Difficult Music

I had a good old-fashioned Mule Saturday morning last week. After chaining the belter to a chair in front of the computer (an act of Tough Love), I went downtown to buy records. Oh, it was good.

I hit A&B first, in search of the new Spock’s Beard album. They had it in stock, but at $35 I decided to pass. I owe the Beard some hard-earned cash after getting their last album as a promo, but right then and there I decided to go the mail-order route for the new release.

After a poke around Noize!, I took a deep breath and visited Al at Crosstown Music. Every time I go there he ends up cornering me with one of his conspiracy theories, but on this morning he was occupied with other customers. I snuck into the back room and hunted around, finding most of what I came for, and something I wasn’t expecting to find.

The rundown:
Kate Bush: Lionheart
This album rounds out my collection of early Kate. We’ve been batting around the topic of “What’s the deal with Kate Bush?” recently. Can you imagine Kate Bush emerging in today’s music scene? “We signed this kid. 19. She’s real easy on the eyes, but she thinks she’s an artiste with those crazy songs and all that dancing around like a fruitcake. I like the leotard, but it ain’t gonna fly with the kids. Lemme call Avril Lavigne’s people, and we’ll get her sorted out.” The pictures in her early album sleeves—all soft focus and glam—indicate that the record company was working the ruby-lipped chanteuse angle, but nobody laughed patronizingly at Kate Bush for taking her music wherever she wanted to take it. Is such artistic continuity still possible? Are female pop stars still allowed to “mature” unless, like the post-“Y Kant Tori Read” Tori Amos and the Glen Ballard-produced Alanis, they’re marketed from the outset as “serious” artists?

Led Zeppelin: In Through the Out Door
We’re replenishing the Zep catalog now that the belter has moved away from her roomates’ record collection. A singular sort of Led Zeppelin album, but weren’t they all? Side one begins with much rocking, then turns playful, what with Fool in the Rain (complete with samba part) and Hot Dog. Side two is heavier, but still rippled with newfangled turn-of-the-’80s keyboards. That solo on All of My Love is sure moogtastic. Despite the new instruments and the couple “novelty” tunes, it sounds as otherworldly as Zeppelin ever did.

Keith Jarrett: The Koln Concert
A find! Two LPs worth of Keith going way out on a pianistic limb in 1975.

Archer Prewitt: Three
Got this at Scratch after reading a review at Pop Matters. I like this best when it busts out the flutes & string section. Despite its inoffensive nature, it’s growing on me.

I returned home to the belter, who had been her usual amazing self and written a buttload of new stuff, split a box of KD for lunch, and fired up the turntable for the rest of the afternoon.