Vinyl
Christine McVie Deep Dive: Say You Will
As late-career comebacks go, this one’s respectable without ever being revelatory, and lord knows it isn’t succinct, running a minute longer than ‘Tusk’ when half of that would have sufficed.
After reuniting in ’97 and touring until their Hall of Fame induction in ’98, it was inevitable the most beloved version of Fleetwood Mac would make new music. With both Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham in the mix for the first time since ‘Tango in the Night’ it also isn’t surprising this behemoth obliterates the stale duds that preceded it.
Christine McVie Deep Dive: ’25 Years – The Chain’
Once upon a time, when this first-ever fully retrospective Fleetwood Mac box set was new and flooding stores ahead of Christmas ’92, I owned a CD copy that was eventually ripped and purged along with thousands of others during my years-long reinvestment in vinyl.
Christine McVie Deep Dive: Brent Bourgeois’ solo debut
Until I embarked on my shamefully still-unfinished deep dive into Christine McVie’s discography, I was completely unaware of this album’s existence or her involvement therein.
Christine McVie Deep Dive: ‘Behind the Mask’
This flimsy batch, 15 studio sets on, surely rests outside anyone’s list of the best Fleetwood Mac albums. It’s inarguably unmemorable, albeit less forgettable than what came next from this perpetually morphing and disintegrating group.
But having finally given Behind the Mask more than scant attention for the first time since it was new 35 years ago — when it epitomized all that was numbingly dull about rock at the dawn of the ‘90s, shortly before Nirvana-et-al. upended everything — I’m here to report that it doesn’t entirely suck. Depending on your need for seemingly fresh Mac nostalgia, you might actually like it.
A&M Records Highlights: Richard Barbary
Revisiting A&M Records No. 43
Richard Barbary: ‘Soul Machine’ (Summer ’68)
From liner notes penned by Ted Williams (of Record World, not baseball lore): ‘Have you ever had the pleasure of feeling you’ve “discovered” someone? I have, and it’s a together feeling.’
A&M Records Highlights: Spooky Tooth
Revisiting A&M Records No. 42
Spooky Tooth: ‘It’s All About’ (July ’68)
Reissued as ‘Tobacco Road’ (June ’71)
Wish I could remember when and where and how I got the wrong impression of Spooky Tooth so I can revisit my younger self once time travel becomes possible and point out how misguided my assessment would be.
A&M Records Highlights: K. & J.J.
Revisiting A&M Records No. 40
Kai Winding & J.J. Johnson: ‘Israel’ (Summer ’68)
If stuffy jazzbos will forgive the comparison, this storied duo was to the late ‘60s what Silk Sonic is now: a much-heralded unification of esteemed forces.
Soundtrack Sunday: Asteroid City
There has yet to be a Wes Anderson film I haven’t liked on some level, including this dusty desert tale-within-a-tale.
A&M Records Highlights: Phil Ochs
Revisiting A&M Records No. 39
Phil Ochs: ‘Tape from California’ (July ’68)
When last we encountered the increasingly troubled, ultimately tragic antihero of the ‘60s folk scene, he had shed some (but never all) political skin in a bold leap away from his headlines-driven Elektra past and headlong into an expansive A&M era in which his allegorical approach might reach new sonic heights to match his imaginative wordplay.