When I look at my favorites of 2021 I see a nice mix of old favorites and new (to me) artists. I am not sure if there is a theme or not, but I see a thread: jams. I don’t pretend that this is a best of list, merely my favorites, formed by, my not particularly broad, musical taste. Here is the top 10 followed by “honorable mentions” in no particular order:
#1 Tedeschi Trucks Band featuring Trey Anastasio – Layla Revisited (Live at LOCKN’) link. I like it better than the original.
#2 Pat Metheny Side Eye V1.IV NYC. I had the privilege of seeing Metheny’s hot young trio twice: once before the pandemic and once recently. This recording is the best souvenir I could have. link
#3 Prince Welcome 2 America link. The vault excavation continues – this time its a whole album that is so on point politically for our times, that it turns out the purple one was a prophet!
#4 Bob Dylan Springtime in New York link. Dylan’s much maligned 80s work is fleshed out and recast for the genius chapter of his catalog I always felt it was. This is the Dylan I was experiencing in real time in my early 20s.
#5 Goose Ted Tapes 2021 link. A new band to me. Instrumental space jam.
#6 The War On Drugs: I Don’t Live Here link. Do yourself a favor and listen on a good pair of headphones.
#7 Steven Wilson – The Future Bites link. This the first album by Wilson or any of his other projects (e.g, Porcupine Tree) that I have listened to. It has opened a wonderful rabbit hole. It sounds like a modern Moody Blues or Pink Floyd.
#8 Robert Plant and Alison Krauss – Raising The Roof link 14 years after Raising Sand, the pair have reunited with producer T-Bone Burnett for a sequel and proof that Raising Sand was not a fluke.
#9 Floating Points/Pharaoh Saunders & The London Symphony Orchestra Promises link. Very cool concept: electronica musician joining forces with legendary octogenarian jazz musician backed by a symphony orchestra. It totally works.
#10 Brandi Carlile In These Silent Days. A worthy follow up to her breakthrough. link
Honorable Mentions– in no particular order:
Bluesound Node 2i link. In the streaming age a dedicated streaming device (a streamer) is a must have component for an audiophile. Life changing seems a little dramatic, but this has been a great addition to the big boy stereo. I have to admit I listen to more hi-res streams than LPs and CDs now. It brings the convince of an iPhone Bluetooth connection with the audiophile quality of a computer hooked to a DAC. Tidal MQA is the service of my choice.
Daniel Lanois – Heavy Sun link. This is Lanois’ (producer of Bob Dylan, U2, Peter Gabriel, Brian Eno, Emmylou Harris, and Robbie Robertson) take on gospel music. It is featuring the Hammond organ of Johnny Shepherd, sometime organist at Zion Baptist in Shreveport, Louisiana. Not surprising, Lanois does not play it straight. His take on gospel music has hints of reggae and electronica. As the kids like to say: pretty dope.
Charles Lloyd & the Marvels – Tone Poem link. Lloyd’s late career resurgence with jazz/Americana continues. Get it on vinyl – Blue Note’s Time Poet series highlights how great the medium can be.
Greta Van Fleet – The Battle At Garden’s Gate link. I could care less that they are derivative. It’s only rock ‘n roll and I like it!
Neil Young and Crazy Horse: Way Down In The Rust Bucket link. A fantastic live album from a warm up show for the Ragged Glory tour (1990).
Neil Young and Crazy Horse: Barn. I have not had a chance to give this album a proper review. You can’t go wrong with Neil and the Horse. There are a few clumsy political songs but overall tasty.
Lucinda Williams Lu’s Jukebox series. Lucinda is the perfect person to cover Petty and Dylan. link. Not available on streaming services.
Kacey Musgraves Star Crossed. Another worthy follow up to a big album. link
Billie Eilish Happier Than Ever link. How does the biggest teen pop star in the world follow up a huge record? With a wonderful adult album that is an artist step forward.
John Mayer Sob Rock. Mayer brilliantly embraces yacht rock. Hidden in the sugar are tasty guitar licks. link
Gary Louris Jump For Joy. Louris and The Jayhawks have always had a soundboard fader where they slide between Americana and the British Invasion. This release is a slide towards the British Invasion. If you like McCartney, you will like this.
Black Keys Delta Kream link. The album celebrates the band’s roots & features songs by R.L. Burnside & Junior Kimbrough. The opening track is the blues standard “Crawling King Snake” (a hit for John Lee Hooker, but the Keys take a Junior Kimbrough approach).
Pat Metheny John Scofield I Can See Your House from Here reissue link. Originally digitally recorded (88.2 kHz/24-bit) in 1994, Blue Note remastered it for vinyl and somehow made it better.
Ron Miles Rainbow Sign link. This is a 2020 release, but I did not discover it until 2021. There are so many great jazz artists that never get heard. Thank goodness I got to hear this album.
Adele 30 – The first cut sounds like schlock, but the rest of the album is brilliant. She has had 4 great albums in a row.
Jackson Browne Down Hill From Everywhere – I continue to be amazed that classic rockers continue to put out quality material in their 70s. Nothing new here, just a craftsman continuing to craft excellence.
Jerry Garcia Band – this 1991 album is one of my favorite albums. Link. Finally reissued on vinyl this year. It was supposed to be a Record Store Day release, but quality issues forced it to be pulled. But it finally made it to market by year end.
Arlo Parks Collapsed Sunbeams link. I don’t like having to label music, but it is a useful way to explain what an artist or band sounds like. For Arlo Park I would call it “folk soul.” It has the intimacy and simplicity of folk music and some subtle funk and hip-hop vibe to give it soul.
FINNEAS – Optimist. I had no interest in this (producer solo albums typically suck) until I listened to an interview/podcast with him and he was fascinating. I gave it a listen and it was good. I shared it with my wife and her take was it sounded like a combo of Harry Styles and Father John Misty. Pretty perceptive take – FINNEAS is a huge FJM fan.
Black Crowes Shake Your Money Maker 4 LP Super Deluxe Edition I am a Crowes fan and picked up the CD back in the day when this was a huge album. This reissue includes the original album, 3 never-before-heard studio recordings; 2 unreleased demos from the band’s early incarnation as Mr. Crowe’s Garden; B-sides; a spectacular, high-energy 14-song unreleased concert recorded in their hometown of Atlanta, GA in December 1990; reproductions of an early Mr. Crowe’s Garden show flyer, setlist and tour laminate; a 4″ Crowes patch; and a 20-page book with liner notes by David Fricke.
Patti reminded me, no reprimand me, about the importance of live music! Transcendent. Link.
That’s a wrap for 2021.
Lu’s Jukebox is a six-volume series of mostly full-band performances recorded live at Ray Kennedy’s Room & Board Studio in Nashville, TN in 2020. Each volume features a themed set of songs or tribute to an artist curated by Lucinda Williams.
Earlier this year I picked up the Tom Petty volume of Lu’s Jukebox. That was great, but this Bob Dylan volume is even better. I am not sure why, but here are a few reasons:
- Dylan’s music lends itself to interpretation by other artists
- I am more of a Dylan fan than a Petty fan
- Lucinda may be more emotionally connected to Bob
- Lucinda’s murky, swampy and bluesy arrangements are not that far from Bob’s musical modus operandi the last couple of decades
But another reason I like this collection is that it is a great selection of Dylan. Lucinda has avoided the obvious and has gone down the deep cut route – focusing on the back half of his career. Below is the track list:
- It Takes A Lot To Laugh
- Everything Is Broken
- Political World
- Man Of Peace
- Not Dark Yet
- Meet Me In The Morning
- Blind Willie McTell
- Tryin’ To Get To Heaven
- Queen Jane Approximately
- Idiot Wind
- Make You Feel My Love
As mentioned earlier, Lucinda wraps the songs in slow, murky, and swampy arrangements. Lucinda’s vocals are her usual sassy slur – a perfect proxy for the bard’s snarl.
Unfortunately, Lu’s Jukebox is not available on streaming services. You can buy it physical at your favorite record shop or get digital files from regular sources (e.g. Amazon).
If you are a Lucinda fan, this is a must have. If you are Dylan fan – especially late era – you will dig this album. Lucinda’s interpretations are fantastic.
This might be the most underrated great Wilco album in their catalog. It arrived in the shadows of the artistic and commercial successes of Yankee Foxtrot Hotel and A Ghost Is Born. It was a great simplification of their sound – they shed the sound effects of the two previous albums in favor of guitar histrionics of new member Nils Cline.
Nils Cline is an amazing guitar player and bandleader in his own right. He is a great addition to Wilco. Cline has a skill that most guitar heroes don’t have: he knows how to complement a song with his solos.
As rock critic Steven Hyden (@Steven_Hyden) recently pointed out, when swooning about this album, he noted that this is when the Wilco lineup solidified and that lineup has been in place for over 20 years now:
- Nels Cline – guitars
- Mikael Jorgensen – keys
- Glenn Kotche – drums
- Pat Sansone – multi-instrumentalist
- John Stirratt (original member) – bass
- Jeff Tweedy (original member) – guitars
This album has quiet folky ballads and loud rock & roll – all melodic AF, perfectly arranged, with tasteful solos, and Tweedy’s vocals are as soulful as he gets.
The album boasts a Wilco staple: “Impossible Germany” – a fixture at every live show I have seen since this album came out – an excuse for Cline to shred. But the whole album is great, it has a totally 70s vibe. There’s George Harrison/Beatles, ZZ Top boogie, but mostly Wilco being Wilco.
If you are not familiar with Wilco this is a great introduction. If you are familiar with Wilco, but this missed your radar, check it out. If you are a Wilco fan – you already know.
I loved 2007’s Raising Sand. It was a genius move to pair Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant with bluegrass/country royal Alison Krauss. Producer T Bone Burnett (one of my favorites – his production credit almost guarantees an album I am going to love) crafted a perfect recipe from two amazing ingredients. The combo of Burnett, Plant and Krauss are back for a successful sequel.
When Led Zeppelin tragically ended with the death of drummer John Bonham in the fall of 1980, I assumed that Jimmy Page would have been the guy with amazing post Zeppelin career. But it is Robert Plant that has had the more interesting post Zep career. He has created a wonderful stew of the blues, rock and roll, folk, world music and electronica. Raising Sand leveraged all of that with Krauss’ angelic voice creating an album of classic Americana. It was so successful (platinum selling and winning Album of the Year at the 2008 Americana Music Honors & Awards and at the 2009 Grammy Awards) that I assumed we would never see a sequel – Plant hates to repeat himself.
Raising The Roof is more of the same and that is OK with me, more of the same means:
- Perfect song choices
- Brilliant arrangements
- Magic harmonies
- And musical joy
We needed Plant and Krauss to “raise” some more and they have delivered another masterpiece. The first album was a bit more of Krauss’ country and the new one more of Plant’s late career hybrid rock. It is the perfect sequel.
Some great background on the album is in this podcast. Includes an interview with Plant and Krauss and examples of source material for the songs.
I have a distinct memory of buying Kid A on release Tuesday October 2, 2000. My plan was to take my daughter to gymnastics lessons and kick back in the mini van and savor it in peace. I tore the cellophane off the CD and slipped it into the dash and out came a sonic gibberish and my immediate response was WTF? I was not savoring, I “woke up sucking on a lemon.”
I loved the previous two Radiohead releases: The Bends and OK Computer. I had great expectations for the new album. What I did not realize was the band wanted to sabotage their career. They recorded an intentionally challenging album, dumping their signature guitar sound for a stew of electronic music, ambient music, krautrock, jazz, and 20th-century classical music. I thought it sounded terrible, in hindsight I was clearly not hip enough to get it:
- Kid A debuted at the top of the UK Albums Chart
- Became Radiohead’s first number-one album in the United States
- It was platinum in Australia, Canada, France, Japan, the US and the UK.
- It won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year
It took me years to get it, but eventually I did. So it was with these informed expectations that I have been looking forward to this release. Specifically on vinyl as I have originally purchased these as CDs when they debuted.
Kid A and Amnesiac were released eight months apart from one another and were recorded simultaneously in 1999 and 2000 with producer Nigel Godrich. The re-release joins the two albums and adds a third album of outtakes and alternate versions. Kid A and Amnesiac flow seamlessly together and could easily have been originally released as a double album. I have to admit I have listened to Kid A more than Amnesiac. I was so put off by Kid A back in the day that I never gave Amnesiac a fair chance. Once I accepted Kid A, Amnesiac got lost in my collection and I never spent quality time with it. Listening to Amnesiac now, it is every bit as good as Kid A and more accessible.
I was excited for the third album of alternative takes and outtakes. However, that turned out to be underwhelming. There is some cool extra stuff, for example, “Follow Me Around” which could easily be a Seattle grunge song. But most of the extras are not that revelatory.
Overall, if you already own or have access to Kid A and Amnesiac in your desired format, this is release is not essential (unless you are a completist).
For me, I felt the need to upgrade from my CDs to vinyl, but as I publish this post, the vinyl release is still in supply chain limbo. I have yet to hear the vinyl – an initial batch of colored vinyl did make it out on release day, but that sold out immediately. Hope it will be worth the wait.
It arrived! And yes worth the wait.
I have been a fan of The War On Drugs (TWOD) since 2014’s Lost in the Dream. I loved its narcotic psychedelic ambiance, yet 80s vibe. It was bathed in synths, hot guitar licks, pop-rock melodies, and dreamy vocals. They didn’t miss a beat on 2017’s A Deeper Understanding. I assumed TWOD was a studio concoction, but 2020’s Live Drugs showed they could rock it live. With I Don’t Live Here Anymore they continue to be on a roll. It is so rare when a band/artist can pump out three great studio albums in a row – TWOD have done it!
If you are not familiar with TWOD, the best way I can describe them is contemporary 80s classic rock. I hear many influences: R.E.M., late era Pink Floyd (sans Roger Waters), 80s Dylan, Tunnel Of Love era Springsteen, Dire Straits, etc. The music is highly layered keyboards and guitars on a solid toe-tapping rhythm section. It is great headphone music.
The new album is sonically similarly to their last two, but I would say the craft is a bit more polished and pop. Not in a bad way – their evolution is similar to R.E.M.’s who similarly evolved to a more polished and pop sound without artistic compromise. It does not feel contrived or reaching for the fences – just a confident embrace of their success.
The opening track, “Living Proof” is disarming – a new sound for TWOD. It is sparse and unadorned (by TWOD standards). But the album returns to traditional lush TWOD form after that.
If you liked the last two TWOD albums, you will like this one. If you are new to the band, this is a great starting point.
My introduction to Brandi was purchasing her album The Story on CD in 2007. I loved the album and its titular song, but somehow it did not make me a fan. I pretty much ignored her despite her success in the Twin Cities market. What caught my attention was her performance of “The Joke” at the 61st Grammys (2019) – it was stunning.
The Grammy performance convinced my wife and I to see her live at the Minnesota State Fair later that year. I have seen a lot of live shows and this was a Top 10 show. We bought T-shirts and became fans.
What is Brandi? Is she folk, Americana, rock, pop, county, etc. My conclusion is she is classic rock. Despite her affiliation with Joni Mitchell, I think the more accurate template is Elton John. The songs are written by a team, she has had a consistent band over the years, she performs in dramatic arrangements with lots of dynamics and she is a charismatic front woman. It doesn’t matter – she makes my favorite kind of music: good music.
And so we come to the follow up to a very successful album, By the Way, I Forgive You. Always a tightrope walk for an artist. The follow up is great – she has defeated the odds with a worthy follow up. I should say “they” vs “she” as I see Brandi Carlile as a band vs solo act: Brandi, the twin brothers Tim and Phil Hanseroth and a stable touring band.
Carlile returns with the same production team as her last album: Dave Cobb and Shooter Jennings. Cobb has worked his magic all over alternative Nashville: The Highwomen, Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, and John Prine to name a few.
Lyrically Carlile deals with adult relationships – this is my new working definition of country music. Musically there is Elton histrionics, Joni pop folk, Bonnie Raitt swagger and those classic Brandi and the Twins harmonies. Nothing new here from Carlile, just the usual high quality craft.
My hot take would be that In These Silent Days is better than By the Way, I Forgive You. By the Way, I Forgive You had a few slow spots, whereas every song on In These Silent Days is perfect. Brandi seems fully comfortable and confident in the skin of the rock star she has become. She believes in the truth that is Brandi Carlile. Can’t wait to see her play this batch of new songs live – hurry up Brandi and announce a proper tour!
First: how about that cover art? A sexy 80s Dylan that could be right out of a Miami Vice episode.
I don’t come to this period of Dylan with objectivity. This is when I was absorbing Bob in real time. I have a distinct memory of waiting in the parking lot of The Wax Museum (worlds best name for a record store) for the store to open so I could pick up Shot Of Love on release day. “My Bob” starts with 1978’s Street Legal. When I went to college in the fall of 1977, my mentor, Uncle Paul, turned me on to Dylan (among other things) and I was immediately smitten by the bard. By the time Street Legal was released in the summer of 1978, I was a big fan. I got even deeper following him in real time over the subsequent years. Love the old stuff, but there is something special about the stuff I experienced in real time – “my Bob.” And so I have been looking forward to this release of prime early “my Bob” material (the 80s).
Per Bob’s website:
Bob Dylan – Springtime In New York (1980-1985) celebrates the rich creative period surrounding Dylan’s albums Shot Of Love, Infidels, and Empire Burlesque with previously unreleased outtakes, alternate takes, rehearsal recordings, live performances and more.
https://www.bobdylan.com
It is not exactly a hot take to say that Dylan’s outtakes are better then most artists’ greatest hits. This collection reemphasizes that concept. There are amazing outtakes on this album: songs we have heard before, like “Blind Willie McTell” and “Foot Of Pride” (although not these versions – some of these were foreshadowed on the original Bootleg box in 1991) and ones that are fresh like “Fur Slippers.” The alternate takes of songs off the three studio albums are less revelatory, but as a fan it is cool to witness the evolution of those songs.
The easiest version to access is the two CD version (also available on streaming services). The full version is on five CDs. The vinyl edition has a smaller selection than the CD and in order to have a vinyl equivalent to the five CDs you need to augment the standard two LP edition with a four LP edition from Third Man Records (I am in possession). However, the vinyl option still comes up 4 tracks short of the 5 CD version (I am missing out on Bob’s cover of “Sweet Caroline 😕). The full edition has a lot more outtakes, some amazing covers (Dave Mason’s “We Just Disagree” – who knew?), and some more adventurous alternate takes. The expanded edition is well worth the extra investment.
80s Dylan is unfairly maligned – there is only one stiff: Knocked Out Loaded (and even that is not horrible, merely below Dylan standards). Shot Of Love, Infidels, and Empire Burlesque are great. And the 80s ends with Oh Mercy which is a masterpiece. The 80s was set up by Dylan’s Christian period which inspired him to great work: lyrically, musically and in performance. The only criticism of the Dylan trio of Shot Of Love, Infidels, and Empire Burlesque is that they have some dated production values. But I kind of dig the production of all three albums – they are true to the era they were created.
I am not sure who the audience for this is beyond Dylan obsessives like me. But if you are one of those obsessives and you appreciate Shot Of Love, Infidels, and Empire Burlesque you will dig this collection. Each Bootleg Series release sheds new light and in some cases reassess a chapter in the Dylan discography. This release reassess the much maligned 80s Dylan as fertile period with not good, but great material.
Kacey’s Golden Hour is one of my favorite albums of the last 5 years. One of the great mysteries in music is the fine line between country and pop/rock. This is not a new phenomenon. Was Patsy Cline pop or country? Was Johnny Cash rock or country? Is Shania Twain pop or country? Is Garth Brooks rock or country? You get the idea. The music business seems more flexible these days. Taylor Swift can fully transition from country to pop. Darius Rucker can transition from rock to country. Kacey started her career with country – her first two albums are unabashedly country. But with 2018’s Golden Hour, Kacey went pop – not even country pop – it was pop. On Star-Crossed she doubles down on pop – it has no trace of country. One of my theories (not original) is that country is adult music – it is dealing with adult themes. Pop music generally deals with teenage themes. By that definition Golden Hour and Star-Crossed are country albums – those are adult albums dealing with adult issues.
Star-Crossed is a concept album – more specifically a divorce album. An interesting sequel to Golden Hour which was a falling in love record. What is remarkable is that Star-Crossed is not bitter. It is candid about the unraveling of a marriage, but it is also a classic tale of what “doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”
Per Kacey: “You can easily say it is a post-divorce album, which yes, it is factually on paper. But this album is full of a lot of love and gratitude for that person, for Ruston, for my life and my ability to explore all the emotions as a songwriter.”
https://www.npr.org/2021/09/10/1035553570/kacey-musgraves-star-crossed-and-thriving
Despite being a concept album, each song can be appreciated as singles, but it is also a cohesive album that tells a story.
The album is what I call a “grower” – meaning it grows on you with each listen. It took about five times through before it hooked me. Now with each listen more is revealed to me both sonically and lyrically. Golden Hour was love at first listen.
The album ends with a cover of “Gracias a la vida” (Spanish for “Thanks to life”). Given it is sung in Spanish and clearly a cover I did some research. It is a song written, composed and originally performed by Chilean Violeta Parra and made famous by Mercedes Sosa. The song “Gracias a la vida” was considered as a “humanist hymn” that finds joy in the little things in life. Ironically, Parra committed suicide shortly after recording the song. The song has been frequently covered by Latin singers. Joan Baez popularized the song in the United States in 1974 by including it on her album of the same name.
Per Kacey: “I think it’s interesting that this song was on the last album she had written; she did commit suicide. I think that adds to the intense, tragic, and sorrowful nature of what this song is saying ‘thank you’ to life. You’ve given me so much. You’ve given me the beautiful and the terrible. You’ve given me the pain and the laughter. And I’m thankful for all of it.”
https://www.distractify.com/p/does-kacey-musgraves-speak-spanish
In light of all I learned, it is a perfect ending to the album.
The album has a movie to accompany it available on Paramount +. I have not seen it yet, but it sounds intriguing per this mini review:
In a collection of three acts, Musgraves transforms: First she’s a doe-eyed, iron-wielding wife; then a fleeing cross-country traveler, crashing head-on with heartbreak; and finally a woman rebuilt (by Eugene Levy’s team of surgeons, no less), a dark horse shedding the innocence of newlywed bliss for the shock of real life.
https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a37543523/how-to-watch-star-crossed-kacey-musgraves-film-movie/
Musgraves transformed from a mid-tier country act to a top-tier pop act with Golden Hour, it was a masterpiece. A let down would not be unexpected. But Star-Crossed has maintained, and I would say, enhanced her greatness. Not Golden Hour Part 2, but a subsequent masterpiece. Sonically and lyrically it is cut from the same cloth. Not so much “more of the same” as much as with Golden Hour Kacey found her voice and with Star-Cross she has perfected it.
Modern RecordingsThis album culls tunes from two shows on 9.11.19 and 9.12.19 at Sony Music Hall in NYC. I had the good fortune of seeing a show on this tour earlier that month at a club in Minneapolis (The Dakota). The band on the album is a trio of Metheny, jazz/R&B/hip-hop virtuoso keyboardist James Francies and Marcus Gilmore on drums (grandson of legendary drummer Roy Haynes). I will be seeing this line up again later this fall at a small theater in Minneapolis. So this is both a souvenir of a show I have seen and a pregame for my next Metheny show.
Per things I have read and heard Metheny say, The Side-Eye concept is two things: challenging himself to play and compose in fresh contexts and give exposure to young(er) musicians (Francies was 24 at the time of this recording and Gilmore was 32 – Metheny was 65). Half the tunes are from Metheny’s back catalog and half are new (and an Ornette Coleman cover as a cherry on the top).
At times, this is a traditional 60s jazz organ trio, but at other times it sounds like Metheny in one of his grand ensembles. This is due mainly to Metheny’s use of orchestrionics. “Orchestrionics” is the term that Metheny uses to describe a method of developing ensemble-oriented music using acoustic and acoustoelectric musical instruments that are mechanically controlled by solenoids and pneumatics triggered by Metheny’s guitar. It is also due to the rich palate of James Francies. Francies somehow is able to evoke Jaco via his keyboard bass lines. At the club show in Minneapolis I was basically “social distance” from James Francies with a direct view of his hands on the keyboard and I have no idea how he did it. I recall being dumbfounded at the time. Last but not least, Gilmore holds it all together – no simple task when there is so much going on – Metheny’s controlled chaos.
I am still digesting this album, but my initial response is I absolutely love it. It is a great sampling of the many textures of Metheny. Despite many different styles that he plays, every note is unmistakably Pat Metheny.
Axl's Catch Groove 