MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: PAUL & LINDA MCCARTNEY - RAM DELUXE EDITION

I know I'm going against accepted opinion here, but Ram is my favourite McCartney solo disc, not Band On The Run.  I find that while said disc rocks, with Jet, Let Me Roll It and others, he'd by that time lost a lot of the whimsy and studio trickery of the late Beatles period.  Ram, however, has McCartney at the height of his production and studio prowess, some zany moments, and it's oh so brave.  Critics at the time were ready to take potshots at him, but he was still acting like he was infallible, and was making records to please himself, not trying for hits as he later would.

It's true that while Lennon was going harder, with tracks such as Cold Turkey and Instant Karma, McCartney was going soft, with songs such as Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey, a surprise hit.  But gosh, shouldn't we celebrate both sides?  Why the need to choose?  After all, if it was a Beatles album with these disparate cuts, everyone would have hailed the mixture, as they had with Abbey Road, with Lennon's Come Together and McCartney's medley numbers.  And of course, Ram isn't all Cheez Whiz, as usual there are heavier touches from him.

Back to my thesis though, why it's his best.  It is a production triumph, with each song unfolding with surprises.   Twists and turns, new layers, clever tricks, multiple parts, this is the man let loose, with no George Martin or other Beatles to limit what he could do.  That doesn't mean its a masterpiece;  while each song sounds great, lyrically there's some light-weight novelty numbers here.  Nothing as bad as would come on future albums (the entirety of Wings Wildlife for instance), but I don't find it above criticism.  Some of you will no doubt find the mouth-trumpet solo on Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey annoying; I think it makes the whole thing.  Sonically, it is a marvel, with McCartney's ear for the sound of guitars, drums, bass the very best.  Remember, he had to do it all now, and really shows how much he learned watching Martin and the EMI engineers.

I think there are a couple of classics on here, that match and surpass Band On The Run and Jet.  Two Many People is a bass-heavy rocker, probably a comment about The Beatles split ("that was your first mistake/you took your lucky break and broke it in two"), and features a raw and excellent guitar solo.  Back Seat Of My Car is one of those numbers where he throws everything at you, with new section after new section, tempo changes, strings flying in, and somehow it all comes out great.  Along the way, even the filler is first-class; Ram On is a breezy ukelele number (way before George H. started going on about them, by the way) that somehow turns into a Brian Wilson-styled production/homage.  The remastering on this deluxe version is tops of course, and I love having it on CD because I don't have to change sides anymore.  It's one album that I only ever listen to completely through, from start to finish.

There are several versions available of the reissue, including a new 180-gram vinyl copy, and a multi-disc edition that includes a DVD documentary, and the instrumental versions McCartney recorded of the album a few years later with an orchestra, under the name Percy "Thrills" Thrillington.  I kid you not.  The best buy is probably the two-disc set, with the second CD a set of outtakes and non-album single sides, including the hit Another Day, but no real surprise gems.  Hopefully a whole lot of people will listen to this with new ears, and not buy into the old prejudice against Ram.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: ANDRE WILLIAMS & THE SADIES - NIGHT & DAY

Andre Williams' bio, on the surface, reads like one of those guys getting inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame:  Top 10 R'n'B hits in the 50's, producer and/or songwriter for legendary 60's and 70's hit makers such as Stevie Wonder, Parliament, Edwin Starr, and Ike and Tina Turner.  Years of obscurity follow, and then a 90's comeback that continues to this day.  But his music was mostly too nasty or explicit for wide consumption, and his tale was much darker than almost everyone else.

Booze and drugs took their toll, and Williams wound up begging, in poverty.  Even his comeback years saw him mired in trouble and addiction, and when these sessions were begun in 2006, Williams was fresh out of jail, and still messed up on rum.  But it also marked the end of his drinking, and since then, he's been sober, although no less spirited.

Those who have discovered him worship Williams for his true-to-life lyrics and ability to give a real picture of life in the U.S., if you're African-American and poor.  Or, they just like the fact he's a dirty, funky old guy, who's forgotten more about R'n'B than most will ever know.  I get the feeling The Sadies fall into both camps.  Longtime admirers and occasional collaborators, the band took the plunge and went in the studio those fateful few days with Williams in 2006, and the results have finally appeared.

While Williams still performs and records his greasy R'n'B, which earned him the nicknames Mr. Rhythm and The Black Godfather, and has added near-punk elements to his work at times, with The Sadies, it's a different kettle of fish.  With their classic mix of surf, twang, rockabilly and Byrds, aided by guests from The Mekons, Jon Spencer and such, the music is more guitar-oriented than funky.  Williams is served up as a grizzled story-teller, telling it like it is, more rapping than singing.  Except rappers brag.  Williams ain't bragging, and neither are the characters in the songs, although it's tough to know where his life ends and some others begins.  Nothing's pretty in these tales, whether its the rummie who talks about killing a store clerk to get money to bail his friend out of jail, or the calling-out of the entire state of Mississippi, and the city of Joliet, as being places no-one would want to go if they aren't white.

At the same time, Williams injects humour into several songs, through his delivery at times, and good old irony.  After spending much of the song America saying how bad it is, he admits, "it's better than being in Africa".  And in One-Eyed Jack ("a bad mothersucker"), we get a new anti-hero, Shaft meets Mack The Knife.

There's a hypnotic quality to the album, no doubt helped out by the stellar backing of The Sadies and pals.  But it's also the fascinating vocal style of Williams, and the mild shock of the reality check in his words.  Quite powerful, actually.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: PETER GABRIEL - LIVE BLOOD

A two-CD live set from Gabriel's most recent project, which sees him take the usual guitar, drums, keys and bass out of his band, and instead work with a symphony.  Here he delves into his back catalogue for dynamic new versions, plus has a run at some of the cuts from his Scratch My Back project, which saw him cover different songwriters (he's still waiting for finished tracks of his cuts from the same folks, to finish that cycle).  Gabriel has toured a lot more of late than he's released studio albums, and each one usually features a live DVD, so we've seen an awful lot of his old hits.  Luckily, he knows how to change the stage show around, usually involving elaborate sets and costumes.  This time though, the music speaks for itself.

Now I'm as much of a fan of the basic rock lineup as anyone, but I don't quite buy into the need to always make rock music that way.  That form gathered a mythology thanks to the embrace of The Beatles and Stones, through to garage bands, punks, and latter-day punks, and the critics that hailed them.  Any use of strings and such was, for a long time, considered too fancy.  Thankfully, tons of indie artists these days bring in any kind of instrument, and it's a lot easier to record them now as well, and cheaper.  Having said that, you still have to have deep pockets to take a real orchestra on stage, but Gabriel of course does, so why not?  It's certainly a winning result here.

The Gabriel-Orchestra project started with studio versions on the 2011 album New Blood, and it was a good effort, but I'll argue it works much better live.  There's nothing quite as exciting as a full orchestra playing live, and hearing Gabriel adapt his singing to work in the concert setting is thrilling.  The arrangements stick closely to the originals melodies, but that's okay, we (okay, me) already love the songs, and the big difference is hearing a string section replace what a synth was doing before, and dynamic reeds and percussion take the place of bass and drums.  There are some dramatic differences, such as the tremendous new arrangement of The Rhythm Of The Heat, and its often the oldest Gabriel material that receives the new tricks.  Of course, those early songs of his tending toward the dramatic, a holdover from his Genesis days.  But there's still a freshness with the warhorses from the So album, such as Red Rain and Mercy Street, which we get to hear with new ears.  There's also subtlety when needed; his version of Paul Simon's Boy In The Bubble, as first heard on Scratch My Back, has a bare accompaniment, slowed down so we can focus on the lyrics, something Simon never did.  And Gabriel's take on Lou Reed's The Power Of The Heart shows it to be a remarkable song, truly one of the most accomplished love songs I've ever heard, in this version.

Quibbles:  only one really, and that's the other vocalists.  His daughter Melanie and Ane Brun are featured prominently, and I find both of them weak and distracting.  In other settings they are no doubt fine singers, but they don't seem to have the oomph for orchestra work.  But at well over two hours, I found I never tired of the treatments.  Now, who else could afford to do this, where it would add some new blood to old tunes?  Bowie perhaps, if he ever comes out of retirement.  U2?  Hmm...  It's getting me thinking.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: MISS QUINCY - LIKE THE DEVIL DOES

Miss Quincy's a bit of trouble, for sure.  The B.C. roots-and-blueswoman could have been found in some honky-tonk out west a hundred years ago, taunting the cowboys, the best singer and best-looking, too.  Oh, except that they hadn't invented the electric guitar then, so half her tunes would have been a little less raunchy.  She's definitely taking inspiration from the belters of the past, and mixing it with the roots sound of today.  Blues for sure, some Western influences, rockabilly at time, a couple of more modern ballads, she has a lot going on.  It's a smart blend that makes sure she isn't just retro, and she's carved out her own sound.

The disc has quite a bit of fun to it, getting into the occasional innuendo and some good yarns.  The title cut, Love Me Like The Devil Does, is a nasty bit of deep south blues, with a scandalous lyric (if we were indeed in 1930).  Impressively, on the next cut, Going Down, she slows it down and you realize what a fine voice she has, like Norah Jones with some more toughness.  Meanwhile, rich old electric guitar straight out of the Sun Studio is keeping everything rocking and vintage. 

Miss Quincy wrote everything here, except for the double entendre Nina Simone song, I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl, a perfect choice for this set.  The word is her new, all-woman backing band The Showdown is just as smokin', and hopefully I (and you) will get the chance to check 'em out soon.  They are on a huge, months-long country-wide tour, that stops by my little village of Fredericton for the next two days, including tonight (Thursday, May 24) at the Snooty Fox and tomorrow at Fusion.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: COUNTING CROWS - UNDERWATER SUNSHINE

The covers album is still somewhat rare since Dylan and The Beatles made songwriting a must for serious pop musicians.  You write your songs for your first album, and then you better keep writing them, or forget it.  It doesn't matter how good a band you have, or how good a singer you are, or guitar player, if you don't write the songs, you're not good enough.  It's ridiculous of course.  How many mediocre albums have come out, and dutifully made it into our hands by bands struggling through writer's block?  Or maybe they really just had one or two good self-written songs.  Why push more out?  There are plenty of great songs that haven't been recorded more than once, go ahead, see what you can do with them.  I tell ya, if we didn't have this writer-is-king prejudice, lots of albums would be much better.

It seems you have to earn the right to do a covers disc.  Stick with it long enough, write several albums and at least some decent songs, and only then will we talk about it.  Bowie Pin-Ups?  After Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane.  John Lennon's Rock And Roll?  He'd paid his dues by then.  Even Dylan didn't do covers until Self-Portrait, after his first folk album.  The point is, fans and critics demanded these people write more and more.

After Mr. Jones and a big-selling, T Bone Burnett-produced debut disc, Counting Crows have stuck around, surviving on the hit-and-miss success of Adam Duritz's writing.  I've not been a fan, although I like their sound.  I think they are a solid band.  That's why I applaud the group's new Underwater Sunshine disc, which is a twist on the usual covers collection.  Mercifully, no Motown covers.  Heck, there's hardly a famous song on it.  What the group has done is found songs they really like, no matter who the original artist was.  There are several here that are by their old friends in the San Francisco scene, unknowns outside.  There are some by brand-new writers trying to make a mark, that have caught the Crows' ears.  And of the better-known folks, they picked cuts they love and wanted to play, not something they hope will get them attention.

I hadn't thought of Pure Prairie League's Amie in years.  The minor 70's hit is a fine example of the early fruits of the country rock era, back when the band was making strides in the wake of The Eagles and Poco.  Duritz doesn't have a good reason for doing it other than loving to sing it, and I can see why, it's a campfire kind of tune.  It points to a love of early alt-country, as the group also covers Gram Parsons' Return Of The Grievous Angel and The Byrds take on You Ain't Going Nowhere.  Hearing them in mandolin mode is a treat, and certainly not what you normally get on their albums.  And who knew they were closet fans of British folk legends Fairport Convention, represented here by Meet On The Ledge?  I suppose Big Star are a typical choice for muso types, and there's nothing special about the take on The Ballad Of El Goodo here, but they do a nice version of The Faces' Ooh La La.

But then we get numbers from such non-stars as The Romany Rye, Tender Mercies, Kasey Anderson, and Sordid Humor.  Duritz (who seems to have led the way in the choices) is right on in his lengthy liner notes for each song.  These are good, they do deserve to be heard by lots more people.  And I'll add that Counting Crows is an excellent band, adept at switching sounds and making each number their own.  I'll also suggest they do this more often, because not all their own songs come close to these.  Not to pick on them, of course, many many big bands are guilty of that.  Stop being so scared of covers, musicians, don't give in to the pressure to be a full-time writer.  We'll all be better off.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: PUTUMAYO PRESENTS BLUEGRASS

Over the years, Putumayo has put out excellent sampler collections of virtually every genre and region imaginable, specializing in identifying all the major forms of world music.  There's even been Acadian, Newfoundland and Celtic music from our region represented.  How then the label has managed to go this long without a bluegrass collection is a surprise.  But here it is, a prime primer for those looking to learn, or just find a good cross-section.

Now, you might quibble that this is hardly strictly bluegrass.  You won't find any Bill Monroe here, the man who invented the sound.  Instead, it's the modern stuff that's largely featured, with its most bankable star, Alison Krauss, leading things off.  "But Bob," I hear you question, "Isn't Krauss, like, a bluegrass star?"  Sure, but the Newgrass revival changed all the hard-and-fast rules of bluegrass, and Krauss and most others of the past two decades have incorporated popular lyrics, jazz changes, and sometimes instruments into the blend.  All I'm saying here is don't look for much old-timey stuff.

Instead, newbies such as Uncle Earl and Railroad Earth get a plug, along with beloved vets Peter Rowan, Sam Bush and Seldom Scene, all delivering updates of Monroe's child.  Some choose to go into the classic canon, such as James Alan Shelton with Shady Groves, and Rowan's Man Of Constant Sorrow, which does give us the link back.  That balances off Seldom Scene's cover of Dylan's Boots Of Spanish Leather, and the near-pop of Andrea Zonn's New Night Dawning.  As with any set on this label, it's all high quality right through; I just prefer my bluegrass less adorned and sweet.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: GEORGE HARRISON - LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD

The HBO documentary, directed by Martin Scorsese, is as good as billed.  It's one of those videos you'll want to own a copy of, to pull out and enjoy again every couple of years.  Produced with the Harrison family blessings, everybody is involved, from Ringo and Paul, to all his pals, (Clapton, Pythons, car racers, Shankars and swamis), to his son Dhani, his widow Olivia and even his ex, Pattie.  Really, the only person not interviewed of importance would be Dylan, but no surprise there.

Presented in two parts, as originally broadcast, its four hours in total, and like Peter Bogdanovich's Tom Petty bio, you could still watch a couple of hours more.  Part one is more or less birth and The Beatles, and part two covers his solo career and final years.  You'd think The Beatles era would be a rehash of the same old stories, but Scorsese turns the very familiar tale inside out; now we're living it through George's eyes, instead of the others.  We learn what is was like to be the youngest, the more thoughtful, and the one who blossomed later as a writer.  His perspective, told from archival interviews, and the stories of intimates such as Klaus Voorman, Astrid Kirchherr, John and Ringo, Pattie, Ravi Shankar, and others, may not include any bombshells, but it gives us a much greater appreciation and understanding of the changes he went through, especially as the group came to an end.

That's the magic of this film.  This complex, talented, fascinating man was one of the most famous people on the planet, but somehow he was mysterious, misunderstood ("the quiet one"), and private.  While the world watched the Lennon and McCartney antics, Harrison developed into someone just as interesting, and important.  Scorsese is able to explain how this happened, and how he developed a unique vision for his life, based on his spiritual search and his rejection of much of the trappings of fame.  Yes, he was famous and wealthy, and certainly enjoyed the fruits of his labour and luck, but it was with humility, and with a passion for helping others. 

We see the flourishing of this in the second part of the film.  The experiences start to pile up.  The great solo album, All Things Must Pass, and then The Concert For Bangladesh, to help his friend Shankar and his people, the first all-star benefit concert.  His patronage of his loves and friends, producing Monty Python films, recording Indian music, taking it on tour, backing Formula One drivers, and above all, gardening.  You can feel him growing mightier as a spiritual person, although Scorsese allows for some faults as well.  Voorman talks about drug period in the 70's, we see some footage of the sore throat tour of '74, critically ravaged.  Olivia pretty much admits he was a philandering husband at times.  But his flaws, including a famous temper, were part of what made him even more fascinating.  By the time he reemerged in music with The Traveling Wilburys, he had reached a state of positivity that amazed fellow musicians such as Tom Petty, clearly still in awe of his friend.  The devotion of the famous and not-so-famous folks found here is remarkable, even in a tribute doc.

The footage is grand throughout, including some rarer Beatles stuff, lots of George's private photography and home videos.  The editing is seamless, with the tale told without narration, only interview clips, and it's all perfectly explained.  McCartney is very good, humble and obviously someone who loved his friend.  Clapton is able to open the door into what Harrison's life of fame was like, to explain his talents as a musician, and, remarkably, to talk about the situation which led Pattie to leave George for him, and how they still remained friends.  But above all, you'll marvel as Olivia recounts what happened when an intruder broke into their home and stabbing Harrison multiple times, and how she fought him off and saved her husband's life.  As much as his music has meant to people, you'll come away with a greater respect for the man.