new CDs
I went to Amoeba today, which means I spent a lot of money on CDs.
CDs I’d heard a lot but didn’t own
- Pinback Summer in Abaddon[1]
- Elliot Smith From a Basement on a Hill[2]
CDs I don’t have but I have a pretty good idea what they’ll sound like and I’m pretty sure I’ll like
- Iron & Wine Passing Afternoon (EP)[3]
- Beulah Demo[4]
CDs that I’d heard good stuff about but hadn’t heard at all
- the Castinets Cathedral[5]
Fueling my recent Motown/ early R&B obsession
- Sam Cooke Portrait of a Legend[6]
- V/A EMI Music Publishing Presents Classic Songs of the Motown Era[7]
Folk
- V/A Selections from the Best of Broadside 1962-1988[8]
- V/A Smithsonian Folkways American Roots Collection[9]
Footnotes
[1] solid 3rd album from computer pop wizards
[2] made my top 17 of 2004. final album from this often depressed singer-songwriter
[3] turns out it’s not an EP (which would be Woman King, which is coming out in February). Rather this is the CD single with the last track from Our Endless Numbered Days. The other two songs on it are solid.
[4] lofi demos of what appears to be most of the Yoko album, which was basically ruined by the production.
[5] a well-reviewed disc on sufjan steven’s asthmatic kitty label.
[6] sam cooke is awesome. Among his fantastic songs are “You Send Me”, “Cupid”, “A Change is Gonna Come”, “Chain Gang” and “Don’t Know Much About History.” Not Motown (his music was put out, I think, by Abkco) and somewhat of an anomoly by writting his own songs.
[7] 4 discs of great music, from the Jackson 5 to Stevie Wonder to the Four Tops to the Temptations to Marvin Gaye.
[8] Put out by Smithsonian Folkways (always a good sign), this is a promo disc for a compilation of the magazine Broadside which published (in sheet music form) many of the greatest folk revival songs. People like Dylan and Phil Ochs and Pete Seegar submitted songs
[9] just a sampler of part of the great American music section of S/F.