Considerations: "After Awhile" by Jimmie Dale Gilmore

I bought Jimmie Dale Gilmore's "After Awhile" back when it first came out, in 1991, and keep going back to it.

At the time, I was just sorta getting into the various albums by musicians who had been in the Lubbock mob known as the Flatlanders. Had purchased Joe Ely's "Live from Liberty Lunch" with its great rollicking acoustic version of "Me and Billy the Kid" in college and had seen Joe open for Little Feat some time that year. He was larger-than-life on stage, a Texas gunslinger who had to make do with a guitar. So when I heard he had a bunch of confreres, and that Elektra was issuing a bunch of "American Explorer" roots albums featuring mavericks such as Charlie Feathers and Jimmie Dale, I immediately picked it up.

What a great album - from a new version of the meditative Austin classics, "Tonight I Think I'm Gonna Go Downtown" and "Treat Me Like A Saturday Night" to a cover of Butch Hancock's wordy "My Mind's Got A Mind Of Its Own" to the Western-swing stylings of "Go To Sleep Alone" and the lovely "Story Of You" and "Don't Be A Stranger To Your Heart," this is just song for song, a beautfiul album.

Where Ely utilizes a crack rock band to spin yarns of Western desperadoes, and fellow Flatlander Butch Hancock relies heavily on Dylanesqe wordplay, Gilmore tells simple contemplative tales in a high lonesome voice that helps carry the day. Like Guy Clark, Gilmore is not a prolific writer, but you can tell that just like Guy, Gilmore seems to really hone his lyrics making sure that each word counts. He has put out lots of other discs, but "After Awhile," I'd suggest, feature more of Gilmore's own writing, rather than depending more on covers of songs by contemporaries or classics. It's well worth seeking out.

Melody Where There Is None

I'm getting more and more into a group known as the Heartless Bastards (not to be confused with the two guys who back up James McMurtry and who are known by the same touchy-feely sobriquet).

Power trio with a female singer-songwriter at the helm and who blast out guitar riffs carved from stone - in other words, they seem to create something melodic out of guitar blasts and drum beats. No backup vocals, no annoying synths (although there is some piano once in a while). Even singer Erika Wennerstrom yelps it out with the best of them, rather than going the Sheryl Crow doo-da-doo-da-how-dya-like-our-catchy-chorus route. Not sure how much the band can evolve from its premise, but the White Stripes seem to be doing just fine with a lot less at their center. I'll be curious to hear more from these Bastards (as well as McMurtry's).

A Creaky Classic

Greg Brown's pipes aren't the most melifluous. Put him in a boxing ring with Leonard Cohen and they could have a croak-off. But a chance spin of Brown's "'Cept You and Me Babe" on the radio reminded me of how much I always liked this tune.

The lyrics paint a tough picture: "it's raining sheets of rain / everything is cold and wet /nobody's going out of doors / they're all at home living it up on the internet /so i guess nobody's lonely any more /'cept you and me babe / 'cept you and me." It's the last couplet that blows the whole thing up.

Add to the stew Brown's deep, rumbling voice, which reminds me of (as noted) Leonard Cohen holding forth on the misery of life on songs like "Everybody Knows," and the effect is pretty devastating.

Let's just say "Cept You And Me" is not a tune to load into the iPod for a workout at the gym.

How'd I Miss This?

Didja ever buy an album, give it a few listens, just say "Ehhh!" and then put the thing aside. Well, I did that with a disc from one of my perennial favorites, and I guess I must've made a mistake.

When Tom Petty released "Echo" in 1999, I had grown less enchanted with the band. They had gotten a new drummer, had ridden off the rails with a disc produced by Jeff Lynne and come up with an oddball soundtrack album. So I was probably a little biased when "Echo" came out and I didn't like a few of the songs and that was it.

Upon recent listens, however, I've really come to love some of the defiant, underdog-gets-revenge scenarios on these tunes. Petty has always been able to express a little raised-middle-finger attitude in nearly everything he does, from "I Won't Back Down" to "Refugee" to "You Got Lucky." Well, just take a listen to "Billy The Kid," Swingin'" or "Counting On You" for more not-so-subtle rebellion. But this time it's tinged with the knowledge that the narrator is taking a pretty hard fall.

Word is Petty wrote this songs for this disc after his divorce from Jane, his longstanding wife (who had been with him even before he made it big). You can definitely hear it in many of the tunes, such as "Counting On You" (Cuz there's a rumor going 'round / Somebody's gonna let me down / And I don't know what it's all about / Or if it's true / I'm counting on you). I mean, that's pretty rough stuff, to be telling your girlfriend or whoever that you know it's her who's about to put the knife in your back.

Or the phrase "Oh, mama I'm about to give out /I'm Davey Crockett in a coonskin town" from "About To Give Out." How can you be the hero when everyone is gunning for what's on your head?

There are some missteps here - guitarist Mike Campbell shows us why he's never sung lead vocal before on a Heartbreakers disc on "I Don't Want To Fight" (not the best work of Campbell, who helped write Don Henley's "Boys of Summer."

I think it's fair to say the direction of the Heartbreakers has been uncertain in recent years - why are Petty's solo albums always more interesting affairs? Why is his next disc going tobe with his old Gainesville band Mudcrutch? But there's also proof that you can't write the band off -ever. Now I have to go and dust off "The Last DJ."

Mix Tape: "Sweet Virginia" by The Rolling Stones

When you ask someone what their fave Stones song is, chances are you get "Sympathy for the Devil," "Satisfaction" or "Harlem Shuffle" (just kidding on that last one, folks!). My favorite has to be "Gimme Shelter" or "Wild Horses," but coming up fast behind is "Sweet Virginia."

Nestled smack dab in the middle of the band's playing-with-a-hangover (and worse) classic, "Exile on Main Street," Sweet Virginia grabs you quite unexpectedly. It's not as greasy as the rest of the album ("Rocks Off," et. al.) With a quiet start, a harmonica honk and a few guitar strums, it sounds like a breezy paean to one of Mick Jagger's many conquests. Instead, it morphs into a stunning country-blues that picks up speed the more the group and its backup singers repeat the chorus (this song doesn't have that many words to it)

After Mick thanks California for all the wine he has drunk that came from there, and noting the "speed inside my shoe," he moves on to advise young Virginia to follow along "Come on/ Come on down...." and to "scrape the shit right off your shoes...."

I always liked the song cause it quietly urges you to - no matter how strung out or down you may be - to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep on slumping forward. Hey, what more can you try to do when life kicks you a hard one?

I Dream Of Wilco

Had the oddest dream last night, in which the final scene to some imaginary version of one of the Bourne movies began to roll. Matt Damon has completed his mission, saving the world in the process, and unknown figures begin rolling him out in a wheelchair. Dunno why.

In any case, he starts belting out a recent but little-known song from Wilco called "The Thanks I Get". (The first line goes, "Is that the thanks I get/ For loving you?") This is not a song that made it on to the band's most recent album. I only know it as the background to a recent Volkswagen ad and as a download from iTunes (which Ive listened to in full twice). Odd that it has already creeped into my consciousness - though I do have to admit, it sure is a catchy song (despite the fact that the quality of the lyrics sorta fade halfway in...)

Eagles Don't Soar

Thanks to my friend Tom, I have secured a disc containing many of the songs from the Eagles' new disc, and I have to say: Ehhhh.

Too overproduced, not sharp enough in lyrics or melodies. At least that's my initial take from about three listens. Even the Joe Walsh track lacks the guitar-slinger's trademark "can you believe I have to suffer the indignities of being a rock star" type humor.

The Eagles were always a little too meticulous for my taste, but these days the air has just been snatched out of the room in favor of songs that sound just a little too perfect (at least in terms of production). The one song stuck in my head is "Too Busy Being Fabulous," a Don Henley-put down of someone who scotches the relationship in favor of seeking the limelight. It's sort of a middle-aged "Life in the Fast Lane" with some romantic yearning baked in. But it's nowhere near the level of that aforementioned song.

Anyone could have written these songs. Which is why the various members of the Eagles would have been better off keepin' on their sporadic solo work.

Soul Patrol

Don't know why this keeps happening, but I find myself downloading lots more soul than is the norm. Not because I don't like it, but prolly because you can hear any hit soul or R&B song you want on the radio or on the Muzak in a restaurant if you wait long enough.

In any case, my latest two purchases are Bobby Womack's "Across 110th Street" and Arthur Conley's "Sweet Soul Music." I recently heard the former during a viewing of "American Gangster" - not the first movie to make use of this tune (check out "Jackie Brown," too). It's a wonderful tale of striving and struggling, all set to spoken work, a few strings and then a great chorus that might do as much for you as "Gotta Fly Now," the theme from "Rocky" - if that sort of thing gets you jazzed up.

As for Arthur Conley? He's basically a one-hit wonder and some folks may confuse this hall-of-fame call-out (he name-checks Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett, among others) for Wicked Pickett's "Land of 1000 Dances" - it's just that kind of a novelty. But I've long enjoyed it, and you only hear it once in a blue moon. So that's a good a reason as any to have it on hand.

Mix Tape: Neil Young's Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

A long time favorite of mine has been one of the lesser known tunes on Neil Young's first Crazy Horse disc, "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" -it's the succinct title track, which, for some odd reason, is less well known than the ten-plus minute workout "Cowgirl In The Sand," also on this album.

I've always loved the title track for its hybrid punk/country feeling and its bordering-on-the-metaphysical lyrics:
' I think I'd like to go back home/ And take it easyThere's a woman that I'd like to get to know /Living there...'

As it turns out, however, the narrator really doesn't yearn to be somewhere else (or at least, this is my interpretation of the whole thing). He's really trying to get himself out of a rut, and imagining better days is his way out of it. So when he sings "Everybody seems to wonder /What it's like down here / I gotta get away from this day-to-day running around /Everybody knows this is nowhere...." I think he's just saying that even his life is nothing great and he gets down, too. So his head is not as great a place to be as some might think.

Despite the could-be-depressing lyrics, "Everybody" has a great crunchy guitar sound and enough country twang to keep the cowpunk fans satisifed. I always wished Jason and the Scorchers had covered this one.....It ought to get more credit among the Neil Young die-hards....

Knock Me Over, Rilo Kiley

I used to be a lot better at spotting up and coming bands, as my friends who know I was into Wilco before most people were can tell you. So I'm a little upset at myself for not knowing more about Rilo Kiley until last year.

I've heard a lot about them, my friends told me about them, yadda yadda yadda. So the first thing I do is go out and buy the solo album by their lead singer, Jenny Lewis - which is not the same thing as Rilo Kiley at all.

Anyhoo, I'm entranced by "Silver Lining," the lead-off song on the band's latest disc, "Under The Blacklight" (not a bad song either). A little poppy, really catchy, ought to be a bigger hit, but their songs are a little too subversive for mainstream taste. Or at least that's my take. Though I hear the current album is a little too well-produced compared to their older stuff. That's a problem the White Stripes don't have, but I'm pretty interested in hearing more

Morrison by Petty

I just got hold of this four-disc Tom Petty package - a two-disc documentary, a DVD concert from the Heartbreakers' last tour and a nine-song bonus CD of rarities (if you can count another version of "Breakdown" a rarity)....one of the songs that gets a workout in the concert is "Mystic Eyes," by Van Morrison and Them.

If you had tried to connect Tom Petty to Van Morrison, I'd never have gone with it. I always sort of saw him and the Heartbreakers as a modern-day version of the Animals or the Yardbirds. But this the second time Ive heard him do a Van Morrison cover in concert; the other one, "I'm Tired, Joey Boy" is from Van's "Avalon Sunset."

These are not obvious choices for Van Morrison songs (to be sure, I do think Petty is known for covering "Gloria" as well, which would fit in better with the Animals/Yardbirds thing). So it says to me - and how would I know if this is true ,of course - that Petty may be sitting there with his headphones on listening to some pretty deep tracks on Morrison discs.

Considerations: My Morning Jacket

MMJ is a band I've always felt I should get into, but never took the time to so - until I purchased "Okonokos," the band's sprawling two-disc live album, in October, 2006, and I suspect I've listened to it twice since that time, much to my detriment.

If Buffalo Springfield and Pearl Jam married, setted down and had kids, I suspect MMJ would be the result. They offer a sort of jam-bandish brand of rockabilly and lump in some country and rock into the mix. Finally, I've found some time to listen to at least disc one of Okonokos for a while and have to say I'm impressed with the acoustic-tinged "Golden," not to mention "Off The Record," but that's a song I've loved for a long time but have heard elsewhere.

I'm still studying these guys. For what it's worth ,their appearance in Cameron Crowe's muddled film "Elizabethtown," is one of the few things to recommend about the film.

Review: Ryan Adams and the Cardinals'' "Follow The Lights"

Here's proof positive that even Ryan Adams understands that he is far too prolific. Two of the songs contained on this EP are, to my ears, BETTER than the originals contained elsewhere in this prodigious musician's tangled oeuvre (that's pretentious for "other albums")

"If I Am A Stranger" is a very nice song from Adams' Grateful Dead-ish two-fer disc, "Cold Roses." But it really gets lost in the sound of the album; it sounds of a piece with everything else Cut here live in the studio with whatever configuration of Cardinals he has these days (sort of like Steve Earle's Dukes), the song loses some of its twangier edge and instead has new life breathed into it. The band opens it up and makes it live - that's sort of abstract, but if you compare the two versions, you might see what I mean.

He does the same to "Dear John," a tune from "Jacksonville City Nights" that he penned with Norah Jones. Again, nice song, but it gets buried in the honky-tonk conceit of the work from which it spawned. The treatment it gets here adds new dimension to the tune.

I also have to recommend the band's cover of Alice in Chains' "Down In A Hole." The other songs are also nice on first listen, but those are the three that really stand out

A Li'l Bit O' Soul

Some of the most intriguing music out there has little to do with people who strum guitar chords, usually the main subject of this running musical commentary. Instead, it's coming from folks who hearken back to classic R&B.

I don't know much about Ryan Shaw, except for this great song, "Nobody," that I first heard on Music Choice and then downloaded when I was handed a parcel of free music from the Austin City Limits music festival. It's a mix of Stevie Wonder funk and Otis Redding with horns. Truly great single. I'm also interested in learning more about Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. More classic sounds that would sound right on target on any Stax-Volt single.

So much R&B these days - at least to my white-boy ears - is "smooth" - great voices played over cocktail-hour synths. It's timid and hokey. These aforementioned artists grab you by the eardrums and no doubt (I think) worth a few more listens

Review: Chrome Dreams II

After plaguing us for years with half-thought out albums, song sketches and general oddballness, Neil Young is doing more of the same with "Chrome Dreams II," the sequel to an album that never came out. Thing is, there's more good stuff than bad with this one. I particularly enjoyed the sloppy but reassuring "Spirit Road," and the extra long horns-with-one-note-guitar-solo manifesto "Ordinary People." Y'gotta love Neil, but he's so hit and miss these days. I suppose "Chrome Dreams II" is more of the same, but there's a little bit more hit than miss. I guess I'll take it.

I long for a resurgent streak from Neil a la Bob Dylan's last three albums. But maybe we already had it when he put out "Freedom," "Ragged Glory, "Harvest Moon," "Sleeps with Angels" and his Pearl Jam team up, "Mirror Ball." Even so, at least "Chrome Dreams II" isn't "Are You Passionate" or "Broken Arrow."

Keep On Chooglin'

Saw John Fogerty in concert Friday night. This is one of those acts, like The Allman Brothers, that I have long chided myself about going to see. How much longer before folks like these are unable to tour?

Some background: I became a die-hard Creedence Clearwater Revival fan in high school. Sure, they had broken up in the early 70s and I graduated high school in 87, and it wasn't cool to like CCR like it was cool to like Yaz or Squeeze, but so what? They put out great song after great song, just timeless stuff. You could tell by the groups of people dancing in circles at the Fogerty concert. Seeing the guy who wrote the songs play them live has long been a goal, even if Fogerty and the drummer and the bass player from CCR are estranged (The fourth member of the band, Tom Fogerty, John's brother, passed away some years ago - also estranged from his brother over numerous legal issues having to do with the rights to CCR songs)

But I digress.The show seemed delayed a bit -we had to stand outside Hammerstein Ballroom for 20 minutes past the time doors were said to be opening. Turns out - as I learned from hearing two guys near the sound board talk to Bob Fogerty, John's brother and longtime manager (I think) - John had what he thought was a bad sound check, causing some delay. I also hadn't realized this was the opening night for his tour.

Anyway, he didn't come on til around 9. Things got started when they played two of his songs from the album "Blue Moon Swamp," plus an early Fogerty rarity - "Rockin' All Over The World." Fun to hear, but I knew he wouldn't be playing it in concert.

I forgot any sense of disappointment over the course of the show. A somewhat hokey start had them having Fogerty rise out of the stage in silhouette against an animated version of a swamp scene and having him sing a gospelly song from his new album with what sounded like recorded back up vocals. But after that - wham! This was ostensibly a show to promote his new disc, "Revival," but it sure sounded like a CCR concert to me - he played "Proud Mary," "Up Around the Bend," "Travelin' Band," "Fortunate Son," "Looking Out My Back Door," "Down on the Corner," "Bad Moon Rising," "Born on the Bayou," and even picked up deep cuts that I never imagined anyone would play - CCR's version of "Good Golly, Miss Molly" plus "Ramble Tamble," "Keep On Chooglin'," and "Bootleg." He also dished up a few solo songs, such as "Centerfield" and "The Old Man Down The Road."

He was in great voice and was backed by a number of good musicians, including the drummer, Kenny Aaronoff. All in all, a pretty entertaining show

Deliberations: The Eagles

Does the world need another album by the Eagles? After hearing some of the band's bungled attempts at creating new material over the years - the gimmicky"Get Over It" and the excreble "Hole In The World" - I'd have to say no. Now comes a two-disker of 20 new songs.

I ain't buyin' it.

My problem with the Eagles is this: They claim to be champions of the country-rock tradition that strings through Buffalo Springfield, the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers and Poco (dare I rope Pure Prairie League into this?). You listen for rough-hewn vocals, story-songs and slightly rustic instrumentation. But much of their stuff is as polished and produced as Steely Dan. Part o the blame, I suspect, rests on the shoulders of Don Henley, who in his solo work has seemed deathly afraid of even the slightest imperfection showing up in his performance (which is why, I think, songs like "Boys of Summer," "All She Wants To Do Is Dance," "The End of the Innocence" and "Sunset Grill" sound like they have computertized music tracks playing beneath them)

The new single, "How Long," is one of the greatest songs never written for a beer commercial or motor oil ad that ought to have been, if you ask me. For my money, fans can just listen to "Already Gone" or "Take It Easy" and get what they need. I've heard precious little else from the new album, but with such portentous song titles as "I Dreamed There Was No War" and "Frail Grasp On The Big Picture" on board, I fear for the worst.

Stop, Police!

Saw the reformed Police on Wednesday night (Halloween). Should have been a real thrill. These are songs I've been hearing forever and even remember when many of them debuted on the charts back in the late 70s and early 80s.

Oddly enough - or perhaps not so odd; these guys did break up after a relatively short tenure, after all - the band came off cold. They barely acknowledged each other, Sting didn't seem entirely thrilled to be there and the hit-heavy set list didn't strike me as terrifically inspired.

My complaints aside, their musicianship and interplay are beyond reproach, particularly on songs like "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic," "Invisible Sun" and "Walking In Your Footsteps." I can't imagine how they get up the excitement to play "Message In A Bottle," "Roxanne" or "Every Breath You Take" for the skatey-eighth time. When it came to earlier material like "Can't Stand Losing You" I thought they did an admirable job opening the songs up and trying different structures.

The jewel of the trio has to be Stewart Copeland, who always used intriguing drum and percussion patterns to make the songs. This guy just makes the band - no matter how quickly their songs hurtled from tight punky structures to ambitious works of melancholy, it was always Copeland who kept things at a decent and intriguing pace. He was never about banging it out, which is why a song like "Roxanne" - simple at the first blush - has more depth over subsequent listens.

Anyhoo, the Who should never have continued or reunited after Keith Moon passed, and Led Zep wisely hung it up after John Bonham kicked off. I'd venture to say that I'd still be interested in hearing Copeland and Andy Summers fronted by somebody else - even Don Henley. The Police without Sting could be a draw, but not the Police without Copeland.

New Colors For The White Stripes

So I've been listening to the White Stripes' latest album, "Icky Thump," and I'm wondering how much longer these guys can beat the one-trick pony act.

Don't get me wrong. I think the Stripes are fun as hell and marvel at how many variations on a simple form - loud blues-metal and pounding drums - they can devise. With this disc, however, they've used everything from bagpipes to Mexicali horns to leaven the recipe, and unless the next disc burnishes a new Jack White yen for steel guitar, I'm not sure where they go next.

One hint may be found on the new disc's second song, "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do What You're Told). Sounds like Jack's got a hankering for good 1970s-era, guilty-pleasure AM pop, a la The Raspberries, Andy Gibb and Leo Sayer. You'll find more of this on "Broken Boy Soldiers," the disc he put out with The Raconteurs. I'm telling you, it's in there

Selling Out Hurts Those Who Sell

So this is a little off topic, but here's an article I wrote looking at some of the side effects of using rock songs in ads (a topic that, for some reason, everyone wants to keep writing about even though advertisers have been using rock songs in ads for about 30 years now).

Take a look and see what you think. It's my belief that the whole trend has hit bottom. Musicians need the songs so badly they don't care about the whole "selling out" thing and advertisers need something to keep people from zapping away so much they don't mind sharing the screen with iconic rock stars and their songs.

Duets I'd Like To See

This new album combining Led Zep's Robert Plant with bluegrass/country fiddler Alison Krauss has got me thinking....could we see more of these seemingly oddball pairings (a blues howler and an Appalachian yodeler taking on the Everly Brothers?!? It's one of their new tunes)? You can be certain that NPR hounds and roots-music aficionados would like the idea. It's the same M.O. that no doubt helped fuel the recent collaboration between Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris.

I don't have any SoundScan numbers, but I'm betting that these discs go deep within a profitable and extremely enthusiastic niche of listeners. So maybe some smart record-company executive figures he can hit about 100,000 fans or something and with that in mind, plans the budget accordingly.

With that in mind, here are some pairings I'd like to see in the near future (and for whole albums, not just one shots):

*John Hiatt and Bonnie Raitt (she covered his "Thing Called Love" to great acclaim and he provided backing vocals for another song of his that she covered, "No Business")

*Neil Young and Emmylou Harris (Think "Star of Bethlehem," a wonderful Young selection -made so by her backing vocals)

*Elvis Costello and Diana Krall (it's going to happen sooner or later)

*Steve Earle and Lucinda Williams (it'd be thick with Southern accents, but it's worked before; they've got a great duet on his album, "I Feel Alright" called "You're Still Standing There." Plus. they're great songwriters - who knows what might come out of such a collaboration?)

*Bob Dylan and Joan Osborne (OK, I'm just spitballing here, but she's covered some of his songs and Lord knows he could use some backing vocals now and again)

*Van Morrison and Maria McKee

*Gary Louris and Tift Merritt

Any other suggestions?

Two Versions, One Mind

Have to confess, I've known of the Kinks tune, "Muswell Hillbilly," for years. I'm just not sure I've ever really listened to it.

My first memory of the tune comes from hearing a version of it sung by Southern Culture on the Skids, the twangy, trash-a-billy band that has made a name for itself with 50s rock stylings and songs about fried chicken and Li'l Debbie Snack Cakes. Enjoyed the song, mostly liked the album, too, but that's as far as it went.

Just this AM, I heard it on the radio - the Kinks. Now the song is stuck in my head, but I can't tell which version it is, 'cause I keep hearing Ray Davies singing the lyrics, but I also have some of SCOTS' kookier phrasing on the song rolling around in there, too.

Does this ever happen to anyone else?

Record Review: John Fogerty's "Revival"

A good album, but Fogerty could push a little more (Who the hell am I to tell the writer of "Proud Mary" and "Who'll Stop The Rain" what he ought to be doing?)

Prolific Ryan

This isn't a new concept, but conversation seems to rise about it with every new album Ryan Adams releases (there's a cover story in Paste this month): How much freaking music can this guy put out? I guess the answer is "as much as he wants." The better question is: How much should this guy put out?

Sure, Creedence and the Beatles used to jam out two albums a year back in the 60s, but the discs were only 35 or so minutes long. Ryan Adams put out three albums (!) in 2005. And now he is following a full-length release with an EP of (mostly) covers of his old tunes.

I cannot figure out the economic model for this. And let's be honest: not all of these discs really had to see the light of day. As of this writing, for example, I have yet to spin "29" more than 1.5 times. I see no reason to load up "Rock N Roll" more than once in a blue moon. Now that the hype surrounding it has dissipated, "Gold" is a mixed bag.

On the other hand, he polishes up a gem once in a while. "Heartbreaker" has some great songs on it. "Cold Roses" is emiently listenable (and proves that there is still an audience for the Grateful Dead). And "Jacksonville City Nights" has more depth to it than one might think. I'm usually willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. As long as he understands it's going to be a long while before I get around to fully digesting "Love is Hell."

In The Pipeline

So, yeah, I broke down and ordered up the new Neil Young disc. Also the new Ryan Adams EP, and some old Springsteen I had never gotten around to buying: "Tunnel of Love," "Human Touch" and "Lucky Town."

I never really got into Springsteen's work post-"Born in the USA." That was the first Bruce album I bought, as a freshman in high school, and I was totally blown away by it. My next steps were "The River" and "Born To Run." When "Tunnel of Love" came out, it was such a sonic difference (I would not get into"Nebraska," which, along with "The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle," is his top work, until college) that I simply didn't take to it. My loss. Hearing him do both "Brilliant Disguise" and "Tougher Than The Rest" in concert underscored the need for me to get the album. Plus, it's got "Spare Parts" on it. The other two discs? They have some lows, but also some songs I'd rather have as part of the collection than not.

"Why don't you just download them, idiot?" A reasonable question, but I still like having liner notes and a tangible piece of work at the ready, rather than a couple of downloaded files on a small square metal box. I'm crazy that way.

More on Neil and Ryan later.

Deliberations: Neil Young's New Disc?

So Neil Young has got a new album out, and I'm sort of on the fence about whether I ought to buy it or not. The thing with Neil is that it's either a slam-dunk work of genius or a middling affair with a few highlights. And I can't remember anything after 1994's "Sleeps With Angels" that really deserves the former description.

"Prairie Wind"? Ehhh. "Are You Passionate?" It's fun to hear him teaming up with Booker T and the MGs, but that's about it. "Living With War" and "Greendale"? Intriguing but shoddy. You have to enjoy any outing he has with the lovably sloppy Crazy Horse, but with the exception of a few singles here and there, I haven't heard an entire piece of work from him in years that I thought stood on the shoulders of such second-wind classics as "Freedom," "Ragged Glory" or "Harvest Moon."

The new disc, "Chrome Dreams II," supposedly has this massively long tune called "Ordinary People" that people say is a must-have. But you know what? I've been listening to "Down By The River," "Cowgirl in the Sand" and "Love And Only Love" for years. I've heard the Crazy Horse guitar jams...I bought that freaky live two-disc set, "Year of the Horse." I've helped this guy pay his mortgage and I want one more full-blown album classic before he lays the guitar down!

Who am I kidding? I'll buy the new disc sooner rather than later.

Reason To Believe?

Josh Ritter's new disc is giving me faith in the record industry for the first time in, oh, I can't remember. This guy has steadily put out four albums, each a step forward.

His first disc established his singer-songwriter chops and his most recent, "The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter," takes things to a whole new level. Who knew the guy had this much inventiveness and ambition? He combines horns, strings, keyboards, slamming drums and barrelhouse arrangements that evoke "Highway 61 Revisited" and "Blonde on Blonde" era Bob Dylan. I don't think Ritter would invite that comparison - I interviewed him once in 2002, and the last thing this guy seemed to carry with him was Dylan's I-know-I'm-a-genius arrogance. Every time I have seen him play, he comes dressed in a suit and quiet earnestness.

But the lyrics and arrangements on the new album belie that impression. He wants his sound to explode and doesn't care if the shrapnel hits you: "My orchestra is gigantic/ This thing could sink the Titanic / And the string section's screaming / Like horses in a barn burning up (from the song "Rumors") There are echoes of everything from Paul Simon to The Clash in these songs, but never enough to overwhelm his presence.

Most bands never make it to their fourth album. It's nice to see a guy get there at a slow but steady pace (if you call four albums in about five years steady), even as other bands and artists get hit singles and then sink back into the muck.

Soundalikes?

It it just my imagination playing tricks on me or could Lyle Lovett's "I Will Rise Up" fit perfectly on, say, "Time Loves A Hero"-era Little Feat? I'm sure no one but me cares, but just asking...

Taste Check

Just so you can get a sense of the lens I'm using on this thing, here are the top 25 songs played on my iPod as of Sunday, October 21, 2007. Frankly, I'm a little surprised, as I've got loads of Aimee Mann on there and not one of her songs is on the Top 25. And I'm a little relieved, as I have two songs by the Knack on there, and they didn't make it, either

1) "Someone To Love" - Fountains of Wayne

2) "Blues Before & After" - The Smithereens

3) "Fight Fire" - Southern Culture on the Skids

4) "Lawyers In Love" - Jackson Browne (Yeah, yeah. I'm surprised, too)

5) "Motherless Children" - Eric Clapton

6) "Lost Cause" - Beck

7) "My Back Pages" - Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Tom Petty, Roger McGuinn, George Harrison, Eric Clapton (from Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert)

8) "Bad Enough" - James McMurtry

9) "Mr. Pitiful" - Otis Redding

10) "Evening Gown" - Alejandro Escavedo (cover of an obscure solo Mick Jagger song)

11) "Two Hearts" - Bruce Springsteen

12) "Every Little Thing" - Carlene Carter

13) "Your Best Friend" - Gutterball

14) "Painting By Numbers" - James McMurtry

15) "Something Wild" - John Hiatt

16) "They're Blind" - Kelly Willis (a cover of an obscure Replacements song)

17) "Last Nite" - The Strokes (I think I like it cause it sounds like Tom Petty's "American Girl")

18) "Basket Case" - Warren Zevon (co-written with Carl Hiaaseen. If you like the mentally ill, this song will offend you)

19) "This Wheel's On Fire" - The Band

20) "I'm Looking Through You" - The Beatles

21) "Funny Little Frog" - Belle and Sebastian

22) "Redneck Friend" - Dave Alvin (cover of a Jackson Browne song. Please don't read anything into the fact that both this and "Lawyers in Love" are both in my top 25. I was always partial to Jackson's "Somebody's Baby"- which, come to think of it, ought to be on my iPod)

23) "Before They Make Me Run" -Steve Earle and the Supersuckers (cover of the Rolling Stones song, and a much better version, if you ask me. The Best Song Steve Earle Never Wrote, But Should Have)

24) "Same In Any Language" - I Nine (from the soundtrack of the oddball Cameron Crowe movie, "Elizabethtown" Not-so-great movie, interesting song)

25) "Rise Up With Fists!!!" - Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins

Everything Old Is New Again

When Robert Plant sampled bits of old Led Zep hits for his 1990 hit "Tall Cool One," it seemed like a novel way to burnish music from the past to help inform songs in the present. But it also seemed like a bit of a gimmick.

Now it sounds like everyone's jumping on this train - and riding it a lot further (some rap artists and Beck are excused from this diatribe)

Does anyone except for me remember Steve Forbert's 1979 hit "Romeo's Tune"? It was a youthful take on being in love. Now Forbert's put a new, stripped down version on his latest album, and it sounds like something completely different - a lot of the wonder and joy is gone, but age'll do that to you, I suspect. Meanwhile, Steve Earle quotes his old hit "Guitar Town" in his new song, "Tennessee Blues." You've got Joni Mitchell offering up a new version of "Big Yellow Taxi" on her new Starbucks album and Pink Floyd's Roger Waters quoting from his old work on "Hello (I Love You)," a song he contributed to a recent movie soundtrack.

So I guess the question is whether the new versions of the songs offer up some new insight or angle that the orignals did not - just like a good cover version can make you hear a song in an entirely different light (a la Jimi Hendrix's cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower" or Jason & The Scorchers' version of "Absolutely Sweet Marie" - great song, horrible video). Or is it a sign of something worse - that all the good songs and ideas are gone, and everyone is left to cobble together stuff from when they were more prolific and had more to say?

Jailhouse Tears

Another tune that's been floating thru my brain for the last few weeks is "Jailhouse Tears," a duet Lucinda Williams has been performing with everyone from David Johansen of the New York Dolls to Steve Earle. It's hard-core country, not the folksy wordsmithery that Lucinda usually turns out - and it's got profanity and drug use at its core.

Funny that she gets Steve Earle to sing it. No matter how long it's been since his drug bust, the guy still seems to have an addiction to something - whether it's getting married or just work-work-working his tail off - and I can't help but wonder what goes through his head when he has to sing something like that.

The lyrics - you can see some of them here - are a little silly, but for some reason (probably Lucinda's thick-as-molasses Southern accent) I can't seem to stop humming this song. Whether or not she ever commits it to disc, given her current predilection for lustful internal monologues over character studies, is anyone's guess.

Rethinking Springsteen

I admit it. I hated "The Rising," and at first listen, I didn't think much of Bruce's new disc, "Magic," either. In recent years, he has spent too much time observing life and not enough living it and reporting back on it to us - a la earlier songs like "Spirit In The Night" or "Jungleland" I want more Magic Rat and Sandy and Janey and Hazy Davey and Killer Joe, more Joe Roberts and Maria and less of the summary/analysis that has become so much a part of Bruce's latter work - i.e. "Tom Joad" or "The Rising."

I've also had a problem with his sound in recent albums, especially the ones with the E Street Band (what kind of problem can you have with an acoustic or nearly acoustic disc like "Devils & Dust"?) The band sounds like a lumbering beast. All the instruments blend into an airless morass and you can't hear Bruce's pinched guitar solos, Clarence's sax or Roy's keyboards stand out. I thought "Magic" offered more of the same.

But I just saw the guy do two shows back to back at MSG in the last two nights, and I have to say, I'm prepared to revise my decision. "Girls In Their Summer Clothes" and "Gypsy Biker" have some oomph on the new disc, but realize more of their potential in a live setting. Bruce has great showmanship and it's a natural that his performance shenanigans could get a song with so-so lyrics or less-than-imaginative instrumentation over on you. But maybe if producer Brendan O'Brien let the band breathe a little more in the studio, Springsteen could escape the constant comparisons to everything pre-"Born In The USA"