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Affectionately Melanie (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Affectionately Melanie
  • Artist name: Melanie
  • Year: 1969
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Buddah Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: my mother
  • Buy it on Amazon[1] : $34.69

Affectionately Melanie

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’m not familiar with this record, but several months ago I listened to Candles in the Rain, which Melanie recorded after this, and I rated it 4/5.

What I expected

Folk and folk rock.

What it was actually like

This was a good record, less folk than I anticipated, but with a lot more soul style. I liked Melanie’s childlike voice throughout and her vocal adventurousness, but I did not like that the second side was a bit scratchy.

Soul Sister Annie was a standout with a blues style and a bit of soul, good guitars and drums, pretty slow, and I thought that it still would have been a strong song without the vocals, but that the vocal part was great.

Uptown Down was another song that was very interesting to me, since at the beginning I thought it was going to be a soul song, but the verses sounded almost like a kind of proto-rap, which was not what I expected to be hearing on a record from the late 1960s. The very slowly sung chorus was a little weak, though.

Beautiful People is the song that Melanie got famous for performing at Woodstock, and I thought it was fine, but I’m not such a fan of it.

For My Father and Baby Guitar were two more that were pretty simple, but substantially elevated by recording them as soul songs instead of folk, which I enjoyed a lot. I also really liked the guitar distortions and choppy piano at the end of the latter.

One song that I couldn’t figure out was Any Guy, which sounded a bit like musical theater – she sung it in her own very distinctive voice and vocal style, but with kind of a different accent.

Grade

4/5: would listen again

References

References
↑1 I’m not sure why, but the album cover on my copy appears to be a different version. Maybe there was a later pressing? Or maybe one of the versions was made to be more limited and/or special than the other?

I Stand Alone by Al Kooper (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: I Stand Alone
  • Artist name: Al Kooper
  • Year: 1969
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Columbia Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: my father
  • Buy it on Amazon: $3.99

I Stand Alone by Al Kooper

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I have no familiarity with Al Kooper.

What I expected

I would have guessed folk, but my mother said this would be jazzy.

What it was actually like

I wouldn’t say that this was a jazz record or a folk record, though it did have some jazz, folk, soul and rock parts. It was more of a clever record, with far too much cleverness to sound authentically like anything at all, but nowhere near enough cleverness to chill out and just record a bunch of songs that people would actually enjoy.

Overture started things off with some creepy cackling, then proceeded to screams, and then shouts, and added a variety of what sounded like sound effects from movie scenes, though I couldn’t figure out why. After that, there were some jazz and gospel, but that could have already been the title track I Stand Alone – it was impossible to tell because there was not really any break between songs, with all the sound effects going on.

Camille was more of an actual song with jazzy instrumentation and some soul style vocals. It was decently catchy, but I thought the vocals were weak… and then it ended with a heartbeat sound effect.

One is one of those extremely famous songs (“One is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do”) that’s equally extremely difficult to place. This version was very Beatlesesque, and actually sounded eerily like Eleanor Rigby, which I had not expected.

On the subject of the Beatles, Coloured Rain sounded like more of Faul’s granny shit, as if Kooper’s goal was to get as many sounds as possible onto one recording, whether those sounds made any sense at all or not, which was actually pretty difficult in the late 1960s because studio technology was nothing like what it eventually became. This track was filled with discordant sounds that contributed nothing but cacophony.

Soft Landing on the Moon had sound effects that were just about as bad as a Moody Blues record. I guess it was supposed to represent his science fiction concept of a moon landing, though I’m not sure that it occurred to people in 1968, when this was recorded, that there is no sound at all on the moon because space is a vacuum. Womp womp.

I Can Love a Woman was an actual song with kind of a soul sound, and it was not bad at all, but it still had to end with some kind of sound effect that I could not even identify.

Blue Moon of Kentucky is a famous Bill Monroe song, so of course I loved it, but what a weird and interesting version of it! Kooper’s approach managed to create a bluegrass feel, while not actually being a bluegrass song at all. At first I was thinking that it was more of a rock sound, but it really wasn’t rock either – I would call it rockabilly, though there was a nice banjo solo. Then it ended with… a rooster sound effect.

Toe Hold, the Isaac Hayes song, had an excessive use of horns, which were quite distracting, and ended with more sound effects, this time something that sounded like a gunfight from a movie.

Right Now for You sounded eerily familiar, but I couldn’t place it. It had kind of a Spanish style guitar, with more of an overall folk rock sound, and then added an echo effect that evoked the Moody Blues again.

Hey, Western Union Man had more soul sound with more horns, and since the subject was the telegraph, added some obnoxious morse code beeping effects, and ended with circus sounds effects.

Song and Dance for the Unborn, Frightened Child managed to evoke Eleanor Rigby again, and also added some screaming effects, ending with with bongo drums and an overdubbed narration, followed by… a gong sound.

I was so glad when it was finally over.

Grade

2/5: weak, but I was able to listen to the whole thing

Their Satanic Majesties Request by the Rolling Stones (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Their Satanic Majesties Request
  • Group name: the Rolling Stones
  • Year: 1967
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: London Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: more likely my father
  • Buy it on Amazon: $32.69

Their Satanic Majesties Request by the Rolling Stones

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

When I saw this record coming up on the shelf, I thought it was the one Rolling Stones record that I had heard the most as an adult, but looking it over now, I think I was mistaken, and maybe I don’t know it well at all.

Previous Rolling Stones records that I’ve reviewed:

What I expected

The psychedelic version of the Rolling Stones, conveniently recorded immediately after the Beatles’ psychedelic phase commenced.

What it was actually like

I had no idea that a Rolling Stones record could ever possibly be this bad. None of these songs ever would have made it onto a Beatles record of the same era. In fact, I don’t even think they sounded as good as the Beatles’ studio outtakes. They were more like scribbles of ideas of songs that neither John nor Paul would have brought to the studio, for fear of being embarrassed in front of the other.

Sing This All Together (See What Happens) in particular was absolute and utter crap, and Gomper was also unusually bad, even for this record.

I did know She’s a Rainbow and it was decent, the best song on the record by far and the most catchy, but whatever that harpsichord-like instrument was, they needed to get rid of it. 2000 Light Years from Home was also not as bad as the others.

In essence, I think that Their Satanic Majesties Request can be summarized by the lyric, “Was this some kind of joke?” from In Another Land.

Grade

1/5: horrible enough that I couldn’t make it through

Old Friends by Mary McCaslin (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Old Friends
  • Artist name: Mary McCaslin
  • Year: 1977
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Philo Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: my mother
  • Buy it on Amazon: $10.00

Old Friends by Mary McCaslin

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve never heard of Mary McCaslin or this record.

I’ve also never heard of Philo Records, and think it’s fascinating that someone named a record label after the first century CE Hellenistic-Jewish philosopher.

What I expected

What I know about this is that it’s from 1977, that it was owned by my mother, and that the songs on it appear to be covers of other artists’ work, so I’m guessing it will be folk interpretations of famous songs.

What it was actually like

My prediction was right, though there was one original song, the title track Old Friends, which was fine, but nothing special.

Things We Said Today was fantastic, with an excellent tempo (that most singers would have opted to slow down). I loved the simplicity and the harmonies, and thought she did a great job, and thought the same about Wendigo.

Oklahoma Hills was upbeat, and I liked the subtle steel guitar.

Both Way Out There and My World Is Empty Without You Babe were slightly Oompa-Loompa, but still excellent. The former in particular was country enough to make up for it and had nice high notes, and I was again impressed that it wasn’t slowed down.

Pinball Wizard was kind of hilarious because I’ve never heard it outside the context of Tommy, and I love that she did it with banjo and drums. Blackbird was also great because of the banjo.

I didn’t like Wayward Wind and Don’t Fence Me In as much as some others, but still thought the steel guitar and drums were good on the former and the fiddle was good on the latter.

It seems like Mary McCaslin died a month ago, but I’m happy to have found her music!

Grade

5/5: love it

Preflyte by the Byrds (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Preflyte
  • Group name: the Byrds
  • Year: 1969 (but recorded in 1964)
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Together Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Distinguishing characteristics: “G” written on top left of album, indicating that my father owned it
  • Buy it on Amazon: $10.54

Preflyte by the Byrds

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve previously reviewed four Byrds records, including one just a few days ago that I already consider to be a favorite:

This appears to be a Byrds compilation, released in the late 1960s, of demos that they recorded in the mid 1960s.

What I expected

I’m curious how rough the recordings will sound, and I expect there to be a lot of Dylanesque vocals.

What it was actually like

It occurred to me during the first track, You Showed Me, that I doubted I’d be good at reviewing a demo of a song if I didn’t know its official version well, but this one sounded pretty well put together, basically just like a standard early 1960s folk-inspired rock song, with a British invasion sound.

Here Without You also had a British invasion type sound. I don’t know what the drumming technique was that Ringo Starr pioneered, but I think this song had it, though I guess they were a couple of years behind Lennon/McCartney in terms of songwriting sophistication. I liked it, especially the rhythm guitar. I’ve frequently described the Byrds’ sound as “rich” because they layered guitars so well, and this song was a good example of that.

She Has a Way was another song that sounded like any of a dozen pretty talented (but not Beatles level of talent) Beatles imitators from its era.

The Reason Why was not good because it wasn’t catchy or interesting in any way, but it was also the point at which I remembered that these were supposed to be “works in progress,” though they were all sounding more or less release ready to me. I didn’t like For Me Again either, for the same reasons.

Boston had a very pop sound, with a very distinct blues influence, and You Movin’ was somewhat similar, very much a dance song and clearly pop.

I’m not sure how to describe The Airport Song, which wasn’t rock, but might have been some kind of smooth jazz, and was definitely the worst song on the record.

You Won’t Have to Cry was the record’s most Beatlesesque song, primarily because of the musical style, but also because of the lyrics, while I Knew I’d Want You sounded a little like the Moody Blues.

Mr. Tambourine Man was the only song on the record that I actually knew well, and the only song that could seriously be considered Dylanesque, though it would have been difficult for a Dylan song not to sound like Dylan in any way. It also did sound like a demo, albeit still rather polished. The drumming was all wrong, and sounded like a marching band. Maybe the vocals were a bit off, but the guitars were pretty advanced.

Grade

4/5: would listen again