CD Odyssey Disc 160: Neil Young

Our last review was Bob Dylan. Surely the only artist in the Odyssey likely to break out into spontaneous harmonica playing.

Well actually, there is Canada's Bob Dylan to be accounted for in that equation. And on that note,

Disc 160 is...Prairie Wind

Artist: Neil Young

Year of Release: 2005

What’s Up With The Cover?: A sheet blows in a prairie wind. The cover is strongly reminiscent of Young's youth, and the album will follow suit.

How I Came To Know It: I don't remember. I do know I bought this when it came out, but I can't recall the details. I like Neil Young, so I might've just bought it. Or maybe I saw the music special where he basically plays the whole album called, "Heart of Gold" and hearing the songs, knew I had to have it. That sounds familiar, but memory can play tricks on a person.

How It Stacks Up: We have twelve Neil Young albums, of which "Prairie Wind" is the most recent. I'd put this one about in the middle, 5th or 6th.

Rating: I was going to give this record 3 stars but as I sit here and listen to it while I write this review, I have to admit it is a 4.

I started this odyssey planning to be a hardass marker, but the more music I listen to, the softer I get it seems. Another great effect of music.

It is fitting to follow up the great Bob Dylan with the great Neil Young, who also has been making music since long before I was born.

Not so, "Prairie Wind" which is the most recent Neil Young in my collection. It is an album of quiet introspection and reverie, as Neil goes back to his prairie roots, and draws on his early childhood experiences.

The result is a mix of gentle remembrance of good times, with a hint of regret of a world that is lost and can never be fully regained. Young had recently overcome a serious illness in 2005, and this record shows that the experience has caused him to take stock of his career as a whole.

Musically, it is the updated sound of his early folk recordings, particularly his first four solo albums, rather than his later rock sound, like "Freedom" or "Sleeps With Angels" (the latter reviewed way back at Disc 20). And as I noted in the teaser paragraph - yes, there is harmonica.

I used to enjoy putting this album on for people when it came out and then telling me it had just come out 'this year'. It was so timeless (and talent-laden) they'd always do a double take.

There are a lot of great tracks on this record, but the one that always stands out for me is "This Old Guitar", a five star song that I know I have inflicted on many a visitor to chez Wenham who stayed late enough to enter "The Country Zone".

It is a song about Neil's old guitar - and I believe I read somewhere it is a guitar so old it was owned by previous musicians dating back into the fifties before Neil got a hold of it. Neil sings it in a quiet voice, almost a lullaby, accompanied by the incomparable Emmylou Harris on background vocals. Here's my favourite part:

"This old guitar has caught some breaks
But it never searched for gold
It can't be blamed for my mistakes
It only does what it's told.

"It's been a messenger in times of trouble
In times of hope and fear
When I get drunk and seein' double
It jumps behind the wheel and steers.

"This old guitar ain't mine to keep
It's mine to play for a while
This old guitar ain't mine to keep
It's only mine for a while."

I find myself dwelling on the quiet acceptance of mortality inherent in these lyrics. It is a song from someone at peace with their life, and it even has a gentle humility as Neil shares the glory of his amazing body of work with his instrument. I also love the idea that after you play guitar for so long, you can still play well drunk (Neil gives the guitar credit, of course).

One day the instrument will pass along to someone else when Neil is gone, and you can't help but think as you listen to Emmylou slowly fade out repeating that last stanza, that the guitar will have been infused with a part of all it has played.

My only beef with this album has nothing to do with the album, but rather the video I mentioned earlier, "Heart of Gold". Emmylou is in it, along with a couple of other background singers and they are all crowded old-style around a microphone at the back of the stage.

I swear the other background singers (both young women in their twenties or thirties)are crowding Emmylou off the mike! I found it really distracting, and I couldn't believe Emmylou let it go on. I guess at this point in her career, she doesn't have anything to prove to these mike-hogs.

At this stage, Neil doesn't have to prove anything to anyone either, but with this album he does it anyway.

Best tracks: The Painter, No Wonder, Prairie Wind, This Old Guitar, He Was The King

CD Odyssey Disc 159: Bob Dylan

The next album made me feel like I was back in the sixties; driving home from work in the summer sunshine with the top down, and my driving cap on

Disc 159 is...Bringing It All Back Home
Artist: Bob Dylan

Year of Release: 1965

What’s Up With The Cover?: A young, badly coiffed Bob Dylan sits amids a bunch of old magazines and an attractive woman in a red dress. Presumably these are all things that has 'brought back home' (note to Bob - next time skip the magazines). I like this cover - seems very seventies and ahead of its time, but Bob always was a visionary.

How I Came To Know It: This is just me drilling through the Bob Dylan catalogue. Of all his sixties albums, I believe this is the last one I bought - maybe a couple years ago. I also remembered the video that came out in the eighties for "Subterranean Homesick Blues" which featured Bob standing on a street with a series of signs he throws down as the music plays. It is a pretty cool video.

How It Stacks Up: I have seventeen Bob Dylan albums (yeah - I kind of like him). Of the seventeen, this is not one of my favourites, but there's no denying its strength. I'd say it is 9th or 10th best of these seventeen. Like with Queen, competition is fierce among Bob Dylan records.

Rating: 4 stars.

"Bringing It All Back Home" (BIABH) is right in the middle of a period of furious creativity for Dylan. It is the 3rd of 4 albums all released between January of 1964 and August 1965, just after "Another Side of Bob Dylan" and just before "Highway 61 Revisited".

BIABH is not as good as the records that precede and follow it, but it is still one hell of a good record. I noticed on this listen that it is the lesser known tracks on the record that appeal to me more.

The more famous songs are the aforementioned "Subterranean Homesick Blues", "Maggie's Farm" (incredibly remade by Rage Against the Machine on their "Renegades" album) and "Mr. Tambourine Man" which was made famous by the Byrds in 1965.

Yeah I wiki-cheated on that last one, after trying in vain to remember how I knew that song through another artist.

I can't remember the Byrd's version very well, but on the original I found it funny that a song called "Mr. Tambourine Man" features a harmonica solo. I suppose with Bob Dylan, you should always be on guard for any song to launch into a harmonica solo.

The songs that I prefer from BIABH are more obscure, but still run the usual gamut of what it is to listen to a Dylan album. "On The Road Again" and "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" is Bob being funny, but also devilishly satirical. You could make a pretty awesome album of Dylan songs based on dreams. There are a few.

"Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" tells the story of Bob as a sailor, asea with Captain Ahab. They think they discover the new world, but I think it is actually modern day New York, and they promptly get arrested. The rest of the song is Dylan encountering various Americans as he tries to raise bail and get them out. It sounds like a bender out of control. I particularly liked this stanza:

"Well I rapped upon a house
With the US flag upon display
I said 'Could you help me out
I got some friends down the way'
The man says 'Get out of here
I'll tear you limb from limb'
I said, 'You know they refused Jesus, too?'
He said, 'You're not Him
Get out of here before I break your bones
I ain't your pop.'
I decided to have him arrested
And I went looking for a cop."

My only beef with this song is it starts with a false take, where something funny obviously happens in studio, and everyone cracks up - they let the tape roll, have a good laugh and then start again. Attention musicians - your studio hijinks are funny only to you - keep them off your finished products.

Yeah - I just called out Bob Dylan, but it isn't like he cares about his critics anyway.

At the other end of the spectrum is the bitter and melancholy "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)." Dylan is so insightful at exposing the rot in society, and doing so in a way that plays no favourites. He is a true American poet. This song also shows how adept he is at putting a steady rhyme through a verse in a way that is strongly reminiscent of how rap artists make their points in more recent years:

"While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he's in.

"But I mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it's alright, Ma, if I can't please him."

Compare this with the often moronic so-called poetry of Jim Morrison, and I think you know who I think better represents the spirit of the sixties. Jim Morrison wit the same rhyme - "Girl, we couldn't get much higher/Try to set the night on fire." Whatever.

So it isn't the first Dylan album to get, but it isn't one to avoid either, with plenty of great tracks that will make you groove, make you laugh, and above all - make you think.

Best tracks: She Belongs To Me, On the Road Again, Bob Dylan's 115th Dream, It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding), It's All Over Now Baby Blue.

CD Odyssey Disc 158: Queen

Some bands just seem to attract the randomness of the CD Odyssey. This is now my 6th Queen album rolled, yet still not a single one of fourteen Tom Petty albums, or fifteen Blue Oyster Cult albums.

I'm not complaining about more Queen, mind you. They rock, and Disc 158 is the album that got it all started.

Disc 158 is...Queen (Self-Titled)

Artist: Queen

Year of Release: 1973

What’s Up With The Cover?: Um...it's purple? A Freddie Mercury-like figure stands in a spotlight. This cover is OK, but a bit boring.

How I Came To Know It: After a lifetime relationship with Queen dating back to early childhood, this is just me digging through the collection. I actually got their first album comparatively late - maybe five years ago?

How It Stacks Up: I still have fourteen of fifteen Queen albums. I haven't managed to find "Made In Heaven" but I know it will happen if I keep plugging away. Of the fourteen I have, this is one that I would say is excellent, and just below my top few favourite. Maybe 4th or 5th depending on my mood, but more close to 5th. Yeah - I know, I already tagged "The Game" at 5th. Shut up, and stop paying attention.

Rating: 4 stars.

Queen's first album started it all, thirty seven years ago. Wow. What a great musical legacy.

This record is a worthy entry into the Queen library. It has everything - great playing from all the musicians, Freddie's vocals and innovative song writing. This record and their next two have a more noticeable prog element - kind of like the first three Blue Oyster Cult albums I never roll.

In fact, the guitar riff for "Keep Yourself Alive" is very similar to BOC's "Before the Kiss, A Redcap." Coincidence? Most likely, yes. A happy coincidence as well - since both songs are excellent.

The operatic and showtune like elements that Mercury really brings to later records isn't as noticeable here - it is more of a hint of what is to come. Instead, the record focuses more strongly on straight seventies prog rock. "Great King Rat" in particular has some shredding guitar and "Keep Yourself Alive" has a kick-ass drum solo, but these are just two of many examples.

The height of the album is the six and half minute "Liar" right there in the middle of the album (likely the beginning of side two on vinyl). And in a single song, a great guitar solo and a great drum solo. If it seems too much bombast, or too over the top - it isn't. It is exactly the right amount of bombast.

This album also some ridiculous over the top lyrics that are also common on Queen II. Consider the start of "My Fairy King":

"In the land where horses are born with eagle wings
And honey bees have lost their stings
There's a singing forever
Lion's den with fallow deer
And rivers made from wines so clear
Flow on and on forever."

Hmmm...someone's been reading Coleridge, methinks.

Lest, you think this bothers me, think otherwise. I love over the top lyrics, and Queen are one of the best at it. There is a special talent to sing about such fantastical topics and still infuse them with great music, and true feeling.

In many ways, Queen I is a book end to Queen II. The music is similar, and there is even a version of "Seven Seas of Rhye" on both albums, slightly different, but no less awesome.

This album has few hits - I think maybe "Keep Yourself Alive" and "Liar" were hits of a sort, but I can't remember them as such. Also, when I first got this record I playing the living crap out of it, so now all the songs sound really familiar.

Of note, this review was briefly interrupted by my buddy Spence, who is the biggest Queen fan, and without whom I might not have been sufficiently enthused to pursue all of Queen's albums in recent years. So a big shout out to Spence - the King of Queen, and a big shout out to this record as well. It is consistently good, and well worth a purchase if you don't own it.

Best tracks: Keep Yourself Alive, Doing All Right, Liar, Son & Daughter

Figurine: Rogue and Bard

Once again more figurines have been painted! These ones come with a twist. About every five figures or so, I repaint old figures that I did years ago.

I don't know why I do this - I have plenty of new ones waiting, I guess I just like the nostalgia of it all, and it is nice to see what you can do with limited options.

These two figures are from the eighties. The guy on the left is a rogue made in the late eighties by a company called Mithril, that did a lot of imagining of Lord of the Rings scenes - and many of them are very cool. This guy is not a famous character, and therefore a bit rare.

The guy on the right is a bard from an old set called "Thieves, Monks, and Bards" that came out in the early eighties. So here they are in their original paint jobs (o, the embarrassment):


To start over all you need is some extra strength oven cleaner and a tupperware container.

This and a bit of a scrub with a toothbrush takes off all the old paint (Easy Off works on oven grease, and so oil based paint is not a problem):

Then, they get a coat of primer so I can start over. Both of these guys had lost their original swords over the years, so I cannibalized some parts from some more recent figures and gave them new swords (and hands):

And, voila! Here they are with the newest painting techniques. Still not likely to win any beauty contests, but a hell of a lot better than they were.

And of course, from the back. I really like the Mithril figure (guy on the left). These figures were ahead of their time, and I wish I could find them now, but they are hard to come by. Note that while I update them, I try to honour my original colour palette. I dunno why - it is a thing I do.

Next up on the painting table - a sphinx!

CD Odyssey Disc 157: Black Sabbath

The latest disc was so enjoyable, I was glad yesterday when I got home with one song still to play, because it meant I got another full listen today.

Great summer driving music, and the opposite of embarrassing with the top down.

Disc 157 is...The Mob Rules
Artist: Black Sabbath

Year of Release: 1981

What’s Up With The Cover?: It is totally awesome, that's what. The cover is by artist Greg Hildebrandt who did all kinds of fantasy and sci fi art back in the eighties. Here we have the mob (faceless, of course) and clearly they've been up to no good, as mobs usually are.

How I Came To Know It: I was a big Sabbath fan during the Dio years, and I loved this record. My brother introduced me to it, as he owned it on vinyl, so I played it that way whenever he'd let me. It great to have on disc, but last year I found a copy in good condition on vinyl so I bought. It is good on CD, but it was made for vinyl, and sounds better that way.

How It Stacks Up: I have ten Black Sabbath albums, including one live album. Of the three studio albums with Dio as the lead singer, "The Mob Rules" is second. Put up against all nine studio albums, I'd put it seventh. It isn't bad, it is just that the competition is tight.

Rating: 4 stars.

As I may have mentioned in previous Sabbath reviews, I actually came to know Black Sabbath in this period first, and I will always have a soft spot for Ronnie James Dio.

Dio was an amazing artist that accomplished what now seems impossible; he successfully stepped in for Ozzy Osbourne. Dio didn't just try to emulate Ozzy though - he brought his own unique talents to the band. He made them different - not better, not worse - just gloriously different.

I saw a great piece on Sabbath once that suggested Ozzy sang along with the beat, but Dio sang over top of it. It makes a lot of sense listening to this record.

This album also has a different drummer, with Bill Ward being replaced by career journeyman, Vinny Appice. I really love Appice's drumming, and while not as overt as Dio, he makes his own unique contribution to this record.

Of course, the driving force remains Tony Iommi, and this album has some signature metal riffs. With Dio's operatic style, these riffs lose something of their bluesy quality, but they pick up a hard metal sound that really works. The way Iommi's guitars change when playing with Ozzy to playing with Dio approaches alchemy.

The song "Mob Rules" is a classic, and was used in the movie "Heavy Metal" in a scene where a bunch of bad guys sack a city. I remember when "Heavy Metal" came out it was an R rated animated movie, but my brother took me (he was seven years older, so he got me in). I think he told me not to tell Mom there had been animated sex in the film, in addition to a very large amount of blood and gore. Whether he told me that or not, I'm certain I never told her.

"The Mob Rules" was far and away my favourite song on this album in junior high. I still love it, but I'm also partial to "Country Girl" these days, which takes a traditional English sounding folk tune and morphs it into a furious metal riff.

Despite riffs that are the equal to anything Sabbath recorded, the album slips a little at the end, and "Falling Off the Edge of the World" and "Over and Over" which close out the album are merely very good, but not great.

"The Mob Rules" is not the masterpiece that "Heaven and Hell" (Dio's first Sabbath album) is, but it is an excellent record, and holds a worthy place in the band's discography, and my disc odyssey.

Dio died earlier this year, and I for one am going to miss him. He was one of the good guys in the music industry, and always seemed to stay grounded despite his fame. What's more - the guy could write a great song, and boy could he sing it.

Best tracks: Turn Up the Night, The Sign of the Southern Cross, The Mob Rules, Country Girl, Slipping Away

CD Odyssey Disc 156: Soundtrack

What happens when ABBA fights the Cold War. The next disc is what.

Disc 156 is...Chess: Original Broadway Recording
Artist: Various

Year of Release: 1988

What’s Up With The Cover?: The star-crossed lovers of our tale run, James Bond-like in front of their respective flags. I kind of like it.

How I Came To Know It: "Chess" is another of Sheila's modest collection of musicals. I've already reviewed "Les Miserables" back at Disc 111, and there's yet two more to come.

How It Stacks Up: I have about 23 soundtracks. When I recently reviewed "Moulin Rouge", I hinted that there was one or two albums possibly worse than it. At the time I was thinking of "Chess" but having listened to it, I must confirm it is better than "Moulin Rouge" by a reasonable margin. I'd still say "Chess" is bottom five of 23 soundtracks, but it is ahead of "Moulin Rouge" and may not even be the worse musical. I'll put it a distant third to Les Mis' second place.

Rating: 2 stars.

"Chess" is an ambitious project, that was a flop on Broadway, but I think was fairly brave. It is written by the guys from ABBA (Benny and Bjorn) along with Tim Rice, or so Sheila tells me. This makes sense, you can definitely hear a pop/disco sensibility in some songs.

A quick plot synopsis - there is a Chess tournament at the height of the cold war. During this, the understudy of the US champion (and the daughter of a Hungarian involved in the '56 rebellion), falls in love with the Russian champion, and he with her. Of course, against the backdrop of the Cold War, even though they have an undeniable attraction, they are uncertain if they can trust each other.

As it happens, they can really only trust each other, as all around them people scheme their Cold War schemes. As musicals go, it is pretty depressing. Between this and "Les Miserables" it is amazing how much tragedy this genre squeezes into the ordinarily joyous experience of people singing.

I liked the premise of the story, but for some reason the complex themes that they try to develop never quite come together.

The music is similarly uneven. There are a few good tracks (mostly the ones sung by the female lead, Florence (played by 'original cast member' Judy Kuhn). Kuhn sings her pants off. Well - I'm not sure about that last part, since the liner notes don't have stage directions, but let's just say she can really work the pipes.

I didn't find the same thing with the rest of the cast, who paled in comparison. I mostly found myself wanting these other guys to shut up so Kuhn could belt out a few more lines.

I also had my usual reaction to musicals, wondering why everyone felt the need to sing their entire conversations. It makes for a lot of filler.

This album also is the source of the eighties hit "One Night In Bangkok", made famous by Murray Head. Trivia moment: Murray's brother, Anthony Stewart Head played Buffy the Vampire Slayer's handler, Giles, on the Josh Whedon TV show - but more about that when I roll it (consider that a teaser).

I like "One Night in Bangkok". It has a good tune and many good double entendres:

"I'd let you watch, I would invite you
But the queens we use would not excite you."

And also one of my favourite lines in music, "I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine."

A guilty pleasure is "Nobody's Side." A discoesque anthem of despair that Kuhn belts out with enthusiasm. That part is OK, but it edges close to sounding like Celine Dion. It doesn't cross that line, but it gets close enough to make me feel like I need a shower after enjoying it. Not surprisingly, this record had a high embarassment factor in the convertible the last two days.

While "Chess" was a bit of Broadway flop, (I think it only had a two month run), but received a reasonable amount of critical acclaim. I certainly wouldn't have known how to market it back then, and I don't think I can recommend it now, but it has its moments.

Best tracks: One Night In Bangkok, Nobody's Side

CD Odyssey Disc 155: Cowboy Junkies

Although I've been on a bit of a new CD purchasing rampage, the latest entry in the DVD Odyssey is one of the discs I've owned the longest.

Disc 155 is...The Caution Horses
Artist: Cowboy Junkies

Year of Release: 1990

What’s Up With The Cover?: I dunno. The band walks around the corner of some old building in the fading light. I like the light in this picture, but whenever I see a picture of an old building in beautiful light I prefer it when there aren't a bunch of people in the way of the shot. This was a problem on our recent trip to Paris and London, you can imagine - there's always someone in front a famous building.

I'm not sure why the Cowboy Junkies are all assembled in front of this building. Maybe it is famous to them. Anyway, I'll rate this cover the dreaded...OK.

How I Came To Know It: This is one of those where I went to the record store looking for a different album (In this case, "The Trinity Sessions") but it wasn't there, so I bought something else by the same artist. I recognized "Sun Comes Up, It's Tuesday Morning" which was a minor radio hit at the time, so I went for it. I'm glad I did.

How It Stacks Up: I have four Cowboy Junkies albums, including "The Trinity Sessions" (they stocked it eventually). Of the four, "The Caution Horses" is by far my favourite. I'm glad it was there that day.

Rating: 4 stars.

Little known fact I remember from a Cowboy Junkies interview back when this came out - the album's name comes from the band one day following a horse trailer. On the trailer it had that warning, "Caution: Horses". The band liked the sound of it, and they changed caution from a directive to an adjective. I don't think it is a great title, but I like knowing the story without looking anything up on wikipedia.

The record itself is an understated and moody Canadian alternative folk album. Lead singer Margot Timmins is at her most breathy and introspective. When she sings on this record it is like she's whispering her secrets into the mirror, and you're just evesdropping. For all that, her voice is beautiful and its quiet honesty draws you in.

On later records it was said that Margot "found her voice" meaning she sang out with more conviction. This is true, but later records also lost some of the raw edge in the process, and never matched what was accomplished on "The Caution Horses."

The playing is similarly understated but sincere, and I enjoyed picking out the subtle little pieces of mandolin and steel guitar punctuating many of these songs. I can see why people have mixed reaction to the steel guitar (it's usually previous exposure to New Country that makes for a bad association). That said, anyone who isn't moved by a mandolin must be missing some vital organ.

The lyrics on this record are also top notch, in particular I love the opening of my favourite song, 'Cause Cheap Is How I Feel":

"It's the kind of night that's so cold, when you spit
it freezes before it hits the ground.
And when a bum askes you for a quarter, you give a dollar
if he's out tonight he must be truly down."


That's not just cold - that's Canada cold, my friends.

"Sun Comes Up, It's Tuesday Morning" has a line that formed a piece of philosophy for me back when I was twenty - "Telephone's ringing, but I don't answer it/'cause everybody knows that good news always sleeps till noon."

I dunno if this is true, but it sure makes sense when Margot sings it.

"The Caution Horses" also features a remake of Neil Young's song "Powderfinger". For easily fifteen years, I thought this song was a Cowboy Junkies song, until I got more heavily into Neil Young and bought 1979's "Rust Never Sleeps." There it was, right alongside "Pocahontas" which I had thought since 1995 was a Crash Vegas song. Oops and more oops.

Neil Young's "Powderfinger" is a masterpiece, but I think the Cowboy Junkies' version is its equal. Which is saying something, because when it comes to Canadian alternative folk music, Neil Young is the man.

Because "The Caution Horses" is so quiet and introspective it takes a couple of listens to appreciate how truly great a record it is. Also, it doesn't really suit the car, where it fights to compete with background engine sounds and traffic. That said, I defy you to put it on headphones, listen without interrupting yourself, and not fall in love with Margot Timmins.

There's another favourite saying of mine - one I think I made up myself - or at the very least I've forgotten the origin: "True beauty steals its way into only the quietest of souls."

I'm not sure if that's true either, but listening to this album makes it easy to believe.

Best tracks: Sun Comes Up - It's Tuesday Morning, 'Cause Cheap Is How I Feel, Powderfinger, , Thirty Summers, Witches

CD Odyssey Disc 154: The Decemberists

I wasn't sure I'd get through this latest album until Monday, but had to run a quick errand in the car, and it got me through the last few tracks.

After the errand, I brought back a few reject CDs to Lyle's Place (they can't all be winners, kids) and rewarded myself with five new ones. I got one protest folk, one celtic folk, one eighties metal, one outlaw country, and one rap.

I have pretty eclectic tastes, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't get a kick out of buying a bunch of disparate music at the same time. It is fun.

Disc 154 is...The Crane Wife
Artist: The Decemberists

Year of Release: 2006

What’s Up With The Cover?: I don't know, but I like the simplicity of it. I believe it is simply a couple of Little People, maybe dressed in clothes from around the turn of the century. Maybe the woman is supposed to be the Crane Wife, but she doesn't look the part.

How I Came To Know It: As I noted when I reviewed my other Decemberists album way back at Disc 47, I discovered this record through a mixed CD made by my friends Catherine and Ross. This song was a Catherine track "Sons and Daughters" which I loved, so I went and found the record with that song. This is that record.

How It Stacks Up: I only have two Decemberists albums, but I like them both. Of the two, "The Crane Wife" is the better record.

Rating: 4 stars.

As I've noted in prior reviews, The Decemberists are an indie band, but they have a lot of folk sensibilities that appeal to me. "The Crane Wife" has a very progressive sound to it as well, and it reminds me of early Jethro Tull in places. I tagged this as "progressive" as well, in the Jethro Tull style, since it includes long songs that are really amalgamations of three or four songs spun together. Also, the time signatures jump all over the place, but manage to hold a consistent sound.

On this listen, I spent considerable time trying to figure out if this is a concept album. It definitely has a cohesive feel to it, mostly wrapped around the ancient myth of (unsurprisingly) the Crane Wife, and maybe a few other tales that take place in the same marshy wetlands where she lives.

If you don't know, the Crane Wife legend is one with many variants through cultures around the world. Basically, it is the story of a simple man who discovers a woman in the wilds, falls in love and marries her. She is actually a crane who has transformed into a person to love him. Often she lives with him for many years, but once her true nature is discovered, she returns to her crane form, and leaves him forever.

I couldn't resist looking up some more details. Sometimes she leaves when her feather cloak is discovered (proving her identity) and other times she makes beatiful weaving out of her own feathers, but by doing so falls ill. This latter version is depicted in track 9 "The Crane Wife 1 & 2". This song also features an added wrinkle, where the man finds the crane wife wounded in the wild, and takes her in (presumably she is injured as a crane, and then transforms to get his help).

Anyway, it is a pretty cool legend in my books, and the Decemberists give it a very fresh update by adding in an Americana/Civil War period sort of feel to the stories, but that still maintains the basic themes so important for the continuation of myth.

Needless to say, this album fed my English Lit geekery very effectively.

The music itself is excellent. Lead singer Colin Meloy has a very distinctive voice which I have a hard time describing. Somehow on this record he takes that detached sound common to indie music, and use it to make himself more the storyteller than the protagonist in the songs. It is like having someone sing you a really cool bedtime story.

The best tracks on the record are at the very beginning with "The Crane Wife 3" and at the end with the final three tracks, "Summersong", "The Crane Wife 1 & 2" and "Sons & Daughters", with a slight letdown in the middle in terms of quality. Still good, but not great, and so I must give this album only 4 stars, but a solid 4 nonetheless.

"Sons & Daughters" was the song that hooked me on the Decemberists (well played, Catherine), and is still great fun after many many listens. This listen I had an epiphany, and decided that the song is about the sons and daughters of the Crane Wife and the man she marries. It starts off:

"When we arrive, sons and daughters
We'll make our homes on the water
We'll build our walls of aluminum
We'll fill our mouths with cinnamon."

It makes sense to me that the children of a Crane Wife would return one day to live at the shore of a lake, on house boats or barges. Made of aluminium because (as Sheila pointed out) - it is a lightweight material if you are building on the water. Just because you are the son or daughter of a spirit creature doesn't mean you can't be practical.

Many of the middle tracks tell tales of war or crime that happen on the lake edge, with much murder and foul play on songs like "Yankee Bayonet", "The Perfect Crime" and "Shankill Butchers".

So it is lovely that after all the death inflicted by people, and the star-crossed love of the crane wife and her man, we can end with sons & daughters returning to the place to make it a home again. The final lines of the record are a fade out of:

"Hear all the bombs, they fade away" - repeated over and over. An anthem that reminds us that despite a lot of bad history, good times are gonna come again soon.

It sticks with you, and so does this record - a solid entry in the CD Odyssey.

Best tracks: The Crane Wife 3, O Valencia, Summersong, The Crane Wife 1 & 2, Sons & Daughters

CD Odyssey Disc 153: Pearl Jam

From a debut album that wasn't ultimately that strong to one that was one of the great records of all time.

Disc 153 is...Ten

Artist: Pearl Jam

Year of Release: 1991

What’s Up With The Cover?: I've often asked this question with "Ten". Basically, the band reaches up to clasp hands, but all we see is their hands and the tops of their heads. I never really liked this album cover, although it does speak to the visceral energy of the music, so I guess it is fitting. Also, if you fold it out, you can see the whole picture, which is a bit better, and if I was a teenage boy, would've made a pretty good wall poster.

How I Came To Know It: Yet another album my friend Greg introduced me to when we lived together in the early nineties. This one was always a cease fire during the folk/grunge wars, because I really liked it, and was never unhappy to hear it.

How It Stacks Up: I have ten Pearl Jam albums. "Ten" has the biggest reputation of all of them, and that reputation is well deserved. I'd say it is tied for first, or maybe a close second, depending on my mood. If you've been following along, you know that back at Disc 46 I said "Vs" was second best, or tied for second" - which can only mean if "Ten" is tied for second, it is tied with "Vs." If "Ten" is best, with what album is it tied. Well...

Wait a minute - you're trying to trick me, like Sgt. Schultz on Hogan's Heroes! Well, the answer is "I know nothing" - you'll just have to wait until I roll it to know what album I put above or on par with "Ten".

Rating: 5 stars.

"Ten" is an interesting name for an album with eleven songs. Why not call it "Eleven" at that point? In terms of greatness it certainly goes to eleven. In terms of energy level it goes to eleven, and it unquestionably goes to eleven in terms of reputation.

"Ten" is often put in the backseat when discussing the great albums of this period behind Nirvana's "Nevermind". While I do love "Nevermind", I believe "Ten" is marginally the better album. Yes - that is saying a lot, but this record delivers a lot.

In terms of a side A, I'm not sure there is anything stronger. The opening track "Once" starts with a brief stint of mood music, but quickly launches into driving melodic guitar, and Vedder's soaring vibrato vocals. These are sounds we take for granted from Pearl Jam, but I'll put on my old guy hat and say that it was a revelation back in 1991 when you first heard it.

From here, we launch into the smash it "Even Flow" then the smash hit "Alive", then "Why Go", "Black" and ending up with a third massive hit "Jeremy".

Unlike a lot of albums that seize the public's attention, the hits on "Ten" are actually deserving of being hits. "Jeremy" is actually my least favourite of all of them, mostly because it has been so overplayed over the years. Despite this, it came up twice as I was driving around, and I couldn't skip it either time - even on the second listen when it would have been a legal CD Odyssey play.

As for "Alive" it is simply one of the most important songs in my life - an anthem, a defiant cry against anything bad that has ever happened, or that ever might in my life. An existential cry of freedom that energizes me today as much as it ever did when I was twenty one, and first heard it.

When I hear Eddie crying out "I'm still alive" I join in. When I haven't heard him cry it out in a while, the song will just come to mind when I need it, and I'll sing it to myself. Other than Rush's "Freewill", I can't think of a song that energizes or empowers me more.

On top of inspired lyrics and vocals, "Alive" has one of the great song ending guitar solos I've ever heard. In fact, all the guitar work on "Ten" is top notch, and when the guitar takes off, lead axe man Mike McCready never lets the solo get away from the tune - a common sin of many mediocre rock bands.

The lyrics on these songs, and the others perfectly match the energy of the music, and I always find "Black" particularly emotionally resonant, but I won't share any because they just don't have their same energy without the music.

This as much as anything is testament to Pearl Jam's power as a band - they are each great musicians in their own right, but they are something greater than their component parts when they come together.

"Ten" is an album of boundless energy, but it never lets that energy carry itself away or muddy its sound. It never seems screechy, or just loud for loud's sake. It is a controlled fury throughout, always on the edge of losing it, never doing so.

My friend Kelly remarked recently that it must be hard to have your first album be your greatest. Pearl Jam certainly set the bar high, but in the years to follow they wisely didn't let this record fossilize their sound. They consistently went in new directions with their music and at least once, they reached the same level of excellence. There is a reason they've gone from someone else's band, that I just happened to like, to one of my favourite bands of all time.

For now, I'll cease waxing poetic and just sign off by saying. "Ten"- still going to eleven two decades later.

Best tracks: Pretty much every song on here is awesome, except maybe "Release" which ends with some excessive stoner noodling that would put Greg Keilor of Blue Rodeo to shame.

Of the remaining kick ass ten tracks, I'll take Even Flow, Alive, Black, and Garden

CD Odyssey Disc 152: Alice Cooper

When you have 25 studio albums of one artist, not everything is going to be strong. It is just the reality. Herewith is the proof that even the mightiest have their humble beginnings.

Disc 152 is...Pretties For You
Artist: Alice Cooper

Year of Release: 1969

What’s Up With The Cover?: An interesting piece of modern art which I couldn't resist looking up. It was painted by a guy named Ed Beardsley, and the original used to grace the wall at Frank Zappa's house. It depicts a middle aged man with a beer, looking sidelong at a woman in a short dress who is lifting up her hem to show him her panties. It is a pretty disturbing little bit of art, and a good initial entry for Alice Cooper album covers.

How I Came To Know It: A couple of years back I thought that I had finished my Alice Cooper collection, but when I went to check on line, I found that there were two very early albums, "Pretties For You" and "Easy Action" both of which came out before the band hit big with "Love It To Death" in 1971. I quickly went looking for them both, and coincidentally they had just been reissued on CD. It was very easy to find as a result, and I picked them both up at Lyle's that weekend.

How It Stacks Up: I have all 25 of Alice Cooper's studio albums. "Pretties For You" is a weak entry, which is strange, given that it is their first record. However, I would put this closer to the bottom. Maybe around 20th to 22nd.

Rating: 2 stars.

"Pretties For You" is more interesting for its historical significance to Alice Cooper's work than it is as an album on its own.

It is very different from most Alice Cooper work. It actually sounds very much like what it is; a young band still trying to find their own voice, and learn their craft.

The sound is so different from what I've come to expect from Alice Cooper that it was very jarring the first time I heard it. If anything, it sounds like a combination of Cream, the Beatles, and very early Pink Floyd. Like "Sargeant Pepper" merged with "Piper at the Gates of Dawn."

On top of this, Alice Cooper has added some unique elements of their own. In particular, the beginnings of the innovative hard rock guitar that would be perfected on "Love It To Death." However, the groove is incomplete, and simply not as good.

It is also an album buried under some awful production. Back when I was seeking out more information about this album before I bought it, I remember reading one review that referred to the record as "sounding like it was recorded in an empty garbage bin". It definitely has that tinny quality, and needs much more bass in the mix.

The genius of what would come later does shine through these challenges in a few places. I particularly liked "Fields of Regret" which I would love to hear recorded again with some better production.

Also very cool is "Reflected" which is an earlier version of what would eventually be recorded as "Elected" on "Billion Dollar Babies" a few years later.

The tune is largely the same, but the subject matter completely different. Imagine the following lines, to the tune of "Elected":

"Look upstanding with your head held high
You will be reflected
You look outstanding with your eyes in disguise
Just beyond Damascus"

Unlike the pretty clear theme in "Elected", I am still not sure what "Reflected" is entirely about, but I like it, and it is fun to hear a song basically redone with different lyrics and arrangement. Although technically "Elected" was the song that was redone, as it came later (but to much greater acclaim).

I actually have the reverse experience with Blue Oyster Cult - where I have two songs with the same lyrics, but totally different music. But I'll talk about that when I roll it - if I ever roll any Blue Oyster Cult.

"Pretties For You" is not the best Alice Cooper album, but if you are a devotee of his music like I am, it is very interesting to see the origins of the band's sound.

Best tracks: Fields of Regret, Reflected.

CD Odyssey Disc 151: Soundtrack

The latest disc in the Odyssey is actually one I've been specifically dreading since I began this project. Only Sheila's Barry Manilow compilation frightens me more.

Disc 151 is...Moulin Rouge Soundtrack
Artist: Various

Year of Release: 2001

What’s Up With The Cover?: It is the movie poster - designed no doubt to have a 'bohemian' feel I guess as covers go, it is alright, and even a bit stylish.

How I Came To Know It: Sheila saw the movie and really liked it. She bought the soundtrack as a result.

How It Stacks Up: I can never keep track of how many soundtracks I have. Let's say 23. In this case, I definitely liked the movie more than the soundtrack, and I didn't like the movie all that much. Of the 23 soundtracks, I'd put this one at 21 or 22. Yes - there is at least one (and probably two) worse. Let's not talk about those until we absolutely have to.

Rating: 1 stars.

Baz Lurhmann's "Moulin Rouge" is the "Gone With The Wind" of our generation. By this I mean it is over-rated, enjoyed almost exclusively by women, but is nevertheless inflicted on men the world over. In fairness, you do get to see Nicole Kidman dance around in naughty lingerie, which is more than you can say for anything in "Gone With the Wind".

Lest this seem terribly unfair to you, I would remind you that we inflict "Glengarry, Glenross" on our girlfriends without a second thought. Turnaround is fair play.

That might be fair, but having to listen to this soundtrack with my top down was grossly unfair. At one point I was in the car, decked out in my Blue Oyster Cult band shirt, and caught in a McDonald's lineup meekly listening to "Lady Marmalade" for all to see.

This was not the CD Odyssey's proudest moment.

On to the music, which is a handy representation of some of the biggest problems in modern pop. It isn't that these songs are bad - it is that they are derivative.

I am reading a book right now called "You Are Not a Gadget" which actually points out how our approach to internet culture actively encourages mash ups and derivations of other people's unique art. "Moulin Rouge" certainly seems to be an early harbinger of this trend.

"The Elephant Love Medley" is just a mix of about a dozen previously written love songs, mashed together to form some sort of a "love me/don't love me" duet. It is a fun and entertaining scene in the movie, and it even sounds good until you remember the reason it sounds good is the quality of the original songs. In fact, they are better left well enough alone. It is clever, but I'm not sure clever is enough here.

The songs that sound good, are generally passable remakes that don't offer a lot new. Of note is "Your Song" sung competently by Ewan McGregor. It is a great performance if you are rating him as "actor attempting singing" but if you actually hold him up against Elton John's original, it comes off as merely OK.

"Lady Marmalade" is better, as Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya and Pink are all, you know, singers. If I loved AM radio, I'd be really excited to hear them sing their little hearts out. Instead, this song is best avoided unless you are enjoying the video with the sound turned off.

Of all the songs, I was pleasantly surprised that the best was Beck doing a remake of David Bowie's "Diamond Dogs". Beck's futuristic detached sound matched the Bowie song well, and gave it an interesting update.

Another more pleasant note belongs to Nicole Kidman, who has a suprisingly rich tone for another actor turned singer. Also, the liner notes include a picture of her from that "Sparkling Diamonds" mash up early in the movie. The song is another abomination of pop culture devouring itself, but the outfit is...um...inspiring, even if the song is not.

Overall, this album is an average pop album, and I could almost forgive its other transgressions and give it two stars until I got to the end, and had to endure David Bowie teaming up with Massive Attack for the movie's theme "Nature Boy". This song is a cringeworthy bucket of bathos at track 1, and adding the mind-numbing technobeats of Massive Attack's not-so-massive attack does not help it along at track 15. The more I hear those guys, the less I like them.

I guess I'm just not feel terribly charitable, so this album is getting 1 star from me, but I'll freely admit it deserves two if you are being fair. Then again, was it fair that I got marmaladed in the Macdonald's drive through? Was it fair to Massively Attack me right at the end of the album?

But, sometimes life's not fair, Baz Luhrmann. This would be one of those times.

Best tracks: Beck's "Diamond Dogs".

CD Odyssey Disc 150: Beck

It would seem I have a lot of music that is hard to categorize. Categories are so limiting anyway - I'm reading a book partly about this right now!

It has been suggested that I add "alternative" as a category. I'm tempted, but I am resisting it because I think alternative is always either pop or rock at some level. It is also an overused term in music reviews, and I refuse to succumb!

OK, I've eased along this review enough, methinks.

Disc 150 is...The Information
Artist: Beck

Year of Release: 2006

What’s Up With The Cover?: Now there's a question. For this album, Beck just put it out with blank graph-paper both on the front and inside sleeve. The album comes with a bunch of stickers that you can put on yourself, thus letting you do your own album art. This is very cool.

I haven't actually decorated this record yet but don't misunderstand my motives - I'm not saving this for collection purposes. I'm a firm believer that life is to be lived outside the package. It is just that the various graphics that the CD provides aren't very inspiring to either myself or Sheila. Here's a picture of all of them:
Maybe I'll go buy my own stickers and use those instead. I think Beck would actually like that.

How I Came To Know It: I have been listening to Beck ever since Greg brought home "Mellow Gold" when "I'm a Loser" was a hit back in 1993. "The Information" is just us buying up all his records. I bought this one when it came out.

How It Stacks Up: We have eight Beck albums, which are all of them, unless he just put something out. Of the eight, "The Information" is not one of my favourites. I'd put it 6th or 7th.

Rating: 2 stars.

Beck defies description quite often, and his albums are often very different from one another. "The Information" is a blend of groovy back beats coupled with his sort of monotone rap-style that he's been doing since he got started.

"The Information" begins well and the first four songs, ("Elevator Music", "Think I'm In Love", "Cellphone's Dead" and "Strange Apparition") are all pretty strong. I thought I was heading for a solid three star review. I particularly like the piano tinkling in "Strange Apparition."

I believe Beck is at his best when he puts together a song in a fairly traditional manner, and then spices it up with a bit of strange electronica. In this way, he is like the recently reviewed Tom Waits; turning a strong pop song into something unique with some brave and inspired production.

Sadly, the strength at the front end of the record doesn't hold up throughout, and a lot of what follows is largely forgettable. Part of this is that the songs aren't consistently strong, and so all you're left with are the odd electronic sounds.

At other times, Beck overdoes the expirementation. I find the electronic noises he samples from everyday life particularly annoying. This is why his critically favoured album, "Odelay" tends to annoy me as well. "The Information" tends to go down the same road in places. Not quite as bad as the pervasive modem connection sounds in "Odelay" but still clearly noises that aren't intended to be musical.

I admire Beck for trying to make them musical, but it can feel like he's trying to push a square peg through a round hole. This is a fun activity when you're young, and they foolishly leave you with that shape-toy unsupervised. Trust me - that square peg will fit if you work at it!

It just doesn't fit quite so well with the music on this record. On the strength of "side A" this record gets 2 stars, and almost claimed 3, but right at the end he added this long, rambling 10 minute plus track of weirdness, titled "The Horrible Fanfare/Landslide/Exoskeleton" (yes that's one song). That put it just south of three. Know when to say when, Beck.

Best tracks: Think I'm In Love, Cellphone's Dead, Strange Apparition.

CD Odyssey Disc 149: Tom Waits

It is an odd pattern that is developing within the chaos. I roll an artist, then I roll something different, and then on the third roll I return to the artist I just reviewed one disc ago. Loreena McKennitt, then Mark Knopfler, now...Tom Waits. At least this time it is one of his better albums.

Disc 149 is...Swordfishtrombones
Artist: Tom Waits

Year of Release: 1983

What’s Up With The Cover?: I have no frickin' idea. There's a tuba, and I think the guy on the right is Tom Waits - that's as far as I'm going to comment.

How I Came To Know It: Just another great Tom Waits album. We came to this one pretty soon after we were introduced to "Frank's Wild Years" by Casey. I think Sheila bought it, so she gets the credit for this one.

How It Stacks Up: In the past two days I haven't found any new Tom Waits albums, so I still have eighteen. Yeah - I like him, and so does Sheila and the combination keeps the house well stocked with his songs. I like this album in particular, I'd say it is top 5, probably 3rd or 4th depending on my mood.

Rating: 4 stars.

"Swordfishtrombones" came out in 1983, making it the beginning of what I would call his "circus" period. Around this time, Waits leaves behind his bluesy lounge singer sound and begins incorporating all manner of bizarre big-top sounds. In particular, very creative percussion, including cow bell and what sounds like a stick hitting a mason jar. He also adds in a lot of organ, played in minor keys.

The whole thing makes one think of Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes" - it is an eldritch and disconcerting circus.

Even though the sound of "Swordfishtrombones" is so different from Waits' seventies music, it is equally difficult to categorize. Previous reviews I've tried "blues/folk" and "jazz/easy listening" so this time I'll go "folk/jazz". As ever, he defies description.

This album has fifteen tracks which is one past my maximum usually, but since so many of the songs are under 2:30, the album doesn't result in being overlong. If anything, I wanted to hear more.

Waits' talent for storytelling doesn't diminish simply because of the new arrangements, and some of his best lyrics can be found here.

On "Shore Leave" he captures the emotional quality of a sailor on leave in a foreign port:

"In a Hong Kong drizzle on Cuban heels
I rowed down the gutter to the Blood Bank
and I'd left all my papers on the Ticonderoga
And I was in bad need of a shave
And so I slopped at the corner on cold chow mein
And shot billiards with a midget
Until the rain stopped"

If this doesn't capture that strange quality of being far from home (and likely drunk) I don't know what does.

I could quote a half dozen verses just as good, and often Waits evokes more with a single line than many manage in a whole song. From "16 Shells From a 30-06":

"I'm gonna whittle you into kindlin'"

or where he characterizes a dangerous lifestyle by singing:

"I pulled on trouble's braids"

I guess to a lesser degree, we've all pulled on trouble's braids, but Tom Waits' raspy voice makes you really feel something bad (and a little queer) is gonna come of it. Someone's gettin' whittled into kindling.

The instrumentation I noted earlier just sets the tone for each song that much more deeply. These songs would be strong under more traditional circumstances, but with this new approach, Waits has found the perfect musical style to match his weird way of describing the world. If you like Tom Waits, "Swordfishtrombones" is a must-have.

Best tracks: Underground, Shore Leave, 16 Shells From a Thirty-Ought Six, In the Neighbourhood, Frank's Wild Years, Down Down Down, Trouble's Braids.

CD Odyssey Disc 148: Captain Tractor

Closing in on 150 discs, but not there yet. The next disc brings back a lot of great memories.

Disc 148 is...East of Edson
Artist: Captain Tractor

Year of Release: 1995

What’s Up With The Cover?: A shot out the dashboard of a car. It looks like a road trip is underway, with a map out, a road sign to consult and a funky dashboard decoration - in this case a tall ship model.

How I Came To Know It: I saw a video on MuchMusic for the song "The Last Saskatchewan Pirate" and had to hear more from this band.

How It Stacks Up: I have three Captain Tractor albums, but this is best one.

Rating: 4 stars.

This album really represents time in my life. Although this came out in 1995, I don't think I bought it until 1996. Sheila and I were just living together, and we both loved this record. We played the crap out of it.

I remember at the time we were obsessed with playing Magic: The Gathering as well (geeky, but true). I'm sure more than a few rounds of Magic had Captain Tractor as their sonic backdrop.

Captain Tractor is a mixture of rock and folk, and maybe the tiniest dash of punk. Each element has a distinctly Canadian feel to it, which admittedly pleases me.

They actually remind me a bit of a band I was recently introduced to, Gogol Bordello - except that Gogol Bordello is a mix of rock and gypsy music, and has a slightly larger amount of punk (let's call it a dollop). I am really digging Gogol Bordello, but I'll talk more about them when I roll them - For now, a big shout out to Joel and Sherylyn for introducing me to them.

Anyway - back to "The Captain" as they call themselves colloquially. These guys are a fun band.

The album starts out with a rock-centric song about walking home drunk after accidentally spending your cab fare on drinks. The song is called "Up The Hill" and will call to any listener's mind whichever hill was most 'salient' on their own stagger-route home.

It then launches into a ferocious version of the old folk standard, "Drunken Sailor" that really puts the teeth back in a song that is probably a few hundred years old at this point. Other re-imaginings on the record include "Lord of the Dance" (with added riff from Slade's "Run Runaway" played on accordion) and the Clash's "London Calling", complete with furious harmonica and mandolin riffs. They know how to take a song and give it a proper reboot.

The best remake on this album is so good that many believe it is The Captain's song to begin with - that being "The Last Saskatchewan Pirate". This is a whimsical song about a Saskatchewan farmer who loses his living and turns to being a pirate on the Saskatchewan river. As he puts it:

"Then I thought who gives a damn
If all the jobs are gone
I'm gonna be a pirate
On the river Saskatchewan.

"And it's a heave ho, hi ho
Coming down the plains
Stealin wheat and barley
And all the other grains
And it's a ho hey, hi hey
Farmers bar your doors
When you see the Jolly Roger
On Regina's briny shores."

It gets funnier from there - including stealing fertilizer, setting up ambushes outside the co-op and advertising one of the best features of being a prairie pirate as not having to pay either income tax or GST.

The original version of this song is by another Canadian band, "The Arrogant Worms". The Worms have their moments to be sure, but their version of this song can't hold a candle to the Captain.

"East of Edson" has plenty of original whimsy as well, including a song about a filthy apartment called "Lonely Inanimate" which Sheila and I also used to associate with (this was in the dark time before we owned a dishwasher). Sheila still sings along every time to the second half of "The piles of pizza boxes keep the roof from falling in/and make a home for dust bunnies" (In fact, she did so as I was writing this review when the song came on).

This album never gets as serious in subject matter as "Bought The Farm" (which I reviewed way back at Disc 59), but when it does choose to do so, such as with "West Coast Rain" they can still deliver.

Fifteen years after I first heard this record, I still found it fresh and engaging. It is a strong musically, it provides a fresh take on the Canadian music scene and if you are ever watching an Edmonton Oilers game, if you listen you'll hear a couple of Captain Tractor songs getting airplay before the faceoff.

Captain Tractor will still get a play from me for many years as well. Just not at a hockey game - I'm a Bruins fan, and we play the Dropkick Murphys.

Best tracks: Up The Hill, Free Yo'Self, The Last Saskatchewan Pirate, Lord of the Dance, Talk, Lonely Inanimate, Jesus and the Thieves

CD Odyssey Disc 147: Tom Waits

Hello, gentle readers! It has been a few days - the result of a combination of Canada Day holidays and a CD that was a very long listen.

Disc 147 is...Nighthawks at the Diner
Artist: Tom Waits

Year of Release: 1975

What’s Up With The Cover?: Tom Waits - in the role of a 'nighthawk' is captured through the window of a diner. Hence he is a nighthawk...at the diner. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, my friends.

How I Came To Know It: Sheila and I are big fans of Tom Waits, and this is just us drilling through the catalogue.

How It Stacks Up: We have 18 Tom Waits' albums. I'm going to have to put this record...last. Sad, but true. Someone has to be last.

Rating: 2 stars.

"Nighthawks at the Diner" is the third Tom Waits album I have chronologically, but I came to it somewhere in the middle. It is very much in his early, 'lounge/storyteller' phase. That said, it is not anywhere near the level of the two earlier records, "Closing Time" and "The Heart of Saturday Night" which are two of my favourites.

This is also the period I can never categorize. I think on earlier reviews I've called it folk, even blues, and this time I went with jazz and easy listening. He is just hard to pin down.

"Nighthawks at the Diner" is also a live record, but unlike many live albums, it is not just a concert where Waits rehashes songs from previous work. It is all original material - he has just chosen to record it live in a lounge.

Knowing this certainly makes his ability that much more impressive. A lot of these songs are rambling affairs anywhere from four minutes all the way up to over eleven minutes. Waits never stumbles throughout, and the record includes all of his banter between tracks.

Banter can be annoying, but Tom Waits is a master of it, and even though I've heard all these jokes on earlier listens, I still had a few chuckles. I particularly like his little story about taking himself out for a date - describing the dinner, the conversation, taking himself home and even taking advantage of himself - or as he puts it "doing the scene/with a magazine".

This funny little bit of whimsy is followed by my favourite track on the album, "Better Off Without A Wife", a bittersweet expression of the joys of being a bachelor. As usual, Waits' lyrics feel like they were written a few decades earlier than they actually were:

"I like to sleep until the crack of noon
Midnight howlin' at the moon
Goin' out when I want to, comin' home when I please
I don't have to ask permission
If I want to go out fishin'
And I never have to ask for the keys"

Waits' gravelly voice is excellent throughout, and the musicians he's chosen are all talented on their instruments. With all that, this record just seems to drag on. As I noted above, I enjoy Waits' rambling style, but halfway through this record I had already had too much of it. There are eighteen tracks, including all the spoken bits. If I had been live at the concert, I would've felt like I got my money's worth, but in CD format it is too much blah blah blah and not enough music.

The music that is there may be competently played, but it is mostly just idle tinkling of piano keys and the occasional shot of jazz saxophone, played over a rambling story. The record is in bad need of both a producer and an editor. Even if it had these things, Waits' usual talent for making greasy spoons, and late night gin joints fascinating in their ordinariness here often just comes off feeling pedestrian.

"Nighthawks at the Diner" is an ambitious way to approach a record, but the songs don't hold up well enough to justify the approach. It is his charm alone that keeps the record floating, and not even he is fascinating enough to get the whole project beyond average.

Best tracks: Better Off Without A Wife