Ryan Adams & the Cardinals - Follow the Lights: While reports are that Adams appears to be slipping back into the bad behavior that has marred his live performances before going into rehab, he at least turned out a fantastic album earlier this year with Easy Tiger. Follow the Lights follows that up as a seven song EP with two brand new songs (which will be featured in the ABC television show October Road,) the rest being live-in-studio alternate versions of previously recorded songs, aside from his cover of Alice In Chains' "Down In A Hole," which has been a concert staple on this recent tour - and it's a must-hear. Essential? Probably not, but it's $5-6, and Adams appears to be on a roll- and you really do need to hear "Down In A Hole" if you like Adams. So it's close to essential.
Robert Fripp and Brian Eno - Beyond Even (1992-2006): 2004's Equatorial Stars seemed like a reunion after 12 years apart for these two ambient giants. After all, the last we'd heard from them was on Eno's 1992 album Nerve Net, but little did we know that they'd been working together the entire time. This album pulls together the strongest bits of those sessions and, if you were a DGM Live follower, you may have seen this on the site a year ago under the name Cotswold Gnomes. It's been edited a bit to flow better, from what I read, and early buyers get the album in a two-disc edition where one disc features tracks that segue and the other has individual tracks, which makes it so much easier to add your favorites to a mix for your next party.
This one's going to be easier to get directly from Fripp's label, DGM.
Tony Levin - Stick Man: Bassist Levin has made an incredible career for himself backing some of the finest musicians in the world, but his most notable contributions have been with Peter Gabriel and the '80s and '90s incarnations of King Crimson (he has also recently returned to the band after Trey Gunn departed for his own solo career.) In between, Levin has turned out a few impressive, if a bit geeky prog-oriented solo albums, and from all I see, this one is no different - but luckily quite a bit different than his last album, Resonator, which features vocals on the majority of the album, which was just not a good idea. Here, he sings on only three, letting his strong melodic sense guide his bass and Chapman Stick playing ("Stick" Man - get it?) which has been the driving force behind his other, more successfully satisfying albums.
Article comments
1 - El Bicho
I am sure the General will appreciate the link.
2 - Pico
The new Ween sounds very promising, especially since I got that Friends EP and thought it suggested a return to the old form, too.
3 - Tom Johnson
It's pretty great, Pico. I've got half a review written in my head, just need to find some time to actually write it (much like many things I listen to, it seems . . . ) There's only one real bad spot on the album, and that's "Woman and Man," which drags on way too long.
4 - Tom Johnson
It's pretty great, Pico. I've got half a review written in my head, just need to find some time to actually write it (much like many things I listen to, it seems . . . ) There's only one real bad spot on the album, and that's "Woman and Man," which drags on way too long.