Three to Consider: Maybe, Probably, Can’t Help Myself

I’ve been traveling quite a bit for work without much time to write or even listen to all that much music. So here are three to consider that caught my interest in recent reviews and samplers—two new artists for me and one I have lost track of.

First up is the indie instrument infused Anathallo’s second album Canopy Glow. I have been listening to “The River” which reminds me of Andrew Bird (particularly the Mysterious Production of Eggs) with its ornate layering and complex lyrics. Reviews of their first album suggest that perhaps they are trying just a bit too hard, but reviews I have seen for Canopy Glow suggest consistent song writing with a wonderful mix of music and choral arrangements. The key for me will be whether the album has good variation in song style which I am not sure, so any input there or in general is appreciated. For now it’s a maybe.

The River (Buy Album)

Now what is up with dudes and cabins in the Wisconsin woods? First we had Bon Iver which probably still holds favorite album of year status for me. Now along comes Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons for our second consideration. I have been listening to “Home in the Woods” from the EP Cabin Ghosts which is apparently named for his family’s cabin in the Wisconsin woods where this is recorded. When I first heard the song, I thought it might be an older artist who had been working for some time and I had just missed him like so many others. His voice has a kind of Marc Cohn sound to it (which I really like), but the sound is more bluesy and raw in a way that makes me think of Greg Brown. To my surprise, Chisel is a newer artist (and young) which might mean we are hearing someone who is at the beginning of a promising career. I am looking forward to hearing more, so this one is a probably for me.

Home in the Woods (Buy EP)

For the last consideration we have Joan Osborne’s latest release, Little Wild One. I confess to being one of those people who only have the hit album Relish which I really loved and played a lot one summer back in Salt Lake City. I remember thinking that this is someone I am going to explore and then didn’t. I got interested again when I read the reviews of her latest album. They (the reviews) weren’t all that great, although respectful of her as an artist. But all the descriptions about songs set in New York City and her role as a newish parent attracted me—but again, I didn’t pursue. However, when I heard “Cathedrals” I couldn’t stop playing it. It isn’t the most complex song, but I simply love the arrangement, the way the tune builds and then resolves. Osborne has such a strong alto voice and the lyrics are clearly from someone who I can identify with. It reminds me of early Billy Joel in many ways, but that is a whole other issue. In short, I am quite sure this one is going to be picked up unless some dear reader tells me otherwise.

Cathedrals (Buy Album)

Holiday Music: Shawn Colvin

Not that I think anyone is paying that close attention, but I am going to change the holiday music posting approach. I am still going with the advent approach--that is, a post a week for the four weeks leading up to Christmas for all you heathens. However, rather than doing the various genres I suggested last week, I am going to stick with one type of music for this year (pop/rock influence) followed by a final post on a classic album. If we are still around next year we will take up another genre or style--jazz, classical, compilations, etc. All of which is to say, we are sticking with pop/rock influenced holiday album this week (as if you didn't know that from the title).

This week's pick is influenced by the weather (and of course my attachment to the album). Yesterday started cold (about freezing) with blue skies but quickly became a gray day with low December light. Mid-afternoon brought a light snow that continued into the night and left a skiffof snow on the ground this morning with flakes still swirling in the air. We spent the weekend doing holiday errands, putting up a few tasteful outdoor lights (in case anyone is taking video), building fires, making lists, walking in our little snow, and drinking eggnog (and a few other holiday spirits).

Shawn Colvin's Holiday Songs and Lullabies was made for just such weather. Calm and peaceful like a first December snow, Colvin arranges a host of wonderful songs on this 1998 release.  It has the potential to be a sugary holiday overload, but Colvin's sincerity and vocals (that could make the phonebook sound like great lyrics) overcomes any such worries.

Now this album is slow with little attempt to be anything else, so don't try it on unless you aren't ready for some quietude. I surely have a soft spot for it since I have been listening to it for the last eight years which has, for at least six of them, involved rocking small boys to sleep, so it has been the perfect holiday album. But a fire on a cold night and your favorite sippin' and a good book (or blog) is the perfect companion for this holiday album.

The song choice is also key. There are some traditional tunes here (e.g. Silent Night), but a good number of the songs are not ones you will hear on your local holiday radio station, or, frankly, on other holiday albums. So all you peaceful folks or new parents looking for an album to quiet the little one in your home, here are a few samples to put you in that seasonal and contemplative mood (0r you can just Buy the Album).

In the Bleak Mid-Winter
Love Came Down at Christmas
Little Road to Bethlehem

Lucinda Returns from the West

Despite the fact that I have been listening to Lucinda Williams' latest album Little Honey off and on for a couple months now, I just seem to not get around to posting about it. There are a variety of reasons, but one of the main reasons was that so many folks seemed to be so happy about this album in juxtaposition to the previous release West. Here is Paste:

A sharp contrast to the studied tapestry of sound and embittered lyrics of West, Little Honey finds Williams in celebratory mode, with raucous rock, bluesy testimonies and tongue-in-cheek twang.

But all of these "thank God she is over that" comparisons made me keep thinking: "But I liked West!" More to the point, I kept going back and listening to the two albums, one against the other.

Sure, the new album is more upbeat and it definitely has the Lucinda swagger that you have to love, but dang people, West is about loss and hurt, and really does anyone do that better these days than Lucinda? The songs on West take anyone who has lost someone back to that moment in time and weep. They make jilted lovers remember both the hurt and anger. And they make anyone who has hurt another, feel the razor's edge of guilt and regret. Little Honey on the other hand makes you laugh, dance and nod knowingly.

All of which is not to say that I prefer West to Little Honey, but rather to say that they are apples and oranges in one sense, but in another they are all the fruit of Lucinda's emotions and that is what makes them so sweet (sorry, bad metaphor, but it just happened).

So let's talk just a little bit about the new effort which in overall is a really fine and fun album. It is confident with that don't mess with me--alright you can mess with me a little--attitude. The songs are varied both in style and content from honky tonk to blues to rock but they all express a certain sense that Williams is settling in with who she is. On West she longs for her Mama (who had recently passed) and tells her she's sweet, but on Little Honey, "she is gonna see her mother in heaven," not to mention "talk to God" and "set things straight."

Some have pointed out that the album is a bit inconsistent which I would sort of agree with (it might have been a couple songs shorter and I, too, would have lost the duet with Elvis Costello--despite loving the Elvis man). At the same time, I agree with those who have suggested that some of the nit-picky criticisms of this album are, in part, has to do with the bar being set high for Williams. If you had never heard Lucinda prior to this album, I think you would feel like you stumbled onto something great and that is something to remember. So, sure covering AC/DC is a bit silly, but I confess it makes me happy every time I hear it! And while it doesn't quite hold together as a perfect album, it is really an above average album--definitely worth a spin.

Here are a couple tracks to give you a sense, and since I spent more time than I meant covering West too, I have thrown in a couple from that album as well to give you a flavor if you don't have it.

From Little Honey (Buy Album)

Real Love
Heaven Blues

From West (Buy Album)

Mama You Sweet
Wrap My Head Around That

Holiday Music: Bruce Cockburn

As we emerge from the Thanksginving weekend and enter into the high holiday season, I must admit that I am a total uncrtical fan of holiday music (primarily Christmas tunes given my upbringing). I have a kind of embarassing amount of holiday music and I am really pretty resistant to hearing too much of it during December. Don't ask me to listen to a single track before Thanksgving, but after that, it is my primary set of music.

As a result, it will be unavoidable for me to not write about it since it will represent the majority of what I will listen to for the next month. However, in the interest of hopefully keeping the small random group of TR readers coming back, I have developed a kind of "advent strategy" to posting about holiday music. I am going to limit myself to one disc a week leading up to Christmas. My goal is to give you one pop/rock influenced album, one jazz, one classical, and one "classic" holiday disc--the last category providing me the opportunity to post on anything I want as long as I deem it a classic. See how that works?

Okay, so let's get started. My first offering is Bruce Cockburn's 1993 release simply named Christmas. If you like Cockburn's music and you like holiday tunes, this is a must have. It is all acoustic, just in case you were worried that Bruce might bust into one of his rocking rages where he tears into the commercialism of the holiday--his point is more subtle here. This album is focused on the history of this music and on conveying a real sense of belief in the best of this season.

He travels through music to give us 16th century Spanish music, to "The Huron Carol" from the 1600's in Jesuit influenced Canada, to a host of traditional carols. But this is no world-music disc as the music really feels like a group of musicians sitting around with guitar, fiddle, dulcimer, harp, accordion and more re-telling these stories and celebrating something quite spiritual through their interpretations of these songs.

The arrangements are the key with gospel and blues being the driving genre. Cockburn's folk sound (here with a heavy dose of French-Canadian feel) mixed in with his usual story-telling orientation creates a certain sound that is simple and joyful.

Here are a few samples. The first is "Early on One Christmas Morn" which Cockburn reports first hearing on an anthology of early gospel recordings--this one by The Cottontop Mountain Sanctified Singers (dig that name!). The second is one of my favs "I Saw Three Ships". Lastly, there is "Les Anges Dans Nos Campagnes" which you will quickly recognize as "Angels We Have Heard on High" which is a traditional French carol from the 18th century, but as Bruce notes has a "rhythmic groove . . . written right into it."

I think these will give you a sense of what makes this album so special.

Early on One Christmas Morn Buy Album
I Saw Three Ships
Les Anges Dans Nos Campagnes

Happy Thanksgiving All!

May your day be warm, safe and shared with friends and family.

Thanksgiving

RSHIP: Easy Listening

Haven't had a whole lot of time to think carefully about music and posting--in part because work has been eating up life in a variety of ways.  One way was the conference I ran this past weekend at your basic DC hotel which involved a variety of, um, melodramatic events.  But the 48 hours in the hotel was highlighted by far too much time hanging out in the hotel general space listening to the easy listening soundtrack they were playing.

We were amazed by songs that apparently were too rowdy in their original form to be included and so required being remade into softer, easier to listen to tunes.  Songs like "Don't Stop" by Fleetwood Mac or "Beautiful Tonight" by Eric Clapton apparently were just too hard in their original form.  And if I could even name one of the hundred bad easy-listening-love-duets they played I would, but I can't.  

But here is the song that gave me my biggest eye-roll of the weekend.  I challenge you all, dear readers, to name a sappier song. 

Getting Ready for the Flood

Seems we have been hearing about the forthcoming almost-Jayhawk reunion album Ready for the Flood for some time with even a review or two despite the fact that the album isn’t due out until early next year. However, I did notice that the import is coming out in just over a week so it seemed appropriate to do a little pre-release post on Mr. Louris and Mr. Olson.

I am pretty anxious to hear this new effort as I have been recently going back and listening to the early Jayhawk albums which are really quite wonderful. I have also been listening to Louris’ new and first solo album Vagabonds (which I discussed briefly earlier this year) and Olson’s latest solo effort Salvation Blues.

Both of the solo efforts are worth a listen, although neither of them measure up to this duo’s work together. Olson’s album is just a bit too melancholy and barren for me even when he is singing about redemption and that he is now in that happier place. His songs are well-crafted (better than most these days) and the music is fine, but I am just not a huge fan of his vocals on their own. 

The Louris album is stronger I think, although he relies more on arrangements and production that seems closer to Jayhawk style, which might be why I prefer it. There is a better mix of country, blues and rock. He employees some great backing vocals so you get those great harmonies that the Jayhawks have and overall it is just a more interesting disc.

But still, there is not a chance I would pick either solo effort over albums like Hollywood Town Hall and Tomorrow the Green Grass. These albums, particularly the latter for me, are just solid all the way through with some near-perfect songs to my taste. The singing is beautiful and as I suggested above they are better together than apart. There is something about how their vocals mix that makes their voice in some cases seem wonderfully indistinguishable and in others the perfect counter to each other (dare I say Lennon/McCartney).

They also seem so confident on these albums—not like they know everything, but that they are sure of their intent with the music (which I find a bit missing on their solo efforts). Makes me wonder if that is age or circumstance, or if there is something about them singing together that elicits that quality—we will see. Until then, here are some samples for you to compare.

Salvation Blues – Mark Olson (Buy Album)
Vagabonds – Gary Louris (Buy Album)
Sister Cry – Jayhawks (Buy Album)
Blue – Jayhawks (Buy Album)