2003-08-12 - 2:28 p.m. Occasionally, I like to try sushi just to see if I still hate it. (Latest update: yes, I still hate it.) And similarly, I like to check in with my old favorite records and performers to see if I still like them, because you can�t build a solid foundation of aesthetics on sentimentality alone. Most of my favorites hold steady in their greatness, but it�s always interesting when a record turns out to be either a) not as good as my memory of it or b) even better. This weekend I hauled out Barbara Manning�s 1212, the one that starts out with a song cycle about an arsonist. I�d say that this record has gotten better, for me, over time. I�ve loved Babs since her days in 28th Day. As far as I�m concerned, her solo album Lately I Keep Scissors should have gotten all the accolades that the vastly inferior Exile in Guyville got. (And, think about it: Barbara would never end up recording with the Matrix in order to get a hit. She�s in forest ranger school, for pete�s sake). Anyway, the point is, Barbara is a wonderful songwriter, within several pop traditions (pop, folk-rock, garage, punk/pop, faux Kraut rock), and also a tasteful coverer of other people�s songs. I liked 1212 a lot when I first got it, but it didn't end up being a record I listened to regularly. I'm not sure why. Maybe I just wasn�t in the right mood in 1997. But now I am more impressed than ever with the variety of songs all fitting under one dark umbrella. As always, her singing is beautiful, vulnerable, tough and honest. Also in the �it just gets better� category is the Loud Family�s Interbabe Concern. Although my all-time fave LF albums are Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things and Days for Days, IBC features some of the best Scott Miller lyrics, and some great ideas. But my mistake in the past has been, because of my notoriously tiny attention span, ignoring the second half of the record in favor of the first (understandable when the first half has �Sodium Laureth Sulfate,� �Don't Respond, She Can Tell,� and �Screwed Over By Stylish Introverts.�) It finally dawned on me this weekend how strong the last five songs on this record are, especially when considered as a whole. thoughts? (0 comments so far) previous - next blog archive contact