Christmas in the Heart - Bob Dylan

Christmas in the Heart

Bob Dylan

Columbia Records  88697 57323 1

2009

This was my go-to record this Christmas.  When it first came out I wondered if it was some kind of put-on.  However Dylan has demonstrated his admiration for pop standards and songcraft repeatedly over the past couple of decades so I'm pretty sure he is sincere.  Anyway whatever his intentions might have been, he delivers big time.  This is among my favorite Christmas albums of all time.  It is a perfect mix of religious and secular Christmas classics featuring pleasing arrangements that are mostly faithful to the traditional interpretations.  Admittedly time has not been kind to Dylan's voice which was pretty rough to start with, but I've learned to embrace his gravelly crooning and on this record it is particularly warm and engaging.  It gives freshness to songs I've heard too many times.  "Here Comes Santa Claus" and "Winter Wonderland" are delivered with a conviction that I find mind boggling.  They sound great.  Even when a song challenges Dylan's range as with "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," "O' Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles)" (Dylan sings the first verse in Latin!), "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (whoever thought Dylan would be covering Judy Garland!), "The First Noel" and "O' Little Town of Bethlehem" I still find the results charming particularly when his background singers help smooth some of Dylan's rough edges.  Songs that often annoy me like "Must Be Santa," "Do You Hear What I Hear?" and "Little Drummer Boy" are enjoyable to me when Dylan croaks them out in his raspy voice.  The former is especially fun since Dylan gives it a high tempo raucous Cajun/Tejano flavored interpretation that is extremely dynamic.  It is one of my favorite tracks.  I also really like his piano driven "Silver Bells" which is full of feeling.  Much to my surprise, his version of "The Christmas Song" is also one of my favorites.  It features a wonderful low key arrangement and Dylan's vocal is utterly convincing.  It is almost good enough to make me forget about Nat "King" Cole.  His performance of that other Christmas chestnut "I'll Be Home for Christmas" is nearly as good.  Like any good Christmas album there are a couple of more obscure Christmas songs among the familiar classics.  "Christmas Island" was recorded by the Andrews Sisters back in the 1940s.  It is very appealing with a tropical arrangement and stellar support from the background singers.  The other unusual track is the brilliant "The Christmas Blues" which Dean Martin recorded in the 1950s.  The song is right in Dylan's wheelhouse and he doesn't miss.  It really sends me.  Martin might have the prettier version but Dylan's is more heartfelt.  I think that's the secret to this record.  I have lots of Christmas records by people who sing more beautifully than Dylan but hardly any of them approach him in sincerity and commitment.  I feel like Dylan really loves these songs and treats them with respect and affection.  On top of all that Dylan donated his royalties for this record to charities.  It was a real Christmas gift to all of us.  Recommended to Christmas fans who dig Tom Waits.

Psychic Psummer - Cave

Psychic Psummer
Cave
Important Records IMPREC247
2009

I bought this strictly on the basis of its cover.  Well that and it was really cheap.  I didn't even bother to look the band up, I knew a record with this crazy a cover had to at least be interesting, if not actually good.  I had never heard of Cave and I still don't know much about them except that they are based in Chicago and one of the guys calls himself Rotten Milk.  The record opens with "Gamm" which begins with a slow drone before erupting into a heavy psych instrumental.  It is exactly what I hoped this record would be like.  "Made in Malaysia" has some lyrics that I can't decipher and has a more straight ahead heavy rock approach although the instrumental break is pretty trippy.  I dig the vaguely Middle Eastern riff and the kinetic energy driving the song.  Side one concludes with the far more spacey "Encino Men."  It features a hypnotic rhythm track over which someone is noodling away on a synthesizer.  There is also some sporadic garbled singing with heavy reverb.  It reminds me of "A Saucerful of Secrets" era Pink Floyd given a dub re-mix.  Side two begins with "High, I Am" which follows a similar formula but is far more dynamic and exciting.  "Requiem for John Sex" is presumably a tribute to the cabaret singer of the same name.  It begins with a jumpy disco-like groove that evolves into a spectacular rave up with synth and guitar cacophony over a relentless pounding rhythm track which is my favorite musical moment on the record.  It runs for more than 6 minutes but I wish it was twice as long.  It reminds me of Can at their finest.  "Machines and Muscles" unfortunately reminds me more of Kraftwerk.  It is driven by a mechanical rhythm track with poppy synth runs on top.  It is my least favorite song, but it does give the record an upbeat finish.  Despite the last song, I'm really happy with this album.  I paid peanuts for it, but it is extremely worthwhile and pushes a lot of my buttons.  This is one of my favorite things about record collecting, the thrill of discovery and the reward of taking a chance on an unknown record.  Logically I ought to research every purchase, but that is no fun for me.  I'd rather just get burned once in awhile.  A happy find like this terrific record more than makes up for the occasional dud.  Recommended to Dead Meadow fans who dig krautrock.

The Legend of God's Gun - Spindrift

The Legend of God's Gun
Spindrift
Tee Pee Records TPE-101
2009

I first became aware of this band when I saw them open for X a few years ago.  I was mesmerized by their psychedelic soundtracks for imaginary spaghetti westerns and picked up this album soon after.  It doesn't come close to the excitement of their live act, but I still enjoy it immensely.  According to the liner notes this music was conceived by band member Kirpatrick Thomas between 2002 and 2006 for a movie that did not yet exist.  In 2007 the film was finally made featuring members of the band and their rock band buddies and this album was released as an actual soundtrack.  The movie is a nihilistic western most notable for featuring more hipsters than horses.  The acting is amateurish but the film is enjoyably trippy at times.  The music is easily its best feature.  The record opens with "In the Beginning..." which features some of the narration from the film by the veteran actor Joseph Campanella.  The film features lots of expository narration to make up for its incoherent storytelling.  The music begins with "Titoli" which is obviously derived from Ennio Morricone.  It features twangy guitar lines and martial drumming.  A drum machine kicks off "The Legend of God's Gun" which also features a synthesizer while still retaining a rock sound.  It reminds me of the Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre (several members of Spindrift were formerly in the latter group.)  There is some wordless vocalizing in the background as Campanella provides more narration.  "Conversation with a Gun" is the most conventional song on the record.  The song has a country-western flavor and is sung/spoke by Kirpatrick Thomas.  It is the only cover song on the record, having been written by Johnny Bond back in the 1950s.  The song is indeed a conversation between a killer and his gun.  "Preachers Theme" returns to Morricone for inspiration.  It begins with some atmospheric acoustic guitar work, before the percussion and vocalizing join in creating a more dramatic sound.  At the end it even features some chanting that is blatantly copied from Morricone's scores for Sergio Leone.  "The New West (Instrumental)" is my favorite track on the record.  Its jangly reverb laden guitar lines evoke both spaghetti westerns and surf rock.  The music is moody and majestic with some psychedelic overtones.  The band has recorded a version of the song with vocals, but I prefer the instrumental version.  "Speak to the Wind" opens the b-side in a similar vein but with less intensity.  "Organ Fugue in DM Op. 42" sounds out of place on the record.  It makes more sense in the movie where it accompanies the church scene.  It starts out with some noodling around on an organ, then halfway through the rest of the band join in and turn it into a rock song.  "Burn the Church" is a raucous percussion driven workout that is the wildest song on the record.  I dig its manic energy and psychedelic sound.  Things slow way down for "Greenhorn's Introduction" which returns to a loping spaghetti western sound.  Near the end the band ratchets up the velocity for a dynamic finale.  "Girlz Booze and Gunz" similarly begins with more stately spaghetti western soundtrack music before a frenzied rave up kicks in.  "Blessing the Bullets" starts solemn and ominous growing gradually in force before segueing into the straight ahead rock sound of "The Scorpion's Venom."  It is a propulsive riff driven tune with synth runs layered over it creating a shoegaze like sound.  It is my other favorite cut and ends way too soon for my liking.  The album concludes with "Indian Run" which is a high speed rocker with fake Native American chants, tribal drumming and lots of noisy guitar.  It ends the record with a bang.  One could criticize this record for being so derivative, but not me.  I'm a big fan of Ennio Morricone, but I play this album more than I play any of his.  Its fusion of spaghetti western electric guitar drama and crazed rock and roll energy is enormously appealing to me.  Recommended to fans of the first two Quicksilver Messenger Service albums.

Swoon - Silversun Pickups

Swoon
Silversun Pickups
Dangerbird Records  DGB035V
2009

This is the deluxe version of the band's second album.  I normally avoid that sort of thing, but I found this at a price below what the album itself was selling for at the time, so I jumped on it.  I believe it originally cost around 80 or 90 bucks which is absurd.  The deluxe version comes in a box (first two pictures above) and includes the double record gatefold album (next three pictures), a booklet (bottom picture) that features pictures of the band and lyrics, a t-shirt, some buttons and stickers, and a lithograph of the cover art for the album (all of the art work is taken from paintings by Darren Waterston.)  Although they are a local band, I did not catch them live until they were already an established act to my subsequent regret.  I first became aware of them when I saw them on a local music show and then saw the video for "Well Thought Out Twinkles" which blew me away.  When I did finally see them live I knew they were the real deal, it was a thrilling show.  This is my favorite of their three full length albums.  Side A opens with "There's No Secrets This Year."  It is a break-up song in which the protagonist explains why he is leaving.  The song is typical of the band's sound - an insistent and distorted guitar riff, Brian Aubert's urgent, breathy vocal, Christopher Guanlao's hyperactive drumming and a hypnotic, pulsing bass line from Nikki Monninger.  The relationship troubles continue with "The Royal We" which uses imagery of war and violence to describe an impending break-up.  The song starts slow, driven by the drone of Joe Lester's synth, but then the drums kick in and the song rocks out big time with lots of guitar and synth noise and a passionate vocal from Aubert.  It is one of my favorite songs on the album.  Side B begins with "Growing Old is Getting Old" which is about growing old comfortably and gracefully.  The song is driven by a melodic bass riff from Monninger with atmospheric synth work from Lester.  Then the song shifts gears about two thirds of the way through with an exciting rave up that carries the song to its finish.  The side concludes with "Nice To Know You Work Alone" which is another break-up song with some very evocative lyrics, very powerful.  The hard rocking verses are driven by steady riffing from Aubert's guitar and Monninger's bass, but the more melodic chorus is dominated by the ethereal sounds from Lester on his synthesizer and a string section. Their big hit off the album "Panic Switch" is the opening track on Side C.  It is an extraordinary song laced with anxiety and desperation.  It is enigmatic but I believe it refers to another deteriorating relationship.  It features a killer bass riff from Monninger which propels the song with relentless energy supplemented by Guanlao's manic drumming.  I've heard this super-charged song countless times and I still find it mesmerizing.  It is my favorite of all their songs.  There are more love woes in "Draining" which is about being exhausted by a bad relationship.  This is a slower and moodier tune with a pretty instrumental passage in the middle.  Slow or fast, the Silversun Pickups' music is always compelling.  They ramp up the energy again for "Sort Of" which also features love problems, but it has a slightly more optimistic tone as Aubert urges his lover to keep reaching for him.  Musically it resembles "Panic Switch" with another fabulous bass riff and sustained musical tension.  Side D starts with "Substitution" which is full of bleak imagery as the song describes outside forces that threaten his relationship but there is some hope as Aubert offers his lover his supply of stones to throw at their detractors.  The song has a lot of guitar noise but it is poppy and upbeat as well which reinforces it's more positive spirit.  "Catch and Release" uses fishing metaphors to grimly describe a seduction.  It is another slow, moody song whose melancholy feeling is accentuated by mournful string passages.  "Surrounded (or Spiraling)" is the darkest and bitterest song on an album full of dark, bitter songs.  It is a devastating portrait of a relationship that has turned into "our little hell."  The song describes the downward spiral of a relationship from its promising beginning to lies and recriminations.  It is a noisy, rocked up song with a desperate vocal from Aubert that provides a fittingly gloomy and intense finale for an album that examines the ugly side of love with unrelenting confessions of despair and an almost masochistic honesty.  Despite the downbeat subject matter, I find the album exhilarating to listen to.  The music is so energetic and sincere that it is very emotionally stimulating which I think is a quality lacking in a lot of alternative rock.  The lack of irony and the commitment to self-expression and truth on this album is something I respect and admire.  I consider this to be one of the best albums of the past decade, there is not a mediocre song on it and it features a consistently high level of musical and lyrical creativity.  Recommended to anyone who has ever been in a bad relationship.

Homemade Ship - Rose Melberg

Homemade Ship
Rose Melberg
K Records KLP 211
2009

Rose Melberg was in a bunch of my favorite groups in the 1990s including the Softies, Tiger Trap, Go Sailor and Gaze and more recently Brave Irene.  This is her third solo album, actually it is more like her second solo album since the first one, "Portola," was a compilation of odds and ends.  The album is basically her and her guitar so it sounds a bit twee, but that is not a problem for me since I adore twee - I'd rather listen to the Shermans than the Ramones.  The album opens with the sweet "Things That We Do."   She tells the subject of the song that she wants to be around that person, under any circumstance no strings attached.  Melberg double tracks her vocal (as she does throughout the album) so it sounds a lot like the Softies.  She is terrific at crafting harmony vocals.  "Look Skyward" is similar musically and thematically.  It has the nice line "true love will always take you home."  In "Bear in a Cave" she compares herself to a hibernating bear as she isolates herself at home.  "Outlaws" has a bit of a Spanish or ranchera flavor to it as befits its western imagery.  "Old Days" returns to the quiet introspective style of the Softies as Melberg sings about how her new relationship is helping her to forget the past and enjoy life.  The double tracked vocal on this song is gorgeous.  Side one ends with "Moon Singer" which is a more sprightly tune, but a bit too twee even for me.  She describes herself as a raccoon singing only for the titular character who only sings for the moon.  Side two opens with my favorite track on the album, "Homemade Ship" which features another stunningly beautiful double tracked vocal.  It uses the metaphor of a ship at sea to poetically examine a relationship that has run off course.  Melberg is joined by Larissa Loyva on vocals for "Clay Bride" and "The Whistle Calling You" and their voices complement each other exquisitely evoking memories of Jen Sbragia and Melberg crooning together in the Softies.  Loyva is a Canadian indie pop singer who records under the name Kellarissa, I really like her CD "Flamingo."  "Clay Bride" is a glacially slow song full of nesting imagery while "The Whistle Calling You" is a livelier tune about commitment I believe.  "Sharks" is a short but striking song driven by an insistent guitar riff in which Melberg seeks her lover's company to illuminate the dark place in her mind where sharks gather and to drive them away.  I love the imagery in this song.  Loyva returns to play piano on "Sidewalk" which I find a welcome addition to the meager instrumentation on the album.  The song starts out with the image of a sidewalk cracking because of tree roots and moves into an exploration of belief and the fragility of relationships.  The album ends with "Truly" my other favorite song on the album.  It is a delicate love song with lots of emotion, it really sends me.  I greatly admire this record and play it often.  I do have mixed feelings about the sparseness of the instrumental accompaniment.  Certainly it bolsters the vulnerability and intimacy of the songs, but it is also a bit monotonous.  I don't mind the absence of a rhythm section, but I wouldn't mind a little more instrumental color besides Melberg's guitar, like an occasional violin or some keyboards.  Nonetheless this is a very atmospheric album that creates a mood of contemplation and muted romanticism.  It sounds great on a rainy afternoon or late at night.  Recommended to fans of Dear Nora.

'Cause I Sez So - The New York Dolls

'Cause I Sez So
The New York Dolls
Atco RI 518926
2009

This was the second Dolls album following their reformation in 2004.  I picked it up in a bargain bin, not expecting much and I pretty much got what I paid for.  I don't think I'm being cynical when I suggest that the main reason this record exists is money.  Since 3 of the 5 members from their classic line up are dead, it is really a David Johansen and Sylvain Mizrahi album with three new guys using the Dolls' name to sell records.  In all fairness, two of the new guys, guitarist Steve Conte and bassist Sami Yaffa do contribute to some of the songwriting but no one is going to mistake them for Johnny Thunders.  Johansen and Mizrahi wrote the bulk of the album including the opening track, "Cause I Sez So," which is full of promise.  It features some of the swagger and rock energy of the original band as Johansen vents his spleen about surveillance cameras which he likens to Orwell's Big Brother.  It is my favorite song on the album.  It goes downhill from there.  The generic hard rock Johansen/Yaffa cut "Muddy Bones" is a diatribe about the crummy state of the world.  The energy level drops with the obnoxious Johansen/Conte tune "Better Than You."  In the song Johansen defends his girlfriend who is "a brazillion times better than you."  If she really likes his music as much as he claims, that is probably not true.  I find the song boring which is also true of the next song "Lonely So Long." The original Dolls were anything but boring.  The love song "My World" is better.  It has a more distinctive melody and a little velocity but it sounds more like Bruce Springsteen than the New York Dolls.  The bluesy Johansen/Conte track "This is Ridiculous" reminds me of Johansen's solo work.  The song is the plaint of a guy down on his luck.  It is one of the better songs on the album and features a terrific vocal from Johansen.  Side two opens with "Temptation to Exist" by Johansen, Yaffa and Conte.  The song has a bit of a retro feel to it with a nice romantic atmosphere.  Unfortunately it is undermined by awkward lyrics that don't deliver the emotional punch the song needs.  "Making Rain" also features some pretentious lyrics married to a nondescript tune.  Words like "learn to bear the beams of love now mending my conflict with circumstance" sound to me like the boys are trying too hard to sound smart.  I like "Drowning" better, it is more straight-forward and rocks harder. The beginning of "Nobody Got No Bizness" borrows from Archie Bell and the Drells' "Tighten Up" as Johansen announces "we're from New York City and we like our Philly soul Chicago-style."  Unfortunately the tune isn't as propulsive or funky as "Tighten Up" but it does get a groove going and it has a sense of humor, an aspect of the original Dolls that this album could use a lot more of. The reggae-tinged "Trash" also is kind of funny particularly since the object of affection in the song is named "Trash." The album concludes with the noisy "Exorcism of Despair" which sounds a bit like the Clash's "Safe European Home."  It is not a great song but at least it ends the album with some energy.  I find this album to be listenable but also rather forgettable with only a couple of really worthwhile songs.  It bugs me that Johansen and Mizrahi are tarnishing the legacy of their great band with such generic and mediocre music.  I don't blame them for wanting to get paid but I would have thought they would try a little harder to make something worthy of the New York Dolls. Recommended to people who have never heard the first two Dolls albums.  

Rotting Slowly - The Curious Mystery

Rotting Slowly
The Curious Mystery
K Records KLP206
2009 

I was sorry to see that The Curious Mystery broke up last September after releasing two albums on K Records.  I'm a big fan of K Records.  If the price is right I'll buy anything on their label and so far that has worked fine, I've never heard a bad record from them.  This is no exception.  I didn't know very much about The Curious Mystery when I bought it a couple of years ago.  I loved their name and the album cover and that was enough for me.  Shana Cleveland, who played various string instruments in the band, wrote and sings "The Preparations" which is a slow moody song punctuated by the clang of a jangly guitar over the dirge like background music.  The song seems to be some sort of apocalyptic relationship song.  I"m not really sure what she is preparing for, but it doesn't sound good.  Cleveland strums an autoharp on her "Black Sand" which starts out slow then picks up speed as it rolls along and ends up rocking quite forcefully with a great guitar jam at the end.  The lyrics of the song provide the album title.  I find the song pretty enigmatic, I pick up images of ennui and escapism which suit the melancholy yet restless tune quite well.  Whatever her point is, Cleveland sings it with a lot of urgency.  Guitarist Nicolas Gonzalez wrote the comparatively jaunty "Teeth of All Types" which he sings.  He emotes less than Cleveland, delivering the song in a laconic drawl.  Despite the title, there are no dental references in the song which seems to describe an extremely lethargic slacker.  The song segues seamlessly into Gonzalez's "Go Forth & Gather" which begins with an autoharp solo from Cleveland, that's not something you hear every day on an alternative rock album.  Although it is traditionally a folk instrument, I find the band's use of it contributes to their eerie, melancholy sound.  In Cleveland's hands it doesn't sound folky at all.  She sings the lead on this one and provides a dreamy yet expressive vocal.  The song is another slow one but the rhythm section gives it some punch.  In the lyrics I hear the usual ennui and angst as well as references to a dysfunctional relationship.  Cleveland's "Gone In Time" starts slow again for a lengthy instrumental intro, but rocks out when Gonzalez starts singing.  It slows down again at the end for some more jamming to close out the side.  I have no clue to what the song is about, but it appears to involve more dread of the future which seems to be a favorite theme of the group.  Side two begins with the raga-like guitar intro to Gonzalez's instrumental "Nicaragua."  It builds in tempo and force becoming a frenetic display of the band's virtuosity.  Gonzalez's "Strong Swimmers" keeps up the fast pace.  His nasally vocal can't match the power of the song which is the most powerful rocker on the album.  The interplay of the guitars riffing on top of the pulsing rhythm section is really exciting.  It is one of my favorite cuts on the record.  The song uses the metaphor of swimming to describe negotiating the turmoil of a relationship.  Gonzalez also wrote "Outta California" which starts out chugging and then slows way down when Cleveland takes the mike.  She's a strong enough singer to make the song interesting even when it is so slow that the melody is practically disintegrating.  After she's done the song picks up the pace again until the end.  I think the song is about escape although I'm not sure what they are running from.  It sounds like they are moving just to be moving.  Cleveland's "Its Tough" could use some of that movement, it just crawls along.  The music stops and starts as Cleveland slowly intones the lyrics.  In the middle of the song her vocal gets distorted until it sounds like a cross between Frankie Valli's falsetto and a cat howling.  The song features Cleveland vaguely complaining about how difficult her life is.  Cleveland also wrote the album's closing song "Wrong Way," which fortunately for me ups the beats per minute.  Cleveland and Gonzalez share the vocal on the song which employs travel imagery to describe a relationship.  It has a bit of a Middle Eastern sound to it and I really dig the guitar work on it.  It borders on being psychedelic, at times it reminds me of Quicksilver Messenger Service.  The song is another one of my favorites and provides a strong finish for the album.  This is such a good debut album that I'm really bummed about the group breaking up.  I have to admit at times their songs are a little too slow for my taste, but I admire their commitment to guitar noise as well as the somber and melancholy tone that pervades their vision - I just eat that sort of thing up.  The Curious Mystery had a distinctive sound and a quality lead singer in Shana Cleveland.  I think they had a lot of promise.  They lasted seven years which I guess is pretty long in band years, but I'll definitely miss them.  I really regret not seeing them live when I had the chance.  Recommended to fans of Low and Mojave 3 who wish they'd kick out the jams once in awhile.     

Even Born Again - Sarah Jaffe

Even Born Again
Sarah Jaffe
Model Citizens Entertainment  MCE 004
2009 

I picked this up at a show at the Mayan Theater where Jaffe opened for the New Multitudes show.  I had never heard of her prior to the show, but she blew me away with her intensity and her strong voice.  When I went to the merch table I was drawn to this album right away with its lovely artwork by Melanie Gomez.  It is nice inside the sleeve as well with marbled vinyl and a cute insert with an illustration of the girl in the yellow dress on the cover.  This six song mini-album was Jaffe's debut recording.  It opens with "Even Born Again" which uses Christian language to analyze a love affair.  The song begins quietly with Jaffe singing softly over an acoustic guitar and gradually builds in strength as she is joined by strings and a rhythm section.  The "Black Hoax Lie" is about heartbreak and her aching vocal strongly conveys the emotion behind the song.  It effectively uses strings to add feeling to the music.  "Adeline" is just Jaffe and her guitar.  The nakedness of the arrangement puts all the focus on Jaffe's throbbing vocal as she sings of a tormented love story.  "Under" is a moody rocker in which Jaffe asserts her independence.  The distortion in the vocal and the song's sustained tension really make it jump out at you.  "Two Intangibles Can't Be Had" is another stripped down song that relies on Jaffe's voice to deliver its power.  The lyrics examine ambivalence in a relationship in terms of being drawn to one's lover yet wanting to be alone too.  "Backwards/Forwards" expresses similar ambivalence and confusion regarding a love affair.  Sounds like the gal has issues.  The song has a more complicated vocal structure with double tracking as well as a background vocal from Jonathan Clark who also adds a second guitar.  There aren't a lot of singers around who hold my attention with such minimal arrangements and bare bones song structures, but Jaffe does it easily.  There is a raw, almost gravelly quality to her voice that really grabs me and she excels at imbuing a song with tenderness and feeling.  I value authenticity, edginess and emotional honesty in singer-songwriters and Jaffe has that in spades.  Recommended to Lucinda Williams fans.

Woody's Roots - Woody Guthrie

Woody's Roots
Woody Guthrie
Rounder 11661-1164-1
2009

A post for Woody Guthrie in honor of his 99th birthday.  I'm not a big folk fan, when it comes to Guthries I'm more likely to put on Arlo than Woody.  But among the old school folkies, Guthrie is my favorite.  Like a lot of people I first encountered Guthrie in music class in grade school via "This Land Is Your Land."  As a kid I thought the song must be over a hundred years old like "Oh Susanna" or "The Star-Spangled Banner" and most of the other songs we sang in class.  Little did I know that the author had just died a few years earlier.  In high school I got into Bob Dylan and from Dylan I learned about Guthrie.  Thanks Bob.  It took me awhile but I finally came to appreciate Guthrie's great contribution to American music.  I have an excellent CD comp of Guthrie's recordings, but frankly it is just too big.  I rarely have a hankering for that much Woody.  Besides I think he just sounds better on vinyl.  When I feel like some Guthrie, I usually reach for this record even though most of it isn't actually written by him.  It is part of a 4 record series entitled "My Dusty Road" put out by Rounder from the celebrated Asch recordings that were rediscovered a while back.  The Asch recordings were made in New York City in 1944 and 1945 and feature Guthrie alone as well as numerous recordings where he is accompanied by Cisco Houston which are the ones I find particularly appealing.  It was also issued in an elaborate box set on CD.  Each of the 4 records has a theme, this one is traditional music.  If you are into traditional folk music you've probably heard lots of these songs before, "John Henry," "Stackolee" and "Gypsy Davy" have been recorded many times but Guthrie's versions are about as good as any.  There are also some nice versions of old timey songs like "Put My Little Shoes Away" (with harmonica accompaniment by Sonny Terry), "Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone," "What Did The Deep Sea Say," the Carter Family's "Little Darling Pal of Mine" and "A Picture From Life's Other Side" which I know from Hank Williams' version.  A lot of these tunes have Guthrie copyrights even though I know he didn't write them, like "Buffalo Skinners" and "Stewball," an English variant of which appears on the Steeleye Span album "Ten Man Mop."  I believe that "Poor Boy" really is one of his compositions and it is first rate.   My favorite songs are "Hard Ain't It Hard" and another Carter Family song "Worried Man Blues" which are essential Guthrie recordings.  They feel like America to me.  This is a wonderful record, an artifact of authentic and historic music, a piece of our culture that perhaps no longer exists, yet remains a part of what we are.  Recommended for fans of the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers. 

Enter The Vaselines - The Vaselines

 

Enter The Vaselines
The Vaselines
Sub Pop SP 810
2009

If you already have "The Way of the Vaselines" CD you probably don't need this unless you are a big fan.  I am a big fan and the proud owner of "The Way Of the Vaselines" which is one of my favorite CDs.  Even if I weren't a Nirvana fan, I'd still love Kurt Cobain for rescuing the Vaselines from obscurity and getting them onto Sub Pop.  I happily bought this three record set, just to get these songs on vinyl (it also contains a nice album size booklet featuring interviews with Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee.)  Records one and two contain the entirety of "The Way of the Vaselines."  Record one features the two original Vaselines EPs, one on each side.  Nirvana fans will be familiar with the best songs here since Nirvana memorably covered "Molly's Lips," "Son of a Gun" and "Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam."  "Molly's Lips" and "Son of a Gun" are fast paced and insanely catchy.  Hear them once and you'll be singing them all day.   "Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam" is one of my all time favorite songs, a gentle rejection of Christianity with some gorgeous viola playing.  I never get tired of hearing it, it always puts a smile on my face.  Record two is the Vaselines' only studio album (until recently anyway) "Dum-Dum" with the bonus cuts from "The Way Of the Vaselines" of "Bitch" and "Dying For It (The Blues)".  This is essential stuff, an exciting fusion of punk primitiveness with a pop sensibility and smart, sardonic lyrics that frequently feature sexual and anti-religious themes  - it easy to see how this appealed to Kurt Cobain.  The Vaselines were Scotland's answer to the Buzzcocks.  This is some of the best music of the 1980s, really enchanting if you have any appetite for clever and compelling pop songs.  Record three features all of the previously unreleased stuff.  There are three demos including two unreleased songs "Rosary Job" (it means just what you think it means, yikes) and "Red Poppy."  The songs are a bit dull on the murky demos but in the live versions that follow, they are quite engaging and sound almost as good as the rest of the Vaselines catalog.  The live songs that make up the rest of side one are from a concert in Bristol.  It is little better than bootleg quality in terms of sound but it is an entertaining show.  Side two features a London concert that has better sound quality.  It is mostly drawn from "Dum-Dum" and admittedly the live versions don't really add much to the studio versions and I certainly did not need two versions of "The Day I Was a Horse", but at least the band's humor does shine through pretty clearly.  The only new song is their "tribute to the seventies," a raucous cover of the Gary Glitter song "I Didn't Know I Loved You ('Til I Saw You Rock 'N' Roll)" that is lots of fun.  Record three is definitely marginal, but I'm thrilled to have it even if I probably won't play it as much as the other two records.  Kudos to Sub Pop, this is an outstanding compilation.  Recommended to raunchy atheists with a taste for punky pop.