Axl's Catch Groove

I missed this album in 2022, but it was on several 2022 year-end best-of lists and so I gave it a listen. I have several Orton CDs from the late 90s and early 00s. I liked her folktronica. After a few listens on streaming services, I liked it enough to commit to the vinyl edition. Weather Alive is dreamy and atmospheric – almost ambient, but this is not mere musical wallpaper. It reminds me of Roxy Music’s Avalon in that it is a beautiful soundscape with catchy songs.

Orton has an unusual voice – kind of breathy and fragile, but with a kind of steely urgency. Lyrically, I don’t really have a clue what she is singing about, but the lyrics certainly are engaging, for example the titular track:

“And the world calling out to me
But the world out beyond my reach
Almost makes me wanna cry
The weather’s so beautiful outside”

“Weather Alive”

But it does not matter if I don’t understand the lyrics. The vocals are as beautiful as the instrumental music that accompanies them.

Although the album has an electronica feel, the music is organic: acoustic instruments, real drums and just a touch of synths (or as the credits state: “old synths”).

This is a beautiful dreamy record with a melancholy vibe. Perfect for both late nights and lazy afternoons. I read an article in the New York Times that experiencing awe is good for your health. Sit back and catch a wave of awe with Beth Orrin’s Weather Alive. This should have made my 2022 best of – if I had been aware of it.

I have never heard of Andy Shauf, but on a recent episode of Indiecast, Steven Hyden recommended Andy Shauf’s new album Norm. Hyden was so enthusiastic I had to give it a listen.

Norm is a gorgeous sounding album (similar vibe as Paul Simon) and Shauf has an angelic voice. I am fully satisfied with the warm wave of sound that washes over me with Norm, but there is more than that going on: lyrically Norm is a concept album. This is where it gets twisted.

The characters include God the father, Jesus the son, a stoner-stalker (Norm), the pursued (the victim of Norm’s stalking) and Norm’s ex. The plot is God observing his obsessed creation Norm stalking some poor women as Norm regrets his past with his ex. Norm eventually kidnaps his victim, but God intervenes. Weird isn’t it?

But what attracts me to the album is the lush soundscape, Shauf’s gorgeous vocals, and amazing bass lines. The bass is prominent and provides a soulful groove to what otherwise would be typical singer-songwriter fare. The weird lyrics and beautiful sonics results in a wonderful dreamy psychedelia.

In early 2022, Norah Jones went into the Allaire Studios in upstate New York with her band and created a new, live version of her acclaimed 2012 album, Little Broken Hearts. As much as I liked the original Little Broken Hearts, I prefer this Record Store Day (RSD) version.

This seems like an ambitious album for a mere 2500-run RSD release. It is noted that as an RSD First’ Release” which typically means a conventional release is forthcoming. I am not seeing how this will ultimately come out. On June 2, 2023, Blue Note will be releasing an expanded 31-track deluxe reissue of Little Broken Hearts, however, it doesn’t include this Allaire version.

This new version was recorded at Allaire Studios with pedal steel guitarist Dan Iead, bassist Gus Seyffert, and drummer Brian Blade. I googled the studio and it is stunning. It is located in a 1928 estate on 20 acres of mountaintop overlooking Woodstock, the Catskills, and the Ashokan Reservoir.

The original Little Broken Hearts is an anomaly in the Norah Jones catalog. It was created in calibration with producer Danger Mouse. Danger Mouse made his name in the hip-hop word, so it is not obvious that collaborating with Norah Jones makes sense. Norah Jones and Danger Mouse (aka Brian Burton) first worked together when the producer asked her to contribute vocals to his acclaimed 2011 album ROME. After the success of that project, they agreed to develop a Norah Jones album together from scratch. Per Norah’s website:

In a first for her, Jones arrived empty-handed at the studio – no tunes, arrangements, just a few ideas in a notebook. The songs were all built from the ground up with Jones and Burton sharing all the songwriting credits and performing the majority of the instrumental parts; Jones on piano, keyboards, bass, and guitar, and Burton contributing drums, bass, guitar, keyboards, and string arrangements. The process was a complete change for Jones, but once they started it didn’t take long for her to warm to the challenges of creating on the fly using whatever resources she and Burton had between them. (Later, they brought in a band—including drummer Joey Waronker, bassist Gus Seyffert, and guitarist Blake Mills—to bolster many of the tracks.)

The result was an intriguing breakup album that had Jones performing out of her light jazz/Americana mode and more in the Danger Mouse world. It worked.

This version is back in the normal Norah zone and allows you to appreciate these great songs. In hindsight, the Danger Mouse version is overshadowed by Danger Mouse’s production – which was cool, but as I said earlier I prefer this version. This version has a stronger singer-songwriter vibe.

RSD has a few templates: reissue overlooked albums, vinyl releases of classic albums from the CD era, releases that are more about packaging than music, and unreleased gems that highlight an artist’s weird passions. This last category is my favorite and it is the category that Little Broken Hearts: Live At Allaire Studios finds itself in. This kind of release gets me queuing up at a record store before dawn. Bravo Norah and RSD!

I have a pretty good collection of Jerry Garcia’s solo work and projects outside the Grateful Dead, so I have no idea how I missed this album when it came out on CD in 1997. How Sweet It Is was culled from shows that also make up 1991’s Jerry Garcia Band – an album in my personal hall of fame. So I was pleased to see it on the 2023 Record Store Day (RSD) list. It doesn’t take much to please me with regards to Garcia and RSD. I dutifully buy the RSD Garcia releases and I am never disappointed.

How Sweet It Is, like Jerry Garcia Band, is from the band’s live shows in the spring of 1990 at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco. The band consists of Jerry (guitar, vocals), John Kahn (bass), Melvin Seals (organ, keyboards), David Kemper (drums), Gloria Jones (vocals), and Jackie LaBranch (vocals).

As is typical of the Jerry Garcia Band, their repertoire is a brilliant combination of originals and covers. It is not significantly different from the 1991 Jerry Garcia Band album. The recording/mixing/mastering sounds a touch more intimate on How Sweet It Is versus Jerry Garcia Band.

This is not as essential in the Garcia catalog as Jerry Garcia Band, but it is a nice augmentation of that album – no songs from that album are repeated here. So it serves as a deluxe edition of that classic album.

Track list:

SIDE A:
1. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)
2. Tough Mama
3. That’s What Love Will Make You Do
SIDE B:
1. Someday Baby
2. Cats Under the Stars
SIDE C:
1. Tears of Rage
2. Think
3. Gomorrah
SIDE D:
1. Tore Up Over You
2. Like a Road

Back in 1979/1980, I was living with a buddy in a duplex in Uptown Minneapolis partying like there was no tomorrow. My record collection was still in its infancy. A couple of young rednecks from across the street came over one night and were scandalized that my roommate and I did not have Lynyrd Skynyrd in our collection. Our taste was Elvis Costello, jazz, prog, Dylan, etc. – in their view we were weirdos.

It was not that I didn’t like Skynyrd. In those days I rarely bought music that was on the radio: Skynyrd was on the radio and Costello was not – so what are you going to spend your money on? Over the years I have picked up various Skynyrd albums on vinyl and CD, but I never owned Street Survivors.

Street Survivors is the last Skynyrd album recorded by original members Ronnie Van Zant and Allen Collins and is the sole Skynyrd studio recording by guitarist/vocalist Steve Gaines. Three days after the album’s release, the band’s chartered airplane crashed en route to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, killing the pilot, co-pilot, the group’s assistant road manager, and three band members (Van Zant, Gaines, and Gaines’ older sister, backup singer Cassie Gaines), and severely injuring most who survived the crash.

I recently picked up an original first/early pressing of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Street Survivors at an antique shop in Carefree Arizona for $10 (the rest of the crate was crap and overpriced – everything was $10). I know it is original due to the “fire cover,” the MCA label variation, the gatefold cover, and the runout markings. The cover is in good condition and includes original inserts. The wax is also in good condition. Given the vintage and condition of this pressing, I got a good deal.

The album cover was eventually changed to a cover without fire (based on the back cover photo) due to the crash. Reissues have returned to the fire cover.

This album features Steve Gaines in a significant role. Ronnie loved him so much that he turned over the mic to Gaines on “Ain’t No Good Life” and shares the lead vocal with Gaines on “You Got That Right.” His guitar work is pretty insane too! Ronnie even said about Gaines that the band would “all be in his shadow one day.”

The album includes three major hits: “What’s Your Name, “ “That Smell” and “You Got That Right.” My favorite song on the album is a Merle Haggard cover: “Honky Tonk Night Time Man” which has smoking guitars. This is a great album, but it has the dark cloud of sadness of the death of band members – although the band would soldier on with other players, it would never be the same.

This album is proof I will pay more than $1 for a used record 😉.

I am a fan of both Son Volt and Doug Sahm. They both are the epitome of alternative country and cosmic American music. This album, per Son Volt’s website, is a tribute to Doug Sahm, who Son Volt’s leader Jay Farrar has had a friendship with dating back to Uncle Tupelo:

Son Volt’s Day of the Doug will be available exclusively at participating record stores starting 4/22/23 as part of Record Store Day. Find stores and more information at RecordStoreDay.com.

A tribute to Doug Sahm, Day of the Doug features 12 songs that span Sahm’s career as a solo artist as well as his work with Sir Douglas Quintet and Texas Tornados. The Intro and Outro tracks are phone messages that Doug left Jay [Son Volt founder Jay Farrar] over the years. Pressed on RSD-exclusive Opaque Green Vinyl.

On first listen I found it bizarre that this was a Record Store Day (RSD) release. It is a fantastic album that deserves a normal release, not a mere 1700-unit vinyl release. I went back to the RSD website and this is an “RSD First’ Release.” So I assume it will be released conventionally later and this is just a teaser/RSD collectible. Although Son Volt has not announced a release date for Day of the Doug, their summer 2023 tour is focused on covering their 1995 debut Trace and covering Doug Sahm songs.

So who was Doug Sahm? Per Wikipedia:

Douglas Wayne Sahm (November 6, 1941 – November 18, 1999) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist born in San Antonio, Texas. Sahm is regarded as one of the main figures of Tex-Mex music, and as an important performer of Texan Music. He gained fame along with his band, the Sir Douglas Quintet, with a top-twenty hit in the United States and the United Kingdom with “She’s About a Mover” (1965). Sahm was influenced by the San Antonio music scene that included conjunto and blues, and later by the hippie scene of San Francisco. With his blend of music, he found success performing in Austin, Texas, as the hippie counterculture soared in the 1970s.

I stumbled across Sahm in the Bob Dylan galaxy. I bought a Sahm LP (1973’s Doug Sahm and Band because it had Dylan on it. But I really got into Sahm in the early 90s with his band The Texas Tornados. Around the same time I found a nice retrospective Sahm CD (Spotify link below).

I didn’t discover Uncle Tupelo until their last album and guess who it features? Doug Sahm on his tune “Give Back the Key to My Heart.” He sounded like he belonged in Uncle Tupelo. So it is appropriate that Son Volt is the band to record a tribute.

Son Volt does not cover the obvious songs in the Sahm catalog; they take a deeper dive. This is the best Son Volt has sounded in years. They are clearly inspired by the Sahm material. I am glad I jumped on this RSD edition to savor the material now. I highly recommend this album when it comes out later this year.

When recording artists rearrange their songs and call it a new album it is usually a sign of artistic bankruptcy. There are exceptions, for example, Joni Mitchell’s Travelogue (2022) was a well done orchestral re-recordings of songs from throughout her career. U2’s Songs of Surrender is a similar successful re-recording of 40 songs from their career. In general, it takes a minimalist approach to the arrangements with the focus on Bono’s vocal performance.

The most startling thing is how great Bono’s vocals sound – he sounds as good if not better than at any point in his career. It is a rare that rockstar’s voice improves with age. It is not that he has greater range – he just knows how to use his voice better.

This is basically The Edge’s solo album featuring Bono. The Edge assembled backing tracks, mostly by himself, but occasionally he used some previously recorded parts from Adam (bass) and Larry (drums). He encouraged Bono to show some restraint on the vocals.

I recently listened to The Edge on a podcast and his goal was to create austere versions of U2 classics and to have Bono sing in a more intimate fashion vs. the bombastic original vocals. The Edge is comfortable that this music may be consumed as a background soundtrack.

The Edge takes the vocal leads on a few tracks. He has always provided background vocals and it is fun to hear him front and center. Many of the arrangements are keyboard focused which made me think that The Edge is not a guitar god, but rather a composer and he uses his guitar to create sonic soundscapes versus shred.

This is a pleasant take on the catalog, but nothing overshadows the original versions. What is interesting is that without the big U2 arrangements, the songs have a singer songwriter vibe. What I have learned here is just how good the songs are – they are not diminished by the simple and sparse arrangements.

Given the girth of this project (40 songs clocking over 2:45 hours) this is a tedious listen. But taken in more bite sized pieces, it is great. This is not an album for the casual U2 fan, but you don’t have to be an obsessive completist to enjoy.

I am a minor Metallica fan, but I have diligently listened to their albums as they have been released over the years and own most of their albums (mostly on CD, but some on vinyl). My introduction to the band was seeing them live in 1988 when they were an undercard on the Monsters Of Rock tour. I was impressed by their energy and sound enough to pick up …And Justice for All when it was released a few months later. I was all in on 1991’s Metallica (commonly known as The Black Album).

The band has never matched their studio 1980s output, but they haven’t tarnished it either. Their releases have been consistently good to great, just not the masterpieces of the 80s.

Which brings us to their eleventh studio album – their latest (2023) release 72 Seasons. My initial reaction is it is true to their brand and that Kirk Hammett’s guitar solos are particularly brilliant. The new album is only relevant to their current fan base and is unlikely to attract new fans. It is a solid Metallica album that will bring no shame to their catalog.

Regarding the album title, 72 Seasons, James Hatfield stated:

“The first 18 years of our lives that form our true or false selves. The concept that we were told ‘who we are’ by our parents. A possible pigeonholing around what kind of personality we are. I think the most interesting part of this is the continued study of those core beliefs and how it affects our perception of the world today. Much of our adult experience is reenactment or reaction to these childhood experiences. Prisoners of childhood or breaking free of those bondages we carry.”

From Metallica’s website

Lyrically, the album deals with the usual Metallica themes: you were born screwed, suicide, music (especially loud music) is salvation, etc.

This album is a nice summary of their career: the thrash/speed metal of the 80s, the pop hard rock of the 90s and the mature sound of the last two decades.

I love the recording/sonics. Each instrument is distinct, a nice use of stereo effect, and the vocals are nice and clear without being too forward. Over all I like this recording and will continue to listen.

This is the first Miley Cyrus album I have purchased. Hell, this is the first Miley album I have listened to front to back.

Thanks to Taylor for schooling me, I have learned to not dismiss pop princesses. I am late to the Miley party. I admit I initially dismissed her as a Disney Girl and the daughter of the tackiest country star of the 90s. But she has been working it for a long time now and she has burnished her reputation vs. most child stars who tarnish their reputations. My adult children are fans of hers and I trust their taste. So I warmed to her.

I saw her hosting this past New Year’s Eve show on TV and a she was fantastic. Big personality, engaging entertainer, is unconventionally sexy, and most importantly she has great songs and a cool voice. Miley is a real-deal musician who is also an entertainer.

My wife recently told me that a new album was coming and a teaser single was out. “Flowers” is a huge hit. Upon its release, I listened to the new LP, Endless Summer Vacation, and was hooked on the first listen. It is dance-pop, but it also rocks – she can do a mean power ballad too. I would love to see this album live. It is super slick, but with a little edge. It makes you want to dance. Hard to resist an album that makes you dance. Prince taught me that making dance pop that rocks and has gravity is possible. An album that makes you want to dance is a gift.

T-Swift’s 1989 was the album that caught my attention and got me to take her seriously. I saw her Reputation tour in a football stadium; she expertly played the room. I became a fan. Endless Summer Vacation is my Miley breakthrough. I am officially a fan.

Cyrus explained on Instagram prior to its release that the album is divided into two parts: AM and PM.

“When it comes to the sequencing of Endless Summer Vacation, I divided it by two parts: AM and PM to kind of almost represent an act. The AM to me is representing the morning time, where there’s a buzz and energy and there’s a potential of new possibilities. It’s a new day. At nighttime, it feels like there’s a slinky, seediness and kind of a grime but a glamour at the same time. In the evening, it’s a great time for rest, it’s a time to recover. Or it’s a time to go out and experience the wild side. In LA, there’s a certain energy to the night and you can feel trouble boil up to the surface and it’s very inspiring to me.”

I might be coming to Miley at the right moment. Reading the professional critics, who are more experienced in her discography, note this is a mature work and she is at the top of her game. The album fully displays her bag of tricks: dance-pop, pop, country, rock, and power ballads. Convenient time for me to show up. My quick take is this brilliant pop record appeals to my adult ears (I have children older than Miley).

“Flowers” was the lead single and it is a huge hit (by today’s standards). It has a nice dance-pop vibe. Based on what I know about Miley, this is fairly autobiographical and her post-divorce freedom anthem. It is a pretty obvious nod to Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man” which evidently was an important song to Miley and her ex. Strong song to lead off the album. The streaming version of the album ends with a stripped-down version of “Flowers.”

“Jaded” is a melancholy quite-storm ballad that reflects on a failed relationship.

“Rose Colored Lenses” is a post-coital delusion. It has a nice electro-pop feel. The lyrics namedrop the album title:

“Naked in conversation
Drown me in your delight
Endless summer vacation
Make it last ’til we die”

“Thousand Miles” (featuring Brandi Carlile) is the album’s most Americana/country song. It is a song about relapsing into a relationship that the narrator knows is a mistake. Brandi’s harmonies are perfect.

“You” is a lusty love song that has a nice rock vocal.

“Handstand” is a great dance pop song. The narrator is gloating about her acrobatic sex.

“River” is the second single and this could easily be a Lady Gaga song. It has a great 80s synth pop groove. The lyrics compare the narrator’s lover to a river.

“Violet Chemistry” is another dance pop song with a great 80s synth pop groove. Again, I can imagine Gaga performing this song.

“Muddy Feet” (featuring Sia) is a scolding of a cheating lover. Miley has a great sandpaper rock vocal. Sia’s contribution is pretty inconsequential.

“Wildcard” is a contradiction – the narrator talks about settling down and in the same breath suggesting it will never happen.

“Island” is a nice slinky ballad where the narrator is trying to figure out if they are in paradise or in lonely isolation.

“Wonder Woman” is the first time that the production meets the sadness of the lyrics. The narrator is down, but she won’t be defeated.

Overall this is outstanding adult pop. Every song is solid and some are outright pop masterpieces. I hear a lot of influences, but the one that sticks out the most is Lady Gaga – the more organic side of Gaga. Miley has a really cool voice – it has just enough grit to make the drama of the songs real and is sweet enough to create pop earworms. Cyrus deals with post-break-up feelings in an honest but not maudlin way. The production is upbeat despite bummer lyrics. It is all pretty brilliant.