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.