Author: mark

sticky fingers, reconsidered

the rolling stones decided to reissue their classic 1971 masterpiece, ‘sticky fingers’, by remastering once again, and then adding a bonus disc comprised of outtakes and alternate versions, plus a half dozen songs from a 1971 gig from the promotional tour. their recent tour focused heavily on this material. it is my second favorite stones album, and the one i think that they came closest to studio perfection. as such, i had to pull the trigger. the original album has been remastered a couple of times, and i have read reviews that are not favorable to this version. many prefer the 1994 virgin records issue instead. i am not enough of an expert to weigh in on this debate, only to say that it does sound different than what i have, which is the original cd pressing. i can say that there is more separation in the instruments, and the sound is brighter and grittier, if that makes sense. i am not sure it is worth the effort to buy this on the first disc alone, but that is not what really prompted my curiosity anyways. the second disc starts off with an alternate version of ‘brown sugar’ and has eric clapton on guitar. you will be happy to own this. the second cut is what they call an acoustic version of ‘wild horses’ which seems to my ear merely to be the original track with the electric guitar stripped off. what is interesting about it is the renewed prominence of the second acoustic guitar part, in the original, but overpowered by the electric. third is a weak sauce ‘can’t you here me knocking’. the original, with the massive coda at the end featuring the seamless interplay between mick taylor, keith, and bobby keys on sax, is just simply one of the finer moments in rock history. no such luck here, and very disappointing. ‘bitch’ is next, and it is a very good alternative, and mick really stands out here, almost james brown like at times. the last outtake is ‘dead flowers’, always one of my favorite all time tunes of theirs, and it is well done and different enough to be worth owning. in my mind the country aspect of this song was a big influence on an awful lot of musicians (seek out townes van zandt’s version, for example), and for whatever reason i hear uncle tupelo and the jayhawks when i hear this version – mick almost sounds like jay farrar at times (or vice versa). the rest is non sticky material played at the roundhouse in 1971, the last gig on the tour i believe. nicky hopkins on piano, keys on sax, jimmy price on trumpet. good stuff.

wilco

wilco has been around about twenty years now, and they marked this anniversary by releasing two compilations. one was simply a 2 cd greatest hits, which is a good introduction if you aren’t that familiar with them. but if you are like me and a great admirer of the group and pretty much have everything they have ever released, then it was not very interesting. the companion release, alpha mike foxtrot, is pretty much indispensable if you are a wilco devotee. a 4 cd package with almost 80 songs, it is also a bargain at about $30. the booklet that comes with the box has great insights into the evolution of the band by recording industry executives and members of the group. on top of that, founding member jeff tweedy describes the circumstances of each cut. there is live material, alternate versions of previously released (‘handshake drugs’, for instance), and items that never made it out of the studio, like the hilarious ‘bob dylan’s 49th beard’.

if after reading the booklet you feel the need to explore more of their history, i highly recommend getting a documentary called ‘i am trying to break your heart’. it chronicles the making of ‘yankee hotel foxtrot’, a very important yet volatile period of the band. an extemely candid look at the studio process, then getting bumped from their label right before release, and the firing of jay bennett from the band.

their brand new release, ‘star wars’, is another solid addition to their studio work. my guess is that ‘random name generator’ will be a staple of their live shows, and ‘you satellite’ has a very lou reed feel to it, and would not be out of place on an early velvet underground album. plus you can download the whole thing for free.

going to see them soon at the pilgrimage festival in nashville.

robert earl keen ‘happy prisoner’

i have been listening to rek for about twenty years. hailing from texas, he has been recording since the mid eighties and is generally regarded as another in a long list of great singer songwriters from that state. to get a good taste of his work, i would recommend ‘gringo honeymoon’ from 1994. this is an interesting departure for him, as he puts down the pen and does all covers, and paints them all with a serious bluegrass tint. not really known as a bluegrass musician, he does a great job of putting together a solid lineup to help him seek his desire to create this project, including lyle lovett, sara watkins, natalie maines, and peter rowan. from a rolling stone review:

“I wanted to show the nuance in bluegrass. It’s not just all in G, playing as fast as you can,” Keen says, motioning his hand up and down as if he were quick strumming the guitar. “And I also wanted people to hear how cool bluegrass music is. I didn’t want to be the torchbearer for it because I’ve never thought of myself as a great singer, certainly not a bluegrass singer, but I really did want to have some kind of rebirth and put it out there so people would go, ‘Yeah, this is great music.'”

he certainly wasn’t worried about catering to the “grassholes” or bluegrass purists when he started to put together Happy Prisoner, but he did want to show the breadth of a genre to people who mistakenly think it’s all about one specific sound. or to those who think bluegrass is something akin to mumford and sons. there’s flatt & scruggs and bill monroe on the lp, sure, but there’s also contemporary songs like richard thompson’s “1952 vincent black lightning,” all picked to show a dynamic spectrum that isn’t often given a spotlight.

grateful dead dave’s picks volume 14 academy of music nyc 3/26/72

it took me awhile to get to this one, but i eventually needed to cover this release, mostly because dp 15 is scheduled to arrive any day now. dp 14 finds the band near the end of a 7 night stand at a new venue for them. the academy of music is really just a 3400 seat movie theater adapted for showcasing up and coming ny acts of the early seventies, now that bill graham has shuttered fillmore east. in a few days they would be headed across the pond to begin their legendary europe 72 tour. the first set is strong, and pigpen is featured prominently, with solid versions of ‘chinatown shuffle’, ‘mr. charlie’, and ‘big boss man’. midway through the set is perhaps my favorite version of ‘looks like rain’, mostly because jerry plays a rare pedal steel and phil’s backups vocals are great. disc 2 and 3 feature a 17 minute ‘good lovin’, a tremendous ‘wharf rat’, and then closes out with ‘not fade away/gdtrfb/not fade away’.

dp 15 is supposed to be 4/22/1978 from nashville. stay tuned.

jason isbell ‘something more than free’

one of the biggest challenges jason faced, i am sure, when making this album, was living up to his extraordinary previous release, southeastern. my first run through of this disc encountered the same challenge, namely that i was comparing it, and it wasn’t as good. but with each new listen, it begins to stand on it’s own, and it is a fine piece of work. he has added one more addition to his portfolio that cements his reputation out there as one of the finer singer/songwriters in the field today. each song here is a story, maybe sometimes autobiographical, but always well crafted and heartfelt. he can create characters and situations and emotions like nobody’s business. same producer as ‘southeastern’, and for the most part his road band, along with lovely wife amanda shires on vocal and fiddle.

‘speed trap town’ could easily be a cut on springsteen’s ‘nebraska’, and ‘hudson commodore’ is an uplifting tale of a single woman making her way in roosevelt’s south. ‘to a band i loved’ ,and possibly ‘how to forget’, are probably about his time with drive by truckers, and his first marriage to shonna tucker. i just saw him at the house of blues a couple of months back. he has been relentlessly touring, and is worth a visit if he comes to your town. probably my favorite artist out there right now that fits into the category of ‘bands you haven’t heard of’. that is becoming less of a truism with every new release. he is building a solid career, and this is worth your consideration.

“I’m kind of picky about songwriters, you know,” says John Prine. “But when I heard Southeastern, it just killed me. I loved it. I like songs that are clean and don’t have much fat on them — every line is direct, and all people can relate to it. That’s what I try to do, and that’s what Jason does. I really haven’t heard anybody that different in probably 30 years.”