'Naked Songs Live and Acoustic' was released in September 1995 on the Reprise Records label, and was produced by Rickie Lee and Russ Titelman.
As much as I love Rickie Lee, her discography and her live shows are uneven to say the least. So when 'Naked Songs Live and Acoustic' was released, my expectations were somewhat low. Boy was I wrong!
This is a brilliantly intimate concert album that strips down her idiosyncratic, jazz-infused catalog, highlighting the "lifeblood" of each song. The performances feature minimal arrangements that place her poetry and vocal style at the forefront.
Rickie Lee relies solely on her acoustic guitar or piano. This album also serves as a great reminder of her incredible guitar and piano skills. Her deft fretwork and rhythmic play shine through clearly without any external instrumentation. That said, bassist Rob Wasserman makes a guest appearance on two tracks, "Chuck E.’s in Love" and "Autumn Leaves".
Tracklist
1. The Horses
2. Weasel and the White Boys Cool
3. Altar Boy
4. It Must Be Love
5. Young Blood
6. The Last Chance Texaco
7. Skeletons
8. Magazine
9. Living It Up
10. We Belong Together
11. Coolsville
12. Flying Cowboys
13. Stewart's Coat
14. Chuck E.'s in Love
15. Autumn Leaves
For the freeload, let’s discuss artists or groups you like, but whose work you find inconsistent or uneven.
Neil Young, because his best is so good
ReplyDeleteZappa. There's great to amazing stuff on all his albums, but, sadly there are also a few tracks that I always skip over. Sorta like Neil...
ReplyDeleteBrian Wilson and the Stones. Some unbelievable songs and some drek - Stones live are uneven based on the 4 times I have seen them.
ReplyDeleteBuddy of mine in NO hosts a party in his sideyard every year in October and usually has a local band playing. The year that Rickie Lee Jones moved back to NO (around 2012), she was riding her bike in the neighborhood, heard the music, stopped and sat in on a few tunes.
Brian Wilson and the Stones!
DeleteLucky I forgot about Rush.
DeleteAll of the above and: any musician who a.) spent too much time following the advice of the record company, b.) allowed bad lifestyle choices to interfere with their creativity, c.) Bob Dylan, d.) Todd Rundgren....
ReplyDeleteGood evening, in my opinion: Pink Floyd, Zappa/Mothers, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Madonna, and many others. Even the Beatles (although, compositionally speaking—with Lennon and McCartney—they were certainly among the best, some of their albums are actually overrated and benefit from a "Beatles bonus"). Have a lovely early evening. Best regards, Mike P.S. Which artist has made *exclusively* good albums or music? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on that...
ReplyDelete"Which artist has made *exclusively* good albums or music? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on that..."
ReplyDeleteThat's a good question, and one for another day!
Okay, apologies - just wanted to be the first: The Rolling Stones. Never made a bad record.
DeleteUhm, I'll bite: say more. Because, tbh...
Deleteor as I (too often) said to students when presented with curious claims, let's unpack this together...
DeleteThey've made albums that didn't conform to expectations (following current trends rather than being "true to their roots", frinstance), but none of them is categorically bad, as in badly composed or performed. We should never overthink a Stones album, because they don't. They just turn up and do the Stones thing, whatever that happens to be at the time. I like some albums more than others, like everybody else, but I've never soured on any of them. The ultimate singles band (nobody does a greater greatest hits), the ultimate live band, the ultimate albums band. And their next one's going to be pretty damn fine, from what I've heard, because of course it is.
DeleteNeil Young should definitely top any list.
ReplyDeleteQueen is a prime candidate, a discography with quite some highs and some lows, that even goes for a bunch of their albums.
I love Cheap Trick, but uneven really covers their catalogue pretty well...
Agree with all of the above and Lou would extend to the VU too. My first thought was the Stones, second was the Dead, third was the Allman Brothers--who could possibly sustain it across so much (which is why Neil is a great starting place) and per the insightful questions above, who has made consistently excellent recordings...consistently good I feel like I could cobble together. In each of these cases and others already mentioned, part of it is, as noted above, when the good is so good, the relative lows can seem all the more disappointing. Which is what can make one hit wonders so astounding--who, what, why, where, when, and how did these schlockmeisters pull this one outta their asses?
ReplyDeleteY'all always make me think; thanks
i think part of the problem has often been the nature of recording contracts where for contractual reasons bands have to serve something up. If the creative juices aren't flowering properly at a particular time then you are going to end up with uneven content in some of the releases. You only have to look at the early albums of the Jam. The first (In The City) was a great debut but the second (Modern World) was rushed and patchy as a result of the contract whilst the 3rd and 4th (All Mod Cons & Setting Sons) were sublime but then after a decent 5th album (Sounds Affects) their final album (the Gift) was all over the place before Weller broke up the band and went off to create the Style Council where the cycle began again with a decent first album a great second an OK third album and a 4th album so disappointing that his label Polydor dropped the band at the end of the 1980's.
ReplyDeleteSo without a record contract Weller reinvented himself for the 2nd time and the cycle began again albeit this time he seems to have reached a level where after 3 or 4 truly excellent albums he's maintained a constant and decent but to me never outstanding quality for all his subsequent releases.
I loved Cafe Bleu by The Style Council. Such an eccentric and diverse album.
Delete*gives pmac side-eye*
DeleteAgreed about Rickie Lee Jones...I keep trying, but unlike Chuck E. I'm not very often in love with her albums as a whole.
ReplyDeletePerry Farrell of Jane's Addiction - what came before (Psi-Com) and after (Porno for Pyros etc.) wasn't great, unlike Jane's...
~ Jon
Link
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/Z5M9RZUXnjU
FLAC only?
DeleteIs FLAC a problem?
Deleteit just a pain in the posterior on a mac. love your blog.
DeleteOn iTunes, I would agree.
DeleteTry using MediaHuman, with it you can convert music in formats like MP3, AAC, WMA, OGG, etc. as well as in lossless formats like FLAC, Apple Lossless, AIFF, WAV (up to 32 bit), and it's free.
https://www.mediahuman.com/audio-converter/
thanks. i'll try that.
DeleteBill Callahan. and yet he still gets rave reviews.
ReplyDeleteHey, no one has mentioned Van The Man. What gives? From Astral Weeks to St. Dominic's Preview (5 in a row!) followed by decades of only occasional brilliance and more than occasional mediocrity...
ReplyDeleteI've got to second the nominations above for Bob Dylan whose early career was brilliant but some later releases were disappointing to say the least..
ReplyDeleteIn jazz, George Benson has put out some amazing records. But sometimes, the Jheri curl factor coupled with easy listening jazz material tended to obscure his artistry.
Three Dog Night comes to mind, as well as Frank Zappa
ReplyDeleteBabs - the Rickie live acoustic is FANTASTIC! I had never heard it before. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy, Thames!
DeleteMaybe we can explain something from the context and especially the historical context of the music industry ... in the 80's most musicians I like(d) were producing some rather dissapointing albums: Dylan, CSN, Neil Young, Clapton, and so on. In the 90's and definitely since the 2000's the music of many good artists emancipated from the industrial (mainstream) sound schemes. There are different individual "returning years" ... Rickie Lee Jones is a good example of rejecting the commercial senses of the times.
ReplyDeleteDear Babs. Really enjoyed this album, thank you. The 1979 album was enormously popular here in Oz. I still have it. Her voice was exceptional.
ReplyDeleteThe above comment is mine.
ReplyDelete