18. Sarah Vaughan - At Mr. Kelly's (1957)

1. September In The Rain
2. Willow Weep For Me
3. Just One Of Those Things
4. Be Anything But Darling Be Mine
5. Thou Swell
6. Stairway To The Stars
7. Honeysuckle Rose
8. Just A Gigolo
9. How High The Moon
10. Dream
11. I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter
12. It's Got To Be Love
13. Alone
14. If This Isn't Love
15. Embraceable You
16. Lucky In Love
17. Dancing In The Dark
18. Poor Butterfly
19. Sometimes I'm Happy
20. I Cover The Waterfront


The vocal jazz albums march on! Fortunately, where I expected to be bored with this album, I was instead entertained! Way to go Sarah Vaughan for being interesting! These records really are all about personality, aren't they? Because this album is live, it has a more loose and organic feeling than the structured studio recordings. The band is made up of only 3 people, which means there are no blasting trumpets or syrupy strings to dilute the mood of the album. This makes the album quite a bit more enjoyable because there isn't any overbearing orchestration to distract us from Sarah, who manages to fulfill the quite daunting task of carrying this double album entirely by herself.

The material is the same tried tested and true material from the Great American Songbook, but they're made interesting by Sarah Vaughan's singing skill, and just as frequently, her mistakes. She has no idea what the lyrics to 'How High the Moon' are, but that doesn't stop her from singing it in the style of Ella Fitzgerald (that is, saying absolutely nothing). These 'mistakes', along with the between song banter, actually manages to evoke being in a late night club in the 50s. Thankfully, this was the era before any asshole with enough Bud Light could shout "FREEEEEEEBIIIIIIIIIIIRD!" and ruin your audio recording forever.

I enjoyed this album a lot more than I thought I would, especially since it's the longest one I've listened to yet. This practically felt like a single album! 8/10

17. Ramblin' Jack Elliot - Jack Takes The Floor (1958)

1. San Francisco Bay Blues
2. Ol' Riley
3. Boll Weevil
4. Bed Bug Blues
5. New York Town
6. Old Blue
7. Grey Goose
8. Mule Skinner Blues
9. East Texas Talking Blues
10. Cocaine
11. Dink's Song
12. Black Baby
13. Salty Dog


After all the complaining I did about authenticity in the last review, it's rather funny that the very next album is about as authentic as it gets. It's hard to get more authentic than a guy with his guitar, and some pretty lousy recording quality. Sadly, lo-fi was not the hip swingin' sound of 1958. In fact, almost nobody remembers that this album exists anymore, so it's rather hard to find any information on it that isn't another person doing the 1001 album trek.

Despite all of that, the album is pretty awesome. It's a bunch of old folk songs that sound like they're a hundred years old. He explains the origins of each song in a spoken intro, which adds to the whole experience. He even drags in Woody Guthrie on 'New York Town' just to show off how hardcore his folk cred was. It's a neat collection of songs, ranging from bizarre humorous stories to depressing prison blues. A lot like Tragic Songs of Life, but not quite as many murders. Pity.

Oh, and did I mention that this guy was a big influence on Bob Dylan? Apparently if you have something even slightly approaching a normal voice in folk music, you'll never become famous. 8/10

16. Billie Holiday - Lady in Satin (1958)

1. I'm a Fool to Want You
2. For Heaven's Sake
3. You Don't Know What Love Is
4. I Get Along Without You Very Well
5. For All We Know
6. Violets for Your Furs
7. You've Changed
8. It's Easy to Remember
9. But Beautiful
10. Glad to Be Unhappy
11. I'll Be Around
12. The End of a Love Affair


This album seems to have one hell of a divided opinion about it amongst the critical crowd. Of course, when you release something so polarizing it's not exactly a surprise. Basically, Billie Holiday's voice was shot to hell by 1958 due to smoking and heroin and all that fun stuff. I assume this album was recorded with the same sort of career boosting methods that had resulted in Frank Sinatra's 1950s comeback, but the problem is that Billie Holiday sounds like an 80 year old with cancer, despite that fact that she was only 42 when she recorded for this album. Unnerving stuff.

This album was most likely an attempt to emulate 'In The Wee Small Hours', even reprising a few of that record's songs, but while Frank Sinatra was able to evoke a wide range of emotions on that album, Holiday can scarcely sing. While some argue that since this album is made up of depressing material, her destroyed voice lends a certain authenticity to the whole affair, I've never thought that any perceived authenticity immediately makes an album good. After all, I follow the pop charts, and if I judged my music in that way I'd only listen to field recordings. As hauntingly 'authentic' as this album is, I didn't really enjoy it much. The fact that her voice had gone so much made this album feel unpleasantly voyeuristic. I suppose I should give points because of how unsettling it is, but frankly there are a lot more unsettling things in music now. 6/10

15. Tito Puente - Dance Mania (1958)

1. El Cayuco
2. Complicación
3. 3-D Mambo
4. Llego Mijan
5. Cuando Te Vea
6. Hong Kong Mambo
7. Mambo Gozón
8. Mi Chiquita Quiere Bembe
9. Varsity Drag {Mambo)
10. Estoy Siempre Junto a Ti
11. Agua Limpia Todo
12. Saca Tu Mujer

This album title could've used an exclamation point. I suppose Dance Mania is an alright album title, but I'm sure sales would've been even greater were it called Dance Mania! I certainly would've bought it (not that I have a choice, following this list as I am).

This album is certainly exuberant enough to merit such punctuation. It brings to mind Louis Prima, but Spanish and not quite as overbearing. This is music to mambo furiously by, and to do anything else is a disservice!

I must confess, I'm really at a loss for words here. The extent of my knowledge of Tito Puente was that he made a guest appearance on The Simpsons once. Apparently he's one hell of a timbales player, and that much is evident on the neat percussion breaks that pop up every once in a while. Overall, this album isn't really that distinct from all the other cheesy dance/Latin jazz albums I've already reviewed. They're lots of fun to listen to and dance around the room all acting like I'm not white and have dancing ability, but when it comes to talking about the album afterward, it all seems to blend together. If you're ever having a mambo themed party, however... 6/10

14. Little Richard - Here's Little Richard (1957)

1. Tutti Frutti
2. True Fine Mama
3. Can't Believe You Wanna Leave
4. Ready Teddy
5. Baby
6. Slippin' And Slidin'
7. Long Tall Sally
8. Miss Ann
9. Oh Why
10. Rip It Up
11. Jenny Jenny
12. She's Got It

After 5 jazz albums in a row, it's nice to have another rock album on the list. Even better, it's probably the best rock album so far! It actually rocks! You'd think they'd have thought of that by then!

Fundamentally, this album isn't much different from the Fats Domino album from earlier. Same sort of piano-driven R&B with plenty of sax solos! The main difference is that Fats Domino sort of lazily meanders his way through his songs (well, you would too if your name was Fats!) while Little Richard screams and shouts his way through these songs at a frantic pace truly worthy of the name 'rock 'n' roll'. While Chuck Berry left his mark on the new genre by redefining the role of the electric guitar, Little Richard brought the fire and fury. Almost all of the songs here move along at a breakneck pace, and nobody at the time could scream like he did. People still have trouble nowadays! It goes without saying that pretty much every harder form of rock has its roots in this guy.

The album itself? About the same as any other pre-Beatles rock LP. Normally, I like a little diversity, but the two tracks that stray furthest from the formula ('Can't Believe You Wanna Leave' and 'Oh Why?', both melodramatic slower numbers) are the worst tracks on the album! It's sort of like AC/DC. You know full well that their careers have had the musical diversity of a glacier, but on the other hand they get so much leverage out of the same ol' blues progressions and rote formula that you wouldn't have it any other way. That is, until I manage to find the lost Little Richard psychedelic album. Far out!

The entire album is more or less carried by his voice. The music and lyrics are both fairly pedestrian, but his incredibly animated singing is something to behold. Elvis' version of 'Tutti Frutti' seems like even more of an embarrassment compared to the hot fire of the original. The speed and energy with which he spits out the lyrics of 'Long Tall Sally' and 'Ready Teddy' could knock any bland white rocker on their ass, and it did (I'm looking at you, Pat Boone!).

Oh, also 'Tutti Frutti' was originally about anal sex. 8/10

13. Machito - Kenya (1957)

1. Wild Jungle
2. Congo Mulence
3. Kenya
4. Oyeme
5. Holiday
6. Cannonology
7. Frenzy
8. Blues A La Machito
9. Conversation
10. Tin Tin Deo
11. Minor Rama
12. Tururato

Afro-Cuban jazz returns yet again to haunt us on this album! This album seems to fit in the category of exotica, which was a set of jazzy lounge music meant to evoke faraway locales such as the beaches of the Pacific islands, or perhaps the jungles of "darkest Africa" like this album.Of course, these albums usually had very little to do with the actual music coming from those countries, and more to do with what white people thought they sounded like, but that's actually part of the charm!

This album is a sort of blend of swing music with a bit of Latin flair and African rhythms (read: lots and lots of congas). Unlike Palo Congo, reviewed earlier on this list, this album is rather conventional, focusing more on the jazzy arrangements than the frenzied spiritual rituals of the former. While I found the Santeria rituals (or whatever they are) to be a bit tiring, on this album I found the arrangements also a bit much (there's just no pleasing some people!). While the album starts off strong with such great frantic numbers like 'Wild Jungle' and 'Congo Mulence', it tends to drag in the middle as the songs get a bit slower. And by that part of the album, you've more or less gotten the point. I seem to have a talent for finding monotony in even the most fascinating of music! 7/10

12. Miles Davis - Birth of the Cool (1957)

1. Move
2. Jeru
3. Moon Dreams
4. Venus De Milo
5. Budo
6. Deception
7. Godchild
8. Boplicity
9. Rocker
10. Israel
11. Rouge
12. Darn That Dream

Jazz Week continues on Bass Odyssey! Seriously, it sure was nice of them to stick all these jazz albums in a row like this! Now I'm twice as insufferable as I once was!

In a shocking twist, I was actually pretty disappointed by this album. I had listened to Miles' jazz fusion records and much enjoyed them, so I was looking forward to this album. After I enjoyed the complexity of Brilliant Corners and was intrigued by the weirdness of Palo Congo, I was hoping for another peculiar, innovative masterpiece. However, this album felt very plain to me. It was an enjoyable listen, sure, but apart from a few moments nothing really commanded my attention the way the last couple of albums did. Upon further research, the reason for this is that the songs were recorded in 1949 and 1950, and then released years later. So, in a manner of speaking, this is a compilation album. Come on now,. you can't go around sticking compilation albums in this list! I'd expect this from Rolling Stone, but not from this book! Buckets of shame all around.

This album, in apparently yet another stunningly literal title, heralded the dawn of 'cool jazz', which is sort of like bebop but with more structured arrangements. And true to its name, it is a remarkably cool album. Sunglasses, smoke filled rooms, all that junk. The careful, more classical inspired arrangements make the tracks nice to listen to, but this honestly seemed a lot more like background music. All of the songs are relatively short, bite-sized jazz pieces and while they all sounded good, none of them really made a significant impression on me. This is the sort of album I suspect I'd have to listen to multiple times to truly 'get'. This is made even more annoying by the typical lavish praise thrust upon this album from all sides. Much like Elvis, I just don't really get what the fuss is all about! It's a bit better than that album, fortunately. That is, except for 'Darn That Dream', a vocal number that they decided to tack on the end of an instrumental jazz album for some stupid reason.

Well, they can't all be zingers, I guess. 6.5/10

11. Sabu Martinez - Palo Congo (1957)

1. El Cumbanchero
2. Billumba/Palo Congo
3. Choferita/Plena
4. Asabache
5. Simba
6. Rhapsodia Del Maravilloso
7. Aggo Elegua
8. Tribilin Cantore


The jazz onslaught continues! But in a very different way! This album is wildly different from the jazz I've reviewed so far (and indeed everything else I've reviewed). It's got a pronounced Afro-Cuban sound, and when I say 'pronounced', I actually mean 'It's a shitload of conga drums all over the place while people scream in Spanish'. Well, not entirely, but still.

From a historical standpoint, this album is fascinating. One can imagine slaves in Cuba practicing Santeria rituals, complete with virtuoso conga players! The tracks that tend more towards this are very frenzied, with wild tribal chanting. Mixed with the more traditional jazzy tracks like 'El Cumbanchero', these songs can sound a bit jarring.

Musically, this album suffers somewhat. Although there are lots of great moments on this record (the guitar player, wherever he appears, is pretty damned awesome), many of the songs seemed to drag on and on. I can only listen to recreations of rituals for so long, particularly since I can't speak Spanish.

A very unusual record. Awesome congas, though. 7/10

10. Thelonious Monk - Brilliant Corners (1957)

1. Brilliant Corners
2. Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues
3. Pannonica
4. I Surrender, Dear
5. Bemsha Swing

Now THIS is some jazz right here. Complete with pretentious quotation marks. With this, we finally enter the fascinating world of hard bop and the experimentation that marked jazz music in the 1950s. And it's about time! After all the relatively plain albums that I've had to review so far, this album was very pleasing.

This album is rather discordant yet harmonious at the same time. The title track seems like it could fall apart into atonality at any moment, yet it somehow sticks together even though you have no idea how. Now that's musicianship! The whole album has the feel of being held together by a tiny thread, yet somehow it feels amazingly musical and cohesive at the same time. I'm not really sure how to describe it. It's still catchy (particularly the 'Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues' main melody) but not excessively so. The solos are particularly notable. The drum solo on the title track sounds like someone trying to play the drums while incredibly drunk, only to sober up for about 30 seconds, and then passing out. Monk's solo rendition of 'I Surrender Dear' is both frayed at the edges and beautiful at the same time. I have no idea how the hell he pulled it off. Such is the mystery of modern jazz!

By modern standards, this isn't exactly the most challenging and experimental music there is but I can imagine this sort of thing would've caused quite the stir for your average music fan in 1957. And it's made me think more than all of the other albums so far. I'm not sure I've ever heard an album that was so contrasting, so fragmented and jumbled and yet so entrancing. 9/10

9. Count Basie - The Atomic Mr. Basie (1957)

1. Kid From Red Bank
2. Duet
3. After Supper
4. Flight Of The Foo Birds
5. Double O
6. Teddy The Toad
7. Whirly Bird
8. Midnite Blue
9. Splanky
10. Fantail
11. Li'l Darlin'

Despite all the hard-bop jazz experimentation that was going on in the 50s, we're gifted here with yet another swing/big band album! Like the Duke Ellington album earlier, this is an example of a late-period career boost. And despite its anachronistic nature, it's fun! (How many times have I said that in this blog by now?) It's got that characteristic super-loud brass all over the place, and the entire record jumps along at a fairly brisk pace, even during the slower songs. And for what may be the first time on this list, I can actually hear the bass!

'Kid From Red Bank' is some hard shit for 1957. It is rather hard to listen to and not feel like dancing, which is rather odd considering Red Bank is in New Jersey, probably one of the least danceable states in the Union. From there, the album does not stop. You will dance even during the slower numbers, or else Count Basie will kill you with his implied nuclear arsenal (just look at that album cover!). Some songs seem mellow at first, like 'Double O', and then all of a sudden BAM!

Like most other albums here, the tracks do tend to blend together. There's only so much you can do with big band swing stuff. But for 30-odd minutes, I don't really mind. 8/10

8. Buddy Holly - The "Chirping" Crickets (1957)

1. Oh Boy
2. Not Fade Away
3. You've Got Love
4. Maybe Baby
5. It's Too Late
6. Tell Me How
7. That'll Be The Day
8. I'm Looking For Someone To Love
9. Empty Cup (And A Broken Date)
10. Send Me Some Lovin'
11. Last Night
12. Rock Me My Baby

Another year, another album. And what a dorky looking cover! Hard to believe that architects of a genre like rock music could also double as captains of the chess club.

This is indisputably the best rock album so far (out of three, I know, but still). I can understand better the impact that Buddy Holly made, because this is the most recognizably 'rock' album so far, rather than the thrown-together country/rockabilly of Elvis' debut, and the R&B swagger of Fats Domino. More emphasis is placed on the electric guitar than before, probably due to the growing influence of Chuck Berry (Remember him? The guy that doesn't have an album on this list? One of the more glaring omissions in this book so far). Another striking feature of this album is the songwriting, mostly shared between members of the group. Although they're more famous for being Buddy Holly's backing group, they pretty much set the template for the rock band as we know it, by writing and performing their own material.

As for the record itself, it's plagued by the same problems that every rock LP in the 50s had: the spectre of filler. It just hadn't occurred to most people to make the album tracks as good as the singles yet. Most of the tracks have something cool and distinctive about them, which is a start! The cool reverbed vocals in 'It's Too Late', the inventive guitar parts in practically every song, the bluesy swagger of the verses in 'Rock Me My Baby' before being shoved into a rather unfortunate chorus. Which brings me to my biggest complaint: the backing vocalists. I guess they figured the album didn't sound 'full' enough or whatever, so they had this vocal group called The Picks overdub their singing onto almost all of the tracks. And they don't. Shut. Up. It's a miracle that Buddy can even get a hiccup in with all their cheesy 1950s caterwauling. For example, in 'An Empty Cup (And A Broken Date)', they decide to repeat everything he sings, as if we couldn't understand it. Last time I checked, background vocals are meant to be in the background of the song, not fighting for the lead like a pack of ravenous wolves. I guess their purpose was to make the album more marketable to pop audiences but all it made me want to do is wish that they died in a plane crash instead.

If you can try to ignore the overbearing background vocals, these are some great hooky 50s rock songs. Even the most filler-y of tracks here trumps most of the rockers on Elvis' first album. And I haven't even mentioned the singles, all of which are great. 'That'll Be The Day', 'Oh Boy', and 'Maybe Baby' are quintessential 50s white rock and roll. It's not like white people couldn't rock, but for the entire duration of the 1950s black people were kicking our asses. If it weren't for British people, they probably still would be! I guess I should be ending this review before my review turns into some sort of musical race war and the NAACP boycotts my blog, depriving it of its precious 2 readers. 8/10

7. Frank Sinatra - Songs For Swingin' Lovers!

1. You Make Me Feel So Young
2. It Happened in Monterrey
3. You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me
4. You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me
5. Too Marvelous for Words
6. Old Devil Moon
7. Pennies from Heaven
8. Love Is Here to Stay
9. I've Got You Under My Skin
10. I Thought About You
11. We'll Be Together Again
12. Makin' Whoopee
13. Swingin' Down the Lane
14. Anything Goes
15. How About You?

Oh boy, our first repeating artist of the series! And we haven't even hit the ten album mark yet.

Before I actually review this album, I'd just like to note how much more hilarious the album title is nowadays than in 1956. Songs for swingin' lovers indeed.

This album is a lot closer to the general perception of Frank Sinatra than the mopefest that was 'In The Wee Small Hours'. Guess he found another hot actress to bang. Despite its less serious nature, it's not any worse of an album. It's more like the yin to that album's yang. Like Frank took a bunch of Prozac and this is what happened. A very easygoing album, with swing arrangements and big brass sections blasting in your ear like they're allowed to do that.

Once again, all of the songs are picked straight from the Great American Songbook. You might even recognize some of them! It's a nice way of showing that there were actually good pop songwriters before the Beatles, at least. I can't even imagine some of these songs as sung by anyone else but Frank, he really is a master interpreter of other people's material! The only complaint I have is the same issue I have with 'Wee Small Hours': The arrangements can get a bit repetitive, so the second half of the album tends to drag. As a result, I'm going to give this album the same backhanded praise, complete with high-but-not-too-high rating, that I've given every other album I've reviewed so far. You'd think I was a writer for Rolling Stone. 8/10

6.Duke Ellington - Live at Newport (1956)

1. Festival Junction
2. Blues To Be There
3. Newport Up
4. Jeep's Blues
5. Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue


It didn't take long for jazz to rear its pretentious head at last. Or should I be putting "jazz" in quotation marks, before I derail this review to talk about its links to bigotry and Afrocentrism? But not enough people would get the joke. Anyhow, I'm sorry to say that save for the occasional jazz/funk fusion record, I haven't gone out of my way to listen to too much jazz. Fortunately, this first jazz release on the list isn't bad or disappointing enough for me to impale it on my acerbic wit.

This live album (well, actually this original record is largely a studio recreation) did much to boost Ellington's then-falling career due to the rise of newer, edgier styles of jazz. Sort of like when hair metal got eaten up by grunge, except Warrant never got a chance to release a critically acclaimed album after everyone waking from their long 80s hangover realized that they actually sucked.

Duke Ellington does not suck, however. This album has a nice mix of uptempo and slower numbers, showing the different strengths of his band. The solos taken are particularly nice, especially the famous Gonsalves sax solo in 'Diminuendo' that incited the audience to dance in the aisles! Less nice is that trumpet player at the end of 'Festival Junction' who seems to have taken a rather large amount of Louis Prima's High Note Grease. Just because you can definitely does not mean you should. I also felt that the drums didn't do enough for me. I like my jazz to have some propulsive drumming, and aside from a couple moments it just wasn't there (is the ride cymbal that great? Really?).

Although I tend to enjoy "modern" jazz styles more, this album is still good for playing by yourself in a dark smoke-filled room. 8/10

5. Fats Domino - This Is Fats Domino! (1956)

1. Blueberry Hill
2. Honey Chile
3. What's the Reason (I'm Not Pleasing You?)
4. Blue Monday
5. So Long
6. La-La
7. Troubles of My Own
8. You Done Me Wrong
9. Reelin' and Rockin'
10. Fat Man's Hop
11. Poor Poor Me
12. Trust in Me

Yet another astonishingly literal album title. The 50s weren't exactly too big on imagination, apparently. I guess they thought it showed Communist tendencies.

With this installment, we are gifted with an early rock album that isn't by Elvis! And it is better at not sucking. Though it doesn't actually rock that hard. I'd say this album is significantly more 'roll' than 'rock', as it's pretty much a bunch of lazy r&b tunes set to a steady backbeat. 'Blueberry Hill' is the classic to beat on this record, and if you like that song then you're in luck, because every other song sounds just like it!!!

That is indeed the only real problem I had with this album (and pretty much every other 50s rock album). Although this music would've been The Shit back in '56, rock has evolved and diversified so much that it is a lot harder for me to get a true level of enjoyment out of these early records.

Having said that, this album is still worth a listen, and still more enjoyable than Elvis (I promise I'll stop mentioning him in a few more reviews!). Fats is a great performer, with some great piano playing and laid back vocals that suit the songs very well. I was struck by how little emphasis was placed on the guitar in comparison to almost every other rock album ever (except for that bitchin' solo on 'Trust In Me'). It's mainly a piano-and-horns affair.

Not exactly the most amazing rock album, but it's pretty good regardless. Not even Hurricane Katrina can stop Fats Domino. 7/10

4. Louis Prima - The Wildest! (1956)

1. Just A Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody
2. (Nothing's Too Good) For My Baby
3. The Lip
4. Body And Soul
5. Oh Marie
6. Basin Street Blues/When It's Sleepy Time Down South
7. Jump, Jive An' Wail
8. Buona Sera
9. Night Train
10. I'll Be Glad When You're Dead You Rascal You

Finally, the first of what will hopefully be a long line of albums with exclamation p

Hey guys! This album I'm reviewing today is one big ol' exuberant bastard. That's pretty much the best way to describe it. It's what happens when you give a Sicilian guy a big pile of Louis Armstrong records. And I wouldn't have it any other way! It was a lot of fun to listen to, especially after that maudlin pile of 19th century murder reports that was my last album. If you're ever at a party with a bunch of old Italian-Americans for some reason, you'd definitely want to put this album on, especially before the party gets gunned down by a rival mobster family.

There's a whole lotta swing classics on this album, beginning with the 'Just A Gigolo' medley, as famously covered by David Lee Roth in one of the most ridiculous music videos of all time (he hams it up so much that I'd advise any practicing Jewish or Muslim readers not to watch it). Louis' version is far better, though. Lots less spandex.

The main thing that defines this album is how truly kitschy it is. It's all swingin', up-tempo jazzy tunes, and Louis is acting perfectly ridiculous throughout. In one song ('The Lip') he gives us a recipe for something called "High Note Grease" that will enable you to be the best trumpet player ever. And it goes on from there. It's hard to hate an album with a song title like 'I'll Be Glad When You're Dead You Rascal You'. However, even with its inherent cheesiness, I still liked it better than Elvis. 7/10

3. The Louvin Brothers - Tragic Songs of Life

1. Kentucky
2. I'll Be All Smiles Tonight
3. Let Her Go, God Bless Her
4. What Is Home Without Love
5. Tiny Broken Heart
6. In the Pines
7. Alabama
8. Katie Dear
9. My Brother's Will
10. Knoxville Girl
11. Take the News to Mother
12. Mary of the Wild Moor


This is one helluva literal title! All but two of the songs here are just as the title says, dealing with loss and heartbreak. Consisting of 12 traditional songs that were already old when this album was released, this album is pure, unabashed country. Fortunately, it has very little to do with the confused pop/rock grandstanding that so often plagues the genre nowadays. This is hardcore, old-timey country, mandolins and Appalachian accents intact. One doubts that they put down the jug of moonshine to record.

But anyways, back to the songs themselves. For someone who was disdainful of country for years and years, partly due to the lyrics of the songs I heard, these stark and unforgiving songs came as quite the shock to me. People have been complaining about the depraved lyrics of "modern" music ever since rock raised its rebellious head, but when I listen to this (as well as other trad folk songs) I'm convinced that a good portion of 19th century folk singers must've been fucking psychopaths. Take, for example, these lyrics from 'Knoxville Girl':

She fell down on her bended knees
For mercy she did cry
Oh, Willie dear, don't kill me here
I'm unprepared to die
She never spoke another word
I only beat her more
Until the ground around me
Within her blood did flow.

Mind you, I'm not posting that out of context. They sing about this as calmly as they would anything else, and it makes for a very unusual experience. Their close harmonies lend the record a bleak and forlorn air that fits these songs perfectly. Ironically, considering this album's rather high death count compared the last two, the rendition of 'In The Pines' (which you may know better as 'Where Did You Sleep Last Night?' as done by Nirvana) is missing the part about decapitation. Can't have 'em all, I suppose!

Only 3 albums in and my musical horizons have already expanded! I've never listened to a country album all the way through before, and I was fortunate that it wasn't crap. In some spots it actually rocks out a bit (by 1956 standards). A thoroughly listenable release, and far, far better than that stupid Elvis album. 8/10

2. Elvis Presley - Elvis Presley (1956)

Track Listing

1. Blue Suede Shoes
2. I’m Counting On You
3. I Got A Woman
4. One-Sided Love Affair
5. I Love You Because
6. Just Because
7. Tutti Frutti
8. Trying To Get You
9. I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry (Over You)
10. I’ll Never Let You Go
11. Blue Moon
12. Money Honey

Well, we've already jumped ahead a year, how about that? Only 2 albums in and we're already at the dawn of rock 'n' roll. And by "dawn", I mean "some white dude doing black people's songs." Although this album has massive historical value being the first rock album to have any degree of success (as can happen when it's number one for 9 weeks!), it's not very good. You know how excited I was talking about Frank Sinatra making an album as artistic statement instead of a bunch of random songs? Turns out that idea hadn't quite spread to the folks at RCA, who after signing this new star promptly threw together some r&b covers and some country songs that were recorded back when he was on Sun Records and called it an album. Considering it sold over a million copies, I guess it worked!

"Groundbreaking", "earth-shattering", and "explosive" are just some of the platitudes I have seen used to describe this album. To be honest, I'm just not hearing it. Perhaps it was considered groundbreaking to have a white guy covering black music then, but all the R&B covers here are inferior to the originals, particularly 'Tutti Frutti', which doesn't even come a fifth of the way to matching the sheer manic energy of Little Richard's original. I mean, they're not bad. I kind of dig the swing time ending he sticks on to 'I Got A Woman', but I'd still rather listen to Ray Charles.

Really, the only time that Elvis sounds truly comfortable on this album is when he's doing the up-tempo rockabilly that made him famous in the first place. His versions of 'Blue Suede Shoes' and 'I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry (Over You)' are the best songs on the album, because they're what Elvis does best. Which leaves the country ballads. Now, it took several years of musical development and maturity for me to admit that all country doesn't suck, but that doesn't mean I have to enjoy these bland, forgettable songs that rather break up the flow of what is supposed to be a 'rock' album. Frankly, Elvis doesn't quite have the voice yet for these kinds of songs, so they all fall flat with the exception of 'Blue Moon', which has a sparse backing and vocals trapped inside a giant echo chamber giving it a haunting and ethereal tone, something that I'm positive other Elvis songs don't have.

I'm definitely sure that this album merits a place in the list due to being the first successful rock album, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. The fact that this guy shoes up in the list 3 times and Chuck Berry can't get in once is one hell of an oversight. 6/10

1. Frank Sinatra - In the Wee Small Hours (1955)

Track Listing

1. In The Wee Small Hours of the Morning
2. Mood Indigo
3. Glad To Be Unhappy
4. I Get Along Without You Very Well
5. Deep in a Dream
6. I See Your Face Before Me
7. Can't We Be Friends?
8. When Your Lover Has Gone
9. What is This Thing Called Love
10. Last Night When We Were Young
11. I'll Be Around
12. Ill Wind
13. It Never Entered My Mind
14. Dancing On The Ceiling
15. I'll Never Be The Same
16. This Love of Mine

Where else to start but this? To begin this many-album journey, we must jump all the way back to...1955!? Oh no, I've got to make George and Lorraine fall in love at the Enchantment Under The Sea dance before it's too late!!

Speaking of failed romance, boy oh boy is that the theme here. This album was inspired by the recent disintegration of Sinatra's marriage to actress Ava Gardner, and as a result every single song is just about as miserable as it got for 1955. In fact, that's why this album was chosen in the first place! It's perhaps the first successful cohesive album, as a result of all of the songs being specifically chosen and recorded for it. This may sound like a no-brainer to modern audiences, but the album that wasn't a haphazard jumble of singles thrown together was a very rare breed, unless you were one of those pretentious jazz-listening types. But enough of history!

This album is not the Frank Sinatra that you will likely be familiar with, that swingin' ol' lounge singer crooning Fly Me To The Moon, or something like that. This is a lonely, broken, bitter man, and it shows. Heartbreak and reflective, lonely nights alone make up the entire lyrical basis of this album, and Ol' Blue Eyes' usually more chipper voice has become worn down and melancholy. And his voice definitely takes center stage on this album. He ranges from a melodramatic, soaring tone on 'It Never Entered My Mind' to sounding like a bitter shell of a man who's sorry he even bothered with romance in the first place on 'Can't We Be Friends?' (and damn near everywhere else for that matter). The backing orchestration, tastefully arranged by longtime Sinatra collaborator Nelson Riddle, manages to be sparse yet evocative, with the strings rising and falling along with Sinatra. In fact, his arrangements come in danger of being overshadowed by Frank's emotive voice, though he manages to throw in a lot of cool touches. I'm particularly fond of the clarinet in 'What Is This Thing Called Love?'.

One thing that particularly impressed me about the album was the nature of the songwriting. Except for the title track, none of these songs were written for Sinatra to sing (and outside of folk, country, and blues almost nobody sang songs they wrote themselves back then), yet listening to them you wouldn't know it. Frank manages to make every song here sound like he is living through it. Though to be fair, he was.

Overall, I found this album to be more enjoyable than I expected from "an album full of ballads." (though it did drag a bit, as I'm a bit too used to albums with a bit more diversity) Although there is a significant gulf of time separating me and this album, the music is still good, and Frank Sinatra is still as skilled a vocalist here as he ever was. 8/10

Well, off I go!

Hello, world! Welcome to my opinions, which I am going to shove forcibly down your through like so many pills. The main point of this blog is for me to go through all of the albums listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die in chronological order, and write reviews of all of them. I will be supplementing the list with additional albums from Pitchfork's decade lists, because I find them to be pretty awesome lists and they will go a long way towards adding a bit of spice (shall we say, basil?) to this already massive project, particularly as I get closer to the 2000s. If I manage to make my way through this, it's gonna take years and years! Let the madness begin.