Rain Dogs - Tom Waits

Released in 1985, this is my favorite Tom Waits record, and it's on the short-list of my favorite all-time albums.  The record came on the heels of Swordfishtrombones, and continues that album's approach of eccentric instrumentation, spare and atmospheric production, and surreally poetic lyrics.  On Rain Dogs, Waits perfected the formula, adding Marc Ribot's distinctive guitar to an assortment that includes accordion, marimba, banjo and horns. 

It's a sprawling album, containing 19 songs in a true variety of styles (Kurt Weill opera, ballads, polka, country, New Orleans-funeral jazz).  Lyrics and music complement each other sublimely, especially on the stark "Jockey Full of Bourbon", the haunting "9th and Hennepin", and the beautiful "Time".  It culminates with one of the best-ever album closers, "Anywhere I Lay My Head", with its defiantly shouted lyric and the aforementioned jazz funeral march.

Like other Waits albums, this one is peopled by a ragtag bunch of desperate souls, criminals, prostitutes, lonely saints and sinners.  The album was written in Manhattan and the feeling of dark, rain-washed city streets is palpable throughout the album (although it's difficult for me not to imagine the opening scenery of black and white New Orleans from "Down By Law" when I hear "Jockey").   It's a masterwork by the ever-experimenting Waits, a singular artist and one of my musical heroes.

For a long time I had assumed that the male figure on the cover was Waits himself,  but this photograph is by a Swedish photographer, taken in a German cafe in the '60s.

Hejira - Joni Mitchell

Released in 1976, Hejira was Joni Mitchell’s eighth studio album, and although many would disagree, I think it’s her best. I wavered for years between Blue and Court and Spark and, while I take nothing away from those great records, Hejira is just on another plain for me. I love just about everything about this album – it’s one of my all-time favorites by any artist. Mitchell wrote most of the songs on a cross-country trip and the theme of the journey permeates the record. In her words, "the whole Hejira album was really inspired... I wrote the album while traveling cross-country by myself and there is this restless feeling throughout it... The sweet loneliness of solitary travel."

The journey through the album is populated with vivid characters and themes of love and longing, the internal struggle of the artist between attachment and freedom. Mitchell finds herself searching for meaningful connection, yet aware of her need to be a solitary traveler. It’s a lyrically complex group of songs; a rich mine of great imagery and introspection.

Musically it’s bluesy, folky and rhythmic while maintaining a cool smoky lounge feel throughout. It’s seldom overtly jazzy, the possible exceptions being Coyote and Blue Motel Room. The great bassist Jaco Pastorius shows up on a few tunes, but the playing throughout is fine. It’s an album that flows seamlessly and begs to be taken as a piece, although there are a few undeniable standouts: Coyote, Refuge of the Roads, and the absolutely stunning Amelia:

American Beauty - Grateful Dead

Okay, so this is the obvious Dead pick, right? Yeah, but that's because it's so damn good. This record came out in 1970, just 5 months after its sister record, "Workingman's Dead". Both records were a departure of sorts from the band's psychedelic-blues-rock sound, showing a more pastoral side of their sound with forays into country and bluegrass, two of the many styles of music which influenced the Dead. Both records also contained many eventual concert favorites. I have a closer affinity to American Beauty, and count it as one of my favorite albums of all time.

The opener is the stunning Phil Lesh song "Box of Rain" with a typically touching and enigmatic Robert Hunter lyric. Lesh wrote the tune for his dying father and Hunter penned the lyric with this in mind. It's my favorite song on the LP, but there's no let down after track one. "Friend of the Devil" is next, one of the most enduring Dead tunes with it's lilting acoustic guitars and evocative lyrics. It's that bittersweet mixture of acoustic instrumentation (most notably mandolin and Jerry's wonderful pedal steel) and Hunter's distinctive, psychedelic Americana (he wrote the lyrics to all but one of the songs) that make this record so indelible.

"Sugar Magnolia" would be a concert favorite for the rest of Bob Weir's ongoing career, and it's delightful here in it's 3 minute form. Likewise, "Truckin'", "Candyman", "Brokedown Palace" and "Ripple" would all join Sugar Mag at the top of the Dead's canon. Unlike many other GD albums, in which songs often seem to be rendered tame and limp by the constraints of the recording process, on "American Beauty" the songs truly shine thanks to intricate playing (with guest appearances by David Grisman and members of New Riders of the Purple Sage) and excellent production by the band. Highlights abound, from the pedal steel on "Candyman", to Grisman's mandolin on "Ripple", to the almost too-sweet harmonies on "Attics of My Life" to Phil and Pigpen's great vocal turns on "Box of Rain" and "Operator", respectively.

The appropriately folk/psych cover art is by Kelley and Mouse, and on it the word Beauty can also be read as Reality.

I bought this particular LP as part of the recently released box of the Dead's first five studio albums on 180-gram vinyl. Perhaps we'll see one or two more from that set in upcoming spins.

Welcome to Joe Spins A Record

Well, with the days getting shorter as Zeptember gives way to Rocktober on the calendar, I'll surely be spending more time on the couch (is that possible?) listening to my ever-growing vinyl collection. So I'm starting yet another blog dedicated to records I have. I'll give one a spin and write a bit about it (interesting facts, why I like it, etc.) and I'll include a snap of the cover. Sound good? Okay, let's go....