John Mayer has the skills to do anything in the rock genre and yet he chooses yacht rock. The “problem” is he does it brilliantly. This is well executed soft rock: hummable songs, great arrangements, impeccably recorded, tasty guitar licks and cover art that screams of the 80s (a wink to the listener that Mayer knows exactly what he is doing). “I’m somewhere between a pop artist and a jam band—maybe closer to pop artist,” Mayer recently stated.
There is not much to say here. If you like Mayer and you are not too cool to enjoy soft rock, give this a listen. It is like having a decent craft beer on a brewery patio on a nice day – pleasant. It is not 80s Dire Straits or Steve Windwood, but it is pretty damn good. Kickback and enjoy.
PS – I love The Nice Price sticker on the album cover. Back in the day, Columbia (now Sony) used this sticker to discount slow moving product (and albums past their sell date) in its catalog – another wink at musicheads like me.
I am a minor Beach Boys fan. I like the hits when I am hear them, but I wouldn’t deliberately play their music. I fully appreciate their genius and their influence on pop music. Despite my ambivalence about The Beach Boys, I am a fan of Dennis Wilson’s 1977 solo project Pacific Ocean Blue.
I became aware of Pacific Ocean Blue when it was reissued by Legacy Recordings as a special 30th anniversary 2-disc edition in 2008. It also included material from the Bambu sessions which was the intended follow up. Pacific Ocean Blue reissue got a lot of positive hype as a lost classic. Based on the reviews, I picked it up on CD and have enjoyed it ever since. I picked up a green vinyl version of Bambu on Record Store Day 2017.
I was recently crate digging and came across an attractively priced limited edition 180-gram blue vinyl version released on the Sundazed label (same tracks as CDs). I was not going to pass that up.
The album has a bit of a Beach Boys vibe, but it has its own vision. It has much more in common with the late 70s California singer songwriter movement than The Beach Boys. As Tom Jurek states, in his All Music review, “This album is a classic, blissed-out, coked-up slice of ’70s rock and pop that is as essential as Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours.” There is almost a Pink Floyd feel to the album. Also, there is a funkiness to Wilson’s music that doesn’t exist in The Beach Boys’ music. Wilson has a soulful gravelly voice that is more Dr. John than the Boys.
Unfortunately Dennis Wilson had many demons and died of drowning in 1983 so we are left with one great album and an unfinished album that is the Bambu sessions.
The bonus material from the Pacific Ocean Blue sessions is a nice addition and the Bambu sessions material shows Wilson still had some gas in the tank. But the original 12 songs from Pacific Ocean Blue are perfect and together they form an LP masterpiece.
(LP – Thrill Jockey #THRILL 540LP)
I discovered Rose City Band when I was captured by the eponymous debut album’s cover art that I saw in an AllMusic new release email. My reaction upon hearing it was that this was country shoegaze and I loved it. I couldn’t find anything about the album or band on the internet. Eventually, I learned it was a psychedelic journeyman Ripley Johnson solo project:
“…that refined his more polished and rock-oriented work in bands like Wooden Shjips and Moon Duo into a gauzy, cosmic take on country-folk.”
Allmusic
I enjoyed the second album Summerlong, but it did not hit me as hard as the debut. Earth Trip, takes the lo-fi beauty of the debut and elevates it to reference recording level excellence. Musically and sonically it sounds great.
If you enjoy the mellow folk side of Neil Young (Harvest and Harvest Moon), the noodling guitar and whispered vocals of JJ Cale, the jammy psychedelics of Grateful Dead or the contemporary psychedelic take of The War On Drugs, you will likely dig The Rose City Band.
Per the album’s label’s (Thrill Jockey) website:
Earth Trip was written during the period of sudden shocks and drastic lifestyle changes of 2020, quite literally “called down off the road” as he sings in elegiac album opener “Silver Roses”. Home for an extended period for the first time in years, he was able to reconnect with simple pleasures of home life: hikes in nature, bathing outside and waking with the dawn. Johnson found hope and healing in forming a more mindful relationship with the natural world, from the simple pleasures of tending a garden to sleeping out under the stars. “
Thill Jockey
Besides the overall mellow vibe, the most distinctive feature of the album is Ripley’s fluid guitar that works as effectively as Jerry Garcia (without sounding anything like him). I also love the arrangements and mix, which according to Ripley Johnson:
“I was trying to capture that feeling when you take psychedelics and they just start coming on – maybe objects start buzzing in the edges of your vision, you start seeing slight trails, maybe the characteristics of sound change subtly. But you’re not fully tripping yet. Cooper (Cooper Crain who mixed the album) got the idea right away and his mix really captures that feeling.”
Thrill Jockey
Unfortunately, the album is not available on streaming services like Spotify (although four tracks were issued as singles, so I assume it eventually will be), but it is available on Bandcamp. The other two albums are available on Spotify.
I am not a long time fan of Lana Del Rey, but she made my best of 2019 with Norman Fucking Rockwell. At the time I said: “I feel like I should be a fan:
- I take female artists seriously (Joni Mitchell rivals Dylan for my favorite artist)
- I am a big fan of current female pop stars
- I love dreamy slow songs
- Mazzy Star is one of my favorite bands
- Cat Power’s The Greatest is one of my favorite albums”
I guess I can now add Jack Antonoff production (Taylor Swift among others) to the list of reasons I should like Lana Del Rey.
As best I can tell Lana is not changing or doing something different with Chemtrails over the Country Club, but perfecting her brand of melancholic, atmospheric and dreamy pop. Lana Del Rey barely sings – she whispers and purrs and it totally works.
Her lyrics are just as strong as the music. Most songs are mini novels. Per Wikipedia:
“Her music is noted for its stylized, cinematic quality and exploration of themes of sadness, tragic romance, glamor, and melancholia, containing many references to pop culture, particularly 1950s and 1960s Americana.”
Wikipedia
I like this album even more than Norman Fucking Rockwell. It seems more sonically interesting and lyrically more engaging. It also helps that it has a bit of a Joni Mitchell vibe. I suspected after listening to Norman Fucking Rockwell that Lana must be a Joni Mitchell fan. On Chemtrails over the Country Club there is no question. She name checks her and covers Joni’s “For Free” – one of my favorite Joni song’s. “For Free” features Zella Day and Weyes Blood (two singers I am not familiar with). It is a pretty straight cover.
And then there is Nikki Lane. “Breaking Up Slowly” is a country song written and performed by Lana and Nikki. I am a huge Nikki fan so this is a real treat.
If you have never listened to Lana Del Rey, this is a great place to start. If you are a long time fan, you will not be disappointed.
In a recent post I forgave Ryan Adams and I am back to being a fan. I have come to accept that I can like the art and not the artist. Big Colors is not typical Ryan, it sounds like him, but a different sound. Per a Ryan Adams quote I saw in Rolling Stone:
“Big Colors was created as a 1980s soundtrack to a movie that never existed.Wednesdays was a study of decline and morality; Big Colors is meant to feel like a daydream. New York, where this album was written, always propels me into new, unexpected creative spaces and this album happened to me, more than I can say I happened to it.”
It does have an 80s vibe, invoking a careful curated 80s jukebox. I hear traces of Roxy Music, The Smiths & Morrissey, R.E.M. and without irony 38 Special (on “Middle Of The Line”). And there is a few hints of classic Ryan Adams. It is a remarkable juxtaposition of songs that really work together. I can definitely imagine some of these songs in a cheesy 80s movie where the soundtrack is better than the movie.
As I noted in a recent post, Adams was planning to release three albums in 2019. Those were shelved due to scandal. In December 2020 Adams released one of the three and now has released the second of the three. From what I see online he has rearranged the song placements of the three and both Wednesdays and Big Colors are not the original albums that would have been released in 2019.
The simple review is, I dig this album. I like that is not the typical Ryan Adams Americana. It is obviously him, but in some different moods. I am instantly hooked on it, whereas Wednesdays took awhile to sink in. For now I prefer Big Colors to Wednesdays, but that can change with time.
When I first heard this album I posted on my Instagram account (@catchgroove): “Does the world need another 2.5 hour live recording of Neil Young and Crazy Horse? Hell yes! As usual the boys are brilliantly sloppy and there are some deep cut gems.” A few months have gone by and this album still sounds good to me.
This live album is from a warm up show for the Ragged Glory tour at The Catalyst in Santa Cruz, CA, on November 13, 1990. Neil’s timing for Ragged Glory could not have been more perfect – Neil and the Horse were prophets: Seattle grunge was about to explode. They were like John The Baptist: anticipating a messianic rock movement that would be greater than themselves. Eventually Neil would be rightfully named The Godfather of Grunge.
The band plays most of Ragged Glory and selections from their back catalog – the obvious and not so obvious, for example, three from 1975’s Zuma (obvious) and two from 1981’s Re-ac-tor (not so obvious). I never tire of hearing this stuff: it is a turgid plodding mess, but somehow beautiful. The Horse is often maligned as not being accomplished musicians, but musicianship is besides the point – the magic of great rock music is that it just emotes – Way Down In The Rust Bucket gushes emotion.
On the one hand there is nothing new here, but on the other hand that is not the point. Neil Young and Crazy Horse are just a great hang and I will take every opportunity to hang with these guys. This is a particularly great opportunity.
I have been digging this album since it was digitally released in mid March. It was recently released on vinyl for Record Store Day (2021 Drop One). It was number one on my wish list and I got up at 5:00 AM on a Saturday morning to improve my chances. Success!
Daniel Lanois is a brilliant producer and musician. His production credits include: Bob Dylan, U2, Peter Gabriel, Brian Eno, Emmylou Harris, and Robbie Robertson (all masterpieces).
This is Lanois’ take on gospel music 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. I am no expert on gospel music and I am a pretty secular dude, but every time I get a taste of gospel I love it – I love Dylan’s gospel phase for example.
Per Lanois: “We want to lift people’s spirits with this music. It’s so easy to feel isolated right now, but we want everyone to feel included in what we’re doing. Our goal was to be a force for good with these songs. We wanted to remind people not to let the world steal their joy, to remind them that even during a global pandemic, it’s our responsibility to protect our spirits and find ways to keep on dancing, keep on singing, keep on teaching, keep on loving.”
The Heavy Sun quartet is Lanois (vocals, guitar, production), Rocco DeLuca (guitar, vocals), Johnny Shepherd (organ, vocals) and Jim Wilson (bass, vocals). For me the star of the show is Johnny Shepherd’s organ and Lanois’s arrangements and production. This is a really wonderful oddball masterpiece – highly recommend! This will be on this year’s top ten list for sure.
I am not sure why I bought this album shortly after it was released August 27, 1991. I was not a Grateful Dead fan and I certainly wasn’t a Garcia fan. I did own the Dead’s In the Dark album, but that was a pretty popular album at the time – “Touch of Grey” peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, the band’s only top forty single – the song was in regular rotation on MTV! But I did buy the Jerry Garcia Band album and I have loved it. I have never tired of it in thirty years.
What hooked me first was the covers: Dylan, Motown, Beatles, Peter Tosh, Bruce Cockburn, Allen Toussaint, etc. They sounded so good – all original interpretations. There was a subtle soulfulness to the arrangements.
Once hooked with the interpretations and arrangements, Jerry’s guitar reeled me in. I love the marimba tone in Jerry’s electric guitar. It is almost a percussion instrument. When Jerry takes a lead it is wonderfully meandering. The leads are slow burning quite storms.
Jerry sings quietly – it is easy to miss how much complexity is there. He has a rich palate and he uses it brilliantly.
Finally, the band on this album is fantastic. The backup vocals harmonize with Garcia’s voice perfectly. Melvin Seals keyboards are always complementing Garcia’s guitar. John Kahn’s bass and David Kemper’s drums provide a rock solid rhythm section. The group borders on jazz rock fusion. This album sent me down the Garcia rabbit hole – I now own a couple dozen Garcia albums and started to scratch the surface of the Dead. Highly recommend gateway drug to Garcia and the Dead universe. This is my number one pick for Record Store Day 2021 Drop Two (first release on vinyl).
I have been grooving to the new The Black Keys album, Delta Kream, since it came out. I liked it enough that I picked it up on wax and what a revelation the LP is: the vinyl is analog heaven. The sound of the LP is absolutely nasty – some serious endless boogie. The guitars are deep and guttural. The drums are nice and loud and the vocals add sweetens to the mix. This is the Keys at their finest.
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).
It is great to hear the Keys after all their success, return to their roots. This is highly recommended on vinyl. The vinyl mix is thick and tasty – it reminds me of soft caramel.
Ryan Adams has been one of my top 10 recording artists since I discovered Whiskeytown on the endcap of Target in the summer of 1997 – so nearly a quarter of century – more than half of my adult life. I listened to Demolition on repeat burying my mother. My daughter and I sang along to “When Stars Go Blue” when I drove her to and from dance class and it was her first concert (we saw many more together). We reprised “When Stars Go Blue” for the father/daughter dance at her wedding. I was a fan of Ryan Adams.
In 2019 a scandal broke: seven women (including Phoebe Bridgers and Ryan’s ex-wife Mandy Moore) came forward with sexual misconduct allegations against him, including exchanging sexually explicit photographs with an underage fan. Shit – I always assumed he was an asshole, but a sexual predator – that took the air out of my fandom – dare I say it broke my fanboy heart.
2019 was going to be a big year for Adams – three albums were to be released. But the scandal put the kibosh on that. The FBI investigation into the underage claims was closed in the fall of 2019 without Adams being charged, but the stuff with the adult women is pretty undeniable. It was going to be hard to continue to be a fan.
Adams went silent. As best I know Adams didn’t address the accusations against him directly, but he eventually posted on Instagram:
“Believe Women. Believe Truth. But never give up on being part of solutions, and healing. I’ve lost friends who have passed away in this time of self reflection and silence. I can’t be like that. There’s been too much that mattered.”
Not much of an apology. He kept a low profile for awhile. Like a lot of musicians he posted lots of cool solo at-home performances during lockdown. In December 2020, Adams surprise-released one of the planned 2019 albums: Wednesdays.
Was it time to forgive and become a fan again? The album was first released on streaming services and wouldn’t be released physical for several months – so I wasn’t tempted to pay him. I gave it a few listens and it didn’t move me – not sure if it was the music or my attitude towards Adams.
Several months have passed since its release and I am ready to give Wednesdays another chance. It is now available on vinyl and I need to make a decision: am I in or out on Ryan Adams?
Listening to it with forgiving ears I am a struck by how quiet and unassuming an album it is, but there is something there. I like the album enough and have warmed up to a post scandal Adams that I recently bought the vinyl.
Although it was created pre-scandal, it seems to me like the right collection of songs at the right time. Allmusic was not so kind:
“With their spare arrangements and threadbare melodies, the songs collectively create an impression of a singer/songwriter who feels quite sorry for himself, but not necessarily sorry for anything he may or may not have done.”
Ouch.
This is one sad album. Adams morns loss after loss: romances, friendships, death, etc. Despite the downer themes, the album is not a downer because of the beauty of the music. The songs are gorgeously arranged. There are no innovations here, just classic Americana Ryan Adams: strumming acoustic guitars, Dylanesque organ fills (courtesy of Benmont” Tench), Emmylou Harris backing vocals, tasteful strings, a little pedal steel, harmonica, etc. I assume Don Was’ production brought out the best in Adams – the recording sounds great.
Wednesdays is not an Adams masterpiece, but still a very good album. I am ready to get back into Ryan Adams (Big Colors is scheduled for June 11, 2021).
Axl's Catch Groove 