March 31, 2009
This week, we're listening in on the music of Morrissey, Shooter Jennings, Jamey Johnson, The Decemberists, Mexican Institute of Sound, and Wynton Marsalis.
If our talk about the Decemberists' "The Hazards Of Love" and its connection to the first wave of concept albums artists from the rock era got you interested, let's make a case for Jethro Tull. In the early 70s they released two of the best continuous/one song concept albums: "Thick As A Brick" and "A Passion Play." At their peak they were reviled by critics who labelled the ambitious as pretentious. Never mind that those albums rocked as hard as anything at the time ("Passion Play Edit #8") -- or that that their previous album, the classic Aqualung -- with one side devoted to a critique of the Church of England, was as angry as anything for the early punk movement. Or even that early sides ("Witches Promise," "A Christmas Song") revealed that, as practitioners of the British folk, they were up there with the Fairport Conventions and Steeleye Spans of their time. Any of their "Best ofs" on the iTunes Store can make the case for all of this, but we'd recommend Best Of Jethro Tull:The Anniversary Collection -- big enough to cover 25 years and small enough to offer an introduction.
March 24, 2009
This week, we're listening in on the band Rush (as featured in I Love You Man), soundtrack work from Booker T. & The M.G.'s, The Mar-Keys, and Peter Gabriel, and the music of Michael Penn, Toni Braxton, Mary J. Blige, and Digital Underground.
While we're talking about songs that make frequent appearances we need to call out the mother of all media friendly songs -- Katrina and the Waves "Walking On Sunshine." Its musically sunny disposition and sharp poppy horn embellishments have made it the go-to song to connote optimism, good times, or anything upbeat, and landed it in numerous trailers, movies, and TV shows. Katrina and the Waves, like this week's genius picks Marshall Crenshaw and the Shocking Blue, are the undeserving recipients of one-hit wonder status. A quick trip to their anthology offers up minor sparkling pop gems "Going Back To Liverpool" (made famous by The Bangles), "Sunny Street," and the rock inspired Pat Benatar-esque "Do You Want Crying." But the real surprise here is the revelation of Katrina Leskanich as soul singer on both the Aretha/Annie Lennox like "Is That It" and the should-have-been-covered-by-Etta James "The Sun Won't Shine".
March 17, 2009
This week, we're listening in on Michael Jackson's music during The Jackson 5 era, the legacy of Grandmaster Flash, the reappearance of Echo & The Bunnymen, and the Irish music of The Chieftains and the Dropkick Murphys.
Although we only had time for a honorable mention in our St. Patrick's Day Irish music segment, I'd like to call attention to the Boomtown Rats. Although they are now known as the band that Bob Geldof was in before Live Aid -- or maybe the one hit wonder who gave us "I Don't Like Mondays" -- we'd like to try and flip that the other way. They started in 1977 -- known in the UK as the Summer Of Punk -- with their first single "Looking Out For Number One" which is up there with anything coming from The Clash, Sex Pistols, The Damed or The Jam at the time. But most of their first album seemed to draw more on Van Morrison than the Iggy Pop; in particular the very Springsteen-esque "Rat Trap" and "Joey's On The Street Again." Later singles "She's So Modern" and "Like Clockwork" displayed a level of wit and cleverness reminiscent of the best of the (then) artier glitter bands (Sparks, Roxy Music, Cockney Rebel). Give a listen to their best of and re-discover the band punk forgot.
March 10, 2009
This week, we're listening in on music from the movie The Watchmen, the new album by Neko Case, the enduring legacy of Simon & Garfunkel, and the 20th anniversary of Do The Right Thing.
Despite our devoting an entire segment to Neko Case's new album, we've only scratched the surface. Casual mentions were made of her contributions to all four of the excellent New Pornographers albums (each has two Neko Case lead vocals). Let's rectify that now. Go to our New Pornographers Essential and check out "These Are The Fables," "Go Places," and "Mass Romantic." You'll recognize the voice but something seems different. She's channeling her inner pop (and power pop) fan taking on these lyrically complex, multi-hook structures that come from the pen of bandleader AC Newman -- and pulling it off with a whole different kind of expertise. While you're digging deeper you also need to hear "I Wish I Was The Moon" from her third album, "Blacklisted." It's the Neko Case song most likely to be covered by the next (and hopefully) current generation of torch singers. Every time I hear it I can imagine an alternate universe with multiple versions by Ella Fitzgerald, KD Lang, or Diana Krall.
March 4, 2009
This week, we're listening in on music from The Frames, Aimee Mann, ELO, The Roots, and Snoop Dogg.
We're finding a pop theme running through some of this weeks' subjects in Aimme Mann, ELO and Squeeze. On first glance they might seem like a strange grouping -- but all three come from the grand tradition of melody first. ELO started with Beatlesque structure and found a way to successfully blend in many of the more ambitious and orchestral textures often used to excess by their prog rock brethren (Exhibit A: "Showdown"). Aime Mann gave us a personal/confessional singer songwriter whose roots were more in Harry Nilson and melodic punk bands of the late 70s than in Joni Mtichell or James Taylor (Exhibit B: "I Should Have Known"). Squeeze added a sense of wit and observation not seen since the prime since Ray Davies and Bernie Taupin (Exhibit C: "Up the Junction'").
