Yet again there’s no shortage of new music this month, with an amazing variety of stuff out there. Enjoy the comments and be sure to support our local independent record stores.
Richard Thompson
Still
Fantasy/Concord Music
Forty two albums into his career and Richard Thompson has mastered the art of record making, the subtleties of pace, sequencing, nuance, and the myriad aspects that go into putting on disc the sounds you perceive in your heart and mind.
The subjects of his songs rarely budge; Thompson’s sense of romance is, to say the least, odd and – based on the trio of songs which form the album’s center (“She Never Could Resist a Winding Road,” “Where’s Your Heart,” and “All Buttoned Up”) – his ire towards the feminine mind is as strong as ever. Fortunately he expands his thematic palette to include love songs to the city of Amsterdam (the bouncing “Beatnik Walking”) and “Guitar Heroes,” the album’s sole six string showcase, in which Thompson effortlessly emulates the style of the masters (specifically James Burton and Django Reinhart) from which he’s learned.
Produced by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and recorded in a mere nine days – with Thompson’s current touring band serving as principal backups – Still has an informal tone that is part of its undeniable charm: But it also feels imprecise, more like a sketch of ideas than fully fashioned actions.
There’s a notable absence of balls out rockers (although both “Long John Silver” and “No Peace No End” come close) and at times you’ll find yourself wishing Thompson would put down the acoustic and remind us how his wizardry with the electric guitar is nothing short of astounding. Now well into his mid 60s Richard Thompson has long since accepted his stature as cult hero, and he tends to play to his devoted audience. There’s certainly no shame in that but I often wish he’d step back, reassess, and come out with both guns blazing, making the sort of records that dominated the first third of his career.
Still is a fine album by a brilliant talent who’s once pronounced restless nature has seemingly given way to a peculiar status quo. And that seems a bit of a shame. ****
Dave Desmelik
Old News
There is urgency to the songs of Dave Desmelik that can best be demonstrated in the quick take nature of Old News, a newly recorded collection of material from his extensive catalog. Spanning a decade (1999-2009) Old News allows Desmelik and company – in this case longtime collaborators Josh Gibbs on lap steel and Andy Gibbon on bass – to reconsider, rethink, and rework songs they’ve played countless times. Some are stretched out and given room to breathe (“Old Dog”) while others are tightened and made more compact (the marvelous “It’s True”).
Whether they improve upon the originals would be a matter of taste but the dozen tracks that comprise Old News demonstrate again Desmelik’s lyrical acumen and innate storytelling gifts. He rarely relates a narrative in mere descriptive fashion but rather via the way his characters relate to the often difficult circumstances they find themselves in.
Even a relatively straightforward love song such as “Feels Like Standing Up” is rendered multifaceted by the causal offhandedness Desmelik revels in. As his fans know, Dave and Claire’s son, young Holmes, is dealing with serious health issues, even while they face the high costs of his care. In support of them, Team Holmes has been created to help with those costs. The proceeds from this album and Dave’s shows – many of which are pay as you wish – go towards that cause.
If you want to join in the fight please go to their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/groups/holmesteam. Buy the album for the music but be sure to kick in a few extra bucks to help out the family of one of this area’s most talented musicians and genuine nicest guys. *****
Jon Pousette-Dart
Talk
Little Big Deal Music
Jon Pousette-Dart has a long and respected resume that began with the earliest years of the Pousette-Dart band (commonly known as PDB) who repeatedly charted radio hits during the 1970s and on into a long and successful solo career.
Ever hear of Frampton Comes Alive (of course you have!): PDB opened for that entire tour. His songs have been prominently featured in the television series Lost, have been covered by a host of more recognizable names, and yet, despite making consistently fine music, he remains comparatively unknown.
Talk is his tenth solo album and ranks among his best, a unified collection of eleven songs based on direct themes of love, family, gratitude, and the challenges of growing older while keeping open the lines of communication. Nothing earth shattering there but Pousette-Dart is a savvy enough writer to work them to their advantage. He wrote or co-wrote most of the songs, inviting in such collaborators as John Oates, Rhonda Vincent, and Bekka Bramlett (daughter of Delany and Bonnie). His longtime backing band includes such stellar musicians as Reggie Young, Glenn Worf, David Hungate, and Clayton Ivey.
There’s a fine early seventies Jackson Browne groove to the music, nicely heard in “Can We Just Talk” (propelled by superb pedal steel work by Dan Dugmore) and “Remember How To Fall”, a classic bit of country rock that could have – “back in the day” – been an FM hit. The album’s centerpiece is “The Story Of My Life”, a bittersweet ballad in which Pousette-Dart laments his “swingin’ low across that County Line” while reflecting upon those many paths not taken.
Recorded in Pousette-Darts’ adopted home of Nashville, Talk certainly sounds like a country rock album of a bygone era, with Nixon still in office and The Eagles riding high in the charts; but if that’s the case so be it. I for one miss those days (okay, not the Nixon part) and Talk is clearly a record made for baby boomers. But it’s a nostalgia improved by the enormous talents of a forty year veteran of music who seems to only get better with age. ****
Pete Kennedy
Heart of Gotham
Kennedy’s Music
While he was born in our nation’s capitol, Pete Kennedy long ago embraced its largest city as his physical, spiritual, and artistic center. For 25 years NYC has informed his creative process and his music, and while Kennedy’s career takes him away for weeks and months on end, it is to where he and wife/musical partner Maura always return. Heart of Gotham is a love letter to his beloved home, a (in his own words) “song cycle about NYC, the kind of street story you might hear in an East Village diner.” Performed entirely by Pete, it’s likely his most deeply personal album to date.
The album opens and closes with “Union Square”, a lovely observational piece in which Kennedy interprets what might happen “If these streets could talk” and moves geographically from street corner to street corner. Most of the songs are told first person, and there’s an almost journalistic approach that, while allowing Kennedy to record his impressions of the city and its inhabitants with great lucidity, sometimes feels a bit like an AAA roadmap set to song. When Kennedy makes it more introspective, such as in the celebratory “Never Stopped Believing,” it is there that Heart of Gotham is at its best.
The album’s major shortfall is its lack of diversity: Twelve songs written on a single subject may be challenging enough but by recording the album solo, Kennedy limits the sounds and textures found herein. It’s largely bass and guitar (both of which he plays brilliantly) augmented by the occasional keyboard or drum kit. That restricted instrumentation is fine for some projects but Heart of Gotham is an album about one of the most diverse places on earth, one that literally screams for a wider range of musical ethnicity.
I can imagine these songs as basic tracks, with horns, violins, balalaika, pipes, and any matter of world beats added to them. As it is, Heart of Gotham is a bit of a missed opportunity, an album that could have been Kennedy’s signature statement but comes across as something less. ***
Various Artists
Mountain Spirit Coffeehouse
For a decade Don and Louise Baker have been mainstays of the local live music scene, not so much as performers (although Louise is indeed a musician) but as promoters of and advocates for their Mountain Spirit Coffeehouse series of intimate and largely acoustic evenings showcasing local, national, and international talents. In celebration of its tenth year they’ve released this excellent sampling of music from artists who’ve performed over that span.
Picking a favorite among its 17 tracks is darn near impossible but I lean towards those acts I was least familiar with: the intricate guitar work of Beppe Gambetta on “Fandango per la bionda” is stunning while Louise Mosrie’s poignant “Baker Hotel 1929” immediately makes me want to seek out more work by her. But there’s not a weak link in the batch, emphasizing again the thought and selectivity the Baker’s put into booking shows.
For those not familiar with the Mountain Spirit Coffeehouse this is an ideal introduction. For the rest of us it’s a reminder of what a treasure that series has become. *****