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What an absolute masterpiece of a record. Before hearing this, I was only familiar with his late ‘60s solo material, but honestly, though I like that stuff a lot, I prefer this. It’s some of the darkest, starkest music I’ve ever heard. It scares the hell out of me yet I’m attracted to its heart of darkness. This is a truly emotionally compelling work.
MILES DAVIS once said something to the effect that he aimed to make music that shook your entire body and that got underneath you. I can’t think of anything that I’ve heard lately that would fit that description except for this. Listen to it on headphones late at night for the full effect.This is the best American rock record released this year so far and I doubt that anything will beat it. Go buy it if you like intelligent, driving, skull-crushing rock and roll!
For a record that’s described as her “country” record, this is really a great indie-pop record in disguise. Although I hear similarities between this and the recent NEKO CASE and JENNY LEWIS solo albums, to me it more resembles the lo-fi indie-pop of early ‘90s bands like THE SPINNANES. Plus, there’s an atmospheric element here that’s a nod to Millan’s professed love of BRIAN ENO.
Regardless, I like it a lot.
The Lefsetz Letter
Although industry veteran BOB LEFSETZ often gets on my nerves with his proclamations that everything was better in the good old days and though his musical taste doesn’t match mine very often, I still feel that he makes sense a lot of the time on other issues.
I’ve seen this wonderful Lp described as a “primitive, Moog-driven goof-fest”. You know what, though? That’s what makes it great! This is BRIAN WILSON at his loopiest and most child-like. I know I’m probably in the minority here, but I enjoy this as much as his much more venerated ‘60s work and I think it’s one of their best albums. It would make a great two-fer with the unfortunately unreleased but mind-blowing Adult Child, but as now it’s paired up with its predecessor, the much more successful but also much inferior, oldies-dominated 15 Big Ones.
This is more controlled and less manic version of THE FUTUREHEADS, so as such it’s gotten some less than favorable reviews from fans and critics thus far. However, this seems like not only a natural progression from the first album but a necessary one as well for a band looking to expand its sound and last beyond the hype surrounding their debut.
After intermittent postings on RADIOHEAD’s official blog indicating that the recording of their new album has been going less than smoothly and the announcement of U.S. summer tour dates that sold out instantly, what does Thom Yorke do next? While one would expect a release of a new Radiohead album to coincide with their touring, instead he’s gonna drop his first solo album next month! Even more shocking for a singer who’s been on a major label for his entire career, it’s coming out on XL, the home of such eccentric artists like DAVENDRA BANHART. Well no one ever accused Radiohead or Yorke of not being full of surprises, at least if they’ve been paying attention all this time.
So what does it sound like? Well it’s not unlike a Radiohead outtakes album from around the sessions that produced the Kid A and Amnesiac albums. It’s a bit meditative and even trance-like in its tones and like virtually all of their other albums, I think this one will be a grower.
Contrary to what you might expect, this isn’t the first time that Costello and Touissant have collaborated. He produced Costello’s 1983 version of YOKO ONO’s “Walking on Thin Ice” as well as a few tracks on 1989’s Spike featuring THE DIRTY DOZEN BRASS BAND. This record features only two songs that were previously known to me. I know the title track from the performance that I saw a few weeks ago at BAM and the cover of “All These Things” was originally recorded (in a completely different version) as an outtake from the 1986 album Blood and Chocolate and finally released on disc two of Rhino’s 2002 reissue of that magnificent album. As for the rest, however, partly it’s a Touissant songbook record (what Costello had originally envisioned it as) and the rest of it consists of new songs that the pair wrote together. Touissant’s unique piano playing and Costello’s soulful delivery will remind astute listeners of songs like “Deep Dark Truthful Mirror” from the 1989 album Spike (on which Touissant was one of the many players and collaborators) as well as Costello’s more recent rock and soul-tinged work like 2004’s The Delivery Man. Overall, this is quite good, but it doesn’t scale of the heights of his better recent work like 2002’s When I Was Cruel. Still, I enjoy it for what it is and it’s yet more proof that Costello isn’t willing to rest and sit on his well-deserved laurels.
Far exceeding my expectations considering that the new band has only been in place for two weeks since the band that started the tour quit and flew back to the UK after the Phoenix show, this was a tight, rockin’ show spanning an hour and fifteen minutes (including an encore), which is epic by Fall standards. As per usual on this tour, they focused on their most recent albums The Real New Fall Lp (Formerly Country on the Click) and last year’s Fall Heads Roll, but added a few new songs (one of them absolutely spectacular) and oldies like “Wrong Place, Right Time” and their cover of Nuggets staple “Mr. Pharmacist” to please the sold-out crowd.
Who knew that an oldies show could be so flat-out satisfying? ALEX CHILTON and company tore it up on such old soul and rhythm and blues classics as SAM COOKE’s “Soothe Me” and HOWLIN’ WOLF’s “Spoonful” as well as their own ‘60s hits like “The Letter” and “Cry Like a Baby”. Openers The Shadows of Knight were a bit cheesy, but rockin’ as well.
