Tag: pop

339. Weird Al Yankovic

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(July 2021) Episode 339 is WEIRD AL YANKOVIC. Simply put, he is a genius. There is no shortage of parody/satire music out there (esp. in the social media age) but Weird Al is the master and has been so for decades. His albums (and videos) are consistently clever, current and on point. I LOLd often. And his original songs are not only funny but show him to be a talented pop/rock songwriter (ex: Skipper Dan). Extra points for doing it clean and not resorting to prurience or profanity (not that there’s anything wrong with that). I look forward to the polka medleys.

Favorite album: Straight Outta Lynwood

Favorite song: Jurassic Park

Compared to expectations: ↑

333. The Bee Gees

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(May 2021) Episode 333 is the BEE GEES. I divide their music into four phases: (1) 60s baroque/psychedelic pop, (2) early-70s soft rock, (3) late-70s disco, and (4) 80s-90s pop.  It is unfair to dismiss them as a flash-in-the plan disco outfit because of the breadth of their long recording and performing career, and their songwriting and harmonizing talents.  Plus, they did disco really well. My favorite is the late 60s stuff.

Favorite album: Bee Gees’ 1st

Favorite song: Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You

Best overall album: Odessa

Best soft rock period album: To Whom It May Concern

Best disco period album: Saturday Night Fever soundtrack

Favorite disco period song: Nights on Broadway

Best pop period album: This Is Where I Came In

Compared to expectations: same

329. Hildur Guðnadóttir

~ ernopepper ~ 1 Comment

(April 2021) Episode 329 is HILDUR GUÐNADÓTTIR, a contemporary cellist and composer from Iceland.  Her neo-minimalist solo works are my favorite, but she is a frequent collaborator with a wide range of artists from electro-pop to drone metal. Guðnadóttir has focused on soundtracks recently, such as the Chernobyl miniseries and Joker (for which she won an Oscar).  One constant is that most everything in her music seems to resonate off the sober deep tone of a cello.

Favorite solo piece: Leyfðu Ljósinu 

Favorite collaborative album: In Transmediale  (with Angel)

Favorite soundtrack: Chernobyl

Compared to expectations: same

311. Marvin Gaye

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(January 2021) Episode 311 of the “opus project” is MARVIN GAYE. His silky voice and songwriting tracked and defined the arc of R&B through its evolution in the 1960s and 70s. That voice could be sweet, sexy or serious, and matched well with female vocalists on several duet albums.  The peak are the early 70s albums that melded sophisticated soul with social commentary and an assertion of artist independence from the Motown label.

Favorite album: What’s Going On

Favorite song: I Heard It Through the Grapevine

Sexiest song: Let’s Get It On

Favorite duet album: United (with Tammi Terrell)

Compared to expectations: same

300. Aretha Franklin

~ ernopepper ~ 1 Comment

(November 2020) Episode 300 is ARETHA FRANKLIN. If there were a Mount Rushmore of American Voices, the Queen of Soul would surely be on it.  And yet, at risk of sacrilege, I find her voice to be too overpowering at times, dominating songs and even entire albums that would benefit from a little modulation. Her 60s classics are essential (also providing a soundtrack to the civil rights era) and her talents defined soul through the 70s, but avoid anything from the late 70s and 80s.   

Favorite album: Lady Soul

Favorite song: (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman

Favorite song written by Aretha: Think

Worst album: La Diva

Compared to expectations: ↓

287. The Supremes

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(October 2020) Episode 287 is THE SUPREMES.  At their mid-60s peak with the Holland–Dozier–Holland songwriting team, they churned out so many hits that are seared into our collective brain, rightly earning them the reputation as the top Motown act.  I thought it was unfair to Mary and Florence (then Cindy) to rename them ‘Diana Ross and the Supremes,’ but the value of Diana’s contribution was revealed by the declining quality of recordings after she left. Their discs provide a history of the Motown evolution from doo-wop to the pop-soul merger, psychedelic soul, gritty 70s soul and disco.

Favorite album: The Supremes A’ Go-Go

Favorite song: Love Child

Compared to expectations: same

282. Ray Charles

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Episode 282 is RAY CHARLES.  If you had to describe American music in the form of one person, it would be Ray Charles.  He melded blues, R&B, jazz, and gospel into what we now call soul, helped integrate country, and reached out into pop standards and modern pop. A legend. That said, the albums themselves, especially after the mid-60s, are generally weak sauce.  I recommend a greatest hits collection or, better yet, video of concert performances as his smile and sway light up the venue.

Favorite album: Doing His Thing

Favorite song: What’d I Say

Compared to expectations: ↓

277. Dolly Parton

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(August 2020) Episode 277 is DOLLY PARTON.  Dolly is an institution. Beyond her success as an entertainer, businesswoman and philanthropist, my take-away here is her strength as a song-writer.  I find her best work comes from the heart, grounded in her East Tennessee roots. Thus I prefer her songs inflected with bluegrass and Appalachian folk, or featuring lyrics from personal experience. Her voice can carry any song, although I admit to cringing when she’s doing pompadoured kitch with Porter Wagoner, pop crossovers, or flag-wrapped patriotic fare.

Favorite album: Little Sparrow

Favorite song: Early Morning Breeze

Favorite periods: early 70s solo, bluegrass trilogy 99-02

Least favorite period: late 70s-80s pop phase

Worst album: For God and Country (a blast of Iraq War jingoism)

Oddest cover: Stairway to Heaven (yes, that one)

Compared to expectations: same

262. Alison Krauss

~ ernopepper ~ 2 Comments

(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

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259. Stevie Wonder

~ ernopepper ~ 1 Comment

(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: ↑

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