Frank Sinatra - In The Wee Small Hours

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Mission Control - Entry Number 007

Artist: Frank Sinatra
Title: In The Wee Small Hours

Release Date:  1955
Length: 49 min
Relevance: 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die;  RS #100 (2003) / #101 (2005)

My Favorites: "In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning"

TLDR: Music From and Inspired By The Film "Frank Sinatra's Heart Being Destroyed and Killed"

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Finally, an album.  Not a collection, not a compilation, but a real, discrete album, a specific unit of music released as a whole.  What significance does this have for my mission?  Not sure yet.  It indicates that long-playing LPs (redundant) have started being manufactured and consumers started paying for an hour's worth of music at a time.  Beyond that, I'll have to wait and see.

This is not just the first album on the list, but the first concept album ever.  ...Pseudo.  The concept here seems to be "Frank Sinatra is sad," which makes sense because it came out during a separation from his wife, Ava Gardner.  Kind of surprising that Sinatra would record such a revealing set of songs and release it at such a time.  Seems kind of tabloidy.

But what about the actual music?  Well, it's okay.  It definitely feels like any of these could be a musical number two-thirds of the way through a movie, right when Mr. and Mrs. Protagonist are splitting up.  It has a very cinematic feel, and it's not hard to imagine scenes to go with the lyrical imagery and swelling orchestra.

A few of the songs aren't too slow to be catchy... and a few have memorable choruses... and a few you might be able to whistle... but lots of the record kind of drags on... and it's not at all what I'd call uplifting... and it's all sort of a downer... and some of it sort of meanders... and it's sort of... slow.  I'm sure it's a great breakup record, but I haven't ever had a breakup I've been too sad about, so I'll just have to assume it's relatable.  I don't think I'll listening to this record very much in the future.  At least I hope I won't.

Finally: where does this music fit in with the music I've heard so far in the mission?  Well, it doesn't fit in very much at all.  It seems to be the earliest example of a genre I've seen called "vocals".  Maybe it sounds a bit like jazz, but slowed down, and without the interesting, improvisational, fun parts.  Some of these may be songs from musical theater, or severely reimagined jazz songs.  Interestingly, it doesn't sound at all like the blues. 

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Up Next: The rough draft of the blueprint for rock n roll.

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Little Walter - Best of Little Walter

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Mission Control - Entry Number 006

Artist: Little Walter
Title: The Best of Little Walter

Release Date: 1958 (material recorded between 1952 and 1955; all material presumably previously released)
Length: 35 min
Relevance: RS #198 (2003) / #196 (2005)

My Favorites: "Tell Me Mama" & "You Better Watch Yourself"

TLDR: These aren't your great-grandparents' Blues.  Album could be called "While My Harmonica Gently Weeps."  Rock is imminent. 

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So the first thing I learned about Little Walter--the first thing that fans seem to want newcomers to learn about him--is summed up (as these things always are) in the top paragraph of his Wikipedia entry:

Little Walter ... (1930-1968), was an American blues harmonica player whose revolutionary approach to his instrument has earned him comparisons to Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix for innovation and impact on succeeding generations. His virtuosity and musical innovations fundamentally altered many listeners' expectations of what was possible on blues harmonica.

That's a pretty impressive league to be put in.

Little Walter is allegedly a blues artist, but since I haven’t listened to any blues recorded since 1937 and since those 15 years have shown a marked increase in recording quality,  it’s not quite obvious that I’m supposed to group this in with Robert Johnson or Skip James.  I guess it's more accurate to say it's not obvious that this is still the same genre. Maybe The Blues has evolved far enough that this and James & Johnson aren't in the same category.  But since I know they're supposed to be, I can make that connection.

On the subject of sound quality, there's a noticeable variance in what these recordings sound like, as if some of these songs were recorded live in venues rather than in studios.  Echoing, amplifier squeaks and other sound anomalies, particularly on some of the instrumental songs, makes me wonder if they’re actually improvisations that have been captured.

One main difference between this type of blues and the blues from the 1930s I’ve already heard is that here, I’m listening to three or four musicians, while before I was listening to individuals.  In addition to giving Little Walter a more well-rounded sound and the opportunity for multiple things to be happening at once with the music, this music doesn’t sound as lonely or hopeless as Robert Johnson and Skip James.  Obviously Little Walter has at least two friends, and they’re obviously in close synchronicity. Back in the 30s, Skip James often couldn’t even get his own instrument and voice to align (now that shows some troubles, amirite?).

About one-third of these songs are instrumental, but still definitely qualify as blue-sy.  This is especially impressive because Little Walter is able to use a harmonica as a stand-in for the pained vocals that are typical of blues singers (which he can’t really pull off as well as other artists anyway).  If I remember correctly, the harmonica started out classified as a toy rather than a musical instrument, so Little Walter's expressive playing probably went a long way toward it being taken seriously, in addition to giving him his reputation as an amazing player.  The harmonica here also sounds very playful at times, which is interesting because out of everything I’ve heard so far, the lyrics (in the songs that have lyrics) have less humor or joy than anything previously heard... including the Harry Smith Anthology where all the songs are about death.  Bummer.

But not so much of a bummer that it's not enjoyable.  The playfulness makes these songs as exciting as Hank Williams' fun songs, and we're getting so close to inventing rock & roll that I can taste it.  It's almost rowdy enough and it almost has enough swagger, and if it were a little more upbeat and sexually-charged this would be a great collection of rock songs. 

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Up Next: The first actual album on the list, and the first concept album ever.

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Hank Williams - 40 Greatest Hits

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Mission Control - Entry Number 005

Artist: Hank Williams
Title: 40 Greatest Hits

Release Date: 1978 (material recorded between 1947 and 1952; all material previously released)
Length: 1 hr 47 min
Relevance: RS #129 (2003) / #94 (2005)

My Favorites:"Ramblin' Man" & "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive"

TLDR:  Redundancy equals genre-definition.  Wonderfully simple, not just plain simple.  Like rock & roll without the sex.

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I wasn't wondering why Rolling Stone chose to include this Hank Williams collection over any other, but if I had been, Wikipedia has provided a good answer:

Significantly, it was the first anthology in quite some time that did not subject Williams' recordings to either rechanneled stereo, posthumous overdubs, artificial duets with family members (like his son Hank Jr.), or most or all of the above. Because of both this major fact, and ... having a deeper song selection than previous single-disc compilations ... many reviewers consider this anthology to be the perfect starting point for newcomers to Williams' recorded legacy.

And here I am; I am that newcomer.   The first point, about the integrity of this collection, makes me want to find one of the meddled-with ones, mostly out of curiosity.  How bad could they be?  That's not a dismissive hypothetical question.  I'd really be interested to see some executive meddling in action, especially to hear what new Hank Williams fans in the first 25 years after his death may have had to suffer through.

The second point, about having a greater song selection, strikes me as sort of a benefit and a drawback.  With someone who's developed as much of a reputation as Hank Williams, I'm glad to get an extensive introduction.  I will say, however, that I could probably cut the number of songs in half without greatly reducing the overall diversity.  If I wanted to be rude, I would create a list of twenty of these songs which effectively show the range of Hank's songwriting and musical ability, and put the other twenty into a list of redundant extra material.  I won't though, because I don't want to be rude.  Besides, it's not Hank's fault if huge numbers of fans want to listen to the same song under multiple names.  And anyway, how can you build such a strong foundation for a musical genre without a little redundancy, to solidify what exactly the genre is and isn't? 

But the songs, Comet, what about the actual music?  Well, let me tell you.  I liked these songs well enough upon first listen.  It sounded like the music I'd imagine at a cattle-drive or in between acts at a rodeo in the 1950s.  I remember thinking things like, "Well, that's pretty simple" and "Fun stuff, but kind of predictable."  I found myself trying to anticipate when the title of a song would be dropped or how each pair of rhyming lines would be resolved.  It's not a difficult game.  Maybe that's why Hank Williams was so influential, why he's stayed so popular, and why I went so quickly from First-Listen to Foot-Tapping-Along to Humming-When-It's-Not-Even-Playing.  Dan Levitin would say that I get a sense of satisfaction when my expectations of what will happen in the music are accurately met.
Having said that, I need to give credit for all the stuff that's happening with the music that wasn't apparent the first few times I listened.  Instead of lengthy, noodley guitar solos, Hank (I assume it's him) tends to throw in noodley bits through the whole length of the song.  I bet many of these songs would work if the vocals were wiped out; I'm sure I've heard worse instrumental compositions.

I'm excited to see where this is going.  I can tell, from 2010, that rock & roll is just around the corner.  With all due respect, I'm sort of looking forward to hearing what this would sound like if it grew some balls.  Hank doesn't seem interested in being dangerous, or in appealing more to youth than adults.  That's probably fine, because baby boomers haven't gotten close to hitting double-digit ages yet.  (Elvis hit it big in 1956, when the earliest baby boomers were turning ten, so the puberty/record sales connection probably doesn't really count.  I'm sure someone's already written about this.)  Listening to Hank Williams, and guessing as to how his sound developed in response to fan feedback, I can almost hear that he's trying to whip the audience into a frenzy, but he's much too nice to use sex to do it.  Well, that will change in a few years.

Here's where I repeat myself about not listening to the ten hour Hank Williams collection yet.  Ten hours, for God's sake.  I'm thinking it will need to be done in some sort of stream-of-consciousness, one-listen, blog-as-I-go type event, because I'm certainly not going to agonize over the listening for that item like I've been doing so far. 

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Up Next: The Jimi Hendrix of the Harmonica

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Robert Johnson - The Complete Recordings / King of the Delta Blues Singers Vol. 1 & 2

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Mission Control - Entry Number 002

Artist: Robert Johnson
*Title: The Complete Recordings
^Title: King of the Delta Blues Singers Vol. 1
^Title: King of the Delta Blues Singers Vol. 2


*Release Date: 8/28/1990 (material recorded in 1936 and 1937; some material originally released 1937-39)
*Length: 1 hr 46 min
*Relevance: RS #22 (2005)

^Release Date: 1961/1970 (material recorded in 1936 and 1937; some material originally released 1937-39)
^Length: 43 min/44 min
^Relevance: RS #27/424 (2003)

My Favorites: "Terraplane Blues" & "Sweet Home Chicago"

TLDR: Man sings his way through hell-on-Earth. Blogger doesn't understand the guitar hype (yet). What Satan giveth, Satan taketh away.

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I'd heard a lot about Robert Johnson in my life, but it was all very hard to keep straight. This is probably due in part to his astoundingly generic name, and in part to the fact that what I'd been hearing was inherently confused anyway, on a few levels. First of all, it seems like there is little confidence in the accuracy of most facts about his life. This is compounded by the legends that have been added to his story, and made even worse when he is mistaken for other similar bluesmen, such as Tommy Johnson.

About the only thing you can really count on to be true is the 42-song body of work credited to him. Thankfully, there's a good deal you can tell about the guy from these recordings. He's plagued by tormentors and obstacles both night and day. Women constantly do him wrong, and he can't stay away from women who care little for him. He's got issues in his subconscious that he can't control, and acts in ways he can't explain. Hearing him sing it, you really believe it, that living his life is generally hellish from multiple angles. He seems to have fun on some songs, or during some lyrics, but very little of this gives me the impression that Johnson had many laughs here on Earth. I definitely feel more convinced of the pain Robert Johnson is singing about than I did during the Anthology of American Folk Music (though only some parts of that album are personally expressive songs that can be compared to Johnson's work).

The first thing I'd heard and remembered about Robert Johnson is the legend that he sold his soul to the devil for guitar skillz. It's a great story, but the thing that I don't get about it is how it makes sense for Johnson's playing to be representative of Satan's musical powers. People seem to talk about him like he's a great guitar player even by today's standards. It seems unlikely to me that such an influential guitar player hasn't been severely passed in the ensuing 3/4-century. Then again, I don't play guitar, and I for sure didn't play it seventy-five years ago, so I'm sure I'm the one at fault in not seeing the impressiveness here. I hope it becomes clearer as I continue my mission. And I'm not saying it's bad, either. I'm currently working on forming a proper frame of reference.

I wonder if Satan contributed to the overall crappiness of Johnson's life, perhaps to help Johnson create better blues songs. Maybe his end of the bargain went like this: "You can be the best guitarist today, Mr. Johnson, but someday some kid will write about how it's hard to believe you were once the best, how the 75 years of guitar-playing evolution (that you may be largely responsible for) have made your influence hard to discern, and how you're easily confusable with other, lesser guitar players of your day. Also, I'll help this along by intentionally keeping the facts of your life hazy and creating conflicting memories for witnesses of your time on earth. Now here's some two-timing women and hellhounds. Hail, Satan." Oh, Satan. You always win.

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Up Next: Skipped.

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Harry Smith ed. - Anthology of American Folk Music

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Mission Control - Entry Number 001

Artist: Various Artists; Edited by Harry Smith
Title: Anthology of American Folk Music, aka The Harry Smith Anthology

Release Date: 1952 (material recorded between 1926 and 1932; all material previously released)
Length: 4 hrs 16 min
Relevance: RS #276 (2003) / #273 (2005)

Personal favorites:
V1: "Gonna Die With My Hammer In My Hand" by The Williamson Brothers & Curry
V2: "Rocky Road" by Alabama Sacred Harp Singers
V3: "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" by Blind Lemon Jefferson

TLDR:  Great album to start the mission.  Historical curiosity satisfied, desire to hear murder tales and religious gaiety satisfied, desire to hear songs that sound like a Deceptacon eating gravel very very satisfied.

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Volume One: Ballads

Spoiler: Everyone Dies.

Well, maybe not everyone.  Everyone dies, or murders, or gets their heartbroken,  or breaks a heart, or hates their boss, or is a horrible boss.  If I went solely upon the stories in these 27 songs, I would assume that Americans at the dawn of the 20th century were all quite dysfunctional, to the point that it's surprising that the nation survived.  No one here is happy, no one is in a nice happy relationship.  What a downer.

But I suppose that's why these songs were written.  Documenting a specific tragedy or crime might have served to help people remember the downfall of others.  Don't get to clingy, ladies, or you'll get thrown off a waterfall like Naomi Wise did.  Don't be to reckless, engine driver, or you'll die with your engine wrapped around you, like your momma said, and like that song said. 

As far as the music goes, it was nice to hear a collection of guitar and violin and banjo recordings from before recordings were widely available.  I could be wrong (and that's very likely), but I imagine that most of the players here were either self-taught or were taught by someone who was.  In other words, I imagine that the instrumental work here was developed before there were established conventions or expectations for what popular music should sound like.  Vocally, some of the stuff here is bafflingly hard to listen to, and you can also tell that some of these voices would be unattractive even with today's recording quality.  Maybe they sounded sexy at the time, but it's hard to imagine so.  The recording quality... well, you take what you can get, I guess, and given that some of this stuff was recorded 85 years ago, I'm not going to knock them for that.  Still, the songs alternate between sounding like they are being played here in the room and sounding like they were recorded in an underwater warehouse-slash-bee-factory.  I wonder if any improvements could be made with today's remastering technology, but maybe that's part of the charm.  

Volume Two: Social Music

The first half of this volume is instrumental music not unlike the songs played in the dance scene of "Back to the Future 3," but I imagine that the hootin' and hollerin' was toned down for the recording process.  Still, it's very easy to imagine these songs played much more raucously, with much more stompin'.  Very fun stuff.  The second half is made up of religious songs, some of which sound like a sermon from a Sunday morning and some of which are more upbeat and include hootin', hollerin' and stompin'.  Indeed, many fall into both these categories.

Musically, the comments from the previous section apply here too.

Volume Three: The Songs

As opposed to the first volume, which deals with songs about specific people and the events that happened to them at specific times, these are more general songs about... well, whatever songs are ever about.  Most of the songs on the anthology that are "[such and such] Blues" are on this volume.  To make a long story short, I can't figure out a way to classify the songs here except that they don't fit into the other two volumes. 

Musically, see above.

Other Comments

I think this is the perfect first item for my mission, for numerous reasons.

First of all, it's by multiple artists.  Over 60 artists, in fact.  This gives me a nice, wide picture of what American folk really sounded like, and not be limited to hearing one man's particular style.  Imagine trying to get a picture of what rap sounds like by listening to a single album by a single artist (hint: you can't, and it's foolish to think you can). 

Secondly, this anthology features recordings dating back to the earlier part of the history of recorded music, which gives me the impression that there aren't many recordings older than these.  In order to hear earlier music, it would be up to someone else to play it.  These are, I imagine, some of the earliest recorded musical documents there are (I could be very wrong, though).

Thirdly, the songs here are documented with known years by known artists, but had been developed over the course of years, decades or possibly even centuries, and continued to be transformed after these recordings.  This makes the anthology a window on 1926-1933 in a process of American folk music that dates 1776-Present.  I appreciate the knowledge that this document sort of encompasses at least a hundred years of the development of popular music, and I'm excited that I'll hear these songs again in the course of my mission, developed further by Joan Baez, Nick Cave and others.

Other good points include the satisfaction of my historical/sociological curiosity (lots of courting, lots of casual discussion of murder), and the liner notes by Portland's own Harry Smith.  Best of Mr. Smith's song descriptions: "Zoological miscegeny achieved in mouse-frog nuptials. Relatives approve."  Who wouldn't want to listen to that?

(Technically this compilation wasn't put together until 1952, so that's when most people [like Bob Dylan] would have first been able to hear most of these songs. I guess you could say the influence of this collection wouldn't be happening untilthen, so I should have listened to it after Django Reinhardt, Hank Williams, etc.  Oh well.)

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Up Next: The Devil's Music

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