ETTA BAKER WITH TAJ MAHAL

Etta Baker With Taj Mahal

I have a rule of thumb.  If someone is over 90 years old and they make an album, you have an obligation to listen to it.  It's sort of a respecting your elders thing.  This can be a daunting task if the albums by your great grandmother who still listens to music on a Victrola.  If the album is by a 91 year-old named Etta Baker, however,  it's nothing but a pleasure.  Such is the case on this underrated 2004 acoustic-blues collaboration Etta Baker With Taj Mahal, which features two aging blues guitar legends doing what they do best.

At the time of this recording the collective ages of Etta Baker and Taj Mahal equaled a whopping 153 years.  The two artists obviously didn't set out to make a career defining masterpiece on this effort.  Rather (I hate to stereotype old people but...) it sounds like an impromptu jam on one of their front porches;  a break between bridge and ice tea.  

The record is a hodgepodge that serves multiple purposes.  Of its 19 songs, six are the expected collaboration between Taj and Etta, six are slightly older solo recordings by Etta and the rest are the 1956 recordings which showcased a 43 year-old Etta Baker making her debut with passion, precision and a whole lot of joy.  It makes for a perfect introduction to this wonderful and treasured guitar player who sadly passed away in 2006 at age 93.  What a record—perfect for your break between bridge and ice tea (or any other fine parlor room occasion.)  

Etta Baker With Taj Mahal

Town and Country by Humble Pie

Town And Country by Humble Pie

If you love acoustic driven classic rock a la Rod Stewart, Pete Townshend and Paul McCartney, I'm not sure it gets much better than Town And Country the second album by England's Humble Pie.  Featuring Steve Marriott of The Small Faces (a precursor to Faces featuring the aformentioned Rod Stewart), Humble Pie would later achieve greater success with albums like Smokin'  that featured a boogie rock sound and the accomplished guitar playing of Dave "Clem" Clempson.  On Town And Country, however, Clem Clempson is nowhere to be found.  Rather, the album features Pie's original guitar player, the now legendary Peter Frampton.  

The album's opener "Take Me Back" is spellbinding.  Opening with an acoustic guitar progression not quite unlike Paul McCartney's "Blackbird," Frampton gives one of his most best vocal performances.  One could only imagine hearing this song live.  I'm sure it silenced a room in seconds.  Despite Town And Country's golden acoustics, the album isn't entirely absent of electricity.  The cover of Buddy Holly's "Heartbeat" is a worthy, rocking reinterpretation, which contains a winning classic rock guitar riff that might have inspired The Raspberries' number one hit "Go All The Way."

On the other hand, "Down Home Again" could have seamlessly slipped into the Rolling Stone's masterpiece Exile On Mainstreet.  Years later, Humble Pie would nearly have a top five record, but they never made an album like Town And Country again.  I'm sure there were many devoted fans thinking "Take Me Back" to themselves for years to come.  

Town And Country by Humble Pie

Movie Night: Let It Be

Essential viewing.  The fifth and last Beatles movie Let It Be stands apart from the others because it doesn't satirize the personalities and lifestyles of the fab four.  Rather, it documents the band's final recording sessions for the albums "Let It Be" and "Abbey Road," which would be released in the opposite order they were recorded in.  The performances are obviously brilliant, but the behind-the-scenes moments are both enlightening and heartbreaking.  While there isn't a sort of MTV Road Rules/Real World tension, there isn't any friendliness either.  There's civility and an obvious respect for each others' talents.  But, there isn't an illusion of anything other than a "working friendship."  The final minutes of Let It Be are the most rewarding and are "worth the price of admission."   What was famously dubbed as "The Rooftop Concert" was The Beatles first and last public performance since 1966.  The performances are terrific and feature "Fifth Beatle" Billy Preston on keyboards.   As you will see, no announcement of a concert was made to the public.  The magnificent faces of onlookers adds so much to The Beatles legend.  The subsequent soundtrack album Let It Be was one of the only Beatles albums to not receive universal acclaim from critics.  What overthinkers.  The album is great.  

NOTE: You might have to turn your laptop sideways.  I know...I suck.  But, it's doable.