I have been a Derek Trucks fan for a long time and when Revelator came out in 2011 I felt he really hit his stride – finally he had the perfect vocalist in his wife Susan Tedeschi. Revelator was an outstanding and Made Up Mind is a worthy follow-up. Musically these two albums are similar, but this time around everything seems a little more relaxed and lived in like your favorite jeans.
Susan sounds particularly in command on this set. Her vocals are emotionally expressive – a worthy tonal equivelant to Derek’s guitar. Derek’s solos are a thick and naturally sweet as honey. The whole band sounds great – the horn arrangements are subtle and sophisticated at the same time – punctuating both Derek’s guitar and Susan’s vocals.
If you’re not familiar with the Tedeschi Trucks Band here are few reference points:
- First and foremost The Allman Brothers Band – that is where Derek made a name for himself as the reincarnated Duane.
- Bonnie Raitt – the easiest reference point for Susan’s vocals
- Delaney & Bonnie – the blueprint for the husband and wife soul/rock/blues ensemble with really cool friends.
The three Tedeschi Trucks Band albums are very much soaked in a 70s vibe. But I have no problem with that. I am grateful that a younger band is keeping the tradition alive and moving it forward. This is easy-going, yet virtuosic at the same time. The textures are deep. Each repeated listen reveals new nuances. Derek nods to Duane, Eric and Jimi – yet remains his own man. Again I can’t think of a more perfect vocalist to be fronting this band (and she can tear off a tasty little solo herself on the six string). This is very much a balanced performance by Susan and Derek.
I have been sitting on this album for several weeks now. I meant to write a review right away, but a busy life got in the way. I was feeling a little guilty and then a I read a profound interview with Jay-Z where he said: “…you can’t listen to an album and rate it in a day. It’s just impossible.” Well I have been listening to this album almost every day for about three weeks – I have been marinating in it.
When this album first came out, I was vaguely aware of it – it had a little hype. Then I was paging through the infamous Boston Bomber Rolling Stone and I came across an article “Is Laura Marling the New Joni Mitchell?” Well that is quite a question and I am pretty major Joni fan so I dug into the article.
I was intrigued enough to give it a Spotify listen and I was pretty blown away – this is Blue for the new millennium. Marling channels Joni Mitchell, Norah Jones, Nick Drake, Ryan Adams (Ethan Johns produces and plays on the album) and even a little Patti Smith.
My new gauge of an album is do I want to buy the vinyl and there was no question with this one. And it looks like Marling was even thinking about vinyl in the presentation. Side one is a seamless song cycle. One of the most outstanding and coherent sides I have heard in a long time. Each of the four sides is a chapter. This could be 4 albums or at least 4 EPs. This is one of the many problems with the CD – you throw it in the slot and let it roll – sometimes you need to listen to 4 or 5 song sequence over and over – sometimes you need to never flip the album.
Let’s go back to Joni. I first heard Joni Mitchell in 1977. I was a freshman in college and living in a Catholic seminary dorm. My neighbor was a hip older guy from Omaha who had an intriguing past for a seminarian. Some how we hit it off – I was a hopeless nerd and I think he felt sorry for me. One night he invited me over to his room and said “I am going to blow you mind.” He rolled one, fired it up and played Joni’s Court and Spark on his sweet stereo. My mind was blown and my life was changed. I can trace my passion as a music head and audiophile to that fateful evening. I was hooked and I began a life long schoolboy crush on female singer-songwriters.
I listened to Laura Marling’s back catalog on a long bike ride today. It was good and there are moments that foreshadow Once I Was An Eagle, but nothing to suggest that she was capable of this kind of masterpiece. This is a breakout – a breakthrough – an artist finding her authentic voice. This is deep and contemplative pop music. It is very intimate. Imagine overhearing a conversation though a thin wall or hearing the troubled thoughts of a beautiful woman. The vocals, the arrangements and the lyrics are melancholia. I love this mood – it is not depression for me – but an honest embrace of life – the joys and the sorrows and everything in between. Life is real – it is ecstasy , it is pain.
Joni wrote a masterpiece and called it Blue. It was not the blues, but it was. Laura Marling has written a masterpiece that is a current Blue – again it is not the blues, but it is.
I received an email from bobdylan.com this past week announcing that the tenth volume of the bootleg series will be released in late August – Another Self Portrait.
Really? Not The Complete Blood on the Track Sessions or Dylan Live with Tom Petty or the definitive edition of The Basement Tapes? No the Columbia vaults have been mined to flesh out one of the most baffling releases of Dylan’s career. When Self Portrait was released in in 1970 it was famously reviewed by Dylanologist Greil Marcus in Rolling Stone with the opening sentience “What is this shit?”
When I ventured on to Self Portrait thirty plus years ago I was unaware of the legend of the album. I was still a fledgeling Dylan fan only knowledgeable about his most popular material. I remember opening the gate-fold of the double album and being amazed by the credits: produced by Highway 61 Revisted’s Bob Johnston, The Band, David Bromberg, various Nashville session cats – wow this was going to awesome.
The album opens with “All The Tired Horses” which is a Nashville saccharine female backup choir repeating a simple lyric – Dylan’s voice does not even grace the track – “what is this shit” indeed.
I was on bike ride yesterday listening to the sensational new Laura Marling album (hope to have a post on that LP soon) – which has an “It ain’t me babe” Dylan quote in the song “Master Hunter.” That quote had me recalling the email of the new 4-CD Another Self Portrait coming out in late August and so I decided to give Self Portrait a fresh listen – I bet it is 15 years since I have listened to it – all I could remember was the cover (original painting by Bob), that it was weird and one kick ass rock and roll song: “The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo). Thank goodness for Spotify – I dialed up Self Portrait and gave it a listen. When I got home I gave it second listen on vinyl.
Shocking it did not sound weird – it sounded great. After 35 years of listening to Dylan and his many career twists and turns this album sounded oddly legit. It mixed late 60’s pop country, a diverse set of Dylan voices: folk Dylan, Nashville Skyline Dylan, rock and roll Dylan and some cool mutations of those three voices. The album does not have a coherent feel – it is more like you have stumbled into the cluttered closet of Dylan’s late 60s mind (when he had heroically flipped off the counter culture at the height of his success) – yes a self-portrait of the artist who takes himself less seriously than his fans. There is a wonderful whimsy to the album.
Dylan throws in covers and mixes in are a couple of live tracks with Dylan and The Band circa 1969 (Like a Rolling Stone. The Mighty Quinn, Mistrial Boy, and She Belongs To Me). Dylan’s duets the classic voice with the Nashville Skyline voice in cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Boxer.” I am not sure if that is brilliant or merely a novelty or a joke. As I mentioned earlier there is the raucous rock and roll masterpiece: “The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo) – which is Dylan and The Band punkishly and brilliantly stumbling like drunks returning home from the pub – not that far from The Replacements’ territory.
In the review mirror of Dylan’s full career, Self Portrait makes some twisted sense and stands the test of time. More importantly it has me anticipating Bootleg Volume 10. Every volume has been enlightening and worth every penny – so I assume this one will too.
I first started this blog when I was recovering from major surgery in the fall of 2011 – I had time on my hands. My first post was a review of my main turntable – it was September 21st 2011.
I have a long-standing passion for music and my primary objective of this blog is to express my thoughts about the music I am listening to and the machines that aid me in that listening. I don’t see myself as a critic – I am not interested in reviewing anything I don’t like – if I don’t like it I have no need to express my hate. Sometimes I spend a long time absorbing a piece of music, but more often I am just reacting after a couple of listens. There is hardly any albums that stick with me over time – I have a bit attention deficit issue when it comes to music – I am always looking for what is around the next corner. I do hope that my posts will help others discover something they might not otherwise check out on their own.
I have found it extremely challenging to put into words why I like a particular piece of music. I find it hard to describe the music in a way that captures its spirit without biasing labels or meaningless contractions (jazz-rock). I have found that my most common analogies when describing music that moves me involve food or drink.
I wish I had more time, creativity and energy to write these posts. I probably listen to about 20 albums a week and at least half of which are new to my ears. At least 5 each week are worthy of a blog post – but if I get one post a week I am doing good.
I realize that hardly anyone reads my posts, but that does not discourage me. I find it very satisfying if I can document my thoughts on a topic and know it is just public enough that I need to make it more than a “note to self” and that I need to make an attempt at editing and coherency.
I try not to be snob, but I do know that not all music is good. I think it is important to listen to music on the best equipment you can afford and not just go for convenience. It is more convenient than ever to discover music which is a mixed blessing – it is easy to take things for granted when things are too easy.
When people discover that I am a music head they often ask me what style of music is my favorite – this is an impossible question to answer – I like all genres – as long as it is good music (a pure self-indulgent judgement call). About the only way I can describe my taste would be to list my top artists/bands/labels: Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, CTI, Pat Metheny, Wilco, Ryan Adams, Neil Young, Rolling Stones, George Clinton/P-Funk, Norah Jones, Blue Note, etc. ( I could go on and on). Not exactly cutting edge stuff – but it is who I am.
I have a theory of pop music and that is there is nothing original after 1975. That is not to say I don’t enjoy a lot of current music – I do. It is that just the most original period in pop music was from 1965 to 1975 and I can’t think of anything current that does not have its roots in that time period. I am not an early adopter – I come to most trends late and even then it can take me several years to “get it.” But what I lack in a discovering ear, I make up in a passionate ear.
If you are regular or occasional reader – thanks. A special thanks to my family. My wife has been my endless supporter encouraging me to retire to my listening room to pound out theses posts. She is enables and encourage “my habit” – you know you are married to the right woman when she asks on release Tuesdays “anything you want out today?” My son’s blog was the first blog I ever read and therefore my teacher. My daughter has been my curator and encourager of the catchgroove brand and concert companion. Thanks and I love you all. We will check in again when we get to some other significant number of posts!
One of my favorite albums of the last dozen years or so is John Scofield’s Überjam. That album mixed soul jazz, hip-hop, electronic music and jam band concepts on top of Scofield’s jazz chops resulting in a very satisfying concoction. I was pumped to see Scofield was revising the concept with Überjam Deux. These are apples from the same tree, but where the first take was carefully crafted, this time around Scofield has perfected this gig and is able to play this gumbo in a relaxed manner. This style of music has become broken in for Sco and as comfortable as an old pair of jeans. That is not to say this is a lazy take, but familiar, confident, natural and masterful.
I re-listened to the original Überjam last night and as much as I loved that album I was struck by how diligent and deliberate it sounded vs. the carefree sound of this album. For sure this is on my “best of” for 2013. A completely contemporary take of early 70s soul jazz.
Sometimes you have to go crate digging in your own collection. I recently picked up a nice vinyl copy of V.S.O.P – The Quintet and it reminded me of this very important album from my youth. This was one of the first albums I purchased as an 18-year-old budding music head. Not sure why I bought it – assume it must have gotten a lot of press at the time. Little did I know at the time that it was an classic retrospective of one of modern jazz’s great players, composers and band leaders.
This a pretty amazing album – it is a live recording of a concert on June 29, 1976 in NYC, The intention was to be a retrospective of Herbie’s career to date, but as Herbie put it this is really a “tribute to Miles Davis” who was a very sick puppy at the time. It gathered three great bands Herbie was associated with:
- The Miles Davis Second Great Quintet (Ron Carter – bass, Wayne Shorter – sax, Tony Williams – drums, Herbie Hancock – keyboards, and Freddie Hubbard serving as understudy for Miles Davis on trumpet) – sides 1&2. There are some who say that side 1 and 2 of this album were instrumental in hatching the neo-bop young lion movement of the early 80s (e.g. Wynton Marsailis). These guys had not played in this style for quite a few years and it was a thrill for the jazz world to see this great group reunited.
- The Mwandishi Sextet – side 3 – this was a group that took the spirit of Mile’s Bitches Brew forward into very deep and profound territory.
- The Headhunters Band – side 4 – this group was a funk inspired outfit and would have been representative of the music of the moment for Hancock at the time of this concert.
I played this album to death in the late 70s – especially the Headhunter’s side, but really the whole album has had a great impact on my listening to this day – all three bands and the styles they represent are very dear to my heart. If you want a quick intro to the music of Herbie Hancock this is the album to do guide you in that discovery. This was a popular album so it is pretty easy to find a decent quality vinyl edition at a reasonable price.
I barely understand hip hop. But I do understand funk and if you disregard retro soul, hip hop is the funkiest show in town. In my mind there are two kinds of funk – party funk and thoughtful funk – and sometimes (e.g. masterpieces) it serves both masters.
I want to be a Kanye hater, but he keeps putting out masterpieces. Yeezus is audacious, combative and brilliant. This is not crossover music, but fuck off music. Kanye is flipping off the whole pop world and he is doing it with serious swagger. It is harsh, offensive and in your face, but it is so cleverly executed that it is impossible to dismiss.
Not something that I will repeated listen to, but I have to give the guy props – he is a genius and fearless. He is capable of being a pop star, but prefers to run down the dark alleys. The music is austere, yet very interesting. The lyrics are not something I get – I don’t have a clue what Kanye is rapping about. I feel like I am eavesdropping on gossip where I don’t know any of the people talked about – it seems interesting, but I am not emotional involved. Kanye is not speaking to anything I know or living a life I fantasize. But he is one interesting and intriguing one-man circus. Worth stopping a few minutes to see if he falls off the high wire or makes it to the other side and back.
All the same
I am not much of metal guy – Metallica is about as hard as I get. I have long had a soft spot for Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne. It is hard not to not like Paranoid – Iron Man was one of the first riffs I learned on the guitar. It is hard to believe that it has been something like 35 years since Ozzy has done a studio recording with Black Sabbath. I was really into their live Reunion album and I am bit embarrassed that I thought that album came out about 5 years ago – it was 15 years!
Rick Rubin has been trying to pull this album off since 2001 and he finally did it. Unlike Chinese Democracy this was worth the wait. It sounds like early 70s Sabbath but with modern production values. Simply put it rocks.
I think Ozzy sounds great and Toni Iommi guitar sounds fantastic. Geezer Butler provides a nice thick foundation. I am not enough of a Sabbath aficionado to have an opinion about the drums except to say they sound spectacular to me. Brad Wilk (Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave) sits in for Bill Ward who could not make peace with the rest of the band. Rick Rubin brought out the best in these guys.
If you are a fan of early Sabbath and early Ozzy solo work, I am hard pressed to imagine you won’t love this album. It is a totally solid return without any embarrassment factor that typically would infect a reunion album like this. This is shockingly good like the Van Halen reunion was last year. Bravo boys!
I have tried to remain cynical and detached about the new Daft Punk album, but I have failed. It has totally overwhelmed me. This weekend I indulged in the Electric Fetus anniversary sale and I couldn’t pass up buying a vinyl version of RAM. I have been listening on Spotify since the album came out and each day I have been loving this album more. My Twitter buddy @EgyptoKnuckles convinced me I had to have the vinyl edition. I tried to resist, but ultimately failed. I stand by my original review, but at the time, but I was trying to be too cool.
The vinyl edition embraces the analog spirit of RAM. It sounds thick and lush. It is wonderful that a contemporary pop act embraces analog the way that Daft Punk has. I am pretty oblivious to the whole EDM scene that Daft Punk comes from but I can’t deny the serious late 70s disco groove that Daft Punk has embraced.
I am 54 and old enough to know what Studio 54 is and to have dipped my toe into the Minneapolis equivalent. Currently I am serious enough about analog to have a small room sound system that embraces that sound (see photo above – tube amp, tube phono-preamp and fairly serious turntable). The vinyl edition of RAM sounds truly amazing on my sound system – I have been seduced.
The long and short is the vinyl edition of Daft Funk RAM reveals subtle nuances that show these guys were serious about their analog dreams. In the process they may have produced the most significant pop album of 2013.
I have been a Herbie Mann fan forever. As a kid I was infatuated with the piccolo and asked my parents if I could get one and learn to play. My folks checked into it and learned you don’t just pick up the piccolo and play it in 4th grade – you need to learn to play the flute first. So they rented me a flute and I started talking lessons. I had a great teacher in a guy named Mr. Schulte (sp?) at the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis. One of the cool things that Mr Schulte used to do for me is a blind test – I would turn my back and he would play two flutes – one a cheap flute ant the other a fine quality flute and ask me which one I preferred – I consistently picked the finer instrument and he treated me as genius for my golden ears.
Things progressed and I got reasonably good at the flute. I entered Junior High and naturally joined the band only to learn that the flute was a girl’s instrument. Insecure I quit before the end of the year despite siting directly across from a girl my age who was sprouting breasts to my great amazement and admiration.
Fast forward to when I was about eighteen and in college and I discovered popular music. I discovered Herbie Mann’s Brazil – Once Again in 1978 – first for the sexy cover, but ultimately for the groove/soul/jazz/disco on the platter. I was hooked – here was a guy playing my sappy instrument in a funky and sexy way.
I picked up the flute again in the late 80’s when some buddies started a band. I would amplify my flute and spice up some of our originals and our one cover – “The Girl from Ipanema” with some funky flute – take that Ron Burgundy (I had a cow bell too – say thank you whysowhite!).
Over the last few years in my vinyl renaissance I have been snapping up the Herbie Mann discography on vinyl. Some are stinkers but most are pretty brilliant. My latest pick up is Windows Open from 1968 on Atlantic Records. When I picked this out of of a vendors $1 bin at the recent Minnesota Record Show and turned it over to look at the credits I was blown away. Check out these credits: Roy Ayers – who would go on to be an acid jazz giant, Sonny Sharrock a free jazz giant, Mirosov Vitous who would become a founding member of Weather Report, and superstar producers Joel Dorn and Arif Mardin.
The cover was mint and still in shrink-wrap and the disc was in fine shape. I threw it on the turntable tonight and it is a pretty stunning album mixing pop tunes and jazz tunes, but never pandering. This is accessible, yet legitimate jazz. Herbie is front and center proving the flute can be a legit jazz instrument and lead instrument. Totally cool album – I will be spinning this quite a bit over the next few weeks.
Axl's Catch Groove 