CD Odyssey Disc 244: Depeche Mode

Time for a shameful admission, gentle reader - I bent the rules on this review. I still had two songs to listen to when I got home tonight, but instead of keeping it in the car for another day, I came upstairs and put it in the computer.

I just finished sitting here reading the liner notes while I heard the last two tracks. This isn't technically one of the occupations I'm allowed based on the rules sidebar, but I think it is in the spirit of the rule.

Besides, with all the snow, I haven't done a review in almost a week, and I was jonesing to move on. Anyway, here it is.

Disc 244 is...Exciter
Artist: Depeche Mode

Year of Release: 2001

What’s Up With The Cover?: It's a close up of some kind of green flower, but I don't have enough flora lore to know what it is. I like this cover's simplicity. I think when you 'couple' this picture with the album's title, it is fairly suggestive - not unlike many Depeche Mode songs.

How I Came To Know It: I believe Sheila bought this album, but when I asked her she thought maybe I had bought it for her. Whatever the case may be, neither one of us puts it on, so I hardly know it at all.

How It Stacks Up: We have four Depeche Mode albums. Of the four I only really listen to one, and this isn't it. Sheila listens to three of the four, but not this one, so based on those realities, I have to put this one fourth, or last.

Rating: 2 stars.

This is a much later album in the Depeche Mode discography, as they've been making records as far back as 1981. I'm not one to dismiss a record simply because it comes later in a band's career. After all the list of bands making great music well into their careers is long and storied (Neil Young, Pearl Jam, Steve Earle etc).

So instead, I'll dismiss this album for the usual reason - it just failed to inspire me. Granted, Depeche Mode's blend of pop melody and dance-hall electronica is hardly in my wheelhouse - it isn't even on the same ship, but it is more than that. I absolutely love their 1990 album "Violator" which is in exactly the same style, but "Exciter" didn't do it for me.

The record isn't offensively bad; it still has the catchy beats and synth-bass (is that an expression?) that Depeche Mode are good at. It still has the haunting vocals of Dave Gahan, who I don't think gets nearly enough credit for how unique and seductive his voice is. It just doesn't quite go anywhere - it comes off more as a mood piece and at its worst I could imagine it filling in as the score for some avant garde but low budget German film (like Run, Lola, Run - only not good).

There are a couple of songs where the tempo picks up that I could see myself seriously cutting a rug to, (in particular, the disco-dancy "I Feel Loved") but since I wasn't in a nightclub surrounded by young women in their Saturday night finery, I had to admit it wasn't great music when standing on its own merits.

Lyrically, Depeche Mode returns to what is common ground for them, with most of the songs having strong sexual overtones. This, I enjoyed; these guys are not afraid to express what gets them up in the morning, and they generally do it well. How ever, even here "Exciter" fails to compare to the other albums we have of theirs. It fails to...what's the verb I'm searching for...?

If it belonged to me, I'd probably sell it, but since it is Sheila's, I'll put it back on the shelf and look forward to brighter days - and superior Depeche Mode albums - in the journey ahead.

Best tracks: The Dead of Night

CD Odyssey Disc 243: Sting

A few discs ago I reviewed an album called "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son". Now, a song featuring a seventh son of a seventh son. Of course that and the fact that they are both British is where the similiarities end.

Disc 243 is...Ten Summoner's Tales
Artist: Sting

Year of Release: 1993

What’s Up With The Cover?: Sting sits thoughtful at the edge of some medieval well. Sting is supposed to be a handsome guy, but this picture makes him look positively homely. Also, he doesn't look too healthy - check out that unhealthy yellow pallour.

How I Came To Know It: This album was a pretty big record in the day, so I'd have had to be deaf and blind to miss it. Even if I had, Sheila owned it when we met, so she introduced me more formally.

How It Stacks Up: As I noted when I reviewed "Nothing Like The Sun" back at Disc 125, we have three Sting albums, and I only really like one of them. Thankfully, this is it!

Rating: Just barely makes it to 4 (see below)

As I noted earlier, "Ten Summoner's Tales" was a very big deal in 1993, and many of the songs on here have seen more than their fair share of radio play. Fortunately, I rarely listen to the radio, so this hasn't 'jaundiced' me to them as yet. (Yes, another yellow filter joke).

For the most part, this is a good album - it has almost none of the excessive jazz noodling that made "Nothing Like The Sun" so unbearable. These songs really benefit from not having Branford Marsalis get all 'look at me' throughout them.

Instead, Sting's guest musicians play artfully, but generally within the confines of the song's melody. Whether it is a well placed violin, or the sound of Northumbrian Pipes in the distance (I checked on this one), the right amount of instrumentation has been added, without becoming too busy. I guess what I'm saying is, I like the production.

The songs themselves are also good for the most part. The up-tempo "Love Is Stronger Than Justice" is a clever retelling of the Seven Samurai legend, where at the end of the battle we learn that there is only one maiden of marriagable age to pay off seven brothers who defended the townsfolk from bandits. The seventh and youngest son murders the others to have her, justifying his actions by stating that "love is stronger than justice/Love is thicker than blood."

"Fields of Gold" is a much slower, thoughtful song, evoking an image of a lover looking back to a golden time when he was with his beloved. This song strongly reminds me of the Robert Browning poem, "Love Among the Ruins". In that poem, Browning compares the two lovers' connection as more meaningful than old ruins dotting the pastoral countryside where the couple meet.

In Sting's "Fields of Gold" he looks back to an image of his lover running through fields of barley in the sunshine. It doesn't relate directly, but both have lovers meeting in fields (one of barley, one of grass) and both hold the idea that the memory of love will endure. Even if the similarities end there, I can't help being reminded of the poem every time I hear the song.

The album is also tastefully restrained to eleven songs (although a minor quibble; the title is Ten Summoner's Tales - not eleven). Maybe Sting was simply trying to channel Spinal Tap. Memo to Sting: If you want to channel Spinal Tap, you need more rock guitar; pop music doesn't go to 11.

There are songs that are stinkers, like the annoyingly self-indulgent "Saint Augustine in Hell" which has a mid-song oration that makes a point of putting music critics in Hell. It is meant to be funny, but it struck me as self-satisfied and defensive. The same goes for the eleventh track, "Epilogue (Nothin' 'Bout Me)", which is Sting's indictment that no one really knows him, regardless of what they think they know. Um...then write about it, Sting, but don't write about how you won't write about it - that's just self-referential silliness.

For these reasons, I was going to hold this record to three stars, but any record that encourages me to go back and read Browning's "Love Among the Ruins" deserves a pass, so I went with four. Give it a read yourself right here and remind yourself once again, that love is best.

Best tracks: Love Is Stronger Than Justice, Fields of Gold, She's Too Good For Me, Shape of My Heart

CD Odyssey Disc 242: Johnny Cash

In my last review I hoped for a little rock and roll, but instead I got a little country. That's OK, I'm a little bit rock and roll AND a little bit country.

Disc 242 is...American IV: The Man Comes Around
Artist: Johnny Cash

Year of Release: 2002

What’s Up With The Cover?: In case you're wondering, the cover makes it clear the album is by Johnny CASH. Also, there's a picture of him looking seasoned and thoughtful. This cover wisely doesn't try to do too much, and yet reminds you of Johnny Cash's iconic status.

How I Came To Know It: I've known Johnny Cash all my life (I grew up with my Mom playing his records), but this particular record came to my attention because of the incredible video for the song "Hurt" which introduced Cash to a whole new generation of fans.

How It Stacks Up: I have six Johnny Cash albums, four studio albums, one live and one 'best of'. Of the five that aren't 'best ofs', I would put this one third, or right in the middle.

Rating: 3 stars.

American recordings picked up Johnny Cash in the early nineties after he was dumped from his record label, Columbia (and a short stint at Mercury). This is the 4th such album, all produced by Rick Rubin. It is also the last record Cash released while alive (he died a year later). There is an American Recordings V, but it was released posthumously.

OK, enough with the post-modern blah blah blah - how's the music? In a word - uneven. In a few more words, brilliant in places and atrocious in others.

On the plus side, this album starts off with a couple five star tracks. The first is a Johnny Cash original, "The Man Comes Around" which is a fast paced folk song about the End of Days, and how we're all going to answer for our sins soon enough (Cash was an ardent Christian). Whether you think the End of Days is going to happen or not, this song does a fine job of making you feel that it is imminent.

My favourite image in the song is:

"And the whirlwind is in the thorn trees
The virgins are all trimming their wicks."

I'm not certain why the virgins are trimming their wicks, but it sounds ominous. And as for a whirlwind amidst a bunch of thorn trees - that's just dangerous.

"The Man Comes Around" was also famously used for the opening credits of the remake of "Dawn of the Dead", where it fits perfectly against a backdrop of television footage of the zombie apocalypse underway.

The next track was the one that reignited Cash's fame, a remake of the Nine Inch Nails song, "Hurt". I won't say much about this, since everyone knows it well enough. I'll just say that Cash takes a song originally about drug abuse and turns it into a song about growing old and fading into obscurity. He owns this song so completely, when I finally heard the original version I thought there was something wrong with it.

The album is mostly remakes, done with widely varying degrees of success. Another strong one is Cash doing a Sting song, "I Hung My Head" and although many don't like it, I'm also fond of his reimagining of the Depeche Mode song, "Personal Jesus" which Cash manages to strip of all sexual and ironic connotation. In his hands it just becomes a devotional to God.

Cash was obviously preparing for his departure with this record. His opening comments in the liner notes is about his relationship with God, and is too perfect a blend of earnestness and humour not to share:

"I am persuaded that nothing can separate me from my love of my God, my wife, and my music. Life is rich when I can come home, after hours in the studio, feeling as frayed as a hundred Big G strings, and curl up to June Carter...That's when I give God a "Thanks a lot, Chief." Sometimes in the morning I'll say, "Good Morning" to the Awesome Presence, but sometimes I forget to."

Unfortunately, for every brilliant reimagining of a song, "American IV" has one that is truly awful. "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", the Beatles' "In My Life" and "We'll Meet Again" may be old standards, but Johnny makes them feel positively ancient. "Bridge Over Troubled Water" isn't much better, and is made only slightly bearable by Cash's obviously honest rendition. It may be honest, but Art Garfunkel it is not.

Cash also remakes songs he sang when he was younger, including "Sam Hall" and "Streets of Laredo". Having grown up with the earlier versions, I was in a good position to make a direct comparison, and I am sad to say that while they are OK, these new versions don't stand up to the ones Cash did in his prime.

With some five star classics, and a few stink bombs, I decided to split the uprights on this one, and gave it 3 stars.

Best tracks: The Man Comes Around, Hurt, I Hung My Head, Personal Jesus

CD Odyssey Disc 241: Rachmaninoff

For those of you wondering where I've been, I rolled a rather long album last Sunday, and I've only just now completed it. It is actually three 'albums' in one, but my general rule is if it comes in the same jewel case, it counts as one review.

In the past I've done the rating as a whole, but from here on, I'll break it out by record for the rating. If this creates a strange accounting error at the end of the Odyssey, so be it. I'm a writer, not a book-keeper.

So without further ado, here it (they) is (are).

Disc 241 is...Symphony 1, 2 and 3
Artist: Sergei Rachmaninoff

Year of Release: 1896 (Symphony 1), 1908 (Symphony 2) and 1936 (Symphony 3)

What’s Up With The Cover?: Not much. If this is a famous piece of art, the name of it escapes me. I sincerely hope it is not a famous piece of art or that if it is, some pretentious jerk paid too much for it at some long forgotten auction.

How I Came To Know It: Therein lies a tale. It is the tale of a girl - a girl long in my past, but a girl nonetheless.

In my early twenties I briefly dated a classically trained musician. We often talked music, and one night she decided she would introduce me to Rachmaninoff. She came over to my apartment and turned out all the lights. Then she had me solemnly swear to not say a single thing for the entire time we listened to "Symphony No. 2" in the dark, because (as she told me) that was how classical music should be appreciated.

I readily obliged, and we sat there for the rougly 48 minutes it took to hear the whole song, me dutifully making no sound. To this day I am convinced that the reason many people don't enjoy classical music is they won't take the time to just sit and listen to it in the dark, and not let themselves be distracted. It is meant to be heard that way, but sadly is often put on as background noise.

I didn't date that girl long, and don't know where she ended up. However, I still owe her for introducing me to Rachmaninoff in particular, and helping to open my ears to classical music in such an inspiring way.

How It Stacks Up: I only have this one album, but since it has all three of his major symphonies on it, I'll rank them in the following order: No. 2, No. 3 then No 1.

Rating: 3 stars (Symphony No. 1), 4 stars (Symphonies 2 and 3)

Rachmaninoff is another great Russian composer, in the same style as Tchaikovsky, who I have reviewed on A Creative Maelstrom twice prior. Rachmaninoff lived from 1873 to 1943 and as a young man actually knew Tchaikovsky, which is very cool.

I don't properly know how to review classical music (hence the anecdotal fill throughout) - I'm simply not trained well enough to know what is going on for sure, or why. However, I do know what I enjoy, and I enjoyed these symphonies very much over the last four days.

"Symphony No. 1" is the weakest, and seems a little obvious and clunky in places, but considering Rachmaninoff wrote it when he was 23, I think we can give him a break.

By far the best Symphony (and most famous) is "No. 2" (written in 1908). Funnily enough, the CD I have is two discs, and I got it cheap because "Symphony No. 2" is split up between them. The guy at A&B sound where I bought it said that it was a great recording, with a strong orchestra (Philadelphia) but because of this little hiccup was much cheaper, since it was the song most people were buying it for. Back then the cheapness factor was a strong consideration, and now I can just burn it whole onto a new disc, so it doesn't really matter anyway.

"Symphony No 3" (1936) is almost as good as No. 2 but doesn't pack the same wow factor. It is still amazing, but I strongly suspect Rachmaninoff of doing the classical music version of noodling in places. I do like the title of the second movement in "Symphony No. 3", "Adagio ma non troppo" which I think translates roughly as "in a slow tempo, but not too slow". That is my kind of preciseness!

All three have that bombastic 'heavy metal' feel I get from Tchaikovsky, but it is mixed in with a quiet whimsy that makes me think of lounging under a big beach umbrella on the French Riviera in the twenties, particularly "Symphony No. 3". I don't know why that comes to mind, but it does.

Tacked on the end of the album is a short composition called "Vocalise" which I could've done without, but I guess they figured they had room.

Overall, Rachmaninoff has become one of my favourite composers, and I was glad to spend a few days with him. Therefore I hope it won't seem to impolite when I say I hope my next roll is some good old fashioned rock and roll.

Best tracks: Symphony No. 2

Cd Odyssey Disc 240: Rush

It was quite a leap from the simple sixties folk of Simon & Garfunkel to this next album.

Disc 240 is...Presto
Artist: Rush

Year of Release: 1989

What’s Up With The Cover?: It's a magic theme - answering the question 'where do all the rabbits go that a magician makes disappear?' I assume this small hill is in some secluded spot on the UVIC campus - at least until recently. The rabbits at UVIC are now gone, and the hat pictured above is no doubt in that vault where they keep the Ark of the Covenant (and yes, the warehouse is overrun with bunnies).

How I Came To Know It: This was just me being a completionist and buying all of Rush's albums. I bought "Presto" very late - maybe two or three years ago, and I think it was the second to last I purchased (just before "Power Windows").

How It Stacks Up: I have all eighteen studio albums by Rush. "Presto" does not compare favourably with them - I'd say it is 16th or 17th.

Rating: 3 stars.

"Presto" is right at the end of Rush's synth period - or right before their more recent 'return to rock' period. With a couple exceptions, this is not my favourite period in the band's evolution, not so much because of the writing, but that the production is very annoying.

"Presto" has all the annoying qualities of this synth period, but little of the charm of some early albums like "Hold Your Fire". I have to focus just to notice Lifeson's guitar and Neil Peart's drumming is muted and prone to the dreaded drum-machine sound. Droning out Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart isn't easy to do - and maybe that should be a sign that you...um...shouldn't.

The songs aren't my favourite anyway, and this production makes them even less memorable.

That said, there are a couple of standouts on the record. In particular, I like the title track, "Presto" and found myself wishing it was done in a more pure rock style - like you would hear on their "Rush in Rio" concert (thanks for the recent reminder of this, Chris).

The best track on the album, is one of Rush's best songs and keeps this album in positive territory. "The Pass" is a song about taking your own life. With all of Neil Peart's personal tragedies a few years later (losing both wife and daughter) I expect this song is all the more resonant with him than when he wrote it, and I'm glad he took his own advice, and is still with us.

"Presto" and "The Pass" are enough to pull this album up to 3/5 in my books, but only barely. They are offset by truly ridiculous songs like "Anagram" which seems to be more of an excercise for Peart (to make a song filled with anagrams) than anything meaningful or cohesive. Lines like "there is a tic and toc in atomic" are beneath you, Neil.

I would say this album is for Rush completionists only. If you want to have "Presto" and "The Pass" you could hopefully find them on a live compilation, minus the distracting production. There is so much other awesome stuff this band does that is more worth your time, and I'm looking forward to rolling those in future.

Best tracks: The Pass, Presto, War Paint

CD Odyssey Disc 239: Simon And Garfunkel

The next album is one that has been with me a long time, and helped me through some tough times.

Disc 239 is...Sounds Of Silence
Artist: Simon & Garfunkel

Year of Release: 1965

What’s Up With The Cover?: A pretty straightforward folk album cover. Just a picture of the band, taken by someone who is clearly not a professional, or if they are, is hiding it well. With the hipster movement going on, these clothes are something you'd see in the street today. The more things change...

How I Came To Know It: I believe I ordered this album as one of eleven cassettes I would get 'for only a penny!' from Columbia House back in about 1986. When you live in a small town, Columbia House isn't a bad deal, given the general lack of music options you are going to have. Once I moved away to University, I quickly realized just living in a city was a lot easier.

How It Stacks Up: I only have two of Simon & Garfunkel's five albums, which is really a gap in my collection. Of the two, "Sounds of Silence" is a very close second - not bad, but just not quite good enough to be #1.

Rating: 5 stars, but really should just be a high 4 (see below).

In the mid- to late sixties, Simon & Garfunkel were making some of the most thoughtful music you could find (alongside Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Townes Van Zandt). Paul Simon is an amazing songwriter, and while his vocals may not be great, he is wise enough to just provide harmony to the beautiful instrument that is Art Garfunkel on that front.

"Sounds of Silence" is a sad record, which explores themes of disconnection, isolation and the fleeting nature of love and happiness. Consider that the record has only eleven tracks, and two of them ("Richard Cory" and "A Most Peculiar Man") are about suicide.

The album has an amazing pair of songs that serve as five star bookends (Bookends! Get it? Get it?). Since I could be here all day discussing each song, I'll stick to these for brevity's sake.

The opening track, "The Sounds of Silence" begins with some of the most famous lines in music:

"Hello darkness my old friend
I've come to talk with you again"

These disconcerting lines set the tone for the whole record and serve notice that wrapped in the pretty melodies and harmonies serious subjects are about to be explored.

"The Sounds of Silence" is a song about man's fundamental inability to truly connect with his fellow man in the modern world. It is a song set inthe glare of harsh neon light, with thousands of people going by one another, physically close, but afraid to speak, much less share a meaningful moment. The singer goes on to warn us of what will result from withdrawing from one another:

"'Fools' said I, 'you do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you'
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the well
Of silence."

Considering how disconnected modern society has turned out, these words can now be seen as sadly prophetic.

While "The Sounds of Silence" discusses the disconnect of society as a whole, the final track of the album, "I Am A Rock" is more introspective, sharing the story of a person who has completely withdrawn from human contact. Like "The Sounds of Silence" the song begins with a powerful image:

"A winter's day
In a deep and dark December
I am alone
Gazing from my window to the streets below
On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow
I am a rock
I am an island."

The song plays off of John Donne's famous sermon about how 'no man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.' The song's opening refutation of this claim captures a deep isolation that in lesser hands would come off as maudlin. However, with Simon's graceful phrasing, and Garfunkel's angelic voice, it instead sends chills up your spine.

These songs mean a lot to me, and got me through some very hard times in the late eighties and early nineties. At that time I was deeply heartbroken - and I mean deeply heartbroken. At that time it sometimes felt like my only connection to the world anymore was through the literature and philosophy I was soaking up at University.

"Sounds of Silence" was a record that by telling its own sad tales actually helped me get through my own. Paradoxically, by putting a voice to the emotional alienation I was feeling, it managed to communicate that things were going to be OK. I recently read a quote by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. that sums it up nicely:

""Many people need desperately to receive this message: 'I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people do not care about them. You are not alone.'"

Simon and Garfunkel gave me this, and I'll never be able to repay that. And so despite some questionable tracks that would ordinarily hold this album to four stars, I'm giving it five, because I owe it that. It may not be consistently amazing, but it is amazing enough, and it certainly changed me.

Best tracks: The Sounds of Silence, Leaves That Are Green, Kathy's Song, A Most Peculiar Man, April Come She Will, I Am A Rock

CD Odyssey Disc 238: Iron Maiden

Before this review I got all pumped up watchin my favourite hockey team (Go Bruins) defeat our arch-rivals (Canadiens). There were 13 goals, over 170 minutes in penalties, great scores, great fights and all manner of good fun. Now, to music.

Disc 238 is...Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
Artist: Iron Maiden

Year of Release: 1988

What’s Up With The Cover?: Just another awesome Iron Maiden cover, featuring Eddie in some crazy fantasy art. In this picture we have a partially disembodies Eddie holding up some kind of crazy organ sack, or a ghost trapped in a translucent bag. I'm not sure what it all means - I'm not even sure what it all is, but I'm sure I like it.

How I Came To Know It: I have been an Iron Maiden fan since my early teens. I never actually owned this record until recently, but I always wanted to.

How It Stacks Up: I have seven Iron Maiden albums - basically the first seven. This album is technically great, but for me it is not my favourite. I'll say it is 6th or 7th out of the seven.

Rating: 3 stars.

I haven't reviewed Iron Maiden since I rolled "Piece of Mind" all the way back at Disc 2. That seems like a gap that might be the largest I'll see in the whole Odyssey. I guess we'll see.

This is the last album with the classic Iron Maiden lineup, and so I haven't pursued anything after it, although I'm told their most recent album is a nice come back. I might check that out down the road.

"Seventh Son" comes across as a very ambitious record. This can mean a record is destined for greatness, but it can also mean spectacular failure. In this case, the album manages to steer deftly between the two, and comes out as merely good.

The one song that stands out is the title track, which is yet another lengthy Iron Maiden opus - well over nine minutes. It ranges all over, from a fierce guitar riff driving the chorus, to an understated middle section a la "The Rime of The Ancient Mariner" through to a respectable (if slightly noodle-filled) fade out.

Iron Maiden's bass player, Steve Harris, is famous in metal circles. In truth, in the car I often have a hard time picking out the bass over Bruce Dickinson's singing, and the guitar-driven sound. However, as I write this I am listening to it on headphones, and the bass is far easier to hear (and yes, it is awesome).

"Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" doesn't overwhelm me, but the music is simply too well crafted and too well played to achieve less than a three. I only bought this album in the last few years, and it often loses out to my better-loved Maiden records, so I was glad to be reacquainted with it.

OK - enough about the music. Now is the time for a technology rant. This album is remastered and recorded on an 'enhanced CD'. However, after I uploaded the stupid program to run it, I can no longer view individual tracks, except through the incredibly inefficient built in interface on the CD.

I just want to look at the tracks and yes - I want to put them on my PC, and from there to my MP3 player. Why the hell can't I do this? In fact, the whole system is so cumbersome, I'm currently listening to the album through the pathetic little boom box in my hobby room (which is thankfully too stupid to know how to download the moronic interface).

I almost downgraded this record to 1 star (yeah, 1 star) I am so frustrated trying to play it, but my long and abiding love for Iron Maiden has prevented me from taking such puerile revenge.

Anyway - I hope to figure this out before too long, but for now, the experience has only enhanced my frustration.

UPDATE: OK - I cooled off and took another run at this, deleted the uploaded program, and successfully ripped the music so I can enjoy it without all the extraneous junk. It is OK, Iron Maiden, I love you again - just don't do that again.

Best tracks: Infinite Dreams, Can I Play With Madness, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

CD Odyssey Disc 237: Jann Arden

After a slow and disjointed January, I'm just rolling through reviews this month - another album which I finished in a single day. And so, here it is...

Disc 237 is...Living Under June
Artist: Jann Arden

Year of Release: 1994

What’s Up With The Cover?: It is Jann Arden, a little out of focus (but not my fault this time - that's how it is supposed to be). You will note that Jann is wearing an awful outfit, including big boots with hiking socks coming out of the top and a man's shirt. It was 1994, and this was the style at the time. It was a dark time, my friends.

A good thing about the early nineties, however, was that a woman with a big voice, and big talent like Jann could succeed without having to look like a model. Jann Arden deserves her success, and I think if she just broke now she would struggle in the even more image conscious times the music industry is currently mired in. So you rock that ugly man-shirt, Jann - I'm here for the music.

How I Came To Know It: This was a pretty big album in the day, so it was hard to not see a video off of it, or hear it somewhere. I liked what I heard, but it was actually Sheila who bought it a few years later (like maybe 1997 or 1998).

How It Stacks Up: Jann has put together a pretty successful career, and has eight studio albums. However, like a lot of people, this is the only one we have, so it is hard to stack it up.

Rating: 3 stars.

Jann Arden is one of those artists you want to succeed. If you've ever seen her in an interview, she's a delight; funny, self-effacing and keen of wit. I think she'd be a fun person to have over for dinner. However, as I noted above, we're here to review the music, not the person, so let's get on the job.

While it may be the only album of Jann Arden's that we have, "Living Under June" remains by far her most successful - going five times Platinum (Canada version, which means not as many copies as you might think, but still impressive).

It has every right to have been successful, with at least four songs being hits. These songs are by and large the stronger ones on the record, so congrats to the A&R man for picking correctly.

The opening track, "Could I Be Your Girl" is a modern-day classic of unrequited love, which will likely be getting radio play twenty years from now. It is strong melodically, perfectly phrased and Jann's voice - which is both powerful and emotionally raw - is displayed to all its considerable potential.

Other tracks include the 'you-re a jerk' anthem, "Insensitive" and the 'I used to live in a dump' anthem, "Living Under June". "Living Under June" features those unforgettable memories of living in a cheap apartment with thin walls, and hearing your neighbours have sex. Or being that neighbour - or both.

Back to the record, which has a lot going for it. Arden writes all the songs, and she is very good at the craft. Her voice is beautiful and although not exactly poetry when standing alone, the lyrics are insightful and refreshingly honest.

The only thing I'd prefer is a bit less production. Arden dresses up all the songs with pop radio production which detracts from their gravitas. I have to remind myself she is a pop artist, so this is to be expected. I just wish she'd take a couple steps closer to folk, and let her writing and singing shine through a little more.

Like her outfit on the cover, this is a sign of the times. The album reminds me a lot of Sue Medley's 1992 effort, "Inside Out" which I used to own. I saw Sue Medley do almost the entire album acoustic at Harpo's pub. I fell in love with a lot of the things I love about Jann Arden - the powerful vocals, strong writing, etc. - and raced out and bought the album the next day. Sadly, the album had a lot more production than the live performance, and it ended up being subtraction by addition.

Not to take me wrong, though, "Living Under June" is a solid record. I'd love to hear it unplugged, where I think it might easily enter into excellence.

Best tracks: Could I Be Your Girl, Insensitive, Living Under June, Unloved

CD Odyssey Disc 236: Townes Van Zandt

The Odyssey has a hankerin' for Townes Van Zandt right now - I just rolled a live album featuring Townes at Disc 231, and here we are again.

I am totally fine with this - I can handle as much Townes Van Zandt as the Dice Gods see fit to serve me, and more besides.

Disc 236 is...Our Mother the Mountain
Artist: Townes Van Zandt

Year of Release: 1969

What’s Up With The Cover?: It is a picture of Townes, looking very country to suit this album. Half his face is in light, and half in shadow, which is about as accurate a depiction of Townes as you could have.

How I Came To Know It: I heard Townes Van Zandt through the Steve Earle remakes album "Townes". "Our Mother the Mountain" was part of my initial explosion of purchasing him back in Fall of 2009.

How It Stacks Up: I now have six studio albums and two live albums of Townes. "Our Mother The Mountain" is pretty high up that list - I'd say second only to "High, Low and In Between" (which I should've given 5 stars to back when I reviewed it at Disc 43, but gave it an insulting 4). That record is actually a 5, and so is this one. While I can't correct the earlier mistake, I can at least get this one right.

Rating: 5 stars

You can't go wrong with Townes Van Zandt. He is a master storyteller, songwriter and sometimes prophet to those who fall under his spell. "Our Mother The Mountain" is his second album, coming out way back in 1969.

Townes records will often move around thematically. He'll have a couple funny songs and some bluesy numbers mixed in with his mainstay of thoughtful folk stories. "Our Mother the Mountain" does not range about this way, and consistently sticks with folk music. It does not suffer for this, and the tracks here are as strong as anything Townes will ever write.

Moreover, of all of his first three records (the others being "For The Sake of the Song" and "Townes Van Zandt"), "Our Mother the Mountain" benefits from the best production value. It is very stripped down, but it avoids the slightly tinny sound that occasionally creeps into Townes' early recordings.

Lyrically, this record is the richest Townes has to offer. My favourite song is the title track, an eerie tale of a man living in the mountains who has a strange and fey visit one evening from a beautiful woman:

"My lover comes to me with a rose on her bosom
The moon's dancin' purple all through her black hair
And her ladies-in-waiting they stand 'neath my window
And the sun will rise soon on the false and the fair.

"She tells me she comes from our mother the mountain
And her skin fits her tightly and her lips do not lie
She silently slips from her throat a medallion
Slowly she twirls it in front of my eye."

This song of faeries and haunted forests sounds like it could have been written two hundred years ago. Like any great folk song, it is timeless. I'd like to think that in two hundred years from now, it will still be played around campfires on a single guitar.

Townes' vocals - never his strongest quality - are at their best on this album. Partly because the slow, quiet songs, many in a minor key, suit his style, but also because he sings them so well, and with such pathos. I was often favourably reminded of Leonard Cohen from around the same period.

Because of the richness of language, and the subdued nature of the music, "Our Mother The Mountain" requires your full attention. It is not music to put on in the background, but if you want to sit quietly in the dark - maybe alone, maybe with a loved one in like mood - it will deeply move you.

Best tracks: Everything except maybe "St. John The Gambler" because it sounds too much like "House of the Rising Sun". That still leaves 10 other kick-ass tracks, so it is hardly a problem.

CD Odyssey Disc 235: Tom Waits

This review brings Tom Waits into a tie for first with most albums reviewed, at eight. Congratulations Tom!

Alice Cooper remains in second, and it just so happens I wrote this review while wearing an Alice Cooper tour shirt. I'd like to see Waits in concert some time as well, but I fear I've missed my chance. You never know...

Disc 235 is...Blood Money
Artist: Tom Waits

Year of Release: 2002

What’s Up With The Cover?: A disturbed looking Tom Waits shows us his hand of old cards (hint: their size gives away that they're old). I see he's got a bit of cash in there as well. Someone should tell Tom that the money is for betting, the cards are for holding, but with that look on his face don't expect me to do it. He's liable to knife me - but more on that later.

How I Came To Know It: I have written previously about how I cam to know Tom Waits (first on my own, then rediscovered through a friend). This particular album I first noted when I saw a video for the song "God's Away On Business" and really liked it. They used to use arty videos like that as filler when A&E still consisted principally of Arts and Entertainment. Anyway, we didn't get the album until maybe five years later, during our hunt for all things Tom Waits.

How It Stacks Up: We have eighteen Tom Waits albums. This is one of my less favourites, I'd say somewhere between 14th and 16th. It's still good, but there is so many more that are better. That's the way of it, sometimes, as Tom would tell you if he were here.

Rating: 3 stars.

"Misery's the river of the world
Misery's the river of the world

"The higher that the monkey can climb
the more he shows his tail
Call no man happy 'til he dies
There's no milk at the bottom of the pail."

These lines, from "Misery Is The River Of The World" are the first words you hear when you put on "Blood Money", and it mostly goes downhill from here. This is one of the more depressing and dark albums by Waits, which is saying something.

Not musically, mind you, as "Blood Money" has strong melodies, albeit artfully hidden in very unique production decisions. Waits is deep into his 'disturbed circus' feel on "Blood Money" and as usual, he is defying the odds and making it work.

For all of its depressing nature, "Misery Is The River Of The World" is one of the record's stronger tracks. Hey - it doesn't have to be happy to be good, people! I also like the follow up track, the similarly cheery "Everything Goes To Hell".

The song I first heard on the A&E-aired video, "God's Away On Business" is still my favourite from "Blood Money". It takes the modern feeling of alienation from God moves it one step further; it isn't that God isn't there - it's that he's busy. It takes the feeling of metaphysical abandonment to a whole new low. My favourite image from the song:

"I narrow my eyes like a coin slot baby,
Let her ring, let her ring
God's Away, God's Away
God's Away on Business."

In earlier reviews we had Michelle Shocked with the too-cute suggestion that God was a real estate developer. Waits takes the cute right out of the idea. It's not that he's absent, it isn't even that he's just busy; he is actively not returning your calls.

This album is beautifully constructed, and the ideas are great, but it isn't an easy record to love. While I don't mind the sombre tone, I think it needs a little more range to really appreciate the lows.

For a similar but superior album, I'd go with "Alice" also from 2002 or go back three years to the 1999 masterpiece, "Mule Variations". But I'll talk about those records when I roll them.

Interestingly, when I went to check where this album fell in the Waits discography for that preceding paragraph I discovered that this record is actually music for Robert Wilson's version of the play "Woyzeck". That's weird - I just finished watching Werner Herzog's 1979 movie version of the same.

Knowing this makes this album's depressing quality much more understandable. "Woyzeck" is a disturbed portrait of a soldier who is abused and maltreated until he finally snaps and commits a bloody murder. It also explains why there is an instrumental on "Blood Money" called "Knife Chase". (Spoiler alert: the knife chase ends tragically).

"Woyzeck" the play also features a woman telling some kids an inappropriate bed-time story about a prince who goes to the moon only to find it is made of a rotten board - a story Waits will lift almost wholesale for another album (I think it is on 2006's "Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards").

If you are a hard core Tom Waits fan, you'll enjoy this album - maybe even love it. If you're only a casual fan, I wouldn't start here.

Best tracks: Misery's The River of the World, Everything Goes To Hell, God's Away On Business, Starving In The Belly Of A Whale, The Part You Throw Away

CD Odyssey Disc 234: Tracy Chapman

The next review is proof that not every second album has a sophomore jinx.

Disc 234 is...Crossroads Artist: Tracy Chapman

Year of Release: 1989

What’s Up With The Cover?: Not much, but it sure is out of focus. I take photos of my covers, since it is often quicker than looking for one of suitable size on the net. I can usually get at least one good one out of the four or five I snap, but not so much here. Apart from the picture being fuzzy, I think it is just Tracy sitting on something flat (the beach? pavement?). Either way, she could probably use a pair of shoes. Or maybe she's like the bandit Cobra Verde, in Werner Herzog's movie of the same name, and she doesn't trust shoes not to betray her. But I digress...on with the review.

How I Came To Know It: I had bought her first album when it came out, and like it, so I went for this one when the chance came up. I originally owned this on tape, and eventually upgraded to CD when circumstances and payroll allowed. In fact, because my favourite songs on this record are the first three tracks on side one, and the last three tracks on side two, it was very well suited to tape. You could stop it half-way, flip it and just push play, avoiding any fast forwarding looking for that song you wanted to hear!

How It Stacks Up: I have four Tracy Chapman albums. This one is a very close second to her debut album. Although not as consistently strong, it is still a great record.

Rating: 4 stars. Following on Chapman's very raw and honest debut album, it would be natural to expect her to take a downturn on "Crossroads" but that doesn't happen. If anything, this record sees her taking new risks, adding in unexpected instruments, like those Caribbean steel drums and banjo.

I usually hate those steel drums (mostly because of a sub-par act that plays ad nauseum in my city's downtown core through every summer). However, Chapman wisely doesn't overdo it, and when she does put them in they are artfully in the mix, rather than treated like some attempt to falsely infuse world beat sounds. In short, she makes them novel, rather than a novelty. As for the banjo, who doesn't love the banjo? And if you don't, again, she works it into the sound, rather than having a bluegrass jamboree.

The album is a lot more up tempo than her first, but the songs are just as serious. Once again she covers her usual topics of political commentary ("Material World", "Subcity") and strained or broken relationships ("A Hundred Years", "This Time").

However, I think this album is at its best when Chapman grapples with issues of staying true to yourself despite the many internal and external pressures we face each day. I expect this theme came naturally to her in the wake of being catapulted from obscurity to massive pop star in the space of a few months.

The first and title track, "Crossroads" is an excellent expression of Chapman feeling pressure to be a certain type of artist. It ends with just the right blend of uncertainty, which itself is then partially dispelled with an affirmation that finds its core strength in rebellion:

"Standing at the point

The road it cross you down

What is at your back?

Which way do you turn?

Who will come and find you first

Your devils or your gods?

"All you folks think you run my life

Say I should be willing to compromise

I say all you demons go back to hell

I'll save my soul save myself."

The album ends with the same theme of staying true to yourself with "All That You Have Is Your Soul". The difference is that where "Crossroads" is about external pressures, "All That You Have Is Your Soul" focuses on the internal pressures, and how true character comes from within. The chorus exhorts us as follows:

"Don't be tempted by the shiny apple

Don't you eat of a bitter fruit

Hunger only for a taste of justice

Hunger only for a world of truth

'Cause all that you have is your soul"

A strictly literal listen to the rest of this song would lead you to think of desperate welfare mothers giving birth to unwanted children, but I almost never think of it that way when I hear it. The theme of living an upright life as described in the lyrics above is simply too universal.

It is a book end musically to "Crossroads" as well. Where "Crossroads" is filled with steel drum and instrumentation, "All That You Have Is Your Soul" is dressed down to guitar and just the smallest tinkle of a piano flourish. It always reminds me of a saying I'm fond of, "true beauty steals into only the quietest souls."

This song has been there for me so often through my life, always reminding me to try a little harder. As recently as this morning on my drive to work, it caught me in the midst of an unkind thought, and mellowed me, made me see the world a bit more like that character in Princess Mononoke, "with eyes unclouded by hate." As ever, this is a work in progress, but having a theme song help you along is a nice advantage.

Emmylou Harris recently did a passable remake of this song on her album "All I Intended To Be" but for me, nothing stands up to the original, and if Emmylou can't outdo you, then you can't be outdone.

This album never had commercial success, and it is a pity, because it is a solid piece of work from an uncompromising artist.

Best tracks: Crossroads, Bridges, Freedom Now, A Hundred Years, This Time, All That You Have Is Your Soul