Dire Straits – Making Movies: One of the fun things about listening to old records for the first time is making connections that don’t exist, like hearing how “Romeo and Juliet” could be the origin story of the couple in Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car.” The songs on side A are long but they constantly evolve, with instrumentalists who advance the lyrical storytelling. For example, Roy Bittan’s piano moves in at the end of “Tunnel of Love” and musically represents the protagonist’s “keepsake and a kiss” from a few verses earlier. The B side runs out of gas, but the first five songs make me understand why so many people have told me to listen to this album. I’m glad I finally did.
Eric B. & Rakim – Don’t Sweat the Technique | Follow the Leader: Hearing the incredible title track from Don’t Sweat the Technique in some banking commercial finally motivated me to listen to Eric B. & Rakim. Follow the Leader is a better album lyrically, but the music doesn’t evolve across each song the way it does on Don’t Sweat the Technique. With that said, even decades later, it’s easy to hear why these are both considered monumental albums.
Dermot Kennedy – “Anti-Hero”: The way Kennedy sings the first verse makes me hear things that I never heard in the original. Not a dig on Taylor, it’s just amazing how two different people singing the same song can highlight completely different emotions.
Dermot Kennedy – The Weight of the Woods: On “Trepidation,” he sings “I never liked the songs that sounded happy all the way through / just imagine a life that never knew the dark, seems to me a life less true.” That pretty much sums up my relationship with music, and probably with life, too, but The Weight of the Woods is emotionally heavy. The tension and darkness can be a lot for one sitting.
Yoshinori Hayashi – Pulse of Defiance: I haven’t listened to this for a few years and it settles in like an eccentric friend stopping by for a great conversation. Fans of electronic dance music don’t always reward musical diversity, but this record deserves more love!
Massive Attack – Blue Lines: I’ve long dismissed Blue Lines as a Massive Attack album that isn’t Mezzanine or Protection, but I finally understand the long-standing love for this record. It is innovative and adventurous and fiery. It’s also a nighttime album, the part of night where you’re heading toward some risks that might lead to a whole new understanding of who you are.
Soul II Soul – Club Classics, Vol. One: It was interesting listening to this right after Blue Lines. Club Classics, Vol. One was a foundational record that helped plant the roots of trip hop, but Blue Lines was the record where trip hop blossomed. Club Classics is enjoyable but it didn’t blow me away the way I thought it would.
Gracie Abrams – Daughter from Hell: I moved beyond “Hit the Wall” this week but I still haven’t got past the first side of the record. Two of the four songs are sonically different than anything Abrams has done before, and Aaron Dessner’s influence is more apparent than on her previous two albums. The title track is a lovely ode and apology to her mother, and is probably the kind of song that every former teenager owes to someone.
Old friends who made it into rotation this week: Cardinals: Masquerade; Geese: Getting Killed; Gia Margaret: Singing; Neil Young: Everybody Knows this Is Nowhere; Bruce Springsteen: Greetings from Asbury Park; Valerie June: Owls, Omens and Oracles;
Record store finds this week: I caved and bought Daughter from Hell, along with a couple of old house 12” singles that I couldn’t pass up.