The Music:
Paul Simon - Graceland
I wanted to do a whole post dedicated to this, and I will most likely some day, but I want to say now that this is seriously one of the best records within the last 30 years. I’ve had it for a bit and enjoyed it, but it wasn’t until a friend recently had really sworn by it and couldn’t stop listening to it that I really gave it a shot further than I ever had. It’s very close to becoming a perfect record for me, which there aren’t many of, and it is my favorite solo work Paul Simon has done to date. The album has the 80s sound, slap bass, and as you all know, a sort of an African theme about it (though only a few songs really embrace that), but I’d expect nothing less. I look forward to more time with Graceland and I still find secrets hidden within with each listen. So do yourselves a favor and delve in headfirst and don’t look back (if you haven’t done so already).
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The Documentary:
The History of Rock and Roll
This is a great documentary about the history of music. The series, which was first presented in 1995, consumes some 578 minutes, with 10 episodes spread out over five discs. I thought I knew a fair amount about the history of rock and roll, but I learned a few things about the progression of music I didn’t know, and learned in depth about some of the artists that helped shaped music into what it is today. It starts all the way back with blues and jazz, and goes even a little before that with church gospel and even how that came into existence. From there it progressed well and showed how music evolved into blues, jazz and soul (which is really just amped up gospel), to the British invasion, hippies, and even got into punk pretty well. One thing I really noticed more thoroughly is how all of the artists that shaped rock ‘n’ roll were pretty heavily influenced by blues, and if you listen to let’s say early Led Zeppelin and Rolling Stones (and even bands like The Clash), you can really hear the blues influence, especially when comming from the beginning of the documentary.
There are a lot of famous live shows and clips, but there were also some clips of relatively obscure legends like James Burton and T-Bone Walker (in part 7, “Guitar Heroes”), and rarely seen live bits with Jimi Hendrix, Steely Dan, Iggy Pop (goofing on the Dinah Shore Show in ‘77). Also, Chuck Berry has become one of my heroes. The End.
End Scene,
Dan Tana
Dane Sundseth
A Weather - Cove
This album came out in March on Team Love records and I’ve had it for even longer, it took me a while to really sit down and listen to it as it is a very slow moving album but once I finally did that it’s something I’ve had a hard time NOT listening to since. This Portland, OR based band makes mellow stripped down music, relying on the breathy dueling vocals of Aaron Gerber and Sarah Winchester to make lines like “I want a cinnabun” even sound romantic. This has easily become my favorite album to put on when laying down for a nap, replacing Sigur Ros’ ( ). I would highly recommend picking this one up.
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