Records To Die For

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Sasha Matson

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Tower Of Power: 50 Years Of Funk & Soul: Live At The Fox Theater, Oakland
Chester Thompson, Jerry Cortez, Lenny Pickett, Emilio Castillo, David Garibaldi, others Artistry Music ART7078LP (LP/CD). 2021. Joe Vannelli, Emilio Castillo, prods.; many engs.

Tower of Power played the '60s San Francisco psychedelic ballrooms, but they were East Bay all the way—Oakland, baby! With a large, smokin' horn section, the Tower could find the soul pocket and kick it, almost like they were in Memphis. As the leadoff track clearly puts it, "It ain't no joke, they done found the Oakland Stroke."

Celebrating 50 years in the business in 2018, the guys came to play, blowing the roof off the sucker. I went to high school with lead sax player Lennie Pickett; he could sit down at the corner of some building on the UC Berkeley campus, start playing his horn, and before you knew it, a crowd would be dancin' in the street. "Squib Cakes," "Souled Out," "What is Hip"—this is some of the tightest, funkiest R&B there is. Love it!

Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos.2, 3, 12 & 13
Boston Symphony Orchestra/Andris Nelsons
Deutsche Grammophon B-0038492-02 (24/96 WAV). 2023. Nick Squire, Shawn Murphy, prod.; Shawn Murphy, eng.

After eight years, with COVID intervening, the Boston Symphony and conductor Andris Nelsons have completed their much-praised cycle of the Shostakovich symphonies. These live performances were engineered by the ace veteran of film score and concert recording, Shawn Murphy. Symphony Hall in Boston contributes to the superb sonics; the low-end percussion sounds particularly spectacular throughout the series, and positively sci-fi in the blood-curdling fourth movement of the "Babi Yar" Symphony 13 here, titled "Fears." Right now, Shostakovich is the most important composer, living or not, who directly addresses today's troubled world. Dmitri knew that darkness that had happened before could happen again. Nelsons understands the importance of this music and gets the members of the Boston Symphony to play like their lives depend on it.

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Mike Mettler

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Secret Machines: Now Here Is Nowhere
Reprise 9362 48544-1 (2 LP), 2004. Secret Machines, Jeff Blenkinsopp, prods.; Daniel Wise, Rudyard Caruthers, Geoff Sanoff, engs.

I'm no fan of the phrase "power pop." In the case of Secret Machines, the genre designation takes on an entirely different meaning. To wit: the power of this Texas-bred three-man band's 2004 debut, Now Here Is Nowhere, absolutely pops from my speakers, at a level most post-prog metal progenitors only wish they could harness. The unrelenting, pummeling drums/hi-hat combo, sinister keyboard fills, throttling sub-bass, and channel-surfing space-laser guitar attack that infuses all nine minutes of lead track "First Wave Intact"—countered with the more ethereal ethos of "The Leaves Are Gone"—make Nowhere a welcome recurring dropped-pin destination.

Steve Forbert: Streets Of This Town: Revisited
Blue Rose Music BRM 1085 (LP). 2023. Garry Tallent, prod.; Jan Topoleski, Steve Puntolillo, engs.

Revisiting albums can be risky business for artists not named Swift, but veteran troubadour Steve Forbert struck gold with this recent recalibration of his 1988 Geffen comeback, Streets of This Town. Forbert has not re-recorded the album; rather, he enlisted remix engineer Steve Puntolillo to redefine its core values. "Perfect Stranger" brings Forbert's throaty lead vocal more out front, much better complemented by his recast acoustic guitar figures and Paul Errico's piano fills. The acoustic trip to "Mexico" sees further accentuation of its inner Johnny Cash grit.

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Ken Micallef

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Norman Blake/Tut Taylor/Sam Bush/Butch Robins/Vassar Clements/David Holland/Jethro Burns
Flying Fish HDS 701 (LP). 1975. Hank Deane, prod.; Claude J. Hill, Bob Sowell, engs.

Featuring an all-star bluegrass cast with one exception—acoustic jazz bassist Dave Holland—this good-time party jam session sounds rich, big, and deeply resonant. But it's the performances that hold sway, as on Holland's long solo intro to "Sauerkraut 'N Solar Energy," bluegrass/ jazz standard "Sweet Georgia Brown," and the closing track, "Vassar & Dave." Each musician is a master of his instrument, all giving and taking as the songs flow like the Mississippi River in summertime.

Boards Of Canada: Music Has The Right To Children
Warp Records/SKAM warplp55r/skalp1 (LP). 1998/2013. Michael Sandison, Marcus Eoin, prods./engs.

As unsettling today as when it was released, BOC's Music Has the Right to Children places uncomfortable, queasy samples against gentle block-rocking beats. As the music unfolds like a surreal travelogue, surreal keyboards intone dark moods, along with oft-unintelligible andscaryspoken-word snippets and horror movie–worthy melodies. The cover image of parents and children with facial features removed posits a dark soundtrack to missing posters or amber alerts but with a twist—you can either dance or daydream to it, you decide.

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Julie Mullins

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Pixies: Surfer Rosa
4AD/Rough Trade Rough US38 (LP). 1988. Steve Albini, prod., eng.

In 1989, Surfer Rosa became my baptism by fire into what used to be called alternative rock. It unleashes a visceral experience, musically and lyrically—a quick, wild, and dirty ride. The 34-minute race to the finish diverges in all directions: punk thrashes, bizarre quasi-ballads, searing guitar solos, acoustic guitar flourishes, occasional singing in Spanish.

Feral energy fills Steve Albini's raw, experimental production, from Black Francis's (Frank Black's) caterwauling vocals to many tracks' swift dynamic contrasts. Percussion hits hard, punctuating occasional prettiness such as Kim Deal's (credited here as Mrs. John Murphy) singing on "Gigantic." Off-kilter humor pops up: a piss-takingly long and repetitive guitar outro ("Gigantic"), and non sequitur outtakes of bandmember banter.

It's not Pixies' most accessible release; if you're turned off, try the next track. Yet its significance persists; it influenced Nirvana and countless other bands. After my first excited teenaged listen to a cassette dub—before buying the 4AD LP post-haste—I recalled thinking, "What just happened?" Unhinged brilliance.

Thievery Corporation: The Mirror Conspiracy
Eighteenth Street Lounge Music ESL ESL033LP (2 LP). 2000/2014. Rob Garza, Eric Hilton, prod.; Desmond Williams, Howie Weinberg, eng.

Overflowing with global influences—France, Jamaica, Brazil, the Middle East and North Africa—this 2000 studio release is steeped in eclectic sophistication. Trip hop, (acid) jazz, lounge, dub, club/dance, ambient, bossa nova, etc., emerge and converge. Hypnotic and majestic, the album satiates my cravings for stylistic variety while setting a tone for chilling out. DC-based duo Sean Garza and Eric Hilton, who sport suits for the cover photos, offer world music's intersections with electronica, jazz, and mid/downtempo fit for a late-night lounge or lounging in front of your hi-fi. It invites closer listening and plays well in the background. Many guest vocalists and musicians appear, including Bebel Gilberto on "Só Com Você" and the late Pam Bricker, whose cool, conspiratorial sensuality lulls listeners in closer on "Lebanese Blonde"—a 1998 single whose title refers to a type of hashish—and the title track.

I owned this on CD first, but the 2014 two-LP reissue enhances the experience. It might seem too slickly produced or pretentious for some—the tailor of their suits received a liner note credit (Roxy Music!)—but no matter. The tracks encourage mellowing out and listening into different grooves—both essential to survival in a messy world.

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Thomas J. Norton

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Saint-Saëns: Symphony No.3 ("Organ Symphony")
Iveta Apkalna, organ; Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Riccardo Minasi. bit.ly/FrankfurtSaint-Saens Rimsky-Korsakov

Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade
Sinfónica de Galicia, Gimnazija Kranj Symphony Orchestra, Nejc Becan, cond.
Matjaz Culiberg, tonmeister. bit.ly/ Galecia

You Tube won't win any best sound awards on the music it presents, but the sound can be respectable once you rescue it from your TV's audio and resettle it into a better system.

But don't ignore the video side here; there's much to be gained from not only hearing music being made but in seeing the musicians who are making it. I've recently experienced a pair of exceptional classical performances that do both exceptionally well.

A warhorse to be sure, but this performance of Saint-Saëns's Organ Symphony is so vigorous, particularly in the final movement, where everyone gives their all, it's hard to resist.

Scheherazade is another warhorse, this is a youth orchestra, with all of the participants in their late teens and early 20s. The performance is exceptional, the sound good, and the musicians delightful to watch. Keep an ear out for the first violinist, who gives a performance far beyond his years.

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Dan Ouellette

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Todd Sickafoose: Bear Proof
Todd Sickafoose, acoustic bass; Erik Deutsch, piano; Ben Goldberg, clarinet; Kirk Knuffke, cornet; Adam Levy, guitar; Jenny Scheinman, violin; Rob Reich, accordion; Allison Miller, drums
Group Chirp Music (CD). 2023. Todd Sickafoose, prod.; Adam Muñoz, eng.

Bassist and composer Todd Sickafoose's grand jazz symphony of composition meets improvisation that defies categorization. Bear Proof is created by a simpatico octet that at times moves eerily with mystery, buoys with a gentle lyricism, colors the soundscape with instrumental tones and blending timbres, haunts with walls of rhythm, scrapes with gripping avant pockets that create moments where melodies emerge at the edge of beauty in what the leader calls "a surreal meditation on boom and bust." It's visionary. Majestic but also humbling in the face of cataclysmic collapse. One of my favorite albums of 2023.

Joni Mitchell: Court And Spark
Asylum 1001-2 (CD). 1973. Joni Mitchell, prod.; Henry Lewy, Ellis Sorkin, engs.

Fifty years ago, Joni Mitchell pivoted. I was never a fan of her folk life and songs, but Court and Spark spoke volumes when I took a chance on it based on "Help Me," her radio hit. I discovered a gold mine. Instead of performing as a solo act, Mitchell distanced herself from filling the soundspace with her spare instrumentation and falsetto-to-alto vocals and enlisted a band of jazz fusion specialists from Los Angeles. The recording marks the beginning of Mitchell's most experimental—and controversial—musical sensibility, eclipsing all associations with her folk-goddess brand while also embracing an expansive horizon where art and entertainment commingle and baffle. It was the beginning of Mitchell's deep dive into jazz, which would last for the rest of the decade.