Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007
I have to thank the NME for helping me cover for my inability to get my New Pornographers review up today, as I’d originally intended but simply didn’t have the time to finish (or start). Because as it turns out, the “big Verve news” that they’ve been touting over the past week actually is newsworthy, as opposed to this non-item about a Smiths reunion (“Exclusive! Still Not Happening!”).
What they unveiled yesterday morning is “The Thaw Session” is a 14-minute excerpt from their first recording session and – shockingly – it sounds pretty damn good. As you’d expect from a 14-minute excerpt, it’s long, jammy and more than a little meandering but it sounds like The Verve – not solo Ashcroft – and even more than that, it sounds like early Verve. Obviously if this unnamed track makes it to a finished song it’ll be somewhat more concise, but there’s no denying there’s still some of the old chemistry present and any misgivings about the fruits of the reunion are, if not put to rest, somewhat allayed. Reports back from their first reunion gig at the start of November are now eagerly awaited.
Also announced last week was the news that Swervedriver were going to be coming out of mothballs next year for a world tour. The timing of this announcement was interesting as Adam Franklin is in the midst of a North American tour (stopping at the Drake Underground on Thursday) and while this certainly raises interest in what he’s doing, it kind of takes the steam out of any interest in his new solo record Bolts Of Melody. But for those who’ve been waiting a decade to see the Swervies live again – your last train to satansville has come in.
And I just want to say that as the reunions keep piling up, the fact that Ride isn’t getting back together just seems more conspicuous every day. They’d still have it if they did – check out the footage from their one-off reunion jam from a few years back. Electric.
MP3: Ride – “Coming Up For Air (Pt 7 of 8)”
Video: Ride – “Coming Up For Air” (RealVideo)
Magnet has an interview with Richard Hawley – North American tour dates are trickling out and tickets for the December 5 show at the Horseshoe are available now.
Le Blogotheque has got a Takeaway Show with Malajbue, though if you want the proper experience you should read it en Francais. Malajube are at Lee’s Palace on November 3.
…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead return to town for a show at Lee’s Palace on November 20, tickets $20 on sale Thursday. Full dates at BrooklynVegan.
The Seattle Post Intelligencier, The Stranger and BeatRoute converse with Owen Pallett of Final Fantasy.
Wilco press clippings – Jeff Tweedy talks to the Pittsbugh Post-Gazette and John Stirratt to The Daily Progress.
The Lexington Herald-Leader talks to Jason Isbell about leaving the Drive-By Truckers, Patterson Hood doesn’t talk to the The Daily Iowan about Jason Isbell leaving.
Spoon speaks – Jim Eno to The Student Operated Press, Britt Daniel to The New York Daily News.
Drowned In Sound interviews Land Of Talk, who released their expanded Applause Cheer Boo Hiss in the UK yesterday. Maybe they’ll have some copies for sale here when they play the El Mocambo on Monday night.
Monday, October 22nd, 2007
“The success of Harvest and “Heart Of Gold” had put me right in the middle of the road. So I decided to head for the ditch. It was a rough ride but I met more interesting people there.” – Neil Young
Possibly Neil Young’s most famous quote (and he’s a quotable guy), it was originally uttered in the context of explaining why he followed up his most commercially successful works in the mid-70s with some of his most difficult (though arguably his best), the so-called “Ditch Trilogy” – Time Fades Away, Tonight’s The Night and On The Beach. But it’s also applicable to his entire storied career – winding, meandering, doubling back and stumbling forward for over 40 years now.
So when it comes to assessing his latest album Chrome Dreams II, out tomorrow, I think it’s best appreciated in the broader context of where it comes in his career. Because taken strictly on its own merits, it’s a slightly above-average Neil record – maybe his best since 1994’s Sleeps With Angels – but there’s nothing that would stand up against his best material. Reminiscent of, perhaps, but not even close to equaling let alone surpassing. But considered relative to where Neil’s mindset might be at this stage in his life, it’s a much more revealing and, for all its flaws, appropriate release.
Unlike much of his classic rock brethren, Neil has always indulged his creative muse wherever it takes him, regardless of who it alienates or confounds. In some ways, his “ditch” years have never ended. And though he’s steadfastly resisted for a long time, that muse has recently led him to look back on his career and celebrate all that he’s done. The long-delayed Archives series is finally coming to light (though when I picked up the Live At Massey Hall 1971 CD this weekend, I had to laugh at the “coming Fall 2007!” flyer in the slipcase for the first volume), last year’s Heart Of Gold concert film may as well have been shot in sepia it was so steeped in nostalgia and Chrome Dreams II, though ostensibly new material, is also planted firmly in the past.
Firstly, it’s named as the sequel to an album that was never released, Chrome Dreams, but on which some of his most classic songs were originally slated to appear. Further, the first three songs date back decades in his repertoire and in the case of “Ordinary People”, even uses a 19-year old recording. And while the rest of the record is all newer material, you don’t have to look too hard to find musical or thematic analogues in his back catalog. File “Dirty Old Man” alongside “Piece Of Crap” and “Sedan Delivery”, you’d have to double-check the credits on “Spirit Road” to confirm that it’s not Crazy Horse backing the man and album closer “The Way” features a children’s choir – a recurring device in his last few records. And of course, there’s the two epic-length numbers in the aforementioned “Ordinary People” and “No Hidden Path” – not quite as ragged or glorious as some of his ’70s marathons, but still vintage Neil.
It’s like a stylistic best-of, only consisting of new songs. So for long-time Neil fans, Chrome Dreams II is instantly familiar and welcoming, yet still sufficiently challenging and possessed of his iconoclastic spirit to prove he’s not getting soft. Neil may not be leading us through the ditch on his ongoing journey through the past, but makes sure to remind he still knows where it is and that a hard, sudden detour is never out of the question.
To mark the release of Chrome Dreams II, An Aquarium Drunkard has gone digging through his own archives and posted the bootleg version of Chrome Dreams which has circulated amongst collectors for decades now – almost every song has been released in some form but to hear them in the context of that record and in the simpler, more embryonic versions that were slated for that release makes for fascinating listening. He’s also got a set of what he’s calling Chrome Dreams companion tracks, more Neil rarities from around 1976/ Seattle Weekly also contemplates Chrome Dreams II relative to Neil’s output for the past decade or so and Metacritic has collected all the major reviews online so far.
Neil kicked off his Fall tour in support of Chrome Dreams II last week and judging from the set list from the opening show in Boise, this theatre tour – including the three shows at Massey Hall – especially the three shows at Massey Hall – at the end of November – is going to be something very special indeed. Just don’t call it a victory lap within earshot of Neil, or he’s likely to opt to play Re-Ac-Tor in its entirety, just to spite.
MP3: Neil Young – “Ordinary People”
Video: Neil Young – “Dirty Old Man” (YouTube)
Video: Neil Young – “The Believer” (YouTube)
Video: Neil Young – “The Way” (YouTube)
Video: Neil Young – “Spirit Road” (YouTube)
MySpace: Neil Young
The Nova Scotia Chronicle-Herald talks to the author of the just-released The Top 100 Canadian Albums about reactions to his book. I’ve only seen part of the results but it’s predictably Neil-heavy – three of the top 20 including #1 – but I can think of at least seven of his albums that can and should be in there. And that’s me speaking impartially.
And tangentially to the 100 greatest list, The National Post attempted to compile a list of the top 10 overlooked Canadian albums of all time, but instead mixed that up with the author’s “top 10 albums I listened to a lot in the 90s and man, weren’t they great?” list. Moxy Fruvous? No.
Saturday, October 20th, 2007
“As stick hits bare drum, as bare voice hits ear drum, a charge runs through me. And sure, she’s a singer-songwriter, just using a drum as often as six strings, but it’s completely different. In the same way a room full of vacuum and a room full of air look the same, but one is impossible to live without and the other will make you implode. For three minutes, we’re hers” – David Kohl, Phonogram
Those words come from the comic Phonogram and are uttered in reference to Scout Niblett – which is unusual as the comic is about the ghost of Britpop and Scout Niblett is as far from Britpop as you can get. Hell, despite what her passport says, Niblett hardly even seems British – instead she belongs to the mists of Appalachia or the Mississippi delta, to the sources of the lonesome and anguished folk-blues she channels through her latest record This Fool Can Die Now.
And as harrowing as the experience might be, all accounts are that she’s a riveting live performer and courtesy of Against The Grain, I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away to her show at the Silver Dollar on Tuesday night, October 23, so you can find out for yourself. Also on the bill are locals Picastro, herself no stranger to mesmerizing with just voice and guitar, and Radius & Helena, whom I know nothing about. To enter, shoot me an email to contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Scout Niblett” in the subject line and your full name in the body and get it to me before midnight, October 21.
MP3: Scout Niblett featuring Bonnie Prince Billy – “Kiss”
Video: Scout Niblett featuring Bonnie Prince Billy – “Kiss” (YouTube)
MySpace: Scout Niblett
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