The Musical Box

george harrison: all things must pass (1970)

+ George Harrison: All Things Must Pass - Okay, so it’s not technically a holiday album. But the feel is Christmas all over, from the top of Phil Spector’s muddy but still spectacular production to the spiritual slant of Harrison’s greatest music outside of The Beatles. Still far and away the finest Fab Four solo venture. A spectacular listen.

todd rundgren: runt (1970)

+ Todd Rundgren: Runt - Also not a seasonal album, though released concurrently with All Things Must Pass in late 1970. Rundgren’s mix of Phily soul, power pop and fuzzy guitar psychedelia sets the stage. But the album’s air of wintry mystery sells the music. I listen to this every Christmas Eve, usually while on the road (to) somewhere.

john fahey: the new possibility (1968)

+ John Fahey: The New Possibility - Still my favorite Christmas album and, arguably, Fahey’s finest hour. The landmark guitarist plays carols and spirituals as though they were river tunes. Fahey’s unaccompanied acoustic guitar tone is alternately relaxed, brittle, warm and remarkably patient. Beautifully atmospheric and profoundly soulful.

waterson-carthy: holy heathens and the old green man (2006)

+ Waterson-Carthy: Holy Heathens and the Old Green Man - This is the one to reach for when you want a taste of tradition. Heathens is a set of vocally dominant tunes of ages-old seasonal celebration punctuated by brass, cellos and melodeon. Leave it to the British to make merry with wassails that shake Yuletide cheer down to its very traditional core.

paddy moloney: silent night, a christmas in rome (1998)

+ Paddy Maloney: Silent Night, A Christmas in Rome - A heavily orchestrated album by the chief of the Chieftains. While there are hints of animated Irish folk tradition, Silent Night bears a more global and ghostly sound. The mix of the late Derek Bell’s harp and the Bulgarian Voices Angelite on Hei Lassie is hair-raising stuff.

mike keneally: wine and pickles

Mike Keneally: Wine and Pickles - It was 10 years ago this Halloween that guitarist Keneally first played Lexington. Fittingly, Wine and Pickles in a collection of previously unreleased works from the past decade. The menu: guitar excursions that frequently recall the invention and patient deliberation of his one-time employer, Frank Zappa. Keneally also displays a pop intellect as keen and arresting as his instrumental prowess.

ebony rhythm band: soul heart transplant

Ebony Rhythm Band: Soul Heart Transplant (The Lamp Sessions) - Wrap up the psychedelic soul of early Funkadelic, the B3 organ cool of Booker T. and the MGs and a huge, earthy rhythm that hailed out of (of all places) Indianapolis, and you have the session ensemble-turned-progressive soul brigade known as the Ebony Rhythm Band. Cut in 1969 and 1970, these gloriously dated grooves still sound fabulous.

ron wood: i've got my own album to do

Ron Wood: I’ve Got My Own Album to Do - One of my favorite fall rock albums, Wood released this solo debut in late 1974, between his tenures in the Faces and the Rolling Stones. Naturally, members of both bands help out on the very loose fitting sessions. But the coolest moments are also the quietest: Mystify Me (a pop-soul nugget covered decades later by Son Volt) and the serene George Harrison collaboration, Far East Man.

john martyn/danny thompson: germany 1986

John Martyn/Danny Thompson: Germany 1986 - Hearing of Martyn’s recent but brief surfacing in New York sent me scrambling for this 2001 archival release. The concert is saturated in Martyn’s peculiar ambience - specifically, sleepy (boozy?) vocal moans and echoplex driven guitar colors that reach a zenith during 17 delirious minutes of Outside In and One World. But Thompson’s Mingus-like bass work steals the show.

john cale: eat/kiss

John Cale: Eat/Kiss, Music for the Films of Andy Warhol - The Warhol films honored by Cale on this 1997 album date back to the mid ‘60s. But the music, first performed by three-quarters of the Velvet Underground in 1994 (Lou Reed was absent) was expanded for large ensemble performances in Lille, France with layers of twilight synths, B.J. Cole’s provocative pedal steel guitar and haunting vocal wails. Disturbingly beautiful.

terence blanchard: "a tale of god's will"

Terence Blanchard: A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina) - Three years on, with Hurricane Katrina’s devastation nearly echoed by Gustav, this extraordinary song cycle - a mix of percussive fire, ominous Crescent City swing and elegiac strings - still sounds vital. Understandably, Blanchard’s trumpet tone sets the album’s numerous moods, from celebratory sass to plaintive reflection to deep rooted blues and sadness.

josh rouse: "the best of the rykodisc years"

Josh Rouse: The Best of the Rykodisc Years - Though perhaps not as worldly as his recent indie albums, the material on this two-disc anthology offers the genesis of a master pop stylist. It boasts the twilight chill of Under Cold Blue Stars, the retro bounce of 1972 and the quietly regal Streetlights. There are unreleased treats and demos here, as well. But it’s the refresher course on a quickly blooming artistic voice that satisfies most.

sugar cane harris: "sugar cane's got the blues"

Don “Sugar Cane” Harris: Sugar Cane’s Got the Blues - An album I never thought to find on CD - but did. Harris was the violinist that distinguished himself on Frank Zappa’s seminal Hot Rats. But the music on this 1972 concert relic flirts with broken blues, fusion jams and densely patterned funk. Harris is a bit of a vocal ham at times, but the solemn groove on Song for My Father, along with Terje Rypdal’s guitar surrealism, sweetens Sugar’s muse.

tower of power: "tower of power"

Tower of Power: Tower of Power - Saturday’s Roots & Heritage Festival show by Lenny Williams is prompting a new listen to this 1973 gem. Rumor goes that the album was completed when the brass-bred band parted ways with Bump City singer Rick Stevens. Williams then stepped in and made the soon-to-be soul hit So Very Hard to Go and the monstrous, horn driven funk epic What is Hip? his own. All this and Soul Vaccination, too. Mercy.

paul desmond: "bridge over troubled water"

Paul Desmond: Bridge Over Trouble Water - This reissue of an obscure 1969 outing by saxophonist Desmond won’t come as much of a thrill to those who championed his work with Dave Brubeck. The repertoire sticks solely to Paul Simon songs, the band includes then-renegades Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter and the production by Don Sebesky is glossy and groove conscious. But’s Desmond’s tone is still steady and deliciously cool.

fleet foxes: "fleet foxes" (2008)

Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes - I’m a late convert to the engaging new pop and folk mix this young Seattle band creates. Amid all kinds of earthly and fanciful storylines are spacious echoes of early Fairport Convention and Strawbs along with vocals wrapped in the warm reverb that recalls My Morning Jacket. Toss in psychedelic tweaks in the vocal and instrumental arrangements and you have the one of the coolest debut albums of 2008.

david sanborn: "here & gone" (2008)

David Sanborn: Here & Gone - If you still sandwich sax kingpin Sanborn in with such wallpaper music merchants as Kenny G, then open your ears to the organic and keenly orchestral cool of Here & Gone. The Hank Crawford-era R&B of Ray Charles is the main reference point here, a fact highlighted by a richly swinging version of the former’s Stoney Lonesome. Throughout, Sanborn’s efficient alto wail is as distinctive as ever.

humble pie: "performance: rockin' the fillmore" (1971)

Humble Pie: Performance: Rockin’ the Fillmore - There was no greater Jekyll and Hyde guitar/vocal tag team than Steve Marriott and Peter Frampton, even though the latter split for a solo career before Performance was released in 1971. Marriott is simply devilish here, a blues/boogie showman of fearsome intensity. Frampton supplies the guitar muscle, transforming I Don’t Need No Doctor into a savage electric groove anthem.

love tractor: "love tractor" and "til the cows come home" (1981, 1984)

Love Tractor: Love Tractor/’Til the Cows Come Home - A 1991 CD issue of music cut by what was then the predominantly instrumental Athens, Ga. band between 1981 and 1984. The grooves are elemental, even static at times. But the pop sensibilities are broad as the band counters the dying New Wave with a pastiche of surf, pop and twang. The version of Kraftwerk’s Neon Lights typlifies this detached but sleek hullabaloo.

pentangle: "cruel sister" (1970)

Pentangle: Cruel Sister - Fleet Foxes’ take on psychedelic folk inspired a new listen to one of England’s most pioneering bands in that field. Cruel Sister was released in 1970 with guitarists John Renbourn and Bert Jansch adding sitar, concertina and electric strings to the fanciful singing of Jacqui McShee and the jazzier bass work of Danny Thompson. An 18-minite revision of the folk gem Jack Orion presented Pentangle at its creative zenith.

No, it’s not a flashback. But last weekend’s Summerfest production of Hair turned the way-back machine for me to the year the story was set in: 1968.

It was a year of chaos. Escalation in Vietnam, the back-to-back assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy and often oppressive racial tension made up what was a wildly tumultuous year. Luckily, a renewed listen earlier this week to the sublime music that came out of that year casts 1968 in a modestly kinder light,

The Beatles’ “white album,” The Rolling Stones’ Beggars’ Banquet and The Kinks’ The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society led the British charge that year. But for Hair’s sake, I dug back into music made and released in 1968 on the Great American West Coast that indeed let the sunshine in during a very bleak year. 

buffalo springfield: "last time around"

Buffalo Springfield: Last Time Around (July) - A peacemeal album released after the band’s breakup in May, Last Time Around hints at what would come from its members. Kind Woman planted the country rock seeds Richie Furay harvested for Poco, Special Care was a preamble to Stephen Stills’ solo career and I Am a Child opened the door for one of Canada’s most arresting songsmiths: Neil Young.

the doors: "waiting for the sun"

The Doors: Waiting for the Sun (July) - While far from its finest hour, The Doors’ third album in 16 months yielded a monster hit (Hello, I Love You), a flowery psychedelic pop exploit (Love Street) and some truly adventurous and, yes, trippy stuff like the mix of flamenco and outer space frenzy on Spanish Caravan and Jim Morrison’s penultimate war protest saga, The Unknown Soldier.

sly and the family stone: "life"

Sly and the Family Stone: Life (September) - Few West Coast bands broke down racial division on the pop music front the way Sly Stone’s fuzzy psychedelic funk did. While it contained none of the band’s trademark hits (M’Lady and the album’s brassy title tune are the most recognizable singles), Life is undeniably the brightest record Sly and the Family Stone ever made. Leave it to Sly to party on as streets burned.

jefferson airplane: "crown of creation"

Jefferson Airplane - Crown of Creation (September) - Coming down ever so slightly after the gloriously excessive After Bathing at Baxter’s, the Airplane found scorched earth beneath its feet. Grace Slick’s twisted coming-of-age tale (Lather), Jorma Kaukonen’s weary psychedelic ramble (Star Track) and Paul Kantner’s ‘60s-inspired look at ‘50s apocalyptic paranoia (The House on Pooneil Corners) are Crown’s crowning touches.

spirit: "the family that plays together"

Spirit - The Family That Plays Together (December) - The second of four splendid albums by the most underrated psychedelic band of its time (and, maybe, of all time). The song structure on Family is suitably ‘60-ish when it wants to be (as on Dream Within a Dream). But the album’s orchestral reach is defined, tasteful and mature. And, on the hit I Got a Line on You, the music rocks like mad, too.

"the go sessions" (1976-77, 2005)

Stomu Yamashta’s Go: The Go Sessions - Finally, the recordings of Japanese percussionist and keyboardist Yamashta are starting to re-surface. The two-disc Go Sessions combines three albums (the third being a concert version of the first) full of fusion, prog-rock fire and an all-star band that features founding Santana drummer Michael Shrieve and famed jazz/rock guitarslinger Al DiMeola. But Steve Winwood’s otherworldly singing on Crossing the Line and Winner/Loser makes The Go Sessions essential late summer (night) listening.

"Vol. 1, Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails" (2008)

The Baseball Project: Vol. 1, Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails - A farm team project that combines Steve Wynn (The Dream Syndicate) with Scott McCaughey and Peter Buck (The Minus 5, R.E.M.). Musically, the vibe runs more to McCaughey’s Minus 5 albums than Wynn’s solo projects. But the mix of countless rock references (Neil Young, World Party and The Kinks all figure into Past Time) and oddball baseball yarns (The Yankee Flipper) inject America’s favorite pastime with a hearty electric jolt. 

"koln concert 1976" (2005)

Bill Evans Trio: Koln Concert 1976 - Just as there appears to be no end of concert recordings by the late, great Evans, there seems to be no limit to the unassuming ingenuity of his playing and piano phrasing. The opening Time Remembered casually invites you in. But like so many Evans recordings cut from the stage, the tempo starts to steam in no time. From the cleverly paced material (Dave Brubeck’s In Your Own Sweet Way) to the muscular bass support of Eddie Gomez, Koln is cool. 

"from now on" (2008)

Michael Doucet: From Now On - BeauSoleil headmaster Doucet broadens his Creole music menu but cuts back on the ingredients. The fiddle, full of rustic and effervescent fancy, is placed out front with only occasional seasonings of guitar and accordion. In fact, Doucet is so string-minded here that his primary foil is fellow fiddler Mitchell Reed. The repertoire shifts from Allen Toussaint’s Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky to the playful original blues of Fonky Bayou. The mood is loose, rootsy and most funky, indeed. 

"american university 12/13/70"

The Allman Brothers Band: American University 12/13/70 - A mail-order  archive recording that captures the initial Allmans lineup on the cusp of greatness. Not as primitive-sounding as Live at Ludlow Garage but not as supremely refined as its majestic Fillmore East album. Instead, the band mixes the blues spirits of Elmore James, Muddy Waters and Blind Willie McTell with its own seething compositions, a young guitar tag team of Duane Allman and Dickey Betts and a musical drive as relaxed as it was fearless.

surf's up (1971)

The Beach Boys: Surf’s Up - Sure, Brian Wilson could pen the most serene summertime soundtrack imaginable. But, as befitted his own personal crisis during the late ‘60s and ‘70s, his music could turn topical and savagely bittersweet. 1971’s Surf’s Up represents the best of three stellar early ’70s albums that erase some of Beach Boys sheen for a more unfinished, even downbeat mood. The title tune and ‘Til I Die are forgotten classics.

egyptology (1997)

World Party: Egyptology - Another pop gem from Karl Wallinger and company. Originally issued in 1997, Egyptology created a bigger stir overseas than domestically, especially after Brit pop star Robbie Williams covered She’s the One. But despite the title, this is luxurious pop without the Eastern intrigue (save for Strange Groove), from the pensive reflections of Rolling Off a Log to the celebratory cheer of It Is Time.

heart to heart (1978)

David Sanborn: Heart to Heart - Jazzers love to dismiss alto sax stylist Sanborn as just another pre-cursor to Kenny G. But on his fourth and finest album for Warner Bros, 1978’s Heart to Heart, Sanborn offers organic contemporary grooves while reaching for the orchestral arrangement (by Gil Evans, no less) of Short Visit. Top that with the most distinctive alto sound of his generation and you have a midsummer jazz treat.

thembi (1971)

Pharoah Sanders: Thembi - A sax man of an entirely different order, Sanders was in his post-Coltrane prime when Thembi was released in 1971. This 1998 re-issue punches up the earthy support of keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith. Sanders, though, remains a marvel. One minute, he designs a sax lead of meditative content. The next, he is peeling paint off the walls. Such is the restless, forthright path of great spiritual music.

the kinks are the village green preservation society (1968)

The Kinks: The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society - Released a month prior to the Rolling Stones’ Beggars’ Banquet and The Beatles’ “white album” in the late fall of 1968, Village Green was deemed a commercial disappointment at the time. Today, it stands as Ray Davies’ masterpiece, an album full of sunny Brit-pop, unmovable British resolve, post-psychedelic attitude and a queasy sense of mortality. God save the Kinks.

Sandy Denny: Live at the BBC - The great British songstress Sandy Denny died 30 years ago last April. As this superlative four disc set of BBC recordings (including a DVD of 1971 performances) underscores, no one has yet matched the poetic directness of her writing or the gorgeously understated finesse of her vocals. The first disc offers the essentials without the orchestral excess of her later solo records. But a bootleg-ish 1971 take on Blackwaterside with Richard Thompson typlifies the treasures here.

Sly and the Family Stone: Greatest Hits - When is a greatest hits album more than just an assemblage of popular tracks? In the case of this 1970 Sly Stone anthology, it is the opportunity to show off non-album hits - Hot Fun in the Summertime and Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) - along with such muscular album title-tune singles as Stand! and Dance to the Music. The result reflects the soul-pop serenity and rich earthy funk of the Woodstock era’s most industrious and enduring R&B rockers. Perfect summer music.

Ronnie Earl: Heart and Soul - Another sterling sampler from one of the most underappreciated blues stylists of our age.  Compiled from albums released between 1983 and 2003, including his extraordinary Black Top recordings, the one-time Roomful of Blues guitarist delivers loads of tasty, piledriving grooves. But when the attitude cools, as on I Smell Trouble (with Fabulous Thunderbird Kim Wilson on vocals) and Catfish Blues, the blues mood of Heart and Soul positively glows.

Sun Ra: Nothing Is - Sun Ra loved to tell audiences he and his band were from outer space. But as the wonderfully animated playing on this 1966 scrapbook of New York college performances attests, Ra’s music was further out in space than Ra himself ever was. The bits of broken bop, ragtime twists, chants and symphonic deconstruction sound as confrontational on the two-minute Imagination as they do on the 13 minute Shadow World. What Frank Zappa was to rock ‘n roll, Sun Ra was to jazz.

Old 97s: Blame It on Gravity - Rhett Miller and company remain indie-rock’s great Americana-drenched recyclers on Gravity. The album zooms instantly to life with a frenzied electric strum that could pass for an El Paso version of Pinball Wizard. Even crazier is the rockish tango with a zooming intro that sounds like a cross between Dick Dale and Rush. There are bursts of pure pop ingenuity, too, like Ride. But Miller still provides a hapless undercurrent to it all as an inviting, restless and slightly over-anxious host.

Wadada Leo Smith’s Golden Quartet: Tabligh - A co-founding member over 40 years ago of the AACM, the famed Chicago improvisational music collective, Smith shifts modes to a more atmospheric and discreetly groove-driven sound on the new Tabligh. The music recalls In a Silent Way-era Miles Davis. Gorgeously emotive, edgy and spacious jazz with a high melodic risk factor.

Sam Phillips: Don’t Do Anything - The amazing Ms. Phillips borrows a few lessons in how to warp elemental rock and folk melodies from ex-husband T Bone Burnett, adds a dash of Tom Waits surrealism, layers her tales of unrequited love in thick, humid guitar melancholy (the album’s title tune) and jangly unease (My Career in Chemistry) and tops it all with the voice of a squeamish chanteuse. Smashing stuff.

The Byrds: Live at the Royal Albert Hall 1971 - A newly unearthed concert document featuring the neglected ‘70s quartet version of The Byrds. The guitar sparring between Roger McGuinn and Clarence White propels this ragged but wildly compelling performance through forgotten Byrds gems (Lover of the Bayou), bluegrassy acoustics (Black Mountain Rag) and the hits (a truly psyche-ed out Eight Miles High).

The Strawbs - Just a Collection of Antiques and Curios - A largely acoustic, largely live 1970 record that sounds like a cross between The Moody Blues and Fairport Convention. Dave Cousins dressed later Strawbs albums with more glammed up psychedelia. But with help from a 21 year old Rick Wakeman, Antiques and Curios is half-hippie haze and half- Old England. A gloriously dated but wonderfully organic sounding prog-rock blueprint.

Return to Forever: Romantic Warrior - A cornerstone fusion album that allowed RTF to exist as a thrillseeking quartet instead of an electric vehicle for keyboardist Chick Corea. A case in point: Sorceress, a tune boasting one of Corea’s most dramatically paced piano solos. Yet the song was penned by drummer Lenny White. RTF is touring this summer for the first time in over 30 years. May its travels one day extend back to Lexington.

Al Green: Lay It Down - Following a pair of albums that reunited the Rev. Al with producer Willie Mitchell, Lay It Down has Green sharing production duties with Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson of The Roots on sessions that neatly employ the new generation brass of The Dap Kings. The result is an even finer approximation of Green’s early ‘70s soul sound than what surfaced on the recent Mitchell albums.

Matthew Shipp: Un Piano - A strong, but tough-to-find new solo piano recording that patiently wades through Shipp’s sometimes pensive, often ruminative and always compelling improvisational vocabulary. Un Piano seems lunconcerned with the avant garde tag has long pidgeonholed Shipp’s music. Instead, his intimate playing shifts from busted-up bop to passages of dark, sparse beauty to, yes, an abstract escapade or two.

Jakob Dylan: Seeing Things - The latest pop vet to opt for a Rick Rubin makeover, Dylan gives The Wallflowers the year off and delivers a mostly unaccompanied acoustic record. But don’t think Dylan has gone the folkie route of his famous father. Seeing Things still retains a pop sensibility within the stark musical settings Rubin creates. More in line with the early records of Richard Thompson and David Crosby than those of the elder Dylan.

The Ozark Mountain Daredevils: The Ozark Mountain Daredevils - Cross the country hippie stride of Goose Greek Symphony with the neo-psychedelia of the latter day Byrds and you get the earthy glow of the Ozarks. If You Wanna Get to Heaven became a hit when this fine debut was released in late 1973. But the entire album is a delight, from the gospel fervor of Standing on the Rock to the luxuriously wistful Colorado Song.

Andy Summers and Victor Biglione: Spendid Brazil - Covering last year’s Police concert at Churchill Downs triggered a renewed personal interest in guitarist Andy Summers’ solo catalogue, nearly all of which consists of instrumental jazz and Brazilian inclined music. This overlooked 2005 collaboration with Argentine born/Brazilian raised Victor Biglione is a light but substantially melodic set of duets that makes for ideal summer listening.