MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: BONNETT HOUSE - SONGS FROM BONNETT HOUSE

It's a story that has been told over and over; a few musicians get together to play, and almost immediately know there's magic in that combination. Those precious few first times they play together will be the best feeling they'll ever have as musicians, and they will spend the rest of their time together hoping to recapture those moments and that feeling. It happened when Nash sang for the first time with Crosby and Stills. It happened when Buckingham-Nicks teamed up with Fleetwood Mac. Heck, it probably happened when Hall met Oates.


It happened in Saint John too, in 2014. Musician pals Sandy MacKay, Clinton Charlton and Bill Preeper decided to hang out and play songs, once a week, sometimes twice. It clicked, and very quickly songs were being written. They knew those house sessions were working, and wanted to grab that very feeling, record it, preserve it, make it a group.


The place they met was called Bonnett House, and that's now the name of the trio, as well as the fruit of their labour, a debut eight song release called Songs From Bonnett House. It's an acoustic set, but not demos, these are richly produced cuts. The idea was to get the feeling of intimacy, as opposed to rawness, a good plan as the songs deserve lots of of atmosphere. There are dreamy passages, homespun melodies, comfortable harmonies and rich textures from the instruments.


There are feel-good songs, such as Fool Me Twice, relaxed and pleasing. But there's another side to the writing, heard in two cuts, a poetic lyrical approach, with a twist. Broken Birds tells a story about someone breaking both feet, going through the pain and recovery, but as odd as it might seem on paper, it's a beautiful delivery and lyric, one that defies easy description. Then there's the mystical east-meets-west tale Help You If I Can about meeting a spiritual guide on the road to enlightenment. Again, it's a very successful lyric that easily captures your full attention.


The group has a launch show coming up this week in Saint John. It's Saturday, March 4 at Sanctuary Theatre, for a measly ten bucks, at 7:30 p.m.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: IAN JANES - YES MAN

Ian Janes is one of the best songwriters from the East Coast like, ever, and we never hear enough from him. This is only his fourth album in 19 years, back when it all started with the still-killer Occasional Crush, and his first since 2010, so it's a joy just to have something new. Even better, he hasn't lost a step, and this is a major soulful bunch of new tunes.


Whether it's a funky number like the opening cut, Used, or a tearjerker like Any Fool, Janes sings with pure passion. The songs have an easy feel, but on close look are skillfully crafted, sitting somewhere between soul, pop and Americana. The colouring is bang-on, whether it's the organ that is featured on several tracks, or pedal steel, used so effectively on New Words. Broken Record has an irresistible groove, super vocal, and then out of nowhere, an awesome solo with a guitar sound I've never heard before, and that's courtesy of Janes as well.


The whole mix, production and quality is sharp, bright and exciting, and a great testament to what can be done in these parts these days. Some of it was done in Nashville, some in Pennsylvania, some in St. John's, and the rest in Nova Scotia, using both famous studio folks in the States and many local talents, and you can't tell which is what from who and where until you dig into the credits. The point being, a lot has changed around here in 20 years, and Janes is one of the reasons the quality has always been there, and getting better all the time.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: SOUNDTRACK - GIMME DANGER: THE STORY OF THE STOOGES

Here's great news for all of you who follow the theory that The Stooges were/are the greatest rock and roll band of all time, as filmmaker Jim Jarmusch proclaims. His documentary, which hit film festivals last year, is now out on DVD, and the soundtrack has arrived as well. I haven't seen the film yet, but it got excellent reviews, so there's that to look forward to. I'd have to say they've done a bang-up job on this music set as well.


It starts out with the band in it's prime, Iggy leading them through the title song here, a great one from Raw Power, and then some classics, the string of No Fun, I Wanna Be Your Dog and 1969. Some more album cuts follow, and then the rarer stuff kicks in. A couple of outtakes from Raw Power, I Got A Right and I'm Sick Of You could only previously be found on the four disc deluxe edition.


Fellow Detroit travelers MC5 are heard next, part of the Stooges' story for sure, with Ramblin' Rose from their debut live album Kick Out The Jams. Then come a couple of ragged recordings from Iggy's previous 60's bands, The Iguanas and the Prime Movers, the latter an audience recording of Bo Diddley's I'm A Man, which gives a good taste of the blues rawness that Iggy had in his background. The set closes with a couple more hard-to-get numbers, taken from expensive deluxe reissues of the first two Stooges albums, including a full-on freak-out called Asthma Attack.


That pretty much tells you the story, that this been put together with fans in mind, especially if you like the band but haven't gone all crazy buying box set reissues. Plus, it hasn't been messed up with bits of dialogue or later, post-'73 stuff, whether you like that or not. It sticks to the script, the original Stooges, and there's plenty to base a documentary, and a soundtrack on from that time.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: ANDREW SISK - ANTARCTICALIA

Now don't you be trying to nail down what Andrew Sisk is up to. He's been juggling projects and bands and names since his beloved Fredericton band Share closed shop back in 2010. Just when you got your head around that, Share's back, although just for a couple of shows. Sisk will join his former bandmates, who also comprise Olympic Symphonium, in a double-bill of classic albums, at the Fredericton Public Library on March 3, and the Timber Lounge in Halifax March 4. They'll play the entirety of Share's album Pedestrian, and then switch over and play the Symphonium's debut Chapter 1, celebrating the 10th anniversary of both.


In the meantime, Sisk has a brand-new EP out under his own name (as opposed to the work he's done with Coco et Co.) called Antarcticalia. It's the follow-up to Articalia, projects that match his songwriting charms with a touch of bossa nova ease. It's six tracks, all at around 3 minutes, of relaxed tempos and plush melodies. Some are stripped-down to acoustic charms, especially Bad Landlord and No Killing, which Gilberto and Getz could jam on. Other parts get some pretty nifty upgrades, including out-of-place noisy guitar and out-of-era synth. As always, Sisk supplies cool vocals and some great pop moments, Book Club here sounding like a lost Todd Rundgren classic. It's over too fast, but easily handles much repeated listening.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: BETH GARNER - SNAKE FARM

Texas-raised but Nashville-based, Garner got the best of both worlds, and ended up as a kind of Americana blues artist. She's also that rare beast, a female lead guitar and slide player as well as a twangy singer, and clever writer. So that's just about everything a roots fan could want.


This set is brief at seven cuts, but power-packed. Garner wanted to go straight blues on it, and for her that means high-energy, big groove electric numbers. While the songs are the stars, always with high-quality writing, she left herself lots of room for soloing too, including some nasty slide on the ZZ Top-ish closer, Wish I Was. While the playing fans are digging that, I'm focused on fun tunes like Backroads Freddie, about getting off the highway and looking around, and her cover of Ray Wylie Hubbard's Texas novelty, the title cut Snake Farm, apparently a true-to-life spot. A great spirit permeates this disc.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: ALISON KRAUSS - WINDY CITY

Holy Hanna! It's Alison Krauss, covering Hal Lone Pine! Lone Pine, or Hal Breau, was a big star in Maine and the Maritimes especially, and was doing well in Nashville for a bit in the 50's. He was also the dad of jazz great Lenny Breau and... oh, don't get me going here. Anyway, Lone Pine and his Mountaineers and better half, Betty Cody, did the song It's GoodBye and So Long To You first, but Krauss probably knew it better from bluegrass favourites the Osborne Brothers and Mac Wiseman. She knows her classics, and much of this album features old-school numbers.


These are vocal tunes, and certainly not the mysteriously produced kind she did on the hit album with Robert Plant. Instead, she's playing it straight for the most part, and letting her voice do the work. Taking on the very well-known Gentle On My Mind is a tough one, with Glen Campbell's version etched in our conscience, but her clear-as-a-bell delivery gives it a more haunting tone. Her delivery of Brenda Lee's hit All Alone Am I is nothing less than stunning, giving it gravitas previously unimaginable, and her work on Lee's Losing You is just as impressive.


It's an impressive list of numbers, obscure at times, surprising elsewhere, like the title cut, another Osborne Brothers number. Only her choice of You Don't Own Me sputters, as it has been done to death, and she doesn't add much to it. While the source material does feature some bluegrass numbers, really this precious little of that, as it's pretty much a classic country crooner set. It's kind of a mixed bag though, as it features ten cuts in the main body of the album, then four of them done in live versions. If you shell out a couple of more bucks for the deluxe version, you get another two studio cuts, covers of more modern hits, Till I Gain Control Again (Emmylou) and Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground (Willie). It doesn't matter, she just sounds fantastic in every format and style.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: JONATHAN ROY - MR. OPTIMIST BLUES

It's very hard to get your head around the fact this is son of NHL star goaltender/coach Patrick Roy. If that isn't enough, he's the protege of another Quebec star, Corey Hart, who signed young Roy to his label, and wrote several of the cuts on this 9-track set, including the breakthrough hit Daniella Denmark. But you don't hear Hart or Roy senior when you play the songs, just this big, soulful voice.


Falling somewhere between Ed Sheeran and Passenger (even though there's not much room between them), Roy's music is smooth, mellow and right in line with the new kind of singer-songwriter, with a side of reggae. While he has a few of his own here, the best ones are Hart's, while Roy is excelling at emotional deliveries and sincerity. Best of all, he doesn't sound like he's forcing the feelings, a tendency some of the others in this style are guilty of. Add in that these are some of the best songs Hart has written since, you know, THAT one, and it's a promising partnership. This time, a Roy scores (groan).