Paris 1919

Released

This is popular largely because it’s two members of Little Feat and one Jazz Crusader behind Cale, with Chris Thomas compressing it all down into an exciting little tube of mayhem the way he does. The three song sequence of “Andalucia” into “Macbeth” and then “Paris 1919” is a perfect snapshot of Seventies rock: controlled but hairy, emotional but twisty, strange but brief. The UCLA strings make it more oddly American? The claims of this album being about World War I are exaggerated, but “Graham Greene” (weak reggae?) is very much about England: the Queen, umbrellas, civil servants, Enoch Powell, Chipping, and Sodbury. If you ever want anything to sound “like The Beatles,” play steady eighth notes on the piano and a high variation melody on French horn—done. As much a document of cocaine’s creative potential as Rumours.

Sasha Frere-Jones

Suggestions
Glorious Fool cover

Glorious Fool

John Martyn
Still Smiling cover

Still Smiling

Blixa Bargeld, Teho Teardo
Scott 4 cover

Scott 4

Scott Walker
Nichts Muss cover

Nichts Muss

Barbara Morgenstern
I’m the One cover

I’m the One

Annette Peacock
Motomami cover

Motomami

Rosalía
Loose Future cover

Loose Future

Courtney Marie Andrews
Juarez cover

Juarez

Terry Allen