3.09.2002

 
Little riffs
Irish gospel

My favorite U2 songs have either been anthemic or exhilirating, sailing on that crisp Edge guitar and atmospheric Lanois/Eno production, sailing up into the upper octaves -- or pews. "One Tree Hill," "Red Hill Mining Town," "The Fly," "Bad." I also love it when the band brings gospel into the mix, as on "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of" and "Angel of Harlem" -- I know that "Angel of Harlem"'s lyrics are corny and cute, but I can't help it, when the chorus soars, I gotta go along for the ride.

"The Sweetest Thing," available on the Best of 1980-1990 disc, combines the best of these worlds. It has the gospel refrain and shout of the title (and the single mix has handclaps) as well as a piano riff that is probably equal parts Huey Smith and Ian Stewart; but it takes flight on the Edge's guitar. All this, and I hear that Bono wrote the lyric for his daughter.

I drove down the 10 freeway tonight, 11 p.m., after a lovely time with lovely friends in Venice. Wore my jacket, had the windows open, had the volume up, and the only times I took my hands off the wheel were to press the repeat button to start "Sweetest Thing" over. I swear the only reason my Toyota didn't take flight was because it had a full tank of gas weighing it down.

posted by Anon. 11:33 PM

 
Little riffs
See a Little Light

Bob Mould's last two records, the self-titled album known as "Hubcap" by fans and the Last Dog and Pony Show, known as "a really bad album" by fans, had a total of four good songs between them. This followed File Under Easy Listening, the weak last effort from Mould's now-defunct band Sugar. This guy could use a winning horse.

Four years after Dog and Pony, Mould is now self-releasing three, count 'em, three different albums this year. (Paul Westerberg is releasing two records this year. What's with 2002 being a prolific time for faded Minnesota 80s punk rock superstars?)

The first one, Modulate, is being released on March 12. In a funny note on his webpage, Mould explains that the new record will be heavily synthesizer and computer driven. (Which, given the quality of "Megamanic," a largely electronic song on Dog and Pony, makes me worry.)

This also comes after Bob Mould (founder of Husker Du, the Midwest's great punk band... author of Workbook, one of my favorite solo albums by any singer songwriter during the 80s... and leader of Sugar, whose Copper Blue is one great power pop record) finished off a 7 month stint as a story consultant for World Championship Wrestling. (Yes, the now-cancelled wrestling league that Ted Turner created to compete with the WWF.)

If you think this just gets more and more bizarre, you're right. Check out Hugo Lindgren's recent interview with Mould in the New York Times Magazine.

posted by Anon. 11:18 AM

 
Daily Record

When we talk about great live records, a lot of consistent culprits pop up.

Live at Leeds. It's Too Late to Stop Now. Live at the Apollo.

My personal favorites also include Husker Du's The Living End, which captures both the fury and the melody of the Minnesota punk trio at their height, and Richard Thompson's Smalltown Romance, an acoustic set which Richard himself has disowned but which Ryko re-released last year -- it's spare and lovely.

And then there's the live album of all live albums, Bob Dylan's Live 1966, the earthshattering two disc set on a live show from Manchester in 1966, commonly mislabeled the Royal Albert Hall concert.

But my favorite live album doesn't come from a voice of punk abandon or a classic rock giant. Instead, it's one from the Sweetheart of the Rodeo herself.

In 1992, Emmylou Harris released Live at the Ryman, a concert recorded from the famed Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, where the Grand Old Opry shows were first broadcast. In between-song patter, Harris makes reference to the overwhelming feel of history to the place, referring to the "hillbilly dust," but in her backing band, the Nash Ramblers, she assembled some first-rate fieldhands from the Music City session ranks to stand face to face with the history.

The late Roy Huskey, Jr., himself the son of a top bassist, plays the upright, and Sam Bush of Newgrass Revival plays the mandolin and fiddle. The Nash Ramblers prove themselves a worthy successor to Emmylou's famed Hot Band of the late 70s, led by Rodney Crowell.

But what's terrific about this live record is that it's not an "Emmylou Greatest Hits Live" package. There's no "Boulder to Birmingham" here, no "Love Hurts," though both of these are on her very fine Spyboy live record that captured her Wrecking Ball touring band.

Instead, Emmylou has chosen the songs she loves, both the songs that inspired her as a young singer, and also those by newer songwriters that continue to shape and challenge her.

She goes all the way back to the 19th century, covering "Hard Times" by Stephen Foster long before Mare Winningham did it in Georgia. She pays tribute to some of the bluegrass and country legends of old: a couple Bill Monroe numbers, with Monroe himself joining in, and Tex Owens' "Cattle Call".

Then things get even more interesting, as she looks at the boundaries where country and rock start to blur. She takes on the Everly Brothers, giving a lovely rendition to Boudleaux Bryant's "Like Strangers," and sings her heart out on John Fogerty's "Lodi." She takes us to a "Mansion on the Hill," but it's Bruce Springsteen's, and not Hank Williams' mansion that she looks upon.

Best is her opener, a rollicking, exhilirating version of Steve Earle's "Guitar Town." A great song, and an intimidating one to try to tackle. But Emmylou beats Earle's version, and even, classy dame that she is, snips out that ugly "Jap guitar" line while she does it.

Nanci Griffith's "It's a Hard Life Wherever You Go" has never been a song I liked much -- it always felt it to be too pat and simplistic -- but Harris here elevates it, and then segues into the old Dion classic, "Abraham, Martin, and John."

The overall feel from the record is not just respect for country music and singer-songwriters, but unabashed love for the music -- and love for her audience. It's hard to resist the good feelings among the good songs.

Because it's an album, you can only hear Emmylou refer to her dancing during one of the Bill Monroe instrumentals she covers. You can't see Emmylou's footwork on that famed stage. But by the time you get to the end of this lovely album, you may be making some steps of your own.

posted by Anon. 8:58 AM

3.08.2002

 
Listening station: Billy Bragg

Recommended albums:
Back to Basics (1985)
Talking with the Taxman About Poetry (1986)
Workers Playtime (1988)
Mermaid Avenue (1998)

Recommended songs:

1. "The Warmest Room," from Talking with the Taxman

2. "She's Got a New Spell," from Worker's Playtime. Also featured in the Catherine Keener-Anne Heche film Walking and Talking, which Billy scored.

3. "The Price I Pay," from Worker's Playtime.

4. "St. Swithin's Day," from Back to Basics. "Thanks all the same, I just can't bring myself to read any of your letters. It's not your fault, your honesty touches me like a flower."

5."She Came Along to Me," from Mermaid Avenue.

6. "You Woke Up My Neighbourhood," from Don't Try This at Home.

7. "Sexuality," from Don't Try This at Home.

8. "Tank Park Salute," from Don't Try This at Home.

9. "Upfield," from William Bloke.

10. "Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards," from Workers Playtime.

11. "Help Save the Youth of America," from Talking with the Taxman.

12. "The Saturday Boy," from Back to Basics. The British working class answer to "Angel in a Centerfold."

13. "Walk Away Renee," available on Reaching to the Converted. Bizarre, and lovely: Billy tells a spoken word love story while Johnny Marr plays the old 60s classic on guitar.

14. "A New England," from Back to Basics.

15. "Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key," from Mermaid Avenue.

posted by Anon. 10:49 AM

 
Overheard

Billy Bragg spoke to Parliament yesterday. He was making the point that Parliament was out of touch with the British people, but decided to display this by wearing a T-shirt of... The Clash. Hm. Anyway, Billy's new album, England, Half-English came out this week in the US, his first album of original non-Woody material since William Bloke. Haven't read any reviews of it yet, but I did hear Billy play a few of the songs when I caught him a year and a half ago at the Knitting Factory-West. It was a mediocre show -- Billy talked a little too much -- but the new songs sounded very, very good.

posted by Anon. 9:48 AM

3.07.2002

 
Keeping tabs

I'm in the last stretch of a first draft script, and when I'm hitting a wall, I sometimes end up pulling my blonde 1966 Rickenbacker out of the closet and bang around on it.

I have a wonderful memory for everything, it would seem, except dates and chords. Friends used to joke that I was a human K-Tel ad, since I could play about ten seconds of a thousand songs. So I'll often end up just screwing around off of tablature websites.

WholeNote is a popular one that makes much use of the old OnLine Guitar Archive (OLGA) entries, but my favorite website for tabs and chords is AltCountryTab; despite the genre-specifics of its title, it hosts chords for a variety of singer songwriter types, from John Prine to Pete Yorn to Big Star to Soul Asylum to Johnny Cash.

posted by Anon. 5:49 PM

 
Cart Before Horse Department
My wedding song fantasies

Friends who know me all too well know that a favorite topic of conversation I'll raise after hoisting a few pints with fellow music-lovers is the wedding song.

When I meet a married couple, I'll ask them what songs were in the ceremony, and what songs were the first dances at the reception.

When I meet someone who is unmarried, I'll ask him/her what songs he or she would want in his or her ceremony.

When I meet a couple who is involved but not engaged (yet), I'll make them feel awkward and shuffle in their seats a little by asking them about the music in their hypothetical future wedding. No, when it comes to music chat, I have no shame.

As for me, I seem to do a much better job thinking about these specifics than, say, figuring out whom in God's name I should be spending the rest of my life with.

My long-time leading candidates for the first dance at the reception would have to be "Cigarettes and Coffee," by Otis Redding, and "You're All I Need to Get By," but not Marvin and Tammi's rendition, but instead the one by Aretha, which begins with a gospel chant of the title and just builds up from there. There's a good chance you've heard the Aretha version, but the Otis song is worth looking up. I mean, I'm a tea drinker and I've probably smoked ten cigarettes in my lifetime, and I'm willing still to let my wedding song sing the praises of nicotine, because it's that good a song.

(Of course, the very idea that I sit around thinking up wedding songs while single, when a wedding song is very much something thought up by BOTH of the people in the relationship, is folly in and of itself. "Make plans and watch God laugh," as the old saying goes. Still, it's better than planning one's funeral songs. There's a good bit about that in High Fidelity.)

I refuse to have "The Way You Look Tonight" and "Can't Help Falling in Love" played anywhere near me at anyone's wedding. Been there, done that, x1000. (Same with "Wonderful World," the Louis Armstrong song, not the Sam Cooke tune. Would you want your wedding guests to feel like they walked right into a bad Nora Ephron movie?) Another song which now two friends of mine have chosen as their wedding song is the Cowboy Junkies' "Anniversary Song." It's a lovely one, with an uncharacteristic amount of energy for the often catatonic Junkies.

I know a writer who had as her wedding song John Hiatt's "Learning How to Love You," which is a bold but remarkably mature choice. And my friend Dave Marsh married his wife Barbara with the call and response of Ike and Tina's "I Think It's Gonna Work Out Fine" playing; this was many years before all the Ike-wife-beating stuff came out, and the "horribly uncomfortable irony factor" probably prevents it from being played at any weddings these days. (Sadly I couldn't find a website that included Ike's funny spoken word responses to Tina.)

But there are two songs of recent years which I would love to have played at my wedding, but which I figure my betrothed and a combination of fifteen members of both of our families will throw themselves in front of a train to prevent being played:

"Steve's Last Ramble," by Steve Earle, from Transcendental Blues. It's a song about hanging up one's hat and highway shoes and settling down -- and having no regrets at all about doing it. In fact, completely the opposite. Plus a great rhythm and even greater harmonica ... I'd lose the ending where he says "Let's magnetize this motherfucker," though.

"Hesitating Beauty," by Billy Bragg and Wilco, from Mermaid Avenue. Just a terrific song that makes me happy anytime I hear it, anywhere. "Quit your hesitating, Nora Lee." Plus, I like the idea of having Woody Guthrie somehow involved in my wedding. We sang "This Land is Your Land" at my grandfather's funeral. (This was the socialist engineer paternal grandfather, not the Teamster organizer maternal grandfather.) "California Stars" from the same album would also be a lovely choice.

I've linked the song titles to lyrics. Read 'em and enjoy.

As for songs played during the ceremony itself, I am a long-time fan of "On the Wings of the Dove," which plays a poignant part in one of my favorite scenes in one of my favorite movies, Tender Mercies.

I also love a favorite hymn in Catholic masses, "Be Not Afraid," which is probably a pretty appropriate, if blunt, sentiment as one embarks on the beginning of a great adventure.

posted by Anon. 2:46 PM

 
Plugs

David Ritz (see below) tells me that he has recently completed his manuscript for Faith in Time, a biography of Little Jimmy Scott, possesor of one of the more unique voices (and one of the more moving stories) in popular music. In the neat coincidences department, my friends Matthew Buzzell and Brian Gerber have recently completed a documentary on Scott, that will be premiering at South by Southwest in Austin, March 8-17. I haven't seen Jimmy Scott: If You Only Knew yet, but I can't wait.

posted by Anon. 11:34 AM

 
Plugs

In addition to being a true mensch with great Kandinsky-like tattoos on his forearms, David Ritz wrote the autobiographies of Ray Charles, Smokey Robinson, Aretha Franklin, Jerry Wexler, and many other soul and R&B greats. He also wrote "Sexual Healing," which plays when you check out his new website. It's less of a daily update affair and instead more of a resume site, but it's a great resume and the graphic design is sleek and smart. Check it out.

posted by Anon. 11:29 AM

3.06.2002

 
Taste Tests
Thoughts on file-sharing

Last week I received a couple of mix CDs in the mail from Craig Werner, the UW-Madison music historian and author of A Change is Gonna Come. (I've chosen the Amazon UK link for the book there, because I think the cover, with a soul and hip hop version of the SGT Peppers cover, is sublime.)

They're terrific mixes, and one of the things I like about them is that they've turned me on to a lot of new music. In a few cases, as in the title track from Dan Bern's New American Language, they've made me think about picking up albums in genres I generally drift towards. But in many cases, Craig's CDs are turning me on to songs in hip hop and R&B I wouldn't normally have heard. That includes Eric Sermon's surreal "duet" with Marvin Gaye, "Music," or Jay-Z's "Heart of the City (Ain't No Love)."

Most of the music we pick up on, or end up purchasing, we initially hear for free. We heard it on the radio. We watched it on MTV. We heard it on a mix CD a friend made. We listened to it at the listening booth at the record store. When we hear a song in these places, or own it on a mix CD, and enjoy it, do we stop there? No, if we like what we hear, if the taste test has worked, we generally then run off to the local spin shop and make an investment. We've kicked the tires, and we liked how the baby purrs.

But the fact is that in our initial listen, we listened to music without paying for it. The recording industry and artists allowed us -- or in the case of the listening stations, encouraged us -- to try something out before investing in it.

Which is one of the most frustrating things about all the file-sharing/RIAA wars. Could file-sharing programs like KaZaa and Audio Galaxy be used to copy entire albums? Of course. Are they being used to bootleg and illegally copy albums as we speak? Probably, yes, someone somewhere is using them for this. But overall, I think file-sharing has turned many more people on to new music than it has denied artists' money. I know that when I had Napster, I used it for three purposes:

- Downloading copies of bootlegged live tracks of favorite artists. Which, when you think about it, means that audio file-sharing rips off not the artists but the European crooks who make millions off of bootleg live CDs every year!

- Downloading one-hit wonder songs that I wouldn't have purchased in a thousand years
or that are practically unavailable. (Examples from my own file-sharing include Little Steven's "I Am a Patriot," Clarence Clemons and Jackson Browne's "You're a Friend of Mine," etc.)

- Downloading songs as taste tests to decide whether to purchase the record. After Napstering songs from everyone from the Box Tops to Charlie Rich to U2 to the Jayhawks, I then went and purchased their respective albums. Wow! Look how that works. I taste, I like, I buy more.

An angle that someone covering the file-sharing/artists rights wars should write about is a comparison as to how much money the recording industry loses not to file-sharing, but to used CD purchases each year. I think that in used CD sales, the artists and the labels take a much bigger hit.

I'm not for going after used sales: I do believe that a CD becomes a person's property when he/she purchases it, and they should have the right to re-sell their property if there's a demand for it. Garth Brooks tried to stir up concern about used CD sales a few years ago, but he came across, rightfully so, as a jerk. But still, this is a good defense for file-sharing: used CDs are doing more damage than anything that

What would be clever is if the recording industry embraced file-sharing as a way to beat the boots: take the live material that's been illegally distributed and sold for huge dollars in Europe and offer it free on file-sharing. Watch the boot companies' money dry up. Hey, it's an idea, a good one until more and more artists adopt open taping policies.

posted by Anon. 11:00 PM

3.05.2002

 
Overheard
Dimming of the day

Starpolish is now hosting the infamous Velvet Rope message boards, and as part of their hosting, it seems like VR's picky admission policy has been loosened. (Beware of falling metaphors.)

But the site also features interviews and profiles with musicians, less about their music itself but instead their role in the industry and their reactions to the current brou-ha-has over file sharing and artists' royalties. There's a nice, brief interview up right now with the wonderful Richard Thompson, one of my favorite songwriters and musicians out there.

There's been a lot of talk about how larger labels screw the younger, beginning artists, but Thompson makes an interesting point that for older, established artists, who boast a faithful following but a limited following unlikely to grow much larger, smaller labels, self-launched lables (a la Aimee Mann and Ani DiFranco), and the Internet make a great deal of sense.

posted by Anon. 2:28 PM

 
Little riffs

Country songwriter Harlan Howard died a few days ago. That name might not mean much to you, but there's likely a few songs on the ample list of his credits that do. "I Fall to Pieces" is his most well-known composition, but my favorite is "Streets of Baltimore" -- which was covered by Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, and more recently by John Prine with Nanci Griffith. The lyrics are here.

posted by Anon. 9:20 AM

 
Overheard

Last Wednesday I tried to get tickets to a Sunday show at the El Rey that featured Merle Haggard, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, and the Blind Boys of Alabama. It was sold out. Sounds like I missed quite a show -- complete with Hag throwing a few Bush attacks in there.

posted by Anon. 9:10 AM

3.04.2002

 
Overheard

With novelists like Michael Chabon and Elmore Leonard hosting websites for their fans to poke around on, it was only a matter of time before a few music critics followed suit. Robert Christgau and Nelson George both have sites with much of their material to read, past and present. George's is the winner in the graphic design sweepstakes, but it is fun to note how much Christgau resembles Academy Award-nominated actor Bruce Davison.

posted by Anon. 12:29 PM

3.03.2002

 
Still on the line
Glen Campbell and Jimmy Webb

Glen Campbell often instigates the same kind of eye-rolling that Neil Diamond does. Which kind of makes sense: the two have some in common, and not just that each covered "He Ain't Heavy (He's My Brother)" and "Both Sides Now" within years of each other. Neil was (and is) much more of a songwriter, while Glen interprets others' songs. But both are wildly embraced by female portions of the population, and both straddle the boundary between one genre and easy listening.

I have a double-disc set of Neil's songs from the late 60s and early 70s, and while some of it is bombastic and overdone, some songs are quite good. Not just kitschy, isn't this cheesy good, but good without irony. "Brother Love's Salvation Show" is one such song, as are "Cracklin' Rosie" and "Sweet Caroline." "I Am (I Said)" and "New York Boy" are good with the irony, but I like them anyway.

With Campbell, some of his productions are overlush with that Wall of Sound feel. There's nothing stripped down about them, but hey, I love Charlie Rich's "Behind Closed Doors," so I don't have much problem with that.

The other great thing that a Campbell anthology has going for it is Jimmy Webb, and lots of it. It strikes me as strange that the last few years have seen a complete resurgence and reconsideration of Burt Bachrach, who used to be seen as the squarest of the square, and his deification as a master of melody, and yet there hasn't been a similar revival for the works of Jimmy Webb, who didn't just write the melodies but also the lyrics of such great songs as "Wichita Lineman," "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Galveston," and "If These Walls Could Speak," songs covered by everyone from REM, Isaac Hayes, the Lemonheads, and Shawn Colvin. Few songwriters use geography in such winning ways.

At the very least, Webb deserves a tribute album; at the very most, there should be a box set of his works and covers. Rhino, are you listening?

The Campbell anthology also has "Rhinestone Cowboy." Webb didn't write that one, but I like it anyway.
posted by Anon. 11:07 AM

 
Little riffs
Shopping list

A busy day yesterday. Prevented any Palmermix posts. But it was a day full of purchases. In Santa Barbara, while in town for the Santa Barbara Film Festival, I picked up four used books: Fast Food Nation, Barry Hannah's Geronimo Rex, Richard Powers' Galatea 2.2, and the Robert Kaplan book on America. But earlier in the day, I went CD shopping at the new Amoeba in Los Angeles.

Here's what I picked up:

Kasey Chambers, Barricades & Brickwalls
Dave Alvin and the Guilty Men, Interstate City
Glen Campbell, 20 Greatest Hits
Tulare Dust: A Songwriters' Tribute to Merle Haggard
Harry Nillson's Greatest Hits

Chambers' record has been getting so much hype, I decided to give in. Plus the idea of a country folk chanteuse from Australia somehow sounds appealing. All this and she covers Gram Parsons' "Still Feeling Blue."

Alvin has quickly become one of my favorites out there. He's the Californian Steve Earle, a great singer songwriter whose songs deal with aging, place, friendship, and other great themes. His King of California is tremendous, and Blackjack David and Public Domain are also very good. This is a live record.

I had arrived at Amoeba intending to pick up the Hank Williams tribute, but when I compared the artists on that to the ones on the Haggard tribute of a few years ago, I went with the Haggard. Just a great collection of singer songwriters.

A month ago, I dug up an old tribute album to Harry Nillson I had; it's where the Aimee Mann cover of "One" that ended up on the Magnolia soundtrack originated. It's not a great tribute album, as tribute albums go, but it had its moments, and I was itching to finally own some of the originals. There were a couple larger anthologies, but I went with a single disc 20 song one, used, mostly to get a copy of "I Guess the Lord Must Live in New York City."

More on Glen Campbell in the next post.


posted by Anon. 10:55 AM