Focused on the Music, Vol. 7: The Top 10 Albums of 2012

Top 75 New Albums of 2012.


Part VII-- Numbers 10-1:



10.  Americana
Neil Young

When a basketball player is having an exceptionally good night shooting, he'll often throw up a ridiculous shot that on most nights would have no chance of making it into the basket  It's called a heat check.  If it goes in, it's confirmed that dude is, in fact hot that night and can do no wrong.

That's what this album is. 

Getting his band Crazy Horse back together after more than a decade and a half off, Young wanted the guys to focus on material for their new album, Psychedelic Pill (# 28 in this countdown), so when they got together and started practicing, they didn't play any of their own old material.  Instead, following up on a one-off live performance Young had had with the Dave Matthews Band, in which they covered Oh Susannah (88), Crazy Horse started playing around with old folk songs or, as Young puts it, "songs we all know from kindergarten".  Susannah led to Clementine (116), led to Tom Dula (the name of the real guy Tom Dooley was written about) and the next thing you knew, there was enough material for an album. 

In collecting material from 1619's God Save the Queen (with sthe track's second half comprised of 1831's America [My Country 'tis of Thee]) through 1964's High Flyin' Bird, the band pulls out the lost verses they don't sing to the kiddos, a la the real Grimm's fairy tales and paint a portrait of murder, betrayal and rebellion fitting for the nation it celebrates.  This is Young and the Horse painting a picture of America, warts and all, while turning a children's sing-along into an eight-minute guitar-fest.  In almost every case, the treatment works, with the lone exception being their cover of 1957's Get a Job.  This is in part because guitars and doo wop just don't mix but also because of our natural squeamishness around anything even tangentially related to the television show Sha Na Na, which has always creeped us out in a big way.  Damned thing should've been called Pedophilia: The Musical.

But we digress.

This album proves three things: Good songs will always have a new life if someone takes the time to record them; great bands can make great songs sound fresh; if you work hard, make mistakes -- learn from them -- and live long enough, you will eventually have the professional, personal and financial freedom to do whatever you want.

Just call it a heat check.




9.  Sensational Space Shifters
Robert Plant

Robert Plant's music has taken some interesting roads since the turn of the century.  Having found fame as the front man of one of the most popular bands in history, his place as a rock icon was set.  Beginning in 1999 though, he started exploring more folk and blues material in working with Priory of Brion and a new band he created called The Strange Sensation.  After pairing with Alison Krauss to record a Grammy winning collaboration, he took a step away from recording others' material and recoded an alum of mostly original songs with his Band of Joy which continued to explore the music of the 1920s and 30s US South.  It seemed to be the logical progression of an extremely talented musician: rise to unfathomable fame in his youth, mellow out over the years, explore his roots and kind of ramp it down.  He even married Patty Griffin.  The rocking days were done with.

Not so fast. 

Plant opens this live album with the Bukka White classic Fixin' to Die [Blues] (67) and proceeds to rock the crowd's face off for the next hour and a half.  Having rediscovered his, "big voice", as he says, he uses the hell out of it in this superb 15-song set. 

Mixing in some of his solo material, some reworked stuff from his days in Led Zeppelin and nod to White and other influences, Plant and his band go hard on this record and make  a song like Griffin tune, Ohio (83) shine as a lovely acoustic guitar-driven change of pace.  A strong Whole Lotta Love/Steal Away/Bury My Body medley leads to a finale of Another Tribe, followed by Gallows Pole, leaving the crowd and this listener blown away by a performance we never saw coming.  As recent discoverers of Plant, this serves as a great primer for our initial delving into his catalogue and is the best live album of 2012.



8. Babel
Mumford and Sons

Island Records, in a stroke of genius, released the weakest song on this album as its first single. It didn't matter what song they selected. It was going to be a Top Ten hit and the album was going to sell 100,000 copies in its first week. This is a tried and true record company trick. When an album follows a huge hit, they generally pick a lesser song for the lead single then go with the best track later on to re-launch sales. While I Will Wait (3) is a fine song, it is simply a continuation of that which was heard on Sigh No More. It got them the radio play they wanted and as such was a safe choice.

This album is a modest improvement for a band still feeling its way through almost instant success. The tendency here would have been to kick out a formulatic collection of songs that took no chances and tried to recapture the lightning in the Sigh bottle. And while there is not a great departure, there is some progression into a more arena-worthy sound, paired with a touch more gloss, while maintaining the heart of who they were going into the studio the first time.

Marcus Mumford still has an occasional tendency to turn the most beautiful of lyrics into a misguided mess by over thinking things but that is part of his development as an artist and adds a bit of charm to things. They're not trying to be Coldplay; it's ok to sound a little flawed on occasion. Using acoustic instruments, solid harmonies and real emotion, this music is every bit as personal as their debut album and makes us continue to enjoy the evolution of this band.

In ten years this will likely not be seen as their best album but it will have elements of what will contribute to whatever album that is. That being said, it is still one of the better albums of the year.

Our favorite track: Ghosts That We Knew



7. Observator
The Raveonettes

Battles with clinical depression and a post-back surgery drug addiction, while listening to The Doors are said to be the inspiration for this album.

It's a dark world of hazy riffs, wrecked love and drunken assholes that populate Observator and we love every second of it because underneath all the reverb and stomp pedal action lies truly gifted song writing. Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo have been at this for about a decade now and taking their paired vocals and marrying them to superb guitar work and, in a new development, some piano, they continue to expand one of the more comprehensive sounds in music.

Going into the dark corners of despair and angst in Young and Cold, visiting the demons within on The Enemy or visiting the lush inspiration grounds of the Jesus and Mary Chain on album closer Till the End (sic), The Raveonettes continue to be the class of the fuzzy-reverb throwback bands. Sinking with the Sun could have been a hit in 1989 or 2009 and that's what draws us to this album. It hearkens back to a time in our life we thoroughly enjoyed, while pointing out that is wasn't all rainbows and unicorns and, while those were great times we like reminiscing about, we have no interest whatsoever in once again living them.

Our favorite track: She Owns the Streets (10)



6. Old Ideas
Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen has always lived in those halcyon hours, "when the day has been ransomed/And the night has no right to begin"*. He sings of spirituality, sexuality, despair and isolation with such withering honesty that it is literally impossible for us to diagram the path he takes that ultimately leads his listener to contentment in the present and hope for the future. It would be easy to say it's simply because he's 78 years old and the elderly just have a way of doing that. It would be completely inaccurate however because Cohen has been doing this for over 50 years. It would also do a disservice to what the man has accomplished in the last decade.

In 2004, some eleven years into semi-retirement (his last public appearance had been in 1993), Cohen's daughter discovered her father had inadvertently paid the credit card bill of his business manager, in the amount of $75,000. Tip, meet iceberg. By the end of 2005, Cohen learned that all but $150,000 had been drained from all of his and his charitable foundations' accounts -- and he no longer owned the rights to most of his songs. After pouring his heart and soul into his career, at 70 years old he was essentially broke.

So what did he do? In 2006 he released a book of drawings and poetry that became a best seller. Two years later, at 72, hit the road on a world tour. Dude was literally singing for his supper and has not stopped since. Two live albums were released in 2009 and another in 2010 but this wasn't a straight money grab, as the latest, Songs From the Road is uniformly regarded as a spectacular album. Then, rather than live off the works of his past, here is Cohen, at 78 years old, putting out new material.

An unflinching glance at impending mortality permeates this album, beginning with the first track, Going Home, where Cohen signs of, "Going home without my burden/Going home behind the curtain." It continues and expands to include the loss of his fortune and, more importantly to him, someone he had considered a true friend, in Darkness (175), "I've got no future/I know my days are few/I thought the past would last me/but the darkness got that too." While the hurt is piercing in these tales, the writer never leads us into self-pity or a permanent melancholia. For just when we're on the verge of wallowing, he presents us with a plaintive plea to a lover, "I dreamed about you baby/You were wearin' half your dress/I know you have to hate me/But could you hate me less?"

Ethereal background singing supports the spiritual hymn we knew was coming in Come Healing and in the end that's what this is -- a personal healing for Cohen.  Thankfully, he brought us along for the journey. We have no idea where we will be in our late 70s but we sure as hell hope we're still as invested in life, love, the sacred and the sexual as Leonard Cohen is. Similarly, we don't know how much longer he's going to be with us but whatever wisdom he has left to impart, we want to hear.

Our Favorite track: Show Me the Place (44)

*From Amen.



5. Shields
Grizzly Bear

Our first exposure to Grizzly Bear was burning their 2008 cover of The Crystals' 1962 song He Hit Me (and it felt like a kiss), onto CD and giving it to our buddy Ivan on Valentine's that year and watching him freak out as he tried to figure out what we were trying to tell him.  We were saying nothing of course and were just digging freaking him out.

We checked out their catalogue and saw something we love seeing in a band: steady progression.  From their decent initial effort, 2004's Horn of Plenty, to 2006's Yellow House to 2009's Veckatimest, the band continually improved upon the richly-layered, heavily textured sound they were going for.  By that 2009 record, they had almost mastered it.

On this album, they do.  The final piece was strength of lyric.  Until now, Grizzly Bear was an interesting-sounding band but they really had nothing to say, a fact that was brought home in Rolling Stone's review of lead single Sleeping Ute (63), (which predated the release of the album).  The reviewer, clearly not having heard the rest of the album, clearly assumed we were in for more of the usual when he wrote, " What's he going on about?   Bet you won’t mind listening 10 more times to figure it out."  That was the story of listening to Grizzly Bear up until now.

A change in how they write, moving to a more collaborative style has served them well and propelled them into the realm of truly great bands.  It also affected the music on this album as, rather than a constant thematic soundscape, you have songs with multiple movements, originating as acoustic ballads only to turn into distortion-filled psychedelic rockers before doubling back to a synth-laden slow-jam.  Thing is, it all works.  While in the past, the band has come perilously close to over-production, doing things like layering vocals as many as six times over to eliminate imperfections, on this album the flaws show a little.  While creating appreciably more complex music, they've backed off a bit on the board and allowed some of the imperfections to rise to the top.  These production choices lend themselves perfectly to a record that sounds slightly unresolved, in the tradition of a great cathedral never quite completed.

Our favorite track:  Yet Again (87)



4.  Heroes
Willie Nelson

At 79, you never know when a Willie Nelson album might be the last one he releases.  If that were to be the case here, Heroes is a fine manifesto and a fitting farewell.

There's the inexplicably-effective pairing with Snoop Dog and Kris Kristopherson on the ode to weed, Roll Me Up (26); a shout out to his real life heroes on Come on Back Jesus, (where he implores JC to "pick up John Wayne on the way"; he nods at his own mortality with a remake of his own A Horse Called Music, which he sings with Merle Haggard.  Most noteably though, throughout the record, Willie's 23 year-old son, Lukas hovers in the shadows.  With a voice resembling the younger Willie, he chimes in, almost as if to prop up the occasionally fading vocals of dad.  The effect is quite touching and imparts a feeling that perhaps the son has too become one of dad's heroes.

Having long ago secured his finances and legacy, Willie is in the enviable position of recording simply because he enjoys doing so.  Perhaps as an accommodation to age, he has plenty of company on this album.  In addition to those mentioned, he pairs with Billy Joe Shaver, Sheryl Crow, Ray Price and Jamey Johnson, among others.  What you're left with is a vision of Willie sitting on the porch, regaling his buddies with wisdom and wit -- and more than a little pickin'. 

And like any wise person, Nelson knows there is very little original wisdom in the world.  The majority of what we know, we learned form someone else.  That being the case, he sees the value in sharing the words of others, as evidenced by his cover of Pearl Jam's Just Breathe, Tom Waits' Come on Up to the House and Coldplay's The Scientist.  (although, it should be noted that the first time we listened to the record through, we liked every song except it, even before realizing it provenance). 

Similarly, Nelson understands taking a second look at things can also be beneficial, such as on the aforementioned Horse and the Willie/Lucas/Price reworking of his own Cold War with You. 

Collectively, this serves as a superb Willie's last Stand if it ends up being so, with the reins being passed on to the capable hands of Lukas, who wrote or co-wrote five of the tracks here.  Then again, Willie's likely to outlive us all.



3.  Wrecking Ball
Bruce Springsteen

"From Chicago to New Orleans/From the muscle to the bone/From the shotgun shack to the SuperDome/We needed help but the cavalry stayed home/there ain't no one hearing the bugle blown"

In a world where corporations are people, It's every man for himself in 21st Century America and if you are looking to the government -- or anyone else -- to save you, you are fucked.  The social contract that existed in the first half of the last century, whereby a mutual loyalty was mutually beneficial has been replaced by a system where enough is never enough and no one owes you shit.

That's the theme of this album, in all its harrowing detail.  From opening track We Take Care of Our Own (2), through the final fadeout of American Land, Springsteen paints a damning portrait of the world in which we live.  It is populated by the "rich man up on banker's hill" looking down on the Shackled and Drawn, a Jack of All Trades, who wants to, "find the bastards and shoot 'em on sight". 

He laments Death to My Hometown (13), in a natural sequel to 1984's My Hometown.  This time around though, there's no happy ending, no ride down the avenue with his boy on his lap, telling him it will all be ok.  No, this time there's only the stark realization that, "Just as sure as the hand of God/They brought death to my hometown."  This leads to the personal and national tones of This Depression (101). 

Even when he trying to find hope or defiance, Bruce can't seem to find much and needs to call on older material than never made it onto an album.  Wrecking Ball stands in the face of the chaos and screams, "If you got the guts mister/If you've got the balls/If you think it's your time/Step to the line/Bring on your wrecking ball".  As the rest of the album makes perfectly clear though, the wrecking has already been done.

In classic Springsteen anthem style, Bruce sings of the Land of Hope and Dreams (47) but even this is tinged with sadness, as it contains the last musical notes ever played by Clarence Clemons.  The Big Man stroked out the night after laying down the track, eventually dying.  It eerily parallels the theme of this album and the death of the American dream.

Despite being a vocal (and obvious) Democrat, this is not Bruce railing against the right.  The firmament of American society has cracked and may never recover.  This fissure has manifested itself in runaway capitalism and finger-pointing politics but at heart, all of society's failures find their root in the individual.  Similarly, so will the solutions.  The spaghetti western We are Alive  alludes to railroad workers, MLK and Mexican immigrants, with a core Springsteen populist message of survival despite the obstacles thrown our way. 

That's the American spirit and, despite the crushing blows it has been dealt over the last decade, this remains the American Land, where  even though, "They died building the railroads/They worked to bones and skin/They died in the fields and factories/Names scattered in the wind", the fact remains that, "There's diamonds in the sidewalk, the gutters lined in song/There's treasure for the taking, for any hard working man."

That note is as positive as the record gets and it mirrors how most people view where we are.  We will be ok and things will get better but none of the social institutions we looked to in the past century will be there this time around.  This time, we're on our own.  We will take care of our own or we will perish.



2.  Most of My Heroes Still Don't Appear on No Stamp
Public Enemy

"At the age I'm at now/If I can't teach/I shouldn't even open my mouth to speak".  So sayeth elder statesman Chuck D on Rltlk. 

That's right, Public Enemy is serving as the voice of reason in the hip hop world.  They look across the musical landscape they pioneered and they see a bunch of entitled, untalented wannabees who are more focused on misogyny and stackin' paper than they are on anything even closely resembling art.  And it pisses them off.

Whether one has agreed with their words or not, Public Enemy has always stood for something.  Their greatness has always been in their passion.  This album makes it clear that they remain firmly committed to the success of the young black male.  That doesn't mean refusing to change with the times, as Chuck raps, "I ain't mad at evolution/But I stand for revolution" on Get Up Stand Up (24), while blasting the results of that evolution, "How many more times we gotta hear that lame line/"I'm inspirin' 'em'"/To do what/Grow better weed and get higher than 'em/Feed the needy-ass greedy buyer in 'em/Be the same damned dog but to finer women?"  Enough already -- it's time for the hip hop "artists" of today to grow the fuck up.  The indictments flow on tracks like Catch the Thrown (a clear swipe at Jay Z and Kanye West) that expands the field of fire to include Corporate America: "Feed the people/Fight the power/Fix the poor/But that 1% done shut the door".  It's standard PE populist ranting but that doesn't make it any less earnest.  With killer hooks, well-selected collaborations and their usual superb production, this album also sounds completely fresh, which is pretty amazing for a group that is celebrating its 25th anniversary. 

Reveling in their place on, "the senior circuit", Chuck and Flav go past the artists in whom they are so disappointed, taking their case right to the fans, asking, "Is your mind, body, soul/Is it better from it?/Tell me why do ya'll love it/Songs meant to send you to prison/Bids to influence a million and a half kids".  Their appraisal of the current state of hip hop is scathing and one we have been waiting for someone to have the balls to say for years now.  Thing is, Public Enemy is probably the only group that could pull this off.  Their relative lack of success outside their group (aside from Flavor Flav's ridiculous reality shows) allows them to retain the street cred they have built up, so when they blast the kids, they don't come off as embittered sell-outs.

While society, racism and oppression by The Man are also given attention here, our takeaway is an articulate statement on the drek that popular music has become and the effects is has on the kids who listen to it.  The end result is, to us, the most important album of 2012, if not the absolute best.

With spoken-word interludes between songs, PE credits the civil rights pioneers who have led the way.  It's a unique way of getting the recognition out there and is very effective.  Amongst those listed are the expected, (Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Cesar Chavez) and the obscure, (Cynthia McKinney, Dorothy Height, Colores Huerta).  The inclusion, however, of cop killer Wesley Cook in and of itself eliminates the possibility of making this album the top record of the year.  While we can appreciate that they are probably making a statement about capital punishment and race relations in general, the truth is that Cook killed a Philadelphia police officer in cold blood, in front of an eyewitness.  He doesn't deserve to mentioned in the same breath as the true heroes that don't appear on no stamp. 



1.  Handwritten
The Gaslight Anthem

"I'm in love with the way you're in love with the night/And it travels from heart to hand to pen/Every word handwritten."*

Clearly we bought a lot of music in 2012.  Some of it has been fantastic.  Some of it has been dreadful.  What though makes for the best?  For us it takes something that transcends a mere enjoyable listening experience.  There are albums that have great music.  Some have insightful, intelligent lyrics that make us think.  Others have flawless musical execution or phenomenal production.  In rare cases, an album has all of that.  Still, that doesn't necessarily make a record the best. 

For that designation, an album has to have an added layer of importance to us -- something very much like love.  We need to hear the right words, with the right music, at the right time and be open to it.  It all has to click at the right time and for us, this album did.  For us to consider an album to be an album of the year, we have to believe that in ten years, when we sit down and listen to it, it will take us back to a very specific place and time. 

We remember spending about 30 bucks on the Wildwood boardwalk in the summer of 1986 to win a copy of Billy Joel's The Bridge, a week before it was to be released.  Listening to it now, it's not very good but it was the first full album of new material of his that was released after we became a fan.  We then remember racing back to the place we were staying, only to realize there was no record player.  Somehow, some guy who, for the life of us, we can remember nothing about, other than he was and old dude -- maybe even 30! -- and clearly a Billy Joel fan, ended up scoring a cassette of it and we listened to it about 35 times that night.  We remember nothing else of that summer after our father died except that afternoon and night down the Jersey shore.

Similarly, we remember our girlfriend at that time giving us copy of George Michael's Listen Without Prejudice, Vol I, as we left for the Gulf War.  Until we were able to get into downtown Jeddah and score some bootlegs, it was the only cassette we had to listen to.  The war ended fairly quickly and the relationship shortly thereafter but whenever we hear the opening notes of lead track Praying for Time, we're a 21 year-old kid in the dessert, missing the girl he loves.

There are not necessarily any watershed moments happening in our life right now, (not that we'd really know that until a few years from now anyway), but that doesn't mean we are without touch stones.  This album is one.

Whether it was the pre-release single 45 (23) comparing a record to failed love or the superb lyrics of the title track (5) that are carried throughout the record, the first time we listened to this album we knew it would be a part of us forever.  Much like Springsteen before them, The Gaslight Anthem takes a look around, sees the ordinary and explores it anyway.  Real protagonists with real hearts and entirely human reactions to the situations life hands them.  50s and 60s beats with the occasional soaring chorus, they are New Jersey through and through. 

While Brian Fallon's writing explores emotion, particularly the pain of love lost or simply missed, he stops short of full-on emo when he asks, "What can I keep for myself if I tell you my Hell?", on Too Much Blood. 

His recent Tom Waits-inspired side project The Horrible Crowes creeps into his full time gig here and there, particularly on Here Comes My Man and the album's final track, National Anthem, which was likely a Crowes leftover.  With lyrics like, "With everything discovered just waiting to be known/What's left for God to teach us from his throne/And who will forgive us when He's gone?", these influences only serve to enrich a truly straightforward rock 'n roll album of the finest order. 

The deluxe version of the album includes a pretty cool cover of Nirvana's Sliver and a take on You Got Lucky that just might be better than Tom Petty's original.  In addition to these, the deluxe version contains two additional originals: acoustic ballad Teenage Rebellion, and Blue Dahlia, the latter of which we still cannot believe got cut from the album.  That kind of discipline though is what helps make this record so superb: they came in, said what they had to say and got out, without dumping a bunch of what they considered filler on us.  (Still, how can you not include a song with lyrics like, "I met you between the wax and the needle/In the words of my favorite song."?)  Arugh!

Sentiments like that had us from the start and make The Gaslight Anthem's Handwritten the Number One album of 2012.  If you have a Spotify account, you can stream the entire album here.  If not, we've linked each track below (and we apologize in advance for the lyric videos.  We hate them too but trying to find a copy of the studio version of a song for which there is no official video often leaves one with limited options).  Additionally, our Top 100 songs of 2012 Spotify playlist can be heard here.

1)  45
2) Handwritten
3) Here Comes My Man
4) Mulholland Drive
5) Keepsake
6) Too Much Blood
7) Howl
8) Biloxi Parish
9) Desire
10) Mae
11) National Anthem
Bonus 1: Blue Dahlia
Bonus 2: Sliver
Bonus 3: You Got Lucky 
Bonus 4: Teenage Rebellion (unavailable online for linking)

*From the title track.


Previous: 75-61, 60-51, 50-41, 40-31, 30-21, 20-11.



May you and those you love have a happy, healthy and blessed 2013.

Until next time,
Keep the Faith

-Gary and the editorial panel (of one).

Focused on the Music, Vol. 6

Top 75 New Albums of 2012.


Part VI-- Numbers 20-11:



20.  MDNA
Madonna

There's a dichotomy of intent with regard to this album that should probably have killed its chances at succeeding as either the tale of Madonna's divorce from Guy Richie or as the first album of a new deal with her label.  She manages to balance both and delivers one of the better albums of her late career in the process.

The formula is the same as it has always been: take pop, mix it with dance, throw in a dash of electronica and then do something to shock the listener.  The difference here is that the shock is how bare Madonna lays her emotions.  Chick was hurt bad by this divorce and, perhaps more than ever, allows her listeners inside that pain, regret and conflict, with lyrics ranging from, "I tried to be your wife/Diminished my self/I swallowed my light", to, "Every man that walks through that door will be compared to you forevermore".  The regret stands out the most in these songs, probably because it is least-expected. 

What was absolutely expected was the open pandering for sales which, while it has always been a part of the Madonna formula, is taken to new levels as a result of the new record deal and LiveNation tour deal.  Enter M.I.A, LMFAO, dubstep bass drops and collaboration with the foul Nicki Minaj  -- basically all the stuff from this album that you've heard on the radio.  Gimme All Your Love (48), Girl Gone Wild (124) and such provide the sales, while songs like Falling Free and Love Spent provide the substance. 

The two paths this album is taking are for the most part mutually exclusive, with the notable exceptions of the Richie-slaying, Gang Bang and the best song on the album, I Fucked Up (138).  This separation of purpose is what gives the album its authenticity, however.  Anyone who's been through a divorce knows that while it can be gut-wrenching  and downright exhausting, you still have to get up and go to work everyday.



19.  The Ringmaster General
Dave Stewart

Moving to Nashville doesn't necessarily mean one has "gone country".  Dave Steward reaffirms that with this, his second record made since relocating to Tennessee last year. 

The followup to 2011's Blackbird Diaries has Dave again collaborating with ladies from all across the musical spectrum.  Be it Joss Stone, Alison Krauss or Diane Birch, Stewart again finds a way to select just the right partner for each of the songs.  His producer-at-heart instinct probably go a long way in making this so but, much as a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client, Stewart realizes that going it alone is not the wisest move, so he enlisted Mike Bradford to assist in the production.  Together, Stewart and Bradford prove that a pedal steel and stings can be inserted into a song with neither irony nor condescension.  While not a full-on Country album, (far too much of a Blues and Rock influence), this is definitely within striking distance thereof.

Written and recorded in five days, Stewart and company entered the studio armed with only their instruments and a list of the people who would be guesting on the record.  Clearly Stewart is at his best when collaborating with others, as his voice, while competent, is in no way unique.  His lyrics can tend to opt for the easy cliche over the deep thought but his guitar playing is outstanding and he wisely defers when sharing a song with a stronger singer.  There are some excellent songs here, such as Drowning in the Blues, with Krauss and really only one clunker in the bunch, (the dreadful Girl in a Catsuit with Orianthi, she of the ill-fated Michael Jackson This is It tour).

Or favorite track: God Only Knows You Now, with Jessie Baylin (currently charting).



18.  Holy Weather
Civil Twilight

This sophomore effort from the South African - turned L.A. - turned Nashville trio represents a significant artistic leap.  These guys get it.  With rich textures, superb vocals, and catchy hooks, this should be the album that brings these guys mainstream.

While atmospheric piano ballads on their eponymous debut generated huge buzz on the underground indie scene, that has not yet translated into an explosion into the musical consciousness of the listener at-large. That is the listener's loss, as this album is everything that is right about music today.

This album reaches its true heights through lyric.  There's the spiritual bent of lead song River (It flows through walls of stone/It flows in between the bone/It has flowed since the divine exchange/It flows forever unchanged); the internal struggles of first single Fire Escape [62](I don't want to fill my body/With drugs I can't even name); the heartbreaking imagery of one of the most beautiful songs we've heard all year, It's Over (But they won't know/That my heart is driftwood/Floating down your coast).  Blended with superb musicianship, be it the haunting strains of It's Over the plaintive longing of Doorway (49)or the comparatively frenetic River (currently charting), there's an underlying kinesis throughout these eleven songs that draw you into a world you don't want to leave. 

Refusing to be typecast, the band goes from bass-driven rocker to trippy piano jaunt to indie acoustic to arena anthem, all the while maintaining the intensity throughout.  Rather than sounding disjointed, this genre-hopping only reinforces the energy of the album.  The result is an inviting, intriguing listen.

When we drew up the list for this countdown, we had this record in the mid-50's.  In the weeks it has taken to listen to everything in more detail and write up reviews it has made it into the Top 20.  If we were to revisit this list in six months, it may very well crack the Top 10.  We just hope more people hear this band because the next step for them is probably going to involve some level of selling out in order to keep their deal if this album doesn't sell.  And that would be a pretty damning indictment of the state of the music industry, when any jackass from American Idol can get a record deal.



17.  Someday
Susanna Hoffs

We bought this album because Susanna Hoffs is hot.  There was nothing else released the week this came out and we'd dug some of the stuff she'd done over the last few years with Matthew Sweet, as Sid and Susie.  But mostly, it was because she is hot.

Turned out to be an excellent purchase.

The two Sid and Susie albums were comprised of covers of the "other" songs of the 1960s.  While the main focus of those who write about music is screaming guitars and screeching vocals, folks (pun only semi-intended) like Simon & Garfunkel and Burt Bacharach were making hay with a more melodic sound.  Those were the focus of the Sid and Susie projects, as both Hoffs and Sweet were heavily influenced by this softer side of the '60s.

On this record, Hoffs takes the natural next step from those collaborations and presents an entire album of original material, recorded in the style of these 60's and early 70's classics (The record was released under the Baroque Folk record label).  Think of it as a sequel to Billy Joel's An Innocent Man: where Leave a Tender Moment Alone leaves off chronologically, Someday's first track November Sun picks up.  And like that album 29 years ago, Hoffs pulls it off without a hitch.

Exacting in its execution, this album is a flawless period piece without being derivative; it is authentic without being regressive.  Hoff's voice at 53 is still as light and vulnerable as ever but age has softened the edges a bit -- to her benefit.  Melancholy is more credible in this voice, happiness less cavity inducing.  Her guitar work remains top notch throughout.  With a rhythm section including Lindsay Buckingham and production accoutrement such as harps and flutes, this album is a smooth 30-minute, ten track journey along the lesser-known musical byways of the most turbulent of decades.  While not the kind of music we typically prefer, this is one of the best executions of an album from concept, to recording, to production, to release that we've heard all year.

Our favorite track: Picture Me (53)



16.  Strangeland
Keane

After their dreadful collaboration with K'naan and other assorted hip-hopsters on 2010's Night Train, this band was on its last leg with us.  They needed to deliver the goods with this record or we were done with them.

What they delivered was a return to the sound that made them famous in the first place and that's not a bad thing.  Critics blasted this album as safe and lacking daring.  However, when one takes chances and is daring and the results suck, perhaps circling back and getting it right is in order.

There are the pianos and strings, paired with weak lyrics of album opener You are Young that will inevitably draw Coldplay comparisons but the album recovers musically (if not lyrically) with lead single Silenced by the Night (25), and by Disconnected (137), the shaky start is a think of the past and the album explores their U2/Springsteen-nodding pop, while throwing the occasional Genesis and even Radiohead curve into the mix.  We question whether ordering the songs differently would have made for a better overall experience but in its totality, this is a vast improvement over the last album, if not quite up to the standards of 2006's Iron Sea.

From the reminiscent Sovereign Light Cafe (60) to the exploratory Sea Fog, we don't see this as a step back at all.  We see it as a renewal of purpose and are much more optimistic about the future of this band than we were at the start of 2012.



15.  We All Raise Our Voices to the Air
The Decemberists

While winding down the tour from their breakout album, The King is Dead (2011 #2 album), The Decemberists taped a few shows and from those recordings culled the best, releasing this 20-song set.  While it does include seven songs from King, as well as their three most popular pre-King singles, the gems of this album are the remaining ten album cuts.

Seeing a great opportunity for the band to get songs from their catalogue out in front of listeners, songs most have probably never heard, they do not disappoint.  There are at  least four or five songs that are radio-ready right now and the rest, while probably not commercial enough (how would they fit the 12-minute Mariner's Revenge Song onto a playlist?), every one of them is an excellent example of the signature sound of the best band to come out of the Pacific Northwest since ever.

Colin Meloy continues to show why he is hands-down the best lyricists in music today and the band, using anything they can get their hands on (dulcimer, anyone?) make some of the most organically beautiful music we've ever heard.  Meloy interacts easily and cleverly with the audience and at several points mentions wanting the crowd to feel as though they've gotten their money's worth.  With topics like the end of the world, the fate of Irish miners in 19-teens Butte, Montana and a joint suicide pact, how could they not?!?

With keyboardist Jenny Conlee battling cancer and Meloy announcing the band would be taking a, "multi-year hiatus", it may be quite a while until we get any new music from The Decemberists.  As a something with which to manage one's appetite until then, one could do much worse than this album.  We can only hope that Conlee comes out the other side of this in good health and the band's break is a short one, for the music world is a little less intelligent with them gone. 

Our favorite track:  It changes almost weekly and we really hope they choose to release some singles from this album but, as it has been out nine months now, it's not likely.  Currently, we're listening to The Bagman's Gambit* quite a bit.

*If you're not going to listen to the whole thing -- it's like eight-and-a-half minutes long -- at least give it to the 2:45 mark, so you can hear the first tempo change.  But we're tellin' ya -- you're gonna want to hear how the story ends.)

Incidentally, if you want to hear the album in its entirety, you can stream it here.



14.  Love This Giant
David Byrne & St. Vincent

When we were one album short of a round number for how many albums we purchased in 2011, we frantically bolted for the iTunes store, deciding we would buy whatever the best-selling album of the year was.  It was Adelle's 21.  Yeah, there was no fucking way that was happening, so we went to Plan B.  Buy something by a local artist.  We ended up buying Annie Clark's album, Strange Mercy and it ended up being one of our favorite albums of the year.

Clark, late of The Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens' band, records under the name St. Vincent and is most often described as "quirky".  She frequently is compared to David Byrne.  When they found themselves together with a horn section onstage at a charity event, this album was destined.  Many a, "what if" conversation took place and eventually, they found themselves in a studio.

In order to listen to either Byrne or St. Vincent, one must step outside their comfort zone and, having an ingrained distaste for horns in general, we had to do so, as every track on this album is layered in them.  Added to that is that, while the two artists share similarities, those only serve to make the differences more stark and the results a bit unsettling.  Byrne is all mania and exuberance, while St. Vincent is the queen of distortion and tempo change.  Those two forces colliding with one another are what give this record it's life.

Be it the tale of reverse evolution on I am an Ape or the notion that perhaps one should become more stupid, so as to better relate to society at large on I Should Watch TV, the pair thrive on people watching then presenting their utterly unique take on things.  And while there is a certain chemistry there, even what might be flirtation, it's more of a general man/woman dynamic than any specific attraction -- like being in love with love.  In this instance, we find it refreshing that the older man/younger woman cliche is never part of the equation.  The album is much better for it.

Our favorite track:  Weekend in the Dust



13.  Blah Blah Reagan Blah Blah Punk Rock
Responsible Johnny

What if Rutger Hauer had a guitar, instead of a shotgun?

Would a hobo wreaking havoc in the streets slaying those in his path with wit, insult and shredding been as entertaining a movie?  Fortunately we have this album to provide the answer -- a resounding yes. 

From the fade-in of lead track and first single Stomp (80), this album takes off running and doesn't stop, in true old-school punk style.  There's no polish here and that's what makes it work.  But don't let these fuckers fool you -- there's some serious talent here.  They put on a good show of being all about drugs, pussy and rebellion and, to a certain extent, they are but beneath that lies a whole lot of depth.  Punk bands are supposed to know what, two chords?  Yeah, tell that to these guys.  Listen to Cock Wig (currently charting) then tell us these guys aren't for real.

Between Hobo Rob Michaud's biting, hilarious and, yeah, we're gonna say it -- intelligent lyrics, the ridiculous talent of Coy VD on guitar and one of the better bassists in the D/FW are in Quel, this is a really skilled set of musicians.  Ripping through 11 songs in just over 24 minutes, this album is the epitome of a punk record: it makes you believe your opinion matters.  It makes you want to share your fetishes, frustrations and mental illness with the world.  And telling someone to fuck off and let you do your thing matters.  Sure, in the end we all realize the world is indifferent to us and our gripes but that doesn't mean it isn't fun raging against the man.  Pop on this album and do so for a half hour.

Whether you want to tell politicos on both sides of the aisle what a jackass they are with Ain't Fer It (I'm Agin' It), feel like shitting all over someone else's perfect idea of what they think YOU should be with Suburban Nightmare, or just celebrate a personal accomplishment with I Didn't Shit Myself While Puking This Time, there is something for everyone here.

Our favorite track: Paranoid



12.  Which Side Are You On
Ani Di Franco

Unless you're an uber-feminist who looks at that Lenin guy and thinks, "he's a little bit right-wing for my tastes", listening to an Ani DiFranco album is like going to certain churches for charity: yeah, I'll listen to your speeches and attampts to convert me but I'm really just here for my dinner.

Being an election year, we really expected the proselytizing to be unbearable.  We were surprised to find this not to be the case.  Taking out the title track (173), an update of the 1931 labor anthem that, ironically (or intentionally) ignores the fact that labor has as big a part in the state of affairs as anyone else) and the ridiculous Amendment (seriously?  in 2012 you are still railing for an ERA?), this is a surprisingly apolitical album.  There are oblique references to abortion on Life Boat and a benign dabbling with environmentalism on Splinter but for the most part, these are personal tales of life and love that at times are simply stunning.

For someone so wrapped up in issues -- perhaps because of that fact -- a song like Mariachi (68) literally makes one sit back, relax and enjoy being in the moment.  And that is where this album succeeds.  Be it the early navigation of a relationship and finding out one another's strenghts and weaknesses on Unworry (20, 2013) or an ode to the benefits and downside of weed, while taking a swipe at the president she loves on J (dude could be FDR/But he's just shifting his weight), this album resonates with the simple, articulate telling of personal tales we can all relate to, regardless of political stripe. 

DiFranco's delicate voice and superb guitar work come together to make some truly beautiful sounds on this record, highlighted by Albacore (8), the most beautiful song of 2012. This album was an unexpected surprise and we're glad to have picked it up.  Its very existence reinforces the wisdom of not judging a book, or in this case, album, by its cover.



11.  4th Street Feeling
Melissa Etheridge

We've got more love for Melissa Etheridge than any straight man you'll ever meet.  Most of this is not a result of the music played on the radio though.  Billy Joel once said, "if I only heard the Billy Joel records they played on the radio, I would hate Billy Joel."  While we wouldn't go that far, we definitely appreciate Etheridge's music mush more as a whole than we would as a greatest hits package.

On the heels of 2010's superb Fearless Love, the release of this album was as highly anticipated as any of the year. 

When we listened the first time, our reaction was, "meh".  And the second.  By the third we were thinking we might have a dud on our hands.  Then we listened to it on our motorcycle and the whole thing changed.

Part of the issue was song ordering.  The title track is just awful and it is the second song on the album.  That, coupled with a change in producers threw us a bit.  This is Melissa Restrained and we'd not yet heard that.  The first time we were consciously aware of an artist intentionally "holding back" in order to give a better performance was in the 1989 movie In Country.  In a supporting role, Bruce Willis deliberately gave a subdued performance and it was exactly what was called for.

The same theory is at work here.  The crescendo is more so when one is not screaming all the way there.  It took a bit to get used to but the effect is brilliant.  The label went with something more traditional with lead single Falling Up (27) but that is the exception more than the rule.  This is a dark, stark, bluesy set on which Etheridge plays all the guitars.  Rumbling bass lines and strident, if not necessarily soaring, choruses permeate this back-to-basics record.  Always good for some tongue in...cheek lesbian fun, there's Rock and Roll Me and references to he ugly, very public custody fight in Shout Now but the standout track is when she breaks out -- a piano? -- on A Disaster* (currently charting).  While this album took a while to grow on us, it's simple approach allows Etheridge to show just how talented she is both musically and vocally.

*Sorry about the quality; it's the best we could find online and that's sad because this is a great song.  This version is just her with a piano, whereas the studio version has full band accompaniment.  You can probably get a better feel for the song by previewing it on iTunes, as this performance really does not do it justice..



Up Next: The Top Ten.
Previous: 75-61, 60-51, 50-41, 40-31, 30-21.

Focused on the Music, Vol. 5

Top 75 New Albums of 2012.


Part V -- Numbers 30-21:



30.  The Evil Empire of Everything
Public Enemy

 

The second of two albums released in 2012 to commemorate their 20th anniversary, this album sets out to make a statement about the fate of a nation.  Be it the economy, immigration, welfare, warfare or race relations, no stone remains unturned, no dark corner unexposed by the lyrical spotlight of Chuck D.

Unfortunately, a kid in a hoodie hijacked the first half of what would have been an excellent album and PE spends six songs bemoaning the fate of the black man in a white man's world.  It's overkill and spills past the fifth track, Beyond Trayvon and the album really doesn't recover until after the Flavor Flav palate cleanser 31 Flavors, a full six tracks in.

It's not that we don't think racism is still a problem in America -- it is.  It's that until there's an actual trial and verdict in the George Zimmerman case, we might not want to put Trayvon Martin up as the poster child.  Give him a song?  Sure.  Expand that into a discussion on racism?  Absolutely.  Beat your listener down with over twenty minutes of bitching about a problem that, while still present, is much better than it ever has been?   That's a good way to knock a Top Ten album into the 30's and necessitate Flavor rebooting the album at track 7.

From then on, this album is greatness.  Chuck D spares no rod and spoils no child, as he tears through foreign policy ("One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter"), immigration (Deserted in the desert\Wild wild west\Hurt to the dirt\Anti-immigration against brown skin\Sounds like brown shirts"), racism ("From the pages of the Cress Theory\I know you hear me") or the state of hip-hop ("Sometimes fame ain't got nothin' to do with work"). 

This album had the potential for greatness.  Perhaps it's fitting that, much like the fragile state of improved race relations, it was derailed by something so simple as a random act of violence on a Florida night. 

Or favorite track: Riotstarted (feat. Tom Morello & Henry Rollins)



29.  ¡Uno!
Green Day

Green Day of the last decade has essentially been current-day Queen.  Rock operas and "message" albums and all manner of ostentationness.  Enough already with trying to transcend the genre.  It was time to shut the hell up and play.

With this, the first of three albums released in two-month increments during the second half of the year, they do just that.  Simple chords, easy lyrics and a return to the sound that made them famous in the first place.  Nothing earth shattering.  Nothing revolutionary.  Just straightforward songs about sex, lust, fighting the man and being the shit. 

After ten years of beating us over the head with their self-importance, this was exactly the record they needed to make.

Our favorite song: Sweet 16

 

 

28.  Psychedelic Pill
Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Yet another act who released multiple albums in 2012, this was the second record put out by Neil Young and Crazy Horse, the followup to June's kiddie-songs-redux Americana.  This time it was all original material and, yet again, Young scoffs at convention.

In 2010, Young took a guitar and amp into a studio and created an album using nothing else.  He then recorded a bunch of songs typically heard in a nursery school and released it as Americana.  This time around, he's reviving AOR.  With two songs stretching past the 15-minute mark and an opening cut running 27:36, dude is clearly unconcerned with the admonition that, "if you're gonna have a hit, you've gotta make it fit", as lead single, Walk Like a Giant [43], comes in at 16:27.

The 15-minute track is a forgotten art and that's a shame.  When a song goes this long, it gives the artist myriad opportunities to allow the music to express what words cannot.  In this world of instant gratification and incessant impatience, it's nice to be able to take the time to let the art develop.



27.  Clockwork Angels
Rush

We're staying north of the 49th parallel here for a bit for an album that took a couple of years to be released.  In June of 2010, Rush released a single, Caravan, with a "b-side" of BU2B.  We worked with a guy who loved Rush, so we bought it and surprised him with it.  Then in 2011 they released the single Headlong Flight (198, 2011) before finally turning the whole album loose this June.

We've not been typically been all that into prog rock but our buddy has made some headway in helping us at least appreciate it some.  The musicianship on this album is superb and, despite clearly having been pieced together over the course of a few years, the record has an absolutely cohesive sound.  It's a rich, full-texture album that makes for an interesting listen.  We're not particularly fond of Geddy Lee's voice (sorry Kelly) but it works within the context of the material.

Our favorite tracks, Carnies (81) and The Wreckers (currently charting) are probably the most straightforward, non prog-y songs on the album, which probably makes sense.  Still, we find this to be the kind of record we notice something new about with each listen and we're glad our buddy turned us onto it.

An interesting note on this album is the cover art, wherein a clock with alchemical symbols rather than numbers shows the time to be 9:12pm, or 2112 in military time, a clever nod to their album of the same name.



26.  XXX
Asia

We'll admit we had no idea Asia was also a prog-rock band.  We knew Heat of the Moment, Only Time will Tell and...yeah, that's about it.

So when we bought this album we were thinking 80's pop band with new material (XXX representing their 30th anniversary) and were hoping for fresh over faded.  The first time we heard the album we hated it because it was so far from where we were coming as listener.

We put it aside for a while and gave it another try and, much like Rush's Clockwork Angels, it grew on us.  Bury Me in Willow would have been a Top Ten single in 1986 and Faithful  makes a good run at the standard power ballad.  The intensity of I Know How You Feel comes pretty close to recapturing the sound of their early 80s hits, while not leaving them sounding like a band living in the past.

The lyrics on this record aren't always up to the task of the formidable music and the call-and-response harmonies on Al Gatto Nero don't quite work but those shortcoming aside, this is a solid effort and a personal revelation to us of a band that had more depth to it than we'd previously known.

Our favorite song:  Face on the Bridge (30)



25.  ¡Dos!
Green Day

The second Green Day release of the year (¡Tre! was released after the 15 November cutoff) is markedly better than the first installment of the trilogy.  Whereas ¡Uno! was a regression to the mean kind of record, ¡Dos!, while still maintaining that connection to the roots, starts to expand upon the sound and experiment some.

The album opens and closes with Billy Joe Armstrong strumming and singing a ballad.  In between there is ribald funk, nods to everyone from The Strokes to James Brown, great musicianship and a fucking rap song!  And the rap song, Nightlife, (featuring a great Mike Dirnt baseline), is actually not the worst thing we've ever heard.

Our worst fear was that these three albums would essentially sound the same, basically being a bunch of songs recorded at the same time and divided into three albums as a marketing trick (the band is only getting credit for one album on their contract from the trilogy).  Most bands go into the studio with way more songs than they need for an album and the bad ones never see the light of day.  What we hoped was not happening was that we were getting all the shit along with the 15 or so songs that were album-worthy.  This doesn't appear to be the case, as evidenced in the progression of quality from ¡Uno! to ¡Dos!.  We're really looking forward to ¡Tre! now.

Our favorite track: the Foxboro Hot Tubs-sounding Stray Heart.



24.  Former Lives
Benjamin Gibbard

Ben Gibbard takes a step away from Death Cab for Cutie with this, his first solo album, recorded in the wake of his divorce from the New Girl.  Playing almost all of the instruments and singing both lead and background, he explores the usual emotions of love and, more often, love lost, with odd effect.  While these are songs he has written over the course of the last decade but never recorded, they are amongst the least-specific of his songwriting career.  Whereas his work with Death Cab, by definition more collaborative, are quite specific in subject, this project, created almost entirely alone, lacks all such specificity and as a result, is probably the least personal we have heard him.  Whether this is a defense mechanism or just how it worked out, we don't know.  Still, we walk away from this solo album not knowing more about Ben than we did before.  While that feels like a lost opportunity, we can't help but like this album. 

As he shed "Ben" for "Benjamin", he also eschewed the urge to pick the ingénue du jour for signature duet Bigger than Love (currently charting), instead opting for Aimee Mann -- a clear effort to transform from tortured artist wise beyond his years to simply one who is wise, as he explores alt county (Broken Yolk in Western Sky), blues and even mariachi music (Something's Rattling [Cowpoke]).  This is the rare album that sounds just like what it is -- a collection of songs written at very different times, with different moods and motives, that still work together as a set.

Ben may have had it rough over the last few years in his personal life but Benjamin is better for the wear. 

Our favorite track: Gibbard's ode to hometown Seattle, Teardrop Windows



23. Glad All Over
The Wallflowers

We didn't know what to expect here. It had been seven years since the last Wallflowers album, 16 since Bringing Down the Horse. Were we gonna get something similar to Jakob Dylan's excellent Women and Country (Number 4, 2010), a soulless money grab or a bad nostalgia trip?

Turns out, we got none of the above. It's no mistake that the first single to this album is entitled Reboot the Mission. That's exactly what they have done here: they have taken their core sound and expanded on it without gimmick; they've reflected on it without looking backward. As a band that tried to be the voice of a decade, they do an exception job of showing us how those kids in the early '90's turned out, what whey deal with now and how they articulate it.

Like a beaten leather jacket that just feels right when you put it on -- but still looks great when you do, we slid right into this album and its two solid opening tracks, thinking this is about where we'd expect the band to have evolved. Then the next five songs showed us how much we underestimated them.

First One In the Car, aside from a bothersome lyric and potential grammatical error at the end of the chorus is an instant Wallflowers classic in their heyday style.  First single Reboot the Mission introduces the new drummer and serves as a de facto mission statement for the record (pun unintentional).  It's a Dream carries things along nicely until the spectacular Love is a Country, which is quite possibly the best song they have ever recorded.  Just when we were recovering from being blown away from that song, the band goes full-on, "Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch" on Have Mercy on Him Now before scaling things back to earth or, in this case somewhere below that, with The Devil's Waltz.

Performed flawlessly, yet with just the right amount of restraint, the music cloaks Dylan's lyrics in a shroud of something close to spirituality. The effect is stunning and absolutely took us by surprise.

Our biggest fear with this album was that some A&R douche at Columbia Records would get a hold of it and kill it through poor single selection, leaving Love is a Country and Constellation Blues by the wayside, in favor of songs more similar to the band's older stuff. Fortunately we were wrong, as Love is a Country was recently named the second single. This is fortunate because more people will be prompted to purchase this excellent album, having heard it.



22.  The Haunted Man
Bat for Lashes

Raw. 

Natasha Khan, who uses the stage name Bat for Lashes, is emotionally raw in this album.  She appears naked on the album cover.  No air brushing, no makeup -- hell, it's even a black and white photo.  But there she is, carrying the weight of a naked man on her shoulders, like so much emotional baggage.

That's what this album is, a painstakingly poignant portrait of navigating through the ghosts of one's past, as we evolve into who we are meant to become.  From the grandiose title track to the spare Laura, the answers are at times as complicated as the questions.

If life were simple, why would anyone bother exploring it?



21.  Tempest
Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan of the 21st Century is a gravelly old man who can regale you with tales of basking in the glow of the love of a woman or scare the shit out of you with the story of her husband kicking in the door and gunning the bitch down.  He rasps and hacks and wheezes his way through his stories and you can't help but listen with rapt attention, for when he's gone, so are the tales.

And that's the reality of being a fan of a 71 year-old man who still smokes like a chimney. 

Tempest is a lot like Dylan's recent work, in that it has a very organic, rootsy feel to it.  The music is very much alive and comes from a place that feels much more sincere than much of his earlier work.  Now, be it the state of the world or simply the state of his mind, this album is also much darker than anything we've heard form Freewheelin' Bob in quite a while.  Even the song names are aggressive:  Pay in Blood, Long and Wasted Years, Tempest (the latest of which is a 14-minute retelling of the only voyage of the Titanic).  Aside from that shipwreck, Dylan sings of a murder/suicide on Tin Angel, genocide on Early Roman Kings and the murder of John Lennon on Roll on, John.  Dark stuff.

Even the lighter fare has a dark twist to it.  Soon After Midnight ends up as a love song in the 50s spare rock vein but not before the target of Bob's affections takes all his money and he passes over "the killing floors", encountering Charlotte the harlot who dresses in scarlet.  Good times, indeed.

We're glad Bob Dylan lets us sit on the porch with him and listen to his stories.  We'd just better stay the fuck off his lawn. 

Our favorite track: We were unable to find a decent copy of Soon After Midnight online, so here's a link to the album's lead single, Duquesne Whistle.


Up Next: Numbers 20-11. Previous: 75-61, 60-51, 50-41, 40-31

Focused on the Bang-Bang

pan·a·ce·a

/ˌpæn əˈsi ə/ Show Spelled [pan-uh-see-uh] 

noun

1. a remedy for all disease or ills; cure-all.

2. an answer or solution for all problems or difficulties:
His economic philosophy is a good one, but he tries to use it as a panacea.

The events of 14 December 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut were nothing short of horrific.  A man willfully gunning down small children defies even the most widely stretched logic.  It leaves a society with nothing but unanswerable questions and a desire for vengeance that can never be sated. 

In the immediate aftermath of the shootings, I refrained from any reaction on Facebook, simply changing my status to, "There are just no words. I don't know how they possibly could but may the families of the victims in Connecticut somehow find peace. And may God bless them."  And I let that be it as far as my response because there really were no words.  There still aren't. 

As expected, social media was immediately lit up with calls for the banning of guns, arming teachers, locking up all the mentally ill, declarations of love for one's children and about a thousand other examples of people piggybacking their personal cause onto a tragedy.  Other than a few pointed replies to the posts of others, again I held my tongue.  The time for a reasoned analysis of how to minimize of not prevent these types of incidents is not in the hours immediately following a shooting spree.  Emotions are too raw and people are not thinking clearly. 

Yet every Tom, Dick and Harpo has an, "easy solution" to the problem.  Let's take a look at each of the most popular ones and I'll tell you why it, in and of itself, won't work. 

1) Banning guns will prevent school shootings.

It's an annoying cliche but it's true -- if you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns.  Taking away the weapons of innocent, law-abiding people will only serve to give the unlawful weapon holders an advantage -- we'd be essentially sending society to a gun fight with a pocket knife.  The overwhelming majority of gun owners are in legal possession of legally obtained firearms and do not use them to commit crimes.  Taking away their weapons is like taking away everyone's motor vehicle because a mall percentage drink too much alcohol and get behind the wheel.  It simply won't work.

Then there are the Second Amendment issues.  While one may argue where the limits are in terms of what types of weapons can be owned, the 2nd Amendment clearly allows for some type of individual ownership of firearms.  Between the NRA, other lobbyists and regular people, there is no way that amendment is ever going to be scrapped -- and no way enough states would ratify an amendment repealing it.  That, in and of itself makes this whole, "solution" a non-starter.


2) Arming teachers will prevent school shootings.

Teachers are just like any other cross-section of society.  There are smart teachers and there are dumb ones.  There are responsible ones and there are irresponsible ones.  There are poised teachers and there are hotheads.  Giving blanket permission to all of them to strap up is lunacy.  What happens the first time one of them fails to secure their weapon and a kid gets ahold of it?  Or when a teacher flips out and guns down his or her class?  Do the school districts pay for the guns?  Do they pay for the training insurance companies would surely require in order to cover an armed campus?

You see, it is just not as simple as giving all the teachers guns.


3) Putting armed guards on school campuses will prevent school shootings.

How did that work out in Columbine?

The thing with armed security is, it ain't cheap.  Finding a qualified armed security officer is not like hiring a janitor.  Many school districts are having trouble finding money to pay for books.  How are they going to pay for the selection, qualification, salary and insurance for armed guards?  If they contract it out to a security company, it is even more expensive -- and the district loses control of the process.  What happens when a guard uses poor judgment?

It may sound mean but the simple fact is that most security guards are such because they were not qualified to be a police officer.  Do you really want someone like that walking around your kid's school with a gun?

Could an armed guard conceivably prevent a shooting spree?  Sure.  Is it likely?  Not very.


4) Allowing retired military veterans to volunteer for armed patrol of school campuses will prevent school shootings.

Look, I have much love for the military but this is one of the worst ideas I have heard.  It is a widely-acknowledged fast that we as a nation do a poor job of caring for our veterans -- particularly for the mental health of our veterans.  So we give them guns and turn them loose on school campuses?  That's a good idea?

Again, you are running into insurance liability issues, administrative costs, hiring and screening costs and the fact that, just as with any other cross-section of society, just because someone wears a uniform doesn't necessarily make them a good person.  Could some sort of a program where National Guard troops are used on a rotational basis, in lieu of their annual training deployment?  Sure.  But just  handing combat veterans guns and putting them in schools is not the answer.


5.  Letting God back in school will prevent scool shootings.

You know who pray every day in school?  Amish kids.  Guess what -- their schools get shot up, too.

Children who attend public school are not getting their religious education there, nor should they.  Kids in public school receive their religious education at home and in their church.  The values they learn there are the ones with which they go forth.  Having postes in the hallways of their educational facilities that read, "Jesus Loves You", are not going to have any effect on thse beliefs one way or the other.

I find it interesting that the people who support this argument are, by and large, folks who claim to believe in an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God.  So by definition, they purport to believe in a God that is so powerfully present, He cannot simply be shooed away form anywhere.  The Christian viewpoint og God is that He is in fact everwhere and the impetus is on the individual to accept the love and grace He offers.  This can be done anywhere, anytime. 

So when someone says, "putting God back in school will solve the problem", what  hear is, "forcing my beliefs on others will solve the problem".  So not only are you contradicting yourself, you're also using God to try to make a political point.  Lovely.

Hate to tell you, folks but if you are a Christian or monotheist of any breed, you must also believe that God was very much present when dude shot 27 people dead in that school. 


6. Putting all the mentally ill in hospitals will prevent school shootings.

There are myriad issues here, not the least of which is that it's a slippery slope you head down when you start talking about forced commitments.  Who decides the criteria?  Who determines length of stay?  Who pays for all of this?

The thing about mental illness is, often times, it goes undetected until a blowup.  It's easy to say, "people had to have seen signs that dude was cracking", yet how many times do you see the neighbor on the news saying, "he was such a sweet boy"?   

Addressing this aspect and not the gun aspect is just as short-sighted as doing the opposite and our society and health care system are simply not set up to do this anyway even if we wanted to.

So what does that leave?  

I think it leaves a very complex problem that will take tremendous effort in many areas in order to effect change.  I think people have to take emotion out of the equation and simply ask themselves what makes sense.  And I think extremists on both sides of the aisle need to be willing to compromise.

That being said, here is what I propose:

1.  Reasonable Gun Policies

Gun control does not equal gun abolition and it never should.  People should absolutely have the right to arm themselves for the protection of their life, family and belongings.  While I personally feel it futile, they should also be able to arm themselves in protection from their government.

How does all this work?

First, the purchase of every weapon in the United States needs to be registered and tracked, without exception.  In order to be eligible for the purchase of a firearm, a prospective purchaser must clear a background check and both a written and demonstrative test.  They are then granted a license to purchase firearms.  They must quality for each type of weapon they wish to purchase, much like one must pass both a car and motorcycle test in order to receive a license for each.  Similar to driving licenses, these privileges must be renewed on a regular basis.

Gun advocates will say this is too stringent.  Too damned bad.  You have a right to a firearm.  That does not mean that right cannot be subject to reasonable guidelines.  In order to be hired and issued a firearm, a police officer must pass a psychological evaluation, written examination and demonstrative test.  The same holds true for a member of the armed services.  It makes no sense to me that we would not also want our neighbors to be similarly qualified if they own firearms.

If you pass the tests and keep your licensed maintained, you can own whatever society decides is an appropriate weapon for personal ownership.  That list can be determined through the democratic process, which is already how it works.  I can't own a fully functional tank if I want one because society has agreed that individuals should not own tanks.  Or ICBMs.  So, whatever society deems an appropriate weapon, have at it.  Just follow the rules everyone else does.

Additionally, folks should be required to make reasonable attempts at securing their weapons.  Almost every public shooting, be it a Luby's, a mall or a school, has been committed with legally purchased weapons.  Where the breakdown occurred -- well where part of the breakdown occurred -- is in the improper securing of these legal weapons.  It is a reasonable expectation to me that anyone who has gone through all the requirements to obtain a legal firearm take every reasonable action to ensure it is not put to illegal use.  Further, it is reasonable to me that anyone who fails to do so is held to some degree culpable for the resultant criminal act(s).

If I leave my gun in my nightstand and my granddaughter pulls it out and shoots herself in the face, guess what -- I'm probably going to jail, as well I should.  Owning a firearm (or knife or truncheon or hazardous chemical or power tool) comes with a responsibility to those around me.  It is on me to be sure I secure these things so that they are not misused.

Yes, people break in to houses and steal guns.  That happens.  Knowing this, it is reasonable for me to lock my guns up.  Now, if they break into the gun cabinet or lock box or whatever it is I have, then ok -- I have taken reasonable precautions and they failed.  If I left them all laying out in my garage though and dude just walks in, takes them and drives to Wendy's to start shooting -- I bear part of the blame for that.  I don't get murder charges but I have certainly failed to prevent something I had a reasonable expectation of happening. 

To me this is not at all lessening the culpability of the shooter.  Sometimes though, there enough blame for more than one person.


2. Real Penalties for Breaking the Rules

The only way regulating legal gun ownership works is if illegal gun ownership is eradicated.

Can you ever get rid of illegal gun ownership and use?  No.  The same holds true for pretty much any legal infraction in existence.  However, society can make the consequences of illegal gun ownership so punitive that it can greatly curtail the practice.

When I was stationed in Saudi Arabia, I saw a man turn himself in for stealing a car, knowing his hand was going to be cut off.  The reason he did this is because he found a gun in the trunk and knew that if he was found with the gun, he would be killed.

Am I suggesting we kill people found with an illegal gun?  Absolutely not but this story shows me that if you make the consequence painful enough, most people will rethink their options.  What those penalties are, I don't know.  But at some point, the juice is no longer worth the squeeze and illegal gun ownership and usage will decrease.

Will this prevent anyone from shooting another person or possibly even a group of people?  No.  But it could help reduce the numbers of incidents.  Will it end all violence?  No.  But I guarantee you it is a hell of a lot easier to click-boom-shoot someone from across a room than it is to physically murder them with a knife, bat or one's bare hands. 

Reducing the number of illegally owned guns will absolutely reduce violence.


3. Take the Mental Out of Health

We could take all of the guns -- illegal and not -- away from everyone and we'd still have only removed a tool from the psychopath's bin.  We will have done nothing to address the underlying causes of his or her behavior.

If your liver stops working, you go to a doctor.  The doctor looks at it, says, "we need to do a, b and c", they do a, b, and c, you pay your copay, if any, and the insurance company pays the rest.  That pretty much goes for private medical insurance, Medicare, Medicaid -- whatever.

If, however your brain stops working properly, you still go to a doctor.  In this case though, you follow the same steps but your insurance coverage is severely limited.  Because it's a mental health issue, not a health issue.  Huh?

The distinction between a mental health issue and all other kinds of health issues needs to be eliminated.  This distinction serves only three purposes:

     1) It stigmatizes the mentally ill and causes many people to not even seek the help they desperately need.
     2) It limits the scope of assistance to those who do seek it to a level that in most cases is insufficient to the task. 
     3)  It allows insurance companies to make more money by limiting their coverage.
 
 I am not getting into a health care debate here and I am not talking at all about Obamacare.  What I am saying is that health care needs to include the whole self.  If that means it costs more than so be it.  The brain is part of the human body!  Its care is absolutely part of maintaining one's health.


I don't know if these steps would change anything but i have to believe they would.  Now, my friends on the left are going to say I am being too permissive with all these killing tools.  My peeps on the right will say I am trampling on their freedom.  Frankly, I think they are both wrong.  Like it or not, we have a tremendous amount of freedom in this country and the people need to be trusted to exercise it.  Similarly, the people need to show good judgement in that exercise and live up to the responsibilities that come with that freedom.

In the coming weeks and months there will be all manner of political outrageousness on these issues.  While I don't pretend to have all the answers, what I would suggest to folks is that when listening, immediately discount the words of anyone who you have never heard voice a single positive thing about a position held by the "other side".  They are an ideologue who cares more about being right than getting it right.  Having eliminated them, listen to the reasonable folks, think about what makes sense to you personally and, if you're so inclined, pray on it.

In the end, we all want the same thing.  How far adrift are we that this story only became truly shocking to us when we found out most of the victims were little kids?  And how sad is it that nobody is talking about the fact that 27 people get killed in this country on most days?  The only thing different about 14 December is that they were all in one place.

That thought should scare the hell out of you.  It does me.

It's time for a rational, intelligent national conversation.