PHOEBE BRIDGERS
PUNISHER
2020 – DEAD OCEANS
Produced By TONY BERG, ETHAN GRUSKA & PHOEBE BRIDGERS
1. DVD Menu / Garden Song
2. Kyoto
3. Punisher
4. Halloween
5. Chinese Satellite
6. Moon Song
7. Savior Complex
8. ICU
9. Graceland Too
10. I Know The End
American singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers has built a career out of collaborating with seemingly everyone. Those collaborations have, in turn, worked in her favor with many of those artists contributing to her work. And even though her solo work has been sparse, it’s quite notable. Bridgers is a pretty great songwriter who tends towards the sad end of the spectrum. Her first album, Stranger In The Alps (2017) came from nowhere and was a highly acclaimed arrival. Punisher came out in 2020, and was even better. The sadness in her writing remains, but this time her many friends contribute more to her sound. At least on some of the songs. It’s a somewhat misunderstood release, because of the few moments where it’s upbeat…it’s important to note that down and sad is who Bridgers is, and it’s where her music is going to go.
“Kyoto” is a top notch hit. It’s upbeat (despite the lyrics), and shows that she can make music that moves. Many have complained that her music is depressing, but that’s who she is. Her main influence is Elliott Smith, who was about as sad as they come. The guests here range from her bandmates in Boygenius, along with Conor Oberst, Christian Lee Hutson, and even the legendary drummer Jim Keltner. Most of these tracks are layered in emotion, with Bridger’s voice as a guide to her sadness. But ultimately, it’s her songwriting that carries Punisher. “Garden Song” is excellent, as is the closer “I Know The End”. This isn’t music to dance to, which really is okay. Her emotions are genuine, and the feel of this album is that of an artist who has already fully arrived. It’s a perfect and beautiful record, and works as a pandemic soundtrack reminder for those of us who were trapped inside alone. Magnificent album.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
PHOEBE BRIDGERS
PUNISHER
2020 – DEAD OCEANS
Produced By TONY BERG, ETHAN GRUSKA & PHOEBE BRIDGERS
1. DVD Menu / Garden Song
2. Kyoto
3. Punisher
4. Halloween
5. Chinese Satellite
6. Moon Song
7. Savior Complex
8. ICU
9. Graceland Too
10. I Know The End
American singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers has built a career out of collaborating with seemingly everyone. Those collaborations have, in turn, worked in her favor with many of those artists contributing to her work. And even though her solo work has been sparse, it’s quite notable. Bridgers is a pretty great songwriter who tends towards the sad end of the spectrum. Her first album, Stranger In The Alps (2017) came from nowhere and was a highly acclaimed arrival. Punisher came out in 2020, and was even better. The sadness in her writing remains, but this time her many friends contribute more to her sound. At least on some of the songs. It’s a somewhat misunderstood release, because of the few moments where it’s upbeat…it’s important to note that down and sad is who Bridgers is, and it’s where her music is going to go.
“Kyoto” is a top notch hit. It’s upbeat (despite the lyrics), and shows that she can make music that moves. Many have complained that her music is depressing, but that’s who she is. Her main influence is Elliott Smith, who was about as sad as they come. The guests here range from her bandmates in Boygenius, along with Conor Oberst, Christian Lee Hutson, and even the legendary drummer Jim Keltner. Most of these tracks are layered in emotion, with Bridger’s voice as a guide to her sadness. But ultimately, it’s her songwriting that carries Punisher. “Garden Song” is excellent, as is the closer “I Know The End”. This isn’t music to dance to, which really is okay. Her emotions are genuine, and the feel of this album is that of an artist who has already fully arrived. It’s a perfect and beautiful record, and works as a pandemic soundtrack reminder for those of us who were trapped inside alone. Magnificent album.
NEIL YOUNG
HARVEST MOON
1992 – REPRISE
Produced By NEIL YOUNG & BEN KEITH
1. Unknown Legend
2. From Hank To Hendrix
3. You And Me
4. Harvest Moon
5. War Of Man
6. One Of These Days
7. Such A Woman
8. Old King
9. Dreamin’ Man
10. Natural Beauty (Live)
In 1992, Neil Young was coming off of a series of loud rock albums, which followed a decade (the eighties) of strange experimentation. He was right in the middle of being embraced by the grunge crowd. And then, he fooled us all by dropping the mellow and country-tinged Harvest Moon. Seen as a sequel to his 1972 album Harvest, Neil brought back that same band (The Stray Gators), recorded on analog equipment (as Harvest had been), and came out with an album that marked the completion of his return from the strange road that had produced things like Trans and “This Note’s For You”. The album became his first platinum effort since the end of the seventies, and just like that, Neil Young was all the way back. An acoustic album? Neil has always followed where his songs take him, and this is where he ended up in ‘92.
The centerpiece is the gorgeous title track, written for his wife. It’s one of his very best songs, and having Linda Ronstadt sing it with him did not hurt at all. “From Hank To Hendrix” is the opposite, about a relationship that did not last. Many of the songs are reworked from fragments, some of which date back to the 60’s and 70’s. Not everything works, unfortunately (like “Old King”, a pretty cringy song about a dog), and there’s a notable drop off on the second half from the first. But getting help from Ronstadt, Nicolette Larson and James Taylor doesn’t hurt, and the better songs keep this album from slipping away. Neil always seems to have enough fine moments to keep a record afloat, and this is no exception. After this, he went back to working with Crazy Horse and released Sleeps With Angels in 1994. Also of note: the 2009 album Dreamin’ Man Live ’92 is a solo acoustic performance of the entire Harvest Moon album.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
NEIL YOUNG
HARVEST MOON
1992 – REPRISE
Produced By NEIL YOUNG & BEN KEITH
1. Unknown Legend
2. From Hank To Hendrix
3. You And Me
4. Harvest Moon
5. War Of Man
6. One Of These Days
7. Such A Woman
8. Old King
9. Dreamin’ Man
10. Natural Beauty (Live)
In 1992, Neil Young was coming off of a series of loud rock albums, which followed a decade (the eighties) of strange experimentation. He was right in the middle of being embraced by the grunge crowd. And then, he fooled us all by dropping the mellow and country-tinged Harvest Moon. Seen as a sequel to his 1972 album Harvest, Neil brought back that same band (The Stray Gators), recorded on analog equipment (as Harvest had been), and came out with an album that marked the completion of his return from the strange road that had produced things like Trans and “This Note’s For You”. The album became his first platinum effort since the end of the seventies, and just like that, Neil Young was all the way back. An acoustic album? Neil has always followed where his songs take him, and this is where he ended up in ‘92.
The centerpiece is the gorgeous title track, written for his wife. It’s one of his very best songs, and having Linda Ronstadt sing it with him did not hurt at all. “From Hank To Hendrix” is the opposite, about a relationship that did not last. Many of the songs are reworked from fragments, some of which date back to the 60’s and 70’s. Not everything works, unfortunately (like “Old King”, a pretty cringy song about a dog), and there’s a notable drop off on the second half from the first. But getting help from Ronstadt, Nicolette Larson and James Taylor doesn’t hurt, and the better songs keep this album from slipping away. Neil always seems to have enough fine moments to keep a record afloat, and this is no exception. After this, he went back to working with Crazy Horse and released Sleeps With Angels in 1994. Also of note: the 2009 album Dreamin’ Man Live ’92 is a solo acoustic performance of the entire Harvest Moon album.
SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS
PERENNIAL FAVORITES
1998 – MAMMOTH
Produced By MIKE NAPOLITANO & SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS
1. Suits Are Picking Up The Bill
2. Low Down Man
3. Ghost Of Stephen Foster
4. Pallin’ With Al
5. Fat Cat Keeps Getting Fatter
6. Trou Macacq
7. My Drag
8. Soon
9. Evening At Lafitte’s
10. The Kraken
11. That Fascinating Thing
12. It’s Over
Squirrel Nut Zippers are most definitely a one-hit wonder. The song was “Hell”, from their 1996 album Hot. Perennial Favorites is the follow up to that album. Released in 1998, this album came at the tail end of the 90’s swing revival. The Zippers were led by the husband and wife team of Jimbo Mathus and Katharine Whalen, with notable contributions from Andrew Bird. But swing was fading, and this album didn’t have anything on it that was going to save it. In other words…this band just didn’t have another “Hell” in them. They gave it a ride, though. They did release five albums (including a Christmas disc) between 1995 and 2000, but they were never able to rise above their counterparts like Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, and Royal Crown Revue. It was, after all, just a fad.
Perennial Favorites does have its moments. Their dedication to the sound of the 1930’s is cool, and they had some pretty eclectic influences. “Suits Are Picking Up The Bill” and “Ghost Of Stephen Foster” are terrific, but things slip a bit after that. The upbeat material is better, and the songs not sung by Whalen are as well. And the playing is, as always, top notch. But there just aren’t enough really good songs to keep this kind of music from sinking into obscurity. The next album, Bedlam Ballroom, had no audience left, and the band quietly split up when Mathus and Whalen did. There have been a couple of reunions, and a couple of albums, but the day in the sun of the Squirrel Nut Zippers had long passed. Today, they’re most notable for that one hit song, and for having helped to launch the career of Bird, who is far more interesting than this band.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
MARK MORRISON
RETURN OF THE MACK
1996 – ATLANTIC
Produced By MARK MORRISON, PHIL CHILL, CUTFATHER, JOE, & BROCKPOCKET FOR CBL
1. Crazy (D-Influence Mix)
2. Let’s Get Down
3. Get High With Me
4. Moan And Groan
5. Return Of The Mack
6. I Like
7. Trippin’
8. Horny
9. Tears For You
10. Candy
11. Return Of The Mack (Da Beatminerz Remix)
12. Crazy
Mark Morrison came out of the gate like a ready-made superstar. His debut album, Return Of The Mack, was on the UK charts for 38 weeks. It had five UK top ten singles, and led to success in the US as well. The title track single reached #2, and stayed on the American charts for 41 weeks. And that, my friends, is where the rise of Mark Morrison ended. Since his 1996 debut as a star, he’s been falling through the cracks ever since. He’s never been close to another American hit. He had one more UK top 20 hit, in 1997. He has released, in the last 30 years, just one more album. That was the several times delayed Innocent Man in 2006, and it sank without anyone noticing. Oh…and Mark Morrison has been to jail. Many times. He can’t seem to keep his career on track, and he can’t stay out of trouble. This is a guy who should be filed under “what a waste”.
There was a lot of promise in Return Of The Mack. Morrison’s brand of 90’s R&B was infectious, and there was a lot of hope for the future. The title track was an international mega hit, and his successful UK singles seemed to signal that we’d be hearing a lot more from this man. “Moan And Groan”, “Let’s Get Down”, “Horny”, “Trippin’” and “Crazy (Remix)” lit up the British airwaves. The album wasn’t perfect. It had some good songs, but the production was not top notch, and the lesser tracks were a lot lesser. And when he started getting arrested on a regular basis, the fans lost interest. Morrison became one of the many “remember that guy who did that one song?” artists who fail to make the most of their chances. Return Of The Mack is an almost forgotten record. It’s not bad, but it’s simply too average to be very memorable.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
DAVID BOWIE
BLACKSTAR
2016 – COLUMBIA / ISO
Produced By DAVID BOWIE & TONY VISCONTI
1. Blackstar
2. Tis A Pity She Was A Whore
3. Lazarus
4. Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime)
5. Girl Loves Me
6. Dollar Days
7. I Can’t Give Everything Away
…and had to seriously remind myself that i just don’t know artists and music the way i’d like to believe i do. take david bowie. for many years i felt sorry for him. i believed with all of my heart that he had lost his way, and that his songwriting skills had diminished. i thought he had been floating out there mourning his muse and making lesser albums. what i didn’t get was that bowie never lost a step. he hadn’t lost his ability to create hit songs, he had simply outgrown it. bowie wasn’t suffering, he was thriving. all the way to the end, he soared through life with his eyes wide open and took advantage of every creative opportunity that came his way. it was never just his persona that evolved…bowie was always moving forward, without fear, in every aspect of his creative life, which was one of the fullest any of us has ever seen.
blackstar is a masterpiece, and i will die on that hill. as he knew he was dying, he still reached beyond what was safe and warm and created a document not of an end, but of a new beginning. he had the vision to make a rock album played by jazz musicians, recorded while listening to the likes of kendrick lamar and d’angelo and boards of canada. every song is here for a reason. every minute is important. bowie hated wasting time, and he does none of that here. every song is loaded with purpose, beauty, is forward thinking, and magnificent. he recorded this album in secret, knowing he was dying, and yet there is no self-pity here, no fear, no regret, and while the theme is death, no crying out for more time. bowie was always forward thinking, a true artist to the end, and he believed that life goes on after this one ends. blackstar is simply a beautiful and perfect way to say goodbye.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
DAVID BYRNE & FATBOY SLIM
HERE LIES LOVE
2010 – NONESUCH
Produced By DAVID BYRNE, FATBOY SLIM, THOMAS GANDEY, PATRICK DILLETT & LOS AMIGOS INVISIBLES
1. Here Lies Love
2. Every Drop Of Rain
3. You’ll Be Taken Care Of
4. The Rose Of Tacloban
5. How Are You?
6. A Perfect Hand
7. Eleven Days
8. When She Passed By
9. Walk Like A Woman
10. Don’t You Agree?
11. Pretty Face
12. Ladies In Blue
1. Dancing Together
2. Men Will Do Anything
3. The Whole Man
4. Never So Big
5. Please Don’t
6. American Troglodyte
7. Solano Avenue
8. Order 1081
9. Seven Years
10. Why Don’t You Love Me?
David Byrne has been involved in some strange musical projects, and this is most certainly near the top of that list. The cover photo of Here Lies Love is of former First Lady of the Philippines (and the mother of that country’s current President), Imelda Marcos. The one who had all the shoes. The album is about Imelda and the woman who raised her (Estrella Cumpas), and her life up to the Marcos’ exile in 1986. It was then turned into a stage show that has had some success off Broadway. The album includes guest vocals on each song, all female except for one each by Byrne and Steve Earle. Here lies love is what Imelda has requested to be on her tombstone. She’s actually still alive as of this writing: at age 96, she’s back in the Philippines, with her son as President and her grandson serving as a provincial governor.
Ah, but the album. Byrne is very present. He plays on nearly every track, and wrote and co-produced the entire album. The work of Fatboy Slim is less obvious: he produced part of the album and plays on a few tracks. It’s mainly a Byrne project. The songs vary in quality, and the performances are either very interesting or very skippable. The best work is by Cyndi Lauper, who carries “Eleven Days” and joins Tori Amos on “Why Don’t You Love Me?”. This album is strangely comprised of dance music, meaning that you’re being presented this story of Imelda in a nightclub with flashing lights and disco balls. Singers like Natalie Merchant, Sia, Kate Pierson and Florence Welch make this interesting, but ultimately, twenty two songs about a greedy dictator’s wife doesn’t really make for the best album experience. Kudos for trying something different. But in the end, it simply doesn’t work that well.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
ROGER WATERS
THE WALL: LIVE IN BERLIN
1990 – MERCURY
Produced By ROGER WATERS & NICK GRIFFITHS
1. In The Flesh?
2. The Thin Ice
3. Another Brick In The Wall (Part 1)
4. The Happiest Days Of Our Lives
5. Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)
6. Mother
7. Goodbye Blue Sky
8. Empty Spaces
9. Young Lust
10. One Of My Turns
11. Don’t Leave Me Now
12. Another Brick In The Wall (Part 3)
13. Goodbye Cruel World
1. Hey You
2. Is There Anybody Out There?
3. Nobody Home
4. Vera
5. Bring The Boys Back Home
6. Comfortably Numb
7. In The Flesh
8. Run Like Hell
9. Waiting For The Worms
10. Stop
11. Trial
12. Tide Is Turning (After Live Aid)
Roger Waters had refused to perform The Wall after he departed Pink Floyd, at one point saying he would consider doing so if the Berlin Wall ever came down. Well, the wall did indeed come down, and so Waters put together this performance as a benefit concert on the site of part of the old wall. Instead of playing it straight, Waters chose to make it a stage production with lots of guest musicians. The results are predictable: the band is fine. The songs are, of course, fine. The vocal performances are iffy, for the most part. There’s an orchestra, a choir (more than one), plus Scorpions, The Hooters, and what was left of The Band. There are actors (Albert Finney and Tim Curry). Plus everyone from Joni Mitchell to Van Morrison to Cyndi Lauper. It’s all more than a little unsettling trying to figure out who is doing what.
There are also stretches in The Wall where things get a bit…snoozy. In particular, the stretch between “Is There Anybody Out There?” and “Bring The Boys Back Home” could be marketed as a cure for insomnia. Maybe if you were there, this could have been quite an experience. And by far…the video version of this show is a LOT better. But in an audio only world, there’s not much of a point to this. At least the studio version has all of the songs, AND you get David Gilmour on guitar instead of…everybody else. And on top of it all, Waters himself sound mostly bored. The album end with a version of “The Tide Is Turning (After Live Aid)”, a song from Waters’ album Radio K.A.O.S., which because it’s the finale, has EVERYONE back out on stage to sing it. Not really worthwhile without the visual, and the studio album is still far superior.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
FRANK SINATRA
SINATRA AT THE SANDS
1966 – REPRISE
Produced By SONNY BURKE
1. Come Fly With Me
2. I’ve Got A Crush On You
3. I’ve Got You Under My Skin
4. The Shadow Of Your Smile
5. Street Of Dreams
6. One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)
7. Fly Me To The Moon
8. One O’Clock Jump
9. The Tea Break
10. You Make Me Feel So Young
11. All Of Me
12. The September Of My Years
13. Get Me To The Church On Time
14. It Was A Very Good Year
15. Don’t Worry ‘Bout Me
16. Makin’ Whoopee
17. Where Or When
18. Angel Eyes
19. My Kind Of Town
20. A Few Last Words
21. My Kind Of Town (Reprise)
Frank Sinatra was Elvis before Elvis, The Beatles before The Beatles. He was THE original teen idol, the original superstar. In 1966, he had been releasing albums for twenty years. Sinatra At The Sands was his first live album. And where else would you want to hear Frank live, but in Las Vegas? This is it, baby. This is how and when Sinatra’s career was at its most fun, and where he was the most at home. Not only that, but he had Count Basie & His Orchestra with him, all arranged and conducted by Quincy Jones. As for the venue? The Copa at The Sands was one of the greatest rooms in Vegas. Sinatra and the Sands were always thought of together. Turns out, Sinatra outlived the hotel, casino and venue by two years: it was demolished in 1996. But the memories of that place were captured quite well on this historic album.
So many of Sinatra’s standards are included here. “Fly Me To The Moon”. “It Was A Very Good Year”. “My Kind Of Town”. Not everything is perfect, but you can’t help but walk away from this album thinking what a night that must have been. And at the center of it all…”The Tea Break” is several minutes of just Frank. No band, just the man and a microphone, dishing out an almost twelve minute monologue about Dean, Sammy, and mostly taking comedic shots at himself. The monologue serves as a strange break between sets, a look at Ol’ Blue Eyes that we rarely get to see. Live albums in 1966 weren’t the norm yet, and there are plenty of moments that probably sounded better than they appear on record, but don’t discount Sinatra At The Sands. This is an underappreciated slice of pop history, and one that should absolutely be heard.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
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