Blogcritics Author: Timothy Jarrett

Music Review: Black Francis - Bluefinger

Timothy Jarrett — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 12:06:25 EDT

Music to crash your car by. The best album the Pixies never made.
The new Black Francis (aka Frank Black) album, Bluefinger, is a strong album, maybe the strongest Black Francis album in thirteen years. It's also the first Black Francis album in thirteen years, kind of. Black Francis claims the album is inspired by the work and life of Herman Brood. These three sentences beg three questions. The first is: who...

Music Review: Magnet- The Simple Life

Timothy Jarrett — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 12:02:56 EDT

Magnet's third release is buoyant Norwegian pop at 40,000 feet, complete with whistling, woodblocks, wine bottles, and Bob Marley.
When an artist is so moved by the release of his new album as to go out and break a world record for highest-altitude concert, it's hard to avoid puns about other high things: spirits, melodies, hopes. Norwegian artist Magnet raised just such allusions in a March solo acoustic performance of his new album in a plane between Oslo and Reykjavik...

Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

DVD Review: Foyle's War, Series 4

Timothy Jarrett — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 07:05:47 EDT

Sixty years after its conclusion, World War II continues to provide an inexhaustible flow of stories. While many follow traditional narratives of Good vs. Evil on the world stage, a set of quiet television dramas from England have told a different story: what does the Last Just War look like from the home front? Foyle's War explores crime stories in a small village against the backdrop of the war. And Series 4, now available on DVD from Acorn Media, begins at a particular point in the war: what happens when your allies come to stay and fight the war from your soil?The first episode, "Invasion," is a case in point. The story opens with a young boy playing in the street, whose eyes widen at the sound of motors coming up the lane. As Jeeps roll by, he runs back to the house shouting, "The Jerries are here!" The boy's mistake sets the stage for the next 90 minutes, during which a murder mystery plays out against a background of mutual Anglo-American distrust.This is, in fact, the sort of video that can be challenging to watch without bringing context from current events. One uncomfortable resonance point includes the angry speech from the farmer whose land is requisitioned by the war department, asking whether the Americans have come to help or to stay. Another, the scene of Foyle providing background on British behavior and customs to a schoolroom full of American GIs, only to be confronted by an isolationist private angry at having been dragged from the US to save the British, is an uncomfortable metaphor for American foreign policy.What the series does best, though, and what episodes three and four in the set deliver in spades, is show warfare from the perspective of those left behind at the home front: spouses, retirees, war profiteers, and the police themselves. One critique of the series is that the producers spend so much time on getting the historical atmosphere right and exploring these characters that they can lose the thread of the main plot; with each episode featuring some level of murder mystery or other police case, that can be a little frustrating. But overall the show is one of those rare viewing experiences that is quietly compelling. I've tried, and failed, to do other things while the program was on (like for instance writing this review), and for an inveterate multitasker like myself to confess that is high praise indeed.

Music Review: Jeff Buckley - So Real: Songs from Jeff Buckley

Timothy Jarrett — Tue, 29 May 2007 17:35:23 EDT

Today marks the tenth anniversary of the disappearance of Jeff Buckley into the Mississippi River, and into legend. At the time, the death of the 30-year-old singer felt like a body blow, and ten years haven't dulled the impact; if anything, the feeling of cosmic unfairness has deepened over the years. So the new anthology So Real: Songs from Jeff Buckley comes at a time where many of us were pondering Jeff's legacy anyway, and it is that rarest of things, a greatest hits that illuminates and surprises rather than simply summing up. There is no way that I can write a review that does justice to this in a linear way; there are too many connections striving to be made. I will include these as asides throughout the review.Number of Jeff Buckley albums and EPs released in his lifetime: 2Number of albums, EPs, live albums, DVDs, greatest hits compilations, box sets, and deluxe editions released after his death: 7The compilers of the collection, Mary Guibert (Jeff's mother) and Tom Burleigh, had a challenge: How do you do a greatest hits album for an artist who only had one album before his untimely death? They chose an unconventional path: include half the debut album, Grace, together with selected b-sides, studio work released posthumously, and released and unreleased live recordings. It could have sounded like a shambles; it's a testament to Jeff's artistic brilliance and consistency that it sounds like a coherent whole.Number of tribute songs to Jeff Buckley listed on Wikipedia: 51 In one form or another, eight of the ten songs that formed Grace are on this disc, four in their studio version ("Last Goodbye," "Lover, You Should've Come Over," "Grace," "Hallelujah"). The compilers chose alternate versions (that previously appeared on the Grace Legacy Edition of a few years ago) for "Eternal Life" and "Dream Brother," a live version of "So Real" that was previously only available on a promo single, and the hypnotic version of "Mojo Pin" from Live at Sin-É. From Buckley's posthumous Sketches for My Sweetheart, the Drunk, we get "The Sky is a Landfill" and the sultry "Everybody Here Wants You," and the driving "Vancouver." The delicate "Je N'en Connais Pas La Fin" (also from Sin-É) also appears as a bridge to the closing three songs.Brilliant collaborations left off the album: "Fireflies" and "Southern Cross" with Patti Smith, "Faith Salons" with Brenda Kahn, "All Flowers (in Time Bend Toward the Sun)" with Elizabeth Fraser, "I Want Someone Badly" with Shudder to Think Never-heard collaborations and covers mentioned in the liner notes: "Kashmir," "Shombalor," "Cobra" (John Zorn cover with Mike Doughty)The remaining two songs are where this collection sets itself apart from a "greatest hits" mentality into the realm of the fan compilation. "Forget Her," a Grace-era b-side that also appeared on the Legacy Edition, has long been one of my favorite Jeff Buckley songs. A straight-driving impassioned blues with little of the Middle Eastern meets Zeppelin flavor of his debut, it has the dual distinction of being more singable and more direct than most of his early output, presaging the slow jam of "Everybody Here Wants You" and other late tracks.Age of Jeff Buckley on May 29, 1997 when he drowned: 30Age of Tim Buckley, Jeff's father, when he died of a drug overdose on June 28, 1975: 28 The final track, a never-before-heard live performance of the Smiths' "I Know It's Over," wraps the compilation in the mystery of Jeff Buckley's passing, what Mike Doughty calls in the liner notes his "effortless ability to become a myth, a legend." Where the Mystery White Boy live recording included "I Know It's Over" in medley with "Hallelujah," here that striking first lyric, the finest line that Morrissey ever wrote for Jeff Buckley, stands on its own and makes you catch your breath with the unfairness of it. Because the rest of the collection is a testament to his brilliance and range as an artist, performer, and songwriter, the ending hurts all the more ten years on. At least we have more to remember him by now than we did then. Lyrics in Jeff Buckley originals and covers that presage his death by drowning: "This body will never be safe from harm" ("Mojo Pin")"As their shoes fill up with water" ("Lover, You Should Have Come Over""Asleep in the sand with the ocean rushing over" ("Dream Brother")"Just like the ocean, always in love with the moon/It's overflowing" ("Opened Once") "Stay with me under these waves tonight" ("Nightmares by the Sea")"Mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head" ("I Know It's Over")Buckley fans are nothing if not opinionated. So Real comes close to meeting my high standards for a single-disc compilation, though there are a few changes I'd make -- as a fan, I'll always want more rarities. What would your greatest hits of Jeff Buckley look like?

Music Review: Bebel Gilberto - Momento

Timothy Jarrett — Fri, 25 May 2007 07:20:05 EDT

Bebel Gilberto, whose music hovers the blurred boundaries between bossa nova, salsa, and trance music, has come a long way from her first album. Tanto Tempo came out of nowhere to establish Gilberto as a fresh voice in the global musical culture, with its catchy blend of traditional Brazilian sounds and global dance music. The subsequent remix album positioned her within the electronica tradition alongside such vocal muses as Beth Orton.Subsequent albums, though, have backed away from that dance focus somewhat. The second, self-titled album, was less cool and perhaps more approachable, with greater focus on songcraft and more memorable songs. The third album, Momento, continues to seek a different path. At the end it finds not masterpiece territory but a very pleasant place to relax for a while.My perspective on Momento is summed up rather neatly by a positive Amazon review of the album, which begins, "I discovered Bebel's music at the coffee shop..." For background mood music, the album is darn near perfect: impeccably produced, constantly keeping dynamics and tempi just under the liminal threshold. But if you're looking for something world-changing, move along; this is no Radiohead album. Instead, it's music for a pleasant afternoon. Which, frankly, there is not enough of in the world at present.I find it difficult to disengage my critical faculties even when an album is so precisely targeted, though, so I must share the bad news: Bebel's performance is not so much cool as sleepy. On her self-titled second album there were moments alternately playful ("Baby") and dramatic ("Aganju") that showcased the interpretive range of her vocal instrument. Only "Caçada" steps above an emotional mezzoforte, and that largely on the strength of the superb backing band. The other performances are pleasant enough, but curiously affectless.Where an artist like Sadé might build a career out of flat vocals, it is frustrating coming from Bebel. Thanks to her superb first two albums, we know she can give more. Here's hoping that she digs a little deeper next time around and gives us a release that is not just pleasant, but essential.

Music Review: Christopher O'Riley, Second Grace: The Music of Nick Drake

Timothy Jarrett — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 12:53:23 EDT

Christopher O'Riley is on a roll. Recently he has parlayed his successful public radio gig into a public television gig; he also has two Radiohead transcription albums and one Elliott Smith transcription album under his belt (see below for a full list of Blogcritics reviews of O'Riley's albums). Now comes his latest transcription album, Second Grace: The Music of Nick Drake. For better or worse it's similar to the albums that preceded it: technically brilliant, undeniably deep in its understanding and love of the source material, but somehow less than compelling in overall execution despite some bright points.The disappointment of this album is that the material O'Riley had to work with was so rich. Nick Drake, who has been wearing the "undeservedly obscure" label for so long that he's in danger of overexposure, produced both orchestral chamber-pop of high complexity and stark, isolated solo recordings before his untimely death after just three albums (official cause: overdose of antidepressants). The great thing about a Nick Drake song is that he could take that voice that ranged from low murmuring ("From the Morning") to high keening ("Black Eyed Dog") and his amazingly proficient acoustic guitar work and make songs of all flavors and descriptions come alive.But -- and here is my bone with all Mr. O'Riley's pop transcriptions to date -- in his hands all Nick Drake's songs sound alike! Almost every track features the same curse: O'Riley's technically impressive transcriptions swamp the songs in complexity. Two years ago, I wrote of "Hold Me to This" that O’Riley's approach "too often ... yields a harmonically accurate overload of undifferentiated hemidemisemiquavers." Translated into plain English, I mean that the songs are occasionally in danger of losing their rhythmic integrity under the onslaught of rolling chords.Exhibit 1: "Pink Moon." Made famous twenty years late in a Volkswagen commercial for its wistfulness, here it sounds hurried, busy, and way too cheerful. One supposes that the latter is unavoidable given the beauty and simplicity of the underlying melody; it is, after all, Drake's words ("And none of you stand so tall/Pink moon gonna get ye all") that carry the substantial menace of the song. But isn't this the job of the performer of a transcription: to bring across that unspoken menace through the performance, to compensate for the missing lyrics? Is there a bright spot in this bleak adaptation of Drake's music? Generally adaptations are difficult anyway; as Charles Schulz once observed, reading classic literature that has been "adapted" for children is "not unlike drinking diluted root beer." The good news is that the bones of Drake's songs are underneath, and what good bones they are. And in places they come through: "Fly", where the bass voice of the piano carries the melody to good effect, is a good early example. "Harvest Breed"'s unusual chord progression carries through the trappings of the arrangement to grab the listener. And "Three Days" builds suspense through its gradually thickening chromatic language. Probably the most successful reworking on the album is "River Man," where O'Riley lets the driving rhythm (in the liner notes he cites Dave Brubeck as an inspiration here) mingle at something like a meditative tempo with an increasingly discordant accompaniment. The bridge is delightful, a storm across the river valley. The second verse introduction after the bridge, where the introductory chords dip down to a minor fourth below the tonic, starts to carry the appropriate amount of menace. I will go so far as to say that here O'Riley may actually best Brad Mehldau, who consistently has gotten to this repertoire first (recording "Everything in Its Right Place," "Exit Music (For a Film)," and "River Man" several years ago); his version of the song is more complete and holds more emotional range. So there are some bright points on the album; overall, though, it is too reminiscent of Abraham Lincoln's supposed observance, "People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like."I close by noting, as I did in my review of Hold Me to This, that the listening experience is greatly helped by turning the volume way up. Listening to the playback at an appropriately high volume level helps to bring out the subtleties of the recording and hold somnolence at bay. Past Blogcritics reviews of O'Riley's recordings include:True Love WaitsHold Me to This: Christopher O'Riley Plays RadioheadHome to Oblivion: An Elliott Smith Tribute

Music Review: Josh Haden - Devoted

Timothy Jarrett — Wed, 7 Mar 2007 15:39:34 EST

Back in 2001, in the days before Blogcritics, I went to see a show by Josh Haden's former band Spain at the Crocodile Cafe in Seattle. I was really into Spain at the time, and soaked up the whole atmosphere: the hushed reaction of the crowd, the tight performances of the band, Josh Haden's eyes-closed, stone-still performance with his bass at the vocal mic. But the reaction of my friend--a sarcastic request for "another mellow song!"--made me realize that Spain lived or died by how convincing you found its blend of slow, quiet, blues and country-inflected late night bar music and heart-on-sleeve sincerity. Certainly the band's best moments--the song "Every Time I Try," snagged by Wim Winders for the soundtrack to his film The End of Violence; their superb swan song "I Believe;" and their entire first album, The Blue Moods of Spain, all revolve around that formula.Over time, though, their work began to feel just a little like it was a formula. And the more the sound drifted toward country, the more I felt like Josh's heart wasn't in the songwriting. The songs were still simply beautiful--"Mary" is an aching melody that has been stuck in my head for days at a time--but the lyrical content seemed less broad in intention or scope than it had on the first few albums. Turning, then, to review Josh Haden's first proper solo album, a self-released affair called Devoted, one must ask: are the songs still slow? Is the country twang still there? Are any of them not love songs? In other words, what's new? The answer: Josh Haden found Dan the Automator.Yes, the songs are still slow love songs. Having set a landmark with his song "Spiritual" (and really, having a song from your first album covered by Johnny Cash has to count as a home run), Josh doesn't dwell overlong in that starkly religious land, though the closing "Salvation" returns to the territory in a pan-religious way. There is a powerful religious subtext, though, to almost every other song on the album, whether it's "only love will set you free" in "Discontent" or "take my hand and never go astray" in "Show Me the Way." This is perhaps to be expected given Josh's position on the purpose of music: "Why waste my time with music that doesn't help to bring me to a deeper understanding of life?"And, again, thanks to Dan the Automator's beats and some quirky keyboards from John Medeski (of Medeski, Martin, and Wood), the sound is totally different from Spain, even with the continued presence of guitarist Merlo Podlewski: less bluesy, less organic, brighter, flatter, more trancelike in places (indeed, at times Josh's performance recalls another singer-songwriter who hooked up with a beat-focused producer, Beth Orton). Not all the experiments are successful. The upbeat "Drifting" is spoiled by an uncertain-pitched vocal and a beat that feels canned, and the harmonies on "Want You So Bad" are likewise wobbly. But balancing out these low points are some real gems: the apocalyptic imagery of "Hallelujah," the dark seduction of "Love You More," and even the Spain-manque of "Light of Day." In fact, some of the strongest moments on the disc are the ones that sound most like Josh's old band.Which, I suppose, begs the ungenerous question: why change at all? But songs like "Show You the Way" and "Devoted" blend the plaintive songwriting of Haden's older canon with a fresher musical palette, and maybe that's the value of this recording: helping to distill the essence of Haden's songwriting in the absence of the sonic hallmarks of the old band.

New Nick Drake Recordings in 2007

Timothy Jarrett — Thu, 8 Feb 2007 08:13:11 EST

Since Nick Drake is basically the patron saint of obscure, beautiful, depressive singer-songwriters — the proto-Elliott Smith, if you will. And hearing that a new album of Nick Drake rarities, none of which have ever been heard before, is a little like hearing that the Police are going to reunite: one is both excited and a little afraid to hear what is coming. The late Mr. Drake will also be playing SxSW -- or so it would seem, with a documentary, panel discussion, and set of tribute acts scheduled to show up.All of the above is not bad for a guy who was legendary unknown even to his record company: in the press release for Drake’s final album Pink Moon, the Island Records guys said, "The second time [we saw Nick Drake recently] was a week or so ago, when he came in, smiling that weird little smile, half-mocking, half-bewildered, and handed over this, his new album. He'd just gone into the studios and recorded it without telling a soul except the engineer. And we haven't seen him since. The point of this, is this: Nobody at Island is really sure where Nick lives these days. We're pretty sure he left his flat in Hampstead quite a while ago..."But all of this bull is just the hype machine turning for an artist 35 years dead, right? Well, except for the music. And if you listen to the unreleased track on Stereogum, "To the Garden,", do you begin to understand why people are willing to mount (parts of) festivals in this guy's honor so many years later? Er, with some difficulty. The sound quality is poor, the speed of the tape seems too slow (or else Drake's voice changed radically during his career). And yet, it's quintessential Nick Drake, that mix of melancholy and lyrical melody that is at the core of his latest recordings. Makes me wish he had recorded a clean take, and makes me very curious to hear what else he has up his mouldering sleeves.Obligatory Nick Drake cross-reference #1: The title of this post is from a Clem Snide song, "Nick Drake Tape," "That Nick Drake tape you love/Tonight it sounds so good/As brown as leaves can get/And sleep is what you should."Obligatory Nick Drake cross-reference #2: Christopher O'Riley, previously having released two albums of classical piano Radiohead covers and one of Elliott Smith tunes, has been doing Nick Drake songs in concert. I look forward to reviewing that disc when it comes out.

Music Review: Bootsy Collins - Christmas Is 4 Ever

Timothy Jarrett — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 16:45:48 EST

Christmas albums by popular artists face a pretty significant challenge: how to make the holiday canon, which ranges from medieval plainchant ("O come, o come, Emmanuel") to high classical music to Tin Pan Alley tunes and children's TV show theme music, sound like it belongs to the artist and not let the artist be overwhelmed by what can be a lot of schlock. There are three basic approaches to the challenge: go ultra-traditional with the arrangements, create a bunch of originals in the Christmas spirit, or just be yourself and damn the torpedoes. My latest favorite Christmas album, Bootsy Collins' Christmas is 4 Ever, takes the third path with a vengeance and ends up with one of the most fun Christmas albums I've listened to.Bootsy, for the uninitiated (though that hardly seems possible), is the funky, funky bass player behind James Brown's late '60s output ("Sex Machine," "Super Bad,") and George Clinton's Parliament and Funkadelic (where he gained notoriety for his costumes -- star-shaped sunglasses and thigh-high rhinestone studded space boots as well as his outer-space bass playing), and a pretty substantial run fronting his own combo, Bootsy's Rubber Band. This, in sum, is a man who could definitively answer Funkadelic's question, "What is soul?" So what, pray tell, is Bootsy doing facing down such white bread Christmas classics as "Jingle Bells," "Winter Wonderland," "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer," and "Silent Night"?As you might expect, Bootsy solves the clash of genres by throwing a party. And a pretty damned good party too. The arrangements on this collection are tight, with key contributions from fellow ex-PFunk stars Bernie Worrell, Garry Shider, and Fred Wesley (who arranges the tight horn charts that propel the most spectacular songs and is the other James Brown alum on the record), and an array of guest vocalists ranging from the traditional R&B styles of a bunch of folks whose names I didn't recognize to some rap contributions by Snoop Dogg. There are voice cameos from other friends of Bootsy, from Buckethead and George Clinton to the late Roger Troutman, bringing Christmas greetings.And damned if it doesn't all hang together. The horns make it feel like a Parliament reunion, and there's a propulsive funk beat that runs through the whole album that makes one want to stand up and dance. (For this writer that's no mean thing.) But for me the standout moment is deep in "Silent Night," which may be the only time this holiday standard has grooved, where Bootsy answers the sung line "Sleep in heavenly peace" with a fervent "You and me, baby!" Aah, right on.

Music Review: Sting - Songs from the Labyrinth

Timothy Jarrett — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 08:14:33 EDT

When I read a note on a French Sting fansite that the man formerly known as Gordon Sumner would be releasing an album of classical lute music -- a survey of the music of John Dowland -- I stopped, goggled, and giggled. Then I got depressed. Sting was long one of my favorite artists, but he has been going down in my estimation since Ten Summoner's Tales -- a decent album, but with the seeds of his spiral into adult alternative toothlessness sown within. More ominously for Tuesday's release of Songs from the Labyrinth, an inside page of the booklet featured Sting posing with a lute and looking faintly ridiculous.Why am I so down on this concept? Let's just say it's not new to me. In 2000, when Lisa and I visited London over a long weekend, we took a tour of the reconstructed Globe Theatre, which was hosting a benefit concert later that night. As we emerged into the actual theatre, our guide paused, went ahead, then came back and told us we were being permitted to sit in on the rehearsal for the event. On stage: Vinnie Jones (of Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and X-Men: The Last Stand), James Taylor, and Sting, among others. The theme of the day was Elizabethan entertainment, so we got to see Jones play Mercutio in a Romeo and Juliet pastiche. Taylor sang an original but period-influenced tune and Sting played and sang a Dowland tune. Badly. In his defense, he was clearly not feeling well (it was a little chilly, but he had an orange scarf tightly around his neck and was not doing a lot of moving around). He gave himself a self-deprecating kick in the ass as he left the stage. The whole experience boded ill.So now comes the actual album. My Dowland touchstone is probably his "Come, Come Again," which the Virginia Glee Club regularly performed. The curious should download track 16 of Songs from the Labyrinth, which basically sums up the whole album: odd arrangement featuring the lute totally dropping out behind Sting's voice, and deadly vocal performance full of apparently-intended-to-be-emotive diphthongs and toothless fricatives. Seriously, there are vocal lines that sound as though they're sung through dentures. Worse, there's no variation to the vocal lines: the performances are note-note-note, with little or no vocal inflection and no phrasing. Then there's the overdubbing. Awkward as the solo lines are, they sound like sheer genius compared to the same voice in two part harmony.Still, the whole thing isn't bad. There are some interesting solo lute numbers and it does grown on you with repeated listenings. It's endearing and an interesting experiment. If it were released as a fan club album, it would be a cool rarity. On balance though, I don't think it will be the Great Crossover Album it should be.