CD Odyssey Disc 882: Case, Lang and Veirs

This next album got inserted into the lineup as a new album. I don’t do that much, but I will if it means I can line it up with a review of the live show as well. That live show review follows below, but first the record…

Disc 882 is….Case/Lang/Veirs

Artist: Neko Case, kd lang and Laura Veirs

Year of Release: 2016

What’s up with the Cover? A picture by artist Elliott Green. Ordinarily I don’t like this collage-like style of painting, but I find the colours soothing here.

How I Came To Know It: I found out about this project when I heard the three artists involved were doing a show in Victoria. I’m a huge Neko Case fan, and kd lang rarely lets me down, so I decided to take a chance on Laura Veirs rounding out the trio.

How It Stacks Up:  This is the only album by this particular combination of artists, so it doesn’t really stack up. It holds up favourably against the Case and Lang albums in our collection, though.

Ratings: 4 stars

When I heard that Neko Case, kd lang and Laura Veirs had teamed up to make a record I really wanted it to be good. It was.

I’m a huge (if relatively recent) fan of Neko Case and have voraciously been digging through her music for the past several years. I’m a bit pickier when it comes to kd lang, but every time I review one of her records she wows me. Laura Veirs was new to me, which gave the album the flair of discovery and novelty that a music collector like me is always craving.

The opening track, “Atomic Number” is one of the album’s stronger songs, and gives you a good idea of what to expect. Each singer gets a chance to showcase the pure quality in their voice, before they three of them land the first of the record’s many exquisite harmonies.

The song also begins with a refutation of what the singers are not. Not a freckled maid, or a fair-haired girl, or a pan of milk. The three singers are clear (but gentle) in noting this is a new project, to be taken on its own terms, based on the internal spark of talent each of them is bringing to the table. At least that’s how I took it.

Not surprisingly on an album made by three talented singer-songwriters, the album is a celebration of the artistic process. The tender “Song for Judee” is about Judee Sill, a folk singer who died too young of a drug overdose, but is lovingly remembered by Laura Veirs in the song. On “Best Kept Secret” and “I Want To Be Here” Veirs also takes the lead on songs about artists, with the first song being an up-tempo celebration and the second, a resolute and stoic stand in favour art for art’s sake. These lines really appeal to me:

“The hungry fools who rule the world can’t catch us

Surely they can’t ruin everything.

I just want to be here with you

Not bracing for what comes next.”

Written down they lose something, but in the tight harmonic embrace of these three voices, they’ll give you a shiver.

I didn’t know Veirs before this. In anticipation of the concert, I checked out some of her earlier solo stuff and honestly didn’t love it. That said, there is no denying she is the glue that holds the record together, grounding the slightly wild Case and Lang in a folk foundation the record needs to gain traction.

Of all three voices showcased on this record, my favourite will always be the big brassy range of Neko Case. Two of the songs she is featured on (“Behind the Armory,” “Down I-5”) are already favourites. On “Behind the Armory” Case goes from big power vocals down to a sweet and soft as she sings the refrain of “still I want you to love me” with a tender and vulnerable tone that will break your heart.

Everytime kd lang takes the driver’s seat, the record takes on a delightful smoky lounge feel. “Honey and Smoke” “Blue Fires” and “Why Do We Fight” all have a crooner quality that gives the album a nice range of style, without ever feeling discordant.

The album had me thinking of Sarah McLachlan, and I can feel her influence pouring down through the ages. There is a neo-nineties echo and layering of piano and strings in places, but it is kept stripped down and reserved, and so rarely feels intrusive.

Overall, this is a solid record that after four straight listens only became more and more enjoyable. If you like any of these three artists and don’t know the other two, then this is a great way to branch out.

Best tracks:  Atomic Number, Song for Judee, Behind the Armory, Best Kept Secret, I Want to be Here, Down I-5, Why Do We Fight

THE CONCERT – June 28, 2016 at the Royal Theatre, Victoria

It feels like forever since I’d been to a show at the Royal Theatre, which is one of my favourite Victoria venues to see a concert. It beats out the Alix Goolden Hall for one simple reason: assigned seating.

Before the show Sheila and I did the customary checking out of our fellow concert goers. It was an older crowd, some of whom seemed more like Jazz Fest illuminati than folk fans. I suspect the high ticket price kept a lot of younger fans away, and that was a bit of a shame, but when you’ve got three superstars in one venue, it is going to be costly.

The opening act was an indie folk singer named Andy Schauf. I’m told he is a multi-instrumental phenom, but this venue did him no favours. His performance put the room on Beige Alert. The sound was terrible, and his tunes sounded like mud. I couldn’t understand a word he sang, nor did he hold my attention. If anything, he made me a bit drowsy. The crowd applauded politely, and I joined in. He seemed like a nice kid, so what the hell.

Schauf’s best song was “Early to the Party” so I decided to check out the studio version and give him a second chance but nope, I didn’t like that either.

Then it was time for the main event, which stirred the crowd immediately out of its lethargy. For a crowd as ‘vintage’ as this one, they did a fine job of keeping the energy up, without ever being rude. I give the crowd an A (I’d give them an A+ if they hadn’t started yelling for the painfully over-covered “Hallelujah” during the encore).

After a hilarious joke from Lang about how this act was supposedly part of Jazz Fest (Jazz Fest is not picky about the genre of their headliner each year), both the band and the sound got off to an awkward start. Usually, the sound at the Royal is over-amplified but this time they were too low, and it was really hard to get into it. Fortunately the sound guy quickly fixed it, and the show’s audio got progressively better as the night went on.

As for the band, you can see these three gifted performers are still taking each other’s measure in the live experience. Case and Lang are both alpha dogs, and it took them a few songs to find the middle ground. Laura Veirs was the unsung hero throughout, and deserves a lot of the credit for making this thing work. Just like on the album, she is the glue that held the performance together, and by three or four songs in Neko and kd had found each other and were shining and – just as importantly – helping each other shine.

Lang is one hell of a performer, and has an almost child-like delight in music and being on stage that is infectious as hell. She dances around, barefoot in oversized pajamas having such a good time you can’t help but join in. It is like the world’s best trip to band camp. Her rendition of Neil Young’s “Helpless” was stunning, and earned her a deserved mid-show standing ovation. Her stories were funny, and the only down-note was her rendition of “Constant Craving” in the encore, where it felt like she was tired of singing that song, and desperate to change the phrasing somehow just to make it fresh again.

It was obvious that the crowd was overwhelmingly there to see Lang, but I was mostly interested in Neko Case, and she didn’t disappoint. She even had the good grace to set up her mic on my side of the stage. She played a couple of her own tracks, and really showed her punk soul on “I’m a Man” viscerally shouting “I am the man in the fucking moon!” at the Jazz Fest crowd, who seemed to really enjoy a good swear. She also played her guitar like a woman possessed. Case is obviously “the cool one” in the group, and gave the show a rock edge that completed the triangle of the folksy Veirs and the loungey Lang.

Despite each woman pulling 2-3 tracks from their solo work, the show was mostly a celebration of the new collaborative record, which made me happy because (as I’ve noted above) there is plenty of great material to draw on. Highlights for me included Case belting out “Behind the Armory” and the encore performance of “I Want To Be Here” which had solid harmonies. Regrettably, “Atomic Number” which is a great song, got performed early on in the show when the sound and the vibe weren’t quite established, but it is a minor quibble.

While the show took a while to get going, it ended up being a great celebration of music by three great artists. I would wholeheartedly see them again, and hope they make a second album together.

CD Odyssey Disc 881: The Eagles

I had a good streak of luck at the CD store yesterday, even if I may have overdone it. Last night Sheila and I played games and listened to all of them. I’ll review them when I randomly roll them, but here’s a teaser:

·         A box set of Patti Smith’s first five albums (I already had two of them, but I am seriously digging Patti Smith right now, and couldn’t pass up the deal).

·         Tom Petty – “She’s the One” (solid record that completes my Tom Petty collection).

·         Hayes Carll – “Lovers and Leavers” - this is an awesome record.

·         Green River – “Dry as a Bone/Rehab Doll” – the precursor to Pearl Jam is the foundation of grunge.

·          Sturgill Simpson – “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth” – Nashville will never accept Sturgill as long as he keeps making music as interesting as this. Good for him.

·         Bonnie Prince Billy – “Superwolf” – one of two remaining BPB albums I was on the hunt for. Too quiet to appreciate over a games night, but I have high hopes.

Now on to the music review!

Disc 881 is….Hotel California

Artist: The Eagles

Year of Release: 1976

What’s up with the Cover? Welcome to the iconic Hotel California. As you can see from the antennae, we have Wi-Fi.

How I Came To Know It: I’ve known this album since it came out and my brother bought it. I have had the vinyl edition for years, but I bought the CD when our friend Gord was selling his CD collection.

How It Stacks Up:  This is the only Eagles album I own, so it doesn’t really stack up.

Ratings: 4 stars, but just barely

I have more Don Henley albums than Eagles albums, which I guess shows I’m not a huge Eagles fan. If you were to only have one Eagles album, though, “Hotel California” is the one to have.

This record is widely regarded as one of rock’s great classics. I would amend that statement by saying it is an album that has some of rock’s great classic songs, but as an album it is pretty uneven.

O, but those classics are such classics, aren’t they? The title track is a five star song about the excesses of rock and roll. Has any other song been as talked about as “Hotel California”? How about a song that is over six minutes long and still gets regular radio play? Maybe “Stairway to Heaven” but that’s about it.

And there’s a good reason for this; “Hotel California” is a perfect song. From the unmistakable and haunting guitar intro, to the easy groove of the drums this song makes no missteps. Henley’s vocals (and lyrics) put the unease into the otherwise dreamy sound, creating a dissonance that never gets tired, despite hundreds of repeat listens.

Side One continues on a good run from here, with “New Kid In Town” and “Life In the Fast Lane.” “Life In the Fast Lane” has one of rock’s great guitar riffs, and a reckless energy that perfectly matches the out-of-control couple it depicts. “New Kid In Town” is a perfect depiction of what it is like to be the new kid:

“There's talk on the street; it sounds so familiar

Great expectations, everybody's watching you

People you meet, they all seem to know you

Even your old friends treat you like you're something new”

It also marks the rare occasion of me saying anything nice about Glenn Frey (who co-wrote it and sings lead). What have I got against Glenn Frey? Plenty. His solo career is so risible that he is a founding member of a mythical group I invented called Def Gorf. Other members of Def Gorf are: Art Garfunkel, John Oates, Andrew Ridgley and Def Leppard’s drummer. Not exactly a super group.

But I digress…

Back to the record which after a strong start loses a lot of its energy and direction. “Wasted Time” meanders all over the place, but never achieves the high emotion that Henley is so desperate to infuse into it.

However, not content with one song called “Wasted Time” the band decides to start Side Two of the record with “Wasted Time (reprise).” You wasted enough time on this song the first time around, guys.

“Victim of Love” has another great guitar riff to help bolster Side Two, but the chorus strips a lot of the energy out of the song.

Joe Walsh then steps in to take his turn at dragging the record down, with the meandering and schmaltzy “Pretty Maids All In a Row.” “Try and Love Again” is a good song, but it made me think of that pop/country crossover sound in mainstream country music that has been so terrible in the years that followed.

The album ends with “The Last Resort,” a slow moving narrative that sounds like what Don Henley would go on to do in his solo career. Unlike a lot of people, I like a lot of Henley’s solo career, particularly when he sounds like this – all sad and full of regret. “The Last Resort” isn’t a great song (and at 7:27 it goes on way too long) but it is a guilty pleasure.

The great songs on “Hotel California” are enough to just barely pull this record into 4 star territory but heretical as it may sound, I don’t think this is one of the greatest records of all time. I’ve just heard too many that are better.

Best tracks:  Hotel California, New Kid In Town, Life in the Fast Lane, The Last Resort

CD Odyssey Disc 880: The Decemberists

It would seem we have the beginnings of a run on indie folk music.

Disc 880 is….Picaresque

Artist: The Decemberists

Year of Release: 2005

What’s up with the Cover? It is supposed to look like a low budget stage play, with the character of “Eli, The Barrow Boy” (one of the songs) looking wistfully into the distance. No doubt he is dreaming that if he nails this performance in the high school musical he’ll be on Broadway in no time. No thanks to the set designer, mind you.

How I Came To Know It: Just me drilling through the Decemberists’ back catalogue.

How It Stacks Up:  I have six Decemberists albums, which is all but one of them (I’m going to buy “The Hazards of Love” next time I see it). Of the six I do have, I rate “Picaresque” at #4. Not great against their other work, but I still liked it.

Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4

Colin Meloy was born two hundred years too late, but on “Picaresque” the Decemberists front-man and songwriter shows that he’s adapted well to the conditions.

A “picaresque” is a story with rough edges and rough characters, and the Decemberists’ album follows suit, telling a series of tales that feel like they stepped right out of a dark fairy tale. Meloy is brilliant at such tales and his lyrics feel like a short story about a character that you want to read more about after the song ends.

Meloy has a deep and varied vocabulary and he employs it in an antiquarian way, but always through a prism of modern romanticism that is fresh and interesting. These songs are all original, but have a timeless quality that makes them feel like they are Victorian poems set to music.

The album’s title was a new word to me, and the first line of the first song features the word “palanquin” which I also didn’t know. That song, “The Infanta” captures a moment of pomp and ceremony upon the arrival of some foreign queen on a covered litter (a palanquin). It instantly made me think of what Catherine of Aragon’s arrival in London would have seemed like to commoners lining the streets. While “The Infanta” is not my favourite track (it is a bit manic, if deliberately so) but it is still a good song, filled with the right amount of glitz to match its subject matter.

As with a lot of Decemberists songs, the tragedy is lurking around the corner, but often not spelled out. While not in the song, as listeners we know that Henry VIII would divorce Catherine of Aragon and she would go on to live a large part of her life isolated in a foreign kingdom, where few spoke her native Spanish. If you didn’t know that then this is a good time to point out that history can make art more interesting.

My favourite track on the album is “Eli, The Barrow Boy” a mournful ghost story, well served by an easy strumming  on guitar and the high slight vibrato of Meloy’s voice. Eli dies shortly after his truest love, drowned (or perhaps drowning himself) in the nearby river. His ghost still pushes his barrow when the moon is full. Also, he shows up for album cover shoots.

Immediately after this slow and haunted tune, we get the up-tempo swing of “The Sporting Life” about a promising young athlete who has gone down on the field with some horrific injury. The band’s cheerful music is juxtaposed against the situation, as Meloy manages to capture the manic glory that some find when an athlete gets hurt. The crowd is seeking a compelling comeback story, but the song is from the perspective of the injured athlete, who is starting to see what reality looks like away from the lights:

“And father had such hopes

For a son who would take the ropes

And fulfill all his old athletic aspirations

But apparently now there’s some complications.

“But while I’m lying here

Trying to fight the tears

I’ll prove to the crowd that I come out stronger

(Though I think I might lie here a little longer).”

Unlike a lot of lesser indie folk music, the Decemberists infuse their densely written songs with a core of emotion that makes you care about these characters. On “The Engine Driver,” when Meloy sings “If you don’t love me, let me go” his pleas are deep and poignant. The cold indifference coming in response from the object of his affection is never mentioned, yet forms the core of the song.

“The Mariner’s Revenge Song” is a modern take on a traditional sea shanty. The song is nine minutes of slow building tale of revenge where you know the punchline from the opening verse, but savour every step down into the darkness.

The album doesn’t really have any clunkers, although I found “the Bagman’s Gambit” overlong and “On the Bus Mall” a bit sprawling. They aren’t bad songs, just songs that don’t hold up as well as those around them.

The album ends with “Of Angels and Angles,” a quiet observation of love, with a hint of sadness at the edges that again, is never voiced (I think it is aging, but it is just a guess).

“Picaresque” is a thoughtful album that took some getting used to, but was worth the extra effort.

Best tracks:  Eli the Barrow Boy, The Sporting Life, The Engine Driver, The Mariner’s Revenge Song, Of Angels and Angles

CD Odyssey Disc 879: Dan Mangan

I’m a bit tired tonight after a long day, and I’m looking forward to some couch surfing. But first…music!

Disc 879 is….Nice, Nice, Very Nice

Artist: Dan Mangan

Year of Release: 2009

What’s up with the Cover? The profile of none other than Her Majesty, Elizabeth II!  This version of Elizabeth has shades of rock and roll about her, with a crown featuring a lightning bolt and a frog earing.

This is one of the more clever album titles in my collection. “Nice, Nice, Very Nice” is the title of the second chapter of Kurt Vonnegut’s classic book “Cat’s Cradle” and “this is Mangan’s second album. Nicely played, Dan.

How I Came To Know It: I believe our friends Sherylyn and Joel put us on to this Dan Mangan album. I haven’t seen or talked to either of them in years, but I hope they are doing well.

How It Stacks Up:  I have three of Dan Mangan’s albums, and “Nice, Nice, Very Nice” is by far the best one. It isn’t even close.

Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4

It is easy to hate on so-called ‘indie’ music these days, but listening to the very indie-sounding “Nice, Nice, Very Nice” I had a hard time pitching in.

Hell, if I was in my twenties right now I would probably be a hipster. I’ve always enjoyed liking the things other people didn’t (in my youth, that was heavy metal) and hating things everyone else loved (Duran Duran comes to mind). Sardonic comments about life? Guilty.

I may have missed the hipster bandwagon (I guess when it comes to iconoclasts I prefer music’s earlier work) but I’m glad I didn’t miss Dan Mangan. He may be too clever for his own good, but he backs it up by being too good to be just clever.

“Nice, Nice, Very Nice” is Mangan’s crowning achievement. His insightful lyrics make you look around the everyday world, and let you know it is OK to appreciate the small things. Stuck in traffic? Broken cell phone? Experience the moment, and let Dan show you how these little things also have meaning.

Through it all, this record never feels self-satisfied or smug like it could in lesser hands. This is a record about feeling awkward and not being afraid to share the experience. As he sings on “The Indie Queens Are Waiting”:

“Are we cool now? Are we cool?

Bus down to the local record store

Buy something to make you like me more.”

Records? Admissions of a lack of coolness? Hell, this song even has a direct reference to ‘Indie Queens’ in the title. Are you cool now, Dan? By today’s standards you sure are, even though you can’t admit that you know it. Or maybe you can? The self-deprecating honesty feedback loop on this record never really rests easy on that question.

More important than all this very timely norm-core coolness is the fact that Mangan writes a beautiful pop song. “Nice, Nice, Very Nice” is full of melodies that are compelling and yet unlike anything you’ll hear on the mainstream radio (or so I imagine, being too cool for mainstream radio, myself). His music has a nice mid-tempo swell throughout, punctuated by flourishes of horns here and there that add just the right dash of self-importance to let you know Mangan is kidding, at least a little.

The worst part of music as far down the indie well as Dan Mangan is that it can very easily become emotionless, but Mangan seems to be well aware of the tightrope he is walking. He generally stays on the right side of that line. When he crosses over the song becomes almost a musical apology for doing so. As he sings on “Tina’s Glorious Comeback”:

“I’m ambitious when giving up.

Never thinking clear enough.

But we’re not Elvis anymore.

We’re not Frankie in his wild years.

We’re not Tina’s glorious comeback.

We’re not us.

We’re not us.”

On “Robots” he purports to be referencing broken cell phones when he says “Robots need love too/They want to be loved by you” but he could just as easily be talking about all the Indie queens (and kings) with their detached observations on life, poorly hiding their all-too frail and human hearts.

Incidentally, I saw Mangan in concert (with the aforementioned Sherylyn and Joel) and he was amazing, and deeply emotional. “Robots” had the entire audience singing along with a fervor that showed just how deeply affecting his lyrics can be when you take them into your heart.

On “Basket” you can feel Mangan’s appeal back to sixties folk music, and the song could have easily been an early Simon and Garfunkel track. When Mangan loses himself in his topic (as he does on “Basket” which is about coming to terms with aging) he can be downright depressing, but in a way that chooses to be thoughtful about tragedy, rather than wallow in it.

One quibble about the CD packaging on this record is Mangan’s introductory paragraph about what each song is about (that’s how a luddite like me know that “Robots” was inspired by a cell phone). I’d rather experience art on its own merits, without someone telling me how to approach it first. The songs are easily good enough to speak for themselves.

In the end, I wanted slightly more emotional expression, but for the most part Mangan’s exceptional songwriting skills, his gift for turning the ordinary into the admirable and his hyper-honest self-examination made this album compelling on the first listen, and the many I’ve had since.

Best tracks:  Road Regrets, Robots, The Indie Queens are Waiting, Tina’s Glorious Comeback, Et Les Mots Croises, Basket

CD Odyssey Disc 878: Townes Van Zandt

When I first started the Odyssey I invoked the “can review a new album right away rule” a lot more often (I have since come to fully embrace the chaos, and rarely review newly purchased albums, unless I’ve just seen the associated concern). Back when I did review new records, I had just bought a bunch of Townes albums and so burned through a whole lot of them all at once. I now miss getting a Townes album in the mix, so when it happens (as it just did) it is a welcome event.

Disc 878 is….For the Sake of the Song

Artist: Townes Van Zandt

Year of Release: 1968

What’s up with the Cover? Hey man, it was the sixties.

How I Came To Know It: I got into Townes from hearing Steve Earle’s tribute album “Townes” and since then have been buying up whatever I could find. “For the Sake of the Song” was just me drilling through the collection.

How It Stacks Up:  It seems every time I review a Townes Van Zandt album I own more than the last time. I’m now up to 10, and of those I must reluctantly put “For the Sake of the Song” in lowly eighth place. It is still a very good record, but there’re just too many better ones.

Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4

“For the Sake of the Song” is the first album Townes Van Zandt released, and while it showcases his immense talent, it cannot help but be overshadowed by the run of five amazing albums he would release in the three years following.

The biggest problem with “For the Sake of the Song” is the production, which sounds sparse to the point of feeling threadbare. Townes’ voice (never his strongest asset) is ill-served by the tinny quality of the recording, which makes him sound flatter than usual. His phrasing of each line is still instinctive and engaging, but the lack of oomph in the lower range takes away some of his songs’ natural gravitas.

The limitations of the recording is most keenly felt on the title track, which is an exceptional song, rich with lyrics about a man leaving a woman as tenderly as he can, but refusing to lie in the face of her pleas. The chorus has an unexpected open-heartedness about it that is refreshing:

“Maybe she just has to sing for the sake of the song

Who do I think that I am to decide that she's wrong?”

The deeper truth is that ultimately it is Townes that sings about her for the sake of the song, and so in a way, takes her with him, despite his leaving. I’ve heard similar sentiments from Gordon Lightfoot and Bob Dylan. I believe this is how troubadours got laid in the sixties.

I discussed this song in a slightly different light when I reviewed Townes’ self-titled follow up album back at Disc 339, which is a reminder that six of the 11 tracks on “For the Sake of the Song” (the album) are re-recorded on later records between 1969 and 1972. In every case, the later version is better. If those versions didn’t exist, I would probably like the originals more, but I can’t deny that later records did a better job at the same thing.

Fortunately, great songs like “Tecumseh Valley” and “Sad Cinderella” transcend bad production, and while I would have preferred to hear the later recordings, I was still happy they appear here as well.

In terms of unique content, four of the five other songs tend to be weaker. “Talkin’ Karate Blues” tells the story of a skinny kid going to learn karate. The song is intended to be funny, but despite a clever rhyme scheme and what (I hope) is a deliberately obtuse narrator, it doesn’t translate well into the twenty-first century.

The one track Townes never re-recorded that I wish he had is “Sixteen Summers, Fifteen Falls”. This standout song tells the tragic tale of a young girl who sleeps with her man, but then kills herself over the perceived shame of her act. The whole tale is over in just 2:35, abruptly ending, just like the subject of the song.

While Townes would later do a better job of the album’s best tracks, it doesn’t diminish how great the songs are, and they still sound fresh and thoughtful almost fifty years since they were first recorded.

Best tracks:  Tecumseh Valley, Sad Cinderella, All Your Young Servants, Sixteen Summers Fifteen Falls 

CD Odyssey Disc 877: The Irish Descendants

I’ve had a couple of enjoyable evenings. On Wednesday I went to a friend’s house and listened to Tool’s Lateralus on vinyl (I reviewed the CD experience at Disc 622). I don’t always love more modern records on vinyl, but “Lateralus” was amazing. I highly recommend the experience.

Last night I went for drinks with a friend and talked about a whole bunch of stuff, including music. He recently got the Cure’s “Disintegration” (Disc 465) on vinyl and I’m looking forward to giving that a listen as well.

I was not nearly as musically fortunate on my latest review, but as Bad Santa teaches us, “they can’t all be winners, kid.”

Disc 877 is….Blooming Bright Star

Artist: The Irish Descendants

Year of Release: 2001

What’s up with the Cover? It looks like an x-ray of a plant. It makes the plant feel kind of empty and vacant, which is perfect because that’s how this record sounds for the most part. Also, would it kill these guys to capitalize the title of the record?

How I Came To Know It: I was a fan of the Irish Descendants’ previous to this, and already owned four of their first five albums. This was just me buying the latest release.

How It Stacks Up:  I have five Irish Descendants albums and “Blooming Bright Star” is by far the worst. It isn’t even close. Since this is my last Irish Descendants review, here is a recap:

1. Gypsies & Lovers: 4 stars (reviewed back at Disc 517)
2. Look to the Sea: 3 stars (reviewed back at Disc 60)
3. Livin’ On the Edge: 3 stars (reviewed back at Disc 307)
4. Rollin’ Home: 3 stars (reviewed back at Disc 508)
5. Blooming Bright Star: 2 stars (reviewed right here)

Ratings: 2 stars

Despite the fact that by the year 2000 most of the original Irish Descendants were no longer with the band, I was cautiously optimistic that “Blooming Bright Star” would work out all right. I was a fool to be so hopeful.

The first and most important ingredient for successful folk music is heart. You can pick the finest songs and hone your craft all you want, but without heart a folk album is dead on arrival. “Blooming Bright Star” is tired and lifeless.

The replacement musicians on the record are all talented and original Descendant Con O’Brien still has that deep vibrato baritone that is a big part of their sound. That just makes it all the more frustrating to hear the band just going through the motions. The notes are all there, but the songs just clunk along. At times it feels like O’Brien is singing scales. It is just too perfect, more like a class recital than a folk band. It is the musical equivalent of a paint-by-numbers: an accurate reproduction of the original song, but nothing to distinguish it as interesting or creatively inspired.

Which brings me to another gripe: every song on this record is either a cover or a traditional song. I love that Celtic folk music pays homage to the songs that came before, but it would have been nice to have a little original content mixed in.

Because these are all covers, I have many of them by other artists, and in every case the other version I have is superior. The Barra MacNeils version of “Caledonia” is poignant and beautiful. Shane MacGowan and the Popes knock “Her Father Didn’t Like Me Anyway” out of the park with their derisive and dismissive delivery. Loreena McKennitt’s “She Moved Through the Fair” is mysterious and romantic. All of these very different songs come out equally ‘bleh’ on “Blooming Bright Star”.

Near the end of the record, the album manages a couple of redeeming moments. “The Black and Tans” is a great early twentieth century song celebrating the Irish rebellion. The Black and Tans were a group of temporary constables (who wore black and tan) tasked with helping put down the rebellion. The song tells the tale of a man who comes home drunk and goes out on the street to challenge them to a donnybrook. It begins:

“I was born in a Dublin street where the loyal drums do beat

And the lovely British people walk all over us

And every single night, when my da would come home tight

He’d invite the neighbours out with this chorus

“Come out ye Black and Tans come out and fight me like a man

Show your wife how you won medals down in Flanders

Tell her how the IRA made you run like hell away

From the green and lovely lakes of Kilashandra.”

The Descendants capture the frustration and anger of these lyrics well, and the arrangement has a great combination of nervous tension and aggression that replicates the feeling that happens right before people come to blows.

The other good song on the record is “The Island” written about the more recent Irish troubles of the eighties. It juxtaposes regret over all the violence, with two people trying to keep their love alive amid the tragedy. I checked out the Paul Brady original and a popular cover by Dolores Keane, and the Descendants version is (this time) their equal. OK, maybe the Keane version is better, but it is close.

For whatever reason, the troubled history of Ireland brings out the best of the Irish Descendants on “Blooming Bright Star.” To quote a previous album title it gets them “living on the edge” which is where you need to be to make great folk music. If they had done it a bit more often, this record could have been a whole lot better.

Best tracks:  The Black and Tans, The Island

CD Odyssey Disc 876: Annie Lennox

When I first got this next album I had a very limited musical library, and since then it has sat on my shelf with a bad case of ‘overplayed’. As a result I was a bit nervous that it might sound old and tired. Instead, I was delighted that it has kept young and beautiful - more on that expression later - and still very much loved.

Disc 876 is….Diva

Artist: Annie Lennox

Year of Release: 1992

What’s up with the Cover? Attention lame VH1 specials – this is what a real diva looks like. Feathers, tiaras and heavy eye makeup, and blue eyes so fierce they look like they could burn a hole through the back of your skull. Fatal, yes, but what a way to go…

How I Came To Know It: I don’t remember. Everyone in 1992 knew this album, which spawned five singles and could have supported more.

How It Stacks Up:  I only have one of Annie Lennox’s solo albums, so it can’t really stack up. We used to own “Medusa” but it never really grabbed me and I sold it years ago.

Ratings: 4 stars

It was depressing to learn about the disbanding of the Eurythmics back in 1990. They were a great band; a brilliant combination of Dave Stewart’s genius as a producer, Annie Lennox’s exceptional voice and their combined skill at writing a great pop song. Luckily, we only had to wait two years for Lennox to re-emerge with “Diva,” her first (and best) solo album.

While “Diva” has a few stray elements that feel like the old Eurythmics sound, this album is very much a departure for her. The edge and snap is replaced with a smooth soul quality, and some exceptional pop melodies.

The record is a worthy showcase of Lennox’s voice, which is rich and deep. Here she sounds like a Broadway singer, if Broadway didn’t feel so fake (yes, I find Broadway numbers generally lack emotional context. Sorry).

On the album’s opening track, “Why” Lennox presents a heartbreaking tale, richly layered with keyboard, bass and just a hint of guitar around the edges. The very next track, “Walking on Broken Glass” is a similar theme, but this time the tune is up tempo and sprightly. In the album’s first two songs Lennox shows she can tell a tale in any style, and never lose the narrative.

She also demonstrates that she is as brilliant a songwriter on her own as she was collaborating with Dave Stewart. She is the sole writing credit on eight of the 11 songs, and cowriter on two more. The songs have a theatrical flavour, and Lennox is clearly musically exploring the nature of fame musically and lyrically; not surprising given the record’s glitzy title.

The songs have a moody quality, with punctuations of whimsy served by the smooth production of Stephen Lipson. Lipson understands that this album needed to be staged with the musical equivalent of thick velvet drapes and padded chaise lounges. The sound of every song sits heavy but comfortable in the air, and Lennox’s voice takes on a dreamy and evocative quality that gives your ear a point of focus from which to explore deeper.

One such punctuation that has always been a favourite is “Money Can’t Buy It” which features Lennox delivering a pseudo-rap performance of midway through the song. It could be jarring, but Lennox has a natural feel for the beat, and it comes off playful and funky.

Later, Lennox uses a simple beat and synth riff to perfectly evoke the feeling of flight on “Little Bird.” It is a song about wishing you could be free as a bird, even as its infectious rhythm gives your soul that exact experience.

On “The Gift” Lennox once again shifts gears, with a melody that develops slow and languorous. When Lennox sings “take this overcoat of shame…it never did belong to me” the hurt in her voice is so real, you’re certain your heart is about to break. Thank goodness the song ends on a happy note. The singer inviting her lover out into the rain, presumably for the sort of tearful reunion you might expect as the final scene in a romantic film.

Unfortunately “The Gift” is not the final track. That goes to a song that has a jarring old timey sound that would make Tom Waits proud, but is out of step with everything that comes before. It is a remake of “Keep Young and Beautiful” (originally performed in the 1933 musical “Roman Scandals” by Eddie Cantor). The original version has pretty women singing about winning men with their looks and Cantor singing to them in blackface. It is a far cry from cinema’s finest moment. Lennox clearly intends a modern feminist twist on the song, but it still feels dated, and stands out starkly against the mood the album worked so hard to establish earlier.

Other than this mis-step, the record has a good feeling for what it wants to do. “Diva” has a strong pop flavour, so if you are looking for the edgier Eurythmics rock feel you will be disappointed. But if you’d like a pretty melody that you can dance to, or hum along with while stuck in traffic, this is for you. What’s more, underneath all those pretty songs are some thoughtful lyrics, sung by one of music’s great chanteuses.

Best tracks:  Why, Walking on Broken Glass, Money Can’t Buy It, Little Bird, The Gift

CD Odyssey Disc 875: Patty Griffin

I enjoyed this album so much that I almost skipped writing this entry tonight so I’d be able to listen to it again tomorrow. However, this Odyssey won’t get to Ithaca on its own, so here I sit, reveling in a good record, hopeful the next one will be just as good.

Disc 875 is….Living With Ghosts

Artist: Patty Griffin

Year of Release: 1996

What’s up with the Cover? The classic Giant Head cover. Gordon Lightfoot would be proud. And no I didn't wreck the album cover - it is designed to look like that. No, I don't like it either.

How I Came To Know It: This was me just drilling through Patty Griffin’s back catalogue after I discovered her through her 2007 album “Children Running Through” (reviewed back at Disc 196). I discovered that album through a series of other music connections. If you want to know more, go read the review.

How It Stacks Up:  I now have seven Patty Griffin albums. Of those “Living With Ghosts” is one of my favourites. I’m going to put it tied for second behind “Children Running Through.” I’ll say what it’s tied with – and maybe even take a stand on which is better – when I roll it.

Ratings: 4 stars

Not many artists record their first record at the age of 32, and fewer still that deliver a debut with such raw power as “Living with Ghosts.”

There’s a good chance you haven’t heard of Patty Griffin. Contemporary folk music has never been a way to become internationally famous, even in these indie-friendly times. That is a damn shame.

When a lot of artists in the mid-nineties were opting to throw a lot of instrumentation into their music, on “Living With Ghosts” Griffin relies entirely on an acoustic guitar and her voice. Her vocals are brassy and powerful, with a multi-octave range that she engages effortlessly. She writes songs that are very hard to sing, and then makes them seem easy. On some songs (“Moses” and “You Never Get What You Want” come to mind) her vocals are so big it hurt my ears a little. Despite that, I couldn’t bring myself to turn it down. I wanted it to vibrate right into my bones, so I’d never forget what she says.

Those words tell the stories of ordinary people trying to get by. A woman pines for love on “Moses,” another lets a failed love go on “Let Him Fly.” “Forgiveness” is a powerhouse vocal about letting yourself (and others) have a second chance.

Through it all, Griffin gets that life and love are complicated. The songs are about individuals, but their quest for meaningful lives, unselfish loves and the stark truths of the street they encounter while searching are universal. This is a record that makes you think.

Like any good record, each listen brings something new for me, and on this go around, I latched onto the character study of “Sweet Lorraine,” which begins:

Sweet Lorraine the fiery haired brown eyed schemer

Who came from a long line of drinkers and dreamers

Who knew that sunshine don't hold up to dark”

Lorraine comes from an abusive home with no emotional or financial support, but somehow goes to school and gets married. Still, we know from early in the song that Lorraine’s “businesses fail” and that she “sleep in the park.” Griffin sums up the apparent disconnect at the end of the song with:

“In the battle of time, in the battle of will

It's only your hope and your heart that gets killed

And it gets harder and harder, Lorraine, to believe in magic

When what came before you is so very tragic.”

Like all the songs on the album, “Sweet Lorraine” is also propped up by some heartfelt guitar strumming that is sneaky good. There are no other instruments on the album, and Griffin masterfully makes the guitar serve as both percussion and melody, using it like her voice: sometimes big and brash, sometimes soft and sweet, and always ranging effortlessly between the two.

As you might expect from the album title this is a haunting record. Griffin turns that haunting into an insightful experience about the one spirit we all feel trapped alone in a room with from time to time; our own.  However isolated we can feel at these times, it is no accident that the final song on the record is “Not Alone”.

“Not Alone” is a slow, sad observation on how easily we can lose the ones we love, but somehow carry on. The album is full of tragedy and no more so than on this song, but Griffin has an innate understanding that deep down everybody needs a little forgiveness and her songs give us permission to find it.

Best tracks:  Moses, Let Him Fly, Poor Man’s House, Forgiveness, You Never Get What You Want, Sweet Lorraine, Not Alone

CD Odyssey Disc 874: The Pretenders

I buy a fair bit of music, and I won’t file an album into the main library until I feel I’ve fully grokked it. As a result, there is about 60 or so CDs that sit waiting to be better appreciated. They still form a part of the random selection process, however, so when I roll one of those I give it as many listens as I need to feel like I get it. This next album is one of those.

It is also my second straight review of an album released in 1981, which is a cool coincidence.

Disc 874 is….II

Artist: The Pretenders

Year of Release: 1981

What’s up with the Cover? There isn’t much going on here in terms of action, but I dig the early eighties fashion and haircuts. Chrissie Hynde looks beautiful and I want both the haircut and the jacket of the guy on the right.

How I Came To Know It: In the twilight of the CD, some bands are taking one last gasp by releasing multi-album packages at bargain prices. This album is from a set of the Pretenders first five records released this way that I bought earlier this year. It takes up way less space on the shelf and I got five albums for only $35.

How It Stacks Up:  We now have five Pretenders albums. They are all good, but it is hard to say how they stack up since (with the exception of “Learning to Crawl” reviewed back at Disc 476) I am still getting to know most of them. After a quick scan of what’s to come, I’m going to put “II” in last place.

Ratings: 3 stars but just barely

“II” is blessed with good production and has a ‘sound’ that is engaging and musically innovative, but is pulled down by the fact that the songs aren’t all that memorable.

Don’t get me wrong, here. The album overall has a cool vibe, and I never got tired of it despite multiple listens. It has a nice even flow, and the production is rich but not busy. Despite this, apart from a short run of songs in the middle of the record, I found the tracks tended to blend one into another.

The best feature of the record is lead vocalist Chrissie Hynde, who has a deep rocker voice that is suffused with an unexpected sweetness. She also has an exceptional sense of timing that lets her sing along with the melody, or do a half-rap deadpan with equal skill. Hynde has a natural cool factor that all great band leaders need to excel. She just sounds confident and chill, and her voice cannot be denied.

Musically, the album is tinged with New Wave sensibilities with short sharp guitar notes, but like Hynde’s voice the whole of it has a sweetness that recalls old fifties and sixties classic rock and roll.

The bass lines are very noticeable in the mix, and songs like “Pack It Up” and “Waste Not Want Not” have cool walkdowns and walkups that create a carefree feeling that goes very well with actual walking (I did two long walks while listening to “II”). “Pack It Up” also has some simple but tasty guitar licks.

The lyrics to most of the songs are less interesting than just hearing Hynde sing them. They are edgiest off the top, with the two opening songs (“The Adultress” and “Bad Boys Get Spanked”) both heavy with sexual overtones. After this, things settle down considerably, with a lot of songs that are casually romantic but not what I would call passionate.

On “Jealous Dogs” the tone is too playful, and I felt like the band had their tongues in their cheeks when they wrote it. Other times, like with “Birds of Paradise” they sound genuine and heartfelt. Unfortunately, neither song stands out beyond that, and with the large collection of mid-tempo tracks, they blend in with everything else. The album’s final track “Louie Louie” (a new song, not a remake of the Kingsmen track) is the fastest of the lot. However, it comes too late to effectively break up the record like it would if they had put this at the start of Side Two. Even if they had placed it earlier, the song didn’t energize me the way the band intends.

One of my favourite tracks is “I Go To Sleep” which is a slower song, full of dreamy romance and powerful high notes from Hynde. “Talk of the Town” has the strongest hook on the record, and a carefree quality that would fit well on the classic “Learning to Crawl” album they would release two years later.

“II” doesn’t have enough range to separate itself out, nor does it have clear ‘hits’ that supply natural high points, but it has all the other elements that make the Pretenders a great band. While it is hard to get a handle on, it was worth the effort in the end.

Best tracks:  I Go To Sleep, Talk of the Town, Pack It Up

CD Odyssey Disc 873: The Police

I am just back from the gym, where I haven’t been in over a month. If this review suddenly trails off, it will be because my arms have fallen off.

Disc 873 is….Ghost in the Machine

Artist: The Police

Year of Release: 1981

What’s up with the Cover? A malfunctioning digital display. Fu fact: I still use my original clock radio from 1977 and it has the same light up digital numbers. It was considered very modern in 1977. Almost forty years later it continues to work great and gets me up for work on time every morning. So far it has shown no sign of ghosts.

How I Came To Know It: Sheila introduced me to the Police shortly after we had met. I had heard them back in the day, but I had never opened my heart to them. When I did it was a pleasant surprise.

How It Stacks Up:  We have five Police albums, which is all of them. I didn’t love “Ghost in the Machine” but it was alright. I put it fourth best.

Ratings: 3 stars

Due to a busy social calendar I had “Ghost in the Machine” on rotation a bit longer than I would have liked. This is a good but not great record, and after a couple listens I was ready to move on.

There is still a lot to recommend the record, starting with the rhythm section. On my third rotation I was getting a little bored with the songs and started listening for something different. My ear immediately seized on the bass lines, which are very cool and drive what goes on in the melody above it.

The same goes for the drums, which snap and pop along with a jazz sensibility but a reggae heart. “Demolition Man” didn’t appeal to me at first, but once I realized it was all about that bass, I enjoyed it a whole lot more.

The album has one big hit with “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic” and it is easy to see why. Most of the album is a clever hybrid of New Wave and Reggae, with megalomaniac Sting thankfully restrained within the aforementioned rhythms that make up the songs. “Every Little Thing” breaks all those rules, with a hook-laden piano intro and a chorus that remains a mainstay of a.m. radio. Despite the gratuitous amount of radio play this song has received over the past 35 years, when it came on I was glad to hear it. Through multiple listens (even past the first two that I wanted) the song stood up; sugary sweet, but so good you don’t mind.

In contrast with the hit, much of the album focuses on humanity’s faults. This starts with the opening track (and album’s lesser hit) “Spirits in the Material World” which introduces us to the album with a discordant yet catchy organ riff. The song opens with:

“There is no political solution

To our troubled evolution

Have no faith in constitution

There is no bloody revolution.”

Despite the pessimism in the song (later Sting sings of “the rhetoric of failure”) at its core it reminds us that we have a nobler nature trapped in our physical form. Like the titular ghost in the machine, the Police suggest we have a spirit that might just transcend all our political, evolutionary and legal failures.

This is a theme that is revisited often through the album, and seems to inspire the band to their better work, culminating with the positively jaunty “Rehumanize Yourself.” Sure this song is full of cops that can’t forgo their guns and thugs that can’t resist a brawl, but the message is that we need to all get back on track. Also, with its up-tempo ska beat it’ll either make you feel like it’s possible we can all be better or failing that, get all that aggressive energy out of you safely on the dance floor.

Even the songs I didn’t love, including “Hungry for You” and “One World (not Three)” have an infectious beat that keeps the record cruising along. These songs don’t connect to my spirit so much as my material world, but they are inoffensive pop ditties with a good swing to them, so I can’t complain overmuch.

The album loses steam in its final third, with three songs (“Omegaman,” “Secret Journey” and “Darkness”) that all would feel more at home on their lesser follow-up record “Synchronicity.”

Their structure and tinny “wall of sound” feel also reminded me a bit of Blue Oyster Cult from around the same period (everyone loved the fuzzy synthesizer a little bit in 1981). The problem was that I prefer the heavier rock punch that BOC managed with the same tools, and kept hoping they’d come on instead.

The Police were one of those special bands that never made a bad record, and there is plenty to like about “Ghost in the Machine.” It is strong musically, and when the band appeals to our higher natures they seem genuinely inspired. I prefer the band’s first three albums, but if you are a completionist and like the Police’s sound, “Ghost in the Machine” will not disappoint.

Best tracks:  Spirits in the Material World, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, Too Much Information, Rehumanize Yourself

CD Odyssey Disc 872: Rilo Kiley

My apologies for my absence, gentle readers! I was away on holiday for a week having a marvelous time. It was my birthday week and Sheila bought me a few albums, most notably a couple of early Patti Smith records. Although I am late to the party, I am smitten with Patti, and can’t wait to roll one of her albums for review.

Until then, here’s some other good music for you to read about.

Disc 872 is….The Execution of All Things

Artist: Rilo Kiley

Year of Release: 2002

What’s up with the Cover? A drawing of a face, then the same drawing, but less complete. It is covers like this that make me yearn for the schematics of airline seating, such as those featured on Rilo Kiley’s “Take Off and Landings” (reviewed way back at Disc 86). No, I didn’t like that cover either.

How I Came To Know It: Sheila discovered Rilo Kiley, but I can’t remember where. This album was us drilling into the collection after we bought “Take Offs and Landings” and loved it.

How It Stacks Up:  If you count the odds and ends album released a couple years ago (“RKives”), Rilo Kiley have five albums, and we have all five. “Execution of All Things” is Sheila’s favourite. I love it as well, but it lands in second place for me.

Ratings: 4 stars

Rilo Kiley understands how to write a catchy pop song, but they never let it get in the way of delving deep emotional territory, or trying new melodic approaches to best serve that journey. It may have kept them from ever having a big radio hit, but it is a big reason why I like them so much.

The themes of disillusionment established on their debut album continues on “Execution” as they extend their approach of combining a surface level twee pop song with subtly complicated chord progressions and thoughtful, often depressing lyrics.

Lead singer Jenny Lewis has a great voice for this style of music, clear and bright in style, yet evoking a desolate quality of lost youth. Considering that she was only 26 when it came out, it is pretty amazing. She doesn’t overpower you with her voice, but she fills you up with the richness of her tone, and her great delivery.

The angst on this record runs pretty deep, and that “dead inside” feeling we’ve all had when at our worst is captured poignantly on “Paint’s Peeling”:

“The paint’s peeling off the streets again

And I’ll drive and close my eyes in Michigan.

And I feel nothing, not brave.

It’s a hard day for breathing again.”

And on the title track, this death wish is extended from the person to society writ large:

“Then we’ll murder what matters to you

And move on to your neighbours and kids.”

Even the optimism on this album is tinged with a sense if impending failure. The album’s best track is “A Better Son/Daughter” a five star song that is less about the singer being the best person she can be and more about her fervently hoping that if she fakes it long enough, she’ll eventually feel it. Through it all there is a rolling drum pounding a semi-martial beat and soaring keyboards. The music pastes the smile on Jenny’s face, even as her vocals betray all the doubt that hides behind it.

Yet for all the moping, this record fills your soul with an energy that makes you feel that despite all the inner doubts we all carry around, things might just work out. The final track, “Spectacular Views” is the headshake the record needs, as the band takes joy in a perfect day on a sunlit coast. The joy of being alive comes through with this song built for driving a convertible with the top down, reveling in the wind in your hair, and wondering how you ever let yourself get so caught up in your head.

For all this glory, there are two things holding this record back.

The first is the songs sung by Blake Sennett instead of Jenny Lewis. Sennett’s voice is thin and doesn’t carry the emotional import that Lewis manages. “Three Hopeful Thoughts” is OK, but had me wishing it was sung by Jenny instead. “So Long” had me wishing it had been left of the album entirely.

There are also little tags on two or three songs where Jenny makes strange journal entry type monologues about youth. I’m sure they are intended to tie the album together, or underscore a theme but I found they jolted me out of the experience. The record would have been better without them.

These are minor quibbles, however, on a record that further cemented my love for Rilo Kiley and practically guaranteed I’d search out their entire catalogue before I was through.

Best tracks:  The Good That Won’t Come Out, Paint’s Peeling, The Execution of All Things, A Better Son/Daughter, With Arms Outstretched, Spectacular Views