The Freelance Mentalists.: jukebox reflection (passing by)

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

jukebox reflection (passing by)

Good, intense thoughts about Whitney Houston orbiting The Singles Jukebox nowadays, check it out. Here I am from the comments (awaiting moderation, might not make it through)

When I first heard “Memories,” soon after the album came out, I had no idea who she was, but there was a sense of foreboding, and the sound of somebody very young who might just as well sing along with that disquieting voice (doesn’t quite sound like Lou, but who?), “Look out, the world’s behind you”–on “Sunday Morning,” the first track of the Velvet Underground’s first LP. Awake far too early, and none too soon. "There is always someone around you who will call/It's nothing at all." Meanwhile in "Memories," the first note of Shepp’s solo seems too much, and what’s that artsy kitchen percussion for? But the singer and the song carry on, brushing me with a little chill. I’m up like that fairly often now, but I’m not really a morning person either, Whitney.
Don Allred, on February 15th, 2012 at 4:34 am Said: Your comment is awaiting moderation.
Shepp carries on too, after the first note, and he can’t shake the breeze either.
Update (from I Love Music messageboard:
Just heard the last of a radio special on Whitney's actual music, with good tracks from her last album. No acrobatics, but steadfast and melodious: "Though I don't know if I'll make it through/I look to you." Anybody familiar with the whole album?
― dow, Saturday, 18 February 2012 02:04 (Yesterday) Permalink
I Look to You is a very good album, it's quite understated in many ways - and her voice didn't just lose a lot in her "later" years (sounds so sad), it also gained something, as did her performance, in its roughness and grit. "I Look to You" is good, and "I Didn't Know My Own Strength" and "Nothin' But Love" are great songs, the latter produced by Danja, but nothing desperately-trying-to-be-modern about it (only "Million Dollar Bill" comes a bit close to that, perhaps). And there's more good tracks, and nothing that's out of place.
--(name withheld) Saturday, 18 February 2012 (Yesterday)
update: quite a different sort of take on metamorphic Whitney, from I Love Music visionary KJB, now quoted in my PPS to John Wojtowicz's classic coverage of a Mike Kelley exhibit, well-preserved here:
http://thefreelancementalists.blogspot.com/2004/08/special-guest-mentalist-john-wojtowicz.html

¶ 2/14/2012

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