MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: ROLLING STONES - SIX ED SULLIVAN SHOWS DVD

I had originally review this last fall, when it was first out, but in a cheaper, incomplete edition.  That version featured four of the Stones' appearances on Sullivan, but this time we get all six, and really, I don't understand why they bothered with the first, as you'll want to have all six.  It is certainly a nicer package now, with a booklet, photos and reproductions of cool stuff like union contracts for the musicians.  But the two missing shows are essential, as they are the first (1964) and last (1969) appearances on the show.

Fabulously, these are the entire Ed shows, including the vintage commercials (Hai Karate aftershave, anyone?), and the variety show in all its classic absurdity.  I had never heard of dancer Peg Leg Bates, but there he was, dancing WITH A PEG LEG.  The prosthesis that allowed him to tap dance was quite on display, and you have to give him great credit for developing this skill, but it's simply a visual shock, and not the first.  The Ed Sullivan Show was a hodgepodge of old and new, a holdover from the days of vaudeville, with circus performers, comics, puppeteers, even dramatic readings.  It tried to be everything for everybody, which is why Ed (who also produced the show) kept trying to put modern stuff in "for you kids", like the Rolling Stones, as he had with Elvis and The Beatles.  But it was clear where his heart lay, at home as he was with stage veterans and old showbiz royalty.

There was a reason Sullivan tried to get old and young, parents and children.  It was still broadcasting then, not narrow-casting.  With only a small number of channels available, shows wanted something for everyone, and this was way before you could change the channel with a remote.  So the whole family wanted something they could all watch.  And while the kids might role their eyes during Robert Goulet, it would be the adults turn to cluck during Mick Jagger's mugging and preening.

Don't think Ed was too square though.  His fawning over old-school celebrities and stiff stage patter belied a man willing to change attitudes along with the times.  Appearing on the most popular show on television hugging singer Ella Fitzgerald, and then kissing her hand probably did much for race relations.  And there's one moment, after watching the somewhat bizarre circus spectacle of a ferocious tiger riding on top of a horse, when Sullivan uttered words that might have come out of David Letterman's lips in the same theatre 40 years later:  "He ain't gonna get me on no tiger or horse, neither one of them.  Next week, in fact, I think we'll have the horse ride the tiger."

Now, to the Stones.  The first show, from 1964, is quite a spectacle, mostly in its absurdity.  In addition to Peg Leg, British actor Laurence Harvey recites The Charge Of The Light Brigade, a trio of Korean sisters sing Joshua Fit The Battle Of Jericho, trying to stifle their accents, comedian couple Stiller and Meara, parents of Ben, and the father of George Costanza (on Seinfeld at least), did their stand-up, and a young Itzhak Perlman blew everybody off the stage, Stones included.  Their rough blues on Around and Around seemed out of place, but everything on the show did.  Time On My Side is a little smoother, and the group is starting to look like stars.

You can actually watch the band grow in stature and performance on each show, from '64 to '69.  By May 1965, they are leading off the show, torquing up the danger on The Last Time.  In February of 1966, they are huge pop stars, and Satisfaction is delivered with relish.    Their second appearance that year, in September, sees them as pop dandies, with Lady Jane and Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?  I can barely understand that period, so  Ed must have been perplexed too.

The most famous appearance comes in 1967, when the group had to censor themselves by singing Let's Spend Some Time Together.  Not that it bothered them, Mick making a big deal out of singing the new words and rolling his eyes at the camera.  The group was taking the opportunity to reach its fans on TV, and didn't care about the rules of an older generation.  Plus, it's a great performance, as is Ruby Tuesday from the same show.

The last hour here is a mixed blessing.  In 1969, the Sullivan show was still a major force in TV, and apart from the horse-tiger act, it was an A-list showcase, featuring Fitzgerald, Rodney Dangerfield, a young Robert Klein and of course, our little Italian mouse friend Topo Gigio.  As a piece of TV, it's actually quite watchable, and trivia lovers should note that Fitzgerald sings a number by one Harry Nillson, Open Your Window.  You'll flip for the Stones' set list, comprised of Gimme Shelter, Love In Vain, and Honky Tonk Women.  And then you'll moan with sorrow when you discover it's lip-synch'ed.  At least Jagger's mic is live, so he's actually singing along to the track, and the band all try to give a performance. 

So, there are two good reasons to get this set:  To see the Stones, and to see full Ed Sullivan shows.  You get it all, from Senor Wences to The Muppets to Flip Wilson, Red Skelton and Phyllis Diller all in their primes.  I can assure you it's fascinating to watch these shows, but if you're younger than 40, you might need a 60's interpreter.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: GLEN CAMPBELL - MEET GLEN CAMPBELL

For those of you who saw Campbell on the Grammy telecast, doing his Vegas act on his biggest (and perhaps worst) hit, Rhinestone Cowboy, he's a lot cooler than that at times.  Given the time limits, the tribute barely scratched the surface of this remarkable man's career, not only one of the great singers, the ultimate crossover artist, and most superb guitar players of the last 50 years.  Torn between studio work and trying to carve his own career in the 60's, Campbell was a charter member of the awesome Wrecking Crew, responsible for many of the great hits of the 60's, used by everyone from Phil Spector to Brian Wilson to Frank Sinatra.  I prefer to think of the emotion in his work with the songs of Jimmy Webb, including Galveston and By The Time I Get To Phoenix.

Then there's this beauty, a wonderful later-career disc.  This isn't his most recent album, but the one before it, his comeback album of 2008.  At the time, Campbell teamed up with the much younger producer Julian Raymond, who had the idea of remodelling Campbell using modern, somewhat alternative and left-field songwriters and material:  works by Foo Fighters, U2, Paul Westerberg, and Lou Reed.  But before you scream Johnny Cash and Rick Rubin, it wasn't quite the same.  While Raymond used the same trick of making surprising and excellent song choices, the production was actually full-on, rather than the stripped-down records Cash and Rubin made.  It's a fabulous sound, part modern, and part classic Campbell, great big sounds with horns and strings, and classic guitar and banjo licks straight out of the 60's.  There are so many great versions, such as Jackson Browne's These Days, rich and emotive, Campbell given lots of room to soar, and rising to the occasion.  Turning Green Day's Good Riddance into a folk ballad with a driving drum track and mandolin solo is sheer bravado, and again, a complete success.  The only time you feel like Campbell might be heading  back to Branson, Missouri material is on the gospel cut Jesus, until you realize it's Lou Reed's song.

This updated version is met to tie in with the Grammy bounce, and there's some nice additions.  There are two remixes of classics, Gentle On My Mind and Galveston, really just the normal cuts with the sonics cleaned up.  Then there are three cuts for an AOL session, the highlight being Wichita Lineman with Campbell proving he still has it, a take on U2's All I Want Is You, featured on the main album, and unfortunately, a similarly cheesy Rhinestone Cowboy.  He really should have done Galveston on the Grammy's.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: CHARLIE HADEN & HANK JONES - COME SUNDAY

Recorded shortly before the death of jazz pianist Jones in 2010, this is the second collection of eloquent gospel and folk music done with double-bassist Charlie Haden.  It's just the two of them, but with great beauty in the simplicity.  Almost all of these songs will be familiar to most people, even if you didn't grow up in the church.  The gentle care the duo takes with the material only hammers home the strength.

Many of the songs come from the hymnals.  Blessed Assurance, Give Me That Old Time Religion, The Old Rugged Cross and Nearer My God To Thee are as much pillars of American folk music as any murder ballad or old-timey mountain song.  There's a great argument to be made that this early gospel is the truest American music, predating jazz, country, bluegrass, whatever.  Its influence is still obvious all over genres today.  With two jazz giants devoting their attention to it, even wordlessly, the case is stronger.

Jones plays, Haden responds, or vice-versa.  There's no drama here, no out-there soloing or radical or even minor departures from the famous melodies.  Instead an intense calmness prevails, a richness that only serves the historic notes.  There are even some surprising choices, including two carols, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and It Came Upon The Midnight Clear, that help connect the dots over the years for this kind of praise music, with great messages.  This is a wonderful disc to go to at any time, to wash your troubles away.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: MUSIC FROM AND INSPIRED BY THE ORIGINAL SERIES PAN AM

The new TV show Pan Am is after the same audience that fell in love with Mad Men, going for that retro late-50's/early 60's feel of adult America, and the exciting lives of stewardesses.  So, it makes sense that they'd go for the same soundtrack style as well.  That means no rock n' roll, but plenty of what was then pop.  This flight is filled with the slick but still cool sounds of famous jazzers and adult vocalists, with a whiff of martini in the air.

The compilers have tried to go past the obvious hits, and they did well with that, as almost none of these bothered the charts.  However, they are also strong choices, and my relatively hasty research shows most weren't released as singles, but probably would have been decent choices.  The names are all recognizable for the most part; Bobby Darin, Ella Fitzgerald, Brenda Lee, Peggy Lee, Dinah Washington, even Count Basie shows up with a late-period attempt at modern sounds, an instrumental version of Ray Charles' recent hit I Can't Stop Loving You.  All good stuff.  Oddly, the one major hit that is included here is so overused that it's become annoying:  I hereby declare a moratorium on the appearance of The Girl From Ipanema for at least a decade.  It needs to rest, at the same retirement home as Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah.

There's a ringer here, and it will be of interest to a lot of folks.  New festival favourite Grace Potter is a grand choice to update another classic, with Fly Me To The Moon an obvious and good choice for the show's subject matter.  She does a smooth job of it, too.  With the non-album Potter oddity, and the mostly-obscure track listing, this makes a nice pick-up for those with a taste for some light swingin'.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: RICHARD THOMPSON BAND - LIVE AT CELTIC CONNECTIONS

Funny thing, fame.  Viewing this new Blu-ray, and reflecting on Thompson's long and high-quality career, it strikes me that even though he is not what we'd consider a star, he may have found the perfect mix of commercial and artistic success.  He's basically a cult artist, highly respected and loved by those that know him, a big enough draw to fill small halls, and continue to release albums, get lots of adoring press, yet not really bother pop culture or be a household name.  I'm sure he'd like to add a zero onto every pay cheque over the years, but here's what he'd have to give up.

Almost every act of his vintage (he started in the late 60's) pretty much has to come out and do a greatest hits show, and lean heavily on the tried-and-true numbers from the start of their career.  Thompson, however, can do shows of entirely new material, as we have here, and still have the audience thrilled.  I bet he appreciates this, and for an artist, it may be more important than that collection of luxury cars in the garage their more commercially-successful peers can afford.

This set comes from a festival in Glasgow, rather than the similarly-named one in Cape Breton.  Recorded in January of last year, it sees Thompson perform the bulk of his latest effort, the strong Dream Attic album.  That album was actually a live one, of all-new material, captured in concert rather than in studio as Thompson and his crack band worked out exciting stage arrangements.  We get the usual devastating character studies, take-downs of greedy bastard bankers (The Money Shuffle), self-important rock stars (Here Comes Geordie, reported to be about Sting), and vile serial killers (Sidney Wells).  The musicianship is of the highest order, with Thompson effortlessly coaxing ripping solos, but more importantly providing a rich and ringing tone through all his rhythm and fills-playing.

The band is stellar and able to move in any direction Thompson chooses, adding lots of their own colours.  Pete Zorn is a mood machine, going from dark and gloomy to full-out rocking on sax and flute, as well as beefing up the set when needed on second guitar and vocals.  Canadian and McGarrigle associate Joel Zifkin is whiz on fiddle, and as Thompson explains in the liner notes, not stuck on any style, so a valuable sideman.  Rather than impressing with solos, this band is all about making a joyful noise together.

The hall-capacity audience is highly supportive of these new-to-them songs, and nobody is rushing out to the beer vendor like they do when The Rolling Stones try to sneak in something written after 1978.  And even when the Thompson Band returns for the second set of older material, it's hardly a greatest-hits night.  Instead his fans are treated to rare gems such as The Angels Took My Racehorse Away from his solo debut Henry The Human Fly in 1972 ("the poorest-selling album in Warner Brothers' history", he says triumphantly).  Thompson could cherry-pick just about anything from his discs and get away with it, but of course he does add some of the better-known favourites, this time Wall Of Death, Al Bowlly's In Heaven and Tear-Stained Letter, the latter perhaps his biggest showboat crowd-pleaser. 

If you are a Thompson fan, you already know you need this video.  If he's new to you, it's a great place to start, and lucky you, as there will be so much to discover.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: LEONARD COHEN - OLD IDEAS

When Leonard Cohen opened his world tour here in Fredericton at The Playhouse on May 11, 2008, it was a glorious event.  While it could have been simply a last love-in for a senior taking a farewell jaunt, the wily veteran proved he had the chops to continue, and had lost none of his ability to captivate.  What should have been a retirement trip was in fact the start of a new phase, one that would see him on the road for two years, and most surprisingly, offering new tunes on stage, and the promise of another album. 

That was welcome news, but not entirely exciting.  After all, his most recent releases, after the later-period thrills of I'm Your Man and The Future, were the underwhelming Ten New Songs (2001) and Dear Heather (2004).  He made nods to them on the tour, but really his reputation for a new generation was anchored in legend, and the unexpected revival of Hallelujah.  The idea of a new, and stunning Cohen album seemed chancy at best.  Of course, I never thought he'd start a world tour in Fredericton, either, let alone play possibly the greatest concert event I've ever witnessed, when he was 73.  Now he's 77.

Old Ideas is not only better than I had expected, it is a significant work by a vibrant artist, obviously buoyed by his recent success.  Everything you want from Cohen is here, plus a few surprises.  There are songs of the highest lyrical quality, his hallmark since the start of his music career.  With his experience, he learned long ago that economy is more important than verbiage, and the search for the perfect word and phrase would serve him better than haste.  Cohen's wit is present as well, playing off his image, as he did with I'm Your Man.  The disc opens with Going Home, and the very first lines we hear are "I love to speak with Leonard/He's a sportsman and a shepherd/He's a lazy bastard/Living in a suit."  It's a fascinating number that seems to be about the difference between the public and on-stage Cohen and who he feels he really is:  "He wants to write a love song/An anthem of forgiving/A manual for living with defeat."

Defeat?  Love is defeat?  Crap.  He's probably right, and that little zinger is just tossed off in the midst of one number.  As usual, love in all its agony and ecstasy is a major theme here, even after the fact, on Anyhow, where our boy tries to lesson a guilty conscious:  "Have mercy on me baby/After all I did confess/Even though you have to hate me/Could you hate me less?"  It's lines like these that draw us into the songs, and the album is full of them.

His other main song source, again something that has remained constant, is religion, combining these classic images with personal writing.  In Show Me The Place (which features a welcome return of vocalist Jennifer Warnes), the images are from the Resurrection, the singer asking "help me roll away the stone", but it's another relationship song, our man willing to suffer for the love of one just as Jesus did for the love of all.  Only L.C. could pull that lyric off.

Part of the success of that, and a couple of other songs, comes from the production and arrangements, which cast these songs closer to hymns than Cohen has ever come.  Credit the various producers and arrangers here, because the disc features a varied bunch of styles and  collaborations, and this is more good news.  Both Ten New Songs and Dear Heather felt like Cohen was leaning too heavily on both Sharon Robinson and Anjani Thomas, and while both return here, they are part of the team, with Cohen seeming more in control of the overall plan, and more interested as well.  Patrick Leonard and Ed Sanders are most prominent, but it always feels like Cohen's song.  Even the co-writing credits are way down, Cohen solely responsible for five of the ten tracks.

One last and pleasant surprise comes at the start of the second half of the album.  Until then, Old Ideas had sounded like the usual modern Cohen disc, spare but precise instrumentation, not as synth-heavy perhaps, very good for sure.  But on Crazy To Love You, we get the return of the original Leonard, as the song features the nylon-string guitar with which his early hits are associated.    It's Cohen's nod to his younger self, and might even be in answer to his son Adam, who recently released his own disc of nylon stringed tunes, saying he'd been bugging the old man to return to that sound for years.  It is welcome, and as usual wise.  Just a taste, not a return, that's not growth.

Listening through, the biggest surprise is what Cohen didn't do on this disc.  He didn't go back, he moved forward, and strongly.  He got better, like any artist wants, and even though his age is there, it's not the topic, not the excuse, not really considered.  Unlike contemporaries Paul Simon and Bob Dylan, there are no ruminations on what things have changed.  For Cohen, nothing really has in his work, and the work is all-important, which is why he "love(s) to speak with Leonard".  He's our man, skipping into the future.                                                              

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: BRANDON ISAAK - BLUESMAN'S PLEA

Longtime front man for Vancouver blues favourites The Twisters, Isaak strikes out on his own with a solid debut.  Showing skills in a wide variety of acoustic blues, Isaac brings it all together with a powerful, plaintive and gutsy voice, plus excellent writing over the course of the 14 tunes here.  With lots of fine picking, evocative slide and plenty of changes, it's a surprise and wonder that he handles everything on the album aside from drums, which fall to producer Chris Isaak (the other one, Brandon's sibling). 

There's a smoothness on a lot of tracks, but it's the good kind, not wimpy but instead soulful.  Isaak really shines when he puts the gospel into his music, not literally, but grabbing the good swing found in those uplifting tones.  You Gotta Pray is a number to get you out of the personal blues, and sees him getting close to preacher vocals.  Instead of other bluesmen, at several points on the disc I find myself thinking about Lyle Lovett, and that's meant as a big compliment.

Even when the disc leans towards cliche, such as the lyrics on Hard Workin' Woman, where his baby is leaving on a big jet plane, the production quality, the sound, and the voice make the song winner.  Luckily, there are far more gems with something new in them.  He gets a slow funky groove going for A Little Wine, a cautionary tale, and for Tell Me Why, Isaac lets his inner Howlin' Wolf come out.  Always known (and nominated) as a strong songwriter on the national blues scene, Isaak pushing to the head of the pack with this work.