Bill Frisell: S/D, comment upon brilliantly

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Has anyone heard his latest album, Unspeakable? Amazon says it came out in August, but I've heard zilch about it, and a Bill Frisell soul/funk album sounds like the best thing ever!

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 28 March 2005 20:23 (8 years ago) Permalink

I'm slightly more curious about Richter 858, that's on my want list. Can anyone vouch?

― milton parker (Jon L), Monday, 28 March 2005 20:30 (8 years ago) Permalink

I think sundar has talked about Unspeakable. Also, I've seen it get props on AAJ (both in reviews/end of the year lists and on the boards there).

― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Monday, 28 March 2005 21:07 (8 years ago) Permalink

I've liked almost every single thing Frisell has done, but I've listened to, like, the last dozen albums he's released exactly twice each. That includes "Unspeakable," which I found largely unremarkable.

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Monday, 28 March 2005 21:10 (8 years ago) Permalink

Richter 858 is pretty cool. I love Richter, though, so I spend more time looking at the pictures than focusing on the music. Still, recommended.

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Monday, 28 March 2005 21:11 (8 years ago) Permalink

The version of Unspeakable that I'm hearing in my head right now sounds amazing.

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 28 March 2005 21:12 (8 years ago) Permalink

I love Unspeakable so much I can barely even discuss it. It was my album of the year for 2004 and is probably in my 10 essential albums of all time. Just listened to it this morning in fact. I talked about it a little here. I guess it sounds like the same guy who did The Intercontinentals but with more groove, with horn and string arrangements, and with some more extended ambience and noise and shit in the second half. "Who Was That Girl" is a gorgeous "Frisell does Motown" track with some classic-style horn lines. But there's also feedback washes or descending chromatic lines over drones at other points. And some parts that are almost like a normal jam band but more lush and ambient. If you have no interest in his other recent albums, you might not still like this. The AMG review is as good a description as any I could provide.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Monday, 28 March 2005 22:43 (8 years ago) Permalink

I looked for Unspeakable at the store last night, but they didn't have it so I got Charlie Hunter's most recent album instead. It's okay.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 14:25 (8 years ago) Permalink

I heard "Unspeakable" the other day. Very, very fine indeed. One of his best since "Where in the World?"

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 20:31 (8 years ago) Permalink

that's high praise. okay, sounded.

― milton parker (Jon L), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 20:39 (8 years ago) Permalink

4 months pass...

Any new thoughts on Richter? I put it on the other day and it really clicked. All that slow churning noise. Good atmosphere. Once I was listening to/watching it with my cousin (who feels jaded towards most music) and it seriously freaked him out.

― Sundar (sundar), Monday, 22 August 2005 16:03 (7 years ago) Permalink

Didn't mind it, didn't love it. I'd like to see it in the context of the film.

Unspeakable was actively not for me, though I can appreciate why it's a good record, I can't crack it myself.

― milton parker (Jon L), Monday, 22 August 2005 21:22 (7 years ago) Permalink

2 years pass...

The "Live To Tell" cover from Have a Little Faith (collection of American songs) is one of the most beautiful recordings I have ever heard.

― roxymuzak, Sunday, 11 November 2007 23:11 (5 years ago) Permalink

Yeah, I love that. It was the first thing I ever heard by Frisell.

― Sundar, Monday, 12 November 2007 05:17 (5 years ago) Permalink

I was a bit meh on Unspeakable when I first got it. I guess I was expecting something a bit different from an album that has some of my favorite free-jazz musicians on it, including Jenny Scheinman and Kenny Wollesen. The solos don't get too far out, and the beats tend to be more steady, straight-ahead funk that don't give Wollesen opportunities to show off his creative side. However, I've come to appreciate it. I think it works best as background music - which may sound like a dig - but good background music albums are just as hard to find as good foreground music albums.

― o. nate, Monday, 12 November 2007 15:24 (5 years ago) Permalink

6 months pass...

Has anyone heard the new Bill yet? Looks like he's still chucking everything but the kitchen sink into the pot.

On the two-disc History, Mystery, Frisell shuffles the pack and
comes up trumps again—this time leading a strings, horns and drums octet in a 90-minute suite which roves between impressionistic divertissements, most of them lasting just one or two minutes, and full-on, extended, do-what-they-say-on-the-can band work-outs, which variously take in bop, post-bop, Malian desert blues, Delta blues, 1960s soul, urban groove and low slung rock.

― sam500, Wednesday, 14 May 2008 01:12 (5 years ago) Permalink

4 months pass...

I heard something from the new album on the radio that I really liked and it's definitely something I would consider buying if I had any money (even though he has never hit me in a big way before).

― _Rockist__Scientist_, Tuesday, 23 September 2008 18:49 (4 years ago) Permalink

I saw him live back in '92 or so (?) and the real highlight was Joey Baron on drums...

Bill is a great player, but he's too ready to do a medley of cartoon themes instead of just shredding like he ought to.

― Nate Carson, Tuesday, 23 September 2008 22:11 (4 years ago) Permalink

3 years pass...

These Buster Keaton scores are nonstop wonderful.

― improvised explosive advice (WmC), Thursday, 3 May 2012 19:32 (1 year ago) Permalink

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