for a somewhat different format, i thought i would take a look back at some of the 2018 releases that i enjoyed, but for whatever reason didn’t get around to doing a full write up. here they are, in no particular order:

dave alvin and jimmie dale gilmore, ‘downey to lubbock’

the title is a reference to their respective hometowns, and it is also the title track. the song shows how much the two have in common, although at first they seem like an unlikely pairing. it is also the only song written by them. the rest are covers that successfully blend a wide range of genres. it is very well done and they look like they are enjoying themselves.

buffalo springfield, ‘what’s that sound?’

a mini box set of all three albums they released, with the first two having mono and stereo versions presented. neil young remastered from the original tapes, and it sounds great. a very innovative, talented group. but some of their egos were too big to be in a band like this. this is a reminder of just how much promise they had together.

 

colter wall, ‘songs of the plains’

it has been just under a year since i first discovered this guy, and this just came out about 6 weeks ago. a very distinctive voice and a wonderful songwriter. authentic.

emmylou harris, ‘the ballad of sally rose’

originally released in 1985, this was an attempt at doing a ‘concept’ country album. it tells the tale of a talented young singer trying to get a break. sally rose meets an older musician who takes her under his wing and makes a star out of her. it seemed obvious to most that this was about gram parsons, but she denied it, until now. she admits in the liner notes that he was very much on her mind. she released a newly mastered version, plus the original demo tapes (which are pretty damn good).

 

jeff tweedy, ‘warm’

as i mentioned in the review of his book, jeff just released a solo record that is in many ways a companion piece to the book. it is essentially his son spencer on drums, and then jeff playing nearly everything else. i have gotten though it a couple of times now, and i am liking it so far.

doc and merle watson, ‘never the same way once’

this is one of the releases from the owsley stanley foundation, essentially recordings from ‘bear’s sonic journals’. owsley ‘bear’ stanley recorded many artists live, not just the grateful dead. here he captures doc and merle watson on a four night run at the boarding house in 1974 (the same place that ‘old and in the way’ was recorded just seven months earlier). doc is a master entertainer, and both he and son merle are as good as it gets in the old timey music space. each show is different, and they never cease to amaze.

elvis costello, ‘look now’

this is an ambitious and mature work, covering a lot of ground in genres and styles. burt bacharach co wrote three songs here, and seems present in spirit on many others. as usual, it is very impressive lyrically, and the production is sophisticated and complex. this is not ‘armed forces’, but it is a unique offering that will reward the open minded listener.

willie nelson, ‘my way’

willie actually put out two albums this year, this and ‘last man standing’, the latter released within a few days of his 85th birthday. the former is an album full of frank sinatra songs. i can recommend both.

cody jinks, ‘lifers’

the first two tracks on this one are getting heavy airplay on the sirius xm outlaw country channel, and for good reason. they illustrate why this guy is finally getting his due in the country world.

that’s it for now. i hope you are able to connect with a few of these. let me know what you think, and please feel free to let me know about anything you think i should hear.

update: dave from nj sends in his holiday photo of the redeye rocks glasses and some bob dylan whisky.

in many ways, dylan’s 1975 ‘blood on the tracks’ marks a line in the sand in his career. there is his total output before ‘blood’, and then there is everything after it. or, another way of putting it would be to note that nearly every great album he has done since then comes with a qualifier – ” maybe his best album since ‘blood on the tracks’….”. that may not be fair, but it stands as a testament as to how great the album is. it easily stands the test of time, and it is usually listed in his greatest achievements. as such, it was of great interest to me when columbia decided to pay tribute to the recording by releasing volume 14 of their great ‘bootleg series’.

as readers may know, quite a bit of history and bootlegging surrounds the story of these sessions, and so it would have been very disappointing if they hadn’t done it in the exhaustive manner offered here. if you get the deluxe version (which i did), you get six full cd’s that have every session recorded in full, in chronological order. that might be a bit much for the casual fan, so they also released a single cd with alternate versions of the songs, plus a few that didn’t make the final cut.

the first five cd’s are from the original new york sessions from september of 1974. he starts with solo acoustic versions of most of the songs, and then the assembled studio musicians take a crack at fleshing out the tunes. it becomes clear early on that he is not happy with how it sounds, and the drummer can hardly keep the time. over the next batches of takes he slowly eliminates nearly all of the musicians except tony brown on bass. it is this portion of the sessions that really intrigue me. the tone is stark, introspective and measured. the ‘idiot wind’ that finally makes it on the finished version is a raging bitter diatribe, but here the tempo is slowed down and the lyric changes and presentation have less of an accusatory tone. i never owned any of the bootleg recordings from the new york sessions, so it was such a revelation to hear some of these songs in such different arrangements (only half of the songs from the final release included versions from these sessions).

when bob’s brother david heard the recordings, he feared that it would not sell well, and convinced bob to start over on five songs with a completely different band in minnesota a few months later. whether it would have sold as originally conceived, we can never know, but the final version hit the top of the billboard chart, ending a small run of tepid sales over his previous 3 or 4 albums.

there is also a theory among dylan aficionados that the album is autobiographical, based at least in part on the fact that his marriage to sara lownds was dissolving. bob denies this, countering that the songs were based on short stories by anton chekhov. but jakob dylan has been quoted as saying that the album was ‘his parents talking’.

as for the debate as to which versions are better, it is difficult to lean one way or the other. i think i like the new york sessions, but then maybe it is just because they are fresh to my ear. but it also might have something to do with the fact that i was sampling bob’s new bourbon while taking it all in.

mrs. redeyegin prefers the minnesota sessions. but the main reason we can even have this debate is due to the power and magnitude of his artistry. he comes into the studio with a very clear notion of the structure of the songs, constantly morphs and probes, and leaves everyone else involved in the process in awe. a reviewer for the new yorker notes that to this day he is still changing the lyrics to ‘simple twist of fate’ in live performances. if you are a casual fan of bob, the single cd is really a no brainer. just go order it now. i had a few reservations about picking up the deluxe version due to the price tag, but i knew i would regret it. and now that i know how good it is, i am glad i splurged. plus you get two books, one of them including his legendary red spiral notebook with all the lyrics.

as i mentioned, this is the fourteenth volume of the bootleg series, and i have all of them. this is easily in my top three or four. keep them coming, bob.

 

i mentioned in my last post that mark knopfler was an artist that i track pretty carefully. another person i follow closely is jeff tweedy. as such, it was pretty much a no brainer to pick up his new autobiography when i saw it come out a few weeks back. i can’t remember exactly where i first picked up on his work. it was either in the later stages of the uncle tupelo era, or his first album or two of wilco. regardless, i am pretty sure i have everything he has ever released and have seen him live a few times. after reading this, i have a more profound and informed view of his artistry. it also shed a light on him as a human being.

it is a dry witted and honest examination of both his personal life and musical career, and it is so well written and engaging that i think even the most casual fan will enjoy it. it starts in his early childhood, and then winds its way through his introduction to jay farrar in high school, the eventual success and then breakup of uncle tupelo, and then his long career with his band wilco. he also spends time on his wife and family, and how he and his sons became a side project (‘tweedy’) and went on their own tour. he says in the introduction to the book that he would not be discussing anything regarding his prescription drug issues, then in the next paragraph jokingly says that of course he would tell all about it. and he does, in quite some detail. by the way, if you are waffling on whether this book is for you, and you see it in a bookstore (it just debuted at number 6 on the nyt bestsellers list), just open it up and read his introduction. one of the best i have ever read. very funny.

serious tupelo/wilco fans will be able to round out their knowledge of the bands’ work – the amazing amount of punk rock jay and jeff listened to as teenagers, the creative  process of jeff’s songwriting, why he likes old guitar strings, the revolving door of wilco members in the early years, and much, much more. all told in an honest and jovial fashion, making it difficult to put down. in fact, i am reading it again as we speak. a good stocking stuffer for your holiday reading list.

on top of that, he just released his first solo album of entirely original material, ‘warm’, last friday. stay tuned.