Michael Brook - BellCurve: After the disappointment I felt with 2005's RockPaperScissors, I would never have expected this "remix" album of that material to not only stand on its own but be as strong as it is - nor be a favorite of the year. And yet . . . BellCurve takes the strongest elements of RockPaperScissors and re-molds them with very different, much more suitable backing music, and, except in the case of one song, does away with all of the vocals that, frankly, cluttered up what most people are tuning into Brooks for in the first place: his beautiful guitar work. The result is a far more pleasing album that ranks with his fantastic Live at the Aquarium and Cobalt Blue releases, rather than down with the confused murk, say, of Albino Alligator. (In an incredibly stupid and frustrating move, the CD is only available for sale at Barnes & Noble. The album may be downloaded from Itunes and Amazon, however, if files are your thing.)
In closing
I'd like to take this opportunity to offer my thanks to readers of Overlooked Alternatives and its offspring piece, The Breakdown. As has a tendency to happen, life has started to impinge upon my time to devote to writing this and keep up with reviewing music and, you know, having a life. While I enjoy getting to explore the new releases every week, I'd really rather put my time into actually reviewing recently released albums rather than simply speculating about them.
The opportunity arose recently to join forces with Glen Boyd and Mark Saleski on Blogcritics' weekly New CDs column and I jumped at the chance. I won't be a weekly presence on the list but I will contribute when the beacon of new music that needs a spotlight lights up the sky.
Suffice it to say that I will be there more often than not. It's not "goodbye," it's more, you know, "see you in a bit. I have to run out to the store for some bread. Do you need anything?"
Article comments
1 - Glen Boyd
...and were happy to have you on board Mr. Johnson. Just try to remember, brevity my man, brevity... ;>p
-Glen
2 - Pico
Good job, TJ, it looks like a well-thought out list and you stated your case well. And not just because 4 or 5 of those albums are on my list, too ;&)
Hope we get to see your handiwork more again before too long.
3 - Glen Boyd
Me too Pico.
-Glen
P.S. In the meantime, I'm all bout gettin' me some PT, Blackfield, Adams, and Wilco...
4 - Tom Johnson
Glen: what, this isn't brief enough? ;-)
Pico: this has been sitting in my queue on my site for well over a month. I've been adding bits to it as they came to me. It's literally been slaved-over. I try to just write and publish - the queue is a black hole. Many things disappear into my queue, but not so many survive. This one is lucky.
5 - JC Mosquito
I thought the Crowded House was good as it was, so I'm curious to hear those b sides you mentioned - where could I find them?
Silent House - an allusion to Paul Hester, I'd guess. A sad, yet beautiful song.
6 - Tom Johnson
They're on this version of the "Don't Stop Now" single. The songs are "Stare Me Out" and "Lost Island" - both are good enough to have been on the album. I think they made a mistake not putting them on and just making an epic out of this album - they fit perfectly.
To make the vinyl tracklisting, this is the order:
Disc One
1. Nobody Wants To
2. Don't Stop Now
3. She Called Up
4. Say That Again
5. Pour Le Monde
6. Even A Child
7. Heaven That I'm Making
8. Stare Me Out*
9. A Sigh
10. Silent House
11. English Trees
12. Lost Island*
13. Walked Her Way Down
14. Transit Lounge
15. You Are The One To Make Me Cry
16. People Are Like Suns
There's also a single out for "She Called Up" with another non-album track, "So Dramatic," but I haven't heard it yet (just placed my order, in fact.)
7 - Mat Brewster
Man, I've got to check out that Prezens thing. It is on too many lists to not give it a chance.
8 - MauRiCe
The Rush CD was disapointing. I have been their long term fan, but it was worth the purchase. My girlfriend is all ga-ga about Teddy Brent and his CD so she wants me to purchase that too next week...im gonna be poor due to music purchases
-poor but happy music lovr
9 - Joh
"Pat Metheny and Brad Mehldau - Quartet" was awesome. Pat always puts out good music.
Maurice, dont feel bad bro. I live in Detroit and there is only store you can get it at (for Teddy Brent's CD). Anyhow they were sold out when we got there...spent an hour n the ice and cold exc and exc...
10 - Andy723
Maurice and Joh...i got the Fashionable CD on Itunes today after hearing it played over and over and over...how many times can they play 'Vanity' before you hate the song???
11 - Shelly In Burbs
Josh...i waited in line in Ann Arbor for two hours to get a CD and they are all out....
12 - Angela Johnson
Pat Metheny *sigh*. I love that man. I will pick up that Teddy Brent one this week...I heard about it this week from a friend.
13 - Tom Johnson
I think we just got spammed about this TB (no spelling - I don't want it coming up in search engines) guy. Four comments in 20 minutes about some dude I've never even heard of, one of which claims they stood in line for two hours to buy a CD that turned out to be sold out? Uh-huh.