In the summer of 2010 I saw Soundgarden at Lollapallooza. They were on top of their game and I am surprised it has taken until now for a new album to come out. But it was worth the wait. The album is very solid – they have not missed a beat in their 16 years of absence. This can sit proudly next Superunknown and Badmotorfinger.
I was a fan of the 90s Seattle scene, but I always had a special fondness for Soundgarden. They have always had a classic heavy rock sound that has appealed to my old ears. A bit of Zep, Black Sabbath, yet very much themselves.
I read the Spin review and agree that this is almost too slick a presentation. I debated about buying the Best Buy deluxe edition – it had 5 demos – typically this is worthless trash. But these demos are fully realized and just raw enough to overshadow the album cuts. I highly advise the extra spend for the Best Buy version. But don’t get me wrong – this is still a great album – the fact that they have demos this amazing is proof hat despite their long hiatus this is a band that has not lost their magic.
I you are a fan of Superunknown and Badmotorfinger you will love this album. If you like heavy classic rock you will love this album. So many bands embarrass themselves with reunions, this is a an exception. This is a mid-90s lost artifact – a wonderful anachronism – and I mean that in the most positive light – an archaeological gem.
I tweeted the other night that I have seen Dylan about a dozen times and this show ranked in my top three. What I liked about the show was:
- An amazing warm-up act – Mark Knopfler played a generous 80 minutes. I am longtime Dire Straits and Knopfler fan, but outside of seeing Dire Straits in the mid-80s I have not seen Knopfler live. He had an eight piece band that mixed folk, country, rock and Celtic music. They sounded great.
- Dylan really played the piano – for the last several years Dylan has been playing the keyboards and in the few shows I have seen he used it as prop. This show he had a baby grand and he actually played it. He had it mixed high enough to actually hear it.
- Dylan was physically animated – when not behind the piano he was front and center. He moved his body, granted he wasn’t Prince, but he wasn’t a mannequin either. Dylan has developed marionette stage mannerisms that are oddly engaging.
- Song selection – the classic hits, but also the obscure. For me the thrills were “Tangled Up in Blue” (from the classics) and “Blind Willie McTell” (from the obscure). “Tangled Up in Blue” was made extra special by a subtle walk on by Knopfler.
- Arrangements – Dylan is known for constantly tweaking his songs to the point they have new melodies. Dylan continues to evolve his late era sound which synthesizes 20th Century pop music.
- Presentation – a very simple clean stage with sepia lighting was perfect match music.
Although it was not perfect:
- Arenas suck – Xcel is as good an arena as you will find, but it still an arena. This show would have been transcendent in a theater.
- Crowd – This crowd as lethargic as you get and excited to get home. When the clock hit 10:00 people started leaving like it was the late innings of blowout ball game, by 10:30 I thought I had missed the fire alarm – there was a steady stream. Why would you spend good money and leave early?
For the professional’s point of view see the following reviews:
- Pioneer Press
- StarTribune
- City Pages – particularly delightful story at the end for the review as the author explains his bias.
Set List:
1. I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
2. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
3. Things Have Changed
4. Tangled Up in Blue
5. Early Roman Kings
6. A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
7. Summer Days
8. Blind Willie McTell
9. Highway 61 Revisited
10. Spirit on the Water
11. Thunder on the Mountain
12. Ballad of a Thin Man
13. Like a Rolling Stone
14. All Along the Watchtower
Encore:
15. Blowin’ in the Wind
Two Neil Young with Crazy Horse albums in less than six months and an autobiography too! Digg it! This summer’s Americana was a hoot – nifty covers of classic songs – the best being folk songs you remember from kindergarten.
Well my timing was just perfect: flying home from Minot North Dakota I finished Neil’s biography on the plane and picked up the new album Psychedelic Pill on my way home from the airport.
The autobiography was like nothing I have ever read – I felt like I was in Neil’s head witnessing his thoughts as he flitted between the present and the past in nanoseconds. I really feel like I got to know the man and better understand his restless artistic vision. As a Neil fan it was an absolute thrill to get in his skull.
Neil shares his wisdom: “I am not smoking weed anymore. I am a lot more focused now. That’s odd.” I bet it is odd Neil. Giving up weed and drink caused a songwriter’s block, so Neil decided to write a book in to get him over the hump. Thanks for going straight Neil.
Neil has many passions: music, model trains, classic cars, electric cars, audiophile digital files, etc. And he digs into them all in his autobiography. This is not a linear history: Neil goes from the present, to the near past, to his childhood, to the late 60s – sometimes in the course of ten pages. Neil rambles, brilliantly. There is no way this was ghostwritten – no “real” writer would allow this kind of chaos. The one sad part of the book is the Neil has managed to outlived all his best buddies.
The new album Psychedelic Pill is a companion piece to the book – not in a deliberate way, but you can see exactly how Neil could finish the book and walk into the studio with the Horse and record this album. It has the same reflective attitude. Having spent time with Neil in his book, these songs are logical extensions. I can’t judge the two works independently – they are completely intertwined.
This is classic Neil and the Horse – long fuzzy jams, face melting solos, great harmonies – ROCK. I can’t tell you how much a 28 minute ponderous Horse jam like the album’s opener “Driftin’ Back” works for me. It is just so heavy and slow. It feels like the second before you fall asleep – but extended for nearly a half an hour – falling back in slow motion.
Gary Clark Jr. has been extensively hyped for the last couple years – so this album comes with great expectations. Clark has the chops (a guitar hero), the voice (in multiple dimensions) , the geography (Austin Texas), and the looks. He has been hailed as the savior of the blues. In short, the weight of the world is on him.
What I like is he is not a purest – he is equally comfortable in a Hendrix-styled blues rock freak-out as he is with John Legend hip-pop. As a cherry on the top he can throw a little Sam Cook soul pop in for good measure.
Clark has been honing this collection of songs for several years, on live cuts, on EPs, and on independent releases – this is his first proper major label album. Of the 15 songs on the deluxe edition, nine have appeared in some form on earlier releases over the last 8 years.
So how is the music? It is very good. I am struggling with the diversity. I just said I liked that he is not a purest, that is true and I like every song – it is just that this is not an album – it is a portfolio: a sample of all that Clark is capable of. Each song is brilliant alone, but together they are a bit jarring. It is like picking up a tasteful music head’s iPod and putting it on shuffle – you won’t hear a bad song, but you would rather pick the music-head’s curated playlist. I have a bias toward albums, but I have to remind myself that Clark comes from a singles era – from a shuffle era – so maybe the diversity won’t be so challenging to a younger audience.
If you are a fan of Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Legend, D’Angelo, Sam Cooke, The Black Keys, Neil Yong with Crazy Horse, The rocking side of Prince, bluesy Beck, etc. this collection of songs will appeal to you. This guy can do it all and that is both good and bad.
On a personal note, Gary Clark Jr. will always be connected to Jim Graybill (RIP). I did not know Jim well, he was my brother-in-law’s little brother. As fellow music-head, we enjoyed each others company at family events – a little oasis at a kid’s birthday party. Anyway, Jim passed prematurely (merely 50) last Saturday and he was in great expectation of this album. He had pre-ordered it and hyped it to anyone who would listen. Unfortunately he passed early in the morning of the day it showed up in his mailbox. So Jim I hope you are in a heavenly club listening to Jimi, Stevie Ray, and Duane live. I hope the whiskey never runs dry and the cigars are always fresh.
I first went gaga for Steely Dan with their 1977 release Aja – which I bet I played every day for 3 months back then. I have enjoyed Donald Fagen’s three other solo releases. For me this is his funkiest and despite his perfectionism – his most organic and laid-back. This is not a departure of what he has been doing for the last 30 years whether with Steely Dan or solo – but that is OK – Fagen’s brand of jazz influenced pop music is so perfect why mess with the recipe?
The only song that kind of confuses me is an Issac Hayes cover: “Out of the Ghetto.” It is a bit weird hearing a middle-aged rich Jewish guy singing about his ghetto girlfriend. I can’t tell if Fagen is being ironic or if he just loves the song – probably both. If you forget this is Fagen and just listen – this is the totally devoted and inspired cover.
In summary this guy creates some great grooves here, classic wry lyrics, and impeccably tasteful arrangements.
If there ever was a book written just for me it is Telegraph Avenue. The setting for the book is a used jazz record shop in Oakland California circa 2004 (and of course more specifically – soul jazz – the relevance not being genre, but specificity). If that was all there was to it I would be happy. But Chabon takes that obscure stage and creates an intricate argument celebrating the passionate fool.
The book has rich characters, humor, a wonderfully twisted plot and cleverly placed references to jazz records. If that is not enough, half of those records sit on my own record shelf.
Chabon use vinyl as a metaphor for life – I am still contemplating that metaphor.
The best part of the book for me was the setting, but second was the unsentimental, yet tender, way that Chabon gets into his characters heads. There is tremendous diversity to the characters: black/white, straight/gay, male/female, young/old, etc. In each case Chabon captures their dreams, their flaws and most of all their poignancy.
We are so bombarded by “follow you heart” bullshit that it is refreshing to hear someone encourage you to follow your heart knowing the outcome is heartbreak and heartache. For Chabon the payoff is not the remote chance that you will win the dreamer’s lotto, but the nobility of living a passionate and foolish life. In the end when you run into the wall of reality bloodied and bruised – it is not a failure, but a life well lived.
Leave it to the Maple Grove vinyl garage sale to blow your mind with an amazing find. I am digging through the crates this past Saturday morning and I come across this little gem. What caught my eye was Steve Winwood. I had never head of Stoymu or the super group Go. But the combination of Winwood and the Island label was enough for me to plunk down a $1 (and 39 other dollars at the annual buck clearance sale).
So what did I find? An atmospheric space jam featuring the vocals of Steve Winwood and a then fairly obscure Al Di Meloa on guitar. So who the heck is Stomu? His wikipedia page is pretty thin, but he appeared to be well-connected in the 60s and 70 in both classical and pop music and then disappeared to become a monk (Buddhist I assume). A virtuoso percussionist was his calling card.
The music is adventurous, but accessible in a Pink Floyd sort of way. The point here is the Maple Grove garage sale is filled with gems for $1. For a dollar you can roll the dice and hope for the best. My winnings were a near mint condition vinyl album that rocks my socks off. This is classic mid-70’s music business excess – I am sure a fortune was spent on this album with little or no chance of making it in the marketplace. The cocaine bill was probably bigger than most current day indie-rock release budgets. Oh the beauty of the old music industry excesses.
The bac
k story on this release is fantastic – it defines vision and passion. See various stories in the StarTribune, City Pages, The Current and Big Cats own website for the story – it will be worth your time. It is both inspiring and heartbreaking. But I am here to report the music is as good as the back story.
As I have said before in this blog, I am not much of a hip hop guy. I completely respect the genre, but for the most part it does not touch my soul. There are plenty of exceptions. Those exceptions tend to follow a pattern: beats that have their foundations in soul/funk/jazz and an engaging narrative.
The music is for me best described as cinematic. It is not much of a stretch imagining this music as a powerful soundtrack to a thoughtful film. But that is not to suggest this is mere musical wallpaper. What I like about it is that it invites to you be as engaged as you want to be. You can turn it down low for some unobtrusive background music, or you can turn it up and listen fully immersed. Best served mid morning with a hot cup of coffee or late night with a glass of red wine. This is slow down and smell the roses music – music for when you are not bus; for when you want to enjoy the moment and have the time to do it. It is hazy and lazy, yet insightful. Mature and naive at the same time. That is, truly human.
I think this release would play well with my age group (I am 53) who have foundation in funk, jazz and soul and to people my kids ages (21 and 23) who have a foundation in hip hop and electronica.
Overall I would describe Big Cats beats as musical and organic. They capture a mood and tell a story. The fact that the music is mostly “real instrument based” is wonderful – it creates a rich texture and a sense that every instrument contribution was intentional and not just a sound added for some gimmicky effect. Like all good music it is what is left out that is as important as what is put in. For My Mother has just the right ingredients and all the right empty spaces. In summary it is sensual.
A nice video companion for the album (if you like this video, you will like the rest of the album – this pretty much sums up the spirit of the album):
Well they ain’t dead yet. Nearly 70 years old, the Stones put out a new single that rocks like there is no tomorrow. The Stones have not matured a bit, and I like it.
This is from their forthcoming, and hundredth variation of a, greatest hits celebrating their 50th anniversary. The world does not need another Stones greatest hits package, but these peckers have the most amazing album cover – it will be tempting!
The song sounds like a mash-up between classic Stones, 80’s era ZZ Top, and mid-60s Bob Dylan. The Stones bitch about contemporary times, but come back for the money shot – “baby won’t you dance with me?”
Snappy video of the song below.
For my money, Van Morrison is one of the greatest singers of the rock era. At 67 is voice is still great. He is also the wonderful juxtaposition of a crank and spiritual seeker. Throughout his career he has used a variety of styles: R&B, blues, jazz, country and folk. This album leans more to the jazz side: great horn arrangements, scat singing, and rhythm section. If you are casual fan – think Moondance. Van even blows a bunch of sax on the album.
In addition to leaning on the jazz, Van leans on the crank and spiritual. Van is pissed at the modern world: its crony capitalism and it materialism. Who but Van could bitch and pray for an hour in such an elegant way?
I fell in love with Van’s music in the early 80’s (Beautiful Vision is on my top 10) and then backtracked through his masterpieces. I saw him live in he early 80s on the Beautiful Vision tour – it is arguably the best live show I have ever witnessed. So I was on a real Van jag there for a while. I got bored with him for about 10 to 15 years, but had my interest piqued a couple of years ago with his wonderful Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl album. That album and tour must have sparked something in him, because this is the best thing he has done in years.
I listen to a lot of new music each year and it is rare for something to land in heavy rotation, but Born to Sing: No Plan B has done it. Make sure you Google some reviews – the album is equally praised and panned. Which for me is the sign of a great album.
P.S. Could an album have worse album art or dumber title?
Axl's Catch Groove 