TDDS - 2020 Shelter-in-Place on a Desert Island Music Draft - BONUS 5

[hrdboild]

Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home (1965)​

(https://www.allmusic.com/album/bringing-it-all-back-home-mw0000193642)

01. Subterranean Homesick Blues
02. She Belongs to Me
03. Maggie's Farm
04. Love Minus Zero/No Limit
05. Outlaw Blues
06. On the Road Again
07. Bob Dylan's 115th Dream
08. Mr. Tambourine Man
09. Gates of Eden
10. It's Alright , Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
11. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue​

You know how when you're a kid and taste beer for the first time you can't imagine a world where you would ever want to drink it? And then one day you just wake up and realize that it has happened to you too, you like beer now, and it feels like some kind of impassable threshold of adulthood has been broached. That's more or less how I discovered that I like Bob Dylan. I remember hearing his songs on the radio every now and then as a kid and sortof screwing up my face a bit. People listen to this man sing... voluntarily? I don't even remember who introduced me to his albums or why but as a young adult leaving the extended adolescence of college and embarking on the challenge of getting a real job for the first time I fell hard for the sardonic wit, the wandering troubadour romanticism, and even that sneering nasally voice I had once scoffed at.

This album and the two that came after it spanning the years 1965 to 1966, the "Judas" period (basically this, in more modern parlance), are almost just one big album to me and any of them would have been appropriate choices here. The other album he released in 1965 has his most iconic song on it and the album after that has the best musical arrangements of the three but this album is the most fun. I swear I didn't do this on purpose, but I've inadvertently grouped three albums together that were recorded by precocious songwriters who seemingly had already summit-ed to the pinnacle of their creative powers at the age of 23. It does make sense though. That's the age when you head out and attack the world feeling like you're primed and ready to flip it all upside down. And the music that comes out of that feeling is naturally some pretty heady stuff.

I don't have anything new to say about Mr. Tambourine Man. To me it's basically a perfect song. And Bob Dylan's 115th Dream, no doubt written in the middle of the night with a cigarette dangling and a single lamp on in a fever rush of inspiration. It occurs to me now that I've basically just been trying to write my own versions of these songs for the last 15 years.

 

[hrdboild]

Great pick! Stockhausen's work is incredible.

I appreciate you two for all these choices because you're both introducing me to so much new music!

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Johnny Cash - American IV: When the Man Comes Around

Subtitle: Why yes, R2, Johnny Cash did in fact do the best cover of Personal Jesus.

Ok, so when this was briefly spoilered, I thought well that's ok if I don't get it because all of the American recordings are great, and it doesn't matter if I get the one with the hugely popular track that came to define this series because these are all so good you can't go wrong (and I was really dang close to picking a different one). Incidentally that's why I took the American Recordings Unearthed box set back when we did the soundtracks, comps, and sets draft shortly after the original island draft.

Then I went through each album track by tack and realized that even without Hurt, this thing is the best of the bunch.

First of all, there is the title track which is easily the last great song Johnny wrote. Then Hurt. Ok, this was brilliant, touching, seeing the video made me cry, because at the time I knew Johnny was hanging on for June, only for her to die about a month after this was released. I was shocked and knew then that we'd be losing Johnny soon (incidentally - he would pass the same day that Tex Ritter's (track 9) son passed, I remember that day a bit too well).

Then you've got Give My Love to Rose. Easily one of my top 5 Johnny songs from his early years, re-recorded for these sessions. Bridge Over Troubled Water. First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. In My Life. Danny Boy. Desperado. I'm So Lonesome..., Wichita Lineman, Big Iron. These are iconic songs, the latter bunch traditional country staples that are fantastic adds to my collection and Johnny does all of them justice.

But then you also get I Hung My Head, a Sting original that is really just Johnny's bread and butter murder-ballad (with the minor twist that this one was accidental). And the Depeche Mode cover. And he kills this. And knowing Johnny was a man of intense faith makes it all the more powerful.

Ok, Hurt. Great. Amazing. But it really does not do this album justice to focus on it. Take it out and this is still A++++ material. I'm a huge Johnny Cash fan. When you walk in the door of my house, you are greeted by Johnny flipping you the bird. My partner absolutely hates this and my son questions the reactions of his friend's parents when they visit. But IT'S NEVER COMING DOWN. I'm stoked to add this to my collection.

Original double LP record release
Side A
1. The Man Comes Around
2. Hurt
3. Give My Love to Rose
4. Bridge Over Troubled Water (with Fiona Apple)

Side B
5. I Hung My Head
6. First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
7. Personal Jesus
8. In My Life

Side C
9. Sam Hall
10. Danny Boy
11. Desperado (with Don Henley)
12. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (duet with Nick Cave)
13. Streets of Laredo

Side D
14. Wichita Lineman
15. Big Iron
16. Tear Stained Letter
17. We'll Meet Again (with The Whole Cash Gang)

Sadly, we would not. RIP Johnny.

 

[Cojc]

Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home (1965)​

(https://www.allmusic.com/album/bringing-it-all-back-home-mw0000193642)​

You know how when you're a kid and taste beer for the first time you can't imagine a world where you would ever want to drink it? And then one day you just wake up and realize that it has happened to you too, you like beer now, and it feels like some kind of impassable threshold of adulthood has been broached. That's more or less how I discovered that I like Bob Dylan. I remember hearing his songs on the radio every now and then as a kid and sortof screwing up my face a bit. People listen to this man sing... voluntarily? I don't even remember who introduced me to his albums or why but as a young adult leaving the extended adolescence of college and embarking on the challenge of getting a real job for the first time I fell hard for the sardonic wit, the wandering troubadour romanticism, and even that sneering nasally voice I had once scoffed at.

This album and the two that came after it spanning the years 1965 to 1966, the "Judas" period (basically this, in more modern parlance), are almost just one big album to me and any of them would have been appropriate choices here. The other album he released in 1965 has his most iconic song on it and the album after that has the best musical arrangements of the three but this album is the most fun. I swear I didn't do this on purpose, but I've inadvertently grouped three albums together that were recorded by precocious songwriters who seemingly had already summit-ed to the pinnacle of their creative powers at the age of 23. It does make sense though. That's the age when you head out and attack the world feeling like you're primed and ready to flip it all upside down. And the music that comes out of that feeling is naturally some pretty heady stuff.

I don't have anything new to say about Mr. Tambourine Man. To me it's basically a perfect song. And Bob Dylan's 115th Dream, no doubt written in the middle of the night with a cigarette dangling and a single lamp on in a fever rush of inspiration. It occurs to me now that I've basically just been trying to write my own versions of these songs for the last 15 years.

Well in my dumb thinking I figured Dylan was kinda safe and boy I was wrong. One of my best friends passed a few years ago and he would play Dylan’s songs on his guitar. Spent a lot of time hanging out and spent my life time listening to Dylan.
I have too many of his songs that to me are great and mean a lot. I also have one of his CDs in my cars stereo right now. So if I went out and started my car Dylan would be playing. Now for me one of the songs is the reason it’s in my cars player and fortunately for me its not on the one you chose.

I wasn’t involved with this forum the last time so I have no idea what is kinda safe or not. I find it comforting that many here still listen to some of the oldies.

What I do know is mr tambourine man is a great song, heck I like most all of his early works.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Johnny Cash's Hurt = Top Three cover of all time, and it ain't #3.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Johnny Cash's Hurt = Top Three cover of all time, and it ain't #3.

I totally appreciate this and yet a very large chunk of Johnny's material was covers, many of which he has come to definitively own. There's a case to be made that it isn't even in his personal top 3. But that would probably be arguing against my own pick?

So... Nevermind.

I will say this though. The overwhelming majority of covers of Johnny Cash I have heard are just absolutely terrible, and it's not for vocal ability.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

Johnny Cash's Hurt = Top Three cover of all time, and it ain't #3.

So...kinda like Pearl Jam?

 

[hrdboild]

Well in my dumb thinking I figured Dylan was kinda safe and boy I was wrong. One of my best friends passed a few years ago and he would play Dylan’s songs on his guitar. Spent a lot of time hanging out and spent my life time listening to Dylan.
I have too many of his songs that to me are great and mean a lot. I also have one of his CDs in my cars stereo right now. So if I went out and started my car Dylan would be playing. Now for me one of the songs is the reason it’s in my cars player and fortunately for me its not on the one you chose.

I wasn’t involved with this forum the last time so I have no idea what is kinda safe or not. I find it comforting that many here still listen to some of the oldies.

What I do know is mr tambourine man is a great song, heck I like most all of his early works.

I actually had a different Bob Dylan album all ready to go in this spot until yesterday so maybe things still worked out. I've been listening to each album as I decide what to write about them and I called an audible at the last minute when I realized that this is really the album that means the most to me. So many of them are great though.

I've also realized that I have little tolerance for "good" singing. I find it fatiguing to listen to singers who are always note-perfect or even worse, showing off. If there's something a little bit loose and ramshackle about it, if it has that extra bit of juice that makes it unique only to that one person, that's what I really dig. Which is probably pretty obvious given my choices so far.

Also, this is only the second one of these drafts I've been a part of (the last one being a movie draft) but I also glanced through the previous album draft to scout the competition a bit.... Don't be fooled by some of the more obvious early picks. As we get into the middle and late rounds, nothing is safe!

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

So...kinda like Pearl Jam?

You got jokes.

Anyway, as far as covers go, I want to give a shout-out to Postmodern Jukebox. I feel comfortable mentioning them since, as I understand the rules, their entire discography is prohibited as "tribute" (literally every song on every album is a cover). My favorite PMJ cover so far featured vocalist Maiya Sykes (whom I think is also safe to mention, since she doesn't have any albums released), doing a very soulful rendition of "Zombie."

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I've also realized that I have little tolerance for "good" singing. I find it fatiguing to listen to singers who are always note-perfect or even worse, showing off. If there's something a little bit loose and ramshackle about it, if it has that extra bit of juice that makes it unique only to that one person, that's what I really dig. Which is probably pretty obvious given my choices so far.

Technical performance is well and good but it's just one aspect to the total package. A lot of technically proficient singers are saddled with garbage material to work with. Or they try to take on something someone has already owned and run circles around it technically while losing all of the feel. And for at least 25 years now it doesn't even matter because they just pitch correct all pop music that isn't perfect (and quantize the drums/rhythm, record to click, and can cut in and out with whichever DAW 100000000x until everything is perfect). Which is why now producers are bigger stars than performers.

I think I just did an old man get off my lawn

 

[pdxKingsFan]

You got jokes.

Anyway, as far as covers go, I want to give a shout-out to Postmodern Jukebox. I feel comfortable mentioning them since, as I understand the rules, their entire discography is prohibited as "tribute" (literally every song on every album is a cover). My favorite PMJ cover so far featured vocalist Maiya Sykes (whom I think is also safe to mention, since she doesn't have any albums released), doing a very soulful rendition of "Zombie."

Is that right? I thought the tribute rule was for things like "A Tribute to Johnny Cash" which had 10 artists each singing a song. Not a single artist that does new spins on past material - that would effectively render some artists, including a number of Johnny's own albums off the table.

I don't plan on picking any similar artists this go round so I have no dog in this hunt either way.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

PMJ doesn't cover singular artists. They are, themselves, essentially a band that has rotating guest vocalists. Who they cover depends on who the guest vocalist is/are.

@VF21 is running this thing so, if she wants to allow those type of albums, then I guess these posts will have to be deleted; when I ran the original one of these, I did not allow albums of this type.

 

[VF21]

PMJ doesn't cover singular artists. They are, themselves, essentially a band that has rotating guest vocalists. Who they cover depends on who the guest vocalist is/are.

@VF21 is running this thing so, if she wants to allow those type of albums, then I guess these posts will have to be deleted; when I ran the original one of these, I did not allow albums of this type.

Your rules are the guiding force, unless I have specifically changed them. I did not change that particular rule - nor would I.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I could swear last time I picked an album by a "cover band" which is the only reason I was confused. Maybe because they had a stable lineup across the album? Don't want to pick them this time so moot point either way My tastes haven't really changed, they've just grown.

 

[hrdboild]

Technical performance is well and good but it's just one aspect to the total package. A lot of technically proficient singers are saddled with garbage material to work with. Or they try to take on something someone has already owned and run circles around it technically while losing all of the feel. And for at least 25 years now it doesn't even matter because they just pitch correct all pop music that isn't perfect (and quantize the drums/rhythm, record to click, and can cut in and out with whichever DAW 100000000x until everything is perfect). Which is why now producers are bigger stars than performers.

I think I just did an old man get off my lawn

I call that the robotic chipmunk chorus. It's an obscene affront to decent music. But it's become so ubiquitous now that we have an entire generation who actually thinks that's what the human voice sounds like. There are people out there who get legitimate enjoyment out of cyborged vocals as an artistic choice, and that's perfectly fine. But trying to pass that off as anything other than a deliberate stylization is what gets me all Clint Eastwoodey...

Yes, your quadruple-tracked pitch-shifted vocal is fake! I don't care that everyone else is doing it too, it's still fake. Just own it. Maybe then actual singing can have a place in the spotlight again. This insistence on computerized perfection is in the same category to me as people who think there are right notes and wrong notes and music is some kind of paint by numbers set where you have to follow the rules or you're not doing it right. There are entire YouTube channels dedicated to mocking artists for singing "wrong" which really just means they aren't playing by your rules as you understand them. Back in the day we used to celebrate people for doing that-- for being vulnerable, exposing their flaws and triumphing despite them. Now we insist that they polish them away.

See, I sound like a ranting lunatic now... OK Boomer, right? I don't think it's necessarily that middle-aged and older people are stuck in the past or out of touch though, I think you just gain perspective as you get older and that perspective allows you to see the culture from the outside and have an opinion about it. I only realize that now because I can appreciate in retrospect how limited my perspective was when I was still in my early 20s. But that's the privilege of youth. I work with 18-22 year olds every day and some of the things they say... I just smile though cause I know that they'll figure it out for themselves in their own time. And then I apologize to my parents a lot.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

The "kids" I work with are a bit older and they are all type As and kinda ridiculous at times but … ahh.

I watched a video of a guy making a song on guitar. He was in Logic and he punched in and out every 2-3 seconds it seemed. I just can't. That's not a song. That's why 14 year old me grew frustrated and gave up by the end of high school because I couldn't play everything perfect. At the end of my work days during this I have been spending an hour learning a new riff or lead and posting it on Instagram and facebook. Not totally perfect but it does take me plenty of takes to get it mistake free enough to share. I would never track it 10 notes at a time and then mime it though. geeeez.

unrelated, but I totally pm'd @Spike immediately after my pick, btw.

 

[Spike]

unrelated, but I totally pm'd @Spike immediately after my pick, btw.

You did. Sorry. I'm on it.

 

[Padrino]

I call that the robotic chipmunk chorus. It's an obscene affront to decent music. But it's become so ubiquitous now that we have an entire generation who actually thinks that's what the human voice sounds like. There are people out there who get legitimate enjoyment out of cyborged vocals as an artistic choice, and that's perfectly fine. But trying to pass that off as anything other than a deliberate stylization is what gets me all Clint Eastwoodey...

Yes, your quadruple-tracked pitch-shifted vocal is fake! I don't care that everyone else is doing it too, it's still fake. Just own it. Maybe then actual singing can have a place in the spotlight again. This insistence on computerized perfection is in the same category to me as people who think there are right notes and wrong notes and music is some kind of paint by numbers set where you have to follow the rules or you're not doing it right. There are entire YouTube channels dedicated to mocking artists for singing "wrong" which really just means they aren't playing by your rules as you understand them. Back in the day we used to celebrate people for doing that-- for being vulnerable, exposing their flaws and triumphing despite them. Now we insist that they polish them away.

See, I sound like a ranting lunatic now... OK Boomer, right? I don't think it's necessarily that middle-aged and older people are stuck in the past or out of touch though, I think you just gain perspective as you get older and that perspective allows you to see the culture from the outside and have an opinion about it. I only realize that now because I can appreciate in retrospect how limited my perspective was when I was still in my early 20s. But that's the privilege of youth. I work with 18-22 year olds every day and some of the things they say... I just smile though cause I know that they'll figure it out for themselves in their own time. And then I apologize to my parents a lot.

Well, I think that pitch correction is so ubiquitous now that it's not really seen as anything other than a deliberate stylistic choice. Listeners' ears have been trained to spot Auto-Tune, so artists have shifted from trying to cover up their lack of singing ability to embracing digital wizardry to morph their less-than-perfect voices into interesting shapes.

That's not to say that there aren't genuine offenders out there (oddly enough, it's contemporary radio "rock" musicians who seem the most enamored with pitch correction and multi-tracking their vox). But few of pop music's biggest artists in 2020 are utilizing it as a means to achieve studio perfection. In fact, this year's Grammy queen has been oft-criticized as a "mumbler" in her songs. Any effects she might apply to her voice are definitely not an attempt to compensate.

And this is all coming from a 33-year-old lover of music who has very little interest in the Top-40, and whom could hardly be considered an expert in what the kids like nowadays. I'm also 100% with you on owning a preference for imperfect voices (my second pick in this draft is certainly evidence of that). But I also have a deep love for electronic music, and stylistic pitch correction plays a huge role in a lot of the music I adore. Technological advances regularly herald interesting choices in just about any artistic discipline.

Anyway, this discussion has now solidified the next pick in my draft.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I think pitch-correction is still used in less obvious ways (and like @Padrino says, it's often in radio-friendly "rock") kind of like CGI effects are really obvious when they are bad but oftentimes unseen/noticed. But when it's done in music it really robs us of something. And I do think the quantized drums and rhythms are even worse as they rob us of a human groove. And they are doing this in live music now too!

I guess they haven't been mentioned yet, but there was a certain 3-piece punk rock band that now has 3 guitarists back stage and their guitarist in the band has a tech guy switching his pedals during the concerts now. I'm sorry but that bothers me.

 

[Spike]

There are a few Ozzy Albums that I was deliberating over. But ultimately, the guitar wizardry of Randy Rhoads is was put me solidly in the "Blizzard Of Ozz" camp. Mr. Crowley is one of my ATF rock songs. Rhoads' work is impeccable, and I think Ozzy is at his best vocally. Yes. I know Crazy Train is here, but that's honestly not why I'm picking this album. Truth be told, it's overdone. I blame NFL/NCAA stadiums. Goodbye to Romance is a solid ballad, and if you haven't heard Steal Away, I strongly recommend it (it's a rocker for sure!). Dee is a beautifully catchy ballad, too.

The album was such a departure from Ozzy's previous work and it solidly demonstrated his ability to stand on his own two feet to deliver a monster sound all on his own.


1. "I Don't Know"
2. "Crazy Train"
3. "Goodbye to Romance"
4. "Dee"
5. "Suicide Solution"
6. "Mr. Crowley"
7. "No Bone Movies"
8. "Revelation (Mother Earth)"
9. "Steal Away (The Night)"

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

If I'm going to have to shelter-in-place, that's going to mean extended Civ4 campaigns. That also means that, at some point, I'm going to want to enjoy some easy listening in the background, while I get my Civ on. I'm sure that some of this band's more hardcore fans will take umbrage to me describing them as "easy listening" but, such is life...

U2 - Achtung Baby (1991)


While I was stationed on my first ship, we were allowed to bring CD's into the work space to listen to, but we weren't allowed to wear headphones, so we all had to take turns picking the music. One of the people in my watch section played a lot of music that I wasn't really here for, but this album was one of the few that caught on with me... Never bought a physical copy, but when streaming platforms started to get hot, I found myself playing this every now and then. Achtung Baby peaked at Number One on the US charts, and was certified platinum (or better) in fourteen countries.



Track listing (links provided to songs released as singles):

1. "Zoo Station"
2. "Even Better Than the Real Thing"
3. "One"
4. "Until the End of the World"
5. "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses"
6. "So Cruel"
7. "The Fly"
8. "Mysterious Ways"
9. "Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World"
10. "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)"
11. "Acrobat"
12. "Love Is Blindness"

Source: Wikipedia

 

[pdxKingsFan]

View attachment 9677

Good pick. I definitely had it down the list but probably not making my cut. I may pick something by Ozzy still. I just … not sure what it is, but I don't love him as much as I did in 1988? Was it the TV shows? The way he spit out guitarists and erased legendary musicians from his recordings (ok that's probably on Sharon)? The fact that he first had his final tour in 1992 or 93? I dunno.

Randy however is a guitar god and I can't believe we lost him to something so cavalier and reckless and this has 4 songs as good or better than Crazy Train plus Dee. Solid!

 

[pdxKingsFan]

U2 - Achtung Baby (1991)

Not what I would have guessed from your prior hints. But I think the last good thing they did and some good stuff there.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

U2 - Achtung Baby (1991)

New rule: Slim can only pick albums from 1991.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

With my sixth pick in the Shelter-In-Place Album Draft, I select:

Rumours - Fleetwood Mac (1977)

Track List:
1 Second Hand News
2 Dreams
3 Never Going Back Again
4 Don't Stop
5 Go Your Own Way
6 Songbird
7 The Chain
8 You Make Loving Fun
9 I Don't Want to Know
10 Oh Daddy
11 Gold Dust Woman

I'll admit to being more of a casual fan of Fleetwood Mac, but as an album Rumours is a veritable embarrassment of riches. It came during a period of inter-band relationship break-ups, which means you can practically hear Lindsey Buckingham sneer at Stevie Nicks as he sings "Go Your Own Way". On top of that classic there are three more singles on the album - "Dreams", "Don't Stop", and "You Make Loving Fun", all of which made the eventual greatest hits album, and the ubiquitous rock radio track "The Chain" which probably should have. But on top of the star power at the top of the lineup, what makes Rumours special is the strength of the second-tier tracks. "Second Hand News", "Songbird", "I Don't Want To Know" and "Gold Dust Woman" all stand out.

The track I decided to feature is another second-tier track, but one that I can't get away from due the bright and jangly guitar picking:

(PM sent)

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Not what I would have guessed from your prior hints. But I think the last good thing they did and some good stuff there.

Just count your blessings that this isn't a serpentine draft, is all I'm saying.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Just count your blessings that this isn't a serpentine draft, is all I'm saying.

I'm not working off a list here. I'm definitely grabbing stuff that is slightly more universal in my first half than I did way back, but I'm still maybe settling on things round to round.

Unless you're talking about stuff I've already picked?

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Without going into specifics, there were a pair of albums that came out in 1991 that I would have definitely snagged, if this were were a serpentine draft; not crazy about the idea of burning a high pick on either one of them, though, and reticent to draft one without being reasonably confident that I could get both.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Rumours - Fleetwood Mac (1977)

Back when the Hendrix album was picked and @hrdboild noted that Purple Haze was not on it, I immediately started to think about how Silver Springs was excluded from this album and how these may be two of the best songs not released originally on album, while wondering what other great songs would be excluded from this draft for that reason.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Without going into specifics, there were a pair of albums that came out in 1991 that I would have definitely snagged, if this were were a serpentine draft; not crazy about the idea of burning a high pick on either one of them, though, and reticent to draft one without being reasonably confident that I could get both.

GOT IT