Patti Scialfa—Play It As It Lays
It’s not her fault that Patti Scialfa must go through life known as Mrs. Bruce Springsteen. Patti had her own (admittedly lowkey) musical career before she met The Boss, and she’s sporadically released solo albums throughout her marriage. And they’ve been fine, albeit a little too reliant at times on Broooooce iconography and E-Street accompaniment to put them across. But Patti’s new album Play It As It Lays, out today, is her first real musical triumph. She gets it exactly right, and she’s very much her own woman. Sure, Bruce is here, and contributes on guitar and harmonica, and fellow... read more
Uncle Tupelo’s Kids
It’s been almost fifteen years since the Great Uncle Tupelo Schism rocked the music world. Okay, perhaps I exaggerate. Outside of Belleville, Illinois and the minds and hearts of a few thousand dedicated fans, probably not many people even noticed. But I did, and I mourned for a couple years before the first Wilco and Son Volt albums appeared. The chief protagonists, Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar, have certainly moved on to bigger and better things in the intervening years – Tweedy with Wilco, and Farrar with Son Volt. But, truth be told, as much as I like them now,... read more
People Take Warning!
In 1930, commercial radio was still a novelty, and television and CNN were as fanciful as the notion of travel to Alpha Centauri. In the rural southern United States, still largely bereft of electrical power, news traveled slowly, and was usually conveyed not by professional journalists, but by itinerant musicians who set up shop on the steps of the general store, or in the jukejoint on the outskirts of town. People Take Warning!, a 3-CD box set about to be released by Tompkins Square Records, collects 70 topical songs recorded between 1927 and 1938. These are songs you might have... read more
Garfield’s Houses
Former President James Garfield’s impressive home (called Lawnfield, as opposed to my own home, called TractHome) is about a mile down the street from my sister-in-law’s place in Mentor, Ohio. Because there isn’t a lot to do in Mentor, Ohio, particularly when it’s raining or snowing, as it often is, Lawnfield is a favorite destination during our visits. As befitting an ex-president, it’s a showy, ostentatious Victorian castle with some friendly midwest trimmings, including a wide front verandah that stretches the length of the very long house. The ol’ homestead fell into disrepair for a few years, but since then... read more
A New D****?
There are few curses more dire than to be tagged the New Dylan. Anybody remember Steve Forbert these days? So I won’t say it. I’ll keep it vague and say that Ezra Furman’s nasal vocals, harmonica work, and wildly poetic imagery might remind you of somebody. Ezra Furman is a twenty-year-old kid from Chicago, via Tufts University in Boston. He’s got a band, The Harpoons, and he’s titled his debut album Banging Down the Doors. It’s been out for a couple days now, and you ought to buy it. Today. He has got, as they say, one hell of a... read more
The Appetite for Difficulty
I was struck by New York Times film critic A.O. Scott’s appreciation of the great Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, who died earlier this week. Like fellow searcher/director Michelangelo Antonioni, who died the same day, Bergman asked the tough questions and probed the great mysteries in his films. They were not easy going, these films. They were dark, obtuse, freighted with symbolism that asked the viewer to actually work at its meaning, and that implied that it might take more than one viewing, and a fair amount of thinking and discussion, to adequately explore that meaning. Scott wrote, in part:... read more
Unfiltered Camels and Jack Daniels Roundup
It’s been a mediocre year for the usual Americana suspects. Lucinda Williams and Son Volt delivered disappointing efforts, and Emmylou, Neko, Gillian, Buddy Miller and John Prine have been missing in action. Except for the ever-delightful Patty Griffin, the latest from The Avett Brothers, Devon Sproule’s wondrous Keep the Silver Shined and Ryan Adams’ surprisingly consistent Easy Tiger, nothing has really wowed me. Until the last few weeks, that is. Steve Earle’s latest, Washington Square Serenade, due out in a couple months, is a fine return to form. And these three albums, all made by relative unknowns, make me remember... read more
If I Were You
I’ve been listening to Chris Knight’s The Trailer Tapes pretty much non-stop all day. Knight’s a great, gravel-voiced folk rocker with a twang, Bob Dylan with a Stetson, but unlike Dylan he’s considerably more plainspoken, if no less intense. He’s got four good alt-country/rock albums that are well worth your time, but these trailer tapes (yep, recorded in the living room of his single-wide in Slaughter, Kentucky) are something else again, raw and plaintive and stripped down to the bare essentials, including the lyrics. It’s just Chris, his acoustic guitar, and his piercing words. Here are some of them:... read more
A Down Year for Music?
It’s been a year without masterpieces, the critical consensus moans. And the critical consensus is right. The Shins didn’t change our lives, and Modest Mouse disappointed. Arcade Fire came through, sort of, and certainly didn’t embarrass themselves. But nobody’s released a certifiable 5-star album thus far in 2007, at least to my ears. So has it been a disappointing year in music? Not at all. If no one has released a perfect album, many artists have come close. Here’s a list of albums that are in 4- to 4.5 star territory for me, all of them released in the past... read more
The Case for the Cases
It’s possible that there are people named Case who are tone deaf and who couldn’t put together a rhyming couplet involving the words “moon” and “June.” But I haven’t found them. So here’s a handy rule-of-thumb: if you find an album by anyone with the last name of Case, buy it. Here are three reasons why, from best known to least known. 1. Neko Case Neko Case is the best musical redhead in the world (sorry, Bonnie Raitt; Danny Bonaduce, you weren’t even in the running). Possessing a voice that is a force of nature, equal parts Patsy Cline and... read more
Spencer Moore—Hot New Talent
There is something to be said for delayed gratification. I’ve been thoroughly blown away by the eponymous album by Spencer Moore. In a year in which folks such as Ralph Stanley, Charlie Louvin and Porter Wagoner have taken the youngsters in cowboy hats to school (a one-room schoolhouse, no doubt), Moore fits right in with the educational theme. He’s got an ancient, craggy voice that oozes more soul than any ten Nashville hats/aerobic dancers of your choice, and he sings blood-chilling mountain ballads like “The Lawson Family Murders” and “Little Rosewood Casket.” Spencer played a tent show with the... read more
The Death of Local Radio
Switching it over to AM Searching for a truer sound Can’t recall the call letters Steel guitar and settle down Catching an all-night station somewhere in Louisiana It sounds like 1963, but for now it sounds like heaven -- Son Volt, “Windfall” It occurred to me a while back that I never listen to the radio. This is an odd thing for a music reviewer to admit, but there you go. I simply never turn it on in the car, or when I’m at home, although I’m listening to new music all the time. And it’s a bit of a... read more
Hallelujah the Hills, The Mendoza Line, The Safes, Richard and Linda Thompson
The albums that have hogged the CD player of late ... Hallelujah the Hills – Collective Psychosis Begone Post-modernists will love Boston’s Hallelujah the Hills. “Made inventions, broke conventions/Raised a glass to new pretensions/Meta-meta-meta-and the novel is dead” singer/songwriter Ryan Walsh shrieks, and hipster literature professors will rejoice worldwide. The good news is that rock ‘n roll fans will rejoice as well. HtH exhibit the kind of madcap free-for-all egalitarianism that characterizes bands like The Arcade Fire. The band mixes equal parts fuzzed-out guitars, cellos, trumpets and synths. They chant in unison. They write songs with Sufjan-like... read more
High Hopes and the Lowest Common Denominator
“America’s future rests in a thousand dreams inside our hearts. It rests in the message of hope in the songs of a man so many young Americans admire: New Jersey’s own Bruce Springsteen.” – Ronald Reagan, 1984 I suspect the golden age of political campaign songs has passed us by. It’s not like it used to be back in 1960, when John F. Kennedy enlisted his pal Frank Sinatra to stump for him and sing “High Hopes” with new lyrics: K--E--DOUBLE N--E--D--Y Jack’s the nation’s favorite guy Everyone wants to back—Jack Jack is on the right track. ‘Cause he’s got... read more
Hot Fun in the Summer Sun
I blame it all on Max Yasgur. Max is the guy, way back when, who agreed to lease out his farm in upstate New York for a little soiree called Woodstock. And ever since then hordes of young adults have labored under the illusion that it’s a great idea to try to watch a rock concert in 100-degree heat, half a mile from the stage. This curious notion seems to be undergoing a renaissance in recent years, as once-small festivals mushroom (even the non Deadhead ones) into mammoth multi-day events. You all know the litany – Coachella, Bonnaroo, Glastonbury, Lollapalooza,... read more
Lord Franklin
British Rear Admiral Sir John Franklin, born on April 16, 1786, discovered the Northwest Passage, but disappeared in the course of the exploration. After serving (1836-43) as governor of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), Franklin was sent in search of the Northwest Passage in 1845. His ships, Erebus and Terror, were last seen in Baffin Bay on July 25 or 26, 1845. When nothing was heard from the party, no fewer than 40 expeditions were sent to find him. In 1854, Dr. John Rae of the Hudson’s Bay Company found the first proof that Franklin’s vessels had sunk. In 1859, Leopold... read more
Best Albums of the First 4.9 Months of 2007
Dave Marsh, my #1 rock ‘n roll critic of all time (#2 some days, depending on whether I’m enchanted by or annoyed with Lester Bangs), loves lists. He once wrote a book called The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1,001 Greatest Singles Ever Made where he ranked his favorite songs from #1 to #1,001. I find this oddly endearing, and can envision Dave agonizing over whether some old Little Willie John track should come in just ahead of Ruth Brown at #972, or should slip down to #973. Decisions, decisions. I also love the overwhelming scope of his undertaking.... read more
In Search of the Perfect Playlist
I am an incurable creator of iPod playlists. What used to take days (mix tapes) or hours (mix CDs) now takes mere minutes, and I can’t resist the opportunity to create esoteric connections between songs. “Listen to this,” I say to my wife. “See if you can spot the theme.” Then I play The Byrds’ “Eight Miles High” and Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb.” “Umm, songs about drugs?” she ventures cautiously. “Nope,” I tell her, “songs written by people named Roger.” She then typically leaves the room. But I can’t help it. This is the brave new world of the iPod,... read more
5-Star Albums from the New Millenium
A friend asked me a couple days ago if I thought that the overall quality of popular music had declined in the past twenty or thirty years. I told him “No” because I don’t think it has. Although I know plenty of boomers my age who lament that it’s all been downhill since Led Zeppelin stopped releasing album titles with Roman numerals, this guy is not one of them, and he stays fairly current on popular musical trends and innovations. But he did start me thinking. Are there as many great albums being released now as there were during, say,... read more
Hope Dies Hard
Burn on, big river, burn on Burn on, big river, burn on Now the lord can make you tumble And the lord can make you turn And the lord can make you overflow But the lord can’t make you burn -- Randy Newman, “Burn On, Big River” I am a lifelong fan of Cleveland professional sports teams. For those of you who follow such things, this is a little like admitting that one votes for perennial U.S. Labor Party presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche – distasteful to some, irrelevant and pointless to most. The last time the Cleveland Indians won a... read more
