Playlist, Week of 2023-06-04

Here's the thing-- music is always going on in my head... usually it's a random melody I've been thinking about, or a song I've heard recently on the Magic Jukebox, or from my weekly directed listening (as documented in these Playlists)... but occasionally I'll wake up and there'll be a song in my head that I haven't heard or even thought about in... weeks, if not months, if not years... when that happens I take it as a message from the Music Gods that I need to listen to it again, as soon as possible... case in point: this past Sunday it was "Walkin' the Line" from Brian Wilson's first solo album... where on earth did that come from?... so I played the album, and it was sooo enjoyable... despite the fact that most of the songs have snatches of melody with eerie resemblances to earlier Beach Boys songs, or other ones (like "Little Children" and its nod to "Mountain of Love"), these songs are just wonderful... even the outdated overproduction can't stop them... the album is a worthy successor to The Beach Boys Love You, with its simplistic melodies that are, well, simple and almost amateurish but oh so catchy... easily his best solo record, Brian Wilson has a special place in my heart, and I guess my brain was reminding me of that...  Other than that, I ended up hitting Sun Ra pretty heavily this week... 

Playlist 2023-06-05:

*AMM: Laminal (disc 1)

*Beatles: Revolver (Super Deluxe 4 LP Edition 2022) (side 1)

*Anthony Braxton: 12 Duets (DCWM) 2012 (disc 7)

*Anthony Braxton: Quintet (Tristano) 2014 (discs 6, 7)

*Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young: Take My Hand (Fillmore East 1970-06) (disc 2)

*Miles Davis: Bitches Brew (side 3)

*Deerhoof: Miracle-Level

*Grateful Dead: Blues for Allah (side 1)

*Jefferson Pilot: The Return of Troubled Youth Orchestra

*Merzbow/Keiji Haino/Balázs Pándi: An Untroublesome Defencelessness

*New Ting: 2019-09-30 "Emulsify My Desires" (wav)

*Annette Peacock: I'm the One (side 2)

*Rolling Stones: Their Satanic Majesties Request (2016 mono remaster)

*Sparks: The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte (sides 1, 2)

*Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra: My Brother the Wind, Vol. 2

*Sun Ra and His Intergalactic Solar Arkestra: Space Is the Place (previously unreleased tracks) (streaming)

*Sun Ra & His Arkestra: The Cymbals​/​Symbols Sessions (New York, 1973) (sides 3, 4)

*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Voice of the Eternal Tomorrow

*Sun Ra: Hiroshima (side 2)

*Sun Ra: God Is More than Love Can Ever Be!

*Sun Ra Arkestra: Reflections in Blue

*Sun Ra Arkestra: 2023-04-01 Big Ears Festival, Knoxville TN (CDR)

*Horace Tapscott with the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra: Live at I.U.C.C. (disc 2)

*Tarbaby: Fanon

*Cecil Taylor: Conquistador! "With (Exit)"

*Cecil Taylor: garden (disc 1) "Elell"

*Cecil Taylor: 1997-03-06 Oberlin, OH (CDR)

*Various artists: '60s Far East Pop and Rock n Roll (CDR compilation)

*Various artists: WSAM: Grab Bag of Joy (CDR compilation)

*Anna Webber: Idiom (disc 2)

*Tony Williams Lifetime: Emergency!

*Brian Wilson: Brian Wilson

*Work: Live in Japan

*Neil Young: Twisted Road (CDR compilation)

*Frank Zappa: Hot Rats

*John Zorn: The Dreamers

Playlist, Week of 2023-01-01

Happy new year! The Brian Wilson solo piano album is really starting to grow on me... at first I felt like it was a bit too much in the Muzak vein, not so different from what you'd hear someone noodling at Nordstrom's or something but no, it's much nicer than that, and I've warmed to it quite a bit... and the melodies, of course, are gorgeous... Last year I did some deep diving into Duke Ellington, especially his later years (which I think of as post-1945)... this year it's Charles Mingus... I've always got Mingus tunes floating through my head, but it's nice to go through his discography chronologically... the sheer richness of his compositions are life-sustaining and full of energy... 

Playlist 2023-01-02:

*Beach Boys: Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of the Beach Boys (disc 1)
*Anthony Braxton: Sonic Genome (2019-10-31 Berlin) (CDR)
*Elvis Costello: This Year's Model (sides 1, 2)
*Miles Davis & Gil Evans: The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings (disc 4)
*Miles Davis: Big Fun (side 1)
*Death Grips: Year of the Snitch
*Deerhoof: Surprise Symphonies
*Jimi Hendrix Experience: Axis Bold as Love (side 1)
*Jimi Hendrix: Songs for Groovy Children (The Fillmore East Concerts) (disc 3)
*Fela Kuti: Fela Ransome Kuti Vol. 1 & 2 (side 4)
*Charles Mingus: The Jazz Experiments of Charles Mingus
*Charles Mingus: Mingus at the Bohemia
*Charles Mingus: Charles Mingus Quintet + Max Roach
*Charles Mingus: Pithecanthropus Erectus
*Charles Mingus Jazz Workshop: 1956-07-05 Newport (CDR)
*Charles Mingus: The Clown
*Matt Mitchell/Kate Gentile: Snark Horse (disc 6)
*Roscoe Mitchell Sound Ensemble: Live in Detroit (sides 1, 2, 3, 4)
*Muffins: Open City
*Tom Rainey Trio: 2013-10-19 Brooklyn NY (CDR) track 6
*Soft Machine: Facelift: France & Holland (discs 1, 2, DVD)
*Steely Dan: Katy Lied (Mobile Fidelity) (side 2)
*Sun Ra: Singles: The Definitive 45s Collection 1952-1991 (disc 3)
*Sun Ra: Celestial Love (sides 1, 2)
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Prophet
*Sun Ra Arkestra: Living Sky
*Titan to Tachyons: Vonals
*Various artists: The Birth of the Third Stream "Revelations (First Movement)" (Charles Mingus)
*Brian Wilson: At My Piano

Playlist, Week of 2021-09-05

Big listening of the week (and for many weeks to come!): the new Beach Boys box set Feel Flows... early highlights: all of the unreleased Dennis Wilson compositions... some great live stuff, including a killer 1973 "Surf's Up" with Carl Wilson nailing it beautifully... a wonderful Brian Wilson composition ("Won't You Tell Me")... and so much more... too bad about the cover... but very rarely do latter-day Beach Boys compilations have decent art... in fact, can't think of any off the top of my head... but it ain't about the cover....

Playlist 2021-09-06:

*Marshall Allen/Matthew Shipp/Joe Morris: Night Logic
*Beach Boys: Feel Flows: The Sunflower & Surf's Up Sessions 1969-1971 (discs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
*Beatles: Revolver (2009 stereo remaster) (sides 1, 2)
*Beatles: Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band (Anniversary Ed.) (side 1)
*Anthony Braxton & the Wesleyan Tri-Centric Orchestra: 2011-04-25 Middletown, CT (CDR) (disc 1)
*Anthony Braxton: Quartet (New Haven) 2014 (discs 1, 2)
*Anthony Braxton: 12 Comp (ZIM) 2017 (Comp. 414, 415)
*Anthony Braxton: Quartet (Standards) 2020 (disc 6 streaming)
*De La Soul: Stakes Is High
*Michel Edelin Trio: Kuntu
*Duke Ellington & His Orchestra: Up in Duke's Workshop
*Buddy Holly: The Buddy Holly Collection (disc 2)
*I.P.Y.: IPY
*Medeski Martin & Wood: 2004-11-04 Seattle (CDR)
*Nicole Mitchell Black Earth Ensemble/Ensemble Laborintus: Moments Of Fatherhood
*MMM Quartet: Oakland/Lisboa
*Moving Gelatine Plates: Moving Gelatine Plates
*PainKiller: Guts of a Virgin
*Jaco Pastorius: Jaco
*Roxy Music: Country Life
*DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist: Brainfreeze
*Sparks: Two Hands One Mouth: Live in Europe (disc 1)
*Tarbaby: Fanon
*Charles Tolliver Big Band: Mosaic Select (disc 1)
*Various artists: The Wrecking Crew (disc 4)
*Chick Webb & Ella Fitzgerald: The Complete Chick Webb & Ella Fitzgerald Decca Sessions (1934-1941) (disc 4)
*Amy Winehouse: Back to Black (side 1)

Playlist, Week of 2021-05-30

Friends is a damn near perfect album, easily one of the Beach Boys' greatest... not the least because of Dennis Wilson's compositional debuts... Money Jungle is way overrated... things just don't click... fine playing, fine players, of course.... and Duke's playing is truly sublime... but Max Roach just doesn't fit in... you really want to like it more, because, hell, it's Mingus... but it pales compared to Ellington's trio work the same year on Piano in the Foreground... Speaking of Mingus, the Bremen 1975 recording with the George Adams-Don Pullen lineup is a gift from overseas... there's not that much live stuff from this band, and Mingus and Dannie Richmond are at the top of their game... 

Playlist 2021-05-31:

*Beach Boys: Friends
*Tim Berne's Snakeoil: The Deceptive 4 (Live) (disc 1)
*Blue Cheer: Outsideinside
*Burial: Tunes 2011-2019 (disc 2)
*Taylor Ho Bynum/John Hébert/Gerald Cleaver: Book of Three
*Daniel Carter/Matthew Shipp/William Parker/Gerald Cleaver: Welcome Adventure! Vol. 1
*Charlie Christian: The Genius of the Electric Guitar (disc 1)
*Elvis Costello: This Year's Model
*Elvis Costello and the Attractions: Armed Forces
*Duke Ellington: The Seattle Concert "Harlem Suite"
*Duke Ellington/Charles Mingus/Max Roach: Money Jungle
*Jimmy Giuffre 3: 1961 (disc 1)
*Globe Unity Orchestra: Pearls “Every Single One of Us Is a Pearl”
*Indigo Trio/Michel Edelin: The Ethiopian Princess Meets the Tantric Priest
*Joëlle Léandre/Nicole Mitchell/Dylan van der Schiff: Before After
*Led Zeppelin: Houses of the Holy
*Charles Mingus: Charles Mingus @ Bremen 1964 & 1975 (disc 3)
*Nicole Mitchell: Mandorla Awakening II: Emerging Worlds
*Muffins: Loveletter #2: The Ra Sessions
*Sam Rivers/Alexander von Schlippenbach: Tangens
*Sugar: Copper Blue
*Them Crooked Vultures: Them Crooked Vultures
*Carla Thomas: The Memphis Princess: Early Recordings 1960-1962
*Carla Thomas: Let Me Be Good to You (The Atlantic & Stax Recordings 1960-1968) (disc 4)
*Robert Turman: Chapter Eleven (disc 3)
*Weather Report: Mr. Gone
*XTC: English Settlement
*XTC: Skylarking (sides 1, 2)
*Neil Young: American Stars 'n' Bars
*John Zorn/Fred Frith: The Art of Memory

Playlist, Week of 2018-07-08

The file for the New Ting Ting Loft Strange Matter gig is up now on the Internet Archive... Back down the Roscoe Mitchell rabbit hole this week... a great place to be... I meant to write in more detail last week about Sun Embassy, the newest anthology of Sun Ra rehearsal sessions, this time from the late '60s, but I never got around to it... this'll have to do: biggest takeaway is the great run-through of "Adventures Outer Planes" (here titled "My Reality Is Real")... this is an excellent composition, the only other version of which is the live one from Copenhagen on 1971-12-05 (released on the Freedom CD Calling Planet Earth, also recently reissued on LP)... except for takes of "Why Go to the Moon" (used in numerous space chants) and "Ancient Aethiopia," none of the other compositions are familiar to me.. although "Cosmic Strut" bears a family resemblance to grooves on Universe in Blue... overall, very percussive-heavy and very minimal soloing, but well worth hearing... As uneven as it is, I continue to return to the Beach Boys' last studio album That's Why God Made the Radio... although parts of it are cursed with Mike-Love-does-Jimmy-Buffet, the album has two strong singles (the title track and "Isn't It Time"), and the last four songs, forming  kind of a suite, are as strong as anything the group did in the '70s...

Playlist 2018-07-09:

*AMM: 1998-04-03 Padova, Italy (CDR)
*Daniel Barbiero/Sam Byrd/Jimmy Ghaphery: 2017-12-02 Rhizome, Washington DC (wav)
*Bergman/Braxton/Brötzmann: Eight by Three
*Anthony Braxton: Two Compositions (Orchestra) 2005
*Jakob Bro: Returnings
*Rodger Coleman and Sam Byrd: The Mathematics of War
*Stephen Davis/Ralph Alessi/ Kris Davis: Sugar Blade
*Jimmy Ghaphery/Jason Bivins/Ian Davis: 2007 Chapel Hill, NC (CDR)
*Mary Halvorson: Meltframe
*Roscoe Mitchell: Nonaah
*Roscoe Mitchell and the Sound Ensemble: 3x4 Eye
*Roscoe Mitchell Quartet: The Flow of Things
*Roscoe Mitchell and the Sound Ensemble: Live at the Knitting Factory
*Roscoe Mitchell and Muhal Richard Abrams: Duets and Solos
*Roscoe Mitchell: Bells for the South Side (disc 1)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2018-06-25 "Wood and Wires" (wav)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2018-07-01 Strange Matter, Richmond VA (wav)
*Evan Parker ElectroAcoustic Septet: Seven
*Sun Ra And His Astro-Ihnfinity Arkestra: Sun Embassy
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Taking a Chance on Chances
*Tom Rainey Obbligato: Float Upstream
*Sara Serpa: Close Up
*Craig Taborn: Avenging Angel
*Alex Ward Quartet: Inductance (streaming)
*Ben Webster with Strings: Music for Loving (disc 2)
*John Zorn/Simulacrum: The Garden of Earthly Delights
*Beach Boys: That’s Why God Made the Radio (selections)
*Heldon: Stand By
*King Crimson: 1972-02-11 Wilmington DE (disc 1)
*Paul McCartney: Kisses on the Bottom
*Mystery Science Theater 3000: Clowns in the Sky
*Parliament: Medicaid Fraud Dogg
*Richard Pinhas/Yoshida Tatsuya: 2014-12-01 Tokyo (CDR)
*Prince: 1980-03-06 Atlanta (streaming)
*Various artists: Music for Merce (1952-2009) (discs 9, 10)
*Brian Wilson: No Pier Pressure (selections)
*Yes: 1976-06-19 Hartford, CT (CDR)

Playlist, Week of 2017-07-09

In addition to that other big re-release celebrating 1967, we now have 1967: Sunshine Tomorrow, featuring a gorgeous new true-stereo mix of the Beach  Boys' classic Wild Honey... the album sounds better than ever... while still maintaining its air of rediscovered simplicity, the new mix gives the album a beautiful sense of detailed clarity, a breath of country air, a sweeter thing or two... absolutely gorgeous... also included are tons of alternate takes, session tracks, and unreleased live and live-in-the-studio gems from the Smiley Smile and Wild Honey era... it's great to finally have "A Little Help from My Friends," as well as the full version of "I Was Made to Love Her" (with the coda at the end), on CD (both of these were previously only available on the LP "Rarities") (itself pretty rare).... The newly discovered tapes of Thelonious Monk's soundtrack sessions for Les Liaisons Dangereuses 1960 are primo... Also continuing my on and off explorations of Bud Powell, whose playing continues to fascinate me... As do the Beatles... Revolver and Sgt. Pepper: gaddam....

Playlist 2017-07-10:

*Nonpareil Wind Band: A Grand Sousa Concert (selectins)
*John Philip Sousa: Sousa Band (CDR compilation)
*Nels Cline Trio: Ground
*John Coltrane Quintet: 1961-07-01 Newport Jazz Festival (CDR)
*For Living Lovers: Brandon Ross/Stomu Takeishi: Revealing Essence
*Andrew Hill: 2001-08-14 Saaldelden, Austria (CDR)
*Thelonious Monk: Les Liaisons Dangereuses 1960
*David Murray Octet: Dark Star: The Music of the Grateful Dead "Dark Star"
*Bud Powell: Tempus Fugue-It (disc 1)
*Ben Redwine/Daniel Barbiero/Jonathan Matis: Microeconomics
*Henry Threadgill Sextet: Just the Facts and Pass the Bucket
*David Torn & Prezens: 2007-08-24 Saalfelden (CDR)
*David Torn & Prezens: 2008-01-19 Budapest (CDR) (disc 2)
*World Saxophone Quartet: Requiem for Julius
*Amon Düül II: Live in Tokyo
*Beach Boys: 1967: Sunshine Tomorrow
*Beach Boys: Love You
*Beatles: Revolver (2009 mono remaster)
*Beatles: Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band (Super Deluxe Ed.) (discs 1, 2, 3, 4)
*De Facto: Megaton Shotblast
*Flash: Flash
*Henry Kaiser: Eternity Blue
*Henry Kaiser: Everything Forever
*King Crimson: Islands (40th Anniversary Ed.) (disc 1)
*Oneohtrix Point Never: R Plus Seven
*Dusty Springfield: Complete A and B Sides 1963-1970 (disc 1)
*Brian Wilson: Live at the Roxy Theatre (disc 2)

Les Garçons de la Plage

My daughter and I share a deep love for the Beach Boys. For her 21st birthday, I put together this list of:
...the top 21 Beach Boys songs
(in alphabetical order):

1. California Goobers
2. Catch a Cold
3. Do You Wanna Drive?
4. Don’t Hurt My Little Deuce Coupe
5. Don’t Worry, Wendy
6. Drive, Drive, Drive
7. Funk Funk Funk
8. Garçons de la Patio
9. Girl Don’t Smell Me
10. God’s Only Nose
11. Help Me Fonda
12. Heroes and Williams
13. I Got Around
14. Little Dude Scoop
15. Pet Smells
16. Serf’s Up
17. Shoot the Surfer Moon
18. Sloop Dog B
19. Smurfin’ USA
20. Warmth of My Gum
21. Wouldn’t It be Nice-er-ly