I have been publishing this music-focused blog since the fall of 2011. Most of the blog posts are album reviews. For several years, I have augmented the blog with Instagram and mini reviews (and lots of other stuff in my life). I originally started the blog as a musical diary – documenting the music I was listening to. I quickly found that blogging about music caused me to be a more engaged music fan. Another benefit was that friends, knowing I was a music head, would ask me what was new on my music radar, and I would generally draw a blank. Once I had a blog, I could easily refer to the blog to remind myself of what I was into. A final motivation was to promote music that I am a fan of in the hopes that others will listen. I rarely post a negative review because I don’t have the energy to listen and write about something I don’t like.
When I think of a music critic, I think of a professional writer employed by a publication or website. These professionals are typically assigned an album to review; therefore, their reviews are both positive and negative. A handful of music critics are like sports columnists—they write about whatever they want. I have read many music reviews (although fewer these days because of streaming), and I sense that the reviewer can be a fan, but they don’t have to be. In fact, there may be an advantage to not being a fan to have a more journalistic detachment with the subject.
If you regularly read this blog, you will notice that it is often in the first person with extensive use of the word “I.” My wife, who edits my blog, frequently teases me that there is too much “I” in my content. I recently wrote a post where I deliberately wrote in the third person and avoided using “I” (however, I failed in the postscript and fell back into the first person). The fact that I write my reviews so much in the first person makes me a blogger vs. a music critic. As a music blogger, I am a fan first and a critic second, whereas for a music critic, criticism is the priority. My music posts are less critical reviews than memorializing my relationship with a recording.
My blog posts are almost autobiographical, so I conclude that I am not a music critic and have no desire to be one. I am a music enthusiast (AKA music head) who wants to write about my relationship with music, especially new music. You will continue to get a lot of first-person narratives and the word “I” if you read Catchgroove.com.
Inspired by Miles Davis- Miles In France 1963 & 1964 – Miles Davis Quintet: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8
Until recently, I gobbled up every Miles Davis CD box set Columbia (and other labels) could produce. But high-resolution streaming (I use Tidal) has disrupted that run. High-resolution streaming offers a lot:
- It is inexpensive (I pay $12 a month for Tidal).
- Quality – at worst, CD quality; at best, 24-bit/96 kHz FLAC.
- Extensive catalog.
- Portability – you can listen on your smartphone – you can even download when you have to be offline.
- Suggested music based on the streamer’s algorithm – I have been pleased with the suggestions.
- Ease of use – you can use your phone as your remote to operate your streaming device – you will never get off the couch again!
Steaming does have downsides, too:
- The artist gets screwed – now this is a debatable point as most of the streaming revenue goes to “rights holders” – which are often not the artists – that is not the streaming services’ fault – but no matter what, when you buy physical media (vinyl and CDs) more money is likely to go to the artist’s pocket.
- There is missing content—often, box sets are not issued in full-on streaming services but are merely a sampler; mono reissues are typically unavailable, some artists refuse to make their content available on streaming, etc.
- Finding content can be challenging, even if you know the artist’s name and album/song name.
- Given reissues – what version is on the streaming service is a crap shoot.
- Packaging: There is no pretty album cover to hold in your hand, no liner notes to read, etc.
- As a 65-year-old, it is weird not to own physical media (see my collection below).
I immediately wanted a physical copy when I saw this new Miles Davis set. There were two options: vinyl ($225) or CD ($80). But I also saw it was on Tidal as a 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC (included in my monthly subscription).
Like Bob Dylan, Miles Davis’ Columbia recording vault is bottomless. This is the eighth Miles bootleg collection, focused on live recordings from Europe during the birth of the Miles Davis Second Great Quintet in 1963 and 1964. The live recording quality is outstanding.
Miles Davis Quintet was the jazz legend’s primary ensemble format from 1955 to early 1969. It had various iterations. The first “great” quintet featured John Coltrane, and the second great quintet featured a bunch of kids: Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on bass, Tony Williams on drums, and Wayne Shorter on saxophone. These “kids” would all have great careers on their own. This box set is from five live performances, with George Coleman on sax for the first three (1963) and Wayne Shorter (1964) for the last two.
I love Miles Davis’s live recordings. On studio recordings, his playing is generally mellow and quiet (literally muted). It would almost lead you to believe Davis is focused on tone vs. technique. But live, you realize what a brilliant and powerful trumpet player he is. On these live recordings, Miles is at the top of his game. I assume his young virtuosic sidemen are pushing him, and that invigorates him. This is an outstanding recording (audio quality) that captures an essential jazz ensemble exploding onto the scene in front of a passionate French fan base at the absolute height of their powers.
But do I need this collection on my LP or CD shelf? How often will I listen to nearly six hours of Miles in concert? How frequently will I enjoy the 20-page (LP, 32 for CD) book that includes dozens of unseen photos, ephemera, and extensive liner notes by noted journalist Marcus J. Moore? Maybe listen to the set five times? Read the book once? Columbia and the Miles Davis estate are not hurting for money.
I will resist the temptation to buy a physical copy and enjoy Miles In France 1963 & 1964—Miles Davis Quintet: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8 via streaming. Meanwhile, I will do my best to enjoy the several Miles box sets I have not listened to in a long time.
My introduction to Sadler Vaden was seeing him live as part of Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit. At one point during the show, Isbell turned over frontman duties to Vaden to perform “Honeysuckle Blue” from Vaden’s old band, Drivin N Cryin (the song is also on Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit’s Georgia Blue album). Vaden’s performance blew me away. This was not just a guitar gunslinger for hire but a special ingredient in Isbell’s band (Sadler has been with Isbell since 2013).
The next time Sadler appeared in my consciousness was when I noticed that he produced Morgan Wade’s major label debut, Reckless (2021). My streaming service’s (Tidal) algorithm recently suggested Vaden’s latest solo album, 2024’s Dad Rock. I gave it one listen and was immediately impressed.
Dad Rock is a stew of 70s classic rock vibes. I hear Joe Walsh (his big riff guitar, not his cartoonish vocals), Big Star, The Stones, Pink Floyd, etc., but also some contemporary sounds, like Spoon.
Dad Rock was produced by Sadler Vaden, engineered by Owen Lewis and Bobby Holland, mixed by Lewis, and mastered by Richard Dodd. Most of the album is original songs written by Vaden (“Dove” was co-written with Joel Hamilton, and “Staying Alive” is a cover of a The Whigs’ song). Musicians include Vaden (vocals, guitars, keys), Fred Eltringham (drums), Julian Dorio (drums), Timothy Deaux (bass), Dominic Davis (bass), Elliot Easton of The Cars (lead, 12-string and acoustic guitars), Benmont Tench from Tom Petty’s band (piano, organ), Art Edmaiston (tenor saxophone), Kirk Smothers (baritone saxophone) and Marc Franklin (trumpet, horn arrangement).
Side A opens with “Townsend’s Theme,” an instrumental named after Sadler’s young son. It has a nice Pink Floyd vibe. “Dove” has an epic arena rock feel and reminds me of Secret Machines (a mid-00s alt-rock band). “The New You” is acoustic-forward folk rock with a wink to Big Star. “Staying Alive” opens with Joe Walsh-like power cords and alternates with twangy power pop.
Side B opens with “Holes,” which sounds like an Americana version of Spoon. “The Rescuer” has Stones swagger, including a Stones-sounding horn section. This is my favorite track on the album. “I’ll Always Come Back” has a Jayhawks vibe. “Two Balloons” is a gorgeous nod to the sound of Big Star.
I love great guitarists who know how to draw attention to the song rather than being the guitar hero. Sadler Vaden is one of those guitarists. This album will likely fly under the radar but deserves more attention.
Allan Sparhawk (Low) on Pitchfork’s Instagram recently reminded me how great this album is. He rated it 10 out of 10.
You could not have been alive in the summer of 1978 without being aware of The Cars’ “Just What I Needed” and “My Best Friend’s Girl.” At the time, I was a budding music snob and looked down my nose at their music – considering it bubblegum. But they were a guilty pleasure. I didn’t own the album back then, so I did not know the rest of the album beyond the two hits above, plus “Good Times Roll,” “You’re All I’ve Got Tonight,” and “Bye Bye Love.” Given the cost, you had to prioritize your album purchases in those days. No reason to waste money on something that could easily be heard on the radio. In recent years, I picked up a cheap vinyl copy for my collection.
The Cars had an incredible five-album run from 1978 through 1984. But this 1978 debut brilliantly captured what would happen to music in the 1980s. They defined New Wave music. In hindsight, I have underrated their greatness.
Music critic Robert Palmer, who has written for The New York Times and Rolling Stone, described the Cars’ musical style as follows: “They have taken some important but disparate contemporary trends—punk minimalism, the labyrinthine synthesizer and guitar textures of art rock, the ’50s rockabilly revival and the melodious terseness of power pop—and mixed them into a personal and appealing blend.”
Side One of the album opens with an incredible three-song sequence: “Good Times Roll,” “My Best Friend’s Girl,” and “Just What I Needed.” Three hits in a row! The next song, “I’m In Touch With Your World,” takes The Cars formula, slows it down, and goes for quirky. “Don’t Cha Stop” felt like it could have been a hit, but it was just a touch less catchy than the hits.
Side Two opens with a one-two punch of “You’re All I’ve Got Tonight” and “Bye Bye Love”—more hits. “Moving In Stereo” is the coolest non-hit on the album. It has a spooky pop-Velvet Underground vibe. “All Mixed Up” closes that album with a completely different vibe—more of a 60s psychedelic sound. It seems a bit out of place on the album, but it is still a good song.
This is a fantastic debut—it has a bunch of hits, and the non-hits are quality deep tracks that are not filler. If you could only have one The Cars album, this would be it.
On October 29, 2024, I had my second open heart surgery to replace an artificial aortic heart valve (tissue) that was installed in 2011 (this blog was started during my recovery from that surgery). I am recovering and grateful to the medical technology that fixed me and the Abbott Northwestern/Minneapolis Heart Institute medical professionals who cared for me. I am also thankful to family and friends who helped, worried and prayed for me. Most of all, I thank my wife, Laura, my primary caregiver and, more importantly, the love of my life for over four decades.
Here is the background:(warning: some of the images below may bother some readers)
In my late 40s, I was diagnosed with a bicuspid aortic heart valve. The bicuspid valve was something I was born with and never knew was an issue until it was diagnosed. I had no cardio problems; I ran at least a marathon annually. However, as part of my annual exam, my doctor noticed that my EKG was not right and referred me to a cardiologist, who, in turn, diagnosed a bicuspid aortic valve. Once diagnosed, the plan was to check it annually via an echocardiogram and other tests. The assumption was that, at some point, the bicuspid valve would need to be replaced with an artificial valve.
Bicuspid valves are highly susceptible to stenosis (a thickening and narrowing of the valve that restricts blood flow) and/or aortic regurgitation (blood flow leaks backward into the heart due to the stenosis). This can also happen to normal tricuspid valves, but bicuspid valves are more susceptible to issues. The annual check-ups would monitor the progression of stenosis and regurgitation. Between yearly check-ups, the cardiologist said to watch for “diminished performance.” I asked, “What the heck does that mean” and he assured me that as a runner, I would notice (slower times, shortness of breath, etc.).
In the summer of 2011, I noticed “diminished performance.” I made an appointment with my cardiologist, and between a fresh echocardiogram and my symptoms, he declared it was time for surgery to replace my valve, and he hooked me up with a thoracic surgeon.
The surgeon explained my options: a mechanical or tissue valve (derived from a pig or cattle). He also noted that in addition to the bicuspid valve, I also had a weak aorta – a common genetic defect when you have a bicuspid valve. When you hear about a marathoner who dies at the finish line, it is usually because they had an undiagnosed bicuspid valve and weak aorta that ballooned and exploded (aneurysm) under the stress of the marathon. I had been lucky that never happened to me. As part of the valve replacement, he would replace the aorta with a Teflon pipe (my terminology, not his). The pros of mechanical valves are that they last a very long time. However, they require blood thinners that, in essence, make you a hemophiliac (mechanical valves also have an annoying clicking sound). A tissue valve does not require blood thinners (or any drugs to support it) and doesn’t click. However, they only had a useful life of 10-15 years, at which point you need to have it replaced. Given my active lifestyle, I decided on the tissue valve, knowing that if I lived long enough, I would likely need to replace it twice. Whether tissue or mechanical, it would be a significant surgery (crack your chest open) with a 6-week recovery.
On September 1, 2011, I had the surgery. The first few weeks were tough – recovering from having your chest cracked open was the issue, not the actual valve and aorta replacements. However, as each week passed, I felt better, and by the 6-week mark, I felt fantastic – my cardio fitness felt like I was a young man again. I could jog a mile.
Fast forward to this past summer, and I started to feel that “diminished performance” (shortness of breath) again. At the end of July, I got COVID – it was a minor case, but I developed asthma-like symptoms. At my annual cardiology appointment (September 4), it was determined that my artificial valve was showing some wear, but not significantly from prior years. There was concern that perhaps I had some arterial blockages that were causing the shortness of breath issue, so more testing was ordered. It was suggested that my asthma-like symptoms could be related to my heart. As the weeks went by, my shortness of breath got worse and worse. I also retained water (my ankles were swelled, and my stomach felt bloated). An angiogram determined that my arteries were not the issue but that my artificial valve was now quickly failing and that it would need to be replaced as soon as surgery could be scheduled. The replacement would need to be a surgical valve replacement – meaning open-heart surgery again. When I got my first valve in 2011, I had hoped that by the time I inevitably needed a new valve, I would be able to fix it with the less invasive transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) solution. Unfortunately, given my age and general good health, a TAVR was not in the cards for me – but next time (hopefully 15 years from now), I will be a TAVR candidate.
The new valve is an Edwards INSPIRIS RESILIA aortic valve. It is a bovine (cattle vs. pig) pericardial tissue valve. The beauty of new valves is they are specifically designed to be “replaced” by a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) down the line. The Edward valve is designed to have a TAVR slip inside of it.
I was initially scheduled for surgery on November 12. I met with the surgeon on October 23, 2024; she was concerned about my escalating symptoms (I was now getting shortness of breath merely walking across the room, could not lay prone, and could barely make it up a flight of stairs). She ordered a new echocardiogram to look at the state of the valve. A few days later, I got the echo, and when the surgeon saw the results, she immediately called me and said, “You are coming in tomorrow!” My valve had significantly deteriorated since the last echo in early September. This was good news to us, as we were getting pretty spooked by my quickly deteriorating condition.
Surgery was on October 29, and sure enough, the old artificial tissue valve (which was porcine, AKA pig) was in awful condition. Below is a stock picture of what the valve looked like when it was first installed and a photo of what it looked like after removal by the surgeon. The significant gaps in the “after” photo are why I had so much trouble breathing. It turns out that the St. Jude Trifecta valve I had installed has been taken off the market as it has not performed as well as its competitors. My surgeon said I was lucky to get thirteen years out of it – most were failing at the eight-year mark.
I woke up in the ICU at about 9:00 AM on October 30 to begin my recovery. I felt about the same level of awful as I remembered from 2011. However, the next several days in the hospital were rougher than I recalled from 2011 (as a dear friend says, “A remodel is messier than new construction”). I assume that is because I was 13 years older and in a much weaker state entering surgery in 2024 compared to 2011. I had intestinal problems in reaction to drugs, and I had a couple of atrial fibrillation (Afib or AF) incidents. I was well enough to be released from the hospital in the early evening on Monday, November 4, 2024 (I was in the hospital for seven days).
As I write this post, I am two weeks past the surgery date, and I am recovering nicely. I have lost twenty pounds – primarily due to my heart condition causing me to retain water. The asthma-like symptoms have disappeared, and the water retention is fading (ankle swelling is decreasing, and stomach bloating is diminishing). My cardio is getting stronger (I can walk about a half mile, and I am getting less winded on stairs, and soon, I will start formal cardiac rehab). I have not been on narcotics since I was in the hospital – I can manage the pain with Tylenol – and the pain is a bit less as each day passes. I am on a bunch of drugs to manage potential Afib, stroke risk, water retention, blood pressure, cholesterol, etc. Hopefully, most of these drugs will not be necessary in a few months.
So, this second open heart surgery was a success. I am particularly grateful to my thoracic surgeon, Dr. Sarah Palmer, for escalating my surgery—I am not sure I would have made it to November 12, 2024 (the original surgery date). I am hopeful that I live long enough to require a third replacement valve, and that will be the less invasive TAVR solution.
I was introduced to Maggie Rose at the Sacred Rose Festival (Chicago) in the summer of 2022. I found her an engaging performer. However, she was a bit hard to categorize: Was she country, Americana, soul, pop, or rock? After seeing her live, I checked out her recordings, which were meh. When No One Gets Out Alive came out in April of 2024, I gave it a listen on streaming, and I was instantly smitten. It was a throwback to the late 70s Laurel Canyon singer-songwriter vibe I grew up on. I have consistently returned to the album since it was released, and it will be on my Top-10 for 2024. It recently received a Grammy nomination for best Americana album.
Rose has a great voice (I would put it in the Linda Ronstadt category of greatness), but the magic here is in combining her powerhouse vocals with great songs and gorgeous and rich arrangements.
The album is produced by Muscle Shoals FAME-trained producer, audio engineer, mixer, and musician Ben Tanner. The band on the album is guitarist Sadler Vaden and drummer Chad Gamble from Jason Isbell’s 400 Unit, keyboardist Peter Levin (Amanda Shires, Gregg Allman), bassist Zac Cockrell (Alabama Shakes), keyboardist Kaitlyn Connor and guitarist Kyle Lewis from Rose’s band. I can’t emphasize the great sound that comes out of this ensemble.
In a Billboard article shortly after the album’s release, Rose says: “The theme of this record is using this finite amount of time well while we have it.” According to Billboard, she was in a reflective mood as she wrote and recorded the dynamic work, having gone through the pandemic, seen some friendships come to their natural conclusion, and lost her best friend’s dad to cancer. “All these things that made me feel connected to my community were gone,” she says.
The album has no bad tracks, but if you have commitment issues and only want to listen to one song, I recommend the first/titular track: “No One Gets Alive.”
If you are a fan of Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Dusty Springfield, Shelby Lynn, and ambitious studio arrangements, you will like this album. In the late 1970s, this would have been a hit album.
This six-track EP (a mere 18 minutes) is a collection of leftovers from Wilco’s last album, 2023’s Cousin. They were demos that were then finished by Jeff Tweedy and engineer Tom Schick. Wilco sold an exclusive white vinyl Hot Sun Cool Shroud pressing at their Solid Sound festival, and CDs will be available for sale later this year. For now, the rest of us can enjoy the EP on streaming (for me, that means 24-bit/96 kHz FLAC on Tidal).
I liked Cousin. Although it wasn’t an innovation for Wilco, it was a perfection of what they do best. In my Cousin review, I said:
“Sonically, this album is a mature update of the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot aesthetic. There is a bias toward the prettier side of Wilco – which is prettier than ever.”
Per Tweedy on this EP:
“This year we’re putting out an EP with a summertime-after-dark kind of feeling. It starts off pretty hot, like heat during the day, has some instrumentals on it that are a little agitated and uncomfortable and ends with a cooling breeze. There are tracks on Hot Sun Cool Shroud that are more aggressive and angular than anything we’ve put out in a while, and a song about love melting you like ice cream into a puddle of sugary soup. All the pieces of summer, including the broody cicadas.”
“HOT SUN” is lyrically simple: a day so hot you are motivated to nothing. Musically, it is classic Wilco: gorgeous melody, cool riffs, folk-rock arrangement, and a gust of guitar squall.
“LIVID” is a short noise rock instrumental.
“ICE CREAM” – is a mellow atmospheric lullaby. The lyric starts out simple:
“When I first saw you
You said I was cool
Enough to be
Ice creamYou melted me
On the floor…”But things get more complicated from there, and it seems to be about a relationship in which each party disappoints the other.
“ANNIHILATION” is an upbeat rocker sonically. Lyrically, it is darker: a kiss that destroys, and the lovers are okay with that devastation.
“INSIDE THE BELL BONES” is another noisy instrumental.
“SAY YOU LOVE ME” is a pretty Beatlesque ballad. It is a beautiful reminder that despite someone unique being gone, that person’s light remains. This is the gem of the album.
This EP is a nice little treat of Wilco—a Cousin desert.
This box set is for Dylan’s obsessives: 417 tracks across 27 CDs of every surviving soundboard recording (and multi-tracks of later shows for a live album) of Dylan’s legendary 1974 comeback tour backed by The Band. Until now, the tour was captured on the live album Before The Flood – a double LP released in the summer of 1974 just a few months after the tour ended. There are also bootlegs of the shows from audience tapes. I am a longtime fan of Before The Flood but have never heard the audience tapes.
Dylan had toured with The Band in the mid-60s, but by the end of 1966, he was burned out from being the “voice of his generation,” blowback from going electric, a motorcycle accident, getting married, and having a young family. It all kept him off the road. He was musically active, releasing seven studio albums during this period.
Unlike Before The Flood, The 1974 Live Recordings does not include any of The Band’s material. At each show, The Band performed a set of their songs (they were a pretty big deal on their own in 1974). This is an unfortunate omission – at the very least, they could have included a one-CD best of The Band with Dylan 1974 – I assume it is a licensing issue.
This box set will take me a few months to digest. Fortunately, I have Ray Pagett’s Subtack, Flagging Down the Double E, which has a great piece called “A Show-By-Show Listening Guide to Bob Dylan’s Massive ‘1974 Live Recordings’ Box Set” to help guide me.
My initial impressions are:
- I love the acoustic sets
- Dylan’s voice is in top form – he sings in several voices depending on the song
- The Band is a fantastic backup band for Dylan
- Great setlists – it shifts – songs come and go, and the order changes – it is a nice cross-section of his career to that point – includes hits and deep cuts
- These are not pristine audiophile recordings – they sound better than an audience tape from the period, but not as good as an intentional live recording that was multi-tracked – plus, technology has advanced so that contemporary soundboard recordings (like what you find on Nugs.net) sound great – we are now spoiled. These performances are so good that they are worth a little muddiness and an occasional haphazard stereo mix. An exception is the solo acoustic sets – the simplicity of guitar voice (and occasional harmonica) is fairly treated by the soundboard tapes*.
*From the box set’s liner notes:
“The promoters realized this tour would be worth documenting, so many of the shows were officially recorded via a stereo soundboard mix, on both ¼” tape and cassette. By the end of the tour, Asylum Records recorded the proceedings on multitrack tape, which was the standard at the time for live recording that would be released as an album. This box includes all of those cassettes and ¼” tapes. Additionally, it includes the shows that were recorded on 16-track tape, which have been newly mixed for this collection. It was decided not to include the audience tapes that circulate as bootlegs because of their vastly inferior sound quality. Also, a note about the stereo soundboard tapes – soundboards, by their very nature, are not an optimal way to listen to a live show. These tapes were not mixed for audience consumption, and little can be done to change that. However, the recording quality is such that we felt we should include them as a document of this once-in-a-lifetime event.”
Given the breadth of this box set, I will not be giving a formal review now. However, having this critical milestone in Dylan’s career fully documented is excellent for diehard fans like me.
A 20-song sampler is available on streaming services, but if you want the whole thing, you must buy the CD box (a vinyl version would be absurd). Fortunately, it is reasonably priced – the CD box is a mere $130 – currently even less on Amazon, but I prefer to support local independent record stores even if I have to pay more.
This was a great show—the best show I have attended this year. But I almost did not go because of the venue. Roy Wilkins Auditorium, AKA “The Roy,” rivals US Bank Stadium as the worst-sounding venue in the Twin Cities (it is bad enough that it has not been used as a concert venue for several years). Sturgill was stuck playing there because the more appropriate venue, The Armory, had been previously booked by pop star Gracie Abrams. The Roy lived up to its bad reputation for the Sturgill Simpson show, but Sturgill is such a great performer that he transcended The Roy. I suspected Sturgill could pull off this magic trick as the new album is excellent, and he is a great live performer. He doesn’t tour much (it has been eight years since he played in the Twin Cities), so I didn’t want to miss the opportunity. The show sold out instantly (I am not the only one in town “in the know” regarding Sturgill’s greatness).
Sturgill is a no-nonsense performer. He played on a stark stage for three hours with his four-piece band (drums, bass, guitar, and a keyboard player who could also play the sax) – Sturgill is a heck of a guitarist himself – he shredded! There was minimal stage banter, and most songs segued into the next song. Except for his rock album Sound & Fury (2019), Sturgill comes across as an alt-country/Americana singer-songwriter on his recordings, but in concert, he is a rocker (maybe even a jam band rocker). He played a nice cross-section of his catalog and some inspired covers. Each album has a different flavor, but he made their variety seamless in concert.
One of the most incredible things Sturgill and the band did was to start a song with a ZZ Top riff (”La Grange”) as an intro to his Sound & Fury song “A Good Look,“ which then transitioned to The Doors’ “L.A. Woman.” It was an epic fifteen-minute jam. Later in the show, he nodded to the Southern Rock masters The Allman Brothers Band with a cover of “Midnight Rider.” In Minnesota, we are used to being patronized with a cover of Prince’s “Purple Rain,” but Sturgill just likes the song, as I have seen it on this tour’s setlist in other cities. He performed “Purple Rain” at The Roy in Sturgill Simpson style—I didn’t initially recognize it.
As for his songs, he rocked up the yacht-rock meets the Grateful Dead songs from his new Johnny Blue Skies’ Passage du Desir, which was a fun interpretation. The rest of his catalog mostly took a rock approach, but there were some great country moments, too. Overall, the show was much more jammy than the last time I saw him, which fit Sturgill’s new songs and created an excellent concert vibe.
Sturgill’s vocals sounded fantastic despite his rupturing his vocal cords in 2021—he appears to be fully recovered. His band is tight and can easily switch between country and rock. Sturgill has a shy charisma, which is pretty engaging.
Shout out to poster artist Danny Evans for an epic gig poster:
One more thing. The ticket said an 8:00 start, and damn, it started on time! I love that.
Set List:
- Juanita
- Life of Sin
- Turtles All the Way Down
- Railroad of Sin
- The Promise – a When in Rome cover
- A Whiter Shade of Pale – a Procol Harum cover)
- Time After All
- I’d Have to Be Crazy – a Steven Fromholz cover – made famous by Willie Nelson
- Right Kind of Dream – a Johnny Blue Skies song
- All Said and Done
- Long White Line – a Buford Abner of the Swanee River Boys cover
- Fastest Horse in Town
- Mint Tea – a Johnny Blue Skies song
- If the Sun Never Rises Again – a Johnny Blue Skies song
- A Good Look – with a ZZ Top intro
- L.A. Woman -a The Doors cover
- Welcome to Earth (Pollywog)
- Best Clockmaker on Mars
- I Don’t Mind
- You Don’t Miss Your Water – a William Bell cover made famous by Otis Redding and also The Byrds in their country phase
- Living the Dream
- One for the Road – a Johnny Blue Skies song
- Purple Rain – a Prince cover
- Just Let Go
- Jupiter’s Faerie – a Johnny Blue Skies song
- Scooter Blues – a Johnny Blue Skies song
- Brace for Impact (Live a Little)
- It Ain’t All Flowers
- Water in a Well
- Midnight Rider – a The Allman Brothers Band cover
- Call to Arms
Lucifer On The Sofa
2022
Spoon has been around for over thirty years. I am neither a fan nor a hater, and I have a few of their albums in my collection, but they have never truly clicked for me. In festival situations, I found them engaging live. One of my daughter’s coworkers requested that I review this album.
After listening to the album for the first time, my first impression of Lucifer On The Sofa is a pretty impressive album by a band three decades into their career—a rarity for a tenth album in a successful rock career. Googling, you learn Lucifer on the Sofa received widespread critical acclaim (an impressive 85 on Metacritic) and was nominated for Best Rock Album at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards (2023 – Patient Number 9 by English Ozzy Osbourne won).
Even the band themselves had a sense they were on to something. Per the band’s website:
“Spoon’s tenth album, Lucifer on the Sofa, is the band’s purest rock ’n roll record to date. Texas-made, it is the first set of songs that the quintet has put to tape in its hometown of Austin in more than a decade. Written and recorded over the last two years –both in and out of lockdown –these songs mark a shift toward something louder, wilder, and more full-color.”
Enough of what others think; what do I think? I have always admired Spoon’s frontman, Britt Daniel. He has a cool rock voice and epic guitar riffs. This album perfectly displays both. It is a guitar-forward rock album, and it resonates with me in a way that no other Spoon album has. I appreciate that I was prompted to listen to it; otherwise, it would never have been on my radar. It is an impressive late-career statement from the band.
The opening track, “Held,” has an enormous aggressive rock riff. In juxtaposition to the riff, the lyrics are about emotional surrender.
“The Hardest Cut” is another nice riff, this time bass-forward. It has excellent guitar solos. Lyrically, the narrator is dreading a life change.
“The Devil & Mister Jones” sounds like Hall & Oats if they were an edgy indie-rock band. Mister Jones is a recurring character in pop/rock music (for example, Dylan’s “Ballad Of. A Thin Man”. Per Britt:
“I’m super aware of the legacy of songs about Mr. Jones. I thought about it for half a second and then I decided I do like the idea of contributing to the canon of that work. I’ve heard so many of them and I don’t think I’ve heard one that I didn’t like yet. Mr. Jones never seems to be a good guy, does he? And the guy in my song definitely is a bad man.”
Spoon’s Mister Jones is a charismatic grifter compared to Dylan’s uptight square. Given this album’s orange branding, it is hard not to think of Trump as Mister Jones. A bonus is Steve Berlin’s (Los Lobos) baritone sax. Double bonus: this song is danceable.
“Wild” was co-written by Jack Antonoff and Britt Daniel. Anonoff’s claim to fame is song co-writing and production work with female pop artists like Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Lana Del Rey, and many more. The song has a beautiful 80s new wave vibe.
“My Babe” slows the pace; it starts as a ballad and then revs up to a full-on rocker. Lyrically, the narrator is in an emotional rut, and then his lover shakes things up – in a good way.
“Feels Alright” sounds like it could be an Oasis hit – a nice punchy pop-rock tune. Per Daniel, the song is
“…about feeling good and feeling alive, about the great feeling you have about a really great night. It’s not super deep, but if I think about it more, I’m writing about when I was young.”
“On the Radio” is about the power of music and the medium it used to be delivered (radio). I am old enough to remember when radio and music were synonymous (and symbiotic). I no longer know anyone who listens to terrestrial radio for music. This ends up being a sentimental song about an old paradigm.
“Astral Jacket” has a dreamy Beck feel: it sounds like searching. I’m not sure what an Astral Jacket is, but my guess is some kind of transport to a higher place.
The sonics of “Satellite” sound out of place with the rest of the album. This song has been a part of the band’s live repertoire since 2014. It is not a bad song, it just doesn’t fit the aesthetics of the rest of the album.
“Lucifer On The Sofa” is a cool title and an interesting image. Sonically, it returns to the aesthetics of the rest of the album. I struggled to understand what the song was about. There are several references to Austin, Texas (the band’s HQ). Fortunately, Daniel has this quote about the song to help reveal its meaning:
“That Lucifer on the sofa, it’s the worst that you can be, that you can face in times of stress. It’s a part of yourself you have to deal with. It’s a representation of bitterness or loneliness, and it’s that thing that can keep you on the couch and maybe doing nothing for a week, self-indulging. So, this song, to me, is about the battle between yourself and that character you can become.”
This is an excellent album, and I am surprised that, with all its critical acclaim, I missed it. But there is so much great music in the world it is easy to miss a masterpiece. Spoon is not the first band that I became a fan through their late era catalog, for example I also became a fan of The National and the Drive-By Truckers that way. If you are unfamiliar with Spoon, this is the place to start.
Postscript: Spoon simultaneously released Lucifer on the Moon, a dub remix of Lucifer on the Couch by British dub producer Adrian Sherwood. It is a nice bonus to the original album.
Axl's Catch Groove 