Part IV -- Numbers 40-31:
40. Fallen Empires
Snow Patrol
If you asked us if we were Snow Patrol fans, we'd say no. This album doesn't necessarily do anything to change that but we still found it interesting, in a variations-on-a-theme kind of way. Almost every song here sounds the same, which usually drives us nuts but in this case provides for a cohesive experience wherein the listener eventually starts picking up subtle inflections and rhythms. While we're sure this was not the band's intent -- they just record a lot of stuff that sounds the same -- we're still gonna give them props for it and for some decent lyrics on the vagaries of life and love, like: "It's the price I guess/For the lies I've told/That the truth, it no longer thrills me" (In the End) (12)
"You can't find the phone/So you can call it off/But it might be for the best"
"Is he worth all this?/Is it a simple yes?/Because if you have to think, it's fucked." (This Isn't Everything You Are) (76)
Been there.
Our favorite track: New York (94)
39. Superhuman (EP)
Sarah Solovay
This was another mystery buy but we caught it before it showed up in our library. We saw it on our pre-order list but had absolutely no recollection of having even heard of it. But it was an EP, was like five bucks so we let it ride and gave it a listen upon delivery.More Grisham but even Grisham is ok once in a while when you need to just blow through something and not have to think about it.
Our favorite track: A Little in Love (yeah, the video is annoying. It's the only one we could find.)
38. Glad Rag Doll
Diana Krall
This album probably had closet to the most potential of anything we bought this year. It had all the elements of greatness: superb source material (relatively-obscure gems form the 1920's and 30's), a vocalist known for interpreting standards and a top-notch producer (T-Bone Burnett). When we downloaded this, we were thinking this might have been 2012's Let Them Talk.Unfortunately, some production decisions threw authenticity out the window and a real opportunity to make something special was missed.
Most glaringly, no recording of a song from the 78rpm era should ever come in at damned-near seven minutes. That would be one hell of a big record. Only two of the 18 tracks are 2:30 or less, with six stretching to at or near five minutes. That's ok if you are going for some kind of current sound but the upright piano and period-appropriate instrumentation are still there, so it comes across as a half-realized vision. Personally, we'd have kept everything to around two and a half minutes and even toyed with the idea of going mono on it, with all the instruments in the same room and the vocalist in a booth.
Make no mistake, this is a lovely-sounding collection of songs. The sound scape is gorgeous, the pacing on point and the vocals, while not what we wanted to hear, are Krall at her best.
And there's the rub. When we think of Tin Pan Alley songs of the 20's and 30's, we picture a vocalist who's one part carnival barker, one part soul searcher and one part batshit crazy (think Cyndi Lauper at her best). Diana Krall's just too smooth. Her smoky vocals are perfect for the music of the 40's and 50's but lack the range of emotion and inflection necessary for the material on this album.
So, while this is a nice record, it should have been a Cyndi Lauper album.
Our favorite track: 1928's There Ain't No Sweet Man That's Worth the Salt in My Tears* (Unfortunately, there is no legally obtainable album-version sample of this song available. The live ones don't sound like the studio version, so we linked a 30 second promo sample. Sorry)
*For shits and giggles, here's a link to the original 1928 recording (on a 79rmp lacquer record, at that), played on a 1925 Victrola.
37. Little Broken Hearts
Norah Jones
This must be the year for female crooners trying something new. Norah Jones, up until now, has pretty much been a one trick pony. Granted, she performed that one trick exceptionally well but still, smoky jazz vocalist fatale was it.Enter Danger Mouse.
The production quality on this album is probably the best of 2012. While adding texture and depth to the tracks, DM also knew when to get the hell out of the way and let Jones do her thing. The result is the fullest, richest material of Jones' career.
On Say Goodbye, almost as if she were acknowledging the new direction, she sings, "Bring me back to the good old days\When you let me misbehave\Always knew it wouldn't last\But if you ask I'd go again."
We hope she does.
Our favorite track: The title track (148).
36. Paralytic Stalks
of Montreal
You will rarely hear an of Montreal song on the radio. You will never hear anything from this album on the radio -- even a college station. Ever. There's not a hook to be found and when the rare melody kicks in, it disappears as soon as one starts grooving to it.
This is probably one of the hardest to digest albums we've ever listened to. Truth be told, other than some quick sampling to refresh our memory for this piece, we've only listened to it in its entirety twice. It is a combination therapy session, drug binge, mania cycle, incomplete stream of consciousness -- and it is fucking exhausting. Kevin Barnes, who does all the writing, singing and most of the playing, says this album is meant to be listened to as a complete work. It comes perilously close to being a complete mess and we're not sure that it isn't.
Recorded against a backdrop of classic rock, psychedelia, dance, prog rock and a dash of classical, of Montreal has made a career of making the cacophony cohese. It never does on this album, as one never feels the release from all that drawn out emotion. One faces a succession of buildups with no completion. The effect is either maddening or titillating and the two times we've listened all the way through, we felt each. If nothing, it has made us think. And that's one of the best things music can do.
Our favorite track: Dour Percentage (31)
35. Good Morning to the Night
Elton John vs Pnau
The "Remix Guy vs Artist" format has been done ad nauseum of late, with mixed results. This one, however, intrigued us. We've traditionally been lukewarm toward Elton John. We like some of his stuff but usually not the stuff most people do. With this project, Australian techno/dance duo Pnau was given free reign over Sir Elton's 1970-1976 catalogue, to do with as they pleased.They absolutely killed it, (in the good way), taking samples of over 40 songs (and as many as nine on one track, Phoenix), added nothing in the way of new vocals or instrumentation and created an album of eight entirely "new" songs.
Putting aside the music itself, this is an amazing work of art. Pnau smartly avoided heavy sampling of John's biggest hits and when they did, layered those samples in such a way that it didn't sound like a knockoff of the original or cause that annoying anticipatory listening experience, where the listener hears a few bars and expects a song to go one way, only for it not to and the listener never recovers to appreciate the song.
As to the music, it absolutely works. These sound like eight new songs with a surprising breadth of scope. Pnaul creates an absolutely credible "Elton John channels Pink Floyd" experience by combining elements of Harmony, We All Fall in Love Sometimes, Funeral for a Friend, Sweet Painted Lady, I've Seen That Movie Too, Love Song and Indian Sunset, to create Telegraph to the Afterlife. They then turn around and go all '70s disco on the title track (127) and British Top Ten single Sad.
This is the example to which all future remix albums should aspire.
34. Blues Legend of the Century
Bukka White
Our music of the '30s kick and our appreciation of old guys who still record coalesced nicely on the opening track of Robert Plant's new album, which we'll see a bit later in the countdown. In a somewhat suprising move, Palmer opens that live album not with music but a spoken intro to the song, Fixin' to Die, calling it, "Bukka White's finest hour". Liking what we heard, we decided to do a little research to see if it was, in fact, Mr. White's finest hour.
Holyshit! Bukka White was a bad man!
When we downloaded and listened to this album, we felt like a musical pilgrimage had been completed. It started with John Melllencamp's 2010 release of original material, No Better than This, recorded with one mic and a 1955 Ampex tape recorder in various hotel rooms, garages and churches throughout the South, where famous blues men had recorded the classics. It continued with Hugh Laurie's 2011 treatment of blues classics, Let Them Talk, continued with this year's Diana Krall album (#38) and culminates in a revelation we never saw coming. This guy could throw down. How good is he? In our opinion, younger cousin BB King ain't got shit on Bukka.
Our favorite track: We love everything on this album. We bought it way too late in the year to give this album the number of listens required to give an informed opinion, so we'll go with the aforementioned Fixin' to Die Blues.
(This particular collection was released in August of this year, thus qualifying as a new album, making it eligible for this countdown).
34b. Gossamer
Passion Pit
OK, calling the Bukka White album new was a reach. So, while compiling this list, we went ahead and downloaded a 76th album and placed it here.Any review we give though is going to be a disservice to the album because we thought we were getting something else when we purchased it.
When we first heard the band My Favorite a few years ago, the authenticity of their late-80's new wave sound sent a physical jolt of pain through us, the nostalgia was so intense. We were transported in time to a day when all things were new. We were on the cusp of adulthood. We could be anything we wanted. The future was ours! Then the first track ended and we realized that we were back in the present. It's not that the present is a bad place; we're quite happy with how life has turned out. The pang was the realization that the moments that blow you away are few and far between: the first kiss, a life-changing revelation, discovering a new sound. We cherish these moments but in the end they can be but a tease, when compared to everyday reality. The exaltation of living again in those moments ended with the sting of realization that we'll never again do so. The beauty in music though, is that the next liberating moment can be just a few notes away.
(As an aside, via the wonders of social networking we became reacquainted a few years ago with the first girl we ever kissed. Later that year, when she married, we bought her a copy of My Favorite's The Happiest Days of Our Lives.)
For some reason, we were under the impression that this band was going to sound like My Favorite or their current iteration, The Secret History, so our expectations were absurdly high. And while it's a nice little album with the occasional nod to '80s synth-pop and new wave, this is definitely a 21st Century pop album -- with some really dark themes. There's depression, domestic violence, alcoholism and paranoia, glossed over by a diametrically-opposed score. The perfect juxtaposition for an album essentially about the protagonist's bipolar disorder.
While it turns out Passion Pit is noting like what we expected, we suspect that with more listening, we will become fans, at least of this record.
Our Favorite track: Mirrored Sea, as it is the closest to what we had expected.
33. Texicali (EP)
ZZ Top
ZZ Top had not released any new material in nine years at the time of this EP's released. What would eventually become four tracks on their full length LP La Futura, (released later in 2012), show a band who has mastered the balancing act of presenting their classic sound, while embracing today's technology.Thick guitars and growling vocals have a distinctive 21st Century sheen to them, without betraying their signature sound. Perhaps then it's fitting that the lead single and first song on the album, I Gotsta Get Paid* (66)is a remake of a '90s hip hop song recorded by a local Houston act. After decades of hip hop artists murdering songs (we're looking at you, Diddy), it's nice to see it go the other way and, apparently, done well. Skatterkid actually thought it was cool.
Go figure.
*Here's the original, 25 Lighters, if you're interested.
32. Into the Night (EP)
The Raveonettes
The Raveonettes are our favorite current retro band. Their sound is a perfect combination of lo-fi scratchiness, ethereal vocals and the proper use of a ProCo Rat pedal. Think Velvet Underground, Phil Spector, the Ronettes and a heartbroken teenager thrown into a studio and told to not come out until they have created a record. This would be the result and it is stunning. A mere four songs, they come in, do what they need to do, tell their heart-crushing tales and move on, leaving the listener in awe that such pain can sound so beautiful, despite the lack of a happy ending.
Kinda like real life.
Our favorite track: Too Close to Heartbreak
31. Live in New York City
Paul Simon
In support of last year's So Beautiful or So What, and with his label's desire to have a CD/DVD package to sell, Paul Simon went on tour and recorded some shows. Having already done Central Park, MSG and every large New York venue known to man, Simon went a different route this time, playing the 2,500-seat Webster Hall. The 90-minute set has a warm, intimate feel we didn't expect. Although he's always been free with his emotions when writing, we always viewed Paul Simon as a little cold in person. With his excellent backing band and superb song selection, this is without a doubt the best we have ever heard a 70 year-old man sound in concert and is by far the best we've heard Simon sound live.
Opting for album tracks over big hits, (think Gumboots over You Can Call Me Al) and giving new life to Simon & Garfunkel songs we'd never cared for, (the refreshed, slightly funky 50 Ways to Your Lover was a pleasant surprise), Simon banters with the band and audience and seems a man at total peace with where he and his music stand. He clearly enjoys playing the new material but was still able to play the older stuff without sounding like he'd done it a million times.
Having seen so many bands go through the motions on a live album, this was a refreshing gem of a record.
Our favorite track: Due to copyright restrictions, the only video we can link to is the promo.
Up Next: Numbers 40-31. Previous: 75-61, 60-51, 50-41
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