Mirage Rock by Band of Horses

With the release of their new album Band of Horses is making a strong attempt at moving to next step of success. Acclaim and praise is not new for this band, previous albums have met with strong critical reviews and songs such as The Funeral and No One's Gonna Love You are of that group of songs that more people know than think they do, attribution to the band is still less.

Mirage Rock is a deeper record with nods to seventies rock, The Byrds, and for those looking for the most perfect comparison a review of nineties Jayhawks would be a good place to start.

The opening track Knock, Knock is a song destined to be popular, following that How to Live stronger still. The first true hit of the album is Slow Cruel Hands of Time. With sweet guitar, perfect harmonies and a haunting lyric everything good and yet everything limited in this album becomes apparent. I have to say that if I close my eyes and someone told me this was a track from Smile of Town Hall by The Jayhawks, albums I am not as familiar with as I should be, I would accept that information. The Jayhawks are a wonderful band, one of my favorites, and have a niche fanbase that is as dedicated as one can find. They were never a commercial success. It would appear Band of Horses must know in this day of teeny pop and rap music that their audience is limited.

A Little Biblical, Everything's Gonna Be Undone, and especially Heartbreak on the 101 are killer tracks that will be on many playlists from those in the know. This is a band I would go see and a band that will continue to develop their fan base with albums like this.

Perhaps Band of Horses is an indictment on popular music, unless a band such as this puts their songs on Grey's Anatomy, the chances of a major breakthrough are limited. Perhaps that is a good thing for fans of a band such as this.

This is a very good album

New Multitudes by Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker and Yim Yames

This album is a collaborative effort to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Woody Guthrie. A band led my musicians that musicians all know but for the average lay person the names that ring the loudest are Jay Farrar who has been in two bands loved by critics, Son Volt and Uncle Tupelo, bands that have included members of The Jayhawks and Wilco at one time or another. So the pedigree is there and then when you add Yim Yamss, A K A Jim James of My Morning Jacket and you know this group is strong.

Norah, Woody's Granddaughter who instigated this project must have been happy. Taking old unpublished lyrics of Guthrie's the band members wrote new songs. Recorded for the most part live with one mike, old style, there is much to like.

I have not listened to the whole set as of yet, it is a double album and includes many different types of music. The first single which has received significant radio airplay is My Revolutionary Mind and features Yames on vocals. A slow mantra in which James tells us that he needs a Liberally Minded Woman to ease his Revolutionary Mind the song could fit anywhere from the sixties to Woody's era himself.

Contributions by Farrar have that almost patented sound he is well known for, sort of Byrds meets the Midwest. I am a huge fan of James and plan to listen to the whole album. Woody Guthrie in so many ways is the forefather of much of the music we venerate on a daily basis.