Marc Fagel's Blog: Jittery White Guy Music: The Blog, page 155

John Cale: Vintage Violence (1970)

Given that John Cale was a member of the Velvet Underground for its groundbreaking and boisterous first two albums (departing before the largely quiet, meditative self-titled third album), and appears at least partially responsible for the more challenging and avant garde aspects of the band's sound (compare the early Lou Reed acoustic demos on the Peel Slowly & See box set with the finished products), Cale's early solo albums were somewhat surprising. Far from the blistering noise of White Ligh...

Liz Phair & The Stones: Exile On Guyville Street (1972/1993)

I was listening to the Rolling Stones' 1972 masterpiece Exile on Main Street yesterday (alongside Sticky Fingers ), and it reminded me of a project I've been meaning to try. For about 27 years.

Liz Phair has long described her groundbreaking 1993 debut Exile in Guyville as a sort of song-by-song response to the Stones' opus, both lyrically and musically. (She gave a breakdown of each track in a Rolling Stone interview [the magazine, not the band] at the time of Guyville's 2018 25th anniversary rei...

The Rolling Stones: Sticky Fingers (1971)

I don't have anything new and interesting to say about Sticky Fingers, indisputably one of the greatest rock albums of all time. For me, the discussion always comes down to which is better, Sticky Fingers or Exile on Main Street? (Let It Bleed checks in at #3.)

I tend to vacillate. I lean towards Exile, as previously noted, given its sprawling breadth. It's an imperfect album, much like the comparable White Album, where you can conceivably distill it down to a shorter masterpiece, or absorb it in...

Voice Of The Beehive: Let It Bee (1988)

1988 was kind of a transitional year for me. I'd graduated college, losing access to the steady stream of new indie releases I'd had on the college radio station; and I was starting law school, which is not exactly a prime environment for new musical discoveries. Plus it just seemed like a period of malaise in the rock world, somewhere between the jangly guitar rock and post-punk/post-new wave college radio heyday of the '80s and the not-yet-arrived alt.rock '90s.

One bright spot at the time was ...

Bubblegum Music: The Mix

At one point in my life, I would have classified these as Guilty Pleasures, the embarrassingly terrible musical nuggets for which you harbor inexplicable affection, yet keep hidden from fellow music snobs while extolling the virtues of Captain Beefheart and Pere Ubu.

But by the time you hit middle age, fuck it, it's a lot easier to just say I like what I like, be it Taylor Swift or silly bubblegum songs from the 60s and 70s. This is the stuff I used to hear on the radio back when I was first disc...

Kevin Tihista's Red Terror: Don't Breathe A Word (2001)

Chicago-based singer-songwriter Kevin Tihista has released a number of excellent albums, both under his own name and as Kevin Tihista's Red Terror. The music ranges from hushed and largely acoustic to more expansive orchestral pop, comparable to Elliott Smith or the Pernice Brothers. (There's another Smith parallel -- just as Smith had started out playing thrashier alt.rock with Heatmiser before spinning off in a much quieter direction as a solo artist, Tihista had gotten his start with Chicago ...

The Amps: Pacer (1995)

After the unexpected success of the Breeders' 1993 Last Splash album, Kim Deal reconfigured the band (with Breeders drummer Jim Macpherson and 2 new members) as the Amps, while her twin sister Kelley took a break due to some drug issues. They released a lone album, Pacer, and it's great -- though somehow never getting the same love as Last Splash.

Some of this is understandable. It's a stripped down affair, with no-frills lo-fi production, sounding a lot more like Deal's sometimes-cohorts in Guid...

The Byrds: (Untitled) (1970)

While sometimes getting passed over by the likes of the Beach Boys and the Velvet Underground, I think a case can be made for the Byrds being just about the greatest American band of all time. Their initial run of singles and albums between '65-'68 is the most fondly remembered, culminating in 1968's Notorious Byrd Brothers , the band (by that point essentially just a trio after several departures) delivering, for me, their finest album, and one of the all-time greats.

After the country side-trip ...

Fripp & Eno: No Pussyfooting (1973)

Not a rock & roll album by a long shot, but still something I love to pop on with some headphones when I just need to zone out, especially on long flights. (Ah, air travel, now but a distant memory...)

Back in high school in the early 80s, as I was simultaneously exploring prog and new wave/punk, King Crimson and Brian Eno were among my favorite artists, so it seemed obvious to check out the first collaboration between Eno and Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp, even thought the reviews I read -- I w...

Emma Swift: Blonde On The Tracks (2020)

New one out today, and it's lovely. Australian (but currently Nashville-based) songwriter Emma Swift adds her beautiful vocals to a swath of Dylan tracks, and it's a modest yet gorgeous collection. 

As noted before, I'm a lukewarm Dylan fan, rarely listening to much beyond his mid/late 60s classics, preferring to hear his lyrics filtered through other artists, and Swift fits the bill perfectly, delivering quietly ingratiating versions that range from folk-tinged Americana to misty dream pop. Whil...