MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: NEIL YOUNG WITH CRAZY HORSE - WAY DOWN IN THE RUST BUCKET

Another one from Young's Performance Series, this one comes from a special night, a warm-up gig for the Ragged Glory tour in 1990. Young and Crazy Horse took over the Catalyst in Santa Cruz, California, and did three sets for the lucky few, two and a half hours of tunes. Since this was before the tour, the setlist for his upcoming gigs hadn't been put together yet, so there was a good spirit of fun throughout, with some rare cuts, band favourites and almost all the new album played.

There's already a live album from this tour, Weld, which was released in 1991. It's good, but this beats it, for various reasons. First, there's excellent sound on this thanks to the small club feel. Young's vocals especially are up close and personal, and the venue allowed for a better recording. The setlist is very different from the tour document of Weld, and we get some gems here. "Country Home" was an old Horse number that first appeared back in 1975, made the Ragged Glory album, but wasn't featured on the tour. "Surfer Joe And Moe The Sleaze" was a dud on the RE*AC*TOR album, but it proves much more enjoyable played live. Other old '70's tracks "Danger Bird" and "Bite The Bullet" are welcome as well, deep cuts for strong fans, rather than those hoping for "Helpless." 

Throughout, the band is locked in, and Young sounds invested in the performance. You can tell the difference, he's not acting at being Neil Young, he's enjoying the thrill of teaming up once again with his best band, and letting loose on some different and new material. Young was enjoying himself so much, during Don't Cry No Tears, a normally short tune, he got the group to continue playing it rather than ending, explaining to the crowd, "I just felt like singing it some more." 

Of course, it helps that there were so many good new songs to play. Ragged Glory was a very good album, and individually the songs were even better live. "Love To Burn" was a great song to jam on, a long story with full-sized guitar solo breaks. "F*!#in' Up" quickly became both a band and fan favourite, and "Love And Only Love" matched the intensity of other Crazy Horse epics such as "Cortez The Killer," the show closer. 

Yeah, there's a lot of Neil Young albums out there, but this one has everything going for it, if you're a fan of Crazy Horse tours. If that doesn't tempt you, stand by the next one, Young Shakespeare," coming this Friday, solo acoustic from 1971, featuring Harvest-era songs.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: COLLEEN POWER - TALES FROM DOWNTOWN WEST

Here's another use of Covid down time. St. John's mainstay Colleen Power took the RPM Challenge in February. That's Record Production Month, and the goal is to make an entire album by yourself, from songwriting to finished product. Power managed just that, coming up with six strong new ones, and doing all the playing and producing herself. That includes vocals, guitar, bass, dulcimer, drum programming and editing, ukulele and accordion. 

You get a bit of everything Power is about in these tracks. There's Newfoundland whimsy, trad, biting wit, social observation, punk attitude, Francophone, grass roots and modern folk. In the sharpest bit of commentary, she uses the tiktok trend of sea shanties to skewer the socio-political climate of her own province. "NL Sea Shanty" chides the province for being "Halif an hour later b'ys, and fifty years behind." Power isn't pulling any punches with this one: "While the world is wielding windmills, we're bawlin' out for oil/Join me in this sea shanty, pretend you're Alan Doyle." On a softer note, her "Purple Aster" is a ukulele charmer, maybe the first song tribute to that hardy flower. Her downtown St. John's street cred comes through solidly on "Spell For A Broken Mirror," with "Bad luck, bad luck, enough to fill up a dump truck."

The pandemic has curtailed the usual St. Patrick's Day shenanigans in St. John's, but not the music, and Power is doing her bit of celebrating on Facebook Live. Join her at 8:30 PM NST (which is 8 PM Atlantic, 7 PM Eastern, etc.) at www.facebook.com/ColleenPowerNL. And to pick up a copy of Tales From Downtown West or any of her other releases, go to www.singsonginc.ca.

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MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: LEAHY - GOOD WATER

Man, that's a lot of Leahy's. I count seven in the beloved Ontario family band these days, some of the eleven siblings not active these days, others stepping in to take their place, including a couple of next-generation members. With the changes, they are sounding a lot more progressive these days, with more modern instruments and a world music sound on several cuts, more Enya than trad for sure. Produced by Canadian David Bottrill, with plenty of prog and rock credits from Peter Gabriel to Rush to his credit, there are plenty of big-sounding epic tracks here, lots of soaring vocals, moody keyboards and prominent drums. With Donnell, Doug and Angus all on the sidelines, the fiddle content is way down, not even showing up until the third song on the album.

So, a new chapter, but still with moments of the old "Call To Dance" instrumental excitement. Both "Little Moon" and "Star of the Sea" have that fiddle-and-drum Irish swing, where the group's long-standing prowess as dynamic players takes over. For the rest though, Denise's vocals shine, on rockers such as "Joanne" and the piano ballad "Falling." And for the full family story, check out "My Old Man," which tells how the Leahy music dream got passed down, albeit with the generational shift in tastes we hear in this latest version of the group.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: MO KENNEY - COVERS

When Mo Kenney first appeared on the East Coast music scene about a decade ago, one of the songs that made her stand out was her striking solo cover of Bowie's Ziggy-era "Five Years." Stripped of its camp and swagger, Kenney's version brought a chilling humanity to the song, allowing the end-times lyrics to stand out. Kenney has always enjoyed throwing a curve-ball cover into her live show, and for her fourth album she delivers a full set of them.

The album was recorded simply at New Scotland Yard studio with the usual crew, producer Joel Plaskett and engineer Thomas Stajcer. Mostly it's one instrument, guitar or keyboard, and Kenney's vocals. That's key because it lets us focus on her emotional readings of songs that feature thoughtful and sensitive lyrics. Also, we get to hear what it was like for Kenney starting out, learning her favourite songs and adapting them to her interpretations.

The opening track, Big Star's beloved "Thirteen," gives a good sense of the type of song Kenney admires, Alex Chilton's tribute to teenage passion all heart and sentimentality. Kenney has curated a fine bunch of surprises as well, everything from fellow Haligonians Dog Day's "Slow Death" to Guided By Voices' "Game Of Pricks" to Magnetic Fields' "Strange Powers." Her version of "Sour Girl" by Stone Temple Pilots manages to put Scott Weiland as close as possible to Carly Simon. Of the better known songs, Patsy Cline's "You Belong To Me" is a strong reminder of the power of classic songwriting. Her remodeling of The Kinks' "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" featuring one-note spacey organ by Plaskett is more a statement than a pop song. Only the best-known number here, Tom Petty's "Yer So Bad," fails. Slowed down, it's too plodding, and it's supposed to be fun. But without question, Kenney's a singer who owns a song, and inhabits them as well as she does her own writing.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: STEVE HILL - DESERT TRIP

He may be from Montreal, but the desert fits Steve Hill just fine too. Inspired by a trip to Coachella in California, the ace guitarist went off-road in some iconic spots such as Death Valley and Yosemite, toured around and came up with a bunch of tunes that captured the vibe. It was a side trip musically as well, with Hill expanding his blues-rock into some wild western and alt-country too.

Songs "Rain" and "Judgement Day" have the feel of desperado movies, open skies and danger, with moody tones and lots of atmosphere. "Cold Heart" starts out as an acoustic confessional, and then blossoms into an alt-rocker when he hits the chorus. Renegades and loners appear, and that gives Hill a good opportunity to wow us with fast acoustic licks, like on the bluesy "Gotta Be Strong." In these shut-in days, this album feels like freedom.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: DAVID BOWIE - MOTHER b/w TRYIN' TO GET TO HEAVEN / BOWIE & MORRISSEY - COSMIC DANCER

I have to admit I am fascinated and more than a little obsessed with the non-stop reissue and archive program for Bowie. Barely a month goes by without some new product. I've had to draw the line at some of them. I won't search out all the coloured vinyl reissues of his regular albums, that seems just repetitive. And there are now so many concert albums I've actually lost track of them. They all seem very good of course, and he did drastically change with each tour, but at some point you have to realize you're spending way too much time listening to one artist.

Each time you think the vaults must be empty of truly unreleased songs, they prove you wrong, The latest new material is featured on two 7-inch 45 rpm releases, cover versions of some famous material, by artists who were strong influences on Bowie. The first features two studio tracks recorded in 1998, for different projects .Bowie did a version of John Lennon's "Mother" for a tribute album, but that ended up shelved. Also that same year, when he was in the studio mixing some live tracks for his Bowie.net site, he recorded a version of Bob Dylan's recent song, "Tryin' To Get To Heaven," and that too has sat on the shelf until now. 

The version of "Mother" is pretty straight-forward, certainly no out-there '90's Bowie experimentation going on. Instead he lets his voice and emotion rule the track, the band really not much of a presence. As such, he doesn't add much to the song's legacy. Lennon's own version was so raw and claustrophobic, it seemed straight from one of his primal scream therapy sessions, so Bowie was never going to touch that. He should have messed with it more. That's what he did with the Dylan song, to better effect, creating a new opening with a prominent synth, and changing the melody and mood of the song. It's certainly odd and different lined up against the original, and I'm not sure it does the lyric any favours, but it's interesting and deserves to be out and heard.

Marc Bolan's spectacular rise and fall has relegated him to the second tier of rock fame, but without Bolan there certainly would have been no Ziggy Stardust, and for while Bowie seemed like the junior partner in their friendship. So when Bowie guested at a Morrissey show in 1991, a T. Rex cover seemed like a natural. The two of them sing together, Bowie doing his low voice for the first bit, and only an acoustic guitar behind them, so it must have been a quick decision. It's cool, but hardly a special moment. This has been on YouTube for ages, so it's no surprise, but the fact Morrissey has allowed its release is more interesting. He's had spotty relations with his former idol over the years, but then again, it's Morrissey, so who knows. It may be more of a question of him trying to get some good publicity for a change. Since this is technically a Morrissey single, not a Bowie, the b-side doesn't feature Dave. It's a cover of The Jam's "That's Entertainment," which Morrissey has already released once before. This is a new version though, recorded last year, much calmer than the original, but quite perfect for Morrissey. Funny, of all the covers here, it's the most successful. 

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: JEFF TWEEDY - LOVE IS THE KING

Pandemic, schmandemic. Wilco's leader Tweedy has kept going at his usual heavy pace despite being stuck at home. He's been putting out an album a year or more much of the last decade, between solo and band works. There's been an on-going reissue series of classic Wilco albums, with plenty of unreleased bonus material to organize.  Oh, and he wrote his second book, released in 2020 as well.

Of course being at home is not really an inconvenience for him. When he doesn't have Wilco around, he's got his kids Spencer and Sammy. In effect, he grew his own band. During Covid, the Tweedy family gave us an Instagram series called The Tweedy Show, with dad and the kids doing originals and covers, Spencer the drummer and Sammy helping on vocals. 

Love Is The King isn't a thick and rich album, in the Wilco style. It's lighter, more light-hearted, easily-digested as opposed to the sonically dense group material. However, that doesn't make it any less rewarding, and offers a more accessible way to enjoy Tweedy. He has a great sense of humour, and the pressure's off. If Tweedy wants to write a country song, he just does it, and there are a few here. The lyrics are upfront and uncomplicated, but bang-on with Tweedy's warmhearted sincerity. In "Guess Again," he sings of eating tomatoes right off the vine, "and if you think that's the best thing/That I ever knew/Guess again/My Love/It's you." And "Natural Disaster" is another one to make you smile: "I've never been blown by the winds of a hurricane/Never been in a flood/I've never been buried up to my neck in mud/But I have fallen in love/And that's enough/Of a natural disaster for me." What's fun for Tweedy and his kids is just as fun for us. Vinyl enthusiasts can look for the clear vinyl version.