JARV IS... (Rough Trade) LP, Album, Vinyl, 2020

The new Jarvis Cocker project is Jarv Is... It's a relief of sorts that he has his groove back. For Cocker to do his best work, he needs a great band behind him, for instance, Pulp. Here, he has a brand new group, and they are different from Pulp, but the robust electronics and violin are put in good use in the arrangements. The mixture of real instruments and 70's-era moogs gives it a vintage touch, but also a platform for Jarvis to shine. All the songs are co-written, mostly with Serafina Steer, who plays harp and keyboards. Emma Smith plays violin, and both the back up vocals of Smith and Steer add a lot to the textural quality of the songs. Jarvis mostly plays guitars here, and more used as a sound texture than anything else. A wonderful album.

Sparks: "A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip" Double 45 rpm 12" Vinyl, 2020 (BMG))

Sparks is the portrait of Dorian Gray.  As they go on, their music never ages, yet I, as a listener, is clearly getting older.  Their bite is still energetic, and the melodies that they make seem effortless. "A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip" is a remarkable work, due that its excellence is forward-thinking but without tainting their past.  For me, Sparks's albums are just a chapter in a long (and so far endless) novel.  Ron Mael's lyrics are the most literate in pop; in a sense, one notices the craft that goes into his writing, and then beyond that format, which makes it art.  I never think of Sparks in the terminology of rock n' roll.  To me, their work belongs to the Great American Songbook tradition of songcraft and writing.  Each Sparks album is a multi-media presentation, but for the ears.  Sitting in front of my speakers, I can see the entire show taking place.  "Lawnmower" is one of those Mael's Raymond Queneau type of songs, where the words are playful as well as adding a catchy beat.  Russell Mael's voice takes character and is clearly one of the great vocalists of the last 40-something years. 

There are no 'weak' cuts on this album.  The songs flow from one to the other as if they all belong to the same and close family.   What I do hear that is new is a sax here and there, and some songs have a loud acoustic guitar driving the melody hard.  "A Study Drip, Drip, Drip" is an exceptional album in horrific times.  May Sparks bring light to our world. 

James Brown and The Famous Flames - "I Can't Stand Myself When You Touch Me" Album, LP, Vinyl, 1968 (King Records)

First of all, one of my favorite album covers. I love the three women, and Brown in that mid-century non-existent background. Beyond that, this is an album of 45 rpm singles. When I hear this album, I hear a series of songs—still, a remarkable album. I'm of the opinion that Brown didn't make any bad records during the 1960s. Some I like more than others, but "I Can't Stand Myself (When You Touch Me) is one of the great Brown tunes—an existential existence on the sexual hysteria series of moments. The rest of the album is a consistent groove that one can play at a party, and no one is going to turn blue because of its relatedness funk. 

"Time After Time" has strings behind a horn arrangement, with a potent mix of drums, and it's a pop song, which in actuality it's written by J. Styne and S. Cahn. Oddly enough, it sounds like The Stones "Satisfaction" in parts. "The Soul of J.B." has an organ solo, which I believe is Brown himself. Solid work from beginning to end.  The album is a bridge between the soulful and funk that is Brown. 

Reinbert de Leeuw/Erik Satie - "Vexations" LP, Album, 1983 (Philips)

Album of the day: "Vexations" written by Erik Satie, and performed by Reinbert de Leauw. There are a few editions of this remarkable piece of music. This is the 40-minute version by de Leauw, but there are at least two other versions that last for 80-minutes on the CD format. Either way, you can't fail with this piece of music. Ambient by design, but in actuality, it's a very demanding listening experience. When times get tough (and it's super-duper tough now) this music doesn't exactly calm me down but makes me think in a deeper mode. It's almost another layer of the brain is used when listening to Vexations. If I was going to hit the streets, this would be the music in my headphone.

Sparks - "A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip (BMG)

Sparks - "A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip" (BMG) Streaming

The brilliant aspect of Sparks is not only their way of writing the most catchy melodies, but how they take a subject matter and make it with weight and profound intelligence. "A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip" is such a work that touches greatness with no great effort. Take "Lawnmower," for instance. A song about the love of owning and riding on a lawnmower: it's the obsession of having an object is similar to John Cheever's short story "The Swimmer," where the character goes into the pool after swimming pool to get home, which of course, he never makes it. In all cases, there is a world without Sparks, which is a very blue and bleak world indeed, and then there is a presence where you have Sparks among your favorite items, so the lawnmower is Sparks.

The songs of Ron and Russell Mael, in theory, play in the medium of pop or rock, but in actuality, I think of them as songs set as a chamber piece or a theatrical piece of staging, without the stage. When I sit down in front of a pair of speakers, or on my computer earbuds, I feel like I'm reading either a short story collection or an absurd novel of some design. To me, Sparks doesn't really have a collection of songs, but more of a singular piece of work where the songs fit into a specific format. Like their other albums, all the songs on "A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip" flow one to another in an organic sensibility as of putting peanut butter and jam together.

The sound that rings out to me on this album is the sound of the acoustic strumming guitar. The album is beautifully orchestrated with textural sounds of what sounds like un-electronic instrumentation. Or the sound of a synth that is very Moroder-like in touches here and there. On the other hand, Sparks are masters of illusions, but what I hear is beautiful oriented pop music, in its most natural existence. Perfection is an art, but for Sparks, their music is also business as usual. The big mystery is, how do they keep up their standard of excellence, for so many decades?

This is a big album full of more massive sounds. If one makes comparisons, I would think of the theatrical songs by Weill/Brecht or even Stephen Sondheim. The articulate words meet the well-defined melody, and that, in a nutshell, is Sparks' sense of magic. - Tosh Berman

The Marmalade -"Man In A Shop" b/w "Cry (The Shoob Doroorie Song)" 45 rpm Single, 1967 (Epic)

This 1967 recording of "Man In A Shop" by the British band Marmalade is my favorite record of the Trump Virus Year.   I rarely spend $10 for a single, but after hearing it on YouTube, I must have this record at any cost.  Perfection is mind-boggling when something so beautiful is in your presence.  The song is structurally textured with various melodies coming and leaving, but the hook that gets me is the backward electric guitar, trumpet, and chorus. There are two lead vocals and the song is arranged with immense skill and charm.  Parts of it remind me of early David Bowie (pre-Space Oddity) with the then-charm of baroque pop.  A fantastic record that hasn't left my turntable. 

Hear it here:  "Man In A Shop" by The Marmalade

The dB's - "Stands for Decibels" Vinyl, Album, UK, 1981 (Albion)

There is something criminally wrong when a band like The dB's are not considered to be one of the great groups that came out of the U.S.  in the early 80s.  Their good friend's REM became mega-successful, yet The dB's are thought of as an afterthought than a group of musicians and songwriters who were crucial in their time and place.  Those who know the band's music loves them.  The question is why are they not huge in their time, and more importantly why are there records out-of-print?

"Stands for Decibels" always struck me as a greatest-hits album, because that is what this record sounds like. Every other song either sounds like a magnificent A-side to a single, or a very interesting B-side.  Chris Stamey and Peter Holsapple are the songwriters in the group and Gene Holder and Will Rigby are the rhythm section.  A too-easy comparison is with The Beatles era "For Sale/Beatles '65", but like the Fab Four album, these are songs with twisted emotions and intense deliveries. Stamey and Holsapple have their distinctive way of writing songs, which makes them stand out, so one can tell which is a Chris or Peter song.  Still, this variety pack is equally fantastic in the mix that is "Stands for Decibels."   Broadly speaking (or listening) Stamey's songs are dreamy and biting in that John Lennon sense, while Peter's work is straight forward with great choruses.  Very much an underrated band, and this album is a masterpiece.