Back Again....Naturally

Use Me- Esther Phillips MP3

10/1/11

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/3818/58688

Southern Tier Farmer's Tan Pale Lager- Superior Market, Sunnyside, Queens, NY- 22 oz. bomber into 10 oz. Brandy Snifter- 9.0% ABV

Head- About a a half finger of ligh head, which receded almost immediately after the pour

Color- Between light orange, straw colored

Mouthfeel- Medium to medium heavy mouth feel. Moderate carbonation.

Aroma- Kind of boozy...not much else in there for me. Maybe I'm out of practice.

Taste/ Overall- In my opinion this tastes like a boozy IPA rather than a Pale Lager. Beeradvocate.com describes this an Imperial Pilsner but that is not what the bottle indicates. I am not to happy with this beer, basically because it doesn't taste like what it is advertised to be. Would not get this again which is unfortunate because I do enjoy Southern Tier beers a lot, but this one didn't deliver.

On the turntable is Alone Again, Naturally- Esther Phillips- Recorded for Kudu/ CTI in 1972. After another long break due to two destination bachelor parties over the last two weekends I am finally doing a post. Now I hope to have an uninterrupted string of reviews to share. I certainly have been listening to a lot of music between revisiting old records and working my way through my summer purchases which I hope to be caught up on by the end of October when the WFMU Record Fair happens! I have been trying to make a mixtape/cd of stuff I have been listening to recently and I have been having some trouble finding a coherent theme. I haven’t made a mixtape/cd in quite some time and basically I wanted to compile some things from LP’s I have been listening to over the last 2-3 months. Mainly these LP’s are of the jazz/funk/fusion variety but I added a vocal track from this LP along with a Roberta Flack track, on an otherwise instrumental mix, which seemed to fit in with the sensibility of some of the other tracks.

I am not going to get into Ms. Phillips life to much here but overall she was an underdog often caught in the shadow of Aretha Franklin’s mainstream success. These two artists were considered contemporaries, whose careers followed similar arches but Ms. Phillips was actually a few years older than Ms. Franklin. Additionally Ms. Phillips life was affected early on by both alcohol/drug abuse and whose music seems to have jazzier leanings in my opinion. This LP was tucked away in a $2 bin. I picked it up because I had heard her name before and records on the Kudu/CTI Level from this time period are a pretty safe bet especially for $2. I am often perplexed by how retailers determine the price of their used records. Obviously scarcity, demand and condition all play a role in this decision but it seems unfair that a record this good gets relegated to cheapo bin, but, the stores loss is my gain.


This is a good record with some solid tunes and tight, polished arrangements preformed by a collection of session musicians anyone would be happy to include on their recordings. I was unfamiliar with Ms. Phillips work before I bought this LP. Phillips has a highly personalized approach to her vocals and it seems that a modern day artist like Macy Gray may have taken more than a few cues from Phillips phrasing. I have included an MP3 of Use Me, the lead off track of Side A, which has a particularly well crafted groove stripped of any overproduction some Kudu/CTI productions had.

Back From Ireland With Some Outtakes

She Belongs To Yesterday- The Rolling Stones MP3


Paint It Black (Instrumental)- The Rolling Stones MP3

9/5/11

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/140/60420

Sierra Nevada Tumbler Autumn Brown Ale- Brouweji Lane- Greenpoint, Brooklyn- 32 oz- Poured in to Snifter Glass- 5.5% ABV

Head- About a a half finger of dense tan colored head. Some small clusters of lacing.

Color- Dark brown but when held to the light there quite a bit of red highlights.

Mouthfeel- Medium to medium heavy mouth feel. Smooth, good texture. Actve carbonation.

Aroma- Malty, breadieness. Sweetness.

Taste/ Overall- A smooth beer and very easy to drink. Though it is the unofficial last day of summer I chose a seasonal, autumnal beer because none of the other offerings at the store really interested me. There was a pumpkin beer but I felt like it was a bit early for that, but, I am looking forward to drinking some of those again soon. This is ale is really enjoyable. A definite sweetness and an unabashed maltiness. Probably not the perfect beer for today but give it another 4-6 weeks and this will be a go to ale for a late fall afternoon while watching football or listening to music. I will definitely pick this up as a six pack if I see it in a local store.

On the turntable is As Time Goes By- Brilliant Outtakes From The Early Years- The Rolling Stones- Its been over three weeks since my first post but that wasn't due to apathy or fading interest. More specifically we were in Ireland for the last two weeks and the week prior to leaving I was running around preparing for the trip. It was a great trip but its good to be home. Below I added a picture of my Guinness Stout from the Guinness Brewery Gravity Bar following our brewery tour. Definitely the freshest Guinness I will ever have!



Visiting the brewery renewed my appreciation for this marvelous stout and in my opinion Guinness does taste just a tad better in Ireland. They don't have many varieties of beer over there but we did get to drink Smithwicks, Beamish Stout, Carlsburg and Carling while we were there and enjoyed them all.

Onto the music. I didn't find much in the way of records while I was in Ireland but in all honestly I was not really there to dig for records. However I did buy one record our first day there at a small store which was closing up shop in Temple Bar, Dublin . The stores vinyl stock was mostly bootleg LP's for some reason, at least when I was there. I was hoping to find some interesting Thin Lizzy, Van Morrison or The Pogues boots but I didn't really see anything which really grabbed me. Additionally most of the LP's were 20-50 Euros which is expensive and I did not really want to spend more than 15 Euros which is basically like $20. So I picked up the above mentioned LP of early Rolling Stones outtakes for a discounted price of 12 Euros which wasn't bad and I was genuinely intrigued by the LP. The tracks range from 1963-1966 and were recorded at Chess Studios, Regent Sound In London and RCA Studios in Hollywood.





First off this seems to be a high grade pressing. Maybe 180 grams, feels like it. It also includes some nice photos on the labels. I don't often listen to early 60's era stones but this is a great reminder of how good they were then and even at that time had a pretty polished sound. Polished in the sense of a group who could really swing and had already had taken great steps in crafting both an attitude and sound even when covering other musicians material. The track Good Bye Girl is a great example of the boys finding there groove with some tasty keyboard licks, Chuck Berry styled guitar riffs and some nice call and response vocals. A real oddity here is the inclusion Con Le Mie Lacrime the Stones Italian version of Heart Of Stone. Odd indeed. I have include two tracks above. First is This Girl Belongs To Yesterday which was written by Jagger and Richards but never released as a Stones tune and was given to singer Gene Pitney and proved to be a hit for him in 1964. I think it is a well written song and shows the direction the two principal songwriters in the Stones were headed to in the mid sixties. Lyrically it demonstrates a psychedelic feeling even though musically it has all the hallmarks of song produced in the early 60's. The second song is a instrumental version of Paint It Black one of my all time favorite Stones tunes. I was introduced to this song as a grade school kid when it served as the theme song for the CBS television show Tour Of Duty which was about a platoon during the Vietnam War.

Hop Sun Part Deux

Desafanido- Laurindo Almeida MP3


Satin Doll- Laurindo Almeida MP3

8/12/11

beeradvocate.com rating- beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/3818/17497

Southern Tier Hop Sun Summer Wheat Beer- Superior Market, Sunnyside, Queens, NY- 12 oz. bomber into Belgian Beer Glass- 7.0% ABV

Head- A fibger's worth of head which receded quickly; no lacing

Color- Darker in color than last years beer with more of an orange tint. (view 2010 version in post below.)

Mouthfeel- Light bodied. Medium active carbonation

Aroma- Lemon. Hops.

Tatse/ Overall- I had this beer last summer and spoke about it an earlier blog:

thursdaynightrecordsandbeer.blogspot.com/2010/09/9610-southern-tier-hop-sun-summer-wheat.html

I enjoyed it then and decided to try it again. It is very much as I remember it though with a bit more of a "wheaty" quality than last years. For a wheat beer it has a nice hop presence and a pleasant bitterness. This is a crisp refreshing beer and would be highly recommended for a summers day.

On the turntable is I Left My Heart In San Francisco- Laurindo Almeida- This LP, based on my research, was originally issued as "Acapulco 22" on Capitol Records in 1963. This version was released by Pickwick Records based out of Long Island City, NY about 5 or 6 miles west of where I live and was licensed from its original incarnation from Capitol. I got this LP earlier this summer in Philadelphia. It was reasonably priced and I had been looking for something by this guitarist for a while so I picked it up. I really like the cover art and its overall “60’s” design elements. The LP was manufactured in Hauppauge, NY out In Suffolk County. It’s funny to think of a record pressing plant out there but I guess at the time, back in the days of Grumman, it wasn’t uncommon to have a manufacturing plant out on Long Island. Pickwick Records largely did budget priced LP’s and soundalike records. This LP was probably marketed as a budget LP but the vinyl itself feels pretty high quality especially compared with a lot of the flimsy feeling “budget” lp’s in my collection or even later day records, from the mid seventies onwards, distributed by major labels like Warner Bros.

Mr. Almeida was a Brazilian born guitarist who was brought to the U.S. by Stan Kenton to play with his band. Mr. Almeida went on to have a successful recording career as a leader through much of the 60's and 70's. This is an “electronically enhanced” stereo LP which according to my friend was when they took a recording originally recorded in mono and “spruced” it up with reverb, etc. to create an artificial “stereo” effect. In this case I don’t think it really detracts from the album but this would certainly sound good in Mono. I really like the organ on these tracks and, for me, it really lends itself to what are otherwise fairly straight forward bossa-nova arrangements. Included above are the songs "Satin Doll" and "Desafinado".

Living In Darkness To Hide Our Wrong

To Love Somebody- James Carr MP3


Life Turned Her That Way- James Carr MP3


Everybody Needs Somebody- James Carr MP3

8/11/11

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1853/9365

Sly Fox Route 113 IPA- Key Food, Forest Hills Queens, NY- 22 oz. bomber into 12oz. Brandy Snifter- 7.0% ABV

Head- About a fingers worth of head. Heavy lacing.

Color- Rusty orange

Mouthfeel- Medium bodied, with some creamieness. Medium active carbonation

Aroma- Tangerine, lemon. Yeast...?

Taste/ Overall- This beer was brewed in Pennslyvania. Big citurs smell, grapefruit and maybe even caramel in the aroma..There is a distinct sweetness in the smell and a bit in the taste which is not quite to my liking.. But there is also a creamy texture I don't normally find in alot of IPA's which is a nice feature. I detch a hint of boozieness to this ale but just a bit. Not a bad beer, pretty good in fact, though I would like to see the sweetness drawn back but that is also what sets it apart from other IPA's I have had.

On the turntable is At The Dark End Of The Street- James Carr- Compiled by Upside Records in 1987- Mr. Carr came of age during the golden age of southern soul music and whose music was crafted by the guiding hands of musicians and producers working out of Muscle Shoals, Alabama and Memphis, Tennessee. Carr never experienced widespread success like some of his contemporaries and is now largely overlooked outside the community of fans interested in 1960’s era southern soul music. For those interested his fairly brief career is analyzed and described by Barney Hoyskns in the undervalued and overlooked book amazon.com/Say-Time-Brokenhearted-Barney-Hoskyns/dp/074754137X. This book, published in 1998, describes the incestuous relationship between American soul, blues and country music and the unique mixing of white and black cultures which helped produce these musical folk forms.

I was first introduced to the song At the Dark End of the Street on a CD compilation included with an issue of Mojo Magazine from around 2003. It was performed by the Flying Burrito Brothers and it was my first introduction to both the song and the band. I became enamored by the formers ability to incorporate soul songs into their country-rock arrangements and have them sound original and completely at home within a genre which seemed on the surface so at odds with what 60’s soul music was identified with. Little did I know the synergy between these genres can be traced back to many sources and one of the first I recognized is the collaboration between two of the masters of blues/jazz and country music on the tune Blue Yodel #9: Louis Armstrong and Jimmie Rodgers.



Session information and musicians

This is a compilation of Carr’s work in both Memphis and Muscle Shoals from the late sixties when the largest percentage of his output was recorded. The album opens with the classic At the Dark End of the Street. After I heard the FBB version of the song it was still a few years before I started to learn about the origins of what could possibly be argued as one of the Top 10 soul songs of all time and at the very least my favorite. I was surprised to learn the original version of the song was written by two white musicians/producers named Chips Moman and Dan Penn, recorded by a group of southern white musicians and preformed by an African-American singer named James Carr. This LP includes Carr’s version of To Love Somebody which was originally written by Barry and Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees and later preformed, again, by the Flying Burrito Brothers. The 2nd track I posted above is the Harlan Howard (a prolific country music writer during its unofficial golden age) penned Life Turned Her That Way. Again this track illustrates the mighty crossover appeal of the country/soul genres and the similarity of themes explored in both. Lastly I included the compilations closing track Everybody Needs Somebody which I feel is most notable for its jaunty organ/clavinet riff reminiscent of Garth Hudson’s playing style from The Band who were in their own way musically informed by the music emerging from Muscle Shoals and Memphis.

Let Your Prog Light Shine

Watchers Of The Sky- Genesis MP3

7/28/11

beeradvocate.com rating A-

Pretty Things Jack D'or Farmhouse Ale/ Saison- Brouweji Lane- Community Beverage, Queens, NY- 22 oz. bomber into 12oz. Brandy Snifter- 6.4% ABV

Head- Little to speak of maybe a half a finger which reced quickly. No lacing

Color- Cloudy, golden straw

Mouthfeel- Medium to light bodied. Small consistent prickly carbonation

Aroma- Tangerine, lemon. Banana? Yeast...?

Taste/ Overall- This beer was brewed in Massachusetts and is described as an Belgian inspired American Farmhouse Ale. Made with Belgian yeast strains and American Hops.This is my second Farmhouse Ale and is pretty refreshing. Not a bad summer style beer. I can definitely taste the hops in this and their is a pleasant, dry bitterness to it. A smooth drinker in my opinion and the 6.4 ABV is well hidden but could probably catch up to you.

On the turntable is Genesis Live- Genesis- Recorded in February 1973 at The De Monfort Hall, Leichester and The Free Trade Hall, Manchester. Issued as a stop/gap between albums by their record label and was issued as a single LP instead of the more popular 70's double live LP released by so many artists at the time. It would have been nice to have double live LP's growing up in the early 90's by some of my favorite artists but the only one I can remember is the live Guns n' Roses double album from the Use Your Illusion era. I guess the record companies unfortunately backed off this format as a form of promotion. I found this earlier this summer at a flea market in Brooklyn. I am not an expert on Genesis and really the only album I am particularly familiar with prior to Peter Gabriel’s departure is The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. But in the back of my mind I have been hoping to listen to more of their early 70’s work and this seemed like a good opportunity to expand my Genesis palette.

I was taken with the cover and Mr. Gabriel’s outfit looks like something Lady Gaga might wear today. Early Genesis in my mind is a bit like early Rush and to a lesser extent Pink Floyd but Floyd had a few years on these two groups. Both bands had trimmed the fat and streamlined their songwriting by the early 1980’s. Especially Genesis who has come to define a certain strain of 80’s pop. Prior to the 1980’s though their albums were often dense, thematic affairs which were not always easy to follow. I for one have had a hard time following the lyrical narratives on some of these records and my mind tends to focus more on the musical accompaniment to the lyrical themes.

I heard this album described in a review as “prog-grunge” and in all honesty that description is not completely off, though, I still don’t remember to many “grunge” groups with 8, 9 and 10 minute songs. Nor did many grunge albums feature keyboards heavily....I wonder why not. The live sound of this band has a grittiness I do not associate with their studio albums and without the polish of the studio this album borders on a proto-metal feel in spots. Popular opinion often describes progressive rock from the 1970’s as overly technical but this album remains musically satisfying without oversaturation. I really took a liking to the bass playing on this album and recognized Michael Rutherford’s bass playing talents in a way I had not in the past. I have posted the first track of this LP Watchers Of The Sky which immediately draws you into this album.

An American IPA In Denmark

Meant For You- The Beach Boys MP3



Friends- The Beach Boys MP3



Passing By- The Beach Boys MP3


7/20/11

beeradvocate.com- B+

Mikkeller Citra Single Hop IPA- Brouweji Lane- Greenpoint, Brooklyn- 32 oz- Poured in to Belgium Beer Glass- 6.8% ABV

Head- Frothy, 2 finger head. Hung around quite a bit with some thick lacing

Color-Dark orange, a bit cloudy

Mouthfeel- Medium but actually more towards the light side. Carbonated but not extremely active

Aroma- Hoppy, sticky citrus

Tatse/ Overall- This beer was brewed in Denmark and was brewed with a single hop, Citra, and is described as an American IPA. I don't know to much about this Hop or its components . This is my first foreign brewed American style IPA. The aroma has all the hallmarks of an American IPA but the taste is kind of different and not what I was expecting. This is a pretty smooth drinker with a bitter sweetness to it if that is possible. It also has a dryness to the finish I don't usually experience with IPA's from here. This is a pretty drinkable brew with some depth to it that I like. The only drawback is it was $14 for a 32oz. Growler which is more than what I like to spend but I initially saw the wrong price so I just went with it. It was nice to try a Denmark American style IPA and would be open to it in the future for the right price but I don't forsee seeing it to often.

On the turntable is Friends- The Beacdh Boys- Recorded largely in Brian wilson's home studio in 1968. I have been slacking on the posts lately but I had some issues with my MP3 posts and I switched to a DivShare music player so hopefully that alleviates my playback issues.

Music wise it has been a lot of fusion and prog rock as of late. Not wide spread fusion and prog but, more specifically, Billy Cobham and Genesis. But I have also been in a Beach Boys state of mind as well. Maybe it has something to do with the oppressive summer heat as of late. I have had quite a few Beach Boys phases over the years dating back to the late 80’s when I had a cassette of their greatest hits which I listened to on my walkman when I was mowing lawns in the summer. My second period of Beach Boys came when I first heard Pet Sounds around 1999. We were having some beers at my friends apartment in Brooklyn and he played it for me. I had heard it mentioned by Paul McCartney saying it had inspired The Beatles Sgt. Pepper LP and honestly at the time I didn’t really understand the context of the statement. It took me a few years of listening and learning before I truly understood how these influences were expressed and how the careers of the Beatles and the Beach Boys intersected. I became a fan of Pet Sounds that night and I soon purchased the CD at the old HMV on E. 86TH St. in Manhattan.

A couple more years down the road I bought the LP Sunflower by the Beach Boys and soon realized they had some great music following what many deem their greatest achievement, Pet Sounds. Their post Pet Sounds catalog has been long neglected, except for true fans, and only now is being positively reassessed. This purchase inspired me to seek out most of their pre and post Pet Sounds albums and at current count I have 11 or 12 of their LP’s. Most of them are reissues from the 1970’s and 1980’s but I have a couple of originals. I am surprised I have so many, I didn’t set out to have all of them but most of them were surprisingly inexpensive. I may have more Beach Boys LP’s than I have of any other one group/artist which is strange because I certainly like a lot of other groups more.

The Friends LP escaped me for awhile and was the one I was most interested in since B. Wilson has said in interviews it is one of his favorites. I still look in the Beach Boys bin to see if I can find another pressing and I have yet to find one. I really enjoy this LP and my main complaint with it is its brevity. It clocks in somewhere around 35 minutes and one or two songs are kind of weak in my opinion, Transcendental Meditation and Anna Lee, The Healer. There is a relaxed, contemplative feel on this LP and is composed around themes like the environment, home and a sense of spirituality. And what this LP lacks is made up for with imaginative instrumentation reminiscent of exotica albums, Dennis Wilson’s first contributions as a songwriter and some really sweet organ tones. MP3’s include above are “Meant For You”, which leads of the album, is a transcendent piece which mixes vocals, piano and possibly organ and clocks in at 38 seconds (again, too brief) and leads into the cornerstone of the LP “Friends”. These are followed by “Passing By” one of a handful of instrumental pieces, with some wordless vocals, in the Beach Boys catalog could have been a toss off from the Pet Sounds sessions and adds a nice, whirling resolution to the first side of this LP.

There will probably be more Beach Boys sessions in the future...

Gotta Love Triple LP's And Cans of Beer

Home To You- Earth Opera MP3


Rama Mama- The Rainbow Band mp3

7/7/11

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/10607/22193- A-

Sixpoint Sweet Action Ale- Quick Mart- Rego Park, Queens- 1 16 oz. Can- Poured into Pub glass- 5.2% ABV

Head- Nice creamy, 2 finger head. Didn't hang around to long, though, and, no lacing.

Color-Light brown, dark orange

Mouthfeel- Medium bodied, creamy. Very nice, what an ale should taste like in my opinion.

Aroma- Fruity, maybe peaches and malts. Not to hoppy.

Taste/ Overall- Wow, this came out of a can. I am impressed. Nice local offering from the Sixpoint Brewery in Brooklyn. I have never had this before nor any of the other beers from Sixpoint but I am intrigued by this. Well down offering, especially since it is from a can.

On the turntable is Garden of Delights- Various Artists- Elektra Records compilation. Early 70's? 3 LP set in a slip case. I had read an article about Jac Holzman the founder of Elektra records and started looking around for an Elektra Records compilation and I came across this on a website. This was actually an Ebay purchase. I usually don't tend to buy much on Ebay (less than 5% of my records are from Ebay) and try to find it on my own but there are times where I breakdown. No one else ended up bidding on it opened at $4.99 and I bought it for $5 plus $4 shipping and handling. Not a bad value for a 3 LP set.



The collection is really good, better than I expected, and has opened me up to a bunch of artists I had never heard of. The majority of the tracks seem to be from the late 60's and early 70's aschewing the earlier output of the label which from what I have read and heard is decidedly more "folky". One of the interesting things about Jac Holman was his affinity for music outside the mainstream or at least on the cusp of. He actually made quite a bit of money making "sound affects" records and their success funded the early stages of the label and allowed him to take risks other labels were not willing to take. Love, Judy Collins, The Doors and The Stooges were all Elektra bands! But there seems to be hundreds of others and I have chosen to share with you two of those bands from this compilation. The first is Home To You by Earth Opera. A Boston based band led by David Grishman and Peter Rowan who both went on to fame at different times playing bluegrass with both Clarence White and Jerry Garcia. According to the liner notes this group initially had a garage rock/psychedelic bent but this track from there 2nd LP has a definite country-rock bent leaning towards the direction Rowan and Grishman would take their careers in the future. The second track is Rama Mama by The Rainbow Band. I chose this tune for two reasons. One is that it is a great example of a strain psychedelic folk popularized in the 60's which has a not so vague eastern spiritual quality to it. The second reason is that this husband and wife band were originally from Syosset, NY not to far from where I grew up! After some research I learned that there one Electra LP, which seems fairly rare, fetches some big dollars on the resale market. It's hard to believe some folks from Syosset came up with this ditty.The liner notes stated they "live and work in Topanga Canyon where they are inspired by God and the California sunshine." Amen, enjoy.