The Musical Box

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.

The Black Angels: Directions to See a Ghost - From deep in the heart of Austin, Texas comes a slab of psychedelia so thick and dark you would swear it was fashioned by the most daring of drone-infatuated bands that spun out of mid ‘60s New York. But once the Angels move beyond the almost incantatory rhythms, you find lush guitar swirls, echo saturated singing and a touch of pop frenzy that, in the 16 minute album-closing opus Snake in the Grass, sound like The Doors had they hailed from the Bowery instead sunny L.A.

 Johnny Winter: Live Bootleg Series, Vols. I and II - Two more slices of Texas toasted music. But these single-disc sets reach back to the glory guitar blues and boogie days of Johnny Winter. While neither is particularly well annotated, the band lineup (bassist Jon Paris, drummer Bobby T.) suggests the music hails from the early-to-mid ‘70s. Pulled from Winter’s own collection of live recordings, the blues/rock sensibility here is cranky and unrelenting, despite a few odd dips in recording quality. But when Winter cools down, as on Vol. 1’s Stranger, the house party heats up all the more.

Pat Metheny with Christian McBride and Antonio Sanchez: Tokyo Day Trip Live EP - More varied than the Metheny Trio’s recent Day Trip studio album, this five track concert disc shifts the focus more to Metheny’s guitarwork, from a soft focus lullaby for guitar synthesizer (Tromso) to even quieter acoustic fare (Inori). But as the nasty rhythmic turns and rockish, percussive strut of Back Arm & Blackcharge kick in, you’re reminded of what an unexpectedly potent charge is brought to the stage by McBride and Sanchez. Too bad Metheny didn’t make this a full length live album.

Krzysztof Komeda: Astigmatic - The great Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko recently played a New York concert devoted the music of his saxophonist mentor, Krzysztof Komeda. In a review for the New York Times, critic Ben Ratliff referred to the 1966 Komeda album Astigmatic as “one of the great jazz records of its time.” Having finally tracked down a copy, it’s easy to hear why. The record has a keen compositional base, but flirts with combo cool (duly aided by a young Stanko) and free-style improvisation. A major jazz discovery. 

Renaissance: Novella - Somewhere between the psychedelic fancy of the Moody Blues, the folk excavation of early Fairport Convention and the prog-rock extremes of Yes was Renaissance. 1977’s Novella was supposed to be the album that shot the band to stardom. It didn’t. But hearing this 2001 CD edition of the album is a fine, if not eccentric listen. Singer Annie Halsam, as always, is the show stealer. For all the epic song structure and sweeping orchestration of the 13 minute Can You Hear Me?, Halsam’s crisp, honestly regal vocals serve as Renaissance’s most transportive tool..

The week’s off-hour listening has included:

Matching Mole: March - A second volume of live recordings by Robert Wyatt’s short-lived post-Soft Machine band recorded in 1972, but not released until 30 years later. The music borrows heavily from the Softs’ rugged blend of jazz, prog and psychedelia. And, yes, Wyatt’s singing is just as trippy here as it was during his Softs heyday. But guitarist Phil Miller is the ace in the hole on these recordings, especially during a treacherous Part of the Dance that makes March a live snapshot that rocks with depth and invention.

Zappa Plays Zappa: Zappa Play Zappa - The title refers to a band led by guitarist Dweezil Zappa devoted to the music of his father, Frank Zappa. Available in several formats, including a multiple CD/DVD package with a $50 price tag, I opted for the more checkbook-friendly single CD version for $15. Here, the focus is on more familiar Zappa material, if there is such a thing, that includes a faithful cover of I’m the Slime and a hysterically frenzied Cheepnis. But when Steve Vai joins the party for The Black Page, things really get heavy.

Quinteplus: Quinteplus - A new discovery, but an old sound. Last year saw the CD issue of a 1972 recording of a Buenos Aires jazz ensemble seemingly modeled on the more progressive music of Cannonball Adderley. It’s not exactly fusion, though Santiago Giavobble’s Rhodes-style keyboards give the brassy arrangements a modest pop accent. This new edition boasts 36 minutes of live recordings that percolate with even more flair than the studio work. An obscurity that is well worth seeking out.

Steve Nieve/Muriel Teodori: Welcome to the Voice - Inspired equally by Elvis Costello’s recent visit to the bluegrass (Nieve is Costello’s longtime keyboardist) and to the rediscovery of Matching Mole (Wyatt is among Voice’s voices) was a new listen to this 2007 neo-operatic “work about unlikely encounters. The mighty guest list includes Costello, Sting and soprano Barbara Bonney along with musical settings that shift from the one time Costello collaborators of the Brodsky Quartet to guitar renegade Marc Ribot. Indescribably wild.

Los Lobos: One Time One Night - Subtitled Live Recordings, Vol. 1, there are few clues in the notes as to where (other than “live in the U.S.A.”) or when these performances were presented. A good guess would be mid-1996, given the repertoire’s reliance on material for the band’s Colossal Head album. Regardless, One Time One Night captures a looser, funkier Los Lobos in action, from the brassy swagger of This Bird’s Gonna Fly to a recasting of Colossal Head’s title tune with a dose of Norman Whitfield-era Motown. Very cool.

Off-hours Derby week listening has included:

The Black Keys: Attack & Release - The psychedelic boogie duo meet the smart grooves of producer/pop stylist Danger Mouse. The result is The Black Keys’ most daring and varied set yet. The fun shifts from the prickly banjo and keyboards that pepper Psychotic Girl to the jagged dance of guitar and flute on Same Old Thing. But the straight up, two-man drive of guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney still fuels I Got Mine. Not raw but definitely not refined, Attack & Release is the sound of The Black Keys approaching color. 

Steve Winwood: Nine Lines - When Winwood turns off the star machine and gets down the more organic guitar/organ fueled rockers of his youth, he sounds positively ageless. While warmer and simpler than recent solo works, Nine Lines is also far meatier than Winwood’s beer commercial music of the late ‘80s. But when Dirty City cranks up the guitar with help from a swelling, percussive melody, the regal ghost of Traffic is stirred. And that, brother, is a mighty sound indeed.

Egberto Gismonti and Academia De Dancas: Sanfona - For this 1980, double-disc opus, Brazilian guitarist/pianist Gismonti drags the Nordic jazz sound of ECM Records south of the equator without sacrificing any of its patented mystery. One disc is a quartet session full of lustrous atmospherics. The other features Gismonti alone with a spacious guitar tone rivaled only the great Ralph Towner for its worldly scope. Don’t let the Brazilian heritage mislead you. Sanfona is grand, global music in every sense of the term.

The Replacements: Let It Be - Part of Rhino Records’ overhaul of the ‘Mats’ Twin/Tone catalog, 1984’s Let It Be presents Paul Westerberg and pals at the crossroads. The band’s punkish beginnings still bristle on We’re Comin’ Out and the hysterical Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out. But I Will Dare and Answering Machine edge the music closer to the pop inclinations that would soon envelope the band. Six bonus tracks, including a boozy, but straightfaced cover of The Grass Roots’ Temptation Eyes round out the ‘Mats’ finest hour. 

Soft Works: Abracadabra - A sumptuous session by four alumni members of the British prog rock/fusion band Soft Machine released in 2004. The music here is far more jazz inclined than the post-psychedelic grinds and fuzzy amplification of the Softs in their prime. But hearing the late saxophonist Elton Dean in an atypically tempered mood as he trades licks with the wiry guitar orchestrations of Allan Holdsworth while bassist Hugh Hopper and drummer John Marshall propel the modest swing makes for a grand listen.

Last week’s off-the-clock listening (done mostly in the car) included…

Ten Years After: Cricklewood Green - Eight months after a barnstorming set at Woodstock, Alvin Lee and company released this sleek mix of moody British psychedelia and guitar-drenched boogie. Blending boomed up bass and harpsichord on 50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain betrays slightly the era this moody music hailed from. All the better.

Ali Farka Toure: Niafunke - Named for his village deep in the heart of Mali on the River Niger, Toure creates otherwordly, contemplative music out of an ultra-earthy West African recipe of wily, wiry guitarspeak, a percussive foundation of calabash and congas and mercurial counterpoint from the njarka violin. This is the sound of rhythm and peace.

King Crimson: Vrooom Vrooom: The return of the Crimson dynamo to American stages this summer, with founder Robert Fripp and Kentucky’s own Adrian Belew still on guitar, prompted a new listen to this two-disc concert sampler by the band’s mid ‘90s “double duo” lineup (two guitarists, two drummers and, in effect, two bassists). A beast.

The Modern Jazz Quartet: European Concert - Picked this 2006 single disc edition of two champion MJQ live albums from 1960 up over the winter for 6 bucks. The packaging is as dime-store as reissues come. But the music is bliss. Another reminder of how cool, stately and soulful pianist John Lewis and vibes great Milt Jackson sounded together.

Longview: Deep in the Mountain - What makes this traditional all-star bluegrass outing such a treat isn’t just the lineup, although having Kentucky heroes J.D. Crowe and Don Rigsby in the same band again sure sounds sweet. The real pleasure is how Longview can exact such old-timey charm from a new original tune like Weathered Grey Stone.