It's a great sign for the music business--at least creatively--when the week's best new releases have been produced by artists both old and new!
It puts to rest that tired old notion that only older and wiser artists with less-than-minimal attention spans can produce full-length albums of significant merit!
It also proves that younger artists can stop playing those darn video games--or put down those wacky twittering iPhones--long enough to create artistic and compelling works longer than three-minutes in length!
And perhaps most significantly, in today's puzzling consumer-driven economy, it provides an up-to-the-minute test case of that always charming query: If a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it, does it make a noise?
Experts agree: No, not at all! Why do you ask?
Fleet Foxes: Helplessness Blues (Sub Pop) Few would have expected Seattle's Fleet Foxes, of the aggressively arty Sub Pop label, to be releasing one of the year's most anticipated albums--but lo and behold, here, bearing a title that can't help but recall the title of a well-known song by ancient rockers Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, come the Young Dudes, with a well-crafted, melodious album that could well be a white-label bootleg copy of an unreleased Crosby & Nash album recorded mere months before the tragic duo were unexpectedly swallowed by that great big white whale, Rapunzel! Or something! And while I find the textures pleasant throughout this entire affair--and especially dig the squealing saxophone about three-quarters through--I must point out that however groovy the harmonies, I don't hear the nut of too many actual songs here, much as I'd like to! Just lots of nice textures! And since I'm into velour and paisley, that just won't do! Still: Great initials!
Beastie Boys: Hot Sauce Committee Part Two (Capitol) If there is an inevitable cut-off date, an artist I can point to and say, you know, I understand these guys are enormously well-respected and influential--or at least they know a lot of very talented producers--but considering my age, for the life of me, I just don't see the appeal, or the ultimate attraction of a bunch of East Coast wise guys who have good taste in music, are mildly witty, and put out music that becomes dated mere seconds after it is released! That said, this new album, entirely devoted to a lengthy and spirited panel discussion regarding whether today's best hot sauce come from Mexico, Thailand, Cambodia, or South Carolina, is at least topical--in more than one sense!--and if not the masterwork some will declare, at least better than stubbing your toe on a terrazzo floor! Most of the time!
Sade: The Ultimate Collection (Epic) Now we're talking! A two-CD set collecting the very best of ultra-cool chanteuse Sade, all the way back to her debut album, featuring 29 tracks, four of which are previously unreleased, and all of them spotlessly recorded, completely timeless, and the sort of thing all of today's best pop musicians should completely aspire to! Sounding as fresh as the day they were created, the tracks have such zest, such icy passion, such raw understated emotion, you would not be blamed were you to literally pluck them from your stereo, assign them names, dress them up in fancy clothes, take them out for a night of dinner and dance, stop for a nightcap at a neighborhood bar, then gallantly attempt to ply them with fancy drinks until they return home with you, weak-willed and ready to capitulate! Sadly, however, since they are songs, they have no physical form, and you've wasted another night at home alone while the rest of the world is out having fun! No biggie, though! There's still tomorrow!
Sixx: A.M: This Is Gonna Hurt (Eleven Seven Music) I hate to quote bios, but in this case, it's relevant: "When Nikki Sixx, James Michael and DJ Ashba get together, something special happens." As the saying goes, truer words were never spoken! In a stunning turnabout from Sixx's earlier career as one of rock's "bad boys" in Motley Crue, here in the new millennium the colorful former bassist and his two pals gather together in a Malibu kitchen and document, on a track-by-track basis, the steps necessary in concocting a scrumptious pineapple upside-down cake! Hard to believe? You bet! So where does the album title come in? Humorously enough--and Sixx & Co. have always been loads of laughs!--it's from a barely audible aside uttered by DJ Ashba when he holds up the frosting knife spreader so Nikki can grab a lick before they all head off to the living room to check out Humble Pie's "Red Light Mamma, Red Hot" and "One-Eyed Trouser Snake Rumba"! Rock doesn't get any better than this!
Jennifer Lopez: LOVE? (Island) She's sold over 55 million records worldwide, she's an international film star, and now she's in everyone's living room two nights a week as a judge on American Idol! You'd think she'd be the picture of contentment! Still, I can't help but chuckle to think about a recent dialog I had with her: We were sitting at Casa Vega in Sherman Oaks and I was telling her that I thought she should be careful because word was getting out that she wasn't really that good of a singer and people were talking about it, and she got all moody and huffy and asked me what the heck did I know about music and who did I think was a good singer, who was my favorite band, and I said "Love" and she looked up at the ceiling, laughing so loudly she sprayed her margarita, and said "LOVE?" Little did I suspect that the crazy chick actually spoke in capital letters! Later we made up and started talking about Clay Aiken! But I guess I spooked her!
John Martyn: Heaven & Earth (Liaison Music) Ironically one of the week's best new releases comes unheralded, unannounced, and without any sales expectations whatsoever--but is the first posthumous release by the now legendary Brit folk/psych singer-songwriter John Martyn, and it is worthy indeed! Rough, but tastefully finished up by producer friend Jim Tullio, the album is spacy, Martyn's voice is gruffer than it would ever be, the famous exploratory spirit that colored most of his music is ever-present, the songs are well-structured and varied, and even old buddy Phil Collins shows up. An unexpected pleasure--and a welcome reminder that Martyn's contributions to popular music are still grossly under-appreciated. Look for it!
Loudon Wainwright III: 40 Odd Years (Shout Factory) Speaking of enormously gifted singer-songwriters, you could ask for no better package to represent Loudon Wainwright III, whose lengthy career has bordered on the consistently brilliant, and whose talent for melding the witty and the ascerbic into one lyrical passage is perhaps unequalled in popular music. This means he's good! A fabulous collection including 4 CDs and one DVD, 40 Odd Years is jam-packed with his best work--from his popular ‘70s hit "Dead Skunk" to his oddly-covered (Paul Jones, Big Star) "Motel Blues" to his less humorous, comparatively harrowing material of the mid-‘90s. He's extremely literate, but his songs are rarely wordy and, to a fault, are genuinely unique. Highly recommended!
Bruce Hornsby: Bride Of The Noisemakers (429) In a way, the fame that came to Bruce Hornsby 25 years ago via his hit "The Way It Is" has been something of his undoing: It was such a hit, so much the right song at the right time, that all that has come since--and there has been much--has maybe been unfairly overlooked. He was and is an excellent pianist, a fine singer, a skilled songwriter, and a very musicianly performer--of which I wish we had more. This collection--25 live songs performed during 2007-2009 by his touring band the Noisemakers--is a good summation of his work and a great place to catch up with him in 2011. That said, I'd shy away from any weddings he might be playing at!
Ulver: War Of The Roses (Kscope) If you're like me, every once in a while you get a hankering to listen to a Norwegian band playing music that's classified in the "rock/electronic/ambient" category! Well, we're in luck! A surprisingly strong, well-crafted, deeply melodic and superbly played set, this is groovy art-rock that completely works in 2011--and if that sounds good to you, you're absolutely going to love this. And if that sounds incredibly dull, I understand there's a new Transformers movie coming soon! And if you wear an aluminum hat, you get in free!
Dredg: Chuckles & Mr. Squeezy (Superball) In many ways the best-titled album of the decade, Dredg's long-awaited return is marred only by the puzzling absence of Binky, Bobo, Otis, Elmo and Beppo! Where are they?
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