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[Album Review] James - La Petite Mort

Looking backwards to move on.

With each new record, an artist will forever get measured up against their past work. You need to know if James still has it. If they can still match the energy and passion of ‘Sit Down,’ ‘Sound,’ ‘Sometimes’ or ‘Say Something.’ If they are still relevant 30+ years into this music business. Well, I’ve said it ten times – and I’ll say it again – James gets better and better with age. And if you didn’t know that with 2008′s outstanding Hey Ma LP, then perhaps this new one will convince you.

La Petite Mort – the band’s 12th studio album (depending on how you count them) is an emotional tidal wave, concerning the circle of life – and rebirth. LPM brings with it the classic 7-man line-up that was brilliantly captured on 1990′s Gold Mother and 1992′s Seven – as well as their two most recent releases: the aforementioned Hey Ma and 2010′s double mini-LP, The Morning After The Night Before.

Whenever I sit down with a new record from a band whose catalog I’m very familiar with, I immediately look for the songs that are gonna be up there in the ranks with their best, and those that will slay a live audience when this album is ten years in the past. Those songs are sequenced tracks 1, 2 and 3. ‘Walk Like You’ boldly kicks things off – a seven-plus minute builder – immediately showcasing the glorious falsetto of Tim Booth, the melodic violin-drones of Saul Davies and the band’s penchant for experimental musical migration (halfway through the song had me checking to see if it was still Track 1). ‘Curse Curse’ – a techno romp with a massive chorus – is my favourite of the bunch. Like the album’s title (The Little Death), this song is seasoned with sexual innuendo and is undoubtedly an anthem. Just wait… I can already hear crowds joining in: “Pour me more tequila!” If the lyrics concerning the death of loved ones, and (hopefully) meeting up with them again in the future, doesn’t pull on your heart strings in ‘Moving On,’ then perhaps the music video will. It’s a celebration of life – sad, but uplifting. It’s classic James – in 2014.

James has two secret weapons – the first being Andy Diagram. His trumpet lines take an already emotional melody and boost it up into the emotional stratosphere. He really shines on the luxuriously-textured ‘Interrogation.’ The other is Mark Hunter, whose presence is all over this record, especially on the second half – from the underlying organ on ‘Bitter Virtue’ to the piano-arpeggio waltz of ‘Quicken The Dead.’ Perhaps I’ll feel differently about it six months from now, but the album’s weak spot occurs with ‘Gone Baby Gone.’ Maybe it’s the refrain of the song’s title, but it stands out as La Petite Mort’s ‘Low Low Low.’ And in all seriousness – that is the album’s only weak point. 

So yeah, James still have it. Very few artists can put out something of this caliber this far into their career – and James have been getting away with it for years.

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Glen Campbell Releases His Farewell Album - Ghost On The Canvas: A Review

Glen Campbell. The country music legend. The variety show host. The phenomenal guitar player, studio musician, touring member of The Beach Boys. The face in that horrible mugshot. The family man whose live band includes five of his children. The journey and the end of the road.

By The Time I Get To Phoenix, Rhinestone Cowboy and Wichita Lineman - I remember all three of you on the jukebox at Arthur's Grill on Mannheim Road in Stone Park, Illinois, where my brothers and I would go with our parents after Little League games. Those songs and memories are an irreplaceable part of my past. Years later, I rediscovered Campbell with the release of 2008's Meet Glen Campbell, which featured amazing covers of U2, The Replacements, Tom Petty, Green Day, Foo Fighters, The Velvet Underground, John Lennon, etc. Like Johnny Cash's Rick Rubin-produced albums, Campbell breathes new life into those songs, with a voice backed by an entire lifetime of knowledge.

A few months back, Campbell announced that he was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and would be concluding his career with a final album and tour. Ghost On The Canvas is a stellar farewell. Producer Julian Raymond gathered an all-star lineup of musical guests to tip their hats and add their flair - Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins), Dick Dale, Jakob Dylan, Keith Urban, Brian Setzer, Chris Isaak, Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick), Robert Pollard (Guided By Voices), Dandy Warhols...the list goes on. Former Replacements frontman Paul Westerberg - for who Campbell recorded a brilliant cover of his Sadly Beautiful on 2008's Meet Glen Campbell - contributes two songs: the outstanding title track and Any Trouble.

This is an atypical review for me, because I'm not going to get into the individual songs, however I will tell you this: I've listened to this record countless times already, and when the final notes of There's No Me...Without You fade away, I find myself immediately starting it over and over again.

The songs reflect on his life and its approaching conclusion. It's filled with words of wisdom from someone who has achieved serenity from a lifetime of highs and lows. It's an album that makes you think of that first beer you drank with your father on a Sunday afternoon, or playing pool in a basement with wood paneling and a couple of beer signs on the walls. It makes me sad that this is Glen Campbell's farewell. Without a doubt - FIVE STARS.

'One thing I know, the world's been good to me. A better place awaits you'll see.' - A Better Place

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Tiger Army's Nick 13 Keeps It Real with Debut Solo Album: A Review

The importance of neighborhood record stores is demonstrated right here. My brother and I visit one of my favorite shops in the Phoenix-area - Hoodlums Records. While flipping through the vinyl racks, a song comes on that I just can't pinpoint the era, or the singer. It's country, but it's legit, old-school country. My brother beats me to it and asks the guy behind the counter who it is. Nick 13. Yeah, the guy from Tiger Army. I drop the 10 quid and buy it on the spot. Within the first 24 hours I'm probably up to fifteen listens. This rarely ever happens.

As mentioned earlier, Nick 13 is the leader of Northern California's punk / rockabilly / psychobilly group, Tiger Army. I've seen his band perform a couple of times over the last ten years, but didn't connect with it as strongly as I do this solo record. Nick's voice here is smooth. Gram Parsons smooth. Chris Isaak smooth. Roy Orbison smooth. Just the right amount of vibrato quiver to make this authentic. I hear subtle nods towards Kill Uncle-era Morrissey and some good ol' Hank Williams coming through.

On to the songs. 101 has that great, feel-good, country-traveling, gotta-get-away groove, that would've been perfect during the cross-country trips my family would take when I was a kid, piled into a station wagon listening to Eddie Rabbit on the radio, while we drove our life away. :)

All Alone is tops. It's got the vintage call-and-response backing vocals like the old Patsy Cline jukebox classics. It's part Ghost Riders In Sky, part Santo and Johnny's Sleep Walk. Restless Moon and Someday are instantly catchy, must-listens, with some excellent guitar playing.

Among the ten tracks are two Tiger Army re-workings, originally appearing on 2001's Power Of Moonlite. Cupid's Victim is drastically different, slowing down its frantic pace and taking away its 'rock' elements, while In The Orchard benefits from a more laid-back, lush arrangement that outshines the original.

The album was produced by Greg Leisz, who has worked with everyone from Emmylou Harris to the Smashing Pumpkins, along with actor/musician James Intveld. The band is top-notch and even includes a guest appearance by Lloyd Green, who played pedal steel on The Byrd's phenomenal Sweetheart Of The Rodeo album.

However you call this album - Americana, Country or Hillbilly - it is truly one of my favorite albums of 2011.

Key Tracks:  101, Restless Moon, Someday, Nighttime Sky
Released on June 7, 2011 on Sugar Hill Records

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Peter Murphy - Ninth: A Review

Whenever I hear a new album from an artist that I like, one of the first things that I listen for is a song that will stand the test of time - a song that will continue to be performed live after the token 'new album tour.' So, does such a song exist on Ninth, Peter Murphy's newest album in 7 years? Absolutely. 

His last album, 2004's Unshattered, was doomed from the start when the label went belly-up as the record was released. While it may seem like he's been inactive - after all, seven years is a long time between albums - in the meantime, he reunited with his former bandmates to have another go at Bauhaus with a tour and a new album - Go Away White; he has also toured several times - once with Nine Inch Nails; released a series of cover songs, and even collaborated on a second Dalis Car album with the late Mick Karn. So the man hasn't been slacking.

Ninth is Peter Murphy's edgiest solo album to date. At 53 years old, there is no sign of him mellowing out on this new record. He's got a seasoned, road-tested band behind him and a batch of some really good material.

Some songs are immediately catchy and accessible - the lead-off single, I Spit Roses and its digital b-side The Prince & Old Lady Shade. The latter is just an incredible piece of music with beautiful strings and a melody that stays with you.

Other tracks really sneak up on you the third time around. One of those being my absolute favorite, Uneven & Brittle. With its crunchy guitars and a mega-intense chorus - this is gonna be a powerhouse in the live setting:

You spit as you say,

'I get crushed by my dreams that i crawled and begged for.

It's myself I deceive, I got all I ask for.

If I wait in deep sleep, there's nothing there to pray for.

Uneven and brittle, is there fruit on our tree?'

At the song's climax, Murphy lets out a 15-second scream that will send shivers down your spine.

Seesaw Sway, the album's second single, is another striking moment with its duel guitar melodies bobbing and weaving around the vocals. Like most of the songs on Ninth, it is dynamic and emotional. The album has its gentler moments with the acoustic-based Never Fall Out and the album closer, Creme de la Creme. Creme begins as a piano ballad, and then continues to build. It made me think of Ziggy Stardust's conclusion, Rock 'N' Roll Suicide, mixed with his own My Last Two Weeks. A gorgeous ending.

So, to revisit the criteria that I set in my opening words... The Prince & Old Lady Shade, I Spit Roses and Uneven & Brittle are my picks for the tracks that will remain part of his live set for years to come.  :)

Peter Murphy is moving forward. Like all good artists, it's all about what you create in the present and future, that makes you still relevant. I applaud him for this new album. Cuts You Up is over 20 years old now, it's time to make some new memories. Buy Ninth now.

Key Tracks:  Uneven & Brittle, The Prince & Old Lady Shade, Seesaw Sway, I Spit Roses
Release Date:  June 7, 2011 on Nettwerk Records

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