CD Odyssey Disc 1409: George Thorogood and the Destroyers

Ordinarily at this time of the year my mind would turn to my favourite holiday - Hallowe’en. Unfortunately, the pandemic has pretty much cancelled it. You may have heard that Hallowe’en is NOT cancelled, but people who say that are referring to children’s Hallowe’en. Adult Hallowe’en is most definitely not going ahead.

At least there are scary movies to watch.

Disc 1409 is…. The Question

Artist: George Thorogood and the Destroyers

Year of Release: 2000 but featuring music from 1977 to 1999

What’s up with the Cover? George strikes a pose in a snakeskin jacket, guitar in hand. If you look carefully you can also see the outline of a rearing cobra in the background, which has no doubt slithered over from its previous lair on the cover of Metallica’s Black album (reviewed way back at Disc 93  when “What’s up with the cover?” wasn’t even a thing yet….).

How I Came To Know It: I grew up with George Thorogood, who was a house party favourite in my home town as a kid. This particularly collection comes to me through my buddy Chris, who is divesting himself of his CDs and let me pick through them before they go. I got this record and about a dozen others. Thanks, Chris!

How It Stacks Up: An anthology is just a long-winded greatest hits package, and so doesn’t stack up.

Ratings: Greatest hits (and anthologies) don’t get ratings, as they are not true albums.

Usually it would be an insult to call a band a “bar band” but George Thorogood and the Destroyers are the mother of all bar bands. Their infectious brand of blues rock may be ubiquitous in small town pubs from Powell River to Prince Rupert, but no one plays it better or has more fun doing it. They’re still touring and listening to the live tracks on this anthology makes me inclined to go see them.

Just what is an anthology? An anthology is for when you really like a band. Like them even more than just their radio singles…but not much more. Just enough more that you want a few deep cuts and live tracks to go along with the hits, but not so much that you’d festoon your CD shelves with 10 albums worth of stuff. If a greatest hits record is a one-night stand, and the full discography is a marriage, then an anthology would be that girl you met back in college. You dated for a full semester and it was reasonably serious at the time, but not ultimately the love of your life.

This sums up my feelings for George Thorogood. I like him, and I have a lot of great memories of his music. Like all those times my friend Rob would me into town in his pickup truck as we cranked George out of his crappy stereo at volumes that threatened to melt the cassette tape. Did Rob shift more aggressively when “Gear Jammer” came on? You bet he did, and it was good fun, although the truck’s clutch probably didn’t appreciate the experience.

What makes Thorogood so…good? Well, like any talented rhythm and blues band, the Destroyers sit right down in the pocket and drop riffs that growl and spit. This music is gritty, and grimy and puts a strut in your step. Even the saxophone has some snarl, and at no point did I mind those horn flourishes that on other albums might have me fearfully looking over my shoulder for (shudder) a jazz run.

No such fear here. George Thorogood is all meat and potatoes, and no quiche. The guitar grinds out riffs (and occasional blues solos) and the sax pumps out flourishes while never getting uppity. They keep it simple, but they play it like they mean it.

This is music that will make you want to dance, but no fancy moves please: boring dancing only. Want to just shuffle around a bit, enjoy yourself and not have to put your beer down? This is the music for you. You can do all your favourite average dances: the Half-Twist (one leg moving is plenty), the Power Walker and everyone’s favourite, the Partly-Raised Drunk Fist (the other hand being down at your waist holding your beer by the neck so it stays cold).

Against this backdrop, Thorogood’s voice is the perfect instrument. Rough, raspy and full of gusto and late-night bourbon. When George says he’s bad to the bone, you believe him. When George drinks alone you raise your glass in solidarity, as he makes ridiculous lines like “You know when I drink alone…I prefer to be by myself” somehow revelatory.

Thorogood and his band do a cover with a zest few bands can match, He takes Hank Williams’ “Move It On Over” and John Lee Hooker’s “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer” and makes them forever his own. I love both the originals, but the extra oomph Thorogood infuses them with is undeniable. I was less keen on his cover of “Johnny B. Goode” but even his lesser covers end up being a celebration of the classics.

He also writes some great tracks, and some of his most enduring classics (“Bad to the Bone”, “I Drink Alone”, “Gear Jammer”) are originals. These aren’t complicated songs, but they have some of the most enduring riffs in rock and roll and sound as fresh today as they did thirty years ago.

For all that, this particular anthology was too much of a good thing. At 30 songs and almost two and a half hours, it was a lot of George. Also, Thorogood’s heyday is from around 1977 to 1988 but the anthology goes well into the nineties where the classics (covers and originals alike) become harder to come by. I’m glad to have these treasures in my collection, but Odyssey aside, I’ll probably mix them in with other stuff on future listens.

Best tracks: Madison Blues, One Bourbon One Scotch One Beer, Move It On Over, Bad to the Bone, Willie and the Hand Jive, I Drink Alone, Gear Jammer, Long Gone, Who Do You Love, Born to Be Bad, Get a Haircut, Christine

CD Odyssey Disc 1408: Anna Tivel

I’ve had a busy week and I’m looking forward to some much needed relaxation. Let’s start that off with an album review. I mean, you’re here, I’m here. At this point it just feels inevitable.

Disc 1408 is…. The Question

Artist: Anna Tivel

Year of Release: 2019

What’s up with the Cover? A person standing on a ridge, except the picture is upside down. Why is this picture upside down? That is “the question” for me. This reminded me a bit of the cover of the Kyuss album “…and the Circus Leaves Town” (reviewed back at Disc 505) only way less interesting.

How I Came To Know It: Tivel’s 2017 album “Small Believer” was incredible so I gave this one a shot when it came out hoping for more of the same.

How It Stacks Up: I have two Anna Tivel albums, and if you are following along you know what they are. Of the two, I rank “the Question” at #2 but it is super close as they are both amazing records. More of the same, indeed.

Ratings: 4 stars

Anna Tivel’s “the Question” is not for all occasions. It’s not for driving your car. It’s not for background while you’re cooking dinner or cleaning the coffee table. It is most definitely not for parties (assuming at some future point we’re allowed to have those again). But if you give this record your full attention, and let its beauty steal its way into the quiet places of your soul, you will be glad you did.

Tivel sings with a small but powerful voice, almost whispering in places; a gossamer thread of sound that leads you through the night and into the lives of the characters she inhabits.

Those characters reveal their stories in the first person, and Tivel subsumes herself so completely into them so as to disappear completely, rebirthed as someone else for three to five minutes. In that short time span she manages to capture the essence of people as disparate as an illegal immigrant sneaking across the Mexican border, a janitor and sometimes – for a few intimate moments – a private part of herself. Her talent for character is so great, however, that you’re never sure if that latter experience is hers or just another, more subtle character study.

Around these ‘voices’ she twines sights and sounds that serve to underscore the mood of every song. Usually this is some version of wistful yearning, which in lesser hands could grow tiresome over time. In the hands of Tivel, it does not; it leaves you wanting more.

The production is to match, with sparseness and air between the notes to spare. Even when the music swells, it swells like a wave with no whitecap. The greater glory is to be had with what’s under the surface, if you can only quell your own restlessness long enough to look below.

It is hard to pick favourites on a record this good (you’ll see I’ve listed 6 of the 10 songs in the “best tracks” section below). That said, “Figure It Out” is particularly powerful, a song about love and vulnerability and the bravery to say you’re sorry and work it out. So many great images exist in this frail evocative tune, but here are a few:

“A siren, a catfight, a thin clarinet
The neighbours reflect in a blue TV set
And you’ve got a way of believing the rest will work out.”

The song is so quiet, you can hear Tivel breathing even as you hold your own, fearing you’ll break the spell with the resulting susurrus.

Another standout is “Velvet Curtain” which features a janitor who once had dreams of fame, now reduced to singing into her broom handle as she cleans up the empty theatre at the end of the night:

“The night circled in like a dog in the alley
All matted and skinny and face full of hurt
And the theatre still ringing with lost dreams of glory
The echoing voices of some brighter world.

“And I sang to the mezzanine, the gold-plated ceiling
The orchestra spinning, the bright chandelier
I sang so the angels would feel what I’m feeling
An empty so deep I’m afraid I’m not here.”

The song ends with a bittersweet victory, as a homeless man creeps into the back of the theatre while our narrator is singing, to clap and thank the singer for the song that lifted him when he most needed it.

Here, and elsewhere on the record, I was struck with Tivel’s natural feel for the strange connections between even people who don’t know each other. “Two Strangers” is the ultimate expression of this; a song where the strangers never even meet, but as one flies out of the city, they can feel the eyes of the other looking up from below.

As the final notes fade on this song (the last on the record) I always feel my heart has grown, Grinch-like, threatening to burst its way out of my chest. It hurts a little, but it is a good hurt, on a record that finds optimism and joy nestled in even the darkest places.

Best tracks: The Question, Figure It Out, Minneapolis, Anthony, Velvet Curtain, Two Strangers

CD Odyssey Disc 1407: Margo Price

Welcome back to the CD Odyssey! I’ve noticed my entries are happening with less frequency lately, for which I apologize. I promise I love music just as much as ever, and I’m pretty sure my zeal for sharing my opinions continues unabated. In fact, here are some more of them.

Disc 1407 is…. That’s How Rumors Get Started

Artist: Margo Price

Year of Release: 2020

What’s up with the Cover? Margo working out her inner Stevie Nicks. I don’t think this cover would start a rumour unless Margo were to walk around with her arm over her head like that all the time. Then the rumour would be something along the lines of “Margo Price has some kind of medical condition that prevents her from lowering her arm!” That rumour is false, of course, but many of the most entertaining rumours are.

How I Came To Know It: I was already a fan of Margo Price through my friend Anthony, so I just bought this record when it came out and hoped for the best.

How It Stacks Up: I have three Margo Price albums and they are all excellent. Because of this consistent excellence, “That’s How Rumors Get Started” can only land at #3.

Ratings: 4 stars

Margo Price has been slowly moving her sound from homespun Americana toward something closer to seventies pop. With “That’s How Rumors Get Started” the journey takes another big step. The songs on this record would be equally at home on old school a.m. radio and at the Grand Ole Opry.

When I first heard the opening (and title) track I was ready to harrumph with disapproval. It was so similar to Fleetwood Mac I wasn’t sure what the point was. Four listens in, I was converted. What I first thought was a rip off was both a love letter to an earlier era, and also a clever advancement of the musical concepts of those earlier songs. Price borrows from them for sure, but she also builds the concept out in her own unique way.

The album lays its rock and roll foundations early, following that song with the bluesy drivetrain of disappointment that is “Letting Me Down” and the crunchy barroom growl of “Twinkle Twinkle.” “Twinkle Twinkle” also digs into the ephemeral and arbitrary nature of fame. Now an established artist making a good living, Price has more than paid her dues to get to this point, but her acknowledgment of the sometimes arbitrary nature of fame is refreshing.

After all that up-tempo thump, “Stone Me” breaks things back down, bringing her back to her roots Americana feel. Even so, it is with a rich production that evokes the country side of seventies radio. “Twinkle Twinkle” is a political statement about the music industry, outward facing and brash. “Stone Me” is the personal price paid through the same journey, intense and vulnerable.

The album is listed as “Produced by Sturgill Simpson”, but also (as a separate line) as “co-produced by David Ferguson and Margo Price”. I don’t know what the hell this means, but whatever the mixture of the three of them was, they find a cohesive vision throughout. There is a lush anthemic quality to the album, even on the more subdued and mournful tracks. There’s more than a hint of Bonnie Tyler in here, right between her plaid shirt “It’s a Heartache” and big-haired “Total Eclipse of the Heart” phases.

Price’s vocals have always had that combination of sweet and ragged that you’ll often find me extolling. I just like that sound, whether its Lindi Ortega, Jaime Wyatt or Price. Price can belt it out when she wants to, but it always feels like she has more in the tank even at full peel. “Hey Child” and “I’d Die For You” are both prime examples of her vocal prowess. Big and brash, but never feeling like she’s trying to show off. They have that gospel choir feel that just makes you feel like Big Things are happening.

This record is a stylistic throwback, but its exploration of the twisted fate of fame, fans, and the music business is thoughtful and thoroughly modern. Price continues to cut her own path on every record, and “That’s How Rumors Get Started” is a worthy entry in her already impressive journey.

Best tracks: Letting Me Down, Twinkle Twinkle, Stone Me, Hey Child, Prisoner of the Highway, I’d Die for You

CD Odyssey Disc 1406: Cyndi Lauper

Of late I’m concurrently reading a book by Earnest Hemmingway (“True at First Light” – not his best) and a fictionalized book about his wife Hadley (“The Paris Wife” – better, but the baby scenes are painful). Last night we ordered food in from Pagliacci’s and I got a pasta dish called “The Hemmingway Short Story” to complete the hat-trick.

It underscores how much influence Hemmingway has on modern culture. This is particularly true of those short choppy sentences of his, which everyone and their dog feels the need to emulate. I’m partial to long complicated sentence construction (maybe even florid when I’m feeling jaunty), but I’ll go with something short and punchy when the occasion demands. Now here’s a review.

Disc 1406 is…. She’s So Unusual

Artist: Cyndi Lauper

Year of Release: 1983

What’s up with the Cover? Cyndi Lauper aficionados will know this is not the original cover of “She’s So Unusual”. That’s because this is the “30^th Anniversary Celebration” edition, and they decided to celebrate with an artist’s rendition of the original cover. Lauper strikes the same quirky pose and has kicked off her pumps with the same presumably wild abandon. However, she is now wearing short striped pantaloons and a hat. I’m of the belief that a hat improves most outfits, including this one, so I approve. And the pantaloons? Why not.

How I Came To Know It: I grew up with this album but it only came into our house on CD because Sheila wanted it. I probably bought it for her as a gift.  

How It Stacks Up: This is our only Cyndi Lauper album. I listened to “True Colors” this week but decided against adding it. There’s only so much room on the shelves, my friends.

Ratings: 4 stars

If you want your pop album to be commercially successful, it is best to put any weird shit on Side Two. “She’s So Unusual” adheres to this general principle and is well rewarded. It is even more helpful to have one of pop music’s all-time great Side Ones.

This record was huge. In Canada (where I’m from) “She’s So Unusual” had six charting singles, including two number ones. It was the sound that 1983 needed, blending the edge of New York’s New Wave scene with a bubbly radio friendly pop vibe that made it digestible for the masses. That’s not an insult to the record either. The record doesn’t sacrifice its art in achieving its mass appeal. If anything it helps redefine the radio sound to show what could be done with eighties production and arrangements when they aren’t being used for evil.

There is also a quirky strength to the record. “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” is an enduring anthem of a good time out, but even more it is an expression of female empowerment. When Lauper sings:

“Some boys take a beautiful girl
And hide her away from the rest of the world
I want to be the one to walk in the sun
Oh girls, they wanna have fun”

She’s serving notice that this isn’t just a song about having a good time, it is a song about refusing to do so in the shadow of some man. Lauper adds additional gravitas with a slightly rebellious snarl in her delivery. This song is so joyful that I think it sometimes hasn’t received the credit it deserves, but it is a fine piece of songwriting and production.

Lauper uses a similar snarl on “Money Changes Everything” and “When You Were Mine” that adds layers to these songs that turn them from good pop songs intro great ones.

Lauper can also play it subtle, with romantic anthems like “Time After Time” where she sings low – even whispering – to capture quiet moments that maintain their emotional appeal after countless listens. It’s a good thing, too, given how huge and well-played the record is.

As for Side Two, it is just as quirky as you want a good Side Two to be. Sure there is another straightforward romance with “All Through the Night” but Lauper uses the dark side of the record to also push the limits.

It all starts with “She Bop,” a song about masturbation that peaked (climaxed?) at #3 in Canada as it brought another aspect of girls just wanting to have fun to the album. The song has an infectious energy, and the lyrics are playful and direct.

“Witness” is a delightfully all over the place ska number. It would be at home on an early Police record if it weren’t for that weird African drum break in the middle, which some might find disruptive to the melody, but I find delightful. Lauper mixes it in with a collection of strange xylophone-like synth sounds because she can.

Side Two isn’t perfect, though. “I’ll Kiss You” is a half-step too far into synth-ville and has a bit of an earworm quality I didn’t enjoy (although that might mean it has a better hook than I give it credit). The Vaudevillian title track is also a bit self-indulgent in the ‘not good’ way. These are minor quibbles that come way too late in the record to seriously impact the experience, however (as I noted above – weird shit at the end).

As for the 30^th Anniversary Celebration bonus tracks, the less said the better. There are three of them (including two versions of “Time After Time”). They are all dance remixes that go on interminably and add exactly nothing to the enjoyment of the record. After one obligatory listen, I just skipped them. A proper celebration of the brilliance of “She’s So Unusual” would have just stuck with the original record.

Best tracks: Money Changes Everything, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, When You Were Mine, Time After Time, She Bop, All Through the Night, Witness

CD Odyssey Disc 1405: The Honey Dewdrops

This next album is one of a batch I purchased through download. I prefer the tactile experience of a compact disc, or – occasionally – a record, but over the years the albums on my wish list only available by download has steadily grown. Recently the desire for those albums overcame both my trepidation and my pride, and I went the digital route. Don’t worry, though, I always make a physical copy, so it still counts on the CD Odyssey.

Disc 1405 is…. Tangled Country

Artist: The Honey Dewdrops

Year of Release: 2015

What’s up with the Cover? A fence and a bunch of brambles. I’m not a big fan of either in real life, but they’re pretty enough in this context.

How I Came To Know It: After many years of vainly searching for Honey Dewdrops albums in local record stores and coming up empty, I ordered this through Bandcamp.

How It Stacks Up: I have two Honey Dewdrops albums and am on the hunt for a third. Of the two I have, I put “Tangled Country” in at #1.

Ratings: 5 stars

“Tangled Country”s second track opens with Laura Wortman  singing “the loneliest songs are beautiful things.” It’s a great summary for the whole record, which is a bit sadder than their work on “Silver Lining” but so full of grace and pure intent you don’t mind having your heartstrings plucked a little.

The ingredients common to all Honey Dewdrop albums are here. Wortman’s vocals are rich and pure, and partner Kagey Parrish’s are light and wistful. Together they make beautiful harmonies, but it is just as inspiring to hear them sing solo.

A lot of the characters on this record are struggling and hurt. “Same Old” is a collapsing relationship, and the refrain of “when you’re broke down” in “Lowlands” digs right to the core of just how that feels. By the time you get to Track Nine and “Numb” the narrator is comparing their emotional state to the depths of a heroin binge.

With all this heartache, you think you’d be depressed, but instead the experience is cathartic. The many characters of “Tangled Country” share their deepest secrets and fears and insecurities, but there is a thread of resilience through the record as well. The combination puts you in a vulnerable emotional state, but it isn’t threatening or frightening so much as just really good therapy.

There is also a lot of strength in these characters. My favourite is the sketch of Parrish’s grandfather in “Fair Share Blues”. The song starts with an evocative line that immediately sets the scene:

“My father’s father was a working man
He fought in the war, and he lived with that.
He drank and prayed, and he got the blues
He never said nothing that wasn’t true”

The portrait is of a rough-edged man with deep reserves of inner peace. Life isn’t easy, but Parrish’s grandfather gets through the days with the simple refrain of “You get the good days, and you get the blues.” Various verses employ the simple imagery of hands, thoughts, and breathing to preach a message of acceptance. Here’s my favourite:

“He said neither can I possess
Any of the air I take for breath
Each breath I take I must release
Nothing is mine to hold or keep.”

Despite the title, the song is not a blues track, although Wortman’s harmonica provides a mournful hint of the blues around the edges of bluegrass guitar and banjo. The music is like the song’s message; light and dark at ease with one another.

As ever, Honey Dewdrops demonstrate exceptional musicianship throughout the record. Every tune is played with relaxed grace that immediately sets you down in the emotional centre of the song. The songwriting feels more subtle and nuanced than on 2012’s “Silver Lining” and it was already amazing on that record. The mournful and uncertain “Young” which explores the uncertainty of getting older, has a melody that drifts with uncertainty and pain even as the character confronts these same emotions.

Every track on this record made my heart swell. If there was any criticism, it would be that the metaphors on “Horses” and “Guitars” are over-employed, but these tunes are so sublime you forgive the slight excess.

The album ends with the instrumental “Remington,” one of the finest bits of guitar and banjo playing you will hear this side of heaven (if there is a heaven, it absolutely has guitar and banjo). Not only did I revel in this record’s technical brilliance, every listen caused a feeling of grace to come over me and stay with me for hours after. I’ll count that as “changed me somehow” and so, here’s your 5 stars, Honey Dewdrops. Well done.

Best tracks: All ten tracks are great, but my seven favourites are: Same Old, Loneliest Songs, Lowlands, Fair Share Blues, Young, Numb, Remington

CD Odyssey Disc 1404: Bonnie Prince Billy

My apologies for my absence, dear reader. A combination of an extra long weekend and a whole lot of other draws upon my time led me to being a bit slow on getting to this review.

Disc 1404 is…. I Made a Place

Artist: Bonnie Prince Billy

Year of Release: 2019

What’s up with the Cover? A butterfly perches on a field of brambles. There was a time when I would’ve had a good chance at identifying what kind of butterfly this is, but that knowledge has been pushed aside in favour of a bunch of other random knowledge, mostly music related.

Observant readers will note that I have indicated the album is called “I Made a Place” but the cover clearly says “I Have Made a Place.” I don’t know what the hell is going on here, but the spine of the CD case leaves out the ‘have’ as does BPB’s own bandcamp site, and the coding on the CD itself when you play it. For all those reasons, I’m going without the ‘have’.

How I Came To Know It: I like Bonnie Prince Billy, so this was just me checking out his latest release.

How It Stacks Up: Not counting “Greatest Palace Music” (which is more of a re-recorded compilation of earlier work) I now have five Bonnie Prince Billy albums. “I Made a Place is one of the best, almost knocking “Ease Down the Road” out of #1 before gracefully settling for silver. It knocks three other albums down a peg, however. Here’s the full accounting.

1. Ease Down the Road: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 927)
2. I Made a Place:  4 stars (reviewed right here)
3. Lie Down in the Light: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 1184)
4. I See a Darkness: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 1092)
5. Superwolf: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 903)

Ratings: 4 stars

On “I Made a Place” Bonnie Prince Billy (BPB) finally lightens up. His early work can be creepy, sexy, and quite often both. But here an older and more refined BPB relaxes into pastoral country music filled with optimism and good advice. It sits well on him.

Musically, the record has the feel of a daydream, with lazily lilting melodies and rambling lighthearted reverie. It is as deep and profound as his previous works, but it feels like everything is happening in the middle of the afternoon, rather than the dead of night.

The record has an old-timey country swing, particularly when the violins kick in. It helps you settle in comfortably, but even amidst all the comfortably familiar sounds, the songs still surprise you with how they evolve musically, often taking one or two extra twists before resolving, while never feeling overwrought as a result.

It helps that Joan Shelley provides her exceptional talent on backing vocals, but the star here is and remains Bonnie Prince Billy, whose vocals have rarely sounded this good; light, feathery, and full of wispy wisdom.

The songs are mostly about how to survive life’s many twists and turns with a good-natured calm. A lot of the advice is about finding your centre and accepting responsibility for both your decisions and outlook. On “The Devil’s Throat” Billy reminds us to ground ourselves in a good place and the rest will take care of itself. On “I Have Made a Place” a minor key and ominous guitar creates a sense of unease, but Billy pilots us through with a simple mantra:

“I don’t know why I was born
But I have made a place.”

There is something deeply spiritual to each of these songs, even though they feel – at their core – secular. BPB is interested in the various decisions and outlooks that shape us and our reality, holding us to gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) account. On the ungainly-titled “Look Backward to Your Future, Look Forward to Your Past” when he sings,

"This particular assemblage of molecules and memories
Someday soon may just run out of gas.”

there is still reverence in his approach. We’ve got one life, so fill that life with all the best things you can.

Even on “Squid Eye,” which had me suspecting that BPB was turning into a Lovecraftian Deep One, there is a heart. Sure our narrator is being called inexorably to the mysteries of the ocean, but he’s quick to point out that it could be just that Aquaman was his dad, or maybe Ariel is his sister. No dread Cthulhu necessary to enjoy a swim, dear listener.

And while there is a lot less darkness on this record than on many earlier efforts, everything is just as beautiful. “I Made a Place” is a late career masterpiece for Bonnie Prince Billy. Or to use his own words on “Thick Air”:

“Now we are free (just about to be)
“And a thick air of triumph flows in.”

Best tracks: New Memory Box, The Devil’s Throat, Look Backward on Your Future Look Forward to Your Past, I Have Made a Place, Squid Eye, This is Far From Over, Thick Air

CD Odyssey Disc 1403: Grace Potter

I managed to skip the music store last weekend, which was a minor victory for me. I’ve got a few too many albums of late (went a bit crazy on Bandcamp earlier in the year) and I need to spend more time listening and less time buying. Also, I need to be as discerning as possible in determining what is “shelf worthy” – hopefully before making a purchase.

An occasional failing which brings us to this next review.

Disc 1403 is…. Midnight

Artist: Grace Potter

Year of Release: 2015

What’s up with the Cover? Grace herself, looking intergalactically gorgeous against a backdrop of nebula dust and stars.

How I Came To Know It: I discovered Grace Potter through her 2019 album “Daylight” and dug backward from there. “Midnight” was the last of the three albums I found, when it finally turned up used at my local record shop.

How It Stacks Up: Of my three Grace Potter albums, I rank “Midnight” at #3. Hey, someone has to be last.

Ratings: 2 stars

“Midnight” is a solid album if you really like power pop, and if you buy it that’s what you should expect. It’s loaded with catchy anthems suitable for dancing or coke commercials, or even dancing in coke commercials. Those ones where lots of young people flip their hair around and there is some large, generic outdoor festival going on.

That came off unkind. There are plenty of songs that get coopted into soft drink and beer commercials. It doesn’t make the song bad. However, it does paint a picture of something that is very mainstream and acceptable to the masses. Again, this is fine (popular music is popular for a reason) but already owning and enjoying the records that came out before and after “Midnight”, I had higher expectations.

The record before this one was Potter’s last fronting her band, the Nocturnals. As she did there, on “Midnight” Potter plays a host of instruments. This includes a variety of guitar type things, piano type things and a bunch of other things too numerous to mention. Her main collaborator (and partner) Eric Valentine does more of the same, making the performance credits a torrent of talent. Unfortunately, there isn’t anything to highlight out of all this work. I never noticed anything exceptional on the playing, even though it is all competent and professional grade.

Valentine’s real talent is for production. The album sounds crisp and professional with all the right amount of thump and attention-drawing isolations to organs, bass riffs or hand claps as individual songs may demand. This is some slick work on that front.

As ever, Potter’s big contribution is on vocals, where she once again shows off her powerhouse range. She’s a pop artist at heart, but like any good one she can infuse just the right amount of growl to make the rock and roll believable. She belts out these tunes with enthusiasm.

That said, while the vocal range is there, the artistic range is lacking. On her follow-up, 2019’s “Daylight” (reviewed back at Disc 1365) Potter plays with the elements of other genres to keep all that pop music interesting. But on “Midnight” it is pretty much just a big glitz party; done well but without much to say.

Lyrically this album was a disappointment. The best of the bunch is “Your Girl” where the narrator decides she won’t pursue her love interest, out of respect for his current girlfriend, but even there things are pretty by the book. At its worst, we are given “Instigators” which is supposed to be edgy but feels more like how a Wall Street executive might right a protest song about himself. Here’s a verse, with my apologies for the share:

“United we stand, divided we fall
It’s time to cross over, shoulder to shoulder
Raise up your arms, come one come all
We’ve got to cross over
Shoulder to shoulder we’ll blow on the coals
In the cold of our souls as we’re crashing the hall.”

Lots of writing 101 internal rhyme action here, but as generic as imagery gets (note she couldn’t even be bothered to raise fists, just…arms). With all the accompanying “oh-oh-oh” chants it feels like the hall they’re crashing is just a nightclub. A night out dancing is good fun for sure, but even on that basis the song holds neither the edge nor the compelling imagery needed to make your blood pump.

Even so, this record is full of catchy tunes, that are easy to listen to. Even after many consecutive listens I didn’t get tired of these songs, and I didn’t get bored either. But I also wasn’t inspired. It’s the musical equivalent of a lot of tasty, but empty calories and I enjoyed it for the delicious and guilty pleasure it was. That said, it isn’t something I can see being part of my regular diet, and I’m going to send it to a home that will appreciate it more than I did.

Best tracks: Your Girl, Empty Heart