ALBUMS

• FRANK SINATRA: IN THE WEE SMALL HOURS: 1955: 5 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS: Sinatra was famous during his tenure at Capital of doing concept albums- this one is one of his best- the songs being ones of failed relationships, loneliness and the night life. Frank knew what he was singing about. I am starting a new project- going to try and listen to the albums listed in the book 1001 Albums To Listen To Before You Die. In the book they are listed in order of release- I will follow the order but no doubt pick some off just by doing my regular album listening. I am not going to be fanatical about it- if I listen to one a day that will be fine. A goal-ten a week and complete the project in two years.

• ELVIS PRESLEY: ELVIS PRESLEY: 1956: 5 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS: Elvis had signed at RCA and this is his landmark first album [at Sun Records they issued singles- of course the greatest Elvis album ever is The Sun Sessions- a collection of Elvis’s singles at Sun- essential } Six of the dozen songs on this album were singles. Elvis only has three albums on the 1001 Albums To Listen To- listing- mainly because he was more of a great singles artist than a great albums artist.

• U2: SONGS OF INNOCENCE: 2014: 4 1/2 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS: U2 -especially Bono who as the front man seems to take a lot of arrows- and this was the album that U2 gave away free on ITUNES-  it ticked people off that it was automatically downloaded onto your ITUNES whether you wanted it or not. I came home from work and went to download it and found it already there. I wasn’t all that pleased with that either-the big brother aspect of it. Their first album in 5 years after rumors of another album coming for years. It wasn’t an instant classic to my ears but it has grown on me over the past 4 plus years. Not a classic but pretty good. As long as I am on U2- is there any other group who has been together this long without line up changes? In 1980 with the debut there was Bono- Edge- Adam and Larry and 40 years later they haven’t changed at all. A good thing but is there any other groups out there like that? I can’t think of any.

• HARRY NILSSON: NILSSON SINGS NEWMAN: 1970: 4 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS: Both Nilsson and Newman were early in their careers at this point- and Nilsson does an album covering the songs of Newman. With some artists doing something like this I would think- ok they have no new material and this is something to release to buy some time but not here- Nilsson was great at singing his own material and great at covering others- his two biggest hits were covers. Randy Newman a great songwriter and although I do like Newman a lot- Nilsson is by far the superior singer- he does the songs justice.

• HARRY NILSSON: THE POINT: 1971: 4 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS:  Nilsson’s 6th album it went with an animated film directed by Fred Wolf that was on television in the spring of 1971. Me And My Arrow was a hit single- #34 from the soundtrack. The Point is a story of a round headed boy named Obilo who is the only round headed person in Pointed Village where by law everything must have a point.

• LOUVIN BROTHERS: TRAGIC SONGS OF LIFE: 1956: 5 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS: You don’t hear of The Louvin Brothers much anymore- this was their Capital label debut- sort of a concept album covering songs from some of their favorite artists-including the great Bill Monroe.  Murder ballads, tragic tales those sort are on this. The album is on the 1001 list. 20 years or so ago I bought an 8 CD box set of their material- I listened to it back then a lot- but have forgotten about it- got to get it back out.

• LOUIS PRIMA: THE WILDEST! 1956: 5 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS:  This is from the 1001 list- a fun album it reminds me a lot of Joe Jackson’s cover Jumpin’ Jive from the early 80’s- jump blues and jazz. In the 1001 book  critic Will Fulford-Jones states, “this is simply irrepressible music that more than matches its cover shot. Prima is joyous, rumbustious, and irresistible. I agree. Well worth hearing.

• U2: SONGS OF EXPERIENCE: 2017: 4 1/2 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS: Finishing up my U2 from Boy to Songs Of Experience- I was kind of startled when I realized they have released only 3 albums in the past 15 years [ I guess I am kind of startled that it is 2019- the turning of 2000 seems like it just happened ] Like Songs Of Experience I have grown to like this album- is it The Joshua Tree or Achtung Baby great? No. I wish they would do more- its frustrating being a U2 fan. They in my opinion over think and over do it in the studio. Go in- record an album and put it out. It doesn’t have to be perfect. 2011 was going to be the year of U2- I read they had three albums of material ready- but nothing came out until 2014. Why? Was the stuff they had in the can crap? Was Bono too busy saving the world? Their days of being a game changing band have long been over. They are still a big touring band no question about that.