. Truck Stop Gospel – Parker Millsap – Steve Crawford fave, raised in the Pentecostal Church till he found god in the open road as an Americana icon, the 20 year old emerging star does both god and Ameriman here: sorta Yankee Jake Buggs – A
EDM and pop is a little like the Monarchy versus the Pope in 14th century Europe in reverse; Europe was trying to disentangle itself from the Pope’s influence and EDM needs a strong union with modern pop and rock groups, it needs to entangle itself. Till then, this was a fine evening of dance.
Numbskull – Wesley Wolfe – Art pop masterpiece about dealing with lowered expectations and doing it yourself and really not compromising too much on the road to eternity.Maybe a coming of age or maybe a dealing with it.
At the top, that Mariah Carey Stevie wonder cop is brilliant and I hope it breaks the way “#beautiful” failed to, and what has already broken pop is two huge songs with Iggy Azalea. Both “Problems” and “Fancy” are summer hits for sure. Anything else? Chloe Howl EP is out but probably won’t make a dent till next month.
I am sick of writing about how great the new Old 97’s Most Messed Up is so I’ll tell you how great Lydia Loveless’ Somewhere Else is instead. Between the two, this is probably the greatest double of the year. It is like what we thought Kanye West and Kendrick Lemar were gonna do at MSG when kendrick forgot to show. This is so great it beats out Governors Ball for show of the week. Webster Hall on Tuesday June 3rd. It should be epic.
I don’t dislike Fucked Up by any stretch of the lexicon, but I am not the fan everybody else is and I kinda wanted to go with Bob Mould but… I dunno, I don’t love Bob as much as I might either. What else? Ethan Johns is Laura Marling’s buddy so gets a shout out as such. New 50 cent? I wasn’t crazy about the single. Echo? Meh…
The Heart That Time Forgot – Kelly Willis – Off an album so great it remains one for my favorite of all time, from a great country singer (though I’m not convinced her newbie cuts it), this will rip your heart out with a powerful lament to the searches in need and ache – A
And then you hear the sound of a bottle of beer being poured for “Thirsty” and already you’re turned off and the following hour, yes hour, of music is all over the place. God knows we don’t need babies gurling, it didn’t work for Beyonce and it doesn’t work fo rCarey
It sold out instantaneously and they added a date I could just about shoe horn in between Morrissey on one side and the Metropolitan opera. A Sunday night true, but look at it this way: Chapelle at Radio City could well be the Richard Pryor Live On The Sunset Strip of the 21st Century
Oh how the circumstances have changed indeed, Conor’s comeback album already forgotten and that album was too long as well. The best lengthed album this week was Haunted Heart –clocking in at a jaunty 30 minutes, you can stick it on repeat and wait for “Something That Feels Bad Is Something That Feels good” to show up againt.
“I’ve lost you, I’ve lost you…” A hard tough break up song true, but it makes me think of their earlier band. “Age Of Consent” was New Order’s second album and their big break through and the album where they, indeed, surpassed Joy division. But this beautiful, lively but deeply depressing song is a Joy Division concept (without the Curtis poetry) added to a dance band concept.
Rumor – Chloe Howl – a bluesy banger but saved from anything approaching ordinariness by that thick accent and smart words, no it isn’t “No Strings” but it will do – B+
Apple needed a streaming service but couldn’t start their own Apple Streaming without losing ITunes , so they bought Beats. That’s it folks… everything else is bullshit. Nothing else matters Iovine Schmovine. You think Jimmy is gonna effect Apple? How???
There was an App, Mike Machinest fed me the occasional demo, including a killer track “Rusty Stab”, videos have dropped, concerts have been played and of course, the awesome “Amped To 12” made an appearance in the Wayan Brothers movie “Scary Movie 2”.
“A guy that I fell in love with last year, and he didn’t love me back. I think I’m over it now, but I was in a very dark place. I kept feeling lonely in the fact that I hadn’t felt love before. I’ve felt the bad things. And what’s a more powerful emotion: pain or happiness?
TA’s problem is they needed to follow up Local Business in a hurry and they didn’t and that took them from having the best live set in the business to, well, not the best live set in the city. Local Business isn’t a bad album, I called it the second best album of 2012 and while I overestimated for sure, it had moments as great as you will ever hear. Just not enough of them
If it was in the New York City area I’d certainly be there and if you are somewhere in the Dover area you haven’t lived till you’ve enjoyed the timing of Joe Stevens the storyteller. He once had me rolling on the floor with tears talking about Paul McCartney throwing him off the tour bus for asking about a Beatles reunion in what, 1971? 1972?
When I saw him perform this Phil Ochs song at Carnegie Hall, it was a very moving experience. But this dumb ass concept, recording it in a “Voice-O-Graph” from 1947, you know, like the one Presley recorded his first vinyl on and gave it as a gift to his mama. That one. Anyway, it is OK listening to him so lo-tech but it sounded better at Carnegie Hall – B+
In the True Groove world, Lael is what passes for mainstream: she sounds like a pop star and she looks like a pop star with both the charm and the chops to break AOR, and though her songs are the usual self help and sex, Lael is all convinced power singing and smarts.
How did we not think of this before. This is the simpliest concept known to man: the biggest stars and their age, and what does it all mean? Well, not much and what does it all mean but definitely the biggest stars and their age. Actually, I stole the idea off Yahoo who just did it for filmstars and so with no further ado… Happy bithday to everyone…
Looks like the summer of the Ig to me and franly I am surprised that she is doing this well, though not shocked. Both “Fancy” and “Problems” are as good as modern dance mash Hip Hop gets and look as though they are settling in for a long stay at the top. As long as “Blurred Lines”? Maybe not though…
The Brantley Gilbert is nothing much, a touch above Bro Country but not that hot, Coldplay is their best album to date which expresses more my distaste for Coldplay as opposed to my appreciation of the album. Every thing else is the bland leading the bored.
Lou Reed Lou Reed – Luke Haines – This is the guy behind Black Box Recorder and it is sizzled and smart blues smoothie tribute song which seems to really not have that much to do with Lou but who can complain? – B+
So yes, I recommend it to a degree. As human living, breathing history, as a connection to the 1880s, as musical theater. But as an insight into the greatness that is Jim Dale? That you won’t get.
The lack of hits left Outkast to dole out the hits like gruel in a Dickens orphanage. One at the top, one in the middle, one in the end. Which means that the problem isn’t this is a problem for fanatics, it is that they don’t have the catalog to keep the attention of the casual fan. Lucky for me, I’m a fanatic.
This July 8th, the Graham Nash compiled masterwork for CSNY nutcases will see the light of day. CSNY 74. Sure, you already have the 71 Four Way Street, but this is more like 40 Way Street, a real slog through the heart of the legend that was CSNY just passed their prime when the drugs were kicking in hard harder ha
The entire concept of acting is empathy and portrayal and to discriminate on who performs what role due to sexual orientation is a dastardly concept. There are many more heterosexual roles (and many more heterosexuals) than transgender youth, so if you are gonna sexually segregate performers, the minority is gonna get it in the ear.
Let Me Down Gently – La Roux – We haven’t heard from the neo-new romantic 80s inspired disco duo since 2009 but this lovely dance ballad is a haunting beauty and harbors very well for their return; hang out for the tempo change in the middle – A-
At over an hour, this is too long, and it pays the price by wearing out its welcome long before you reach the finishing end. But that not withstanding, what works, and most of it does, is world class Mariah Carey from the stunning “Cry.” -a full own ballad, that opens the set, through Nas, Wale, Miguel, Mary J Blige, and R. Kelly duets, it is a tour de force of Mariah type songs
Various musicians talked about knowing and loving Miles. Bobbi Humphrey, the first female instrumentalist signed to Blue Note, remembered playing with Miles fondly. John Ames claimed it had always been Miles Davis Way for him.
Jim Crow was hurting the black population and racism was making the States look bad, so the Government gave the blacks some rights, stuck them in ghettos, cut off jobs, threw in hard drugs, cut off the supply of hard drugs, made the punishment for drugs worse than the punishment for murder, and mixed. Damn right I’d tell the Government to call me a nigger.
With a quiet week ahead before the Governors Ball onslaught, and having passed on Barry Gibb and Lael Summer last week, I kept on looking at A-Trak, his Ducksauce album is the EDM highlight of the year so far, and considering it though I don’t dance or take drugs so… but then I noticed Cam’Ron was opening and what can I say? This is a double header legends are made of.
This is the worst album Conor has ever released, a deeply disappointing lie. Poor lyrics, over arranged songs, which, while his sense of melody is still intact, his sense of arrangement is sodomized and a sound so tasteful you’ll wanna puke, and a vision of the world that beggars belief.
Early Roman Kings – Bob Dylan – One verse is “taken verbatim from Robert Feagles translation of book 9 of the Odissey, where Odisseus meets Polyphemus”. So now you know – A
None of this is anybody’s greatest achievement but for all its size, for its almost humility despite being a meeting of two huge stars, still it stands head and shoulders above so much stuff. A fine EP, a great way to spend 35 minutes of your life.
As I am sure you are aware we are breathing the same particles of air that Jesus breathed. We are sharing them with who he was, it hasn’t gone anywhere. That’s thrilling enough, but to touch the same strings Taylor strummed??? How wonderful.
This is Sam Smith’s week, we only live in it. Undoubtedly, In The Lonely Hour is the album to beat. If only for the first single, “Stay With Me”, this is a major (first!) release by a great singer. Othersie, I am listening to the new Sharon Von Etten as we speak and like it don’t love it, really liked the Robyn EP, and am looking forward to Christian rocker Crowder, anti-Christs EYEHATEGOOD and Mariah Carey who lives somewhere between the two.
Screw Coldplay and Michael Jackson, the thrill here is the return of Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott, otherwise known as the Beautiful South. I saw the Beautiful South in the 1990s at the tiny Supper Club and they were terrific. My fave band at the time (I never remember them when I am considering greatest bands of the 1990s) I am very very excited to hear there is a new album though I have only heard one song off it, “DIY”. I sure wish they’d release it here and then tour. So good to have these guys back. very very thrilling.
Two new songs here, yet to be released in the US, promise mountains for the modern soul sounds of the UK. “Stay With Me” is as great as the beautiful voiced soul singer Sam Smith gets and this is not simply quite possibly his best song yet, it is also his potential big time US breakthrough. “Extraordinary” is no “Rather Be” but it is still damn good.
ATLiens – Outkast – The title track of their first album and it still sounds other worldly. Nearly 20 years ago and it is the template for Atlanta rap and neo soul, with two great rappers and a doomy bass. Really like another planet – A
The personal story is a triangle, the young Dr. X (James McAlvoy) and the young Magneto (Michael Fassbender) fight for Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence). If X wins her over the Mutants are saved, if Magneto wins her over all is lost. Wolverine plays the gay best friend.
A-Trak is playing Terminal 5 on Saturday and for once all the caveats about the dreaded club don’t really apply; a cavernous airplane hangar is exactly what you want for a rave Cam’ron is opening!
I missed Barry Gibb on Friday due to the weather and Lael Summer on Saturday due to the late start (1230am!). Luckily Helen Bach and Mary Magpie represented at Boston Strong. Excited for the Decemberists? Frank Turner? Brand New? Perhaps but how about TWO VEGAN TACOS FOR FIVE BUCKS!!!
The Glamorous Life – Sheila E – It sounds like Prince gone Samba with extra beats and extra movement. The album cut is nine minutes of relentless joy and funk – A
Honoring the co-chair of Loews Corporation Andrew Tisch, the first thing that a pop picker like yours truly will notice is the return of the great Marshall Crenshaw. No shocker there from the man who got his start in “Beatlemania
If I missed it and nearly bought more expensive tickets, what would the average consumer do? Well, Stub Hub know what the average consumer would do. They’d buy off Vivid Seats and pay huge fees. I nearly bought a ticket to Elbow from Vivid Seats. At first glance it was 15% less than Stub Hub. After more study it was 20% more.
Bridgetown has always been the music of friends whose art, personalities and lives have had a powerful effect on me. People who I saw were doing amazing things to catalyze the engine of DIY/underground music, people I traveled with and who became great friends
Can the Hank Williams album be considered new? If it can it would knock off every single thing on this list but a sixty year old recording… Kenny is the clear winner but Conor, I am wondering if I underestimate him because well because I am a little bored of his schtick by now. Certainly, except for the bridge, “Zig Zag” is a good as it gets.
Tulane – Chuck Berry – Debatably the greatest flying car song of them all, this story of a drug buy gone South is so good both Springsteen and Lennon woulda have killed to write it – A+
After listening to this damn thing more times than I wanted to in my worst nightmare, I guess it isn’t… no, it is terrible. I guess I like Dan’s falsetto here and there and Patrick is a good drummer but it is a bad album which just plain doesn’t add up and any particular time. Well played and deeply felt, it is over arranged and enervating.
