February is Music Writer Exercise Month #MWE • Page 60

First up is Winner In You by Patti LaBelle, and this was lovely. Mid-80s synth heavy pop belters, in the Whitney Houston mould. LaBelle has a great voice, a real rough growl to it when she needs it to go in that direction, but can sing sweetly like the best of them.

Just really great stuff overall, this is the first record of hers I’d heard, but definitely an artist I’d like to hear more from.

 

Day 2 is Set by Youssou N'Dour, from 1990. He's a Senegalese singer (and was their Minister of Tourism for a bit in 2012!), in a genre called Mbalax according to Wiki, which is a specifically Senegalese term. It's funky, tropical almost samba esque rhythms to this, blending quite a bit of "world" music sounds into a really enjoyable and funky mix.

It's catchy and breezy, and just a joy to listen to, a great way to blow away any February cobwebs.

 

I have a different album of his on my docket this month. I'm very excited.

 

Since I did not prepare at all I do not have a list and will not be looking for culturally significant albums or old ones i've missed (necessarily) I am just going to listen to whatever new-to-me album falls into my lap that day.

Yesterday it was Herbie's Magic Windows which is everything you would expect from a 1981 Herbie Hancock album - much more funk and disco than jazz or even jazz fusion, tbh. But the genius shines through in incredible and sometimes very weird grooves. Plus the last track has all sorts of Adrian Belew weirdness

 

I actually have a soft spot for a couple of his least-loved albums I've heard. Sunlight in particular is charming as hell.

 

I saw on someone else's list that Shaggy did an album of Sinatra covers produced by Sting. My life is so much better for knowing this exists

 

Today was Perfect Angel by Minnie Riperton, and while I've heard songs from her, this is the first full album I've heard. She's able to sing at such a high pitch sometimes, it almost sounds like birdsong. The instrumentation here is great and varied, blending in bits of pyschadelic soul, jazz, and even a little bit of country, with one song having a lovely bit of slide guitar.

 

Yesterday’s.

 

Love this cover

 

I don’t know why but I find it really aesthetically off-putting

 

First three days have been uniformly fantastic!

 

Day Four is An Evening With Belafonte / Makeba from 1965. I was looking for an album by Makeba, who I saw in the RS Singers list, and didn't know anything about, so an album with Belafonte (who I know a bit, but should listen more), sounded great to me.

It's not actually a duet album, aside from two tracks, which is a bit disappointing, with each singer having 5 or 6 individual tracks. All of them are traditional African songs, sung in their local language, often with the clicks in, which I do find great to hear. Clearly they're both extremely talented vocalists and versatile performers, but I was possibly hoping for something slightly different here. Will make time for another album from both of them soon, for sure though.

 

Days 3 and 4.

 

Haven't been writing daily but have been listening. I'm cheating whatever.

Somebody brought up F agen's Kamakiriad which I hadn't heard despite loving everything Steely Dan and F agen's Nightfly. Since Becker is also on it's basically a Dan album...and it's weird to hear such a happy one. Even Two Against Nature is so much more sleazy. Kamakiriad is like what if Steely Dan actually liked California instead of wishing they were back in New York anytime they went. "Countermoon" also reminds me so much of Little Feat's "Spanish Moon." Great record.

Then yesterday I listened to McCartney II which I'm sure I had heard some of but man. New Wave Paul is so cool. Not all of the sounds have aged great - although some are kind of insanely prescient - but McCartney is so all in on any weird decision he makes that when you back it up with the all time great songwriting it all just works. I wanna meet the one guy who loved this record when it came but didn't really care about the Beatles. I wanna know what hes listening to

e: i forgot you can't say Donald of Steely Dan's last name on here lol

 

I knew you'd like this one. What a beautiful record.

 

That one being Raising Sand? Yeah, I’m going to need that on vinyl.

 

Today was TP (slightly unfortunate title) by Teddy Pendergrass from 1980, and this is great. Funky and poppy in equal measure, and Pendergrass can absolutely wail like the absolute best of them - a really compelling voice, full of soul, character and power.

 

Today is I Am What I Am by George Jones from 1980. I didn't really do much research on this or him, so I can see this is a comeback album from him, and not one of his classic period records. I maybe should have started with his earlier stuff, but listening to this, I can't imagine this record is a stylistic reinvention of his sound, it's classic and timeless country music.

He is a great storyteller, with a lovely timbre to his voice that keeps you hooked on every word. Instrumentally it's fairly solid and un-showy, but serves him as a vocalist well. 10 tracks, coming in at 28 minutes, it's a brief listen, but a captivating one.

 

I'm far from an expert but I significantly prefer earlier stuff like The Grand Tour. I think that album gets mentioned so often because it has one of country's all-time staple hits in "He Stopped Loving Her Today".

 

Listened to Celia & Johnny, a salsa album from 1974 by Celia Cruz and Johnny Pacheco this morning. I was walking into work, in the freezing February cold, so while that isn't quite the mood of the record, it did make the walk a bit more lively.

I know very little about salsa music, though I've definitely heard "Quimbara" before, and this is a very enjoyable rhythmic listen, great melodies and instrumentation. Great crystal clear production too, that makes it feel just full of life.,

Perhaps listening to it in a bar in Havana on a warm summer's night is the better way to experience this, as opposed to a cold 8am walk on Tuesday in Cardiff, but really enjoyable stuff.

 

Behind over the weekend so doing Keith Jarrett - Sun Bear today.
Mingus was great as expected. Songs Ohia was pretty good, I prefer the Magnolia Electric Org record better. Fishmans was pretty cool. I feel like it's been sampled on something that I've heard before.