pitchfork is dumb (#34985859340293849494 in a series.)

159. Ray Barretto - Acid (1968)

yea baby

"The real poptimism power move would have been to make the Rhino Girl Groups box number one."

"Peanut Duck" alone is better than any Randy Newman album.

Newman does have a song on that box as a writer tbf

Many, many xposts - my go to Everly's 60s is Two Yanks in England.

Co-sign the Mingus piano record: it's fantastic.

This 60s list is good. But Mississippi John Hurt "Today" is a huge omission. He is a giant of music that has yet to be discovered by a larger audience.

I think people don't realize how great the first two Joan Baez albums are. I didn't until I bought these beautiful copies of them in a thrift store a couple of years ago.

her voice is nails-on-a-chalkboard

Joan Baez generally is underrated, though she can also be insufferable

more like Joan Bias right there

Joan Baez generally is underrated, though she can also be insufferable

― she carries a torch. two torches, actually (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi),

like most people imo

Dylan from Chronicles - "The Vanguard record was no phony baloney. It was almost frightening - an impeccable repertoire of songs."

her voice is nails-on-a-chalkboard

You said something similar about Grace Slick, I think.

https://debuk.wordpress.com/2016/03/12/the-taming-of-the-shrill/

yes she is also terrible

thx for the irrelevant link tho

ie we are discussing aesthetics, not politicians and yes I have aesthetic preferences regarding what voices I find pleasant to listen to, regardless of gender. As I'm sure every listener does.

grace slick is awesome. a fierce fiery freedom fighter of a singer. there was nowhere she wouldn't go in her quest for freedom! nowhere!!

goddamn shakey Grace Slick is an incredible singer. i just saw A Serious Man for the first time last night & loved the recurring Jefferson Airplane motif

Grace Slick as a singer is not even anywhere near in the same league as Joan Baez. Grace just has a big voice. But unless I'm wrong we're arguing this point w/a dude who'd call Lou Reed a good singer so let's not worry too much

With so many shithole people in the world of entertainment, I really respect the way Joan Baez has conducted her life, we should all aspire to do as much. I think she has a lovely voice, she didn't blend super well with my man Bob but that's no crime. Not my particular jam but there's always been something about the vitriol pointed at her that is Yoko-esque imo.

Grace Slick as a singer is not even anywhere near in the same league as Joan Baez.

Few are!

plenty of baez i like, ums otm too

also she does a good dylan impression

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCyQ7GW8QFk

i really appreciate Baez and have come to like her, she has a nice blending of American and some darker strains of UK folk, at least that's what i hear in her.

Thanks for the Everly Brothers picks, scott! I'm listening to Sing.

I love that Dylan impression so much. I think Judy Collins is a better singer than Baez but Baez is a greater musician, she really knew her shit. I suspect she taught Bob Dylan much of what he knows about traditional folk.

she is an amazing singer imo

"diamonds and rust" makes me tear up a lil tbh

yeah those early 60s vanguard records are very good overall. maybe a little less impressive once you've heard her sources, but still good (tho i get the complaints about her vocals).

the Judas Priest cover of Baez's "Diamonds and Rust" is one of the great weird yet brilliant covers in rock history, they both seem to have a good attitude about it:

In a recent interview with QMI Agency, folk icon Joan Baez was asked what she thought of JUDAS PRIEST's classic cover of her song "Diamonds And Rust", which can be found on the band's 1977 album "Sin After Sin". "I love that!" she replied. "I was so stunned when I first heard it. I thought it was wonderful. It's very rare for people to cover my songs. I think there are a couple of reasons. One is they're personal — they don't have a universal quality to them. And I think maybe it's because I've already sung them, and who wants to compete with that? But it's always flattering when somebody does."

Speaking to KNAC.COM in June 2010, JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford explained how the band came to record its version of the Joan Baez track. "Well, the simple story is that our label could see that there was a buzz happening here in America and we were looking for an opportunity to get some kind of radio play," he said. "Radio in 1978, when we released that, was a different hybrid, it was before all of the beat things started to happen and I think the label sensed that we've got something in us and that there was a chance, and I think they thought, well if we go this route and the radio stations hear that PRIEST is covering a Joan Baez song, then at least it gets you through the door. The big challenge even now is to get you through the door to get you played on the radio. I think the label believed that we could write radio songs, but they probably thought that this would be a little bit of a way to make a possibly, slightly faster connection. I don't know. We were actually making the backend of the 'Sin After Sin' sessions when it was suggested to us that we cover this track. And I remember we were all together and whoever it was came in, whether it was from the label or the management and said, 'Listen to this song. The label would like you to consider covering it.' And when we put it on, all we heard was Joan Baez singing this song with the guitar, and your knee-jerk reaction is, 'Are you fucking crazy? We are a heavy metal band.' But again, typical of PRIEST, we're like, 'What's the logic behind this?' And then after a couple of listens, 'This is a great song.' And a good song will take any kind of interpretation. So, it was just a case of, 'Well, we're PRIEST, and if the label wants us to rock it up then this is what we're going to try and do.' So that's how it came together and it turned out really well. It opened the door for us in radio in a lot of ways, and I think that for the first time, a metal band was able to get the kind of accessibility."

'Well, we're PRIEST, and if the label wants us to rock it up then this is what we're going to try and do.'

i love this sentence so much

Wordplay with perfect timing and I get snubbed? To have polite substantive discussions about music?

I almost excelsior'd you fwiw but I feel like we don't exel around these siors so much any more

lol Lou is not a good singer by any stretch, esp post-77 or so

xp

prior to that I think he makes great use of his limited range

can't stand Judy Collins either tbh lol. with all three (Baez, Collins, Slick) it's really the tenor of their voices I find off-putting, that thick tone, I don't like it.

Halford's great, the Everys are great. my favorite female singer is probably Mavis Staples.

do people rate the first Willie Nelson album (And Then I Wrote...) in terms of sixties country? i frickin love that album

I've never heard it actually! My favorite 60s country list would include the Louvin Brothers (pick any of 'em), Buck Owens' Sings Harlan Howard/I've Got a Tiger by the Tail/Sings Tommy Collins/Under Your Spell Again, Waylon Jennings' Leaving Town/Folk-Country/Only the Greatest, Dolly Parton's Hello I'm Dolly, Porter Wagoner's Cold Hard Facts of Life, Merle Haggard's Mama Tried/I'm A Lonesome Fugitive, maybe some Ernest Tubb, Lefty Frizzell, Loretta Lynn, the obvious Johnny Cash etc

i certainly do! it's underrated as hell, which is insane because it has "funny how time slips away" AND "crazy" on it, plus several other stone cold classics

xpost

it's an amazing record.

My favorite 60s country list would include the Louvin Brothers (pick any of 'em), Buck Owens' Sings Harlan Howard/I've Got a Tiger by the Tail/Sings Tommy Collins/Under Your Spell Again, Waylon Jennings' Leaving Town/Folk-Country/Only the Greatest, Dolly Parton's Hello I'm Dolly, Porter Wagoner's Cold Hard Facts of Life, Merle Haggard's Mama Tried/I'm A Lonesome Fugitive, maybe some Ernest Tubb, Lefty Frizzell, Loretta Lynn, the obvious Johnny Cash etc

― Οὖτις, Thursday, August 24, 2017 2:50 PM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

good picks here

there are some good george jones records from the 60s too

cant imagine ppl thinking joan baez has a bad voice

oh and George Jones duh

xp

lol thx marcos :)

heard it for the first time this summer at sunrise played off of a friends bluetooth speaker in a big grassy field while coming down after a wild night. it sounded so spacious and poised and confident, soothed me and made me reconsider the things i had been searching for in music

oh and Hazlewood's Trouble is a Lonesome Town! love that record so much.

Love that Willie Nelson album "Hello Walls" its so great!

cant imagine ppl thinking joan baez has a bad voice

can

"SF Sorrow" was one I noticed missing right away. Other favorite omissions: A Charlie Brown Christmas, Merry-Go-Round s/t, The Left Banke "Walk Away Renee." I wouldn't expect a record like Blind Faith s/t to appear in a Pitchfork list, but I think it's a solid record. And I feel weirdly happy that The Who "Tommy" is no longer essential canon.