Tag Archives: weekend review

The Best Covers of 2010

Posted on by
Reply

By Chris Moore:

For a guy who regularly posts cover song music videos, I am surprisingly unwelcoming as regards the inclusion of cover songs on studio albums.  That being said, there have been some excellent covers this year, and they’ve been handled in manners that I can respect.  For instance, Brian Wilson and Steven Page each released albums entirely composed of covers.  She & Him released their cover of “I Can Hear Music” as the “B-side” to their single, which was an intelligent decision that both allowed us to hear this excellent version yet also to preserve the continuity of Volume Two.  The Black Keys (on their very good album) and Sheryl Crow (on her forgettable album) each decided to include a cover near the end of the track listing, which blended well.  And Johnny Cash is, well… Johnny Cash.  He’s the man, and for the last decade of his career, it became a mark of distinction to have the man record a cover version of your song, artists lining up to present him with tracks for future consideration.

So, here they are: the top five cover songs of 2010.  Check back tomorrow for another list!

BEST COVER SONGS of 2010

1)  “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” – Brian Wilson (Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin)

2)  “I Can Hear Music” – She & Him (“In the Sun” single)

3)  “Paranoid Android” – Steven Page (A Singer Must Die)

4)  “Never Gonna Give You Up” – The Black Keys (Brothers)

5)  “Redemption Day” – Johnny Cash (American VI: Ain’t No Grave)

Honorable Mention: “I Want You Back” – Sheryl Crow (100 Miles from Memphis)

The Wallflowers’ “Red Letter Days” (2002) – The Weekend Review

Posted on by
1

** This is the fifth in a five part series of music reviews, counting down from the #5 to the #1 albums of the decade, 2000-2009. As of today, the #1 album has been revealed, along with the complete Weekend Review picks for the Top Thirty Albums of the Decade! **

By Chris Moore:

RATING: 5/5 stars

Knowing that Wallflowers frontman Jakob Dylan is son of THE Bob Dylan has raised a certain bar for his career in the music industry.  And he operates, for the most part, within the confines of genres that his father helped to define — folk/country rock, rock and roll, and most recently on his solo album, solo acoustic music.

Especially considering how high that certain aforementioned bar is, the respect I have for Jakob Dylan’s style of songwriting and producing is all the more significant.

In every way that matters, Red Letter Days is the Wallflowers’ masterpiece, coming just three months after the band passed the ten-year mark since their first, self-titled release.  And if you’ve heard The Wallflowers, then you know just how far they’d come to be able to release a record as well-developed, instrumentally brilliant, vocally masterful, and conceptually tight as this one.  Lyrically, Red Letter Days is Jakob Dylan at his best, and his vocal performances, both leads and backgrounds, are outstanding — perfectly orchestrated and yet not flat in the least.

This is what drives me furious about the public reception of this band and of this album.  Jakob Dylan has a style very much his own — catchy, quirky, tight and poppy yet raw — and still there’s hardly a reviewer who can pass up the opportunity to compare him to his father or to somehow reference Bob Dylan in some way.

I know, I know; even I haven’t avoided this.

Then there is Red Letter Days, an album that combines all the compositional qualities and sonic characteristics of my favorite classic rock — great guitar effects, a solid acoustic rhythm supporting most tracks, cool bass riffs, and a strong back beat — without coming off as being derivative.  This is not a band trying to sound like they stepped out of the sixties.  They’re not a seventies jam band transplanted into the modern music market.  And there’s nothing eighties about them.  No, this is a band with its roots solidly in everything that made the so-called nineties rock revival excellent.  Two years into the new millennium, they were carrying the best of those aspects into their new album while also incorporating more experimental sounds — i.e. drum machines and other synthesized sounds typically associated with alternative rock.

Forgive me as I ascend the soapbox, but can someone please explain to me why Red Letter Days didn’t so much as appear on any of the numerous “best albums of the decade” lists that I’ve read over the past several weeks?  I cannot, for all my love of and experience with the rock music of the past ten years, sort out a justification for why Red Letter Days isn’t sitting pretty alongside such acclaimed works as Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Viva La Vida, Elephant, In Rainbows, and Sea Change, all albums that I also appreciate and do, in fact, appear on the Weekend Review’s top fifty list.

Putting the soapbox aside, the Wallflowers are one of the foremost rock bands of the nineties, and despite having suffered a steady decline in popularity, have continued to produce some of the most outstanding rock albums of the 2000’s.

The Wallflowers' "Red Letter Days" (2002)

The Wallflowers' "Red Letter Days" (2002)

From the first few seconds of “When You’re On Top,” it quickly becomes clear that this isn’t your standard Wallflowers release.  This opening track is all about anxiously stretching out for something original in a society that worships the retreads, the formulas.  We’re a society that loves what we know — in television alone, consider the four Law & Order franchises, the multiple CSI‘s and the even more numerous Survivor‘s.  American Idol is the same old formula, but played out season after season.  The narrator of this song, setting the tone for this record, aches for undiscovered ground, all the while remembering that it’s always best “when you’re on top.”  This can be read as referring to some other person being “on top” in his life, or perhaps a more autobiographical reading might suggest this is Dylan singing to us after his band’s decline in popularity after Bringing Down the Horse gave way to (Breach).

“How Good It Can Get” and “Closer to You” are the perfect pair, much more straightforward rock compositions that advance the tone and themes of the first track.  The former appears to exude a confidence, the narrator nearly bragging about what he has to offer, but the latter follows up with a much slower, more introspective approach.

For the fourth track, the Wallflowers shift into an altogether new and different gear.  “Everybody Out of the Water” is some of the hardest rock Dylan and company have recorded.  It really shows their teeth and Dylan seems to delight in the apocalyptic imagery and barely-contained scream rising up in his lead vocal.

This is quickly followed up with another drastic downshift into one of the best, albeit simplest, acoustic songs that this band has to offer.  “Three Ways” is driven by a clever lyrical device that is delivered within a beautiful, mesmerizing melody.

The middle ground of Red Letter Days presents an interesting combination.  Tracks six and eight, “Too Late to Quit” and “Health and Happiness,” are dark, bitter, bile-fueled rock songs that continue with the “all hell breaking loose” vibe of “Everybody Out of the Water.”  Between the two lies “If You Never Got Sick,” which is among the best Wallflowers songs to date.  If I were asked to play one song that represented the Wallflowers at their best, this would be it.  Dylan’s lyrics are beautifully constructed, his vocals are fittingly both longing and confident, and the instrumentation is a perfect blending of strong acoustic guitars, a purposeful electric lead, and driving drumbeats.

It is, in context, a bright spot at the heart of what is otherwise quite dark.

By the time “See You When I Get There” kicks on, the clouds have begun to part.  “Feels Like Summer Again” further demonstrates a positive attitude, playing with the imagery of summer to express all the hope that the warm months represent after a cold, frigid winter and a hesitant spring.

By the time the distorted guitars and crunchy bass of “Everything I Need” wind up, Dylan is a man whose confidence has been entirely restored.  The double tracked lead — Dylan’s lower register delivery in particular — adds to the battle-hardened, yet optimistic attitude that characterizes much of the album.  As he repeats in the chorus, “You can’t save me; you can’t fail me.  I’m back up on my feet, baby.  On the way down is when I found out, I’ve got everything I need.”

The final track of the album is an acoustic-based number in the same spirit as “Three Ways.”  “Here in Pleasantville” takes a deep breath, steps back, and examines the realities of the situation that has spread out before us between “When You’re On Top” and “Everything I Need.”  And there is no more zen-like, realistic song that you’ll find on this album or perhaps anywhere.  This song is certainly wrapped up in a bittersweet haze, but there is something very peaceful about it.

Almost as an afterthought, the bonus track “Empire in My Mind” stretches out and builds up a nearly manic sinking feeling that, “There is no order, there is chaos and there is crime.  There is no one home tonight in the empire in my mind.”  After an album’s worth of confidence building, breaking down of fears and insecurities and restoring independence, this is interesting choice indeed for a closing track.

Without reservations, I strongly recommend the Wallflowers’ Red Letter Days to you as the overall best rock album of the decade, 2000-2009.  Rolling Stone might as well have ignored it altogether for the bland three-star, one-paragraph review they afforded it.  The general consuming public might as well have forgotten the band existed for the relatively poor numbers, as it came in a full 28 spots lower on the Billboard charts than Bringing Down the Horse did and has failed thus far to so much as register on the RIAA books.

Don’t make the same mistake: if you go back and pick up one rock music album from this decade, make it Red Letter Days.

Mudcrutch’s “Mudcrutch” (2008) – The Weekend Review

Posted on by
Reply

By Chris Moore:

RATING: 3 / 5 stars

I’ll never forget the day I first read the biography of Mudcrutch.

It was a surreal set of circumstances — Mudcrutch was a band that had gone unnoticed by most and been forgotten by those few who had taken an interest during their five year run from 1970 to 1975. They had formed as a small town band, moved out to Los Angeles in pursuit of a record contract, and broken apart under the pressures of their record label and the departure of band members.

A year later, three of the Mudcrutch refugees would go on to form a band that you may have heard of…

It was a tantalizing tale, and I could barely contain my excitement for this music. In some small way, I felt like I would be able — for once! — to take part in the debut release of a band I felt truly passionate about. This was not simply the unveiling of a band’s first album; this was an opportunity to be transported back in time nearly four decades to an entirely different rock and roll landscape than I’ve grown accustomed to in the new millennium.

You get the idea.

And, at least initially, Mudcrutch held up to the hype.

Mudcrutch's self-titled debut (2008)

Mudcrutch's self-titled debut (2008)

The first song that caught my attention was “Scare Easy,” a mid-tempo number that may have Petty’s trademark vocals on it, but is clearly not your typical Heartbreakers track. If anything, it sounds more like his previous solo album, but even then, it has a unique sound.

Other tracks on the album are standouts, even amongst the considerable catalog items that Petty, Campbell, and Tench have amassed over the years. Songs like “The Wrong Thing To Do” and “Bootleg Flyer” are unique, upbeat, and very promising. “Orphan of the Storm” may be one of the best examples of what this band sounds like, blending older country and blues textures with a seventies rock and roll mentality lurking in the backbeat.

These excellent tracks notwithstanding, there are a number of tracks that suffer from that middle-of-the-road, “so what?” stupor that few can induce like Tom Petty. In fact, most of the second half of the album is forgettable, populated by a pedestrian tune from Benmont Tench, a forgettable Tom Leadon track that confirms why he fell short of the success his brother (the former Eagle) and Petty achieved, “June Apple,” and “Topanga Cowgirl.”

In fact, two of the best tracks on the album are covers: “Six Days on the Road” and “Lover of the Bayou.” The former is a pretty straightforward number, but an exemplar for country rock. The latter, co-written by Roger McGuinn (of the Byrds) and Jacques Levy (popularly known for his collaborations with Bob Dylan on 1978’s “Street Legal”), is a candidate for the best Mudcrutch performance on tape to date. Even the traditional “Shady Grove” is beautifully translated as the perfect opener.

On first listen, Mudcrutch was a joy. Track by track, I loved it. It was only after repeated listens that it began to lose its luster and fade into mediocrity. This is a case where I think my excitement for the story surrounding the band colored my perception of the music they produced.

Each time I return to it, I try to feel what I did that first week after its release in 2008, but to no avail. Even though I’ve hesitated to admit it, Mudcrutch is a three star album from what could have been — and, at least, three fifths went on to be — a five star band.

Take note of that: in music, as in life, some combinations just weren’t meant to be, no matter how much you love the individuals. You may look back and ponder what could have been.

It’s perhaps better left to the imagination.

Reflections on Rock Music: What makes for a 5 star album?

Posted on by
Reply

As I’m still locked out of YouTube and waiting on a reply email from Google support, I figured it was the right time to add a fifth installment to the “Reflections on Rock Music” series…

By Chris Moore:

This year, I’ve been reading and writing more album reviews than ever before.  I’ve kept to my goal of writing one full review a week (typically long-form, 750-1000 words), and I’ve added regular installments in the “Yes, No, or Maybe So” series of one-sentence reviews.  As always, I look forward to reading new editions of Rolling Stone magazine, particularly the album review section at the back.

More often than not, I’m infuriated by what I read, but that’s half the fun of it, I suppose…

This year, I’ve been making regular trips to online sources for music reviews such as Allmusic, Spin, and Uncut when I have the time and interest.  Studying how other reviewers approach the same music that I’m reviewing has been educational as I develop the aspects of my writing style I like, and perhaps even moreso as I decide how I want to distinguish myself from others.  After all, for any given album or even song, there are multiple opinions and points of view to be had and expressed.

Which brings me to the question of the evening:

What makes for a five star album?

FACTOR ONE:  Instrumental Excellence

The most basic indicator of an outstanding album is its instrumental composition.  This is not to say that an album needs be complex in order to be excellent, but there is an ineffable quality of music that stands out, whether it be unique, or well-executed, or demonstrative of impressive talent.  Still, even the most simple arrangements can cause listeners to lose themselves in the flow of the song.

Perhaps the most notable example of an instrumentally excellent five star album is the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds.  Under the direction of Brian Wilson, the studio session musicians worked together to create what is arguably the single best album of all time.  To put on headphones, or — even better — to sit at the center of a set of surround sound speakers, is a transcendent experience, listening to this flawless, intricately woven tapestry of instrumentation and, of course, vocals.

FACTOR TWO:  Lyrical — and Vocal — Excellence

A song can only go so far as its lyrics and vocals will provide for it.  Although some may disagree with me, a song needs to be lyrically engaging in order for it to have any longevity on my iPod.  There are exceptions to every rule, but songs should be engaging and thoughtful.  Even simple songs should be well-constructed.  If it seems like the lyrics are phoned-in, then it’s a foregone conclusion that the song can only be interesting for so long.

Bob Dylan set the standard for great lyrics as early as his second release.  By Blonde on Blonde, his seventh studio album, Dylan had not only perfected his sixties rock sound, but he also unveiled some of his wildest, most poetic lyrics yet in gems like “Visions of Johanna” and “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again.”  The words certainly work best set to music, but taken out of context, they are poems in their own right.

FACTOR THREE:  Strong Individual Songs

Anyone who plays an instrument knows that it takes more than musical talent, a way with words, or distinctive vocals to make a great song.  Sometimes, all three can be present, and yet the song falls flat.  The ability to write a truly excellent song can’t be learned from a book and could never be deconstructed.  There are simply those who can create and balance guitar riffs, vocal hooks, and the like.  And there are those who can’t, or at least not often.

Pearl Jam’s Ten is a great example of a five star album on which each track is equally outstanding in its own unique way.  To think that rockers like “Once,” “Even Flow,” “Alive,” and “Porch” are on the same disc as ballads and dirges like “Black,” “Jeremy,” “Oceans,” and “Release” is mind-blowing.  This is a case of eleven five star songs adding up to a five star album.

FACTOR FOUR:  Thematic Cohesion & Relevance

It’s one thing to have a song or even several that are excellent, it’s another to have an album’s worth, and it’s yet another to have an album’s worth of songs that are thematically cohesive and provocative.  The latter is key, as an album needs to pass the “So what?” test in order to be considered for the full five star rating; after all, who wants to or will continue listening to an album repeatedly if it doesn’t provide relatable emotions, situations, etc.?  I’m also a strong believer that truly great albums have images, symbols, and/or themes that run throughout from front to back.  These don’t need to be blunt, but they should be available for those who care to listen for them.

The Moody Blues are the inimitable masters of the concept album.  The story of their first seven studio releases is one classic record after another.  Perhaps the best of that sequence is On the Threshold of A Dream, an album whose tracks all lend to the larger topic of dreams that unifies the album.  This was released at the peak of their creativity as a five-piece band, each member making notable contributions which range from rock songs to beautiful tunes to the spoken word.

FACTOR FIVE:  Timelessness

The fifth and final factor is such an important one, and yet it is the one factor that I will admit that I second-guess myself on.  True five star albums should be as relevant, thought-provoking, and entertaining ten years from now as they are today.  Only time will tell how my favorite five-star albums of this decade will stack up at the end of the next decade, or the ones after that.  It is quite easy to look back at some of the classics (such as those mentioned above) and recognize that they are five star quality.  It is another to imagine how one’s taste and interests will shift and influence the perception of contemporary albums.

I have no doubts that my five-star records of the 2000s — albums like the Wallflowers’ Red Letter Days, BnL’s Maroon, and Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot — will be every bit as impressive to me for all my days to come, and I know with time that I will hone my ability to judge timelessness.  I’m already improving, and this is all the more reason to exercise my instincts and analytical abilities in weekly editions of the Weekend Review.

** Hurry back this weekend for a live set list — posted live song by song — from a great rock band on Saturday, and a review of the concert on Sunday! **