Charles Mingus- The Black Saint & The Sinner Lady

In many ways it's this sort of album that caused me to create this blog. Basically I bought it on a whim having been given some vouchers over Christmas.

I've never been a fan of Jazz, particularly this avant garde form. I've always felt you needed to be amusicologist to get the best from it. However, I thought since it wasn't my money I'd be spending, I'd give it a go and it always comes up on those lists of the "best ever" albums so there must be some merit to it.

 Having bought it, I've listened to the album sporadically, usually in the car when it's not safe enough to reach for the "shuffle" button. However, when it shuffled this time, in the house with no on coming traffic or pedestrians to worry about as I looked down to search for the ipod, I decided to stick with it and really have a listen and I'm actually pretty glad I did.

I won't pretend that I know much about Charles Mingus except that he played the Double Bass and was a noted composer of Jazz, as opposed I suppose, to "simply" being a good writer  or player. I'm also aware that he had a history of mental illness and a relationship with some British aristocrat or some such thing. I was tempted, prior to giving the album my full attention, to do some further research but I resisted so that I could approach the album afresh.

One disadvantage of this approach concerned the albums' concept i.e. what's it about? Who are the characters mentioned in the title and how do the titles of each composition relate to these? Maybe a greater understanding of these questions might have aided my enjoyment still further?

The other question I have concerns Charles' Mingus as the musician. Maybe it's the nature of his instrument, the double bass, or maybe it's to do with the nature of the ipod  and the type of files it uses ( digital formats tend to be compressed so they lose some "bits" that are supposed to be imperceptible to the human ear) or the fact that my headphones aren't that great (they should be given what I paid for them!!) but I expected the bass to be a major instrument. Perhaps his role as a composer was more important and it's only since I listened to the album properly that I noticed that the bass isn't to the fore as much as I'd expected. I think I'd assumed that he would be noodling away on his bass like Eric Clapton on his guitar at a "Cream" gig.

Anyway, to the music itself. There's no doubt that to a jazz "nimby" like me, this is a pretty challenging album. However, having listened to it a few times, there's much I enjoyed. Yes, there are bits that are quite "atonal" (if that's the right expression) which are difficult to listen to but there a flashes of things, such as a bit of flamenco guitar and, I think, I detected snippets of bits of more traditional jazz that you might have expected to hear in the 1920 & 1930s, which allowed me to find a way in to the rest of the pieces. There was an interesting use of, I think a base or baritone saxophone in an early part of the first piece which was reprised later on. A flute was also used at one point and I have to declare a prejudice in this regard, I hate the sound of the flute with a passion unless it's been hidden away at the back of an orchestra, I don't know why I just do! However, on this album it wasn't too hideous.

All in all it was good getting to know this album. I still think I need a few more listens to appreciate it properly but It's something I intend to do.

NOAH & THE WHALE- LAST NIGHT ON EARTH

I like this album. Apparently the band come out of a wave of, what the young people refer to as, "Nu Folk". There's not much trace of folk here though, not to me anyway. Lyrically the subjects seem quite traditional "Rock & Roll" territory i.e. romances about leaving small towns, moving to brighter futures and the failures or success that they can bring or nostalgia for those small towns or childhood days. I particularly like the song Give It All Back. A song about being in your first band as a kid. My one gripe actually relates to the singer's voice. The accent of popular culture, especially music, is American so to find someone putting on an American accent is nothing new. However, I just find this singers attempts particularly fake sounding.

In terms the the albums' overall place in my collection, I suspect that this will be something I play occasionally rather than reaching for it on a regular basis. It's certainly not one that I regret buying and I have enjoyed getting to know it a bit better.

A LITTLE BOY WITH MONEY

A Little boy with money is my mother's definition of what a man is. She has been applying this definition to my father and me ever since I can remember. Today is the sort of day I understand what she means because it's my fourteenth wedding anniversary and, as is usual on these occasions, birthdays, Christmas etc my wife has bought me a £50 voucher to spend on itunes. Therefore I have all this money burning a hole in my,  metaphorical, pocket but I don't have the time to sit and spend it since it's 8 A.M. and I have to go to work shortly.

In which case, like a kid in a sweet shop, I'll spend the day attempting to decide what to spend it on. Will I by something completely new? Will I put some of it towards adding to or completing my collection of certain artists,(I still have a couple of Pink Floyd albums to get) or will I use it to replace some of the albums that have got lost, stolen, swapped or "weeded" over the years? Also, will I spend it all in one go or will I have the restraint to keep  some back for future purchase, especially in the short term since, both, Elbow and The XX are due to release new stuff in the next few weeks?

It's going to be a long day until I can get back on my computer!!!

BLOG NAME

Just a quick one for anyone who's interested. Basically I was inspired (AKA I nicked it) by the debute album from The Saw Doctors called "If This Is Rock & Roll, I Want My Old Job Back". It's always been one of the funniest album titles to me. So now you know, if you didn't already!

ALABAMA SHAKES- BOYS & GIRLS

Alabama Shakes' albumn "Boys and Girls" was the first to shuffle on the play list. I'm pretty glad it was. Having bought the album some time back, I knew that there was some good stuff on it and, having listen to it several times over the weekend, it's a definate "keeper". I really noticed how good Brittany Howards' voice is. Musically and lyrically there's some good things going on too. I liked the drum fill (I think that's the technical term!) on Rise to the Sun and there's a lyric on Going to the Party about being "Still Somebody's Daughter." This song is propably my favourite on the album.

THE RULES (Take Two)

I suspect that these rules may become increasingly "Pythonesque." I've just been reviewing the play list I've created to go along with this blog and I have, after all, decided to include some artists who's work I am familiar with but I may not be as familiar with their "post download" output. I still won't be including bands such as Kraftwerk, however, since I love them with a passion and anything they have or will release will automatically be classed as brilliant.

I hope to have some time this afternoon to start on the first album.

THE RULES

There is only one rule...so far!

1. No albums from artist/bands that I was familiar with prior to beginning downloading because I think this might given them an unfair advantage. By familiar I mean an artist/band who's work I already possessed, knew and liked prior to starting downloading. So, for example, there's no Kraftwerk since I already owned "The Man Machine" and a couple of others but have subsequently downloaded several others. Further, I've heard of a band called "Throbbing Gristle" but I've never heard any of there stuff. So, by my definition, I'm not familiar with them and they could be added to the list.

INTRODUCTION

Right then, lets get started. It seems that everyone these days has a blog except me and I've been feeling a little left out. 

However, there doesn't seem to be any point in having a blog unless you have something to write about, yes? So, what to Write about? Well the one interest/passion that I've carried with me since an early age is music. Sadly I never had the ear or sense of rhythm to actually play anything worth while, having attempted guitar, piano, harmonica (I even blew a trumpet once!). So I've had to sustain myself by just listening and wishing horrible things on those can play an instrument. But since I'm not a journalist I'm in no position to just blindly write stuff so I'm going to write about my music collection or at least a specific part of it.

Essentially, I'm going to use this blog as an excuse to reacquaint or even acquaint (no I don't think that's a word either!) myself with that part of my collection that has existed or come into my possession purely since the advent of digital downloading. Most of the albums have been downloaded, always legally, by myself but a few have been given to me by friends which have then been transferred onto computer Mp3 player

 I feel the need to do this because, despite the fact that the rate at which I've acquired my music has increase significantly since I began downloading ( out of a total collection of 381 albums, I've acquired 137 since I began downloading in 2008) I feel that, with a few exceptions, I don't know or love these albums in the same way that I do the albums I had on other media, mainly CD and before that, for reasons that I might write about at a later date, cassette tape.

 As I get used to doing this blog, I may also use it to examine why this might be. Is it just because I'm a middle aged man who's got stuck in his ways but has delusions that he's still got his finger on the pulse? Is it because it's seems so much easier to get hold of the music now than it did before and this has led to some sort of attitude that things are more "Throw away" and, therefore less valuable or, aligned to this, has the ease of acquisition just meant that I've acquired too much stuff in too short a space of time to allow me to get to know most of this latest stuff? There is also the possibility that my previous collections got "weeded" of the crap stuff as I progressed from cassette to CD to download and what's left has given me rose tinted spectacles about the pre-download stuff. This is conceivable since I have either lost, swapped, mangled up or chosen not to transfer or replace various bits of my collection over the years.

Basically what I intend to do is listen to an album, hopefully at least one a week, and then write about my reactions to it. I don't know whether this needs saying but any thing I write should, in no way, be considered a review. It's just a way of getting me to listen to stuff and and develop a greater connection to them or to realise that it was a mistake t buy the album in the first place and it's just a waste of space on my ipod.!

Anyway, this is the start.