By
Published: 2005
Category: Beyond Classification [3]
Summer Listening, 2005
Surf's up. Top down. Time to crank up the radio.
But you won't be getting a new Beach Boys CD, or even the Rolling Stones "Miss You" blasting through your speakers --- this summer's hits are by Mariah Carey, Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears, Kelly Clarkson and the Backstreet Boys.
Thanks. I'll pass.
Pop music is at an all-time low, I would suggest, because the culture is stalled and there's a lot we're not allowing ourselves to feel and the suits at the labels just don't care about anyone over 16 --- despite the fact that most music is bought by adults.
Well, their stupidity is Butler's opportunity. Here is summer music --- atmospheric, sexy, new to you. Great music, all of it in heavy rotation at Butler's crib. Try a few. See if you don't agree. If not...well, you tell me if the Kelly Clarkson is actually better than these.
Matthew Ryan, [4] Regret Over the Wires: Was it something I didn't say? I thought I praised this guy to the skies --- maybe I shouldn't have said 'singer/songwriter.' The facts: These are exuberant, romantic, idealistic songs, with sharp lyrics and a band set on 'stun.' I thank God I don't have an iPod Shuffle; I need to hear this at least once a day. So will you. But first you have to buy it.
Junior Wells, [5] Hoodoo Man Blues: Chicago blues, down and dirty, and as good as it gets. This is a singer every father wants far away from his daughter, a harmonica player who can kill with a single lick, and one of the greater bands ever assembled. Whiskey and women never sounded like a better idea than on this CD.
Emmylou Harris, [6] Red Dirt Girl: She's not 'country' and she's sure not 'pop.' Call this 'roots music' --- songs that come from the South, but speak more to common than regional concerns. But if you didn't understand a word of English, this CD would be just as good: Emmylou is the Voice of America.
Buddy Miller, [7] United Universal House of Prayer: Buddy Miller is Emmylou's guitarist, the guy who gets to sing 'Love Hurts' with her. On his own, he's a high lonesome shouter who writes great love and break-up songs and launches them on scorching guitar riffs. This CD is different: white gospel, honest as a dying man's confession but much more enjoyable.
J.J. Cale [8]: A back porch in Oklahoma. A man lazily playing guitar and singing country funk with a deep groove. Sounds like a formula. The only problem is: Nobody but J.J. Cale knows the ingredients. He wrote 'After Midnight' and 'Cocaine' --- did he ever write a dud? Warning: After you fall in love with 'The Best Of,' you'll go on to buy many more Cale CDs.
Jann Arden, [9] Living Under June: A neglected, or, more correctly, unknown classic (except in her native Canada, where they erect statues of Arden). A great songwriter, a gifted singer: a potent combination. Not a clinker on the CD. And the Jackson Browne duet --- swoon.
Roxy Music, [10] Avalon: The party's over, the staff's gone home, it's just the two of you, in dinner jacket and evening gown, and half a bottle of champagne still to kill. This is the music of those glamour hours, when the world narrows and no one's taking notes. (PS. This night ends very happily.)
Billy Idol, [11] Greatest Hits: Stairmaster music. Dance in your underwear music. Sing in the car music. Jim Morrison with a kickass beat music. And, at the same time, safe as milk. But always great fun. Because, hey, it really is a 'nice day for a white wedding.'
Alexi Murdoch, [12] Four Songs: Cute kid goes camping, sings some songs, cuts his own CD. And it sells and sells on the Internet. As it should: Murdoch specializes in sensitive and hypnotic. The NPR crowd is mad for him. Another reason to save NPR.
Warren Zevon [13]: The Eagles sold so many copies of 'Hotel Califonia' they could buy every hotel in the state. Warren Zevon's first CD is a better record about Los Angeles --- more interesting, ironic, bitter, funny. Think Elvis Costello with terrific harmonies.
Aretha Franklin, [14] Spirit in the Dark: Forget her hits. Focus on her virtuosity at the piano. And her happiness --- new husband, new baby. This great CD ranges from the gutteral to the glorious; it's an epic performance. But always utterly human: 'Oh no, not my baby.'
Ben Harper & The Blind Boys of Alabama, [15] There Will Be a Light: Imagine a 1930s gospel record, somehow recorded using the latest equipment. That would be this CD. Harper wrote most of the songs; who knew he could? The Blind Boys sound as if they've always been backed by a band this hot. This is exciting, foot-tapping, shake-it-don't-fake-it stuff.
Sandy Bull, [16] Re-Inventions: In the early 1960s, Sandy Bull was playing instruments that George Harrison was only beginning to dream of. More, he had mastered them. This CD is an astonishing tribute to ten fingers and massive talent. Great background music. But even greater when it hooks you, and you lean in, and you just go with that rumbling electric guitar or that sparkling banjo.
The Wailers, [17] Catch a Fire: It doesn't have Bob Marley's name at the front, and that says everything: This is a group effort. And what a group! The original Wailers were Rastafarian angels, and this, their first international release, is perhaps their best --- a mindbending hymn to ganja, steamy sex and an apocalypse right out of the Book of Revelations.
Cesaria Evora [18]: Could she be the greatest female singer in the world? I think so. I know not a word of Portugese, but language is no barrier; these are songs of love and loss, and it's completely clear which is which. Don't be fooled by her 'relaxed' delivery --- she's as intelligently calculating as Sinatra.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, [19] Devotional and Love Songs. He came from 600 years of singers; he was the one who made the West appreciate this powerful, call-and-response music. He could shout like Van Morrison, dispense ecstasy like a drug. Jeff Buckley heard him and gushed: 'I felt a rush of adrenaline in my chest, like I was on the edge of a cliff, wondering when I would jump and how will the ocean catch me.' Late at night, when all is quiet, Nusrat will, very simply, help you lose --- that is, misplace --- your mind. And then he will return it, holier and happier.
Gabrieli Consort, [20] A Venetian Coronation: Five hundred years before man learned how to mix sound, Gabrieli positioned his singers and musicians so the music came from every direction. His composition is just as satisfying; this stirring experience makes you wish the Renaissance would come around again.