I write about it, but not well.

Not to be all Flattery McCheerleader - but I disagree vigorously. I could go on about it - but I'll just say that - I think you write about music very well. I think it is greatly enhanced by your constant use of specific detail - your recall for name spellings and titles of things and quotes is positively Nilly-esque and sometimes makes me think you might be a robot. A robot that writes well.

Thanks, tina. I wasn't being falsely modest. A lot of my friends and former roommates -- the current one, too, for that matter -- are musicians, and, not being one myself, I am very aware of how much I don't know about it. As far as being a robot, I'm not, but I played one on Get Smart. Okay, that wasn't me. (In case you're now wondering... according to imdb Dick Gautier is alive.) If I had my act more together, and were a hot Israeli woman, I'd be a lot like Nilly. But since I'm 0 for 4 in that line-up, sadly I must conclude I'm not really Nilly-like.

I've mentioned "Un Poco Loco" a few times. After an extensive search on company time I found this page with Bud Powell mp3s. They're not the full songs, but enough to give you a good taste. More cowbell, Max!

I write about it, but not well.

Compare and contrast that statement with this example:

Willie Nelson, seems at first listen to be an anti-virtuoso, but like Thelonious Monk, has an absolutely ingenious approach to time. It sounds all awkward and off-kilter, but once you get on his wavelength it's "Aha! That's fuckin' brilliant! How'd he think of that?"

Richard Davis is Gawd. Did Mojo ever do a big "making of" article on Astral Weeks? I'd love to hear Richard Davis interviewed on the subject, because apparently the jazz players simply worked off of Van's acoustic guitar demos. The playing is so telepathic though - pure musical empathy and drama.

The accounts of Aretha Franklin's first Atlantic sessions make it sound like everybody's hair was standing up on their arms from the first chord she hit on the piano. Similarly, the first Zeppelin rehearsel apparently went on for four hours and they all just locked into an unprecedented earth shattering groove. Astral Weeks plays like everybody was in the same room nodding at each other for cues, but it wasn't made that way.

Mojo did do a fascinating piece about how Blood on the Tracks was recorded, and all the no-names on that record being local pickers.

Blood on the Tracks was recorded, and all the no-names on that record being local pickers.

They all just got together and did a concert - w/o Bob of course - of the album live. Got a very good review in RS.

My other pick for the year I was born track on my BuffistaFrankenmix was an outtake from BotT - "Call Letter Blues" - it's on the Bootleg boxset. I love it. But I picked Nick Drake instead.

I'd love to hear Richard Davis interviewed on the subject, because apparently the jazz players simply worked off of Van's acoustic guitar demos. The playing is so telepathic though - pure musical empathy and drama.

I've heard conflicting accounts. I remember reading or seeing him in something where he sloughed it off, "People always ask about that, but I've played on hundreds of records; I really don't remember much of it." But I heard David Garland play it on his show recently and remembered him quoting Davis (he doesn't say where he's reading from.) Here's the audio. It pops up as a 57 or 58 minute file -- Jon B. the first part is an in-studio interview with a Dutch thereminist named Fay Lovsky -- but it's really a two hour show. Scroll your Real Player button all the way over. It will keep playing & the title will change to "Untitled Clip 2". From two minutes to seven minutes in Garland talks about the album. From 7 - 30:30 is side 1. Around 31:15 is the Richard Davis quotation, which is too long for my terrible transcription skills. Short version: he remembers recording the album at dusk & says that the post-dinner, relaxed atmosphere -- "the ambience of that time of day was all through everything we played" -- was perfect.

I think he was in the Eric Dolphy documentary Last Date, but I don't know why he would have been discussing Astral Weeks. Last Date does have this great scene with Dolphy playing an extended solo. Mingus wants him to stop, but Eric's so into the music he doesn't notice. Mingus eventually reaches over and pulls the mic away. Dolphy still doesn't notice & continues soloing. Mingus finally just shakes his head and pushes the mic back in front of the horn. The other guys in the band are trying not fall over laughing. (For those of you who don't know about him Charles Mingus was a very large man with a very bad temper. He was notorious for firing sidemen on the bandstand. He broke somebody's jaw on stage or in rehearsal -- the non-robot memory is failing me. Nobody except Eric Dolphy, whom Mingus referred to as a saint, would have provoked the reaction described above.)

ETA: Here's a link to the Mojo article. Gotta subscribe, though, & I'm cheap. Here's another interesting article (just skimmed it), Astral Weeks and the Troubles" (as in Northern Ireland.) It mentions Hornsby's love of "Thunder Road"! Plate o' shrimp, indeed.

Thanks Joe. My transcription:

Richard Davis: You know how it is at dusk when the day has ended but it hasn't? There's a certain feeling about the 7 to 10 session which is when Astral Weeks was by and large recorded on one night. You've just come back from a dinner break, some guys have had a drink or two, it's the dusky part of the day, everybody's relaxed. Sometimes that's can be a problem, but with this record I remember the ambience of that time of day was all through this record.

The random quotation at the top of the page:

"I love the smell of desperate librarian in the morning." Snyder, 'Gingerbread'

On the player: "Gingerbread Boy" from Miles Smiles, which is probably the best album from Miles' mid-'60s quintet, although most everything they did was pretty great & picking a "best" is rather arbitrary. "Gingerbread Boy" has the distinction of being the one studio non-original performed (or at least released) by the Carter/Hancock/Shorter/Williams group. They played covers at gigs (cf. Live at the Plugged Nickel), but went with original compositions in the studio.

And I miss Snyder. One of the problems with later BtVS seasons was the lack of memorable minor characters like Snyder (or Holland on AtS), the kind that could do so much with so little screen time. Glory's minions Jinx and Dreg were the last ones who really fell into that category for me.

ETA: Speaking of S3... "Bad Girls" just came on (Donna Summer, not Buffy). First ep I ever saw (reverse previous parenthesis). Eliza dancing. Oh my.

Eliza dancing. Oh my.

Plus the little heart she drew on the classroom window.

Yeah, I'd concur that the lack of strong supporting/recurring characters was an issue after they left high school. They never built up characters who were separate from the arc. Forrest was fun in S4, but couldn't continue on beyond the Initiative storyline. Whereas Jonathan and Harmony (to cite two examples) went on to have very complex stories over the years.

On-Topic: Joe, now you need to give us your pick for each of Miles' distinct eras. The Coltrane lineup (Workin' Steamin' Relaxin' Cookin' Other?), You did the sixties (Not E.S.P?), Gil Evans collaboration, Live, Electric Miles...

I was unsurprisingly irresponsible at the CD store.

Purchased:
Neutral Milk Hotel On Avery Island (I am listening to it right now and like it a lot)

and on erinaceous' rec from way back: Sufjan Stevens Seven Swans (haven't listened yet, but am eager to)

I think the important thing to focus on is how many albums I did NOT buy.

Two excellent purchases, tina. I approve!