CD Odyssey Disc 1774: Bridge City Sinners

For the second straight review we have a CD where the case is a narrow piece of cardboard with nothing on the spine. Argh. This one was one of four I bought by the same band, so I converted an old double album CD case into a case for all four and named it “The Bridge City Sinners Anthology.”. While they are all now in one place, I am committed to rolling them individually. Here’s the first.

Disc 1774 is…Unholy Hymns

Artist: Bridge City Sinners

Year of Release: 2021

What’s up with the Cover? The Bridge City Sinners’ logo, which looks like a pentagram inside an eyeball. If your iris looks like this, call a doctor, and maybe also a priest. You’ve got a condition.

How I Came To Know It: Last month I went to Vancouver to see Frank Turner in concert. While waiting for the show to start I was fascinated to see the lineup for the opening band’s merch table stretch back three times as long as Frank’s. Feeling inspired I got in that lineup, learned it was the Bridge City Sinners from their fans (who are hardcore), and by the time I was at the front bought a t-shirt and all four albums. This is one of them. It was done on a whim, but it turned out well for me.

How It Stacks Up: I have four Bridge City Sinners albums. I love them all, but they are all so new it is hard to rank them. I’ll say it is #2 but I reserve the right to move it around.

Ratings: 4 stars

It’s rare that music as old timey as the Bridge City Sinners can sound like nothing you’ve ever heard before, but such is the devil’s brew of styles they mix up. Be prepared for a healthy does of bluegrass, the soul of punk, combined with a healthy dollop of lounge cabaret that has run away with the circus. Oh, also, as the name would imply they sing about sin – and Satan in particular – a lot.

The genre busting is maybe best exemplified by lead singer Libby Lux, who also plays…the banjolele. I’ve never heard of the banjolele before Libby introduced me to it, but it is what the name implies – what a ukulele would be like if it were based off a banjo and not a guitar. It’s a weird combination of sound, half of both, and according to Wikipedia (which is never wrong) “most” popular in the twenties and thirties.

That tracks, because Lux and her band fell right out of an alternate past, where the world is a diaspora of sex, booze, sin and Satan. People dance about in the mud shirtless, wearing only work boots, baggy pants and floppy hats. There is much carrying on.

Yes that’s the vibe, you say, but how’s the music? Thanks for asking – the answer is…excellent. They’ve updated old timey sounds into something with a ragged and modern edge. Most tunes are played at a furious pace, and every instrument at any moment will be dropping staccato string strikes. Drums are entirely absent and entirely unnecessary. Despite the speed, everyone keeps impeccable time, allowing frontwoman Libby Lux to work her magic.

That magic is an unholy warble, as Lux twists her mouth around lyrics like they’re so hot they’ll burn her tongue, so lascivious that you can tell she likes them that way. Lux is a punk possessed, but never so out of control she’s not always serving the song and the arrangement – which can jump from one idea to the next several times in a single tune. Her passion pulls you through every curve, and you’re quickly drawn into all that energy.

As noted earlier, the Bridge City Sinners love singing about the dark side of the universe, and much like their two previous records, “Unholy Hymns” is replete with murder ballads, tales of drug abuse and, of course, the devil. There is even a double-shot of Lovecraftian horror with “The Legend of Olog-Hai” Part 1 and 2.

There are no bad songs, but one particular standout is “Devil Like You” a duet tale of newlyweds and murder where death-by-strangulation is the order of the day, and the romance part of the song very much past tense and ephemeral.

“Rock Bottom” is a bouquet of depression, cigarettes and alcohol, all of which are part of the dirgelike refrain of “no matter how low I go/there ain’t no rock bottom for me.”

The album ends with the title track, and the band doubles down on their apocalyptic but artistic vision as the narrator dies, finds out they are destined for hell, and yet remain rebellious and unrepentant:

“Hey Saint Pete how do I look
Sorry I didn't spend my life reading your book
I'll be fine don't pray for my sins
I'm going down singing unholy hymns”

Traditional bluegrass, this is not.

It is also not music if you are looking for uplifting tales of love and redemption, but if you enjoy the antics of a rogue’s gallery of murderers, drunks and devil-may-care rakes, then this music is a sinful pleasure. If as you may suspect, it is a little tongue-in-cheek, this takes nothing away from the brilliant writing and performing of gifted players who fully commit to their roles from start to finish.

Best tracks:  The Devil’s Swing, Rock Bottom, Departed, Devil Like You, Unholy Hymns

CD Odyssey Disc 1773: Kate Davis

A long weekend has arrived (for us Canadians, it is Thanksgiving) and it couldn’t come at a better time. I am looking forward to a full recharge and also a big roast beef dinner (thank you, S.). We don’t do the turkey thing, but we do eat a fancy meal.

In music news I went a little crazy last week and ordered a LOT of music, through my local record store, Bandcamp and (yech) another online retailer I’ll not name, but sometimes use as a last resort. Most of it has arrived and the long weekend will feature a whole lot of different styles – German folk, Americana, indie, rap, metal and good ole rock n’ roll will all feature. You’ll hear all about these albums when I randomly role them, because that’s how it works here on the CD Odyssey. We never know where we’re going to sail next!

Disc 1773 is…Trophy

Artist: Kate Davis

Year of Release: 2019

What’s up with the Cover? Giant Head Cover! Not much to say beyond that. It is sparkly?

Not cover related, but the CD copy of “Trophy” is in a cardboard fold with no spine. This means to file it with my CDs as-is would mean I wouldn’t be able to see it when picking an album. This has become increasingly common with CDs. C’mon, artists. You don’t have to release on CD, but if you do please make the packaging substantial enough that you can read the name of the album on the spine.

How I Came To Know It: As it happens, not through her work with Postmodern Jukebox like most people. I heard about her through reading a couple of reviews on music websites I frequent (in this case Paste and Pitchfork both reviewed the record). Neither was effusive but when reading a music review it is less about the rating assigned and more about whether the music sounds like something you would like. I hope you find my musings similarly useful.

I ordered this album through Bandcamp and Kate Davis’ manager was very personable and kind. Great service!

How It Stacks Up: This is my only Kate Davis album. She’s released a couple since, but neither of them has appealed to me like “Trophy”.

Ratings: 3 stars

Maybe it is the uninspiring cover, but every time I put “Trophy” on I anticipate I’m not going to like it, and every time I’m wrong. This is a solid pop record, with catchy hooks, well-structured songwriting (all Davis), and engaging vocals.

Davis’ vocals are perfectly suited to her style of indie pop, and it makes me glad she moved on from jazz early in her career. Her tone is bright and full, with plenty of range. Her phrasing is particularly on point, landing with a whimsical traipse that makes for easy and engaged listening.

Lyrically, the songs are straightforward and tell mostly stories about love and relationships. “Open Heart” is particularly clever, treating a broken heart with the metaphor of actual heart surgery. Davis’ conclusion: repairing a broken heart means you can get hurt all over again in the future, but the risk is worth it.

“Dirty Teenager” has a dreamy quality to the production, as an awkward teenager sees a beautiful woman and imagines holding her hand. Our character swears that he doesn’t want to be a “dirty teenager” but I sense in the song it’s a battle with hormones that ultimately won’t be won. Besides there’s nothing dirty about wanting to maybe do more than hold someone’s hand. Still, always nice to hear a “I wanna treat her right” sentiment in a song. Ask her out for a coffee, narrator!

Some of the songs are a bit too dear for my tastes, notably the “musical number” quality of “I Like Myself”. It is a lovely sentiment of how being loved can help encourage you to love yourself, and beautifully sung, but the tune is a bit too Broadway for my tastes.

Also, the best songs are front-loaded on the record (a common but unwelcome feature of many modern albums) making things less impactful as you go. The exception is “rbbts” at Track 8, a late-breaking bit of brilliance near the end of the record. “rbbts” is a haunting, yearning sort of tune full of soul-baring moments and artfully placed minor chords. It made me feel the feels.

Before I sign off, hats off to producer Tim Bright. The production on “Trophy” is top quality and I bet done on a light budget, making it that much more laudable. Everything is crisp, and the mix is well balanced. Bright does a great job of showcasing Davis’ strong vocals, while still letting all the other players shine and have moments. I am biased toward this kind of clean (dare I say “bright”) production, so if you prefer saturated overlap or fuzz in your production, you may not agree. I encourage you to write your own blog entry all about that.

Best tracks:  Daisy, Open Heart, Dirty Teenager, rbbts

CD Odyssey Disc 1772: Mozart

Ready to foray into classical music for a spell? If so, read on! If not, um…read on and see if it will change your mind!

Disc 1772 is…Serenade No. 13 “A Little Night Music” and Piano Concerto No. 17

Artist: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Year of Release: 1992, but with music from 1784 (Piano Concerto No. 17), 1787 (Serenade No. 13) and 1791 (The Magic Flute Overture),

What’s up with the Cover? This is a close up of a section of Edouard Manet’s painting “The Fifer” also known as “The Young Flautist”. I don’t usually care for Manet, and that predisposition was reaffirmed upon looking at both this segment of “The Fifer” and then later the whole thing (you can decide for yourself by looking here).

One thing that is certain is this is not an original Mozart pressing, because this little fifer was painted in 1866, almost 80 years after the music was composed. We must therefore safely conclude that the CD I purchased does not hail from the 18^th century. Logic!

Also, given that the only part of the “Magic Flute” that is on this collection is the Overture, this is also a bit of false advertising. Think you’re going to get a bunch of songs about a flute? Think again! You will get a bunch of piano and a little night music and you’ll like it!

How I Came To Know It: I knew this Mozart guy was a bit of a thing, and upon seeing this CD at a local thrift store for $2, it felt like a bargain. Not so much if you bought it for that much back in 1790 though, where $2 was about two-weeks’ wages.

How It Stacks Up: and have already dabbled in a couple of prior Mozart albums and this was my third foray into his extensive catalogue. Of the three ‘albums’ I have reviewed, I put this particular collection in at #2.

Ratings: 4 stars

On my first listen to this record I suspected I’d made a mistake and bought a bunch of Mozart music I already owned. It turns out this is because like everyone I’ve been immersed with Mozart music my whole life in the background of a hundred movies. It is also because I don’t know much about classical music and rarely know the title of a piece I’m hearing. At least I know what I like and generally, I like Mozart very much.

This record has two compositions, but before we get to those we start with the Overture to his 1791 opera “The Magic Flute”. Just the Overture though, in what I’m sure the Soulless Record Execs planned as a classic bait and switch. I could talk about this, but putting just the overture doesn’t count as a full song and since this isn’t a late-night advertisement for an 8-CD set where you can “buy all the classics” I refuse to engage in such piecemeal chicanery. Which is hard, because that Overture is, like, really good…

Damn it, no! Let’s move on to the heart of the record.

Serenade No. 13 “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” aka “A Little Night Music”

The opening violin riff of this song is possibly the most recognizable classical riff in history. Certainly tied with Beethoven’s 5^th. It is also pretty Goddamn great.

When it comes to classical music I cleave closer to the violin than the piano, and The ole No. 13 did not let me down early. I wanted to spin around the room in a powdered wig, my red long-tailed dress coat flailing out behind me, a beautiful woman – held in perfect frame – in my arms (in my fantasy I always maintain a perfect frame).

After all that initial bombast, Mozart settles in with some serious brilliance. Sometimes it just feels like a piano sawing at the silence, but it saws at it with such perfection, it is like it is rending the universe so you can look into the resulting rift and see heaven.

By the third movement the whimsy completely overwhelmed me, and I was under the spell of this little bit of night music, wishing there could be just a little bit more of it.

Piano Concerto No. 17

This little ditty starts out with some great energy. Again with the party atmosphere, as Mozart trills a little birdsong along like only he can. It was easy to forget with all that great violin action that a bunch of dirge-y piano was just around the corner.

But no! When the piano does arrive, it is equally trill-heavy, and it was easy to accept this newcomer to the melody, as piano and violin called and answered one another with an effortless grace.

Unlike our little night music, however, the momentum could not be maintained. Before we are halfway through the song’s second movement we get a bit of what we modern rock fans would call…a noodle. I didn’t love this noodle either and dare I say this second movement needed to move along just a little bit faster than it seemed inclined to.

Things recover in the third and final movement, although the dude on the piano still gets pretty frantic in places. You just forgive him because 1) he’s so damned good at tinkling those ivories 2) the increase in pace (from andante to allegretto) is overdue, but welcome and 3) the violins are there to ride in victorious and rescue everything the piano threatens to overdo.

Overall, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik is five-star glory that still slays after more than 230 years on the earth. Piano Concerto No. 17 is also solid, but I can’t go above a high four due to the bit of andante in the middle. What can I say? I’ve got the impatient ear of a modern music listener. Classical music snobs may sneer if you like, but Mozart belongs everyone, even us old school metalheads, and that’s a good thing.

Best tracks:  Of the two tunes, I’ll go with A Little Night Music

CD Odyssey Disc 1771: Patty Griffin

Before we get into the next review I would like to honour Kris Kristofferson who died earlier this week at the age of 88. Kristofferson was one of country music’s great singer-songwriters and he will be sorely missed.

A lot of retrospectives focus on Kristofferson’s songs being sung by others, but that was not my experience. I knew him because my mom (and later my stepdad) listened to Kristofferson records, and I was immersed in his gravelly truth telling pretty much from the day I was born.

The idea that these songs are “better” when sung by others never sits right with me. Kristofferson isn’t a gifted singer if you measure success by octaves, but if you want three chords and the truth then he’s your man.

He also killed a lot of vampires, which isn’t something Johnny Cash or Janis Joplin could ever lay claim to.

I’ll miss you, Mr. Kristofferson. Thank you for the lifelong gift of music.

If you’d like to read any of my Kris Kristofferson music reviews (there are eight) click here.

Disc 1771 is…1,000 Kisses

Artist: Patty Griffin

Year of Release:

What’s up with the Cover? Flowers and swallows and a slow winding river flowing past a church steeple put the viewer in a quiet and contemplative headspace, which is the right headspace to be in for a Patty Griffin record.

How I Came To Know It: I discovered Patty Griffin back in 2007 through her “Children Running Through” album”. Shortly thereafter I dug into her back catalogue, which is where I found this record.

How It Stacks Up: I have eight Patty Griffin records. “1000 Kisses” comes in at #2, bumping “Living With Ghosts” down to the bronze in the process.

Ratings: 4 stars

Patty Griffin is a lot like Kris Kristofferson – a brilliant songwriter who from time to time gets them covered by someone more famous. Unlike Kristofferson, you won’t find anyone suggesting those people sing the songs better than Griffin. No one credible, anyway.

Griffin sings with effortless power, and a tone that rings big and bold like a bell. It’s a voice that big could easily trend to shouty, but you will not experience that with Griffin. She knows how to reign it in just the right amount to fill your heart with the feels, but not lose the thread of story.

Which is a good decision, because “1000 Kisses” is replete with great stories, most of them complex character studies, often told in the first person. Griffin has a special talent for exploring complex characters in the first person, and many of the songs are artful soliloquys as we get to explore the triumphs and tragedies of the human spirit from the innermost thoughts of those experiencing them.

One of the best of these is “Long Ride Home,” about a woman in a limousine heading home from a funeral, her head full of the mixed emotion of remembrance and “what comes next” when someone important in your life is suddenly and irrevocably no longer there. It’s heart-wrenching and cathartic and all the things you feel in these moments, but made imminent through the specificity Griffin applies through the character study.

Just as thought provoking, “Making Pies” explores the loneliness of an old woman who is in the midst of a life adjusting to that kind of loss, with her husband of many years now gone. The song recounts how she fills her days, and a stoic practicality she expresses in the final stanza:

“5am, here I am
Walking the block to Table Talk
You could cry or die or just make pies all day
I'm making pies”

Griffin also takes time out from her own songwriting to deliver a killer version of Bruce Springsteen’s “Stolen Car”. Did I like it better than the Boss’ original? Reader, I did.

Voice and story come together on “Nobody’s Crying” one of the most Goddamn heartbreaking songs of lost love you will ever hear, where Griffin transmutes grief into emotional triumph. Griffin accomplishes this through both the expansive climb of the song’s structure and arrangement and through her incredible vocal talent. By the end, when she’s unleashed all her power, the walls are shaking with emotion, but with total control throughout.

I just lay back and revel in the majesty of it all, imagining that somewhere far off, Kris Kristofferson is doing the same.

Best tracks:  Rain, Chief, Making Pies, Stolen Car, Be Careful, Long Ride Home, Nobody’s Crying

CD Odyssey Disc 1770: Brand Nubian

After a couple of bad night’s sleep in a row, I’m feeling a bit worn down. Nevertheless, I recognize the sacred contract I have with you, dear readers, to fill your heads with nifty music ideas or – failing that – at least empty mine of same. It gets crowded up there sometimes.

Disc 1770 is…One for All

Artist: Brand Nubian

Year of Release: 1990

What’s up with the Cover? The boys pose under a pergola. This is almost exactly the same album cover as on “The Very Best of Brand Nubian” (reviewed at Disc 1524). For clever pergola observations, please check there.

You can also play “find all the differences” between the photos on that album and this one. Notable, the skyline looks a bit darker through the pergola in this cover, and the dude in the back (sorry – I don’t know my band members by sight) is upright instead of leaning.

Also of note, the warning label features prominently on “One For All” whereas it is wholly absent on the “best of” album cover. I assume it was explicit for 1990 but by the time the Greatest Hits record rolled around twenty years later, all the bad words weren’t bad anymore. Then, when the record turned 30, the words were bad again. It’s all very confusing.

How I Came To Know It: As noted on the “best of” review, I learned about these guys through a former coworker named Adrienne and her husband. I despaired finding the original album and after a bad encounter with a sanitized “clean version”(no warning label) I settled for a ‘best of a few years ago.

Then, lo and behold, I found this 30^th anniversary version by happy accident while digging in the “miscellaneous B section at the local record store.

How It Stacks Up: this is my only Brand Nubian studio album, so it can’t stack up. As earlier noted, I previously owned “In God We Trust” but it was the clean version and I couldn’t abide that. I remain on the lookout for that record, but with the warning label.

Ratings: 4 stars

While this is my only Brand Nubian studio album, I like my chances that this is their best. Exhibit A – six of the sixteen tracks on my “best of” compilation find their original home on “One for All”. Exhibit B – this record is dope.

As noted on previous reviews, Brand Nubian is rap from the golden age, when word wizardry was the order of the day, before hip hop got lazy and relied on heavily borrowed pop hooks (one man's opinion). Which is not to say Brand Nubian don’t sample pop hooks on “One for All” because they totally do. But they do it with an art and precision that repurposes those hooks, bits and pieces into something wholly new. The hook may still appear, but it is used differently, creating something new while also providing the backdrop to the reason you really came to listen – the word flow brilliance of the emcees.

As noted on previous reviews we have three emcees in the band, Grand Puba, Sadat X and Lord Jamar, and they are all great, bouncing in and out of each other’s flow without ever tripping each other up. It is the hip hop equivalent of a good bluegrass song: everyone gets a turn to shine, and the whole ends up greater than the sum of the parts.

It isn’t always cool to reference what samples you hear on a rap tune, but this stuff is widely quoted, and the way “Slow Down” repurposes a famous Edie Brickell tune is pure bohemian brilliance. You hear all the original greatness, but better. It’s not imitation, it’s inspiration.

For the most part the songs that are anthologized later are the record’s best (among them on this listen I appreciated “Drop the Bomb” in a way I apparently missed in my review back in 2021), but there are also many deep cuts that are very much worth your time. “Ragtime” comes immediately mind but there are plenty of good ones.

The biggest sin on “One for All” is the length. At 16 tracks and 73 minutes it is just a bit too long, and the record would have benefited from four fewer tracks and a tight dozen tunes. Know when to say when because just because CD technology can hold 80 minutes of music, doesn’t always mean it should.

This is a minor quibble though, and “One for All” is rightly appreciated as an early rap classic that has aged very well indeed.

Best tracks:  All for One, Concerto in X Minor, Ragtime, Slow Down, Brand Nubian

CD Odyssey Disc 1769: Bonnie Prince Billy

I saw the tour that supported this next album last year, but didn’t have the record yet and so I couldn’t review it at that time. However, if you also want to hear about the show it is at the bottom of an Abbie Gardner review. Read it at Disc 1641.

Disc 1769 is…Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You

Artist: Bonnie Prince Billy

Year of Release: 2023

What’s up with the Cover? Looks like a restaurant. As album covers go this one doesn’t inspire me so much as make me hungry. Good thing I’m headed out for brunch after I post this.

How I Came To Know It: I already liked Bonnie Prince Billy so this was me buying his latest record. I’d also heard a few of the songs live, as noted above.

How It Stacks Up: Counting his two collaborations with Matt Sweeney (which I do) but not counting his compilation of Greatest Palace Music (which I love, but don’t count for stacking) I have seven Bonnie Prince Billy albums. This amounts to about a third of his records. Of those seven (if you just said, ‘which seven?’ please try to keep up) I put “Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You in at #4, which is respectable.

Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4

I didn’t always know what Bonnie Prince Billy (aka Will Oldham) was talking about on “Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You” but he definitely wasn’t keeping secrets. The album is raw and fragile and unafraid to show the inner workings of the human heart, in all its wonder and weirdness.

If you’re not familiar with Bonnie Prince Billy, he is a folk singer who looks like a drifter, but sings with a gentle, wispy head voice making you feel like you’re in the presence of an angel. The angel is sometimes soothing and reassuring and sometimes more of a blood and thunder apocalypse, but in either incarnation you’ll feel privileged that he’s willing to share this curious mix of inspiration and uncertainty with us mere mortals. I’m told angels don’t usually open up like that.

“Keeping Secrets…” starts out strong, and “Like It Or Not” is one of my favourite Bonnie Prince Billy songs on this or any of his albums. It opens with:

“Everyone walks to a certain point then turns around;
how far you go just depends on the time that you got.
Time is a killer like its good buddies love, light and sound.
There’s not enough room for us both here, like it or not.
Everyone smiles when they see something rendered with justice.
Everyone laughs to dispel something bound up inside.
Everyone cries when we feel like nobody trusts us.
Everyone dies in the end so there’s nothing to hide.”

I had originally intended to just quote the first two lines, but like so many of BPB’s songs, the image continues to unwind itself in your mind, and it is hard to stop once you start paying attention.

While this is the album’s best example, other songs (“Kentucky is Water”, “Willow, Pine and Oak”) are also dripping with rich imagery. This imagery doesn’t always provide you an immediately accessible narrative to follow, so much as concepts to ponder. This, plus his application of religious imagery, makes “Keeping Secrets…” a bit like listening to a street preacher or new age prophet. It all feels like wisdom, but it’s a wisdom that requires contemplation before it reveals its secrets to you.

“Willow, Pine, and Oak” is the most straightforward of the bunch as BPB sketches character studies of three kinds of people, each rendered through comparison to a kind of tree. BPB prefers “Oak People” and I could quote him as to why, but this review would quickly become a quote fest, so I just encourage you to go and listen yourself.

BPB is not just a gentle and wise preacher, he is also a delightful kook and “Keeping Secrets…” has its fair share of the weird and wonderful. He follows up “Willow, Pine and Oak” with “Trees of Hell” which is a horror story about how trees animate and start taking revenge for humanity’s use of them. The tale ends with our narrator being disemboweled and blinded by branches, which is even creepier when juxtaposed against BPB’s angelic vocal.

“Bananas” is a song about sex where the banana is a metaphor for exactly what a banana usually implies in such situations. The song is a bit too weird for me to love, but I always admire how BPB will unapologetically talk about all the sticky parts of sexual encounters.

The production on this record is very stripped down, which is how I like it, and is mostly just the Bonnie Prince and his acoustic guitar, with occasional additions of strings or horn to add colour and variation.

Overall, the record is uneven, with about a third of it being some of the best songs BPB has ever written, and a lot of the others being just OK. Hence the three stars, but it was a thoughtful and enjoyable three-star journey, and I recommend it.

Best tracks:  Like It Or Not, Behold Be Held!, Kentucky is Water, Willow Pine and Oak

CD Odyssey Disc 1768: Grace Cummings

Hello, gentle readers and please forgive my extended absence. I’ve been travelin to Seattle to see my beloved Miami Dolphins play a game of football. The Dolphins were soundly trounced, but despite the terrible result it was a lovely trip, surrounded as I as by dear friends and good times.

Disc 1768 is…Ramona

Artist: Grace Cummings

Year of Release: 2024

What’s up with the Cover? Grace displays an awkward but undeniable beauty as she half sits on a chain link fence, maybe in someone’s backyard. The pose looks uncomfortable, but she seems resistant to moving. Or maybe the dress is snagged on the fence, and she is trying to avoid a tear. Is this a simple backyard repose or is this a wardrobe emergency!

We don’t know. We can’t know. We can only wish Grace the best.

How I Came To Know It: I know Grace Cummings through her previous two records which I LOVE. Buying this one was a very easy decision.

How It Stacks Up: I have three Grace Cummings albums, and the other two are just too damned good, dropping “Ramona” into third place.

Ratings: 4 stars

The ghostlike warble of Grace Cummings will drench you with strange and powerful emotions. This experience is an inevitability even if - as is the case with her third album, “Ramona” - it took a while before it fully reached inside of me.

On previous records, Cummings impact was immediate, and on my first couple of listens to “Ramona” I experienced disappointment as I impatiently waited for the same magic to happen. Nothing Grace Cummings does could be described as accessible, the notion is just too routine and pedestrian to suit the weird and wonderful vocal antics she gets up to. But “Ramona” took a couple of extra listens before I felt the feels.

Which, after a good five or six listens in seems hard to believe, now that I find myself fully under this record’s spell. I think it is just that she takes her melodic structures one step even further into the unlikely, and that step is a precarious and uncertain one; like crossing a brook on slick stones covered in wet moss. Magical and whimsical but with no guarantee you’ll reach the other side.

While the music takes a bit of immersion to reveal itself, her poetic talent is on full display from the outset. The record’s first song, “Something Going ‘Round” opens with:

“The wind it is howling
Like dogs in the evening”

It’s the perfect scene-setter, made even better by the evening howl that is Cummings’ voice.

The majestic and slow-moving beauty of “Something Going ‘Round” is immediately followed by the insistent gallop of “On and On,” which feels like a Springsteen ballad, if instead of a blue-collar town you were in an enchanted castle.

The record is replete with stories of love that is so overwrought it will break you through the sheer weight of its passion. On “Love and the Canyon” Cummings croons:

“The canyon is forgiving
Maybe I’ll meet some Hollywood man
Who drives a million dollars into town.”

It feels like dustbowl L.A., as seen through the back lot of an abandoned movie lot at sunset. None of that is explicit, but Cummings paints word pictures that encourage the listener to take their own flights of fancy. Maybe it is just me, but the record seems built to inspire internal reverie.

As I mentally danced my way through these image rich tales, each iteration became easier and easier to absorb. Before too long those slick stones were lily pads that I danced across weightless as I listened.

With the exception of the title track at #7, the record’s opening third is the best part, and if you are only listening to these tunes as singles, that’s where you’ll find them. I wouldn’t encourage that approach though. The album is not just a collection of songs, but more like one long poem, divided into 11 movements, finally ending with this last stanza from “Help Is On It’s Way”:

“Your guitar
It weeps a naive melody
And if you see her
Say hello
Pick up your heart of gold”

Don’t worry if these final words sound jarring and external to your experience where you expected revelation. It happened to me too. Go back immediately and listen to it again clear through. You’ll find it start to sink in like the extended hymn to the human heart that it is.

Best tracks:  Something Going ‘Round, On and On, I’m Getting Married to the War, Love and the Canyon, Ramona

CD Odyssey Disc 1767: Ages and Ages and a Rifflandia overview

Up next my first review of a band I’ve been enjoying for years but only now is revealed to you through the power of a random dice roll.

If you prefer live concert reviews, we have that for you today as well, as I quickly break down the many live performances I saw at the Rifflandia music festival on Sunday.

Strap in and here we go.

Disc 1767 is…Me You They We

Artist: Ages and Ages

Year of Release: 2019

What’s up with the Cover? This is not a skeleton sitting on a chair. This is a person dressed up as a skeleton, sitting on a chair.

I imagine this is a mortal that was trying to cross over into Hades, maybe to visit a girlfriend that recently suffered an untimely death. He successfully got across the River Styx with the help of his costume and a timely bribe of two coins.

Unfortunately, after a routine sniff from Cerberus at customs revealed the distinct smell of living human flesh he was pulled aside and is now in a waiting room while some agents go through his backpack. Within, they will discover both a sandwich and deodorant – two things no self-respecting skeleton requires.

If he’s lucky he’ll just get swiftly deported and put on a “did not die” list (the underworld’s version of “do not fly”).

How I Came To Know It: Sheila and I went to Portland in 2019 to see a couple of concerts (Mountain Goats and Iron Maiden). Portland has some first-rate record stores, and I always bring my wish list to see if I can find any rarities or hard to find items.

I found some of those, but also noticed this brand new – and heretofore unknown to me - Ages and Ages album. Liking their earlier stuff, I bought it and hoped for the best.

How It Stacks Up: I have four Ages and Ages albums. Of those four I rank “Me You They We” at third best.

Ratings: 3 stars

“Me You They We” is the most gentle and melodic Ages and Ages record. Previous efforts have the same tight harmonies and call and answer elements as earlier records, but on “Me You They We” they double down on both sweet and smooth.

The result is a record that leaves you in a light and carefree mood. It was so pleasant that despite catching lyrics that felt anxiety inducing, or at least thought provoking, I kept finding myself floating back into pleasant reverie. Best to not pay too close attention, and let the music soothe me like it seemed to want to.

This is in contrast to earlier Ages and Ages records where I was drawn in and left thinking heavy thoughts on many of the songs. The wiki page suggests a considerable amount of turnover (two original band members, but sixteen former ones), and this likely in part accounts for the different sound.

There are elements where it is a bit too dreamy, and all that vocal and creative activity from earlier records isn’t quite there. The songs are delightful to relax in, but sometimes they need a bit more bottom end and dynamics to hold your attention.

While this left me wishing for the more complex arrangements over their first two records (less so, their third) there were still moments that capture the old magic, and none more so than on “Unsung Songs” a beautiful bit of harmony that feels like a choir of angels singing you to your rest (in heaven, not Hades). “Unsung Songs” slowly evolves from pure vocals into an increasingly dense sounding rock song, before reverberating into the ether, and settling back into the celestial ease where it started. It is a rewarding journey.

The worst track is “Just My Luck” which is emotionally empty and has an annoying central sound of someone repeatedly hitting a bunch of high notes on a piano that sounds like a kid discovering a chord, but other than this one clanger, the record ranges between inoffensively pretty or downright joyful.

Ages and Ages haven’t released a record since this one, and five years is a long time to wait. Their website suggests there is no active tour, and maybe they just faded into the light after this record. Given how light, airy and calming it is, it is an easy fate to imagine for them.

Best tracks:  Way Back To, Needle and Thread, Unsung Songs, Nothing Serious

The Concert – Various Bands at Rifflandia 2024, Victoria BC

It is that time of the year again when we all engage in a little “September Forever” magic and talk Rifflandia. (all photos below are by Sheila).

We only went on Sunday this week, but we went early and saw a lot of bands – seven in total - although two of these were truncated because at a festival you sometimes need to make real time decisions about what stage you’re going to go to or stay at. As the kids would say…FOMO!

To mix it up a little, I’m going to review these bands in the order I liked their performances, not in the order they played. Note that there were another eight bands that are not included here. I don’t review them because I didn’t watch them. I only regretted my decision of who to watch once – more on that below.

#1 L7

#1 and then some, L7 were the main reason I went to Rifflandia and I was not disappointed. Unbelievable punk rock energy from these badass ladies of rock and roll. They snarled their way through a 40-minute set that in any just world would have been twice that long. I felt immediately immersed in the rebellious energy, and the feeling remained – along with a bit of ringing in my ears – long after they stopped playing. L7 – you make my…hit list.

#2 Janky Bungag

Janky is an alt country singer from Vancouver and the main reason I wanted to get to the festival early (he was one of the first acts). He was worth the early arrival. Personable, believable and a great songwriter. He was also funny, as he sang song after song about loveable lowlifes. The only tour shirt I bought other than L7 and the only regret was he wasn’t also selling CDs.

#3 The Beaches

This was my fifth time seeing the Beaches, making them second only to Frank Turner. There is a reason the Beaches are a must-see event. Not only do they write great rock and roll songs, they are amazing live. Full of energy (despite just flying in from PEI), plenty of power and no small amount of mischief. Lead singer/bassist Jordan Miller oozes charisma, but frankly the whole band does, and I once again enjoyed the spectacle of one of Canada’s great live experiences.

#4 La Force

La Force is a woman who sings alt pop tunes with a voice of liquid gold. I didn’t find these songs catchy so much as immersive, but it was easy to fall into her sound. I don’t think I will go out of my way to buy a La Force record, but she was solid.

#5 Wooden Horsemen

Blues bar rock with a trumpet. Every rock band could add a trumpet in my opinion, and the Wooden Horsemen brought that trumpet to bear with zest. These songs weren’t exactly innovative, but they did get my feet tapping. Again, won’t buy the record, but had a good time all the same. Kudos the woman playing tambourine and singing back up who put her all into the performance. Also, did I mention the trumpet?

#6 K-OS

I admit I left this show halfway through to go take in the Beaches. I’d seen K-OS about twenty years ago when he was first making it big and I’d liked him then. His show has changed a lot. Much less innovative DJ action, and more of a mélange of crowd engagement activity. His rap is still great (including some freestyling I believe) but I needed a lot more of that, and a lot less exhortations for me to sing along to samples of old rock songs. Bonus points for the B-Boy dude whose only job appeared to be walking around looking cool and breaking out dance moves. He did a fine job of both.

#7 Crash Test Dummies

The Crash Test Dummies hadn’t been to Victoria in 30 years. The last time they were here they played on the lawn of the legislature at a free show that was worth exactly what it cost. One of the worst five shows I have ever seen. This time they were better, but it was a low bar to clear, and they didn’t clear it by much. The set list was uninspired and other than “Superman’s Song” largely forgettable. At one point they danced around in a way that felt like a Sharon, Lois and Bram show, but with less energy. I regret not leaving and going to see the Cro-Mags.

Apart from that one bummer show experience, this was one of the best lineups of  any Rifflandia in recent memory, and well worth the price of admission and $14 cans of cider.

CD Odyssey Disc 1766: Halestorm

The weekend has arrived, and I am ready for a good one filled with good times, good friends and lots and lots of music.

Disc 1766 is…Vicious

Artist: Halestorm

Year of Release: 2018

What’s up with the Cover? This cover takes a real “hands on” approach. Some of these hands seem interested in Lzzy Hale’s necklace, others her jacket. Whatever the case…rude.

Also of note, according to that watch in the upper right it is 5:20, in the time zone west of wherever this hand attack is taking place, it is 4:20. I like to think it is Mountain Time, making it a mountain high.

How I Came To Know It: As I noted when I reviewed “Back from the Dead” at Disc 1747, I found the whole Halestorm collection in a store at…the mall. Weird, but fortuitous.

How It Stacks Up: I have five Halestorm albums. “Vicious” falls in the middle of the collection, third best.

Ratings: 4 stars

Visceral power. That is what you can expect on any Halestorm record, and while “Vicious” may have some disgruntled metal heads say it isn’t “metal enough,” it makes up for that with some solid songwriting and, of course, the ever-present revelation of Lzzy Hale’s vocals.

More on that later, but let’s start with the musicianship this record delivers. Halestorm plays a kind of music that can sound very by-the-numbers done wrong in one direction, and very muddy done wrong in the other. To play this tightly timed anthemic style of hard rock you need to be very precise, but you also have to sound emotionally engaged. The guitars have to snarl. The drums have to snap. Because of the overshadowing effect of Lzzy Hale’s vocal talents, the band doesn’t get enough credit for holding up the back end.

The crunch on the record is there, but it comes and goes. It is a deliberate effect of the arrangement to lay off a bit, letting Hale belt it out, and then coming back in hard for the chorus. It is a very old trick of arrangement and production that is found most commonly in pop music. It lends itself to repeat listens, because the more you anticipate the cues of where the song will jump in or out of the full crunch, the better your air-guitar and perfectly timed horn throwing becomes. In short, you feel clever, knowing what’s going to happen.

That production strays close to a Nu Metal “over loud” sound in places, but just enough to make me notice the similarities, not enough to ruin it. If you ever wonder what a loudly produced record would sound like when done well, then this is it.

Thematically, these songs are straight ahead, no chaser. Lzzy Hale likes to rock out, she likes to rebel, and she likes to get a little nasty. She is not embarrassed to sing about any of this. The result is a mix of anthems, calls to action, and booty calls. Expect lots of songs encouraging the listener to feel their own power, and not let the world bow you down, never not ever. It feels pretty good, and on every listen I found myself filled with energy and determination to soldier on.

The sexy songs are quite sexy, notably “Do Not Disturb” and “Conflicted”. “Do Not Disturb” is a late-night booty call in a hotel before our narrator jets off to a new city. The lyrics are not for misinterpretation:

“I'm on the very top floor room 1334
There's a king size bed but we can do it on the floor
Turn your cellphone off, leave a sign on the door
That says "Do not disturb"

Ever walk past a hotel door and hear something sexy happening on the other side? Don’t lie, we’ve all experienced this (n.b. when this happens don’t be creepy – keep walking). Well, “Do Not Disturb” is here to confirm that whatever the best thing you can imagine is going on in there, is going on in there. “Do Not Disturb” has a great song structure as well, filled with a churning energy and an invitation to sing along. Which is fitting, given the invitational nature of the lyrics (other great line “bring your girlfriend too/Two is better than one, three is better than two”).

If “Do Not Disturb” is about a woman making her desires plain, then its flip side is “Conflicted,” where she is calling on her paramour to take the initiative. She’s conflicted, but not really, and the song is saying “come on over and stop waiting for an invitation.”

Feeling uncomfortable with all this unabashed sexuality? Well, on “Uncomfortable” Hale lets you know that’s her intent. Don’t worry, though. Uncomfortable is a good place to be when experiencing art.

I mentioned at the top that the star of Halestorm is Lzzy Hale’s vocal prowess. Every song discussed above is elevated several steps because of her power. Never is it more true than on the record’s last song, “The Silence”.

“The Silence” is a song about enduring love, a commitment to your partner through thick and thin, frost and fire. The arrangement is just Hale and an acoustic guitar but it fills the room more completely than any of the more rock-arranged songs prior. When she hits full throat on this song you will stop what you are doing. You will shut up, you will lay back and you will suffer that voice to fill every corner of your soul. You won’t have a choice in this matter but don’t worry - it will feel fucking great.

Best tracks:  Black Vultures, Do Not Disturb, Conflicted, White Dress, The Silence

CD Odyssey Disc 1765: Lori McKenna

Welcome back to the CD Odyssey. I got out for a run today before the rain came, which helped me get an extra listen in on this next record. Running is one of those “don’t do anything else while listening” tasks that is allowed under Rule #4.

Yeah, I realize it says “walking around” but running is basically walking around at an accelerated pace.

Disc 1765 is…The Balladeer

Artist: Lori McKenna

Year of Release: 2020

What’s up with the Cover? This album came out in 2020, so no surprise the live action shot has no one else in it – Lori is probably maintaining a minimum six-foot distance in observation of COVID protocols.

How I Came To Know It: I was already an avowed Lori McKenna fan, so just bought this record when it came out, as we fans do.

How It Stacks Up: I have six Lori McKenna albums. I want to have eight, but those missing two are devilishly hard to find. Anyway, of the six I do have, I put “The Balladeer” at #4. It isn’t bad, it’s just that there are four better.

Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4

Lori McKenna is not going to blow the doors off with her vocals, and as songwriting goes this is very much dead centre in the down-home old school country variety. Don’t expect to be artistically challenged but do expect to find yourself settling into a contemplative and peaceful headspace.

A Lori McKenna song is like the rustle of browning maple leaves blowing past on an early fall breeze. It feels easy and relaxed, with the rustling restlessness memory of days gone by. She’s an old soul that is always in a state of remembering being young, and it creates a narrative that marries the two experiences.

On “The Balladeer” McKenna explores well-worn themes of faith, family and wistful reverie. My instinct was to be bored with the subject matter as overused and obvious. How many songs can you have about intergenerational love (grandfathers/grandsons, moms and daughters, sisters, etc.)? Turns out you can have quite a few if those songs are each individually good enough to hold your attention. I won’t deny that I would love McKenna to explore a bit more creative space, and write songs with more edge, but I also can’t deny that the simple themes she chooses are done with artful care and quiet beauty.

On this record, McKenna often explores character by comparison, and how similar experiences can yield very different people On “Marie” she writes from the perspective of two sisters, raised in exactly the same experience, and the subtle turn of how they are both the same and different. How as siblings you can walk in the same shoes through childhood and end up both the same and different. Or as McKenna reflects:

“She looks more like our mother
She's prettier and softer
And she always helps me find my way
I've been lost a time or two
She knows bigger words than I do
But we both got the same size shoes
And no one's ever walked in mine, but me and Marie”

This “same but different” theme is further explored from a darker place on “Two Birds” where she tells the story of two women who meet one fateful night to find out they are both in a relationship with the same man. The women are different in temperament:

“One was a red dress, a wild one from out West
Didn't waste a minute with her heart
The other was a bluebird, careful with her sweet words
Unless she let you hold her in the dark”

But united in their betrayal. It would be a great song if that’s all McKenna explores, but she goes even further to capture the strange pathology of the man

“He wasn't cruel, he wasn't mean
But he had a way of breaking things
His aim was truer than an arrow from a bow”

So easy to just make the man a cad, but he is depicted here not so much cruel as careless. Like a child with a stone throwing it idly, felling two birds with one stone. It is a great image that reveals late, and adds depth to the story you’re not expecting.

This is McKenna at her best, seeing humanity in even the most broken of her characters. You’ll find tragedy aplenty on “The Balladeer” but you’ll be hard pressed to find true evil. In McKenna’s world even people making the worst choices are just damaged and hurt, and looking for connection.

This record felt like a collection of hugs from your mom or maybe your favourite aunt. Sometimes the hug is the kind you might get at a wedding, and sometimes at a funeral, but all of them feel kind and reassuring.

Best tracks:  The Balladeer, Marie, The Dream, Uphill, Two Birds