Finest Hour (or two)

Churchill by Paul Johnson

Somehow I managed to pass through high school, college, grad school and some decades since then without having ever read a single biography of Winston Churchill (never mind a word of the man’s own vast output). 

But prompted by a planned visit to his ancestral home, Blenheim Palace, and a nagging awareness of this gap in my education, I’ve just devoured Paul Johnson’s wonderfully concise biography of Sir Winston.  

Johnson’s rapid-fire summary of his life speeds you along to complete agreement with his conclusion:  Churchill is the greatest figure of the 20^th Century.  Johnson wraps up with a list of the man’s defining character traits that’s so concise it could earn this book a place in the self-help section. 

At 128 pages, you can knock this off on your next plane ride -- and you should.  

I ♥ the Replacements

In the early 80’s as the Replacements were hitting their stride, I was distracted:  by marriage, work and play in NY, the dawn of CD’s, the rise of Prince, REM and Run DMC and, I’m embarrassed to say, the Pet Shop Boys.  My bad. 

With no radio play to hook me and informed only by a rock press I had come to mistrust, I lumped the Replacements not incorrectly with Dinosaur Jr, the Pixies and Pavement, writing the whole lot off as too loud and punky to matter to me. And so I would have missed the boat forever except for the time warp of iTunes, where everything old is eternally available for reappraisal.  Thank you, Steve Jobs.

Here for your bemusement (if you loved them all along) or your own belated discovery are the tunes I have come to love from a band that has become one of my favorites. 

I Will Dare – As elemental as “Louie, Louie” but more clearly enunciated.  “How smart are you? How dumb am I?” 

Bastards of Young – This is actually the kind of music I thought they made: rude, loud, with a searing guitar.  I just like it better than I knew. 

Achin to Be – A reminder that a country twang jangles through some of their best songs. 

Swinging Party – A swaying tune on which you could mistake the Mats for Billy Bragg, to the credit of both. 

And because Mats main man Paul Westerberg is still recording, one from him, too:  Love You in the Fall. 

Turn it up, indeed.

Reeling – Submarine

I can’t be the only one here who has a weakness for coming of age movies.  Me?  I’ll take it in just about any form -- the auteur variety: The 400 Blows, the Last Picture Show, American Graffiti; the ironic and oddball: Igby Goes Down, Rushmore; and of course the teen crisis ouevre of John Hughes that began with 16 Candles.  I’m not sure why this should be.  My own adolescence was long ago and, in the end, not so painful.   

But here comes Submarine, a recent, irresistible Welsh take on the form which proves once again the timeless appeal of a well-told tale of teenage humiliations. We meet Oliver, a 16 year-old who has real reasons to be embarrassed by his Python-esque parents, and Jordanna, the gothy object of his affections. 

Poor Oliver’s world is in full tilt.  His Dad is depressed, his Mum is flirting (or worse) with a pathetic old flame, and Jordana is at risk of being softened up by her mother’s cancer.  And in keeping with the conventions of the oddball strain of the genre, these two find solace in petty pyromania.

Submarine is an affecting and original reminder of how fragile and durable we are through the strange passage of adolescence.  Not as dark as Harold and Maude, it's every bit as funny.  Major props to first-time director Richard Ayoade for this film’s freshness, which doesn’t just come from the Swansea setting.  On iTunes and Netflix. 

Shortlist - February

The month is short and so is this list of new tunes worth a listen.

1.  Bon Iver, Holocene - Dreamy, winter music named after the human epoch.

2.  Nada Surf,  Jules and Jim– A power pop song with a title cribbed from Truffaut.  What could be more perfect?

3.  The Head and the Heart , Down in the Valley  - Gentle song, beautifully sung.  "Lord have mercy on my rough and rowdy ways."

4.  Cloud  Nothings,  Stay Useless – Draw a straight line through the Ramones, the Buzzcocks and the Strokes and it ends right here. 

5.  Of Monsters and Men, Little Talk – Imitation?  Flattery?  Hope this is OK with Edward Sharpe & the MZ's, and Florence and her Machine.    

Hang on.  March is coming. 

Three Day Weeknd

What if I told you there was someone making R&B influenced music with the originality Prince had in 1982?  With vocal stylings that owe a huge debt to Michael Jackson (listen for the sharp  intake of breath that signifies both pain and ecstasy)? 

Meet Abel Tesfaye, a 22-year old Canadian, recording as The Weeknd who is rocking the alternative space with an airy, moody sound that drips with heartsick regret, doubt, and recrimination.  Sounds like fun, huh?   Listen to his “Next” from his just issued Echoes of Silence, stricken about an empty affair that he’s clearly not ready to give up.

Now understand that he has released three mixtapes (aka “albums”) in the last 12 months, a rate of productivity we haven’t seen since Ryan Adams.   When you produce that much music it can’t all be great.  But, even if you are batting .250 you’ll still turn out more than a few keepers like “The Morning” from this first release House of Balloons.

This is music that sits at the intersection of trip hop and contemporary R&B.  No coincidence that Drake turns up or that the Weeknd is himself a much sought remix producer.  Don’t bring a conventional rock expectation to these tracks – they never speed up; they never break out; there’s no escape.  But you will stay with “Thursday” to the end, waiting and spellbound.

Available as downloads from the Weeknd’s website. http://the-weeknd.com/

Roots, Rock, Reggae

For a grey January, three distinctive women’s voices working very different roots, rock, and reggae veins. 

Gillian Welch - Listening to Welch and her partner Dave Rawlings is like tuning in to some ghost broadcast from the Dust Bowl.  Their original songs are steeped in bluegrass and traditional country but informed by the Dead and the Band.  She released a fine album last year, The Harrow and The Harvest, on which you will find this wonderful example of their songcraft, "The Way It Goes".

But the pinnacle of her work for me, is this spare, loving tune about Elvis, "Elvis Presley Blues"  from her Time (the Revelator), from 2001. Wouldn't you love to live next door to her and hear this music coming through the trees on a warm night?  Wouldn't you love it to be a warm night?

Kathleen Edwards – Why haven’t I been paying attention?  With a decade long career behind her, I am just now noticing what a fine voice she has – recalling Suzanne Vega and Neko Case – and an  musical style that sits somewhere between alt country and folk rock. (Er, same thing I guess.) Start with "Empty Threat", from her just released Voyageur.  Then, do not pass "GO", listen to her "Hockey Skates".  She's Canadian, eh?  And keep paying attention.  

Hollie Cook - Dad was the drummer for the Sex Pistols and the Slits.  Her self-titled 2011 debut is all-reggae, all-the-time.  Been away from this music for awhile?  Let this gently remind you of the pleasure of marinating your prefrontal cortex in an album’s worth of 4/4 sunshine.  It belongs on the shelf next to “Natty Dread”.   Two tracks, "Used to Be" and her cover of the Shangri La's "Walking in the Sand" will give you the idea, then you're on your own. 

            -- JFJ         

   

Freedom Songs

A day late for MLK Day?  Maybe so, but I heard someone refer yesterday to MLK week. By that standard I'm right on time with these songs that recall the anthems of the Civil Rights era.  When a movement gets music, watch out. Take note OWS. 

Nina Simone – How It Feels to Be Free – This came late (in ’67), but Simone came early.   Wistful, angry, soulful -- this was Nina.  

Sam Cooke  - A Change Is Gonna Come.  Otis has a fine version, but this is Sam’s song, a 1963 recording the year before he died.  He wanted to write one to rival "Blowin' In the Wind" and he did. 

Mavis Staples – Keep Your Eyes on the Prize – New recording (2007) from her masterful "We'll Never Turn Back",  songs from and about the movement.   Ry Cooder arranging and playing. 

Mahalia Jackson – Keep Your Hand on the Plow – I couldn't resist this.  It supplied the melody for “Eyes on the Prize” but listen to the joy in this version by Mahalia, the first gospel singer I ever heard.