JEFF BECK
Released July 15, 2016
NEW 2016 MUSIC: When Jeff Beck released his orchestral and almost devotional album "Emotion & Commotion" (released March 10, 2010), it felt to nearly function as somewhat of a swan song due to the elegiac nature of the work. Thankfully, one of the greatest guitarists that we have all been graced to have with us for nearly 50 years has returned with a voluminously sounding protest album at just the right time.
"Loud Hailer" (named for a British colloquialism for a megaphone) fully lives up to its title as Beck and his powerfully loud band, fronted by ace vocalist Rosie Bones (complete with working class British accent), ROAR through the urgently performed selections like "The Revolution Will be Televised," "Live In The Dark," and "Thugs Club" wile also making ample room for the aching societal plea of "Scared For The Children" and even the almost violent instrumental "Pull It." A most appropriately and darkly noisy album for the dark noise that surrounds us in the 21st century.
"STRANGER TO STRANGER"
PAUL SIMON
Released June 3, 2016
NEW 2016 MUSIC: Speaking of living legends, we next move to Paul Simon, who at the age of 72, has released a new album that proves to remain as vital as anything he has ever presented in the past. If he, according to some articles that I have seen this summer, does indeed decide to call it a day and retire from music altogether, he has more than earned that right and luxury, for what else does this man ever have to prove to any of us?
With "Stranger To Stranger," Simon continues his themes of modern 21st century life and issues of impending mortality with his trademark literary wit and wry insight as well as his innovative musicality, instrumentation and production. With a presentation that leans heavily into the rhythmic and percussive, "Stranger To Stranger" opens brilliantly with two tales that span the near gothic ("The Werewolf") to the streetwise ("Wristband"), yet both serve as skilled metaphors of heading into the hereafter. From an experimental instrumental of "The Clock," to a ballad celebrating his longtime wife Edie Brickell with "In The Garden Of Edie" and the propulsive first person narrative of life in the ER with "In A Parade," Paul Simon is in full possession of his gifts, the very sort that we have all been in blessed receipt of for nearly 50 years as well.
TODD RUNDGREN
Released June 14, 1975
THE CURE
Released May 5, 1987
FIELD MUSIC
Released February 5, 2016
NEW 2016 MUSIC: Here, I send my most gracious thanks to Randy Ballwahn and his WSUM-FM outstanding radio program "Freak Scene Radio," for alerting me to this band.
Before a few weeks ago, I had never heard of this project as created and performed by brothers David and Peter Brewis, but an article posted by Ballwahn courtesy of The Guardian in which the twosome was celebrated and placed within the same musical universe as the likes of XTC, Prefab Sprout, The Go-Betweens, Todd Rundgren and Prince (who apparently was a fan), I just knew that I needed to check it out. And after quite a number of listens, the wildly diverse album has truly begun to grow on me strongly, again demonstrating that pop music can always be artful.
"Commontime," which has a running time of just a hair under 1 hour, often feels like a double album placed onto one CD or a work divided into several song suites straddling funk and dance rhythms ("The Noisy Days Are Over," "Disappointed," "Don't You Want To Know What's Wrong"), elegant pop soundscapes ("Trouble At The Lights," "The Morning Is Waiting For You"), arcane studio experiments ("That's Close Enough For Now"), stunning ballads ("Stay Awake") and even more, making for a musical bouquet that is overflowing with gorgeous melodies as surprises.
Oddly enough, and for all of the music comparisons held within the Guardian article, I have to say that to my ears, when I listen to Field Music, it often makes me think that if say 10cc were still making album,s perhaps it would sound something like this. Yeah...10cc by way of Squeeze, I think.
Does that sound like it's up your alley?
FRANK ZAPPA AND THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION
Released March 23, 1993
THE ALLMAN BROTHERS
Released July 1971
JEFF PARKER
Released June 24, 2016
NEW 2016 MUSIC: In a year that we have seen the first new release from Tortoise in seven years, we are also graced with a solo release from Tortoise composer/multi-instrumentalist Jeff Parker and it is a terrific companion piece as well as a sumptuous artistic statement from this idiosyncratic musician.
"The New Breed" is a mostly instrumental (save for one track with vocals) album that steers itself away from Tortoise's specialized brad of instrumental post-rock in favor of more jazz leanings with Parker, on a variety of instruments in addition to his nimble guitar playing, creates soundscapes that feel to not only update, say, the guitar leanings of someone like Wes Montgomery, they turn them inside out, stretching into regions of hip-hop, funk, and soul that sounds so ahead of the curve yet somehow nostalgic.
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