CD Odyssey Disc 1296: J.S. Ondara

I’ve been randomly rolling a lot of records from 2019 lately, and they’ve been treating me well. This is my 8^th album from 2019, and the 5^th with a rating of four stars or higher. It’ll be a hard battle to make the top ten list this year, but this next artist is an early favourite to do so.

Disc 1296 is… Tales of America

Artist: J.S. Ondara

Year of Release: 2019

What’s up with the Cover? Young Mr. Ondara himself, sporting a funky suit as he plays a little street corner guitar.

How I Came to Know It: I read a review of this album on Paste magazine and was intrigued enough to give a few tracks a listen. I was quickly hooked.

How It Stacks Up:  This is Ondara’s only album so far, so there are no other albums to stack it up against.

Ratings: 4 stars but almost 5

Nairobi is a long way from Minneapolis, and you get the impression listening to “Tales of America” that all that distance helped provide the inspiration for J.S. Ondara’s unique sound. The more I listen to this album the more I’m thankful he made the trip.

Like a lot of great art, Ondara’s music is hard to categorize. It is a mix of folk and soul, sung with a rich, evocative tone that reminded me favorably of Tracy Chapman. While the record has a touch of strings here and there, and a few background vocalists, for the most part it is just Ondara strumming an acoustic guitar and singing.

The guitar is honest and raw but the star of this record is Ondara’s voice. He pulls every shred of emotion out of each word, and yet somehow manages to never sound overwrought. His range is fantastic, with a bluesy bawling tone in the low register, and a falsetto that sounds like an angel has descended when he goes up high. I actually thought a couple of the songs were a duet until I saw a video and realized it was all Ondara. Listening to these songs on my headphones was a bit of a letdown at times, because I missed the experience of having him fill my living room.

Ondara writes all the songs, which are thoughtful tales of heartache and spiritual exploration. He also is the master of the pop hook, which he nestles right in the pocket between his folk and blues sensibilities. The hooks are so catchy that they sometimes overshadow the rest of the song, but that’s OK because their repetition is so sublime it is all you need. On “Saying Goodbye” Ondara repeatedly sings “I’m just getting good at saying goodbye” but it isn’t true – he makes you feel those goodbyes from the first utterance of the phrase. Hearing it more often just helps it sink into your bones.

On “Torch Song” Ondara sings:

“My heart is never on time

Always a little behind”

I kind of wanted this song to be a little behind the beat, but it was hard to argue with the perfect phrasing Ondara finds in every rhythm. It is like he’s hearing it in smaller pieces than you can, finding micro-touches that create variability without ever leaving the pocket.

The record is filled with restlessness and yearning. The relationships are uncertain but full and deep, and Ondara’s angelic warble makes you feel like you’re walking lost down a crowded street, or maybe boarding a bus without looking to see what town it’s heading to. All that wandering in his real life translates honestly and organically into his music.

And while there is a current of uncertainty, you also get the impression that Ondaras’ center travels with him through every song. His music is raw to the world, but at ease with the experience. “Lebanon” in particular, exemplifies the experience. The narrator of the song opines:

“Hey love, I’m ready now

Can’t you see the riot

Inside my veins?”

But combined with a slow Johnny Cash-like guitar mosey and Ondara swinging his way through a chorus of:

“In the water, the fire

I’ll go wherever you go

In the valley, the canyon

I’ll go wherever you go.”

You don’t feel lost or frustrated – you just put a bit more spring in your step and stop worrying about where you’re heading. It reminded me of that old Buckaroo Bonzai quote, “Wherever you go…there you are.”

J.S. Ondara has the relaxed worldly wisdom of an old soul.  Listening to him sing lets you feel raw and vulnerable, but safe and calm in the same moment. I look forward to what he does next.

Best tracks: Torch Song, Saying Goodbye, Television Girl, Lebanon, Good Question

CD Odyssey Disc 1295: The Cowboy Junkies

I’ve been pretty good restricting my music purchases lately, but over the weekend I once again succumbed to the urge. New to the collection are:

• Johnny Cash, “Blood, Sweat and Tears” – a 1963 tribute album to the blue-collar worker. This album has lots of references to hammers.
• The Creepshow, “Run For Your Life” – the fourth album to join my collection by the psychobilly band from Burlington, Ontario and one of their best.
• Alela Diane and Wild Divine – an eponymous release, and the only one not on my list (if you don’t want to spend too much on impulse music purchases shop for it like you shop for groceries – bring a list). I took a chance because I love Alela Diane’s work. I was not disappointed.

All great new albums, but today let’s go back in time to one that has been in the collection since my university days.

Disc 1295 is… The Trinity Session

Artist: Cowboy Junkies

Year of Release: 1988

What’s up with the Cover? The band is hanging out. Based on the stark lighting and lack of colour they appear to have travelled back in time to the 1940s.  

How I Came to Know It: I don’t fully remember, but I know it happened when I was in university. I think I saw someone perform the Junkies’ version of “Sweet Jane” at a poetry reading. When I asked how she had come up with that arrangement, she told me about the “The Trinity Sessions”. A couple of friends were discovering the band at around the same time and whole thing started to snowball. I went to the record store to buy it, but it wasn’t in (I got “The Caution Horses” instead). I kept checking back though, and it was eventually restocked.

How It Stacks Up:  I have five Cowboy Junkies albums. I put “The Trinity Session” in at #5 but coming in last out of these five albums is no slight. Because this is the last Cowboy Junkies album in my collection, here’s a recap:

1. The Caution Horses: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 155)
2. Black Eyed Man: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 589)
3. Lay it Down: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 800)
4. Pale Sun, Crescent Moon: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 267)
5. The Trinity Session:  3 stars (reviewed right here)

Ratings: 3 stars

“The Trinity Session” is an album that is like an evening walk in the woods. It is a haunting, emotionally evocative and beautiful even when it loses its way.

The record was the band’s big breakthrough, and features a mix of covers and original material, all delivered in what would become the Junkies’ signature sound; a subdued echoing combination of country mosey, blues and just a hint of jazz.

When the Junkies play a note they like to let it linger, and the songs on “The Trinity Session” take their sweet time getting from A to B. Everything is languorous and laid back, from the breathy whisper of Margo Timmins’ vocals to the gentle strum of brother Michael’s guitar. Even the drum is quiet, often consisting of little more than a brush played lightly on the snare. This is subtle music that requires you to lean in and listen with intent.

The record begins with Margo singing the traditional work song “Mining for Gold” acapella. It is stark and beautiful and sets the perfect tone for the record. For a year after this record was released it was hard to go to anyone’s house and not have them shush you and urge you sit in the dark and listen to this little gem. I never once regretted those 90 seconds of Margo’s voice filling the room. I’m sure I’ve done it to someone myself.

The next song, “Misguided Angel” is an original and for my money the best song on the record. The sound they would perfect two years later on “The Caution Horses” is on full display here, adding just the right amount of jump and sway to the band’s ghostly charm. The song is the heartbreaking tale of a tragic romance, filled with equal parts love and darkness. The chorus paints a complicated picture in four simple lines:

“Misguided angel hangin' over me
Heart like a Gabriel, pure and white as ivory
Soul like a Lucifer, black and cold like a piece of lead
Misguided angel, love you 'til I'm dead”

Other standouts include a re-imagined version of “Blue Moon” called “Blue Moon Revisited” mixing the original song with the Junkies’ own notions on where to take the melody. Also brilliant is the aforementioned “Sweet Jane” a slow and quiet introspective treatment of the song which I heard long before I ever heard the Lou Reed original, and which I continue to love equally after all these years.

There are moments where the record loses me. I found the cover of Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” took a few too many liberties with the melody. “Walkin’ After Midnight” meandered a little too far in the woods. However, for a band filled with this much natural reverie getting a bit lost in the journey is an expected hazard. While I sometimes found myself wanting just a little less noodle, there is no denying they do a fine one, and this album represents the shape of even greater things to come.

Best tracks: Mining for Gold, Misguided Angel, Blue Moon Revisited (Song for Elvis), Sweet Jane

CD Odyssey Disc 1294: Sleater-Kinney

I’ve spent the week juggling social engagements (also working). I never get frustrated with the pressure of seeing all the people I care about, because it is a wonderful reminder that I am rich with friends. That’s the best kind of rich.

Anyway, on to the review which is my second perfect score in three albums. Don’t worry, I’m not getting soft, I’m just getting exposed to some seriously great music.

Disc 1294 is… The Center Won’t Hold

Artist: Sleater-Kinney

Year of Release: 2019

What’s up with the Cover? A creative twist on the very traditional (and oft-referenced) Giant Head cover. Here Sleater-Kinney has blended their heads together into a single Giant Head. Other notable albums with blended/distorted heads include Queen’s “The Miracle” (reviewed way back at Disc 52) and Sarah Jarosz’s “Follow Me Down” (reviewed at Disc 996).

How I Came to Know It: I was already a fan of Sleater-Kinney through their earlier work and so gave this record a try.

How It Stacks Up:  I have four Sleater-Kinney albums that span across their career. This record is their best yet, and I’m putting in #1. It is also one of the best records of 2019 so far.

Ratings: 5 stars

“The Center Won’t Hold” is a great example of how it is never too late in a band’s career to deliver a classic record. Twenty-five years after their first album took Seattle's alternative rock scene by storm, Sleater-Kinney has once again delivered something fresh and furious, with a new sound that demonstrates the bravery to explore new approaches to their work.

A big part of this new approach is courtesy of the musical genius that is St. Vincent (who actually is the producer this time, unlike my gaffe earlier this month). St. Vincent is doing things like no one else in music right now, finding novel ways to blend techno, pop and hard rock into a sound that is crisp and crunchy at the same time. On “The Center Won’t Hold” she brings her inspired alchemy to Sleater-Kinney.

The result is a the riot grrrl snarl that Sleater-Kinney helped create in the early nineties, blended with St. Vincent’s mastery of soundscapes and sharp yet visceral production. This will not suit all Sleater-Kinney devotees, who may miss the organic garage rock sound of their earlier records, but I love it. The original bite is still there, but now with some creative studio decisions that helps the songs stand out both individually and one to the other.

Sleater-Kinney have long been known as great songwriters, matching catchy riffs with rebellious anger. Their lyrics explore universal truths about the human condition through a personal introspection that is sometimes harrowing in its honesty. “The Center Won’t Hold” has this talent on full display.

The album also shows remarkable musical range. The title track is a cross between industrial nineties percussion and punk snarl and the album branches from there into virtually every nook and cranny that rock and roll has to offer.

“Hurry on Home” is a song full of urgency and sexual energy with a driving guitar that – like the desires of its narrator – cannot be denied. “Can I Go On” takes that energy and examines it in the third person – exploring the relationship between an artist’s personal desires, and the marketing of those desires for money, best exemplified in this line:

“Everyone I know is funny

But jokes don’t make us money

Sell our rage, buy and trade

But we still cry for free every day.”

There are also songs with laid back surfer guitar (“Restless”), songs with apocalyptic feedback (“RUINS”) and songs filled with pop hooks and handclaps (“LOVE”). Despite all this variety, the album’s centre does hold, with all these sounds coming together in a cohesive whole. The vocals are the best of any album to date, which is saying something, and St. Vincent’s steady hand on the tiller just takes everything great about Sleater-Kinney and somehow makes it better.

It is hard to pick favourites on a record like this, but “The Dog/The Body” is a perfect mix of thoughtful lyrics, production brilliance, and a song structure that sways back and forth between raw and emotional verses like:

“I’m just the dog

I’m just the body tonight

I’m just the fist without

The will to fight.”

that are filled with doubt, and a triumphant chorus of

“Baby, baby, baby, I don’t mind

Can’t keep singing the same old lines”

featuring a devil-may-care melodic soar that internalizes all that doubt and draws strength from it. The song has a slow, perfectly timed build and ends with some inspired guitar and a slow fade out. It leaves you feeling a bit unresolved, but at ease with the lack of closure all the same.

Old-school Sleater-Kinney fans might not like the shift in their sound, but that would be their loss. I love listening to an artist evolve over time, and with results this amazing, Sleater-Kinney can keep shifting their centre all they want.

Best tracks: all tracks

CD Odyssey Disc 1293: Jennifer Warnes

Walking home today I felt an easy contentment come over me. People I knew recognized me from their cars, waving and honking enthusiastically. Random, not entirely sober dudes mistook the honking for them and took it all well when they realized their mistake. The world just seemed at peace with itself. And the whole journey home I was in the company of a very old friend – this next album.

Disc 1293 is… Famous Blue Raincoat

Artist: Jennifer Warnes

Year of Release: 1986

What’s up with the Cover? The titular blue raincoat. This one is pretty wrinkled, like it’s just come out of summer storage. Below the raincoat it looks like someone has emptied out an ashtray on the bedspread, which is rather rude.

How I Came to Know It: I was a fan of Leonard Cohen and this record was a pretty popular collection of his songs back when I was attending university. It ended up being one of my first CDs and I still own it today.

How It Stacks Up:  This is the only Jennifer Warnes album I have, so it can’t stack up.

Ratings: 4 stars

I’ve always been one of those people who likes the sound of Leonard Cohen’s voice. I like the voices of Bob Dylan and Kris Kristofferson as well. I have no issue with gravelly old guys singing as long as the songs are good. So when I heard about “Famous Blue Raincoat” back in 1988 my first thought was, “why would anyone do an album full of Leonard Cohen covers? Aren’t his original versions awesome enough?” They are, but Jennifer Warnes’ extended love letter to his work won me over with its grace and beauty.

At the time I was decidedly anti-cover, and only wanted to hear the original artist singing their songs. This all seems a bit silly now, the more so considering how much I was into Celtic folk music at the time. Almost every album in that genre has at least one traditional tune on it that’s been sung by dozens of people over the years. Somehow the incongruity of my position on covering a ten year old song and covering a 300 year old song never occurred to me.

Jennifer Warnes helped disavow me of such folly. As a song on the record notes, their ain’t no cure for love. There is, however, a cure for narrow-mindedness, and hearing her sing Cohen’s songs on “Famous Blue Raincoat” was a big part of that journey for me. Warnes’ voice is rich and pure and she belts it out with a simple confidence, devoid of a bunch of runs and vocal gymnastics that a lesser performer might resort to.

She doesn’t need this sort of cheap trick, because she gets these songs, understanding their bones like she wrote them herself. This depth of understanding helps her honour the brilliance of Cohen’s poetic soul, while still infusing them with her own unique artistry.

There are even songs where – to my shock – I found myself preferring her cover to the original. On “First We Take Manhattan” smooth jazz elements actually help create the feeling of a dystopian future the lyrics intend.  “Joan of Arc” benefits immeasurably by being a duet between Joan and the fire that consumes her (Cohen provides guest vocals to sing the part of Fire, in what is one of his better vocal performances).

While I didn’t prefer “Ain’t No Cure for Love” and “Coming Back to You” over Cohen’s versions, I did like the way Warnes infused a thread of optimism and playfulness into songs that have a more somber approach coming off Cohen’s tongue.

My one gripe with the record is that its production and arrangements are so typical of their time. 1986 was not a kind year, and the excess use of saxophone solos was rampant. It works on “First We Take Manhattan” but in other places it sometimes had me feeling like I was in the middle of an episode of Moonlighting. One of those moments where Maddie and David have had a fight and are now rolling around in their beds in the moonlight, pining for one another.

This sax assault is particularly egregious on “Bird on a Wire.” This song works best as a song of quiet regret and doesn’t deserve some bizarre noodle-fest evoking a “life in the city is tough” vibe.

Fortunately, those moments are generally eclipsed by Warnes’ brilliant vocal performance and her clear connection to the songs. Her versions don’t outshine Cohen’s, and she doesn’t get lost in their shadow either. She comfortably and confidently stands alongside them; different but equal. In the process she helps show young idiots like me that great art has many facets, and there are benefits from seeing those facets from a fresh angle.

Best tracks: Famous Blue Raincoat, Joan of Arc, Ain’t No Cure for Love

CD Odyssey Disc 1292: Better Oblivion Community Center

Welcome back to the CD Odyssey! This next album is one of 2019’s best. I made a mistake in my initial posting and suggested it was produced by St. Vincent but that was just me getting it confused with another record I was reading up on yesterday (Sleater Kinney's "The Center Won't Hold"). I apologize for any confusion and the review below now gives the record's actual producers the love they deserve.

Disc 1292 is… Self-Titled

Artist: Better Oblivion Community Center

Year of Release: 2019

What’s up with the Cover? Chandeliers are like the distant solar systems of the ballroom.

How I Came to Know It: I read a review and was excited that two artists I already liked (Phoebe Bridgers and Conor Oberst) had done an album together.

How It Stacks Up:  this is the first album by the Better Oblivion Community Center, but I hope it isn’t the last. For now, it can’t stack up.

Ratings: 5 stars

The last few Conor Oberst albums have been pretty much perfect. His last record was 2017’s “Salutations” which I gave 4 stars when I reviewed it back at Disc 1170. It is hard to imagine changing anything that would make his brilliance even better.

The same can be said for fellow singer-songwriter phenomenon Phoebe Bridgers. Her last solo record was also from 2017, “Stranger in the Alps” and while I haven’t reviewed it here’s a spoiler alert: it is also amazing. A bit more pop, a bit less folk, but every bit as brilliant.

Two years later the two of them together have created the Better Oblivion Community Center. The combination is exactly as awesome as you could hope for; they make each other better at every level.

Bridgers and Oberst are cowriters on all but one of the songs. I heard elements of their solo work throughout, but there was also this fantastic middle ground that borrowed from both. It served both their own signature songwriting styles, but also shifted it through collaboration into something beautiful, distinct and altogether new.

Stylistically, I noted how Bridgers helps get Oberst’s rock on. It isn’t like Oberst’s brand of introspective indie folk needed that – it is brilliant all on its own – but it gives the record incredible stylistic range. Oberst’s influence on Bridgers pulls her slightly out of the rock drone of “Stranger…” and helps give punctuation to her style without losing the ambient power that helps make it great.

The two of them sing on most tracks, sometimes one or the other taking the lead, but often blending their voices. Oberst’s high and hurt-filled quaver and Bridgers sweet but sorrowful alt-pop tone blend well. Sometimes they are in tight harmony, and sometimes they’re loose so your ear can go back and forth between the two very different styles, but they are always complementary to one another.

If there is any tension, it is only the tension of songs. Both musicians are adept at venturing out into the land of emotional oblivion, and neither shy away from another journey together. The result are powerfully self-examined songs that put you in the mood for some heavy thinking and dig deep into your soul. Sometimes the songs have narrative structure, but often they are just moments in time that speak to a broader existential or emotional exploration. Sometimes I was drawn into these characters immersing me as I got lost in their journey. Sometimes the songs became the perfect soundtrack to ruminate over Big Questions of my own.

There are too many great lines and moments to quote a single one. Besides, it is better that you experience them as they were meant to be heard, reaching into you with exactly the right musical accompaniment to punctuate each image and thought.

Oberst and Bridgers play the majority of the guitar parts on the record, and they are equally gifted here, switching styles effortlessly as the songs demand. “Dylan Thomas” and “Chesapeake” employ a jangling strum, “My City” features a sublime rolling picking section and “Big Black Heart” has the big emotional echo you might expect on a Cure album. The constantly changing production decisions give the album a constant newness, while always maintaining a cohesive structure.

Which brings us to the production, which is not St. Vincent, but is brilliant all the same. As it happens the best match for these two brilliant artists are...themselves! Bridgers and Oberst produce the record (along with Andy Lemaster, who has previously worked as an engineer and instrumentalist on Oberst's solo albums). Together, they infuse the record with just the right amount of light electronica where the song calls for it, and matched with all that variance in the guitar treatments, your ear is constantly engaged.

Every song on Better Oblivion Community Center is a precious and unique gem, but all form part of a larger piece of jewelry that is greater than the sum of its parts. This is not just a collection of great singles; this is a classic record.

Better Oblivion Community Center already has me wishing fervently for a follow up record where these brilliant musical minds can once again build something beautiful together. Whether that happens again or not, there is no question that Better Oblivion Community Center is one of the best records of 2019.

Best tracks: all tracks – unfortunately there are only 10

CD Odyssey Disc 1291: Patty Griffin

Last month marked ten years of me writing music reviews. The time has flown by, and while some days I look forward to writing an entry more than others, I never regret the journey. The CD Odyssey has helped me appreciate my music collection in a more mindful way. It has also helped make music a centerpiece to my day, and not just part of the background. I’ve got hundreds of albums still to go but I never worry whether I’ll get to the end; the journey is what matters.

Disc 1291 is… Impossible Dream

Artist: Patty Griffin

Year of Release: 2004

What’s up with the Cover? Patty in petticoats, holding time in one hand and a miniature sun in the other. No wait, she’s just plucking at her outfit – that miniature sun is just floating nearby. That seems marginally safer, although there is still a real risk of a bad burn. Also, there is a kite. I assume she lost it while she was adjusting her dress. I suppose holding three things in only two hands was, in fact, an impossible dream.

How I Came to Know It: This was just me digging through Patty Griffin’s back catalogue to see what I liked.

How It Stacks Up:  I have eight Patty Griffin albums. Of those eight, “Impossible Dream” ranks #5.

Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4

My only regret listening to “Impossible Dream” is that I didn’t love it more. This is objectively a great record, and if it only connects with me intermittently then the fault is mine, not Patty Griffin’s.

This defines Griffin’s career for the most part. She is a gifted singer, with the voice of an angel come to earth and bemoaning the hard landing. On “Impossible Dream” she sings with the soul of a gospel soloist, and the lilt of a travelling troubadour. Both sides of that coin are filled with power and a brassy edge that feels just a bit uncomfortable in being too personal, and too filled with pain. She manages to combine this raw and reckless delivery with perfect pitch and tone.

Her songwriting is brilliant but not for everyone. The Dixie Chicks have recorded her songs (including “Top of the World” from this album) but that’s because they have their own vocal powerhouse in Natalie Maines and can get away with it. Make not mistake, though, while these songs have some incredible and innovative melodies they are not for the faint of heart. If you’re not Natalie Maines, I suggest just sitting back and listening.

You’ll be well rewarded if you do. Griffin’s original version of “Top of the World” is like the Dixie Chicks’ version but with even more hurt and regret. What’s it about? I don’t know for sure. Blue collar regret, or just wishing you’d done more for your loved ones while you still had the flush of youth and health. Whatever the story is, Patty Griffin will damned well break your heart tell it to you.

The best song on the record is “Useless Desires.” This song is for when you realize all those dreams of youth are likely never going to come true, and the people you love might one day be gone. It is a song tragic for its despair and surrender, but also accepting that sometimes things just don’t work out. When Griffin belts out the chorus:

“How the sky turns to fire
Against the telephone wire
And even I'm getting tired of useless desires”

You can feel the sun going down on hope, even as the jangling strum of Griffin’s guitar throws in the subtle hints of forward movement. The song intimates that sometimes you’ve got to say goodbye to one dream to find the next one. It’s a cold comfort, but a hell of a good wallow, and the way Griffin hits the high notes will leave you with the impression that her angel will yet make it back to heaven, broken wing and all.

Like a lot of Griffin’s albums, she is not afraid of making different decisions to serve each individual song. Sometimes it’s a single guitar, sometimes a bit of string and sometimes a piano, and she has a knack for picking the right approach.

There are some songs that are so adventurous melodically that they lose me a bit, but even those songs are buoyed by Griffin’s vocal prowess.  The standouts on the record blew my mind and the lesser tracks are delivered with such emotional honesty they left me feeling guilty I didn’t like them more.

In the end this is a powerful record from an artist who has never gotten the accolades she deserves as one of the spiritual leaders of Americana music. Hell, even I put this record at #5. Sorry, Patty.

Best tracks: Cold as it Gets, Useless Desires, Top of the World, Rowing Song, When It Doesn’t Come Easy

CD Odyssey Disc 1290: Emily Barker

Wow – the CD Odyssey gods have decided they want me to listen to Emily Barker. I ordered five albums from her a few months ago, and this will already be my fourth review in the last 28 albums.

Disc 1290 is… The Toerag Sessions

Artist: Emily Barker

Year of Release: 2015

What’s up with the Cover? Not much to say here. Emily Barker in studio, looking eager to warm up that guitar in her hands.

How I Came to Know It: I heard about Emily Barker through her work in the band Applewood Road. Then I ordered a bunch of her other stuff on Bandcamp, including this one.

How It Stacks Up:  I have four other Emily Barker albums, and the Toerag Sessions presents a bit of a quandary. Is it an album on its own, or is it a compilation of previously released material? I’m going to stack it up on the grounds that while these are old songs, they are new recordings. Judge me if you must. With that slight bend in tradition, I rank this album #1.

Ratings: 4 stars but almost 5

Sometimes less is more, and when you have the bones of old songs sometimes the best thing you can do is leave them bare and polish them up.

As alluded to above, “The Toerag Sessions” is a retrospective album. It features Emily Barker looking back over her career, reimagining old songs in a stripped-down one-woman show. The album is just her, guitar and occasional harmonica. Not only does it work, it makes the songs shine with an inner light that makes them raw, real and deeply personal.

Barker takes inspiration from throughout her career, going all the way back to her early days with the band “the-low-country” in 2003/04. She also includes work from her first solo album (“Photos.Fires.Fables”) plus all three of her previous efforts with her backing band, the Red Clay Halo.

Barker is a gifted guitar player, and she can make her instrument trill with faerie-folk mystery, or float with hazy reverb depending on what the song demands. Hearing the songs without any backing instruments made me appreciate just how much depth and subtlety she can coax out of a single instrument.

When she adds the occasional harmonica she evokes early Dylan or Neil Young; three parts heart-worn troubadour and one part tormented radical.

I’ve recently reviewed three of Emily Barker’s albums with the Red Clay Halo, and six of the songs from those albums are featured here. Of those, I cited four (“Little Deaths”, “Disappear”, “Letters” and “All Love Knows”) as favourites on the original, album reviews. As good as those recordings are, I preferred the recording on “The Toerag Sessions” every time.

Part of it is that stark production I noted earlier, but no less so is Barker’s vocal performance. She takes full advantage of all that space in the otherwise empty studio. Her voice maintains the elfin trill from earlier records, but it replaces the sometimes sing-song delivery with a full and rounded delivery that sounds deep and mature with a visceral connection to the lyrics that exceeds the standard of excellence she previously established on the earlier recordings.

“The Toerag Sessions” features two songs from Barker’s work with “the-low-country”, “The Dark Road” and “Lord I Want an Exit”. Maybe it’s just that I hadn’t previously heard these songs, but they had a strong impact. Both are dark and melancholy, with “the Dark Road” featuring the juxtaposition of an echoing guitar and Barker’s sweet tone cutting through the moody back strum.

“Lord I Want an Exit” features the muted guitar roll you might expect on an early Leonard Cohen album, providing the ominous undertone to a song about someone praying for release. Cancer songs by My Chemical Romance can only dream of the kind of honest heartache Barker embodies here of an old man desperate for death and the chance of a reunion with his wife, already gone:

“O Lord, when will you grant me leave

To the ocean of her ashes with its blues and greens?

For heaven is my wife walking to greet me

O Lord, please grant me leave.

“Is there an angel down the hallway to escort me to her side?

I want death’s dark veil to cover me tonight.

All the drugs they are keeping me alive

But I want an exit. I want an exit.”

Unlike the man in this song, I wanted no exit from “The Toerag Sessions”. I wanted to seek solace in its sadness and mystery all week long. But alas, the Odyssey knows no mercy. And so I sail on, knowing this album will continue to echo in my soul for some time to come.

Best tracks: Little Deaths, Nostalgia, Disappear, Letters, All Love Knows, The Dark Road, Lord I Want an Exit, Anywhere Away

CD Odyssey Disc 1289: Mudcrutch

I’ve been reading some Nietzsche in the bathroom lately and found this passage where he provides his thoughts on music from Ecce Homo interesting:

“I shall say another word for the most select ears: what I really want from music. That it be cheerful and profound like an afternoon in October. That it be individual, frolicsome, tender, a sweet small woman full of beastliness and charm.”

Nietzsche famously loved Richard Wagner, which I assume he found held the right mixture of beastliness and charm. I don’t really know much Wagner, outside of his general reputation that allows me to offhandedly say “Oh, Wagner – yeah he’s pretty good but I don’t have any” when someone mentions him in polite conversation.

Not so for Tom Petty. Ask me a question about Tom Petty and I know things. At least some things. I have all his albums, even to the point of getting into his side projects – such as this next record.

Disc 1289 is… Self-Titled

Artist: Mudcrutch

Year of Release: 2008

What’s up with the Cover? The Unknown Hipster. This cover commemorates all the hipsters lost to jobs that didn’t let them keep their beards or – worse still – those hipsters who had to admit they liked a band that later became popular. In honour of these fallen comrades, we present this faceless hipster in solidarity with their loss.

How I Came to Know It: I was a big fan of Tom Petty so when I heard he was linking up with his old bandmates pre-Heartbreakers I decided to give it a chance.

How It Stacks Up:  I have two Mudcrutch albums. This one is the best.

Ratings: 4 stars

Before Tom Petty had the Heartbreakers he was in a band called Mudcrutch. Mudcrutch never made it big in their original early seventies incarnation, but in 2008 Petty brought the band back together and recorded the first of two albums with his old band.

Mudcrutch consists of one half of the Heartbreakers (Petty, Mike Campbell on lead guitar and Benmont Tench on keyboards) but swaps in rhythm guitarist Tom Leadon and drummer Randall Marsh. The overall effect still comes out sounding a lot like a Heartbreaker’s album. This is no surprise as once again Petty is principal songwriter and band leader. Campbell and Tench also bring their instantly recognizable mastery to their respective instruments.

I didn’t feel like the addition of Leadon and Marsh stood out, although if you listen close the record does have a bit more of a southern mosey overall.

Chronologically, this album falls between Petty’s 2006 solo album “Highway Companion” and 2010’s Heartbreakers album “Mojo.” It fits stylistically between them as well, incorporating some of the folksier sounds of “Highway Companion” with the heavier blues-rock evidenced on “Mojo.”

The record features two traditional songs, “Shady Grove” and the instrumental “June Apple.” “Shady Grove” has Mudcrutch throwing a lot of blues sensibilities into what is ordinarily a bluegrass standard, but it works well, and the band wisely keeps the forward jump to the beat that helps identify bluegrass. “June Apple” takes a more traditional approach, with some lovely call and answer between guitar and organ.

The band also tackles the traditional truck driving song “Six Days on the Road,” infusing it with some grime and boogie woogie which harkens to the narrator’s excitement at the prospect of almost being home after a long drive. You also get a strong sense that in addition to the admission that he’s dodging weigh stations and high on speed, he’s probably also driving too fast.

While multiple band members take turns writing the album’s original tracks, Petty does the lion’s share of the work on this front, and his tracks tended to be my favourites.

“Scare Easy” has the misty ambience of “Last Dance with Mary Jane,” and the echo of Mike Campbell’s guitar evokes the call of a ghostly voice across a lake at night. Petty sings that he doesn’t scare easy, and the song provides the ominous overtones that make the trait noteworthy.

“Oh Maria” is full of both romance and sadness. It is an earnest love song about a woman making hard choices to get by. Maria doesn’t scare easy either, but Petty’s gentle delivery makes it clear she’s a fragile flower all the same.

“The Wrong Thing To Do” and “Bootleg Flyer” round out some of the album’s highlights. Both these songs have a bluesy grit. The sound would be recreated two years later on “Mojo” but that record is a pale imitation of the Mudcrutch offerings, which paint better characters and avoid the bar-band blues sounds that hold “Mojo” back.

Overall, this record demonstrated a lot of range, with songwriting just as solid as most Heartbreaker or Petty solo projects manage. At 14 songs and 56 minutes it is a bit long, but not enough to make me testy. Think of this record as just another great Tom Petty album. A few of the names and faces are different, but his brilliance as one of rock and roll’s great visionary songwriters is once again on full display.

Best tracks: Shady Grove, Scare Easy, Six Days on the Road, Oh Maria, The Wrong Thing To Do, Lover of the Bayou, Bootleg Flyer

CD Odyssey Disc 1288: The Honey Dewdrops

I’m enjoying a relatively quiet week so far, filled with reading, television and music. I’ll spare you the first two but since you’ve come all this way, here’s a few words about what I’ve been listening to.

Disc 1288 is… Silver Lining

Artist: The Honey Dewdrops

Year of Release: 2012

What’s up with the Cover? Laura Wortman and Kagey Parrish hang out with their instruments on the porch of their house. At least I hope it is their porch. Otherwise, someone is likely to come the door and ask, “can I help you?” and if they didn’t move along, call the police. Or maybe invite them in for a jam session. I would invite them in.

How I Came to Know It: The boring way - I read a review of one of their albums and checked out their back catalogue. That back catalogue was hard to locate, but I was eventually able to listen in through their Bandcamp site. Once I did I realized I had to have at least three of their records.

How It Stacks Up:  As noted, I’m on the lookout for two other Honey Dewdrops albums but for now “Silver Lining” is the only one in my collection. Consequently, it can’t stack up.

Ratings: 4 stars

“Silver Lining” is everything a bluegrass record should be: simple, heartfelt and played with equal parts precision and passion.

The Honey Dewdrops are couple Kagey Parrish (vocals, guitar) and Laura Wortman (vocals, banjo and guitar). They reminded me favourably of Mandolin Orange, and while that band is more famous, the Honey Dewdrops are just as gifted at their craft.

Wortman has a light touch on the banjo that makes the instrument trill away. Parrish’s guitar matches well with it, whether he’s going with a light boom-chucking strum or some exquisite fingerpicking. They write songs that have a gentle roll that matches their styles perfectly and even when they are singing about mournful topics there is a peace in their playing.

It reminded me of times in my youth when I could just sit by a stream in the middle of the woods and never run into a single person all afternoon. In the city those moments are hard to come by, but “Silver Lining” recalled that same restful feeling, setting my mind at ease as I fell into the music.

This was particularly notable on “Catawba” a short (2:23) little instrumental which just has the two of them twining guitar and banjo licks together in a perfect call and answer. The song is neither fast nor furious, but it is played with such sweetness and élan that it fills you with energy. This isn’t the nervous energy of a coffee high either, it is the even-tempered alertness after waking up from a quality nap.

Vocally, Wortman has a pure and traditional tone that fills every note. Parrish’s vocals are high and wispy and while they don’t have his partner’s power, they serve as a perfect complement to her sound. Together, they make some pretty harmonies when they set their mind to it.

The duo write beautiful songs in a timeless style. “Let Me Sing” is a prayer to the gods of artistic expression – a celebration of freedom of spirit. Free to write, free to love, and free to sing about it. It sounds obvious, but it never feels hokey or hackneyed because it comes from such a pure and honest place.

“Hills of My Home” is a song that bemoans the impact of coal mining on natural beauty, and “It’s Hard to Pray” is a song of shaken faith in the face of injustice and bad luck. Despite this, there’s a strong line of resolution through both tracks that leave you feeling like all things can be endured. Like the album’s title, the record’s focus is always on the beauty at the edges of tragedy, all the more illuminated by the darkness within.

As I walked the last few feet home from work today I realized I was slowing down. It’s crow nesting season in my neighbourhood and we’ve got a particularly cranky couple near our house, so only the most foolhardy slow down. I did it anyway, if only to squeeze a few more minutes out of this soul-inspiring record before the Odyssey whisks me away to whatever lies next on my journey.

Whatever that ends up being, I know I’ll be back to revisit “Silver Lining” soon and often.

Best tracks: One Kind Word, Hills of My Home, Let Me Sing, Catawba, Silver Lining, Happiness, It’s Hard to Pray

CD Odyssey Disc 1287: Elvis Presley

My apologies for my lengthy absence, dear readers. I’ve had quite a couple of weeks filled with illness, renovations and other demands on my time that left very little time for music reviews.

It also left me a lot of time to listen to this next album (actually, double album) which has been a lot of fun.

Disc 1287 is… The Top Ten Hits

Artist: Elvis Presley

Year of Release: 1988, but featuring music from 1956-1972

What’s up with the Cover? Giant Head Elvis, giving that sexy sneer of a smile that made him irresistible in the day.

How I Came to Know It: I’ve known Elvis since I was a baby. My Mom is a huge Elvis fan. She has all his records, she loves all his movies, and her house is festooned with Elvis memorabilia, much of which I bought her knowing it was a can’t-fail birthday or Christmas gift. My mother cries when she hears “Love Me Tender” every time she hears it. My Mom loves Elvis Presley.

As a result, I grew up hearing Elvis in the house all the time. I was interested in music from an early age. I used to marvel at the blue vinyl the “Moody Blue” record was issued on and I would stare at the “How Great Thou Art” album cover and wonder what ‘art’ Elvis liked so much – I figured it out later.

I have a hundred childhood Elvis stories, but we’re getting dangerously post-modern here, so let’s return to the music.

How It Stacks Up:  This is a compilation album, so it can’t stack up.

Ratings: Compilation albums aren’t really albums, so I review them, but I don’t rate them.

38 Top ten hits across three decades. It boggles the mind, and yet even that statistic doesn’t do justice to the lasting impact of Elvis Presley – and I don’t just mean on my mom, either. Generations of musicians in country, rock and pop have their roots in his music. And while Elvis has his roots even deeper in black spirituals and blues, that discounts neither his own impact on music, nor his brilliance.

This compilation celebrates that brilliance in true 1988 CD issue style – a focus on the music with no frills or lengthy liner notes. In 1988 compact disc technology was the frill. This sort of compilation of old classics aimed at older folks with the money needed to buy a CD player were all the rage in the late eighties.

Fortunately, Elvis needs no frills. He is a musical phenomenon. His musicality and sense of timing is flawless, and he squeezes every ounce of emotion out of every word he sings. It helps that Elvis is gifted with one of the great voices in musical history. He growls on the rock songs, he hits low crooning notes on the love songs, and he soars like an opera singer on the emotional anthems. He even rocks a little sexy spoken word on “Are You Lonesome Tonight?”

At the end of “It’s Now or Never” Elvis does a gentle soft tagline of “my love won’t wait” that you think is perfect, but then follows it up with a second soaring repeat of the same lyric. No song should get away with two endings, but when you’ve got the vocal prowess of Elvis Presley it just makes the song more beautiful.

It is hard to pick all my favourites when every song I hear has the familiarity of a grade-school bestie. I can say that some of the kitschy songs I liked as a kid (“Hound Dog”, “Teddy Bear”, “All Shook Up”) don’t stand up as well now that I’m an adult.

By contrast, some of those crooning love ballads that I used to find icky (“Love Me”, “Are You Lonesome Tonight?”, “Can’t Help Falling in Love”) are now some of my favourites. No one tells you he loves you like Elvis.

Unfortunately, no one can get his stalker on quite as bad as Elvis either. Songs that were originally intended to be expressions of love and desire have aged very poorly. On “Little Sister” the narrator is essentially pleading with a younger sister to let him take sexual liberties with her that her bigger, older sister refused. “Don’t” implores of the singer’s girlfriend “don’t say don’t”. The worst of the bunch is “Stuck on You” with this little gem of aggressive douchebaggery:

“Hide out in the kitchen, hide out in the hall

Ain't going to do you no good at all

Because once I catch you and the kissing starts

A team of wild horses couldn't tear us apart”

Here’s another creepy fact: when I Googled the lyrics (because I was too lazy to type them out) Google gave me a set that didn’t include any of this stuff (credited to writers A. Schroeder and S. Leslie McFarland and everything). Hey, Google – Elvis sang it and pretending otherwise doesn’t change that.

“Stuck on You” is a creepy song, but that swinging bass line is as good as it gets. When you’re Elvis Presley you can pretty much afford the absolute best studio musicians in the world, and that is also evident throughout the collection. The playing on these records is exquisite, as is the incredible barbershop quartet backing vocals that appear on some songs. Elvis was no slouch on the guitar himself, and while I don’t know if he played on these songs, the guitar throughout is killer – as is the bass, the piano and every other damned note you’ll hear. The 1988 CD transfer does none of this justice, but the greatness shines through regardless.

I’ve known these songs since I was a boy, and I just spend an entire week marinating in them all over again. I never got tired of any of it. The late fifties Elvis tracks like “Jailhouse Rock” through to his final big hit (1972’s “Burning Love”) all still shone like diamonds, undimmed by the years. I haven’t had a particularly joyous week, but I was very lucky to have Elvis Presley as my soundtrack to all those chores.

Best tracks: I Want You I Need You I Love You, Don’t Be Cruel, Love Me, Jailhouse Rock, I Need Your Love Tonight, It’s Now or Never, Are You Lonesome Tonight?, Little Sister, (Marie’s the Name) His Latest Flame, Can’t Help Falling In Love, Return to Sender, (You’re the) Devil in Disguise, Bossa Nova Baby, In the Ghetto, Suspicious Minds, Don’t Cry Daddy, Burning Love (that’s 17 of the 38 songs but damn it, they are all worth your time).