Spring has arrived along with a sprightly batch of new discs. What better way to celebrate than relaxing on a hammock with music to love? Just be sure to legally purchase this music at any one of our excellent locally owned record stores. They are the folks who really know their music.
Poco
All Fired Up
Drifter’s Church Music
Given their lengthy and complicated history-few bands have survived more personnel changes than has this venerable combo-there’s something mildly reassuring just knowing Poco are still around, touring the road circuit and releasing albums every ten years or so.
Even more admirably, much like their spiritual brethren The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, they are doing so in a soft country rock genre that for the most part no longer exists, has little or no chance of radio play, and will likely never reenergize a new generation of fans.
Given that their best days-both creatively and commercially-are well behind them the best Poco can expect might be to hold on to their long standing fan base and maybe pick up a few youngsters whose parents once grooved to “Crazy Eyes” and “Kind Woman.” That’s a tough position for any artist to be in but, to their credit, the band keeps soldiering on.
Only vocalist/ guitarist Rusty Young remains from the earliest days-Richie Furay and Jim Messina have long since moved on to other things-but new members (Jack Sundrud (bass) and George Lawrence (drums) and multi-instrumentalist Michael Webb are well studied in the bands’ legacy. As to the songs themselves nothing here adds demonstrably to that legacy, but neither do they detract from it.
“Regret” has a nice mid-period Eagles sound-buoyed by a standout vocal effort courtesy of Young- while the “That’s What Rock and Roll Will Do” would have been a FM radio hit. Except of course that avenue has long since disappeared.
So too with the witty Neil Young in which Rusty, in a Jimmy-Fallon-would- be- proud imitation of Neil’s trademark impossibly high pitched moan insists that “Neil Young is not my brother/ we hardly know each other/the DNA is in /and he’s not my kin.” Of course the two have been friends for years, so it’s pretty much an inside joke.
So while All Fired Up is anything but-much of it merely serves to remind us of their halcyon days-there’s not a damn thing wrong with a band giving the people what they want, even if those people have settled into lives as accountants, teachers, and grandparents. ***
Fat Opie
Victoryville
The newest release from this San Francisco-based trio rolls out of the speakers like a freight train threatening to leave the tracks and rarely slows down. While the band has been together for twenty years-and have garnered a solid reputation around Northern California, on this coast they’ve managed to stay a well kept secret. With its sturdy songwriting, terse arrangements, and commitment to rock music written by and for grownups (i.e. those of us who prefer actual substance over shine) Victoryville should help change that.
Principal songwriter and lead singer Scott Mickelson has a unique voice and works it well to his advantage. While the first emerged as a grunge band Fat Opie have since developed into a polished contemporary rock band, the sort of intelligentsia that is rarely heard these day.
The trio of Mickelson on vocals, banjo, and guitar, Robin Hildebrant on bass and vocals, and Dave Tavel on drums, produce a surprisingly full sound the teeters on the edge of discordance but manages to stay sturdy and solid.
No one song stands out (although “Target Girl” and “Concrete Kid” kept grabbing my attention) but that speaks more to the consistency of the album than anything else. But don’t take my word for it: go to www.fatopie.com, sample of few tracks, and see if you’re not among the converted. ***1/2
Richard Thompson
Electric
New West Records
The album title is bit disingenuous- Thompson’s 24th studio effort is no more of less plugged in than the totality of his work-and the opening track begins as strange as any he’s ever recorded. But once you slide that out of the way Electric reveals itself as prime Thompson, crackling with limitless energy, superb playing by all involved, and some of his most engaging and tightly written songs.
Recorded at Buddy Miller’s home studio in Nashville it certainly skirts around the familiar edges of country but for the most part the spontaneity-emphasizing instinct over precision-is what carries the day.
Even when his trademark Stratocaster is left in the case-such as in the off kilter morality fable (does Thompson write any other kind?) “The Snow Goose” there’s a sense of urgency to get things done, and get them done NOW.
As such there’s ample room for the band to stretch out and get playful, best heard in the delightfully daft “Sally B.”, giving Electric an airy countenance that is occasionally missing from Thompson’s work: Even when he gets serious it’s with a hopeful eye. “Where’s Home?” is as mournful and haunting a tune as Thompson’s ever written, and quite possibly near the top tier of his glorious career.
As solid as the songs are-and several are among his best- the strongest trait of Electric is its ambiance, how the music leaps and lands, and literally pounces out of the speakers. It’s a good as Thompson gets, meaning it’s about the most assertive, muscular, and intelligent music out there.
And be sure to invest a few extra nickels for the eighteen track bonus release which features no mere outtakes but rather an extra helping of a most satisfying main course. ****
Robyn Hitchcock
Love from London
Yep Roc Records
If 2010’s Propeller Time found Robyn Hitchcock in an often minimalist mood then Love from London, recorded in his East London flat just days after his 60th birthday, finds the ever restless Hitchcock in a more expansive space, reflecting on his four decades in music while embracing his never-ending sonic wanderlust.
In many ways Love from London sounds more like a Venus 3- Hitchcock’s recurrent ensemble featuring REM alumni Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey, and Bill Rieflin- than any of his sparsely arranged solo disc. For starters it’s a deliberately layered collection, rejoicing in the sort of dense psychedelia that Hitchcock all but owns.
Swapping out the acoustic underpinnings in exchange for a crisp pop/rock sound that would fit in nicely alongside such esteemed Hitchcock efforts as Fegmania or Globe of Frogs this release sounds a bit more intentionally cohesive than the last decades ‘harvest. The piano-led, dirge-like “Harry’s Song” sets a rather dark tone but things quickly brighten with the spunky “Be Still” and the truly strange “Stupefied.”
Love from London works best when the light and dark lay side by side, especially in the hauntingly stunning “Death & Love” and the giddy Flaming Lips like “The End of Time.” Hitchcock clearly loves making records and if that tendency to “throw it at the wall and see what sticks” hasn’t always resulted in great albums it sure as heck hasn’t produced any dull ones. Entering into his seventy decade Robyn Hitchcock shows little signs of slowing down.
If anything his recent output, anchored by a pair of multi-disc retrospectives, has cemented his position as one of the truly great figures in rock music. I haven’t the slightest idea as to how one would enter into this vast Hitchcock universe. But for an artist whose oeuvre is as unpredictable as the man himself Love from London is as good as place as any to start. ***1/2
Michael Jefrey Stevens
Duets
ARC
Duets may not be the most original of album titles (a quick online glance came up with well over forty variations) but the music found on local musician Michael Jefrey Stevens latest, a duo recording with vibraphonist Jason DeCristafaro, is anything but derivative.
Duets does proudly display its influences, in this case reminding me of some of the “cooler” Bill Evans recordings of the early to mid 1960’s, but there are some nice unexpected touches dancing around the edges that keep things interesting.
The mood here is subdued-intended to entice rather than incite a response-but in this case that becomes a positive. While my tastes certainly run towards 1940’s swing and the more expansive hard bop recording of a decade later I still found myself grooving to Duets; there’s a lovely shine to it, a shimmer that seems just right for the advent of spring. ***
If You Go: Those interested in hearing Stevens perform should check out the following shows: the Michael Jefrey Stevens trio, featuring Billy Cardine on electric dobro and DeCristafaro on vibraphone, Thursday April 18 at the Lexington Avenue Brewery, 9:30 p.m. with an $8 cover; Friday April 19, with Eliot Wadopian on bass, at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts ($10 suggested donation); and Tuesday, April 23 with Frank Southecorvo on saxophones at the Altamont Theatre ($10 cover).