Mike’s Unaccompanied

Sorry to take so long with this. I’ve found it to be the most difficult topic we’ve treated so far, and have finally resolved to just put a choice but almost random selection of ten cuts from hundreds of possibilities. I like what Brent did, and restricted my list to what could be considered “folk” (Nina Simone is a self-described folk artist and I agree), adding a few favorite solo jazz albums as an appendix. I’ve already named unaccompanied tracks on a lot of prior lists, so you won’t be surprised by many of these or the artists named.

Soon after I selected this topic, I also came to realize that a lot of the songs that I thought were unaccompanied performances, aren’t. For example, I forgot about the haunting cello accompaniment on “Spencer the Rover (Spotify),” from the Sunday’s Child album. I went ahead and included it because he performed it solo live throughout his career, and hey, you all are cheating too! For the most part, I am sticking with unaccompanied studio cuts and albums. There’s something very intimate about these.

Songs

1. Nina Simone–Black Is the Color of My True Love’s Hair. (Spotify)

2. Martin Carthy–Davy Lowston

3. Dave Van Ronk–Dink’s Song

4. Joni Mitchell–The River

5. Bob Dylan–Moonshiner (Spotify). A lot of these songs are about the vocals. This is probably my favorite vocal performance of all time.

6. Michael Hedges–Aerial Boundaries

7. Anne Briggs–Lowlands

8. Richard Buckner–Settled Down (Spotify)

9. John Martyn–Spencer the Rover

10. Kevin Coyne–Marjory Razor Blade

Albums

Nick Drake–Pink Moon. I think I’ve said it before, but it is hard for me to imagine these tunes with any accompaniment beyond what’s there. It cannot be improved upon, each and every song from the album so personal.

Leo Kottke–Greenhouse. Especially “Spanish Entomologist” (in part because of the effortless quotes of Hank Williams’ Jambalaya and a couple of other songs I can’t place), “Song of the Swamp“, and one of his all-time great vocal songs, “Louise“.

Loudon Wainwright III–A Live One (“Motel Blues“)

Mike’s Leaps

1. Tom Waits – Swordfishtrombone.   Not completely out of nowhere. Several of these songs – Johnsville, Illinois, Soldier’s Things, Town With No Cheer – would not have been too out of place on his earlier albums. But his earlier albums all sound the same. This is such an extraordinary and unexpected departure from the previous that he had to shift labels.  Lots of trombone and other brass—in some places, especially on what remains one of my favorite videos of all time, In the Neighborhood, it sounds like a New Orleans brass band parading down the street, a bit disjointed but every note perfect. He’s been listening to a lot of Partch; you can hear it in the exotic percussion and treated banjos and guitars.  Although he’s not yet working with young downtown musicians like Marc Ribot or Greg Cohen, the musicianship is stellar throughout. The lyrics too are beginning to get more abstract, but still, poetry.

2. Fairport Convention – What We Did On Our Holidays. Their first release had slight hints of British Folk, but was mostly west-coast inspired psychedelic. Still I’d take the Fairport album over anything by the Airplane. This second album begins a string of the greatest folk rock ever recorded. Here we have the first Sandy Denny Fairport appearance and a very young band (Richard Thompson was still 18!) creating a new music that is as old as the hills. Try Meet on the Ledge or Fotheringay.

3. King Crimson – Discipline. While heavily influenced by Talking Heads Remain in Light and probably early Arthur Russell, this album, released after a 7 year hiatus for the band, still sounds like nothing else that had ever been heard. It is funk, African, world music, but also very much still Crimson in technical, prog, metallic glory. Elephant Talk; Indiscipline; Discipline

4. Waylon Jennings – Honky Tonk Heroes. Until the late fifities there wasn’t much to distinguish rock from country. Elvis, Chuck, Hank, Jerry Lee, Johnny, George and their ilk were just making music.  Listen again to White Lightning and tell me what makes it country and not rock ‘n roll. Many called the country of the 50s honky tonk, and it almost completely disappeared for more than a decade as the Nashville/Chet Atkins-produced string-laden sound began to dominate.  No more pedal steel guitar or hillbilly fiddle allowed.  With this album, Waylon led the resurgence of honk tonk music that is as American as anything that’s ever been recorded. Honky Tonk Heroes is written by Billy Joe Shaver who, when asked about his lyrics, once said in a Goldmine interview I read years ago, something along the lines of: “You don’t have to read between the lines to figure out what a song I write means”. And, “there are no alternative meanings to my songs”.  So, if you’re looking for bad poetry or the pretentious lyrics that appear on 90% of the music we list elsewhere on this blog, don’t look here: Old Five and Dimers (Like Me); Willie the Wandering Gypsy and Me.

5. Willie Nelson – Shotgun Willie. Willie was right there with Waylon, literally (they each play on the other’s albums) and figuratively. Willie moved to Austin, Texas from Nashville and became a laid-back, outlaw hippy. This is the first of a stellar string of albums that he would never again approach. Although renowned for his song-writing, and why not, he’s written some of the greats (Crazy, Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground), Willie wasn’t terribly prolific in this period (the great Red Headed Stranger only included three of his own songs). Some of his best ballads are here: So Much To Do (one of his first great guitar solos here, had he even been allowed to do that on any previous records?), Sad Songs and Waltzes, She’s Not for You. But Willie is an incomparable interpreter. Here he covers a couple Bob Wills and Leon Russell cuts, evidence that this is a different kind of record. She’s Not For You,Shotgun Willie

6. John Zorn – Bar Kokhba. Zorn had begun considering his Jewish roots on Kristallnacht and in the Masada band a few years before.  Still, this release came as a huge shock to long-time fans. Gentle, sad and gorgeously melodic Jewish chamber music. Gevurah, Tannaim

7. Brian Eno – Another Green World. From the first notes of Sky Saw, you know this is going to be different. As great as his first two albums are, so much so that I can’t imagine that this string of records won’t appear again next month, this still deserves recognition here. Many describe the album’s tone using one if its song titles – becalmed. While it is that in spots, pointing to his future ambient work, that certainly doesn’t describe Sky Saw. If you’re not leaping about the house every time you hear this then you’re not alive. Or St. Elmo’s Fire where Fripp’s solo enters midway and then just never departs. It should end naturally at one point, but then after a 6 second pause it’s back again, unrelentingly beautiful, all the way to the end. There’s never been anything like it. It’s one of life’s great shames that Fripp has only rarely contributed as a guest. He elevates everything he contributes to.

The album represents one of those times of historic import, and this is in evidence on many of the above records, where the right people are brought/put together at the right time in their careers, resulting in transcendent music. Also: Golden Hours

8. Material – Memory Serves. Another example of a confluence of the right time and genius. Before this record, Material put out the the pretty tepid R&B album One Down and a pretty great, weird new wave album with Daevid Allen as New York Gong. Here they brought along Henry Threadgill, Sonny Sharrock, Fred Frith, George Lewis, Olu Dara and Billy Bang, some of my very favorite artists of all time; and, as with Crimson and ‘Discipline’, created a timeless album, music of a kind that has still not been fully explored. I can’t find the words to describe it. When I bought this album in high school I didn’t know about any of these guys. I’ve never looked back. Mine was signed by Billy Bang a year before he died.  When I handed him this album for his signature, he took a long look at the credits on the back, smiled and shook his head. I might treasure it more than anything else in my collection. Memory Serves, Silent Land

9. Nick Drake – Pink Moon. Just Nick, his terrifyingly solitary lyrics and perfectly executed acoustic finger picking on guitar, finally bereft of the terrible Joe Boyd production of his first two albums. Probably a suicide note. Pink Moon

10. Joni Mitchell – Travelogue. I don’t expect anyone who isn’t a committed Joni Mitchell fan to sit through this. You either love this album or hate it.  And you’ll know almost immediately. I believe she meant this to be her last album, a career epitaph of sorts, as the songs span her entire career, including unfortunately neglected songs from the early 80’s. For me, this is the apotheosis of one of the singular artists of the last 50 years. Borderlines/For the Roses

Just missed the cut:

Kyuss – Blues for the Red Sun, Byrds – Sweetheart of the Rodeo, Talking Heads – Remain in Light, Joe Henderson – Multiple, Miles Davis – Bitches Brew, Fred Frith – Gravity, Charles Mingus – Pithecanthropus Erectus

I could have included from others lists: Radiohead – Bends or OK Computer, Fleetwood Mac – Tusk!, Stranglers – Feline, Rahsaan Roland Kirk – Inflated Tear (maybe my favorite song of all time), Prince – Purple Rain, Kate Bush – The Dreaming, Love – Forever Changes, Coltrane – Live at the Village Vanguard, Beck – Sea Change, Beach Boys – Surf’s Up (song)

Madherb (Mike’s) 1972

Albums

1. Roxy Music—Roxy Music (“Chance Meeting“)

2. Al Green—I’m Still in Love with You (“Love and Happiness“)

3. Nick Drake—Pink Moon (“Horn“)

4. Randy Newman—Sail Away (“Dayton, Ohio 1903“)

5. Willis Alan Ramsey—Willis Alan Ramsey (“Northeast Texas Women“)

6. Genesis—Foxtrot

7. Deep Purple—Machine Head (“Space Truckin‘)

8. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band—Will the Circle Be Unbroken (“I Saw the Light“)

9. Steely Dan—Can’t Buy a Thrill (“Fire in the Hole“)

10. Yes—Close to the Edge

Songs
1. Julius Hemphill—”Dogon A.D.”
2. Argent—”Hold Your Head Up”
3. Van Morrison—”Almost Independence Day”
4. Annette Peacock—”I’m the One”
5. J.J. Cale—”Call the Doctor”
6. Stevie Wonder—”Maybe Your Baby”
7. Kevin Ayers—”Whatevershebringswesing”
8. Matching Mole–“Starting in the Middle of the Day We Can Drink Our Politics Away”
9. Rastus—”Lucy Bluebird” (excerpt)
10. Cymande—”One More”

All of these are car-wreck songs. That is, every individual song listed and every song off of each of these albums, when I hear one in the car the accelerator hits the floor and I either erupt in a dash-pounding shout-along or the tears generously flow. I hope you enjoyed revisiting this year as much as I did. It gave me an opportunity to revisit less stellar, but still enjoyable and occasionally invigorating stuff from the era as well as the many many greats. Still didn’t get through my entire collection of records from ’72 so in some cases relied on memory.

Enjoyed listening to a variety of folky stuff from the year like Dan Hicks & the Hot Licks (including his best ever song I Scare Myself, which just missed the cut here), Tir Na Nog, Steeleye Span, Morris On. Kevin Coyne’s first solo record (Case History—almost as good as it ever got for him, offering his cracked blues, empathetic character studies of the forgotten, lost souls of the street and of the institution). There is some dispute about whether it came out in 71 or 72. I have it as part of a ‘Dandelion’ box set that offers no help. I eventually decided it was 1971 so I could fit other things. Sure would have liked to include “God Bless the Bride” from that album. I understand the Willis Alan Ramsey is finally available on CD. If I had included songs off albums I selected, at minimum two of his would have made my top ten, but it would have been damn hard to choose them, every song off that album is so damn good. For starters, check out “Northeast Texas Women”. Same goes for any of the other album selections.

Some good hard rock stuff like Twenty Sixty Six, Randy California, Mick Abrahams Band, Atomic Rooster, West, Bruce & Laing, Blue Oyster Cult, etc. None of which of course comes within spitting range of Vol. 4 or Machine Head (not to mention Live in Japan). Only one could make it here. I’ve enjoyed acquainting myself with the hard rock since living in Cleveland from 97-03. There was a Saturday morning DJ who played only hard rock from the seventies. I listened to his show for several hundred hours and swear I never heard the same cut twice.

Some great psych and prog stuff of course. Aside from the classics—Foxtrot, Close to the Edge, Roxy Music (if that belongs in this category, but it doesn’t really belong in any category, does it?), Thick as a Brick, Focus 3, maybe even Argus and Trilogy—we get the first Scorpions album (more prog/psych than metal and maybe my favorite of theirs), two Gentle Giants, and my favorite Kevin Ayers (Whatevershebringswesing) and Captain Beyond albums. Trilogy is the only ELP I’ve listened to in 20 years and an album I continue to get a tremendous kick from, critical status thankgod notwithstanding. Then there’s all the Kraut stuff which I don’t have a great appreciation for, or collection of, I’ll admit. I do like the Amon Duul 2 album Wolf City and Faust So Far quite a lot though and considered a couple cuts off each album, “Green Bubble Raincoated Man”, especially. The Matching Mole song is a great opening cut off a weak album.

As far as jazz, fallouts include three of my favorite all-time cuts by Rahsaan Roland Kirk (Blacknuss, I Love You Yes I Do, Ain’t No Sunshine), one of my favorite Herbie records based only on spotify listens (forever on my LP wishlist), Space is the Place, a groundbreaking Joe Henderson (Black is the Color), a very fine Sonny Rollins (Next Step), and by far my favorite Santana album (Caravanserai) that moved them solidly into the jazz realm. The only Santana album I ever listen to. I’ve still never heard the entire Dogon A.D. album. Not a huge fan of Weather Report, but my favorite album of theirs is here (I Sing the Body). I was surprised that the first RTF record nearly made my top ten. This is just so damn fun, the melodies and ridiculous bass that is just so volcanic and prodigious it throws you on the floor and makes you giggle, I could play it all day long. Also, an unheralded (at least in this country) Neil Ardley  album (Symphony of Amaranths).

We’ve also got the best albums by six of my favorite solo artists: T. Rex (really, how much are we attributing to his cohorts?), Al Green, Nick Drake, Annette Peacock, David Bowie and Randy Newman (happy to debate this, it’s a close call in all cases). And admirable and better efforts from other favorite all-time, first name artists: J.J. (two!), Joni, Van, Neil, Elton, Stevie (two!). (Aside, Stevie Wonder’s two 1972 releases represent the first two of what would be an unbelievable run of releases following his emancipation from the production/song selection strictures of Motown. As it happens, Waylon and Willie in 1972 began to release albums under their personal control for the first time, free from the hit-making, string-laden reaches of the Nashville studios. This artistic independence would reach its greatest fruition for all three artists in 1973 with the release of the seminal Innervisions (SW), Honky Tonk Heroes (WJ) and Shotgun Willie (WN).)

Country was still in a pretty bad state in 1972, although hope emerged: Jerry Jeff Walker, Steve Young, and inklings from the aforementioned. But then The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band produced an historical document of America, and they sowed the future of Americana. I guess the Stones’ Exile fits in this category as well as any other. I keep giving it a try, but I simply don’t like it much aside from a couple songs.

Several other albums from 1972 that I don’t care for are short-list critical faves. I know I’m missing out, but at this point in my life I can only say I like Something/Anything, tolerate Ege Bemyasi, and cannot stomach On the Corner, in case you’re wondering about their exclusion. I am going to have to give Big Star another try as well someday, but have to admit I’ve tried a few times now and it’s never hit home with me.

Have to mention The Harder They Come and my favorite song off the album, “Many Rivers to Cross”. Alas, they are another casualty, along with another favorite dub song, Prince Jazzbo’s “Crab Walk”.

I nearly added a pop hit of the day, “Guitar Man”, even if it were to disqualify me from any further contributions here. That bridge, man, cheesy as it is, just takes me to a higher plane:

Then you listen to the music and you like to sing along,
You want to get the meaning out of each and ev’ry song
Then you find yourself a message and some words to call your own
And take them home.

Would have liked to include a couple of my other favorite pop songs, a should-have-been pop hit, the Raspberries’ “I Reach for the Light”, and Roy Wood’s “Wake Up”. Had to drop those along with one of my favorite Elton John songs, “Rocket Man”.

On the soul side, it doesn’t get much better than 1972, does it? Aside from the great Stevie albums, two all-time classics from Al Green, great Dramatics, Spinners and War albums, the all-time soul classic “Papa was a rolling stone” and the second consecutive start-to-finish classic from Bill Withers. Holy crap, “Backstabbers” and “Love train” too from the O’Jays and another near miss, Bobby Womack’s “Across 110th street”. Then, the early strains of disco in an unheralded Chakachas album, one cut of which I nearly selected (“Jungle Fever”). Imagine hearing that on the radio in 1972. Or, hell, any of this shit. Tell me, did it really happen? I gave serious consideration to doing just a soul top ten for the year. As it stands, the genre is underrepresented here. Seriously, “Superfly”.