I’m again limiting my reviews to around 150 words each, attempting to cover as much music as I can. There’s just so much good stuff out there worth mentioning! As always buying your music from one of our many fine independent record stores is the way to go.
Loudon Wainwright III
Haven’t Got the Blues Yet
429 Records
After more than thirty albums and nearly a half century of making music, you’d think that Loudon Wainwright III would be happy, or at the very least have some understanding of how loved he is. But contentment has always been a fleeting apparition for Wainwright, a brief hiatus from the gloom that helps sharpen his satirical knife while giving a contrast to the inevitable bitter of the sweet. Having met him, I can attest that he’s actually a pretty cheerful guy, but he’s smart enough to keep it mostly under wraps.
Haven’t Got The Blues Yet is the latest chapter in his ongoing efforts to tap into the Americana lexicon, fusing blues with roots, folk, country, and (a rarity for him) a touch of swing jazz. It’s Wainwright at his adventurous best, taking much deserved swings at the NRA (“I’ll Be Killing You This Christmas”), religious intolerance (“God and Man”) and obsessive psychoanalysis (“Depression Blues”). But mostly Wainwright skewers his own failings and foibles, being at times both merciless and forgiving in equal amounts.
Again paired with longtime producer David Mansfield, and supported by a bevy of excellent guest players, Wainwright sounds relaxed, rejuvenated, and as ornery as ever. At nearly 70 years old you’d think he’d lighten up, or at the least take it easy on himself but that’s never been the way of Loudon Wainwright III. Which is fine because the artist, and we, are all the better for having born witness to his neurosis. ****
Eileen Rose
Be Many Gone
Cadiz Music
Rose’s much anticipated (at least by me) follow-up to 2009’s Luna Turista, is a considerably more diverse affair, indicating a desire on her part to extend beyond the wistful country balladry that dominated her earlier work. There’s certainly a healthy dash of such sentiments but for the most part Be Many Gone hints at a direction that does Rose well.
“She’s Yours” has a lovely jazz swing to it—one that belies the seriousness of the narrative—while the rest of the record glides from rockabilly strut to more contemporary Nashville country pop.
It’s a break up album with heart, soul, confidence, and the sort of real life stuff that in an era past, would have made the classic country radio waves. It’s also impeccably played and sung, loose when it needs to be but never imprecise or tentative. As such it’s one of those discs that, despite the abundance of music that arrives in my mailbox, I keep returning to time and again. ****1/2
Cowboy Mouth
Go!
Elm City Music
I’ll admit to never being a big fan of this widely acclaimed New Orleans based quartet but based on the fervent recommendations of friends I’m giving them a second chance. Go! seems to be a good jumping back point, a new album cut in the classic CM mold, continuing to straddle a line between what drummer/lead vocalist Fred LeBlanc describes as “the wild offspring of the Neville Brothers and the Clash.”
I’ll admit that’s as good a descriptor as any; in fact they even have a song titled “Joe Strummer” which certainly scores points in my book. Given the raucous nature of their shows, Go! may be a tad too restrained for my tastes, but it’s a finely crafted genre effort that should please their fans. It’s a solid, musical cornucopia, readily mixing electric blues, rock, funk, and more than a bit of rockabilly that screams New Orleans.
New listeners might begin by sampling the title track, but for a more exploratory side of the band the funk laden tango of “Mardi Gras by Moonlight” is a sheer delight. ***1/2
Various Artists
Beck Song Reader
Capitol Records
The notion of Beck creating a paper version of an album he never actually recorded was, even by his standards, a bit of a stretch. A love letter to a time when actual artifacts were rare and sheet music was the primary means for sharing songs, Song Reader was a pivotal move for him.
Finding himself in a self described creative funk, Beck hoped to rekindle his creative spark by composing material and letting others interpret it as they might. It made for an interesting concept and encouraged hundreds of unknown performers to post You Tube versions of their favorite Beck offerings. In turn that’s the obvious inspiration for this release, as artists as varied as Norah Jones, Jack White, Jack Black, and Spanish-language superstar Juanes join in the fun.
Some play it fairly close to what Beck himself might have done while others, most notably Juanes’ crazed Latin spin on ‘’Don’t Act Like Your Heart Isn’t Hard” and Norah Jones’s cagey kitten purring on ‘’Just Noise” take things in a very different direction. Much like his own fabled Record Club series, in which he recreates his own versions of mostly well known albums, it’s intended largely for the hard core fans.
Yes it’s another diversion along the Beck Hansen highway but it’s also one heck of a fun ride. ****
