MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: NATHANIEL RATELIFF & THE NIGHT SWEATS - A LITTLE SOMETHING MORE FROM ...

Here's a nifty little bonus disc from the recent breakout soul star. It's an eight-cut, half-hour long set of b-sides and bonus cuts from the Stax Records artist, following his label debut in 2015, which went gold in the U.S. and platinum in Canada. It's no mere jumble of leftovers though. Aside from one live cut (Wasting Time from the proper album, recorded at the Stax Museum in Memphis), the rest are solid studio cuts that easily could have fit on the album, or even made a good start on the next one.


For the most part, these are horn-fired, Southern-flavoured soul numbers, with a good bit of boogie in there as well. But Rateliff's folk past does pop up on the track Just To Talk To You, an acoustic slide guitar number. How To Make Friends, is more of a rock number, a laid-back groove with a George Harrison/All Things Must Pass vibe. I can see how these somewhat out-of-character cuts might not feel right for album cuts, but they certainly add to the appreciation of his skills. It's a good little stop-gap set while we wait to see what 2017 brings.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: MARK CRISSINGER - NIGHT LIGHT

Melodic blues from the B.C.-based veteran, who brings a highly developed sense of songwriting to the multiples styles on his latest solo album. On the ten originals here, Crissinger and his band show off their versatility, adjacent songs often greatly different, such as Night Light's jazzy knack to Defeated's harder edge and smoking solo, on to One of These Days' lighthearted country-boogie.


Crissinger works hard on his lyrics, using modern themes and lines instead of getting stuck trying to use yesterday's blues writing. That helps lend an openness to the whole set, with quite different numbers such as Wild Wind Fever, which features dramatic slide guitar through much of the song, but also some easy-going verses, keeping the song catchy. And A Simple Truth is mellow, soulful ballad that again hits home with a winning melody. Add in Marty Howe's strong harp playing throughout, and it's a start-to-finish strong album.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: THE WHO - MY GENERATION (SUPER DELUXE EDITION)

Ah, the box set. How far it has come since the first heady days of Dylan's Biograph and Eric Clapton's Crossroads. Those sets and several others changed the game for veteran artists and collector fans. Previously unreleased music was now a priority, a gold mine for everybody from Springsteen to The Beatles, and as record sales dwindled, box sets got bigger, more elaborate, good money-makers for artists and record companies at a time when there was little else to count on. Fans have proven themselves willing to part with more and more money when you added more and more unreleased material, no matter what it was. Dylan's people have made it an art form with the Bootleg Series, releasing everything from raw studio sessions to the roughest recordings of the Basement Tapes to a whopping 36-disc set of every show on tape from 1966, despite the fact that almost every one has the same exact set list. Just call it a Super Deluxe Edition, and there are fans lining up to shell out.


The latest set from The Who explores one album, the group's debut from 1965, My Generation, or The Who Sings My Generation as it was called in North America. In typical repackaging efforts of today, this 12-track album has been exploded into a five-disc package, using most of the tricks of the trade these days. We get the album twice, first in mono, then in stereo. Then there are all the associated tracks from that year that were either released as non-album singles or simply rejected at the time. Then there are alternate mixes, or different takes of songs. Finally, there's a disc of demos for some of the songs by Pete Townshend, and even some songs that never made it past the drawing board. So a 12-song album becomes a 79-track box.


Sounds cool on paper, but before reaching for that gift certificate from Amazon your Aunt Dorothy sent from Calgary, examine it closely. Discs one and two, do you care if you have the album in stereo and mono? Will you listen closely over and over pick a favourite? If you're a passionate fan, perhaps. Now to discs 3 and 4. Maybe you bought the 2002 Deluxe reissue of the album already, in which case you would already have all the b-sides and singles and out-takes, like the hit Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere or the Motown covers Leaving Here and Heatwave. And do you care about having them in mono or stereo, or getting a variation of a cut with a more prominent french horn part, or an earlier vocal take from Roger?


I'm betting the majority of folks will now say no, and save their $142.34 for the new John Grisham thriller and Green Smoothies For Life, and such. But here's where I'll stand up proudly for these boxes, even though you do get the same songs, repackaged and repurposed, which you might already own. My reasons are thus:


1.) These sets are the new coffee table books.


It's a fabulous thing to hold. A beautiful, hard-cover book with tons of great photos, and an intelligent, informative essay over 80 pages, including notes on each track, lyrics, and special notes from Townshend on the new demos disc. As well, there are replica inserts of flyers, business cards, and posters from the time.


2.) You get to really know the album, and have a great listening experience.


I took Boxing Day to listen to this, a good investment of time given the cash investment. You pay attention, you hear the stereo/mono differences, you read the notes and find out the history of each track. It's pretty cool to hear a different take of the hit My Generation, and then an instrumental version too.


3.) The B-sides and out-takes tell a whole different story


Covers of James Brown, Garnet Mimms and Martha and the Vandellas show the group deep in their early mod phase, a hyper bar band playing soul tunes for rowdy fans, the equivalent of The Beatles at the Cavern Club. They had a whole repertoire to choose from, as well as the growing songwriting talent of Townshend.


4.) The demos are amazing


Townshend has been wowing us for years with his demos, many of them released on his series of double albums called Scoop, and on other box sets. Now, he's ready to unleash more. There are two glorious takes on My Generation, three songs never recorded by the band, some that didn't appear for a couple of years, 11 in total, plus a note saying he's going to release more on further, upcoming volumes of Scoop. Awesome. For me, this is the best disc in the set.


There's all sorts of nitpicky, trainspotter stuff going on as well that's not worth getting into, but you can read about it, and caught up in it if you're a purist. Most big fans agree these are better stereo mixes than the ones from 2002. Many of the alternate cuts are appearing in stereo for the first time on CD here. Townshend and Daltry did some minor overdubbing of missing parts for a handful of the stereo cuts recently, always a sore point for some.


But I don't care about any of that. I love The Who, and I love holding this thing in my hands, it's beautifully made, and a great document of an artistic statement from 1965. I had a great time with this set through the day, in what has become a holiday tradition for me, the "new box set for Christmas" listening party. I'll pull it out from time to time, to check on a fact, to maybe play the full album, and definitely to play the demo disc. I may do the whole box set over another time. You can be cynical and say it's a cash grab, but I wouldn't say that, there's a ton of work that went into this, hours and hours by many people, and they are using high-quality materials in the manufacturing. As I write this, I'm staring at the ever-growing collection of these sets, including the many Dylans, a couple of Claptons, The Beach Boys' Smile and Pet Sounds sets, The Rolling Stones Abkco singles, an Al Green box made to look like a Bible, and previous Who Super Deluxe boxes on Live At Leeds and Tommy. They all make me very happy. So does My Generation. Nothing matches the thrill of a well-made box set for this music collector.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: THE ROLLING STONES - BLUE & LONESOME

While the Stones have written and created some of the greatest songs in the rock and roll canon, it's always been true that if you want to hear the heart and soul of the band, it's when they play the blues. Formed as a strict blues group covering Chicago-style electric acts, they started out playing Little Red Rooster and the like, and returned many times to the well along the way. Even the group's debut had already seen them moving into more popular R'n'B sounds by Motown and Stax artists, as well as their own early writing attempts. Now, fifty-plus years later, they have finally done a full blues set.


It came about by accident, as the group was in the studio trying to work on new material, and had hit a roadblock. They decided to do a blues just to get back on track, playing Little Walter's 1959 cut, Blue and Lonesome, a group favourite. Wisely, taped was rolled, and an often-discussed but never attempted full blues album was suddenly on the way. Three days later, it was done, the core four joined by longtime auxiliary members Darryl Jones on bass, and Matt Clifford and Chuck Leavell on keys. Eric Clapton was working in the next studio, and came over to play on two cuts on the second day, and that was it. Instead of struggling to come up with something to interest the fickle modern music buyers, new cuts that could compete with the group's hallowed history, they did the one thing they could do with ease, better than anyone; just play the blues.


This isn't the same old Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters material that everyone has done to death. The Stones show just how deep their knowledge and love goes, able to call up obscure b-sides and non-hits by some of the best, largely forgotten but always great music. There are four Little Walter cuts, including the title track, a couple of Howlin' Wolf numbers, ones by Jimmy Reed, Magic Sam and the likes of Eddie Taylor and Little Johnny Taylor. The one cut that is well-known, Otis Rush's I Can't Quit You Baby, was probably picked to give Clapton something he knew to join in on. They were done quickly, without time to work out parts and overdubs, but to capture the real music, and that's been done with flying colours. There's nothing about this album that sounds contrived. These are not overfed, over-drugged rock stars, but rather incredibly hard-working musicians, huge fans of the songs and style, and players with invaluable experience, pouring all they have into the sessions.


You can easily imagine Charlie Watts shining here, with his great feel and huge sound, and of course Keith Richards and Ron Wood lock in provide excellent leads and rhythm. I'd argue the guitar work on Wolf's Just Like I Treat You is some of the best laid down on a Stones cut, ever. But the most surprising turn comes from Jagger, and not just his fully-engaged and strong vocals. It turns out to be a harmonica album, with the quartet of Little Walter cuts, and Jagger adding significant parts to all the others. His playing in recent years has been incendiary in concert, and now he gets to show just how much of a master he has become over the years. It dominates many of the songs, as the main solo instrument over the guitars, and producer Don Was lets the harp sound cut through louder and sharper than anything else. These are harmonica songs after all, or become them in this setting, and the rock star is replaced by the consummate bluesman, transforming the band.


Blues is all about experience, and perhaps The Rolling Stones, didn't want to, or couldn't have made this album until they got to this point, where they could stand with Wolf and Waters and Reed and Willie Dixon, and make it sound absolutely as good as the originators. It took them six or seven years to become the greatest rock and roll band in the world, but almost six decades to become the best blues band.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK - SING

American Idol, The Voice, whatever, the concept has been flogged a dozen different ways, and it still keeps resonating with a significant audience. So, why not an animated version? With singing animals? If you want to see an elephant, a pig, a mouse and a punk rock porcupine sing Jump, Kiss From A Rose, I'm Still Standing and Pennies From Heaven, more power to you.


That's the visual side; for the companion soundtrack album, you're dealing with voice actors getting to sing, always a risky adventure. I guess Reese Witherspoon doing a high-energy version of Venus is harmless, as Bananarama weren't exactly opera singers in the first place. Seth MacFarlane has been using his lounge-singing style in tons of his projects over his career, so he was a natural to play a mouse with a Sinatra voice, doing My Way. Scarlett Johansson is limited at best, but Tori Kelly makes her acting debut as the elephant, coming to film after being an actual Voice and Idol competitor. Of course, they have her sing Hallelujah, yet another unnecessary version, but accurate for such shows at least.


To flesh out the film, the actual original versions of Under Pressure and Gimme Some Lovin' are used, which are typical soundtrack fillers. At least there's a fine new cut from Stevie Wonder and Ariana Grande, Faith, and the final cut here is from real powerhouse singer Jennifer Hudson, who has a small role in the film, doing The Beatles' Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight. It's a killer performance, which leads me to wonder if big-name stars are really needed in such a film, with music such a main part of it.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: NEIL YOUNG - PEACE TRAIL

Over the course of several albums, Neil Young has been attempting to drum up interest in his political protest music, from the anti-Bush collection Living With War to railing against corporations such as Monsanto and Starbucks. These sets have been tough sells, and tough to enjoy. It's not simply because he's being a downer; by and large his audience probably agrees with his views on the environment and big greed. It's just that for the most part, the lyrics have been awful, rushed and unpolished. His argument has been that these topics are so important, everybody has to listen now and act. But most of us know all these things and have our own opinions; how about some art and subtlety, Neil?


Well, this time, he's done it. Peace Trail is largely about the environmental protests being done by First Nations people across North America, something Young has long identified with and supported. Pipeline fights have increasingly grabbed his interest over the last few years, and the little guy protest against the big company and the state informs several of the 10 songs here. Finally, he's not beating us over the head with the lyrics. Instead, these are stories of people involved, like the decent farmer speaking up for his workers in John Oaks. The title cut, Peace Trail, instead of being negative is forward-looking and positive: "I see the same old signs, but something new is growing." And even the most obvious lyric, Indian Givers, about big industry trying to grab back land given in treaties, features stinging lines about corporations who run disinformation p.r. campaigns, trying to make themselves look like good guys: "Bring back the days when good was good/Lose these imposters in our neighborhood."


There's more exciting news in the music. There's a core sound here, a brand-new one for Young, for anyone. For most of the album, he's on acoustic, there's a young bass player named Paul Bushnell, solid and simple, and the great Jim Keltner on drums. Keltner's percussion is mixed way up, more of an equal than a rhythm holder. Young also drops in some electric guitar lines, but different than his normal proto-grunge. These are echoed, distorted single lines, layered on top. Plus he plays his nastiest harp ever, dirty and even more distorted than anything else. The melodies and acoustic work, plus the style of vocal delivery he's using remind me of the On The Beach album of 1974, one of his very best.


There are other songs than the protest material too, including the surreal Glass Accident, an intriguing number that seems to be about comparing a broken glass to a broken relationship. And the album ends with the hilarious My New Robot, which brings back the controversial robotic voice of the Trans album, only this time it makes much more sense, since his new robot has just been delivered by amazon.com, and he's getting instructions on how to program it, and everything's just peachy. This is a fascinating, different, playful, well-crafted and complex set of songs, which is what I've been hoping for from this singular talent for a long time, and always thought he could still deliver.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: MUSIC FROM THE ORIGINAL SERIES - ROADIES

It was a big idea with big stars, and looked like a sure-fire hit, but the Showtime series Roadies bombed this past summer, and was cancelled after one season. Despite having Cameron Crowe in charge (Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous) and J.J. Abrams overseeing, with Luke Wilson starring, and lots of famous musicians in each show, the plot about the lives of roadies turned out to be about as exciting as the lives of roadies actually are. Sure, they get to see cool moments backstage and awesome soundcheck performances, but that's all that was interesting on the shows as well.


What we're left with is the soundtrack featuring the guests from the 10 episodes, usually appearing truly live, without the normal backing track or lip-synch performances. Given Crowe's A-list contact list, and pretty good taste, he lined up a mix of A-listers to up-and-comers. Lindsey Buckingham does a mean solo version of his Big Love, always a highlight of Fleetwood Mac shows. Jim James appears twice over the 16 cuts, once with My Morning Jacket, and again solo with a surprising choice, a cover of the somewhat obscure Who song, They Are All In Love, a tender cut from the Who By Numbers album, a beautiful acoustic performance. Quirky Brit Robyn Hitchcock, always killer live, does his own Sayonara, Judge. Best of all, Jackson Browne pays tribute to his old pal Lowell George, with the classic Little Feat gem Willin', and Gary Clark Jr. wows with a passionate version of The Healing.


I'm sure Crowe and crew felt they'd have more opportunities to present bigger names, so several of the shows featured new acts, no doubt scouted and touted by music placement people. While there's no denying the quality of Best Coast and The Head and the Heart, the likes of Saskatoon's Reignwolf and Phantogram are the type of acts that you get told are great but don't actually ever prove it. Add in a performance by the past-his-due-date John Mellencamp, it means there are holes in this set. Like the show itself, it makes one wonder how they managed to make this less-than-excellent.