{"id":401,"date":"2007-03-19T23:01:20","date_gmt":"2007-03-20T03:01:20","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2007-03-19T23:33:28","modified_gmt":"2007-03-19T23:33:28","slug":"the-humble-album","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/the-humble-album\/","title":{"rendered":"The Humble Album"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/J6ROIbhD4Ls?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\n<em><strong>What&#8217;s Your Humble Album?<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\nNot all rock bands who&#8217;ve been around and in the limelight for sometime make one, but the <strong>Humble Album<\/strong> can be a welcome respite for the band&#8217;s dedicated rock nerd fans. This is the album in which our larger-than-life rock heroes take a step back, whether by design or default, and put out an album that falls a bit flat for the general public but, over time, satisfies the longings of rock nerds hungry for that next underappreciated album that only the chosen few will ever <em>get<\/em>.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nAlthough The Beatles self-consciously tried to <em>Get Back<\/em> and <em>Let it Be<\/em>, perhaps rock&#8217;s first Humble Album was <strong>The Rolling Stones&#8217; <em>Between the Buttons<\/em><\/strong>. In aping bits and pieces of the pot-smoking Beatles, The Kinks, Dylan, and other contemporaries, the Stones produced a ramshackle, oddball album that, briefly, put aside the American R&amp;B workouts and, instead, sounded like something an honest-to-goodness 2nd-rate British Invasion band might release as the highpoint of their humble career. I believe it&#8217;s the humble nature of <em>Between the Buttons<\/em> that makes it so effective despite its obvious shortcomings in light of the band&#8217;s Rock Legacy.<\/p>\n<p>The Kinks struck critical gold with its extended Humble Album period, culminating in the most humble of Humble Albums, <em><strong>The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society<\/strong><\/em>. Here, rock was brought down to scale, to the general apathy of hormonal rock fans but the delight of lonely outsiders fanning the flames of Rock&#8217;s True Potential fo Intimacy.<\/p>\n<div class=\"image_block\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/media\/users\/frankenslade\/townhalljwh.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" width=\"301\" height=\"300\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Bob Dylan&#8217;s Humble Album, <em><strong>John Wesley Harding<\/strong><\/em>, is another personal favorite of your Moderator. Supposedly recorded during a retreat following his mythical motorcycle accident, the album is no less opaque than earlier Dylan albums, but he&#8217;s dropped the cynical visionary vibe for something more&#8230;humble. I can&#8217;t get enough of this album. I never feel the need to lift the needle over objectively great songs that, nevertheless, often bore the snot out of me and\/or beat me into submission (eg, &#8220;Ballad of a Thin Man&#8221;). The songs on <em>John Wesley Harding<\/em> don&#8217;t scream for my attention.<\/p>\n<p>Although the Humble Album may have led to rock&#8217;s first truly Humble Band, <strong>The Band<\/strong>, and then countless British rock stars who would dedicate their careers to humility (George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Traffic, Fairport Convention), the Humble Band and Humble Rock are different than the Humble Album. The Humble Album is just a phase. The bands making their humble album will eventually snap out of it and return to flexing their Rock Superpowers. Van Morrison&#8217;s <em>Veedon Fleece<\/em>, however, is humble.<\/p>\n<p>Surely bands would continue to release Humble Albums. Did one of your favorite bands hit on a Humble Album? I&#8217;m curious to hear some of the Humble Albums I&#8217;ve missed over the years. I look forward to your responses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What&#8217;s Your Humble Album? Not all rock bands who&#8217;ve been around and in the limelight for sometime make one, but the Humble Album can be a welcome respite for the band&#8217;s dedicated rock nerd fans. This is the album in which our larger-than-life rock heroes take a step back, whether by design or default, and <a href='https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/the-humble-album\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}