Mid-Year Music Report

I. Attack of the Killer B-Plusses

I seem to recall Robert Christgau once bemoaning the excess of "B+ albums" that he had to listen to. Good albums, but not great albums - and in the end, somewhat interchangeable.

A lot of the 2011 releases I've bought this year have fallen into that category - they've got strong cuts on them, but none of them have jumped into that category where you wake up in the morning and you just have to listen to them. In that category, I'd put The Strokes' "Angles," R.E.M.'s "Collapse Into Now," P.J. Harvey's "Let England Shake," The Low Anthem's "Smart Flesh," Fleet Foxes' "Helplessness Blues," and Bon Iver's "Bon Iver."

II. Atmospherics

The latter three - Low Anthem, Fleet Foxes, and Bon Iver - all fall into the category that I call "atmospheric albums." They rely as much on their sound as they do their songs to put their point across. And so far, none of them have hooked me quite the way their respective debuts did. That's not to say it won't happen eventually, because it took me forever to get into Bon Iver's debut.

III. Still With the Jury

Or, they sound good so far and we'll just have to see how they pan out after months of listening: Moby's "Destroyed," The Cars' "Move Like This" (which is either a great Cars album or a great joke by Ric Ocasek; I can't quite decide), and Eddie Vedder's "Ukelele Songs" (which is delightful, but we'll have to see if it stands the test of time).

IV. The Fab Four

So we're left with the four albums from the first half of 2011 that I feel comfortable calling unqualified successes:

So Beautiful or So What, Paul Simon. I don't know that it will have the staying power of "Graceland," but the fact that it can be mentioned in the same sentence without blushing is major progress. A fine return to form.

Low Country Blues, Gregg Allman. Perhaps a bit on the sleepy side, but I keep coming back to it, and enjoying it more and more.

Paper Airplane, Alison Krauss & Union Station. I don't know that it's their best album, but it's the best one of theirs that I own, and I own several.

And the award for the best album of the first half of 2011 goes to Go Go Boots, by the Drive-By Truckers. Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley are both at the top of their game for this one, and Shonna Tucker's contributions put it over the top. I feel no qualms calling this a great Drive-By Truckers album.

Los Lobos - Still Kickin' After All These Years

When a band has been around for as long as Los Lobos has been around, it really doesn’t make a lot of sense to ask whether their new album is good or not. You’ve got to figure that if a band has been around that long, their albums are going to be pretty good (OK, I’ll grant you that the Rolling Stones have tested that theory on a number of occasions, but you know what I mean).

“Tin Can Trust” – which really isn’t new, having been released last August – demonstrates perfectly why the band has lasted as long as it has. It may not be in the class of “Kiko” or “How Will the Wolf Survive,” but both of those albums were among the best of their particular decade, so that’s hardly an insult. What can be said is that the album is the perfect illustration of everything that is great about Los Lobos – strong songs, strong singing, interesting stories, a good variety, and all of it feeling quintessentially American.

The first song on the album, “Burn it Down,” is so good that I have no qualms about saying that it’s one of their best. And what is truly great about it is that it strips the band down to its essence. The song begins with a guitar lick, just a little ominous and just this side of being dangerous. Then, one of the biggest bass guitar sounds (or is that a guitarron?) you’ve ever heard jumps out of the speakers and right into your brain. And then, the familiar voice of David Hidalgo, and before you know it you’re smack dab in the middle of a classic Hidalgo/Perez-penned Los Lobos tune.

There isn’t a bad song on the album, but the opener Is my favorite. Coming in second would be “All My Bridges Burning,” which was written by Cesar Rosas with Robert Hunter, best known for his collaborations with Jerry Garcia. The band also does a nice turn on the Garcia/Hunter tune “West L.A. Fadeaway,” which definitely has a nice Dead-type vibe to it.

At this late date, it’s not likely that Los Lobos is going to sneak up on anyone. People have made up their mind whether they like the band or not, and probably end up buying every new release. Well, for the uninitiated, “Tin Can Trust” would be a good place to start.

Paul Simon's Beautiful Comeback

It’s been lost for so long, one could be forgiven for thinking that it was never going to return. But fans of Paul Simon can rejoice, because after years of searching, he’s finally found his muse. “So Beautiful or So What” is his strongest album in 25 years, and I suspect one day will fit quite nicely aside “Graceland,” “Paul Simon,” “There Goes Rhymin’ Simon,” “Hearts and Bones” and “Still Crazy After All These Years” on the shelf of his best works.

The album opens with, of all things, a Christmas song, and it’s a really good one – in fact, I’m pretty sure, even though we’re only in April, that it will lead off my annual Christmas CD this coming December. “Getting Ready for Christmas Day” juxtaposes an old sermon from Reverend J.M. Gates with some of the catchiest, intoxicating music that Simon has written in years. Vincent Nguini’s guitars recall Ray Phiri’s work on “Graceland,” and signal early on that this is an album built on a very open, joyous sound.

As befits a sound where so many different genres are welcome, the musical credits read like the catalogue of a world music store (if such a thing existed) – among the instruments played on these songs are: dobro, tabla, clay pot, djembe, talking drum, viola, flute, English horn, glockenspiel, conga, gongs, celeste, marimba, angklung, and clarinet. Some of the songs sound like they would fit on “Graceland,” while a couple of others – “Love and Hard Times” and “Questions for the Angels” – are more in the “Hearts and Bones” vein.

“Questions for the Angels, a beautiful ballad, also demonstrates that Simon has not lost his lyrical touch. The song begins with this powerful verse:

A pilgrim on a pilgrimage
Walked across the Brooklyn Bridge
His sneakers torn
In the hour when the homeless move their cardboard blankets
And the new day is born
Folded in his backpack pocket
The questions that he copied from his heart
Who am I in this lonely world?
And where will I make my bed tonight?
When twilight turns to dark

Later on, the pilgrim sees this:

Downtown Brooklyn
The pilgrim is passing a billboard
That catches his eye
It’s Jay-Z
He’s got a kid on each knee
He’s wearing clothes that he wants us to try

Throughout the record, Simon reminds us – with phrases that jump out from the record’s musical brew – that there was a time that for many, his claim to fame was his ability to write a memorable lyric. And throughout, the message is hopeful, even as we find ourselves in difficult times. As Elvis Costello perceptively notes in the album’s liner notes,

“These wonderful songs refuse to despair, despite the evidence all around us. “So Beautiful or So What” rejects the allure of fashionable darkness and the hypnosis of ignorance – better to contemplate and celebrate the endurance of the spirit and the persistence of love.”

Welcome back, Paul. It’s good to have you back.

A High Flying Airplane

There are four brilliant instrumentalists in Alison Krauss and Union Station, but the most magnificent instrument in the band remains the voice of Alison Krauss. It's the kind of voice that sends shivers down your spine on the good songs, and threatens to bring tears to your eyes on the best songs.

Up until now, there are two songs that I would have placed in the ultimate Alison Krauss pantheon - "Ghost in This House," and "New Favorite." And now there is a third - "Dimming of the Day," the great Richard Thompson song. What Krauss does with the song is akin to what Johnny Cash did with Trent Reznor's "Hurt" - the interpretive artist claiming the song as their own. And from that point on, it might as well be their song.

"Dimming of the Day" is the highlight of "Paper Airplane," the first album by AKUS in nearly 7 years, but it is hardly the only high moment. After just two days of heavy listening, there's little doubt in my mind that this is their best album - and will stand proudly as one of the best albums of 2011. On the record, there is also a wonderful version of Jackson Browne's "My Opening Farewell," the great title track, and three killer tracks sung by Dan Tyminski - "Dust Bowl Children," "On the Outside Looking In," and "Bonita and Bill Butler." In fact, there isn't a weak song on the album - with some of Krauss' best vocals, and some of the band's best playing.

The production, by the band itself, can best be described as pristine. This is music stripped down to its essential elements, and the musicians - Tyminski, Jerry Butler, Ron Block, and Barry Bales - play with a passion that one rarely hears on record, almost as if they are inspired by the voice of Krauss to take things just one step higher. As far as I can tell there are no tricks on the record - no strings, no echo, no odd effects - just the sound of great musicians singing and playing.

No question about it - this is a great record. In what is shaping up to be a great year, "Paper Airplane" is likely to challenge for the top spot.

Low Anthem Teaser

A couple of years ago I picked The Low Anthem's "Oh My God, Charlie Darwin" as my top album of the year.

Their new one, "Smart Flesh," has been out for a few weeks now. While I'm not yet prepared to say that it's better than the debut, there is no doubt in my mind that it is an extraordinary album.

And this is a wonderful performance. I especially like the point in the video (around 3:41) where the kids start listening.

Drive-By Truckers Score With "Go Go Boots"

Reportedly it was recorded at or around the same time, but “Go Go Boots,” the new album by the Drive-By Truckers, sounds very little like its predecessor, “The Big To Do.” In and of itself, that doesn’t mean that one is better than the other, but it goes a long way towards demonstrating that the Truckers are a lot more versatile than some might expect, given their long history as a “southern band.”

It’s still amazing to me that I missed out on this band for so long – it was only a little over a year ago that I heard my first DBT album; now I own 8 and had the good fortune to see them live when I was in Chicago last year for a business trip. And after quite a few listens, there’s no doubt in my mind that the new album is better than the last, and in fact one of DBT’s best.

“The Big To Do” was a very good album, but after repeated listens there was little question that it petered out about ¾ of the way through. “Go Go Boots” is strong from first track to last – it’s more laid back in the playing, but the songwriting is as sharp as it’s ever been. Both Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley have a real knack for telling short stories and setting them to music, and they’re in fine form on “Go Go Boots.” For Hood, there are several triumphs. On “Ray’s Automatic Weapon,” he tells the story of a veteran who, 40 years later, is still haunted by nightmares:

Ray I got to tell you
You got to take that gun back
Cuz these things that I been shooting at are getting all too real
Don’t want to hurt nobody, but I keep on aiming closer
Don’t think that I can keep it feeling like I feel

And on “Used To Be A Cop,” Hood delves into the mind of another haunted soul:

I used to play football but I wasn’t big enough for college
But I passed the entrance exam, first try and on my way
The Police Academy gave me the only thing I was ever good at
But my temper and the shakes and they took that thing away

On both of these songs, the band plays at a mid-tempo pace, never overwhelming the story – and Hood takes his time telling it, almost as if he were sitting around a campfire in the dead of night. It’s a haunting, haunted sound.

Cooley’s gem is the wonderful “Pulaski,” which is one of those songs that sounds like a nice little up-tempo southern ditty, right up until the point that you start to focus on the words. It’s a story about the small town girl from Pulaski, Tennessee who went to seek her fortune in L.A., and with that one sentence alone, you’ve probably figured out how the story ends.

Good ideas always start with a full glass
And just breathing here can make a girl’s nose bleed
Dreams here live and die just like a stray dog on a dirt road somewhere in Tennessee

And in the last verse, the song reveals its kinship with Elvis Presley’s “Long Black Limousine”:

The storefronts all filled up with eyeballs
As the policemen clear out the street
For a line of cars with their headlights burning
Driving slow through Pulaski, Tennessee

Those aren’t the only highlights – there’s also Hood’s “The Thanksgiving Filter,” which just might be the best rock song written about that holiday; there’s Cooley’s “Cartoon Gold,” with the great line “I’m not good with numbers/I just count on knowing when I’m high enough”; there’s two strong Eddie Hinton covers, one sung by Hood and one by Shonna Tucker; and there’s “The Fireplace Poker,” a Hood morality tale which fits in very nicely with “The Dress He Made Her Wear” from the previous album.

That this is a great band is well established. Right now, “Go Go Boots” feels like a great album; one of their best.

Bryan Ferry's "Olympia" - Long Live Roxy Music!

Prologue

There used to be this ad (in the Fifties, I suppose) for a cigarette: You're Never Alone with a Strand! A guy alone in the street; belted raincoat, turned down hat brim; fog, drizzle, blurred neon lighting; three in the morning and he'd just left a party or come to the end of an affair or arrived off a train; down but cool (cigarette cool) and romantic, weary — a private eye at the end of a case. I always thought it was Frank Sinatra.

That was one role Bryan Ferry had figured out for himself.

Something else there used to be was two artists called Gilbert and George whose work of art was themselves. They exhibited daily in a classy gallery. Elegant, suited, disdainful, they'd stand there all day while people paid to look. Later on a little song and dance act became part of the picture.

That was something else Bryan Ferry wanted to be — a work of art.

I.

Those lines are from Simon Frith’s review of Roxy Music’s “Siren,” which appeared in the January 1, 1976 edition of Rolling Stone. The first time I read those words, I was an impressionable 15 year old, who wanted nothing more than to be on the vanguard of what was considered “cool” music. I had no idea who Simon Frith was; as it turned out, he was one of the best critics from what I still consider to be the golden age of rock criticism. At the time, my favorite singer was Elton John, which may sound silly to some – but 36 years later, I’d still argue that few artists have released two albums in the same year as good as “Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy” and “Rock of the Westies.” But even with that, he was hardly the vanguard.

The review made it sound great, but in those days I was a teenager of limited means, so I didn’t buy it. Among other things, I would have had to ask my dad to drive me to the record store, and if he’d gotten a look at the album cover (featuring a very young Jerry Hall as the “Siren” in the title), it’s just as likely that the record would have gone right back in the shelves.

A couple of months later, I remember laying in my bed on a Sunday morning, listening to “American Top 40” with Casey Kasem. The countdown had reached #28 or so, and all of a sudden, this really weird but very cool song came on…turned out, it was called “Love is the Drug,” and sure enough, it was by Roxy Music, off of “Siren.” And at that point I knew – eventually, I would own that album.

II.

In the spring of 1982, Roxy Music released what would turn out to be its last album. And by that time, it was clear that there were really two phases in the band’s career. The first began with the debut in 1972, and ended with the release of “Siren” in 1975. The second began in 1979, with the release of “Manifesto.” And while this second phase may not have been as adventurous, it was no less brilliant. Ferry had perfected his approach, and with “Manifesto,” “Flesh + Blood,” and especially with “Avalon,” had become the work of art he always wanted to be.

“Avalon” is a perfect album, from start to finish. It establishes a sound and a tone from the first song, “More Than This,” and manages to sustain it through the last, “Tara.” Like all the greatest albums, each song gains something from the ones that come before and after it, so that the work becomes much greater than the sum of its parts. And of those great parts, none was greater than “True to Life.” I can remember the first time I truly appreciated the song, listening to it in my dorm room shortly after I’d finished my last final before graduation. At that time I had no idea what my life would become, but listening to that song, all I cared about was that it would wash over me.

III.

Bryan Ferry’s new album, “Olympia,” begins with a few bars – almost identical – from “True to Life” before it segues into a much harder edged song, “You Can Dance.” Apparently, Ferry considered making this a Roxy Music album, but even though he didn’t, for all intents and purposes, it is the Roxy Music album that fans have been waiting for, for almost 30 years now. It’s not as if Ferry disappeared during those years – making albums every now and then, including one I enjoyed a great deal which consisted of nothing more than Dylan covers – but this is the first time that he’s really tried to recapture the scope and the depth of those Roxy years.

And amazingly enough, he’s succeeded. Only time will tell if this stands up to “Siren” or “Avalon,” but I think it’s got a shot. It’s got all of the elements of a classic Roxy Music album, and it’s even got many of the old hands – Phil Manzanera on guitar, Andy MacKay on saxophone, Andy Newmark (Roxy Phase II) on drums…and even Brian Eno on a few tracks, for crying out loud. It’s got at least one song (“Reason or Rhyme”) that sounds like it will stand up with the best that the band has had to offer, and it’s got another (Jeff Buckley” “Song to the Siren”) that stands as one of the best in a long history of great cover versions that Ferry has managed to pull off.



And now, Ferry is back on the road, at age 65, on the first Roxy Music tour in many a year – one that even has the great Paul Thompson back on drums. And that, my friends, is a good, even great, thing. And I hope they play a lot of the new album on the tour, because even if it isn’t a Roxy Music album in name, it is most definitely one in spirit.

Kanye's Fantasy

Had it not been for Son #2, it’s unlikely I would have given Kanye West much of a listen. I don’t have any problems with the notion of rap being a serious art form deserving of its place in the rock pantheon, but in the end most of it is just not for me – which isn’t surprising, given that I’m a 50-year old white male. That doesn’t mean I don’t have rap in my collection – I’ve got a decent sampling of the early greats (Run-DMC, LL Cool J, Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel, and some of the other Sugarhill groups), but that’s really about it. I’ve got Eminem’s greatest hits, and I think “Stan” and “Lose Yourself” are two of the greatest songs of this (or any) generation. But I’d never ventured into Kanye world, even with all of the critical acclaim and the public notoriety.

Upon its release in late 2010, it immediately became apparent that Kanye’s “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” was going to win all of the critic’s polls. It got a rave in “Rolling Stone,” it got a perfect ten in “Pitchfork,” Christgau gave it a solid “A.” And sure enough, that has come true, and its domination has been somewhat unprecedented. It’s probably fair to say that Kanye has come as close as any major artists in years (The Clash? Prince? Nirvana?) to conquering the entire spectrum of the rock critic establishment.

And as it turns out, there’s a pretty good reason for that.

One night in December, I was wandering around upstairs, and heard the sounds of a very interesting song coming out of Son #2’s bedroom. “What is that?” “That’s the new Kanye West.” Oh oh…just what I need, more music to check out. The song was “Dark Fantasy,” and it kicks off the new album in spectacular fashion.

I’m not going to do a song-by-song review, but suffice to say that nearly every track on “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” crackles with that hard-to-identify edge and verve that separates the great music from the merely good. As I once said about M.I.A.’s “Kala,” the damn thing just sounds exciting. “Power” and “Runaway” are the standouts for me, and to be honest, I don’t even care what he’s saying. I can pick out a phrase here and there (“…you’ve been putting up with my shit just way too long…”), but it doesn’t really matter. For me, the brilliance of “Runaway” is not so much the message that’s being conveyed, but the excitement of a simple piano progression that turns into a pulsating beat that is so strong it sends shivers up your spine.

So, yeah…the guy can be a real idiot, and counter-productive to the very things in which he believes because of the things that come out of his mouth, but put him in a studio, and he knows what he is doing. There’s a very simple reason that “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” has topped every critic’s poll on the planet. It was the best album of 2010, and as much as I liked “The Suburbs,” I’m not sure anything really came close.