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The Best Music (First Quarter
2006)
By
Published: Jan 01, 2006
Category:
Beyond Classification
The Best Music (First Quarter, 2006)
Brilliance is talent under pressure. And there surely is enough pressure these days. On the music industry, which is in the endless process of figuring out how to find music dull enough to thrill the audience of ‘American Idol.’ And on musicians, as they try to find a way to make real music without being packaged like processed cheese. Happily, there’s this thing called the Internet, which bypasses the corporate culture and gets listeners right to the music itself.
I found most of these CDs by poking around the web. I hope you’ll do as I do — click and listen. And, of course, I hope that you see the quality I do….
JOSH RITTER: I took it out of the rotation for a week, slipped it in last night, cranked it up — and fell in love all over again. You can listen — for free — to the entire ‘Animal Years’ CD now. Just click here. Josh will be touring. In New York, he’ll be playing the Bowery Ballroom on Thursday, May 4 and Friday, May 5. I’m going on the 4th. Suggestion: Buy tickets in advance..
THE LAURIE BERKNER BAND: Why do little kids love her? For the same reason their parents do — she’s not Raffi. She writes great hooks, makes an appropriate nod to the Beatles and is really appealing on stage, Our 4-year-old is mesmerized. She’s far from alone. Watch the DVD, sing the songs on We Are…the Laurie Berkner Band.
ROSANNE CASH: Wow, can she write. And when she’s singing about change — her aging father (Johnny Cash) and mother died as she was recording this CD — she rises to the challenge. The broad subject of this CD is: How do you find something to believe in when you don’t have much interest in religion? Start in the valley, end up in the stars — that’s the ride here. Rosanne Cash says, "God is in the roses — and the thorns." She says, "When it all falls apart, there is love." And she says that this could be her best CD. I agree — Black Cadillac is exceptional.
TEDDY THOMPSON: You’re driving me crazy, people. I tell you about Teddy Thompson, I urge you to listen to it, I remind you he’s on tour. And do you trust me enough to buy the damn CD or show up at his gigs? No. You do not. I give up. Okay, one last time: Please click on Separate Ways and listen to the Amazon snippets — if they’re not the smartest, most tuneful songs you’ve heard this year, write me. I’ll send you Q-tips.
DION: Yes. Of the Belmonts. Older than Moses now, but still rocking. This time out, he re-interprets his greatest hits and other powerhouse singles from the old days. And adds a new song that could have been written way back then. The songs stand up. And his voice is, if anything, improved. I was delighted by New Masters.
ALI FARKA TOURE: In distant Mali, he heard Southern blues. He was a farmer; the American blues men were singing about hard work in the fields. There the resemblance to American music ended. His big fingers played delicate notes; he wailed about irrigation and good crops. The sound is magic. There will be no more of it — he died this winter. So many great CDs. Start with Ali Farka Toure.
VAN MORRISON: The Irishman does Nashville. Classic songs, delivered without frills. The band is superior. If you close your eyes, you’re in a bar. In l950. In the South. And love has done you wrong. I’ll drink to Pay the Devil.
THE WHITE STRIPES: How do just two people make this much music? She pounds away on drums; he pounds away on piano and, when the occasion demands, rips off a sizzling guitar solo. The songs are so varied it’s hard to believe one guy has this much going on in his head. You can dance to some of it. And there’s even a touch of hellfire in Get Behind Me Satan.
Something for everyone, I hope.
