Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Galactic Tuneage
Crank it as high as those dinky computer speakers can go! Just see how long you can go before you have to stand up and shake off some of that winter fat. Time for the hibernation to stop.....Summer and Galactic are coming. By next week, if you're wiling to shed a few dollars, you can be in your car with Galactic's newest pushing the air around and possibly inviting the local gendarmes to be citing you for community noise violations as this cd can only be played LOUD.
Galactic may be coming into your town.. if they do, you owe it to yourself to haul your carcass down there.
Labels: Recording Reviews
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Sisters: Guys, We Need Them Badly
Deborah Tannen, professor of linguistics at Georgetown University and NY Times columnist, wrote an article in today's NYT regarding the ameliorative affect having a sister around can have. While, IMHO, the article is correct and touching (Don't you want to call your sister, if you're lucky enough to have at least one, after reading the article?), it was a tad wordy.
Mr. Loudon Wainwright III said it better and more succinctly in his song, The Picture, from his most excellent of albums, History (a "Take Out Your Handkerchiefs" special).
"A brother needs a sister
To watch what he can do,
To protect and to torture,
To boss around; it's true;
But a brother will defend her
For a sister's love is pure,
Because she thinks he's wonderful
.....When he is not so sure.
It's o.k. there fella, ......you can blow your nose now.
Labels: NYT, Recording Reviews
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Ben Folds & Nick Hornby - Together Again
Some college kid from some podunk college also makes some derogatory remarks regarding this fine release. Hey Mr. Decker! You better be boning up on the lyrics; you will be examined on this for next marking period.
Except for the fact that quite a lot of the 11 songs have radio air-play inappropriate language, thus sinking the possibility of playing the entire album on a (teeny-tiny) radio show I group-d.j., I've been listening to this album with a fat smile pasted on my face. It's the lyrics. It's the arrangements. It's the entire cadeaux.
This isn't the first time Mr. Folds and Mr. Hornby have worked together, On William Shatner's excellent "Has Been", the Ben Folds produced album features a song, "That's Me Trying", that was a lyrics-by-Hornby, music-by-Folds collaboration.
I'm hoping to get back here later to fill out the suit of this review. Suffice it ot say, that I'm a fan. Production is crystal clear. Folds' voice and interpretation of the clever lines in the songs is dead on. There is material here for laughing, crying, and even some light "sturm und drang"ing. The deluxe package includes all of the lyrics plus four short stories by Nick Hornby for those of us in need of a fix since last year's "Juliet, Naked". The whole package is put together by Nonesuch records, a recording company that just can;t seem to do wrong. Think of Ry Cooder's deluxe package for "I, Flathead" and you get the idea.
For now, a strong recommendation and I'll be back with more filler.
Labels: Recording Reviews
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Knockin' on Heaven's Door
Yes! That Mungo Jerry.
Todd Snider - A simple bare version, probably closest to Bob Dylan's original
Grateful Dead In Paris, 1990 w/ Bruce Hornsby on accordian & Jerry on gorgeous vocals
Bob Dylan & Mark Knopfler
Neno Belan & Fiumens (From the Land of the Croats)
Wyclef Jean
Warren Zevon
Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Neil young & all of the other guitar gods of my younger days
Cat Power, Live in Paris, 2003 @ la Cigale
Dolly Parton w/ Ladysmith Black Mambazo
And probably my favorite, Leningrad Cowboys with the Soviet Army Chorus. The entire concert Leningrad Cowboys (a Finnish rock group) did with the Soviet Army Chorus is here. I've watched it a few times and blogged about it here. Worth it!
Can't explain why I never get tired of this song and its many variations. Hope you enjoy some of these posted; they're a drop in the ocean.
Labels: Recording Reviews
Friday, April 23, 2010
Need a Little Pep in Your Mode of Transportation?
I offer a simple solution.
Pick yourself up a copy of Kings Go Forth's "The Outsiders Are Back". Personally guaranteed to put some pep into your hep, make your 4 cylinder behave like a 6, rejuvinate your out-of-use toe-tapping-sedate-shoe-wearing feet, and put a smile on your ever souring puss.
Plop this cd into your car or home stereo (for you young whipper-snappers, explanations to follow another time) and experience the immediate cathartic sound waves eminating from the cd. Kings Go Forth are 10 guys out of the Midwest who are solid, not great, musicians demonstrating that sometimes you have to have body mass to generate great music. Their enthusiasm is infectious, their performance energy is high. The recording has a funky recording style, like older mono records, (think Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings recordings), that, IMHO, don't do the group justice. These folks must be GREAT live. Tight, Curtic Mayfield/Sly & Family Stone like. Check out their MySpace offerings especially "High on Your Love" and "Don't Take My Shadow".
Crank it up. Shed some worries.
Summer's almost here and "The Outsiders are Back" is the first great recording this year to bring the summer feelings on.
This Sunday, I'll most certainly be playing some selections on what looks to be a morbid weather day.
Labels: Recording Reviews
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Booker T. - Potato Hole
Labels: Recording Reviews
Kansas City Soundtrack
Labels: Recording Reviews
Favorite Musical Discoveries* of 2009
Fortunately, there was always "new" music this past year to calm the wild beast and lift up one's spirits. In the next few posts, I'll be opining on music that I came upon this year. Discovery is asterisked in this blog's post with good reason. Personal discovery, for me at least, involves books or music that is never hemmed in by the year of publication or release. New items may sometimes be quite old. A perfect example is Ference Karinthy's Metropole, a book I "discovered" this year by reading the lovely Bookslut's entry about this almost 40-year old novel. So, while the world out there had already been reading Mr. Karinthy's truly excellent (and terrifying) novel for a while, it was a newly discovered shore I'd come upon.
So, the following album mentions' entries may be about CD's you're already quite familiar with. Please excuse my late arrival to these wonderous lands. Some albums you may have not come into aural contact with and I hope my writeups are enough to at least persuade a listne or two. Still other musical treats may have been lying on my shelves begging for a re-listen; my first run-through may have been a negative reaction due to timing, impatience, lack of an open spirit, or simply a Bad Ear day. Lastly, other albums may be ones that you are quite familiar with AND quite exhausted with. Please excuse my over-wraught enthusiasm in these cases.
Labels: Recording Reviews
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
A Short Stop with Pauseland
It's one of those cold and rainy November days one has to get through in order to get to a cold and snowy one. The only problem is that it's April 15th and, aside from the icy shoulder of the IRS, warmth is what one thinks of, 25 days into Spring. It is days like this that requires one parking one's backside into a sofa-sized easy chair with a hot tea or coffee within paw's distance and a selection of music in the background of a settling and non-intrusive blend. Something not evoking the chirpiness of spring but rather the hints of a hibernating winter with a touch of an April rubbing sleep dust from its eyes and yawning that rotting odour that precludes an explosion of daffodils.
May I suggest
Pauseland's Palindrome, available here, if you want to deal with a CD company with a sense of humour and a knack for customer service?Pauseland is a Danish group of young fellows of Danish and Norwegian heritage who seem not to be burdened with ironed clothes nor other acts of conscious public presentation. Instead, their energies are directed into the creation and excellent playing of jazzy (and I don't mean jazzy-like) guitar and horn driven compositions that would sooth the heart of any savage beast. "Laid back" is too intense a moniker to lay on them; their songs and their presentation is more akin to breathing of a meditative nature. In initially listening to Palindrome, one would be wrong in signing these fellows off as polishers of higher level elevator music. The songs all stealthily snake their way into your mind's ear and coil around any tension inside. You exhale with relaxation. You inhale, tasting the air with a new appreciation.
Taking to bed, if you happen to have a CD player or iPod handy, with Palindrome is a slow-motion departure to a restful place. Close your eyes and breath through your eyelids. The havoc of the day dissipates and you, dear reader, are living a calmer life.
Labels: Recording Reviews
Monday, March 30, 2009
Booker T. is baaaaack
Had a bizarre dream the night before. I was planning a Morning After show with an emphasis on the B-3 Hammond and all of its illustrious jazz and non-jazz players. Green Onions was the soundtrack for the dream. Mr. Booker T. Jones, one of the coolest cats to have ever lived, was slyly imbuing himself into the sound mix.How would he be sounding today? Who would he incorporate players into the tuneage of these last few years?
Groups started coming up through the mists of my slumber.
Hey!? How about the Drive-By-Truckers as the backup band? I mean, DBT's Patterson Hood is David Hood's kid and David Hood was one of the original Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and the Swampers backed up Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin and other singers in the general milieu as Booker T.......so DBT sort of runs a tangent off of Booker T's sphere. right?
And, since this was a dream, why not have Neil Young show up and demonstrate what a shredding guitar truly sounds like. What the hell? Anything's possible when you're snorin'.
So, when I got to the station on Sunday morning and came upon this CD, sleep & reality combined for quite a pleasant surprise. At this point in the year, I'd say that Potato Hole is my favorite 2009 CD. A cover of Hey Ya, IMHO one of the best summer songs ever, cements my proclamation encapsulation.
The closest he's coming in support of the album is the Sellersville Theater, although he will be on Late Night w/ Jimmy Fallon for 3 nights, April 20th through the 22nd.
Labels: Recording Reviews, WVUD 91.3
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
A Repentent Curmudgeon's Christmas Music List
Over at a fellow curmudgeon's site, Mr. Whisky Prajer has linked to a list of the top ten Worst Christmas related songs. A list, I might add, that seems to have been compiled by a sack of wet-behind-their-deaf-ears youngins who haven’t tromped around the earth long enough to have been truly and permanently injured by songs of Christmas past.
Trying to prove that old dogs can be persuaded to go through the motions of new tricks, I'll remove my curmudgeon crown and list my version of the Top 12 Christmas Albums. A completely subjective list, for sure, but a stack of CD's that have been listened to over innumerable holiday seasons without producing even one Gringe Cringe. For all of the curmudgeons out there? Well there’s hope, still, for those of us whose hearts have not completely frozen over. Of course, by producing this list, I’m assuming that the natural tendencies of curmudgeon-dom will come out. So, I would be disappointed if one of you didn’t leave a lump of coal in the comment section.
Here's the list, in no particular order of preference although...
...1) Charles Brown's Cool Christmas Blues is my all time favorite. Almost always appropriate. Always soothing and calming in the storm of conflicting celebration. I swear that the room temperature goes up and that I smell wood burning when I put this CD on. His piano playing is sublime; his voice divine. THE CD that can be played over and over without annoyance coming in on its little reindeer hooves.
2) Dave McKenna's Christmas Party (which is the same as his Christmas Ivory release) is an album of many interpretive possibilities. It’s simply the recently departed Mr. McKenna’s two hands and one piano. No vocals at all. Great background music that sooths the beast in us all at family gatherings and, yet, a deeply involving album that will have you pushing the pause and back buttons frequently so as to hear certain passages over and over. As with all of this playing, Mr. McKenna combined a touch of subtlety with a show of left hand force that made a "fist in a velvet glove" an earful.
3) Vince Guaraldi's A Charlie Brown Christmas. What more can I add to most everyone’s accolades? Listening to it immediately brings back memories of parked in pj’s on wall-to-wall carpeting entranced by a musical cartoon with kids singing with way-too-big mouths (because there’s so much joy in kids, only outsize mouths are possible to release said joy-age) and philosophizing about the Spirit of Christmas. We were little Wittgensteins and Santayanas preparing for dolthood.
4) Dovetailing with #3 is Cyrus Chestnut's take on "A Charlie Brown Christmas", titled….A Charlie Brown Christmas. This CD is not the entire Guaraldi album re-done. Other selections like "The Christmas Song" and some Chestnut compositions are interspersed with choice songs from Guaraldi.
5) Rhino Records, as usual, comes up with a compilation that is tasty and oft-played. Blue Yule offers up some gems by Eddie C. Campbell, a few from Lightening Hopkins and John Lee Hooker, and an old favorite from Canned Heat. There’s humor, sadness, and certainly a tug on the blues here. Scratchy songs will make you think you’re playing vinyl on your CD player while most of the songs cry of having one’s baby home. If you aren’t hugging your significant other after listening to this album and promisin’, "Baby, I’ll change my ways....starting with next year.", well...you’d better hope that Santa delivers that heart you’ve asked for this Christmas.
6) Maxjazz is a small record company out of St. Louis that consistently puts out great-sounding CD’s of artists that should but don’t garner national fame and attention. LaVerne Butler is a particular favorite and Rebecca Martin, another. They offer two holiday records. Eric Reed’s Merry Magic is understatement personified. If you like your holiday listening to be solitary on occasion, this one’s a great pick to hole up with.
7) The other MaxJazz CD offered is a compilation of Christmas cheer as performed by a cluster of artists from the label. MaxJazz Holiday is a fabulous display of the vocal powers of LaVerne Butler, Carla Cook, LaVerne Butler, René Marie, Christine Hitt, Phillip Manuel, and Mary Stallings. If you want to get an idea of the vocal talent of the MaxJazz singers stable, this is a great CD to listen to. Bruce Barth’s arrangements and piano playing are unique in the presentation of traditional Christmas aural fare.
Tomorrow, the balance of the Twelve Days of Christmas Music Favorites will be completed.
Trying to prove that old dogs can be persuaded to go through the motions of new tricks, I'll remove my curmudgeon crown and list my version of the Top 12 Christmas Albums. A completely subjective list, for sure, but a stack of CD's that have been listened to over innumerable holiday seasons without producing even one Gringe Cringe. For all of the curmudgeons out there? Well there’s hope, still, for those of us whose hearts have not completely frozen over. Of course, by producing this list, I’m assuming that the natural tendencies of curmudgeon-dom will come out. So, I would be disappointed if one of you didn’t leave a lump of coal in the comment section.
Here's the list, in no particular order of preference although...
...1) Charles Brown's Cool Christmas Blues is my all time favorite. Almost always appropriate. Always soothing and calming in the storm of conflicting celebration. I swear that the room temperature goes up and that I smell wood burning when I put this CD on. His piano playing is sublime; his voice divine. THE CD that can be played over and over without annoyance coming in on its little reindeer hooves.
2) Dave McKenna's Christmas Party (which is the same as his Christmas Ivory release) is an album of many interpretive possibilities. It’s simply the recently departed Mr. McKenna’s two hands and one piano. No vocals at all. Great background music that sooths the beast in us all at family gatherings and, yet, a deeply involving album that will have you pushing the pause and back buttons frequently so as to hear certain passages over and over. As with all of this playing, Mr. McKenna combined a touch of subtlety with a show of left hand force that made a "fist in a velvet glove" an earful.
3) Vince Guaraldi's A Charlie Brown Christmas. What more can I add to most everyone’s accolades? Listening to it immediately brings back memories of parked in pj’s on wall-to-wall carpeting entranced by a musical cartoon with kids singing with way-too-big mouths (because there’s so much joy in kids, only outsize mouths are possible to release said joy-age) and philosophizing about the Spirit of Christmas. We were little Wittgensteins and Santayanas preparing for dolthood.
4) Dovetailing with #3 is Cyrus Chestnut's take on "A Charlie Brown Christmas", titled….A Charlie Brown Christmas. This CD is not the entire Guaraldi album re-done. Other selections like "The Christmas Song" and some Chestnut compositions are interspersed with choice songs from Guaraldi.
5) Rhino Records, as usual, comes up with a compilation that is tasty and oft-played. Blue Yule offers up some gems by Eddie C. Campbell, a few from Lightening Hopkins and John Lee Hooker, and an old favorite from Canned Heat. There’s humor, sadness, and certainly a tug on the blues here. Scratchy songs will make you think you’re playing vinyl on your CD player while most of the songs cry of having one’s baby home. If you aren’t hugging your significant other after listening to this album and promisin’, "Baby, I’ll change my ways....starting with next year.", well...you’d better hope that Santa delivers that heart you’ve asked for this Christmas.
6) Maxjazz is a small record company out of St. Louis that consistently puts out great-sounding CD’s of artists that should but don’t garner national fame and attention. LaVerne Butler is a particular favorite and Rebecca Martin, another. They offer two holiday records. Eric Reed’s Merry Magic is understatement personified. If you like your holiday listening to be solitary on occasion, this one’s a great pick to hole up with.
7) The other MaxJazz CD offered is a compilation of Christmas cheer as performed by a cluster of artists from the label. MaxJazz Holiday is a fabulous display of the vocal powers of LaVerne Butler, Carla Cook, LaVerne Butler, René Marie, Christine Hitt, Phillip Manuel, and Mary Stallings. If you want to get an idea of the vocal talent of the MaxJazz singers stable, this is a great CD to listen to. Bruce Barth’s arrangements and piano playing are unique in the presentation of traditional Christmas aural fare.
Tomorrow, the balance of the Twelve Days of Christmas Music Favorites will be completed.
Labels: Christmas, Recording Reviews
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
This Summer's CD
In Nicholas Dawidoff’s excellent 1997 book on country music, In the Country of Country: A Journey to the Roots of American Music, a chapter deals with country songwriters, specifically that of one of the best, Harlan Howard. Mr. Howard’s operating procedures consist mainly of having a napkin, a pen or pencil, and an incredibly well-tuned and cleared-of-earwax set of ears. Mr. Howard is overly modest of his skills, as many country music practitioners tend to be. He does set pride, though, on his ability to catch phrases thrown out by others and then curl words around them into a song. At an L.A. bar a few decades back he overheard a couple talking, well, mainly squacking. The gal got up to leave, for good it seemed, and the fellow, about to be left behind but wanting to let her know he wouldn't be pining too long, bid her adieu with, "Well, why don’t you pick me up on your way down." Mr. Howard took that line and concocted "Pick Me Up On Your Way Down", which became a huge hit for him and for the Charlie Walker and Patsy Cline.On Ry Cooder’s latest CD, I, Flathead, he borrows that song’s title and inserts it comfortably, like a slice of capicola (pronounced Gab a gool) in an Italian hoagie, into song #2, "Waitin' For Some Girl". Mr. Cooder, a sly and long-termed borrower of phrase and tune, gets away with this kind of stuff because he has the history, the talent, the chops, and the respect of his fellow songwriters and musicians. The line fits so perfectly in the song, that it rattled around in my head seeking purchase on memories of songs of long ago. There was a familiarity, but a shade removed. That's how "I, Flathead" is. A sound of long ago, of well spent mis-spent Summers of Youth when gas was cheap, cars were not computerized, and yesterday's mistakes were today's prideful tales. It's not that Mr. Cooder has processed old songs into highly produced new versions. All of the songs on the album are branded in his style, with spoken word and sung words intermixing. There is more of his unique guitar-playing here than in any album since Bop 'Til you Drop, IMHO. He's not a speed demon of a guitar-player but rather a deliverer of notes punctuated with sass and humor.
"5,000 Country Songs" and "Johnny Cash" would fit quite well with Mr. Dawidoff’s In the Country of Country: A Journey to the Roots of American Music while "Fernando Sez", "Filipino Dance Hall Girl", and "My Dwarf is Getting Tired" continue the spirit of his Chavez Ravine, the first of the Angeleno trio of CD's he's now completed.
All three of the trilogy are excellent albums. My preference is I, Flathead, but that may be only because it's still summer and this is an album to play in your car with the windows rolled down. And Hey! Gas is down to $3.54, so driving around with no particular place to go is a cheap thrill. One to be savored before the pump tries another hold-up on your lifestyle.
Labels: Idiosyncracies, Recording Reviews
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Christmas Music
Having been schooled from 1st through 8th grades by Catholic nuns (except for Grade 7, when I had some of the best teachers of my life in the country previously known as the Socialist Republics of Jugoslavija), my love for Christmas hymns and songs decreased geometrically with the passing of each year in Catholic grammar school. Singing and marching “Little Drummer Boy” in a Christmas Gala Performance sounded the death knell for me for holiday songs. I couldn’t even stand watching “White Christmas”. I didn’t tell anyone else; I was too terrified that my naturalization papers would get revoked and I’d be shipped via banana boat back to the Land of Jugo’s. It was strange times in our country at the time. School kids hiding under desk kindling as preparation for protection from incoming nuke missiles from Castro’s sugar and cigar plantations. Presidential candidates (i.e., Nixon, first time around) looking unshaven and shifty on tv. Items of low quality coming in from Japan. Strange times, indeed.
Luckily for me, jazz and blues entered my life in my late teen years and songs I had cringed from became listenable once again. Thanks to my ever-loving wife and kids, I started watching "White Christmas" again and, aside from "Blackadder’s Christmas Carol", it’s become a season favorite.
So, joining in on the Christmas list-o-rama of songs, I give you my short list of favorite albums for this time of the year. Let the commenting commence.
My all-time favorite for the ability to be played over and over again with no detectable loss in listenability: Charles Brown’s Cool Christmas Blues.
In no particular order:
Soundtrack from "White Christmas". You have to buy the linked version to get the S/T; it comes with a DVD of the movie. The CD is not available by itself for some reason.
Liz Story - "The Gift"
Jimmy Smith - "Christmas Cookin'"
Los Straitjackets - "Tis the Season for Los Straitjackets"
Maddy Prior & the Carnival Band - "An Evening of Carols & Capers"
A Medley of Peanuts:
George Winston - "Linus & Lucy"
Cyrus Chestnut - "Charlie Brown Christmas"
Vince Guaraldi - "A Charlie Brown Christmas "
Soundtrack from "Diner". YES! This is a Christmas movie. Kevin Bacon in the manger crib. The Battle of the Plastic Wise Men. Christmas shopping for tv sets.
Eric Reed - "Merry Magic"
Various Musicians - "Hipster's Holiday"
Happy Holidays to all and may good music come your way.
Luckily for me, jazz and blues entered my life in my late teen years and songs I had cringed from became listenable once again. Thanks to my ever-loving wife and kids, I started watching "White Christmas" again and, aside from "Blackadder’s Christmas Carol", it’s become a season favorite.
So, joining in on the Christmas list-o-rama of songs, I give you my short list of favorite albums for this time of the year. Let the commenting commence.
My all-time favorite for the ability to be played over and over again with no detectable loss in listenability: Charles Brown’s Cool Christmas Blues.
In no particular order:
Soundtrack from "White Christmas". You have to buy the linked version to get the S/T; it comes with a DVD of the movie. The CD is not available by itself for some reason.
Liz Story - "The Gift"
Jimmy Smith - "Christmas Cookin'"
Los Straitjackets - "Tis the Season for Los Straitjackets"
Maddy Prior & the Carnival Band - "An Evening of Carols & Capers"
A Medley of Peanuts:
George Winston - "Linus & Lucy"
Cyrus Chestnut - "Charlie Brown Christmas"
Vince Guaraldi - "A Charlie Brown Christmas "
Soundtrack from "Diner". YES! This is a Christmas movie. Kevin Bacon in the manger crib. The Battle of the Plastic Wise Men. Christmas shopping for tv sets.
Eric Reed - "Merry Magic"
Various Musicians - "Hipster's Holiday"
Happy Holidays to all and may good music come your way.
Labels: Christmas, Recording Reviews
Monday, November 26, 2007
Road Tuning
On a recent return trip back from Pittsburgh, I tried to minimize the amount of times I'd be swerving back and forth on the road as I picked out the music to put into the CD player. So, I kept the number of CD's available for choosing to 4. Although that 4 is misdeceiving since two of the 4 were double/triple CD's.1) Joe Henry's new release,Civilians, reviewed quite favorably by Mr. Whisky Prajer here, is an album to play when you get to that moody deep thought part of the trip. Long straightaways, distant horizons, foreboding weather conditions. I don't know about you folks, but necessary (although completely irrelevant) life-decision pondering of the past/current/future variety usually comes on about 2 hours into any major travel. Mr. Henry's newest album assists one into getting to that stage, earlier if you wish it. He's done quite a bit of pondering and deciding on his own so you can use his experiential jet stream to draft along.
FWIW, I'm with Whisky Prajer's opinion that Civilians is a strong candidate for one of the top albums of 2007. Having Mr. Bill Frissell along for the ride on this album certainly makes that proposal stronger.
2) Alligator Records 35 X 35 Collection, came out early last year. 2 CD's of Alligator Records talented performers doing 35 songs in honor of 35 years of the label's existence. The producer of the album is WXPN's own Jonny Meister, the maestro of the station's blues programming and one of the country's top Blues dj's. Selections include a scorching harmonica solo from the late William Clarke in his "Lollipop Mama", Koko Taylor doing "I Got What It Takes", the Holmes Brothers on their wonderful "Speaking In Tongues", and "In The Wee Wee Hours" as done by Professor Longhair The only clunker of the bunch may be Dave Hole's "Short Fuse Blues".
3) Blind Pig's 25th Anniversary Collection, released in 2001, also has 35 tracks, on 2 music CD's and a Video CD. As I was driving I could not enjoy the video CD and waited until coming home to take that in. High energy tracks, excellent production, fine stable of artists. A good point on this CD collection was the performance of some of the artists on multiple tracks. Especially strong are George "Harmonica" Smith's "Last Chance", Snooky Pryor's "Work With Me Annie", the Gospel Hummingbirds' "That Same Thing", one of my favorite blues performers, Magic Slim and the Teardrops, with his song, "Wake Me Up Early", and the sassy E. C. Scott's "What A Good Feeling"
4) Herlin Riley's Cream of the Crescent, released in Sept. of 2005 is solid, from the first song,"Bird Life" , to the last, "Trombone Joe". Giving him a hand is an all-star cast featuring Victor Goines on saxes, Wynton Marsalis, not too shabby on the trumpet, one of my favorite jazzmen, Wycliffe Gordon, on the clown prince of jazz instruments, the trombone, Mr. Herlin Riley on the funky drums, Reginald Veal keeping it together on the bass, and Eric Lewis, on piano. One of the best jazz albums of the last couple of years. All ranges of speed and mood, necessary components of musical accompaniment on a long trip.
Labels: NaBloPoMo, Recording Reviews, Road Trips
Friday, November 02, 2007
"I Got a Lot to Say!"
sings Bettye LaVette in a song she co-composed, "Before the Money Came". She revisits Muscle Shoals in this early 2007 release, Scene of the Crime, co-produced by David Barbe, Patterson Hood, and Ms. LaVette. Any name ring a bell? That's right Drive By Truckers fans (and, yes, Whisky Prajer, I have seen, well actually, heard the light and I count myself among those fans), it's produced by Mr. Hood from the DBT. Turns out his dad is David Hood of the legendary Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Full circles all around.Bettye LaVette's collaboration with the Drive By Truckers is a gem, possibly my favorite recording issued this year. Opening up with Eddie Hinton's "I Still Want to be Your Baby (Take Me Like I Am)", she belts out:
"I've been this way too long to change now.
You're going to have to take me like I am,
but you know I'm still your baby."
She follows that with "Choices", wherein,
"I've had choices since the day I was born.
There were voices that told me right form wrong.
If I only listened, I wouldn't be here today
living with the choices I made."
The divine Ms. LaVette takes on Frankie Miller's "Jealousy" and Elton Johns' "Talking Old Soldiers" and does the same thing to them that she did in her 2005 Anti Records album, I've Got my Own Hell to Raise. She makes the songs her own.
Her two recent albums strike me the same way as when Charles Walker released Number by Heart back in 2003. Like Walker, Ms. LaVette was recording back in the late '50's and early '60's and then slipped away. In "Before the Money Came (The Battle of Bettye LaVette)", a song on The Scene of the Crime, she goes through the history of her rise, fall, and return. The lost years only improved the bite. Her renditions of the songs are are brittle emotional outpourings, with the weight of the lost 40 or so years riding heavy with the might-have-beens. I thought I've heard these songs before, but Ms. LaVette demonstrates otherwise. Her stylings bear repeating. The Drive By Truckers provide an excellent background for her vocal escapades. They're out front in spots of some songs but generally they sit back and provide the strong base for her exposition.
As with other Anti cd's, such as Joe Henry's Civilians, Galactic's From the Corner to the Block, Rogue's Gallery compilation, DeVotchKa's How It Ends, and Mavis Staples' We'll Never Turn Back, the production and crystal clear recording is excellent. One would be tempted to buy an Anti CD without having heard it before strictly based on the care and expertise they take with their artists.
If you haven't heard Bettye LaVette's recent recordings, I strongly encourage a purchase of either one. If you're a Drive By Trucker fan, The Scene of the Crime will be an ear-opener. I hope this collaboration was not the last.
Addendum: Philly Inq's Nick Cristiano reviews Bettye LaVette and pronounces that the "never-say-die soul diva is back with another jewel in The Scene of the Crime".
So, what are you waiting for? Time to use those Amazon.com coupons!
Labels: NaBloPoMo, Recording Reviews
Friday, September 07, 2007
"...and I'll take any legal tender with a white man in the center"
says Lyrics Born from the first track, What You Need, of Galactic's new release, From the Corner to the Block. Shades of Tom Wait's "Step Right Up" ! A double jolt for any Galactic fan. Rapping and humor. This CD will take a while for your core Galactic fan to latch onto. And, I believe, that fan will latch on. Stanton Moore stroking through on drums, Ben Ellman blowing his heart out on harmonica and horns, Robert Mercurio laying the lowdown (the way...low...down) on bass, Jeff Raines adding squiggles, hoops, and funk on guitar, and Mr. Rich Vogel riffing off of Mr. Raines and Mr. Stanton; yes, it's the same Galactic. This would be their party album phase, I guess. Whatever phase they're in, they are a group worth staying in touch with. Some have compared this album with that of Philly's own The Roots. I think that comparison works to the extent that both groups rely on live musicians and no drum machines to accompany the singers/rappers. However, the comparison ends at that point, IMHO. The Roots have their own thing going, their own influences, adaptations, and inclusions. Galactic, being from Louisiana, has absorbed the particularities of New Orleans into their music and that flavor carries through this album, regardless of the addition of hip-hop artists to 10 of the 14 tracks. Aside from Mr. Lyrics Born's hilariously engaging opening track, Jurrasic 5's deep-voice-in-the-bowels-of-the-'hoodChali 2na's "Think Back", the title track, From the Corner to the Block, with Juvenile & Soul Rebels Brass Band, "Tuff Love" with Trombone Shorty, and...and, well, let me make it easier. I only skip through 2 of the 14 tracks of this album; "Hustle Up" with Boots Riley and "Squarebiz" with Ladybug Mecca & Nino Moschella. Once was enough for those two tracks, so I gave them 6 listens to be fair and equitable. Two purely instrumental Galactic carrying on's would have been more appreciated than these somewhat annoying songs. But, even with that, I'd say From the Corner to the Block is one of the top 10 releases for 2007. Play it Loud; Play it Proud.Here's a YouTube of Chali 2na with Galactic doing one of my favorites from the release, Think Back.
Labels: Recording Reviews
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Getting the Once-Over
I'm not sure at what age I was when it first happened, but I know that when the "warmies" were shooting through my nerves (as opposed to the chills) when I was the recipient of the once-over for my attitude/mind/personality rather than for my physical appearance, I could be finally classified as mature. Or, maybe just clingy/desperate for any signs of attention. It's a "thin line"-"coin flip" sort of thing, isn't it?In a electronics super store recently, I was just such a recipient of a positive personality once-over. It had been a while, so it was a most welcome trip back to that land of perceived coolness, even though it was only a 10 minute visa I was traveling on.
It was this past Tuesday that I was combing through the aisles looking for Talib Kweli's new CD, Ear Drum. Tuesday being the industry release date for all new recordings, it wasn't a surprise to see other folks searching for their artist's new release as well. This particular retail establishment uses the $9.99 CD price to lure in buyers so that they spend additional bucks on items they'd had no earlier intention of procuring. So, while the price of the CD is low, the trick is finding the CD's as their filing system is burdened with no logical scheme. Temporary tag-teams are formed by mutually interested consumers. I was parked in the pseudo-Rap aisle which was intermingled with the Country selection. Somebody was using Ray Charles' broad musical sweep as their guidelines for this layout, I assume. After seeing an equally frustrated CD-seeker perusing the bins, I sidled up to her.
Old Fart (Medium height white guy with graying hair (whiter than usual due to minimal beach visits): "Excuse me, who are you looking for?"
She (Medium height athletic African-American woman in very stylish nurse's uniform, max. age of 30, equipped with finely manicured hands that she could, if she wanted to put 2 fingers together, snap me out of existence with a simple move): "Oh, it's an artist who just released a new Cd, Ear Drum"
OF: "Oh, you mean Talib Kweli's new album."
She (Shooting me that welcomed once-over): "Hmmm, why yes. I've looked over in the "K"s.."
OF: "...me too and then I looked in the "T"s as well, cuz you..."
She: "...never know how they file things.."
All Together now: "Here!!
So, with minimal talk, we split off to different parts of the store in search of the same thing. She ended up asking that rare species of mankind, a knowledgeable sale clerk, who grunted and gestured toward a general direction in the bowels of the store (N.B.: This same layout logic applies to the location of milk, butter, bread, p' butter and jam in a grocery store. You have to run a gauntlet of purchase temptations before reaching your initial desired item). I was still applying my quick-fingering skills in the regular CD racks when she came by with 2 copies. She handed me one with another approving musical choice once-over. I thanked her. For the CD. Thanking her for the older-guy-once-over would have negated all of the poz from the look. I then hauled my newly charged personality and CD over to the register.
Clerk (In auto-play mode): "Find everything you were looking for?"
OL (Offering more information than Clerk really wanted, so a "Do I Give a S_ _ _?" flag was being raised as I said.."): "Oh, yes. Found much more than expected. It's been a good day in retail land."
So, off to listen to Mr. Kweli and also Galactic's latest release , which just arrived in the mail. Very interesting combination, as Galactic's new effort, From the Corner to the Block, was done jointly with quite a few hip-hop and rap artists. A review, of sorts, will follow shortly.
As will some blurbs about another visit to that fantastic place in western Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh.
Here's a great recent interview of Mr. Kweli on Studio 360 by Kurt Anderson.
Labels: Humans, Idiosyncracies, Recording Reviews
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Kruno, of the Fleet- Fingered Krunos
After seeing Mr. Krunoslav Spisic perform a month ago in Philly, I was desirous of possessing his sole CD issued to date. Ordering through Mr. Spisic's site was a bit unwieldy and, as he mentioned during his performance on June 9th, he'd run out of CD's to sell and it would be a while. So, for the same price and free shipping, I simply Amazoned it and twiddled the fingers waiting for the brown-suited guy to stop by.Well, it took a while to seemingly individually manufacture this self-titled CD, but the month-long wait has been worth the calloused fingers.
There are 14 songs on the album, with Kruno singing just a bit on two selections, "Delem, Delem", an old Roma song usually spelled as "Djelem, Djelem" and "Svaku Zenu Volim Ja", which translates as I Love All Women. The latter song is written by Zvonko Bogdan, who was born in Vojvodina, which is a part of Serbia that has a fairly high percentage of folks with Hungarian roots. I mention these facts about the songs because when I played this CD for my ever-understanding and diplomatic mother, mentioning that Kruno is a Canadian with Croatian parents, she gave me the mal occhia and then the traditional head-shake, snaking of the arms, and the pursing of the lips ultimately culminating in the longish "Pfffffffft" consonantal emanation all translatable as the Croatian expression of "What an idiot!?!?" (also can be construed as, "What a donkey?!??!").
Her point?
"A Croatian would never sing a song by a Serb or by a Roma (Gypsy)."
And you may wonder how wars start, stop, and start anew in the Balkans? 'Nuff said about that.
Kruno, the CD, is fabulously recorded. Crystal clear, with a fine balance drawn between the lead guitar of Mr. Spisic and those of his madly strumming mates, Strabo & Scott Churchman. On a few selections Alexander Fedoriouk joins in on cimbalon Kalman Magyar bows in with his Grappelli-ish violin, completing the semblance of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli's Quintette of the Hot Club of France. The songs on the CD range from Mr. Spisic's interpretations of Reinhardt's "Swing 42" and "Swing 49" to the "Spider Man" theme, to "Puttin' on the Ritz", and some of his own original compositions. It goes without saying (but I will) that if you're not a fan of Reinhardt and Grappelli, this CD would not be for you. Brilliant guitar runs, notes speeding by, musical jokes and references tucked in are all evident on this acoustic instrument recording. No layers of strings, turntable antics, or New Style/Merde Style are in evidence.
And you can crank this CD up with minimal worries of distortion. Although your neighbors may wonder about those odd words heard when Kruno starts belting two of the songs.
I would recommend this CD highly. Fresh versions of old classics. Amazing musicianship. Fine sound production.
Just as a comparison, here's Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli performing J'Attenndrai and here's Kruno performing Reinhardt's Swing 49. Notice Kruno's guitar and its similarity to Reinhardt's.
Labels: Recording Reviews
Monday, July 09, 2007
Not Ruling the Radio World
Apologies to anyone out there ("Anyone?", he asks) who may have tuned in via radio or Internet to the non-show not being broadcast yesterday. Seems our station's radio transmitter was on summer vacation as was our engineer. We were basically off the airwaves for the entire day; definitely not part of a working master plan to rule the radio world.
Which, was a shame. Had some new CD's that I'd planned on playing including a few selections from Bad Plus' late April release, Prog, including their enoyably distrubing version of Tears for Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" (Mr. Ethan Iverson playing a minimally tinkled and sardonic piano while Mr. David King furiously pounds our foreheads, I mean drums, with the Ohrwurm melody. I'll confess that this song is still very listenable in its orginal version, even after all of the attempts by FM radio and MTV to kill it. Look! Even Patti Smith recently (April, 2007) did a very nice version of this song.
In addition to the Tears for Fears song, Bad Plus (especially drummer David King) do quite a listenable job with Rush's Tom Sawyer, not to mention (but I will) a superb version of Burt Bacharach's "This Guy's in Love with You".
For me at least, Bad Plus are a hit 'n miss band. I've listened to the majority of their CD's multiple times but I own only their most recent one, Prog, as, after repeated listening, all of the songs on this CD hold up quite well. The musicians, Ethan Iverson on piano, Reid Anderson on bass, and drummer David King are all ludicrously talented and the collective known as Bad Plus is one of the tightest bands you'll hear these days. I'd strongly encourage anyone to search out their stuff; their renditions of tried and true compositions and their performance of their own stuff is aggressive, referential, funny, and, just sometimes, a bit too loud. I would strongly recommend Prog as the starting off point, even though it's their newest piece of work. If a jazz group (a huge pigeon-holing if ever there was one) can secrete a suggestion of Heavy Metal, Bad Plus would be such a band.
More illuminating reviews of Prog can be found at:
Stylus Magazine,
All About Jazz,
and the indispensable Meta Critic.
Labels: Recording Reviews, WVUD 91.3
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
An Annie Hall Moment
Remember (oh, yeah, I know you all do) one of the many still fresh and insightful scenes in Annie Hall, when this happens? How you wish you can be so lucky to have the expert, the author, the deed-doer right there to pull out from behind the stage?Well, in a recent post, I'd raved about wax.on wax.off's November 2006 release, A Lecture on Geek Mythology. This German group has 14 songs on the album, 13 are in English, 1 in German. I searched for the lyrics to Meine Mitbewohnerin with no luck. Alcessa even volunteered her translation services if I were to come up with the German lyrics.
Well, shades of Marshall McLuhan, who should have left a comment on that entry than the composer and leader of wax.on wax.off, Mr.Thorsten Rott!
If you don't mind, so that you minimize your clicking, here's Mr. Rott's full comment. What a great guy! Here's Mr. Whisky Prajer's post on A Lecture on Geek Mythology. He proclaims it the Summer CD. I can attest that cranking this baby up does (seem) to increase your car's horsepower.
"Hi there everybody,
a friend of mine came across this blog asking me to help you guys with the lyrics of "meine mitbewöhnerin" (notice the rock dots over the o). Well, here is a very rough translation:
"my new roomate (female flatmate/suitemate) looks kind of hot
but unfortunately she´s only dating jocks
she´s bringing a new one home every week
and it is getting worse, it is getting worse – I can hear them in my room
yesterday I secretly watched her take a shower
and stole her favorite pink pair of panties from the hamper
and every now and then I ´m sniffing them and dream about getting in her underwear
I dream of her when I touch myself
.. of my flatmate
for her I even sit down when I pee
.. for my flatmate
we now have an exchange student from Belgium living with us
but unfortunately she´s only exchanging experiences with other girls
but as real kind of guy a still think that I can convert her and make her mine
and in the meantime I hope I can watch them sometime
and I hold her hair back when she again has to throw up drunk at night
I take her to bed and when she is firmly asleep I look at her and touch myself."
Reading this now I have to say it is way less creepy in German. I guess the irony and most of the puns are lost in translation.
Best wishes from Germany
thorsten
And check out our blog at wax.on wax.off.
"
Thanks Thorsten for dropping by and gracing me with my Triple M (Marshall McLuhan Moment).
Labels: People, Recording Reviews
