So far I've only collected vinyl, but here goes:
George Harrison: Early Takes Vol. 1
Dr. John: Locked Down
Farrar, Johnson, Parker, Yames: New Multitudes (Guthrie Tribute)
Springsteen: Wrecking Ball
Trembling Bells/Bonnie Prince Billy: The Marble Downs
The Magnetic Fields: Love at the Bottom of the Sea
M. Ward: A Wasteland Companion
Widespread Panic: Live Wood
Leonard Cohen: Old Ideas
Black Francis: The Golem(rereleased on LP)
Ditto Bonnie Raitt
The George Harrison demo tracks are priceless. |
Beach House "Bloom" is dreamy electro-pop reminiscient of Concrete Blonde, Low, Zero 7, Air, with a dash of Kate Bush. Superb sounding on 2x 45RPM LP. |
Public Image Ltd. "This is PiL".
"This is PiL-- you have entered the pil zone." He ain't kidding-- suave strutting antics unsighted since Johnny Rotten(or Jagger for that matter) in their prime. Excellent master to double LP "recorded deep in the English countryside." |
I accord with Fremer's rave review of Analog Productions/Rhino's double LP reissue of The Dead's 1981 "The Reckoning" acoustic performances recorded at Radio City, NYC and Warfield Theater, SF. This is perhaps the ultimate unplugged album and well worth the $60 ticket. However it needed a good wash to eliminate all surface crud. |
The 2005 CD of Richard Thompson Live from Austin City Limits was a well-mastered recording, but the New West re-release on double LP is impeccable. A great uncompressed recording of a great power rock trio(hear Shoot Out the Lights.) Danny Thompson's upright bass is more of a deep anchor than on CD. RT is in full voice and simply shredding the guitar. |
Pete Townshend Quadrophenia Demos 1 & 2 (released on vinyl EPs in 2011 & 2012) argue that at his peak Pete was the Beethoven of R&R. 60% of The Who release is on these demos. What was saved or cut makes for a fascinating schematic of process toward the commercial release. Excellent SQ but disappointing that it costs two EPs to get it all. |
Loomis, thanks. I'll check out Bevis Frond. Admittedly the folk and freak folk scene has been of late a richer vein than R&R-- as witnessed by this week's release of Bonnie Prince Billy Now Here's My Plan. A few other good ones include The Walkmen "Heaven"(which IMO gets the nod over Mumford & Sons), Beachwood Sparks Tarnished Gold(a welcome reunion of one of the better indies), and Fionna Apple's The Idler Wheel.
Now getting closer to R&R, Neil Young's under-rated Americana is damned good Crazy Horse. Patti Smith's Banga is her freshest sound in along while. IMO she does authenticity without mawkishness better than anyone left from the '70s, and this is most certainly R&R. The liner notes alone are worth the price.
All on vinyl, of course. |
Beach House fans might also try their earlier "Teen Dream." Great that Freedy Johnson is back. |
Ry Cooder's Election Special. Kudos to Cooder(and Guthrie and Thompson before him) for taking on "the bastards." In this and the last album he has evolved compositionally and vocally, with much more vocal authority than on the early albums. Some guitar work has Keith Richards-like grit, and of course the debt to Woody is clear.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/25/arts/music/for-ry-cooder-a-dogs-life-and-a-deal-with-the-devil.html
What's so great is that Cooder manages to take up political themes, but always through the lens of an authentic bluesman and never with shallow agitprop like some Annie De Franco and Billy Bragg. This one tops my list so far. Nice if expensive vinyl. |
Father John Misty (aka Joshua Tillman) FEAR FUN. He's grown gonads since the Fleet Foxes, aborbing what he needs of the psyche folk scene, Beatles, Gram Parsons, Dead. Interesting inversion of the Pastor persona. A well-recorded LP with occasional sibilance that might be my Acutex M420. |
Bob Mould's Silver Age is his strongest in a string of recent good ones-- including 2012 vinyl reissues of two seminal Sugar albums. Mould is a kind of thinking man's Josh Homme, with rock roots as deep as Frank Black but without the recognition factor of the Pixies. The LP recorded at Hyde Street Studio is natural, both monolithic and finely detailed. R&R isn't dead, at least not this year. |
Has anybody seen GB open for Radiohead? Shields is an excellent LP, but may go too far in the direction of turning GB into a cover band for the RH sound. |
It's not rock, but Brian Eno's ambient Lux is getting me through the Holiday angst. Nice sounding DMM double LP.
Other worthy LPs include Neil Young Psychedelic Pill, Soundgarden King Animal, Calexico Algiers, Mekons Ancient & Modern(2011). Trying but so far failing to care about John Cale Shifty Adventures in Nooky Wood. |
