Wind the window down and pinch me on the shoulder
Continuing my trip up #album-of-the-day...
Another one I've not heard yet, and I'm expecting this to fall squarely into the "impressive, yet impressively pointless" category in which I place Steely Dan. And yeah, it's very yacht-y - smooth, but generally a bit irrelevant for me. I don't mind "New Frontier", but I'd have to say "Ruby Baby" is particularly shit.
The channel gave this three thumbs up and one "I've never listened to any Steely Dan spin-off stuff" comment - but no verdict! Wikipedia has way more on the album than I was expecting (232 milliPeppers) - lots of random stuff included in there. Apparently subjects covered by the album are "late-night jazz disc jockeys, fallout shelters, and tropical vacations" (obviously), it was one of the first fully digital albums and it was basically, a pain in the ass to record. But it was successfully both critically (7 Grammy nominations, apparently) and commercially - #11 in the US. It only got to #44 in the UK, but still managed to go platinum which suggests it was a bit of a slow-build word-of-mouth album.
"Customers also listened to" Steely Dan and Walter Becker - no-one expected that. And Joe Jackson, who I can see is in a similar vein but I actually don't mind. But I'm afraid that whilst I think Donald's stuff is well done, it's just not for me. Amusingly, when posting this to Twitter, I noticed that Donald has 180 followers and has tweeted once, so he's really working on that social media presence.
21.08.25 : Cuttin' Grass Vol. 1 (The Butcher Shoppe Sessions) - Sturgill Simpson (2020)
Never heard of this snappily titled album or artist, but the album cover suggests it's not something which takes itself too seriously. And it's not really my sort of thing - reasonably well done bluegrass/country, but it tends to drag a bit for me after a few tracks and the album felt like it went on for years.
The channel gave this four thumbs up, one banjo and a couple of comments that this was very country. Wikipedia tells me the songs are bluegrass renditions of songs he's previously recorded. The critical reception was interesting because one critic quoted stated he was an interesting country artist who mixed genres whereas this was worse because it was dull, whereas the other one stated he was an unfocussed country artist who mixed genres whereas this was better because it was focussed - I guess you just can't please everyone! The album did well commercially though - #24 in the US, which somewhat surprised me.
"Customers also listened to" a load of people I've never heard of, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't intrigued by Robert Ellis Is The Texas Piano Man, which has a cover featuring him in a white dinner jacket sat a grand piano in a field. I liked bits of Sturgill, but a whole album was just too much for me, I'm afraid. And Sturgill has a grand total of 371 followers on Twitter - almost double that of Donald.
The channel gave this two thumbs up and one "thanks for sharing" comment. Wikipedia doesn't have an awful lot on the album - it was well received critically (except for The Independent, apparently) and commercially - #14 in the UK. It also tells me the band are from Oxford - I'd just assumed from the name that they were from Scotland, despite the fact that they don't sound at all Scottish!
"Customers also listened to" Admiral Fallow, Bishop Allen, King Charles and King Creosote - a good set of people with titles. But overall, I quite liked Stornoway and would be tempted to check out more of their stuff.
And, with their 9,628 followers on Twitter, it's an easy win for Stornoway - well done lads, but don't go getting too proud of yourself given the competition you faced.
21.08.19 - Three albums spanning 45 years
21.08.27 - Three fine introductions
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