False Cities – Christopher Paul Stelling – Stelling is a victim of geography, always jumping trains on the way to Brooklyn. The result is a certain incongruity between what he is, a blue collar worker pushing hard and what he sounds like, an ancestor of Richie Havens with a chip on his shoulder. But then, like Dylan before him, he steamrolls right through it. But this is a sophomore effort and personal history has given away to objective realities so while the bad news is Stelling may never go quite as deep as last years “Mourning Train To Memphis”, the good news is a song like “Every Last Extremist” doesn’t need a backstory. ALBUM OF THE WEEK – A-
All This For A King: The Essential Collection – David Crowder Band – Now they are no more, try this collection to get a handle on their anthem bombast rock and roll at the service of the God of love – B
Trouble Will Find Me – The National – Matt Berninger is the glummest singer in the world, he uses that deep voice to admit, time after time, that he is indeed disappointed in the world. Particularly some girl. And while this certainly spirals downwards per the norm, on some songs. “Don’t Swallow The Cap” and “I Should Live In Salt”, they manage to arrange their depression into a melodic leveling off, improving every thing in sight – A-
Wings Over America (2013 Remaster) – Wings – McCartney was 34 years old in 1976, when he released this liver from his major US tour, where he took Linda and the kids along, rented a plane, and played sold stadiums. I loved it at the time, but it hasn’t stood the test of time. There isn’t a song on the mostly Wings material not available elsewhere and much better and as rock and roll bands go, he sounds younger and fresher in 2013. PS the remaster sounds great- B-
False Idols – Tricky – Harkening back to the dark hued trip-hop of the earliest moments of his career, this takes that and adds a sheen of pop and a melody. If Tricky had followed Maxinquaye with False Idols, he would have broken big. Instead, this sounds dated but still an addictive, smart trip. Of course when the last song on the album is a stuttering drum rhythm to “Passions Of The Christ” maybe cult is where you live – B+
IV Play – The-Dream – Maybe The-Dream needs to remain a songwriter, everything great about his work with Beyonce and Rihanna is not not to be seen on these sex songs so explicitly they illicit more yawns than erections – C
The Beach Boys Live 50th Anniversary – The Beach Boys – Is there any way we can cut Mike Love out of the residuals? – C+
Random Access Memory – Daft Punk – Three songs here make it great, the Morodor, WIlliams and Rodgers tracks. The rest of the album doesn’t make it anything of the sort – B+