(May 2022) Episode 408 of the “opus project” is WILSON PICKETT. One of my favorite soul singers; his voice has a right level of rawness that feels close to the soul ideal. The songs in his late 1960s prime are funky and danceable without resorting to schlock or saccharine. After the early 1970s the output becomes sporadic and forgettable.
Favorite album: The Exciting Wilson Pickett
Favorite song: Land of 1000 Dances
Compared to expectations: ↑
Recommendation: a must-have for any soul playlist
Episode 407 is DEATH (the death metal band, not the proto-punk band). Further proof that the best (only?) good music to come out of the 80s was aggressive metal. Death arguably invented their eponymous genre, with leader Chuck Schuldiner the pioneer. From the first double-pedaled beat of the first album, the death metal template was set: machine-gun speed and noise, growl vocals, necrotic themes.
Favorite album: Leprosy
Favorite song: Pull the Plug
Compared to expectations: ↑
Recommendation: essential metal
(May 2022)
Episode 406 is AROOJ AFTAB. Pakistan-born, U.S.-based vocalist and composer whose music is a blend of jazz, minimalism, electronica and neo-Sufi. She uses her beautiful, mid-range voice as an instrument integrated into the music. The moods are relaxing, contemplative, atmospheric, spacy.
Favorite album: Siren Islands
Favorite song: Mohabbat
Compared to expectations: same
Recommendation: definitely check her out
(May 2022) Episode 405 is the HAPPY MONDAYS. Arguably the most Madchester sound within the Madchester scene, with plenty of grooves and rave beats. But they lacked the melodic charm of peers the Stone Roses and Charlatans.
Favourite album: Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches
Favourite song: Bob’s Yer Uncle
Compared to expectations: ↓
Recommendation: worth a listen to see what the Madchester thing was all about
(May 2022) Episode 404 is DEATH (the proto-punk band, not the death metal band). My primary interest is in their role as a proto-punk band, although they didn’t make a mark outside of their native Detroit until rediscovered decades later. Also unusual in that they were a trio of Black brothers who started out in funk but got turned on to hard rock, with political and later Christian themes. Their sound is like mixing MC5, Love, the White Stripes and Glass Harp in a blender.
Favorite album: …For the Whole World to See
Favorite song: Politicians In My Eyes
Compared to expectations: ↓
Recommendation: only of interest to those exploring the roots of punk
Episode 403 is ANTHRAX. One of the first and influential trash metal bands, although I would rank them a notch below Metallica and Slayer. The trash and speed is fantastic, but the music can become burdened by sounding too much like hair metal (on the early albums) or banal hard rock (on the later ones), probably due to the rotation of lead vocalists.
Favorite album: Among the Living
Favorite song: Room for One More
Compared to expectations: ↓
Recommendation: it’s high caliber trash metal, but I would initiate yourself elsewhere
(April 2022) Episode 402 is BLIND WILLIE JOHSNON, one of the great gospel blues musicians, known for his bottleneck slide guitar and molasses-mixed-with-sand voice, sometimes accompanied by his wife. He had a short recording career between 1927-30, but many of his songs have been covered.
Favorite song: The Soul of a Man
Compared to expectations: same
Recommendation: for sure if you like pure, original blues
(April 2022) Episode 401 is BARRY WHITE. “If chocolate fudge cake could sing, it would sound like Barry White” – the baritone-bass voice that catalyzed countless romances. Smooth, soulful, iconic.
Favorite album: Stone Gon’
Favorite song: Never, Never Gonna Give Ya Up
Favorite instrumental (could it get any more 70s in here?): Love’s Theme (credited to Love Unlimited Orchestra)
Compared to expectations: same
Recommendation: essential in any spin of 70s soul
(April 2022) Episode 400 is CYPRESS HILL. An essential and foundational rap group, particularly for cross-over appeal. Their first two albums are a lot of fun: super funky and smothered in pot-hazed humor. I credit them for continuing to innovate over the years by integrating rap metal, rock, Latin beats, Indian music, etc. But it’s also a reminder, for me, that I’m just not into rap music.
Favorite album: Black Sunday
Favorite song: The Phuncky Feel One
Compared to expectations: same
Recommendation: it’s worth a toke for casual rap fans, and a bowl for the committed
Episode 399 is ANNA CLYNE. A London-born, U.S.-based composer whose music covers a range of contemporary styles, from big boisterous sounds of conventional contemporary to unsettling moody works (I don’t know yet what to label this style) I associate with her mentor Julia Wolfe and others. The instrumentation and arrangements are mostly conventional with some electronic elements thrown in.
Favourite album: The Violin
Favourite piece: Within Her Arms
Favourite solo piece: Rest These Hands
Compared to expectations: ↑
Recommendation: an enthusiastic yes
Opus Project 