"Lover you may cause me tears Drag me through the best of years But I love you so.
Any of the songs I wrote Older than a year or two But I love you so."
Must absolutely get this out there: I love The Staves so so much. If there was ever an incentive to clear your throat to sing, it's their perfectly close harmonies layered over gently plucked strings. I came across them a couple years ago, but rediscovered their work this year via a documentary about touring in VW vans called "austin to boston" and remembered how beautiful they are, and also that they are British.
The past few days, they're all I want to listen to, paying close attention to how they divide their parts and soar effortlessly between ranges. For all the talented singer-songwriters out there, for all the talented trios, I think it's rare to find a sound this instantly mature and realized. Haunting refrains in "Make it Holy" on their 2013 release "If I Was" have me captivated, like play-it-on-the-hour kind of listening, but their debut LP "Dead & Born & Grown" suits this time of year so well, the kind of americana folk blend that feels pure and timeless and heartfelt and warm. Songs are equal parts romantic and independent, walking that line between emotional release and reverent realistic self-awareness, which is also good for fall. There's some solid auxiliary and accompaniment, but the harmonies steal the spotlight every time. The acoustics are uncluttered and crisp, I love how it is recorded. But even more worth a listen is their live recordings, with harmonies floating through the air. Just beautiful, and not just for its own sake.
Carry me home on your shoulders Lower me onto my bed Show me the night that I dreamed about before."
~Mexico
Someone once told me time will seem to move faster as you get older and I'm starting to think that's true. Has it really been one whole year since "1989" came out? Hard to believe - but not so much a surprise that we're still all enthralled by Taylor Swift's best record and pop masterpiece.
Just stumbled across the performed she did of "Out of the Woods" on solo piano, and it's incredibly gorgeous. I'm really impressed with her vocal on the bridge, it's strong and soaring but intimate.
How many ways will we will hear this album re-imagined? I'm a little worried about fatigue, but it hasn't hit yet, as I find myself still wanting to hear these songs. Time to g home and play all these songs over again, and count down the days til the Ryan Adams' vinyl drops.
"Remember when you hit the brakes too soon
Twenty stitches in a hospital room
When you started crying
Baby, I did too
But when the sun came up
I was looking at you.
Remember when we couldn't take the heat
I walked out, I said, I'm setting you free
But the monsters turned out to be just trees
When the sun came up
You were looking at me."
~Out of the Woods
Taylor Swift, 1989
"Years ago, my heart was set to live, oh But I've been trying hard against unbelievable odds It gets so hard in times like now to hold on My guns they're waiting to be stuck by At my side is God
And there ain't no one goin' turn me 'round Ain't no one goin' turn me 'round."
~Ballad of El Goodo, #1 Record.
Big Star
Over the past week or so I've learned I cannot get enough of Big Star, the best band of the latter 20th century whose mass-market destiny was shot down by forces beyond their own control but whose talent never faded.
They were on my radar, in the background, back in the day for their authorship of "Thirteen" and its subsequent gorgeous covers, but learning about the band via Netflix doc has me floored, unable to grasp the fact that there was music this good being created that most listeners, as far as the masses were concerned, never heard.
Their story is an exceptionally tragic pairing of ego and industry, both in states of implosion. This sound is so perfectly encapsulating what would've been a hit ... "Radio City" is as close to a perfect album as I have heard in some time. "Back of the Car"is the greatest teenage love song I never heard before, the harmonica counterpoint in "Life is White" is blues rock at its best, and the outro harmonies on "What's Going Ahn" are ghostly, and haunting. This record has no dull moments.
But, their debut, "#1 Record" is so good, too, so rich and pure, full of contrasting melodies, sing-a-long hooks cloaked in a cynicism. I believe someone in the Netflix described it as close to a
perfect record, and I am inclined to agree. Alex Chilton and Chris Bell follow in the footsteps of Lennon-McCartney, with the added benefit of free-wheeling rock 'n' roll of the 1970s informing their efforts. These songs have a softer edge than "Radio City," which brings an edgier tone and a little more structure. Then we get to "Third/Sister Lovers," and there we find this band exploring boundaries it only previously toed, as far as dynamics and range and scope. Each record of theirs is progressively wild, pressing boundaries, but still so centered on what it means to write rock songs of weight and consequence.
Discovering this band has re-centered me musically, in the way that I was shifted as a teenager when I discovered Zeppelin. Just because something was released decades ago doesn't mean it can't be appreciated in today's environment - in fact, it deserves more of a spotlight if only to better compare against those who are trying to make moves and be the greats today. I think what gets me the most is that no matter how many listeners did or did not get to absorb and adore Big Star in their heyday, is how absolutely breathtaking their sound is decades later. True style, true talent, it does not fade with the trends of the times. "I like love but I don't know All these girls, they come and go Always nothing left to say
And I resigned everyone Ever since I was young I'm starting to understand What's going on and how it's planned."
~What's Going Ahn, Radio City
Big Star
Yes, she really fucking does. I love most of them. Heard Tim McGraw on the radio today, even. So pretty! This is worth reading, as a story of an artist, who is also the most famous there is right now, more or less.
"I just see everybody working for that same eternal weekend
Droning on and on and on and never doing what we wanted Heavy legs two steps behind some forever dangling carrot.
and I'm tired of this
So who's to say that we can't just fucking change it?
Oh they want you to whistle while you work,
they want you to whistle while you work your life away.
Oh they want you to whistle while you work,
they expect you to whistle while you work your life away.
and I know it seems dramatic
but I treat it like a crisisThe office to the coffin
All our time and talent wasted
and that weight against your throat
is that a noose dressed like a necklace?
From here I couldn't really tell the difference
Come on show me the difference
Come on and show me the difference
Either way I say let's not take more chances."
~Noose Dressed Like a Necklace
Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band, Matter of Time
Approaching Kevin Devine's catalog is a bit like when you're on a hike approaching a series of boulders and rocks in your way - you have no idea how the hell you are going to get through it all, but you know you'll get somewhere once you do. Few songwriters in this age are as accomplished and underrated, I would say. Has KD ever reached any kind of critical success beyond the emo/punk circles that gave him credit and fame to start back when? If not, they ought to, because if there's anything more impressive than the consistency Devine manages to produce, it's the astute observations and sociopolitical pronouncements he espouses, the kind that many artists who want to "make a statement" wish they could say something about. At a time when everyone is shouting, this guy is actually saying something worth listening to.
I'm knee-deep toady by listening to "Matter of Time" remastered, a collection of songs recorded about three years ago but only recently were re-released in a shiny and new package for a vinyl release. So glad I found this. The production on these is fantastic, I love the full-band sound that's backing him up and tearing into solos and cymbal crashes as Devine shouts his guts aloud. He is a great guitar player but he's a wordsmith first and foremost; his ability to string together three dozen word thoughts in a single verse is unmatched. This was clearly recorded at a time when they were onto something, and the live recording highlights just how good these players are -- locked in and ready to crescendo when they must, or dial down and let it the strings fade out at the last word. Probably helps they've got great material to work with - these songs offer an approachable, tried-and-true rock sound with off-kilter perspective and a hell of a lot of energy and grit.
What's captured in this live studio session is what you get at one of their shows, blissfully so. I had the privilege of seeing him & the Goddamn Band in concert earlier this year and I get chills every time I think about it. Just as impressive was the part where the mic dropped out and he quieted the sing-along crowd to get through (I think it was) an acoustic cover of "It Never Stops." He was a maestro, conducting himself as much as the rest of his band and the audience, both humble offering and
This guy, I'm telling you. He's not fucking around. For years, I looked at his catalog as something kind of ancillary and also-ran, and it wasn't until 2015 that I realized what a mistake that was. Fortunately, there's a ton left to discover and absorb, and I'd wager that Devine, with his inimitable voice and perspective, won't tire or slow down in his steps to share these honest passages of tired American life. At least, I hope not. I just want more of this sound, full and feisty and frustrated, unfettered.
"And I'm grabbing at a feeling now
That I can't ever name.
Some sign posted to remind me
How I wanted things this way. She says 'It's pretty but you hate yourself. I can hear it clear as day.' And I say 'I sing like this, It sounds worse than it is. '
I'm okay, okay.
I'm okay, okay.
I'm okay, okay.
I'm okay, okay.
So just stay, just stay
So just stay, just stay
I'm okay, okay.So just stay, just stay,
Just stay, just stay."
~No Time Flat
Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band, Matter of Time
