The Best Albums of 2023

I once again listened to a lot of new releases in 2023 and found 77 of them worth buying. That’s roughly the same as last year (80) but more indicative of my restless desire for new music than any stability or lack thereof in quality records.

Having done this for a few years now, I know that it is inevitable that I’ll later find some record that I regret not including on this list. Despite that eventuality, you could do a lot worse than taking this carefully curated list of gems into your home.

While it would be true to say I love all these records equally in their own way, that’s not how top 10 lists work. I’m looking at you when I write this, Paste Magazine, and I do not like what I see. Take a stand and rank ‘em!

OK, on with the action.

10 Olivia Roderigo – Guts

-          I discovered Olivia Roderigo through a friend’s top 10 list for 2021. He was right – Sour was one of the best records of that year. Her 2023 follow up, Guts is a worthy follow up, capturing the same lush pop production and joyfulness, while exploring the moral complexities of getting a little older. It seems only fitting to include a major hit from an album that is about as commercial as it gets, but so good I can't hold that against it. Here’s Vampire.

9 Be Your Own Pet – Mommy

-          I didn’t know this band existed until 2023. They go all the way back to 2006, but had a long hiatus from 2008 until last year. Based on Mommy I’ll be exploring their back catalogue, because this is some punk rock gold. Here’s Goodtime! a song that seems appropriate for a band deciding to punk it up again after 15 years away.

8 Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – Weathervanes

-          After a couple of ‘meh’ albums over the last few years (Reunions, Georgia Blue) Isbell and his Unit return to form with Weathervanes. Truth be told I thought about putting Jeffrey Martin in this slot (see the honourable mention section below) but decided to start the veteran over the rookie. You’ll get your chance, rook! You’ll get your chance, rook! Here’s a sad one, but a good one, Cast Iron Skillet.

6 Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway – City of Gold

-          Last year I shortchanged Molly Tuttle by putting Crooked Tree on my honourable mention list when it should have made the top 10. I won’t make the same mistake with City of Gold. Here’s Alice in the Bluegrass which reimagines the Alice in Wonderland story with…bluegrass!

6 Chappell Roan - The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess

-        Chappell Roan confidently straddles the line between the slick and glitzy production of Guts and the understated songwriting of Samia’s Honey (again, see honourable mentions below), making her an easy choice for multiple reasons. This album is both heartfelt and funny. Here's Red Wine Supernova, which carries on the vampire theme from the Olivia Rodrigo selection. Sort of.

5 Whitehorse – I’m not Crying, You’re Crying

-          Much like Jason Isbell, 2023 saw Whitehorse return to form with one of their best records ever. I’m not Crying, You’re Crying digs heavily into old school country song structures but still sounds fresh and new. Here’s If the Loneliness Don’t Kill Me.

4 Miya Folick – ROACH

-          ROACH is one of those albums where half the songs were released as an EP, with the LP following 6-12 months later. This double-selling annoys me, but I couldn’t stay annoyed at Miya Folick for long. ROACH is just too good a record. If you like your pop music both catchy and thoughtful, then this is for you.  Here’s Bad Thing. 

3 Jess Williamson – Time Ain’t Accidental

-          In the same year I gave up on Jess Williamson’s album “Cosmic Wink” she released one of my favourite records. If you are one of those people who claim to not love country music, I would invite you to see if Time Ain’t Accidental can change your mind. Here’s the title track, it even has a bit of weird percussion for you pop-preference types.

2 AJJ – Disposable Everything

-          Another band that has been around for years, that I just discovered through this 2023 release. This record is not exactly uplifting – more the opposite – but it can’t all be roses and light, so if you want to explore a little disintegration, this post-punk gem is for you. Here’s the apocalyptic Death Machine.

1 Boy Golden – For Jimmy

-          If a record has all great songs, no bad ones and inspires you both musically and lyrically then it is a perfect record. For Jimmy is exactly that. Best of the year! Here’s Mountain Road.

Honourable Mention – all great, but fell short because I could only pick a top 10. Some of these had “genre” showdowns against similar records that made the cut, but are just as good on any given day. Here are 5 more in no particular order in the event you aren’t sated by the official winners:

• Jeffrey Martin - Thank God We Left the Garden; Caroline Polachek – Desire, I Want to Turn Into You; Bonnie Prince Billy – Keeping Secrets will Destroy You; Samia – Honey; Jeff Rosenstock - HELLMODE

CD Odyssey: The Road to 1,700

Each 100 reviews I like to reflect back and recap some of the highlights and lowlights along the way. Here we are at 1,700 reviews so let’s do that.

In a few days, I’ll post my reflections on the best records released in 2023, but in this article I’m going to reflect on the best and worst albums reviewed over the past 100 entries, regardless of the release year. There were seven 5-star albums over the last 100. They were:

• Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique (1989)
• Amyl and the Sniffers – Comfort to Me (2021)
• Joan Shelley – The Spur (2022)
• Beastie Boys – Licensed to Ill (1986)
• Run the Jewels– Run the Jewels 2 (2014)
• Mr. Lif– Mo’ Mega (2006)
• Boy Golden – For Jimmy (2023)

Of some interest, four of the seven were rap/hip hop albums. That is more of a statistical anomaly than any change in my listening habits. The others were punk, folk and country respectively. Collectively, they also represent music spanning across 37 years, so still lots of variety going on.

I got a lot more picky in 2023 about what it takes for a record to stay in my collection, parting with 14 albums. Most of these records aren’t objectively terrible, they’re just not for me. Here’s a list of them grouped together by the reason I let them go:

Category 1: But I like this band!

• Sunflower Bean – Handful of Sugar
• Lyle Lovett – 12^th of June
• Lone Bellow– Love Song for Losers
• John Moreland – Birds in the Ceiling
• Jess Williamson – Cosmic Wink
• Okkervil River – Away

These five are all by artists where I have one or more albums by them already, and know I like them. In each case I did not scout the record before buying it, and in each case I regretted it. The one exception is the Okkervil River record, which I did listen to first, but that has not aged well since I purchased it in 2016.

Category 2: Since I’ve already paid the shipping…

• Alex Lahey – The Best of Luck Club

I ordered three Alex Lahey albums at once, likely influenced by the savings on shipping. Turns out at least one of them (Best of Luck Club) wasn’t worth the freight. Here’s hoping the other two fare better when I roll them.

Category 3: I really like that one song

• Wild Rivers – Sidelines
• Amanda Shires – Take it Like a Man

Wild Rivers write catchy tunes and a couple of them (Bedrock, Long Time) were so catchy they momentarily blinded me to the merely OK listening experience for the rest of the album. I guess you could say that they did not provide sufficient ‘bedrock’ for me to keep the record for a ‘long time’.

Amanda Shires’ song “Hawk for the Dove” is a gorgeous tune, and I also liked that she’s part of Jason Isbell’s band, the 400 Unit. In the end, neither the song nor the pedigree could save the full record.

Category 4: I saw them live!

• Scimitar – Black Waters

I saw Scimitar live when they opened for Alestorm. I thought this magic moment would somehow be part of my listening experience but alas, it was not. Enjoy live shows in the moment my friends, because the magic isn’t collectible. If you don’t believe me go watch a half dozen crap videos people upload to Youtube from their phones featuring tin-can sound and a close up view of the backs of people’s heads. Does it feel magical? Reader, it does not.

Category 5: F*** you, The Band

• The Band – Music from Big Pink, and subsequently their self-titled album

I only reviewed “Music from Big Pink” in 2023 (I had reviewed the Band’s self-titled release in 2021). However, Music from Big Pink was so self-absorbed and annoying it broke the spell that the Band had briefly cast over me in the months after I watched the 2019 documentary “Once Were Brothers”. I was so incensed I went back and purged my other Band album from the shelves as well. Also, who calls their band “The Band”? Stupid.

Category 6: The Fading Fires of Folk

• Maire Brennan – Maire

This was a tough one. I’ve owned this CD since it was first released in 1992, making it one of the oldest in my collections. Back in 1992 I was seriously into Celtic folk music and would snap up records with little more to go on than they were in the right part of the “world” music in the record store and had song titles in Gaelic.

I still love Celtic folk, but not with the burning singularity of desire I once had for it. I thought about keeping it for nostalgia alone, but the practicality of available space won out. God speed to your new home, Maire Brennan.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the best of 2023, coming soon!

CD Odyssey Disc 1700: The Brother Brothers

What’s this? A second review in as many days? Easily done when I have some time away from work, my friends. I was also aided by both albums having only six songs, and being stuck in downtown Victoria traffic.

Disc 1700 is…Tugboats E.P.

Artist: The Brother Brothers

Year of Release: 2017

What’s up with the Cover? In a decision surprising no one, the cover of an album called tugboats features a tugboat. I suspect this particular tugboat is not registered as “Tugboats E.P.” and this is a digital addition. At least I hope that is the case, because if that were this tugboat’s name it would endure a lot of teasing from the other boats.

How I Came To Know It: I discovered the Brother Brothers through their 2018 album, “Some People I Know” (reviewed back at Disc1376). That cover also features a ship.

Anyway, I found the Tugboats E.P. on Bandcamp while I was digging through the band’s back catalogue.

How It Stacks Up: I now have four Brother Brothers albums. Of those four, “Tugboats” does very well, landing in second, just behind “Some People I Know” which now ‘stacks up’ due to more records coming into the collection.

Rating: 4 stars

You will not find a better example of two-part harmonies than identical twins David and Adam Moss (aka the Brother Brothers) and yes, I am including Simon and Garfunkel in that statement. I’m not saying the Brother Brothers are better than Simon and Garfunkel (they are not), I’m saying their two-part harmonies are better.

This singular talent is deployed front and centre on understated folk records heavily inspired by folk duos that came before, including the Everly Brothers and the aforementioned S&G.

The record’s title track is the best tune, a weary and sad reflection on life’s many burdens. It is a beautiful exploration of the desire to sit down and curb and give up, and yet not do so. The tugboat aspect comes late, providing a metaphorical resoluteness to push on. Or as the Brothers observe:

“Tugboats don’t get tired, they just have to go slow
But ain’t that the way you pull a heavy load?”

Like many a great folk record, “Tugboats” features a cover and here the boys go with “Columbus Stockade Blues”. I’ve heard this song as a blues tune and as bluegrass but here the Brothers give it a whole new treatment. Aided by a haunting violin reminiscent of early Leonard Cohen, this version sounds like ghosts whispering their secrets from the grave. “Columbus Stockade Blues” is always vaguely creepy, but the Brother Brothers take that to an otherworldly level. I’m not saying it is better than Doc Watson, but it holds its own.

The album packs a lot of emotional range into a short 18 minutes. “Notary Public” is a whimsical and catchy tune where the narrator opines that he needs a notary public because he thinks he’s “signed away my heart again.” It is a bit kitschy but a good palate cleanser to the many slow and sad numbers.

We wrap up the record with “Cairo, IL” another tune with some sweet and mournful violin. This tune showcases a mix of solo vocals (not sure if it is David or Adam) and those sublime harmonies, as the brothers walk in and out of the two deliveries with easy grace.

“Easy grace” summarizes the experience of the record as a whole as well. Listening to the Brother Brothers is like a relaxing massage for your mind. They created a calm bubble around me for a day spent in Christmas traffic – no easy feat.

Best tracks: Tugboats, Columbus Stockade Blues, Cairo IL

CD Odyssey Disc 1699: Boy Golden

Today is my first day of a much-needed holiday break. So far, I have slept in with my cat and had a shower and since you’ll be reading this after I post, written this review. I plan to make myself more useful through the day, but a nice slow ramp up to useful is just what I needed.

Disc 1699 is…For Jimmy

Artist: Boy Golden

Year of Release: 2023

What’s up with the Cover? Despite some fashion decisions for the photo shoot, it is hard not love a man with a moustache and a mullet like that. Also, as Boy Golden himself sings on “Mountain Road”:

“Been wearing the same thing for coming a year
But I'm thinking of changing my style”

So there’s hope.

How I Came To Know It: Earlier this year, my friend Casey suggested I go see Boy Golden in concert. I didn’t know who Boy Golden was, but after listening to a few tracks on Youtube I decided it was worth my while. I am glad I did, as the live show was all kinds of awesome.

As for the album itself, I bought this one and another Boy Golden release (2021’s “The Church of Better Daze”) from the merch table at the show. I love getting albums at merch tables because it means more profit to the artist, and not some intermediary.

How It Stacks Up: This record and “Church of Better Daze” are my only two Boy Golden records. I haven’t given “Church” the attention it deserves to make a value judgment, but you didn’t come to this section of the review to watch me equivocate, and besides, it ain’t in my nature. I’m going out on a limb and saying it would be a great record indeed to displace, “For Jimmy” and for that reason I rank it #1, at least for now.

Rating: 5 stars

In the next week or so I’ll be considering my much anticipated (by a few) best releases of 2023. Expect “For Jimmy” to land high on that list. This record may be short (at six songs/22 minutes it is straddling EP territory) but it packs a whole lot of awesome into those 22 minutes.

“Just what kind of music is this, then?” You may ask yourself, as I did when my friend mentioned the show. I’d say it is outlaw country music, and at its core that is exactly what it is. Like Steve Earle accomplished 35 years ago, “For Jimmy” brings in elements of backcountry bluegrass and good old-fashioned rock and roll into something all its own. In many ways, Boy Golden is the inheritor to Earle’s groundbreaking early work, filling a much-needed space in modern music alongside folks like Hayes Carll.

The album is a well-balanced mix of self-exploration and party tunes, with the two concepts often crossing over one another. Consider, these lines from the aforementioned “Mountain Road”:

“Living is easy if you want to
Sure can be hard if you don't
Walking through the parking lots lost in your thoughts
Now you're standing at the No Frills alone”

Deep stuff, but mingled with cheap motels, it captures the grit and grime that binds this record together. The themes of “Mountain Road” echo through the record, returning full force on “Blue Hills”, a song laden with great observations, powerful images, and lyrics that send your brain down twisty passages you may not have walked in a while. I could quote the whole thing, but I’ll grab just six for you here:

“Out on the road, that's where I belong
Highway Ten's getting long
Dirt road junkies in their trucker caps
You don't get stopped by the cops when you look like that

“Where you get born ain't always where you're coming from
It matters more what you intend to become”

“Blue Hills” also has some sublime guitar work. Because beneath all the great songwriting and lyrics, Boy Golden is one hell of a guitar player.

“Aging Mr. Riley” is a tale of lowlifes engaged in fixing horse racing, double-crossing each other along the way. If you’ve been waiting for a worthy inheritor to Townes Van Zandt’s “Pancho and Lefty,” this is it. The tune even gives a nod to the melody from “Copperhead Road” for the bridge, just so you know that while Boy Golden is forging new trails, he’s also respectful of those who came before.

The record ends with “Out on the Weekend” which is a perfect reflection of what it is to chill with friends on the weekend. This song is hyper specific and yet universal to anyone fortunate enough – as I am – to be surrounded by good friends that you love and trust. Best (of many great) lines:

“In the garage, they're spinning some wax
Old country music helps me relax
So does a beer and we're throwing them back
Jen rolled a joint my God was it fat
It's a good time, I'm drinking coffee you're drinking wine”

So much in here, including that different people get their kicks in different ways, but they can still get them together. Here we've got three vices covered in six lines - four if you count old country music.

Better still is the exceptional phrasing of Boy Golden’s delivery, and the structure of the lyrics perfectly serving that phrasing. Some artists rearrange a sentence to force a rhyme. Boy Golden rearranges a sentence because it serves the song. It festoons his work with memorable punch lines and thoughtful observations that heighten the story or theme of the song every time.

My friend Casey initially sold me on this record by saying “it only has six songs but every single one of them is great.” He was right. This record was short, and I could’ve reviewed it on Tuesday, except I wasn’t done enjoying it. Instead I let it play over and over again for the better part of the week, loving it more and more with every listen.

Best tracks: All tracks

CD Odyssey Disc 1698: Rilo Kiley

My weekend got off to a lovely start, with some drinks out with friends, followed by board games with Sheila and some late night telly. Board game nights are also a chance for me to introduce any newly purchased music into the house, and with busy schedules all around I’ve been gathering quite a backlog. We listened to five new albums last night, and there’s still at least another five to go. Yeehaw!

This album was not one of them – the random rolling pulled it from the stacks, because that’s how this process works. Random!

Disc 1698 is…Self-Titled

Artist: Rilo Kiley

Year of Release: 1999

What’s up with the Cover? No idea. A close up of a face off circle in a hockey rink? A mathematician’s idea of what going to the beach should look like?

How I Came To Know It: I wasn’t aware this album existed, and have lived most of my life believing that 2001’s Takeoffs and Landings (reviewed back at Disc 86) was Rilo Kiley’s first record. This is easy to understand, given their Wikipedia entry says it is, and makes no reference of this record. It wasn’t until I read an article on Pitchfork revisiting their “debut” album (re-released in 2020) that I learned something had come before.

I then discovered the re-release did not include a CD (shame!). Given it was originally released in the heyday of the compact disc, this seemed terribly wrong, but I would not be denied. I downloaded it digitally from Bandcamp and made the album myself thereafter, right down to the jewel case art. I will not be denied my preferred physical media!

How It Stacks Up: With this surprise addition, I now have six Rilo Kiley albums. I like them all, and competition is fierce. Despite that, Rilo Kiley’s debut lands in third, displacing the nearly as good “More Adventurous” (Disc 1214) in the process.

Rating: 4 stars

When Sheila and I first discovered Rilo Kiley we played the hell out of all the records we could get our hands on. In the end we overplayed them, and while it was a crime driven by love, it has meant in recent years I have passed them over a fair bit.

This made the discovery of their 1999 debut album all the sweeter, because it did two things. First, it gave me a clutch of new (to me) songs to enjoy, and secondly, it reminded me why I overplayed them in the first place - because they are awesome.

Rilo Kiley is what pop music sounds like when in the hands of master songwriters. Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett have been writing most innovative and inspiring pop tunes for over twenty years now, and this record confirms that they hit the ground running.

Things start with the infectious “The Frug,” a song for dancing, and about dancing. Yes, there’s a bit of spice in the lyrics that hint at jealousy and the difficulties of love, but with a 2:40 running time, there ain’t much room for anything but the dancing, and that will be just fine with you.

“The Frug” is a ridiculous amount of fun. Just setting down to write about it had me fall down a Youtube dance video well for the last 30 minutes. If you are wondering, (as I once did) what a “frug” is, it is a dance, and the internet is festooned with fun interpretations of it. There’s the classic Bob Fosse routine from the movie Sweet Charity, this short bit of awesome from an Indian film I do not pretend to know, and even this highly stylized Bob Fosse tip of the hat danced to Portugal.The Man’s “Feel it Still”.

The song also references three other dances (“The Robocop”, “The Freddie”, and “The Smurf”) all of which are also a joy to discover, although not as fun as the frug.

Rilo Kiley can also get serious. “85” explores infidelity and while the song has a sugary meandering melody, it is wrapped around the real hurt that humans can cause one another.

There is mature quality to a lot of the tunes on this record that hearken back to earlier eras in pop music history. “Teenage Lovesong” is an old school sixties crooner, and “Gravity” is a belter of a seventies style country tune. Both tunes feature Lewis’ brilliant storytelling talents. On “Teenage Lovesong” a groupie gets taken advantage of by an old famous person. Narratively it forms a great bookend to the much creepier “15” off of their 2007 release “Under the Blacklight”. “Gravity” also hints at disturbed relationships, although beyond some vignettes of violence on the side of the highway, the listener is left to fill in the blanks.

There is an earlier version of “Always” (also on “Takeoffs and Landings”) which has some questionable production decisions they cleaned up in the two years that would follow, but this is a minor issue on a record that was a wonderful experience of a band I thought I knew and loved, but now know and love even better.

Best tracks: The Frug, Papillon, 85, Teenage Lovesong, Gravity

CD Odyssey Disc 1697: Bonny Doon

I had some external appointments this week, and all that extra driving gave me plenty of time to listen to the next record. Also to curse road construction in December, but the music made it all endurable.

Disc 1697 is…Let There Be Music

Artist: Bonny Doon

Year of Release: 2023

What’s up with the Cover? It’s the words and music to the title track. Well, for sure the words. The music could be anything, as – to my great shame – I cannot read music. I learned guitar via lessons and chord charts. I’ve always wished I could read music, partly because as a music lover it feels like I’m missing out on an aspect of the experience, but mostly because it looks nifty.

How I Came To Know It: I was sure that I’d read a review of this record on American Songwriter, but looking back it turns out it was on Pitchfork. It is rare that I find a folkier record on Pitchfork, but here we are. Anyway, read the review, was interested, liked the music, and ordered it through my local record store. Shop local!

How It Stacks Up: This is my only Bonny Doon album, so it can’t stack up against anything.

Rating: 3 stars

With a name like Bonny Doon you might expect this music to be firmly in the Celtic Folk world, but you may be surprised to know this is more of a folk-rock sound. It is more reminiscent of the Flying Burrito Brothers than anything Capercaillie ever gave us. Fortunately, I like both styles of music, and Bonny Doon’s upbeat, easygoing melodies were exactly what I needed through the first half of a cold pre-winter week.

Bonny Doon is like that poster on the wall of your office reminding you to breathe. Feeling stressed? Uncertain about life’s purpose? Throw on the 40 minutes of “Let There Be Music” and chill out.

The record is simple but sneaky. The melodies have that timeless quality that good folk music always has, but the progressions are more rock and roll than folk. If these tunes were fuzzed out and the electric guitar let loose, the tunes could easily be nineties rock. Instead, Bonny Doon opt for a light and airy vibe that exudes hope for a better tomorrow. This isn’t “sun will come out tomorrow” music, this is “sun will come out right now music.

Lyrically, there isn’t any Leonard Cohen level poetry, but they do a great job of converting conventional wisdom and plain language into something that feels more profound than it probably is on the page. Some of the best stuff can be found on “Crooked Creek”, expressing a gentle pastoral ease in every line:

“I heard the preacher speak at crooked creek
I heard the coyote howl from deep in my bowels
I heard the trees slow dance in the neon wild
Ain’t it crazy how I still feel like a child.”

This is just one of many hippy dippy “smoke some grass, and chill in the shade of this willow tree” kind of tunes. Others have names like “Let There Be Music” and “Fine Afternoon” and are just as chill as you’d expect songs with titles like that to be.

The biggest buzzkill these guys manage is “You Can’t Stay the Same” and even here, they are more reassuring you that the world will be OK despite changes that will come both to you, and from within you. Think Black Sabbath’s “Changes,” but minus all the anxiety.

All this happiness and relaxation might make you think this record is sleepy or boring, but it is anything but. First of all, the songs have a lively jangle that gets you swaying in time from the first few notes. Second, the record has plenty of recognition that things are tough (on “Roxanne” there are even hints of self-destructive behaviour in the mix). It just shows that there is a sunny way to confront life’s challenges, if you’re willing to embrace it.

This record is not musically innovative, nor does it push the musicianship or vocals of its band members, but what it does for the spirit can’t be underestimated. It left me feeling alert and rested, like I’d just had a thoroughly great meditation session, or maybe just a comfortable nap.

Best tracks: San Francisco, Crooked Creek, Roxanne

CD Odyssey Disc 1696: Amy Speace

Welcome back to the CD Odyssey! Before I get into the next record, a quick word of remembrance for Shane MacGowan, frontman of the Pogues and the Popes who died this week. Shane MacGowan was one of the true all time greats. If he was too hard on himself (and he was), it always felt like it was in the service to the music. My collection is full of Pogues and Popes albums that still get played often.

Thanks for the music, Shane. I’m sad to say you must be on your way, but all the best in the great hereafter.

Disc 1696 is…That Kind of Girl

Artist: Amy Speace

Year of Release: 2015

What’s up with the Cover? Giant Head Cover – profile version!

How I Came To Know It: I discovered Amy Speace through her 2021 album “There Used to be Horses Here” and dug back through her catalogue from there. Ironically, I still have not been able to find a copy of “There Used to be Horses Here” but I ordered “That Kind of Girl through Amazon (barf) when I couldn’t find it elsewhere.

How It Stacks Up: I have three Amy Speace albums. Of the three, “That Kind of Girl” is good, but still only finishes third.

Rating: 3 stars but almost 4

Amy Speace is one of those great voices you’ve probably never heard of. On “That Kind of Girl” she shows a self-assurance and writing talent that makes listening to her sing an even greater pleasure.

Speace traverses multiple styles on “That Kind of Girl”, with songs that are country, folk, pop and even a bit of bluegrass. The tunes, both in terms of how she structures a tune and also the range and timbre of her voice, remind me strongly of Mary Chapin Carpenter.

There’s a classical composition feel to how Speace pulls a song together, and in her low range her similarity to Carpenter is eerie, especially on pining mid-tempo slow marches like “Come Pick Me Up.” A song offering love, and a desire to know your partner when you see them through the lens of them showing you their hometown.

She also reminded me (favourably) of Carpenter on “Better Than This” which felt a lot like “Passionate Kisses” right down to the demand for, well…passionate kisses, and through that metaphor, more commitment in the relationship.

Speace can tend toward Songwriter 101 approaches in her imagery, doubling down on “street as conversation” (“Come Pick Me Up”) or “raincoat as relationship” (“Raincoat”). On the former it works, framing everything up and delivered through her sneaky powerful vocals. On the latter, less so, where the metaphor feels strained; a darling that she should’ve killed.

The album explores spirituals as well, with the bluesy “Three Days” and the bluegrass-inspired “Hymn for the Crossing.” Of the two, I prefer “Hymn…” but I think part of that is just stylistic preference.

The best song on the record is the title track, a heart-wrenching tune of lost love, where the pain goes so deep the narrator has to confront a crisis of confidence in herself. The harshest lines…

“Girl, who'd let love take her down
Girl who'd wade into a lake with stones tied to her gown”

…are bleak, but Speace pairs the doubt of the lyrics with a tune that is resolute and reassuring. Yes, she’s discovered some weakness, but these hardships are a lesson learned, not a punishment. You can tell that despite the blackness today, she’ll be stronger tomorrow. I’m a sucker for songs that play the lyrics and melody against each other to create tension in the theme, and “That Kind of Girl” gracefully delivers.

The arrangement decisions are as varied as the musical approaches. Piano features heavily, but Speace works in guitar and violin to greater or lesser degree as the song demands. This album had me marvelling at the centuries-long friendship of the piano and the violin. Violin lifting your soul through an emotional journey, the piano grounding everything else to free the violin up to work its magic. I’ve heard it a million times, but maybe it was the even mix on the record that had me noticing more than usual.

On “In Chicago” violin is set aside for fiddle (you know what I mean…) and Speace doubles down on a southern mountain music vibe that had me thinking favourably of bands like the Stray Birds. This is a song for stomping wooden floorboards and shouting out “woop!” whenever the spirit moves you.

For a host of scheduling reasons, this album lingered in my car longer than usual, and afforded me a lot of extra listens (maybe four all the way through). On each iteration, I liked the record a little more, and picking the “best tracks” section below was harder than usual, because they changed as I went. That’s the sign of a good record, though, making “That Kind of Girl” my kind of album.

Best tracks: Come Pick Me Up, That Kind of Girl, Hymn for the Crossing, In Chicago

CD Odyssey Disc 1695: Jess Williamson

Welcome back to the CD Odyssey. After a brief uptick, I am sad to report once again I encountered an album I found merely average. This is the fifth record in the last seven that did not survive to make it to the shelves. When I look at the spread of ratings in the collection as a whole (mostly 3s and 4s) I have cause for hope, but it hasn’t been reflected in the music I’ve been rolling of late.

Disc 1695 is…Cosmic Wink

Artist: Jess Williamson

Year of Release: 2018

What’s up with the Cover? Jess Williamson looks pensive in the fading light. This is that time of night where if you’ve got a campfire, you gather around it, and if you don’t you head inside where it is warm.

While the photo isn’t compelling beyond that, I give full marks to the creative framing and font choices. Very nice!

How I Came To Know It: Earlier this year I discovered Williamson through her 2023 album “Time Ain’t Accidental.” I really dug that record, and shortly after I bought it I found this record hanging out in the Misc W section at the local record store. Feeling it was divine providence at work, I bought it. In doing so I must’ve forgotten I’d already checked out other earlier works by Williamson (2020’s “Sorceress”) and found them wanting. Oops.

How It Stacks Up: I have two Jess Williamson records. “Cosmic Wink” is a distant second.

Rating: 2 stars but almost 3

In 2023, Jess Williamson developed a crisp and insightful style that is a pleasure to listen to, but on her journey to that place she applies a very different approach, which mostly registered low for me on the joy meter.

I’m currently reading “Just Kids”, and it has my head wrapped up in Patti Smith’s artistry and unflinching creative talent.  On “Cosmic Wink” Williamson looks to channel Smith’s spirit, with a delivery that is heavy on an emotive, almost Beatnik performance style. Smith’s rough and wrought approach to music is not easy to emulate. While Williamson has the vocal chops for it, it didn’t have that same “take you to the edge of reason” quality that Smith manages on her early records. Not terrible, but just not…magical.

Production-wise, “Cosmic Wink” has a submerged quality to it, with lots of reverb and overlap of sounds. This is not usually how I roll, and here I found it distracting from her big vocals. It establishes a dreamlike and diffuse mood, but it didn’t successfully pull me into its world, and with music of this nature, if you’re not fully pulled in, it can quickly become background.

Worst, I heard many aspects that I like better in other artists. In addition to the aforementioned similarities with Patti Smith, there are elements of the smoky mystery of early Lera Lynn, and the murder mystery folk of Marissa Nadler. These are positive comparisons, and at a core level Williamson has all the tools. Her voice is big and expressive, and she knows how to create phrasing that draws you in and out of the rhythm. It is just all a bit too soupy for me.

Most of my listening to “Cosmic Wink” was done in the car, which was not in its favour. The Jag tends to growl over more nuanced records, and when I got home tonight for a third listen on headphones, I was instantly happier with the results. Here, with a more complete immersion, you can let all those light and layered brush strokes of guitar dance around the edges of your consciousness.

Additionally, Williamson’s vocals stand out stronger on a headphone experience, and that Patti Smith spoken word/broken bird song approach is easier to both embrace, and to be embraced by.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. I kept yearning for her cleaner and more inspired 2023 release. I have a record with Williamson working as one half of the female duo “Plains” which I also prefer. I’m keen to roll and dive into both those records soon, and in so doing redeem Williamson’s reputation. As for “Cosmic Wink” I’ve decided to move on.

Best tracks: I See the White, Thunder Song

CD Odyssey Disc 1694: Gillian Welch

In today’s music news – new audio equipment! After many years futzing with a dubious pre-amp, today I bought a new record player with one built in. I landed in ‘middle quality’ but good enough for my purposes. I am an audiophile to a point, but I’m also a realist about the level of sound I can achieve in my condo, and I only play records about three times a year, so there’s that.

Of much greater excitement, after many years of searching today I also found a new multi-disc CD player! Huzzah! This, plus learning that “the kids” over in England are busy playing CDs again and my time may be coming around again. Or not. Either way, I can once again spin multiple discs in the “random but not the whole music collection” kind of way I love and cherish.

Speaking of old school, here’s a review of some traditional Americana folk music.

Disc 1694 is…Soul Journey

Artist: Gillian Welch

Year of Release: 2003

What’s up with the Cover? Some childlike drawings. I like the teal colour of the background but otherwise I prefer my album art to look like it was drawn by adults.

How I Came To Know It: I had a deep dive into Gillian Welch many years ago, and this is one of the resulting finds.

How It Stacks Up: I have five Gillian Welch albums, with “Soul Journey” coming in at #3.

Rating: 4 stars

Gillian Welch is one of those artists that mainstream radio may have never heard of but is fundamental to the understanding of the modern Americana and indie folk movements. If you love that kind of music from any number of current artists, there is a very good chance, bordering on inevitability, that those artists cut their teeth listening to Gillian Welch records.

There’s a simple reason for this: Welch is the best. Vocally, she hearkens back hundreds of years into the tradition of storytelling that is folk music, steeped in the rich and earthy delivery that evokes backcountry mountain hollers of rural America. Her voice is big and resonant, and Welch is able to pull it back or let it blast, effortlessly moving in and out of quietness and full power. This style should be emptying her lung capacity every half bar or so, but she sings with a seeming inexhaustible amount of breath and blow.

Accompanying Welch as always is her co-writer and guitar guru husband David Rawlings. Rawlings sprung guitar stylings are unique in their own right and their ebb and flow is a natural fit to Welch’s vocals.

As for “Soul Journey” is comes as the fourth and latest of her early career and presents a softer and more rounded production than previous efforts. The discordance is still there to serve the stories, but the playing is more relaxed and lilting than anything prior. I like Welch both ways, and this slight shift did not detract from the quality of the experience.

The album opens with “Look at Miss Ohio,” a gorgeous character study of a woman who is likely the belle of her town, and much more complicated than most casual observers of her beauty will ever understand. The song is dripping with rich imagery, none better than the opening stanzas:

“Oh me oh my oh, look at Miss Ohio
She's a-running around with her rag-top down
She says I want to do right but not right now”

Miss Ohio is a rugged and troubled beauty, and Welch captures her restless and troubled soul to perfection. The song’s tune is a weary meander that perfectly underscores it all.

Another favourite is “Wayside/Back in Time” with a light and easy mid-tempo sway, and a refrain with a melody so perfect I was humming it in the hallways at work for days, unable to get it out of my head, and uninterested in trying.

All of the songs are co-written with Rawlings, with the exception of “One Little Song” where Welch demonstrates she is more than capable of writing a classic folk song all on her own. “One Little Song” is a love song to the creative process, where songs are birds waiting to be wooed and gently observed and put to paper. The song wonders if there are any new songs to be written, even as it demonstrates that hell yes, there sure are.

I like when folk records tackle a traditional tune, and on “Soul Journey” we get a take on “Make Me A Pallet on Your Floor”. I have other versions of this by Lucinda Williams and the Stray Birds, and while those are good, Welch’s is head and shoulders better. The gold standard on how to take a very old song, honour its bones, and still make it your own. Best line of this classic “down and out’ rumination:

“Been hangin’ round with good time friends of mine
They treat me very nice and kind, when I’ve got a dollar and a dime.”

Brilliant, and set to a bluesy refrain and Rawlings incomparable guitar work it just doesn’t get any better.

In most artists discographies, “Soul Journey” would be the best record the artist ever created. In Welch’s incredible body of work it can only land third, but don’t be fooled; this record is a classic must-have collection of Americana folk music.

Best tracks: Look at Miss Ohio, Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor, Wayside/Back in Time, Lowlands, One Little Song

CD Odyssey Disc 1693: John Moreland

I’m not on a great run right now, and this next record represents the fourth album out of the last five that will not survive to return to my collection, post-review.

In more positive news, I spent the earlier part of my evening watching a documentary on Ronnie James Dio, and was overwhelmed with my love for him. So while this next review may not inspire you, I encourage you to explore some of the work of the great Ronnie James Dio. Whether as part of Rainbow, Black Sabbath or under his own moniker, Dio was one of the all-time greats.

OK, on to the present reality…

Disc 1693 is…Birds in the Ceiling

Artist: John Moreland

Year of Release: 2022

What’s up with the Cover?  According to the liner notes “art and design” is also by John Moreland which means we all know who to blame for whatever this is.

A collage of collared strips may strictly speaking be an art and design project, John, but that don’t make it good. Next time just put a picture or a drawing of oh, I don’t know, some birds in the ceiling, maybe? Everyone likes birds…

How I Came To Know It: I saw this in the stacks at the local record store earlier this year and immediately thought, “hey, a John Moreland album I somehow missed!” I love my other John Moreland albums, so I was pretty excited. So excited I bought this one without having heard a single song.

How It Stacks Up: I have five John Moreland albums, and this is #5. Distantly.

Rating: 2 stars

“Birds in the Ceiling” should instead be called “John Moreland discovers the mellotron.” That would be a better title, and a much more useful warning than anything Tipper Gore could have come up with, even at her censorious worst.

With that ominous lede in mind, let us turn our minds to what would make a seasoned devourer of music like myself scurry home with an unknown and unheard record so filled with hope.

Previous Moreland records inspired me and made my heart swell with poetic longing. His gravelly and hurt-locker vocals, and the layered, understated beauty of his acoustic guitar is the stuff of pure heartache. Anything resembling that experience was sure to land well, I reasoned.

Unfortunately, Moreland not only discovered the mellotron, he fell for it hard and without apology. He pairs that space organ sound with what the liner notes refer to as “sampling/sequencing” as though this were an instrument on par alongside that guitar mastery I mentioned earlier. Reader, it is not.

Remember that Leonard Cohen album he recorded while squirreled away at a monastery? It was called “Ten New Songs” and featured a whole lot of synthesizer as well. It isn’t one of my favourite Cohen records, but I still loved it (three stars back at Disc 1094 if you are interested). The thing about that record is despite some of the awkward and inorganic production, Cohen’s songwriting shines through.

Nothing can shine through the sequencing experimentation of songs like “Cheap Idols Dressed in Expensive Garbage”. It has the empty thump of a dance floor banger, without the bang, and Moreland’s guitar lick is sterile and lifeless, something I never thought I would write about a Moreland guitar lick. Also, the title’s image (and the song’s chief refrain) isn’t even a terribly interesting idea.

Or think about Springsteen’s “Tunnel of Love” (Disc 761). This record has some questionable production, but the incredible selection of songs shines through that muck like a white-hot beacon of truth and glory. On “Birds…” the closest Moreland comes to this feat is “Generational Dust.” The song has good bones, and although Moreland’s vocals are souped-out in the production, the hurt is still lurking there, if you know what to look for. It works to a point, but “Brilliant Disguise” it is not.

Near the end of the record, Moreland’s natural earthy talents begin to win through some of the arrangements and production. “Neon Middle June” has a lot of the same challenges of the rest of the record, but Moreland’s vocals here are some of the best on the album. And while lines like

“And what if who I am, is who I used to be
Darling, you know that’s the thought that paralyzes me”

…don’t hold the magic of some of his earlier records, they do capture some of the plain-language wisdom that makes his music so imminent and cathartic to listen to.

“Truth Be Told” is the tune where he lets that brilliant guitar of his rebirth itself, again near the end of the record. This song is the best at abandoning the bad ‘oomp oomp oomp’ sound of the organ/sequencer stuff. It is still there, but maybe Moreland’s fingers are getting tired by this point. Sadly, not tired enough, but the song has its moments and like Springsteen and Cohen, you can see past the Vaseline on the lens to the craggy beauty underneath. It is too little, too late, but it’s something.

I don’t expect my favourite artists to sit staid and happy in the sound I like them making best. I’m all for them exploring new styles and musical approaches. But at the end of the day, it is up to me whether I like where the journey takes them – as the listener I’m the other half of the experience. And much as I want it to be otherwise, this record made me want to go listen to earlier John Moreland records instead. So I’ll pass this one along to a happier home and do just that.

Best tracks: Neon Middle June, Truth Be Told

CD Odyssey Disc 1692: Scimitar

Not having the greatest week. I took my first sick day from work in as long as I can remember (I don’t get sick often). Worst of all, I am now on holidays and will likely be sick for at least half of it. Argh.

Did you read that last sentence as ‘argh’ or ‘arrr!’? because if it was the latter, this next review may be for you.

Disc 1692 is…Black Waters

Artist: Scimitar

Year of Release: 2010

What’s up with the Cover?  A ghostly pirate ship soars through night sky. This pirate ship needs a bit more sail deployed, but I guess it is propelled by fell and unearthly magicks.

This cover always throws me because of that white dot on the centre left. It is the moon, but to me it always looks like one of those “not for resale” hole punches. Maybe a reminder that this ghostly pirate ship was not sold and returned to the manufacturer. This should make it wrong to resell it, but can you think of a more fitting thing to bootleg than a pirate ship?

How I Came To Know It: I saw Scimitar as the opening act for Alestorm back in November of 2019, aka the “before” times. To read a review of how they did, scroll down on the Alestorm review at Disc 1317. I don’t believe I purchased their album from the merch table, so probably bought a copy at the local record store in the days that followed.

How It Stacks Up: This is my only Scimitar record so it can’t stack up.

Rating: 2 stars

For those of you concerned that Alestorm has cornered the market on mixing pirate songs with heavy metal, I bring you good news in the form of “Scimitar”. Heavier, with a bit more black metal thump than Alestorm, this quartet of Victoria metalheads also loves the mix of high seas reaving and power chords.

What the specific songs are about I had a harder time with, but only because I didn’t put in the requisite number of headphones listens. I have a tough time with the gravelly death metal voice, even though I often like the sound of it. I caught phrases in songs that were very piratical, but not enough to know what was happening other than it was full of derring-do, and not a small amount of danger and violence.

Also with song titles like “Brethren of the Coast”, “Buried at Sea” and “Fireship” you get a good impression of what’s going on.

Ironically, my favourite tune was “Forest of Wolves” which is likely not about piracy or Vikings, although given they are sometimes called “wolves of the sea” maybe it is. Another tune, “Habeus Corpus” is likely not the legal concept of presenting a person who has been arrested but since I didn’t listen closely, how would I know? I kind of hope it IS about the legal concept and not just the ho hum notions of finding, you know, a body.

Topics aside, to play this style of music and have it not come out sounding like mud requires skill and precision, and Scimitar are up to the task. The tunes are fully imagined from both an arrangement and production perspective and the guitar work is precise and carries the right level of righteous urgency the style requires.

Stylistically, this is a record early in Scimitar’s career and they wear influences of many genres happily upon their puffy sleeves. I heard the melodic black metal of Amon Amarth, and on “Buried at Sea” a creepy ghostly voice that reminded me of some of my favourite Opeth songs.

Like both those bands, Scimitar has no misgivings about songs that play a little longer. “Black Waters” consists of only six songs, and five of them are well over six minutes in length. The sixth, “Mariner’s Lament” serves more as in intro piece to set mood than a fully realized song.

This does not trouble me (as an ignorer of the radio generally, the idea that songs should be a ‘manageable’ length is ludicrous to me). However, if you are going to have very long songs AND I’m not going to be able to clearly make out any advanced plot lines, then the tunes better hold my attention. In these songs there isn’t a lot of complexity going on, and while the riffs have a steady crunch to them, they repeat too often, and don’t evolve into something greater. The guitar bits don’t go anywhere after the initially establish themselves. The combined effect was that I got a bit bored, and when pirate music and high seas adventure feels boring, that’s a bad sign.

I’m tempted to keep this record just because these guys are from my home town, and I like to support local artists. But since I already bought the record and the concert ticket, I’ve done my part. I’ll pass this record along to someone who will enjoy it and play it more than I will.

Best tracks: Forest of Wolves, Habeus Corpus

CD Odyssey Disc 1691: Tyler Childers

I slept in quite a bit yesterday and then I slept in a bunch more last evening – so much I slept right through an engagement. This morning I almost slept through the start of the Dolphins game. We recently got a new bed for the first time in twenty years and it makes for a much nicer (and sometimes longer) sleep. But that is a bit ridiculous.

Disc 1691 is…Rustin’ in the Rain

Artist: Tyler Childers

Year of Release: 2023

What’s up with the Cover?  Tyler Childers with what I presume is a Percheron Mule. There is a light and smoke show happening behind Tyler, perhaps the headlights from a multicar accident, a wildfire or maybe an alien landing. Or maybe all three simultaneously, which I expect will take half the night for various emergency responders to sort out. Likely need fire, police and an ambulance for that one.

As for Tyler, he’s got the mule, so there’s that.

How I Came To Know It: I already knew the artist from previous releases and while I find him hit and miss, this record was getting some critical love so I decided to give it a go.

How It Stacks Up: I have two Tyler Childers albums. I like them both, but this one comes in second.

Rating: 3 stars but almost 4

You never know what you’re going to get with a Tyler Childers record. It could be straight up country, it could be a weird twist on western music or it could be some kind of weird psychedelic rock. Six albums into his career he’s managed to capture my positive attention only twice, but “Rustin’ in the Rain” is one of those times.

This time around, he’s done it with early seventies torch and twang. “Rustin’…” is a record that is heavily influenced by the work of Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris. It is very old school, at times almost the point of caricature. If you’re looking to find the line where a sound balances between imitation and appreciation, this record will show it to you.

The most obvious example of this on the album is “Phone Calls and Emails” where even the title is a mix of the old and new. A title like that evokes a traditional “you won’t call me back” tune, and indeed it is exactly that. In fact it had me thinking strongly of the Flying Burrito Brothers’ 1969 tune “Sin City”. It isn’t the same, but it has the same feel, the same build and flow, and undercurrent of sadness.

But what’s this, he’s also “emailing” his unresponsive lover. Brilliant and modern, although in 2023 e-mail is also very much old school. He should be having his texts ignored, but not a mention of this. Childers is cleverly showcasing an old form, with a “new” old school form of communication. No letters or telegraphs. Phone calls and e-mails calling up something that never goes out of style in a song; unrequited love.

While most of the tunes are original compositions, Childers undertakes a remake of Kris Kristofferson’s classic, “Help Me Make It Through the Night”. It is a solid rendition, but having heard the original a thousand times, I had a difficult time accepting the small liberties Childers takes with the melody. It isn’t wrong, but the end of many lines go up where they ought to go down.  Still equally vulnerable and romantic, but differently so.

It’s like a guy who house sits for you and rearranges your Hummel figurines. He doesn’t break them, just rearranges them. No harm done, but who does that? Also, why do you have a bunch of Hummel figurines? But I digress…

“Rustin’ in the Rain” walks another line as well, which is just where an album is so short that ceases to be a full album and becomes an EP. At seven songs and 27 minutes, once again we find ourselves on a line. It’s a minor quibble of course, and the quality of those 27 minutes means all is forgiven.

The record’s penultimate tune “In Your Love,” which sees Childers taking off the trappings of old school. Here he fully commits to blending the old and the modern the result is very much all new, and all him. Childers does pay homage to some of the record’s earlier more traditional tunes. With the line “like a team of mules pulling hell off of its hinges” he cleverly references back to an earlier old timey tune “Percheron Mules” nestling the tune nicely into the rest of the record.

This record received a bunch of Grammy nominations, which naturally makes me want to hate it, but I couldn’t do it. It is just too damned lovely.

Best tracks: Rustin’ in the Rain, Phone Calls and Emails, In Your Love

CD Odyssey Disc 1690: Wild Rivers

Welcome back to the CD Odyssey. I’ve been on a not great streak of late and I’m afraid it is going to continue. They can’t all be winners.

Disc 1690 is…Sidelines

Artist: Wild Rivers

Year of Release: 2022

What’s up with the Cover?  Chillin’ in the convertible. Or on the convertible. And, I suppose, beside the convertible. Various aspects of convertibling.

How I Came To Know It: I don’t remember. I know it wasn’t a music review, which usually means it was some encounter I had with someone recommending it. If that was you, and you read this review, it isn’t personal. It is a good record, just not a good record for m.

How It Stacks Up: This is my only album by this band so it can’t stack up.

Rating: 2 stars

Wild Rivers’ “Sidelines” is beautiful music for people that I assume must be much more normal than me. I know I like beautiful music, so my subpar reaction to hearing this can only be ascribed to abnormality. I am simply not normal enough to grok this record in its fullness. Just a desire to grok something has probably put me out of the running.

Before I get into why this record didn’t grab me, I will begin by stating it should be no challenge to like this record. It has a lot going for it. Chill, hangin’at-the-beach grooves, melodies that are easy to pick up, and lyrics that you can sing along to after only two or three listens. This record is like a Corona. A perfectly acceptable beer on a hot summer day that goes down smooth and forgettable.

However, like that Corona, don’t expect this music to surprise you. This stuff is a softball pitch lobbed across centre plate, just daring you to ding it out of the park. And you will, and then you will saunter around the bases for that easy run, an easy skip in your step (these tunes have a lovely slow gallop to them) and a radiant smile at no one in particular. Wanting a baffling exchange with the team mascot as you round third? A chance encounter with a pigeon divebombing from the stadium rafters? If so, this record is not for you.

If you want affable and uncomplicated though, you’ve come to the right place. Helping this affable mood are the performances of vocalists Devan Glover and Khalid Yassein. These two have tone for days. On “Bedrock” Yassein shines, his voice bright and full and perfectly paced. Devan Glover is no slouch either and her solo bits at the front half of “Long Time” almost singlehandedly made my change my outlook on this record. Rich, with a big range, when Glover climbs up into her head voice it feels like your feet are going to leave the floor.

The first person the band thanks in the liner notes is their producer, Peter Katis, and again, it is easy to see why. This production is smooth as hell. At first this is welcome, but after a few songs it started feeling too smooth and perfect. The guitar and piano are so rounded out it is hard to separate them. It isn’t that things get muddy or indistinct – it is an artful separation of sound – but it was my admiration for the technical mastery at work rather than inspiration.

In the end, it was this lack of emotional pull that held me back on “Sidelines”. I didn’t feel emotionally engaged. For some, there is a calming “put it in neutral” effect of this music that could appeal after a hard day. But for me, no matter how tired and worn out I get, I always want to be challenged by what I’m listening to. This is good music for watching the scenery go by while your brain is elsewhere, but I want my music to be imminent, and meaningful in whatever moment I’m sharing it in. I don’t need background music to my life, I need theme music.

I have very little bad to say about this record, and the exceptionally talented writers, musicians and producers that created it. I just wasn’t feeling it. And so, I’ll reluctantly pass this one along to a better home where it’ll get the listens it won’t get in mine.

Best tracks: Bedrock, Long Time

CD Odyssey Disc 1689: Alex Lahey

Normally these blog entries are one of the few things I don’t write while wearing a suit, but today is different. Today is Remembrance Day, and when I’m done here, I’m heading down to the service.

The splendid ideals of democracy are worth defending, but they are not secure unless we are willing to stand up for them. No one has paid a higher price for the freedom we enjoy than our veterans – both the living who came home and the war dead who did not. Today is their day. Please take some time in quiet contemplation to honour their sacrifice.

Disc 1689 is…The Best of Luck Club

Artist: Alex Lahey

Year of Release: 2019

What’s up with the Cover?  Alex Lahey waits outside what looks like an interdimensional portal to a place called the “Best of Luck Club”. I’d like this club to be a nifty after-hours club, where they play big band jazz and drink clandestine cocktails. However, this waiting room reminds me more of a dentist’s office. If Alex is lucky, there may be some existential detectives on the other side of the door, ready to help her through why life is meaningless. If she’s unlucky, it’ll just be some grim faced dude with an eyepatch, rolling a die and deciding her fate with the outcome. How do I know this? The crow's a hint.

Anyway, that was weighty. Let’s get on with the music, shall we?

How I Came To Know It: Earlier this year I checked out Alex Lahey’s 2023 release, “The Answer Is Always Yes”. I liked it and set about trying to find it on CD, but so far I’ve had no luck. Along the way I dug into her back catalogue and liked that as well, buying two albums that I was able to locate. This is one of them.

How It Stacks Up: If you’re reading along with care you now know I own two of the three Alex Lahey albums I’d like to have. Since I don’t stack up albums that are absentee, I’ll rank “The Best of Luck Club” out of two where it comes in at…#2.

Rating: 2 stars but almost 3

Alt rock singer Alex Lahey is not terribly innovative, and while I enjoyed “The Best of Luck Club” I kept wanting it to wow me, and it kept just plugging along down the centre of the road, oblivious to my wishes. There are plenty of good tunes and rock hooks here, just don’t expect to hear something you haven’t heard before.

“I Don’t Get Invited to Parties Anymore” gets the album started right, sounding a lot like a nineties throwback party tune. Lahey’s cleverness here is that this is a song that sounds like it is ready to party, even while the lyrics explore how partying is just not where her head is at.

The record has a lot of angst, and in that way reminded me of grunge, but with crisp pop production to let you know it is OK to have fun and tap your foot (it was never alright to tap your foot to grunge – being morose was the price of admission back then).

The production on the record is solid, if a bit “wall of sound” for my tastes. Most of the quieter moments are just that pop trick of stripping stuff down so the chorus is more of a thumper.

Lyrically, I felt let down often. Lahey has great phrasing, and the lines fit just right within the structure of the tune that makes it easy to sing along. That part is fun, but I was not left with a sense of narrative or character, and while she plays around with specific imagery it is light on metaphor. People who are sad, cry. People who are busy, are working. Not a lot of flowers representing a garden representing the state of the narrator’s heart.

I enjoyed most of the arrangements, but there is some uncalled-for saxophone on “Don’t Be So Hard on Yourself” that I must specifically call out. Is your name Clarence Clemons? If not, don’t do that.

My favourite tune on the record is “Unspoken History” which isn’t surprising, as I’m often a sucker for a record’s ballad. “Every Rose Has It’s Thorn”? Classic. Change nothing. Anyway, “Unspoken History” is light, slow and romantic in a syrup-adjacent kind of way, but I didn’t mind. Lahey’s high head voice in the chorus will melt your heart and make you think fondly of whoever it is you love.

That said, I did a lot of “sure” and “OK I guess” while listening to most of the tracks, and at this stage, facing space challenges throughout the living room, dining room and most recently down the hallway, I would like more out of my record collection than just OK.

There is nothing objectively wrong with this record; it is solid rock and roll that I hope gets played on local Australian radio stations. It just didn’t inspire me. After the Odyssey is done with it, when and how often will I put this record on? Not very often, I suspect.

And so, I wish Alex Lahey the best of luck with “the Best of Luck Club” and will pass this one along to a happier home.

Best tracks: I Don’t Get Invited to Parties Anymore, Interior Demeanour, Unspoken History