First Aid Kit at No. 14 in the continuing Top 25 for 2010 Countdown!

Welcome to the top 25 for 2010 Countdown! Each day we'll countdown, today we continue with number 14, culminating with our (okay, my) numero uno album of the year. When they're handy I'll borrow my earlier reviews from the KC Free Press, as I have in this case. 

I welcome all comments, criticisms, questions and dialog in general.

25. Jon Langford - Old Devils (Bloodshot)
24. Vaselines - Sex with an X (Sub Pop)
23. Drive-By Truckers - The Big To-Do (ATO)
22. Magnetic Fields - Realism (Nonesuch)
21. Dum Dum Girls - I Will Be (Sub Pop)
20. Peter Case - Wig! (Yep Roc) 

19. Bettye Lavette - Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook (Anti-Epitaph) 

18. Super Wild Horses - Fifteen (Hovac) 

17. Parting Gifts - Strychnine Dandelion (In the Red) 

16. No Age - Everything In Between (Sub Pop)

15. The Fall - Your Future Our Clutter (Domino) 

14. First Aid Kit - The Big Black and the Blue (Wichita Recordings)

Beautiful sibling harmonies, elemental tunes, the sound of America … from Sweden”

Upon first impression, the Soderberg Sisters could have you believing they have lived hardscrabble lives in the American South. Nope, they are from a suburb of Stockholm. And they are all of seventeen (Klara) and twenty (Johanna), respectively. They call themselves First Aid Kit and on The Big Black and The Blue they demonstrate that great American music can come from anywhere. I suspect, too, that a certain wintry Nordic melancholy only enhances their songs of love and loss.

I’ve seen First Aid Kit compared to all of the leading lights of American nu-folk. Natural, I suppose, given the YouTube popularity of their version of Fleet Foxes’ “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song.” Listen carefully, though, and those Joanna Newsom comparisons seem a bit ridiculous. Johanna’s husky singing is closer to Neko Case and when she harmonizes with Klara’s more fragile voice their blend is uncannily like the Everly Brothers. There’s a break in their voices, too, when they reach for falsetto that is reminiscent of Kate & Anna McGarrigle. These are strong, iconic influences that the Soderberg’s reflect in stride.

Their songs tend toward slow to mid-tempo performances, and the lyrics (in English) vary wildly from the deeply poetic to the slightly contrived. But those harmonies always convey meaning that the words only suggest. When FAK spurns a Bible-thumping suitor in “Hard Believer” you get the idea that these young ladies aren’t God-fearing or afraid of much else. They do wrestle, unsuccessfully, with embracing the deity on “Heavy Storms” (“I wish I could believe in something bigger”).

Elemental themes (“Heavy Storms”) and strains of folk-fatalism (“I Met Up with the King’) abound, along with familiar lamentations on love. Sweden’s proximity to the sea suffuses the neo-bluegrass sounds (the close-to-yodeling ) of “Sailor Song.” And tidal imagery is central to the lovely “Waltz for Richard.” There’s a touch of Rubber Soul era Beatles on “Josefin,” which exemplifies the Sister’s ability to construct wonderful, rangy melodies over two or three chords.

Sung and played almost entirely by the Soderberg Sisters (a drummer, Charlie Smoliansky, appears on five tracks), The Big Black and The Blue could profit from an up-tempo track or two and the songwriting can be inconsistent. But their debut augurs well for First Aid Kit’s future. They already write and sing with maturity beyond their years. The Big Black and The Blue may only hint at what First Aid Kit will deliver down the road.

Reverberating: 8.0 (original), upgraded to 8.9

Thus Continues the Top 25 for 2010 Countdown! (with No. 15)

Welcome to the top 25 for 2010 Countdown! Each day we'll countdown, today we continue with number 15, culminating with our (okay, my) numero uno album of the year. When they're handy I'll borrow my earlier reviews from the KC Free Press, as I have in this case. 

I welcome all comments, criticisms, questions and dialog in general.

25. Jon Langford - Old Devils (Bloodshot)
24. Vaselines - Sex with an X (Sub Pop)
23. Drive-By Truckers - The Big To-Do (ATO)
22. Magnetic Fields - Realism (Nonesuch)
21. Dum Dum Girls - I Will Be (Sub Pop)
20. Peter Case - Wig! (Yep Roc) 

19. Bettye Lavette - Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook (Anti-Epitaph) 

18. Super Wild Horses - Fifteen (Hovac) 

17. Parting Gifts - Strychnine Dandelion (In the Red) 

16. No Age - Everything In Between (Sub Pop)

 

15. The Fall - Your Future Our Clutter (Domino)

"The irascible Mr. Smith sez: 'You don't deserve rock 'n' roll'"

Your Future Our Clutter is the Fall’s 28th album. Loosely associated with punk, having emerged from England’s North in 1978, the Fall certainly had a punk-ish defiance, but stylistically they hued to no particular creed. You could populate a small town with the Fall’s discarded and disappeared; the band’s front man Mark E. Smith is reputedly not the easiest guy to work for. Smith, however, may be mellowing ever so slightly at 52. This version of the Fall may set some kind of record, having remained consistent for this, a third consecutive album. Lucky for Mr. Smith, this edition of the band is a monster.

The Fall formula remains more or less the same; the band moves seamlessly from hard rock to rockabilly, from techno to Bitches Brew-vintage Miles and beyond while Mark E. Smith rambles like a tune-challenged improviser who decided to blow off the lyrics as they scrolled on the Karaoke screen. Criticism? Absolutely not. Smith is the one constant and the absolute glue in the Fall. And his rambling mix of poetics, autobiography and random observation is singular. The Fall sound like a god-awful racket to your average Nickelback fan, but once seduced by Smith’s queer artistry it’s hard to look away.

Smith has jokingly referred to the band’s sound as Country and Northern, acknowledging his Salford/Manchester sensibilities, which remain unadulterated. As usual, Smith’s lyrics touch on a variety of his current obsessions — the banality of modern architecture in “Bury Pts. 1 + 3,” intimations of mortality in “Cowboy George,” and throughout Your Future Out Clutter his hospitalization and wheelchair-bound days after suffering a broken leg — in “Chino” Smith wonders “when do I quit this hell / when do I quit this hospital” and adds “my darlin’ is waiting.” … ah!

Ross Orton, the man behind the board for M.I.A.’s Arular, captures the full power of this edition of the Fall and gives it a contemporary sheen. Guitarist Peter “PP” Greenway plays with bruising power, evoking Keith Levene, John McGeoch, Link Wray and Pete Cosey. Smith’s wife Eleni Poulou plays a critical role in the band’s arrangements; her squiggly synth lines are assertive, powerful and as much a part of the band’s ensemble power as Greenway’s guitar work. Dave “The Eagle” Spurr on bass and Keiron Melling on drums make a powerful rhythm section. Their expert, brutal authority gives the band an almost maniacal force.

“Bury Pts. 1 + 3” melds garage-rock, Kraut-rock and Golden Earring-vintage Seventies rock snarl. “Mexico Wax Solvent” features Melling’s Billy Cobham gone punk drum power. The ominous “Cowboy George” sounds like a cross between Love’s “7 & 7 Is” and the Seed’s “Pushin’ Too Hard,” and even tosses in a Daft Punk sample. “Hot Cake” is the Sab’s “Faeries Wear Boots” gone dub. The Fall bash it out all over the musical map, but their groove is relentless.

“Weather Report 2” closes Your Future Our Clutter with, at least for the Fall, something approaching a beautiful ballad. Over a pretty guitar figure from Greenway, Smith meditates on the “best years of my life,” excoriates the cast of Murder She Wrote (“deserved to die”), remarks that “nobody has ever called me sir in my entire life,” and as the music fades concludes that “you don’t deserve rock n’roll.” Who’s he addressing? A select target? All of us? Such are the mysteries of Smith’s art; you’re never 100% sure what he’s on about, but you’re captivated all the same.


Reverberating: 8.5 (original), upgraded 8.8

Thus Continues the Top 25 for 2010 Countdown! (with No. 16)

Welcome to the top 25 for 2010 Countdown! Each day we'll countdown, today we continue with number 16, culminating with our (okay, my) numero uno album of the year. When they're handy I'll borrow my earlier reviews from the KC Free Press, as I have in this case. 

I welcome all comments, criticisms, questions and dialog in general.

25. Jon Langford - Old Devils (Bloodshot)
24. Vaselines - Sex with an X (Sub Pop)
23. Drive-By Truckers - The Big To-Do (ATO)
22. Magnetic Fields - Realism (Nonesuch)
21. Dum Dum Girls - I Will Be (Sub Pop)
20. Peter Case - Wig! (Yep Roc) 

19. Bettye Lavette - Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook (Anti-Epitaph) 

18. Super Wild Horses - Fifteen (Hovac) 

17. Parting Gifts - Strychnine Dandelion (In the Red) 

16. No Age - Everything In Between (Sub Pop)

“Noise is the new silence to No Age’s generation of indie-punk"

No Age is a pure product of indie-rock culture, and part of a generation raised on noise. Sonic Youth may as well be the Beatles to a generation brought up to fear silence. But on their third and best record yet, Everything In Between, No Age have discovered dynamics. It’s not the loud-soft dichotomization of the Nirvana era, but a dynamic based on the epic swell of obligatory sonic overload, rising and falling with each song’s emotional nuances. Not space exactly, but an approximation.

It is a mammoth sound that guitarist Randy Randall and drummer Dean Spunt make. But it’s not without it’s light and shade, its drama and intimacy. “Life Prowler” is Joy Division meets Sonic Youth (w/touches of Suicide), Spunt repeating, “I don’t have time.” Randall’s Frippertronic guitar tempest and Spunt’s cheerleader stomp drumming propel “Glitter,” Spunt claiming “I don’t fear God, I don’t fear anything,” then pleading “I want you back underneath my skin,” as if the lack of love could stir fear that God can’t. “Fever Dreaming” is close to straight up Stooges/Ramones punk roar. “Depletion” is punk rebellion turned into style, the band blasting away like a distortion saturated version of the Vibrators.

No Age intersperses instrumental segues like “Katerpillar” and “Positive Amputation” into Everything In Between’s program like palate cleansers, lbreakdowns with roots in the sonics of Bowie-Eno material like “Warszawa.”

Part of No Age’s balancing act is to alternate the under mixed vocals, like the Dave Vanian meets Thurston Moore vocal persona of “Valley Hump Crash,” with more out front pop mixes like “Sorts,” the latter which starts out a trashed out La’s and evolves into a snotty pop snarl that reminds of bands like the Original Sins. “Shed and Transcend” has elements of both approaches, sounding like pop-punk under an avalanche of Randall’s guitar noise. “Chem Trails,” on the other hand, is a flat out catchy tune – all “Band on the Run” trills and “Pretty in Pink” chord changes.

No Age’s basic vision is of the alienated individual struggling in a stifling culture, it’s there in Spunt’s direct lyrics, and sometimes represented by the transcendent, overwhelming noises that Randall coaxes from his guitars. The photography of Zen Sekizawa, which pays homage to Robert Mapplethorpe’s evocation of aesthetic rebellion for Patti Smith’s Radio Ethiopia, and the constructivist/Factory Records graphic sensibilities of Brian Roettinger’s packaging are fine translations of No Age’s sensibility into visual language.

With Everything In Between No Age have become better songwriters and more versatile, dynamic arrangers. With just a touch of roll off on the distortion they aren’t too damned far from the Eighties angst-pop of Echo and the Bunnymen or the Psychedelic Furs. It will be fun to see where their development takes them.

Reverberating: 8.2 (original), upgraded to 8.8

Thus Continues the Top 25 for 2010 Countdown! With a new review of the Parting Gifts (No. 17).

Welcome to the top 25 for 2010 Countdown! Each day we'll countdown, today we continue with number 17, culminating with our (okay, my) numero uno album of the year. When they're handy I'll borrow my earlier reviews from the KC Free Press. Since I hadn't reviewed the Parting Gifts previously this is a NEW REVIEW.

I welcome all comments, criticisms, questions and dialog in general.

25. Jon Langford - Old Devils (Bloodshot)
24. Vaselines - Sex with an X (Sub Pop)
23. Drive-By Truckers - The Big To-Do (ATO)
22. Magnetic Fields - Realism (Nonesuch)
21. Dum Dum Girls - I Will Be (Sub Pop)
20. Peter Case - Wig! (Yep Roc) 

19. Bettye Lavette - Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook (Anti-Epitaph) 

18. Super Wild Horses - Fifteen (Hovac) 

 

17. Parting Gifts - Strychnine Dandelion (In the Red)

 

"Reigning Sound + Coco Hames = Parting Gifts"

The most recent record by the Ettes (Do You Want Power) was co-produced by Greg Cartwright of Reigning Sound and Oblivians renown. The Ettes lead singer Lindsay ‘Coco’ Hames hung around Memphis long enough to work on a further collaboration with Cartwright and the Reigning Sound. They call themselves the Parting Gifts. Heck, it would be a damn good record if it was just the Reigning Sound, but Hames’ contributions kick the sessions into another gear. Hames has one of those voices, a voice that can suggest such inspirations as Ronnie Spector and Wanda Jackson, but that possesses a unique character all its own.

The album is called Strychnine Dandelion, and it is a treat. It’s essentially a Reigning Sound record with Hames as guest vocalist – she sings with Cartwright and takes lead on five of the fifteen (short, sweet and sassy) tracks. As such, the band sound is much in keeping with Reigning Sound’s output. Dave Amels, who co-produces, shines on keyboards throughout. There are few players these days whose stylistic range and ease remind of the great keyboard players of the past; Amels would hold his own in the company of guys like Barry Beckett, Nicky Hopkins and James Dickinson. His seasonings are all over Dandelion.

Cartwright does what he does so well, synthesizing British rock, American garage (Sixties, the original Nuggets and Pebbles type stuff), and Southern soul stew with character, passion and brilliance. His knack for such blends is obvious on the opening cut “Keep Walkin’” – the Parting Gifts pulling off a cross between Sir Douglas Quintet, Del Shannon and Stooges circa Raw Power. “Bound to Let Me Down” and “My Baby Tonight” feature Cartwright’s way with early Beatle twists on Latin rhythms. “Strange Disposition” borrows in both name (“This Strange Affect”) and sound from the Kinks, the band bringing Muswell Hill to Memphis, making a genre bending exercise into a convincing song.

Cartwright’s a sharp songwriter. You can hear his attention to detail on songs like “Staring” with its’ Springsteen urgency, nifty rhymes like ‘aspartame/same,’ and killer bridge. On “I Don’t Wanna Be Like This” he combines a torch song and working class lament with feeling and without pretension.

The songs Coco Hames contributes (it gets confusing – she writes a few songs here, including one that Cartwright sings) range from the Loretta-Skeeter-Dolly styled country tearjerker “This House Ain’t a Home,” to the cow-punk rave up “My Mind’s Made Up,” to the rocker (dig the Stones-y fuzz bass) “Born to Be Blue.” Cartwright plums from the Stones odds and sods collection Metamorphosis again (Reigning Sound did a tear up version of “I’d Rather Be with the Boys” on Time Bomb High School) for “Sleepy City,” Hames fusing Ronnie Spector and Lulu while Cartwright arranges with an ear toward Phil Spector acolytes like Roy Wood and Dave Edmunds.

Dan Auerbach (Black Keys), who co-produced Do You Want Power with Cartwright, and Patrick Keeler (Greenhornes/Raconteurs) make guest appearances on Dandelion. It’s the kind of project that finds top-notch contributors ready to check their egos to make a really good record. And that’s exactly what Strychnine Dandelion is.

Reverberating: 8.8

Thus Continues the Top 25 for 2010 Countdown! (with No. 18)

Welcome to the top 25 for 2010 Countdown! Each day we'll countdown, today we continue with number 18, culminating with our (okay, my) numero uno album of the year. When they're handy I'll borrow my earlier reviews from the KC Free Press, as I have in this case. In the event one of my top 25 selections isn't something I've reviewed previously I'll dash off a new review.

I welcome all comments, criticisms, questions and dialog in general.

25. Jon Langford - Old Devils (Bloodshot)
24. Vaselines - Sex with an X (Sub Pop)
23. Drive-By Truckers - The Big To-Do (ATO)
22. Magnetic Fields - Realism (Nonesuch)
21. Dum Dum Girls - I Will Be (Sub Pop)
20. Peter Case - Wig! (Yep Roc) 

19. Bettye Lavette - Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook (Anti-Epitaph) 

 

18. Super Wild Horses - Fifteen (Hovac) 

“Aussie girl duo with instant pop hooks and punk drive”


Where the Like employ considerable skill only to hedge their bets on pop hooks, the less experienced Super Wild Horses produce pure pop-punk gems like it was no bother at all, proving once again that technique isn’t everything and that craft is learned quickly by the savvy. Amy Franz and Hayley McKee trade guitar, keyboard and drum duties, alternate lead vocals (much like Harlem, whose Hippies was reviewed earlier for “Reverberations”) and sing in gloriously close, unstudied harmony. Fifteen is their debut full-length. Recorded in Steve Albini-esque verite by the Eddy Current Suppression Ring’s guitarist Mikey Young, Fifteen is an instant gem from these daughters of Melbourne, Australia.

Opening cut “Lock and Key” introduces their insistent mix of syncopated guitar chords, stuttering one-note fills and rapid-fire drums. Super Wild Horse’s natural gift for a tune is strikingly clear on “ Fifteen,” the second, title track. Subtle piano embellishment complements their guitar-drums minimalism, and every phrase is a pop hook leading to another pop hook. Franz and McKee met at age fifteen and the song is in part an evocation of the age and its charms and anxieties (“your gang is coming to town”). Super Wild Horse’s sweet and strong vocal blend is a curious mixture; imagine the Dolly Mixture with less Brit-coy vocals and Exene Cervenka sharing lead vocals. The duo kiss off an ex-lover, harmonizing like Cindy and Kate from the B 52’s, on “Mess Around” (“I don’t need you no more, I’m gonna mess around”), as the girls showcase their canny comfort with minor/major shifts. The declamatory “Golden Town” has a punky edge, the band sounding a bit like a junk shop Raveonettes.

There’s a hint of Exene again, over a Gang of Four meets surf beat feel, on “Love,” the slightly crazed chant of “love” making the proposition sound more ominous than inviting. The Wire influenced “Enigma (You Say So)” puts forth the musical query: ‘the baby Jesus, what did he teach us?” You can hear teenage days spent learning to play to old Cure records on tracks like "Degrassi” and “Stranger by the Day,” the latter closing this appealing twelve-song, 26 minute, 32 second autodidact pop-punk marvel.

Fifteen was released by the independent label Hozac, purveyors of charming indie-pop, based in Chicago. Most of their releases have been on vinyl. The Super Wild Horses being one of a handful of Hozac compact disc releases.

Some cool indie stores will have Hozac product, but here’s a link to their website - http://hozacrecords.com/ Hozac’s catalog includes a host of releases that will charm the pants off devotees of fuzzy, indie-pop with punk roots.

Reverberating: 8.4 (original), upgraded to 8.7

 

Thus Continues the Top 25 for 2010 Countdown! (with No. 19)

Welcome to the top 25 for 2010 Countdown! Each day we'll countdown, today we continue with number 19, culminating with our (okay, my) numero uno album of the year. When they're handy I'll borrow my earlier reviews from the KC Free Press, as I have in this case. In the event one of my top 25 selections isn't something I've reviewed previously I'll dash off a new review.

I welcome all comments, criticisms, questions and dialog in general.

25. Jon Langford - Old Devils (Bloodshot)
24. Vaselines - Sex with an X (Sub Pop)
23. Drive-By Truckers - The Big To-Do (ATO)
22. Magnetic Fields - Realism (Nonesuch)
21. Dum Dum Girls - I Will Be (Sub Pop)
20. Peter Case - Wig! (Yep Roc)

19. Bettye Lavette - Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook (Anti-Epitaph)

 "Pasty Faced Brit-rockers get taken to Soul School"

Bettye Lavette deserves a brief biological account, but it’s been done so much over the past five years of her resurgent, renewed career that I’ll spare you all but the broadest outline. For a more thorough grounding, go to http://www.bettyelavette.com/biography.html and get caught up.

Lavette’s is the story of a brilliant singer who was more often than not in the wrong place at the wrong time, who soldiered on despite a lack of chart action or record deals, and who has now made the most of her opportunities (this is her third release on Anti-Epitaph).

Beloved by a handful of record collecting soul and funk freaks, Bettye Lavette never had a breakthrough hit or sustained success, despite recording several choice sides in the Sixties and Seventies. Lavette had an aborted tenure with Atlantic Records (a label that should have found a home for her). For Atlantic, she recorded an album with the Muscles Shoals crew at Fame studios that sat on the shelf for almost 30 years. After that, she recorded less frequently, enjoying one disco era club hit “Doin’ the Best That I Can.” She kept working, though, never leaving the rhythm n’blues clubs that gave her a living, and working on Broadway for six years alongside the great Cab Calloway in Bubbling Brown Sugar. It was the release in 2000, by French fan Gilles Petard, of those long shelved Atlantic sessions under the title of Souvenirs (originally slated as Child of the Seventies) that helped jump-start her recording career.

A brief listen to her scattered discography makes one thing clear. Lavette was a classic song stylist trapped in a raspy soul-stirrer’s voice. She treated the contemporary musical landscape much as Frank Sinatra or Sarah Vaughan did in their prime; she didn’t care where a song came from or even if it initially spoke to her. Her interest was transformative. Songs were for her to own, not just to interpret. But by the Seventies, Lavette found herself in a singer-songwriter obsessed climate that valued, whether it was Joni Mitchell or Stevie Wonder, apparently autobiographical, even confessional qualities and made small allowance for the interpreter. You know, wrong place, wrong time.

Upon signing with Anti Records (an Epitaph Records imprint), label head Andy Kaulkin paired Lavette with producer Joe Henry. Henry had produced an ace set for Solomon Burke called Don’t You Give Up on Me that concentrated on songs from contemporary singer-songwriters. His approach with Lavette was similar, and similarly winning. Her sometime radical re-interpretations of songs by John Hiatt, Joan Armatrading, Lucinda Williams and Dolly Parton (among others) introduced Lavette to a new generation of fans. Kaulkin’s next idea, to combine Lavette with Patterson Hood (his dad is Roger Hood, Muscle Shoals bassist and a contributor to Lavette’s long lost Atlantic sessions) and his band the Drive-by Truckers, was even better.

The aptly titled Scene of the Crime brought Lavette back to Fame studio, this time with a hard rocking Southern band. She fell right into the Truckers’ swampy hybrid of the Rolling Stones, Crazy Horse and Southern soul. The fiery Scene of the Crime’s emotional peak was “Before the Money Came (The Battle of Bettye Lavette)” - proof that Lavette could step to the plate as a writer - a scarred, soar, but defiantly triumphant testimony to her power and resilience. It was the kind of searing soul that you almost thought no one made anymore.

Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook sounds like a dubious proposition at first. The catalyst for these sessions was her wrenching take on the Who’s “Love Reign O’er Me,” first delivered at the Kennedy Center Honors 2008 segment devoted to the Who. If you’ve ever seen this performance you were knocked or you’re dead. YouTube this sucker — you can see Daltrey’s and Townshend’s jaws drop as she puts new life into their Quadrophenia warhorse.

Interpretations doesn’t work at every turn. When Lavette sings “sometimes I’m so carefree” in “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood (here associated with the Animals, but I bet Lavette may be as familiar with Nina Simone’s take) it’s not believable, and the uplift in the chorus when Burdon sings is missing. “Isn’t It a Pity” is drenched in soul, but lacks the centered grace of the George Harrison original.

Lavette’s soul-stew, method actor’s approach to singing really scores on several of these songs. The depths she reveals in Zeppelin’s “All My Love” make Robert Plant sound like a crooning bobby soxer. Lavette’s transformation of the soulful, but youthful, trippy sentiments of Traffic’s “No Time to Live” makes them sound like the last words of Ray Charles. Thinking of her old friends Marvin Gaye and David Ruffin, Lavette transforms Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” (a forlorn missive to a mind-gone Syd Barrett) into an even deeper message to the dearly departed.

Producer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist Rob Mathes keeps it real and soulful, but amuses himself and astute listeners with subtle references. “Wish You Were Here” quotes cleverly from Warren Zevon’s “Desperadoes Under the Eaves” and the version here of Ringo Starr’s “It Don’t Come Easy” borrows the opening feel of the Allman’s “Midnight Rider.” The whole cast of accompanists is stellar, but Charley Drayton on drums stands out. He gives these songs everything they need, appreciating that sometimes they don’t need much.

Lavette’s swampy-pop take on Ringo is another highlight of this set. She covers Paul and John too; McCartney’s “Maybe I’m Amazed” is spot-on and among the more straight-ahead renditions on Interpretations. The album kicks off with her transportation of John Lennon’s “The Word” to a land of funk located in the exact geographic point between Memphis and New Orleans. It’s tempting to compare her to Tina Turner on cuts like this, but it’s been a long time since Tina has been this invested or this good. Lavette recalls Ray Charles sometimes and Etta James, but her comfort zone with material is a lot bigger than Etta’s.

Lavette’s genius is clear on her blindingly confident version of the Stones’ “Salt of the Earth.” She manages to strip the song of its detached ironies while retaining the distance central to the bridge by re-imagining the masses (“they don’t look real to me; in fact, they look so strange”) as the absurd, condescending version of working class reality depicted in ‘Reality’ television (yes, she changes the line “strange beauty shows” to “reality shows”). Lavette also updates references like the one from polio to HIV. By the end of this performance she owns the song.

And that’s what great interpreters do. They make a song their own. The reservoirs of guts, smarts and soul that it takes to do this successfully is partly responsible for the diminished number of singers who are good at it, compared to the pre-rock, pre singer-songwriter eras that routinely coupled great composers with able singers. Lavette is in a class of her own. She’s a great soul singer, and more – she’s more of an artist than ninety-nine percent of the deluded knuckleheads who insist of writing all of their own bad material.

The song that started this set in motion is included here in its original live version from the Kennedy Center Honors. “Love Reign O’er Me” still blows you away. The utter confidence, investment and authority she brings to this song are staggering. And if Interpretations doesn’t succeed at every turn, it’s deep, soulful and brilliant enough to make another fine chapter in Bettye Lavette's emerging success story.

Reverberating: 8.5 (original), upgraded to 8.7

Thus Continues the Top 25 for 2010 Countdown! (with No. 20)

Welcome to the top 25 for 2010 Countdown! Each day we'll countdown, today we continue with number 20, culminating with our (okay, my) numero uno album of the year. When they're handy I'll borrow my earlier reviews from the KC Free Press, as I have in this case. In the event one of my top 25 selections isn't something I've reviewed previously I'll dash off a new review.

I welcome all comments, criticisms, questions and dialog in general.

25. Jon Langford - Old Devils (Bloodshot)
24. Vaselines - Sex with an X (Sub Pop)
23. Drive-By Truckers - The Big To-Do (ATO)
22. Magnetic Fields - Realism (Nonesuch)
21. Dum Dum Girls - I Will Be (Sub Pop) 

20. Peter Case - Wig! (Yep Roc)

“Blues-rockin’ session from a (still) underrated talent"

Peter Case has been there and done that. His deep catalog has constructed a sturdy cult audience and inspired recognition among his peers. In the Plimsouls he rocked hard and flirted with pop stardom. As a soloist he’s gravitated to folk and blues derived material that puts him in the company of Steve Earle and Lucinda Williams. 

Of course, unless you’re a superstar, being a musician typically means that you live on the margins, often without such amenities as health insurance. After heart surgery last year many of his musical friends and fans came to his aid. Wig, his first album since the illness, is the sound of a relieved man intent on blowing out the cobs. Recent Case releases, while still chock-a-block with fine tunes and exquisite performances, found the artist in a bit of an Americana rut. For someone who once powered the Plimsouls through songs like “A Million Miles Away” it was easy for the more rock inclined fan to ask: where’s the energy, Pete?

Well, here it is. The songs on Wig are all built on blues idioms. Don’t look for the melodic nuance that went into material like “Entella Hotel” or “Moves Me Deeply.” But Wig gives Case the chance to blast through some joint rockin’ originals (plus a Leadbelly cover), all of them approached with a raw urgency somewhere between Dylan’s blues-based material and R.L. Burnside. 

Case is ably supported on drum by X’s D.J. Bonebrake and Ron Franklin on lead and slide guitar. Bonebrake has always played with ferocity that combines swing and precision, both of which he brings in spades to Wig. Ron Franklin, whose excellent, self-titled, second album sounded like Buddy Holly with the Memphis blues again, is perfectly in tune with this repertoire.

Case is in fine voice. He’s one of the few rock singers to reference both John Lennon’s loving and lacerating sides and do so with distinction. You can hear it on “Ain’t Got No Dough,” which amusingly, affectionately and appropriately borrows the piano part from Barrett Strong’s “Money” (famously covered by the Beatles).“New Old Blue Car” re-energizes a fine track from Case’s very first solo recording. 

“The Words in Red” features some “You Want to Be a Rock and Roll Star” twelve-string, reconciling Byrds/Searchers jangle with a gospel-folk theme. “House Rent Party” tackles the traditional poor man’s blues theme acoustically while its electric cousin “House Rent Jump” rocks hard, both cuts built on John Lee Hooker’s “House Rent Boogie” theme.

Played for pleasure, deeply felt, and drawn from experience, Wig is the sound of a veteran having a gas of a time with two musical brothers. When the blues is rocked this hard it never gets old. Peter Case makes a great case for everything old being new again on Wig.

Reverberating: 8.4 (original), upgraded to 8.7

Thus Continues the Top 25 for 2010 Countdown (with No. 21)

Welcome to the top 25 for 2010 Countdown! Each day we'll countdown, today we continue with number 21, culminating with our (okay, my) numero uno album of the year. When they're handy I'll borrow my earlier reviews from the KC Free Press, as I have in this case. In the event one of my top 25 selections isn't something I've reviewed previously I'll dash off a new review.

I welcome all comments, criticisms, questions and dialog in general.

25. Jon Langford - Old Devils (Bloodshot)
24. Vaselines - Sex with an X (Sub Pop)
23. Drive-By Truckers - The Big To-Do (ATO)
22. Magnetic Fields - Realism (Nonesuch)

21. Dum Dum Girls - I Will Be (Sub Pop)

The Dum Dum Girls’ (the name is an homage to the Vaselines and Iggy Pop) I Will Be reconfigures a Sixties Girl Group ethos with a post-modern distortion palette that’s initially reminiscent of bands like the Jesus and Mary Chain. But the sound that Dee Dee (real name: Kristen Gundred) and fabled producer Richard Gottehrer go for here is an abstractly distortion-driven sound. The loud, fuzzy guitars are not out front in the mix like a typical punk-rock record — instead they hover like ghosts around the edges of Dee Dee’s out-front, heavily reverbed vocals. The effect is as unsettling as it is seductive.

None of this production talk would matter a whit if Dee Dee’s songs didn’t measure up. They do. Her melodies stick with you, and lyrically she ranges from the addled Breeders-meet-Ramones delivery of “Bhang, Bhang, I’m a Burnout” to the Shangri-Las styled narrative of “Jail La La,” and the sweet history-of-our-love confessions of “Yours Alone” (featuring the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Nick Zinner on guitar). Her duet with boy-pal Brandon Welchez from the Crocodiles, ”Blank Girl,” has a charm reminiscent of the Mary Chain’s offshoot Sister Vanilla. You get the feeling that the late Ellie Greenwich would dig Dee Dee’s songs. Greenwich was a Brill Building student, but her confident girl power anthems were rebel songs of a kind. The Dum Dum Girls walk the line between sweet submission and self-assertion keenly.

Richard Gottehrer, the man who wrote “I Want Candy” and “My Boyfriend’s Back,” and who’s produced artists like Blondie, the Go-Gos and Richard Hell, has the perfect ears for the Dum Dum Girls’ vision. Having produced the Raveonettes, who thrive on somewhat similar inspirations, it would have been easy for him to replicate their sound here. Instead, he went for something more dense and ethereal.
Since this recording, Dee Dee, who plays and sings everything on I Will Be except for contributions from three guest guitarists, has assembled a band to take on the road. It will be interesting to see if they can approach the dense, spectral sound achieved on this record. The only song on I Will Be exceeding three minutes is a masterfully dark cover of Sonny Bono’s "Baby Don’t Go,” so they will probably be playing pretty short sets.

I was intrigued by the DDG before I heard a note, having seen the album’s cover photo reproduced for a poster. It’s a 1972 Polaroid of Dee Dee’s mom glancing back as her picture is being taken. She has a pretty, every-girl look of surprise — slack-jawed, but wise to the game. It’s knowing, evocative and suggests the alluring mix of confidence and vulnerability that I Will Be exudes.

Reverberating: 8.2 (original), upgraded to 8.7

Goodnight, Sleep Tight.

A few December 8th thoughts.

Lennon, Lennon everywhere.

He’s on every television news show.
He’s all over satellite radio.
His solo works were recently re-released in re-mastered versions.

And everywhere that song.

“Imagine” became what the “I Have a Dream” speech was to Martin Luther King, Jr. – a glory and an albatross. In each case the provocative depth of the message is undermined by reduction and repetition. And of course both men’s darker, more pressing statements are ignored. Jesus is always easier to tidy up than Marx, I suppose.

And here he is – bigger than Jesus. Okay, maybe not. But anyone watching the endless television coverage of the anniversary of John Lennon’s slaying could be forgiven for thinking so. A December killing, with its proximity to the savior’s birthday (or at least its date of agreed upon sale-a-bration), lends itself to new frontiers in martyr marketing. Would it be better if this wretched event went unobserved? No, the absence would pain those of us who loved his music. Still, much of what passes for the commemoration of his brutal departure chafes.

I can’t presume to think what the man himself would have thought. My guess is that it would bring out his fine sarcasm. So I’d hope. He’d notice that war was not, in fact, over. And maybe he’d have to change the line about ‘imagine no possessions’ to ‘imagine no corporations.’ Who knows?

Ultimately, I just know that the man’s work, image and statements changed how I see the world. Those of us in love with the public Lennon must, no matter how we study his music and manner, accept that this day belongs, in all its loss and horror, to those who truly knew and loved him. So, for Yoko, Sean, Cynthia, Julian, Paul, Ringo, and others this is a day that brings back many memories, some beautiful, some maybe not so beautiful, but certainly vivid, real, personal.

John Lennon understood intuitively that life was about the reconciliation of opposites. All of his flirtations with absolutes, with answers, came gratifyingly to naught. Like all great artists he contained multitudes – peace and aggression, love and indifference, Eros and Thanatos. And his work was the mostly courageous record of his confrontations with this conflicted existence.

My friend Marty and I were watching Monday Night Football and learned of Lennon’s killing from Howard Cossell. Strange, really – we watched television, and sports especially, very rarely in those days. But there we were, instantly devastated and gutted.
A few minutes later my friend James called, looking for a companion in commiseration.
We closed one of our favorite watering holes trying in vain to make sense of it all.

We didn’t. I never have. And I never will.


But the impact of the man and his music - that was about the life force, driving like a son of a bitch through the straitjacket of American Sixties existence. And things were never the same. Thank God.

When my son was born in 1996 my wife Nancy and I selected Lennon as his middle name. Eddie Wilson could be a punk, a hustler. Edward Lennon Wilson could be a poet laureate. We wanted his name to reflect the range of life’s rich possibilities. John Lennon’s life did.

I remain grateful for his life, his work, and its place in this man’s life.


Thus Continues the Top 25 for 2010 Countdown (with No. 22)

Welcome to the top 25 for 2010 Countdown! Each day we'll countdown, today we continue with number 22, culminating with our (okay, my) numero uno album of the year. When they're handy I'll borrow my earlier reviews from the KC Free Press, as I have in this case. In the event one of my top 25 selections isn't something I've reviewed previously I'll dash off a new review.

I welcome all comments, criticisms, questions and dialog in general.

25. Jon Langford - Old Devils (Bloodshot)
24. Vaselines - Sex with an X (Sub Pop)
23. Drive-By Truckers - The Big To-Do (ATO) 

22. Magnetic Fields - Realism (Nonesuch)

"Merritt(orious) work from prolific songsmith and his ensemble"

By my count, “Realism” is the ninth record from the Magnetic Fields, an ensemble that’s essentially a vehicle for the songwriter Stephin Merritt. Merritt is a busy guy, sitting around in gay bars writing songs all day. Hey, that’s what he says. He sure is prolific. Between Magnetic Fields, The Gothic Archies, the 6ths, and Future Bible Heroes, heck, he barely has time to eat, although he is fond of Scandinavian dairy products. But I digress.

Glad to be unhappy (Rodgers-Hart reference – Merritt would like that), Mr. Merritt lives in a world of melody and wit. And by golly if you relish such qualities Magnetic Fields is for you. Having made his masterpiece, the sprawling “69 Love Songs” in 1999, Merritt amuses himself with varying the sonic textures of his work — he's completely abandoned the synth-pop that established his work. The Magnetic Fields' last record, “Distortion,” lived up to its name, avowedly something of a tribute to the Jesus and Mary Chain (although Merritt is capable of the glibly facetious), the song craft was still pure Merritt. “Realism” dials back the decibels, eschewing electric instrumentation almost entirely and employing diverse instrumentation (how about flugelhorn, Cajon, accordion, banjo, etc.) well beyond the usual folkie palette. Both, the volume dial-back and the acoustic instrumentation are perfect for these hurt, bitter, but oddly blithe songs.

One could spend the day quoting from Merritt’s dour, witty songs. I shan’t. Vaguely comparable: Stuart Murdoch’s writing for Belle & Sebastian and God Help the Girl, although Murdoch is a sad humanist and Merritt is a borderline misanthrope — albeit a lovable one. Neil Hannon’s work with the Divine Comedy has a kinship with Merritt’s, but Hannon is a morally ambivalent European flatterer while Merritt is something of a New England scold for all his love of personal liberty. What else can you call the author of a jolly, but scathing putdown like “You Must Be Out of Your Mind?” It’s hard to imagine any other contemporary songwriter producing a Rudy Valli-like, Twenties homage/parody with the nod and a wink ambivalence of “Seduced and Abandoned” — Randy Newman, maybe?

Finally, Stephin Merritt is a post-rock Stephen Sondheim in search of a new Broadway, perhaps a Broadway for smarter people, indeed smarter people than those who typically support Broadway. Such is his dilemma. He’s too blisteringly direct for the polite set. And he’s too literate for ninety-percent of, well, college rockers. The gentleman sure has a way with words and tunes, though, and a lovely, refined recital like “Realism” makes a fine case for his art.

Reverberating: 8.6 (original), upgraded to 8.7