Bradley's Buzz

Random CDs

Okay, by now people probably think this is a blog spot for oldies music, but I just can't help it - I keep finding all these really great deals on older CDs of albums that I always wanted and just never bought, so once again we are dipping into the classics pool, with a few remasters of older CDs, a few classics and actually 2 CDs released this year but by artists who are probably known for their input of decades past, but that hardly makes them irrelevant, so let's take a look and listen shall we?

ROSANNE CASH - Black Cadillac (Capitol - 2006)
A few weeks I posted about how I wanted to get this album as the critics were raving; and I had ended up all caught up on a Rosanne Cash band wagon. Black Cadillac intriqued me, not only cuz a critic on www.allmusic.com called it her crowned acheivement but because it was written and recorded during a 22 month period where first her father Johnny Cash died, then her step mother June and then in May of last year her own mother - but despite the fact that she was eventually left an orphan at 50, and her family isn't your typical Mom & Pop situation, the album delves into pain, remorse, anger and regression; all universal themes and not a single one done with a hint of self pity - you won't find any "I wish we had more time together" type of songs; in fact Rosanne questions and ponders and leaves everything so matter of factly, it's almost ingenius. Opening the set with a taped vocal of Johnny calling for "C'mon Rosanne" before breaking into the title track, "It was a black cadillac that took you away..." the song doesn't hide any emotion as she calmly and clearly realizes her father is walking in Heaven and this place is lonely, but it was always was. The song jumps in with guitars and drums and ever so slightly background of the melody to "Ring Of Fire" - a very clever little add I think. In other songs, there are questions and conversions of religion on "God Is In The Roses" (and in the thorns), "World Without Sound" (I wish I was a Christian/ but I can't believe/ cause no one in the Bible craves my company) and in the excellant "Like Fugitives" with a chorus that touches on many feelings I have, and could be argued (at least by me) has a sentiment that could defend gay rights - "it's a strange new world where the church leads us to Hell/ and the lawyers get the money for the lives they buy and sell/ and the only dreams we believe in are up on the screen/ so we live lives as fugitives/ when we were meant to live as queens" - okay, I'm stretching the gay thing but it makes me laugh to think she could be putting that in there... as for the music, like most of Rosanne Cash's stuff this isn't easily classible, part Mary Chapin-Carpenter (though time line would show Mary would've been influenced by Rosanne herself), part pop/ part blues; Rosanne has always made very intriguing albums both lyrically and musically and I have to agree this has got to be one of her best - her second according to the masses is Interiors, which I also recently purchased and while Black Cadillac deals with loss and the realization that one has to and will live through it, Interiors is a ten song opus into the deterioration of a marriage, so you can bet that will be reviewed sometime soon. As for this album, the songs are great including "Dreams Are Not My Home" and "Radio Operator" both very upbeat little odes - in fact the sequencing is great as there are not all ballads, she can convey all her emotions in any format and does it quite well. As a very striking tribute the 13th track titled "0:71" is actually 71 seconds of silence - Johnny Cash died at the age of 71.

JOSIE COTTON - Movie Disaster Music (scruffy - 2006)
Well, you had to know this was coming - I have to admit I was a little hesitant to listen to it; I had heard snippets of a few of the songs on Josie's website and her myspace page but it's completely different to throw on the headphones and listen. Her last album 1993's Frightened By Nightingales (released as Josey Cotton btw) , was a foray into strange delerium through violins, high octane banshee wails and the like, it wasn't up my alley, though there were a few points where Josie's old pop princess came in, and actually where the dark lyrics and the streaming guitars and drums actually worked - "After The Rose" is one of the most beautiful songs ever, and the strange yet appealing "Deep Dark Hole" still puts me into a great mood. So I didn't know what to expect from Movie Disaster Music, I knew it obviously couldn't be a retread of Convertible Music and from what I had heard it didn't seem quite as Jane Siberry as the last album, but with that trepedation came the realization this was frickin' Josie Cotton and I just knew it would be if anything very interesting. What I didn't expect was how good it would be. I mean this album kicks ass - almost every song reminds me of something or someone else yet it's so original it could only be Josie - opening with the type of song I could/would write "Rabbit Hole" moves in with strange machine sounds and then puts together a great sing along ditty "in the news today I read/ a girl was found with a missing head/ not far from where are now/ in the ground it's dark and cold/ you could fall into a rabbit hole/ so dark and black / you never get back" and then moves in with a higher octave and a perfect chorus "say you will be the gentle heart/ to feel when I fall apart/ will you? / I will too" - it's a killer track and a great opening. "Bridget In The Sun" continues on and you'd swear you were listening to a more poetic Jane Wieldin; Josie pulls out a Jill Sobule sound alike or two as well, with all the quirky fun, sarcasm and truth that Sobule usually tucks away in the folds of her albums - a hilarious stompy rocker called "Lookin' For Elvis" has Josie doing her pseudo Elvis and looking through junk food aisles for the idol; my ultimate favorite song on the entire thing is a song called "Creeps" (Creeps on the phone, creeps at the door) with the all too familiar blurred vocals on so many rock songs these days but because of Josie's strong prowess her voice still shimmers and grinds in this very poppy song. It should be noted that Josie worked with a few producers on this new set but most important to me is that Larson Paine is one of those people - he is one half of the Paine brothers team who first cracked Josie onto the radar and wrote/produced most of her early work. Josie really gives a lesson in titling an album when you listen to a few tracks that could/ should be on a film soundtrack - "Beautiful But Deadly" is awesome - a new wave/gothy take on a James Bond theme, Josie's words and vocal performance are awesome; "Nikita" sounds like the theme song to a Russian psychological drama and "Fabulous" is a brilliant little take that reminds me of something so familiar yet is so new and inspiring I can't place it... all in all, I am so glad this album came out. I can't wait to see Josie do some of the songs live and anyone and everyone interested in Josie's music really should buy this - the girl is releasing it independantly and she needs our support and moolah!

THE DOORS - The Best Of The Doors (Elektra - 1985)
I live just down the street from the Whiskey and I swear when you walk in that place you still feel Jim's presence, I also take everyone who ever comes to visit to Venice Beach where there is a giant mural of Jim painted on the side of an apartment building and I drink Strongbow's at Barney's Beanery where Jim planted his hot ass night after night - to me Jim and the Doors represent a very interesting part of LA history, but for some reason this is the first time I've actually owned a Doors CD - and I can't not even fathom what I was thinking. The strangest part is I owe it to Wal Mart who had this double disc remastered version for only $9.72 I picked it up immediately and can't stop listening to it. 2 full discs of ballsiness, organs, long guitar interludes and oozing sexuality. This disc has it all - the full 6 minute "Light My Fire," "Break On Through", "Hello I Love You", "Love Me Two Times", "LA Woman", the oozy appeal of "Riders On The Storm," "Touch Me" - all of it. One of the best $10 spots I ever spent.

RICK SPRINGFIELD - Working Class Dog (RCA 1981)
Finally, this great and I mean that in all sincerity CD has been given the remaster treatment. I believe every album and cassette I owned in the early 80s should be given such a treatment, and I mean the kind of styling this album got not that schlock job Chrysalis did on my Benatar CDs. On top of all 10 glorious songs from this 1981 album, the powers that be (and Ricky boy included) conjured up the "Jessie's Girl" demo, and two other songs from his orignal demo including a rocking little ditty called "Easy To Cry" - the CD even has a song by song description by Rick and two of the producers Keith Olsen & Bill Drescher. I found out some interesting stuff like Keith was called in from his sessions on Pat Benatar's Crimes Of Passion to work on 2 songs for Working Class Dog, but because Pat's album was so important he could only do it on the weekends, of course he grabbed Pat's hubby Neil Geraldo and he played on a few of the songs, and "I've Done Everything For You" a Sammy Hagar penned tune was given to Rick by Keith because Miss Patty Patty declined it saying it was too macho. But that is all petty trivia compared to the pop/rock genius that is this album - the singles need no real explanation; "Jessie's Girl", "Love Is Alright Tonite", the aformentioned "I've Done.." were all roller skating staples when I was but a wee tyke - but the other tracks are so great as well - all 3 minute pop gems "Hole In My Heart" (though I'm stil partial to Lisa Hartman's faster cover -- sorry Jen!), "Carry Me Away", the reggae twinged "Daddy's Pearl", hilarious "Everybody's Girl" (it isn't nice, no but they call you everybody's girl/ they say, here she comes, here she comes, here comes everybody's girl), the jam blues punch of "Red Hot & Blue Love" and the sinister but sexy "Inside Silvia." A great pick up and a great remaster.

ELLEN FOLEY - Night Out (Cleveland International; 1979)
A lost treasure that I was really hoping to fall madly in love with - Ellen Foley was the voice heard (but not seen) on Meat Loaf's opus Bat Out Of Hell album, and while Karla DeVito did the actual lipsynching in the videos Ellen went on to a couple acting gigs like Night Court and the film Married To The Mob, she also hung out and either married or just slept with Steve Jones of the Clash - but it was Night Out which was her first solo album and only scoring album. At the time a few other women rockers were making their debuts including one Miss Pat Benatar who was a tad pissed to find out that Ellen also put a radiator on the cover of her album, both Night Out and Pat's In The Heat Of The Night seemed to go for the same type of mood - the ethereal, moody, sexy and sisnister inner city. Pat's If You Think You Know How To Love Me, In The Heat Of The Night, Heartbreaker, all had that feel, as did the cover of her album but Ellen, well not so much. Sure the ideas are there - the title cut is exactly that mood and "Young Lust" and a version of "Stupid Girl" has the idea patented in their rocking form but the problem is the songs just aren't as catchy as they could be. The single "What's A Matter Baby" is an exception with its nod to 60s girl pop with Ellen's independant late 70s bitchiness and the arrangement ready for the 80s - a theme addressed also in "Sad Song" which is a song Rachel Sweet also did the same year - but some of the others just fall flat and it's not Ellen's fault - her voice is strong and proud - anyone familiar with the Meat Loaf album knows that, but something was lacking. The opus opener "We Belong To The Night" is powerful but even with its wall of sound, I don't think the lyrics are very strong. It's really too bad too cuz I wanted to love this one so much and every once in awhile I pull it out again just to see if there's something I'm missing and even if I don't find the brilliance I've been informed is there, it's still a nice nod to the female rocker phenomen that was bearing its stiletto in 1979.

Le TIGRE - This Island (Universal; 2004)
This album causes quite a bit of a stir with die hard Le Tigre fans who thought Le Tigre had lost their feminist edge and thought the production was too glossy. Miss Hannah has said the reason the sound was the way it was on earlier albums is because they didn't have the equipment to gloss up thier songs, believe me, I know how that feels. Still, the first Le Tigre albums are brilliant but for me, this one is just as good. In fact, this is the one that gets the most play - call me a glossy production whore I guess but I like it. I think This Island still has the power and punch that make Le Tigre who they are "TKO" rocks, and every time I hear it, I just get up and punch the Leivas - just kidding, but I do get up and jam. A crazy and very inspired cover of the Pointer Sister's "I'm So Excited" works well right along with the sometimes witty, sometimes bitchy themes the band has to offer. I can't believe this album is 2 years old, but I can tell you it still gets plenty of rotation on the Bubbatunes burners.

CARLY SIMON - Anticipation (Elektra; 1971)
By now I know you are probably getting tired of me reviewing albums by the same artists, but when I get on a kick, I'm on a kick damn it! My Carly Simon kick was withering away when I stumbled upon this gem at Amoeba for only $6. I love "Anticipation" and "Legend In Your Own Time" - the singles from this album. I think they are brilliant - presented in an acoustic style with the guitars and rad drums in the foreground. I had read that Carly went to London to record this, her second album, with a live band and put it together exactly as she had envisioned it. So I thought I'd really get into it. Slowly, but surely I'm making my way through this. Carly has always kind of confused me, I'm either not as poetic or as educated as Miss S, or she is just in her own world - I love the two singles, then I love "The Girl You Think You See" but in the song I can't figure out if she's being sarcastic declaring she can be whatever or anybody her lover wants her to be just "to please you," but does she really mean it or is she just saying that to show what a moron you are not to love what you have in front of you? She's shock full of contradictions I think, but that makes it all the more appealing, if what you are listening to are different aspects of her life, is it wrong for her to have a moment of vulnerability and compromise to her, who hasn't offered to change for someone? Okay, I haven't but that explains why I have my first long term boyfriend - ever. Also on the album is an opus of a ditty called "Share The End" about a group of people getting together to celebrate the end of the world - I love the concept and the lyrics. Anticipation, like a lot of Carly's albums is made up of mostly acoustic ballads songs of self awareness and love, but with her very sincere delivery and the "live" feel of the whole album I think with repeated listens I'll end up really loving it. But I'll keep you posted, I'm sure you're on the edge of your barcelounger....

posted by swivek @ 10:47 AM