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Spring 2007 Music Survival Kit
By
Published: Jan 01, 2007
Category:
Beyond Classification
Spring 2007 Music Survival Kit
What a winter! I wouldn’t volunteer to endure another one of those! My gripes? The war, the weather, getting the kid into a school — I could go on, but I’m sure your own list flashes into focus for you. And on a number of topics, what’s ahead looks even worse. All the more reason to lay in supplies for the soul, blades of grass that can sprout between the cracks. Can hope and optimism be extracted from a plastic disc? Only if you press PLAY. Here’s what’s moving into heavier rotation for me….
Etta James
She’s seen it, she’s lived it, and here’s the journal. Men? Boys in long pants — or dogs. Love? Elusive to the point of silly. And can she help herself? Hey, bring on her next mistake.
Cesaria Evora
When she sings, it’s always night, it’s warm out, the world has reduced itself to two people in a room. It is just possible that she is, in her quiet way, just a whole lot better than anyone else.
John Prine
He was born old, and now he’s ancient. Which doesn’t make him philosophical, just wittier, even laugh-out-loud jolly. Someone had Too Much Fun making this CD, and you know how that goes: fun in, fun out. It makes me happy to hear songs this smart, knowing and loving.
J.J. Cale
This guy is a human hammock. Settle in, time passes, you get up refreshed. But how can music this lazy get your feet tapping? Because Cale can’t help but write classics. And his style is so striking — he has to be the coolest guy in the history of Oklahoma — that guys like Clapton went to school on him and made trillions. Well, accept no substitute.
Tom Petty
"Highway Companion" is just that. Shove it in the car CD, put the top down and drive. The lyrics are clever, the production is state-of-the-art, but that’s for in-the-house. In the car or at the gym, Petty’s all about great hooks and a killer beat.
C.C. Adcock
One more reason to love Louisiana. This bad boy from Lafayette can’t be pigeon-holed — "bad boy" will do just fine. He makes a CD a decade, rarely tours, but if this is what he’s like, he’s a Cajun rocker of dubious morality who makes you forget all about yours. Here’s the crazy thing: He’s no guilty pleasure. In the morning, you’ll be smiling (even if you don’t quite remember what happened).
Otis Redding
Before there was Red Bull, there was Otis. He shook, he shimmied, he shouted — his voice could saw through a pine tree. In concert, he had no equal: Janis Joplin once sat at his feet to figure out how he did it. And this is the live CD to have. Got closets to clean? Feel like dancing? R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
The Beatles
Kiss every cliche on the mouth, say I. "Here Comes the Sun" — if they recorded no other song, this made them gods. A Vegas show reminds us just how great they were. And then there’s the rest of the catalogue….
Eva Cassidy
I see trees that are green
Red roses too
I watch them bloom
For me and you
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world…
Andy Palacio & the Garifuna Collective
From the coast of Belize, singing in a language that’s in danger of extinction, these Garifunan musicians have made a CD that belongs next to Buena Vista Social Club in your library. Yeah, they’re that good.
Amadou & Mariam
Recorded so it sounds they’re playing in the street on a Sunday in Bamako, the capital of Mali. They have a terrific time. So will you — a brilliant producer and this blind couple have collaborated to make music that forces you to your feet. Life is hard, it’s unfair, but what are you gonna do, they sing — let’s dance. Amen.
Radio Tarife
Late at night. The Spanish coast. The lights of Africa in sight. And here’s a radio station, playing music that merges the best of both continents. Very lucky that we have such good reception tonight.
Beethoven: Violin Concerto
The greatest piece of music that nobody liked. For decades. Then someone figured it out. And of the violinists who recorded it, I feel no one figured it out better than Jascha Heifetz.
Vivaldi: Sacred Music
Vivaldi always sounds cheerful to us. And songs of faith do tend to make you look up. Here, the voices soar, and, with them, we rise. Like "gorgeous"? Consider this.
Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong
Their version of "Porgy & Bess" is definitive for me — I believe he’s crippled and desperately in love and that she’s so much worth loving. It’s banal to say it, but Armstrong’s trumpet really is his second voice, alternately brassy and pleading, and when he takes off….
Yusuf (Cat Stevens)
All these years ago, his songs seemed "girly" — I mean: "ride the peace train”? Now he’s changed his name and changed his religion, but he hasn’t changed his tune. And what do you know? The peace train sounds good. And these songs bestow peace. Funny how that happens.
