CD Odyssey Disc 1757: Dehd

After all that Molly Tuttle concert awesomeness over the weekend it was hard to adjust to something new, but the Odyssey takes no prisoners and allows no respite. Of all the things in my life that offer me no respite (yes, there are a few) the CD Odyssey is consistently the most welcome.

Disc 1757 is…. Poetry

Artist: Dehd

Year of Release: 2024

What’s up with the Cover? I have a bit of blue/red colour blindness so seeing this cover at all was a small challenge. I think it is a drawing of a wolf, but if there is anything else going on, I’ve missed it.

How I Came To Know It: I was already a fan of Dehd so when I saw this album in the local record store I decided to just take a chance.

How It Stacks Up: I have three albums by Dehd. I like all of them, with “Poetry” coming in at #2, or right in the middle, just narrowly behind “Flower of Devotion”.

Ratings: 4 stars

Some bands just know how to write a toe tapper. Dehd records consistently know the alchemy involved, dropping delightfully offbeat pop hooks that are catchy and unexpected in equal measure.

Many rock trios have a surprisingly heavy sound (Rush, Budgie, Triumph) but if you are looking for that kind of trio, Dehd is not for you. Dehd take a less is more approach, with sparse and artfully timed arrangements. Lots of space between the instruments makes the intricate syncopation that is employed noticeable, but never muddy.

The effect also creates an almost fifties innocence. As if Buddy Holly liked to get high and go surfing. I know what you’re thinking – wouldn’t that be Dick Dale? In this case, no. Dehd is more of an eighties Goth vibe, reminiscent of the (recently reviewed) Growlers but with a lighter, poppier sound.

The band employs two vocalists, Emily Kampf and Jason Balla, and the effect of having both masculine and feminine options to draw on gives the album a lot more creative range. They are also very good at a call-and-answer approach where the secondary voice on any song adds well placed yips and yells into some of the “dead’ space in the production giving everything a party atmosphere.

Despite all that energy nothing ever feels cut off or rushed on a Dehd song. It is the musical equivalent of a clever forties Film Noir, with each player delivering their snappy bit of dialogue in perfect cadence to keep the energy up.

I also want to give a shout out to Balla’s work on the guitar, which gives the music its eighties surf feel. Heavy echo is employed but because of the light touch on the production it has lots of room to spread into the corners of the song. Balla’s guitar fills every tune with diffuse triumph and earnestness. It is like being in an eighties teen classic like St. Elmo’s Fire or the Breakfast Club, feeling all the feels.  

The best track on the record is also the first one you hear (attention album makers – this is always a smart move). “Dog Days” has a choral, sing-a-long power to it, as well as a lean-forward energy that fills you with a good kind of restless.

“Hard to Love” follows hard immediately thereafter. It is a song about how the narrator likes a little drama in their relationships. Or as Dehd characterizes it:

“Won't catch me goin' on about where the good men gone
Give me someone rough and tumble, someone hard to love
Gotta love the good men, but that ain't what I want
Give me someone rough and tumble
Someone hard to love”

It is a song that opts for chemistry and passion over peace of mind.

My biggest issue with the record is the lack of track listing on the back of the digipack. At first I thought it was just my red/blue colour blindness hiding the text, but nope – there’s nothing on the back cover than an unfortunate stain picked up from my wet kitchen counter. Is it so much to list the songs, Dehd!

Otherwise, this is an excellent record that holds up through multiple listening experiences (a workout, in the car, and finally on fancy headphones at home) with equal grace.

Best tracks:  Dog Days, Hard to Love, Necklace, Dist B, Don’t Look Down, Knife

CD Odyssey Disc 1756 Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway

I’m just back from a whirlwind overnight trip to Vancouver exclusively to see Molly Tuttle live. I’ve reviewed the concert immediately following the album it was supporting so scroll down past the studio album review if you can’t wait to hear how it went.

Disc 1756 is…. City of Gold

Artist: Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway

Year of Release: 2023

What’s up with the Cover? Gee…that’s nice.

That’s a guitar player joke for those in the know.

For those not in the know, Molly is looking halfway between dangerous and fabulous with a dark sunglasses stare-down and silver sparkly suit. Approach at your own peril, because this woman will play over you like a white freightliner.

That’s a Molly Tuttle joke, for those in the know.

How I Came To Know It: I’ve been a fan of Molly Tuttle since discovering her through a Paste Magazine list of folk musicians I should know back in 2019. I’ve learned early on that just buying her record when it is released is a good idea, which is what I did for “City of Gold”.

How It Stacks Up: I have five Molly Tuttle albums (three solo, and two with her backing band, Golden Highway). Of those five, “City of Gold” comes in at #3. There is zero shame in this, because even at #3 “City of Gold” was still one of the best records of 2023. That’s how good Molly Tuttle records are.

Ratings: 4 stars but almost 5

Molly Tuttle was a revelation when she was a solo artist, but since she added the Golden Highway backing band she’s taken things to whole new levels of musical accomplishment. She and these four stalwarts are dripping in talent, and the songs are played in a way that squeezes every bit of excellence out of them.

"City of Gold” is the second album with Golden Highway, and while it is a slight step down in terms of song quality, it is the kind of step down that you’d need the camera they use at the end of a horse race to notice. By which I mean, this record is a f***-ton of awesome.

Things start on a high point with “El Dorado” a song about the California gold rush and a host of characters that leap off the page. This tune is cowritten with Old Crow Medicine Show’s frontman Ketch Secor, who also co-wrote many of the songs on Tuttle’s previous record. Whatever alchemy is at work, Tuttle and Secor excel when writing together. Her earlier stuff is a bit more introspective, but with Secor’s influence you get a lot more “cut loose” kind of vibe. Not necessarily better, but definitely more energetic.

Much like the musicianship, the characters on El Dorado come at you fast and furious, with each stanza telling the tale of how this rogue’s gallery of characters each meat their (mostly bad) fates. My favourite is Snake Oil Jake:

“Stay away from Snake Oil Jake, he'll fool you with a fountain pen
One look in his eyes, you'll be hypnotized, he's got that sleight-of-hand
He's sleek and fat like an old tom cat, they say he has nine lives
But Snake Oil Jake sure met his fate when they shot him down ten times”

Another favourite is “Alice in the Bluegrass” a song that cleverly converts Alice in Wonderland into a metaphor for the love of all things bluegrass. Tuttle also digs into the drug-references in the original story, and salts chemically altered states throughout the song. The record has plenty of drug references, including a direct plea for full marijuana legalization on “Down Home Dispensary.” Not something you see on your average bluegrass record, but Tuttle is not your average bluegrass player.

As noted earlier, in Golden Highway Tuttle has curated some of the finest bluegrass musicians in the land, and she puts them to good use on every single tune. Every song is different, but one thing they share are unapologetic solos that showcase that talent. You wouldn’t need this – just them playing things tight as hell through the melody would be enough to impress – but rarely will you encounter this many solos and tire of none of them.

And fear not early lovers of her solo work, you will get plenty of Tuttle guitar work to thrill and amaze you. Tuttle is tied with Mark Knopfler for my all-time favourite guitar player. Yes, all time. Even more than Buck Dharma. None better. You could enjoy “City of Gold” simply to witness her mastery of the instrument, but you won’t have to. You’ll get all of that, plus four other musical masters, all playing some of the finest songs you’ll hear in this or any other genre.

Best tracks:  El Dorado, Where Did All the Wild Things Go, Next Rodeo, Alice in the Bluegrass, Down Home Dispensary

The Concert – August 1, 2024 at the Hollywood Theatre, Vancouver

Not many artists will have me shell out hundreds of dollars and a bunch of vacation time to fly to Vancouver mid-week to see them, but as you could likely predict from the review above, Molly Tuttle is on that list. I was still smarting from missing her by a single day in Seattle, and I was determined to not miss her again.

The show was at a venue I’d never been to before – a converted movie theatre in Kitsilano called the Hollywood Theatre”. Coming in you are greeted by the old-school popcorn concession, but once you come around the corner you see they’ve hollowed out the room, leaving about 1/3 of the seating intact along the sides, and a big empty space for dancin’ and drinkin’, but most for listenin’.

I had expected the crowd to be about 50% bearded oldsters who love bluegrass and 50% young hipsters discovering the music for the first time. The actual split was more like 75/25 but otherwise it was as anticipated. Everyone was well-behaved, although as a seated person I did not love the tall young ‘uns standing in my field of vision. I guess it’s not their fault they’re tall. With the exception of one or two overly enthusiastic original hippies, the crowd had a great vibe. OK, even the hippies had a good vibe, although I would not have minded to slightly less interpretive dancing on their part.

Before I get to the music, a shout-out to the merch table, which had not one, not two, but three different t-shirts, all in my size. I would have loved to have the tour dates on the back of one of them, but I won’t quibble. Merch success!

The Lonesome Town Painters

The opening act was a local band from East Van called the Lonesome Town Painters. These gents were VERY traditional bluegrass. Before the show I spotted one in the audience, and assumed it was a fan dressed up like Bill Monroe. Turns out, they all dressed that way.

They played old standards, and while they weren’t vocal legends, they worked hard at delivering good harmonies and their joy for the music was evident. They also did a number of original compositions that were just as good as the traditional numbers, particularly a funny song called “I’m Sorry” which made it clear the narrator was not at all sorry. The banjo player joked he wrote it for his wife.

The banjo player was the class of the band, and his solos were a cut above the rest, although everyone played well. I wasn’t sufficiently inspired to be their records or merch (best banter line “we don’t have someone watch our merch table, so if you took anything, please come around and meet us after the set to pay for it”) but they were fun and set a good tone.

Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway

• Bronwyn Keith-Hynes – fiddle
• Kyle Tuttle (no relation) – banjo
• Molly Tuttle – guitar and vocals
• Shelby Means – bass
• Dominick Leslie – mandolin

I’m starting with that lineup shout out, because this band is a true band in every sense of the word. Tuttle could just be famous in her own right as one of the greatest guitar players in history, but she’s subverted that call to ego to create something infinitely greater – a super band.

The way they set up shows what to expect from the get-go, lined up equally across the stage in a phalanx of sound. They hit the stage giving each other knowing smiles of “we got this” and immediately launched without a word into a three song mini-set starting with “El Dorado”.

I had seen them play live on many a Youtube clip and so was expecting be blown away by how good they were, but even that couldn’t prepare me for how fucking good they were.

Every song had some form of bluegrass noodle (for those unfamiliar, bluegrass doesn’t just do a single solo – everyone gets a turn except the bass player, and even they get a turn about every fourth song). Sound like it would annoy you? Wrong! I sat enraptured the whole time, my ears having a hard time comprehending how good it was as it washed through me.

Yes, I was there to see Tuttle wail, and wail she did. Watching the finger dexterity required to drop the furious guitar work she delivers is a visual thrill, but to hear it3D in all its live glory was transcendent. She also sang incredibly well, and I was reminded that her guitar work can make it easy to forget what a talented vocalist she is as well.

A highlight was a call-and-answer bit between Tuttle’s guitar and Bronwyn Keith-Hynes fiddle, as they took turns playing off one another, entering some level of creativity I don’t have the musical education to describe other than I loved it.

The setlist was brilliant as well, featuring a good mix of mostly music from their last two records, plus some well-placed covers. Standouts included a “bluegrassed” cover of Olivia Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U” and a rendition of Neil Young’s “Helpless” that had the fans singing along in full throat on the chorus.

My favourite was “Crooked Tree” a song about being unabashedly unique that always puts a lump in my throat, but even more so live.

Also, if you are wondering if bass player Shelby Means is as cool as she looks in that sparkly top and dark sunglasses, the answer is yes. She exudes cool, and after each solo flashed a subtle smile that delivered a “nailed it!” vibe that was entirely justifiable.

My only regret was Tuttle did one solo song that was taken as a request from shout outs from the crowd. In these moments I am often paralyzed with wanting to shout out the perfect choice and by the time I had rallied myself and as set to bellow my request for “Good Enough” she’d already selected a much-less creative choice for a request for “She’s a Rainbow”. Of course Molly nailed it, but my choice was better. Woulda, coulda, shoulda…

Tuttle and the band played for well over 90 minutes and the energy just grew and grew the whole time. When the lights came on, I felt a bit sad that it was over, but mostly I felt flush with the knowledge that I’d witnessed greatness. 5 stars, and one of the top 5 concerts I’ve ever seen.

CD Odyssey Disc 1755: Pearl Jam

I’m tired and really want to just couch surf and watch the Olympics until I fall asleep. However, I am ready to move on and the rules say that’s not possible until I write the review. Rules are rules, monkey! Also, music is the best!

Disc 1755 is…. Dark Matter

Artist: Pearl Jam

Year of Release: 2024

What’s up with the Cover? The Eye of Sauron, if the Dark Lord of Mordor was a math nerd.

Alternatively, this could be an early example of an incandescent light bulb if it were powered by…the dark forces of the One Ring of Power!

OK, OK. Maybe it is just a laser light show at a perfectly ordinary rock concert where the lead singer is…the Mouth of Sauron!

Hey, don’t blame me. Blame this cover. And maybe those cable movie channel guys who put the Lord of the Rings movies on constant rotation.

How I Came To Know It: I’m a longtime fan of the band, and tend to buy their records when they release them.

How It Stacks Up: I have 13 Pearl Jam albums. This likely means I should hire a hobbit burglar for good luck. Not counting the hobbit, I rank “Dark Matter” at #10, displacing 2020’s “Gigaton” in the process. Here’s the full list, since I have once again reviewed the full collection.

Also, an update – it was brought to my attention that I may have underrated their eponymous “Avocado” record. I have gone back, checked the tape and upon further review…I agree. I’ve moved it up one spot:

1. Yield: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 464)
2. Ten: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 153)
3. Vs.: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 46)
4. Riot Act: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 1113)
5. Lost Dogs: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 109)
6. Vitalogy: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 457)
7. Self-Titled: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 327)
8. Lightning Bolt: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 972)
9. No Code: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 805)
10. Dark Matter: 3 stars (reviewed right here)
11. Gigaton: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 1435)
12. Backspacer: 2 stars (reviewed at Disc 45)
13. Binaural: 2 stars (reviewed at Disc 1478)

Ratings: 3 stars

I’ll be honest – I wasn’t in the mood for Pearl Jam when I rolled this album. I knew I liked “Dark Matter” on my first listen, and had high hopes for rounds two, three and beyond, but I just wasn’t feeling the grunge this week. For all that, the record was able to win me over and establish its place as worthy in the crowded field of excellence that is the career of Pearl Jam.

“Dark Matter” is very much a return to the old ways, and sounds more like Pearl Jam in their mid-career, minus some of the weirder experimentation they used to throw in. I was never a big fan of all the crazy left turns in their music, and preferred when they just hit a groove and rocked out. In that way, “Dark Matter” did not disappoint, finding the middle of the road in Pearl Jam’s classic grunge-groove, and riding it right down the centre line. You shouldn’t expect something new and creatively different on this record, but what they do they do very well, once again.

Eddie Vedder’s vocals have held up well against Father Time even as he closes in on sixty. That signature back of the throat rock croon – often imitated, never matched – remains the star of the show. He no longer blows the doors off, but he’s more of a veteran on how to use it now, relying a bit more on phrasing to land the emotional gravitas than just raw power.

“Dark Matter” is a great driving record, with lots of up-tempo groove, with a layered production that lets you surf the wave equally well no matter where in the mix your ear decides to latch on.

The songwriting is solid throughout. I admit I didn’t dive into the lyrics in that deep way that a Pearl Jam song requires. Sure Vedder’s emotional stream-of-consciousness can sometimes leave you confused, but that’s part of the journey. Instead, to my shame, I skated across the top a bit, but when I did dive in on some of the better tracks like “Wreckage” and “Scared of Fear,” I was not disappointed.

They also get their funk shoes on, with the title track having a steel spring like reverb that makes you want to take corners too fast on a motorcycle, or maybe go hang-gliding. Dangerously close to out of control, but holding one through sheer centrifugal force and a few well-placed melodic up-drafts.

Despite this album being squarely in the centre of their sound, they manage to put out feelers into other styles. “Running” is punk adjacent, screeching and clawing away with wild abandon and “Something Special” has a bit of alt-country in its bones that made me want to hear it re-recorded with some steel guitar. Sadly, the boys stick with the rock and the roll, but it is still good.

We’ve become a bit spoiled by Pearl Jam’s greatness over the years, and it makes it easy to affect a yawn when they deliver a great song, but I encourage listeners to take “Dark Matter” on its own merits as much as you can. Don’t be that dick who goes on about how you prefer their earlier records. We all like those records and liking them to the exclusion of anything that comes after doesn’t make you special in the least. Branch out and give this new experience a listen or two. It’s worth it.

Best tracks:  Scared of Fear, Wreckage, Dark Matter, Setting Sun

CD Odyssey Disc 1754: The Wooden Sky

This next album has been in my collection for over a decade. It’s been seven years and a day since I last reviewed this band and when this one is done, I’ll still only be 60% of the way through their records. That’s why fifteen years into the CD Odyssey it is important to remember it is about the journey, not the destination.

Disc 1754 is…Every Child a Daughter, Every Moon a Sun

Artist: The Wooden Sky

Year of Release: 2012

What’s up with the Cover? The silhouettes of the band stand on a desolate and misty plain, the shades of old buildings casting their ghostly edifices looming over them.

As you can see from the smudge in the upper right corner, my copy of this disc is not “mint” – the victim of an ill-advised price tag choice on a cardboard cover. Let’s see the bright side and call this “patina”.

How I Came To Know It: This was my first Wooden Sky album, and I discovered it after reading a review and listening to the song “Child of the Valley” which is folk beauty at its finest.

How It Stacks Up: I have four Wooden Sky albums (and I parted company with a fifth after reviewing it). Of those five, “Every Child…” (I’m not typing the whole thing) comes in squarely in the middle at #3.

Rating: 3 stars but almost 4

I’ll just come out and say it – I overplayed this record when I got it. I had a lot less music back then and this one enraptured me to the point that I overdid it. Then I did the same with the other Wooden Sky albums I quickly gobbled up. I played this stuff to anyone who would listen, and spent many a day painting, walking or lazing about to these tunes.

“Every Child…” wasn’t even the best the band had to offer and that fact, plus all that overplay, means over the past several years it gets taken out for a spin much more infrequently than it deserves. For this reason, it was a welcome random event that brought me back together with this old friend.

If you don’t remember from my last review seven years ago, the Wooden Sky are a Canadian Indie folk band. An early example of a sound that has since taken off and split into a dozen sub-genres. If you read this blog often you’ll know I’ve chased down many of those later trails over the years, and it was comforting to return to this earlier example of the style.

“Every Child…” is the band’s third full length record, following after a couple of tour EPs that didn’t catch my attention. EPs are all the rage now with bands that want their singles out on streaming services before they’ve come up with a full record of material. I don’t like the trend, but kudos to the Wooden Sky for identifying it early.

Three records in, the band opts for a denser production. Their arrangements were always on the lush side for folk tunes, but they double down here with a lot of layers. It’s great for headphones as you can explore the songs from multiple angles. It is less good in a growly sportscar where all that nuanced sound goes – literally – out the window.

The band is a classic example of the whole being more than the sum of the parts, where none of the players feel the need to show off, happy to contribute to the overall vibe of each tune (bluegrass, it is not). The whole of it is anchored by the vocals of Gavin Gardiner, who has a sorrowful warble that suits the band’s style well.

That style is heavy with emotion, and on “Every Child…” they double down on themes of sadness and isolation. Songs like “The Night Goes On and On” and “It Gets Old to be Alone” exemplify the experience. The former has our narrator staring at the stars and feeling insignificant, and on the latter we’ve moved inside where the sense of isolation is even more profound. Here’s a sample:

“You hid your voice behind some
Convoluted cry
I wrote your name across my arm
But you still won't come inside
It gets old
To be alone”

Later, on “Your Fight Will Not Be Long” we get reflections on the end-of-life illness which even after a hundred listens remains a hard listen.

The boys give true romance a try on “Take Me Out” an effort at a fifties crooner/slow dance tune that they warble up, Wooden Sky-style. It works well, and given the depressing tunes surrounding it, is a welcome balm that reminds us that deep down, these songs are less expressions of fear and doubt, and more romantic yearnings for connection.

There are places on the record where the band gets a bit too “Greg Keelor goes off” for my tastes, creating a wall of folk-noise that would have been better if they’d just relaxed into the melody a bit more. Overall, however, this is a solid record and one that helped open up a world of music for me to explore all those years ago.

Best tracks: Child of the Valley, Angelina, It Gets Old to Be Alone, Your Fight Will Not Be Long, The Night Goes On and On

CD Odyssey Disc 1753: Mary Timony

Every alternate review I pick a record that is “new to me” and this usually keeps the “new to me” section of my collection under a reasonable amount of control. Lately, it is far from under control, and beginning to spill off the sides of the shelf. Corrective action is needed.

Sure, I could just review only albums from the “new to me” section, thus doubling the draw-down, but that would take away the fun of locating those long-forgotten gems in the main stacks. No thank you!

Instead, I’m going to slow down and buy a few fewer records over the next few weeks while I catch up on all the listening. After all, the listening is the fun part.

Disc 1753 is…Untame the Tiger

Artist: Mary Timony

Year of Release: 2024

What’s up with the Cover? Mary Timony’s Giant Head, but this cover has far too much going on to be just another Giant Head Cover. We’ve got three multi-coloured gems, the Helmet of Hermes (likely magical), the Thirteen of Spades (n.b. not a card), and two tigers which, we must assume, are untamed.

How I Came To Know It: Timony dabbles in a lot of musical projects, and I am a fan of one of them (rock band Ex Hex – who you can read about more on my review of their album “Rips” at Disc 1332). This meant I was always going to give Timony’s solo stuff a chance.

How It Stacks Up: This is my only Mary Timony album, so it can’t really stack up. It does rank higher than both Ex Hex records in my collection, however.

Rating: 4 stars

How a record released in February can be such a perfect summer jam is beyond me, but for the past two days “Untame the Tiger” has been grooving me through a July heatwave with sublime intensity.

Timony is known for her guitar playing, and I have never heard her play better than she does on this record. The best part is how unhurried she sounds. These songs groove along like late sixties/early seventies FM radio classics, pumping out tunes that reminded me of jean cutoffs, coolers full of beers and braver kids than me jumping off cliffs into the lake to cool off. Always full of energy, never restless as a result.

The musical structures are a throwback to a bygone era of rock and roll, when songs were whatever length the groove told them to be. No judgment, just timeless rock and roll. None of these tunes sound like radios singles. Instead, they are a collection of every 45 B-Side you ever loved more than the A.  Mellow, but so full of the feels that you just bask in them and rock out, unhurried and happy.

“Untame the Tiger” may be the first time I gave a whole bonus star just for the tone of the guitar. I already knew Timony was great from her work with Ex Hex, but here she strips things down a few layers and lets the guitar carry even more of the load. That tone is so rich and full and warm that just listening will give you a golden-brown tan. Don’t worry about getting burned – it ain’t that kind of hot, baby. All the songs are facets of that glorious tone, but the best example is the title track. Never has a tiger been untamed more gracefully.

Don’t expect any of these songs to be particularly complicated. These are just rock songs, played with excellence and honesty. The structures don’t break new ground. The opening track “No Thirds” may or may not have any thirds in its structure. I’d like to think it doesn’t but I’m way too rusty (and was never any good) at decoding music anyway. It does sound free easy and natural, and that’s what the record is all about, thirds or otherwise.

Like a lot of tracks, it also features a lot of heavy summer sun imagery, mixed in with lyrics that speak of loss and loneliness. It is just that with that guitar tone keeping you company, it is hard to feel alone. It wraps itself around you for a nice long walk on the beach with nowhere to go, nowhere to be, and no reason to care.

Best tracks: No Thirds, Summer, The Guest, Untame the Tiger

CD Odyssey Disc 1752: The Growlers

After a long day in the sun and a few too many cocktails I awoke this morning with a head full of cotton batting. This too, shall pass. While I wait for that happy occasion, let’s talk music, shall we?

Disc 1752 is…City Club

Artist: The Growlers

Year of Release: 2016

What’s up with the Cover?  Outside a club. Based on the thinning crowds and desultory vibe I’d guess this is about 30 minutes after the lights have come up. There are people heading home, people hooking up and people chatting in the hopes that a hook up is still in the cards.

It looks to be a shit neighbourhood, and I encourage everyone here to get home safe. Even that guy in the Miami Vice white suit situation, who looks like a total douche.

How I Came To Know It: Sheila and I were planning a trip to San Francisco about seven years ago and we were looking for bands we might enjoy seeing while we were there. This involved me exploring a whole bunch of different bands who happened to be playing, and the best one I found was the Growlers.

We didn’t see them, though.  They were sold out and we went to the Frances Luke Accord instead, who were also good (review at Disc 1051).

How It Stacks Up: I have three albums by the Growlers. “City Club” is in a statistical tie for first with “Chinese Fountain” but since you don’t not-pay me to equivocate, I’ll put “City Club” second. Listen to both and decide for yourselves. Here’s the full list, since this is my last Growlers review in my collection, at least for now:

1. Chinese Fountain: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 1091)
2. City Club: 4 stars (reviewed right here)
3. Natural Affair: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 1496)

Rating: 4 stars

There is a lot going on with “City Club”, multiple beats, grooves, thumps, riffs all dancing with each other. It would feel like a late-night jam session if it weren’t so damned tight and deliberate. Instead, it is an orchestra of cool, and you’re invited into the pit to experience it in 3-D.

The Growlers call this auditory soup “Beach Goth” and I can’t think of a better name for it. Beach because the whole thing feels laid back and chill. Goth because it is mysterious and dark in its delivery. The beach at night, full moon, sans bonfire.

“City Club” feels like the soundtrack to one of those movies where all the action happens in a single night, and the plot gets crazier and crazier with each passing hour. Streetlights surrounded by clouds of moths, neon buzzing, steam coming up from manhole covers, and random weirdos sauntering and swaying down the sidewalk.

Presiding over all this crazy groove are the sleazy swagger vocals of lead singer Brooks Nielsen. He’s a bit nasally and he won’t bowl you over with power, but he is exactly what this kind of music needs. You can sink into the beat and tap your toes or you can float lazily about it all by focusing on Nielsen. He doesn’t tell stories so much as he paints evocative scenes and then encourages you to wax philosophical over what you see.

This existential angst threads itself through the lyrics. Saddest (and most beautiful) is the broken relationship described in “When You Were Made”:

“His old boots finally wore out
And the fire in his belly faded
Her supple breasts sadly sagged
As her tender heart grew jaded

“A life of love is a long time
When you know that it's only one time”

A small comfort is provided in the song’s refrain of “they were in love when you were made”. Just not anymore.

The end effect is a record you can enjoy in multiple ways. It is good for a dance, a thoughtful wallow or even a drive, and it gets better the more you listen, each time exploring a new element. I started with the unique tone of Nielsen’s voice, then I went to the drum beat, then the groove. The lyrics came last, which is not common for me, as that’s usually where I start.

Whatever order you choose to explore “City Club” you’ll enjoy the journey from start to finish.

Best tracks: City Club, I’ll Be Around, Vacant Lot, When You Were Made, Rubber & Bone

CD Odyssey Disc 1751: Amy Speace

I made it out for a run and a workout today, which always does wonders for my mood. Fresh air and exercise - the secret that’s not a secret.

Disc 1751 is…There Used to be Horses Here

Artist: Amy Speace with the Orphan Brigade

Year of Release: 2021

What’s up with the Cover?  I’m not much of an equestrian (I have ridden horses, but it was a long time ago), but based on the album title I’m going to suggest this building is an abandoned stable.

Why do I think it is abandoned? Reading comprehension.

How I Came To Know It: I read a review back in 2021 and it sounded interesting. This was my first encounter with Amy Speace, but the record ended up being harder to get than I expected, and I only found it a couple weeks ago.

How It Stacks Up: I now have four Amy Speace albums (and I am on the lookout for three more). Of the four I have this one comes in last.

Rating: 2 stars but almost 3

Lots of the best folk music features songs about very little. Pastoral scenes, and ruminations on family, friends, and local travails of regular folks living regular lives. Amy Speace’s “There Used to be Horses” takes this exact approach. Unfortunately, while there are a couple of gems, there were also large stretches where these stories just come out…boring.

Speace shines brightest when she’s recalling good memories and framing them in the context of loss. Listening to these standouts I was reminded of Tennyson’s line from In Memoriam “the past will always win/A glory from its being far”.

The first and best song is the title track, with evocative stanzas like:

“There used to be horses here
My father knew the owner from church
They’ve torn down the old brick house
Now there’s just a big hole in the earth”

Accompanied by a tune that isn’t so much of a gallop, as the ghost of a gallop. Well played, Amy.

Later, on “Shotgun Hearts” Speace sings about the wild abandon of youth. The narrator, seeing a man on the train that reminds her of a breathless all-night affair, is pulled back in time. The song is partly a celebration, but there is an undertone of loss that feels less about that one moment, and more about all the long years that have passed since.

Unfortunately, that’s the majority of the good stuff. On most of the tracks I found myself fading in and out, with a recurring desire to change the channel (which as we know from Odyssey Rule #3, is not allowed).

These lesser songs felt like an after-school special where kids and grandmas learn valuable lessons from one another on the wisdom in being old or young. Or maybe a low budget romance movie on the W. network where the characters are all florists, art-dealers and chocolatiers.

It was not all bad, though. Speace knows how to write a song, and her rich vocals compare favourably with other folk/country crossover artists like Mary Chapin Carpenter. It is pleasant just to hear her sing, and she has a strong sense of phrasing that lends story to tunes that, many of which, have used more story.

Instead, once we’re done with mass transit love affairs and absent horses, we’re left with a whole lot of songs about fathers and mothers, and growing up and all those basic themes I noted in the lede. I know from other reviews that these topics deeply resonated with Speace at the time, who had just become a mother and lost a father. Unfortunately while the feelings are genuine the songs don’t do the depths of emotion justice. When she does stretch into metaphor on “Mother is a Country” it comes across strained.

The record recovers with a third great song right at the end, with a cover of Warren Zevon’s “Don’t Let Us Get Sick”. Touching and raw in equal measure, Speace sings this song with simple and honest grace.

So a bit of column A and a bit of column B, but overall I don’t think there is enough here to keep this record. I will send it on its way to a better home than mine.

Best tracks: There Used to be Horses Here, Shotgun Hearts, Don’t Let Us Get Sick

CD Odyssey Disc 1750: Neil Young

Welcome back to the CD Odyssey. I’m up early to seize the weekend. I had planned to watch the women’s Wimbledon final live but missed it by…that much.

So, having spoiled the outcome (I turned the TV on during the trophy ceremony) I will return to the safe and welcoming arms of music.

Disc 1750 is…Freedom

Artist: Neil Young

Year of Release: 1989

What’s up with the Cover?  Neil Young, 43 years old here but with a haggard look that suggests closer to 58.

“Yeah,” Neil retorts, “but the hat suggests youth and enthusiasm.”

No, Neil, it does not.

How I Came To Know It: I’ve been a Neil Young fan for years and have a lot of his records. This is one of ‘em. I knew the song “Rockin’ in the Free World” and also “Wrecking Ball” so it was a bit of a known quantity.

How It Stacks Up: I have (or have had) 24 Neil Young albums. This may seem like a lot but it is only slightly more than half of his studio albums. Neil is prolific. Of the 24, I’ve sold two, and three others remain unreviewed. One of those is #1, and the other two I’m not sure. For now, “Freedom” comes in at 14 but it could be as low as 18 on a good day, as it sits equal among many other “good, not great” Neil Young records.

Rating: 3 stars

In Ang Lee’s Incredible Hulk movie soldiers have a code to alert everyone that Hulk has escaped a military facility and is on a rampage. The line is “angry man is on the loose” and it applies well to Neil Young’s “Freedom”.

“Freedom” is Neil at his angriest. Not that Neil was ever going to be a fan of the vibe the 1980s gave off, but it is clear by 1989 that he’s fed up and not going to take it anymore. The result is an album that mixes angry hard rock, mixed with stark and stripped-down tales of love and loss.

The record gets off to a rocky start, with a loose and ranging live version of “Rockin’ in the Free World”. Halfway through I started doubting why I had ever loved the song. The production is hollow, with distracting background cheers that make it feel like it was recorded on someone’s phone at a festival, and that person is now making you watch it.

The problem is not the song, however, it’s that live version. The record ends with the studio version and it is just as amazing as I remember it, with its distressing observations of homelessness, poverty, and drug abuse wrapped up ironically in patriotic imagery of freedom. For Neil, rocking in the free world looks a lot like fiddling while Rome burns.

“Crime in the City (Sixty to Zero Pt. 1)” doubles down on Neil’s “life sucks” vibe. It’s nine minutes long and ranges through crooked cops, good cops struggling, and evil record producers looking to take advantage of starving artists. It is just generally depressing throughout, but they strong lyrics and insistent and intricate guitar work together make the depression a joy to listen to. Mostly. Three minutes in a noodling saxophone makes an appearance that is unwelcome.

Other than that saxophone, Neil mostly avoids the late eighties production challenges that beset so many other artists around this time. The record doesn’t have a lot of bottom end, but it avoids the tinny sound of the time, and the lightness of the mix matches well with Neil’s airy vocal style.

While the record features a lot of poverty and social criticism, Neil at his heart is a romantic, and there are some touching love songs. “Hangin’ on a Limb” and “Wrecking Ball” are both slow, deeply vulnerable songs, featuring lovers who cleave to one another through hard times. “Hangin’ on a Limb” is lifted by the guest vocals of Linda Ronstadt. “Wrecking Ball” would be beautifully remade by Emmylou Harris on her 1995 album of the same name. Neil’s version is great, although no one can compete with Emmylou’s quaver, and most people probably associate the song with her at this point.

Despite plenty of good songs, and some great guitar work, at 60 minutes the record tends to drag in places. This could be easily solved by killing the live version of “Free World” and maybe cutting down on the over six minute long “No More.” No more isn’t quite enough of a directive here, Neil. Think in terms of less.

However, overall this is a solid effort, and while there were times when I wanted Neil to lighten up, that’s not the kind of record this is.

Best tracks: Crime in the City, Hangin’ on a Limb, On Broadway, Wrecking Ball, Rockin’ in the Free World (studio version)

CD Odyssey Disc 1749: In This Moment

For the second time in three albums, the CD Odyssey has provided some heavy metal with a female lead singer. Cool!

Disc 1749 is…A Star-Crossed Wasteland

Artist: In This Moment

Year of Release: 2010

What’s up with the Cover?  Even after the apocalypse there is still an opportunity for beauty. Sure the city in the background is destroyed and the conditions of those tracks suggests the trains are no longer running on time (or at all).

Despite that you can still get around by horse (if you can catch one) and with nuclear winter finally ending some sunlight has pushed through and caused that lovely tree to bloom. Ah…the apocalypse; so peaceful, so restful.

How I Came To Know It: My coworker Gerad has a niece that is a fan, and so I heard about In This Moment from her, through him (I’ve never met her). This was just me digging into their back catalogue after thoroughly enjoying 2012’s “Blood” (reviewed back at Disc 1684).

How It Stacks Up: I have four In This Moment albums. “A Star-Crossed Wasteland” is #3.

Rating: 3 stars

There’s a lot of screaming. That’s the first thing to know about In This Moment. It is very viscerally powerful, invigorating, empowering screaming, but it is screaming nonetheless.

That In This Moment lead singer Maria Brink can scream this loud and make it musical is the essence of her diabolical talent. Like a stadium full of fans cheering on their favourite team, In This Moment takes animalistic emotion and converts it to an anthem that lifts you up.

I know we’re into the third paragraph of the narrative at this point, so if you haven’t picked up on this being heavy metal please be formally warned at this time. This is heavy metal, and it isn’t your grandmother’s heavy metal (you know, Cream). This is modern metal, with thump and crunch to spare.

I am a long-time metal fan, but there are times when A Star-Crossed Wasteland was a bit too much for me. They have no reservations about throwing in multiple layers of sound and the result can be a very dense production that would usually put me off. There were times where it did put me off, but for the most part I just surrendered to the primal power of it all. I couldn’t sing along (frankly, how Brink’s vocal chords aren’t shredded bloody ribbons is a minor miracle) but I loved letting the experience wash over me.

The record starts with a bang (metaphorically and literally) with “The Gun Show”. Brink welcomes us to the gun show, but it isn’t some dude flexing his muscles. It could be about sex, and it could be about some Western-inspired post-apocalyptic confrontation, or it could be both. I think it is both. I just know when Brink welcomes you to the gun show, you are glad you…er…came.

The other star on this album is Jeff Fabb on drums. Fabb is fabulous, with a sharp snap to his playing that can turn into furiously precise rhythmic attacks at any moment. There are plenty of great moments, but I was particularly partial to his work on “Standing Alone” which has an eclectic mix of “hey, a marching band!” and “double-bass assault!”.

The album isn’t perfect. On “The Promise” we have Brink duetting with guest vocalist Adrian Patrick of the band “Otherwise”. I don’t know that band but listening to him struggle to keep up with Brink’s power made me decide to feel otherwise about checking him out further.

There are also times when Brink’s snarl is so close to insanity that the lyrics are hard to pick up, but here it is more of a feature than a bug. She’s so damned energized the words are secondary to the emotion they are transmitting – mostly a whole lot of aggression, passion and some of that classic Wendy O. Williams “It’s my life, and I’ll do what I like” kind of F off vibe.

The record ends with “World in Flames,” a power ballad that is at odds with all the scream and furor that precedes it. However, it is just the right palate cleanser to end with. Lest you think Brink is a one trick pony as a vocalist, on “World in Flames” she shows she is perfectly capable of holding big notes, and belting out a melody that feels the feels. A lot of the songs that precede this one are about burning it all down, but here Brink says she’ll stick with her partner even if everything burns around them. It’s positively romantic, and a reminder that all this time she wasn’t screaming at you, she was screaming with you.

Best tracks: The Gun Show, Standing Alone, A Star-Crossed Wasteland, Blazin’, World of Flames

CD Odyssey Disc 1748: Cut Worms

Greetings, gentle readers and my apologies for my long absence. It has been a busy week, and this next record was very long so getting in full listens took a lot more out of my day than usual.

I’ve been watching documentaries lately that feature a lot of gambling, so let’s set an over/under of 2.5 for this review for “number of times I diss the Beatles.” Wagers set? OK, off we go…

Disc 1748 is…Nobody Lives Here Anymore

Artist: Cut Worms

Year of Release: 2020

What’s up with the Cover?  Creepy window picture. Here we have a guy who looks to be cleaning the window with a paper towel. Probably wiping down the blood from the family he’s murdered. Hence the album title…

Creepy window album covers are their own sub-genre. Marissa Nadler lightly dabbles on “July” (Disc 1314) and Opeth does it twice. Once on “Ghost Reveries (Disc 1083) and again (with an extra helping of creepsauce) on Watershed (not reviewed yet, but you can see the cover here).

How I Came To Know It: I read a review and gave it a listen and…here we are. It’s more fun when someone recommends an artist (because people are fun!) but more often than not it is just my own natural love of musical discovery.

How It Stacks Up: I have two Cut Worms albums, and “Nobody Lives Here Anymore” is the better of the two.

Rating: 3 stars but almost 4

Cut Worms is not a band, but one of those hipster musicians who like to give themselves stage names that make it sound like they’re a band. In this case it is singer-songwriter Max Clarke. This naming convention not my favourite trend in music. I feel like if a boring old name was good enough for Gene Clark back in 1974 it should be good enough for Max a few decades later.

It isn’t important what Cut Worms calls himself, it is what his music is like that matters. Here, Gene Clark is once again relevant, only this time it is stylistically. Cut Worms music has a wistful jangle halfway between folk and rock that is reminiscent of any number of late sixties and early seventies bands like the Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers and their spinoff acts like Gram Parsons and, yes, Gene Clark.

I love this sound, so this is a feature not a bug. It also makes Cut Worms have a timeless quality, like it could have come out in 1974, 2024 or anywhere in between. His voice would fit right in with those folks as well. He sings mostly in his head voice, with a high and airy quaver which was mostly enjoyable except on some songs that ventured annoyingly into early Beatles territory, where he sounded – unfortunately – like John Lennon.

Generally, Cut Worms is better when he’s landing on the folk side of the ledger. When he gets a bit more pop the guitar has a nice “beach bum” quality to it, but the songs themselves tend to lose oomph. This is important because Cut Worms’ vocals are not going to bowl you over with power; they need all the ‘oomph’ they can muster. When they fade away a bit into the song, I sometimes would find my attention span wandering.

Lyrically, the album features a lovely assortment of delightful phrases, but I didn’t get a strong sense of narrative. More of a feeling that left me a bit uncertain and wondering where to turn. This is an interesting juxtaposition to the songs’ composition, which are well thought out and flow naturally and effortlessly. These are the kind of songs that you’ll swear you’ve heard before, but that’s just because they travel so easily. I walked, ran, drove and worked out to this record over the past seven days and it felt right in every environment.

That said, there are songs that are trying to channel early Buddy Holly. It’s a noble goal but it converts some tracks from timeless to dated (the line is thin). Much like the Beatles, Cut Worms falls short of achieving Buddy Holly’s mid-fifties magic.

“Nobody Lives Here Anymore”’ has so many great songs that it could have easily achieved 4 stars if it had just known when to say when. The record is 17 songs and a bloated 76 minutes long. Cutting just 5 or 6 tracks would have put this record into “near greatness” territory. I was tempted to give it that designation anyway, but good as it is, I didn’t want to overdo the praise. Like people do with, you know, the Beatles.

Congratulations if you bet on the over. Beatles fans – please calm down. If you’ve read my Beatles reviews you’ll know I like them just fine. Mostly.

Best tracks: The Heat is On, Last Words to a Refugee, All the Roads, Every Once in a While, Veteran’s Day, Sold My Soul, Cave of Phantoms