The Art of the Mixtape

Aeroplanes and Nicotine Canaries

Yes, before you ask, that is Colin Farell the actor, and how did he come out better than most country acts around today? Well he’s got a great voice, you’re gonna be asking yourself is this really an irish dude the whole time? That and he’s got T. Bone Burnett who is a great producer (of Oh Brother, Where Art Thou fame) helping provide the instrumental authenticity, sure its a song from his new movie Crazy Heart but just because its part of a movie soundtrack doesn’t mean it can’t be good.

Uh-Huh- Wu-Tang Clan/The Beatles

A couple years back, The Beatles were my Bible, and any deviations or covers of their songs I could never come to terms with, they never captured the same magic as the originals. But then mashups came on to the scene, The Grey Album was one of the first and one of the best, and shot DJ Dangermouse into being the superstar producer he is today. What I like about this particular track is it takes the instrumental from a Beatles song that I thought always had a great instrumental backing but lacked in lyrics, the crazy (You Know My Name) Look Up the Number. This mashup fixes the lyrical inadequacy with its rapping, and you never thought a Beatles sample could sound so fitting.

Where My Fortune Lies- Auld Lang Syne

Just a beautifully delivered, organic song with a little The Band meets The Avett Brothers flair. The banjo is a nice touch with the hammertack piano.

Locksmith- The Gorgeous Colours

With a band name like that you have to be able to back it up with your music and they do, with a colorful guitar sound and wonderfully gorgeous and intimate vocal performance.

You Carry the Deed- Deradoorian

Some people have that special talent where no matter what surrounds them, their voice immediately brings you in. With a softly played acoustic backing, her voice just flows out from her heart and tugs at yours.

Little Lovin’- Lissie

Another example of that special talent, Lissie is a newcomer to the music scene but has a voice beyond her years.

Lewis Takes Off His Shirt- Owen Pallett

Of of his new LP Heartland Owen Pallett is a musician in his own world, sure people might compare him to fellow violinist Andrew Bird due to their choice of instrument and vocal range, but Pallett is no one trick pony, having arranged for acts such as the Arcade Fire as well as his own material. In short this song is otherworldly, with hooks coming in and out in ways that delight the ears. I promise you will never hear a more inspiring song with the lyrics “I’m never gonna give it to you”.

Blue Skies- Noah and the Whale

The cathartic build up of a song that The National is famous for is played out to perfection on this song by Noah and the Whale. Off of their new LP The First Days of Spring, a breakup album, Blue Skies has a sweeping majesty and humbleness that only the song itself can describe.

Airplanes- Local Natives

Like Modest Mouse at their finest, with better singing.

Wicked Blood- Sea Wolf

Sea Wolf, despite the unusual name manages to evoke the familiar while being entirely original, a wonderful song off of a wonderful album.

Home Sweet Home- Sad Brad Smith

Put a Sad Brad Smith song on and you’ll be hard pressed to believe that he’s only released one album, his debut, his arrangements show wisdom beyond his years and his song-craft is impeccable, just check out his song off of the Up in Air soundtrack, if you need more evidence.

The Right Place- Monsters of Folk

As The Beatles so well proved, the sum is often greater than its individual parts, all the members in Monsters of Folk have their own great respective careers, but together they have a timeless cohesive element that only bands like CSNY could match.

Nicotine Canaries- Cotton Jones

A song thats as interesting and intriguing as its name.

Getting Better- The Beatles

I don’t care what anyone says, no one will be able to ever replicate this song, the ringing guitars, the famously impeccable Beatle harmonies, the perfect mixing in of Eastern Influences and an indomitable hook. This song is for all those times you start to wonder if they were overrated to prove just how great they were.

Hot Cookin’- G. Love and Special Sauce

I’m already sick of this cold New England winter, I want it to be summer already. At least with this song I’m halfway, its like a beach party campfire for your ears, it just sounds, well, warm and its a catchy song to boot.

Got Nuffin’- Spoon

Driving at night throwing cares out your window. Theres something off, lurking in the shadows but you don’t know how to explain it, you got nuffin.

Let’s Stay Together- Al Green

This song is a classic, one that solidified Al Green as a powerful presence in soul and was the soundtrack to a lot of baby making, Just to further prove Green’s genius, after hearing the instrumental he wrote the lyrics in 15 minutes, I dare you to do better.

The Mystery Zone- Spoon

Just more proof of how catchy and inventive Spoon can be.

Tides- Megafaun

A perfect closing track.

Pick Up the Pieces: Mix for the Weekend

Everybody Knows I’m Still In Love With You- Sad Brad Smith

The name might suggest otherwise, but Sad Brad Smith comes off like a happy Elliot Smith, a creative arranger, a sweet voice and a multi-instrumentalist, and its just a damn good song.

Blue Ridge Mountains- Fleet Foxes

Ethereal out of this world harmonies meets a pastoral spirit, if I believed in heaven, the angels themselves would be crying from the beauty of this song. Blasphemy? Yes, worth being sent to hell for for saying it? Also Yes.

Ragged Wood- Fleet Foxes

More grounded than Blue Ridge, Ragged Wood features a great lead vocal and supporting harmonies and a chugging rhythm, the most rocking this band gets.

Funny How Time Slips Away- Al Green and Lyle Lovett

The Reverend himself covering a song from his earlier output, a great reworking with a funky backing rhythm and great harmonies between Al and Lyle, bright and organic and a joy to put on.

Funny How Time Slips Away- Al Green

The original, a slow burner sung when Al Green was at his absolute peak, absolutely no one else could convey the power he could in a whisper.

Old Habits Die Hard- Mick Jagger and Dave Stewart

A soulful reminiscing song, originally recorded for the Alfie remake, Jagger’s performance here is perfect, you can hear the longing in his voice and its a catchy melody to boot.

Darkness of Your Love- Dave Stewart and Gary “Mudbone” Cooper

Another off of the Alfie soundtrack with bright horns and a inspirational melody, the song just grabs you from the beginning and doesn’t let go.

Peace Dream- Ringo Starr

Yes he didn’t have the musical talent of his famous counterparts, but the man’s almost 70, and his voice has aged miraculously and his songwriting better than anything previous, Paul McCartney provides the bass line and the melody has that Beatle catchyness written all over it, and its a good message.

Walk With You- Ringo Starr

Another great song off the new album, with a melancholy backing harmony provided by Paul McCartney, its almost a little sad how much McCartney’s voice has aged in comparison to Ringo’s but its sweet and sentimental.

Mr. Bojangles- Jerry Jeff Walker

Great song, period.

Pick Up the Pieces- Jon Cleary

Off of Cleary’s debut, Pick Up the Pieces starts off slowly, reminiscent of a song Lionel Ritchie wished he was good enough to write, before progressing into an Elton John and Little Feat like groove; funky, powerful, and absolutely golden.

Street People- Bobby Charles

A wonderful artist lost in the annals of time, a Louisiana native who achieved and perfected the sound The Band became known for after their debut The Big Pink, in fact, The Band plays the second fiddle here, backing Charles up.

Some Kinda Love- Maiko Watson

Retro funky disco soul at its best.

I’ve Never Found A Girl- Al Green

No one will ever match that warm bright punchy sound that Al Green dominated and his vocals are just without equal.

Nobody Gets Me But You- Spoon

A song off their new album Transference featuring a bubbly bassline and their always creative arrangements, I could see Phoenix covering this song its right up their alley, so if you like Phoenix or Spoon (and who doesn’t) grab this song.

Bye, Bye, Bye- Plants and Animals

No no no, its not a cover of N’SYNC or Backstreet Boys or whoever, just a great song by a great new band.

Multiply (In a Minor Key)- Jamie Lidell

The original is already a stone cold funky classic, this version has a reworked bright 70’s styled piano and a live background, Natalie Cole ((This Will Be) An Everlasting Love) would be proud. Oh did I tell you he’s a white british guy, because he sure doesn’t sound like it.

For The Good Times- Al Green

As marvelous as his originals were, Al Green was a fantastic interpreter of well, anything thrown at him. For The Good Times is originally a country song written by Kris Kristofferson and Al Green puts forth a powerful version, inhabiting, not just singing the lyrics.

Black Peter- Grateful Dead

A classic from the Grateful Dead, organic and beautifully done.

We’re Riding out Tonight to Case the Promised Land: Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen, 1975

Escape, that’s what most people look for out of music, a way to leave hum-drum reality behind and be part of something bigger, those who play it aspire to be remembered, to leave this Earth knowing they’ve accomplished something and mean something greater than existence itself. It’s no easy thing to accomplish and there’s proof in the pudding, for every band that made it big, there are thousands of others that drifted in unrecognition, dreams never realized, their existence at best maybe a footnote in some musical history book (if they’re lucky). It takes a combination of unstoppable focus and drive to make it big, and even more to stay once you’re there, but the reward is worth the risk for if you succeed, you will be remembered for a long long time. Perhaps there was no greater example than Bruce Springsteen.

He wasn’t completely unknown before Born to Run came out, he had two albums released previously, Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ and The Wild the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle which both garnered critical success and comparisons as “the next Bob Dylan” and “the next Van Morrison”, high praise but both misunderstood his genius and commercially he was a failure, only having a small gathering of fans from New Jersey, ground zero for the development of his E Street Band. Both his two previous efforts had shown his artistic promise, but for the common consumer they were too wordy and musically too busy (see Blinded By the Light) and the great songs from that time period (New York City Serenade, Rosalita (Come Out Tonight), Kitty’s Back, E Street Shuffle) were in danger of becoming footnotes rather than starting points. His pianist David Sancious had departed for a career in jazz fusion and his drummer at the time Vinnie Lopez would leave in 1974 after fighting with the bands manager over money issues.

He convinced his record label, Columbia, to grant him a larger budget for one last chance at making a commercially successful album, if it failed, his career would be pretty much over.

Springsteen knew that he wanted this album to have an epic scope. His album productions which were predominately heavy and warmly mixed would be replaced by a wall of sound technique (made famous by Phil Spector and Motown) to augment his songwriting in a midst of grandeur and epic beauty. He would later recall this decision saying he wanted the album to sound like “Roy Orbison singing Bob Dylan, produced by Spector.” During the early writing of Born to Run, Roy Bittan, a pianist, and Max Weinberg, a drummer were added to the E Street lineup, and the modern version of the E Street Band was born. The album would take him 14 months to complete, 6 months alone were spent on Born to Run itself, with 11 guitar tracks in on the mix, and Thunder Road the albums opener is rumored to have 30 different guitar overdubs. Simply put Springsteen was a perfectionist, spending hours looking for the right sound because he had huge aspirations “When I did Born To Run, I thought, ‘I’m going to make the greatest rock ‘n’ roll record ever made.’ “

And what a record it is, when it comes to songs, one of the most important things is the introduction, if you get a listener hooked at the very beginning, you’re pretty much guaranteed a hit song, Born to Run didn’t just have one good introduction, it has 8 of the best introductions in rock and roll. From the bittersweet harmonica and piano opening of Thunder Road, to the horn and drum swaggering rhythm of Tenth Avenue Freeze-out, to the immediacy of the snare drum and saxophone blast of Night, to the beautiful swirling piano intro of Backstreets, to the epic snare drum and guitar line of Born to Run, the low guitar rumble and high organ playing on She’s the One, to the stark piano and horns of Meeting Across the River, to the absolutely beautiful violin and piano intro of Jungleland. Born to Run doesn’t let up from beginning to end.

Lyrics are another key element of songs, ones that have a strong chorus and message are the ones that stand the test of time, and Springsteen’s on Born to Run are a thing of epic grandeur, the finest poetry ever committed to rock form. Springsteen is so detailed you not only hear his words but you can see his characters fleshed out. Mary dancing across her front porch listening to Roy Orbison singing “Only the Lonely” on the radio. Bad Scooter (Bruce Springsteen) overcoming the odds to find himself on top with a band, saved by the Big Man (Clarence Clemens) and his saxophone. Driving around at Night with the world busting from its seems, driven to escape from the menial day time job and breathe in the beauty of it all, thats just the first three, all of them are magnificently written.

Springsteen would never look back after Born to Run, becoming a huge commercial success and have a great live act. Only Dave Matthews Band would hold only a candle to the reverence with which his followers held his live act and there was no one better from the 70’s-80’s. Born to Run is by all means a classic album, and is in the Top 10, if not the Top 5 of all time.

Top Picks: Thunder Road, Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out, Backstreets, Born to Run

Tuesday Virtuoso Series Volume 1

This will be a weekly series documenting musicians I feel are virtuoso’s of their craft whether it be singing, guitar, bass, piano, or drums. This week features; John Butler Trio, Derek Trucks Band, G. Love and Special Sauce, and Jon Cleary.

John Butler Trio- Guitar

John Butler Trio hails from Australia, where they have been making their unique roots style rock for over a decade. John Butler started out as a musician busking on the streets and soon got notice for his unique playing style. Featuring some of the longest fingernails you will ever see as well as an electric acoustic guitar, John Butler gets a unique sound out of his instrument and is fantastic to see live, if not better than his studio recordings. Ocean, one of the tracks featured is probably his most famed instrumental, a climactic build up on guitar that is amazing to the eyes and the ears assisted only at times by his drummer, but most of the piece is purely just him alone with his guitar. Betterman has the full ensemble that features a great hook and a great groove. Butler is a good singer as well, which makes his fantastic guitar playing that more special given he can aptly handle both tasks. Both these tracks are taken from the fantastic Live at St. Gallen, a concert recorded in France, and as he says at the beginning of Ocean “It seems all the more fitting when I leave home and play countries that I dont speak the language because I’d really like to converse with you but I’m just stupid so music’s the best way and maybe music without words takes it even further so this is my gift, this is my conversational piece to you.” Well said. Lastly I included a cover of Across the Universe. He isn’t the first to do it but he succeeds where others failed, Rufus Wainwright was too bombastic and Fiona Apple too strange, he takes his strengths and doesn’t try to make the song what it isn’t. A true musician.

Betterman

Ocean

Across the Universe

Derek Trucks Band- Guitar/ Band ensemble

It’s not a stretch to compare the Derek Trucks Band to the Allman Brothers Band, not just because Derek Trucks is the son of Allman Brothers drummer Butch Trucks, and frequently guests with the Allman Brothers during live shows but also that they’ve taken up the mantle of that warm bluesy jazz meets southern rock sounds. They aren’t a typical jam band in the format of Phish and the Grateful Dead but they possess a much warmer sound than either and each solo isn’t overdone, rather it supplements the piece with beautiful understatement. Make no mistake, Derek Trucks is one of the best guitarists on the planet today, if not the best slide guitarist, Trucks plays with his fingers and thumbs giving him a thicker tone and making it even all the more impressive when he rips into solos. But most importantly he’s a fantastic ensemble player, something that hasn’t really been seen since the Allman Brothers were in their hey day. Yet DTB doesn’t feature two guitarists, so he carries the duties of rhythm and lead. These tracks come from their fantastic live album Live at Georgia Theatre.

Gonna Move

Leaving Trunk

Feel So Bad

Freddie’s Dead (Curtis Mayfield Cover)

G. Love and Special Sauce- Rhythm section

Forget the hype of them being the first to mix hip hop and blues, G. Love and Special Sauce deserve their due in their fantastic grooves, Jeffery “Houseman” Clemens, and Jeffery “Jimi Jazz” Prescott create a unique busy rhythm section with their respective New Orleans styled drumming and upright jazz bass playing. The Things That I Used to Do, the debut track off of their debut album features possibly the best bass and drumming grooving interplay of the 90’s. Rhyme for the Summertime, also off their debut features some great hi-hat work and a nice mellow bass groove, and on the fantastic This Ain’t Living they tone it down perfectly, for all those times you’ve heard the words “This is the true hip-hop” well this is what truly is the real hip hop. Stepping Stone features great dynamic interplay and changing tempos, Lay Down the Law features another perfect mellow rhythmic backdrop and some well placed tuneful whistling. You Shall See features a very busy rhythm section with some great dynamic tempo changes. No Turning Back is reminiscent of The Things That I Used to Do in the great drum opening and fantastic upright bass and drums interplay throughout. Do It For Free opens with a great little bass solo before segueing into another busy yet tasteful rhythmic groove. On all these tracks, G. Love also proves an apt rhythm guitarist, putting the chord changes into perfect sync with his rhythm section counterparts.

The Things That I Used to Do

Rhyme for the Summertime

Jon Cleary- Piano

Jon Cleary hails from New Orleans and his piano playing is probably the best the area features today (sorry Dr. John). He has an excellent backing band as well, named the Absolute Monster Gentleman, who when present provide perfect accompaniment, but its an absolute ear dazzling wonder to hear Jon Cleary let loose on the piano. Whether it be the dramatic piano rolls at the beginning of People Say (a funky Meter’s classic ) the fantastic blues playing in Port Street Blues, or the absolutely mind blowing solo on When U Get Back. He isn’t afraid of mixing styles either, he plays a fantastic Latin style, as evidenced on Oh No No No and, well the solo on When U Get Back. Jon Cleary at times can sound equal parts Michael McDonald and Lyle Lovett when it comes to his singing but its his piano playing that is utterly fantastic.