Hot Pants, James Brown

Hot Pants, James Brown, 1971, :30

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Maybe not one of JB's greatest albums — it feels rushed out and desultory — but somehow, it all works, despite offering a scant five tracks and a fair number of those consisting of the Godfather just grunting or talking to his bandmates over sweet funk beats ("Pull off your pants! I mean your long pants!").  (All of which made me wonder as I listened how much of this material can properly be said to be James Brown derived material; the groovy improvisation of his crack band really makes this stuff shine.)  Somehow, against all odds and logic, this ends up being a very good album.  The ten-minute "Blues & Pants" isn't the strongest start, but some solid tracks follow.  "Escapism" is mostly where Brown ad-libs and vamps over the funk.  The music's great, but James asking where the lads are from doesn't rise to even Bo Diddley levels of proto-rapping.  Favorite tracks: "Hot Pants," "Cant Stand It."

Grace Under Pressure, Rush

Grace Under Pressure, Rush, 1984, :39

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Kurt Loder said it best: if you're a Rush fan, you'll like this, and if you don't, it won't exactly endear you to the band.  I like Rush — a bit — and I was quite overwhelmed. (But he's right; reading all the online worshippers at the feet of the Unblemished Neil, rating every song on this album five out of five, gives you a sense of how lockstep the fanbase is.)  Anyway, yeah, it's a Rush album with a lot of synths (it was the '80s and glossy production was the cutting edge) and off-putting lyrics about the apocalypse, angst ridden robots, and concentration camps.  "The Body Electric" is narrated by a robot; it has the rousing, relatable chorus of "one zero zero one zero zero one, S.O.S."  So obviously these tracks touch the kind of universal chord that all humanity can enjoy, and that makes the Rush audience so diverse.  People and color, women, and people all over the spectrum love their Rush!  I kid. I kid.  As "Red Lenses" says, "could we talk about something else instead?"  Sigh; I miss the frantic yowl of Fly by Night Geddy Lee. Favorite tracks? *shrugs, points unenthusiastically* "The Enemy Within," "Distant Early Warning."

The Fame Monster, Lady Gaga

The Fame Monster, Lady Gaga, 2009, :34

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

A dance-pop album with a rough overall concept of the dark side of fame.  (Apparently as a sort of addendum to her huge album The Fame, which I didn't know.)  So, this is this era's Madonna, only, you know, darker.  It's not really my thing, not made for me.  But it's good; I appreciate it for what it is, even if it isn't what moves me.  For example, the line "Baby likes to dance in the dark / Because when he looks at her, she falls apart" is a great line, but I'm an old man.  I don’t need to hear it a thousand times over a dance beat.  I knew what genre it was when I first spun the black circle (read: played it on Spotify), but when something has sold 18 million records, you kind of have to give it a try, right?  Favorite tracks: "Bad Romance," "Teeth," the Queen-inspired "Speechless."

Encore, Eminem

Encore, Eminem, 2004, 1:17

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Another big ol' Eminem album, all overloaded with dumb skits and heaping helpings of misogyny!  As I said before, despite the negatives (the skits, the megalomania, the unrelenting sameness of the verse-double chorus-verse structure of his songs, the simple beats), Eminem is such a madman on the mic that a lot can be overlooked.  Like, for example, "Mosh," a suitably angry but ultimately histrionic protest song against wars for oil that Eminem somehow also manages to make all about him.  "Puke" starts off with a too-accurate titular sound effect, and ends up sounding like someone trying to do a parody of an Eminem song.  Come to think of it, so does "Big Weenie."  But when he's on fire, or playing it straight, Eminem can hit hard, both lyrically and emotionally.  And hey, a guy who is willing to rap a chrous like "you make my peepee go doing doing doing" can't be all bad.  From the weird sounds he sometimes makes (prrp!) to the over-the-top goofball humor, there are signs that Em might not take himself so seriously after all, and that helps overlook his weak points, too.  Favorite tracks: "Evil Deeds," "Curtains Up," "Like Toy Soldiers," "Mockingbird."

Dónde Están los Ladrones?, Shakira

Dónde Están los Ladrones?, Shakira, 1998, :41

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

An all-Spanish album before Shakira made it big in the States. "Ciega, Sordomuda," the opener, is by far the best song on the album, blending Mexican, South American, and Lebanese sounds to create a style-defying mix that kept pleasantly surprising me.  Of course, I can't judge the songs on their lyrical content (although I find her English lyrics engaging and creative), so we have to go with what the truthful hips say about them.  An amazing voice and a meld of musical styles makes it a strong album.  Of course I like the hip-shakers better than the ballads.  Favorite tracks: "Ciega, Sordomuda," "Si Te Vas," "Que Vuelvas," the Middle Eastern "Ojos Asi."

Conor Oberst, Conor Oberst

Conor Oberst, Conor Oberst, 2008, :42

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

A very, very strong singer-songwriter album from the Bright Eyes guy.  The album opener, "Cape Canaveal," is a veritable cascade of words, images and assonance flowing fast.  I love that kind of thing.  I like the Dylan-esque yelp on ""Get Well Cards:" "right there, that's the post man sleepin' in the saaand!"  The whole album is about escapes: escapes from New York, from the hospital to die at home, from the surly bonds of Earth, from life.  "Homesick as an astronaut / Just keep drifting, but still can't explain" comes from a song about a child dying of cancer.  Oberst's voice is full of emotion throughout the album, taught with pessimism and urgency to be moving on.  Favorite tracks: "Cape Canaveral," "Sausalito," "Moab," "Souled Out!!!"

Bing & Ella, Bing Crosby & Ella Fitzgerald, 2023, :22

Bing & Ella, Bing Crosby & Ella Fitzgerald, 2023, :22

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Yes, they've both been dead these 27 years or more, but this is a just-released compilation of eight absolutely indispensable duets between two of the greatest vocalists of the big band era (or in Ella's case, of all time).  They're having a great time on these lighthearted songs, including "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)."  On the live "Basin Street Blues," Ella suddenly launches into a quite passable imitation of Louis Armstrong's singing style that's so good-natured and delightful, I laughed aloud when I first heard it.  Favorite tracks: "Stay With the Happy People," the toe-tapping "That's A-Plenty."

All Hands On the Bad One, Sleater-Kinney

All Hands On the Bad One, Sleater Kinney, 2000, :37

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Absolutely stunning in-your-face riot grrrl pop-punk.  Consistently strong throughout, it blends anger (at misogyny, corporate hypocrisy, violence in the media) with sweet vocals, harmonies, and driving riffs.  It's a perfect mix of the urgency of punk and a confident display of skilled craft.  Three voices, two guitars, and really, no filler.   Favorite tracks: "You're No Rock n' Roll Fun," "All Hands on the Bad One," "Leave You Behind."