With so much new music to explore I’ll again try to “clear the deck” by keeping my comments as brief as possible. More reviews can always be found at rapidrivermagazine.com. And if like me, you still prefer physical product to download and streaming be sure to again thank your lucky stars we live in a town with a number of fine independently owned record stores. Long may they thrive!
Nora Jane Struthers
Wake
Blue Pig Music
If 2013’s Carnival was Nora Jane Struthers’ awakening to an understanding of her own talents and the possibilities therein, the appropriately titled Wake is that promise fulfilled.
Bristling with energy and unbridled joy (and an ideal effort for a spring release) the central theme of its 12 songs can best be summarized as “grab the goodness of life while you can.” Musically it moves Struthers further away from her bluegrass traditions and towards a more encompassing alternative country sound with undertones of honky tonk, roadhouse blues, and early Wilco styled roots rock.
For someone born and raised in New Jersey, Struthers sure sings with a lovely twang. “When I Wake” is hopelessly (in a good way) romantic while the remaining tracks celebrate her recent success, and her gratitude for such.
Producer Chris Strayhorn seems the ideal complement for Struthers and her lively band, sequencing the album with a keen sense of dynamics (a bit of a lost art these days) while Struthers delivers her songs in a narrative arc, telling a story in chapters that add one to the other but stand independently. It adds up to an effort that yet again asserts her as an artist to watch, a still relatively under the radar screen voice ready to take on the world. ***1/2
James McMurtry
Complicated Game
Complicated Game Records
As ridiculously talented as he is — few musicians so consistently write songs as lyrically demanding and musically confident, James McMurtry’s indifference to the making of records makes him his own worst enemy. Every one of his ten studio efforts abounds in great songs (or great moments within average ones) but none seem to match their own promise. It’s almost as if once he decides what he wishes to say he loses interest in saying it, like an artist whose best drawings never see print.
But there’s no denying the casual brilliance of his writing (no surprise given his literary DNA) or the honesty and irreverent humor he brings to the table. Complicated Game is more fully thought out and constructed than any McMurtry album since his still unmatched 1989 debut, and there’s not a song writer in Nashville who wouldn’t kill to tell such a perfectly detailed story as “Copper Canteen” or to write a lyric as wild as “woman don’t you be yelling at me when I’m cleaning my gun.”
The addition of such instrumental risks as Uilleann pipes and low whistles, (even if they don’t always work) as well as doo wop vocals, speak well of his desire to craft records that are as great as his songs and, as such, Complicated Game is certainly a step in the right direction. But somewhere out there must surely be the producer (Rick Rubin? Jeff Tweedy?) who will push James McMurtry hard enough to make the record as good as his well deserved reputation. For the meanwhile, this collection of terrific songs, even as the overall album lags behind, will have to do. ***
Iron & Wine
Archive Series, Vol. 1
Black Cricket Recording
This wonderful collection of demos and living room recordings, made while band founder Sam Beam was still working as a film instructor at the University of Miami, strikes to the heart of what makes Iron and Wine so fascinating. Sixteen paeans to the joy of cerebral pop — most of which formed the nucleus of the band’s 2002 breakthrough release The Creek Drank the Cradle — provide an intimate glimpse into Beam’s thought process.
Be it the haunting majesty of “Eden” or the extending rovers “Beyond the Fence” and “Judgment” Archive Series Vol. 1 (with a promise of more to come) is a holy grail for fans of Iron and Wine or melodically engaged and meticulously constructed pop. ****
Beth Hart
Better Than Home
Provogue Music Productions
While her previous trio of albums have been first rate, Beth Hart’s bold decision to replace long time producer Kevin Shirley with the more contemporary steeped team of Rob Mathes and Michael Stevens seems to have paid off in spades. Better Than Home veers a bit away from the blues rocker image she’s cultivated over the past decade (no doubt a result of her extensive work with guitarist Joe Bonamassa) while again exploring her singer/songwriter roots.
Opening with the Memphis styled groove of “Might As Well Smile” Hart navigates her way through a landscape that is every bit as cinematic as it is arresting. The balance between her assertive blues laden piano (eerily reminiscent of early Elton John) and her gut bucket vocals are spot on, as is her emotionally raw delivery. The songs themselves are surprisingly roundabout, offering a more complex side of Hart than you might expect, but in the end they are far more satisfying and measured: majestic ballads mix ideally with more direct blues numbers to form an album that is idiosyncratic, ambitious, and certain to stay with you well after the last spin. ****
Liz Longley
Self-titled
Sugar Hill Records
By now it’s a safe bet that you’ve at least heard of Liz Longley, via either her steady airplay on WNCW or one of her several late night television appearances. Not to mention the overflowing (and deservedly so) rave reviews her self-titled debut has received. If like me you’re a bit skeptical of such, wondering how much of the praise is warranted and how much is the product of the hype machine that is the music industry and self promotion on Longley’s part, I’m here to set the evidence straight. This album is as good as you’ve read or heard, and if anything, the admiration it’s received may be understated.
Recorded in Nashville (where she now lives) with producer Gus Berry – whose admirable track record is only getting better – this 11 song set is a rare gem. Given free rein in the studio and with many of Nashville’s most in-demand session musicians at her disposal (unheard of for a debut album, but proof of Sugar Hill’s confidence in her talents) Longley delivers the goods, a cascading chorus of ringing guitars, impeccable singing, hooks to die for, and songs that deserve no less.
There are plenty of more detailed examinations of this album, and I regret the limitations of space prevent my going on and on. So I’ll instead just add my voice to the many singing its accolades, and declaring Liz Longley the artist as one of my new favorites and Liz Longley the album as one of the best of the year. ****1/2
Van Morrison
Duets: Reworking The Catalog
RCA
While all too often a collection of duets signals an artist’s last ditch attempt to rekindle some sort of creative spark, looking back and resting on their laurels, Van Morrison is of course not just any other artist. While picking and choosing the songs to reinvent he not only dug deeply into his enormous repertoire of songs (matched by few and surpassed by even fewer) but deliberately avoided those more well known. No “Moondance” or “Brown Eyed Girl” but rather deep cuts, gems that exist profoundly within his well of creativity, given new life.
With a list of collaborators including those with whom he’s worked before (Georgie Fame, Bobby Womack, daughter Shana) and others among those he’s influenced (Mick Hucknall, Natalie Cole, Michael Buble) Morrison seems at his most relaxed in years, having a blast and actually once again enjoying the act of making records. Mavis Staples turns “If I Ever Needed Someone” from a contemplative prayer to a Sunday morning blowout while the lesser know Clare Teal ignites “Carrying A Torch” with passion and desire.
Even former 1960s star P.J. Proby gets into the act, playing along on the track (“Whatever Happened To P.J. Proby?”) examining his own career misfortunes. I approached this album with plenty of reservation. Van Morrison is among my most beloved musicians and the prospect of his revisiting his past — something he’s always been loath to do — was a troubling one. Instead he’s given us a solid and sincere effort from a great who is not even close to calling it a day. ****