My Favourite Albums 2012

Wait what? Where is your proper blog?  My beautiful flopearedmule.net is borked right now.  I have finally reached the end of my tolerance for the soul destroying suckhole which is Movable Type maintenance so I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it long term.   Meantime, Blogspot is still a thing who knew so I’m back IN EXILE at my old digs.

The Unrankable

Leonard Cohen -  Old Ideas & Bob Dylan - Tempest
There are a handful of artists whose new albums are not product to be ranked and dissected and assessed, they are new chapters -- scenes,  really -- in the unfolding of my life and do not require any further justification.  Even if they were objectively terrible albums (they are not!) it would be almost irrelevant 'cos me and Len and me and Bob, we are way beyond that, you know?   That said Old Ideas is truly superb and as good as Tempest is, I still think Bob's towering creative achievement of the year is probably that wild Mikal Gilmore Rolling Stone interview. A bravura performance, indeed.

According to Heck of a Guy this is the best version on video of "Going Home" performed by Len on the recent European/North American tour and I trust him.




& The Rest These are the first ones scribbled down as particularly memorable this year but there are other worthies which I may round up in a later post.

Le Fou  -- Zachary Richard     The veteran Cajun musician, poet and cultural activist has released his best album in years.  The songs are often socially charged, delivered via an infectious musical stew (some songs like "La musique des anges" are positively anthemic) and his warm voice.  It's basically entirely in French (I'm starting French beginner classes just after New Year at Alliance Française so check back to see if I hate it once I know what he's saying - joke!) but there are English translations on his site.  

Zachary Richard-Laisse le vent souffler. from CAR productions on Vimeo.

Hello Cruel World - Gretchen Peters   A really stunning album I reckon.  I have a fair few of her albums and I have always enjoyed them but this has really kicked things up to another level where the songs dig deeper than one expects with a real humanistic poetry all the way through, and which mesh perfectly with the beautifully executed music. 

Into the Bloodstream - Archie Roach
After a difficult couple of years for Archie by any measure - the death of Ruby Hunter and his own stroke - that this work is so full of life is a joy from a human and a music point of view.   The gospel choir running through works really well and Archie gets to show off a lot of range all through the record..
Speaking of Indigenous legends still gifting us with great music, Roger Knox has a record out early next year on a label that never puts a foot wrong, Bloodshot of Chicago.  I heard one track on a Bloodshot sampler and I simply cannot wait for it. 

El Gusto Soundtrack - Orchestre El Gusto A few years ago I randomly discovered Algerian chaabi (literally “folk”) which blends North African, Arabic and Andalusian music.  At the time I read about the concerts being staged in Europe reuniting the Muslim and Jewish chaabi musicians whp played together mid-century until the war of independence meant the Pieds-Noirs (Algerians of European origin) largely left.   The wonderful documentary  which lead to – literally – putting the band back together showed at the Sydney Film Festival earlier this year so I was excited to get to see it.   The soundtrack is fantastic, there’s something about that combination of styles which is irresistible, and being it is a real orchestra – like there are dozens of players on stage – the music has a real hard charging  force that carries you along.   FYI my favourite chaabi-style album is by Maurice le Medioni (who is in the film) and some Latin musicians called Descarga Oriental.

The Great Despiser - Joe Pug  Joe Pug is wonderful and adorable and I love him. This album is a semi-departure in that it has a full band behind it but the same calibre of songs full of beauty and humanity.

Ooh look, an official video. Fancy.

Boys and Girls - Alabama Shakes  Fantastic album of real deal rock n soul but I think they key to the Alabama Shakes might be seeing them live which happily I am scheduled to do in January when they play a (sold out) gig at the Metro.  I want to be Brittany Howard.

This One’s for Him - Various
Obligatory tribute album entry! Actually it's not obligatory since most of them are well meaning mediocrities, and while on this one also very little rises far above the originals in my mind (I admit I have an originalist prejudice for most songs) there is a comradely spirit about the project which envelopes me when I listen to it. And -- from the listener perspective -- the knowledge of long personal relationships between many of these people and Guy himself it manages to break out of the earnest sterility of most similar collections. Video is Suzy Bogguss "Instant Coffee Blues" - I'd say the best country song about a one night stand but honestly that's probably Tom T Hall "Tulsa Telephone Book", no?

Sing the Delta - Iris DeMent Geez it is just nice to have Iris back isn't it?

Everybody's Talkin' - Tedeschi Trucks Band  A live album double album. Smoking.

I Like to Keep Myself in Pain - Kelly Hogan File under instant classic, file under country-soul done right,  file under pour another merlot and turn down the lights and probably shed a tear.

Thankful n Thoughtful  - Bettye LaVette    “Everything is Broken” which opens this record is possibly the single entrant in my list of Dylan songs I actually think I prefer the cover of. I know.  For that truly historic achievement it needs to go here,  the rest is another highly satisfying slow burn soul powerhouse.   She definitively LaVetterises "Dirty Old Town". I expect it might be polarising but I dig it.  A link because they won't let me embed it grrrr. 

"I'm Dreaming" - Randy Newman  Randy didn't release an album this year but did make a song available for free download in time for the US election.  It makes me crack up regularly. It's interesting as per this interview that as it has come to pass he now has fans in the Toy Story-age demographic that he has to explain the satire in a way he didn't with, say, Good Old Boys.  The other thing Randy did this year was get elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class of 2013.  I guess since he met me last year it was the last honour he didn't already have. Grats Randy!

Norway or the Highway

Tom Russell's The Man from God Knows Where is a must have for all and it features a couple of Norwegian singers, Sondre Bratland and Kari Bremnes. Thanks to the miracle of eMusic, I recently started exploring their original Norwegian catalogues. I no speakee the Norskee and the lyrics are usually the main focus for me but I find I like their voices, delivery and the music so much I can’t stop listening.

Norwegian folk is not a million miles removed from the rhythms of, say, Celtic (memo: look that up) so it’s familiar enough to be immediately accessible and of course they just love their American country. Every roots/blues/country/folk mailing list I’ve ever been on has a high percentage of Scandinavians who have an encyclopedic knowledge of every B side and backing band line up change, as well as the most awesome collection of bootlegs and rarities. Want to find that only known copy of a 1983 college radio Steve Forbert interview? Ask a Swede.

Kirkelig Kulturverksted (translates as "Christian Arts Workshop" apparently,) the label The Man From ... is on, turned up on eMusic recently which allowed me to go to town. First I checked out Bratland and Bremnes since those were the names I knew. And then a whole heap of other albums were added including the "På Norsk" series. Norwegian tributes to Hank Williams, Kris Kristofferson, Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen.

Hank Williams På Norsk (at eMusic. at KKV. ) features Sondre Bratland, Vibeke Saugestad, Jonas Fjeld and Gunn Heidi Larsen and is currently my favourite, although there is much goodness on the others. On Hank, they stick pretty close to traditional sounds -- and when the lyrics are in a foreign language, you can really hear the simple beauty in familiar melodies. Sondre Bratland's "Eg Er Einsam Med Min Gråt" (I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry) in particular lingers. I don't know what "Styla Lada" means but its definitely the tune of "Jambalaya" and Gunn Heidi Larsen's icy crisp voice could cut glass. The spoken word track "Folk Med Knuste Blikk" (Men with Broken Hearts, I believe) loses a bit through the language barrier but, hey, that's my fault not theirs.

It's legally digitally downloadable from the above sources, although through the KKV its DRM'd and locked to Windows Media (which leaves out me on a Mac). If you object to downloading (FXH!), good luck finding a hard copy.

Renaissance Man

Kris Kristofferson once quipped, "I think between us, Bill Clinton and I have settled any lingering myths about the brilliance of Rhodes scholars," but as this delightful 1959 profile in TIME shows he wasn't wasting his time at Oxford.

The ancient seat of learning has seen far too much to be startled by the carryings-on of its scholars. Just the same, a 22-year-old Rhodes scholar from California's Pomona College has aroused a certain mild wonder at Oxford University's Merton College. Blond Kristoffer Kristofferson is a modest, husky (5 ft. 11 in., 165 lbs.) youth, and had he stuck quietly to his study of English literature, chances are that few of his Oxford friends would have discovered what an uncommon sort was swallowing their tea.

I even forgive him for playing yawnion.

Rosanne Cash

January 8th Update: A really enjoyable night. I've always admired Rosanne Cash for her honest, pragmatic and wry (see ie her Mrs L's Monthly column), she is a very warm presence on stage too. The show opened with an excerpt from a short film about her called "Mariners and Musicians," which is also screening as part of the Sydney Festival. There were two others throughout the show, the Daily Tele today described them as "schmaltzy" but I thought they were very well done and moving. And since collectively they only took up about five minutes of the entire 1hr 45min show, were a befitting addition to a show based around the heavily autobiographical Black Cadillac.

Bruce Elder (who was sitting behind me) made a sort-of interesting point (I know! ) in the Herald this morning, not online.

Last year, two very gifted female singer-songwriters, both with iconic country music fathers who had recently died, recorded albums about their sense of loss and the love they had for their fathers. On Saturday night, the American daughter was on stage. The Australian daughter was in the audience. The women in question are Rosanne Cash, daughter of Johnny Cash, and Anne Kirkpatrick, daughter of Slim Dusty.

If you want an example of Australian cultural cringe writ large, and the continuing musical howlers that seem to be a regular part of the Sydney Festival, there can be no finer example. Even Leo Schofield's sad errors of judgement about world music, when he was festival director, were never as cringe-worthy as this.

The review of the show (the one that was actually on, not the one that wasn't) which follows is pretty positive. It is an interesting point although I'm not entirely convinced, it isn't necessary to say Rosanne Cash shouldn't have been presented in order to champion Anne Kirkpatrick. And is one of the jobs of the Sydney Festival not to bring in arts from around the world? Maybe not, I confess to being a bit confused by its exact role in these areas. Presumably you can find Australian counterparts to every act in the thing -- where are the fringe events that usually accompany these official cultural displays?

Anyway. Bruce also says "[b]ut Cash is not an animated performer and she failed to excite the po-faced festival audience." This from the man who calls Dwight Yoakam charisma-less, so we can safely dismiss his opinion about what is and is not "animated." Still its true that the State Theatre doesn't lend itself to rowdy crowd behaviour. I was very engaged by the show but sat mostly passively in my Row G seat and only occasionally let loose with something more than clapping because ... I'd feel like a goose doing otherwise. You're not allowed to stand, not allowed to be at front of stage. I always feel a bit sorry for the performers in places like this, not alot of audience feedback to draw off. So, an unfair criticism. Put her at the Bald Faced Stag at 1am on a Saturday and we'll see some excitement!!

Brucie is absolutely correct in another comment though that the sound quality was the best he's heard at the State, it was pristine so we got to her voice in all its glory. I was hoping to see hubby and ace producer John Levanthal in the band but the three she had with her were faultless. Other than the Black Cadillac numbers, there were one or two older hits and a number from a list of "100 Essential Country Songs" her father gave her as a teenager -- personal favourite Sea of Heartbreak, Tennessee Flat Top Box, Wayfaring Stranger and a rather wonderful and surprising Ode to Billy Joe. I'll have some more words about Black Cadillac when I do my Best of 2006 this week.


Another Aussie blog review.
Lynden Barber in The Australian

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Orrighty. I'm off now to see her at the State Theatre.

"House on the Lake" from the new album:



And an older fave, "Runaway Train." All very eighties (noice perm!) but I do have a soft spot for it.

Oh Six

My other bloghaunt Hickory Wind has a combined contributors' Best of 2006 album list. It's a small sample so Bobby gets number 1 with just the two votes but we'll all be posting individually on our lists daily which should flesh it out a bit. Larry kicked us off and I'm last, due January 13th.

Oh Seven

Very exciting double bill in Sydney in a few weeks. Mary Gauthier and Steve Young at the Harp on the 18th. I saw Steve, ah, must be at least six years ago now at the old Three Weeds in Rozelle (gone now, right?) and have been enjoying Mary Gauthier for a few years. Danke Harvest Fest for bringing them out.

Jim Lauderdale is coming out for Tamworth (where I won't be this year, alas) but the only Sydney gig thus far is The Basement which is fine, but as part of a Tamworth Showcase thing which .... no offence to Adam Harvey but I'd rather see a full Lauderdale show.