Axl's Catch Groove

My introduction to Goose was their cover of Vampire Weekend’s “2021.” Vampire Weekend commissioned a couple of artists to cover the shortest song on Father Of The Bride. They commissioned jazz saxophonist Sam Gendel and the jam band Goose to both create their own reinterpretations of “2021”on an EP titled 40:42. Vampire Weekend gave Gendel and Goose the directive to turn their 1:39 song into two 20:21 versions (hence the title of the EP is 40:42). The Gendle version didn’t do much for me but the Goose version blew me away.

A few weeks later the band released Ted Tapes 2021 – 16 instrumental tracks from band soundchecks and rehearsals held between April 2019 and December 2020. My favorite part of the Grateful Dead is Jerry Garcia’s brilliant guitar noodling. Ted Tapes nearly 90 minutes of brilliant Garcia style noodling. Most jam bands favor the groove, but Goose favors the melody – they play songs! Ted Tapes 2021 was one of my favorite releases of 2021.

I didn’t explore the rest of their catalog – frankly I didn’t know were to start as it was mostly live material. But this summer they released their first proper studio album: Dripfield (actually it is their third, but the other two were self-produced). Goose have had enough success that they were able to book a proper studio (The ISOKON in Woodstock, NY) and hire a producer (D James Goodwin) for Dripfield. Expectations were high for Dripfield – they have been the darlings of the jam band circuit and this was their moment. They have delivered on the expectations with an outstanding album.

I recently saw Goose perform live at Sacred Rose music festival in Chicago (a recording of the show is on Bandcamp). The band was great and the Dripfield songs were the stars of their set. The songs which are succinct on the LP, perfectly adapt to the live extended jams. Again, the key is Goose plays songs and not just grooves (but they do have commanding grooves too).

Goose is Rick Mitarotonda [vocals, guitar], Peter Anspach [vocals, keys, guitar], Trevor Weekz [bass], Ben Atkind [drums], and Jeff Arevalo [vocals, percussion, drums]. Per the band’s website, they: “fluidly traverse genres with head-spinning hooks, technical fireworks, and the kind of chemistry only possible among small town and longtime friends.”

Mitarotonda does a lot of heavy lifting in the band – his guitar is the key to the band sound, he is the principal songwriter, and primary vocalist. His guitar tone is rich and his vocals are mellow – although he doesn’t sound like Garcia, they share the same aesthetic. My hot take on Mitarotonda is he is a combination of David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) and Jerry Garcia (Grateful Dead). Anspach’s keys are a nice complement to the Goose sound and he contributes 3 songs. The rest of the band creates a great foundation for Mitarotonda and Anspach songs and solos.

The songs are perfectly sequenced and the opening two tracks, “Borne” and “Hungersite” are seamlessly connected. This is an album and not a collection of songs. The album is beautifully recorded and mixed. The album is a combination of new songs and songs that have been in the set for awhile. I have backtracked on the older songs and these studio versions are better – D James Goodwin has had a positive impact on the band.

Between this album and the recent live show I witnessed, I am all in on this band, love their jammy pop-rock melodies – extremely listenable!

My new standard for fandom in the streaming era is to purchase the vinyl edition – I like this album enough to make LP commitment.

I am a Joni Mitchell fan and have been since the fall of 1977 when my new friend Uncle Paul rolled, burned and shared one. He then dropped the needle on an LP and commanded: “Listen to this!” I proceeded to have my mind blown by Joni Mitchell’s masterpiece Court and Spark. I was fortunate over the next couple of years to experience two great Joni albums in real time: Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter (1977) and Mingus (1979). But then came the 80s and frankly Joni’s quality declined. I faithfully bought every album and dutifully listened, but none resonated with me like her pre-80s catalog. That 60s and 70s catalog is nearly flawless – one masterpiece after another. Some are accessible, some are challenging, some are hits and some are misses, but they are undeniably brilliant.

Uncle Paul recently texted me a link to a Joni 1998 concert film on YouTube: Joni Mitchell: Painting with Words and Music. I wasn’t in the mood at that moment to watch it and instead I streamed Taming The Tiger, her album from around the same period, and gave it a listen. I like it better now then I did when it was for released. It would be the last recording of new material for nearly a decade – and at the time I assumed this was it – her final statement.

Now Taming The Tiger sounds as brilliant as her pre-80s work. I am committed to reevaluating the rest of her post-70s work with my old, and hopefully wiser, ears. Sonically Taming The Tiger recalls Hijra, but simpler, in a good way.

The ensemble for the album is Joni on vocal and synth guitar (Roland VG-8 and I assume the Parker Fly she was playing live at the time – and recently at Newport) saxophonist Wayne Shorter, bassist and ex-husband Larry Klein, drummer Brian Blade, pedal and lap steel guitarist Greg Leisz (similar ensemble as the video concert above except trumpeter Mark Isham is playing Wayne Shorter’s role on trumpet vs sax).

The most distinctive aspect of Tame The Tiger is the atmospheric sound of Joni’s synth-guitar. It is folk, jazz, new age – it is Joni. It is a deceptively simple sound and the perfect accompaniment to the very personal songs. Her sidemen are the perfect side to Joni’s main dish. Wayne Shorter is magnificent.

Joni was in an interesting place when she recorded this album. She had reunited with her daughter that she had given up for adoption, she was having a comeback (her previous album, Turbulent Indigo won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Album) and she had mastered the synth- guitar – which clearly inspired her. She was giving the impression that she was soon to be done with songwriting and the music business (she wasn’t, but it sure felt like it at the time).

“Harlem in Havana” opens like it is going to be industrial metal, but quickly blossoms into a gorgeous Joni Mitchell song. It reminisces about a carnival visiting a small farming community.

“Man from Mars” sounds like lament to a lost lover, but it is about her misbehaving cat (see the album cover art to see this cad of a cat).

“Love Puts on a New Face” is a classic Joni relationship song with this brilliant Joni final verse:

He said "I wish you were with me here
The leaves are electric
They burn on the river bank
Countless heatless flames"
I said "Send me some pictures then 
And I'll paint pyrotechnic
Explosions of your autumn till we meet again
I miss your touch and your lips so much
I long for our next embrace"
But in France they say
Everyday 
Love puts on a new face
Love puts on a new facev Love has many faces
Many many faces

“Lead Balloon” is a rock song that would not sound out of place on Robert Plant’s Now And Zen (1987). I love the opening phrase:

"Kiss my ass, " I said
and I threw my drink
Tequila trickling 
Down his business suit
Must be the Irish blood
Fight before you think
Turn it now

“No Apologies” is a song taken from the news. Joni is outraged how the US military dealt with an incident of rape involving American servicemen in Okinawa.

“Taming the Tiger” is a kiss off to the music industry:

The moon shed light
On my hopeless plight
As the radio blared so bland
Every disc, a poker chip
Every song just a one night stand
Formula music, girly guile
Genuine junkfood for juveniles
Up and down the dial
Mercenary style

“The Crazy Cries of Love” is about some loud lovers who require a train passing by to cover their crazy cries of love.

“Stay in Touch” is a list of reasons to stay in touch. Good song, I just have nothing interesting to say about it.

“Face Lift” is a response to a judgmental mom:

I mean, after all, she introduced us
Oh, but she regrets that now
Shacked up downtown 
Making love without a license
Same old sacred cow
She said, "Did you come home to disgrace us?"
I said, "Why is this joy not allowed?"
For God's sake, I'm middle-aged, Mama
And time moves swift 
And you know happiness is the best face lift

“My Best to You” (Gene Willadsen, Isham Jones) is a cover of a 40s western swing tune that Joni reinvents and modernizes with her atmospheric synth. Joni does great covers. A great cover honors the song by the performer making it their own. As usual Joni owns this one.

“Tiger Bones” is an instrumental reprise of the titular track that shows off Joni’s prowess on the synth guitar. It is the perfect coda for the album.

I don’t know if it is my mood, my age or my experience, but this album sounds significantly better than I recall. As I said at the beginning of this post, this album has me second guessing my opinion of Joni’s post 70s output – at least her 90s work. This is good stuff! As part of my writing of this post I listened to 1994’s Turbulent Indigo and it is excellent too – although I like Taming The Tiger better. What I really like about this album is the synth guitar or what Joni called her orchestra guitar. It allowed her to directly express her musical opinions without the filter of side musicians.

Joni is not on Spotify out of protest of disinformation podcasts on the service. Here is a link to Tidal (in better than CD quality). I listened to both my original CD and the Tidal MQA Master stream and the Tidal stream rules!

I eventually did watch the concert video Uncle Paul sent and it is really well done. It is a must see for Joni fans. Coincidently we saw her live at the acoustical disaster that was the pre-renovation Target Center in 1998. The video is a better memory than that live show (Joni was likely great, but the venue was a wet blanket on her performance).

I consider myself a musichead and I have a large and diverse music collection. However, I also recognize I have blind spots of artists/bands that I should be a fan of: critically acclaimed, popular/successful or similar to other artists/bands I love. I am not talking about someone I have never heard of, but rather someone I have heard of but for some reason have never listened to or have listened to, but they never clicked.

A great example of one of my blind spots would be Pavement. I was aware of them back in the day, as they were a pretty big deal in the 90s. But somehow never listened to them. When Stephen Malkmus went solo I got hooked on him and then backtracked to Pavement and felt kind of dumb for missing that train in real time. This seems like an interesting enough topic for a special feature: A Catchgroove Blind Spot.

My debut of Catchgroove’s Blind Spotis the Drive-By Truckers (DBT). My wife saw they were going to be at one of our favorite breweries in Minneapolis: Utepils. They have always been on my list to check them out. With shorthand descriptions like they are the bastard love child of Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Replacements, I should be a huge fan. They appear to be a country rock band with a punk rock attitude and progressive politics. Decided to get tickets to the show. In preparation for that show I decided to get schooled on their catalog.

Starting with their latest, Welcome 2 Club XIII – I like it and it has me wondering why I have not gotten into this band. The album sounds great. Great story telling, big riffs, infectious melodies. Brilliantly sloppy in a Neil Young & Crazy Horse sort of way.

Reading up about the band, they have been focused on a contemplation of America’s flaws for the last few albums and Welcome 2 Club XIII represents:

…a detour, an opportunity to focus on the personal rather than the political for a while, and most of the songs are rooted in memory, a look into the past as a filter into the present.

Allmusic

Welcome 2 Club XIII is easy to play over and over and this will be on my best of 2022 list. I like it enough to commit to the vinyl.

But I can’t afford to get too into this album as I have bundle of studio albums to digest before the show. I am working through the studio catalog aimlessly (that is, not in release order).

I remember when this album came out and it got a lot of positive buzz. Per Wikipedia: “The album weaves the history of Lynyrd Skynyrd into a narrative about a fictitious rock band called Betamax Guillotine, whose story unfolds within the context of the South during the 1970s.” Concept albums rarely work, but this one does. It can be enjoyed song by song and it is not a slave to the concept. This begins an album hat trick set of releases (Decoration Day and The Dirty South) that established the band as something to be reckoned with.

I actually have this album on CD, but forgot it was in my collection. Prior to purchasing Welcome 2 Club XIII, this was the only DBTs in my collection. This is considered Patterson Hood’s divorce album. He is quoted as saying: Decoration Day is “more or less … an album about choices, good and bad, right and wrong, and the consequences of those choices.” Although, it never clicked for me back in 2003 when it was released, it clicks now.

What an amazing debut, DBT remind me of a profane version of the Georgia Satellites – that is, playing red necks with an ironic wink. Highlights for me are “Steve McQueen.” I am old enough to know the accuracy of the lyric:

When I was a little boy I wanted to grow up to be
Steve McQueen Steve McQueen
The coolest goddamn mothefucker on the silver screen
(Yee-haw)

But it isn’t all fun and games, on the opening track “Wife Beater” they highlight the horror of domestic abuse.

This might be my favorite in the back catalog so far. It has some great Jason Isbell songs. Well paced between the rockers and the more mellow tunes.

After three masterpieces in a row (Southern Rock Opera, Decoration Day and Dirty South), the band is still on a roll with their triple guitar/songwriter attack. They are showing no signs of weakening.

This is the most diverse sounding of the DBT albums so far. At points rocking and almost punk, but at other points pure country (“Lisa’s Birthday”). Isbell has departed, but his ex, Shonna Tucker, takes a few lead vocals.

This the DBT’s second album. Musically it sounds simplistic compared to what would follow it, but it is still good. This is where they sound like a country rock version of The Replacements.

Wow this is a bleak one: a father abandoning his family, losing a job, alcoholism, hooking up with a hooker as a birthday gift, justified homicide, etc. It is kind of a millennial version of Springsteen’s The River, that is, the bleakness is transcendent.

Wow – pure live cow-punk! This is a fun treat. Highlights for me were: the Jim Carroll cover “People Who Died,” “Steve McQueen” and “18 Wheels of Love.” Didn’t mean to be distracted by any of their live albums, but once I started this one I couldn’t stop.

I posted on DBT Facebook group about this quick tour of the DBT catalog that I am on. I mentioned that I was committed to listening to the whole catalog, but I was seeking advice on what to focus on and not breeze by any classics in my rush. This album was a frequent suggestion. The album sounds different (it certainly looks different without cover art from Wes Freed). I checked to see if it was produced by frequent collaborator David Barbe – it was. This is a band that loves the south, but isn’t blind to it’s dark side. They are political in the way Springsteen is political: they describe their neighborhood honestly, but not bitterly.

This album seems more serious and urgent – this was released in 2016 – the beginning of the age of Trump. They are not just their usual keen observers of their world, but now worried observers of their world. As the AllMusic review states the album: “is an op-ed column with guitars, and it presents a message well worth hearing, both as politics and as music.” The song “What It Means” is honest portrayal of current day racism without sounding preachy. I see why this album was frequently suggested by the DBT’s Facebook group.

This band is remarkably consistent. 10 studio albums in and over a decade as a band and they are still delivering quality (remarkably 10 plus years later and 6 more studio albums later and I could say the same thing). This album is a bit mellower, but still has plenty of bite.

I am running out of things to say about this band. I love the opening track: hard rocking and fantastic horns (please show up in Minneapolis with horns!). A great long winded chorus:

Shit shots count.
If the table’s tilted, just pay the man who levels the floor.
Pride is what you charge a proud man for having.
Shame is what you sell to a whore.
Meat’s just meat and it’s all born dyin’.
Some is tender and some is tough.
Somebody’s gotta mop up and eat one.
Somebody’s gotta mop up the blood.

Overtly political, but I am OK with that given how artfully it is delivered. Sonically this album sounds different – still the DBT’s, but some alternative sounds. It includes a great Ramones cover (The KKK Took My Baby Away). Mike Cooley only gets one song: “Sarah’s Flame” which is a poke at Sarah Palin and how she set the stage to make Trump presidency possible.

I probably should have listened to this before The New OK. They both came out in 2020 and to some extent The New OK represents songs the did not make it on this album. Again this political and sonically slightly different than the rest of the catalog – a bit more intentionally modern.

Wow is this a great band and I can’t believe I have never got into these guys. They check so many of my boxes:

• Americana/country rock.
• Lots of guitars (typically it is a three guitar attack like their heroes Lynyrd Skynyrd).
• Traces of some of my favorites: Neil Young, Jay Farrar (Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt), Georgia Satellites, The Replacements, Rolling Stones, Willie Nelson, Springsteen-like narratives, The Faces swagger, Flaming Lips psychedelia, etc.
• David Barbe production is perfect: no gimmicks, just bringing out the best of the band.
• Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley are wonderfully different songwriters and vocalist, yet totally complementary. The Jason Isbell era is delightful too.
• A consistency from album to album – they don’t appear to have any duds in their catalog.

I mentioned earlier in this post that I posted on a DBT’s Facebook group looking for advice on what to focus on in such a large catalog. What I learned was that there are no duds in the catalog and I can certainly attest to that. I am now a fan and I am looking forward to going back and exploring the catalog at a leisurely pace. There are live albums and solo albums to explore. I am also looking forward to the live show – the Facebook group unanimously insisting it will be an revelation.

The show: The DBT live are everything I had hoped: fun, serious, great musicianship, energetic, earnest, etc. They played for two hours with a nice cross section of their catalog. They are dialed into the audience, but they don’t pander. As for horns, the road crew did double duty as a horn section! Here was the set list:

Shake and Pine
Birthday Boy
The Righteous Path
Women Without Whiskey
The Driver
Every Single Storied Flameout
Plastic Flowers on the Highway
Made Up English Oceans
Rosemary with a Bible and a Gun
One of These Days
Goode’s Field Road
Where the Devil Don’t Stay
Tornadoes
A Ghost to Most
Used to be a Cop
Three Dimes Down
Hell No, I Ain’t Happy
Slow Ride Argument
Let There Be Rock
Surrender Under Protest
Angels and Fuselage

After working through the studio catalog I was feeling a preference towards Mike Cooley’s songwriting and voice, but after seeing them live, no slight to Patterson Hood, just Cooley is my guy. He is the consulate cool rock guy on stage, not Keith Richards cool, but pretty damn cool. He is a great guitar soloist. He also has great hair (I am 63 year old bald guy with a ponytail – I am easily impressed).

The show was outdoors on a beautiful night. Utepils Brewing is experimenting as a concert venue. It is just a parking lot with a portable stage. But it worked well despite the simplicity. The beer helped.

I don’t think I have any great insights here. I just rushed through the catalog and wrote a few words about each release and provided a short show review. I have gone back to a few of the albums for second and third pass and damned if each listen they get better. Having studied the catalog positioned me well for the live show – I recognized most of the songs and they definitely played some of the songs that had resonated with me. Grateful to the DRIVE-BY TRUCKER Facebook group for all their fine advice and good vibes. I am now officially a Drive-By Trucker’s fan!

This release is being billed as a “lost album.” The problem with that is that Neil has lost albums like most people have lost socks. That being said this is a very nice release with a unusually laid back vibe for Neil and the Horse (but with plenty of the Horse’s signature grime that oddly inspires Neil).

Toast (named after the San Francisco studio where it was recorded) was originally shelved in 2001 because Young says it “was so sad that I couldn’t put it out. I just skipped it and went on to do another album in its place. I couldn’t handle it at that time.” But he is also quoted at another point saying: “It’s a mind-blowing record, and I don’t think it’s a commercial record, but it’s great rock and roll, very moody, kind of jazzy, there’s a lot of heavy stuff in there.” Despite Neil’s hippie image he is the consummate PR hype-master.

Some of songs from Toast made it on to 2002’s Are You Passionate? (the album that replaced Toast using Booker T and the MGs vs. Crazy Horse). Toast works better than Are You Passionate? Songs that ended up on Are You Passionate? are surprisingly similar given two very different bands. The overall vibe of Toast is more consistent. Is it sad? Yes, but I love sad Neil.

Opening track “Quit” was on Are You Passionate? in a similar arrangement/mix – just slightly longer. In anyone else’s hands this would be a sappy love song, but Young has perfected pathos and so this works.

“Standing in the Light of Love” picks up the pace and is a full on rocker.

“Goin’ Home” was also on Are You Passionate? It has a clichéd Native American vibe – like it was inspired by a 50s western. Kinda of a cheesy song.

I have no idea what this song “Timberline” is about, but it has a nice chooglin’ vibe.

“Gateway of Love” opens with cool surf rock riff intro before it moves into classic Neil and the Horse territory. It is a simple lost-love song that the boys turn into a meandering (in a good way) jam.

“How Ya Doin’?” was “Mr. Disappointment” on Are You Passionate? This is a pretty ballad that shows the softer side of the Horse.

“Boom Boom Boom” is the highlight of the album. It is both big riffs and jazzy vamps. It is long (a touch over 13 minutes) but never drags. This is hardly great poetry, but I like the sentiment:

The touch of my woman can soothe my soul

When she make me feel right that’s when the good times roll

I also love the horns that show up at about the one-third mark. In the last third, the Horse is augmented by a muted trumpet that is the perfect seasoning for the song.

In summary this is not essential Neil Young & Crazy Horse, but it is a must have for Neil completists. It is a nice footnote to the Horse catalog.

Neil is not on Spotify, but is on Tidal:

I am a longtime fan of Jerry Garcia’s work with keyboardist Merl Saunders. Saunders brought out the jazz side of Garcia. There is lots of recorded material of this pair in various settings. The most famous Live At The Keystone.

This release is a complete & previously uncirculated two-set Jerry Garcia & Merl Saunders performance at the Keystone in Berkeley CA originally recorded to 1/4” analog reels by Betty Cantor Jackson (legendary taper of Garcia and the Grateful Dead). The band includes bassist John Kahn, drummer Paul Humphrey and saxophonist Martin Fierro (who also plays flute).

The album starts with “Neighbor, Neighbor” a cover of a ZZ Top song from their first album. Garcia and company make ZZ Top’s blues boogie unrecognizable turning it into a mellow jazzy blues with Garcia’s unmistakable vocals.

Next is Danny Hathaway’s “Valdez In The Country.” The original is an instrumental and basically jazz fusion – it could have easily been mistaken as Crusaders’ cut. Garcia and band’s version starts out as a faithful cover and then deconstructs the three minute original into a seventeen minute jazz rock freak out. This is a highlight of the album and perfect representation of the Garcia/Saunders thang.

Jimmy Cliff’s “The Harder They Come” is a track on nearly every Garcia/Saunders set list I have heard. Nothing new here, but if you have never heard these guy’s version you will be delighted.

“You Can Leave Your Hat On” is a Randy Newman song from Sail Away. In the 80s it was a hit for Joe Cocker. Merl takes the vocal lead. The band fully reveals the original’s subtle horniness by turning it into a filthy funky masterpiece.

“That’s The Touch I Like” is a Jesse Winchester cover. The band transforms the country/folk rock of the original and makes it a blues jam.

“Freedom Jazz Dance” is a jazz tune composed by tenor saxophonist Eddie Harris in 1965. Harris’ recording was hugely influential at the time, but the version by Miles Davis on Miles Smiles is better known. The Garcia/Saunders version is closer to the Harris version and more of a jazz rock take than either version.

“Tough Mama” is a Dylan song from Planet Waves, Dylan’s only studio album with The Band. Garcia/Saunders play the song pretty straight – they just jam band the hell out of it.

“Wondering Why” is a Saunders original with Saunders on vocals. The original version from Saunders’ 1974 solo album was under four minutes. This version rambles on for over twenty one minutes. Garcia solos extensively and there is a cool flute solo from Fierro. Saunders weaves in and out on electric piano.

“People Make The World Go Round” is an R&B song by the Stylistics. The original had falsetto vocals and this band subs those with Martin Fierro’s flute.

“Mystery Train” is an Elvis song and a regular on the Garcia/Saunders set list. Like the Jimmy Cliff cover nothing new for long time fans of Garcia/Saunders. Their train-like shuffle is classic – one of my favorite covers.

This is a great addition to the Garcia/Saunders catalog. There is over two hours of music and it is cool to have a complete two set show. Recording is pristine as we have come to expect from Betty Cantor Jackson. Highly recommend if you are a fan of Garcia/Saunders and a great introduction for newbies.

My favorite album of 2021 was the Tedeschi Trucks Band’s (TTB) take on Layla. TTB has now doubled down by creating over two hours of original songs inspired by the Layla’s source material: the “eastern Romeo and Juliet” tale of star-crossed lovers Layla and Majnun by the 12th-century Persian poet Nizami Ganjav. For more details on the album background see David Fricke’s essay on the TTB website.

If you are not a fan of TTB, think of them as the successor to the sophisticated blues rock of the classic rock era: Clapton, Allman Brothers (where TTB guitarist Derek Trucks served for many years), Bonnie Raitt, etc. They are a “big band” – 12 pieces including two drummers and a horn section. The main feature is Derek Trucks’ tasty slide guitar and Susan Tedeschi’s vocals (and she is no slouch on slide either). There are multiple songwriters, vocalist and soloists. Although, songs get stretched, TTB doesn’t sound like a jam band – the sound of this band is more deliberate.

The album leads off with “Hear My Dear” featuring Susan on vocals. This is a good sample of who the TTB are: Susan’s bluesy/soulful vocals, Derek’s slinky solos with his fat tone, the twin drums, the horns, the organ, and rich background vocals. Lyrically the song sets up the story: “Hear my dear is your melody.”

“Fall In” features long time TTB vocalist and songwriter Mike Mattison – who was a major instigator of the album’s concept. The song has a New Orleans feel.

“I Am The Moon” is a gorgeous vocal duet between Susan and keyboardist Gabe Dixon. This sets the table of the star crossed lovers:

I am the moon, you are the sun
And look at you, flaming out in front of everyone
You are the star, I am the stone
Up here spinning along

“Circles ‘Round The Sun” has an infectious raga-like groove. Lyrically it suggests there is trouble ahead: “Do you know my name? Can you save me from this love?” The band is cooking here – lots of mini solos.

“Pasaquan” sounds like a lost Allman Brothers classic – an instrumental long jam – including obligatory drum solo (just long enough but not too long to become tedious).

TTB is taking an intriguing album release cycle. They are releasing the 24 songs over four albums over several months. I was initially disappointed about only getting 5 of the 24 songs, but now I am kind of digging that you are forced to savor each course of the meal.

With each release there will be a companion film (available on YouTube). The schedule is as follows:

I Am The Moon: I. Crescent
Film Premiere: May 31st
Album Release: June 3rd

I Am The Moon: II. Ascension
Film Premiere: June 28th
Album Release: July 1st

I Am The Moon: III. The Fall
Film Premiere: July 26th
Album Release: July 29th

I Am The Moon: IV. Farewell
Film Premiere: August 23rd
Album Release: August 26th

I am enthusiastic enough to have preordered the full deluxe vinyl package (now sold out from the band):

Can’t wait for the next installment!

My first exposure to Harry Styles was on Saturday Night Live when he was promoting his first album in the spring of 2017. I was immediately impressed – he had that pop star magic that is hard to describe, but you know it when you see it. About a month later his first album was released and I was hooked. Eventually my wife and I saw him live and he is a performer – many great musicians are not performers and many performers are not really musicians. Styles appeared to be both.

Harry Styles appeals to my 80s R&B and classic rock ears. I hear Prince, Stevie Wonder, McCartney, Bowie, etc. In the age of hip hop, Styles dares to play pop without a trace of the dominant flavor in modern pop. Styles is not a pop original, but a brilliant craftsman. His music is pure ear candy.

This is his third solo album, and although there is nothing new here, there is the pure confidence of an artist who doesn’t feel the need to impress anyone but himself. I listened to a recent podcast from the New York Times that suggested that Styles’ music does not live up to his greatness as a pop star and celebrity. I get that. His music is derivative and unoriginal, but it is fun and engaging. That is good enough for me!

I love Wilco, but there has been a sameness to their recent albums – they were not bad, just unremarkable (fortunately the live shows have been transcendent over the last decad). On first listen, Cruel Country breaks that pattern: this is an engaging, yet subtle masterpiece. On subsequent listens it just gets better – it continues to grow on you.

Wilco’s origin is in the alt-country movement, but by their second album they were clearly not going to be bound by that. Cruel Country embraces alt-country without being beholden to early Wilco or Uncle Tupelo. Is this Wilco going “country” or going back to their alt-country roots? Country is in the album title and implied in the doily cover art. There are country elements in the album (twangy guitars and adult lyrics).

“There have been elements of country music in everything we’ve ever done,” per Jeff Tweedy said in the pre-release hype for the album. “We’ve never been particularly comfortable with accepting that definition, the idea that I was making country music. But now, having been around the block a few times, we’re finding it exhilarating to free ourselves within the form, and embrace the simple limitation of calling the music we’re making country.”

My conclusion is Cruel Country is country music (in the non-Nashville alt-county/Americana sense that Tweedy helped invent), but it is also a double meaning: it is music about our country. Wilco are country like the Grateful Dead are country: they are informed and influenced by it, they borrow from the country palate and they deconstruct it and reassemble something new. Tweedy tips his hand in his press release:

In spite of ourselves, and all of our concerns and efforts to distract, we had made an ‘American music’ album about ‘America.’

Per their website: “The double album features 21 songs recorded with all 6 members of the band together at The Loft.” That is significant in that the band has not been altogether in the studio since recording Sky Blue Sky in 2007. As much as Wilco is Jeff Tweedy, Wilco is a band. Cruel Country sounds like a band at the height of its powers: a firm leader and a supportive set of players dedicated to making great songs and not showing off their instrumental prowess. This is a hefty album – the 21 songs spread over an hour and a quarter – this requires a commitment to consume.

Lyrically Tweedy is lamenting our fractured times in America, like in “Hints” were he says:

There is no middle when the other side
Would rather kill than compromise

Or in the titular track:

I love my country like a little boy
Red, white, and blue

I love my country stupid and cruel
Red, white, and blue

But it is also an interior album, like “Tired Of Taking It Out On You” that juxtapositions gorgeous sounding music with heavy self-aware lyrics:

Freeze my warmth away
Tear the tears out of your quiet face
I can’t take the way I am with you
Or recreate things we used to do
I’m tired of taking it out on you

Musically the album is deceiving – at first listen it sounds acoustic and mellow, but after more careful listens it is as sonically as adventurous as Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. A great example is the epic “Many Worlds” that displays everything that is sonically brilliant about Wilco. And who knew Nels Cline, noise guitarist extraordinaire, was a closet country picker.

It is great to have Wilco back at full strength. Not that they were ever gone or had started to suck, but Cruel Country is better than anything they have done in the last decade. This is an early contender for my album of 2022. Some good medicine for our sick times.

Cruel Country is only available via digital channels at release and again per their website: “Yes, CD and LP editions are in the works, but we’ll spare you the supply chain talk.”

I listened to a recent Political Beats podcast on Prince. Part One, which was nearly four hours long, focuses on 1978 to 1985 (his first seven albums). I think of myself as a serious Prince fan – especially for this period as I experienced most of it in real time. But in reality I was late to the party (the first Prince album I bought was #3: Dirty Mind). I really only have superficial experience with the first two albums. I have failed to explore the deluxe reissues of 1999 and Purple Rain. This podcast has forced me to go back and re-familiarize and re-evaluate the first two albums and motivates me to explore the deluxe reissues.

If you are not from Minneapolis, the assumption is that Prince was a local phenomenon before he became a big deal on the national and global stage. I was there and relatively awake in 1978 and he was invisible – at least to this white boy. I was vaguely aware that he existed, but did not pick this album up until after being hooked by Dirty Mind. My recollection of my reaction of my first listen to For You was that it was generic R&B and not the game changer I heard on Dirty Mind. I dismissed it as the early work of a genius in progress.

Listening to it with fresh ears, I now realize what an audacious debut it was. Prince was 19 with minimal experience as a performer and in the studio. Yet he was as confident as a seasoned pro. He sang all the vocals and played all the instruments, including: acoustic, electric, and bass guitar; acoustic and Fender Rhodes piano; synth bass; various keyboard synths by Oberheim, Moog, and Arp; orchestra bells; drums and percussion. He dismissed the advice of his experienced producer in favor of his own vision. He blew his three album advance on this one record.

Yes, it is generic late 70s R&B, but it is also a glimpse of a genius honing his craft. The building blocks are here: the hooks, the guitar histrionics, the voice, the clever horny lyrics and most of all the swagger. It would not take him long to revolutionize funk, R&B, rock, and pop. This is the seed.

On For You Prince arrived fully formed – or so we thought – Prince became Prince on this album. He sounds like no one else, yet he will grow significantly more on the next several albums.. Again, I did not experience this is in real time, but as part of my back tracking after Dirty Mind. I remember this one clicked for me at the time, especially the hit “I Wanna Be Your Lover.” But I was so enamored by Dirty Mind that I never really dug in past that hit.

Coming back to it now, I appreciate what a complete album it is. It has the songs that sound like hits, “I Wanna Be Your Lover,” “I Feel For You” (an actual huge hit five years later for Chaka Khan) and “Sexy Dancer.” Amazing quiet storm ballads. Lascivious glam rock with “Bambi.” He set the table not for the five album run, but the eight album run.

If this was Prince’s only achievement, he would be a legend. But it was merely his first of several masterpieces. He is now fully formed: the Minneapolis sound, the look, the hits, the originality, the foundation of a very long and successful career – a brand. Was it funk, rock, pop? The only appropriate genre designation is Prince music. I am not going to say anymore – just listen.

I don’t set an alarm for Record Store Day (RSD), I wake up when I wake up. This RSD I woke up at 4:00 AM. Nope. Went back to sleep. Woke up again at 4:45. Okay. Up and at ‘em.

My wife and I became snowbirds and are wintering in Phoenix. Our idea of embracing the local culture has been to go to breweries. We have also sampled a few record stores: Zia on Thunderbird (a local chain with large selection and shit ambiance), a forgettable overpriced used shop, and Stinkweeds (small but well curated store with classic record store vibes). Guess where I am for RSD?

So far we love Phoenix with one notable exception: everything is at minimum thirty minutes away. I jumped into the car at 5:00 AM and arrived at Stinkweeds at 5:30 AM. There were about 40 people in line in front of me. Good, that will make it easier to keep to my budget.

I am not sure if I went to the first RSD fifteen years ago, but I remember going to the Electric Fetus on a Saturday afternoon to check out this RSD thing (assume it year one or two of RSD). There was nothing left, the next year I was an early bird and have been since – learned my lesson.

One of the best parts of RSD is making acquaintance with those in the queue with you. “What’s on your list?” is the conversation starter. It is always a pleasure to find out that there are people with weirder taste than you. Cheers to my new RSD friends: Kansas City Kent, Frisco the Swifty, the Montanas and San Diego Dad. Bonus this year there was a kind soul distributing donuts included my favorite: chocolate/custard filled.

This year’s RSD ambassador is T Swift. Her 7 inch single brought out some RSD newbies. I am all for that – keep the hobby alive.

Stinkweeds does a nice job with RSD. They set up tents in their parking lot and have an orderly process. They have coffee from Esso. I appreciate that the store opens early (8:00) for RSD. Thumbs up to what appears to be the premiere record shop in The Valley. Just before the store open a diminutive, but charismatic woman gave instructions on how the event would proceed and some introduction of the Stinkweeds’ staff. I did some googling and was pleased to learn that Stinkweeds is a woman owned business. Read more about Stinkweeds owner Kimber Lanning here.

I was able to score all four LPs on my list:

• The Bleeding Hearts – Riches to Rags: this is the long lost Bob Stinson (original Replacements’ guitarist) solo album
• Jazz Sabbath – Vol. 2: a clever schtick where a jazz band claims to be to have had their compositions stolen by a famous heavy metal band
• Joni Mitchell – Blue Highlights: extra material from the classic album Blue
• Golden Smog – On Golden Smog: first vinyl release of the Americana supergroup’s 1992 debut EP

Overall a great 🌵 RSD. Looking forward to many more in the 🌵. See you at RSD drop two June 18, 2022 at the Electric Fetus in the Bold North.