CD Odyssey Disc 233: Bob Dylan

This next entry is precipitating a change to Creative Maelstrom's format, albeit a minor one. For the last year or so, I've had a "best albums...so far" colum on the side, tracking the absolute best five reviews so far.

This next album belongs in there, but that would mean I'd be removing Various Positions, Who's Next, Billion Dollar Babies, Volume IV or News of The World. I'm not doing that, and I'm not excluding this record, so I'm just dumping the list. If you want to see the greatest reviews so far, just click on the 5/5 link on the side from here on in.

Disc 233 is...Blood On The Tracks
Artist: Bob Dylan

Year of Release: 1974

What’s Up With The Cover?: A drawing of Bob Dylan. This cover is OK, but I think it is the album's iconic nature that makes it so recognizeable - without the material inside the cover isn't much to talk about.

How I Came To Know It: For years I only owned one Bob Dylan album - "Times They Are A'Changin'". I liked it plenty, but I wasn't sure where to go next so one day driving with my buddy Casey (who I knew had a lot of Dylan) I asked him. He said "Blood On The Tracks" and so I took his advice, and I haven't looked back.

How It Stacks Up: I have seventeen Bob Dylan albums and this is as good as any, and better than most. I think it is likely the best, but I'd say two or three other ones are close enough to make it interesting.

Rating: 5 stars

Bob Dylan in the sixties is a can't miss proposition - even including the weakest of those records (his first) the man just delivers classic record after classic record.

This becomes less true as you enter the seventies, where you can get the occasional average offering (think "Planet Waves" for example, which I reviewed back at Disc 69).

Bob made up for "Planet Waves" on his very next release, with "Blood On The Tracks"; one of the finest records it has been my good fortune to be introduced to.

The record has all of the poetic qualities of Dylan's sixties work, and while still solidly in the folk music genre, has a bit more of a rock edge to the production. In his later years, Dylan can sometimes (often?) experiment to the point that he begins to drown his own songs in an effort to make them novel.

"Blood On The Tracks" avoids this problem, while still sounding fresh thirty-seven years after it was first released. There are so many tracks to single out, but in the interests of brevity I'll just mention a few.

The album begins with "Tangled Up In Blue", a hit that is as beautiful a song today as it was the first day I heard it - likely when I was a kid and had no idea what was going on.

What is going on is a bittersweet tale of star-crossed lovers, driven apart by circumstance:

"She was married when we first met
Soon to be divorced
I helped her out of a jam, I guess
But I used a little too much force
We drove that car as far as we could
Abandoned it out West
Split up on a dark sad night
Both agreeing it was best
She turned around to look at me
As I was walkin’ away
I heard her say over my shoulder
'We’ll meet again someday on the avenue'
Tangled up in blue"

Like most of the love songs on "Blood On the Tracks", "Tangled Up In Blue" has a constant tone of hope, but for all that it doesn't end neatly wrapped up with a bow - life is messy, and the song reflects this.

If "Blood On The Tracks" masterfully captures love, it equally delivers enmity, with "Idiot Wind", one of the best 'airing of grievances' songs I've heard:

"Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your mouth
Blowing down the backroads headin’ south
Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth
You’re an idiot, babe
It’s a wonder that you still know how to breathe"

I'm not sure who "Idiot Wind" is about, I'm just glad it isn't me. Of course, if the song is at all about music critics, then it is about me. Bob never did like critics, and I can hardly blame him. I forgive Bob even so, since this is my favourite song on the record - possibly my favourite Bob Dylan song of all time. It even alludes to one of the great country and western songs ever sung, Tex Ritter's "Blood On the Saddle". Enough said about that for now, though; I'll talk about Tex when I roll him.

The final song I'll note is so filled with great turns of phrase, I couldn't do it justice by picking one or two lines. Besides, "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" is a narrative too complicated to describe in the space afforded here. Let's just say it is about a game of cards, a heist, and an abused woman. Someone gets knifed, someone gets hanged and someone gets rich, and it all unfolds at pretty much the same time.

My copy of "Blood On The Tracks" is the remastered one, which I heartily recommend. A lot of Dylan when it was put on CD lost the more mellow, soft edges of the music, resulting in Dylan's voice sounding more screechy than even you would expect. This problem is fixed on the remasters, which sound a lot more like the original vinyl (i.e. better).

My only regret with "Blood On The Tracks" is now that it is reviewed, it will be at least a couple years before it is in my car again. That's OK, though - I'll be working it into heavy rotation on my CD carousel at home many times over before the Odyssey is over.

Best tracks: All tracks, although if I had to quibble I'd say "You're A Big Girl Now" is the runt of the litter. That leaves you nine other tracks to enjoy though, so hardly a problem.

CD Odyssey Disc 232: Elton John

Today, Sheila cleaned up the computer room and it looks great! Consequently I'm typing this review with a serene mind that comes when you declutter a room. It's like a warm bath for my gulliver!

Disc 232 is...Madman Across the Water
Artist: Elton John

Year of Release: 1971

What’s Up With The Cover?: Sometimes simple is better, and this is one of those times. I think this cover is not only self-explanatory, it is positively informative. I even like the colour palate.

How I Came To Know It: Apart from the big AM radio hit, "Tiny Dancer" I didn't know this record. This is another of Sheila's buys when she did a bit of a run on Elton John.

How It Stacks Up: We have four Elton John studio albums, all bought around the same time. I would say that "Madman Across The Water" opened its heart to me first, for which I'm thankful, but as time has gone on it has slipped slightly. I'll put it third.

Rating: 3 stars.

This early Elton John stuff keeps surprising me pleasantly. I often associated Elton John with the stuff he was doing in the eighties (like "I'm Still Standing" and "Sad Songs"). It was a negative association.

By contrast, these early albums are very good. Very folksy pop, that are artfully produced. I very much enjoyed the artful use of string sections - particularly on the timeless hit, "Tiny Dancer" which I used to mock, but I now have to admit into my guilty pleasures list.

Other standouts include "Indian Sunset" and "Holiday Inn" both side two treasures.

"Indian Sunset" is yet another song showing the British fascination for the colonization of North America. When Sheila and I visited there in 1996, I was amazed how often TV would feature some show about First Nations. My very non-researched impression is that North Americans find wild west tales most interesting, whereas British singers prefer early colonial stuff (other examples of this off the top of my head: Iron Maiden's "Run To The Hills", Queen's "White Man" and Mark Knopfler's "Sailing To Philadelphia").

"Indian Sunset" is in this tradition, as a warrior refuses to succumb to the advancing European colonists. It is a beautifully tragic tale. It begins with Elton John singing a capella and it slowly adds instruments, taking its time to arrive at its terrible conclusion as our hero acknowledges the inevitable:

"Now there seems no reason why I should carry on,
In this land that once was my land, I can't find a home.
It's lonely and it's quiet and the horse soldiers are coming
And I think it's time I strung my bow and ceased my senseless running."

At the other end of the narrative spectrum, "Holiday Inn" tells of the incredible boredom that an artist experiences on tour, where the majority of your time is spent sitting around hotel rooms waiting for the show to start, or for a plane to arrive. Taking an experience of loafing around a hotel room and making it interesting is a skill. Then again, when Sheila and I were in Miami recently, we both got sick and spent a pretty entertaining evening loafing about in ours, watching bad US TV and ill-advisedly drinking beers despite being under the weather. But I digress...

Back to the record, which while it has some gems, also delivers some coal. In particular the songs "Razor Face" and "Peaches" have some of the most obtuse and pointless lyrics in music - even after you get what they're about. In an earlier review I had blamed the lack of Bernie Taupin for these atrocities to language, but to my chagrin, the liner notes confirm Taupin was involved. Et tu, Bernie?

In conclusion, despite a couple misses, this is a solid album. I probably wouldn't have bought it on my own, but I like it being in the collection.

Best tracks: Tiny Dancer, Indian Sunset, Holiday Inn, All The Nasties

CD Odyssey Disc 231: Earle, Van Zandt and Clark

This week's album I actually brought over to a friend's place on the weekend just to share some of the tracks. Odd that it should be rolled so soon after. Coincidence or conspiracy?

Disc 231 is...Together At the Bluebird Cafe
Artist: Steve Earle, Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark

Year of Release: Even though the CD was published later, the concert was in 1995, so...1995.

What’s Up With The Cover?: A picture of our three artists. Naturally Townes Van Zandt is in the middle, and naturally he's wearing a shirt featuring playing cards. RIP, Townes.

How I Came To Know It: I saw this album in Ditch Records last year while poking around for more Townes Van Zandt albums. When I saw it had rare live tracks from Steve Earle AND Townes Van Zandt, I had to have it. Because of this record, I discovered Guy Clark - at the time as an afterthought.

How It Stacks Up: This is a live concert album, so it doesn't really stack up against the studio albums I have for the three contributors. Let's just say I like it.

Rating: 4 stars.

"Together At The Bluebird Cafe" was a benefit concert put on by Earle, Van Zandt and Clark in support of the Interfaith Dental Clinic. The Clinic provides free dental services to those who can't afford it, so it was a good cause.

Beyond this, it is a good record. I'm not a huge fan of live albums, but this is one of the better ones I've heard. It is done in a style called "in-the-round" (thanks Wikipedia) which means that the three artists just take turns singing their songs. Although I've never seen video, it sounds like they all stay on stage during each others' performance, and it is quite an intimate venue. I'd give my right arm to have seen this show live (I would've been 25).

OK, I wouldn't give my right arm - but only because I really like having two arms, but I would've liked to have seen it nevertheless.

Each player on the record relies on a single guitar, and the album is very stripped down folk country of the very best kind. Occasionally one artist will back up another, but even this is rare. I also can hear an uncredited Emmylou Harris make an appearance in the background vocals of Guy Clark's "Immigrant Eyes" (is there any album Emmylou Harris doesn't do background vocals for? I hope not...).

Earle is at his best, just having gotten straight after years of alcohol and drug abuse. Timeline wise this record is right between 1995's "Train A'Comin'" (reviewed at Disc 127) and 1996's "I Feel Alright" (reviewed way back at Disc 14). Highlights include understated and humble versions of "My Old Friend the Blues" and "Valentine's Day", and the crowd pleasing "I Ain't Ever Satisfied." This latter track Earle has in his recent tour's set list and is a great time, as he gets the audience to sing along in full throat every time. Let's just say you leave satisfied.

My favourite Earle track, though, is an acoustic version of "Copperhead Road". I've heard this done in concert as well, and I love it stripped down to a single guitar. I think it is how the song was born to be played. My only minor quibble is that for some reason Steve skips the first verse. It's the last song on the album, so maybe their rental of the Bluebird Cafe was up or something.

Van Zandt is not at the top of his game vocally, but the man writes songs that are too compelling to be denied. Also, you get a glimpse of his famous humour, with the most entertaining banter coming from him. In one story he tells of getting drunk and losing a gold tooth in a game of dice. I won't give the ending away, except to say it features vice grips and Southern Comfort.

At other times, Van Zandt's storytelling is bitter sweet. He openly admits that while some of his friends (including Steve Earle) have gotten their lives straightened out, he is still working on it. Shortly after this concert, Van Zandt would be dead, a victim of his ongoing alcohol abuse.

Since I already knew Van Zandt and Earle were great, the find on this record for me was Guy Clark. When I bought the album, Clark was basically the 'get one free' in my 'buy two' purchase. I was to be more than pleasantly surprised.

Like Townes Van Zandt, Clark is one of those singer/songwriters that musicians know and love, but aren't that commercially successful. He is a master storyteller, almost a musical Hemmingway in the way he delivers deeply evocative themes through very simple language.

Standout Guy Clark songs on the record include a song that makes you feel like you can fly ("The Cape"), and a song about the death of Clark's father called "Randall Knife" which chokes me up every time I hear it.

The one I gravitated to on this listen was "Dublin Blues", which is an exquisite song, both musically and lyrically, about the regret of lost love, and how travelling the world will only remind you that unhappiness is portable. It begins:

"I wish I was in Austin, in the Chili Parlour Bar
Drinking Mad Dog Margueritas and not carin' where you are.
But here I sit in Dublin, just rollin' cigarettes
Holdin' back and chokin' back the shakes with every breath."

Hearing Guy Clark naturally made me race out to buy something by him, but I ended up with a 1978 record that I did not enjoy. In fact, I'm selling it and it will be "Disc Not Appearing In This Blog." Fortunately, shortly thereafter, I found his 1995 album "Dublin Blues" which has the studio version of every excellent track on "Live At The Bluebird Cafe" and a few other gems besides.

One of the secrets to a good live album is capturing the right balance between performance (should be most of it) and a bit of entertaining banter (should be used judiciously but not completely ignored). This album strikes the perfect Banter Balance, and captures three artists at very interesting stages of their respective careers. It is a snapshot of musical history not to be missed.

Best tracks: So many, but I'll go with 3 from each. Steve Earle: My Old Friend The Blues, Tom Ames' Prayer and Copperhead Road. For Van Zandt: A Song For, Tecumseh Valley and Pancho and Lefty. For Clark: The Cape, Randall Knife and Dublin Blues.

CD Odyssey Disc 230: Soundtrack

The next disc is yet another foray into soundtracks - this one I've owned for a very long time.

Disc 230 is...Highway 61 Soundtrack
Artist: Various

Year of Release: 1992

What’s Up With The Cover?: Not much - it is a logo for the movie and I think it works well enough.

How I Came To Know It: Most of the time when I buy a soundtrack it is because I saw the movie and liked the music. This is a bit of an odd one. I saw a video for the song "Put Your Head On" by The Bourbon Tabernacle Choir. I loved the song but couldn't find it anywhere. I even bought the one Bourbon Tabernacle Choir album I could find, but it didn't have this single.

Then I realized it was from a soundtrack to a movie called "Highway 61", so I bought the soundtrack. Flowing from that, I shortly thereafter saw the movie, which was a strange way to back my way into a pretty enjoyable little indie film from Canada.

How It Stacks Up: I have about 23 or 24 soundtracks (depending on how I'm counting them up). "Highway 61" isn't the best, but it holds its own in the middle of the pack.

Rating: 3 stars

Since I discovered the music to "Highway 61" before I saw the movie, I'll take a novel approach here, and only discuss the movie at the end of the review, instead of the beginning, as I normally would.

The music on this album is quite a hodge podge, and seems to be selected at least in part with an eye to putting together a lot of different types of music. Though there are only 13 songs, they range from rock to folk, to pop to electronic dance music, and eventually wind up with gospel and zydeco.

The crowning achievement is "Put Your Head On" by the cleverly named The Bourbon Tabernacle Choir. Bourbon Tabernacle Choir are tough to categorize themselves. They are big enough to be a ska band (and they have a requisite horn section) but really they are a mix of rock, jazz and funk. Because of "Put Your Head On" I would go on to be a pretty big fan of theirs for the two or three years that they actually existed. I'd say their rise to stardom was shortlived, except I don't think they ever did rise to stardom.

It's too bad, "Put Your Head On" is a groovy song that deserved to be noticed by more than just me. BTC (as I will affectionately call them) were an update party band, and "Put Your Head On" is a reference that basically means "straighten yourself out and get yourself a positive new outlook." It begins:

"I said are you happy, baby, you think you need an upper?
There is a difference between reality and wanting just to suffer"

So true, and yet so difficult to teach to people who always see the glass half empty.

Other standouts include a surprisingly good remake of Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited" by someone named Rita Chiarelli and a very cool electronica dance song by Acid Test called "Mr. Skin". Acid Test is the only band that gets two songs on the record (the other one is OK as well) so I assume the movie makers really liked them.

Also, while I wouldn't want to listen to an entire album full of zydeco music, the one song on here "Zydeco Heehaw" by Boozoo Chavis, is very cool. It always makes me want to sing along, but the words are completely unintelligible to me. As a result, I usually find myself doing a very bad approximation of scatting for the first half of the song, and then just shutting up and letting Boozoo Chavis do their thing for the latter half. I should know better than try to compete with a band with as cool a name as Boozoo Chavis.

As for the movie, "Highway 61" is one of many good low budget Indie Canadian movies I've seen over the years ("New Waterford Girl" and "Buried On Sunday" are a couple more worth checking out).

"Highway 61" is the story of Pokey, a naive Canadian barber who meets a mysterious redhead who convinces him to drive with her (and the corpse of 'her brother') from Ontario all the way to Louisiana - along Highway 61 of course. Along the way they run afoul of a character who claims to be Satan, who makes all his money winning Bingo games in local churches and spends it buying the souls of people he meets - these people treat his offers with varying degrees of seriousness. It is a quirky movie, but a good one, and it has aged well.

As for this album, I've owned it for almost twenty years. It is pretty uneven, with a few songs that I could live without, but overall it is solid, and I'd keep it for "Put Your Head On" alone.

Best tracks: Highway 61 Revisited (Rita Chiarelli), Put Your Head On (Bourbon Tabernacle Choir), Momma's Waitin' (Jane Hawley), Mr. Skin (Acid Test), Zydeco Heehaw (Boozoo Chavis).

CD Odyssey Disc 229: Concrete Blonde

Another short album means a second review in as many days. This one might not be the modern classic that "Billion Dollar Babies" is, but it is a good album nonetheless.

Disc 229 is...Free
Artist: Concrete Blonde

Year of Release: 1989

What’s Up With The Cover?: Once again an artist decides to employ some friend and the result is art that is...pedestrian. In this case, it is actually done in part by lead singer Johnette Napolitano, so I better watch myself, since Johnette could kick the crap out of me.

I gave this cover a bit of a look, and my theory was that it is the astrological signs of the 4 band mates. Sure enough the two I was able to confirm show up with Napolitano a Virgo (centre right) and guitarist James Mankey is a Gemini (centre left). I'm willing to bet the peripheral band members are a Scorpio and a Leo, although I couldn't find it easily on the 'interweb'.

How I Came To Know It: I heard the song "God Is a Bullet" on MuchMusic and went in search of the song. I actually found Bloodletting (reviewed back at Disc 197), but it wasn't long until this one surfaced a year or two later. I think in the interim, my buddy Greg had it on tape as well.

How It Stacks Up: I have four Concrete Blonde albums. This used to be my second favourite, but it has slipped slightly behind their self-titled debut in the last couple years, so I'm going to reluctantly consign it to third.

Rating: 3 stars.

"Free" is not the classic album that "Bloodletting" is, but it is a solid rock album in its own right. The track that caused me to go looking for it, the anti-gun anthem "God Is a Bullet" is a great opening. While I firmly support the right of law abiding citizens to own guns, it doesn't mean I can't enjoy a good song that warns of their fearful power when used inappropriately.

More than anything, "God Is A Bullet" is a reminder that if you get a feeling of giddy invincibility when you're holding a gun, you should put it down. Other great songs in this tradition: Johnny Cash's "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" and Steve Earle's "Devil's Right Hand".

Interestingly in all three songs, the character doesn't put it down, with tragic consequences. I guess if cooler heads prevailed you wouldn't have much of a song. Imagine if Billy had taken his guns only to the range, enjoyed some safe target practice, and then went into town unarmed and got supplies without incident. I'm not seeing the dramatic tension here. But I digress...

Other standouts include, "Happy Birthday" a great song about what it is like later in the evening when you've had too much to drink on your birthday. It opens:

"Well outside in the hall there's a catfight
It's after midnight, guess I feel alright
I'm laying out on the floor, drunk and poor
How much longer? How much more?"

I'm not sure what possesses us to overdo it just because it is our birthday, but if you want to remember what it felt like the last time you did it, Concrete Blonde's "Happy Birthday" is one way to do so.

Musically "Free" once again demonstrates Concrete Blonde's unique sound. Napolitano's breathy, yet tough-as-nails voice is instantly recognizable, and the band does a good job of mixing a lot of disparate elements together and distilling them into rock and roll that has a lot of pop sensibilities but that doesn't lose its hard edge.

Also, while the songs on "Free" aren't the same quality as "Bloodletting" the production is far superior. Where "Bloodletting" can be downright fuzzy, "Free" is much more straight ahead in its mixing. The big hollow sound that is Concrete Blonde is still there, but the instruments are a bit more distinct and clear in the mix. Although I prefer the albums that came before and after, "Free" gets my vote for best production of the lot.

Do you have to have this album? No, but it is enjoyable, and if you already have and are enjoying the other two Concrete Blonde albums I've been mentioning, this is certainly worth your time for number three.

Best tracks: God Is a Bullet, Roses Grow, Happy Birthday, Little Conversations

CD Odyssey Disc 228: Alice Cooper

I actually finished listening to this album yesterday, but there was no way I was taking it out of my car after only one listen.

Disc 228 is...Billion Dollar Babies
Artist: Alice Cooper

Year of Release: 1973

What’s Up With The Cover?: Snakeskin with an "Alice Baby" gold coin. Somehow I doubt you can order them from the Franklin Mint, and more's the pity. My CD cover art has an annoying 'special price' logo actually printed into the picture so I instead took a picture of my vinyl version (yes - I have this record on vinyl - more on that later).

How I Came To Know It: I have known this album since I was a kid and I've owned it in a lot of formats. In the eighties I had it on tape. When I bought a CD player it was one of the first albums I purchased. Then last year I saw a copy of the original vinyl in Fan Tan Alley records that was in great shape. Even the inside was practically mint - check it out:
The folded bill to the left actually folds out into a giant "Billion Dollar Bill" - here's a photo of it folded out:
How I long for the days when artists cared to put this kind of effort into their product. Anyway, on with the review.

How It Stacks Up: I have twenty five studio albums by Alice Cooper. It is a competitive field, but even so I put "Billion Dollar Babies" first, slighly edging out the similarly impressive "Love It To Death".

Rating: 5 stars.

As this is my seventh Alice Cooper review, I'll gloss over the generalities (one of the most under-rated songwriters of all time, more than just shock rock, incredible career etc.) and get on to the album at hand.

"Billion Dollar Babies" is one of the greatest rock records ever pressed. Chronologically, it represents the Alice Cooper band at the height of their talents - fresh off of the concept album "School's Out" and just before the impressive but somewhat disjointed "Muscle of Love", it combines everything that is great about Alice Cooper, before later bickering impacted their ability to work together.

Alice's vocals are brilliant, and show a surprising amount of range - he has that rare ability to sing in different styles - raspy rock voiced, plaintiff cries, a hollow lounge singer tone and a creepy staccato that is like white rock's early answer to rap.

Glen Buxton's guitar has a true rock tone, played in "Alex Lifeson/Buck Dharma" style selflessness that adds to the song without deliberately calling attention to itself. If you focus on the guitar, you fall right into the groove, but you can just as easily move to the drums, or Alice's lyrics or any other element and have a great time.

I gave "Billion Dollar Babies" three listens on this go around, and found myself enjoying Buxton's solos more than usual. They are not the ridiculous noodling that would come to exemplify eighties rock, but rather controlled constructs of rock designed to fit into the overall feel of each song.

Speaking of properly constructing a song, "Billion Dollar Babies" is also producer Bob Ezrin at the height of his talent. His fingerprints are all over this record.

As I type this, I am listening to the last song on Side One, "Unfinished Sweet", a song about an unfortunate trip to the dentist. The song has a section between the 2nd and 3rd stanzas where the music descends into the sounds of a jaw being hyperextended, slowly builds back into a nice even drum beat, then morphs into a strange sound of a spring twanging and then into a classic guitar riff, and finally back to the main melody - each step as flawless as it is bizarre and unexpected.

Why did I choose this song to demonstrate what this record is capable of? Absolutely no reason - it was playing when I got to this point. I could have just as easily discussed how Alice's vocal styles are layered on top of one another in "Billion Dollar Babies" where he matter-of-factly sets the scene as he dances with a baby in the attic, fearful 'it's little head will come off in my hands'. Since it is Alice, we must assume this comes to pass (sort of a prequel to an earlier song off of Killer; "Dead Babies").

My favourite song on the record has varied widely over the years, but for a while now it has been the opening track, "Hello Hooray". This is a song ostensibly about how pumped Alice feels as he walks on stage, but is really an expression of how we all feel when we are at our most positive and invincible. Its manic mood is so infectious, it always has me singing along in the car (or wherever I happen to be):

"Hello Hooray" is one of the finest rock anthems ever written. Play it when you are leaving a bad job for the last time, or just when you're ready for the weekend. Play it when you're deeply in love, or deeply alone. Play it when you're going to get lucky or even when you're just going to spend a quite evening alone with a bottle of bourbon. It will make you feel good regardless.

Where to go next - the album has so many great one offs, like a man who gets more than he bargained for from a hitchhiker in "Raped and Freezin'":

"Felt like I was hit by a diesel-loaded Greyhound bus
She was no babysitter."

As this song fades out to a mariachi beat, and the tale of a man fleeing naked across a Mexican desert, you'll think you've heard it all, but it is only the second song.

Later in the record will come a powerful and prophetic indictments of excessive consumerism in our society in "Generation Landslide". The song fades out with a fine Buxton guitar solo, but not before it gives us a harmonica solo in advance of that. This whack-a-doo song not only brings all its weird elements together successfully - it excels at it.

Side Two opens with "No More Mr. Nice Guy" which is as straight ahead a rock song as this album has, and great emotional fodder for anyone who's felt victimized by public opinion. I love that this song is still played at Detroit Red Wings games when the visiting team scores a goal. Score one for the music director at Joe Louis.

The album closes with "I Love The Dead", a song that is about exactly what you think it is about and leaves little to the imagination. Best line:

"I love the dead, before they're cold
Their bluing flesh for me to hold.
Cadaver eyes upon me see...nothing."

This album covers a lot of ground, and takes a lot of risks and everything pays off. It is a 'must have' on CD - unless you can get it on vinyl, where it sounds even better.

Best tracks: All tracks, although they are better heard in a row. If you must divide them up, then you could skip "Sick Things" but keep the rest.

CD Odyssey Disc 227: The Clash

I got through this next album in a single drive home - proof that for every seventies album with long, drawn out rock tracks, there was a seventies album like this one, delivering quality - but with greater brevity.

Disc 227 is...Give 'Em Enough Rope
Artist: The Clash

Year of Release: 1978

What’s Up With The Cover?: It looks like a style crossover, with titles done like a Japanese adventure movie, and a classic American western scene of death and murder. These two genres are similar in many ways, so that's not a stretch. Given the flatness of the landscape, I'd say the guy in the foreground didn't die by hanging himself with too much rope, but rather by being shot in the back. The big patch of blood on his shirt is also a giveaway.

How I Came To Know It: I've known The Clash since high school, but only liked recently. This particular album was introduced to me by my wife, Sheila who brought it home one day many years back - I think from the old A&B sound that has since closed.

How It Stacks Up: We have five Clash albums, which I think is all of them. All of them are good, so "Give 'Em Enough Rope" apologists should forgive me when I put this one 4th. It'll make you feel better when you hear which one I put 5th, so trust me for now.

Rating: 3 stars.

"Give 'Em Enough Rope" is the Clash's second album, so it is early in their career. The reggae and funk elements that will show up in later work haven't really invaded the sound yet, and at times I found myself missing that dynamic.

Instead, I picked up some distinct 60s pop sounds, cleverly buried down under angry guitars and punk vocals. I can't decide if I liked that addition - I think I do, but maybe that's just me feeling clever for noticing. But I digress...

One thing this record does a great job is keeping the energy up. It makes you want to pump your fist, and put your hair into a spiked mohawk, and in so doing passes the basic test of a punk record. As ever, The Clash insist on playing their instruments with considerable skill - a fact I enjoy, but that is decidedly not a punk sensibility).

In terms of individual tracks, while I like the way "Safe European Home" launches the album with a bang, I prefer tracks buried deeper on the record ('side two' fare from the original release.

Among these, "Guns on the Roof" has to be one of my all-time favourite Clash songs, from its opening guitar riff, to the addition of the rolling drum through to Joe Strummer's ominous opening promise: "I swear by almighty God to tell the whole truth". It is a political indictment of state-sponsored violence - or an angry response to a police raid in Camden Market - depending on what you believe. I decided to stick with my Modernist sensibilities, and just enjoy the tune.

I also enjoy "Stay Free" which tells the tale of young punks getting in trouble while trying to make it big. Like so many great Clash songs, amidst the talk of getting drunk, 'nicking' things, and getting arrested is a carefully nuanced portrait of rebellious youth with a limited future. Adding to this painting is a top notch bass line, and a fade out featuring a surprisingly straight forward and beautiful guitar solo. I took away marks on my last review for excess use of fade out, but "Stay Free" shows it can be done right.

I don't put "Give 'Em Enough Rope" on rotation very often - I think because I just don't know it that well, and tend to gravitate to other Clash albums I know better, but I like it every time I hear it. It is an album where the Clash are still forming a sound that would go on to help form the future face of rock and roll.

Best tracks: Julie's Been Working For the Drug Squad, Guns on The Roof, Drug Stabbing Time, Stay Free, All The Young Punks (New Boots and Contracts)

CD Odyssey Disc 226: Steve Earle

I'm always glad when the Odyssey rolls this next artist - one of my all-time favourites.

Disc 226 is...Washington Square Serenade
Artist: Steve Earle

Year of Release: 2007

What’s Up With The Cover?: It is a piece of artwork by a guy named Tony Fitzpatrick. It is typical of Fitzpatrick's stuff, with lots of different images, busily connected together. I'm not really a fan of this stuff, which is too bad, since Earle has been using him for cover art dating all the way back to the "I Feel Alright" album in 1996 (which I reviewed back at Disc 14, before I had a "What's With the Cover?" category).

How I Came To Know It: It was a new release from Steve Earle in 2007, so there wasn't really any internal discussion. I bought it when it came out, because I frickin' love Steve Earle.

How It Stacks Up: I have fourteen studio albums by Steve Earle. "Washington Square Serenade" isn't one of my favourites, but it holds its own, and a lesser Earle album is still better than most artist's best efforts. I'll say it is 11th.

Rating: 3 stars.

"Washington Square Serenade" is Earle's last studio album of original music (2009's "Townes" is a more recent album, but that is all remakes of Townes Van Zandt songs - reviewed way back at Disc 28).

As the title implies, "Washington Square Serenade" is focused a lot on Earle' newest love, the city of New York. I love New York as well, so I don't get tired of albums praising it, even though there are many.

The opening track, "Tennessee Blues" is a song situated Earle as a traveller leaving the south behind to settle down in the big Yankee city more permanently. It begins:

"Sunset in my mirror, pedal on the floor
Bound for New York City and I won't be back no more
Won't be back no more, boys, won't see me around
Goodbye guitar town."

The opening pays homage to Earle's great career, including his first big hit, "Guitar Town" and the line 'bound for New York City' recalls a song from 1997's "El Corazon" called "NYC". Those are two of my favourite Earle songs of all time, and while "Tennessee Blues" isn't at that level, it is a good song, and a nice relaxed book-end to Earle's life of rambling.

The album goes on to praise NYC, including "Down Here Below" which introduces listeners to "Pale Male", Central Park's famous red-tailed hawk, and a song celebrating New York's diversity, "City of Immigrants".

"Washington Square Serenade" is a relaxed album, and listening to it I got the impression that Earle is in a pretty good place right now emotionally. He is happily married to the talented (and foxy) singer-songwriter Alison Moorer, who tours with him, and he just seems content. This is expressed in a love song near the end of the record, cowritten and sung in harmony with Moorer, called "Days Aren't Long Enough", which is a pretty - if not particularly memorable - lullaby. The other lovesong, "Sparkle and Shine" it comes across a little too sugary, and overly cute.

The laid back tone comes across in the music as well, which is relaxed and well-paced. The songs are as well-constructed as ever, and although some lack emotional urgency, that's not what they're going for anyway. My only criticism would be on some tracks where the use of fade out feels like a cheap way to end the song, when what is really needed is a bit more effort for a lyrical wrap-up.

Later on in the record, Earle does get his angry on a little. It seems a little out of place by the time it happens, but the songs are undeniably good. The union anthem "Steve's Hammer (For Pete)" is in honour of protest singer Pete Seeger, and awesome whatever your politics.

In "Oxycontin Blues", Earle explores the horrors of addiction to Oxycontin. As a recovering drug addict himself, Earle knows of what he speaks, and the desperate emptiness of the song's character comes across in all-too-believable fashion:

"Got a dollar bill in my pocket
Got a half a tank in my truck
I'm gonna go and pawn Grandma's locket
Hell, maybe it'll change my luck."

Earle is still the master of a few short lines, with a couple of details, evoking a much larger picture in your mind.

The last song was a nice surprise - a remake of Tom Waits' "Way Down In the Hole" which is excellent. I used to think Johnny Cash was the best at taking someone's song and making it his own, but the more remakes I hear from Earle, the more I've got to say he is number one. I've got a record of Earle remakes of various artists, but more on that when I roll it.

A minor quibble I must mention before ending - the lyrics are published in the booklet (which I like) but they are neither punctuated nor capitalized correctly - even the album's title has no punctuation. I don't know where artists started to think this was OK - like it was somehow 'non-elitist' or something, but it is simply stupid. There are songwriters out there looking up to you, so get it right, Steve.

"Washington Square Serenade" isn't where you should start with Steve Earle, but it is Steve Earle, and so by definition, worth your time if your looking for something newer of his to try out.

Best tracks: Tennessee Blues, Down Here Below, Oxycontin Blues, Red Is the Colour, Steve's Hammer, Way Down In the Hole

CD Odyssey Disc 225: Soundtrack

Oops - I justed noticed that I had tagged review 224 as a second 223. What is next - cats sleeping with dogs? Chimps writing Shakespeare?

Not to fear, dear reader - this is why this whole blogosphere allows post edits. No one need ever know what happened - if it weren't for this admission that is. So, now knowing what actual review number I'm on, let's continue.

Disc 225 is...Hedwig and the Angry Inch Soundtrack

Artist: The Hedwig Cast under the direction of writer and performer Stephen Trask

Year of Release: 1999

What’s Up With The Cover?: Hedwig her/himself rocks out.

How I Came To Know It: I think Sheila and I saw a review for the movie on "At The Movies" and wanted to see it. Once we did, it didn't take long for us to find the soundtrack and bring it home.

How It Stacks Up: I have about 23 soundtracks. I just took a look through them and couldn't find one as good as this, so I'm going to say this one is the best.

Rating: 4 stars

"Hedwig and the Angry Inch" is a rock musical originally off Broadway, eventually made into a film. It has a strong cult following, but not much mainstream success. On this one, you can count me among the cultists.

The story is about a rock star, Hedwig, born a man, shorn to a woman in a botched sex change operation; ultimately both sexes and neither. The movie reveals Hedwig's life through a series of flashbacks, but the story is more accurately about exploring the nature of love between two people regardless of sex. Hedwig is neither man nor woman, but each of her relationships demands her/him to fit a specific role. It is an ambitious and risky theme, and isn't for everyone. Fortunately it hits every note with just the right amount of passion, tragedy and black humour. If you haven't seen this film, it is worth your time. I'd even like to see the musical - and I never say that.

As a musical, the album follows the movie plot faithfully, hitting the perfect tone throughout. The music itself ranges from pop through glam rock to a sort of punk/pop vibe in angrier moments. The songs are as good as anything you'll get on a more conventional rock album, and musically they hold their own even without the support of the film's visuals.

As you might expect in a musical about a rock star's life (even a made up one) the songs cover a variety of important points in Hedwig's life. In "Sugar Daddy" Hedwig meets Luther, the American GI who has the ticket for him/her to get out of Soviet East Germany as his wife. The catch is that Hedwig is a boy, and so to join Luther he has a sex change operation. In the track following, we meet the "Angry Inch", and it is not for the faint-of-heart listener:

"My sex change operation got botched
My guardian angel fell asleep on the watch
Now all I got is a Barbie Doll crotch
I got an angry inch."

There's a certain black humour in "Angry Inch", but the emotional core is true as just one of Hedwig's trials to find a way to love.

The story is a tragic one, of someone who doesn't fit in a single category, yet is constantly being pressured one way or another. Hedwig's 'apartness' allows him/her to become at times an almost mythological figure. Simultaneously an 'everyman and an 'everywoman' rolled into one.

The album's signature song, "Origin of Love" describes how Hedwig sees love from his/her perspective. Hedwig imagines a time in pre-history where people had two sets of limbs, and two heads, and two sex organs (some man/man, some woman/woman and some woman/man). The Gods, jealous of our happiness, split us apart, and what Hedwig perceives as love now is just our yearning to find our 'split apart' and be reunited.

"Origin of Love" brings together Hedwig's dreamer qualities as he/she imagines there was once a better world where we knew true togetherness - and where gender didn't interfere with our ability to care for one another deeply. At the same time he/she embitters the pursuit of that world as though we are all just broken, declaiming that love is ultimately just a band aid on a wound that won't close. The perspective on love is dark, but it is one hell of an insight into the character.

Every track on the record deserves this same type of exploration, but time and space (and attention spans) don't allow for this. I will simply end by saying that if you often look at your collection of soundtracks and wonder how you came to have so many mediocre ones (as I do) there is a remedy - buy this one. You won't be disappointed.

Best tracks: I like all the tracks, except maybe the badly phrased "Random Number Generation" which is funny, as that is the one song not in the original Broadway production.

CD Odyssey Disc 224: The Cure

The new year is not off to a rousing start, this being only my second review in ten days. I was out of town visiting my folks on the weekend, and so missed the ordinary completion date for this album (last Friday). Oh well – here it is.

I hope no one fell into a deep depression in the absence of a review – especially since you would’ve liked to have this album if you are into deep depression.

Disc 223 is...Bloodflowers
Artist: The Cure

Year of Release: 2000

What’s Up With The Cover? It’s a picture of Robert Smith. He looks grim and maybe a little angry, although he decidedly does not frighten. I don’t love this album cover, but it matches well with the record.

How I Came To Know It: I believe Sheila bought this album along with the 1989 album "Disintegration" at Lyle's Place maybe five or six years ago. They were both discounted (this one was $7.95 and the other was even less, if I recall). This was my first exposure to later Cure.

How It Stacks Up: We have three Cure albums, but none of them are particularly famous, and then we have a Greatest Hits package to cover all that early ground. Probably not the best approach, but I've never been motivated to delve into the Cure, even though I like them when I hear them.

Rating: 3 stars

Having mostly listened to The Cure's hits, I don't know how common it is for them to have very long moody songs, but "Bloodflowers" is entirely that experience.

Ordinarily, this sort of an opening for a review would be the harbinger of many a groan or sigh but this album pleasantly surprised me the first time I heard it, and it surprised me again on this listen.

Still present are all the elements that made the Cure famous in the 1980s. Robert Smith's haunting vocals, and a hollow reverb sound that hides beautiful pop melodies in a soft, but not-so-comfortable blanket of alienation.

Although I hated The Cure in highschool, it was a requirement of all Heavy Metal Meatheads at the time. I came to enjoy their sound in my early twenties where I heard their hits on a compilation album - but I'll talk more about that experience when I roll an earlier record.

This one is more about my third discovery of the Cure - in their 'we don't care how commercially viable our records are at this stage of our career.'

I've found sometimes this approach can create some truly self-indulgent crap but it can also free up an artist to expand on some already good ideas without the fear of failure hampering their creative juices.

In the case of "Bloodflowers" it is definitely the second. The music here stands up against anything from their more famous stuff in the 1980s, although the tracks are certainly longer - most well over five minutes and half of them over seven. This is fine with me, as many of the longer songs are the better ones, including "Watching Me Fall", which at 11:13 shows you can actually have an epic-length track where the topic is ulimately a simple mood piece. OK, not all that simple - I think it is about an old guy paying to watch people have sex in a Tokyo brothel - but a mood piece nonetheless about the helplessness we feel as death approaches.

Lyrically, my favourite is "Where The Birds Always Sing" which begins:

"The world is neither fair nor unfair
The idea is just a way for us to understand
But the world is neither fair nor unfair
So one survives - the others die
And you always want a reason why
But the world is neither just nor unjust."

I think it is a song about losing someone early - so opposite to the despair of aging captured in "Watch Me Fall" but just as tragic. I also like this song as it always reminds me of the line from Hamlet, "There is nothing good nor bad, but thinking makes it so." It is also a good reminder that we put our own spin on the events around us.

In this regard, Robert Smith could probably lighten up a little. He veers pretty far into maudlin and doesn't come out,. Despite this, he sings it with such believability that we forgive him. After all, if it he didn't go so deep into the emotional well, how could he draw us in there with him?

The album's most emotionally honest song is "39":

"So the fire is almost out and there's nothing left to burn
I've run right out of thoughts and I've run right out of words"

Something we writers live in constant fear of. As it happens, The Cure have released two albums since. I haven't heard them, but I hope they were as good as "Bloodflowers"; an album I truly enjoyed, and one that provided an unexpected back door for me into a more intimate acquaintance with a band I deliberately missed the first time around, and only had time for the hits on the second.

Best tracks: Out of This World, Watching Me Fall, Where the Birds Always Sing, Maybe Someday, 39

CD Odyssey Disc 223: Radiohead

It's 2011 and I can't help think I'm living in the future. Kind of like that last Radiohead album I reviewed with all those futuristic sounds that were a bit offputting.

The future is great, but I was just as happy to go back to the past this time around.

Disc 223 is...Pablo Honey
Artist: Radiohead

Year of Release: 1993

What’s Up With The Cover?: A baby's face in the middle of a flower. This cover does not inspire. Attention rock musicians: please keep babies off your album covers - leave that territory for pop artists, and Biggie Smalls.

How I Came To Know It: Another early nineties disc introduced to me upon its release by my then-roommate and buddy, Greg. Since then Sheila has become a big Radiohead fan, but I've known this album all the way back.

How It Stacks Up: We have seven Radiohead albums. "Pablo Honey" is my favourite, edging out "The Bends".

Rating: 4 stars.

Over the last ten years Radiohead has gotten into a pretty expiremental electronica sound, and truth be told it hasn't always been sweet to my ears. In fact, I'll go with 'seldom'.

That is why it was such a treat to roll "Pablo Honey" on the Odyssey - which is the early Radiohead sound that I've always preferred.

I know that "Pablo Honey" doesn't get the same critical acclaim as later Radiohead albums. In fact, I was once told they did this record just to make some money and allow them to branch out and do all the less commercial stuff later. I have no idea if that is true, but if it is, it is more than a little ironic that "Pablo Honey" charted the worst of all their releases.

Not in my books - this record is solid alternative rock. In places it reminds me strongly of early Smashing Pumpkins, but making any comparison is a little unfair for Radiohead, who have always had their own distinctive sound, even on the relatively straightforward "Pablo Honey".

The first seven songs on the record are exceptional, among them the released single "Creep" which continues to be a favourite through generations of music fans, almost twenty years after it's release. "Creep" is an anthem for anyone who's ever felt inadequate (i.e. - all of us):

"You float like a feather
In a beautiful world
I wish I was special
You're so fucking special

But I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doing here?
I don't belong here."

By turning feelings of self-loathing into a rock anthem, Radiohead empowered a generation of presumed outcasts to revel in their own differences, rather than shy away from them. And not in some lame Disney movie kind of way - but in an unflinching way, willing to own our weaker natures warts and all.

My only quibble would be that "Pablo Honey" has a hidden thirteenth track which is the radio-friendly version of "Creep", minus the swear words. This type of self-censorship I can live without. I expect it from idiotic acts like the Black Eyed Peas ("Let's Get It Started"), but I hold Radiohead to a higher standard.

I've heard "Creep" hundreds of times, but on this listen two other songs really grabbed my attention; "Stop Whispering" and "Anyone Can Play Guitar". Both have that same outsider anthem feel to them, but they have a much more positive bent.

While all the songs on "Pablo Honey" are straightforward rock and roll, they are still innovative songs, with a good and even-handed mix of all instruments in production, evocative lyrics and the haunting vocals of Thom Yorke, still possessing an alien quality, but with an inner core that is quintessentially human. It is this latter part that helps me identify with this album, and it is its absence that detaches me from this band's later work.

If this album is pablum to hardcore Radiohead fans, I can only say that for me it is also honey.

Best tracks: Creep, Stop Whispering, Thinking About You, Anyone Can Play Guitar, Ripchord