(April 2019) I have completed episode 210 of my “opus project.” This edition: fIREHOSE. I finished Minutemen, so I naturally started fIREHOSE next as it featured its two surviving members. This is what I should have been listening to in the 1980s instead of whatever I was listening to. Early fIREHOSE is much better than later fIREHOSE. Mike Watt is an incredible bass player.
Favorite album: If’n
Favorite song: Honey, Please
Compared to expectations: ↓
(April 2019) I have completed episode 209 of my “opus project.” This edition: LAURIE ANDERSON. When I was younger, Laurie Anderson’s music was too weird for my taste. Now, my taste requires a weirdness in music such as Laurie Anderson’s. It would be more fully appreciated in performance, with her visual element too. I love the idiosyncrasies in her words. Her voice is classic American Standard, with a subtle midwestern twang.
Favorite album: Big Science
Favorite song: O Superman
Better than expected: the spoken word albums
Compared to expectations: same
(March 2019) I have completed episode 208 of my “opus project.” This edition: MINUTEMEN. I did not follow them in real time, but listening in retrospect, their influence is clearly recognizable, especially in funk-punk. Notable is their sense of adventurism. I particularly like the echoes of Captain Beefheart. It’s apt that Minutemen’s early songs clocked in at about one minute each, although I don’t think that’s where their name comes from.
Favorite album: Double Nickels On The Dime
Favorite song: The Glory of Man
Favorite EP: Minuteflag
Best approximation of a Captain Beefheart song: Power Failure
Compared to expectations: ↓
(March 2019) I have completed episode 207 of my “opus project.” This edition: MAURICE RAVEL. A rare case where a composer’s best known work (Boléro) is unlike anything else he did. I love the way it builds over the repetition. I’m not a fan of impressionism (art or music) but there were some works here that, ahem, impressed me more than expected, especially the complex orchestral and stage compositions. I imagine pianophiles like to challenge themselves with his piano works. He didn’t write as much as contemporaries.
Favorite piece: Boléro
Favorite stage piece: Daphnis et Chloé (ballet)
Favorite orchestral piece: Piano Concerto in G
Favorite small piece (non-vocal): Tzigane
Compared to expectations: same
(March 2019) I have completed episode 206 of my “opus project.” This edition: LEAD BELLY. A master in blues and folk, Lead Belly’s songs also touched on gospel, children’s songs and topics of the day like FDR, Hitler and the Titanic. His songs were thankfully preserved by the Lomax recordings for the Library of Congress, making him influential, particularly for his technique on his big 12-string guitar. Despite, or maybe because of, his scoundrel-ish life, his voice always sounds like he’s having a great time.
Favorite song: Bottle Up and Go (love the guitar work)
Compared to expectations: same
(March 2019) I have completed episode 205 of my “opus project.” This edition: GREEN DAY. Based on their radio play, I had dismissed them as safe-space punk for the masses. But with this review, I was selling them far short. The rhythm section is *chef’s kiss* and the guitars are hooky and loud. Early on, the over-production was unsuited to the genre, but as they grew the songwriting caught up and broadened into power pop and guitar rock. Billy Joe’s affected vocals, once irritating and dominating, got better integrated. Green Day is a model for how a band matures and adds dynamism without letting go of their foundational tone.
Favorite album: Insomniac
Favorite song: American Idiot
Favorite power ballad: Redundant
Favorite rock opera: 21st Century Breakdown (better than American Idiot)
Special sauce: Tré Cool
Compared to expectations: ⇑
(February 2019) I have completed episode 204 of my “opus project.” This edition: JOHN ADAMS. One of the top living American composers, his music has its roots in minimalism but it’s rather hard to categorize, incorporating and mixing several styles of early and late 20th century music. He composed several operas, but since opera’s not my thing, I prefer the orchestral and piano pieces, especially when it takes an ethereal turn.
Favorite piece: Harmonielehre
Favorite opera: Nixon in China
Favorite ambient piece: Light over Water
Compared to expectations: same
(February 2019) I have completed episode 203 of my “opus project.” This edition: WEEZER. I just listened to 12 Weezer albums and the only songs I remember are Buddy Holly and the Sweater Song. The fun of their debut album – the right sound with the right attitude at the right moment – serves to accentuate the banality of the following releases, with the most sterile lyrics I’ve heard since I did Foreigner.
Favorite album: Weezer (the Blue Album)
Favorite song: Undone — The Sweater Song
Compared to expectations: ↓
(February 2019) I have completed episode 202 of my “opus project.” This edition: LOVE. The distinctive style of this late 60s band is hard to label — “thespian hippy” is my best attempt. After their masterpiece, Forever Changes, their sound became more conventional for the era. Also noted (for the time) for the racial diversity of their lineup.
Favorite album: Forever Changes
Favorite song: Seven and Seven Is
Compared to expectations: same
(February 2019) I have completed episode 201 of my “opus project.” This edition: RICHARD WAGNER. Opera is my least favorite form in classical music, and since opera is Wagner’s specialty, this episode was a grind. But a greatest hits collection of his top overtures and preludes is worth having. The Tannhäuser Overture is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever.
Favorite piece: Tannhäuser Overture
Favorite opera (for the music): Parisfal
Compared to expectations: ↓
Opus Project 