Records To Die For

John Coltrane: Expression
John Coltrane, tenor saxophone, flute; Pharoah Sanders, flute, piccolo, tambourine; Alice Coltrane, piano; Jimmy Garrison, bass; Rashied Ali, drums
Impulse! MVCI-23023, AS-9120 (CD). 1967/1991. John Coltrane, Bob Thiele, prods.; Rudy Van Gelder, eng.

In 2021, the release of a live recording of A Love Supreme cast attention once again on John Coltrane's legacy. Thumbnail histories posit that he delved into more cacophonous music from there, but his final (much over-looked) studio session tells a different story. Expression is a (mostly) peaceful album of beautiful, noncentered music that's unique in his catalog. It's not better than A Love Supreme, but it's a record I return to and think about. The 1991 Japanese reissue contains a bonus track (dropped from subsequent issues) that shows there was still some fire in the stove.

The Slits: Cut
Island Records 5321250 (CD). 1979/2009. Dennis Bovell, prod.; Mike Dunne, eng.

The priestesses of punky reggae, the riot grrls before the riot, the Slits broke through the gender wall that permeated punk. And they persisted through the history of rock to make one of the most enduring albums of the musical explosion that unsettled England at the end of the '70s. With reggae musician Dennis Bovell as their George Martin, they manifested music both primitive and polished for their biting, lyrical observations of the scene and the economic state of London. This release is a shining example of musical complexity born of ignoring (or not knowing) the rules. The 2009 remastered deluxe edition is recommended.

Salif Keita: Moffou
Decca US 440 016906-2 (CD). 2002. Salif Keita, Jean Lamoot, Freddy Zerbib, prod.

Salif Keita possesses one of the most glorious voices on the planet, as distinctive as Aretha Franklin's or Pavarotti's. A Malian prince who had the misfortune of being born an albino—a bad omen in Mandinka culture—he was cast out of the royal family. Keita violated another prohibition of his noble birth by becoming a musician. He reached a global audience in the late 1980s, combining West African roots music with Western pop and soul, but he made his finest and most stripped-down recording at age 53, after returning to Mali from longtime exile. The songs on Moffou are almost ecstatic in their swaying beauty; Keita's mind-stopping, soaring tenor is set against women's voices and a lacework of acoustic and electric guitars. A record of rousing, undeniable brilliance.

Michael Hurley: Hi-Fi Snock Uptown
Future Days Recordings FDR 604 (CD). 1972/2013. "Banana," Joe Bauer, prod.; J.J. Golden, remastering.

One of the true eccentrics of American music, Michael Hurley writes folk songs in the weird Harry Smith vein and populates them with fantastic characters, mystical ramblings, and boatloads of Alice in Wonderland charm. His most fully realized record is this early session, originally released on Warner Brothers' Raccoon label in 1972. The spare arrangements showcase Hurley's affecting singing and off-kilter world building: Songs like "Blue Driver," "Mr. Whiskerwits," and "Trinidad" don't sound or function like anyone else's, and the recording is textured and present. It's a perfect complement to the equally essential but more raucous Have Moicy! (1976), on which Hurley is joined by the Unholy Modal Rounders and Jeffrey Frederick and the Clamtones.

Chancha Vía Circuito: Bienaventuranza
Wonderwheel (16/44.1). 2018. Pedro Canale, prod.; Jerónimo Escajal, Manuel Schaller, engs.

My big music discovery this year was finding a new subgenre that has me buying download after download. The loose category—I haven't found an adequate label yet—is a mesmerizing blend of Central and South American indigenous and folk styles/instruments with electronica layered on top of prodigious amounts of hand percussion. Once you develop a taste for it, you'll know it when you hear it. (One artist tags it "folclore latinoamericano modern.") Favorite musicians include Nicola Cruz, El Búho, Rodrigo Gallardo, Lagartijeando, and this R2D4 pick (by a hair): Chancha Vía Circuito. All of these artists and more are easily found and sampled at Bandcamp.com.

Lord Huron: Long Lost
Republic Records (24/44.1 download). 2021. Ben Schneider, prod.; Ben Tolliday, Mark Barry, prods., engs.

I'm a fool for the romantic Cowboy West of the '40s and '50s, so it was hard to resist Lord Huron's latest as it saddled up and rode melodically off into the orange and red Arizona sunset. The brilliant trick here is how the band sounds rooted in both classic country twang and modern Americana—in the mode of Fleet Foxes, or even Band of Horses. More homage than imitation, the album is packed with great songs and seductive big-sky sounds: languid reverb, steely strings, tremolo guitar, and even a musical saw snuck in for a few good measures.

Britten: Les Illuminations, Serenade For Tenor, Horn & Strings, Nocturne
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra; Ian Bostridge, tenor; Radek Baborák, horn; Simon Rattle, cond.
Warner Classics (16/44.1 FLAC). 2005. John Fraser, prod.; Arne Akselberg, eng.

Recorded in the bright yet rich acoustic of Berlin's Jesus Christus Kirche, this collection of Benjamin Britten song cycles shimmers with intensity. Ian Bostridge's interpretations offer passion and clear purpose. The French texts of Les illuminations fairly bounce from the speakers, propelled by the biting, precise Berlin Philharmonic strings. Conductor Simon Rattle draws every ounce of dense beauty from the night-related songs in Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings. Unlike expressively distanced Britten-era recordings by Robert Tear and others, Bostridge is unrepentantly emotional during poems like William Blake's erotic "Elegy"—Radek Baborák's horn solo is haunting—inspiring wildness in the orchestra. The through-composed Nocturne, with its intimate seven-instrument accompaniment, is delicate and otherworldly.

Planxty: Cold Blow And The Rainy Night
Polydor (16/44.1 FLAC). 1974. Phil Coulter, prod., eng.

In 1974, Planxty was leading the charge to popularize traditional Irish music globally. While their third album has the usual virtuosic and innovative instrumental arrangements of dance tunes, it is especially generous in its vocal offerings. Three of the members sing: Christy Moore, with breathy sentimentality; Andy Irvine, with wistful, reedy tenor; and Johnny Moynihan, with sly humor. Some groups at that time tried to put on a veneer of timbral normalcy to make their music seem less exotic, but Planxty proudly leaned into their exclusively Irish sound, so uilleann piper Liam O'Flynn is often centered. D¢nal Lunny's bouzouki and bodhrán provide the rhythmic glue.

Miles Davis: Kind of Blue
Miles Davis, trumpet; John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, saxophones; Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, piano; Paul Chambers, bass; Jimmy Cobb, drums
Columbia/Analogue Productions AUHQR 0004/CS 8163 (LP). 1959/2021. Irving Townsend, Teo Macero, prods.; Fred Plaut, eng.; Bernie Grundman, remastering.

Joni Mitchell: The Reprise Albums (1968–71)
Joni Mitchell, voice, piano, guitar, dulcimer; James Taylor, Stephen Stills, others.
Rhino (4 LPs). 1968–71/2021.Henry Lewy, eng.; Bernie Grundman, remastering.

Miles Davis's Kind of Blue and Joni Mitchell's Blue are two of the greatest jazz and pop albums, respectively. I have cited each in some previous R2D4 edition, but their latest reissues—in just the past year—are so superior to all previous pressings, and so musically revelatory, that I received dispensation from on high to cite them again.

Kind of Blue, also the best-selling jazz album ever, is one of the few works of art in any medium that, in its time, was both revolutionary and completely accessible. It's Miles's definitive break from his mentor Charlie Parker's bebop and the ultimate traversal (one of the first and never exceeded) of modal jazz, driven not by set chord changes but by a free dalliance with scales. Analogue Productions' LPs, pressed one at a time on dead-quiet UHQR Clarity vinyl, eke more tonal, textural, dynamic, and spatial rhythm than I've heard in hundreds of listenings. It's riveting.

Blue—one of four albums in Mitchell's boxed set The Reprise Albums (the others being Song to a Seagull, Clouds, and Ladies of the Canyon)—marked her triumph as a master of limpid melodies, complex harmonies, and shiveringly poetic lyrics. And such a pure, supple, romantic, and (when called for) witty voice. These LPs also sound far and away better than the originals, three of which were excellent to begin with. (The exception, her first album, Song to a Seagull, has been greatly cleaned up.)