There's been a lot of great stuff mentioned, music that I listen to often - Mississippi John Hurt, Benny Goodman, Swiss Movement, Ogden's Nut Brown Flake, Li’l Ed, Medusa, L.A.M.F., Mance Lipscomb, etc. Medusa and Mance Lipscomb were especially meaningful to me because I listen to them a lot, certainly every month. Good stuff!
And yeah, I'd like to play. Can I?
Classical - I've listened to classical, I've got a lot more LPs than I do CDs of that, and it ranges from those old Great Performances records of stuff like the Goldberg Variations to the Three Tenors. I have a nice cd of Caruso that I listen to from time to time, and I enjoy Callas and Te Kanawa. It's not like I know what the hell I'm doing though - I don't have much of a grounding in classical music. I can say though, that what really made it work for me, made me start to appreciate it, was the two albums by Walter/Wendy Carlos, Switched-On Bach and the Soundtrack to Clockwork Orange. I still love both of those, and they take me right back to when I was eleven or twelve.
Blues - I was a blues freak. No, a blues FREAK. Like some people are jazz freaks, searching out rare sides, I was that way with the blues. Fortunately, we had Antone's and some great record stores, so I could stoke the hell out of that fire. One set I keep coming back to is a 4-CD compilation of late '40s and early '50s John Lee Hooker, Classic Early Years. Almost all of it is the man, his guitar, and his foot. Great stuff like Goin' Mad Blues, House Rent Boogie, Low Down Midnite Boogie, I'm Gonna Kill That Woman, No Friend Around, Decoration Day, Streets Is Filled With Women...man, that's a great set.
Old Rock - C'mon. I feel like that's all I listen to. I know it isn't, but it feels like it. I was just enjoying Made In Japan, and that's on the heels of the fantastic Fire Records reissues of Wreckless Eric's '80s and '90s efforts that just about everyone missed the first time around. But hey, this is about what I'm listening to and you aren't, so how about this - McLemore Avenue by Booker T and the MGs.
Jazz - It's my fault, it's my error, it's my shortcoming, but I have a hard time with jazz. I enjoy Kind of Blue and I see its place in history. I like that Les McCann set and the history behind it. I love the prowess of the great players and their collectives. I know what they're doing. I get it, I understand it, but it just doesn't grab me unless it's Louis Armstrong. That grabs me, I can listen to that man play that horn all day long. I love the Complete Hot Fives and Hot Sevens.
Country - I was raised on Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, George Jones and Ray Price. Well, them and rock music and the blues, but as far as country goes, it was them. Later on I figured out an appreciation for a lot more of the genre, but what I've been listening to a lot lately is...Shotgun Willie. What a monster of an album.
Alternative - What the hell is alternative? What kind of bullshit category is that? I'm not picking on NeilT, I'm picking on the nitwits who came up with it in the first place, and then the mindless public who parroted it back as though it meant something. Dolts.
I listen to a lot of stuff I'd consider to be alternative to whatever the hell else other people are listening to. I happen to love the two live Throbbing Gristle boxes. I'm a big Foetus/JG Thirlwell fan and I'm pretty confident no one I know is listening to any of that right now. Hell, try Noveller on for size. She's amazing.
What I've really been digging lately though, is something I KNOW none of you have been listening to and that's got to make it alternative, right? I recently picked up an album I was unfamiliar with, and it's incredible. The Concert Sinatra, from 1963. There's a great backstory to the disc and it's recording, but the shorthand is that it's Sinatra backed by Nelson Riddle and a 70-piece orchestra, using the most advanced recording techniques of the day, recorded onto 35mm film stock. Not only that, but it's a collection of songs that mostly came from film scores, reinterpreted by The Chairman, and he lets his voice really fly on these. None of that swingin', jazzy Frank; this is a musician taking his instrument as far as he can. Seek this one out, you won't regret it.
Thanks, NeilT.