#jasonfalkner

Crate Digger’s Corner…by DJ Musically Rich

Here is the second part to my 2017 list. For those that missed the first part (and haven’t taken a look at it yet), I’m giving a quick list of albums that I heard from 2017 in 7-10 at a time. There will be a few more parts to the list over the coming weeks. I may do a listening to some of the ones that I know I like, but want to revisit, and use that as an opportunity to review some of those more deeply (If there are any you see that you would particularly like to see a review of, leave a note). This list does not include reissues, live material or compilations.

Artist- Album (general genre)- and brief description

R. Stevie Moore & Jason Falkner- Make It Be (Indie Pop)- Eccentric and eclectic alt pop artists join forces to make an album with the vibe of the ‘60s psychedelic movement, but with all the studio and effects technology of today!

Father John Misty- Pure Comedy (Indie Pop)- Sounding like a lost ‘70s Elton John masterpiece, this is the album to hear from FJM up to this point (6/23/19). This is also his most grandiose album by far, and manages to get everything working perfectly from the musicians involved.

Jose James- Love In A Time Of Madness (Space R&B/Funk)- This album is a groovy, spacey adventure whether he is getting down with an upbeat disco groove, or riding a slow jam into space. This is another brilliant album in his canon.

Joey Bada$$- All-Amerikkkan Bada$$ (Rap)- This is my pick for the best rap album (that I heard) in 2017. It is an intense look at the society that some are living in today. It musically encompasses rap, R&B, a little electro and more.

Kendrick Lamar- Damn (Rap)- Seemingly, everyone else’s pick for best rap album of 2017. He is my favorite current rapper (and maybe ever). This is a bit on the poppier side of the rap universe, especially compared to his previous effort, “To Pimp A Butterfly”. That is similar to the way that “Good Kid…” was poppier compared to his “Section 80”. If he continues this cycle underground rap fans should be prepared for his next release! He only seems to get better!

Roger Waters- Is This the Life (Classic Rock)- The Pink Floyd founder takes the temperature of the political climate and picks up where he left off with “The Wall”. He even uses some of the same (or very similar) melodies in the songs. Whether you like this or not will probably depend heavily on your feeling about “The Wall”. This one, because it is not a movie soundtrack and therefore doesn’t have some of the strange shorter pieces that plague “The Wall” (particularly the end of side 2) as solely an album, may actually hold together a little better as an album. However, it obviously does not have the hit singles (nor anything quite as strong as the peaks) of “The Wall”.

Fleet Foxes- Crack-Up (Indie Rock)- The Fleet Foxes return with their soothing vocal harmonies floating over their pastoral musical beds. One big difference, and it causes  this to be the weaker than the Fleet Foxes first EP or first two LPs, is the lack of drummer J. Tillman who left the band shortly after “Helplessness Blues” and started focusing on his solo career as Father John Misty. [Side Note: I believe there were some disagreements about the musical direction between him and the band as well] With a host of drummers coming in to fill that slot for various songs, the album lacks a groundedness that was present on their first 3 releases. Because of that, the songs never quite build the same steam as they were able to reach on previous albums, but still a solid listen and it shouldn’t disappoint any fans of their earlier albums.

Here are 7 albums I heard in 2017, there will be more from this list coming in the future, and this isn’t necessarily a ranking, just in the order that I was writing them down. I hope you enjoy and happy hunting!

(Hi!  It’s been awhile since I’ve used the Tumblr. But I rescued my password and here I am.  As I did a few years ago after Morning Phase tour, I'm going to listen through as many of the live versions of a song on the Colors tour to figure out what the band brought to these songs and how they grow across the tour.  This is more than anything a writing exercise for me, but also it brings me deeper into my favorite songs. - ed.) Join our Facebook group too please!

Comin' to town with the briefcase blues First up, I'm going to start with the omnipresent "Devils Haircut." Beck played "Devils" at all 59 main shows on the Colors tour, except the one night in San Francisco where they dropped all the main hits. It was the opening song at 48 of the shows.  (For this, I listened to 30 versions that I found on YouTube.)

lineup: 

Beck Hansen - vocals, electric guitar

Jason Falkner: electric guitar, backing vocals

Dwayne Moore: bass, backing vocals

Roger Joseph Manning Jr.: synthesizer, tambourine, backing vocals

Chris Coleman: drums

Cecilia Della Peruti: electric guitar, backing vocals

Alex Lilly: tambourine, keyboards, backing vocals

Jake Sinclair: acoustic guitar (?!), backing vocals

On stage, “Devils Haircut” continues to follow the basic template of the record, until the ending, in which they’ve added a quick live riff (that riff has been there since 2014 or so, this is not new anymore - I still LOVE this bit). At the beginning of this tour, the song stayed pretty much as they’d been doing it since 2014, except with no harmonica (Smokey used to drop in some harmonica turns) and with all the added backup voices boosting Beck. Here is a good example of how they did the song early on the tour.  It is from the In Bloom Festival in Houston.  Beck gives a shout-out to Grizzly Bear in the middle of the song; he rarely talks or adlibs over “Devils Haircut.”

The band did add a short droning intro to the song which you can here there too.  From the Montreal show on (July 10) this was expanded further to include a slo-mo clip of Beck going “deviiiilllllssss haaairrcuuuut.”  This intro is cool and makes the song, and start of the show, all the more dramatic, especially how the famous riff blasts out of it.

Also, during the Europe tour in June, Roger started adding some electro synthesizer effects, which I liked. With the extra added guitarists, Jason was open to add more noodling lead guitar licks throughout the song’s sections, which I’m not sure I dig that much. The song seems to have drifted a little from its tight punk chaotic heart to something a little more intricate on this tour. It’s still energetic, just in a different way!  Jake plays acoustic guitar on this song, but for the life of me, I can’t figure out why or what he’s adding: it’s quite inaudible under the electric guitars and mad rhythm section. Alex mostly shakes a tambourine, but during the middle breakdown section, I noticed her adding keyboards a few times.

This version from the Riot Fest in Chicago puts the longer intro on display, and is a good example of how they did the song on the latter half of the tour.  Strangely, Beck also sings a bit of The Creation’s “Making Time” at the end.  He did this quick reference throughout the summer, but every other instance I am aware of, it was during “The New Pollution” instead.  For some reason tonight, he slipped it into “Devils Haircut.”  Also, this recording shows off the group vocals a bit -- you can barely hear Beck at all.