Not so Beau

So I figured out a system that keeps me from forgetting what albums I’ve listened to in between each post- digital stickies. I just write down what I’ve listened to as I go along, and then clear it when the next post goes live. Genius

What’s not so genius was “Triangle” by The Beau Brummels. I mean, they weren’t terrible, but there’s definitely a reason I’d never heard their name before. They had an interesting diversity of style, and they seemed pretty experimental, but they just weren’t that great, and the album just kind of fell flat for me.

Two albums I really enjoyed recently were the Velvet Underground’s “Velvet Underground & Nico,” and Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bookends.” Velvet Underground just have that groovy sixties sound, and carry it so well. S&G harmonize, and if I’ve learned anything about myself it’s that I love harmonizing, so damn well, and again Paul Simon is one hell of a poet.

Listening to Johnny Cash’s “Live at Folsom Prison” made me really appreciate live albums, which I wasn’t so much a fan of before. Johnny’s performance is crisp and near perfect, but there was also so much personality in his banter with the audience, their reaction to parts of his songs, him talking in the middle of songs and the prison announcements he reads throughout. It’s also full of great Johnny Cash music that I didn’t know before (mainly because they weren’t on the greatest hits album I got from the library). On the song “Jackson,” a duet with June Carter (not yet June Carter Cash), June’s voice sounded to me like it never had before, and she really had this awesome fire in her belly that made the song so much more honest.

And of course, I enjoyed the smooth jazz of Coltrane. I listened to “A Love Supreme” and was bobbing my head along with the beat.

I’m wrapping this post up with “Black Monk Time,” by the Monks, which I’m listening to right now. It sounds kind of like a watered down mix of the Doors and the Rolling Stones, and although I’m not hating it, I’m not particularly enjoying it. That may be because I’m not always into punk, and even though I liked the proto-punk Sonics, the Monks just aren’t hitting my punk nerve.