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Pieces of the Sky by Emmylou Harris (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Pieces of the Sky
  • Artist name: Emmylou Harris
  • Year: 1975
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Reprise Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: could have been either of my parents, but I’d guess it was my father’s.
  • Buy it on Amazon: $44.75

Pieces of the Sky by Emmylou Harris

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve never listened to this record (as far as I know), but I listened to Roses in the Snow (1980) last year and thought it was pretty good.

What I expected

Country and bluegrass.

What it was actually like

This record was close to evenly split between great and not-so-great.

The not-so-great songs were in a boring and slow country style: Too Far Gone, Boulder to Birmingham, Before Believing and Sleepless Nights.

For No One was also a major disappointment because I was pretty intrigued to hear how Harris would treat this Beatles song that I like:

Good Day Sunshine
So this is the sort of corny stuff that Paul was writing while he was not taking acid with the rest of the group. Noted.
For No One
See above. I do like For No One quite a bit better than Good Day Sunshine, but the best part of it is the French horn part.

Unfortunately, this version was not that good (and had no French horn at all), but fortunately, I was able to find this fairly weird version with all the brass you could possibly want. For a somewhat more conventional version by my favorite Beatles-covering duo, check this out.

On the great side, a bunch of songs were in more of a lively, entertaining country style: If I Could Only Win Your Love, with great harmony from Herb Pedersen; The Bottle Let Me Down, a wonderful Merle Haggard song; Coat of Many Colors, one of Dolly Parton’s finest; and Queen of the Silver Dollar, which was written by (checks notes) Shel Silverstein[1].

The best song on the record was the only one in a bluegrass style, Bluebird Wine.

Grade

3/5: interesting, but not for me

References

References
↑1 I knew that he wrote A Boy Named Sue, but I always assumed that it was a one-time deal and never thought that he had written multiple songs.

Song for Juli by Jesse Colin Young (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Song for Juli
  • Artist name: Jesse Colin Young
  • Year: 1973
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Warner Records Inc.
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: my mother
  • Buy it on Amazon: $6.75

Song for Juli by Jesse Colin Young

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

When I saw this record next on the shelf, my first thought was that I had no clue who Jesse Colin Young was, but then I was looking through my old reviews for something else, and accidentally discovered that I reviewed Light Shine by Jesse Colin Young (1974) late last year. I didn’t think it was good.

What I expected

My mother vocally claimed this record as belonging to her collection, told me that it would be folk rock, and that I may recognize some of the songs, but that she didn’t think I would like them.

What it was actually like

Several of them – Mornin’ Sun, Evenin’, Country Home – were folk rock style with a strong country rock sound, and not bad at all, but the auto-harmonized vocals were crap. He should have just recorded himself singing into a microphone instead of messing around with fancy techniques that messed things up.

The title track Song for Juli was pretty bad, with a long instrumental beginning, turning into jazzy elevator music with a terrible flute part.

I also disliked Ridgetop, which at 7:02 minutes, was over twice as long as it needed to be. It had an awful saxophone part that easily could have been replaced by another guitar (preferably electric, and with distortion). I did like the tempo, though.

Miss Hesitation was basically three songs in one, with two (the first a country song with harmonica, and the second elevator music) alternating back and forth, and the third (like the first, but Oompa Loompa) appearing at the end.

On the second side, there was a stretch of three great songs in a row, all covers. The first was a great and fun version of the blues classic T-Bone Shuffle with harmonica and piano (and here is the original). The other two, Clifton Chenier’s Lafayette Waltz and Hank Williams’ Jambalaya (which was the only song that I recognized), ran together as one song and were outstanding, but maybe that’s just because I think Zydeco (or maybe Creole, or Cajun) music is great. Here are originals of the former and the latter, and here are some covers of the former and the latter too. If I were Jesse Colin Young 50 years ago, I would record an entire record of covers like these.

Grade

3/5: interesting, but not for me

Tracks by McKendree Spring (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Tracks
  • Group name: McKendree Spring
  • Year: 1972
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Decca Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Distinguishing characteristics: “G” written inside album cover, indicating that my father owned it
  • Buy it on Amazon: $29.99

Tracks by McKendree Spring

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I thought that I might have heard of McKendree Spring, but I couldn’t be sure, and mentioned this record to my parents. My father said that their music was very lively and pleasant, and that they were one of the first groups to use an electric violin. Then I checked, and realized that I actually had reviewed Second Thoughts (1970) less than five weeks ago – and liked it[1]! Ooops!

What I expected

Folk, folk rock, electric country.

What it was actually like

Most of the songs on this record were basically country rock, and they sounded fine, but I didn’t find them special or interesting for the most part. Shoot Me was more of a hard rock song, but still country rock at its core.

The Man In Me is definitely not one of my favorite Bob Dylan songs, but McKendree Spring’s version was very strong, much richer than his and without his annoying voice.

I also thought that Watch Those Pennies was great, even though it was quite Oompa Loompa and sounded kind of like a 1920s dance hall tune. It was quite entertaining, and I loved its electric violin.

Probably my favorite was Friends Die Easy II, with an electric guitar that sounded like Santana.

Two Of Me had an interesting sound like on Second Thoughts with very extensive violin, but I disliked it overall because it sounded atonal, and Train To Dixie had an appalling saxophone solo.

Grade

3/5: interesting, but not for me

References

References
↑1 I credited a lot of the interesting sound on Second Thoughts to a synthesizer, but now I suspect that I was actually describing their electric violin! Ooops!

Balaklava by Pearls Before Swine (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Balaklava
  • Group name: Pearls Before Swine
  • Year: 1968
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: ESP-Disk
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: my father
  • Buy it on Amazon: $40.00

Balaklava by Pearls Before Swine

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I don’t know that I’ve ever heard this Pearls Before Swine record before, but for some reason, I think that it was their most famous. It will be the fourth that I review from my father’s collection, and the previous three were:

What I expected

Psychedelic folk.

What it was actually like

Of all the records, from all the artists and bands, that I’ve reviewed since I started doing this last May, Pearls Before Swine stands out as having a really distinctive sound (while still fitting neatly into late 1960s / early 1970s music, even if I don’t know that any of their recordings would have gotten radio play). Though I’ve now only listened to each of their first four records a single time, I’m convinced that I would recognize any of their songs in any context. That’s how alike they sound to each other, and how different they sound from anything else.

I thought this record was all right – maybe better than These Things Too, but not as good as One Nation Underground. It definitely had some trippy songs, like Images of April, with lots of chirping birds and flute, which I thought was fine. Another with lots of sound effects was I Saw the World. Translucent Carriages was more in their wistful style, with whispering sound effects, guitar and vocals.

Then there were some more standard folk style songs, like There Was a Man, which did not really impress me. Their version of Suzanne was good, but Rapp definitely did not have Cohen’s voice, which I thought made all the backing instruments necessary, taking a lot away from the song.

A couple of the songs were quite disjointed and confusing: Ring Thing, which was basically gobbledygook, and Lepers and Roses, which had flute that I disliked a lot.

The album’s front cover was part of a Breughel painting, which was cool. The back cover, however, stated:

we wish to dedicate this album to pvt. edward d. slovik, u.s.army,deceased

They meant this guy: a career criminal who was drafted into the military against all reason, deserted, begged in writing to be punished, and then got executed. This sounds like some serious Dark Triad at work:

They’re not shooting me for deserting the United States Army… I used to steal things when I was a kid… They’re shooting me for the bread and chewing gum I stole when I was 12 years old.

Not very classy at all.

Grade

3/5: interesting, but not for me

8 Polonaises by Frédéric Chopin (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: 8 Polonaises
  • Composer name: Frédéric Chopin
  • Performer name: Peter Frankl
  • Year: 1964?
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Yorkshire Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Distinguishing characteristics: “G” written on top left of album, indicating that my father owned it
  • Buy it on Ebay: $5.50

8 Polonaises by Frédéric Chopin

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’m familiar with Chopin, but I doubt that I would be able to identify any of his music.

What I expected

I associate Chopin with the piano, and specifically with études, but my musical education left me unable to define “études” (studies… of something), and I think of his compositions as short but energetic. I have no idea what the relationship is of a polonaise to an étude.

What it was actually like

I thought this was interesting and enjoyable, but no part of it was catchy or memorable.

I did not catch if there were any instruments at all besides the piano. I wonder if Chopin ever considered writing for multiple instruments, or if he even knew how to play other instruments. Some people are just really into the piano.

Op. 53, in A Flat Major sounded familiar at parts, and was the most lively and entertaining of the pieces.

Grade

3/5: interesting, but not for me