Christmas Music Review
One of the recent developments in the entertainment industry that bothers me the most is the demise of the CD industry, and, along with it, the likely end of the album as a means of delivering music to the public. Listening to a good album is like reading a good novel - it's entertaining, fulfilling, maybe even moving if it pushes beyond good and reaches great. It's not all about the quality of each song, but involves such things as theme, organization, structure, sequence - all those terms they teach in English 101. Anyway...with even such stores as Borders ditching their CD inventory, I put a lot of music on my Christmas wish list in hopes the generous people in my life would give me the gift of music. So, now that I've finally used all my gift cards, rewards, and holiday discounts, here is a review of the music most recently added to my library, not that anyone asked.
1) The Pogues - Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash: The Pogues are what happens when the boys who've been at the pub all night watching the band, pints of Beamish or Guiness in hand, find themselves on the stage rather than at the bar. A wonderful ruckus, blending punk, folk, and traditional Irish, The Pogues are a tremendous lot of fun. Great songwriting, with a few traditionals thrown into the mix, and you've got what could be the greatest musical story-telling treat this side of Johnny Cash. Rum, Sodomy, and the Last, named after a quote never actually spoken by Winston Churchill, is one of two albums considered to be The Pogues best. My favorites on this album are "Sally MacLennane", "Dirty Old Town", and one of the best war
songs of all time "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda."
2) The Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace With God - I think this is the best Pogues album and its hard to pick out my favorites, but "Fiesta", "Sketches of Spain", and "Turkish Song of the Damned" are always fun. "Fairy Tale of New York" is an off-kilter, hilarious Christmas song, sung as a dialogue between a man and a woman whose relationship has seen better days.
3) Elvis Presley - The Essential Elvis - Not really an album, but I figured that anyone who likes rock and roll has to have some Elvis on the shelf, and, as the title says, these are the essential tunes.
4) Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Raising Sand - Interesting collaboration between a man accused of being a heavy metal pioneer and a woman who is probably the most recognized name in bluegrass. I like "Killing the Blues" (now being used in a JC Penney commercial) and "Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On)" which won a grammy.
5) Merle Haggard - Chicago Wind - The lyrics are a bit hamhanded, but I still like the album, which, surprisingly, contains an Iraq war protest song, as well as a libertarian-sounding song that protests against our government in general.
6) Willie Nelson - Phases and Stages - 1974 concept album about the break-up of a marriage. "Bloody Mary Morning" is the best, and most famous, song.
7) Willie Nelson - Yesterday's Wine - 1972 concept album about one man's life from birth to death. The title song and "Me and Paul" are the best songs.
8) Johnny Cash - Live at San Quentin - "Wreck of the Old '97" is my favorite on the lively (pun not quite intended) number one album from 1968. Also features June Carter Cash, the Statler Brothers, and some other people I can't remember at the moment.
9) Sara Groves - Tell Me What You Know - This one sounds best in the car at high volume, not what you'd normally say about Sara Groves. No particular song stands out, but the whole package works fairly well.
10) Iris DeMent - Infamous Angel - Iris DeMent has a unique voice that you'll only find in folk music. "Our Town" - a brilliant song about the decay of a small town - is one of my favorite ever.
11) Alison Krauss and Union Station - New Favorite - This album is a fairly standard AKUS record. "The Boy Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn" and "The Lucky One" are probably the best songs, but it depends on my mood.
12) The Lonesome River Band - Carrying the Tradition - The best bluegrass in my collection. The Lonesome River Band was the home of Dan Tyminski before he joined Alison Krauss and Union Station.
1) The Pogues - Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash: The Pogues are what happens when the boys who've been at the pub all night watching the band, pints of Beamish or Guiness in hand, find themselves on the stage rather than at the bar. A wonderful ruckus, blending punk, folk, and traditional Irish, The Pogues are a tremendous lot of fun. Great songwriting, with a few traditionals thrown into the mix, and you've got what could be the greatest musical story-telling treat this side of Johnny Cash. Rum, Sodomy, and the Last, named after a quote never actually spoken by Winston Churchill, is one of two albums considered to be The Pogues best. My favorites on this album are "Sally MacLennane", "Dirty Old Town", and one of the best war
songs of all time "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda."2) The Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace With God - I think this is the best Pogues album and its hard to pick out my favorites, but "Fiesta", "Sketches of Spain", and "Turkish Song of the Damned" are always fun. "Fairy Tale of New York" is an off-kilter, hilarious Christmas song, sung as a dialogue between a man and a woman whose relationship has seen better days.
3) Elvis Presley - The Essential Elvis - Not really an album, but I figured that anyone who likes rock and roll has to have some Elvis on the shelf, and, as the title says, these are the essential tunes.
4) Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Raising Sand - Interesting collaboration between a man accused of being a heavy metal pioneer and a woman who is probably the most recognized name in bluegrass. I like "Killing the Blues" (now being used in a JC Penney commercial) and "Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On)" which won a grammy.
5) Merle Haggard - Chicago Wind - The lyrics are a bit hamhanded, but I still like the album, which, surprisingly, contains an Iraq war protest song, as well as a libertarian-sounding song that protests against our government in general.
6) Willie Nelson - Phases and Stages - 1974 concept album about the break-up of a marriage. "Bloody Mary Morning" is the best, and most famous, song.
7) Willie Nelson - Yesterday's Wine - 1972 concept album about one man's life from birth to death. The title song and "Me and Paul" are the best songs.
8) Johnny Cash - Live at San Quentin - "Wreck of the Old '97" is my favorite on the lively (pun not quite intended) number one album from 1968. Also features June Carter Cash, the Statler Brothers, and some other people I can't remember at the moment.
9) Sara Groves - Tell Me What You Know - This one sounds best in the car at high volume, not what you'd normally say about Sara Groves. No particular song stands out, but the whole package works fairly well.10) Iris DeMent - Infamous Angel - Iris DeMent has a unique voice that you'll only find in folk music. "Our Town" - a brilliant song about the decay of a small town - is one of my favorite ever.
11) Alison Krauss and Union Station - New Favorite - This album is a fairly standard AKUS record. "The Boy Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn" and "The Lucky One" are probably the best songs, but it depends on my mood.
12) The Lonesome River Band - Carrying the Tradition - The best bluegrass in my collection. The Lonesome River Band was the home of Dan Tyminski before he joined Alison Krauss and Union Station.
Labels: Music
posted by craigt at 1:15 PM
5 Comments:
Go back and listen to Sara Groves again, especially "When The Saints." Sara doesn't mesh with some of the other artists in your review so I'm thinking it may have affected your point of view. Not that your points of view on the others, (many of whom I admire myself) were bad, its just that in Sara's genre I consider her the best lyricist out there, and outside her genre worth mentioning in the same breath with Bob Dylan.
will have to check the Lonesome River Band out - sounds cool. That Iris DeMent song is one that brother Jeff likes, and we put it to the background of a dvd steve put together about our vacation up in northern Wisconsin. It's playing while pictures of our collective children are waving their flags at the small town Fourth of July parades are passing by. So poignant in a very strange way!
Have you heard the Mark Knopfler and EmmyLou Harris album? I'd be surprised if it didn't make your top whatever list.
I agree about Sara Groves. When I listen to her music I always think she's either talking to me or about me. In fact, "Painting Pictures of Egypt" had a huge influence on our move to NC, but that's a long story. What I meant was that there was no particular song on the album that I considered to better than the others.
I saw the Mark Knopfler/EmmyLou Harris, but I haven't heard it. That combination is nearly as surprising as Krauss/Plant. I read that Roger Daltrey was working toward a Who album along these same lines. Could be interesting; I've heard him cover a couple Johnny Cash songs and he does them very well, so who knows how that would turn out.
Knopfler/Harris album on Amazon
Good stuff
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