A few favorites from the many in record stores on Saturday for Record Store Day. —Ed.
Chet Baker, Chet (Riverside/Contemporary Series/Craft) The album Chet (The Lyrical Trumpet of Chet Baker), released in 1959, is one of the jazz trumpeter’s most iconic releases. It is an album of rare, almost impossibly sublime beauty. The LP is part and parcel of the Baker myth, right from its Melvyn Sokolsky/Paul Bacon cover photo to the legendary all-star, hall of fame lineup.
The album was recently released in stereo, but this RSD 2023 mono release will be a must-have for cool jazz, audiophile lovers. The album is an RSD Exclusive Release limited to 6,525 copies. The all-analog mastering from the original mono tapes was done by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio. This Riverside release, part of the Contemporary series, came at a time, when Baker was still on World Pacific, where he started his solo career.
The backing on the album is a mix of jazz artists from various worlds, yet it all meshes so beautifully. Tasty textures are added by Herbie Mann on flute, Kenny Burrell on guitar, and Bill Evans on piano. Pepper Adams on baritone sax is the perfect deep and strong resonant counterpoint to Baker’s vulnerable sweet trumpet. Anchoring the music are Paul Chambers on bass and Connie Kay and Philly Joe Jones sharing drum duty. Chet was recorded in New York and produced by Orin Keepnews, who provides the liner notes.
The album is bracketed by two Dietz/Schwartz compositions, two songs that lyrically reflect what could be said to be Baker’s intimate romantic playing persona in this period. Perfectly complementing those two compositions are songs from Rodgers & Hart and Cole Porter. This is late-night listening at its best and an update of the old standards for the legion of hip young jazz aficionados. This album will no doubt be at the top of many shopper’s lists this Record Store Day, so plan accordingly. A
Jonathan Richman, Jonathan Goes Country (Rounder/Craft) Jonathan Richman is a relatively obscure American artist, who also happens to be a national treasure. He has had a long, varied, singular, and influential career. His most recent album was Want to Visit My Inner House?, which was released in 2021.
Hailing from Boston and turning 72 in May of 2023, Richman may be best-known as a founding member of the, pre-punk, cult favorites the Modern Lovers. Their debut album was released in 1976, but long before the debut albums from The Patti Smith Group, Television and many others, it was recorded in 1972. The group also included future member of the Talking Heads, Jerry Harrison.
Histories of the birth of punk and new wave often either overlook or underestimate the vital significance the Modern Lovers played in those movements. The group’s DIY, raw emotional simplicity, while not having the visceral brashness and squalid edginess of many of punk’s earliest innovators, paved the way for punk and indie rock, and their recordings have survived and remain relevant and highly listenable outside of their punk influence.
Richman was too personal and idiosyncratic an artist to remain a part of any group and has recorded roughly 20 albums as part of the Modern Lovers and as a solo artist. Jonathan Goes Country is a perfect album to receive the bespoke Craft RSD reissue treatment. The album was mastered from the original analog tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent audio, is an RSD First Release limited to 5,000 copies and is pressed on red vinyl.
This, his second solo album, was originally released long after the heyday of punk and new wave and just as indie and grunge were taking off in 1990. The album’s country base was out of style at that time and even Richman’s most ardent fans may have let the album pass them by. And that’s too bad because it has all the trademarks of what makes Richman such a beloved performer.
First off, he is sincere about his approach to interpreting country classics and offers a few of his own compositions, which seamlessly fit right in. He also has some great backing, including Tom Brumley from the Buckaroos on steel guitar. There are songs here written by the likes of Billy Sherrill, Marty Robbins, and Ronnee Blakley and songs associated with such artists as Porter Wagoner and Skeeter Davis. This is the first time this album has been reissued on vinyl and it was more than worth the wait. B+
Travis, The Invisible Band Live (Craft) This is the second Craft reissue of an album from Travis. In 2019 the group reissued The Man Who, its second album, originally released in 1999, in various configurations. Thankfully, the deluxe edition of that reissue is still available, but the availability of this reissue most likely won’t make it past the first hour of Record Store Day 2023, as only 2,500 copies of this RSD Exclusive are available.
The Man Who was the group’s breakthrough album and is considered by some to be one of the best UK albums ever released, and is in fact one of the top 50 selling albums of all time in England. By contrast, The Invisible Band may not have sold as many copies or may not be included on as many best-of lists of all time, but some might say it’s an even better album than The Man Who.
The album’s theme is very much about the pop or rock star finally hitting it big and not liking how that feels. While some of the lyrics on the release reflect that sentiment and there are some darker musical interludes, this is an album of cathartic joy, highlighting the group’s beloved sound, particularly the emotional vocal style of lead singer Fran Healy, who is also the group’s principal songwriter.
Craft released a 20th anniversary edition reissue of this album in 2021 as a 180-gram vinyl LP and a two-CD set, that featured unreleased demos, alternate takes, and live tracks. This reissue is a 2-LP, gatefold set, pressed on clear vinyl of a concert the group gave in their hometown of Glasgow, Scotland in May of 2022 at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall.
The band performs the entire The Invisible Band album live that packs an emotional wallop. It’s the group’s second live album after Live At Glastonbury 1999, released in 2019, also from Craft. It’s obvious that the band is as jazzed to be playing this album in its entirety as its rabid hometown fans are being there with them.
Healy spends a good deal of time talking to the audience and is quite open and honest, but also gleeful. Songs like “Sing” have the same kind of infectious melodicism as two songs from The Man Who: “Driftwood” and “Why Does It Always Rain on Me?” The rest of the album, while having moments of melodic beauty and infectious singing, is a little more varied in mood. It is a much more mature album than The Man Who, and has aged like the finest wine.
It’s no doubt this release will be at the top of many RSD shopper’s list. In their heyday, Travis was a band that bridged the time between Brit Pop and the last great British pop invasion that began with groups and artists like Amy Winehouse, Lilly Allen, Corinne Bailey Ray, Coldplay, Keane, Snow Patrol, James Blunt, Adele, Sam Smith, Mumford & Sons, Florence and the Machine and others. With a reissue like this, Travis will likely no longer be a sometimes overlooked or invisible band. A-
