Up in Smoke (saw it in high school and got blazed and watched a few days ago. Man, this has not held up well. I couldn't figure out the story -- I get that Cheech is an illegal alien, but why are they both deported? -- and it was mostly unfunny humor, though I did enjoy the scene of the cop sniffing the exhaust and getting high, and the visual gag of Chong pulling out the gigantic doobie. Not coincidentally they were the two scenes I had remembered from back then. Yeah, it was good weed (animal crackers) and I was in a good, relaxed mood. It just didn't do it.)
The Exorcist (rewatch, liked it a lot better the second time through, and I didn't dislike it in the first place, but it's awfully slow-paced -- the movie is a good bit over two hours long and the actual exorcism is only about 20 minutes. I didn't see the ending coning the first time and it's still good. I had forgotten the details. Great)
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XTC - White Music (goddamn "All Along the Watchtower" has never been a good song; it's as annoying as "We Will Rock You" at this point, and the herky-jerky XTC is the worst rendition of it I've ever heard. It's Devo "Satisfaction"-level bad. #### Bob Dylan for writing it. Hendrix' actually is the best one of them; it's probably a good version but I'm sick to death of it. The rest of the album is really good new-wave goodness. I rearranged the track order to stick the bonus tracks at the end and that's the way to go. Strong recommendation, actually.)
XTC - Go 2 (really the album cover is pretty dumb. I liked this album a lot more than I had expected on first listen: most of the songs are pretty good, though it definitely is a sophomore slump. It takes the less tenable bits of White Music to something of an extreme: for all the good songwriting, the album is basically just barked vocals over angular new-wave sounds. I did like it, which hopefully augurs well. I hope the vocals get better. Also there's no "side three" of bonus tracks, and the CD suffers for it.)
XTC - Drums & Wires (I think I've found my Gratuitous Sax and Senseless Violins for XTC. I love every song on this album -- dunno about the bonuses: I stuck them at the end; I don't remember the CD running order; some of them are really good but after an album full of shouted vocals and "oh oh oh" it's worn a bit thin -- ; they've kept the new waveish sound but it's calmed down some. I don't think this is a highly regarded album, though I don't know any WRC reviews worth reading, but #### it it should be. If there's a downside it's that it all sounds the same, but it's hardly worse in that respect than the two before it. The opening and closing tracks are the biggest departure, I guess looking forward? They're ok.)
XTC - Explode Together: The Dub Experiments 1978-80 (remember Primal Scream's Echo Dek? Huh? No? Well it's a dub remix album. Early XTC isn't the first place I'd look for inspired dub but it works surprisingly well; it's kind of a dark side, chilled-out, sippin'-on-lean fun-house-mirror, like Moonside from Earthbound. Needs more deep bass though. Anyway it works better than I had expected but, uh, I'll never feel like putting this on again. Echo Dek was better.)
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Legião Urbana - Dois (It's okay jangly pop music, but it seems from the mix that the vocals are very important, and I don't speak the language. It's like listening to Leonard Cohen if you don't know much English: possible to enjoy, but not fully. For some reason my brain is hearing portions of the album in pseudo-English; don't have that problem with any other album.)
Os Mutantes - A Divina Comédia (euh... "euh" is French for "uh...". Seriously! Just as dogs go "ouaf ouaf" and cats, "miaou". Little Hispanic kids call dogs "woof-woofs", however they spell it. Anyway this is more what I hoped the first Mutantes album would be, and I'm glad to have it. There's little use in breaking down the tracks but this is good psych, the likes of which haven't been seen in the first 21 albums on the list. Great stuff.)
Moacir Santos - Coisas (what is this doing on the list? It's like a less kitschy Brazilian Herb Alpert. I don't see Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brasileiras on there. Why this? It's ok instrumental stuff but it's out of place.)
Roberto Carlos - Roberto Carlos em Ritmo de Aventura (you know, it's funny how "você" means "you" to the exclusion of "tu" in Portuguese -- actually just like how "you" displaced "thou" in English, only with Romance languages "tu" usually takes over for all but a formal "you". Tip: when you listen to Brazilian stuff, look up each Portuguese word you don't understand in the title in Wiktionary. You can figure out a lot of the grammar this way, after an initial getting-to-know-you with how the language (and spelling!) work. As for the album? It's a good little '60s rock album, sometimes pumpin' and cookin', sometimes gentle, very Brazilian, and it's very enjoyable. Check out the acid guitar on "Você não serve para mim" ("you're not my slave"). Here's a pretty song called "Folhas de outono", or "Autumn Leaves" (didn't need Wiktionary for that one). It's pronounced "fo-lyash dee oh-too-noo". Portuguese is funny that way.)
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Adès, Schubert - Piano Quintets (Adès, etc.) (everybody knows and loved the Schubert "Trout" quintet; it was one of the first works I got into and it's pretty un-####-uppable. I still enjoy it: it's the "Turkey in the Straw" of classical music in its incorruptibility. That also means that I've come to hear only the music and not the performance, as with a Beethoven symphony. The Adès was the major attraction. The composer is still pretty young (1971 -- younger than two ex-girlfriends) and the backlash against serialism is apparent: his quintet has stuff like tonality and sonata form, though it's pretty angular and dissonant. The disc has a weird pairing but it works. I'll definitely be looking out for more Adès. Excellent sound quality.)
Bruckner - Te Deum; Mozart - Requiem (Bruno Walter 1961) (Performance aside, the sound quality sucks. A massive chorus plus soloists plus mass strings plus 1951 performance practices make my ears bleed. It sounds awful even for its time, in brittle, harsh mono. The Mozart fares somewhat better but it's still a big, glacially-paced 1950s performance. I have better recordings. The music is great, obviously, but the Bruckner in particular sounds shouty.) (Update: you get used to the sound. Just sonically I wouldn't make this your only recording but for a second opinion it's quite worthy.)
Chopin, Franck - Cello Sonatas (Jacqueline du Pré, Daniel Barenboim) (the Franck is an arrangement of the violin sonata. It's a shame du Pré died so young. She was a hell of a cellist. The Franck is better than any violin version I've heard -- the slow movement is pretty much the greatest thing ever -- and the Chopin is a bit of a minor work, totally straightforward in form, with some good melodies, but it's an unexceptionable work made memorable by du Pré. Like all her recordings are famous so pick this up.)
Dufay - Hymns (Schola Hungarica/Janka Szendrei) (51 incredibly emotionally resonant minutes of mediaeval polyphony based on plainchant, if you're into that sort of thing. Transcendent when high. I've got to say that after stepping away from conscious study for a year or two my once-shaky/burned-out Latin is excellent now. The same thing happened in French: I dropped the class and a year later realized I had become basically fluent or at least proficient. Took a trip to France and got by without English. That was 20ya though and my French is hella rusty. But it's like it needs to unconsciously consolidate in my mind when it's on the back burner. I can read the words fine, usually except when I don't know one.)
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Red Garland - Soul Junction (sort of ordinary '50s hard bop, with Donald Byrd in top form (Trane is just OK in this one.) Entertaining, the title track is a blues classic, but really, how many takes on "Woody'n You" does the world need?)
Charles Mingus - Blues & Roots (this feels like all the world like a predecessor to Mingus Ah Um -- and it is -- in the church-music opener to the Jelly Roll Morton tribute towards the end. Much earthier and less overwrought than Mingus Dynasty and more enjoyable. I don't know whether I'd call it essential but a good disc for Mingus fans of the period. If I hadn't read the title I'd've had no idea that "Moanin'" is the Art Blakey song.)
Buddy Rich - Blues Caravan (a Max Roach album this ain't. Rich is a power drummer to Roach's finesse and the solos found throughout the disc can be tiresome if you're not in the mood -- vide the five-minute solo in the ten-minute "Caravan". Rich backs a sextet with flute, trumpet, and vibes, which is an odd combination but it works, though I've never heard of any of the band members besides the drummer. The trumpeter is especially good. Great little album, this)
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers - Just Coolin' (no slow numbers, which hurts it considerably, though the closing title track and really the last two tracks are pretty killer. Mostly it's just typical late '50s hard bop with some highlights.)