What I Listened To In 2020, In The Year Of Uncertainty - Volume I

What I Listened To In 2020 In The Year Of Uncertainty – Volume 1

Steely Dan with Dirty Work (1972) – back to Fagen and Becker when they began their rise and rise, song of ‘self-loathing’, radio-friendly, featuring the steady vocal of David Palmer (not a Dan insider) and the talent of Denny Dias (guitar), Jeff Baxter (guitar) and Jerome Richardson (sax).

Boz Scaggs’ insatiable groove Lowdown (1976) – this must be one of the songs (and albums) I’ve heard most often, and yet it continues to surprise and to please. With proto-Toto members, Jeff Porcaro on drums, the standout performance on the song, David Paich as joint-composer and playing keyboards, and David Hungate on bass, Boz’s voice binds the elements to coalesce this historic recording. 

I have a confession to make relating to Elton John – for a very long time I was not a fan. I don’t know why. But lately I found religion, to the point of overdosing. Now I willingly concede that his recording of Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going To Be A Long, Long Time) in 1972 is a perfect pop-rock song (so close to Plato’s ideal forms). There is so much gold to mine in Elton’s back catalogue.

Bells Of St Augustine (2020) by Burt Bacharach (yes, he’s still weaving melodies) and singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist-producer Danial Tashian. This song could have been released in the mid 1960’s – we recognise the production, the arrangement, even Burt’s peculiar rhythm changes – topped off with Daniel’s easy and accessible voice.

One of my top album listens for the year is from Daniel’s band, The Silver Seas, with a collection of perfectly wrought pop songs on High Society (2007). She Is Gone is the standout track, melodia melancholia in descent (she always ends up leaving). I’m not surprised that Burt Bacharach was sufficiently impressed to work with Daniel on Blue Umbrella (2020).

Simmer (2020), from the album Petals for Armour (title of the year), is compelling listening from Hayley Williams. Her maturity shines through - this is what great pop sounds like.

That opening guitar riff on Summer Breeze (1972) by Seals and Croft introduces a song that works on so many levels – melody, hooks, vocals, harmonies – even the middle eight elevates and excites. Jim Seals’ lead vocal continues to reverberate with delight, in the chamber of my heart, and through the years of my waning memory.

There’s a rambling quality to Steve Winwood’s songs. Midland Maniac (1977), from his eponymous album, is a case in point – it shifts and changes, musically and texturally, and yet he never loses his direction, despite the pull and push of the song cycle. And along the way, his favourite instruments are on display, including that powerful and recognisable voice. Along with Vacant Chair, these songs caress endlessly.

John Waite should have been the biggest vocalist in the world, along with Steve Perry (Journey) and Lou Gramm (Foreigner) – Freddie Mercury doesn’t count because he was in a league of his own. When we heard John on the outro of Every Time I Think Of You (1979) we were speechless. This song was composed for John’s band, The Babys, by Jack Conrad and Ray Kennedy who also contributed to their earlier hit, Isn’t It Time (1977).

No One Holds You (Closer Than The One You Haven’t Met) (2020) by the Lemon Twigs harks back to the late 1970’s – the arrangement and instrumentation, and the absurdity of the lyric’s premise. This is music for pure enjoyment, to scintillate the body and not the intellect.

The best in jazz and big band, hands down – The Fifties: A Prism (2020), Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra featuring Winton Marsalis and Christopher Crenshaw – every track sparkles in this tribute the music of the 1950’s. Start with Flipped His Lid and just keep going. And then immerse yourself completely in The Music Of Wayne Shorter (2020), also performed by the Lincoln Center Orchestra. As Winton Marsalis reminds us, ‘he [Shorter] is at the highest level of our music—you can’t get any higher than him.’

Theo Bleckman’s voice completely ensnared me the first time I heard him sing Kate Bush’s The Man With The Child In His Eyes (2015). In my humble opinion, this version surpasses its predecessor. Taken from the excellent album Love Song.

The repetitive musical motifs in Money Is A Memory (2019), by Field Music, are a constant reminder of the temporality and scarcity of money. Clearly there are echoes of David Bowie in the vocal and guitars.

Keith Jarrett may never play piano again, not, at least, in the way that we’ve grown accustomed to hearing him. After two strokes in 2019, we will need to satiate our appetite for more with his considerable back catalogue. He is prolific and the standard is high. Thankfully, Keith and ECM agreed to release the Budapest Concert (2020) – it’s a beautiful and sad revelation.

James Taylor has a voice that fills me with something I cannot describe; it’s kind of warm, and centering, and reassuring. His re-recording of Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight (2002) with trumpeter Michael Brecker, from Michael’s album The Ballad Book, clinched another Grammy Award for James (he’s won 5).

 

The album Rainbow Ends (2016) by Emitt Rhodes is a complete package. Every song works. He collaborated with some of my favourite musicians - Roger Joseph Manning Jr. and Jason Falkner from Jellyfish, Aimee Mann, Jon Brion, Richard Thompson and Susanna Hoffs (The Bangles). Dog On A Chain is a quality representative of the of the album.

Circles On Circles (2020) by Caspian played on steel string acoustic just the way I like to play guitar, with harmonised vocals (I wish), with melody that follows the chord progression.

 

Karen Peris, fragile and sensitive, sings The Brothers Williams Said (2020) – ‘see you tomorrow.’

The ubiquity of the Gibb-Brothers’ sound-track. Barry Gibb (last man standing) has announced that he will release an album of country songs. Whyte Horses teamed up with Elly Jackson from La Roux to record the Bee Gees’ Mister Natural (2020). The hooks are still infectious and these melodies loves the voice.

 

Jazzmeia Horn (sort of) sings Time (2019) on the album Love And Liberation. ‘My music will evolve, but I’ll stick to the tradition of straightahead, classic jazz. There’s nothing like it. And it makes me feel really good’ – works for me too.

Talk about a hauntingly beautiful tune – Veronica Swift sings Dream A Little Dream Of Me (2020) with Jeff Rupert and band. This version of The Mamas And The Papas song swings, with less harmony and more instruments.

With Build A Nest (2020), jazz guitarist Jeff Parker and singer Ruby Parker explore to create an affect that is strange and compelling, at least to my ear. From the album Suite For Max Brown.

 

Kiwi-cum-Aussie Sarah Mary Chadwick has a penetrating voice that is impossible to ignore. The quaver and wobble, the tenderness and anxiety, the urgency of her crescendo in When Will Death Come (2020) is unavoidable in a disturbing way. Darkness never sounded so good.

 

I know next to nothing about this Scottish musician, but what I hear in his music is enough. Steve Mason is working a 1970’s thread in Rocket (2019) with all the usual ingredients – the song structure and feel, the production and instrumentation. Let’s see what he does next?

 

Lucien (2020) by Young Magic sounds like cathedral music played by the human voice and electronica. Once you hear the tune you won’t forget it in a hurry.

William Fitzsimmons seems to be here, in this room, right next to me, lamenting in People Change Their Minds (2020). Joao Gilberto does the same. Meanwhile, the cello works the lower region of my heart.

 

Guitarist Glenn Jones says, ‘[It's] my hope that what you hear are not the tunings and partial capos and all that, but the music - the feeling within these pieces.’ And the feeling In Durance Vile (2020), both pleasing and surprising, is augmented with the tone of the room in which it was recorded – the same place he spent his teenage years and all that’s attendant therein.

 

Teitur, a Faroese singer, combines with Nico Muhly on his exquisite composition Describe You (2020). Arrangement for harpsichord and plucked strings.

Out Of The Wrong Side Of The Door (2019) ‘I will leave you standing there while I break in two’, from Scottish composer and musician C (Christopher) Duncan. A big, dreamy and enchanting ballad.

The opening progression is instantly familiar, and then two voices, a man and a woman, Daniel and Lauren Goan, husband and wife, sing a stripped down folk version of Paul McCartney’s I Will (2020).

 

Despite the ambivalence of the song’s title, the Roy Hargrove Quintet scintillates with confidence on I’m Not Sure (2008) taken from Earfood. Roy died, prematurely, from a cardiac arrest in 2018 – he was only 49 years old.

 

Love Yourself (2019) – sure - but you’ve also gotta love Sufjan Stevens. There’s no turning back once you discover this extraordinary voice and songwriter.

Nick Hayward (remember Haircut 100) is still producing great pop songs. Try Baby Blue Sky (2019) from the infectious album Woodland Echoes.

 

I’m a latecomer to the Lilac Time – they got started somewhere in England in 1986. American Eyes (2019) is sweet compression, the way a pop song should be – concise - although the style is more American than English (but I’m not complaining).

 

Noel Gallagher (Oasis) has been in search of new sounds to adorn and distinguish his songs. Blue Moon Rising (2020) is a case in point – Noel is aging well with more daring and a bigger sound, but he’s never far from his influences too (Lennon in the opening lines ‘when the night has come and the land is dark’).

 

Disq’s rawness on Daily Routine (2020) is not new, neither is the scrappy feel or the mosaic arrangement – but the chorus lifts above the jangle and as the song progresses we hear the Beatles emerging, circa White Album.

 

Prince is still in the house on I Wish (2020) by Becca Stevens featuring Cory Wong, Justin Stanton and Michael League. Adventures in pop with jazz inflections from the talented young songstress.

Yes, ‘opening your heart, one chamber left to go … the one that music knows’, dreamy and melodious, sacred and plaintive music by singer songwriter M. Ward on Chamber Music (2020). Taken from Migration Stories.

On the album Albare Plays Jobim (2020), the guitarist replaces the composers piano lead with his muted electric Les, but the conductor and arranger, Joe Chindamo, retains the lush and sweeping orchestrations of the original.

And speaking of Antonio Carlos Jobim, his master interpreter, Joao Gilberto, is sublime live In Tokyo (2003). This is the music that absorbed my sensibilities in my early 20’s, and even today, the quiet, intimate voice and the richness of those jazz chords, gently plucked, moves me in ways that I cannot (and do not want to) comprehend.

Strings and acoustic strum, then vocals, building to full band then and culminating with a choir, Forever & Always (2020) by GIRL SKIN is a surprising folk gem, a song about ‘not walking away from something because it’s hard but staying because it’s worth it. It’s also pretty much make-up sex in form of a song’ (Sid Simons from the band).

My Mind’s Riot (2020) is an arresting vocal performance by Shelby Lynne just like her startling crystal blue eyes – or is that only a filter?.

Founder and frontman of American Aquarium, BJ Barham – ‘I operate in the dark shadows of what we don’t want to talk about in the South [US].’ That darkness seeps into lamentation in Me + Mine (2020). Springsteen has lineage.

 

Sprightly and catchy pop, The Philosopher (2020) by DELANIA. The architect, Daniella Eva Schwob, is a performer and multi-media artist – ‘The Philosopher is a blistering explosion of Internet-induced jealousy, inspired by the toxic underbelly of social media. I wrote it from the perspective of a troll, convinced of their own superiority and envious of the online successes of someone they consider undeserving. Its title is ironic. Because everyone on the Internet has an opinion and everyone is a philosopher.

The easy irresistibility of Kacey Musgraves with Golden Hour (2020), augmented by the very talented Daniel Tashian (The Silver Seas) on production and crafting 13 songs into perfection. Taken from the album of the same name – ‘[the album] Golden Hour creates a magnetic effect as Kacey Musgraves sings simply about the world as if she’s the first person to notice, and you’re the first one she’s telling.’ (Pitchfork)

Cast your mind back to the early 1980’s and you’ll recognise the form and texture of You’re Not Good Enough (2013). From Devonté Hynes, also known as Blood Orange and formerly Lightspeed Champion, who is an English singer, songwriter and producer.

 

Pianist Brad Mehldau continues to delight with L.A. Pastorale (2020) from the album I Still Play. Pastoral: having the simplicity, charm, serenity, or other characteristics generally attributed to rural areas - ‘How would that sentiment apply to Los Angeles, a metropolis of concrete, cars and freeways?’ asks Mehldau. ‘Amidst the urban facades, the brash advertisements that promise impossible salvation, and the ceaseless flow of humans, there is a quiet flow, and there are pockets of beauty if you take the time to look. [this is] the L.A. pastorale.’

Great advice from a forgotten, soulful voice that still croons - Paul Young with Make Someone Happy (2020).

Serve me anything with Britt Daniel and his band Spoon, including Captain (2020), a collaboration with Nicole Atkins who is like a female reincarnation of Lennon circa 1970’s. Taken from her superb album Italian Ice.

Brit also released an acoustic version of Rainy Taxi (2020) with Spoon this year.

Every song enchants on Flaming Lips’ album Flowers Of Neptune 6 (2020). Also features guest vocal from Kacey Musgrave. This one is up there with their best, The Soft Bulletin (1999).

 

Delicate and melodic, mostly piano from the Marcin Wasilewski Trio with First Touch (2007). Not surprisingly, a release from the impeccable ears of Manfred Eicher at ECM.

Even Donald Fagen (Steely Dan) went back to the vocals, warmth and sensibility of Mel Torme and the Mel-Tones for his first solo album, The Nightfly (1982). On Torme’s Jazz ‘Round Midnight you can start with Don’t Dream Of Anybody But Me (1960).

 

All My Trials (2020) by Bedouine is a coda to the story of Job, and musically, it’s pure Simon and Garfunkel.

‘Released in the months following George Floyd’s murder, the song Sweeter (2020) by Leon Bridges and Terrace Martin is heavily informed by those events and the ensuing outcry.’ (Hypebot)

 

When Apple Records were taken over by Allen Klein, Badfinger (reluctantly) decided to leave the label. Pete Ham wrote and recorded Apple Of My Eye (remastered 2010) as a parting gesture. The song showcases Pete’s considerable compositional skills.

 

By far my favourite David Bowie song, Life On Mars, was originally released in 1971 and remastered in 2015. David’s lyrics were constantly escaping reality with an alternative story. Other songs by David this year: Five Years (remastered 2012) about an imminent apocalypse, and his impassioned retelling of Brian Wilson’s classic God Only Knows (remastered 2018).

 

I Know The End (2020) is another breaking up song with a guy, and depression from excessive touring, only this one was composed and performed by Phoebe Bridgers who had a to-do list for the recording: ‘I wanted to scream; I wanted to have a metal song; I wanted to write about driving up the coast to Northern California, which I've done a lot in my life. It's like a super specific feeling. This is such a stoned thought, but it feels kind of like purgatory to me, doing that drive, just because I have done it at every stage of my life, so I get thrown into this time that doesn't exist when I'm doing it, like I can't differentiate any of the times in my memory. I guess I always pictured that during the apocalypse, I would escape to an endless drive up north.’

You can hear the newness of this band with Same Old Friends (2020) – this one is a good move by Bad Moves.

 

Lauren Faith delivers a sweet and soulful vocal for Kamaal Williams on Hold On (2020). Gorgeous.

‘This song [I Could Use A Miracle] is about going through trying times, living in a world gone mad yet holding on to hope that things will get better,’ says Dent May, the Mississippi-bred, L.A. based songwriter.

 

Half Moon Run continue to grow and impress with (only) their second record featuring Warmest Regards (2020). Taken from the album Sun Leads Me On.

Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Die 4 Weltalter (The Four Ages Of The World) I. Larghetto (1995) by Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf, Failoni Kamarazenekar, Hanspeter Gmur. Taken from Dittersdorf: Sinfonias On Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

 

Like Noel Gallagher, over time Paul Weller has incorporated more instruments and effects into his songs – Mirror Ball (2020) from the album On Sunset extends Paul’s prodigious output.

 

I don’t know anything about this band, but the instrumental track You Go Girl (2020) by Sparkle Division is unabashedly stunning.

 

Thomas Bartlett’s love letter, including the track Lucinda (2020), is a collection of delicate piano nocturnes. ‘In the total strangeness of the moment and the lockdown.’ Bartlett says, ‘I gave myself permission to do a thing that I don’t usually do, in terms of how these pieces to me are kind of shameless in their sentimentality.’

 

Pretty Maids All In A Row is my favourite Joe Walsh song which he composed it with Joe Vitale. Bob Dylan said ‘it could be one of the best songs ever.’ High praise indeed. The ballad is held together by piano (not guitar). And of course that goofy voice juxtaposed with the seriousness of Eagles’ signature harmonies. Originally recorded in 1976 and remastered in 2013.   

 

How does Billie Eilish overcome her own phenomenal success? Is that possible? With the release of My Future (2020), an accessible and delicious ditty through and through.

A Wave Of Hope (2020) by Trey Anastasio, the frontman of Phish, reinforces his song writing and guitar skills. From his solo album Lonely Trip.

 

Music doesn’t have to be dark to be enthralling. Jacob Collier’s In My Bones (2020) is a multi-layered production which bounces and oscillates expressing abundance and fun. Also featuring Jessie Reyez and T-Pain.

 

The simplicity, immediacy and brevity of I’m Yours (In Bloom) (2020) by Floridians Amber Lewis and Ethan Murphy aka Planet Loser. On this planet, this song is a winner.

 

The wistful Canadian, Diana Krall, is back with How Deep Is The Ocean (2020). We enjoy her return to the past with this classic Irving Berlin tune.

 

Instrumental rock-funk, fast and brash, trim and taut, from The W.I.M Trio with Funky Riot (2020).

 

Like Steely Dan, only instrumental and for big band, with one restless drummer, Mercy Mercy (2020) by the Tommy Igoe Groove Conspiracy.

 

This year Deep Purple dropped a new record – featuring those familiar sounds, fat guitars and immersive organ, in Drop The Weapon (2020) from the album Woosh.

Steve Lukather, at last relaxed and nimble, with Run To Me (2020), featuring fellow Toto singer, Joseph Williams, and Beatles drummer Ringo Starr.

 

I came to appreciate the music of Charles Ives through singer Theo Bleckman (see above). The Complete Symphonies (2020) released by Deutsche Gramophone, as performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, are breath-taking.

Travel back to the early 1980’s with Ware’s Electric (2020).

 

Palaye Royale’s adaptation of Tears For Fears’ Mad World (2020) contrasts and plays out the order and disorder of Orzabal’s disintegrative lyric.

 

Recuerdos (memories) (2020)  by The Mavericks who sing En Espanol (in Spanish) – ‘as the Night falls, she’s accompanied by Solitude’ but the music is lively.

Evan Thomas Weiss aka Into It. Over it with We Prefer Indoors (2020). Long live the emotional and confessional lyric (emo).

 

The blues never sounded bluer than with Bettye LaVette singing Drinking Again (2020). Heart wrenchingly good.

 

Where jazz intersects with contemporary pop, Trumpets (2020) by Alexander. Hypnotic.

 

I’m on and off with Nick Cave. Something about the caricature of his authentic / inauthentic public persona. But the arrangement is inspired when he sings Marc Bolan’s Cosmic Dancer (2020). Strangeness was not a prerequisite for this track. More covers Nick.

From the same tribute album, Angel Headed Hipster, Rodd Rundgren (Planet Queen), Father John Misty (Main Man), Sean Ono Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl (Mambo Sun) and Kesha (Children Of The Revolution).

Robbie Williams is still in search of great songs and now somewhere in the ballpark in teaming with The Struts on Strange Days (2020).

 

Alongside Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan reigned supreme – when she transformed Irving Berlin’s standard If I Had You (1962) music was never the same again.

Lenny Kravitz has never strayed far from the music he loves, which happens to coincide with some of the music I love. The sprightliness and ease of Ride (2020) is a case in point.

 

The slow drag of Volcano (2020), interspersed with chorus crescendos, performed by Guided By Voices, works familiar territory. Works for me.

 

I confess a definite weakness for that west-coast sound epitomised by Bill LaBounty, Bill Champlin and David Pack (among others) – Young Gun Silver Fox continue that tradition with Kids (2020), taken from the album Cranyons which is replete with another 9 delicious servings.

 

Whatever happened to Pablo Cruise – remember Love Will Find A Way (1978)? The single Breathe (2020) is their first release in 37 years. Now the question is why did it take so long? I can’t wait another 37 years …

 

Listening to The Everly Brothers’ Milk Train (1968) reminds me why so many artists, including Paul McCartney and Simon and Garfunkel, were so ensnared with their harmonies and phrasing.

 

Bluebird’s Blues (2020) by The Lickerish Quartet has a 10cc vocal introduction, the multi tracking voices on I’m Not In Love. Soon we realise that the band is comprised of Jellyfish shards with Eric Dover (guitars) and Roger Joseph Manning Jr (keyboards and co-composer). Taken from the excellent EP Threesome. Vol 1. Whatever happened to the reclusive Andy Sturmer? Is he the missing man in the quartet?

The smouldering, lingering trumpet of the irrepressible Charles Lloyd on Requiem – Live (2018). 80 years compacted into those phrases.

Chris Thompson’s earthly, Scottish rumble and Elizabeth Fraser’s celestial reach on the opening track of The Bathers’ superb Sunpowder (2001) album – Danger In Love, anxious and wallowing, ambient in organ, piano and strings. Of course the relation to The Blue Nile is not lost on me.

 

Moonbend (2020) by Perfume Genius, the project of singer Michael Alden Hadreas, is explorative, strange and compelling. From the album Set My Heart On Fire Immediately.

 

The soaring solemnity of Sleep Forever (2009), a singular, rousing vocal performance by Robin Zander, is a contemplative distraction to the rock staple that Cheap Trick have been generating since the 1970’s.

 

Flitter (2020) by Ta-ku is the brainchild of Aussie Regan Matthews - this is a lush pop injection – and what a wonderful way to OD.

Mr. Consistently Good - everything that we expect from Matt Berninger (The National) on One More Second (2020). Matt said the song is a response to Dolly Parton’s I Will Always Love You (really?)

 

Reservations (2020) is another instance of the excellent songs that only Lambchop can conjure. This time though, they’re all covers, but all filtered through the band’s particular creative digestive tract. If only they would change their name which is such an unnecessary distraction to their public persona.

 

Faye Webster’s ‘kind of free association, just thoughts running straight from my head onto paper untouched’ works a treat on Better Distractions (2020).

 

Fee’s back with Don’t Want To Pull The Trigger (2020). Even with Richard Marx helping out, it still sounds like The Tubes to me.

 

A Jazz Celebration Of The Allman Brothers (2020) by Big Band Of Brothers scintillates from beginning to end.

 

Even though Roland Orzabal’s demo of Rhythm Of Life didn’t make the cut on the majestic The Seeds Of Love (1989), it showcases the depth of his considerable talent. Along with the sweet clarity of the instrumental Music For Tables.

 

What a surprising delight to discover Kevin Rowland’s cover of Reflections Of My Life (2020). Proof that lyrics are amenable to unexpected re-interpretations. But, honestly, he should sack his album design team.

 

Straight-ahead-country-rock with lots of guitars vying for sound real estate courtesy of Old 97’s on Turn Off The TV (2020).

 

Ellen Andersson’s stark odyssey on the Thrill Is Gone (2020) is my favourite new song this year. The lyric is enacted musically, the thrill explodes and then dissipates aurally.

The Return Of Art Pepper (1956) is new music for me. Hits the sweet spot for the kind of jazz that rambles and pleases without minimum effort.

 

Melody Gardot released C’est Magnifique (2020) featuring Antonio Zambujo – and that exquisite sound is not accidental when you consider the luminaries working behind the desk – producer Larry Klein, arranger Vince Mendoza and engineer (beyond superlatives) Al Schmidt.

- FT-Lynch 25 December 2020