On my bike ride today I was listening to k. d. lang’s anthology Retrospective in anticipation of the case/lang/veirs concert I will be seeing this week. “The Air That I Breathe” came on and my first reaction was that this must be a Radiohead cover. But as the chorus came a round the second time I said to myself this is an oldie – I have heard this song before and it was not Radiohead. Sure enough I searched Spotify and it was a 1974 hit by The Hollies. I am not the first to make this discovery – the songwriters Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood successfully sued Radiohead and reissues of Pablo Honey now credit Hammond and Hazlewood as co-writers of “Creep” and Hammond and Hazlewood split royalties with the band. No wonder Radiohead never plays “Creep.”
Lollapalooza 2016 (Chicago), the four day music festival, was a success with great music, decent weather and good times with the kids. There is too much to give you a play by play, so here are a few highlights:
- Hiatus Kaiyote – I dug the soul, funk, jazz and rock of this band (day 1).
- The 1975 – I was dismissive of this band given they were pop, but they are a great pop and ROCK band with a charismatic front man with a very cool look (day 1).
- J. Cole – I knew nothing about this guy, but wow what an entertainer. I assumed this hip hop artist was not big enough to headline, but clearly he was. The crowd was totally into it (day 1).
- Modern Baseball – Thank god rock and roll saved these guys (day 2).
- Lettuce – A powerful funk band with a bassist who rivaled Flea as the most impressive bassist of the festival (day 2).
- Frank Turner – I had never heard of this guy. A folk singer with a rock and roll heart (day 2).
- Radiohead – This was the number one draw for me. They fully met and exceeded my high expectations. I forget that as huge as these guys are, they don’t have hits, so the audience was not nearly as into it as other main stage acts. For me it was sublime with a great set list and the sound/audio was perfect (day 2).
- Honeysuckle – We caught the end of their set and loved this country/folk band (day 3).
- Tor Miller – My wife and I made a point of seeing Tor this past winter in Minneapolis because we know his drummer. Over the last few months the band has really jelled and Tor has become a solid front man (day 3).
- The Joy Formidable – This band was an afterthought because the X Ambassadors sucked – The Joy Formidable were a pleasant surprise. A powerful alt rock band that looked like it belonged on the big stage (day 3).
- Chris Stapleton – I expected him to be good and he delivered. I was surprised at how bluesy he played. He was totally comfortable in a rock setting (day 3).
- Red Hot Chili Peppers – They were born to headline festivals. Spectacular (day 3).
- Hiam – This band combined transcendent moments with lapses of uninspired pop rock. When they hit it right – they were perfect (day 4).
- Muna – Front woman Katie Gavin was like a sexy goth librarian (day 4) – a perfect look for this pop band that deals with heavy topics.
- Zhu – LCD Sound System was a stiff, so we closed the night off with this electronic musician who had a nice cameo by Trombone Shorty (day 4).
Overall it was a great festival. I got to see some bucket list acts and discovered some new bands. The weather threatened, but never got worse than a drizzle. It never got too hot on sunny days. Thank you Chicago! Ready to get home an be with my sweetie who made it all happen – miss you.
Of the great British guitar gods from the 60s, my favorite is Jeff Beck. He is not as famous as Clapton and Page, but his tendency toward experimentation and jazz chops is what tips the scales for me. He can make his guitar sound like industrial noise, tender and everything in between – he is always musical.
Loud hailer is what the British call a bullhorn or megaphone. This is a good album title because Beck is his loud rock mode on most of this album (however there are some gorgeous ballads too).
Beck appears to be quite inspired by the young unknown players who accompany him on this album. According to the PR machine for this album, Beck met a young women at Queen drummer Roger Taylor’s birthday party: guitarist Carmen Vandenberg. Vanderberg then introduced Beck to her musical buddies: singer Rosie Bones and produce Filippo Cimatti. Cimatti then recruited drummer Davide Sollazzi and bassist Giovanni Pallotti – Beck had himself a band. Most of the songs were written by the trio of Beck, Bones and Vanderberg.
Bones has a cool voice. She sounds a bit punk and she lets her British accent color the vocals. She is a great foil for Beck – who has always been a great vocal accompanist. This is not the first “nobody vocalist” he has introduced to the world – Rod Stewart was his first.
Some of Bones lyrics are a bit ham-handed and lefty political. But she delivers the goods with her great rock voice and earnestness.
Beck is yet another example this year of an aging rock star who is still on top of his game and still exploring new sounds. Bonus points for passing on studio pros and flying without a net with a young unproven band – they are proven now.
My parents were from Ireland and introduced me to black tea as a wee child. Well not really black tea – they sweetened and lightened it with a generous portion of cream (half & half) and sugar. As a “rebellious” teenager I switched to coffee.
As a coffee drinker I evolved toward dark strong coffee with a bitter edge (espresso and French Roast for example). The older I have gotten the more I have appreciated bold flavors like Isly Scotch, IPA and sour beers, blue cheese, etc.
A few years ago I got reintroduced to tea through my wife’s interest in herbal teas and chai. I started experimenting with black teas and stumbled across Pu-erh or Pu’er.
Pu’er is a fermented and aged dark tea produced in Yunnan province, China, and named after Pu’er City. It has a unique flavor – or as my wife says it smells and tastes like a barn. I fell in love with it. It is strongly caffeinated and to me that barn taste is earthy – I like to think of it as the espresso of teas.
I recently heard a podcast, featuring the great essayist Malcolm Gladwell where he mentioned his love of lapsang souchong tea. He (or the podcast’s host Tim Ferriss) described it as comparable to the flavor Isly Scotch. That is all I needed.
Today I stopped by La Société du Thé in Uptown Minneapolis to pick up a batch. After a few errands I got home and brewed up a cup. The taste was definitely black tea, but as Gladwell suggested, it had that smokey peaty taste of Isly Scotch. In addition, It had that head clearing effect of menthol – it is not menthol in taste or smell – just that kind of effervescence. As it cooled the basic taste morphed into subtle variations like a good beer warming. This will be a definitive competition for my daily caffeine fix. Mr Gladwell and Mr. Ferris thanks for the tip.
Per Wikipedia Lapsang Souchong is distinct from all other types of tea because lapsang leaves are traditionally smoke-dried over pinewood fires, taking on a distinctive smoky flavour.
This is Steven Tyler’s “country” album. About a year ago Tyler told Rolling Stone “Country is the new rock & roll.” I agree. Much of current country is rock and in many cases country hits would not sound out-of-place on a classic rock station. For a long time I have felt that The Eagles were as influential on contemporary country as Hank Williams. Country artist like Keith Urban are as much rock as they are country. True country is not lost – there is still has plenty of twang with new sensations like Chris Stapleton, Margo Price and Jason Isbell. Defining something as country or rock is impossible – like a lot of things it is on a spectrum. This album is firmly in the middle of that spectrum.
I really like this new Steven Tyler album. Tyler’s voice has never sounded better. The album is barely country, but that is OK – I like that Tyler stayed true to himself. Many of these tunes would work as power ballads on an Aerosmith album. There is bro-country (“Red, White And You”), a taste of Mumford and Sons (“Love Is Your Name”) and a nod to Don Henley and The Eagles (“It Ain’t Easy).
This is not an amazing genre shifting masterpiece like Robert Plant’s Raising Sand, but it is plenty entertaining. Tyler sounds like he is having fun. What more can you ask for from a 68-year-old rock star resisting legacy status. Is he a sell-out? Hell yeah – but that is part of his charm – it’s only rock and roll.
I am a graduate of Basilica grade school, a serious music head and frequent concert goer, but it took me until its 22nd year to finally check out the Basilica Block Party. It was Ryan Adams that got me there.
Thursday my wife and I looked at the forecast and saw it was going to be a perfect night so we bought a pair of tickets.
We live close by so we rode our bikes down and explored the grounds. We found a perfect spot at the Preferred One Stage: elevated, a fence to lean on, good sound, nice sight line and in the shade. We were set for the night.
Craig Finn had the tough job of being the opening act to an arriving crowd. He did a nice job and I do admire his punk-Springsteen. His “Newmyer’s Roof” was perfect for the mood of the week.
I have heard of Milky Chance, but not heard them until pre-gaming for the show. They are better live than on record. A very fun group and they got the crowd stoked. My wife gave them the ultimate endorsement: “I would see them again.”
The main event was Ryan Adams. We chatted it up with a fellow fence leaner and he joked (and I paraphrase here) “I wonder which Ryan Adams will show up? The alt-rocker, alt-country guy or Taylor Swift cover band?” Mostly the alt-rocker, but you could add jam band as Ryan was tearing up the guitar on his solos. “Magnolia Mountain” was magic.
Ryan Adams used to be a moody bastard and you never knew if you would get the good or bad Ryan. Now there is the only the good Ryan. He is self-deprecating about his history by throwing mock tantrums and he highlighted a record store sign he had seen early in the day (from near-by HiFi Records):
Ryan’s set list is here and here. Over all a pretty magical night: perfect weather, cool venue, great music and side by side with my beautiful bride.
PS – a bonus when you plant yourself on a hill is you get to watch the parade of people between sets. It was like watching reality TV.
When I recently joined Tidal to get access to the new Radiohead, one of the bonuses was getting access to Neil Young’s catalog (Neil is one of those artists who has chosen to make his music hard to get). Neil teased his new album Earth a few weeks prior to the release of Earth with a tasty half-hour single “Love And Only Love” as an exclusive on Tidal. It sounded like vintage Neil and Crazy Horse, but it is Promise of the Real, Neil’s latest band he has been touring with for the last three years. The band features Lucas and Micah Nelson – Willie Nelson’s sons. The band made its first recording statement with Young on The Monsanto Years (2015).
Neil has been releasing great live albums throughout his career – and the Crazy Horse variety is well represented in that catalog of live takes. The gimmick here is that he is trying to reinvent the live album by adding backup vocals (not so unusual) and sound effects (now we are getting weird). These sound effects link the tracks so that it feels like a cohesive gapless 97 minute suite. Earth includes songs spanning the length of his career.
I did not listen to The Monsanto Years when it came out. I was not up for hearing a billionaire-rock-star-hippie’s diatribe against the modern miracle of today’s agriculture: safe, cheap, plentiful and quality food. A system that has the capacity to feed the world – if it wasn’t for terrorism and third world corruption. Humans have been manipulating plants and animals since we crawled out of caves. Granted I am biased because I make my living off agriculture. Neil was pissing on my parade. So I gave The Monsanto Years a pass when it came out in 2015.
Hearing the The Monsanto Years cuts on Earth (four of the thirteen cuts are from The Monsanto Years) was pretty much what you would expect: predictably left-wing and anti so-called “big agriculture.” But there is an upside to the rant – Neil is authentically pissed. A pissed Neil is an inspired Neil (e.g. Kent State 1970=CSNY’s “Ohio”). So do your best to stomach the politics and listen to some inspired music
The gimmick – augmenting a live recording – actually works. It has been a long-standing practice to clandestinely and subtlety sweeten a live recording. But Young has a bigger idea. He does not even try to disguise the manipulation – instead he is bold in his studio additions and makes something unique and artsy.
Promise of the Real is something special. They can rock it out like Crazy Horse and they can be as sweet as Nashville Cats. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that Willie Nelson’s sons are amazing. Between Neil’s political inspiration and this crack band, this is a special live album – on par with Live Rust. The fact that Young has been able to reinvent the old warhorse that is the live recording into something new and interesting is quite a feat. Young’s voice sounds great – he seems to show no deterioration in his pipes.
After releasing “Love And Only Love” as the lead single, Young did another cool thing – he streamed it a week early on Tidal, but as one 97 minute cut – so you would have to listen all the way through and not just skip to a favorite song. The CD and current stream is now cut up into 13 tracks.
One of my favorite tracks from Earth is “Hippie Dream.” Promise of the Real reinvent Crazy Horse grunge to a more contemporary rock sound. The make the grunge their own. After lots of Neil’s politics he advises “Take my advice / don’t listen to me.” And in a nod to his old band, he reminds us: “The wooden ship was just a hippie dream.” Surprisingly “Hippie Dream” is from 1986’s Landing on Water. That is an album that I had dismissed as horrible – evidently there was some gold on that stinker.
I have been listening to a lot of classic 60s/70s artists lately – between new releases and live shows. These guys in their mid-60s to mid-70s are amazing – they sound great and they still sound relevant. Neil certainly falls into this category of exceptional artist. Earth is a totally unique album and yet familiar. You should listen to Earth on a good stereo. The sound effects sound cheesy via ear buds and your phone. On a good stereo it sounds like art. I had kind of gotten fatigued with Neil in the last few years – so it is a very impressive that he can still toss off a masterpiece.
This is a Grateful Dead tribute album and fund-raiser for HIV\AIDS (Red Hot). I don’t think of myself as much of a Grateful Dead fan, however after listening to this compilation I realized I am pretty familiar with their catalog. I am a pretty big Jerry Garcia fan and I have most of his solo albums and his side projects. So I certainly respect the Dead and their legacy.
This collection was organized/curated/produced by The National’s Aaron and Bryce Dessner. Based on my taste I should be a National’s fan. But some how they have never resonated with me. This collection has got me curious about revisiting their work.
I saw a while back that Aaron and Bryce Dessner were producing this collection and for reasons I don’t understand – the idea of the collection caught my attention. I was watching for it and checked it out on Spotify when it was released. Listening to the first few cuts I was sold. The goal of an album like this is to raise money, but from an artistic sense it is to honor the original songs and expose listeners to songs and artist they are not familiar with. This collection hits it out of the park.
There are too many songs (59) and featured artists (60) to give a full review – or even summarize. I will focus on single track as a proxy for the rest of the album: “Terrapin Station (Suite).” The original album’s (one of the few Dead LPs I actually own – l bought it because I liked the cover) titular track (it was originally called “Terrapin Station Medley”) is a full side (little over 16 minutes). The LP never resonated with me. But hearing the Day Of The Dead cover showed me what a great song it is. I returned to the original and was struck by how ambitious it is – almost prog – almost jazz rock fusion. The original now sounds amazing to me.
Back to the cover. Daniel Rossen and Christopher Bear of Grizzly Bear team up with The National to make an equally ambitious cover. It starts out faithful to the original but then goes its own way. My idea of a great cover is that it both faithful and reinvents the original – this version pulls off that contradiction.
“Terrapin Station (Suite)” is pretty representative of what this album is all about. There are the Dead’s greatest hits and obscurities. Most of the featured artists come from alt-country/Americana , but there are also a smattering of other genres too. About half of the artists were familiar to me – enough to draw me in – and enough talent that is new to me to delight my sense of discovery. Tribute albums are a great way to discover new talent. For example after listening to “Terrapin Station (Suite)” I am motivated to check out both The National and Grizzly Bear. This is an absolutely delightful collection and will be on my best of 2016 for sure.
My introduction to Stranger to Stranger was a podcast where Paul Simon detailed the composition of the album’s opening cut “Werewolf.” I have long appreciated Simon’s songwriting and production, but this podcast was a revelation on how deliberate his art is. It is easy to think that songs just pop out of the songwriter’s head fully realized (I know better). After listening to Simon dissect the track I now appreciate him even more – this is not magic – it is craft. I don’t believe in magic, I believe in craft (genius plus 10,000 well placed hours).
With that introduction I was psyched for the new album and the tour (my wife and I had tickets). Simon’s generation of rock and pop stars are sure aging gracefully. I need to stop being shocked at the brilliance coming out of musical geniuses in their seventh decade (Dylan, the Stones and McCartney for example). They are aging like whiskey. Simon is one of a rare breed who has consistently delivered new quality material over a nearly 60 year career (he had his first hit at sixteen in 1957).
Stranger to Stranger came out a couple of weeks ago and I have been listening to it pretty much daily. It is brilliant. Hopefully Stranger to Stranger is not Simon’s last album, but if it is he is going out as a champ. It is lyrically clever, rhythmically adventurous and the arrangements are ambitious. Yet at no point does it come off as pretentious – it is well crafted pop.
I first became a serious Paul Simon with 1980’s One Trick Pony. I was aware of Simon and Garfunkel and Simon’s solo Columbia years, but it never really resonated with me. A buddy of mine, with exquisite musical taste, recommend One Trick Pony and so I gave it a serious listen. It had come after a five-year recording drought for Simon. I was immediately smitten. I enjoyed his next album Hearts And Bones, which was more adventurous than One Trick Pony. Then there was Graceland – a masterpiece and on my personal top ten greatest albums list.
I am not going to go track by track through Stranger To Stranger, but I will point out some highlights. “Wristband” sounds like a hit song. It is lyrically comical, yet poignant. The narrator is in a band and gets locked out of his gig (the comical part) and then Simon turns that joke into an analogy for the disenfranchised (the poignant part).
“Cool Papa Bell” is some nice afro-funk that lyrically contemplates deep thoughts while seeking advice from the fastest man ever. Per Negro League great Josh Gibson: “Cool Papa Bell was so fast he could get out of bed, turn out the lights across the room and be back in bed under the covers before the lights went out.”
“Insomniac’s Lullaby” is a lullaby and it has this beautiful prayer:
Oh Lord, don’t keep me up all night
With questions I can’t understand
While I wrestle my fears
I recently joined Tidal for access to the new Radiohead album and one of the side benefits was Neil’s catalog – which he pulled from Spotify in favor of Tidal.
Neil is teasing his new album Earth with a and tasty half-hour single “Love And Only Love” as an exclusive on Tidal. Which got me thinking about Ragged Glory, the album it originally appeared on. Ragged Glory was released in the fall of 1990 when Neil was invigorated himself as the godfather of grunge.
The album is a collection of mostly new songs performed as wonderfully sloppy jams with Crazy Horse. Several stretch out for ten minutes. The Horse always inspire Neil to his grungy best. This is one of the strongest albums in Young’s catalog and that is saying a lot as he has several masterpieces.
Neil had come back to life the previous year with Freedom (which included “Rockin’ in the Free World”) after the dreadful Geffen years. Freedom is a good album, but Ragged Glory is a great one.
The album opens with “Country Home” which is nearly 8 minutes of rusty jamming that sets the table for the album. It is grunge with twang.
“White Line” has the classic dark groove of the Horse. It has that railroad rock and roll beat – only instead of the train, the movement is the white lines of the highway that rhythmically and lyrically set the tone.
“F*!#in’ Up” captures a mood that I assume most people have felt – “Why do I keep fuckin’ up?” This song has been often covered by Pearl Jam over the years.
“Over and Over” has that almost danceable beat that AC-DC has. The song opens with a classic Neil Young guitar solo. A great love song with an arena anthem chorus:
Over and over again my love
Over and over again with you
Over and over again my love
Over and over again with you.
Eight minutes of glorious distorted guitar and sing-song lyrics – Neil at his best.
“Love to Burn” another nearly ten minute jam. “Old Black” sings like a an angel – an angel who has had too many whiskeys. The song is also the beneficiary of classic Horse harmonies.
“Farmer John”is an intriguing cover of a Don and Dewy song. I always love when a great songwriter covers a song – especially when it is something as obscure as this.
“Mansion on the Hill” was the lead single from this album. The mansion seems like a an analogy for rock and roll – note the chorus:
There’s a mansion on the hill
Psychedelic music fills the air
Peace and love live there still
In that mansion on the hill.
“Days That Used to Be” is a sentimental remembrance of a simpler time – a time that Neil has managed to stretch for a lifetime – meanwhile the rest of us have sold out:
Seem like such a simple thing
to follow one’s own dream
But possessions and concession
are not often what they seem
They drag you down
and load you down
in disguise of security.
“Love and Only Love” is a classic ten minute jam by Neil and the Horse that pretty much defines their sound. Hard rocking, yet meandering.
“Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)” opens with a blast of guitar feedback. Young juxtapositions his grungy guitar with hymn-like singing. What should not work – works perfectly.
Ragged Glory is classic Neil Young and Crazy Horse: grungy, jamming rock and great Neil Young songs – metal on Quaaludes. Lyrically it is both sentimental and crabby. “Old Black” grinding out riffs and the Horse’s simplistic but perfect harmonies. I apologize for the repeated uses of “classic” in this review – but that is the best word I can think of to describe this work – classic Neil Young.
PS – if you like this album, Neil followed it up with a live album (2 CDs) Weld. It came with a companion CD called Arc that was 35 minutes of feedback, guitar noise, and vocal fragments edited from the 2 CDs. Again – classic Neil.
tidal.com/album/49653730
Axl's Catch Groove 