washerman's dog

Monday, January 21, 2013

Love No More: Richard and Linda Thompson

by Gerard Dubois

Richard & Linda Thompson's marriage was crumbling as they were recording Shoot Out the Lights in 1982, and many critics have read the album as a chronicle of the couple's divorce. In truth, most of the album's songs had been written two years earlier (when the Thompsons were getting along fine) for an abandoned project produced by Gerry Rafferty, and tales of busted relationships and domestic discord were always prominent in their songbook. But there is a palpable tension to Shoot Out the Lights which gives songs like "Don't Renege On Our Love" and "Did She Jump Or Was She Pushed" an edgy bite different from the Thompsons' other albums together; there's a subtle, unmistakable undertow of anger and dread in this music that cuts straight down to the bone. Joe Boyd's clean, uncluttered production was the ideal match for these songs and their Spartan arrangements, and Richard Thompson's wiry guitar work was remarkable, displaying a blazing technical skill that never interfered with his melodic sensibilities. Individually, all eight of the album's songs are striking (especially the sonic fireworks of the title cut, the beautiful drift of "Just The Motion," and the bitter reminiscence of "Did She Jump Or Was She Pushed"), and as a whole they were far more than the sum of their parts, a meditation on love and loss in which beauty, passion, and heady joy can still be found in defeat. It's ironic that Richard & Linda Thompson enjoyed their breakthrough in the United States with the album that ended their career together, but Shoot Out the Lights found them rallying their strengths to the bitter end; it's often been cited as Richard Thompson's greatest work, and it's difficult for anyone who has heard his body of work to argue the point.

(AMG)

No need to add anything to this opinion with which I completely agree. This was the record that made me a fan.

Track Listing:

01 Don't Renege on Our Love

02 Walking on a Wire

03 Man in Need

04 Just the Motion

05 Shoot Out the Lights

06 Back Street Slide

07 Did She Jump or Was She Pushed?

08 Wall of Death

here

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Gritty Grungy Godly: 15 Down Home Gospel Classics

Sunday evening. Always a good time to turn up the volume and let the blues of the church push the worries and heartbreaks of the week away.

This collection 15 Down Home Gospel Classics is in essence a blues record, though if you start on Track 15 (Praise Music) you’d be forgiven for thinking you’re listening to Alvin Lee on speed. And as a blues record it is appropriate that all of these songs are about the Unseen world where all hopes are realized, all wounds bound up and healed and ecstasy always ready to break loose with a shimmy and shake.

Whatever and whomever you worship, even if you don’t worship, this music will touch you and get you moving. Many old hymns and ancient songs of faith and praise are contained herein, performed by some of America’s greatest blues singers (Fred and Annie Mae McDowell; Lowell Fulsom, Big Joe Williams and Mance Libscomb) but there are also rare gems from the likes of Black Ace, a self taught Texas guitar player, Elder Roma Williams, part Native American harmonica player/preacherman, and the one man band, Rev. Louis Overstreet, too.

A great way to end the weekend. Gritty, grungy, godly music!

Track Listing:

01 Just a Closer Walk With Thee [Aubrey Ghent]

02 There's a Leak In This Old Building [Paramount Singers]

03 I Want My Crown [Big Joe Williams]

04 Sinner Don't You Know [Robert Pete Williams]

05 I Feel Good [The Campbell Brothers]

06 I'm Going Over the Hill [Annie Mae and Fred McDowell]

07 Gonna Wait Till a Change Come [Elder Roma Wilson]

08 Farther Along [Black Ace]

09 I've Got Religion [Rebecca Smith, Tom Miller and Ruth Miller]

10 Motherless Children [Mance Lipscomb]

11 Jesus Will Fix It for You [Sonny Treadway]

12 I'm Working On a Building [Rev. Louis Overstreet]

13 Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning [Fred McDowell]

14 Amazing Grace [Jess Fuller]

15 Praise Music [Aubrey Ghent]

here

Friday, January 18, 2013

Another Lebanese Music Brilliant-ismo: Toufic Farrouk

Toufic Farroukh

Been listening to this record over and over the last few days. Thought I'd share it today as it is so enjoyable.

Toufic Farroukh is a saxophone player and composer of jazz with a middle-eastern flavour stemming from his bi-cultural roots in Lebanon and France.

His brother, a saxophone player, guided him in learning to play the instrument and taught him its ABCs. He was an amateur who instilled in Toufic the love of professionalism. They had discovered the saxophone in the Boy Scouts. The instrument was strange to their environment; unconventional, and used only for certain occasions.

Farroukh moved from Beirut to Paris, where he studied music in the conservatory and in the Advanced College of Music, saxophone was his principal instrument. He did not study jazz and its roots at all, nor played jazz on the saxophone.

His first album “Ali on Broadway” (1994), received good press from the specialist magazines, but only touched the French public in small measure. In his second album “Little Secrets” (1998), the flavour and colour of the Orient make their appearance here and there, in amongst the jazz motifs. (Wikipedia)

I'll let the music tell you what you need to know about his sensibility, style and art. But this is best when you can turn up the stereo.

Track Listing:

01 Systole, Diastole

02 Hanina

03 Radio City

04 Ya Nassim Alrouh

05 Destins Et Desirs

06 The Girl From Gypsy Moon

07 Elhob!

08 Cendres

09 Scarecrow And Peacock

10 Ya Habibi

11 Long Distance Call (LDC)

12 Only Lonely

here

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Alabama Mahatma: Martin Luther King Blues

Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

One of the reading pleasures of the past several years has been Hellhound on His Trail, the story about the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and the subsequent international manhunt to find his killer, James Earl Ray. Ironically, although J. Edgar Hoover, the Director of the FBI, had a deep personal hatred of King, and had used the resources of the FBI to harass him and his colleagues, when it came down to ‘business’ (i.e. finding a killer), the FBI brought all of its innovative forensic skills and razor sharp investigative techniques to bear in a remarkable way to catch the flaky, paranoid Ray.

Among the many fascinating details about the assassination and the days that followed was the somewhat disappointing behaviour of the Rev. Jesse Jackson who immediately claimed a much more intimate role in the events and of having held MLK in his arms as he died. Not true, apparently.

Yesterday, 15 January, was the birthday of Martin Luther King and so as a belated tip of the hat to one of the true mahatmas (great souls) of the 20^th century, I present Martin Luther King's Blues - African-American Blues And Gospel Songs On Martin Luther King.

The songs on this collection are living history. Guido Van Rijn, a Dutch music writer/journalist wrote a book called President Johnson’s Blues which was an exploration of how Blues and Gospel artists responded to the Presidency of LBJ, and the assassination of MLK and Robert Kennedy, both in 1968.

President Johnson’s Blues illustrates how African Americans experienced the Johnson presidency. This is achieved by an analysis of blues and gospel lyrics of the period containing more or less direct social and political comment. The lyrics of these often very rare records, which have never been systematically transcribed before, are vital and hitherto neglected sources of oral history. When Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson succeeded the assassinated President Kennedy he was hailed enthusiastically by the blues and gospel singers, most of whom had been born in the southern states and saw an ally in the new Texas president. Johnson’s acute political skills ensured that the 1964 Civil Rights Bill was approved by Congress. However, the President was not allowed to reap the benefits of the Act for long. The violent clash in Selma, Alabama, sped up the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Next, the plight of the black ghettoes led to nationwide riots and the president and Rev. King drifted apart. The military build-up in Vietnam rose dramatically in the Johnson era. Proportionally there were not more African Americans in Vietnam, but their death rate was thirty percent higher. Johnson was forced to launch operation “Rolling Thunder” to intensify air attacks, but felt trapped by the consequences of his decisions and became severely depressed. People began burning their draft cards, and criticism of the once popular president became quite outspoken in blues and gospel lyrics. When Martin Luther King lashed out against the war in 1967, the president felt betrayed by his former civil rights ally. After the 1968 Tet offensive, Johnson’s approval rating dropped to 36%. The book also analyzes in depth the profound effect the 1968 assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy had on the African-American community. The resultant awakening of black self consciousness is dealt with in a final chapter. (http://www.bluesmagazine.nl/president-johnsons-blues-african-american-blues-and-gospel-songs-on-lbj-martin-luther-king-robert-kennedy-and-vietnam-1963-1968-guido-van)

These are indeed rare songs. And we should all be very grateful to Guido for his fantastic digging and research to put this collection together. From raging gospel shouts, to classic Chicago blues and everything in between, this music is a reminder of just why Martin Luther King Jr. will always be a part of African American identity. Like the tales that grew up around the figures of Jesus and Buddha and Muhammad, these songs not only preserve and re-tell history but are an act of the creation of a community’s history.

Happy Birthday, Martin!