Tom Waits- Glitter And Doom Live

Check out my review of the new Tom Waits live album at onethirtybpm.com.

Sensitive singer songwriter. Jazzy nightclub hipster. Found instrument auteur. Growly bluesman. Circus sideshow act. You never know what you’re going to get with Tom Waits. For four decades now Tom Waits has been defying easy categorization and doing what he does best – producing music that is as big of a hodgepodge of styles as America once was. You’d think live albums would be a safe way for those new to his music to dive in. Usually second only to greatest hits albums in predictability, the live album often features little more than a disc or two of an artist’s biggest hits framed by crowd noise. But this is Tom Waits we’re talking about, and there’s nothing business-as-usual about Glitter and Doom.

A document of the 2008 tour of the same name, the Glitter and Doom Tour played only scattered U.S. and European dates and came two years after his last release. Orphans was a three-volume compilation of songs that didn’t find their place on previous records, along with a handful of new material, and his last studio album of all new material, Real Gone, was back in 2004. With nothing new to promote, the Glitter and Doom Tour promised nothing but the opportunity to see Tom Waits live, and although he performed songs from both releases, the resulting live album has more in common with his pair of theatrical releases from 2002, Alice andBlood Money.

Glitter and Doom isn’t about a live show as much as it is about a live performance. There’s nothing natural about the brute voice that Tom projects so well during the opening “Lucinda/Down To The Well,” a brilliant combination of two Orphans tracks that far surpasses what the two originals had. The album is worth checking out for this song alone, but it’s unsettling the first time you hear it. Tom Waits has used the grittier aspects of his voice quite effectively for the past 25 years, but this pushes things to the extreme and into the realm of theater. “Goin’ Out West” is a nice romp, sounding like a stripped down blues song done to the tune of T. Rex’s “Bang A Gong.” There’s a foreboding that’s absent from the Orphans version on “Fannin’ Street,” and his excellent band gets a chance to stretch out as Waits barks lyrics on “Get Behind The Mule.”

Waits sticks mostly to songs from the last decade or so, but even then his choice of material sometimes seems random and plays more like an alternative detour through the past 20 years than any sort of greatest hits live collection. “Falling Down” is a nice nod to his previous live album, 1988’s Big Time, as the song was featured on that record as the album’s lone studio song. And “Singapore” reaches back a little further to the time when he made a major break from largely acoustic guitar and piano-driven songs to a potpourri of sounds you couldn’t easily slap a label on.

The theatrical nature of the performance starts to wear a little thin by end of the first disc on songs like Real Gone’s “Circus.” And there’s plenty of this on the second disc, such as “Tom Tails,” which consists of nothing but between-song banter and jokes. It’s entertaining when you’re in the right mood, but sometimes you wish a guy with these immense talents and songs this good would play things just a little bit more straight. Of course, part of being a Waits fan is learning to enjoy the ride. Glitter and Doom rewards, even if, much like the randomness of the cities the tour played in, it comes across more like a backwoods road trip than a full-blown drive.

R.E.M. Live At The Olympia

R.E.M. embrace their early albums, test out new songs, and capture it all on a new live album. Read my review at 130bpm.com.

R.E.M. released five full-length records, an EP and a b-sides collection for IRS records in the 1980’s. And even though they built their reputation as a touring band, playing small towns and major markets and just about any venue they could get a gig in, they never released an official live record for the label. Peter Buck often spoke out against it, saying that a live record should be more than just greatest hits with crowd noise and referenced The Who’s Live At Leeds as a live album that was done right. After commercial success and a major label contract, they would eventually cave somewhat and release live videos after successful tours, but it wasn’t until 2007 that they released a proper live album, 25 years into their career. But R.E.M. Live was exactly the kind of live record the band had always been against. In retrospect, it seems like an attempt to save the material from 2004’s sterile Around the Sun and prove to the world that they still mattered, at least in a live setting. But the proof wouldn’t come until the following studio album and a back-to-basics approach that began with five shows in Dublin.

In 2007, R.E.M. were at a crossroads. They had released three albums since Bill Berry left, and while some, like 1998’s Up were artistic highs, they were increasingly spending more time in the studio and getting weaker results. With the follow up to Around the Sun looming they wanted to break the mold so they booked 5 nights at the Olympia Theater in Dublin to test material in front of a live audience as recognition to the way they used to work up new songs by trying them out on tours. In order to prepare for the shows they went back to their earliest albums and looked for material that might fit in with their new direction. Most of the new material played at these concerts ended up on 2008’s Accelerate, and the double-disc Live at The Olympia contains all 39 songs played during the 5 nights, including two new songs that didn’t make the cut for Accelerate. But unlike R.E.M. Live, the only thing bloated here is the length.

Live at The Olympia is over two and a half hours long and avoids the big hits of the 90’s, as well as most of their minor hits of the 80’s and almost all of their recent work, in favor of truly a back-to-basics approach. R.E.M. mine their IRS years, playing almost the entirety of their 1982 debut EP Chronic Town along with half ofReckoning and several lesser-known songs from Fables of the Reconstruction, Lifes Rich Pageant andDocument, and a few scattered songs from the Warner Brothers years. Besides the emphasis on more rock-oriented material, the most surprising thing about Live at The Olympia is just how well this older material works with the new. It’s testament to how far they had come with the pre-Accelerate material that the one dud out of all the 39 songs is a song from Around the Sun, the very album that they were fighting against making.

Live at The Olympia might just be that rare live album that Peter Buck had always talked about. It captures a legendary band that never found a reason to quit, even after they finally succumbed to recording a truly bad album, and finds them reinventing themselves by returning to what they do best. For those only familiar with the band’s 90’s material, the plethora of great early songs like “Kohoutek,” “Feeling Gravity’s Pull” and “Letter Never Sent” will provide a killer introduction to their past while also bringing you up to date with the where they are now. And for those of us that got on board early on, it’s the closest we’re likely to get to going back. But for the band, it marks a new start and a rewinding of the clock. To borrow one of their lyrics, they have begun again. And it’s great the tape was rolling this time.

The Other Side Of The Street

I woke up on the right side of the bed, yet I find myself on the opposite side of the street. It's a Monday morning in November and it's absolutely beautiful out. Just a month ago there was a bitter chill in the air. But that's long gone.

I couldn't find a spot at my regular coffee shop. I don't know if that's because of the weather or if people are just feeling especially productive on this Monday morning. Maybe there was another round of layoffs somewhere and people are looking to add a little structure to their day. I don't know. I just couldn't get a table and it was sort of baffling.

I like the people over at this place, my second choice. They really appreciate your business. So I don't feel guilty coming over here. Quite the opposite, I feel bad for staying away.

The guy gives me a detailed story about my coffee. I like that. He says that it's harvested in Ethiopia and roasted in SE Minneapolis. He warns me that it isn't a true dark roast, but instead a full city, and that they should have the dark roast available soon. In fact, they have it on the shelf. Smell this, he says as he holds out the bag of beans.

It smells strong. The kind of coffee I like. But the full city is just fine. As is the altered perspective. I'm across the street. The weather is beautiful. And it's a Monday morning in November.

Built To Spill- There Is No Enemy

Review is up at onethirtybpm.com for Built To Spill's new one.

The best artists are often haunted by their past. Stick around long enough to see bands that grew up on your sound start to imitate it, or meet fans that treat your albums as gospel, able to recite every lyric and conjure up every note, and it can leave you in an impossible position. Some bands drastically change their sound, looking to grow artistically while separating themselves from an identity forged by their early material. But an even larger number of them simply break up. After 2001’s disappointing Ancient Melodies of the Future, Built to Spill took a long break.

“Make up your mind, make up your own mythology,” Doug Marsh sings on There Is No Enemy’s “Planting Seeds.” He could easily be talking about the singular vision that shaped the two albums that largely defined the band and helped shape the sound of indie rock in the previous decade, 1997’s Perfect From Now On and 1999’s Keep it Like a Secret. While 2006’s You in Reverse sounded tentative, only occasionally hinting at the brilliance that so many fans of guitar-based rock fell in love with, There Is No Enemy sounds confident. They’ve created an album that sounds less like a patchwork and works as a whole, and more importantly, they sound like a real band again.

“Hindsight” could easily fit on Keep it Like a Secret, with textbook indie-rock hooks and a concise structure, and “Pat” is Built to Spill at their most economical and aggressive, but many of the highlights of the album are the mellower moments. “Life’s A Dream” features some unexpected harmonies that provide a welcome relief from the serious nature of the lyrics, and “Things Fall Apart” could easily sit alongside the very best of the band’s songs.

There is No Enemy is far from perfect. There are some prodding moments, most noticeably during the middle section of the record, especially on “Oh Yeah,” but as a whole this is the strongest record they’ve put out in a decade and a welcome return to form. Like Dinosaur Jr, Built to Spill seem to be able to reconcile the mythology of their past with their artistic pursuits of the future. It can’t be an easy task, but it’s awfully nice to be able to go along for the ride.

CarrotMob Hardware Store Action

I had an interesting moment last week when my parents were in town. I wanted to put a new thermostat in my place and asked for my Dad's help. I mentioned that there was a hardware store just a few blocks away from where I lived, but he was dismissive, saying that Home Depot would have much better prices and we should just go there. I felt pretty guilty driving by that hardware store and vowed not to do that again. You really do have to support the little guys once in a while or they won't be around anymore.

Anyway, I plan on making it up on October 24 at Guse Hardware. They're participating in a CarrotMob event and donating 100% of their revenues to making energy improvements in the store. It'll be pretty hard to drive by that.

Mason Jennings- Blood Of Man

Review is up at onethirtybpm.com for the new Mason Jennings album.

For much of his career, Mason Jennings’s body of work has been the type that would often feature a handful of great songs alongside a lot of filler. His albums invariably contained one absolutely killer song, a role “The Field” fills on Blood of Man, but too often Jennings fell short in fulfilling the promise of his early work. From the opening notes of Blood of Man, it’s apparent that this is not business as usual. There’s a new sense of primal urgency and yes, electric guitars, most noticeably on “Ain’t No Friend of Mine,” which recalls the Black Keys’ Hendrix-indebted blues rock. The album’s production is more lo-fi than any of his recent releases, but more than anything there’s a sense of rebirth in the subject matter as well as the delivery. Mason’s been releasing records for well over a decade now, and if there was ever a record that served to remind us why we started listening in the first place, Blood of Man is it.

Jennings’ lyrics speak of “blood on the door” and “blood on the wall” and from the sound of this record, there’s blood on the line as well. The singer-songwriter takes full control on Blood of Man, playing all of the instruments and recording everything himself much like he did on his 1997 debut EP, but the music here is much darker, recalling Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska both in approach and in subject matter. But where that record featured acoustic guitars and stories of closed factories and dead end small town America, Blood Of Man is plugged in and addresses war, suicide, murder and drugs. Like Springsteen, Jennings knows that with a heavy dose of doom and gloom you have to sprinkle in a little optimism, and it’s here in songs like “Tourist” and the first-childhood-kiss recollection of “Sunlight,” where “Minutes freeze like popsicles and drip their seconds down our shirts.”

This return to his roots shouldn’t be surprising to longtime fans. Jennings has always put his art first, not releasing his first EP until he was truly satisfied with it, painstakingly recording each part by himself in a run down apartment, and reportedly turning down major label recording contracts early on in favor of doing things his way without compromise. Blood of Man signifies a new direction for Jennings, whether he’ll continue down this path remains to be seen, but it’s clearly a career reset from a guy who could have been perfectly content making records like his last couple. Then again, great artists are never really content are they?

PW & The Ghost Gloves Cat Wing Joy Boys

I have a review up at One Thirty BPM of Paul Westerberg's new EP.

Check it out.

In 1997, between labels and growing increasingly frustrated with recording as a major label solo recording artist, Paul Westerberg took a sharp detour and released a five-song EP under the pseudonym GrandpaBoy. The songs were uncharacteristically direct, avoiding many of pitfalls of his previous recordings. The EP signaled a new direction for Westerberg, that he hadn’t forgotten that music could be fun and that sometimes a song gained power through a stripped down arrangement. But fans would have to wait until 2002’s Stereo/Mono double whammy of home recordings to see the potential truly blossom. It was on that release that a line in the sand was drawn, and with rare exception, Westerberg would release albums his way– home recorded, and in recent years, without the help of a label or a presence in CD racks.

PW & The Ghost Gloves Cat Wing Joy Boys continues in the vein of his MP3-only records, but doesn’t reach the highs of the song collage that launched those releases, last year’s 49. Paul seems to sense that’s he’s in a rut. “Finally found a pair of cowboy boots that fit/now I hang around and stare at the shine I spit.” He’s looking to someone for inspiration in “Gimme Little Joy” and threatens to blow the roof off the place if he finds it.

There’s an argument to be made that the first take is often the best, but too often the songs sound like they were being written as they were recorded. “Dangerous Boys” sounds the most inspired and rehearsed. It could easily fit on some of his more produced albums, and it’s hard not to imagine this being played live on some future tour. “Drop Them Gloves,” the most rocking song on the EP, would also sound great live, probably far better than the version featured here. Often he’s trying to re-create the sound of a band hammering it out in the basement, and sometimes it works to great effect, but on a song like this it becomes apparent that most bands are, well, bands.

When Westerberg gets melancholy the one-man band is less of an issue. “Love On The Wing,” with its plaintive piano introduction sounds like an outtake from 1999’s Suicaine Gratifaction. “Ghost On The Canvas” features acoustic guitars and pseudo-religious themes. “We dream in color/others they color their dreams.” It’s an intriguing song, certainly better than “Good As The Cat,” but maybe the feeling that he’s not being treated as well as the family feline is what drives him to the basement in the first place. And with this EP, warts and all, we are lucky for that.

It’s important to point out that this is a record. For the first time since 2004 you can purchase an honest to goodness CD of new non-soundtrack Paul Westerberg music. And it’s hard not to look at this as a sign of things to come. Its independent release on Westerberg’s Dry Wood label could easily be a test for something more substantial. Maybe he’ll find a sympathetic producer and take the lessons of the basement recordings and apply them to something better crafted and professional sounding. Or maybe not. Either way it’s nice to get a unexpected dose of rock and roll like this. A little grit in the Pro Tools.

This Is Not A Show/This Is Not A Blog Post

This is not my beautiful wife...

I checked out the world premiere of the new R.E.M. live film last night. Entitled "This Is Not A Show," it is culled from 2007's working rehearsals/"experiment in terror" in which the band played new songs in front of a live audience to try to shake up the way they make records. Along with a slew of songs from the usually criminally underrepresented IRS years, the band took to the stage for 5 nights in Dublin to try out these new, sometimes half written tunes, which would become 2008's Accelerate. Vincent Moon was on hand to document the shows. And he was there last night, as was R.E.M.'s longtime manager Bertis Downs.

If you're familiar with the work that Vincent Moon has done for Arcade Fire or The National, or even R.E.M. you shouldn't expect anything drastically different here. Shot mostly in black and white, the film is noticeable more for what it obscures than what it shows. There are some gorgeous moments like "Drive" and an Accelerate outtake called "On The Fly," but too often Vincent Moon interrupts songs just as they're getting good, which is especially grating during the portions of the film devoted to the early material.

But the sound was incredible. If the forthcoming live record sounds as good as this material did during the film, then R.E.M. may have finally succeeded at getting their live sound down on tape. Which, with 39 songs made up of largely IRS material along Accelerate, would do wonders to remind people of what a vital band they once were, and for at least five nights in Dublin were again.

Drive - Live at the Olympia in Dublin

Catching up with Little Caesar's

I had Little Caesar's pizza last night for the first time in 15+ years. A new one opened up in my neighborhood, and with the hot air balloons, people in costumes on the street, and coupons for $5 large pizzas and crazy bread hitting my mailbox, I finally caved. Just a couple of years ago I was convinced that pizza restaurant was no more. Was I missing anything?

Now I used to love Little Caesar's. Okay love is too strong of a word, but I sure got a kick out of their advertising of the 80's and 90's (Cliff Freeman and Partners), which at least subliminally played a part in my getting into the industry. And the pizza was good too. Hell, you got two of them. Pizza! Pizza!

Their menu is a little strange these days. It's the (non-slice) pizza version of fast food and is dominated by their "Hot-N-Ready" pizzas, which they claim to get into your hands in 30 seconds. They seem to only come in two varieties, cheese and pepperoni, so I went with the cheese and presented my coupon for the free breadsticks. On the way home I kept thinking of the economics of it. A large cheese pizza plus breadsticks for something like $5.35? Pretty crazy. You can't even get a decent frozen pizza for that.

My enthusiasm changed after the first bite. It was hot with a pretty thick crust. A little shabby on the cheese, but I thought the sauce would make up for it. Instead I could hardly taste it, and the toppings seemed as bland as the crust. This was pizza at its most unadventurous, and so bereft of flavor that I'm hard pressed to think of anything to compare it to. Maybe I'll try Dominos next week.

The breadsticks were better. Parmesan and garlic provided some much needed seasoning, and besides the rubbery interior, these weren't half bad. They could pass for bar food, which really isn't saying much. The best part was the "thank you thank you" on the inside of the box. It was a nice nod to the past. It's just too bad that's all they remember.

Fortunately for us there's You Tube:

Confusion Fog (Norem Ipsum Mixtape #1)

Okay, summer is over. Or at least students and people who refuse to wear white after Labor Day will have you believe that. So it's time to get back to regular updates. But it's definitely not too late to go for a long drive with the windows down and the stereo cranked. Here's a mix I created for an online swap that's ripe for the occasion.

Comments are welcome and encouraged.

CONFUSION FOG ( <--- click here)

Please preserve this song order for maximum effect:

Rebels- Drive By Truckers

National Side- Romantica

Chinatown- Luna

Behind That Locked Door- Yim Yames

The Old Main Drag- The Pogues

Memphis Egypt- The Mekons

Magnet's Coil- Sebadoh

That Look You Gave That Guy- Eels

Motoraway- Guided By Voices

Confusion Fog- Meat Puppets

Black Sheep Boy- Scott Walker

Tally Ho- The Clean

I Wanna Destroy You- The Soft Boys

How You Like Me Now- The Heavy

Oh My Pregnant Head- The Flaming Lips

Dark Hand Of Contagion- The Minus Five

Big Day Coming- Yo La Tengo

Notes about the songs:

1. Rebels- Drive By Truckers

This was going to be a mellow autumn kind of mix, but I couldn't axe this version of Tom Petty's "Rebels" from it, and it ended up coloring the whole thing. I also wanted to include something from Patterson Hood's excellent new solo album, but you don't argue with songs that rock this hard. And I have a one song per artist/band rule too, which I don't usually bend.

2. National Side- Romantica

The Current, the Minneapolis/St Paul musical arm of public radio, likes to play this song a lot. Or they did. Great song by a local band. I saw them last winter at the Red Stag Supper Club and they were pretty damn good.

3. Chinatown- Luna

I make excuses to include Luna songs on compilations. They have some great albums, but for me it's the singles that matter most.

4. Behind That Locked Door- Yim Yames

I loved early My Morning Jacket, and I suppose this is the closest we're going to get to that sound. Recorded right after George Harrison died in 2001, this song is true to the original while featuring that classic My Morning Jacket sound, even if it's quite stripped down here.

5. The Old Main Drag- The Pogues

Maybe it was that picture of Shane McGowan's new teeth that got me curious about The Pogues again. Or maybe it's just because Rum, Sodomy and The Lash is one of those albums that needs to be pulled out of the closet once in a while, and particularly this song.

6. Memphis Egypt- The Mekons

Rock and Roll. I'll take this one over Led Zeppelin's at this point. Crank this one up. Great band with a wide range of records, but "Rock and Roll" remains my favorite.

7. Magnet's Coil- Sebadoh

Dinosaur Jr are great and everything, but worth putting Sebadoh on hold except for the occasional nostalgic tour? I think not.

8. That Look You Gave That Guy- Eels

Jesus, who hasn't felt this? And it always seems to happen right after you've broken up with your girl.

9. Motoraway- Guided By Voices

Rock and roll doesn't get much better than these guys at their peak. And for me, this is the song that started it all. Heard the song on a CMJ sampler on a Saturday morning when it came in the mail, bought the album that afternoon, and saw the band at the Uptown in Minneapolis that same evening. Just a day before I hadn't heard a note.

10. Confusion Fog- Meat Puppets

I saw these guys do a set at the Electric Fetus this summer, and rather than play 2-3 songs off of their new album and an oldie or two, they pretty much treated us to almost an hours worth of music. This was one of them. And it's been stuck in my head ever since.

11. Black Sheep Boy- I watched an excellent documentary on Scott Walker (30th Century Boy) a couple months ago, and since then his albums have opened up for me in ways they didn't before. This song is one of my favorites from Scott 2.

12. Tally Ho- The Clean

I saw them open up for Yo La Tengo a few years back. They were great. Fantastic rock band from New Zealand that's never really gone away. Their two-disc anthology is worth checking out if you like this early single that put them on the map.

13. I Wanna Destroy You- The Soft Boys

I've always loved the shit out of Robyn Hitchcock. One of the ideas I had for this music exchange was a 80's alternative underground mix called "12 for the Gipper," and this song was going to kick it off. Supposedly written about Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.

14. How You Like Me Now- The Heavy

A late addition. I heard this on The Current a few days ago and knew I had to squeeze this in somewhere on my mix.

15. Oh, My Pregnant Head- The Flaming Lips

I pulled out Transmission From The Satellite Heart last week and it pretty much blew me away. I've always loved that album, but sometimes I forget to play it. Every song on there is great, but "labia in the sunlight" just felt good to hear while driving around on a late summer's day.

16. Dark Hand Of Contagion- The Minus Five

I met Scott McCaughey when he was in town with Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3. I asked him about the Minus Five and he told me about a really mellow record of theirs that was coming out this summer and almost seemed to apologize for it. "I like mellow," I said. "I do too" he replied. Then we had a good cry while fellow Venus 3 member Peter Buck broke out his acoustic guitar and played "Everybody Hurts." The record is still sinking its hooks in, but I liked this song right away.

17. Big Day Coming- Yo La Tengo

I should really have included a song from their excellent new album, Popular Songs, which is the best Yo La Tengo album in some time. But you don't argue with "Big Day Coming" when it rears its head to be considered for a closing song.

If you are the copyright holder to any of these songs and object to their use here, please contact me and they will be removed immediately.

CNN: now available in S, M, L, XL, and XXL

Rat rides on cat riding on dog.

"Very excitable virgins" dominate town.

Denied exit, child uses lunch box as toilet.

Stephen King, bikinis help heat Maine.

These are actual CNN headlines.

And now you can get CNN headlines made into a t-shirt.

Maybe writing headlines for CNN is the way to go. It's probably easier getting hired there than The Onion.

Wilco (An Album)

Wilco are a band you love to love. They've released some of the best music of the last twenty years. And they tour constantly, winning over fans as they visit major markets and small ones, much like the punk/alternative scene in the early 80's which inspired them. They also seem like regular people. Jeff Tweedy's a modern day Huck Finn, born not that far from Twain and singing songs that are uniquely American. And he's finally found a band that he truly enjoys playing with.

This new incarnation of Wilco only has two studio albums under their belt. 2007's Sky Blue Sky and this year's Wilco (The Album), a record that has yet to be officially released but is streaming from the band's website and available as a download if you employ a little Google action. The band is excellent on the road, as documented by 2005's Kicking Television and by anyone who has been lucky enough to buy a ticket to one of their shows. But getting it right in the studio and delivering it live are two different animals.

One could argue that Wilco spends too much time on the road, leaving Jeff Tweedy too little time to write. It's not that the songs on Wilco (The Album) are bad. Some of them just feel a little undercooked and slight compared to the rest of the material, especially "I'll Fight" and "Everlasting," two songs that come towards the end of the record. "I'll Fight" uses cliche religious imagery and "Everlasting" is slight enough that no amount of strings and studio trickery are going to save it.

It might have to do with the absence of a sparring partner. Jay Bennett is long gone. And Jim O'Rourke isn't anywhere to be found on this record.

But let's not be too picky. This is Wilco. And like a lot of their albums, you need to listen to it quite a bit before fully digesting it. Originally aired on an episode of the Colbert Show, the album opener "Wilco (The Song)" seems drastically improved. Sure, it's a simple song, and much like the album cover, seems designed to lower expectations. While it originally sounds exactly like the sort of song the band would want to play once on a comedy show and then discard to the rarities, once you let the hooks in and listen to it in the context of the rest of the record, it really works. It's Wilco having fun. And on a larger philosophical level, it speaks to the kind of salvation people seek at rock shows.

The highlight of the album is "Bull Black Nova." It's a song that builds off of the subject matter of "Via Chicago" and the sound of "Spiders (Kidsmoke)," but is unique enough to stand on its own, and also as the album's best song. The narrator has done something terrible. Likely murder. He sings of blood in his hair and blood in the sing before repeatedly screaming "wake up." Wilco songs, and thought provoking rock and roll songs in general, don't get much better than this.

There are some great songs of introspection. "Solitude" could easily be a solo Tweedy song. "Deeper Down" uses boxing imagery to describe somebody being knocked out before delivering the unexpected line "he felt the insult of a kiss" and then, as the verses built, "he felt the comfort of a kiss." "You and I" is a duet with Feist that never quite catches fire. And "One Wing" seems designed to grow in live venues.

George Harrison is an obvious reference – some would say a little too obvious – in "You Never Know." To these ears it's a pleasant song. If you're going to rip somebody off, you could do a lot worse than this, both is who you borrow from and how you deliver it.

Jeff Tweedy called the album a "Whitman's Sampler" recently. It's hard to argue with that. The album doesn't have a distinct feel like their best records, but instead takes elements of those records and builds a really good collection of songs that will only grow in appreciation with repeat listens. A better title might have been Wilco (An Album). But it's nice to hear the band have fun and maybe lower expectations a bit. And with a band that tours as much as they do, the songs will only grow on the road.

The Singer/The Folk Singer

Nick Cave has quite the back catalog. I first got into him around Let Love In, but didn't really come to appreciate him until No More Shall We Part. He's been quite prolific lately, releasing a double cd a few years back, the full length Grinderman side project in 2007, and 2008's excellent Dig, Lazurus, Dig. So the recent years have kept me pretty busy, but the recent reissues of his first four albums provide an excellent reason to start exploring those early albums again.

It's a pleasure to hear 1986's Kicking Against The Pricks in remastered form, especially "The Singer." Originally known as "The Folk Singer" and written by Johnny Cash, the song is strangely absent from almost all of Johnny Cash's numerous box sets and greatest hits albums. It's a forgotten jem. And today, while listening to Kicking Against The Pricks, I finally was able to listen to the original. It's a great take on what it means to be an entertainer, and sounds great coming from Cave, as well as Cash. Both are pretty sublime.


.
Nick Cave's version from 1986's Kicking Against The Pricks:



Johnny Cash's version from 1968, the B-side to "Folsom Prison Blues:"

Remembering Jay Bennett

Jay Bennett died over the weekend in his sleep at the age of 45. It's sad news. Not just because he was an extremely talented musician and member of Wilco during their most inventive years, but because he was only 45. His recent MySpace journal entries spoke of upcoming hip surgery to repair a painful injury he sustained years earlier when he jumped off a stage. His tone was upbeat. He had a new album in the works. Things were looking good.

So many nice things have been said about Jay over the last couple of days. Shame he couldn't have heard them himself. A lot of interesting clips have surfaced that really show his talent. Here are a few.

Bob Dylan's Together Through Life

He's Bob Dylan. A living legend. The Shakespeare of our time. He infused serious lyrics into rock. Before him the Beatles were singing "Love Me Do." The Stones were doing blues covers. Lawrence Welk was at the top of the charts.

Okay, so let's not get into a discussion of the current state of popular music. Or maybe we should. Together Through Life did debut at number one. Not bad for a 67 year old that many a critic wrote off in the 80's as a has been.

This is album number three of new studio albums since Bob Dylan reset the clock with 1997's Time Out Of Mind. Since then he released 2001's Love and Theft and 2006's Modern Times. With his latest release, Dylan trimmed the 4-5 year gap to under three years. And this doesn't even count last year's excellent Tell Tale Signs, Volume 8 in the Bootleg Series.

Together Through Life is the most accessible Dylan record since Desire or maybe Slow Train Coming. Once you get used to the accordion and pre-rock sound, as well as Dylan's "blood of the land" voice, the songs draw you into their burned out 21st century by way of a 1950's Mexican small town landscape and flow by effortlessly. It's good road tripping music. Of the 10+ times I've listened to it, the time I enjoyed it most was on a late night drive.

"This Dream Of You," "I Feel A Change Comin' On" and "It's All Good" are the clear highlights, providing some of the lyrical depth we've come to expect of him. But they fit in nicely among the rest of the album. There's humor in "My Wife's Home Town," especially towards the end when Dylan gives us a demonic laugh. And "Jolene" and "Shake Shake Mama" are fun little bluesy rockers. Love is the theme, both the longing for new relationships and the ashes of those that burned out.

This is Dylan light, especially coming after Modern Times. And it's not up there with Time Out Of Mind or Love and Theft as later day classics, but it's a fun ride once you get used to the landscape.

The cup less full

I try to be flexible. I don't keep my schedule so busy that I can't adapt at the last minute to meet a friend out for a drink or go for an impromptu walk around the lake. I'm almost always game for grabbing a bite to eat and getting out of the house. And I seldom send things back or complain in a restaurant. I'll roll with the punches.

But one thing I just don't have much patience for is being shortchanged on my coffee. I know, I sound like Wilfred Brimley talking about his oatmeal here, and you're probably waiting for me to start bitching about how I remember when coffee was twenty five cents and the only way you altered it was with cream and sugar. But no, I'm not about to do that. When brewed correctly and served at the right temperature, the french roast coffee I get from my local coffee shop is worth every penny of the $2 price tag.

But for those of us who still order regular coffee and not a latte or mocha or americano or anything of that sort, cream has been cutting into our coffee. In a sit down restaurant they usually ask if you'd like some, meaning that they'll bring it to you. So that's okay. And at a fast food place, you have the individual creamers. But at a lot of coffee shops they've taken to asking you if you want room for cream. As if you're going to add so much cream to it that you won't be able to find any space for it if they forget to ask.

And too often they error on the side of leaving room. I'm constantly getting coffees that are closer to 3/4 of a cup than a full one. And it's not just at one shop. Maybe it's the economy. I don't know. I just want a full cup of coffee without having to send it back to be filled up all the way. I'm looking forward to old man moments when I'm 80 and can constantly bitch about shit and send things back and say how different things were back in my day. But c'mon, I don't really want to go there yet.

Cds, downloads, vinyl records, mp3 players...

I'm sitting outside on a gorgeous afternoon and things seem pretty okay. I got my taxes done and made out alright. Nothing owed anyway, which is quite a relief when you wait until the last minute like I did. And as much as I hate that whole "free money" thing that the vast amount of Americas believe their tax returns to be, I can't help but want to buy something. Stimulate the economy. Reward myself for being a good citizen and doing my part to keep the roads paved and our children in schools.

The first thing that really comes to mind for me is stereo equipment. Or audio equipment. But do you really call it stereo equipment if it's not going to go anywhere near your stereo? I was thinking about getting the 160 gig iPod, which was discontinued and is getting hard to find, and finally putting ALL of my music on one tiny little device I could keep in my pocket. It would be great for road trips, and as a friend of mine pointed out, backup in case of a flood.

Then I talked to another friend of mine about vinyl records. They're making a bit of a comeback. Bands are increasingly offering a free download of the album with the purchase of a record. So you can add the title to your mp3 player, yet still have something tangible, and some would argue highly superior, to play. I do have a record player, but it's not that high quality of one. For me to really get into vinyl again I would need to update.

For the few years leading up to Napster and the widespread use of mp3s, I frequented used record stores to stock up on various albums that caught my eye. It was a great way to complete my collection without going broke at $15.99 a title. And I liked the warm sound too. Especially with albums that came out in the vinyl era. That was how they were supposed to sound.

It's been about 10 years since I've bought a vinyl record, and all but a few of my records are still boxed up from a move I made in 2002. Recently I helped a friend sell all of her cds. 1500+ titles. It felt like product to her, and I suppose it's starting to feel that way to me too. I guess I am at the crossroads a bit. Do I keep buying cds only to rip them immediately to iTunes and hardly ever pull them out again? Do I go completely digital? Switch to vinyl only? Or keep doing what I'm doing?

Right now I think I'll keep doing what I'm doing. The path of least resistance. Buying less cds each year and downloading more, but still careful to get as close to that audiophile sound as I can on a budget for the artists I care for most.

But I still don't know if I want to buy that iPod or not.

Haiku From A Restaurant

Hennepin late night
Drink food walk home shelter sleep
In that order please

I'll be your IKEA songwriter

So I think I wrote a advertising jingle without really thinking about it, which is kind of cool. I'm a copywriter after all. But I've never had the opportunity to write a jingle.

They just don't seem that common these days. Sometimes you see them as tag lines like McDonald's "I'm Lovin' It" or introductions like Budweiser's "Real Men of Genius." But usually when a song is used in a commercial it exists beforehand and is licensed from the artist. An exception is the twist Of Montreal gave to one of their songs to make it "Let's Go Outback Tonight." But the only full-length recent songs/jingles I can think of are the FreeCreditReport.com ads:



Mid-way through the month of February I was desperately trying to stay on track in order to get to the 14 song goal for February Album Writing Month. I was growing tired of the acoustic-based songs I was cranking out, and wanted to do something different. So I thought I would plug it in a bit and crank out some noise. Write something upbeat. Once I got the idea I ran with it, lacking the patience for conventional song components like verses, bridges and length, deciding to leave the song as is.

Now, the more I listen to this, the more I think it's a jingle. Swap out my voice for a more commercial sounding male voice. Something closer to Hanson than Jonas Brothers. Show them putting together furniture for lovely Swedish lasses. Then have the Swedish girls sing the names of the furniture in the chorus. And presto, a cutesy IKEA ad?

Eggo Butter Pecan Syrup and me

The Eggo Butter Pecan syrup is finally gone. I bought it several months back at a Super Target. It was cheap, and I was pinching pennies. We seemed like the perfect match.

Except we weren't. Almost immediately I realized the error of my ways. True, I had saved money– Eggo Butter Pecan syrup was only a couple dollars for a family size bottle, but unless I planned on entertaining an army of hungry breakfasters for hotcakes on a Sunday morning, chances are I'd be eating all that sticky syrup by my lonesome. But the issue was much greater than that.

It's easy to blame it on refrigeration. Had Eggo Butter Pecan syrup been made of more natural ingredients the package would have dictated that it be kept below a certain temperature in order to avoid spoilage, and I would have had to find room in my refrigerator for it. An easy enough task. But the real problem for any food purchase that requires cold for its survival is maintaining face time once that item is placed in the refrigerator. In the recesses of my Darby fridge lies an assortment of condiments that weren't good enough to be consistently moved forward. Mustards. Barbecue sauces. Light cream cheeses. They linger in condiment obscurity, far from the forefront of my mind. So, when I'm in the grocery store with bagels and cream cheese on my mind, changes are I won't remember the one hiding out in the Darby.

But this is not the case with Eggo Butter Pecan syrup. Because it doesn't require refrigeration for its survival it is designated to the cupboard, where space is limited and snack items are in constant rotation. So it's given considerable placement, and therefore is top of mind when it comes to making breakfast selections. When I'm at the store I start to think that I shouldn't really buy cereal and yogurt because I have Eggo Butter Pecan syrup, so waffles would make a better choice.

I like butter pecan. Love it even. It's good stuff. And I think it was the "butter pecan" part of Eggo Butter Pecan syrup that really captured my imagination. I thought it sounded mighty delicious. But instead it was this sickly tasting ultra sweet concoction of high fructose corn syrup and artificial flavors. And I had 20 some servings of it left.

Waffles. Pancakes. A squirt in the oatmeal and cream of wheat. I decided to use it whenever I could and tough it out. True, I used pretty liberal amounts of it when it came to the pancakes and waffles, leaving most of it on the side of my plate to be washed down the drain when it came time to do dishes. But I gave it a good effort. Swallowed my pride. Put on my game face.

Well, the charade finally came to an end on Friday. It was the last squirt for Eggo Butter Pecan syrup. And I don't know if I've ever been so happy to throw a food item in the trash. From now on I was going to enjoy real maple syrup like never before. I'd use it sparingly and savor every little drop of it, thinking of Native Americans and Vermont and old time traditions of gathering sap.

But as Eggo Butter Pecan syrup fell from my hand to the heaping kitchen trash container I realized that like so much of my relationship with it, our separation wasn't going to be easy either. I would have to recycle it. Which means it will have another life someday. Or at least that's the hope, although hopefully as a more worthy product. I would find it highly depressing to know that it was going to spend eternity in a landfill. Because if I knew that its fate would consist of this I would have left it half full to say to the future citizens of the earth that back in the early 21st century not everyone was so fond of high fructose corn syrup and artificial flavorings on their pancakes. That some of us longed for real foods. But, with all the preservatives and half the bottle left, the future citizens of planet earth could try it out for themselves. I just hope it wouldn't taste nostalgic to them and remind them of the good old days. Back when high fructose corn syrup was still cheap and affordable and used in just about every mass produced food product known to man.