Perhaps you’ve always loved the Western sounds of Enrico Morricone, film score extraordinaire. Or perhaps you’ve always loved that BIG Phil Spector Wall of Sound. For the most part, your two interests have been exclusive, until now, where The Lonely Wild said screw you to convention and decided to marry the two anyway. You and the rest of us are in luck as “Right Side of the Road” delivers in spades, it’s like Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros with a little more ambition, or if Cotton Jones hadn’t drowned in theirs.
I’ve been a fan of Josh Tillman since well… he was Josh Tillman. The beautiful “Steel on Steel” from Vacilando Territory Blues, his 2009 LP was what first caught my eye. However, Josh Tillman is a man of many hats as he’s been the drummer for Fleet Foxes and most recently, adorned the nom de plum Father John Misty and come out with his Sub Pop debut Fear Fun. It’s already gathered praise from indie greats like Blitzen Trapper and Dawes (whose bass player, Wylie Gelber was assistant producer on the album) and cuts through with sonic clarity that hasn’t felt so earnest in years. Tillman described the development of the album as “I got into my van with enough mushrooms to choke a horse and started driving down the coast with nowhere to go” yet the album itself doesn’t wander. “Nancy From Now On”, the second song on the album almost sounds like the bastard child of The Beach Boys, The BeeGees and Harry Nilsson but without either’s excess. A great song, and an equally great album. Plus, that album artwork is fantastic.
In many ways, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers were the American equivalent to Dire Straits. Both had distinct lead vocalists, used similar instruments and had a sound influenced by both British and American rock & roll. While my favorite Tom Petty song might be “Don’t Do Me Like That” from Damn The Torpedoes, their 1979 LP, “Breakdown” from their 1976 self-titled debut is a great piece of music. There’s that slow-burning vamp from Am to G, and that slinking guitar line. Even Petty’s delivery is in top form, arguably influencing Elvis Costello’s brash vocal style that would emerge on My Aim is True a year later. Tom Petty is so capable of crafting classic rock melodies that its almost easy to forget how good he was at it because the thing just sounds so damn easy. Nevertheless, it’s a great song off of a great debut record.
Allen Toussaint is a Louisiana legend, he’s worked with all sorts of great musicians including Paul McCartney and The Band (it’s he who wrote the brassy arrangement for the spellbinding performance of “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” from The Last Waltz) and written classics like “Sneakin’ Sally Through The Alley” and “From A Whisper To A Scream” and it’s his voice you hear on the beginning of the catchy, but otherwise meaningless McCartney song “Listen to What The Man Said”. Life, Love And Faith , his 1972 LP, and debut with Warner/Reprise finds him at his most exultant and melodic and “My Baby Is The Real Thing” deserves to be picked up for a movie soundtrack, or played non-stop at an old fashioned record store or a dive bar, or just for your own listening pleasure. Either way, it’s a great little catchy tune.
The Art of the Mixtape 