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?
The first time I saw Norah Jones was the summer of 2002 when she was riding the tsunami of her mega hit album Come Away With Me. She performed like a shell-shocked child – she appeared overwhelmed by her fame – she had success she never set out to achieve.
Fast forward 10 years and Norah has grown into her career – she has found her place in pop music – playing what she wants, a who’s who of guest appearances, and a nice little devoted audience that allows her to fill 2K to 3K seat theaters worldwide.
This is the 3rd or 4th time I have seen her and this was by far the best band and the most diverse and solid performance I have seen. It helps she is touring on her strongest album since her debut (Little Broken Hearts produced by Danger Mouse). She pretty much played the album in its entirety. That album allows here to play very hip contemporary pop without selling out or becoming someone she is not. The Norah/Danger Mouse collaboration is genuinely inspired.
Norah likes diversity – tonight she played alternative rock, jazz, country, and pop. She is not you standard chanteuse. She played her repertoire and spiced with covers by Tom Waits, Hank Williams, The Grateful Dead , and Gram Parsons. Rather than pander to the crowd she twisted her Come Away With Me selections into clever new arrangements..
The delight of the concert for me was the encore where the band gathered around a single mike for a short hootenanny. It showed Norah as her most relaxed and most confident. Her voice sound better to me not so tightly miked.
Overall a very pleasant show – it is great to see an artist not become overwhelmed by winning the pop music lottery, but instead leverage it into a dream career.
See StarTribune review. See City Pages review.
Setlist
Good Morning
Say Goodbye
Take It Back
It’s Gonna Be
Chasing Pirates
Little Broken Hearts
Long Way Home (Tom Waits cover)
Black
It Must Have Been the Roses (Grateful Dead cover)
All a Dream
Cold, Cold Heart (Hank Williams cover)
Out on the Road
Painter Song
Don’t Know Why
Sinkin’ Soon
Miriam
Happy Pills
Hickory Wind (Gram Parsons cover)
Encore
Sunrise
Creepin’ In
Come Away With Me
I have been a big fan of the Wheedle’s Groove series from Light in the Attic records. Over several records Light in the Attic exhumed Seattle funk and soul between 1965 and 1979. Now Minneapolis’ own Secret Stash Records has done the same thing for my home town.
The Minneapolis funk and soul sound is Prince. This collection discovers bands the predate Prince breakout by 15 years and bring you up the moment he arrived. So the premise of this collection is that he did not appear out of thin air. There had to be a history. Sure enough the Secret Stash team was able to find a very cool scene. I have lived here my whole life and was unaware of most of the artists Secret Stash found. But that is not a surprise as this music was predominantly played by and for the African-American community. Prince did not organically create a Minneapolis scene – he exploded nationally and then retroactively created a scene via his movie Purple Rain. This collection shows the fertile ground he replanted his seed.
A few names on the compilation are known to me, but not for funk and soul:
- Mojo Buford and Willie Walker, but for their blues
- Morris Wilson, but for his jazz
- Willie and the Bees – who had crossover local success in rock and roll bar scene
The funk and soul of this compilation would be unknown to most TC music fans except for the most ardent crate diggers. So this is quite an amazing discovery.
So can you find some of Prince’s DNA here? I can’t, but maybe on repeated listens I will find a whiff. The music on this collection is pretty diverse and follows the edges of what was happening nationally. So there is nothing as revolutionary as Prince, but it is not pure imitation either – it was local cats trying to put their own stamp on things that were happening nationally. So maybe that is the Prince connection – that you have permission to deviate from top-40 pop funk and soul conventions and mess with your genre. Prince was able to experiment with basic funk and soul to the point he was able to invent a unique sound.
If you are local Twin Cities music fan or if you are a fan of Prince this album is required listening. If you are into the more current Rhymesayers scene – which has its foundations in crate digging – it is also required listening for you too!
Also the team at Secret Stash did a very nice job of packaging too (hurry while the first 500 purple vinyl editions are still available):
Rodriquez was on loan from pop culture to the University of Minnesota’s Weisman Museum this past Sunday night for an invitation-only event.
Rodriguez songwriting is a cross between Bob Dylan and Smokey Robinson – soul folk. He performed solo: voice and guitar, yet if you closed your eyes you could imagine Motown arrangements sweetening the songs. His voice, despite his 70 years, was as fresh and youthful as it was on his LP Cold Fact in 1970.
When Rodriguez sang he was spellbinding, but his between song noodling sometimes turned the performance into a well attended sound-check. Occasionally this between song ritual was punctuated by deadpan commentary.
Yet Rodriguez’s overall performance was awkwardly engaging and rewarding.
Rodriguez pop cultural resume is downright bizarre and would not be out place in a Michael Chabon novel. It is celebrated in the award-winning documentary “Searching for Sugar Man.” The story is summarized better other places like the movie’s trailer (below) or this City Pages blog entry.
The gig had an odd vibe, perhaps due to the unusual mix of the venue, the audience and the performer. Looking at Rodriguez current tour itinerary finds that he is mostly playing music clubs in the 500 to 1000-patron size. The performance space at the Weisman is designed for receptions and lectures. The audience (estimated at 200) seemed designed for upscale charity events vs. your typical rock club audience (yet they were well-informed on the Rodriguez legend). And the performer, as I said above, was awkwardly engaging.
All the same I am grateful to have witnessed this now legendary performer. How many unknown pop music geniuses have been lost? Rodriguez is the proverbial needle in the haystack.
If classic rock radio stations dared to play new music this album would totally fit in their rotation. It has a bit of CSN, Jackson Browne, Big Star, Neil Young and at times even beatlesque. But those stations never play anything new – so this will go unheard by an audience that would love it. Too bad.
I have been a Band of Horses for a while now and it is nice to see them with a subtle shift in their sound. This album rocks more than anything they have done – now we are not talking Slayer rocking – more like Neil Young rocking. The vocals are more prominent and front and center. The arrangements are less compressed – not so foggy and jangly. It is like the boys are no longer afraid to come out from behind the curtain.
How much of this is maturity vs. the influence of legendary producer Glyn Johns I don’t know. But I like it. I have always felt like Band of Horses are a poor man’s My Morning Jacket. With this release they come into their own and they find their own voice – yet it is a friendly sound that should resonate with youthful jam band fans to middle age classic rock fans.
I am so backed up on reviews, but the new Chris Robinson Brotherhood has muscled its way to the front of the pack demanding a first listen response. It was just the beginning of the summer that the first CRB album Big Moon Ritual came out. It has been in heavy rotation ever since and will clearly by on my 2012 best of list.
I was more than satisfied to just be digging the 3-song promo EP of covers I received gratis at the RockNRoll music sale recently. So I was shocked to learn there would be a follow-up to Big Moon Ritual just a few months after that release. I quickly jumped online and ordered the vinyl edition from Best Buy.
Side note: I am embarrassed to cheat on my local record store, but I can’t resist hometown corporation Best Buy – who for now – has free shipping (along with great prices) on all music. They don’t deserve the business – but when you are music addict like myself you will turn tricks with a mega retailer to get your fix.
I was pleasantly surprised when the album arrived today that it was in the 45 RPM format – bravo Silver Arrow Records! Very nice packaging and given the 45 RPM format it is spread across two platters: one white and one black – so cool it forced me to make a unblogged tweet!
So how does it sound? A lot like Big Mood Ritual, but slightly looser. Same band and again produced, engineered & mixed by Thom Monahan. The first platter is taut blues-rock and the second platter is much more ponderous (that is a complement) stoner jam band music. So actually it is a nice combo-platter: side 1 and 2 to get up and side 3 and 4 to get down. I was so blown away by Big Moon Ritual that it will be hard to beat it. This is like just finishing a great novel only to find the sequel is already out – dig in! With Big Moon Ritual it was “the first cut is the deepest,” but The Magic Door is opening that second bottle of wine – your are just now in the mood to enjoy it.
Axl's Catch Groove 