(February 2021) Episode 319 is CHARLEY PATTON. The Father of the Delta Blues, which is all you need to say about his importance to American music.
Favorite song: Shake it and Break It
Compared to expectations: same
319. Charley Patton
Category: Uncategorized
276. The Jesus and Mary Chain
(August 2020) Episode 276 is THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN. Another band whose influence was greater than their sales, their biggest mark is planting the seed of Shoegazing with the fuzzy noise of their stunning debut album. But they chose not to stay and till that ground, instead meandering through many alt forms from the late 80s through 90s.
Favorite album: Psychocandy
Favorite song: Degenerate
Compared to expectations: same
275. John Coltrane
(August 2020) Episode 275 is JOHN COLTRANE. It’s hard to be cooler than Coltrane. Although I have a mixed relationship with jazz and saxophone is far from my favorite instrument, I appreciate him for his talent, innovation and influence. I agree that A Love Supreme is his best album and see why My Favorite Things is his most popular song, but I find myself drawn to the sound of his later-career free-form recordings.
Favorite album: Ascension
Best album: A Love Supreme
Favorite song: India
Compared to expectations: same
263. Georg Philipp Telemann
(May 2020) Episode 263 is GEORG PHILIPP TELEMANN. I do love me some baroque, but this was like an overdose. Perhaps the most prolific composer ever, Telemann wrote some 3,000 pieces, half of which survive, and I was able to find and listen to about half those — still about 800 pieces. Thanks to self-isolation, I did in 7 weeks what would have taken 7+ months. But his quantity isn’t matched by quality; while it isn’t fair to compare anyone to Bach, Telemann’s music can’t match his friend’s magic and melodicism. It’s all very nice though.
Favorite piece: Concerto for 2 Violins in C major
Favorite chamber piece: Overture-Suite in C major “Wassermusik”
Favorite cantata: Wie liegt die Stadt so wüste
Favorite big choral piece: Magnificat in G Major
Compared to expectations: same
262. Alison Krauss
(May 2020) Episode 262 is ALISON KRAUSS. When I subject myself to country music, it usually goes down best as bluegrass. And so I find a lot to like about Alison Krauss, who (with Union Station) kind of propelled a bluegrass revival. But no matter the style of music, she just has the perfect voice. And her fiddlin’ is pretty good too.
Favorite album: Raising Sand (with Robert Plant)
Favorite solo album: I’ve Got That Old Feeling
Favorite song: Jacob’s Dream
Compared to expectations: same
261. Porcupine Tree
(April 2020) Episode 261 is PORCUPINE TREE. When many others were going back to basics with grunge in the early 90s, these guys were reviving prog rock. Some of the music is enjoyable, especially the heavy metal-tinted later recordings, but the vocals/lyrics tend toward the prog-pretentious which is kind of a turn-off.
Favourite album: Deadwing
Favourite song: Shallow
Compared to expectations: ↓
260. Luscious Jackson
(April 2020) Episode 260 is LUSCIOUS JACKSON. Their funk, syncopation and semi-rap is a Very 90s sound, but unlike so many others of that decade, it holds up. It is not a surprise they have links to the Beastie Boys. Did you know they made a children’s album?
Favorite album: Fever In Fever Out
Favorite song: Under Your Skin
Compared to expectations: same
259. Stevie Wonder
(April 2020) Episode 259 of the “opus project” is STEVIE WONDER. Everybody loves Stevie and knows his hits. But you should dig deep into his albums, particularly from his “classic” period of 1972-76, to really appreciate his (inner)vision and talent as a song composer and multi-instrumentalist. Those albums are essential listening — the diversity and mixing of styles, the integration of synthesizers, the social commentary. His early teenage prodigy recordings are dispensible; the late-60s, early 70s albums a mixed affair, and the 80s pop cringe-worthy.
Favorite album: Innervisions
Masterpiece: Songs in the Key of Life
Favorite song: Superstition
Worst song: I Just Called To Say I Love You
Compared to expectations: ↑
258. Clara Schumann
(March 2020) Episode 258 of the “opus project” is CLARA SCHUMANN. I realize I haven’t covered a woman classical composer yet, so it makes sense to do Clara right after her husband Robert. A child prodigy and piano genius, her greatest fame was from concert performances, but she did some fine composing in her youth.
Favorite piece: Piano Trio in G Minor
Compared to expectations: same
257. Robert Schumann
(March 2020) Episode 257 is ROBERT SCHUMANN. Another solid and dependable Romantic-era composer, although apologies if I confuse his works with those of Schubert and Mendelssohn. Actually, I might put him a notch below them because of his aversion to big-form pieces (symphonies and concertos) that I prefer. Lots of pretty piano pieces to enjoy, and melodic songs in German if that’s your thing.
Favorite piece: Symphony #4
Favorite choral piece: Requiem
Compared with expectations: same
Opus Project 