Dez's Five Star Records: The W's

We are nearing the end of this latest GNABB list. Makes me kind of sad, it has been a lot of fun. For instance, this installment made me listen closely to Swordfishtrombones (I knew its reputation and own it, but I finally needed to listen closely to see if it met Dez Five Star Standards), and I had not popped in Living With the Law for over a decade.

Tom Waits – Swordfishtrombones (1983): Nothing else out there sounds like this record (well, maybe Capt. Beefheart’s Trout Mask Replica comes the closest, and some of Waits’s other albums), but it is an utterly strange record populated by misfits and outcasts, with his sandpaper voice telling strange tales of murderers and vagabonds amidst almost vaudeville instrumentation.

Whiskeytown – Stranger’s Almanac (1997): Ryan Adams’s prolific recording career has created a large discography but with somewhat static creative development; this sophomore effort from his first band is the peak of his writing, I think, and compares favorably to Uncle Tupelo in sound and spirit, although less punk and more country.

Chris Whitley – Living With the Law (1991): Houston’s own Chris Whitley made music that was uncompromising and verged on avant-blues/noise that established him as a cult favorite (he died in 2006), but I must profess to love his one shot at the mainstream, the Daniel Lanois-produced debut where Whitley attempted to make music with melody; it is a wonderful record that marries Whitley’s edgy guitar and songwriting to the moody soundscapes of Lanois, and honestly I probably like it so much because Lanois’s aesthetic dominates.

The Who – The Who Sell Out (1967): Pete Townshend wrote several famous concept albums for The Who, but none were as whimsical and fun (or pure pop) as TWSO, where they take on commercialism in music in an ambivalent way, even recording fake pirate radio commercials to link the tracks, and several of the songs are commercials themselves.

The Who – Live at Leeds (live) (1970/1995/2001): Good lord, Pete knows how to milk the Who catalogue for all it is worth, re-releasing each album with more and more material tacked on for us suckers who will rebuy them each time, but here the 2001 Super-Duper Deluxe Whatever Edition is well worth getting, as it presents the entire historic Leeds show, which may be the hardest rocking concert recording ever released, it is just fierce, and includes an entire run through of Tommy (or “Thomas,” as Townshend and Keith Moon cheekily introduce it) that blows the studio version out of the water.

The Who – Who’s Next (1971): To me, if you say “classic rock” and all that is good about it, I think of WN, a record with so much power but also that features groundbreaking experiments with synthesizers than still teach a master class in how synths can and should be used in hard rock music.

The Who – Quadrophenia (1973): While it may fail as a cohesive story, The Who’s Quadrophenia succeeds as some of their most dense, complex and stunning music (listen to John Entwistle’s bass in “The Real Me” or Townshend’s use of synthesizers in the title track or “Love, Reign O’er Me”…few bands have scaled such heights.)

Wilco – A.M. (1995): Wilco’s debut is probably the least daring of their records, where Jeff Tweedy stays close to his Uncle Tupelo roots (but I’m a huge Tupelo fan, so it makes sense that I love this record too) but now he has an entire album’s worth of space to use that he does not have to share with Jay Farrar.

Wilco – A Ghost Is Born (2004): I really like Wilco, but the critical ejaculations for everything this band does are a bit much (kinda like with Radiohead), but, on this one, I agree with the adulation; ghostly acoustic tunes stand side by side with melodic rockers that feature guitar work that echoes Neil Young primitive (I have it here even considering the pointless 15 minute “Less Than You Think” at the end that grinds the momentum to a halt).

Steve Winwood – Back In the High Life (1986): Casting aside his jazzy, improvisation-heavy past, Winwood goes for the commercial jugular and strikes pay dirt with this masterful set of melodic and irresistible pop tunes that dominated the radio in the mid-80’s. There is no shame in pop music, as long as it is good.

Cassandra Wilson – Traveling Miles (1999): Jazz singer Cassandra Wilson’s wonderful concept/tribute album about Miles Davis combines covers of songs that he famously covered and were therefore associated with him (“Someday My Prince Will Come” and a gorgeous “Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper), but even more interestingly she takes several of his own songs and presumptuously adds some lyrics to them, making them over, like “Run the Voodoo Down,” “Seven Steps,” “Resurrection Blues (Tutu)” and “Sky and Sea (Blue in Green)”.

ABOVE: In 1976, The Who officially became the "loudest band in the world," according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Their show in London was measured at 126 decibels. Subsequent bands such as AC/DC and Motorhead would eclipse the record. In 2009, KISS achieved 136 decibels at a show in Canada, but had to turn it down due to noise complaints from people living in the vicinity of the venue.