What's New?: 12.27.2011

Andrew Hill — A Beautiful Day (2002)

Pretty decent post-bop, free-leaning stuff. And yeah, I know these are all Andrew's original compositions, but I've never really liked when he got so attached to the horn arrangements, like he does here. Most of the arrangements are dominated by the horn charts, in fact. But when Andrew takes a solo, wowweeee! That rare occurrence on '5 Mo' illustrates just why the man is a legend. It's almost like he deliberately creates these scenarios where he must rebel. The song's head is one of the more chaotic of the bunch here, so he appropriately takes a wandering, melodic solo in the face of otherwise dissonance. He is not up front for most of the proceedings here, but the tunes are all nice, if not a little more leaning towards his more rambunctious side. 'Faded Beauty' and the title track are both the sort of kind of free, mostly just searching tunes that Andrew used to make his own voice. Certainly not his most approachable work, but darn good for the already converted.

Jónsi — We Bought a Zoo (2011)

I've become such a big fan of Jón Þór Birgisson and his band Sigur Rós over the past two years that I am essentially at a clamoring state right now for anything new. I had high expectations for this one, perhaps foolishly. As far as the new material, it is definitely in soundtrack mode, as it essentially sounds like outtakes from what Jónsi does otherwise. Unfinished song ideas that don't sound totally right without the visual accompaniment. But still, it's music written in the style that will be familiar to fans of his previous work, so there's plenty for us dorks to latch onto. Most of the new material is instrumental with fleeting "Oooohhhhh aaahhhhhhh" vocals, but there are a couple of genuine brand new, fully fleshed out tracks here and they're surprisingly lost in the shuffle of the rest of the album. I mean, I like them just as much as anything else here, but they're not completely standouts, y'know? (the tracks in reference here are 'Ævin Endar' and 'Gathering Stories'). Still, even though this music probably serves its purpose quite well in the film —and yet, is somehow disappointing to me as a fan of the musicians creating it— I have to say that this will keep me satisfied for at least a little while. It's not a major revelation —or, indeed, a revelation at all— but it's still darn good. And it definitely has that feeling to it (the one that keeps me coming back to anything with Jón's name on it in the first place).

The Cure — Bestival Live 2011 (2011)

New Cure album and who gives a shit? ME! Because I'm a hardcore fan and I'm clearly who this 2 disc, 32-track, 140-minute behemoth was aimed at. I will keep my comments brief, because it is just a live album after all (despite that it's their first official live album in nearly twenty years and it marks as an account of an official lineup change [Porl Thompson is back out and Roger O'Donnell is back in!]). They sound infinitely better when hitting those earlier songs. Cons: crappy drum sound, predictable hits being played up front, Robert's 'spoken' vocals. Pros: jesus, are they having fun or what?, 'PUSH'!!!!!!!, the whole concept that they just played this show a few hours before I was at this show is somehow awesome to me, all the songs that they haven't played regularly in forever and finally 'THE LOVECATS'!!!!!!! Audience singalong FTW! Seriously, the FREAKING LOVECATS!!! YES!!! Overall, it's nothing that will appeal to anyone except dorks like me, but enjoyable as all hell. The fucking Cure, man. They're one of my favorites for a reason. All profits go to charity, buy it.

Solbakken — Music for Lost (2004)

They are the Mighty Bakk. And I love them. This is probably the Mighty Bakk's most post-rockin' affair, as it's easily their most instrumental album. It's also a soundtrack, so there are a few songs here that I knew previously (namely, 'Entertain the Elderly' and 'House Been Taken' from Klonapet and 'Your Cave' from their In the Fishtank session with the Black Heart Procession). But besides those, everything else was new to me (this is the only album of the Mighty Bakk's that I didn't buy at the time because it was brand new, ungodly expensive and nobody had it). The instrumentals range from short and sweetly bleak vintage numbers ('Hell Impro Insect Outburst' and 'Saloon'), to goofy (the pseudo-rockabilly sendup cover of 'Ring of Fire') to just downright incredible moments ('Birth of a Jumper'). The new vocal songs are dark and gloomy, but with that great injection of catchiness that the Mighty Bakk is just perfect at. If this is to be their last album (which is most likely), it's a strange one, but still exceptionally good. I still find much to go back to on this one, even with the recycled material. They are quickly becoming one of my favorite bands of all time.

~Austin

Top Five Part Five: Robert Smith Guitar Solos

Although heralded for his masterful mopery, Robert Smith has long been neglected as a fine guitarist. He didn't really develop his own sound until the Cure's middle period, but when he did, he spoke gracefully and thoughtfully through his instrument every time. Because there have been so many Cure bootlegs and unofficial recordings that have inevitably made their way through fans' hands over the years, I considered including some of these moments, but ulitimately decided against that because not *everyone* has had the chance to hear them. So, of the officially released stuff, here are my top five favorite Robert Smith guitar solos..

#5 - 'Treasure' (Wild Mood Swings, 1996)
Just gorgeously pretty stuff. Perfectly vintage tone and sound for Mr. Smith. It is perhaps the most representative solo he's ever taken on a record, but it fits the song so incredibly well.

#4 - 'A Night Like This' (live from The Cure In Orange) ('Catch' 12" b-side, 1986)
This is one song where the definitive versions are not studio recordings, but live versions. And it seems like the more they played it, the better it got. Bob (thankfully) did not decide to replicate the sax solo heard on the studio recording, but instead he takes a solo in that spot. I think he pretty much plays the same solo every time on this song (or at least he starts it with the same phrase), but this one just feels completely right. Make that sax solo look silly (or sillier, as the case may be).

#3 - 'Burn' (The Crow soundtrack, 1993)
Epic Cure at its absolute best. The song just builds and builds this unbelieveable tension and it feels like the only time that's slightly relieved is when Bob takes this incredible solo. They really should play this song live.

#2 - 'The Same Deep Water As You' (Disintegration, 1989)
Nearly classical in its scope, I've often said that it's not the lyrics that are the saddest thing about this song, but the solo that Bob takes. It just reaches an unspeakable depth of poignancy.

#1 - 'Faith' (live) ('Charlotte Sometimes' 12" b-side, 1981)
The song 'Faith' is pretty much the blueprint for that vintage Robert Smith six string bass sound and tone, but this epic 10+ minute live recording illustrates fully for the first time the potential the sound and style had for reaching emotional depths. This set the stage for many more epic renditions of the tune in years to come, but this recording from the tour for the Faith album stands out because the tune was still fairly new to the band at this point and, despite the tempo, there is an urgency and longing in the tone of the solos Bob takes. Really superb stuff. Thankfully, it was rescued from out of print Cure b-side obscurity with the deluxe edition of the Faith album a few years ago.

~Austin

Stephen Fretwell's Man On the Roof and other recent purchases.

A little history before I get fully into my thoughts on this album: I saw Stephen play an opening set for Feist about two years ago at the tiny
Great Basin pub in Sparks promoting the American release of his first album Magpie (which had been out in Europe since 2004) and I had never heard the guy before. When the host of the evening introduced him as being 'all the way from Manchester England' I was paying intently close attention. To shorten the story, he blew me away. Anybody who can stand up in front of a group of people and just sing and play his guitar and still be able to absolutely captivate those people and, especially, keep me interested for the entire duration deserves my keenest of listening ears (Feist was good too... haha). So, I went out and bought Magpie the very next day. It was and still is awesome. I'm far from a singer/songwriter/contemporary folk fan, but I really felt like I found the one of those variety that was fine tuned for my ears. Fast forward a couple of years. He puts out a new record and, not to my surprise at all, it isn't released in America. Because, at the time of this writing, it still hasn't seen a US release, I waited about eight months impatiently hoping. I couldn't wait any longer and finally picked up the British import this past week. Initially, I thought, 'Well, that first album was a fluke after all' as a sort of nod to Holly's cynical resistance of Mr. Fretwell and my particular fondness for him. I certainly didn't expect the brief squalling feedback that opens the album on 'Coney' and I initially hated the song. Halfway through the album and I was just about ready to shut it off, but then I thought that was unfair. I took to Magpie pretty quickly because I recognized about half of the songs from his live set and, with Man On the Roof, I had no touchstones or foundations to take off from. Well, it took three front to back listens before I found myself singing '...and the band plays BOOM-CHA-CHA BOOM-CHAA and the night draws in...' and I realized that, oh SHIT, this album is pretty fucking great. 'Darlin' Don't' and 'Bumper Cars' are straight out of the Magpie sessions to my ears, while other full band works like 'She' 'Dead' and 'Sleep' find Stephen looking for a light at the end of a very dark tunnel. And that would be my one complaint: while Magpie felt like a series of fond recollections (perhaps bittersweet, but fond nonetheless), this album feels like a downright sad breakup record. But, who knows, I like that sort of melancholy sad bastard shit. I'm such a dork for liking music that resonates. Can't say if I like it better than Magpie, but it does feel more complete and all around more accomplished and reassured initially. I am so down with this record.

Al Green — Lay it Down (2008)
I feel lucky, as it seems like I can't buy bad music these days. Questlove from the Roots had been talking about recording this album for the past two years on the okayplayer.com message boards and I was honestly surprised to see it actually materialize. I was skeptical when I first saw that Questlove and right hand man James Poyser were purposely making a throwback record to sound like Al's classic albums from the 70's on Hi Records with Willie Mitchell. But, you know what? I can't even front like that. This is a gorgeous album. And why shouldn't Al Green make a classic Al Green album? His last classic album was roughly thirty years ago, so I'd say he's due for another. I can't even comprehend how good this record is. I hate to do this sort of thing, but i don't forsee anything that's on deck for the rest of this year competeing with this album. Unless that new Maxwell comes out (not bloody fuckin' likely, mate! © Johnny Marr). It's albums like this that come along and and then you really realize how bad contemporary music really is.

Luscious Jackson — In Search of Manny (1992)
I'm not even into LJ like that, but I've always liked this little EP. It's everything that's great about them packed into a nice little cohesive, concise package. I've had it before, but traded it in. Nice to able to re-acquire things like this.

The Cure — The Only One/NY Trip (2008)
Yeah, so I had 'The Only One' on bootleg from live performances last year, but the studio recording has revealed itself to be a rather nice, classic sounding Cure single. By the third or fourth listen, I have to admit, I was rather excited. 'NY Trip' is the typically strong Cure b-side by this point. It feels like the noisiness they tried for (and failed at) with the last album has finally been conquered and they are actually good at incorpoating that sort of thing into the songs again. A very good single.

The Cure — Freakshow/All Kinds of Stuff (2008)
Well, this is why us Cure fans are so cynical of you, Bob. The a-side here is absolutely trite piece of gimmicky wank. I mean, I understand that the Cure has always been a little toung-in-cheek, but come on! The b-side is more noisy, aggro stuff and it's not bad in comparison to 'Freakshow', but pretty mediocre overall. A very disappointing single.

Electronic — Raise the Pressure (1996)
I don't know. One listen through and it felt like every song was either a New Order throwaway or a Smiths throwaway (insults recognized and intended). The first one didn't strike me right away either, though. And now I like it quite a bit for a side-project-y sort of thing. We'll see on this one, but on one full listen, I thought it was somewhat forced.

I've been buying a lot of new music lately. That's a quite unusual thing for me.

But I have been reading Mark Burgess' wonderful autobiography View From A Hill and, in addition to all my Chameleons records, it has prompted me to play the Sun and the Moon's one and only album quite a bit lately. That's a lost classic if such a thing even exists.

See you soon.

~Austin