1001+ Albums: 1956

1001+ Albums: 1956

Album of the Year: Elvis Presley
   Artist: Elvis Presley

        Elvis brings the rock and the roll to the album format. If there was any collection of songs that most epitomized the rebelliously sexual and electric attitude sweeping the youth of the 1950's, it was probably this one. The kings voice bothered me the first few times I ever heard him, but listening through this I feel I get it more. It's practically oozing rock n' roll, ranging from medium highs to swooping lows, always with an energy that is compulsive and keeps the foot tapping. A wildness to it.

   Best Track: Blue Suede Shoes for its status as an all time classic, although there really isn't a song I didn't like here. Hard to argue with that ranging voice pleading for anything but stepping on those blue suede shoes.
   Worst Track: I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry (Over You), The most repetitive of these and the one I'd be least inclined to put on at any given moment.
   Rating: B+

The Rest: 

Ellington at Newport
   Artist: Duke Ellington

       Like with Birth of the Cool below, I just don't think I have the knowledge to give judgment on something like this. I can say it liked it, it had a swing and a groove I enjoyed, but I'm no jazz enthusiast and certainly no expert. I've heard that what this is is incredibly impressive, and I'll just have to tale peoples word for that, because I doubt I could distinguish a master from an amateur in this genre.

   Best Track: It's all jazz.
   Worst Track: Ditto.
   Rating: C

Songs for Swingin' Lovers!
   Artist: Frank Sinatra

        While personally I'm finding I prefer Sinatra in a more melancholy key, this really isn't half bad, although not as strong as In the Wee Small Hours. In this he seems to be calling back to a simpler time, like in Anything Goes, where he seems to be lost over the cultural changes that are slowly coming with the impending sexual revolution. He also doesn't shy away from the subject with Makin' Whoopee, which surprised me in its forwardness. Overall though there is a feeling of nostalgia and simple pleasures, like New York in June.

   Best Track: You Make Me Feel So Young, because of its joyful exuberance. You can hear the smile.
   Worst Track: Old Devil Moon, not bad but isn't a classic and personally just wasn't as good as the others in my eyes.
   Rating: B-

Tragic Songs of Life
   Artist: Louvin Brothers

        A collection of strumming country tunes featuring not one, but two odes to states. They are actually pretty easy on the ear, and after a while you get used to the twang in the voice and the playing is actually pretty nice. The tragic events sung about as the title says range from the pathetically mundane, like when your bestest friend moves away, to the shockingly morbid, like the incredibly gruesome account of a man who beats a woman within an inch of her life then drowns her in a river, as well as multiple suicides by dagger and mothers dying in the cold, found in the morning with her cold arms cradling her still living baby. Throughout there is a specific country sort of lonesome heartachin' that works pretty well for the piece of work, which surprised me in it's enjoyability.

   Best Track: Knoxville Girl, for sheer shock value ("She never spoke another word, I only beat her more until the ground around me within her blood did flow"). Scary stuff.
   Worst Track: Alabama, because of I've already forgotten it.
   Rating: B-

The Wildest!
   Artist: Louis Prima

        The album cover may be the best description: light hearted pure fun. It's a lot of fun and just a nice easy going feel good collection of songs. Sometimes hilarious (albeit unintentionally) and always good, never swinging into moods or anything with even a touch of the melancholy. If you need something to pick you up I'd recommend this. Full of cheer and good feeling. Except, of course, in weird little numbers like Ill Be Glad When You're Dead You Rascal You. It's kind of full of oddly dark moments like that.

   Best Track: (Nothing's Too Good) For My Baby. They were all pretty equal in quality and sheer fun, but I guess I might pick this for the gorgeous female voice switching off lyrics with Prima. Except for that weird moment he threatens to hit her in the eye.
   Worst Track: Basin Street Blue/When It's Sleepy Time Down South, which I almost didn't pick because the title's so damn long, but I did pick because of the odd inane ramblings that sometimes overtake the lyrics. I mean crazy weird ramblings.
   Rating: B


Birth of the Cool   *Best Album Cover*
   Artist: Miles Davis

        Outside of film, I really have very little to no exposure to jazz, and being so different from the other styles of music I will be reviewing in this series of posts, I don't feel very qualified to assess it as I would the others. That being said, I enjoyed it. It's great to have on while working, or just as background music to whatever you happen to be doing. It didn't necessarily convert me into a lover of jazz, but I did enjoy it to an extent. The final song, featuring vocals, kind of put me off to be honest. I couldn't really connect to his voice.

   Best Track: It all sort of melds together for me, and I couldn't really distinguish one track from another, aside from the last one. I liked most all of it however.
   Worst Track: Darn that Dream, for it's annoying singing, and silly lyrics. Guess I'm getting used to just the jazz.
   Rating: C