A-sides and B-sides/A-sides and Besides: Adrianne Lenker and Buck Meek (2014)

 

A-sides And Besides (2014/2018) 

 

A-Sides and B-sides is a curious set of releases. 

When I first saw the title, I took the titles at face value and assumed that they were literally a collection of early singles, split into two EPs for some reason. But of course they are not -- or if they were, they were self-released CD-R singles that don't have any record of ever having actually existed.  

But then I thought that they were being clever and A- meant Adrianne while B- meant Buck.

  But since over the two EPs only three songs are actually Buck's and, indeed, he doesn't seem to play on four or five songs at all, I'd say they are rather misnamed, if that is the case. And while I totally get that Adrianne and Buck were "hanging as a unit" and that Buck's presence is very real on these EPs, it seems clear that Adrianne is the star here. 

In 2018, the A-sides and Besides compilation compiled the two EPs onto one album which probably makes the most sense. 

To the music:  I think that A-sides largely continues (without a significant progression) Adrianne's style begun on Hours Were The Birds style. I don't think it's a step forward.  But it's lovely.

Buck's presence on guitar and harmony vocals on a few of the songs does add something, but at the same time, I think most of the songs would be just as good without him -- not to disparage Buck, I actually really like his songs on this set, or these sets or whatever: especially "Miss Misty". It's just that Adrianne's songs here stand on their own with one voice and guitar, a point which is driven home by the fact that half of them actually are just one voice and guitar.

Adrianne's songs are interesting: on the one hand they seem like quite familiar, even cliched 21st century indie folk songs -- but there's always something that she does that makes them stand out from the pack: a certain unexpected twist of melody that seems almost to shatter the down-home, country-ish folk stylings and really make them special. There's a bit of old-fashioned jazz pop in there and a matter of fact approach to blues, and of course an almost traditional approach to folk. I think that these EPs and Hours Were the Birds are ample proof of Adrianne's genius, a genius that in fact will continue to grow in leaps in bounds once she has her band around her. 

Comparing the two EPs as separate releases, I do think they are aptly named: A-sides has the first tier songs on it, and B-sides songs seem, in general, just a notch below. Still fine songs anybody would be proud to have written, even the great folk songwriters of yore, but A-sides' songs are more special than B-sides', somehow, more inspired. There's a real sense of melancholy nostalgia -- for childhood, for the Midwest, for Adrianne's nomadic past, and for past lovers. This nostalgia runs through the EPs thematically, along with a nakedly honest and emotional approach to romantic love that doesn't really seem physical so much as spiritual.

 

And yet, the songs rarely wallow too much in the melancholia as the Adrianne's melodic flights of fancy seem playfully joyful, even childlike at times. And so we're left with another set of songs that somehow walk this fine line between sad, nostalgic melancholy and playful, childlike melodicism. I don't think that's a particularly easy line to walk, but it sure seems like it's just come out fully formed that way: the craft must be there, but anything crafty in these songs is so charmingly obvious that the craft is probably much much deeper than it seems on the surface.

So: my ratings:
A-sides: 5/5
B-sides: 4.4/5
A-sides and Besides: 5/5
Coming Up:

A-sides & B-sides - ADrianne Lenker & Buck Meek

abysskiss -Adrianne Lenker

After Dark -- Andy Gibb

All This Useless Beauty - Elvis Costello & The Attractions

Alpha Mike Foxtrot -- Wilco

The American Dream

American Idiot - Green Day

Amnesiac Radiohead

Another Life - Another Life

Arrival - ABBA

A-sides & B-sides - ADrianne Lenker & Buck Meek

B

B-sides And Rarities -- Fleet Foxes 

Being There - Wilco

The Bends -- Radiohead

The B-52s

Bachelor No. 2 (Or, The Last Remains of the Dodo) - Aimee Mann

The Ballad of Easy Rider - The Byrds

Bambu - Dennis Wilson

Band on the Run

Bangles EP

The Basement Tapes - Bob Dylan & The Band

BARB

The BBC Sessions -- Belle & Sebastian

The Beatles [The White Album] 

Beatles For Sale 

Beauty and Sadness -- TheSmithereens

Beauty and the Beat -- The Go-Go's

Beautiful Creature-- Juliana Hatfield

Become What YOu Are - The Juliana Hatfield 3

Bed - Juliana Hatfield

Bee Gees First -- The Bee Gees

Before & After - Tim Finn

Before...But Longer -- The Czars

Being There -- Wilco

Beggar's Banquet. The Rolling Stones

Begin Here - The Zombies

The Bends - Radiohead

Berlin - Lou Reed

The Best of Badfinger

The Best of Dark Horse - 1976-1989 - George Harrison

The Best of Sam Cooke

Best Shots - Pat Benatar

Betchadupa

Between The Buttons - Rolling Stones

Big Canoe - Tim Finn

the Big Express - XTC

Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi - Camera Obscura

Billy Idol

A Bit of Previous - Belle & Sebastian

The Black Album - Prince

Black Gold - Nina Simone

Black List - Alex Chilton

Black Market Clash - The Clash 

Black Sea - XTC

Black Snake Diamond Role -- Robyn Hitchcock

Black Spring - Lush

Black-Eyed Man - Cowboy Junkies

Blinde The Sundays

Blind Man's Zoo - 10000 Maniacs 

Blonde on Blonde - Bob Dylan

Blondie

Blood - Juliana Hatfield

Blood And Chocolate - Elvis Costello & The Attractions

Blood on the Tracks - Bob Dylan

Blue Bannisters -- Lana Del Rey

Blue Kentucky Girl -- Emmylou Harris

Boats Against the Current -- Eric Carmen

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan In Concert: Brandeis University 1963

Book - They Might Be Giants

Bookends -- Simon and Garfunkel

Booker T & The M.G.'s

The Bootleg Series 1-3 Bob Dylan

Born in the USA - Bruce Springsteen

Born toDie - Lana Del Rey

Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen

Bossanova - The Pixies

The Both

Boy - U2

The Boy with the Arab Strap - Belle & Sebastian

Boys Don't Cry - TheCure

Brian Wilson

Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE

Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin

Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road

Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel

Bringing It All Back Home - Bob Dylan

Broken - Nine Inch Nails

Brutal Youth - Elvis Costello

Bryter Layter - Nick Drake

Buck Meek

Buena Vista Social Club

Buffalo Springfield

Buffalo Springfield Again

Buoys - Panda Bear

Byrdmaniax - The Byrds

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