Mucho POoP ‘06
Buy from AmazonJohn Prine - Fair and Square
After nine long years, Prine returns stronger than ever. Bush bash song of the year ‘Some Humans Ain’t Human’. Even his July appearance at The Palace was primo Prine.
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The Kennedys – Half a Million Miles
Nary
a year goes by without Pete and Maura on my list du POop. High
harmonies, sparkling folk pop and ‘Namaste’. I daresay it
won’t get much better, given the current musical clime.
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Bob Dylan – No Direction Home
And
do I daresay that as long as they raid the vaults and/or his Bobness
keeps on keepin’ on there’s going to be a Dylan disc on
my POooPy list year after glorious year. Don’t be cheap: get
both the DVD and CD sets
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Sons of The Never Wrong – The Nuthatch Suite
That
nuthatches have the rare ability in the bird world to climb down
trees headfirst is all you need to know to fully appreciate this
innovative and inventive trio of Chi-town songwriters and humorists.
Kind of like The Roaches meet the Manhattan Transfer while listening
to Newman and Prine on a shuttle betwixt Twin Peaks and Gerdes Folk
City.
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Maria Muldaur – Sweet Lovin’ Ol’ Soul
Had
Muldaur only recorded J.C. Johnson’s erotic ‘Empty Bed
Blues’ (forever an Xplicit staple of Empress Bessie herself)
‘Sweet Lovin’ Ol’ Soul’ would be worth the
price of admission . That she includes eleven other haunted Highway
61 mileposts, notably ‘Ain’t What You Used To Have’,
‘Decent Woman Blues’, ‘Tricks Ain’t Walkin’,
and ‘Take A Stand’ places this firmly into must-hear
land.
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Rodney Crowell – The Outsider
Arguably
the lesser of his recent resurgent recordings (‘The Houston
Kid’, ‘Fate’s Right Hand’) ‘The
Outsider’ still packs a full fisted wallop. ‘Beautiful
Despair’, ‘Don’t Get Me Started’, and ‘Say
You Love Me’ are my faves, though I still hold to the unpopular
notion the Emmylou duet on ‘Simple Twist Of Fate’ doesn’t
live up to anyone’s expectations. Guess I’ll take that
one up with my therapist.
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Paul McCartney – Chaos and Creation In The Backyard
I
can’t tell you how many Macca-philes heaved a sigh of relief
upon hearing this. Mac’s strongest since ‘Flaming Pie’
and before that, ‘Flowers In The Dirt’.
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Kate Bush – Aerial
So
what if after 12 years she’s singing about doing the laundry
and imitating bird calls? This is Kate, man: Giving color to every
moment, creating a 2 disc Zen suite that lends our attention rest and
re-assurance.
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The Band – A Musical History
Though
it makes no mention of their work with John Hammond Jr .(1965 –
’67) and could have included a few more rarer basement tapes
and live tracks, this set is a beautifully packaged and inspiring
motherload
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Bruce Springsteen – Devils and Dust & Born To Run; 30th Anniversary Box Set
Though
I was practically brow-beaten by Fino and other long timers into
believing ‘D&D’ a great disc, I still think it’s
mostly B stuff compared to ‘Joad’ and ‘Nebraska’.
I did feel these songs would be more compelling live, and was proven
correct (aren’t I always?) by the bootlegs and 2 shows I saw
(Albany & Continental Airways). Still, any disc with ‘Maria’s
Bed’, ‘Leah’, ‘The Hitter’ and the
transcendent ‘Matamoros Banks’ ain’t nothing to
sneeze at or bitch about.
I may be of the heretical mind that with the flexibility, nuance, and virtuosity of his solo shows E Street becomes irrelevant, but BTR is why they rose to such legend. We know the power and consequence of the music so it’s the Hammersmith Odeon ’75 DVD that’s the monster rush. The making of ‘Wings For Wheels’, though at times a tad too sanctimonious, is a treat for long timers and newbies both.
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Eldar Djangirov – Eldar
Many
cringe when I bring up jazz but Djangirov, only 18 and echoing Bill
Evans is a sure thing.
There’s too much feel, bounce and flourish in this guy’s brain to hand coordination to be just flash. Accompanied by Brecker, Pattitucci and Todd Strait, Eldar composes and plays with an elder’s insight.
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Thelnious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane – At Carnegie Hall
Coltrane
figures heavily in two truly archival finds of 2005. This one, from a
lost Voice of America 1957 broadcast, could be the peak recording of
their brief, 9 month collab. Free of junk, booze and weeks away from
rejoining Miles, Trane blows concise and clean, with a newfound
economical harmony he would eventually trade for the sheets of sound.
Monk is pure Monk, playing what he hears his iconic way, while
bassist Ahmed Abdul-Malik and drummer Shadow Wilson envelope these
two unique forces of nature.
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The John Coltrane Quartet – One Up, One Down: Live At The Half Note
Culled
from private recordings and cleaned up from the bootlegs, Coltrane,
Tyner, Jones and Garrison in 1965 at the peak of their
improvisational form. There is simply nothing else on Earth like the
title track.
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Jerry Garcia & Merl Saunders Band – Keystone Berkley, 9/1/74
Though
it may not be the jazzy ensemble it’s billed as (could Jerry
ever be locked into one groove for too long?) this thoroughly smokin’
3fer has plenty of tight jamming. There’s been a shitload of
Garcia released this year but here’s the keeper.
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The Lady Disappoints: Bonnie Raitt – Souls Alike
Just
once before I die I hope Bonnie gives up the VH1 mantle and lets her
hair down again and records the blues like she used to. One hell of a
show at The Palace in October though.
Honorable Mention:
Jude Johnstone – On A Good Day
Jackson Browne – Solo Acoustic, Vol. 1
Neil Young – Prairie Wind
oh yeah and you gotta see ‘Walk The Line’