Press Play and Sit Your Ass Down Vol. 4

It’s the age of the ipod, shuffle and playlists.  But for some artists, albums matter.  Some musicians don’t just write and perform songs, they create whole albums to be a start to finish listening experience. Here’s another great list of albums where you just have to press play.  Want more?  Press Play Vol 1 , Press Play Vol 2.  , and Press Play Vol. 3.

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Dave Brubeck , Time Out

Dave Brubeck was already an established presence in the jazz world by the time he recorded Time Out.  He was the 2nd artist to be featured on the cover of Time Magazine (Louis Armstrong being the first) as the new face and sound of jazz coming out of the West Coast.  Inspired by the street musicians he heard while in tour in Turkey, Brubeck began to experiment with the 9/8 time signature along with 5/4.  Columbia Records wasn’t crazy about the new sound either, but on the condition that Brubeck make an album of songs from the American South, released the album.  Though it was initially panned by critics, Time Out became an monster, selling over 1 million copies at a time when 50,000 was considered a hit.  The title track, written by Brubeck’s musical partner Paul Desmond, reached the Top 40.  Other standout tracks include ‘Blue Rondo A La Turk’, ‘Kathy’s Waltz’, and ‘Strange Meadow Lark’.  This is jazz at its most experimental and at its coolest.  A joy to listen to from start to finish.

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Sly & The Family Stand’s explosive fusion of rock, pop, funk and ‘psychedelic soul’ made them stars in the Bay Area and forced established entities from Motown to Miles to change musical directions. But for all of their cultural and critical success, the band had produced only one Top 10 hit (‘Dance To The Music’).  That all changed with the 1969 album Stand.  It pulls off the difficult task of capturing the mood of the times, but also speaking about timeless issues.  Put on Stand today and it’s still the soundtrack to the now.  ‘You Can Make It If You Try’ and the title track were joyous shouts for personal empowerment and individual expression.  ‘Don’t Call Me Nigger, Whitey’ and ‘Everyday People’ speak on the utter pointlessness of racism.  ‘Somebody’s Watching You’ reflected the growing paranoia that success carries.  ‘I Want To Take You Higher’ and ‘Sing A Simple Song’ celebrate the power and feeling that music – good music – can bring to the masses.  ‘Sex Machine’ is a sprawling, 13 minute plus jam that really showing just how amazing this band was.  Stand is Sly & The Family Stone had their creative and commercial zenith.

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Released in the fall of 1977, Aja marked a new direction for Steely Dan.  The guitar oriented material that dominated their previous album The Royal Scam – gone.  The new material coming from remaining members Donald Fagen and Walter Becker was a new hybrid of jazz and rock, with lyrics that references drugs, Beat poetry and even Homer’s ‘The Odyssey’.  In order to bring the songs to full fruition, the duo employed THE best studio musicians around: The title track features a solo by Wayne Shorter and kick ass drum work by Steve Gadd.  Bernard ‘Pretty’ Purdie’s explosive drumming drives ‘Home At Last’ and ‘Deacon Blues’ – which also features Larry Carlton on lead guitar.  ‘Peg’ has former band mate Michael McDonald singing background vocals and the killer rhythm section of Rick Marrotta (drums) and Chuck Rainey (bass).  Immaculately produced by long time producer Gary Katz, Aja solidified Steely Dan’s status as one of rock’s most elite entities.

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Tracy Chapman, Tracy Chapman

Tracy Chapman, a singer songwriter fresh out of Tufts University, stunned the music world with a eleven song cycle that dealt with the fallout of failed love (‘Baby Can I Hold You’), domestic violence (‘Behind The Wall’), fragile hope in the midst of generational poverty (‘Fast Car’), and politcal/personal revolution (‘Talkin’ Bout A Revolution’).  The album gave folk music a much needed jump start and encouraged artists in the rock and hip hop genres to incorporate social commentary into their music.  It was also a commercial hit selling over 10 million copies worldwide and earned Chapman two Grammy Awards.  An astonishing debut album.

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