Month: August 2020

Rating: 9/10

Top Track: ‘Walk On The Wild Side’

I’ve done The Velvet Underground. Now it’s time for Lou Reed. This guy, T.Rex, and David Bowie were probably the most influential musical acts in the glam rock genre of the early 1970s. In fact, Bowie was actually one of the producers of this album. Both Bowie and his guitar player, Mick Ronson produced this album because they loved The Velvet Underground’s music so much and wanted Lou Reed to do well. For those that do not know, Lou Reed was the songwriter and frontman of The Velvet Underground (go read my post on “Loaded”). Ronson provided guitar, piano, recorder, as well as backing vocals on the record. He even contributed the string arrangement for ‘Perfect Day’. I think it’s safe to say that without Bowie and Ronson’s help, Reed would have never achieved the mainstream success in his solo career that he did. I also think it’s safe to say that this is the album that pushed him into that success. His first solo album didn’t receive much recognition, but this album made his a household name for avid classic rock listeners. “Transformer” is easily one of my favorite 70s albums. Everything from the lyrics to the cover art, I think it’s a brilliant album. Speaking of cover art, the way the picture of Lou turned out was a mistake. Mick Rock, a legendary music photographer inadvertently overexposed the photo while developing it in a darkroom. He liked the way it looked and now it’s on the cover of the album. How about that? The cover is so simple, yet elegant and I think it reflects Reed’s music perfectly. I know this is such a hippie thing to say, but his music just sounds so much better on vinyl. I can’t explain why or what I mean, but listening to Reed’s music on vinyl just makes the experience so much more immersive.

Time for the classic I had such a tough time deciding the top track for this album. But I actually had a tough time deciding the top track of this album. There were three candidates consisting of ‘Vicious’, ‘Perfect Day’, and ‘Walk On The Wild Side’. I eventually landed on ‘Walk On The Wild Side’ even though I wanted to choose ‘Vicious’ sooooo bad. But why didn’t you just choose that then Ro? I mean, it’s your blog right? That’s a fair point. I don’t have a real answer other than “Walk On The Wild Side’ is Reed’s most commercially successful song. So, yeah. I kind of sold out on this pick, but hey it’s my decision. I think another reason I picked this song was because of the subject matter covered. Though it wasn’t a factor when determining the top track, it was pretty taboo to discuss sexual orientation, gender identity, prostitution, and drug use so openly and plainly like that. Reed took a risk and I think it paid off. Although the song has faced some recent scrutiny due to its hook “…and all the colored girls go doo doo doo…” While it’s less risque to cover sex and drugs today, Lyrics don’t use the word “colored” to reference a group of people anymore. However, it was 1972 and times were different; I think it’s a little unfair to judge something made almost 50 years ago by today’s standards. Plus, the language is only half of it, the other half is intent. It’s pretty difficult to think Reed had harmful intent in mind when he wrote this song. This song about taking a risk and living life a bit on the edge. Maybe some people can’t look past that lyric, but I think it’s harmless; especially in a song about cross-dressing prostitutes. Before I move on, I would be remiss if I didn’t address that classic backing track. Such a classic bassline, acoustic guitar, and snare drum combo. This backing track is so good, it gave way to two hit songs. ‘Walk On The Wild Side’, of course, and A Tribe Called Quest’s ‘Can I Kick It?’. I think it says something about a track when a group of a totally separate genre samples it in a song 18 years later. Where did that saxophone solo come from? What a way to end such a terrific song.

I would like to talk about why I wanted to choose ‘Vicious’ as my top track. If i”m being completely honest, it’s my favorite song on this album. Which gives more credence to Why didn’t you choose it then? It’s like I said, I don’t know. What I do know is that it’s a great way to start and album. A great, catchy guitar riff and a solid rhythm section backing with the bass and drums. It’s a great, of what was then, modern take on a 60s pop song. When usually guys would be singing about how much they love a girl, Lou decided to go with “…hey, why don’t you swallow razor blades?” Which definitely gives the song a punk element. That’s not surprising seeing as I called The Velvet Underground’s sound neo-punk. I believe that Lou Reed had a huge influence on the punk sound of the 80s along with the glam rock sound of the 70s. Not only was this man’s music great, but it was also, and still is, highly influential. I mean, who’s writing songs like this now? Nobody. Nobody! Also, shout out to Mark Ronson on that great guitar solo. ‘Vicious’ was actually inspired by Andy Warhol who Reed was still good friends with after his time with The Velvet Underground. According to Reed, Warhol told him he should write a song about someone vicious. When Reed asked what he meant by that, Warhol said, “Oh you know, like I hit you with a flower,” and violá, the song ‘Vicious’ was born.

Man, what do I like best about Lou Reed? His lyrics? His experimental guitar playing? His subject matter? I think it’s his voice. Let me be clear, Lou Reed does not have a good singing voice by any means. That’s not to say he’s a bad singer; he just doesn’t really sing. The thing that draws me to his music is his deadpan tone. Maybe it’s because he feels his music and his lyrics speak for themselves and he doesn’t have to give a great vocal performance. Or maybe because that’s just the way he does it. Either way, I love it. It makes him unique and easily distinguishable from all of the other artists trying to make it in the 70s. Despite the fact that none of Lou Reed’s sequential albums ever came close to the commercial or critical success of “Transformer”, Lou Reed had made it. He would spend the rest of his life in the spotlight as a solo act and working with other musicians and bands like Metallica. The album that resulted from that collaboration, “Lulu”, is definitely interesting and was Reed’s final studio album before his untimely passing in 2013. I can’t believe it’s coming up on seven years that he’s been gone. At 71, I think he still had some years left in him and I would have really liked to see him live. All I’ve got is this album and all Lou’s got is a guitar pick (listen to ‘Vicious’). Anyways, Lou’s gone, but his music lives on and I’m proud to play his music and spin his records on my turntable.

Rating: 8.5/10

Top Track ‘Oye Como Va’

When I think of the best guitarists of all-time, who comes to mind? That’s a good question. Thanks for asking. Well, we’ve got Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, B.B. King, Chuck Berry, and Carlos Santana. Of course my list of great guitarist is much longer than that, but I think my point is made. That point being that Santana’s name has to come up when talking about great guitar players. Not only that, he’s probably the best Mexican-American guitar player to ever live. As a Mexican-American myself, I’ve always held Santana in high regard; which is probably why his name would appear higher on my guitar players list than most other classic rock enthusiasts. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about the album, shall we? I feel like I should address the album cover first. It’s got a lot going on and frankly, I don’t have enough time to unpack it all. It’s like a crazy acid trip. It’s got two naked ladies on it and that’s about all I’ve got to say about that; I think the cover can speak for itself. When I first opened the album up, I noticed something in the front sleeve of the album cover. I pulled it out and it was a neatly folded, near-mint black-and-white poster of the band; Carlos Santana, Gregg Rolie, David Brown, Michael Shrieve, José “Chepito” Areas, and Michael Carabello. They’re all laughing about something, maybe one of them made a joke. That’s the thing with vinyl. I can tell you there’s no getting posters of any band listening to music online. There’s no special connection made. Vinyl’s pretty cool, man. “Abraxas” came out one year after the band’s breakout performance at the Woodstock musical festival. Before that, no one had really heard of the band from San Fransisco experimenting with latin-blues-rock fusion. That wasn’t so true anymore as the band’s second studio album went to number one on the U.S. charts when it was released. I understand why as I’m currently listening to the album for the umpteenth time. Does anyone else feel like dancing?

Unlike most albums I have previously covered, the choice for Top Track was fairly easy. The two main choices were ‘Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen’ and ‘Oye Como Va’. Seeing as the former was a rendition of a Fleetwood Mac song that was released the year prior, I decided to go with an original. Besides, I genuinely like ‘Oye Como Va’ better. From the “Rrrr sabor” at the beginning to the fantastic guitar solo that finishes the song off. The fact that this song only has nine words repeated over and over just makes it that much better. I have no idea why.

Oye como va
Mi ritmo
Bueno pa' gozar
Mulata

That’s the whole song. And it’s all in Spanish, which I think is fantastic. It’s a Latin song, why not sing it in the corresponding language? Right? I thought about translating it, but Google Translate doesn’t always work and I figured there’s no translation that could convey what the words truly mean. So I’ll just let it be what it is. Have I mentioned Rolie’s keyboard solo? I haven’t? Perhaps I should. After Santana’s excellent shredding for about the first two minutes of the song, Rolie gives him a break and takes over with a high-energy solo that blows me away every time. Best believe I’m miming some air keys along with Rolie during this song.

Born in the small town of Autlán, Jalisco in México, Santana learned to play the guitar at the age of eight from his father who was a mariachi musician. In the 1960s Santana’s family moved to San Fransisco. A young Santana soon formed the Santana Blues Band and the rest is history. All of Santana’s influences, as well as the rest of the band’s, comes through on this album. Especially on the first track. ‘Singing Winds, Crying Beasts’ is such a great example of Latin-Jazz fusion. That 60s jazz feeling is undeniable and even shades of Miles Davis peeks through. The percussive instruments used really add that Latin touch, as they do to all the track on this album. I also love the way the first two tracks fade into one another, almost as if they were recorded back to back. Which is what might have actually happened, I’m not sure. The second track, ‘Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen’ starts off with a great keyboard riff and Rolie’s voice is so very smooth. All of that combined with Santana’s guitar gives the song a very sexy feeling. Until the breakdown. The band quickly picks up the tempo as the percussion goes double-time and Brown lays down a quick salsa-like bass-line. The last minute and a half of that song just makes me want to move my hips, baby.

Before it wrap it up here, let me just address the percussion work going on on this album. “Chepito” Areas and Michael Carabello really hit it out of the park on this album. But don’t just take my word for it, take a listen to ‘Se a Cabo’. That first track on side 2 of this album has some of the best conga playing I have ever heard. Still not convinced? ‘El Nicoa’ should do it. That song is almost all percussion. Take a listen to both of those track and just try not to dance. Man, this album really does have everything. Classic latin, rock, jazz, blues. Oh yeah, blues! ‘Hope Your Feeling Better’ probably showcases the band’s blues influence and rocks harder than other track on this album. What more could a Mexican-American boy ask for? This band introduced Latin rock to mainstream music listeners and laid the groundwork for future Latin rock groups like Los Lobos. This band, this album, and more specifically, this guitar player is one of the best.

Muchas gracias por su música Santana.

Rating: 9.75/10

Top Track: ‘Dreams’

Finally some Fleetwood Mac. It’s incredibly hard to find someone who doesn’t like this band and if the radio is on long enough, chances are that one of Fleetwood Mac’s songs is going to come on; a song probably off of this album. Most bands at the time would have killed to write a song that could grab some radio time. Fleetwood Mac has about seven or eight songs on this album that were and still are frequently played on the radio. I mean, wow. The recording of this album wasn’t as grand however. There was so much drama surrounding the band during the recording of this album that I could probably write a few paragraphs about what happened. Shoot, a movie could be made about all of the stuff that happened leading up to and during the recording of this album. Now I can’t do that, but I can provide a nut-shelled version. Basically, the band spent six months in the limelight after their commercial success of their previous album and had spent half of a year touring nonstop. After the tour keyboardist/vocalist Christine McVie and bassist John McVie divorced after eight years of marriage. They stopped talking altogether with the lone exception being band matters. That wasn’t the only couple having troubles within the band; guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and vocalist Stevie Nicks were having an on-again, off-again relationship which led them to bicker constantly except when working on songs together. Oh yeah, and Mick Fleetwood, drummer, discovered that his wife and mother of his two children was having an affair with one of his close friends. I think it’s safe to say that the whole band was in a pretty sour mood during the 12 months of recording in a windowless recording studio in Sausalito, California. During recording, the press intruded on the band’s personal lives leading to inaccurate stories and rumors, hence the title of the album. All of this turmoil ended up showing up in the band’s music and lyrics on the album. At the risk of sounding insensitive, if it took all of this personal pain to make such a legendary album, maybe it was worth it. Because damn, this album is so, so great.

I know I always say this, but this time I really mean it. Picking this album’s top track was probably the most difficult choice out of all of my posts so far. We’re talking choosing between ‘Dreams’, ‘Never Going Back Again’, ‘Don’t Stop’, ‘Go Your Own Way’, ‘The Chain’, ‘You Make Loving Fun’, and ‘Gold Dust Woman’. What’d I say in the previous paragraph about the number of radio-songs on this album? Seven to eight? See? Seven. Now in all humility, I can count out a few of them, but that still left me with too many to choose from. I ended up landing on ‘Dreams’ because I feel like it’s the most dynamic track on the album. I like the way Nicks’ voice compliments Buckingham’s Rick Turner guitar. Christine McVie plays some mesmerizing keys on the track as well. Did I mention the amazing harmonies the band creates during the chorus? Because it’s simply heavenly. And the lyrics! The lyrics are so great. So simple, poetic, and extremely catchy. This is the type of song that could be played at a small gathering or a party or even something that can thrown on if someone wants to just vibe by themself for awhile.

I’ve made an observation about Fleetwood Mac and their recent fanbase. As anyone could have guessed it consists of people who grew up in the 1970s through the 90s; of course. But I found that a lot of people my age love Fleetwood Mac. When I let slip to a couple close friends that I would be covering this album, that’s what they said to me, “Man, I love Fleetwood Mac.” I think it says a lot about a band and their music when their work transcends generations and musical divides. Classic rock isn’t something that’s super big with a good amount of people I know who are my age. Maybe whatever is on the radio or maybe some stuff their parents played for them growing up. So they’re not really familiar with many bands of that time, but they know Fleetwood! It seems like everyone knows the lyrics to hits like ‘Don’t Stop’ and ‘Go Your Own Way’ and if they don’t, they probably should. I don’t know what it is about this band’s music specifically. Maybe it’s the lyrics, the subject matter, the overall sound. I don’t know. Maybe it’s all of those things or a completely different set of things. Whatever it is, it’s kept this band’s music alive and thriving.

Personally, I’ve never had a special connection with this band or this album. I like Fleetwood Mac, of course, as is evident from what I’ve stated in this post. My dad didn’t play a lot of Fleetwood Mac in our house growing up. Maybe occasionally. I guess he figured that he heard them enough on the radio. However, I’ve come to appreciate the fact that they’re able to write songs and take influence from their own lives and their personal pains. They titled this album “Rumours” to call out how the press had misrepresented them publicly and wrote songs about how they were feeling about each other. They manage to turn those lyrics into hit songs that have survived for over 40 years. That is simply amazing and dope as hell. So, big props to Stevie, Lindsey, Christine, John, and Mick. You guys really hit it out of the park with this album. Thank you for the great music.

Rating: 9/10

Top Track: ‘Baba O’Riley’

Who’s next? Why, The Who course. Time to cover my favorite album of one of my favorite bands. From the ages of 10-12, if I was asked who my favorite band was, I would enthusiastically exclaim, “The Who!” All of my dad’s friends were thoroughly impressed. In fifth grade, I played the CD of this album over and over again in my bedroom, dancing and singing along with every lyric. I would sit on my bed and try to keep up with Keith Moon playing air drums. I absolutely loved everything about this album as a kid. Even the album cover, I thought it was hilarious that the whole band had peed on a cement pillar in the middle of nowhere. It’s pretty evident that my dad bought this album used. the record itself doesn’t have a sleeve and the front cover has a penned cursive inscription of, “To the House, Best wishes, Lloyd.” So, sorry Lloyd. Whoever “the House” is doesn’t have the album anymore. The good news is that, despite some light crackling, the album still plays relatively well. This album seamlessly transitions between a heavy classic rock sound and a light progressive rock sound that was starting to explode at that time. Plus, it was revolutionary in terms of incorporating the new A.R.P. Synthesizer into rock music. Man, this album is just great.

Like most of the albums I cover, the choice for Top Track is fairly obvious. ‘Baba O’Riley’ is so instantly recognizable and a fantastic way to start off an album. This song is so popular that it’s nearly impossible to find someone who hasn’t at least heard it. Admittedly, most non-Who fans would probably mistake the song title for ‘Teenage Wasteland’. But it doesn’t really matter. From the introductory synthesizer to the pretty epic piano chord progression, this song has to be one of The Who’s absolute best. It was nothing like anyone in popular music else was doing at the time. The combination of modern electronics and that classic rock sound blended together so well to create one of the most iconic sounds of that generation. Oh, and don’t get me started on Pete Townshend’s entrance with his guitar. I remember trying to recreate his patented windmill move playing air guitar. I also love the band slows it down and breaks the song up by giving Townshend the mic and letting him sing a verse with his soft voice. Next comes the violin solo. What? A violin solo in a classic rock song? Huh? Yeah, that’s right. Dave Arbus, the featured violinist on the track takes us home with a great solo and wraps the sing with a nice bow. I could’ve picked any other song on this album to be my top track, but c’mon you can’t beat a song like this.

This album is actually the result of a failed science-fiction rock opera project called “Lifehouse” as a follow-up to the band’s previous album “Tommy”. Eight of the nine songs on this album are actually from the project, the lone exception being ‘My Wife’ written and sung by bassist John Entwistle; all the other songs were written by Townshend. The remaining tracks from “Lifehouse” would eventually be released on the band’s future albums throughout the 1970s. Any science-fiction influence that I could find one the album would be from the cover, which was supposed to imitate the monolith from the film “2001: A Space Odyssey” and the synthesizer used on certain tracks on the album. I can’t but notice the levels within each song. A lot of hard and soft sounds used in each song makes each song very dynamic and extremely unique. For example, ‘Getting in Tune’ starts off sounding like a nice soft ballad about being in a relationship but turns into something more with heavy drums provided by Keith Moon and some easy shredding from Townshend; not to mention an under-appreciated bass line from Entwistle. I feel like it’s easy for an artist to stick with one, maybe two levels within one song, but The Who really like to play with it. Speeding it up, slowing it down, going louder, getting softer, I think it’s clear why most critics view this as The Who’s best album ever. I certainly do.

One of the first CDs I ever bought with my own money was a Who best of album. I think I was around eight years old. Around that time, my favorite Who song was probably ‘Who Are You’ because it was on the classic rock station on the radio and Roger Daltrey uses the f-word once which I thought was pretty freakin’ rock ‘n’ roll dude. Other than that, maybe ‘Substitute’ because it was the movie “School of Rock” starring Jack Black. All of that changed, however when I became obsessed with ‘Going Mobile’. Holy shit. I could not get enough I remember spending long periods of time jumping and dancing on my bed to that song and running over to my CD player to play it over and over and over. It even made the cut onto one of my end-of-the-year-mixtapes in elementary school. Let me explain. At the end of every school year, while I attended good ol’ Wilson Elementary, I created CDs filled with my favorite songs from that year and passed them out to each of my classmates. So I was passing out mixtapes for six years before I even knew what I mixtape was. I believe this song made the final CD during my fifth grade year, impressing my teacher Mr. P. I distinctly remember him playing the CD on the final day of school and his exclamation of, “Oh, we’re going mobile!” when the song came on. I remember thinking to myself, “Finally, someone gets it.”

Well, that’s it for this post. My sincerest apologies for the prolonged hiatus. I will be posting double this next week to catch up and from there it will be our regularly-scheduled programming. I promised I ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ wink wink.