Sunday, June 29, 2014

My Country ‘Tis of She

After the good genre exercise and the successful retreat to rock, with the encouragement of Nutboy I scurried out again to another genre and hit paydirt, of something close enough to it.

Kacey Musgrove.jpg

This is the best country album I’ve heard in many years. (Even Mrs. Jaybee - NOT a lover of country music - likes it!) It’s not like I get a lot of country records. It’s just that what I’ve gotten lately has been underwhelming.

Kacey Musgraves is a little realer than the earnest but generic country-rock of Brad Paisley, a little sharper lyrically, and a little sweeter vocally, than Miranda Lambert, more melodic than Steve Earle and more modestly produced than the admittedly excellent Jimmie Dale Gilmore.

I’ve never been comfortable with rock and roll singers who were, well, good singers. Excellent technical ability seems to miss the point in most rock and roll. So when I check out another genre one of the added bonuses is that, whatever that genre is, people can sing!  And KM doesn’t disappoint. Her voice is in that mid-range sweet spot - very pretty, but not saccharine.

And instead of the “new country” scam of adding a bunch of electric guitars to rock it up in the most commercial/lame way possible, KM has some different ideas - she deploys actual melodies.

And the words - another country specialty but oftentimes for all the wrong reasons - are about real things - divorce, infidelity, creeping economic desperation - and are right on the money. So when things get a bit happy/dopey, it’s bearable.

There’s only one moment on the whole record that I regret. When the pedal steel guy gets all weepy on the last song. In other words, when it goes all country on me. Thank god the lyrics are a cold splash of water.

I’m not saying KM’s a greater talent than the abovementioned artists. She didn’t write all these songs herself. But when you’re putting a record together it’s good to know your own limits and when to call in the reinforcements. Sometimes it’s better to avoid making the Unique Personal Statement, and just concentrate on making a good record.

In doing so, Kacey Musgraves has renewed my faith in country music. Something that hasn’t been the case since, oh, Gram Parsons?  A-




Saturday, June 21, 2014

Talent vs. Genius, Round One, or, Just Dandy

As adventurous as I’d like to pretend to be about music, whenever I do dip my toes into a genre experiment I can usually be counted upon to come running back to that old reliable - rock n’ roll. And it doesn’t hurt a bit if it’s tuneful and bright rather than harsh and bitter. I can supply that on my own.

Dancy Warhols.jpg

And boy is this tuneful and bright!  

The Dandy Warhols first came to my attention on the radio, where they could be counted upon to do something that was catchy but that still had some ooomf to it.

So, I decided to see the movie “DIG!”, which pits the Dandys against the Brian Jonestown Massacre. They start out as pals - if anything with the Dandys being in awe of the BJM - but it eventually turns into rivalry and mutual hatred. 

The Dandys were the savvy ambitious band, while BJM was the brilliant but self destructive (getting into fights on stage, etc.) ones. By the end of the movie the Dandys have moved on to fame and fortune (relatively speaking) while the BJM can never quite stop shooting themselves in the foot (or the arm, as it were).

This excellent movie whetted my appetite, so I decided to investigate and eventually choose sides. I’m the type who's more likely to root for the self-destructive genius against the ambitiously talented.

But I have to admit that this is as good a commercial rock record as I can imagine. Oh, and believe me, I can imagine because I’ve heard some pretty horrific ones. (They’re the ones that sell so many copies.)  

And as is usually the case when I hear a record as listenable as this one, I wonder why it didn’t sell a million, too. Any of this would have sounded great on the radio.

Okay, it may be a bit superficial, and there are some parts I could swear I’ve heard before on Beatles and Stones records. And at the end of it, you’re reminded of what Steve Martin said to his wife-with-a-shady-past after sex in “The Man with Two Brains”: “Thanks, that was so…professional!”

But if you don't like it, you're displaying either obstinacy, or maybe integrity, depending upon whether you've seen “DIG! or not. An early contender for album of the year.

Okay Brian Jonestown Massacre, let's see what you got! A-

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Senior Alert

Here we are in June, and I haven’t said word one yet about new (to me) music this year. Leave it to me to blather about outmoded technology link for weeks on end. http://jburns831.blogspot.com/2014/03/blood-on-8-tracks-track-one-limbo.html


I started the year with my Amazon.com shopping cart brimming with mp3s, so there was a chance I’d  drown in music if I wasn’t careful. It’s happened before. I’d get ten records, focus on maybe three and the other seven would sit around lonely. I’d get to them, but not for weeks or even months. Did I need all ten at the time? Obviously not. The problem is it’s hard to know which three I’ll end up loving right away.
Or I could just do my “research”, an activity too nerdy to go into here (but not, apparently, here).
Or go wandering around the web.
For reasons I'd rather not say (the “World History Project” post I haven't written yet) I was considering 16th century classical music. Or Iggy and the Stooges, I couldn’t decide.
But as these thoughts were going through my mind, Mrs. Jaybee got the jump on me with Vampire Weekend, , as did my son Michael, with Oasis.
So if I didn’t get my ass in gear, this year’s theme would turn out to be Rehearsals for Retirement.
Spoiler: It will actually turn out worse than this, of course, as my wanderings will be prove to be less explicable - but eerily similar - to that of an elderly gentleman suffering from dementia riding the subway and being found in the oddest parts of town.
So where did they find me first?
Lauryn Hill.jpg

Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of… (1998)


This record has shown up on so many “Best of” lists I’d be negligent if I didn’t get to it at some point. And as is usual when I use that rationale, I have to prepare myself to be underwhelmed. I tend to hear what everybody is raving about. It's just not what I'd rave about.


So let’s start with what I don’t like about it and get that out of the way:

It’s a Grammy-aiming-crossover record, which is something I typically despise. But because it’s not in a genre I genuinely love, it doesn’t feel watered down. (It probably is. but I wouldn’t notice.)


And Ms. Hill’s self-absorption doesn’t help. When she was with the Fugees at least she was singing about people who are oppressed. Here, it seems she’s the only one being oppressed. 

And likening oneself to Christ (“Forgive Them Father”) doesn’t do anything for me, either. Nor does her complete  absence of a sense of humor.


On the plus side, the songs are pretty tuneful. She sings very well and brings a lot of passion, as she should since it’s all about her anyway. And for something that runs nearly eighty minutes, I’m with her most of the way.
So when I get past all the annoyances, I have to admit it somebody's Album of the Year. Just not mine.

But sometimes it's perfectly lovely, and putting it on again isn’t a chore at all. B+

"Tell Him"