Album Review: Kris Kristofferson - The Cedar Creek Sessions

Back when Kris Kristofferson used to take the stage alongside his comrades in the Highwaymen, he was the relative young gun of the group, his stature overshadowed by the outlaw legends of Waylon and the Red Headed Stranger and the Man in Black. Sure, he’d written songs that each of them had recorded and performed, but he hadn’t yet put in the years, the hard time and bitter tears it took to become such a larger-than-life figure. Well, now he’s 80. And in listening to him sing a batch of his own classics on the newly released double-disc set, The Cedar Creek Sessions, it’s clear he belongs in their rarified company. 

Recorded over three days in June 2014 at the album’s namesake studio in Austin, Texas, these performances reflect Kristofferson’s craft and bone-dry conviction with the sort of integrity that can only be achieved when such a seasoned songwriter revisits his own history. 

His voice, grizzled with age and hard-won experience, imbues these songs new character and insight, his gruff inflections now revealing flashes of stoic resignation. He wrings more pathos from “For the Good Times” than have seemed possible in the classic’s countless other incarnations. He delivers “Sunday Morning Coming Down” like a dirge. And when he aches out the opening lines, “Busted flat in Baton Rouge…” in “Me and Bobby McGee,” the enduring image is of man down to his soul’s last ounce of will and resilience. Thankfully, Kristofferson’s maverick spirit still thrives. 

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DVD/2CD Review: The Rolling Stones - From The Vault: L.A. Forum (Live in 1975)

As recording artists the Rolling Stones by 1975 were, depending on your perspective, either trudging through a provisional rut or growing accustomed to the status of a legacy act. Their magnum opus, Exile on Main Street, was ensconced three years in the past; their brazen resurgence (or anomalous triumph), Some Girls, lay three years ahead; and their weakest effort in the interim, It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll, was what they’d ostensibly mounted their much-hyped Tour of the Americas to promote.

Of course by this point the Stones didn’t need to release a spectacular album to sell concert tickets. Not only was their reputation as live performers arguably unsurpassed in this era but, as evidenced on L.A. Forum (Live in 1975) — recorded during a five-night stand at the Forum, bootlegged for years thereafter, refurbished and most recently released as a DVD/2CD set by Eagle Rock — utterly justified.  


With the ever gregarious lead guitarist Ronnie Wood now in tow after having replaced the often taciturn Mick Taylor, the band is especially rambunctious during the 24-song set, even by Stones standards — not unlike Wood’s old mates, The Faces, veritable connoisseurs of errant behavior both on and off the stage. Auxiliary musicians (including percussionist Ollie E. Brown, saxophonist Trevor Lawrence, and keyboardist Billy Preston) no doubt enrich the sound and each man has his moments, but ultimately it’s the Stones stalwarts (Ian Stewart, Bobby Keys) that prove indispensable.


Flamboyant to a fault, Mick Jagger unleashes a primal, savage growl throughout that gives even the ballsiest songs (“Rip This Joint,” “Star Star,” “Brown Sugar”) an added guttural thrust. On the rare ballad (most notably “Angie”) he summons a soul man’s urgent ache, his gruff vocal suggesting Otis Redding’s raw, Southern-bred inspiration. Yet it’s on a torrid, sixteen-minute romp through “Midnight Rambler” that Jagger is at his most intoxicating, at turns humping and writhing atop the stage floor, brandishing his glittered belt like a whip as if in a masochistic fit. It’s a steal-the-show moment in any other band’s show. But this is the Rolling Stones in their prime as live performers, and L.A. Forum (Live in 1975) thrills from start to finish. 

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Album Review: The Jeff Healey Band - Live at The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern 1993

While he’s most widely known for his 1988 cover of John Hiatt’s classic, “Angel Eyes,” Jeff Healey possessed a talent that was at once eclectic and expansive. Indeed almost seven years after the blind musician’s death at 41, it’s unlikely that even Healey’s most ardent fans have yet to appreciate the full extent of his artistry. 

Adding a bit more perspective to the overall picture, so to speak, Live at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern 1993 (Eagle Records) finds the JHB delivering a potent set heavy on electric blues and juke-joint-friendly rock ‘n’ roll. While with a stunning pair of love songs (“You’re Coming Home” and, of course, “Angel Eyes”) Healey summons a warm and tender respite amid the otherwise raucous selections, with scorching versions of The Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues,” The Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” and B. B. King’s “The Thrill is Gone” he brings the band to maximum boil.

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Album Review: Bob Dylan - Shadows in the Night

Perhaps it’s ironic that Bob Dylan, who revolutionized the craft of popular songwriting in the Sixties onward and thus delineated it from that of the standards so prevalent in prior generations, should on Shadows in the Night (Columbia Records) engage the Great American Songbook with such striking sincerity. Incongruous though it may seem, however, the mercurial legend proves himself surprisingly suited to these ten songs which Frank Sinatra recorded toward the middle of the last century. 

Dylan sustains a noirish, pensive conceit from the opening strains of “I'm a Fool to Want You” to the closing crescendo of “That Lucky Old Sun,” underscoring this, his thirty-sixth studio effort, like a solemn cinematic motif. Aside from the music’s lingering melancholy and even the dulcet subtleties of Dylan’s five-piece band on these arrangements, though, the most obvious distinction here — indeed it’s the very first thing you notice — is Dylan’s singing. Though his voice has attained a certain resonant depth and insight with age, it has not sounded this consistently fluent and impassioned since Blood on the Tracks, maybe even since Nashville Skyline, at once suggesting the unmitigated effort these performances require as well as Dylan’s sheer reverence for the material. He is most affecting when a lyric calls for unadorned vulnerability, as manifests in moments like “Full Moon and Empty Arms” and “Why Try to Change Me Now,” which bridge the emotional distance between auspicious pining and futile, forsaken desire. 

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Review: Dre Mazzenga - Do Me Right [EP]

Originally from New York and now based in Austin, Texas, Dre Mazzenga proves herself to be a striking and sophisticated new talent with her current five-track EP, Do Me Right. In fact the singer/songwriter sounds like her adolescence was often spent within earshot of a rich and varied record collection — these days Mazzenga is actually a vintage-vinyl collector — as she reflects such eclectic influences as Carole King, Donny Hathaway, and Laura Nyro. 

She seems most comfortable with classic R&B and soul, an assessment best illustrated here by a fun, faithful cover of the 1968 Barbara Acklin classic, “Love Makes a Woman.” With each of the four original songs that round out this set as well, Mazzenga sings with a refreshing amount of polish and promise, none more so than on the mournful piano ballad, “Bird in the Storm,” which is as breathtakingly tender as it is emotionally adult.  

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DVD Review: Bob Marley - Uprising Live!

Bob Marley has been gone now for almost as many years as he lived, and his legend seems to grow all the more mythic and symbolically universal with the increscent distance from his 1981 death. At the same time, though, his most polarizing tendencies — impulses that not only informed his artistry but his very identity as well — seem to fade further and further in distinction. 

That contrast, between Marley as he actually was and the saccharine “One Love” icon that often characterizes his image today is brought into potent focus on this newly released live DVD from Eagle Rock Entertainment. 

While the reggae superstar leads the Wailers through some familiar songs like “Jamming” and “I Shot the Sheriff, he devotes the majority of the performance — recorded on June 13, 1980 at Dortmund’s Westfalenhalle while on tour in support of his just released LP, Uprising, it was later broadcast on the German television series, Rockpalast — to far more provocative fare. Whether extolling his Rastafarian faith and culture with such songs as “Natty Dread” and “Positive Vibration” to venturing into decidedly sociopolitical territory with the likes of “Get Up, Stand Up” and “Revolution,” Marley is a proudly defiant ambassador of his own values and a riveting musical force on the live stage. 

Indeed, as becomes obvious and indisputable throughout this performance, Marley was incendiary to the end.

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DVD Review: Eric Clapton - Planes, Trains, and Eric

In interviews of late Eric Clapton has suggested he will retire from touring in the wake of his seventieth birthday next year. And with seven performances scheduled for next May at the Royal Albert Hall commemorating both his seventieth birthday (which actually falls on March 30) and the fiftieth anniversary of his first appearance at the hallowed London venue, the prospect seems all the more likely.

That prospect likewise looms throughout the new Eagle Rock documentary, Planes, Trains, and Eric, which chronicles the music legend’s tour of the Far and Middle East earlier this year. In watching the live footage it’s abundantly clear that should Clapton indeed walk away from the concert stage for good, it won’t be because of a lack of passion or dramatic musical decline. Quite simply, the synergy here between Clapton and his band — bassist Nathan East, keyboardist Chris Stainton, organist Paul Carrack, drummer Steve Gadd, backing vocalists Michelle John and Shar White — is seamless.

Even on the most familiar material — songs like “Cocaine,” “I Shot the Sheriff,” and “Wonderful Tonight” — Clapton’s commitment to his talent and craft is palpable, underscoring that this is a real-time collaborative exchange among these musicians rather than a routine greatest-hits revue. Bits of accompanying rehearsal and soundcheck footage illustrate this further, manifesting in scenes where Clapton repeatedly leads the band through an intro or a chord change until it meets his satisfaction.  

While ostensibly a concert film, some of documentary’s most compelling moments come by way of select commentary in which Clapton reflects on his near life-long kinship with Asian culture. Japan, he notes, occupies a particular and often personal significance in his history spanning four decades of memories, friendships, and performances. At times Clapton seems conflicted about leaving all that behind.

Whether or not to bid farewell to life on the road altogether — and to live performance specifically — no doubt weighs on his mind even more. 

Related Reading:

• An Interview with Nathan East (2014)
• Interview: Jenny Boyd Discusses Updated Book on Creative Process with Insights From Music Legends (2014)
• Interview: Veteran Journalist Chris Welch, Author of Eric Clapton - The Ultimate Illustrated History (2012)
• Interview: Biographer Harry Shapiro on Music Legend Jack Bruce (2010)
• Artist Profile: Listen Up, It's Buddy Guy (2012)

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DVD Review: Queen - Live at the Rainbow ‘74

Before conquering the airwaves with made-for-stadium anthems and bombastic rhapsodies, Queen was a vicious, take-no-prisoners rock ‘n’ roll band. At least that’s what Live at the Rainbow ‘74 brilliantly affirms. Sure, there are glimmers here (“Killer Queen,” for instance) of the sort of kitsch and musical frivolity that would increasingly characterize Queen’s output in the years to follow, but this gig is more punk than pomp.

Sheer Heart Attack was the album of moment, and the band accordingly blazes through some of its fiercest songs (“Stone Cold Crazy,” “Keep Yourself Alive,” and “Flick of the Wrist,” among them), with Freddie Mercury already earning his legend as one of rock’s great frontmen. The 3,000-strong audience is barely visible in the film, oddly, but it’s hard to imagine that everyone in the venue wasn’t enthralled by Mercury’s charisma and unfailingly vibrant voice.

While Mercury was for the most part the focal point on the stage, however, it’s worth noting that each member of the band wrote songs. It's a crucial reason that Queen's catalog as a whole is so eclectic. Even in this performance, early as it is in the band’s career, such diversity is evident, from “Seven Seas of Rhye” with its brazen grandiosity, to “Son and Daughter,” anchored as it is by a grimy riff that would’ve served Black Sabbath well in the same era. This performance (half of a celebrated two-night stand) captures Queen’s emergence into immortality as a band with muscle and snarl to spare.

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Review: Justin Hayward - 'Spirits...Live (Live at the Buckhead Theatre, Atlanta)'

Justin Hayward’s solo albums are few and far between, and the opportunity to catch the Moody Blues legend performing on his own in an intimate venue is even rarer. Such is what makes Spirits...Live (Eagle Rock Records) so instantly appealing. Yet it’s the performance itself, which showcases Hayward’s most recent studio LP, last year’s Spirits of the Western Sky, that makes this live album such a rewarding one to behold.

The album suitably anchors the set, so much so in fact that Hayward either presumed his most faithful fans would be already familiar with it come showtime or he was simply eager to introduce it to his audience. Regardless, often reflective songs like “The Western Sky” and “It's Cold Outside Of Your Heart” succeed in this setting, not least of all because of the craft invested in their creation and the earnestness evident here in their delivery.

Sounding as resonant and refined as he did in the ‘60s and ‘70s, Hayward likewise enriches classic moments from his past—“Tuesday Afternoon,” “Your Wildest Dreams,” and (of course) “Nights in White Satin” are perfunctory yet captivating standouts—with often meticulous regard. Indeed this is not an informal excursion for Hayward from the familiar confines of his band, but rather a finely honed display of burgeoning inspirations and old magic. 

• Related Reading: An Interview with Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues (2013)

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Review: The Motown 7s Box: Rare and Unreleased Vinyl, Volume 2

Survival of the fittest, they called it. Ensconced in a small conference room in the label’s Detroit headquarters Motown founder Berry Gordy would convene his producers and songwriters to defend their latest works, pitting one song against another to ensure that only the best ones be released as singles and album tracks. 

“If you were down to your last dollar,” Gordy would ask, “would you spend it on a hot dog or this record?” Without knowing exactly which songs prevailed over which, the ones on the just released compilation, The Motown 7s Box: Rare and Unreleased Vinyl, Volume 2, suggest the right calls indeed were made. For the most part these songs go by in an indiscriminate Motownesque blur, neither adding to the musical legacies of some of the label’s signature artists (Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight & The Pips) nor to its seismic cultural contribution and influence on the whole. 

Still this set has its moments, including the Isley Brothers’ “Sure is a Whole Lotta Woman” and the Contours’ “Take Him Back If It Makes You Happy,” the latter of which features a particularly fiery lead vocal from Dennis Edwards, who would later replace David Ruffin in the Temptations to grace such classics as “Cloud Nine” and “Papa Was a Rolling Stone.” Overall, though, it’s the rare distinction of its material that gives this collection its greatest appeal.

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EP Review: Beth Thornley - Septagon

Beth Thornley has a knack for composing deceptively simple, soulful pop songs that cut to the quick with heartrending command. Maybe it’s a skill she’s honed over the years, having written for both television and film where the music often needs to encapsulate a specific scene; maybe she’s just innately gifted. Either way, Thornley illustrates this proficiency throughout the four-track EP Septagon (Stiff Hips Music). 

As a follow-up of sorts to her eclectic 2010 LP Wash U Clean, which was at turns wistful and rambunctious, this latest effort is more subdued by comparison, with subtler melodies and rich, immersive synth-pop textures betraying an unshakable sense of gravity in some moments and, in others, regret. From start to finish, though, it packs quite an emotional punch. 

  

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Album Review: Priscilla Ahn - This is Where We Are

Priscilla Ahn sings with such gorgeous, unaffected grace that any extravagant or otherwise cluttered production would only undermine one of the loveliest voices to emerge in the past decade. That said, with her third and latest album, This is Where We Are (SQE Music), the winsome singer/songwriter builds upon the acoustic-rich distinctions of her prior LPs, A Good Day (2008) and When You Grow Up (2011), to incorporate judicious amounts of electronica. 

In moments like “Diana” and “In a Closet in the Middle of the Night,” for instance, Ahn conjures intoxicating, spectral soundscapes that actually reinforce her voice as well as her often contemplative lyrics. She doesn’t abandon her acoustic tendencies completely, as ballads “Remember When I Broke Your Heart” and “I Can't Fall Asleep” illustrate in enchanting, tender ways. Even on the most sonically progressive songs, the experimental embellishments are neither distracting nor obtrusive.

On the whole, Ahn has stepped forward as an artist with this work, forging rich new musical perspectives with her talent and imagination.

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Boz Scaggs Commands New Dukes of September DVD

This is the sort of gig that looks promising on paper: three respected music veterans, each one as ostensibly integral to the lineup as the others, all of them playing together on a set of some mutually-loved old favorites (classic soul and R&B covers, mostly) while sprinkling in a few of their respective radio hits along the way. As is often the case with these things, though, all three artists on the bill aren’t all playing at the same level, with the same spark or apparent interest. In other words, someone usually packs more of a punch than the rest. 

On the just-released DVD (and Blu-ray), The Dukes of September: Live at Lincoln Center, which captures a performance by Boz Scaggs, Donald Fagen, and Michael McDonald in November 2012, it’s Scaggs who reigns supreme, connecting with the crowd through the sheer passion of his musicianship while delivering showstopper after showstopper with soulful, unassuming command. The hits (“Lowdown,” “Miss Sun,” “Lido Shuffle”) sound fresh and funky; the covers (“Willie Dixon’s “The Same Thing,” Teddy Pendergrass’ “Love T.K.O.”) sound inspired. Point blank, Scaggs knows his way around a groove, and his quiet confidence enthralls the audience at every opportunity.

That’s not to suggest nobody else brought anything to the party. Fagen, in particular, is spirited throughout, whether in taking a turn on the Isley Brothers classic “Who’s That Lady” or in satisfying the Steely Dan prerequisite with hits (“Peg,” “Hey Nineteen,” “Reelin’ in the Years”) and even a deep cut (“Pretzel Logic”) to boot. McDonald, however, is another matter. When providing backup to Fagen (much like he did on Steely Dan’s albums of old) he’s fine, but when he takes the lead—huffing and puffing through “What a Fool Believes,” “Takin’ It to the Streets,” and “I Keep Forgettin’”—he too often sounds overwhelmed, out of breath, and just plain tired. Such moments are relatively few, though, and Fagen and Scaggs capably pick up the slack.

Live at Lincoln Center is sort of a reprisal of the New York Rock and Soul Revue collective of the late ’80s/early ’90s at the Beacon Theatre, which in addition to featuring the same three principals also boasted such artists as soul man Chuck Jackson and the late Phoebe Snow. This 90-minute performance by the Dukes achieves much the same easygoing, collaborative vibe of those shows twenty-five years ago and, at certain inspiring moments, it exceeds expectation.

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Review: John Mellencamp - 1978-2012

“Hold onto sixteen as long as you can,” John Mellencamp encouraged in “Jack and Diane,” arguably his most familiar song. “Changes come around real soon, make us women and men.” 

Such moments when idealism and reality intersect, along with the myriad consequences they portend, have informed Mellencamp’s music throughout his entire forty-year career. Such moments populate a staggering new nineteen-disc, career-spanning box set which collects all of the irascible Indiana rocker’s albums to date (in all of his namesakes, from Johnny Cougar to John Mellencamp and variations in between), 1978-2012. 

In illustrating the full arc of Mellencamp’s artistry, the set also shows a running paradox in his songwriting, with a sort-of self-absorbed, don’t-give-a-fuck bravado in songs like “Hurts So Good,” “Lovin' Mother Fo Ya,” and “Get a Leg Up” expressed alongside more socially conscious perspectives in things like “Rain on the Scarecrow,” “Love and Happiness,” and “Peaceful World,” often on the same album. In his latter-day works, including No Better Than This and Life, Love, Live, & Freedom, Mellencamp has moved from a rock/pop style toward more of a folk/alt.country sound, and while moments like “Love At First Sight” and “Don't Forget About Me” suggest he’s mellowed a bit in his carnal knowledge, others like “Jena” and “Troubled Land” demonstrate he’s as passionate as ever in voicing his sociopolitical views.

The one thing that could’ve made this gargantuan set even better—and certainly more comprehensive—is yet another disc, comprising previously released rarities, soundtrack cuts, and live tracks—covers of “Jailhouse Rock” (from Honeymoon in Vegas) and “Baby Please Don’t Go” (from Blue Chips); “Like a Rolling Stone” from Bob Dylan’s 30th Anniversary Concert—but such is but a negligible and perhaps gluttonous complaint. Nearly all of Mellencamp’s music is here, of course, and offering it en masse like this is a laudable feat.

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Review: Shelby Lynne - Thanks (EP)

Perhaps most people first heard of Shelby Lynne when she won a Best New Artist Grammy® on the strength of her 2000 LP, My Name is Shelby Lynne, despite the singer/songwriter having already been a music veteran with five albums and over a decade of experience under her belt. Those who were more familiar with her music likely saw her in much the same light, though, namely that with her dusty yet resilient voice and a Southern drawl betraying her Alabama roots, Lynne bridged country, rhythm and blues, and rock ‘n’ roll with sweeping, soulful conviction. 

Such a perception rings true as well on her new EP, Thanks (EVERSO Records), as optimism, whether in the guise of spiritual fulfillment or personal contentment, seems to serve as the common thread of its five songs. With its laid-on-the-line candor the countrified title track is a particular highlight, while “Walkin’” is full of enough gospel fervor to make even the most awkward, arrhythmic agnostics clap along with the spirit of a Sunday morning congregation.  

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Album Review: Gladys Knight - Another Journey

The greats forge their own way, not pander to what’s necessarily popular or trendy at any given moment. For those schooled in rhythm and blues, particularly, having the right songs and the goods to deliver them with conviction is what has always counted more than anything else. Such credentials are nothing new to Gladys Knight, who’s turned out some of the most potent soul classics of the past half century. At sixty-nine, her church-nurtured pipes still sound as urgent and uplifting as when she was leaving on that “Midnight Train to Georgia” forty years ago. 

And it’s that voice which redeems much of her latest album, Another Journey (CD Baby Records), despite moments of overwrought or otherwise ill-suited production. “Old School,” for instance, sounds like the very antithesis of its title, hearkening back to the golden age of Motown and Atlantic and Stax only in its lyrics, certainly not in its hip/hop beats or, worse, an unnecessary rap which seemingly takes up more time than the lady’s own lead vocal. “Searching for the Real Thing” succumbs to some of the same production indulgences but its basic groove, a bit reminiscent of “Love Overboard,” ultimately makes this one hard to resist. “Settle” offers a far better blend of modern flavor and retro vibe, while a lovely rendition of the Lee Ann Womack hit, “I Hope You Dance,” brims with a modest gospel passion. The best of the bunch here, however, is “The Dream,” on which Knight galvanizes an emboldening message and a nursery-rhyme-like melody with supreme command and enthusiasm, which when accompanied by a children’s choir amounts to one of this legend’s most exuberant performances indeed. 

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Album Review: Crossroads Guitar Festival 2013 (2CD)

In April of this year Eric Clapton staged his fourth Crossroads Guitar Festival over back-to-back days at Madison Square Garden, marking the first time the all-star benefit (in support of the Crossroads Centre at Antigua) was held in New York City. In another first, while all four festivals to date (including preceding ones from Dallas and twice from Chicago) are documented on assorted video formats, Crossroads 2013 is also chronicled on a double-disc live album. 

Having serious musical chops is no doubt the prime prerequisite to receiving Clapton’s invitation to this event. Yet even the most proficient artists seem to have upped their game when it came time to play, yielding standout performances from the likes of Gary Clark, Jr. (“When My Train Pulls In”), John Mayer and Keith Urban covering The Beatles (“Don’t Let Me Down”), and the Allman Brothers Band, Warren Hayes, and Derek Trucks covering Neil Young (“The Needle and the Damage Done”). Clapton seems to have upped his game as well, whether in shuffling cool through “Lay Down Sally” with Vince Gill or undulating the blues of “Key to the Highway” with Keith Richards. He summons his most potent moments, though, on Derek & The Dominoes classics “Got to Get Better in a Little While” and “Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad,” the latter with the Allmans. On the whole it’s a wonder that past Crossroads Festivals haven’t found their way onto live albums such as this, but Crossroads 2013 nevertheless has made for a most-enjoyable one.

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Review: Van Morrison - Moondance [Deluxe Edition]

Ask Van Morrison about Moondance and he’ll probably gripe about not making much of any money off the album. Ask anyone else even remotely familiar with the man’s music, though, and it’ll likely be cited as among his best, most beloved works. Released in 1970 it was Morrison’s third solo LP since leaving Them, containing such ultimately classic songs as “Crazy Love,” “And It Stoned Me,” “Caravan,” and the jazzy title track. A new, deluxe edition of Moondance sheds an in-depth and exhaustive light on its creation, yielding dozens of alternate takes as well as previously unreleased tracks and some newly produced remixes. For casual listeners the alternate takes, particularly, which comprise the bulk of what’s included, are too comparable to make this collection wholly worthwhile. Excluding blatant mistakes or abbreviated performances (which are also included), even casual fans would find it difficult to distinguish between many of these session takes from the sides that ultimately made the studio album proper, tougher still to cast a judgment on their most superior versions. 

This is for die-hard Morrison fans only. With that in mind this deluxe edition offers a great deal to appreciate, including the alternate takes, which even at their most similar yield insight as to Morrison’s perseverance and willpower in summoning exactly what he wanted out of himself and his band in order to deliver the album he sought to make. The previously unreleased material is (not surprisingly) the biggest goldmine here, however, led by the uptempo “I Shall Sing,” a cover of which was later a hit by Art Garfunkel. Other such highlights include a boogie-woogie outtake of the old blues chestnut penned by Jimmy Cox, “Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out,” and a revved-up and scorching 11-minute performance of “I’ve Been Working”—a less-than-four-minute version was ultimately released later the same year on His Band and The Street Choir—with Jack Schroer’s wailing sax complementing Morrison’s intense, barking vocal. An additional ten-minute version of the latter lacks the same fire. All in all, though, this set should rock the gypsy souls of the most faithful of Morrison followers.

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Album Review: Anna Rose - Behold a Pale Horse

Raised on classic rock with scores of stage and screen running in her blood, singer/songwriter Anna Rose embarked upon her musical career in earnest with her 2010 debut LP, Nomad, harvesting her formative influences with sleek, progressive-rock textures and earthier, more acoustic distinctions. A foundational album as much as a first one, Nomad was expansive enough so as to give her the latitude to expound upon it in any number of fashions on subsequent efforts. She suggested how brazenly she could embrace that latitude the following year on a stunning cover of Arcade Fire’s “My Body is a Cage,” translating an already tense and fretful confession into something more tempestuous and carnal in comparison.

On her recently released sophomore LP, Behold a Pale Horse (White Pony Records), Anna Rose continues to build on the promise of her debut while challenging her talent along the way. Her songwriting, particularly with regard to the melodic sophistication of pop-oriented songs like “Drive” and “Beautiful World” or the climactic title track, has developed more versatile and evocative dimensions. The same could be said of her singing, too, as such a diversity of songs necessitates that she approach her performances in equally varied ways. What most comes across, though, is her confidence, which she projects with bombshell bravado on “Electric Child” and “Because You’re Mine,” the former a blues-drenched, cabaret sort-of romp, while the latter is a riff-driven slowburner with thick, grimy guitars punctuating Anna Rose’s hot-blooded, come-hither vocal. Both songs are sexy as all hell, and the balance of release and restraint with which she sings them is phenomenal. All told, for an artist still in the early stages of her musical journey, she clearly knows where she’s headed and, more important, what it takes to get there. 

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Album Review: Paul McCartney - New

It makes sense that Paul McCartney has courted a decidedly youthful demographic in promoting his first album of original material in six years, New (Hear Music): by appearing on Hollywood Boulevard for a taping of Jimmy Kimmel Live, on a big rig in Times Square, or at Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Queens, the 71-year-old icon has appealed to audiences most likely attuned to the album’s precocious, experimental spirit.

In a way New recalls McCartney’s 2008 LP with The Fireman, Electric Arguments, particularly in how its most rambunctious pop rockers (“Queenie Eye,” “Everybody Out There”) fuse acoustic-rich foundations with techno-drenched loops and other similarly kooky effects. Some songs are more progressive than others (“Road,” “Appreciate”), but even the most seemingly straightforward, organic ones (“Early Days,” “Looking At Her”) are complemented with at-least-discreet effects. The album boasts four different producers (Paul Epworth, Mark Ronson, Giles Martin, Ethan Johns), yielding a bit of a hodgepodge disposition overall. The diversity works, though, not least because of the ageless enthusiasm and imagination McCartney exudes throughout.

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