06
Jun
2007
An
unscientific survey of River
Cities' Reader employees
revealed that many people have never heard of Richard Thompson.
The lack of recognition is not exactly a surprise, because Thompson has never been able to parlay intense respect into sales. But he is an important artist, and one who has no difficulty bridging the gap between folk music and hard-edged rock. He also has a fantastic sense of humor, a rarity among "serious" artists.
So allow me to introduce him.
When
I put the album from the electronic duo EOTO in a CD player at work,
my office mate Mike Schulz asked - after about five seconds of
music - "You're not watching porn, are you?"
You'd
never know it by listening to him, but every time Chris Botti picks
up his instrument, he's wrestling with it.
Most
everybody knows that Blur song
as "Woo Hoo," even though its proper title is "Song 2."
Neither is particularly meaningful.
A
country-music performer's decision to move to Nashville is
typically the product of a dream. For Suzy Bogguss, it was eminently
practical.
The
concept of record-label samplers is to introduce a listener to the sound
and artists that a label offers. But too often, these compilations
are nothing more than a hodge-podge of material tied together by a
company name: Either everything sounds the same, making it difficult
to tell one artist from the next, or the compilation is so disparate
that it's impossible to settle in and sit through all of the songs.
Returning
with its most pop-friendly album to date, The Marlboro Chorus knocks
out nine rock-and-roll numbers on American
Dreamers. Drawing influence
from Buddy Holly, Pink Floyd, and Bill Haley, American
Dreamers sees The Marlboro
Chorus putting aside art rock in favor of a straightforward album
complete with guitar solos, magnificently simple lyrics, and a raw
sound. From the black-and-white cover to the title of the record
itself, American Dreamers
feels so easy, but it was a long time coming.
Singer-songwriter
Carrie Newcomer tells about a friend who leads a group of people who
knit for the local food bank. They'll set up somewhere and knit
with a sign that reads, "Knitting for the Food Bank."
