JohnnyoftheWell
ok next time mort you can try to review an 80s portuguese prog folk maritime concept album where half the tracks are sea shanties bozo
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Last Active 01-01-70 12:00 am
Joined 01-01-70

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03.19.23 (free hugs) ♦03.07.23 #1 S.P.U.T. personality test ♦
02.28.23 MARCH of １９６０s (REC me) ♦02.20.23 got catfished by a train #AMA
02.11.23 For Tundra: How To Consume Metalcore01.31.23 FEBRUARY of g l // t c チ (REC ME) ♦
01.25.23 4.2s ranked ♦01.13.23 tag NOISE ♦
01.08.23 JANUARY of a m b i e n ト (REC ME) ♦01.08.23 DISCOGS i will consume 今年
12.30.22 2022_well: YES 1 0 0 % ||ぼest あlbum ♦12.28.22 2022_well: >NO< ||albums|| ♦
12.16.22 JOTW's 5s = REFURBISHXD ♦12.08.22 CRINGE index: BNM 2022 ♦
11.29.22 DON'T TAKE RISKS: destroy now11.06.22 Staff AOTY 2022: BREAKING SPUTNIK ♦
11.02.22 SputRoyale: WINNER 2022 ♦10.31.22 SPUT ROYALE: FINAL ♦
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MARCH of １９６０s (REC me)

Hello we are doing this thing again. My '60s knowledge is poor. My gripes with the canon are many. My love for certain '60s records is sporadic yet FIRM. Give me recs you dopes
1Leonard Cohen
Songs of Leonard Cohen

[I am taking the first three days off to recover from glitch month and sleep and things]
2Leonard Cohen
Songs of Leonard Cohen

[I am taking the first three days off to recover from glitch month and sleep and things]
3Leonard Cohen
Songs of Leonard Cohen

[I am taking the first three days off to recover from glitch month and sleep and things]
4George Jones
Trouble In Mind

March 4th
Rec'd by Drifter
Country
1966

INNOCUOUS HEARTY TWEE TWANGY SINGALONGS ...or, wait? Oh honey, no no! This one's got an edge to it - there's darkness all over these lyrics and Mr. Jones' good voice has lonesomeness down to a fine art. The man rides that superficial cheer well and found a whole lot of substantive pathos to latch onto here, and from there it's just one solid track after another. Decent start I guess.

3.6
5Aretha Franklin
I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You

March 5th
Rec'd by Kompys
Soul
1967

Hahahahaaha yeah nice one Komp, this whole wing of soul is a style I respectfully stay the hell away from out of equal parts respect and indifference. It's not a question of quality, it's a question of resonance and, uhm, this record has done little to fix this. Aretha Franklin has a great voice (d u h shutup johnny) and I can definitely vibe with A Change Is Gonna Come in particular, but I regret to report that my efforts to get down to this as a whole have been largely fruitless// EDIT actually Do Right Woman, Do Right Man kinda slaps too fuckit, this can have a get-out-quicksharp 3.5 and I'm glad I checked it i am weak yes shutup

3.5
6Buffy Sainte-Marie
It's My Way!

March 6th
Rec'd by Sloth
Folk
1964

Gonna take some more time with this, but definitely impressed at its levels of personality, adventurousness and (maybe) versatility hm EDIT this did not quite stick the landing, but I do respect most aspects of it a lot esp all heritage songs and that one banger about incest nice

3.5
7Robbie Basho
Venus in Cancer

March 7th
Rec'd by DadKung
Folk
1969

Absolutely magical album and the first thing from this month so far that's felt more than educational. I ~like this guy's voice and absolutely adore everything he does instrumentally. Love that the instrumental/vocal on/off sequencing foregrounds the best of both worlds. Gonna be following up on this one for sure, have scarcely taken it off rotation since I first heard it. Love love love how much simplicity there is to his chords, how cyclical and straightforward his rhythms are, and just how much life and dynamism and contour and atmospheric smmmmmsh there is to this. Fantastic stuff.

4.3
8Silver Apples
Silver Apples

March 8th
Rec'd by Demon
Cult meme album
1968

The fact that this exists is amazing and cool and cultclassictastic [12345], um is it good? Kinda! The bookends go surprisingly hard and I can see myself playlisting them for sure. The rest of this does largely hold up outside of novelty though - I admire the steadfast commitment to microtonal awkwardness, love the off-kilter blip-pssssz accents, am surprised at how many strong hooks the vocalist inserts into the midst of all this without disrupting the greyscale feverdream radiation_tone in the slightest, and the rhythm section is ! adequate ! There's been a lot written about how ahead of its time this was, which is obviously entirely valid for the aesthetic, but I think a lot of the songwriting here is surprisingly traditional all things considered - still forward-thinking, but there's a very grounded sense to how this is put together. It's aged well as such, in a kinda out-of-time way; it's especially remarkable that this came out in fucking '68, but I'd agree with whoever-wherever said that this would be a singular record whenever it dropped. Nice.

3.7
9Bob Dylan
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

March 9th
Rec'd by Asleep
Folk
1963

First taste of early Dylan - I grew up with Love & Theft and Blonde On Blonde on background family rotation, but never had particularly strong feelings for him either way. This was a bit of a revelation, a really engaging blend of (so, so, so) youthful whimsy and lyrical acumen. Loved it as an end-to-end, even if some tracks are plainly stronger than others by an unflattering margin. For all it's zany and inconsistent, it also carries such a strikingly wide range of voices that it rides out most of those hiccups. It's thoughtful, it's dead serious and furiously angry, it's silly and occasionally quite righteously hilarious. So much character on here - really glad to have come to this at last.

4.2
10Bob Dylan
The Times They Are A-Changin'

March 10th
Rec'd by Asleep
Folk
1964

Hmmm coming off Freewheelin', this was much more in line with my preconception of what an 'average' Great Early Dylan record would sound like - mostly in a good sense! It's much more focused, much more consistent and a tad more 'mature' in the sense of reined-in. I think the average song on this is stronger than the average Freewheelin' song, but it doesn't have quite the same charm or character end-to-end. Boots of Spanish Leather and North Country Blues in particular are stunners and I've enjoyed this more the more I've heard it. Good record.

4.0
11Eric Dolphy
Out To Lunch!

March 11th
Rec'd by Havey + yolo
Avant jazz
1964

I usually find at least something to enjoy in weirdojazz, and this wasn't quite an exception, but. Well. It has probably more than its fair share of personality and flourish (hats off to the vibraphone in particular), but damn this was all novelty and no fission to me for the most part. Surprisingly cartoonish, not in a way I'd call a full compliment. In the words of parksungjoon (RIP):

"Overrated/“jazz for people who don’t like jazz”-core but it’s very good and fun yeah"

cannot disagree

3.0
12The 13th Floor Elevators
The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators

March 12th
Rec'd by con
Psych
1966

lol sorry con half of this is the labyrinth-of-sunshine--brained faff-psych that I do not vibe with and will not pay lip service to. some of this is pretty cool (especially big props to Roller Coaster), but most of it can join Jefferson Airplane in the expired daydream bucket. at least some of their writing instincts were faintly genius hm.

3.0
13Herbie Hancock
Inventions And Dimensions

March 13th
Rec'd by hyp
Jazz
1964

I'm not enough of a diva to pretend my faith in jazz needed restoring after 11, but if it had, this would have done the trick nicely. I was only familiar with Empyrean Isles prior to this, and while I think that album was at once more adventurous and more melodically defined than this, there's a lot to love here. I don't have strong feelings either way about the Latin percussion, but the emphasis is almost entirely on Herbie Hancock's piano chops here. They are good and I like them! The way he carries "Succotash" in particular is a treat and I look forward to slipping this in and out of rotation in the next few months+

3.7
14Jacques Brel
Ces Gens-La

March 14th
Rec'd by Stakaline
Chanson perfect sex death
1966

Thoughts:

1) Jacques Brel is an amazing performer and a bit of a god
2) My preconception of Brel was much more moody/intimate than the various chanson bells and whistles these tracks have pinned on them - not necessarily my preference, but I respect how he owns it
3) I enjoyed straining what's left of my French to follow this
4) So much of the personality here feels lyrically contingent that I wish I could follow it further. Was already acquainted with La chanson de Jacky thanks to Secret Chiefs 3's rather pastiched English-lang version, and the level of tasty detail and intrigue in those lyrics alone make me wish v badly that I had access to the same in the original

So all things considered, I'm not disappointed in the music or performance themselves, but I can't help wishing I'd gotten more out of this? Probably the biggest it's-not-you-it's-me oofs I've had in a while. Solid af album regardless.

4.0
15Nico
The Marble Index

March 15th
Rec'd by porc
Nicoshit
1968

On the topic of it's-not-you-it's-me's, I'm sorry but I have too much self-respect to gaslight myself into believing that *I'm* the problem with Nico. My experience with TVU&N has always been choppy, yes, but I could dismiss her involvement with that record as a gimmick that didn't necessarily reflect her own output. 30 minutes of that same languorous deadpan over John Cale jerking it over as many intrepid legato nonhappenings as he could set to tape just ain't it though - there are only so many farts I'm prepared to sniff here.

I find it interesting reading what folks see in Nico - distant, charmingly charmless, icy, glamorous, enigmatic, inscrutable, bohemian, occasionally problematic, ultimately tragic. I get it - but I hardly hear any of it in this dull art project, pioneering and enduringly influential - by which I mean it reminds me of umpteen records I would far rather be listening to.

2.5
16The Meters
The Meters

March 16th
Rec'd by widows
Funk
1969

Was already v familiar with Cissy Strut, and a whole album of the same was a no-brainer win. Deeply cool record, surprised at the low number of ratings. Great funk gateway record that I'll have right up my sleeve for whichever social occasions demand it - anyone skimming this for 2nd hand recs should consider this a chill universal must.

4.0
17Monks
Black Monk Time

March 17th
Rec'd by phero + mort
LOUD???
1966

IT'S MONK TIME and hmm I did need to hear this! This shit has an edge and occasionally borders on pure dirty nastiness in ways I v i b e (I Hate You, Drunken Maria, Shut Up!, opener). These songs in particular are profane and a little unsettling and um, well, everything else you'd go to a bunch of weirdo 60s pioneers warping rock n roll into something louder and more freakish for.

That said, I wouldn't call this an end-to-end slammer - several of these tracks cling a little too closely to sweetnlow rocknroll mama tropes for my liking (We Do Wie Du ffs) and others (Hiddle Pog Die!!!) swing the other way and hit me in the irritation. You gotta break a few eggs to milk a subversion!!! in other news, is protopunk actually good? Don't answer that question for the answer is NO not really (but not bad either) and I'm grateful to have this on the curio cabinet next to The Sonics and The Velver Underpounds. Neat!!!

3.5
18Gary Burton
A Genuine Tong Funeral

March 18th
Rec'd by dedex
Jazz
1968

Oh shit, I wrote this blurb in my head on like five separate occasions and have forgotten each and every draft as of right now :[ Short story, love this a lot a lot a lot a lot. It feels incredibly unspontaneous for a 60s jazz record (almost to the point that the improv passages feel tokenistic, but the clamour they bring is too raw for tokenisation!!!), and it nails a brand of noirish funereal mysticism with more than a hint of screwball chaos that caters to my every fetish and sparks tremendous joy. More specifically, it reminds me of three artists I (sometimes) adore for reasons that don't really reflect it much at all (John Zorn, Tortoise, Bohren and the Görings), and I'm hoping this can end up as a square-on Record In My Life now, great shit.

4.3
19Andrew Hill
Black Fire

March 19th
Rec'd by Sniff
Jazz
1964

This, on the other hand, completely washed over me in a way that was a) enjoyable and b) firmly within whatever my conceptions of 60s modal jazz were before I pressed play. Good record but cannot claim to have been changed by it.

3.5
20The Kinks
The Village Green Preservation Society

March 20th
Rec'd by Mort/Pang
Rock
1968

DISCLAIMER um I like the Kinks and their classic tracks and most of the Lola vs. Powerman record, and Ray Davies is a cool chap in my books, but

I have long harboured a quizzical eyebrow (can one harbour an eyebrow? shit yes!) ever since I subjected myself to ye olde infamous Scaruffi fartBeatlesessay in which he describes Ray boi as a far superior songwriter to Lennon/Macca - not at all in a "no way/fuck that guy!" way, but much more of a "how could someone profess so ardently to believe this [I am curious and open to Further Evidence!]?" I won't say my expectations for the rest of Klassic Kinks were any more positive/negative per se, but they did become heavy...

...and this is sad, because they rather crashed to the ground in the face of The Village Green Preservation Society!!sadface! These songs - a few of which are very good, a few of which are very bad - are all succinctly writerly and scribbling to the point that it's hard not to imagine their inspirations as some form of dextrous "here is a thought that is an arbitrary thing give me 10 minutes and I shall have words and a tune to it" enterprise.

I do not know what to make of a full album of this. That is a lie. It's like a very-very-extended version of that scene in the Yesterday movie where protag and Ed Sheeran have a songwriting contest, except this now lasts the entire evening and we are treated to a whole montage of the Sheeran reel and (this is unfair because Davies is funny and sly and wry and many other good things that Sheeran is not, *but still*) all it takes is one Beatles classic to put the whole lot to shame (although in this version Sheeran gets the decency of being shut down by something a little stronger by a mopey piano cover of the Long And Winding Road - we're talking at least Across the Universe). I should probably talk about the songs on the record more but fuckit they are all ephemeral and the point has been made.

It is also unspeakably English, less in a sexy erudite wow-he-can-do-words-and-has-self-awareness-how-can-any-other-country-that-isn't-Scotland/Ireland-compare? way, and much more in a turn-that-doodletongued-malarky-off Beatles "Lovely Rita" kind of faintly insufferable twee way.

But I do love the opener.

3.0
21Jacks
Vacant World

March 21st
Rec'd by someone
Psych/enka??
1968

"The sound here is like early American rock and roll (think Phil Spector girl group melodies) combined with the feverish rock intensity that would find its most complete incarnation in Keiji Haino's Fushitsusha"

haha YES I love both those things what the fuck is this. Might do an enka month later in the year hmmm
22Isaac Hayes
Hot Buttered Soul

March 22nd
Rec'd by DadKung
Soul (!!??)
1969
23The Band
Music From Big Pink

March 23rd
Rec'd by Mort + Ryus
Folk rock country soul rock roots wha
1968
24Chico Buarque
Chico Buarque de Hollanda - Volume 3

March 24th
Rec'd by rabidfish
Bossa nova
1968
25Red Krayola
The Parable of Arable Land

March 25th
Rec'd by z00sh
?????
1967
26Scott Walker
Scott 3

March 26th
Rec'd by Stakaline
Huh
1969
27Scott Walker
Scott 4

March 27th
Rec'd by Stakaline
Hmm
1969
28The Incredible String Band
The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter

March 28th
Rec'd by Ryus
Psych folk
1968
29Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band
Trout Mask Replica

March 29th
Rec'd by Milo
fuck off
1969
30Charles Mingus
The Black Saint and The Sinner Lady

March 30th
Rec'd by ur mum
Jazz
1963
31Leonard Cohen
Songs of Love and Hate

March 31st
Rec'd by Ryus
Folk
NINETEEN SEVENTY ONE
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