Archive Review: Dave Alvin’s Live In Long Beach 1997 (2015)

Both with roots-rockers the Blasters and as a solo artist, Dave Alvin has plumbed the depths of American music. Blues, rock, folk, and country – it’s all grist for Alvin’s immeasurable talents, and albums like last year’s Big Bill Broonzy tribute Common Ground (recorded with brother Phil) show that the singer, songwriter, and guitarist has one foot in the past and his eyes on the horizon.

Live In Long Beach 1997 captures a show where Alvin is joined by friends like Billy Boy Arnold, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, and Joe Louis Walker. Although Alvin’s solo set displays understated charms – especially his reading of “Long White Cadillac” – it’s when his guests jump in that things sizzle. Brown fiddles the house down on Hank Williams’ “Jambalaya” while a jam with Walker and Arnold on “Long Beach Blues” is worth the cost of admission alone. (RockBeat Records, released February 17th, 2015)

Review originally published by The Blues magazine...

Archive Review: Love’s Reel-To-Real (2016)

By 1974, Arthur Lee had left Love’s psychedelic roots in his rear-view mirror, forming a version of the band that had little in common with its 1960s-era origins. Love’s Black Beauty – unreleased until 2011 – displayed the talents of Lee’s new musicians, essentially the line-up Lee took into the studio to record Reel-To-Real.

Fans expecting another Forever Changes will be disappointed. Lukewarm criticisms aside, Reel-To-Real is a fine record in itself, Lee flexing his soul and funk muscles, resulting in performances that blend Sly Stone with Frankie Miller. “Who Are You?” is a red-hot slab o’ funk while “Which Witch Is Which” is a jarring trance-blues tune. The rootsy “You Said You Would” is raucous fun and, of the bonus tracks, “Graveyard Hop” stands out as a throwback rocker. Reel-To-Real provides another intriguing piece to the puzzle that was Arthur Lee. (High Moon Records, reissue released 2016)

Review originally published by The Blues magazine... 

Archive Review: Love’s Forever Changes (2008)

One of the most beloved and enduring albums in the canon of rock music, Love’s Forever Changes was initially released in 1967 to yawns and commercial indifference. The third and final album released by the Los Angeles band’s original line-up, Forever Changes barely slipped into the Billboard Top 200 albums before sinking back out of sight…until it was rediscovered by eager rock fans during the alt-rock daze of the ‘90s.

Love’s Forever Changes

Love was formed by the brilliant singer/songwriter Arthur Lee in 1965, Lee’s artistic vision often supported and complimented by underrated guitarist Bryan MacLean. In any other band, MacLean would have been the primary talent, but in Love he often toiled beneath the long shadow of Lee’s genius. After leaving the band in 1968 in the wake of Forever Changes’ release, MacLean would tinker away at songs and solo material before leaving the music biz altogether. The rest of the band provided an incredible cohesion and chemistry to Lee and MacLean’s original material.     

Love’s first couple of albums – 1966’s self-titled debut, and the following year’s Da Capo – featured a guitar-driven, folk-rock sound with waves of psychedelic candy-coloring and washes of electric-blues and jazzy flourishes. Neither album particularly lit the world on fire, but both were strong artistic statements. Originally, the label wanted session players to back Lee and MacLean, respectively, on their songs, due to the band’s growing personal problems and drug use; indeed, two tracks on Forever Changes were recorded with studio pros. When all the members of Love finally got together to make the album, nobody could have imagined what would come out of the sessions. 

A grand collection of baroque-pop with elements of psychedelic-rock, folk, and R&B with uncharacteristic horns and strings, Forever Changes is a masterpiece of musical composition and lyrical brilliance. The songs crafted by Lee and MacLean were years ahead of their time, deep tapestries of sound with lush threading of various colors. The Spanish, flamenco flavor of MacClean’s enchanting “Alone Again Or” stands in direct contrast to the trebly guitarwork of the psyche-rock naildriver “A House Is Not A Hotel.”  The gentle hippie soundscape of “Andmoreagain” is supported by a lilting melody and gossamer orchestral flourishes while the overtly cynical “Bummer In the Summer” is an old-fashioned garage-rock freak-out.

Summer of Love

Lyrically, Forever Changes provides a signpost of storm clouds on the horizon. Largely written and recorded during the “Summer of Love,” the album’s poetry frequently portrays a society undergoing change. Portending a long, dark night ahead, songs like “The Red Telephone” and the surrealistic, anti-war “Live And Let Live” deliver a forceful, sometimes frenzied message despite their lush backing soundtrack. Lee had stated in interviews that he literally felt that his life was coming to an end at this time, and his sub-conscious reflections on race and society have taken on a timeless quality.  

So, what’s the difference between this Forever Changes “Collector’s Edition” and the last time around, when Rhino reissued the album in 2001? Well, to begin with, this one is a whopping two-disc set, the first presenting the original album in all of its pristine glory. The second disc offers an “alternative mix” of the album, eleven songs, only one of which was included on the 2001 CD. To these ears, the “alternative mix” of the album sounds inferior, lacking the same texture and depth of the originally released recordings. 

Another ten “bonus tracks” replicate those on the last reissue, adding previously unreleased versions of “Andmoreagain” (instrumental backing track) and “The Red Telephone” (tracking sessions highlights), neither of which are essential, or even add much to the experience save for the hardcore believer. The lively, rocking obscure B-side “Laughing Stock” is a welcome addition, while a boisterous, unreleased cover of “Wooly Bully” is a bona-fide album outtake, and a heck of a lot of fun. A mono single remix of “Alone Again Or,” with dynamic sound and warmth, makes a strong case for taking rock back to its (mono) roots. Informative new liners notes from Andrew Sandoval are complimented by a handful of photos.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Should you spring for the “Collector’s Edition” of Forever Changes? If you’re a fan of the band, you probably already have. If you’re unfamiliar with Love, mildly curious, or haven’t heard this landmark work, you should give it a listen. After all, hundreds of rock critics couldn’t be wrong when they voted Forever Changes as one of the best albums of all time, could they? (Rhino Records, reissue released 2008)

Review originally published by Blurt magazine...

Archive Review: Purple Mountains' Purple Mountains (2019)

Indie-rock legend David Berman, longtime frontman of critic’s darlings the Silver Jews, returned in a big way in 2019 with a self-titled album under the band name Purple Mountains. Over five years in the making, the album represented a fresh start and a reboot of Berman’s long-dormant music career. Sadly, it also proved to be his final statement as the enormously-gifted singer/songwriter took his own life roughly a month after the release of Purple Mountains.

It will never be known if Purple Mountains was purposely designed to be Berman’s swansong, but it certainly provided a hell of a high note to go out on. The artist took his time in crafting the album’s brilliant, lyrical songs, Berman reportedly recording music with former bandmate Stephen Malkmus, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, and Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys as well as recording an entire album with Canadian psych-rockers Black Mountain, all of which were discarded in favor of working with members of the Brooklyn folk-rock outfit Woods.  

The talented musicians in Woods surrounded Berman’s intelligent wordplay and sonorous vocals with a soundtrack of loose-limbed yet melodic rock, pop, and country sounds, even incorporating scraps of Mariachi-styled horns. Channeling the dark obsessions of his songwriter’s mind, Berman’s lyrics for Purple Mountains touch upon his struggle with depression, his troubled relationship with his estranged wife, and even the mountain of debt he faced that motivated his return to music after a decade on the sidelines. The result is a stark and sometimes agonizing self-portrait of an artist trying to keep his head above water. With Purple Mountains, Berman combined the introspection of Townes Van Zandt with the oblique self-referencing of Bob Dylan in the creation of a masterful coda to a career cut short by tragedy. (Drag City Records, released May 10th, 2019)

Review originally published by the Rock and Roll Globe website...

Archive Review: The Flamin’ Groovies’ Flamingo (2008)

Sadly, the back catalog of the greatest rock band of the ‘70s, the Flamin’ Groovies, is seriously FUBAR, with essential titles flying in-and-out of print with disturbing regularity. This year’s model of the band’s incredible second album doesn’t include any much-coveted Groovies bonus material, but it is available, so whatcha gripin’ about? 

Flamingo is a joyous romp through the record collections of Cyril Jordan and the soon-departed Roy Loney, a spirited collection of rootsy garage-rock, proto-punk, R&B, electric blues, Elvis, Gene Vincent, and Brit Invasion pop-rock. Recorded in glorious lo-fi, the Groovies manage to cut through the production muck nonetheless with crazed, inspired performances. 

The album’s lone cover – a manic reading of Little Richard’s "Keep a Knockin’" – will jump right from the speakers and grab you by the ears! Get it now before it’s gone again… (American Beat Records, reissue released 2008)

Review originally published by Blurt magazine...

“Return of the Body Politik” (Consolidated, Downset, Public Enemy, 1994)

Consolidated’s Business of Punishment (London Records)
Downset’s downset. (Mercury Records)
Public Enemy’s Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age (Def Jam)

Has it really been a mere twenty years or so since socio-political commentary was an integral part of rock music? Growing out of the protest songs of the early sixties, mainstream rockers picked up the lyrical mantle handed them by their folk-song singing brethren, utilizing their talents to lyrically attack every subject from racism and poverty to women’s rights. Somewhere along the way, though, as rock became a business, poetic commentary faded from the charts, sliding subterranean, only to surface every now and then in the angry words of hardcore punks or raging metalheads.

Rap music can be thanked for bringing a new awareness of social consciousness to popular music. The commercial success of artists like Public Enemy, Ice Cube and Ice T has served to open the doors to some dangerous thought processes being captured on disc. In this new Victorian era where garden-variety liberalism is impotent and the mainstream media is nothing more than a corporate whore for conservative philosophy, the radical left is finding its heroes among the artists of the underground.

Consolidated are one of those truly alternative, radical musical outfits. A Bay-area trio with a rapidly-growing cult following that is threatening to boil over into the mainstream, the band’s latest release, Business of Punishment, may well be the catalyst that pushes Consolidated past the 212-degree mark. These guys could never be accused of ambiguity; indeed, they proudly wear their sincerely-held beliefs on their proverbial sleeves. The band is radical to an extreme, pushing an activist party-line that is pro-feminist, pro-vegetarian, pro-choice, pro-animal rights...you know, the kind of godless commies that would give Rush Limbaugh nightmares. They’re a sorely needed artistic antidote, however, to the sort of right-wing mindset that preaches life while practicing death.

Business of Punishment treads much of the same lyrical ground as previous Consolidated albums, albeit with a bit more wisdom and experience under their belts. Over an instrumental background that incorporates elements of rap, punk, hardcore techno, and even a bit of soul along with random samples, found vocals and audience commentary, Consolidated deliver brutal rhymes that place a progressive spin on the issues of the day. “Born of A Woman” presents an insightful look at women’s roles in society while “Butyric Acid” tackles folks like Operation Rescue with its unrelenting chorus of “if you don’t want an abortion don’t get one.” 

“Dog + Pony Show” skewers the recording industry even while damning the “alternative” elitism that exists in music while the brilliant “Today Is My Birthday” takes a sad look at AIDS. There are fifteen thought-provoking cuts in all on Business of Punishment, every one guaranteed to slam dunk your frontal lobes, disturb your status quo and shake up the very core of your beliefs. Musical activism is alive and well and its name is Consolidated.

Downset are the new kids on this block, but they’re fully-grown and fully-loaded. This West Coast posse kicked out an impressive EP on Metal Blade a year or so back, even having the cajones to cover Public Enemy’s “By the Time I Get To Arizona.” They’re back, larger than ever, with their self-titled debut and believe me, it’s one mean mutha....

Like a nightmarish vision of Winston Smith, the cover of downset. features a painting of John Q. Citizen all trussed up, gagged with the flag while the constitution burns in the background. No greater truth in labeling has ever been plastered on an album jacket. Downset hail from the police state that is L.A. and that’s the turf they explore lyrically on this powerful collection of songs. 

Musically, they’re somewhere slightly to the left of Body Count, with Rey Anthony Oropeza’s rhymes backed by the twin monster guitars of Rogelio Lozano and Ares, thrashing with abandon, slinging molten riffs while the message is one of freedom and brotherhood in the face of oppression. From women’s fear of rape to the powder keg that is most of L.A., from racism to economic injustice that fosters poverty, Downset explore the socio-political edge of lyrical themes with the language of the street but with a wisdom and insight that defies their relatively young ages.

That Public Enemy should resurface with a new album that is at once both fresh and familiar should surprise no one. That Chuck D. still has an important message to relate, something important to say, should also come as no surprise. These greybeards of rap still have a lot of life left in them, and they’ve got a trick or two to show the young ‘uns.

Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age is Public Enemy’s most adventurous effort to date, a conceptual album set in one of many possible futures. Racism has become institutionalized and a bigot sits in the White House. The environment is in shambles, the Black community is a soulless plantation and violence, natural disasters and hate threaten man’s very existence.

Review originally published by R.A.D! zine, November 1994

Archive Review: Brownie McGhee’s The Complete Brownie McGhee (1994)

That Brownie McGhee’s career should span several decades really comes as no surprise. The energetic and charismatic bluesman has managed to wear many hats during his lengthy musical life, appealing to several disparate audiences throughout the years without ever changing his basic style or direction.

Born in Tennessee in 1915 and raised in a musical family, a crippling childhood bout with polio kept McGhee housebound, and thus able to hone his musical skills. He was already in his 20s when he graduated from high school, a short time after which an operation provided the young artist with near total mobility. He began his musical career as a traveling bluesman, playing towns across Tennessee, West Virginia, and Virginia. He made his way to North Carolina, where he was discovered by J.B. Long, manager for the popular blues artist “Blind Boy” Fuller.

Collecting the initial sides recorded by McGhee for OKeh/Columbia during 1940 and 1941, The Complete Brownie McGhee showcases a talented artist developing his style from record to record. McGhee seems to have enjoyed a fair degree of commercial success with several songs, including “Me and My Dog Blues” and “Picking My Tomatoes,” but a number of the 47 recordings presented on The Complete Brownie McGhee are previously-unreleased sides.

His fluid vocals are accompanied by his own guitar, the harmonica playing of old friend Jordan Webb, and maybe a washboard player, offering up a healthy dose of traditional southern blues, mixing the best of that musical history with strains of gospel and hillbilly music in the creation of a style and performance that remains unique to this day. (Sony Legacy Recordings, released 1994)

Review originally published by R.A.D! zine, July 1994

Archive Review: Blind Willie McTell’s The Definitive Blind Willie McTell (1994)

This two disc set provides a wonderful overview of the life of blues legend Blind Willie McTell, literally collecting nearly every side he ever recorded (only a handful of songs that couldn’t be found in any form were omitted). A pioneer of 12-string guitar playing, McTell’s unspectacular commercial career would prove to be quite influential nonetheless.

Born at the turn of the century in Georgia as Willie Samuel McTier (the origin of the McTell spelling is unclear), he picked up on music at an early age, evidently discarding it while attending several schools for the blind, only to pick it up again sometime in the 1920s. Throughout his career, McTell traveled constantly, performing for both white and black audiences, earning a reputation by word of mouth. If there was a crowd, whether in a club or on the street, McTell would play for them.

Lawrence Cohn, producer of The Definitive Blind Willie McTell, has done an impressive job of collecting the various widespread recordings of McTell. He had recorded sessions for a number of labels during the 1920s and ‘30s, often under a pseudonym. Many times, only a few hundred copies of a disc were pressed and distributed. McTell’s thin, trebly voice, with its Southern twang, and his distinctive guitar style were undeniably his own, however, under whatever name he chose to record under. 

The Definitive Blind Willie McTell offers them all, 41 songs total, including his
best-known composition, “Statesboro Blues.” McTell incorporated a myriad of influences into his style, from talking blues to ragtime. The collection offers fascinating look at an artist who built a legend entirely on the strength of his talents and his music. (Sony Legacy Recordings, released 1994)

Review originally published by R.A.D! zine, July 1994

Archive Review: James Blood Ulmer’s Blues Preacher (1994)

A veteran of over two decades in the business of music, James Blood Ulmer sums it up best in the liner notes to Blues Preacher, the latest milestone in an already not insignificant musical career. “See, we have rappers and we have R&B, we have blues singers, and jazz singers and classical singers. But what I call this is ‘blues preaching.’ This isn’t actually singing, it’s preaching. It’s like putting music to a Baptist minister’s sermon....”

To be perfectly honest, Blues Preacher is a mix of old-time religious fervor, classic jazz improvisation, traditional blues riffs, and soulful rhythm and blues. Above it all, though, there’s a sort of prophetic musical interplay that takes the best of all the aforementioned styles and takes it into a futuristic musical landscape. Ulmer has assembled a strong, diverse band for Blues Preacher: the rhythm section of bassist Mark E. Peterson and drummer Aubrey Dayle providing a funky undercurrent to the material while Ulmer’s raw guitar work is matched lick for lick by Ronnie Drayton’s razor-sharp six-string finesse. 

This tense contradiction of styles works to the album’s advantage, breathing life and energy into cuts like “Justice For Us All,” “Jazz Is The Teacher” and “Angel.” If you find yourself bored to tears with the Hot Hundred or formulaic FM radio, plug into Blues Preacher for a taste of something at once old and new, different and familiar. (DIW/Columbia Records, released 1994)

Review originally published by R.A.D! zine, July 1994

Also on that Devil Music: James Blood Ulmer’s Birthright CD review