MUSIC THREAD

It's coming out very soon if its not already out. Some fans I know who have heard early copies have said its her best stuff since Car Wheels on a Gravel Road and some are saying its even better than that. So yes, I'm definitely looking forward to that.
Plus there's a new album from Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers coming out next month I can't wait for ... four songs from it can be found here: http://www.myspace.com/azpeacemakers
Late spring/early summer Rod Picott's new album is coming out and the two tracks I've heard from it are great. I'll be seeing him in concert tonight so hopefully he'll be playing more from it.
Bruce Springsteen is rumored to be in the studio readying a late summer release.
Tift Merritt will be putting out an album this year if she finds a new label after leaving Lost Highway last year.
Southside Johnny is reportedly working on an album of Tom Waits covers he'll release this year.
In my eyes, this is shaping up to be a great year of music

 

after hearing a guy at a local jazz joint play some ellington, i picked up the duke's box set. incredible. i then grabbed the book lush life, a biography of billy strayhorn, who composed many of ellington's best-known numbers. strayhorn was gay, so he didn't mind being out of the limelight, but he had a really odd relationship with ellington. it's a really great book.

as for jazz, my two cents: a love supreme and my favorite things by coltrane, and milestones by miles davis.

 

Well, it will have to be pretty phenomenal to be better than Car Wheels, that is a perfect record. But even if it's as agood as essence or worl withot tears (i think I got that wrong), it will be a top 10 of the year.

 

I've heard it and it's not that good.
The quality of Lucinda's work has gone down sharply since "Car Wheels," IMO.

 

Lucinda's vocals have become unlistenable to me. Very mannered and anestheticized. West, according to every review I've seen, is more of that.
On the other hand, I just picked up The Decembrists' The Crane Wife, which I like a great deal.

 

One more time!!!

 

New songs from Dinosaur Jr. and The Stooges have been posted on the respective MySpace pages. The new Dinosaur Jr. song is great...the new Stooges song isn't.

 

Yeah, a lot of the reviews I've seen of West have said it's overdone, technically (an unfocused "baggy distraction" with "a grandiosity problem" sez the NYT). Which is really too bad, because Car Wheels is one of my all-time favorite albums - earthy and direct - and her earlier stuff was just honest, straightforward roots music. I like it.
But World Without Tears left me cold, and it sounds like this will, too. I'll give it a listen, though. Hopefully it's better than the reviews.

 

I never got the fascination with Lucinda Williams. It's almost like the critics demanded I like it, and I certainly gave it a try (especially "Car Wheels"), but it just wasn't for me. I'm usually drawn toward singer-songwriters (with heavy emphasis on the latter), but not this one.

 

Ever listen to "Change the Locks"? It might put you on to her.
I lost track of Lucinda Williams' recent stuff (I thought "Essence" sucked, except for one or two songs) and I don't have much interest in the new album, despite the fact that a lovely young friend of mine was all geeked out about the record. But that song still gets me.

 

I know I'm a lame ass. I don't buy much music. I tend to pick up stuff via what I'll call file sharing. In any case, I bought my first album in quite some time a few days ago. It's the Taylor Hicks album. I havne't listened to it yet, but I'm wondering what people think of him and his album. I enjoyed him on the show, and I liked his big single. But I'm fearful that his album will be a major let down.

 

He's great on that commercial.