[Covers]
Cat Power
Jukebox
****
Times were different for Chan Marshall when she released her first covers record (uh, titled The Covers Record) under the moniker Cat Power in 2000. Back then, her languid disaffection and sparse coffeehouse folk—not to mention erratic behavior during concerts—made her a poster girl for the weird, the world-weary and the dissatisfied. But with glossy fashion spreads and endless critical acclaim under her now-sober belt, Marshall in 2008 is the toast of the NPR set, an indie-rock version of My Fair Lady’s rough-gem-turned-refined Eliza Doolittle.
The danger, of course, is that such musical and personal stability can dull an artist’s creativity. But on 2006’s The Greatest—a collaboration with Memphis session musicians that lovingly nodded to sleek Southern soul—Marshall slipped easily into the role of torch singer, letting her smoky alto relax and luxuriate within the tasteful horns and strings.
She sounds just as comfortable on Jukebox, a (mostly) covers album that features versions of songs popularized by musicians such as Hank Williams, George Jackson, Billie Holiday and James Brown. Marshall’s backing musicians, the Dirty Delta Blues Band (featuring members of the Dirty Three, Delta 72 and Blues Explosion, among others) at once encourage Marshall’s sleepy-eyed voice and nudge its limits. A jazzy take on Williams’ “Ramblin’ (Wo)man” smolders with lust, while Jackson’s rollicking “Aretha, Sing One for Me” finds Marshall almost animated as she attempts to match the song’s bubbling organ and Stonesy swagger.
Marshall’s ability to inhabit each particular song as if it were her own composition makes Jukebox essential. Her brassy take on Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” is particularly entertaining, while a gritty version of Dylan’s “I Believe in You”—not a stretch for her, but a dirty barnburner nonetheless—is another highlight. And Jukebox’s one new tune (“Song for Bobby”) might as well be a Velvet Underground cover, because of the dream-time guitar melody and Marshall’s Lou Reed-aping delivery. While at times a little too mannered, Jukebox’s amalgamation of gentle twang, soul strut and lo-fi folk is nearly flawless. – Annie Zaleski
[Country-Rock]
Drive-By Truckers
Brighter Than Creation’s Dark
*** 1/2
Country-rockers Drive-By Truckers don’t lose a step following the departure of singer/guitarist Jason Isbell, one of the band’s main songwriters over their past three albums. Co-founders Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley, whose songs have always made up the bulk of the band’s output, pick up the slack nicely on Brighter Than Creation’s Dark, while bassist Shonna Tucker also helps fill in the gaps by writing and singing three songs of her own.
Thus the differences between Dark and the Truckers’ last few releases are subtle, but nonetheless offer a sense of forward motion. Longtime band associate John Neff joins full-time, filling the third guitar slot and also playing pedal steel on most tracks, making this the countriest album the Truckers have released in a while. And Tucker’s voice provides a sweet, understated counterpoint to Hood’s and Cooley’s ragged, worldly tones not only on her contributions but also in harmony vocals elsewhere throughout the album.
As always, Hood and Cooley paint impeccable portraits of the minutiae of Southern life, creating fully realized, often tragic characters in songs like “Daddy Needs a Drink” and “Bob.” Hood also tackles current-day politics with “That Man I Shot” and “The Home Front,” but manages to ground his commentary in the same evocative, focused storytelling that has always marked his best work.
At 19 tracks, Dark feels a little long (it’s divided into four “sides”), and it doesn’t have as many standout tracks as other Truckers records. The ones that do stand out, though, like Cooley’s wry, old-fashioned country tune “Lisa’s Birthday,” are as good as anything the remarkably consistent band has produced.
–Josh Bell
[Post-Fab]
Ringo Starr
Liverpool 8
*** 1/2
Since the early 1990s, each song and record in Ringo Starr’s solo catalog has been the result of planning carefully and having a real good time implementing the plan. Such is the case again with Liverpool 8, which finds Ringo reaching out for new angles and new ways to express himself. The usual energy from longtime collaborator Mark Hudson is taken on a dizzying drive to the late ’60s by co-producer/ex-Eurythmic Dave Stewart, who creates an edgy, near-psychedelic atmosphere to augment one of the most distinguishable voices in rock.
The songs reflect that, even at age 67, Ringo isn’t inclined to release an album without offering something he thinks will stay with the listener through repeated listens. The title track is the most autobiographical selection in the post-Beatles catalog since George Harrison’s “When We Was Fab,” and there are several other fond remembrances (“Gone Are the Days,” “Harry’s Song” for Nilsson), along with an occasional dramatic flair (“Now That She’s Gone Away” and the cinematic “Pasodobles”).
It’s not as though either of the surviving Beatles needs to further secure his future legacy. But, as long as both blend this wide a range of emotion with this keen an attention to detail, it will continue to provide them a permanent residence in the present-day spotlight as well – Dennis Mitchell
[Indie Rock]
Black Mountain
In the Future
***
You’ve gotta wonder if Vancouver rockers Black Mountain intended the title of their second album, In the Future, as a sly middle finger toward everyone who’s harped on the band’s conspicuous sponging of the past, specifically the late-’60s heavy rock of Black Sabbath, Blue Cheer and the like.
In places, the new disc references those touchstones even more than 2005’s eponymous debut. Lead-off cut “Stormy High” is a stoner anthem built atop a chunky guitar riff and the dueling wails of vocalists Stephen McBean and Amber Webber. Later, the quintet revives the lumbering psychedelia of Led Zeppelin with the eight-minute “Tyrants” and 16-plus-minute “Bright Lights,” sprinkling muted trippiness with bursts of balls-to-the-wall mayhem.
About half the time, though, Black Mountain barely sounds retro. The blues-pop of “Angels” reminds of Jason Molina, not Deep Purple; “Wucan” is more about its groovy organ essence than wailing instrumental solos; and “Queens Will Play” and “Night Walks” revel far too much in Webber’s natural female voice to worry about piercing male falsettos.
In short, In the Future is derivative, and it isn’t. None of it feels particularly futuristic, but it all sounds freshened up enough to help Black Mountain shed the retread label, even if it never sought to do so.
– Spencer Patterson
[Garage Rock]
Marah
Angels of Destruction!
****
Critical darlings Marah burst out of Philadelphia and into the mainstream spotlight (well, they were on Conan) with their fifth album, 2005’s If You Didn’t Laugh, You’d Cry. The follow-up officially reached long-awaited status, but a year and a half in the making, Angels of Destruction! is proving to be worth the wait.
Blessed with the Seal of Springsteen (the Boss appeared on their last outing), Marah blow past the soaring classic-rock thing this time around with a mishmash of styles, ranging from the psychedelic rock of “Old Time Tickin’ Away” and the Stones-like strut of the title track to a hootenanny rave replete with harmonica, tambourine and maracas on “Jesus in the Temple.”
But their strongest work comes when they play it closer to the vest, with the bluesy “Wild West Love Song,” driven by a chooglin’ guitar and train’s-a-comin’ drumbeat, standing above the rest. Lyrically, the first cut, “Coughing Up Blood,” sets a tone of discomfort with its talk of airplane crashes and bloody leaves and angels of mercy, and the set closes with a bang, as “Wilderness” puts a sonic exclamation point on the action beneath a bed of Old Testament talk that reveals a band that might have finally made it through a wilderness of its own. – Patrick Donnelly