Performing a batch of songs in the style of an alternate genre might be a bit played out in 2015. I’m thinking specifically about the “Pickin’ On” series that seemed to have such a remarkable head of steam a while back.
The Brothers and Sisters
The Brothers and Sisters
Dylan’s Gospe
Light In The Attic
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Those releases, if I remember right, revolved mostly around Bluegrass players covering the Hippie bands. We can blame the Hippies for a lot of things. But we also live in an age where you can go to the gym and hear songs from Carole King’s Tapestry remixed for the Millennials. We can blame them for everything that we’re not too busy blaming the Hippies for. But recording an album’s worth of Dylan covers in a Gospel style may have seemed downright revolutionary in 1969. Or maybe just downright. Light In The Attic released just such a compilation on vinyl a while back. It’s called, appropriately, Dylan’s Gospel, and it has its moments, I must say.

This album is credited to the Brothers and Sisters. Per the killer essay in the liners, producer Lou Adler (that guy you’re always seeing sitting next to Jack Nicholson at Lakers games) gathered up the cream of LA’s background singer scene and brought them all together for about four sessions over the course of about four days. He set up the studio in such a way as to replicate a Baptist church’s configuration, and the Brothers and Sisters started to roll tape along with a small instrumental combo (conspicuously lacking any guitarists). And it all came off grand! Mostly. Some songs, as one might imagine, work much better than others. “I Shall Be Released” lends itself quite nicely to the format. “Lay Lady Lay,” meanwhile, is just kinda weird in this context. Of course, it always helps to get Merry Clayton involved in any vocal performance. She’s blown the roof off of every scene I’ve known her to take part in. Especially “Gimme Shelter,” and she does it again here with “The Times They Are A-Changing” and “The Mighty Quinn.” If you’re unfamiliar with Clayton’s work, I would recommend, again, that you check out the 20 Feet From Stardom documentary from a couple of years back. You can see her performing Neil Young’s “Southern Man” there, and they also isolate her vocal track on “Gimme Shelter.” It made my hair stand up, and I’m not at all kidding. Any old way, this album sounds very much like it was recorded in an old wooden Baptist church (i.e. this is not audiophile faire). Mission accomplished, Lou. I have enough Gospel in my collection now that I can go whole Sundays listening to nothing but. Mostly, I choose my old Staples Singers records (who had already covered Dylan by the time Dylan’s Gospel was released), but I won’t hesitate to add this one to the rotation. It’s a ton of fun, mostly.

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I think Light In The Attic does a pretty decent job, usually. They responded to my issues with their Record Store Day release of Willie Nelson’s Teatro. Still haven’t gotten my replacement, but it’s still a little early based on the time frame I was given. They don’t charge enough to have done the Gospel record through an all analog chain, but the record has a full, rich sound that fits the vocalists’ heft quite nicely. The aforementioned essay is included, and a link is provided for an online “making of” doc that I’ve not seen yet. The music stands on its own. Grab one if you’re curious. I bet you’ll like it.

Widespread Panic
Widespread Panic
Ain’t Life Grand
Widespread Records
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Speaking of Hippie bands, I caught Widespread Panic a couple of months back in Oakland and they rocked right well. About 5,000 times better than they did when I saw them at Outside Lands a few years back. Those were, like, my six hundred and six hundred and first Panic shows or something. I think Widespread Panic was a legitimately great band for a good many years. I’m not at all embarrassed to have spent as much time as I did in their company. I made a ton of friends at those shows. People that I still enjoy seeing to this day. Got turned on to a ton of enduring musical influences too. Especially Bloodkin. But also Traffic and the Meters, for example. If the reader feels like the author is on the brink of an apology, the reader is pretty astute. Because Panic’s vinyl reissue project went over like a fart in a space suit, in my opinion. I knew it when I bought the first couple of titles, but I went all the way in so that I could maintain a complete collection. It chagrins me to have to review the last installment in the series. Because I always loved Ain’t Life Grand. This is going to hurt, but it will all be over soon.

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I just don’t get it. I jumped right to the fourth side on this set because it includes “Jack” and “Fishwater,” two of my favorite Panic originals of all time. I was praying for a miracle, but I knew what was coming. These records were pressed at United Record Pressing in Nashville. I hear they recently got a bunch of additional presses to keep up with the demands of their artist clients. As I understand it, they were maxed out a while back. Couldn’t take on any more work. I imagine that their presses were running 24/7, their workers strung out on a bevy of hard narcotics to stave off sleep and to keep those presses pressing. Maybe they were actually chopping up the narcotics on the records themselves before sending them out to retailers. That’s what my copy of Ain’t Life Grand looked like out of the wrapper. I actually had to vacuum it once before I could scrub it. Had I not, I’m afraid I would have ground whatever white debris was all over the disc right into the grooves. Not that it could get much worse. These records are loud, scratchy, poppy, and generally no fun to listen to. The artwork is blurry, and there are less liners and artwork than what were in the original releases on compact laser disc! What fresh hell is this? Maybe the additional presses will serve as some sort of remedy. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know how these things work. Are there good presses and bad ones? How much of the overall quality depends on the humans manning the machines? More importantly, why do artists keep bringing their music in to be pressed at this place? Can any company of this size maintain quality control while running at absolute capacity? I wish, with all of my heart, that there were some online resource that aggregates all of the forthcoming vinyl releases and tells you who is responsible for each one. But there often seems to be secrecy surrounding source materials, pressing locations, etc. That’s slightly less of an abomination than the organizations that refuse to allow us to know what’s in the food we are eating.

Full disclosure: URP has pressed some decent records that I own. Also: they are few and far between.

Ain’t Life Grand has good songs on it. Buy the CD.

Patterson Hood
Patterson Hood
Killers and Stars
New West Records
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Speaking of United Record Pressing, they also got their hands on Patterson Hood’s first ever vinyl release of Killer’s and Stars. The recordings are semi-legendary amongst Drive-By Truckers fans, and were not initially intended for release. Hood recorded the sparse, acoustic tunes at home without a lot of worry and fuss. Just to get them out of his head and into the world, so to speak. This was in March 2001. Hood’s essay in the liners will tell you all about it, but the general thrust of the story is that things weren’t going well for him, he wrote and recorded these tunes as quasi-therapy (my descriptor, his are better), made some copies on recordable CDs, and started selling them at his solo shows. A few years later, New West Records picked the recordings up for a proper release and Hood paid for his honeymoon with the proceeds. Lemons into lemonade, as they say.

Most of these tunes were written around the time they were recorded, but one of my favorites (“Hobo”) was written way back in 1988. It’s a simple tune, many of the songs on Killers are, but it has feeling and some of the nicest textures on the record. Same goes for “Miss Me Gone” which was written in 1992. So, it seems I’m a bit partial to the earlier material which is an interesting thing to learn this late in the game. I’ve read interviews with Hood wherein he slogs off his own singing abilities, but hearing him harmonize with himself over the course of this record calls that assessment into question. And he’s only gotten better over the intervening years. As his fans would expect, there’s a variety of characters inhabiting these story-songs, most of them are shady as the dark roads they travel. There’s an assassin that’s lost his “taste for killing anymore,” and Phil who’s undergone some mysterious transplant that has sapped his love of chocolate and replaced it with an affinity for watching the Weather Channel. Then, there’s “Cat Power” about the artist of the same name. Or the same whatever. She calls herself that, I guess. The first time I saw the Drive-By Truckers, they were performing in the parking lot of a pizza and beer joint in Athens, Georgia. This was after Pizza Deliverance and before The Southern Rock Opera. The sound was punkishly powerful. These songs, from a scant couple of years later, display a much softer touch which would get greater exposure still on Truckers songs like “Heathens” and “Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife.” Those are just the first two that came to mind, there are plenty to choose from. I wouldn’t have seen it coming in 1999, but Hood and his gang(s) have evolved into a band capable of melodic eloquence when they’re not peeling the paint off the walls with distortion and rage. They’re a complete package and Patterson Hood is often quite central to the action. It’s been a joy to see.

And the mystery of United Record Pressing continues. Because this record sounds mostly okay. A couple of pops and ticks here or there as you’d expect from all but the truest audiophile releases. Do they have a sliding scale for making decent records instead of seriously crappy ones? Don’t get confused. This is not an audiophile recording. Not from the “dining room with creaking chair” with “ the snoring dog (Loretta).” But it’s a lot of fun, and the water is warm. Come on in.

Jay Gonzalez
Jay Gonzalez
The Bitter Suite
Middle Brow Records
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Speaking of the Drive-By Truckers, Patterson Hood isn’t that band’s only badass. The contributions of Jay Gonzalez have been hard to look past over the last few years. The more he assimilated into the band, the more professional that band sounded. Now that he’s fully functioning as both a keyboardist and guitarist, I imagine that band can play in damn near any style they want. And Jay’s style is significantly more polished and poppy than what we’re accustomed to from the Truckers. I first saw him play in Athens, Georgia as a member of Love Apple in the mid-1990’s. I hadn’t seen a local band sing harmonies that sweet before. Hadn’t heard anyone doing the “la-la-la’s” and “ooh-ooh-ooh’s” that Love Apple pulled off with such aplomb. That’s not to say that they were the only ones, just the only ones I was aware of. I was full on into Bloodkin at the time. Polish and pop were not a part of my vernacular. Live and learn, y’all. What I’ve learned most recently is that The Bitter Suite by Jay Gonzalez is one of the finest vinyl independent releases that I’ve seen. Ever. Plus, the songs are really great. It’s a winner all around.

Gonzalez’s former Love Apple bandmate, Chris Grehan, has his hands all in this one as player, producer, and mixer. He’s a swell guy too, and these two have been at it together for years. They make a potent team. Gonzalez has gone on record laying claim to inspiration from folks like Joe Jackson, Billy Joel, and… Bread. He loves that stuff. I love his stuff more. I hear the Joe Jackson influence (easily my favorite of the three listed) in the ludicrously catchy chorus of “&$%@#!.” I didn’t just make that up. It’s the song’s title, and it was the hardest thing I’ve ever tried to type. It’s genius in its execution because, while I can hear the melody clearly in my head any time I choose to conjure it up over the course of any old day, I could never in a million years remember how to sing the lyrics to its chorus. And I wouldn’t have the ability to sing it well if I did. That’s why we need Jay Gonzalez. And I may be misspeaking, somewhat. I’m not sure that Jay considers these “songs” in the classical since. Perhaps “movements” would better apply. There are no breaks in the action, you understand. The five tunes included are all a part of the same (bitter) suite, thus the title. As I understand it, Gonzalez wrote each tune separately, recognized that they fit into a cohesive whole, then went about constructing the segues between sections of the suite. I may be off on that. The information is out there. You can visit JayGonzalez.com any time you’d like and I recommend that you do so often. There, you’ll find footage of Jay playing the acoustic keytar, and to great effect. I won’t ruin the surprise by over explaining. Trust me, its fun. As is The Bitter Suite. All fifteen or so minutes of it. He leaves us on a high note, still wanting more. George Costanza would be proud.

This release looks and feels and sounds amazing. The second side includes an etching of the previously alluded to keytar. The first side has all that buttery, warm music pressed nicely into pristine, heavy vinyl. This release does not seem local at all. It’s either “pro” or “no,” and this one falls firmly in the former category. Comes with a download code too so you can spread the word. The folks that contributed to this Kickstarter campaign can rest soundly knowing that their funding resulted in a record that is superior to most anything being pressed today. Couldn’t have been in the service of a finer musician. Hats off.

Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Friday Music
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Speaking of badasses that play the keys, how about ol’ Ray Charles? I circled back this month for his eponymous debut album from 1957 as reissued by Friday Music, and, man, I’m so glad I did. I’d picked up their version of What’d I Say quite a while back and I loved it. Can’t imagine why I waited so long to scoop this one up. Glad it was still there for me. I’d pilfered an original copy of this title from my old man’s collection many years ago, but 1957 was a long time ago and that copy had not held up so well. These Friday Music releases make you stand up and take notice. If their other releases sound as immediately impactful as the Ray records do, then I need to catch up. But the singer makes the song, right? And there are so many of those to choose from here that I scarcely know how to start. Side A, maybe. Let’s try that.

This stuff is deeper than the Mississippi River, gang. And the undertow is just as strong. “Ain’t That Love” kicks things off in high gear, and it’s soon followed by “Drown In My Own Tears.” Lowell Fulson’s “Sinner’s Prayer” contains some of the most gut wrenching singing and heavy handed ivory tickling that I’ve had the pleasure of hearing. Seriously, it sounds like the guy had hammers for fingers. Deft, little hammers that coaxed some of the most soulful sounds out of a piano in history. This is not hyperbole. The power of Ray Charles cannot be overstated. If I’m lucky enough to live to an old age, I will still be listening to his music when I get there. Perhaps more often than I do now while I’m so easily distracted by other things. Ray Charles also includes “Hallelujah I Love Her So,” “Mess Around,” and the crawlin’ king snake of them all, “I Got A Woman.” There may be some out there that don’t know the difference between a classic Ray Charles release on Atlantic versus one on, say, ABC Records. Often, the difference is that the Atlantic titles were made with smaller combos, sparser instrumentation. The ABC records often had full symphonic arrangements. Guess which I prefer. The Atlantic titles are much more impactful, in my opinion. (There is, as always, a caveat. Modern Sounds In Country and Western Music is a heavy piece of history. Strings and all. I can’t wait for someone to do that one the right way. I’ll wait.) There’s not a better time to jump in the Ray Charles pool. The Genius Sings the Blues as done by Mobile Fidelity appears to ship in 4 to 6 weeks. You need them all if you’re a fan of Ray Charles. There are some titles available from some of the other reputable reissue companies (Analogue Productions and ORG), but I’m unfamiliar with the content. I can’t imagine that they’re bad, but the Friday Music titles are the ones I think of when I think of Ray Charles. They went back for the original tapes, and the transparency hits you in the gut from the first notes. Charles stepped out of the shadow of Nat “King” Cole, his greatest musical influence, and set about the business of altering history. These Friday Music titles are a fine document of exactly that.