Cheevyjames’ Musical Roundhouse

Released: 1999
Tracks: Distinto, Diferente; Tumba Palo Cocuyé; Tributo al Niño Rivera; Reconciliación; Variaciones Sobre un Tema Desconocido; Al Vaivén de mi Carreta; Gandinga, Mondongo y Sandunga; Huellas del Pasado; Warariansa; Homanaje a Martha Valdés
Best track: very hard to pick, but I like the first two tracks best
Track to skip: they’re all good

Rating: 97

Released: 1968
Tracks: What a Wonderful World; Cabaret; The Home Fire; Dream a Little Dream of Me; Give Me Your Kisses; The Sunshine of Love; Hello Brother; There Must Be a Way; Fantastic, That’s You; I Guess I’ll Take the Papers and Go Home; Hellzapoppin’
Best Track: What a Wonderful World
Track to skip: none really

Most of this material doesn’t have substance. It’s just kinda schmaltz and fluff. I’m not saying that’s a horrible thing, since I know millions of people love it. It’s just not for me. I guess I was hoping for a ‘jazz’ album and not a ‘pop’ one for this. This is a vocal album, with Armstrong only playing trumpet solos on half of the songs. The songs are divided up into two kinds: the schmaltzy crooner type things with strings all over it, or mild Dixieland stuff that’s very inoffensive. I’m not a huge fan of Dixieland, it’s just a bit too happy for me. And please don’t think I’m some depressed person who likes to listen to unromantic, depressing gothic music or something. I love music that makes me feel happy. But sometimes a music can go a bit too far.

There really isn’t anything I’d skip on this, all tracks are really similar. It’s a very consistent album in that way. One thing that gets in my way of enjoying this is that nearly all the songs have what sounds to be the same chord structure. And the lyrics all have the same form as well. I don’t really want to hear an album where every song sounds the same. However, I know most listeners don’t care, or even notice, so to them I’m just being a music snob. So be it. The music on here is really carefree. It’s not challenging, but it’s something that I think most people could easily enjoy. The best track is the title track. In the midst of all the happiness, that song is really depressing. It’s a gorgeous song, absolutely. But it is very, very depressing. Why? Because the world isn’t that way at all. The world wasn’t like that in 1968, much less in 2002. It’s really sad to know that the world we live in won’t ever be like the lyrics to that song, and that’s really depressing. I think it has the opposite effect than the one that was planned. It doesn’t make me feel better, unfortunately. Maybe that’s why the rest of the album is so happy. You kinda need that happiness after What a Wonderful World. The last track, Hellzapoppin’, swings the most of any of them and it’s a fun track. It has Armstrong’s best solo on it, but it’s just way too short. I would have loved to hear him extend it. Like I said above, I really don’t enjoy this too much, but I think that nearly most everybody else would. It’s not my thing. And going by that same logic, I love A Love Supreme, and I know that’s something most people couldn’t stomach. Oh well.

Rating: 71

Released: 1992
Tracks: My Umbrella; One Through Four; Lost and Found; Change of Mind; On the Ground; The Morning; Blown Away; Brown-Eyed Pickle Boy; Green Tambourine; Miles and Miles of Pain; Triangle
Best tracks: Change of Mind and On the Ground
Track to skip: the bonus track after Triangle is pretty stupid

Change of Mind is a really cool song; there’s some cool guitar bits on here and On the Ground is great as well. On the Ground was a fantastic live song. Most of the songs on here are really good and this is something fun to pop in on occasion. If you can find the original Dragon Street issue of Bill (instead of the Island version) get it since it has the extra track, Green Tambourine (a 60’s cover song). Even if you get the Island version, it’s still something I’d recommend picking up if you like early 90’s alternative stuff.

Rating: 88

Released: 1991
Tracks: Tara; My Sister; Strip Search; Forget Song; Summer Song; Ceilings; Lost Umbrella; South of London; Spirit; Hanging on a Thorn; Marooned; Wine; Invisible
Best track: My Sister
Track to skip: South of London

The rest of the Sunny Side is just excellence after excellence. Davíd finally lets out the full Latino stuff out on Forget Song. Great conjunto sounding stuff and a fantastic accordion solo by Jim Cocke. Summer Song has one of the best grooves Davíd has yet written and it was always one the best live songs. And of course Ceilings is so beautiful with some great lyrics.

Then comes the “Rainy Side”. If he had of kept up the energy of the first half, this album might be his best ever. Instead he decided to divide the album into two distinct sides. Sunny is the groovy, happy, full band side and Rainy is the solo acoustic, mellow, downer side. I do think the songs on the Rainy side are good (mostly, South of London is awful), but all in a row and following the brilliance of side 1 really makes them almost unlistenable. It’s just not possible to listen to 7 slow and mellow songs in a row after hearing stuff like My Sister, Forget Song and Summer Song. I have no idea why he made the decision he did, but it really makes the album suffer. I almost want to give 2 grades for side 1 and side 2. OK, Sunny Side gets a 95, Rainy Side gets a 60. You can and should skip South of London, but you might as well just stop the tape after Ceilings and consider it an EP. Otherwise, it’s kind of a downer album. If I have to give a grade for the whole thing I’d say

Rating: 81

Released: 1949/50 (as singles); 1957 (full album)
Tracks: [studio] Move; Jeru; Moon Dreams; Venus De Milo; Budo; Deception; Godchild; Boplicity; Rocker; Israel; Rouge; Darn that Dream; [live] Birth of the Cool Theme; Symphony Sid Announces the Band; Move; Why Do I Love You; Godchild; Symphony Sid Introduction; S’il Vous Plait; Moon Dreams; Budo (Hallucination); Darn That Dream; Move; Moon Dreams; Budo (Hallucinations)
Best track: all the non-vocal ones are great
Track to skip: Darn That Dream (studio version)

These sessions were Miles’ first time leading a group, before this he’d mostly been playing with Charlie Parker. I’d say this is pretty dang good for someone’s first attempt at being a leader. It’s odd that Miles used a Nonet (9 guys) as the band, but he pulled it off and made it work beautifully. If you’re relatively new to Miles’ music you might just want to get the regular “Birth of the Cool” album which is just the studio tracks. Both of these versions are readily available.

I haven’t fully compared the live versions to the studio versions, but right now I’m preferring the studio ones. I have to listen to it more. But it really doesn’t matter, this stuff is excellent with the only bad thing being the vocals of Kenny Hagood on Darn That Dream. I’m sure in 1949 everyone thought his vocals were pretty nifty, but to me and my modern ears he has one of the most obnoxious voices I’ve ever heard. I just can’t dig it at all. The rest of the thing is very good and I’d recommend Birth of the Cool to everyone.

Rating: 92

Released: 1971
Tracks: Little House I Used to Live In; The Mud Shark; What Kind of Girl Do You Think We Are?; Bwana Dik; Latex Solar Beef; Willie the Pimp Part I; Do You Like My New Car?; Happy Together; Lonesome Electric Turkey; Peaches En Regalia; Tears Began to Fall
Best track: Bwana Dik > Latex Solar Beef > Willie The Pimp
Track to skip: Mud Shark does get old after hearing for the 1,000th time, but it’s still OK

I absolutely love this album. It’s one of my top 5 favorite Zappa albums and it still cracks me up after all these years of listening to it. It’s just hysterically funny. Bwana Dik and Latex Solar Beef are indescribable; they are brilliant. Of course no Zappa album would be complete without super fantastic musicianship, and this has it all over. Flo and Eddie (Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, the former singers for The Turtles) are GREAT singers and are two of the funniest guys to front a rock band. I don’t find them the least bit annoying (like many Zappa Snobs do). The rest of the band is just on fire, esp. Frank’s solo in Willie the Pimp and Aynsley Dunbar’s drum work in Little House.

The 2 sides of the album are really suites. The whole thing (lyrically) has to do with groupies and the lengths rock musicians will go to ’score’. …New Car (aka The Groupie Routine) is very foul and VERY hilarious. And then to push it even further, the band then launches into a great version of the Turtles’ classic Happy Together. It helps that 3 of the band were former Turtles. For the ‘encore’ of the show we get a small improv bit from a King Kong, a fantastic vocal version of Peaches and a great doo-wop-y song in Tears Began to Fall. The album is just fantastic and it gives me a huge smile every time I play it.

Rating: 95

Released: 1992
Tracks: Would? (Alice in Chains); Breath (Pearl Jam); Seasons (Chris Cornell); Dyslexic Heart (Paul Westerberg); Battle of Evermore (Lovemongers); Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns (Mother Love Bone); Birth Ritual (Soundgarden); State of Love and Trust (Pearl Jam); Overblown (Mudhoney); Waiting for Somebody (Paul Westerberg); May This Be Love (Jimi Hendrix); Nearly Lost You (Screaming Trees); Drown (Smashing Pumpkins)
Best track: Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns
Tracks to skip: Overblown & Drown

There’s some real good variety and some damn good songs, with only a couple missteps (Mudhoney, Smashing Pumpkins). I’m not too fond of the 2 Paul Westerberg songs on this; they’re great in the movie, but here they’re the full versions and do get kind of annoying. As for the other 9 songs, it’s all really good stuff. The version of Battle of Evermore by the Wilson Sisters (Lovemongers…aka Heart without with dudes) is excellent and Ann and Nancy sound amazing. Both Pearl Jam songs are great, as are the two Chris Cornell are involved in. And of course you can’t go wrong with Hendrix’s May This Be Love which is just beautiful, as well as the Mother Love Bone track; that’s a great song.

Really, there’s not too much wrong with this album and it has a great flow to it. Forget the whole ‘grunge’ label on this and get it. Great songs, great performances; it’s all good.

Rating: 91

Released: 1964
Tracks: No Reply; I’m a Loser; Baby’s in Black; Rock and Roll Music; I’ll Follow the Sun; Mr. Moonlight; Kansas City/Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey; Eight Days a Week; Words of Love; Honey Don’t; Every Little Thing; I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party; What You’re Doing; Everybody’s Trying to Be my Baby
Best track: Eight Days a Week
Track to skip: most of the album? Looks like it

Of all the Beatles albums, this is the big one that really sticks out as very jumbled and inconsistent. This is especially a “collection of songs”, as opposed to a coherent album. Most of the originals on this (save a few) are forgettable and the cover songs are just bad choices. I know they really liked these cover songs, but they’re not that great. I guess the pressure of constant touring finally caught up to them on this album. I mean, George’s guitar solo on Baby’s in Black sounds like someone is killing a guitar. Most of the album sounds VERY tired and lifeless. The only real exceptions are the originals I’ll Follow the Sun and Eight Days a Week (both excellent songs) and their versions of Kansas City and Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey. Yeah, the performance of Rock and Roll Music is spirited, but it’s such a horrible song anyway; it’s just REALLY stupid. I guess I’m too young to get it. Since I’m royally opposed to compilations, you’ll have to get this if you go by my logic. Eight Days is an incredible song, and you really need to own it, but just don’t get too excited for the album as a whole.

Rating: 68

Released: 1978
Tracks: Lights; Feeling That Way; Anytime; La Do Da; Patiently; Wheel in the Sky; Somethin’ to Hide; Winds of March; Can Do; Opened the Door
Best track: Patiently
Tracks to skip: Winds of March, Can Do

This was, of course, the first Journey album with Steve Perry on vocals. Any cries of ‘sellout’ were kinda justified. They really don’t rock out too much on this and the album is really focused on ballads. Out of the 10 songs 6 are ballad-y things. They try to rock out on Winds of March, but it’s pretty pathetic. Both Winds and Can Do are awful songs. I hate to say it, but the good tracks off this can be found on whatever compilation album. If you have the Time3 set, you have no need to buy this album…and I can’t believe I just said that about a Journey album. The band definitely gets better in the next few years, but Infinity really is a rough ‘second start’ for the band.

Rating: 78

Released: 1970
Tracks: Peace - A Beginning; Pictures of a City; Cadence and Cascade; In the Wake of Poseidon; Peace - A Theme; Cat Food; The Devil’s Triangle; Peace - An End
Best track: Peace - A Theme
Track to skip: Peace - A Beginning, if you care to skip a 15-second song

I picked Peace - A Theme as my fave track since it’s absurdly beautiful. I’ve always wanted to learn how to play it but it’s something I’ve never tackled. Fripp made humanity better by composing that piece of music. Cat Food is also a favorite on the disc and one of the most different sounding tracks Crimson ever recorded. Keith Tippett does some great piano work on here and the whole thing is a highlight of Crimson’s cannon.

Devil’s Triangle is very evil. I guess the band didn’t want to credit Holst for it (it’s basically Mars) so they just re-wrote it and added some things. Still a good track with great use of the mellotron. All in all Poseidon is a good album, even though it’s a let down from the debut (what isn’t though?). I think I like this more than most Crim-heads so if you have an open mind you might dig it too.

Rating: 91

« Previous entries