Ominous Seapods - Matinee Idols Late Show 1998

Released as a promotional companion disc to the band's live album Matinee Idols, Late Show finds the band taking chances on a number of a stretched-out numbers. Beginning with an introduction that comes off like a demented parody of Bill Graham's introduction of the Grateful Dead on One From the Vault, the band launches into "Mr. Blood," the relentless hardcore tune that keys off a set of the 'pods bizarre pop culture/sci-fi melange. Through several large jams based on classic rock covers (including the Who's "Sally Simpson" and Kingfish's "Jump for Joy"), the band runs through textbook examples of tension and release improvisation. On some levels, the band is the very epitome of a generic band, playing perfectly within the boundaries of what a jam band is. At the same time, the band does this incredibly well, from Max Verna's nuanced voice and Duane Allman-influenced guitar playing to Ted Marotta's straight-ahead drumming to Tom Pirozzi's relentlessly melodic basslines. It's okay, too, because the Seapods helped define the genre. It's hard to find a jam band having more fun. AMG.

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Alex Chilton - 1970 (1996)

1970 comprises the sessions that would have formed Alex Chilton's first solo album. As the title suggests, Chiltonrecorded these songs after he left the Box Tops but right before he joined Big Star -- appropriately, the music sounds caught between the Box Tops' blue-eyed soul and Big Star's jangly power pop. In that respect, it has more in common with his numerous solo recordings than either of his bands. And like his solo records, 1970 is wildly uneven and lacks focus. It careens between charming tributes to R&B and pop (a medley of the Archies' "Sugar, Sugar" and James Brown's "There Was a Time"), and his originals, which only hint at the heights he would reach with Big Star. If 1970does anything, it illustrates that Chilton needs a strong collaborative force like Chris Bell to bring out the best in his music. AMG.

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Ryan Bingham - Mescalito 2007

Loneliness runs rampant in Texas, where arid flatlands and empty highways converge to influence some of country music's best songwriting. Newcomer Ryan Bingham is happy to use such geography as his muse, and he makes his major-label debut with Mescalito, a bilingual collection of Americana that often delves into roadhouse country-rock. To those familiar with the genre, Bingham's lyrics are somewhat predictable accounts of hard times, rivers' edges, and fieldwork, all sung in a wizened rasp whose sandpapered texture is impressive coming from a 25-year-old. Years of sleeping outside rodeo arenas in a truck bed have done a number on Bingham's throat, and when he croaks lyrics like, "I've been working in the goddamn sun for just one dollar a day," it's all too tempting to believe him. When he's singing about marijuana plants or casually slipping into Spanish during a Mexican ballad, Bingham truly distinguishes himself from his country contemporaries, playing the rugged outlaw to Nashville's smooth Rascal Flatts. Where he falters is the album's homogeneity, however, as too many tracks adopt a midtempo pace whose haunting effect wears thin. One can't help but wish for more country-rock grit, but Mescalito still bodes well for his future work. AMG.

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Ruthie Foster - The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster 2007

Ruthie Foster's fifth CD features the singer moving away from her usual genre of modern folk music into soul. While she performs selections by Son House and Sister Rosetta Tharpe and there are bluesy performances, most of the numbers are of more recent vintage. Her powerful voice, which infuses secular music with the power and emotions of gospel, is heard throughout in prime form and she makes a particularly powerful statement on "People Grinnin' in Your Face." Throughout this set, Ruthie Foster sounds a bit like a young Aretha Franklin (although not copying her) and gives one the impression that she could sing in any idiom that interested her. The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster is a strong example of her musical talents. AMG.

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Marianne Faithfull - Dangerous Acquaintances 1981

A rather lukewarm, disappointing follow-up to Broken English, on which Marianne Faithfull seemed to be retreating from that album's sonic and lyrical risks. Although Broken English had found most of its audience with the new wave/alternative crowd (songs like "Why'd Ya Do It," after all, were too shocking to get much commercial airplay),Dangerous Acquaintances seemed to be moving back to more mainstream rock territory, particularly in the arrangements. It's always a possible sign of trouble when there are over a dozen session musicians in the credits, and much of the record's music has a sort of anonymous feel. The songs, too, are less striking (and less angrily risqué) than those of Broken English, although Faithfull was still carving her own identity with lyrics about romantic duplicity. The most commercially accessible track, "For Beauties Sake," was co-written by Faithfull and Steve Winwood. AMG.

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Tesla - Five Man Acoustical Jam 1990

Comparisons to MTV Unplugged tend to be thrown around in an attempt to promote any pre-Unplugged acoustic music by linking it with a successful, more contemporary phenomenon, but Tesla's Five Man Acoustical Jam was actually a legitimate predecessor of the trend -- it bears a strong resemblance to early Unplugged sessions in its informality and sense that the band is just having fun. Perhaps more importantly, the fact that a cover of the Five Man Electrical Band's "Signs" became a Top Ten hit demonstrated that acoustic rock & roll -- not just ballads like Guns N' Roses' "Patience" or Extreme's "More Than Words" -- could find acceptance and commercial viability with rock audiences. As for the musical results, Tesla's originals generally translate well to the acoustic format, though some of the jams tend to ramble and lose focus, a fact underscored by the tightly melodic covers of '60s classics like "Lodi" and "Mother's Little Helper." Still, this adds to the informal atmosphere, and the album is a nice change of pace from the rest of Tesla's catalog. AMG.

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Spandau Ballet - Through the Barricades 1986

By the time Spandau Ballet's fifth album appeared in 1986, the sun had set on the synth poppers of the second British Invasion and guitars were all the rage once again. Never ones to miss a trend, the former new romantics -- who'd signed with a new label, Epic, and were determined to make a big splash stateside -- declared their admiration for bands like Bon Jovi and made an album that likely surprised their diminishing fan base with its AOR aspirations. Rocking up Spandau Ballet's smooth white-boy soul, Through the Barricades manages to avoid utter disaster via the tuneful creations of songwriter/guitarist Gary Kemp. Some would argue Kemp had finally evolved into a first-class hack, but while his songs never avoid a cliché if it can be helped (and occasionally offer much worse; see "Virgin"), he does a credible job of supplying his bandmates with arena-ready material like "How Many Lies." Unsurprisingly, melodramatic vocalist Tony Hadley digs in with real gusto, but the production and mix prove the undoing of this effort. Most of the tunes demand guitar and drum bombast; instead, the riff-rocking "Cross the Line" and "Fight for Ourselves," in particular, are undercut by the polite-sounding rhythm section. Given that weakness, which affects much of the album, it's unsurprising that the best song by far is the title track, a Bic-flicking acoustic ballad that became a deserved hit. AMG.

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Maria Rita - Maria Rita 2003

Distant from the mass-market mentality of the United States pop music industry in more ways than one, the MPB field has been and continues to be ripe with beautiful and lively music, with Maria Rita's debut album standing tall as an exemplary document of the sort of music blossoming in America's other hemisphere. This beautiful and beautiful-sounding young lady is the daughter of one of Brazil's most (if not the most) legendary vocalists, the late Elis Regina, and if that alone weren't enough to make her a star-in-waiting, her father is César Camargo Mariano, one of the country's top arrangers, producers, and pianists, and her namesake is Rita Lee, yet another MPB legend. Add to that a close musical partnership with Milton Nascimento, who pens "A Festa," the ear-grabbing opening track of her album, and you can see why the MPB world was eagerly awaiting her recording debut. And what an album it is, from beginning to end a joyful listening experience with no low points whatsoever and a pair of absolutely astonishing high points, the aforementioned "A Festa" and the mid-album standout "Cara Valente." These two party-starters highlight what is otherwise a collection of delicate songs of varying tempo, all of them distinct in numerous ways. What each song shares, however, is a purely acoustic, slightly jazzy musical backing and also a lyrical performance by Rita, who possesses a tender voice not unlike that of her mother as well as an emotive delivery that accentuates her vocals with a rich sense of humanity. Moreover, Rita's voice benefits from pristine production courtesy of Tom Capone, one of Brazil's finest. Like Bebel Gilberto's Tanto Tempo solo debut from a few years prior, Maria Rita is the sort of masterpiece that has all the makings of a crossover success, the sort of album that is likely to be a great many listeners' first experience with popular Brazilian music, and deservedly so. [Originally released by Warner Music Brasil in late 2003, Maria Rita was repackaged for stateside release in 2004. The U.S. edition includes international-minded back-cover blurbs from critics touting the album: "To understand what Maria Rita means to the Brazilian musical market, think Norah Jones," for instance. This edition also is enhanced, including a delightful video for "Cara Valente" and links to Rita's website, where additional tracks were available for download.] AMG.

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Re-Post: Leftover Salmon - Bridges to Bert 2001

"Mention that the title is a reference to an Ecstasy high," muttered Bart the Stoner upon learning that a review was in the works for Bridges to Bert, dating from 1993 and the earliest item in the discography of Leftover Salmon. Hopefully, drug references will not be the most enduring legacy of an eclectic outfit that promoted its set list as "poly-ethnic slamgrass." Still, there is an enduring image of frontman Vince Herman wandering on-stage for the first morning set of a brilliant music festival organized deep in the Appalachians, hefting a bong and chanting "Yes, we gonna rise up! We gonna wake and bake!" An interesting aspect of the manner in which listeners follow the activities of certain bands hasn't changed much since the days of territory bands wandering certain regions. Based out of Boulder, CO, Leftover Salmon toured mightily in many areas of the United States, among them all the southern Appalachian states. Fans of the band living there potentially might have caught ten gigs by the time Bridges to Bert was erected in 1993. Across the span of several sets, the group's exorbitant sampling of genres made plenty of sense. There was always enough time for lots of bluegrass and old-timey music, which up until the death of banjo player Mark Vann was something this group did brilliantly, perhaps with as much power as electric bluegrass pioneers the Osborne Brothers. Material desired by the boogie bozos, including reggae and Cajun, felt better in the shadowy scent of an excited audience then seeping out of a stereo speaker, a setting where it has to compete with recordings by masters in these genres. Right from the outset it didn't seem like the discography would be the place to really understand Leftover Salmon's charm or abilities. Even with the CD's extended playing time, a group that worked well in long form had to make too many choices regarding what to document and what to present. Business pressures must have been severe, as a group that has already established a certain momentum as a live act can get in the habit of expecting each new CD to be an industry breakthrough and putting it together accordingly. This type of thinking has nothing to do with what made this a fun group, hampering the quality of most of Leftover Salmon sides when obvious. That problem is combined with the usual bumps of a first release, still Bridges to Bert still leads to many wonderful vistas, especially when the lads are picking bluegrass. AMG.

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Grizzly Bear - Shields 2012

Grizzly Bear were gone for a few years after Veckatimest, but the amount of extracurricular projects they tackled during that time -- Chris Taylor's work with CANT, Daniel Rossen's solo EP Silent Hour/Golden Mile, and the band's reconfiguring of their own songs into the Blue Valentine soundtrack -- means they never really went away. Shields isn't exactly a dramatic return then, which is somehow fitting considering that this is some of the band's most cerebral music. There's nothing here with quite the instant appeal of "Two Weeks" or the aching vulnerability of "Foreground"; instead, most of these songs lie between those two poles. Yet Shields is full of remarkably active music, starting with "Sleeping Ute," where acoustic guitars that sound more like they're being scrubbed than strummed tumble into bubbling synths, which then give way to rhythms that conjure leaves twirling in the breeze. "Speak in Rounds" may be the most rocking song they've done yet, even if it climaxes with rustling brass and flutes instead of a shredding guitar solo. As dazzling as these flourishes can be, sometimes the complexity of Shields' arrangements threatens to overshadow the actual songs, and the most direct moments are among the album's best. "Yet Again" shows once again how good Grizzly Bear are at putting their abstract leanings into their version of a pop single: the guitars ring out with inevitability, the harmonies propel the song to new heights, and everything gets gloriously noisy before it fades away. The bouncy "A Simple Answer" and sleek "Gun-Shy" follow suit, but what makes them and the rest of Shieldsintriguing is the tension between the music's brash dynamics, and words and feelings that often turn inward. The band's lyrics are more cryptic and coded than ever, and the snippets that listeners get, such as "Cloistered from yourself/You never even try," from "What's Wrong," are abstractions of relationships that feel like extreme close-ups or bird's-eye views. These mysteries don't detract from the pure melodic beauty of songs like "Half-Gate," though, and the way that the album travels from its stormy beginnings to the serenity of "Sun in Your Eyes" means it can be called a song cycle without shame or snickering. While it's not as obviously big a statement as Veckatimest was, Shields is plenty ambitious in its own right, and its complexity demands and rewards patient listening. AMG.

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You Can't Win, Charlie Brown - Diffraction Refraction 2013

Coming from Portugal "Diffraction / Refraction" , You Can not Win , Charlie Brown' second album released by Pataca Discos in 2011 , is a much more challenging than  the group's debut album hard " Chromatic ". If it is true that this new disk found a good part of the vocabulary already highlighted in previous work (exemplarily constructed vocal harmonies , combining folk and electronic elements , diverse rhythms , building almost symphonic environments), we find that now all this was brought to levels even more sophisticated . Even unexpected . The structures are more complex, away from the typical constructive simplicity of pop music, the sonic palette is broader and dense vocal harmonies expand into new territories, the voice of Afonso Cabral (main vocalist) shows greater maturity and expressive capabilities, and instrumental solutions are more inventive . " Diffraction / Refraction " is a sumptuous disc, laboriously constructed.

The YCWCB are now a band in complete mastery of their language. To tell this immense rolling stage this past two years, with some high points: a national mini-tour in the company of Wands, a roomfull at Cinema São Jorge, participation in Optimus Primavera Sound 2012, two shows at the South by Southwest, Texas, the interpretation of the album "the Velvet Underground & Nico" in two concerts (BlackBaloon @ Lux, Lisbon and Spring Club, CCVF, Guimarães) and also in the registry 'live-in-the-studio' Live @ 15A.

"Diffraction / Refraction" was produced by the band, recorded and mixed entirely in studios 15A (Pataca Discos). With the collaboration of James Sousa (sound engineering) during the recording sessions, was mixed by Luis "Walter Benjamin" Nunes and mastered by Rafael Toral.

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Graham Parker - Three Chords Good 2012

It is not as if Graham Parker never found another sympathetic backing band after he parted ways with the Rumour in 1980. Notably, he joined forces with the power pop band the Figgs in the mid-'90s, having them as his supporting group for over a decade, a far longer stretch of time than he played with the Rumour, but there was no shaking the ghost of his original band, the one who supported him on the classics Howlin' Wind and Squeezing Out Sparks. Whatever lingering grievances between bandmates were forgotten and forgiven and Parker reunited with the Rumourfor 2012's Three Chords Good, its release coinciding with their pivotal appearance in Judd Apatow's This Is 40. Thirty-two years have passed since Parker & the Rumour recorded together, and the vibe on Three Chords Good is decidedly different than either the semi-stiff attempted 1980 crossover The Up Escalator or its lacerating 1979 predecessor Squeezing Out Sparks. Parker is no longer an angry young man, he's a grizzled old curmudgeon with a sentimental streak, a decidedly warmer persona and one that suits the Rumour's revived pub rock. Often, Three Chords Good hearkens back to the relaxed, almost casual, vibe of Howlin' Wind, where the group slyly spliced the Stones with Van Morrison. Here, the Stones are largely absent, replaced by hints of Dylan ("Arlington's Busy") and an off-hand virtuosity that finds the Rumour slipping into reggae ("Snake Oil Capital of the World") as easily as they do supper-club jazz ("Live in Shadows"). Apart from the first single "Coathangers," there isn't much straight-ahead rock & roll here; the music shuffles along in an unhurried gait, leaving plenty of time for the Rumour to lock into a slow, soulful groove, for Martin Belmont to throw out clean, enticing lead lines and for Parker to play around with his barbed words. Perhaps not surprisingly for a reunion, Parker is in a reflective frame of mind -- he opens the album noting that it's been a "Long Emotional Ride" and closes it with "Last Bookstore in Town, and in between he alternates between reminiscences and resigned shrugs at the state of the world today -- and the expert elastic roots rock of the Rumourgives his songs depth, making Three Chords Good the rare reunion that simultaneously looks back while living in the present. AMG.

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Blackberry Smoke - Little Piece Of Dixie 2009

On their debut full-length CD, Little Piece of Dixie, the five members of Blackberry Smoke (singer/guitarist Charlie Starr, guitarist/singer Paul Jackson, bassist/singer Richard Turner, keyboardist Brandon Still, and drummer Brit Turner) play Southern rock in the Lynyrd Skynyrd tradition. Starr has a strong, twangy voice, and he and Jacksonkeep the heavy riffs coming in country-rock songs extolling the virtues of a Southern, blue-collar man's blowing off steam by drinking, driving around, and maybe enjoying a little female companionship. Typical of the material is "Bottom of This," in which a man gets home from work and asks to be allowed to at least have one beer before he has to engage domestic problems or talk politics. Although the band is much closer to rock than outlaw country, the album has a clear Nashville leaning, produced by Dann Huff and Justin Niebank, and featuring some formula Music City songwriting. At the end, Blackberry Smoke try for an anthem with "Freedom Song," another paean to hitting the road in the pickup truck and putting a cowboy boot to the gas pedal in search of escape from a workingman's troubles. But when Starr declares his desire to "sing along to my freedom song" on the radio as the guitars play a familiar twin-lead part, it seems likely that the song he really has in mind is Skynyrd's "Free Bird," not something by his own band. AMG.

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