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The Rolling Stones: Some Girls Live in Texas '78

2011-11-18T17:40:00.000-08:00

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 Jagger the mannered dancing pouter of 1972 has been replaced by an equally energetic dervish, all flailing arms and goofy gestures, Richards concentrating on the rhythms and chunky solos, Wood as the onstage foil for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)

2010-01-17T11:15:00.000-08:00

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)

2010-01-17T11:12:00.000-08:00

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)

2010-01-17T11:10:00.000-08:00

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)

2010-01-17T11:07:00.000-08:00

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)

2010-01-17T11:02:00.000-08:00

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)

2010-01-17T11:00:00.000-08:00

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

Katy Perry: MTV Unplugged (Capitol/EMI)

2010-01-17T10:58:00.000-08:00

Katy Perry, the strident musical stepchild of Alanis Morrisette – and before her Grace Slick – tackles an Unplugged session with verve if not exactly polish. The problem is that Perry needs something more than the handful of musicians here to pull off the sass she excels at. As such on MTV Unplugged she comes off as somewhat tentative and awkward much of the time. An exception is her cover of Fountains of Wayne’s under-rated Hackensack, the delivery of which inspires a suitably muscular effort from her band. Overall this Unplugged will appeal more to those who’ve already signed up for a ride on her bandwagon than the merely musically curious. Like most live efforts this is a stop-gap effort at best and for Perry a curiously risky one.

Rating: B-

Johnny Reid: Christmas (MapleMusic / Universal)

2010-01-17T10:55:00.000-08:00

Bing Crosby created the script for the modern Christmas album many years ago and few have dared to re-write it. So it’s no surprise that this holiday effort by Canadian country belter Johnny Reid ubiquitously dubbed ‘Christmas’ sticks quite close to the formula: of the 11 tunes here nine are standards and two originals. And while the originals aren’t up to the classics – another holiday disc standard – Reid does weave some creative magic into this effort. His Silent Night is a quietly riveting strum-along notable for the tension between Reid’s soulful growl and his band’s disciplined rhythm while his Santa Claus Is Coming To Town and Jingle Bell Rock get an almost sultry honky-tonk makeover. It’s that playfulness that makes Johnny Reid’s Christmas worth a spin this season and perhaps even next year.

Rating: B+

Sarah Smith: Live (sarahsmithmusic.com)

2009-12-04T09:59:00.001-08:00

Londoner Sarah Smith’s songs of sadness, despair, hope and triumph would be decent enough on their own but what kicks this baker’s dozen of tunes up a few notches is Smith’s mesmerizing voice. Her heartbreakingly soulful line readings hearken back to Dusty Springfield’s Memphis sessions in their intimacy and directness. This live collection showcases Smith with only her guitar and drummer Joe Reain which is just about perfect. The less to distract from that voice, the better. Although Smith’s day job is with The Joys, the pleasures of her sultry singing in this outing make a convincing argument for a long solo career to match it.

Rating: A-

sarahsmithmusic.com

Grady: Good As Dead (C12/EMI)

2009-12-04T09:57:00.000-08:00

Many years after Gordy Johnson kicked in Big Sugar and left Canada for Austin, Texas and Grady, his latest Good As Dead is further proof he’s found his greasy bluesy spiritual home. The eleven tracks here find Johnson exploring what he’s called Cowboy Metal, a dark place between punk and hard blues where extended blues riffs slide off the sonic landscape into screaming guitar solos. Good As Dead gives just enough perspiration inspiration to not only work as a stand-alone aural document but also double as an astonishingly fine calling card for their live prowess.

Rating: B+

The Riptides: Tales From The Planet Earth (Asianman Records)

2009-12-04T09:55:00.000-08:00

With about a dozen years under their belt, Ottawa’s Riptides’ latest Tales From The Planet Earth should betray the sound of cool careerists bashing out the tunes by the numbers. However this delightful disc boasts a dozen cuts as playful and spunky as if it was their debut. That noted, what the Riptides have on their side is an ability with a hook and the generous instinct to toss in several per tune. It also helps that they vary the pace a bit from cranium crashing double-time bash-ups to toss in what qualifies as a ballad for them, I Can’t Have a Merry Christmas which echoes some of Joey Ramone’s most sincere mid-tempo heartbreakers. The Riptides’ Tales From The Planet Earth are a dozen stories worth listening to.

Rating: B+

Emily Osment: All The Right Wrongs (Wind Up Records / Warner)

2009-12-04T09:53:00.000-08:00

It’s hard not to like this EP in principle. Emily Osment, teen pop figure (and sis of Haley Joel Osment) wants to change her image from Hannah Montana / High School Musical to rock goddess so she recruits some emo-popsters to give her a leg up. The results ala All The Right Wrongs aren’t as execrable or shudder-worthy as one might think. When the guitars crunch and the drums do double time the results move along quite nicely, the noisy din masking Osment’s reedy, squeaky vocals. Conversely, when the songs flag a bit, the finger finds the next button rather quickly.

Rating: C+

Jay Farrar & Benjamin Gibbard One Fast Move Or I’m Gone: Music from Kerouac’s Big Sur (F-Stop / Atlantic)

2009-12-04T09:52:00.001-08:00

How odd that it’s taken a collaboration with Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard on a documentary soundtrack about Jack Kerouac’s nightmarish time in Big Sur for Son Volt’s Jay Farrar to reconnect with his muse. Despite Gibbard’s affecting work here, One Fast Move Or I’m Gone is much more a Farrar vehicle insomuch as the melancholy tone and high-and-lonesome sentiments echo Farrar’s Son Volt and later-Uncle Tupelo work. And while Farrar’s strengths as a songwriter have been underutilized in recent years, One Fast Move finds him back in fine form, the entire disc an affecting paean to regret, lost chances and memory. That it’s taken a musical mediation on beat poet Jack Kerouac’s spiritual nadir at Big Sur for Farrar to find his muse again, is one of those ironies best mulled over during a second and third listen to this remarkable disc.

Rating: A-

Kristina Train: Spilt Milk (Blue Note / EMI)

2009-12-04T09:46:00.000-08:00

Although this soulful pop stylist was snapped up by jazz label Blue Note, Kristina Train owes more to Dusty Springfield than Diana Krall. Her whispery vocals recall the country soul of Shelby Lynne’s self-titled disc of several years back, with backing that recalls the Muscle Shoal’s session boys work with Dusty Springfield more than any current country chanteuse. More so, this 20-something’s longing vocals suggest a wisdom far beyond her youth, melancholy melding with yearning against a sonic backdrop that makes it all tangibly and soulfully real. Kristina’s Train Spilt Milk may not be the finest debut disc of the year but with November upon us, it sure seems that way.

Rating: A-

Tim McGraw: Southern Voice (Curb Records)

2009-12-04T09:43:00.000-08:00

Tim McGraw is the top dog in contemporary country music today for good reason. His comfortable baritone, the steel guitars layered under the electric ones and the big sing-along choruses pretty much seal the deal for his fans. That noted, Southern Voice will please fans with its tunes of longing for lost youth (I Didn’t Know It At The Time is a particularly fine one) and absent fathers (You Had To Be There). The only time McGraw missteps is when he tries to up the rock ante ala Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger co-write It’s A Business Doing Pleasure With You, which sounds forced coming from McGraw. That said, the disc-opening brooding Still builds slowly into a nice slow cooker of a ballad unlike anything else on the disc. In the end Southern Voice is a bit of a draw, as predictable as McGraw should be and yet with enough experiments to make the uninitiated tune in again next year.

Rating: B-

Jason Greeley (Royalty Records)

2009-12-04T09:37:00.000-08:00

Rating: B+

Paramore: Brand New Eyes (Fueled By Ramen / Warner)

2009-10-25T18:08:00.000-07:00

Having built a fan base with 2007’s Riot! and with double tune placement on last year’s Twilight soundtrack, Paramore bows Brand New Eyes with heaps to prove. For starters the issue as to the status of singer Hayley Williams – is it H.W. and Paramore or are they a real band - seems to have been resolved. The dozen emo-pounders here are anything but star vehicles for the charismatic Williams. Her pipes, the songs (co-writes with Williams and guitarist Farro and especially the focused production by Rob Cavallo (Green Day, Alanis Morrisette) are equally crucial to Brand New Eyes establishing Paramore as a band with an intriguing powered pop future.

Rating: B+

James Keelaghan: House of Cards (Borealis Records)

2009-10-25T18:06:00.001-07:00

James Keelaghan is one of this country’s quiet secrets; his music buzzed about by folk aficionados, played by CBC regularly and a reputation as a live performer not to be missed. That noted, he’s never broken through to popular acclaim commensurate with his artistic achievements. House of Cards, his first disc in five years, is as riveting a listen as any of the discs he’s released over the past twenty years. His easy baritone is as always the highlight here as well as the historian’s story-telling detail he brings to his songs. If you’re a fan you’re already on your way to picking up House of Cards. If not, this is as solid a disc as any to start your James Keelaghan collection.

Rating: A-

Downchild: I Need a Hat (Linus)

2009-10-25T18:04:00.000-07:00

It’s suiting that the name on the front of this disc is simply ‘Downchild’. Although the band has a proper name (The Downchild Blues Band), over the years the name Downchild has always sufficed. And just as that one-word name did the job just fine, so also the names Don and Richard Walsh were synonymous with Downchild and the early Canadian blues scene for that matter. I Need a Hat, the release of which heralds their 40^th year as a band or even just an idea, finds Don Walsh (Richard died about ten years ago) leading the current band through their paces on eleven Walsh tunes which to be certain could double for any number of blues standards. Giving an assist is Colin Linden, Colin James, Wayne Jackson of the Memphis Horns and Dan Aykroyd. The guests do their bit but never detract or distract from defacto star Don Walsh which after 40 years is just about right.

Rating: B+

Mayday Parade: Anywhere But Here (Fearless / Atlantic)

2009-10-25T18:01:00.000-07:00

It’s very, very hard not to like an emo-pop band. You’ve got the guitar crunch, the group vocals, power pop-styled hooks, messy kit bashing: what else could one need? Mayday Parade unwittingly illustrates this critical dilemma. Listening to the eleven tunes here is a pretty painless experience for all the reasons noted above. The problem is that it’s just not enough. Hooks not catchy enough, vocals not distinguished enough, guitars too processed; the list just doesn’t end. Nothing sticks. The thirty-ought minutes are over and there is absolutely no desire to hear a bonus twelfth song and hitting the play button again is just too much effort for the diminished returns of hearing it all over again. It’s not bad mind you and that’s the point. It’s just not enough, even for someone who’s never heard a Fall Out Boy song.

Rating: C

Pink Moth: The Wild (www.pinkmoth.net)

2009-10-17T08:58:00.000-07:00

Coming off the expansive sonic ambitions of his band Maps of the Night Sky, ex-Londoner singer-songwriter Ray Cammaert’s Pink Moth project is a startling about-face. The Wild is a brooding, pensive and never less than fascinating musical rumination in which layers of spare percussive elements, organ, violins and even a saw underscore Cammaert’s plaintive vocals that echo Brian Eno’s work on Another Green World. The cumulative effect is hypnotic, melancholy and ultimately quite affecting. Although he plays most of the instruments himself, Cammaert is given a leg up here by a few others including House of Miracles’ Andy Magoffin pitching in on vocals and mixing the project. Pink Moth may be an about-face from Cammaert’s previous work but The Wild nonetheless goes a long way toward defining him as an artist to watch.

Rating: A-

The Avett Brothers: I And Love And You (American Recordings / Sony)

2009-10-17T08:56:00.000-07:00

Starting out as a roots band several years back the Avett Brothers, this time under the production tutelage of Rick Rubin (Johnny Cash, Beastie Boys, Dixie Chicks, Neil Diamond) veer a little further off their folk track. However, and this is likely due to Rubin’s ‘keep it real’ production touch, they rarely sound anything less than organic. As such the plaintive vocals of brothers Avett are front and centre, pianos and violins ease their way in delicately and their songwriting carries the day quite nicely as well. Although things build up a nice head of steam there and here, at the end of the day, it always comes from the ground up rather than any sort of production contrivance. As a major label debut, I And Love And You is not only impressive but also a near-ideal picture of the folk rock of the Avett Brothers.

Rating: B+

A Fine Frenzy: Bomb In a Birdcage (EMI)

2009-10-17T08:55:00.000-07:00

Given a full band with which to play out her delicate pop folk, Alison Sukol aka A Fine Frenzy reveals the full flowering of her pop wispiness in a way that her debut only hinted at. Bomb In a Birdcage highlights Sukol’s touch with a ballad as on her debut but the real surprises here are the pop workouts such as Blow Away, What I Wouldn’t Do and New Heights in which electropop touches and a deft way with hooks show her to be a more than capable pop queen. A Fine Frenzy will never be musical world-beaters but done well, Bomb In A Birdcage shows why Sukol remains a pop figure to watch.

Rating: B+

The Marigolds That’s: The State I’m In (www.marigolds.ca / Outside Music)

2009-10-17T08:53:00.000-07:00

There is truly something remarkable about luxuriating in the sound of voices that blend together. It’s blissful, hypnotic and a pleasure of its own outside of any musical context. That’s The State I’m In by Elora-based The Marigolds is a perfect example. With two thirds of the legendary Quartet (Caitlan Hanford and Gwen Swick) joined by Suzie Vinnick, The Marigolds do the musical equivalent of singing the telephone book given that they cover everything from bluegrass, jazz and straight folk on these self-penned songs to wonderful effect. They’re helped here by the supportive production of Steve Dawson who pulls in blues licks, mandolin picking and pedal steel at just about the right time and in the right places to keep the focus on those remarkable voices. That’s The State I’m In is musical dilettantism of the highest order.

Rating: B+

Rufus Wainwright: Milwaukee At Last!!! (Decca / Universal)

2009-10-17T08:50:00.000-07:00

Although this CD/DVD package is ostensibly a double shot of Rufus Wainwright’s last tour (which made a stop in London in 2007) in reality it’s a DVD with a CD souvenir tossed in. The DVD is a backstage to stagefront and back again (we see all of Wainwright’s costume changes) two-hours-plus concert while the CD features only ten of the 20-plus songs on the film. That noted, its an above average film with a handful of cinematographers capturing all that is a Wainwright show, legendary documentarian Albert Maysles (Gimme Shelter, Grey Gardens) among them. Wainwright the consummate camp showman pulls it off in both mediums (the ten songs on the CD work as pure music without the visuals) superbly. A novice to Wainwright’s remarkable talent as a live performer could do no better than this double disc as an introduction. For long-time fans, this is an undeniable treat.

Rating: A –

Q-Tip Kamaal: The Abstract (Jive / Sony)

2009-10-17T08:47:00.000-07:00

The mix of rap and jazz, an uneasy alliance on paper but perfection in the hands of A Tribe Called Quest in the 90s, is once again a going concern with the release of ex-Quest Q-Tip’s long suppressed Kamaal The Abstract. Readied for release in 2002 but withheld due to its alleged ‘uncommercial’ sound, Kamaal is a strangely timeless listen. Pulling in vibes, flutes, bass-driven grooves and Q-Tip’s laid-back vocals, it’s hypnotic in its vaguely improvisational almost trance-like grooves. Although it’s a shame that it took seven years for Q-Tip to pull Kamaal The Abstract out of record-label limbo, time has been kind to this music. It’s more contemporary and relevant today than at the beginning of the decade.

Rating: A –

The Used: Artwork (Reprise / Warner)

2009-10-17T08:40:00.000-07:00

Despite their best intentions, The Used’s fourth disc Artwork is more a study in modern metal production techniques than anything else. Oh certainly the screamo guitar onslaught that propels songs with titles like Blood On My Hands, Born To Quit and Sold My Soul is impressive as a sonic exercise but the problem is that it’s so over-the-top that it approaches self-parody more often than not and boredom shortly afterward. What might have rescued Artwork are a few hooks rather than the usual assortment of compressed, processed vocals and equally stylized bass-fuzzed guitars. As their legend claims, The Used may have indeed once lived on the street and survived doing far too many drugs but that life experience as metal cred wears a little thin as a world-view ten years after the fact. Find another shtick boys, this one’s done.

Rating: C

Die Mannequin: Fino + Bleed (Warner Canada)

2009-10-17T08:38:00.000-07:00

Punk pop mavens Die Mannequin’s Fino + Blood is a double pleasure. The CD captures charismatic Care Failure and bandmates plowing through a dozen infectious pop/punk tunes leaving one wanting more. Credit Care’s songwriting chops for the melodic traction here as well as the help of a few guest pens including oddly Chantal Krevisiuk and Raine Maida on one tune. And when the disc wraps up there’s a bonus DVD with a superb 45-minute documentary by Bruce ‘Hard Core Logo’ MacDonald that’s value enough on its own.

Rating: B+

Inward Eye: Throwing Bricks Instead of Kisses (RCA/SONY)

2009-09-14T18:19:00.000-07:00

With any number (okay let’s say 361) of emo pop bands dumping out discs in the last year or five, it’s a genuine kick when an act like Inward Eye arrives to kick the crap out of the bunch of them. There is nothing pro-forma about this Winnipeg power trio’s debut, the band bashing about infectiously as though this might be their only chance, which in 2009 sounds about right. That they’re all brothers is more than a gimmick; it’s likely that they’ve been practicing since they gave up soccer in Grade 7 and the musical synergy shows. Highlights are superfluous: on Throwing Bricks Instead of Kisses, Inward Eye have that elusive ‘joy of performance’ often imitated but rarely genuine and that effusive energy is what carries this punchy disc from tracks one through eleven.

Rating: B+

Sass Jordan: From Dusk ‘Til Dawn (Warner Canada)

2009-09-14T18:12:00.000-07:00

Even back in her early 90s rock-belter-babe days, Sass Jordan’s raspy vocals always begged for a stripped down backing with a band following her cues than the opposite. From Dusk ‘Til Dawn, is a marked improvement from her past work with producer Derek Sharp putting her right up front of an R&B outfit on Fell In Love Again, an alt-country band on Why Did You and country strummers for her cover of Tom Waits’ Ol ’55. It all works well save for one slight annoyance: Jordan’s colourful vocal rasp deserves a closer listen than this disc’s mix dares to give it. If she’s front and centre in her performances then why does it sound like she’s been pushed back from the footlights? Regardless, a nice improvement for the woman more recently known for her role on the other side of a stage.

Rating: B

Cavo: Bright Nights Dark Days (Reprise/Warner)

2009-09-14T18:09:00.000-07:00

There is still a brass ring to grab for in the modern music industry and it hangs from Daughtry’s nose these days. Cavo’s Bright Nights Dark Days is a Modern Rock Album (capitals intentional), which is both its strength and weakness. The pros include songs with gang choruses and hooks and a bottom heavy sound that mostly disguises the guitars behind a wall of drone. The cons are pretty much all of the above with an understanding that there about 27 other bands all trying to ape the same aural sludge as well. It’s modern rock yes but only capably so, spectacularly not so much.

Rating: B–

Neil Diamond: Hot August Night/NYC (Columbia / SONY)

2009-09-14T18:04:00.000-07:00

There are two Neil Diamonds with wildly different yet overlapping pop music profiles. The iconic Neil Diamond who wrote early classics such as Kentucky Woman, I’m a Believer and Solitary Man as part of his Brill Building output morphed into the sleepy – and sleep inducing – crooner of You Don’t Bring Me Flowers, Love On The Rocks and the like. However in recent years Diamond with minimalist producer Rick Rubin’s guidance has ventured back to the songwriter-with-a-guitar identity that marked his mid-Sixties output. That re-energization is mostly on display in this, the third of Diamond’s live Hot August Night discs. He leaves most of his gloppy ballads behind sticking mainly to early UNI classics and a handful of the Rubin songs. If there’s any drawback to this generous double disc set it’s his band, all pros with few rough edges to match Diamond’s clearly invigorated performances.

Rating: B+

Brendan Benson: My Old Familiar Friend (ATO/ Maplemusic)

2009-08-31T09:52:00.000-07:00

Although a critical darling since 1996’s One Mississippi, Brendan Benson has become a recognizable quantity since joining Jack White in The Raconteurs a few years back. It’s hard to say if that gig recharged his creative batteries but based on the evidence on My Old Familiar Friend Benson is definitely on his game. The 11 tracks that make up ‘…Friend’ are in full one of the finest discs of the year to date. Guitar pop comprises much of the disc although genre experiments such as the Philly soul styled Garbage Day fit in here seamlessly. What unites it all, aside from the stellar songcraft, is Benson’s sense of playfulness. He’s clearly having a blast kicking through these beggar’s dozen of superb songs and his spirit is infectious. Undoubtedly My Old Familiar Friend will make friends this summer easily and often.

Rating: A

Modest Mouse: No One’s First, And You’re Next (Epic / Sony)

2009-08-31T09:46:00.000-07:00

With their last two discs making them what passes for stars these days, Modest Mouse’s EP No One’s First, And You’re Next provides the perfect kind of stop-gap move before their next full-length. A collection of B-sides and rarities, No One’s… reminds fans and even the uninitiated of their spastic and endearing charms quite nicely. Lead warbler Isaac Brock adds some nice banjo on Autumn Beds while the New Orleans’ Dirty Dozen Brass Band bring a wonderfully draggy looseness to Perpetual Motion Machine. As on their last disc and tours, ex-Smith Johnny Marr guests as well. All in All No One’s First, And You’re Next is the ideal EP: it ends with us wanting more.

Rating: B+

Nathan Rogers: The Gauntlet (Borealis)

2009-08-31T09:41:00.000-07:00

Being a son of late Canadian folk icon Stan Rogers, Nathan Rogers must know about gauntlets given that his very career is an act of picking up the one left by his late father. Remarkably enough he’s up to the challenge on this, his second disc. With more than a little of his father’s traditional folk vocal style and songwriting prowess, The Gauntlet is the kind of album that Stan Rogers would be making if he were still alive. Almost that is. Despite the surface similarities, Nathan Rogers has a musical exuberance suitable to a 30-year-old and when an electric guitar wails during Billboard Babies and his vocals reach a near-scream, it becomes clear that this is not your father’s folk music. Which is good for young Rogers and us.

Rating: A-

Sick Puppies: Tri-Polar (RMR / Virgin)

2009-08-31T09:13:00.000-07:00

About the only thing that makes wall-of-guitar onslaughts work in hard metal is hooks or choruses, the more memorable the better. Without the critical melodic element, the results are often rather boring, not to mention unintentionally humorous (hearing someone rage about pretty much anything is eminently chuckle-worthy). That noted, displaced Australians Sick Puppies find themselves on Tri-Polar their second North American release with a full tank of roar and nowhere to go. Unlike their last disc there’s no All The Same here and only a few songs rise from the murk to differentiate Sick Puppies from the other 358 metal-pounders in the aural refinery.

Rating: C

The Dead Weather: Horehound (Third Man / Warner Bros)

2009-08-15T12:25:00.000-07:00

Spinning off from White Stripes Jack White’s role in the Raconteurs, The Dead Weather pulls together alumnus of Raconteur, Queens Of The Stone Age and The Kills for the raucous Horehound. At times exhilarating, others muddled, the disc is never boring and to be certain it’s adventurous experimentation – the synths here are as riveting as the guitar pyrotechnics – are the highlight here. What helps is that White’s contributions are mostly as drummer, his percussion primitivism acting as perfect propulsion for the surging mass of guitars and synths fighting for aural dominance with Kill’s Alison Mosshart vocals. It’s a bit of a mess truly but a truly fine one and not only worth the listen but also an encore.

Rating: B+

Marcy Playground: Leaving Wonderland…In a Fit Of Rage (Woz Records/EMI)

2009-08-15T12:23:00.000-07:00

After their lightweight 1997 hit Sex & Candy, Marcy Playground spent the better part of a decade trying to out-peddle their one-hit-wonder rep. Shame too because their fourth disc Leaving Wonderland…In a Fit Of Rage finds them mostly sidestepping the ‘rawk’ tag of their ubiquitous hit while highlighting John Wozniak’s deft touch with pop hooks and earnest – but not precious - heart-on-sleeve vocals. The only missteps are when the guitars go up to 10 – on Gin & Money for instance – and they resemble the 90s refugees they used to be. But that noted Leaving Wonderland… is a pretty decent little pop disc worthy of a spin or four.

Rating: B

Daughtry: Leave This Town (19/RCA)

2009-08-15T12:20:00.000-07:00

One hates to review discs like Leave This Town, American Idol reject Skippy Daughtry’s sophomore effort. Rendering judgment on such a predictable Big Rock Album (capitals mine) is a lot like doing the same for any of the plastic circular discs with Nickelback’s name on them. Fans of his last disc – and Nickelback’s for that matter – will likely love this to death for the simple reason that ‘it sounds just like the last one’ as well as the not coincidental fact that while playing the thing it can be ignored quite nicely, such is it’s sonically pleasing bland brilliance. So let’s sidestep the issue here and just say this: If you like Daughtry’s debut and any of Nickelback’s output, this will be a treat (there’s even a Chad Kroeger penned tune here) and you should devour this like a burger from a take-out window: to be certain doing both simultaneously would be thematically brilliant. All others should keep listening to music instead.

Rating: C

Ted Nugent: Motor City Mayhem (Eagle)

2009-08-15T12:11:00.001-07:00

With Ted Nugent’s current reputation as a right-wing pro-gun reactionary outshining his status as a Detroit metal-boogie legend, one has to question who the double disc live Motor City Madhouse is for. Given his live reputation its perhaps not surprising that the discs sidestep the question by simply delivering the pile-driving sonic goods. Those who need some Nugent to fill out their disc collection as well as their memory banks might do well to pick up this nicely charged collection of Nugent standards. All else save for the curious can avoid without missing anything essential.

Rating: B

Pete Yorn: Back and Fourth (Columbia)

2009-08-03T18:08:00.001-07:00

The title of this, Pete Yorn’s fourth disc sums up the musical dilemma facing the singer songwriter. Despite a promising start with 2001’s Music For The Morning After, subsequent discs acted as a bit of a holding pattern for Yorn, continuing to position him as a pseudo alt-rocker / singer-songwriter. Those are a few too many hyphens for one person to shoulder and so on Back and Fourth he moves away from blazing guitars and closer to acoustic ones that pull listeners closer to the songs. The gambit mostly works here, the songs propelled by the hooks and Yorn’s vaguely melancholy delivery. With Back & Fourth, Yorn makes a decent argument for a fifth.

Rating: B

Regina Spektor: Far (Sire/Warner)

2009-08-03T18:06:00.000-07:00

The quirky Russian émigré from the Bronx steps up to the Big Time (capitalization mine) on Far with all of the requisite major label nervousness in tow. That said, the pop princess’ plainspoken vocals survive the pressure even with no less than four producers putting her through the paces. Her eccentricity shines through even when produced by Jeff Lynne (ELO, Travelling Wilburys), Jackknife Lee (R.E.M.) and Mike Elizondo (Eminem, Dr. Dre) although Elizondo’s cluttered Machine is one of the disc’s few misfires. The verdict: the quirk is intact despite many hands on deck. Other verdict: if Spektor can survive this, she’ll thrive.

Rating: B+

Moby: Wait For Me (Little Idiot / EMI)

2009-08-03T18:05:00.000-07:00

Following the success of Play and it’s ubiquitous reign in tv commercials in the early part of the 00s, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Moby has once again followed his muse back to the simple experimental instrumentals of that seminal disc. Wait For Me is 16 tracks of what Moby does best, evocative, pensive and yet propulsive (mostly) instrumentals – he has guest vocalists who croon along with the mix. To note highlights would be superfluous – this is as delightful a play as well, Play and as such recommended.

Rating: B+

Wilco (the album): (Nonesuch / Warner)

2009-08-03T18:03:00.000-07:00

After getting their experimental pop footing down with A Ghost Is Born and Sky Blue Sky, on (the album) Wilco Mach 2 loosens up some. A mix of verse-chorus-verse pop songs, a few ballads and experimental raucousness, the disc sees the band pushing their boundaries less, enjoying themselves much more. As such (the album) sees a revival of some of the alt-country touches that propelled them early on (ala the steel guitar that snakes through I’ll Fight), the virtues of straight pop on You and I and the playful faux self-aggrandization that underlies Wilco (the song). In short, Wilco (the album) is the band’s mid-career summary of their strengths and the fun they have with them.

Rating: A-

Spinal Tap: Back From The Dead (Spuzzle Group)

2009-07-21T14:50:00.001-07:00

While it’s always a reliable chuckle to revisit the faux-phenom that was Spinal Tap, Back From The Dead is a bit of a misfire. Although the discs (DVD included) trod through their tunes circa 2009 (basically note-for-note 1984) and revisit a few with some wit (the reggae-fied Flower People for one), the amusement-quotient would have been improved if they had updated the satire inherent in the tale of an aging rock act. In their mid-80s heyday, Spinal Tap aped lumbering metal acts to a savage degree. It would have been equally astute for them to mock the dubious charms of their real life aging rock contemporaries currently trudging across the US playing hits to aging boomers. That they miss this opportunity and simply smile and wave on Back From The Dead make these discs a gift for those who took these three comedians for a real band in the 80s, with far fewer charms for fans of the satire.

Rating: B-

Tom Morello & Boots Riley Street Sweeper Social Club (Warner)

2009-07-21T14:49:00.000-07:00

This collab between rapper Boots Riley and Rage Against The Machine alum Tom Morello sounds like nothing so much as a spiritual ancestor to the MC5 Sixties output. Although metal-funk grooves predominate what comes through mostly is Morello and Riley’s street protest exhortations. That said, what makes much of Street Sweeper Social Club work is the riffs and anthemic choruses (ala Shock You Again, Fight Smash Win and Megablast) that give the disc much of its uplift. Not all of it works entirely and it echoes 1999 just a bit more than it should but Street Sweeper Social Club’s debut is strong enough to merit an encore.

Rating: B

Black Eyed Peas: The End (Interscope / Universal)

2009-07-21T14:48:00.000-07:00

Liking an upbeat song as much as anyone else, it’s nonetheless hard to make it through this defacto Up The People tribute album. It’s not that the Black Eyed Peas sentiments on The End are suspect but rather the relentlessness of the delivery. For example ‘I Gotta Feeling’ boasts that ‘tonight’s going to be a good night’ with scant little lyrical verbiage to back up the wish. Granted it’s tied indelibly to a hooky riff but in the end it’s an unbearable musical fascism that wins the day rather than infectiousness. This penchant for having a ‘good time’ dovetails disastrously (which is to say not at all) with the album’s title theme which seems to want to portend something, you know, ‘Deep’ and also ‘Meaningful’ (capitalization intentional). That it only comes across as deep and meaningless is to be expected of an effort that is a mundane dance-pop disc in everything but ambition.

Rating: B –

Incubus: Monuments and Melodies (Epic / Immortal)

2009-07-21T14:42:00.000-07:00

Incubus’ primary distinguishing skill is their sly ability to serve up alt-metal radioplay hits. Much of this is due to frontman Brandon Boyd and his capably bland vocals coupled with the band’s undeniable ability to coax hooks out of their calculated thrashing. Since the single is arguably Incubus’ creative métier, its not surprising that Monuments and Melodies is as strong as it is. For those who’ve only taken in Incubus’ proto-thrash while browsing in the mall record shop, this is most decidedly a must buy. The bonus disc of rarities should lure the diehards. All others may well decide to limit their Incubus intake to future mall jaunts.

Rating: B