CD Odyssey Disc 1654: Beastie Boys

Greetings and welcome back. Let’s get to the music where I’ve been enjoying my second 5-star album in my last three!

Disc 1654 is…Licensed to Ill

Artist: Beastie Boys

Year of Release: 1986

What’s up with the Cover?  The tail of a jet. That jet looks pretty sleek, but when you fold out the cover photo the front of it is smashed into a cliff face, which is decidedly less sleek.

Fun fact (that I learned – in unimaginative fashion – from Wikipedia) the registration number spells “Eat Me” when held in a mirror.

How I Came To Know It: I was aware of this record from the hit single “Fight For Your Right” but it was more of a dull awareness around the edge of my consciousness. After all, this was rap and I was not yet a rap convert back at that time.

Then some time in the mid eighties I was crammed into a tiny Toyota pick up truck with my buddy Tony and his brother, heading to Tony’s bachelor party. The tape deck was belching out the sounds of “Licensed to Ill”. That was it, I was hooked. I bought it the next week, and for many years it was my only Beastie Boys record (like I said, I was a slow learner when it came to rap).

How It Stacks Up: I eventually did figure it out, and now have (or have had) a total of eight Beastie Boys records and this is the last one for review. As such, we now get the long-awaited recap. Here it is:

1. To the 5 Boroughs: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 997)
2. Paul’s Boutique: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 1602)
3. Licensed to Ill: 5 stars (reviewed right here)
4. Hello Nasty: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 96)
5. Ill Communication: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 1329)
6. Check Your Head: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 545)
7. The Mix-Up: 2 stars (reviewed at Disc 185)
8. Some Old Bullshit: 2 stars (reviewed at Disc 104)

 Quite a span reflected there, dating all the way back to 2010.

Rating: 5 stars

Ad-Roc, MCA and Mike D were three Brooklyn boys who helped change the face of music. “Licensed to Ill” may only rank third in my overall list, but it was the album that did the deed more than any other.

Listening in the mid-eighties to “Fight For Your Right” I had no idea I was already under the influence of this record’s unique alchemy. I loved the song, which rocked out and featured a bunch of raucous, partying knuckleheads. The idea that this was some form of hip hop was discussed on music channels and in the media, but it didn’t really resonate. How could hip hop possibly rock this hard?

Therein lies the trick this record plays on you. It takes two heretofore disparate styles – hard rock and hip hop – and melds them so completely you can’t see the stitches. It is easy today to see how these genre busting songs could work, but in 1986 this shit was revolutionary.

All that’s well and good, but it wouldn’t mean a thing if the album wasn’t any good. But “Licensed to Ill” is not just good, it is one of the greatest records ever, rock, rap, or other.

The heavy hitter tunes like “Fight For Your Right”, “She’s Crafty” and “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” will have you moshing in your Toyota pickup (or whatever vehicle you’re in). The artfully selected samples give you a taste of that rock and roll lifestyle; the raps adding that urban flair that turns those same riffs on their heads. The Beasties don’t just use great samples, they artfully repurpose them to create a new sound. This is how God intended rappers to sample music. Don’t steal a riff if you aren’t gonna give it a push into something new.

The record also tells great stories. “She’s Crafty” is one of the best tunes, the Beasties taking turns (as is their wont) telling tales about a new girl in the neighbourhood who is getting the better of the locals. The tune isn’t just rock riff sample, it also has the tapping of empty glass for percussion and some old school snare samples for good measure. Here we see the helpful hand of Rick Rubin’s production, taking the brilliance of the Beasties and letting them walk their creativity right off the cliffs of insanity.

In other places the Beasties get playful, with the silly fun of “Girls” and the lascivious fun of “Brass Monkey” which takes the seemingly uninspired rhyme of “Brass Monkey/That Funky Monkey” and turns it into an expression I still use to this day. The raps on this tune are also brilliant, and while fairly straightforward in structure, complex enough to be the harbinger of more complicated forms to come on future records.

It feels like every time I listen to “Licensed to Ill” there is a new song that grabs my attention. This time around it was “Slow and Low” which has the perfect mix of all the sounds that make this record great, and encouragingly encourages us to

“Let it flow,
let yourself to go
Slow and low
That is the tempo.”

I gladly did so, absorbed for the thousandth time in the brilliance of this record that showed the world you could hit hard and still be funky as hell. Mosh, breakdance, or do both at once, as the spirit moves you.

Best tracks: All tracks

CD Odyssey Disc 1653: Waylon Jennings

I recently took a deep dive into two artists that I’d known for years but never fully explored. The results, as often is the case with such endeavours, were mixed.

This next artist is a case in point, where some of his albums were gems and some trash, but most often they were a bit of both.

Disc 1653 is…Are You Ready for the Country

Artist: Waylon Jennings

Year of Release: 1976

What’s up with the Cover?  Waylon stands, fingers looped into his belt, cigarette dangling from his lip and hands festooned with rings. This is the seventies outlaw personified. Based solely on the photo, should you trust this man? In a fight, yes. With your daughter? Not so much.

How I Came To Know It: Somebody recently parted with their Waylon Jennings albums, as my local record store was festooned with old albums like this one. I did a quick n’ dirty listen to a bunch online and then went back and bought the four I liked best. This was one of them.

How It Stacks Up: I already had one Waylon Jennings album so because of that earlier paragraph, plus the power of math, I now have five. Of those five I’ll put “Are You Ready for the Country” in at #4.

Rating: 2 stars but almost 3

A great voice can get you out of a lot of trouble in music, but it can’t fully rescue Waylon Jennings on “Are You Ready for the Country”.

Waylon Jennings can sing with the best of ‘em, with a rich baritone full of gravel and hurt. Jennings can sound both stoic and vulnerable at the same time, and he has the phrasing of born storyteller. The question on each of his records is more about how he decides to employ that talent.

Jennings is a songwriter, but like other songwriting greats of the era (Emmylou Harris, Johnny Cash) he’s not averse to doing covers. His best effort on this record is a rousing version of the Marshall Tucker Band’s already rousing, “Can’t You See”. Jennings strips out a lot of the production and countrifies the song to good effect. He delivers it with a back-throated croon that evokes pickup trucks and dusty country roads. Solid.

On other covers his vocals are just as stellar but the songs cannot be saved. On Neil Young’s “Are You Ready for the Country” Jennings changes the lyrics in the chorus from “Are you ready for the country/Because it’s time to go” to “Are you ready for the country/Are you ready for me?” Taking a war protest song and making it all about you is not a loveable outlaw move – it’s just awkward.

On his cover of Richard Harris’ “MacArthur Park” the song is already one of the all-time most awkward ever written. With lyrics about cake in the rain and a maudlin story that makes you want to slap the narrator out of their pathetic wallow, there is nothing Waylon could have done to fix this one. Well, there is one thing – don’t sing this risible and inexplicably enduring piece-of-shit song.

I’m not sure what Waylon was getting up to back in 1976 but based on a few of his song choices, I’ll warrant it was not good. “So Good Woman” is about acknowledging he’s not worthy of his woman’s love, and “I’ll Go Back To Her” is about crawling back to said woman after cheating on her. I found myself sympathetic to the woman in both instances, hoping in the latter instance that she’d already changed the locks.

This record has a few hidden gems. “Them Old Love Songs” is a mournful tune of a man wishing he could find true love. It is touching and tender, and it helps that you hear this one before the two cheating songs. It’s the “I like long walks on the beach” of a dating profile before you meet the guy and find out he’s a schmuck.

I also dig “A Couple More Years” which is a song about experience talking to youth in a tender, non-judgmental kind of way. Jennings does a great job of evoking wisdom with a hint of weariness.

“Old Friend” is a Jennings original that possesses a good bounce. It captures the natural ease of old friendships and the acceptance of loss when one of them departs. At first, I found myself wondering if he was referencing a member of his outlaw country cadre: Kris, Johnny or Willie maybe? On repeat listens, it feels more like looking back on a friend that has died. Either way, the song walks that delicate line of missing someone, but also remembering all the good times that were had before they left us.

I hovered between two and three stars for this record. For sheer musicianship and delivery it easily hits over three. But then I remembered having to listen to over six minutes of “MacArthur Park” every time I put it on. Not cool, Waylon, not cool. Two stars for you.

Best tracks: Them Old Love Songs, Can’t You See, A Couple More Years, Old Friend

CD Odyssey Disc 1652: Joan Shelley

My health kick seems to be sticking, and I went for another run today, my fifth in the past eight days. So far the old bones and what’s left of my tendons and connective tissue seem to be holding up. More importantly, I feel a lot calmer and generally at ease.

If you want to feel calm and at ease this next record would be a strong choice.

Disc 1652 is…The Spur

Artist: Joan Shelley

Year of Release: 2022

What’s up with the Cover?  Joan Shelley’s not-so-giant head is wrapped up in some kind of fabric. Maybe a scarf? This cover has a peaceful diffuse feeling to it that I find restful, much like I find the music.

How I Came To Know It: I was a Joan Shelley fan dating back five or six years now. This was just me giving her latest album a listen.

How It Stacks Up: I have seven Joan Shelley albums. This one is so good it bumped my two previous four-star reviews (ranked 2 and 3 at the time) down a notch each, taking over second place in the process. Does this mean that there is another Joan Shelley album out there better even than this? I hold out hope there is, but if not, I shall be just as content.

Rating: 5 stars

Imagine the grace of sitting somewhere in dappled sunlight, looking out at some magnificent natural scene, with a light summer wind blowing the branches around you. Nothing can match that, but Joan Shelley comes close.

“The Spur” is Shelley’s ninth record and like a fine red wine, she just gets better with age. I wanted to say a fine scotch, but there is a lighthearted refinement to Shelley that speaks more to sun-kissed vineyards, and less the heavy peat of hard liquor.

It all starts with Shelley’s voice. Impossibly high but never flighty, there are few that match its organic yet ethereal magic. Maybe Alela Diane, but that’s about it. Otherwise, she is in a field all her own. Better yet, she knows just how to use that voice, lilting lightly across the top of melodies, so weightless you can imagine her dancing across the tops of treetops, barely bending the branches with her passing.

Add to this incredible instrument some first-rate guitar playing from both Shelley and husband Nathan Salsburg and you start to approach the divine. I can never tell who is playing which part when they play together, but I rarely care. It is sublime.

The production on “The Spur” is thicker and richer than much of her earlier work. Often this causes me to detach from the bones of a song, but here all the extra bits – the cut of the cello, the gentle touches of brass – all converge just right. The effect helps lift you into a wakeful reverie akin to a lucid dream.

Many songs captured my attention. Both “Forever Blues” and the title track feature all of what is best on the record (see above) and right when you can’t get enough of all those high head voices, Shelley drops “Home” on you. “Home” is a song that captures in both music and lyrics that insistent, rising excitement of what it feels like to come back to a place you’ve left years ago. Is it still yours? The building lyrics ask that question without an easy answer:

“Home
I left home
Moonlit home
To lose its sound and tone
Overgrown”

Something stirs in your heart when you hear this song, capturing the loss of leaving, the excitement of returning and the uncertainty of all the spaces in between. And despite all the unknowns, Shelley’s vocals wrap you in a blanket of clouds and let you know wherever you are, it is a safe place for emotional discovery.

On “Like the Thunder” the journey is full of the same restless energy, but this time with a burning desire. This song threatens to topple over, but the electric guitar holds you at that place on the edge of abandon while blue notes reverberate diffusely across the empty spaces in the melody.

As if she hadn’t won me over enough already, on “When the Light is Dying” Shelley even quotes Leonard Cohen. And not classic Cohen either, but “You Want it Darker” Cohen. Like me, Shelley’s stuck with the poet into his old age.

Whatever is going on here, the combination of Shelley’s vocal talent, the musicianship, the production and the songwriting all come together in a way that will bring peace to even the most troubled soul. My only regret is that I somehow overlooked this record on my Best of 2022. I recant.

Best tracks: All tracks but some favourites are: Forever Blues, The Spur, Home, Like the Thunder, When the Light is Dying, Fawn, Why Not Live Here, Between Rock and Sky (that’s 8 of the 12 available and the other 4 are also good)

CD Odyssey Disc 1651: Samson

Welcome back to the CD Odyssey! Let’s take a turn from pop to metal, shall we?

Disc 1651 is…Head On

Artist: Samson

Year of Release: 1980

What’s up with the Cover?  I was tempted to just go with a simple headline on this one. Something along the lines of “Pulp Fiction Gimp Escapes; Axes Captors”, but a cover this awesome deserves a bit more effort.

Just who is this masked man, so clearly at odds with the album’s title? Clearly this person does not support heads being on – quite the contrary. He looks to be suggesting to you, the viewer, that heads should be off, starting with yours.

This could be intimidating, but the way his leather gimp suit has burst at the belly suggests that if you could avoid the first couple of swings, this guy won’t have the cardio to chase you down.

How I Came To Know It: My friend Ross introduced me to Samson, which I was delighted to learn featured Bruce Dickinson for three albums before he joined Iron Maiden. This is one of those albums, and when I saw a used copy at my local record store I snatched it up.

How It Stacks Up: The Bruce Dickinson iteration of Samson has three albums, which you’ll already know if you are following along closely. I only have this one and as such I cannot stack them up until I find the other two.

Rating: 3 stars

“Head On” is a straightforward, no frills heavy metal record. These tunes are solid rockers, played with gusto but don’t expect them to break any new ground. Sometimes a solid rocker is all you need, however, and that was my experience over the past few days.

Samson gets their name from guitarist and band leader Paul Samson and it is fair to say I prefer Bruce Dickinson when Steve Harris is the one inspiring his songs. Dickinson is one of heavy metal’s greatest vocalists, and even though he’s still in his formative years here, the talent is evident. However, he hasn’t yet embraced his full-throated high keening style, and these songs doesn’t lend themselves to that discovery.

Instead, Samson has the bluesy rock style of bands like Judas Priest and Molly Hatchet. No complaints about that, as I’m a big fan of both those bands, but knowing the crazy vocal gymnastics that Dickinson would accomplish with Maiden I initially found it jarring. Once I got over the shock that Samson was not Iron Maiden, I was able to settle in and enjoy.

The album opens strong with “Hard Times” which is an anthem of a hard workin’, hard fightin’ man. It lends itself to singing along, and there’s even a harmony section where the band knocks out the chorus a capella, further encouraging you to join in. Did I sing along, despite being in a convertible with the top down? Despite sitting at a traffic light? Dear reader, you know I did.

When they aren’t metallizing the blues, they move into a grimy garage band sound. The production on the record is a bit rough around the edges, but it lends itself to the band’s vibe and adds an almost punk quality to some of the songs. In these moments the gear-grinding speed playing had me comparing them favourably with the Plasmatics or Motorhead.

Another favourite is “Hammerhead” which is about the forging of Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir. This tune has the soaring, galloping proto-Maiden sound I was hoping for, as well as a killer guitar riff. It is also about Norse mythology which is always welcome.

Apart from “Hammerhead” the album didn’t inspire me lyrically. The lyrics sometimes felt like an afterthought to the band just wanting to jam out some riffs and solos. Ever the danger when the guitarist is in charge, I suppose. Good thing all those riffs are awesome.

One of the sillier tunes is “Too Close to Rock” which is about when your parents don’t approve of you playing rock and roll. The stanzas feature a lot of clunky rhyme and structure, such as:

“Move out of the house, you can't use the car
You spend your lectures just drinking in the college bar
You don't wanna get a job, you won't get far
Pretty soon you're gonna come home, gonna need ma and pa”

Really? “ma and pa”? Despite this, I still enjoyed the experience.

My CD re-issue features two bonus tracks. With its clashing Motorhead sound and knowing wink at its own silly imagery, “Angel With a Machine Gun” was a welcome addition. The masturbatory 10 minute-long “Kingsway Jam” was not. If I wanted to hear the band jam I’d sit in on a practice session in the garage.

The allure of Bruce Dickinson is what first encouraged me to dig deeper into Samson. Once there I found it easy to enjoy this completely different band on its own terms. It feels at times they are still trying to find their sound, trying on different styles like different suits, but it is enjoyable to ride through the exploration with them. I’m looking forward to finding a few more of their releases in future!

Best tracks: Hard Times, Manwatcher, Hammerhead, Angel with a Machine Gun

CD Odyssey Disc 1650: Pink

In my first week back to work I’ve taken a renewed focus on mental and physical health. I’m back to running at lunch time, which will hopefully bring me back to a world where the only spare tire in my life is in the trunk of my car where it belongs.

I’m also making an effort to keep writing music reviews, as this experience gives me joy. And on that note…

Disc 1650 is…Try This

Artist: Pink

Year of Release: 2003

What’s up with the Cover?  It’s a Giant Head cover. Pink is suggesting we try something and based on her expression, I am inclined to accept.

How I Came To Know It: This is one of Sheila’s albums, so I came upon it by proximity.

How It Stacks Up: Pink has nine studio albums, but this is the only one in the collection, so it can’t stack up.

Rating: 2 stars but almost 3

In recent years I’ve come to embrace mainstream pop. Don’t get me wrong – I haven’t abandoned my previous loves - metal, folk, classic rap and many other genres remain in heavy rotation – I’ve just learned to appreciate a good pop song.

As a result, I was excited when I rolled this album which has been in the collection for a very long time but that I haven’t pulled out since my pop epiphany. The result was…OK. I liked “Try This” overall, but it doesn’t leave a lasting impression and is generally held back by the unfortunate production trends of the early oughts.

Let’s start with the good stuff, which includes Pink’s vocal talent. Pink has a big voice and she’s a natural belter, with the ability to deliver a club hit, a pop croon or a rock snarl with equal believability.

Despite being a step down from the commercial success of 2001’s “Missundaztood” it features one of my favourite Pink singles, “Trouble”. “Trouble” is pure pop fun, where even the overblown production (which I will gripe about shortly) suits the tune. Pink wants us to know she is trouble, but listening to the song it feels like it will be a very enjoyable kind of trouble. “Trouble” doesn’t break any new ground; it is simple straightforward pop anthem done well.

The second single is “God is a DJ” which has all the same elements as “Trouble” but it doesn’t quite land. A big part of this is the pseudo-electronica background beat, and it only gets worse when the chorus hits like a bad parody of a Tom Cochrane salad, with too much dressing.

The biggest issue on “God is a DJ” is also the biggest issue on the record, which is that early oughts production. Way too much is going on, and the result is just a lot of loud, masking songs that don’t always have the bones to fight their way through the murk. “God is a DJ” tries to “break it down” on the bridge, and even resorts to a bass solo at one point but can’t bring it home.

Pink tends to mix in heavy topics with her pop fun, which I always admire in her records. On “Try This” she has a few, my favourite being “Save My Life” which is a song about relapsing back into drug abuse. The song doesn’t provide answers so much as a plea for help that may or may not be answered. It gets a bit stewed around in the production, but the wall of noise backs off enough times that I forgave it.

In other places, the topics seem serious but come across as overblown. “Last to Know” is a song about Pink being upset that some guy didn’t come to her show. There must be more to the relationship to cause the reaction, but with openings like:

“Why was I the last to know
That you weren't coming to my show?
You could have called me up to say "good luck"
You could have called me back, you stupid fuck
Why was I the last to know?”

…it comes across as pretty self-absorbed. Hey, Pink – you ever think that maybe he’s Spiderman, and he was delayed while fighting crime? These things happen.

This is the era of hidden tracks, and the one on this record – “Hooker” – happens to be one of my favourites. It’s a nasty tune about a sellout, a poser or maybe just that truant Peter Parker guy from a couple paragraphs earlier. In any event, its pure vitriol delivered in a tune that is half rock song/half club banger.

The addition of that track makes for 15 total, which is one too many, and the full 55 minutes drags near the end. I got restless each time through, and while “Hooker” was a fine farewell song, it takes a little too long to get there.

Best tracks: Trouble, Save My Life, Walk Away, Hooker

CD Odyssey Disc 1649: Jonathan Richman

I woke up today to the realization that this is the last day of my June holidays. Tomorrow will come earlier than will be welcome, but ere it does, let’s enjoy another music review.

Disc 1649 is…Self-Titled

Artist: Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers

Year of Release: 1976

What’s up with the Cover?  Looks like Jonathan Richman’s school portrait. At this age Richman has a ‘striking’ resemblance to Airplane! star Robert Hays.

How I Came To Know It: My friend Casey played a Jonathan Richman song at a music listening night. This piqued my interest and here I am with two albums in the collection and on the hunt for a third.

How It Stacks Up: If you are following along carefully, you already know I have two Jonathan Richman albums. I put this record in second place of the two, but it is a photo finish.

Rating: 4 stars

Jonathan Richman’s music is jaunty and full of joy, and it is never more so than on his eponymous 1976 release. At a time when America was awkwardly exiting Vietnam and England was embracing the vitriolic and visceral punk scene, Jonathan Richman is just a boy who wants to make happy music and have fun.

Many records sound better depending on where you do your listening (driving music in the car, dance music at a party, etc.). I listened to this album under perfect circumstances. On Thursday afternoon I was out consignment store shopping with Sheila. Her shopping is a lot more intense than mine and when I’m finished before she is I’m happy to wait outside. I often read, but this time I sat on a bench in the sun watching people walk by listening to Jonathan Richman.

Once you’ve immersed yourself in the playful joy of this record, the first thing you notice is the innovative use of the rhythm section. This, combined with the stripped-down production, makes every song a foot-tapper.

“Rockin’ Shopping Center” leads off the record with an infectious bass lick. Other instruments are quickly added, but all serve the beat in one way or another. Even the guitar, which has a Buddy Holly style bounce, has a riff designed to keep the beat alive.

“New England” similarly impresses. Loving the Bruins and hating the Patriots as I do makes for a complicated relationship between myself and New England. Not so Jonathan Richman. He loves everything about the place, turning that love into doo wop classic complete with an almost sea-chanty like chorus of the Modern Lovers echoing back “oh-oh, New England” at just the right time.

Richman has a hard time getting serious. The bright and friendly tone in his voice has a “gee whiz!” quality that makes everything feel less threatening. The closest he gets is with “Lonely Financial Zone” which slows the record’s tempo down, as Richman recounts the feeling of walking late at night, presumably thinking deep thoughts. Even here the beat and arrangement of the song gives it a heroic rise that makes you feel like you’re starring in a musical or maybe heading off to a parade.

There are multiple songs that feature Richman switching from silly lyrics to just a bunch of words, like an indie pop version of scatting. As a devoted lover of great lyrics this did not bother me in the least. It never feels like he’s just filling space, with every “diddly diddly” and “oh my” feeling artfully – if absently – placed. Even the “De-doily doidy doit doit doit doit diddle” in “Rockin’ Shopping Center” ends up being exactly what you need to hear at that moment.

Richman can’t resist the absurd. On this record, we have “Abominable Snowman in the Market” which is literally about exactly what the title suggests. The Snowman is noted as hanging out by the peas and carrots, with shoppers complaining and asking he be removed. Richman uses the amusing tale as a general call for tolerance and acceptance, noting that he thinks the Snowman is “a really nice guy.” This song should not work, but it does.

Other tunes don’t work quite as well. “Hey There Little Insect” has Richman trying to befriend a bug and asking it not to bite him. “Here Come the Martian Martians” is less an invasion and more of a whimsical exploration of what Martians would be like if they came for a visit. The beat is as infectious as anything, but unlike “Snowman” I couldn’t get behind the silliness. One step too silly, I suppose.

Overall, this record is a joyful experience. Sitting on that bench, I listened to it twice through and would have been happy for a third. As I listened, I nodded and smiled at passersby who, sensing something wonderful was happening, smiled back without artifice or hesitation.

Best tracks: Rockin’ Shopping Center, New England, Lonely Financial Zone, Hi Dear, Abominable Snowman in the Market

CD Odyssey Disc 1648: Martha Wainwright

Exactly 200 reviews from the last time I rolled a Martha Wainwright album, we roll her again! In case you’re wondering, that’s a little more than two years later.

In case you have a more immediate observation along the lines of “holy crap, is this the third review of the month and we’re only six days in?” the answer is yes. Not coincidentally, I am on vacation. Amazing how much more time I have to listen to music and write about it when my time is my own.

Disc 1648 is…Self-Titled

Artist: Martha Wainwright

Year of Release: 2005

What’s up with the Cover?  A Giant Head so Giant it has become a Giant Face. In your Face, Giant Martha Face!

How I Came To Know It: A few jobs ago I got to know a person working next to me named Anna and we struck up many a conversation about music. Martha Wainwright was one of her recommendations. Thanks, Anna!

How It Stacks Up: I have two Martha Wainwright albums (she has released six but I only like two of them – this one and 2008’s “I Know You’re Married But I Have Feelings Too” (reviewed at Disc 1448). Of the two, her self-titled album is easily the better record, so #1.

Rating: 4 stars but almost 5

I sincerely hope that Martha Wainwright achieved something akin to therapy writing and recording the songs on her 2005 self-titled album, because if not…yeesh. She goes deep here, taking you on a journey of heartache, desire and emotional complexity that left my ears happy and my heart a little exhausted.

I am not an unconditional Martha Wainwright fan. Wainwright has a natural warble to her vocals and has never met a melody she didn’t want to mess with, even if just a little bit. She has a tendency to sing all around a song’s structure that can feel like modern interpretative dance. When it lands, it takes your breath away. When it doesn’t land, it quickly dissolves into a hot mess. On her debut record she makes all the right choices in a way that she never recreates quite so well again.

Wainwright’s writing style if like freestyle poetry which is not always the best match to pop music sensibilities. Good thing she doesn’t give a fig about pop music sensibilities. She bends them to her will throwing progressions at you that follow a twisted ley line underneath and through pop, jazz, R&B and half a dozen other things I’m too musically illiterate to define.

The topics are all emotionally intense, with a clarity of expression that can be uncomfortably direct. “Ball & Chain” starts with the excitement of raw sexual desire:

“Bend me over the back of the car seat
Take me down to easy street”

Which then transforms into hurt and betrayal:

“Yeah her t**** were higher than mine
With a waist that is sugar-fine
I heard she could read and write too
And she's getting a degree in f***ing you”

The whole record has the stain of betrayal, with Wainwright doubling down on the topic with “Bloody Mother F***king ***hole”, which is up there with Marianne Faithfull’s “Why D’ya Do It?”, Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know” and Lucinda Williams’ “Those Three Days” as the nastiest break up song ever written. Wainwright’s entry in the genre opens with…

“Poetry has no place for a heart that's a whore” 

…and gets progressively rawer and meaner from there. In fact, despite the tight race, I’ve gotta give Wainwright the gold medal on this one. Whoever this song was written for has probably already spontaneously combusted from the rage released in their direction. What is so great about this song is that it is not just angry, it is also filled with that mix of self-loathing and brokenness that comes when things fall apart, turned both outward and inward in a widening gyre of vitriol that burns like an acid bath on both narrator and audience alike. How she was able to sing it with the evocative mix of grief and fury and not be reduced to cinders herself is a minor miracle.

The line between creating great art and collapsing under the weight of self-serving ambition can be razor thin. But on this record Wainwright consistently walks on the right side of that line. When she does cuts herself on it, every wound is deliberate and purposeful. The result is bloody but brilliant.

Best tracks: Far Away, Factory, These Flowers, Ball & Chain, Don’t Forget, When the Day is Short, Bloody Mother F***ing ***hole, Whither Must I Wander

CD Odyssey Disc 1647: Lera Lynn

I’m a day into a week off work to recharge my batteries. It got off to a lovely start yesterday with some drinks out with friends, and today I’m looking forward to more of the same. In between there’ll be a bit of lunch, a few chores (no day being perfect) and writing this review.

Which brings us back to a little place I like to call right now.

Disc 1647 is…Something More than Love

Artist: Lera Lynn

Year of Release: 2022

What’s up with the Cover?  The ultra-beautiful Lera Lynn looks out through some kind of gauzy curtain. It looks a bit like when you start watching a Netflix show before the high resolution kicks in.

A face like this shouldn't be hidden behind a gauzy current, making the cover a harbinger of what to expect musically. More on that below.

How I Came To Know It: I have been a Lera Lynn fan since first hearing her on the soundtrack from the second season of True Detective back in 2015. This was just me buying her latest release.

How It Stacks Up: I have seven Lera Lynn albums. “Something More than Love” sits at #7. Hey, something has to be last.

Rating: 2 stars

Over the last seven years or so Lera Lynn has been creatively drifting away from me, and while there are moments on “Something More than Love” that flashed for me, overall it felt like another step apart from what I like most in her music. Lynn continues to expand and explore her sound as any good artist should, so there’s no fault to be had. Sometimes people just grow apart. It’s not you, Lera, it’s me.

Lynn has always had a sultry, lounge quality to her particular intersection of pop and country, and on “The Avenues” (Disc 792) and the True Detective Soundtrack (Disc 942) these elements are perfectly mixed. 2020’s “On My Own” (Disc 1453) is another success, although I suspect this is aided by the limitations imposed by the pandemic.

“Something More Than Love” seems to have lost this magic formula. The songs have good bones, and the melodic structures are interesting, reminding me a bit of a throwback to Suzanne Vega’s records from the early nineties. Unfortunately, they are layered with a thick soundscape production that makes everything feel like smooth jazz. It sounded like Sade, who is an artist I have never appreciated, in large part for this reason. Lynn was always Sade-adjacent but previous to this did not cross the line. Now she has.

A good example of this is the annoying drum machine sound on “Eye in the Sky” which, in addition to the irksome production, further disappointed by not being a cover of the awesome Allan Parsons Project song of the same name. Lera would totally kill that cover but alas…no. Maybe on a future record.

There are some winners on the record to be sure. The opening track, “Illusion” makes the ambient production work in a groovy kind of way, like a Leonard Cohen tune off his “The Future” era. This song also brings Lera Lynn’s not-so-secret weapon - her smoky and evocative vocals - to the fore. “Cog in the Machine” also strips things down sufficiently to let the songwriting and vocals take center stage as they should. Washing them down in the mix on so many of the other songs is disappointing.

Lynn continues to have a strong emotional reaction to being a new mother. These are not usually the kind of songs that win me over, but it’s been known to happen. Dori Freeman’s “Like I Do”  demonstrates how to do it right. Lynn’s “You Are Not Your Own” with lines like “I grew a man from my rib/and he walks beside me” should be a great start to a deep exploration of motherhood, but whether it was where the song went lyrically from there, or just that Sade soup of sound, it never hit me the way it clearly wanted to.

Did I give this record the chance it deserved? It is a subtle record, and I admit that I listened to it a lot in the car with the top down (albeit at high volume). However, I also gave it at least one full listen walking around with headphones, which on balance gave it an even opportunity to win me over. I liked it better in that environment but overall the record fell short of what it could have been with a different approach.

Best tracks: Illusion, Cog in the Machine

CD Odyssey Disc 1646: The Secret Sisters

I was recently on a road trip for work and foolishly forgot to bring a book. While this made me antsy in all the moments that travel essentially requires you to sit still and wait for something, I was able to fill the time with this next record, and thus got in even more listens than I anticipated ere today.

Disc 1646 is…Self-Titled

Artist: The Secret Sisters

Year of Release: 2010

What’s up with the Cover?  Laura and Lydia Rogers, aka the Secret Sisters, wearing “we play folk and country music” flowy dresses which, as we will read below, is fitting.

The CD booklet features additional dresses for both, all equally flowy and folksy. Lydia showcases three such dresses, but Laura only two (and sports the same set of earrings throughout). This leads me to believe Lydia has the better wardrobe.

But I digress…back to the music.

How I Came To Know It: I discovered this band in 2017 when they released their third album “You Don’t Own Me Anymore”. From there I swam backward through their musical catalogue and at the headwaters of that journey I found this record, which is their debut.

How It Stacks Up: I have four Secret Sisters albums, which is all of them. I put their self-titled debut in at #3.

Rating: 3 stars

The Secret Sisters first album is also their most traditional. This record has a homespun charm, weaving back and forth between bluegrass and country in a gentle undulation between the two styles so subtle you might miss it if you didn’t listen to it six or seven times in succession like I just did.

The Secret Sisters were just setting out on their recording journey and were still finding themselves. Sometimes this creates an album that goes all over the place, and others it results in an artist staying firmly in their lane. Here we have an example of the latter.

This is not a criticism, however. What the Secret Sisters are doing here they are doing very well. One of the hallmarks of bluegrass is that the tunes may be simple, but that just means the delivery has to be that much better. The Sisters rise to that challenge.

The first thing you’ll notice is the exquisite harmonies. There’s something about siblings that gives them a leg up on landing tight harmonies, and the Rogers sisters are no exception. Both have sweet individual tones, but together is where they shine brightest. They recognize this, rarely going more than one or two bars solo before the partner hops in and elevates the tune.

The best example of this is the opening track, “Tennessee Me” which is the best song on the record. Despite this record being only my third favourite, “Tennessee Me” is one of their top five songs on any of their records. Accompanied by a light touch on a piano, the Sisters sway gently through the song. This is a tune for warm and lazy summer days in the south (or anywhere for that matter). It is a love letter to a place, to a person but more than anything, it is a love letter to whatever gives your spirit rest and respite. During a week that was hard at times, this song coming on all those times helped keep my batteries charged.

“Tennessee Me” is one of only two originals on the record (the other being “Waste the Day”). This is a shame since the Sisters are natural songwriters and both tunes are among the strongest on the record, holding their own against a host of timeless classics.

The covers are solid as well, with notables including Buck Owens’ “My Heart Skips a Beat” where they blend the Bakersfield Sound with an old-school Andrews Sisters vibe. They also tackle two Hank Williams’ classics, “Why Don’t You Love Me?” and “House of Gold”. Both are solid but “House of Gold” is the superior cover, with its lost highway tune structure, sung by the Sisters with a psalm-like reverence.

There are moments where the old-timey feel was slightly too old timey even for me. “Do You Love an Apple” is one of the most beautifully sung songs on the record, but like other traditional songs (e.g. the risible “You Are My Sunshine”) it comes off as a bit saccharine to the modern ear.

Overall the trip into old school forms (both through traditional and originals) is a wonderful and appropriately sentimental journey. Three well deserved stars.

Best tracks: Tennessee Me, My Heart Skips a Beat, Waste the Day, House of Gold