I've started listening back over the hundred or so albums I bought or downloaded legitimately for free this year with a view to thinking about a year's end list. One thing that I am realizing is that thanks to various label giveaways and whole discography deals I acquired a lot of perfectly cromulent ambient records this year. And that none of them are bad. In fact most of them are quite nice. And that even as a pretty active and putatively discerning fan of the genre I have to admit that the majority of them are to some degree substitutable for one another, in the sense that if I put a different one on I'd have just as much fun. Again, I am enjoying them - but when I look at them and say "which one(s) stand out as markedly better than all the others" it's not at all obvious where to start. It might just be that beyond a certain point it becomes impossible to put in enough listening to know which ones fade under scrutiny. Or maybe the floor has risen in terms of average quality of this stuff?
Saw them perform live a month or so ago in a small venue in Rotterdam. I've been listening to them for years, but was somewhat fixating on the first album I'd heard from them. Seeing them live gave me some appreciation for the stuff I hadn't really given a chance, like this album.
Well, since the last time I revisited them I've added my 2 favourite albums. Rock Of Ages was one of the first 8-track sets that I got for my brand new '73 Olds 442 at the time. (Not waiting to get one with a cassette player - Worst decision ever, how I hated when it changed tracks in the middle of some tunes) The Band The BandRock Of Ages: The Band In Concert
Much of this feels more like Hatakeyama than Pjusk. It's a little more turbulent than much of Hatakeyama's stuff, but Pjusk usually has a brooding tension and slippery rhythmic undertow in the dark depths that I am missing here. And when it does show through, like in the second track. it sounds a little out of place, as if someone's trying to disrupt the serene drone thing but not wanting to go too far. I am still on the fence about whether this collaboration really worked. It's OK but for me the weakest of the three Pjusk releases this year.
The "Random Radio" discussion inspired me to look at all my old vinyl.
Top of the pile was this one, "Bless Its Pointed Little Head" by Jefferson Airplane filled with live recordings from Fillmore East and West and bought the year it came out in 1969.
Who could forget absolute gems like "Plastic Fantastic Lover" and "3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds"!
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The Great B. B. King Live In Cook County Jail
https://archive.org/details/the-great-b.b.-king https://archive.org/details/B.BKING
Umbo Weti: A Tribute To Leon Thomas
of the first 8-track sets that I got for my brand new '73 Olds 442 at the time.
(Not waiting to get one with a cassette player - Worst decision ever, how I hated when it changed tracks in the middle of some tunes)
The Band
The Band Rock Of Ages: The Band In Concert
Barbara Ellison
I first heard her on this album which I thought was terrific.
Sonic Phantoms
https://barbaraellison.bandcamp.com/album/sonic-phantoms
https://archive.org/details/barbara-ellison-sonic-phantoms
Autumn Leaves Blue Guitar
https://archive.org/details/Barney-Kessel-Autumn-Leaves
Short but excellent
NYOP on Bandcamp
Sistema Respiratorio Free Libres NYOP
Albura
Top of the pile was this one, "Bless Its Pointed Little Head" by Jefferson Airplane filled with live recordings from Fillmore East and West and bought the year it came out in 1969.
Who could forget absolute gems like "Plastic Fantastic Lover" and "3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds"!
Among the tracks, "Little Wing", "If 6 Was 9", "Castles in the Sand" and "Bold as Love".
No wonder that I bought it without a second thought!
BCD BCD-2