Apart From the Crowd, Great Buildings

Apart From the Crowd, Great Buildings, 1981, :40

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Solid jangle-pop from a now largely-forgotten group featuring two guys who went on to being very much there for us, forming the Rembrants.  But before those two friends got all that sweet sweet TV money, there was this early 1980s slab o'power pop.  Nothing too earth-shaking here, just serious songwriting chops from guys with an ear for a hook.  Sometimes it gets a little corny, like on the five-minute title track that might take itself a little too seriously, but mostly it's smooth listening.  Favorite tracks: "Dream That Never Dies" (foreshadowing that Rembrandts sound), "Hold On to Something," the Squeeze-like "And the Light Goes On."

Bayou Country, Creedence Clearwater Revival

Retrospective Review

Bayou Country, Creedence Clearwater Revival, 1969, :34

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

CCR's double-platinum second album is another masterpiece.  Every song, every note is fire on this disc.  A lot of people assume "Proud Mary" is a blues standard.  Nope, it was written by John Fogerty.  There is a cover on this album, though; it's "Good Golly, Miss Molly," made famous by Little Richard.  CCR's version is just as blistering and raw.  To me there are no skips on this record; even the nearly nine-minute "Graveyard Train," a plodding, swampy, languid blues, is delivered with enough growl to keep you listening.  Favorite tracks: "Born On the Bayou," "Bootleg," "Penthouse Pauper."

Can't Sit Down, C.J. Chenier

Can't Sit Down, C.J. Chenier, 2011, :45

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

This Chenier cat is the son of the late Clifton Chenier, who was known as the King of Zydeco.  I think C.J.  deserves to have the crown passed to his head.  He definitely makes it look easy.   Of course, you have to enjoy accordion-based blues-funk, but if you do, this is as fine an example of it as you can get.  Chenier's growly vocals and rollicking accordion keep your toes tapping. The original and cover songs blend seamlessly and have the immediate, electric feel of live in the studio records.  Favorite tracks: "Ridin' With Uncle Cleveland," the Tom Waits cover "Clap Hands," "Paper in My Shoe," Curtis Mayfield's "We Gotta Have Peace."

Dust On the Bible, Kitty Wells

Dust On the Bible, Kitty Wells, 1959, :29

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

I can honestly say that this is the best country-gospel record I have ever heard.  Yes, Kitty Wells sings like an angel, and the music is flawless, albeit rather sparse to today's ear.  But it is basically steel-guitar gospel, and not my thing.  More importantly, I'm somewhat turned off by Wells' smug "I got mine" flavor of Christianity.  There's no dust on her Bible, you should be ashamed, she has a one-way ticket to the sky, her Lord built her a mansion up there.  Not very many words about helping the sick and poor, but quite a few about how saved she is, and it sucks to be you.  "If from sin you don't retire, he will set your fields on fire," she sings merrily, no doubt warmed by the thought of all those sinners perishing "When He sets this world on fire."  Didn't anyone ever tell her "ain't no man righteous, no not one?"  Favorite tracks: "Dust On the Bible," "Lonesome Valley," "He Will Set Your Fields On Fire."

Excitable Boy, Warren Zevon

Excitable Boy, Warren Zevon, :31

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

This is almost a Retrospective Review, but I have never heard this album in its entirely.  And what an album, just a solid rocker from start to finish!  Zevon's third album has nine tracks (in its original form) and of those nine, four are absolute, five-star classics of black humor.  With "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner," "Werewolves of London," the macabre title track, and "Lawyers, Guns, and Money" on here, the rest of the album could be recordings of Zevon belching and it still would rank as an all-time classic.  I don't know if Zevon intended these songs to amplify and lampoon typical masculine tropes, but that's how I read them, and either way, they rock.  Favorite tracks that were new to me until now: "Accidentally Like a Martyr," "Johnny Strikes Up the Band."