Best Music 2011

Here are my favorite albums** released this year:

1. The King is Dead - The Decemberists

For a long time, The Decemberists were like a cipher made up of things I should love, I could never quite figure them out until I heard this record. It sounds like R.E.M. (a noted influence of frontman Colin Meloy) by way of British folk, which is to say it sounds a lot like the late 60s Kinks record. An absolutely great record.

Key tracks: "Down By the Water," "June Hymn" 

2. Helplessness Blues - Fleet Foxes

A sublime experience, both deeply personal and expansively orchestrated. Less delicate than their debut album, it's not so much a departure as an expansion. It is self-reflection without pretension, over a beautiful soundscape, this time with guitar riffs and grooves backing the choral vocals.

Key tracks: "Montezuma," "Grown Ocean"

3. Torches - Foster the People

The wait for Torches seemed like forever. After "Pumped Up Kicks," and "Helena Beat" started to circulate, I never thought the full album would be anywhere near as good as it turned out to be. This is already a classic from this era, a record I'll pull out 15 years from now and remember exactly how I felt this past summer.

Key tracks (besides the two I already mentioned): "Don't Stop (Color on the Walls)," "Houdini"

4. El Camino - Black Keys

After The Black Keys went from indie blues darlings to massive hitsmen with last year's "Tighten Up," the Keys return to with a record you could complain about for being more of the same, but when the same is this good, who cares? This record also sees Danger Mouse step on board as a co-writer, and this album was actually written music first, then lyrics. While some may lament the lack of the blues ballads that dot Brothers, El Camino lives up to its name, a true car record, one I can listen to all the way through without even thinking about hitting the skip button.

Key tracks: "Lonely Boy," "Money Maker"

5. CAMP - Childish Gambino

I discovered Donald Glover through my favorite TV show right now, Community (six seasons and a movie!), and was amazed to hear just how good of a rapper he is. I mostly don't dig on newer rap, for a variety of reasons, but Glover's delivery is as sincere as it is organic. He riffs on the establishment, his identity within the Black community, all using adroit pop culture references and well constructed rhymes.

Key tracks: "Bonfire," "Backpackers"

6. 21 - Adele

What is left to say about this album? Not much, except that while the singles are catchy (and ubiquitous) the true heart of the album are in the deep cuts, and the soulful voice of the girl who captured sorrow.

Key tracks: "Set Fire to the Rain" "Rumour Has It"

7. Strange Mercy - St. Vincent

Strange Mercy is the first time it's really been possible to connect emotionally with St. Vincent, as this record is much more of a personal statement. It ranges from fears of monogamy, feminism, depression, and many others thoughts as the artist attempted to separate herself from information overload.

Key tracks: "Cheerleader" "Year of the Tiger"

8. ROME - Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi

I love spaghetti westerns, and this is a wonderful musical experiment captures that sound perfectly. From my review: "This is a very successful project, and the addition of the vocals of Jack White and Nora Jones adds a layer of distinctness all it's own. Some may see the individual tracks as not particularly interesting, but that makes sense given that this album is structured as a film score. It is really meant to back up a film, and serves it's purpose as such. This sometimes may leave it feeling lacking imagery, but I still really enjoy the music standalone."

Key tracks: "Two Against One," "Problem Queen"

9. So Beautiful Or So What - Paul Simon

As a huge Paul Simon fan, it is just awe inspiring to see him right such a great pop album at this stage of his career. It is deep and spiritual, but also accessible and universal in the way that only art can be.

Key tracks: "So Beautiful Or So What" "The Afterlife"

10. King of Limbs - Radiohead

I had a really adverse reaction to King of Limbs when it first came out, as it felt like an incomplete statement after the amazingness of In Rainbows. I find some of the lyrics incoherent or indecipherable, but it doesn't matter. While I initially found the sampling and electronic looping distracting, the reason this record earns its spot is the rhythm section of Phil Selway and Colin Greenwood. This is their Radiohead record, and they can groove with the best.

Key tracks: "Bloom" "Lotus Flower"

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order):

• Cults (self-titled)
• Ceremonials - Florence + The Machine
• Kiss Each Other Clean - Iron & Wine
• Undun - The Roots
• The Hunter - Mastodon

A top 25 playlist coming soon! Also 2011 in Movie Music will be at my other blog Filmhash!

**By a single artist. 

Album of the Week #37 - Vampire Weekend

Debut albums are always exciting, as they constitute the birth of a new band into the world. Vampire Weekend's eponymous debut is no exception, and one of those albums I loved the first time I listened to it. It is infectious and exciting, and felt directly targeted at college students, which I was when the album came out. First albums are many times good because a band has been working on those songs for a while prior to recording. They have often been played extensively live, and by that point a band usually has a handle on what works for that song.

The album opens with the band's first single, "Mansard Roof." Like most of the songs on this album, I'd describe it as bright and sunny, and introduces both the afro-pop sound and collegiate aesthetic the band is known for. This track also does well as a spotlight for Chris Tomson, the drummer. While Ezra Koenig and Rostam Batmanglij get a lot of love in the music press, Tomson is the band's unsung hero.

The second track, "Oxford Comma," shows the band having more than one sound, as the afro-pop influences are not as prominent here, placing full emphasis on Ezra's words. HIs inventive rhymes and lyrical structure are quite endearing, and again, the subject matter reinforces the Ivy League attitude the band was presented with.

"A-Punk" is perhaps the fastest song on the album, and the drum beat and organ (synth) really shine here. This is a song that really moves, and I'm pretty sure that's why I've heard it in upteen movies and TV shows. Again, Chris Tomson really shines here, and the beat that drives this track is mesmerizing.

The fourth track, "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" is the most essential one on this album, and has the most prominent afro-pop influences. For those that aren't aware (I wasn't), a 'kwassa kwassa' is a rhythm originating from the Congo (DRC) in the 1970s, a faster version of the soukous dance music that started in the region in the 1930s and 40s as an African rumba.

"M79" starts out with a nice string part (Ivy League again), and is one of two songs co-written by Keonig and Batmanglij (all others are Koenig solo credit). I also really enjoy the background vocals here, and the change in beat for the end segment of the song, which provides a nice building to the climax of the first side of the record.

The second side doesn't have as many standouts as the first, but it does have "One (Blake's Got a New Face)" one of the band's best live tracks, with a fun call-answer structure. I mentioned earlier the collegiate ambience the Ivy League members of the band carried with them, and nowhere is that more crystallized on "Campus," the sixth track on this album, which details the romance between a man and a graduate student that has since fallen apart. It may be the most perfect iteration of the awkwardness after a college relationship ends. One of my favorites.

"Walcott" is a blast, and perhaps most reflects the themes Vampire Weekend plays with most: privilege and geography. Besides, an escape from Cape Cod may be just what you need at this point in the album.
Overall, there are two main things that make Vampire Weekend special. One, they're updating of the 70s/80s fascinating with West African sounds for the current indie pop generation, and Koenig's attention to detail. He's a fantastic narrator, and his prime understanding of details that are revealing make each song feel lived in.

This album is a new classic, and already one of my all-time favorites.

Album of the Week appears every Wednesday at Silberwhatever.com. Each week I discuss an album in context of influence, artistic merit, and whatever else seems slightly relevant. Suggest an album by commenting below or tweeting @ me!

Album of the Week #36 - Magical Mystery Tour

The Beatles had remarkably few missteps during their career, and Magical Mystery Tour may be the only one in terms of a major release. The genesis for the album was the idea that rather than performing live, The Beatles would just do films. Magical Mystery Tour was to be the first such project (it was also the last), and was shot by the band to be shown on BBC1 the day after Christmas. The film was a critical diaster, and McCartney actually apologized for it.

The six songs in the film were released a month prior to the premiere, and because the running time was less than twenty minutes, it was too short for an LP, and too long for a pure EP release (and switching the record from 45 rpms to 33 1/3 rmps would have severely reduced the sound quality). Ths it became a rare double-EP release, which also made it a bargain for UK residents, who were able to pick it up for less than a pound (about £13 in today's prices). The album was well-recieved, especially compared to the film. However, thanks to meddling by Capitol Records, the Beatles' US distributer, Magical Mystery Tour was better recieved on the colonial side of the Atlantic.

The EP was never a popular format in the United States, and Capitol decided to add singles released earlier in the year, and make it a full length LP. The A side of the LP contained the songs from the film, and the second side contained five single releases from that year, including the new "Hello, Goodbye" (the odd number is because "I am the Walrus" was the B-side of "Hello, Goodbye"). This US release was very well-received, and the Capitol version even charted in England. In fact, the American tracking was popular enough to be the only US release to replace the (original) British tracking when The Beatles' albums were standardized for the 1987 CD releases.

Because the second, "singles" side of the album is extremely well known, and I would be tempted to write volumes on them myself, I am only going to focus on the six tracks on the original British version. This also helps crystalize MMT for the failure it was.

The album opens with the title track, a joyous invitation inviting the audience to join the band on this adventure. This follows right from the Sgt. Pepper sessions, and it's easy to see that. One can imagine that Billy Shears is calling his audience back. It's a fun tune, and there aren't a lot of other Beatles songs that sound like this.

"Fool on the Hill" is a fine McCartney song, either inspired by a walk on Primrose Hill or the Maharishi Yogi, or both. Written like a pop standard, with the piano dominating the foreground, it's a nice comparison piece to Lennon's earlier "Nowhere Man."

The next track, "Flying," is probably my least favorite Beatles track, and not because it's an instrumental so much as it's a boring instrumental. Plodding and slow, it saps any energy the album might of had, and it's a rare occasion I don't just skip over it.  "Blue Jay Way" is Harrison's contribution to the EP, and is an experiment in recording as much as it is a song. The lyrics are fine, but I find the production and mixing techniques to be more overpowering than interesting.

The penultimate song is a McCartney track, "Your Mother Should Know," and continues themes he explored in "When I'm 64," but to less effect. It's a simple song, and shows Paul favoring his English roots.

"I Am the Walrus" is easily the best of the film soundtrack, and the story of Lennon writing nonsense lyrics after finding out his former elementary school was using his lyrics in class is charming. Although John did remark that if he had better understood Alice in Wonderland, the song would have been "I am the Carpenter." He didn't realize that the Walrus was the villain.

Capitol did really save this entire project from being a failure, as the best songs on this double-EP easily could have been a single release. But it's important to know that even The Beatles weren't infallible, and Magical Mystery Tour is proof.

Album of the Week #35 - Remain in Light

This landmark fourth studio album by the Talking Heads largely stems from the desire to experiment and also disprove the critics who thought of the Heads as David Byrne's backup band. Released in October of 1980, Remain in Light was produced by Brian Eno, who encouraged the use of African polyrhythms and the use of samples and loops in the recording process.

The band left New York City, and with it, the traditional way it had developed new material. Rather than craft melodies suited to Byrne's words, the band worked in long instrumental jam sessions. Finding inspiration in this new way of composing music, Byrne compared it to the communal way African music was put together, and this determined the whole direction of the album. Most of the instrumental pieces were recorded in the Bahamas without any accompanying lyrics, and Byrne struggled with trying to find the words. Eventually, he basically gave up and began recording onomatopoeic rhymes and sounds to go with the words, following Eno's advice that lyrics were only one component of a song's meaning.

This entire process, from the jam sessions to the way the lyrics were written, give the album a feel of free association and movement as opposed to the structure found in most Western music. This certainly describes the entirety of side one, with all three songs winding through rhythms and riffs. Byrne's vocals are certainly secondary here, with a mix of preaching, chanting, rhyming, rapping, and spoken words adding another layer to the songscape.

The standout song on the album is definitely "Once in a Lifetime," a rare song from the first year of a decade that came to define it. While it never became a huge success as a single, it is a landmark recording, both in engineering and lyrics, and came to define a portion of the New Wave sound, as well as early rap, born from funk. As to what the song is about, I could not do a better job than NPR in their retrospective 10 years ago:

Some critics have suggested that "Once in a Lifetime" is a kind of prescient jab at the excesses of the 1980s. Byrne says they're wrong; that the lyric is pretty much about what it says it's about.

"We're largely unconscious," Byrne says. "You know, we operate half awake or on autopilot and end up, whatever, with a house and family and job and everything else, and we haven't really stopped to ask ourselves, 'How did I get here?' "

Eno says the album still stands out as an antidote to the jaded attitudes that dominated the pop world in the 1970s.

"It had all been done," Eno says, "and the only thing left worth doing was some sort of urban pessimism of some kind, and that record is terribly optimistic in a way. It's very up and, like, looking out to the world and saying, 'What a fantastic place we live in. Let's celebrate it.' And I think we knew that was a fresh thought at the time."

Overall, this is a wonderful album, and a landmark, though it may not be for everyone, any listen is worthwhile, as I always discover some new layer in the music.

Album of the Week #34 - Born to Run

The world lost a legend over the weekend. As I am sure you have heard, Clarence "The Big Man" Clemmons, E Street Band saxophonist, suddenly passed away due to complications from a stroke. While I can only ruminate on my own experience, growing up in house filled with Springsteen records and CDs, as well as concert experiences, I can say this is a loss that has touched my family and I very deeply. So I have chosen to dedicate this entry of Album of the Week to the memory of The Big Man, and the album I most associate with his memory, Born to Run.

This is an album as mythical and legendary as The Big Man himself, and it also happens to be the most often played album in our house. To quote the album's opening track, "Thunder Road," a third album was Springsteen's "one last chance to make it real." Both Greetings from Asbury Park and The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle were met with critical acclaim, but little commercial success. The album took over 14 months to record, with 6 months of that dedicated solely to perfecting the title track.

The album is also notable for being the first assembly of the "classic" E Street Band lineup, with The Big Man, Roy Bittan on piano, Danny Federici on organ, Garry W. Tallent on bass, and Max Weinberg on drums (Ernest "Boom" Cartner and David Sancious play drums and piano on the title track, though). Future member Steven Van Zandt also appears, and was instrumental in breaking Bruce's frustration in expressing his 'wall of sound' vision for the album.

This is also one of those albums that is just top-to-bottom legendary, starting with the cover. A wraparound black and white photograph of Bruce leaning on Clarence. A white man leaning on a black man, a strong racial statement, coupled with a striking visual design so iconic it's been copied by everyone from Cheap Trick to Sesame Street. The album itself is also balanced, with both sides beginning with a call to escape and ending with loss and defeat.

The album itself begins with "Thunder Road," an unorthodox song in the sense that it does not follow a traditional song structure, with the entire song building toward the climax. It's a perfect introduction to the album, and indeed, Springsteen's work as whole. "Thunder Road," along with the title song, serve as the perfect bridge between the early escapism and Dylan-esque lyrics of Springsteen's early work and the blue collar mission adapted from the next album, Darkness on the Edge of Town. It's an invitation to the audience, to come with Springsteen on a crazy journey.

If "Thunder Road" is an invitation, then "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" is a guest list. It's a retelling of the story of the E Street Band, and while the meaning of the term is still a mystery, this is a rocking R&B tune. It is especially poignant right now, with the passing of The Big Man, whose joining the band is told in the third verse. Like many other Springsteen singles, it didn't hit high on the charts, but it is a live favorite, with it becoming one of a few songs Bruce would use to introduce the band, clocking in over 15 minutes.

Another thread in the blue collar transition Springsteen was making, "Night" is a high tempo song about a man who escapes life by drag racing and looking for love. It also marks the beginning of the transition to the darker themes. Both sides begin by glorifying night life and escape, but the protagonist in this song feels just as trapped at night as he does at work during the day. The side closes with "Backstreets," a song that starts with a long instrumental opening, like a storyteller setting a scene. It's an epic song about the demise of a relationship, played out against the backdrop of North Jersey nights, painful, yet grand in the eyes of those who live it.

From the pain of "Backstreets," the second side opens with the title track, which can be seen as a metaphor for the album as a whole, "a last chance power drive" for Springsteen's career. Both Springsteen and the song's main character will do anything to get out of Asbury Park. It was the first song recorded for the album, and started Springsteen's reputation as a perfectionist in recording. When the single was released in August of 1975, it launched Springsteen to superstardom famously landing him the cover of both Time and Newsweek simultaneously. It is truly one of the great rock songs.

"She's the One" wears its Bo Diddley influence proud, as well as Bruce's love for Clarence. Bruce states that the entire song was written around Clarence's powerful sax solo, with the melody and the lyrics following. It also has one of my favorite piano parts in all of pop music, rhythmic and driving. "Meeting Across the River" is Springsteen's experiment in a film noir style, describing a dirty deal and a trip to New York City. It is slow, brooding, and ominous, and a transiting into the album's closer, the epic "Jungleland."

The album ends on an epic note, with the almost ten-minute closer detailing romance, gang violence, and perhaps the greatest sax solo in the history of rock and roll. It's the mirror of "Backstreets," which closes out side one, and ends the album on a down note. The main character, "The Rat" ends with his own dream killing him. These are the dreams from "Thunder Road" and "Born to Run," finally being given up. It's a fantastic song, and it's really all about that sax solo.

Born to Run is one of the most essential in all of rock and roll. It's practically a perfect album, and quite literally launched the entire career of Springsteen. It also underscores how much of a loss in Clarence Clemmons, though every time these songs are played, he lives on.

Album of the Week appears every Wednesday at Silberwhatever. Each week I discuss an album in context of influence, artistic merit, and whatever else seems slightly relevant. Suggest an album by commenting below or tweeting @ me!

Album of the Week #33 - Eagles: Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975)

I have never been a huge fan of the Eagles, especially the early years (I like bands more rock leaning Joe Walsh era, which begins with the album Hotel California. However, it always fascinated me that Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) became the best-selling album of all time, even with the RIAA's screwy methodology for determining that. Perhaps my lack of fondness for this record stems from my feelings toward country music, as this album is much more "country" than later Eagles records, or even Cosby, Stills and Nash or Creedence Clearwater Revival. That being said, sales status aside, it's worth examining.

The Eagles were originally recruited as session musicians to back Linda Ronstadt in 1971. They did so on her debut album, and at a single live appearance at a Disneyland concert. "Take It Easy" is the first track on this collection, and was the band's first single. Penned by Jackson Browne, this is a fantastic song, and perhaps one of the best examples of country rock. It doesn't lean too far in either direction, and talks about the open road, a topic the Eagles are perhaps most associated with. Glenn Frey provides the lead vocals, and is also notable for having Bernie Leadon on banjo in the background, which I think gives the song it's unique flavor.

"Witchy Woman" is next, and is a classic example of a song at the crossroads of country and the blues. It's the first Eagles single with Don Henley on lead vocals, but it's Bernie Leadon who wrote the melody. Leadon came to Henley with the minor-key guitar riff that features prominently in the track, sounding like an Ennio Morricone theme for Indians, and Henley wrote lyrics that captured that feeling while having the flu.

The compilation then jumps ahead to 1975 and the soft ballad "Lyin' Eyes," which was the band's only major hit on the country charts. It's rise to prominence was helped by it's appearance on the Urban Cowboy soundtrack, an essential entry in the "John Travolta Dances Across America Trilogy." The song was written as a made up story between two people who meet at a bar, as observed by Henley and Frey. It's a perfectly fine ballad, though I prefer the shorter single version to the extended album version heard here. Interesting factoid: The album release is 6:22, and the single edit is 4:14. However, the record lists the single version as 3:58, because Top 40 radio at the time would rarely play anything longer than four minutes.

"Already Gone" is the first Eagles single to feature Don Felder "the fifth Eagle" on guitar, and his presence is immediately felt in some really nice guitar work. Closing out side one of the record is "Desperado," I think it was the only track on this record that was not already a single, probably because you usually won't hear a such a mercilessly slow song on the radio. However, the song writing itself is fantastic. It is also prominently featured in the Seinfeld episode "The Checks," when Elaine's boyfriend Brett, becomes transfixed anytime he hears the song.

"One of These Nights" opens side two, and is one of the all-time best songs about procrastination. From the album of the same name, it was the band's fourth album, and their breakthrough. Critically acclaimed and immensely popular, it was one of the reasons why this compilation was released. This song was their second number one hit, and curiously features very disco-sounding backing vocals. The next song, "Tequila Sunrise," capitalized on the popularity of the drink, and this song mostly succeeds in spite of the cliché sounding title/chorus.

"Take It to the Limit" is one of my favorite Eagles songs, and happens to be the only single sang by Randy Meisner, the band's bassist. The song, about loneliness and lost love, was reportedly a point of contention between Meisner and Frey, resulting in at least one physical confrontation backstage prior to a performance. Meisner left the band after the Hotel California Tour, and rerecorded the song on his 1978 debut solo album, with David Cassiday providing backup vocals, so I think we can all agree that Frey won.

The album then returns to the band debut album for its third single, "Peaceful Easy Feeling," which features a nice three part harmony by Frey, Leadon, and Meisner, that builds within the song. The compilation is closed out by the band's first number one hit, "Best of My Love," which perhaps the most 'easy listening' friendly song on the entire record, and is the kind of song I usually skip over, as it seems like it would play well at the end of a high school dance. Blech.

Overall, this compilation is notable not only sales-wise, but also because it's fantastically tracked. The tracks are balanced well between the two halves, and they flow nicely. This is one of those things that most people have a copy of, and if you don't go get it! The record can usually be picked up for a dollar at two at most yard sales and flea markets!

Album of the Week appears every Wednesday at Silberwhatever. Each week I discuss an album in context of influence, artistic merit, and whatever else seems slightly relevant. Suggest an album by commenting below or tweeting @ me!

Album of the Week #32 - The Who Live at Leeds

I have a strange relationship with live albums. While I love live music, I sometimes feel like I want that live music to sound more or less like the album version. I'm torn between wanting to get the experience of seeing the songs I love performed live and in person, and having a unique experience that could only be heard live.

However, on a live album, I want the artist to play with the composition a little bit, change it up, draw it out. Good live albums capture the intensity of a band's live performance, while the great ones also capture a moment in time. Live, unlike studio albums, are neccessarily tied to the context when they were made. The Bob Dylan "Royal Albert Hall" Concert, Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison, and Nirvana, MTV Unplugged in New York all capture historic moments, and The Who's Live at Leeds falls in the same category.

While Live at Leeds' moment isn't as readily identify as 'Dylan Goes Electric,' it does capture a fantastic moment in time. The Who are the loudest, and perhaps weirdest band to come out of the British Invasion, as many of their lyrics seem to be preoccupied with mental illness. The Who's live shows were legendary as early as 1964, with their trademark instrument destruction, and which continued through the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival and their appearance on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Leeds definitely maintains the integrity of the intense live shows. The album was recording in 1970, Live at Leeds was recorded at the end of their tour for landmark rock opera Tommy, with concert dates scheduled preciesly so they wouldn't have to go through the tapes from dates all across the tour.

Because of the high esteem this release has had within The Who's catalogue, it has had at least four separate releases, the later ones which add the entirety of the Tommy set to the original release. I am only going to focus on songs featured on the original 1970 LP release and the 1995 compact disc release, as Tommy will be it's own Album of the Week entry someday.

The CD release opens with "Heaven and Hell," which acted as the B-side to the album's only single release, a cover of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues." The song was used as a show opener for almost every show on the tour, despite a studio version not really ever getting a release. It's really one of the better "Entwistle" b-sides, as the songs penned by the band's bassist are known.

This is followed by "I Can't Explain," one of the band's best known songs, and first hit single. The song is basically a tribute to The Kinks by way of "Louie Louie," but that's a feature, not a failure. This version is stretched out a little from the studio one, and allows the song to breathe more, and emphasize the rhythm section more. Following is another cover, "Fortune Teller," which I'm pretty sure was covered by all of the British blues bands in the 1960s. Another cover follows, "Young Man's Blues," and this cover is vastly more well-known than the original, and the Leeds version in particular really shows off drummer Keith Moon's amazing skills.

Another quick one is "Happy Jack," another of the band's well known early hits. I like listening to this version because it really allows you to hear the differing vocals of Daltrey and Entwistle. This follows with "I'm a Boy," and is probably the song that most obviously bridges the early power pop to the later rock opera stylings The Who (mainly Townshend) were starting to explore.

Next is "A Quick One, While's He's Away," a proto-opera about long distance relationships and infidelity. It's a blast of fun, and the six sections flow nicely together, making it one of my absolute favorite Who songs. "Summertime Blues" is probably the most famous track on this album, and it was the only single released. One of the all time great rock covers, The Who take Eddie Cochran's original summertime jaunt and make it heavy.

The album ends with two extended epics, the first of which is "My Generation." There are few rock songs more perfect than this, as it has everything. Fantastic lyrics combined with a great rocker, and this version turns this into a jam worthy of any band. This is paired with another epic jam on "Magic Bus," and this is the recording used in the final montage of Goodfellas.

Overall, The Who's Live at Leeds is an essential album in anyone's collection, and a blast to listen to. Also, it has a great mix between well-known classics and live-only songs. Highly recommended.

Album of the Week #31 - Saturday Night Fever

There are many ways to frame the rise and fall of disco, and there have been lots of things written about it, although there has yet to be a definitive history of it. Whether disco was about minorities (gays, blacks, and Latinos) subverting white male driven culture for a short time, or the hippies of the 1960s giving way to the sheer debauchery of the 70s, with disco as a glitter sheen over everything, it may not really matter in the end. Disco was a phenomenon unlike anything else, and Saturday Night Fever is arguably the most important release of that era.

I am going to try to focus mostly on the music, although the film and the soundtrack are so closely tied together (even more so than with most soundtracks). It's easy to look back on disco now and view it as some sort of novelty genre, and Saturday Night Fever almost a self-aware parody, but that is simply not the case. Even more than just being earnest about disco, SNF took it very seriously.

The film came at exactly the right time in the trend's lifecycle. Disco had become massively popular within it's subculture, but had yet to really gain traction in the mainstream. In fact, Bill Oakes, who supervised the soundtrack, said that "Disco had run its course. These days, Fever is credited with kicking off the whole disco thing–-it really didn't. Truth is, it breathed new life into a genre that was actually dying." The same could be said about The Bee Gees' career. Almost falling off the radar entirely, they had nothing to lose from the project, and in fact made their whole career on it. While they weren't involved in the film at all until after filming, but did end up contributing 7 of the 17 songs on the soundtrack, which was filled out by previous disco songs.

Now, the album plays like a "Greatest Hits of Disco" compilation. The Bee Gees songs are the real standouts, of course, but "Disco Inferno," "A Fifth of Beethoven," and "Open Sesame" are highlights as well. While disco may not have been as popular as it was, there is a reason why this album has gone 15 times platinum. It may not be your kind of music, but if you like Lady Gaga or Madonna, you should definitely check it out.

Album of the Week #30 - Icky Thump

With their recent breakup becoming official this year, it seems The White Stripes will become known as Jack White's first project. Now, he is a brand unto himself, and has been seen as part of The Raconteurs, Dead Weather, writing James Bond songs, and guesting on Danger Mouse's Rome project. I wanted to take a look back the final White Stripes album, Icky Thump.

While Icky Thump was meant to be a return to the original punk, blues, garage rock fusion of the band's sound after some disappointment with a more experimental Get Behind Me Satan. However, much of the album also introduces more pieces and influences, like Scottish folk, bagpipes, trumpets and some avant-garde elements. As is Jack White's preference, the album was recorded to tape, although this is the only White Stripes album to use 16-track recording (rather than the usual 8-track), allowing some more freedom in cutting takes together and the recording of the various parts.

Thematically, the record is about role-reversals and twists. Many of the songs on the album show a role reversal in a relationship, like "Conquest," or "I'm Slowly Turning Into You," or things that hurt done nicely, "Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn," or the change between cause and effect, "you can't be a pi mp and a pro stit ue too," and of course the entirety of "Effect and Cause."

The album opens with the song "Icky Thump," a corruption of the phrase "Ecky Thump," which is apparently a common Northern England expression, popularized by an episode of The Goodies. While some claimed the spelling change was due to copyright concerns, Jack White offers that it was changed to make the pronunciation clearer to Americans, similar to Led Zeppelin dropping the 'a' from their name. 

The stream of consciousness lyrics differentiate "Icky Thump" from other White Stripes singles, and "Thump" also stands out a rare political song by Jack White. Here he is commenting on US immigration policies: "White Americans/What? Nothin' better to do?/Why don't you kick yourself out/You're an immigrant too." And of course the video ends with Mexican workers building the Great Wall to keep themselves out. Musically, the opens with a appropriate thumping and drone, then crescendos into a monster riff just after the first verse. The song also features a great keyboard part, sounding somewhere between an organ and a snake charmer. This is just a beast of a song, and one of the best opening tracks ever.

The second track, "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do You're Told)" dials back the intensity a little, and moves to a Country & Western type sound populated with lyrics that could be borrowed from 70's Dylan. This is an anti-love song, and it's a great one because it's not angry, or even particularly hurt. It's just one guy callin' it how he sees it, and it's not her fault, she just doesn't know what love is. The concern mixed with indifference breathes a new life into an obvious song topic. Fantastic.

"300 MPH Torrential Outpour Blues," is a straightforward blues song, almost. White has described the song as trying to use as many styles of blues as possible in one song. It starts off really low key and mellow, but explodes with guitar at seemingly random intervals. And it features one of my favorite lyrics (which also happens to play with Jack White's fascination with color): “There’s all kinds of redheaded women that I ain’t supposed to kiss. And it’s that color which never fails to turn me blue.”

The next track is one of those rare songs that I can immediately recall my initial listening to, because that's how insane this thing is. I remember buying this album the day it was released, and loading it onto my iPod, listening to it on the Metro on the way to work, and this song's mariachi trumpet explodes into my earbuds. I wanted to blast it out into the Metro car, so everyone could experience the insanity I was hearing. And that song is "Conquest," a Corky Robbins penned song (made most previously famous by Patti Page) about gender role reversal.

One thing that makes this song special is the aforementioned mariachi trumpet, played by Regulo Aldama. He played the part multiple times, and it was overdubbed to make it sound like an entire trumpet section. Also standing out are Jack White's amazing vocals, which soar to astounding heights of pure ridiculous awesome. There are also Spanish and 'Acoustic Mariachi' versions of this song also recorded by the Stripes, which are worth checking out. I think Jess at Apropos of Something still put it best almost four years ago when he first listened to the album and said, "this track sounds like one of those bizarre pieces of music that Quentin Tarantino digs up to stick in his movies."

I feel like "Bone Broke" was a song Jack White put on the record just to hedge all the fans who complained the Stripes weren't heavy enough. It's a solid song, and fun to shout along to, but it's not as experimental as the rest of the record. The same could be said of "Little Cream Soda," which is literally a back to basics recording as it was an older White Stripes song that was never studio recorded.

The two tracks in between those, "Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn," and "St. Andrew (This Battle Is in the Air)," form what I call "An Avant-Garde Scottish Interlude," as they both reference Jack and Meg's shared Scottish heritage. "Prickly Thorn" references thistles, a national emblem of Scotland, and St. Andrew is Scotland's patron saint. "Prickly Thorn" is a great song, and I love the guitar work, and also the yodel-like refrain, which seems to get stuck in my head whenever I listen to it. "St. Andrew," on the other hand, is the oddest and most avant-garde track on the album. I usually love Meg's vocals, but this song sounds like The Beatles' "Revolution 9" as redone by a demonic child. It's still interesting and worth listening to (some great bagpipes feature too), but ultimately it doesn't pan out. Luckily it's a lot shorter than "9."

Ahh, "Rag and Bone!" This is probably my second favorite song on the album, if not for the plausible absurdity of Jack and Meg casting themselves as rag and bone collectors, with hilarious spoken word dialogue between the verses giving this a really unique take. Once I heard Jack say, "Meg, look at this place. Well, this place is a like a mansion! It’s like a mansion! Look at all this stuff!” I was completely sold on adoring this song.

Continuing on the theme of reversal, "I'm Slowly Turning Into You" is a great song about a part of long-term relationships (like marriage) that often goes overlooked: the couple slowly turns into something else, almost a separate entity. Usually this would be presented as a conflict, but the reversal, is that he is "proud" to turn into her. I'd also like to highlight the unsung hero of The White Stripes' sound: Meg's drumming. Jack gets all the praise for his inventiveness and guitar playing, but Meg's low key drumming is what helps put the emphasis on it properly, and not have it drown is some sort of ego match.

Both "A Martyr For My Love For You" and "Catch Hell Blues" feature pretty interesting lyrics, and nice guitar work, but easily could fit in on any other White Stripes album. The last bit of specialness is in the closer, "Effect and Cause." It's a nice little acoustic number, and probably the best White Stripes song where most of the emphasis is on the lyrics. This is a great song, and feels just as much at home in the car, or being strummed by a campfire. Awesome.

Whew, that was a long one. And to think I could spend another 500 words on the B-sides(!), which are better than most album's A-material! Icky Thump is a fantastic album, and easily my favorite album by The White Stripes (though I came pretty late to the game, and it really took the first Raconteurs album to get me interested. Yes I am weird, and quite probably an idiot. But I learn. I digress). I highly recommend it, something for everyone.

Album of the Week appears every Wednesday at Silberwhatever. Each week I discuss an album in context of influence, artistic merit, and whatever else seems slightly relevant. Suggest an album by commenting below or tweeting @ me!

Album of the Week #29 - Loaded

After a one and a half year hiatus, Album of the Week is back!

The Velvet Underground are probably the most literal example of art rock, due to their involvement with Warhol and his Exploding Plastic Inevitable. Like a few other key bands, they are a widely known influence, but were not popular at the time of their existence. In fact, after their third album, they were released from MGM/Verve a long with a lot of other drug/hippie bands, including The Animals and Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention. They were then signed to Atlantic, and recorded what was to be their final album with Lou Reed.

That album became Loaded, and is one of the few times a band as unique as The Velvet Underground wrote songs to be blatant commercial hits (supposedly the album's name comes from the promise that the album be "loaded with hits.") The result is the most accessible of the Velvets output, and my personal favorite.

Part of this more accessible sound can be traced to the departure of co-founder John Cale after 1968's White Light/White Heat. Cale was the biggest proponent of the droning sound characteristic of the band's first two albums, but Lou Reed had been moving towards a more pop direction by first recording sessions after the release of White Light/White Heat. Doug Yule, formerly of Grass Menagerie, had stepped in, and as a result, 1969's eponymous album has a more folk-inspired sound.

However, just as Nico and WL/WH came from the split influence of Reed and Cale, Loaded shows the growing prominence of Yule, and the sessions ended with a full breakdown of the band, as Reed quit in August of 1970. Drummer Maureen Tucker, whose drumming was a signature of the band's sound, was absent from the sessions entirely due to her maternity leave (she is credited on the album, however).

The album starts of with "Who Loves the Sun," a light broken heart pop song with a simple chorus-verse structure. I first discovered this song from the movie High Fidelity (a starting point for many things), and instantly loved the imagery, but also the contrast between the heartbrokenness of the lyrics with the peppy music.

Next follows "Sweet Jane," one of the greatest rock songs of all time, almost perfect, and a signature of Reed's. Although the version on this album cut the bridge, it still remains an all-time classic. It is also notable because there is a clear line between "Sweet Jane" and Transformer-era Lou Reed. 

"Rock & Roll" is another amazing song, about a girl who was "saved by rock & roll." While utilizing a similar inverse chord progression found on contemporary songs like "Sympathy for the Devil" and "Hey Jude," the VU song is notable for having Reed's almost spoken-word like lyrics of five bars over a standard four-bar musical arrangement. One of my favorite songs ever. 

The next highlight is "New Age," which in its final version is a sarcastic tribute to actress Shelley Winters. It is also notable for featuring Yule on lead vocals, and his voice gives the whole thing a nice choral sound. "Lonesome Cowboy Bill" is a rockabilly tribute in the style of The Beatles "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" or "Rocky Raccoon." 

The album's final track, "Oh! Sweet Nuthin,'" is another lead vocal by Yule, and one of my favorite songs ever. The whole song is a slow burn, and features a great album-ending guitar solo.

Overall, Loaded is one of my favorite albums of all time, and it's easy for me to see why. It has a pop sensibility that let's these songs get stuck in your head, while maintaining the depth and experimentation that the Velvets are known for. If you don't own this album, seriously, just get it. I doubt you'll regret it. 

Album of the Week appears every Wednesday at Silberwhatever. Each week I discuss an album in context of influence, artistic merit, and whatever else seems slightly relevant. Suggest an album by commenting below or tweeting @ me!