CD Odyssey Disc 1478: Pearl Jam

What’s this, a second review in as many days? That’s right, Gentle Reader, I sat out on the deck this late spring afternoon and just listened to the end of this next album. I did this in part so I could move on from it as soon as possible.

Disc 1478 is…. Binaural

Artist: Pearl Jam

Year of Release: 2000

What’s up with the Cover? Some sort of eye reflection? Which is weird, because given the album title I was more expecting something to do with the ears.

How I Came To Know It: I’ve been a Pearl Jam fan for a long time. I missed this record when it first came out, but I eventually came back to it. Years ago I used to work with someone who absolutely loved both “No Code” and “Binaural” which also influenced me to round out the collection. She was a lovely person, but wrong in her affection for those two records. This is particularly true for “Binaural”. Keep reading to learn why.

How It Stacks Up: I have 12 Pearl Jam albums, which is pretty much all of them, I believe. Of those 12, “Binaural” comes in dead last.

1. Yield: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 464)
2. Ten: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 153)
3. Vs.: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 46)
4. Riot Act: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 1113)
5. Lost Dogs: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 109)
6. Vitalogy: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 457)
7. Lightning Bolt: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 972)
8. Self-Titled: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 327)
9. No Code: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 805)
10. Gigaton: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 1435)
11. Backspacer: 2 stars (reviewed at Disc 45)
12. Binaural: 2 stars (reviewed right here)

Ratings: 2 stars

Imagine if Vitalogy (Disc 457) had all of its weird and pointless experimentation like “Hey Foxymophandlemama, That’s Me” but none of the awesome tunes like “Nothingman” and you’ll have a good idea of what to expect with “Binaural.” This record bangs, crashes and thrashes about, but there isn’t much to show for all that effort by the end.

Sure it has that signature Pearl Jam groove, and the boys can play, but there isn’t much to hang your hat on. The songs blend one into another in a way that left me having a hard time separating one from the other when it ended. Even Eddie Vedder, who is usually a high point of any Pearl Jam record, is set back in the mix in a way that does little to show off one of rock and roll’s great voices.

It isn’t all bad. “Light Years” has an atmospheric appeal where Vedder utilizes his head voice to good effect and “Thin Air” has a lovely romantic croon. However, they aren’t so compelling that they draw my attention back to the record very often. When I do put it on, I quickly get fidgety and want to move on to something else – which is exactly what led me to this early review.

Balanced off against these songs you get things like “Rival,” which starts with the growls of an overexcited dog that made me feel uncomfortable but without purpose, followed by a lurching guitar lick.

“Soon Forget” showcases the beginnings of Eddie Vedder’s obsession with the ukulele and it is OK, but if you want to hear his best work with that instrument you are better off listening to his 2011 solo album “Ukulele Songs” (Disc 1229) where that is all he does.

My experience is even more surprising given how the record is sandwiched between two of my favourite Pearl Jam records, 1998’s “Yield” (#1) and 2002’s “Riot Act” (#4). Those two records are both brilliant, but somehow the band lost the plot on “Binaural.” All the ingredients are there, but it doesn’t quite come together.

The album’s final song is “Parting Ways,” which rambles around for about four minutes but doesn’t end for another three. Most of that last bit is dead air, but the final thirty seconds features echoing typewriter keys that are clearly not typing anything important. It was a helpful experience though, because it strengthened my own resolve to part ways as well – with the record. I love Pearl Jam, and they’ve made some of my favourite rock records ever. Sadly, “Binaural” is not one of them.

Best tracks: Light Years, Thin Air

CD Odyssey Disc 1477: Alex Cameron

Apologies for the longer interlude between reviews, Gentle Reader. A long weekend reduced the amount of music listening time I had to meet the conditions of Rule #4.

Disc 1477 is…. Forced Witness

Artist: Alex Cameron

Year of Release: 2017

What’s up with the Cover? Alex Cameron looks like a skeevy street dealer here. Of course he won’t be selling any drugs with all those people filming him through the window. You might want to take your business down a deserted side alley, Alex. There’s a reason they do that.

How I Came To Know It: I got into Alex Cameron through his 2019 album, “Miami Memory” and this was just me drilling backward through his catalogue.

How It Stacks Up: I have three Alex Cameron albums. Of the three, I put “Forced Witness” in at #2, just a hair behind “Miami Memory” (reviewed at Disc 1462).

Ratings: 4 stars

“Forced Witness” represents a transition in Alex Cameron’s sound. He is beginning to leave behind the synth/organ approach on his first record but has not fully transitioned to the fuller instrumentation of 2019’s “Miami Memory”. The result is a delightful blend of electronica and seventies stadium rock, with a side of funk, disco, and a healthy dose of eighties pop.

Cameron has an ear for a pop hook, and the ones on “Forced Witness” have an anthemic quality that is amplified by the organ-forward arrangements. It is danceable, and fun and even though the subject matter is often dark and gritty, the music has a celebratory quality that will fool you otherwise.

The tunes also feature a lot of collaborator Roy Molloy’s saxophone. With the pop undercurrent to these tunes that saxophone risks running into painful eighties solos, but Cameron rarely lets that happen. Sure, it gets a bit much on “Stranger’s Kiss” but that song is rescued by virtue of being a duet with Angel Olsen, whose brilliance more than makes up for saxophone that – if I’m being fair – only goes on for maybe a bar too long, and only does so twice. Elsewhere on the record, Molloy’s sax shows a few flashes here and there, but only enough to make the songs feel more noble.

I’ve read that before Alex Cameron bared his soul on “Miami Memory” his albums tended to be written in the persona of a marginally employable musician of dubious moral character. While the line between Cameron and this character can feel fuzzy to the uninformed listener, there is definitely a whole lot of this greaseball character on “Forced Witness.” Listeners should enjoy these songs as stories, not autobiographies.

Cameron’s alter ego may appear obvious on the surface, but he hints at a lot of nuance underneath. The songs that were most “persona forward” had me wanting to see a movie loosely based on them. The character has the soul of poet, but the mind of a sexual deviant and the impulse control of a criminal.

Even when this guy is riding an emotional high, Cameron peppers the songs with imagery that suggests a lot of his victories will be fleeting or pyrrhic at best, with the potential to end in jail time. “Runnin’ Outta Luck” features a chorus with a rising celebratory melody, but with lyrics like:

“I'm a man on a mission, you're a stripper out of luck
And we're good in the back seat but we're better up front
And there's blood on my knuckles 'cause there's money in the trunk”

…you know that some combination of sirens and flashing lights are in their future. Still, I appreciate that oddly romantic “we’re better up front.” Something bad has happened, but the narrator and that stripper? Hey – they’re true partners.

I also love the oblivious bravado of a song like “Marlon Brando” where our anti-hero claims he feels like “Marlon Brando, circa 1999” and delivers less than reassuring pickup lines like “I'm pretty cooked but my shit is far from dead” while threatening the woman’s current boyfriend with physical violence. It left me hoping that the “stripper out of luck” from earlier comes to her senses at the next gas station.

The album is replete with clever turns of phrase, but even after multiple listens it didn’t get old and tired as sometimes happens. This is because the album isn’t kitschy, and while the main character in all of this is a total putz, he’s a damned interesting putz. He gets in pointless fights, surfs a whole lot of porn, and consistently thinks he’s way more awesome than he is.

Yet, Cameron lets you see this guy from the vantage point of inside his head; a warped perspective of the world behind rose coloured glasses and bloodshot eyes. Or as he narrates on “Politics of Love”, “The thought of this being wrong/Never had crossed my mind.” The result of this oblivious douchebaggery is a surprisingly compelling train wreck, attached to some genuinely catchy tunes.

Best tracks: Candy May, Country Figs, Runnin’ Outta Luck, Marlon Brando, Politics of Love

CD Odyssey Disc 1476: William Prince

My beloved Boston Bruins are now up 3-1 in their series and looking good. That’s a great way to kick off a long weekend!

Disc 1476 is…. Reliever

Artist: William Prince

Year of Release: 2020

What’s up with the Cover? As a west coast boy the idea of these limitless prairie skies freak me out a little. I need some kind of horizon in my life. Ideally not an event horizon, though. If I have to choose between a black hole and the prairies I will, reluctantly, choose the prairies.

How I Came To Know It: My friend Jen introduced me to this record. I have a lot of friends named Jen, but the one in question will know who I am talking about. So, thanks Jen! I find a lot of music on my own but when someone recommends something I will almost always try it out. You can only discover so much music on your own, my friends. Embrace the buddy system!

How It Stacks Up: William Prince has three albums out, but I only have this one so it can’t really stack up.

Ratings: 3 stars

If you were ever going to risk breaking up with an artist, William Prince would be a good choice. Whereas Lucinda Williams or Natalie Maines will permanently tear you a new one, and immortalize your bastardy in song, William Prince is more likely to say, “so long, and all the best. Sorry it didn’t work out.”

Breakups are a common theme that crops up on Prince’s 2020 album, “Reliever”. “Wasted,” “Heaven and Hell,” “The Gun” and “Always Have What We Had” are all songs about saying goodbye to love, but like most of Prince’s songs on this collection, they have a calm dignity about them.

This calm dignity is true for the whole record, regardless of subject. Prince has a reassuring tone to his voice, a high baritone that is well suited to his lilting country-folk style. Prince gives the impression of one of those people who is so chill they make the people around them chill out just by being near.

The production decisions underscore the approach, mixing piano, guitar and strings into a pool of sound. There is a lot of low-end bass that made my car door vibrate a bit, but also gives the music a sense of import and majesty, without overwhelming the melody.

The album benefits from having strong book ends, with the first two and last three songs the best of the collection. The first tune, “The Spark” is a touching love song, and it is nice to see not all of Prince’s songs are about the end of a relationship. This tune is deeply romantic in a “likely gets played at weddings” kind of way. “Wasted” follows, a song about not letting a day go wasted. Although the song is about abandoning a relationship that is doing exactly that, the tune has an upbeat rhythm and a positive outlook. Sort of, “let’s break up and go and do fun things instead!”

The middle of the record isn’t as strong, and there are moments where Prince gets a bit schmaltzy. All that sentimentality can sometimes slip into that overwise uncle who corners you at the family barbecue to give you life advice.

The record recovers nicely ere the end, however, with “The Gun,” “Heaven and Hell” and “Great Wide Open” closing things out strong. “The Gun” is pure prairie country, and while it has plenty of schmaltzy wisdom (“Doesn’t matter who you love son/If you don’t love yourself some”) but the song has a lovely lilt that lets you forgive its more obvious moments.

“Heaven and Hell” is the best song on the record, with Prince stripping out the piano, and dropping in sparse guitar strums as he captures the tension of a relationship that brings out the worst and best in people, and how that can’t go on forever. The arrangement is common for the record, with strings and drum coming in on later verses, letting your mind slowly get enveloped by Prince’s resonant and reassuring voice.

The record then ends with a lovely elegy, which starts with my favourite stanza on the record:

“I hope you forget me in heaven
I pray it’s just that peaceful
That you stop looking down
Through the holes in the clouds
And keep on baskin’ and healin’”

I love the way Prince’s notion of heaven isn’t people looking down on us, but people so completely at peace they don’t have to. If you’d like a record that leaves you with a taste of that freedom from care, “Reliever” is a good choice. It won’t blow you away, and it may even be a bit hokey in a couple of places, but it will relax your mind and give you peace, and that’s a pretty great way to feel.

Best tracks: The Spark, Wasted, The Gun, Heaven and Hell, Great Wide Open

CD Odyssey Disc 1475: Hayley Mary

It’s been a good way to start the week. I’ve got my first vaccination and the Bruins just won game two. Yeehaw! Now, music.

Disc 1475 is…. The Piss, The Perfume

Artist: Hayley Mary

Year of Release: 2020

What’s up with the Cover? A Giant Head Cover! Also, a whimsical eighties hat.

How I Came To Know It: I’m not sure, but I think the title track was featured on Paste Magazine. It sounded good, so I dug in and listened to the whole EP. Then I asked my local record store if they could order it in, fully expecting them to say it was only available in Australia. But lo and behold, they got it for me. Always give your local record store a chance before you turn to Amazon.

How It Stacks Up: This is my only Hayley Mary album, so it can’t stack up.

Ratings: 4 stars

Between RVG, Camp Cope, Confidence Man and my rather late discovery of the Go-Betweens, I’m starting to realize I really like Australian pop music. Hayley Mary is the latest in the list, dropping her debut solo record which, sadly is just a five-song EP.

The album’s title track, “The Piss, The Perfume” is an angry rock and roll tune wrapped up in some sugary pop. I’m not sure whether there is any actual piss or perfume, but I think it involves a night out on the town getting drunker than you ought to after finding out your ex is back in town. It was highly evocative. So much so that I was listening to it in the car and started smelling perfume. But then I realized I had left the glovebox open. I’ve only had the car for a few months, and the previous owner wore a lot of perfume, or at least spilled it all over the car manual. I’ve removed the manual, but the smell persists. But I digress. What’s important here is that I did not smell piss. Also, the song is really good.

Mary is a bit of a throwback, drawing in lots of early influences. “Like a Woman Should” has a late seventies/early eighties vibe that reminded me a bit of the Pretenders, mixed with the more modern sounds of Mattiel. If that Mattiel reference is a bit obscure for you, I don’t apologize. Go listen to her – she’s awesome. The song’s subject is reminiscent of Dessa’s “Fire Drills” imagining a future where a woman (and her daughters) can walk the streets like a woman should, i.e. – any damn way she wants to walk the streets.

On “Holly” she throws in some late nineties/early oughts rock that made me think of the Cranberries or Sixpence None the Richer, but with a bit of Bonnie Tyler gravel in the mix. The song is a “where is she now?” ditty about the titular character, and the high falsetto Hayley Mary deploys as she sings the chorus makes the question mysterious and expansive. Holly has gone to “the heart of America” and while her life may not be heroic, you get the impression her spirit still is.

There is not a bunch of new ground being broken on The Piss, the Perfume. You just get five brilliantly constructed pop songs, any one of which deserves to be a radio hit. Then it is all over in under 20 minutes, and you go back to the beginning and listen again. Hayley Mary spent most of her career (2007-2017) in a band called the Jezabels which had a string of top ten records and I expect a bunch of radio play as well. When I first heard "The Piss, The Perfume” I went and checked them out, but it was just OK. I might try again at some point, but so far I prefer her solo work.

Whatever she’s singing, Hayley Mary has a great pop voice, with a lot of range and character. I liked almost all the songs on the record, and just wish there were more of them. The streaming nature of music seems to be resulting in more artists releasing EPs, however, so it is something I’ll have to live with. She's putting out a full length record in June, and I hope it is longer.

Best tracks: The Piss The Perfume, Like a Woman Should, Ordinary Me, Holly

CD Odyssey Disc 1474: Tom Petty

It’s a beautiful sunny day and I plan to celebrate with a walk, and maybe a drive in my convertible with the top down. Yeehaw!

Disc 1474 is…. You’re Gonna Get It!

Artist: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Year of Release: 1978

What’s up with the Cover? Tom and the boys are bathed in blue light and looking testy. Are they threatening me that “I’m gonna get it” if I don’t buy the album? Because I don’t respond well to threats, Tom. Maybe they’re just excited that “I’m gonna get it” meaning, buy their album. If that’s the case, a friendlier demeanour is in order.

How I Came To Know It: Many years ago I undertook rounding out my Tom Petty collection, and this was one of the albums I scooped up.

How It Stacks Up: I have 16 Tom Petty albums (I’m a fan). “You’re Gonna Get It!” is solid but competition is tough. I’m putting it in at #9, bumping “Southern Accents” down one spot in the process.

Ratings: 3 stars

Imagine if you were the second of three brothers. The older brother is an astronaut, and the younger brother is a movie star. That’s probably how Tom Petty’s sophomore album “You’re Gonna Get It!” feels. It is sandwiched between two classic records; his debut (featuring “American Girl”) and Damn the Torpedoes (featuring every other hit he wrote prior to 1980).

“You’re Gonna Get It!” has no hits. “I Need to Know” landed at #41 on the charts, but other than that, barely a whimper. This is a damned shame, because it is a solid collection of tunes. The album is similar in style to Petty’s debut, with a raw and rambunctious quality to the songs that he would start to smooth out by the time Damn the Torpedoes came out. The delivery is exuberant garage rock, but in places starting to demonstrate the pleasant jangle that would come later. Think the Who, crossed with the Byrds.

That Byrds-inspired jangle is notable on the record’s best tune, “Listen to Her Heart” which features the big reverberating guitar sound that is instantly recognizable as Mike Campbell. The song is a defiant note to a would-be suitor that Tom’s lady’s not for turning. I love the opening lines:

"You think you’re gonna take her away.
With your money and your cocaine”

I guess that what passed for courting in 1978, at least in this instance. I wonder if the rival would had better luck with, I don’t know, flowers and chocolate?

My other favourite is the opening tune, “When the Time Comes” which has a bit of that same Byrdsian jangle in the chorus, but meshed with a greasy, defiant guitar lick that would have fit right in on “Who’s Next”.

While Petty wears his influences on his sleeve, the record is not derivative. It takes the ideas of earlier bands in new directions, plugging them into brand new melodic structures that are so smooth they only feel like they’ve been around for decades. When it comes to writing a timeless melody, there is no one better than Tom Petty.

Elsewhere, tunes like “I Need to Know,” and “Too Much Ain’t Enough” are pure frenetic energy and “Restless” comes along late in the record to throw in a heavy blues influence. While I have a predilection for Petty’s high head voice, on these harder numbers he employs his signature warble to good effect. It sounds like someone who is out having an old-fashioned good time, with just a hint of skeevy excess on the side. You get the impression money and/or cocaine may be involved.

The band straddles that artful gap between visceral energy and precision, creating a live performance quality, if that live performance happened to be studio perfect.

Near the end of the record, Petty breaks out one more hidden gem, with “No Second Thoughts.” This song, about a woman casting aside her old life and running off into an uncertain future is the definition of yearning. Never spelling the full story out, Petty deploys a series of evocative images: a golden band crushed into the sand, a hand taken, a plea to strike an unspoken evil down. And ultimately, the admission that, “dreams fade, hope dies hard.” It is beautiful stuff.

Because of all the hype over other Tom Petty albums, few will listen to “No Second Thoughts” nor any of the other songs on “You’re Gonna Get It!” and that’s a damned shame. I encourage you to go back in time and discover the many hidden gems on this record. If you don’t recognize any of the song titles, don’t panic. They’re good.

Best tracks: When The Time Comes, Listen to Her Heart, No Second Thoughts, Baby’s a Rock N’ Roller

CD Odyssey Disc 1473: Bruce Springsteen

I had an online event tonight, but it ended early. Instead of staring blankly at Netflix, I’m going to write this music review. Then I’ll sit and stare blankly at Netflix.

Disc 1473 is…. Letter to You

Artist: Bruce Springsteen

Year of Release: 2020

What’s up with the Cover? This isn’t quite a Giant Head Cover. It is maybe two-thirds of the way there, but that’s it. Bruce looks cold here, but he’s aged well. According to the Interwebs he’s got a net worth of about $500 million, so you can afford a lot warm jackets and high end skin care products with that kind of dosh.

How I Came To Know It: Just another long-time fan checking out the boss’ latest to see if it appealed. It did.

How It Stacks Up: Out of my 12 Springsteen records, “Letter to You” comes in at #10, good enough to bump “Western Stars” and “Devils & Dust” down one spot each, but not so much as to dig into the classic catalogue. And here’s the full list…for now.

1. Darkness at the Edge of Town: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 612)
2. Nebraska: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 948)
3. Born in the U.S.A.: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 769)
4. Tunnel of Love: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 761)
5. The Promise: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 305)
6. The Rising: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 741)
7. The River: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 654)
8. Born to Run: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 574)
9. Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 506)
10. Letter to You: 3 stars (reviewed right here)
11. Western Stars: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 1424)
12. Devils & Dust: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 695)

Ratings: 3 stars

There’s a great moment in Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem Ulysses where the titular character calls his friends around and says:

“Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;

These lines, where Ulysses acknowledges old age yet refuses to capitulate to it, echoed in my mind as I listened to “Letter to You.” No, this record is not “Nebraska” nor is it “Darkness” but it is still a solid collection of songs from a man who long ago ceased having to prove anything, but still puts himself out there and makes quality music.

This review won’t be all roses and light, so let’s start with the good stuff. First off, Bruce Springsteen has taken care of his voice. He’s always had the advantage of a multi-octave instrument with a natural rasp that makes every story he tells feel deep and meaningful. The Boss is now 71 years young, but it isn’t limiting him here. He sounds amazing and if he’s hiding anything in the song construction, he’s done it so smoothly I never noticed.

Many of these songs, including “One Minute You’re Here”, “Last Man Standing” and “Ghosts” confront mortality from a place of acceptance and honest retrospection. Sometimes Springsteen is remembering those now gone, and sometimes he’s keenly aware that he’s still here, but that long black ribbon is getting closer to the darkness. And while “One Minute You’re Here” has a weary quaver, and the others more anthemic, none feel morose. If anything, “Ghosts” is an anthem for the ages, and when Springsteen thunders out “I’m alive/I can feel the blood shiver in my bones” you will feel that same shiver. And you will like it.

That said, when I first this line, I thought he was singing “I can feel the blood sugar in my bones” which wasn’t quite as heroic. Every Springsteen record has to have a couple songs like this. On the third track at first I thought he wanted to take me on his “murder train,” and then on my next listen, “bullet train.” Turns out it was “burnin’ train.” This was marginally better than the first option but not nearly as good as the second.

Springsteen digs into his past for “Janey Needs a Shooter” which is a reworking of a song he cowrote years earlier with Warren Zevon. In Zevon’s version it’s Jeannie and it’s a song of the old west. Springsteen’s version is set in a stark urban landscape. I prefer the Zevon version, but both work.

There are also moments where I was less impressed. Sometimes Springsteen gets obsessed with an idea, such as “House of a Thousand Guitars” which might be a fun phrase to sing but made for a hackneyed image. On “Rainmaker” he invokes “Yahweh” when the line works just fine with the less pretentious “God”.

“If I Was the Priest” is one of my favourite songs on the record, and a great example of Springsteen blending the stark western feel of “Nebraska” with the lush lyrical quality of something of Asbury Park. This tune, where he imagines Jesus as the sheriff (trust me, it works) he had me in the palm of his hand. At around 4:45 it breaks down naturally to a single piano and the great final line for any western “I told him I was already overdue for Cheyenne”. That moment sits on an unresolved melody, which is exactly what the song needs to leave you staring into the middle distance and wanting to hear it all again.

Except, it doesn’t end. Instead, Springsteen decides to launch into another couple minutes of chorus repetition, harmonica wails and a lengthy electric guitar fadeout. It feels like he’s trying to capture the vigor of his live performances, but all it does is take a perfect song and drag it out without purpose.

After all these decades of brilliance, though, I can forgive the Boss a few long fadeouts the same way I patiently endure his self-serving musical documentaries. In the end, his talent makes it all worth it. Keep sailing, Bruce – you’ve still got it.

Best tracks: One Minute You’re Here, Janey Needs a Shooter, Last Man Standing, If I Was a Priest, Ghosts

CD Odyssey Disc 1472: Birds of Chicago

Good morning and welcome to Saturday! I had a good week of musical discovery this week, and after I’m done here I’m going to go run a few chores and maybe even pop into my local record stores in the hope that some of those discoveries are lurking in the stacks.

Disc 1472 is…. Self-Titled

Artist: Birds of Chicago

Year of Release: 2012

What’s up with the Cover?  A swallow and a crow regard one another from opposite corners of this album cover. The crow, firmly settled down in what I assume is a suburban Chicago neighbourhood remarks, “So, staying in town long?” To which the swallow replies, “no, just passerine through.”

That’s a joke for the birders and ornithologists in the audience. You’re welcome. To the rest of you, my apologies.

How I Came To Know It: I read about this band in some obscure songwriter magazine. Likely American Songwriter, but I can’t be sure. I quickly fell for them and somehow got my hands on this album. I think maybe in a CD rack in either Portland or San Francisco, but I can’t be sure.

How It Stacks Up: I have two Birds of Chicago album, and this one comes in at #2, landing short of the exceptional standard set by “Real Midnight” back at Disc 1157 .

Ratings: 3 stars

I am an unpublished author. Over the years, many people have encouraged me to self-publish, but (notwithstanding this blog) I’ve always felt clearing the hurdle of getting an agent and a book deal is the proof I need to know my work is worthy of having strangers read it. Not unlike writing, music is also a land where you can sign to a label or self-publish. For their first album, Birds of Chicago did not have any of my reservations, funding this record with a Kickstarter campaign. I’m sure this goes wrong many times over, but in this case the result is very much worthy of having strangers hear it. Let’s delve in, shall we?

Birds of Chicago are composed of duo JT Nero and Allison Russell. Nero plays guitar and Russell plays a whole bunch of stuff (including guitar). Various additional musicians flesh out the tunes with more complicated arrangements.

However, let’s just get right down to what makes this band great, and that’s Allison Russell’s voice. Powerful, effortless and with a poignancy that will break your goddamn heart when she hits the upper register on songs like “Before She Goes.”  JT Nero also sings and has a light gravel to his tone that is pleasant on its own and creates compelling harmonies with Russell when occasion demands.

The music is American folk, infused with other influences, particularly gospel, which gives songs like “Cannonball” and “Moonglow Tapeworm” the sway and celebratory swing they need to work.

The songs are united in a smooth, chill vibe that flow over you. Sometimes the band is making a point, and sometimes the songs feel more like mood pieces, but they are united in that relaxed swing. The level of musicianship also helps, sitting down in the pocket, feeling calm and unhurried. This ability to find a song’s soul without appearing to try too hard is what separates good folk music from great.

Lyrically, I found the record a bit of a mixed bag. “Old Calcutta” is saturated with language that has no business working, with lines like:

“And then someone comes along and says that Pluto’s not a planet
How I wished with all my heart he had not said it
Can we not come together and take a stand against this madness?
But I am a man who cries, without knowing why he’s crying
But I know there are rivers flowing way beneath the surface here
And phantom shapes of meaning beyond all understanding.”

And yet, when you hear JT sing this, it fills your mind with a celestial angst, even as the tune behind (chill as ever) reminds you things are going to be OK. Fear not, you’re just trippin’ on the universe, my friend.

Other times, such lyrically bravery doesn’t work so well, such as on “Trampoline” where the central metaphor feels forced into an otherwise solid tune. Kind of like that star shape that looks like it will fit in the square hole of that kid’s game, but only goes in after a lot of applied force and warped plastic.

These missteps are few and far between, however, and for the most part the Birds of Chicago were right in their conviction that this music was ready for the world, and Soulless Record Execs be damned. Listening you’ll feel a little wiser, and a little more relaxed despite life’s rocky patches.

Best tracks: Cannonball, Before She Goes, Moonglow Tapeworm, Flying Dreams, Old Calcutta, Humboldt Crows

CD Odyssey Disc 1471: Sepultura

I’m a bit worn down today after juggling the demands of work and home, and I’m really looking forward to (as Leonard Cohen puts it) “getting lost in that hopeless little screen.” But first, a review.

Disc 1471 is…. Roots

Artist: Sepultura

Year of Release: 1996

What’s up with the Cover?  An artist adds flourishes to a picture of a native Brazilian. Among other things, surrounding him with roots. This makes a lot of sense, given the album title.

I was surprised to find that this cover was drawn by artist Michael Whelan, who I know my youth. Whelan has done a ton of fantasy illustrations and book covers, mostly a lot more fanciful than this one. Anyway, as a kid I always used to marvel at Whelan’s art, so it was cool to cross paths with more of his art years later.

How I Came To Know It: I’ve known this album by reputation for years, but never went looking for it. A few years back my buddy Nick was really into it, and even brought some music over for a listen. I liked it, but once again, didn’t bite. Finally I was over at my friend Chris’ place, digging through his CD collection and it showed up again. Chris was parting with his collection, so I took it as a sign and finally made my move. Welcome to my home at last, Sepultura.

How It Stacks Up: This is my only Sepultura album, so it can’t stack up.

Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4

Sepultura means “grave” in Portuguese. This implies something serious is going on, and listening to their music I am inclined to believe it. Sepultura rivals even fellow thrash metalheads Pantera with the intensity of their fury.

Of course, if you like this kind of music (which I do) fury is part of what you’re looking for. “Roots” is visceral and filled with power, inviting you to join in. These tunes are good for driving, working out, or just thrashing around a bit while you forget your cares. While the uninitiated may find the experience unsettling, metalheads know it is quite therapeutic if you let yourself sink inside. Once there, you can ride the crest of the churning guitar riffs and let it all out, or sink down underneath and let it wash over you. It is safe and controlled way to get all those yells out of you without the need to ever yell (although depending on the scene, a bit of yelling is OK. Like at the concert, or while high fiving a fellow devotee).

I am not a devotee of Sepultura by any means, but I liked “Roots” plenty. The album is famous for the band’s fusion of thrash and groove metal with traditional beats and flourishes of many different forms of Brazilian music (ancient and modern). The combination makes for a sonically intriguing record with a lot of gateways in, all depending on your own personal tastes. None of these additional musical inspirations detract from the pure fist-pumping power of the tracks, particularly “Straighthate” and “Endangered Species” which are master classes on how to inspire a mosh pit.

All those extra rhythmic options also provide a feast for drummer Igor Cavalera. Cavalera is a brilliant drummer in the Danny Carey style. He mixes in precision with a dull echoing sound that thuds so hard you feel bad for the kit. “Ratamahatta” has some of the record’s finest drumming, which even includes (I think) some hand drumming that adds to the song’s wild abandon.

I was going to give “Roots” 4 stars, until it subjected me to that bane of mid-nineties CDs…the hidden track. In this case we have a thirteen-minute monstrosity called “Canyon Jam.” It is filled with random thumps, crickets chirping and what may be someone banging a pipe with a spoon. Tool albums of the same period also do hidden tracks, but at least they tend to be creepy (serial killer observing people from afar), funny (hijinks while high on LSD) or both (the cries of carrots as they are eaten). “Canyon Jam” sounds like someone walking around in an abandoned warehouse (or maybe…a canyon) holding an open mic and recording whatever happens. Musica verité perhaps, but that don’t make it good.

Despite this one blemish, “Roots” is a fine wave to ride, and a welcome addition to my collection.

Best tracks: Attitude, Ratamahatta, Straighthate, Dusted, Endangered Species

CD Odyssey Disc 1470: David Bowie

This next artist is a bit like Led Zeppelin, in that I know I should like them better than I do, but just don't.

Disc 1470 is…. Let’s Dance

Artist: David Bowie

Year of Release: 1983

What’s up with the Cover?  A shirtless David Bowie prepares to…box with someone? Maybe he’s just issued a challenge like, “let’s dance, motherfucker!” Spilling down beside the Thin White Pugilist and his name, the album title plays out in a series of dance steps, should everyone decide to shed their anger and hit the dance floor instead of each other.

How I Came To Know It: This album was everywhere when I was a kid, and the songs blared out at many a high school dance. The reason it is in my CD collection is because Sheila loves this record and bought it.

How It Stacks Up: We have four David Bowie albums, and this one is my least favourite so…#4.

Ratings: 3 stars

Outside of “Ziggy Stardust” I have never got David Bowie in the same way other people do. My wife, many of my closest friends and critics aplenty all rave about this guy, but with the exception of a couple early records, I have never fallen for his modern love. This record is a classic example, where I can objectively see why people think it is great, while still being unable to wrestle my ears into agreement.

Bowie goes through a lot of style changes, and here we find him in his Thin White Duke eighties incarnation. “Let’s Dance” was a huge record. It went multi-platinum, was #1 all over the world and (as noted above) served as the soundtrack to many a high school dance in the mid-eighties.

When I first loaded it up on the car stereo and it launched into “Modern Love” I became nervous. Would this record be so familiar, that I wouldn’t be able to see it with fresh eyes? Or perhaps a deep cut or two that I had overlooked through the years would jump out at me for the first time? As it played out, it was the hits that provided the best experience, so let’s begin there.

“Modern Love” is a great opening, with that guitar riff that jumps about somewhere between funk and New Wave, letting you know that Bowie is once again going for a “sound”. Bowie is like Madonna in that he always seems to be at just the right place on the popularity curve of a style or sound to maximize the public’s interest.

Here we get treated to the mid-eighties in all its grotesque and artificial glory. A hollow drum, tinkling piano and the ubiquitous saxophone solo all careen of each other like bumper cars at an amusement park. Against all odds, “Modern Love” makes this work. It is even more amazing when you analyze the lyrics and are left just wondering what the hell it is all about except that it is “modern!” and it gets him to the church on time. Whatever, it is a good song.

The other hit that appealed to me is “China Girl” which works in some Far East sounds into a Western pop song in a beautiful way. “China Girl” showcases the deep and mysterious tone that makes David Bowie’s voice so cool and sexy. This is the record’s best song.

As for the title track, it starts out pretty solid, with a series of interlocking and instantly recognizable pop hooks that makes it born to play in the background of movies and commercials for decades to come. However, Bowie drags this thing out for over seven and a half interminable minutes. As minute after minute ticked by I went from a grudging respect to seriously hating this song. It is just a bunch of weird percussion, soulless drum. It has one great line “under the moonlight, the serious moonlight” which is awesome, but not so much that I forgive that long trail of thumps, bumps and solos on the saxophone and (I think) the bongos which dominate the latter half of this tune.

Bowie is not alone in thinking we want to hear a song drone on for this long. Dire Straits (“Brothers in Arms”) and Blue Rodeo (“Five Days in May”) are also worthy entries in the “this song should’ve ended five minutes ago” sweepstakes. However, those songs are so awesome I forgive them. I do not forgive “Let’s Dance”.

The deep cuts, which were unfamiliar to me, were a mixed bag. “Without You” is solid, and Bowie tones down the weird here enough that a pretty pop song is allowed to emerge. “Without You” has a fluid feel that proves eighties pop can be serious and romantic when it wants to be. “Cat People (Putting Out Fire)” is OK, although that guitar solo is not nearly as rock ‘n’ roll as it thinks it is.

“Ricochet” and “Criminal World” are both hard to suffer through, with so much going on that (to borrow a phrase from “Cat People”) they sound like they’re trying to put out a fire with gasoline. The album ends with “Shake It” which has the vacuous energy of a song from a high school musical. I found it embarrassing to play, as I sat at a red light on the drive home from work yesterday. I refused to turn it down, however, firmly believing the CD Odyssey should never show mercy. A full listen, monkey.

Best tracks: Modern Love, China Girl, Without You