This is last year's music reviews that I wanted to blog about. It so happens that the domain name was taken. I had to change it for this particular blog. Anyway here it is as the original...
Volume 4
December 31, 2008
everybody knows this is nowhere…
A music newsletter and blog.
Golly, what a horrible year for new music. Music was as hard to pick out and collect as 2008 was difficult in general. Of course, there were many gems as you will see, but it was a tough year. Let’s get started, shall we?
Best and worst industry news this year was the news that The Feelies - Crazy Rhythms was being reissued. It turned out to be a hoax. I so wanted to be able to buy this classic indie pop album for less than the $25+ import price that is so often wanted. Good luck finding it in your favorite independent record store bins because I haven’t yet. Dang!
Onward….
It was a big year for reissues and one of the several that I will review is Willie Nelson -One Hell of a Ride. I had a lot of Willie Nelson already. The 100+ song 4-disc box-set covers everything you could possibly want by Willie. Columbia Legacy did a great annotated bibliography of not just a great country and western icon, but also a country and western iconoclast. It does a great job of compiling the outlaw country movement albums of Shotgun Willie, Redheaded Stranger, and Phases and Stages. The impressive part is annotating his later career, which was marked by inconsistent albums in the late 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, but consisted of great top forty stuff. His 21st -century work includes such great covers as Paul Simon’s Graceland, and is included here: a real treat! This box is top drawer! If you have passing interest in Willie Nelson and want to experience his catalog on a budget, get this box and you won’t have to buy anything else.
I guess this was a big year for Danger Mouse because three of the albums I am going to review this year have him as either the producer or collaborator. Let’s start with Gnarls Barkley’s sophomore effort, The Odd Couple. Danger Mouse is one-half of this duo and the other is the Goody Mob’s C-Lo. I really like this album. Critics panned it because it sounds exactly like their debut St. Elsewhere. It’s a great pop hip hop album with this one earmark…it is a lot darker than St. Elsewhere, which was dark, too (remember Crazy … not a happy tune). Lots of hummable stuff here, I think. Don’t be hatin’ just because it sounds a lot like St. Elsewhere. Be glad the blueprint works twice. C-Lo is a great soulful singer dashed into that nervous frenetic angst. Find someone who can do that in hip hop, pop, rap or anything else besides punk. The track called Blind Mary was as easily as catchy as Crazy. Check it out.
The next album that Danger Mouse produced is Beck’s Modern Guilt, easily the best Beck album since Sea Change. Again, this album is really nervous, even by Beck standards. It needs to be listened to all the way through. It has a nice flow from the first to last track. It’s like one long song. It still has a nice pop sound to it. If Odelay had been stripped down to beats and rap, it would sound like Modern Guilt. It has a lot of staccato drum riffs brought right out front. Beck continues his genre bending mixology that, for me, never gets tired.
My last Danger Mouse production review is The Black Keys - Attack & Release. No nervousness here. The Black Keys (who hail from Akron, OH, stomping grounds of both Devo and The Pretenders), along with their Detroit compadres The White Stripes, The Soledad Brothers, and The Detroit Cobras, are all pioneers of stinky, nasty blues filtered through The Stooges guitar crunch in a genre I like to call punk blues. I think I may have coined this phrase since no one else uses it. A quick history lesson: about 12 or so years ago, a friend of mine (we’ll call him Greg Duenow) turned me onto The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. A great punk band that could do grungy blues music tagged back then as scuzz blues. At the time, I was listening also to R. L. Burnside, a real live blues guy that was experimenting with hip hop and punk with his music. Lo and behold, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion land a gig backing R. L. on his classic album A [sic] Ass Pocket of Whiskey. It made sense because they were label mates on Matador Records. In the history of popular music, this album is where punk blues was born, in my humble opinion. Anyway, shortly thereafter, I got all up in the White Stripes and kind of that whole Detroit Sound of the early part of the 21st century. Jack White of the White Stripes had mentioned The Black Keys and the Soledad Brothers in an interview I read. All these bands in Detroit are real minimalists, two or three members typically. In the case of the Black Keys, like the White Stripes, just two members banging out a lot of blues noise rock. Like the MC5 with only two musicians. Cool. Fast forward to today’s Black Keys and what the Danger Mouse production led to: this album is not my favorite of theirs, but it is far superior to what normally passes as good indie rock. They also fleshed out the album with a full band and switched over to more of rhythm & blues and soul of the late 60’s. Lots of moog-sounding organs, R&B guitar and that nice growl the lead singer sings in anyway. This Danger Mouse production is not nervous at all. It sounds almost like they could have been down on the Gulf around NOLA with Allen Toussaint producing and The Meters handling the rhythm section. All it needed was some horns. Not as good as Rubber Factory or last year’s Magic Potion. But it is worth picking up because subsequent listens really fill out this thick-ass album.
The really beautiful mellow southwestern stylings of Calexico’s Carried to Dust is just full of lilting pop with mariachi underpinnings and all that Mexican-cough-syrup-sound that so permeates bands from the Southwest (the Meat Puppets and Giant Sand come to mind). What I really enjoyed about this album is initially I had not cared for Calexico. I didn’t understand what the big fuss was. A number of years ago, I acquired their album Hot Rail, one of their weaker albums, and didn’t like it. They appeared as one of the two backing bands on my album of the year in 2006, Neko Case’s Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, a pure alt-country pop crooning classic (the other backing band being the Canadian surfabilly outfit The Sadies). So anyway, loving Neko’s album the way I did influenced me to pick up Carried to Dust. And I am sooooo glad I did! The great marker of any good album for me is sequencing and that all the tracks flow together like an album should. There are no weak tracks. Help yourself to your favorite codeine-laced cough syrup, roll up a number of Missouri ditchweed, turn on the black light and get ready for a sub-Mexican psychedelic pop fest that will stroke yer ears and brain in a very laid-back way. Their minimalist album art is way cool, too.
Okay, I waited until the last minute to pick up Bob Dylan - Bootleg Volume 8. Let me tell ya, it is worth the double CD edition. They also have a limited edition version which is a mini-box set with a third CD of material, a 7” vinyl, and other knick-knacks that drive the price from $20 for the basic edition to $150 for the special collector’s edition. Essentially, you are shelling out an extra $100+ dollars for a third CD. You’ll be okay with the “budget” one, I think. Great standout tunes covering the late 80’s, 90’s, and the new century. The focus of this volume is outtakes and re-workings of songs from Time Out of Mind, Love and Theft, and Modern Times, those three brilliant classic albums of his latter career. There are plenty of other interesting tidbits, too. A standout for me is a bluegrass number with Ralph Stanley deep on the second CD called The Lonesome River. Dylan just harmonizes with Stanley’s lonesome lead voice. This is a solid set of late period stuff, probably better for completists than for the casual fan. But I don’t think a casual fan would dislike this. There are lots of blues, folk, country and rock seamlessly combined; if that’s your music preference, then you will love this album.
You cain’t nev-uh lose wif da Drive-By Truckers. The spring release of Brighter Than Creation’s Dark kept this one at regular play intervals in my deck. Their already great songwriting just keeps getting better and better. On this album, you get southern-style blues, R&B, country, and most importantly, a regular and heady dose of Southern Rock (without the Rebel flag). The Drive-By Truckers paid homage to their heroes Lynyrd Skynyrd way-back-when with the double album Southern Rock Opera. They have not stopped working that formula which makes them two things: 1) one of the most important rock & roll bands touring today, and 2) the most important southern rock band touring today. When they started out as an alt country act, I don’t think anyone knew they would start that 3-lead-guitar assault marked by the greats such as Little Feat, The Allman Brothers Band or Lynyrd Skynyrd. This new album returns a lot to the alternative country realm that they started out playing. Sweet, dripping steel guitar and Bakersfield-Telecaster-Country type guitar riffs that The Beatles so favored. Oh yeah, did I mention that it is a double album? And there are no weak songs. They also let their bass player, Shonna Tucker, sing a couple of tunes and she has a voice built for playing behind the chicken wire and letting you know how broke you made her heart. Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley are both in fine songwriting form and the addition of one of the architects of the Muscle Shoals sound, Spooner Oldham, on keys throughout the album lends great credibility to an historic rock and roll band.
You may have thought things were juicy and I hope you are still reading because buried here, after several reviews, are the first of the two albums that tied as album of the year for me. I am talking about The Felice Brothers (eponymously titled). Man, I was at my local Streetside Records here in Columbia, MO. I think it was a Tuesday in late spring and I ask my pal, Steve the manager, what’s new and cool. He recommended The Felice Brothers new album. Fuck, what a great album! First of all, let me make a comparison. This stuff is really Dylanesque down to even where they are from, which is the Hudson River Valley of New York state. Anyone that knows me knows that I am a huge Dylan fan. I probably have 30 albums or more. One of Dylan’s classically rated albums is Bob Dylan and The Band - The Basement Tapes. I hate The Basement Tapes. The sound is mediocre, the songs are what they are…throwaway. Yes, there are gems on it. But I render this blaspheme: another throw away album is Bob Dylan’s Self Portrait and it is a better album (Rolling Stone only gives it two stars!). Okay, I said it. Now, back to The Felice Brothers…they made The Basement Tapes the way I actually imagined it should have been. It is sort of a Basement Tapes project that was produced and recorded well, with great songwriting. There is such melancholy and loss that romanticizes the Old West, cowboys, the South and a simpler time, in general, without mocking it or overdoing it. You hear European instruments like the squeeze box and violin strained through three-four waltz songs (just like The Band with the ghosts of Richard Manuel and Rick Danko hovering over Garth Hudson playing the Wurlitzer). The album is brilliantly new-sounding in all this nostalgic ancientness. You get that certain taste of how old popular music was when it carried over to the rough taverns of the American West. What I thought was the coolest is my pal, Lowell Handler, who also lives in the Hudson River Valley, was visiting my wife and me this past summer and he mentioned them and then we both exuberantly coincidentally burst into the chorus of the best song on the album, Frankie’s Gun. (“Bang, bang, bang she shot me down with Frankie’s Gun.”). Good times!
The Hold Steady’s Stay Positive, probably the best rock ‘n’ roll album since The Replacements’ Let It Be. This was my favorite rock ‘n’ roll album of the year. Great songwriting and containing something sorely missing from top 40 rock ‘n’ roll radio…that would be the rock ‘n’ roll. I can’t believe these guys aren’t schlogging around the arena and amphitheatre circuit, but then again, there is much injustice in the world. Their sound is really interesting. The first time and first song I heard by them was called Stevie Nix off their Separation Sunday album. I was immediately struck by how much they had this weird Bruce Springsteen thing going on. They have that Clarence Clemons horn and Roy Bittan piano thing and the singer sounds like a higher- pitched off-kilter Springsteen-with-a-cold voice. You immediately recognize it, but can’t figure out why. Many of their songs are anthemic like Springsteen. I was also struck by how much punk seeps in but goes unnoticed. Like the Replacements (who were essentially doing “cock rock” songs in the vein of The Rolling Stones), they just have the rock ‘n’ roll mastered and inherently understand the punk, the punk is somehow minimized, yet you recognize how much it influences the D.I.Y. work ethic. The best rock single I have heard in years is their song Sequestered in Memphis (the chorus lyric goes “subpoenaed in Texas, sequestered in Memphis” - a brilliant roots rock rave-up). It went completely unnoticed. Too bad. One review I read defined their sound through contrast; I paraphrase: The Hold Steady sound like Guided By Voices obsessed with Bruce Spingsteen instead of The Who. Their entire catalog is great with nary a weak song anywhere, but this new one should have garnered as much pop press as critical press.
My next big shout out about brilliant rock ‘n’ roll is the reissues of Mission of Burma’s entire catalog. The great late 70’s political atonal punk of this seminal band is fantastic. If you are fans of their contemporaries from across the pond, Gang of Four and The Mekons, you will see why America trumps those limey bastards every time (just kidding, I love Gang Of Four and The Mekons). Check out the three core albums of 1) Signals, Calls and Marches, 2) VS and 3) The Horrible Truth about Burma. All the reissues contain extra material, plus a DVD of concert appearances.
I have all The Replacements’ albums on CD already and, of course, vinyl. I miss listening to Tim and Let It Be on vinyl (I no longer have a turntable). I did get the one 2008 reissue of Let It Be, and it is beautiful, mastered like the vinyl and all the albums have extra tunes. Again, I will mention the core albums of the reissued catalog 1) Let It Be 2) Tim and 3) Pleased to Meet Me. The Replacements are one of the most important left-of-the-dial, proto-punk and college radio acts from the 80’s, and in my opinion, are a transcendent rock ‘n’ roll band. Four-man-rock-and-roll-band at its sloppy best, I would be sure new fans would find the investment gives quite the return. Turn it up to 11 if you have a decent stereo and think your speakers can handle it.
The runner-up to The Hold Steady-Stay Positive and probably as good is from Rock & Roll Hall of Famers The Pretenders. The new album that came out in the fall is called Break Up the Concrete. The last melodic roots rock rockabilly punk album they made was Pretenders I. Key phrase is roots rock. I’ve known Chrissie Hynde has loved American music, including country music, for a long time. But this album covers the great American canon of rock ‘n’ roll styles ranging from blues to country to roots rock to punk and all points in between in a seamless album of those distilled styles. It is also reminiscent of their Learning to Crawl album. The tunes can be quick, raw, and stylish at the same time. It is said that they returned to Ohio in order to record the album (Chrissie long ago moved to the UK). Grab this gritty masterpiece. This album defines why they are in the RRHOF. It RAWKS!
Joan Wasserman, releasing albums under the name Joan as Police Woman, makes achingly beautiful, jazz-inflected, blue-eyed soul, righteous pop songs. She did exactly this with her album Joan as Police Woman - To Survive, the follow-up to 2007’s Real Life. These songs are so tender and yet can be so bittersweet that you want to experience the joy of the music and cry out in grief at the same time. Joan Wasserman is also a multi-instrumentalist who not only sings, but plays guitar, piano, violin and miscellaneous percussion. Her arrangements are like the sweeter, romantic David Bowie albums such as Young Americans and even Hunky Dory. Her arrangements can be sparse with just her and a piano, or sweeping and majestic with a whole band. She has songs just made for the likes of Rufus Wainwright who duets with her on To America (touching without being whiny which is so often the case with Wainwright’s voice). Indie pop at its best. I regretted that I did not get Real Life until 2008, so I was unable to review it last year, but that also was, and is, a fantastic debut album.
For indie pop females, my next really big pop favorite of 2008 was She & Him-Volume One. This is a collaboration between actor/musician Zooey Deschanel and musician M. Ward. I wish I knew more about M. Ward, but I don’t. I know that he is associated with the alt country independent singer-songwriter movement. These are all original compositions by Zooey, except for a cover of Smokey Robinson’s You Really Got a Hold on Me and The Beatles I Should Have Known Better. I also thought it was interesting, too, if you recall your Beatles discography, that they covered You Really Got a Hold on Me on With The Beatles album. This album is seamless, and Zooey covers the sound of dripping early 70’s steel guitar-driven Billy Sherrill-produced top 40 country to her favorite posturing of late 60’s girl group (with her own backing harmonies) pop songs. There are some Phil Spector-like string arrangements that will make you weep for a simpler time in pop music. She also does some pretty good channeling of Billie Holiday style jazz/blues singing of that particular era. The country stuff though is amazing. I was surprised she could pull that style off without making fun of it. If you want to give her a chance without buying the album, you can always rent the movies she’s sung in like Elf or The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. I have to thank NPR’s Terry Gross, host of Fresh Air, who interviewed Zooey, not as an actor but, as a musician to promote this album. That’s how I got turned onto this brilliant indie pop album. I hope there will be a Volume Two.
It wasn’t one of my super favorite albums that came out this year, but The Raconteurs’ sophomore effort, Consolers of the Lonely, was a much better effort than their overhyped and disappointing debut Broken Boy Soldiers. It rawks better and the songwriting is more in the fashion that a supergroup of this caliber should be writing. The White Stripes’ Jack White guitar playing is more on display, and the passion that was lacking on the debut finally appears on this good rock and roll record.
I’m not sure if I like the soundtrack better or the movie better, but I like both a lot. Various Artists-I’m Not There (Movie Soundtrack) is the soundtrack to the fantasy biopic of Bob Dylan featuring various artists covering tunes from the film. Everyone does a great job. This is so much better than the tribute albums because they cover so much ground from Bob Dylan’s life. Plus the artists are big, and the ones who aren’t big are tremendously influential…Willie Nelson, Calexico, Stephen Malkmus, Jeff Tweedy, The Black Keys, The Hold Steady, Los Lobos, Eddie Vedder, John Doe, Sonic Youth, Cat Power, Yo La Tengo, Tom Verlaine and Richie Havens, to name a few, on this 34-song soundtrack. It is a must-own for any Bob Dylan, indie rock, or general music lover fan. I LOVE this album. And the film was great, too. Just having a who’s who of indie rockers performing so many of these classic tunes was just terrific. This album is as timeless as the artist. My favorite is the version of Goin’ to Acapulco performed by Jim James with Calexico. Cool!
Being a big fan of Imus in the Morning (Don Imus), I am obligated to give a very good review to Various Artists-The Imus Ranch Record. The main thing that needs to be mentioned is this is a project that Don Imus put together where 100% of the proceeds go to the Imus Ranch for Kids with Cancer charity that Don Imus and his wife, Deirdre, run. It is a real live working cattle ranch at Ribera, New Mexico. Although Don probably loves the classic rock that he was around for so much of his radio career, his primary interest now seems to be classic, progressive and new traditionalist country music. I am sure that’s why I like the record so much. Each of the artists cover a song on the album for a total of 13 tracks. Old regulars of his show are on it like Delbert McClinton (covering Lay Down Sally), Levon Helm (covering You Better Move On) and Dwight Yoakam (covering Doug Sahm’s classic Give Back The Keys to My Heart). Vince Gill gives a great performance of the classic A Satisfied Mind (popularized by Porter Wagoner) to round out the 13th track. The only glaring artist left out of this was Kinky Friedman, although I think he had a lot to do with pulling in the people who perform on the album. This album should please people on any side of the Country & Western canon. The album is on New West which is one of my favorite record labels and certainly the label of progressive country today. It seems it’s a given, from what Imus says on his show, that Volume II will be forthcoming.
Speaking of Imus, he introduced me to Hayes Carll and his 2008 release Trouble in Mind. He’s a Todd Snider-style folky funny man, but he is really a great Texas Troubadour singer/songwriter that moves easily from roots rock to hard country. He’s also got that wry sense of humor that James McMurtry has. The jokes often become a little too real to be laughed at. John Prine is another comparison I’d make. Don’t get me wrong, Hayes is not a copycat and he possesses his own unique style. Songs of drinking, longing, unrequited love, lost love, recovered love and more drinking. The opening song is called Drunken Poet’s Dream (“I think I’ll take me some mes-ca-leen”). He does another good one called Bad Liver and a Broken Heart, and ends the song cycle with She Left Me for Jesus (“when we were makin’ love she kept shoutin’ his name” and “if I ever find Jesus, I’m kickin’ his ass”). So yeah, he’s witty. If you have a passing interest in Austin music, you get a good 2008 survey with Hayes. I thank Imus for turning me on to him. I’ll say this was my favorite new roots rock and country album.
Similar to Dylan, Neil Young has been releasing buried live recordings/bootlegs from his personal vault for the last few years. The previous two releases of Live at The Filmore East, March 6 & 7, 1970, and Live at Massey Hall 1971, are beautiful historical documents. The new album Sugar Mountain Live at Canterbury House 1968 is no less historical. Essentially a solo outing for him to test material that would later become classics captures Neil Young between his stints with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. The really great part of this classic release is 5 or 6 tracks of him telling stories to the audience…very intimate and very rare. This is a crucial recording where you get to hear near first-time solo performances of Expecting to Fly, The Loner, Sugar Mountain, Broken Arrow and Mr. Soul, to name a few. This is a must-own.
In my interest of all things punk, I have a real penchant for those bands that mix their punk with traditional Irish songplaying and songwriting. This is certainly the case with Flogging Molly’s Float. They are not as brutal as the Dropkick Murphys and not quite as traditional as The Pogues, but they mix it just perfectly. The beats are fast and they mix the traditional instruments very well with the three chords of a fuzzy rhythm guitar. I think those of you who find the Irish style of whiny sentimentality soaked with whisky and warm Irish ale while having your genitals rocked off should very much like this album. Hey, March 17 is right around the corner, and these guys will probably leave a little tear in Shane McGowan’s bloodshot eye.
From Kansas City Mizz-ou-rah hails The Wilders. For several years, they have been doing traditional ol’ timey fiddle music, pre-WWII country & western, a little bluegrass and a mish-mash of folk rave-ups. Their live show is spectacular toe-tapping, booty- shaking good time. I say just try and not dance at one of their shows. Plus, before they send you home, they will send you to traditional country gospel church so that you make it home okay, guilt-free. This year, they updated their sound and modernized the songwriting on Someone’s Got to Pay, a brief song cycle based on main singer and songwriter Phil Wade’s experience of sitting jury duty at a murder trial. I quote from the liner notes he wrote: “I was un-nerved by a nagging familiarity in the story. It was an old time murder ballad come to life.” I love murder ballads, by the way. They are creepy and dark, and often morally bankrupt in the sense that often there is no reason for the murder except killing for the sake of killing. The Wilders do the Louvin Brothers proud with this album, while simultaneously updating their style for folk music in the 21st century. Good job. (I also like the name of their record label “Free Dirt”.)
For all you indie pop rockers, I submit my favorite indie pop album chance discovery MGMT - Oracular Spectacular. I heard this everywhere, including car commercials using the single Electric Feel. Hard to pigeon hole this duo, as they are kind of the anti-emo guys making fun of that whole scene, probably while being listened to by the same people they make fun of. They have a real TV on the Radio sound, or maybe even the Scissor Sisters. They sing in that high, almost electronic, falsetto voice. But Jesus, the tunes are super catchy. I got turned onto them watching their video for the single Time to Pretend. Lots of pop electronic keyboard repetition, but that’s okay, it works great. Hey, I like punk rock, for Pete’s sake. This was a nifty indie pop album that you’ll play over and over. Wash, rinse, repeat.
A lot of people really liked the new Randy Newman album called Harps and Angels. It’s impressive. I liked it, too. It is a lightweight, hopeful and positive version of his classic album Good Ol’ Boys. And if you are familiar with Sail Away and 12 Songs, then you know how he does folk, country, pop standards, Tin Pan Alley, blues, New Orleans, barrelhouse piano, and rock ‘n’ roll, not just on one album, but often in the same song. He’s one of the great humorists: a Mark Twain of sorts who is a great watcher of humanity without necessarily interfering with it. He can be biting and acidic, then witty and compassionate without calling attention to the irony and sarcasm that might be the main theme of any particular song. Randy is not breaking any new ground here, but singer/songwriters like this don’t need to because they are so far ahead of the rest that they sound groundbreaking in 1968 or 2008. Harps and Angels is a great rumination on the state of America today by one of its best and keenest observers.
Much of Van Morrison’s records of the last 20 years were re-issued in 2008. From 1990, Enlightenment really does it for me. I remember wanting this as a Christmas present way back then. I wanted it for the song In the Days Before Rock ‘n’ Roll, a paean to early 40 and 50’s radio that gave audience to pre-rock ‘n’ roll music naming famous and obscure international broadcasting hubs. Pretty neat I thought. The album also has a deep spiritual message to it (hence the title) that manifests itself in songs like Youth of 1,000 Summers and, of course, the title track. It’s not the best Van Morrison album, but a really great reissue that deserves subsequent listens.
Ladies and gentlemen, although you may not have been the huge glam rock fan that I am, besides the Willie Nelson box, the best compilation in 2008 had to be the Mott the Hoople/Ian Hunter Anthology-Old Records Never Die! I have always been a casual Mott fan, but this anthology combines the best with the best. The Ian Hunter tunes (someone my wife has always been into) were a real treat because I was not as familiar with him as a solo artist. But believe me, he is a great rock ‘n’ roll songwriter. You get the best of the Mott the Hoople years with Ian Hunter’s solo career. People always forget he penned and performed the classic tunes Once Bitten Twice Shy (an anthemic song made popular by hard rock band Great White) and the Drew Carey Show theme song, Cleveland Rocks. This album is on a new upstart reissue label called Shout Factory which is rivaling Rhino Records compilations and reissues. I won’t even go into all the cool artists that Shout Factory has reissued with the original artists handling the ownership (which they returned to many). But check ’em out. Anyway, back to Mott the Hoople and Ian Hunter…pick this 2-CD set up of 32 songs (16 per artist) and remember: 70’s FM radio used to be the coolest thing around! Oh yeah, all the Mott songs that you will want are here. This is not to discourage you from getting their production catalog, but you might start here.
My “redneck girlfriend”, as I like to call her, has come out with another winner. Lucinda Williams - Little Honey is a pretty great album, if for nothing else than her duet with Elvis Costello called Jailhouse Tears. Now I will not say that this is her best album, but it is pretty darn good. The more albums Cindy makes, the more hard rock she becomes. Remember when she was a folk and country singer/songwriter and penning tunes for the likes of Mary-Chapin Carpenter? The highlight for me, besides the Elvis Costello duet, has to be her cover of AC/DC’s It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Want To Rock ‘n’ Roll). All the 13 tunes are pretty hard-edged and bluesy. Some of her country and folk sounds come through, but I am pretty much convinced that this is purely a rock ‘n’ roll album. I also got exposed to a new marketing ploy with this album. If you buy the album and put it in to your CD ROM drive, it takes you to an exclusive website where you can download another 30 minutes of songs free…which I did. If you are a fan, you will really enjoy this album. Try and catch her live if you can. Cindy, if you read this…call me. My wife (whom I love) will never have to know. Hell, she may even be interested herself, although she thinks you look a little stinky.
Guest review of Alejandro Escovedo’s Real Animal by Christine Zeigler (Tim’s wife):
Alejandro Escovedo’s Real Animal was one of the standout releases of 2008. I didn’t get much new music, but this was one that was well worth it. I have been a fan since his days with his brother, Javier Escovedo, fronting The True Believers. My husband says it is called roots rock, but some of these songs on Real Animal have a realistic hard driving edge that I love, reminiscent of the True Believers. Rather a punk sensibility, and that’s OK, too. A few of the songs are slower and more contemplative, such as Sensitive Boys and Swallows of San Juan. That is one of the things I love about Alejandro Escovedo’s songs: not only does he have a memorably plaintive heartfelt voice, but the words are so beautiful and meaningful, they could stand on their own as poetry, and I guess that’s the mark of a great songwriter. The first song Always a Friend is an infectious hard-driving song and gets into your head as it was meant to, because this is the song I first heard on the Adult Alternative radio station, KBXR 102.3 FM, I listen to from time to time. I thought, I love that song, what is it? Introspective, yet rockin’. Oh, it’s Alejandro Escovedo, after hearing the announcer say his name. Gotta have that. Enlarging upon the album’s name (I’m old and dated so I still say album), Real Animal, there’s a track called Real as an Animal, that my husband told me was written about AE’s living with Hepatitis C. I didn’t pick up on that: I just thought it was about the real animal that lives in all of us... and maybe that's his point. Even though the song is about Escovedo’s own personal experience, he's such a gifted songwriter that he makes it a universal song that speaks to everyone. Now the song called Golden Bear could easily be speaking to his Hep C with these lyrics: “There’s a creature in my body, there’s a creature in my blood, don’t know how long he’s been there, or why he’s after us, Golden Bear is burning down, Golden Bear is burning down, oh, why me?” Another tune that addresses mortality is People (We’re Only Gonna Live so Long) with the lines “We’re only gonna live so long, we still got time, but never quite as much as we need.” Wow, a shot of reality hitting you right between the eyes, but in a wonderful musical way. Also have to mention his paean or shout-out to old sloppy garage band music because he mentions “Louie Louie” in two songs: Nuns Song and Real as an Animal. Escovedo was in a band called The Nuns so maybe it has something to do with that. Both are great rocking raveups! Also have to give mention to Chuck Prophet being on this album, a great gifted singer/songwriter in his own right. Plus, I’m a sucker for stringed instruments in a rock ‘n’ roll band, and by stringed instruments, I don’t mean guitars: I mean the unconventional kind like violin and cello that are usually found in an orchestra, or a small stringed chamber ensemble. Including violin and cello in some of these songs gives them that rich multi-layered sound I love, where you go: “Oh, what’s that sound? It’s different. I love it!” Enough of my rambling about this great CD (there I said it): now go out and get it for yourself. You’ll be doing yourself a favor because Real Animal is a real treat for your ears and spirit.
So ends this addition of my year end record reviews, folks. This is a sample of what I am considering doing with having my own music blog where maybe next year I’ll just send you a link. If you like this as a blog, spread it around, give me feedback, and let me know if you think I should pursue this. If not, I won’t be insulted, I’ll just cram your e-mail at the end of next year with more crap about music that you may not care about.
Tim Van Huss
