CD Odyssey Disc 777: Peter Gabriel

I’ve been trying to cut back on CD purchases so I can better grok the backlog I already have, but yesterday I relapsed and bought 4 albums. I blame two of them on my music buddies encouraging me (Heart’s “Little Queen” and a collection of Patsy Cline songs). The other two (Townes Van Zandt’s “At My Window” and Justin Townes Earle’s “Midnight at the Movies”) are entirely my fault.

Today I’m heading over to my friend Chris’ place to play some vinyl because…music is the best! But first, here’s a review to entertain you while I’m out.

Disc 777 is….So

Artist: Peter Gabriel

Year of Release: 1986

What’s up with the Cover? The classic “head and shoulder” shot. You could put this one on an election sign, except for the fact that Peter isn’t smiling.

How I Came To Know It: Everyone knew this album in the day, but in terms of the CD Odyssey this is one of Sheila’s. She’s had this album forever.

How It Stacks Up: We only have one Peter Gabriel album and this is it, so it can’t stack up against anything.

Ratings: 4 stars

How long does it take before an overplayed song ceases to wreck an entire album for you? In the case of “So” it takes 29 years. I am ‘so’ over hating this album.

The hatred began with the video for “Sledgehammer.” When I was a teenager watching videos was just something you did, often for hours on end. In 1986 you could not avoid the video of Peter Gabriel’s head being transformed through claymation into various shapes. These shapes depicted the stupid and constantly shifting images in the lyrics. Most kids would go on and on about how great this apparently was at school each day. Because of the groundbreaking video, it got played long after it had left the charts. When it wasn’t on, the station would find an excuse to play “Big Time” instead. Outside of the Power Hour, there was no respite from this Goddamn album for most of my high school experience.

And the surprising thing twenty-nine years later is that “Sledgehammer” and “Big Time” are pretty good songs. Both have a groovy funk beat, and “Sledgehammer” has a killer horn section as well. Neither is even close to being the best song on this excellent record that I never gave a fair listen to until just now.

1986 production wrecked a lot of albums, but “So” makes the eighties sound an asset, blending it perfectly with African beats, R&B and a smattering of big band. It is an ambitious record that pulls off a miracle and makes it all work. A lot of this credit goes to the genius of Peter Gabriel who brings a lot of blues and soul to his vocal performance. Equal credit goes to producer Daniel Lanois. Lanois makes the up-tempo songs pop with energy, and his expansive atmospheric sound add a gravitas to the slow and sad stuff.

The album begins with “Red Rain,” which marries both sounds into a dream-sequence that is otherworldly, romantic and ominous in equal measure. All the weird percussion decisions that bounce through this song shouldn’t work, but yet they do. The only person who does the same thing with equivalent skill that I can think of is Tom Waits.

The hurt in Gabriel’s voice is palpable on this record, including one of rock and roll’s most wonderful and enduring love songs, “In Your Eyes.” A five star song that for years I couldn’t listen to just because of its appearance in the movie “Say Anything.”

I saw “Say Anything” shortly after being dumped by the first love of my life. Hearing a five-star song about the undeniable urge to be with the one you love, in a movie featuring the same experience, and knowing that is not an option for you was not easy. I sat in the theatre that day, tears streaming down my face, helplessly trapped in the collision between life and art. My poor friend had brought me to the movies to cheer me up.

Fortunately that pain passed and I found a new love of my life, as one does (take heart, suffering 19 year olds!) I learned to love “Say Anything” and now I love this album as well. As for “In Your Eyes” the energy of this song continues to flow through me like a river. Not just because of how I felt in 1989, but because it is one of the most powerful love songs ever penned.

While nothing on “So” hits as hard as “In Your Eyes” there is plenty of excellence around every corner. Gabriel’s duet with Kate Bush on “Don’t Give Up” is heartbreaking and inspiring. “Mercy Street” is atmospheric and feels almost ritualistic in its construction. Both songs are over six minutes, but leave you wishing there was more.

The only song that I don’t like at some level is “We Do What We’re Told” which takes too long to get moving, and reminds me too much of the empty modern sounds of techno. Fortunately it is immediately followed by the record’s final song, “This is the Picture (Excellent Birds).” This song is a master class in syncopation and the slow and thoughtful layering of percussive sound. It isn’t just clever either; it is a joy to listen to.

There are only nine songs on “So” and each has something different and compelling to offer. Lyrically, musically and in its production, “So” is a thoughtful and honest record. My only regret is it took so long for me to realize it.

Best tracks:  Red Rain, Don’t Give Up, In Your Eyes, Mercy Street, This is the Picture (Excellent Birds)

CD Odyssey Disc 776: Emmylou Harris

I liked this next album so much I bought it on vinyl as well. In case you’re wondering, yes, it does sound better on vinyl. That’s because it is recorded on analog, and analog is just warmer and more beautiful for me.

Remember though, record snobs, if you buy a bunch of digitally recorded music that’s been pressed on vinyl, that doesn’t magically make it sound better. Garbage in = garbage out. On to the review.

Disc 776 is….Elite Hotel

Artist: Emmylou Harris

Year of Release: 1975

What’s up with the Cover? Emmylou Harris always looks good, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen her make sexy look so easy as on the cover of “Elite Hotel.” She looks eight feet tall as well, but she’s sitting down so she can look eye-to-eye at us mortals.

How I Came To Know It: I had recently listened to a couple of Emmylou’s later albums and I was eager to try out something from the beginning of her career. I bought “Elite Hotel” first and since then I’ve gone on to purchase the six albums she recorded after this one.

How It Stacks Up: I now have eleven of Emmylou Harris’ solo albums, with plans to get four more before I’m through. Of the eleven I’ve got, I’m putting “Elite Hotel” first overall.

Ratings: 4 stars but close to 5

“Elite Hotel” is as good as Emmylou Harris gets, and that’s damned good.

This record is her first major release, and she packs it with amazing vocal performances, and Brian Ahern’s relaxed production decisions showcase those performances perfectly.

Harris covers everything on this record reinventing old standards by Patsy Cline (“Sweet Dreams”) and Hank Williams (“Jambalaya”) with the same grace that she sweetens the mournful and modern (for the time) songs of Gram Parsons (“Sin City,” “Ooh Las Vegas” and “Wheels”).

Parsons had just died two years earlier, and his influence on Harris’ record is clear. Where Parsons was interested in infusing rock and roll into country standards, Harris takes his song and flips them; stripping them down to their base elements so the hurt at their centre can float to the top on her voice.

“Sin City” was originally a Flying Burrito Brothers song and was grim already, but in Emmylou’s hands it just drips regret. When you hear Emmylou sing:

“On the thirty-first floor

A gold-plated door

Won’t keep out

The Lord’s burning rain.”

You are immediately assured down to your bones that the apocalypse is on the way. When Harris sings it she’s more than sad – you can tell that she feels sorry for all the sinners that are about to die in a burning rain. She’s kind-hearted that way.

Later she delivers a sweet and regretful version of “Wheels.” Where “Sin City” is a song about retreating into materialism, “Wheels” is about retreating to the road. Both songs are about getting away, and Harris sings them both with the pain of a woman who had just lost one of her closest friends two years earlier, and has been left nothing but his songs.

Emmylou writes sparingly, and her only credit on this album is for “Amarillo” which isn’t my favourite song. Despite the song having good bones and a beat you can jump around to, the idea of losing your sweetheart to a pinball machine just seems a bit silly. She’s written far better over her illustrious career.

Fortunately, she has also always had a knack for picking just the right songs, and “Elite Hotel” is the best example in her discography. In addition to the unmatched talent of channeling the soul of Gram Parsons, “Elite Hotel” also features songs from long-time (and current) collaborator, Rodney Crowell. Yes Crowell is the co-writer of “Amarillo” but his other offering is “Till I Gain Control Again.”

“Till I Gain Control Again” is one of the greatest “let us cling together” songs ever. For years I thought it was a Blue Rodeo song, but when I heard Emmylou sing it my mind was blown all over again. The quavering beauty and tone of her voice carries strong and certain through the darkness. When she pleads for her lover to stand by her it feels like her voice is cutting right down to your marrow.

Musically, this album assembles some great players as well, and they form an intrinsic part of the experience. The wayfaring semi-devotional “One of These Days” is a classic example of great singing combined with great musicianship. This is a song about hope and while the hope isn’t fully realized in the lyrics, the song ends with a note of finality that tells you she’s going to get there.

And just to show she can do it all, Harris delivers one of my favourite songs of hers, “Feelin’ Single, Seein’ Double” a fun-lovin’ romp about going out all night and then coming home to your spouse to face the music. Best of many good lines:

“Well I really had a ball last night

I held all the pretty boys tight

I was feelin’ single, seein’ double

Wound up in a whole lotta trouble

But today I’ll face the big fight

But I really had a ball last night.

“When I came home from work this morning

My baby was feelin’ low

And he told me what was on his mind

Then he told me where I could go.

Well I didn’t go where he told me to

‘Cause the water was cold in the lake

Now there’s something fish ‘bout this whole deal

I don’t see where I made my mistake.”

Sure, go ahead and get surly with Emmylou – she’ll talk to you about it in the morning after going out all night and blowing off some steam with God-knows-who. This song is even better for putting a woman in the “out at the bar role.” Back in 1975 that notion kicked a lot of men in the pants right when (and where) they needed it.

My CD copy of “Elite Hotel” is a re-issue with two bonus tracks, “You’re Running Wild” and “Cajun Born” and both great additions that hold up well against the original content.

They fit in great with a record where the tone of Emmylou’s voice is as at its most pure and perfect. It is so emotionally affecting, it is the first non-rock album I have ever bought on vinyl

Best tracks:  Together Again, Feelin’ Single Seein’ Double, Sin City, One of These Days, Till I Gain Control Again, Satan’s Jewel Crown, Wheels, Cajun Born

CD Odyssey Disc 775: Tom Waits

I’m home from one of the most pleasant medical experiences I’ve ever had. I went to Therapeutic Edge physiotherapy for a shoulder injury I got playing Ultimate.

Not only did physiotherapist Ross McFayden diagnose the problem (a Type II separated shoulder) he gave me some acupuncture treatment to help speed the healing and some good advice besides. Thanks to Ross and the team at Therapeutic for getting me on the road to recovery!

The CD Odyssey is also on the road to recovery, after two full weeks of average to good CDs I finally rolled an album that truly inspired me.

Disc 775 is….Bad As Me

Artist: Tom Waits

Year of Release: 2011

What’s up with the Cover? Tom’s out of focus face, grinning like a hyena. I guess this qualifies as a Giant-Head cover like so many others, but since it is Tom Waits it also has an element of weirdness about it.

How I Came To Know It: I’m a long standing Tom Waits fan, so this was just me buying his latest album when it came out.  

How It Stacks Up: We have 19 Tom Waits albums. I’ve now reviewed all but five of them so I feel pretty confident in stating that “Bad as Me” is one of the better ones. I’ll put it sixth best, knocking “Bone Machine” down one spot in the process.

Ratings: 4 stars

“Bad as Me” is Tom Waits at his best, taking traditional sounds and seemingly archaic language and blending them perfectly with innovative musical decisions and insightful modern observations on human nature. It is a refreshing masterpiece.

These songs have a timeless quality that makes you feel like they could have been composed in the mid-twentieth century, rather than ten years into the twenty-first. Waits has always been an old soul, even when he was starting out. Now that he is actually getting old, the whole experience wears on him beautifully.

His voice is like an old overcoat with holes in it that let the breeze in on a hot day, or a pair of fingerless gloves that have been stretched perfectly to your hands over the years. It feels shabby at times, but always comfortable and full of love.

Wait’s was over 60 when he made “Bad as Me” and his voice is holding up nicely. It is one of the advantages of having a scratchy old man’s voice to start with; you don’t have far to fall. That said, this is some of Waits’ best vocal efforts. On “Talking at the Same Time” he climbs into falsetto with the ease of Bruce Springsteen. Sure there is a bit more torture choking out of those notes than Bruce would need, but it wouldn’t be Tom Waits without it.

Every song has a beautiful melody, whether he is playing it sad and slow like an old crooner like he does on “Back in the Crowd” or fast and furious a fast-paced shuffle on “Chicago.” This album just seems to effortlessly find the right voice for every song. I’m sure it took plenty of effort, but by the time Waits gives you the finished product, you can’t imagine the song any other way than he presents it, weird circus organ, bizarre percussion and all.

Lyrically, this album feels like a throwback to post-war America, reinterpreted through the voice of a modern world-weary skeptic.

On “Raised Right Men” Waits’ has a laundry list of characters so classic you feel you know them just by their names: Mackey Debiasi, Gunplay Maxwell, Flat Nose George and Ice Ed Newcomb. These guys are out there keeping their hens happy (when they aren’t getting their teeth knocked out by them) until they eventually end up “on a slab”. The whole thing is both comical and noble, like a film noir farce.

“Bad As Me” is filled with the tales of simple men with complicated problems. “Face to the Highway” has a series of images that reinforce how the main character needs to wander:

“Ocean wants a sailor

Gun wants a hand

Money wants a spender

And the road wants a man.

I turned my face to the highway

And I turned my back on you.”

Simple images, but combined this way and accompanied by Waits’ careworn and threat-laced delivery they become dark and dangerous. I could write an entire English paper about just this song or half a dozen others on the record just as good. Unfortunately, I can’t because the album is so full of other great moments

Like Waits being lascivious and sinful on the title track with lines like:

“You’re the letter from Jesus on the bathroom wall

You’re mother superior in only a bra

You’re the same kind of bad as me.”

Or intimate and sensual on “Kiss Me”:

“The fire’s dying out

All the embers have been spent

Outside on the street

Lovers hide in the shadows

You look at me

I look at you

There’s only one thing

I want you to do

Kiss me

I want you to kiss me

Like a stranger once again.”

Waits is angry and directionless as a soldier with PTSD in “Hell Broke Luce,” romantically resilient as the last leaf on a tree in “Last Leaf” and tear-stained and nostalgic as a man thinking back on lost friends in “New Year’s Eve.” In short, “Bad As Me” takes on every facet of the human condition – and once even the condition of a plant – and gives every one of them all the solemn dignity they deserve.

Before I close I’d like to give a shout out to Waits’ wife Kathleen Brennan, who co-wrote all these songs. I don’t think Brennan gets enough credit for pushing Waits’ creativity, so let’s give her some here. She’s definitely one of the reasons that 38 years after he released his first album, “Bad As Me” is as innovative, interesting and engaging as anything Waits has done.

Best tracks:  Raised Right Men, Talking at the Same Time, Face to the Highway, Bad As Me, Kiss Me, Satisfied, Last Leaf, Hell Broke Luce, New Year’s Eve

CD Odyssey Disc 774: System of a Down

It has been a lovely weekend of hanging out at home. I’m a very social person but everyone needs a little down time. Sheila and I chilled out, played board games, and on Saturday went for brunch and a wee stroll around downtown. Today I’ve put on my ugliest clothes and in so doing laid down a firm position that I plan to lounge around the house all day.

I’m starting the day’s lounge with a music review but if you’re reading along, I guess you were expecting that.

Disc 774 is….Steal this Album!

Artist: System of a Down

Year of Release: 2002

What’s up with the Cover? This album has no cover – instead the packaging is designed to look like a bootlegged CD. That’s so clever, System of a Down! You’re really sticking it to those Soulless Record Execs encouraging people to steal the album. You’re also sticking it to musicians, by the way, who get screwed out of revenue every time someone steals an album. But you sure showed the system, didn’t you?

It is worth noting that this album is not bootlegged, but put out by massive recording company Columbia Records, a division of Sony music. This makes the record title not a protest, nor a clever joke, but just a boat-load of hypocrisy.

How I Came To Know It: My buddy Spence bought me this album as well as “Toxicity” for my birthday one year. Spence has amazing taste in music and I get a lot of good ideas from him on what to check out next. The bad things I’m going to say about this album do not reflect what I think of his musical tastes as a whole.  

How It Stacks Up: I have two System of a Down albums, this one and “Toxicity.” Of the two, I’m going to take a leap of faith and say that “Toxicity” is better.

Ratings: 2 stars

“Steal This Album” is an innovative and hard-driving metal album that desperately needs some creative direction, starting with a new lyricist. Sadly, Neil Peart is otherwise committed.

I have a bit of a reputation among my fellow music enthusiasts for being overly focused on the lyrics. I don’t think that’s entirely fair, but I definitely focus on lyrics more than most people. I’d blame it on the degree in English Literature but I’ve been like this since I was a kid – it is one of the things that drew me to metal music in the first place.

And for this reason, “Steal this Album!” really annoyed me with song after song crammed full of truly horrendous lyrics. They are worse than the ‘yeehaw!’ crapitude of Nashville pop country songs about drinking beer. At least that music doesn’t think it is going to change the world.

And it isn’t the subjects ‘discussed’ on “Steal This Album!” either. The record attacks rampant consumerism and war, which are two perfectly legitimate things to be unhappy about. Other artists just do this so much better.

When Bruce Springsteen or Steve Earle write a protest song, they infuse it with specific stories or viewpoints. This provides an emotional centre that helps you relate. When Iron Maiden does it, they draw in historical or literary elements that provide context to what they are singing about. Tool’s lyrics are dark but they also thoughtfully expose disturbing aspects of the human condition.

“Steal This Album!” dismisses subtlety, history and connectivity in equal measure. Listening to it makes me feel like I’m at a poorly-organized political protest and someone is yelling slogans at me through a megaphone. “Boom!” is a particularly bad track for this, with vocalist Serj Tankian spewing buzz words and jargon with a rapid-fire delivery.

A lot of artists don’t have much to say lyrically. Kyuss comes to mind as a very cool metal band where it is more about the groove than the words. That said, Kyuss wisely sets the vocals back in the mix and makes them part of the musical arrangement, rather than a narrative you need anything you need to follow along.

Not System of a Down. They put the lyrics nice and high in the mix and sing them with maximum clarity. It’s like they think telling us all to watch less television and stop killing each other are original thoughts. Stop shouting and tell it with a story, Serj.

By contrast, this album has a lot going for it musically. The grooves have a powerful energy crackling around them and System of a Down have a good understanding of the role of syncopation in making interesting music. They know how to combine a series of seemingly unrelated beats and guitar riffs and then playing them back and forth against one another to create something new. I enjoyed the innovation that went into some of these compositions. They are a slightly less complicated Tool in their construction, and even being mentioned in the same sentence as Tool is high praise.

“Mr. Jack” is a kick-ass song with a powerful groove and the lyrics aren’t too bad either, which is a nice change. “Roulette” is a stripped down ballad where the band shows some real heartache and worth a listen as well.

The records has 16 tracks, which is two too many, but at least they are all short and the album comes in at a tasteful 41 minutes long.

Much as I like aspects of this album I can’t get past its faults, so I’m going to find someone who will enjoy it more fully than I can.

Best tracks: A.D.D., Mr. Jack, Roulette

CD Odyssey Disc 773: Various Artists

I’ve discovered two new artists this week – Lera Lynn and Band of Heathens.

Lera Lynn is the woman who is singing mournful tunes in that dingy bar featured in True Detective’s second season. Band of Heathens is a bunch of indie/southern rock/blues/folk guys that write their own stuff and sing it well. Youtube them both and see if – like me – you plan to add them to your collection soon.

But now an artist that has been in everyone’s collect – one way or another – for decades.

Disc 773 is….The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams

Artist: Various artists

Year of Release: 2011

What’s up with the Cover? An old wooden wall with Hank’s image on it, although you can barely see it through all the text. Around the edge you can see all the contributing artists, which is a nice touch.

How I Came To Know It: I saw this advertised in a music magazine I got as a Christmas gift from Sheila. She obviously saw it as well because when my birthday rolled around she bought me the album.

How It Stacks Up: This is a compilation album, so it doesn’t have anything to stack up against. The question is moot!

Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4

As my wife Sheila perceptively pointed out, “The Lost Notebooks” is “Mermaid Avenue” for Hank Williams, a living breathing treasure that is both the glory of the original artist and also the inspiration he generated in each contributor to the record.

The music comes from a satchel Williams would carry around full of all his old songs that was still with him when he died. Sixty years later, it is like uncovering a vault of forgotten treasure.

Like “Mermaid Avenue” and its recovered Woodie Guthrie songs, “The Lost Notebook” is a selection of Hank Williams songs he had written at the time of his death, but had not recorded nor set to music. Unlike “Mermaid Avenue” the honour doesn’t go to one or two artists to finish the work. Instead twelve different artists take a turn.

This might make the songs disjointed but instead they feel tightly connected, and not just through the lyrics which are classic Hank topics of heartbreak and loneliness. All the artists that contribute a finished song have captured the essence of Hank.

This gave me an even deeper appreciation for just how influential Hank has been on modern music. Every artist sounds like themselves, but in so doing they also show how their music is founded in the musical discoveries Hank made back in the forties and fifties.

The album opens with Alan Jackson singing “You’ve Been Lonesome Too” and both in arrangement and style, this song is a carbon copy of Hank Williams. Jackson sings so like Hank it feels like he’s been reborn. Usually I would complain that the ‘remake’ doesn’t do enough with the original song, but this song is original to me. Besides, it is so perfectly done I don’t mind the copycat job.

Other artists take greater liberties, but they never stray far from the lilting tone and tear-stained guitar that makes a Hank Williams song authentic. For some artists, like Jackson, Rodney Crowell or Patty Loveless, the influence was obvious from their own work. For others, like Jack White and Sheryl Crow, hearing them breathe life into Hank’s ghost made me appreciate just how much he was already living inside them.

The old guys featured on the record were some of my least favourites. Bob Dylan and Levon Helm sound old and tired, and Merle Haggard’s song sounds a bit too…Haggard. Surprisingly, Bob’s son Jakob’s offering is better than both of them, and it isn’t even one of my favourites. By the way don’t expect to ever hear that Jakob Dylan outdid his dad on a project again. This is definitely the only time that will ever happen.

Jack White wins for getting the song with the best lyrics with “You Know That I Know.” This is a song about a man who knows the dirty and low-down secrets of a girl and is warning her not to put on airs now that they’ve moved to town:

“Now you know that I know that you ain't no good

And you wouldn't tell the truth even if you could

Lying is a habit you practice where ever you go

Well you may fool the rest of this world

But you know that I know”

And my favourite part of down-home snark comes later with:

“To some folks you may be Mrs. So-and-So

But don't turn your nose up at me,

You know that I know”

Another favourite is Norah Jones singing “How Many Times Have You Broken My Heart?” which is an amazing combination of a Hank Williams’ inspired melody and the smooth tone of Jones’ voice. It is touched around the edges with just the right amount of Mexican guitar to balance Jones’ smokey tones.

Like Alan Jackson, Vince Gill and Rodney Crowell perfectly capture another side of Hank as his storytelling ‘Luke the Drifter’ character. I don’t really like Hank as Luke the Drifter so this particular song didn’t work for me as well as Jackson’s.

This album is worth your time if you are a Hank completionist or even if you just want another reminder of how deep and wide his influence has been on music. Not every song is great, but most are at least worth your time and all of them will have you hearing Hank’s ghost in every song for days after.

Best tracks: You’ve Been Lonesome Too – Alan Jackson, How Many Times Have You Broken My Heart – Norah Jones, “You Know That I Know” – Jack White, I’m So Happy I Found You – Lucinda Williams, “You’re Through Fooling Me” – Patty Loveless,

CD Odyssey Disc 772: Kate and Anna McGarrigle

For the second straight review we get 90s Canadian folk music – this time from Quebec.

Disc 772 is….Matapedia

Artist: Kate and Anna McGarrigle

Year of Release: 1996

What’s up with the Cover? A bad nineties collage, centered around Kate and Anna, who have decided to set up a couple of chairs on the railroad tracks. Typically you wouldn’t see someone sitting in a chair on a railroad track unless they were tied into it, but maybe the sisters saw a mock-up of how the cover was going to look and decided to end it all.

How I Came To Know It: I know the song “Goin’ Back To Harlan” from the Emmylou Harris album “Wrecking Ball.” Emmylou recorded it first, but Anna McGarrigle wrote it and I wanted to hear her version. I figured anyone who can write “Goin’ Back to Harlan” can’t be bad.

How It Stacks Up: I only have this one album by the McGarrigle sisters, so I can’t really stack it up.

Ratings: 3 stars

Sometimes an album can be really great but for whatever reason it just doesn’t resonate with you, and that’s how “Matapedia” is for me.

Kate and Anna McGarrigle are exceptional songwriters and their stuff is often pilfered by other artists, which as I noted above is exactly how I discovered this album. “Matapedia” is one of their better known albums (meaning ‘hardly known at all outside of folk singers’ but all things are relative). It even won a Juno. If there was a gateway McGarrigle album, I reasoned, this would be it.

The album starts off well. The title track is a pretty little song that I think is a father-daughter reunion, but never spells it out. Regardless of what it is about, the semi-whispered vocal delivery sits in perfectly with the rolling beat. This is a song that speaks to the quiet secrets of ordinary people.

The song I bought the record for, “Goin’ Back to Harlan” is even more haunting and fae than the Emmylou version. For Emmylou you can feel violence and danger lurking around the corner of the narrator’s decision to go back to Harlan. The McGarrigles capture the compulsion to do something dangerous, rather than the actual danger.

After this the record lost me a bit. “Hang on to Your Heart,” “Arbre” and “Jacques et Gilles” are all beautifully constructed but they didn’t hit me in the guts like I think they were intended to. “Why Must We Die” has some pretty language but the song needed less philosophy to work.

On the other end of the spectrum is the very mature “Talk About It” which is a sexy little love song about a couple that cut the party off short to head home and knock boots. This song has a nice slow build, and if I’m not mistaken the chorus has not one but two double entendres, first with the morning ‘coming’ (‘it always does’) followed by a couple ‘pushing it around now’. I guess that would be a double double entendre. How very Canadian.

Most of the songs have a production where elements are added verse to verse, and I like the slow progression and the energy that’s generated, although at times the whole thing felt a bit too slick. As for the vocals, the sisters won’t win any singing competitions, but they get the job done sweetly enough, and know how to phrase their songs for maximum emotional impact.

I am sorely tempted to keep this album in my collection and hope it grows on me, but the truth is I’ve already had it for a couple of years now. Other than an initial three listens when I bought it I think this is the first time I’ve taken it off the shelf since. Even though I like it more now, I don’t see taking it down for another listen soon outside of the Odyssey.

So although we now part ways I part with you on good terms, Kate and Anna. You make pretty music but I’m goin’ back to Harlan – only Emmylou Harris’ version.

Best tracks: Matapedia, Goin’ Back to Harlan, Talk About It

CD Odyssey Disc 771: Rankin Family

I’ve had a great weekend so far and it seems a shame to end it by spending the day doing the laundry but then again – it is more shameful to not have clean underwear.

I’m just back from a night filled with musical discovery with like-minded friends and I’m ready to carry that experience over into Sunday and write this review. The laundry can wait that long.

Disc 771 is….North Country

Artist: The Rankin Family

Year of Release: 1993

What’s up with the Cover? Fashion was terrible in the early nineties, and this cover has it on full display. High-waisted pleated pants, shapeless long dresses, oversized vests, mom jeans and shirts that could double as tents.

On a side note, Jimmy Rankin (guy on the right) is about 5’8” in real life, which tells you just how tiny this family is.

How I Came To Know It: I had become a fan of the Rankin Family through their previous album, “Fare Thee Well Love” so I just bought this one when it came out and hoped it would be as good.

How It Stacks Up: I’m going to reluctantly trust my earlier Rankin reviews and put this album second best out of the six I have, even though I wasn’t all that inspired listening to it this time around.

Ratings: 3 stars

Strangely there was a time when my music collection was not ridiculously large. CDs I owned back then got a lot of air time, and “North Country” was one of them. As a result I know this album really well, and I wasn’t ready to revisit it just yet. Sadly, the CD Odyssey had other ideas.

The Rankin Family were a big deal in 1993, and “North Country” rode the wave of excitement Canada had at the time for folk music from Eastern Canada. It was a crossover hit into country, folk and pop radio, building on the success of “Fare Thee Well Love” and taking it to another level.

The Rankins are incredibly polished, and this is both an asset and a detriment.

On the plus side, they are always on point, and all three sisters (Raylene, Heather and the oddly named “Cookie”) have voices that are so high and pure they could cut a hole in a fog bank. I expect that would be a useful superpower back in Cape Breton, in fact – they should have been lighthouse keepers. But I digress…

Jimmy Rankin also sings beautifully and his voice keeps the songs grounded when his sisters would have them soar off into the stratosphere. When I first heard this album, I couldn’t get enough of the sisters, but over the years I’ve shifted to appreciating Jimmy more and more. Now, I wish he was featured more and when I want to hear this style of music, I tend to put his solo albums on instead.

Rounding out the group is John Morris Rankin, who doesn’t sing but is capable on both the fiddle and piano and holds everything together.

The Rankins biggest asset – their precision and vocal excellence – is also what holds “North Country” back from being better. Folk music is about telling the stories of ordinary people, and it doesn’t work unless you infuse it with the right emotional content.  “North Country” doesn’t do sad well.

When the song is upbeat you don’t notice. “Mull River Shuffle” and “Johnny Tulloch” are essentially dance songs about nothing more than going to a dance. The singing is lively and John Morris and guest player Howie Macdonald make their fiddles jump.

The title track is about loving where you’re from, and although it is a bit more on the pop side of the ledger, the cheery quality of the Rankins fits it well.

“Lisa Brown” which is a song about wanting the title character to come home, is just overblown. The song should have a bit of anxiety over whether Lisa will return. Instead it sounds like another dance song.

Ditto for most songs on “North Country” with some kind of tension in them. Jimmy Rankin composes “Borders and Time” as a song full of regret, but Cookie Rankin’s voice is just too pitch perfect to pull it off. Jimmy fares a little better on “Tramp Miner.” This is a song about a guy working in the mines until it eventually kills him. It should be a stoic and tragic tale of a working man, but it doesn’t quite capture the sadness it needs. It would be better with just Jimmy and no backing vocals, and maybe trade out the piano for just guitar.

The Gaelic songs on the album are much better, and both “Ho Ro Mo Nighean Donn Bhoidheach” and “Leis and Lurgainn” are brilliantly delivered. This might be because I don’t understand the words, or that they are traditional songs and a song that survives a couple hundred years in folk music tends to be good. “Leis and Lurgainn” is one of my all time favourite Rankin tunes, probably third behind only “Fare Thee Well Love” and “Ballad of Malcom Murray.”

“North Country” is a bit too cheerful and a bit too produced, but there is plenty to like on this record, and I know I’ll eventually return to it more regularly. For now it needs to cool off a bit more on the CD shelf for a while longer.

Best tracks: Mull River Shuffle, Ho Ro Mo Nighean Donn Bhoidheach, Leis an Lurgainn (Boat Song), Johnny Tulloch

CD Odyssey Disc 770: INXS

For the second straight review we have an album that was so popular in the mid-eighties it was unavoidable.

Disc 770 is….Kick

Artist: INXS

Year of Release: 1987

What’s up with the Cover? Half of Michael Hutchence’s head, who nevertheless still looks handsome and smartly dressed, plus a bunch of other unattractive band members dressed like dorks. Also a skateboard. You can almost hear some out of touch record exec saying “And ah, yeah, put a skateboard on the cover, boys. The kids, they love their skateboards” as he waved a cigarette absently with one hand and dropped ashes on his mahogany desk that some receptionist would later have to clean up.

How I Came To Know It: I was a teenager in 1987, so like every other teenager in the western world, I knew this album. However, I never owned it until about three years ago when our friends Gord and Dawn were getting rid of their music collection, and I bought it off him for a good price.

How It Stacks Up: I had originally saved the #1 spot for this album, but frankly listening to it today just enraged me. I’m moving all the other albums up one spot and putting it dead last instead. Here’s the full list:

1. Listen Like Thieves: 3 stars (reviewed back at Disc 292)
2. X: 3 stars (reviewed back at Disc 460)
3. The Swing: 3 stars (reviewed back at Disc 362)
4. Kick: 2 stars (reviewed right here)

Ratings: 2 stars

When I rolled this album I was excited to giving it a listen with fresh ears, after refusing to give it a chance as a teenager. Instead it became a flashback to why the record annoyed me so much the first time.

“Kick” has a pretty simple formula – write a simple lick or guitar riff, play that lick to death, never letting it develop melodically, then add in some stupid lyrics that are borderline nonsense and then trust lead singer Michael Hutchence to bail you out and make them sound good.

Against all odds, Hutchence manages to pull this off on multiple occasions. He was a handsome guy built for the video age, but he also has a great rock voice and charisma that pours out of his vocals like liquid gold.

“New Sensation” and “Devil Inside” follow the formula to a tee. Both songs have instantly recognizable licks. “New Sensation” is about drug use and “Devil Inside” is attempting to speak to the battle of the sexes. At least I think what they’re about, since the lyrics are awful. Here’s the beginning of “Devil Inside”:

“Here come the woman with the look in her eye

Raised on leather with flesh on her mind

Words as weapons, sharper than knives

Makes you wonder how the other half die.

“Here come the man with the look in his eye

Fed on nothing but full of pride

Look at them go look at them kick

Makes you wonder how the other half live.”

Let’s put aside these incredibly bad attempts at rhyming for a second and just try to figure out what is going on. Are women killing men with their words, or is she raised on leather and using her body as a weapon? Is the guy hungry or angry? Is he kicking women? Just what the hell is going on here? Answer – who gives a damn.

When Hutchence sings this crap he just makes you think “dance party!” so it doesn’t matter what is going on, I guess. They might as well be filling the air with “oh oh oh” or “sha na na” like later Shania Twain songs do. Despite Hutchence’s heroics “New Sensation” can’t resist inserting an atrocious combo solo between a strangled saxophone and a drunk electric guitar. Fortunately it only lasts for about a bar and a half.

The best songs on the record are the sexy, sweaty “Need You Tonight” and “Never Tear Us Apart” the latter of which is a pretty sweet combination of classical violins backing a pretty rock n’ roll love song. Hutchence squeezes every drop out of “Never Tear Us Apart”, which is both sexy and cool and a key reason this record scores 2 stars. For all that, I think “By My Side” off of their next record (1990’s “X”) is a better version of the same thing.

So far I’ve only been talking about the album’s hits (it had a bunch) and if you’re hoping that the deep cuts redeem the overall experience, you are hoping in vain. Mostly, the other tracks have all the faults of the hits, minus the good riffs.

The album’s absolute nadir is “Mediate” a song that is basically eighties drum percussion and Hutchence rattling off a list of words that rhyme with the song title and don’t have much point beyond that. One line even implores listeners “not to hate” but I hated it anyway.

Given that “Kick” isn’t demonstrably different from my other three INXS albums, you might ask why I had such a strong reaction. Simply put, the other albums do what they do better. “The Swing” does the crazy eighties percussion sounds better. “X” is more polished and has markedly better songwriting overall and “Listen Like Thieves” is better on both these counts.

By contrast, “Kick” makes me hear the faults of other INXS albums feel magnified, which is probably the biggest reason it made me so grumpy.

Ten years ago, I watched the TV show “Rock Star: INXS” where the Farriss brothers sought a new lead singer to replace the tragically deceased Hutchence. After many weeks of weeding folks out, they ended up with finalists Marty Casey and J.D. Fortune. Casey was a real artist, and even brought an original song that was borderline thoughtful to the finale. Fortune was a Canadian doofus who looked and sounded like a bad version of Hutchence, and had very little going for him beyond that.

Regrettably, Fortune won, and they launched a tour that no doubt was packed with twenty-year anniversary celebrations of “Kick.” I kept well away; it takes all the talent of Michael Hutchence to kick even a bit of life into this album.

Best tracks: Need You Tonight, Never Tear Us Apart

CD Odyssey Disc 769: Bruce Springsteen

Two of my friends are on anti-clutter kicks so last night I was inspired to give a kitchen drawer a thorough cleaning. It was exhilarating. A few moments ago I went to get something and ended up cleaning up about twenty items out of the next drawer before I could tear myself away. Getting rid of clutter just feels good.

So does music, which is why you’re actually here. Let’s talk about that, shall we?

Disc 769 is….Born in the U.S.A.

Artist: Bruce Springsteen

Year of Release: 1984

What’s up with the Cover? This is what the start of the movie “Patton” would’ve looked like if Patton had been the town mechanic instead of a five star general.

How I Came To Know It: Everyone my age knows this album. In 1984 this record was inescapable.

How It Stacks Up: Only 9 albums ago I hinted that there was a three way tie for second place with “Tunnel of Love” and two other records. This is the first of those two. In fact, I’m going to bump “Tunnel of Love” down to fourth and put this one third instead.

Ratings: 4 stars but almost 5

Think for a second about the first note on the title track of “Born in the U.S.A.” Do you hear the snap of the snare drum’s first beat? Maybe for you it starts with the clarion call of the organ up high in the mix. You probably glossed right over that low gloomy piano chord, which is how it actually starts. It’s little moments like that, flitting subtly past your ears, which are key to why this album is as good as it is.

That gloomy piano is in the background through the whole song, ponderously alternating between two chords like the rest of the song, only sadder and in the background. It is like an old dog that can’t quite keep up with his master on the morning walk anymore, but is resigned to plod along behind faithfully anyway. I won’t belabor the oft-made point that this song’s triumphant sound is undercut by lyrics that are all about the American dream gone wrong. I just wanted to note that the song undercuts itself as well, and is another example of Springsteeen’s subtle genius.

An apparent tonic from the oppressive gloom of Sprinsteen’s previous album “Nebraska,” “Born in the U.S.A.” is still an album that wants to explore the tales of the downtrodden. It just does so at a faster tempo and with more saxophone.

Normally all the horns and bells and whistles on an album like this would just annoy me, but “Born in the U.S.A.” has a magical quality that makes it all work. The good old boys partying for the 4^th of July on “Darlington County” are just having a good time, and a little horn section makes it all the more festive.

This could be the same guys on the next track, gleefully laying blacktop on “Working on the Highway.” With all that hand clapping and jumpy organ, it sounds like working on the highway is the best gig in town, until you realize the guy is actually on a prison road crew. And then you realize that if you hadn’t been listening really carefully, you’d probably thought it was just this guy’s job. But the song’s structure made the mistake an easy one to make.

“Glory Days” tells the stories of people living in the past. A kid who didn’t quite make the big leagues, still tells high school stories at the local pub. A former beauty queen now divorced with two kids is now resigned to her life. Even the narrator of the song, who is keenly aware of the denial all around him, chooses the same path:

“Think I’m going down to the well tonight

And I’m gonna drink till I get my fill

And I hope when I get old I don’t sit around

Thinking about it, but I probably will

Yeah, just sitting back trying to recapture

A little of the glory of,

But time slips away and leaves you with nothing mister

But boring stories of glory days.”

Seeing the road to hell leading straight to your local and walking it anyway.

There are moments of redemption and small victories throughout “Born in the U.S.A.” as well, but they are always tinged with doubt. “I’m on Fire” is a love song, but tinged with the slow burn of desire for a woman who’s not in your arms. “No Surrender” is an anthem of protest, where the only solace left in an unjust world is that your woman is now there for you when you turn out the lights.

“If there is a true moment of redemption, it comes on “Dancing in the Dark,” where Springsteen acknowledges that we are in the dark, but we’re dancing, and that optimism is the spark you need to carry you through the hard times.

The record ends with “My Hometown” – a song about the slow and recurring pace of small town life, and how people hang on to their old lives, generation to generation, even though the textile plant is closing and the jobs are gone.

“Dancing in the Dark” and “My Hometown” are my two favourite songs on the album, despite both having a fuzzy production that wrecked a lot of lesser records at this time. Springsteen avoids the excess futzing that nibbles around the edges of his next record, “Tunnel of Love.” Instead, the production here puts a layer of artifice on top of deeply emotional content. The distance created gives you a perspective that you need in order to see the character’s Springsteen’s raspy vocals bring to life. It is the energy you need to believe that these characters can break free of their chains (real or metaphorical) and get the hell out of town. They never do, but it is the tension from them being on the verge that makes you keep listening for a miracle.

This whole album is about the broken dreams of America, but it is also about the chutzpah and bottomless well of enthusiasm that just can’t be knocked out of the working man. Does that refusal to give in make the stories on this album more or less tragic? I think Springsteen wants you to decide that for yourself. As far as I’m concerned you can’t start a fire without a spark, and this album is that spark.

Best tracks: Born in the U.S.A., County, Working on the Highway, Downbound Train, I’m On Fire, No Surrender, Glory Days, Dancing in the Dark, My Hometown – yes, that’s 8 of the 12 songs on the album. I told you it was close to 5 stars.

CD Odyssey Disc 768: Kings of Leon

I sprained my wrist playing disc golf on Thursday after taking a bit of a spill, but that didn’t stop me from playing ulti today. You’re only as old as you feel and I am feeling pretty spry and alive, thank you very much.

And so on to the next album which is appropriately titled for such notions.

Disc 768 is….Youth & Young Manhood

Artist: Kings of Leon

Year of Release: 2003

What’s up with the Cover? Looks just white but it has a graphic of the bands’ heads when you see it at the right angle. I took a bunch of pictures and couldn’t pick it up, but then Sheila tried her hand at it and did a lot better – sorry about the glare, but without it you wouldn’t see the graphic.

How I Came To Know It: Sheila bought this album after hearing them on the radio.

How It Stacks Up: Kings of Leon have six albums, but we have only two and no plans to get more. The two we have are this one and “Mechanical Bull” (reviewed back at Disc 694). I prefer “Mechanical Bull” putting “Youth & Young Manhood” second.

Ratings: 2 stars

In the last ten years rock and roll seems obsessed with creating ‘energy’ at any cost, and sometimes that cost is focus – so it is with “Youth & Young Manhood” which could easily be called “Youth in a Hurry.”

There is a lot of good songwriting on this album, and when these songs are working, so is the energy. There were times walking to work listening to this album that this record put a welcome swagger in my step. There were other times, though, where it felt like the Kings were trying too hard to create that swagger.

During these times they sound like a drunken Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers; unfocused and slurred. The slurring really bothers me, and Caleb Followill’s vocals are often unintelligible, or worse they take a lot of concentration just to understand them and once you do, they aren’t terribly insightful. This isn’t an album that is about the lyrics, but if you take the time to write some words, you owe it to yourself and your listeners to make sure you can be understood.

It would bother me less if the slurring seemed natural, but instead it feels like Caleb is doing it deliberately and trying to show how he is so deeply emotionally into the song. I found it particularly annoying on “Joe’s Head,” which is a very cool song where the rest of the band is playing beautifully together but Caleb is ranting over the top of it. It is still a good song, but it could have been so much better.

There are other times when Kings of Leon feel too deliberately derivative of earlier acts. The Tom Petty influences are throughout, but “Trani” sounds like a cross between the Rolling Stones and Lou Reed. And it doesn’t sound like something new, it just sounds like a band that likes those two previous artists – like a cover band, only playing a songs you don’t actually know.

One of the best songs on the record is “Holy Roller Novocaine” where the frantic over-partied feel to the Kings of Leon works well with a song that is full of directionless excess. Unfortunately, the Kings decided to make this track also contain a hidden track, “Talihina Sky.” “Talihina Sky” is a pretty song as well, and it’s more measured and responsible pace is a welcome way to end the record. Unfortunately, it only appears after four minutes of dead air at the end of “Holy Roller Novocaine.” Just put them on separate tracks next time, boys – hidden tracks done this way are no fun for anyone.

The album is maddeningly close to being something really special. The songs are just slightly overwritten; the vocals just one (maybe two) steps too affected. The classic rock influences are great, but ultimately it has to sound either a) better than what came before or b) sufficiently different that it is worth your time.

Listening to this album I mostly wanted to just go put on a Rolling Stones or Tom Petty album and hear how it is done right. Worse, I was hoping someone else could take the songs on “Youth & Young Manhood” and record them instead.

Best tracks: Wasted Time, Joe’s Head, Holly Roller Novocaine, Talihina Sky

CD Odyssey Disc 767: Great Big Sea

I am not feeling any witticisms or idle observations coming over me today, so let’s just get right down to the music.

Disc 767 is….Sea of No Cares

Artist: Great Big Sea

Year of Release: 2002

What’s up with the Cover? It’s a goldfish, which the liner notes indicate is named Steve. A goldfish in a bowl is kind of in a sea of no cares, which is a good reminder that not having any cares often means you don’t have any freedom either.

How I Came To Know It: This was just me buying Great Big Sea’s latest release when it came out, having been a fan from the very first studio album. Interestingly, this was the last CD of theirs that I bought. I might one day check out their later work (they’ve done four studio albums since) but lately I’ve been pulled down different roads.

How It Stacks Up: As noted, I have five Great Big Sea albums. “Sea of No Cares” is right in the middle at three, just ahead of their self-titled debut (reviewed back at Disc 453).

Ratings: 3 stars but close to 4

“Sea of No Cares” is Great Big Sea’s fifth studio album, and by this point they’ve got their sound pretty nailed down; traditional Newfoundland folk music which just the right amount of pop production to make it go down easy.

The songs might be traditional or they might be Great Big Sea originals but the band makes every song sound like it was made for them. They have an energy that makes it feel like you’re hearing them at a pub, and an approachability that makes them feel like you’re with the band.

Folk music demands tight, disciplined playing if it is going to work. The trick is to keep it tight but keep the swing in it that makes it sound relaxed. Great Big Sea has this down, whether it is the easy strum of the guitar, the mandolin keeping the pace, or the bodhran sitting in the background holding it all together.

And since I mentioned it, I’d like to just say how much I love the bodhran as a percussion instrument. So many Celtic bands at this stage of their development go too heavily into the traditional pop and rock drumming. They’re trying to energize their work, but instead they drown it in high hats and snares. Great Big Sea does use a regular drum kit tastefully on a few songs, but I like it best when they stick with the bodhran. Songs like “Scolding Wife” and “French Perfume” are held together by the bodhran’s easy rhythms and whatever foot stomps the audience would like to add when they hear it live.

Lead vocals are (mostly) done by Alan Doyle, and his voice has a powerful, back-of-the-throat quality that holds the songs together. He also has a natural talent for finding just the right point of the beat to come in, and just what phrasing to sing to best tell the story. On a modern tale of heartbreak, like “Clearest Indication” he draws each note out, and on “Yarmouth Town” and “Scolding Wife” he lets his perfect timing and almost staccato delivery drive the songs’ action and humour simultaneously.

This album has the requisite classics about life on the sea with “Boat Like Gideon Brown” and “Barque in the Harbour” and funny songs about sailors on leave getting into mischief (“Yarmouth Town”). It has a solid range of fun, sad and whimsical. It even has a ghost story (“French Perfume”).

Great Big Sea sometimes gets dismissed as being too far on the pop side of folk. To be fair, there are songs that feel a bit schmaltzy (“Stumbling In” and “Own True Way” come to mind on this album). Even these songs don’t pull the album down too far, though. Besides, I don’t think it should be a crime to be listenable and accessible. In the modern age where everything has to feel ironically detached to be cool, it is nice to remember a simpler time not that long ago when folk music could be joyful and full of honest feeling.

Sometimes you just want to listen to a little music and not feel like you’re working to understand it. When you have this condition – let’s call it “ear of no cares” – an excellent tonic for what ails you is to put on an album by Great Big Sea. This one would be a fine choice.

Best tracks: Sea of No Cares, Scolding Wife, A Boat Like Gideon Brown, French Perfume, Yarmouth Town

CD Odyssey Disc 766: Jimi Hendrix

After an enjoyable long weekend it was back to work – but that also meant it was back to getting some walking time in, so I was able to finally finish listening to this next album.

Disc 766 is….Electric Ladyland

Artist: Jimi Hendrix

Year of Release: 1968

What’s up with the Cover? The U.K, release of this record had a cover with a bunch of naked ladies on it, but I had to settle for this American cover of Jimi’s Giant Head.

How I Came To Know It: Sheila saw the special edition of this album and “Are You Experienced” and bought them both.

How It Stacks Up: We have all three of Hendrix’s studio albums – he died before he could make any more. I’d put “Electric Ladyland” right in the middle at #2.

Ratings: 3 stars

“Electric Ladyland” is a three star album on the strength of its artistry, even though at times it felt like a chore to listen to it from start to finish.

The talent of Hendrix and his supporting band (“The Experience”) is on full display. These guys can really play, and in terms of rock guitar, Jimi not only invented a style, he did is so well no one has ever successfully emulated it.

That said, a bit of restraint here and there might be called for. I know it is 1968 and everything, but it feels like this record is about getting really high and then challenging yourself to still make amazing music. The band is incredibly talented for sure, but they also sound like they got really really high. The struggle for direction that results is beautiful a lot of the time, but painful for the rest of it.

Being that high (or at least channeling the idea) leads to a lot of musical meandering – enough to stretch the recording to a double album – but not all that meandering needed to make it onto the finished product. The cutting room floor of the studio was probably so clear of litter you could’ve eaten dinner off of it.

After a strange and pointless intro number, the first real song is the sexy-as-hell “Have You Ever Been to (Electric Ladyland).” This song is just two minutes long because as the Flying Concords teach us, “two minutes in heaven is better than one minute in heaven.”

And a few songs later, you get fourteen minutes of aimless but brilliant noodling on “Voodoo Chile.” This song just goes on and on like the swaying drunk late at a party who just doesn’t have sense enough to call himself a cab and go home. About 11 minutes in I thought it was going to end when the guitar amp starting kicking up some feedback, someone calling for it to be turned down. They don’t stop the song because of this, though. Hell no, they aren’t going to waste 11 minutes of perfectly good noodle.

And that’s the worst part of this record; the noodling and the excess are so masterfully done they encourage a generation of rockers who follow to try to accomplish the same. Most will spectacularly fail. Hendrix was the noodler that shook the world.

Despite the brilliance of “Voodoo Chile” I much prefer the stripped down four minute version, “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” which shows up as the last song on the collect three album sides later. I don’t just like it because it is spelled correctly, either (although that doesn’t hurt). I appreciated that it has a modicum of focus to its brilliance.

Maybe after the sexy slow number and the acid-fuelled noodle you think you have a handle on this album’s sound. Nope. Jimi throws you for a loop again, with “Little Miss Strange,” a song that sounds like a cross between Buddy Holly and the Who which is a goofy little song that has been Jimi-fied with guitar brilliance. Jimi has no business sounding this good on a track that pointless, but he does it anyway.

The album’s greatest song is a Hendrix classic (and Sheila favourite) “Crosstown Traffic” which is a perfect rock song despite Jimi’s insistence on experimenting with stereo. (“Check it out – the traffic is in your left ear – and now your right ear! Far out!”). “Crosstown Traffic” perfectly blends the frustration of a traffic jam with the frustration of not being able to communicate in a relationship. It is a masterpiece of rock and roll.

Later, Jimi and the boys (presumably after smoking/dropping some more of whatever they are smoking/dropping) give us the album’s second epic, this one the thirteen and a half minute “1983…A Merman I Should Turn Out to Be” which is apparently how Jimi sees the future. 1983 was sadly not nearly as interesting as Jimi’s marine adventure imagined it would be. This song has strange percussion, odd whistles, fun with stereo (again!) and all manner of other bat-shit craziness. I kind of liked it, but I don’t think I’d want to sit around and listen to it very often.

With all this innovation – good, bad and crazy – I am loathe to even mention the appearance of a cover song, but it would be wrong to ignore Hendrix’s classic cover of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower.” Better than the original (which is great) there is a reason this song is forty-seven years old and still sounds fresh and new. Jimi may never have played the guitar better, which is a frightening prospect.

This album is a great example of Jimi Hendrix doing whatever the hell he wanted. At every turn his genius is on full display. I’d like to cut the whole thing down to one record and 40 minutes but maybe that would just wreck it.

Best tracks: Crosstown Traffic, Gypsy Eyes, House Burning Down, All Along the Watchtower, Voodoo Child (Slight Return),