Nope, not Hackney Diamonds yet. I passed up all opportunities to stream or download it ahead of yesterday's vinyl release date, so I'm only now diving in. I feel like it needs another several listens to fully investigate all the corners and look under the hood. But it's coming soon...
In the meantime, here's a quartet of really fine records from the last couple of months that I didn't want to let pass by without a shout-out.
• Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Live in London (9/15) - This one’s for the pure electric blues guitar freaks out there, a fan base that’s diminishing seemingly by the day in this country. The genre still has a significant following in Europe, though, so I’m not surprised that Kingfish’s live showcase was recorded over there. And London already knew and loved him after the Rolling Stones pegged him to open their huge 2022 Hyde Park appearance.
Two albums in, a Grammy and a Blues Music Award under his belt, the 24-year-old phenom from Clarksdale, Mississippi is in complete command on the London stage. There’s nothing radical or modern about Kingfish’s songs, they tend to follow well-traveled blues and soul backroads. His singing is more than serviceable, the band is agile and sympathetic throughout. The arrangements are set up for one thing: for Mr. Kingfish to play his guitar...a lot. His mastery of his instrument is consistently breathtaking - from small, delicate phrases that sound like singing to blistering passages of rock-hard blues - this is the real deal for guitar freaks like me. Highly recommended if you’re one, too.
EARWORM: "Fresh Out" - Coulda picked anything but I especially like the Tele/Hammond organ dialogue in this one.
• Various Artists, More Than Whisper: Celebrating the Music of Nanci Griffith (9/22) - Craft Records recently took the first step toward getting Nanci’s criminally overlooked catalog back in the marketplace by releasing a box set of her first four albums and adding them to streaming services for all to hear. It’s about damn time, and I’m hoping they’re not stopping there.
To mark the occasion, Nanci’s former label Rounder put together this remarkable tribute record, giving her friends and collaborators a chance to showcase her unmistakable songwriting gift. The highlights are many - just about everything, really - but in particular Sarah Jarosz’s lilting "You Can’t Go Home Again," John Prine’s touching cover of "Love at the Five and Dime," Steve Earle’s gritty "It’s a Hard Life Wherever You Go," and Mary Gauthier’s haunting "More Than a Whisper," are all living in my head rent-free. A tribute album that truly deserves its place in an important catalog of American music.
EARWORM: "You Can't Go Home Again" - Sarah Jarosz opens the album beautifully.
• Roger Waters, The Dark Side of the Moon Redux (10/6) – I shouldn’t like this. I didn’t expect to like it. I don’t especially care for Roger Waters’ sour public persona or solo albums (although the live show I saw in 2016 was epic.) I deeply love the original and don't want it messed with. David Gilmour, Richard Wright, and Nick Mason are masterful musicians whose contributions to DSOTM are irreplaceable. This shouldn’t work. And yet…
The textures are entirely different, Waters uses spoken words and newly-created somber musical collages to connect melodies that prove to be so strong and durable they weather the changes surprisingly well. Despite the iconic heartbeat opening being replaced by a poem over muted electronics, there’s a familiar kick when Roger starts to sing “Breath,” for example, and “Time” doesn’t really need the alarm clocks to be a damn great song. "Us and Them" still sways beautifully over Wright-like organ. The spoken word passages don't sink in for me as lyrics, I find I have no interest in engaging with whatever he's on about, so I hear them as another texture, and it kinda works. Water’s voice has changed significantly, low and gravelly and not unlike late-career Leonard Cohen, and that works for me, too, by not inviting direct comparisons to the original. Dark Side of the Moon Redux has a familiar yet darker sound and flow from start to finish that draws me in, especially as a soundtrack for doing other things. I’ll be going back to it, at least for the foreseeable future.
EARWORM: "Us and Them" - Roger added new parts, but he kept the best parts.
• The Feelies, Some Kinda Love: Performing the Music of the Velvet Underground (10/13) - These New Jersey guys have been around long enough as an indie band to have been an influence on early R.E.M. They took a couple breaks over the years, but mostly they’ve been making music together since 1976. A little Beatles, a little Talking Heads, and a lot of Lou and the Velvets kinda sums up their sound, so this release makes perfect sense.
Some Kinda Love bears a striking resemblance to the Velvet’s 1969 live album in its loose, propulsive grooves, maybe a touch more punk in spots. What Some Kinda Love doesn’t sound like at all is a tribute or homage museum piece. It’s the sound of a band rocking out a batch of songs they know and love deeply. The Feelies live in these songs, they don’t just play 'em. The percussion never lets up, the guitars charge forward like prime VU, and the singer sounds a lot like Lou circa 1969, which doesn’t hurt a bit. “What Goes On” is unstoppable in its freight train momentum, matching the original in intensity. They follow it up with a rocking, jaunty version of “Sweet Jane.” The lesser-known “Head Held High” rocks the house, and "I'm Waiting for the Man" turns into an insanely powerful jam, complete with jackhammer keyboard pounding. The vinyl drops in November and I’m all over it.
EARWORM: "Rock & Roll" - A scorching version of a song that's near the top of my VU favorites list.
Next Up:
I'm typically not a fan of tribute albums but the Nanci Griffith is a beauty. There's consistency (and respect to the originals) on it. Usually there are several contributions that veer way outside of the originals for no other reason than because they can. The Waters is better than I thought it was going to be but I still don't imagine listening to it more than a couple times. That means I have one listen left. I haven't heard the Kingfish but I can imagine. I can't believe The Feelies haven't made a VU tribute before. I've been playing it and the (two) new Rival Sons albums - when I'm not going slack-jawed with "Hackney Diamonds". I would highly recommend Trevor Rabin's "Rio" (prog'…
Fun choices! Gotta catch up to all 4 amongst all my Music Projects