Shelter From The Storm

Not too long after I moved from Austin to Nashville in late 1996 I ran across an album titled Crooked Mile by Trish Murphy. It was an independently released CD that had caught the attention of someone at the label I was working for, Koch Records. I was doing A&R for Koch at the time so I was given the task of finding out more about Murphy. A Texas singer-songwriter, this was her first real album (she’d released an independent, six song cassette titled Driving Home in 1995). Though I was pretty familiar with the Texas music scene (having lived there for twenty years and run my own small label for five) I wasn’t aware of Murphy before getting the copy of Crooked Mile. I knew after my first listen she was something special. Crooked Mile featured a handful of terrific songs (“Scorpio Tequila,” “Date With An Angel” and “Blue Tatto,” among others) and the rest were very, very good. I caught Murphy at shows in Nashville and Memphis and even travelled down to Austin to meet with her and her manager (who also happened to be her husband). I was very interested in signing her to the label. Her husband Charlie seemed to be a nice enough guy, but he wasn’t interested in an “independent label.” He was holding out for something big, a major label deal. He really believed in Murphy and was certain she had what it took to make it in the big leagues. Fair enough, though holding out for that big major label deal has often been the downfall of many a good artist. There’s a lot to be said for honing your craft and working your way up through the ranks. They finally managed to piece together something close to a major label deal by going through two other independent labels that had a distribution deal with Universal Music. So, in mid-1999 Rubies On The Lawn was released (on Doolittle Records via Slipdisc Records via Mercury via Universal Music). It was a giant step forward for Murphy and I was sure she was headed for very big things.

Whereas Crooked Mile had been a rootsy, Texas country-rock flavored affair, Rubies On The Lawn was much more of a “rock” record, though Murphy’s singer-songwriter roots were prominently on display. “Outsider,” the leadoff track and one of the standout songs on the album, announces this as much from the very first note. Murphy sings of paralysis, confusion and “would be friends” (a veiled account of trying to “make it” in the music business?) as the band shimmers behind her in a radio perfect confection of ringing guitars, pounding drums and thumping bass. ”Me Behind The Wheel” continues down the same road as Murphy tries to make sense of life on the road. It’s easy to make comparisons of Murphy to other strong, determined women songwriters such as Lucinda Williams, Melissa Etheridge, Alanis Morissette and especially Sheryl Crow. And while she has clearly been influenced by many (if not all) of these women, she brings a unique style and attitude to her music, her songs, her lyrics and especially her sound that declares her individuality in no uncertain terms. A rocking, raved up, ravaged cover of “These Boots Are Made For Walking” does a glorious job, in one fell swoop, of paying homage to not only one of the earliest assertions of female independence and “I ain’t taking shit from any man” attitude, but to all the women who helped shape her sense of herself as well.  An exuberant, sparkling little slice of pure pop-rock, “I Know What You Are” makes the Crow comparison hard to avoid. A glorious three-minute nugget that would fit perfectly on Crow’s C’mon, C’mon album, it’s one of the tracks on the album that, in a better world, would have been all over the radio during the summer of 1999.

Even most of the ballads, such as “Go There” and “Soul’s Day” and are given a loud, muscular, noisy setting. The production by Jim Ebert can be a little overbearing occasionally, sometimes even on the verge of drowning Murphy out, but overall it suits these songs, and especially her voice, quite well.

If there’s one song on the album that should have been a hit it’s “Somewhere Else” a track that would sound just perfect blaring out of your radio as you tear down the freeway, lost somewhere in the heartland of America, bound for who knows where. Catchy and infectious as it is though, my favorite song on the album has to be “Johnny Too Blue.” Channeling a “Subterranean Homesick Blues” rhythm Murphy recounts the story of her dysfunctional, unbalanced Vietnam vet uncle. She paints a vivid, heartbreaking portrait of a damaged soul just trying to survive. Murphy’s storytelling abilities are in abundant display throughout the album, but nowhere more so than on this track.

And just when you think you’ve got Murphy nailed she comes along with a curveball that knocks you out of the box. “Vanilla Sun” is a stunning, beautiful, almost mesmerizing ballad unlike anything else on the album. Over a thick layer of acoustic guitars and quirky percussion effects Murphy’s voice soothes, seduces and subdues the listener. A stunning orchestral instrumental version of the melody acts as a sort of coda to the album.

I saw Murphy play an in-store appearance at Tower Records in Austin during SXSW 1999. It was a fantastic performance. She was at the top of her game. She sounded great, the band was hot, the songs were killer. I remember talking to her and Charlie afterwards. “I want postcards from the top,” I told them, “cause that’s where you’re going.” It never happened. She seemed to have everything in place, but it’s an old, old story. I can’t begin to list the number of great artists who “should have made it big” in the music business but didn’t. Maybe it was money. Maybe no one at the label believed in her. Maybe radio just didn’t get it. Who knows why. But it seems that all of the air went out of the balloon after Rubies On The Lawn failed to deliver. It was as if she had put so much energy, time, hope and ambition into that one big shot for the top that she just didn’t have it in her to pick up the pieces and try again after that. She quietly, and independently, released a live acoustic album in 2001, Captured,  and another studio album, Girls Get In Free, in 2005. Both were very solid efforts, with a lot of great songs, but neither quite captured the magic of Rubies On The Lawn. To the best of my knowledge she’s still playing in the Texas area, though when I occasionally check her website I don’t see many tour dates and no mention of any new music. She’s a very talented songwriter and five years is way too long to wait for a another album. I hope to see something new from her soon.

Other Listens on July 26th:
Dublin Girl (cassette) by Tom Pacheco
Live!!! Almost!!! by The Dillards
Surreal Thing by Kris Kristofferson
Easter Island by Kris Kristofferson

The late sixties and early seventies were the golden years for the independent record labels. This was long, long before the entire music industry was swallowed up and controlled by three or four giant conglomerates. Like many record aficionados I had my favorite indie record labels. Asylum was my very favorite. In the mid-seventies they seemed like the label that was releasing everything I loved: Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, The Eagles, Joni Mitchell, John David Souther, Linda Ronstadt, Souther-Hilllman-Furay Band, Tom Waits, etc. There were also some lesser known, but still very good artists I liked such as Dick Feller, Andrew Gold, David Blue and Dennis Linde. And, of course, they had two Bob Dylan albums (Planet Waves and Before The Flood) and the Byrds reunion album. It got to the point where I knew every album on the Asylum label by the catalog number (For Everyman was 5067, Desperado was 5068, etc.). Other favorite labels included Elektra (which later merged with Asylum), Island, Capricorn and Arista. I wouldn’t go as far to say that I would buy anything on one of these labels, but I would certainly consider it. If there was a band or an artist I’d never heard of before I’d pay more attention simply because they were on one of these labels. Due to their excellent track record, labels like these had credibility with me (and lots of others). Sure there were some misfires now and then, but that’s to be expected. But these were the days when indie labels like this were really run by music lovers, music fans. Sadly, they would all be swallowed up at some point by major label greed and all that credibility would slowly run down the drain. There are still excellent indie labels around (there will always be) but they don’t have the standing, power and marketshare that these labels had back in the day.

Capricorn was the home to “southern-rock,” mainly The Allman Brothers, The Marshall Tucker Band, Wet Willie, Elvin Bishop and more. They also released a couple of fantastic albums by Livingston Taylor (brother of James). One of my favorite releases on Capricorn is a very hard to find album by Tommy Talton, Bill Stewart and Johnny Sandlin (listed on the album as T. Talton / B. Stewart / J. Sandlin) called Happy To Be Alive released in 1976. It’s never been released on CD (of course) and to be truthful I’ve never even found anyone else who’s heard it. It’s a real shame, because this is a great album. It’s very unique album, quite unlike anything else ever released on Capricorn.

Tommy Talton was a member of Cowboy, another Capricorn band who released four albums in the seventies (Reach For The Sky, 5′ll Get You Ten, Boyer & Talton and Cowboy). The band made some fine albums (none of which are available on CD), but never really garnered much of a following outside of their home base in Macon, GA, though they did tour with Gregg Allman and had two songs featured on his 1974 live album The Gregg Allman Tour (which is also, unfortunately, no longer available on CD, though it is available as an MP3 download at Amazon and iTunes). Talton plays all the guitars and handles all the vocals. Bill Stewart, a well known rock drummer, plays drums on the album. Stewart worked with folks like Roy Buchanan, Cowboy, Bonnie Bramlett, Greg Allman, The Allman Brothers, Tim Hardin, The New Riders Of The Purple Sage and lots of others. Johnny Sandlin was a very in-demand producer and engineer for the Capricorn stable of artists as well as the head of A&R for the label. He produced records by Cowboy, Alex Taylor (another James Taylor brother), Duane Allman, Wet Willie, White Witch, The Allman Brothers Band, Dickey Betts, Elvin Bishop and a whole lot more. He was the drummer for Hourglass, the band led by Duane and Gregg Allman before the Allman Brothers. He also plays drums, guitar, bass and probably a few other instruments. Sandlin produced this album and plays bass (and guitar on two songs).

I have no idea how this album came about. It looks, sounds and feels like a one-off project, though I’m sure if it had seen some success those involved would have been happy to continue on. This is not a “big” album. It’s not a grand statement. It’s really just three friends (with a little help from a few guest musicians) hanging out, recording some songs and basically just doing what they do best, making music. But don’t let that fool you. It’s honest, heartfelt music that really stands up remarkably well over thirty years later.

Tommy Talton wrote nine of the ten songs on the album (one is a co-write with Art Schilling and one is an Allen Toussaint cover).  ”Don’t Ride Away” opens the album and sets the mood. It’s an distinctive mix of southern-rock and singer-s0ngwiter with just a touch of reggae. The acoustic based ballad “Never In My Life” features a unique arrangement that gives it a nice feel (again with a very slight reggae feel on the choruses). “Baby Could We Be Alone?” takes the reggae up a step or two. Now, don’t get me wrong, this is NOT a reggae album. But the influences are undeniable and very cleverly woven into a southern-rock sound. “Stalemate Blues” is a straight ahead, direct, standard blues work out with everyone locking together in a nice solid groove. Some great keyboard work from Chuck Leavell. “It Might Be The Rain” is a slow, moody, slinky piece of southern blues.

The band works through several more fine songs (especially “Strong And Weak” the closest thing to a “single” on the album), including a fun rendition of Allen Toussaint’s “Workin’ In A Coal Mine” (where they sound as if they are just having a ball), but the highlight of the album is the title track, the last song on the album. “Happy To Be Alive” is a minor masterpiece of a song: moving, infectious and altogether impossible to get out of your head. A poignant ode to coming of age, changing, growing and loving life throughout it all.

Happy To Be Alive is one of those albums that I hold near and dear, in part because it seems like my own little private secret. I’d love to see it released on CD, but that seems very unlikely. I’ve transferred by vinyl copy to CDR (it sounds great) and listen to it on a regular basis. I never get tired of it.

Other Listens on July 16th:
Long Distance Voyager by The Moody Blues
Neil Young by Neil Young
Jerry Jeff by Jerry Jeff Walker
Grace by Jeff Buckley
Whistling Down The Wire by Crosby/Nash
Reckless Abandon by The David Bromberg Band
Down In The Cellar by Al Stewart

Similar notes as with my list of 10 Favorite New Albums of 2008:

1. These are my “favorite” reissues from the past year. I’m sure there are some I missed, but these are the ones I spent the most time listening to and was most thankful to see released, for one reason or another.

2. It’s interesting to note that of the thirteen albums listed here, four consist of completely new “previously unreleased” material (Hank Williams, Stephen Stills, Neil Young and Simon & Garfunkel). The other nine consist of “new” versions of rather well known albums that have been easily available on CD for many years. There are still tons of albums that have never been reissued on CD. There are just as many that were available on CD for a short time or in some foreign country, but are impossible to find. We seem to be seeing less and less reissues of those types of albums. I think the major labels have basically decided that everything worth releasing has been released. There are still a few labels, such as Collector’s Choice, Wounded Bird, American Beat and Raven, who are actively releasing albums that have never been on CD before, but they seem to be getting fewer and fewer.

3. They are pretty much in order.

4. I couldn’t keep it to ten.

1. Jesus Of Cool by Nick Lowe
Simply superb. Yep Roc did absolutely everything right. Beautiful packaging, bonus tracks galore, etc., etc. The blueprint for how to put together a great reissue. Not to mention the classic music contained therein. It doesn’t get any better than this for those of us who love a good reissue.

2. Warren Zevon by Warren Zevon
His first, and best, album. It sounds terrific and the extra disc of outtakes, alternate takes and live performances, while not revelatory, is a welcome addition to the catalog.

3. The Unreleased Recordings by Hank Williams
A very flawed release. Still, you can’t deny the importance, power and just plain magic of this music. 54 new live performances from Hank Williams, never before officially released. Wonderful stuff. Williams recorded this material for a radio program that ran for 15 minutes on weekday mornings. He performs some of his best known compositions, along with lots of covers and traditional gospel songs. However, it’s almost unforgivable the way the songs have been edited from the complete performances. I have a fifteen disc bootleg set of the entire surviving radio shows and the between song conversations, jingles, intro and outros add so much to these performances. I realize Time Life was trying to make this material as accessible as possible to the general public, but really, it’s the true fans who are going to buy something like this and they would have been so much better served by the complete performances.

4 & 5. Tumbleweed Connection & Elton John by Elton John
Tumbleweed Connection is my favorite Elton John album. Just wonderful from beginning to end. Very different in many ways from everything he did before and after. The music sounds better than ever and a bonus disc includes a ton of rare and unreleased demos, outtakes, etc. I bought this album on 8-track, I bought it on vinyl, I  bought it on CD, I bought the “remastered” CD and now I’ve bought this. I don’t know what else they can come up with, but chances are I’d probably buy another version if they put one out. His self-titled “faux” debut is a true classic and the beginning of an amazing run through the seventies. My first exposure to Elton John, when I was 15 years old. Like Tumbleweed Connection the bonus disc is full of great unreleased material.

6 & 7. Tea For The Tillerman & Teaser And The Firecat by Cat Stevens
It’s hard to overstate how important these albums were at the time of their release. Finally given the “Deluxe Edition” treatment with a bonus track full of unreleased material on each. One of the first concerts I ever saw was Stevens at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. I never got over it. This period was a high water mark that he never equalled again. 

8. Just Roll Tape by Stephen Stills
Just Stephen alone with his guitar in the studio in early 1968 putting down songs, one after another. This was truly a time when Stills could seeming do no wrong. Even the throwaway songs are great. This is the kind of stuff that no one ever thought would see the light of day, least of all Stills as he was recording it. A fan’s dream come true.

9. Songs For Beginners by Graham Nash
Crosby, Stills & Nash, as a group, as various duos and as solo artists, released an amazing amount of great material during their peak run from 1969 to 1977. Each made a simply stunning debut solo album, but this one is my favorite. I listened to it non-stop when it was released. Nash went back and remixed the entire thing and it sounds fantastic. The only disappointment is the lack of any unreleased bonus material. No outtakes, no unreleased songs, nothing. Instead, we get an extra disc with DVD audio, an interview with Nash, a photo gallery and lyrics.

10. Sugar Mountain – Live At Canterbury House 1968 by Neil Young
The third release in the “Neil Young Archives Performance Series,” this is a great show from November 1968, the earliest solo live material we’ve seen officially released to date. It’s just Neil and his guitar playing Buffalo Springfield songs and others that would appear on his first solo album. He sounds oh so young and innocent. It’s great stuff and I hope he continues to release more of this type of material. His Archives, Vol. 1 box set that he’s teasing us with for almost 20 years (!)  has been delayed once again. It’s supposed to be released on February 24th right now, but that has changed so often no one really believes it. With a $431.99 list price (I kid you not) it’s hard to say how many people will actually buy it, even when it’s on sale at Amazon for $323.99.

11. Tapestry by Carole King
Another “Legacy” edition. Another classic. The album that launched the singer-songwriter craze of the early seventies. Another album I’ve bought over and over again. The bonus disc includes solo live performances of all but one track from the album, all recorded in 1973 and 1976. 

12. This Years Model by Elvis Costello
As good as My Aim Is True was, This Years Model was a huge leap forward for Costello. The band was red hot, Nick Lowe’s production was spot on and Costello was at the top of his songwriting skills. This record has so much power, it just snarls from the speakers. Even though this has been rereleased twice already (Ryko and Rhino) this version boasts a near perfect bonus disc, a complete concert from Washington, D.C. in February 1978 (along with ten demos, alternates and outtakes). I saw Costello on this tour in Houston. He came out, tour through 15 or 20 songs non-stop and split, leaving everyone dazed. The proverbial “angry young man” never sounded so good.

In the mid-eighties I came across a publication from the Elliott Murphy Information Society. A newsletter really that provided a lot of information about, well, Elliott Murphy. Now, I’d been a big fan for many, many years (his debut, Aquashow, is in my Top 10 of all time), so I was very happy to make this discovery. I subscribed to the newsletter and eagerly awaited each edition (I think they came out quarterly). This was probably 1985 or 1986, way before email or websites. I can’t remember how it happened exactly, but at some point t-shirts were offered for sale through the newsletter. They were $15.00 each I think. At the time, I thought that was an extraordinarily high price of a t-shirt (again, this was way before the artist merch business got so out of hand) and I sent a postcard or something off to the editor of the newsletter saying so. One day not long after that the phone rang. It was Charlie Hunter, the guy behind the EMIS. I was quite surprised that he was calling me, but he’d phoned just to say hi, and tell me that he had gotten my postcard and to explain why he didn’t think $15.00 was too much for a t-shirt. Well, I never did buy a t-shirt but Charlie and I became friends and corresponded here and there. When I started my label Dejadisc in 1992 Charlie was a huge help, offering lots of advice. Actually, I think I drove him crazy calling him up at all hours of the day and night with questions about the music business. He helped me license my first release, Elliott’s album Party Girls And Broken Poets, which at the time, was his only album that had never been reissued on CD. Charlie did the artwork for the CD release and he also did the artwork for my second release, and album from Texas singer-songwriter David Rodriguez. He did both of these on a “spec” agreement that if they sold a certain amount I’d pay him a certain amount. Well, neither ever sold much and so Charlie never made any money for doing those packages. Apart from his work with Elliott Murphy and the help he so graciously gave me when I was starting my label, I’ll always be thankful to Charlie for introducing me to the music of Fred Eaglesmith. I was at a Folk Alliance conference in Washington D.C. one year when Charlie told me about this new guy he was managing. I had a lot of confidence in Charlie, so I figured if he was managing this guy he must be something special. A month or two later at SXSW I got my first chance to see Eaglesmith and I was blown away. I went to see him three times over the course of a few days and I was totally hooked. I can’t remember when I lost track of Charlie. I still hear about him now and then, but I haven’t spoken to him in at least ten years. He’s a great guy, a real music lover, one of the good ones. He used to say, “The only causes worth fighting for are the lost ones.” (A quote from my favorite movie of all time, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington; that alone made me like him immensely.) I hope he’s doing well out there.

Live From The Paradise Motel is, as the name implies, a live album, recorded in one night at the La Casa Music Series in Birmingham, Michigan. It’s a sparse, acoustic recording with just Eaglesmith, a bass player and a mandolin player. Both the sidemen, who also contribute vocals and the harmonies throughout, are outstanding. With sixteen tracks, all written by Eaglesmith, it’s a superb showcase for his intensely powerful songs. Fred opens the show (and album) with a short accapella number, “Yellow Barley Straw,” which segues perfectly into “Thirty Years Of Farming.” It’s clear from the beginning this is man who writes what he knows. Tractors, small towns, general stores, ploughs, foreclosures and hard times fill the songs with a sense of the great American mid-west, though in fact, Eaglesmith is from Canada. Eaglesmith is a terrific story-teller, but what really sets his songs apart from many others are the characters who populate them. From the farmer who sees his farm auctioned off in “Thirty Years Of Farming” to the two bit criminal wannabes of “Little Buffalo” to the forlorn lovers of “Rodeo Rose” these are real people, the kind of people you can find in just about any small town from Ohio to Montana to Winnipeg. 

This is a deeply intimate album, but not in the Joni Mitchell/Jackson Browne sense of confessional songwriting. Eagelesmith is a master storyteller and there’s never been more evidence of his skills than the tracks on this album. Almost every song is the equivalent of a finely crafted short story. Eaglesmith has a remarkable ability to bring characters, situations and places to life in a sparing, economical way that requires very few words. When I was a freshman in high school I had a very influential teacher for a creative writing class. I’ve always remembered his advice to “show, don’t tell.” Eaglesmith doesn’t so much “tell” a story; it’s more as if he shows it all to you. It’s almost as if you’re in a dark theater somewhere watching an old movie from the 1940’s. The characters are very, very much alive in the music.

Mixed in with the songs of farming, sharecropping and rural life (“Sweaburg General Store,” Sharecroppin’,” “Go Out And Plough”)  are songs of lost love, travel, missed opportunities (“The Highway Callin’,”My Last Six Dollars,” “Rough Edges”) and a lot of stuff that has just plain gone wrong. Eaglesmith is not, to say the least, an optimist painting confident, cheerful, positive pictures of life and love. Over the years Eaglesmith has written and recorded a fair amount of love songs, but you’d be hard pressed to find even one that represents a joyful, healthy or in any way positive portrayal of the romantic liaison between a man and a woman. Most are full of regret, despair, disillusionment, despair and heartache. Many involve jail. Most (if not all) end badly. Almost every relationship has either buckled under the weight of hard times and disparate personalities or is on the verge of collapsing from the abandoned dreams, postponed promises and/or disintegrating hopes that seem to haunt the players that wander from one song to the next. ”I’m Just Deamin’” is a perfect example of a Fred Eaglesmith love song, depicting a love that was doomed from the start. “Should of never had a girl who didn’t know hay from straw,” he sings and everything you need to know about the relationship is entwined in those simple words. ”Summerlea” might be the closest thing he’s ever written to real love song though it’s by no means anywhere close to the traditional type of song you’d usually associate with that genre. 

“Sunflowers” showcases Eaglesmith’s amazing ability to set a scene, recounting the funeral of a neighboring farmer with stunningly straightforward understatement and an amazing sense of detail. It always gives me shivers. “Harold Wilson,” which closes out the album is another portrait of another farmer, this one still alive, but living in a motel for $100 per month after losing his land and his family. In reality there isn’t much that separates him from the dead farmer in “Sunflowers,” except that he’s still breathing. 

“Little Buffalo” just might be my favorite song on the album. It’s a comical tale of “restless nights and endless fights” with an infectious sing-along chorus. Dancing around the account of barricades, flying bullets, barking dogs and waling sirens, and on full display, is Eaglesmith’s caustic wit and humor, something else he’s well known for.

Fred Eaglesmith has written many, many great songs. But, he’s never really made a great album. Don’t get me wrong, he’s made some pretty damn good ones, including Drive-In Movie and Lipstick, Lies & Gasoline and this one. Still he’s never made that album where everything came together in one perfect classic performance. They’re all flawed in one way or another, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. The production is bad (or just plain weird), the songs are not quite up to par, etc. This album is as close to a true masterpiece as he’s come in my opinion. There are some songs on other albums that are better than the best songs on this album, but no other album is a strong throughout as this one.

Other Listens on January 10th:
Nolita by Keren Ann
Dance To The Music by Sly & The Family Stone

OK, a couple of things: 

1. These are my “favorite” new albums released in 2008. I refrain from using the term “best new albums” as that’s too subjective of a term in my opinion. These are simply the records I liked most this year. I’m not saying they’re the best.

2. I’m sure there were other albums released this year that might have made this list but I simply haven’t heard them yet. This is what I’ve heard this year.

3. They are pretty much in order.

1. The Fabled City by Tom Morello The Nightwatchman
Wow. This album just completely knocked me out. I have one CD by Rage Against the Machine (The Battle Of Los Angeles) but I’ve never listened to it. Maybe I should. I bought this album after hearing Morello’s duet with Springsteen on “The Ghost Of Tom Joad” from the online only release Magic Tour Highlights. Great singer-songwriter rock. Passionate. Moving. My favorite album of the year.

2. Volume One by She & Him
A wonderful surprise and a very close runner up for my favorite album of the year. I wrote about this album here. A really, really terrific release with lots of minor pop gems. Let’s hope there really is a Volume Two coming as the name implies.

3. Tell Tale Signs: Rare And Unreleased 1989-2006: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 by Bob Dylan
OK, it’s not “new” material, but it is a new release. Outtakes, alternate takes and live tracks that once again prove Dylan is either: a. the worst judge of his own material when it comes to picking tracks for albums; b. an honery son-of-a-bitch who likes to leave great tracks on the cutting room floor just to piss off his fans; or c. just doesn’t really worry too much about what goes on each album what doesn’t. Either way, this two (three if you’re willing to shell out $100 extra bucks for the deluxe version) disc set is ample evidence that what Dylan doesn’t put on an album completely blows most people’s released material out of the water. I wasn’t a big fan of Modern Times or Love & Trust (sure, I liked them but not the way some folks did). The material on this set which comes from those two albums is, to me, much, much better than what was officially released. 

4. Life Death Love And Freedom by John Mellencamp
The first time I heard this I thought Mellencamp must be terminally ill. Lots of songs about sickness, death, the meaning of life, etc. His best album in 20 years. I wrote about it here. 

5. Detours by Sheryl Crow
A very welcome comeback after Wildflowers. One of Crow’s strongest efforts ever, full of great and memorable songs. I wrote about it here.

6. Coal by Kathy Mattea
A complete surprise to me. I’ve never bought or listened to any Kathy Mattea albums before. She always seemed like just another bland Nashville female singer to me. A friend gave me a copy of this CD and it blew me away. Beautiful acoustic renditions of “coal miner” related songs produced to perfection by Marty Stuart.   

7. Time The Conqueror by Jackson Browne
Certainly not one of his best albums ever (we have to go back to the 70s for those), but a very strong release nonetheless. I haven’t listened to it a whole lot, but each time I do I find something new I like about it.  

8. Fearless by Taylor Swift
Hey, what do you expect from someone who also loves Shania Twain and Eddie Rabbitt. I don’t think the songs are quite as good as those on Swift’s first album and I find the production a little monotonous. Still it’s a superb display of what I’d call country-power pop shot full with teen angst and young girl blues balanced with all the hope, magic and promise that comes with young love. As the title implies Swift brings a sense of empowerment, spunk and toughness to the table that is so often lacking in other young singers. She ain’t nobody’s victim. Break her heart and you’ll probably live to regret it.  

9. Mudcrutch by Mudcrutch
Not really much of a surprise here. I’m a huge Tom Petty fan and this could easily be mistaken for a new Tom Petty album. He wrote the majority of the songs and the sound is very much in the vain of his work with the Heartbreakers. Still, it’s great to see him reaching back into his past to hook up with his old bandmates and there is a freshness here that has been missing from his other recent releases. And the songs are some of the best he’s written in a long time. Some great covers as well.

10. Misfit Scarecrow by Sammy Walker
At first I was disappointed in this release. There was just so much to live up to. Sammy’s two albums from the seventies on Warner Bros. are two of my all time favorite albums ever. It’s been almost fifteen years since his last release (1994’s Old Time Southern Dream). But with repeated listens the songs on this album won me over. The record label really dropped the ball on this one. You still can’t buy it at Amazon.com. It wasn’t available at iTunes for quite some time after it was released. Why bother releasing an album like this if you’re not going to make it easily available to the public? It’s not like there’s a huge Sammy Walker fanbase out there waiting for it.

Linda Ronstadt gets a bad rap in my opinon. Apart from the extraordinary run of superb albums she released in the mid seventies, she was instrumental in furthering the career of numerous fledgling artists and songwriters. Her self-titled album from 1971 featured a group of musicians who would soon be known as The Eagles. She was a huge influence on other female artists like Emmylou Harris and Nicollete Larson. She provided crucial exposure to up and coming songwriters like Karla Bonoff and Warren Zevon. Beginning with 1973’s Don’t Cry Now and ending with 1978’s Living In The U.S.A. Ronstadt released six albums that virtually defined the California “folk country rock pop” sound. She had enormous commercial success, with many of her albums reaching Gold and Platinum status. But most important of all, behind all the sales and chart success was one of the most talented singers of contemporary times. Ronstadt is one of the few artists who was always capable of holding my attention even though she didn’t write her own material. I’ve always been drawn mostly to singer-songwriters and other artists who write what they record. Ronstadt was different. Somehow she was able to take almost any song, whether it was a well known standard or brand new gem from some young previously unheard of songwriter, and make it her own. I first discovered a lot of great artists via Linda Ronstadt and for that alone I think she deserves a lot more respect than she gets. Her breakthrough album, and probably the record that best defines her career was 1974’s Heart Like A Wheel. It didn’t differ wildly from what she had been doing previously, but the addition of Peter Asher as producer helped bring everything into focus. Ronstadt sang with passion, force and real spirit and every song on the disc was just perfect. A real masterpiece that I still marvel at when I play it thirty years later. 

The title song from Heart Like A Wheel was written by Anna McGarrigle, a name that meant nothing to me at the time. But you had to figure with a song that good we’d probably be hearing more from her. Sure enough the following year saw the release of Kate & Anna McGarrigle on Warner Bros. Quite simply it’s as strong a debut album as has ever been made.  Not only do we get Anna but it turns out she’s got a younger sister, Kate, who’s every bit the songwriter and singer that Anna is. The twelve songs on Kate & Anna McGarrigle (nine originals, one traditional, one by Loudon Wainwright and another by Wade Hemsworth) comprise one of those magical introductions to a new artist that just spins your head around. If ever you need proof that siblings can sing and harmonize together in ways that no one else can, this is it. Their voices blend, mingle and fuse together in some of the most beautiful, intricate, breathtaking palettes of sound one could possibly imagine.

The exuberant, joyous piano riff that begins Kate’s “Kiss And Say Goodbye” encapsulates everything I love about this album. It’s one of my favorite opening tracks ever. It manages to wrap in in three minutes the absolute euphoria and ecstasy of new love in a way that makes me want to sing at the top of my lungs. The song builds to an radiant climax with the exuberant lyrics, “I want to kiss you till my mouth gets numb.” From there it’s straight into class McGarrigle sisters harmonies on Anna’s “My Town.” Throughout the album Kate and Anna take turns with the songwriting and while there is definitely a certain amount of personality in the way they each approach a song, just like with their singing, it’s hard to tell them apart sometimes. And I mean that in a very good way. Their stunning rendition of “Heart Like A Wheel” features only a guitar, a banjo and an organ. And vocals and harmonies that will leave you astonished. There are lighter moments, most notably a dead on take of Wainwright’s “Swimming Song” (how can a song basically about nothing be so damn good?). Other highlights include Kate’s “Talk To Me Of Mendocino,” “Tell My Sister” and especially “Go Leave.”  The French language “Complainte Pour Ste-Catherine” provides a sneak peak into the lovely French Album they would release in 1980. A raucous (well for a folk album anyway) version of the traditional “Travellin’ On For Jesus” featuring Lowell George on guitar closes out the album. Produced to near perfection by the one and only Joe Boyd (along with Greg Prestopino) the album also features musicians Bobby Keys, Tony Rice, David Grisman, Amos Garrett, Andrew Gold and Russ Kunkel.

The McGarrigles never made another album as good as this first one. Don’t get me wrong, they’ve made some great, great albums over the years (1983’s Love Over And Over is my second favorite release from them), but this record set a standard they could never quite reach again. They’re still putting out records, though they seem to get fewer and farther between as time goes by. They’ve collaborated with Emmylou Harris quite frequently in the last decade with songs and performances on her most recent albums. Kate & Anna McGarrigle was first released on CD in 1993 by the Hannibal label (distributed through Ryko). Unfortunately, that CD is now out of print, but it’s still available at a reasonable price as an import from Amazon.com. Finding the rest of their catalog on CD is a hit and miss affair. Some of the older titles are out of print now in the US, but generally you can find most of them as imports. The only album never to be released on CD for some reason is 1978’s Pronto Monto. Kate & Anna McGarrigle is one of my all time favorite debut releases. And every time I listen to it I always think of Linda Rondstadt as well. In fact, I’ll often times pull out Heart Like A Wheel after listening to Kate & Anna McGarrigle. And I’m always amazed at much I still love her version of “Heart Like A Wheel” after hearing Kate & Anna’s.

Other Listens on September 12th:
To The Bone by Kris Kristofferson
The Long Walk by Tom Pacheco
Are You Ready by Blue Rodeo
Crosswords by Larry Hosford

I grew up in Southern California. But, I’ve never been surfing, not even once. There’s a lot more to Southern California than just the “surfing/beach party” impression that many people have of it. My family moved to Lancaster, a small town in the Mojave Desert, when I was about three or four. It’s less than a ninety-minute drive from Lancaster to the golden beaches of Santa Monica, Venice or even Malibu. But in almost every way possible it seemed like a million miles away to a kid growing up there in the sixties. Lancaster is flat, desolate, windy and barren. Some people find beauty in the desert but it’s not easy for me to see. I spent too many formative years there, bored, restless and dreaming of the excitement and adventure that I knew must surely exist somewhere else. Lancaster has grown a lot in the last 40 years, but back in the sixties it was a world away from the glamour of Hollywood, the hustle of Los Angeles or the surf culture of Topanga Beach. 

I was only six years old when The Beach Boys had their first hit with “Surfin’ USA.” I’d hear some of their songs on the radio now and then growing up, but they never made much of an impression on me. I don’t think I owned a single Beach Boys album until I was well into my twenties when I picked up a copy of Endless Summer, their 2 LP greatest hits collection. But that was about as far as my interest in The Beach Boys went. Sometime in 1990 Capitol reissued Pet Sounds on CD with three bonus tracks and extensive liner notes. I figured it was about time I spent some time with this “classic” album I’d always heard so much about so I bought a copy. The first thing I realized was that I had heard more of this music than I thought I had. The opening track, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” as well as “Sloop John B” were, of course, radio staples (be it on AM in the sixties or Classic Rock FM in the eighties and nineties). “Caroline, No” and “God Only Knows” were also quite familiar to me as were some of the other songs. Still there was a lot of new music on the disc that I hadn’t really listened to before. I spent a lot of time listening to it, and I’m sure it will come as no surprise to anyone who’s familiar with the album, the more time I spent with it, the more I heard and the deeper I got into it. It truly is one of rock’s greatest triumphs and a record unlike anything else I’ve ever heard.

It’s said that Brian Wilson was inspired to create Pet Sounds by the 1965 US release of The Beatles’ Rubber Soul album. That album was the first that Wilson had ever heard where he felt like the songs belonged together, that the whole thing was one coherent piece of musical art, not just a collection of ten or twelve random songs thrown together for sales purposes. In turn the writing and production on Pet Sounds, mainly the rich, sumptuous, almost symphonic sound that Wilson meticulously crafted with layers and layers of vocals and instrumentation is said to have inspired The Beatles to create Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. It’s also been reported that Wilson basically made Pet Sounds as a solo album, with the rest of the band lending a hand only on the multi-tracked vocal harmonies. The first single from the album, “Caroline, No” was even released under Wilson’s name, not the band’s.

Pet Sounds marked a distinct departure from the Beach Boys’ albums that had proceeded it. Party and surfing songs were replaced with introspective, intimate, almost confidential ballads full of longing, confusion and emotional uncertainty. Rock ‘n’ roll was, for the most part, replaced with grand, extravagant pieces of luxurious, at times almost classical, music. There were even two instrumentals (“Let’s Go Away For Awhile” and “Pet Sounds”), a little odd for a “vocal” group. “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” the lead off track, is a glorious, vibrant piece of buoyant optimism that provides a perfect bridge from the Beach Boys’ earlier sound to Wilson’s new vision. Whether intentional or not, it’s almost as if Wilson is tipping his hat to the past as he prepares us for what’s to come, hoping to dampen the shock a little bit. From there we head straight into the melancholy heart of Pet Sounds with “You Still Believe In Me,” “That’s Not Me” and especially “Don’t Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder).” Every time Wilson comes close to a song that might not have seemed out of place on an earlier Beach Boys album he pulls back at the last moment. Listen to “That’s Not Me” and you can clearly hear how Wilson could have very easily taken the song in a different direction and turned it into a typical “pop” gem. Instead, he pulls in the reigns and gives it a much more understated feeling. In downplaying the “Top 40″ nature (that he could easily have followed) he creates a song that stands as a true testament to the evolution of a master songwriter.  Same thing with “I’m Waiting For The Day”. Just when you think the chorus is going to open up into a typical sixties pop nugget, Wilson turns the whole thing around. I just love those drums that only seem to appear between verses. “Sloop John B” was the biggest hit from the album in the US, while in England “God Only Knows,” surely one of the most achingly beautiful pop songs ever created, was a number 2 smash (it only reached number 39 in the States). “I Know There’s An Answer” and “Here Today” are as close as the album comes to the uptempo, rocking numbers from years gone by. But the real soul of the album lies in “I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times” a song that uncannily prophesies Wilson’s subsequent withdrawal from society. ”Caroline, No” is the perfect, plaintive summation of everything that came before it. From start to finish, it’s every bit the masterpiece most critics and listeners refer to it as.

Pet Sounds has been reissued over and over since it first appeared on CD in 1990. Capitol released a four disc box set (The Pet Sound Sessions) in 1997, a mono version/stereo version disc in 1999 and a two 40th Anniversary Editions in 2006. I think there may have even been one or two other versions in there somewhere as well. All the “extra” tracks, the bonus material, the session snippets, the instrumental beds and everything else are great, but when you get right down to it, it’s really the thirteen songs from the the original album that matter most. If you have those, you have the stuff that counts.

Pet Sounds was the first Beach Boys album to fail to reach Gold Record status upon it’s release. While it certainly couldn’t be considered a failure at the time, it was also not considered the masterpiece it is revered as today. It was only in the following years that Wilson’s innovation and creativity was truly appreciated to the point where it’s now considered one of the classic rock albums of all time. And it’s interesting to note that Pet Sounds just keeps moving higher and higher in stature among critics and listeners as the years go by. In the 1978 poll it was number 12, in 1987 it was number 8 and in 2003 it had risen all the way to number 2. (See my post about Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band for more information on these three polls.) I guess I’m not the only one who came a little late to the party.

#2 Rolling Stone: The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time (2003)
#8 Critics’ Choice: The Top 100 Rock ‘n’ Roll Albums Of All Time (1987)
#12 Rock Critics’ Choice: The Top 200 Albums (1978)
Somewhere between #50 and #100 on my list of all-time favorite albums

Other Listens on August 17th:
Max’s Kansas City Night (bootleg) by Bruce Springsteen
Joe’s Place ‘74 Soundboard (bootleg) by Bruce Springsteen

I used to frequent a record store in San Marcos, Texas called Sundance Records. I’d make a point of stopping by almost every day. The folks who owned and ran the store became friends, as did the clerks who worked there. I’d always head first for a little bin next to the cash register where they’d place used “new arrivals,” a great place to get cheap CDs. Many of these were often “promo” CDs. For those that might not know, the record labels sound out hundreds, if not thousands of “promotional” CDs on any given title to music writers, radio stations, tour promoters and assorted friends and riffraff. The vast majority of these end up in used record stores. You can’t blame the recipients. Writers in particular often get way more CDs than they can ever listen to or review. They might as well sell the stuff that is of no interest to them. The record labels frown on the practice (of course) but there’s really not much they can do about it. They will usually punch a hole in the bar code or stamp the booklet with “Promotional Copy” to at least make sure the CDs don’t end up getting returned to them as defective units. Truth be told there’s a lot of record label employees who sell stuff on the side to used record stores for a little extra cash. I’d often buy new and interesting looking things from this bin that I didn’t know much about, just because the price was right. For $5.99 or $6.99 I’d take a chance on a lot of stuff. One of the CDs I bought in 1993 was Tuesday Night Music Club by Sheryl Crow. Didn’t know a thing about her but I’ve always had a soft spot for female artists (be they rock, folk, country or whatever). One listen and I knew I’d found something special. With ”Run, Baby, Run,” “Strong Enough,” “I Shall Believe,” and of course “Leaving Las Vegas” and “All I Wanna Do,” this was a phenomenal debut from a very promising artist. Her label A&M obviously believed in Crow as well, as they they worked this album for almost a year before it finally paid off when the third single from the album, “All I Wanna Do,” made it to Number 2 on the charts in the summer of 1994. The first two singles had not made much of an impression on the record buying public and one can only wonder what would have become of Crow if the “All I Wanna Do” had also failed to chart. 

I’ve followed Crow’s career carefully over the past 15 years. There have certainly been ups and downs but she’s managed to put together an incredible body of work over the course of just five albums. Sheryl Crow, The Globe Sessions and especially 2002’s C’mon, C’mon are real favorites that I come back to frequently. “Soak Up The Sun” is one of my very favorite all-time pop songs. The only real disappoint in her catalog is 2005’s Wildflower, an uncharacteristically lifeless and bland affair. Fair or not, I guess we can blame it on the “too happy to make a good record” syndrome. As Bob Dylan once said, “Pain sure brings out the best in people, doesn’t it?”

Detours is a marvelous return to form. The songs are some of the best she’s written in years. But what most people will probably site as the key ingredient here is the return of Bill Bottrell who had produced Tuesday Night Music Club. Apparently Crow and Bottrell had a big falling out not long after Tuesday Night Music Club became a smash success (he called Crow “hopeless” and “obnoxious” in a 1996 Rolling Stone cover story on her). He was originally slated to produce her follow up album but pulled out before recording began. A masterful producer, Bottrell has been on board for several classic releases in recent years, including Shelby Lynne’s I Am Shelby Lynne. It seems he and Crow remained estranged for quite a long time until Crow called him up and asked him to work with her on this new album. We can all be quite thankful that they buried the hatchet because the music they have once again made together accounts for a truly splendid album, something I wasn’t expecting after Wildflowers.

Crow has always been a passionate songwriter, well schooled in the Joni Mitchell/James Taylor/Carole King mold of “confessional” songwriting. Detours is no different. The songs here are direct, poignant and very personal. There are four distinct themes running through this album: her recent bout with breast cancer, her adoption of a son, Wyatt, in 2007, her very public relationship and breakup with Lance Armstrong and, surprisingly, current political events. Crow has never been known as a “political” songwriter, though she did make the news in 2007 when she headlined a Stop Global Warming College Tour and when she and co-partner in crime Laurie David got into a bit of a tiff with Bush adviser Karl Rove. It’s a bit of a surprise (though quite welcome indeed) to find three overtly political songs on this album. “God Bless This Mess,” with it’s single acoustic guitar and Crow’s compressed vocal, sounds like it’s coming straight out of a cheap AM radio. A poignant “state of the union address” written from the perspective of an ordinary, average American, it set’s the mood immediately. “Peace Be Upon Us,” with it’s Arabic lyrics is a moving, modern day version of “Give Peace A Chance” while “Gasoline” is a wicked, remarkably infectious tongue-in-cheek rave-up about the politics of oil. ”Love Is Free” and “Out Of Our Heads” are pure, classic Sheryl Crow, easily the two catchiest things she’s done since “Soak Up The Sun,” though the pop melody of “Out Of Our Heads” belies the political sentiments underneath. The acoustic based “Detours” and and the damning “Diamond Ring” are obvious reflections on her relationship with Armstrong. “Make It Go Away (Radiation Song)” is a harrowing look at her brush with cancer. The album comes full circle with “Lullaby For Wyatt” a beautiful declaration of unconditional love for a new child. It may all be a colossal mess, as she asserts at the beginning of the record, but in the end, it all comes back to one basic, simple thing that keeps us all from throwing our hands up in futile despair: love.

Other Listens on August 16th:
Tomorrow The Wold by The Shazam
Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show by Neil Diamond
To The Bone by Kris Kristofferson
Life Death Love And Freedom by John Mellencamp

We installed hard wood flooring in my home office recently and that meant moving all my CDs and vinyl out into a storage shed for a couple of months. No small task. Moving it all back in required me to once again alphabetize the CDs as I put them onto the shelves because no matter how careful you are packing they are going to get a little out of order when transfer them from shelves to boxes and back to shelves again. As I was unpacking a box one day recently something about this CD caught my attention when I came across it and I pulled it out and stuck it on my “listen to next” shelf. Now that in and of itself is no guarantee I’ll get to something any faster really. There are a couple of CDs that have been on my “listen to next” shelf for years. Something else always manages to get in the player before they do. It seems I still buy CDs faster than I can listen to them. So some things end up sitting on the shelf for awhile before I get around to listening them. Some things sit there for a very long time indeed.

I know next to nothing about The Shazam. I wonder, is the name a small tribute to the sixties British group The Move? I’m not real sure where this CD even came from. It was released in 2003 on the Not Lame label out of Colorado, the foremost powerpop label in the world. Maybe that’s why I have it. I have a lot of respect for Not Lame and will give most anything they put out a listen. But I don’t have any memory of buying this particular CD. Maybe someone sent it to me. Maybe it was in a goody bag at a SXSW convention. I just don’t know. The band, it turns out, is from Nashville, so there may be some connection there. Anyway, against all odds, I threw this CD into the player one day and sat back in amazement. This has got to be the best powerpop album I’ve heard in a long, long time. I’ve always been a follower of the genre, from The Who to Badfinger to The Dwight Twilley Band to The Cars to The Cretones and on and on and on. The sound (and the feel and spirit) on this album is “big.” It’s not Phil Spector “wall of sound” big, more like a loud, raucous, delicious, gorgeous powerpop big, due in no small part, I’m sure, to the brilliant production by Brad Jones, a well known Nashville rock producer. We’re talking loud crunchy guitars throwing off powerchords left and right, snappy drums keeping everything moving at a non-stop, no frills pace, great melodic hooks everywhere you look and crisp vocals and harmonies holding everything together.

Many of the songs have that “classic” feel, like you’re heard them before, even though you know you haven’t. That’s due in small part to some ingenious “steals” peppered throughout the songs (the “London Calling” riff hidden away in “You Know Who” or the “Brown Sugar” riff that kicks off ”Rockin’ And Rollin’ (With My) Rock ‘N’ Roll Rock ‘N’ Roller” the first song on the album). But it really has a lot more to do with the terrific songwriting skills of Hans Rotenberry (who also handles guitar). This is one guy who knows his way around a punchy melody and a memorable hook. There’s enough “ear candy” here to keep even the most rabid powerpop fan happy. At this point it’s hard for me to pick out many real favorites because all of the songs just knock me out and I haven’t lived with the album enough to see what stands up best over time. But I will say that “Squeeze The Day,” “The Not Quite Right Kid,” “Goodbye American Man” and the sole ballad “I’m Not Lost Anymore” are real standouts. And then there’s ”Rockin’ And Rollin’ (With My) Rock ‘N’ Roll Rock ‘N’ Roller” which is probably my favorite right now. The song itself is all fluff, but man, what fluff. It’s the kind of song that sounds like it was thrown together in ten minutes (and maybe it was) but it’s also the kind of timeless classic that turns out to be exactly what it sounds like on the first listen, pure pop magic. 

A little research on allmusic.com shows this is the fourth release from The Shazam. There’s not a lot of info about the band there so I checked out their myspace page. Not a lot of information there as well, but I did find something about a possible new album titled Meteor they are said to be working on. I’ll probably end up buying their other three albums on Amazon.com sometime soon, because if they’re anywhere near as good as this I want to hear them. It’s so great to come across an album like this in my collection every now and then: a real gem I didn’t even know I had. Makes me wonder what else is hidden away in those shelves I just haven’t had time to get to yet. If only there was more time in the day maybe I could get caught up. Nah, probably not.

Other Listens on August 13th:
Monterey International Pop Festival by Various Artists

In 1976 I got the job I had been looking for over the past few years: working at a real record store. I’d worked for The Wherehouse, a record chain in California, but not in an actual store, I was in the warehouse and it wasn’t quite the same. I’d worked very briefly at a tiny little store in Key West, Florida called The Tape Ape, but it was too too small to really mean much. I’d tried for almost a year to get a job at one of the record stores near the campus of Syrcause University when I lived there, but was never able to. Finally, after I ended up in Austin, Texas I got a job at Disc Records in Highland Mall. For me, this was nirvana. A real record store. Not too long later the manager of that store and I transferred over to another store in town, Zebra Records. Zebra was also owned by Disc Records, but it was a “stand-alone” store, not located in a mall as all of their other stores were. It was, in fact, the coolest record store in town and I was the assistant manager (I can’t tell you how much that meant to me at the time). About a year later I was offered a promotion to move to Houston and become the manager of the Disc Records store in The Galleria Mall. I had reservations about moving from Austin to Houston, but I couldn’t pass up an opportunity like that. As the store manager I also began to attend the annual company convention that Disc Records held each year. This was my first real introduction into the “politics” that existed between the labels and the record stores. Most of the major labels would “sponsor” certain “events” at the convention. And, of course, they always had an act or two to push. The vast majority of these acts never amounted to anything, but occasionally one would break through. One year they were pushing a new guy named John Cougar. He had a new album with a song they were certain would be a smash hit, “I Need A Lover,” but I wasn’t too impressed. I think the song did actually make a little noise and hit the Top 40 (Pat Benatar would also mine the song for an AOR hit a few years later). It took two more albums and then Mellencamp really did break through with his first monster hits, “Jack And Diane” and “Hurts So Good.”

I didn’t follow Mellencamp much until the release of Scarecrow in 1985. Sure, I’d heard the other hits like “Pink Houses” and “Authority Song” on the radio, but they didn’t interest me enough to buy or listen to an entire album. All that changed dramatically with Scarecrow, one of my very favorite albums from that year. I think it was seeing Mellencamp perform “Rain On The Scarecrow” on Farm Aid that turned me around and got me to go out and buy the record. The follow up album, The Lonesome Jubilee, was also a regular on my turntable. But then I began to lose interest again. Big Daddy, Whenever We Wanted, Human Wheels, Dance Naked, Mr. Happy Go Lucky, Mellencamp kept putting out albums and I’d find one or two songs to like on each release, but as a whole the discs just weren’t connecting with me like the earlier stuff had. Towards the late nineties I stopped buying his records altogether.

I have to say right up front that it was the fact that T. Bone Burnett produced this album that inspired me to order it from Amazon (well the fact that I could get it for $9.99 didn’t hurt either). This is Mellencamp’s strongest release in almost twenty years, due in equal parts I think to an outstanding collection of songs, flawless production from Burnett and what seems like a reinvigorated and revitalized passion in Mellencamp’s performances. The term “comeback” album gets thrown around way too much, but if ever there was good cause to use it, it’s here. Whether it’s the influence of Burnett, a natural progression of Mellencamp’s continuing development as a writer and performer or a combination of both, Live Death Love And Freedom is a truly outstanding piece of work. It’s not the kind of “rock” album Mellencamp is most famous for. Almost all of the songs utilize a full band (including electric guitars, drums, bass and organ) but for the most part everything sounds quiet and dark, even slightly menacing. The songs themselves reflect a maturity and insight that only comes with age and experience, though these songs are much less about answers then they are about the journey. This is a long, long way from the swaggering and bravado of “Hurts So Good” or “Authority Song.” It’s actually the kind of stuff Mellencamp touched on briefly in “Minutes To Memories” on Scarecrow, where he told the story of an old man sharing hard earned wisdom with a younger Mellencamp who couldn’t quite grasp the old man’s “vision.” Things have come full circle now, roles have been reversed and Mellencamp finds himself as the elder statesman. “This getting older, well it ain’t for cowards,” he sings and throughout the album he makes that the central theme. From start to finish Mellencamp is consumed (even obsessed) with death, dying, loss, disappointment and, in the end, acceptance and redemption.

“Longest Days” sets the mood for the entire album with a simple acoustic guitar and Mellencamp singing quietly about life, changes, death and disillusionment. “Nothing lasts forever and your best efforts don’t always pay, Sometimes you get sick and you don’t get better,” he sings. It’s one of the most direct, powerful songs Mellencamp has written in a long time. Things are balanced out immediately, both in the music and the lyrics in the gentle “My Sweet Love” a tribute to the power of an enduring relationship and romantic love that can transcend everything else. “If I Die Sudden” is the kind of song Mellencamp might have written twenty years ago during his most fertile period. If it had appeared on Scarecrow or The Lonesome Jubilee it would probably have been rendered as a flat out rocker. Here Burnett infuses the song with a sense of ominous tension (that fits perfectly with the lyrics) using understated drums as well as spooky guitars and organs.

The centerpiece of the album, the song which all the others seem to revolve around, is “Don’t Need This Body” a down to earth contemplation on the end of life. Mellencamp acknowledges all the years gone by, the “washed up and worn out” body and the “ten million hours” put in and finds a worthwhile reward at the end knowing that he loved and was loved. “A Ride Back Home” may be the most easily accessible song on the album, an straight-forward plea for inner peace and an end to the troubles of mortal life.  There’s also a “political song”, “Jena,” and a great little “I’m dead now and writing this” story song in the grand tradition of “El Paso,” “County Fair.”

The album closes the way it began. “For The Children” is a quiet, reflective look at the extensive questions and mysteries of life, many of which seem to go unanswered no matter how old we get. But there’s a sense of contentment here that breathes hope and faith into the lyrics. Finally, “A Brand New Song” provides the perfect bookend to the opening despair of “Longest Days.” Mellencamp pulls all the themes he’s explored over the course of the album into one parting affirmation of life. He may not have found the answers he was looking for, he may not have seen all the dreams come true, but in the end he has found peace and purpose in the transitory nature of life: “Life is always in motion, and there’s new people to count on, Here you may find a purpose and sing a brand new song.” Acceptance of the inherent qualities of life, whether we like them or not, he seems to be saying, may be the only way to fully embrace it and cherish it for what it is. A perfect end to remarkable new album.

As a side note it’s interesting to point out that the CD version of this album ships with a second disc, the same album on a DVD using a “new system” to create high-definition audio. Developed by Burnett and his team of engineers the system is named “CODE” though they represent it in Greek letters that I can’t really duplicate here. The claim is that with this disc we’ll hear the music “with a resonance, depth, and presence that is unprecedented in the digital age.” Well, OK. It’s hard to believe they’re going to get very far with this, but you never know. DVD Audio went nowhere fast and SACD went nowhere even faster. In this age of MP3 players the vast majority of listeners are simply not interested in super, high quality audiophile technology. While there may be a very small, dedicated, obsessed core of audiophiles who do appreciate this technology I just don’t think it’s going have much impact. Consumers seem very slow to embrace the transition from DVD to Blu-Ray and for most people that’s an even easier leap to make being that it’s visual. Still, it’s nice that they included the extra disc at no additional cost.

Other Listens on August 11th:
All This Tangled Rope (bootleg) by Bob Dylan