iPodessy Bs continue
B
"Bitches Brew", Miles Davis
It's an exercise in retroactive ignorance when it comes to listening to Bitches Brew. I mean, it's still a very singular jazz album, but so many of it's artistic contributions have become common place; I find myself having to constantly re-calibrate back to 1970 listening. That's when the heard-this-before feeling turns into an exclamation of "genius!"
I kept thinking of the movie Titanic while listening to this album this time around. In that the first half of the album/movie is all mood and loose footing, twists and turns, while the home stretch gives you the boat splitting and toe tapping you've been waiting for.
"Black Star", Black Star
There are classic albums, then there are classic albums. This one just does not get old. I was a fan of Mos Def before I heard Black Star, so it still feels like a Mos Def album featuring Talib Kweli. The message in this album always strikes me as speaking to the present moving towards a future rather than dwelling in circumstance. I love that.
It still surprises me how many classic sounding tracks there are on this album. It really does sound like a greatest hits album. Because it is.
"Blazing Arrow", Blackalicious
I have so many happy memories of this album. It was the soundtrack to my first summer spent on the continental US, including a mid-west criss-cross roadtrip, and house hunting in Chicago. While individual tracks have grown a little threadbare, the album as a whole takes me back to a very particular feeling.
The great thing about this album, is just that, it's an album. Blazing Arrow showcases Blackalicious' stregnth, storytelling. Whenever I finish listeinging to this album all the way through (the only way) I feel like the credits should be rolling, or I've just read the last page.
As a bonus, the second-to-last track "Release parts 1,2,3" features the best marriage of Saul Williams poetry and musical accompaniment. Also, I think The Lifesavas coda on "Aural Pleasure" is the best part of the album, and some of the greatest lyricism that group has produced.
"Blood On the Tracks", Bob Dylan
Again, the problem of the classic. It's hard to listen with fresh ears when the tag "genius" comes attached. Luckily, the label fits.
I'd like to attach another label to this album: "Cynical", another: "Bastardly", and: "Fun!".
The stories told on this album tell of a tramp making his way by wits and luck. It's all pretty enjoyable. "Idiot Wind" on the other hand makes me feel dirty every time I hear it, mostly because it feels like something you'd hear over a tapped phone line. I hope Bobby got some catharsis from the writing of this near-eight minute bitter epic. This track holds the motherload of the cynisism and bastardry in this album. It ends on a semi-sweet note, when he brings himself into the picture with the line "You'll never know the hurt I suffered, nore the pain I rise above, and I'll never know the same about you, your holiness or your kind of love, and it makes me feel so sorry" Heart breaking.
"Bitches Brew", Miles Davis
It's an exercise in retroactive ignorance when it comes to listening to Bitches Brew. I mean, it's still a very singular jazz album, but so many of it's artistic contributions have become common place; I find myself having to constantly re-calibrate back to 1970 listening. That's when the heard-this-before feeling turns into an exclamation of "genius!"
I kept thinking of the movie Titanic while listening to this album this time around. In that the first half of the album/movie is all mood and loose footing, twists and turns, while the home stretch gives you the boat splitting and toe tapping you've been waiting for.
"Black Star", Black Star
There are classic albums, then there are classic albums. This one just does not get old. I was a fan of Mos Def before I heard Black Star, so it still feels like a Mos Def album featuring Talib Kweli. The message in this album always strikes me as speaking to the present moving towards a future rather than dwelling in circumstance. I love that.
It still surprises me how many classic sounding tracks there are on this album. It really does sound like a greatest hits album. Because it is.
"Blazing Arrow", Blackalicious
I have so many happy memories of this album. It was the soundtrack to my first summer spent on the continental US, including a mid-west criss-cross roadtrip, and house hunting in Chicago. While individual tracks have grown a little threadbare, the album as a whole takes me back to a very particular feeling.
The great thing about this album, is just that, it's an album. Blazing Arrow showcases Blackalicious' stregnth, storytelling. Whenever I finish listeinging to this album all the way through (the only way) I feel like the credits should be rolling, or I've just read the last page.
As a bonus, the second-to-last track "Release parts 1,2,3" features the best marriage of Saul Williams poetry and musical accompaniment. Also, I think The Lifesavas coda on "Aural Pleasure" is the best part of the album, and some of the greatest lyricism that group has produced.
"Blood On the Tracks", Bob Dylan
Again, the problem of the classic. It's hard to listen with fresh ears when the tag "genius" comes attached. Luckily, the label fits.
I'd like to attach another label to this album: "Cynical", another: "Bastardly", and: "Fun!".
The stories told on this album tell of a tramp making his way by wits and luck. It's all pretty enjoyable. "Idiot Wind" on the other hand makes me feel dirty every time I hear it, mostly because it feels like something you'd hear over a tapped phone line. I hope Bobby got some catharsis from the writing of this near-eight minute bitter epic. This track holds the motherload of the cynisism and bastardry in this album. It ends on a semi-sweet note, when he brings himself into the picture with the line "You'll never know the hurt I suffered, nore the pain I rise above, and I'll never know the same about you, your holiness or your kind of love, and it makes me feel so sorry" Heart breaking.