Isaac's Musical Thoughts

Albums reviews focusing on 1960s and 1970s rock, early country, early folk music, and the blues. Click on "About" to see how to make the most out of this blog as a resource and "Grades" to see what the letter grades mean. Then, check out "Artists with Reviews," a comprehensive list of all the artists whom I've reviewed.

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Showing posts from August, 2023

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The Guess Who: Listener's Guide

on August 01, 2023

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Dave Van Ronk: Listener's Guide

I began listening to Dave Van Ronk in November 2023. I often referenced a listener's guide to Van Ronk's discography written by Elijah Wald, a music journalist who has written extensively on the subject. I quit his discography after being disappointed with Just Dave . Sings Ballads, Blues, and a Spiritual (1959): B Van Ronk Sings (1961): B+ Dave Van Ronk, Folksinger (1962): A In the Tradition (1963): C+ Dave Van Ronk and the Ragtime Jug Stompers (1964): C+ Inside Dave Van Ronk (1964): B Just Dave Van Ronk (1964): C+ Sings Ballads, Blues, and a Spiritual (1959): Longtime resident of New York City, Van Ronk was an early figure of the folk scene in Greenwich Village. Influenced by the blues and folk music, he sang with the stylings of African American blues singers while also recording from the folk canon established by Pete Seeger. Although his vocal imitation of African Americans was controversial enough for Van Ronk to address and defend it ...

Liner notes for Ashton Odyssey by Robert Schilling

I recently co-produced my friend Robert Schilling's debut studio album Ashton Odyssey , which showed up on streaming platforms last Friday. As its release approached, I happily jumped at the opportunity to write the album's liner notes, which accompany the physical copy. I'm proud of my writing, which imitates the crazed writing of Peter Stampfel’s Broadside column and the autobiographical fabrications that Bob Dylan sometimes indulges in. I also took comedic inspiration from character improvisations by John Mulaney, who thrives in throwing out obscure cultural references that are sidesplitting for the few that understand them. Some of the sources for my rhapsodizing can be tracked down with a simple google search; other musical references will probably impossible to track down unless you already have excellent taste; the leftovers are jokes only those at the sessions will understand. Most of the notes will be entertaining regardless. A lot of factual information is as imp...

Early Folk Artists: Listener's Guide

The scope of "early folk" is difficult to define, but this page is sort of a catch-all for early American music that cannot be easily categorized under the already existing pages Early Blues and Early Country . This page collects old-time music, jug bands, and Cajun music--all musical traditions that are collected on Harry Smith's 1952 compilation Anthology of American Folk Music . Old-time music, as is categorized on this blog, includes all the hillbilly/country music traditions recorded prior to the Carter Family's studio debut in August 1927. Therefore, you will see me refer to music on this page as "country" or “old-time” somewhat interchangeably. Besides Uncle Dave Macon, whom I reviewed in 2022, I listened to all the music below in 2024 and 2025 in the wake of my listening to the Anthology in January 2024. Note that I sometimes did not listen to all of the volumes in an artist's Complete Recorded Works series because they were not all available ...

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