Day 16: Progressive Folk

Robbie Basho
Venus in Cancer

A catch-all term, the label "progressive folk" could be applied to any number of artists who have attempted to expand the boundaries of acoustic music. In practice, however, the designation is most often used in reference to a particular school of virtuoso guitarists from the 1960s and 70s who were loosely aligned by a shared aesthetic, and, in the case of three particularly significant such artists, a shared record label. John Fahey, Leo Kottke, and Robbie Basho all recorded for the Takoma label beginning in the 1960s and though each had a distinct style, all three were masterful musicians who applied their technical skills to primarily instrumental compositions that deftly blended styles ranging from American folk to Eastern modal music. Of the three, John Fahey recorded the most impressive body of work, and he has earned a devoted and continually expanding cult following. Kottke, on the other hand, had the most commercially viable sound; his debut album, 6- and 12-String Guitar went on to sell over 500,000 copies. Basho never achieved a commercial breakthrough, nor did he earn a sizable following of devotees. He did, however, record over half-a-dozen adventurous albums on which he applied his awe-inspiring talent for finger-picking to extended workouts of psychedelic, mystical flavor, that, happily, seldom gave way to the sachrine or the monotonous. This music may be a spiritual ancestor to today's "new age" music, but its depth and tough edge created by frequent use of dissonances, put it in a distant class in terms of quality. Released in 1969, Venus in Cancer appeared on the Blue Thumb label, but it is a fine example of the "Takoma sound." The title track is particularly engaging, with melodic lines that evince the sparse work of Nick Drake on Pink Moon. As this generation's folkies rediscovery John Fahey, he's hoping they'll also stumble upon Basho. In light of the folk revival that's sweeping the independent music scene and the recent CD release of Venus in Cancer, Basho's stock seems bound to rise.

To hear audio clips of Robbie Basho, click here and press play.

Day 15: Power Pop

Phil Seymour
Phil Seymour

The history of power pop is littered with instances in which tremendous pop craftsmen have played second-fiddle to the other brilliant songwriters who fronted their bands. Chris Bell's contributions to Big Star were overshadowed by those of Alex Chilton. Likewise, the talents of ex-Teenage Fanclub drummer Paul Quinn never had sufficient breathing room in a group with three other gifted songwriters, but he proved himself their equal with his stellar, Gene Clark-channeling debut North Pole, which he recorded under the name the Primary 5. Perhaps the most unfortunate victim of standing in the shoulder of giants was Phil Seymour, who is best-known as the uncredited half of the obnoxiously named Dwight Twilley Band. While Dwight Twilley is well-known in power pop circles for the hard-rocking hit "I'm On Fire" and the Twilley Band's cult-classic debut Sincerely, for my money, the less recognized Seymour was the more talented tunesmith. Seymour's self-titled debut is Exhibit A. It's not surprising that the opener, "Precious to Me" was a modest hit with its shimmering guitars, harmonized backing vocals and memorable, and track two, "I Found a Love," is even better. With rhythmic drive and a catchy refrain, it's power pop gold. While Seymour doesn't sustain this level of craft for the entire album, even the forgettable tracks are functional in context, and amazingly, the best tracks are yet to come. "Let Her Dance," employs hand claps to great effect, while "Baby It's You," Seymour's finest three minutes on record, has one of the most addictive guitar lines this side of the Byrds' "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better." Another reason to choose Seymour over Twilley: a Collector's Choice reissue of Phil Seymour is now readily available, while the Twilley Band's out-of-print debut can only be obtained from used sellers or at Twilley's website for the extortionate price of $50! Twilley will sign his merchandise for you, but that'll cost you an extra ten-spot. Me to Twilley: "Dude, enough with the name already."

To hear audio clips of Phil Seymour, click here.

Day 14: Rhythm and Blues

The "5" Royales
Dedicated to You

This is R&B in the truest sense of the term: jump blues mixed with gospel and doo wop vocal styling. Though scholars such as Peter Guralnick have recognized the important role they played in the evolution of R&B as it hit the cusp of earning the new distinction "soul," the "5" Royales are much more likely to get young R&B fans' attention as a historical footnote at the Smithsonian Museum of Rock 'n Soul than as the beneficiaries of the kind of institutional rediscovery reserved for someone like, say, Solomon Burke. This is not to suggest that the Burke revival is unwarranted-indeed he remains a larger-than-life force in soul music to this day. The fact remains, however, that pre-soul R&B is still largely waiting to be discovered by the current generation of musical omnivores, and the relatively low-profile of such a seminal force as the "5" Royales is proof positive. With less restrained and more expressive vocals than earlier vocal groups such as the Ravens and the Orioles, the Royales foreshadowed the focus on expressiveness that took hold of their genre in the early 60s. Setting his soulful blues guitar to back-beat grooves, group guitarist and songwriter Lowman Pauling drew up the blueprint for the sound that Steve Cropper perfected as guitarist for the legendary Stax house band Booker T. & the MG's. On top of their contributions to the style and aesthetic of soul, the Royales contributed more than a handful of R&B classics. Two of Pauling's greatest compositions--"Think" and "Dedicated to the One I Love"--were later covered to great effect by James Brown and Aretha Franklin and by the Shirelles and the Mamas and the Papas, respectively. Both songs were included on the "5" Royales finest LP, 1957's Dedicated To You. Unfortunately, the CD issue of the album appears to be on the verge of going out of print (Amazon is down to its last copy), soon to join Rhino's fantastic two-disc set Monkey Hips and Rice: The "5" Royales Anthology as high-priced merchandise.

To hear audio clips from Dedicated to You, click here and press play.

Day 13: Philly Soul

Major Harris
My Way

Known for its lush, string-heavy and horn-laden arrangements, Philly soul emerged in the 1970s as the smoother and slicker counterpart to the gritty southern soul of the mid 1960s. More than any other figures, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff--two halves of one production team, and arranger/producer Thom Bell were responsible for the development of the Philadephia sound. Among the talents Bell helped cultivate were the Delfonics. One of the first and most important acts in Philly soul history, their "La La Means I Love You" and "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)" were bona fide classics later immortalized by prominent placement in the Quentin Tarantino film Jackie Brown. When one of the Delfonics' founders, Randy Cain, quit the group in 1971, he was replaced by a singer named Major Harris. The cousin of legendary Philly soul Renaissance man Norman Harris, Harris had a journeyman CV that several unsuccessful solo singles and stints with the Charmels, Frankie Lymon's Teenagers, the Jarmels, and Nat Turner's Rebellion. Given his persistence and his family connection, it should come as no surprise that Harris eventually achieved a breakthrough success; that success, however, did not come with the Delfonics, who peaked before he joined the group. It was not until the Delfonics disbanded and Harris once again tried his hand at solo recording that he achieved his artistic and commercial peak, the million-selling ballad "Love Won't Let Me Wait." A classic case-study in seductive soul, "Love Won't Let Me Wait" is a slow-burner replete with a memorable refrain and erotic female moans and pants and My Way, Harris's 1975 debut and the album on which the song first appeared, has become a cult-classic of 70s soul. In 2005, the album was finally reissued on CD as a Japanese import; now thanks to digital downloads, its just a click away in iTunes. Give "Sweet Tomorrow" the 30-second preview. If the strings on this uptempo number don't get you, the addictive hook will.

To hear clips of My Way, visit the iTunes store.

Day 12: British Psychedelia

Tomorrow
Tomorrow

The history of British psychedelia begins in earnest with the UFO club in London, which nurtured the idiom and its accompanying scene from December of 1966 until October of 1967. Founded by underground political activist John Hopkins (aka "Hoppy") and music producer/impresario extraordinaire, Joe Boyd, UFO played frequent host to such seminal acts as Pink Floyd, the Soft Machine, and Procol Harum. Pink Floyd and the Soft Machine are obviously the most notable acts of the acts whose talents were cultivated at UFO, but in the early days of British psychedelia, a third act, Tomorrow, ranked alongside them. Though Tomorrow is now best known for the single "My White Bicycle" (which made the second Nuggets box set) and because its lead guitarist Steve Howe later graduated to notoriety with the band Yes, the group's self-titled 1968 LP is blast of addictive flower-power psych that deserves to be placed alongside The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and The Soft Machine as one of the definitive documents of the era. Closer to straight ahead pop music than either of those records, Tomorrow's lone full-length also holds up surprisingly well against much better known psych-lite classics such as Odessey and Oracle and Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake. "Colonel Brown" is almost Kinksian with its stately rhythms and pop classicist aesthetic whereas "Hallucinations" has a wonderful melody made all the better by its tight harmonies. Though it's filled with highlights such as these, Tomorrow is not hit or miss, but rather, consistently engaging; even the group's take on "Strawberry Fields Forever" is good enough to make Tomorrow worth a listen today.

To hear audio clips from Tomorrow, click here.

Day 11: British Folk-Rock

Mellow Candle
Swaddling Songs

Though its members were Irish, Mellow Candle had a sound that fell squarely in the British folk-rock idiom, somewhere between Steeleye Span and Fairport Convention. Mellow Candle's great lost opus Swaddling Songs (1972) may be stylistically typical, but it stands out for the quality of its songs and arrangements, especially given the record's obscurity; a sought-after collectors item for British folkies, Swaddling Songs lives it to its reputation as a forgotten treasure. The songs, penned mostly by Clodaugh Simmons, are fully-formed and addictive, and the lush, pastoral arrangements are even better. Like the best records of the folk-rock back end of the British folk revival, Swaddling Songs takes traditionalist British folk songs and styles and amplifies them with full-bodied arrangements energized by percussion. "Messenger Birds," for example, is a mid-tempo number featuring a rolling piano lick, subtle electric guitar ornamentation, and a drum part that is understated yet nevertheless makes its presence felt. Despite its name, the group also knows how to handle downright up-beat numbers; "Dan the Wing" rides a start-stop groove that evokes Richard Thompson's ability to convey energy and grace simultaneously, while "Boulders on the Grave" is flat-out jittery, with back and forth "la la"/"na na" interplay. To top things off, the vocals, shared by Simmons and Alison Williams, effortlessly straddle English wisdom with youthful enthusiasm, whether they're sung solo or in harmony, as on the jubilant "Buy or Beware." "I want no water with my wine," the singers intone on that number, which, I can only assume, may be crudely translated as "straight, no chaser." Whether its wine or music at issue, one doubts these folks would have things any other way.

To hear tracks from Swaddling Songs, click here.

Day 10: Chamber Pop

Eric Matthews
The Lateness of the Hour

The first thing that struck me about Eric Matthews was his name, which he shares with the older brother of the legendary Boy Meets World protagonist Cory Matthews. Eric Matthews the musician is actually nothing like Eric Matthews the supporting-role TV star, however. Whereas BMW Matthews is a lovable goofball, the former arranger for the seminal chamber pop outfit Cardinal is one impeccably mannered musician, and, if his album covers are reliable indicators, one neatly coiffed dude. If the liner notes for his debut album It's Heavy In Here are to be taken seriously, his self-image is as grandiose as his arrangements--but it's no matter. The singer/songwriter/arranger has a special place in my heart not just because he snubbed his nose at the lo-fi and grunge music that dominated the early to mid 90s to create some of the finest symphonic pop of the decade, but also because I happened to receive both of his first two albums as gifts on one particularly memorable Christmas. I have vivid images of listening to the lush strings, tasteful brass and subtle guitars that fill his records while reading Billy Collins and gazing out the window at the Buffalo snow. For my money, and memories, Matthews' second album The Lateness of the Hour, is his finest. Like all Matthews' records, it is filled with the kind of stately and sophisticated arrangements that define classy for the pop idiom, but it also features many of Matthews finest melodies. If there is a complaint that can be levelled at Matthews, it's that he too often coasts on his skills as an arranger; here though, many of Matthews' most addictive melodic lines are on display, from the elegant verses of "My Morning Parade" to the triumphant trumpet on "No Gnashing Teeth," His vocals are also in top shape--as Stephen Thomas Erlewine put it in his review of the album, they are "almost inhumanly fey and breathy." No wonder then, that every time I hear this record I want to curl up on that Christmas couch of years past, shielding myself with a warm blanket and Matthews' voice.

To hear tracks from The Lateness of the Hour, click here.

Day 9: East Coast Rap

Group Home
Livin' Proof

No producer simultaneously exemplified and transcended the sound of east coast rap in the early to mid 90s more than DJ Premier. RZA may have been equally brilliant, but his singular style was hardly archetypical; likewise, Havoc's sound was unwaveringly ominous in a way that set his tracks apart from all competitors. Sure, Primo had his own modus operandi--specifically, he combined dense loops with vocal samples and his trademark turntable-scratched choruses. But take out the distinctive hooks and any given Premier beat often sounds like it could have been crafted by any nameless DJ who simply made the track of his lifetime. And it would seem that Primo liked it that way: many of his choices for collaboration in the mid-90s showed that he valued artistic achievement well above widespread recognition. Indeed, east coast hip-hop heads know that many of his greatest tracks went to the great overlooked rhymer Jeru the Damaja and an even lesser known act called Group Home. Group Home's debut, Livin' Proof, was a rare treasure indeed, one of just a handful of non-Gang Starr albums produced entirely by Premier. The title track is vintage Primo, featuring an intermittent atonal chime motif over a gritty, oxygen-puffing loop and a perfectly scratched hook. "Suspended in Time" and "2 Thousand" have earthy, laid back grooves that recall the productions of Pete Rock, "Up Against The Wall (Getaway Car Mix)" pairs a stone-cold beat with a subtle jazz-piano figure that oozes class, and "Supa Star," a minor underground hit, has a rounded-out thud bass that in its day must have hit harder than just about anything on the market. Lil' Dap and Melachi the Nutcracker, the lyricists of Group Home, are generally considered mediocre MCs, and on their debut they are unsurprisingly outshined by the production. Their flows are far from embarrassing, however, and thanks to the beneficence of Premier, their names grace a wrongfully overlooked east coast gem.

Watch the video for Group Home's "Living Proof."

Day 8: Brill Building Pop

The Raindrops
The Raindrops

Though frequently derided by rock critics as the lost period between the short-lived explosion of authentic rock & roll in the mid-1950s and the beginning of the British invasion in late 1963, the five-year period that began when Elvis joined in the army and ended upon the US release of “I Want To Hold Your Hand” was in reality the second golden age of American popular song. Just as Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter and Harold Arlen spearheaded an age of innovation in popular songwriting at Tin Pan Alley in the 1930s, another crop of predominantly Jewish New Yorkers, this time emerging almost exclusively as composer/lyricist teams, ushered in another period of profound change to pop music in the late 50s and early 60s. Whether critics are willing to acknowledge it or not, by merging the youthful exuberance and r&b roots of rock & roll with genuine pop songwriting chops, these writers proved important inspirations for the Beatles and all those who followed them. For proof, look no further than the Beatles’ early covers of numerous Goffin/King compositions, and John Lennon’s acknowledged reverence of the duo.

The second wave of songwriters included Leiber and Stoller, Pomus and Shuman, Goffin and King, Mann and Weil, Bacharach and David, and Barry and Greenwich, all of whom worked at or near an art deco building at 1619 Broadway in midtown-Manhattan known as the Brill Building. Scholars of the era—such as Ken Emerson, who recently published the definite history, Always Magic In The Air: The Bomp and Brilliance of the Brill Building Era—are quick to point out that many of enduring classics from the era actually emerged from down the street at the less-prestigious 1650 Broadway, but Brill Building pop has stuck as a descriptor for the idiom of musical expression shared by the pop craftsmen of the entire scene. Those unfamiliar with the history are nevertheless undoubtedly familiar with many of the lasting works the era produced. Among them are Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me,” the Drifters’ “Up on the Roof,” and Dionne Warwick’s “Walk on By,” to say nothing of the dozens of a.m. gold to which Phil Spector applied his famous wall of sound.

No songwriting team was more successful at writing for Spector’s orchestral sound than that of Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. In contrast to say, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil—who wrote such songs as “He’s Sure The Boy I Love” and “(You’ve Lost) That Lovin’ Feelin’” for Spector—Barry and Greenwich had absolutely no pretenses about writing “serious” music, and were instead quite content to churn out song after song of the kind of childish naïveté perfectly suited to Spector’s jukebox grandeur. Among the brilliant results of their collaborations are “Be My Baby,” “Baby I Love You,” and “I Wonder” by the Ronettes, “Da Doo Ron Ron” and “Then He Kissed Me” by the Crystals, and “River Deep-Mountain High,” by Ike and Tina Turner.

While best known as songwriters, Barry and Greenwich are also remembered for the demos they recorded and released under the name the Raindrops. Though Greenwich never became a star in her own right, she was a more than competent singer, and the Raindrops’ self-titled 1963 LP features endearing interpretations of Barry/Greenwich songs popularized by other performers as well as a handful of obscure gems. The Raindrops’ “Da Doo Ron Ron” falls short of the Crystals’ famous recording but the ‘drops’ “Not Too Young To Get Married” holds up fairly well against the readings of Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans and Darlene Love. The real highlights, however, are songs that weren’t made famous by stars of the day. “The Kind of Boy You Can’t Forget,” which the Raindrops took to 17 on the Billboard charts, is an unsung gem filled with “diddle-iddle-iddle-it” harmonies and “That Boy’s Messin’ Up My Mind” is a tour-de-force of nearly contrapuntal “do-bop”s and “ooo-wa”s. The Raindrops debut is now widely available on a CD that includes eight bonus tracks, and for collectors, there is also the out-of-print Complete Raindrops, which contains three additional cuts.

To hear audio clips from The Raindrops, click here.

Day 7: Pub Rock

Brinsley Schwarz
Nervous on the Road

With its stripped down, rootsy approach to blues and country-based rock, pub rock stood in stark contrast to the more popular glam, prog, and hard rock of the early 70s and in doing so, it served as an important precursor to punk rock. Indeed, several fixtures of punk and new wave got their starts as members of pub rock groups, including Joe Strummer (the 101ers), Ian Dury (Kilburn & the High Roads), Elvis Costello (Flip City), and Nick Lowe (Brinsley Schwarz). Brinsley Schwarz was the finest, most important of these acts, and the band was immeasurably important to the creation of what became a pub rock circuit in England in the early 70s. Named for its lead guitarist, the group was more notable for cultivating the talents of bassist/singer-songwriter Nick Lowe. Brinsley Schwarz succeeded by combining Lowe's nascent songwriting talent with back-to-the-basics, country and blues-tinged arrangements of rock & roll. The band hit its artistic stride with the 1972 release of Nervous on the Road, which features several of Lowe's best compositions. Among the highlights are "It's Been So Long," which employs a simple but effective call and response refrain, and "Surrender to the Rhythm," which prominently features a killer melodic line on a Hammond B-3. Though Nervous on the Road may be the strongest overall statement from the group, 1974's New Favorites of Brinsley Schwarz also should not be missed for many reasons, not the least of which is that it contains Lowe's finest early composition, "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding." Conveniently, the two albums have been combined on a single, indispensable CD put out by BGO.

Brinsley Schwarz performing "Surrender to the Rhythm."

Day 6: Country-Soul

William Bell
The Soul of a Bell

Ray Charles may have been the best-known soul singer to interpret country music, but he certainly wasn’t the only one: from Charles’s landmark 1962 recording Modern Sounds in Country and Western to Solomon Burke’s recently released Nashville, soul singers have long found inspiration in the country ballad. A grossly underappreciated talent, William Bell was an early architect of the famous Stax sound but was cruelly slighted by his label in the late 60s and early 70s as it became an increasingly large and unmanageable entity on the verge of imploding. Though southern soul fans may remember him from his bona fide classic “You Don’t Miss Your Water,” few recognize his first full-length album, The Soul of a Bell (1967), for what it is: an indisputable masterwork of country-soul. “You Don’t Miss You Water,” a Bell original, is far from the only classic on The Soul of a Bell. The record also includes such slow-burners as “Everybody Loves a Winner,” “I’ve Been Loving You To Long (To Stop Now),” and an eminently tasteful and heartfelt rendition of Chips Moman’s and Dan Penn’s magnum opus “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man.” Gram Parsons, the father of country-rock, was so taken by the early Bell repertoire that he covered “You Don’t Miss Your Water” with the Byrds and “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man” with the Flying Burrito Brothers. But as moving an interpreter he was, Parsons was never able to better Bell.

To hear tracks from The Soul of a Bell, click here.

Day 5: Cowpunk

Rank and File
Sundown

We idiom idiots can only keep things broad for so long before the urge sets in to really get precise. Rank and File, who released their debut album Sundown in 1982 on Rough Trade, made music that could be accurately called college rock, jangle pop, and maybe even roots rock or new wave. No label comes closer to hitting the nail on the head and illuminating the historical context of the band, however, than cowpunk. The premise of the style is simple: combine traditional country songwriting with the terse guitar lines and propulsive rhythms of punk. Beginning and ending in the 80s, cowpunk was indeed a niche genre, but nevertheless a significant one, both as an idiom supportive of a handful of exciting acts and as an important precursor to alt-country. The value of Sundown, however, easily exceeds that of a mere period piece. Songs such as “Amanda Ruth” and “Rank and File,” rival the works of such mainstays of jangle as Let’s Active and the Feelies, but Rank and File set themselves apart from such groups with the outlaw undertones created by their distinctly cowboy bass lines. Rank and File’s discography was given the lavish Rhino Handmade treatment with The Slash Years, an individually number set limited to 2500 copies that is now out of print.

To hear audio clips of Rank and File, visit Rhino Handmade's website here.

Day 4: New Wave

Any Trouble
Where Are All The Nice Girls?

That Clive Gregson remains one of the lesser-known talents to emerge from the legendary Stiff records crew is as puzzling as it is unjust. As the lead singer and songwriter of Any Trouble, Gregson paired absurdly addictive pop classicist song structures with a lean punchy sound that fit right at home with aesthetic of such better known Stiffsters as Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello. Any Trouble’s debut Where Are All The Nice Girls? (an apt question for Valentine's Day, isn't it?) begins with its two strongest cuts: “Yesterday Love” is propulsive jangle pop at a breakneck speed while “Second Choice” has a slight ska-bounce and one of the most instantly hummable choruses to come out of the new wave. And if that’s not enough, Gregson turns in a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Growin’ Up” that not only doesn’t suck, but actually makes the Boss’s sound rather stiff. This is hands-down the best album I've ever picked up off the shelf solely on the basis of cover art and record label.

To hear tracks from Where Are All The Nice Girls? click here.

Day 3: Alternative Country-Rock

Two Dollar Pistols With Tift Merritt
Two Dollar Pistols With Tift Merritt

Country-rock duets haven’t sounded this good since the collaborations of Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris. Three years before she released her critically acclaimed debut Bramble Rose in 2002, Tift Merritt teamed with the Chapel, NC-based country outfit Two Dollar Pistols to record this stunning 7-track EP. Merritt, whose voice and face are equally gorgeous, perfectly complements Pistols’ singer John Howie Jr. Five of the cuts are exquisite covers of minor country classics, including Charley Pride’s “(I’m So Afraid) Of Losing You” and Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton’s “Just Someone I Used To Know.” Perhaps the finest moment, however, is an original: the tender opener “If Only You Were Mine,” is Grievous Angel-worthy.

To hear audio clips from Two Dollar Pistols With Tift Merritt, click here.

Day 2: Baroque Pop

Bert Sommer
The Road To Travel

Last spring, Rev-Ola records issued this forgotten baroque pop gem for the first time on CD and anyone who heard it for the first time couldn't help but wonder how this gorgeous set stayed under the radar for so long. Sommer, whose CV included a brief stint with the founders of baroque 'n roll, the Left Banke, and the role of second-lead in the Broadway production of Hair, released his debut album on Capitol records in 1968 and later performed a set from the album at Woodstock. In a voice that combined the nasal tenor of Donovan with the eccentric grandeur of Jeff Buckley, Sommer belted out folk-pop ballads that frequently encorporated orchestral arrangements. The highlight of Sommer's debut is undoubtedly "Things Are Goin' My Way," a majestic pocket symphony that couples a twinkling arrangement of Spectorish-naivete with a heart-stoppingly emphatic vocal.

To hear tracks from The Road to Travel, including "Things Are Goin' My Way," click here.

Day 1: Singer/Songwriter

Catherine Howe
What a Beautiful Place

The do-no-wrong reissue outfit the Numero Group has elicited its fair share of critical drool since its inception in 2003, but the praise is well-deserved, so don't expect a contrarian stance here. Best known for its Eccentric Soul series, which delivers periodic doses of soul fetishism in snack-sized quantities, the Chicago based label has also put out great releases running the gamut from gospel to world music and even power pop. The Numero Group's latest release NUM012 (01.30.07), is the first CD issue of the 1971 debut album by obscure English singer-songwriter Catherine Howe. Sandy Denny meets Carole King on this wistful and breezy slice of pastoral folk-jazz. Come on, Edin, let's go frolic in the rolling green hills!

To hear audio clips of What a Beautiful Place, visit the Numero Group website here.

Seymour Idiots

Meet the original idiom idiot.

-----

Enid: We need to find a place where you can go...to meet women
who share your interests.

Seymour: Maybe I don't want to meet someone who shares my
interests. I hate my interests.

Enid: List your five main interests in order of importance.

Seymour: I'd have to put traditional jazz, blues...and then ragtime
at the top of the list.

Enid: Right, so let's just say music. That way, we only use up one.

Seymour: All right.

-----

Seymour: That was great music, huh?

Red-Haired Girl: Yeah, I just love blues.

Seymour: Actually, technically, what he was mostly playing...
would more accurately be classified in the ragtime idiom.
Although, of course, not in the strictest sense...of the classical
ragtime piano music...like that of Scott Joplin or Joseph Lamb.
Authentic blues has a more conventional...twelve-bar
structure in its stanzas.

-----

Ghost World (2001)