TWEEDY
Produced by Jeff Tweedy
Released September 23, 2014
Sometimes music is just not meant for a band.
Three years after Wilco unleashed "The Whole Love" (released September 27, 2011) to the world Wilco mastermind Jeff Tweedy returns but not with either Wilco or even with a purely solo project. "Sukierae," is the debut album from Tweedy, a musical duo comprised of Jeff Tweedy and his son Spencer Tweedy on drums and entitled after a nickname given to Jeff's wife and Spencer's Mother, Sue Miller Tweedy.
The 20 track double album is indeed a family affair (if you haven't already guessed) but it is one made all the more intensely personal as Sue Miller Tweedy has been diagnosed with, and has continued to battle, a rare for of non-Hogkins lymphoma. "Sukierae" is a sprawling, expansive, shape-shifting, sometimes drowsy, and often near hypnotic album that is as warm, intimate and as troubling as the latest U2 release but please be assured that it is not presented as some sort of an elegy and also, do not allow the mostly quiet nature of the album fool you. These songs are emotionally turbulent.
Certainly taken out of context, the noisy guitar freak out of the album's abrasive opening track "Please Don't Let Me Be So Understood" or the gentler sunshine acoustic pop of "Low Key" and "Summer Noon" could fit perfectly upon a proper Wilco release. But taken within the context of "Sukierae," we have a palate that sometimes suggests music that is purposefully unfinished or at least songs of a sparser, rambling quality, especially when Spencer Tweedy's Ringo-esque drum fills and patterns extended themselves to become the songs' foundation, as in the dark psychedelia of "Diamond Light Part 1" and "Slow Love," and the evening pastoral landscape of "New Moon" and "Where My Love."
But it is on songs like "Nobody Dies Anymore" where the album's haunting quality appears at its height as Tweedy create a musical landscape that sounds like a cross between John Lennon's "Plastic Ono Band" (released December 11, 1970), Fleetwood Mac's still ahead of its time 'Tusk" (released October 12, 1979) and even a dash of Radiohead's more somber, disquieting moments.
This is music not designed for the full spit and polish and overall sense of completeness that the full six member band of Wilco could provide. This is an elastic album, one of ongoing emotion and unfinished sentiments, the very kinds that exist in the most intimate relationships...in this case, the Tweedy family.
GARY CLARK JR.
Produced by Bharath "Cheex" Ramanath and Gary Clark Jr.
Released September 23, 2014
For those who felt that Gary Clark Jr.s major label studio album debut "Blak And Blu" (released October 22, 2012) was perhaps overly slick and therefore slightly dulled the sting of his scorching guitar fireworks (not to my ears, btw), then please allow me to direct you to this new album as your antidote.
"Gary Clark Jr. Live" is exactly as described, a double live album that showcases precisely why Clark Jr. is heralded as being the new guitar hero to leave your jaws agape and your mind blown apart due to the amount of sheer power, dexterity, force and deliverance his two hands and six strings are able to unleash.
Stripping back the studio gloss for a raw, rough yet superbly proficient collection of performances, Clark Jr. and his crack band blaze through the Chuck Berry styled "Travis County" as well as various tales of the blues from the eight minute opener "Catfish Blues," Next Door Neighbor Blues," and the stinging "Three O'Clock Blues." Most impressive is how Clark Jr. has redesigned his studio tracks for his liver performances as he eschews the hip-hop rhythms for a straightforward and purely solo guitar performance of "Blak and Blu" plus also transforming the studio old school soul croon of "Please Come Home" to one of the album's finest showstoppers.
JOHNNY MARR
Produced by Johnny Marr and Doviak
Released October 7, 2014
For a completely different kind of guitar hero, I turn your attention to the legendary Johnny Marr, who arrives with his second solo album just a year and a half after the release of his excellent debut solo venture "The Messenger" (released February 25, 2013).
Marr's specialized brand of nostalgic yet forward moving six string dreams continue in high energy throughout the briskly paced and performed album that features the one-two-three opening punch of "Back In The Box," "Easy Money" and "Dynamo" all of which propel the album terrifically. Yet, it is through songs like "Candidate" and the marvelous "The Trap" that further confirms that The Smiths would have been absolutely not worth listening to for a moment without Marr's immensely gifted presence.
Simultaneously lush yet fueled with loud, melodic rock and roll power, Johnny Marr's "Playland" is yet another impressive addition to this musical figures lengthy musical resume. After two very strong albums released in such quick succession, why wait any longer? I'm ready for album #3!!!
WEEZER
Produced by Ric Ocasek
Released October 7, 2014
Just like the creature that adorns this album cover, Weezer's latest album is a MONSTER!!
Dear readers and listeners, I refuse to add my voice to the choir of Weezer fans who solely desire that the band only release music that adheres to the sonic landscapes set by the band on their debut album, the beloved "Weezer" or "The Blue Album" (released May 10, 1994) and the originally maligned but now revered "Pinkerton" (released September 24, 1996). I firmly believe that Weezer bandleader/singer/songwriter/guitarist Rivers Cuomo and his faithful bandmates, guitarist Brian Bell, drummer Pat Wilson and bassist Scott Shriner should follow their collective muses wherever they should happen to lead them and therefore make whatever music they wish to make. If I happen to like what they have emerged with in the process is another story but I certainly would never begrudge them for any musical curve ball or directions that I may initially question or not even like at all. What I will add my voice to, however, is to the choir of Weezer fans who have proclaimed that this new album, the band's ninth, is unquestionably the best music they have released in a very long time.
Much like the two new albums Prince has just released to the world "Everything Will be Alright In The End" marks a true return to form for Weezer. It finds the band completely revitalized, refreshed and renewed with a passionate vigor and venom to blast apart any and all naysayers with this collection of spectacularly focused and realized songs beautifully produced by the iconic Ric Ocasek, who returns to the Weezer fold for the first time since 2001.
This is an album that will push your speakers to the limit as the wall of guitars arrive in what feels like surround sound and Pat Wilson's drums kick like the proverbial mule all of which are set to the stunning, surprising melodies and rich vocal harmonies that flow seamlessly from song to song throughout the entirety of the album.
From the crunching opening track "Ain't Got Nobody," the roaring yet elegiac "Eulogy For A Rock Band," the amplified Everly Brothers styled "Go Away," the expert power pop of "Cleopatra," "Lonely Girl" and "Da Vinci" and the audaciously straightforward "The British Are Coming," over and again, Weezer have crafted a set of material whose melodics and musical hooks will stick like glue upon first listen.
And then, there is the seven minute plus, three part, mostly instrumental finale "The Futurescope Trilogy," which finds the band in prog rock mode, albeit with more Metallica styled fury than the esoteric landscapes created by Yes, is truly a tour de force signalling to listeners that the band has not remotely begun to dry up creatively, feelings that are addressed pointedly as well as satirically in two of the album's highlights, the soaring and petulant "I've Had It Up To Here" and the self-deprecating to the point of parody first single "Back To The Shack" where the band "apologizes" for their musical "transgressions" and promise to rock it out "like it's '94."
Weezer's latest is nothing less than a triumph from beginning to end as it musically looks backwards and forwards and glowingly discovers new beginnings within the songs of endings.
No comments:
Post a Comment