Review: Wilco (The Album)

"Since Wilco unceremoniously dumped Jay Bennett after the recording of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, frontman Jeff Tweedy has continued in his attempt to carve out a unique identity for the band."

Click here to read the rest of my review of Wilco (The Album) in the latest issue of Las Vegas Weekly.

Isn't it ironic? No, it just sucks

By my conservative estimate, there are perhaps four nights a year when a band I want to see actually comes to play a show here in the greater Las Vegas area. I've been here three and a half years, and here's who I've seen so far:

• The Decemberists at the House of Blues
• The Hold Steady at the Beauty Bar
• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club at Jillian's
• Beck at Vegoose I
  
• Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins at Vegoose II
• The Drams at some cool theater downtown that's now closed

I also missed a Rilo Kiley show at the HoB because I was out of town, and skipped a couple of shows that I might have enjoyed -- Morrissey, Reverend Horton Heat, and a few arena tours by bands like U2 and the Dixie Chicks.

But that's it. Six shows and maybe six more missed opportunities in three and a half years. So naturally, when the Hold Steady makes its triumphant return to Vegas tonight to play again at the Beauty Bar, I've got an ocean of mucus flowing from my cranial orifices.

Alannis Morissette might call it ironic. I just think it sucks.

A 'Wonderful' night

Just got back from Fiona's school performance of "Wonderful" -- a retelling of the whole Dorothy/Wizard/witches story using the music of "The Wizard of Oz," "The Wiz" and "Wicked." Fiona -- age 11 -- played Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, and speaking as the most biased observer in the audience, she was magnificent.

For an elementary school play, she had an extremely challenging role, donning green makeup and singing "Defying Gravity," a song that honestly most high school kids would have trouble pulling off. She and her friend Skyler (who played Glinda) practiced together for hours on end over the last month, and it paid off in spades. Here are a couple of clips from their performance:

Part 1:

Part 2:

As a parent, it's incredibly rewarding to see your child succeed at something she loves doing and worked hard to perfect. And it's a bit humbling to see an 11-year-old surpass your own limited theatrical accomplishments, which of course happened at age 18, not 11. Suffice it to say, I couldn't be prouder of her.

Here's a few more photos from the evening.

Fiona and Skyler (Elphaba and Glinda)

Elphaba and Glinda candid

Fiona and Nora (honorary munchkin)

As promised ...

... the long-awaited (by me, anyway) review of Middle Cyclone, the latest release by the Divine Ms. Neko Case. I wanted to give it five stars, but I recognize that 31 minutes of frogs and crickets might not be everybody's aural cup of tea.

Still, I love it.

Spending time with Neko, not Bono

It's pretty ironic -- no, wait, that's what Alanis Morrisette would say, so let's go with coincidental -- that Neko Case and U2 both released new albums on March 3. U2 was my favorite band from about 1984 through the late 90s, only to be usurped atop my personal CD mountain by the divine Ms. Case, who's currently the reigning champeeen for a decade running.

My buddy Tim asked me over on my Facebook site if I was spending more time with Neko or U2 on Tuesday night. The answer is quite simple -- Neko, all the way. But the circumstances dictated that more than my tastes. I got an advance copy of Middle Cyclone last week because I'm reviewing it for the Weekly (embarrassing fanboy gushing to be posted on Thursday), so I listened to it pretty much nonstop for about five days in order to decide whether it was a great album or the greatest album ever.

I also am a firm believer in paying for my favorite music, doubly so with artists who literally might go broke if not for fans ponying up for the right to enjoy their tunes. So I planned all along to purchase a copy of Middle Cyclone once it became available. I also have a slew of Amazon.com gift certificates thanks to a reward program through one of my credit cards (better to get books and music than frequent flier miles for airlines that are going under faster than banks these days), so naturally I pre-ordered Neko's album from Amazon.

I needed to get my purchase up to $25 to get the free shipping, so I added U2's No Line on the Horizon to my order, hoping that Amazon would get pre-ordered content to its customers close to the actual release date. And it came today, one day after I could have purchased it online or in a record store.

So now it's time to dive into Bono and the boys' latest effort. Looking forward to it, but I can confidently say nothing's gonna knock Neko off the mountaintop any time soon.

Two new Weekly stories for yours truly

This week, readers of the Las Vegas Weekly are treated to not one, but TWO articles by noted freelance writer P. Donnelly. One was right up my musical alley -- a review of the new disc by Mark Olson and Gary Louris, the dudes who founded one of my all-time favorite bands, The Jayhawks. The other article was a fun sports piece about two guys who got pulled out of the crowd at a UNLV basketball game to show off their shooting skills during a timeout. Both were really nice guys and as you'll read, they both cleared the bar they'd set for themselves.

Read more Mark Olson and Gary Louris: Ready for the Flood ...

Read more Shooting Stars ...

Top Ten of 2008

So many music pundits offer up their annual Top Ten lists in early December, but to me, that's cheating the process. Do Oscar nominations come out before Christmas? Hell no! The Academy waits until its members have had a chance to fully digest all releases from a given year.

Here at WHIH, the same concept holds true with our annual Top Ten list of my favorite music. I need most of January to pore over late releases and records that I received as holiday gifts. So, without further delay, here are the fruits of my labor and the soundtrack of my life, circa 2008.

10. Duffy – Rockferry. More blue-eyed soul from across the pond from a blonde Amy Winehouse minus the tattoos and drug problems. Download it: Mercy, Warwick Avenue

9. Kings of Leon – Only by the Night. Former hillbilly rockers move into soaring arena-rock anthems that echo former tourmates U2 and The Strokes. Download it: Sex on Fire, Use Somebody

8. Jenny Lewis – Acid Tongue. Rilo Kiley lead singer's second solo effort is edgier, more challenging, but ultimately more rewarding. Download it: Carpetbaggers, The Next Messiah


7. Tift Merritt – Another Country. Diminutive chanteuse finds her voice with a stirring, soulful, emotionally raw effort. Download it: Broken, Something to Me

6. REM – Accelerate. I loved the return to angry, bouncy, show-oriented rock after too much studio doodling for my taste. Download it: Horse to Water, Man-Sized Wreath

5. Old 97's – Blame it on Gravity. Another return to form, as twang-and-bang formula rises again after too many years in the pop wilderness. Download it: The Easy Way, The One

4. Marah – Angels of Destruction! Dylanesque vocals (in a good way) coupled with bluesy, bar-band boogie. Download it: Wilderness, title cut


3. The Baseball Project – Vol. 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails. You don't have to be a baseball nerd to love these 13 songs about the great American pastime – warts and all – from Peter Buck and three alt-rockers. Download it: Past Time, Ted F***ing Williams

2. Drive-By Truckers – Brighter than Creation's Dark. Wide-ranging country-rock album from two of the greatest songwriters working today. Download it: The Righteous Path, Self-Destructive Zones

1. The Hold Steady – Stay Positive. Fewer Twin Cities references, even more fun-loving, head-bobbing, fist-pumping singalong songs. Download it: Sequestered in Memphis, title cut


Honorable Mention
Calexico – Carried to Dust, The Decemberists – Always the Bridesmaid (singles), Murry Hammond – I Don't Know Where I'm Going But I'm on My Way, Bon Iver -- For Emma, Forever Ago

New Review -- Andrew Bird

Andrew Bird -- Noble Beast

Genre: Quirk-rock

For fans of: Violins, loops, gentleman farmers, whistling, guys in vests, thought-provoking lyrics, complicated arrangements, Martin Dosh.

Download it: Effigy, Fitz and the Dizzyspells

New review: Kings of Leon

Kings of Leon -- Only By the Night

Genre: Whiskey-drenched arena rock

For fans of: loud guitars, Pentecostal revivals, My Morning Jacket, skinny jeans, burgoo, The Strokes on hillbilly heroin, facial hair

Download it: "Sex on Fire," "Crawl"

Too good to be true?

Here's the key passage from this very promising article:

As recently as two weekends ago, the entire mid-’90s lineup of the band (Louris, Olson, bassist Marc Perlman, keyboardist Karen Grotberg and drummer Tim O’Reagan) reunited for a full concert at the Azkena Rock Festival in Vitoria, Spain.

“It was great,” Olson said of the performance. “We rehearsed two days, although we all worked on the songs prior to that. We did basically everything from the ‘Hollywood Town Hall’ and ‘Tomorrow the Green Grass’ albums,” the 1992 and 1995 recordings that solidified much of The Jayhawks’ international fan base.

Man. Just ... man. Too giddy to form complete sentences. Hope it happens. Can't believe after all these years ...

New review: Calexico

Calexico -- Carried to Dust

Genre: Tex-Mex alt-psychadelia

For fans of: Iron & Wine, jalapeno poppers & tequila, Herb Alpert, snakeskin boots, peyote, Sergio Leone movies, the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Download it: "Victor Jara's Hands," "Slowness"

The Hold Steady -- Stay Positive

Careful readers will have noted that the "Reading/Listening" link at left indicates the latest soundtrack of my life has been provided by The Hold Steady, specifically their latest album, "Stay Positive." Avid fans of The Hold Steady know that their fourth album isn't due to drop until July 15. But rabid fans of The Hold Steady downloaded it from iTunes last month.

My early review isn't as glowing as I'd have hoped, but I do think it'll grow on me, because just today I noticed I was starting to get sucked in by some of the hooks in the second half of the album. The first three songs rival the greatest work they've done ... I think it's just a matter of time before I warm to the rest of it.

The set kicks off with the anthemic "Constructive Summer," an ode to the glory of accomplishment amid the distractions of ... ah, hell, it's just a great song about drinking and talking and playing rock music really loud and having fun. It also includes one of my favorite lyrical couplets of all time:

Raise a toast to Saint Joe Strummer
I think he might have been our only decent teacher

The second song, "Sequestered in Memphis," is a catchy, piano-driven tune that centers on a mysterious encounter in a bathroom and, I assume, the disappearance of the young woman who was on the business end of said encounter. It'll make for a great sing-along live.

The masterpiece of the album, in my mind, is the third track, "One For the Cutters." I'm still not sure how the name of the song fits with the story, which is a beautiful dissertation on a young college student conflicted by her affinity for the townies in her midst. So many great lyrical twists ("Sophomore accomplice in a turtleneck sweater" springs to mind) illustrate the story as it spills forth in classic Craig Finn fashion.

Highlights from the rest of the album include the title track, "Lord I'm Discouraged" and "Yeah Sapphire," and the rest are all decent as well. But I think the reason I've been slow to embrace the album is that it's completely devoid of references to the characters that populated the first three albums. I wasn't expecting another full-on concept album cataloging the travails of Holly, Charlemagne, Gideon and the rest of the crew, but even "Boys and Girls in America" had "First Night."

Nothing at all about our favorite clever kids and hoodrats on the new album. Still a few Minnesota references, which are always cool, but thematically, this one doesn't have the same hook that the first three albums did. Still, you won't catch me complaining about new Hold Steady music, like this right here.

Al Green: Lay it Down

"The Reverend Al Green has provided the soundtrack to some of the sexiest moments in the lives of most people of a certain age ..."

Read on ... and check out the cool new redesign of the Weekly, as well.

Creative paralysis

I've been immensely enjoying the new R.E.M. album "Accelerate," which to me sounds very much like a throwback effort from the Athens trio. After a trio of lackluster discs that I just couldn't connect with, "Accelerate" combines the raw power and dark, sociopolitical fury of their 80's work.

In trying to figure out why this resurgence seemingly came out of nowhere, I just came across an article that makes perfect sense. On their last few albums, guitarist Peter Buck said, singer Michael Stipe and bassist Mike Mills preferred to spend so much time in the studio, jamming and rewriting and tweaking the dials in the search for perfection that the creative process turned into so much navel-gazing.

According to Buck, "I never liked that ... I always complained and I always suggested that we work quicker and more spontaneously. The other guys weren't into it. I think maybe the reception (to 'Around the Sun') got kind of shocked them and made them realize ... I was right, we can't work like this any longer."

Each of the songs on "Accelerate" sounds like a first take, natural and unrefined and from the gut, kind of like a John McCain soundbite circa 1999 -- while their recent work has sounded much more like a McCain speech of more recent vintage, overthought and prevaricating and trying to be all things to all people.

For me, the creative process always functions best when I've got less time to work. It's not the best way to run a business, as life can get pretty hectic around deadline time, but I do my best work under pressure when I know I don't have days or weeks to pore over every phrase, every sentence, every idea to make sure it's fully fleshed out. In other words, when I trust my gut, or don't leave myself any other choice but to trust my gut, that's when my work shines.

For example, I'm not much for giving speeches, but I was chosen by my high school classmates to deliver the commencement address at our graduation ceremony. I had at least a week to write the speech, but thankfully our administration didn't require that I turn in a rough draft for their approval, so typical of my preferred style, I didn't write it until the last minute.

And I mean that almost literally. The ceremony started at 7:30 p.m. on graduation night, and at 5:30 p.m. I figured I'd better at least put my thoughts in order on paper. I knew all along what I was going to say -- I based my speech on Robert Fulgham's classic piece "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten," long before that became a cliche. I just didn't put pen to paper until two hours before I stepped up to the podium. And the speech, if I do say so myself, was awesome. I haven't written anything that poignant or relevant since. (OK, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it sucks to peak at 18.)

Anyway, that's how I work best, and apparently, that's how R.E.M. works best, too. Kudos to them for figuring it out.

Van the Man is back

My latest review is posted on the Weekly's web site -- scroll down through the other fine examples of musical criticism to read my thoughts on Van Morrison's 33rd (thirty-third!) studio album, Keep it Simple.

I haven't been truly enthralled with a Van album since probably The Healing Game, although I also liked Back on Top two years later. Since then, the Man has been focusing on what I consider kinda gimmicky efforts -- teaming with Jerry Lee Lewis' sister or John Lee Hooker or recording an album of country standards -- and not really letting his own poetic vision shine through.

Keep it Simple gets back to some basic Van -- bluesy pop, a little bit of white-man's soul, and some gauzy arrangements that will put you in a chill frame of mind no matter how bad your day is going. I'm afraid the days of the brassy bard cranking out toe-tapping, finger-snapping ditties like "Wild Night" or even "Rough God Goes Riding" are long since over, but for the time being, at least, Van is the Man again.

Tift Merritt -- Another Country

The Weekly's web site is posting each week's reviews in a group, so there's no individual file to link to. Here's the link to all of last week's reviews, but if you don't want to sift through them all, mine is posted below. (But please click the link anyway to build the Weekly's pageviews!)

Tift Merritt
Another Country
4 stars

After wowing the critics with her 2002 debut, the country-tinged Bramble Rose, Tift Merritt shattered the girl-with-a-guitar stereotype on her second album, the funkified soul-fest that was Tambourine. Now she's back, nearly four years later, with another gem, this time an elegant, more polished journey to her Americana roots.

During her hiatus, Merritt spent a soul-searching stretch living in Paris, where the bulk of Another Country came together, and her lyrics reflect an artist emerging from a period of desperation and confusion with a fully realized vision of her place in the world. "I Know What I'm Looking For Now" and "Morning is My Destination" are beautifully simple tracks that illustrate the restorative powers of a little quality time alone with a piano and notebook.

Merritt's crystalline soprano is one of the hidden gems of the music world today, and Another Country is the perfect vehicle for her Emmylou pipes. Whether she's putting a soulful tinge on "Tell Me Something True," ringing out the tenderly precise phrases of "Broken," or fluttering along with the achingly gorgeous title track, it's obvious that she's found her voice in every sense of the word. With a solid backing band and a reputation for putting on sizzling live shows, Merritt continues to show why her star is rising in the alt-country world and beyond.

This explains a lot

I had to post this link, because like the author of this blog, I know many of my frequent readers are fans of the Chicago-based rock band Wilco. A bit of background: I subscribe to an e-mail from the New York Times that summarizes its daily blog posts, and apparently they have one blog entirely devoted to migraine headaches and the struggles of those who suffer from them.

I've been a fan of Jeff Tweedy and his various musical outlets (Uncle Tupelo, Wilco, Golden Smog, the Mermaid Avenue project with Billy Bragg) for years, and I've read enough about him to know that he's kind of a ... complex individual. He quit drinking way back in the Uncle Tupelo days, and he claims to have been turned off by the whole drug scene.

But he's also had his battles with migraines and depression/panic attacks, and the medications prescribed for him to deal with those maladies left him vulnerable to substance abuse. I knew he went into rehab -- a dual-diagnosis clinic that helped him kick the pain-killers and deal with his depression -- about four years ago and he claims that he's been healthier than at any point in his life ever since.

But this essay on his migraines provided some remarkable insight, or maybe just confirmed some suspicions, about how his illnesses affected his musical output. When A Ghost is Born came out, I was initially turned off by a couple of songs that extended past the 10-minute mark and seemed to me to be little more than musical masturbation.

In this essay, Tweedy reveals that during the recording of Ghost, he was deep in the throes of his migraines and pain-killer addiction, and the purpose of those two stemwinders was an attempt to give his audience a sense of what he was dealing with behind the scenes. Makes perfect sense now, but at the time, I never fully grasped the artistic intent of "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" and "Less Than You Think." (For those of you who are not familiar with Wilco's catalog, the article includes snippets of both of those songs.)

Then the post-rehab Tweedy helmed the exquisite Sky Blue Sky, which hit the top of a number of critics' best-of-2007 lists (it checked in at No. 2 on my honor roll). Given the perspective of this essay, the whole album comes into clear focus. It didn't take me long to grasp that this collection of upbeat (if not up-tempo) songs was a celebration of life and an appreciation of all that it has to offer when the clouds blow away, but after reading Tweedy's insights into his struggles, it just seems that much clearer to me now.

Favre: I don't mean to bug ya'

Editor's note: One of Vegas Gopher's old friends is RJ, frequent commenter and purveyor of Midwestern tales of parenting and sports at "The Sirvio 5" blog. In the wake of the retirement of Breffarve (pictured left on his wedding day with groom John Madden, sans kneepads), RJ has agreed to grace WHIH with his take on the legacy of the man known throughout Dairyland simply as "No. 4."

"At the request of WHIH, I decided to take a different approach to this retrospective of Breffarve. I could have simply relived highlights and fond memories, spouted out statistics ad nauseum and reveled in the fact that Breffarve dominated the Vikings in recent years after a dubious history against the hated rival, but I thought there was an interesting parallel making an unlikely link between two icons. Enjoy.

Brett Favre and Bono have each had their share of glorious moments and achievement (Super Bowl champion, three-time MVP, certain hall of famer; primary songwriter and frontman for one of the best-selling bands in history, Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee, noted philanthropist and champion for social issues) as well as moments which made even their biggest fans cringe (one-time painkiller addict and alcohol abuser, all-time interceptions leader, questionable decision-making in key plays of games; an over-the-top performance in “Do They Know It’s Christmas?,” an inexplicable photo kissing Liam Gallagher, the goofy “Stuck In A Moment…” video). (Editor's note: This list is incomplete without mention of Bono's mullet, circa the concert at Red Rocks.)

Believe me, I know both sides of the coin being a fan of both icons and their work. Ample ammunition has been supplied over the years to arm their critics. But just as the fans need to be honest to acknowledge the flaws, the critics need to acknowledge and recognize the legendary, one-of-a-kind greatness and bravado they personify, performing in a unique way very few in their respective fields have been able.

Favre and Bono reached points in their respective careers where they appeared to be washed up and no longer relevant (dismal 2005 NFL season; Pop) only to rebound back to prominence and greatness (2007 record-breaking NFL season; All That You Can’t Leave Behind to present).

They both stay true to themselves and truly don’t care what anyone else thinks; they only know one way to do what they do, according to their own convictions. Their courage to take risks is what propelled them to become great.

And at the end of the day, the ledger of highlights outweighs the faults.

These are flawed heroes but all-time greats nonetheless."

The Boss (hearts) Neko

OK, so I stole this link from Simmons, and I'm on record that I'm not necessarily the world's No. 1 Springsteen fan, but I had to post this interview with the Boss because there's a cool feature at the top of the page where you can scroll through what's on his iPod right now.

I like it -- in fact, I think every blogger should have this capability on his or her web site, because I'm one of those guys who heads straight for the CD cabinet when I go to a friend's house for the first time. I firmly believe you can learn more about somebody from what they listen to and what they read than from any other endeavor.

And what did I learn about the Boss from scrolling through his iPod? Predictably, he's got a lot of classic American music on there -- Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams, Dylan, Chuck Berry, et al -- but among the newer artists on the list, he's got no fewer than five (5) Neko Case tunes! Sure, they're all from The Tigers Have Spoken, so it's clear somebody needs to get him a copy of Furnace Room Lullaby and/or Fox Confessor Brings the Flood pronto. But it's good to see that the man's got taste.

Dolly and Chris Trickle

Here's that Dolly Parton review -- kind of a fun one to write because it gave me a chance to take a couple pot-shots at the Music City morons who program stations like K102 in the Twin Cities.

Also, this week's edition of the Las Vegas Weekly features an amazing story about former up-and-coming NASCAR driver Chris Trickle (nephew of Dick), whose life was cut short by an unknown shooter here in Vegas 11 years ago. I knew nothing about this kid, but was fascinated by the story. Plus, it's interesting to read about how Trickle's tragic death opened the door for Kurt Busch's rise on the NASCAR circuit. Give it a look.