MB Album Club 2022

SGR · 03-26-2022, 07:33 PM

I tried to dig this one, but just couldn't. Sounds very of its time. This is the first time I've ever listened to Phil Ochs - and to be perfectly honest, I'm not big on folk music or singer/songwriters. Of course, there are exceptions to that, Dylan, Elliott Smith, Leonard Cohen, and so on. But it aint my kinda music.

And this album ramps it all up with overblown production and arrangements. When I do listen to folk, I prefer it to be somewhat minimal. Everything sounds so flowery and ornate - it feels like the auditory equivalent of setting doilies on my table before dinner and lighting the candles next to an expensive set of ottomans before I check how my 401k is doing.

And good grief, every song is sooooo long. Most feel like they go on forever. And they're all decorated with a mixture of woodwinds, string arrangements and harpsichords and flavors of dixieland jazz. To that effect, I will give credit - it's a very "full" sounding record, if that's the right word to use. Though it may be meandering and by virtue or vice of its length, it gets tiring, but there's a lot of different sounds going on here.

The problem I suppose is that I just don't really like much of them. Ochs seems like a decent singer (not to my taste, but not bad per se) and his lyrics are interesting and well thought out. He can tell a story rather well - but remove his vocals from this album and I could see the music fitting rather well as accompaniment to a '60s Disney movie. For some that might be a good thing, but not for me.

I'd be willing to bet there's other Phil Ochs records I'd like more, but as for this one, I can't see myself revisiting it any time soon. There's nothing compelling here for me. Sorry rs.

4/10

P.S. "Smoking marijuana is more fun than drinking beer" - for some perhaps, but they're better together methinks

SGR · 03-26-2022, 07:41 PM

And where the **** is Buttlord? He blew his load early and just left the rest of us high and dry?

rubber soul · 03-27-2022, 06:29 AM

Sorry you didn't like the album, SGR. Yes, before that, he was a pure folk artist, probably most famous for the anti-war song I Ain't Marching Anymore. If you're interested, I would recommend his first two albums, All the News That's Fit To Sing and I Ain't Marching Anymore. He also recorded Phil Ochs in Concert in 1966, an album that is only partly live.

This is probably the song he is most famous for.

Lisnaholic · 03-27-2022, 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rubber soul

He came out of the whole New York Greenwich Village folk scene of the Early sixties and evolved into this album....

I wasn't hearing much Greenwich Village in the Pearls Of the Habour album, but thanks to this....

Quote:

Originally Posted by rubber soul

...I can now imagine him down at the Cafe Wha'? swapping ideas along with the best of them. Great lyrics to this song too, especially in the closing verse. And now, 60 years later, Putin has proved that this couplet from the song still applies:-
It's always the old to lead us to the wars
It's always the young to fall

rostasi · 03-27-2022, 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisnaholic

I wasn't hearing much Greenwich Village in the Pearls Of the Habour album

Damn autocorrect.

Lisnaholic · 03-27-2022, 07:12 PM

^

oops! you caught me out being too lazy to go back and check for the album title. Please don't let rubber soul find out!

rubber soul · 03-28-2022, 09:24 AM

That's okay, Lisna. Frownland once nailed me when I mentioned Coltrane's A "Soul" Supreme album

FETCHER. · 03-29-2022, 10:26 AM

Tsuchi No Ne - Toshiyuki Miyama & His New Herd (Marie Monday)

I'm soooo late again but I have been back at work and struggling to get in to the swing of normal life but I have finally put some time aside to get myself back up to speed

I have never listened to any sort of Jazz before unless it was in a tv show or in a film so I really wasn't expecting much from it and the other reviews weren't raving, so I'll be honest when I say I had pretty low expectations.

I really have no idea what I am talking about when it comes to Jazz so...

I have now listened to this album a fair few times because I really enjoyed it and it genuinely made me happy. I found some of the track lengths a bit daunting but quickly got over that when I was listening to it.

I found the progressive build ups to be fantastic and felt really motivated during some tracks. I loved how it had lots of funky beats and melodies throughout it. I especially liked dramatic instrumentals on this album, the musicians got the combinations and timings perfect and I really wish I could differentiate between the brass instruments because the musicians on them done such an excellent job on them.

A very surprising 9/10. I will definitely listen again. My Spotify actually started playing through similar music once the album ended and I happily listened to it all. Possibly a new Jazz fan

Next review coming up!!

SGR · 03-29-2022, 12:08 PM

If you want a delicious introduction to jazz, that's a little bit less complex than what you just listened to (but amazing all the same), might I recommend the following three albums?

https://open.spotify.com/album/7cZ6oBx0SEUPDAoxJtxNDh

https://open.spotify.com/album/0QWea2w5Y6pSoSWHuc7JMf

https://open.spotify.com/album/0nTTEAhCZsbbeplyDMIFuA

You won't be disappointed

**Marie Monday** · 03-29-2022, 12:28 PM

awesome, glad you liked it fetcher!

03-26-2022, 07:33 PM	#131 (permalink)
SGR No Ice In My Bourbon Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: /dev/null Posts: 4,327	I tried to dig this one, but just couldn't. Sounds very of its time. This is the first time I've ever listened to Phil Ochs - and to be perfectly honest, I'm not big on folk music or singer/songwriters. Of course, there are exceptions to that, Dylan, Elliott Smith, Leonard Cohen, and so on. But it aint my kinda music. And this album ramps it all up with overblown production and arrangements. When I do listen to folk, I prefer it to be somewhat minimal. Everything sounds so flowery and ornate - it feels like the auditory equivalent of setting doilies on my table before dinner and lighting the candles next to an expensive set of ottomans before I check how my 401k is doing. And good grief, every song is sooooo long. Most feel like they go on forever. And they're all decorated with a mixture of woodwinds, string arrangements and harpsichords and flavors of dixieland jazz. To that effect, I will give credit - it's a very "full" sounding record, if that's the right word to use. Though it may be meandering and by virtue or vice of its length, it gets tiring, but there's a lot of different sounds going on here. The problem I suppose is that I just don't really like much of them. Ochs seems like a decent singer (not to my taste, but not bad per se) and his lyrics are interesting and well thought out. He can tell a story rather well - but remove his vocals from this album and I could see the music fitting rather well as accompaniment to a '60s Disney movie. For some that might be a good thing, but not for me. I'd be willing to bet there's other Phil Ochs records I'd like more, but as for this one, I can't see myself revisiting it any time soon. There's nothing compelling here for me. Sorry rs. 4/10 P.S. "Smoking marijuana is more fun than drinking beer" - for some perhaps, but they're better together methinks Last edited by SGR; 03-26-2022 at 07:40 PM.

03-27-2022, 07:12 PM	#136 (permalink)
Lisnaholic ...here to hear... Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: He lives on Love Street Posts: 4,444	^ oops! you caught me out being too lazy to go back and check for the album title. Please don't let rubber soul find out! __________________ "Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

03-26-2022, 07:41 PM	#132 (permalink)
SGR No Ice In My Bourbon Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: /dev/null Posts: 4,327	And where the **** is Buttlord? He blew his load early and just left the rest of us high and dry?

03-29-2022, 12:08 PM	#139 (permalink)
SGR No Ice In My Bourbon Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: /dev/null Posts: 4,327	If you want a delicious introduction to jazz, that's a little bit less complex than what you just listened to (but amazing all the same), might I recommend the following three albums? https://open.spotify.com/album/7cZ6oBx0SEUPDAoxJtxNDh https://open.spotify.com/album/0QWea2w5Y6pSoSWHuc7JMf https://open.spotify.com/album/0nTTEAhCZsbbeplyDMIFuA You won't be disappointed