Stark Reality: Acting, Thinking, Feeling (The Complete Works)

I don't know what to write about The Stark Reality.  You can probably google them and find tons of bloggers that have written wonderful superlatives about them, and describe the sound of the band better than I.  Let me just say that I was pumped to pick this up the other week.  Previously all I had of The Stark Reality was the compilation Now, which was nice but I really wanted to full deal.  The Stark Reality was a groove machine--a band that existed in the late 60's/early 70's, and were a combination of jazz, rare groove, and soul (with a little psych thrown in).  No one sounds like them.  And come on, an electric vibraphone, who can beat that!  Included in the Acting, Feeling, Feeling (The Complete Works) is the classic album in its entirety Hoagy Carmichael's Music Shop, a crazy album written for a public television show for kids which featured vibraphonist Monty Stark.  It's great music and well worth picking up!  The first clip I have posted is footage from the children's show (I wish I was one of those kids!), along with the music of Stark Reality performing live.  The three clips following are individual tracks from the album Hoagy Carmichael's Music Shop.

 

Throwback to the 90's: Hey Mr. DJ

I'm a sucker for solid 90's R&B.  While I enjoy the obvious favorites by Erykah Badu, and D'Angelo, a lot of R&B sounds a little dated and not quite as good as I once thought.  However, I would never put TLC CrazySexyCool (that album still sounds modern to this day--a classic) or Zhane Pronounced Jah-Nay albums in the "dated" category.  I've been pulling out Zhane's Pronounced Jah-Nay album a lot recently, and it holds up extremely well.  Their first, and best, of their two released albums, Zhane's debut contains their one obvious hit "Hey Mr. DJ" but there are so many other solid tracks to dig.  Case in point:  "This Song Is For You".  This track contains a solid beat, nice echoey guitars, floating keyboards, and the melting vocals from the lovely ladies.

 "Sending My Love" is another one of my favorite jams off of Zhane's classic.  The feeling is similar to "This Song Is For You".  A nice jam. 

And of course, concluding with their big hit, "Hey Mr. DJ".  Always a track to throw on while having a classic 90's R&B party.  (Follow it up with Mary J.'s "Real Love")

Nature Boy

Nat King Cole

"Nature Boy" is one of my favorite songs of all-time.  It's a timeless song, written in 1947 by Eden Ahbez and first sang, and made popular, by Nat King Cole. 

 Since then it's been covered by many people over the years, from jazz guitarist George Benson, to power-pop icons Big Star, to psych-rock underground legends Gandalf.  I really love every version, because each are so different in their own right.  Besides the Nat King Cole and George Benson version, the next version I heard was by Big Star off of their Third/Sister Lovers album, when I was highly into anything Chilton-Bell-Big Star related back in college.  Alex Chilton sounds so lonely and cold on "Nature Boy", I remember playing it repeatedly when I was in college 15 years ago and being mesmorized by it.  

The George Benson version of "Nature Boy" may have been the first version that I heard, as I come out of the womb listening to Benson constantly in the first five years of my life.   It's got a funky-jazz feel, and I enjoy Benson's vocals on it. 

 
Lastly, this is the most recent version of "Nature Boy" that I've heard.  In the past six months, I bought Gandalf's self-titled album, and it has increasingly become one of my go-to favorite psych albums.  "Nature Boy" certainly gets the "Gandalf" treatment on this album.  Very psych.

Let's Talk Prog...

Soft Machine

...Or more like, essential Prog, because there is a lot of craptastic Prog Rock that I've never dug.  From my somewhat limited knowledge of Prog Rock, the ones that are tops are the first few Soft Machine albums (Volume One, Volume Two, and Third), King Crimson In The Court of The Crimson King, Gong You and Angel's Egg (though sometimes they are a bit too lyrically quirky for my taste at times), Caravan In The Land of Pink and Grey, and Egg's first album Egg.  Definitely of the Prog I've delved into over the past seven-eight years that I've liked the most is the Canterbury scene Prog, and I've never quite gotten into Yes, ELP, type of Prog. This is the kind've stuff by Soft Machine off their first album that I dig:

 As I mentioned I get sometimes get turned off by some of Gong's quirkiness, but sometimes their music really hits on all cylinders, like when they get into a groove with flutes, crazy drumming, and of course, Prog's essential, the Saxophone:

I have begun to just recently get into Egg, part of the Canterbury scene of the early 70's.  Check out their rendition of a Bach composition:

Recently I've been thinking I need to delve deeper into Prog, but it's hard to wade through the crap and find the cream of the crop.  Maybe my like of Prog is mainly of the Canterbury bands--a little more poppy, but still the prominent keyboards, drumming, and saxophones are all there. 

2012 Album of the Year: #1. Frank Ocean: Channel Orange

Frank Ocean's Channel Orange is the cream of the crop, the best of the best of 2012.  Maybe it's an obvious choice--Ocean has been all over the place this past year, from coming out of the closet via internet, to releasing his new album shortly afterward, to being seen on Saturday Night Live, among other places.  The album doesn't always hit on all cylinders, there are stronger songs than others, but the album flows so well.  The lesser songs tie into the stronger songs so they need to be a part of Channel Orange, making it all work.  I definitely feel the influence of Prince on songs like "Forrest Gump" and "Bad Religion", I feel the influence of D'Angelo on tracks like "Sweet Life" , and I even sense some of the electronic experimentation of Radiohead and Flying Lotus on songs like "Pyramids".  Frank Ocean is the real deal.  I'm very interested to observe the growth of his career in the future for this young artist, as he released a gem of an album in Channel Orange, my pick for album of the year in 2012. 

Best Albums of 2012: #2. Tame Impala: Lonerism

Tame Impala's Lonerism is my favorite rock album of 2012.  Tame Impala is basically Australian's psych-singer-songwriter Kevin Parker's project, and his second full-length release.  His debut, 2010's Innerspeaker was equally as good.  I dig the drums, the psych-era John Lennon-esque vocals, the fuzzed out guitars, and the more prominent synths, which Parker has emphasized more on this album than the debut.  I highly recommend Lonerism, one of the main reasons to rock out in 2012. 

Best Albums of 2012: #3. Kendrick Lamar: Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City

Kendrick Lamar's major label debut is the best hip hop album of the year, and has been appearing on many critics lists as best album of the year.  Kendrick Lamar was previously in the hip hop supergroup, Black Hippy, along with Ab-Soul and Schoolboy Q, and now has branched out on his own and released Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City just a few months ago.  It's lyrically a concept album ("a short film", as Lamar calls it)--an autobiographical account of growing up in Compton.  Ironically enough (as I just featured Nas on my last post), I recently read an article on "Hip Hop Dx" comparing Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City to Nas's Illmatic album, calling it "the West Coast Illmatic".   I agree with that comparison as Lamar is a great storyteller and rapper, just as Nas can be when he's on his game.  I can't necessarily put it up on Illmatic's level yet--it has to stand the test of time, but Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City is definitely a solid, entertaining release and one of my favorite albums of the year.