Jamwise #24
Featuring: Roxy Music, New Order, The Breeders, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Lorde, and the Taylor Swift review everyone's been clamoring for
As this is the first issue of Jamwise since Taylor Swift’s newest album, I know everyone is clamoring for my take on her latest release, because the rest of the music writing world has been strangely silent on the topic. Someone has to acknowledge that her album came out and have an opinion about it. And I have to say, of all the albums that came out this year, and of all the albums T Swift has released in her career, this is one of them. No doubt about it. The vinyl version is round and spins in a circle; yes, folks, you heard it here first. The Tortured Poets Department, above all else, causes my speakers and headphones to emit sound, and when I turn up the volume the sounds get louder.
This week’s randomly selected albums from the RS500 list were all new to me. And I think the algorithm is detecting weakness where Brian Eno is concerned - this is the second week in a row he’s popped up, this time in the form of Roxy Music. I think the musical gods can sense that my opinion of him is softening, and now is the time to deliver the final blow. Let us see.
Cheap Thrills - Big Brother and the Holding Company
Today I learned that this is the band that helped introduce Janis Joplin to the world. Or maybe it’s more fair to say that she introduced them to the world. This album was one of only two albums the group made with Joplin, and she left the band soon after this album’s release.
I get that this album was culturally significant - Janis Joplin alone explains that part. I also think it was pretty inventive for its time, with a little bit of genre bending, although I still hear pure blues from most of the songs. The band sounds great, Janis obviously sounds great, but I’m left wondering a little bit at this album’s placement on the RS list. I’m missing a lot of historical context that I can’t fully absorb from reading reviews, which were mixed at the time of release.
Once again I think that’s because of my place in time - I’ve probably heard thousands of songs that built on the foundation of this album and its contemporaries, leaving the original thing sounding less original from my point of view. Those dadgum young folks always think they’re inventing stuff for the first time, am I right?
I’m not saying this is deserved, but I do think this album might be evaluated differently when the chief best-album-list-makers are of an age that didn’t live through the 60’s and 70’s, and who aren’t as influenced by firsthand nostalgia for those times. Lacking nostalgia, and disregarding Joplin’s later masterworks, this album doesn’t have much left to offer in my opinion.
Jams
“Summertime”
“Take Another Piece Of My Heart”
Power, Corruption and Lies - New Order
I have to say, on paper this is an album I wouldn’t have expected to enjoy a few months ago. But I was into it, baby. Isn’t possible that I’m evolving as a music listener? Are the days of me listening to greats like Brian Eno or Tom Waits with a perplexed look on my face a thing of the past? It’s possible, but I don’t want to start tooting my own horn yet. I will, however, toot New Order’s horn, because this album was an immersive joy of an experience for me.
Jams
“Your Silent Face”
“Leave Me Alone”
Avalon - Roxy Music
This review will be titled “the official redemption of Brian Eno.” It was just meant to be - he’s popped up in back to back weeks in some form or fashion. And this was an electro pop groove ride that I enjoyed far more than expected. I think I’ve decided I really like young Brian Eno. Maybe now, with the benefit of some more context, I can start to understand his later-career stuff a bit better. If nothing else I’ve not gained the motivation to try a little harder to connect with his music.
And I loved the album art that’s straight from a Monty Python style remake of the Lord of the Rings. Just breathtaking, hyper-nerd stuff.
Jams:
“More Than This”
“The Space Between”
“Avalon”
“To Turn You On”
Last Splash - The Breeders
I read “2023 30-year Remaster” on this album and I was like cool, an album from the late 70’s. But holy crap, that actually means it’s from 1993. This knowledge physically hurts me. Right in my lower back.
This album felt like a smoothie of all the different 90’s alt rock bands that came before and after, blended and distilled into the pure essence of the genre, but somehow more natural-sounding, more genuine and effortless than a lot of the alt rock I’ve heard before. Last week I found myself getting a little tired of punk, post-punk, alt-rock, whatever designation you want to give it. But this album left me feeling totally refreshed and raring for more just like it.
Jams
“Cannonball”
“Roi”
“Do You Love Me Now?”
“Flipside”
Melodrama - Lorde
I had no idea Lorde was highly regarded enough to make this list. Probably a result of me ignoring pop with my nose in the air most of my life, and also because of her confusing artist name. The peak of my confusion was when song “Royals” came out, which made me think Lorde was a monarchy-themed troubadour, like you might find at a Renaissance fair.
It’s unmistakably 2010’s pop, that’s for damn sure. At first I kind of heard echoes of Taylor Swift, if she had a marginally deeper voice and a more adventurous producer. Some songs might even be from the same beat library T Swizzle uses. Maybe a different synth preset here and there.
None of that is inherently bad, as it’s clearly masterful pop music. For it didn’t do much for me in terms of emotional connection. I think the entire album would blend unnoticeably into a playlist of “hits of the late 2010’s”, but in contrast to something totally different would sound way better. To be fair, I listened to it directly after several other poppy albums, and that probably made me a little numb to hearing more of the same.
Jams
“Hard Feelings / Loveless”
Thanks for the fact check Marcus - I must have had some wires crossed when I was reading up on Roxy Music. I’ll update in the permanent version of the post. But as you say, Eno is a legend and I’m looking for every opportunity to appreciate his work!
Avalon is a solid album, a grand finale for Ferry. Brian Eno appears nowhere on the album. He had long since stopped providing “treatments” for Roxy Music, having parted ways with the band after For Your Pleasure. He played with Bowie on “Heroes”, Low and Lodger; he gets writing credit for several of the instrumentals on those albums (and for the song Heroes). And he produced some of Talking Heads’ finest albums. I think his influence is particularly notable on More Songs About Buildings and Food.