CD Odyssey Disc 646: Various Artists

I’ve bought a lot of music lately (more than usual) and along the way discovered a few new (to me) bands I highly recommend. This week’s love affair is with Imelda May, an Irish rockabilly artist who is as talented as she is beautiful. I’ve been listening to her 2010 “Mayhem” album every day this week – often twice a day.

That’s this week’s recommendation, although not this week’s review. The review, as ever, was determined randomly because damn it that’s just more fun.

Disc 646 is….Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons

Artist: Various

Year of Release: 1999

What’s up with the Cover? It’s Gram Parson’s suit or at least an artistic rendition of it. Gram used to wear a white rockabilly suit that looked like this.

Here is Gram in happier times wearing the jacket the cover is based on. Way to rock the ladies on your lapels, Gram. Where the hell is that detail on the cover?

How I Came To Know It: I was looking for some Gram Parsons one day and the record store dudes cleverly had this stored in his section. When I saw that not only was Parsons stalwart Emmylou Harris featured, but also Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams and a whole bunch of my other favourite artists, I bought it without hesitation.

How It Stacks Up:  While it isn’t exactly a best of, as a collection of covers it can’t really stack up against Gram Parsons doing his own stuff.

Rating:  This is also a bit of a gray area. It isn’t a ‘best of’ per se, so I’ve decided to go ahead and give it a grade. That grade is…3 stars, but almost 4

Every now and then a rare artist comes along who just has a knack for writing great songs. Gram Parsons was one of those, and his untimely death in 1973 denied us of his talent all too early. Fortunately he wrote a bunch of tracks before he was gone, and on “Return of the Grievous Angel” a bunch of fairly well known artists pay tribute to him.

If you are going to do a tribute record of a songwriter of Gram Parson’s stature you better get artists with sufficient presence and ability to do his memory proud. “Return” has a pretty impressive lineup that includes the Cowboy Junkies, Beck, Steve Earle, Sheryl Crow, Elvis Costello, Lucinda Williams, Wilco and of course Parson collaborator and confidante Emmylou Harris.

Their work – and that of the other artists on the album – is strong, and while I don’t really care for the Cowboy Junkies treatment of “Ooh Las Vegas” it was at least the most innovative. I similarly didn’t like Elvis Costello trying to add his jazzy flavour to “Sleepless Nights.” Costello sings it as earnestly as he can and you can tell the love is there, but he’s just not suited for this kind of music, despite how much he wants to be.

For the most part, the artists do Parsons ‘straight up’ with very similar arrangements and treatments as he originally used. They are all very good (it is hard to screw up a Gram Parsons song) but in some places I found myself preferring the original. In the case of Beck and Emmylou’s duet on “Sin City” not only prefer the original Flying Burrito Brothers version, but the Emmylou solo version from 1975’s “Elite Hotel” as well.

There are more than a few standouts. Emmylou gets Gram Parsons like few do, and her gentle treatment of “She” alongside Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders is a great way to start the record. On “Juanita” her background vocals elevate Sheryl Crow beautifully as well and make a song I often gloss over in Parson’s collection standout even more.

Evan Dando and Julianna Hatfield do a great version of “$1,000 Wedding” which has some pretty guitar work, and although I’ve not always been a Whiskeytown fan, their version of “A Song For You” has the perfect mix of desperation and energy the song calls for.

I would have preferred Steve Earle sing “High Fashion Queen” solo, as Chris Hillman’s voice is just too forgettable taking alternating verses. Fortunately David Crosby wisely takes a back seat on his duet of “Return of the Grievous Angel” with Lucinda Williams. Williams is just as much a tortured genius as Parsons and her angst and sandpapery voice add a whole new level to the song.

I would have liked the album to end with Gillian Welch’s treatment of “Hickory Wind” which has a threadbare arrangement that lets her pure bluegrass vocals cut through like the warm summer wind she sings about. I couldn’t imagine a better end.

That is, until we hear the Rolling Creekdippers sing “In My Hour of Darkness.” This song closes a Gram Parson’s collection as fittingly as Tennyson compilations always end with “Crossing the Bar.” In “Crossing the Bar” the poet imagines a heavenly journey ahead, whereas Parsons’ lyrics see only the darkness and unknown. It is the right way to end a tribute album for someone who left us too soon.

“In My Hour of Darkness” is a song about loss on a record that not only makes you contemplate the great artistic loss of Gram parsons, but also those who are gone from our own lives. It is gracefully delivered and deeply affecting but as I sat listening to the Rolling Creekdippers sing it, there was a small part of me that couldn’t help but want to hear Gram’s voice instead. For that reason, I’ll hold this review to three stars by the narrowest of margins.

Best tracks:   She, $1000 Wedding, Juanita, Return of the Grievous Angel, A Song For You, Hickory Wind, In My Hour of Darkness

CD Odyssey Disc 645: Emily Haines

I’m just back from the gym and feeling good about myself (a workout will do that) and feeling positive about life in general. I warn you, however, that this positivity will not find its way into the following album review.

Disc 645 is….Knives Don’t Have Your Back

Artist: Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton

Year of Release: 2006

What’s up with the Cover? Not much. Black print on a copper background. I kind of like the simplicity of it.

How I Came To Know It: I was trying to find something musically interesting to buy Sheila for either a Christmas or birthday present. This album had just come out, and I knew that Sheila really liked Metric, so I took a chance it would be good.

How It Stacks Up:  I only have this one solo album by Emily Haines, but I prefer her work in Metric.

Rating:  2 stars

For those who don’t know, Emily Haines is the lead singer and best known person in the Canadian band Metric. I don’t know who the Soft Skeleton is but according to the liner notes they are a few of Haines’ favourite musicians. They needed a firmer backbone to stand up to some of the poor decisions made on this record.

As a general rule if I like a group, I’ll give individual band members a chance on their solo work. While there is no exact formula, I find that vocalists out on their own tend to focus on sparse arrangements and lyrics. Since I like both, it is usually a good bet, and maybe because of that expectation I found “Knives Don’t Have Your Back” underwhelming.

Haines has a pretty voice, which can feel conspiratorial and waifish in just the right way – like she’s whispering her secrets to you in a dark room. It is used to good effect in her band Metric, but on “Knives…” it feels like she is missing the counterbalance the band provides to weight to her songs.

In Haines’ defence, it is clear from the outset that a quiet, muted record is what she was going for. There is nothing wrong with that, but the songs on “Knives…” don’t hold up under this treatment. They are meant to be atmospheric, but for the most part I found they felt more like they weren’t going anywhere. It is like Enya’s early work, but missing the gentle roll of the Celtic rhythm and the vocal power.

The worst part is the piano, which dominates the album (many songs are almost exclusively piano). It is played in a thudding style. I read on Wikipedia (which is never wrong) that Haines was trying to recreate the experience she had as a girl of quietly playing on her family piano. Unfortunately she’s done too good a job of it. The piano just needs to do more to hold your attention. She pushes the sound at the expense of the songs, and where these tracks could be haunting they instead tend to come off as plodding and lacking direction.

I’ve never been a big fan of Metric’s lyrics, but on her own Haines does a slightly better job and some of these songs have strong messages that are delivered subtly. While they don’t build tight storylines, that isn’t how these songs work, and the snippets of images stitch together to make interesting mood pieces. Lines like “There are so many skirts under the table/None of these long legs are mine” (from “Detective Daughter”) are both sexy and openly awkward, not unlike Haines herself. In other places Haines goes to great pains to remind us she is not a sex symbol (even though in the indie world she is – beauty can be a burden as much as homeliness).

One side note on the packaging: there is an excessive and pretentious review on the back cover by someone named Robert Wyatt (who is apparently a famous English musician according to The Google – who knew). The write up tries way too hard, and feels like one of those hokey sell jobs you used to get on the cover of sixties records, minus the charm. It is always better to let your music speak for itself.

And on that note, I will say that as I wrote this review I gave this album another good listen, and it sounded a lot better. It has its moments, but it just doesn’t consistently grab me. And so with Sheila's blessing, I’m going to let it go to a home that will appreciate it more than I do.

Best tracks:   Crowd Surf Off a Cliff, Detective Daughter

CD Odyssey Disc 644: Frank Zappa

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CD Odyssey Disc 643: Amy Winehouse

My work and life schedule has prevented me getting this review written for three straight days, but I haven’t gotten tired of this next album. That’s a good sign.

Disc 643 is….Back to Black

Artist: Amy Winehouse

Year of Release: 2006

What’s up with the Cover? I love this picture. Amy Winehouse is sitting on a chair looking soulful and bit gawky, with her limbs and hair all over the place entreating you to listen to her music. Don’t mind if I do.

How I Came To Know It: This is one of Sheila’s records. I don’t know how she came to know Amy Winehouse, but I know her because Sheila bought the CD.

How It Stacks Up:  Not counting her posthumous 2011 release (I hate those) Amy Winehouse only ever made two studio albums. We have both of them, and it is hard to choose between them. I guess I’ll give “Back to Black” the slight edge, making it number one.

Rating:  4 stars

The most tragic part of “Back to Black” is knowing that it would be the last album Amy Winehouse would live to see released. Despite the grim truths in these songs, and the tortured characters they portray, they are so defiant and powerful it is hard to imagine anything ever laying Amy low. We knew it was great when we heard it, we just didn’t know it was also tragic.

Her previous album, “Frank” is hard hitting in places, but it is also a bit more loungy, and relaxed. On “Back to Black” Winehouse infuses more soul and R&B into her songs. She also writes them all (half solo, and half as collaborations) and for that alone I admire this record more than her debut.

The star of this album is obviously Amy’s powerhouse voice. The backing musicians are good, but they know well enough to take a backseat to Ms. Winehouse’s vocal brilliance.

Winehouse has a relaxed delivery that plays dangerously close to sloppy but never crosses the line. The result is a style that is all her own; low and almost drawling, her voice climbs over the wreckage of a series of breakup and makeup songs like a firefighter looking for survivors in a collapsed building. How she makes it strangely beautiful is hard to fathom until you hear her do it.

Calling Winehouse’s voice sexy isn’t quite accurate, because sexy implies an element of coquettishness, and there is none of that here; Winehouse is all raunch. Her low register artfully sways and staggers its path through each song with a throaty, dirty abandon. I’d say she sings with the freedom of someone alone the bathroom, except it is abundantly clear that Amy wants you to watch.

The tortured nature of the songs don’t shy away from her problems, but instead lay them bare for us all to see. The record would almost feel like a concept record about a collapsing life, until you realize she’s just singing what she knows.

Love is a key theme, but on “Back to Black” it is just as likely to be a weapon, wielded against your lover or even yourself. “Love Is A Losing Game” imagines love through a series of gambling metaphors - a bad hand, futile odds and ultimately a joke of the gods. It is tough stuff to hear, but so damned compelling you can’t turn it off

My favourite song lyrically is “You Know I’m No Good” which is ostensibly about a woman who just can’t help cheating on her man, but at a deeper level is just the final throes of a relationship in collapse – consider the last ditch effort to make things right in the final stanza:

“Sweet reunion, Jamaica and Spain

We’re like how we were again,

I’m in the tub, you on the seat,

Lick your lips as I soap my feet.

Then you notice likkle carpet burn,

My stomach drop and my guts churn,

You shrug and it’s the worst

Who truly stuck the knife in first.”

Bad enough the casual disinterest that is expressed by one partner going to the can while his partner naked in the tub (I told you she wasn’t alone in the bathroom), but then the latest evidence of cheating is discovered and the reaction is nothing more than a shrug.

The album’s most famous track – and the anthem that Winehouse would become known for – is “Rehab” a defiant song rejecting any intervention into her bad lifestyle. We all had a good laugh at that one back in 2006, but it isn’t so funny now.

“Rehab” is still a great song, but now it always reminds me of a Lucinda Williams 2008 song “Little Rock Star.” Williams has posthumously dedicated “Little Rock Star” to Winehouse in concerts and despite this video dedication to Kurt Cobain, it is hard to imagine it is about anyone other than Amy Winehouse when I hear it. Give it a listen, but ignore the pictures – just close your eyes and think of Amy.

“Back to Black” is an exceptional record; a moment in time captured forever at its most tragic and beautiful, from an exceptional artist who was taken away from us too soon. It is reminder of what a God damned shame it is to have lost her.

Best tracks:   Rehab, You Know I’m No Good, Back to Black, Love is a Losing Game, Tears Dry on Their Own, Some Unholy War  

CD Odyssey Disc 642: Paul Simon

I’m on a bit of a cold streak, ratings-wise on the CD Odyssey. This next entry marks the third straight two star review.

Disc 642 is….So Beautiful or So What

Artist: Paul Simon

Year of Release: 2011

What’s up with the Cover? This is a picture by Sven Geier called “DNA Mutation” which is as descriptive a title as any. It goes well with the album’s title as well as the themes of many of the songs, which delve into the mysteries of life and afterlife. Either that or Paul Simon really likes the X-Men. I’m more of an Avengers guy myself.

How I Came To Know It: Sheila bought this for me back when it came out. It received good critical reviews at the time. Certainly better that I'm about to give it.

How It Stacks Up:  My Paul Simon collection is woefully inadequate, consisting of a Greatest Hits album, Graceland and two of his more recent records, including this one. Of those three studio albums, I’d put this one third.

Rating:  2 stars, but almost 3

Paul Simon has never forgotten the lessons he learned about rhythm when he made "Graceland". “So Beautiful or So What” shows him continuing to make interesting musical choices. While the results are hit and miss, I admire him for continuing to find ways to keep his brand of folk-pop interesting and up to date.

My guitar teacher often reminds me that the guitar is also a percussion instrument, and Simon clearly understands how to use it as one on this record. “Getting Ready for Christmas Day” and “The Afterlife” both jump to life in large part because of the interesting strumming patterns and textured guitar playing.

For the most part I enjoyed the album’s focus on varying the rhythm, although I learned that it isn’t for all occasions. I was at the gym trying to squeeze in one more listen before writing this review, but the odd time signatures are not good when running on a treadmill.

Simon’s voice was very pretty on this record. You’d never know he was pushing seventy based on how pure his tone is. Like all good songwriters, he knows how to write songs that are in his wheelhouse vocally as well.

The album’s overarching theme is the exploration of the nature’s mysteries. Unfortunately, Simon opts for flippant musings on the nature of the universe, or falls back on stock religious answers. He skirts around most of the hard stuff, and settles for whimsical stories about what the afterlife might be like. It’s like he wrote some of these songs for his grandchildren, and they have a ‘story-time’ quality that I found a bit condescending.

“Rewrite” is a nice break from this approach, which is a song that muses about how we would’ve done things differently at key moments in our life. Like a lot of the album, the song is fairly gentle in its approach, and you get the sense that there is always room for a ‘rewrite’ of some decisions before we’re out of time.

The second half of the album slows down considerably, and become more 'easy listening' than folk or pop. The songs are pretty enough, but they didn’t grab me and it felt like the album was dragging itself to the finish line.

Because of the musical quality on the album and a few high points I’m going to keep this album, but it didn’t overwhelm me.

I’d like to see this record mashed up with Megadeth’s “So Far, So Good, So What” (reviewed way back at Disc 108). That’s another record that is musically promising, hit and miss in terms of the songs. Together it would make one strong album – and just think of the tour! It would be worth going just to see the two groups of fans mingling in the parking lot before the show.

Best tracks:   Getting Ready for Christmas Day, the Afterlife, Rewrite

CD Odyssey Disc 641: Gordon Lightfoot

Another Gordon Lightfoot album, just five after my last one! “Cold on the Shoulder” ended up being a pleasant surprise. This next album, not so much.

Disc 641 is….Summer Side of Life

Artist: Gordon Lightfoot

Year of Release: 1971

What’s up with the Cover? Gord loves the Big Head Cover, and has done a few good ones along the way (check out “Old Dan’s Records” at Disc 458 and “Summertime Dream” at Disc 294 for a couple of examples). “Summer Side of Life” did not inspire me the same way. He looks earnest enough, but the whole thing has an “I just got out of prison” feel that doesn’t wear well on Gord.

How I Came To Know It: Once again this was just me drilling through Gord’s collection when I went on a bit of a Gord spree a few years ago. I knew this album when I was a kid as well, as my Mom had it on tape. I remember not liking it all that much – I should’ve thought of that before I bought it.

How It Stacks Up:  I have ten of Gordon Lightfoot’s studio albums. I had reserved spot #10 for a different record (not reviewed yet), but “Summer Side of Life” would not be denied; it is the worst.

Rating:  2 stars

Almost every Gordon Lightfoot album I have has one or two tracks that make it onto either of his two “Gord’s Gold” compilations, and “Summer Side of Life” is no exception. I should have recognized the warning signs when I didn’t even like one of them, but the completionist in me could not be denied.

“Summer Side of Life” sounds and feels like any other Gordon Lightfoot album, but there is just something missing. The easy picking style is a bit too easy. So much so it approaches lazy, but I’m not sure that better guitar work would save most of these songs.

The opening track, “10 Degrees & Getting Colder” provides a promising start, despite the unfortunate decision to use an ampersand in place of a word. A song about a cold man hitchhiking through Colorado, it paints an interesting scene that speaks of a larger story, but doesn’t quite tell it. Since the song is about a man on the side of the road that most people are hardly glancing at as they pass by, this makes sense.

Sadly the other efforts at social commentary on the record are forced and trite. “Redwood Hill” is an environmental song where a personified Mother Nature (yes, he goes there) sits on a hill and weeps for our future. It felt very forced.

Similarly, “Nous Vivons Ensemble” is a song about trying to understand one another, not like Rush’s “Entre Nous” but stripped of any emotional content. Halfway through Lightfoot switches to very awkward French. I love a good bilingual tune (Leonard Cohen’s “The Partisan” comes to mind) but if you can’t do it well, please refrain from doing it poorly.

Of the two hits, I do love “Summer Side of Life” which has a great guitar intro and an anthem-like quality to its story of love’s remembrance can sting us when all that remains is the memory of how fine it once was.

The other hit, “Cotton Jenny” is either about carefree love or heavy drinking – maybe both. Whichever it is, it comes off as trying too hard. You can’t force yourself to relax, Gord. When I want a song that makes me wonder if I’m putting a woman or a bottle to my lips, I’ll take Neil Diamond’s Cracklin’ Rosie over Gord’s Cotton Jenny every time.

And on it goes, with song after song just missing the mark. “Talking in Your Sleep” is the poor man’s “Worth Believin’” (off of “Old Dan’s Records) and “Same Old Loverman” has Gord trying to be a sixties crooner, but instead coming off as a bit of a creepy hippy. “Love & Maple Syrup” feels like a guy who is trying too hard to make it clear he’s Canadian – like a tourist festooning their backpack with too many flags. For a good Canadian anthem from Gord, go with “Hi’Way Songs.”

Of course, that’s on another album, just like most of his best work. Ordinarily I’d keep this album just for the two songs I like, but because I have “Gord’s Gold” as well, that reduces the damage to just “10 Degrees and Getting Colder” and harsh as it is, I can live without picking up that particular hitch hiker.

Best tracks:   10 Degrees and Getting Colder, Summer Side of Life

CD Odyssey Disc 640: Bison BC

I’m on an early shift at work, which means I am walking in at a very early hour. You see some weird stuff in Victoria’s quieter moments.

For example, yesterday I saw a bike with a large plush doll of Kermit the Frog strapped to the frame. Then today, about a block away, I found a lone green arm which I was almost certain was Kermit’s, severed and left in the street. What hell had Kermit endured in that 24 hours? Had he fell in with a bad crowd or was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time? Would Sweetums take his terrible revenge on those responsible? My sleep-deprived mind wandered darkly.

Ahem.

Well, this next band isn’t afraid to let their minds wander darkly.

Disc 640 is….Dark Ages

Artist: Bison B.C.

Year of Release: 2010

What’s up with the Cover? All must kneel at the altar of the  fire dragons! Is this altar the harbinger of a second dark age, as per the album title? The drawing could certainly use some Renaissance perspective work.

How I Came To Know It: My friend Ross introduced me to Bison with a song called “Slow Hand of Death” off of their 2008 album “Quiet Earth” (reviewed way back at Disc 192). I liked “Quiet Earth” a lot so decided to give them a shot on their next album.

How It Stacks Up:  I have two Bison B.C. albums, this one and the aforementioned “Quiet Earth.” “Quiet Earth” is by far my favourite.

Rating:  2 stars

My first exposure to Bison BC brought back all my love of heavy metal as smoothly and subconsciously as muscle memory. Two years later, “Dark Ages” has all of the same ingredients that had me falling for this band, but somehow failed to connect the same way.

“Dark Ages” chugs along with the same visceral energy. It has the same pounding guitar chords and the band is just as tight, but for some reason it lacked the signposts I needed to get into the record.

The vocals have that guttural doom quality that would have once filled me with dread and awe but now feel kind of shouty. One thing I really like about the previous album’s song “Slow Hand of Death” is that I could understand them when they sing “Slow hand of death!” during the chorus. Maybe I couldn’t hear the rest of the lyrics, but I could hear ‘slow hand of death’. It was strangely comforting to at least know what was going on, even if it was some form of creeping death.

I don’t expect this doom metal sound to be focused on the lyrics, but occasionally I would like to hear them. The opening track, “Stressed Elephant” is about elephants taken into captivity, and never forgetting their destroyed lives, as they dream of revenge for the crime done to them. It is awe-inspiring and thoughtful, and I’d like to better understand it.

The song arrangements on “Dark Ages” are dense even for metal, with a thick miasma of sound on almost every track. They push the loudness pedal all the way to the floor when taking the foot off the gas just a little would have made these songs that much better. As it is, I couldn’t quite get my ears around them.

The songs are very long (46 minutes of music in only seven songs) but for the most part the band knows when to advance the musical concept so they don’t drag. “Fear Cave” in particular is nicely divided up into equal parts dread and power.

It was also nice to see the Wendigo trilogy completed. On “Quiet Earth” we had “Wendigo Pt. 1 (Quest for Fire)” and “Pt. 2 (Cursed to Roam).” “Dark Ages” adds “Pt. 3 (Let Him Burn),” which is the best of the bunch and also conveniently explains why that quest in Part One was so important.

The first album was a go-to album for me when writing my last book and a bit of a sentimental favourite, but the magic doesn’t repeat on “Dark Ages.” There is a lot to recommend this album, particularly for those who love heavy music, but it didn’t emotionally connect to me the way I need this kind of music to. As a result, I am going to pass it along to someone who will appreciate it more than I did.

Best tracks:   Fear Cave, Wendigo Pt. 3 (Let Him Burn)

CD Odyssey Disc 639: Ice T

Some weekends you need to just cocoon in your house, see no one, read a good book and relax. I love these weekends, but that isn’t what’s happening this weekend. Right now I’m in the middle of a crazy busy weekend full of social engagements – back from one and on to another shortly. I love these weekends as well.

Disc 639 is….Power

Artist: Ice T

Year of Release: 1988

What’s up with the Cover? This looks like three Halloween costumes. Ice T is dressed as an orderly, his pal on the right is dressed as doctor and the woman on the left is dressed as….  Hmm, let’s just say I think her costume is just fine, and I wouldn’t change a thing: not the white one-piece, not the thin gold ankle chain and definitely not the pink pumps. Even the shotgun works.

How I Came To Know It: Maybe ten or fifteen years ago my friend Chris put on an Ice T album when I was over at his place (I think it was “Iceberg/Freedom of Speech”). I loved it, but it took me years to decide to buy some of my own, and once I was hooked “Power” was just me digging through his early albums.

How It Stacks Up:  I have three Ice T albums. Of the three “Power” is the second best.

Rating:  4 stars

A lot of my favourite rap artists are smooth, jazz-influenced East Coast acts like Eric B. and Rakim and GangStarr. These guys flow from one rhyme to another like water. By contrast, Ice T spits rhymes like a heavy machine gun emptying a belt of ammo into the microphone.

“Power” is a classic example of Ice T’s style. It is early rap (1988) and the stripped down production lets the combination of Ice’s rhymes, the carefully chosen samples and the scratching and beats all stand strong in the mix without anything ever feeling busy.

DJ Evil E is one of the best in the business, and as I noted earlier, the production decisions (made by Afrika Islam) are beautiful in their simplicity, but the star here is Ice T. Opinionated, insightful and not afraid to make his point. In “Power” and “High Rollers” he calls America on its obsession with wealth, while making it very clear he has already played their game and won. He is clear about what he thinks rap should be about and not afraid to say what he likes (Eric B. and Rakim) or doesn’t (LL Cool J).

“Power” is a sparse album, and its power comes principally from Ice T’s delivery. His rhymes tend to land hard on the end of each measure in a way that always makes me think of West Coast style, even though Ice himself is really a mix of East and West Coast styles.

Ice is masterful in the elastic way he slows and speeds up his cadence, while all the while staying on the beat perfectly. Even when the pace is at its most furious (which can get pretty furious) Ice never loses his control, and every word is spoken with perfect diction.

Ice T was a pioneer of what later became gangsta rap, and in addition to my long-time favourites – the “I rap better than you” themes – he also covers crime on “Drama” and “High Rollers” and drugs on “I’m Your Pusher.”

Despite the fact that his raps clearly point out the down side of crime (being arrested, being shot by rival gangs etc.) and drugs (Ice raps about how music is a better drug than crack on “I’m Your Pusher”) he still came under fire from censors (an awful gang in any decade).

His response – “Radio Suckers” – is a brilliant indictment of radio stations afraid to play his songs because he was too hardcore:

“Clear as a gun scope, I speak the pure dope

Can the radio handle the truth? Nope!

Uncut, no edits, no censors.

You can get a plastic rapper from any ol’ dispenser.

A penny a yard, to make a record ain’t hard,

But to make it mean something, that’s a job!

But then we do it, they refuse it

So I tell them duck suckers to cold go screw it

We shouldn’t sell out, we should just yell out

And get them wack motherfuckers the hell out!”

We’ve come a long way on the censorship front, and artists like Ice T taking a stand twenty-five years ago are a big reason why, so thanks, Ice.

Despite this album being a quarter century old now, it is still current. Sure there are references to buying LPs and cassette tapes, and getting messages on your beeper, the raps remain fresh because their basic truths are still as up-to-date as they ever were.

Like a lot of rap albums, “Power” has an intro and an outro, which is basically a radio skit. I don’t love these on any album, because they mostly get in the way of hearing the music. That said, “Power’s” intro/outro is pretty funny. The intro features someone getting shot when showing the new Ice T tape to a buddy, who then gets so excited to listen to it that he forgets to call an ambulance. The outro is the guy realizing he’s played the whole tape and his buddy is still bleeding out. He commits to calling the ambulance…right after a second listen. Pretty funny on the first few listens, although I don’t love hearing it over and over again.

The raps on “I’m Your Pusher” are excellent, but the re-imagined use of Curtis Mayfield’s “The Pusher” is a bit too large a sample, and causes the song to lose a bit of individuality. I’d prefer to just listen to the Mayfield original at that point.

Like the Beastie Boys, Ice T brings in hard rock samples to good effect – a trend that would later lead him to even stronger metal/rap crossovers on later albums like “O.G. (Original Gangster)” and his metal band “Body Count.” As a guy who grew up loving metal and hating rap, this is a nice reminder that there is no reason to not enjoy both kinds of music – and even at the same time, when done right.

“Power” is a great rap album that helps advance the genre, while staying true to its core principles. If you only know Ice T as an actor these days do yourself a favour and check out an album that shows off his true calling.

Best tracks:   Power, Drama, The Syndicate, Radio Suckers, High Rollers, Personal, Girls L.G.B.N.A.F

CD Odyssey Disc 638: Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris

There’s a heat wave blowing through town this week, and I’ve been enjoying it. My office becomes a bit of a roaster at this time of the year, but I still put on a suit and tie every day.

This is partly because I think you should dress the part if you work at a white collar job, but I also do it for the psychological divide it creates when I finally leave work. I am sitting here writing this review in a pair of loud yellow shorts and a Steve Earle tour shirt and despite a hard day, I am thinking mostly about music. Clothing matters.

Disc 638 is….All The Road Running

Artist: Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris

Year of Release: 2006

What’s up with the Cover? A lonely desert road, marred only by…ridiculous swooshes of neon? This is a time lapsed photo where the vehicle lights create a conceptual design aimed at marrying the Americana folk of Emmylou Harris and the electrified rock of Mark Knopfler into a single image. Or maybe this is what happens when those computer animated movers from the “Money for Nothing” video drive through your town delivering appliances.

How I Came To Know It: I was already a fan of both artists, but to be honest in 2006 when I bought this I probably found it under the Mark Knopfler section. I was a dedicated fan of Knopfler’s solo work and eager for whatever he was going to do next, and this was it.

Hence this album was at least partly responsible for rekindling my love of Emmylou Harris’ music, and I’ve gone on to purchase a lot of her back catalogue since.

How It Stacks Up:  I have ten Emmylou Harris albums, plus two where she shares top billing (this one and “Old Yellow Moon” with Rodney Crowell). I have seven of Mark Knopfler’s solo albums, plus two where he shares top billing (this one again, and “Neck and Neck” with Chet Atkins). I can’t really compare this to the solo albums of each artist, but in the case of their respective collaborations, “All the Road Running” is my favourite on both sides of the ledger

Rating:  4 stars

With the sheer amount of musical collaborations Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris are part of this album feels almost inevitable. I’m just surprised it took this long.

Of course, they were making music in different worlds for many years; Emmylou doing the country music thing and Knopfler rocking out in Dire Straits. “All the Road Running” is them coming together in their second careers. Both are significantly more removed from the spotlight than they were before, and both are using the artistic space that can create to make some of the best music of their careers. Knopfler has relaxed his guitar shredding for a more relaxed blues/roots style while Harris has become more alternative, willing to risk forays into rock edged production. Their meeting up for “All the Road Running” is less about them adjusting their styles to fit, and more them naturally growing naturally to common ground.

The result is a seamless blend of two great talents who have parked their egos at the door. The style is mostly the contemporary folk that Knopfler has embraced since he released his first solo album in 1996, with easy flowing melodies and one foot planted firmly and nostalgically in the past.

Knopfler wrote all but one of the 12 songs, and it is pretty clear that he had Emmylou in mind. There is a traditional swing rhythm in almost all of them that brings an old school country sound to his music that is much stronger than on any other record. Each track is some form of duet featuring plenty of opportunity for Harris to shine as both a lead vocalist and as popular music’s greatest harmonizer.

Many of the songs are sung as a ‘couple’ with verses traded back and forth with a warmth that belies the respect and admiration these two artists obviously have for each other. There are up tempo love songs like “This Is Us” where you can see them as a long-time couple flipping through old photo albums, finishing each other’s sentences. It made me think of Emmylou’s more recent collaboration with Rodney Crowell on the tearjerker “Back When We Were Beautiful,” but with laughter instead of tears.

Emmylou gets one writing credit for “Belle Starr” which once again had me wishing she would write more of her songs. She’s a natural, but it just seems to be in her nature to gracefully take a back seat to other talents.

“This is Us” and “Right Now” are also good examples of Knopfler’s adaptability on guitar. Even when he plays rock riffs over these decidedly country constructions, the result feels easy and natural. Emmylou’s trademark quaver is a nice compliment to Knopfler’s big blue notes, neither ever so sharp as to cut across the other.

My favourite song on the album is “Donkey Town,” a song about a love triangle in a trailer park with a group of characters that have had their share of bad luck. Even if you’ve never lived in a trailer park, when Knopfler sings about ‘hangin’ round in Donkey Town, too long, baby, too long” you can feel that deep yearning that comes from people who can imagine a better life, but not see their way clear to get there.

The song has a slow, relaxed feel that belies the tension between a neighbor and his growing relationship with the wife of an ornery army veteran living in a nearby trailer. Just when you think our hero is going to take her away from the old bastard, the song throws you a curveball:

“It was Friday late and she crossed those legs

She told me flat out she would

If I could pull up my trailer pegs

We could get away together for good

I sure wish her the best of luck

She’s going to need it, thinking of Jim

I don’t like to leave her stuck

But she’s near as bad as him.”

I love the use of “she crossed those legs” which summons up a pretty picture in my head. Obviously the narrator was impressed as well, just not enough to help her pack a suitcase.

Emmylou’s voice and Mark Knopfler’s guitar have always individually had the ability to make the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. Together they have the good sense to not tread on each other’s power, but instead create a gentle blended experience. The result is a relaxing record with a subtly complicated grace.

Best tracks:   Beachcombing, I Dug Up a Diamond, This Is Us, Rollin’ On, Donkey Town, Belle Starr, Beyond My Wildest Dreams, All the Road Running

CD Odyssey Disc 637: Band of Horses

I’ve been trying to eat a bit healthier recently. For the first time in my life I have developed a bit of a tummy and I am determined to get rid of it. I simply have too many good tight T-shirts I won’t be able to wear otherwise.

Later today I’ll be doing some housework, including the laundry, but before I get to such Sunday tedium I’ll review the next album in the CD Odyssey. Like chores, the Odyssey feels never-ending, but it is a whole lot more enjoyable.

Disc 637 is….Cease to Begin

Artist: Band of Horses

Year of Release: 2007

What’s up with the Cover? Is this a full moon or a crescent moon over water? A bit of both, I suppose. I’ve always loved the look of moonlight over water, so this cover appeals to me, even though this picture looks like it was taken through a medieval castle’s arrow slit. Medieval castles are great for location, but not so much for their views. I think a big bay window would have been nicer here, although obviously less effective during a siege. But I digress…

How I Came To Know It: I found out about Band of Horses when they opened for a Beck concert I went to – it was when they were touring for this album, so “Cease to Begin” was my first exposure to the band, and the reason I was inspired to start seeking out their music.

How It Stacks Up:  We have four Band of Horses albums and “Cease to Begin” is my favourite, so I’ll rank it first.

Rating:  3 stars, but almost 4

I always want Band of Horses to be just a bit better than they are, but on “Cease to Begin” they come close to meeting my expectations.

As always with Band of Horses, “Cease to Begin” is notable for lead singer Ben Bridwell’s high clear tenor voice, which is right in the sweet spot for modern indie bands. I don’t always love this vocal style, but on “Cease to Begin” Bridwell makes it work and infuses these songs with an emotional quality too often missing from this style of pop music.

At times the band creates a lot of layered sound on this record, but the more they layer it the more they lose me. It isn’t that the production is bad, because it is actually very good. It is more that in creating the layers they build a wall of sound that is standing in front of the melodies when the band is trying to rock out.

The worst offender is Creighton Barrett on drums who always seems to revert to cymbal bashing when the songs reach their crescendo. While the high percussive sound matches well to Bridwell’s vocals, it also grates over time, and I would have preferred some more bass driven beats at those spots.

When the songs are stripped down, as they are on ballads like “No One’s Gonna Love You” and “Detlef Schrempf” the result is magical. Here the band creates a haunting and emotive sound that you can imagine hearing over a dark sea by moonlight, just like the cover suggests. It is mysterious but also compelling and thoughtful.

While I had recently planned to swear off future Band of Horses purchases, all of this makes me wonder if their new collection, “Acoustic at the Ryman” might be exactly what I’m looking for. With these guys less is definitely more.

I will also give them credit for a tight playlist. “Cease to Begin” only has ten songs, and with the exception of the very short and awkwardly titled instrumental “Lamb on the Lam (in the City)” they all seem to belong.

They could do a better job of naming the songs, however. “Cease to Begin” has embraced the modern trend of giving a lot of their songs awkward titles, based on a fleeting lyric rather than a chorus or refrain you can wrap your head around. I was discussing the record at lunch with friends and I honestly couldn’t remember most of the titles, or just what song we were talking about when they were named. Argh.

Another minor, non-music related gripe is the decision to once again put a bunch of photographs into the CD liner notes instead of something useful like song lyrics. On the review of “EverythingAll the Time” I even posted what they look like, but I won’t do it again as that would just encourage the band to keep doing it.

These are minor quibbles however, on an album that when it shows restraint, delivers some truly inspiring work. “Marry Song” is a magic moment in time, as it fills the room with the sound of tight harmony and regret. “Is There a Ghost” has less to offer lyrically, but through repetition of simple phrases it haunts as effectively as its title (which mercifully is actually part of the song).

While instruments outside of Bidwell’s voice don’t get much chance to shine individually, on the final track of the album, “Window Blues,” lead guitarist Tyler Ramsey shines with some soulful picking that ties a bow on an album that despite a few warts, has more to recommend it than not.

Best tracks:   Is There a Ghost, No One’s Gonna Love You, Detlef Schrempf, Marry Song, Window Blues

CD Odyssey Disc 636: Gordon Lightfoot

This next artist has been filling my life with musical happiness since before I could walk. He is coming to Victoria in the Fall and I struggled with whether I was going to go. Although I ultimately decided to pass, I've still got a lot of love for this guy, and this next record is yet more proof of it.

Disc 636 is….Cold on the Shoulder

Artist: Gordon Lightfoot

Year of Release: 1975

What’s up with the Cover? Gord’s got his guitar out and judging by all them papers on the desk he’s in a song-writin’ mood. His shirt is also open, which for Gord indicates he means business.

But who’s that woman in the shadows behind him – she doesn’t look happy, and judging by how she’s positioned, she looks poised to give him…the cold shoulder. Get it? Get it?

Budding folk stars take heed: literally depicting an album title should be done with extreme caution, lest you too end up with a cover like this one.

How I Came To Know It: This was just me drilling through Gord’s collection when I went on a bit of a Gord spree a few years ago.

How It Stacks Up:  I have ten of Gordon Lightfoot’s studio albums – I thought I had eleven, but it turns out “Classic Masters” is just a best of taken from four different early records. Consider me chastened. Anyway, I’d say of the ten studio albums I’ve got, “Cold on the Shoulder” is fourth, edging out “Summertime Dream” (reviewed way back in 2011 at Disc 294).

Rating:  4 stars

I’ve had my fair share of cold shoulders, and I’ve probably earned most of them. “Cold on the Shoulder” the album is misnamed, however. It is more like a warm smile than a cold shoulder.

That warmth originates in Gord’s easy, back-of-the-throat vocals. He sounds like Bruce Springsteen if the Boss could just relax and take it easy. His songs take that voice up and down his undulating melodies with a smooth grace that isn’t about showing off the pipes so much as it is about serving the song.

This easy-going vibe starts with the first song, “Bend in the Water.” “Bend in the Water” is a hippy pastoral – a song about nothing more than heading out into the backcountry for a day of summer fishing and then an evening with a pleasant walk down by the river (with two girls, no less – Pearl and Kitty).

The height of the album’s relaxed feel is “Rainy Day People” which is the happiest song Gordon has ever penned. This is a song about those people who have a knack for giving comfort to people when they need it. Everyone needs to have a few rainy day people in their lives – I am lucky enough to have several. I could try to describe just what these folks do for the soul, but why reinvent what Gord has already wrought so skillfully:

“Rainy day people always seem to know when it's time to call

Rainy day people don't talk

They just listen til they've heard it all

Rainy day lovers don't  lie when they tell you

They been down like you

Rainy day people don't mind if you're crying a tear or two.”

The whole song has an easy feel, and a rolling guitar plucking that perfectly suit the soothing quality of these lyrics. I’ve heard people say that “Rainy Day People” is a hokey song, not up to the standard of Lightfoot’s more important work. I would say there isn’t any work more important than bringing a little light into the life of someone who needs it.

While the style of the album remains mostly free and easy, the songs do cover a range of emotion significantly larger than simply feelin’ groovy. Surprisingly the title track “Cold on the Shoulder” isn’t sad at all – it is more about not giving the cold shoulder than the opposite. Considerably tougher is “Bells of the Evening” a rare piano piece from Gord where he bemoans the loss of his love because of the call of the road. Hearing him sing:

“I'm lost with no road signs to guide me

A slave to my whiskey and dreams”

Is a poignant reminder that a life spent pursuing your art means leaving a lot of other things behind in the process. This song reminds me a lot of “Carefree Highway” where the road is both the sacrifice and the goal, wrapped up in one. It certainly isn’t just “the freedom of the road’ as suggested on the truly atrocious Wikipedia entry on Gordon Lightfoot, which seems to have been primarily written by someone who judged each of his songs by the title. Another notable miss – suggesting “Don Quixote” is “about Cervantes’ famous literary character”). Hey Wikidoofus, “Don Quixote” is about social justice – it’s a literary allusion used to make a point.

“Cold on the Shoulder’s” entry on social justice is “Cherokee Bend” a dark tale of murder at a trading outpost that becomes a microcosm about First Nations losing their traditional way of life in the face of western settlement. It is a strong and tragic tale, with a heavy bass note in the mix underscoring its ominous tale of societal breakdown.

The record is not without its warts, however, particularly with lyrics. “The Soul is the Rock” is filled with strained metaphors that get so far off their original course I’m not even sure what Lightfoot is talking about by the end. “Fine as Fine Can Be” is excessively cutesy and packed with ridiculous imagery like. Here are three examples:

“You're like time is to space

You're like faith is to trusting

You're like blue is to feeling unkind”

I could’ve chosen ten other examples just as bad. Artists tend to write this crap for their kids, which is somewhat forgivable, so I hope that is what’s happened here. If Lightfoot wrote this song to score with the ladies, I hope it failed and he went home alone and spent his time writing a better song.

These bad lyrics almost put the record down to three stars, but on balance there is just too much good songwriting and general joy on this record to downgrade it for a few misplaced lyrics. Besides, I have a lot of love for this record and rainy day lovers don't hide love inside, they just pass it on.

Best tracks:   Bend in the Water, Rainy Day People, Cold on the Shoulder, Bells of the Evening, Rainbow Trout, Cherokee Bend

CD Odyssey Disc 635: Mae Moore

Happy Canada Day!

I spent a goodly portion of mine rearranging and cleaning my house. I can’t remember the last time it was this clean in the computer/painting room, but I like it. My whole mind feels calmer as a result.

Disc 635 is….Oceanview Motel

Artist: Mae Moore

Year of Release: 1990

What’s up with the Cover? Mae Moore stands on the beach, looking thoughtful and arty. She looks beautiful, but what’s she doing with her hands? Is she counting? Have her fingers gone numb? The answer is lost to the mists of time.

How I Came To Know It: I saw a video for “Red Clay Hills” back in 1991 and loved the song. I found the album it was on and went from there (it wasn’t hard, since Moore only had one album at the time). “Oceanview Motel” is one of the first albums I ever bought on CD format and I’m glad I still have it.

How It Stacks Up:  I have three Mae Moore albums (her first three). “Oceanview Motel” is by far my favourite.

Rating:  4 stars

There is an Oceanview Motel on the Malahat Drive as you head north out of my home town of Victoria. I get out there every now and then, and it always makes me think of this album, which has been in my life almost as long as I’ve been making that drive.

Like me, Moore is a naturalized local from way back and I suppose it is possible the Oceanview Motel mentioned in “Red Clay Hills” is the same one I drive by two or three times a year. Even if it weren’t that would be fine, because the sentiment expressed in the song would translate to any of the dozens of hotels with that name throughout the world, and to any of the many people driving by and wistfully thinking of a simpler way of life.

The red clay hills mentioned in the song are giving way to development, but despite the obvious tragedy in the song, Moore doesn’t come off as overly judgmental, concluding the song with this verse:

“God knows you’ve got to make a living

It’s hard enough to make your way in the world these days

Everybody needs some kind of refuge

Like the peace I’ve found in these hills of red clay.”

Moore recounts what the beauty of that wild space means to her, and lets the listener make up their own mind about how they feel about their survival.

Even when striking a sad tone this is an album that is fundamentally optimistic. “Warm Side of Town” is a straight up love song and even songs where the relationship has its doubts like “Stepping Through Fire” and “Superstitious” are at their core upbeat and hopeful.

Like the social activism in “Red Clay Hills,” the heartache and breakup songs are relatively gentle and tinged with a soft edge of understanding. As Moore sings on “Where Loneliness Lives”:

“I know where loneliness lives

Right where it’s always been

Deep in a heart

That finds it hard to forgive

That’s where loneliness lives.”

The album is best when it is at its folksiest.  Moore has a sweet voice that at times has a jazz crooner quality to it, and the songs play well with her easy acoustic strumming. She is not content with simple arrangements however, and many songs work in trumpets and congas to give the record more of a contemporary sound, and add jazz and pop sensibilities. Sometimes this works, and sometimes it buries an otherwise pretty melody.

It isn’t a perfect record, and efforts at more pop-based arrangements like “I’ll Watch Over You” and “Nothing But the Truth” while well written have never totally worked for me. Fortunately, the record’s overall quality is excellent, and these lesser spots are few and far between.

Overall, the softness of “Oceanview Motel” is a refreshing change from overwrought heart-wrenching or political preaching common in similar music today.  This softness doesn’t in any way lessen the emotional impact of Moore’s songwriting or delivery. If anything it is a nice reminder that sometimes true beauty needs to steal its way into your soul quietly, like a whispered truth. Twenty-five years later, I still love hearing it.

Best tracks:   Red Clay Hills, Where Loneliness Lives, Down to the Wire, Warm Side of Town, Halfway Home, Stepping Through Fire