Category: Episodes

590. Sarah Gibson

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(August 2024) Episode 590 of the “opus project” is SARAH GIBSON, a contemporary American composer who sadly died of cancer last month at the age of 38. Her primary instrument was piano, but she also composed for chamber and voice. She was just starting to get going on larger orchestral pieces. The instrumentation is conventional but she dabbled in experimentation (like tapping the piano strings). Her compositions could be brightly lyrical or eerily moody.

Favorite piece: warp and weft

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: I felt a weird connection to the pieces, perhaps of lament for her lost potential, and a sadness for someone I never met.

589. Accept

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(July 2024) Episode 589 of the “opus project” is ACCEPT. Accept was my entry into heavy metal, when a high school classmate gave me a mix tape of metal bands (it also included “Whiplash” which was my initiation into Metallica.) The song was “Fast as a Shark.” The children’s song, the record scratch, the scream, the thrash, the double pedals, the hooks, the fills, the lightning guitar solo – that song has EVERYTHING. Unfortunately, that (still) amazing song was the exception, not the rule. While some of their earlier stuff resembled Judas Priest (that’s a good thing), most of the rest is banal headbanging, which bores me. And there’s a lot: 17 albums up to the present year. But their influence on speed and thrash metal will always stand.

Favorite album: Restless and Wild

Favorite song:  Fast as a Shark

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: Restless and Wild and Balls to the Wall are the only albums you need to know.

588. Gustav Holst

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(July 2024) Episode 588 is GUSTAV HOLST. He’s best known for “The Planets,” both for its own inherent power and grace, but also for its wide influence on 20th century music, including rock, and especially on John Williams’ Star Wars themes. (It was inspired by astrological rather than astronomical ideas.) His compositions cover a big range, from opera to orchestral and lots of choral (secular and church). The other thing he’s known for is incorporating themes from English folk music and Indian mythology.

Favourite piece: The Planets

Favourite movement: Mars

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: The Planets is the best thing.

587. Marmalade

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(July 2024) Episode 587 is MARMALADE. I did this episode solely for my fathomless adoration of “I See the Rain,” one of my favorite psychedelic songs of all time (I’m still trying to figure out what they’re doing with the two bass guitars on it). But you may recognize them for their radio-friendly soft rock hit “Reflections of My Life,” or their unremarkable cover of “Ob-la-di-ob-la-da.” This Scottish act started out as the Gaylords with several beat singles in the mid-1960, then some psychedelia, before settling into a respectable run of soft rock/power pop recordings through the early 70s, followed by obscure albums in the late 70s/early 80s that aren’t worth searching for. Their best work was not organized onto proper albums so I don’t list a favourite.

Favourite album: n/a (try the Very Best of Marmalade as a greatest hits album)

Favourite song: I See the Rain

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: A greatest hits album is more than enough.

586. Big Bill Broonzy

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(July 2024) Episode 586 is BIG BILL BROONZY. He was among the early generation of recorded country blues guitarist/singers, and his interests and influence were as wide as they are under-acknowledged. His name pops up in many places, as a progenitor of the electric Chicago blues, in the folk revival, and the popularization of blues and folk in Europe, including crucially in the UK. He delved into ragtime, country, folk, jazz-inflected songs and spirituals. Not surprisingly, given my previous episodes, my favorites are the early acoustic guitar blues numbers.

Favorite album: Do That Guitar Rag

Favorite song: I Can’t Be Satisfied

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: There are a ton of collections and anthologies out there. For the early guitar work, I recommend Do That Guitar Rag or The Young Big Bill Broonzy

585. The Feelies

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(July 2024) Episode 585 is THE FEELIES. Their first album Crazy Rhythms (1980) is a gem of post-punk nerdy angular rock. But everything after that bores me. I suspect this opinion will alienate me from some peers. It is obvious they take inspiration from the Velvet Underground and Lou Reed (confirmed in a decent VU cover album released last year). And sometimes you hear wisps of Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo in the pulses. But my immense love for those three bands does not translate to The Feelies. I don’t mind jangly guitars in the right context, but a lot of The Feelies feels like just jangling for jangling’s sake.

Favorite album: Crazy Rhythms        

Favorite song: Loveless Love

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: Just Crazy Rhythms

584. Babatunde Olatunji

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(July 2024) Episode 584 is BABATUNDE OLATUNJI, a Nigerian drummer who had big influence on American jazz and rock artists. Olatunji took up percussion while in college in the U.S., which led to a recording deal. His 1959 album “Drums of Passion” got the attention of John Coltrane, leading to a collaboration. Olatunji also worked with Cannonball Adderley, Quincy Jones, Max Roach, Stevie Wonder and Mickey Hart, among many others. It’s authentic music, unlike a lot of the “world music” stuff Olatunji helped inspire.

Favorite album: Drums of Passion

Favorite song: Akiwowo

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: All the “Drums of Passion”-titled releases are good.

583. Herman’s Hermits

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(July 2024) Episode 583 is HERMAN’S HERMITS. If the British Invasion had a bubblegum band, Herman’s Hermits would be it. They preceded the Monkees but there are parallels – light happy tunes, a pre-fab element, cross-marketing on TV/movies, the vocal similarities between Davey Jones and Peter Noone, and a mix of popularity and critical scorn. The Monkees’ reputation improved over time (they had damn fine songs) and I think so of Herman’s Hermits too. Overall their music was better than I expected, helped by trying not to compare it to what their peers were putting out. But their polite approach couldn’t survive the late 60s.

Favourite album: Blaze

Favourite song: I’m Into Something Good

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: A hits compilation is plenty.

582. Cracker

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(July 2024) Episode 582 is CRACKER. Following the eclectic approach of Camper Van Beethoven (episode 61), Dave Lowery went more conventional with Cracker. They got notice as 90s alt-rockers but the albums shift between alt, roots rock, and country-rock. Cracker is fine music: meaning, the songs are satisfying but it’s also not going to get you out of your seat. At times the songs tend to run together, but going through their discography, each album has its own personality, and that keeps it interesting. As do Lowery’s wise-ass vocals.

Favorite album: Kerosene Hat

Favorite song: Get Off This

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: For classic 90s alt, the first two albums (Cracker and Kerosene Hat); for a different 00s alt, Forever and Greenland; for curiously enjoyable “California country,” Countrysides and the second disc on Berkley to Bakersfield.

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581. Stefan Grossman

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(June 2024) Episode 581 is STEFAN GROSSMAN. He is an amazing figure. A Jewish kid from Brooklyn who sought out and took lessons from some of the aging masters of guitar fingerpicking blues, including Rev. Gary Davis, Mississippi John Hurt and Son House. He studied and collected recordings of others, connecting him with Marylanders John Fahey and the legendary 78s collector Joe Bussard. He pioneered guitar instructional records, later videos – a ton of them are available on YouTube. You can learn fingerstyle from him too! He recorded a bunch of his own albums, mostly blues in fickerpicking and slide, but some other styles too. This is my favorite kind of blues music so I eat this stuff up.

Favorite album: Yazoo Basin Boogie

Favorite song: Memphis Travelling Blues Show

Favorite song (with slide): Bottleneck Serenade

Recommendation: Highly recommend. Albums to seek out are Yazoo Basin Boogie, Bottleneck Serenade, Hot Dogs, and Love, Devils and Blues. But check out the guitar tutorial videos, especially if you are a player.