The Top Ten Albums of 2012

This might well be one of the more eclectic lists of the top albums you will find for the year 2012. In order to qualify for my list the album must be one that I reviewed earlier in the year, that is, one that I was interested in enough at the time to listen too. In this way I know that I am not mirroring any of the more conventional lists that we all find this time of year.


10. The Once and Future Carpenter by The Avett Brothers - The Avetts as well as their compatriots Mumford and Sons released new albums this year. While the latter received more press it is the Avett's who make my top ten list. While the Mumford's first single I Will Wait might be the best of the lot it is the Avett's album that is broader and more balanced. Doing nothing more than what they do album in and album out The Avett's show why they are one of the most popular touring acts today.

9. Red by Taylor Swift - I cannot really call myself a Taylor Swift fan but one does have to recognize her ability to turn anything into a song. Watching my daughter skip and sing around the house this fall in her thirteen year old way I remembered how much music means to someone at that time in their lives. For millions of young girls and older girls too Swift makes the music that means the most to them. And it is intelligent music. For all of the adults who spent the fall trying to get " We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together " out of there head accept that it is hopeless. Swift can craft a tune like few today.

8. Born and Raised by John Mayer - Mayer coming off a year of bad publicity showed that when he stops talking and start singing all will be ok. With nary a bad song on the album and many like the title cut and Shadow Days are long to be remembered.

7. That's Why God Made the Radio by The Beach Boys - With a 50th anniversary tour and a new album it was an exciting year for the boys. It might well be that we do not want to know what recording methods made the music sound like the sixties version of the band but what there is no doubt of is that the harmonies on this song are as good as they have ever done. Pacific Coast Highway and the other songs of the second side of the album make this a true work of art similar in type of not in scope to the second side of Abbey Road.

6. Heroes by Willie Nelson - On this album which on many of the cuts Willie is joined by friends and members of his family Nelson's voice is still a treasure. Singing covers such as Just Breathe by Pearl Jam and Coldplay's The Scientist Nelson never sounded better. When he is joined by Billie Joe Shaver and Jamey Johnson on Hero and Snoop Dogg on Roll Me Up it is clear that Willie has friends in high places indeed and they all add to the fun of the album. Come On Back Jesus is another song of strong note.

5. Gospel Plow by Elizabeth Cook - I have just reviewed this in depth but suffice to say that I have listened to no album as much as this all year.

4. Heat Lightning Rumbles in the Distance by Patterson Hood - This solo effort by the lead singer of The Drive By Truckers was one of the strongest albums of the year. The title cut is one of the best tracks of the year, Hood's mumble drawl fits perfectly. After the Damage and Better Than the Truth are both great tracks and of course no Patterson Hood/Drive By album would be complete without a talk song, this album features another Alabama history lesson called Untold Pretties. A truly great album.

3. Tempest by Bob Dylan - One of the few albums in recent years to receive five stars from Rolling Stone Dylan's new album was superior. With the only song that made me get caught in public rocking out behind the wheel, Early Roman Gods, along with a tribute to John Lennon called Roll on John the album was an instant classic. Dylan's thirteen minute tale of the sinking of The Titanic, the albums title cut mixes truth and Dylan fiction in a classic way that is perfect the whole way through.

2. Battle Born by The Killers- It has to be considered true that The Killers are very good at copying the art of Springsteen and to some extent U2. Still sometimes the followers better there leaders and on The Killers later effort they have completed a supremely confident album. With song after song that one can imagine on the radio, if FM radio still played rock music, and that additionally you know would be perfect in arenas all around the country. Brendan Flowers has cut his hair, he looks like a male model, but there is no denying one thing, he can sing like few others. This is a very strong album, perhaps not as classically influential as some of the others but sometimes precision and perfection of the type displayed here but must be acknowledged.

1. Channel Orange by Frank Ocean - Truthfully it was not even close. I am not a rap music fan. I am not a connoisseur of blues, funk or soul. I know an album of incredible depth and magic when I hear it however. Orange's album is a salute to it seems each of his predecessors from Marvin Gaye to James Brown to certainly Prince. With songs such as Forest Gump, Pyramids and especially Thinking About You and Super Rick Kids Ocean proved himself a force beyond all forces in music this year. This was clearly the most influential and superior album of the year.

More in depth reviews of all of these efforts can be found on this blog from earlier in the year.

Brownville Girl by Bob Dylan

Brownsville Girl is one of those songs that Bob Dylan could record. Appearing on his Greatest Hits Volume III as well as appearing originally on the 1986 album Knocked Out Loaded the song was co written by Dylan and the playwright Sam Shepard.

While the album itself was not received that well the song is regarded as one of Dylan's best epic songs. Epic being one of the best of the many story talk songs that Dylan has recorded over the years.

Dylan sings about a girl that he still remembers, we assume over the passage of time, and in the course of telling the story of that girl we hear some lines that are classic Dylan. We hear the line " you always said people don't do what they believe in, they do what's most convenient and then they repent." If you think about that line it is as close to the truth as you will hear in a song.

Early in the song we learn about Henry Porter, who while the hero of the song waits for him to return, his woman tells him that " even the swap meets around here are getting pretty corrupt."

Most noted in the song is Dylan's continual references to a movie that he saw and remembered starring Gregory Peck. Throughout the song the protagonist keeps coming back to this point, that he remembers the movie, would see it over and over, and how he would see Peck " in anything, I'll stand in line."

The song will occasionally find it's way out of a playlist of mine or on a special day perhaps even on a satellite channel I am listening to. It is one of those songs that you never turn off, it is a sit in the car and listen to the end kind of song. How many songs can you say that about.

For me a great deal of those songs come to us from Bob.

Psychedelic Pill by Neil Young and Crazy Horse

This past Tuesday brought the release of a new album by Neil Young. Not just Neil Young however but Neil Young and Crazy Horse. For any knowledgeable fan of Young's music they know what this has meant in the past. It could mean some incredible recordings such as the famous Live Rust era recordings. It could also mean albums like a couple of the early nineties recordings which were forgettable at best.

While not being a complete washout this album leans to the latter. With eight songs stretched over two discs, and over eighty minutes the album is self indulgent in the extreme.

There are a couple of, if not gems, certainly worthwhile listens on the album. Born in Ontario is a silly little song about just that, where Young was born. More importantly the song Twisted Road is one of Young's best over the recent years. With nods to the first time he heard Dylan's " Like A Rolling Stone" and continued references to Hank Williams and especially The Grateful Dead the song is catchy and if nothing else will make one feel nostalgic.

Another success on the album is For the Love of Man a typical plaintive song from Young which while a nice song still has nothing in it to distinguish it from songs Neil has written ten times in his career.

What is most buzzed about on the album are the songs in which Young and Crazy Horse let loose and riff and riff and riff. Frankly for me, it is too much. For an artist that to me is at his best when he is giving us those incredible lyrics and unique voice I do not need to be reminded for twenty seven minutes as in the abominably long " Driftin Back" that Young and the boys can still jam.

A bit better but still a huge investment in time for what nuggets of joy are imbedded in them are " Walk Like A Giant," and " Ramada Inn." These are not bad songs, indeed some of the lyrics are clever and worth hearing but with these lyrics each being buried in sixteen minutes of guitar pounding solos it is a stretch.

The best that can be said of this album is that it is for Young enthusiasts only. Truthfully however that might be too welcoming as no one would call me anything but a huge fan of Young's music. Even so this is one Psychedelic Pill i do not see myself swallowing again.

Tempest by Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan released his 419th ( joking, kind of ) last week. Bob Dylan at 71 years old still has a great deal to say. Reading his recent Rolling Stone interview Dylan laments his fans and followers looking to him as an answer, being seekers, when at the same time he is clearly still on a mission of seeking. In his most recent interview, in which Dylan is obtuse in the extreme, he predicates his theory on transfiguration and how that connects him to a sixties Hells Angel leader who died in the early sixties named Bobby Zimmerman.

Frankly not a great deal of it makes sense. One thing that does make sense is listening to every new thing Dylan has to say when he releases an album. This album received a five star review from Rolling Stone. As my wife says however that has much to do with him being Bob Dylan.

So is this an album of five stars. No. It is, however, an album with some very strong new music. Dylan's voice is now a raspy growl. My daughter said he sounds like he needs to clear this throat. Whatever melody was in his voice years ago is now gone. Still if you are a Dylan fan his singing voice has never been his major selling point for you.

The songs Narrow Way and Long and Wasted Years are both well written songs with stories to tell. Dylan is superb in these rambling songs.

Still when this album is spoken of in the Dylan catalog the last four songs will be subjects we discuss. Early Roman Kings is typically strong Dylan song while Tin Angel is nine minutes of violence and bloodlust through a Dylan growl. The centerpiece of the album, and at fourteen minutes, the ballast of the whole album is the title song. This will be known as the Titanic song. 45 verses of the sing song story of the famous ship that went down Dylan combines famous shout outs to historical figures, and an only as Dylan could, combination of fact and fiction. As Dylan said he is less interested in history as it was than as it should have been.

As great as that song is, and it is classic Dylan, the final song on the album is perhaps the best song. Titled Roll on John it is Dylan's tribute to his friend John Lennon and it is a wonderful song. In the middle of the song when Bob starts a verse with " I heard the news today oh boy" you can feel his heart rend. This is a fantastic song that would be rendered less effective were it sung in any clear throated voice.

All in all a strong album, better than his last couple of entries. Dylan is always worth listening to.

Searching for Sugar Man by Rodriguez

Over the last couple of months perhaps the biggest story in music has been the reemergence of the Detroit singer songwriter Rodriguez. When we say reemergence we really mean it in this case.

In 1970 and 71 the singer released two folk rock, singer-songwriter, albums that, while expected to prove he would be the next big thing, fell flat. Soon he was released from his record label and to almost everyone fell into obscurity. What has precipitated this return. Well the truth is stranger than fiction. He never really went away. In the late seventies and eighties by one of those strange instances that no one can explain the music of Rodriguez caught fire in South Africa where he became incredibly popular. Slowly an acknowledgment of his music filtered back to the United States. While this happened incredibly an urban myth came about that he was dead, some said that he had even died on stage.

This summer a documentary movie, of which this is the soundtrack, was released to stunning reviews. Roger Ebert for one called it mesmerizing. The story of one fan that loved his music the first time around and his desire to find out what happened to Rodriguez. I have not seen the movie, it has not been in my area. I do look forward to seeing it however.

I saw the singer on The David Letterman Show and the man is interesting. Looking like a weathered Carlos Santana and at least 70 years old, the man still can hold an audience spellbound. He can sing and his songs are as fresh and clean today as they were 40 years ago.

At the time he was called the new Dylan, what a curse that was for many, but the truth is his music is spellbinding and it is fresh, unlike most of the music of that era it has not been played to the point of wishing you never heard it again. When listening to Rodriguez I hear a mixture of Cat Stevens and Bob Dylan. The voice similar to Stevens but the lyrics much more like Dylan's.

When listening to this soundtrack you do not have to go far without just shaking your head with a silent Wow. How does this happen. How does someone who write songs this good, sing this movingly, stay obscure for forty years. It is something it is hard to comprehend.

The whole album is strong. The title cut stars the album well but the songs that will astound you are Crucify Your Mind and Cause. The rest of the album is strong, I Wonder and Like Janis makes it a plethora of riches but those two songs are all you need to know that sometimes great talents is never recognized. Fortunately for us Rodriguez is still with us and as he is giving concerts in small halls around the country the general consensus is that we are lucky to have found him before it is too late.

This album will be on all The Top Ten Lists at the end of the year, except the billboard of course. That in itself might signify how something like this happens.

If I Was a Priest by Bruce Springsteen

A couple of weeks ago a Springsteen fan site tweeted out an old recording of this unreleased song. Interestingly I had just a week or so earlier read somewhere about Springsteen's original audition and the record company executive being stunned by the lyrics that Springsteen sang.

This song was the song that stunned the record man. Still the song never found it's way to an album. I guess even in 1973 Bruce had more material than he needed.

The lyrics in question? " If Jesus was the Sheriff and I was the priest, if my lady was an heiress and my mother was a thief." Certainly this was an indication of many of the songs to come, the characters like Blind Terry and the Rat that we would soon be meeting.

It was true in 1972 when he appeared, he was the next Dylan, and in 1974 when Jon Landau called him the future of rock and roll he was not wrong. He was more right than he could have ever imagined.

Find this song online. It is a masterpiece.

I'm Not There

I watched this " inspired by the many lives of Bob Dylan " movie last week. The movie is ambitious in the extreme as written and directed by Todd Haynes. It is not a movie that tells a linear story. It does not actually even mention Dylan, what it does instead is create six different characters that reflect different times in Dylan's life.

The cast is strong and the movie is actually very very strong. Again if you are looking for a biography of Bob Dylan this is not it. If you are knowledgeable about some of the history of Bob Dylan and would like to see an artistic viewpoint of some of the noted times in his life you might well enjoy this movie.

In the movie we see Bob as the young boy infatuated with Woody Guthrie, we see an experience with members of the media that seems to mirror his song " The Ballad of A Thin Man." The major roles in the movie are of a character called Jack Rollins and later Pastor Jack both played by Christian Bale. These characters portray Dylan's early sixties acouistic phase as well as his late seventies, early eighties Jesus phase.

The most talked about performance in the film however is easily that of Cate Blanchett as the 1965 Bob Dylan. This is the Dylan that rejected folk singing, questioned how much any one person could change the world and was called a traitor by a great many of his fans. The movie depicts a character named Quinn, played by Blanchett as a snarly, in your face, what did you want from me flair that jumps off the screen. We see depictions of the famous Newport News festival as well as the Judas incident at The Royal Albert Hall.

The movie is more than its vignettes and in fact not all work. The section of the movie that relates to Billy the Kid and stars Richard Gere does not work and seems tired before it even starts. The movie could do much better without it.

In addition to Bale, Gere, and Blanchett the movie also stars Heath Ledger, Bruce Greenwood, and an actress we are hearing more about recently Charlotte Gainsbourg. She is lovely in the role and as a composite character based on perhaps mostly Suzy Rufalo from the early sixties she is effervescent.

The movie is very ambitious. If you do not know some of the Dylan legend it might not make sense. It should not be taken as history but as interpretation. In that vein it succeeds very well.

George Jones Talkin' Cell Phone Blues by The Drive By Truckers

My appreciation for The Drive By Truckers is well documented. Still this song deserves special attention. Appearing on a rareties disc it might not be a song even fans of the band are familiar with but it should be.

Modeled after the talking blues songs of the folk era from the likes of Guthrie and Dylan the song laments the car crash of Country legend George Jones, who was, as the song says, talking on his cell phone at the time of the crash.

With wry, yet heartfelt lyrics, Patterson Hood tells Jones " if you don't change your ways my friend, you'll be singing with Tammy ( Wynette) again." Brilliant lyrics. How many of us have been told to change our ways before it's too late. Let us hope George listens to the message, we need his voice around as long as we can.

Find this on Spotify. It is a great song.

Americana by Neil Young

As most everyone knows Neil Young is on my list of great things. I believe Neil Young might be one of the best songwriters of his generation and his longevity is a testament to his ability to adapt and being willing to explore different musical styles.

Thanks to the good folks at Rolling Stone Magazine I was able today to listen to Young's new album Americana which will be released next month.

This album in which Young comes together with all the members of his famed Crazy Horse band is a theme album in which Young and his bandmates take a run at various songs from the American songbook. These are not the Rod Stewart, Paul McCartney standards albums we have recently seen but more from the traditional songs from pioneer days.

The first song released from the album has been Neil's take on Oh Susannah. Yes the same Oh Susannah that we all sang when we were kids. With Young and the bandmates it becomes a singalong for the rock era. When Young says he comes from Alabama with his b-a-n-j-o on his knee you cannot help but tap your foot and sing along. My kids with the exception of my oldest son have no affinity for Young but my daughter has complained that the song has stuck in her head as well.

As with all things Crazy Horse one has to decide just how much guitar jamming and soloing is too much but perhaps oddly these work well with most of the songs.

Another winning entry from the album is the song Travel On. The steady beat performed by Crazy Horse makes this another earwig that you cannot get rid of.

Not all the songs work, in fact much of the first side of the album is weak but this is made up easily by listening to the last half. After Travel On Young continues his fascination with birds by singing High Flying Bird as a blues song that could easily fit on his Everyone Knows This is Nowhere Album from forty years ago. Forty years ago, can you believe it?

Another splendid effort is Young's version of " She'll be Coming Around the Mountain" here titled Jesus Chariot. With a nasty electric back-beat and a strong backing vocal from members of the Horse this is not the version you sang when you were kids. It is strong with the mix of old, electric and a touch of Irish dirge. However it is the song works for me.

Young slows things down for his take on Wayfarin' Stranger performing the song in an electric Dylan way that again compliments the original.

It seems that all of the classic rock singers want to perform the Woody Guthrie classic This Land is Your Land. In recent years Springsteen and for example a great version by The Counting Crows have added to the long list of recordings. Young's version here while not the best song on the album certainly deserves to be held up as one of the better versions. I am just not sure if we need too much guitar solo on this song. Still the sing along section with the Horse and Neil's friends make this one a keeper.

The album ends as perhaps only it could with a rocking version of God Save the Queen. Neil Young, a Canadian citizen remember, singing God Save the Queen might be something you thought you never would here. Surprisingly it fits and with a single drum pounding the length of the song with a chorus helping Young makes you believe he would love to bow for the Queen.

All in all this is not a great album. While fun it is not a necessary album and proves little of what Young will be remembered for. Still some of the songs on this album are quite remember-able, certainly songs that stick in your head and Young should be commended for being willing to still take chances.

Surely this is better than 90 percent of the things you will hear this year. And of course we will never hear someone accusing Young of just knocking off another album off the assembly line. That in itself makes this album worth your time.

Levon Helm Dies

Last week we heard that Levon Helm was close to death from throat cancer. One of the cool men of rock and roll Helm had a very colorful history in rock and roll. As the news was confirmed two days later that Helm had died the tributes started flowing in and have not stopped.

Helm, born in Arkansas, joined up with Ronnie Hawkins in the early sixties and traveled to Canada and joined the backup band known as The Hawks. Soon enough this band included all the members of what would come to be known as The Band. Danko, Manuel and of course Robbie Robertson.

Joining Bob Dylan on tour in 1965, the tour where things " might get weird" as Dylan told the boys Helm quit. At the height of the controversy over Bob going electric Helm said he " did not want to play to get booed."

Eventually however the members of the band joined Dylan in upstate New York as he recovered from his motorcycle accident. After helping Dylan with The Basement Tapes The Band released two seminal albums Music From the Big Pink and the self titled The Band. While the singing duties were often split between the members it was Helms and his hard to describe howl that made songs like Ophelia, Up on Cripple Creek and The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down that became standards.

As great at the music was however the influence The Band, and Helm had on other musicians sent and sends waves and ripples out still. I remember seeing a picture of Helm in the late sixties era, leaning against the back of a sports car. Helm was a very cool dude. Still the music was first. When Robbie Robertson broke up the Band after The Last Waltz in 1976 Helms was livid and this colored their relationship for the rest of their lives. When The Band was inducted in The Hall of Fame he chose not to attend, seeing this as the best way to avoid being roped in to playing with Robertson.

Over the last ten years of his life however Helm hosted monthly concerts in his barn at his home in Woodstock. Originally begun to help defray the cost of his medical care for the cancer that eventually he succumbed to the Concerts became the hip place to be. Tickets were hard to get and many musicians considered it a highlight to join Helm at his shows. I remember just last summer hearing that My Morning Jacket had made an appearance as they went through New York on tour,

There are many great singers. Their are however, not many great and completely distinct voices. Helm had a voice that you would never forget. We are glad of that as he has left us much too soon.

Let us pray they have room for his voice in the choir where he is.

Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues by Bob Dylan

I suppose I am like most fans of music. We grow familiar with certain artists and music types as we grow older and that is what we listen to the most. I think, however, that I do a better job than most in at least trying to be open to new music. Of course some of the new music I discover is very old, still it qualifies as new to me. My recent discovery of John Prine certainly falls into that area.

For me something became apparent the other day as I was listening to my always on the Satellite Radio Outlaw Country. Bob Dylan is amazing. Bob Dylan was amazing. There is no comparison to this incredibly gifted songwriter. I will admit that the voice perhaps has to be considered an acquired test. The voice however, certainly in the sixties, was not bad and there are lists of singers that were not great technical singers.

This song, it is not the best song Dylan did. What makes it so great however is that it is still great. Dylan wrote so many great songs in that era between 62 and 66 that it is hard to keep track of them all. This song from Highway 61, just one of many great songs on that album and certainly overshadowed by Highway 61 and Like a Rolling Stone is underrated. I might not have not heard it for years and yet when out of the blue I heard it in the truck I just said to myself Wow.

We cannot try so hard to embrace the new that we forget what is amazing in our roots. Bob Dylan was and is the greatest songwriter in the rock era. If you are a Dylan fan then you can come up with scores of characters in his songs that you remember. I had a friend in college who had a party where everyone was supposed to come as a Dylan character. Of course many people were lazy and came with tambourines but how many singers could you have a party and attempt that with their songs.

God is God and no one should compare a mortal with God. But perhaps someday in the future we can say of a singer that we think is amazing and say they are Dylan like. That will be the ultimate compliment.

John Prine

The very first album by John Prine was released in 1971. Many albums later, many paths and detours on the way, and if one wants to know what the music of John Prine is about he has not far to go.

Simply pick up this self titled first album and do what I did. Realize that quite a few of these songs are songs that you have heard before, if not Prine's version, then one of the many, many covers of these songs have been recorded.

Prine has influenced so many singers. He is a singers songwriter. Artists from Johnny Cash to Roger Waters have listed him as among the greatest songwriters of the era, and indeed he was blessed with the uneasy title of the next Dylan upon the release of this, his first album.

Dylan he was not. No one could be. Prine has inevitably done well in his career. With double digit album releases, tours, and publishing fees there is no need to feel bad for John Prine.

He is one of those artists who never sold out for commercial success. He has been around so long there have been generation of folk, country-rock and alt country artists have sung his praises and accepted his blessings.

This first album is a rarity. It is an album with great lyrics, a strong voiced singer and a message.

The album opens with Illegal Smile, telling of how one can cheaply correct a day when one is having no fun. It is a standard still on tour and for good reason.

Later the song Hello in There an essay on the loneliness we all feel and hope to have broken is still relevant.

The first of many political songs written by Prine was Sam Stone about a returning wounded Vietnam veteran who " has a hole in his arm where all his money goes."

Songs such as Paradise take on Corporate Coal long before it was popular to do so. Mulenberg county was ruined by the Coal Train and Prine laments this beautifully.

On Far From Me, the song Prine often tells as his favorite we meet a man who loves a waitress named Cathy whose love he has lost.

Pretty Good, Quiet Man, and Donald and Lydia have all become staples of the country rock genre, performed by Prine or someone else.

The most famous song on the album and perhaps of Prine's career is a strong protest song. Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore addresses the Vietnam War and advises that Heaven is too full from war to offer a guarenteed entry into all our public patriots.

John Prine is most likely an acquired taste. If you like Todd Snider, The Avett Brothers, James McMurtry or Kris Kristofferson it is likely you will find an affection for these songs. If you want someone to make you feel good about the status quo you most likely will not enjoy Prine's music.

Still in 1971 everyone wrote politically tinged music. Prine just did it better, and when he was not he was writing affecting songs of people on the edge with a feeling an depth which made you assume that wherever he came from he had seen the cliffs as well.

This is not only a good album, a great album, for influence alone it is one of the quintessential albums of all time.

Chimes of Freedom : The Songs of Bob Dylan

Last Tuesday Amnesty International released a benefit album which contained 75 covers of Bob Dylan songs. This should be a good fundraiser for Amnesty and certainly should provide significant amounts of press play and publicity which is something Amnesty certainly needs.

In our house we were very much looking forward to this collection. I have a very strong predisposition for cover songs. I have a friend who does not like live versions as he likes to hear the song as he first heard it on the radio and thus covers completely shake his world. For me I think a new interpretation of a song you love is always nothing less than interesting and sometimes can be amazing.

Bob Dylan is an amazing songwriter. Often critics in the past have conceded this point and said but if he just had someone else sing the songs but this album at least for me proves what we might not have believed. We want Dylan to sing these songs. They are what they are not just because of the lyrics but because Bob is singing them.

In a collection of seventy five songs there are going to be some hits and most likely even more misses. In this collection I would not classify that many songs as misses as just being in the words of Simon Cowell " forgettable." The fact is that at least for me it is hard to make a Dylan song better without Dylan in it.

There are some songs that work very well however. First on my list is the song that starts the collection. A version of One Too Many Mornings with the vocal from Johnny Cash and Dylan, and added vocals from The Avett Brothers. This has been my song of the week. This is the song I play each day and am singing when I am not. My kids are tired of it though my youngest daughter plays along and agrees that it is neat how they put the Avett's in with Cash's voice.

Pete Townsend does justice to Corinna, Corinna and Diana Krall offers a lovely take on Simple Twist of Fate. Ziggy Marley gives a reggae twist to Blowin' in the Wind that works, while New Jersey's Gaslight Anthem rocks Changing of the Guard. My Morning Jacket offers up Your a Big Girl Now and Jim James voice works as well.

Miley Cyrus offers up a surprising success on her version of Your Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go. It is quite good. Jack's Mannequin does well on Mr Tambourine Man. The best song on the second disc is Jackson Browne with Love Minus Zero/No Limit. Browne's version works on all levels.

The third disc does not offer much but it does hold the highlight of the album. Not just the highlight but the shockingly effective highlight. The highlight that in now way could have been predicted. Keisha the pop slut princess of the moment known for songs like Tick Tock sings a version of Don't Think Twice It's Alright that is at least for a music fan earth shattering. Recorded on Garage Band at her home, and kept as the recording because it ended up being so powerful, this girls sings from so far down her heart that she is hollow. She ends up crying and as she pauses by verse you can hear her sniffing her tears and runny nose away. This might be contrived but it does not feel like it. It is amazing.

On Side Four there are more winning entries. Mick Hucknall actually sounds a bit like Dylan on his version of One of Us Must Know, Micheal Franti puts a pop reggae spin on Subterrean Homesick Blues, and a band I have never heard of called We Are Augustus takes on Mama, You've Been on My Mind and does very well.

Lastly of note Kris Kristofferson's version of Quinn the Eskimo, his sigh on the intro is more meaningful than have the singers songs on the album and Pete Seeger who is I believe over 90 sings Forever Young and with his age and his history it is a success.

What doesn't work? It is not so much that a song does not work as it just does not add much. Sting's version of Girl From the North Country and Lenny Kravitz doing a take on Rainy Day Women, neither work for me. They both sound like almost every song they have done and just sound like bad takes on the originals. Sugarland, Flogging Molly and Sinead O' Connor do not do well on their takes as well. Flogging Molly sounds like all other Flogging Molly but Blowin in the Wind does not sound very strong through and Irish lilt.

Dave Matthews and Adele have their well known live versions of All Along the Watchtower and To Make You Feel My Love. These work but I did not rate them as they are not new material.

All in all I love Spotify, it gives one the chance to hear them all without a twenty dollar investment. I know, I know it was for a good cause to spend the money. But I did listen all week, Spotify must pay royalties. Listen to Keisha the next time your feeling blue. Just stay away from window ledges when you do.

George Harrison: Living in the Material World

This Martin Scorsese directed biopic appeared in two parts on HBO last fall. As part of the new feature HBO GO I watched this on my Ipad this weekend.

Scorsese appears to be the leader in this type of movie as he continues to do these type of biopics on musical performers. This is a very well done show. It compares well with the Beatles Anthology that we saw years ago while focusing on George himself.

Harrison's interest in Eastern relgions is well documented. His relationship with Ravi Shankir was long and prosperous. His relationship with Eric Clapton and Patty Boyd and the whole Layla mess is shown in detail.

Outside of that however we see much about Harrison's musical career. It was very interesting to note that All Things Must Pass was the most successful of the Beatles first solo albums. Harrison had a stockpile of material. While Something and Here Comes The Sun highlighted Abbey Road the fact is that there was not much room for Harrison's material on The Beatles albums. Thus he was well prepared.

Harrison was a conflicted individual. As much as he embraced religion and explored Eastern ideas he also had a long and large experience with drugs. His concert for Bangladesh was the first large scale charity concert yet he was embroiled in many lawsuits with his fellow Beatles.

As we look at Harrison's later career his time with The Traveling Wilbury was a highlight. It is hard to think about a band with Harrison, Dylan, and Tom Petty. What an amazing group that was.

Harrison died too young. In watching the movie one will see perhaps the most interesting Beatle as he was very hard to paint. When Ringo breaks into tears when talking about the last time he was with George it is hard not to choke up yourself. Harrison was a strong character in our time.

Out Here in the Middle by James McMurtry

I have a well documented affection for the music of James McMurtry. Indeed it could be said that it was James McMurtry that brought me to Americana and Outlaw country. I think he may be as good a songwriter as there is today.

Today picking my daughter up from play practice this song came up on The Outlaw Radio and I told her that I was sorry she could not flip to 20 on 20...not with Brother James on the radio.

This song , touches me. McMurtry writes about the Middle as being flyover country. What he knows or should know however by his popularity in places like the Bangor Maine area is that the Middle is everywhere except of course where it is not.

For me when Brother Jim talks about the ghost of William Jennings Bryan preaches every night he has me sold. Find another song writer this side of Bob Dylan that might be able to put that reference in a song in a meaningful way.

This is a great song, by a great songwriter, a great performer. Did I say great enough. Call me a big fan.

Blood on the Tracks by Bob Dylan

I could not sleep the other night and my ipad was dead so the only choice I had for music was my phone. Luckily I did have a little Bob Dylan on my phone. Listening to this album I was reminded again how very special it was.

Dylan made several classic albums in the sixties. Over and over he bested himself with Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde. From there his albums such as New Morning and John Wesley Harding while good did not measure up in his fans eyes.

Released in January 1975 Blood on the Tracks set a more modern benchmark in Dylan's career. With future releases not measuring up to or in the case of Time Out of Mind being the best album since, Blood on the Tracks is a demarcation point in his career.

Many speculate that Dylan was writing about his own life in a confessional way. He and his then wife Sara were in the process of splitting up and many of the songs do tend to deal with heartache and loss. Still Dylan insists he did not write his own life.

The album opens with one of the few songs in the Dylan canon that are included in almost every show. Tangled up in Blue remains one of the most popular Dylan songs, there are numerous verses and versions which are added and dropped depending on what seems to be Bob's mood. A great song.

Simple Twist of Fate is another concert staple, Dylan performed that last year here in Bangor. With each verse ending up in the same place it is easy to enjoy.

Your a Big Girl Now and Your Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go are two songs that were Zimmy to be talking to Sara these would be two of the songs he was using.

Idiot Wind is one of my favorites from the album. Bob stretches out the word Idiot into more syllables than you or I would and it is one I always enjoy. Years ago I heard a live version that was good too.

Side Two, in old album terms, starts with Meet in the Morning and ends with Shelter from the Storm and Buckets of Rain. The latter is another of my personal favorites.

Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts is a song that perhaps only Dylan could get away with, certainly in 1975. The song told over a consistent chord and riff in sing-talk Dylan style tells us all about what took place on a day in the west of old.

Outside of Tangled the most recognizable and perhaps best song on the album is If You See Her Say Hello. A song of Dylan telling friends what to say to an ex lover should they come across her and beseeching them to stop by if she is passing through. A song that we all can sing and many of us have lived it is Dylan, confessional or not, at his best.

This album consistently lands in the Top 10 or 20 albums of the rock era when those lists come out. It is in that place deservedly so. A fantastic album.

Jimmy Fallon As Jim Morrison

Adding to his canon of amazing impressions last Friday night Jimmy Fallon sang The Reading Rainbow song as Jim Morrison. Costumes, the video, and the Morrison theatrics were spot on.

Fallon can play anybody. We have seen him do Neil Young many times, recently we saw him do Bob Dylan singing the Charles in Charge theme song. Quite a few people do impressions, what Fallon does is even more special as he picks songs which were never done. Singing theme songs as famous figures does not seem to be something I have seen anyone do.

Each time Fallon does this it becomes viral. He is incredibly talented. All of these are immedieatly must see television.

Bob Dylan/Leon Russell at the Waterfront in Bangor, Maine

I took my son to see Bob Dylan last night. I went with diminished expectations as to how the show would be. Dylan's voice has suffered in the last couple of years after all. Still I wanted to see him one more time and my sixteen year old son surely wanted to be able to say he had seen him.

Leon Russell was the opening act. Russell's career has had a resurgence since Elton John, classifying him as one of his early heroes and mentors, brought Russell into do an album with him. Russell had a very good band. Aided by a cane he walked very slowly to his piano from which he did not move until the show was over. Struggle as he might with mobility Russell still rocks the keys. His voice is raspy and one could struggle to understand each word but fans at a Dylan show would be a rare set to complain about that. Russell played some of his hits such as Delta Lady and A Song For You. Russell's band was great. They rocked and the show was truly very entertaining. Russell's take on Wild Horses had a very neat arrangement and his cover of The Beatles I've Just Seen a Face was great. This was a man with great talent that I would go see again...without Dylan. A great intro act

So with limited expectations we waited for Bob Dylan to take the stage. Opening with Rainy Day Women the crowd was rollicking right away. What became noticeable to me right away was Bob seemed happy. He was spitting the words out with sharpness at the end of each verse. He seemed to be having fun. The song rocked. Three songs later the opening notes of Tangled Up in Blue were heard and Bob having now left the keyboard was center stage telling us the ballad. People say that song is never the same twice in concert and I believe it as Dylan plays some verses and others not on any given last night. Last night we did not hear about how uncomfortable he was when she bent down to tie the laces of his shoes but the song was still great. Dylan's voice has gotten raspier but the truth is he was as understandable as I have ever seen him and his singing had a bite to it.

Later on A Simple Twist of Fate Dylan was at his best with the band tight as can be. When the harmonica came out Dylan fans reeled and rightly so. This seventy year old man still plays the harmonica with the vitality of a much younger man. Songs such as Things Have Changed and Mississippi had Dylan had his story telling best.

Dylan brought out Don't Think Twice early in the show and did a great job. Late in the set the highlight of the night for me, unexpectedly so, was Ballad of a Thin Man. The sound set up in such a way to make Dylan's words echo he sang with a snarl and bite, spitting out the lyrics about Mr. Jones.

Listening to The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll my son asked who was William Zanzinger. I told him to look it up when he got home as Dylan put a nice arrangement on this classic song.

Bob came back for an encore with Like A Rolling Stone which was good but as my son said not the arrangement he expected and perhaps was the only disapointment of the night but he quickly corrected that with a blistering All Along the Watchtower with Charlie Sexton playing his guitar into submission on the solos.

Inevitably for my son the highlight was Highway 61 which is his favorite Dylan song. From a very young age, perhaps 7 or 8 he could sing the whole first verse and would do so to the dismay of his Mother. Mom did not think singing about Abraham having to run when he saw God was such a great idea. Still hearing Dylan sing it was quite a moment for him. Dylan showed great energy here and all night, drawling out and echoing SIXTY ONE off the waterfront at the end of each verse.

After Watchtower Bob and the whole band came out front and standing arm in arm seemed happy and as if they could play longer. The crowd waited a bit as the lights stayed down, wondering if he would play another encore. Having seen his set lists from previous stops on the tour I did not expect it but as I told my son one never knows, the tour is ending he seemed to be having fun.

Of course he did not, as John Updike said in his story about Ted Williams Gods do not answer letters.

Still this was a great night and a great show. Thanks Bob.

Fire and Rain by David Browne

Subtitled The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY and the Lost Story of 1970 this book has a title that is a mouthful.

Browne traces us through some of the history of 1970 but mostly focuses on this as being a pivotal year in popular music. The breakup of the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel disintegration and the rocket that was CSNY and then the flame out just as quick. James Taylor's second album Sweet Baby James owned the charts.

This book does not divulge much new information to any who have read any materials on this time before. We do learn how Rita Coolidge had relationships with multiple members of CNSY and how Joni Mitchell broke Graham Nash's heart only to move onto the drug addled James Taylor. We learn more about Taylor's history of mental problems and more than we would like to know about his drug issues that almost destroyed him.

Stephen Stills comes across as an abrasive personality and we see the final breakup of the Beatles which rightly or wrongly is again portrayed as Paul against the rest.

This book is not a revalation but it is a nice little timepiece for the year. Surprisingly so we learn how much Charlie Daniels was a part of the Rock and Roll Scene in that time frame. As a popular session musician he played for Bob Dylan, George Harrison and others. In fact he was even asked, assumingly jokingly by Harrison to join the band as they were down a bass player.

An enjoyable read but you will not leave it thinking better of any of these flawed people who happened to have immense talent musically.

Slaid Cleaves in Ellsworth Maine

Slaid Cleaves is a singer songwriter raised in Berwick, Maine who has lived in the Austin, Texas area the last twenty years. Having recorded albums such as Broke Down, Wishbones, and Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away Cleaves has not had the " big break" but he has had a measure of success and gained some very good reviews.

Cleaves has been featured on Stephen King's WKIT in Bangor, Maine, in fact King wrote liner notes for Cleaves last album. So it was not a surprise to see Cleaves playing a benefit concert in Ellsworth.

The concert featured many songs that Cleaves fans would be familiar with such as Cry, Broke Down, Breakfast in Hell and Black T Shirt. Cleaves is very engaging, telling stories with the crowd freely and easily. Cleaves even has a yodeling portion of the show telling of the mentoring relationship with an Austin singer who has since passed who he always tries to feature a song for in his shows to keep his music alive. Yodeling may or may not be for you but it is quite an exclusive talent.

Cleaves, with the exception of the yodeling does nothing many others do not also do but he does do it well. A singer, songwriter, storyteller he might be closer to Todd Snider than Bob Dylan but for me his spoken voice is close to Arlo Guthrie. In all three cases these are not comparisons he would shy from I am sure.

Intelligent. Funny. Witty. Talented. A good songwriter. Listen to Green Mountains and Me to convince yourself of that fact. A night with Slaid Cleaves should be something you enjoy. When he comes to your town you should go. Buy the records. Artists like Slaid Cleaves need to be supported.