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Dateline: 04-01-05
- The Tigers Have Spoken
by Neko Case (2004)
Why (in three sentences or less): It took time to delve into this
live record; it seemed all surface on first listen. But repeated
spins reveal Neko to be both an incisive songwriter (the title track
concerns the shooting of a tiger, but the sound of the singer's broken
heart is louder than the gunshot) and an intuitive interpreter, ripping
her way through songs by Buffy Sainte-Marie and Loretta Lynn.
- Music From Big Pink
by The Band (1968)
Every year, I re-immerse myself in the Band's oeuvre. Nobody sounded like
they did back then and no one does now. In their songs, in the voices of
Levon Helm and the late Richard Manuel and Rick Danko, in the call and
response communal vocals, in the way four Canadians and one Southern boy
interpreted the world around them, the Band managed to capture an America
and its citizens in the blur of a change, one foot in fresh soil, the
other in one in the grave.
- Failer
by Kathleen Edwards (2003)
I bought this record after reading advance press for her new record,
Back to Me. Working firmly in the country genre (as opposed to, say,
Shania Twain), Kathleen wanders, exhausted, into walking wounded territory
without ever (completely) succumbing to victimhood. "And if you weren't so
old I'd probably keep you/If you weren't so old I'd tell my friends/But I
don't think your wife would like my friends."
- Make Do With What You Got
by Solomon Burke (2005)
The king of soul reappears with his follow up to Don't Give Up On Me,
the best record of 2002. Whereas that record emphasized space and allowed
Mr. Burke the room to wrangle the lyrics and melodies of Bob Dylan, Tom
Waits, Van Morrison, and Elvis Costello (among others) with his penitent,
patient gospel delivery, the new album bursts where it should whisper, and
the singer ends up leading a soul revue rather than surveying a review of
the soul. Not a bad thing, but not transcendent either.
- Nature's Assembly Line
by Jack Logan & the Monday Night Recorders (2005)
In an attempt to re-ignite their approach to songwriting, Jack Logan,
Kevin Lane, and a host of friends gathered every Monday night with one
goal: write and record three songs on their home recording equipment.
This record assembles 15 tracks from those sessions, and what they lack
in polish (or endings), they make up for with ingenuity and surprising
subtlety. Not everything works, but when it does, Jack and friends, once
again, prove that guts and creativity beat American Idol ideals (i.e.
commerciality) every time.
- How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
by U2 (2004)
It's back on the list again if for no other reason than track two:
"Miracle Drug." In the twilight of Terry Schiavo's life, this song
sounded truer than anything her parents or her husband or the Republicans
or the religious right babbled into the cavalcade of cameras: "I want to
hear you when you call/Do you feel anything at all?/I want to see your
thoughts take shape/And walk right out." Good night, Terry.
- Complete Live at Slug's Saloon Recordings
by Albert Ayler (2004)
This reissue presents Albert Ayler's complete performance at Slug's Saloon
on May 1, 1966, accompanied by his brother Donald on trumpet, a violinist,
and a rhythm section that sound like an anxious getaway car. Almost
completely improvised, Alyer used dissonance and modal playing to turn the
concert into an exorcism: it could fall apart at any minute, it could
dissolve into utter noise, but waiting on the other side was pure heaven;
every risk was worth the reward. Not for the feint of soul.
- Déjà vu All Over Again
by John Fogerty (2004)
A small, even slight effort by CCR's driving force, Fogerty nevertheless
manages to polish off a couple of gems, most impressively the title track
wherein Fogerty encapsulates the Iraq War in much the same way he did the
Vietnam War in the Creedence classic "Have You Ever Seen the Rain." And
therein lies the problem: Fogerty has always been a miniaturist; heaven
was in the details, and he never needed to paint his concerns on an album
sleeve. For this (mostly enjoyable) record, however, Fogerty mines familiar
turf (melodies, riffs), but often forgets the details.
- The Essential Bruce Springsteen
by Bruce Springsteen (2003)
A triple set with the first two platters surveying his entire career, and a
third disc that makes it truly essential: a collection of previously
unreleased studio recordings (with the mighty E-Street Band and solo) and a
smattering of live band performances of songs that never made it to an album.
Highlights: "Code of Silence" (an uncompromising, even angry accusation),
"Held Up Without a Gun" (a frantic, desperate duet between Bruce and Little
Steven), and "The Big Payback" (a Nebraska-era rockabilly outtake
recorded by Bruce solo on just an electric guitar). But it's "Missing," a
track Bruce gave to Sean Penn for the film The Crossing Guard, that
will keep you up at night and remind you why you got into Bruce in the first
place.
- Rio
by Duran Duran
Go ahead, laugh, but it's a great record, very much of its time, stylish,
danceable, with a rocking first half and moody second side. Were we ever
this innocent? No, but it's nice to pretend.
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