Umphrey’s McGee Gives Back for NIU Memorial Fund and Free Show Download

As reported by their Facebook page and their website, Umphrey’s McGee–upon hearing of the tragedy that was the shootings at NIU in DeKalb, IL on February 14th decided to give back to the town that had been good to them over the years. All sales from UMLive, Umphrey’s McGee’s online store for live show downloads, poster sales and ticket sales on April 8th were donated to the NIU February 14th Memorial Fund. In an additional act of giving, Umphrey’s posted a fantastic-sounding matrix recording to Archive.org of their April 8th show at the Egyptian Theatre in DeKalb that day. Mixed by sound man/band archivist Kevin Browning, the show includes one of the new songs added to their set “Rocker Part 2” as well as some fun teases. Certainly a great gesture on the band’s part. The recording is available in FLAC as well as OGG and VBR MP3. I’ve been listening to it on and off since I downloaded it, but it is a good show and a good picture of UM Live.

Umphrey’s McGee Live at the Egyptian Theatre at Archive.org

Free Live Album from Jack Logan for Download

Jack Logan and Liquor CabinetFor the past couple of years Jack Logan has been posting mp3’s to his MySpace page. Jack is pretty well-known for being a “compulsive recorder” and seemingly every minute spent at an instrument is recorded.

This week Jack posted on his page that he found some live tapes of his 90’s band Liquor Cabinet in his “boxes of junk.” So, he decided to compile a live album of the two shows. Titled What’s in a Name?, it includes tracks from NYC in ’95 and Athens, GA in 1990.

I didn’t get to see Liquor Cabinet in its heyday, so this is apparently a pretty good representation of the lager-fueled punky combo according to the typically deprecating liner notes penned by Jack.

It is currently hosted on a free Sendspace account at http://www.sendspace.com/file/ljtv8v so get it while you can. Jack says that it may get posted at athensmusic.net later. Athensmusic.net is the cool site that hosted Jack’s Monday Night Recorders Singles Club back in 2004.

Click Here to visit the Monday Night Recorders Singles Club page and download more free Jack!

Upcoming Show: Glen Phillips at the Hub in Cedar Falls, IA 4/16/08

Glen PhillipsGlen Phillips is the frontman for the 90’s alt-pop group Toad the Wet Sprocket. Since the group’s split in 1998, Glen has participated in the occasional Toad gig, but has recorded four albums– the most recent being 2006’s Mr. Lemons— and two EP’s.

Last night Glen kicked off a run of solo acoustic dates that wrap up at the end of May and include a substantial number of Midwestern dates and two in Iowa! I had a chance to see him last night at World Cafe Live in Philly and it was great! I’ll collect my thoughts on this show and post a review later. The majority of the songs come from his solo catalog but include the occasional Toad cover and an inspired cover song or two. Glen Phillips in a live solo setting is typically a pretty intimate engagement and well worth seeing.

If, like me you hadn’t been following Mr. Phillips’s solo career I recommend signing up for MyTracks if only for a month so you can download all of his solo albums and EP’s except for his 2004 effort on Lost Highway that unfortunately seems to be a sore point for him. MyTracks is a subscription download service like eMusic is. For $7.95 you can download as much as you want for a month. Unfortunately Glen Phillips likely the most recognizable artist in their growing catalog. I’ll check some other tracks out before I cancel. The live acoustic album SOhO Live is an exclusive to MyTracks. Recorded last Fall it is fairly representative of what his set is like. Another unfortunate thing about MyTracks in general is that all of the tracks are encoded at 128 Kbps. I guess with unlimited downloads one shouldn’t complain, but I might have paid more for at least SOhO Live to get a higher bitrate. The other albums are available for download at higher bitrates from Glen’s site. While you’re there take a listen to his new EP Secrets of the New Explorers— fantastic stuff!

Glen will be in Des Moines at The Temple Theatre on Monday, April 14th, followed by a show at The Hub Live on Wednesday March 16th. The Hub is a new venue to me, so it would be cool to see it– however, I’m out of town on the 16th. As I was informed last night at Glen’s show in Philadelphia by a friendly fan (thanks, Heather!), Toad the Wet Sprocket will be touring this summer and will be hitting Philly again– June 11th at the Trocadero as confirmed by their MySpace Page. My friend Andrew and I saw Calexico a couple of years ago at the Troc, and it is another fantastic Philly music venue in addition to World Cafe Live and TLA now rebranded “The Fillmore at TLA.”

Click Here to see all of the dates Glen is playing this summer.

Click Here to visit Glen’s Website
Click Here to visit Glen’s MySpace Page
Click Here to visit Toad the Wet Sprocket’s Website (which includes their live dates)
Click Here to visit Toad the Wet Sprocket’s MySpace Page

Bo Ramsey’s Fragile Released Ahead of Schedule

Bo Ramsey - FragilePreviously we announced that Bo Ramsey’s album recorded in 2007 would be released on April 8th in conjunction with some CD release shows. Since tomorrow is April 1st, I was getting ready to send an e-mail over to CDBaby to see if they were going to be ready to have the CD available for the 8th. I hit Bo’s site and imagine my surprise that the CD is available today!

For whatever reason, you can’t find the new Bo Ramsey album by doing a search of “Bo Ramsey” on the CDBaby site. But, this link works and I ordered my copy this morning! $14 plus $2.25 shipping.

Bo has two more shows on the calendar that are solo and solo with band. 4/5/08 in Minneapolis at the Cedar Cultural Center with Marty Christensen and The Englert in Iowa City on 4/26 with band. I hope we’ll get more opportunities to see Bo this summer.

Look for a review here in the near future. I have had the opportunity to hear this album in advance and my first thoughts are that this album is the logical progression from his blues cover album Stranger Blues and his best and most consistently timeless album yet.

Upcoming Show: Woven Hand at Vaudeville Mews in Des Moines 4/19/08

Back in 1996, when I was living in Minneapolis I was really into this band called 16 Horsepower. The alternative radio single “Black Soul Choir” was all over Rev105 and Sherry and I saw them play the Fine Line on 6/8/96 (according to the ticket stub I tucked into the CD sleeve of their first release on A&M Sackcloth ‘n’ Ashes. At the time, I hadn’t heard anything like the hellfire and brimstone approach that lead singer David Eugene Edwards brought. The only band that had a similar sound was Miami Gun Club. These days, there are a few more bands that take the “graveyard folk” route like Devil Makes Three (previously reviewed here).

I found out from a friend of a friend that David Eugene Edwards is bringing his post-16 Horsepower band Woven Hand to Des Moines on April 19th at the hip Vaudeville Mews venue (that I still haven’t been to!). Woven Hand is still pretty similar to the sound of 16 Horsepower but it has a slightly updated sound. I’m catching up… Edwards seemed to command the stage when I saw him in 1996, so I can only assume he’ll put on a great show these days. Only $8!

Visit the Woven Hand MySpace Page
Visit the Woven Hand website
Visit the 16 Horsepower website

Listen to “Black Soul Choir” Live

The Curious Case of the 1993 Cure Live Releases

The Cure ShowI don’t know if the Cure does this on purpose, but it can be very difficult to be a Cure collector. It seems that they give their fans lots of releases to collect, but the overlap that sometimes occurs is grating.

I was reading my regular diet of music blogs this morning where I found this post from Don at Timedoor about a recent used CD find of the OOP Cure live album of their July 1989 show at Wembley titled Entreat. Entreat was another odd Cure release in that it was a collection and expansion of some live b-sides that they released on the Disintegration single “Pictures of You.” I vaguely remembered this release as it kind of annoyed me at the time since I was a collector of Cure releases and this forced me to purchase a release just to get four more songs. (I picked up all four of the singles “Fascination Street,” “Pictures of You,” “Lovesong,” and “Lullabye” in a box set with a poster called Integration.) Don includes three tracks as mp3’s. There seems to be used copies of this release available.

This reminded me of the fact that the Cure pulled something similar to this in 1993 around their “Show” concert film. This film and the corresponding album was based on the Cure’s two-day stop at The Palace in Auburn, MI during the behemoth Wish Tour on July 18th and 19th. I saw the Cure at the World Music Theater in Tinley Park that same tour on July 15, 1992. I still have vague recollections of sitting on the grassy hill watching the band on the big Jumbotrons with my friend Jenny.

The US release of Show on CD was a 1-CD affair, while the UK release was 2-CD. To make up for this the liner notes of Show helpfully point out that you could purchase the Sideshow maxi-single to pick up the missing five tracks. So, to recreate the entire Show 2 CD version it would look like this with the source in parenthesis:

Disc: 1
1. Tape (Sideshow)
2. Open (Show)
3. High (Show)
4. Pictures Of You (Show)
5. Lullaby (Show)
6. Just Like Heaven (Sideshow)
7. Fascination Street (Sideshow)
8. A Night Like This (Show)
9. Trust (Show)

Disc: 2
1. Doing The Unstuck (Show)
2. The Walk (Sideshow)
3. Lets Go To Bed (Sideshow)
4. Friday I’m In Love (Show)
5. Inbetween Days (Show)
6. From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea (Show)
7. Never Enough (Show)
8. Cut (Show)
9. End (Show)

So, with the help of Amazon, you can recreate this show for $6.99 for Sideshow used, and $11.99 for Show new. Note: For some reason sellers think that Sideshow is worth over $50 new! The problem with assembling this for yourself would be splicing those tracks back in. I don’t own Sideshow, so I don’t know how those edits work. The recording is made up of songs from both nights, so if all of the excerpted songs were from where edits had to happen it might work. Of course, Amazon has copies of the 2-CD import available as well for less than the cost to build it if you don’t already have Show or Sideshow.

Which brings us to the third live release from the Cure based on the Wish tour (well, fifth if you include the film for Show and the import 2-CD version) titled simply Paris. As the title implies this is a live record based on their three-night stint at Le Zenith in Paris in October, 1992. Looking at the setlists for October 19, 20, and 21 it appears that the songs are from all three nights. I remember picking this release up at a truckstop sometime after I moved to Minnesota in 1995 in a bin full of “discount” CD’s. In fact, my copy of Show seems to be a cutout as well, so I think I bought it about the same time thinking this was part of the same show. According to the official Cure discography the video for Show and Paris were released on the same day (10/26/93), and– in the US– the CD catalog numbers are sequential [Show is Elektra 61551, Paris is Elektra 61552]. The CD for Show was released before the video on the previous Tuesday 10/19/93. The packaging for Paris is a lot simpler than Show as it is only a once-folded insert and no clear disc tray. It’s pretty clear that they considered this an extra release. Apparently 50% of the royalties payable to the Cure went to the Red Cross.

The tracklist for Paris (with which dates the song was performed):

1. The Figurehead (10/20/92)
2. One Hundred Years (10/19/92, 10/21/92)
3. At Night (10/19/92)
4. Play For Today (10/19/92)
5. Apart (10/21/92)
6. In Your House (10/20/92)
7. Lovesong (10/20/92)
8. Catch (10/19/92, 10/21/92)
9. A Letter to Elise (10/21/92)
10. Dressing Up (10/19/92)
11. Charlotte Sometimes (10/20/92)
12. Close to Me (10/20/92, 10/21,92)

Paris is a pretty interesting release from the perspective that it doesn’t duplicate any of the songs from the Show/Sideshow releases. The French crowd seems very excited to be at the show– at one point even singing along with the main synthesizer part in “One Hundred Days!” I guess this is why the Cure filmed the “In Orange” concert film in France. The song selection is interesting in that while Show focuses on Wish and more popular Cure songs, Paris includes some rarer songs like “Dressing Up” from 1984’s The Top and “In Your House” from their 1980 release Seventeen Seconds.

All of the live releases from 1993 capture the Cure at the top of their game and a product of the Cure as a touring machines. The live albums stand up well against the rest of the Cure catalog. As I was writing this piece, I was listening to Wish and Paris and I really enjoyed them. It’s probably time for me to revisit the Cure catalog in my daily commute.

In retrospect, as a fan of the Cure, it was astounding to watch the meteoric ascent of the Cure from Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (“Just Like Heaven”) to Disintegration (“Lovesong,” “Lullabye”) to Wish (“Friday I’m In Love”). In 1993 the band in some form or another had been around for over twelve years. In 2009– provided Robert Smith doesn’t retire again– the Cure has been around for 30 years. This puts the Cure as contemporaries of U2, who formed in 1978, and R.E.M. who formed in 1980.

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals Live in Iowa City 10/1/07

Ryan Adams

Following the controversial Minneapolis show on September 27th, I wasn’t sure what to expect with this show. In fact, there were rumors that this show was canceled even on the day of the show. I verified that he’d played the following two nights in Madison and Chicago and that he’d been playing encores for those shows. This was the first time I’ve seen Ryan Adams live and the first time at the IMU Main Room.

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals

The IMU Main Room venue is like a big ballroom from the 1920’s. According to the IMU site the “Main Lounge” was in use in 1927. Big arched ceilings with a sizable stage. A very nice place to see a show like this. The seating was general admission and the ushers made sure every seat was occupied. I don’t think the show sold out, but it was very full by the time the show started. Before the band took the stage a guy in a vintage Army-style helmet came out and read from a piece of paper that the band would start at quarter after the hour, and stated, “The first rule is there are no rules,” and then explained that the stage would be very dark and that the band plans a varied setlist from night to night and shouting song titles out would be a way to get that song removed from the set. I saw the results of this later when a lady shouted out “Stars Go Blue!” and Ryan asked if there were any other songs we didn’t want to hear! It sounded like he was joking, and probably the set didn’t include that song anyway.

I was pretty surprised at how vocal the audience was considering the announcement by the Army Helmet guy and the fact that people were pretty much sequestered to their general seats. At one point a guy ran up from the back of the auditorium to the front of the stage with his cellphone camera and took pictures at which point security came up and took him back– presumably to his seat.

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals

I wasn’t sure what to expect with the performance. The performance was partially astounding music and partially Ryan providing loose, disarming, and often funny non-sequiturs. He arrived on stage wearing an “I (heart) I.C.” where the heart was replaced with a pot leaf. He frequently mentioned that he wanted a cigarette– and that he had just quit smoking that day. He seemed concerned that he might not be able to play if he wasn’t smoking! At one point he confessed that he loved puppies and wanted to smother himself in them. He also told a funny story about visiting the namesake location in the Don Henley song “Sunset Grill” and how it was a fly-infested dump and how he was confused about how Henley could have drawn inspiration from it. He likened it to writing a song about Denny’s at which point he improvised a song about Denny’s. Pretty funny!

Ryan and Strat

The music performance was an intense passionate experience. I was floored by the Cardinals– I didn’t expect them to be the fit they were. They played with a polish that can only come from the extensive touring that they do. Their vocal harmonies blend perfectly with Ryan’s. I was particularly stunned by the harmonies in “Dear John.”

The setlist– as expected– had quite a few tracks from Easy Tiger, but also a big selection from Cold Roses. I really have started to love “Let It Ride.” The next night I heard it in the movie “Lucky You” with Drew Barrymore which was a cool coincidence.

The encore was my favorite part of the show. The band was in really good form and Ryan was in good spirits even without cigarettes and they delivered an extended jam on Rip Off, Easy Plateau and Bartering LInes.
Ryan Adams

Since the show I’ve spent more time with Ryan’s catalog. I probably should have done that before the show to prepare for it, but I feel that having heard the live show I have a better understanding of the songs. I think that the Cardinals as a backing band really come in to their own in the live setting– much more than I was giving them credit for listening to the studio releases with them. Ryan is a perfectionist and I think somewhat misunderstood by the press. Some of the comments that are quoted out of context make him sound more “unstable” than he really is. He wants to deliver the best show he can, and that requires sticking to setlists and having PA’s that function. I look forward to his next releases and the opportunity to see them live again.

Setlist (from Answeringbell.com)

Goodnight Rose
Cold Roses
Beautiful Sorta
Two
Dear John (Ryan on Hammond)
Games
Everybody Knows
The Rescue Blues
Peaceful Valley
I Taught Myself How To Grow Old
Wild Flowers
Shakedown On 9th Street
Please Do Not Let Me Go
Off Broadway
Nightbirds (Ryan on Hammond)
The Sun Also Sets
Let It Ride
Magnolia Mountain

Encore:
Rip Off
Easy Plateau >
Bartering Lines

Update (6/20/11) You can listen to a matrix recording of the show at archive.org! CLICK HERE.

Bo Ramsey and Stranger Blues Live in Dubuque 10/14/06

“I can’t believe that you came all this way to hang out here and hear the band play– you’re likeable.”
“Likeable” by Bo Ramsey

I managed to see one of the rare shows Bo Ramsey performed to promote his new album Stranger Blues. The last night of the mini-tour was in Dubuque, IA which is where my brother and sister-in-law live, so I called them up. Back in the late Eighties and early Nineties we used to go see Bo pretty much wherever he was playing, so it would be like old times. The venue was an art space/gallery that opened in the Warehouse district of Dubuque called “Voices Warehouse Gallery” which is in the Wilmac Warehouse, which will eventually have office space and condos.

Joining Bo on this run was a group assembled appropriately under the name “Stranger Blues.” This group represents two generations of Iowa-bred musicians. On drums was longtime sidemen Steve Hayes and on bass was Rico Cicalo both of whom worked on Stranger Blues. On B3 was Nate “Count” Basinger from the Iowa City R&B band The Diplomats of Solid Sound. Joining Bo on stage as rhythm guitarist was Bo’s son Benson Ramsey who is in the Minneapolis band The Pines.

The Voices Warehouse has only been open since September and it’s already had a couple of notable shows: the Bo Ramsey show and Andrew Bird played there the previous weekend. It’s a big open space with paintings and photos on the walls split up by artist and some sculptures on the floor. There’s a stage on one wall with old-time movie theater seats apparently bolted to the floor in rows as well as randomly spaced groupings of chairs and sofas. There is a bar of sorts off to one side made of polished limestone that was manned by members of the Dubuque Rotary who were serving three kinds of Menage a Trois wine and import beers like Corona, Heineken, and Amstel Light. Sadly the Rotarians forgot to get limes for the Corona and had to run out and get some. My brother called a friend of his who was joining us there and asked him to stop to get limes on the way there. When he showed up, the table we were standing at got pretty popular!

Running sound that night was Dubuque mainstay George Rondinelli. George has been running a music store in Dubuque for a very long time. George rents out sound equipment, but also shows up to run sound in a pinch. I bought my first bass amplifier from George, and spent lots of time in his store back in high school and college. George has the reputation of being of the genuine “good guys” when it comes to the music scene in Eastern Iowa. On more than one occasion, George lent out gear for acts that played the area and some piece of gear blew up. He managed to have the room sound great– which is quite a feat considering the building is a warehouse. I didn’t even need to put my earplugs in.
Bo Ramsey and Benson Ramsey Live in Dubuque 10/14/2006
Bo played two sets and an encore. Most of the music as you might expect was from Stranger Blues. I had heard reports from friends who attended the Waterloo and Iowa City shows that the first set was mostly drawn from the new album and a lot of it was, but pretty early in the first set he played “In The Weeds” and “Sidetrack Lounge” from 1997’s In The Weeds. Unfortunately, I was having too good of a time to keep notes on the sets, so I’m going to have to rely on foggy memory. I really think I prefer seeing Bo in a bar setting. Due to the size of the place, you had people sitting in the theater chairs and people stacked over by the bar. The bar folks were not really paying attention, and the people sitting seemed to be having a good time, however I remember the packed shows at the Silver Dollar in Dubuque and the Corner Tap in Cascade and Bo had the whole place rocking. My sister-in-law got her wish when Bo played “Get Away”– she sang along with the words. It was pretty clear that Bo and his band had their chops worked out. All of the years of touring Bo did with Steve and Rico helped propel this band to a well-oiled machine, too. Towards the end of the first set a collection of brave dancers formed at the right of the stage. The first set seemed to end too soon. Bo announced they’d take a short break.

I spent a good part of the break and part of the second set hanging out Jim Viner from the Diplomats who was along apparently to help Nate carry his B3 Organ. Jim’s a pretty cool guy. He filled me in on what was coming up for his band. They are going to play a number of regional dates and then are going to head to Italy for some shows.

I brought a copy of the CD I made of the Pines radio show from KUNI’s Live From Studio One in February with me. I was supposed to send a copy to David Huckfelt a while ago, so I decided to bring it. I ran into Benson at the bar in line and introduced myself and handed him the CD. We talked for a bit. I asked him about the solo record that he was working on. He said that the solo record project is parked for now and they are working on a new Pines record that will be released on Red House Records! Red House is the folkie label out of Minneapolis that Greg Brown has been on for years. That’s pretty good news! So, we’ll need to keep an eye on that. I also took the opportunity to mention that it’s really great that Bo is playing solo again and that it would be great if there would be more shows. Benson said that Bo is considering it.

The second set was, in my opinion, a more energetic set than the first. The “dance floor” to the right of the stage filled up and people started dancing in front of the stage as well! We were treated to more nuggets in the second set including “Rockinitis” from the Sliders album of the same name– which excited quite a few “Boficianados.” I don’t even remember the last time I heard that song live. He also did “Long Long Time” with its classic opening line, “A bug-covered windshield and a three-day beard/runnin’ down the road away from somethin’ I feared.” It was at this point when I joined in the dancing. I read in an interview online that Bo was wondering whether after all this time as a sideman that he’d be able to do some of the older songs. From my perspective he was playing as well if not better than any other time I’d seen him. Did I want him to play longer? Yes. The show was over after 11PM, which I feel was a bit early. But considering that this is the first time he’s played his songs in a while, I suppose that was as many songs as they could get rehearsed. It still was a great show, and I’m looking foward to any future shows he may do.

Bo is back on the road in support of Greg Brown. Of note is the fact that these upcoming shows are listed on boramsey.com as “Opening For and Appearing With,” so it looks like this run which starts 10/19 in Eugene, Oregon and continuing through a two night stop in Denver on 12/15 and 12/16. Based on previous shows I’ve seen with Pieta and Greg, it will likely be just Bo and Greg, so I’d say it will be Bo solo, which would be interesting. I’m hoping for some bootlegs to show up.

Calexico and Oakley Hall Live in Iowa City 9/29/06

On Friday night my wife, Sherry, and I and our friends Andrew and Jennifer went to Iowa City to see Calexico and Oakley Hall at the Englert Theatre in Iowa City. This is the second time Andrew and I have seen Calexico this year. We saw Calexico in Philadelphia at the Trocadero Theatre on June 25th with Jason Collett.

This was the first time I’d been to the Englert since the late Eighties. The last time I was there I saw Michael Moore’s cinematic debut “Roger and Me.” Back in those days, they used to do Midnight showings of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” as I recall. The Englert served as a movie theater for most of its 94 years. It closed in 1999 and was held in trust by the City of Iowa City until funds had been raised to restore the landmark. In 2004 it reopened. I don’t remember what it used to look like before the restoration, but they’ve done a good job of restoring it and making as nice a venue as we have around here. I think that we are pretty fortunate to have places like the Englert and the Paramount in Cedar Rapids. I understand that the Globe Theater in Cedar Rapids will be restored as well. These venues help draw acts that aren’t big enough to fill Carver-Hawkeye or the US Cellular Center, but are too big to play bars.

After parking at the Old Capital ramp and dinner at the Atlas World Grill, we walked over to the Englert arriving after the doors open at 7PM. I visited the table in the lobby where they were selling CDs, teeshirts and other things. I was happy to see that they had two of the tour-only CD releases I was missing. When Andrew and I saw Calexico in Philly, I picked up the tour exclusive CD The Book and the Canal that has been available since the tour they did with The Iron and Wine. This time they had that as well as Travelall, a collection of instrumental music, and 98-99 Road Map, which has some tracks used on an audio book plus a couple of extras. I got these for $15, so I saved a buck in shipping. All I need are the 2001 tour CD Aerocalexico and the 2002 tour CD Scraping. They also had the same three shirts as Philly, which are the green shirt with the red star and the bull, a tan shirt with an iguana on it, and a blue one.

After the purchases, we made our way to our excellent seats. Calexico uses Ducat King to pre-sell tickets to fans before they are generally available through the regular ticket outlets. From what I can tell, we got the first four tickets sold. So, we had the first four seats from the center aisle on the right. BTW: What a bargain these tickets were! We paid $16 apiece for them.

Oakley Hall opened very punctually at 8 PM. Interestingly, the house lights didn’t come down until the band hit the stage. I hadn’t heard of Oakley Hall until I saw that they were the opening act for Calexico. After I got the tickets, Daytrotter helpfully had a session with them, so I had a chance to hear them. They fall into the Americana genre as they pull some of their sound from country music, but they also have a distinct rock sound with influences from the Seventies. With their female singers and the electric fiddle, they remind me of early Jefferson Starship pre-Red Octopus, or any of the Bay Area related bands from that period like Hot Tuna. Rachel Cox has a very good voice, and she certainly becomes the center of attention when she sings, plays her yellow Tele, or just hippie dances. The other lead vocalist is Patrick Sullivan. When Rachel and Patrick harmonize it reminds me of the harmonies of Exene Cervenka and John Doe from the great L.A. band X.

While I think that Oakley Hall put on a good performance, I agree with my wife that they seem like a band better suited for a bar setting. I felt at times like they were a bit uncomfortable playing to a mostly seated audience. What little familiarity I had with their catalog came from the Daytrotter sessions and they played two of them that I recognized, “All the Way Down” and the very catchy “Lazy Susan.” I woke up this morning with “Lazy Susan” stuck in my head! On a couple of songs Paul Niehaus from Calexico played pedal steel, and on one song, the two trumpet players from Calexico– Martin Wenk and Jacob Valenzuela helped out.
Oakley Hall Live in Iowa City 9/29/06

After Oakley Hall was finished, they immediately started tearing their gear down to get ready for Calexico. The guys from Calexico helped out and they soon started setting their own equipment up. A couple of people from the audience went up to talk to Joey and Paul as they got their gear together.

The first song from Calexico was “Convict Pool” with only Joey and John. Then were joined on stage by the rest of the band for a song from Garden Ruin that I don’t recall. That was followed by “Across the Wire” and “Jesus and Tequila.”
It was pretty clear right from the start that Calexico was in good form and spirits. Joey’s between song banter was frequent and funny. The set had most of the regular songs from Garden Ruin including “Letter to Bowie Knife,” a rocking version of “Deep Down,” and an amazing “All Systems Red” which is quickly becoming one of my favorite songs to hear live. It is a soaring anthem of the doubt surrounding the loss of the presidential election that reminds me of the live passion that U2 used to have with “Bullet the Blue Sky. We also heard some of the standards from Feast of Wire, including “Not Even Stevie Nicks.”

Calexico Live in Iowa City 9/29/06

We were treated to some different songs from a regular Calexico show. Jacob Valenzuela sang on a song that Calexico did on the Los Super Seven album Heard it on the X called “Ojitos Traidores.”

At one point Joey suggests that it’s about time for a “Seventh Inning Stretch” and told everyone to stand up. It was certainly refreshing! I think that maybe this is something that most concerts need. I didn’t realize how uncomfortable the seats were until then. It was at this time that a couple of guys ran down to the floor in front of the first row. They stood around uncomfortably until a bunch of others joined him. From that point forward people started filling the aisles and moving to the floor in front of us. Unfortunately, blocking the view for anyone who didn’t feel like standing. We also got to experience people who felt it was necessary to demonstrate their poor dancing skills when it comes to Latin rhythm. This is the problem with theater shows– it really suggests that you’d sit for most of it, and really doesn’t have a floor to accommodate people who want to get close to the stage and stand. Sherry said that she thought it would be fun to see Calexico at a venue that had more of a floor to dance on– I can think of a couple venues like that, so maybe the next time we see them it will be at one of those.

We were treated to another surprise for the encore. Calexico brought out Oakley Hall to do a couple of songs. The first song was a Doug Sahm song that I think was called “The Song of Everything.” After that song, I noticed that Joey brought out a piece of paper with what appeared to be lyrics. I think that the members of Oakley Hall were surprised. They also do a Gillian Welch cover of “Look At Miss Ohio.” Joey and Patrick Sullivan trade verses. From where I was sitting I could hear Joey calling out chord changes.

Joey asked if we wanted to hear “Corona” or “Guero Canelo.” The crowd shouted out their favorites, and it was decided that they would do both, which was a nice surprise. During these songs, some of the members of Oakley Hall were doing dance lines behind John which was fun. I’m glad to see that they are having fun on tour. Then, the show was over and Joey wished Iowa City good luck with “Football, Soccer, Hockey, or whatever.” This was the big weekend for the Iowa Hawkeyes as they were playing Ohio State (I think… I’m not a sports fan).

Calexico With Oakley Hall Live in Iowa City 9/29/06
Calexico With Oakley Hall Live in Iowa City 9/29/06

Here is the Calexico Setlist (courtesy the Caliposa Setlist Database)

1. Convict Pool
2. Yours and Mine
3. Gypsy’s Curse
4. Across The Wire
5. Jesus and Tequila
6. Deep Down
7. Minas de Cobre
8. Roka
9. Not Even Stevie Nicks
10. Sunken Waltz
11. Alone Again Or
12. Sonic Wind
13. Smash
14. Senor
15. All Systems Red
16. Ojitos Traidores
17. Letter To Bowie Knife
18. Crystal Frontier

————————

19. Song of Everything *
20. Miss Ohio *
21. Guero Canelo

* = w/ members of Oakley Hall

The Court & Spark – Hearts (review)


I’ve been following the Court & Spark since I heard an interview segment on NPR back in 2001 around the time of their Bless You release. What I heard at the time was a logical progression from some of the other artists I had been listening to at the time. I was a big Neil Young fan, I liked Son Volt, the Jayhawks, Joe Henry, Jack Logan, and other artists who would unfortunately get lumped into the category of alt.country, or Americana. People love convenient labels, I guess.

Admittedly, the earler records from The Court & Spark (Ventura Whites, and to an extent Bless You) have many influences from the same place as other artists that share that category. Just take a look at the Byrds– were they country, or were they rock? Take a look at Neil Young– is he country, or is he rock, or folk for that matter? Is Tom Petty rock? He certainly can pull in some twang when desired. What about the Eagles? Even Fleetwood Mac with Lindsey Buckingham at the helm recorded a couple of songs that could be called country– check out “That’s Alright” from Mirage. A lot of Clapton’s output in the Seventies sure sounds like country (“Lay Down Sally,” “Promises”). The point here being that good bands and artists get great by stretching their boundaries. The more influences that an artist can draw from, the richer the work.

And, so it is with the Court & Spark’s new album Hearts (released May 2nd). Hearts is the sound of a band that is stretching its boundaries by diving a little more away from their rootsy or folksy sound and more towards a rock sound. In fact, in an interview with The San Francisco Chronicle, singer, lyricist and guitarist M.C. Taylor said that they were “being painted into a corner” and that Hearts is a reaction to that.

Hearts is an album that is unique and familiar both at the same time. It has the typical laid-back, mid-tempo feel that all of the Court & Spark records have. There is this underlying darkness that beckons, too. This is the first full-length album recorded by the band at their recording studio The Alabama Street Station. As is typical with bands who finally get their own space– they can spend time on the record without fear of racking up expensive studio time. This extra effort shows in the sometimes subtle, and sometimes not-so subtle sound textures used in the album. The band employs everything from toy pianos on the stomping “Your Mother Was the Lightning” to dulcimers and typewriters. Even with the sound effects on the tracks the album still has a consistent feel. The production values and layers of sound effects are not blips and bloops of electronica, but more classic studio type effects that you’d hear from Smile-period Beach Boys or the Beatles. The whole album sounds like it could have been recorded in 1971– that precarious hangover time after the end of the Summer of Love and the beginning of the next party that would be disco.

The record starts off with “Let’s Get High,” which does a great job of setting the tone for the rest of the record. A mellow, sexy affair with M.C. singing an invitation to “swim down, you’ve got beautiful fins.” This song reminds me of the best work of The The (what the hell happened to Matt Johnson anyway?). Lot’s of layered guitars and horns slathered over a sparce beat that firmly puts M.C.’s voice front and center. Most of this song sounds like it was processed through the spinning speaker of a Leslie. In fact, that effect is used all over the record.

The album transitions to the breezy “We Were All Uptown Rulers” which is included for your listening pleasure thanks to the permission of the band’s management. In typical fashion, it is nearly impossible to tell what this song is about. The only reference to “Uptown Rulers” I could find was a Meters album. The song seems sad and defeatist. Whomever this song is about, his other Uptown Ruler compatriots have been killed off, and he’s the last one. But, he’s standing his ground.

The accordion or melodeon along with the strings and whistling makes “Birmingham to Blackhorse Road We Wandered” sound distinctly Scottish folk. I have to say that M.C.’s lyrics, while obscure, do paint a picture. When he sings “Lay your diamond hand on me, lay your hands on me” I wonder if that means that the narrator’s love interest he “met at the change of the century” is married?

Hearts has four instrumental interludes spread throughout the album. They make for nice spacing between the tracks. The first one following “Birmingham” is “The Oyster Is A Wealthy Beast” takes advantage of bouncing strings under a solo lone violin. In the last 45 seconds it breaks down to the sounds of water lapping on the shore.

Clocking in at six minutes, the following track is the monumental centerpiece to the album, “Capaldi.” I can only assume that this is a tribute to the late Traffic member Jim Capaldi. It certainly sounds like a send-up of a Traffic song with its analog synth and arpeggiated guitar and bass guitar hook coated in fuzzy distortion.

“Capaldi” is followed by “A Milk White Flag”– the second of the four interludes. I notice that these tracks seem to fit together. They have a “music from another room” feel to them. Nice use of reverb. This is followed by “Berliners” which is a slow strumming ballad about what seems like a voyeuristic ghost pining for love of a living girl. Wandering tape noises under the guitars drive home the feeling of loss. We are greeted again by an instrumental called “Smoke Snigals” [s.i.c]. I guess appropriately titled considering the previous track begged for someone to “talk to me!”

When you listen to this with headphones you get to hear M.C. take a breath before starting the next track, “Mother Was the Lightning.” A slapping 2-step beat and tick-tock guitar propels this head-bobber. This song seems to be about a family doomed for disaster sung from the vantage point of a boyfriend. A universal theme, I think. The song winds out with toy piano and claps and Leslie tinged vocals.

“The High Life” starts out as slow waltz of a song that reminds me a bit of the classic “The Night Life.” Around 2:50 the song switches gears to a driving four-on-the-floor with layers of soaring guitars and keyboards that seems more like an early-Seventies progressive track by Yes. This is followed by the last of the instrumentals called “Gatesnakes.” This track is more of an exercise in layering sounds effects over a lone piano track reminding me a bit of Game Theory’s experimentation on Lolita Nation. After two minutes of that we move to the album closer called “The Ballad of Horselover Fat.” This is a spare vocals plus acoustic guitar that layers in other instruments as the song progresses to its chorus of “As a man I fade away.” Horselover Fat is the alter-ego of Sci-Fi writer Philip K. Dick that he used in one of his last novels VALIS, in 1981. I haven’t read this one, but I guess that it deals mostly with Dick’s search to understand God. A nice way to end this album, I feel.

In attempting to break the perception that they were a “country” act, the Court & Spark have recorded their most interesting and complete work to date. It’s time to catch the Spark of these high-heeled boys.

Download “We Were All Uptown Rulers”

Download a Live Version of “Capaldi”

Download a Live Version of “Your Mother was the Lightning”

Band photo by Peter Ellenby