The Beach Boys - The SMiLE Sessions (1967/2011)

Well this is simply fantastic. This set placed at #381 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and if it had been properly completed and released in 1967, it might have cracked the top ten. It's that good. And we missed out for more than 30 years. I wouldn't be going out on a limb to call it a masterpiece, even in this rough cut. As the Billboard review correctly notes "It's a consistently brilliant album."

If you go in with the mindset that the discs are full of unfinished song fragments/modules, you'll be better off. The modular approach also provides a convenient excuse not to listen this thing as often as I should, unfortunately.

Heck, the vocal harmonies along are worth the price of admission. Yeah, it's unfinished but I've never heard anything like it and I probably never will.

Billboard, October 29, 2011, p. 40

The compilation was made available as a single CD, a deluxe 2-CD package, as well as a limited edition deluxe box set composed of 5 CDs, 2 LPs, 2 7" vinyl singles, a poster, and a 60-page booklet that features high quality photographs, essays and recording sessionography. While all the contents of the box set are in English, my promo sticker on the front was printed in French:

I cheated my way through two years of high school French over 35 years ago, so allow me to translate (accuracy not guaranteed): The most anticipated album in the history of rock. Contains the whole SMiLE album + 1967 sessions + a 36 page booklet with text by Brian Wilson + a poster and a SMiLE badge.

The set is beautiful - 2 discs, a poster, liner note booklet, and a pinback. The first disc has the Smile album and other session materials. Disc 2 is all session outtakes. The 5 CD package won the Grammy Award for Best Historical Album. Update: In its 2020 list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Rolling Stone ranked Smile at #399.

Headphones, closed eyes, and high volume recommended.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #27

Tracks: It's difficult to pick favorites, but here goes: Our Prayer, Heroes And Villains, Wonderful, what I'll call the "Surf's Up Suite" (tracks 10-12), and when the all-too-familiar Good Vibrations finally comes around at track 19 (admittedly a slightly different version), you fall into that goodness like it's your own bed after a two-week vacation.

Bonus tracks: the tunes Heroes And Villains and Surf's Up get a lot of attention here (9 of 21 bonus tracks) plus a fair share of demos and session snippets - the same vibe as a lot of the Beatles Anthology discs. I dig track 25 & 26, the simply titled Smile Backing Vocals Montage and a 1967 piano/vocal version of Surf's Up. But they're really just interesting curiosities featuring amazing performances.

Not worth my time is the silly, attempt at (improv?) sketch comedy Brian Falls Into A Piano.

As mentioned above, the second disc consists of session outtakes (it's titled The SMiLE Sessions for good reason) and is only of occasional interest to these ears. I'll admit to getting a kick from hearing the Boys say things between takes like "Danny, do you have any hash joints left? I know you do." or "Do you guys feel any acid yet?"

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
That's Why God Made The Radio (2012)
20 Good Vibrations: The Greatest Hits (1995)
Pet Sounds (1966)

Charles Bradley - No Time For Dreaming (2011)

At the risk of losing my "retro-soul aficionado" credentials, I'm going to state that this album is like most Daptone releases I've heard: masterful performances of mediocre, monotonous, mostly mid-tempo, minor-keyed material. Bradley's voice is powerfully weathered and emotional while the Menahan Street band knows how to play this Southernesque soul music period-appropriately. But, for the most part, this just doesn't get me going. Yes, I realize I'm in the minority; it's where we contrarians reside.

Is "it's not the musicians, it's the material" the musical equivalent of a "it's not you, it's me" break-up?

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: The better tunes are the title track, Since Our Last Goodbye, and the all-too-brief Trouble In the Land.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Spyro Gyra - A Foreign Affair (2011)

Today is my 27th wedding anniversary so I'm celebrating this morning by listening to Spyro Gyra's 27th studio album while waiting for the real anniversary festivities to begin later on.

Over the past 40 years, SG has been fairly consistent in what they bring: Latin-flavored instrumental pop/smooth jazz with songs written by band members. And while there's a lot of that here, the band goes off track on a few tunes and while I respect an artist's need to grow, it doesn't mean I have to like it. I'm guessing from the title the band wanted this disc to be a sort of international travelogue, and for the most part, they succeed. Warning: there are three vocal tracks on this thing.

Album chart Peaks

• US Billboard 200: Did not chart
• Billboard Jazz: #2

Tracks: My favorite track is Shinjuku (because it sounds most like early '80s SG, sue me). Other top tracks are Sweet Ole Thang, Falling Walls, and Samba for Two. The oddest track is bluesman Keb' Mo' singing Last Call, a song written by country artists Fred Knoblack and Danny O'Keefe, with an accompaniment straight out of a late-night jazz club - it probably shouldn't work, but the deft touch of the band makes it happen. There are very few Spyro Gyra tracks that I'll skip, but Kuhda is one of them.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:

Down The Wire (2009)	Point Of View (1989)
Good To Go-Go (2007)	Stories Without Words (1987)
Wrapped In A Dream (2006)	Breakout (1986)
Original Cinema (2003)	Alternating Currents (1985)
In Modern Times (2001)	Access All Areas (1984)
Got The Magic (1999)	City Kids (1983)
Road Scholars (1998)	Incognito (1982)
20/20 (1997)	Freetime (1981)
Love & Other Obsessions (1995)	Carnaval (1980)
Dreams Beyond Control (1993)	Catching The Sun (1980)
Fast Forward (1990)	Morning Dance (1979)
Three Wishes (1992)	Spyro Gyra (1978)

Booker T. Jones - The Road From Memphis (2011)

WISH LIST WEEK* (AUGUST 10-16, 2015)

Booker T. and the Roots, produced by ?uestlove. That fact tells you all you need to know. Best thing I've heard in a while and I've heard a lot of great music during this theme week. Metacritic has it rated at 76/100. Consider my summer heated.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #85

Tracks: It's all good, but my favorites today are Walking Papers, The Hive, Harlem House, and the covers of Gnarls Barkley's Crazy and Lauryn Hill's Everything Is Everything.

Another listen?  Don't mind if I do.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD:  None

Previously revisited for the blog:
Potato Hole (2009)
McLemore Avenue (1970)
Green Onions (1962)

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*My money earned for teaching summer school usually pays for the family summer vacation. This year, however, we decided to forgo the usual vacay and spend money updating things around the house (the wife has been watching a lot of HGTV). Anyway, there was a little money left over, so I went over to Amazon and bought every CD available on my wish list, some of which had been on said list for over four years. This week, I'll be featuring some of these new-to-me discs; listening to many of them for the first time.

The Smithereens - 2011 (2011)

New nostalgia. In the summer of 2011, I looked forward to album releases from two eighties groups: The Cars' Move Like This and this album. Of the two, I prefer this one because it's a bit more consistent. Getting back together with producer Don Dixon, this is a definite return to form for the band: guitar-crunching, Marshall-amped, Beatleseque power pop songs with lots of hooks. With their immediately recognizable vintage sound, this could only be The Smithereens; I wish this CD had been released 20 years earlier. The band sounds as great as ever and have kept their British Invasion bar band sound that first caught my ear in 1988. And, like most Smithereens albums, it gets better with repeated listenings. It's not a five star album, but it's good enough for this forty-something guy who's not always looking for new tricks from old dogs. Sometimes the old tricks get the job done.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: did not chart

Tracks:  13 tracks in 47 minutes. While there's not one track that reaches out and grabs you from the first listen, top tracks include Sorry, A World Of Our Own, Nobody Lives Forever, Turn It Around, and What Went Wrong. I usually skip Viennese Hangover because it's the only track where the band sounds like it is trying too hard.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
Blown To Smithereens: Best Of The Smithereens (1995)
Green Thoughts (1988)

Thomas Dolby - A Map of the Floating City (2011)

Due to a long absence and the lackluster album Gate To The Mind's Eye, I had long given up on new music from Mr. Dolby. But these tracks were gradually released through a series of EPs and compiled on this album in 2011. It's no Golden Age of Wireless, but how could it be? Still, there are enough good tunes here to make us long-time fans happy; there's nothing here that would have been out of place on 1992's Astronauts And Heretics album. This was designed to be a concept album and doesn't work as such, but I guess that doesn't matter much. Metacritic has it rated at 73/100. For my taste, there are too many ballads on this one, but 73 sounds about right to me.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks:  My favorite tracks are Nothing New Under The Sun, A Jealous Thing Called Love (the chorus is the highlight of the album for me), Road To Reno, and Simone.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
The Sole Inhabitant (2008)
12 x 12 Original Remixes (1999)
Retrospectacle: The Best Of (1994)
Aliens Ate My Buick (1988)
The Golden Age of Wireless (1982)

Duncan Sheik - Covers 80s (2011)

Yes, cover albums are usually novelty releases that capitalize on nostalgia, but that fact really doesn't bother me in the least. I loves me some covers and I loves me some '80s music, so this album is a can't miss proposition, right? Well, for the most part these covers are good, if not predictable. I can't complain about the song selection; Sheik has good taste (which, of course, means it's remarkably similar to mine). The gimmick here is to take synthpop songs and remove the synth part. And this album is exactly what you would expect from Sheik: it's like he showed up at the local coffee house with his guitar for an acoustic set, turning to the old out-of-tune piano on the stage from time to time. There's also some wonderful backing vocals from Rachael Yamagata that save many of these tracks (note to self: check out her stuff). So while this is refreshing and relaxing for a while, I'm left wanting something different by the end.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: I'll grade each track on the merit of the cover version, not whether the song being covered is any good. (I used a similar grading system on Erasure's Other People's Songs).

• Stripped - originally by Depeche Mode, 1986: D
• Hold Me Now - originally by Thompson Twins, 1983: A
• Love Vigilantes - originally by New Order, 1985: C
• Kyoto Song - originally by The Cure, 1985: B
• What Is Love - originally by Howard Jones, 1983: B
• So Alive - originally by Love and Rockets, 1989: C
• Shout - originally by Tears for Fears, 1985: F
• Gentlemen Take Polaroids - originally by Japan, 1980: A
• Life's What You Make It - originally by Talk Talk, 1985: B
• William It Was Really Nothing - originally by The Smiths, 1984: D
• Stay - originally by The Blue Nile, 1984: A
• The Ghost In You - originally by The Psychedelic Furs, 1984: C

If we averaged those grades, we'd get something around a B-, which sounds about right.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
Humming (1998)
Reasons for Living (1997)
Duncan Sheik (1996)

Haircut One Hundred - Live At The IndigO2 28th Jan 2011 (2011)

UK import.

Recorded two years ago today, this is an obscure live album from an obscure, short-lived '80s pop band. As far as I can tell, this 2 disc set is only available from the band's website. [update: both the website and the opportunity to purchase this CD seem to be gone now.] The goal was to reassemble the band and play their 1982 album, Pelican West, in its entirety. Since that album is one of my favorites, it's fun to hear the band play together again. The main problem with this recording is that it seems that someone set up the equipment, pressed the record button at the beginning of the show, sat back and enjoyed the show, then pressed the stop button when it was all over. In other words, there's no editing and no production to speak of. One of the sound engineers wrote on his blog that "The whole gig was recorded live straight off my desk and burnt live to CDr and then sold as people left the venue." And that's what it sounds like. So, in addition to some poorly mixed music, we get to hear the band walk on stage, tune their instruments, wish various audience members a happy birthday, etc. All this plus Nick Heyward's nonsensical between song patter. Understandably, there's a point where an audience member can be heard yelling, "Get on with it!" I guess the band felt they had to stall and jibber-jabber between songs to stretch a 40 minute album into a 2 hour show. The whole set is under-rehearsed and sloppy, but I think the band just wanted to have some fun, throw their fans a bone, and make a little spending money while they were at it.

In 2004, all 6 band members were brought together by VH1 as a part of their Bands Reunited series. 4 of the 6 band members made this recorded 2011 reunion; missing were percussionist Mark Fox and saxophonist Phil Smith. Also missing are liner notes; not even a track listing, so here's a pic of the set list:

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks:  The first disc (clocking in at 56 minutes) contains the first 8 tracks of the original 12 track album. Not really any surprises here; the band's goal was to recreate the album and, with the exception of a misguided rap attempt during Marine Boy and an audience singalong during Fantastic Day, they do just that.

The second disc (59 minutes) contains the final 4 tracks of the album and the 4 song encore which included replays of 3 singles from the album. Singer Nick Heyward even weakly admits, "We've kind of run out of songs that we know." I don't think the audience minded a bit. The band even attempts a song titled Coming Home, which was written to end the Pelican West album but didn't make the final cut. (Heyward eventually revised Coming Home and recorded it as When It Started To Begin on his North Of A Miracle solo album.)

Personal Memory Associated with this CD:  None. As with most live albums, this is just a curiosity to be listened to only occasionally. Still, the original album is still in heavy rotation around here, especially during my summers.

Previously revisited for the blog:
The Best of Nick Heyward & Haircut 100 (1989)
Pelican West (1982)

A Very She & Him Christmas (2011)

She & Him is an indie folk/rock duo made up of multi-instrumentalist/vocalist M. Ward and actress Zooey Deschanel (Elf, New Girl). Ward is a fine musician (note to self: check out his solo stuff). Deschanel's breathy voice can be charming, but she has occasional issues with vocal range, pitch, and phrasing. This one could use a little less She and a little more Him. However, I love the laid-back coffee house vibe of the album. She & Him played it safe here and that's how I like my Christmas albums.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #12 (Jan 7, 2012)

Tracks: 12 cover tunes in about 32 minutes; don't expect long stretched-out solos. The best are Christmas Day (originally by the Beach Boys), Christmas Wish (originally by NRBQ), and Silver Bells. The album finishes with a fantastic version of Mel Torme's The Christmas Song in which Deschanel's voice is splendid. She can do it right when she wants to. The worse tracks are The Christmas Waltz (which exposes Deschanel's vocal shortcomings) and a rushed version of Baby, It's Cold Outside.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Paul Simon - So Beautiful or So What (2011)

Simon has called this album "the best work I’ve done in 20 years.” I wouldn't know if that's true or not since I haven't heard any of his music since Graceland. There are musical influences from around the world, but it isn't a world music album. Albeit brief, this is a good, melodic pop release. Most of the tracks wouldn't be out of place on Graceland, which is fine with me. Released earlier this year, the album is now getting placed on a few "Best of 2011" lists, including (not surprisingly) Rolling Stone's list, coming in at #3. These songs about mortality from an aging musician are perfect for an aging hipster like myself.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #4 (Apr 30, 2011)

Tracks: Only 10 tracks in 38 minutes. I don't skip any tracks, but my favorites are Getting Ready For Christmas Day, The Afterlife, Rewrite, and Love And Hard Times.

Bonus DVD: The DVD contains 3 selections. The first is a 8 minute "making of" vignette, the second is the music video for Getting Ready For Christmas Day. Both of these are readily available on YouTube. The final selection is an audio-only recording of a studio rehearsal of the title track, which isn't terribly different from the CD version. I'm glad I didn't pay extra for this "Deluxe Limited Edition" or I would have been greatly disappointed.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I went into Hastings with the intent of buying the new releases from The Smithereens and The Cars, but found this disc on sale instead. It was an impulse buy that worked out for me. This CD kept me company during some travels around Texas in May of this year.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Graceland (1986)
The Concert in Central Park (1982)

Michael Bublé - Christmas (2011)

Just picked this up - let's check it out. First, a little background: I've been aware of Bublé, but this is the first of his CD's I've purchased and I'm guessing I'll enjoy it more than I would Justin Beiber's new Christmas CD. On first listen, it would seem The King of Retro Easy Listening has delivered exactly what you would expect. But since half the fun of Christmas is remembering past holiday seasons, old school might be just what's needed. While this CD, like most Christmas albums, is hit-or-miss, I'm impressed by Bublé's vocal chops. Not all of the tracks will get ripped to iTunes, but it looks like about half will.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #1

Tracks (Remember these are first impressions): The better songs are the versions of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, I'll Be Home For Christmas. I'm unfamiliar with the Puppini Sisters, but I'm digging their Andrew Sisters-type harmonies on Jingle Bells. Bublé's melancholy piano version of All I Want For Christmas Is You rivals Mariah Carey's original. The original tune offered here, Cold December Night, sounds like the recent Bublé pop stuff I've heard on the radio. It's enjoyable, but only time will tell if it will become a Christmas standard. I'm guessing it won't, but I've been wrong before. Tracks not as successful are the versions of White Christmas, Santa Baby, and Feliz Navidad, a duet with Latin star Thalía. I was liking the arrangement of Silent Night until the children's choir came in.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None.

The Cars - Move Like This (2011)

Highly anticipated (by me at least). In 2011, The Cars give us some of the best music of 1984. Absolutely no attempt has been made to update their sound. The Cars obviously know their audience is 40-somethings like me. The band isn't trying to win over new fans. We still get keyboard sounds that sound like they're from a Commodore 64, slashing rhythm guitar from Elliot Easton, and uptight vocals from Ric Ocasek. It's a typical Cars album: 38 minutes long, some great songs, a few good ones and a couple of really bad ones. Rolling Stone gave it 3 1/2 stars; that's about right. The Cars were always a better singles band than an album band. I'm glad the band got back together. This CD is enough to let me forgive the band for that silliness with Todd Rundgren.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #7 (May 28, 2011)

Tracks: The great songs are Blue Tip, Keep On Knocking, Sad Song, Free and Hits Me. The good songs are Too Late, Drag On Forever, and It's Only. Songs to skip include Soon and Take Another Look.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Since I've only had this CD for a week I know I should simply say "none," but the voice of Ric Ocasek instantly takes me back to high school in the BC. I feel like I should be listening to this on a cassette in the Markmobile on my way to work the drive-thru at Burger King.