Sunday, March 22, 2009

10 Albums That Deserve Another Listen

Sam’s Town, The Killers

Flowers actually wrote lyrics for this project. Infact every song is good. Once you get past the ridiculous intros at the beginning of half these songs you start to discover that the melodies are righteous and the content is intelligent and heartfelt.

Sea Change, Beck

Eh…everyone is recording this album now but Beck did it in 2002.

 Musicforthemorningafter, Pete Yorn

Every single song is good. I can listen to it all the way through any day of the week. Not to mention that Pete was one of the first to incorporate both a folk vibe and electronics into his music at the same time. Sure, Wilco did it, but Pete actually got played on the radio.

Try!, John Mayer Trio 

Sorry haters, but John Mayer will be famous long after your indie rock heroes and hipster kings have gone back to managing Carl’s Jr. This is because of 2 reasons: 1. He writes huge pop songs and 2. He can spank even most of his own influences on the guitar. John could stop catching hits altogether and still fill arenas with sweaty guitar geeks. Sorry hipsters but skill and discipline will almost always outlive vibe by a century of dog years.

Seeger Sessions, Bruce Springsteen

Springsteen releases the only actual folk (as opposed to folk influenced) album of the last couple of years and people give him heck for it. I actually read a review in a popular magazine that called it lame and said it was an album of Pete Seeger covers. First o all, I think that if you’re going to call something “lame” then you should at least know what it is. It’s an album of hundred-year old folk songs that people like Seeger kept alive. The idea is that every generation takes the songs and adds a bit of themselves to it. So each song isn’t written by an individual, it’s written by generations. Prediction: These songs will be known long after that particular magazine has ceased to print words onto paper.

Z, My Morning Jacket

Evil Urges is only getting any recognition because Z was so good and the media missed the chance to praise it. There’s like an unwritten law somewhere that says you can’t promote and album once the band has released another. So the world is trying desperately to love on Z through Evil Urges. When people say anything good about Evil Urges I’m just going to go ahead and transfer it over to Z in my head because Z deserves it.

So Much For The City, The Thrills

Irish hipsters singing beach songs with folk instrumentation. It doesn’t get a whole lot better to me. I’m still a little confused at why this band didn’t do better in the states. Maybe they did and I just didn’t get it in North Carolina.

Gold, Ryan Adams

Why do people never mention this album? After all, I’m pretty sure it had the two biggest radio hits of his career: “New York New York” and “When the Stars Go Blue”. Not to mention “Sylvia Plath” which is one of the best songs he ever wrote, in my humble opinion.

Into The Wild, Eddie Vedder

90’s grunge hero records an album of folk songs in his basement. At least this is what it sounds like. This soundtrack sounds so beautifully low budget but at the same time is stacked with energy. The character of Eddie’s vocals alone is worth the $15 I spent on this disc.

Tumbling Ground, The Black Pepper Corns

I’m not going to lie, I love sad songs. This album is full of those, but on top of that its one of my favorite writers (Kevin Prosch), with one of my favorite drummers (Martin Neil)and produced by one of my favorite producers (Ethan Johns). So it just makes sense that this would be one of my favorite albums. I lost the CD years ago when my car got jacked and at the time the album was almost impossible to find. Then recently a friend of mine gave me an old copy he found in his attic. Roomer has it that Kevin and Martin could be serving up another pot of Pepper Corn gumbo this year and I will be first in line with my gravy bowl.

11 comments:

  1. Great list brotha. I'll have to check out that Vedder album, he's been so hit and miss for me over the years.

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  2. You hit the nail on the head about Z. Although, I prefer their Live at Okonokos album to any of their studio stuff. Absolutely amazing album. Absolutely amazing band.

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  3. going to see Springsteen next week end here in Austin.. (my husband rocks for getting us tickets as a Valentine's present!)
    I grew up in Jersey, so .. have listened from the beginning ( which make me old... lol) hey my blog is http://www.lovefiercely.blogspot.com so follow me too! LOL
    You coulda come down to Austin while you were in TX! Next time your down, we have friends that are believers and run the most wonderous Coffee Shop in Austin... you could do a live gig!
    xo cathryn

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  4. a new peppercorns record - nows thats excitin! tumbling ground is a masterpiece. totally grabs me everytime i listen to it. also worth mentioning that mr prosch re-released tumbling ground recently so its easily available on his website now.

    john mayer is such an oxy-moron. unbelievable talent. just unbelievable. but so unlikeable too. i hate to love him and love to hate him all at once. but i can't stop listening to him. sublime chops and hooks.

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  5. Great list. You're absolutely right about Gold. I'll bet you would love Hope for a Golden Summer, if you haven't already heard them.

    We're picking up He Loves Us at church. Thanks for that.

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  6. So I'm starting to introduce some of your songs in the worship at my church. One of them is "Make you move". I had some questions. I love the song, and I think I know what it's about. However, I'm starting to blog to the church about the new stuff we're doing and I want to post your words on it instead of my interpretation. If you could post something that would rule.

    Also, I totally don't think Gold is Ryan Adams best record. Great, but not best. Love is Hell all day man. Good call on Sea Change. Best Beck album ever.

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  7. Hey John, I've never checked out Pete Yorn Before, but I just listened to Musicforthemorningafter, amazing album. Thanks for the tip.

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  8. I never said Gold was Ryans best album. Heart Beaker and Cold Roses are my faves. But I do think Gold it's better than Easy Tiger and Cardinalogy.

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  9. Dude! John Mayer is totally awesome at guitar- I agree = )

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  10. amazing list. Especially happy that you listen to My Morning Jacket (listen to their Okonokos Project cd. it will blow you away) and Vedder. i think vedder's best songs have always been his folk songs even with PJ. thses cds give a great insight to what you listen to, but which band (or artist)would you give the most credit to influencing you?

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