Black Country Communion 2

The previous post says My Morning Jacket may have the best album of the year.  Black Country Communion 2 is unquestionably the best Rock record released in YEARS!  I was pleased with their first album based on the resumes of the members of this "supergroup", but "2" is everything I originally expected and more.  They have heeded all the criticism and brought Derek Sherinian's keyboards out of the bowels of the mix, having them flesh out the sound on an equal basis with the other instrumentation, even allowing for call-and-response leads with Joe Bonamassa's guitar licks.  You know, I just read some guy's music blog post about how "firing the keyboardist" is the first rule for making a quality rock/metal recording.  What an idiot...  Listen to this album and then look me straight in the eye and tell me this sucks.  It cannot be done. 

Let's take the opening track and first single (pssst, that's funny...single) "The Outsider" for example.  This hard rock brain masher peels out of the speakers, forcing your hand to elevate the volume... 

And that's just a snippet.  It gets into a Deep Purple vein complete with a Blackmore riff.  Glenn Hughes is such a legend, a great front man (at 60 years of age, no less), amazing vocalist and bassist.  Most of this album features his lead vocals, a very wise move (not saying JB isn't a good singer) for this heavy a rock record.  The first name that popped into my mind was Marc Storace from Krokus in their heyday.  On another he sounded like Chris Cornell.  On one of the songs that JB sings, I swear I heard Paul Rodgers.  Let me now wander through the rest of the "reminds me of..." list in the order I jotted them down:  Scorpions, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin (duh! Bonham Jr. on drums...)...



...Van Hagar, Bon Scott-era AC/DC, David Coverdale's Whitesnake, Gamma, Gary Moore, UFO, Grand Funk Railroad.  DAMMIT man, if you don't like any of those names then kindly exit this blog promptly. 

I should not be surprised that this record hasn't been as well received as it has across the pond.  They still rock in Europe in a large way.  Makes sense that the forthcoming live DVD was recorded over there.  Looking forward to adding that visual piece of history to my stash.  You should, too...

My Morning Jacket "Circuital"

This is the Album Of The Year so far, and though I have numerous new releases to wade through over the next three months, I'll be surprised if anything is better.  I'm unsure when the 2012 Grammy nominations are announced, but if this isn't on the ballot for Album, Record, Rock, Alternative, something, then the process is inadequate.  There is so much here for so many different people that I cannot believe it would be ignored.  How about "psychedelic-pop-piano-orchestral-funky-metal-rock-folk" as a category?  It would be a shoe-in, unless Wilco's new album finally comes out, in which there would be a tie.  That being said, every Wilco fan needs "Circuital".  Beach Boy fans would find something to like, too.  Cheap Trick devotees as well.  For the Pink Floyd fans, I offer this evidence



To be able to create these diverse musical masterpieces is mind-blowing to me.  How does Jim James (Yim Yames, or whatever moniker he assumes) do it?  Which pharmaceutical collaboration is it?  I don't care, dude, just don't kill yourself, please. 

My Morning Jacket is one of America's current great bands (actually, the total could be counted on one hand with a finger or two remaining), and "Circuital" is their most complete release.  I hope I can clear my schedule to be able to see them live when they come to town in December.  I don't get to many shows anymore, and I hate paying for them, but I'll make an exception for this one...

Get More: My Morning Jacket, Storytellers, Free Music Videos, New Artists

Warren Haynes "Man In Motion"

Your first clue should be the record label this is released under, Stax.  Allow me to yield to Mr. Haynes as he offers the background...

You may know the names of the band members he mentions, but if not, let me drop a few of the associations for you instead:  The Meters, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Gil-Scott Heron, Dizzy Gillespie, Little Feat, Small Faces, Bonnie Raitt, Rolling Stones, etc., etc., etc..

So I'm going to call this a neuvo-soul record with some blues and a little funk thrown in.  Love the horns and the Wurlitzer.  Saw one review calling it an updated Blues Brothers.  What a dumb fart.  Far superior singing and axe-slingin' than that.  But I never was a big soul music fan, so for me, "Man In Motion" is a keeper based only on the fact that Haynes has been one of the best things going in the music biz over the past twenty or so years.  I'll reach for a Gov't Mule CD before I'll reach for this...

Journey "Eclipse"

I vividly remember the album "Next" by Journey arriving in the WPRK studios shortly after returning from Christmas break of my freshman year (actually, I think I still have that LP in my collection, complete with the Columbia DJ label on the front and WPRK J-# scrawled on it in magic marker).  I saw Greg Rolie's name as a member (I was a major Santana fan) and it immediately hit the turntable.  Ah, man, great rock/jazz fusion, and awesome guitar work.  What, you say, the guitarist played with Carlos, too, and was tossed because he was too good (well, that was the rumor of the day)?  Eric Clapton had asked this kid to join Derek & the Dominos and he said no?!  Are you kidding me?  I end up playing the entire album and knew I had to get this on tape for the roommate as soon as I could.  I walk back into the album library to file it away and WHAT?  There were two earlier albums by Journey already there!  So in February 1977, I become a Journey ambassador on WPRK, playing at least two tracks a night on my radio shows that freshman year.  The next semester saw the debut of the Mad Rocker nickname, and the music of Journey was a constant on my radio program.  I opened many a show with the instrumental "Kohoutek" from the debut record. 

The new album "Infinity" arrived early 1978, and there was an immediate difference in the music.  New singer added, more pop arrangements, and the new producer was Roy Thomas Baker, mastermind for the Queen records.  Yep, layers.  As fate would have it that year, I was unable to play baseball due to ligament damage in the elbow of the pitching arm, and thus able to actually have a Spring Break.  I went home to Tennessee and my sister (really love her for this one) gave me tickets for my birthday to see Journey in the War Memorial Auditorium in Nashville.  Maybe 1500 people at the show.  Opening act was some new band out of California.......hmmmm......who was it.......wait, it's comin' to me......oh, yeah, Van Halen.  I bought their debut record a few weeks earlier immediately after hearing "You Really Got Me" on the radio, so I was ready.  The middle act of the bill was Ronnie Montrose supporting his solo debut "Open Fire."  Can you understand why this ranks as one of my greatest concert experiences of all time?  After Ronnie, the house lights go down and "Kohoutek" blasts from the speakers, the entire track.  As soon as it finishes, curtains open and the original Journey lineup smokes through three early songs.  Greg Rolie then introduces the newest member of the band, and Steve Perry shyly slips onto the stage.  Life as I knew it changed.  Ninety minutes later, after most of Infinity and two encores, the house lights go up and I saunter down to the stage with my guitarist friend, Steve Cunningham (RIP), to check out Schon's gear.  There are about thirty people hanging around the front of the stage when Perry comes back out and asks us if we'd like to hear another song or two.  "Oh, no, Steve, that's OK, the lights are up and you guys don't really have to..."  So we are treated to about ten more minutes of music while the roadies are standing around with this "I-don't-believe-this-shit" look on their faces.  I will never forget that night. 

Oh, yeah, right, the new album.  Initial reviews spoke of a return to the band's early work, that "Eclipse" was guitar dominant.  Intrigued, I made the buy.  I had not purchased anything since the initial breakup in 1987.  None of the reunion/reformation stuff ever passed muster.  2008's  "Revelation" went to #5 on Billboard, but I felt it was more of a gimmick...a marketing success, but a gimmick nonetheless, considering the well-known story of how their new vocalist was enlisted.  But this new album is just that, a brand new album.  Not one that mines old territory for the sake of a tour, like the Blondie record, but an honest effort at creating something new and viable today.  "Eclipse' leaves no doubt as to who this band belongs to.  It's Neil Schon's record and it's 75% rock guitar.  Jonathan Cain has to be a bit disappointed because he's basically just ridin' the bus.  His keyboards are secondary...nope, third on the depth chart behind the guitar and the vocals for this album (just hang on, JC.  The tour should be keeping you in the green). 

Overall, I'll say this album has a couple of filler tunes, a whole bunch of good songs, and two great tracks.  A couple are just plain nasty, down & dirty rock.  "Chain Of Love" could be an Ozzy or Ronnie James Dio track, or maybe a Joe Lynn Turner-fronted Rainbow song.  If "Resonate" isn't the next single, it's only because most people don't know the meaning of the word.  "To Whom It May Concern" could have been a vintage, late-70's Kansas hit. 

I'm here to tell you, Kevin G.,  had "Eclipse" been released thirty years ago, it would have been a multi-platinum album that even you would have loved...

Blondie "Panic Of Girls"

So here is a post by Ye Olde MadRocker of a record that hasn't hit the shelves (boy, is that outdated slang) in the United States.  I know, I know, I can hear you purists screaming "Don't be like all the other hacks out there, we like waiting months for your wisdom..."  It comes out here next week, but it was released digitally overseas at the end of May.  I bought it in early June (so technically, you have

been waiting nearly three months, purists).  It was physically released on July 4 in Europe and now we get it.  The record has been in the can since last year, and here is proof from an A&E program nearly a year ago...

Yep, that's sixty-something Debby Harry with Chris Stein and Clem Burke (ie. the old guys) playing live.  Loved one of the comments at the bottom of the video wanting to know who Debby's plastic surgeons were!  Granted, the studio cleans up some of the vocal mis-steps here, but all-in-all, there's no doubt it's Debby Harry singing, though the mix has her slightly treated and buried at times.  "Panic..." is eleven possible singles, most following the tried-and-true formulas of earlier smash hits that defined New Wave some thirty-odd years ago.  I guarantee you will say, "That sounds like 'The Tide Is High'," or "This reminds me of 'Heart Of Glass'," or something of the like on almost every track.  There are the songs sung in French and Spanish, just like the old days, too.  My two favorite tracks occur in the middle of the record.  #6 is "Love Doesn't Frighten Me", and for me, an obvious single, and track 7, "Words In My Mouth" made me think of Missing Persons for some reason and has a great line, "I've got an appetite for seduction."  Still got it, haven't you, DH?

"Panic Of Girls" doesn't break any new ground like the "No Exit" record from the end of the last century, but it certainly preaches to the massive worldwide choir, should any of them listen.  It hasn't burned up the European charts, but with a little support here, it may start the fire.  If you are ready for a good New Wave album in 2011, "Panic..." should be the one for you.