Vic Chesnutt - At The Cut
At The Cut opens softly with “Coward,” an introspective song. Having recently passed away on Christmas day, 2009 from an overdose of pills, the ringing chorus “I’m a coward,” seems to take on meaning beyond its initial release. The song broods with a pent up frustration, using deliberate and drawn out distorted melodies to accentuate the frustration that was at the heart of much of Chesnutt’s music and life.
Much of the album seems to play like a bittersweet goodbye letter. Chesnutt’s suicide attempts were no secret, having attempted suicide several times in the past. ”When the Bottom Fell Out,” carries the lines “So long, it’s been good to know you. But when I finally smash into that burning grass, I will say, it’s been pretty great going.”
Vic Chesnutt had a unique voice both literally and figuratively. His phrasing often eluded to something greater than the words merely written on paper would amount to. In “We Hovered With Short Wings,” Chesnutt takes a page from the Jeff Buckley playbook, singing in a falsetto voice, not normally heard on his albums in this duration.
“Philip Guston,” brings the music to a frantic boiling point while track “Flirted With You All My Life,” deals with Chesnutt’s flirtation with suicide that ultimately was his undoing, which makes lyrics like “Oh, death, I’m not ready,” all the more heart breaking.
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The Doors - Live in New York
In 1970 when these two nights of consecutive concerts were recorded The Doors were a well received band on vinyl, but many venues did not want them performing live after a media circus and backlash had erupted in Miami during a 1969 concert where Morrison exposed himself to the crowd. Wanting an intimate setting for this series of concerts, but not wanting to loose out on much revenue, The Doors decided to hold two concerts a night, for two nights, to generate enough income to match what they may have taken in at a larger venue or room in one night.
The concerts here are powerful and The Doors hit the nail on the head with each song. A set this large is probably best relegated to their stronger fan base however, as there tends to be multiple performances of many of the songs, especially a few hits like “Roadhouse Blues,” which opened each set, “Light My Fire,” and “Break On Through (To The Other Side)” Some of the tracks feature only general audience chatter and instrument tuning while the band resets for the next song, which was left in to maintain a complete concert experience, but can be a bit excessive on repeat listening. The final night of the concert featured John Sebastian, former frontman of The Lovin’ Spoonful playing harmonica during an encore, which had to be re-recorded as faithfully as possible for this release as his instrument was amplified separately and only bled through on the original recording. Anticipating a few disappointed purists, the original recordings are still available through the Rhino website to those who buy the album.
Portions of these concerts had previously been available on prior releases and floating around in pirated versions for several years but this final compilation of the entire concerts is a shining gem for true fans and a window allowing all who were not there to look in at The Doors during their peak.
Gov't Mule - By A Thread
Starting with a bass line so dirty it should have its own late night channel, Gov’t Mule kicks off its eighth studio album By A Thread with “Broke Down On The Brazos,” a blues-fused anthem featuring Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. In a world dominated by radio friendly three minute ditties, Gov’t Mule are not afraid to let their hair down and jam for several minutes longer than many of their counterparts. With only one track coming in at less than four minutes there are plenty of moments to get lost in, grooves to bob your head to and lyrics to croon.
Few would question frontman Warren Haynes ability to churn out guitar riffs worthy of repeat listening, having played in The Allman Brothers Band and The Dead his track record is solid. New man, Jorgen Carlsson holds his own on the bass, having replaced former thick stringer Andy Hess and the remainder of the band turn in a solid performance as well. The band logs so many miles walking up and down their fret boards that at times it may feel a bit like you’re running a marathon just listening to it. As a whole the album can feel a bit long, even though most tracks are solid performances in themselves.
“Steppin’ Lightly,” contrary to its name, makes quite a crunch. Evoking the soul of Creedance Clearwater the tune comes to a false pause five minutes in before launching into a soulful jam. ”Railroad Boy,” and “Monday Mourning Meltdown,” lower the mood but not the bar as this Mule proves it can kick through the bad times as well.
“Inside Outside Woman Blues #3,” stands out from the pack with it’s Dylan-esque title, extended run time and saturated guitar riffs. It’s hard to deny the solid rock ability of this group. As the album blazes forward those who are not fans of blues, jam bands or guitar fueled adrenaline will get lost in the dust. Those that are will prosper.
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - The Live Anthology
What’s most impressive, right off the bat, is the sheer volume of music covered on this four disc anthology. Spanning a career of live performances from 1980-2007, twenty-seven years of music still feels compressed even given its already substantial size. It feels like Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers could play another six hours without breaking a sweat.
Organized into a manner that emphasizes mood over chronology, each disc houses a worthwhile mixture of classics, lesser known tracks and covers. Standout tracks on disc one include “Breakdown,” which takes its time to get rolling before transitioning into a brief cover of Ray Charles’ “Hit the Road Jack,” additional cover track “I Just Want to Make Love to You,” complete with a massive crowd sing along and a blazing rendition of “Refugee.”
Disc two highlights include cover song “Diddy Wah Diddy,” featuring a laid back, mellow groove which drips with the sense that the band was clearly enjoying themselves and had found a comfort level on stage that few bands have the luxury of achieving. A twelve minute version of “It’s Good to be King,” is every jam band fanatic’s wet dream and hit “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” lights up the stage and the audience with its rough guitar and harmonica.
Disc three finds Petty paying homage to Booker T & The MGs with “Green Onions,” calming the raucous crowd down with “Melinda,” and riling them back up again with the crowd pleaser “American Girl.” While on disc four Petty shines most brightly on “I Won’t Back Down,” where he takes a confrontational lyric and makes it sound melodic and relaxed, one of his trademark moves, crowd pleaser “Free Fallin’” which has the massive throng of people singing and cheering from the opening chord and cover “Good, Good Lovin’” which is an unexpected treat.
With this much history in their vaults it’s no surprise that Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers were able to release a live album, but it is shocking how consistent their sound is over the years, how tight the band plays together and how much of these previously lost moments are worth listening to again and again.
Michael Jackson - This is It
The packaging on this release is in itself quite impressive. A 36 page booklet loaded with photos stuffed into what looks like a miniature tabletop book. The songs are ordered to match the song layout of the film. Disc one is packed with many of Michael’s hits. If you don’t own any of the other greatest hits compilations or original albums then it’s a good sampling of his illustrious career. Otherwise some of it may just be more of the same. Two versions of “This is It,” round out disc one.
Disc two offers several demos not previously available, “She’s Out Of My Life,” “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” and a most impressive demo of “Beat It,” where Michael layers his vocals into every track that would later become the instrumentation. Listening to this track his musical genius is hard to deny. Fans will find it worth purchasing for the second disc alone and others will enjoy the easy access to the hits the first disc offers.
Nirvana - Live at Reading
Recently, upon producing this album at a friendly get together, a colleague of mine stated, “Nirvana? I’ve heard that band was good.” I was shocked to learn that he didn’t know much about the band on his own accord. Yet, it has been almost two decades (not quite, but almost…) since the album was recorded on August 30th, 1992. For those who were fans during the height of Nirvana’s dominance of the then freshly labeled “Alternative scene,” Live at Reading is a nostalgic look back at a good chunk of their library.
The band launches head first into “Breed,” and barely takes a breath until several tracks later on “Sliver” where some laughter infiltrates the music as the band shows their lighter side. A few hard to find tracks make it into the lineup as well, namely “The Money Will Roll Right In,” a cover of the song originally by the band Fang. The concert has been floating around in bootleg form for several years, but the record company has finally wised up and remastered the collection for fans to own.
White Water, White Bloom
Opening with a surge of instrumentation, “Wicked Blood” launches into a powerful rock song with a full body of sound and catchy, if unintelligible lyrics. “Dew in the Grass” heavily features a cello, which gives the tune a melancholy vibe that complements front crooner Alex Brown Church’s vocals wonderfully. The listener soon finds that White Water, White Bloom is one of those albums whose execution is so seamless that the end results seem effortless, as if the music just flowed out of all the musicians and came together naturally. But when you examine and strip back the layers you’ll find a well-executed if not methodical album.
“Orion & Dog” whittles down to guitar, cello and vocal, a sound producer Mike Mogis is quite comfortable with, having also produced similarly stripped down bands like Bright Eyes and Monsters of Folk. A track later, things liven up with “O Maria!” The exclamation point in the title doesn’t just symbolize excitement, the guitar goes electric and the sound gets amped up as well. The title track keeps the album lively with a relatively straightforward rock song, before the mood grows more somber with “The Orchard,” where plucking guitar and sparse keys set the mood to mellow.
Overall, Sea Wolf turns in a solid sophomore release with White Water, White Bloom. Every note sounds true and the instrumentation fits together like a puzzle viewed from across the room, where every crack, space and intersection become inseparable from the work they create.
Inglourious Basterds Soundtrack
Quentin Tarantino usually has a strong hand in the music that filters into his movies. But in the case of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds Soundtrack, his touch feels lighter, despite having his name firmly cemented in the title. The album opens with Nick Perito’s tune “The Green Leaves of Summer,” a rich cinematic instrumental with a classical/western feel. Perito worked for several decades with famed musician Perry Como.
The album makes a smooth transition into composer Ennio Morricone’s “The Verdict (Dopa La Condanna),” which fuses classical and western in a way that must have made Tarantino’s heart palpitate. Having scored hundreds of films, many of which are probably on Tarantino’s top 100 list, (A Fistful of Dollars, The Good, the Bad, the Ugly) it’s no surprise to find him making not one, but four appearances on the album.
Charles Bernstein brings the hipster vibe to the mix with “White Lightning (Main Title).” Having other songs previously featured in the Kill Bill movie, Bernstein is becoming a staple of a Tarantino soundtrack. In this track, a cool ’60s-influenced bass line is thrown in a blender with the Wild West. Billy Preston snaps the soundtrack into overdrive with “Slaughter.” Released in the seventies, the track is oddly one of the more modern songs found in the entire lot.
The Film Studio Orchestra keeps the campfire burning with “One Silver Dollar (Un Dollaro Bucato),” another western inspired cowboy song. The German tunes start to trickle in during the second half of the album, starting first with Zarah Leander’s “Davon Geht Die Welt Nicht Unter,” which translates to “That is Not the End of the World.” Originally released in 1942, Leander was a hit in Nazi Germany while later shunned by many after the war, although her political convictions remained somewhat unclear.
Relative newcomers Samantha Shelton and Michael Andrew contribute “The Man With The Big Sombrero,” before Lilian Harvey & Willy Friston sound off with “Ich Wollt Ich Waer Ein Huhn,” a German tune popular in the thirties, which loosely translates to “I Wish I Were a Chicken.” Jacques Loussier delivers perhaps the oddest piece on the entire album with “Main Theme From Dark Sun,” a moody instrumental. Continuing to borrow songs from other films, David Bowie’s “Cat People (Putting Out The Fire),” plays like the odd song out on the album. Lalo Schifrin, best known for creating the Mission: Impossible theme song, makes an appearance on the soundtrack with “Tiger Tank,” which is fittingly a name for a particular German tank from the Second World War. Ennio Morricone makes two final contributions to the album before the smorgasbord of music is laid to rest.
Never one to back down from bold musical decisions, Quentin Tarantino has created another soundtrack that seems to be well received by his fans. Less in the cultural zeitgeist than his previous work, it should nonetheless bring old tunes to new ears in a way that few can successfully achieve.
Zero 7 - Yeah Ghost
Most bands form around a singer with band members coming and going to little public outcry. Such is not the case with Zero 7. Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker structured the band around themselves as the musical core, swapping in a handful of vocal talent on various albums.
In the case of Yeah Ghost, their fourth studio album, Eska Mtungwazi takes on the lion’s share of the vocal duties, leaving Sia Furler, one of the more popular early vocal contributors, to the version of the band relegated to the history books. The album opens with a dissected instrumental, culminating in a fifties style space age sound, before landing on “Mr. McGee,” a soul-infused track leaning heavily on Eska to deliver the goods.
“Swing,” swoons with an innocent melody and melancholy lyrics that despite the musical-chair lyricists, seems to be a staple of the band. In this case, vocalist Binki Shapiro does the stapling. Things get heavier and darker as the album moves forward with “Everything Up (Zizou),” where Henry Binns becomes more than one-half of the band by taking center stage on the mic. The track fuzes heavy bass lines with Zero 7’s signature scattered blips and bleeps, doused with a healthy portion of instrumental melodies. This is quickly followed up with “Pop Art Blue,” which is one of the few tracks on Yeah Ghost that would have fit nicely into any of Zero 7’s earlier albums.
Stand out track “Medicine Man,” once again features Eska Mtungwazi, holding together Outkast-esque background vocals and danceable grooves with her emotionally charged performance. While this track certainly heats things up, follow up tune “Ghost sYMboL” brings the party to a stand still with downbeat grooves that could cool ice during a heat wave. As if just on intermission Eska returns with “Sleeper,” a track that breathes some life back into the album.
Yeah Ghost closes quietly with “The Road,” before lingering on “All of Us,” a percussion-dependent instrumental that gives the sensation Zero 7 is ready to hibernate until their next release. Having turned in a fairly solid fourth album, they’ve earned it.
The Love Affair - The Everlasting Love Affair
With all The Beatles resurgence that has been felt lately, there has been little love thrown to another band of that era, The Love Affair. Having released their fair share of hit singles this band should not be overlooked. On the album The Everlasting Love Affair, originally released in 1969 and then remastered and rereleased in 2006, the tunes play thick and catchy. Opening with the popular single “Everlasting Love,” (noticing a theme here?) the album starts off with a classic feel, echoing the feel good vibe of the sixties.
“Hush,” plays louder and rougher, placing the electric guitar center stage for much of the track and incorporating blues rock combos similar to Canned Heat. This trend continues further into the album on tunes like “60 Minutes (Of Your Love)” which takes the children’s game sixty seconds in heaven to an extended level. ”Could I Be Dreaming,” falls back to the innocent pop sound of the sixties. With the two distinct sounds placed on one album The Love Affair, seem to be struggling with their identity.
“First Cut is The Deepest,” showcases an orchestrated and horn infused band that began to shape The Love Affairs distinct sound. Subsequent singles “Rainbow Valley,” “A Day Without Love,” “One Road,” and “Bringing On Back The Good Times” embraced this sound and capitalized on it.
The Everlasting Love Affair is worth a listen for anyone wanting to explore the sixties beyond just the bands that are infused into our popular culture, such as The Beatles, Hendrix and Joplin. And for those of you familiar with the album, dust off the old record player and fall in love again with The Love Affair all over again.
