Colossal Reviews

Only Unbiased Product Reviews

Colossal Reviews > 1970 > Page 8

Candles in the Rain by Melanie (Vinyl record album review)

By Leave a Comment

Record basics

Candles in the Rain by Melanie

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I wasn’t sure that I’d ever heard of “Melanie” so I looked her up, and she’s the artist who was responsible for the song Brand New Key, which you have heard, and which you will never hear the same way again after listening to the Wurzels’ version. I’ve never listened to this record or any of Melanie’s records.

What I expected

Folk.

What it was actually like

It was folky, but also folk rock, and rock. Lovin’ Baby Girl was good and that was more of a rock song with some funk elements. What Have They Done to My Song Ma wasn’t terrible, but it was Oompa-Loompa music, so I didn’t listen that closely.

I started off hating Melanie’s cover of Ruby Tuesday, then in the middle I started liking it a lot more, and then by the end, I thought it was ok.

Lay Down (Candles in the Rain) is the record’s outstanding song, but mainly because of the incredible gospel-style chorus that’s extremely distinctive.

Grade

4/5: would listen again

Woodstock: Music from the Original Soundtrack and More (Vinyl record album review)

By Leave a Comment

Record basics

  • Album name: Woodstock: Music from the Original Soundtrack and More
  • Group name: Various artists
  • Year: 1970
  • Number of discs: three
  • Label: Atlantic Records – Cotillion
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Distinguishing characteristics: “G” written on top left of album, indicating that my father owned this record
  • Buy it on Amazon: $99.98

Woodstock: Music from the Original Soundtrack and More

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve listened to this mega record a few times before, but I also know a lot of the songs on it from different places and times in my life.

What I expected

I definitely didn’t expect my father, who allegedly attended the Woodstock Music & Art Fair in a “flower power” van a couple of months after graduating high school, to make an appearance.

What it was actually like

Reviewing “Woodstock: Music from the Original Soundtrack and More” is surprisingly a challenge, since no matter what I try to write, it makes me feel like I’m actually reviewing the Woodstock Music & Art Fair, which is not my intent. But here’s what really stands out from this triple record album:

Stage Announcements… Stage Announcements… Stage Announcements… Rainstorm, Crowd Sounds, Announcements & General Hysteria… Crowd Rain Chant… Stage Announcements… Max Yasgur…

I’d forgotten the extent to which this live concert record consists almost as much of live meta-commentary about the concert itself, the mud, the brown acid, the danger of the cranes, would so-and-so please go to the information desk, peace and love, &c, &c. as it does music that was performed at the concert. And this is another case in which I think it would have made great sense to group together all the stage announcements and asinine remarks (like Jeffrey Shurtleff dedicating Drug Store Truck Drivin’ Man, already in itself an asinine song[1], to California then-Governor “Ronald Ray-guns”) on a single one of the six sides, reserving the other five sides just for music (and for statements directly related to the songs, such as Stephen Stills letting us all know that he, Graham Nash and David Crosby were “scared shitless” to be performing together for only the second time).

On that note, I’ve commented before (1, 2) how special a song I consider Suite: Judy Blue Eyes to be, but their performance of it at Woodstock, second time performing together or not, was somewhat lacking in everything that makes it stand out as a song. Here is a cover that may be incredibly corny, but at least they make all the harmonies work and don’t flub any of the lyrics, and here is another cover that’s less corny but also less rehearsed and tightly performed.

Many will say that Jimi Hendrix’s Star Spangled Banner– and Purple Haze-related jam was a highlight of the show; call me crazy, but I think Hendrix was greatest when he was playing actual songs, and weakest when he was inventing brilliant new ways to create cacophonous noise with his guitar. To me, Joe Cocker’s incredible With A Little Help From My Friends is what stole the show. And here’s a fun fact: since it was the theme song of the television program “Wonder Years” that I watched while growing up, and since my parents were big Beatles fans, I probably heard both versions of it thousands of times before becoming an adult, but I don’t think it was until my 20s that I even realized they were the same song. That is, to me, a remarkable tribute to Cocker’s ability to reinvent what had already been perfectly invented for Ringo, the greatest Beatle, by his bandmates.

Other highlights of “Woodstock” for me are, of course, Arlo Guthrie’s Coming Into Los Angeles (I’ve already mentioned how much I love that song), Country Joe MacDonald’s I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag (I think this is probably the most obnoxious song that I know by heart) and Jefferson Airplane’s Volunteers of America (which I consistently forget how much I enjoy).

Richie Havens’ Freedom is the dumbest song that somehow managed to get included on this record, and Sha Na Na’s At The Hop is the most confusingly incongruous.

Grade

4/5: would listen again

References

References
↑1 Update: in retrospect, I now think that Shurtleff ruined a totally fine Gram Parsons (and sometimes Emmylou Harris) song.

Déjà Vu by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (Vinyl record album review)

By 1 Comment

Record basics

  • Album name: Déjà Vu
  • Group name: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
  • Year: 1970
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Atlantic Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Distinguishing characteristics: my parents had two copies of this album. My father’s has no markings, and my mother’s has a sticker that says “GOLD RECORD AWARD: AUDITED AND CERTIFIED BY RIAA,” as well as “Brenner” written on the inside of the album as well as on the face of the record.
  • Buy it on Amazon: $49.00

Déjà Vu by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

This record isn’t part of my normal listening routine, but I’m pretty familiar with the songs on it.

What I expected

Rock, folk rock, country rock.

What it was actually like

I’m not sure why I don’t listen to this record all the time, since there’s so much great material on it. Teach Your Children is a gem, almost at the level of Suite: Judy Blue Eyes (which I described as “one of the most sublime and wonderful songs of its era”). I also am a big fan of Carry On, and Our House for some reason has always reminded me of Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, except one is good and the other is terrible.

On the Neil Young side, Helpless is pretty strong (though definitely not one of my favorite Neil Young songs overall), while Country Girl is the worst song on the record.

I’ve never really gotten the success of Woodstock. I’d characterize it as an ok-to-good-enough song, but for whatever reason it’s become one of the anthems of its era.

Grade

5/5: love it

Abraxas by Santana (Vinyl record album review)

By Leave a Comment

Record basics

Abraxas by Santana (Vinyl record album review)

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve never been a big Santana fan, presumably because had a song called Smooth that was not very good, and that was played around a million times in the late 1990s and early 2000s. I may have listened to this record once.

What I expected

Guitar riffs and psychedelic rock.

What it was actually like

It was jazzier in parts than I expected, and more of a hard rock record, though I’m not sure it’s entirely fair to distinguish “hard rock” from “psychedelic rock,” as it was plenty psychedelic too. Lots of parts were very enchanting, and I enjoyed listening to all of it, particularly Black Magic Woman, though Incident at Neshabur did get a bit boring at times.

Grade

4/5: would listen again

Big Bands’ Greatest Hits by Various Artists (Vinyl record album review)

By Leave a Comment

Record basics

  • Album name: Big Bands’ Greatest Hits
  • Group name: Various Artists (including Glenn Miller, Lawrence Welk, Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington)
  • Number of discs: two
  • Label: Columbia Records
  • Collection: Selman
  • Distinguishing characteristics: “MOR – INSTR” handwritten on tape; “Jazz – ANTHOLOGY” handwritten on tape; “WAMU” handwritten on front, back and insides
  • Buy it:

Big Bands' Greatest Hits by Various Artists

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve only heard of a few of the bandleaders on this compilation: Glenn Miller, Lawrence Welk, Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington. I don’t know any of their songs.

What I expected

I assume this will be pretty easy listening, and that I’ll actually recognize more than just what I think I know, and maybe that I’ll actually enjoy it.

What it was actually like

Like most people who are not fans of jazz music, there is a form of jazz music that I prefer over the others, and in my case, it’s New Orleans style. This was much more swing style, so really not my kind of jazz.

Sing, Sing, Sing by Benny Goodman was the only song that I recognized, and I didn’t really like it very much. Somewhat to my surprise, the rest of this record was rather forgettable and boring.

Grade

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