Rainy Day Music, The Jayhawks

Rainy Day Music, The Jayhawks, 2003, :50

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

This is the most boring alt-country album I have ever heard.  I nearly fell asleep listening to this in the car.  I like muscular music.  This music is a brain and nervous system lying on a cold dissecting table.  I nearly spasmed my own muscles cringing from the nerveless, watery songs "Will I See You In Heaven" and "You Look So Young."  Favorite tracks: I guess "Save It For a Rainy Day," and "Fools On Parade," which was not included on the original album (doubtless because they never got around to taking out all the catchiness and power from the song) but is on Spotify as a bonus track.

A Nod Is As Good As a Wink To a Blind Horse, Faces

A Nod Is As Good As a Wink... To a Blind Horse, Faces, 1971, :36

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

I've been a lifelong fan of Rod Stewart (but not his later, AOR shite) but have never ever heard anything by his early group, Faces.  Why?  Just a stubborn old codger, I guess.  Well, that was a mistake.  Some of Rod's strongest vocal work backed by a cracking band!  Ronnie Wood!  Youthful energy and leering innuendos!  It's just a superb example of early British rock.  I could do without the cover of Chuck Berry's "Memphis," as it adds nothing to the song and only proves that the lads aren't as rollicking as the king of rock.  Favorite tracks: "Miss Judy's Farm," "Stay With Me" (which I always knew only as a Rod track), "That's All You Need," the very solo-Rod-esque "Too Bad."

Have a Ball, Me First & The Gimme Gimmes

Have a Ball, Me First & the Gimme Gimmes, 1997, :28

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Fast punk-pop versions of classic songs.  That's what this group does, to the exclusion of all else.  So they're sort of a one-note joke band.  Now, I love punk covers, and I love fast songs.  But a little bit of this goes a long way.  And listening to this, I rarely got the sense that the band felt they were making the song their own, just doing a punk version.  When Lars Fredericksen covers Billy Bragg's "To Have And To Have Not," it's because they're coming from the same working-class hunger and resentment.  This album is not that.  So it leaves me unmoved for the most part.  And to top it all off, while I'm no expert, I thought audio-wise it had a very muddy mix.  Favorite tracks: "Leaving On a Jet Plane," "Mandy," "One Tin Soldier."

Weeds, Brewer & Shipley

Weeds, Brewer & Shipley, 1969, :30

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

No "One Toke Over the Line" here (that would come later), but this is a solid folk album.  With smooth vocals, close harmonies, and some country guitar licks, this album is a great example of the smooth late '60s/early '70s West Coast folk sound.  The probably anti-police "Pig's Head" shows that this duo wasn't just about the hippie dreams and the doobies.  To me this is one of those consistently very good albums that doesn't have a lot of super high points but is enjoyable throughout, thus earning four stars.   Favorite tracks: the album's closer, the hippie-dippy "Witchi-Tai-To" (a cover), is a standout; "Lady Like You," "People Love Each Other, "Pigs Head."

Minute By Minute, Doobie Brothers

Minute By Minute, Doobie Brothers, 1978, :37

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

The Kenny Loggins-written "What a Fool Believes" is a major hit that I've heard on the radio countless times, but I don't think I ever put together that it's by the Doobies.  Actually, I'm not that familiar with them and have never heard anything but the radio hits.  So I may not be the best judge of this, which seems to be to be super glossy white funk pop, like if Steely Dan were in love with funk instead of jazz.  Apparently their sound changed a lot over the years and this is their most commercially album.  It's a bit too AOR for me.  Favorite tracks: "What a Fool Believes," the bluegrass instrumental "Steamer Lane Breakdown," the almost actually funky "Dependin' On You."

Round & Round, Mike Clark & the Sugar Sounds

Round & Round, Mike Clark & the Sugar Sounds, 2013, :24

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Modern blue-eyed soul-rock.  Faithful to the classics, with all the requisite falsetto and whooping the genre dictates, yet fresh and full of modern energy.  However, it's not all dance party.  "Good Love" is a nearly a cappella hymn-like love song, and "Take a Chance" is an old school pleading song, Clark's voice vibrating with emotion as he begs his lady to try him out.  Favorite tracks: "Round & Round," "Summer Girls," "Burn You Up."

U.F.O., Jim Sullivan

U.F.O., Jim Sullivan, 1969, :29

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

I never heard of this guy, but find from Wikipedia that "The album was unpopular upon release, but has gained a cult following in part due to the mysterious disappearance of Sullivan."  I found it rather unremarkable but pleasant.  Pleasant arrangement, pleasant voice, nothing exceptional.  It's certainly tempting to read more mystery and depth into the lyrics due to Sullivan's 1975 disappearance, but I found the lyrics, at least on the surface, to be fairly simplistic. Favorite tracks: "Roll Back the Time," "Sandman," "Jerome."

San Francisco Days, Chris Isaak

San Francisco Days, Chris Isaak, 1993, :41

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

I am reasonably sure that 99%, if not the entirety, of Chris Isaacs' oeuvre can be summed up in a single sentence: "I messed up my love life and now I bitterly regret it." His brand of laid back folk-soul rock doesn’t vary much. Brushes hitting the drums. That thick sound of the blue guitar. And of course that honeyed voice, that climbs to a falsetto wail of despair or comes down to an eerie haunted whisper. Phrases such as "I am still crying," "Sorry I made you cry," and "I’m thinking of you / I really love you" abound in his lyrics.  It's all very routine, but well-made.  He covers "Solitary Man," which is totally in his wheelhouse; sadly, "5:15" did not turn out to be the Who cover I hoped it would be.  Favorite tracks: "San Francisco Days," "Beautiful Homes," "Lonely With a Broken Heart."

Empty Glass, Pete Townshend

Empty Glass, Pete Townshend, 1980, :40

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

I have known about this album since seeing it in a Rolling Stone list of best albums of the 1980s, but never got around to listening to it.  That ends today!  I was surprised to find some rather unambiguous homoerotic undertones in a few of the songs, particularly "Rough Boys."  The title song sound very much like a lost Who song.  All told, it's a very intriguing and rewarding collection by a master songwriter.  Favorite tracks: "Let My Love Open the Door," "Rough Boys," "Keep On Working," "A Little Is Enough."

Swing Lo Magellan, Dirty Projectors

Swing Lo Magellan, Dirty Projectors, 2012, :42

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

I've never heard of this operatic, art-indie band; it's another stumbled-upon Spotify surprise.  Apparently this is their least ornate album.  These songs are indeed rather beat-heavy and lean toward the electronic, yet it still comes across as an honest and personal collection of songs.  The blend of male and female vocals creates a warm, inviting sound.  I'm not as much of a fan of the desultory, off-beat percussion noises.  Favorite tracks: "Gun Has No Trigger," "Impregnable Question," "Swing Lo Magellan."