Category Archives: Out and About

B-Sides in the Bins #31 – Zzz Records – Des Moines, IA 9/23/08

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Sherry was attending a skin care conference in Des Moines, so I took the day off and drove her there. While she was in the class I visted Zzz Records (424 E. Locust Street, Downtown Des Moines), I’d been meaning to get to that store for a while, so I was pleased to have the opportunity. Zzz Records has been in existence since 2000 and is in its second location. Apparently it will be moving again on November 1st to 2200 Ingersoll. Zzz Records, also hosts a record show that I’ve been meaning to get to. The next one is December 7th, so mark your calendars.

As far as record stores go, Zzz is one of the better ones I’ve been to. They have a decent-sized used CD area at the front of the store that unfortunately on a warm afternoon seems like a greenhouse. They carry a good selection of new CD’s and LP’s as well. The used selection is pretty amazing. They split the record bins into sections by genre, with a very impressive New Wave/Alternative/Punk section towards the back of the store. I spent two hours there and came out with some cool pieces. Not as much used as I had expected, but I was keeping myself to a budget and the new LP’s ate into my ability to load up on used.

The Tourists – Luminous Basement (LP, Epic NJE 36757, 1980)($4.00) Promo-stamped by CBS. This one kind of took me by surprise. They also had Reality Effect which was a compilation of the Tourists’ first two albums. The Tourists are notable as being the pre-Eurythmics band for Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart. My friend Michelle’s brother Lynn had this LP as well as the posthumous Should Have Been Greatest Hits. A cassette of these two records used to be a staple in my car in high school. The Tourists existed from 1977 – 1980 and had a number of minor hits in the UK and a very low charting (#83) single of their cover of “I Only Want To Be With You” originally recorded by Dusty Springfield. Luminous Basement was their last proper album and shows Lennox and Stewart stepping into writing their own material. Lennox’s “One Step Nearer the Edge” is one of the best tracks on the record. The Stewart-penned “Let’s Take A Walk” and the Lennox/Stewart “From the Middle Room” are pretty good as well. Amazon has some really questionable pricing on this from some resellers starting at $48 and going to $72.95 for one that still has the cellophane on it. A cool record that reminds me of hanging out at Michelle’s listening to records.

Simple Minds – “Promised You A Miracle”/”The Miracle (Dub Version)”/”The American” 3 Tune EP (12″, A&M SP-12057, 1982)($3.00) I’ve sort of become a collector of Simple Minds vinyl from this period. BJ’s Music World in Dubuque had a bunch of import Simple Minds in a closeout bin that I purchased one day in the 80’s that included a number of 12″es. Ever since then when I spot a really nice piece, I buy it. Last December I picked up New Gold Dream at Reckless in Chicago, which I consider to pretty much be their pinnacle release. I know that 1985’s Once Upon A Time was really the one that pushed them into the charts with the singles “All The Things She Said,” “Alive and Kicking,” and “Sanctify Yourself,” but I really like the stripped down version of Simple Minds on this album (minus the female member of the band). This record is the A&M pressing of the “Promised You A Miracle” 12″ from Virgin. Super clean copy.

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Easy Tiger (LP, Lost Highway 34410, 2007)($11.34) When I saw the price on this one, I needed to buy it. I’d seen this at other record stores for over $15. This is the interesting orange vinyl record in the plastic sleeve with the picture of Ryan in a lion mask. Cool pressing, great album. Much more focused than the three releases from the previous year, in my opinion. The vinyl pressing– which came out after the CD release– credits the album to Ryan Adams & The Cardinals rather than just Ryan Adams. I’m not sure why the CD release ended up not crediting the rest of the band.

Ryan Adams – Rock N Roll (LP, Lost Highway 61004, 2003) ($11.34) Another one that seemed like a good price. This is really the album that got me into Ryan Adams to begin with. I know that most of the Ryan Adams fans don’t like this album– and there’s the whole Courtney Love accusing Ryan of stealing money from Frances Bean to make the album and the whole drug use. Apparently he was influenced by the Strokes and he even has a song called “This Is It” on it (which might be a flip on the Strokes album Is This It). Apparently, he has in recent years said that he made the worst record he could in Rock N Roll. Well, I really like it, and it seems to be the only Ryan Adams album my wife will listen to other than parts of Love is Hell (which was recorded around the same time. I guess this is the beginning of my Ryan Adams on vinyl collection.

Zzz Records also sells record flats for $1 apiece. I picked up a record flat for Beck’s Modern Guilt. (actually, I picked up two of them). I also bought some LP mailers.

What I didn’t buy: I almost picked up a fricken MINT copy Suitcase Full of Blues by the Blues Brothers. In fact, I’m still kind of kicking myself for not picking this up. I also considered the Smithereens rare Live EP that is on Enigma on CD.

Lyrics Born Cancels Fall Tour to Campaign For Obama

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Yesterday Lyrics Born announced via his website, MySpace Page and Facebook yesterday that he is canceling the previously announced tour dates for this Fall, that I reported on to focus on assisting with the Presidential campaign for Barack Obama. Lyrics Born posts from his website,

Get up, get into it, get involved.

It’s no secret that the world is in a state of crisis right now. Due to the past 8 years of political blunder, unbridled greed, and international insensitivity, we have created a grab-bag of inexcusable local and global catastrophes.

We have the opportunity to change that this November. Hands-down, I see this as the most important election of my lifetime thus far. For that reason, I have decided to postpone my tour and do what I can to help people focus on the upcoming election and voting for Barack Obama.

I have always been grateful for my supporters who make the effort to come see me, and as much as I love touring, traveling, and performing, this is far more important right now. I apologize if I have caused you any inconvenience and I would humbly ask that whatever you would, or already have spent in money and/or time, please donate to the Obama campaign. On my end, I will be lending my time, talent, and support by playing benefits, and participating in other grass roots events in an effort to ensure his presidency.

Again, as I thank you and express my appreciation for your loyal support through the years, I do not want anything I do to distract people from the importance of voting in the upcoming election. We all need to be focused on change from here on out, and this is how I choose to take aim. Once again, ride with me peoples.

LB

I confirmed with Lyrics Born’s managment that all announced dates have been postponed until next year.

It’s pretty clear that this election is an important one with what seems to be more outpouring of activism than any I’ve seen in my lifetime. Whatever the political affiliation, it’s heartening to hear of the individual sacrifices that people are making to support what they believe in.

B-Sides in the Bins #30 – Chicago – 9/12/08

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Jazz Record Mart, Chicago

My wife and a friend of hers wanted to go to Chicago for a Gluten-Free Cooking Conference. This left her friend Sharon’s husband Bob and I with lots of time on our hands. Bob Najouks is one of the Sunday morning jocks on Kirkwood College’s Jazz and Blues station KCCK, so I thought a trip to the infamous Jazz Record Mart was in order. I hadn’t been to JRM in over two years so it was time for me to come back and Bob had never been there!

This weekend was wet. Lots of rain dumping on Chicagoland from Hurricane/Tropical Storm Ike pulled out of the Gulf of Mexico. Friday was blessed with small spots of light-to-no rain so hoofing it around downtown was an okay proposition. Our plans after breakfast was to hit Jazz Record Mart, lunch, and then to hit the Art Institute of Chicago then call it a day.

Bob teaches sketching classes at Kirkwood currently, but– in addition to his radio gig– also is a freelance artist. In the early 60’s he did some cover art for Franz Jackson who passed away in May. JRM had a number of still-sealed copies of Good Old Days by Franz Jackson and the Original Jass All-Stars (Pinnacle Recordings: PLP 109) that Bob did the cover art for, which was a neat dose of kismet. Bob picked up a copy to play– he still had the original 1965 pressing of the album at home.

Gorilla – Deal With It (CD, Thrill Jockey, Thrill 003-2, 1993)($5.99) Interesting find. Not Jazz-related at all. The third release on Thrill Jockey from back in the day. The mailing address was New York, so this is before Bettina moved to her current Chicago digs. Seattle Grunge band, I guess. Sounds very early-Nineties. Kind of punk, kind of retro 60’s sound with organ. Not great, but not horrible, really. Mostly a collector piece for me. It would appear that while the CD for this is very much out-of-print, the LP is still available?

George Freeman – Birth Sign (CD, Delmark, DD-424, 1993)($13.99) My first non-Thrill Jockey related Delmark purchase. This was playing on the stereo in the store while I was checking out and I impulse-purchased. George Freeman is the guitar-playing brother of tenor sax player Von Freeman (apparently the more famous of the two). Birth Sign is his debut album. Great album of Hammond-B3 fueled jazz typical of the late 60’s.

John Coltrane – Blue Train (LP, Blue Note, BST-91577, 1993)($11.99) This is the CEMA/Capitol Special Products pressing of the seminal Blue Note release. I own this on CD as well. In fact, my CD pressing of this is on 24-karat gold UltraDisc II from Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab. This is the album that broke open the gates of jazz for me.

Jeff Parker – The Relatives (LP, Thrill Jockey, Thrill 129, 2005) ($12.99) Wow, a really cool and rare find! The vinyl for this release has been out-of-print for a while, as is usually the case from Thrill Jockey vinyl. According to the price sticker, this has been in the bin since its release. Jazz Record Mart carries most of the Thrill Jockey releases, but it seems that a lot of the clientèle there don’t follow this label, which accounts for the fact that this release is still in the bins. I saw a couple of other rare TJ releases as well. Maybe I’ll come for them later.

The Dave Brubeck Quartet – Jazz: Red Hot and Cool (LP, Columbia, CL 699, 1954) ($3.99) This is an upgrade for me. My first copy was in pretty good shape, but this one is in much better shape and comes with the original Columbia paper inner-sleeve! The record is in immaculate shape and the cover is also very beautiful. I had never noticed before today that the vivid photograph of a young Brubeck entertaining a young, smoking (literally) woman leaning on his piano was taken by none other than Richard Avedon! Avedon, who died in 2004, took some famous shots of the Beatles and Marilyn Monroe as well as the well-known picture of Nastassja Kinski with a python.

All-in-all a good trip and it was cool to be there with a jazz afficianado. Bob and I will be back, I think.

Upcoming Shows: Wye Oak in Iowa City and… Dubuque?

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Wye Oak is back with another attempt to play Iowa City’s Mill. You may recall that they were scheduled to play the Mill back on June 15th in a bill that had Thrill Jockey new signings Pontiak. Your’s truly was to go and cover this, but the Floods of 2008 (as it will become known) prevented both the bands and me from getting to Iowa City. The route that the Iowa DOT was recommending to get to town took you over 200 miles out-of-the-way!

So, true to their word, Wye Oak is coming back to Iowa City– again at the Mill— on Wednesday 9/17 in a lineup that has Rock Plaza Central headlining and The Lonelyhearts opening.

More interesting than the Mill show (at least to me) is the fact that Wye Oak will be playing at Isabella’s in Dubuque, IA (my other hometown) on Saturday 9/10. Isabellas is a COZY little bar in the basement of the posh-ish Ryan House Restaurant. Since Wye Oak is a two-piece, they would fit on the little stage at the far end of the bar. But, the bar itself probably only holds 100 people or so– it would be a snug affair for certain!

Download four songs from If Children by Wye Oak

See a bunch of live videos of Wye Oak on YouTube

High Places – 03/07 – 09/07 (Review) & Upcoming Show

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The High Places’ first release on Thrill Jockey is a collection of singles and hard-to-find tracks leading up to their signing. This release stands as an introduction to the collaboration of Robert Barber and Mary Pearson. Barber provides a babbling brook of cut-and-paste drum circle riddims propelling the paper boats of Pearson’s innocent iko-ikoish jumprope chants. Daycare psychedelica for the Thomas the Tank Engine set, if you will.

At times the at once atmospheric and Caribbean feel of the songs reminds me of my favorite parts of Adventures in the Ultraworld by the Orb.

The cover art used in this release is exactly the same as the band’s 2007 High Places EP 7″ (only 300 made) on Ancient Almanac that earned an impressive 8.2 at Pitchfork. All four songs from that EP are represented here along with some harder to find tracks including “Jump In” which was a song commissioned for an elementary school music program. It seems to me that this band isn’t entirely inappropriate to play for the little ones, in fact, and certainly a bit more interesting that some of the kid fodder dolled out today.

The band is currently on tour gearing up for their self-titled release on 9/23. You can hear two songs– “Golden” and “From Stardust to Sentience” from that release if you visit the band’s MySpace page. They also have some downloads available, too.They will be stopping in Grinnell College at Bob’s Underground Cafe on Thursday, 9/25 and at The Mill in Iowa City on Friday, 9/26 where they will be with Ponytail and Wet Hair.

Sep 6 2008 8:00P
FREE! East Village Radio Music Festival at South St. Seaport New York, New York
Sep 11 2008 8:00P
Le Poisson Rouge w/ Crystal Slits, Breathe Owl Breathe, Deastro New York, New York
Sep 16 2008 9:00P
Brillobox Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Sep 17 2008 8:00P
Grog Shop Cleveland, Ohio
Sep 18 2008 8:00P
The DAAC Grand Rapids, Michigan
Sep 19 2008 8:00P
Forward Festival w/ Dan Deacon Madison, Wisconsin
Sep 20 2008 8:00P
Pygmalion Fest @ Krannert Center w/ Yo La Tengo Champaign-Urbana, Illinois
Sep 23 2008 8:00P
Record Release Show at AV-aerie Chicago, Illinois
Sep 24 2008 8:00P
Triple Rock Social Club Minneapolis, Minnesota
Sep 25 2008 8:00P
Grinnell College w/ Ponytail, Wet Hair Grinnell, Iowa
Sep 26 2008 8:00P
The Mill w/ Ponytail, Wet Hair, Peaking Lights Iowa City, Iowa
Sep 27 2008 8:00P
Rhinoceropolis w/ Ponytail Denver, Colorado
Sep 29 2008 8:00P
Kilby Court w/ Ponytail Salt Lake City, Utah
Sep 30 2008 8:00P
Badlander w/ Ponytail Missoula, Montana
Oct 2 2008 8:00P
Nectar w/ Ponytail Seattle, Washington
Oct 3 2008 8:00P
Department of Safety Anacortes, Washington
Oct 4 2008 8:00P
Richards on Richards w/ Ponytail Vancouver, British Columbia
Oct 6 2008 8:00P
Backspace w/ Ponytail Portland, Oregon
Oct 8 2008 8:00P
Bottom of the Hill w/ Ponytail San Francisco, California
Oct 10 2008 8:00P
The Smell w/ Ponytail Los Angeles, California
Oct 12 2008 8:00P
Modified Arts w/ Ponytail Phoenix, Arizona
Oct 15 2008 8:00P
Emo’s Austin, Texas

Listen to Head Spins

High Places MySpace Page

High Places Blog

Upcoming Show: Tortoise at UW Madison Memorial Terrace 9/27/08

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Tortoise recently announced some upcoming dates to their slowly-building tour. One date of particular interest to us here at playbsides is the September 27th show at the University of Madison’s Memorial Terrace.

When I inquired about the availability of tickets the Student Union said that the show is part of the “Snake on the Lake Festival” which runs from 3PM to Midnight. The event is free but is intended for UW-Madison students, faculty, staff and Union members and their guests. This festival is put on by the Union and WSUM.

So, if you aren’t any of those or know anyone who is, you can join the UW Union as a member for 1 year for $50. You’ll need to bring your membership card to the show and you can bring guests. So, I’m thinking of joining and splitting the fee with a couple of friends who are big Tortoise fans.

According to Muzzle of Bees, other acts that have confirmed are Damien Jurado, Awesome Color, Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, El Valiente, and Pistols at Dawn.

Tortoise has been playing three new songs in their setlists which appear to be the same songs they debuted at the Thrill Jockey 15 show last December. The titles are “Korg”, “Glow,” and “Coffin.” It remains to be seen whether these will be the actual titles when these are released or if they are just what they’re calling them on the setlists.

B-Sides in the Bins #29 – Boston – Newbury Comics 7/31/08

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My last business trip to Boston was happily full of music between seeing Sheryl Crow and getting to run to Newbury Comics before dinner the next night. Thankfully, the restaurant we were going to was just down the street from Newbury Comics. I had hit their website before we went out and they had listed in their Top 100 Vinyl Records sale that Beck’s new album Modern Guilt was on sale as was Endtroducing by DJ Shadow. I was disappointed to find out that these were apparently on-line only, and not in-store. I still picked up a couple of records, though.

Beck – Modern Guilt (LP, DGC Records B0011630-01, 2008) ($14.99) This album just begged to be released on vinyl– from its retro Blue Note-looking sleeve, to the production by Danger Mouse– so I was happy when they announced its release. The record is a hefty 180g slab, and there is a sheet included with lyrics and credits. In addition there is a code to download 320Kbps mp3’s of the album that were ripped from vinyl! I downloaded them promptly and compared them to my other 320Kbps rip from CD. Before the first track “Orphans” you get a needle drop sound and after the last track of side one “Youthless” sound of the needle lifting again. This is repeated for “Walls” and “Volcano” on side two. Cute. The coupon says “This higher quality sound has been taken directly from the vinyl playback — offering a broader sound spectrum to enhance your audio experience.” Well, I don’t know about that. It’s a pretty good rip, but even 320Kbps is compressed. They should have offered .wav’s if they wanted to maintain the fidelity. I read a lot of reviewers complaining about Modern Guilt dismissing it as Beck fronting Gnarls Barkley and other really clever criticisms. This is probably my favorite Beck album next to Sea Change which was another misunderstood Beck album.

Arbouretum/Pontiak – Kale (LP, Thrill Jockey Thrill 201, 2008) ($12.99) This is an interesting release in that the only physical media will be vinyl. Thrill Jockey, consistant with all of their vinyl releases in the last year also includes a coupon for a free mp3 download which is great. BTW: all of the mp3 downloads from the Thrill Jockey store are 320Kbps, so there is someone there who gets it. This is a split release between Arbouretum and Pontiak. This is the third release for both bands. I saw Arbouretum at the Thrill Jockey 15 shows last December and was floored by their live performance and their 2007 release Rites of Uncovering is in regular rotation for me. Both bands try their hand at covering John Cale songs in amongst original songs. Arobouretum tackles “Buffalo Ballet” from Cales very influential and groundbreaking 1974 album Fear. “Buffalo Ballet” is a beautiful song and Arbouretum’s take on it leaves it pretty much in tact other than adding some sludgy distortion goodness to it. (Note to self: go buy Fear) Pontiak takes on two songs “The Endless Plain of Fortune” from Cale’s brilliant Paris 1919 album from 1973 and “Mr. Wilson” from the 1975 follow up to Fear, Slow Dazzle. The original tracks for both bands are great and stand up well against their recent releases. I especially dig the track “Green Pool” from Pontiak in which the slapback echo vocals ride the wave of a circular guitar line and slinky bass to a crest that fits nicely next to their very delicate take on “Mr. Wilson.” “Green Pool” ends waaaay too soon. I hope they jam a bit more than the 3:27 lets them do in a live setting.

I’m still bummed that Pontiak didn’t make their show in Iowa City due to the floods. I’m hoping they’ll be back soon.

Upcoming Show: Backyard Tire Fire @ The Picador 9/10/08

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Backyard Tire Fire is a band I’d heard of, but never searched out. So, it was cool that the band’s manager reached out to me via MySpace last week to be a friend. I gave a listen to some of the songs on their page and checked out the streaming songs from their upcoming album on their website, too.

The guys from Backyard Tire Fire are from Bloomington, Illinois which is next to Normal, where I spent part of my childhood and one of my brothers was born there in the early Seventies while my dad worked at General Electric. Not that this makes them my neighbor, but they might be the only band I’ve ever heard of from there.

I bought and downloaded from mp3.rhapsody.com Tire Fire’s 2007 release Vagabonds and Hooligans in an acceptible 256K rip. The band delivers a confident mix of Americana-leaning rock with Indie sensibilities. Across the album we are offered glimpses of the bands influences– “Green Eyed Soul” comes off like an early Wilco track, “Tom Petty” draws a bit from Tom Petty. The Black Crowes could stand to write a soulful ballad like “The Wrong Hand.” But, to break Backyard Tire Fire down to comparisons misses the fact that it is a strong album from a band that is growing with every release.

In a time when bands that tour as much as Backyard Tire Fire does tend to wait a while between releases, it’s a bit surprising to see that they are releasing the followup to Vagabonds and Hooligans at the end of this month (August 26th) titled The Places We Lived. The three songs streaming from their website and MySpace page shows the promise of another great release. According to the press info on their website, the band holds true to an analog asthetic preferring to record with tape over ProTools. The logical The There will be a vinyl version of this album as well!

The band is getting ready for a run of late-summer Midwestern dates in support of the release that will run through the end of September. Here are the dates as of today from their MySpace page.

Aug 13 2008 9:00P
Lucky Aces – Ed Anderson acoustic Le Roy, Illinois
Aug 16 2008 9:00P
J Bucks – Ed Anderson acoustic Bloomington, Illinois
Aug 20 2008 9:00P
Official TPWL Chicago Listening Party – Alive One! Chicago, Illinois
Aug 21 2008 9:00P
Highdive Champaign
Aug 22 2008 9:00P
Paulie’s – w/ Dirty Hands Band Bloomington, Illinois
Aug 23 2008 9:00P
Paulie’s – w/ Company of Thieves & Peter Adriel Bloomington, Illinois
Aug 28 2008 7:00P
Kiss the Sky – BTF acoustic instore Geneva, Illinois
Aug 31 2008 10:15P
Strip Mines Music Festival – Shawnee Cave – Strip Mines Music Festival Murphysboro, Illinois
Sep 5 2008 8:00P
Metro w/ Ha Ha Tonka Chicago, Illinois
Sep 10 2008 7:30P
The Picador w/ Ha Ha Tonka Iowa City, Iowa
Sep 11 2008 7:00P
The Rave w/ Ha Ha Tonka & Blueheels Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Sep 12 2008 8:00P
The Annex w/ Ha Ha Tonka & Blueheels Madison, Wisconsin
Sep 13 2008 9:00P
7th Street Entry w/ Ha Ha Tonka Minneapolis, Minnesota
Sep 17 2008 7:00P
Blue Note Summerfest w/ Avett Bros & Ha Ha Tonka Columbia, Missouri
Sep 18 2008 8:00P
Record Bar w/ Ha Ha Tonka Kansas City, Missouri
Sep 19 2008 9:00P
Josie’s w/ Ha Ha Tonka Emporia, Kansas
Sep 20 2008 7:00P
Lucas School House w/ Ha Ha Tonka St. Louis, Missouri
Sep 24 2008 8:00P
Grog Shop w/ Ha Ha Tonka Cleveland, Ohio
Sep 25 2008 8:00P
The Basement w/ Ha Ha Tonka Columbus, Ohio
Sep 26 2008 8:00P
Spin w/ Ha Ha Tonka Indianapolis, Indiana
Sep 27 2008 7:00P
Southgate House w/ Ha Ha Tonka Newport, Kentucky

The band will be in Iowa City at the Picador on September 10th. The show is at 7:30PM so maybe it will get over early enough for me to do a mid-week show. Opening is Ha Ha Tonka who did a Daytrotter session in July. Tickets are $7 and if you order them in advance you get a signed poster of the album art you can pick up at the show.

There are a lot of places to stream or download content for Backyard Tire Fire.

They did a session for the kind folks at Daytrotter in March with some new material.

Click Here to download a FREE EP called Sick of Debt (a zip file of mp3’s)

Click Here to download live shows of the band from archive.org

Click Here to stream Vagabonds and Hooligans at Indie911

Click Here to download an in-studio recording with My Old Kentucky Blog from last year.

Click Here to visit their MySpace page which has six tracks from The Places We Lived.

Sheryl Crow Live In Boston 7/30/08 (Review)

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Sheryl Crow
I was in Boston this week for business and had the opportunity to see Sheryl Crow live at the very nice Bank of America Pavilion in Boston. It was a beautiful evening and the chance to see a show outdoors at night was great. The seemingly largely female audience was entertained by James “You’re Beautiful” Blunt and legendary Reggae/Ska act Toots and the Maytals. Overlong dinner plans caused the group I was with to miss all of Toots’s show and mercifully most of Blunt’s show. I did get to hear “Beautiful” as well as his newer single “1973” which seemed unexpectedly full of energy for the weepy folkster. He was standing on his piano and running through the audience. BTW: “1973” quotes “I Can See Clearly Now” which Crow drops in a song later in the evening.

In a fashion similar to the Detours album, Sheryl opened the set with a solo acoustic performance of “God Bless This Mess.” The band joined and provided a rocking set of Sheryl’s catalog– covering a good balance of her big hits and songs from her new album.

Admittedly, I was a bit skeptical about this show. I knew she put on a good live show but her last two albums– the country influenced Wildflowers and her latest Detours which is a personal account of the last three years of her life– have been a departure from her typical releases and certainly from the sunkissed C’mon C’mon. I had downloaded her last two albums but never really got past a cursory listen.

Any reservations I had about the show were cast away as Sheryl and band started working the stage. She was clearly enjoying herself and the crowd was returning the positive vibe she was delivering. My wife thinks that most men are only fans of Sheryl because they want to sleep with her. While I agree that Sheryl is holding up very well for 46, she is a very confident live performer that delivers as entertaining a live show as I have seen with any seasoned live act. In fact, it occurred to me watching the show that her no-nonsense blend of American rock reminded me of Tom Petty’s live shows.

I was pretty impressed with her (and her band’s) ability to carry off some covers and cover teases. It is with a knowing wink that they carried the bluesy Fender Rhodes and bongos driven “Gasoline” from Detours into “Gimme Shelter.” Her tease of Gary Wright’s “Love is Alive” in “There Goes The Neighborhood” was unexpected (at least by me, I don’t know if she does this at every show) and appreciated. The cover of “Higher Ground” by Stevie Wonder was very good and a fun way to wrap up the encore.

The hits were mostly in attendance: “Leaving Los Vegas,” “Strong Enough,” “My Favorite Mistake,” “If It Makes You Happy,” “Soak Up The Sun,” “Everyday Is A Winding Road,” and “All I Wanna Do” enough to keep some of the others in my group who weren’t as familiar with Sheryl’s catalog happy and they commented about how surprised they were that they knew so many songs.

She performed no less than six songs from her new album, and they fit in very well alongside her very intimidating run of hits since 1994. Before performing the title track of this year’s Detours Sheryl made reference to her recent life-altering events by saying that “it’s the detours that really teach you about who you are.”

Sheryl Crow

On the flight home from Boston I decided to give Detours another listen. At times its honesty is a bit shocking and not at all what I expected. The brave portrayal of raw emotion in songs like “Diamond Ring,” “Make It Go Away (Radiation Song),” and “Lullaby For Wyatt” actually reminds me of John Lennon’s laid-bare biographical approach to songwriting during his solo career. The album and likely this tour is a cathartic exercise for Sheryl and one she evidently needed. This show and review of her latest album changes Sheryl for me from the “beer-drinking in the morning party girl” to a woman who is bravely sharing a close look at herself at a time of change. It will be interesting to see what is next.

Setlist (thanks to the boards at sherylcrow.com)

God Bless This Mess
Shine Over Babylon
Love Is Free
Leaving Los Vegas
Strong Enough
Can’t Cry Anymore (including I Can See Clearly)
Motivation
My Favorite Mistake
Gasoline (Gimme Shelter)
There Goes The Neighborhood (including Love Is Alive)
Detours
Redemption Day
Out of Our Heads
If It Makes You Happy
Soak Up The Sun
Everyday Is A Winding Road

Encore:
All I Wanna Do
Higher Ground

Click Here for my flickr photoset of the show with more pictures

Click Here for Sheryl Crow’s Website

B-Sides in the Bins #27 – 7/19/08 – Lindale Mall Starbucks (R.I.P.)

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As word of the Starbucks in Lindale Mall closing as part of a larger store closing move by Starbucks to close 600 stores nationwide including six in Iowa to “weed out unprofitable locations” rumors at Lindale on Saturday were spreading that the location was giving away drinks. Sherry and I were going to visit our daughter RaeEllen at her last day at Kitchens and Koffee so we stopped at Starbucks to see what was going on. While they were giving away drinks– they were samples of chocolate banana smoothies with shots of espresso in them (yum!).

While we were there, I was surprised to see that Starbucks was having a “Summer DVD and CD Sale” where ALL CD’s and DVD’s were $7.95 — inluding the new Coldplay! The Starbucks retail price for CD’s is typically an inflated $12.95 or better. I guess this shouldn’t be much of a surprise after the announcement that Starbucks was going to dump or dramatically reduce the number of CD’s they are going to sell. So, I expect there is going to be a purging of inventory across the chain.

One of the downsides to Starbucks getting out of the music biz is the Starbucks Entertainment business that partnered with the Concord Music Group to create some not-shabby compilations of artists and notable record labels. I wrote about the great Prestige Jazz compilation last year. In the CD racks at the doomed Starbucks was a couple of other compilations including a Buddy Holly one and a John Coltrane one in addition to the Stax one I picked up. They had some new titles- including John Mellencamp’s recent one, too.

Coldplay – Viva La Vida (CD, Capitol 509992 16886 0 7, 2008) ($7.95) I thought that this was about the price I’d want to pay for this — new at used price. I like a couple of the songs I’d heard on this album including “Viva La Vida” which was used in the iPod commercial as well as the new single “Violet Hill” which Sherry likes as well. Tired of the comparisons to Radiohead, Coldplay switched its sights to U2 with the “sonic landscapes” from erstwhile-and-again U2 producer/collaborator Brian Eno. I really liked the overplayed Rush of Blood to the Head and was as confused as everyone else about the X&Y followup. This is a very strong release from the band and solidly positions them as alterna-rock for the softening Gen X crowd.

various artists – “Soulsville, U.S.A.” – Stax Classics 1965-1973 (CD, Starbucks Entertainment CDS-131, 2008) ($7.95) This was the one I was pretty excited about. I’m becoming more of a fan of the legendary Stax Records catalog as time goes. The scrappy label from Memphis that represented was the “dirty South” answer to the more “clean” Motown and Philly labels of the time. I started as a fan of label houseband Booker T. & the MG’s and slowly expanded to include artists that they recorded behind. Working with Concord gave Starbucks the licensing power as well as the extensive catalog knowledge required to put these excellent comps together. This release stayed away from the big hits from Stax that have been represented in about a million other comps. Instead of including “Soul Man” we get “Hold On I’m Comin'” from Sam & Dave. Instead of “Green Onions” from Booker T. & the MG’s we get “Soul Limbo” and their instrumental cover of “Groovin’.” Incidentally, “Soul Limbo” has the distinction of being the first release on the freed-from-Atlantic Stax. Sadly, this was the beginning of the end for the label. Instead of “I’ll Take You There” from the Staple Singers we get the sound-alike “If You’re Ready.” Every track on this comp is a winner and a good mix for about any occasion with Otis Redding, Albert King, Eddie Floyd and Mr. Hot Buttered Soul himself Isaac Hayes. Hayes weighs in with “Walk On By” which I only recently realized was sampled by Portishead for its biggest hit “Sour Times” from 1994’s Dummy with its repeated “Nobody loves me– it’s true.”

So, if I run into any other interesting comps while traveling I may pick them up at this price. I’m hoping some company like Half Price Books will pick them up for sale in their stores as cut-outs.