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The Perms: Sofia Nights

Thursday, September 29th, 2011

Power pop from the Great White North

Americans might be surprised to learn that the intersection of “Winnipeg, Manitoba,” and “rock stars” yields no less than the Guess Who, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Crash Test Dummies, and Neil Young. The Perms have been plugging away on the Winnipeg scene since 1997, and their fifth album is a hook-filled collection, heavy on the guitar, bass, drums and harmonies. The vocals range from a low-register that suggests the Smithereens’ Pat DiNizio to the keening edginess of the La’s Lee Mavers; fans of Sloan, Weezer, Teenage Fanclub and Velvet Crush will enjoy these songs of romantic turmoil, adolescent immortality, and the requisite ups and downs one should expect from a power-pop record. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Said and Done
The Perms Home Page

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Jackie DeShannon: When You Walk in the Room

Thursday, September 29th, 2011

An American songwriting legend revisits her career highlights

It’s been more than a decade since listeners heard new recordings from Jackie DeShannon, and rather than writing new material, she’s chosen to reconsider the classics in her catalog. The good news is that the songs are terrific, DeShannon’s voice has aged well, and she finds compelling, new interpretations for the well-worn chestnuts. The less good news is that a few of the arrangements are undercooked, the tempos start to drag by album’s end, and the mixes don’t always lay the vocals fully into the instrumentation. It’s great to hear DeShannon singing, and to have these songs rethought by their author (alongside the new composition “Will You Stay in My Life”), but one might wish her co-producer pushed for a greater variety of approaches.

The album’s title track is its best, maturing the adolescent anticipation of DeShannon’s original into mature knowingness. Her earlier notes of youthful anxiety are transformed into hints of surprise as she lingers over the words and realizes the on-going strength of her desire. The stripping of ‘60s filigree from Marianne Faithful and Cher’s versions of “Come and Stay With Me” [1 2] turns the song from ‘60s pop into something fit for Linda Ronstadt’s early days, and that same Canyon vibe lives on in “Don’t Doubt Yourself Babe.” The latter smooths the Byrds’ jangly folk-rock (and DeShannon’s own folk demo) into engaging adult pop. Among the most startling transformations is DeShannon’s turn of the hyperkinetic “Breakaway” [1 2 3] into a definitive and dark ballad, and a bluesy take on “Bad Water” that strips away the Raelettes’ ‘70s-style soul.

DeShannon’s vocals are engrossing throughout, but the simplified arrangement of guitars, bass and light drums hangs “Put a Little Love in Your Heart” halfway between a stripped-down folk style and the original single’s memorable combination of horns, strings and backing vocals. The thoughtful approach to “Bette Davis Eyes” is undermined by a metronomic drum line, and by the time the album gets to “Needles & Pins,” the tempo feels tired. Each track provokes new interpretation as it’s stripped- and slowed-down from its iconic initial recording, but taken as a collection they hit only a narrow range of emotional notes. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Bad Water
Jackie DeShannon’s Home Page
Jackie DeShannon Fan YouTube Page

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The Bloody Hollies: Yours Until the Bitter End

Tuesday, September 13th, 2011

Rock ‘em sock ‘em rock ‘n’ roll

Nearly a decade after their 2002 debut, this Buffalo-born quartet continues to combine the menace of metal, the feral energy of punk rock, the panache of surf guitar (courtesy, perhaps, of their relocation from Buffalo to San Diego several years ago), the non-stop drive of southern boogie and the rough-edges of the garage. Their music is fast and loud and tight, and though the rhythm guitars, pulsating bass and full-kit drumming will assault your body (thanks, in large part to Jim Diamond’s ferocious mix), it’s Wesley Doyle’s manic vocals that will pin your ears back. Joey Horgen’s dobro provides a momentary respite from the full sonic assault of “Dirty Sex,” but the intensity never really lets up. The band’s customary darkness is found in lyrics of childhood nightmares, evil shadows, fatal attractions, and not one, but two letters to deceased lovers. The album closes with a relatively sedate acoustic talking blues, with the godly mountain preacher “John Wayne Brown” winning his final battle. Fans of the Gun Club, Black Crowes and the two-man blues-axis surrounding the Black Keys will all find something here to enjoy. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Dead Letter
The Bloody Hollies’ Home Page

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Connie Smith: Long Line of Heartaches

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011

60s/70s country hit maker takes a well-turned bow

Country hit maker Connie Smith first broke through in the mid-60s, scoring a chart-topper with her debut “Once a Day,” winning numerous awards and scoring on the charts through the end of the ‘70s. She mostly retired from recording in 1979, continuing to perform live, dropping a few non-LP singles in the mid-80s and a self-titled album in 1998. It’s been thirteen years since that last full-length solo release, and as before, with no mainstream commercial aspirations to sway her artistry, she digs into a rich set of songs, many co-written with her husband and producer, Marty Stuart. The remaining titles are drawn from the country pens of Harlan Howard, Kostas, Patty Loveless, Emory Gordy Jr. and others.

At 70, Smith hasn’t the tight vocal control of her younger years, but she still delivers the heart and soul of a country song. Stuart, who produced her last album, knows a thing or two (or three) about framing his wife’s singing in twang and blues. Backed by a small combo of guitar (by the stellar Nashville player, Rick Wright), steel, bass and drums, Smith and Stuart checked into RCA’s legendary studio B for four days – enough time to lay down a dozen tracks the old-fashioned way – seamlessly weaving together new and old songs into a collage of busted hearts, half-hearted protestations, dried tears, resignation and forgiveness.

Highlights include powerful covers of Johnny Russell’s “Ain’t You Even Gonna Cry” and Johnny Paycheck’s “My Part of Forever,” the bouncy acceptance of “You and Me,” and Dallas Frazier’s newly-minted “A Heart Like You.” The set closes with the original “Blue Heartaches” and the spiritual “Take My Hand.” The latter, sung with her three daughters, renews the faithful chapter of Smith’s career that grew in the late ‘70s. There’s a world of experience in Smith’s singing – both personal and professional – and together with Stuart she’s revived the experience of ‘60s and ‘70s country without treading in nostalgia. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Long Line of Heartaches
Connie Smith’s Home Page

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Buffalo Killers: 3

Tuesday, August 16th, 2011

Heavy guitar rock that echoes the James Gang

You wouldn’t be alone in thinking this Cincinnati band’s third album was a long-lost James Gang platter. Not only is the band a power trio, but the vocals have the same keening tone Joe Walsh brought to “Walk Away,” and the band’s rhythm section finds the sorts of grooves once laid down in “Funk #49.” All of which isn’t meant to suggest that the Buffalo Killers are a carbon copy, but that their music is anchored unapologetically in the rock (not rock ‘n’ roll) music of the post-Woodstock ‘60s and pre-punk ‘70s. It’s the moment just before rock music became bloated and faced a DIY backlash, a time when the hangover from psychedelia, thick guitars, heavy bass, instrumental prowess and production craft hadn’t fallen into self-seriousness and arena bombast. A similar strain of rock emerged in the mid-90s, but egos and self-consciousness quickly overwhelmed the music; the Buffalo Killers avoid these pitfalls by remaining relatively unknown (and thus not fashionable), and more importantly, more interested in music than the congratulations. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Huma Bird
Buffalo Killers’ Home Page

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Candye Kane: Sister Vagabond

Tuesday, August 16th, 2011

Candye Kane and Laura Chavez tear up the blues

Kane’s first album after beating pancreatic cancer, 2009’s Superhero, was rightly built on themes from the fight. This follow-up release extends the recovery, but more by doubling-down on the blues belting career she had before, than by living some sort of hyperaware second chapter. There’s a pleasure in her singing that’s perhaps a step more ferocious than before, expressing George Herbert’s notion that living well is the best revenge, or in this case, the greatest triumph. But the scars she carries – a problematic childhood, early motherhood, less-than-savory jobs and cancer recovery – are those of a winner, the marks carried by anyone who’s lived enough life to really sing the blues. Kane’s nine new original songs are matters of the heart, mostly roughed-up and broken, occasionally recovered. The four covers include a sweet and sexy take on Johnny “Guitar” Watson’s “I Love to Love You” and a moody version of “Sweet Nothin’s” that adds Wanda Jackson’s scorching sass to Brenda Lee’s original precociousness. Laura Chavez’s guitar is given equal voice to Kane’s vocals, motivating the songs with twangy rhythm playing and stinging riffs, and James Harman guests on harmonica for Jack Tempshin and Glen Frey’s previously unrecorded “Everybody’s Gonna Love Somebody Tonight.” Take these tunes for a spin on Whittier, Tweedy or Bellflower, and enjoy the punchy mixes as they roar from the rear speaker of your ’62 Impala. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | You Can’t Hurt Me Anymore
Candye Kane’s Home Page

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Butchers Blind: Play for the Films

Tuesday, August 9th, 2011

Rocking alt.country from the heart of Long Island, NY

This Long Island trio dropped a few demo tracks in 2009 (reviewed here), promoting the catchy “One More Time” into a single and attracting some local attention. They’ve returned with a full album that leans on both their alt.country and rock roots. The Wilco influence is strong (unsurprising, given the band is named after one of Wilco’s lyrical creations), and Pete Mancini’s voice favors the reediness of Jeff Tweedy; but there’s also a melancholy in his delivery that suggests Chris Bell, and a soulful bottom end in the rhythm section that gives the band plenty of rock flavor. Mancini’s latest songs were inspired by travel journals kept by his father, as well as his own cross-country travels. From the opening “Brass Bell” you can feel the wanderlust, the urge to blow town, the expectation of the journey ahead and the confidence of someone young enough to enjoy (or at least react to) the moment.

The previously released “One More Time,” is repeated here at a faster tempo, adding a measure of urgency to the road’s opportunities and challenges. There’s discord and difficult choices, and emotional dead-ends magnified by the relentless closeness of travel. Communication shuts down, relationships split, and roundtrips don’t always end in the same emotional spot they began. The album tips its hat to Steve Earle, as “Highway Song” opens with the signature guitar riff of “Devil’s Right Hand,” but where Earle’s early work, especially Guitar Town, pictured small town inhabitants dreaming of escape, Mancini’s protagonists are looking back from the road. The album closes with “Never Changing Thing,” a letter home filled with the growing realization that a return trip may not be in the cards. It’s a fitting end to an album of emotional changes wrought by physical travel, and physical changes wrought by emotional travel. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Dice Were Down
Listen to more of Play for the Films at Paradiddle Records
Butcher’s Blind’s Facebook Page
Butcher’s Blind’s MySpace Page

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New Album Coming from The Shants!

Sunday, August 7th, 2011

Word from Oakland, California is that the Shants (whose earlier Russian River Songs was reviewed here) will release their first full-length album, Beautiful Was the Night, in September. There’s a release party scheduled for Viracocha (998 Valencia St., San Francisco) on October 8, for those of you in the Bay Area. The band writes:

The album is called Beautiful Was The Night (which is a phrase taken from Longfellow’s epic poem Evangeline). It was recorded in Oakland at Rec Center Studios and Tones On Tail Studio by Eliot Curtis (who has worked on records for Bare Wires, Nectarine Pie), with some vocal harmonies from Brianna Lea Pruett & Quinn DeVeaux, violin by Howie Cockrill, and horns by Ralph Carney (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Black Keys) as well as the Blue Bone Express. Half the album was funded by our fans, via Kickstarter.

As an appetizer for the album, they’re offering the track “Baton Rouge,” of which they write “It’s basically a letter to the city of Baton Rouge, as though it were an ex-lover.” Enjoy!

MP3 | Baton Rouge

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Overman: The Future is Gonna Be Great

Saturday, July 9th, 2011

Chicago quartet mixes up rock, country and folk

This Chicago quartet stirred up some truly original publicity with their 2009 release The Evolution EP, and gained fans of all ages with the EP’s ode to Charles Darwin, “Evolution Rocks.” Two years later, they’re back with a full album that explores a variety of musical directions. Several of the songs combine ‘70s rock with modern touch points, such as the exuberant opener’s combination of Matthew Sweet’s post-Girlfriend guitar rock with Nirvana-like vocal quirks; you can also hear liquid 70s guitar threaded through the Oasis-styled psych of “So Many Stars.” At other turns the songs are lighter country- and folk-rock, suggesting ‘70s crossover acts like Brewer & Shipley, and deploying the emotional grip of Harry Chapin in the expectant “Come Home Soon.” There’s a Red Hot Chili Peppers’ influence in the vocal melody of the title track, but not the funk rhythms deployed last time out. Overman’s retained their sense of humor (as heard in the pop-punk “The Mother in Me”), but they’re writing more deeply emotional songs, either from personal experience or the experience of songwriting itself. The album’s a bit schizophrenic in its collection of styles, but after two releases, that seems to be a band hallmark. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Come Home Soon
Overman’s Home Page
Overman’s Facebook Page

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Gary Nicholson: Texas Songbook

Monday, July 4th, 2011

A country songwriter sings his Texas songs

Gary Nicholson is a Texan who’s had a lot of success in Tennessee. His songs have appeared on the albums and singles of country stars Patty Loveless, Montgomery Gentry, Vince Gill, Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, marrying the hooks required of a Nashville hit with the complex emotions and deep country roots of Texas songwriting. His recording career has been more eclectic, starting with California country-rock in the early ‘70s, blues-rock in the mid-90s, and a return to his roots with an alter-ego tribute to Texas blues legends on 2008’s Gary Nicholson Presents Whitey Johnson. Last year’s Nashville Songbook, Volume One reclaimed a number of songs he’d peddled to Music Row, adding a songwriter’s expression that’s rooted in first-hand truth rather than interpretation and performance.

His new album sticks to the Texas tip, but in country style with a band full of Texans and Texas-reared guests (Delbert McClinton, Ray Benson, Marcia Ball, Mickey Raphael and Joe Ely) playing and singing songs about the Lone Star state-of-mind. Despite the length of time Nicholson’s spent in Nashville, he still writes in a native’s voice, even as he obliquely notes his two musical families with “Woman in Texas, Woman in Tennessee.” He celebrates the Texas character – tall tales (“Talkin’ Texas”), independence (“Fallin’ & Flyin’,” from Crazy Heart), and the bit of Texas that Texans carry with them wherever they go (“She Feels Like Texas”). The outsized scale of Texas geography is mapped in the compass points of “Lone Star Blues,” drawing a trail of mishaps for a luckless protagonist, and the ups and downs of a relationship are mirrored in the tumultuous “Texas Weather.”

Nicholson may not have the head-turning voice of those who’ve made his songs into hits, but as noted earlier, he sings with a songwriter’s feeling for lyrics and imagines a wide array of musical possibilities for his songs. The arrangements include fiddle-and-steel ballads, Texas two-steps, Western swing (including great steel from Tommy Detamore), New Orleans second-line rhythm and roll, Tex-Mex and country-folk. The album closes with “Somedays Your Write the Song,” co-authored with fellow-Texans Guy Clark and Jon Randall Stewart, and the title track for Clark’s Grammy-nominated 2009 album. The lyrics capture the hold that writing places on its writer, and provide a fitting cap to an album of songs that traverse both the truth and the legend of Texas living. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Live, Laugh, Love
Gary Nicholson’s Home Page

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