Mark’s Top Five Albums of 2012
For my top five albums of the year, we begin with something I didn’t think I would like but then did. And then loved. And then became obsessed with to the point of nausea. But a good nausea. Folks, I’m not ashamed to admit but I heart the Original Soundtrack to Rock of Ages
. Heart heart heart!!!
Maybe it’s nostalgia or maybe I’m just that shocked that Tom fucking Cruise can carry a tune but this disc is Chock-o-Block with great tracks. My personal favorite is Cruise and Malin Akerman’s rendition of Foreigner’s “I Wanna Know What Love Is.” This is largely due to the scene in which it is performed being so over the top and wonderful that I could hardly contain myself.
Next up is Donald Fagen’s Sunken Condos
. My first reaction was instant delight at the cover. Artists these days don’t put as much thought into album covers largely because they are seen on a small screen. Since the advent of downloads, I have opined for the days of the album cover as art (see: Yes or Pink Floyd). Sunken Condos is a brilliant piece of work by Stephen Walker and Jeff Wack. The centerfold is equally as amazing and haunting in its beauty.
The music itself is classic Fagen/Steely Dan. Slinky grooves played by stellar studio musicians with DF’s voice out front, guiding us through his unique and remarkable take on life. It’s nice to see him getting past his big, autobiographical trilogy on life (The Nightfly
, Kamakiriad
, Morph the Cat
) and just have fun again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Epxd1v43yas&w=480&h=360
For number three on my list, I look closer to home and note the wonderful debut of The Stereo Pirates‘ self-titled record
. Since it was a January release, it was a real treat to play it all year and enjoy it through all four seasons. I found it to be a great disc to throw on while running and play from start to finish. Perhaps it’s because it’s a “journey” album and every time you listen to it, your mind goes down a new path.
Number two on my list is That’s Why God Made the Radio
by The Beach Boys. Brian is back and this time, it ain’t no publicity stunt. Their twenty ninth (!) studio album is a return to heights that have not been seen since Sunflower. Honestly, some tracks are right up there with Pet Sounds. All surviving members are here, including the return of Al Jardine replacement, David Marks. The last three tracks (“From There and Back Again,” “Pacific Coast Highway,” and “Summer’s Gone”) are Smile-like in their connectivity and wonder. The band recorded 28 songs for this album so perhaps this isn’t the end for new material but if it is (they are all in their 70s, after all), what an impressive coda!
The best of album of 2012 is Sonik Kicks
by Paul Weller. I make no bones about by obsession with Brit Rock and it really isn’t that much of a stretch to guess that the Modfather would be my top pick of the year. I wrote a more detailed review of it back when it was released and all of those words still apply today, if not more so. Weller is truly like a fine wine, getting more robust with each passing year. He promises much more to come in the future and I simply can’t wait. If he keeps growing like this, it’s going to be more apparent that his solo career is leaps and bounds past The Jam and The Style Council. Diehards like me already know this to be true.
Now, go buy all these fucking records….
Mark’s Top Five Tracks of 2012
Channeling my inner Cusack via Nick Hornby, here are my Top Five Tracks of 2012.
5. “Don’t Stare At The Sun” – Richard Hawley
Haunting and evocative of another time, this song has been stuck to me for the past few months and won’t let go. Certainly, it’s reminiscent of Tonight-era David Bowie but there’s something more than that here. It’s echo-y…shimmery…like memories…simply wonderful…
4. “I’m Not The Same Without You” – Donald Fagen
The more things change, the more they stay the same..a cliche, I know, but I’ve been struck how this year saw me listening to the same bands I did 30+ years ago. This list (along with new releases by Joe Jackson and Bruce Springsteen) is certainly indicative of that. It’s not that I’m old and crabby about music or anything (I have plenty of new bands that I love) but these senior farts are still making exceptional music that, in many ways, is superior to some of the new stuff coming out.
This is certainly true of Donald Fagens’ new album, Sunken Condos. This track is a great example of how the good ol’ style of music still sounds great today. In fact, no one really makes music like this anymore so it’s actually very refreshing!
3. “Take Me Home” – The Stereo Pirates
Almost my track of the year and not just because they are local boys. The LA sound here is absolutely perfect in this stunner of a track. I challenge anyone to listen to this from start to finish and not well up a little bit. A stadium anthem for 2012 if there ever was one…
2. “Summer’s Gone” – The Beach Boys
Brian finally got the remaining boys back together for one last (?) go around. This is the closing track on a truly exceptional album and it acts as a possible epilogue to the 50 year career of the Beach Boys. Brian has hinted for many years that he had a song that would be the last song on the last Beach Boys album and this is it. Who knows if this is really the end (they are all in their 70s now, after all)?
If it is, “Summer’s Gone” is a perfect track for taking your best gal for that last stroll home, past the white picket fences or through the fields or under the boardwalk, in early September right before you head off to college…with the leaves…and the co-eds in sweaters…and textbooks…and the life of the mind…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDEzqFMejzU&w=560&h=315
1. “A Study In Blue” – Paul Weller
The Modfather came up big this year, as I discussed previously, and there was never really any question after I heard this track, that it would be my top choice for 2012. The duet with Hannah Weller (his wife) is what really makes this song shine in its trippy, chill-outedness. This song has been floating next to me all year and has been a very soothing companion.
Tomorrow I’ll put up my Top Five Albums of the Year.
The Modfather’s Mid-Life Renaissance
For me, music begins with John Lennon. The very first step after that is Paul Weller.And it’s always been that way.
Ever since I heard Sound Affects by The Jam back in 1981, Paul Weller has taken me on where no other artist (save John, of course) has really taken me. A few come close…Todd Rundgren…Joe Jackson…U2…Oasis…but none really compare to Weller simply because his mark on the music world has been so exciting and diverse. The Jam were punk, soul, and absolutely fun pop with a few ballads thrown in for seasoning. The Style Council were smooth jazz, cafe chic, solid R&B, symphonic pastorals, and house music before there was such a thing.
His solo career began with acid jazz and then segued into hippie soul, power trio bombast, and psychedelia. His last record, Wake Up The Nation, charted even newer (and older) territory that completely took the UK music scene by storm. Bruce Foxton, former bass player for The Jam, even played on the punked up track, “Fast Car-Slow Traffic.” Praises were showered over him and the word was that he was moving beyond his moniker, The Modfather, and into God Like Genius mode.
With his latest release, Sonik Kicks, there is no doubt that he has arrived to lord over us from musical heaven. This 14 track album (16 if you spring for the Deluxe Edition) is simply magnificent. I’d use the phrase “tour de force” but that would be paltry in illustrating how truly amazing this fucking record is by the man who has been the soundtrack to my life of for the last 30 years.
With a nod to Kraut Rock, the album opens with “Green,” an explosion of aural delight that sends one’s heart racing directly into the matrix. “The Attic” is next with its wistful nostalgia. “Kling I Klang” could easily be on All Mod Cons or Setting Sons. “Sleep of the Serene,” a trippy instrumental, dovetails nicely with the acoustic beauty of “By The Waters.” On these last two tracks, Weller seems to be going back to the VERY under-appreciated Style Council record, Confessions of a Pop Group. “That Dangerous Age,” is the first single from the album, is next and laments the trials of being a parent to teenagers.
At this point I was already in love with the record and wasn’t fully prepared when the next track took it up another notch. “Study in Blue” completely blew me away. It could easily be on any Style Council album with its smooth cafe sound. And me, being the hopeless romantic, was completely sucked in to the abundance of amore that spills out on this track. Having his wife Hannah sing on the track was simply brilliant as her voice adds to the perfect and never changing mood.
“Dragonfly” and “Around the Lake” are more tracks that sounds Jam-ish (The Gift era, towards the end), each with a dash of macabre thrown in. “When You’re Garden’s Overgrown” brings us back to Kraut Rock but with that signature Weller melody and refrain. This is my second favorite track on the album as Weller takes a page lyrically from the biting commentary of Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks. The link track “Twilight” steams ahead nicely into “Drifters” sonic and aural panorama. Listening to the latter track, one is simply stunned at how fresh Weller sounds. “Paperchase” reminds me of Berlin era Bowie.
The album proper closes with a loving message to his ever growing brood of kids, “Be Happy Children.” An upbeat message for all of us, really, Weller indeed sounds happier than he ever has and why not? His music is more relevant, wonderful, and, indeed, more innovative than ever!
The Deluxe Edition contains the single from last year, “Starlite,” which is devastatingly gorgeous and “Devotion,” an acoustic rock jaunt that will put a smile on your face. I highly recommend plunking down the extra greenbacks and getting it.
Here’s my favorite track from the album, “Study in Blue.”
http://youtu.be/gK3kc63xKXQ
Wake Up Our Nation
It’s always a treat when Paul Weller releases a new record. Being second only to John Lennon in my eyes, Weller epitomizes my love for Brit Rock. Through his years in The Jam, The Style Council, and now his solo career he has always managed to astound me with his most excellent tunage. Now we can add “completely blows me away ” to the list of reactions. Wake Up The Nation
is Weller’s finest solo CD next to his self-titled debut. It’s that good and you need to own it.
When I first heard the single “No Tears To Cry”, I was wondering if I had bought the wrong disc. The voice coming out of my speakers sounded like a mid-60s Stax singer – full of wonderful soul and deep beauty. It was, in fact, Mr. Weller. A week later I bought the full length and was astounded by it’s diversity. I’m not really sure how to describe this album but here’s a shot.
Imagine if it were possible for Pet Sounds to make love to Low and the resulting offspring was the Superfly soundtrack. That’s the best way to illustrate the dynamism of this record. We hear the direct influence of all three of these records and much more all over the 16 track disc.
The treat of the record (and my favorite track) is “Fast Car/Slow Traffic” which features former Jam partner in crime, Bruce Foxton on bass and backing vocals. It sounds like a Jam song that easily could have been featured on a never-going-to-happen-in-a-million years reunion album. “Trees” is just flat out bizarre in a very wonderful way. “7 & 3 is the Striker’s Name” is another gem with a musical style that, as one insider on the making of the album describes, “Stockhausen meets the Small Faces.” “Aim High” straps us all in for a trip back to the early 70’s and could easily be the theme song to an urban cop film. I can see the moustaches and hear the talk of the man keeping us all down.
“I wasn’t even thinking of making another record,” Weller remarks in the liner notes. In my opinion, that’s usually when the best ones are made. The new Weller disc was just released stateside and, as always, I’m hoping that our nation is somehow woken up to the God like genius of the Modfather.
Buy Wake Up The Nation (Amazon MP3 Exclusive Version – Deluxe Edition)
Stream the whole album on its Yep Roc page.
2:28
A lot can be accomplished musically in two minutes and twenty eight seconds. What brought this to mind was a Little Feat tune I heard on my way to work recently: “Feats Don’t Fail Me Now”. It funks and it rocks & rolls and grooves…makes me wanna strut down a crowded street with a sweet hat and some big fat shades – a grin on my face. “GIT the hell outta my way people, I’m coming THROUGH!”
I sorted my iTunes by Time, and found 37 tunes in my online collection that clock in at 2:28 (three of ’em by Jim Croce, go figure). Here’s that sweet-ass Little Feat tune and eight other nuggets of under 2:28 goodness…
If you’ve got a spare 22:12, listen to ’em all now…
Little Feat – Feats Don’t Fail Me Now (mp3) – from Feats Don’t Fail Me Now
Steve Earle – South Nashville Blues (mp3) – from I Feel Alright
Reverend Horton Heat – Baddest of the Bad (mp3) – from Liquor in the Front
Creedence Clearwater Revival – Who’ll Stop the Rain (mp3) – from Cosmo’s Factory
Old 97’s – Coahuila (mp3) – from Drag It Up
The Byrds – I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better (mp3) – from Mr. Tambourine Man
Calexico – Sunken Waltz (mp3) – from Feast of Wire
Jim Croce – Time in a Bottle (mp3) – from The Definitive Collection
Paul Weller – Spring (At Last) [mp3] – from Illumination [Limited Edition w/ Bonus DVD]
