Friday 80s Flashback for December 20, 2024

[Still Hot Those House Flowers] -- December and the winter holidays put me in mind of jazz and classic rock, because those were the genres my late father most played on his stereo system while I was growing up. I mean, sure, he played some holiday fare, too. But if he was tooling around the house, he needed some old rock music. And if he was cooking or baking, then jazz was the soundtrack of choice.  

This week's Flashback album would have qualified for that soundtrack. 

Forty years ago this week, on December 18, 1984, Winton Marsalis released Hot House Flowers, his third studio album as a leader. And while Hot House Flowers garnered some mixed reviews (you can read this one from WaPo, if you can get past the paywall), it was a commercially successful album. Not only did this record peak at #90 on the Billboard 200 and #53 on the Billboard R&B Albums chart, it also reached the #1 spot on the Top Jazz Albums chart. Oh, and Hot House Flowers picked up another accolade the following year, in 1985: it snagged the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Soloist. 

What I find interesting about this album is that Marsalis opted for the jazz plus strings formula rather than augmenting the jazz arrangements with synths – and this was the 1980s! So, Marsalis has a who's who in jazz (including is brother, Branford Marsalis) riffing over understated string arrangements by Robert Freedman. And while some critics at the time weren't too keen on it, like that WaPo critic, I find the strings to be softly supporting, and I think it works. Maybe it's because I don't always hear the strings. Maybe it's that Winton Marsalis understood how to work with the various standards he was covering. But I think the approach also works on the title track, the only one he wrote on the whole album. 

Anyway, if you like jazz and need a nice instrumental background while you're wrapping presents, give this one a spin. 

Flashback: Hot House Flowers (December 18, 1984)

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And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.

I'll see you in seven!

Superman ... and Metamorpho!

So, the teaser trailer for SUPERMAN (2025) came out today. For the most part, I'm trying to remain cautiously optimistic about the upcoming film. But two scenes in the trailer do ratchet up my potential excitement for the film, and both of them tease the first live-action appearance of ... Metamorpho the Element Man!

Writer Bob Haney and artist Ramona Fradon co-created Metamorpho in 1965. He has been a solo hero as well as a member of several teams, including the Justice League. 

Image description: Two screen grabs from the SUPERMAN teaser trailer and a comic book scan. Top left is a screen grab showing the Stagg Industries logo above Superman (Metamorpho worked for Simon Stagg in the comics). Bottom left is a screen grab showing a closeup of Metamorpho. Image to the right is a scan of The Brave & The Bold Vol. 1 #58, the second appearance of Metamorpho. 

Friday 80s Flashback for December 13, 2024

[Hallelujah 40] -- Forty years ago this week, Leonard Cohen released his seventh studio album, Various Positions. This was also his first studio album since 1979's Recent Songs. The new album was well-received, with compliments on its "lucid and beautiful production" (Rolling Stone) and recognition as "a stunning return to form" (AllMusic). Various Positions did not chart in the US, but it fared very well in Spain, Portugal, and Scandinavia, and even garnered moderate success in the UK (peaking at #52 on the charts).

The two singles were "Dance Me to the End of Love" and "Hallelujah." Yeah, that "Hallelujah." While it didn't get much attention in 1984, covers of the tune pretty much blew up in 1991 (John Cale) and 1994 (Jeff Buckley). And now it's pretty much a standard.

Even if you're not a fan of Cohen's vocal stylings, and I am, you have to give him credit as an important songwriter of great skill. 

Flashback: Various Positions (December 11, 1984)

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And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.

I'll see you in seven! 

Operation: Jail the Justice League!

The above image is a two-page spread of the Justice Leaguers triumphing over a bunch of crooks. It is from a story titled "Operation: Jail the Justice League!" 

I first read that story in the treasury-sized DC Limited Collectors's Edition presents SUPER FRIENDS # C- 41 (1976). In that book, the story is told as a flashback to Wendy and Marvin of the Super Friends TV series:

But it originally appeared in Justice League of America Vol 1 #61 (March 1968). As a kid in the mid-1970s, I did not know older stories were reprinted. I probably didn't even care. So, why am I writing about "Operation: Jail the Justice League!" today? Well, I now own a copy of that 1968 comic. Picked up issues #61 and #65 for my collection this week! 

Happy collecting! 

Friday 80s Flashback for December 6, 2024

[Pulse] -- I knew nothing of the pioneering jazz drummer, Ronald Shannon Jackson, until his second go-round with Last Exit in 1988. But he had been on the scene from 1966 until his death in 2013, and he amassed 165 credits [Discogs]. I have not backtracked through all of his works. I'm primarily interested in RSJ with Last Exit, the Decoding Society, and his solo work. That latter category is where today's Flashback comes rom. 

Now, I'm not entirely certain when Ronald Shannon Jackson released Pulse, but I do know it was in 1984 and AOTY lists the release date as December 3, 1984. So, Pulse turns 40 years old this week!

AllMusic categorizes Pulse as a Jazz album in the styles of Fusion and Hard Bop. Discogs more broadly lists the album's styles as Free Jazz, Poetry, Free Improvisation, and Spoken Word. Discogs might be the more complete description as Pulse features Ronald Shannon Jackson recitation over drum solos, the kind of solos you might expect from an icon of jazz, funk, and the avant garde. As such, Pulse is a sparse album, specifically in terms of personnel. Ronald Shannon Jackson handled the drums, of course, as well as the aforementioned vocals. Two other performers contributed to two of the ten tracks: Onaje Allen Gumbs played piano on "Lullabye For Mother" and Michael S. Harper provided his voice to "Those Winter Sundays." Beyond that, only the producers – David Breskin and Ron Saint-Germain – are listed in the liner notes. 

This is not an easy listen, particularly if you are not accustomed to jazz drum solos. But it is a rewarding one, at least in my opinion. And if you need a break from all the holiday tunes, this album will certainly cleanse your aural palate. 

Flashback: Pulse (December 3, 1984)

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And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.

I'll see you in seven!

Super Finale

Tyler Hoechlin (L) as Superman and Elizabeth Tulloch (R) as Lois Lane;
they are standing in profile in front of a rubble-strewn street.
[From Superman & Lois]

Well, that happened. And by "that" I mean the series finale of Superman & Lois (2021-2024). By now, there have been numerous posts and reviews, many of which addressing this series' position as the final comic book inspired show on CW, musing on the quality of the show, sharing glimpses of the work behind the scenes, and probably spoiling key moments for folks who have not yet viewed the episode. 

I'm not doing any of that. 

Well, I'm probably offering a bit of a spoiler here. So, if you are among those who have not viewed the episode which aired two nights ago, stop reading. And definitely do not scroll down to the second image in this post. Go watch the show and then come back here.

Ready?

I love that the reveal of the Super Family – Superman flying with his costumed sons as well as Steel and his daughter (Starlight) – shows the creative team paid attention to the source material... the comics. First, Jordan and John are differentiated by one's emphasis on red and the other on blue. This echoes not only an imaginary tale from Superman in which Supes was split into Red and Blue counterparts (Superman Vol. 1 #162), but also when DC comics brought the split into modern canon by creating the electrified Superman Red and Superman Blue (circa 1998 in Superman Red/Superman Blue #1 and Superman Vol. 2 #132).

Second, because Jordan and Jonathan are Superboys – Superboy Red and Superboy Blue, if you will – their uniforms reflect two different iterations of the Superboy character in the comics. Just look closely at their respective uniforms. Jordan's outfit looks very much like the New 52 Superboy while Jonathan's very much aligns with that of the 1990s Superboy who launched during the Reign of the Supermen storyline and then got his own series. Also, please note my reason for saying that Jonathan's uniform aligns with the 1990 design: It is because he, wisely, does not use the leather jacket or sunglasses (though the alt-universe Jonathan did sport the jacket). The other difference between comics and this TV series was that both of the comic book Superboys were clones, while Jordan and Jonathan in the series are the actual sons of Clark and Lois. 

So, here is an image capture of that in-flight scene from the finale along with a few comic covers to show what I think were some inspirations for the show's creative team:

Super Family in flight and the covers of four comic books that might have influenced the scene. 

Anyway, I loved the TV series and I'm sad it had to end to make room for the upcoming cinematic rebirth of Superman. 

Friday 80s Flashback for November 29, 2024

[The Way Zoolook Tonight] -- Forty years ago this month, French electronic musician Jean-Michel Jarre released his seventh studio album, Zoolook. Depending on the source, this record was released at some point between November 1 and November 16, though several sources do not even cite a specific day. Specific date aside, we are celebrating the 40th anniversary of its release. 

I did not know about this album in 1984. I didn't even know of Jean-Michel Jarre until the fall of 1986, two years after Zoolook's release. But the resident assistant for our floor in the dormitory was a huge Jarre fan, and he was happy to share his record collection with anyone who might likewise become a fan. 

And I did. 

Zoolook was one of the two albums that facilitated my introduction to Jarre's catalog. Of course, if I recall correctly, I often referred to this record as "Zoolookologie." You see, this album's two singles were "Zoolook" and "Zoolookologie." And I knew the album was named after a single; I just seemed to frequently mistake one for the other, namewise at least. Anyway, the focus of this record was creating music from "samples of singing and speech in 25 different languages," which Jarre recorded and edited in a digital sampling synthesizer. He used those sounds as notes and chords, along with some slick drum programming, in phonetic symphonies. 

That might make this the most vocal album ever recorded without a lead vocalist. 

Zoolook was not as popular, or successful, as Jarre's previous releases. It peaked at #47 in the UK album charts, and it reached the top 30 in several other European countries. It did not chart in the US. Both of the singles, "Zoolook" and "Zoolookologie," received the music video treatment. I still really like the video for "Zoolook," though it also kind of looks like someone doing a global product tour, showcasing a dozen toy robots. Actually, it looks more like what someone who has never done a product or toy tour imagining what one looks like. 

Flashback: Zoolook (November, 1984)

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And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.

I'll see you in seven!