David Bowie "The Next Day"

 

 

One of my young friends currently at WPRK put up a poll at the beginning of the year asking what upcoming album were you most anticipating.  I answered with this one.  It tied with Bad Religion, second only to the Black Keys.  I wonder what the others who voted for Bowie have to say about "The Next Day"...

 

This is a perfectly enjoyable record, just not very memorable.  I hear "Let's Dance"-era in the new single and best track on the album, "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)."  A great video for the song with Tilda Swinton in it.  Find it yourself because it's been out for seven weeks and has 4.2 million views.  There are Ziggy Stardust hints and BKP said Tin Machine, which is a spot-on call that I missed.  A lot of Bowie's vocals are buried in the mix, purposefully, I'm guessing.  On one song he channels Jim Morrison and on a couple others he could have been Bob Geldof.  There are plenty of musical hooks, but unfortunately, they are attached to flimsy lines. 

 

The Thin White Duke doesn't need my help or care what I think.  This album debuted at #1 or #2 on twenty different world charts.  No need for me, however, to make it my fourteenth solo Bowie title.  Again, it's a fine album IF it's already playing, but I don't think I'd find the initiative to pluck it from my vault to play it anytime soon. 

 

I will keep four tracks for posterity's sake...

Alpine "A Is For Alpine"

 

Discovered this Australian band while researching The Jezabels a year ago.  Alpine was a new band riding a well-received EP and got to open a couple of their shows.  When I pulled up a video, the band reminded me of Berlin in a way.  Good enough to put on my watch list.  I purchased this debut full-length as an import a couple of months ago.  It released last summer and must have done well.  They were nominated for "Breakthrough Artist" in last year's Aussie Grammys (ARIA) and received a couple of Australian Album of the Year declarations.  However, the sound of "A..." wasn't exactly what I expected based on the early video I saw.  The one below was the first single from "A..."



Yeah, yeah, yeah...I know you don't expect me to post videos with a million+ views, but this is the one truly outstanding track on the entire album.  The crunchy guitars that sparked the Berlin comparison?  Non-existent.  Terms I've seen used to describe "A..." include "sparkly," "iridescent," "giddy."  My initial thought was a space-age B-52's, the kind of band that would play Judy Jetson's prom.  It took a while for the perfect comparative artist to seep from the depths of the musical sludge in my brain...Stacey Q...

...which is not a bad thing.  But for this now 55-year-old, "A..." is just a little too lightweight for me.  If you are in my age bracket and have friends who dig Abba, throw this on in the background and you will please most of them.  I predict this will do well in the 16-25 age demo when it comes out here in America in a few weeks.  They've already played SXSW and showcase dates in NY and LA this year and will return for a dozen more in early June following the record's release.  I'm wishing them the best...

Steve Lukather "Transition"

 

Those of you "in the know" will recognize the name, the remainder would have an idea after playing this album.  I first heard of him from Boz Scaggs' "Down Two Then Left."  Almost a year later, Toto debuted and the next five years were spectacular.  Right out of the gate, I was all over that first album on the Mad Rocker Show ("Girl Goodbye" was a favorite and I had to be one of the first DJ's in the country to play "Hold The Line").  The second release, "Hydra," was even better and a staple of my senior year at JRC and WPRK.  But it was Toto IV that rang the Grammy bell, winning Album and Record of the Year.  Though the band began to wane, Lukather still had plenty of calls for his guitar work, playing on MJ's "Thriller," for example.  Allow me to offer a few other names who paid for his services; Don Henley, Stevie Nicks, Lionel Ritchie, Paul McCartney, Babs Streisand, Cher...need I go on?  And all these while Toto was still working!  Some of you may recall the cover version of "Stairway To Heaven" in the mid-80's by a band called Far Corporation.  Yep, he was in on that.  Once Toto called it quits, it didn't take long for SL to do a solo record.  Still much in-demand for sessions, not only did he answer the calls from the big stars, he lent his work to the little guys, too, like Caterwaul and Schascle (WHO?!).  He went on to release a couple more solo albums, but toward the end of last century started to show the effects of 20+ years of "party hearty."  His guitar work was off, he was admittedly "absent" while in a room, his personal life went to hell, etc., etc., etcetera.  He acknowledged in an interview that he lost about a decade of his life before sobering up and righting the ship just after his fiftieth birthday. 

 

"Transition" is his second abstemious solo and he's not shy about spilling his guts about things that piss him off.  There's no "Parental Advisory" sticker on the cover (as if teens would want this) but I'm giving you Rosanna/Africa devotees a heads-up if you are easily offended. 

 

Yes, I know it's a bit muffled, but I'll bet you can make out the "bullshit" anyway.  Allow me to base a few thoughts on this two-day-old video.  Poland.  SL could play solo gigs all over Europe and make a good living, he's that respected over there.  His singing voice is adequate, not great.  The song itself is about all the people who'll sit at their computer, bitching and moaning about things behind an anonymous screen name...social bullying, if you will.  "Reserve your place in Hell."  I love it. 

I'll admit that I was not thrilled with this album after an initial spin.  He had gone through a blues phase when his life was blowing up (well, no shit, Sherlock) and he was smokin' some blues licks all across YouTube for a while, so maybe that's what I was expecting.  What I got was eight four-to-seven minute Toto-styled songs whose hook-roots dug deeper with each play, plus a nifty little cover of Charlie Chaplin's "Smile" to close the proceedings.

I've got the Toto records and plenty of SL's credited work throughout my catalog but none of his solo releases...........................until now.

Robin Trower "Roots And Branches"

 

OK, last of the trilogy of sixty-eight year old guitarists/musicians.  Out of the three, I have more Robin Trower solo records than the other two combined (13-5).  Can't say that I will make this #14 on the list, though. 

 

Anything is better than Eric Clapton's "Ancient Stocking" and I'll say this is equivalent to Boz Scagg's "Memphis," but I didn't keep all of it, either.  "Roots..." is predominantly covers, most of which are included within "A Hound Dog and a Little Red Rooster were Born Under A Bad Sign so The Thrill Is Gone."  BKP called the album "a yawner,"  I'm dubbing it "'lude blues."  Really slow, languid tunes.  Trower sings (?!) half of it, which is wrong on most levels, and the other chap isn't much better.  Don't get me wrong, it's still classic Trower guitar work... 



That's the final track on the album and an original.  I'm keeping three of them and only one cover.  I wasn't fond of his interpretations of the classics which inspired him decades ago.  I'm not alone in my thinking as I read one review from Germany that basically called the album "boring," but most I've seen are very supportive.  Many suggested that young guitar slinger's out there in the world need to drop a needle on some early Trower and put away their SRV discs for a while.

For what it's worth, "Roots..." has been a catalyst for more writing and word is there are eleven more tunes ready to go for a follow-up.  That's a good thing because sales have not amounted to much anywhere in the world and there is no tour scheduled at this time. 

"I think I'll just sit this one out..." and go spin "Bridge of Sighs"...

Boz Scaggs "Memphis"

 

So let us consider a similarly styled album to EC's "Elderly Legging."  Boz is just a few months Clapton's elder and gained fame in the 60's with The Steve Miller Band while EC garnered his through The Yardbirds and Cream.  EC is a three-time Rock Hall Of Famer, Boz won a Grammy.  Boz had a helluva run through my college years in the late 70's with five Gold/Platinum albums.  "Silk Degrees" was one of the soundtracks to a stroll across the Rollins College campus (when the weather allowed for open dorm windows) along with Steely Dan's "Aja" and Boston's debut. Boz took a lengthy hiatus from the music biz in the 80's, EC tried to drink himself to death.  Clapton's known for his guitar and has a recognizable singing voice,  Boz has that unmistakable voice yet he's never received the proper recognition for it.  OK, that's enough, on to the album comparison.

"Memphis" was recorded there in three days and uses the Al Green template for the soulful sounds, including the same producer and studio.  It's so predominant that even Mrs. Rocker said "Al Green" as a guess for the opener, not Boz!  It's one of the record's two new songs, both actually penned by the artist and not farmed out like Clapton's.  There are ten covers here, too, but these are given serious attention, not Clapton's casual, playful, more-worthy-of-a-karaoke-bar treatment.  You know what?  I've found the official promo for the album and it does a much better job of laying out the details than I could...



There's an old Steely Dan song included, likely born from running with Fagan in the NY Rock & Soul/Dukes Of September Rhythm Revue.  One of my favorites comes from the Mink Deville debut album from 1977...



Another shared tune from that album is Willy Deville's "Mixed Up, Shook Up Girl."  Now I'm going to have to dig out my vinyl copy (bullshit...Grooveshark, here I come...).

Two 68-year-old artists; ten covers/two originals; one debuts @ 7, the other 17; one sucks and the other one doesn't.  Do I have to say more?