Al Green

It’s Megan’s birthday! Happy birthday! I picked a keyword today, can you figure it out?

The Budos Band, “Old Engine Oil”

The opening track of V, which I like a lot. This track in particular has a lot of classic rock vibes going, which go well with that big, brassy horn part.

The Beautiful South, “Old Red Eyes Is Back”

I adored the first Beautiful South record (Welcome To The Beautiful South), and was kind of disappointed with the followup (Choke). There just weren’t as many transcendent moments, there weren’t as many of the really acid moments in the lyrics, and it felt kind of rushed out. When 0898 Beautiful South came out, I was happy to hear it was closer to the first album. It’s still not quite as good, but it’s close, and it’s my second favorite album from them.

Third month in a row without missing a day! 94 day streak going here. NOT BAD AT ALL.

Smut Peddlers, “That Smut”

Well, here’s a ridiculous album from 2001. While obsession with sex has a long and storied history in music, it’s seldom quite so forward as with this record, and the focus on porn in particular is relatively unusual. But it’s not unheard of in hip-hop either, not with Too $hort around, so this isn’t even really breaking new ground. At any rate, outside of the outlandish lyrics, the record itself is a bit of a time capsule of that time in rap.

Throbbing Gristle, “Beachy Head”

Industrial pioneers Throbbing Gristle’s third album, 20 Jazz Funk Greats, is their best and most influential album. Ranging widely around the musical map, the restlessness is part of what makes it great. This song, for instance, is just a bit of atmospheric disquiet named for Beachy Head, a notorious suicide location that the band is actually pictured standing on for the cover. It’s easy to forget that this is from 1979.

Parliament, “(You’re A Fish And I’m A) Water Sign”

While I always prefer the more upbeat stuff from Parliament, their ballads were also often great, certainly during their peak period. This comes from the last great Parliament record (Motor Booty Affair), but not the last great record from the Parliament/Funkadelic collective.

Black Eyed Peas, “BEP Empire”

Before the Black Eyed Peas became massive pop music successes, before they were cranking out deeply irritating hits, before they entered the collective consciousness as THE BLACK EYED PEAS, they were an underground hip-hop act that put out a couple of decent albums. There’s a little Black Star here, which is of course welcome. So, what happened? Well, one major thing you’ll notice about those first two records is that one familiar member of the band isn’t there. Fergie joined on the third record, and, well, only the first two albums are worth anything.

Bought tickets to see Shellac today. Nice! Today’s music.

The Cows, “Camouflage Monkey”

More old stuff from the Cows. This was originally on Daddy Has A Tail, when the Cows were still very much still figuring out what the hell they were doing. I’m not suggesting they ever figured it out, exactly, but they became more confident in their nonsense.

Sorcier des Glaces, “The Frozen Sword of Midnight”

I hope that, one day, there will be some rapper or something who makes a song called something like “The Frozen Sword of Midnight” (it will probably be one associated with the Wu-Tang Clan). In the meantime, you’ll have to rely on metal bands to get your “somehow this sounds like a doodle on a Trapper Keeper” vibe. Does this song start with weather noises? You know it! Are there candelabras on the album cover? Fuck and yes there are! Is the track longer than nine minutes? GODDAMN RIGHT IT IS!

Al count for today: two.

Ministry, “Death & Destruction”

I was just making fun of the fact that Ministry just released a new record called AmeriKKKant with the Statue of Liberty doing a facepalm on the cover. That’ll teach me! Anyway, as I’ve mentioned in the past, I was big into Ministry in high school. In-your-face attitude! Super fast crunchy guitars! Edgy vocal samples! It pretty much hit 15-year-old Josh square where he lived. The thing is, I grew up. Ministry didn’t. The window in which I loved Ministry was only a few years.