Lou Reed and Metallica – together at last! Really is this that an odd a pairing? I typically like to digest a new recording, but I have been anticipating this release for several months and so I want to share my first impressions based on my first listen.
First this is a Lou Reed album. If you are a Lou Reed fan there is plenty to like. Heavy lyrics and one very heavy backing band. If you are a Metallica fan – I am not sure what you will think. I am both and I love hearing Metallica in a support role.
This is a dark album – but not a depressing album. It has a very serious sound to it. It is also the most artsy setting I have ever heard Metallica. Metallica has always been thinking man’s metal without being soulless so at first blush this seems like a perfect pairing.
I will give it a few days and hopefully I will post again once I have fully digested this.
For the backstory here is an excerpt by Chris Hall from the Electric Fetus Weekly Newsletter that tells it well:
This week sees the release of the highly anticipated, much talked about, seemingly oddball collaboration between Lou Reed and Metallica, Lulu. The album began as a cycle of songs Lou Reed had written based on the plays of Frank Wedekind and had intended as a Robert Wilson collaboration meant for the stage. After Reed played with Metallica at 2009’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame concert, however, he decided to use the songs as the basis for a record with the metal titans.
This might be the most controversial, divisive record of the year. Whatever it is, Lulu is never boring and one of the more interesting projects either has been involved with in a while. This is a departure for both artists, and a record that will challenge both of their fanbases. First and foremost this is a Lou Reed record which Metallica plays on. Lulu is a concept album on which Reed explores the broken psyche of a woman damaged by her past relationships. The lyrics are bitter, violent and graphic – it’s easy to see why Reed reached out to Metallica to provide the requisite musical ballast to equal the heaviness of his words. At 87 minutes, this is a two-disc, almost film-like piece of work.
Like most musical experiments, some of this works better for me than other parts of it, but the album closer “Junior Dad” is a major Lou Reed song, akin to any of his majestic epics: “Heroin,” “Street Hassle,” or “Like A Possum.” Reportedly, both Kirk Hammet and James Hetfield had to leave the control room when Reed cut his vocals for the song, moved to tears. Neither of these artists has anything to prove to anyone; their legacies are cemented. It’s nice to see someone of their stature taking these kinds of risks. No matter what you think of either artist’s work or this record, it’s definitely worth hearing – there’s nothing else like it out there.
Herbie Hancock is one of my musical heroes and this was my first time seeing him. Overall I was bit disappointed and not because Herbie did not play well. The show at Minneapolis’s Orchestra Hall was short (less than 90 minutes) and stuttering.
This was a solo show and Herbie has made his reputation as the consummate team player and collaborator and not as a one man show. So I guess it is not too surprising that Herbie had some brilliant catches and a few fumbles. Herbie took both the solo piano on the concert stage approach and the studio wizard one man band approach. He also chose to take an entire career retrospective in 6 songs – or in one case one song.
As far as short: I am big portions clean your plate sort of guy and anything short of two 70 minute sets would have left me feeling less than full no matter how good the meal. This was just one short set.
As for stuttering – how do you play early 60’s bop, Headhunters funk, and contemplative solo piano all in the same show separated by awkward spoken word introductions/stories and not feel a little disjointed? At the same time within the performance of each piece there was brilliance.
Herbie started the show with a radical deconstruction of Wayne Shorter’s Footprints a solo acoustic grand piano. This is a song that Herbie has probably done hundreds of times so he brought a familiarity to it yet at the same time had the musical intelligence to deconstruct it in a most avant garde way. As Herbie said – this is not your garden variety of Footprints. It was not and it was wonderful.
Next he played his own Dolphin Dance, again on solo acoustic grand . A song as familiar to Herbie and his fans as the backs of their hands. He brought amazing improvisation to the piece and turned it inside out and back again repeatedly teasing us with the theme. Wonderful.
Next came a piece I was not familiar with: Sonrisa from a fairly obscure Japanese import (I only know this due to a preview in the StarTribune.) Here Herbie started his one man band schtick. Starting on solo acoustic grand. After an introduction of the theme, Herbie added some samples. As the piece progressed the samples became more complex and orchestrated. I really enjoyed this. After the show my wife (who comes from the George Winston school of jazz) said she wishes Herbie had played it straight. I loved it, but I understand. This is where Herbie could have benefited from two sets. One set straight solo piano and a second set as the one man band.
Next came a very contemplative rendition of Gershwin’s Embraceable You. Again Herbie took the approach of pulling the song apart and then putting it back together. Although unlike the first two songs of the night this was much more of a quiet prayer than in your face jazz. A fun approach given the familiarity and the sentiments of the tune.
Then for me came the real highlight: Cantaloupe Island. This is one of my favorite Herbie Song. He made the song a career retrospective by starting out at the acoustic grand, then adding samples, then spinning to an electronic keyboard and finally to a snyth ax for a full on Headhunters rock star solo and finishing up on solo acoustic grand. WOW!
Herbie did not screw around with an encore and instead snapped on the samplers, strapped on the snyth ax and funked it up with Chameleon. Total fun and then he was gone.
So in conclusion each piece was fantastic, but Herbie did not pace it well and thus what could have been a very memorable concert turned out a bit of let down.
Picture below is not from the concert, but a chance to show you the concept of a synth ax:
Coldplay is like cotton candy – it is pretty, tasty, a rush of blood to the head, but you are still hungry after you are done. Now this is not a slam – I love cotton candy.
I have always thought of Coldplay as a poor man’s U2 and I had no better evidence of that when on successive weekends I saw U2 at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis and Coldplay a Lollapalooza in Chicago. U2 gave an epic for the ages show. Coldplay served cotton candy – it was good but it was not U2.
Which brings us to the new Coldplay album. This is a Achtung Baby lite – some ambitions, a slight step out of the formula. Taste great, less filling. I am actually fairly excited about this album – there is some great pop on here. Paradise and Princess of China are aching for a to be on somebody’s hip hop mix tape. Several other songs are classic Coldplay with cascading ringing Edge-like arena-ready guitar. I am not trying to be ironic or sarcastic – it takes an artist to write a silly little love song. I will check back in a week to see if I am still listening or if my sugar headache has me saying “no more.” In the meantime – enjoy, but drink lots of water.
PS – this does have Brian Eno – and you can pick up that clever ambiance he brings to the table – or as the liner notes say enoxification.
I can’t remember how I stumbled across this record this past year. At the time I read something about it that caught my attention. So I did a little research and leaned this was a reviled album – borderline blues blasphemy. Well I was not going to spend my money on that. Then this past week I was paging through Rolling Stone and saw that The Black Keys’ Patrick Carney had a song off the album on his Killer Grooves playlist. That was it – this deserved new consideration. So I downloaded a copy off of emusic.
Well now we know where the Black Keys got their sound. This is dirty filthy psychedelic blooze. The Patrick Carney recommended track is “She’s Alright” a Bo Diddley song. The Muddy version is wonderfully nasty and it degenerates into an instrumental of “My Girl.” Upon further research I learned the Black Keys’ She Long Gone samples Muddy’s version.
I am a big fan of the Black Keys and always knew they were derivative and was intrigued to know their source material. This is clearly an important piece of their DNA. If you like the Keys you will like this.
The stand out track for me is a cover of Wes Montgomery’s Bumpin’ on Sunset (thankfully no vocals to mess it up). A very mellow track that is crying for a deep laconic bass rap over it. This is late night after several cocktails slip off your socks music.
I am no expert on Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express, but the few albums I have picked up are amazing. They mix funk, rock and jazz rock fusion. Allegedly this is one of their weaker sets. By my ears this is pretty cool stuff. The only hitch is they tend to have some pretty sappy vocals. But the instrumentals and the music behind the vocals is pretty amazing. Fortunately even on the vocal songs – the vocals tend to be short – with the instrumentation taking front and center
Auger plays a variety of keyboards. The drums and congas will knock your socks off. Guitar and bass are very funky. If I was hip hop producer there would be some pretty tasty samples here. This recording is from 1974, but it has a timeless quality to it (except for those damn vocals that make it dated as hell). I swear Steely Dan must have been inspired by some of these tracks.
Here is live version of Bumpin’ on Sunset from the same era that will give you the feel. Unfortunately it included sappy vocals (get over them – it is worth it).
Sometimes I am embarrassed to admit the crate I am digging through is my own collection. In my last post I talked about a presentation I heard by John Calder. As an ice breaker John told a great story about his experience working on this album in the mid 70’s. As John told his story I realized I had this album in my collection and I think I might have listened to it once. I couldn’t have told you a thing about the album.
Tonight I pulled it out and gave it a listen. I fortunately have a near mint vinyl edition.
First check out the cover. I am trying to think of another album by a major star who has another major star noted on the cover as the producer (The Band’s Robbie Robertson). I always wondered why Neil had such a prominent place in The Last Waltz. Well I guess it is because Robbie Robertson had spent last couple of years producing this record for Neil.
I have couple of album guides so I looked up this album: Rolling Stone Album Guide: one star; Music Hound Rock Essential Album Guide: 3 bones (stars) and Allmusic.com: 4 stars. I love when an album can be both reviled and loved.
This was designed as a concept album glorifying Neil’s Brill Building start in the music business. I am not a huge Neil fan, but I think he was primarily a singles artist up to this point and this is a fully realized 70’s ALBUM. Robbie Robertson’s name on the cover is clearly a “take me seriously” statement.
So how does the music sound? Pretty good. There is one certifiable hit in “If You Know What I Mean.” The music does not have an obvious Band/Robertson feel. Nor does it have the schmaltz that would come on future albums. The best way to describe this is that this is Neil’s “Born to Run.” Arrangements are complex, but subtle. So overall I would put this in the 3 star category, but the experience of listening to this album tonight is greatly enhanced by hearing John Calder’s reminisce about the making of this album the other night at the Audio Society of Minnesota.
The third Thursday of each month the Audio Society of Minnesota (ASM) meets at the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting in St. Louis Park. This week I attended my first meeting and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Being with about 30 people who are even more geeked-out about stereo equipment than I am is pretty cool (think of the cast of “The Big Bang Theory” at middle age – minus the chicks). However, the highlight of this meeting was a presentation by John Calder of Acoustic Geometry.
The message I took away from John’s talk was that audiophiles focus too much on what their music is played through (tonearms, speakers, etc.) and not enough about where it is played in (the listening room). The room, and it inevitable audio flaws, affects the music as much – if not more – than your speakers. So before you spend more money on upgrading components, consider fixing the acoustics of your listening room. Now granted John has products he would like to sell you to do just that – but it does sound like pretty sound advice. John explained the journey that developed the line of products at Acoustic Geometry that can be used to correct any room – whether recording studio or audiophile’s listening room. He was candid about his biases and was both entertaining and educational.
If this meeting represents a typical ASM meeting I will be back.
As a side note the Pavek Museum looks like a pretty cool place – I will have to check that place out in detail another time.
I can’t find any background information about this album. Gato Barbieri has a unique jazz style. He was very popular in the late 70’s and early 80’s yet he was neither jazz rock fusion or smooth jazz. He made his name in the free jazz movement of the 60’s and 70’s. It has a distinctive Latin feel. Gato generally blows his tenor hard – almost like a R&B guy like King Curtis, yet jazzy like Sonny Rollins.
This album is a live and it sounds like a real party. Gato’s studio output from this time period was a touch slick, so it is fun to hear him just cut loose. There are some great players on this – notable to me Eddie Martinez on piano and Bernard Purdie on drums. I am not familiar with the bass player (Lincoln Goins), but he is fantastic. There are some mildly annoying vocals (in Spanish) that take away from the performance for me, but muscle through them and savor the hard blowing by Gato.
A side note this album was on Jazz Doctor a label founded by record producer Bob Thiele who also was responsible for Flying Dutchman. I find the logo for the label very cool. If anyone can find a quality .jpg of the send it my way – can’t you see this on a t-shirt!
I first encountered Amanda Rundquist this past summer at the end of an Alex Andrews gig at Coffee By the Bay (Bay City Wi). Amanda was sitting at the gig crocheting or knitting (I can’t tell the difference) when she asked to borrow a guitar and proceeded to play a kick-ass folk rendition of Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance. I was so disarmed by a song like this being presented in such simple and authentic way it helped me appreciate Gaga as a great songwriter and Amanda as someone who has exquisite music taste. I wanted to hear more from this woman.
I was pleased to learn Amanda recently released her first CD “Long Long Week.” The album has a great singer songwriter feel (by that I mean from the heart and soul, yet universal). I have always been a sucker for female singer songwriters since I fell for Joni Mitchell in college – so I am sympathetic to this kind of stuff. If I were to compare Amanda to another contemporary artist – she reminds me a bit of Neko Case in that she has a great genre-bending voice and is not hooked to any one style of music. I always struggle with labeling an artist as labels can really mislead, but they are useful in helping sift though the noise. So I will go with a gumbo: a little folk, a little country, a little rock and a little pop (pop is not a bad word in my vocabulary – remember it was the Gaga cover that first grabbed me).
Lyrically the songs are personal and real but not so self-confessional that you feel like you are awkwardly walking in on someone. Frustrated with love, but not giving up. The arrangements are surprisingly elaborate – this is not just a singer and guitar or piano. Some of the songs arrangements have big ambitions, but are tasteful and subtle.
For more info see Amanda’s site.
I first admired this little item at my favorite record store – the Electric Fetus in Minneapolis. The Fetus uses this as a headphone amp at their vinyl listening station. I bet I noticed it 5 years ago and lusted after it ever since – just based on how cool it looked. But it was not a priority (until now).
In the old day’s most integrated amps and receivers had a built in phono preamp, but today it is rare. A phono preamplifier amplifies the tiny electrical signals generated by the phono cartridge in response to movements of the stylus when dragged through the grooves of a vinyl record. Typically, the phono preamplifier has a reverse EQ curve as dictated in modern vinyl recordings by the RIAA (see they don’t just sue single moms who pirate MP3s) and referred to as the RIAA equalization curve. Long and short – if you have a record player you are likely going to need a phono preamp to get it to play through your system.
For the last several years I have used a very functional and cost effective Audio-Technica AT-PEQ3. But the beauty of analog vs. digital is that the more effort (and money) you put into your vinyl listening the more you will be rewarded. I felt it was time to upgrade this important component.
In addition to this little gadgets looks, what appealed to me was its all tube circuity and it reputation as a phono preamp that had a lot of personality. I sampled the Project Phono Box II and the NAD PP3 – both were outstanding upgrades to what I was using. But the Bellari just had more flavor. It has an amazing bottom end and everything from drums, to bass, to sax, to electric guitar just sounds fat – that succulent tube sound that just can’t be beat. I am just on day one with this thing, but it has made my vinyl sing at a whole new level. It is wonderful to hear your old albums for the first time again.
Axl's Catch Groove 