Recent CD Purchases

[Who Shot Sam?]

Picked up the new Ron Sexsmith album. Definitely a bigger, more produced sound than his last few efforts. Not sure what to think yet. A lot to like but I don't know that any of the songs have really grabbed me yet. Gonna give it some time.

Really enjoying this after a few listens. "The Reason Why" is a fantastic pop song.

[Jack of All Parades]

"Circuital" by My Morning Jacket. If they are not the best band working in America today[perhaps Wilco gets the nod] they are sooo close. There is a musical expansiveness in this band that is displayed to a strong level on this new record. They create sonic spaces that require repeated listens and which never fail to reward a close listen. They are also never boring. Lyrically they can be a bit 'loopy' and that is how it reads to one who is always attracted to the lyric content of a song but I find myself ignoring that aspect with their music for the most part. The reverb, the echo, the rush and fall of the melodies is intoxicating and when aided by the high tenor of Jim James I am always enraptured. No one does a falsetto like him these days in such a natural, unaffected manner. There is not a lame number on this record. You know you have a winner when a song that is a sly tribute to musical secret narcotics pays a winning tribute to "Black Metal" and yet manages to sound sweetly about the subject.

Mid way into the year and I already have four strong end of the year candidates with Elbow, Paul Simon, Fleet Foxes and this one. If you potentially add the new Death Cab for Cutie which I have yet to digest it is shaping up to be a very positive year. This band I feel is the American equivalent to Elbow. I feel that strongly about them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKV3UEP1 ... re=related

[Otis Westinghouse]

There is some truly fantastic music around this year (and last), much of it from the States and Canada, and I have been very lucky to see lots of it live.

I'm keen to know more about MMJ - they've kind of passed me by so far. Which album to start with?

For me the holy trinity of Arcade Fire, Wilco and Fleet Foxes is unsurpassable. Only Elbow and the Radiohead of In Rainbows (but absolutely not of their latest, which I have barely listened to) come close from these shores. I'm still blown away by just how good FF sounded last week.

There's a new Wilco on the way later this year (and two nights at the Roundhouse, frustratingly clashing with a half-term holiday!).

Am also keen to hear the second Bon Iver CD. Well reviewed in The Word. First one was excellent.

For anyone partial to Elbow, this is a must. A kind of Unplugged, filmed, amazingly, in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral. Extra special for me as it contains two standouts for their first two albums (Switching Off and Scattered Black and Whites) that were regrettably absent from their stadium tour. As well as a bunch of other favourites. Al the gentler stuff, which tends to be their very best.

So much good music it almost hurts.

[Jack of All Parades]

Otis, oh man I know what you mean. It is as if all the excessive moisture from this Spring has caused the album plants to produce a bumper crop of strong albums. I am listening to Fleet Foxes as I type this and to keep the crop analogy going- "if I had an orchard, I'd work until I was sore"- I know you will catch it.

As to MMJ, I have sent you a private post as to my suggestions for getting to know them. I will say firmly that I think they merit your giving them some listening time.

I too eagerly await the new Bon Iver. My eldest daughter turned me on to him and his first record is a subtle and rewarding playing experience. It's sonic mutedness is an antidote for me when the world is crashing in on me from time to time. Do not know if you caught a cover he did late last year. It was divine- a reworking of John Prine's Bruised Orange. I read he is working with a rapper these days will be interested to hear what comes out of those sessions. If it is anything like last years Broken Bells album I will be all ears. This is a link to the cover:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axIdMQgUOpk

and just a taste of that first record:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfAS6nwY ... ure=fvwrel

Here is something else you might enjoy along the lines of Mr Iver- Jose Gonzalez- my wife and daughter turned me on to him. And he is Swedish to boot!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4_4abCW ... re=related

It is shaping up to being a very strong musical year for my ears six months in to the year!

[Jack of All Parades]

"Neil Young International Harvesters" a Treasure Live from 1985- has been a fun revisiting of that tour. It is amazing how intoxicating Neil can sound when he has his country groove on. Backed up with long time mates like Ben Keith but also grizzled Nashville vets like Hargus Robbins and Karl Kimmel on drums. Just a fun romp on old classics like Southern Pacific or Flying on the Ground is Wrong or Bound for Glory but coupled with tunes that never made an album like the rousing "Grey Riders" or the loving "Amber Jean". You are also treated to covers of old Nashville numbers like It Might Have Been" and "Let Your Fingers do the Walking". This cd is a great argument for what EC should do with his archives instead of the tired old same old live cds being issued on his behalf. I cannot fathom why he seemingly has no clue. This is a nice memory laden record. It has also struck me that Neil was on the road with this material around the same time that EC was out on the road with The Confederates promoting King of America. Interesting contrast. More on that in another thread.

[BlueChair]

Picked up two compilations, one's a collection of Allen Toussaint's early recordings, production work and songs written for other artists. The other is a very thorough compilation by Lee Dorsey (in so much as it even includes a few Coca-Cola jingles!). Obviously there are a few songs that appear on both, but they were both extremely cheap. The sound is good, though mixed a bit low... may have to make a few tweaks in iTunes to fix that.

Lee Dorsey - Soul Mine


Allen Toussaint - Everything I Do Gonh Be Funky

[strangerinthehouse]

I'm from Colombia and when I heard Soundway Records has been reissuing many a and b sides from the heyday of Fuentes records, one of the major labels in Colombia, I knew I had to get it.

This is excellent lots of horn action, tribal beats coming from the coast. The music that made the stuffy middle of the country dance their asses off.



Got this at one of the only local record stores, haven't listen to it yet but looking forward to it. Also picked up used vinyl copies of Graham Parker's Parkerilla, and Echo & the Bunnymen's Ocean Skies and Neil Young's Rust Never Sleeps. I can never hear "Thrasher" less than once. I love that song.

Today I went on a bit of a splurge buy the following on CD:



Been hearing a lot about them and it was surprisingly cheap at Barnes & Noble.



I loved this when it came out but never bought it. I needed an upgrade.



As I mentioned in the favorite albums thread, this is great. MP3s just doesn't do it justice.

Otis, I would start with Z. I listened to it recently and IMO it holds up better than Evil Urges which has some great songs but feels like it's all over the place.

[Poor Deportee]

Late to every party, I finally acquired the new Sexsmith CD. It's an interesting listen in light of the stated objective to make a hit record. As lovely as the album is, I find the thought that these songs were going to be hit singles to be fairly incredible. And it's (maybe) interesting to speculate on why.

Artists like Sexsmith and Costello just don't seem to get it, on some fundamental level. If you want a hit single, you need to forego songwriting dynamics and go all-out for hysteria (ersatz or otherwise) and impact. A great example is that delightful U2 pop song, 'Elevation.' The album version is groovy and spongy. But when it came time to release it as a single they remixed it so that the thunderous chorus came at you with greater frequency, at every opportunity. They threw away the up-and-down dynamics of the original track to maximize the hook. This was a commercially wise move, although I'll take the album version every time. Or heck, just look at 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand.' The thing makes no sense as a song. It makes tremendous sense as a hit record because it's nothing but hooks.

I can see two potential hit songs on Long Player Late Bloomer: 'Believe it When I See It' and the triumphantly sardonic 'Eye Candy.' In both cases, Sexsmith and Rock decline to maximize the impact of the memorable chorsuses. Sure, the choruses themselves sound great; but there just isn't enough of them. In the former case, just as the listener is really getting into the hook, we slide into the middle-eight or the guitar break. Given that the verses are too subtle to stand out on radio, if the goal is to have a hit, this is self-sabotage. As for 'Eye Candy,' the country-tinged guitar is probably commercial death to begin with, but we certainly needed a shorter middle eight and an extended reprise of the triumphant chorus at the song's end, so the brain-dead radio listener can revel in its glory. Instead the song dissolves wonderfully into clapping and studio hoots.

Ron almost gets the brass ring with these songs. Alas, his commitment to the basic integrity of the song ultimately puts the kibosh on him. Throwing more go-rounds of the chorus in 'Believe it when I See It' would make no lyrical sense, so it probably didn't even occur to him - but it's what the song needed to have a chance to make radio playlists. Further repetition of the chorus of 'Eye Candy' would probably strike Ron as mindless and boring. It wouldn't occur to him to be so banal.

Now I'm no A & R man, so I may be off-base about all this. But what the album underscores to me is the difference between the craft of writing and the craft of hit-making. You can bridge the two, but only by making some compromises with the former. And in truth, those would still be very enjoyable songs had he taken the 'all-out-impact' philosophy I'm sketching. So in a way it's too bad.

[Jack of All Parades]

Nice to see you on this side of the divide--PD. Enjoyed your take on the full bore assault on hit making and the subtler[and to my ear more enjoyable] approach you dissect that Ron may have taken on this record. God knows the man has hooks but as you adroitly point out he deploys them in a restrained manner resulting in the 'deafening silence' from "The Reason Why" that his work too often falls into. "Believe It When I See It" would be my pick as well for hit making. You could not be more convincing when you note the needed extra choruses to cross it over into possible top forty play. God knows the song tries to take off into that stratosphere but the gently petering out at the end brings it back to the ground quite quickly. My own choice would have been "No Help at All" or possibly "Late Bloomer"- both contain sentiments just this side of saccharine and have that self-help tone that the mass public falls for regularly. They are beautiful self-help songs the way he does them now. Should speak to the multitudes were they listening.

In reality, I think his best shot will be in continued songs performed by others like his co written number recently with Jill Barber. I am sickened every time I think on how this album is getting so little air play amongst the stations I listen to with regularity. I do take heart, though, from Otis's noting that he is getting some play in England and that new shows are being added for him there including yet another one that Otis is going to hear. Come around to this side more often.

[Who Shot Sam?]

I think "The Reason Why" is a fine song. For me that's the most "hit-worthy" thing on the album, but it's too still too literate. Christopher, I don't really understand your comment there.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Is the stated objective to make a hit record/singles? As I understand it, it's to stop just being the songwriter's songwriter and turn that cult status and reverence within the business into broader popularity. More sales, yes, but not necessarily chart fodder. Will it not be getting more radio airplay generally in the US than would be his norm? I would have expected just the sheen of it to achieve that. I'm very glad he didn't do anything to make it sound more commercial, could have been embarrassing. He keeps his cred, while being more mainstream. I just prefer him being a bit more low-key and letting the songs do the talking. It's interesting how an airing of Love Shines on a relatively minor TV station like the often excellent (for music) BBC4 does seem to have made a genuine difference to his standing here. I'm sure he wouldn't have booked more dates later in the year without this. I'm very happy as I'll get to see him in a 700 capacity standing venue in the same year as a sold out 1,900 or so capacity Barbican.

Worth reading this Observer review for a very funny line from Ray Davies relating to Ron Sexsmith's show at the Davies-curated Meltdown festival this month:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/ju ... f-comments

Also touches on some of the points above re Ron's status and his reputation over here.

The above review contains a photo of the striking and impressive Anna Calvi, Ron's support act on the night, whose reputation is growing and growing here.

Here's the song 'Desire' 'in which PJ Harvey turns into Bruce Springsteen'. Must have been a great show to watch.

[Otis Westinghouse]

For me 'Get in Line' is the one I couldn't stop playing. So damn catchy. Love it.

[Jack of All Parades]

Sam, the line is from the mentioned beautiful song-I used it to enhance the sad thought that far too often Ron's work falls into that "deafening silence" that is the listening public. As PD, and others note, his work, with it's subtle, literate underpinnings and frequently understated literate but humable lyrics, is all too often ignored by the music buying public. Hence the "deafening silence". This latest is a wonderful album in its presentation. I think, like PD, that it just misses the "brass ring". But it comes so close.

[Otis Westinghouse]

The eponymous second album. If you had any time for his debut, get this. Same floaty high voice, but more dimensions in the music. One play in and I can't wait to play over and over. An undoubted talent.

[Jack of All Parades]

It is great fun so far. Picked it up Tuesday for my daughter as a present[but of course dad gets to sample it]. Best Buy had it for $6.99 as if I was in a time warp and it was the 1970s. Just marvelous the first couple of go a rounds. As you say the music has more 'dimension', a sturdiness to it. Same great falsetto. I think it will get many plays in my household. Have been taken with this track:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbJy1zeoDn4

[Poor Deportee]

Just to chime back in on Sexsmith, my impression, based on the documentary, was that they were definitely shooting for radio play and by extension the possibility of a hit. The theme of money came into it several times. And I suppose my point is that a couple of these songs could conceivably have been (minor) hits without any dramatic departure from Ron's basic shtick. A more aggressive deployment of choruses on 'Believe it when I see it' could easily have done the trick. I wouldn't see that as some awful sell-out - just a bit of calculation from an artist who deserves vastly more than he's received. What really puzzles me is that Bob Rock, supposedly Mr. Commerical, didn't propose this (assuming he didn't).

Youre' right that 'Get In Line' is just a perfect pop song. The finale is as sublime a construction of internal rhymes as I've ever heard:

Never meant for your flowers to wilt
Or to sour all your sweet wine
If you meant to shower me with guilt
Better get in line
If you're crying over milk that's been spilt
Take a number and wait in line

I don't hear a hit there. But they sure nailed every aspect of that one, right down to the production.

I'm also interested in Chris's description of some of these songs as 'almost saccharine.' The 'almost' is important, but this is a turn in Ron's writing since Blue Boy that I haven't particularly liked. Just grumpy, I suppose - not that there aren't a ton of great tunes here.

[Jack of All Parades]

PD, I think he walks the line carefully staying just this side of too much "sweetness". The two songs I mentioned on the new record could easily have crossed into sappy pop sentiment but pull back nicely. The self help sentiments of you can only count on yourself and hard work and determination will win out in the end as expressed in these two examples avoid cliche by adroitly playing with the thoughts and playfully use cliche to, in effect, avoid the easy cliche of such expressed sentiments. His wordplay and rhyming is playfully used to puncture the 'sweetness'. The hook chorus in No Help at All is delicious and I love the flute. It could be read as a self evaluation of his career to date-a not to gentle self prodding to stay the course. The images in Late Bloomer with the record being turned over, the small player aspect and the sense that time will win out and make things right in the end are smartly handled and just seem so right.

Very often in this album I am impressed with his lyricism. It has a facility and deftness that reminds me of the high marks that EC attained in albums like PTC and IB. What reads so simple on the lyric page comes alive with the melody and Ron's infectious vocal delivery on the record. It is so difficult to achieve that studied simplicity and he seems to be able to do it at the drop of a hat-something I will continue to doff to him in strong admiration for his talent.

[Poor Deportee]

PD, I think he walks the line carefully staying just this side of too much "sweetness". The two songs I mentioned on the new record could easily have crossed into sappy pop sentiment but pull back nicely. The self help sentiments of you can only count on yourself and hard work and determination will win out in the end as expressed in these two examples avoid cliche by adroitly playing with the thoughts and playfully use cliche to, in effect, avoid the easy cliche of such expressed sentiments. His wordplay and rhyming is playfully used to puncture the 'sweetness'. The hook chorus in No Help at All is delicious and I love the flute. It could be read as a self evaluation of his career to date-a not to gentle self prodding to stay the course. The images in Late Bloomer with the record being turned over, the small player aspect and the sense that time will win out and make things right in the end are smartly handled and just seem so right.

Very often in this album I am impressed with his lyricism. It has a facility and deftness that reminds me of the high marks that EC attained in albums like PTC and IB. What reads so simple on the lyric page comes alive with the melody and Ron's infectious vocal delivery on the record. It is so difficult to achieve that studied simplicity and he seems to be able to do it at the drop of a hat-something I will continue to doff to him in strong admiration for his talent.

Yeah, I really like 'No Help At All' as well. In fact, that'd be another sleeper candidate for a hit...I can see its distinctive soft-soul vibe finding a radio niche, depending on public mood.

[Jack of All Parades]

It truly is a shame the way this album has fallen flat with the public. It is on my favorite list for the year for so many reasons, many of them already elaborated by yourself and others. For me there are three writers still working these days who seem to effortlessly mine the type of 'pop' music this album represents at its best- Ron, Nick Lowe and Marshall Crenshaw. All three suffer from a benign neglect. The purest of them is Ron for my ears. I talk him up with anyone who will listen.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Has it? I think sales will have been a lot higher than for any recent ones, in the UK at least. When he played The Junction in Cambridge in 2009 touring Time Being there were c. 300 people there, and Ron commented on his message board that he couldn't justify touring with a band for such numbers. This week there were 650 in the same venue. I think all the shows have people who've come to him via Love Shines being on BBC4 or just through the much more significant exposure LPLB got compared to others.

Sadly I was playing a gig myself and couldn't go, but another sign of his success is a bunch of new dates here in Sept, so I'll get to see him again then. Will be my 7th time, I think.

Nice clip of Fallen from this week:

[Jack of All Parades]

From what I can garner of US sales it has fallen on a deaf public. I have it playing right now and am in a wash with its infectious sound. The lines are so deftly smooth and the beautiful melodies just fill my living room. Glad your country is showing him more love and that you have dates in the future to look forward to attending. Outside of once as an opening act for Squeeze, I have been shut out. Well at least I can listen to this beautiful album. By the way, Fleet Foxes won out- could not convince the wife about the value of Elbow and the pocket book can only absorb one show for now having just paid my youngest daughter's latest tuition bill. Most looking forward to their gorgeous choral works.

[Jack of All Parades]

The Harrow & The Harvest- Gillian Welch. First few listens it is as if I am seated on the front porch of her cabin in Tennessee and I am being treated to a personal concert by her and her partner, David Rawlings. It is that intimate the playing and singing complete with rhythmic usage of hands and feet and other body parts. Most personal. It harkens back to the strengths of Hell Amongst the Yearlings and her first album. Initial highlights for me are the darkly backwoods sounds of "Silver Dagger" and the tale of stubborn rebelliousness, "Tennessee". "The Way it Goes" is even better than "Orphan Girl". Yet another solid new one for the top 10 consideration list for this year.

[BlueChair]

Was lucky enough to visit Amoeba Records in San Francisco last week. I had only been to the Hollywood location, which is larger, but still managed quite a haul:

[strangerinthehouse]

The Detroit Cobras' Baby is a fun record, you cannot be in a bad mood hearing it.

I've been enjoying the Dawes album a lot since it came out.

I also caved in and bought the new Bon Iver. I don't think it's the album of the year a lot of people claim it is, "Towers," "Holocene", and "Calgary" are the best songs on it. Everything else is pretty but a bit underwhelming.

[Poor Deportee]

This is going to come out of the blue, but 20 odd Years, the most recent release by cult Canadian hip-hop artist Buck 65, is giving me a lot of enjoyment as summer album - full of catchy hooks, genre-hopping, epic choruses and multilingual, international collaborations. You could sample a few tunes here: http://buck65.com/video/

Having said that, the best entry into this eccentric fellow's work is his phenomenal Talkin' Honky Blues from a few years back. Now that's an album.