Essential Studio Albums

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What a transition from ZZ Top to Yes.

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Keeps things fresh!

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Chicago V

I probably noted this already, but rarely is the gap so wide between how much I enjoy Chicago’s jazzy takes and how much I don’t like their ballads. Granted, Saturday in the Park might be the exception, but the high water marks on this album, A Hit By Verese, Dialogue Part II, State of the Union, and A Song For Richard’s and His Friends make this album, where the ballads drag it down in their spots. A wild dichotomy really.

The Essential Track: A Hit By Verese

Up Next: Miles Davis - On the Corner

[wease]

Chicago V

I probably noted this already, but rarely is the gap so wide between how much I enjoy Chicago’s jazzy takes and how much I don’t like their ballads. Granted, Saturday in the Park might be the exception, but the high water marks on this album, A Hit By Verese, Dialogue Part II, State of the Union, and A Song For Richard’s and His Friends make this album, where the ballads drag it down in their spots. A wild dichotomy really.

The Essential Track: A Hit By Verese

Up Next: Miles Davis - On the Corner

And just look at what happens after Terry Kath dies.

[liebzz]

Chicago V

I probably noted this already, but rarely is the gap so wide between how much I enjoy Chicago’s jazzy takes and how much I don’t like their ballads. Granted, Saturday in the Park might be the exception, but the high water marks on this album, A Hit By Verese, Dialogue Part II, State of the Union, and A Song For Richard’s and His Friends make this album, where the ballads drag it down in their spots. A wild dichotomy really.

The Essential Track: A Hit By Verese

Up Next: Miles Davis - On the Corner

And just look at what happens after Terry Kath dies.

I’m just going to appreciate the wood paneled Chicago cover while we have it.

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Miles Davis - On the Corner

Like any good stew, throwing everything in the pot in just such a way that expresses your individual flavor preferences makes it yours. On the Corner is Miles throwing it all in the pot, a large and varied collection of instruments, grooves, flourishes, and side thoughts. Despite this being Miles’ record, this thing is completely held down by a funky bass guitar, which informs each of the songs and transitions through the album’s fusion of jazz, rock, and funk. Miles is surely more than present, but if you’re moving your head to the near cacophonous sounds, it’s that bass that’s holding it together. What’s astonishing is that this approach is incredibly successful over 55 minutes, when you’d think you would tire of the chaos around the bass lines, but it keeps an engagement that would otherwise seem unlikely - the genius of Miles Davis at work once again.

The Essential Track: On the Corner / New York Girl / Thinkin’ of One Thing and Doing Another / Vote for Miles

Up Next: Stevie Wonder - Music of My Mind

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Stevie Wonder - Music of My Mind

Perhaps it’s just me, but it seems on this album that the love songs that comprise all but one song (Evil) are so voluminous and the sentiment so sugar coated that they ring hollow. I think it’s always been a problem for me in any event. There’s some solid tracks here, like the talk box dominated Love Having You Around, Girl Blue, and the funky Keep On Running. None of those are really greatest hits per se, so it counts as some level of discovery. Otherwise the songs ultimately feel like filler since they are just love songs painted by number.

The Essential Track: Keep On Running

Up Next: Al Green - I’m Still in Love With You

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Stevie Wonder - Music of My Mind

Perhaps it’s just me, but it seems on this album that the love songs that comprise all but one song (Evil) are so voluminous and the sentiment so sugar coated that they ring hollow. I think it’s always been a problem for me in any event. There’s some solid tracks here, like the talk box dominated Love Having You Around, Girl Blue, and the funky Keep On Running. None of those are really greatest hits per se, so it counts as some level of discovery. Otherwise the songs ultimately feel like filler since they are just love songs painted by number.

The Essential Track: Keep On Running

Up Next: Al Green - I’m Still in Love With You

This one was actually released before Talking Book. I figured you just skipped it.

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I should have

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Al Green - I’m Still in Love With You

Hey! Another album of love songs. The good news is it feels much less hollow and a lot more interesting here. Al Green does just enough to keep it interesting here, as demonstrated in Love and Happiness, which seems slightly off the beaten track. Oh, Pretty Woman is a smoother take on the original, and One of These Good Old Days is quite good. I probably still dragged it down more than I should have from the exhaustion of listening to this back to back with Music of My Monday, but this is a much stronger take on the soul love song thing.

The Essential Track: Love and Happiness

Up Next: Curtis Mayfield - Superfly

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Curtis Mayfield - Superfly

Now this is a spectacular soul and funk album. Anchored by Freddie’s Dead and the title track, this thing has an absolutely killer groove that never lets up. I sensed we were on to something good with the start in Little Child Runnin’ Wild and Pusherman, and none of this disappoints. Really strong from start to finish and my favorite of the Mayfield albums we covered.

The Essential Track: Superfly

Up Next: Van Morrison - Saint Dominic’s Preview

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Van Morrison - Saint Dominic’s Preview

Van Morrison is still on a roll here. Another classic song in Jackie Wilson Said, and quite a few other fabulous tracks here, like Listen to the Lion, Gypsy, and Saint Dominic’s Preview. What’s fascinating about this album is it turns ever so slightly more pop, and a little less of the pastoral vibe, and I took a moment to think about how, from his 60s days with Them to this moment, it’s really now a 180 from proto-Stones to this - and more impressive that even with that change he suffered no loss in quality output.

The Essential Track: Jackie Wilson Said

Up Next: Black Sabbath - Vol. 4 (another helluva transition!)

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Black Sabbath - Vol. 4

One of the more coincidental benefits of following Van Morrison with Black Sabbath is getting the sort of whiplash in sound that Black Sabbath was really bringing on this fourth album. For every meaty metal song in say the epic Supernaut or Wheels of Confusion/The Straightener, there’s the ballad like Changes, the instrumentals FX and Laguna Sunrise, there’s the sludge of Under the Sun/Every Day Comes and Goes. Snowblind is another highlight as well, the sort of moving fast and slow simultaneously that is one of the more captivating aspects of Black Sabbath - it may seem on the surface like an all out sensory assault but underneath developing the textures and foundation of…well…all of heavy metal to come. The close of the album really reminds me of the kind of movements that would transform Metallica songs one day into powerhouses.

The Essential Track: Supernaut

Up Next: David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

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David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

The title of the album in many ways says it all. Like a sci-fi fever dream, Ziggy Stardust comes from outer space to play the guitar and rock your socks off. What separates this album for me, from the last one we covered, is that the melodrama is baked into the songs in a way that doesn’t distract the listener from the other sonic textures, mostly the guitar riffs, which are really quite great on this album. While there is the thread of the loosely held narrative and always some small level of musical theatre (my mind visualizes Rocky Horror Picture Show like showmanship), the guitars and songs are all strong enough to exist independently, and I walk away at least getting David Bowie just a little more than I had before. It’s another classic album I am hearing for the first time and walk away knowing I’d like to spend a bit more time with it.

The Essential Track: Suffragette City (there’s no clear winner here - almost everything is great)

Up Next: The Trag Suite II

[VinylGuy]

I listened to some Bowie last year and Ziggy was oustanding yeah. I loved the production, sounds so warm and with space.

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Amon Duul II - Yeti

This one was actually released before Tanz see Lemminge, but I added it because I decided against the laziness of covering the minimum. Actually quite glad I did as this blows away the other album. Much more rooted in a cohesive delivery, and much more guitar rock focused, there’s a lot of really excellent stuff on here. Flesh Coloured Anti-Aircraft Alarm, Archangel Thunderbird, and the instrumental Cerberus (think an almost Eddie Vedder-ish guitar chord progression but with layers and layers of sound over it). Found this one to be quite enjoyable.

The Essential Track: Flesh Coloured Anti-Aircraft Alarm

Up Next: Agitation Free - Malesch

[tragabigzanda]

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It was a toss up between what I picked and Archangel Thunderbird. Both were excellent. I feel like had I heard this one first I would have given the second album a little more rope, though I didn’t hate the other one.

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Agitation Free - Malesch

This is a largely instrumental album on a bit of the chiller side of this sort of subgenre. There’s a bit of noodling here but it’s not jammy or even so much experimental (though it does have its moments), and ultimately it all sort of fits together rather than having stand out tracks. Khan El Khalili seemed to be the moment where they really entered other sounds on top of their playing, but I found this to be more non-descript than the other stuff we’ve discussed in this sound.

The Essential Track: Khan El Khailili

Up Next: Neu!

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Neu!

The first track here was quite promising. It was the most sort of accessible track and reminded me a bit of a noodling sound. It’s from there that this becomes a challenging listen. Yes, there’s rhythmic, circular thing going on throughout, but it doesn’t often seem to go anywhere, and the chaotic spurts that break up the monotony end up feeling more abrasive than welcome. I wouldn’t say it’s bad, mostly because I am not generally drawn to minimalist stuff to begin with, but not at the top of my list for this sort of stuff.

The Essential Track: Hallogallo

Up Next: Can - Ege Bamyasi