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.