Jamwise # 27

Featuring: New York Dolls, Stevie Wonder, The Police, Portishead

Most of the reason I’m doing this project is the desire to learn about my own music taste, and to use that knowledge to unlock even more awesome music for me to love. So when I listen to an album now, I try to figure out why I’m reacting a certain way to it. A lot of the time there’s some memory of the music from my youth, or maybe I have some kind of pre-existing notions about an artist from hearing one of their singles, or even just seeing their name in the media. It’s surprisingly complicated to unpack all that sometimes.

And then there’s the question of if I should even care why I like or dislike something. Over-defining music carries the risk of making my listening clinical or jaded, like a grizzled music critic who can’t seem to just listen to music like an innocent little kid anymore. 

I don’t have any conclusions yet, but just a favor to ask - if you notice me sounding like a crusty young fart, don’t be afraid to let me know. We must work together to keep the barnacles off of our music brains.

Project BAE - Best Albums Ever

I’m listening to the best albums of all time to find gems I missed from being born too freaking late. Currently listening my way through the Rolling Stone Top 500 Abums of All Time.

Progress: 120/500 albums (24%)

New York Dolls - New York Dolls

Another day, another punk rock or punk precursor on the Rolling Stone Top 500 list. Just an observation at this point, but I think we have an early frontrunner for “Rolling Stone voters’ favorite genre.” I don’t have any conclusions to draw from that, but let’s keep going and see.

This album made me think about how we introduce younger people to old music or teach them how a genre came to be. It seems like the main idea is to introduce people to the “foundations” of an old genre to “educate them,” but in my experience that’s a pretty fraught experience. It’s easy to overdo it and start someone out with a really out of date or extreme-sounding act that ultimately turns them off to the genre in question. In my mind it’s better to find a more accessible example of a genre that will sound more inviting to modern ears, rather than forcing them to start with the deep cuts or the true “originals”. 

In the case of punk rock, however, the New York Dolls kind of solve both problems. This band doesn’t sound modern, but their sound is very relatable and accessible to my ears, and they’re clearly one of the forerunners of punk rock and its variants. It’s strange to me that they aren’t the first place any conversation about punk rock starts - I don’t know if everybody would agree that they were one of the main frontrunners, or even one of the best, but I think the fact that their music sounds more familiar to someone like me who lacks the context of watching punk develop and grow over the years means that they would be a great place to start. 

I’m sick of hearing recommendations for Sex Pistols or The Ramones or The Clash as entry points into punk rock. Those bands largely turned me off to punk rock in my younger days, if I’m being honest, although I do plan to re-evaluate all of them whenever they come up in my listening projects. But from now on my first early punk recommendation is going to be New York Dolls.

Jams

• “Personality Crisis”

• “Looking For A Kiss”

• “Lonely Planet Boy”

Synchronicity - The Police

I was first introduced to Sting through my father, who had a habit of screeching the chorus of “Roxanne” to us at random occasions, and by screeching I truly mean making sounds like a dying velociraptor trying to sing a song in too high of a register. Our dogs would sometimes howl along if someone else was singing, but they didn’t make a sound while dad made his noise. “Roxanne” isn’t on this album, of course, but that’s forever the first thing I think of when I hear Sting’s voice.

“Every Breath You Take” is so out of place in the album, I never really noticed that before. Lyrically it’s just as offbeat and marginally creepy as some of the rest of the songs, but it really feels like an intentional single. The rest of the songs sounded very exploratory, in the lyrics and the musical composition, but none of it felt like invention simply for invention’s sake, like some of the other experimental music we’ve heard lately. The subject matter is very introspective, and the music (especially “Synchronicity I” and parts of “Synchronicity II”) sounds almost anxious as Sting ponders the troubles of his childhood. I thoroughly enjoyed the album start to finish - especially digging in past the singles to see the complex web of music that The Police were capable of.

Jams

• “Synchronicity II”

• “King Of Pain”

Dummy - Portishead

I’ve said this before - but I have no idea who this band is. But Portishead seems like I somehow know them even less than other bands I’ve never heard of. Like I haven’t even seen their name in the world. Like they exist in some parallel universe, like the dark matter version of music, as if they’re less real than something that doesn’t exist. 

The first track is GROSS - and I mean that in the way baseball players use it: meaning sick, which in turn means it’s awesome. Don’t think too hard about it, it’s one of those weird millennial-ish phrases that I’m sure by now means something totally different to the younger generations. Suffice it to say that “Mysterons” made me do stank face like I was shredding my heart out on a guitar. And that energy didn’t leave me the entire time. 

Image Credit: Billboard

This is probably the first totally new-to-me 10/10 album in the course of this project. I can’t believe I didn’t know Portishead before now. I’ve found a new favorite. With the exception of the goofy 90’s style record scratches in a couple places, this could have been released in 2024. Woohoo!

Jams

• “Mysterons”

• “Sour Times”

• “It Could Be Sweet”

• “Roads”

• “Glory Box”

Electric Warrior - T. Rex

I listened to this album fresh from the high of Portishead, which potentially flavored my opinion. I’m not totally sure. I also had a mixture of hot takes that I wrote to be funny, and some that are honest reactions. See if you can spot the difference ;) (That’s a wink emoji for people born before 1993)

First reaction - the album cover features a guy with a guitar and a big stack of amps, seemingly promising some sweet guitar rock -  and then we’re treated to the guitar guitar solo akin to the time Lil Wayne played guitar for the first time and said “screw it, this is ready to put on an album.” I exaggerate, obviously, but that Lil Wayne video really came to mind a few times. Just saying, I think billing this as a “guitar hero” album is pretty… imaginative marketing. Maybe I just needed to see T Rex live to understand that part of things, IDK. And maybe I’m struggling to understand how original this was - my brain tells me this must have sounded pretty cool and unique to a lot of folks in 1971. My ears, however, seem to be jaded.

There were several songs I loved - more than the typical album on this list - and I know this is a beloved album for a lot of folks, but it gets an average rating from me. I always talk about context affecting our appreciation of music - this album feels like one where the context had an outsize influence on the people who loved it. In fairness, I could name a dozen of my personal favorite bands who will be brutally dismissed by future generations who just don’t “get it.” 

Jams

• “Cosmic Dancer”

• “Bang A Gong (Get It On)”

• “Life’s A Gas”

Music Of My Mind - Stevie Wonder

This was Stevie’s 14th studio album released in 1972 - I have to admit, his voice sounds so much more modern to me that it was surprising to learn how long ago he did a lot of his recording. 

Also, this is one of the first times I’ve found myself enjoying the synthesizer. Ever since first hearing the ear-rupturing electric organ solos from the Doors as a kid, I’ve been wary of all the different forms of electric piano from the 70’s and 80’s. The synthesizer, in my mind, was best left as a backing instrument for non-guitar-based acts. But Stevie’s smooth treatment of the instrument on many of the songs on this album was a nice change for the better.

Jams

• “Happier Than The Morning Sun”

• “Girl Blue”

• “Seems So Long”