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Jakob Dylan's "Women & Country" (2010)
Review:
With the most compelling lyrics since his last Wallflowers album, Jakob Dylan continues to putter along with his return-to-roots approach; there are some flashes of brilliance here, yet I simply have to expect more from a man I consider to be one of the most outstanding songwriters of all time.
Top Two Tracks:
“Holy Rollers for Love” & “Standing Eight Count”
This is the third in a five part series dedicated to the top five rock artists of the decade, 2000-2009. The criteria used to determine this list were: (1) Quality of Music, (2) Quantity of Released Material, (3) Diversity of Media, and (4) Roles of Artists/Band Members. Look for new posts coming soon!
By Chris Moore:
Easily one of the busiest figures in contemporary rock music, Jack White has made it his business to write, record, perform, and produce music every chance he gets. There is something breathtaking about the apparent ease with which he has transcended genre lines and brought the influences back to his own music. It is equally impressive to consider how many directions he has been pulled in during this decade, and yet how strong his contributions have been to each of his numerous ventures.
I, for one, wasn’t sure what to make of this straggly-haired ax-grinder when I first heard of him in the wake of the White Stripes’ breakthrough effort Elephant in 2003. I’ll never forget tuning in (on the advice of a friend) to Late Night with Conan O’Brien during their week-long tenure promoting this aforementioned album. “Seven Nation Army” may have been overplayed for some, but I loved its gritty, riffy simplicity, punctuated by White’s lead vocals and Meg White’s wonderfully boneheaded drumming.
With each new White Stripes album I’ve heard, I’ve realized more and more the degree to which Jack and Meg — particularly Jack — are experts at finding their comfort zones, then burning them down. In the Raconteurs, he contributes a very big, very characteristic guitar sound, somehow crafting a new landscape without plagiarizing his White Stripes sound. And the Dead Weather, his second side project, is something else all together, a sound that White pulls together with his drumming rather than his guitar work.
Taking these three bands into consideration, then throwing in his solo work and other one-off collaborations for good measure, there is simply no way to avoid giving Jack White a respectful — if not awe-filled — nod for his exemplary contemporary rock music created this decade.
BLACK & WHITE & RED ALL OVER
Any music promoter will tell you that it’s not simply the sound of a band that is important, but also their image and general appearance. Jack and Meg White have excelled with this other half of the equation, always dressing in red, white, and black, as well as seeing to it that their album artwork follows suit. Their music may draw comparisons to acts of the past like Led Zeppelin, but this is no retro act. In their continually developing sound, and equally in the way they dress and act, the White Stripes are one of the most interesting bands of the decade.
How to go about describing such a band in a few paragraphs?
I’ll start with words like quirky, bold, frenetic, complex, basic, and that’s just to begin with. Since 2000’s De Stijl, the White Stripes have released four more albums: 2001’s very promising White Blood Cells, their major label debut Elephant in 2001 (a.k.a. their personal catapult into the pop culture lexicon), 2005’s piano-driven masterpiece Get Behind Me Satan, and most recently, a return to distortion drenched guitar in the riff-laden reveries of 2007’s Icky Thump. By the time they released their first live CD, Under Great White Northern Lights (2010), the White Stripes had developed quite a catalog to draw from.
That they are able to achieve their sound with just two band members is intriguing. Granted, Meg White suffered a breakdown that resulted in the cancellation of some tour dates in 2007, but there have been confirmed reports since last year that they are already at work on their seventh album.
A SIDE PROJECT, A SIDE PROJECT FROM THE SIDE PROJECT, AND MORE!
Jack White’s work in the White Stripes is substantial enough to be considered notable, but it is his wide variety of ventures outside the scope of his primary band that cinch his position at the upper part of the contemporary rock music ladder. His five contributions to the Cold Mountain soundtrack in 2003 suggested that he had more to give than could be satisfied in one band alone. He has since gone on to produce and play on a laundry list of other albums, including Loretta Lynn’s Van Lear Rose. More recently, he wrote and recorded an outstanding duet with Alicia Keys for the James Bond film Another Way to Die, the first duet in the Bond series.
With all the writing, performing, and recording White has done since the early nineties, it is interesting to note that his first official “solo” work was released in 2009 — the single “Fly Farm Blues.”
In addition to these one-off efforts, White has joined not one but two side projects. The first, the Raconteurs, formed in 2005 along with power pop rocker Brendan Benson (sharing guitar duty), bassist Jack Lawrence, and drummer Patrick Keeler. After their 2006 debut Broken Boy Soldiers, they followed up quickly with the phenomenal Consolers of the Lonely in 2008. The latter is easily one of the best rock music albums of the decade, and it is an outrage that I passed over it for my Top 50 Albums of the 2000s list. This is the Jack White music that I am perhaps most drawn to: tight, fully-produced, riff-driven songs with an abundance of crunchy guitars, a rockin’ rhythm section, and catchy leads.
As if that weren’t enough to keep him busy, White co-founded the Dead Weather in 2009 with the Kills’ lead singer Alison Mosshart, guitarist Dean Fertita, and Raconteurs bassist Jack Lawrence. This is an altogether different venture that features a grungier tone than the Raconteurs or even the White Stripes. The songs are a bit longer, and could be described as a set of almost-jams. After I heard their interpretations of Bob Dylan’s “New Pony,” a so-so deep track from 1978’s Street Legal, I was hooked.
In summary, this decade has seen Jack White bring the White Stripes to worldwide rock music fame, form not one but two side groups, release his first single as a solo artist, and contribute to a myriad of other artists’ albums and soundtracks. At the time of this writing (early 2010), there is a May 11th release date set for the follow-up Dead Weather album, confirmations from White that the White Stripes will be releasing an album in the near future, and whispers of an all-out solo record from the man himself.
Hands down, Jack White is my pick for the number three rock music artist of the 2000s for all the right reasons: the sheer quantity of music produced, his development of a signature guitar sound, and his collaborations with other artists (Dylan, Beck, and more in addition to those mentioned above). It’s a no-brainer, my friends.
By Chris Moore:
RATING: 1.5 / 5 stars
The sticker on the cover reads: “This album marks a long-awaited return by the 9x Grammy winner to the classic soul sounds that first drew her to making music.”
That may be, but the music she is making now — nearly two decades into her solo recording career — doesn’t hold a candle to the music she was making on her debut effort, never mind the albums that followed.
My criticism is not only that 100 Miles From Memphis has a decidedly retro sound, embracing the “classic soul sounds” for which Crow has such apparent respect. And the record does have a pervasive retro quality, from the minimalist cover that conjures the vinyl pressings of the past to the background singers that sound like they were hand-picked from the 1950’s and 60’s.
No, my criticism falls upon what should be expected from a songwriter of Crow’s caliber. Even within the general sound that she clearly had in mind, she could have found room to work creatively and intelligently. Instead, many tracks, particularly in the first half of the album, suffer from vapid lyricism, the twice-too-long bug, and a serious case of the forgettables: forgettable instrumentation, forgettable choruses, and even more forgettable background components, both vocals and horns.
The reason that Tuesday Night Music Club soared on the charts and sparked explosive sales (7x platinum and counting) is because it is an excellent album as a whole, composed of individually strong songs. You must remember them: “Run Baby Run” with its rich reverb and allusive lyrics, “Leaving Las Vegas” replete with murky instrumentation and wonderfully ragged vocals, “All I Wanna Do” and all its various components — distinctive opening, great bass hooks, fun lyrics, catchy chorus, cool solo — that combine to make it one of the premier singles of the nineties (all three songs earn each moment of their respective five minute spans), and “Strong Enough” with sense enough to slow it down and take it acoustically for a while.
Oh, and I almost forgot “The Na-Na Song,” a track whose use of the na-na refrain is balanced by edgy, intelligent lyrics.
Read on for my “Na-Na Watch,” as well as my “Bawk Bawk Ba-bawk Alert.”
Sheryl Crow's "100 Miles From Memphis" (2010)
Now, I must go on record here that I do not — repeat NOT — subscribe to the “I wish Sheryl Crow still made music exactly like she did in the nineties” school of thought.
If you read through this album’s reviews on iTunes, you’ll find plenty of them.
I am, rather, a proponent of music that is clearly written in a given songwriter’s own style, whatever that may be at any given time. If that style is a “return to roots” approach, then the resulting tracks should not simply be imitative of a time period or genre that sparks the songwriter’s interest. This is the realm of the young artist, experimenting in covers to formulate his/her own style, or of the old and/or lost artist seeking to return to his/her precursors in order to get on a path that will lead to new endeavors.
And I certainly can’t get behind artists who only record acoustic covers and post them online for no profit.
Well, maybe I can get behind that.
The point is that 100 Miles From Memphis is composed of tracks that blend into a fairly homogeneous sound: of guitars, of vocals, etc. The life in “Our Love is Fading” is lost after about three minutes — and that’s only half way through! “Eye to Eye” could easily be mistaken for a lost B-side from some forgotten, unsuccessful Motown band.
Then there is “Summer Day,” an upbeat, single-worthy song that indulges in not only the sound of the sixties, but, surprisingly for an artist like Crow, the standard bow to chauvinism embraced in music of the time period, not to mention now. She sings, “I just wanna be what you want me to. That summer day changed it all; you came into my life, and you let me fall in love with you.” The singer wants to conform, and is excited that someone “let” her fall in love? To be fair, she most likely intends to capture the simplicity of early love, calling on the imagery of summer, but it is just one more reason to treat 100 Miles From Memphis with hesitation.
It should be noted that by “Summer Day,” a mere four songs into the record, there have been two songs that rely heavily on the “na-na” background vocals.
Just saying.
Elsewhere, Crow is concerned about politics and society. The most obvious example of this is “Say What You Want,” a track on which she unfolds her concerns, yet seems to have confused actual indifference with her typical, at times tongue-in-cheek nonchalance.
There are some standout tracks. “Peaceful Feeling” almost makes the cut, but for the “ba-ba” backgrounds that sound decidedly like her bandmates are mimicking chickens. And she joins them before it’s over. (If someone can formulate a way to listen to this track without hearing “bawk bawk ba-bawk”drowning out the other components, please let me know by commenting below.)
The redeeming songs on this album — and the reason I elevated my review from less than one star to one and a half — are tracks 8, 9, and 10. “Stop” is perhaps the slowest song on the album, but the lyrics and emotion of her vocals converge and are aptly backed by subdued background vocals and instrumentation. “Sideways” offers a standout Citizen Cope cover, featuring a beautiful duet with the man himself; the song stretches on a bit, but the length is largely managed by the progressive build-up of the arrangement.
The title track is the one song on the entire album that is imbued with not only a sense of Crow’s mastery of retro sounds but also the incorporation of her own songwriting style. The background vocals are beautifully reminiscent of the best Motown has to offer. The band sounds like a Motown studio band, yet they paint the corners with subtle, creative flecks of modernity. And, above all, Crow’s lead vocal is crisp, a blend between gritty and silky that only she can pull off.
If all the songs on 100 Miles From Memphis were as engaging as “100 Miles From Memphis,” this review would have taken on an entirely different tone. Indeed, this reviewer wouldn’t have spent so much time the past few days reminiscing about how truly outstanding some of her previous albums have been — Tuesday Night Music Club (1993), The Globe Sessions (1998), & Wildflower (2005). And I certainly wouldn’t have spent so much time worried that Crow will never quite recapture her creative spirit. (I’m not exactly having nightmares to the tune of the terrible C’mon C’mon (2002) and the hit-and-miss Detours (2008), but I’m not listening to those albums in the daytime, either.)
Bottom line: I’ll keep buying Crow’s albums, but after two decades, it appears she’s fallen back into the realm of having to prove her viability as an artist.
By Chris Moore:
RATING: 4 / 5 stars (with “Candy” & “Takin’ My Time”); 4.5 / 5 stars (without)
There is simply no mistaking a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers song.
When you hear a single like “Refugee” or “Free Fallin'” on the radio, or in shuffle mode, or in a fast food restaurant, or wherever you may be, the band is recognizable. Even if something more obscure comes on, say a recent track like “You and Me,” there is no need to call up your Shazam app; there is no mistaking Petty’s distinct nasal twang or Mike Campbell’s hook-laced, jangly guitars. At worst, they sound like a Byrds cover band fronted by a Bob Dylan impersonator.
At best — and, most often — they are one of the greatest American rock bands of all time.
What does all this have to do with Mojo?
Simply put, Mojo represents a purposeful breakdown (pun intended) of the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers formula. This record finds the band more concerned with experimentation via these blues influenced performances, and as such, the individual members of the band, more than on any other release, serve integral roles in the instrumental soundscapes. Even on “U.S. 41,” perhaps the most stripped down of tracks, each band member has an interesting, shifting role as the song unfolds. Campbell’s Kay Jimmy Reed Model guitar joins forces with Scott Thurston’s harmonica to rip schizophrenically through the rhythm section. Benmont Tench switches temporarily to his Tremolo Steinway, relegating himself largely to the background and yet playing a key role in advancing the serious undertones of the words.
Here, as on all the tracks, Petty’s lead vocal is an instrument unto itself, alternating between creaking and crooning where appropriate.
Later, Campbell’s lead guitar on the standout “Running Man’s Bible” acts more as a backup vocal, answering each of Petty’s lines with a lick here, a riff there. This is one of their best duets, and their energy on the choruses calls to mind the fact that this pair has been on the proverbial road for what is rapidly approaching four decades.
When I read in one article that Mojo was being recorded with a jam band mentality, I faltered in my enthusiasm. When another article name-dropped the Allman brothers, I outright grimaced. The Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers I love have always, regardless of what phase they were in, stood for purposeful rock music. What I mean by this is that they have consistently eschewed the instrumental self-indulgence that regularly pushes tracks by bands like the Allman brothers into the double digit minute range. The songs on their debut self-titled release rarely cracked the three minute mark; on the first half, only one track did: “The Wild One, Forever,” clocking in at a whopping 3:01.
In short, I feared that looming self-indulgence, a bug that has bitten many a great band.
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' "Mojo" (2010)
Instead of a collection of lengthy, live band jams, Mojo instead turned out to be a cohesive trek through a myriad of American milieu. In many ways, this new record has more to do with their first two records than their most recent ones. This is not at all to say that they’ve regressed to the simpler arrangements of You’re Gonna Get It! that earned them initial success; this is less a return than a romp through stomping grounds as a more mature, honed group of artists.
Certainly, even the most upbeat tracks on Mojo lack that in-your-face, eager-to-impress youthful energy that characterized their early songs, numbers like “When the Time Comes,” “Listen to Her Heart,” and “American Girl.”
Yet, at the same time, those early tracks lacked the electric mayhem of “Good Enough,” the sinister sneers and downbeats of songs like “I Should Have Known It,” and the beautiful nuances of tracks such as “The Trip to Pirate’s Cove.”
The two songs that leave me aweless are “Candy” and “Takin’ My Time,” the former a snoozer of a blues standard and the latter a lyrically boring, tiring exercise in marching across the speakers. Each exceeds four minutes in length, and my patience in less than half that. (Now, the iTunes bonus track “Little Girl Blues,” that’s a song I can get behind, perhaps even as an addition to the album proper.)
Nix these two tracks and this becomes a tightly sequenced thirteen track album.
Despite stretching out instrumentally, many tracks hint at riffs in all the right places, as if to remind the listener that this format is a conscious decision, as opposed to a lack of ability to write songs like they once did. The lyrics certainly don’t suffer in this venture, “The Trip to Pirate’s Cove” being one of the best ballads the band has ever released and “Good Enough” being one of the best vignettes in their catalog, saying so little yet so much.
Thematically, Mojo is a loose but thoughtfully assembled exploration of American society, particularly the ethics and mores that have shaped our nation over the past hundred years. The concept is not nearly as clearly defined as on The Last DJ, but it is present all the same: in the “mouths to feed” and preferred isolation of “Don’t Pull Me Over,” the “boss man” and the “wages” and the “food on the table” in “U.S. 41”, and, of course, the sin, glory, and freedom in “First Flash of Freedom.”
“Jefferson Jericho Blues” places us at the precipice, in the mind of a man who knows what is right yet “just can’t let go” of what feels better. This conflict recurs in “High in the Morning,” with a bottle that belongs to the devil and a woman who belongs to the captain. If these songs can’t be applied as metaphors for individuals in our society, as well as our nation as a whole, then what can?
In these and so many other ways, Mojo is a success. It may not be comprised of the tightly packaged pop gems we’ve come to expect of the band, but it is still very much a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers album, and, after eight long years, a strong addition to their considerable catalog.
Music ReviewsWhen new music is released by favorite music artists and new songwriters alike, many are curious to know – is it worth my money to buy this new music? In the age of iPods and mp3s, we may carry ten thousand songs with us wherever we go. The question is valid – is it worth my money to add another ten to fifteen tracks to my collection? The music reviews at http://LaptopSessions.com combine the sensibilities of a songwriter with the needs and desires of a listener, as each music review is written by an indie music artist that has devoted much time and energy to both classic as well as new music. The reviewers know how to write a song, but also love to listen to new music when it is of a high quality. New music singles should be upbeat and catchy, and new album tracks should have interesting, intelligent lyrics and generally be satisfying to listen to, whether the song is a downbeat, simple ballad or an electrified, distorted rocker with multiple sections. The music packaging should be worthwhile – pictures, lyrics, liner notes, and more. A music video included would be nice. When it comes to new rock music, the music reviews of the Laptop Sessions will never steer you wrong. The music reviewers tell it like it is, based on the music itself and not on whether or not it is “cool” or “in style.” |