Category: Episodes

633. Elliott Carter

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(February 2025) Episode 633 is ELLIOTT CARTER, one of the most notable American composers of the late 20th century. His early works are neoclassical but evolved to modern and “ultra-modern” styles, and he became known for his rhythmic complexity. He used conventional formats and did not go experimental (such as to electronic or mixed media), but it is still challenging to the ear. I really like his stuff. His legacy is enhanced by his longevity; he composed some 20 pieces after he turned 100 years of age. It’s a shame he is not better known compared with other American composers (looking at you Gershwin).

Favorite piece: Symphonia: sum fluxae pretium spei

Favorite chamber piece: String Quartet No. 3

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: Try my favorite pieces and if you like, move into the symphonies, concertante and chamber pieces.

Composer Elliott Carter at the piano in 1989.

632. The Marvelettes

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(February 2025) Episode 632 is THE MARVELETTES, one of the earliest successful Motown acts. “Please Mr. Postman” is their most popular song and representative of their early 1960s pop-oriented girl group sound. Their second phase commenced in 1967 as they shrunk to a trio and adopted a more soulful sound per the trends within Motown. Not among the top girl groups for me, but they had some enjoyable songs.

Favorite album: The Marvelettes (pink album)

Favorite song: The Day You Take One (You Have To Take The Other)

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: A greatest hits will do. I prefer the four albums in their second phase (1967-70)

631. Sourvein

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(February 2025) Episode 631 is SOURVEIN, a band out of the North Carolina sludge metal scene. By the time of their first full album they had evolved into a solid stoner/doom metal sound with low slow guitars and backgrounded screeching vocals. Key contributor to that approach was guitarist Liz Buckingham who later went on to join my favorite band in the doom genre: Electric Wizard. As I always say with sludge/stoner/doom metal, it’s not for everyone but I love it.

Favorite album: Black Fangs

Favorite song: Fangs

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: Try Will to Mangle or Black Fangs

630. Bobby Womack

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Episode 630 is BOBBY WOMACK, a significant contributor to soul music as a songwriter, guitarist and solo artist. He got his start in a group called the VALENTINOS (also covered here) with his brothers, and then as guitarist for Sam Cooke and other famous artists before recording on his own in 1969. His early 70s albums are high quality soul and funk material, accentuated by his gritty voice. He had a revival in the 1980s but the tone of the soul music from that decade is not to my tastes.

Favorite album: Understanding

Favorite song: Everything’s Gonna Be Alright

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: Fly Me to the Moon (1969), Understanding (1972), Facts of Life (1973),

I Don’t Know What the World Is Coming To (1975)

629. The Mops

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(January 2025) Episode 629 is THE MOPS. I recall my parents telling me when they went to Japan in the mid-1960s they heard a bunch of bands singing Beatles songs, aptly reproducing the words even though they likely didn’t know the meaning. I thought of that when I heard The Mops’ first album, Psychedelic Sounds in Japan, which includes a number of covers of classic mid-60s songs. They are known as the “first psychedelic band in Japan,” although it’s more garage rock than hippy. I first heard them via their contribution to the Nuggets II collection, the quirky “I Am Just A Mops.” They recorded through the early 1970s with a similar heavy and fuzzy sound to rock music coming out of the US and UK at the time. They deliver with a manic energy, but overall, the most interesting thing is that they were making this music in Japan and singing mostly in Japanese. On their own the covers are meh and the originals are just OK.

Favorite album: Psychedelic Sounds in Japan

Favorite song: Iijanaika

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: The compilation album The Mops: 1969-1973 isn’t bad.

628. Testament

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(January 2025) Episode 628 is TESTAMENT. Superlative thrash metal. They’re not listed among the “Big Four” bands because they’re categorized in the second wave. But for sound and skill, I would put them up near the top. Lots in common with fellow Bay Area mates Metallica — vocalist Chuck Billy is close in style to James Hetfield, as well as technical prowess and powerful execution. Their first three albums were classic thrash. In the early 90s they adopted a more alt/groove metal sound, consistent with the time, but by 1999 (and since) they returned to pure thrash form.

Favorite album: The Gathering

Favorite song: Down for Life

Compared to expectations:  ↑

Recommendation: All the albums are good, even that middle period. Try 1988’s The New Order, 1999’s The Gathering and 2016’s Brotherhood of the Snake.

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627. Fairport Convention

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(January 2025) Episode 627 is FAIRPORT CONVENTION, the best known popularizers of British folk-rock. Their first album has a groovy West Coast 60s sound (which suits my taste the best). Sandy Denny* joined for the second album and helped move them in a folk direction. The early albums feature a combination of interpretations of traditional British folk songs, covers of America folk artists (Dylan, Mitchell) and original material, reaching the apotheosis of British folk-rock with Liege & Leaf. The first four albums are excellent and the next couple of albums have some interesting bits, but to me the quality declines precipitously after Richard Thompson left in 1971. Lineup changes were constant. Fairport Convention is still around with three members dating from the 60s. But what was once innovation becomes cliché (a dynamic afflicting other genres, notably 70s electronic music devolving to New Age). With Denny, their folk had a mystic quality; later albums merely sounded like something you’d hear in a pub.

Favourite album: Fairport Convention

Best album: Unhalfbricking

Favourite song: A Sailor’s Life

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: The first four albums (Fairport Convention to Liege & Leaf) are excellent and all you need here.

* classic rock fans will recognize her as the female voice on Led Zeppelin’s “The Battle of Evermore”

626. Son House

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(January 2025) Episode 626 is SON HOUSE. Mississippi blues legend and contemporary of Charley Patton and Robert Johnson. His music is marked by an emotional voice and slashing guitar style, often in slide. He did a number of recordings in the 1930s and early 1940s, including for the Library of Congress, then retiring and returning to performance in the 1960s when “rediscovered” in the blues revival – a path similar to others. The quality of the early recordings seems better than those by many contemporaries.

Favorite album: The Legendary Son House: Father of Folk Blues

Favorite song: Death Letter Blues

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: You can’t go wrong with any of it. The album above is a good mix of early/later recordings. The Library of Congress sessions disc is also good.

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625. Pharoah Sanders

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(January 2025) Episode 625 is PHAROAH SANDERS – a good example of how this Project, despite its laboriousness, is helping me discover new worlds of music. In this case, Pharoah Sanders’ spiritual jazz. The saxophonist got his break recording on John Coltrane’s watershed free-jazz Ascension album (my favorite of his), influencing him to chart his own path in that direction. Sanders’ sax voice is different than Coltrane’s, and his music (in the late 1960s and early 1970s) became more mystical, incorporating world music and vocalizations. Over the decades, his recordings returned to more conventional jazz styles and even R&B, although he did experiment with electronic and orchestral formats. But to me those spiritual jazz albums are magic.

Favorite album: Karma          

Favorite song: Village of the Pharoahs

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: Pretty much any album from Tauhid (1967) to Village of the Pharoahs (1973).

624. Judy Collins

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(December 2024)  Episode 624 is JUDY COLLINS, who is still performing and recording in a career that has spanned seven decades. She got her start in the Greenwich folk scene. Her initial recordings featured traditional folk songs, then those by Dylan, Ochs, Seeger, et al, then broadening to the Beatles, Cohen, Newman, Mitchell. This was her peak period, where her clear, direct voice provided interesting interpretations of famous songs. Over the years her recordings branched out into pop, rock, country, showtunes and standards. But to me, after a while her voice doesn’t add anything. It’s not flat but also not dynamic. Gets boring.

Favorite album: In My Life   

Favorite song: Both Sides Now

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: Albums from the 60s, particularly In My Life and Wildflowers