Ten CDs: Hey, I know that one!, part II
More CDs that I should have already spun, found in a recent purge of my collection.
Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew "Spirit If ..."
(Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew "Backed Out On The..." And, yes, that is J. Mascis.)
Drew, the ringleader of Canadian super group BSS, decided he too wanted a piece of the side project action enjoyed by so many of his mates (Metric, Stars, Apostle of Hustle, Raising the Fawn, Feist and many others are BSS satellites). The album employs many of the same people that the main hub does — and the touring band was made up of BSS players — so it's difficult to tell where Broken Social Scene ends and Kevin Drew begins, but maybe we don't really need to worry about that. It's a good album. Chill, downtempo rock stripped of that bombast that makes me sometimes hate Broken Social Scene proper.
"Pure Fire: A Gilles Peterson Impulse! Collection"
Sweet jazz-cakes! An impressive mix of jazz big guns — John Coltrane, Art Blakey, Milt Jackson, etc — put together by the respected BBC Radio 1 DJ. Cool and understated, this collection captures the spirit of the era without showing off. It also includes Yusef Lateef's flute-driven take on Erik Satie's First Gymnopedie, a piece of music that I've been obsessed with recently.
iLIKETRAINS "Elegies to Lessons Learnt"
I saw these guys at CMJ and I really enjoyed their show. Their music is dark and paranoid (a little Joy Division-y, actually) and gleefully depressing. Although, to tell the truth, it works a little better live than on CD. Hmmm .... I don't love it.
More after the jump ...
Teddy Thomspon "Upfront & Down Low"
I always think the idea of foreigners attempting country music, the most American of genres, is a little funny. But Englishman Thompson (the son of famed Brit folk singers Richard and Linda Thompson) captures the essence of old-school Americana perfectly (it helps that he's covering some of the masters of the form). I'm actually having trouble listening to it, because it's making me sad. Which I think is the point of country music, right? It's music for sad saps. Like, check out some of the song titles: "Change of Heart," "Walking the Floor Over You," "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone," "The Worst is Yet to Come," "You Finally Said Something Good (When You Said Goodbye)" and "She Thinks I Still Care." This may be a case of my personal life affecting my professional life, but I want to cry just typing that out. Maybe I'll save this uplifting slice of heartbreak for after work ...
Tegan & Sara "The Con"
Ah, this provokes an emotion I'm far more comfortable with: annoyance. Most of the time, the duo's voices annoy the crap out of me. But there's that magical one percent of the time when Tegan & Sara is exactly what you want to hear. Blogger Jason Mulgrew has a similar reaction, he pointed out in this post (toward the bottom), and I totally agree.
The Bird and The Bee "Please Clap Your Hands"
I've loved Inara George from the first second that I put on her 2005 album, "All Rise." With B&B, she's a little more retro-girl group than her solo efforts, which are Cali folk-pop sounding. But it's still awesome. Especially because her girl group imitation is cut through with a healthy portion of sass and attitude. Her word play is clever, and her voice disarming. A+.
"Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur"
A two-disc collection of contemporary artist covering John Lennon's songs. This could go really right or really wrong. The artists involved: Green Day, U2, Christina Aguilera, Corinne Bailey Rae, Avril Lavigne (who hubristically attempts "Imagine"), The Flaming Lips, Jackson Browne, Regina Spektor ...
At the end of the day, I don't know if I really want to hear John Lennon's songs done by anyone other than John Lennon. Doing a successful cover involves picking a song that people are familiar enough with, but not one so legendary that people will get upset when you mess with it. So why to people insist on covering the Beatles?
But surprisingly enough, there's a lot on here to like.
The ones that work:
R.E.M. "#9 Dream" — I can't explain why.
Christina Aguilera "Mother" — She totally rocks this, in a straight up tribute to the song that tweaks it but doesn't mess.
Aerosmith featuring Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars "Give Piece a Chance" — Given that the Refugee All Stars are actual refugees, it lends a certain weight to their pleas for us to "Give Peace a Chance." But Steven Tyler hams it up and the whole song is kept light and fun. And meaningful.
Black Eyed Peas "Power to the People" — I think this was the song they were trying to write when they came up with "Where is the Love." They put their own pop-rap stamp on it, and, honestly, the original, while an important cultural artifact is kind of a minor song in the cannon.
Ben Harper "Beautiful Boy" — Again, another good match in styles. This song is beautiful and Ben sings it beautifully. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful ... (It's been a long day...)
Matisyahu "Watching the Wheels" — This is definitely my favorite John Lennon song, and maybe one of my favorite songs ever. And Matis takes it in an entirely new direction and I still love it. Maybe this song was always meant to be a reggae jam.
Regina Spektor "Real Love" — Regina has the unfair advantage of tackling a song that was produced and released posthumously as the extra to that Beatles Anthology collection. It's a pretty song, and her version doesn't have to compete with the original so it works on its own.
So, I don't really know how to score this. 3.5 +/-3 depending on how I'm feeling out of 7 or 8, I guess,
eh.www.amNY.com
