CD Odyssey Disc 1818: Junior Brown and goodbye to a friend

Before I get to the review, a few words to honour a lost friend.

Our cat Vizzini has been sick for a couple of years with late-stage kidney disease. He was always a tough old bastard and was handling the less tasty prescription food and some medicine well, had a good life, and had beaten his two-year survival prognosis by a solid seven months.

That changed this week, with his health taking a sudden downturn, laboured breathing and weakness. The vet confirmed the worst, as he was having severe heart failure and on Wednesday, amid quite a lot of tears, we had to put him down.

Vizzini was a rescue cat and over the years he went from a semi-wild wacko to a loving and affection (but still crazy-at-times) lap cat. Unlike our previous two cats, Vizzini was an equal opportunity lap cat who played no favourites. He would snuggle part of the night on one of us before swapping over to the other.

He was a weird and wonderful cat, full of energy. “Loves to play” was the advertisement describing him from the rescue agency, and holy shit did he. He was also a hunter – no moth was safe, nor was a shoelace if you were foolish enough to leave it dangling.

Suffice it to say, we loved that cat a lot, and his passing leaves a large hole in our lives. He sat on pretty much every flat surface in the house (except the kitchen countertop, although it took about 10 years to break his efforts on that front). Because of this, every room is filled with memories of him sitting there, staring at you with what we came to refer to as his ‘Ghostface Killah’ expression, daring you to love him just as he was. That’s exactly what we did.

I miss you buddy. The house feels very empty without you.

Thank you for your indulgence – on to a review.

Disc 1818 is…Semi Crazy

Artist: Junior Brown

Year of Release: 1996

What’s up with the Cover? You can tell he’s the good guy because he’s wearing a white hat, but he’s also chosen to play a ‘guit string’ (a double neck guitar that is one half regular guitar/one half lap steel). Is this instrument OK? I mean, it isn’t as willfully wicked as a key-tar, but it does reflect a morality which, at the very minimum, is complicated.

How I Came To Know It: I was at some party or event a few years ago where there were a lot of people I didn’t know – I think probably my wife’s office Christmas party. I’m an extrovert and my natural inclination is to meet people and learn more about them (people are awesome!). The thing I usually want to know first is what kind of music they like. Since I don’t listen to the radio, recommendations from strangers are always welcome. One fellow recommended Junior Brown. I wrote it down to check out later and, well, here we are.

How It Stacks Up: It took a while, but last year a couple used Junior Brown albums popped up at my local record store. I’m on the lookout for a third, but of the two I have, “Semi Crazy” is second best.

Ratings: 3 stars

Junior Brown makes old time country music, with a healthy dollop or rockabilly. He has fun doing it and it shows. “Semi Crazy” is an album full of energy and love for old school fifties and sixties country music, updated with a little bit of California surf.

Brown wears his love for old school melodic structures on his sleeves. There’s little effort to show this to be a “modern take” on those old school country crooners like Conway Twitty, Merle Haggard, and George Jones. Brown doesn’t need a modern take – he knows that old school sound holds up just fine when it’s done right.

It is easy to fall into Junior Brown’s voice – a rich and deep baritone that makes you shiver in delight even after you’ve heard the same song multiple times. Getting tired of hearing that voice would be like getting tired of looking at a mountain range, or a waterfall; it’s just too filled with natural and enduring beauty to ever feel overworn.

The topics are just as traditional. “Gotta Get Up Every Morning” is a song about having a wife that likes to stay out night partying. It is brilliant, playful and fits right alongside classics in the genre like Buddy Holly’s “Midnight Shift” and Emmylou Harris’ “Feelin’ Single, Seein’ Double”.  Other tunes cover heartbreak, jail time and good old-fashioned love.

Brown is a master of those seemingly effortless turns of phrase common to old school songwriting as well, with plenty of clever wordplay and rhyme. The best example is the title track, a song about being a truck driver. At the tender age of five I was certain I would be a truck driver when I grew up. Nothing seemed cooler. That desire faded into other dreams, but listening to “Semi-Crazy” brings all that fun of learning “CB lingo” and 18 wheelers back to me. Best of many good verses:

“I'm just an old blue collar, semi-crazy road scholar
They tell me that I'm half insane
And I've been driving so long, I got diesel in my blood
And ninety weight oil on my brain”

Sign me up (minus the long hours, low pay, and chronic back injury, of course).

Accompanying Brown’s storytelling vocals is that aforementioned ‘guit’ guitar. It may look a bit weird, but Brown can make that unnatural monstrosity dance under his able fingers. I wouldn’t say he injects a ton of artistic tone into his playing like Mark Knopfler or Buck Dharma would, but that’s not what he’s going for. Instead, he makes the notes jump off the axe with precision, energy and vibrancy. A fine example is “I Hung It Up” which features a wide range of Brown showing off his talents.

The album ends with a medley of old surfer tunes that Brown injects with a hint of rockabilly. Brown plays the hell out of it, but it felt unnecessary filler tagged onto the end of the record and had me wishing I could hear the originals instead. That’s not the feeling a good cover should elicit.

The record can also occasionally veer into kitsch. Sometimes it works, like “Venom Wearin’ Denim,” a not very complementary song about a femme fatale (where the rhyming title exceeds the sometimes downright cruel imagery that follows).

Sometimes it doesn’t work, such as on “Joe the Singing Janitor,” where the concept for the character far exceeds the actual rendering of it. We get it - Joe’s a janitor that likes to sing - but apart from that, the narrative is thin.

Despite a couple of missteps, “Semi Crazy” is a good time record, played from the heart and with joy. It is what I needed during what has otherwise been a dark and depressing week. I’ll leave you with a rare non-cover photo of me and my buddy Vizz in happier times:

Best tracks: Gotta Get Up Every Morning, I Hung It Up, Semi-Crazy, Venom Wearin’ Denim

CD Odyssey Disc 1736: The Cramps

A long day ends with…a Bruins win! We head back to Boston for game six against the much-hated (by me) Florida Panthers.

Now…on to the music. This next album has been in my car almost a week as I tried to catch up on work, life and everything in between.

Disc 1736 is…Look Mom No Head!

Artist: The Cramps

Year of Release: 1991

What’s up with the Cover?  A fun house full of booze hounds! Actually, it is just the one booze hound – its all done with mirrors.

Our cover girl still appears to have her head, but pounding down that bottle of hard liquor will sort that out soon enough. As the Cramps sing on “Blow Up Your Mind”:

“Ain't you a little too healthy, mm?
Drink some bad wine
Trap some bats in your belfry
and blow up your mind!”

How I Came To Know It: I came to the Cramps through a Canadian band that they inspired called “The Creepshow” and worked my way backward from there. This led me through a journey into the delightful musical genre of psychobilly. The wellspring of all things psychobilly is the Cramps, and swimming upstream, I naturally arrived there.

How It Stacks Up: I have five Cramps albums, and they are all awesome. It pains me to put “Look Mom, No Head!” in the lowly position of fifth, but they are all that good.

Rating: 4 stars

When you invent a style of music that inspires generations of musicians to follow, you’ve probably done something right, and the Cramps are an inspiration to all that live the unbridled life of rock and roll, and to do it without apology.

For those of you who don’t know what psychobilly is, it is a Frankenstein’s Monster of punk rock, rockabilly, mixed with a B-Horror film sensibility. Imagine Elvis Presley if he were a sex-crazed lunatic high on LSD. Sounds awesome? Then the Cramps are the music for you.

It all begins with lead singer Lux Interior, lasciviously eating up every inch of real estate a Cramps song can offer (which is a lot). Mr. Interior (definitely his real name) has a voice that sounds like he was born for the stage, but the stage wasn’t cool enough for him so he instead sold his soul to rock and roll.

The Cramps double down on sex, drugs and rock and roll in a way few bands can match. Songs like “Bend Over, I’ll Drive” and “I Wanna Get In Your Pants” are about exactly the things you think they’ll be about, and written with intent to push boundaries and barriers, and to have fun doing it.

The fun is an important part of the formula, because the Cramps seem to have a very good time, and the songs are edgy but very much tongue in cheek. They dare you to take offense and if you don’t you’re rewarded with membership in their club of strange. Everyone’s welcome as long as you accept that everyone is welcome.

Musically, these songs have that flat and frenetic delivery of traditional punk rock, but absent the anger. They are also incredibly tight as a band. Guitarist Poison Ivy (definitely her real name), bassist Slim Chance (ditto), and drummer Jim Sclavanos (likely a pseudonym) have a natural talent for sitting down at the front of the pocket with the perfect timing that rockabilly requires to deliver its driving energy. It isn’t the same lineup the Cramps started with in their glory days but it is still a solid set of musicians.

The songs have a theatrical flair to them that goes beyond the glamorous grotesqueries of Lux Interior, but underneath it all is a band with a willingness to experiment with various forms of rock and roll, secure in the knowledge that five albums and over a decade into their career their legacy was secure.

I loved this record, and despite almost a full week with it in the car I never tired of it. Even weaker tracks like “Alligator Stomp” and “Don’t Get Funny With Me” have a delightfully dark kitsch that makes them fun. Musically, “Look Mom No Head!” isn’t as raw and powerful as some of their earlier work, but it has just as much gusto, and I had just as good a time. Give them a chance and you might too.

Best tracks: Dames Booze Chains and Boots, Two Headed Sex Change, Blow Up Your Mind, Miniskirt Blues, I Wanna Get In Your Pants, Bend Over I’ll Drive

CD Odyssey Disc 1719: Josie Cotton

I gave this next record a full week’s worth of listening, which is much more exposure than a record often achieves on the CD Odyssey. Part of this was how busy I was, but there was also an element of just wanting to dive a little deeper. This is always a good sign.

Disc 1719 is…Day of the Gun

Artist: Josie Cotton

Year of Release: 2023

What’s up with the Cover?  Josie in splashes of vibrant colour and a funky hat festooned with feathers. This is so delightf...wait a minute! What the fuck is that blue thing on her lap?

A creepy plastic blue baby has invaded this whimsical scene. The shadow they cast looks perfectly organic, hiding the baby’s true nature. Maybe that’s the idea here, but for me the shadow and the reality are equally creepy.

How I Came To Know It: This was me digging through Josie Cotton’s back catalogue on Bandcamp. I don’t buy everything Cotton releases but I like her well enough to give everything a chance.

How It Stacks Up: I’ve bought two more Josie Cotton albums over the past year and now have five total. Of those five, “Day of the Gun” comes in at #2 and is in a statistical tie for #1 with “Convertible Music”. Previous expressions of love for “From the Hip” are still true, but I must drop that record down to #3.

Rating: 3 stars but almost 4

Last time I reviewed a Josie Cotton album I ended up giving it a whole week’s worth of listening and on “Day of the Gun” this happened again. Despite the lighthearted beat of her music, and the youthful enthusiasm of her vocals Cotton’s stuff demands a deeper dive.

Even as she edges toward 70 years old Cotton has lost none of her talent. If anything, she is more creative than she’s ever been. Early records like “Convertible Music” and “From the Hip” are beautiful, but they are largely about the obvious rock and roll topics of restless love. Cotton has let her interests broaden across a variety of topics. You can tell that underneath the pop sensibilities of her music she is well-read, intellectually curious and just generally smart as hell.

On “Day of the Gun” she explores multiple literary and cinematic topics. At times I could pick up the references, and at others she was either making it up herself, or just out-referencing me on the song’s original inspiration.

On “Overturning” Cotton turns her mind to culture in decline, while at the same time celebrating western literary and mythological traditions. In slightly over three minutes she pays homage to Yeats’ “the Second Coming”, Shelley’s “Ozymandias”, the legend of Theseus and the minotaur, before rounding it off with reference to the music of the spheres. If you don’t know even some of those references, go look them up. As Cotton wistfully notes, “there was beauty/there was madness”. There still is, Josie.

She also turns her mind to cinema, with “Painting in Blood” an homage to the Giallo horror films of the seventies. Mangling, blood, murder by gloved assailants. You name the Giallo theme, she’s got it in this murderous little love letter.

“The Fathomless Tale of Silky and Sam” is indeed fathomless. Could be from a book, could be from a movie, or could just be from Cotton’s exceptional imagination, it tells of an interdimensional spider creature bonding with a person in a parasitic (or symbiotic) way. I think a bit of both. It’s confusing, but in a delightful way.

Stylistically, the album is a mix of New Wave and Rockabilly (the latter being given much love in “The Ballad of Elvis Presley”). Cotton was never a powerhouse vocalist, but she’s lost nothing in her delivery, and she writes songs that suit her style and range such that you never notice.

As a fellow lover of multiple genre fictions (spies, horror, science fiction) it is great to hear a pop artist also embrace these themes, and to do it so well. Cotton is a thoughtful songwriter who won’t limit herself to yet another ballad of unrequited love. This later career fearlessness is never better than on “Day of the Gun”, which is her best work in years and which vies for her best work ever. I’d encourage her to never stop doing what she does, but it is clear she doesn’t need my advice on this front.

Best tracks: Day of the Gun, Overturning, The Ballad of Elvis Presley, Painting in Blood, Cold War Spy

CD Odyssey disc 1547: Lydia Loveless

I’ve been watching a lot of musical documentaries recently. I find music-themed biopics mostly irritating, but I love straight up documentaries. We just finished one on the band Fanny (average documentary, but cool band) and just started one on Tina Turner.

Disc 1547 is…. Indestructible Machine

Artist: Lydia Loveless

Year of Release: 2011

What’s up with the Cover? An artist’s rendition of Lydia Loveless as an Indestructible Machine. You know you’re indestructible when you’re drinking a can of what appears to be electrified gasoline.

If you’re tempted to say, “I’ll have what she’s having” I would suggest you reconsider.

How I Came To Know It: I went to see the Mountain Goats live in Portland back in 2019 (the last year when such things were a thing). The opening act was Lydia Loveless, so before I left for the show I check out her music on Youtube to familiarize myself.

As it happens, a bunch of rude hipsters talked through her opening act, making it impossible to hear, but I did like the albums I checked out, and bought a bunch of them in local Portland record stores when I was there. This was one of them.

How It Stacks Up: I have five Lydia Loveless albums. Of those I have to put “Indestructible Machine” at #1. Best of the bunch.

Ratings: 5 stars

Lydia Loveless isn’t just an old soul, she’s a weathered and road-weary one. Even though she recorded “Indestructible Machine” at the tender age of 21, this record has a patina of hurt it usually takes a good decade of hard living to accumulate.

Loveless’ style is a mix of rockabilly, country, Americana and more than a bit of good old punk rock snarl. In fact, the second track, “Can’t Change Me” has that same anxiety-inducing “Dunt! Dunt! Dunt! Dunt!” from the Clash’s “London Calling”. That punk aesthetic is more than backed up by the lyrics, which are a visceral snarl of someone making bad life choices and refusing to do anything about it.

“Well, I had a lot to say last night, I’m sorry, did I say that to you?
Well, I talk so much shit that I forget who I’m talking to
Cause my mouth is like a sinking boat
I keep throwing words out, hoping I can keep afloat
But the more I try to dry out, the more I get soaked”

This verse also introduces the theme of hard drinking, which features on most if not all of the tracks. “More Like Them” is a wish for moderation and normalcy (whatever that is). “Jesus Was a Wino” brings Jesus into the argument in favour of choosing excess instead. Jesus also features in “Can’t Change Me” as the conversation shifts from between two people to a chat with God as things begin to fully unravel. He’s the second most commonly recurring character, after the bottle.

While the record can have a flailing and desperate quality, Loveless makes all of her artistic choices with care and deliberation. She’s wild and crazy in the moment, but make no mistake – these songs are crafted works of art. She straddles multiple musical styles, bending each to her will. The songs I’ve noted so far are master classes in punk/country mixology, but Loveless is just as adept at playing it straight. On “How Many Women” and “Learn to Say No” she plays it as country as a latter-day Loretta Lynn, full of twang and heartache.

“Learn to Say No” is a masterclass on alcoholism, as Loveless’ character opines, “Why does it take so much out of me to be this weak?” and observes that casual drinkers “don’t know what it’s like to say no” and what that expression means to someone with an actual problem. It is powerful, heartbreaking and illuminating all in one.

For all the hurt and snarl, my favourite song on the record is the funniest. “Steve Earle” is a song that Loveless has noted at length in interviews is not actually about Steve Earle, but rather an amalgamation of a character of an unwanted suitor. Well, it may not be about Steve Earle, but it is easy to imagine otherwise, and a hell of a lot more fun as well.

“He says he isn't hittin' on me, he just wants to write some songs
And I keep askin', "Steve, would you please introduce me to your son?"
Because he read an article that said, oh gee, I guess I drink a lot
And now he's buyin' all my drinks so I can't seem to get off the sauce”

It fits nicely with Earle’s self-confessed fearless heart falling for a young chanteuse and as for that line about preferring the son all I can say is…ouch! Also, note the ever-present drinking theme. I hope Steve Earle has heard this song, not just because of the topic, but because it is such a God damned perfect song, something Steve’s written more than a few himself.

And before I go, I’d be remiss to not note Lydia Loveless’ voice. Smooth and pure of tone it is not. Her voice has a twist of pain throughout, peeling, and powerful and perfectly suited to the unabashed honesty of the type of songs she writes. This record will seduce you, pull your heart out, and then forget your name in the morning while it pulls its combat boots on and leaves without breakfast. Yes, you’ll feel a little bad after listening, but you’ll be glad you did it all the same. Bitter-sweet perfection is still perfection.

Best tracks: All tracks

CD Odyssey Disc 1546: Josie Cotton

What’s that a second review in three days? Amazing what I can accomplish with even a modicum of free time!

Disc 1546 is…. From the Hip

Artist: Josie Cotton

Year of Release: 1984

What’s up with the Cover? Josie flashes a smile that says, “Of course I know this haircut is fantastic.” Yes, it is, Josie, and so is the rest of you.

How I Came To Know It: Earlier this year Sheila introduced me to the 1983 movie “Valley Girl,” which features Josie Cotton both in the film (she performs at the high school prom) and on a couple of songs on the soundtrack. Sheila loved the soundtrack, but it is devilishly hard to find, so I was exploring options to build one myself. In doing so, I landed on Cotton’s Bandcamp site, and realized I liked a lot of her music.

And yes, I eventually found the Valley Girl soundtrack, but we’ll save that story for when I roll the review.

How It Stacks Up: I have three Josie Cotton albums in my collection. They’re all very different, making it hard to compare, but since I’ve created this category, I’ll dive in and say “From the Hip” is…third. It isn’t bad, but one of them had to be last.

Ratings: 3 stars

Josie Cotton’s “From the Hip” is a love letter to a wide gamut of eighties pop sounds, and while it lacks focus, all of those musical side quests still add up to an enjoyable musical ride.

Cotton can’t fully decide what she wants to be, but that’s part of her charm. She’s a little New Wave, a little rockabilly and even a little Madonna. It all works, and while the record lacks emotional gravitas, it makes up for it in good old fashioned energetic fun.

Things start with a cover of seventies band Looking Glass’ “Jimmy Loves Maryann”. The Looking Glass version of this song is all laid back hippy soul and horn flourishes, but Josie Cotton is having exactly none of that. She jumps the song out in front of the beat, infusing the song with frenetic energy. Even the horns get replaced with bright-sounding organ riffs. After listening to the Cotton version a few times, my first encounter with the original was soporific.

Cotton uses the organ to good effect throughout the record, capturing the futurist energy of  her New Wave sensibilities at every turn. Songs like “Licence to Dance” and “No Use Crying” sound like they fell out of a sixties sci fi movie. In fact, Cotton has a penchant for making things sound like a futuristic action adventure. It is no surprise that a couple decades later she would treat us to a bunch of movie theme covers on 2007’s “Invasion of the B-Girls”. Like Valley Girl, this will also be the subject of a future review.

Cotton is a natural with New Wave, but she also embraces rockabilly in a way that shows true and devoted affection. “Straight Talk” is a cross between a turbo-charged square dance and a beat that would be at home in a sixties spy caper. This is one of four songs Cotton writes, and she shows a great talent for a clever and well-timed turn of phrase, coupled with a bouncy beat.

The best song on the record is “Gina” which has that same rockabilly/sixties pop crossover that is Cotton’s sweet spot. It is written by Bobby and Larson Paine, who are also responsible for Cotton’s two hit songs from the Valley Girl soundtrack (“Johnny Are you Queer” and “He Could be the One”. “Gina” is just as solid, a song so timeless I spent half an hour trying to find the sixties original before realizing Cotton’s is the original.

While Cotton can also do the straight eighties pop thing, these are the album’s weaker songs. “Come With Me” in particular sounds like a bad Madonna song and while “Life After Love” has that Cotton swing to it – and even hand snaps – it lacks the element of whimsy that is present on the stronger tunes.

Every now and then the songs don’t feel like full compositions, either. Even “School Is In” which has a great pop hook and a sing-along chorus gets tired quickly, despite being only 2:33 in length.

However, overall the energy of this record alone will hold your attention, and there are plenty of gems. Apart from Valley Girl, Cotton never broke big, and lesser-known records like “From the Hip” underscores for me how wrong that is. I’m glad I found her, and even more glad I was able to purchase her music through Bandcamp, where the artist gets the lion’s share of the revenue. Thank you, Josie!

Best tracks: Jimmy Loves Maryann, Straight Talk, Gina, Way Out West