I had tickets to see No Doubt at Roseland years ago and blew it off to check out Nustrat Ali Khan, not a bad trade off, but it is one I don’t need to make Saturday at Central Park for the Global Citizen Festival where they headline along with the likes of Jay Z, Carrie Underwood, fun., The Roots and Tiesto
Like everybody over a certain age who is obsessed with rock and roll, this was all about the Replacements who failed to disappoint with a career spanning 100 minute set of Mats song. Lorde was pretty damn good as well. Meanwhile, Cat Stevens forced us to pre buy his album or miss out on the presale code.
Imagine if Jefferson Starship were really, really Jefferson Airplane, and you will get close to this anthem. “This is for the wild ones, this is for the hearts that never quit” Viv sings, and recently signed to Republic Records, it has apparently paid off big – B+
I can’t even begin to express how much I admire four men, getting on stage and playing a high octane rock and roll set where everything was left for the audience. The spaces were ours to fill. Nobody does that. Nobody respects us enough to trust in our ability to not have our feelings manipulated.
They sound soulful, they look glam, they are eintensely talented and cool and they are “Acoustic Anarchy” -a night of acoustic versions of New York Dolls and Sex Pistols classics, I mean of course the very very wonderful Alexandra & The Starlight Band, headlining what should be a treat of an evening as part of the CBGB’s Festival.
Suddenly, you couldn’t dance, couldn’t drink, the maniacs drained all life out of life. Or at least they certainly tried. Of course, much like Saudi, which is something in the nature of a 24 hour a day rave behind locked doors, nothing can stop people from living their lives.
It is like following a band on twitter: the information comes through the same way, hip, jargoned, cool slash With a mix of hi tech hi jinx, Yankee armor, and a creative department who act like a specialty advertising agency, they spread the word in appealing coatings of dread and last gang of town
A strange conglom of trip hop inspired (but not trip hop beats), modern r&b and… Keane? It shouldn’t and it sure shouldn’t work this well, but the song is a crafty smart beauty, catchy as hell, and while the f bomb means it ain’t gonna break pop, it should do – A
Sam seemed to have no command of the stage as he wandered back and forth, no idea how to speak to the audience, he couldn’t tell a story and he couldn’t seem to make it a personal experience.and while his life trajectory has been resolutely towards show business, he doesn’t have a feel for the stage.
It is an ongoing process of decay and degradation and iteration on on his fine, though maybe not as fine as Older Than My Old Man Now, look back in astonishment at pops and at age. LW was 63 years old when he died, LWIII is 68 years old.
Now it’s all over and we wipe away our tears and turn to face a new day for Scotland and the rest of the world, let’s take a break from Scotch Whiskey, Golf, Haggis, and making fun of the Scotcish accent, ach aye, I dannae can… and take a look at Scottish musicians as listed by Wikipedia
Who decided it was time to start liking her again? I never even liked her the first time round. It’s like all these radio DJs have been raiding their mam’s and dad’s record collections and decided that Kate Bush is suddenly cool again. But I’m not having it.”
We stole this one off brooklynvegan but we are happy to credit the wise cut and pasters for a great great idea: viz taking from Spotify NYU’s listening habits. So what have we learnt: nothing very surprisingly. There is much much worse musicians to patronize then James Blake.
The Heart That Time Forgot – Kelly Willis – MCA Nashville made her a star but not on the Bang Bang album, her sophomore effort and still a masterful 80s country album with strong countrypop songs including this one by Nashville pro Kostas Lazarides. Willis aches through the melody and the guitar break is simple and understated.
Speaking of blueprint, off Kanye’s first alum this sounds like his manifesto, west worries about politics but he can’t get out of the way of Jay Z’s stampeding ego, connected by a self made manual: “we are all here for a particular path”. Good to know – A
With Barbra Streisand, he skipped the game but otherwise he was Rolling Stone reviewing a Springsteen album. You can’t trust him, you really really can’t. Fallon has no sense of proportion and it is like it is cute for him to lie about what his real feelings are and it isn’t cute at all.
Americana by way of its many restless meshing of genre’s, Hey Harley is a seamless meeting of minds,two entwined sensibilities playing off each other as they effortlessly move from country to jazz, to soft shoe shuffle, with a deft intensity.
Broncos song is killer and while they don’t sustain it, this is enough to be going with, Skrillex is from earlier this, Tennis is better than I gave em credit for, and Kong is a testament to freedom and Kings in the Bronx. One more: Jhene is a female Drake on “Lyin’ King”.
Meet the new week, same as the old week. I guess the shocker here, if it can be called a shocker any more, is how completely dominated this chart is by women. Six of the top seven positions, seven of the top ten, everywhere you turn, women! Also: pop women, not soul, not rock, but the modern form of pure pop for nw women is completely dominated by women.
You want some numbers, right? That’s why you’re here. OK, Christian rapper Lecrae shifted 88,000 units, Ryan Adams, 45,000, Interpol 31,000 and Robert Plant, 29,000? Impressed? Led Zeppelin sold 37 million copies, and despite not being available on streaming services and despite being a really good album, look what Plant sold? Any questions? Then go about your business.
We Are Here – Alicia Keys – Just… I don’t even know what to say, this is simplistic, asinine and awful just like its singer. To reverse Bob Dylan: do you know what’s wrong with hat woman? Everything – D
It is very sad and no wonder she deals with contempt for the writers and interviews, the David Lettermans of the world, she can’t reject her family so she rejects the entire community of entertainment leeches that do what she least wants.
Taking a cue from the rebellious, feminist-punk contemporaries that her messaging has often been compared to (Kathleen Hanna, Beth Ditto), Lowell’s brand of pop conveys the urgency of her subject matter, but her melodies keep songs accessible, optimistic and fun
I Put A Spell on You – Annie Lennox – wow, this woman’s pipes are something else again, a beautiful powerful and full of character sound at service to a great song with a fine bluesy topnotch band…plus I am so happy to hear from her…but why bother? – B
I got a ticket for Skrillex and Diplo at MSG. Why? I caught some of Skillex’s set at Governors Ball this June and he was terrific and I wanted a closer look and really a MSG is the best place to see a rave and I can’t resist it. I might add that I started listening to recess again, which I kinda dismissed in March but I am beginning to really dig now… so yeah, rave to 2015 folks.
Baby, Happy Birthday – Train – This is so modern rock pop it has fingerprints on it, but the bridge has a sort of kinetic power and does what Train wants to do, reach the charts. still, the first two singles bombed – C+
If you thought “No Flame” was an anomaly, you were wrong, If you thought he couldn’t use Kendrick Lamar as well as Flying Lotus you are wrong, if you don’t think he can sing quite as well as Trey Songz, Usher and R. Kelly wait to be wowed – ALBUM OF THE WEEK – B+
The other thing to keep in mind here is the following: since the Kinks digital output has been disastrous and since just about every single album the band have ever made deserves a deluxe version, let’s hope the band start sorting out their past history before they are too late to do it.
A step sideways and while still good enough to be worth a longer look, it is a strange hybrid new country (or is that Americana?) mood music. If you listen to new r&b, folks like the Weeknd, the sound here would be less Bristol in the 1990s, or George Jones any time, and more moody sounded deep sounds that sink your soul down.
It is so great it is the greatness that you find in later period Nabakov, like “Transparent Things” -and it is the ululating completeness of something like a mid-period Nabakov like “The Vane Sisters”. I guess I mean it is eastern European in nature.
The only time the invasion of your privacy is important is when your privacy is most neccessary to you: so, yeah, nobody cares until they do and when they do care your lifes safeguards, your privacy and I am not even suggesting illegality at all here, is common knowledge. then you are screwed.
What’s so cool about a middle aged, grumpy, Scottish Dr. Who? Not much is my claim, I am still going through withdrawal from the leaving of the only Doctor to ever go to Coachella. The Who who broke Who in the US. The only Who who matters. Matt Smith.
Rich Kids – Judah And The Lion – It sounds like folk psychedelia, a dream of a rich soul and having no money melted together, but the complications sick it and stick it as time drifts by and your dreams misguided. Wise stuff – B+
Cat Stevens touring the States, and not much of it but it will do, and he will be at the Beacon Theatre on December 7 th and though it is a Sunday we will just have to suck it up. Plus there is a presale but you will have to buy his new album from Amazon to get the presale code. I did!
The difference lyrically isn’t the difference between love and indifference towards men but about her sense of physicality: her self image. Which has improved vastly. Now she can spend her time worrying about which guys only want her because she’s famous.
Justin Townes Earle’s Single Mothers towers above the week. A pathetic three star review in Rolling Stone and a general missing the point of perfection by everybody else, this is maybe the album of the year. It must be Top Five. What price doing the work of a lifetime and people not listening?
I didn’t much care for the first single “Rainbow” and didn’t pursue the new Robert Plant album but I have heard it now and it is a very strong. Incidentally, I just read about ten reviews and nobody knows how to describe the sound. Let me help: the words are folk rock. Sam Smith at the top of the charts again!
Wait a second, Brown, Usher and Ross? Personally, I am amazed Ross is still kicking but he really is a great rapper and this is a soulful, more Usher than Brown track. Personally, I was disappointed by “Blame” -relatively speaking of course. I’m guessing John Newman gave it the magic juice.
“I take a trip to Gaza, it’s really love I’m after” might be the point but “She’s got a giggle when she talks, she’s close to God, I treat her like a a dog” is the money shot. With air raid sirens as the hook, this is one of the most lovely songs and strange songs you’ll hear this year. Is he being ironic? Unlikely – A
This is so spectacular not only has it gone viral with over a million views on Youtube, but Taylor herself gave it a nod: ” I’m personally inviting all of these guys (and a date!) to a show on tour next year, it’s on me. Nailed it, bros! ” Enjoy… and donate…
Deer Tick, the Hold Steady and The Replacements Forest Hills gig on Friday may well prove to eb the rock show of the year except, I don’t much like Deer Tick and the Hold Steady’s last album was a dog and… the Replacements? Nearly all my rock critic peers worship this band and I don’t so I’m going in needing to be convinced.
Texas In July I saw open for The Devil Wears Prada earlier this year and loved em, I’ve been listening to Paolo Nutini all summer, and he has a great voice but didn’t obsess over the album. Shellac should be a blast. But I am going with Chris brown because 1) nobody else will and 2) I really like his dance r&b.
Smokey Robinson on the Talk. A crap show but daddy, it’s Smokey. But I’m just messing with you, Barbra Streisand on Fallon, her first Late Night Appearance in FIFTY YEARS (except for a cameo on Letterman in 94) in support of the dreaded Partners, towers over the week.
Childhood’s End – Majick Cloudz – I am catching em opening for one Lorde on Monday and so here is a taste of the Canadian electronic duo and I can’t say I am thrilled at the prospect: they sound like the Drums without the surf and with plenty of electronics and deep piddle paddle drums – B-
If you can’t use close circuit TV and you have no band, no nothing, with you, you better find some way to pull the audience forward and teaching us how to clap isn’t it, it is too amateur, it is too dowdy for what should be a sparkling rave up. A good light show can’t begin to substitute for a great presence.
One Direction should have been and gone. A manufactured boy band who hit it big and should have disappeared just as fast but are releasing their fourth album this year and if “Fireproof” -their best song since “Kiss You” is anything to go by, are not going to disappear any time soon either.
So what do we make of the setlist? Quite a bit from the new one, a handful of oldies, some obscurities, tons of stuff I want to hear but he won’t be playing. Tracks off that double that wasn’t a double with Cardinals. “Oh My Sweet Carolina” as close to a must play as there is. Personal fave “Crossed Out Name”.
If you were at the True Groove All Stars Blue Note gig this summer, you already know “Can’t Say No” and on the album it is surrounded by the title track on one side and “The New Day”, between the three it is one of the great album opening, it reminds me of the first side of My Aim Is True, you can’t believe your ears.
Time is always a valuable commodity but now it is an impossible commidy in the heart of a week with so much great music all around me that I don’t even know what to tell you. I can’t find the time to hear everything I want to, I do’t have enough ears to keep up with this week
There is an interconnection between everything that is going on stage and while it is only as good or bad as the music on stage, it is a mirror image of the songs concerns. If the music didn’t work, the conceits wouldn’t matter. But the music is wonderful and therefore everything work
