CD Odyssey Disc 98: Tom Waits

As we close in on the 100th CD Odyssey review, the dice seem to be favouring the seventies. That's cool with me - I was born in the seventies, man!

Disc 98 is...Blue Valentine

Artist: Tom Waits

Year of Release: 1978

How I Came To Know It: This album is just Sheila and I drilling through the Tom Waits' collection (we love him). I first got to know him through Closing Time, reviewed back at Disc 40.

How It Stacks Up: We just recently got another Tom Waits album and now have 17. Of those 17, I'd say this one is nearer the bottom of the list - maybe 12th. However, Tom Waits is consistently good, so this is not a bad thing.

Rating: 3 stars.

This record is near the end of Tom Wait's early period, where he basically sang bluesy folk songs about everyday life. It is the kind of music you always dream you'll hear in a smokey bar, but never seem to.

"Blue Valentine" musically isn't all that interesting, although it is solid. A lot of the songs are just really simple piano arrangements, with that gravelly voice that is instantly recognizeable as Tom Waits. It is one of those voices (like Leonard Cohen or Bob Dylan) that you either love or hate. I love it, although it is a lot like single malt scotch - you have to drink it in a few times before you truly appreciate it.

These songs are really focused on the ordinary lives of the down and out, which Tom Waits makes interesting with incredible phrasing, language and jarring images that paint pictures for the ears.

I was particularly struck by how Tom Waits can get you engaged in a song with a snappy opening line. For example, from "Christmas Card From a Hooker In Minneapolis""

"Hey Charlie I'm pregnant
and living on 9th street."

Or in "$29.00" which begins:

"Little black girl in a red dress
on a hot night with a broken shoe."

And my personal favourite from "Wrong Side of the Road":

"Put a dead cat on the railroad tracks
When the wolfbane's blooming by the tressel
And get the eyeball of a rooster
And the stones from a ditch
And wash 'em down with bilge water
And say you'll never snitch"

When you hear stuff like this, you have no idea where these songs are going to go, but you definitely want to find out.

Along that path of discovery, you'll meet delinquent children jumping off of rooftops, junkie hookers writing letters from jail (see above), and a local gangster named Romeo that is so tough he leans on his car and bleeds to death from a gunshot wound to the chest - just to show that he's cool enough to take it.

As usual, Waits paints a weird bunch of oddballs and misfits for us, and we appreciate it because these are stories we want to be able to tell, but we are too wise or afraid to experience firsthand.

And even after you know how each song is going to end, you still want to pull it off the shelf every once in a while, and here it all over again. Good stories just don't get old, and Tom Waits tells a good story. And while "Blue Valentine" isn't his best album, it is certainly him at his storytelling best.

Best tracks: Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis, Romeo Is Bleeding, Wrong Side of the Road, Kentucky Avenue, Whistlin' Past the Graveyard

CD Odyssey Disc 97: The Alan Parsons Project

Back at Disc 70, I reviewed ELO's Time, and said that it was a:

"unique blend of pop music, sci fi imaginings, a cohesive album concept and not a small amount of disco. You'll likely never see that again. Er...on second thought, The Alan Parsons Project's "I Robot", also gets a tick in all those boxes, but that is for another review."

Well, here is that other review.

Disc 97 is...I Robot
Artist: The Alan Parsons Project

Year of Release: 1977

How I Came To Know It: Hey - who doesn't know "Eye In The Sky"? No - that song is not on this album. This album is me drilling after getting another APP album. That album also did not have "Eye In the Sky" I think Sheila rekindled my interest in this band after decades of dormancy, sometime about 4 years ago. I've only had "I Robot" for a couple years, though.

How It Stacks Up: I have three Alan Parsons Project (APP) albums - each more ridiculous than the last. I'd put this one probably last, but it has its moments. Also it is better than the fourth APP album I bought, "The Turn of a Friendly Card". That album was so bad I sold it.

Rating: 2 stars, but definitely a guilty pleasure.

APP really stuck their necks out on this record, and went in a whole new direction - a heavily synthed concept album about some weird otherworldly themes.

Just kidding - APP always sings about that kind of stuff. You should hear their homage to Edgar Allan Poe's work - my first foray courtesy of Sheila. I'd love to talk about that album, but that's for another review.

For this one, APP decides to take on sci fi, and the story of "I Robot." I don't know how truthful they remain to the original Asimov story of the same name, since I haven't read it. My only frame of reference is the recent movie adaptation starring Wil Smith (which I liked).

APP sums up "I Robot" in their liner notes with the following:

"The story of the rise of the machine and the decline of man, which paradoxically coincided with his discovery of the wheel...and a warning that his brief dominance of this planet will probably end, because man tried to creat robot in his own image."

As liner notes go, that is a pretty cool one in my books.

As I noted earlier, the album musically is heavy with synthesizers and futuristic sounds - mixed up with that pervasive disco groove that was in a lot of late seventies pop.

I personally think the combination is pretty avant garde for the music scene in 1977, and for the most part it works. The instrument-only tracks (there are a few) are a bit too similar to soundtracks, and can easily fade into the background without keeping your active attention. However, they do provide a continuity of mood to the album, which is important to maintain in any concept album.

Of the "singles" (or what passes for a single on a seventies concept album), I like a few, but they don't blow me away. If the album had a few more high points, I think it would earn 3 stars, but as it is, I couldn't do it.

My favourite track is "Don't Let It Show" which was remade two years later on Pat Benatar's "In The Heat of the Night" album. APP does a good job, but I do prefer the Pat Benatar version. Also, Pat is way better looking. APP is another example of video killing the radio star.

So if you like sci fi concept albums based on short stories written 60 years ago, then this album is for you. And me. It is a guilty pleasure, and I'm guilty.

Best tracks: I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You, Don't Let It Show, Breakdown.

CD Odyssey Disc 96: Beastie Boys

Attention all you record makers! Stop. Making. Your. Albums. Too. Long.

With that said...

Disc 96 is...Hello Nasty
Artist: Beastie Boys

Year of Release: 1998

How I Came To Know It: I have known of the Beastie Boys since I saw the video for "Fight For Your Right To Party" in the late eighties, but I didn't buy any of their albums until I heard "License to Ill" in the pick up truck of my friend Tony's brother, Donato, on the night of Tony's bachelor party. "Hello Nasty" came fairly late to my collection - I'd say I bought it around 2004.

How It Stacks Up: I have nine Beastie Boys albums, which I think might be all of them. "Hello Nasty" is about 4th or 5th - so right in the middle.

Rating: 3 stars.

This album is a strange mix of the brilliant and the overly ambitious.

Let's just pick up on the teaser at the top of this entry; this album has 22 tracks on it. That is absolutely uncalled for. I could cut at least five of these songs in my sleep, and give me an hour and I'd find another three or four.

It's a pity, because the 13-14 tracks that would be left would be some of the Beastie Boys' better stuff. When they are on with this album, they are definitely on, with tight samples and the unique blend of rock, funk, disco and hip hop that defines their sound. This album loses a whole star in the ratings simply by having too much filler.

Worse, when looking for a suitable cover photo for this album, I read that there is some special new release coming out and it could have 22 additional songs. Whoa, there! To borrow a song title from "Hello Nasty", that is "Putting Shame In Your Game".

This album came out right after their instrumental groove album, "The In Sound From Way Out" and at least four songs with that album's jazz-funk sound work their way onto this album. Those tracks are pretty good, but I think two would have been enough here.

The hits on the record are "Super Disco Breakin'", "Intergalactic" and "Body Movin'", which have some of the best videos the late nineties have to offer. I particularly like the video for "Body Movin'", which features a swordfight between some 18th century gentleman and a ninja. The fight happens for no reason - not there needs to be a reason why this fight should happen.

I like to think the 18th century gentleman had earlier in the day challenged the ninja to a duel. Naturally, the ninja had demurred, only to don his ninja outfit and try to assassinate the gentleman later that night in his sleep. It may seem unfair, but hey - that's what ninjas do, my friends. Besides, the 18th century guy wakes up in time and a swordfight (and hilarity) ensues.

While the hits are good, my two favourite tracks are "Remote Control" and "Three MCs and One DJ".

"Remote Control" has a great disco back sample which I can...almost...recognize. Very funky, with some good raps.

"Three MCs and One DJ" displays some great raps delivered in the Beastie Boy's trademark unison style, alongside Mixmaster Mike showing off incredible skill. The song actually starts with a 'phone message' to Adam from Mixmaster Mike, where he plays a crazy mix-up of Tweetie Bird called "the Tweetie Scratch." (It has to be heard to be appreciated).

OK - I just did a rare cheat in an attempt to find the sample for "Remote Control" and found out it was released as a single in the UK with the B-side of..."Three MCs and One DJ". Nice! Now that is a 45 worth changing the speed on your record player for. Didn't find the sample, though...

Anyway, this is a solid, if overlong, Beastie Boys album. And it has ninjas and giant robots - or at least the videos do. Good for a listen and even a buy if you like their other stuff.

Best tracks: Super Disco Breakin', The Move, Remote Control, Just a Test, Intergalactic, Three MCs and One DJ

CD Odyssey Disc 95: Metric

A strange thing happened to me today. I woke up with severe laryngitis. Then, I was sent a very heartfelt article about how movie critic Roger Ebert can no longer speak, and read the article at the one brief time when I also, cannot speak.

It was a moving experience, and one thing that I noticed was Ebert felt most free when he was still able to write and express himself. Whatever happens to me through the years, I hope I never lose the ability to read and write until the end. As for today, voiceless and eager - what did I write about?

Disc 95 is...Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?

Artist: Metric

Year of Release: 2003

How I Came To Know It: I heard Metric do a song called "Portrait of a Girl" and bought that album a few years back. I wasn't a big fan, but Sheila really liked it, so I bought her this album (for brevity, let's call it "OWUWAYN?") for her birthday. For the record - she likes it.

How It Stacks Up: We have three Metric albums, which I think is all of their commercial releases. Of the three, I'd put "OWUWAYN?" as my least favourite.

Rating: 2 stars.

Funny how I was just saying how I can't seem to rate anything very low on the Odyssey. Well, here's one.

I think Metric is OK in small doses, but for the most part I like the small doses off their other two albums. Even those, I don't put on too often.

This particular album is a mix of pop, something resembling indie, but not quite indie, and the distinct overall sound of what you might expect at a generic dance club you visited when you were 20.

Certainly, the video for "Portrait of a Girl", which shows off the very elfin lead singer, Emily Haines, didn't hurt my decision to purchase this album.

This album is like that night club; you might have gone there for the girls, but you find yourself waiting for a good song to dance to more often than enjoying yourself.

Those good songs are there. I particularly like "Dead Disco" which bemoans the regurgitative nature of popular music these days. Generally true, and Metric does make a serious effort to sound different than the pack - mostly succeeding. Also in addition to being a fox, Emily Haines has a very distinctive and interesting voice (kind of like when you met that girl at the club who wasn't really that into you - but man was she fun to dance with!)

Anyway, sounding different from the pack is not enough, and more than once on this album, Metric's sound is ruined by arrangements that go from interesting, to overly busy to manic and unfocused and back again - often within the same song.

Also, many lyrics have that arty obscurity that passes for deep thought, but I find are deliberately obtuse as often as they are interesting. Case in point from the song "Succexy", which I presume is an anti-war song:

"All we do is talk static, split screens
As the homeland plots enemies.
Invasion - so succexy, so succexy, so succexy."

Yeah - I get the point, but these lines just need to be better. Also, note to Metric - "succexy" is not a word. "But Shakespeare made up words!" Emily might exclaim in indignation. That's true, but there is a big difference here - Shakespeare's words didn't suck.

It is not all bad though. I quite like certain sections of "Calculation Theme", such as:

"Tonight your ghost will ask my ghost
'Where is the love?'
Tonight your ghost will ask my ghost
'Who here is in line for a raise?'
Tonight your ghost will ask my ghost
'Where is the love?'
Tonight your ghost will ask my ghost
'Who put these bodies between us?'"

So, when Metric sticks to their melodies, and is clever, but not overly clever, this album is actually OK, but these moments are too infrequent to make this record anything but average. I'm hopeful their later entries in the Odyssey will be better.

Best tracks: Calculation Theme, On A Slow Night, Dead Disco.

CD Odyssey Disc 94: KISS

Another shot of the harder side of rock, this time back to the seventies. This album once again tested my willingness to be a "hard marker" on my ratings. Once again I was tested, and found wanting. I think I'll just remove the "I'm a hard marker" claim on my rating system, since I can't bring myself to do it often enough.

Disc 94 is...Ace Frehley - Solo Album
Artist:KISS (Ace Frehley)

Year of Release: 1978

How I Came To Know It: I have known KISS all my life, but I never heard this album until about ten years ago, when my buddy Spence played it for me during a "Music Appreciation Night in Vancouver" moment. I had known the Gene Simmons album from my youth, but had not previously heard this one. I bought it shortly thereafter.

How It Stacks Up: I have ten KISS albums, and I've already reviewed four of them! At this point I only have one of the four solo albums they each did in 1978. I'm told Ace Frehley's is best of these - it is certainly good enough to be in the top half of my KISS collection overall.

Rating: I wanted to give this 3 stars, but I knuckled under after simply enjoying this record too much. 4 stars.

KISS' four solo albums came out in 1978 - right after "Love Gun" in 1977 and before 1979's "Dynasty". As I noted above, this is the only one I know very well, but I'm thinking about trying a couple of the others. One reason I haven't is I can't see them comparing favourably to Ace's entry.

This record is what you would expect from the lead guitar player in a band - it is principally driven by giant riffs and excellent guitar playing. Ace's vocals have never been great, but he writes his songs to suit his vocal style, which effectively hides any shortcomings in that area.

Like any great guitar player, Ace has a really unique style. In some tracks, it is just basic hard rock playing, done well. But in some other tracks, like "I'm In Need of Love" it sounds like a laser cannon going off. This is hardly surprising for a guy who claimed in the seventies to be the son of space aliens, and who in concert would have his guitar shoot like...a laser cannon. Never has a stage show so accurately mirrored a sound. OK - excepting the great Alice Cooper, I suppose.

Last weekend I was buying CDs at Lyle's and I actually saw a complete original "KISS Army fan club" mail package for sale, complete with silly stories about how Ace was a space alien, Peter Criss was raised by cats, Gene Simmons was a demon, etc. I can't believe I ordered that as a seven year old for about $10, and went around elementary school convincing everything written about them was true (after all - it was in print!). Now, 30 years later, there it was - this time for $150. I almost bought the damned thing, too. I also sold my KISS belt buckle back in the day so I could raise $300 to buy a Coleco-vision. Youth is wasted on the young, indeed.

Anyway - back to the record, which also has one of the greatest remakes ever done, "New York Groove", where Ace branches out into an almost funk-guitar sound. The guy has great talent. I recently heard his more recent solo album from last year (again at Spence's place) which is also good, although I'm not sure he'll ever capture the magic of this album again.

Not that he had a complicated message to get across. A lot of the songs on KISS: Ace Frehley are basically a message about how much fun Ace has getting hammered and doing drugs. Songs like "Snowblind" and "Ozone" practically scream out "I like cocaine!" It is too bad, because it is a warning sign about just how far Ace was going to fall due to drug abuse - to the point where he would be kicked out of KISS completely for many years.

KISS was never the same without Ace - by far the most unsung hero for the casual fan. Too often people focus on Paul's charisma (what is it he's got?) and Gene's penchant for both showmanship and marketing, and forget that Ace was the musical backbone to the sound that gave them their hard rock edge.

Best tracks: Rip It Out, Ozone, New York Groove, I'm In Need of Love

CD Odyssey Disc 93: Metallica

Sometimes I find rating albums difficult when jumping genre to genre. I have to remind myself to feel folksy when I am listening to folk, get a rap vibe when listening to rap etc. This time, the vibe needed was metal. Having just reviewed two folk albums, it could've been a challenge.

Fortunately, I've listened to metal since there was metal, so this one comes very naturally.

Disc 93 is...Self Titled (commonly known as 'The Black Album')

Artist: Metallica

Year of Release: 1991

How I Came To Know It: My buddy Greg introduced me to Metallica around the time that the Black Album came out (although he had been listening to them for years). I didn't appreciate it as much then, but I do now.

How It Stacks Up: I have five of Metallica's first six albums (I am missing "Garage Days"). Of the five, I would put this one last. Sad but true.

Rating: 3 stars.

Let's start off this review by skipping quickly over the obvious. "The Black Album" marked Metallica's departure into a more mainstream sound, with the help of Canadian Bob Rock's production. It was their most commercially successful album, and judged by most Metallica fans as either their last good album, or their first bad one.

You can put me in the former category. I don't think "The Black Album" stands up to the juggernauts of their first four: "Kill 'Em All", "Ride The Lightning", "Master of Puppets" and "And Justice For All". Frankly, it doesn't come close.

Nevertheless, I still think it is a solid album in its own right. I like a lot of the songs, even though I sometimes find myself wishing the production more closely resembled their sound from say "Master of Puppets". In particular, I wish Lars' drumming was a bit more foreceful in places. It is a little too "snare" and not enough "bass" on this album.

Also, while they aren't my favourites, I don't mind the softer songs like "The Unforgiven" and "Nothing Else Matters". They are well written, and James Hetfield's vocals are definitely given license on these and other tracks to reach a little more, which is a good thing. Frankly, the one thing that sometimes stands between me and some of the harder metal of recent years is the guttural, totally incomprehensible screaming of vocalists. Please, people - use your words.

Then again, there are bands like Nickelback, where I wish I could neither understand what they were saying, nor hear what they are playing. Ahh...a day without bashing the crap that is Nickelback is like a day without sunshine.

But I digress...

One track that pleasantly surprised me on this listen was "Of Wolf And Man", a song about being a werewolf. Now that is a metal-worthy topic in the fine tradition of Iron Maiden!

In the end, this album is good but not great. If you don't have the four albums I mentioned above, don't buy this one - get those ones instead. If you have those four, go ahead and take a chance. Half of the people I know who like Metallica like this album, including me. I'll give it three werewolves out of five.

Best tracks:Enter Sandman, Sad But True, Wherever I May Roam, Of Wolf and Man, The God That Failed

CD Odyssey Disc 92: The Wailin Jennys

The CD Odyssey decided it liked that last taste of Canadian folk music, so it decided to roll me up some more.

Disc 92 is...40 Days

Artist: The Wailin' Jennys

Year of Release: 2004

How I Came To Know It: My friend Casey introduced me to both the band and this album when he brought it over one night. I instantly loved it, and when he mentioned a few weeks later they were coming to town, Sheila and I joined he and his wife, Helene, for the concert (which was awesome).

How It Stacks Up: I only have two Wailin' Jennys albums - I'm not sure how many they have - maybe three. This is my favourite.

Rating: 5 stars.

This is one of my favourite albums from the oughts. In recent years I've had to ration it out, lest I hear it so much I get tired of it. That is what happened to me with Mark Knopfler's "Sailing to Philadelphia" and since then I've been a lot more careful.

The Wailin' Jennys are three women, but the three women change around a fair bit. It seems every couple of years there is a lineup change - usually an acrimonious one. This is a real shame, because the lack of continuity has really hurt this trio's considerable talents. "40 Days" features the original three, Ruth Moody, Nicky Mehta and Cara Luft.

Shortly after this album came out, Luft left the band and was replaced by Annabelle Chvostek (which is the lineup I believe I saw). Chvostek has since left the band and been replaced with Heather Masse.

It sounds like the whole matter is emotionally complicated, so I think I'll just leave it at that, and stick to the record.

It is one hell of a folk record - and tragically the only one with this particular line up.

Every one of these women has an incredible voice. Every one is an artist on her instrument(s) of choice, and together they produce harmonies with a quality that would lure sailors onto treacherous reefs.

The first song, "One Voice" is one of my favourite songs, period. It begins with Ruth Moody singing alone and strong, expressing the yearning that each of us has to be heard, and for our opinion to matter in the world:

"This is the sound of one voice
One spirit, one voice
The sound of one who makes a choice"

She is joined by a second voice (Cara, I think), blending into a beautiful duet:

"This is the sound of voices two
The sound of me singing with you
Helping each other to make it through"

A reminder that we have our own voice, but how enriched we are when we lend it to the cause of another. How we are all here to help each other out. Of course, before you know it...

"This is the sound of voices three
Singing together in harmony
Surrendering to the mystery."

As the song progresses, it captures an ideal, where we all have our own voice, with each of us lending it to our fellows. Then, this multitude of individual voices somehow becomes one voice again. But now that one voice has transformed, able to express the needs of each individual singer in the choir. How it happens - that's the mystery.

As a species, this mystery often eludes us, but for three minutes and twenty one seconds, you will feel in your bones that it is just around the next corner.

Given what has happened to this band over the last five years, it is a deeply ironic song, but no less beautiful for it.

The rest of the album holds up to the high standards set in "One Voice", with each Jenny taking turns at songwriting and lead vocals, but all pitching in to make each of their bandmate's tracks that much better.

Most of the album is original material - all of it top tier. However, folk albums often have traditional works, or remakes. "40 Days" features a beautiful cover of Neil Young's "Old Man", which has always been one of my favourite tracks. The album ends with an a capella version of the traditional standard, "The Parting Glass", which is a perfect cap to what is essentially, a perfect album.

For me, my favourite Jenny is Ruth Moody, who writes both "One Voice" and my other favourite, "Beautiful Dawn", which I believe is a break up song. Most break up songs are either sad, mournful affairs, or angry recriminations. "Beautiful Dawn" is instead a prayer for understanding. It always hits me emotionally, and leaves me wanting to be a better man.

So I'll end this review with my favourite verse from "Beautiful Dawn". I hope that it gives succor to all the Jennys out there; past, present and future.

"Teach me how to see when I close my eyes
Teach me to forgive and to apologize
Show me how to love in the darkest dark
There's only one way to mend a broken heart"

Best tracks: One Voice, Beautiful Dawn, Untitled, This Is Where, Take It Down, Something to Hold Onto, Old Man, The Parting Glass.

CD Odyssey Disc 91: Spirit of the West

This disc was a return to an old favourite from my university days.

Disc 91 is...Save This House

Artist: Spirit of the West

Year of Release: 1989

How I Came To Know It: This album was absolutely huge back in 1989 when I was at university. I bought it then, loved it, and still pull it out from time to time. Like this time.

How It Stacks Up: I have three Spirit of the West (SOTW) albums. Last time I reviewed one back at Disc 23, I said that was the best (Labour Day), but listening to this album, I'm going to have to revise that and say that although I hate going with the obvious, "Save This House" is the best SOTW album. And I really mean it this time, since there is only 1 album left. Of course, if I decide that album is also the best it is going to be seriously embarassing. I'm willing to take the chance.

Rating: 4 stars.

"Save This House" is one of these seminal albums if you were at university in the late eighties and early nineties.

Of course if you went to school in Florida, you'd think I was talking about the Florida State Seminoles - but you'd be wrong. For one, I'm talking about Canadian university. For two, Florida State's got nothing on the University of Miami (Go 'Canes!), so if I was going to talk about US Colleges, you can be sure I'd be talkin' about "The U" not some other Florida Team. For three, I'm not even talking about that kind of Seminole. It's called a homonym, people.

But I digress...

This album is seminal because you couldn't go into the university pub back in the day and not hear it played on the jukebox at some time in any given evening. If it wasn't on the bar-staff's rotation, somebody would pay a quarter to play it.

"Save This House" has one of the greatest party tracks ever written - the instantly recognizable "Home For a Rest". A song that to this day, when it comes on, no matter where it is played, will more often than not inspire some lonely table of drunks to start singing in unison:

"You'll have to excuse me
I'm not at my best
I've been gone for a month
I've been drunk since I left."

More often than not as you listen to the drunks chime in happily, you'll realize that you're one of them.

"Home For A Rest" is a five star anthem, which has so permeated the Canadian consciousness, it can be easy to forget the rest of this record is great in its own right.

As with most SOTW albums, this one is replete with political protest music. Where the previous album "Labour Day" can come across as angry, "Save This House" manages to capture the same activist sentiments in a less threatening way.

This isn't to say this record doesn't hit hard - it does. Consider the first words you hear when you put it on, from the title track:

"I'm not worried, it's a million miles away
Yeah I saw the news, it happens every day
Some Cronkite look a like
Numb from what he's reading
Wake me up! Wake me up!
It's one of us that's screamin'!"

It's just that the record also has a humour and a joy to it that "Labour Day" is missing. Songs like "Home for a Rest" have a festive vibe, which basically says that while the world isn't a perfect place, it is OK once in a while to just let your hair down and have a good time.

There are a couple of sour notes, particularly the maudlin "Last to Know" in which the last person to notice an affair is the person being cheated on, and the overly silly communal-farm anthem "Water In the Well" which is hands down the worst SOTW song I know.

But these are very rare low points in an album that, for the most part, alternates effortlessly between hard social commentary, and what can only be described as sentimental unity.

I particularly like the tongue-in-cheek "The Old Sod" which is a song about how many Canadians are proud not only of being Canadian but also of whatever other heritage they identify with (in this case Scottish):

"There's a bar in the rec room
In the basement of our house
A little shrine to Ballantynes
Haig and Famous Grouse
There's a sprig of purple heather
From the land that once was mine
And Robbie's on the t-towel
With the words of Auld Lang Syne"

"There's none more Scots
Than the Scots abroad
There's a place in our hearts
For the old sod"

The song reminds us that while we are all proud Canadians first, we often feel the need to remember our other heritage as well. These two tendencies come together in the song's final verse:

"I'm a citizen of both countries
And I'm very proud to be
The thistle, and the maple leaf
Are the emblems of the free."

As a self-identifying "Italian-Canadian" who has never been to Italy, and can't speak a word of the language, I can only say, "guilty as charged."

So in closing, the first song on this album, "Save This House" is a powerful political song about how we are all in this together. The last song, "The Old Sod" pokes gentle fun, while at the same time reminding us that...we are all in this together.

Best tracks: Save This House, Home For A Rest, (Putting Up With) The Joneses, Sentimental Side, Sentimental Side, The Old Sod

CD Odyssey Disc 90: Tom Waits

It has been exactly 50 discs since I last rolled Tom Waits - way back last October. Here he is again.

Disc 90 is...Big Time


Artist: Tom Waits

Year of Release: 1988

How I Came To Know It: I discovered Tom Waits originally through the album Closing Time, which I reviewed back at Disc 40. Sheila bought this particular album, as I don't typically go for live albums (although there are exceptions).

How It Stacks Up: We have a lot of Tom Waits - 16 studio albums in fact, plus Big Time, which is a live album. I don't think you can properly 'stack up' a live album against a studio album, so I'll defer on this one. It is kind of like a "best of" that way.

Rating: 3 stars.

"Big Time" is a live album that primarily covers Tom Waits' work from about 1980 through 1987. It contains mostly songs from 1985's "Rain Dogs" and 1987's "Frank's Wild Years", with a smattering of some stuff from earlier in the decade, off of "Swordfishtrombone" and "Heart Attack and Vine".

It is a golden age for Waits; a period where he broke out of more traditional sounding blues/folk groove of the seventies and started to incorporate all manner of weird instruments and arrangements. I call it his "circus" period, because the music all has a distinct big-top feel to it.

I quite like the period, and "Rain Dogs" and "Frank's Wild Years" are two of my favourite albums. The problem with "Big Time" is that it seems to lack the continuity of those two studio albums. By it's very nature, it jumps around from album to album. The songs are good, but they are better in their original format.

I will say that Waits' songs are strong enough to stand on their own, regardless of how they are compiled, and this album has many classics, including "16 Shells From a Thirty-Ought Six", "Cold Cold Ground", "Way Down in the Hole" (recently expertly remade by Steve Earle), "Big Black Mariah" and a slough of others.

There are probably a few TOO many classics, though - with 18 songs, this album took two full rides home from work to get through it, and there were places where I could have made a cut. 18 songs is too many, even for a live album.

For the most part, I would start out excited about these killer songs (admirably performed by Waits in a live format) but I found myself wanting to hear the studio albums they were taken off of, rather than in this format. Not that Waits wouldn't be great live - this album clearly shows he would be - I just had a hankerin' for the studio tracks.

So in the end, I give this album 3 stars on the strength of the songs, but if you like it, I would suggest you go buy "Rain Dogs" and "Frank's Wild Years" instead. You'll have 11 of the 18 tracks right there, and a bunch of other good ones besides.

Best tracks: For sheer live power, I'd go 16 Shells From a Thirty Ought Six, Big Black Mariah and Clap Hands.

CD Odyssey Disc 89: Alice Cooper

It is Super Bowl Sunday, and while once again the Miami Dolphins aren't in it, I've found a reason to celebrate. I just went to Sidney and back to pick up the chili for the party, and on the drive visiting another island in the Odyssey of Music Archepelago.

Disc 89 is...Constrictor

Artist: Alice Cooper

Year of Release: 1986

How I Came To Know It: As I noted when I reviewed Dada way back at Disc 18, I've known Alice Cooper all my life. This particular album I bought on tape through Columbia House when it came out. I am pleased to say that I now have it on CD, and that I have fulfilled my obligations to Columbia House. 11 casette tapes for only 11 cents! (some terms and conditions apply).

How It Stacks Up: Alice Cooper has 25 studio albums, and I have all of them. I'd say this one is one of the weaker albums - maybe 20th to 22nd depending on my mood.

Rating: 3 stars.

"Constrictor" is Cooper's comeback album after many years of obscurity where he made about five records most people have never heard of (including Dada). During this period he was deep in the throws of alcoholism. I believe "Constrictor" is his first sober album.

He also tries to reach a younger audience by taking on more of a heavy metal sound. Cooper always gets great musicians to play with him, and so the music is well played, but it is a bit formulaic.

Also, while a couple of the songs have great guitar solos (particularly "Teenage Frankenstein") most have that annoying quality of just being stuck into a song for no apparent reason to show that the lead guitarist knows how to noodle.

It is worth noting that when I was 16 and first heard this album, none of this bothered me. I loved this album back then.

Also, Cooper never loses his great songwriting ability. The riffs are catchy, and the lyrics suitably ridiculous. Like in "The World Needs Guts":

"Hey you! Crying 'cause your best friend
Splattered against the wall
Hey you! Some maniac butcher
Tryin' to hack away your balls"

Um...anyway, this is a good place to note that this album has the theme song for "Friday the 13th Part Six: Jason Lives". Surprisingly, it is not the song I just quoted. The song is "He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)" and it is the best song on the album. It has a great sound, and totally captures the "Friday the 13th" movies:

"You're swimmin' with your girl
Out on lover's lake
And the wind blows cold
It chills your bones
But you're still on the make
That's a bad mistake"

The song even has the "jay...jay...jay...ah...ah...ah" sound that always plays before Jason kills some teenager.

I remember seeing the movie in the theatre. When Jason comes back from the dead and crawls out of his grave everyone in the audience let out a cheer. It was a weird experience.

Scandalously, "He's Back" did not get nominated for an Oscar in 1986. What an outrage. The winner that year was Berlin's "Take My Breath Away" from Top Gun. I guess that is an alright song, but come on? Where is Berlin now? Not with 25 kick ass studio albums to their credit, I'll tell you that right now.

Best tracks: Teenage Frankenstein, Life and Death of the Party, The World Needs Guts, He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask).

Figurine: Elf Ranger

I finally finished painting another figure. This is an elf ranger. I really dig this guy - he has a great pose, which is at once thoughtful and majestic. Also, it doesn't hurt your coolness factor when you have a bald eagle for a pet.

Here he is from the back. I enjoy painting the contours of cloaks - there is something soothing about it.

This guy is a "grey elf". You can tell by the violet eyes. I imagine him as coming from deep in the woods, where few humans venture, and fewer return.

Next up: a Chaos Lord...

CD Odyssey Disc 88: Queen

Well the dice like to roll one band and that band is Queen. Queen is now alone in first, with 4 reviews. I'm not complaining, that's for sure.

Disc 88 is...Queen II

Artist: Queen

Year of Release: 1974

How I Came To Know It: The Queen posts have become legion. As I've noted before, my brother introduced me to Queen. I'd say my buddy Spence invigorated me to the point where I had to own the whole catalog, and I've had this one a good ten years or more now.

How It Stacks Up: Exciting news! Since my last Queen post back at Disc 80, I've bought another Queen album. I now have 14 of 15 (I'm still missing Made In Heaven). Of the 14 I have, I'd say Queen II is not top four, but top half. Probably 5th to 7th best, depending on my mood.

Rating: 4 stars.

Fittingly, "Queen II" is Queen's second studio album. I put this one in a group along with their self-titled debut and "Sheer Heart Attack" as an artistic subset.

The music on these albums is much more classic and prog seventies rock, and while Freddie's voice still soars, the songs are less theatrical. I'm not saying that it is better or worse than the next section of albums - just different.

"Queen II" snuck up on me during this listen, as it often does. I often forget just how powerful an album this is - particularly when listened to in sequence, as opposed to shuffled in with a bunch of other records. It also begs to be played at high volume, and in the tiny confines of my Miata, I was glad to oblige those needs.

As usual, every member of the band is on top of their game. I particularly enjoyed Roger Taylor's drumming on "White Queen", which is an awesome fantasy driven track. It is mirrored by the sexy "March of the Black Queen" later in the album, which is equally good.

The songs on this album almost come together as a concept of a fairytale battle between good and evil, but only half truly fit the mold. I think it is a toss up, but I went with "prog" over "concept" this time.

Speaking of fantasy, I love Brian May's guitar on "Ogre Battle" which is a song about a battle...with...ogres! I love when a song actually delivers on the promise of its title. It even ends with the banging of a huge gong, as any good song featuring ogre battles should.

In addition to over the top "I play D&D in my basement" lyrics exemplified in "March of the Black Queen":

"I reign with my left hand, I rule with my right
I'm lord of all darkness, I'm queen of the night
I've got power - now do the march of the Black Queen
My life is in your hands, I'll foe and I'll fie"

There are songs that are beautiful and emotionally pure like "Funny How Love Is"

"Funny how love is everywhere just look and see
Funny how love is anywhere you're bound to be
Funny how love is every song in every key
Funny how love is coming how in time for tea"

Also, worth pointing out that unlike "The Streets", in the last review, Queen had no cell phones, but still were able to get home in time for tea. I guess they communicated with 'Fairy Feller dust' - or maybe they were just punctual.

Ah, the days before cell phones...White Queens heard our darkest fears, Dark Queen's tattooed their pies, and people sailed on seven seas of rhye, all without the assistance of a single "app".

If these references didn't make sense to you, then turn off your damned phone, and go buy this album. It is a better use of your time.

As a PS, "Queen II" has the second best of the mostly bad bonus dance remixes on the CD releases. The remix of "Seven Seas of Rhye" takes a song that is only 2:48 and makes it into a ridiculous 6:36 dance opus. It even samples Mustafa Ibrahim off of the "Jazz" album. Over the top - but it works. Must be Queen.

Best tracks: pretty much all of them, but let's go with Father to Son, White Queen, Some Day One Day, Ogre Battle, The March of the Black Queen, and Funny How Love Is.

CD Odyssey Disc 87: The Streets

This week we return to one of my favourite musical sub-genres; the concept album! I'm even going to add a tag so that I can easily look up other ones along the journey.

Disc 87 is...A Grand Don't Come For Free

Artist: The Streets

Year of Release: 2004

How I Came To Know It: My friend Nick discovered "The Streets" and introduced them to me one night when we were sharing some music appreciation. I went out and bought it shortly thereafter.

How It Stacks Up: I only have this one Streets album. Nick has another, but it doesn't grab me the same way. I like this one though.

Rating: 3 stars.

This album is a hard one to pigeon-hole in a genre, which speaks favourably to how innovative it is. On the one hand, it has a rap-quality, as our 'hero' tells a tale of a typical week in the life of a twenty something slacker in London.

However, while rap-like, the album is really more a spoken word performance, that has as much in common with Beatnik poetry as it does with early rap. Laid on top of this spoken word stuff each song has a chorus with a groovy hook. It is these hooks that are very hip hop, and I think if you have to put it into a box, that's the one I'd put it in.

Having said that, the thing I like most about the album is that it is a concept album - if there are other hip hop albums of like spirit, I don't think I've heard them.

As I noted above, the story is basically a series of 11 songs (thank you for the brevity!) covering a week in the life. Let me tell you it is action packed.

We begin with "It Was Supposed To Be Easy", in which our hero bravely ventures out of the house with four goals in mind:

• return a DVD
• get some cash out of the ATM
• call his Mom to say he couldn't come over for tea
• deposit some savings

Instead, he is unable to do any of these, as he leaves the DVD in the player, encounters "insufficient funds", finds his cell phone has a dead battery and misplaces a thousand quid that he's supposed to deposit. His response? A lament that he got out of bed.

As things go along, he has other epic adventures, including:

• meeting a girl over beers
• placing some bets with the bookie
• doing some drugs and going to a night club
• hanging out on the girl's couch and watching telly
• arguing with the girl, and then with his buddy
• breaking up with the girl and,
• having a fight with the TV repairman, but then making up with his buddy, who agrees to repair his broken TV
  

It is hard to believe, but Mike Skinner (the real name behind "The Streets") writes these songs with such a raw emotion, that not only do you find these mundane tasks interesting, you actually find yourself identifying with the slacker protagonist.

Not only is it interesting, but the chorus' are sung beautifully, with Skinner doing most of the work, with help of a number of guest vocalists. The hooks for most of the songs are surprisingly catchy. I found myself at work today humming along to the chorus to "Could Well Be In":

"I saw this thing on ITV the other night
Said if she played with her hair, she's prob'ly keen
She's playing wif her hair most regularly
So I reckon I could well be in."

Following this slackabout around his rounds is funny in many places, and the strong English accent and liberal use of street slang makes it even better. I particularly like "You know what you can do with your life, introduce it up your jacksee". I don't know entirely what that means, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and suggest it isn't polite.

There are also moments of genuine pathos. In particular, the one song I've heard as a single, "Dry Your Eyes" which is a very poignant break up song. I like how this song conveys complex emotion with simple street talk and broken English.

In closing, this isn't an album I put on a lot, but when I hear it I enjoy it. I'm glad the Odyssey took a week's shore leave in urban England.

Best tracks: Could Well Be In, Blinded By the Lights, Fit But You Know It, Dry Your Eyes

CD Odyssey Disc 86: Rilo Kiley

I am on a roll of strong music big time!

Disc 86 is...Take Offs and Landings
Artist: Rilo Kiley (n.b. it's a band, not a person)

Year of Release: 2001

How I Came To Know It: Sheila read a good review for a side project by Rilo Kiley's frontwoman, Jenny Lewis. We really liked that album and so I sought out something from her band. I started with "Take Offs and Landings" because well, it was the earliest thing I could find.

How It Stacks Up: I have all four Rilo Kiley albums that I know. It really depends on my mood which one I like the best, but all things being equal, I guess I like this one the best.

Rating: 5 stars.

My friend Spence is often asking if there has been a truly great band that got started in the 'oughts'. It sometimes seems like there isn't, but then I listened to this album and the answer is "yes, and that band is Rilo Kiley."

This song also again answers the question, "Can pop music be made with any artistic value?" Although Aimee Mann already affirmed you can earlier in the Odyssey, Rilo Kiley reinforces this point. This album has some of the best pop music you will hear.

Jenny Lewis has a very pure, almost childlike quality to her voice. It is waifish - but still conveys adult emotion. As is common for the band, "Take Offs and Landings" features fellow band founder Blake Sennett singing two or three songs of his own. Sennett is the weaker voice, but he manages to hold his own here better than later albums.

Also, while I prefer the Lewis songs, Sennett gives a nice break stylistically to the music every 4th or 5th track.

The songs have an almost sixties-folk feel to them, but like with Belle and Sebastian the lyrics and themes are a lot heavier. Much of the album is about existential crisis - not only questioning whether relationships have meaning, but whether life in general does.

Yes, yes - rock and rollers questioning the meaning of life - we've seen it before. That is true, but Rilo Kiley sounds fresh, bold and very unlike anything else I had heard. Besides, they write good pop songs, which is not as easy as it sounds.

I particularly like the opening to "Science vs. Romance":

"I used to think, if I could realize I'd die
then I would be a lot nicer
Used to believe in a lot more,
now I just see straight ahead"

A nice summation of the end of youth's innocence, and an expression of the fear we all have that as we get older we're settling. A theme followed up in "Wires and Waves":

"There are twelve hours
there's a day between us
You called to say you're sorry in your own way
There are oceans and waves and wires between us
You called to say you're getting older
Sometimes planes they smash up in the sky
Sometimes lonely hearts they just get lonelier"

There is nothing like realizing a hard fact for the first time, and this album recaptures those feelings we have in our early twenties. Complex feelings when we realize that everything is NOT necessarily going to be alright, and that we're going to have to muddle through anyway. Planes may crash, romance may falter. And one day we'll be gone, and that will be that. Or it won't.

As Jenny sings in "Plane Crash in C":

"I have no idea what's been going on lately
I just wish you would come over and explain things"

We all remember that feeling, but don't worry, it gets easier once you stop waiting around like an idiot for the doorbell to ring. As the last lyric on the album states "you can't stay here tomorrow."

Because in the end, "Take Offs and Landings" is not just a celebration of confusion, it's also a kick in the pants to those who might be tempted to wallow in it permanently. It is a good way to start the oughts.

Best tracks: almost all of them - maybe not "August", which mildly irks me - but the other 13 for sure.