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Pandora’s Box CD Reviews Chuck Prophet Let Freedom Ring! Yep Roc Records 2009 Who goes to Mexico City to create an original, American rock-n-roll album? The incomparable Chuck Prophet, that's who. Prophet has created a true rock album with songs that speak to the injustices that plague society today. Let Freedom Ring, the title song, is a rocker that speaks for the underdog in life being bullied by those in power “as the hawk cripples the dove” he sings. Songs like Holdin' On, Barely Exist and American Man are tight, thoughtful and are full of unique turns of phrase only Chuck could write like “when you have asbestos in your Kool-Aid for breakfast” in Barely Exist. All recorded in a studio decked out in equipment from the 1950's, it is an old school record in that the whole album is only 39 minutes long and every note is a gem. Prophet rocks the guitar and is adept at using his voice to add humor, sarcasm or passion. Despite the hard times described in this collection of tunes, the overall tone is hopeful and grateful for what cannot be bought and sold. In Leave The Window Open Prophet closes the CD with an appreciation for the moment and what he does have, a good woman, a nice place to stay with friends, life, love and a little “chocolate on the floor”. He sings, “I don't want any of this to go to waste/so leave the window open.” — Cait Arneson 22 ‘round the dial Issue 1 Vol I November 3, 2009 Sunny Day Real Estate Diary (2009 re-issue) Sub Pop! 2009 BAND MEMBERS: Jeremy Enigk – guitar, vocals/William Goldsmith- drums/Dan Hoerner- guitar, vocals/Nate Mendelbass/Brad Wood- producer TRACK LISTING: Seven/In Circles/Song About An Angel/Round/47/The Blankets Were the Stairs/Pheurton Skeurto/Shadows/48/Grendel/Sometimes/8/9 In the years between 1994 and 2009, Sunny Day Real Estate’s debut Diary has gone from “great” to “seminal” to “essential.” A true turning point in emo, the release marked at once a culmination of everything the genre had accomplished, and a step forward into new territory. Jeremy Enigk’s distinctive voice shows its power in his range. In “The Blankets Were The Stairs,” his voice rockets from anthemic harmonizing into full-on shouting, while it rolls and climbs above and below the rest of the band. At times he’s the clear front man, but this is a singer that treats is voice as a real musical instrument, not just as lyric-delivery mechanism. Range quickly becomes a theme, putting “Pheurton Skeurto,” a down-tempo, almost jazzy piano number smack in the middle of a burning pool of crunching guitars and pounding drums. The passion, the power, the noise: all the genre trappings you know and love are there, but at the center of it all, Diary has got heart. And that’s why it’s not just great, it’s essential. The 2009 reissue has aged incredibly well. SDRE was certainly lucky that they began their major label career with such sure-handedness. They burned out fast, but they burned bright, and the results speak—and scream—for themselves. - Jonny Grubb Sunny Day Real Estate LP2 (2009 re-issue) Sup Pop! 2009 BAND MEMBERS: Jeremy Enigk – guitar, vocals/William Goldsmith- drums/Dan Hoerner- guitar, vocals/Nate Mendelbass/Brad Wood- producer TRACK LISTING: Friday/Theo B/Red Elephant/5/4/Waffle/8/Iscarabaid/J'Nuh/R odeo Jones/Spade And Parade (Reissue bonus track/Bucket Of Chicken (Reissue bonus track) Known alternately as “The Pink Album” or a self-titled, 1995’s LP2 was Sunny Day Real Estate’s sophomore effort, the moment where a band must prove its success isn’t a fluke, and they’ll be around for a long time. Poor, poor Sunny Day Real Estate, then, because it wasn’t, but they weren’t. Put together at a time the band was already beginning its slow dissolution— though you’d never know from listening— LP2 sounds like a strong statement from a strong band, even if it isn’t. Of course this is a guitar-fueled emo album, but the way the volume levels alternate on songs like “Rodeo Jones” and album-opener “Friday” show the band still isn’t above turning it down, even if they’re determined to always turn it back up again. Songs like the lazily titled “5/4” offers a glimpse into Enigk’s growing interest in Christianity. If the band had been more united from the beginning, it might have been the first step down a road that could have given us a fully decent Christianrock band. Band drama aside, SDRE essentially led the scene in the mid-90s, and echoes of LP2 can be felt in emo/indie releases to this day. Emo fans interested in hearing their favorite band’s favorite band need look no further. — by Jonny Grubb The Stone Roses The Stone Roses Album 20th Anniversary Edition Silvertone 2009 BAND LINE-UP: John Squire - guitars/Ian Brown - vocals/Gary “Mani” Mounfield - bass/Alan “Reni” Wren - drums, backing vocals TRACK LISTING: I Wanna Be Adored/She Bangs the Drums/Waterfall/Don't Stop/Bye Bye Badman/Elizabeth My Dear/(Song for My) Sugar Spun Sister/Made of Stone/Shoot You Down/This Is the One/I Am the Resurrection/Fools Gold” (UK 12” single version; bonus track) The Lost Demos 1. “I Wanna Be Adored” (Demo) 2. “She Bangs the Drums” (Demo) 3. “Waterfall” (Demo) 4. “Bye Bye Badman” (Demo) 5. “(Song for My) Sugar Spun Sister” (Demo) 6. “Shoot You Down” (Demo) 7. “This Is the One” (Demo) 8. “I Am the Resurrection” (Demo) 9. “Elephant Stone” (Demo) 10. “Going Down” (Demo) ‘round the dial Issue 1 Vol I November 3, 2009 23
11. “Mersey Paradise” (Demo) 12. “Where Angels Play” (Demo) 13. “Something's Burning” (Demo) 14. “One Love” (Demo) 15. “Pearl Bastard” (Demo; previously unreleased track) The B-sides 1. “Elephant Stone” 2. “Full Fathom Five” 3. “The Hardest Thing” 4. “Going Down” 5. “Guernica” 6. “Mersey Paradise” 7. “Standing Here” 8. “Simone” 9. “Fools Gold” 10. “What the World Is Waiting For” 11. “One Love” 12. “Something's Burning” 13. “Where Angels Play” Music videos DVD 1. “Waterfall” (Video) 2. “Fools Gold” (Video) 3. “I Wanna Be Adored” (Video) 4. “One Love” (Video) 5. “She Bangs the Drums” (Video) 6. “Standing Here” (Video) Re-release albums in general, and anniversary re-releases in particular, have certain kind of baggage to deal with that albums proper never do. Why is this worth revisiting? What has changed between now and then? And perhaps most importantly: Why should I buy this album all over again? As if to speak directly to that last question, the 20th Anniversary re-issue of The Stone Roses self-titled debut packs on the extras until it’s almost distracting. Almost. There’s the main event, the album itself that seems perfectly dated, cemented in time. Trouble is, it’s almost impossible to tell in which time it’s stuck. Late-80s guitar rock? Early-90s alternative? Late-60s psychadelia? The songs and the sounds have a strikingly present quality even today, but with the sheen of something you found in your dad’s record collection. Lush, multi-part harmonies adorn freeflowing ballads like “Waterfall” and powerful anthems like “This is the One,” while focused guitar riffs push “She Bangs the Drums” so far in your head you’ll remember them in the past. The trippy quota is fulfilled here, too, in “Don’t Stop,” the orchestration from “Waterfall” is recycled, backwards. It’s certainly more surprising than it ought to be that a perfectly catchy pop song can be exactly as good the other way around. That kind of disdain for front-to-back song structure essentially typifies the rest of the collection. A ten minute version of “Fool’s Gold” adds nothing but more of the same, which is essentially fine. The longer jams never seem to outstay their welcome, building a place in the music where the listener can just hang out. Tracks from early versions as well as unreleased songs play like a string of counterexamples, to prove that the album as it stands is perfect. Why isn’t Ian Brown’s voice higher in the mix? Because they tried it in the “I Am The Resurrection,” and it didn’t sound right. Rounding out the collection is a barebones DVD of music videos and live performances, which are excellent, if not entirely revelatory. With so much coverage, the re-issue of The Stone Roses plays more like a retrospective on an entire band, which is a pretty canny marketing move. Passing up this collection basically amounts to turning your back on their entire career. — Jonny Grubb Stress Position A man a plan a canal panama Aggressive Records 2009 BAND MEMBERS: Vince Glaval /Damon Gardner/Matt Lind/Andy Bergan (Stress Position does not list “who plays what” on this release, only the descriptions as, respectively, “thought” “word” “action” and “character..” -Ed.) TRACK LISTING: “washout”/ “the captain”/”ewe”/ “smile and shake hands”/”rabbits foot”/ “tanning bed sun”/ “ape” Stress Position’s a man a plan a canal panama opens on something of a fake-out. “washout” is a distilled form of hardcore rock. A two-chord riff, transposed once, over highly effected screaming. This is going to be a record made entirely out of nitroglycerine and sparks, right? Boring for fans of melody, but necessary for fans of hardcore. But as soon as the next track, all that changes. While the energy is there for the whole of the album, it gets somewhat restrained as it goes on. More inspired by jazz than by metal, Stress Position plays like The Dead Milkmen if those guys had ever gotten serious. Deliberate, metered guitar noodling sets the stage for only-barelymelodic singing with intermittent breaks for passionate screaming. A restrained energy, yes, but one that seems desperate to break out, always ready to explode. In a lot of ways, a man a plan a canal panama works better as an invitation. While the album itself is perfectly good, it sounds like it was meant to come from a band on a stage. Nowhere is this more obvious than the last few seconds of “smile and shake hands.” A chorus of male voices chants, “we smile and shake hands / while we are stepped on.” Surely only a room full of dudes with fists upheld could do this line justice. — Jonny Grubb The Minus 5 Killingsworth YepRoc 2009 BAND MEMBERS: Scott McCaugheyvocals, guitars/Peter Buck- guitars/John Moen- drums/The Shee Bee Geesvocals/Ken Stringfellow- vocals TRACK LISTING: Dark Hand Of Contagion/The Long Hall/The Disembowelers/The Lurking Barrister/It Won't Do You Any Good/Vintage Violet/Scott Walker's Fault/Big Beat Up Moon/I Would Rather Sacrifice You/Gash In The Cocoon/Smoke On, Jerry/Your Favorite Mess/Tonight You're Buying Me A Drink, Bub Scott McCaughey is a depraved workhorse. He's been wringing the bitter whiskey out of that old ticker with a young man's regularity and a wiser man's wit for some time now. The Young Fresh Fellows, The Baseball Project and his association with some band called R.E.M have all born The Dark Hand of McCaughey’s Contagion, but for my drink tickets, it's his work in The Minus 5 that has always seemed the most personal and affective. Although originally conceived in 1993 as a resting place for songs that flowed over the rim of The Young Fresh Fellows' rhinestone stein, The Minus 5 has outgrown its intended role, morphing into a pop collective that has featured members of Wilco, The Decemberists and The Pogues, but which nearly always centers around R.E.M's Peter Buck and McCaughey's stunningly consistent sadpop craftsmanship and an obsession with drink, death, and the shadowy sound of a weeping pedal-steel. McCaughey's persona in The Minus 5 is that of a drunk, a bit of an asshole maybe, but with those same wet-eyed late night fears and feelings that we all indulge in, alcoholically lubricated or not. The love songs in McCaughey's world sound like apologies, and the drinking songs are unapologetic, as in the contrast between closing tracks “Your Favourite Mess” and “Tonight You're Buying Me A Drink, Bub.” Elsewhere the focus is on death and loneliness, continuing the theme of his previous full-length, The Minus 5 (known to fans as “The Gun Album” for its unnerving cover art, a black background with a single handgun, sans explanation). The perfectly-drawn characters in “Big Beat-Up Moon,” for example, experience their quotidian sadnesses without ever intersecting, causing the bittersweet waltz to ponder, simply, “How can there be / so many people / stacked up in rooms / And still feel all alone?” The album is beautifully crafted from one end to the other, with “Dark Hand of Contagion” leading off with a solid hit, while the middle of the lineup, “Vintage Violet” and “Scott Walker's Fault” announce this collection's arrival as being right in line with the fantastic string of music McCaughey has released recently, from Down With Wilco to In Rock to The Minus 5, and including the EP At The Organ. He's discovered a singular skill for writing great pop music, and has been a remarkably sure bet for over a decade now. The lyrics are incredibly verbose and evocative, with the ability to be wry or sad as hell in the same breath. It's the kind of album you want to have a drink with, as if the album itself could sit down at the bar next to you, talk your ear off and outdrink you before walking out the door to that cold beat-up moon, sticking you, of course, with the tab. — Jesse Sawyer Joe Henry Blood From Stars Anti Records 2009 “This is a beautiful war, to be sure.” Joe Henry's bag is full. Songwriter, producer, recording artist, Madonna's brotherin-law... Busy, busy, busy. Fresh off of taking the production reigns for Ramblin' Jack Elliott's A Stranger Here and Allen Toussaint's The Bright Mississippi, he still had the time to grind out his recent release, Blood From Stars, arguably his darkest spawn of songs to date. There really ought to be a word to describe the feeling evoked when Henry's music assaults the ear as simple and resonant as “yummy” is to characterize the sense of taste. Delicious aural waftings notwithstanding, Henry's gone deeper into the jazzy under- pinnings that have been a signature of his previous quartet of releases and fused it to the blues, while waxing esoteric here to show us that we're all stardust or, more appropriately, the blood spilled from the violence in the history of the stellar universe, and turned it back inward to the microcosm that is our lives, our challenges, our choices. And, through it all, he displays why we all have the ability to extract the light from all that darkness. There's a redemptive power in these songs that speaks to the inner-Sisyphus and urges the soul to challenge everything, fear nothing, take it's licks, keep going and tell whoever and whatever's oppressor that, “Yeah, ya know, fuck you, I'm still better than you.” He tells us from the beginning to embrace the darkness with the sparse instrumental, “Prelude: Light No Lamp When The Sun Comes Down,” then moves seamlessly into a lecture on protecting the feral nature of the id with, “The Man I Keep Hid,” a slow-rumblin' train of a song chuggin' along with horn-heavy interludes. Speaking of horns, keep your ears pinned down for the saxophone, too, as it comes courtesy of Henry's 17-year-old son, Levon. Says Henry of his son's burgeoning musicianship and his presence on BFS, “It wasn't a matter of me thinking it would be cute to put him on a record. He was just the musician I most wanted to hear in that chair.” Like father, like son, it would appear, and another to keep an eye on.. “Channel” is as eerie and airy as the picture that adorns the album cover. It's a fiveminute orchestral blitzkrieg that employs a dead-on, chilling lyrical “pause” technique that imbues the song with tension and suspense, no doubt meticulously plotted by Henry to make you feel like what comes next could be anything from a murmur to a shattering, tormenting torrent. “There's a song we used to know/A kind of weary blues/Some broken tune from long ago/Some of us still like to use/It hangs up high in the rafters/Like smoke, it has no form/Keep it all hid like laughter and sing out: Death, death to the storm,” Henry urgently and strenuously wails amid the soft rolling drums and tink-tink tin tap of high ivory on “Death To The Storm,” the kind of song playing while you're nestled in a windowed alcove, watching the rain stream down before you and cursing nature's rage. On “Progress Of Love,” Henry takes a moment to make a pretty lady smile and remind us why we love love, serenading 24 ‘round the dial Issue 1 Vol I November 3, 2009 ‘round the dial Issue 1 Vol I November 3, 2009 25
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Page 11: Guitar Town — Tech Talk By Gary V
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Page 17 and 18: Monday Mud By Gather T. Swanson Can

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