#albums

#albums

When I first started working as a music critic, I held nothing more sacred than a ranked albums list. The album felt like the idealized musical vehicle, a prime mechanism for the expression of true artistic vision and an opportunity to see that vision at scale. Songs there were always so many songs. Too many to really wrap your arms around and judge fairly, in my opinion. But albums were self-contained, easier to quantify and could be stacked up cleanly next to each other

Yet for as many 99-cent songs as were purchased in the 2000s, anyone who spent time on that era's file-sharing networks can verify that the LP was still the most important unit for music obsessives. And it has remained so-albums are the venue for the most niche and audacious creative projects; they remain the organizing principle for press cycles and stadium tours; no one has gold mp3s hanging on their studio walls.

A native of Monkton, Maryland, Dennis Jones got his musical start on drums, but by age 13 he had switched to guitar and joined a band. After traveling the world, he landed in Los Angeles, joining Mississippi bluesman Zac Harmon's band, with whom he won the 2004 International Blues Challenge. Jones' solo debut, Falling Up, came in 2003. Subsequent albums showcased his artistry and featured guests including Kenny Neal, Guitar Shorty, and Etta James saxophonist Jimmy Zavala.

The 1978 album More Songs About Buildings and Food deftly avoids the sophomore slump, merging the twitchy tracks of the debut with wild experimentation to come.

When I got a hold of them, I and the curator, Charlie Pinion, and Joel McNeely, my conductor, went through these boxes. What we found...