Reduced CDs 32-40

REDUCED CDs:

32: Passionworks disk given to us by our friend Miriam that pairs developmentally disabled folks with Athens musicians resulting in some great songs.

33: Miriam's mixed cd. Just like a mixed tape, but a cd, given to us by our friend and loyal blog reader Miriam upon hearing the great news that Susan no longer has cancer. Happy go lucky songs from various eras. Thanks Miriam!

34: Marshall Crenshaw's latest. This became a must buy after we saw him recently at Schubas.

35: Congress of Starlings. Having enjoyed seeing these girls play out several times this year, we'll need to bring them home to Athens with us in CD form.

36: Jack Johnson -- Give his new song "Hope" a listen.

37: Coldplay -- still the number one selling cd in the country, you have to give them a lot of credit for taking a chance on an innovative marketing strategy for the age of the internet.

38: The Duke Spirit: check out "The Step and the Walk" for a kind of Amy Winehouse-ish vibe.

39: Duffy: Her song "Mercy" is another great Amy Winehouse knock-off.

40: G. Love and Special Sauce: "Peace, Love and Happiness" -- Can't get enough of this stuff, especially as we slouch towards the end of the Bush Administration. (See picture above.)

CDs 21-31

Reduced CDs, thumbs up and down:

Thumbs up:

k.d. lang, Watershed - classic k.d. crooning

Tegan and Sara - So Jealous - more lesbians from up north. sort of a cross between folk and riotgrrl.

Dixie Chicks - Wide Open Spaces - an old one that we had never gotten around to earlier. Classic chicks.

Dustin O'Halloran - Piano Solos v. 2-- he opened for k.d. lang at a recent concert and we loved him. some of his music can be heard on the "Marie Antionette" soundtrack.

Alicia Keys -- one of our favorites from last year. soul for the 21st century.

KT Tunstall -- Eye to the Telescope -- great voice, guitar and songs from the girl from Scotland. What more could you ask for?

Rufus Wainwright - Rufus Does Judy at Carnigie Hall -- Rufus channels Judy Garland, reperforming her famous concert at Carnigie. Great versions of some great classic tunes.

Fiona Apple -- When the Pawn . . . This is an old one that a friend sent to us and we loved. Who does dark and overwrought better?

Thumbs down:

Lucinda Williams - West - We love Lucinda, but this is not her best stuff.

Erykah Badu - New Amerykah -- Love Erykah too but this one was a bit too "conceptual" for our tastes.

Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger - CD 21; Fun Fact 39

Do you like Neil Young? Lucinda Williams? Gillian Welch? If so, you're you'll probably like Ryan Adams' Easy Tiger. This 2007 alt-country release has all the trademark Adams features: great voice, excellent guitarwork, finely crafted songwriting. You may remember Adams from his earlier band Whiskeytown, or from his 2001 solo release Gold which received a fair amount of radio play, as did his song "New York" especially after 9/11. While Gold remains my favorite CD of his, Easy Tiger is a close second. Fun Fact: Before he became famous Adams played in a band called The Patty Duke Syndrome.

River - Herbie Hancock CD 20

Have you listened to this Grammy award winning cd of the year yet? If not, you really should because it is amazing. The first jazz cd to be given that award in 43 years, Hancock's River reworks several Joni Mitchell songs including the well known Court and Spark, Both Sides Now, and River, as well as lesser known gems such as The Jungle Line, Tea Leaf Prophecy, and Amelia. Guest vocalists include Norah Jones, Tina Turner and Joni Mitchell herself. The interplay of the piano, sax and vocals in each song is original and stunning, yet accessible. Even if you're not into jazz, you just might want to check this one out.

Amy Winehouse, Back to Black: CD 19

Did you see Amy Winehouse on the Grammy Awards Show last night? Wow!! She sang live from London, providing a great sense of the power and appeal of her music. Rolling Stone may have had the best quote on her when it noted in its end of the year issue that her hit song "Rehab" at some point went from clever and funny to just sad. Maybe, but it's still a great song, and its even better live with the addition of the fantastic dance moves by her black male back-up singers. She also sang "You Know I'm No Good," another great song of hers. The rest of the album is no slouch either. It's definitely a retro sound, grounded firmly in a variety of soul expressions, but there are few who can do it as well as Amy Winehouse. This is one of the best albums of 2007, and she is well worth the awards that it picked up last night.

Juno - Movie 20 and CD 18; Maudite - Beer 34;

Friday night was a weird night. We had planned to see the movie Persepolis, only to find that it had sold out right before we got to the head of the enormously long line (probably due to everyone going out on a really cold night to avoid the horrifically cold night to follow on Saturday). So we decided to see Juno instead. We had read some mixed reviews, so were not sure what to expect but this movie and its central character are both winners. The movie tracks Juno's alternatively sardonic and sweet chronicle of her year as a pregnant teen still in high school. We liked it so well that we went out and bought the soundtrack which features pared down acoustic rock from The Moldy Peaches and others, as well as covers from Cat Power and others and some classics by the Velvet Underground and others. Then we headed off to Uncommon Ground to meet up with our friend Andrea to see a friend of hers play in a guitar and cello combo, and once again we were closed out! However, we were able to sample a really excellent beer called Maudite brewed at a Quebec brewery called Unibroue. This amber beer has some interesting spices in it that made the beer quite tasty and satisfying - especially on a cold winter's night. While we are not normally fans of the spiced beer, this one did work -- really well, in fact, for without knowing it we stumbled home to find that it had an 8% alcohol content. Fun fact: the label on Maudite protrays a flying canoe, provided by the devil, to whom these gents had sold their soul to get home for Christmas. Based on our experience of Maudite, we don't think you need the devil to fly home after drinking this beer! Or perhaps that's what ocassioned the story in the first place!

CDs 12-17: Stone, LOE, Donnas, Jackson, Apple, Montoya; Fun Fact 31

Besides drinking a lot of beer over the holidays (see previous posting), we also listened to a bunch of new music. Some of it was newly released this year, as in Joss Stone's terrific new cd, Introducing Joss Stone, which represents the blue eyed soul tradition at its very best, ranging from Motown, funk, and neo-soul sounds.

Some of what we listened had been released in previous years, but was new to us, as in Wanda Jackson's compliation, The Queen of Rockabilly. This is a fantastic collection of her hits in the late 50's and early 60's. For the story of how hard it was for women like Wanda Jackson to break into the limelight, check out the DVD entitled Women of Rockabilly: Welcome to the Club.

We also finally got to Lesbians on Ecstasy, which we had been meaning to hear for a long time. LOE, more affectionately known as Lezzies on X, covers songs written by lesbians such as Melissa Etheridge, k.d. lang, Tracy Chapman, and a wide variety of others -- through the beats of heavy metal and electronica. Believe us, you'll never think of "Constant Craving" or "Like I Do" or "Talkin' Bout a Revolution" in quite the same way once you've heard this disc.

We also liked The Donna's Gold Medal, an interesting mix of alternative hard rock through a girl group sound. Our friend David had given us a copy of Fiona Apples' Extraordinary Machine before we left Athens and it is also very good piano centered, almost cabaret-like music with very interesting backing orchestrations. For international flavor, we have continued to enjoy the discs of Spanish music sent to us by our friend Miriam, and have been listening quite a lot lately to Carlos Montoya's very expressive Spanish Guitar Magic.

Fun fact: This burst of listening has been ocassioned by our near obsession with "10 Days in Europe" a board game that we gave to our friend Charlie this Christmas. The guy at the toy shop promised that it would be a big hit, and while we were somewhat skeptical, we found that we liked it so much upon playing it with Charlie in Athens that we came home and promptly bought one for ourselves. Each night as we have been working our way across Europe, we also have been working our way through our stack of cds. In keeping with the game, we should probably be listening to more European artists. Perhaps Amy Winehouse and others will appear here soon?

CD 11 Joni Mitchell - Shine

Shine is Joni Mitchell's first studio cd in almost 10 years. Coming somewhat as a surprise, since she was alleged to have left the business in 2002, Mitchell claimed that the war and pressing environmental concerns compelled her to write again (the cd includes a jazzy remake of her hit Big Yellow Taxi). Highly touted as one of the best of her 17 albums to date, Shine begins with a beautiful piano overture. Music that is both mellow and complicated follows, with the trademark Joni soprano sax adding interesting accents. The addition of Greg Leisz (who had played on k.d. lang's Torch and Twang, amongst others) means there is a lot of pedal steel guitar, which is sometimes puzzling in the jazzy folk mix that Joni is offering here. The lyrics sometimes become a bit too didactic for the subtlety of her music, but, sadly, it seems likely that that might be owing to the political context that she's addressing rather than a lack of lyrical ability on her part. Like many musicians of her generation (most notably Paul McCartney), Mitchell has made her cd available at Starbucks. Maybe that's where the 5 people who are still buying cds are hanging out (guess that includes me!)

Feist - The Reminder - CD 10

The Reminder is Feist's 3rd cd and it is very good. It has already appeared on many "Best of 2007" lists. You may be familiar with her work without knowing it. Feists' song 1234 has been on the ipod commerical for some time now. In fact, that platform is largely responsible for her surprising popularity given her ecclectic and largely jazz-like style. She sometimes sounds like Rickie Lee Jones, sometimes like Norah Jones, sometimes like a cabaret singer, and sometimes like no one you've heard before. There is a lot of subtlety to this album. It is the kind of cd you hear something new with each listening. Highly recommended, it definitely makes my Best of 2007 list.

CD 9: Cat Power: The Greatest; Fun Fact 27

This CD was given to us by our friends Stephanie and Moe when they visited earlier this summer. Reading an interesting article about Cat Power by Sasha Frere-Jones in this week's New Yorker reminded me that I had not yet blogged about it. Cat Power (real name: Chan - pronounced Sean - Marshall) has been around for a while and has played with some pretty big names including Patti Smith, Liz Phair, and Eddie Vedder. Early success and addiction issues seemed to have led to some uneven performances characterized by extreme stage fright, though most critics recognized her raw talent throughout those perilous years. (She certainly looks like she's having a great time performing now, if the picture here is any indication.) In any case, her new CD, The Greatest, is getting a lot of attention, suggesting that it may well become her breakout recording. She has a great voice, which puts me in the mind of white soul singers such as Shelby Lynne or her foremother Dusty Springfield. (And you really can't go wrong with Dusty, now, can you?)

Fun Fact: This is not the first time The New Yorker has commented on Cat Power's work. Check out this 2003 story, by Hilton Als.

CD 8: Gipsy Kings - Este Mundo; Fun Fact 26

We have started to think about taking a trip to Spain in a couple of years. We'd like to spend two weeks there, with each of choosing a theme to focus on. My theme will be music and Kate's theme will be religious art (icons, etc.) I was talking with our friend Miriam about this one day on the phone (she's travelled to Spain many times) and she was kind enough to send us several discs to get us started. The first one we listened to was The Gipsy Kings' "Este Mundo." Their music is said to be designed to bring traditional flamenco music into the pop world. This was a very accessible and entertaining place to start our musicial exploration of Spain. Thanks Miriam!

Fun Fact 1: The Kings are actually from France, as their parents fled Spain during the Civil War.

Fun Fact 2: Their cover of "Hotel California" is included in the soundtrack to the Coeh brother's film, "The Big Lebowski" (one of my favorite movies of all time - "The dude abides!"

Rock and Soul Class Part I - Experience 29; Fun Fact 25; CDs 6 &7

Last night I finished the first semester of a year long class on the history of rock and soul, taught by WXRT DJ Terri Hemmert (pictured right) at Columbia College in downtown Chicago. Fun Facts: Terri was the first woman assigned the morning drive slot in Chicago radio, over 25 years ago. I used to listen to her show when I was home from college working downtown during the summer. Columbia College is the largest media and arts college in the country.

This first part of the class focused on the roots of rock and soul starting with Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith in the 20's and ending up with The Beatles and Black Sabbath in the 60's. It was a fantastic in-depth review of the popular music of this period, facilitated by Terri's truly amazing dvd collection.

Next week the real students in the class will take the exam (in this case it pays to be a poser ;^) and then we'll all meet at a Thai restaurant across the street for an end of the class celebration. Kicking off the holiday party in advance, Terri gave all of us two fantastic cds. The first is called the College of Rock and Roll Knowledge is basically a review of the central roots artists that we studied this term, including Billie Holiday, Louis Jordan, Big Mama Thornton, Irma Thomas and others. The second is the 2007 edition of her Christmas disc which includes Christmas songs from artists who performed in Chicago during the term. Both are sensational and include excellent picutres of Terri dressed as Santa and Terri as a dj at maybe 4 years of age! Thanks for a great term Terri! See you next semester!

Bob Dylan - Modern Times; Elvis Costello - My Flame Turns Blue - CDs 4&5

At the end of the month we're going to the Dylan / Costello concert at the beautiful Chicago Theatre to celebrate Susan's birthday. In preparation we've been listening to a bunch of their discs, including these two, both of which we like very much. The Dylan disc is kind of swing / country with lots of steel guitar, snare drums and reflections on topics relevant to the later part of life taking the forefront. "Spirit on the Water" is a favorite.

Elvis' disc is a live performance with the Metropole Orkest which is a hybrid of jazz, big band, and classical orchestra. It includes a variety of songs, including some reworked classics from his new wave days wuch as "Watching the Detectives" as well as some of his new work such as his collaboration with Burt Bachrach, "God Give Me Strength" (which was originally written for Grace of My Heart, a great movie about the girl group era, loosely based on the life of Carole King.) This is an interesting, but mellow disc, full of very satisfying surprises if you're in the right mood.

Both Dylan and Costello seem to be interested in revisiting older genres and they do it well. Perhaps this common interest is what led them to tour together this year. In any case, it should be a great show!

Rufus Wainwright - Release the Stars - CD#3

If you can resist a gay man in lederhosen then this cd is not for you. (That's what Rufus Wainwright is wearing on the back cover of this CD). But if you find that kind of thing intriguing, then you might be interested in his new CD "Release the Stars." Yes, he poses and is incredibly self-indulgent at times, but his cops to that right up front and offers creative, original music like no one else in return.

Our favorite songs on this disc are Going to a Town (a scolding of post 9-11 America), Do I Disappoint You (a scathing criticism of his famous father, Louden Wainwright III of "Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road" fame) and the beautiful confessional Not Ready to Love. The cd also includes classic Rufus over the top numbers like Between My Legs. We're guessing you don't need us to tell you what that one's about. We'll be seeing Rufus at Ravinia in a few weeks, and will undoubtedly have more to report at that time.

If you're new to Rufus, you might want to start with his truly remarkable cd, "Want One" one of the best new ones in the last several years in our opinion. While "Want Two" wasn't really a worthy follow up, Release the Stars is. We highly recommend giving it a listen.

Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise - CD#2

This critically acclaimed CD was recommended to us by our friend Belle's daughter Hannah and it is excellent (and so appropriate for us given our recent move). His music has a kind of folk / indie rock feel to it, but is more orchestral and chorally complicated than much of that kind of music. It sounds different in the way that Rufus Wainwright's music does, but sounds ultimately more grounded in chant than opera. You may have heard the song "Chicago," which is getting a lot of play on indie radio:

I fell in love again
All things go, all things go

Drove to Chicago

All things know, all things know.

The rest of the CD contains songs about various Illinois topics, ranging from Carl Sandburg ("City of Big Shoulders" poet) to John Wayne Gacy (serial killer who hid boys bodies in his NW side home) with a lot of spiritual references mixed in. You can learn a lot about Illinois from this guy! Sufjan is said to be planning concept albums for all 50 states and so far has covered Illinois and Michigan. Thanks Hannah! Excellent recommendation!

CD # 1 Patti Smith, Twelve

This is a fun new CD by Patti Smith, called the mother of punk rock by many. It consists of 12 covers of a variety of rock standards, mostly done true to the original (though "The Boy in the Bubble" is done with dulcimer of all things!) Perhaps because she is a poet, she enunciates in a way that has the effect of foregrounding the words rather than the music. Did you know that Kurt Cobain was talking largely about his libido in "Smells Like Teen Spirit"? My favorites so far are "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "Gimme Shelter," and "White Rabbit". We're going to be playing "Smells" sometime in my women's acoustic ensemble class this term. All in all, a great way to initiate the 10x40 "CD" category.