Welcome back to another “one to five stars” go round at sharing some of my favorite recent discs. Given the abundance of releases I am purposefully keeping my comments as concise as possible. As always be sure to legally purchase these albums from your local record store of choice. Without them Asheville would be a little less cool of a town. And away we go!
Small Faces
Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake (expanded)
Sanctuary Music
For those who think the Small Faces – certainly the best British band to never hit it big over here – begin and end with “Itchycoo Park,” this incredible reissue of their 1968 magnum opus should open more than a few eyes and ears. When word of its imminent release (after a series of wretchedly mixed cheap CDs) began trickling out, I could only hope that this time things would be done right. I am thrilled to say that this triple disc set of the original album, in both mono and stereo, exceeds even my lofty expectations.
The inclusion of more than twenty revealing outtakes and demos makes it otherworldly. While the Brit bands (unlike their U.S. counterparts) preferred to tell their stories through a series of character personas (Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band) or simply as third party observers (Tommy) the Small Faces took it much further, combining these elements and others to come up with a record that rivaled any of its days. Consisting of six songs and a lengthy whimsical fairy tale – outrageous even among the excesses of the era – it stood atop the UK Albums Chart for six weeks and has only grown better with time.
Remastered by surviving members Kenny Jones and Ian McLagan (founders Steve Marriot and Ronnie Lane are deceased), Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake is no less the wonder now than it was 45 years ago. I envy anyone who will be hearing this album for the first time. For the rest of us it’s like it never went away. *****
Joe Bonamassa
Driving Toward the Daylight
J&R Music
That Joe Bonamassa is a guitarist of extraordinary agility and taste – any number of his peers admits to envying his talent – is no surprise. What is revelatory is how dexterous a band leader he’s become, learning how to make solid records in a way that his earliest efforts never quite hinted at.
Influenced more by the British blues rockers than their American counterparts, the ever prolific Bonamassa (this is thirteenth album in twelve years) is learning how to work within his limits. Never much of a songwriter, he delights instead in resurrecting such relatively obscure blues covers as Howlin’ Wolf’s “Who’s Been Talkin’” and Willie Dixon’s “I Got All You Need”. He’s also willing to tackle songs from more contemporary songwriters, ranging from Bill Withers to Tom Waits, while giving them his own leather clad touch.
Leaving his own road band at home, Bonamassa brings in a bevy of well known players, including Anton Fig and Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford: the result is an album that feels a bit less unified then I might have hoped, as well as one in which Bonamassa seems too eager to shine the spotlight on others. Turning the microphone over to Jimmy Barnes, whose over the top vocals sound right out of a Meatloaf album, is a bad idea, while the slick production strives too hard to make Bonamassa sound up to date, contrary to his well honed rep as a man out of time. But when things really cook, such as in the grinding gut bucket strum of “Dislocated Boy,” the grooves are relentless.
While he really doesn’t have a distinctive style of his own – Bonamassa is clearly the sum of his parts – the sheer force of his playing can usually carry the day. I just wish Driving Toward the Daylight had more of the man and less of his esteemed friends. ***
Marty Stuart
Nashville Volume 1: Tear the Woodpile Down
Sugar Hill
As much as Marty Stuart lives and breathes country music and all its sequined affectations, he’s never been particularly beholden to its musical traditions, preferring instead to respectfully explore the folk, blues, and gospel roots that helped form the genre. What sets Stuart apart from many of his generation is the superb musicianship he brings to the table. He’s not afraid to play the role of rhinestone cowboy but he knows damn well it’s the song that ultimately matters.
Tear the Woodpile Down continues in the vein of 2010’s Ghost Train. Once again backed by his touring band, the Fabulous Superlatives, Stuart offers a varied yet oddly cohesive set that bounces all over the sonic landscape without ever sounding contrived. The title track is a joyous romp through rockabilly string band territory while the revved up Jerry Reed stomp of “Hollywood Boogie” allows Stuart and company to really let loose.
“The Lonely Kind,” the album’s stand out track, is a classic country shuffle that would have sounded right at home on a mid-1960’s George Jones album. It merges the disparate strands that created country music into a sound that values tradition even as it pushes it in a new direction. In short, Stuart has learned the lessons of the genre’s history, making it (and us) all the better for it. ****
Blues Control
Valley Tangents
Drag City Music
One of the most challenging (but rewarding) aspects of Blues Control is trying to categorize a band who continually defies categorization. They are most commonly referred to as “instrumental New Age jazz fusion rock” but that descriptor is too restrictive and wholly inadequate. With Valley Tangents the Queens based duo of Russ Waterhouse and Lea Cho further expand their musical horizons by introducing elements of prog and what, for lack of a better term, might best be described as danger rock.
There’s a previously unheard edginess to the sound, a frenetic and dark undertone that beautifully captures the essence of the band. Nowhere is this better heard than on “Iron Pigs,” a synthesizer laden stomp that clearly references Black Sabbath while being texturally as far removed from heavy metal as can be. The extended groove of “Love’s a Rondo” hearkens to mid-period Weather Report (with guitar and tack piano supplanting horns) while “Gypsum” and “Walking Robin” show Waterhouse and Cho’s incipient flair for tuneful pop melody. And that’s what I love about this band.
It doesn’t matter what style they choose to dabble in, it’s all done with a sense of adventure, playfulness, and pure joy. Those are traits too often missing from present-day music, and I for one am glad to see them not wholly left by the wayside. ***1/2
The dBs
Falling off the Sky
Bar None Music
How does a band that’s been out of the limelight for more than two decades pick up right where they left off? For the dBs it’s simply a matter of putting the past aside – although they broke up for reasons other than discord – picking up their instruments and finding the groove that brought them together in the first place.
Falling off the Sky,their first new album since 1987 (and the first since 1982 to feature the original line up), retains that sense of audacious pop but fails to reignite the seamless buoyancy that marked their best days. Unlike their heyday records you can easily discern the individual styles or all four members: the ebullient pop sounds of Peter Holsapple or the psychedelic tinged ambitions of Chris Stamey don’t seem to mesh as well as they once did.
Drummer Will Rigby contributes the fine “Write Back” while Gene Holder’s fuzz tone bass sounds as lethal as ever. That leaves us with Stamey and Holsapple who, despite having frequently worked together over the years, seem to have musically gone their separate ways: Think White Album era John and Paul. None of this detracts from the music and there’s no denying the fine songwriting that anchors the album. But despite the presence of longtime producers Scott Litt and Mitch Easter, Falling off the Sky still sounds like a warm up for the next big thing. Here’s hoping we don’t wait 20 more years for that moment to arrive. ***
The Tedeschi Trucks Band
Live! Everybody’s Talkin’
Regardless of the myriad combinations they perform as, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks have cemented their reputation as the first couple of the blues. Between the two, the amount of playing skill – one can only wonder at what their offspring might grow into – is astounding.
Unlike previous releases, Live! Everybody’s Talkin’is a more equal distribution of strengths; leaning a bit less towards the blistering guitar heroics of Trucks’ solo efforts and more towards the gospel tinged, slowly cooked blues that Tedeschi favors.
Augmented with an 11-piece ensemble made up from individual bands – including a killer horn section – Tedeschi and Trucks pay tribute to songs they love while making them their own. The band transitions seamlessly between R&B, blues, rock, gospel, and jazz and never fall into the easy trap of mechanical jam band clichés.
The two discs flawlessly balance the more subdued shorter tracks with extended solos, giving the band plenty of space to breathe and giving some sense of how well the pair pace their live performances. It’s hard to pinpoint highlights: Is it the rowdy strut of “Learn How to Love” (with its interplay between guitar and sax) or the astonishing reading of John Sebastian’s “Darlin’ Be Home Soon,” which quite honestly ranks among the most stunning renderings I have ever heard. Either way this is exactly what a live album should be: a snapshot of two performers and their amazing band at the peak of their authority and artistry. ****1/2
The Mastersons
Birds Fly South
New West Records
Who knew that some of the best alt-country being made today might emerge from the urban environs of Brooklyn? The husband-and-wife duo Chris Masterson and Eleanor Whitmore may prefer Welch and Rawlings over Jones and Wynette but the stories they tell – broken down love and the debris it leaves for the rest of us to clean up – are as time honored as the Grand Ole Opry. This is Americana at its most feisty (propelled by up front vocals and Whitmore’s in your face fiddle), even thought the pair readily admit to coming into it second generation.
The music is conversational, sorrowful, and tinged with just the right touches of truck stop diner wisdom. “Would It Really Be a Sin?” examines the intricacies of when and how to call it quits, while the elegant title track looks back at the decisions with equal parts regret and absolution. The chatty nature of the lyrics causes some of the songs to lose focus, but overall this is the sort of maverick debut that leaves you wanting more. ***1/2