MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: LAKE STREET DIVE - BAD SELF PORTRAITS

Here's a surprising album.  Lake Street Dive comes out of Boston, and has been treading the boards for several years, before a breakthrough performance on the Showtime broadcast of the Celebration of the Music of Inside Llewyn Davis concert, where they came close to stealing the show.  Since then it's been all the big TV shows and Rolling Stone's band to watch, etc.  But what's surprising is how basic this is.  Basic, in the best way.

What you have is r'n'b, pop, soul, big harmonies, essentially 70's music.  Killer vocals, especially lead singer Rachael Price, kinda smoky, kinda jazzy.  And of all things, there's not a hint of studio in the music;  no effects, no ambient washes, no great amounts of gizmos, it's about as clean as you'll hear.  Just singers and musicians doing what they're supposed to, without using anything to make them artificially better.

That's not to say there aren't overdubs and such, it's just back to the basics of classic record-making, and they sounds great. Bobbie Tanqueray is bubbly, almost girl-group 60's, a warning about a bad character, and tons of harmonies.  The title cut is tough-luck soul, an excellent lyric about a woman who bought a camera to take pictures of her love, who then dumps her, and now "I'm taking landscapes, I'm taking still lifes, I'm taking bad self portraits of a lonely woman."  Seventeen has Jackson Five verses and then dirty Prince guitar all over the chorus.  This is just one fun, smart album, made by talented folks.  Remember those?

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: REVEREND HORTON HEAT - REV

The venerable psychobillies umpteenth album, still growing strong, and possibly better than ever?  After all, Jim Heath and company have been doing this long enough to know what works, and how to keep it fresh.  Plus, he keeps coming up with great lyric ideas, and an endless supply of tremendous riffs.

The key is that there aren't many rockabilly bands around, and it's always fun to dip your toe back in, especially with such an incendiary bunch.  With all the energy of punk, but with chops galore, you can have your thrash and still marvel at the quality playing.  

Heath also knows the right level of double-entendre to use.  The instant classic here is Let Me Teach You How To Eat, which never crosses the line, but lets you know its one big metaphor:  "How to marinate the meat/let me teach how to eat."  But it's not all jokes; Schizoid is his commentary on all the kids today being prescribed drugs for any number of anxieties that might just be part of growing up.  Basic love ballads aren't part of his repertoire. Intense rocking is. 

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: SUGAR BROWN'S SAD DAY

Is there any more of an unlikely blues player than Sugar Brown?  Sure, he has the blues name (and he earned it), but his real one is Ken Chester Kawashima, the son of a Japanese father and Korean mother, who was born in Ohio, schooled in Chicago, and now in Toronto.  Schooled in both ways; he was going to university by day, and hitting Chicago blues clubs at night, soaking up the influences and playing with local luminaries.  Torn two ways, he then went on to get a Ph.D. in Asian studies, living in Tokyo and NYC, and now teaches at U of T.  But he's also just made the rawest, most legit blues album of the year.

Steeped in the gritty, authentic sounds picked up in Chicago, Brown turned to Montreal harp player and studio owner Bharath Rajkumar, along with drummer Ben Caissie, and recorded the album live off the floor, into a mono tape machine.  This primitive set-up amounted to a haphazard mix, off-mic vocals, plenty of over-modulation, and in other words, just what the first electric blues sounded like.  Brown is a growler, sounds like he's 60 and a keen smoker, and would win any bar fight with a broken bottle.  This album isn't about the hot new blues sound, it's about raw, dirty, direct, simple.

The influences are the right ones; opening instrumental Fishman's Blues, an Elmore James number, here gets a taste of Freddie King's Hideaway in Brown's guitar line.  Before The Law, the first of several Brown-written numbers, has Bo Diddley all over it, right down to the maracas.  If you want old, there's folk blues in the traditional John Henry, and a sleazy take on Muddy's Rollin' and Tumblin'.  If you want new and different, he's probably the only artist to ever cover The Velvet Underground's Run, Run, Run as a blues number (which it is, if you listen close).

Brown's own songs are highlighted by some stirring, emotional numbers about his father's passing.  Grim Reaper, Sad Day, and Two O'Clock all reference it, and all sound like those mournful numbers that formed the saddest of all blues songs.  Sugar Brown knows the blues, is the blues.  He's the 2013 winner of the Toronto Blues Society's Talent Search, and Lord help me if this isn't up for a bucket of Maple Blues Awards next time.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: UNCLE TUPELO - NO DEPRESSION (Legacy Edition)

It's interesting to look back at what started the whole alt-country movement, at least in popular terms.  Nobody really talked about a scene that was building in the late 80's, although it was definitely there.  Many rock fans were starting to get into some honest country sounds, although still with a rock attitude; everybody from Blue Rodeo and Cowboy Junkies up north, to the coolness of Lyle Lovett, Dwight Yoakam and Steve Earle from the U.S.  But then came a scene, that got called No Depression (after this album), and at various times Americana or alt-country or roots music.  Lots of different sounds got lumped in, but the starting point was much more intense.

Uncle Tupelo, from St. Louis, did get the thing moving with this landmark debut.  The power trio had two writers and singers in guitar player Jay Farrar and bassist Jeff Tweedy, and along with drummer Mike Heidorn made a heck of a noise.  It was at a time when country-rock still had a bad taste to it for many, based on too many Eagles and Lynyrd Skynyrd clones.  But there were others who had heard the old promise of Gram Parsons and the Flying Burrito Brothers, and also like their rock really raw.  Uncle Tupelo proved the two could mesh.  They wrote intense songs with punk energy, alternative college flavour (think early R.E.M.), but with country moments in the calm parts.  Banjo and mandolin could be heard when the volume lowered, there was a twang in the vocals, and rough-edged, rural themes all through it.  

Drinking was referenced in most songs, hard drinking for hard times.  Bible images showed up too, these guys knew why they were scared of their own attitudes.  But the biggest moment of all came from an off-the-wall cover, reaching back to the very dawn of country music, The Carter Family's original No Depression In Heaven, a fire and brimstone look at the dirty 30's, where the only hope people had was death and a better after live.  Just by this very reference, the genre was born.  A fanzine for the band, with the same title came next, and then quickly one of the best music magazines ever came from that, with the No Depression website still going strong.  Still covering the bands that came out of Uncle Tupelo's split too, Farrar's Son Volt, and Tweedy's Wilco.

This two-disc set offers a ton of demos, including the famous cassette, Not Forever, Just For Now, recorded the year before No Depression, pretty much the template for the album.  You get to hear just what caused all the excitement, as this was the tape that got the band named Best Unsigned Band in the States, from the influential College Music Journal.  Rolling Stone jumped on board too, and soon other bands emerged, such as The Jayhawks.  Listening back to the demos, it's surprising how much the band had figured out, and in fact the early versions are even more country, the go-for-broke guitar and volume hadn't been amped up to 11 yet.  The other interesting thing is just how explosive alt-country was at the start.  They'd blow Mumford and Sons out of the water, and you can certainly trace a direct line from this to all the roots-trad-folk-whatever that has come since.  Grab this deluxe version, for not only is it historically important, it's still a damn good, loud album.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: BECK - MORNING PHASE

Who knew what to expect from Beck this time out?  He's never quite the same, and this is unlike any other album he's made.  Lush and quiet, the dominate instruments are acoustic guitar, strings, and voice.  Even his singing is new, soft and doubled, with sweet harmonies and a higher range, it's airy and dreamy, Pink Floyd as folk music.

Lyrics float by, songs about morning and moon and light, but the singing has more to say than the words.  I'm sure there are meanings in there, but this is all about the sound, and mostly the sound of his voice.  Hearing his lines drift off skyward in harmony and echo, sweetened by the string arrangements, piano, banjo or whatever fits the mix, is the highlight.  The collection of songs is cohesive, all from the same cloth, all things of beauty.  A couple of numbers do stand out, including Blackbird Chain, with its simple acoustic chords giving away to a kind of late 60's revival at its calmest, a little McCartney and a little CSN.  Heart Is A Drum rolls along with a couple of Becks singing harmony, with rich bass (Stanley Clarke!) and some backwards loops dropping in and out.

The closest Beck's been to this type of music in the past has been the Sea Change album, but he didn't get this specific with the sounds, or carry it through so fully.  And it's also surprising to hear so much emphasis on the vocals, from him or anyone.  A beautiful collection.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: STEVE DAWSON - RATTLESNAKE CAGE

Dawson could have called this "So You Think You Can Play Guitar", but he's probably much too humble for that.  The renowned player and producer has been behind, and in front of some of the best roots albums made in Canada (Zubot & Dawson, Jim Byrnes, Roxanne Potvin, The Sojourners, Old Man Luedecke), including his own, but this time it's hands-on, and only hands.  The all-acoustic, all-instrumental album shows Dawson as not just a tremendous player, but a tremendously soulful one.  Words and voice would only clutter the message and emotion pouring out of these melodies.  As much as you have to admire the jaw-dropping dexterity, it's best just to sit back and be transported.  There's a story in every number, whether he's chattering away with the finger-picking, or pointing skywards with the slide.

Close-mic'ed to get every subtle harmonic, means you get the occasional little noise too, an extra knock on the wood or clatter on the strings, but it hardly matters, it's the experience of a one-take, beautiful performance.  Fans of the genre will hear the old bluesmen, or the best of the folk players, but there's lots of modern too, changes and attitudes that come from growth and exploring, very much today.  Yes, it's an acoustic guitar fan's dream, but it's much more for whatever you need.  Meditative at times, explosive at others, you can easily get lost in its winding path, wonder where an hour went, and wonder why you are suddenly uplifted.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: BENMONT TENCH - YOU SHOULD BE SO LUCKY

Benmont Tench has been a rock to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers since the mid-70's, and just as valuable to dozens of other projects, as a highly-desired session player.  However, he's always been in the background, a real quiet one.  So the big question here is, what kind solo album will he make?  No surprise, it's relatively quiet, but in a very good, mellow way.  Tench is not a grand vocalist, more gravelly than anything, so the laid back approach works best.  As you could expect, the strengths here are the sound, the melodies, and the knowledge of how to package a song well.

He's written the bulk of the tracks here, including the lyrics, aside from a couple of piano mood instrumentals, and a couple of Dylan covers.  Dylan is the biggest influence, the latter-day gruff chronicler, lots of description pouring out over a sharp band.  Of course, Tench has lots of famous pals ready to pay back; his boss Petty joins on electric bass, while Don Was handles upright bass on the mellower numbers.  Dave Rawlings and Gillian Welch are in for some harmonies and acoustics along the way, as is Ryan Adams, and even Ringo Starr shows up for some tasty, audible tambourine.  But it's the keys that dominate, whether Tench's bright piano, or rootsy, Garth Hudson-influenced organ.

Given the laid-back vibe, there are still a couple of decent rockers, including You Should Be So Lucky, certainly the one that most conjures up the Heartbreakers, with its put-down "you should be so lucky that I would give a fuck."  It's the easy feel that wins though, with Blonde Girl, Blue Dress the best of them, no brilliant lyrical statement but a cozy, sunny day number with Welch sweetening up the proceedings, and Tench filling with great organ.  Like his entire career, this ain't flashy, but it's classy.