MUSIC BLOG

This is the place where I yap about the music I listen to, including favorite albums and my thoughts.

I don't own any copyrighted images shown. Use your brain.

STEELY DAN - AJA

I'm gonna revamp this blog a bit by not putting essays here. I've already known Josie since my jazz band days, but I actually gave the album a listen a little while ago and it's such a groove. Maybe I'm just old. I also, as I often do to see what the General Public (scary) thinks of music that I like, checked rateyourmusic, and I saw a bit about it sounding 'commercial'. It does, I guess. It's mixed really well, I could wax poetic about pre-loudness wars mixing again. It's clean enough to eat from. It may not be avant-garde but they do what they do very well, and everything's just so damn catchy! They also really love E7#9 chords.

I also just wanted to add that Deacon Blues is such a groove, and both relatable and cautionary, as an artist trying to find my place... while trying NOT to die of death from my own vices. It's my current earworm as I write this.

QUINCY JONES - THE DUDE

Man, I'm surprised I hadn't listened to The Dude sooner. I listened to the full album a week ago, and it's already a favorite of mine. It's a great mix of groovy (not glooby), jovial, but heartfelt in pieces like Just Once and One Hundred Ways, and the composition brings it out so nicely.

To point out a few tracks, I love the way that Betcha Wouldn't Hurt Me's guitar and brass synth almost flick your ears. It really takes advantage of the space, very stereo. In general, I love the mixing in this album so much. The horns on Ai No Corrida and The Dude are just so nice to the ears, I'm envious of proper brass recording. I also need to point out Velas; great synths, a nice mellow groove, and of course, the stellar harmonica work by Toots Thielemans. I've fallen in love with Thielemans's work on The Brasil Project around a year ago, this was such a pleasant surprise.

It's a breath of fresh air listening to an album that also isn't cranked all the way up. Everything has space in the mix, and it's put together so tightly and cleanly. I feel like I've lost this with the way I've handled compression. As much as louder tends to sound better, the mixing here shows that there was really something to the spaciousness of older albums. It serves a tight, very stereo arrangment such as Jones's work here very well.

Writing like this is new to me and yapping in here feels a bit strange, but I've waited about a week for the chance to write this down. I also have to mention the little Dude statue, he's got an aura like no other. Damn right, he deserves his face on an album like this. Great stuff.