Ramblings on Music, Texas, Etc.

Top 10 Records of 2007: #1 & #2 (tie) Patty Griffin - 'Children Running Through' & Joe Henry - 'Civilians'

The delay in finishing off this list can be partly attributed to my indecision over whether Joe Henry or Patty Griffin should be the #1 album of 2007.  I've solved the problem by declaring it a tie, which seems about right because I'm as likely to vote one way or the other depending entirely on my mood or the day of the week.  But for quite a few months now, you could be safely assured that I'd cite one of these two albums as my favorite of the past year.

Also contributing to my split-decision is the fact that these records are quite different, despite both being uncomfortably tagged as "singer/songwriter" albums.  Though it is still full of wonderful songs, Griffin's Children Running Through shines first and foremost as a performance album, showcasing the complete spectrum of her considerable vocal talents.  Henry's Civilians features terrific musicianship and production throughout, but it is most notable for the careful attention to Henry's songcraft.  Not in many years has one of his albums sounded so musically and emotionally direct.  Yet it does not echo his early, country-ish work; rather it distills his considerable musical skills - songwriter, singer, producer - to their very essence.  Both albums are career high points for two artists who already boasted extremely impressive discographies.

Children Running Through is the more accessible of these albums.  I suspect that anyone who appreciates female singer/songwriters would very much like this record (though it's obviously beyond me why anyone wouldn't like it, period).  But going well beyond the obvious "folk" labels, Griffin infuses these recordings with notable gospel and soul influences, and the decision to feature strings on several tracks is a perfect touch.  Producer Mike McCarthy also deserves kudos for capturing Patty's rich, emotive voice in a way never quite harnessed on her previous albums.  For the first time in a long while, Griffin is not relying on standout tracks from her unreleased Silver Bell album, and as a result, the songs on Children feel fresh and very much of a piece.  If Griffin wears her singer hat just a little more proudly than her songwriter hat, it's to her great credit that she placed so much faith in her marvelous talents as a performer and a recording artist.  No longer just a songwriter's writer, she's one of the most multi-dimensional talents making records today.

Joe Henry's Civilians is a slightly more complicated animal, though he hides it well with a simple approach that invites the listener in for repeated visits.  Lyrics, baby.  For all his talents as a producer and performer, Henry is at the top of his game lyrically.  He tosses off brilliant lines with the ease of a torchier Dylan.  If Dylan had written and recorded "You Can't Fail Me Now", critics would hail it as his best song in a decade and they'd be absolutely correct (the best song on Civilians and possibly of the whole year was co-written by Loudon Wainwright III).  Many reviews referenced the so-called "political" influences on Civilians, but this tag is likely to turn listeners off who don't need any more time-sensitive polemics from puffed up artists.  No, what Civilians captures best is the conflicted nature of America and Americans, without draping it in current events or even mentioning the United States by name.

And the musicians.  Henry always stacks his decks - whether he's producing or performing - with a stable of brilliant players.  Civilians is no different, but he adds Greg Leisz, Bill Frisell and Van Dyke Parks to the mix to raise the stakes that much higher.  Jeffrey Overstreet complained mildly that with such talented musicians, it's a shame they don't cut loose more.  But I love that the music serves nothing but the song.  Yet - moments of beauty pervade every song:  Leisz's lovely mandolin flourishes, Patrick Warren's cascading piano on "Wave", Parks' snaky piano on "Civil War", Jay Bellerose's gunshot snare on "You Can't Fail Me Now".  You might have to seek out these moments, but what was it that I said about repeated visits?  Even the CD digipak, with its lovely photographs and carefully crafted liner notes, recalls a time when the longplayer was king and songwriters pledged their allegiance to the form.  Henry has done so here, and Civilians is far and away his best album... so far.

(Hear and download full songs and clips from Civilians over at Joe's website.)

One last note as I close out my Top 10 Records of 2007 - I hope you found some great music this past year.  The industry is supposedly in decline, but to my ears, the music is better than ever.  That so much talent can flourish and find an audience, however small, is a testament to how technology is improving, not killing, the music industry.  Is the age of the Diamond Album (greater than 10 million copies sold) over?  WHO CARES???  Oh, I'm sure Doug Morris and Clive Davis care, but I guess they'll have to eat domestic caviar or cut some other small corner (ha, right).  Very few albums I buy any more come out on, or are even distributed by, major labels.  Music exists whether CD's or digital downloads are sold.  Someone in a glass tower somewhere might well remember that.

"On the 31st floor, your gold-plated door won't keep out the Lord's burning rain." -- "Sin City" by The Flying Burrito Brothers

The Top 10 Records of 2007

I've been furiously trying to churn out the rest of my list today.  So to catch you up...

1. Coming soon
2. Coming soon
3. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
4. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
5. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga
6. Mary Gauthier - Between Daylight and Dark
7. Grace Potter & The Nocturnals - This Is Somwhere
8. Bettye LaVette - The Scene of the Crime
9. Lucinda Williams - West
10. Over The Rhine - The Trumpet Child

You can filter my "Best of 2007" entries by clicking here.  No.'s 1 and 2 will be coming shortly - should be pretty obvious selections to my regular readers.

Top 5 Records of 2007: #3 Wilco - 'Sky Blue Sky'

The album of 2007 that everyone seemed to warm up to.  For my part, I liked Wilco's Sky Blue Sky a whole lot when it was released; I like it a little more now.  Spoon probably released the better record this year, but my affection for Wilco run deep.  I just connect with Jeff Tweedy's singer/songwriter side more directly, and SBS really was a return of sorts to Wilco's early brand of alt-country.  The difference now is that Tweedy has assembled a cast of stunning musicians to support the cause.  Nels Cline and Pat Sansome make their recording debut with Wilco on this album, but thanks to 2005's awesome live album, this still sounds like the Wilco lineup we're now most used to.  Much of the critical sniping about the record focused on the lack of guitar wizardry from Cline, but if you're listening to Wilco for guitar heroics, you probably oughta just move along anyway.  There are plenty of instrumental touches to soak in, but that isn't what this band has ever been about.

At this point, Wilco sound like six guys who love making music and are damned good at making it.  Tweedy's lyrics are still the big selling point for me, and if SBS sounds occasionally too laid back, the songs themselves hold up to close scrutiny.  I'm not sure if Wilco are still reaching for the mantle of greatness that fueled Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, but there isn't a better live act touring today, in my opinion.  If the record doesn't quite do it for you, the live versions will probably still blow you away.  It's gratifying to see a band like Wilco stick to their guns and make an honest living playing music.  If that makes me love Sky Blue Sky more than I should, so be it.

Top 5 Records of 2007: #4 Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - 'Raising Sand'

Here's an album I was curious about but not really expecting much from.  But man, what these two artists - along with ringleader/producer T Bone Burnett - have pulled together is nothing short of a timeless classic.  Though it is basically a covers record, Raising Sand is also a thematic mastework thanks to the meticulous song selection.  Burnett also assembled a stellar - and I mean, STELLAR - group of musicians for the recording, and the whole affair adds up to a seriously awesome effort (not to mention Burnett's best work since Sam Phillips' A Boot and A Shoe).  Among the many great musicians, drummer Jay Bellerose has probably turned in his best recorded effort to-date, adding yet another outstanding effort to his impressive resume.

Oh, and did I mention that Alison Krauss and Robert Plant can sing?  Boy, can they sing.  Alison Krauss is one of my favorite vocalists, but her work with Union Station only occasionally grabs my interest.  Plant, obviously, is a legend, but on Raising Sand he is almost unrecognizable, easily busting loose from what we generally expect from him based on his past work.  It's yet another notable accomplishment in his illustrious career.  For Krauss, however, it is a new high-water mark, with all due respect to her other work and her loyal fans.  At least in my book, this is by far her finest hour, and whether she's taking the lead or providing gypsy-woman harmonies, Alison is jaw-dropping throughout the record.  Burnett has provided the perfect backdrop for her talents.  Hell, even her fiddle playing reaches new heights.

What more is there to say.  This album, though quite popular in its modest way, is probably not everyone's cup of tea.  However, if this hits your musical sweet spot, it probably hits you straight in the gut and knocks you clean over.

Incidentally, Plant and Krauss have already announced European dates for the late spring.  So while you may or may not get to see the reunited Zep on tour, you probably will get a chance to see this duo sometime in 2008.  The must-see tour of next year, as far as I'm concerned.

Top 5 Records of 2007: #5 Spoon - 'Ga Ga Ga Ga'

First, a little about my list this year.  While I think this Top 10 is the most solid in a few years (probably since 2004), my entries in the Top 5 are particularly stellar.  I think these records are all worthy additions to the canons of the respective artists, and in one case, a really awesome collaboration that brings a whole new dimension to the artists' previous work.

But before we get to that one, let's give some props to Spoon.  Certainly the best old-school LP of the year, Ga Ga Ga Ga tightly winds its way through 36 minutes of pure Spoonage.  Maybe not as revelatory as Kill The Moonlight but certainly more focused than Gimme Fiction, the album is pretty much a summation of the various strengths of the band, leaning heavily on the monster drumming of founding member Jim Eno.  Britt Daniel is his usual sharp-observational self.  The production by Mike McCarthy (except for "The Underdog" produced by Jon Brion) is top-notch.  It's maybe easy to take the album for granted since it's such a logical evolution for the group.  But among the indie rock elite, no other act is clicking on all cylinders at the moment like Spoon.

BTW, "Don't You Evah" (not actually written by Spoon) holds the dubious honor of being my 1-year old daughther's favorite song.  But if you can grab that audience, you should pretty much have it made.

Top 10 Records of 2007: #6 Mary Gauthier - 'Between Daylight and Dark'

Upon hearing Between Daylight and Dark, I actually had to revisit Mary Gauthier's breakthrough album Mercy Now and see if I had missed something.  It's perhaps better than I remember, but Gurf Morlix's Americana-by-numbers production doesn't do nearly sufficient justice to Gauthier's stunning songwriting chops.  That, of course, has been remedied by Joe Henry, who applies perfectly understated production technique to Between Daylight and Dark.  It was with entirely new ears that I was able to finally appreciate Gauthier's work, cast in the lovely shadows of Greg Leisz's subtle guitars and Jay Bellerose's ghostly drums.

I can't claim a deep knowledge of Gauthier's previous work, but I doubt her earlier albums hold a candle to this masterful gem.

Best of 2007: Ann Powers on Patty Griffin

I know I'm only halfway through my Top 10 list, but I thought I'd give you a little preview by reprinting some comments about Patty Griffin from Slate's Ann Powers:

"Another favorite listen this year came from unrevolutionary country gal Patty Griffin, who released the quiet genre-buster Children Running Through in February. Griffin's not a Young Turk, like Miranda Lambert (whom I like, too), nor a firebrand, like fellow redhead Neko Case. She's just a really good songwriter whose own albums get stuck in the "Americana" category that nobody thinks is sexy anymore. (Oops, I see a theme emerging: middle-aged critic defends middle-aged artists who don't make the "hottie" grade. Sorry to be solipsistic. I promise to write about Lil Wayne's bodacious rhymes in my next post!)

I'm a seasoned critic, skilled in tracing influences, trained to dig crafty sonic amalgamations and virtuoso turns. But when I listen to Griffin's song "Burgundy Shoes," I cry. I mean uncontrollably—the minute the music-box piano kicks in and she starts the simple verses.

In the song, Griffin finds the voice of a little girl riding the bus with her mother on a potentially scary, maybe wonderful journey to Maine. Her mom hums a Beatles tune, and the girl reflects on how great it is to be in the sun, without her big boots on, next to the most pretty lady in the world. I have a daughter, and in the four years that I've been immersed in the sentimental crap surrounding motherhood, I've never heard such a pure evocation of the volatile, relentless love mothers and daughters share.

When I hear it, I think of my 83-year-old mom, who had to enter an assisted-living facility this year but still wears coral lipstick to supper and wants to go to Wisconsin to visit her sister. I think of my 4-year-old girl, who tells me that I'm not very nice and that I'm beautiful in the same breath.

I think of my daughter's birthmom, who misses her spitting-image child fiercely as she builds her own young life. And my sister-in-law, with three girls, trying to not interfere when the oldest gets rejected by her best friend and the middle one wants to wear the craziest outfit ever to her first day of kindergarten. And I can't help it. I'm lost in the memory Griffin constructed, as it makes a bridge into my own life. I'm gone.

I can't always find a way to write publicly about these moments now, or even to make room for them in my nonexistent "down time." But aren't such private connections still a key part of loving music, even as everything gets harder, better, faster, stronger? I'd like to know what your private loves were this year. And now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go get a tissue."

I know I'm a new-ish dad, not a mom, but I still relate to those comments, thinking of my own mother (gone now for over 11 years) and thinking of my wife and daughter.  I commented to my wife yesterday, "Does it blow your mind that Amelia will someday look at you and think you're the most beautiful person in the world?"  She laughed it off, but it's true - all children feel that way about their mothers, I think.  At least I'm sure mine will.  And I was thinking of "Burgundy Shoes" when I said it.

Critics have been overwhelmingly and rightfully positive about Children Running Through, but those comments make a good case for why Patty Griffin is simply one of the best - if not THE best - songwriter out there right now.

Top 10 Records of 2007: #7 Grace Potter & The Nocturnals - 'This Is Somewhere'

One of my 2007 discoveries, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals hits the big leagues with their major label debut This Is Somewhere.  Drifting further from their jam-band roots, the band coughed up some seriously catchy hooks, matched nicely with some slick production (courtesy of Mike Daly).  Though much of the album is highlighted by Big Rock Songs like "Ah Mary" and "Here's To The Meantime", it's the gentler middle tracks "Lose Some Time" and "You May See Me" that really showcase the Nocturnals' range.  Potter blends rock-chick coolness with earnest grit, and she has grown leaps and bounds in both the songwriting and singing departments.  Taken as companion piece to their previous effort Nothing But The Water, This Is Somewhere signals the emergence of a band seriously worth watching.

I felt a little late to the game with Grace Potter, but better late than never.

Top 10 Records of 2007: #8 Bettye LaVette - 'The Scene of the Crime'

Bettye LaVette?  Drive-By Truckers?  A match made in heaven?  Maybe not to some, but to me that hits a serious sweet spot.  It is a credit to everyone involved - right up to LaVette's label chief, who suggested the pairing - that The Scene of the Crime is pulled off marvelously, grit and grease mixed equal parts with gorgeous heartache.  LaVette takes a lesser tune by Elton John and Bernie Taupin ("Talking Old Soldiers") and reworks it into a soul classic of monumental proportions.  The Truckers are mostly restrained, leaning heavily on the keys of Muscle Shoals legend Spooner Oldham.  But when they light it up, Bettye falls right into the pocket with the band, and the whole affair manages to sound effortless and loose throughout.

Is The Scene of the Crime as fantastic as LaVette's 2005 breakout I've Got My Own Hell To Raise?  Only time will tell.  That album has clawed its way up my list of personal faves, and deepened its grip on me.  This one is off to a great start.

Top 10 Records of 2007: #9 Lucinda Williams - 'West'

Okay, okay - let me have it.  Go ahead tell me how much this album sucks.  No albums in this list divided critics as vehemently as Lucinda Williams' West.  Much of the criticism is valid:  West is the most unwieldy thing Lu's ever created.  Hal Wilner's production is either love it or hate it, but I have to admit I quite love it.  I can't defend many of the half-baked lyrics, but I can defend my love of the record.  Despite its many shortcomings, West is still a great listen in my book.  Many folks have had it with Lucinda and have clearly grown weary listening to her therapy sessions on each subsequent albums.  More power to ya - nobody should listen to singer/songwriters who make them want to flee the room.

Me?  I'm admittedly a Lucinda junkie.  I just eat it up.  For the die-hards, West is another slice of manna from the gods.  Does it mean you should run out and buy it?  Hell, no.  But if you're looking to me to throw Lucinda under the bus, look elsewhere.  She's my Bob Dylan.  She's still on the journey, and that's all I ever want to hear her be.