Summer is quickly fading, the kids are back in school, and I’m still spinning discs and sharing my thoughts. Thanks for allowing me to do so and remember, everything covered here is worth buying. Life’s too short to write about music I don’t enjoy; so let’s kick things off with a pair of releases by female artists and go from there.
Amy Helm
Didn’t it Rain
eOne Music
Even though it’s taken Amy Helm a while to get around to making an album of her own, astute music fans have long been aware of her name and voice. As the daughter of the late great drummer/vocalist Levon Helm (her mom is singer/songwriter Libby Titus) Helm has been around music her entire life. She helped her late dad in assembling the legendary Midnight Ramble shows and has, for several years toured and recorded with her own band, the highly respected Ollabelle, a band that reveled in diverse genre crossing and world beat explorations.
Helm carries that sense of daring in Didn’t It Rain, with results that show an artist whose inherent gifts—and there are plenty—have been honed by commitment and a keen listening ear. Found herein are elements of old time gospel, New Orleans funk, swamp, folk, country, soul, and pop, all garnished with a generous bit of R&B.
In the hands of a lesser artist such expansive reach might have been a disaster but Helm and producer Larry Campbell (who worked extensively with her dad) keep things focused and tastefully deliberate. It doesn’t hurt that her associations in the music industry allow her to engage some of the best talent around, including Little Feat pianist Bill Payne, John Medeski, guitarist Jim Weider and, in one particularly moving gesture, the final work of her father, but what really sets Didn’t It Rain apart is Helm’s powerful but controlled voice and her exquisite taste in material.
Drawing from such brilliant songwriters as Beth Nielsen Chapman, Mary Gauthier, and even reaching back in the catalog of Sam Cooke, Helm approaches each song as a separate piece, choosing her own voice that best fits each one, and arranging them with thoughtful care. There’s a lovely Muscle Shoals vibe within that makes me hope Didn’t It Rain will be released on vinyl. It’s the kind of music that will withstand the test of time, which makes that format an especially appealing possibility.
Listening to Amy Helm’s long awaited debut I get the sense that she too will never go out of style. ****1/2
Kasey Chambers
Bittersweet
Sugar Hill/Essence Records
Having worked primarily with her husband/collaborator Shane Nicholson, and employing her brother Nash as the producer of virtually every record she’s made—and she’s made them at an impressive rate—you might get the idea that Kasey Chambers needs a guiding hand to help her make great music.
Bittersweet shatters that impression with formidable force; it’s not only the most personal and individual record she’s yet released, it just might be her best. While she’s employed many of the familiar hands she’s used before, including multi-instrumentalists Dan Kelly and Ashleigh Dallas, Chambers seems to have taken a more assertive role, relying on producer Nick DiDia to clean up and tinker around the edges rather than guide the recording from day one.
It’s the most arty record she’s yet recorded, gliding lyrically from stripped down acoustic (“Oh, Grace”) to more muscular laments (“House on a Hill”) and venturing boldly into full bore rock and roll (the delightful garage country/rock “Hell of a Way to Go”).
The range of songs indicates a willingness on her part to tackle larger issues—“Is God Real?”, “Heaven or Hell”, and “Christmas Day” form a sonic triptych that explores some pretty powerful spiritual concerns in ways that are both deeply private and broadly universal—but she’s also able to take on more down to earth concerns as reckless fear (“Stalker”) and resolute determination (“I’m Alive”).
Bittersweet is an album that is intelligent, mature, but never the least bit pretentious or stuffy. It’s the work of an artist on top of their game, willing to take chances and let things fall where they may. In this case the result is one of 2015’s best albums, and a high water mark for an artist who continues to get better and better. *****
The Waifs
Beautiful You
Compass Records
It’s been four long years since the core members of The Waifs have worked together but I am here to say it’s been worth the wait.
In an odd concurrence of events sisters Donna Simpson and Vikki Thorn, along with co-founder Josh Cunningham, all found themselves away from their native Australia and living in the US. Internal issue had torn the band asunder—Cunningham having converted to conservative Christianity while Simpson battled alcohol and drug addictions—and while their last studio effort (2011’s appropriately titled Temptation) was a bit of a train wreck, there were hints that better things were to come.
With Beautiful You the pieces have come together: Thorn and Simpson have never sounded better and Cunningham has contributed some of his best guitar work and an impressive set of arrangements. Much of the credit goes to producer Nick DiDia (ironically an American now based down under) who guides the band with a gentle but firm hand. From the subdued urgency of “Black Dirt”—a travelogue of Thorn’s early years in rural Australia—through the wistful “Come Away” (another gem from her) Beautiful You crackles with energy.
Simpson’s low down bluesy “Somebody’s Gonna Get Hurt” is among the best songs she’s ever written. At the center of things The Waifs still retain that nice roots rock groove—this is, after all, a group that started as a Bob Dylan cover band—but they’ve continued to refine and expand their sound.
Beautiful You is more about rhythm than revelation, but it sustains itself nicely and plays to the band’s strengths. It might not match the authority of their best efforts (it’s certainly no Sun Dirt Water) but for a band that seemed on the verge of extinction it’s a surprisingly cohesive and welcome return. ***1/2
Pavement
The Secret History Volume 1
Matador Records
Although hardly a “Secret History”—all the material herein has been previously found on various B-sides, EPs, and other odd releases—this vinyl only collection is a tidy means of having them all in one place. Even at that it’s by no means a complete summary of the band’s most fertile period, leaving off such pivotal moments as the stunning Live At Brixton Academy set, some bits of the deluxe reissue of Slanted and Enchanted and The Peel Sessions.
So while it’s still a wildly incomplete snapshot of Pavement at their creative peak there’s no complaints in having this material finally out on vinyl, and it’s a sheer joy to revisit such gems as “Drunk With Guns” and “So Stark (You’re a Skyscraper).” Here’s hoping this secret history is but one of many. ****
Gregg Allman Live-Back to Macon
Rounder
DVD and enhanced CD
After more than forty years fronting the band named after him no one would fault Gregg Allman for, once the Allman Brothers called it a day, taking some time off. But despite the serious health problems that have dogged him—a liver transplant, hepatitis C, and his well-documented substance addictions—the now 70 years old clean and sober Allman shows few signs of slowing down. He continues to tour solo and with his own band, seems to show up at a multitude of benefit/tribute shows and stills finds time of record an album every two years or so. Take THAT, Mr. Millennial Generation.
Of course none of that would be so impressive if the quality of music had faltered but as the 90 minute double CD/DVD set demonstrates, Allman has, like many a blues legend, gotten only better with age.
Recorded in a single night in January 2014, in the city where it all began, Allman combines reinterpreted versions of some ABB classics with a smattering of R&B numbers, both common and rare.
His eight piece backing band, including a trio of soulful horn players and two keyboardists, is as tight as any around and while the absence of twin guitars—a trademark of the ABB sound—makes the evening lean less towards rock and more to Memphis styled soul, what the heck. That’s how Gregg Allman first learned the ropes and how with surprisingly fresh reworking of such venerable classics as “Whipping Post,” “Statesboro Blues” and “Midnight Rider”—songs he has no doubt played a thousand times over—Allman stakes his claim as being as relevant today as he was back then.
Toss in a few sterling covers (Ray Charles’ “Brightest Smile In Town” sounds particularly strong) and a powerful new tune in “Love Like Kerosene” and you’ve got a winning mix. The DVD includes a few band profiles, some nice interview bits, and some especially welcome sound checks; not to be missed by any fan of the ABB. ****1/2