43. Jacques Brel - Olympia 64

1. Amsterdam
2. Les Timides
3. Le Dernier Repas
4. Les Jardins de Casino
5. Les Vieux
6. Les Toros
7. Tango Funèbre
8. Le Plat Pays
9. Les Bonbons
10. Mathilde
11. Les Bigotes
12. Les Bourgeois
13. Jef
14. Au Suivant
15. Madeleine

Thrill! as I frantically search online for translated lyrics as an enraged Belgian bellows at me. Such is my life, now that I have started this blog.

I seem to be unable to escape live albums lately. After the wild and raucous crowds of Sam Cooke and James Brown, it's a bit of a strange transition to suddenly have to deal with a crowd of relatively polite Europeans. Fortunately, Jacques makes up for their calmness by displaying a wide range of emotions via the magic of song. They're all showtunes or cabaret songs or whatever you want to call them, and that type of material just doesn't work if you're not going to belt them out. And that's exactly what he does here, taking the roles of each character in the songs. It's certainly an impressive range.

The lyrics are naturally wonderful, at least when I can understand them. The translated lyrics certainly look good. It's a nice change from the youth-oriented pop songs that still dominated rock music in this era. These songs were clearly written by an adult, with beautiful lyrics covering everything from getting old to lots and lots of whores and everything in between.

I haven't said all that much about the music, because this album treats it as a way to move the lyrics along. I enjoyed this album, but mainly it made me want to improve my French to the exalted level of "Not Shit". 8/10

42. The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night (1964)

1. A Hard Day's Night
2. I Should Have Known Better
3. If I Fell
4. I'm Happy Just To Dance With You
5. And I Love Her
6. Tell Me Why
7. Can't Buy Me Love
8. Any Time At All
9. I'll Cry Instead
10. Things We Said Today
11. When I Get Home
12. You Can't Do That
13. I'll Be Back


CLANG! One of the most recognizable opening chords in history, so recognizable that musicologists have trouble deciphering exactly what it is. It is this exclamation mark at the beginning of the sentence that launches us into a rather exciting LP in a rather exciting time. This album came out in July and serves as a soundtrack to the sounds and sights of Beatlemania run rampant across the globe. Since With The Beatles came out in November of last year, the Beatles had conquered America in a grandiose fashion that Elvis could only have dreamed of. Not only did they knock themselves off the #1 position twice in a row (not even Black Eyed Peas can do that yet!) but they held the entire top 5 for one week (and 7 other songs spread throughout the top 100). They were even more inescapable than Twilight and Harry Potter combined.

Not only did they have all that happen to them, they also found time to improve as a band. This album is a marked improvement for what was only a few months of development. Not only did they chuck out the covers, which I'm pretty sure makes this the first non-jazz album of all original songwriting (Even Bob Dylan still had one on Freewheelin', much to my surprise) on the list, but they also got better at it. There aren't any obviously deficient songs like 'Hold Me Tight' or 'I Wanna Be Your Man' here. Instead, we get 13 small slices of Lennon-McCartney goodness.

Lennon goodness, actually. I never realized this until I was listening again for this review, but he friggin' dominates the album, writing 10 out of 13 tracks! He sings almost all of them too, except for 'I'm Happy Just To Dance With You' which sucked too much so he gave it to George (Ah, the politics of the Beatles...). But even this apparent filler song holds its own with the best material of their last album. Leaps and bounds, people!

The innovations of this record lie not in instrumental flourishes but in neat songwriting touches. While their earlier work stuck to the tried and true verse-chorus-verse format, this album mixes it up slightly in songs like "If I Fell" and "I'll Be Back" and "I Should Have Known Better" where you're never quite sure what the verse or the chorus is. Nothing stunningly innovative, but indicative of their growth as songwriters, which is always neat.

And I do mean their growth. Though Paul only gets 3 songs, they're all great. 'And I Love Her' is one of those trademark Paul ballads where it's sappy but not excessively so (How did he do that? More importantly, how did he forget how to do that almost as soon as he left the band?). 'Can't Buy Me Love' is an exuberant rock song with a nice simple solo (By the horrifying standards, Steve Vais and Yngwie Malmsteens of this day and age all of these solos are simple). I've always been intrigued by 'Things We Said Today', because the music sounds so melancholy but the sentiment expressed by the lyrics is really rather cheerful. Even when Paul's trying to sound sad, there's always that optimistic spark there.

Although I'm not too sure about the order of the songs (Hey, here's 7 songs from the hit film! Now, here's 6 songs that weren't good enough to make the film!), the result is still a fine artistic achievement and a very solid album. In fact, I may be jumping at straws here, but the harmonica on 'I Should Have Known Better' sounds almost Dylanesque. Already, the influences of the new decade are creeping in. Buckle your seatbelts, we're in for a turbulent decade. 8.5/10

41. Stan Getz and João Gilberto - Getz/Gilberto (1964)

1. The Girl From Ipanema
2. Doralice
3. Para Machuchar Meu Coracao
4. Desafinado
5. Corcovado (Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars)
6. So Danco Samba
7. O Grande Amor
8. Vivo Sonhando (Dreamer)

Bossa Nova part 2: Electric Boogaloo. Except you can't boogaloo to this at all! It's too relaxing!!
Horror of horrors.

Anyhow, this album is the polar opposite of that Christmas album I suffered a few days ago, in that it is perfectly suited for summertime listening. It is ideal for it, in fact. It is so breezy and floats along at such a languid pace that you might fall asleep halfway through. Not that this is a bad or boring (well, maybe a little) album. There is a beauty in its lazy qualities, even in 'The Girl from Ipanema', which has become the anthem of elevators, supermarkets, and hotel lobbies all across the world. Would that all muzak sounded so pleasant without causing you to gag on the excess treacly sweetness! For something called easy listening, it sure is hard to listen to!!! *pause for laughter*

Considering how boring I thought Jazz Samba was, I was rather surprised that I liked this more. They aren't really all that different, except that this one has singing in it. Maybe I'm a superficial jerk and that's the only reason. Or, it could be the fact that the album has actual Brazilian musicians instead of Americans (besides Getz) that makes it superior? Possibly. In the grand scheme of things, however, such things are not important. 8/10

40. James Brown - Live at the Apollo (1963)

1. Introduction To James Brown
2. I'll Go Crazy
3. Try Me
4. Think
5. I Don't Mind
6. Lost Someone
7. Medley: Please, Please, Please/You've Got The Power/I Found Someone/Why Do You Do Me/I Want You So Bad/I Love You So Bad/I Love You, Yes I Do/Strange Things Happen/Bewildered/Please, Please, Please
8. Night Train

Hooray, it's a live soul album sandwich! AIN'T IT FUNKY?!

Well, sort of. Things weren't exactly too funky back in '63. That wouldn't happen for another few years. Until then, this album would suffice. Since it's a live album, it's got that energy and joie de vivre that is quite a bit harder to capture in the studio. Since it's a James Brown live album, doubly so. He definitely deserved the 500-odd titles he was given throughout his career, which apparently includes the rather lofty position of 'Minister of The New New Super Heavy Funk'.

This album frequently appears on 'Greatest live albums EVER' list. It's been hyped to death over 47 years. I don't think anything can really survive all that hype, and to be honest I preferred the Sam Cooke live album. They both share one thing in common, though: excitement. The crowd is, of course, going absolutely wild. Brown hammers out hit after hit in the first half of the set, in short 2 minute bursts of energy working the crowd into a frenzy before slowing things down with an almost 11 minute version of 'Lost Someone'. The band doesn't turn it into an all-out funk jam, it simply extends the song far past its running time to give James Brown more time to make love to the audience. And boy, does it work. Some of those screaming girls seem like they're about to faint. And if that wasn't enough, he immediately goes into a medley that seems to change songs every 30 seconds. By the time he closes the set with a blistering version of 'Night Train', you're probably exhausted yourself.

Although Brown doesn't really possess the fury of Sam Cooke's live performances, he more than certainly has the energy (not to mention a band and a healthy dose of sex appeal!) to make this an album worth listening to. 8/10

39. Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (1963)

1. Solo Dancer
2. Duet Solo Dancers
3. Group Dancers
4. Trio And Group Dancers

What the hell did I just listen to? I'm pretty sure jazz doesn't regularly feature tuba fart noises. In fact, I'm almost certain it doesn't. It definitely doesn't have random interludes of flamenco guitar. Not that Charles Mingus cares. Considering the liner notes were written by his therapist of all people, I don't think he cared at all.

As you might've discerned, in this release we enter (before leaving just as promptly) the exciting world of avant garde jazz. This is some dense stuff, too. I'm not even quite sure how to review it. It's sort of like when you try to read Finnegans Wake but your attention lapses for a bit and you look back and oh god what the hell is happening? Like a dream, this album keeps shifting around in a manner that is frequently bizarre. One moment it'll be nice and easy, the next you're getting bombarded with a sonic wall of sound that would make Phil Spector shit his pants. It's both beautiful and terrifying. In fact, there's all sorts of moods to this album. No wonder his therapist had to write about it.

This album is one of the first to really use the studio as an instrument to its full potential. Although it is instrumental, I find it manages to convey the most emotion of all the albums so far. Challenging, of course, but thoroughly rewarding. I have tasted the maggots in the mind of the universe. 10/10

38. Sam Cooke - Live at the Harlem Square Club (1963)

1. Feel It
2. Chain Gang
3. Cupid
4. Medley: It's All Right/For Sentimental Reasons
5. Twistin' the Night Away
6. Somebody Have Mercy
7. Bring It on Home to Me
8. Nothing Can Change This Love
9. Having a Party

Oh, so we're back to good albums then, that's a relief. Sam Cooke swoops in to rescue me from my Christmas torture with the most soulful album yet. Since this is a live album, it eschews the big band, with jazzy brass and dramatic strings, that were ever constant in Ray Charles' albums and other soul music at the time. It's very stripped down in comparison, which gives it a bit more feeling than the meticulously constructed studio orchestrations.

Although I've mentioned Ray Charles primarily, Sam Cooke also followed that lush recording style. As a result, this album came as quite a shock. I'm used to Cooke sounding like Nat King Cole or something, but on this album he completely ignores that aspect of his voice and goes straight to the old gospel tradition. In this live document, Cooke is unrestrained and wild, imbuing his familiar hits with a raw, gritty sound that you just couldn't get in the studio in those commercially-minded days. There's nothing at all refined in this performance, with Cooke working the audience into a frenzy unrivaled by any of the other live albums so far. They even sing along quite loudly on a couple tracks. All his shouting and random asides make this by far the most exciting album on the list so far. Definitely not something I expected from Sam Cooke. Just be sure you don't twist too hard when you listen to it. 8.5/10

37. Various Artists - A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector (1963)

1. White Christmas - Darlene Love
2. Frosty The Snowman - The Ronettes
3. The Bells of St. Mary's - Bob B. Soxx & The Blue Jeans
4. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - The Crystals
5. Sleigh Ride - The Ronettes
6. Marshmallow World - Darlene Love
7. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - Ronettes
8. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer - The Crystals
9. Winter Wonderland - Darlene Love
10. Parade of the Wooden Soldiers - The Crystals
11. Christmas - Baby Please Come Home - Darlene Love
12. Here Comes Santa Claus - Bob B Soxx & The Blue Jeans
13. Silent Night - Phil Spector & Artists

I have suffered many slights and injustices to my person over the years, but never have I been forced to listen to Christmas music outside of December. Whoever decided this album should be placed in the list is a very cruel human being who's probably cackling with glee right now, the bastard.

For the past couple of days, the wicked Sun God has been doing its level best to punish California for repealing Prop 8 or something, and here I am listening to a Christmas album with the fan on. This is it. I've finally gone completely mad. Mad as Phil Spector, even. Don't think I'll wind up killing an actress, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Anyway, this album showcases Phil Spector, and his influential Wall of dead women Sound, which is basically code for sticking enough musicians on one song to make Wagner jealous, complete with glockenspiels and English horns and shit like that, but for pop music instead of classical pieces. This technique resulted in many of the most distinctive hits of the '60s and has influenced countless bands and producers since then. So I can understand the need to put Phil Spector on this list, but did it have to be a Christmas album? I know all of these songs. The arrangements, while sort of neat, are nothing new, because it's Christmas music. And while it's ninety-whatever degrees outside, that is the last thing I want to hear. It's one step away from shitty novelty music. I don't care how much of a Scrooge I sound like, it's August. The best part of the album is when it ends and Phil Spector comes on with his comically wimpy voice delivering a monologue about how that bitch deserved it love and harmony and goodwill and all that. It made me laugh, but not for the right reasons. For that, I suppose I could at least give this a little leeway. 4/10