My Listening Hours: Missed Connections

Usually I follow up "the rest" with a brief rundown of "the worst"—albums I picked up that I wound up actively disliking. Happily for me, that didn't really happen in the last three months. That said, there were plenty of albums that I just didn't connect with. Maybe it's their fault, maybe it's mine. Maybe they're actually mediocre; maybe I just need to hear them in another mindset, some other month or year. I'd still recommend most or all of these albums, with reservations and/or personal caveats that may not apply to you.

David Bowie: Low
For whatever reason, I seem only to connect with Low—supposedly Bowie's apex—on an intellectual level. It's certainly a daring record, thanks to the Eno-aided second, instrumental half. But I'm just not connecting. The first, more "pop" side, has a couple of high points (most notably "Sound and Vision"—a song no Of Montreal fan should hear, lest their illusions be shattered), but there are just as many tracks that are kinda ho-hum. The instrumental half, too, has its peaks, though I don't think it ever rises above Eno's best work. Low isn't a bad record—actually, it's a good record!—but it fell flat in the face of the expectations I'd built up for it.

• David Bowie: Sound and Vision

Emitt Rhodes: s/t
I stumbled across Emitt Rhodes with no prior awareness of him whatsoever. The album was recorded in 1970, apparently in Rhodes' own garage with Rhodes playing every single instrument and backing vocal. The blog I picked the record up from claimed the result was something as transcendent as Oddessey and Oracle or Pet Sounds, which it clearly isn't. Rather, Rhodes sounds like Paul McCartney's star pupil. The pop craft at work here is near-flawless, though I think the record lacks that intangible quality that takes it to the next level. I can't hear any soul behind Rhodes' lyrics or in his delivery. When he sings "live til you die," I kind of want to slap him. It gives you a renewed appreciation for how much feeling McCartney could eke out of a platitude. But! At his best, as on the opener, "With My Face on the Floor," Rhodes' songs can sound like perfect little McCartney b-sides, which I mean as a compliment. 

• Emitt Rhodes: With My Face on the Floor

Karen Dalton: In My Own Time
Karen Dalton, on the other hand, has the opposite problem from Rhodes. On her second album, 1971's In My Own Time, Dalton's voice is nearly all ache and emotion—to the point that it often overwhelms the song itself. Like Rhodes, Dalton is able to hit a few unquestionable home runs, but her album becomes a bit tedious by the end.

• Karen Dalton: Something on Your Mind

Josh Ritter: The Animal Years
I picked up The Animal Years at the same time as The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter, and for that reason this album might have suffered a little. It's a slower, less fun—almost turgid—record compared to its followup. There are no real low points, and a number of high points—the first four songs are solid pop songs, and the epic "Thin Blue Flame" shows an ambition not seen on the later record. But somewhere around the midpoint the whole thing starts to feel, not exactly boring, but inessential. Still, when Ritter is at his best he can really knock it out.

• Josh Ritter: Wolves

The National: Alligator and Boxer
The National are one of those bands that I just never dove for. I've had a handful of mp3s for a few years, and I like them, but I always had the sneaking suspicion that they were... boring. Hearing both Alligator and Boxer, that sense is somehow dispelled and reinforced at the same time. On the one hand—especially with Boxer—each time I put it on I get the sense that everything is about to click. I hear something new, lock in on a lyric I hadn't heard before, pick up on some musical detail (by the way, the drummer for the National? Secret weapon). But by album's end I invariably feel deadened by Matt Berringer's insistence on using the same four notes for every single melody. I think it didn't help, too, that I got these albums at the exact same time (in fact, through the generosity of a friend, I got everything by the National at once—these two plus Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers, Cherry Tree, and Virginia, the latter two I still haven't even listened to yet). The National strikes me as a group you need to take slow, song by song, over the course of many focused listenings for many days or weeks or even months. I haven't given them that kind of attention. Each time I listen to Boxer, or a song from either album pops up on shuffle, I think this will be the week that I give it that attention. But it hasn't happened yet.

• The National: Secret Meeting (from Alligator)
• The National: Mistaken for Strangers (from Boxer)

Jorge Ben: África Brasil
I've got a song by Jorge Ben, "Pais Tropical," that is absolutely one of my favorite songs ever. It's like Os Mutantes, only better than just about anything Os Mutantes did. But I didn't have an album by Ben. I'd heard this was one of his classics, so when I saw it a couple months ago I snapped it up. For what it is—tropicalia with an afrofunk edge—it's good. But it's not what I wanted. This album comes from 1976, about seven or eight years later, I think, than the era of Ben I'd most like to investigate. 

• Jorge Ben: Camisa 10 da Gávea

Amon Düül II: Phallus Dei
My previous review of this record pretty much said it all. Phallus Dei has its moments, but most the time the band finds a way to irritate in the middle of what might otherwise be a great track. Yeti, the only other album I've heard by them, tempers the irritating moments better than here (though it doesn't eradicate them).

• Amon Düül II: Luzifers Ghilom

Grizzly Bear: Yellow House
Grizzly Bear is one of those bands I feel I'm supposed to love. People I know whose tastes run similar to mine flip for this band, and this album in particular. But I just can't feel it. I've had a handful of songs by the band for a long time—I like them, don't love them. But I was told they were an "album band," so when their discography showed up on eMusic I finally took the plunge. Nothing has really changed: I still think they're okay but not game-changing. I'm curious to hear the new album when it comes out, to see where they go next—so I'm told, it might be a direction I'll like more.

• Grizzly Bear: Knife

Comments

[Richard]

I tried really hard with Grizzly Bear. But, yeah, they're in the like-don't-love category for me too.

On the other hand, I really enjoy Boxer. Perhaps it hit me at the right time, but I listened to it over and over for a while there. (Though, admittedly, I've hardly listened to it all in the many months since...) Still haven't heard the National's other stuff.

I'd have to admit that Low is my least favorite of the Bowie/Eno collaborations.

[kerp]

I never got into the national, but can't get enough of grizzly bear. Diff strokes 4 diff folks?

[Alex]

The National's overbearing, somber air of Artfulness always put me off. Bowie's playful air of Artfulness speaks to me on side one. Side two could be the National.

[scott pgwp]

I think both bands--National and GB--must require a right-time-right-place scenario. One of my favorite blog posts of last year was by Raptor Avatar (the same guy who gave me the National albums), who wrote about having Boxer on in his headphones while throwing up (still drunk from the night before) in the john of his temp job. He had a simultaneous "I hate my life/whoa, the National is amazing" epiphany.

Can't say I reached that point, myself.

[Paul]

To my mind, the intrigue of Emitt Rhodes is more in the untapped/unrealized potential than anything else.

While I agree with you that the results of his efforts did not reach the heights of Pet Sounds (what ever has?)or even O&O, Rhodes--most like Harry Nilsson perhaps--obviously had a deft hand for pop, as you acknowledge. His first band was making nice hits in L.A. while he was still a teenager, and the first solo record is an especially impressive accomplishment when you consider his young age and the technology available at the time.

You have to wonder what he would have produced had he been able to keep up with the grind of being a professional recording artist. Of course, that doesn't make his records sound any better, but it's an interesting story.

For an artist that almost nobody has heard of, he was pretty great.

[Alex]

I fell for the National's "Fake Empire" while driving early on a Saturday morning during Mardi Gras to buy a king cake for my wife. This isn't quite as extreme as puking and discovering it at the same time, but it was so against the grain of Carnival season and my usual Saturday morning that it stood out in countless ways. Once the ritual gaiety of Mardi Gras passed, everything that stood out just seemed self-important and self-consciously artsy.

[Duncan Walls]

While I think some of your criticisms of Emmmitt Rhodes are valid, I think that outside of Band on The Run, there is little of McCartney's concurrent output is any better. I think ER had greatness withinj, but sure didn't have enough of a public profile to engender more interest.
On the other hand, I think you've clearly missed the ,ark on Karen Dalton. I had the album when it was new and wore two copies out. Then it took me years to find it and its predecessor on CD and/or MP3. Mty love of the LPs never waned and was NOT disappointed when I finally got to re-listen to both again, unlike many of my 'rediscoveries' which have not held up years down the line. Maybe it's because I'm older (58 this year) and have been listening a lot longer ( I worked in Record stores from 1971-1998 and DJ'd in clubs from 1975 to present...ALL kinds of clubs, Dance, live music and concert venues). Not a put down, just some truth from my perspective.
Oh, yes, PLEASE make up your OWN mind about EVERYTHING you hear! You'll find that you'll love a lot of things no one else will...then later there WILL be some satisfaction when everybody else (it will seem) suddenly catches up to you. The other halfr? All those LP/CD/recordings you find you DON'T like? Someday you'll be able to discover the value of SOME of them when you go looking through the 'stacks' of antiquity looking for something new to listen to. At least that's what I've discovered.

[scott pgwp]

Paul - I admit I don't really know the story of Rhodes...

Duncan - thanks for the comment. I definitely don't take any of that as a put-down. Like I said, I don't dislike the Dalton record, just feel like I've yet to connect with it beyond a few songs. If you're digging "rediscovering" a lot of that music - I hope you're checking out blogs like The Rising Storm, For the Sake of the Song, and Setting the Woods on Fire - all of which are linked in the list to the right. You might get a kick out of them.