The BOSS Is Back Again!

Original released on CD Columbia 19075941972

(US 2019, June 14)

"Western Stars" is a title that suggests wide-open, cinematic vistas, music made for the outer reaches of a widescreen. Such sweeping ambition isn't necessarily alien to Bruce Springsteen, a rocker who designed his self-styled 1975 breakthrough as a larger-than-life hybrid of AM pop and FM album rock profundity - a daring fusion that eventually favored the latter, perhaps because it was easier for the E-Street Band to fill arenas with cranked amps and big riffs. "Western Stars" contains none of that rabble rousing. Springsteen plays and writes with a gentle touch on this 2019 album, his empathy evident in his series of story songs and character portraits and in his embrace of another aspect of AM radio that he previously avoided: orchestrated arrangements so rich and enveloping they can sound softly trippy. Taking his cues from the lush hits Jimmy Webb wrote for Glen Campbell, Springsteen never opts for music that is as opulently ornate as his inspirations. His words are a little too direct, for one, a combination of cannily sturdy clichés tempered by startling turns of phrase that pulls songs into perspective. The clichés are intentional. All of its allusions to the culture of the '60s and early '70s - the swirling strings, the songs of wanderlust, the wink to Leiber & Stoller in the title of "Sleepy Joe's Café," a nod to Danny O'Keefe's "Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues" on "Hello Sunshine" - conjure a collective memory of a time when hippie ideals faded in the dawn of the '70s. This isn't a piece of nostalgia on Springsteen's part, though. These references deepen a collection of songs that are sweet, sad, and searching, songs that feel finely etched on their own terms but gather a deep, lasting resonance when collected on this enchanting album. (Stephen Erlewine in AllMusic)

CAMEL: "Mirage"

Original released on LP Deram SML 1107

(UK 1974, March 1)

With their second album, "Mirage", Camel begin to develop their own distinctive sound, highlighted by the group's liquid, intricate rhythms and the wonderful, unpredictable instrumental exchanges by keyboardist Pete Bardens and guitarist Andy Latimer. Camel also distinguish themselves from their prog rock peers with the multi-part suite "Lady Fantasy," which suggests the more complex directions they would take a few albums down the line. Also, Latimer's graceful flute playing distinguishes several songs on the record, including "Supertwister," and it's clear that he has a more supple technique than such contemporaries as Ian Anderson. Camel are still ironing out some quirks in their sound on "Mirage", but it's evident that they are coming into their own. (Daevid Jehnzen in AllMusic)

CAMEL Debut Album

Original released on LP MCA MUPS 473

(UK, February 1973)

One of the Canterbury scene's most underrated albums and certainly Camel's most underrated. Along with "Mirage" (which is rightly considered to be a classic), this is the most typically Canterbury sounding album of Camel's career (actually sounds even more like a Canterbury album than "Mirage") and yet, though the playing is impressive and the material is strong, this album has always pretty much been ignored, even by big Camel fans. Which is a shame, because there's some great stuff here. "Mystic Queen" is one of their loveliest numbers (almost approaching "White Rider" levels of majestic beauty) and "Never Let Go" is another great tune in a similarly emotional vein, while "Arubaluba" and "Six Ate" are dizzy complex instrumental workouts. Just give a listen to it and judge for yourself.

TONY JOE WHITE: "Lake Placid Blues"

Original released on CD Remark Records 527 530-2 (1995)

This is a masterly done album, truly. Tony Joe White has grown as a composer and a musician, and here he writes beautifull songs and melodies, and arranges them in a masterly way, with some tunes really in the groove. Great guitar too. This album should be more appreciated. Listen to it, guys! Especially "Lake Placid Blues", "Menutha", "Bayou Woman", "High Horse" and "Yo Yo Man". (in RateYourMusic)

ROBERTA FLACK Debut Album

Original released on LP Atlantic SD 8230

(US 1969, June 20)

Roberta Flack's debut album, titled "First Take" in true underachiever fashion, introduced a singer who'd assimilated the powerful interpretive talents of Nina Simone and Sarah Vaughan, the earthy power of Aretha Franklin, and the crystal purity and emotional resonance of folksingers like Judy Collins. Indeed, the album often sounded more like vocal jazz or folk than soul, beginning with the credits: a core quartet of Flack on piano, John Pizzarelli on guitar, Ron Carter on bass, and Ray Lucas on drums, as fine a lineup as any pop singer could hope to recruit. With only one exception - the bluesy, grooving opener "Compared to What," during which Flack proves her chops as a soul belter - she concentrates on readings of soft, meditative material. A pair of folk covers, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" and "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye," are heart-wrenching standouts; the first even became a surprise hit two years later, when its appearance in the Clint Eastwood film "Play Misty for Me" pushed it to the top of the pop charts and earned Flack her first Grammy award for Record of the Year. Her arrangement of the traditional "I Told Jesus" has a simmering power, while "Ballad of the Sad Young Men" summons a stately sense of melancholy. Flack also included two songs from her college friend and future duet partner, Donny Hathaway, including a tender examination of the classic May-December romance titled "Our Ages or Our Hearts." The string arrangements of William Fischer wisely keep to the background, lending an added emotional weight to all of Flack's pronouncements. No soul artist had ever recorded an album like this, making "First Take" one of the most fascinating soul debuts of the era. (John Bush in AllMusic)

MEMORIES FROM THE PAST - April 1969

The MOTHERS OF INVENTION Debut Album

Original released on Double LP Verve V6 5005-2

(US 1966, June 27)

One of the most ambitious debuts in rock history, "Freak Out!" was a seminal concept album that somehow foreshadowed both art rock and punk at the same time. Its four LP sides deconstruct rock conventions right and left, eventually pushing into territory inspired by avant-garde classical composers. Yet the album is sequenced in an accessibly logical progression; the first half is dedicated to catchy, satirical pop/rock songs that question assumptions about pop music, setting the tone for the radical new directions of the second half. Opening with the nonconformist call to arms "Hungry Freaks, Daddy," "Freak Out!" quickly posits the Mothers of Invention as the antithesis of teen-idol bands, often with sneering mockeries of the teen-romance songs that had long been rock's commercial stock-in-trade. Despite his genuine emotional alienation and dissatisfaction with pop conventions, though, Frank Zappa was actually a skilled pop composer; even with the raw performances and his stinging guitar work, there's a subtle sophistication apparent in his unorthodox arrangements and tight, unpredictable melodicism. 

After returning to social criticism on the first song of the second half, the perceptive Watts riot protest "Trouble Every Day," Zappa exchanges pop song structure for experiments with musique concrète, amelodic dissonance, shifting time signatures, and studio effects. It's the first salvo in his career-long project of synthesizing popular and art music, high and low culture; while these pieces can meander, they virtually explode the limits of what can appear on a rock album, and effectively illustrate "Freak Out!"'s underlying principles: acceptance of differences and free individual expression. Zappa would spend much of his career developing and exploring ideas - both musical and conceptual - first put forth here; while his myriad directions often produced more sophisticated work, "Freak Out!" contains at least the rudiments of almost everything that followed, and few of Zappa's records can match its excitement over its own sense of possibility. (Steve Huey in AllMusic)

"10000 Anos Depois Entre Vénus e Marte"

Original released on LP Orfeu FPAT 6001
(Portugal, 1978)

Foi numa noite festiva de quinta-feira que encontrei o José Cid. Olhei de soslaio para o palco e lá estava ele, todo gingão ao piano a debitar decibéis de música foleira. Não, há música foleira boa. Aquilo era mesmo mau gosto sem arte. Pobre José Cid. Nada faria prever no ano longínquo como a pré-história de 1978 que o autor da formidável odisseia musical pelo espaço, "10000 Anos Depois Entre Vénus e Marte", se iria tornar num cantor de música comercial medíocre. É verdade. O José Cid é mesmo autor da obra maior do rock progressivo português (considerado pela revista britânica Q Magazine como um dos 100 melhores - do mundo!). E deixem que vos diga que é fenomenal! É um album conceptual de space rock, em que é relatada a destruição da Terra por guerras nucleares, a fuga para o espaço e posterior regresso 10000 anos depois. O espectro sonoro, operático, está recheado com sintetizadores vintage, como mellotrons e moogs, que conferem ao som uma estética que nos lembra a ficção científica com que cresceram os nossos pais, vagamente reminiscente de Pink Floyd. Apesar das letras não veicularem nenhuma mensagem forte (diria que são engraçadas e encaixam no contexto do álbum na perfeição), a voz do José Cid não soa tão mal como nas músicas a que nos habituou, e o seu piano guia-nos melancolicamente pelo negro infinito do céu polvilhado de estrelas e planetas que ressoam nos seus teclados. Parece incrível que um artista que canta "Como o Macaco Gosta de Bananas Eu Gosto de Ti" tenha sido autor de uma obra desta envergadura. Parece incrível que num país culturalmente distante das vanguardas como Portugal se tenha gerado um artista como o José Cid, ainda que depois tenha vergado sob o peso da estultícia da sua pátria. Não há heróis. Só um album ímpar. (Quim Meano)

José Cid is a pretty famous Portuguese musician who recorded this incredibly awesome progressive monster concept album in 1978. "10,000 Anos Depois Entre Vénus E Marte" is a space-influenced prog album featuring a ton of vintage keybords (Moogs, piano, and Mellotron). Songs and melodies are very captivating and the overall feel is highly symphonic with lots of string synths and mellotron. Lyrics are sung in native Portuguese and are quite well done. This classy concept album by José Cid is an excellent mostly-instrumental symphonic prog piece with a strong space rock influence in the guitar parts. Like Bo Hansson, another pop keyboardist who turned his hand to producing prog solo albums, Cid does not use the album purely as an ego trip - he knows when his (well-played) keyboards need to be at front and centre, and when he needs to step aside to let another instrumentalist take the lead. In particular, Zé Nabo's excellent guitar contributions - reminiscent of Dave Gilmour's work at points - enhance the album notably. Cid is also adept at using both newer synthesisers and classic prog stalwarts like the Mellotron, and shows great taste in choosing which to use when and blending the new and the old. It might have sounded a bit retro even in 1978, but "10,000 Anos Depois Entre Vénus e Marte" is a fine album - and whilst it might have been the only solo prog effort by Cid, it's one that I can listen to over and over again. To the collectors a final advise: if by chance you possess an original vinyl copy, keep it in a safe place, because it is one of the rarest and priceless albums in the universe.

VAN MORRISON: "Saint Dominic's Preview"

Original released on LP Warner Bros K 46172

(US, July 1972)

While less thematically and sonically cohesive than Van Morrison's prior albums, "Saint Dominic's Preview" nonetheless hangs together on the strength of its songs, an intriguingly diverse collection which draws together the disparate threads of the singer's recent work into one sterling package. The opener, "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)," is pure R&B jubilation, while the title cut, although essentially a rewrite of "Tupelo Honey," is stunning gospel-pop; both "Listen to the Lion" and "Almost Independence Day," meanwhile, mark a return to the epic mystical explorations of Morrison's earlier work and offer a pair of his most primal performances. (Jason Ankeny in AllMusic)

VAN MORRISON Debut Album + Bonus Tracks

Original released on LP Bang BLPS 218

(US, September 1967)

Although Van Morrison's first solo album is remembered for containing the immortal pop hit "Brown Eyed Girl," "Blowin' Your Mind!" is actually a dry run for his masterpiece, "Astral Weeks". Songs like "Who Drove the Red Sports Car" look to that song cycle, even as "Midnight Special" nods to Morrison's R&B past. But it's the agonizing "T.B. Sheets" - all nine-plus minutes of it - that dominates this record and belies its trendy title and pop association. "T.B. Sheets" takes the blues and reinvents it as noble tragedy and humiliating mortality. It's where Van Morrison emerges as an artist. (William Ruhlmann in AllMusic)

"ESCRITO NA ALMA"

Aqui o Rato anda perdido de amores por esta voz do Fado. Mas é muito difícil encontrar discos disponíveis desta senhora, quer nas lojas quer na net. Tive a sorte de ter encontrado este, editado em 1997, e que aqui vos deixo. Ao que parece a carreira desta fadista começou um pouco tarde, já depois dos 40 anos (ela nasceu em Lisboa, a 15 de Maio de 1940), razão pela qual a sua discografia não será muito extensa. O 1º album, ainda em vinil, foi editado em 1984, numa tiragem limitada e particular, tendo o 1º CD só visto a luz do dia oito anos depois. De qualquer modo gostava de conhecer toda a discografia desta grande dama do Fado, pelo que todas as contribuições serão muito bem vindas.

The VELVET UNDERGROUND 3rd Album

Original released on LP MGM SE-4617

(US, March 1969)

Upon first release, the Velvet Underground's self-titled third album must have surprised their fans nearly as much as their first two albums shocked the few mainstream music fans who heard them. After testing the limits of how musically and thematically challenging rock could be on "Velvet Underground & Nico" and "White Light/White Heat", this 1969 release sounded spare, quiet, and contemplative, as if the previous albums documented some manic, speed-fueled party and this was the subdued morning after. (The album's relative calm has often been attributed to the departure of the band's most committed avant-gardist, John Cale, in the fall of 1968; the arrival of new bassist Doug Yule; and the theft of the band's amplifiers shortly before they began recording.) But Lou Reed's lyrical exploration of the demimonde is as keen here as on any album he ever made, while displaying a warmth and compassion he sometimes denied his characters. "Candy Says," "Pale Blue Eyes," and "I'm Set Free" may be more muted in approach than what the band had done in the past, but "What Goes On" and "Beginning to See the Light" made it clear the VU still loved rock & roll, and "The Murder Mystery" (which mixes and matches four separate poetic narratives) is as brave and uncompromising as anything on "White Light/White Heat". This album sounds less like the Velvet Underground than any of their studio albums, but it's as personal, honest, and moving as anything Lou Reed ever committed to tape. (Mark Deming in AllMusic)

TIMES TO REMEMBER - VOLUME 3