MUSIC REVIEW: ROYAL WOOD - WE WERE BORN TO GLORY

Sophisticated, smart, and catchy as all-get-out, Royal Wood has put together his most elegant album with We Were Born To Glory.  Always adept at crafting a moving melody, Wood scores big with a bunch of high-end, hook-heavy and up-tempo gems at the start of the disc, before moving into some moving, and glossy ballads.  Lead track The Thick Of It sets the tone, showcasing his sweet harmonies and joyous pop moves, including a Byrds guitar riff and even a whistled solo.

The hits keep coming, with the urgent The Fire Did Go driving along with a desperate drum beat, Wood wondering how to get back to the spark at the start of a love.  Chiming piano introduces Not Giving Up, Wood pledging to fight the good fight, "With every flame of my desire/I'm not giving up on you."  It's all radiant, with the glory of Rufus Wainwright and the emotional depth of Ron Sexsmith. 

Our boy has the voice, too.  Listen to string ballad Will We Ever Learn, bound to melt the hardest heart.  What a joy to open my email yesterday and see Wood's fall tour includes a stop in my fair city, although we all must wait until late fall, after some festival dates and a European jaunt.  If you want to mark your calender now, here are the shows:

The Glory Tour:

Oct 15 - Winnipeg, MB @ West End Cultural Centre
Oct 16 - Regina, SK @ The Exchange
Oct 17 - Prince Albert, SK @ EA Rawlinson Centre for the Arts
Oct 18 - Saskatoon, SK @ Broadway Theatre
Oct 20 - Vancouver, BC @ Rio Theatre
Oct 21 - Victoria, BC @ St. Ane Theatre
Oct 23 - Nelson, BC @ Royal on Baker
Oct 24 - Canmore, AB @ Communitea Cafe
Oct 25 - Calgary, AB @ Hillhurst Church
Oct 26 - Edmonton, AB @ Myer Horowitz Theatre
Nov 7 – Hamilton, ON @ Studio Theatre
Nov 8 – London, ON @ Aeolian Hall
Nov 10 – Toronto, ON @ Winter Garden Theatre
Nov 22 - Port Hawkesbury, NS @ Shannon Studio
Nov 23 - Hunter River, PE @ Harmony House
Nov 24 -Margaretsville, NS @ Evergreen Theatre
Nov 25 - Halifax, NS @ St. Matthews Church
Nov 26 - Fredericton, NB @ The Capital Complex
Dec 7 - Kingston, ON @ Chalmers Church
Dec 8 - Peterborough, ON @ Market Hall
Dec 9 - Montreal, QC @ Petit Campus

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: BRANDI CARLILE - BEAR CREAK

There's Nashville country, that's the over-produced, hat-wearing, sappy, pop-flavoured stuff that sounds more like Fleetwood Mac than Hank Williams.  There's alt-country, which is basically country for rock fans, with bands and fans that worship Gram Parsons and electric guitars.  There's Outlaw country, the Waylon-Willie-Merle stuff that hasn't changed much since the '70's.  There's classic country, which can mean anything from the Carter Family to the countrypolitan stuff of the 60's and 70's, the George Jones-Loretta Lynn-Tammy Wynette style.  Then there's old-timey and Bluegrass, which can go from Bill Monroe to Alison Krauss.  Roots-songwriter country can feature cowboys like Ian Tyson and Corb Lund, or craftspeople like Rosanne Cash and Guy Clark.  And then there's Johnny Cash.  There's probably a couple more genres I'm missing.  Anyway, it's all splintered and confusing, and causes great ire depending on which you prefer.

So then there's Brandi Carlile, who straddles more than one fence.  Carlile writes most of her songs with brothers and bandmates Tim and Phil Hanseroth, and it feels like these are basically her own words and feelings.  It's quite polished, expensive-sounding, but seems real and heartfelt.  She bounces around the place, from the sweet string-piano parlour tune Heart's Content, to the big pop of Rise Again and even some, you know, country-sounding songs.  Even her voice is enigmatic, pure, rich and big, like a belting Bonnie Raitt, but with just the slightest hint of a rural drawl.

The polished side seems to annoy the No Depression crowd, who find lots to like in her other styles.  So she doesn't score that well in the cool club, although you'll still find her on the NPR playlist in the States.  But mainstream country hasn't fallen too hard for her either, and instead of being on the road with Dierks Bentley, she tours with the likes of Dave Matthews Band and Ray LaMontagne.  Her last album was live with an orchestra, covering Elton John, Simon and Garfunkel and, ulp, yet another Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen.  What IS she?

In the end, it doesn't matter a toss.  You can like her or ignore.  I vote to like her, she has a great voice and lots of ideas.  She doesn't fit into the standard styles of country, or anything else for that matter, and perhaps that's the best part of her work, just doing what she wants.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: MUDDY WATERS/THE ROLLING STONES - CHECKERBOARD LOUNGE CHICAGO 1981

Here's the scene:  The Checkerboard Lounge in Chicago, owned by Buddy Guy, in 1981.  Muddy Waters is doing a rare gig back in the South Side, where he came to fame with his electric version of Delta blues in the 50's.  Everybody wants to be in the small club that night, and as fate would have it, The Rolling Stones were in the area on their tour.  Let the games begin!

Here's what it's not:  The DVD isn't a full night of Muddy fronting the Stones.  It's a Muddy set, with want amounts to a stage invasion of musicians.  Not all the Stones are there, but Mick, Keith, Ronnie and pianist Ian Stewart are.  Or rather, they arrive four songs in, they and their entourage commandeering the front table, immediately commanding the attention of the cameras there to capture the night (and you knew they were coming).  Muddy doesn't mind being momentarily upstaged by their arrival, he knows the score, and knows they're coming on stage soon.  It's all cool.

Mick stays up for four songs, Keith and Ronnie get called up shortly after Mick, and stay there the whole night, playing some decent riffs.  But midway through the set, it gets way too crowded, when Muddy invites three more blues men on stage:  Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, and Chicago mainstay Lefty Dizz.  There's way too many front men fighting for the mic now, so Mick skips out, and Muddy takes a seat too, beaming from the front row as his disciples entertain him.

The highlight of the show is the time when Muddy and Mick are sparring.  By then they were old friends, and Waters surely knew the younger Brit idolized him.  Clearly enjoying themselves, both goad each other on, accenting and repeating each other's lines.  By the time they get to Mannish Boy, Muddy's so pumped he jumps up and strolls the stage, all of a sudden 30 years younger.  Two years after this night, he was gone.

The rest feels like a denouement, and although Ron, Keith and Ian stay on stage, it's really an unrehearsed jam set that features Guy, Wells and Dizz as singers.  This probably isn't the best way to get introduced to Lefty Dizz, who was beloved on Chicago club scene and a dynamic showman, but here seems like an unknown interloper in a crowd of kings.  However, all the Chicago cats thought he was an equal, such was his status.  Most of us, however, are here for the Stones.  Mick and Muddy come up for one more, and clown around on Waters' Champagne And Reefer, before the night is done for them and us.

So it's not a stunning night of music, more a historic meeting for stargazers.  But it looks like a great party, and it would have been amazing to be there.  Thank goodness someone thought to hire the camera crew, and it's good the Stones are loosening up on archive stuff like this.  It may not be everyone's best night, but it's a fun watch for sure.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: JEREMY FISHER - MINT JULEPS

Fisher's as stripped down as can be here, an acoustic album with uke, mandolin, double bass, woody percussion and banjo, nothing electric.  It fits his singalong, catchy numbers just fine, of which there are five originals.  The rest are covers of famous songwriters he loves, although they are somewhat obscure numbers.  And all but two are Canadian writers, which is a classy move.  Lightfoot is here, but its a very early, 1966 single Spin Spin.  The youngster shows great taste, and fine knowledge of past masters, including songs by Gene MacLellan (If It's Alright With You) and Murray McLauchlan (Highway One).  There's room for later stuff too, including a Ron "Lowest Of The Low" Hawkins number.  The closest thing to a known hit is one from Quebec, from the mercurial Jean Leloup, his I Lost My Baby.  Even his John Hiatt cover is a hardly-heard gem, Gone.

They are all favourites of his, taken from his live show, and Fisher wanted to capture the feeling of what he does night after night on the road.  A veteran yet still a relative kid, he's obviously taken with the folk and singer-songwriter traditions, and living up to those ideals.  The first time I ever met him, he was biking his way across North America, choosing to promote his first album in the healthiest way possible.  It's great to see he's still living that way; one of the new tunes here is Built To Last, espousing the joys of two-wheels-good, in a metaphor for rolling through life.

Sitting your own tunes on a disc surrounded by such first-class names is a gamble.  It can point out the weaknesses in a lesser writer.  That ain't Fisher.  Not only do his own songs live up to the quality of the others, he also makes the covers his own, keeping a relaxed and confident pace through the disc.  And with the somewhat unfamiliar list of songs here, I bet lots couldn't tell the difference between his and theirs.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: JIMMY CLIFF - REBIRTH

But for a bad business move, Jimmy Cliff might be considered reggae's biggest star.  After all, he was the one breaking through in the early 70's, thanks to British hits Wonderful World, Beautiful People, his anti-war Viet Nam, which Bob Dylan called the best protest song ever written, and a smash cover of Cat Stevens' Wild World.  Then came his biggest of all, a starring role in the hit film The Harder They Come, which brought the sounds of reggae around the world.  But Cliff was upset with Island boss Chris Blackwell, who had brought him to England in the first place, and thought he was favouring Bob Marley over him, spending more on promotion.  So he jumped ship for another label, and watched as Marley leaped ahead, ironically enjoying even more of Blackwell's promotion, now that Cliff was out of the picture.

Yet Cliff's contributions have been many, although never quite as political or controversial as Marley.  He leaned towards the pop side more, and was always more at home with the commercial influences of 60's U.S. soul music, and his roots in ska and rock steady, the precursors of reggae.  Not to say he never went that harder route, just not all the time.

This is a welcome return to Cliff's best sounds, and certainly his best work since the 70's.  It's a surprising production by Tim Armstrong of Rancid, a big reggae fan.  The goal was simple, to return to the classic sounds of Cliff's late 60's - early 70's heyday, and that's exactly what they've done.  Cliff hasn't lost a bit of his voice, and wanted this bad.  His lyrics are direct and captivating, full of the more subtle messages which mark his best work.  The cut Reggae Music is a highlight, as he tells his life story, from the music side, and his commitment to human rights.  Children's Bread is another strong one, chastising those who starve the youngest for their own profit.  Cliff wrote 'em all here, except for a cover of Rancid's Ruby Soho, and an inspired choice, The Clash's best reggae number, Guns Of Brixton.  Not only is it a great song, and an excellent version, Cliff's character in The Harder They Come, Ivanhoe, is name-checked, so it's downright perfect, bringing it all full circle.

The music is great throughout, thanks to Armstrong's core studio group.  It's not punk'ed up at all, but the original sounds of ska, rock steady, and the right soul and pop touches.  Considering that nobody really does reggae right anymore, and most Jamaican output the last 20 years has sucked as they chased dance hall hits, and whatever, this is the best new reggae album in decades, methinks.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: THE BEATLES - YELLOW SUBMARINE (Blu-ray)

The latest upgrade in The Beatles catalog is the 1968 curiosity that remains one of their more debatable projects.  Stuck owing one more film after A Hard Day's Night and Help!, there was no decent script, and no great desire to do another one.  The answer came from the same American company making the silly but profitable cartoon TV series, offering a full-length movie with not too much needed from the Fabs.  They did what they had to, which was come up with some of their silliest songs (Hey Bulldog, It's All Too Much), handed over some old ones (Eleanor Rigby, Sgt. Pepper), and filmed a very short live-action piece for the ending.  The rest was handled by a mixed group of British and U.S. producers, writers, animators and voice actors.

This new issue is the first version to make it to Blu-ray, and it's a top job, with the brilliant colours of the pop-art drawings never looking better.  The soundtrack sounds great in 5.1 audio as well, and you purists can even switch over to mono.  There are some cool bonuses, including some original storyboards, even a couple that weren't used in the end.  There's some commentary and interviews with people who made the movie, and all housed in an attractive package.  Altogether, everything that can be done to spruce up a 42-year old movie has been done. 

What they can't do is make it better, and time hasn't been kind to the silliness inside.  Well, not that it was ever a huge favourite.  While the animation is a treat, the story is a muddle, part childish whimsy (the Blue Meanies have always been the best thing here) and the rest aren't-we-clever 60's hipness.  It might have helped if the several writers had managed to get the four personalities of The Beatles right, but apart from British accents and mod clothes, they could be any sarcastic group.  Ringo's voice actor does a decent job, but the guy doing George isn't close.  And the worst thing about it is that it's kinda creepy.  Laughs, even chuckles are few, and outnumbered by the weird moments.

Still, they price these things now so reasonably, it's almost worth it for the Blu-ray quality, bonuses and the reminder of what it was like.  And Eleanor Rigby sure sounds good coming out of all those speakers.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: GEORGE HARRISON - EARLY TAKES VOL. 1

And... open up the floodgates!  Great news for George Harrison fans, as a new collection of unreleased tracks has appeared, and it comes with the promise of much more.  This is the companion disc to the recent Martin Scorsese documentary, Living In The Material World, and some of it was heard in the background of the film.  Along with its recent DVD release, and the Christmas-time publication of a coffee table book to supplement the movie, we get this 10-track set of all previously unreleased music.

It's mostly demos, rough studio versions of the songs as Harrison sketched out the tune, either solo or with a couple of players.  For this first volume, they've grabbed many of the big ones, including My Sweet Lord, All Things Must Pass, and Run Of The Mill.  There's actually six cuts here from the All Things Must Pass album, his most popular.  But it was also his first post-Beatles album too, so it looks like there's plenty to come from the rest.  No doubt collectors are happy about a couple of cover versions as well, songs that didn't appear on his regular albums.  We hear him tackle Dylan's Mama You've Been On My Mind, and also the old Everly Brothers classic Let It Be Me, George singing both harmony parts.

Demos can sometimes be a bit of a letdown, either unpolished and dull, or quite similar to the finished versions.  Here, Harrison has yet to meet Phil Spector's Wall Of Sound, as recorded on the finished All Things Must Pass album.  Stripped down, we discover he's just as strong without all the extra players and parts.  Everything is pretty much there that makes the songs on that album so special; his acoustic guitar, a little slide, that mellow voice, and especially strong lyrics at this point.  Some of these are songs he been storing for the last two years in The Beatles, unable to get this sudden flurry of great tunes onto the later albums packed with Lennon and McCartney tracks.  They were probably polished to perfection as acoustic numbers, as Harrison waited for his chance to get them to the public.

There's no word yet on when the next volume will come, but Olivia Harrison has promised it, and according to both her and producer Giles Martin (son of George), there is lots more to come.