CD Odyssey Disc 137: Rush

And now another Weird Moment of Randomness. As you know (or should by now) the CD Odyssey is almost entirely random - I occasionally pick a new CD to review, but that's pretty rare (I like not knowing what's next).

On Friday I reviewed my last album and was preparing to head out to the theatre to see the new Rush documentary, "Beyond the Lighted Stage", made by Victoria film maker Sam Dunn. FYI the documentary is awesome.

Anyway before I left, I rolled my next album and got..."Snakes And Arrows."

This Weird Moment of Randomness brought to you by the letter sssssss.

Disc 137 is...Snakes & Arrows
Artist: Rush

Year of Release: 2007

What’s Up With The Cover?: A vaguely Indian God type figure sits in the background, seemingly presiding over a bunch of snakes and arrows graphics that are going in no particular direction. Also, the figure has a burning fountain of fire in his crotch. No, this does not qualify as the weirdest Rush album cover.

How I Came To Know It: I really love Rush, so I just bought this when it came out. Also, if you are friends with Kelly, you will always know when Rush has a new album out - I believe he has three or four versions of this one.

How It Stacks Up: I have all eighteen of Rush' studio albums. While another album is imminent, for now "Snakes & Arrows" is the most recent. It holds up well against a strong body of work. I'm going to say it is 8th or 9th best, depending on my mood.

Rating: 4 stars.

I haven't rolled a Rush album since I reviewed "Caress of Steel" back at Disc 26. The chronological distance between that album and this one is thirty five years, and even that doesn't span Rush' entire career.

"Snakes & Arrows" is a reminder that bands can still make fresh, interesting music decades into their careers, if they push themselves.

In terms of style, this record is much more straightforward rock and roll than many Rush albums that preceded it. I for one am glad to see Alex Lifeson's guitar being heavily featured on some driving riffs - particularly "The Main Monkey Business" and "The Way The Wind Blows". He even has an acoustic piece all too himself with "Hope". Lifeson has got to be one of the most non-egotistical masters of the guitar in the history of rock and roll (alongside Buck Dharma).

Geddy Lee gets in on the musical act, with his bass coming to the forefront for the third (and final) instrumental on the record - "Malignant Narcissism". Only Rush could have an album with three instrumentals not be wrong.

I also think that this album has some of Neil Peart's better lyrics (which is saying something, since Neil Peart is one of the greatest lyricists of...all...time).

As evidence, let's quickly consider the song "The Larger Bowl" It is a song questioning why some people on the earth fare so well, while others encounter bad fortune at every turn. It is also a pantoum. For those who don't know (I had to look it up) a pantoum is a poem composed of a series of quatrains with repeating lines throughout. The second and fourth lines of each quatrain are repeated in the first and third lines in the next. With me? Like this:

"If we're so much the same, like I always hear
Why such different fortunes and fates?
Some of us live in a cloud of fear
Some live behind iron gates.

"Why such different fortunes and fates?
Some are blessed and some are cursed
Some live behind iron gates
While others see only the worst."

Form in literature has very sadly been cast aside in our modern age, and Peart reminds us that the structure in a work of art doesn't have to be viewed as limiting, but rather can actually add a deeper resonance to your message.

As for what that message is, Peart writes about themes, both personal and global in scope. Whatever he writes about, Peart always seems to elevate any such discussion above any one political or metaphysical view, and help us see the larger patterns.

For example, while he readily wades into the dangerous topic of middle eastern politics on "The Way The Wind Blows" the song strikes a tone that is more introspective and conciliatory, rather than suggesting any particular solution. It ends with:

"Like a solitary pine
On a bare wind-blasted shore
We can only grow the way the wind blows."

On the introspective side, Peart again gives voice to his longstanding metaphysical skepticism in "Faithless". While not exactly the anthemic "Free Will" from 1980's "Permanent Waves", it is nevetheless powerful and moving. While "Free Will" is more defiant, "Faithless" shows the mellowing of Peart with age, while still underscoring his vocal refusal to succumb to any easy answers. Here's just the end:

"I've got my own spirit level for balance
To tell if my choice is leading up or down
And all the shouting voices
Try to throw me off my course
Some by sermons, some by force
Fools and thieves are dangerous
In the temple and marketplace.

"Like a forest bows to winter
Beneath the deep white silence
I will quietly resist.

"Like a flower in the desert
That only blooms at night
I will quietly resist."

As Peart teaches us the value of quiet resistance, Rush as a band has managed to teach us the lesson of rock and roll persistence, and none too quietly over the years. "Snakes & Arrows" is a worthy entry in the enduring legacy they've carved out in the annals of music history.

Best tracks: Armor and Sword, The Larger Bowl, The Main Monkey Business, The Way the Wind Blows, Faithless, We Hold On

CD Odyssey Disc 136: Mark Knopfler

When I said that Mark Knopfler's reign of terror was over it appears I was mistaken. The dice had other plans, and rolled up the third Knopfler album in less than ten reviews. I think the odds of this are somewhere in the neighbourhood of 1 in 10,000.

Disc 136 is...Sailing To Philadelphia

Artist: Mark Knopfler

Year of Release: 2000

What’s Up With The Cover?: An out of focus passenger jet against a blue sky. I like it, and it captures the spirit of the record to come.

How I Came To Know It: I had bought Knopfler's earlier solo album, 1996's "Golden Heart" and loved it, so this was just me following up. As it happened, "Sailing to Philadelphia" was a much bigger record (big being relative with respect to Knopfler's solo career).

How It Stacks Up: As you are no doubt tiring of reading recently, I have eight Knopfler albums. I'd have to say this is #1 - or maybe tied for #1.

Rating: 5 stars. There are songs that don't fit the five star bill, but when the album is put together and listened to from bow to stern, it is a five star experience. So five, but barely.

"Sailing To Philadelphia" and "Golden Heart" are the beginnings of the folk-rock sound that Knopfler is still playing today (and which I recently reviewed for his last release, "Get Lucky"). He has never matched the quality of the first two records here, but that would be a hard task to accomplish.

When I first bought this record ten years ago, Sheila and I played the living hell out of it. We recommended it incessantly to friends (sorry, everyone) and if there had been a T-shirt featuring it, or a book written about it I'm sure I would've bought those as well. Zealotry is rarely pretty in hindsight.

A few years later, I had to put it on the shelf, for fear of killing all my joy for it. Since then, I've tried hard to buy at least two albums at a time, if for no other reason than to avoid overplay.

It is a testament to this album's quality that it wasn't too long before I was again putting it into the mix. It still stands up today, as fresh as ever.

The first two tracks are the best two, immediately grabbing your attention. "What It Is" is a pure rock and roll number, with a guitar lick that catches you from the opening notes. The guitar here, and throughout the record is Knopfler at his best. A bluesy, atmospheric sound with a rock edge.

"What It Is" is infused with energy, as it thematically bids farewell to Scotland with a song about all things Scotland - it is all pipers and castle walls and ghosts, cold weather, beer and energy. I love it.

The second song shows us the other side of Knopfler's guitar mastery, as he instantly morphs into a folksy classical picking sound. He takes us across the Atlantic to the United States where the record will stay.

"Sailing To Philadelphia" is a duet sung with James Taylor about the creation of the Mason-Dixon line. It is a true folk song, acoustic and touching - putting a human face on the two people who undertook this task. It is a perfect counterpoint to "What It Is" and moreover is one of the better folk songs I've ever heard. Here's the intro:

"I am Jeremiah Dixon/I am a Geordie boy
A glass of wine with you sir/And the ladies I'll enjoy
All Durham and Northumberland/Is measured up by my own hand
It was my fate from birth/To make my mark upon the earth...

"He calls me Charlie Mason/A stargazer am I
It seems that I was born/To chart the evening sky
They'd cut me out for baking bread/But I had other dreams instead
This baker's boy from the west country/Would join the Royal Society."

I can play it again and again and never tire of the story - more remarkable given that pretty much all I know about Mason and Dixon I learned from this song.

From here, Knopfler applies his considerable talents at both the guitar and songwriting to snapshots of America, past and present.

He writes about segregationism in the 50s from the perspective of a black family trying to find a place to eat ("Baloney Again"), and what it would have been like to be an early western farmer, never meeting your bride-to-be except through letter, untilthe day she steps off the train and you take her home ("Prairie Wedding").

His song about stock car racing, "Speedway at Nazareth" is a brilliant insight into the mind of a race car driver. It is also the perfectly paced to make you viscerally feel like you yourself are behind the wheel. This song to me is always a great counterpoint to the more introspective racing song "Racing In the Streets" by Springsteen.

In his lighter moments, Knopfler writes about what it is like to be a British rock star taking your act to the USA in "Do America":

"Well I've been at it ever since I was a kid at school
Now they love me in Newcastle and in Liverpool
I'm as hot as a pistol I can do no wrong
I've been to Birmingham and Briston playing my song.

"Take a 777 to the USA
Gonna party all night I'm gonna sleep all day
See New York City 'cos I've never been
New York City in a limousine."

This album is Knopfler's love song to America, warts and all. In fact the last image he leaves you with is the desolation of a gambler who has lost everything he owns to his addiction in "Sands of Nevada."

Whether he's celebrating with rock bravado, or digging into the ugly places, Knopfler manages to write a series of songs about a country that are both intimate, and alien. Covering miles of territory, yet never pretending to fully understand what he sees - kind of like that out of focus airplane on the cover.

It is a great record, and if years ago you escaped my haranguing you to buy it - consider yourself harangued. The first two tracks will blow you away - but the next eleven will sneak up on you just as surely with each new listen.

Best tracks: What It Is, Sailing To Philadelphia, Do America, Prairie Wedding, Wanderlust, Speedway at Nazareth, Sands of Nevada

CD Odyssey Disc 135: Oingo Boingo

For the third consecutive day I rolled an album for the Odyssey that was short enough to get through on one drive home from work. Sweet, sweet brevity!

Disc 135 is...The Best of Oingo Boingo (Millennium Collection)
Artist: Oingo Boingo

Year of Release: 2002 but with music from 1982-1990

What’s Up With The Cover?: A bunch of geeks in bad shirts. Surely all eight of these guys can't be in the band - yet they are.

How I Came To Know It: I knew the song "Weird Science" from the movie of the same name(which I loved) but this is Sheila's album, as she likes both Oingo Boingo and the work of their frontman, Danny Elfman.

How It Stacks Up: This is a best of, so it doesn't stack up. That wouldn't make sense. It is also the only Oingo Boingo record we have.

Rating: best ofs can't be rated - that is how the Odyssey rolls, man.

Although I am generally down on 'best of's and compilations, these 20th Century Masters are well put together, and I think the eleven songs on this one are a pretty fair representation of Oingo Boingo's better work.

The album starts off with probably Oingo Boingo's most famous song, the theme song from the movie "Weird Science". The song is OK, if a bit campy. I primarily enjoy how it brings me back to the movie of the same name, where a couple of nerds concoct a strange combination of computer programming and witchcraft to successfully summon Kelly LeBrock.

The movie did for Kelly LeBrock what Whitesnake videos did for Tawny Kitaen; she became an instant sex symbol, and the focal point of every teenage boys fantasy, including mine. I wonder how many Canadian teenagers put bras on their heads and hoped against hope that Kelly LeBrock would appear in their bedroom doorway and ask that all-consuming question: "What do you little maniacs want to do first?"

Weird Science also featured an early appearance of Bill Paxton as "my evil older brother, Chet." Obviously not hot like Kelly LeBrock, but ultimately destined for a much more distinguished career, discounting Twister.

But I digress - this is a music review after all.

On that front, Oingo Boingo is a little too eighties pop for me, despite the obvious talent. Too much drum machine for me to forgive at the end of the day. The song I actually enjoyed the most was "When The Lights Go Out", which turned out to be the only track not released in the eighties (it was 1990). Even that song is spoiled with the everpresent drum machine.

One thing I noticed this listen was a distinctly different sound on tracks like "Violent Love", "Only a Lad" and "Wild Sex". It was kind of like reggae on speed, with a horn section. At first I couldn't place it, but then I remembered - there are eight guys in the band. A lineup that big could only mean one thing - ska!

That is not to say Oingo Boingo is ska - they are not. I figure with eight members though, they were artistically obligated to include a few ska tracks anyway. Hey, I don't make the rules.

It is fitting that Oingo Boingo's most famous song was a movie theme - lead man Danny Elfman never made it very big with the band, but is now a much sought after for his skill in writing movie scores. Just as well I suppose - maybe he could do a reboot of Weird Science starring Meagan Fox?

Best tracks: Violent Love, When the Lights Go Out

CD Odyssey Disc 134: ELO

Well from a combination of punk, metal and rock to a combination of pop, do-wop and disco. The Odyssey - it gets around

Disc 134 is...Discovery
Artist: E.L.O. (Electric Light Orchestra)

Year of Release: 1979

What’s Up With The Cover?: An arab boy appears to have received an electronic game of "Simon" for his birthday. No, wait - that's just the ELO symbol. Still, I think the last sequence was red - yellow - blue - blue - yellow. Or did it start yellow - blue - red? Let the hilarity ensue!

How I Came To Know It: This is a pretty big record for ELO. I am pretty sure I heard a lot of these songs as a kid. My more recent 'discovery' of it was buying it one day with Sheila. ELO is a guilty pleasure for both of us.

How It Stacks Up: We have three ELO albums. I'd say this is solidly in the middle of the three.

Rating: 3 stars.

While this isn't my favourite ELO album, I think it was very successful in it's time. The first track is "Shine A Little Love" and the last one is "Don't Bring Me Down," both of which got solid radio play in 1979.

Of course, "Don't Bring Me Down" has one of the most misheard lyrics of all time. Just what does he say after "don't bring me down?" Believe it or not, the answer is "gruce" - or as spelled in the liner notes - "grroosss." I have no idea what it means, and I kind of enjoy not knowing.

Coming out in 1979, it is no surprise that "Discovery" has a very strong disco element - in particular "Last Train To London" which sounds like a Bee Gees song. This is not a bad thing. When I was young, and even through my teens and early twenties I had absolutely no time for disco. If you wanted any street cred as a metalhead it wasn't enough to avoid disco - you had to actively hate it. I took on the challenge with gusto.

How wrong I was though. I still love metal of course, but now there is room in my life for all kinds of disco music - Chic, the BeeGees and ELO when they are feeling funky.

Sometimes ELO doesn't feel funky, and instead channels fifties do-wop. Strangely, this is something that Blue Oyster Cult will occasionally do as well. I think it must be a function of the age of folks like Jeff Lynne and Eric Bloom of BOC, who would've had early experience with that kind of music.

As an aside, when I was a very small kid, I would sometimes get Jeff Lynne and Eric Bloom mixed up. They were both lead singers with great afros, and a penchant for wearing aviator sunglasses in their photo shoots. The fact that both their bands would sneak in a little do wop just added to the confusion.

Speaking of "Confusion", that is one of my favourite tracks on the record - with Lynne singing 'confusion' in staccato falsetto. I love the liner notes he adds to this remaster edition at the front of the song:

"I'd just got hold of the very latest synthesizer, the Yamaha CS-80. The song is based entirely on the sound it made."

Nice, and worth noting at this point that the Remastering of "Discovery" isn't limited to just new liner notes - the production is strong as well. The record sounds great, and while the song list is expanded from the original nine to twelve, two of the three added songs are two little demos under a minute. The third is an inspired remake of Del Shannon's "Little Town Flirt." It is a top notch cover of a song I forgot how much I liked.

This album might not move me emotionally, but it is a lot of fun, and who doesn't love the liberal use of the CS-80?

Best tracks: Shine A Little Love, Confusion, Last Train to London, Don't Bring Me Down, Little Town Flirt

CD Odyssey Disc 133: L7

Before I get on this review, I just want to give a big thank you to Joel and Sherylyn who recently gave me the benefit of their CD lore (and CDs along with). I'm looking forward to hearing this new music with the same enthusiasm Francis Drake once looked out upon the Pacific Ocean - except without all the piracy and what-not.

Now, on to the latest entry in the CD Odyssey.

Disc 133 is...Bricks Are Heavy
Artist: L7

Year of Release: 1992

What’s Up With The Cover?: I'm not sure. I think this is time lapsed photography of a couple people dressed in early nineties attire, swinging lit torches about. It's cool anyway - they even put flames around Tipper Gore's Parental Advisory Label, so it fits in thematically.

How I Came To Know It: Another album I owe to my friend and former room-mate Greg. I always loved this album, and it was one of the first I went out and bought when I could no longer play his.

How It Stacks Up: L7 weren't together that long, and they only made four albums. Of the four, two are really good and of those two, I'd say "Bricks Are Heavy" is the best. So how does it stack up? Number One!

Rating: 4 stars.

L7 were an early nineties all-girl band that I really dug in the day, and still play quite often today. They are a heavy, no nonsense group that will assault your senses. I'm pretty sure the Runaways and the Go Gos wouldn't want to run into these gals in a dark alley - L7 would kick their ass. Well, most of them anyway. Joan Jett could hold her own, of course, and Jane Wiedlin no doubt fights dirty. You'll always be my favourite Go Go, Jane...

As you can see from the tags I put on this entry, I had a hard time figuring out just what kind of music L7 makes. It is definitely rock n' roll. It has elements of punk, but also metal. In the day they were lumped in with grunge because they came out in the early nineties, played alternative music, and had a pulse (see Phair, Liz).

Songs cover a wide range of topics. "Wargasm" a bitterly angry anti-war song, and "Pretend We're Dead" calls out the unexamined life. There are more than a few tracks with varying messages of 'I hate you' and the gals even take time out to list the ways you can make their "Shitlist" (Hint: there are many).

This album is a tight little collection of only eleven songs, the longest clocking in at only 4:21. If you read this blog, you know I am a fan of brevity on an album, and they deliver. There aren't any bad tracks, per se, although some are better than others. Every track is as heavy as...well, as heavy as a brick. A few ("One More Thing", "Diet Pill") are as heavy as a bag of bricks.

On the other hand, it has been pointed out by the very person who introduced me to this band (Greg) that a lot of their songs sound basically the same. This occasionally manifests (hilariously) with a chorus of 'when we pretend that we're dead' from those who recognize when an L7 song comes on - regardless of the song.

While I partially subscribe to this theory (and have even sung a little 'pretend that we're dead' along with the boys) the realization doesn't bother me. I liken it to ACDC; all their songs may sound the same - but they also all sound pretty good.

This record doesn't have a ton of range, but it sounds consistently good, and it makes you want to mosh until you throw your neck out. Also, the gals in L7 are pretty hot in an "I'm scared of them but kind of like it" way.

Best tracks: Wargasm, Pretend We're Dead, Diet Pill, One More Thing, Shitlist

CD Odyssey Disc 132: Tchaikovsky

It has been almost a year since I rolled another classical album. Hardly shocking - I probably have ten total, or about 1% of the collection.

Disc 132 is...Tchaikovsky Box Set Disc 2 (of 5)
Artist: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Year of Release: 1980 and 1965, but music from 1840-1893

What’s Up With The Cover?: I didn't post the cover - it is just a boring graphic with "The Tchaikovsky Box" written on the front. Instead, let's take a second look at Pyotr in all his grandeur. That is a fine fitting suit you're wearing, Pyotr - I wonder how long you had to sit there until the image was captured...

How I Came To Know It: I explained this when I reviewed volume I back at Disc 9, but since you're here and not there - I was expanding my horizons in university back in 1989 when I got this box set on the cheap. I remember wanting it because it was mostly complete symphonies, rather than those cheapy deals you can get where they just sample parts out.

How It Stacks Up: It is a boxed set - not sure how that can really stack up. I will say that over the years I've listen to this volume a bit more than the other four.

Rating: 4 stars

I won't get too much into the nature of Tchaikovsky's music, since I covered as much as I know back in my first review of him. I'll just sum up - I think he is super-heavy for a 19th century dude, and he's my favourite classical composer.

This particular album came at a bad time - it is hard to hear on the highway with the top down, and today was the first sunny day in about two weeks, so I desperately wanted the top down.

I compromised, and left it up for the first half of my drive, then once I got into town and slowed down, I took it down. Classical music is awesome when tooling about in a convertible. I even had on a suit and a little British driving cap. I imagine I looked like quite the pretentious twit. I should have waved and shouted 'toodles!' as I left each stop light. Another lost opportunity...

This particular album is funny for me. It is like a record of two halves. The first two pieces are stand alone numbers, each about fifteen minutes in length (Capriccio Italien Op. 45, and "1812" Overture Op. 49). I really dig both of these, and 1812 Overture has long been one of my favourite classical pieces - no amount of overuse in film and TV will alter my love for this blast of pomp and bombast.

As a kid I used to dig that the song was accompanied by cannon shot at the end, fired far away, but calculated to be in time with the music. That is very cool. Of course, when you are eleven any song that has frickin' cannons in it is cool by default. Kind of like the car crash at the beginning of Kiss' "Detroit Rock City" or the fighter pilot banter at the beginning of Prism's "Armaggedon". I was eleven or so for that Prism song, too. Man, there is a lot of cool stuff out there when you're eleven.

Anyway, back to Tchaikovsky. The major piece on the album is "Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64". As usual four movements, yadda yadda yadda. This is an amazing composition (we are talking about one of the all-time greats here) but for some reason left me a little unsatisfied. It starts out all right, but it doesn't have the same rousing ending that I loved on "Serenade in C Major" from Vol. 1...I think - I'm a little shaky on this classical music thing.

Or maybe it is just that "Capriccio Italien" and "1812 Overture" are simply too awesome by comparison (they are the reason I played vol II all the time). Or maybe it is just that after a couple of fifteen minute 'pop hits' my 20th century ear doesn't have the patience to delve into something more complicated.

Who knows - it was fun, and Pyotr can party, so this album still earns 4 suggestive cello placements out of 5.

Best tracks: Capriccio Italien, Op. 45, '1812' Overture, Op. 49

CD Odyssey Disc 131: Tool

The next disc in the CD Odyssey is proof that not all music is about love and fields of flowers.

Disc 131 is...Undertow
Artist: Tool

Year of Release: 1993

What’s Up With The Cover?: Um...an alien ribcage? This is typical of Tool's disturbing CD art and frankly, is one of the more tame examples. The back of the disc depicts a pig with the word "undertow" shaved into its side, that has been impaled on about twenty forks. Yikes.

How I Came To Know It: My buddy Greg gets full credit for my exposure to both Tool in general, and this album in particular. During the grunge/celtic folk wars of the early nineties, this was an album I actually enjoyed.

How It Stacks Up: Tool takes their time releasing records. In eighteen years, they've released five. Of the five, I would say "Undertow" is a close second to 2001's "Lateralus".

Rating: 5 stars, although there is some silliness on track 10 where you get about 10 minutes of crickets chirping, that came very close to knocking it down to 4 just out of sheer frustration.

"Undertow" was the first Tool album I ever heard - I really liked it, although I'm told they don't perform these songs in concert any more, which I think is kind of odd.

When Tool put this record out (and the EP preceding it, "Opiate") I don't think there was anything that sounded quite like them. Rev. Maynard's creepy vocals, their compelling, complicated grooves and above all Danny Carey - rock and roll's second greatest drummer ever (after Rush's Neil Peart).

Seventeen years later, "Undertow" still sounds fresh enough to be released tomorrow. Frankly, it would probably do better if you did. They are a unique band, who I think only fully realized their mainstream potential in 2006, with the release of "10,000 Days". That suits me just fine, and likely Tool as well - although I'm sure they would've happily cashed the cheques.

Anyway - this isn't a Tool retrospective, it is a review of "Undertow."

This record only has ten tracks, but there isn't a real stinker among them. "Disgustipated" is a bit goofy, since it is over fifteen minutes long, and the only musical portion is a weird beating of sticks, as Rev. Maynard sermonizes about a dream he had, in which carrots can feel pain. ("These are the cries of the carrots. They have a consciousness!"). It sounds silly, but Tool manages to twist our initial humour at the notion into a dark and serious realization:

"This is necessary. Life feeds on life."

Yikes. It is creepy, because it is true.

Since Tool can creep you out about eating carrots, it isn't surprising that they are that much more creepy when tackling serious topics.

In "Sober" they get right to the emotional core of addiction. Lines like:

"I am just a worthless liar
I am just an imbecile
I will find a centre in you
I will chew it up and leave."

really capture the self-loathing of the addict that wants to quit, but can't resist his own compulsions. There is also a very cool (and creepy) stop-motion animation video for this song, featuring a sewer pipe filled with chunks of raw meat.

Frankly, we used to joke that "Sober" was the radio release simply because nothing else would've received radio play in 1993.

Most notable, is "Prison Sex" - a song about prison rape. This song paints such a disturbing picture of its chosen topic it could probably singlehandedly scare people onto the straight and narrow. Of course, it would be a pretty tough sell as a public service announcement. Not exactly after-school special material.

When I first heard the record, I always enjoyed "Swamp Song". I can't understand all the lyrics, but I always imagine this song is about some drunk in a bar stumbling into other people. I don't know if that is what it's about, but that's what it is about for me. I can certainly relate - who among us has not been stumbled into by some drunk at a bar? Anyway - whatever it is about, I love the groovy riff on this song.

What all these songs have in common is amazing musicianship - often with the unexpected focus on drums and bass. So often in rock music, guitar and vocals are cranked up way too loud. Tool provides an excellent balance, and in the process shows off very balanced and intricate songwriting.

Every Tool album is excellent, but I think even with the stiff competition, "Undertow" holds its own, and is solid throughout. It also put a new spin on music, a new focus in production, and lyrics that both disturb and elicit real emotion in the listener.

It isn't a pretty flower, and it isn't for the easily offended, but it is amazing music.

Best tracks: All tracks, although you can live without "Disgustipated" after you've spared a moment of silence for the carrots.

Figurine: Desert Ranger

Another figure painted! For some reason I got bogged down a little on this one. Maybe it was being away for two weeks, or maybe it was that I had done something similar a couple years ago, so there wasn't anything novel about it.

Anyway, here she is - a female desert ranger!

I liked this figure's pose, and the detail on her arm and leg bracers (look closely and you can see they feature protective 'scarab' motifs). I also gave her a purple sash, for just a dash of colour. Here she is from the back:I am pretty happy with how this figure turned out. I imagine her as a bit of loner among her people, but still fiercely protective of them. Finally, here are the three similar figures I painted back in 2008. I wanted her to have a similar feel to them, and I think it worked out OK.
Next up: A standard bearer and a drummer in full plate mail. Groovy...

CD Odyssey Disc 130: Jimmy Rankin

Mark Knopfler's reign of terror is over! Finally - after two reviews of Knopfler, preceded by two reviews referencing Mark Knopfler - this review does not feature Mark Knopfler in any way!

Wait a minute...

Disc 130 is...Handmade
Artist: Jimmy Rankin

Year of Release: 2003

What’s Up With The Cover?: Jimmy Rankin is dressed up in a suit and top hat. I think it is supposed to look old-school, but Jimmy's face looks a little too...plastic. His pose is just a little too...artificial. I have therefore come to the only logically plausible conclusion - Jimmy has been replaced in this photo shoot by a terminator. Where's a plasma rifle in 40 watt range when you need one?

How I Came To Know It: I was a fan of the Rankin Family throughout their career. Jimmy is just one of them branching out on a solo career. I liked his first album, "Song Dog" so I stuck with him for his sophomore effort, "Handmade".

How It Stacks Up: So far Jimmy's put out three solo albums that I know of. Of the three, "Handmade" is the best.

Rating: 4 stars.

As I noted above, Jimmy Rankin is a former member of the Cape Breton folk group - the Rankin Family. As you may know, the Rankins were five siblings (three sisters, two brothers). Of them all, I think Jimmy is the most talented, and I'm glad he went on to do solo work. In fact, his solo work benefits from branching out from the very straightlaced old-school folk sounds of the Rankins, and into more interesting arrangements, and original material.

I really love this record, and when the Odyssey isn't dictating my playlist, I put it on often. In fact, I had it on just a couple weeks ago on a Tuesday night.

I love how it gets back to basics. All acoustic instruments, simple arrangements, and great songwriting. In fact, when this came out I remember seeing a program on its recording, and how they tried to emulate the old school "Sun" recording sessions. Basically, doing the takes for all the instruments simultaneously live off the floor. The album sounds great, which speaks highly of the musicianship of those involved.

This raw, 'live off the floor' sound hits most sweetly on the opening song, "Morning Bound Train". This track sounds so timeless it could've been recorded by Johnny Cash at Sun Records 50 years earlier.

Because the songs are stripped down, Jimmy's voice can really shine - and it does. I think coming out of a band known for its female harmonies, he hasn't always received his due, but this dude can really sing.

So many tracks stand out on this record. My favourite has got to be "Colorado" which is a bittersweet break up song. I'd quote some lyrics, but without Jimmy's mournful, powerful voice it wouldn't do it justice. I'll just say it always hits me emotionally, and more often than not has me warbling along in my own broken voice.

I will note that this song features someone taking old love letters down off a shelf and nostalgiacally going through them. This always reminds me of the song "Box Full of Letters", off the Wilco album, "A.M.", which I reviewed back at Disc 84. Throw in Alice Cooper writing to his wife from the insane asylum on "From The Inside" and you've got the early makings of a mixed tape.

The title track, "Handmade" also has great appeal for me. This is a song that hits on themes of authenticity. Jimmy is certainly talking about music, but he also brings in all kinds of issues relating to consumerism, and the fashion industry and a host of other things that need to be stripped down and reinvented.

"Have we lost our style in the face of fashion?
Have we lost the need and the will to care?
Something's gone, nobody's asking,
Seems the more I look, it's nowhere.

"Give me something that is real
Give me something I can taste
Show me someone who can feel
I'm sick and tired of this place
But everybody must get paid
Give me something handmade."

The song makes you despair a little for the world, but then you realize that Jimmy hasn't just asked for something real. He's delivered it on this album.

Sheila and I actually saw Jimmy live on this album's tour, in 2004. He was playing a small theatre at Camosun College - maybe 150 people tops. I was struck by how small a man he was - maybe 5'6" and thin. His big acoustic guitar almost dragged him around the stage, but sounded great all the same. And that same voice filled that hall with room to spare. He is a great live act, but you shouldn't necessarily wait for him to come to town - just go buy this album.

Best tracks: Morning Bound Train, Stay, Handmade, Colorado, Sweet Wheels, Running Home (this last one has that annoying extra bonus track appended to it as part of the same track listing - but since both tracks are good, it is worth a listen anyway).

CD Odyssey Disc 129: Mark Knopfler

Well - a quick and concerted effort and I'm through that last Mark Knopfler album. What will I roll next? As it turns out...another Mark Knopfler. Wow - what are the odds?

Well, with eight Knopfler discs and over 900 other ones, the odds of it happening were less than one in a hundred - until it happened. At that point, it became pretty much a certainty.

Disc 129 is...Get Lucky
Artist: Mark Knopfler

Year of Release: 2009

What’s Up With The Cover?: A very strange angle shot of a marquee board in lights. As covers go, this one sucks, Mark. I actually prefer the guy in the short pants from "Ragpicker's Dream".

How I Came To Know It: A lot of this is going to sound repititious with my last review, but knowing Knopfler for a long time, this is just me dutifully buying his latest record. "Get Lucky" is his latest record, and I've had it less than a year.

How It Stacks Up: When I reviewed "Ragpicker's Dream" I assumed it was better than "Get Lucky" but really, "Get Lucky" has the edge - so it will supplant "Ragpicker's Dream for 5th of my 8 Knopfler records. A short-lived reign of mediocrity, indeed..

Rating: 3 stars.

Between "Ragpicker's Dream" in 2002 and "Get Lucky" in 2009, Knopfler released three records, to varying degrees of success. The one preceding this one is "Kill To Get Crimson" (2007) which I did not enjoy greatly. "Get Lucky" is not his greatest work, but it is a marked uptick, and gives me hope for whatever he decides to do next.

Anyway, seven years later (or a day - depending on how you're measuring time on A Creative Maelstrom), Knopfler is still doing his own damned thing, and singing pop/folk songs about increasingly obscure topics.

On "Get Lucky", these include the hard life of a British lorry driver in the 60s ("Border Reiver"), and a guy who makes guitars that Knopfler thinks are swell ("Monteleone").

For his part, Knopfler's guitar remains swell, now 30 years removed from the first Dire Straits album. Wow - time flies.

I like that this record also returns to some of the arrangements he used to good effect way back in 1996 for "Goldenheart", particularly the increased use of strings and french horns.

My favourite tracks on this album actually showed up rather late. While earlier tracks are pretty uneven, the last four are the best run on the record, and take what is really a 2 star album at this point, and elevate it to 3.

It gets started, with an honest and respectful track about comrades lost to war unsurprisingly called "Remembrance Day." The lyrics to "Remembrance Day" aren't the most amazing (e.g. "we will remember them"), but the tune conveys just the right combination of reverence and gravitas.

Next up, a song that I think is about an itinerant worker. Here, Knopfler has learned the lesson lost on "Ragpicker's Dream" and engages us with the specifics of the character:

"I'm better with my muscles
Than I am with my mouth
I'll work the fairgrounds in the summer
Or go pick fruit down south."

It is a nice sketch, and a reminder that not everyone finds an easy way in this life, but many of these same people work hard, honest days and years all the same.

"So Far From the Clyde" is the song about a boneyard, where ships are scuttled and dismantled. I've always been enamoured with the age of sail, and I found an myself actually feeling a little depressed at the description of the 'death' of these ships.

And the final song on the record (and my favourite) is "Piper To The End" which tells the story of a young man who falls in battle, alongside his bagpipes:

"This has been a day to die on
Now the day is almost done
Here the pipes will lay beside me
Silent with the battle drum
If friends in time be severed
Someday we will meet again
I'll return to leave you never
Be a piper to the end."

This song could just be a timeless homage to any Piper, so many of whom have marched bravely to battle over the centuries. If I had strictly enforced my Modernist tendencies, and just taken the song without context, it would remain just that - and still stand strong on its own. However, this time I feel compelled to share some liner notes from "Get Lucky" on the specific subject of this song. Take it away, Mark:

"Piper To The End is for my Uncle Freddie, Lance Corporal Frederick John Laidler, a piper of the 1st Battalion, Tyneside Scottish, the Black Watch, RHR, who carried his pipes into action and was killed with them at Ficheux, near Arras on the 20th May, 1940, aged 20."

RIP, Corporal Laidler.

Best tracks: Remembrance Day, Get Lucky, So Far From the Clyde, Piper To The End