The Year 2023 in Music

Continuing with our year in review, Matt Lynn Digital invites you to look back at the last year in reviews of books, movies, music and television. We look at these with individual categories, one per day through Sunday. Today we share music reviews offered by Matt Lynn Digital in 2023.

(Cover art for the Weathervanes album by Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit).

Beginning with our most recent review with a guest review of the Weathervanes album by Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, as reviewed by friend of the blog Cobra. The 2023 album presented alternative country-rock that mixed in with roots rock and southern rock to entertain their fans. Our review of the Rick Rubin book The Creative Act: A Way of Being also represented 2023 with a top notch look into how creativity works in music production and other fields as well.

(Cover art for the 2011 Tedeschi Trucks Band album Revelator).

The 2011 release of the album Revelator by the Tedeschi Trucks Band offers the first of two albums from the 2010s in our annual review. Offering a taste of American traditional rock, blues rock and roots rock from a guitar virtuoso opens an album that I can and do listen to over and over again. The 2010 A Christmas Cornucopia album by Annie Lennox also presented a more contemporary music mix.

(The biopic Walk the Line depicted aspects of the lives of Johnny Cash and June Carter).

The movie Walk the Line (2005) provided a mostly autobiographical portrayal of the musical life of country musician Johnny Cash and his second wife, June Carter. Music from both performers were featured throughout the movie, which offered a compelling movie experience of the respective lives of the couple up to the point of their marriage.

(Cover art for the R.L. Burnside album Mr. Wizard).

A modern sound for the delta blues comes to us with the 1997 album Mr. Wizard by R.L. Burnside. The music tends to more of a jam format than some of Burnside‘s earlier work with influences on musicians making music into the current day.

(Cover art for the Van Halen album OU812).

The 1988 album OU812 (Oh, you ate one too!) by Van Halen incorporates the most hard rock or pop metal sound for the three albums we reviewed for the 1980s. Both the 1986 album The Way It Is by Bruce Hornsby and the Range and the 1985 No Jacket Required album by Phil Collins delve more into the so-called adult contemporary genre with a focus on message and sound this still hit for a somewhat different audience.

(Cover art for the Christopher Cross album Christopher Cross).

We’ve taken the 1970s decade seriously with a review of nine separate albums. The self-titled 1979 album Christopher Cross by Christopher Cross continues the adult contemporary appeal before the 1974 soft rock appeal of the Jackson Browne album Late for the Sky. Second Helping by Lynyrd Skynyrd gave 1974 a more southern rock or boogie rock sound with their second album.

(Cover art for the Dr. John album In the Right Place).

The 1973 Dr. John funk and piano blues album In the Right Place gives way to the more progressive rock sounds of Pink Floyd‘s 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon and Yes‘ 1972 album Fragile.

(Cover art for the Chuck Mangione Quartet album Alive!).

The contemporary jazz and easy listening album Alive! by Chuck Mangione Quartet from 1972 introduces the final three albums with a largely instrumental sound. The soft rock album Teaser and the Firecat by Cat Stevens stands next to the blues rock, hard rock and heavy metal sound of Led Zeppelin IV by Led Zeppelin for the music of 1971.

(Cover art for the Miles Davis album Sketches of Spain).

Jazz and rock and roll provide our 2023 soundtrack for the 1960s. Holiday music for 1968 leads us to Christmas Album by Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass. The seventh album for The Beatles gave us the rock and roll in the form of 1966’s Revolver. The John Coltrane album Giant Steps and the album Sketches of Spain by Miles Davis round out 1960 with jazz performances that warm our heart.

Matt Lynn Digital appreciates your continued interest in the content we offer. Should you have albums that you’d like us to review, please be sure to let us know.

Matt – Friday, December 29, 2023

Phil Collins and the album ‘No Jacket Required’

With a release date in the United Kingdom of February 18th, 1985, we look today into the third studio album by drummer and singer-songwriter Phil Collins of Chiswick, London, England. Released a week later internationally, No Jacket Required performed well in the UK and the United States, with Collins winning three Grammy Awards for the album.

(The cover for Phil Collins‘ No Jacket Required album, first released in the United Kingdom on this date in 1985).

As quoted here with background drawn from the VH1 program VH1 Storytellers, Sussudio started as a song title that happened in a semi-structured yet unplanned way. Phil Collins said “I started to sing into the microphone, and this word came out.” As the meaningless expression didn’t give way to anything better with the lyrics that were added to a set of chords with an uplifting and dance feel, a hit was born. As mentioned on the www.songfacts.com listing for the song, Sussudio would peak at #1 in the United States and #12 in the United Kingdom.

(Released as a single in January 1985, Sussudio is the first track on Phil Collins‘ third solo studio album, No Jacket Required).

Only You Know and I Know follows the opening album hit with a heavy drumline mixed with horns. Lyrically aiming for the give-and-take of a relationship whose bonds are being questioned, I hear the song saying that the power to restore the relationship rests in honest communication focused on precisely such an outcome.

Moving to a sharply more meditative direction, Long Long Way to Go feels hurt and afraid in both mood and hopefulness. Taking the song as a metaphor for a romance at risk, the feelings and strength Collins wants as the song’s singer asks for the pain to stop rather than continuing to try. That’s a heavy message indeed.

I Don’t Wanna Know extends a theme of a relationship in peril, though musically upbeat in mood. There’s word getting around that Phil‘s love interest has been spotted romantically in the company of another suitor, which if true is precisely what the singer doesn’t wish to know. As the song progresses lyrically, optimism persists with the hope of picking up romantically where things have been for Phil Collins and his love interest.

One More Night offers a ballad seeking relationship redemption with the attempt to rekindle what has existed between Phil Collins and his romantic love interest. Peaking at #1 in the United States and #4 in the United Kingdom, the notion of pleading “with his lover to give him just one more night to prove his devotion” clearly resonated with many then and likely still now.

(One More Night was the first United States single in and the second United Kingdom single released in support of the No Jacket Required album by Phil Collins).

Don’t Lose My Number brings enthusiasm and a vague sense of storytelling to a seeming romance, budding yet not started or otherwise, with a person named Billy. Whether the number not to be lost is a telephone number never really becomes clear, as doesn’t the relevance to this and whatever follow-up Billy being findable means to imply. As with this song, sometimes a decent hook is all a song needs to stick.

(Peaking at #4 in the United States in September 1985, Don’t Lose My Number was never released as a single in the United Kingdom).

Who Said I Would sure takes an unexpected and unsympathetic turn in the world of romance. That the lady of Phil‘s longing would so readily and clearly reject his feelings lays the groundwork for the relationship’s end like little verbally could. The jarring quality of this message stands in such opposition to the musical statement I hear through most of the song is equally jarring.

(First recorded as a studio recording for No Jacket Required, Who Said I Would was not released as a single until released as a live version Serious Hits…Live! in the United States and Japan six years later).

The heavy opening of drums to begin Doesn’t Anybody Stay Together Anymore feels deliberate and indicative of the feelings I sense Phil Collins having with his song. As indicated in the quotes here, this “song was made in response to everyone around Collins getting a divorce, including his manager, friends and though he was happily married to his second wife, Jill Tavelman [spelling corrected], himself years before.”

I sense a recognition for moving on after a broken relationship ends with the song Inside Out. The inside out references the clear sense for where the end of that love has left him, with a sense of recovery on Phil’s own recovery being the priority. To me, following his own grieving process to recovery makes a lot of sense. This strength of this song musically pleases me.

As quoted here through VH1 Storytellers, Take Me Home‘s “lyrics refer to a patient in a mental institution, and that he was inspired by the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” Ken Kesey wrote that novel. The song peaked at #7 in the United States and #19 in the United Kingdom.

(Take Me Home, the tenth song from the No Jacket Required album, was released as a single in the United Kingdom in July 1985 and in the United States in March 1986).

The ballad We Said Hello Goodbye was a bonus track added to the compact disc release of the No Jacket Required album. The sentiment underpinning the song of emotionally moving on from one situation to another, growing and improving with time as the only way is an inspirational take that places this song, lyrically, among the more impressive achievements on this album.

Musicians supporting this album included David Frank of Dayton, Ohio, Nick Glennie-Smith of London, England, Daryl Stuermer of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Leland Sklar of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Don Myrick of Santa Monica, California and The Phenix Horns, Louis Satterfield of Chicago, Illinois and The Phenix Horns, Michael Harris of The Phenix Horns, Rahmlee Michael Davis of Chicago, Illinois and The Phenix Horns, Gary Barnacle of Dover, England, Arif Mardin of Istanbul, Turkey, Sting of Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England, Peter Gabriel of Chobham, Surrey, England and Helen Terry of England.

Matt – Saturday, February 18, 2023

Genesis and the self-titled album ‘Genesis’

I was eight years old in 1983 when the band Genesis, then a British band consisting of Tony Banks, Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford, released the bands twelfth studio album with the self-titled Genesis. It wasn’t until later that my appreciation of the band grew to recognize the music including those three without Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett from their more progressive rock form. This album review looks into the latter vestiges of the progressive rock period of Genesis, picking up a nine-song set of songs linked, with the transformation to pop in evidence for your listening pleasure.

(The album cover for the 1983 self-titled album Genesis by Genesis).

Mama opened the album Genesis as a much more successful song in the United Kingdom than the United States, per Songfacts. The song itself, per Songfacts, This song gets into a young mans unrequited, non-mutual obsession with a prostitute called Mama who shares not the man’s interest. The book The Moon’s a Balloon by David Niven inspired the song’s lyrics for Phil Collins.

(From left, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, and Phil Collins of Genesis).

That’s All follows for Genesis on the band’s self-titled album. Well received in both the United States and the United Kingdom, this song gets into a refrain for failed relationships. Thematically similar to the song Mama regarding efforts for a bond that fails, the pursued relationship of That’s All keeps ending with the shame of the same failure of effort for the singer.

Home by the Sea lyrically offers an odd mixture of new residents and house burglars getting confronted by ghosts that haunt a home by the sea. The ghosts are trapped in the past, tell the new folks of their experiences in the home, and there’s nothing any of the relevant characters can do about it.

Second Home by the Sea revisits precisely the lyrical experience of Home by the Sea with slower pacing and instrumentation that maintains the progressive feel of the past for Genesis. The listening experience of the two brings the album oriented quality of what bands were in 1983 and before into focus that helps me appreciate the sound and musicality of what has come.

(From left, Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks, and Phil Collins of Genesis).

Illegal Alien opens the second side of the Genesis album for Genesis. With problematic yet satirical lyrics about immigration from Mexico to the United States, per Songfacts, the song itself is sufficiently playful to have not seriously impacted the reputation of the band.

Taking It All Too Hard delves into relationship difficulties that recur for a couple. Both parties see the same feelings of regret, loss, and longing for companionship with the original love. The singer blames his relationship partner for feeling deeply and introspectively while neither can bring themselves to move on. The song ends with the couple feeling the sting of a prospective breakup with neither feeling the courage to move along.

Just a Job to Do gets into what feels like a hitman hired to pursue and kill another hitman. Whether the heartbreak of the pursued is romantically or survival inspired isn’t clear from the narrative of the song, at least to my interpretation. The point beyond this is that the second hitman feels nothing morally about the justice of his line of work in this particular situation.

(From left, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford, and Tony Banks of Genesis).

Silver Rainbow as a metaphor in this song feels like a clear reference to a zipper on a pair of trousers. An emotionally awkward young man approaching a first physical encounter with a woman provides the guidance for what is about to come for the young man and the young lady.

It’s Gonna Get Better closes the self-titled album Genesis with a clear message that patience in the face of hurt feelings are the right call. The offering is to put yourself forward in the face of your pain as others, too, feel the pain and will answer your invitation affirmatively. Indeed, things are going to get better. It’s Gonna Get Better offers a beautiful close to a beautiful album.

Matt – Saturday, November 7, 2020

Genesis and the album ‘Selling England by the Pound’

Being that I was born in 1975, I grew up a product of the music that played in the 1980s. For many, this means that I grew up on the second major movement of albums produced by the band Genesis, when the band included Tony Banks, Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford. It wasn’t until later that my appreciation of the band grew to recognize the music including those three plus Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett in their progressive rock form. This album review looks into the progressive rock period of Genesis, with each song of the eight-song Selling England by the Pound linked for your listening pleasure.

(The album cover for Selling England by the Pound by Genesis).

Dancing with the Moonlit Knight opens Selling England by the Pound as a deliberate effort to appeal to an English (read not American) musical audience. In this linked Something Else Reviews review, Steve Hackett said “That tune started off with the influence of a Scottish song, then it moved into something that I think of in a more elegiac way — something nostalgic and wistful, and common to a lot of Genesis tunes. Then it bursts forth, it fights off its shackles, really takes off like a rocket, into another section, which seems to borrow from something that sounds more Russian in a way. It’s European, but then at times, it turns into the jazz that I liked originally — but big band, with the accents.”

I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) was the first song gaining modest commercial success for Genesis, in the United Kingdom if not the United States. The song tells the story of a young man claiming to be completely happy pushing a lawnmower while broadcasting an intention not to grow up. The anti-hero perspective is strong with this song.

(The artwork for the single I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) by Genesis).

Per this Rolling Stone article from 2014, Twilight Alehouse was recorded during the sessions for the Foxtrot album yet cut from that album. Landing as a b-side for the single I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) that made it onto Selling England by the Pound, we offer the listen here.

The third song on the album Selling England by the Pound is Firth of Fifth. The rambling flow of melodic instrumentation, odd timing, and interesting segues between piano, guitar and organ. The title of the song itself is a reference to the estuary of the River Forth in Scotland.

More Fool Me features Phil Collins on lead vocals in a romantic ballad. The song closes out the first side of the album with the blow of lost love combined with the effort of self-consolation.

The Battle of Epping Forest opens the second side of Selling England by the Pound. Playing with the sensibility of a march coupled with the lyrical comedy of battle whose particulars are unknown, the feel of the song is play. The percussion ties the odd timing of this nearly 12-minute song work together.

(From left to right are Genesis band members Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and Steve Hackett in 1974. Dennis Stone of Express Getty Images took this photograph).

The instrumental After the Ordeal follows The Battle of Epping Forest. There was debate among the band over including this with the completed album, with Steve Heckett‘s vehemence of inclusion reportedly winning the day.

The Cinema Show musically is so many things, including lyrically inspired by the third section of the poem The Waste Land of T.S. Eliot. Taking a long, hard, careful listen offers wide-ranging movements of instruments, oboe, flute and keyboard solos, harmonies, and music for aspiring progressive rock fan.

Aisle of Plenty closes Selling England by the Pound as a segue from the end of The Cinema Show. Aisle of Plenty also serves as a bookend with the opening song Dancing with the Moonlit Knight, offering a performance reminiscent of where the album began, looking for the consolation of place, feeling and belonging.

Those becoming familiar with the music of Genesis in the way I did might want to take a listen to this album. Many hardcore Genesis fans swear by this album. Many listening to the later era of Genesis are open for an education.

Matt – Saturday, February 22, 2020