New for 2009
The new year is young, but it’s about to see the release of several top-notch albums from the likes of A.C. NEWMAN, MORRISSEY and T.S.O.L., who just released their new album online and are giving it away for free. These releases are covered here along with a few holdovers from 2008 that I’ve just heard more recently along with some of my current favorite TV shows and what not.
A.C. Newman – Get Guilty (Matador)
Newman’s second solo album is here and it’s a winner. While I liked his first solo record The Slow Wonder, I thought it had a few memorable moments (“On the Table” and particularly the awesome “The Town Halo”) that overshadowed the rest of the album. It’s not so here. From the opening track, “There Are Maybe Ten or Twleve”, down to the closing track, the cleverly-titled “All of My Days and All of My Days Off’, this is a fine orchestral power-pop album not too far from where his main gig, THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS, have been headed over the course of their last few albums. The third track, “Like a Hitman, Like a Dancer”, is typical of the hooks to be found here. Those who pre-ordered this album from Matador received a download of the album (so though my physical copy in the mail yesterday, I’ve been listening to it for weeks now. In addition, this download include a cover of THE GO-BETWEENS’ “Love Goes On” that’s faithful to the original but wonderful nonetheless.
Morrissey – Years of Refusal (Lost Highway)
Morrissey’s first solo album since 2006’s Ringleader of the Tormentors continues in the vein of that record and to a lesser extent, 2004’s comeback You are the Quarry. At this point, you pretty much know what to expect from a Morrissey album and he delivers the good. You get clever song titles like “I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris” and “Something is Squeezing My Skull” along with similarly clever lyrics. Furthermore, you get the self-deprecating Morrissey not so subtly commenting on his long-running career on songs like “You Were Good in Your Prime”. Finally, the big, climactic closer is here, too, with the affirming title “I’m OK By Myself”. In terms of his closing album tracks, it’s not “Speedway” (from 1994’s Vauxhall and I), but I’ll take it. It’s also the antithesis of the closing track on Ringleader of the Tormentors, the awesome “At Last I Am Born”, which seemed to signal that Morrissey was in a relationship or at least admitting as such. Now he’s back on his own, as he had been for so long, at least in his songs. In any case, personal questions aside, this one is a bit more rocking than his last few have been with musical contributions from BOZ BOORER and JESSE TOBIAS.
T.S.O.L. – Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Free Downloads (Hurley)
T.S.O.L.’s new album is here and as the title suggests, it is offered as a free download here. So even if you’ve never heard T.S.O.L. before, you owe it to yourself to check it out. I haven’t heard their previous few albums since they reunited for 2001’s Disappear, but as a fan of their early ‘80s material, I still enjoy this album quite a bit. JACK GRISHAM’s vocals are a far cry from those early ‘80s records like Dance with Me or Beneath the Shadows. I guess they’re more “rock” influenced, for lack of a better way of saying it, but they do the job. Appropriately enough, the music is also more mid-tempo and melodic. The hooks, though, on songs like the ‘60s-flavored “The Pain that We Go Through” and “Go to Bed Sleepy” are absolutely stunning and it’s a solid effort from start to finish.
The Muslims – The Muslims (1928)
OK technically this was released in the spring of last year, but I’ve only heard it in the last week or so. Unfortunately, it sounds a little more like THE STROKES than their awesome “Parasites”/”Walking with Jesus” single (see entry #5 below), which is almost as heavy and garage-like as their powerful live show. It’s still a solid effort, though, as it shows their janglier, more melodic side. Make no mistake, though. This is still raw, hard-hitting stuff, as tracks like “Religion” and “Extinction” make plain. The band has since changed their name to THE SOFT PACK and plan to re-release the album (along with a new effort) this year on a new label. Stay tuned!
The Muslims – “Parasites” EP
What a great 45! The A-side is an ass-kicking, revved up original while the B-side is a cover of SPACEMEN 3’s “Walking with Jesus” done garage-rock style. Awesome stuff!
Man Vs. Food (The Travel Channel, Wednesday)
A Broadway actor(ADAM RICHMAN) who’s also been on several prime-time TV shows gets a food-themed show on The Travel Channel where he goes city-to-city to different locales in the U.S. and attempts various “pig out” eating challenges (like a 5 lb. burger on the most recent episode, filmed in Boston)? Sounds implausible? Well it’s a reality. What makes the show, though, isn’t so much the food itself (though much of it is definitely “food porn” worthy, if a bit too much volume for most comfort zones), but Richman’s child-like enthusiasm for different places, food and the people he meets along the way. It doesn’t hurt that he hams it up at every opportunity, as well, adding to the “charm factor”. A worthy, more provincial and U.S.-centric addition on Wednesday nights for fans of No Reservations (see entry #7 below).
No Reservations (Travel Channel, Monday)
ANTHONY BOURDAIN’s now long-running show on The Travel Channel just started up a new season a few weeks ago and it’s terrific as always. The recent episodes have shown him traveling to different parts of Mexico in the season premiere and Venice (Italy) in last week’s, respectively. As always, I’m curious to see where he goes next.
Spectacle (Sundance, Wednesday)
Although ELVIS COSTELLO is my favorite musician of all-time and though we actually get the Sundance Channel even with our limited cable package, I’ve only gotten to watch 3 of the 5 episodes of his new talk show that have aired so far. Of the ones I’ve seen, which include the premiere episode with co-producer ELTON JOHN (it was nice to see DAVID ACKLES and LAURA NYRO get some prime-time mentions), the second episode with LOU REED and last week’s episode with RUFUS WAINWRIGHT, I think enjoyed last week’s the most. Wainwright was easy-going, open and very funny. He also performed several of his songs, including the terrific “Vibrate” from 2003’s spectacular Want One. You’d think the references to electroclash and what not would date the song, but not so.
The Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl Run
OK I know this won’t be popular with the New Yorkers reading this, but Go Eagles! No matter what happens today in the NFC Championship game with the Arizona Cardinals, it’s been an improbable run since the Eagles barely (and incredibly) made the playoffs. After knocking off the Minnesota Vikings and the defending Super Bowl Champion New York Giants, the only question that now remains is if they can follow the hometown Philadelphia Phillies (and THE RASPBERRIES) and go all the way!
Glen Campbell – Meet Glen Campbell (Capitol)
Before I heard this, I was familiar with some Campbell’s late ‘60s hits and his By the Time I Get to Phoenix Lp. Thus, I was a casual fan at best. A friend recommended this on a message board and I ordered it, not knowing what I would think. Boy am I glad I did! Recasting Campbell for younger generations weaned on classic and alternative rock and not aimed at country radio (where Campbell was a huge star in the ‘60s and ‘70s, even hosting his own variety show, but not since then), producers JULIAN RAYMOND and HOWARD WILLING came up with the idea of having Campbell sing songs mostly recorded in the last few decades with a few ‘60s and ‘70s holdovers. The first four songs, featuring Campbell singing songs by TRAVIS, TOM PETTY and THE FOO FIGHTERS, are OK and pleasant enough, but the album really gets going with his take on the JACKSON BROWNE-penned “These Days” and just gets better from there. Side 2 (if you have the limited-edition vinyl version or just divide cds or downloads like that anyway as I do) is flawless and spectacular, perhaps 2008’s finest side of music. Starting with a version of THE REPLACEMENTS’ “Sadly Beautiful” that’ll melt your heart (it’s as if PAUL WESTERBERG wrote it specifically for Campbell; incidentally I heard news that Westerberg is writing an album for Campbell now; great news!). From there it just cascades with his take on U2’s “All I Want is You”, THE VELVET UNDERGROUND’s “Jesus”, GREEN DAY’s “Good Riddance” (Time of Your Life) and finally, JOHN LENNON and YOKO ONO’s “Grow Old with Me”. These are all well-known songs, but like the similarly-minded JOHNNY CASH collections for American, they’ll make you think of these familiar songs in an entirely different light. Essential!
