CD Odyssey Disc 1111: Tom Waits

Welcome back to the Odyssey. I’ve got a lot to say about this next album so let’s get right to it.

Disc 1111 is… The Heart of Saturday Night

Artist: Tom Waits

Year of Release: 1974

What’s up with the Cover? Just another night on the town in what I think is…the forties? Much like Tom Waits’ music, this cover is hard to date but feels like it is from an earlier era. Regardless, we’ve all been this guy (or girl – pick one) out into the early hours trying to create some memories and maybe feeling the beginnings of a tension headache (or sore feet – pick one).

How I Came To Know It: I originally discovered Tom Waits through his debut album “Closing Time” but it took me a long time to dig deeper. Once I did, “The Heart of Saturday Night” was one of my early acquisitions, but I can’t remember why. The reason is lost in the mists of time.

How It Stacks Up:  I have 17 of Tom Waits’ studio albums which is most – but not all – of them (I previously sold “One from the Heart” after much hand-wringing.

“The Heart of Saturday Night” does pretty well amidst tough competition. I rank it 6^th, bumping “Bad As Me”, “Bone Machine” and “Heartattack and Vine” all down one spot in the process. This is also the last of my Tom Waits’ albums waiting for review, so here’s a full recap.

1. Mule Variations: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 970)
2. Rain Dogs: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 619)
3. Swordfishtrombone: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 149)
4. Frank’s Wild Years: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 280)
5. Closing Time: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 40)
6. The Heart of Saturday Night: 4 stars (reviewed right here)
7. Bad as Me: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 775)
8. Bone Machine: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 183)
9. Heartattack and Vine: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 346)
10. Alice: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 1061)
11. Blue Valentine: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 98)
12. Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 445)
13. Blood Money: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 235)
14. Real Gone: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 852)
15. Foreign Affairs: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 193)
16. Small Change: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 349)
17. One From the Heart: 2 stars (reviewed at Disc 935)
18. Nighthawks at the Diner: 2 stars (reviewed at Disc 147)

I can’t remember why I kept “Nighthawks” but I’m going to check into that and maybe say goodbye to it as well. The rest are keepers.

Ratings: 4 stars

As a young man moving I moved from an isolated small town to a city. Not a big one, but big to me. I was always drawn to the energy a city takes on in the wee hours of the morning. When the sun first goes down the structure of the day tries for a few hours to keep order, but the longer the lamps are lit, the more a new set of rules establishes itself. It is dreamlike, mysterious and a little dangerous if you don’t let yourself sway to its rhythms, or if you sway too hard.

“The Heart of Saturday Night” is Tom Waits’ love song to night and the city. It feels like the backdrop to a detective novel, or maybe just an ode to all the people caught out in the pre-dawn.

Individually, the album has high points, but it is how Waits sets the album as a mood piece that is a greater triumph. He blends the easy listening style of Frank Sinatra (or maybe a drunken Dean Martin), late night lounge jazz and backstreet blues, bringing it all into one tent. He grounds it there with gravelly vocals that walk lazily in and off the beat with sandpaper grace.

The album begins as late night evenings often do, with a bold promise to hit the town and hit ‘er hard. Or as Waits sings on “New Coat of Paint”:

“Let's put a new coat of paint
On this lonesome old town
Set 'em up, we'll be knockin' 'em down
You wear a dress
Baby I'll wear a tie
We'll laugh at that old bloodshot moon
In that burgundy sky”

Spoiler alert: if the moon isn’t bloodshot yet, it is going to be before the night is over. Better still from “San Diego Serenade”:

“I never saw the mornin' 'til I stayed up all night
I never saw the sunshine 'til you turned out the light
I never saw my hometown until I stayed away too long
I never heard the melody until I needed the song”

Every time I hear Waits warble these beautiful lines I am taken back to the few times I’ve stayed up all night. Maybe I was watching some sporting event in another time zone, maybe I worked a night shift and was driving home or maybe I was just getting good and drunk. I can say that most of the times you do it, you remember it, and Waits brings it all back to you.

Whatever the case, Waits takes that moment and digs deeper, reminding us that big events happen in the moment, and you can’t fully imagine how they’ll go until you’re in them. Or as Waits sums it up:

“I never saw your heart 'til someone tried to steal it away
I never saw your tears until they rolled down your face.”

Waits’ night shifts through the various characters you might encounter in the dead of night. Folks at the bus station and truck drivers pulling a late shift both get their due.  “Shiver Me Timbers” is the song of a sailor bidding farewell to his loved ones, heading out at a strange hour because that’s when the wind and the tide were right. “Shiver Me Timbers” has become a phrase for mockery and bad pirate impressions, but Waits reclaims it and it gives you the shivers all over again, right down into the bones.

It isn’t all doom and gloom out on the town, though. “(Looking For)” the Heart of Saturday Night” is the ultimate drinking out weekend evening, with all the weariness of the week still hanging off our hero, he gets himself dressed up and hits the bar. The song has the buzz of pool halls, the feeling of having your arm around your girl and even a little melancholy after one too many – making everything seem so much more important.

That song comes at the end of the Side One and is bookended by the end of Side Two with “The Ghosts of Saturday Night (After Hours at Napoleone’s Pizza House)”. A couple of songs that need a little less title, but like a late night out, it is hard to follow a single plot line for too long.

“Ghosts…” is all lounge piano and Waits crooning, as he gets down to the last people standing with the sun just around the corner. A solitary sailor “Who spends the facts of his life like small change on strangers” dreams of a waitress with “Maxwell House eyes
and marmalade thighs with scrambled yellow hair.” That’s Waits reminding us if you’re still up it’s time for breakfast. The early risers are starting to rise, and the day isn’t here yet, but it is close; threatening to dampen down the magic and get about its business again.

The album starts with a playful energy. Through the middle trumpets flare up and restless bass lines flutter and pulse with the energy of the night owls prowling the streets about. By the end everyone is worn out and Waits lets a simple piano slowly trail off with the rising sun. Like a good night on the town, the album is a journey you don’t soon forget.

Best tracks: New Coat of Paint, San Diego Serenade, Shiver Me Timbers, (Looking For) The Heart of Saturday Night, The Ghosts of Saturday Night (After Hours at Napoleone’s Pizza House)

CD Odyssey Disc 1110: Warren Zevon

Mondays are hard and I am a little tired despite a workday that wasn’t that bad. First a review and then, as Leonard Cohen would say, I’m going to “get lost in that hopeless little screen.” Even Leonard Cohen watched television once in a while.

Disc 1110 is… Wanted Dead or Alive

Artist: Warren Zevon

Year of Release: 1969

What’s up with the Cover? Giant Head cover! Funny how nowadays bands love covers where they aren’t even pictured. Back in 1969 it was giant heads all the way, baby!

How I Came To Know It: Once I realized how much I loved Warren Zevon it was a simple matter of digging through his entire discography for my favourite records. This one eluded me for a while, but I finally found it at my local record store as a remastered edition released shortly after his death.

How It Stacks Up:  I have 10 of Zevon’s 12 albums (his last two didn’t grab me). Of the 10 I have, “Wanted Dead or Alive” comes in…last. Sorry, Warren.

Ratings: 2 stars but almost 3

Sometimes it takes an artist to find their sound. When you have a sound as unique and varied as Warren Zevon it takes a little longer than most.

“Wanted Dead or Alive” is Warren Zevon’s first album, and came out seven years before his career would properly launch with his self-titled album. It has all the elements of what would make him amazing later: brave production decisions, a mix of country, hard rock, blues a knack for storytelling and a sense of humour. However, it feels very much like he’s still exploring how to make it all fit. The result is a record with flashes of greatness but a lot of disjointed musical notions that don’t quite connect.

Being 1969, there are a lot of late raunchy sixties rock tracks like “Hitchhikin’ Woman” and “Calcutta” that reminded me of Jimi Hendrix or Zeppelin, but not as good. On “Bullet For Ramona” he tries for a barroom Merle Haggard style as he tells the story of some lowlife chasing down his fleeing ex and killing her. On a later album Zevon would twist some dark humour out of the tale, but here it just feels by-the-numbers creepy.

On the title track and “Gorilla” he explores various beats and rhythms, playing around with how the song progresses and looking for something interesting to result. “Wanted Dead or Alive” succeeds better than “Gorilla” (which is a bit of a hot mess) but in both cases it doesn’t quite come together.

The album’s nadir is his cover of “Iko Iko.” Why was this annoying song ever a hit and why do people keep remaking it and what the hell was Warren Zevon thinking? Zevon’s version came out in 1969, in between the 1965 Dixie Cups’ painful “bang the drum sticks together” version and the sexy mall-tart version (complete with a pointless sax solo) by Natasha England in 1982. The only version that captures this song’s ridiculousness sufficiently is the one by Europop band Captain Jack in the early oughts. Please, check it out, I’ll wait.

And…we’re back. I hope you stuck with that last one long enough to enjoy the giant plush snake or lizard or whatever that wanders in midway through. But I digress…

Back to “Wanted Dead or Alive” and on to the good parts. When everything does come together, as it does on “She Quit Me,” the greatness of what Zevon will become shines through. The song starts with a little blues harmonica, held down by the insistent and aggressive playing of an acoustic guitar that burns with the confusion and conflicting emotions of the song’s theme. Zevon’s vocals are big and bold and the lyrics are simple but effective. This is a “what the hell happened?” breakup song, and Zevon delivers it with just the right mix of anger and sadness.

“Tule’s Blues” is also strong, as Zevon shows off his folksy side with a song that walks the perfect line between Celtic folk and alt-country. No, I didn’t notice any blues to speak of except maybe the subject matter, which tells of another sad lovers’ parting.

The record ends on a high note, with “Fiery Emblems,” a rock instrumental that reminded me a bit of Alan Parson’s Project but more…majestic. Few do majestic as well as Warren Zevon when he’s on his game.

Knowing the kind of music Zevon would create later makes “Wanted Dead or Alive” more enjoyable because it is fun to see the early seeds of his sound being planted. It even has some solid tracks of its own. Just avoid “Iko Iko”. Except that Captain Jack version – give that a look.

Best tracks: She Quit Me, Tule’s Blues, Fiery Emblems

CD Odyssey Disc 1109: Tom Petty

From the lowest of lowest to the highest of highs! I left my MP3 player in a glass of uncooked rice last night and hoped for the best and this morning…it worked again!

I can only assume the God of Rock heard my prayers. Or maybe just the ghost of this next artist, who was taken from us too soon.

Disc 1109 is… Hypnotic Eye

Artist: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Year of Release: 2014

What’s up with the Cover? Look deep into this annoying geometric pattern. You’re getting very sleepy…You no longer have any desire to smoke…instead you wish to listen to rock and roll…

How I Came To Know It: I’m a Tom Petty fan. When a new album of his comes out, I buy it. Little did I know that this was the last time I would ever be able to do that.

How It Stacks Up:  I have 16 Tom Petty albums (solo and with the Heartbreakers) and that’s all of them. Of the 16 I put “Hypnotic Eye” in 13^th spot. I still liked it a lot, but the competition was fierce.

Ratings: 3 stars

At some point every music lover revisits the blues, and with “Hypnotic Eye” Petty continues the bluesy journey begun on 2010’s “Mojo” (reviewed back at Disc 708). This time he mixes it in with some fuzz rock that adds even more grit.

Blues are great for feeling low, but they also do decay very well, and “Hypnotic Eye” is at its best when it is exploring the rot in America, whether political or through the eyes of the grim, hard-luck characters that Petty has such a great knack for capturing in song.

The political tracks tend to be the stronger this time. Petty discusses towns rife with corruption (“Burnt Out Town”), and politicians high on their own authority (“Power Drunk”). “Power Drunk” is particularly powerful, with Mike Campbell laying down sweet licks, and Petty’s vocals coming through slick and dirty. The song grows into a heavily reverbed guitar riff that captures the staggering, lurching aggression of a drunk and applies it to politicians equally out of control.

Petty is great at taking larger themes and connecting them to personal experience, and “Hypnotic Eye” is bookended by two such songs.

The record begins with “American Dream Plan B” a song that has that same alcohol party riff, launched this time with a driving quality that suggests progress and confidence. Yet as the song unfolds, Petty shows that confidence is misplaced with lines like:

“Well, I’m half-lit, I can’t dance for shit

But I see what I want and go after it”

And:

“My success is anybody’s guess,

But like a fool I’m bettin’ on happiness”

By the end of the song you realize that this character has bought into the American dream, but that dream isn’t necessarily answering his calls. The character’s cocksure attitude becomes progressively more tragic as the song progresses. You bob your head to the beat, but you feel a little bad doing so.

The end of the album gives us “Shadow People.” A mournful bit of Benmont Tench organ greets you just before the signature Campbell blues riff hits, tipping you off that all that confidence and certainty is well worn through at this point. Petty looks into cars, sees other drivers and wonders what they are up to. Are they just going about their business, or are they distrustful survivalists – hurrying home to stockpile food and guns? Or crazed cultists planning to hasten in an age of terror? We don’t know, but that fear (and some glorious horror style bass lines in the back of the mix) gives the song an undercurrent of anxiety. Petty doesn’t leave us without hope, however, ending the song with:

“Waiting for the sun to be straight overhead

‘Til we ain’t got no shadow at all.”

There’s still time to trust each other. I mean, I would still check for dynamite and tinfoil hats before I got into the car, but it is a nice sentiment.

I would say that the biggest downside to “Hypnotic Eye” is that I oversold it – first to myself and then to friends. When I first heard it I fell in love with its energy and a few key tracks (see below) and I played it a bit too much. On repeat listens it is still solid, but not as interesting as some of Petty’s earlier work.

I also oversold it to friends, some of whom ran out and bought it on my recommendation and then later said “eh…it was OK, but not as good as I expected.” Sorry about that everyone, but even an average Petty album is still pretty awesome, so I’m only a little bit sorry.

Best tracks: American Dream Plan B, Red River, Power Drunk, Shadow People 

CD Odyssey Disc 1108: Big Daddy Kane

Hard to put into words how I feel right now. Let’s go with…not good. A hard day of work? No problem. A bad spell of weather or a lingering cough? I can handle that. Hell – I even had a chuckle over a cancelled holiday last weekend.

But the one thing I cannot abide is anything that messes with my ability to listen to music. My MP3 player (Sony Walkman) got a bit of water on it on my walk home and now it has decided to permanently be “on hold”. As in – it doesn’t work. So in the likely even that I can’t get it fixed I’m going to have to get another one, and it wasn’t cheap.

I’m trying to see the positive – like how my costs per use on this device are already pretty amazing – but it is ringing hollow.

Alright – here’s a music review. I’ll write another one as soon as I have a way to listen to music. Grrr….

Disc 1108 is… Long Live the Kane

Artist: Big Daddy Kane

Year of Release: 1988

What’s up with the Cover? It’s good to be king.

How I Came To Know It: I kept seeing references to Big Daddy Kane when I was looking into other rappers. He would often be cited as an early influence for a lot of artists so eventually I decided to check him out myself. This was his first album so this is where I started.

How It Stacks Up:  I have two Big Daddy Kane albums, this one and 1990’s “Taste of Chocolate”. I am on the lookout for “It’s a Big Daddy Thing” but so far it has eluded me. Of the two I do have, “Long Live the Kane” is my favourite.

Ratings: 4 stars

I love the golden age of rap – back when raps were about showcasing the craft – just a man on a mic, a funky beat and a well-placed sample or two.

Big Daddy Kane is one of the early masters of the art form, and 30 years after its release “Long Live the Kane” is still fresh and powerful. He hits hard with an easy flow and solid rhymes that know how to land a clever resolution at just the right time. Sure there are dated references to Atari and VCR’s, but that just adds to the charm when raps are this good.

Kane’s is style is reminiscent of Rakim with a front-of –the-beat frantic pace that is fast as hell, but never rushed. He’s not as good as Rakim (no one is) but he puts himself in the conversation. His raps are lush with internal rhyme and metaphor that extends across several bars before resolving.

The samples are well chosen and are worked into the songs in a way that makes you see both the original song and the new beat in a new way. Modern samples are so often about stealing a hook. In Kane’s day they were repurposed to underscore a song’s theme (either directly or by reference to the song’s original subject matter) and were only a part of something new.

Kane gets this, mixing Staples Singers’ “I’ll Take You There” chorus with an equally compelling group of backup singers belting out “Big Daddy!”  The mix is so subtle that when one vocal is happening your ear is listening for the other, creating an echo chamber of groove in your head.

The album starts with incredible pace, as “Long Live the Kane” “Raw (Remix)” and “Set It Off” are all rap classics – or should be. He loses momentum on “The Day You’re Mine”, however, which reminded me of an LL Cool J love groove, but lacking the sexy romantic quality that Cool J manages.

The album features a lot of shout-outs, where Kane gives love to all his peers and idols. This is a rap tradition that I like, although on “Long Live the Kane” there might be one too many references. I guess Kane had a lot of friends – he is certainly well loved by those who came after.

As for me, I discovered Big Daddy Kane pretty damn late indeed, but I’m glad I did. I’ve got two of his albums already, and I’m on the lookout for more, “Long Live the Kane” is the record that got it all started; his first, and still one of his best.

Best tracks: Long Live the Kane, Raw (Remix), Set It Off, Ain’t No Half-Steppin’, I’ll Take You There

CD Odyssey Disc 1107: Jason Isbell

I was supposed to spend last weekend watching the Boston Bruins play the Vancouver Canucks. However, a storm blew up and high winds cancelled our flights so we never even made it out of town.

Instead I paid $400 to stay home, hang out with friends and play board games. I consider it $400 well spent. As for the game, I didn’t miss anything after all because the Bruins lost.

Disc 1107 is… Here We Rest

Artist: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

Year of Release: 2011

What’s up with the Cover? Put a bird on it! It’s a painting by Browan Lollar, who also played guitar on the record. Lollar was part of Isbell’s backing band, the 400 Unit, for only this one album. That’s too bad, because this is some pretty sweet bird art.

What kind of bird is it? I’m no John James Audubon but I’m going to guess that these are…American Goldfinches. These two are either fighting over a piece of ribbon or planning to build a nest with it. Because I’m a romantic I’m going to with the latter.

How I Came To Know It: I discovered Jason Isbell in 2015 when he released “Something More Than Free” (reviewed back at Disc 1088). This was just me drilling through his back catalogue.

How It Stacks Up:  I have four Jason Isbell albums. Of those four, “Here We Rest” ranks fourth. Hey, someone has to finish last.

Ratings: 3 stars

Sometimes it takes an artist a few albums to fully find their voice and for me it was Jason Isbell’s third solo album that began to showcase the artist he would become. His storyteller’s heart reveals itself here, and while “Here We Rest” is uneven here and there it has more than enough natural brilliance to carry it through.

The album opens strong with “Alabama Pines.” I prefer Isbell’s work after “Here We Rest” but “Alabama Pines” is a timeless classic that equals anything you’ll hear on any of the three classic albums that follow. Here he learns to strip down a song, letting his songwriting shine through, mixing the locomotive-like boom-chuck Johnny Cash rhythm with his signature high and airy vocals.

“Alabama Pines” also showcases Isbell’s natural talent to turn a phrase and make an image that serves a story evocative in its own right. When he sings “I needed that damn woman like a dream needs gasoline” you are struck that sometimes desires feel like they do need gasoline. Yeah, it makes them flammable and hazardous, but it also fuels them.

The album showcases Isbell’s love of the blues, and the guitar work on “Go It Alone” is solid and tastefully understated. He takes a more traditional barroom blues style on “Never Could Believe” that feels a little dated, but there’s no denying the guitar work despite the song not being one of my favourites. Even when he is playing a more Americana style, Isbell’s love of the blues comes through in his subject matter; hard scrabble lives of characters with bad habits and bad choices.

On “Codeine” a man knows his woman isn’t coming home so long as she can get a fix from an erstwhile friend down the road. The girl in “Daisy Mae” seeks succor from a dangerous man while fleeing an even darker situation.

In the middle of the album there is the inexplicable “The Ballad of Nobeard” which is a Tom Waits style accordion that stands out like a sore thumb and feels more indulgent than purposeful. However, since it is all over and done within 27 seconds it is easy to forgive. “Ballad of Nobeard” leads into a few of the weaker songs on the back half of the record where Isbell is in danger of losing all the momentum gained to that point.

Fortunately, things recover at the end with another galloping rhythm playing backdrop to a subtle character study with “Tour of Duty.” The song features a veteran returning from war, and evokes a mix of hope for the future with the recognition that there are going to be some struggles adapting to a simpler life. Isbell takes that excitement you get when you see your loved one after a long absence multiplies it by a thousand and then tints the edges of the experience with an optimism born in sorrow.

This ability to paint nuance where a lesser songwriter would steer exclusively to patriotism or tragedy is what makes Isbell great. Knowing he is just going to get better and better from here made me appreciate “Here We Rest” all the more.

Best tracks: Alabama Pines, We’ve Met, Codeine, Daisy Mae, Tour of Duty

CD Odyssey Disc 1106: The New Pornographers

I saw the tour supporting this next album last September, but because I didn’t have the album yet I didn’t have a review to pair the experience with. As it happens I found the show just OK, but how will it compare the studio album? Let’s find out!

Disc 1106 is… Whiteout Conditions

Artist: The New Pornographers

Year of Release: 2017

What’s up with the Cover? I dig this cover because I like stuff in silhouette (I even like the word ‘silhouette’) and I like old school neon, and this cover has plenty of both. By the way, that cool silhouette on the right is also the coolest member of the band – Neko Case. Sorry, rest of band, but my heart is with Neko.

How I Came To Know It: I found out about the New Pornographers after reading a review of the album “Challengers.” I then checked out their whole discography (as I do) and discovered I liked about a third of it.

Whenever I can, I like to scope out an entire album on either Youtube or Bandcamp before I buy it. In the case of “Whiteout Conditions” I pulled the trigger a little early, after having only heard three songs. I liked those three, so I bought it and hoped for the best.

How It Stacks Up:  I have 3 of the New Pornographers 7 albums. Of those three, “Whiteout Conditions” is a distant third.

Ratings: 3 stars

Based on the songs I’d heard I knew “Whiteout Conditions” was going to be the more pop incarnation of the New Pornographers. I prefer their folksy side, but I took a chance that everything would be as good as my limited sampling. Unfortunately, by the time I was through three listens, I’ve found little that inspired me past the initial sampling.

Things start off strong with “Play Money” which has a groovy futuristic synthesizer sound grounded in Neko Case’s powerhouse vocals. Case is a natural star that elevates everything she does.

This is the first of four solid tracks, followed by the title track which is a compelling song about mental illness and the drugs people take to control it. It is a bit packed with production (more on that later) but here the resulting fuzz helps underscore the dulled feelings that mood inhibitors generate.

At its best the album has a techno-edged New Wave feel that had me thinking of Nick Gilder’s work in the early eighties crossed with the new disco grooves of Broken Bells. There is a lot of synth, a lot of sound effects and a lot of restless energy.

New Pornographers has seven members which is OK if you are a Ska band and need a horn section, but for pop music tends to be a little busy. The intricate layers that I could handle early on quickly started to wear on me, becoming a bunch of artificial beeps bouncing around, not giving me a chance to let the song soak in a bit.

The album is aiming for an insistent, rising energy but the way the songs circle around themselves and bang away in front of the beat caused me to get bored and a little anxious. As things progressed I increasingly started to lose the buried melody in the face of too much banging, crashing, an excessive repetition of phrases and general art-house busy-ness

Case in point is “Second Sleep” a song that explores having difficulty sleeping. It does a good job of recreating that dull over-stimulated ache you get in your brain. However, it isn’t pleasant and I’m not sure it revealed anything new to me about the experience.

In places, “Whiteout Conditions” felt a bit like the pop equivalent of experimental jazz. It wouldn’t surprise me if the New Pornographers like that comparison, but I just don’t dig experimental jazz.

There isn’t anything bad about this album – in fact it is quite good – it is just a matter of preference. Sometimes a good album just doesn’t suit your personal tastes, and this is one of those times. Knowing how much more I enjoy the other two New Pornographers albums in my collection, “Whiteout Conditions” isn’t ever going to be able to work its way into the rotation, post-Odyssey. Rather than have it languish in neglect, I’ll pass it along to a home that will appreciate it better than I do.

Best tracks: Play Money, Whiteout Conditions, High Ticket Attractions, This is the World of the Theater

CD Odyssey Disc 1105: Lucinda Williams

Happy Valentine’s Day! If you find yourself without a romantic partner today, think about all the other wonderful people in your life. Chances are you are a lot more surrounded by love than you realize.

Disc 1105 is… Essence

Artist: Lucinda Williams

Year of Release: 2001

What’s up with the Cover? Flowers in vibrant orange and luscious pink. How appropriate for Valentine’s Day!

How I Came To Know It: I discovered Lucinda Williams listening to Steve Earle (she did a guest spot on one of his records). “Essence” was just me digging through her collection once I knew it was all good.

How It Stacks Up:  I have 12 Lucinda Williams albums, I thought was all of them but when I checked I discovered that last year she re-recorded her 1992 album “Sweet Old World” with four new songs and called it “This Sweet Old World”. I’ll have to check that out. For now, I’ve got 12 and “Essence” ranks 6^th best, which is pretty solid.

Ratings: 4 stars

Before I put on a Lucinda Williams album, I try to mentally steel myself for some raw emotion that is going to reach deep down and find my vulnerable centre. It never works though; you don’t mentally steel yourself for Lucinda Williams – you just get on board for the ride.

“Essence” falls between her folksy early work and the more blues driven alt-rock of her later records. It has elements of both and does a solid job demonstrating that these two sides of her sound are complementary.

The first half of the record is the more folksy side, although with a thick echoing production that provides an almost pop vibe. While I would’ve been happy with less ambient sound in these songs, the opening few tracks are still some of the strongest the record has to offer. Good songwriting and an honest performance will always overcome.

“Lonely Girls” has a gentle bass-note strum with a light simple melody layered above that belies a deep sorrow with a bit of wistful “woe is me” brushed across the top of it. This is a song that captures the sadness within beautiful women, dressed up and presenting confident to the world, but filled with doubt internally. For anyone who has ever wondered if the beautiful people have doubts too, “Lonely Girls” confirms they do.

Few artists do sexy like Lucinda Williams. Hers is neither a girlish flirting nor a sexy strut – it’s a slow seduction, starting somewhere deep within and flowing out, revealing her hidden desires until you feel flush, and a little uncomfortable. “Essence” is one of her sexier albums, with the insistent “Steal Your Love” and the wistful “I Envy the Wind.” The title track digs deeper than all of them, with an urgency so intense it becomes a physical addition; an itch that must be scratched. Or in Lucinda’s words:

“I am waiting here for more

I am waiting by your door

I am waiting on your back steps

I am waiting in my car

I am waiting at this bar

I am waiting for your essence.

“Baby, sweet baby, whisper my name

Shoot your love into my vein

Baby, sweet baby, kiss me hard

Make me wonder who’s in charge.”

You can sense the woman in this relationship is flirting with danger, but the desire is so great you feel as swept up in its wanton abandon as she is.

Another Lucinda tradition is a nasty break up song, and “Essence” has a solid entry with “Are You Down”. Lucinda sings:

“Can’t force the river upstream

When it goes south – know what I mean

Nothin’ will make me take you back

Are you down, babe, down with that?”

Williams is just as sexy and seductive on this song as she is on “Essence” but the words make it very clear that this time he’s getting none of it. This song also features some brilliant blues guitar from Bo Ramsey which adds atmosphere and groove. It is a song that makes you wish you could ask your ex for a slow dance, even though you know in your heart as she’s just going to tell you to get lost.

“Are You Down” and “Essence” appear about midway through the album and signal a shift from the folk-pop elements the record opens with and into a deeper blues groove. Things tend to slow down from here, with meandering romantic crooners and languid narratives about people and places that take their time getting where they’re going.

These songs are beautiful, but overall I think they lose a little in their emotional impact when compared to the insight, sex and vengeance that comes before.

If you like Lucinda Williams’ sound this may not be the first record you buy, but you shouldn’t pass it over for long.

Best tracks: Lonely Girls, Steal Your Love, I Envy the Wind, Blue, Are You Down, Essence

CD Odyssey Disc 1104: King Diamond

On the walk home today I had a musical accident when my MP3 player slipped through a hole in my pocket into the lining of my coat. I stayed cool under pressure, though, playing out headphone wire until it went slack so I could just let it keep playing. At first, that is.

About a block from the house I couldn’t resist futzing with it any longer, and in attempting to recover the player managed to unplug the headphone jack and plunge it even deeper into the lining. I spent the last few steps on the journey in horrific silence, the terrible realization that the player continued to play from the bowels of my overcoat, with no one to hear its screams.

Why was it screaming, you ask? Well…to understand that you have to know what I was listening to.

Disc 1104 is… The Spider’s Lullabye

Artist: King Diamond

Year of Release: 1995

What’s up with the Cover? I’m not familiar with this species of spider. The King Diamond Widow? The Danish Recluse?

How I Came To Know It: I went a little crazy recently and bought a whole bunch of King Diamond albums. This was one of them.

How It Stacks Up:  I have eight King Diamond albums. Of those eight, I put the Spider’s Lullabye at sixth.

Ratings: 2 stars but almost 3

Well here we go again…more King Diamond  - the Danish metal band that shrieks, freaks and goes all out in its quest for metal glory. It may have come out in 1995, almost ten years into King Diamond’s career, but their commitment to playing traditional symphonic heavy metal, fast and furious and grandiose, remains undiminished.

Yeah, but is it any good? The answer to that is complicated, because there are moments on “Spider’s Lullabye” that are great and had me convinced that it would be remaining in my collection for many years to come. Then I’d hear something that just felt like a tired reworking of stuff I’d heard them do on earlier records and want to turf it.

A lot of King Diamond albums are concept albums, but “Spider’s Lullabye” is a hodgepodge of horror topics. Along the way the band tells the story of out-of-body experiences, ghosts, serial killers, nightmares and a disturbing sanitarium that tortures people with spiders and calls it “therapy.” As a horror writer myself I like this sort of creepy stuff, even if King Diamond handles it with varying degrees of skill.

The album starts on a strong note, with “From the Other Side” describing someone floating above their own body and then realizing to their horror it has been reanimated, but is now possessed by a demon. The music is a galloping Iron Maiden-esque drumbeat and a charging guitar riff that adds urgency to the dreamer’s efforts to return to the world – alas, too late. Such is horror. If you wanted it to end with a bunch of laughs and a wedding, try comedy.

There follows some forgettable songs that feature a combination of amazing guitar work from master Andy Laroque but also Laroque just playing fast without purpose. It can be technically impressive, but on songs like “Dreams” detracts from the churning energy he builds with his riffs. The solos vary between inspired and integral to just tacked on and unnecessary.

Like King Diamond’s scream-style vocals, Laroque’s guitar is an acquired taste and for those who have acquired it will have no problems with some of the musical choices that gave a newbie like me pause.

As on other albums, the lyrics on “The Spider’s Lullabye” can feel a bit forced and literal, but I was impressed with “Six Feet Under,” featuring a man buried in a coffin made of glass. Best line: “My hands are turning blue while my nails are turning red.” Basic stuff, but it does a great job of capturing both the victim’s asphyxiation, and the damage he does to himself as he desperately tries to claw his way out.

The album’s final four songs tell a mini-epic of a man afraid of spiders and gets a lot more than he bargained for from the aversion therapy of the crazy Dr. Eastmann. The eight minute torture sequence in “Room 17” goes on a bit long but otherwise this is a pretty solid short story ending…spoiler alert…in a morgue full of corpses and spiders.

The record benefits from a strong remastering effort by guitarist Larocque. It sounds crisp and loud, but not shouty. Except of course for King Diamond’s vocals, those are a bit shouty, but they are supposed to be.

This was my third King Diamond review in the last eleven albums and at first I was prepared to get rid of it due to fatigue alone. It is a lot of new music to grok in a short period of time, particularly music this dense and complex. However, by the end of my second listen “Spider’s Lullabye” had won me over just enough for me to decide to keep it around…for now.

Best tracks: From the Other Side, Six Feet Under, Eastmann’s Cure

CD Odyssey Disc 1103: Whitehorse

I kick-started a four day weekend last night with a night out on the town and today I am paying the price for one too many vodka shots.

Disc 1103 is… The Road to Massey Hall

Artist: Whitehorse

Year of Release: 2013

What’s up with the Cover? I guess this is supposed to represent a road? It also looks a like a plate of eggs with ketchup. Hmmm…I think hunger is finally breaking through my hangover. I’m going to get lunch when I’m done this review.

How I Came To Know It: I’ve been a fan of Whitehorse for quite a while, and knew both Melissa McClelland and Luke Doucet as solo artists before they formed the band. This was just me buying their new album when it came out.

How It Stacks Up:  I have seven Whitehorse albums (four full length albums and three EPs). Of those seven, “The Road to Massey Hall” is the worst.

Ratings: 2 stars

The Road to Massey Hall is a collection of six cover songs. Recording a cover can be a tricky thing. You want it to sound sufficiently different from the original, but you also want to capture the magic that made it a great song in the first place. On “The Road to Massey Hall” Whitehorse falls short on both counts.

The best thing about the record is the guitar work. Both Doucet and McClelland are accomplished players and on the opening track, a cover of Neil Young’s “Winterlong” Doucet’s guitar is big, bold and evocative. I’m also a fan of McClelland’s voice, and those parts of “Winterlong” where she sings solo are solid. Unfortunately for most of the song they sing in a loose harmony that buries her in the mix.

There isn’t anything terrible about any of these songs (hence the 2 stars) but I didn’t feel like I got anything new out of them either. Whitehorse attempts to strip them down, which is often a good thing, but the effect here is to make them drag. Everything seems just a little bit slower, but the gravitas they’re going for doesn’t translate.

Ironically, the fact that these are some of my favourite songs made me like hearing them less. “Dark Angel” is one of my absolute favourite Blue Rodeo songs. Whitehorse sings it OK, but it feels more like a rehearsal than a polished cover. Gordon Lightfoot’s “If You Could Read My Mind” is better than that risible dance remix that came out a few years ago, but that’s not saying much. In both cases, it just made me want to hear the originals.

Bob Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me Babe” is a highlight on the album, with some stellar singing from McClelland. The slower pace here make the lyrics a little less nasty, and even infuses them with a hint of romance that is less evident when Bob’s running the show. The guitar solo wasn’t great (too much focus on reverb) but it didn’t wreck it either.

“Un Canadien Errant” was also good, but I have it on their all-French EP, “Ephemere Sans Repere” so I was really just buying it twice at that point.

The album has a sub-title of “A Salutation to Six Stellar Songs” which is a bit odd. Are they really saying hello to these songs, or are do they mean to pay them homage (which would be a salute, not a salutation). However, I’m currently reading Rebecca Gowers’ “Horrible Words: a Guide to the Misuse of English” which notes it is OK to morph the meaning of words if you do it with a purpose, so I’m feeling less prescriptive than usual. I’m going to assume two smart people like Luke and Melissa deliberately used salutation to suggest both a greeting and a tip of the hat. Why not?

While there are a couple of solid covers on “the Road to Massey Hall” I mostly wanted to hear the originals, or to hear Whitehorse do their own music instead (which is awesome). If an album’s main effect on you is to inspire you to play a different album, it isn’t a good sign. As a result, I’m going to send this record off to a home that will appreciate it more than I do.

Best tracks: Winterlong, It Ain’t Me Babe

CD Odyssey Disc 1102: The Mountain Goats

I’ve had a good week of musical discovery. In the last few days I’ve checked out Brandi Carlile (loved it!), Weyes Blood (liked it, but not quite enough to buy) and finished things off listening to the Heavy Metal soundtrack (bitchin!).

This evening I had a lovely meal out with my friend Andrew, and came home to write this review. Sheila was still using the computer so I lay down on the couch and listened to the Stray Birds debut album. Now I am feeling refreshed and whole. Yay, music!

Disc 1102 is… All Eternals Deck

Artist: Mountain Goats

Year of Release: 2011

What’s up with the Cover? A whole lot of nothing. This is actually one of those cardboard sleeves that goes over the jewel case but I can’t leave it off because underneath is this graphic, which is even more boring.

I believe this is supposed to look like the back of a deck of cards.

How I Came To Know It: In the last couple of years I’ve taken a deep dive into the Mountain Goats, buying 8 albums. “Heretic Pride” and “All Eternals Deck” were the last to enter the collect because both were difficult to find. I eventually broke down and ordered them through Amazon. Sorry, local record store. I tried…

How It Stacks Up:  I now have 8 Mountain Goats albums, which is only half of the discography, but the best half. Of those 8, I put “All Eternals Deck” at 8^th. Hey, someone had to be last, but I still like it.

Ratings: 2 stars but almost 3

By the time I found “All Eternals Deck” my esteem for singer/songwriter John Darnielle (stage name, the Mountain Goats) was already so high that there was a lot to live up to. So if I say some less enthusiastic things in the next few hundred words please don’t judge Darnielle too harshly.

“All Eternals Deck” sees Darnielle sticking to what he knows; sparsely produced indie pop songs with clever lyrics. These lyrics are sung with passion and a fearless conviction to speak the truth, even when that truth is raw and awkward. This album may only be his eighth best, but most artists wish they could write this well.

Darnielle often builds his albums around a concept or theme, using the cohesive set of imagery to draw out observations about himself and, by extension, the human race. The thematic thread for “All Eternals Deck” is a mythical tarot card deck that Darnielle has invented. The liner notes eschew printing lyrics in favour of an imagined card reading, and a short history of this deck of cards. The history of the deck isn’t terribly interesting, but the bigger problem is that the songs don’t convey the notion that these songs involve tarot cards at all.

On “Beat the Champ” Darnielle incorporates wrestling imagery to explore notions of identity and honour, and on “Goths” he relives the reckless glory of youth through the musical forms of his own early years. On “All Eternals Deck” if the theme is there, it is buried so subtly that I missed it entirely. It becomes a loose collection of songs that invoke a lot of imagery of California, but tarot cards don’t feature. It is a promise of connectivity without a payoff.

Musically the album could be more interesting, featuring a lot of basic beats and bass lines that serve as a backdrop to Darnielle’s vocals. The lyrics are solid and the imagery evocative in places, but the music didn’t draw me in as consistently as some of his other work.

He tries some new musical forms, such as on “High Hawk Season” where he has a strange chorus echoing lines behind him in a lower minor key throughout the song. It creates an off-putting weirdness (which I liked) but it also detracted from what was otherwise one of the album’s better songs (which I didn’t).

That said, Darnielle is simply too brilliant to keep himself down entirely. The album opens with “Damn These Vampires” a song where I’m not sure what is happening (although I suspect sure there aren’t any actual vampires). Even not knowing, the tortured rebellion of the track is evident from the opening stanza:

“Brave young cowboys of the near North side
Mount those bridge rails, ride all night
Scream when captured, arch your back
Let this whole town hear your knuckles crack.”

And the dread on “The Autopsy Garland” is palpable, with an urgent and anxiously played guitar strum, coupled with a deep bass rumbling that feels like a gathering thunderstorm. And when Darnielle half whispers, half sings:

“You don’t want to see these guys

Without their masks on.”

You feel legitimately afraid. You don’t know who those guys are, but you’re pretty sure if you ever see their faces you are finished. You have either accidentally IDed them, or they already know it won’t matter. Yeesh.

Many of the other songs are also clever and powerful in their own right, but for the most part not enough to pull me in and transport me like the Mountain Goats so often do when I listen to them. Like I said, it’s a good album, drained of some of its vigor by the brilliance of Darnielle’s other work that surrounds it. Feel free to damn those vampires, as long as you remember to buy them first.

Best tracks: Damn These Vampires, The Autopsy Garland, Sourdoire Valley Song, Never Quite Free

CD Odyssey Disc 1101: Tom Petty

Aah, Tom…I miss you so bad it hurts. At least your music is still here and that’ll have to be enough.

Disc 1101 is… Damn the Torpedoes

Artist: Tom Petty

Year of Release: 1979

What’s up with the Cover? A man and his Rickenbacker. How do I know it’s a Rickenbacker you ask? It’s written on the head.

How I Came To Know It: Years ago I decided I needed more Tom Petty in my life. Once I decided that, “Damn the Torpedoes” was one of the first albums I bought. This copy is remastered, and I expect I bought it shortly after its 2001 re-release.

How It Stacks Up:  I have 16 Tom Petty albums. This one and “Wildflowers” (reviewed way back at Disc 385) are essentially tied for the best, and I tend to lean to whichever one I’ve heard last. Since “Damn the Torpedoes” was heard last, I’m putting it at #1.

Ratings: 5 stars

“Damn the Torpedoes” is one of rock and roll’s greatest albums. It is so massive in our collective consciousness that people think it was Petty’s debut, its collective brilliance somehow temporarily scrubbing our minds of classics like “American Girl.” It shouldn’t be that easy to forget about her, but albums like “Damn the Torpedoes” just don’t come around very often.

The clever mix of boogie woogie, country, new wave and Buddy Holly-esque rock that Petty created on his debut record three years earlier is all still here, but he has learned to boil it down and blend it to the point where it has become something new. If his debut record was the dawn of the Iron Age, then “Damn the Torpedoes” is the invention of steel; stronger, suppler and just prettier to look at.

That’s not to say Tom has lost his edge here – he hasn’t. The opening bars of “Refugee” is sublime and polished, but Petty’s vocals are greasy and hurt-filled, the perfect counterbalance, holding your ear in that middle space until the band kicks into full gear and bridges the gap with the sweet, sweet sounds of rock and roll.

The next track is a romantic crooner of a rock song. With “Here Comes My Girl” the “American Girl” is returned but is now grounded in personal connection. It’s when you realize that the perfect girl is your girl, looking so right and all you need tonight. Ain’t love grand?  Half of this song is Petty just talking, but his jam is so compelling it sounds as artful as the finest crooner.

On “Even the Losers” Petty creates a timeless ballad for everyone who has ever felt like they were on the outside looking in. The song opens grounded in the desires of every person who ever found himself alone with the girl of his dreams, and screwed up his courage to make a move:

“Well it was nearly summer, we sat on your roof

Yeah, we smoked cigarettes and we stared at the moon

And I showed you stars you never could see

Baby, it couldn’t a been that easy to forget about me.”

Maybe it didn’t work out in the long term, but Petty chooses to see the glory in the moment, not the failure that follows. Never has a break up song been so damned positive.

All three of those songs are hits, but the record is packed with deep cuts that will draw you in, like old friends that you are happy to hear from again and again. “Shadow of a Doubt (A Complex Kid)” has a melody that soars in the high notes at the front end, and then walks down on the back end. It tells the tale of a complex kid with a complex arrangement, but never feels forced or busy.

“Don’t Do Me Like That” incorporates New Wave and a Springsteen-like organ run. Or does Springsteen incorporate Tom Petty-style organ? When you’ve got giants of that magnitude it’s hard to get the perspective needed to see who is taller.

When that song ends Petty immediately switches to a slow moving blues track, “You Tell Me,” and it feels as natural as breathing. It helps to have Mike Campbell on guitar and Benmont Tench on organ, mind you. These guys are also giants on their instruments and both are at the height of their powers on “Damn the Torpedoes.”

The record ends with “Louisiana Rain” a six-minute road trip track that starts with a weird synth sound that reminds you of the Eurythmics, before shifting gears to a slow ballad of a man in the rain, struggling with heartache and bad habits in equal measure. If there is a better song for taking a walk in the rain, I can’t think of it right now.

“Damn the Torpedoes” is a perfect piece of art, wrapped up artfully in nine songs and 36 minutes. It was so short it always leaves me wanting more, but only for the few seconds it takes to skip back to the beginning and push ‘play’.

Best tracks: all tracks

CD Odyssey: The Road to 1,100

I’ve reached another (albeit lesser) milestone with 1,100 reviews written so it is time to check in and see what was notable over the past 100 reviews.

I’ve been doing a lot of “new (to me)” reviews under Rule #5 and because a lot of those new (to me) albums are new to the world there is a slight skew toward newly released music of late. 39% of the last 100 albums reviewed were from 2010-2017, compared to just 13% overall. 20% of the last 100 were from 2016 or 2017 only. I expect those numbers to all climb as a) less and less albums remain in my back catalogue and b) I buy more and more new music.

There were 11 5-star albums in the past 100, which is about even for the entire Odyssey overall. Here are the eleven albums that scored the full 5-stars from Discs 1001-1,100:

·         Paul Ngozi – The Ghetto

·         The Pogues – Rum, Sodomy and the Lash

·         Jason Isbell – The Nashville Sound

·         Indigo Girls – Rites of Passage

·         Josh Ritter – The Animal Years

·         Mandolin Orange – Blindfaller

·         Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP

·         Conor Oberst – Ruminations

·         Frank Turner – Tape Deck Heart

·         Courtney Marie Andrews –Honest Life

·         Rush – Moving Pictures

These albums represent folk, country, rock and rap which is proof-positive that people who listen to only one kind of music are just limiting themselves.

Three were no 1-star reviews of late (which is too bad, because they are fun reviews to write) but I did give 15 albums only 2-stars. Eight of those (plus one 3-star album) got sold or given away to friends. Here’s the full list of albums that were dismissed from the collection out of the last 100:

• Hard Working Americans, “Rest in Chaos” – I had originally planned to buy this album then gave it a second listen and took it off my “to get” list. Then I saw it in the store and in a moment of weakness bought it anyway. Mistake.
• Seasick Steve, “You Can’t Teach an Old Dog New Tricks” – An OK record by the blues master, but I just have better ones I’ll always pick first.
• U2 “Boy” – U2 has a small number of great records and a whole ton of average ones. This is one of the latter.
• Tami Nielsen “Don’t Be Afraid” – Not even a great live show could save Nielsen’s underwhelming latest album, but I’d go see her again.
• John Prine “The Missing Years” – I binged on Prine’s back catalogue last year, and this was the inevitable purge.
• Daniel Romano, “Modern Pressure” – I came close to keeping this one but again, I just have a lot better options in the Daniel Romano section of my collection.
• The Wooden Sky, “Swimming in Strange Waters” – Another close one. I love everything else these guys have done and this one just suffered by comparison more than anything.
• Hawksley Workman, “The Delicious Wolves” – We owned this album for years and never played it. The Odyssey reminded me why.
• Eric Clapton, “461 Ocean Boulevard” – the only 3-star album to leave the collection so I obviously liked it, but I also realized there was nothing on it I couldn’t live without.

In terms of overall reviews, little changed other than Alice Cooper increasing his overall lead. I’ve now reviewed 28 albums by him, which is all of them at this point. Steve Earle stays in second place with 19 albums. The only change is that Tom Waits added a review and is once again tied with Bob Dylan with 18 albums.

Thanks for reading!

CD Odyssey Disc 1100: Heart

After a very fun night out with friends at the Victoria Film Festival gala, I awoke this morning to a mild hangover but a sunny disposition fueled, in part, by the revelry of the night before. If you’re going to have a hangover, make sure the event was memorable.

I’m now off to CD shop and (hopefully) get as many as I can by my new obsession: Minnesota rapper/singer Dessa. This stuff is great and I MUST have all of it. Such is my sickness.

I don’t feel that way about this next band, although I do have a few so obviously I like them.

Disc 1100 is… Dreamboat Annie

Artist: Heart

Year of Release: 1976

What’s up with the Cover? A double Giant Head cover featuring Ann and Nancy Wilson looking dreamy. Ordinarily I’d think a cover like this rather boring but for some reason it appeals to me…

How I Came To Know It: A while back my buddy Chris was playing Heart’s 1977 album “Little Queen” and it appealed to me. Remembering all the Heart songs I liked when I was a kid I decided to dig into their back catalogue. Debut record “Dreamboat Annie” came out as one of the highlights.

How It Stacks Up:  I have three Heart albums. I used to have four but I got rid of “Bad Animals” after reviewing it. Since this is my last Heart review, here is a full recap, including the one I sold:

1. Little Queen: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 970)
2. Heart (Self-Titled): 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 960)
3. Dreamboat Annie: 3 stars (reviewed right here)
4. Bad Animals: 2 stars (reviewed at Disc 827)

Ratings: 3 stars

Heart gets thrown into the category of Hard Rock with dismissive regularity, but Sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson are a lot more than just two more Zeppelin disciples. On “Dreamboat Annie” they demonstrate a lot of influences, not so much blending them as artfully pinning them together.

For all that the album’s opener (and best known song) “Magic Man” is more of a Zeppelin fueled guitar riff, with a chunky sound and Ann Wilson’s vocals climbing into the stratosphere before dropping back down to a bluesy resolution of the melody. Nancy’s guitar is blues-rock excess in all the good ways and on an atmospheric solo in the middle of the song she shines like a bright star.

Fun fact – there is a crazy guitar lick at the 3:53 mark of “Magic Man” which is sampled by Ice T on the song “Personal”. On “Personal” that little riff is core to the song’s awesomeness but on “Magic Man” Nancy throws it out there, then immediately moves on never to return. She’s got other musical fish to fry.

However, this album is about more than just “Magic Man” (and its other classic rock song, “Crazy On You”). Heart incorporates dreamy pop elements and a proto-disco sexy groove that gives the album balance and depth. “(Love Me Like Music) I’ll Be Your Song” has a smooth almost yacht rock quality, but also could be played as a slow dance at Studio 54. It feels slick and silky but never artificial, grounded as it is in exceptional and honest musicianship.

It can be taken too far, mind you. The title track is a meandering bit of treacle that predictably became the song that got overplayed on AM radio to the detriment of the record’s better songs. “Dreamboat Annie” is not even that good of a song, and it doesn’t help that there are three versions of it (the second and last track on Side One, the last track on Side Two).

There are a lot of prog elements on “Dreamboat Annie”, something I don’t think Heart gets enough credit for. Everyone is obsessed with the fact that two beautiful women are rocking out, and tend to overlook how cleverly they are doing it. “Magic Man” has early synthesizer sounds in that would be equally at home on a Rush album. “Soul of the Sea” is six and half minutes of constant shifts that feels like it could be the soundtrack for a contemporary dance number. “Sing Child” drops some Jethro Tull style jazz flute into the middle of its rock groove.

“Dreamboat Annie” is at its best when Heart feels like they are trying to be two totally different bands at the same time, fusing styles and production choices from multiple influences into an amalgam that is something new. It is hard to pull off, but for the most part, they totally get away with it.

In fact, songs like “White Lightning & Wine” which are just straight up blues tracks suffer by comparison, coming off as derivative. It can’t even be saved by cowbell, which is usually a sure fire musical cure for what ails you.

Despite a couple of these misses, overall, “Dreamboat Annie” is a solid record that for a debut shows incredible maturity and complexity.

Best tracks: Magic Man, Crazy On You, (Love Me Like Music) I’ll Be Your Song, Sing Child