Back Again...Some Consistency?

Medley: Family Circle, None But The Righteous and I'll Go- The Mighty Clouds MP3

2/23/12

beeradvocate.com rating

Lauging Dog The Dogfather Russian Imperial Stout- Received as part of a gift basket- Belgian Beer Glass - 11% ABV

Head- Huge 3 finger head. Foamy yet thick and stuck around for a few minutes.

Color- Black with tints of reddish brown in the light. You can also see faint carbonation near the top.

Mouthfeel- Medium bodied and carbonation

Aroma- Very bready. I don't know how else to describe the smell. A bit of funk, not what I was expecting, roasted malts

Taste/ Overall- This is a big big stout. Suprisingly smooth and the alcohol is well masked at 11%. I am actually drinking this a bit to fast for that ABV. Nice mouthfeel. The only thing turning me off this beer is the bready, funk in the aroma. I don't know what it is but I don't really care for it. I am wondering if this is a bad bottle. I don't think so because the beer doesn't taste like it went bad. Not sure really, just an odd aroma. Good imperial stout and I am generally not a fan off stouts like this.

On the turntable is Live At The Music Hall- The Mighty Clouds - Recorded for Peacock Records- No other info available- So this record comes from approximately a crate and a half of records I have which I am really not sure what to do with. I have slowly been reviewing these records. Genre wise its a mixed bag but largely composed of classical, spoken word, contemporary classical (avant-garde) and easy listening. In addition to the many musical phases I have gone through I have always picked up these genres for cheap when I can but a lot of them don’t get more than a listen or two. So I am currently in the process of thinning the herd (my overall LP collection) largely due to space limitations. In the process I want to strengthen and refine my collection. This means:

Adding some staples and completing specific band catalogs.
Sell or give away records I no longer listen to and don’t foresee listening to in the future
Purging records which no longer meet my condition standards. I used to grade my records fairly easily but I want to get stricter on what I accept condition wise moving forward.

This record is from the aforementioned crate and will remain in my collection after I pulled it out earlier this week and gave it a good spin. The Might Clouds are a gospel group circa what many describe as the golden age of gospel groups from the mid Twentieth Century. This record is a bit of an anomaly in my collection. In all honesty I wish I had more than the handful of gospel records I have because I actually really like the few that I do have. I just don’t come across them very often and when I do the price is too much for me. I am not an overly religious person and my Catholic roots are often betrayed by my emotional restraint but religious music of this caliber is hard to deny. It engages the listener in a way which could make the most ardent disbeliever enthusiastic about both worship and God.

The Mighty Clouds are actually kind of special to me in that I saw them perform around 2004 or 2005 at the Grassroots Music Festival in Trumansburg, NY. Of all the bands I saw when I frequented this particular festival over the course of 3 or 4 summers these guys really standout and that is saying something because I saw a couple of dozen bands. They had an electrifying early afternoon set but we were out there boogying and drinking Heineken Keg Cans despite the extreme heat and the lack of secular themes found in their music. This album has similarities to another live gospel album I love from that era, Sam Cooke Live at The Harlem Square and both albums share an exuberance and grit lacking in alot of live recordings. The arrangements, instrumentation and delivery of the songs here have more in common with a soul/ r&b LP than with a":religous" record. I included the closing medley here as an MP3. It is made up of the songs Family Circle, None But The Righteous and I'll Go. The tune "Family Circle" bares more than a little resemblance to the song Will The Circle Be Unbroken by The Carter Family

Beer On A Tuesday With The Afternoon Off

Web- Hampton Hawes MP3

2/21/12

beeradvocate.com rating

Full Sail Black Lager- Received as part of a gift basket- Belgian Beer Glass - 5.4% ABV

Head- 2 finger foamy head

Color- Not pitch black, but more of a dark dark brown

Mouthfeel- Light bodied with depth, prickly carbonation

Aroma- I expected a real stout aroma but it only had light hints of those rich, roasted malts

Taste/ Overall- This is a real easy drinking beer and definitely has the mouth feel of a lager but with hints of a stout that the dark appearance would imply. I am enjoying this beer and is an interesting twist on the lager style.

On the turntable is Northern Windows- Hampton Hawes- recorded and released in 1974 for Fantasy Records.- I am not gonna say a whole lot about this record. I have the afternoon off and was hoping to do a quick post while having a beer and working on another record related project since the last few weeks have been spotty. This a nice record and Hampton Hawes is a criminally under appreciated jazz piano player in my opinion. I think I have 4 of his albums and this one is of note because of the inclusion of Wrecking Crew bassist Carol Kaye and the producing, arranging and conducting duties are filled by David Axelrod. This record ran me $15 which is towards the higher end of what I like to spend but its a great, warm record with rich bass lines and mix of electric keys and acoustic pianos runs. Hope you enjoy the above track Web.

1970

2/3/12

beeradvocate.com rating

Delirium Tremens Noel- Received as part of a gift basket- Belgian Beer Glass - 10.0% ABV

Head- Huge off white, bone colored head- no lacing

Color- Reddish copper color

Mouthfeel- Pleasant, medium body with active carbonation

Aroma- Not a whole lot other than roasted malts.

Taste/ Overall- The taste of this reminds me of dark cherries and other dark fruits. It has some of the stickiness I associate with this type of big beer but it isn't to unpleasant. For a 10% ABV I feel like the booze is well hidden and this is actually a nice beer to sip on. I don't see myself buying this again because I am not really a fan of the style but it is a very enjoyable ale and well executed.

On the turntable is Deja Vu- CSNY- Released in 1970 on Atlantic Records- I have been reading the book Fire and Rain: The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor and CSNY and the Lost Story of 1970. Its a really good book and tells the story of these artists and their respective releases from 1970 and how their stories related to the culture at large in 1970. Unfortunately I was not even born yet so I didn't experience the year myself but I have always been fascinated with this time period.



Of all of these bands I am most interested most in CSNY. I know most people would prefer the Beatles but for me I think I actually listen more to CSNY and their various off-shoots more than any other of the bands mentioned. The one biography I have read about CSNY does not go as in depth as I would like but I would recommend David Crosby's autobiography Long Time Gone which is excellent though at times hard to read based on his graphic description of his descent into freebase cocaine. I just got the Deja Vu record recently. Its a clean copy and I got it for a buck. I have seen this record many times but never got around to buying it. It was an essential addition to my CSNY & Family collection. Is this album a masterpiece? I am not sure but it was an album that defined the era and changed a lot about the music industry itself. I was familiar with most of the songs on this album but Country Girl is still fairly new to me and a wonderful song that I had not been exposed to and more in the vein of the expansive tracks he was producing with Jack Nitszche on his first solo LP. I didn't post anything from this album this time around because these songs are readily available to anyone who wants them.

Shopping In Your Shelves

2/2/12

http://beeradvocate.com- No review available

Oskar Blues Smidy Stout- Brouweji Lane- Colorado- 32oz. Growler into Belgian Beer Glass - N/A ABV

Head- About a 2 finger of head, lacey, not dense and receded quikly. Color had purple highlights

Color- Black, hints of reddish purple.

Mouthfeel- Light bodied, medium to heavy carbonation

Aroma- Not a whole lot other than roasted malts.

Taste/ Overall- Suprisingly...kind of disappointing. This was from a a tap but almost tastes like it came from a bottle. Not that it tastes flat, which it doesn't, but it lacks the body I expect from a tap drawn stout. Aditionaly the flavor profile is lackluster, not a whole lot going on in the sense of savoring different flavors. Not a bad beer but not one I would seek out again.

On the turntable is Sunday's Child- John Martyn- Recorded for Island Records in 1974- This was chosen tonight as an exercise in shopping in ones own collection. After buying music for as long as I have, inevitably, one is gonna acquire albums that don't receive as much attention as they deserve. This means you can in a sense "shop" in ones own collection and find an album which is essentially "new" and needs to be properly listened to again. This is the case with this album which I broke out earlier this week after a couple of years of being stowed away.I got this album about four years ago when I lived around the corner from a record store. Dangerous thing... living around the corner from a record store... but also a fun experience. I could literally gather change from my seat cushions walk downstairs around the corner and buy a record for $2 and go home with some new music to listen to. It also encouraged stockpiling albums which isn't always a good thing.

This is one of John Martyn's albums that doesn't seem to get the same respect as his more experimental albums like Solid Air and Bless The Weather. It's unfortunate because this album probably deserves a bit more respect and I happen to enjoy it. It doesn't hurt that this LP is generally considerably less expensive than the albums mentioned above if your lucky enough to come across original copies! Its closer structurally to a traditional singer/songwriter's style but it also offers some ethereal, woozy songs that are easy to get lost in. He reminds me of Bert Jancsh with a stronger voice and more restrained guitar picking. His songs bear some resemblance to the hypnotic qualities so often found in Van Morrison's music. This album includes some nice use of a wah-wah pedal in places and tasteful, spare keyboard work provided by Martyn himself. Also of note is the rhythmic bass playing of Danny Thompson. Included above is an MP3 of the traditional tune Spencer The Rover which may be in some way related to the other traditional ballad The Irish Rover.