New Tunes: Alejandro Escovedo’s Real Animal
I’m new to Alejandro Escovedo’s music, but I’ve been familiar with him for years, as a much-respected roots rock singer/songwriter with a huge underground following. Not to mention he’s Sheila E.’s uncle (Sheila’s dad, Pete, is his brother). But I’ve never delved into the music until now. My loss, I know.
Real Animal is Alejandro’s eighth studio album since his acclaimed 1992 debut, Gravity. Prior to that, Alejandro was in San Francisco punk band The Nuns. After a move to Austin, he formed bands Rank and File and True Believers. But it’s his solo work that has garnered the respect of people from Springsteen to Lucinda Williams to Steve Earle.
So my first impressions of the album are very positive. I tend to gravitate toward the slower songs like “Swallows of San Juan”, “Sensitive Boys”, “Hollywood Hills”, and the beautiful “Slow Down”.
the past is gone
but it still lives inside of me
hold on tight
as we slip into this revelryslow down slow down
it’s moving much too fast
can’t live in this moment
when i’m tangled in the pastBut the rockers are growing on me too…the opening track, “Always a Friend” is a straight ahead rocker that Bruce and the E Street Band learned before they brought Alejandro out for an encore in Houston a couple months ago. And songs like “Chelsea Hotel ’78” and the tribute to Iggy Pop – “Real As An Animal” – sound great turned up loud and tearing down the road, making me temporarily forget about $4 gas and 15 miles to the gallon. We all need an escape in this day and age, and this album is a great side trip.
Buy: Real Animal
Official Site: AlejandroEscovedo.comMellencamp and T-Bone Burnett Hook Up
My opinion: if you throw T-Bone Burnett into a project, you’re going to get favorable results. Look at some of the production credits in his resumé:
Los Lobos – How WIll the Wolf Survive?
Wallflowers – Bringing Down the Horse
Counting Crows – August and Everything After
BoDeans – Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams
Elvis Costello – King of America
Robert Plant & Alison Kraus – Raising Sand
Bruce Cockburn – Nothing But a Burning Light and Dart to the Heart
The Soundtrack to O Brother Where Art ThouAnd oh so much more.
One new album bearing the stamp of T-Bone is John Mellencamp‘s Life, Death, Love and Freedom, due out July 15th on the Hear Music / Starbucks label. I have a ton of John’s older stuff, but haven’t really heard much of the stuff he’s put out over the last 10 years or so. And regardless of what John says about “My Country”, the over saturation from the Chevy commercials turned me off to the song immediately.
But this tune has me looking forward to the new album. Mellencamp calls it a collection of “modern electric folk songs”. He also credits Burnett with “finding the soul of each song”. I give Mellencamp credit for hooking up with Burnett – I look forward to hearing the results. They’re off to a great start with this one…
John Mellencamp – My Sweet Love
- Pre-Order: Life, Death, Love and Freedom
- Official Site: JohnMellencamp.com
By the Truckload!
Joining in the celebration of the 50th year of our favorite pasta maven, Coverville just released episode 471: The Prince Cover Story III featuring 46 minutes of funk from the likes of Living Colour, Stina Nordenstam and Kid Creole. You can get it via iTunes or just click here.
Jon Regen: Live!
Maestro (and all around nice guy) Jon Regen checked in from the road with an outstanding live recording of his single “Let It Go” from the record of the same name (which you may recall got a good bit of spin time here at Ickmusic East). Recorded in Vienna, Austria it features Jon in a trio setting burning up the keys. Jon has a couple more dates lined up in Italy and will be visiting the UK in September. Hopefully he’ll have a few US dates in there as well.
Jon Regen – Let It Go (live) (MP3)
Tour Dates:
July 19: Griziane Festival – Griziane, Italy
July 20-28: La Ghironda Festival – Puglia, Italy
September 25-27: Pizza Express Jazz Club – London, UKBuy Let It Go: CDBaby | iTunes
Links: Official Site | on Last.fm | on MySpace
New Tunes: Sergio Mendes – Encanto
I can’t claim to know much about Brazilian music legend Sergio Mendes, beside the fact that I love this song from his 1992 album Brasileiro…
Mendes has been active in the music industry since 1961, when he formed the Sexteto Bossa Rio. In 1965, he moved to New York City, and a year later formed Brasil ’66, which hit platinum with its debut, Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66 – featuring “Mas Que Nada”.
Fast forward to Tuesday, June 10th, when Mendes will release his latest, Encanto (nice cover up there, eh?). Along for the ride are Latin sensation Juanes, Natalie Cole, Ledisi, Herb Alpert, and the ever-ubiquitous will.i.am, who recommended his buddy Fergie to sing on the will-produced track, “The Look of Love” – a Burt Bacharach track that Mendes originally recorded with Brasil ’66 in the late sixties.Now, it’s up to you to decide whether will and Fergie enhance the song, or poison it. My personal opinion: I think they’re starting to wear out their welcome; like they’ve hit their peak. But that’s one opinion. Here it is:
Sergio Mendes feat. Fergie – The Look of Love (streaming) – also in Quicktime
Another tune from the new album:
Sergio Mendes – Funky Bahia (streaming)
Links: Official Site | MySpace | Buy the album | eCard |Youtube EPK
Ickmusic’s Friday Five: June 6, 2008
I’m Late, I’m Late for a very important date, No time to say hello, goodbye, I’m late, I’m late, I’m late!!
They say the best laid plans, right? I took the afternoon off of work, had a small project and was going to roll out a very special Five before heading out to dinner with friends. Well you know they said about the best laid plans…
At any rate, though he chooses not to celebrate it anymore, I thought it appropriate to dedicate this week’s Friday Five to his royal badness on the eve of his 50th birthday. That said it’s late so let’s lower the lights, light some candles and let the funk flow. I apologize to the friends of the Five for last week’s rush job. There are some exciting things brewing in Friday Five land so stay tuned! If you’ve missed the ‘Friday Five’ to date its quite easy, I hit the shuffle button and share the first five tracks along with thoughts, quips and memories.
The rest is up to you; feel free to add your random five in the comments.
Here are this week’s tracks:
1. Prince – Sleep Around (from Emancipation)
I don’t think that this song gets it’s due. Buried on disc three of Emancipation, this slice of horn laden funk delivers a one two punch of a witty lyric and great driving beat. I remember the anticipation of hearing this one live during the Jam of the Year tour.
2. Prince – When You Were Mine (from The Hits/The B-Sides)
This is in my all time top 5 favorite Prince tracks to jam along with.
3. Prince & The New Power Generation – Jughead (from Diamonds and Pearls)
I can’t even defend this one. You know how sometimes things are so bad they are good. This is not one of those cases. I’d sooner listen to a David Archuletta record than listen to this track.
4. Prince – Mustang Instrumental (from The Beautiful Experience)
I miss the days of single and EP’s jam packed with mixes, remixes, B-Sides and 5 different tracks. Dang this five is starting to get depressing.
5. New Power Generation – Mashed Potato Girl Intro (from Exodus)
Have you ever seen Under the Cherry Moon? Remember the comical Tricky/Christopher moments? Times that by about a million and you’ve got the Mashed Potato Girl intro.
So Happy 50th Birthday Mr. Nelson and to the Fivers, what doin’ you like you wanna be done this Friday (or maybe Saturday…)
Dreaming about…C.W.?
While we wait for Michael – King of the Friday Five – to post his latest (Michael – you okay??), I pose one question to you all…
Why did I have a vivid dream about “Convoy” singer C.W. McCall the other night?
The dream: I was reading an article about a new album or a new tour by C.W. Next thing I knew, I was on the phone calling his house, and his wife answered. I asked if C.W. was available. She asked who was calling, and I gave my best dream-induced explanation of who I was (I was still Pete and with Ickmusic.com, a music blog, blah blah blah).
The next second I was knocking at the front screen door of a modest home in a middle class neighborhood. I could see into the window to the left. There was C.W. McCall, sleeping in recliner. He was shirtless, and he had a large beer belly. End of dream.
I’ll have my random music dreams occasionally where I’ll be at a Prince or Springsteen show – sometimes even performing on stage. But C.W. McCall?? Ah, the ways of the human brain.
Is this too much information?
New Tunes: Teddy Thompson
This, my friends, is a fall in love at first listen type of tune. Teddy Thompson is the son of Richard and Linda Thompson – both well respected musicians in their own right. So Teddy comes from good stock.
“In My Arms” is beautiful, sunny harmonies, a killer B3 solo, a catchy hook… It’s got it all!
It’s June – summer has descended upon us north of the equator. So may I nominate “In My Arms” as a great kick-off-the-summer tune? I can? Good.
This is the first single from his new album, A Piece of What You Need, which comes out June 17th.
Teddy Thompson – In My Arms
Some tour dates:
Jun 6 – Pittsburgh, PA – Three Rivers Arts Festival
Jun 7 – Detroit, MI – Detroit Festival of the Arts
Jun 10 – Chicago, IL – Schubas
Jun 11 – Chicago, IL – Schubas
Jun 12 – Madison, WI – University of Wisconsin Terrace
Jun 14 – Covington, KY – Molly Malone’s
Jun 15 – Nashville, TN – 3rd and Lindsley
Jun 17 – Asheville, NC – The Grey Eagle
Jun 20 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
Jun 21 – Philadelphia, PA – North Star Bar
Jun 27 – Bristol, UK – Fiddler’s Club
Jun 28 – Pilton, UK – Glastonbury Festival Q Magazine Stage
Jul 5 – London, UK – Kenwood House opening for Rufus Wainwright
Jul 8 – Solana Beach, CA – Belly Up Tavern
Jul 9 – Los Angeles, CA – Coronet TheaterWhat the Kids are Listening to: Katy Perry
Getting a high profile shout out from Mama Madge when you’ve not even released your first record sets some damned high expectations. From what I can tell of young Katy Perry it seems like she has the ability to deliver with some bombast of ‘shock and awe’. She’s got a hell of a voice and a wicked sense of humor. Think of her as the US answer to Lily Allen with a Cyndi Lauper grade voice. And while it’s not exactly taboo these days to admit to some same-sex tomfoolery, admitting to screwing around on your boyfriend with a chick just for kicks is, well, yeah.. not so taboo. Either way it’s got a funky beat and I can bug out to it. Enjoy the video and be sure to check the parodies that are cropping up all over…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F06DyWU2F8 425 355]
Katy Perry – I Kissed a Girl (Video)Bonus: Check out her truly excellent (albeit loose) cover of The Outfield’s “Your Love”. This scores instant points with me as this one of my favorite 80’s tunes:
Katy Perry – Use Your Love (Last.fm)
Pre-Order One of the Boys: Amazon
Links: Official Site | on Last.fm | on MySpace
First Listen: The Orchid Highway
Upon opening the case of The Orchid Highway’s self-titled debut you get a sense of exactly what you are in for. The image of floor to ceiling stacks of vintage amps, guitars and keys sets the expectation that is fully realized when you hear the ringing opening barrage of “Sofa Surfer Girl”. Reveling in tried and true FM Rock with shades of psychedelic and pop leanings this record delivers ten solid tracks with absolutely no filler. Check out the lead off single “Next World”.
The Orchid Highway – Next World (MP3)
Buy The Orchid Highway: Amazon | iTunes
Links: Official Site | on Last.fm | on MySpace
