The “ROCKS” LP is the best Aerosmith record of them all—that’s my position and I am sticking to it. Sure, many hard core Aerosmith fans dismiss the modern era Desmond Child-nurtured-candy-coated records as “too commercial” (one of my least favorite phrases), but like the new stuff or not, the key Aerosmith ingredients are all still there—the grooves, Joe Perry’s part hideous part beautiful guitar work (my man Anthony calls it “train wreck playing”), and of course Steven Tyler’s one-in-a-million voice. Out of every record they made, I’d take the Jack Douglas produced 1976 LP ROCKS to the proverbial desert island…
ROCKS starts off with the track “Back in the Saddle,” which combines a sick groove, horses hoofs and a genuine horse’s whinny in the intro—and the sound is so real, so authentic—ROCKS is an LP that says “fuck you” with a wink—the curveball is the combination snarl and attitude with really pretty little moments wound around grit and teeth that would make Nirvana proud. ROCKS is a very musical record—whoever assembled these arrangements was meticulous and gifted. The whole disc is full of amazing harmonies, intricate chord voicings, and an ingenious blend of voice and lead guitar melodies. ROCKS is far more than just another noisy, rebellious collection of trashy songs—there is truly great work here.
The tracks “Last Child” and “Rats in the Cellar” offer up more of the same—pretty layers, old style reverb, crazy grooves and killer Tyler vocals…which brings me to this Oprah interview of Steven Tyler—did we catch that on TV? First off, the interview takes place at Lake Sunapee, NH—I just missed getting carted off by the cops with a few friends there many years ago—but that’s another story…I found some of Oprah’s questions and her responses to Tyler’s answers bizarre, bordering on invasive and inappropriate—and at the same time I got a really shallow, disingenuous sense from Tyler’s dialogue. Watch the segment and see for yourself. It was awkward at best.
ROCKS was recorded in Waltham, MA in a cinder block warehouse (they referred to it as the “Wherehouse”) behind a dirty old hardware store called Moe Blacks. When my Grandpa Charlie would visit from New York City and fix stuff around my house, we would go to Moe Blacks together and buy the supplies we needed. Years later, I wound up working with a band called The Detours in Aerosmith’s old space, even shot some video footage there. Across the main road from Moe Blacks was a fire station, and at the end of “Last Child,” you can hear a siren wailing as the song fades…I think both the Wherehouse and Moe Blacks were slowly collapsing into damp, unstable ground—both buildings are long gone now replaced by modern development.

There is a little known song on the B-side called “Combination” that so reminds me of Extreme—like strong influence on almost a subconscious level. It’s the way the guitar and voice play off each other that remind me of Gary and Nuno. Great track! Then there is “Sick as a Dog,” which is all Tyler (drums, bass, and vocals) and guitarist Brad Whitford. Tyler sings a perfect 4th (F# under B {above middle C}) with an E in the bass—it’s pop but it’s nasty! The record finishes up with Nobody’s Fault, Get the Lead Out, Lick and a Promise and a Tyler-penned ballad at the end called Home Tonight. ROCKS is the pinnacle of genuine Aerosmith before bullshit digital recording conquered the world and watered down rock and roll irreparably. Download the songs at your own risk—this music was meant to be played on LP and don’t be shy with the throttle.

There’s a music industry blogger (Bob Lefsetz) I have a lot of respect for—not to say that I don’t disagree with him on occassion, but he makes great points, opens my eyes to the current state of the music biz and his noteworthy audience often replies back with insightful comments. Somewhere along the way Bob mentioned singer/songwriter Lucinda Williams and just the way he spoke of her made me want to buy a record and experience her for myself. I started with her most recent effort, Blessed.

I bought the Blessed LP while visiting Asheville, NC at a great little music shop called Harvest Records. They were kind enough to mail my purchase back to CT for me, sparing me the risk of subjecting the record (and one other I had bought) to the recklessness of the TSA and constrained overhead storage provided by Delta.

Blessed is a 2-LP set on white vinyl that also comes with two CD’s—one featuring the identical tracks (matching the LP’s) and the other containing demos of the songs Lucinda recorded at her kitchen table— great stuff through and through. Nice way to package your songs.

Blessed features 12-songs in all and to sum it up, this is an amazingly powerful record. Lucinda strikes me as having reached a place free from all inhibitions—she is truly performing her compositions with each and every muscle in her face, throat and diaphragm. Blessed is a modern day Exile on Main Street in its rawness and honest production values. There is a darkness to the compositions married to a rare delicacy that separates the best singer/songwriters from the masses.  Elvis Costello plays guitar on three tracks and his instincts match the feel of the songs but his performances are unremarkable.

Blessed is a perfect counter to all advocates of single-track digital downloads—this is a collection of songs best digested in succession as the artist intended. Not that the songs don’t stand mightily on individual merits, however I was literally exhausted from the journey after having been trampled by the 12 tracks in proper order. There is an authenticity to Lucinda and her compositions that is woefully hard to come by—and genuinely moving. Sweet Love is a short, poignant love song. Soldier’s Song is just brutal. The title track (Blessed) should be the default curriculum for the School of Two-Chord Songwriting. The final song (“Kiss Like Your Kiss”) appeared on the True Blood: Music from the HBO Original Series – Volume 2 and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. The production of Kiss Like Your Kiss (like most of the songs here) leaves plenty of space for the allure of Lucinda’s unique voice—ornamented with vibes and tasty bass and guitar work. 

One gaffe—my LP’s have a distinct flaw. There is distortion in the midrange, particularly noticeable in the voice but also in other places. I carefully checked my system as a result and once satisfied that all was in order there, I played the same tracks on the CD version which did not exhibit the same characteristics. I cannot say whether this issue exists with all copies of the LP—but with my copy it was certainly present. My intuition and the opinions of some experts I consulted would lead one to surmise that the vinyl pressing is flawed, but I cannot ascertain that with certainty.

Lucinda Williams Blessed on Lost Highway Records is brilliant. The mixes are bold (fearless, even) and the instrumentation sounds real, it sounds overtly human, imperfect, and wonderful. My least favorite track is Seeing Black, just because it is raucous and interrupts the intimacy of the other songs—yet it is also brilliant for just that reason. This record is unpredictable, painful, and beautiful—it is a work of art and should be digested as such.

So like the rest of the planet, I put the single “What the Hell” into YouTube just to see what’s happenin. Here’s this kid in her underwear, in bed with her boyfriend, and in the opening lyric she admits to “making out with his friend.” Brat!! I wouldn’t really mind any of that in and of itself, however when the hook comes (this is kiddie pop, there are always tasty hooks), some jackass producer (an Internet search leads me to believe that Max Martin produced this track in Sweden, but I have not confirmed this as fact) buries Avril’s voice in autotune so deep she becomes unrecognizable. Not that I didn’t hear it during the verses, but the hook was just drowning in it. The first few vocal notes of the chorus are all A above middle C, but then there is a run up and back down (A, B, C#, D, C#, B, A) that doesn’t even sound computer “corrected,” it sounds computer generated—it surely doesn’t sound remotely human.

To me, bratty and rebellious implies honesty. I know that is horribly idealistic, but I feel cheated by Avril here. Not by RCA/Sony who obviously couldn’t give a shit, but by the artist herself who could have done better. Would The Clash or The Sex Pistols have used autotune? I am sure their producers would have—but the spirit of the music gets lost completely and I had this fantasy that Avril cared. Bummer—I guess not. If you are going to write a song called “What the Hell” and flip the camera (and the world) the double bird in your video, have the friggin balls to sing your own damn melody.

So still NOT professing, I grabbed an SACD copy of Synchronicity by The Police (1983 release) and sat down to take in this classic that I hadn’t immersed myself in for quite awhile. The SACD track list is the same as the LP except the SACD adds an 11^th song—Murder By Numbers.

Right out of the gate I was perplexed—the sound was un-engaging, lifeless, really thin in the bass, but clear and detailed. I made it through Every Breath You Take and I began to wonder—was the original recording really this awful? I hit pause on my NAD Master Series player and headed for my LP copy (a 180-gram reissue) to test the comparison.

Ridiculous.

Now I am professing. Nowhere on my LP did it say that it was remastered. Bob Ludwig mastered the SACD version in December, 2002—and he certainly knows his business. The LP was so far drastically better than the SACD in so many ways. Let’s start with staging, which was much wider and deeper on the LP. Sting’s bass guitar was forward, with each attack of the string clearly audible and with lower bass extension on the LP verses the SACD. And the decay of effects seemed to hang in space on the vinyl whereas the SACD offered a vague facsimile of the actual recording at best. The overall dimensionality comparison between the two shocked me.

It’s no wonder people get all sorts of passionate about this subject. No question that LP’s have a higher noise floor, take up more space—and who wants to get up and switch sides let alone clean a needle and dust a record??? But the sound is to die for—it is just much better than the SACD, DVD-A and CD I can compare it to in my system. Now if skeptics want to “hate” on my NAD player, I have no problem with that—I have really never compared it sonically to other players, premium or otherwise. But I would be shocked if there was an SACD player out there that could top the performance of the LP in this instance. And Synchronicity is a nice record, but certainly not the “end-all” reference recording ever made. Yet still, the difference between the SACD playback and the LP was staggering. No doubt!!

And when it comes down to it—and why I take time for this BLOG in the first place—it’s all about the musical experience. Sure, in the Caprice I use a CD player as my source, but car audio is vastly different from good home audio—you want great staging, tonality and detail in a car but you also want visceral impact—a good throttling. At least I do. At home, I am looking for the ultimate playback experience—it throws me off if anything is out of whack.

Synchronicity is a fun record—I like a lot of it. But if you want to sit down and listen to the definition of a timeless hit pop song, you can’t find many that out-smooth “Every Breath You Take.” It is the tailored Armani suit of its era. Just remember that it only really shines the way The Police meant it to shine—on LP.

Now that the insanity of cataloging my software is behind me, back to the music: Someone recently suggested that I check out the new Eric Clapton record. Admittedly out of the gate—I have never been a Clapton/Cream guy—blues-based songs typically put me to sleep nearly as fast as an after dinner documentary on rain forest wildlife—but always curious about the evolution of an artist, especially a legend who has a distinctive playing style, I bought the double LP from Elusive Disc, where I acquire most of my new vinyl. This listening session would have to be from the comfort of my den and my THIEL CS6’s since the Caprice is still in winter storage.

There are 15 tracks on the double LP entitled Clapton and released in 2010 on Reprise. If you like blues-based rock with a nice mix of New Orleans flavor, you will likely enjoy this record. The musicianship is stellar, the rhythm section has just the right feel, the clean guitar work is tasty and Clapton’s vocals are none the worse as he ages. I had the impression that Clapton approached the melodies cautiously, careful not to extend his range, but I’d say his forethought paid dividends as his singing was lush and interesting from start to finish.

My two favorite tracks were “Rockin’ Chair” (song 2, side A) and “Autumn Leaves” (final track on side D). Rockin’ Chair has a real chorus and great harmonies—and the lyrics are witty and made me smile. The use of strings (performed by the London Session Orchestra and arranged by Nick Ingman) throughout the record wore on me—they really seemed to detract from the intimacy that the listener develops with the other players. They mask the decay of the guitars, the flutter of the Hammond and other really special details that are so clear when the strings are absent. They sort of bring an “elevator” sensibility to the arrangements that I could have done without.

There is also a great moment toward the end of “That’s No Way to Get Along” (on side B) where everything drops out; leaving the rhythm section (bass, drums, piano) shuffling along before the guitars come roaring back in. The groove that these players lay down is just special—it’s what draws you into this record and I LOVE when you get just a taste of it with no external distractions. Yum!! And that track gives you a sexy Preservation Hall fade at the very end that just oozes New Orleans. Great stuff!

The sound of the LP is excellent—the mastering is seamless, the mixes are precise (minus the strings that are like too much gravy on a fine cut of meat at times), but my bitch with this record is the same as it has been with Clapton releases for decades—the musical content (for the most part) just isn’t stimulating to me. Yes, the musicians are magical—but within the framework of such basic chord changes and simple structures—overall, these songs just don’t touch me. It’s like a beautifully garnished ham and cheese sandwich—just way too predictable to be interesting for 15 tracks.

I have traversed a long musical journey—from the choral stage as a child to the deliciously filthy Boston club scene of the 1980’s…and not to be taken lightly, my memories of the grime and grit are precious ones that left indelible impressions upon me. I grew up in cleanliness—my town was clean, my house was clean, and my way of life was clean as a boy. And suddenly I am in my underwear backstage at The Channel, The Rat, Bunratty’s or getting makeup applied on a rock ledge backstage at The Jumbo Lounge. It all stank of beer, tobacco and sweat. Wonderful!!

Leaping ahead several decades (they march on…), I co-founded a power pop trio called The Voodoo Jets in 2002 with Francesco Perrouna and former Steelheart drummer John Fowler. Crazy little band—no guitars. We wrote together in a tiny 2^nd floor cinderblock room and played our very first gig on a Tuesday night at Greens in Stamford, CT. After honing our craft and penning several songs, we loaded up for Boston and recorded our first CD (SUPERSONIC) with indie rock legend David Minehan. SUPERSONIC earned us some great reviews, we played all over the northeast, and we experienced the good, the bad, and the ugly of each other on a level only bandmates (or maybe spouses) could relate to.

Then in 2008, drummer John Fowler passed away and it all stopped.

But it was only the “PAUSE” button: Funny how for a musician, “the monster sleeps, but never, never dies.” Francesco and I gathered up what we had recorded (but not released) with John before his passing and decided to add some new tracks and release a 2^nd CD called “From Greens to Eternity.” Admittedly, as wonderful as new drummer Greg Trabandt is technically and as a human—there were a few times we were playing…I had to stop and collect myself as the pain of John’s death overflowed in the moment.

The official release date for the new CD was September 1^st, 2010 (it lands on iTunes a few weeks later) and in the first week we were blessed with two outstanding reviews, one from a college paper in Kansas and the other from a great Internet site called Paper Dragon Ink (.com). At this stage, we make the music we love on our own terms period. We don’t have quotas of CD sales or downloads to worry about. But to have two such positive, glowing reviews right out of the gate was a true gift. Like starting the season throwing a couple of TD passes…

The 13 tracks that make up “From Greens to Eternity” hold within them many stories—the places we were, the trials we faced together and individually, the ever-changing music business and even faster changing pop culture—and really we just laughed at all of that and made the music our way. It wasn’t some great rebellious spirit or cause-for-the-greater-good that showed us the way—nope. It was a thousand times simpler than that: It was the revelation that we were a unique trio with a very special chemistry and a signature sound, and beyond that—we just didn’t give a fuck.

The band Boston’s self-titled debut LP from 1976 ranks as the second best-selling debut album in U.S. history (after Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite for Destruction) with over 17 million copies sold according to Wikipedia. Yet despite this historical achievement, the record did not make Rolling Stone’s top 500.

Sure, lots of garbage pop music has generated inflated sales numbers in the past, however with Boston this is simply not the case. I’ll agree that the songs don’t speak of world peace or make deep Shakespearian references, however the sound of that record heavily influenced future artists and producers because of its end-to-end polish, magnetic song arrangements—every track on the LP was compelling. Engineer/guitarist Tom Scholz created his own guitar processing technology that was used throughout the record—and even marketed that technology in a portable device called the Rockman.

And furthermore—every performance on that album is stellar. From the insanely perfect lead vocal performances (and harmonies) of Brad Delp (RIP), to the beautifully played B3 organ parts, the song arrangements, sonic quality and the fervor with which this record was embraced upon its release—in my view it should have made any sensible list of top 500 rock recordings.

No question some folks burned out from over exposure as the LP went from being played all the time as a hit to being played all the time as a classic and it has been unquestionably difficult to escape Boston on the airwaves. But approached with a fresh outlook, there is no arguing the gloriousness of that record.

Some time ago, I acquired a CBS ½ speed master LP version of Boston’s debut (see blue label at top of image), and it is just a rich, dynamic version, although these LP’s can get pricey—I have seen them sell for between $50 and $100. But they are a less noisy and more realistic representation of the recording. I played the LP at home, burning a copy to CD so I could listen in the Caprice. It knocks you dead—what a killer record.

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I always tell people that all I miss being gluten-free is New Haven pizza. There are enough breads, muffins, cookies—my friend Nancy just made a killer ice cream cake using crushed GF cookies and York Peppermint Patties. I am not suffering…but for the most part, GF pizza is awful. Being in New York City frequently for work, I did a little Internet research and discovered a joint called Pala Pizza on the edge of Soho (Allen and Houston streets). My first trip there was after a long day of work, it was raining and they set me up outside under an awning—I love the atmosphere of a rainstorm from a dry seat. The service was outstanding, cheerful, welcoming. The menu was creative and catered to the gluten-free, vegetarians, and traditional carnivorous wheat-eaters as well. The GF crust is homemade and totally amazing—best I have ever had by a long shot.

So after recently seeing The Heights (a matinee) with the family on Broadway, I headed back. Round two at Pala Pizza was as wonderful or better than my first trip. I had chopped leaks and Italian sausage on my GF pie. The service was again outstanding—now I need to be careful not to get in there too frequently and put on serious pounds. If you are in lower Manhattan and want outstanding pizza (traditional or gluten-free), Pala Pizza is a winner.

Pala Pizza NYC

I ended up seeing the Stones in Philly in 1981 (shortly after playing a set of Rolling Stones songs for the Rolling Stones, but that’s a story for another day) as they toured in support of the Tattoo You LP. My sage advice to anyone who only knows or recollects the Stones of the 1980’s and forward, the huge colorful shows that they put on in places like Fenway Park, would be to buy a fresh copy of Exile on Main St and give it a spin. In 1972, the Stones were being chased for taxes and drug offenses, and this record feels like a battle cry.

“Exile” is a blues-based compilation of songs that highlight the authentic rebellious spirit that made the Rolling Stones iconic. Keith Richards called it “the first grunge record” and although the sound may not be for everyone, this record spits at you, snarls at you, throws imperfections at you, and does it all in a sort of happy accident that was the The Rolling Stones. Jagger’s vocals have an impeccable “F— you” sneer from start to finish—it’s almost as if he is sculpting sounds with his prodigious lips half the time rather than trying to form bits and pieces of language.

The guitar interplay between Keith Richards and Mick Taylor works—sometimes—and other times they trample each other like two drunken idiots in a bar band, but it’s the colossal, magical mess that everyone fell in love with. You can hear the guitar riffs burning through the blues, the songwriting starting to evolve, the personalities within the band lighting up these recordings.

The entire (and quite long) outro of Tumbling Dice is improvisation over two chords—Jagger dances in and out, the harmony vocalists provide some consistency with “You gotta roll me” while the guitars find their space (or take it by force) right until the end of the track. Two chords, yes—but entertaining as hell!

And then Richards sings lead on the track Happy—now for me, Keith’s singing is a highlight…who could ever copy that voice? Makes me think I should cover that song one day…(I actually first heard Happy played as an encore by Cheap Trick at the Orpheum Theater in Boston with Tyler and Perry from Aerosmith making a cameo)…

Stones play Philly 1981

Now, I took this momentous journey via a 2-LP 180-gram reissue of Exile on Main St. that was dead quiet and sounded unbelievable. Grab all your friends who claim they can’t hear why all the fervor about vinyl and play them Loving Cup (disc one, side two). No CD sounds like this, not even close. You can hear every old analog detail—hey; I remember when guitar amps sounded like that!! And the drums—just go through Loving Cup once with a focus on the drums—the tone, the dynamics, it smells as much like 1972 as my dad’s green Impala (4dr. 350, bench seats, no A/C).

Exile on Main St. is like examining the cross section of an era—and no one can fully appreciate the Rolling Stones without having gone for the ride. If there was ever a Rolling Stones record to be heard end-to-end on LP with a tall cocktail, this is the one. I feel blessed to have seen the band live in 1981, but this record from a decade earlier represents the real spirit of the Rolling Stones and the true sound of rock and roll in 1972—and I love that!!

Stereophile Magazine is one of several respected, well crafted publications covering the always passionate hobby of high-performance audio and musical recordings. Based in Manhattan, I invited them up I-95 to my home in Connecticut to hear THIEL’s new SCS4T’s and thanks to Bryston, some wonderful electronics. Both Stephen Mejias and John Atkinson spent about 4 hours listening (we ate too) and the experience was (from my perspective at least), what the hobby is all about. I played a vast mix of styles, some older, some more modern. Stephen’s blog post on our afternoon pretty well sums it up here: My additional comments follow:

Both Surf’s Up and Holland are two of the most interesting, beautiful and unusual LP’s. They mix a sense of “Flower Power” mentality with fearless song craftsmanship ideas and stupendous harmonies. I happen to adore the recording style of the day; to me they sound so organic, so unedited. Music made by humans. And they highlight the very real contributions that The Beach Boys made to popular music from a slightly different angle than the legendary LP, Pet Sounds.

Another point: Listening to music that moves you on powerful, accurate and dynamic equipment never fails…it is an entirely different experience than using my MP3 player and noise-cancelling headphones to drown out jet engines and crying infants on transatlantic junkets.

If you want to explore an innovative and gifted jazz guitarist, check out Tony Purrone.

I am reminded by all of this how fortunate I am to be part of the high-performance audio community, and to have a career based on promoting the art of music and great sound…things that I love. There are often juicy debates: This gear is better than that, this singer is better than three others, and so on. In truth, its all about what reaches you, its deeply personal. The THIEL speakers and Bryston CD player, preamp, and amplifier made beautiful music that day for my guests and I am eternally grateful to have enjoyed our time together.

The Beach Boys Surf's Up LP

After hearing all three LP’s I would suggest #1 Record as the most interesting, the least acidic, and the most generally accessible of the lot. You can clearly hear the 1970’s in these recordings, from the reverb to the vocal doubling, it is undoubtedly born of the period. By far my favorite tracks are The Ballad of El Goodo (pure, simple pop) and Give Me Another Chance, a horribly sad song with a beautiful chorus. Much of this record features wonderful vocal harmonies, great chord voicings and rich arpeggios.

#1 Record also features the song In The Street, which was later covered by Cheap Trick as the theme for That 70’s Show. Cheap Trick’s version is altogether in another league in terms of arrangement, power, hook delivery, and lead vocal impact.

#1 Record seems to hold just a taste of 1960’s innocence, a little of The Byrds woven into the dark songs. The next two Big Star LP’s were just too cutting, too un-pop, too raw for my taste. The songs on #1 Record are pop songs with life, maybe plodding at times, but it seems the band’s evolution got derailed somehow after the first LP.

The last song on side one (The India Song) sums it up lyrically:

“I’d like to go to India, live in a big white house in the forest, drink gin & tonics, play a grand piano, read a few books, far away from what saddens my heart.”

If you want to experience a powerfully creative record that wears real pain on its sleeve and features some pretty songs, great singing and from an era without computer generated anything…Try Big Star #1 Record. The reissue LP I just bought was excellent.