Arcade's Life after Death

The first time I heard Arcade Fire I was driving home from work and I happened to tune into a radio show that I listen to once a month in the Hartford area. The show is widely known to me as the show that plays a lot of unusual music and they throw in people like Faust, Can, and odd others. This is the same program that got me into Can as a teenager and somehow it still surfaces once in a great while with the same DJ who according to my friend, this DJ has was still spinning music when my friend was a teenager. He played an Arcade Fire song that had such an impression on me that I wanted to hear it again and again. The DJ pointed out that the CD will be out in the next month or so. I really could not wait. The song was called "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)." I liked it because of it's originality and the vocal and lyrics were quite strong.

Watching them on SNL Saturday confirmed that they are a great band with a lot of growth already in their blood. The song I liked was not played on the show, but their music had a feel like no other. According to all music "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" the first of four metaphorical forays into the geography of the soul, follows a pair of young lovers who meet in the middle of the town through tunnels that connect to their bedrooms. Over a soaring piano lead that's effectively doubled by distorted guitar, they reach a Lord of the Flies-tinged utopia where they can't even remember their names or the faces of their weeping parents. It had a power like no other song that I was listening to at that time. It made a tattoo like impression that to this day still makes me cringe.



What I liked about the song and then eventually the album was the fact that each member of the band does not stick to one idea. They don't even stick with the same instrument. Sometimes the guitar player plays percussion. Even Win's wife Regine plays keyboards, violin and accordion. Very good for a band to make a impression on me. Arcade Fire's victorious soul-thumping core, is a goose bump-inducing rallying cry centered around the notion that "the power's out in the heart of man, take it from your heart and put it in your hand."(AM) They kick ass and take no names.

The original sound of Arcade Fire is what makes the band. I like the music because even though the band is small by it's standards, but the music is huge. Each song is like a mini Symphony. The words are even better. Win may get political, but that is his charm. He tells the truth and not many people do that and still get you to listen. The anticipation of hearing each song is fun with me because each is not the same as the previous. Even after the album came out I really wanted to get the next CD they put out. They have put out three and two others after their debut and each is great and wonderful as but hearing the music for the first time is quite good.


Funeral is a great album from start to finish. Arcade Fire are not bereft of whimsy. Each one of their songs that pump blood back into the heart as fast and furiously as it's draining from the sleeve on which it beats, each little piece of music is a wonderful novella and I really wish bands could write like this. If you need something beyond the typical Rock and Roll this is the album. Arcade Fire came at us like and knocked us down. The music in new and original and so fun that you really have to re listen. Have a great time with this and the last paragraph explains their music better then I can. It's from the great Pitchfork review of the album where it got a 9.7 out of 10.0. Enjoy!!!

So long as we're unable or unwilling to fully recognize the healing aspect of embracing honest emotion in popular music, we will always approach the sincerity of an album like Funeral from a clinical distance. Still, that it's so easy to embrace this album's operatic proclamation of love and redemption speaks to the scope of The Arcade Fire's vision. It's taken perhaps too long for us to reach this point where an album is at last capable of completely and successfully restoring the tainted phrase "emotional" to its true origin. Dissecting how we got here now seems unimportant. It's simply comforting to know that we finally have arrived.

Classic Duo

When my friend told me that Robert Plant and Alison Krauss are doing an album together I thought he was full of shit. I mean two interesting and dynamic musicians and vocalists. Both come from different worlds. Alison from Folk, and Bluegrass and Roots music. Robert from the biggest Rock acts in the world. I thought after talking to my friend that it might work. My first thought it was a Robert Plant solo album and she was going to do backup singing. The same vain as when she sang back up on two Phish tunes on Hoist. She did not do a lot, but you can hear her wonderful voice. I been a fan of great collaboration between two wonderful musicians. This is no exception and something if true would be a great thing to hear.

When I got this news it was early in 2007. I gave it some thought about what they would do together. I even thought it would be interesting if they both decided to do an album of Led Zeppelin songs with a new twist. A stripped down roots versions of the album. It got me excited to think of some great ideas they could do together. My curiously started when I realized that Alison Krauss was a fan of Led Zeppelin through her brothers. Her brothers were older and used to bring home the albums and crank them up. It made quite an impression on her and what she knew about Rock and Roll.



I have seen both artists in many occasions and none of them had a hint of each others musical genres. The music of Robert Plant was still Rock and Roll. The music of Alison Krauss was still Bluegrass and some Country and Folk mixed in. The only question how would they do it together. Would this be an album of all those genres together with a "Roots" type album. I really did not know what to expect or what would be done. The excitement was about to come to realization with more stories being told what they were doing. The internet flooded with information on who was on the project and who was putting the project together. When I got the phone call from my friend who told me about the project that our friend Marc Ribot was going to play guitar on it. I got really excited. I had this idea that it was a dirty Tom Waits record. Marc has played on many Tom Waits records and each album he is on makes the album perfectly rough around the edges. Other people involved were T. Bone Burnett and Buddy Miller. Once again these people do some really great things to artist that they work with. It's like a magic spell that they cast over them and bring out some great stuff that we are not used to.

During the summer of 2007 I was flipping through the radio stations when I heard Robert Plant's voice on something that was not easy to recognize. When the disc jokey mentioned it was from the forthcoming duo project of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss I was ready to get the album that day. The song was a cover of the Everly Brothers. The song was full of roots and soul and and had that Marc Ribot punch to it. This indeed was something that I know by hearing just one song I needed to pick up. The music was better then I heard in recent years. The music was stuff that just made sense for me. It was music that just was a better then what I heard on the radio at that time. I was ready for the CD to come out.



When the CD came out I quickly picked it up. I wanted to know what others songs they decided to remake. The music of Tom Waits was on it as well as Townes Van Zandt and Gene Clark and even a song Jimmy Page wrote for the album. What was even cooler was a song that The Who used to play in their early career. The album was full of surprises everywhere I listened. The guitar is nasty and distorted, and the brush touches with their metallic sheen are a nice complement to the bass drums. It doesn't rock; it struts and staggers on its way.

This is the album that you need. The music and the two great voices are just thing you need. I like this album a bit more then I really thought I would. These two voices meld together seamlessly; they will not be swallowed even when the production is bigger than the song. They don't soar, they don't roar, they simply sing songs that offer different shades of meaning as a result of this welcome collaboration. (AM) Enjoy!!

East West, Chicago & Butterfield

My first listening of Blues music came by accident when I was in High School. I was in a class one day and my friend handed me a tape of some John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers and it was a copy of the album with Eric Clapton on it. I had the Eric Clapton Box set and I wanted to hear more. Again, that 60's book recommended it, but I did not have a copy. A friend of mine went to that same record store that I normally go to and procured a copy for me. He told me with a whisper "Is that the one you wanted?" I agreed and we walked passed each other. The only problem was a teacher noticed this transaction of the tape. The teacher thought there was something in the tape case. Likely idea because in the past I am sure that is how he got his pot or something. An empty tape case is a great place to put that kind of stuff.

When I got into class I opened the tape case to see the tape and read the track listing. There were many songs I was looking forward to listen to and at that moment the teacher who saw me take the tape from my friend quickly took the tape away. "I will give you this tape at the end of class okay!" The teacher said. I thought it was unfair, but I understand where the teacher was coming from. It would have been a distraction for me to look at the tape while he was lecturing on some boring topic I more then likely will never need to learn again. I think I was just excited to have the tape in my hand and listen to it on the way home from school.



After class I went up to my teacher and asked for the cassette back. He told me he wanted to borrow it. I told him I could make him a copy, but since I just got it I wanted to hear it. He had a deal for me. He would borrow it for the night and the next day he would hand me two cassettes of more blues for me in return for the overnight borrow. I quickly agreed with his proposition. He told me he had some Chicago Blues that I should listen to. I did not know what to expect. I went home and dived through my 60's book of music and figured what he was going to give me. I looked around at work for some ideas on what I was getting and landing no clues to what he was going to give me.

The next day I was handed the John Mayall back and he handed me the best of Buddy Guy and a tape called East West by Paul Butterfield and the Blues Band. He told me that he really liked Buddy Guy and some of his best stuff was on that tape and the other tape he told me I should listen to the two guitar players in the band. Elvin Bishop and Mike Bloomfield are amazing guitar players. I took the teachers word for it. Little did I know that Mike Bloomfield was going to turn up on some of Bob Dylan albums I had. He told me that tragic story of Mike Bloomfield and he almost started crying. He told me that Mike Bloomfield was his guitar hero for a while. He explained how great East West was. It was great stuff that had a great stamp on his life. The harp playing by Paul Butterfield was classic playing and I could not get that any where else. Even after his death, Paul Butterfield's music didn't receive the accolades that were so deserved. Outputting styles adopted from Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters among other blues greats, Butterfield became one of the first white singers to rekindle blues music through the course of the mid-'60s.(AM)



East West had an even greater effect on music history, paving the way for experimentation that is still being explored today. This came in the form of an extended blues-rock solo (some 13 minutes) -- a real fusion of jazz and blues inspired by the Indian raga. This groundbreaking instrumental was the first of its kind and marks the root from which the acid rock tradition emerged. (AM) The music on East West is so great I strongly recommend this album in your collection. If you don't have blues in your collection then you should. This album explains a lot in the life of 60's musical history. Have fun with this and remember that the guitar playing of Elvin Bishop and Mike Bloomfield are the big, big highlights. Mike Bloomfield is one of my favorite guitar players and you can see why after this listen. Enjoy!!

The Mind Of Ben Harper

When I was asked why I get into certain music or bands I tell them I started early in their career and followed them. Some artist I liked from the early on. I always have followed the odd and unusual path of any artist. I don't dislike their odd moments or their career shift because sometimes they are for the good and sometimes they just took the wrong choice. Once in a great while I ask for help. I ask for help on what is good out there or an artist I should listen to. Contrary to popular belief I ask for ideas and one day I asked about Ben Harper. I saw this CD in the store where my friend works and asked him about it.

My friend told me that he just got a promotional copy of Fight For Your Mind. He told me that he loved it. It was new and fresh and very original. He explained to me that he played a mean slide guitar type thing and was very political in his lyrics. He also mentioned that the band backing him was tight and had a great groove as well. In 1995 I did not know much about his music or what his message was. With only now two album under him I was hoping that he would not be too popular. The mix of Dylan, Marley and Hendrix was a great mix that some people could see. I liked his way of playing the guitar. I even loved his singing. It was too good to stay in one little corner.



Every moment of Ben Harper's music was so addicting it required more then one listen to hear the great grooves and the great lyrics of what he was saying. Take the song "Ground on Down." The song did not leave my cd player or tape deck in the car for quite a long time. It's bass heavy groove and is quite addicting still to listen to. When I saw him live he played this song for about ten minutes with the band hooked in a great feel that left you speechless.

I believe in a few things :
God, the Devil and Love,
Cause I've looked up from the bottom and I've stared down from above.
And I have faith in a few things :
Divinity,
Divinity and Grace,
But even when I'm on my knees, I know the devil prays.

And you're working your way,
From the ground on down.

I hate to say I love you,
Because it means that I will be with you forever or will sadly..., say goodbye.
And I love to say I hate you,
Because it means that I will live my life happily without you or will sadly..., live a lie.

And you're working your way,
From the ground on down,
On down.
Your way,
From the ground on down.

Life is short and if you're looking for extension,
With your time, you had best do well,
Cause there's good deeds and there is good intention,
They're as far apart as heaven and hell.

And you're steady working your way,
From the ground on down,
On down.
Your way,
From the ground.



It was all I wanted to hear at one point. The music had a great sound that very few artists were doing at that time. Ben Harper allows his trademark Weissenborn guitar to scream out to his audience. It does more then that, It adds a new person in the fight of great artists and begs you to listen again and again. I am not sure how Ben Harper got popular after this album, but he did. His music was not over played on the radio, but his shows became a hard ticket to get. I guess people liked him as much as I did.



What you got here is a great Ben Harper album. It is full of wonderful music and great guitar playing and stuff for 1995 that really new and different. Ben Harper maybe popular in some worlds, but with his early stuff it is really great to hear some awesome music from a great man. If you listen to this album like I do, it will never get old. I suggest you start you Ben Harper listening here. What better way to treat yourself to something new and just remember where it all started from. Enjoy a lost classic from my musical years.

Dismemberment Emergency!!!!

From 1993 to 2003 Dismemberment Plan ruled in some respects. Travis Morrison and the Plan didn't hold a thing back. On this, their third and penultimate album, they recklessly careened through an all-encompassing sonic landscape and nailed every possible, terrifying angle along the way: "What Do You Want Me to Say" seethes with rabid frustration. The band's album is a firecracker, showing their at once passionate and sly approach to music -- take in everything, put it back out, and give it its own particular sheen and spin -- is in no danger of letting up. Knowing fans of the quartet have spoken on how it's clear that the band members listen to everything from old soul to hip-hop and techno and back again, and there's no argument here based on the evidence of this disc.

The band turn the indie rock stereotype on its head, avoiding aimless shambling jangle or emo's straitjacketing stereotype in favor of an unsettled mix that embraces sampling's jump-cut techniques and shifting rhythms where prominence is equally given to guitar, keyboards, and beat. It can be late-night jazzy mood-out or sudden thrash, but the quartet handles all approaches with aplomb and creative arrangements to boot. Travis Morrison's unusual vocals make a brilliant calling card for the band, high, a touch quavery, but never out of control, slipping into the mix like another instrument.



Each song has a unique character to it and that is what makes the album so great. The lyrics of Travis Morrison too are quirky and odd and most of make you think. He does this so you can try to figure out his brain. His oddness is his strong suit. The music is fresh and wonderfully new to a point of what he does makes it all the odder. His voice is a good fit to the music that he is writing and singing. The words are not poetry, but a kind of conscience thought. The music sound better with every listen. The band groove so well on what he is telling us. It's hard to explain but you should check it out for yourself. The album's lyric book reads better than half the modern volumes on my bookshelf. Modern R&B should have as much rhythm. Modern rock should have as much balls.

I lost my membership card to the human race
So don't forget the face
Because I know that I do belong here
Go down the checklist let's see:
Feelings are good
Dishonesty is bad
And keeping it inside is worse still
You want a problem well I guess we got one now
I really don't know how
There's injuns over every goddamn hill
What do you want me to say?
What do you want me to do?
To let you know that I do mean it
What do you want me to say?
What do you want me to do?
To let you know that I do mean it
What do you want me to say, yeah?
I see it coming from a million miles away
What else can I say?
The only way you know I love you
And there's no eye-to-eye just Moses on the mount



The music is fun the words are for not us to figure out, they are just a stream of great ideas of Travis Morrison. Check out Emergency and I and I am sure you will find something to like. It can be late-night jazzy mood-out or sudden thrash, but the quartet handles all approaches with aplomb and creative arrangements to boot. Drummer Joe Easley may be the band's secret weapon, able to keep the pace and swing just enough, though bassist Eric Axelson is by no means a slouch himself -- the dub-touched "Spider in the Snow" is a great showcase for both. The fact that "You Are Invited" is conceivably the world's greatest synth-pop/electro/guitar chime/post-punk song about trying to get to the right party -- and is emotional without being overwrought -- gives a sense as to this album's considerable strengths.(AM) On that note, Enjoy!!

Point To Andrew Hill

You know what's so great about classic Jazz albums? You can never get tired of them no matter how many listens you give it. You always find ways of hearing a different approach or idea. Take the album Point of Departure from Andrew Hill. At first listen I once thought it was just a Jazz album from the 1960's. I had no idea it's classic status for quite a long time. I was handed this CD when I went back to school. A friend told me that it is a must listen and a great study if your going to talk Jazz to those professors. I mean I had a few classic albums up my sleeve but this was the one to sneak in there and really let them know you understand great music.

I knew from the first listen I was going to like this album. It had three people I really do take anything they put out musically. I think Eric Dolphy and Tony Williams are geniuses and Joe Henderson has a great sound and tone that very few sax players can do. I knew I was up for this wonderful musical journey. While in College I took this album with me for great listening. I decided to study it and try to how to understand what makes an album a classic. I know how the others in Jazz make one, but for Andrew Hill it took me a bit longer to figure out. I love every part of Dolphy's playing and Williams's drumming but still coumd not figure out what it is that so damn' good.



After my first semester back in the college setting I went to see my friend who gave me the album. He asked me what I thought. I fudged it and told him how much I loved it. I did like it, but could not place the finger on what made it great. I could never figure out what it was. The interplay between everybody was wonderful and really new. I knew I had this notion with the idea that it was not Ornette, or Coltrane, but it was still great. I mean the help of Eric Dolphy made the music wonderful. After I left my friend I think I got the reason of greatness of Andrew Hill. It was Andrew Hill himself. My friend is a piano player and when he told me about the playing of Andrew Hill I realized he was right.

Every part of the Point of Departure is classic. From the extended solos by Hill to the great playing by just about everybody. It's too bad, like I said in a previous post that Eric Dolphy did not live longer because his playing is wonderful. Andrew Hill plays a great piano, but sadly gets lost in the greats of Hancock, Bill Evans, McCoy Tyner and Keith Jarrett. It's his playing all over the map that makes him a true treasure. Hill's large, open chords that flat sevenths, ninths, and even 11ths in their striding to move through the mode, into a wellspring of angular hard bop and minor-key blues. In Hill's compositional world, everything is up for grabs. It just has to be taken a piece at a time, and not by leaving your fingerprints all over everything. In "Dedication," where he takes the piano solo further out melodically than on the rest of the album combined, he does so gradually. You cannot remember his starting point, only that there has been a transformation.



This is a stellar date, essential for any representative jazz collection, and a record that, in the 21st century, still points the way to the future for jazz. After listening to this you as well will like this album as much as I do. Andrew Hill is a great piano player and hearing this proves that he should be talked about in that same breath as the others. Listen to this and you will tell your friends you found a great album that tops your list. Enjoy! People who already love Jazz will go back to this album again and again. Have fun and remember where it all came from!

The Bridge to Robin Trower

The first time I heard Robin Trower was when I was high school. I was on my way to study hall and I had my Walkman on a popular classic radio station and they were playing great stuff all through the time I was in that study hall. I did not get much homework done, but I did have a neat list of music I should be looking for next time I went to the record store. The list was pretty long and I needed to find most of it because it was all good stuff. A friend of mine told me that some of this he could make a copy for me because his father had it on record. The other stuff I had to find on my own.

One of the big things that caught my interest in listening was Robin Trower. I knew a bit about him because he was in Procol Harum. The music I heard was actually less like Procol Harum and more like Jimi Hendrix and good old blues. The stuff was really good, but I did not have any of that stuff in my collection. I really did not know where to start with his extensive solo collection. Around the same time I was part of one of the record clubs and I saw a deal in the little flier I used to get. "Buy three cassettes and half price and get one free." I went through the flier and picked out things I did not have anything of that artist. In the searching I found a Essential Robin Trower. Hey for little more then $5.00 I picked it up. If I did not like it and I knew I would I would just put it with my cassettes and leave it alone. The album did have the song I liked, so it could not be all bad.



I picked a few other cassettes and I waited for the music to come to my house. In the time it took to get here I went to a few tag sales in the coming weeks. I went to one where this guy had a very good collection of 70's rock. There was the Bob Seger's and the Peter Frampton and the Fleetwood Mac albums. I picked a few of those up, but in his collection there was two Robin Trower albums. One had the song on it that I liked and the other had stuff that was on that cassette tape I was going to get in the mail. I was excited to pay the person for these and go home. He told me that I will really enjoy the music that Robin Trower plays. I was excited to get his music on my turntable.

When I got home I showed my father what I found and at the same time he was cleaning his car the same song I heard on the radio at school was on. I pointed to my dad that this guy is responsible for that song. He told me to wait till he was done washing the car so we can listen to some of his music. It was a great chance to hear what else he did. When he got in the house he told me to put the album on the turntable. Bridge of Sighs was the album. From start to finish this album rocked more then most of my collection of the time. My father told me that it sounded like a white Jimi Hendrix. He really liked it as much as I did. Every song was a winner. The trio sounded great, loud and kicked a lot of ass.



After it was all said and done, I really liked this album. I know it might be the go to album by Trower, but it is very good and full of great guitar licks that anyone could enjoy. The music is classic 70's, but it is also unique because some the music from that time was not exactly great. This is and more. Robin Trower made a lot of albums in the 70's, but this is the one that got him to his guitar status. Add this to your collection, and you will be glad you did. Enjoy a great gem from 1974 and you will love it every time you play it. He is even better live. Classic!! Enjoy!