Category: Uncategorized

170. Leonard Cohen

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(June 2018) I have completed episode 170 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to an artist’s full discography. This edition: LEONARD COHEN. He is a legend. And yet, I can’t get much beyond meh with much of his work. As a poet, his lyrics are the heart of his music. But since lyrical content is the last thing I listen to in music, I am missing the depth of appreciation. I prefer the earlier folk material, but also the last sparse, dark recordings. One interesting observation is how the pitch of his voice drops with each album, from medium-high register on the first albums to nearly inaudible depths by the final ones.

Favorite album: Songs of Love and Hate

Favorite song: Suzanne

Compared to expectations: ↓

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169. Badfinger

~ ernopepper ~ 1 Comment

(June 2018) I have completed episode 169 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s full discography. This edition: BADFINGER. One of the three Pillars of Power Pop (along with Big Star and the Raspberries). No one excelled at the power ballad quite like Badfinger.

Favorite album: Straight Up

Favorite song: No Matter What

Hidden Gem: the first album (Maybe Tomorrow, issued as The Iveys), with period-apt psychedelics and baroque pop

Compared to expectations: same

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168. Wu-Tang Clan

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(June 2018) I have completed episode 168 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s full discography. This edition: WU-TANG CLAN. I’m not much into rap but I can dig the them for their hardcore approach, inventive lyrics, entrepreneurialism, and kung-fu ethos. I limited this episode mostly to the albums released as Wu-Tang Clan; I didn’t have the stamina for all the projects put out by the Wu-Tang collective.

Favorite album: Iron Flag

Favorite song: Bring Da Ruckus

Compared to expectations: same

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167. Mazzy Star

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(May 2018) I have completed episode 167 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s full discography. This edition: MAZZY STAR. An underrated band from the 1990s IMHO. A distinct sound — hazy, echo-y, spare, not quite alt-country, with subtle bits of psychedelia — that I might label “sultry shoegazing.”

Favorite album: So Tonight That I Might See

Favorite song: Halah

Compared to expectations: same

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166. Miles Davis

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(May 2018) I have completed episode 166 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to an artist’s full discography. This edition: MILES DAVIS. I’ve had a complicated relationship with jazz, but Miles Davis has always been my favorite jazz artist — he was a trumpeter (as were my father and I), he was a constant innovator, and he was cool as hell. While it may be considered heresy, my favorite is his “electric period” of experimental, funk and fusion (1969-75). This was a long one — I covered the studio and live albums released under his name, but not bootlegs or his recordings as sideman.

Favorite album: Bitches Brew

Favorite song: Pharaoh’s Dance

Coolest album (in the history of the world): Kind of Blue

Favorite live album: Live at the Fillmore East, March 7, 1970

Favorite period: 1969-75

Worst song: Human Nature (Michael Jackson cover)

Best space jam that sounds like a Pink Floyd song that actually inspired Brian Eno: He Loved Him Madly (from Get Up With It)

Compared to expectations: same

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165. Opeth

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(April 2018) I have completed episode 165 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s full discography. This edition: OPETH. Who doesn’t love a little epic Swedish death metal? At some point they retired the demon howl for a greater focus on progressive metal and heavy mellow, but I prefer the earlier material.

Favorite album: Blackwater Park

Favorite song: Blackwater Park

Least favorite album: Damnation

Compared to expectations: same

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164. Devo

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(April 2018) I have completed episode 164 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s full discography. This edition: DEVO. As my interest in late-70s New Wave has grown, so has my appreciation of Devo’s first few albums. They’re more than a one-hit wonder, but their sound never really “evolved” (pun intended) from its one-dimensionality. If repetitiveness is proof of concept, they succeeded.

Favorite album: Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!

Favorite song: Uncontrollable Urge

Worst album: Total Devo

Compared to expectations: ↓

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163. Robert Johnson

~ ernopepper ~ 2 Comments

(April 2018) I have completed episode 163 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to an artist’s full discography. This edition: ROBERT JOHNSON. We pretty much owe everything to this man. There are only 42 surviving recordings of his songs (13 are alternative takes), but you can hear his influence everywhere.

Favorite song: Sweet Home Chicago

Compared to expectations: same

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162. The Allman Brothers

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I have completed episode 162 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s full discography. This edition: THE ALLMAN BROTHERS. They didn’t invent Southern Rock*, but they pretty much defined it (see Midnight Rider and Blue Sky). A always enjoy the fret and slide work of Dickey and Duane. Their output after the 1970s often resembled little more than talent-rich bar band.

Favorite album: Idlewild South

Favorite song: Jessica

Favorite period: 1969-72

Compared to expectations: same

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* Gregg Allman once made an astute comment that “Southern rock” was a redundant term, like “rock rock.”

161. The Sonics

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(March 2018) I have completed episode 161 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s full discography. This edition: THE SONICS. The Beatles, Stones, Who and Kinks of the mid-1960s deserve all the accolades they’re given, but none of them rocked harder than the Sonics. Out of Tacoma, WA, they were a definitive garage band, and their tonal aggression clearly influenced punk. After some 50 years, they were still spry enough to put out a kick-ass album (2015).

Favorite album: Here Are The Sonics

Favorite song: The Witch

Compared to expectations: same

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