The Rolling Stones: Some Girls Live in Texas '78

There is an orthodoxy about the Rolling Stones that is defacto unassailable. Specifically the Mick Taylor years are their best. Period. End of story. Close the books. Next topic.

Proof? Exile On Main Street, Sticky Fingers and Let It Bleed are studio proof and for live work a glance or seven at the Gimme Shelter or Ladies & Gentlemen The Rolling Stones deliver on the thesis quite nicely.

So when Some Girls Live In Texas '78 fell into view a few days ago, my Stones snobbery went into high dudgeon. The Rolling Stones in the late-Seventies were a scrappy little band still capable of sound and fury but signifying little else. I liked Some Girls, the Stones responding to the energy of punk and new wave not with defensiveness but an inspired stripped down take on the R&B, soul, rock and country that had always been their metier. And Tattoo You was an expertly assembled polishing of some leftover 70s studio scraps with some superb highlights (the recent repurposing of Tops in Adventureland was inspired).

But back to 1978 and the post-Taylor Rolling Stones. This vault release was likely to live up / down to the orthodoxy. Both in the studio and live they were less than inspired.

But I was wrong. Oh so wrong.

Some Girls Live in '78 reveals the Rolling Stones with nothing left to prove but dying to prove it regardless. There are no virtuoso Mick Taylor guitar solos. There aren't even any Ron Wood guitar solos - and Wood as his Faces tenure made clear is a superb slide guitar player. Its not about the solos here. Its about the band as a scrappy bunch of goofballs. Gone is the sturm und drang of 69 and 72's Midnight Rambler and Sympathy For The Devil. Back are not one but two Chuck Berry covers and the headlong adrenaline rush of Respectable, Star Star and the Temptations Just My Imagination reimagined as a relentless soul stomp.

The truth is that despite carrying around the 'world's rock and roll band' tag for ten years, the Rolling Stones of 1978 were seeing their sound aped and recharged by the punk and new wave acts and were clearly feeling the need to live up to their legend.

To watch this DVD is a revelation. Jagger the mannered dancing pouter of 1972 has been replaced by an equally energetic dervish, all flailing arms and goofy gestures, Richards concentrating on the rhythms and chunky solos, Wood as the onstage foil for Jagger's hits and shoves and Wyman and Watts doing their best to be invisible in all ways save for the crucial job of anchoring the careening and propulsive band.

Its a wonderful performance and a startling snapshot of a band still vital but with a confidence and verve that might not have been there were it not for them feeling the pressure from the youngsters nipping at their heels and reputations.

Dave Borins: The Lucky Ones (daveborins.com)

Although his day job is as a backcountry guide (and no I don’t know what that is either), Dave Borins’ music career is building nicely as evidenced by his latest EP, The Lucky Ones. With a plaintive, quavering voice not unlike Loudon Wainwright III’s, Borins also mines Wainwright’s songwriting vein with songs that find the heartbreak and humour in life in equal and sometimes simultaneous measure. To point to highlights would be to name the entire contents of this modest EP. Less is more on Dave Borins' The Lucky Ones in so much as it leaves desire for a follow-up.

Rating: B+

k-os: The Trill - A Journey So Far (EMI)

This 16-track trawl through the first three discs of Canadian hip-hop / rap / soul / R&B artist k-os is a treat precisely because of the multi-hyphenates that precede his name in this sentence. On The Trill: A Journey So Far he out-right sings on some tracks (Born To Run for example), word trips the rhythms in Crabbuckit in true hip-hop style and even does the pop singer-songwriter thing on Superstarr Pt. 2. What’s crucial is that he’s damn fine at all of them, rendering the genre issue moot by virtue of sheer talent. If k-os has escaped your musical radar to date, The Trill is a perfect time to catch up.

Rating: A-

Thirty Seconds To Mars: This is War (EMI)

Histrionic, overwrought rock music has had its fans since mullets ruled the earth. That, however, doesn’t make it any more palatable. Thirty Seconds To Mars, fronted by actor Jared Leto have been mining this rather fruitless vein for three discs now and while the anguished, breathy vocals, portentous guitar wanking about and surging string sections haven’t gotten any worse on This Is War, improvements are negligible. To be certain it’s entirely possible that this silver disc may the apex of all things Thirty Seconds To Mars, an accomplishment with almost undetectable benefits to mankind or listeners for that matter.

Rating: C

Jason Greeley (Royalty Records)

An also-ran from Canadian Idol’s second season, country artist Jason Greeley has done better than most winners from that star-wannabe magnet. Proof of that is Greeley’s second album, the self-titled Jason Greeley, a bash-up of a country record, more Steve Earle than Tim McGraw. Greeley and band are helped by the dozen songs, half of them cowrites by Greeley, the rest penned for him with little difference in the quality. He does slow it down for a ballad or two, which are serviceable, but given his talent at driving his band over their speed limit, hitting the next button is somewhat inevitable. More than another Canadian Idol survivor, Jason Greeley’s self-titled sophomore effort is proof that he’ll be around for years to come.

Rating: B+

The Joys: On The Stage And Off The Floor (www.thejoys.ca)

Little wonder that London’s Joys have been selected two years in a row to play at the prestigious alt-country South by Southwest music fest in Austin, Texas. From Sarah Smith’s powerful pipes to the scrappy soulful playing of the band itself, the Joys’ reckless rootsiness is always compelling, never more so than on their new On The Stage And Off The Floor. Ostensibly an aural mash note to their loyal fans to let them know what they’re up to, the mix of live sessions, raw studio takes and demos reveal a band that at their best are as comfortable laying back supporting Smith’s intimate vocals as leaning on the throttle on cuts like their cover of Free’s Alright Now or their own Fly. On The Stage And Off The Floor may be a stop-gap effort until the results of their recent Winnipeg recording sessions hit daylight but it’s as vital a sign as any that the Joys’ name is still their raison detre.

Rating A –

Blue Rodeo: The Things We Left Behind (WEA)

Something is different on Blue Rodeo’s 12^th trip to the recording studio. It’s not just that they’ve self-produced The Things We Left Behind or even that it’s spread across two discs. It’s that the 16 songs here are infused with issues of loss, longing, regret and hopefulness. In short these songs seem to mean something. Cuddy and Keelor seem to be turning over the past in their hands, looking at what transpired and pondering what they might have done differently. The self-production helps here. Although the familiar Blue Rodeo sound (mid-tempo rhythm, the harmonies, the pedal-steel and surging organ lines) crops up from time to time, at others as on the quasi title track All The Things We Left Behind, the production recalls nothing so much as Diamond Mine era BR. As for the Beatle-esque Don’t Let The Darkness In Your Head, it may well be one of the finest things they’ve ever recorded. The Things We Left Behind is arguably one of Blue Rodeo’s most compelling discs. It’s undeniable that it’s their most challenging in years.

Rating: A