Recent CD Purchases

[Otis Westinghouse]

You won't be disappointed. Every song a winner. Beautifully done.

[Jack of All Parades]

Picked up Roseanne Cash's "The List'-it is not often I have encountered a covers record like this one-she has taken her father's gently offered list of classic country songs and taking twelve has totally transformed them-imbuing each song with her own idiosyncratic and intelligent take-it is as if she took her father's injunction to become familiar with these songs and totally ingested them-she went to school and reinvented the material for herself and us, her listeners-standouts for me are her duet with Springsteen on "Sea of Heartbreak", her duet with Rufus Wainwright on "Silver Wings" , her take on "I'm Movin'On" and finally her duet with Jeff Tweedy on "Long Black Vail"-her take on Dylan's "Girl From the North Country" is yet another well done version of this great song by a Cash-she ends the record with a delightfully simple ballad "Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow" a song I had never previoulsy heard and which I would like to think is a balm for her as she remembers her recently lost loved ones-this album is rapidly becoming one of my favorites for 2009.

[Otis Westinghouse]

I really wanted the 2 CD deluxe version, but the hits only version was going for £3 in Fopp, so why not? Although I have all the songs off this already, apart from the Meat is Murder ones, which I still don't have, it is worth every penny because of the quality of the remastering. The songs sound clear, full and vibrant in a way that previous CD issues haven't captured. I played 'There is a Light...' from The SIngles, Queen is Deadf and The World Won't Listen, all largely similar, and finally from here, and it was noticeable different. The bass is better integrated into the mix, and the overall high/low ends of things better presented. It really feels like the songs as they were intended, and highly recommended to Smithsophiles, even if you already have all of the tracks. CD2 has some great stuff and some good rarities, e.g. cover of the brilliant 'What's The World?' from the group James' debut EP, which I played to death at the time, Village Fire.

I also picked up another of the expanded Durutti Column reissues, inspired by the recent gig, The Guitar and Other Machines, not that anyone here shares my passion! Stephen Street links the two CDs: producer of Durutti, and the closing tracks from Strangeways on the SMiths comp.

Long may this Mancunian genius fill my life with pleasure. My 13 year old wanted to know why 'This Charming Man' qualified as genius. Parental pause as I thought 'what can I say that will make sense and maybe make him more interested?' So I replied 'No other song had ever contained a line like "Why pamper life's complexities when the leather runs smooth on the passenger seat" before. He wasn't convinced. It sounds so good on this CD, and 'Still Ill' too, it makes your mouth water and your eyes weep.

[Jack of All Parades]

Would concur with your reaction to the sound of these remastered versions. I purchased this cd compilation for my oldest daughter as a birthday present this year and she is constantly playing it in her apartment in Boston. It is a pleasurable experience for me to see this wonderful music pass on to the next generation. Your take on "There Is a Light" is dead on.

[ice nine]

This Is Easy: Best Of Marshall Crenshaw

Happily surprised to see the T-Bone produced one of MC's albums. Sonny Landreth also appears on one of his albums.

[Jack of All Parades]

Ice Nine- that compilation is pure fun. It is a shame that most of his back catalogue is no longer in print.

Puchased the 50th anniversay re issue of The Dave Brubeck Quartet's Time Out hard to believe it is 50 years old- this music sounds as fresh, vibrant and arresting as when I heard it in the 60's-it is one of those albums that I believe is floating in the musical blood of everybody as I am sure they would immediately identify the themes or the sound of Paul Desmond's alto horn. 1959 was some year for jazz as the seminal record Kind of Blue also came out that year along with Mingus' AH Hum with more quotable themes that everyone is familiar with over the years.

[Jack of All Parades]

Am fortunate to have a decent used music shop near me, Rhino Records. A usual visit there can often lead to a purchase or two or three. A recent visit gave me the chance to broaden my growing interest in Prefab Sprout: in this case I picked up "Jordan: The Comeback" and the compilation "The Collection"{which though it duplicates many songs on individual albums seems to have about a dozen tunes not on individual albums}. Have spent considerable time over the past month digesting "Jordan" and it has left me marvelling at the musical audacity of Paddy McAloon.

There are two songs that are extremely memorable for me-"Scarlet Nights" and "Jordan: The Comeback". What I like about both is the evocation of redemption and its association with water. In fact water swirls throughout this record, aurally in the synthesizer sounds which wash and eddy in the background and in the lyrical images as well as visually in the images in the CD booklet which accompanies the record of water diffused with various lights. The use of my favorite word blue[not the blue of depression or tears but of hope and exhiliration and soothing] in "Scarlet Nights" enhances this sense of redemption and I love the song's first stanza with the image of water washing over one's self and not just enveloping but soothing one's pain.

I marvel at his willingness to tackle song cycles[like Brian Wilson] but I am not a big fan of his Jesse James saga. Just the same I like how he has broken up the album into four distinct cycles. I also think that he is a marvelous writer about love and its vagaries and its lingering in a person's remembrances. "We Let the Stars Go", "All the World Loves Lovers" and "Doo Wop in Heaven" are strong memory songs. A fan of Samba I enjoyed his stab at this form with "Carnival 2000". A surprise to me was his song "Wild Horses" with its lyrical sexual suggestiveness[not quite in the same vain as Larkin's "At Grass" but strangely complimentary]. A big surprise for me was the song "One of the Broken". I do not share his religious feeling but this song does the best job I have encountered in pop music of making the case that one can, and should, find one's God in the simple gesture of just singing to 'one of the broken', and in so doing one will find goodness and fellow feeling, which I think has always been preached as the aim of most organized[or for that matter unorganized] religious faiths.

From the compilation I enjoyed immensely the song called "Swans" with its image of devoted love and being ever vigilant for the 'foxes' that can plague one's love for one's partner and the song "Andromeda Heights" with its sense of careful construction for one's love. I love "Two Wheels Good" but "Jordan: The Comeback" could easily subsume its place in my play list.

[enlightend rogue]

Must agree w/ Christopher Sjoholm The Monsters of Folk album is huge in everyway! Heard M.Ward say on Spectacle that he loves making music that is hard to determine when it was made and let me tell you these boy's have really cranked out a gem of rock/pop/folk.

[Jack of All Parades]

Purchased and am enjoying the new cd from the joined forces of Jay Farrar, of Son Volt and Uncle Tupelo fame, and Benjamin Gibbard, of Death Cab for Cutie, titled "One Fast Move Or I'm Gone-music from Keouac's Big Sur". What they have done is score a documentary film regarding his book Big Sur. Taking lyrical pieces from his writing they have made a musical road trip in that beautiful country[ I personally remember how beautiful that part of the California coast is from a road trip done in the early 80's]. The song lyrics are more evocative then a true description of the area. What makes the record work for me is the way their two voices sound together augmenting the individual songs; their beautiful voices blend so well, complementing and enhancing each other. The other big asset on this record is the use of the pedal steel guitar. I cannot recall in some time a record which is just filled with the peculiar ache that this instrument can provide-standouts for me are "These Roads Don't Move", 'California Zephyr"[with its evocation of a road trip begun in my Hudson Valley] and 'All in One". It would not be Kerouac without some jazz references so Stan Getz rates a mention. The music hums with the feel of a vehicle gliding down the road- top down- and that beautiful landscape surrounding the moving car. It is a road trip of the mind I am enjoying.

[ice nine]

The Bad Plus - These Are The Vistas

Excellent jazz trio. They do both originals and covers. The standout cover of this album is 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'. The group reminds me of Chick Corea at some points and T. Monk at other points.

[Jack of All Parades]

Picked up "Swords" by Morrissey this past week at Newbury Comics while spending time with family and daughters in Boston for the holiday. Have been absorbing it over the past few days with a big session on the ride home yesterday in traffic. First impressions are quite enthusiastic. It is essentially a compilation of material that failed to make the initial releases of his past three albums. It also seems to be a tribute to his deceased producer and friend, Jerry Finn[I enjoyed the comments on their relationship in the liner notes Q&A]. What is immediately apparent is that a good many of the 18 songs on the cd could, and should, have been on the original releases. There are songs on this album that equal and in one case, "If You Don't Like Me, Don't Look at Me", exceeds some of his best work with The Smiths as well as his solo career, to date. There are the usual evocations of love spurned, love as pure lust and love misunderstood. There are equally the usual rants against the ugly world, the closed class world of England and a strong dose of self-disgust[with the usual knowing and telling wink back]. The band he uses here is tight, just like on "You Are the Quarry", and I particularly like the bass work of Solomon Walker.

Favorites for me are "Good Looking Man About Town"[a great Smith's song if I ever heard one], the aforementioned "If You Don't Like Me"[my favorite piece on the record and now one of my favorite Morrissey songs of all time], "My Dearest Love"[ with its subtle evocation of romantic love even for the pained], "I Knew I Was Next"[redemption from a life of pain?], "Friday Mourning"[a fun kiss-off song], "Drive-in Saturday"[ a rocking Bowie cover] and "My Life is a Succession of People Saying Goodbye"[with the capping line 'and all the best things in life are behind glass: money, jewelry, flesh and whats left for me?'.

I really like this record.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Sounds great, am excited that your faves are ones I don't know. I've heard him play some rather plodding ones live (Ganglord), as he normally seems to pass over one or two classics from his latest LP in favour of a more average b-side, but this sounds promising.

I guess you can't pick up a BBC podcast (actually hang on, you can, can't you?), and I know you can't use 'Listen Again' or iPlayer to hear it, but the Moz on Desert Island Discs was everything you'd expect. He was somewhere between uncomfortable and mocking of the format and some of her questions ('Tell me about Paul Marsh's record store', 'Is that a serious question?') and candour. It was mostly familiar (growing up an outsider, meeting Marr, the abattoir, his mum's vegetarianism, suicide). Kirsty had the good sense not to ask about his sexuality or The Smiths reforming.

Here are his choices:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00p068y#segments

Interesting stuff. I enjoyed the early Nico song. Never heard it before. He introduced the Iggy song with 'Well Kirsty, your pretty face is going to hell'. No Joni, thought there might be. Loved the Mott The Hoople song, I only know their main hits. Interesting that three of the eight choices had very close links to Bowie, who was absent, unsurprisingly given their falling out, but I do like that he's released the cover of 'Drive-In Saturday' (live, correct?).

Needless to say, a fan has transcribed the whole thing here:

http://fansonline.net/middlesbrough/mb/ ... id=1556960

[Jack of All Parades]

Otis-"Ganglord" is indeed plodding and I tend to skip it in the song sequence- "Drive-In Saturday" is live from a USA concert and pure fun-the songs featured on this record make me scratch my head and wonder why somethings make the final cut on an album and others do not- but then again you would not have an extra cd to release- will try the links you provided for the interviews. Thank you.

[ShipBuilder]

I just downloaded Bebe Buell's new one- 12 songs called SUGAR...
It is available on iTunes or Amazon MP3 and it is shockingly good.

More info at http://www.bebebuell.org
Snippets here- http://www.myspace.com/bebebuellband

[so lacklustre]

I have new the Chris Wood album


Only on sale at his gigs at the moment, but generally released in March. Have played it all week after going to the gig last Saturday, and it is a fantastic follow up to the spendiferous Trespasser

Contemporary folk songs, but not really folk music, a band consisting of Chris on acoustic guitar (and fine player he is), cello, trombone and drums (with ocassional electric guitar). Songs include:
a tribute to Jean Charles de Menezes - Hollow Point
A song about spitfires that pours scorn on the BNP - Spitfires
A Charles Darwin song - Turtle Soup
A love song for old gits about semi-retirement - My Darling's Downsized
A credit crunch song that has some great lines including "And how strange then to call your accounting software 'sage'". The final verse is a superb attack on the bitch who started it all (reproduced below) - The Grand Correction

The last verse of The Grand Correction
And don't forget "The Iron Lady" as if we ever could
The vicious old spiv who taught us all how greed is good
How she sold off our nation and how she started this nonsense
How you bowed down and worshipped her avarice and her ignorance
Now
Let the grand correction commence...

And here he is singing it (he is doing this one solo on tour before the band join him)


And here is the Menezes song

[Jack of All Parades]

Treated myself to a little Christmas present while shoping with the Mrs. the other day, picking up Neil Youngs latest release from his archives, "Dreamin' Man Live '92", a live recording of his solo tour in 1992 which introduced the material that appeared on "Harvest Moon". The simple beauty of these songs is augmented by his accoustic presentations and his voice is winning. I thought I would miss the steel guitar and full band arrangements[his deft harmonica playing more than makes up for their lack] but instead find the scaled back odes to domesticity, friendship, wifes, dogs, living the simple life and the pleasures of dancing to my liking. They tend to resonate more with me through this album.

[Jack of All Parades]

Picked up the sophomore effort by Vampire Weekend, "Contra", this week. It is that rare thing, a second, or follow-up album, that succeeds and breaks new ground. Though still pulsing with a crisp West African beat, there is a decided movement toward a more techno, urban sound that I found appealing. The subject matter has broadened to beyond smart-ass upper class smarts into more traditional pop subjects-love and its aftermaths and trying to make your way in the world as a young person, the attempt to establish an identity. I like the title song, a song called "run" and "California English", in particular. I can still dance to my Hoover but I also get to think a bit as I listen. The line from the song "Cousins" has become my new mantra-"you were born with ten fingers and you're gonna use em all".

[ice nine]

Picked up The Pogues' Rum, Sodomy & The Lash on sale. I've only listened to it once so I can't say how it stacks up to ......Grace Of God. Repeated listens will tell. One standout track I like is 'The Band Played Waltzing Matilda'.

Thinking about purchasing the new one by Ray Davies, Kinks Choral Collection. Any thoughts?

[Jack of All Parades]

Ice Nine- I have not purchased it but have heard most of the album on our local sudent radio station WFUV- a fan of the Kinks and Ray but this one has not spurred me to want to buy it- to my ears it is essentially Kinks songs with a large chorus behind Ray. Nothing new is brought to the songs as I have listened to them. For me- not a completist- I am staying away. But if you are a big time Kinks fan, you may want it in your collection.

[Jack of All Parades]

Have been having fun over the past week with two CDs picked up at Newbury Comics- Freedy Johnston's "Rain on the City" and Jesse Winchester's self-titled first album while in Boston last weekend.

Cannot believe it has been almost 10 years since the last really new Freedy Johnston album. Seems he has been in trouble with the tax man over the last decade. The time away seems to have allowed him to build up a group of solid songs on his new album "Rain on the City". I have always loved the way he can infuse a song with a telling detail or emotion and he continues to have those songwriting strengths on this record. It is an album filled with telling observations about love and its vagaries. Favorites for me are "Don't Fall in Love With a Lonely Girl", It's Gonna Come Back to You" and "Venus Is Her Name" which delightfully re-imagines the return of the goddess but not on a half-shell. He even rocks out on a fun song "Livin' Too Close to the Rio Grande". Still love his voice, too.

The real find for me is a re release of Jesse's album which was long a staple in my collection from when it first came out in 1970. Beginning with the iconic, daguerrotype facsimile front cover shot as if he is in front of a wattled log cabin, the songs evoke a lost world and seem as if they would equally be comfortable being sung over 150 years ago. They are so natural and they flow with an earnest, easy charm aided by his great honeyed voice. Lines have consistently stayed in my head: "apple cider and homemade bread to make a man say grace, and clean linens on my bed and a warm, free fireplace" or "love is mainly memories and everyone has got them a few" indeed. When his "Yankee Lady" exclaims "Oh! Jessie, I am so afraid to lose the love that we found" I always feel the anticipated pain. This album came at a time when I was in High School and the Vietnam War was raging and we were all concerned about the draft-just as Jesse left for Canada, I was contemplating finding lost relatives in Sweden. It is an album filled with songs about a real world and its people. It still resonates for me forty years on.

[ice nine]

1) The Harry Smith Project: The Anthology Of American Folk Music Revisited. Love the Gavin Friday/Mary O'Hara track.
2) Ray Davies - Kinks Choral Collection
3) The Dukes Of Stratosphear - Chips From The Chocolate Fireball

[so lacklustre]

Have ordered this after hearing a couple of tracks.
Carolina Chocolate Drops - Genuine Negro Jig

[ice nine]

As a thank-you gift for pledging, I received Patty Griffin's Downtown Church. The tracks are either gospel or folk. It is produced by Buddy Miller and she gets help from Julie Miller, Jim Lauderdale, and Emmylou. She has a beautiful voice and I'm sure this album will be on a few lists of the year's best. There is a song called "If I Had My Way' which is, for the Blind Willie Johnson fans, 'If I Had My Way I'd Tear This Building Down'

[Jack of All Parades]

Bought Jimi Hendrix's "Valleys of Neptune" the other day at Target. Always skepticle of these dug out of the vault albums as to worthiness and quality. Usually there is a reason the songs are still in the vault. Pleasantly surprised to find that this album has been released with great care and that it is filled with strong never heard material and vibrant new variations on some old favorite songs.

Of the new, particularly like the title song with its strange evocations of "Electric Ladyland", "Bleeding Heart" a blues tune that has bite, a simmering "Ships Passing Through the Night" and a subtle guitar piece "Crying Blue Rain".

Of previous material repositioned, like the reworked "Red House" and "Hear My Train A Comin'". You forget the affinity he had for a good blues song. The album as sold at Target also contains two additional tracks from a recording session following 'Electric Ladyland" - "Slow Version" and "Trash Man" that demonstrate how virtuoistic that original trio could be when they sank their teeth into a given song.

The sound quality and interplay of the band members is intimate on this record. Right now one of my favorite records of 2010 is an album of material recorded over forty years ago.

[Jack of All Parades]

Stumbled on this record, "Sunrise on Avenue C", by James Maddock and have not regretted coming upon it. It is filled with infectious pop music that is put across by a voice that is a mixture of Steve Forbert and John Hiatt, yet retaining an original quality that I cannot get enough of when I play the record. The songs are excellent examples of pop song writing as they chronicle daily urban life and the relationships of men and women. they are unpretentious, catchy, witty and memorable. EC could take some lessons from them in their pithiness and precision. They are judiciously filled with strings and brass instruments which are used to enhance the sound and not overwhelm. I find myself constantly playing this record through the day-it is that good.

This early in the year for me and it is already my favorite for 2010-it has been a good month with the Hendrix vault release and a strong new record by John Hiatt. This, though, is clearly my current fave. A clip of one of the songs off this record, "Chance":

http://www.google.com/url?url=http://ww ... _JLDG1gq1w

and another, "When the Sun's Out":

http://www.google.com/url?url=http://ww ... UBI6pQggfg