Record Review: Cat Power Jukebox

Cat Power
Jukebox
 Chan Marshall as Cat Power has long fascinated, enthralled and infuriated me.  Her whispered, atonal mewing is enchanting and yet sometimes there is jus t a sameness to the whole thing that is numbing.  With a few exceptions her original songs have been unremarkable and her gifts as a singer has always been through interpreting other peoples works.  Sometimes it is brilliant, sometimes the song selection is questionable, but it is never uninteresting to see what she does with someone else’s tunes and while her covers may be eclectic and more geared to music snobbery then tunefulness her CD Covers was very well received and had a number of memorable tunes on it.  Her cover of the Oasis anthem “Wonderwall” stands as the brilliant mark by which any artist should be judged, reinventing the song in a way never envisioned by those pretentious little twits the Gallagher's or in the much ballyhooed Ryan Adams cover.  Find it on iTunes….BUY IT NOW!
 
So it was with some apprehension and anticipation that picked up her knew CD “Jukebox”.  Once again a collection of covers, some old, some new, some borrowed, etc… She did this one with the help of pretty much the same Memphis session players she used for her last CD, the critically acclaimed but ultimately disappointing “The Greatest”.  These musicians are brilliant and understated with Judah Bauer on guitar, and Greg Foreman on Organ accenting  her voice and framing her tunes.  This CD also has special guests on it like the brilliant Spooner Oldham on piano and organ and Matt Sweeney on guitar.  It is a sweet band for a sometimes silky sweet voice.
 
She kicks off with “New York” and she is no Frank Sinatra and you immediately think ooohhh! That was a mistake but… it grows on you like a fungus or in you like a cyst and now (although I would never want to drunkenly sing it at a bar) it has become my favorite.  She moves into a muted version of the Hank Williams (not Jr. or III) tune Ramblin (WO)MAN and it lilts along in a most pleasing way with it’s steel guitar muted in the background and frankly…beautiful.  The third song is hers, “Metal Heart”, and it is surprisingly good.  Lee Clayton’s “Silver Stallion” lilts along followed by “Aretha, Sing One For Me” which unhappily sounds a little trite coming from a woman who does not by any estimation have a “big” voice.  James Brown’s “Lost Someone” is a non starter… and even after it fails to start it goes no where.  “Lord Help The Poor and Needy” seems to resonate but I do not know if that is because of her cover of it, or because it seems to be a relevant song to life right now.
 
She veers suddenly to brilliant again inn her cover of Dylan’s “I Believe In You” which you can also find on the sound track of the recent non hit movie “I’m Not There”.  This song works on every level with a great, almost Keith Richards on Xanax like guitar rift that counterpoints her reading of a song that when Dylan does it is almost unintelligible.  She follows up with her own “Song To Bobby” with the usual disappointing results and then reaches out and fails on the Billie Holloday song “Don’t Explain” before closing with a one two punch of Spooner Olhams “Women Left Lonely” followed by a really thoughtful version of Joni Mitchells under rated “Blue”.
 
The CD is cohesive and at times brilliant and enchanting but even as it fits together the unevenness of Marshall’s performances and commitment to these songs as she goes through it is distracting.  I think that when she stops recording she is going to leave us with a really sweet greatest hits package and I guess that is feint praise indeed for this critics darling.

Record Review 20: Levon Helm "Dirt Farmer"

Dirt Farmer





Soooo... what do you say about Levon Helm? Drummer, mandolin player, guitarist, bassist and ragged american voice for one of the quintessential American (Candaian) bands aptly called... “The Band”. The Band was originally “The Hawks” and at one time Levon and the Hawks. They made some good music but Dylan recruited them as his touring band in 1965 and 1966 and then they recorded The Basement Tapes with him and then went on to their own career which includes classic albums “Music From The Big Pink” and “The Band”. In classic over blown fashion they memorialized their swan song in the movie “The Last Waltz”. Helm’s status as cultural icon was more then sealed when Elton John recorded the song “Levon” about him.

Since that time Robbie Robbertson has had a minor but interesting career but Helm was always the interesting one in the group. His voice gave the textures to their great songs “The Weight”, “Ophelia” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”. After the band broke up he continued to record and to act in a lot of movies, most significantly being in the picture “Coal Miners Daughter” and as the narrator of the movie “The Right Stuff”. He was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1990 which might have ruined his voice or... might have made it better depending on your own tastes. Helm has been hosting what he calls “The Midnight Rambles” on a regular basis over the past few years at his barn in Woodstock New York and among the hipster intelligentsia they have gained an almost mythic word of mouth. You can check out the Rambles as well as some unusual CD offierings at www.levonhelm.com.

He has not had a lot of solo material out there but the cancer and the midnight rambles have served togive him a sound and a voice that any alt-country fan can grab hold of and chew on like a bone. His new CD is a bunch of blues and country traditionals along with some originals written by other people. recorded at his studio in Woodstock his band includes Amy helm, Larry Cambell and Theresa Williams and they hold down a nice musical low end which sets up most each and every song for his plaintive, raspy, former tenor. Some of it is haunting along the lines that Ralph Stanley’s version of “Oh Death” was haunting but most of it just rolls like a river and is soothing in an earthy way that works you over from your gut to your brain.
“False Hearted Lover” kicks it off with a nice whine and twang and rolls right into the title cut where he adds an accordian and a fiddle. Both are traditionals but then he breaks into Steve Earle’s “The Mountain” which Earle recorded with the great Del Mc Coury Band and while this does not have that type of bluegrass sensibility it is kind of a wrencher. He adds the great guitar player Buddy Miller on vocals and it is a great cut. He rattles off a couple of more traditionals in “Little Birds” and “The Girl I lef Behind” before taking on Byron Israels “Calvary”. Calvary starts with a little guitar reminiscent of the late Chris Whitley and he rambles on giving you a little pump organ along the way. Good stuff. he does a song called “Anna Lee” next wish is about... Anna Lee.

He then does two songs by a guy I am not familiar with named Paul Kennerly. A little wikipedia research and googling tells me that he is an english singer song writer who was married to Emmylou Harris from 85-93. These are blusier songs set to nothing much more then Helm’s voice and a mandolin. he moves into a little sing along called “Single Girl” which has some nice backing vocals by Theresa Williams and then the traditional “The Blind Child” before closing with a bluesy ramble (yes I said it again) called “Feeling Good”.

The CD does not have an artsy feel. I wonder how long it took to make because it has an “I can do this all day” feeling to it but I am sure since it was recorded at his home studio that it probably labored over a ton. This is an excellent effort and for those of us that lived and died over The Band’s remake of Springsteens “Atlantic City” (everyone should download that on iTunes today) this CD really scratches an itch.
8 Slingers on the 10 scale

Vacation VI: Amoeba Records

Amoeba Records is the largest independent music store in the country. It boast 250,000 titles. that is not 250,000 CD’s my 20 year old pointed out to me “but separate titles dad.” they probably have close to a million CD’s on site. It started in Berkley and then a second one in San Francisco before migrating south. My son and I have never been blessed enough to attend the northern California stores but no trip to southern California is acceptable without a pilgrimage to Amoeba.

As I have bemoaned in this space before, the internet and big chains have killed the independent record store. In St. Louis we only have two of any consequence (Vintage Vinyl and Euclid Records) and even our local chain of Streetside has fallen by the wayside. So an independent music store like an independent book store is to be treasured and admired and when it claims to be the biggest one in the world... pay attention.

The place sits on Sunset in Hollywood and although we fought 2 1/2 hours of mid day traffic through Orange County and L.A. to get there it is an inspiring place. It is huge and imposing. They have an acre of pop/rock CD’s but the real beauty of the place is stated on little placards where they admonish you to check their used CD section because they are cheaper and indeed they are. The place is a music snobs wet dream. When you find the slot for an obscure band like Okkervil River the place card also directs you to look in the sections for Will Sheff and Shearwater.

My mind tends to go blank when I walk in and my carefully disciplined shopping plans get flung to the four winds. I look at the many names over the CD’s (ignoring the new releases section as you can find those at Best Buy if you need them) and start wandering around and thinking of slots I need to fill... T-Bone Burnette’s back catalogue... oh look a life recording of a set by J. Mascis (of Dinosaur Jr.) playing solo at CBGB’s., two out of print Okkervil River EPs. A Magnolia Electric EP where they cover “Werewolves of London.” All good stuff that you simply cannot find anywhere else...even on iTunes (gasp!)

We were on a surgical strike having to return to the rest of the family by five and I was deathly afraid of the traffic returning home so I only looked wistfully at all the great poster art and concert art they had on display knowing I could lose an hour there is I started to look and i had neither the time nor the budget. I scanned their “folk” and “country” sections impressed by the mass of quantity and quality (They had over 30 different Johnny Cash CDs for instance) and then looked at the comprehensive vinyl section which was larger then any St. Louis record store all by itself.

Equally joyful is watching my son shop. I tell him I will buy him four CD’s and I feel pretty good about that until I see him separating out the 4 most expensive for daddy’s charge card. he is getting some rare Decembrist’s, Modest Mouse, Mountain Goats and some bands so pretentious I do not even know their names. I beam with pride as we check out and ring up 130 dollars in purchases. They have like 20 check out stations and the last time we were there on a Saturday night it took a half hour just to check out. Bottom line is that the place is amazing and that whenever in L.A. or Berkley or San Francisco... hit Amoeba and be AMAZED!

Record Review 18: Radiohead: In Rainbows

Soooooo... did Radiohead just suddenly change everything? Somehow it seems unlikely but in any case...how cool was that? On October 10th (my birthday) those pretentious English fucks Radiohead released their brand new CD “In Rainbows” on their own web site. Not on iTunes. Not in stores. Just on their site. Other people, bands etc... have released songs on their own site and sometimes given them away but no one has released a whole CD for free on a web site for nothing. Of course it was not really for nothing and that was the kind of cooler part.

You could pay them whatever you wanted. You just filled in the blanks. How ever much you wanted to pay... in pounds of course. Anyway...once you heard about it and logged on it was rather surreal going and typing in an amount and getting to download the songs. You could also agree to pay a lot more for a special boxed set. But why? The exciting thing and the big difference was because this was one of the most popular bands of all time, arguably at the height of their game. So how did they do? Wired magazine said this:

Estimates: Radiohead Made $6-$10 Million on Initial Album Sales
By Eliot Van Buskirk October 19, 2007 | 11:35:45 Am

Thom Yorke's representative told me that the band have "decided not to give out any figures" for sales of Radiohead's In Rainbows album, but that isn't stopping people from making their best guesses based on what little information is available.
The Seminal estimates that Radiohead sold about $10 million-worth of albums as of 10/12, assuming that their source was correct that approximately 1.2 million people downloaded the album from the site, and that the average price paid per album was $8 (we heard that number too, but also heard that a later, more accurate average was $5, which would result in $6 million revenue instead).
Meanwhile, Forbes and BigChampagne revealed that on the first day the album was available, 240K people downloaded it for free over BitTorrent, and that over the following days an average of 100K people per day did the same, for a total of over 500K BitTorrent downloads over the initial week of its release.  It appears that even though the album was available for free on InRainbows.com, plenty of people preferred to use BitTorrent rather than Radiohead's site, which required an email registration (although some of those BitTorrent downloads may have been the result of slowdowns on the ordering site).
We're working on getting some sales numbers through another channel, and will post those if/when we can.

http://www.radiohead.com/deadairspace/

Wired Magazine cannot be wrong. Can it?
Anyway...what about the CD itself? Radiohead has always been problematic for me. Their “Genius” being somewhat hard for me to get at behind the drum machine and synth heavy tunes. Still, even for me there was no denying “OK Computer” being one of the top indie rock CD’s of all time. Thom Yorke aside from being a pretentious Brit prick has an ear for the tune and through his work has established serious indie cred both for himself and his high school band-mates from Oxfordshire.
“In Rainbows” is in a word... dreamy. I have listened to it about 15 times now ensconced in my office and the same word just keeps suggesting itself. I am still bothered and somewhat distracted by their reliance on electronic effects for percussion and that plays out right away in the opening track 15 step. Something I had not noticed before was how Yorke’s vocals often mimic Ray Davies of the Kinks. I look at that as a good thing. The second song is a rocker with a crunchy guitar called “Body Snatchers” and the Ray Davies thing is reinforced for me pretty dramatically.

The Yorke slows it way...way down with something that sounds like it should be a soundtrack cut because your mind conjures up all kinds of visuals...and then he starts to sing and it is just... a weird song he calls “Nude.” Then the Cd gets really good with a well crafted soft pop tune called “Weird Fishes” and this is classic Yorke for both song style and lyrics:

“I get eaten by the worms
Weird Fishes
Picked over by the worms
Weird Fishes
Weird Fishes
Weird Fishes
I’ll hit the bottom
Hit the bottom and escape
Escape”

That type of shit. But it is compelling and you cannot explain but have to listen. “All I Need” follows up with a plodding synth and drum beat that is very radio ready. It is all symbolism and metaphor with Yorke being... in order

1. The next act waiting in the wings
2. An animal trapped in your hot car
3. A moth
4. In the middle of a picture

Until he starts to tell you as the song winds down...Its all wrong. It’s all right.” No shit.
“Faust Arp” Sounds like a soft Jack White song set to strings. It is really very pretty and Yorkes’ voice is hard to fault. The strings and guitar remind me of a late seventies Fogelberg album and sadly I do not mean that in a big way. In a lot of ways this song like a lot of their songs is just so well put together, so well produced and played that it is just...too pretty.
“Reckoner” has an edgier feel and you really get an appreciation for the brevity of Yorke’s lyrics. There are no sweeping epics. Stories do not get told. He does not take you from point A to point B but each song is like a separate picture hanging in a museum with the words and tune providing color and perspective and sometimes you can even make out a picture. But it is murky. “House of Cards” clocks in as the longest track on the CD at 5:28 and it is just pretty.

“Jigsaw Falling Into Place” other then the drum machine is just an excellent pop song. I like it because i think I can discern what he is singing about which is the bad end of a relationship. That is what music is supposed to be about. Leave the sweeping themes to novelists...that is what daddy says. The end with a dreary little ditty called “Videotape’ which starts with a plodding one finger on one key piano which makes me think Neil Young is about to start singing “A Man Needs A Maid.” But he doesn't. But the song does sound a lot like that tune in style. it is either about dying...or about a great date. I guess they could be the same.

My whole sense of the CD is that is probably more accessible then any of their work since “OK Computer”. perhaps the appearance on Southpark made them take themselves less seriously but with Yorke I doubt it. He is one of those guys that I would be anxious to see what he could do outside the studio sitting at a piano by himself writing and singing all stripped down and unpretentious. There is unfortunately nothing that is uncomplicated by about Yorke and his mates or this CD. You have to listen... and listen again and hope that you can get it...because all the cool kids do. And this album is probably worth the study time.

Record Review 17: Steve Earle "Washington Square Serenade"

Steve Earle
Washington Square Serenade





I listened to this CD for the first time in my car on a beautiful trip down to Ozark Missouri to appear in a workers compensation hearing (glamorous legal stuff). One would think it was a perfect day to enjoy a new CD by one of rocks great modern troubadours. Earle has had an interesting if somewhat checkered history. He hit the airwaves by storm as the next big thing and his critically acclaimed CD “Guitar Town” which was about Nashville and “the business”. Later he had a moderate FM hit with “Copperhead Road” which was about his parents running moonshine and about changing the family business to growing weed. Good stuff. he drove his life far off the road, developed some serious drug habits (primarily heroin), carried a pistol and was generally a fuck up on his way to killing himself before... miraculously, he straightened himself out.

He has dropped three or four albums since then that I think are brilliant and of late he was one of the earliest and harshest critics of the Iraq war and our idiot President. So I was really looking forward to this CD which was coming after an unusually long 3 year break from recording. I have seen him live a few times in that period and each time he appeared with a brilliant band which included Eric “Roscoe” Ambel and put on great shows. He moved back to Nashville and it appeared he would live happily ever after there.

Well, that was not to be and this CD is about his move to NYC. Arguably he had already recorded this CD in one song off an earlier album which was aptly titled...NYC. Well, listening to that CD on a beautiful day I started skipping songs and coming back to them and had one unifying thought. This sucks.

It just seemed like there was nothing there. It sounded like Earle but the songs were weak and uninspired. Looking at the jewel box he looked fat an unkept and I figured that he had just moved there to die or something and needed some cash. But, out of respect for his body of work I took it into the office and gave it three or four listens and like all good music, the more I listened to it, the better it got.

This guy is the real deal. A tortured, self schooled artist who creates a lot of his own problems (see prior referenced drug addiction and 7 wives...one of them twice) and although it is a trite thing sometimes it is an all American story, a real American story and his songs as you listen to this album become a reasonably brilliant ode to the midlife crisis by an intelligent guy in a country that our leadership has lost it’s way. It starts out with “Tennessee Blues” which is a not so wistful goodbye to Nashville and Guitar Town as he heads for NYC presumably with new wife Allison Moorer. it is a fine song but it has been done before and he keeps in the same done before vein on “Down Here Below” from the perspective of a metaphorical hawk (at the top of the food chain) in NYC and those living their lives as prey... on the streets “down below”. it laments the loss of the old Coffee House East Village NYC.....yawn.

On “Satellite Radio” where he digs in and starts to ask whether anyone is listening which is always a tough question for a guy who feels like he has a lot to say. The he rolls into the pretty “City of Immigrants” which evokes Guthrie and Seeger in a song that celebrates the diversity of his adopted city. Sure it has been done before too but rarely as heartfelt and timely a manor as this. He follows with “Sparkle And Shine” which is a pretty love song and likely an ode to the aforementioned Moorer. he follows that with a weaker still “Come Home To Me” and then ups the ante.

“Jericho Road” is as good of a song as he has ever written. The Jericho Road was where the parable of the good Samaritan takes place. It was the back road short cut from Jerusalem to Jericho and was famous for lawlessness and danger and Earle takes us down the road where he meets along the way his mother, his father, his sister and his brother and all have a message for him. The Jericho Road is a heavy metaphor and he uses it well. He then tears into “Oxycontin Blues” and from a liberal like Earle you would expect some lambast of poor drug addled demagogue Rush Limbaugh but instead he seems of alcoholism, addiction and self destruction accompanied plaintively but a hard strumming mandolin that evokes some of his best early work.

He backs off and goes into “Red Is The Color” which is a lament...and nothing more but well struck. After that break he takes us to “Steve’s Hammer” dedicated to Pete (presumably Seeger) and he gives us what really seems to be the anthem for this life of his. he will put his hammer down when the world is without suffering and injustice. The song is song with a bright hopefulness that belies the utter hopelessness of the task. it is worthy of appearance on ANY folk collection from the Smithsonian.

“Days Are not Long Enough” is a song he pens and sings with Moorer and it sweet and nice but... it does not really fit and then surprisingly he finished with Tom Waits “Down In The Whole” with some of the spooky voice effect he likes to use sometime. It is a fitting end to a bleak yet hopeful album

This is a guy who could sit back, get fatter and hang out... but he cannot. And somewhere we all need to appreciate an artist who is willing to do what I fail so often to do and that is to speak truth to power. You gotta give it up for that.
9 Slingers Out of Ten

Record Review 16: The Good Life, "Help Wanted Nights"

The Good Life
“Help Wanted Nights”




There is always a question which can only be important to a music head, but a question never the less about whether you are better when a band has a new CD out to be familiar with the CD before you see them in concert, or see them and then get into the CD. Sometimes you have no choice is the case recently where The Good Life put out “Help Wanted Nights” on September 11 and then basically opened their tour in St. Louis on the 26th of September. So I did not have a chance to buy or get into the CD prior to the show and in fact bought it at the show. There is a pleasure to buying a CD at the show because you know the band swallows the profit directly and it only costs 10 bucks.

I like this CD. If you read my Rilo Kiley review this CD is everything that one is not. Although cutting their teeth in that same Omaha scene Tim Kasher and his band are stripped down. His voice is very limited but is plaintive in tone and the backing of the band with some tasty chops and a slight Alt-country feel make it a pleasure. His Cd from a few years ago, "Album of the Year" was one of the gems from 05. Well produced and not a weak song in the bunch.

The CD opens up with “On The Picket Fence”...almost solo acoustic, song to a girl as in, “Don’t you leave me on a picket fence.” Nice. Next is “A Little Bit More” which is a classic troubled relationship song...coarsely worded:

“I wanted just a little more, you loved me and you locked the door.
Lured me into thinking I was special...but your a liar and a whore.
It made me want you just a little bit more.”

Touching.”Sure Your Heart IS Breaking Too” is full of irony and it is a nice song and kind of a throwback kind of like Weezer’s “Buddy Holly” or the Pixies “Here Comes Your Man.” It resonates and he pulls it off. Next he goes to “Your Share of Men” with he and his guitar... “I am sure you have had your share of men...I am honored to be one of them.” Nice play on words...nice irony. Good stuff. the CD keeps going on with quality songs, “You Don’t Feel Like Coming Home To Me.” which has elegant, simple production and a great chorus. It is a good CD. The band plays tight. the songs are well written and hold up well to repeated listening and Tim Kasher’s voice holds up really well in a studio even though it is a limited one. I like this band. The Good life is Kasher's project along with his band Cursive both of which errupted from the Omaha mope rock scene spawned by Bright Eyes and their "genius" Connor Oberst. Although Oberst went back to a mellower sound again on Cassadega The Good Life never leaves solid country roots. Steel guitars and bad relationships. It does not get much better.
7 Slingers on a 10 scale.

Record Review 13 Okkervil River: "The Stage Names"

Okkervil River
The Stage Names









Sooooo...what do you do about Will Sheff. He is leader, singer, songwriter of Okkervil River. Most of the guys in the band grew up in New Hampshire and started to play together and then split up for college before re-forming in Austin in 1998. Since that time they have come out with 5 full length albums:
• 1999 Stars Too Small to Use - Jound
• 2002 Don't Fall in Love with Everyone You See - Jagjaguwar
• 2003 Down the River of Golden Dreams - Jagjaguwar
• 2005 Black Sheep Boy - Jagjaguwar
• 2007 The Stage Names - Jagjaguwar
They have a number of great E.P.s as well but their album output, is very high on over all quality. Okkervil and Sheff specialize in the atonal work that I love which is so indebted to Neil Young and a lot of their harder stuff leans strongly on Young’s tone and pacing. Sheff pens a lot of brilliant songs and as opposed to much post-Cobaine mopers ennunciates his lyrics beautifully and sometimes painfully. Sheff along with Colin Meloy and Conner Oberst are some of the most talented writers, singers, songwriters and entertainers of this current crop of talent. Each one of them has been christened a "new Dylan" at one time or another and while that is slightly (maybe tremendously) over blown it is not totally without merit.

This CD continues in the tradition although it is tighter and better produced. The CD has been very well review with Pitchfork Media concluding:

“Ultimately, The Stage Names shows how a vastly talented "mid-level band" (Sheff's words) sees itself, but there's no bitterness here, just overwhelming self-doubt and perseverance. Despite its density (they fit worlds into just nine songs), the album remains exciting and accessible, albeit highly sobering. It's about the folly of popular music and its attendant lifestyles, but these songs are so good and so moving that they only give us stupid, stubborn hope.”

That is high praise indeed. The CD merits it. It is just a really tight 9 song effort much in the same way albums used to be crafted with a nice narrative arc and a lot of feeling that rises...and falls. Will Sheff is always thrashing around in a troubled and manic way. He writes some great twisted stuff. The first song booms out....”Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe.” In the song he bemoans the lack of plot, casting and quality lighting. I think it is a metaphor. But the whole CD is good, even down to the 6th song...”A Girl In A Port” where Sheff explains:
“I am not a ladykilling sort,
enough to hurt a girl in a port.”

Reminded me of Rhett Miller of the Old 97’s singing:
“My name is Stuart Ransom Miller,
and I am serial lady killer.”

These poor guys. Anyway...the CD is full of dark hooks and nice rhythms. He broods as he wails but in a way that is rarely less then compelling. While this effort might not be quite as compelling as “Black Sheep Boy” (though it might be) it is a solid collection of songs with nice indie rock sensibility and...the occasional aching steel guitars. Lets call it 9 slingers on the 10 scale. A must buy for the year if you want to listen to stuff you will never hear anywhere else.

Record Review 12 Peter Case: "Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John"

Peter Case
“Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John”

Soooo...what do you do about Peter Case. This guy is now getting old and he has been making quality music for at least thirty years. Case born in 1954 is...jeeez....53 years old. You have never even heard of him and he is one of the greatest singer/songwriter/guitarists of our time. He was in an ealry new wave (skinny tie) band called The Nerves in LA/San Fran and then brokke big in 1980 with The Plimsouls. Of course you will all remember them from the Nick Cage vehicle “Valley Girl” where they were the basement punk band singing their hit “Million Miles Away.” Well...I remember at least. It was a seminal moment in my early college experience...or mid college...I don’t remember. Anyway... he did not really make it big. Plimsouls broke up and like so many others he launched a solo career and became the dreded “critic’s darling.”

Case embarked on a solo career with his epynomous CD which also started the solo production career of T-Bone (Oh Brother Where Art Thou) Burnette. The album was brilliant...groundbreaking and critically acclaimed and...nothing happened. One of the songs on it “Old Blue Car” was grammy nominated and...nothing happened. The CD also had the talents of John Hiatt and Roger Mc Guinn (The Byrds). It is a personal favorite. Perhaps not a desert island CD but close. Very close. His second CD was (for my taste) even more brilliant and brillaintly titled as “The Man With the Blue Post-Modern Fragmented Neo-Traditionalist Guitar.” He recorded that with Ry Cooder and David Hidalgo of Los Lobos and was critically acclaimed and...nothing happened. “Blue Guitar” is a desert island CD with too many great songs and lyrics to recount but.... I can’t help myself...from the albums song “Poor Old Tom”

As we make our way towards our destination,
fortunes are still made with flesh and blood.
Progress and love got nothing in common
Jesus healed a blind man’s eyes with mud.”

GOOD STUFF

Now he has this one...his twelfth album. Check out how many albums.
Discography
• Peter Case, 1986 album
• Fast Folk: Los Angeles, 1988 compliation
• The Man With the Blue Post-Modern Fragmented Neo-Traditionalist Gui tar, 1989 album
• Six-Pack of Love, 1992 album
• Sings Like Hell, 1993 album
• Torn Again, 1995 album
• Full Service No Waiting, 1998 album
• Flying Saucer Blues, 2000 album
• Thank You St. Jude, 2001 album
• Beeline, 2002 album
• Who's Gonna Go Your Crooked Mile, 2004 album
• A Case for Case, 2006 tribute album
• Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John, 2007

All of them have moved over a lot of different ground but always rely on his lyrics and his strong playing. Kind of like James Mc Murtry (another favorite) his guitar playing is totally under rated. The fact is that he can just tear it up bouncing back and forth primarily between folk and blues and then sometimes just playing some straight out rockers. the thing about the new CD is just how perfect and even the quality of it is. case has developedover the years into a monster for social justice and leaves behind most of the simple love song stuff for big worldview questions. He writes about the down and out and injustice and how frankly funny and scary life can be. It is good stuff.

The CD kicks off with “Every 24 Hours” which is just a great song about life, living on the road and that nothing stays the same or constant because...”the world turns every 24 hours.” No shit. he sings and plays with Richard Thompson (another fave) but Thompson does not...cannot dominate either vocally or with the guitar. but they sound great together.
“Underneath The Stars” is a beautiful peann to a homelss woman as she dies. hard stuff but elegant. The next song “A Million Dollars Bail” is for any lawyer or person who has seen the inside of the system and how many and talented lawyers work it for the benefit of the rich and pwerful. “Two Kinds of justice everyone knows. Ones for the people up on the hill, the others down below.” Simple themes. Populist themes. Springsteen was listening to a lot of Peter Case when he wrote some of his best stuff but case keeps on going and going. He conveys righteous without self righteous which is a rare thing indeed. He has a nice website at:

http://www.petercase.com/

Everything about this new CD is worth discovering because even as he casts arrows at the problems of people and the world his music is always hopeful and always looking forward and always calling you to something more...something grand. case is the real deal and this CD is another in a long line of genius and it is... one of the best. Buy it. 8 Sliders on the 10 scale.

Record Review 9 Southern Culture on The Skids: Countrypolitan

Southern Culture On The Skids (SCOTS) has redefined white trash rock for years. Rick Miller who handles the guitar and male vocal chores might or might not be the bastard son of Roger Miller but he certainly is not the half brother of the tunefull and too good looking Rhett Miller of the Old 97’s. I am a SCOT’s fan come lately. They have been around since 1986. A Chapel Hill North Carolina band they have had the same three people, Miller, Dave Hartman on Drums and well coifed Mary Huff on bass guitar. They won me over when opening for BR-549 at the Pageant about two years ago when they stole the show.

According to Wikipedia, “SCOTS music is generally very upbeat, as they usually write and perform songs about dancing, sex, and fried chicken, which are main themes in songs such as "Cheap Motels," "Soul City," and "Eight Piece Box" respectively. They are also known for their live shows, which often include throwing fried chicken and banana pudding into the audience, and audience members invited to dance onstage.” All true. They simply put on a great rocking show and Miller does the surf guitar as well as anyone (including Dick Dale) and can more then hold is own in rockabilly. He makes it scratch and pop.
Not that there is anything wrong with dancing, sex and fried chicken but they chose to do this CD as one of covers of other artists and they go all over the map with some...interesting choices. Do not look for respectful Buck Owens and Hank Williams and Carter Family homilies. They do touch some country greatness like their take on Don Gibson’s “Oh Lonesome Me”, but they also reach into some odd “country” choices like the Kinks “Muswell Hillbillies” and the Who’s “Happy Jack.” Unlike most cover CD’s this is not really a romp but seems to be a well thought out focus on showing their range. There are some mis-steps such as in Roger Miller’s “Engine Engine Number 9” and T-Rex’s “Lifes A Gas” does not make the transition but this CD is worth the price of admission and right now seems to be a critics darling.

If you are not familiar with them I would suggest going out and getting their CD “Dirt Track Date” to really get a feeling for them. This is not thinking mans music. If your looking for depth or feeling go get a Modest Mouse CD and put a gun in your mouth but for my money their version of the song “Venus” for out shocks the Shocking Blue. All in all this is a CD for fans of the band, or fans of the weird. I like it but I would never put it on for strangers. 7 1/2 Slingers out of 10
Your iTunes Composite for Souther Culture on the Skids
1. Nitty Gritty
2. These Boots Were made For Walking
3. Venus
4. Soul City
5. Banana Puddin
6. I learned To Dance In Mississippi
7. Camel Walk
8. Muswell Hillbillies
9. Liquored Up and Lacquered Down
10. Dirt Track Date
11. The Wet Spot
12. 8 Piece Box
13. Fried Chicken And Gasoline
14. Country Funk
15. ‘69 El Camino
16. Voodoo Cadillac
17. Oh Lonesome Me

Album Review 8 Neil Young Live Massey Hall Toronto

Neil Young Live At Massey Hall Toronto

One of the advantages of having a 19 year old music head for a son is that he is occasionally able to give me a gift of music...sometimes like this even before it is released. Make no mistake, I will purchase this CD, if nothing else to have it for the permanent collection but....it is nice to listen to something in it’s entirety...before most of the world gets to hear it.
On January 19, 1971 Neil went on a little tour which eventually took him to Massey Hall in Toronto. That venue which dates from 1894 must have been intimate indeed seeting only about 2900 people who got to see Young...and his guitar and his piano. No Crazy Horse. Young had just turned 25. He had released “After The Gold Rush” but was on the cusp of two major events in his personal and professional career. The first was the release of “Harvest” whose boldness, milky sweet steel and acoustic guitar and impeccable Nashville sessionwork would sweep the country and make Young a mega star, and the November 1971 death of original Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten. For Young fans this was right before he drove off the road and into the ditch.

There is very little edge here. There is lots of wide eyed wonder and a guy who is trying to find his stage voice and presence. What is AMAZING about the CD is what strong voice it finds him in. I am a huge Neil Young fan. Not a moderate fan, not an objective fan...a huge fan. I am a fan of him at every stage of his career. I am not objective. In putting out as many albums as he has there is some crap but even among his dark years making records for Geffen their are a LOT of gems. But I digress, this is not my Neil Young Cheerleader piece.

Neil’s voice. That strange...atonal warbling...is so powerful on this CD. Even with some analogue tape hiss and a lot of crowd noise he just sings with a power and confidence and just sounds...beautiful. So many live CD’s (to the extent the record companies even allow them to be put out) are compilations of numerous shows and edit out crowd noise and any of the artists comments. Not so this effort which is simply a “roll the tape” live show. I have heard most all these songs before and I have even heard a lot of them solo acoustic but...none of them solo acoustic from young at this age. “Journey Through The Past”, “On The Way Home”, “Helpless” and the medley of “A Man Needs A Maid” morphing into “Heart of Gold” are particular gems.

You cannot forget that he is Canadian and they are embracing one of their own. Neil is the best argument that you can make for allowing Canada to annex it’s southern neighbor. The crowd cheers and sings along, takes pictures and generally participates in a love fest of their boy, come home form southern California. Unlike the earlier release of the Fillmore show which was similar in it’s importance but was just a handful of songs, this CD gives us a portrait of where Young has been, where he was at the time and even more important where he was going...until fame and Whittens death sent him caterwauling off in directions painful to him but brilliant to many of the rest of us.

CD’s of 35 year old shows do not win a lot album of the year awards. This one should. It is pretty, and brilliant and...pretty brilliant. 9 Slingers out of 10. Buy it.
1. On The Way Home
2. Tell Me Why
3. Old Man
4. Journey Through The Past
5. Helpless
6. Love In Mind
7. Medley
8. Cowgirl in The Sand
9. Don't Let It Bring You Down
10. There's A World
11. Bad Fog Of Loneliness
12. Needle And The Damage Done, The
13. Ohio
14. See The Sky About To Rain
15. Down By The River
16. Dance Dance Dance
17. I Am A Child

Record Stores

So...online music is great and iTunes has changed everything but...I miss record stores. I know I am dating myself even more but I really miss browsing different record stores to see what I could find. Record stores...records are an anchronism. Some old people like me have turn tables but the only other people who have them are elitists and bands seem to put out some things on vinyl primarily just to prove how cool they are. So when I say I miss record stores what I mean is I miss records AND CD stores. I don’t have any problem with CD’s other then the tiny liner notes that my old eyes do not handle allthe tiny liner notes all that well.



Growing up there used to be all kinds of St. Louis record store options. A lot of small shops and department stores all had record departments. This was back when their were 45’s but they held on into the Album era and then the record stores came in. There was the Peaches chain and no one in town was really cool unless they were keeping their albums in a Peaches crate. It was as big as a super market with aisles and ailes of music and if it was out there to be found they normally had it. They were bought out while i was in college by the much larger Sound Warehouse chain and things kind of went to hell after that.

Streetside records reigned for a long time. They had a hip Webster location and a hipper U-City location and as they expanded the chain they seemed to hire knowledgable people and were good places to shop. In expanding the chain they brough a lot of convenience and they held on till the late nineties before compressing back into what I believe are only two stores left. One in St. Louis, one in Columbia. Sadly at this point in time they do not even have a web site and other then for hip hop music in St. Louis have faded into irrelevence. I could not even find one of their logos on line.



Sometime during their reign Best Buy and Circuit City starting selling music and Circuit City stunk but there was a hay day where you could find all kinds of obscure stuff and imports at the Best Buy on Watson. There was was some great stuff there for a few years I assume because they had a musichead manager.

That came to an end and about that time Barnes and Noble and Borders started to really get into the music business and you started to be able to get stuff on line. A few smaller stores survice but both selection and service are eclectic and can be somewhat annoying at places like "Now Hear This." We do still have the hallowed Vintage Vinyl store on the loop and Euclid Records in Webster. Those are places where you can hear something obscure being played when you shop and get into an annoying discussion with the staff about what was REALLY the best album by the band "Soul Coughing." But those kind of discussions are few and far between and the people at barnes and Noble and BordersBetween file sharing with Napster and the others before they became legalized and with Limeware and Soulseek afterwords. iTunes we discussed above but there are a lot of places to buy music online, sometimes fromt he record companies directly and sometimes from the artist site directly I cannot say enough times...online changed everything