Steve Kuhn - Steve Kuhn (1971)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Steve Kuhn Trio - Three Waves (1966)

Steve Kun - Trance (1975)

Karin Krog, Steve Kuhn, Steve Swallow, & Jon Christensen - We Could Be Flying (1975)

By request, here's pianist/keyboardist Steve Kuhn's 1971 self-titled solo outing. Simmering, lightly funky vocal-jazz fleshed out by a super solid band (Ron Carter, Billy Cobham, Airto Moreira), lovely string arrangements, and understated vocals by Kuhn himself. It's played mostly straight, but Kuhn throws down the weirdo gauntlet with "Pearlie's Swine", which blazes through over four minutes of clattering instrumental jazz-funk before he comes in with lines like "Ham / How I love to eat ham / Vultures don't give a damn" and "Meat / Monkeys eat with their feet."

Track listing:

1. Pearlie's Swine

2. Silver

3. Time to Go

4. The Heat of the Moment

5. The Baby

6. Hold Out Your Hand

7. The Meaning of Love

8. Ulla

So when I'm alone

Left with only a bone

On top of the sky

Birds are wondering why

You should also hear:

Astrud Gilberto - I Haven't Got Anything Better to Do (1969)

Michel Herr, Bill Frisell, Vinton Johnson, Kermit Driscoll - Good Buddies (1978)

Keren Ann - La Disparition (2002)

Downtempo, melancholic French folk pop/chanson from the eternally pensive Keren Ann. Fingerpicked acoustic guitars, wavering strings, barely-there percussion, jazzy pianos, and muted horns provide a lush, autumnal backdrop for Ann's warm, whispery voice. It's all extremely easy on the ears. As much as I love this record, I actually thought of it as a result of my previous post due to its inclusion of one of the earliest instances of intentional AutoTune abuse of which I'm aware: the trip-hop flavored outlier "La corde et les chaussons".

Track listing:

1. Au coin du monde

2. Le sable mouvant

3. Les rivières de janvier

4. La corde et les chaussons

5. Surannée

6. Ailleurs

7. L'illusioniste

8. La tentation

9. Mes pans dans la neige

10. Le chien d'avant garde

11. La disparition

Restons ici, le soleil est moins pâle, le vent moins sidéral

L'eau est bleue, bleu foncé, tu t'endors

Also listen to:

Astrud Gilberto - I Haven't Got Anything Better to Do (1969)

Pierre Bachelet - Pierre Bachelet (1975)

Richard Harris - The Yard Went on Forever (1968)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Richard Harris - A Tramp Shining (1968)

For all the derision it attracts, "MacArthur Park" is an extremely strange piece of music, and its massive success as a single probably surprised everyone involved in its recording and release. To follow it up, Harris (well, Jimmy Webb, who actually wrote and arranged the entirety of both this album and A Tramp Shining) leaned into that song's artfully overblown melodrama, and generated a towering song cycle of heartbroken symphonic vocal pop that holds together even better than its predecessor.

Track listing:

1. The Yard Went on Forever

2. Watermark

3. Interim

4. Gayla

5. The Hymns from the Grand Terrace

6. The Hive

7. Lucky Me

8. That's the Way It Was

Is everybody safe?

Has everybody got a place to hide?

Is everybody warm inside?

You might also wanna hear:

Astrud Gilberto - I Haven't Got Anything Better to Do (1969)

Pierre Bachelet - Pierre Bachelet (1975)

Marc Almond - Violent Silence (1986)

Murderous vocal ballads from the great Marc Almond (Soft Cell). A dark, gothic sonic palette of piano, horror synths, and synthetic orchestral sounds, with Almond's voice echoing front and center. If your only exposure to Almond has been via Soft Cell, you're in for a shock.

Track listing:

1. Blood Tide

2. Healthy as Hate

3. Things You Loved Me For

4. Body Unknown

5. Unborn Stillborn

I was dragging your face 'round the floor

If you like this, listen to:

Pieter Nooten & Michael Brook - Sleeps with the Fishes (1987)

The Hope Blister - ...Smile's OK (1998)

Pierre Bachelet - Pierre Bachelet (1975)

Excellent debut (not counting soundtracks) solo record from Pierre Bachelet. Cinematic, exploratory, romantic, and very horny art rock/chanson -- as you might expect from a prolific composer of scores for French soft porn films.

Track listing:

1. L'Atlantique (Toi, moi et la musique)

2. À longeur de temps

3. Ils y croient tous

4. Avec Satan

5. Hello Darling

6. La connierie

7. L'amour démoniaque

8. V'la le printemps

9. Seulement voilà

10. Petite soeur

11. Tiens salut

Une histoire de fesse qui t'aurait passionn

You might also enjoy:

Brigitte Fontaine - Brigitte Fontaine Est... Folle (1969)

Jerry Berkers - Unterwegs (1972)

Abbey Lincoln - Abbey Is Blue (1959)

One of my absolute favorite vocal jazz records. Slow-burning, ethereal sounds for the late-night hours, addressing heartache and racial injustice in powerful, sorrowful terms.

Track listing:

1. Afro-Blue

2. Lonely House

3. Let Up

4. Thursday's Child

5. Brother, Where Are You?

6. Laugh, Clown, Laugh

7. Come Sunday

8. Softly, as a Morning Sunrise

9. Lost in the Stars

10. Long as You're Living

Sometimes I think maybe God's gone away

Forgetting his promise and the word he'd say

And we're lost out here in the stars

You'll probably also wanna hear:

Astrud Gilberto - I Haven't Got Anything Better to Do (1969)

Kimiko Kasai - Butterfly (1979)

Astrud Gilberto - I Haven't Got Anything Better to Do (1969)

Beautiful bossa nova/vocal jazz from Brazilian singer Astrud Gilberto. The perfect balance of melancholy, string-swept ballads and breezy, uptempo numbers. File the title track alongside "I Get Along Without You Very Well", "Most of the Time", and "She Thinks I Still Care" -- breakup songs in which the narrator goes to great lengths to explain how little they care about their former lover, thereby revealing the true depths of their heartbreak. Bought this LP today for (drumroll please) 10 cents. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, you've been great.

Track listing:
1. I Haven't Got Anything Better to Do
2. Didn't We
3. Wailing of the Willow
4. Where's the Love?
5. The Sea Is My Soul (I Remember When)
6. Trains and Boats and Planes
7. World Stop Turning
8. Without Him
9. Wee Small Hours
10. If (The Biggest Little Word)

He's got a problem if he thinks I need him
I couldn't care less now that we're through
I only sit home and I wait for his phone call
When I haven't got anything better to do

Also check out:

Brigitte Fontaine -
Brigitte Fontaine Est... Folle (1969)

Joan Manuel Serrat -
Mediterráneo (1971)

Joan Manuel Serrat - Mediterráneo (1971)

Spanish balladeer Joan Manuel Serrat's international breakthrough. Gently-picked acoustic guitars and Serrat's rich voice are at the center, with an ornate musical backdrop of, in addition to the standard pop/rock elements, sweeping strings, harpsichord, and ethereal backing vocals -- a small orchestra, essentially. For those well-versed in Serrat's corner of the musical world, this is probably akin to posting Blonde on Blonde or something, but I'm guessing that most of my readers, like me, are not.

Track listing:
1. Mediterráneo
2. Aquellas Pequenas Cosas
3. La Mujer Que Yo Quiero
4. Pueblo Blanco
5. Tío Alberto
6. Qué va a ser de ti
7. Lucía
8. Vagabundear
9. Barquito de Papel
10. Vencidos

PS I love you

You might also enjoy:

Richard Harris -
A Tramp Shining (1968)

Marcos Valle -
Marcos Valle (1974)

Kimiko Kasai - Butterfly (1979)

Positively sublime, pop-oriented soul-jazz from Japanese jazz singer Kimiko Kasai. In case you need more convincing: Butterfly is, seemingly, a full-on collaboration between Kasai and Herbie Hancock, and features the great Bennie Maupin on sax. Run, don't walk.

Track listing:
1. Thought It Was You
2. Tell Me a Bedtime Story
3. Head in the Clouds
4. Maiden Voyage
5. Harvest Time
6. Sunlight
7. Butterfly
8. As

This love in my heart

You might also enjoy:

Cortex - Troupeau Bleu (1975)

Eddie Henderson - Mahal (1978)

Marcos Valle - Marcos Valle (1974)

Beautiful psych-tinged Brazilian pop. Fits pretty much any mood you can throw at it.

Track listing:
1. No Rumo Do Sol
2. Meu Herói
3. Só Se Morre Uma Vez
4. Casamento, Filhos E Convenções
5. Remédio P'ro Coração
6. Brasil X México
7. Tango
8. Nossa Vida Começa Na Gente
9. Novelo De Lã
10. Cobaia
11. Charlie Bravo

The moment your head hits the pillow

More Brazilian excellence:

Gilberto Gil - Gilberto Gil (1968)

Milton Nascimento - Minas (1975)

Richard Harris - A Tramp Shining (1968)

Best known for including the original version of the impossibly maudlin "MacArthur Park", A Tramp Shining is a surprisingly, endearingly outsider-sounding collection of swooning, orchestral 60s pop. Fans of early Scott Walker will love Harris' slightly skewed take on crooning, while fans of Bryter Later will fall for the lush instrumental arrangements and starry-eyed melodrama.

Track listing:
1. Didn't We

2. Paper Chase

3. Name of My Sorrow

4. Lovers Such as I

5. In the Final Hours

6. MacArthur Park

7. Dancing Girl

8. If You Must Leave My Life

9. A Tramp Shining

Bless the place that no one goes
Bless the words that no one knows
Bless the rose that never grows
Lights that are dim, trees without limbs
Babies that cry, and lovers such as I

Brigitte Fontaine - Brigitte Fontaine Est... Folle (1968)

There's nothing like a sultry French voice singing over orchestral pop to help you to come across as cultured and as having good taste. Don't be fooled, though, I just had a slice of pizza and washed it down with a Tecate.

Track listing:
1. Il Pleut
2. Le Beau Cancer
3. Il Se Passe Des Choses
4. Une Fois Mais Pas Deux
5. L'Homme Objet
6. Éternelle
7. Blanche Neige
8. Comme Rimbaud
9. Dommage Que Tu Sois Mort
10. Je Suis Inadaptée
11. Cet Enfant Que Je T'Ais Fait

I'm about to forget