A final post before taking an extended break...

Yep, just can't devote enough time to do this properly for the moment, and with the holiday season upon us, do not anticipate any new posts till 2015.  I have a few titles ready to go so I'll list them with a short blurb and maybe a video...

 

 

 

 

JOE HENRY - Invisible Hour

 

Ooooofff, this storyteller stuff is fine, but damn, one would need a bowl of Quaaludes to sit through this as a whole.  I like him, but this is borrring.

 

 

 

 

JOHN MAYALL - A Special Life

 

I don't think there has ever been a more savvy bluesman in his ability to surround himself with musicians who "get" the musical blueprint he's looking for than John Mayall.  He's been recording for fifty years and hardly ever disappoints.  Not this time, either...

 

 

 

 

ROYAL SOUTHERN BROTHERHOOD - heartsoulblood

 

This should really be better than it is based on the group's members; Cyril Neville, Devon Allman, Mike Zito and Charlie Wooten.  This is a gumbo in which someone omitted the okra...it just ain't right.  A couple of bites (tracks) are okay, but it's probably best to just throw it out...

 

 

 

UMPHREY'S MCGEE - Similar Skin

Always held a bias against this band as they were formed at a hated NCAA football school, Notre Dame.  No denying the various members' musical influences, be they jam band, jazz, improv, Zappa-esque, what-have-you, I just never found them to develop their own sound.  Per example, the opening track of this album unabashedly swipes from The Police.  Known for their live performances and wacky covers, I just wish they had melded it all into something truly original.  Fifteen years and eight studio albums later, it still hasn't happened.  Keeping three tracks and this is one... 





 

 

 

 

ROYAL BLOOD

 

I was obviously late to this party as it debuted at #30 domestically and #1 in the UK.  A bit of research finds they're on a major (WB) and a two-man band, a style of which I have vehemently argued against since the White Stripes, to whom this is most often compared.  Well, I think it sounds more like Jack White's solo efforts and this blows them away.  Won't even mention The Black Keys in the same breath.  I also heard what most everyone else mentions, Muse and QOTSA, but others reference T. Rex and Led Zep.  Simply put, this is nothing new but that doesn't mean it isn't enjoyable.  Only negative is there's not enough of it at 32 minutes. 

 

Yep, that's a bass he's playing and yep, this is probably why Dave Grohl is a fan and taking them out to open for the Foos next year.




MIKE FARRIS - Shine For All The People

Completely stunned by this record.  Could not believe this was the same guy from Nashville's Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies......still shaking my head as I play this while writing.  And I believe this is the first Gospel album I've posted on.  That's right, Gospel.  The guy was a mess back in the SCW days, and apparently, he's sobered up and turned his life around, sharing the experience and joy through his music.  An acquaintance of mine used to sing BGVs for Natalie Cole years ago (she's portrayed Billie Holiday in a local production and recently sang in a Ray Charles tribute show for 2700 humans...so the woman can bring it!) and I knew she would appreciate the record, so I put on the opening track for her.  She immediately stepped back, cocked her head and asked, "Is that Al Green?  No, wait, Sam Moore?"  Nope, just a born-again rock 'n' roller who still looks the part.........white dude.  "WHAT?!?!  NO WAY!!!"  Yes, way...






PHILIP SAYCE - Influence

OK, click on this link for my post in 2012 that gives the background needed here.

Thank you.

May I now present a slightly altered excerpt of a review that I wholeheartedly endorse...

"...this is an album fueled not by moonshine, but one of quality Gin, the spirit flavored with hints and whispers of various botanicals along with the main ingredient, juniper (allow me to suggest substituting "blues" here), that tease and test your taste buds. "Influence" does the same for your ear and tests the hearing skills as you find and identify the influences from genres and guitarists including Rock, Rock n’ Roll, Psychedelia, Heavy...guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Healey and others.  The overall influence is blues of every shade and tone.  This album is an aural teaser.  Every track is different with a balanced mix of divine originals and instinctual covers (Little Richard, Graham Nash) that take you to a place that is musical and spiritual; they hit that musical nerve at the bass of your spine and send tingles and shivers of delight throughout your body, creating a feeling of oneness with the music."



Still an import in the U.S. but if I can find it, so can you.  One of the best albums this year.

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And that's a fine record to sign off with................for now......

Angus & Julia Stone (Deluxe Version)

I got this immediately upon release and a few weeks later labeled it "Probably Best Album 2014" in a Facebook post for my friends.  Here it is two additional months later and I've yet to pull it from rotation.  Not that the automobile is the ideal surroundings (it's certainly not a gas-pedal pusher), but it is a wonderful aural environment for those after-dark drives to anywhere.  Over half of the tracks here are A+ material, outstanding.  Throw in the two extras in the deluxe version (though atypical of the regular album, these are two uptempo hits) and it's two-thirds @ A+.  The recommended setting for a complete spin would be betwixt a nice set of headphones or surrounded by a sweet speaker system after a few tokes of your favorite medicinal/recreation party favour.  This album recalls sounds of the late-60's all the way through today.  One reviewer likened their harmonies to Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra (damn, that's good...wish I had made that comparison) and others said they heard Dire Straits (!?) and Fartwood Mac (that's due to Julia's Stevie Nicks-like warble).  The final track of the album proper features Angus channeling Neil Young.

 

This album has had a nice run so far on plenty of international charts, hitting the Top 10 in several countries and is still ranking in France and their Australian home.  Here?  It cracked the Top 10.......Heatseekers.  Come on, Yanks, this record deserves your attention!  Their music caught the attention of one very influential American last year, someone who had heard the siblings weren't planning on doing more work together, opting for the solo route (Angus' solo is my all-time #1 post and Julia's is #3 for this past month).  This gentleman fired off separate emails to the two, expressing his desire to work with them in the studio.  Angus replied that they do their own thing when recording and do not work with "producers."  A couple of weeks later, Julia emailed her brother and asked if he understood who he had rebuffed.  Angus admitted he wasn't a credit reader, to which Julia replied with album titles they had loved as kids growing up, all of which were produced by this guy named Rubin.  Yeah, that Rubin, the head-bobbin' bearded one in this video...

 

 

And now another featured cut from a French music site...




Please, please, please, please, please American readers, support these talented kids.  And please, please, please, please, please talented kids, come back to America somewhere close to me so I can witness again your magic...

Too much work, too many albums, not enough time...(Part 3)

If you click the links to the two previous albums (self-titled and Vanishing Americans), you will read some verbiage that dumps on the two records previous to this blog, as well.  Though he's always worth the listen because of the fiery guitar and smoky vocals, I still expected this album to fall into the same line of "meh" that the last four records has formed.  Details on Indigenous albums have always been hard to come by, but I searched with renewed fervor when this album passed the keeper test.  "Glad to see that Mato is back in control of his career..." was one comment I found which had me furiously looking to see if he had heeded my advice to plop wifey outside the studio and lock the door.  Nope, she's still listed as co-writer on all but the one cover, but she must have taken a 6th-grade-level writing class because the lyrics aren't nearly as juvenile as before, though I still read comments from others that complained of simplistic lines.  There's very little that hasn't already been written and played in the Blues genre but this album didn't offend my appreciation of the blues like the earlier records. 



Mighty fine, indeed.....

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Damn near impossible to believe this is his first #1 album.  Sure, there were a couple of #2's and another ten or so in the Top 10, but to wait 36 years in this career for a Number 1 is mind-blowing.  I bought this because his last record (one of the #2s) was so good.  And it doesn't disappoint.  Solid quality throughout the album.  The Heartbreakers have to be one of the best backing bands around.  Campbell, Tench, Ferrone, et al...exceptional players.  Nowhere near the best track on the album, this is classic TP style.  I originally had embedded the clip from Jimmy Kimmel's show but it has since been deemed "private," so here's a boring visual version...



I'll get the next record, whenever that is, too.

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Many of the KISS Army legions have tossed this away like an old rag, toeing the company line that bans them from liking Ace.  IMO, it was his guitar that made the early KISS albums the only ones of merit.  Not that the music contained within Space Invader is any different than the parent brand, it's just performed with a crispness and energy that hasn't been found in a KISS record in decades.  Please, if you took those last two slabs of KISS drivel and called the band Smooch, they wouldn't have cracked the charts. 

It was a surprise to me that this was a Top 10 album.  I knew there was more upfront promotion than the previous release, but a #9 debut......really?  Wow...  Only black mark was his version of The Joker...ewwwww, what a stinker.
Saw an interview where he mentioned this as one of his favorite tracks on the album, and one of mine, too...



I like his playing, writing and droning vocal styles.  Keep kicking, Ace...