I’ve had a busy summer working on books — not too busy to listen to music, but certainly too busy to write about it. So now, with a late book finally turned in and a new one in the early stages, it’s time to catch up on some of the material that arrived for me to review over the past few months.
Jackie DeShannon: When You Walk Into the Room
(RockBeat Records, 2011; CD)
I’m always a little nervous when an iconic singer and songwriter of DeShannon’s stature returns to the music scene — not with an album of new material, but with one that revisits the old hits in stripped down versions. We already know and love the originals. What’s to be gained by revisiting them when all we have to do is pull out our old records or CDs when we want to hear them?
But the passing of time can coat an old favourite with a patina of nostalgia so that we’re listening to a collage of the music and what was happening in our lives and the world around us when we first fell in love with them. We forget — or don’t really hear — the actual songs and what they mean.
That’s when a reinterpretation almost seems necessary — especially when the songs are this good, and the singer still has the vocal chops to deliver the material with as much heart and soul as she did when she originally recorded the songs.
I’ve been listening to DeShannon since the early sixties and still pull out the old vinyl albums to give them a spin. I thought I knew the songs well. But listening to the heartfelt renditions in this collections, hearing her voice–older and wiser now, but still so resonant and beautiful–I’ve been falling in love with these songs all over again.
Ancient Future: World Without Walls
Ancient-Future.com Records, 2011; digital download
It’s hard to remember — with the plethora of World fusion albums currently available — a time when this sort of music was the new kid on the block. It showed up when much of the music on the radio was pretty much disposable (something that, unfortunately, hasn’t changed so much), when the new jazz at the time was still inspired by polyrhythms rather than melody, and the alt music scene was . . . well, kind of grungy.
This classic album by Ancient Future was a breath of fresh air at the time of its release in 1990. With inspired skill and a great respect for the other cultures from which they took much of their inspiration, the band blended western music with that of pretty much every other continent, weaving magic with their melodies and rhythms. The core lineup played acoustic and electric guitars, violin, keyboards and percussion, with guests stepping in on bass, Chinese flutes, and the genius of Zakir Hussain on tabla.
And you know what? World Without Walls sounds as fresh and invigorating today as it did all those years ago upon its intial release. There’s not a single bad moment on the album.
David Adam Byrnes: Premium Country
(Better Angels Music, 2010; CD)
If you’re going to call your album Premium Country, you’d better deliver. Especially these days when “country” means pop music with a bit of fiddle or steel guitar added into the mix.
Well, I’m happy to say that Byrnes is the real deal. He’s got a rich country voice and the steel guitars and fiddles are right up there at the front of the mix. The songs are about real people and will be sure to touch a chord with anyone who, as Fred Eaglesmith says, knows the difference between hay and straw.
I feel as comfortable listening to this as I might an album by Merle or Waylon.
Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas: Highlander’s Farewell
(Culburnie Records, 2011; CD)
What a fruitful collaboration this pairing has been. This is stately, invigorating Celtic music, full of heart, with a lift to the melodies that makes the spirit sing. Sure, there are fine turns by guest musicians like Martin Hayes, Dennis Cahill, and some wonderful string sections, guitar work and keyboards, but this could be stripped down to simply Fraser on fiddle and Haas on cello and it would still be as mesmerizing.
Their tone is so gorgeous, whether playing an air or a quicker tune, that I could listen to them for hours — and have been ever since the CD arrived for review. I like that the selection of tunes is natural and individual, with each set arranged so that it takes the listener on a brief four or five minute journey into those places that only such gifted musicians can take us.
When I listen to the album in the city, it calms the jangle of confusion which would otherwise bombard my senses. When I listen to it in the country, it seems to speak with the very voice of the landscape surrounding me.
The Paul McKenna Band: Stem the Tide
(Greentrax Recordings, 2011; CD)
I feel like I’ve been waiting for this album for awhile: a killer Celtic band made up of five musicians who aren’t afraid to simply let their acoustic instruments carry the day. There’s no bass or drums. No African rhythms, Latin flourishes, Middle Eastern or Asian whatnots.
Don’t get me wrong. I like a good fusion of disparate cultures as much as the next person. But sometimes I just want to hear musicians as good as these ones are stick to what they do best: present us with evocative songs and tunes that stay within their own tradition.
The tune sets are carried by fiddle, picked guitar, flute and whistle, with a contemporary flourish of accompaniment on guitar, bouzouki and percussion. The songs are carried by McKenna’s expressive voice with its pleasant burr of an accent. It doesn’t matter if it’s a hoary chestnut like “The Lambs on the Green Hills” or one of McKenna’s originals, that voice grabs the listener and holds them in the story until the last word is sung.
Stem the Tide has everything I want in a Celtic album and then some. It’s definitely one of my favourites so far this year, in any genre.
Joe Crookston: Darkling & the BlueBird Jubilee
(Milagrito Records, 2011; CD)
It takes me thousands of words to tell a story. It takes a gifted songwriter like Crookston only a few verses. But that’s what I love about a storyteller like him. Whether he’s singing from the viewpoint of Caitlin Macnamara (Dylan Thomas’ wife), or that of a boy whose mother thinks she’s Jesus, he tells the story, but also connects it to us, and our lives. And he delivers with such authority that even Mary Gauthier’s iconic “Mercy Now” (the one cover on the album) feels like it’s his story to tell.
The instrumentation is low key and effective, staying just behind his delicate vocals. If you like Slaid Cleaves, you’ll like this. And if you don’t know what I mean, you really should go out and listen to both of them.
John Reischman & The Jaybirds: Vintage & Unique
(Corvus Records, 2011; CD)
I like the new songs that Americana artists are writing, but I have a real soft spot for the American traditional songbook. Some songs I just never get tired of — like the terrific version of “Shady Grove” that opens this album. But what’s interesting to me is that the band’s original songs fit so comfortably alongside the traditional songs and classics by the likes of Bill Monroe and Hazel Dickens.
I’m not sure if this is old timey or bluegrass — I’d say the latter except the band plays with a laid back groove that you don’t usually hear in bluegrass. But then the harmonies are characteristic bluegrass harmonies.
Instrumentation is that classic blend of banjo, guitar, fiddle, mandolin and stand up bass with a guest spot by Mei Han playing zheng on bass player Trish Gagnon’s “Cold Mountain,” a gorgeous take on the Chinese workers who helped to build the railways way back when.
Vintage & Unique lives up to its name. It’s got a classic sound but the smart arrangements and great playing make everything sound . . . well, unique. Not out there unique; just comfortable and individual.
Shelby Earl: Burn the Boats
(Local 638 Records, 2011; CD)
While her name sounds as if she could be part of the Steve/Stacey/Justin Townes Earle clan, Shelby Earl is more an urban singer-songwriter than a country artist. Long a part of the Seattle music scene, Earl has put those years of experience to good use on her debut release. She writes smart songs, the production is stellar, and she never lets go of the main reason everybody should keep in mind if they’re going to be involved in the creative arts: she writes and sings from the heart.
These are lovely, genuine songs.
Fred McDowell: The Alan Lomax Recordings (1959 – 2011)
(Missippi Records, vinyl; Global Jukebox, download)
The remastering of these songs for this release is simply stunning. I’ve heard McDowell before but never like this: crystal clear and present, as though he and his guitar are in the same room with me. You’ll already know most of these classic blues songs — if not by McDowell, then perhaps as they were recorded by other artists, like say The Rolling Stones — but be prepared to be blown away at just how good these versions are in their own right.
There’s no apologetic ambient field recording noise to get in the way of the tone of McDowell’s world-weary, scratchy voice or that of his acoustic guitar with its slinky groove. McDowell passed in the early seventies, and some of these recordings are fifty/sixty years old, but they sound as though they were recorded yesterday.
John Doyle: Shadow and Light
(Compass Records, 2011; CD)
It’s funny. I always think of John Doyle as a guitarist — and such a fine guitarist, as the instrumental tunes on this album quickly make clear. What I tend to forget is what a good singer and songwriter he is.
Shadow and Light, his first solo album in six years, is an excellent title since the material here is all shades. Textured melodies, stories that rise and fall with the flow of their narratives, and through it all, that joyful, animated guitar-playing and Doyle’s expressive voice.
He doesn’t need guests like John Williams on accordion, Michael McGoldrick on flute and pipes, or Alison Brown on banjo, but the flavours they add to the music are welcome additions nevertheless. Shadow and Light is a treat from start to finish.
Dave Alvin: Eleven Eleven
(YepRoc, 2011; CD & vinyl)
Eleven tracks on his eleventh album gives us the title — though if you add the bonus track available from the YepRoc site after purchase, you’re actually looking at twelve, but that doesn’t have the same ring to it at all now, does it?
Alvin is one of my favourite songwriters working today. I love the stories he tells that come from the hidden side of society. The farmer who joins the posse to hunt down a Mexican Robin Hood on “Murietta’s Head”; the star-crossed lovers on “Harlan County Line”; the washed-up boxer on “Run Conejo Run”; the show-off musician who meets a tragic end in “Johnny Ace Is Dead”; and all the other characters that inhabit these songs.
The stories come to us on walking blues riffs, told with Alvin’s low growl of a voice and backed up by the supple tones of his distinctive guitar work. But it’s not all tragic stories here. There are also tracks like “What’s Up With Your Brother?” featuring a duet with his brother Phil which is funny enough on its own, but the dialogue between the two as the song fades out is what really makes me smile.
It’s still only October as I write this, with the Christmas rush of releases yet to come, but it’s been my favourite album of the year since it first came out and I don’t see that changing.
Tom Russell: Mesabi
(Shout Factory, 2011; CD)
Tom Russell takes a bit of a different tack on Mesabi. There’s still a lot of autobiographical material, and he takes us back into the desert of which he writes so well with songs like “And God Created Border Towns” and “Goodnight, Juarez.” But the first two thirds of the album features portraits of old Hollywood with songs about Sterling Hayden, Liz Taylor, Bobby Driscoll, and probably my favourite, a tribute to the great Cliff Edwards on “The Lonesome Death of Ukulele Ike.”
What I like about Russell is that his songs are a perfect balance between the literate voice and the voice of the common man, and his delivery is always heartfelt and honest.
Oddly enough, much as I admire his songwriting, the real standout track here is a duet with Lucinda Williams where they cover Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.” Their version basically sets the bar for this song from now on out.
Tom Waits: Bad As Me
(Anti-, 2011; CD & vinyl)
What can you say about Tom Waits? Listeners either love him or hate him — there’s very little middle ground. Bad As Me is his first album of original material in seven years and I doubt it’s going to change anybody’s mind.
I love it from start to finish. Both the shouty pieces with their clangorous junkyard beats as well as the sentimental ballads, all of it sung in a voice that’s so gruff it could take the paint off an old car.
Highlights are the lyrical content of the title track; the stunning anti-war piece “Hell Broke Luce;” the bordering on maudlin sentiment of “Last Leaf”; the reinventing of “Auld Lang Syne” on “New Year’s Eve;” the way he–
Oh, who am I kidding. Honestly, each track’s my favourite when it’s playing.
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