I posted about Mr. James' latest studio record a few months ago so please click the link and go back for a quick read. Thank you. Saves me some time...
This show was recorded last November and released March 19. Two days later, he was inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame. Being on that country's largest label, Universal, I'd guess that was planned (please insert "no shit, Sherlock" here). It is an outstanding quality recording, maybe a tad too bright for my ears, but it's as if you were one of the audience...
One of the true blues songs. I call it PG-blues because it's not going to offend anyone. It's not heavy blues, it's not loud blues, it's not blue blues, it's blues like Bryan Adams would play. It's blues like the Climax Blues Band was blues. It's PG-blues like Robert Cray is....like MTV-era ZZ Top was.
His first live album after 25 years in the biz. He's not reached the age of fifty yet. Doubt I'll ever see him in concert as he keeps it north of the border. That's OK, I will eagerly await the next studio release...
Saw an entertainment feature about this and figured it to be completely and totally unnecessary. Well damn...BKP sends it to me in a care package. I think he must be a fan of her movies. I was more into the soundtracks to her films than the movies themselves.
What we have here is a traditional jazz album containing tunes written by Carmichael, Hammerstein, Sondheim, Kern, Loesser, et al. What we also have here is her lame/tame vocal treatment of them. Still, it has landed in the top 10 of the Jazz charts. The only keeper in the mire is a cover of "Don't You (Forget About Me)." Go ahead, click it and listen.
The Mad Doctor Rocker prescribes this for insomnia...
Ahhh, the power of NPR. Here is a domestic band that's been around since the turn of the century, made a little money by licensing a couple of songs for commercials, garnered accolades such as "insane genius," had one album proclaimed as a "Top 10 of the Decade...so far," yet it was the support of National Public Radio that helped Cloud Cult's ninth! LP leap onto the Billboard Top 200 for the very first time.
It was nearly ten years ago when I discovered Cloud Cult through their second album. I was doing the critically acclaimed "PM in the AM" show on WPRK during the Wednesday morning drive slot and made them a weekly new release play. As fate would have it, I've missed the six albums in-between. Did not allow that to happen again and bought this the week of release in early March. I can tell you this...I will find that one CD in my collection for a refresher spin and may seek out some of the others I whiffed on. "Love" is that good.
I will let you look up some of the history of the band on your own. Simply put, they are an emotional, ethereal band, the kind that has artists painting canvases during their live performances...
That track should appeal to Arcade Fire fans. The primary note I made was Decemberists loyalists would approve of the album. Piano, banjo, glockenspiel, various horns and strings, all lumped into a full, concise setting. The male lead vocals aren't the greatest, but they are very effective in a Tony Carey/Planet P-way. One track made me think TV On The Radio. The following was the debut feature track...
Love the horn. Love the lyric. Love the album. Sure wish they would tour down here...
About thirty years ago, the musical descriptor of "college rock" was being used to describe some of the fringe artists who were populating many non-commercial radio playlists. For me, the torch bearer was R.E.M., followed closely by CVB. "Take the Skinheads Bowling" was an instant classic. I loved the smart ass lyrics and the mix of multiple musical styles. Sold a fair number of CVB's first four albums in the middle-of-nowhere Tennessee (guessing 90% of which were students, and faculty, from the University of the South in Sewanee). I did not own my first CVB record until Key Lime Pie, which gave us "When I Win the Lottery," "I Was Born in a Laundromat," and the wonderful cover of Status Quo's "Pictures of Matchstick Men."
Of course, the band went kablooey shortly after. Singer David Lowery formed Cracker, which had a nice run through the 90's. Lowery got CVB back together around the turn of the century and released a complete re-recording of Fartwood Mac's "Tusk" (why?). He has traded off between CVB and Cracker since, also throwing out a solo album a little more than two years ago.
2013 brings us to "The Lost Coast." I posted this blurb about the last Cracker album in '09 and it applies here, too...
"If you don't find yourself smiling at least a half dozen times while listening to this album, then you just don't get it, do ya?" I don't believe the album will win any new fans (it hit Heatseekers, but that's it) and the established devotees are mixed as to their favorite tracks, but most agree it is a worthy keeper. Any person who has attended one of Lowery/Cracker's Campout Music Festivals is a loyalist defined,so I inquired of the one I know, Mr. Rock K., as to his take on the album. "NoCal Girls and the title track would make my Best of CVB compilation. So-so on the whole disc, but a CVB record has a way of aging like a fine cabernet." I concur wholeheartedly...
I must add this song to the "Best Of" contenders. Has this Helter Skelter-like break in it...
This gentleman blew onto the blues scene in the mid-90's drawing comparisons to fellow Texan, Stevie Ray Vaughan. I remember going to see him play a tiny club in downtown Orlando and was floored by his live presence. As far as his studio releases went? Comme ci, comme ça... His playing was fine, his songwriting was fair.
He tours quite a bit and his recorded output has been more frequent since signing with Blues Bureau International several years ago, but I haven't had the urge to consider either. I admit to adding this album to my "investigate" list for a refresher visit, but lo and behold, BKP beat me to it and sent it along in his most recent musical care package. As it has been available for about three months, I fast-tracked it into the rotation (which is bulging with other recordings from Feb. & March...gotta get busy...), but I still won't own a complete Chris Duarte disc...
The blueprint hasn't changed. Still fine fretwork, still so-so writing. Still hear the SRV bends and one track has a heavy Hendrix sound. Never quite heard the Johnny Winter connection many people attest to. This is (sort of) the title track...
This is one of the five keepers from the 12-cut album and the studio version has an air of Trower to it. Not live. Smokes waaayyy more. One of the other keepers was the final song. I thought for sure I had either downloaded an incorrect version or I had screwed up and added a foreign track to the queue when I transferred it to disc. It had this mad violin ripping across a style more at home on the Steven Wilson album than the first eleven tracks. Turns out the cat's name was Mads Tolling from the Turtle Island String Quartet (check out TISQ's "Legacy of John Coltrane" and be prepared for enlightenment).
While searching for videos, I found one that was an open letter to Glenn Hughes suggesting Duarte would be a fine replacement for JB in Black Country Communion. The guy likes to tour......hmmmm.
I believe that's the quote BKP used to describe this record. I had at least ten audio notes in my phone about Spock's Beard "BN & DS" but I lost them, and everything else, when the phone and I jumped into a pool to save a drowning dog, so I'm going to wing it from here on...
Here is a list of the bands I heard when listening to this; Kansas (so much so at times I swore it was Steve Walsh singing), Styx, Crack the Sky, Utopia, Yes, Mahogany Rush, Pink Floyd, Saga, Legs Diamond,Max Webster, Gentle Giant, Head East, and more recently, Porcupine Tree.
"Rock Bands for $200...Which decade is represented by these groups?"
My history with Spock's Beard is............I don't have any. An L.A. band of twenty years and I can't say I've ever heard their music before now. Loved the band name when I saw it in the 90's (affirmative, Star Trek fans) but they were on Metal Blade Records and promos were few, if any. I don't believe they ever showed on any Billboard chart so we didn't have to stock them. Maybe a special order or three, but that was it. Anyway, this is album #11 for them and there is much more to their narrative than I'm privy to, but I gather that "...Dreamless Sleep" is a slight departure from previous sounds, but how would I know? I'm not as into the prog-rock scene as you might expect, not like this band's obviously dedicated minions. You don't carry on a 20-year career and not sell enough records to chart without some sort of devoted fan base.
To quickly sum it up, this is absolutely a smile-inducing listen. So what if they use the blueprints of all those aforementioned bands, recycling riffs and passages without deviation? For $7, you can digitally purchase the seven-tracks @ 56 minutes of the original album. I guarantee you'll consider it money well spent. It's such a bargain that the $6 it takes to get the 30-minute second CD is a no-brainer. You will then own one of the best albums of the year.
For the past couple of years I've seen this band camped out on the Australian charts, but I was always a little late in my discovery and never pulled the trigger on a purchase. When I sampled the music, it came off as a Coldplay/U2-style worthy of a full listen, so when "March Fires" was released on 3/1, I made the purchase.
I'm probably one of only a few in the States to do so as it is only available here digitally but enough Aussies bought it to generate a #1 entry onto the ARIA charts. Not surprising as the two previous albums peaked at #3 and #2. This single is their first Top 10 appearance (#3) and went Platinum...
That certainly didn't move me. This is the follow-up that was released just a couple of weeks ago...
Nice legs...but the song? Meh. This music all seemed rather homogenous compared to the previous selections I had heard and I thought maybe it was just me, but as I searched for native Australian commentary I discovered I was not alone. Suffice it to say that many of those fans were sorely disappointed and wished they hadn't blindly bought the album. Not a good sign...which must be why the band is heading to L.A. in a few days to play a couple of free shows. Americans buy crap like this all the time so why not?
I'll be surprised if this record gets domestic distribution. It has many of the "hit" formulas but only one real keeper, and it is neither of the two I played for you. Uh oh...
"Why don't they make music for us anymore?" You see that in my profile. Common complaint from many in my age category of +/- 55. It's the motivation for this blog as it's essentially untrue. "Stories Don't End" is a perfect example.
A little over a year ago one of my Facebook friends sent me a link to a track from Dawes' second album and asked for my opinion. Can't remember the song but recall that it was impressive enough for investigation. I was not familiar with the band at all. When I discovered the record was pushing a year in release, I tucked the name into my feeble brain to seek out the upcoming album as that one was beyond my time threshold for purchasing. When "Stories..." hit the market a month ago, it was an immediate buy. As I made my way through the initial spin, I wondered if anything was going to eventually stand out worthy of retaining. By the completion of spin #3, I was keeping the entire album. One review said just that, "...it percolates and improves with each listen." Damn straight. I hear basically all the same influences as most reviewers: Jackson Browne (big time); The Eagles; CS&N; Poco; to a lesser extent, America; LRB; even Paul Simon on one track. Others I jotted down were Blue Rodeo, The Wallflowers, and one note could have been confused with Roy Orbison. This was the lead single...
That's the America I referred to. The album is full of wonderful lyrics and bass-forward sonics. Hell, I thought somebody had tinkered with the audio settings on my auto's system. I was hoping to find the title track, which is a country waltz, somewhere live on YouTube, but alas, it wasn't to be. This is another of my favorites...
They've been out on tour supporting Dob Bylan (intentional) and it's obviously working as the record is their first to break into the Billboard Top 200 (#36). They begin their own headlining tour in a couple of weeks, stopping at Tipitina's in New Orleans, Buckhead Theater in Hotlanta, and the Ryman in Nashville, to name a few, and also hit the summer festival circuit with an extended stop at the Austin City Limits in October.
I've had this in constant rotation since the day I bought it in early February. The week before, I had purchased a ticket for the debut stop on his North American tour. What, you say? "You bought a concert ticket before hearing the album?" Here is my simple rationale...After watching the "Get All You Deserve" DVD, as I wrote at the end of the post, "just come somewhere remotely close to Florida." Two Southeast stops, one in Atlanta, the other in St. Pete, not quite two hours away. Then I notice the venue is the State Theater downtown. One (cranially) foggy evening, maybe fifteen years ago, I attended a private, promotional concert there (for the life of me I don't recall who, just know I didn't have to drive to and from) and vaguely remembered it was a cramped space for the two hundred or so people in attendance. Why on earth was Steven Wilson booking this place when he's played for thousands before? It seemed too good to be true, but "Happy Birthday" to me ten weeks early as I bought the ticket ASAP.
Let's begin with the album. The opening track is the studio version of "Luminol," which was first heard on the live DVD. I described it as "Yes wrapped in a fusion-jazz jacket." Track #2 was the first new music to be heard, and people, especially you old farts like me out there, this is as good as anything you remember from three or four decades ago that you loved, be it art, space or prog-rock, manifested in the form of Rush, Yes, King Crimson, Return To Forever, etc.. The audio quality is certainly superior. Wilson is a Grammy-nominated producer in his own right, but who does he coax out of semi-retirement to turn the knobs for him on "Raven..."? Alan Parsons, that's who. Here's the song with a homemade video...
How many Pink Floyd similarities did you hear? This should be on every Rock-oriented radio station, land or air-based.
The next song is called "The Holy Drinker," and was originally slated to be the albums' title. This channels Weather Report and Traffic (the bands, not your morning news), and is where keyboardist, Adam Holzman, really shines. I first saw Mr. Holzman's name on an album in 1983 that for years I could have sold for three figures. It was Ray Manzarek's (in cahoots with Philip Glass) interpretation of "Carmina Burana." None too shabby to be hired by the Doors-man to play synthesizer. Holzman's next employer was Miles Davis. Let's let that soak in................... He was appointed Davis' "musical director" at the age of thirty. He's since worked with Michael Petrucciani, Grover Washington, Jr. and Anton Fig. Couple this jazz background with that of Theo Travis, the multi-instrumentalist responsible for the flute, saxophone, etc., on this album and you have pairing of immense possibilities. Travis has been a part of Wilson's various musical identities over the past fifteen years and also played with Jade Warrior, Gong and Robert Fripp to name a few. I touched on bassist Nick Beggs before and his stint in Kajagoogoo, but he also played with Gary Numan, Belinda Carlisle, Howard Jones, Steve Hackett, and toured with big names like Tina Turner, Michael Bolton and Seal. And let's not forget guitarist Guthrie Govan. He was a 21st-century member of Asia and was one of the guests on Lee Ritenour's "6-String Theory" a couple of years ago. I'll admit it here, his was one of the names I did not recognize. I do now. Some guy named Satriani says that "no matter what approach or style Guthrie is playing, he absolutely nails it and sounds natural in doing so." Just a Wiki peek and you'll see listed under Genres; "jazz fusion, rock, blues, progressive rock, funk, country, bluegrass." Snicker... Turns out he was greatly influenced by Mr. Frank Zappa. And that will lead us to the drummer on the album, Marco Minnemann. I didn't know him, either (and that's hard to fathom seeing all the credited works), but he's played with a lot of Zappa's musical tree, like Eddie Jobson, Terry Bozzio and Adrian Belew.
All right, I've lost track. There is just so much I want to say and I don't have time for it all. The New York Times recently ran a review about "Raven..." saying, "this new disc comprises six modern-day ghost stories, swaddled in rich, harmonically sophisticated arrangements and adorned with woodwinds and vintage keyboards." They liked it. Every review I've seen is a four or five-star winner. I wholeheartedly agree. Wilson takes all his musical influences growing up and creates something very new and relevant.
Now to the concert. I make the 110-minute drive listening to some of "Raven..." and then the first solo, "Insurgentes," which I dubbed "PT-lite." On the advice of the venue, I parked in a 3-hour zone just down the street, observed the long line of humans waiting to get inside, grabbed a smidgen of a party favour in preparation, and set off for the slow journey to the door. Once inside, found the secondary bar with no waiting, ordered up a double JD and cola, snaked my way through the house to a position stage right about twenty-five feet away and planted. My God, I couldn't believe how small the theater was, so small, in fact, that the band could not hang the gauze they use for the projections in front. I overheard one patron who had been there all afternoon detailing the band's frustration with the venue. Guarantee they had no inkling of its lack of size and accommodations. No matter, they shot the projections on the back wall and it was just fine. For the thirty minutes before showtime, that wall had the image of moon/face from the album cover (the one above) morphing slowly through clouds and shadows, all to a looped instrumental from "Grace For Drowning". Anyone in attendance on hallucinogenics was certainly enthralled. The band sauntered out precisely at eight o'clock and opened with "Luminol." Wilson was rather chatty for this first show in the U.S., but honestly, he's such a perfectionist, I'm certain even his banter was rehearsed. He announced that they had 2 1/4 hours of music to play which would include all of "Raven..." That's 135 minutes. There was only one short time in which the band left the stage, and while they were off, the projection on the back wall was filled with various time pieces and through the house audio system were the sounds of said watches, etc.. Even in the close confines of the front room, it sounded like a clock was ticking at my feet, another over my right shoulder, a different one coming from behind the guy to my left...it was just like being at the Pink Floyd "Animals" show in the Big Sombrero that night in September of '77 when the band played "Sheep" and I was audioported into the middle of a herd of mutton. At the end of the brief audiovisual piece, Wilson and crew played this...
As I mentioned in the post about the DVD, I found all the editing to be distracting. To be able to stand 25 feet away and watch who I wanted to, when I wanted to, and for how long I wanted to was PRICELESS!
Wilson had announced in early February that he would have to use a replacement drummer for the Americas tour since Minnemann had a prior commitment. To fill the daunting role, the choice was Chad Wackerman, a friend of Minnemann and the drummer who played the final seven years of Frank Zappa's touring life back in the 80's. Zappa was probably more of a perfectionist than Wilson, so it was a prudent choice. I know there was a month-long gap between the European and domestic legs of the tour so I thought maybe they had several rehearsals, but Wilson spoke after the opening song and introduced Wackerman as a true musician, one who had been "thrown into the fire" for this show. He said, "I heard him make one mistake while I made fourteen!" As it turned out, they had a grand total of five hours to rehearse the entire set! Throughout the show, Wilson acknowledged the substitute's performance, noting that his music isn't "three-minute pop songs." I had two percussionists standing around me through the show and they were transfixed on the drum kit. During "Raider II," a 23+ minute track, Wackerman actually used sheet music on a stand to his left for assistance! I have never seen that before in a rock concert setting. Wilson said that Wackerman was probably the only one on stage who could actually read music. I'm sure that Wackerman studied the songs on his own for the two months, but to play as he did with 300 minutes of group practice is utterly amazing. I will seek out his work from now on. In a cruel twist of fate, Wackerman was informed of a family crisis right after the concert and could only do the next night's show in Atlanta before leaving the tour. What a damn shame. Hope it all rectifies itself with minimal damage done. The band was able to negotiate Minnemann away from his rehearsals for Joe Satriani's forthcoming solo tour.
After two hours of solo tunes, the band encored with an early PT song, "Radioactive Toy." The first three PT albums were essentially Wilson solo anyway, so it counted. I never dug those records as they were too self-indulgent for my tastes, but many in the audience were thrilled and sang along when appropriate. At 10:15 PM, right on schedule, the concert concluded. As I exited, I stopped to ask a venue employee about the numbers. "Sold out, 633 tickets." I'm still shaking my head.
I had "Grace..." playing on the drive home and after hearing some of the tracks live in person, the studio versions seemed less viable. With the high praise I heaped upon that album, it only means that I had witnessed a concert for the ages, my ages. It was the best 7 1/2 hour event I've enjoyed in many, many years...
More than seven years of professional radio experience and over twenty years in music retailing have provided many opportunities to introduce friends, family, co-workers and customers to great music in four different decades. Out of the biz now for more than five years, I still seek out new music to add to my enormous collection. Most in my age group gave up on finding new music years ago. To quote a line from Crack the Sky, "Why don't they make music for us anymore?" Well, they do, and I share my discoveries in a manner that is intended for those who know me, but can be appreciated by you who do not. I am not a reveiwer paid to have a piece available upon a recording's release, I write only after several listens and sometimes several weeks of spins. Feel free to comment, suggest, and enjoy!
