CD Odyssey Disc 1644: Various Artists

This next record holds a LOT of music and to get through it in a reasonable time frame. I had to get creative to get a full listen in and a review before my work week resumes, but the combination of the long weekend and getting out of bed early today has provided me the space and time required.

Disc 1644 is…We’ll Meet Again: 50 Wartime Favourites

Artist: Various Artists

Year of Release: 1939 to 1945 (OK – one song from 1931, but otherwise the war years)

What’s up with the Cover?  With the white cliffs of Dover in the background, we must assume this gaggle of partiers are storming the beaches of France. Despite the air support in the background, they do not look well equipped for the mission.

Or maybe this is post-war and these revelers are driving around some old equipment for shits and giggles.

How I Came To Know It: I was shopping for other music and this was sitting innocuously in a display, coyly calling out to middle aged history buffs with a penchant for war history and old timey tunes.

How It Stacks Up: This is a collection of music, not a true album, so can’t stack up.

Rating: As a compilation record, there is no rating assigned. If you want to know what I thought about it in more general terms, you’ll have to take a deep breath and read the review.

“We’ll Meet Again” is a large (fifty-song) compilation of music recorded and played during World War Two. With any compilation this big you’re going to have some winners and some losers.

It has been almost eighty years since the Second World War ended, and as time goes along, we remember the events, but it is easy to lose contact with the feel of those same events for the people who lived the experience. For much of the war, heartache and uncertainty were the order of the day, and the grief real and imminent.

In dark times I often turn to music to help sustain me, and the people living through the war were no different. You might expect music of the era to capture that uncertainty and turn dark and foreboding, but you’d be wrong. The Greatest Generation were also the “Rub dirt on it” generation. Don’t expect a lot of doleful music here – the people living through war opted for stoicism over sadness, and a stiff upper lip over a trembling one.

The word that kept circling around in my head as I listened to this collection was “escapism”. These are songs about pure love and joy, and even when the war is mentioned (as it often is) it is in a light-hearted way. Troubles with logistics and troops going without at the front line? Here’s “In the Quartermaster’s Stores” a humorous exploration that maybe the quartermaster just has bad eyesight. Young men feeling frightened at being so far from home? We have “Kiss Me Goodnight Sgt Major” asking the (presumably gruff) NCO fill in.

The marching tunes are filled with patriotic optimism. “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition” and “There’ll Always Be an England” are prime examples, and these songs could double as marching tunes as well as a handy drunken sing-a-long for soldiers on leave needing to let off some steam.

There are times when this “what, me worry?” feel comes off as schmaltzy, with some singers laying on silly affectations a bit thick. Duo Flanagan and Allen are a couple of the worst offenders, but even their goofiness works once in a while (notably, “(We’re Gonna Hang Out) The Washing on the Siegfried Line)” even if this 1939 optimism was to be tragically disproved in the early years of the war.

What jumped out at me musically was how some of the specific artists were head and shoulders above their peers. Multiple Glenn Miller songs appear, and all of them were instantly recognizable. Miller was a force in this era, and his big band stylings are still as timeless and brilliant as they were when he recorded them eight decades ago.

The Andrews Sisters have many of the best songs on the record with “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” the best of all. If that song doesn’t put joy in your heart, you should double check that you have one. Other standout Andrews Sisters tunes include “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree” and a duet with Bing Crosby titled “Don’t Fence Me In.”

Bing Crosby is no slouch solo either. He is one of the great vocalists of his or any time, and “San Antonio Rose” is a vocal masterpiece. Crosby practically converts mono to stereo through the richness of his tone alone.

And finally, if you want to feel all the feels, the record features a number of Vera Lynn tunes. “Yours” and “We’ll Meet Again” are the tear-jerkers of the record, laden with yearning and the heartbreak of lovers parted. “We’ll Meet Again” also doubles as another barroom sing-a-long, and features a bunch of folks singing along in unison for the latter half of the tune, underscoring this as an option for you, the listener.

I’m a military history buff, and I’ve read a LOT about the Second World War, but listening to this collection of songs from the era provided a new and more emotional way to interface with the era through its art. I didn’t love all the songs, but I did love the overall experience.  

Best tracks: Chatanooga Choo Choo – Glenn Miller; Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy – Andrews Sisters; Yours – Vera Lynn; In the Mood – Glenn Miller; (We’re Gonna Hang Out) The Washing on the Siegfried Line – Flanagan and Allen; Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition – Kay Kyser and his Orchestra; San Antonio Rose – Bing Crosby; When the Light Comes on Again (All Over the World) – Vaughn Monroe; The White Cliffs of Dover – Vera Lynn; Don’t Fence Me In – Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters; Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree – Andrews Sisters; We’ll Meet Again – Vera Lynn

CD Odyssey Disc 1587: Soundtrack

This week brings better news on the cat front. It turns out our poor cat is only mostly blind, and after ten days on blood pressure medication he has recovered a small portion of his vision. It is not a lot, but it’s enough for him to jump on and off stuff with a bit more confidence. Along with this newfound sight, he’s decided the veterinarian-approved food is not to his liking, and so is currently taking a stand against it. Argh…

Anyway, here is a new review.

Disc 1587 is…. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Radio Sunnydale

Artist: Various artists

Year of Release: 2003

What’s up with the Cover?  A graveyard angel. You’d think you’d want to market a Buffy the Vampire Slayer album with a picture from the show but here we get what I assume either a stock photo from the Interwebs or a prop from what Sheila and I affectionately call “the Buffy backlot”.

How I Came To Know It: This is one of two Buffy albums a former coworker gave me when she and her partner were downsizing their CD collection in 2020. Thanks, Anna!

How It Stacks Up: I have so many soundtracks that I have a hard time keeping track. I think I’m up around 36. Of those, I’ll say “Radio Sunnydale” slips just in front of my other Buffy soundtrack from 1999, landing at #28.

Back in the late nineties/early oughts both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and compact discs were all the rage, so it should not surprise you to hear that I have three different Buffy soundtracks. Of those, this one comes in at #2.

Ratings: 2 stars

If you are not familiar with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, my condolences. This show was some amazing TV that has more than held up over the almost two decades since it’s final episode aired. At some point I’m sure I’ll be pulling the DVD collection down to watch the whole thing for a 4^th time. Maybe not for a few years yet, but it will happen.

Those who are familiar with the show will know that music features prominently. The songs are generally selected because they either do a good job of setting a mood for a scene, or just appeal to young people of the day. Often it feels to be a mix of both.

While I know some of the songs on this record, most were new to me when I first got the record in 2020. This is because like today, back in 2003 I was not listening to the radio – Sunnydale or otherwise. For example, Sheila advises me that the Dandy Warhols’ “Bohemian Like You” was a big hit and even today gets occasional airtime. Good to know and I declare the song…OK.

The opening track was very familiar mind you, being a Breeder’s cover of the Buffy Main Title Theme. The original is by Nerf Herder, but the Breeders do a fine job of it, making it a bit grimier in the process. I liked it but I did miss that glorious drum roll featured at the end of the original.

Instead my favourites tended to be from artists I already liked, and songs I sometimes already had. Most notable is Aimee Mann’s “Pavlov’s Bell” a glorious track off her 2002 masterpiece, “Lost in Space.” Aimee Mann even was featured playing live on Buffy in one season, although I had forgotten the context and had to look it up. Playing herself, she gets to deliver the line, “Man, I hate playing vampire towns.” Nice. Anyway, it is a great song and well worth your time here or anywhere else it shows up.

Also good was Sarah McLachlan’s “Prayer of Saint Francis” which was apparently released on early editions of her 1997 record “Surfacing”. I am sad to say I don’t have that version, but that’s OK because here it is, and the song reminded me how much I used to love McLachlan back in the day. I still love her work, but I overplayed it a bit and am giving that part of my collection a rest. It was nice to have something “new to me” to enjoy by her. Like the Buffy series itself, I’ll be revisiting her collection one day down the road.

There are some unfortunate tunes that are very much of their time. “Sound of the Revolution” has a lot of weird Matrix-like sound effects hiding what is otherwise a boring and overproduced assortment of noises. “Ballad for Dead Friends” is exactly the overwrought Emo stew of sound which I expect was better when overlaid on some significant sequence on the show but fails to hold its own as music alone.

The CD ends with “The Final Fight” a soaring instrumental that had me thinking of Lord of the Rings travel sequences. It also had me remembered the glory of that final fight sequence as the show wrapped up. The song is full of bombast and majesty and probably only great if you are a fan looking to get nostalgic over the amazing final episode. I am, so it worked for me.

Overall, this record is a lot like how I imagine listening to the radio feels. Some great songs if you wait for them, sprinkled in with a bunch of others that are OK, but maybe not what you’d pick for yourself if you were making a mixed CD of your own. All the same, I had a good time and I’ll be keeping this collection of memories.

Best tracks: Buffy Main Theme – The Breeders, Stop Thinking About It – Joey Ramone; Pavlov’s Bell – Aimee Mann; Prayer of St. Francis – Sarah McLachlan

CD Odyssey Disc 926: Various Artists

I’m right in the middle of a very busy week where I have nine social engagements over five days. They are all fun activities but a bit more hubbub than even I’m used to.

Knowing in advance this would happen I invoked the rarely-used rule that allows me to choose the album I review, so long as it is newly purchased. I picked this one because it is a double album set with over two hours of music and I knew that I would have the time to listen to it and grok it in its fullness. Now that I have, so here it is!

Disc 926 is….Rogue’s Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys

Artist: Various Artists

Year of Release: 2006

What’s up with the Cover? This is a painting by 19^th century American artist Howard Pyle, titled “Marooned”. This painting resides in the Delaware Art Gallery. Cool paintings like this make me want to go to Delaware, but I admit there isn’t much else to draw me there, so I’ll probably skip it. Sorry, Howard.

How I Came To Know It: My coworker Chris sent me the song “Cape Cod Girls” by Baby Gramps. I loved it and when I found out it was on an album full of traditional sea chanteys I was very intrigued (I love a good sea chantey). The artist list alone compelled me to seek this out, but it took forever for someone to sell their copy so I could buy it used at the local record store for a good price. Recently, it happened!

How It Stacks Up:  There is second volume in the series called “Son of Rogue’s Gallery” released in 2013 but I don’t have it (yet) so I can’t stack it up.

Ratings: Since this isn’t really a best of, I’m going to rate it and give it 4 stars.

My last tattoo was of a kraken grabbing an anchor (photos below) so while I’m not a sailor it is fair to say I have an affinity for the sea. “Rogue’s Gallery” fed that affinity and then some, filling me with the rich history of the Age of Sail and the sea chanteys that tell the stories of the men that crewed its ships.

The album is appropriately named, with a treasure trove of artists contributing songs. These include big rock stars Sting, Lou Reed and Bono; folk and alternative stars Nick Cave, Lucinda Williams, and Richard Thompson; and a host of other folk artists obscure enough that I didn’t recognize their names. The whole of it is a labour of love by Producer Hal Willner.

The album covers a lot of ground, with over two and a half hours of content and 43 songs. Despite the length, I never got tired of it. Some of the chanteys are delivered very traditionally; others have a rock or alternative edge to them. I wouldn’t have wanted too many of the latter, and the album obliged me, having one appear only once every five or six songs.

I don’t usually research my albums, preferring to take the songs on their own terms, but with something so historically significant I couldn’t help but bury my head in the liner notes (which are excellent) and a few Google searches. Apparently many of these songs would have been sung by sailors while doing their various jobs on the ship. Different rhythms or tempos were used for different jobs. “Rogue’s Gallery” features tack & sheet chanteys, halyard chanteys, pumping chanteys, capstan chanteys, bowline chanteys and even a “stamp and go” chantey. Apparently this latter chantey was on large ships where a group of men would take a line and stamp down the deck, presumably to raise a large sail.

Along the way I learned new sailing slang (yes, I already knew some). I found out that the “Dead Horse” is the 30 days of labour before you are getting paid (since sailors got a 30 day advance when signing on). On the thirtieth day, the crew would celebrate by raising a horse banner and…wait for it…sing a song! “Bully in the alley” means you are too drunk to get back to the ship on your own power. We’ve all been there.

Musically, this record is a revelation. Every song has either a catchy rolling tune, a great story to tell or a bunch of ribald and racy lyrics; some songs have all three.

There are too many favourites to write about them all (see full list below) but I’ll note a few nonetheless.

The album starts with “Cape Cod Girls” by Baby Gramps which is a rollicking track with a gorgeous arrangement of guitar and what I think is a Jew’s harp. The rough and ready sailor’s voice of Baby Gramps is the perfect mood-setter for the record.

“Baltimore Whores” and “Good Ship Venus” are two of the dirtiest songs you will ever hear. They are so dirty I won’t even quote the lyrics to you, but I encourage you to Youtube them both.

“Bonnie Portmore” by Lucinda Williams is also gorgeous. When I first heard Loreena McKennitt sing this song in 1991 I didn’t think anyone could render a more heartbreaking version. Lucinda Williams plays it very differently, but the hurt and loss of a mighty tree felled to make the hull of a ship comes through just as strong. Great songs are great through many ages and many renditions. This one’s been depressing us since the 18^th century.

“Shenandoah” is a beautiful instrumental that will set your heart at ease and remove wrinkles from your brow (results may vary). It is beautifully played by Richard Greene and the scatologically named trio “Jack Shit”. Okay, then…

The only song that really irked me was a strange electronica version of “What Do We do With a Drunken Sailor” by David Thomas. It is great to be creative but when the experimentation is so great that the song ceases to be enjoyable you lose me. This version would be at home on the soundtrack to a Rob Zombie horror flick, but felt out of place on this record.

The first disc is better by a good margin, but the second disc has its moments including a beautiful vocal from Jolie Holland on “The Grey Funnel Line” and the aforementioned “Good Ship Venus”.

This record isn’t for everyone but if you like folk music then this will give you a lot of joy, and put some salt in your blood while doing so.

Best tracks (artist): Disc 1 - (12 songs): Cape Cod Girls (Baby Gramps), Mingulay Boat Song (Richard Thompson), My Son John (John C.Reilly), Fire Down Below (Nick Cave), Dead Horse (Robin Holcomb), Turkish Revelry (Loudon Wainwright III), Haul Away Joe (Mark Anthony Thompson), Blood Red Roses (Sting), Baltimore Whores (Gavin Friday), Rolling Sea (Eliza Carthy), Bonnie Portmore (Lucinda Williams), Shenandoah (Richard Greene and Jack Shit),

Disc 2 – (6 songs): Boney was a Warrior (Jack Shit), Good Ship Venus (Loudon Wainwright III), One Spring Morning (Akron/Family), Hanging Johnny (Stan Ridgway), The Grey Funnel Line (Jolie Holland), A Drop of Nelson’s Blood (Jarvis Cocker)

And as promised, here are a couple of tattoo photos to add a little more flavour to this nautically themed blog entry! I don't know how to put them all beside one another so this will have to do. 

CD Odyssey Disc 904: Various Artists

Apologies for my lengthy absence, gentle readers! I lost my MP3 player on Saturday night and have not been able to listen to music on the walk to work for most of the week as a result.

There is a silver lining though, at least for me. My old MP3 player was a 2008 Zen Mosaic that held 2 GB of music. It’s most salient feature was its annoying refusal to die.

My new player is a fancy 64 GB Sony Walkman A17 with all the bells and whistles a fella could hope for. So the reviews were slightly delayed, but now the music sounds so much sweeter as a result.

Disc 904 is….Wild, Cool and Swingin’

Artist: Various Artists

Year of Release: 1996 but featuring music from 1949 to 1964

What’s up with the Cover? A microphone holds a microphone. Do not be alarmed, the smaller microphone is not holding yet another smaller microphone.

This guy looks like he could date the martini garnish lady from the cover of “Bachelor Pad Royale” (reviewed way back at Disc 372).

How I Came To Know It: Back in the mid-nineties I fell for the swing and lounge craze like a lot of other people. I didn’t fall hard, and I didn’t fall long, but it was long enough for me to buy this compilation album of classic lounge tracks.

How It Stacks Up:  Compilation albums don’t stack up but since I have three of these “Ultra Lounge” albums I’ll stack it up against the other two. “Wild, Cool and Swingin’” is easily the best of all of them by a wide margin so #1, baby!

Ratings: compilations don’t get ratings!

This record is like a Sunday walk in the park: easy, breezy and fun. These are songs that make you happy to be alive, skillfully written, sung and played.

Hearing “Wild Cool and Swingin’” made me feel like artists paid more attention to their craft then than now. It isn’t likely true, but hearing these artists deliver such perfection it is easy to believe. The album features multiple vocalists, but all of them share an exceptional talent for settling down in the pocket that makes swing music work.

The musicianship is also incredible, likely because this is from a time when studios had stables full of musicians at their beck and call, and the best artists got the pick of the litter. It really shows.

The times were never ‘simpler’ (every age has its issues) but the music on this record paints a picture that suggests it was. People went out and about, met one another, batted eyelashes and fell in love. The songs on this record are usually playful, occasionally sexy and always full of energy.

Back in our Lounge revival days of the mid to late nineties Sheila and I both played this album often, and it was a staple at parties in the era before you could just load music onto a memory stick. It is just good music for sunshine, laughter and the tinkling of bar glasses.

It is hard to pick out favourites, but there are a few. The record starts with the flourish of trumpets and swingin’ Dean Martin singing “Ain’t that a Kick in the Head” as though that would be the most marvelous experience ever. Peggy Lee’s sultry rendition of “Fever” is an all-time classic and for a more playful couple’s version of similarly heavy flirtation I recommend Louis Prima and Keely Smith singing “That Old Black Magic”.

Prima does a solo number, “Closer to the Bone” that is mildly inappropriate but undeniably fun about a guy who likes skinny girls, full of metaphors about just how skinny his gal is:

“Now she’d make a good thermometer

If she drank a glass of wine

She’s built just like a garter snake

She climbs up like a vine.”

The idea that sixty years ago someone would write a song feeling the need to defend how he likes slender women shows just how inconstant the nature of beauty is. It would be easy to see this song as a slice of fifties sexism, but I prefer to see it as a reminder that we shouldn’t get all wrought up about classical notions of beauty; they’re going to change soon enough anyway.

My favourite song on the record is “Sunday In New York” which is a Bobby Darin track I’d never heard until I got this record, but damn if it isn’t perfection. Sunny horn flourishes match ambling piano riffs in the perfect song for a stroll. The song begins:

“New York on Sunday,

Big City taking a nap!

Slow down, it's Sunday!

Life's a ball, let it fall in your lap!”

The way Darin snaps out the second line is perfect; New York City’s feeling a bit snoozy, but even a nap in the Big Apple has some pizzazz to it, and in Central Park love is around every corner.

The album could feel a bit bloated at 18 tracks, but I’m going to let it slide. For one thing, the songs are all so short that the total playing time is still only 49 minutes. Also, I’d have a tough time cutting many of them out, they are so good. There are a couple of schmaltzy numbers like Wayne Newton’s “Danke Schoen” (I’ve never liked that song) but for the most part even the lesser tracks are still a fun little musical stroll.

Best tracks:  Ain’t that a Kick in the Head, Dig that Crazy Chick, Fever, Jump Jive n’ Wail, French Poodle, Sunday in New York, Closer to the Bone, That Old Black Magic

CD Odyssey Disc 773: Various Artists

I’ve discovered two new artists this week – Lera Lynn and Band of Heathens.

Lera Lynn is the woman who is singing mournful tunes in that dingy bar featured in True Detective’s second season. Band of Heathens is a bunch of indie/southern rock/blues/folk guys that write their own stuff and sing it well. Youtube them both and see if – like me – you plan to add them to your collection soon.

But now an artist that has been in everyone’s collect – one way or another – for decades.

Disc 773 is….The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams

Artist: Various artists

Year of Release: 2011

What’s up with the Cover? An old wooden wall with Hank’s image on it, although you can barely see it through all the text. Around the edge you can see all the contributing artists, which is a nice touch.

How I Came To Know It: I saw this advertised in a music magazine I got as a Christmas gift from Sheila. She obviously saw it as well because when my birthday rolled around she bought me the album.

How It Stacks Up: This is a compilation album, so it doesn’t have anything to stack up against. The question is moot!

Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4

As my wife Sheila perceptively pointed out, “The Lost Notebooks” is “Mermaid Avenue” for Hank Williams, a living breathing treasure that is both the glory of the original artist and also the inspiration he generated in each contributor to the record.

The music comes from a satchel Williams would carry around full of all his old songs that was still with him when he died. Sixty years later, it is like uncovering a vault of forgotten treasure.

Like “Mermaid Avenue” and its recovered Woodie Guthrie songs, “The Lost Notebook” is a selection of Hank Williams songs he had written at the time of his death, but had not recorded nor set to music. Unlike “Mermaid Avenue” the honour doesn’t go to one or two artists to finish the work. Instead twelve different artists take a turn.

This might make the songs disjointed but instead they feel tightly connected, and not just through the lyrics which are classic Hank topics of heartbreak and loneliness. All the artists that contribute a finished song have captured the essence of Hank.

This gave me an even deeper appreciation for just how influential Hank has been on modern music. Every artist sounds like themselves, but in so doing they also show how their music is founded in the musical discoveries Hank made back in the forties and fifties.

The album opens with Alan Jackson singing “You’ve Been Lonesome Too” and both in arrangement and style, this song is a carbon copy of Hank Williams. Jackson sings so like Hank it feels like he’s been reborn. Usually I would complain that the ‘remake’ doesn’t do enough with the original song, but this song is original to me. Besides, it is so perfectly done I don’t mind the copycat job.

Other artists take greater liberties, but they never stray far from the lilting tone and tear-stained guitar that makes a Hank Williams song authentic. For some artists, like Jackson, Rodney Crowell or Patty Loveless, the influence was obvious from their own work. For others, like Jack White and Sheryl Crow, hearing them breathe life into Hank’s ghost made me appreciate just how much he was already living inside them.

The old guys featured on the record were some of my least favourites. Bob Dylan and Levon Helm sound old and tired, and Merle Haggard’s song sounds a bit too…Haggard. Surprisingly, Bob’s son Jakob’s offering is better than both of them, and it isn’t even one of my favourites. By the way don’t expect to ever hear that Jakob Dylan outdid his dad on a project again. This is definitely the only time that will ever happen.

Jack White wins for getting the song with the best lyrics with “You Know That I Know.” This is a song about a man who knows the dirty and low-down secrets of a girl and is warning her not to put on airs now that they’ve moved to town:

“Now you know that I know that you ain't no good

And you wouldn't tell the truth even if you could

Lying is a habit you practice where ever you go

Well you may fool the rest of this world

But you know that I know”

And my favourite part of down-home snark comes later with:

“To some folks you may be Mrs. So-and-So

But don't turn your nose up at me,

You know that I know”

Another favourite is Norah Jones singing “How Many Times Have You Broken My Heart?” which is an amazing combination of a Hank Williams’ inspired melody and the smooth tone of Jones’ voice. It is touched around the edges with just the right amount of Mexican guitar to balance Jones’ smokey tones.

Like Alan Jackson, Vince Gill and Rodney Crowell perfectly capture another side of Hank as his storytelling ‘Luke the Drifter’ character. I don’t really like Hank as Luke the Drifter so this particular song didn’t work for me as well as Jackson’s.

This album is worth your time if you are a Hank completionist or even if you just want another reminder of how deep and wide his influence has been on music. Not every song is great, but most are at least worth your time and all of them will have you hearing Hank’s ghost in every song for days after.

Best tracks: You’ve Been Lonesome Too – Alan Jackson, How Many Times Have You Broken My Heart – Norah Jones, “You Know That I Know” – Jack White, I’m So Happy I Found You – Lucinda Williams, “You’re Through Fooling Me” – Patty Loveless,

CD Odyssey Disc 668: Various Artists

I’m having a fun weekend; so much fun it feels almost too full.

Case in point – I am scrambling to write this review so I can go watch my beloved Miami Dolphins plan the Oakland Raiders. If this review posts after kick off don’t judge me – I’m taping the game to make sure I don’t miss a single play.

On to the record!

Disc 668 is…. Badlands: A Tribute to Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska

Artist: Various Artists

Year of Release: 2000

What’s up with the Cover?  An abandoned car on the side of the road offsets a string of power poles stretching into the distance. No grain-yellows of Nebraska are here, just a washed out brown-grey that speaks to the stark loneliness of the Great Plains and the desperate characters that inhabit them on this album.

How I Came To Know It:  I’ve only had this album a few months. I think I was falling down the Youtube rabbit-hole one day and saw the Chrissie Hynde/Adam Seymour version of the title track. A little digging at the local record store unearthed the rest of the album.

How It Stacks Up:  This is a compilation album, so doesn’t really stack up. It does make me wish more classic albums would get this treatment.

Rating: 4 stars

Hearing other artists sing the songs from Springsteen’s “Nebraska” underscores what a masterpiece the original album is. “Badlands” is an exact replica of the original 1982 record, with various artists putting a new spin on each of the songs. I generally prefer the Springsteen originals, although there are many tracks here that equal the original recording. The great thing is you don’t have to choose one over the other – “Badlands” gives you a chance to hear the whole record again with fresh ears.

The original album is filled with the stories of desperate characters doing desperate, often illegal things, as they stumble through a life with a lot of hard turns. Since I haven’t reviewed “Nebraska” yet, I’ll focus on the treatments given the songs, rather than their subject matter.

The album opens with Chrissie Hynde and Adam Seymour covering “Nebraska.” Hynde’s deep and soulful rock voice is the perfect match to this song, and she perfectly captures its sparseness and desperation. An organ echoes throughout, underscoring the emptiness of bad decisions and broken futures. It is one of the album’s standouts.

Folk singer Dar Williams comes through strong as well, covering my favourite song on the original, “Highway Patrolman.” The song is about two brothers – one good and one bad – and I like that Dar doesn’t change the main character’s sex. It doesn’t matter that she is singing a male part. It just gives the song a great storytelling quality.

In fact I was listening to this track right as I arrived at work earlier this week and it inspired me so much that I immediately looked up the chords and printed them out so I could learn it on guitar. I haven’t picked the guitar up in two months, but when I do so next, it will be to learn “Highway Patrolman.”

Hank Williams III is the perfect touch of lowlife twang to give “Atlantic City” a new feel. Hank III’s redneck approach to the song makes the character in the song simultaneously more cocksure and less able to handle the trouble that’s bussing in from out of state to Atlantic City. I had this cover from Hank III’s album “Lovesick, Broke and Driftin’” but that version had a ‘hidden track’ tagged onto the end of it, which is annoying. It is nice to have just the song on its own.

On “Used Cars” Ani DiFranco’s whispered delivery brings out Springsteen’s character of a young child’s first understanding of economic disparity. These are the kids that grow up to the crime sprees on “Nebraska” and DiFranco gives you a front row seat to the innocent kids they start out as in a way the big an manly Springsteen can’t do.

The original “Nebraska” album ends with the relatively optimistic “Reason to Believe” and the cover on “Badlands” by Aimee Mann and Michael Penn is even more upbeat.  My only quibble on this song is wishing Mann took the lead on vocals, rather than providing loose harmony support to Penn. That’s just because I love Aimee Mann’s voice though, not an indictment of Penn’s solid work here.

Instead of ending with “Reason To Believe” the CD has three bonus Springsteen covers off albums other than Nebraska. The best of these is Johnny Cash’s version of “I’m on Fire,” but Raul Malo and the Mavericks version of “Downbound Train” and Damien Jurado and Rose Thomas’ “Wages of Sin” are both excellent as well.

When your original material is five-star quality you’ve already got a leg up, but you also have a lot of pressure to do the work justice. “Badlands” comes through beautifully, providing new takes on one of Springsteen’s great achievements, without losing the core elements of the original that make it such a classic.

Best tracks: Nebraska (Chrissie Hynde), Atlantic City (Hank III), Johnny 99 (Los Lobos),  Highway Patrolman (Dar Williams), Open All Night (Son Volt), Reason to Believe (Aimee Mann/Michael Penn), I’m on Fire (Johnny Cash)

CD Odyssey Disc 372: Various Artists

When I listen to a disc for the CD Odyssey, I strictly listen in order – no shuffling or skipping songs. However, when I go to the gym the Odyssey is suspended, and I listen to my MP3 player on “random play all” and when I switch back to a single album, I have to remember to turn the ‘shuffle’ feature off, or the songs get played out of order.

That’s what happened for four songs on this next album before I realized. However, since it is a compilation album (and since I wasn’t terribly enjoying it) I made a note of which songs I’d heard to avoid repeat. I don’t usually do that, but in this case, it was called for. And now the review.

Disc 372 is...Bachelor Pad Royale

Artist: Various

Year of Release: 1996, but featuring music from 1956 to 1965

What’s Up With The Cover?: A pretty basic ‘swingin’’ design. Of note, the garnish in the martini glass is formed into the shape of a reclining woman. I’m not sure I ever noticed that before.

How I Came To Know It: Back in the mid-nineties, in that brief period when swing was king, there was a display of “ultra lounge” discs at A&B sound (when that existed). I bought Volume 5, “Wild, Cool and Swingin’” and loved it, so we got a couple more, and this was one of those couple more.

How It Stacks Up: Compilations aren’t ‘best ofs’ per se, but they can’t really stack up. Against the other two Ultra Lounge albums we have, this one is probably third. Of interest, there are 18 of these albums out there. Yikes.

Rating: 2 stars (but an extra star for the liner notes – see below).

I finished listening to this album yesterday, but didn't have time to blog. Instead of another day of walking to and from work to it, I slipped in a new album for an Odyssey break (Dan Mangan's "Oh Fortune") until I could get to the review.

Then, I couldn't get it in before driving to the gym tonight. Instead of giving it another listen, I slipped in another new purchase for the trip, (Ice-T's "Power").

So as you can see, the album didn't really grab my attention other than my actively avoiding it. I am listening to it now, however - soaking in it if you will - for the purposes of writing these few lines of warning to you, gentle reader.

The return of swing - musically and aesthetically - was a fun part of the middle to late nineties, and as you know from previous entries, I was caught up in it all like so many people. I don't regret that. I got to know throwback bands like Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, and filled out my music collection with some fine Sinatra albums.

However, like any craze - be it disco, or hip hop or eighties metal, you're going to get a lot of filler, as soulless record execs fill the insatiable demand for what's in (as well as their filthy lucre-filled coffers). "Bachelor Pad Royale" is one of those.

It isn't that the songs are offensive; it's much worse than that - they're forgettable. The production is pretty good, but the music (most of it instrumental) is just blah. It is the kind of stuff you hear quietly played in the bar of that hotel you're staying at for a business trip. You know - it's Tuesday night, and you're not ready to turn in, but don't know anyone in town, so you're having a nightcap in a big comfy leather chair and everything is relaxing. You're slightly jet-lagged, but you've done your work for the day and you've ordered a martini. The place has three other people in it - all equally weary travellers, and you have no energy to meet them, and they feel the same.

And behind it all, is this mood-driven music. Not quite elevator music - better than that - but not enough to actually get the room moving, and frankly the staff will be happy to see the last of you leave so they can close early. You eat the complimentary peanuts, and order a second drink but it isn't the music that's keeping you - if anything it's your stubborness not to have it drive you out as it seems designed to do.

That's the challenge "Bachelor Pad Royale" faces and fails to overcome. If anything, the CD liner notes acknowledge it's music to clear a room to, bragging it is "the perfect musical nightcap for private dicks and dames." Adding "dicks and dames" doesn't change that what they're really saying is you should go to bed after listening to it.

The production is pretty good on this album, and the whole series, and there are recognizeable tracks, but too many of them are theme songs from period movies like "Our Man Flint" or obvious crowd pleasers like Sam Butera doing "Fever," although I have a much better version of that on another album.

I dug Julie London doing "Black Coffee" but I dig the "tough dame" act from the era so it was an easy sell. Alvino Rey's "Night Train" just had me longing for the edgier James Brown version.

The best thing about this album was the liner notes. At a time when downloads have in large part killed compact disc sales, this album reminds you of how much value-added fun you can get from the CD experience.

In addition to a groovy introduction to the styles on the album (which way oversells the quality, but never mind that), we get a quick synopsis of each song, and when it was released.

You also get a couple of drink recipes. "Bachelor Pad Royale" has the best one, the "James Bond's Martini" which holds a monster 4 1/2 ounces of liquor. At one of my birthday parties I vowed to drink them exclusively for the night. I believe I was asleep by 11 PM, but I'm told it was an excellent party.

The album notes also have a few generic notes on serving cocktails common to all of them. Hints include, "It is better to serve a fine tall drink or cocktail in the wrong glass than a poor one in the right glass. It is best to have both drink and glass just right." and my favourite line - which I still use to this day, "Sophisticated drinkers...like a lot of liquor but only a touch of flavouring; unsophisticated drinkers the other way around."

I usually swap in "experienced" for "sophisticated" because of the negative word origin connotations for the latter, but that tale is for another entry.

As for "Bachelor Pad Royale" it is unfortunately the musical equivalent of a poor drink in the right glass. It cleans up nice, but ultimately not something I'd recommend for listening unless you're trapped in a Holiday Inn lounge with nowhere else to go, and it's all they'll put on.

Best tracks: Nothing great. If I had to choose I’d go with Alvino Rey’s “Night Train”, Sam Butera’s “The Boulevard of Broken Dreams/Fever” and Julie London’s “Black Coffee.”

CD Odyssey Disc 190: Various Artists

What do you get when you combine the world's most pretentious style of music with the world's most emotionally empty style of music. You get the next disc on the Odyssey.

Disc 190 is...Verve Remixed
Artist: Various

Year of Release: 2002

What’s Up With The Cover?: Two turntables and a grammaphone? My, that seems pretentiously arty - will it be a harbinger of what we should expect musically? Let's continue!

How I Came To Know It: Sheila bought this album. I'm not sure how she came to know it, but it was pretty damned ubiquitous back in the early oughts. More on that later. Anyway, I came to know it in my car the last two days like a prisoner comes to know his captor, minus any traces of Stockholm Syndrome.

How It Stacks Up: We only have one 'Verve Remixed' record, although we used to have a 'volume 2'. Mercifully that one was sold. Sadistically, this one remains.

Rating: 1 star.

If you've been paying keen attention, you may have already guessed I am not a fan of this record. Ostensibly, the goal here was for Verve records to take a bunch of their classical jazz recordings from yesteryear (Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, Shirley Horn, Billie Holliday) and fuse them with remixes done by modern electronica artists (Thievery Corporation, MJ Cole, Richard Dorfmeister).

The result is an unholy chimera combining the worst elements that jazz has to offer (pretentious, emotionally unreachable noodling) with the worst electronica has to offer (artificial, emotionally empty moronic thumping).

Enter the soulless record exec, retorting thusly: "Yeah, but it made lots of money!" And indeed it did. In fact, in the early oughts it was as dismally everpresent as Yellow Label Wolfblass. Most cocktail parties I remember from the period featured both.

There was even a hit single of Dinah Washington's version of "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby?" (itself a remake of the 1944 Louis Porter song).

I'm currently reading a collection of William Safire essays on language, so you'll forgive me if I stop to ponder the title of this song, which really ought to read, "Are You, Or Are You Not, My Baby?" or even more directly put: "Are You My Baby or Not?"

Of course the words are chosen by the writer specifically to capture the down-in-the-soul frustration of confused emotion. Emotions aren't grammatically correct - they're messy, dirty things that are hard to express, and the way the song is titled helps us see that mess gloriously exposed.

Despite these auspicious beginnings, by the time "Rae and Christian" are finished remixing it for this album, the song should've been retitled, "r u my baby - y/n?" to better match the emotional content still remaining in the song.

Shockingly, I've just been discussing one of the better songs on the album. How then did it manage to earn even the single star?

The sordid truth is that a couple of times I found my finger tapping to the beat of some of these songs, which in places was catchy. As soon as I realized that this beat wasn't going to advance beyond repeating itself ad nauseum for the next four to ten minutes I stopped tapping. But I'm not going to pretend it didn't happen and so - here's your star, verve record exec.

Best tracks: Um...no