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Planet Waves by Bob Dylan with The Band (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Planet Waves
  • Group name: The Band
  • Artist name: Bob Dylan
  • Year: 1974
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Asylum Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: my father
  • Buy it on Amazon: $21.98

Planet Waves by Bob Dylan with The Band

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’m not familiar with this record at all, as it’s from the mid 1970s, and I usually only listen to Dylan’s music from the 1960s. It will be the sixth by Dylan and the third by The Band that I review. The previous seven were:

What I expected

I guess rock, folk rock and country rock.

What it was actually like

I didn’t recognize any of these songs, which mostly had a much richer guitar sound (due to recording them with a band) than most of the Dylan songs that I know, and I did not particularly like any of them, either, which I guess was to be expected. Also, I have no idea why this record included two tracks that were both called Forever Young, the last song on the first side and the first song on the second side.

Most of the record was identifiably filler, the tracks that have to be included to fill up space because an LP can hold around 46 minutes of music: Going, Going, Gone, which was slow and boring, barely even a song at all; Hazel; Forever Young (side one).

Something There Is About You was a bit better, in between filler and a real song; You Angel You was similar, but had a funk-style bass guitar part that stood out.

Tough Mama was more of a blues song, but also had that very prominent funk bass guitar. The Forever Young on side two was also bluesy and much better than on side one, with more of a melody and a stronger rhythm, and faster.

On a Night Like This was a relatively solid country rock song that was fast paced and energetic, with harmonica that sounded almost like an accordion, and I liked it.

Though I did not like the piano on Dirge and thought that it should have been an (electric) guitar instead, I did like its acoustic guitar and considered it was a decent song also. Wedding Song was the most “normal” Dylan style song on the record: all acoustic, and it sounded like it might have been just Dylan performing solo with guitar and harmonica.

Grade

3/5: interesting, but not for me

Wingless Angels by John Stewart (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Wingless Angels
  • Artist name: John Stewart
  • Year: 1975
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: RCA Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: my father
  • Buy it on Amazon: $12.99

Wingless Angels by John Stewart

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I am not familiar at all with John Stewart or this record.

What I expected

My father informed me that John Stewart was a singer-songwriter and guitarist.

What it was actually like

This was an extremely unenjoyable mix of mostly soft rock with a little bit of country.

Two of the songs sounded very slightly familiar to me: Hung On The Heart (Of A Man Back Home), which had a catchy chorus, and Survivors.

It was difficult to pick a worst song. Ride Stone Blind seemed at the beginning like it would be lively and good, but was actually terrible, and Some Kind of Love was a piano ballad. I strongly disliked the orchestral backing on the keyboard-based Wingless Angels/Survivors II, and was also annoyed that Rose Water used a little bit of steel guitar without really being a country song at all.

Mazatlan/Adelita was relatively lively and ended as a mariachi song, which was not what I expected. Let the Big Horse Run, the record’s best song by far, was almost a solid country-rock song with electric guitars, steel guitar and notable percussion, but I still did not like the choral backing vocals.

Grade

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

The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle by Bruce Springsteen (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle
  • Artist name: Bruce Springsteen
  • Year: 1973
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Columbia Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: I was pretty sure that this was my father’s, but he said that he never bought a Springsteen record; my mother confirmed that she was the fan, and added that she saw Springsteen perform at a coffee house in the late 1960s while she was still in high school.
  • Buy it on Amazon: $24.95

The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle by Bruce Springsteen

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I have never listened to this record before, but I recognize some of the songs on it by name, from the previous three Springsteen records that I’ve reviewed, which were:

What I expected

Rock.

What it was actually like

There were not any songs on this record that I enjoyed, but of the seven, I would say that Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) was the most lively and probably the best. It stood out on Live 1975–85, also.

Five of the seven songs had horns, which was approximately five too many; only Incident on 57th Street and 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) left them out. They were both boring, soulless rock songs, and the latter had an accordion and was the worst on the record.

Wild Billy’s Circus Story started out as an Oompa Loompa song, but quickly turned boring.

Two of the songs were more funk and jazz: The E Street Shuffle, which had a sound effect of yelling people in the background to make it sound live, but it was not live; and Kitty’s Back, which started with prominent electric guitar, then after the intro turned into more of a funk song with prominent keyboard.

New York City Serenade had way too much piano, and I had no idea why it lasted for almost ten minutes.

Grade

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

The Best of Buffy Sainte-Marie (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: The Best of Buffy Sainte-Marie
  • Artist name: Buffy Sainte-Marie
  • Year: 1970
  • Number of discs: two
  • Label: Vanguard Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Distinguishing characteristics: “G” written inside album sleeve, indicating that my father owned it
  • Buy it on Amazon: $39.99

The Best of Buffy Sainte-Marie

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I have heard of Buffy Sainte-Marie a few times, most recently when reviewing Fairytale by Donovan. Here is how she was described on the back of that album:

Meanwhile, Donovan has added new distinction to his career with his hit recordings of his own song, “Colours” and “Universal Soldier,” the interesting protest tune by the Indian girl singer-songwriter, Buffy Sainte-Marie.

Here’s what I had to say:

There was nothing particular wrong with Donovan’s version of Universal Soldier, the really obnoxious Buffy Sainte-Marie song, but I did not care for it and generally find “protest music” distasteful.

What I expected

Folk, maybe folk rock. When my father heard that I would be listening to this, he predicted that I would not like it.

What it was actually like

This was nowhere near as bad as I was led to believe it was going to be, and I thought a lot of it was pretty good.

In particular, I liked the country songs, such as Rolling Log Blues, a sort of country-folk song with a pretty good steel guitar solo; Piney Wood Hills, which had country style vocals with fiddle and steel guitar; Sometimes When I Get to Thinkin’; and I’m Gonna Be a Country Girl Again, which was one of my favorite songs on the record.

I also liked the steel guitar a lot on Soulful Shade of Blue, which had a bit of a country sound, but which I considered more folk rock than folk, with drums that were very present and… a little bit of a yodel.

The vaguely yodely vocals came out on Los Pescadores also, accommpanied by a Spanish style guitar, which I thought was pretty cool, and Better to Find Out for Yourself was another song that had a similarly interesting yodely vocal style, but in a rhythmic and upbeat rock context that I liked a lot.

He’s a Keeper of the Fire was another rock song that was pretty energetic, with a solid riff and adventurous vocals, and I liked the end with the two guitars that sounded like they were dueling a bit, and Sainte-Marie’s rock version of Joni Mitchell’s The Circle Game was certainly one of the best versions I’ve heard of that song – fast and lively but still folk enough let her voice soar, and with great percussion too. The only part that I did not like was the round at the end, which only lasted a few seconds, anyway.

Two songs, Ground Hog and Cripple Creek, used some kind of instrument that I could not identify, that sounded like a vibrating piece of metal held up to a microphone to generate a sort of wah-wah-wah feedback. I wonder what that actually was.

Now That the Buffalo’s Gone was a totally fine folk style song, but in my view, most of the folk songs on this record were among the more borings ones: Universal Soldier was still not good; My Country ‘Tis of Thy People You’re Dying sounded like it went on forever (actually 6:49), and I got the point after a minute or two of it; Until It’s Time for You to Go; God Is Alive, Magic Is Afoot, an abysmal Leonard Cohen poem set to music.

Many a Mile, on the other hand, was a folk style song with harmonica, and I liked it – but the harmonica accompanied the vocals at times, which meant that she wasn’t playing it, which made it feel less “folk” to me.

Take My Hand for a While and Guess Who I Saw in Paris were both relatively bad soft rock songs. The latter was probably the worst and the former had a really bad piano part.

Grade

3/5: interesting, but not for me

Tommy by The Who (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Tommy
  • Group name: The Who
  • Year: 1969
  • Number of discs: two
  • Label: Decca Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Distinguishing characteristics: “Goldstein” is written on the inside spines of the album and on the LPs, as with another iconic double album from the same era, the Grateful Dead’s Skull Fuck.
  • Buy it on Amazon: $37.99

Tommy by The Who

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I didn’t grow up knowing who The Who were or what Tommy was[1], though in high school I did understand that it was a musical[2] beloved by “artistic” types. It was only in college that I fell in love with The Who and, since then, have listened to Tommy a few hundred times, and even watched the movie[3].

This is my fourth review of a record by The Who, and the previous three were:

What I expected

Tommy.

What it was actually like

My favorite songs from side one were Amazing Journey and The Hawker.

Side two was my least favorite, with a particular dislike for The Acid Queen and Cousin Kevin. Those parts in the opera were also pretty traumatic.

My favorite songs from side three were Pinball Wizard, Go to the Mirror! and Tommy Can You Hear Me?.

My favorite songs from side four were Sally Simpson, We’re Not Gonna Take It and I’m Free, which is the best song on the record.

Tommy’s Holiday Camp is also one of the most Oompa Loompa songs in existence.

I love this record, but am prepared to die on the hill that the hard rock versions that they performed live in the early 1970s, particularly on Live at Leeds (which, I may add, is a desert island record for me), blew the studio version away. See what I mean?

Grade

5/5: love it

References

References
↑1 “He doesn’t know who J*sus was or what praying is.”
↑2 Actually an opera.
↑3 I can still recall exactly the first time I learned about the existence of Tommy the movie. It was June 2000 and I was home from college for the summer. I had spent the evening with friends, came back after midnight, and was flipping through the channels on the television in my parents’ family room, which is something that people used to do to pass the time before youtube and tickety tock. I stopped flipping when I reached that scene, as perplexed and as appalled and as intrigued as Ignatius at the Prytania. Wikipedia did not exist yet, and 2000 Google was not like 2023 Google, so I could not figure out right away what it actually was, but once I did figure it out, I was immediately a fan.