Songs of Love and Hate

The first time I ever heard a Leonard Cohen song was on Judy Collins' fabulous 1965 LP, In My Life. Her version of "Suzanne" has become the definitive version, but what jumped out at me was the horrifyingly dark "Dress Rehearsal Rag." My father was dying of cancer; in fact, he would die about a month later. The song's darkness seemed real and realistic to me. So I enjoyed his own albums, Leonard Cohen (1967) and Songs from a Room (1969), when they arrived on the scene.

But the darkness that first attracted me to Leonard was more powerfully expressed on Songs of Love and Hate (1971), on which "Dress Rehearsal Rag" finally appeared. "Famous Blue Raincoat" stops short of suicide as a solution, but presents an almost equally bleak view of contemporary life. Then there's the historical version of the darkness in "Joan of Arc" and the "old and bitter" one, "Let's Sing Another Song, Boys."

I lost track of Leonard after that, and then rediscovered him with the release of, in Jack Stanton's words, "the incredibly fabulous" The Future in 1993. (Shortly thereafter, I also discovered Jennifer Warnes' stunning Famous Blue Raincoat: The Songs of Leonard Cohen (or, colloquially, Jenny Sings Lenny). I had tickets for Leonard's 1993 show here in Minneapolis, but was called out of town for work and missed the show.

I had resigned myself to never seeing Leonard when the announcement of his spring 2009 show came along. Alice and I got tickets, and we saw Leonard at the Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis, and it was certainly one of the greatest concerts ever. As many of you probably already know, Leonard is a magical, charismatic performer, capable of achieving great intimacy with each member of the audience, even in a hall with seating for 5,000. Heck, even with an audience numbering in the millions, as at the Isle of Wight in 1970. And, the sound was so good that people were laughing at all the right moments to punch lines in songs like "I'm Your Man."

More recently, I had the chance to see and hear the CD and DVD of that Isle of Wight performance. My God. It is even more wonderful than I might have hoped. Coming from the era of Songs of Love and Hate, it captures one of the two essential Leonard Cohens--in this case, the one from 1970-1971. And then there's the Leonard of The Future and the many live recordings from the '90s on into the 21st century.

If you want or need an introduction to Leonard Cohen, here's the best of:


LPs


1. The Future

2) Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight 1970

3) Songs of Love and Hate


4) Cohen Live--1994 release of highlights from the 1993 tour

5) Famous Blue Raincoat: The Songs of Leonard Cohen, Jennifer Warnes (Jenny Sings Lenny)

Songs of Leonard Cohen (and the signature version)

1. "Sing Another Song, Boys" from Songs of Love and Hate and/or Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight. It's the same live performance on both discs.

2. "Light As A Breeze" from The Future

3. "The Future" from The Future. Incredible. "Give me crack and anal sex/Take the only tree that's left/And stuff it up the hole in your culture." That's within the first minute out of six minutes of horrifying imagery.

4. "The Partisan" from Songs from a Room and/or Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight


5. "Dress Rehearsal Rag" from Songs of Love and Hate. Judy Collins' version is also highly recommended.

6. "Democracy" from The Future

7. "Famous Blue Raincoat" from Songs of Love and Hate. Jennifer Warnes' version is also highly recommended.

8. "Take This Waltz." The version from Live in London is preferred to the original on I'm Your Man.

9. "Alexandra Leaving" from Ten New Songs


10. "First We Take Manhattan." Jennifer Warnes' version is preferred.

11. "Last Year's Man" from Songs of Love and Hate

12. "Love Calls You By Your Name" from Songs of Love and Hate

13. "Go No More A-Roving" from Dear Heather

14. "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong" from Songs of Leonard Cohen and/or Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight and/or Cohen Live. Each version has its delights. I might prefer the more recent version on Cohen Live with its beautiful guitar solo by Bob Metzger, but on the other hand its hard not to love the more venomous vocals from the old days.

15. "I'm Your Man." I prefer the more recent live performances to the original from I'm Your Man.

16. "Dance Me to the End of Love." Again, the live performances are preferred to the original from Various Positions.

17. "Who By Fire?" Ditto. The original is on New Skin for an Old Ceremony.

18. "Stranger Song" from Songs of Leonard Cohen and/or Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight.

19. "Joan of Arc" from Songs of Love and Hate

20. "The Sisters of Mercy" from Songs of Leonard Cohen and/or Cohen Live


21. "Tonight Will Be Fine" from Songs from a Room

22. "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy" from Songs from a Room

23. "Hallelujah." Jeff Buckley's version is much preferred, and do yourself a favor and check out Jeff Buckley generally. Wow. The main recording is called Grace.

24. "If It Be Your Will." Lots of people have recorded this. I like Jann Arden's version.

25. "You Know Who I Am" from Songs from a Room

In My Life

Having just remembered that the first Leonard Cohen song I'd ever heard was as interpreted by Judy Collins, I decided I would have to download some Judy Collins. First, In My Life (1965). Along with a version of "Dress Rehearsal Rag" that is, in it's own way, as horrifying as Leonard's, there also a version of Bob Dylan's "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" that is not better but much different and much sweeter than Bob's.

Three songs from In My Life made their way on to The Best of Judy Collins (1972). They are "Suzanne," which has been over-exposed and which I didn't bother to download, but also two beautiful renditions of the title track by Lennon and McCartney, and Donovan's "Sunny Goodge Street." Now, here are a couple interpretations that improve mightily on the originals, simply by virtue of the lyrics coming much more to the forefront. John Lennon wrote such a sweet and sentimental ode "In My Life," but I guess he just couldn't bring himself to deliver it as such. With the additional emphasis on the vocals, Judy's version does vastly more justice to John's song. And "Sunny Goodge Street" is more uptempo and, well, sunnier than Donovan's and, enuniciated more clearly, the lyrics are much more charming than I had ever thought them to be before. Think "Penny Lane," only better and deeper.

Having gotten into my Judy collection, I had to keep going and to download "Someday Soon" and "Both Sides Now" from the greatest hits collection. "Both Sides Now" is another one of those where Judy's version is different, not better, but different, and equally satisfying as Joni Mitchell's original. But if I could only have one Judy song on the proverbial desert island, it would be "Someday Soon." "He loves his damned old rodeo as much as he loves me." I only wish I had "Send in the Clowns" somewhere.

Judy Collins will be performing at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis on April 30. On top of everything else, she was the subject of "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes." Iconic.

Whippin' Post

What inspired me to start this blog, in part, was receiving a USB turntable for Christmas. For those of you who don't know, a USB turntable allows one to digitize vinyl or otherwise analog recordings and store them on I-Tunes. Cool.

The very 1st vinyl record that I digitized turned out to be the Allman Brothers Band (1969). Why? Well, I have about 1,200 LPs arranged alphabetically and, surprisingly, it is the very first record on the shelf. Plus, this is one of the greatest records that I never upgraded to CD.

The Allman Brothers Band was the first LP by the band of that name, and "Whippin' Post" is probably the best-known and most popular tune from the LP. I remember it being released late in the year 1969, and I remember first hearing it around the Christmas holiday. I had been at home with my mom for Christmas, and had returned to my house at college in Minneapolis. And, then, I heard that the band was scheduled to play at the Labor Temple, where concerts were held on many a Sunday evening in those days. It was probably Sunday, December 28. Most of my roommates had not yet returned to Minneapolis, but Tim and I had, and we made our way to the Labor Temple for the second of two shows. There were probably no more than about 50 people in the hall, because of the timing of the concert and the fact that the Allman Brothers were as yet pretty much unknown.

The band played their first album straight through from the beginning of the first side to the end of the second. That means that they opened with the instrumental version of Spencer Davis' "Don't Want You No More," which segues directly into "Not My Cross to Bear." Greg didn't do the big growl "Yeeeaaahhh" during the segue, and Duane stopped playing his guitar part and put his hands on his hips and turned to Greg and gave him this big evil eye. The first part of the show wrapped up, then, with my favorite tune, "Dreams," and of course "Whippin' Post." From there, I know they went into Mountain Jam, and then I don't remember what else. But, my God!

The sound was just overwhelming. The two guitars. Two drummers. Greg's big ol' Hammond B3 organ. You just knew that these guys were going to be big. What you didn't know was how short of a run it would be, as Duane Allman would soon enough join Jimi and Janis and Jim among the early tragedies of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle.

Hearing this record for the first time in many years, I'm struck by just how modern the playing is. I mean, let's be honest. In 1969, a lot of popular rock 'n' roll was still pretty crude in its execution and its production. But this is just absolutely impeccable. If nobody had ever heard of the Allman Brothers Band and this album were released or re-released today, nobody would ever know that it was a 40 year-old recording. What a classic!

And, once I got into my Allman Brothers collection, I had to download a few other gems--mainly such instrumentals as "Hot 'Lanta" and "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" from The Allman Brothers Band at Fillmore East (1971), "Little Martha" from Eat A Peach (1972) and "Jessica" from Brothers and Sisters (1973). I also grabbed a couple of Dicky Betts vocal tunes--the immortal "Blue Sky," and "Ramblin' Man."

I have the Allman Brothers rated in another post as the #22 artist of the rock era. But when it came to digitizing the history of rock & roll, they were the 1st artist that came to hand. I'm guessing #22 is too low. Similarly, Rolling Stone recently published a list of the top 100 guitarists of all-time with Duane Allman at #9. That is ridiculous. I mean, obviously, the guys who rate ahead of him play some pretty good guitar. But, seriously, there is no way B.B. King or Chuck Berry or Eddie Van Halen play the guitar better than Duane did. I have Duane at #2 on my list. #1? Here I agree with Rolling Stone: Jimi Hendrix.

The Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame Sucks

I have it on good authority that the folks at the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame have it in for "progressive rock." A recent newspaper article by critic Mike Boehm in the Los Angeles Times hails the pending induction of Genesis in 2010, and asks, "Can Yes and Procol Harum be far behind?" This, he continues, may be "the beginning of progressive rock getting its long denied due from the...Hall of Fame."

Don't bet on it.

Genesis' best work, as Boehm writes, was "the arty, theatrical-rock strangeness...of the early 1970s, when Peter Gabriel fronted the band." And, yet, you and I both know that the reason for Genesis' election to the Hall of Fame is the safe, middle-of-the-road pop hits it produced after Gabriel left and the "non-threatening" Phil Collins took over as frontman.

And, the reason we know this is that, if the Hall of Fame were really ready to abandon its reverse snobbishness against arty, theatrical strangeness, then there is no way that Jethro Tull, King Crimson, the Moody Blues, Procol Harum and Yes would still remain on the outside looking in, in most cases some 15 to 20 years after becoming eligible for induction.

I suppose it's just me but I would argue that these and other prog-rockers (Argent, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Mahavishnu Orchestra, New York Rock and Roll Ensemble, Roxy Music, Supertramp) produced as much great music in the period from about 1967 through the 1970s as any number of contemporaneous bands that the Hall has chosen to honor.

That generation of rock bands became eligible for induction beginning in about 1990. Since then the Hall has honored some of the obvious greats: The Who, The Yardbirds, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Creedence, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, the Allman Brothers, The Band, The Dead. I have no complaint about any of them.

But there's also a second tier of honorees from that era: The Kinks, The Byrds, The Animals, The Young Rascals, Lovin' Spoonful, Black Sabbath, the Dave Clark Five. Seriously, what has any of them done that Tull and King Crimson and the Moodies and Procol haven't done, aside from conforming the what Boehm calls the Hall's "earthy aesthetic"?

Of course, it's also true that progressive artists like Pink Floyd and Frank Zappa have been welcomed into the Hall of Fame. Good for them, and even better for the Hall of Fame. I mean, what the hell kind of Hall of Fame are we talking about if Frank 'n Floyd had not been welcomed in? But progressive rock remains conspicuous by its absence. Only reverse snobbishness could keep them there.

Digitize This

So, as it happens, I have started digitizing some of my favorite prog-rock on vinyl disk.

I am fortunate to have a couple of terrific CD sets. One is a 4-CD King Crimson set, King Crimson: Frame by Frame (1991), which could hardly be described as terrific if it didn't include the seminal 1969 In the Court of the Crimson King in its entirety. It does. And then there's the 3-CD Procol Harum: 30th Anniversary Anthology (1997), which includes all four Procol LPs including the amazing A Salty Dog (1969) along with the variety of singles and rarities and B-sides and alternative takes that are a staple of the genre.

So, no digitizing there.

Jethro Tull is more problematic. I have a 3-CD set called 20 Years of Jethro Tull (1988), but only 1 of the 3 discs contains what could be called (and is called) The Essential Tull, and that's hardly sufficient to truly cover the essential Tull. Two complete discs are devoted to Rare Tracks and something called Flawed Gems. So I'm going to have to take stock of what I'm missing in my I-Tunes library and do some digitizing of my Tull collection.

Yes, meanwhile, is not problematic at all. I don't have any Yes CDs, so their entire output--I have everything from The Yes Album (1971) to Tormato (1978)--is game for digitizing. Obviously, their earlier output is much preferred to the later. But, again, perhaps it's just me, but even their later records contain such now-forgotten gems as "Wondrous Stories" (1977) and "Future Times" (1978).

Likewise The Moody Blues, who almost single-handedly brought the big, big sound of the mellotron into rock 'n roll. Still, let's be honest, the Moodies can still fill up a (small) arena but their sound hasn't aged well. So I don't have any Moodies CDs. But if it's late '60s psycho-babble you're after, these guys have even Pink Floyd and Yes out-flanked. And, "Tuesday Afternoon" (1967) and On the Threshhold of a Dream (1969) are more important to rock history than anything the Kinks or the Lovin' Spoonful ever did.

Until all of these fellows have been honored by the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame, said Hall of Fame lacks cred with me.

Best Rock Artists of 2011

Top 10 Rock Artists of 2011

1. Dan Auerbach

Prolific, persistent, he's made The Black Keys into America's favorite rock band, at least for the moment. The 2011 release El Camino is one of the year's best.

2. Justin Vernon

Doh! A really obvious choice based on the obvious appeal and originality of Bon Iver, Bon Iver.

3. Buddy Miller

He's everywhere, he's everywhere. His Majestic Silver Strings is among 2011's top collections, but his artist of the year cred also reflects his work with Robert Plant's Band of Joy and his production of Patty Griffin's Downtown Church, released in 2010 and awarded the 2011 Grammy for Contemporary Gospel.

4. Bill Frisell


He, too, is everywhere, from his own collection of John Lennon covers to his membership in Buddy Miller's Majestic Silver Strings.

5. Jeff Tweedy


My 1999 artist of the year put together his best collections since then.

Vocalist of the Year

1. Holly Williams

Based solely on her heart-greakingly beautiful, breathyrendition of Hank, Sr.'s "Blue Is My Heart." I suppose I ought to listen to her own recordings before I give her too much praise. But I can't wait to do that. You'll hear from me about that.

2. Alison Krauss


Wow, here's a surprise. Based on her 2011 album, Paper Airplane, which is nothing other than typical of her output over the past 15 years. I mean that in a good way.

3. Justin Vernon


For those wacky, wonderful falsetto vocals that define the year's best musical collection Bon Iver, Bon Iver.


4. Leslie Feist


Another who scores extra points for not sounding like everybody else.

5. Susan Tedeschi

A more conventional singer, to be sure, but fills the niche recently vacated as Bonnie Raitt seems to have retired from the field. A worthy successor.

Instrumentalist of the Year

1. Dan Auerbach


It was a pretty good year for pickers of guitars and such-like (see below, then also think about Buddy Miller, Derek Trucks and Vince Gill throwing new music out there, as well as Jerry Douglas and his dobro on a new Alison Krauss title). But Auerbach's is the most original sound in guitar rock today, and that rates some extra credit in my book.


2. Ry Cooder
3. Bill Frisell

Tough to choose between Cooder and Frisell. How about both? Frisell's All We Are Saying is among his best work, while Cooder's Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down is merely typical of his 30-years of output--not significantly better, nor certainly any the worse for its raw energy. I guess I find the rawer work more award-worthy this time around.

4. Jerry Douglas
5. Buddy Miller


Not unlike Cooder and Frisell, these also smack of career awards. Well, so be it.

Best Rock Songs of 2011

Top 20 Rock Songs of 2011

I said that the collection or the LP is the basic unit of measure in rock music. Still, I appreciate a good song as much as the next guy. And a great collection of songs is made up of a great song and another great song and another great song....

1. Towers

2. Calgary--Bon Iver


A buddy of mine isn't sold on Bon Iver. Are there any uptempo songs? Any drums? Well, I don't have a particular problem with the character of Bon Iver's music, obviously, I picked him/them as record of the year. But I understand his position. But, yes, there are a couple of uptempo songs, with drums. And that would be these two, "Towers" and "Calgary." And their slightly higher tempo makes them the 2 most appealing songs on Bon Iver, Bon Iver.

"Towers" is driven by a bouncy rhythm guitar, and eventually bass and finally drums join in on the chorus. I mean, it pretty much sounds like rock & roll. The vocal melody is perfectly accessible. Of course, the brightness of the overall tone and of the falsetto vocals that characterize the entire record and set it apart from the mainstream are here, too, and that's a good thing.

"Calgary" starts out with falsetto voice over kargM1 keyboards. After 2 verses, tasteful drums by Matt McCaughan drop in, as do guitars and basses with several different tonalities. But, again, the focus is a perfectly lovely vocal melody. Nice.

3. Give Peace a Chance

8. Revolution

14. Across the Universe

18. Imagine--Bill Frisell

Frisell hits a home run with "Give Peace a Chance," with a free-form, free-flowing rumination on the song's chorus, "All we are saying is give peace a chance." The verses are missing in action here. It's one of the great Beatles covers ever. He hits a triple with a rockin' if somewhat more conventional version of "Revolution." "Across the Universe" and "Imagine" are also pretty conventionally rendered, but he puts the melodies out front where they belong and, basically, hits a solid double into the gap. "Beautiful Boy" is a surprise--I had forgotten what a pretty melody that is. Another double. And there's a bunch of "singles," if you receive my meaning, and only a few "outs." Great tunes.

4. Billy Paul--Vince Gill

Billy Paul" is kind of a strange song and kind of a guilty pleasure in that it combines a wry, flippant perspective and a rollicking rhythm with a truly horrifying lyric about a friend who ended up in a murder-suicide. "They found a woman dead up in your room," Gill sings, then the flippant chorus ponders the mystery of it, "What made you go crazy Billy Paul?/Was it true love or too much alcohol?"

5. Blue Is My Heart--Holly Williams

Holly is the daughter of Hank, Jr., and she's released a couple of CDs, so why hadn't I heard of her before? The good news is she seems to have none of the characteristics of her father's music. Here is a heart-breakingly beautiful, breathy performance that immediately says, hey, this is a singer of unusual emotion and nuance. I will be absolutely amazed if she is not the hottest thing in country music within the next year.

6. Holocene

9. Beth/Rest

12. Michicant--Bon Iver


"Holocene" seems to be the fave tune among Bon Iver's new collection, judging by its Record of the Year Grammy nomination. I prefer the 2 tunes listed above, that rock out just a tiny bit harder and offer melodies and sonic environments that are just as pleasing. But this is more typical of the entire collection and is probably the most pleasing of those "typical" tunes.

"Beth/Rest" is an anomaly in this collection in that its piano-driven sound is less intimate than the rest--indeed, it brings to mind '80s arena-rock a la Foreigner or more even a Toto or somebody like that.

"Michicant" is among the most understated tunes on the album but, again, has the same appealing melodic hooks and sonic environment that makes Bon Iver, Bon Iver the great collection that it is.

7. Lonesome Midtown Blues--Pat Donohue

The centerpiece of a collection of wry, laid-back tunes that show off a vastly underrated guitarist. You either know him as a member of the Shoe Band on Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion, or you don't know him at all. If you're a fan of acoustic guitar, you should.

10. One Sunday Morning (song for Jane Smiley's Boyfriend)--Wilco

This 12 minute opus is among Jeff Tweedy's greatest creations. 12 minutes on a single, simple guitar figure sounds like a recipe for tedium but instead Tweedy and company spin perhaps their greatest performance ever out of it.

11. Freight Train

13. Meds--Buddy Miller's Majestic Silver Strings


Miller's Majestic Strings--basically Miller, Bill Frisell, Greg Leisz and Marc Ribot with a series of guest vocalists--is a new/old concoction, putting a decidedly 21st century spin on some old country tunes from the turn of the 20th century up through the '50s and '60s, plus a few newer tunes. Their best efforts come from the two extremes. "Freight Train" is a 100-year-old instrumental tune that Miller and company make new, while "(Back on the) Meds" is a rumination on mental illness written by Ribot and sung by guest LeeAnn Womack. Not for the faint of heart.

15. My Opening Farewell--Alison Krauss


Krauss doesn't merely join the ever-longer list of singers who've covered one of Jackson Browne's greatest creations. She tops 'em all. 

16. Come and Get Me--Folk Family Revival


A rollicking tune from the promising debut record of the unfortunately-named band of brothers and cousins from Houston.

17. No Banker Left Behind--Ry Cooder


Perhaps Cooder's angriest social commentary ever.

19. Walking Down the Line--Robin and Linda Williams


The best tune on a generally disappointing A Nod to Bob, Vol. 2, featuring Red House Records artists performing covers of songs associated with Bob Dylan. Unlike many of the entries, this one just presents the song rather than trying to make it into a grand statement of some kind. And there ain't nothin' wrong with this song, or the Williams' performance thereof.

20. The Ladder Song--Bright Eyes


The best tune on a generally disappointing collection of tunes by Conor Oberst and Bright Eyes. 

The Best Rock Music Collections of 2011: Bon Iver and More

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.