Thrasher's Blog: 02/01/2004

Jay Farrar's "Stone, Steel and Bright Lights": Covers Young's "Hurricane"

From Americana UK News via Jay Farrar mailing list:

Jay Farrar's new album "Stone, Steel and Bright Lights" will be released on June 8. With Farrar's backing band Canyon, the album features two new songs, “6 String Belief” and “Doesn’t Have to Be This Way”, along with selections from Jay’s solo career and an electrifying version of Pink Floyd’s “Lucifer Sam” into Neil Young’s “Like Hurricane” from The Blue Note in Columbia, MO.

In an interview, Farrar commented that Young's 'Like a Hurricane,' served as a common-interest song between him and Canyon.

"That's a song I haven't really done in my past. It's probably (Young's) most bombastic song. We were looking for a song to close out the set, and that's what we went for.' "

Also, comes word of "Jay Farrar – Live in Seattle" will be available for download on February 27th. The download is from The Showbox in Seattle from July 24, 2003. Includes a version of Townes Van Zandt’s “White Freightliner Blues”.

The download will be available in MP3 or FLAC format and also includes downloadable artwork.

You can join the Jay Farrar mailing list by sending a blank e-mail to join-farrarlist@lyris.bestnet.net

Greendale 2004 Concert Reviews

Concert reviews are posted for Vancouver, Portland and Los Angeles on the Greendale 2004 page. Also, Portland photos.

Coming soon, Sacramento, CA, Memorial Auditorium, Albuquerque (Tingley Coliseum), and Colorado Springs.

For all of the news, see Greendale Reviews, the next Neil Young album to be recognized as a "classic".

JAY FARRAR Interview: Using the Beatles and Neil Young

From San Francisco Chronicle reporter Jane Ganahl interview with "the minstrel of alt-country" Jay Farrar:

"Of the latest, 'Terroir Blues,' he notes, 'I was using two albums that I like, (Neil Young's) 'Tonight's the Night' and (the Beatles') 'Revolver,' as touchstones.' "

"I don't think in terms of owing the fans something, although you can't just act like what you've done in the past doesn't exist. I just try to find the songs that still mean something to me, that I can maintain a connection to. But most people seem pretty willing to go along with the new stuff."

There are also pointed references in his recent release to the "Fool King's Crown" of current popular culture, as well as our wars for oil -- "21st century blood."

"I notice that when a government is conservative, that stuff has to bubble up," he says grimly. "It's not like I want to be a political songwriter, but it's hard to think about those issues and not have them find their way into my writing."

"Live in Seattle," Jay Farrar's new album, will be released next week by download only, through www.jayfarrar.net. The download will feature 15 songs from "Sebastopol," "ThirdShiftGrottoSlack," "The Slaughter Rule" soundtrack and "Terroir Blues," plus a version of Townes Van Zandt's "White Freightliner Blues." Backing Farrar are Eric Heywood of Son Volt and Mark Spencer of Blood Oranges. Another live album, this time in CD format, will also be released, tentatively in May, of Farrar's tour with Canyon. "

More at San Francisco Chronicle.

Radiohead & Built To Spill = Neil Young Retread & Ripoff

From jaguaro.org's "One Hundred Albums You Should Remove from Your Collection Immediately" on Radiohead's "I Might be Wrong: Live Recordings" and Built To Spill's "Live" :

"Both of these bands are practically fellated by critics and fans alike, as if there's something new and exciting happening in their studio work. One is a Neil Young retread, and the other is a Neil Young ripoff. People, people: classic rock is not dead, just getting plastic surgery. Meanwhile, both bands release live albums that are just chaff to fulfill their contract obligations cheaply. All live albums suck, and these are no exception."

And if that's not harshing your mellow, here's more from jaguaro.org on the "Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin":

"Maybe in this band's hometown of Oklahoma City folks think it would be cool if Led Zeppelin and Yes joined forces to back Neil Young on 'A Man Needs A Maid.' Well, folks in most other parts think the idea of Jimmy Page and Rick Wakeman playing together while Young warbles away would sound like a monstrosity. And trying to approximate the sound of this fantasy jam is just sad. As sad and unlistenable as this album."

And speaking of RadioHead, over on the ImOKhowRU Radiohead board a poster writes:

"Neil Young is the fucking man. He's probably one of the best singer/songwriter/guitarists to ever walk the face of this earth. There will never anyone quite like him, although I'm sure many people will try."

Hmm, I wonder how other Radiohead feel about Neil?

My Morning Jacket rates with Gram Parsons and Neil Young

From MusicEmissions.com's My Morning Jacket review:

"This band belongs right beside Gram Parsons and Neil Young. Hopefully My Morning Jacket will stand the test of time and become as legendary as those guys. This album is ideal on headphones in order to feel like you are right on the farm with James and the boys. It Still Moves is one of those albums that most definitely will stand the test of time and only get better and better with repeated listens."

And this is pretty funny from a review of My Morning Jacket's "It Still Moves" in Smoky Mountain News | by Jay Hardwig:

"The album is a collection of dreamy, drawn-out evanescent emo-country-pop excursions, chock full of glammy art-rock pretensions and hewing close to the central tenets of the Neil Young School of Flaccid Ballads. They're mournful, fuzzy, sprawling things, they all sound alike, and none of them stick with you two minutes after they're done. "

Well, don't believe the critics on this one, because I just can't say enough about My Morning Jacket after seeing their concert at DC's 9:30 Club. Check'em out when they come to your town.

The Dirty Knobs plays Neil

FromYahoo! Groups : rust a post by Jordan R. on The Dirty Knobs covering Neil Young:

"Saw the Dirty Knobs (http://www.thedirtyknobs.com) last night at the
Sweetwater Saloon in Mill Valley CA. Mike Campbell played the hell
out of the guitar on "Hurricane" in the first set, then finished the
show with "Interstate". He introduced this song as the best
'Heroin-Nyquil' depiction of a musician's life on the road in the
bus. "

David West's, Picking On Neil Young

From a review on pauserecord of David West's "Picking On Neil Young":

"People learn and play Neil Young songs by choice, because they love the music, because the words and music speak to some aspect of their lives.

It is in this spirit, it seems, that David West approached the music of Neil Young on his new record, 'Picking On Neil Young: A Tribute.' West is the man who released a similar tribute to the music of the Grateful Dead last year, an all instrumental, bluegrass and country reworking of Jerry Garcia / Robert Hunter and traditional masterpieces, that was well received by DeadHeads and acoustic music lovers alike. West's tribute to Neil Young should generate a similar welcoming reaction among 'Rusties,' as Young fans are sometimes known. "

Thrasher's Wheat: A Neil Young Archives Has New Address

Thrasher's Wheat - A Neil Young Archives has moved to a new address at www.thrasherswheat.org. Please bookmark and thank you so much for everyone's support.

Keep on Rockin'! & Be The Rain!

Tori Amos Covers Neil

photo by Meg Goldman

From DIAGNOSED sounds, a couple of MP3s of Tori Amos covering Neil Young songs. The two excellent covers are "After the Goldrush" 7/27/03, Eugene, OR and "The Needle and the Damage Done" 10/03/03, MX Fest.

Check'em out and lots of other great Tori MP3 downloads.

Killing the Music

From washingtonpost.com op-ed piece by Don Henley, The Eagles singer and drummer who is a founding member of the Recording Artists' Coalition :

"Contrary to conventional wisdom, the root problem is not the artists, the fans or even new Internet technology. The problem is the music industry itself. It's systemic. The industry, which was once composed of hundreds of big and small record labels, is now controlled by just a handful of unregulated, multinational corporations determined to continue their mad rush toward further consolidation and merger. Sony and BMG announced their agreement to merge in November, and EMI and Time Warner may not be far behind. The industry may soon be dominated by only three multinational corporations.

The executives who run these corporations believe that music is solely a commodity. Unlike their predecessors, they fail to recognize that music is as much a vital art form and social barometer as it is a way to make a profit. At one time artists actually developed meaningful, even if strained, relationships with their record labels. This was possible because labels were relatively small and accessible, and they had an incentive to join with the artists in marketing their music. Today such a relationship is practically impossible for most artists. "

Saving the Music Washingtonpost.com reader Dave Higgins, Albany, NY, replies to Henley:

"If recording artists want to regain control of their music, they should bypass the music industry as it currently exists. If radio stations will play only a select few musicians, artists should set up Internet radio stations to promote unique and important new musicians. If Wal-Mart or Best Buy won't sell a wide selection of artists, musicians should tap into new and legitimate music-sharing outlets such as Apple's iTunes music store to deal directly with customers. And artists should work with the non-conglomerate vestiges of the music industry that still exist: the independent radio stations, music stores and concert venues that are probably also feeling oppressed by today's mega-corporate music business. "

Absolutely.

Wilco Video file links

From largehearted boy, a boy, a girl, and his radio some Wilco video links from Jools Holland for War On War (wmv) and I'm The Man Who Loves You (wmv). Most excellent.

Bonnaroo Lineup

Also from largehearted boy:

"Bonnaroo is looking very attractive with Wilco, Yo La Tengo, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Ani Difranco, Beth Orton, My Morning Jacket, Gillian Welch, Grandaddy and the Black Keys. The ticket prices (almost $160 after service fees, and that's the early discounted tickets), make it a bit pricey, but the lineup is tempting."

Yes, prices are high, but Bob Dylan, Wilco and my current favorite My Morning Jacket make it seem like a bargain.

Tracklisting For New Wilco Album

From Burned By The Sun a track list for the new Wilco album "A Ghost Is Born". The album is set to be released on June 8.

The tracklisting is reportedly:

At least that's what you said
Hell is Chrome
Spiders (kidsmoke)
Muzzle of Bees
Hummingbird
Handshake drugs
Company in my back
I'm a wheel
Wishful thinking
Late greats
Theologians
Less than you think

The State of Rock Music Criticism

There's been some interesting commentary lately on Pitchforkmedia.com about rock music criticism being word centric rather than music centric. Well, given that writers write rather than play music that's probably understandly obvious.

From Useful Noise:

"And those critics who are best at describing music have found a way to twist the language around the sounds they hear so they don't have to rely upon the terminology of music theory. Bad writers (or good writers on a tight deadline) lean on all-but-meaningless tags like 'funky keyboard riff' or 'Beatlesesque' (which usually, depressingly enough, means 'catchy in a whitebread sort of way' and doesn't narrow things down much at all.) The very worst music writers recycle descriptors like 'fluid pedal steel' or 'piercing vocals' so regularly the phrases take on the feel of Homeric epithets. But the best pop criticism advances pleasure as an epistemological value in itself--if the surface of the language isn't entertaining, then what's underneath, no matter how erudite, is somehow less true."

From clap clap blog:

"Music criticism that ignores the music is just literary criticism, and literary criticism of pop lyrics is just no good. Trust me on this one, kids. Sure, some pull it off well (I'm a big fan of Meltzer's stuff, which is basically really good literary criticism) but you can't have a whole profession-slash-genre based on that. Rock crit as we know it wouldn't even be possible without the development of semiotics and cultural criticism, which has allowed us to talk about the context and 'message' of a song instead of its actual content. And this is OK--it's produced some awesome stuff--but people have been analyzing music for thousands of years without the benefit of cultural analysis, and so it's weird now that people are analyzing music without the benefit of musical analysis, you know? There seemed to be some effort at doing so when people first started taking pop seriously, like with that famous Beatles review talking about the modalities of their vocal harmonies, but that was quickly subsumed to the more vital, and more rockin', criticism of Bangs-Christgau-Marcus. "

My Morning Jacket Concert at the 9:30 Club, Washington, DC - January 31, 2004

photo by Linda Park

My Morning Jacket roared into the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC last Saturday night and left most of the audience blown away by their tour de force aural assault and beautifully haunting vocals.

For $15 bucks, you got to hear three bands - opener Dr Dog, Citizen Cope and headliner My Morning Jacket. After experiences like this show, one swears to never to shell out major bucks for arena shows that are as bogus as they are expensive.

So is My Morning Jacket the real deal or just the flavor of the moment? Well I'd have to say they're the best thing from Kentucky since bourbon.

Touring behind their latest album, It Still Moves, My Morning Jacket played a healthy selection of new songs and a few from their catalog. Show highlights included the opener "One Big Holiday", "Mahgeeta" and "Steam Engine".

The Washington Times' Scott Galupo wrote:

"I'd enjoy watching this band perform if I were deaf. Seeing Jacket in its dirt-rock glory is a treat all its own, quite apart from hearing how tight and heavy they sound. "

No doubt, James' hair is part of the show as much as the manic energy careening about the stage, always in danger of whacking folks in the front row.

At times, you're not sure where the echoey-reverb drenched vocals are coming from. But make no mistake, Jame's voice is an experience to hear.

The Washington Post's Eric Brace writes of the My Morning Jacket as:

"a soundtrack to a postmodern Great Plains western coming off like Crazy Horse, early ZZ Top, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Royal Trux, Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Flying Burrito Brothers all rolled into one. "

The Washington Times' Galupo writes of the sound as being like "Sparklehorse fronted by Neil Young with the kind of sweet male tenor that can alter its tone to suit the hard, stripped-to-the-bones rock of a band like Crazy Horse."

The comparison is not too far off when James puts down his electric Flying V guitar still ringing with feedback and picks up an acoustic and performs a couple of soft, delicate tunes like "Golden".

But MMJ is not just James but an accomplished reformed band with drummer Patrick Hallahan, keyboard player Bo Koster , bassist Two-Tone Tommy and lead guitarist Carl Broemel. At the 9:30 Club, the band was tight and showed no signs of having had a major lineup change in just the past couple of months.

In an interview with The Washington Post's Eric Brace, lead Jim James discusses artistic honesty:

"It's not about who you know, it's about what's in your heart," he says. "Not about what you look like or what you wear. Musical fads, big hype waves in the press, none of that is important. What's important is connecting, going out on the road and playing a great concert. I love that. Just connecting with people on that level. It's an honor and I want to go play it for them.

And when the show closed with Run Thru and the lights went up, few would have doubted the sincerity of James' comments about playing music for the sheer joy of it.

For more, see My Morning Jacket.

Michael Weston King 'A Decent Man' (Floating World 2003)

From Americana UK Reviews:

"Michael Weston King is both an undervalued and under-estimated talent in this country - undervalued in terms of the general lack of awareness of the type of crowd he can pull on the continent, and underestimated in terms of his determination to get his music out there and heard. The good news about his new album 'A Decent Man' is that he won't have to try particularly hard - it's easily King's strongest work to date and sells itself and its strengths just five minutes into the record.

Players like the legendary Ian McNabb and the not-but-he-should-be Alan Cook (whose lapsteel is as always sublime) only add to the professionalism of the sound. Occasionally things don't work as well as they should - the cover of Pete Townshend's 'Blue, Red and Grey' feels slightly awkward (and certainly doesn't have the vibrancy of the other stripped down cover on the record - Neil Young's 'Love in Mind'), but it's a small flaw in an otherwise hugely accomplished album that will put the name 'Michael Weston King' into a few more households - and deservedly so. MW www.michaelwestonking.com "