While all sorts of record labels might be inspired to release a compilation album to pat themselves on the back for a triumphant anniversary, how many record stores have the ability to do the same? As one of a handful of British independent labels that shifted the destiny of pop and experimental music, Rough Trade Records crafted a nice CD a few years back, celebrating its 25 years in Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before. Using the same twist that Elektra Records did before them, the project used current label artists to reinterpret classic songs released throughout the history of the imprint, such as The Veils covering Scritti Politti and Adam Green re-carving the Young Marble Giants. Little did I know that, like Virgin, the label started as an offshoot of a record store, which, being a little longer in the tooth, is celebrating its 30th trip around the sun.
Two new albums are due Tuesday from clean cut crooners - one young and one old - and I'm plenty scared that a handful of classic songs are up for sacrifice, or more appropriately, slaughter. Clay Aiken slips a few originals on his new A Thousand Different Ways CD from RCA, but it's the promise of Badfinger's "Without You," Foreigner's "I Want to Know What Love Is," and Mr. Mister's "Broken Wings" that has me feeling itchy. And after going metal for a brief, crazy moment a few years ago, Pat Boone is back for more next week, this time as a righteous soul daddy. Featuring songs by James Brown, Kool & the Gang, Smokey Robinson, and Sister Sledge, R & B Classics: We Are Family can be found on his own Gold Label Records imprint.
With the world gone crazy in the Middle East, what better to wash it all down than Devo? Next week Gerald Casale of Devo slides on the Roy Orbison shades and turban of his alter ego, Jihad Jerry, for a nutty, beat-crazy romp in Jihad Jerry & the Evildoers' Mine Is Not a Holy War on Cordless Records. Casale's wit shines in this first solo venture, as his war is a "war on stupidity" with a never-ending list of first-class offenders. Flanked by vocalists Geri Lynn and Alex Brown, and guests appearances from Devo bandmates Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh and Robert Casale, project drummer Josh Freese sums it up as the "best Devo record that never was." A real hip-shaker and house-rocker, I'm ready to sign up for active duty in "Army Girls Gone Wild," the Talking-Heads-meets-Heaven-17 funk of "What's in a Name?," and the frantic fury of "I've Been Refused."
Like "Amazing Grace" for hipster Baby Boomers, there's nothing like the lifting strains of Leonard Cohen's poetic "Hallelujah" to make me stop in my tracks and let its words wrap all around me, day or night. A four-star interpretation of this classic opens an amazing new debut, Melody Mountain, from Susanna & the Magical Orchestra, delicately breaking the air like stones tossed upon a still lake. Out this week on the import-only Rune Grammafon Records imprint, the CD is a haunting, candlelit affair - an alternative Norwegian Carpenters of sorts in a slow-motion underwater ballet, perfect for the next David Lynch movie. Vocalist Susanna Karolina Wallumrød and keyboard craftsman Morten Qvenild pitter and patter through 10 perfect - and perfectly incomprehensible - cover selections, including Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence," Prince's "Condition of the Heart," AC/DC's "It's a Long Way to the Top," Sandy Denny's "Fotheringay," and Paul Stanley's "Crazy Crazy Nights" from 1987's Crazy Nights album by KISS.
Avast, maties! Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski and his star, Johnny Depp, have come together to executive-produce a new high-seas project aimed at us music-loving landlubbers. Built around the notion of contemporary interpretations of the classic seafaring song, the pair shanghaied Hal Willner as the captain of this ship, resulting in this week's release of Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, & Chanteys on the Anti Records imprint. Contributions on this two-CD set include Sting, Nick Cave, Byran Ferry, Lou Reed, Bono, Richard Thompson, Loudon Wainwright III, Joseph Arthur, Stan Ridgway, Jolie Holland, Jarvis Cocker, Bill Frisell, Baby Gramps, Lucinda Williams, and - dig this - actor John C. Reilly and gonzo artist Ralph Steadman.
Two long-lost musical entities, bestowed with cult status in their eclectic corners of the rock universe, offer up all-new recordings next week - the first music either has recorded and released in more than 25 years. Australian punks had their earliest heroes in the Radio Birdman, surviving four years together in the late 1970s. After reuniting in 1996 for their homeland's Big Day Out festival, and with SubPop Records' recent "Essential" collection introducing the band to the digital generation, an American tour begins later this month in support of their new Zeno Beach CD on the Yep Roc label.
Just when I begin to think that every important album or rare out-of-print single is available somewhere in the digital mist in a glossy remastered edition or included in a fancy box set, along comes the Fresh Maggots' 1971 debut, an album that - until this week's CD reissue - consistently brought more than $400 on eBay in its original LP format. Known and coveted by connoisseurs of the psychedelic British folk sound that reaches from The Incredible String Band, Pentangle, and Bill Fay to Robyn Hitchcock, Beta Band, Devendra Banhart, and other new cosmic travelers, this five-star masterpiece of hypnotic vocals, electric fuzz guitar, trippy tin whistle, and shimmering six- and 12-string guitars is a must-seek-out aural experience. It's too bad the neighborhood planetarium isn't still running the eternal Pink Floyd laser show, as this would make the perfect seating music. Released by England's Sunbeam Records, and available on audiophile vinyl LP reissue on Germany's Soundroom imprint, these sessions capture the young duo of Mick Burgoyne and Leigh Dolphin, both 19 at the time of this recording, together in a golden, magic moment. Bonus tracks, interview introductions, and enlightening new liner notes round out the CD nicely.
If it's dark and raining this coming Tuesday, I welcome you to dig deep into the blues and huddle up to some misery-sharing company in three excellent new CDs that continue the lonesome soul tradition. My pick of the week is one of these new blues gems - Greg Brown's The Evening Call, a sinewy, wandering philosopher's masterpiece, a slow-motion, story-telling Americana diary that waltzes to the witty, pensive, poetic beat of Jack Kerouac, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, and Todd Snider.
Back before Blockbuster, Netflix, and other instant-gratification services, seeking out that elusive hipster film took a lot of praying and the luck of an art-house theater in your city to satisfy one's craving. One of those great rock-and-roll films that brought the excitement of a live concert was Rude Boy from 1980, a gritty street drama mixed with live footage from The Clash in 1978 performing every song from their white-hot self-titled debut. For years, fans passed around poorly copied dubs of its 1991 VHS release or searched for a copy on eBay, but the film returns this coming Tuesday in full DVD glory. The Epic Records' Legacy imprint release is packed with bonus goodies, including BBC sessions, interviews with sex-shop-worker-turned-roadie Ray Gange and band manager Johnny Green, a gallery of photography and sketches, and the original theatrical trailer. Also extended with four deleted scenes and two songs cut from the original presentation, the DVD technology allows the viewer to play only the concert footage, uninterrupted. A mesmerizing peek into the politically volatile times of the United Kingdom in the late 1970s, this is the early history of "the only band that ever really mattered."
I'm loving every raindrop of sound in Raul Malo's new covers collection, You're Only Lonely. Due this coming Tuesday on the eclectic Sanctuary Records imprint, the Mavericks vocalist evokes a forgotten, crushed-velvet Roy Orbison world, spellbinding in his rich, golden tone and slow-dance restraint. And what could be more perfect than the lush brush of producer Peter Asher, a boy wonder in the '60s as half of Peter & Gordon and a master producer in the '80s with Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, and 10,000 Maniacs? I found myself deeply moved with melancholy nostalgia with each listen, remembering the heyday of AM radio, when everyone - from the farmer chewing on a thin green stalk to the housewife in the big city setting the table - was humming along to the same, infectious melody. The song choices are impeccable, from J.D. Souther's title track to Randy Newman's "Feels Like Home" to a bonus duet with Martina McBride. Other highlights include The Bee Gees' "Run to Me," Harry Nilsson's "Remember," and the most haunting rendition of Willie Nelson's "Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground" I've ever heard. This is turn-down-the-lights music, serious baby-making stuff.Subscribe & Listen to Reader Podcasts
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