Panic Room "Skin"

 

I usually have some tangible information on artists new to me before seeking them out for a sampling and/or purchase, such as couple of good reviews or a recommendation from a trusted source.  Not this time, though.  Did you ever, historically speaking, of course, walk into a record store with nothing really on your mind to purchase?  All the time...  The greatest example I have was in early 1982 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.  In the Fall of the previous year, I had dropped everything in Tennessee to take a job in Pompano Beach, relocating in a mere five days, happening upon an elderly lady moving out of an upstairs studio apartment on N. Riverside Drive.  This was on Saturday and my new job started Monday.  I helped her move her things to her new unit downstairs and she called the landlord to convince him to let me take her old place.  I thought the rent was pretty steep for a studio but I had zero time remaining to continue my housing search.  Little did I know the ocean was two blocks east.  So that's what the white crust is on the windows, salt.  I couldn't afford a night on the town or anything remotely similar but I could walk to the beach anytime I wanted.  Couldn't go out to eat so I taught myself how to cook.  My entertainment?  A bag of good weed and my music.  Drove to the record store on US 1 in Ft. Liquordale and started wandering the aisles.  Guy kept pushing this new band on me with some song about "Iran," but I was intrigued by an album cover, a drawing of a broken statue on the steps of what had to be a church since the band's name was The Church...out of Australia no less, one of my favorite locales for music.  That was enough for me.  No clue what it sounded like.  The Church is one of my Top 5 bands of All-Time......Flock Of Seagullshit, my ass! 

 

The times have changed but the idea remains the same.  Instead of holding a 12x12 album package in my hand, I now view a thumbnail of the cover, the artist and record name, the track listing and times, and a genre.  If intrigued, I will sample the first few songs.  Awesome = buy, boring = shitcan, marginal = investigate list.  On a later date I will return to sample the last half of the record.  If it's borderline again, I'll buy it.  It's earned three spins. 

 

So that's how I ended up with Panic Room.  Liked the name and cover.  The stated genre was "progressive rock" and five of the eleven tracks clocked in at six minutes or more.  First note I made was at the fourth song on the initial spin..."What did I hear in this?"  Once I got over the shock that it wasn't prog-rock (I should know better...my site is less than 100% accurate when it comes to categorizing), I started to sense that what I had was a perfectly serviceable record of a female-fronted, adult-oriented rock band with a heavy dose of strings. 

 

None in the live setting but they are all over the CD.  Conducting a bit of research on the band, I found the strings were new on "Skin", their third album.  I sampled parts of one of the earlier releases and they seemed to rock more, probably enough to earn the "prog-rock" designation.  I would label the current album as "dramatic," not progressive.  Bands that popped into my head while listening were the Cranberries, Texas, All About Eve and Quarterflash without the sax. 

This is a fine record to play in the background at your dinner party, but I doubt anything will reach out and grab one of the guests enough to query as to who it is.  I still think I'll keep about half of it...

Tuatha Dea "Kith & Kin"

 

When Bobbed Kilts Productions said he had some music for me that he obtained from the Grandfather Mountain (NC) Highland Games in July, I assumed he meant traditional Scottish music with bagpipes and such, not the Proclaimers or Big Country.  Silly me, why did I not think Celtic, a collection of influences and ancestry, like the Pogues, Waterboys or Corrs.  Well, a collection of influences and ancestry is exactly what's going on here, and it's not just Western European.  Toss in some African drums, maybe a little anvil(!), and a didgeridoo from Australia into the mix of standard instrumentation, and add the fact that the band hails from Gatlinburg, TN, you have the unique collection of which I speak.  This is straight from their Facebook info section:  "...eclectically mix Scotts Irish, new age, traditional and modern day music to produce a unique variety and blend of rhythm and melody."  No shit! 

First note I made at the outset of the CD was Pink Floyd, followed by Big Pig (video for reference)



The note for the second track was "tribal Jefferson Airplane," but unfortunately, the song is way too long at 11:24.  Edit down to 5:30 and it would be fantastic.  Another tune invoked the spirit of Ronnie James Dio!  It wasn't until track six, "Mulligan Stew," of the record's eight that I got what I originally anticipated.  You can find a video of it on YouTube.  Here is a video of the song-most-likely-to-be-called-a-hit...



The record is full of great vocals, male and female, and the band is obviously fueled by the power of rhythm.  The only regret I have is the electric guitar has an amateurish sound in the mix on most of the record.  Give the guy an equivalent share and you have a complete bona fide winner.

They have a website that looks to be only a few months old.  Check it out here and prowl around it like I did.  There are links to all their social sites, too.  Looks like they do a few long road trips for shows and will be down Florida way in a couple of weeks.  Most importantly, visit the music store tab and buy a song or two or the complete album.  It's impressive...

John Hiatt "Mystic Pinball"

When I saw this come across three weeks ago, I figured it as a reissue or B-side compilation.  Wrongggggg!  I shouldn't be surprised, though, as he is a prolific songwriter.  Capturing Kevin Shirley again to produce may have had something to do with this releasing thirteen months after "Dirty Jeans..." Shirley is the "hot" man at the boards these days.  "Mystic Pinball" isn't nearly as slick as the previous record, or nearly as countrified, and that would usually bode well in my book, but I don't find the songs to be as strong.  Last year's model was one of the best of the year, this one I'm keeping five tracks.  Here is one of them, the album's opener...



Taken from the current tour.  He hits Orlando next month.  Hope I have the chance to go.  "Mystic Pinball" is available tomorrow. 

Pat Travers "Blues On Fire"

 

My introduction to radio at Jolly Rolly Colly's WPRK happened with my first college class, Speech 101 with the legendary Dr. Charles Rodgers, in the basement of what was then called the Mills Memorial Library.  The class was set up in the studio and the control room was behind the soundproof glass.  The station only operated ten to twelve hours a day that Fall of '76, so it wasn't on in the morning at all.  Since Doc was my advisor, I would meet with him in the afternoons around baseball commitments, so the station was on...and I was hooked.  Student-only operated, 75% classical programming, home basketball game broadcasts...that was it...hard to believe, huh?  Yet, I still wanted to be a part of it.  Took this naive, small-town boy a few weeks to work up the nerve to ask the station managing upperclasswoman from New York City about subbing on the student-programmed Rock portion of the broadcast day.  When the phone rang in my wing of the deserted freshman dorm at 8:35 PM, it was aforementioned station manager, Ellen Lyons (where are you?), asking me to do the 9 PM show.  I snatched up as many albums as I could carry and hustled to the basement, arriving at 8:50.  Ellen was in an obvious hurry as I received the five-minute Cliff Notes version of how to run a radio station.  It was 8:58 when she said, "That's it," and hit the door, looking back over her shoulder to say, "Have a nice holiday."  That's right, "holiday."  It was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, 90% of the student body had vacated the campus, and I wasn't doing just the 9 PM show that night, I was doing the entire weekend!  That was five hours a night through Sunday.  Needless to say, I made a billion errors; bad cues, wrong pots, open mikes (which wasn't that bad since I had no one to ask for help, the phone didn't ring, and I wasn't yet talking-out-loud-to-myself crazy), etc., so based on self-preservation I started playing the longest cuts I could find.  I was awful on-air, and not just that weekend, either.  I still have a cassette from part of a show from the end of my freshman year, and if you've ever listened to college radio, you've heard this voice; the slow, inarticulate, stammering monotone..."uh...that was...Rush......Working Man.........wow....I really like that one..."  Anyway, back to the longest tracks comment...initially, this allowed me several minutes to concentrate on what I was doing, consequently, making fewer mistakes.  As the weekend wore on, I got better at the technique of cuing and eliminating dead air, but I was still playing the longer songs.  This gave me time to sample literally hundreds of albums on the back channel, and this was when I discovered Pat Travers (whew...that's the longest f*#king intro yet!).  His first album was released that year and I was hooked on music :)  The debut had covers of Mabelline, Hot Rod Lincoln, Boom Boom (Out Go The Lights), and a JJ Cale song.  Of course, Boom Boom and Snortin' Whiskey hit it big from the live album that followed a couple of years later.  Speaking of live, I've probably seen PT in concert more than any other act in my lifetime. 

These were the only two I could find.  The first one was 1979.  Also saw him play on his birthday, but whether that was '78 or '80, that's too many bong hits ago.  I've got all of his albums from the first stage of his career.  He kept touring but quit releasing records for a few years.  Once he returned to the studio some twenty years ago, he switched to more blues based recordings and been cranking 'em out ever since.  I heard most of them and own a couple, but I'd rather see him play them live, which finally (YEA!), brings me to "Blues On Fire."  This is an entire album of obscure blues songs written before the World Wars.  Well, one is not so obscure since Led Zeppelin covered it on "Presence" (Nobody's Fault But Mine).  Pat's version does not improve on it.  There is another song called "Bulldozer Blues," which you will recognize, sort of, as "Going Up The Country" by Canned Heat.  Those guys were blues historians and knew that you can take some liberties with songs in the public domain or deemed "traditional."  I don't know if PT's version is true to the original either, but the tune sticks in your head. 

Basically, this album is a rocked-up version of eighty-five-year-old blues songs.  Well, all but one track by Son House, which is my favorite, and probably the most true to the original...



There is a plugged-in version on YouTube that's fairly righteous, too.  One comment says, "this is Pat's BEST album to date..he gets better with age man."  I can't possibly say that, but I will keep four tracks. 

Susanna Hoffs "Someday"

 

I honestly don't know where to start.  I have been in love with her since 1984, the debut year for the Bangles.  Best legs in rock and roll.  One of the most recognizable female voices in pop music.  Last year's Bangles album was a triumphant return to form.  Wasn't aware of this new solo effort in any shape or form.  So excited to hear it I pushed it ahead of a half dozen other things already in rotation. 

 

What a letdown...

 

One spin through the meager 31 minutes and I'm stunned by the lameness of the songs.  Her voice is front and center, framed by beautiful orchestration and production, but there's hardly a sharp hook to be found in the ten tunes.  She's got old pal Mitchell Froom (first aware of Froom thirty years ago with Ronnie Montrose' Gamma 3.  He went on to work with Crowded House, Indigo Girls, Los Lobos, Elvis Costello... he actually tinkled the piano riff in "Manic Monday") handling the knobs, and he works his magic with the background, but those songs...wimpy.  Primary co-writer with her is some newbie Nashville-based kid half her age, lucky bastard, and I just don't get it.  It's not just me, apparently, because the record has been out for two months and it hasn't sniffed a sales chart yet.  That may change as NPR has thrown their support to it, probably due to all the favorable press, one calling it "a musical love letter to the 60's" and others declaring it to be the best record of her career.  Not even close.  One of my first notes said "I wonder who convinced her this was a good idea?  Maybe her husband is going to do another Austin Power's movie and make this the soundtrack." 

 

The second run through the record gave me one track that stepped up just a bit...

 

Hey, I can still pick 'em.  Turns out it's the first focus song for the album.  I read an interview with her and she suggested multiple listens to get "the layers" she's intended.  OK.  The third, and final, spin produced one more marginal song that I'll keep.  I just couldn't bear to play it any more. 

If Bon Iver, Best Coast, or The Head & The Heart are in your collection, then you may enjoy "Someday."  Hoffs said her kids turned her on to First Aid Kit.  Oooh, bet they like it better than mom's. 

What's that old adage about a wig on a pig?  You can put a candy coating on a rabbit turd but it's still a rabbit turd...

Walter Trout "Blues For The Modern Daze"

 

 

First heard of him when he was part of John Mayall's reformed Bluesbreakers in the '80's, but he was no match for the other guitarist in the band, Coco Montoya.  Trout went solo the same year I came back to Florida to open the original Music 4 Less location in the tourist corridor.  Kept having all these Europeans ask for him by name so I added his band's CD's to the blues section.  They sold quite well, especially "Life In The Jungle" and "Tellin' Stories."  They didn't move me as much as I believed they should so I gave away all the promos, never retaining the first copy of anything.  Got a comp for a live show and all that changed.  This guy was smoke and fire in concert and to this day live performances are all I own by this man.

 

Which brings me to this new album.  Post spin one, I had noted that it started with some healthy promise...but that it would likely end up the same way, good in studio yet outstanding in concert.  By the time "...Daze" had wrapped up its 77 minutes for the third time, I had changed my mind.  Three spins, trust me, is a reasonable number to allow for the art to grab you.  Anything less is truly unfair.  Some of the lyrics were the first to raise an eyebrow, an infrequent occurrence these days.  The opening track from earlier, "Turn Off Your TV," "Lifestyle Of The Rich & Famous," and some of the lines in this new classic...

 

 

 

If that doesn't make the hair stand up on the back of your neck you are reading the wrong column...

The beauty to WT live is he doesn't play a song the same way twice.  There are several different videos of this same track online if you'd like to compare and hear for yourself.  I caught an interview with him explaining that this album was the most "live" thing he's ever done in the studio, so maybe that's the reason it finally rang the bell for me.  But it also begs the question, "Why wait twenty records to do one that way?"  One of the other major differences of this disc from all those preceding is there are actually a couple of tracks that would fit the definition of "radio friendly," and I don't mean "Rock" radio.    Never imagined saying that about a WT record. 

Then again, I never dreamed that "...Daze" would become the first complete Walter Trout album in my collection, either...



Colin James "Fifteen"

 

"Fifteen" as in number of albums released since 1988.  His first two made the only splash ever in the US, and this song from the second one in '90 had the most impact...



You don't remember it, do ya?  Didn't think so.  It was the Single of the Year in Canada.  Four of his albums are with The Little Big Band, one of which, I believe, is his highest charting to date...



Actually, that video was from the first one.  It was LBB II in '98 that climbed the highest.

It's a damn shame, quite frankly, that Mr. James is relatively unknown in the States, but it's by design.  After starting his career backed with kind praise from SRV, the early albums received major label support, but the native Canadian toured very little south of the 49th parallel.  Over the years it has become virtually zilch.  Amazing for someone who has won six Juno Awards and seventeen Blues Awards.  One would believe he'd attempt to translate some of that success to the US blues scene. 

Here's hoping that "Fifteen" will accomplish that mission, but I doubt it.  He's back on a major label again with veteran producer Joe Hardy spinning the knobs.  It is a clean, clear, crisp recording, perfectly balanced.  James' vocals are as good as ever and his pickin' is still mighty tasty.  He co-writes most of the songs on the record, but there are some notable covers.  There's a funky little version of "Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley" that Robert Palmer made famous, Peter Green's "Oh, Well" (The Rockets version from 1979 is still my favorite), and a lilting, reggae-ish "Jealous Guy" by John Lennon.  Here's the only thing I could find from "Fifteen"...



My God, that's the great Kim Mitchell?  Damn, I'm getting old...  If you don't know who CJ is, you won't know Mr. Mitchell, either. 

North of the border produces some great music and musicians, and if you like what you've heard here, invest the $10 in "Fifteen."