:: The Dead ::

:: Pepsi Center :: May 7, 2009 ::

 By Ryan Lappi

Photos by Soren McCarty/ http://www.sorenmccartyphotography.com

It’s a hand-me-down
the thoughts are broken.
Perhaps they’re better
left unsung

If there’s a lesson to learn from the Grateful Dead, it’s to listen to the possibilities that are waiting to be discovered in every moment. It’s a motto inherent in their relentless search for the weird, in the structure and composition of their songs, and it is an essential ingredient to the musical conversation that has now spanned over 44 years.

While most bands that have survived so long have resorted to wearing the polka-dotted bikini of nostalgia, The Dead (as they are now called, absent of the “Grateful” Jerry Garcia) continues to attract the restless and often insatiable hordes that crave the adventure and the spirit of the former band. The Dead is nostalgic in the same sense that a 44 year old bottle of wine is nostalgic. Yes, they are old, dusty, and their product was packaged a long time ago. They have been sitting on the shelf for far too long (five years since we last checked), and their label hasn’t changed all that much. Continue — Read more »

Continue — Read more »

:: The Dead ::

:: Pepsi Center :: May 7 ::

By DJ Hippie

March 31, 2009 started off much like any other day that’s ever been for many people, but for many Deadheads the day held a special designation as the unofficial launch of The Dead’s  — the “Grateful” has been dropped in memoriam of the late Jerry Garcia — highly anticipated spring tour.

It has been four years since the last incarnation of The Dead toured and as Bob Weir, Phil Lesh and “touring guitarist” (Rolling Stone’s words not mine) Warren Haynes appeared alongside the chattering women’s club that makes up the daytime talk show “The View,” it was clear that another long strange trip was in the making. The trio delivered a Standards and Practices-friendly version of “Friend of the Devil” before the complete band‚ which includes percussionist Mickey Hart, drummer Bill Kreutzmann and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti, played three separate gigs at various New York venues to a small number of lucky fans. Continue — Read more »

:: Elvis Perkins in Dearland ::

:: hi-dive :: May 8 ::

:: b. side Lounge :: May 9 ::

By Timothy Dwenger

Roughly two hours north of the concrete jungle that is New York City, lies the town of Woodstock, N.Y. and the Catskill Mountain Park. While San Francisco was the hub for the psychedelic music explosion of the late ’60s and The Summer of Love, the Catskill region was home to the more American roots music of the time. Such musical luminaries as Bob Dylan, The Band, and Johnny Cash all called Woodstock home in that era.

Fast-forward 40 years and that same magic still hangs in the air like mist in the rolling hills.  Levon Helm of The Band is still throwing Midnight Rambles in his barn, dream-pop band Mercury Rev’s members are inspired by their surroundings there to create their ethereal walls of sound, and just a mere 30 miles away in the town of Germantown, Elvis Perkins In Dearland have recently emerged to contribute their own brand of rootsy folk music to the sonic stew.

Continue — Read more »

:: Gregory Alan Isakov ::
 :: CD Release Party ::
 :: with Bela Karoli & The Widow’s Bane ::
 :: Fox Theatre :: May 15 ::

By Brian F. Johnson & Michael Hedrick

I [BFJ] felt really bad that I had to schedule an interview with Gregory Alan Isakov at midnight (his time) on a Saturday, while he was in Holland. Saturday nights in Holland are notoriously debaucherous and I figured I had to be pulling him away from some sort of fun.
But as soon as I mentioned that, in his humble, almost shy way, Isakov chuckled and explained that he was in North Holland “out here in nature” and that a big party was the last thing that was happening.

Isakov and his band had just wrapped up a house concert in an old teahouse-style mansion — a concert that unofficially announced a sort of full-circle career move for the artist.
Isakov grew up, as many of us do, with his musical heroes providing a soundtrack to his life, and in his bio, he explained that one day while listening closely to his favorite artists that he “had the realization that these people had no idea what a big part of my life they were and how they’d created the soundtrack to it.” And now, with this show in Holland in particular, it was clear that Isakov is now providing the soundtrack to other people’s lives.

“We just played this show here, and the whole reason we got out here was a man who had heard my record and passed it around to radio stations in the Netherlands,” Isakov explained. “So we started to get a lot of airplay and sales over here. But this man was sick and he told his close friends before he passed away that it was very important that I get over here to play. At his funeral they played a song of mine. That’s ineffable.”
Continue — Read more »

Prince
LotusFlow3r

NPG

2 out of 5 stars

Hard to believe LotusFlow3r is Prince’s 25th studio album. The man in purple has never been short of musical output and that may be one of his biggest flaws. He releases everything, shit and all. LotusFlow3r is his best work since 2004’s Musicology (which isn’t saying much) and finds Prince returning to screaming guitar leads and laid back funk grooves on a few tracks, but the mostly sugar-coated pop album can be thrown in the bin of albums that fails to truly show Prince’s musical abilities and talents.

The album is bookended with two superb instrumental tracks, “From The Lotus…” and “…Back 2 The Lotus.” Both tracks are reminiscent of mid-1970s Santana and feature a bass line similar to John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme.” Prince’s guitar is overdriven and full of sustain. Close your eyes and you are listening to Santana in peak form. The songs in between these two tracks are all over the place. “Boom” starts off sounding like porn music you’d actually dig, then it opens into a blistering two-minute guitar solo. “The Morning  After” is absolute crap and would be better served as the theme song of a Fanta commercial. “4Ever” might have been a hit single if it was released in the mid-1980s. “$” sounds like Prince covering an Alvin & The Chipmunks tune with an accompanying big band horn section. “Love Like Jazz” is straight up elevator music.

Continue — Read more »

Neil Young
Fork In The Road

Reprise

3 out of 5 stars

Neil Young is a legend among legends. He was a member of Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Still, Nash & Young and has outdone his successes in those groups with his own solo career.

Never one to stick to a certain genre of music, he has explored folk, rock, country, electronic, blues, rockabilly, and doo-wop. Often called “the godfather of grunge,” Young’s influence has transcended generations and his influence on Eddie Vedder and Kurt Cobain alone, helped pave the way for the revival of guitar-driven rock and roll in the early 1990s.  Kurt Cobain even referenced Young in his suicide letter when he used the line, “It’s better to burn out, than to fade away,” from Young’s song “My My, Hey, Hey (Out Of The Blue).”
Putting his legacy aside, the one thing Young has managed to do that so many other artists fail to do is continually put out good music, even late into his career. His latest release, Fork In The Road, is not one of his best efforts and is not going to win him any new fans, but it should please some of his hardcore fan-base.

The songwriting for Fork In The Road began with a few songs inspired by Young’s Lincoln Continental, which had been retooled to run entirely on alternative fuel — that car was also the cover photo and inspiration for his 2007 release, Chrome Dreams II. Fork In the Road became an ode to Young’s adoration of the automobile. With song titles such as “Fuel Line,” “Get Behind The Wheel,” “Off The Road,” “On The Road,” and the title track “Fork In The Road,” it is clear to see that his political outpouring on some of his previous albums has taken a back seat.
Continue — Read more »

Harmonious Junk
Too Cocky In Nagasaki

Dubious Maximus Music

4 out of 5 stars

Harmonious Junk is for all intents and purposes a feel-good band — mixing a friendly humor reminiscent of Zappa with the funk of James Brown. And, simply put, former James Brown guitarist and Harmonious junk leader, Damon Wood knows how to kick it.

Taking you on a trip through the musical ethers, Too Cocky in Nagasaki showcases the band’s studio efforts with a fierce command and a refreshingly loose feel at the same time. It shows not only a reminiscent introspection (“My Friend and Me”) but a jokingly relaxed attitude (“Hippy Girl”).

The band juxtaposes the best talent any jam/funk band has to offer with the chilled out point of view of a seasoned and experienced group proving that no subject is off limits. The music is mostly illustrative of a summer barbecue with good beer, good smoke and pretty girls dancing all around the place.

Featuring legendary bassist and vocalist from the Brown days, Fred Thomas, the album expresses its talent in a smooth yet funky, at times jazzy, journey through genres. Harmonious Junk landed “Best Jamband” by Westword in 2005 and the band lives up to its reputation by providing the funkiest, grooviest, and headiest rhythms and musical expositions to the Front Range.

This is the epitome of music to “get down” to.

— Michael Hedrick

NOFX

Backstage Pass

This eight “episode” DVD, with lots of unaired footage, highlights Fuze TV’s rockumentary on punk rock band NOFX’s attempts to tour, lands seldom explored by bands with smaller sacks. The result is a shining exception to the basic rule that reality based TV is a boring endeavor.

Pearl Jam
Ten (Reissue)

Sony Legacy

3 out of 5 stars

After long begging to have their debut album remixed by original producer Brendan O’Brien, Pearl Jam got their wish. The set includes the original mix and a host of extras. It’s interesting to see how an album that helped change the course of music was also affected by it.

Loaded
Sick

Century Media Records

4 out of 5 stars

The most glaring fault with Axl Rose’s “new guns” is easily the exclusion of bassist Duff McKagen. His bass playing was really the secret weapon that gave GNR their “street cred“ and gutter sound. Here, with his long-standing band Loaded, you can hear McKagen’s undiluted punk ethos as he takes the lead, free from other influences.

How far is too far, when paying someone a compliment? Can the person who’s trying to say something really good and sincere about someone end up doing damage?

I’ve been struggling with these questions for the last month after getting an earful from a good friend and writer for this mag. This friend of mine took great umbrage with the fact that in last month’s reviews I compared an artist to Bob Dylan and Neil Young … well, to be fair, what I said was “I’m not afraid of the backlash by haters who will lambast me for calling the artist the Bob Dylan and Neil Young of our time.”

In my mind, I’m paying this artist the highest compliment, saying that his songs are thought provoking, poetic, romantic and strong enough to withstand the test of time.
My friend, however, saw it another way and wrote me a long e-mail stating, in part: “When you say that someone is the ‘Dylan of our generation’ or ‘(Insert Name) of our generation’ it makes me very skeptical of them (rather than open minded) because I immediately compare them to Dylan or that person. It is an unfair comparison and in the end the artist you are trying to help always loses. No one is going to be the next Dylan. I probably would have liked him had you not used that comparison. I listened to his album with the thought of this guy being the next Dylan and Neil and after four songs was like, ‘O.K., here is another over-hyped artist.’ Had I not had that comparison in my head I probably would have enjoyed him and the album more.”

Well, my retort was quick and short, saying that he was the one who was close-minded and that he was way too sensitive if a simple reference to a legendary artist when discussing an up-and-comer made him closed off to the artist.

But then something really, really strange happened the night of the band’s show. As I was getting a pre-show beverage I was talking with the group’s drummer, who said simply, “We’re not that good.” This is one of the guys I was paying respect to and he didn’t even like the compliment!
He agreed with my buddy that the compliment was over the top. What the hell!?

So, I’ve gone back and re-listened to the album, I’ve read and re-read my review of it. I stand by my comments, but also understand where these guys are coming from. The one thing I still can’t wrap my head around, though, is why does it work in some instances to compare artists, but fails so miserably in others and when is a compliment too much? I’d love to hear more debate on this.

Comment away in the blog-o-web!

See you at the shows.

May 1
• 1967: Elvis Presley marries Priscilla Beaulieu
May 2
• 1980: Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall” is banned by the South African government
May 3
• 1928: James Brown is born
May 4
• 1970: Four students protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State are shot by National Guardsmen
May 7
• 1946: Bill Kreutzmann of the Grateful Dead is born
May 8
• 1955: Alex Van Halen of Van Halen is born
May 10
• 1957: Sid Vicious of The Sex Pistols is born John Simon Beverly
May 13
• 1966: Darius Rucker of Hootie and the Blowfish is born
• 1950: Stevie Wonder is born
May 14
• 1998: Frank Sinatra dies in Los Angeles
• 1952: David Byrne of The Talking Heads is born
May 15
• 1945: The first U.S. album chart is introduced
May 16
• 1966: The Beach Boys release Pet Sounds
May 17
• 1980: Kiss drummer Peter Criss leaves the band
for a solo career
May 19
• 1945: Pete Townshend of The Who is born
May 20
• 1972: Busta Rhymes is born
• 1944: Joe Cocker is born
May 22
• 1979: Cheap Trick’s album Live at Budokan goes platinum
• 1975: “Saturday Night Live” producer Lorne Michaels raises his previous cash offer to The Beatles to reunite and appear on the show.
• 1959: Morrissey is born Stephen Patrick Morrissey in Manchester, England
May 24
• 1969: Rich Robinson of The Black Crowes is born
• 1941: Bob Dylan is born Robert Zimmerman
May 26
• 1994: Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Jackson marry
• 1926: Miles Davis is born
May 31
• 1948: John Bonham of Led Zeppelin is born