"Wherever this flag is flown/We take care of our own."
Hmmm...somehow I don't see any of the Republican candidates appropriating this song for their campaign themes.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Friday, January 6, 2012
Wilco, Mavis Staples and Nick Lowe rehearse "The Weight"
Does it get much better than this?
People occasionally compare Wilco to the Band, even if they're not nearly Canadian enough. But this clip makes the connection even more explicit, if you recall the Staple Singers' great turn on "The Weight" in Martin Scorsese's film of the Band's final concert, "The Last Waltz."
People occasionally compare Wilco to the Band, even if they're not nearly Canadian enough. But this clip makes the connection even more explicit, if you recall the Staple Singers' great turn on "The Weight" in Martin Scorsese's film of the Band's final concert, "The Last Waltz."
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
The REAL top musical moment of 2011
Friend Steve Carosello just reminded me that my year-end rundown neglected to highlight the real top musical moment of 2011. Let's fix that right now.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Where the hell have I been?
Well, for one thing, Gary Graff and I have been putting the finishing touches on our latest book, Rock 'n' Roll Myths: The True Stories Behind the Most Infamous Legends (Voyageur Press). It'll be out in June, but you can go here if you're of a mind to order it waaaay in advance.
For another, I taught a class, History of Rock & Roll to 1965 at Webster University during the Fall 2011 semester. It was a terrific experience, and I hope to be teaching the class again next fall. Going through it for the first time, though, it was kind of all-consuming, and the blog, alas, got left behind. I'll try to do better in the new year.
For another, I taught a class, History of Rock & Roll to 1965 at Webster University during the Fall 2011 semester. It was a terrific experience, and I hope to be teaching the class again next fall. Going through it for the first time, though, it was kind of all-consuming, and the blog, alas, got left behind. I'll try to do better in the new year.
Friday, December 30, 2011
2011 Top 10s
Hey folks, it's been a while. Nevertheless, it's time to check in with my Top 10 lists (plus a few honorable mentions) for 2011. Here goes:
Albums
1. Ry Cooder, Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down (Nonesuch)
Cooder has always made great records, but he’s seldom been the go-to guy for current events – until now. “Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down” predated Occupy Wall Street, but it should have become the movements cri de coeur. Its cast of characters includes criminal financiers, crooked politicians and other privileged white men quite literally singing the blues. They’re set against a struggling underclass, illegal immigrants searching for compassion and soldiers enmeshed in senseless wars. A belated – but “strictly copastatic” – plea for John Lee Hooker to be elected president aside, Pull Up Some Dust feels more like it was ripped right out of your Twitter feed than any other album released in 2011.
2. The Black Keys, El Camino (Nonesuch)
Let this interpretive dance (below) speak for how I feel about this album, another collaboration between the Akron, Ohio, blues-rock duo and producer Danger Mouse.
3. Paul Simon, So Beautiful or So What (Hear Music)
Earlier this year, I heard Randy Newman make the joke that you can only understand Paul Simon’s songs if you know him personally. That may be true on occasion, but there’s enough universality in this late-career masterpiece to engage anyone. Simon leavens the preponderance of deep thoughts and deep grooves with some funny notions, especially in “The Afterlife,” which imagines that even Heaven is bogged down in red tape and bureaucracy.
4. The Decemberists, The King Is Dead (Capitol)
I like Colin Meloy when he thinks big, as on concept works like 2009’s The Hazards of Love, but I like him even more when he packs all that brain power – and that vocabulary! – into smaller, pop-friendly packages, as he does here.
5. Low, C’mon (Sub Pop)
The latest from the Duluth, Minnesota, slowcore combo, C’mon is lush but low-key, featuring beautiful harmonies from principals Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker. These songs build slowly and surely, but when they peak, their impact is deeply felt. (And hey, isn’t that John Stamos in the video?)
6. Das Racist, Relax (Red General Catalog)
For those who think that the real problem with hip-hop these days is that it takes itself far too seriously (see “worst album” below), here’s the cure. Das Racist is a Brooklyn crew whose commercial debut recalls the heyday of trippy, sampledelic and, importantly, both funny and occasionally profound rap (see De La Soul’s 3 Feet High and Rising and the Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique.
7. Ballake Sissoko/Vincent Segal, Chamber Music (Six Degrees)
Easily the most gorgeous album I heard this year, featuring two fine musicians playing my two favorite instruments on the planet – the kora (a African harp-like instrument made from a giant gourd) and the cello. (Sorry, bari sax.) Mali native Sissouku is known for his work with kora master Toumani Diabate and Taj Mahal, while Frenchman Segal has played with Sting, Chocolate Genius and Marianne Faithful, among others.
8. Wilco, The Whole Love (dBpm/Anti-)
Wilco is comfortable enough with its place in the universe to open the debut album for its own indie label, dBpm, with a krautrock-driven bit of skronk and end it with a long – really long -- hushed meditation. In between, the band offers more conventional, but decidedly superior fare, proving that, with its lineup seemingly stabilized at last, Wilco only keeps getting better.
9. Lykke Li, Wounded Rhymes (Atlantic)
In terms of retro-sounding female singers, Adele took most of the headlines in 2011. My preference is for this Swedish singer/songwriter, whose work recalls '60s girl-group classicism, but with contemporary twists and turns. And the songs are terrific.
10. The Roots, undun (Def Jam)
Not content to merely hold down a day job as Late Night with Jimmy Fallon’s house band, the Roots released two of 2010’s best albums, How I Got Over and Wake Up! the latter a collaboration with John Legend. This short, but penetrating concept album about a doomed, crack-addled street hustler is perhaps the band's most thought-provoking and musically ambitious work – check the classically charged denouement – which, for this group, is saying something.
Honorable mention: Destroyer, Kaputt (Merge); Tom Waits, Bad As Me (Anti-); Abigail Washburn, City of Refuge (Rounder); Adele, 21; Seun Kuti & Africa 80, From Africa with Fury: Rise (Knitting Factory)
Worst Album: Jay-Z & Kanye West, Watch the Throne (Def Jam)Mo’ money, mo’ predictable records. Is there an album more out of step with the times than Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “Watch the Throne?” Beats aside, I’m pretty sure I’ve heard as much as I need of that “luxury rap” bullshit from Mitt Romney and Donald Trump.
Singles/Songs
1. “Someone Like You,” Adele (XL/Columbia)
2. “The Wilhelm Scream,” James Blake (Republic/Universal)
3. “Romance,” Wild Flag (Merge)
4. “Get Away,” Yuck (Fat Possum)
5. “Ghost on a Canvas,” Glen Campbell (Surfdog)
6. “Midnight City,” M83 (Mute)
7. “Go Outside,” Cults (Columbia)
8. “Barton Hollow,” The Civil Wars (Sensibility Music)
9. “Bizness,” tUnE-yArds (4AD)
10. “I Believe,” Andrew Rannells and “The Book of Mormon” Ensemble (Ghostlight)
Concerts (St. Louis only)Most of this portion of the post was previously publisher here.
1. Elvis Costello & the Imposters at the Pageant, July 1: Costello chose the set list via his “Spectacular Spinning Songbook” game-show wheel, injecting an element of chance into a show that was otherwise a sure thing. Added bonus: a surprise appearance by Eddie Vedder. (Post-Dispatch review)
2. Paul Simon/Punch Brothers at the Fox, November 15: A stunning career retrospective in which Simon’s singular achievement in songwriting was amplified by a versatile band that handled South African mbaqanga, Brazilian batucada and a Bo Diddley cover with equal aplomb. The string wizardry of Punch Brothers was equally dazzling. (Post-Dispatch review)
3. Robert Plant and Band of Joy at the Fox, June 15: Merging his past as rock’s Golden God with his present as an avatar of Americana, Plant radically reworked a number of Led Zeppelin classics, sacrificing their heavy metal thunder, perhaps, but not their emotional intensity. (Post-Dispatch review)
4. U2 at Busch Stadium, July 17: Thanks to U2’s state-of-the-art spaceship/claw thingy, the show was a visual spectacle second to none. Musically, too, the band brought the heat…as if it wasn’t already hot enough that night.
5. Rodney Crowell at the Duck Room, February 28: Touring not in support of an album, but rather his memoir, “Chinaberry Sidewalks,” Crowell coolly donned dark glasses to read aloud a few passages by lamplight and also sang songs from his terrific catalog.
6. Marshall Crenshaw/The Bottle Rockets at Off Broadway, January 19: An inspired pairing that found the hometown BoRox knocking out a set of rootsy goodness, then backing Crenshaw in pursuit of pop perfection.
7. Chiwoniso at the Touhill, February 26: Fronting her band or simply singing over her own accompaniment on the mbira, Zimbabwe’s Chiwoniso turned in a mesmerizing performance that was seen by far too few. Where are St. Louis’ world music fans?
8. LouFest at Central Field, Forest Park, August 27-28: Despite what could have been a crippling cancelation by the Roots, the second edition of LouFest still offered an outstanding musical smorgasbord, with notably great sets from TV on the Radio, the Hold Steady, !!! and Das Racist.
9. Bon Iver/Kathleen Edwards at the Pageant, September 11: Fronting an eight-piece band, Justin Vernon turned his carefully observed, understated songs into explosive rock, chaotic skronk and moments of lushly orchestrated but carefully controlled beauty. Opener Kathleen Edwards shined as well. (Post-Dispatch review)
10. Foo Fighters at Scottrade Center, September 17: For three hours, Dave Grohl and the Foos made an impassioned case for the continued relevance of rock bands that “play their instruments without computers, get all sweaty, drink a bunch of beer and play loud music.” (Post-Dispatch review)
Honorable mention: Randy Newman at the Sheldon, February 25; Warren Haynes Band at the Pageant, May 15; Ben Folds with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra at Powell Hall, November 6; Dave Alvin & the Guilty Men/the Skeletons at Off Broadway, July 8; The Bo-Keys, Wood House Concert, July 15
Worst concert: Miss Lauryn Hill at the Pageant, January 16: A sad, hot mess of a night with a once-great artist who has lost her way.
Albums
1. Ry Cooder, Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down (Nonesuch)
Cooder has always made great records, but he’s seldom been the go-to guy for current events – until now. “Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down” predated Occupy Wall Street, but it should have become the movements cri de coeur. Its cast of characters includes criminal financiers, crooked politicians and other privileged white men quite literally singing the blues. They’re set against a struggling underclass, illegal immigrants searching for compassion and soldiers enmeshed in senseless wars. A belated – but “strictly copastatic” – plea for John Lee Hooker to be elected president aside, Pull Up Some Dust feels more like it was ripped right out of your Twitter feed than any other album released in 2011.
2. The Black Keys, El Camino (Nonesuch)
Let this interpretive dance (below) speak for how I feel about this album, another collaboration between the Akron, Ohio, blues-rock duo and producer Danger Mouse.
3. Paul Simon, So Beautiful or So What (Hear Music)
Earlier this year, I heard Randy Newman make the joke that you can only understand Paul Simon’s songs if you know him personally. That may be true on occasion, but there’s enough universality in this late-career masterpiece to engage anyone. Simon leavens the preponderance of deep thoughts and deep grooves with some funny notions, especially in “The Afterlife,” which imagines that even Heaven is bogged down in red tape and bureaucracy.
4. The Decemberists, The King Is Dead (Capitol)
I like Colin Meloy when he thinks big, as on concept works like 2009’s The Hazards of Love, but I like him even more when he packs all that brain power – and that vocabulary! – into smaller, pop-friendly packages, as he does here.
5. Low, C’mon (Sub Pop)
The latest from the Duluth, Minnesota, slowcore combo, C’mon is lush but low-key, featuring beautiful harmonies from principals Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker. These songs build slowly and surely, but when they peak, their impact is deeply felt. (And hey, isn’t that John Stamos in the video?)
6. Das Racist, Relax (Red General Catalog)
For those who think that the real problem with hip-hop these days is that it takes itself far too seriously (see “worst album” below), here’s the cure. Das Racist is a Brooklyn crew whose commercial debut recalls the heyday of trippy, sampledelic and, importantly, both funny and occasionally profound rap (see De La Soul’s 3 Feet High and Rising and the Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique.
7. Ballake Sissoko/Vincent Segal, Chamber Music (Six Degrees)
Easily the most gorgeous album I heard this year, featuring two fine musicians playing my two favorite instruments on the planet – the kora (a African harp-like instrument made from a giant gourd) and the cello. (Sorry, bari sax.) Mali native Sissouku is known for his work with kora master Toumani Diabate and Taj Mahal, while Frenchman Segal has played with Sting, Chocolate Genius and Marianne Faithful, among others.
8. Wilco, The Whole Love (dBpm/Anti-)
Wilco is comfortable enough with its place in the universe to open the debut album for its own indie label, dBpm, with a krautrock-driven bit of skronk and end it with a long – really long -- hushed meditation. In between, the band offers more conventional, but decidedly superior fare, proving that, with its lineup seemingly stabilized at last, Wilco only keeps getting better.
9. Lykke Li, Wounded Rhymes (Atlantic)
In terms of retro-sounding female singers, Adele took most of the headlines in 2011. My preference is for this Swedish singer/songwriter, whose work recalls '60s girl-group classicism, but with contemporary twists and turns. And the songs are terrific.
10. The Roots, undun (Def Jam)
Not content to merely hold down a day job as Late Night with Jimmy Fallon’s house band, the Roots released two of 2010’s best albums, How I Got Over and Wake Up! the latter a collaboration with John Legend. This short, but penetrating concept album about a doomed, crack-addled street hustler is perhaps the band's most thought-provoking and musically ambitious work – check the classically charged denouement – which, for this group, is saying something.
Honorable mention: Destroyer, Kaputt (Merge); Tom Waits, Bad As Me (Anti-); Abigail Washburn, City of Refuge (Rounder); Adele, 21; Seun Kuti & Africa 80, From Africa with Fury: Rise (Knitting Factory)
Worst Album: Jay-Z & Kanye West, Watch the Throne (Def Jam)Mo’ money, mo’ predictable records. Is there an album more out of step with the times than Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “Watch the Throne?” Beats aside, I’m pretty sure I’ve heard as much as I need of that “luxury rap” bullshit from Mitt Romney and Donald Trump.
Singles/Songs
1. “Someone Like You,” Adele (XL/Columbia)
2. “The Wilhelm Scream,” James Blake (Republic/Universal)
3. “Romance,” Wild Flag (Merge)
4. “Get Away,” Yuck (Fat Possum)
5. “Ghost on a Canvas,” Glen Campbell (Surfdog)
6. “Midnight City,” M83 (Mute)
7. “Go Outside,” Cults (Columbia)
8. “Barton Hollow,” The Civil Wars (Sensibility Music)
9. “Bizness,” tUnE-yArds (4AD)
10. “I Believe,” Andrew Rannells and “The Book of Mormon” Ensemble (Ghostlight)
Concerts (St. Louis only)Most of this portion of the post was previously publisher here.
1. Elvis Costello & the Imposters at the Pageant, July 1: Costello chose the set list via his “Spectacular Spinning Songbook” game-show wheel, injecting an element of chance into a show that was otherwise a sure thing. Added bonus: a surprise appearance by Eddie Vedder. (Post-Dispatch review)
2. Paul Simon/Punch Brothers at the Fox, November 15: A stunning career retrospective in which Simon’s singular achievement in songwriting was amplified by a versatile band that handled South African mbaqanga, Brazilian batucada and a Bo Diddley cover with equal aplomb. The string wizardry of Punch Brothers was equally dazzling. (Post-Dispatch review)
3. Robert Plant and Band of Joy at the Fox, June 15: Merging his past as rock’s Golden God with his present as an avatar of Americana, Plant radically reworked a number of Led Zeppelin classics, sacrificing their heavy metal thunder, perhaps, but not their emotional intensity. (Post-Dispatch review)
4. U2 at Busch Stadium, July 17: Thanks to U2’s state-of-the-art spaceship/claw thingy, the show was a visual spectacle second to none. Musically, too, the band brought the heat…as if it wasn’t already hot enough that night.
5. Rodney Crowell at the Duck Room, February 28: Touring not in support of an album, but rather his memoir, “Chinaberry Sidewalks,” Crowell coolly donned dark glasses to read aloud a few passages by lamplight and also sang songs from his terrific catalog.
6. Marshall Crenshaw/The Bottle Rockets at Off Broadway, January 19: An inspired pairing that found the hometown BoRox knocking out a set of rootsy goodness, then backing Crenshaw in pursuit of pop perfection.
7. Chiwoniso at the Touhill, February 26: Fronting her band or simply singing over her own accompaniment on the mbira, Zimbabwe’s Chiwoniso turned in a mesmerizing performance that was seen by far too few. Where are St. Louis’ world music fans?
8. LouFest at Central Field, Forest Park, August 27-28: Despite what could have been a crippling cancelation by the Roots, the second edition of LouFest still offered an outstanding musical smorgasbord, with notably great sets from TV on the Radio, the Hold Steady, !!! and Das Racist.
9. Bon Iver/Kathleen Edwards at the Pageant, September 11: Fronting an eight-piece band, Justin Vernon turned his carefully observed, understated songs into explosive rock, chaotic skronk and moments of lushly orchestrated but carefully controlled beauty. Opener Kathleen Edwards shined as well. (Post-Dispatch review)
10. Foo Fighters at Scottrade Center, September 17: For three hours, Dave Grohl and the Foos made an impassioned case for the continued relevance of rock bands that “play their instruments without computers, get all sweaty, drink a bunch of beer and play loud music.” (Post-Dispatch review)
Honorable mention: Randy Newman at the Sheldon, February 25; Warren Haynes Band at the Pageant, May 15; Ben Folds with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra at Powell Hall, November 6; Dave Alvin & the Guilty Men/the Skeletons at Off Broadway, July 8; The Bo-Keys, Wood House Concert, July 15
Worst concert: Miss Lauryn Hill at the Pageant, January 16: A sad, hot mess of a night with a once-great artist who has lost her way.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
TV on the Radio Live on Letterman webcast
Love these guys. I was sorry to hear today about the death of bassist Gerard Smith.
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