profane.  He says to an old lover, "You were Jesus Christ my lord / I was the money lender."  But also, "You were KY Jelly / I was Vaseline."  Make of that what you will... I try.  Favorite tracks: "Chelsea Hotel #2," "Leaving Green Sleeves," "Lover Lover Lover," "There Is a War."

The Gilded Palace of Sin, Flying Burrito Brothers

It's the title word count-up to ten! Five words.

The Gilded Palace of Sin, Flying Burrito Brothers, 1969, :37

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Excellent country-rock played with assured skill. It's quite hard to believe that this was their first album.  Even slower and better known songs are given a deft touch that makes them sound fresh.  "So Right Woman" and "Dark End of the Street" are not my favorite standards, but these guys give them a new polish. The final track, "Hippie Boy," is a talking story-song; it doesn't really fit on the album, but the lads' hearts are in the right place. Favorite tracks: "Christine's Tune," "Sin City," "My Uncle," "Juanita."

Fetch the Bolt Cutters, Fiona Apple

It's the title word count-up to ten! Four words.

Fetch the Bolt Cutters, Fiona Apple, 2020, :52

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Well-known or being one of the very few perfect score albums on Pitchfork. I'm a big fan of When the Pawn, so I was looking forward to this. It does not disappoint. I don't know if it's deliberate, but Apple overcomes her somewhat limited range (most of her songs rattle along at a bump-pa-PUM, bump-pa-PUM pace) in that everything comes out sounding like percussion: the piano, handclaps, bass. Tribal songs and schoolyard chant rhythms influence her vocal delivery, which is also percussive. It all feels and sounds like Apple is lambasting you around the head with words and snark and anger and internal rhyme and more words. It's quite brilliant. The album contains multitudes. Just dig this one verse: "While I'd not yet found my bearings / Those It Girls hit the ground / Comparing the way I was to the way she was / Sayin' I'm not stylish enough and I cry too much / And I listened because I hadn't found my own voice yet / So all I could hear was the noise / That people make when they don't know shit / But I didn't know that yet." This is real talk for the girls and other kids who need to hear it. Hell, I'm an old man, and I'm still learning. Favorite tracks: "I Want You To Love Me," "Ladies," "Relay," "Cosmonauts," "For Her."

Live Through This, Hole

It's the title word count-up to ten! Three words.

Live Through This, Hole, 1993, :38

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

The original riot girl feminist grunge rock. Hole tackles issues like body image, sexual politics, romance, and abuse throughout. Sounds like a harder-hitting Liz Phair, or an angrier Breeders. I don't think there's any point to the hoary and fairly misogynistic debate over how much of a hand, if any, Cobain had in this material. Even if, as I don't think he did, he wrote all the songs, this is still Love's vision and performance. There's definitely signs of a Cobain influence in the writing, but the emotion and the muscle is all Love's.  Again, I'd say that this is one of those four-star albums that doesn't have too many extraordinary moments, but is successful at what it sets out to do throughout.  Favorite tracks: "Violet," "Miss World," "Doll Parts."

Hey Jude, Wilson Pickett

It's the title word count-up to ten! Two words.

Hey Jude, Wilson Pickett, 1968, :32

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

An absolutely solid soul album by a master. There are two rock covers here, the title track and "Born To Be Wild," and they're great, but the other songs are all equally good. Muscular horns, handclaps, and a great set of pipes. That's all you need. But it doesn't hurt that a then-unknown Duane Allman added some blistering guitar. There's nothing particularly brilliant on this album, but it's very strong throughout. Favorite tracks: "Save Me," "Night Owl," "Born To Be Wild."

Pinkerton, Weezer

It's the title word count-up to ten! Here we go.

Pinkerton, Weezer, 1996, :34

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

 
This is the first Weezer album I've heard in its entirety and I'm not impressed. Apparently built around the story of what a creep Rivers Cuomo is, it's all buzzy, fuzzy distorted guitars, feedback, rock "yow!" and "ooh!", lots of cymbals and snares and hi-hats; it's a very treble-heavy sound. There are a couple of nice melodies here, but they're buried under layers of histrionics and rock frills. Yes, it's rock, but must there be so much of it? And the lyrics are, well, pretty damned dumb. "I can't believe how bad I suck, it's true / What could you possibly see in little ol' three chord me?" Or: "I'm dumb / She's a lesbian / I thought I had found the one." That's from "Pink Triangle," one of the dumbest songs I've heard in a while. "El Scorcho" is the most popular song on the album, but I think it's practically unlistenable. On the other hand, fans and Rivers himself have gone 180 degrees in their opinions of the album over the years, so who knows? Favorite tracks: I can manage two.  "The Good Life" is catchy, though highly repetitive and its lyrics are also simplistic and puerile ("I ain't no Mr. Cool / I'm a pig, I'm a dog, so 'scuse me if I drool"); I also like the acoustic "M. Butterfly" pastiche, "Butterfly," very much an outlier on the album.