One thing about Boomer Rock. The essential unit of creativity is the LP--what they used to call the Long Playing recording, meaning (at the time the term was invented) a 33 1/3 rpm vinyl record with somewhere between 20 and maybe 40 minutes of music on it. A great song is something to be enjoyed, to be sure, but it could be produced by fluke. A great artist was/is defined by the LP, a collection of anywhere from 5 to 15 songs lasting 20 to 40 minutes, or maybe longer in the case of the so-called "double LP."
So the Best Rock Music of 2011 means collections of songs, which still (as of today) means a CD.
Top 20 Rock CDs of 2011
1. Bon Iver, Bon Iver
Who says rock music can't be pretty? Well, some do. But that's not a boomer sentiment, generally. That came a little later with kids who grew up on metal, or punk, or grunge. We had plenty of pretty music by the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and lots more. Against that standard, Bon Iver is pretty music and, just in case you missed my point, I mean that in a good way.
My enthusiasm for Bon Iver relates in part to the fact that I had never heard his (their?) 1st record, For Emma, Forever Ago, until recently. I had heard about it, and people whose musical taste I respect had spoken highly of it. But I never got around to it until I had fallen for Bon Iver, Bon Iver. It's not as consistently engaging as Bon Iver, Bon Iver, but its high points ("Flume" and "Stacks") are just as pretty as anything on its successor. So I'm still on honeymoon with both. And, my goodness, have I mentioned that they're so pretty!
Aside from the that, their defining characteristic is Justin Vernon's falsetto vocals. And one thing about falsetto vocals is that they don't tend to favor articulation. So, in other words, you're hard pressed to understand the lyrics, more so on the new record with its layered instrumentation but also on the older record despite its very sparse accompaniment. But that--lyrics that are difficult to decipher--is another characteristic endemic to rock & roll. It might bother some, but it's hardly a deal-breaker. The voice is just another instrument. I mean, music (as compared to the other arts: movies, theater, TV, the written word, etc.) is pretty much pure emotion, and the voice conveys (or can convey/should convey) that emotion whether the words are understood or not. And when Vernon layers up those falsetto vocals, why, he sounds like the New York Philharmonic.
2. El Camino--The Black Keys
This one goes way over to the other end of the spectrum from "pretty" on one end (Bon Iver) to "raw" on the other (The Black Keys). I like the Black Keys. My niece "adores" them (her words). That could just be a matter of individual taste, of course, but I prefer to understand it as a generational difference. I mean, we had "raw" in my day, but nothin' like this. This is the primitive blues (e.g. Robert Johnson) meets punk and grunge. By comparison, when Eric Clapton did Robert Johnson he filtered him through Bing Crosby first. So, anyway, sometimes the Black Keys are just a little bit too raw for my taste (Brothers, Magic Potion). But those of you who like your Black Keys a little more accessible (Chulahoma, Attack and Release, Rubber Factory) while like this a lot. Or, even then, you might find this a little too tamed down. I don't. Personally, I think this is their best work yet.
3. All We Are Saying--Bill Frisell
I had the good fortune of seeing an exhibition of John Lennon drawings a few weeks ago, a perfect counterpoint to one of the year's best recordings, though this record stands pretty well on its own. Not that Frisell nails every song. But I love Frisell, especially his more country and pop-influenced records (Good Dog Happy Man!) and this certainly fits on the more accessible end of Frisell's output. When he nails a tune in this type of vein, it's a home run--his version of "Give Peace a Chance," for example, is absolutely gorgeous and almost as moving as seeing the song's lyrics written out in Lennon's own hand.
Some of the tunes here are throwaways. I mean, Frisell doesn't have anything new to say about a lot of these songs. But if you're going to do a collection of Lennon covers, you might want to get "Give Peace a Chance," "Imagine," "Across the Universe" and "Revolution" right, and he does.
Which reminds me: While "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" isn't on this collection, still it's not often that one can say "Happy Xmas, War Is Over." This recording and the Lennon exhibit come just in time to keep us from overlooking this incredible opportunity, so I'll say it: "Happy Xmas, War Is Over!"
4. The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams--various artists
Maybe you've heard about this. When Hank died, he left behind several notebooks filled with lyrics that he hadn't gotten around to setting to music. They were largely forgotten until recently when they fell into Bob Dylan's hands. Apparently Dylan or his people, whoever they are, selected a variety of artists to pass the lyrics on to, inviting them to set them to music and to record them. The results are salutory.
Mainly I mean to refer to Holly Williams' "Blue Is My Heart." Holly is the daughter of Hank, Jr., which should make breaking into the music business an easy thing for her to do. Still, I guess she's experiencing the hard knocks that most artists have to endure. This should launch her to a complete 'nother level. It is a heart-breakingly beautiful, breathy performance that immediately says, hey, this is the centerpiece of this entire collection.
Still there are other winners here, mostly songs performed by Sheryl Crow, Lucinda Williams and Dylan, himself.
5. The Bristol Sessions 1927-1928: The Big Bang of Country Music
Some people don't like "tribute records," "greatest hits" collections and the like, as they're not organic creations in the way that the LP can be or, as some see it, was meant to be. Well, the best tribute records fly totally in the face of this analysis. I'm referring, for example, to collections like Bleecker Street, or John Hiatt or Richard Thompson tributes or, for that matter, the Hank Williams collections just mentioned. They all have a guiding oeuvre, it just doesn't come from the usual source, the singer-songwriter.
The Bristol sessions were held by the Victor Talking Machine Company on July 25-August 5, 1927. Producer Ralph Peer came to Bristol, TN, and recorded about 60 songs performed by about 24 number artists, groups or combinations of artists. This turned out to be the recording debut of the now-famous Carter Family and Jimmy Rodgers, the Fiddlin' Brakeman, and Ernest Stoneman, Eck Dunford, Charles and Paul Johnson and others were prominent among the participants.
The oeuvre of this recording, then, lies in the common Appalachian experience that all of these artists shared, and it lies in Peer's ear for commercially viable music for that day. If you have any interest in the roots of rock & roll--and I mean the deep roots--this is it. A very important recording. Whether you find it easy listening or not, of course, will be in the ear of the beholder.
6. Buddy Miller's Majestic Silver Strings
This is essentially Buddy Miller, Bill Frisell, Greg Leisz and Marc Ribotand a variety of guest vocalists* reaching back and reinterpreting country music from another day--even beyond the Bristol sessions of 1927 and 1928. To my ear, its signature tunes are "Freight Train," written by Elizabeth Cotton just after 1900 and popularized during the folk revival of the 1950s and '60s; and "Cattle Call," written by Tex Owens in 1934 and a signature song for Eddy Arnold in the 1950s.
* Patty Griffin, LeeAnn Womack, Shawn Colvin, Julie Miller, Emmy Lou Harris
7. The Whole Love--Wilco
Easy listening for the most part. Whether that makes this one of their better efforts, or worse, is in the eye, or ear, of the beholder. I say better. Tweedy and Company stretch a simple little guitar figure out for 12 minutes on "One Sunday Morning," which sounds like a recipe for tedium but, no, it's one of the best Wilco tunes ever. The opener, "I Might," and the title track are more uptempo but still pretty straightforward acoustic guitar-driven tunes. Very basic, very effective, very attractive.
8. Paper Airplane--Alison Krauss and Union Station
There's also nothing new here, just the same incredibly beautiful vocals and impeccable acoustic ensemble playing that are the stock in trade of Krauss and company. Her cover of Jackson Browne's "My Opening Farewell," instantly becomes the go-to version of one of Browne's most appealing songs.
9. Metals--Feist
Somewhat less conventional (than the two artists listed immediately above, at least) is Leslie Feist with her pretty, if thin, little voice, closely miked and with sparse instrumental support, all creating an unusually intimate sound and feel. And it works when her songs work. Sometimes the lyric concepts are too clever by half, however, and then it doesn't work. Still, anybody who liked 2007's The Reminder will like Metals well enough. I do.
10. The King is Dead and Long Live the King--The Decemberists
This is one collection on two discs--The King Is Dead being technically an LP with 10 songs, and the follow-up Long Live the King an EP with 6 tunes. All recorded in the same sessions, and you should feel free to mix 'em and match 'em as you see fit, just as the artists have done, whether for artistic or economic reasons or both. These are stripped down, folky performances, representing therefore a dramatic departure from the trend (Crane Wife and The Hazards of Love) to more complex forms and instrumentation. I enjoy The Decemberists wherever any particular work might fall on that continuum, but this (these) is/are among their strongest collections to date.
11. Revelator--Tedeschi Trucks Band
There's nothing surprising here, but seeing as how this is the first recorded collaboration of husband-wife duo Susan and Derek (and their band), well, it seems reasonable that they would establish the theme before going too deep into the variations. And the theme, as I'm sure you know, is rockin' blues/blue-eyed soul or whatever name you want to give it. And all played and sung as impeccably as you might expect. No surprise there.
12. Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down--Ry Cooder
This is a bit on the raw end of Cooder's output, which isn't my favorite Ry Cooder. Still, it's a fiendishly clever bit of social commentary that likens the current economic situation to the Great Depression and other such times in American history. My favorite is called "No Banker Left Behind."
13. Nobody's Fault--Pat Donohue
Donahue is a local Twin Cities guitarist. You've heard him as a member of the Shoe Band on Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion, or not at all. He's a terrific country/folk-style picker with the same wry sense of humor that Keillor is known for. This is just a collection of wry, laid-back tunes that show off a vastly underrated talent.
14. Unfolding--Folk Family Revival
The name is unfortunate. Yes, it's a country-rock band named the Folk Family Revival. I guess they're all brothers and cousins like the Kings of Leon, not that that justifies the terrible name. But the music on this CD is smart and sophisticated, Mason Lankford's singing is solid, and the brothers (and cousins) rock out when such is called for. The upside for these guys is great...but, first, about that name.
15. The King of Limbs--Radiohead
Not my favorite Radiohead, this one is on the more thorny end of the spectrum whereas I tend to lean toward their more self-consciously accessible work (OK Computer, In Rainbows). I guess I admire this more than I really like to listen to it but that alone gets it on the list.
16. Phil Spector Presents the Philles Album Collection--various artists
The music is 50 years old but it still rocks like crazy, if you'll pardon the expression. The singers are the Ronettes, the Crystals, Darlene Love, the Righteous Brothers, et al. Nuff sed. And make no mistake, "Da Doo Ron Ron" remains one of the great rock tunes ever.
17. Red Horse--Eliza Gilkyson, John Gorka, Lucy Kaplansky
3 great singers on the Minneapolis record label, Red House, have joined forces for this recording called Red Horse (not House). The schtick here is that each singers the others' songs. I've enjoyed all 3 of these artists over the years but Gorka stands out here. His velvet vocals on Kaplansky's "Don't Mind Me" and Gilkyson's "Coshieville" are the collection's highlights.
18. Guitar Slinger--Vince Gill
I want to love Vince Gill, I really do. If you've seen him doing "Sweet Thing" on Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival video, you know why. I mean, the guy can play the guitar, he can rock & roll, he can just plain kick ass like few people can. But he so rarely does. Damn. But I figured an LP called Guitar Slinger would rock out. I was mostly disappointed. There's maybe 2 extended solos here. What stands out is a strange song called "Billy Paul"--strange in that it combines a rollicking rhythm with a truly horrifying lyric about a friend who ended up in a murder-suicide. The flippant chorus says it all, "What made you go crazy Billy Paul?/Was it true love or too much alcohol?"
19. The People's Key--Conor Oberst and Bright Eyes
More Casadaga than I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning, I'm afraid. Meaning, it has its moments.
20. So Beautiful or So What--Paul Simon
This one has been highly acclaimed. Finally after all these years, Simon seems to have been granted some sort of elder statesmanship similar to Bob Dylan's. And so, his (Simon's) record, like Dylan's last several, gets the benefit of the doubt. I mean, it has its moments. But in the grand scheme of Simon's career, it won't even get a footnote. Still, here it is, #20.
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