SMM #62: December 11th, 2023
New releases before the year wraps up, another choice rock playlist, a rare radio show mention, and notes on a great Brooklyn show from last week.
New Releases
DANIEL DONATO - Reflector… Donato is one of my favorite artists to have emerged in recent years and I have touted him several times in the past… he combines the country-rock of the Flying Burrito Brothers and country guitar of Nashville legends like Chet Atkins with a jam guitar style heavily influenced by Jerry Garcia/Grateful Dead and Dickey Betts/Allman Brothers (he also plays in Allman’s tribute band, Trouble No More)… this album consists of 15 outstanding original tunes that showcase his songwriting, vocals, and amazing guitar work… combined with his band’s non-stop touring, Reflector should surely raise Donato’s profile (see recent Rolling Stone profile)... I have seen him & his Cosmic Country band twice this year and his shows are truly epic, so get out and see him in 2024… you’ll be glad you did!
ROLLING STONES - Hackney Diamonds… this is the first album of new material from the Stones since 2005’s A Bigger Bang… considering that lengthy gap and the fact that the band’s main men, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, will both be 80(!) by the end of 2023, it is a surprisingly good outing… the album kicks off with a classic Keith guitar riff on “Angry” and rocks hard throughout on tunes like “Bite My Head Off” and “Live By The Sword” (recorded a few years back with late drummer Charlie Watts and original bassist, Bill Wyman)... the album’s centerpiece though is the 7 minute ballad, “Sweet Sounds of Heaven” featuring a soaring, inspired vocal performance by Mick and special guest, Lady Gaga… AMG said: “At its heart, it's nothing more than the Rolling Stones knocking out some good Rolling Stones songs, which seems like a minor miracle after such a long wait”...
ROBERT FINLEY - Black Bayou… Finley didn’t release his first album until 2016 at age 62… right after that, Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys signed him to his Easy Eye Sound label and this is now his third release for Easy Eye… Finley’s music is a swampy blend of blues, soul, gospel and rock that reflects his northern Louisiana heritage… Auerbach’s production and musical talents, combined with Finley’s fiery vocals and performance style, has resulted in a successful formula and all three albums are worth checking out…
THE THIRD MIND - 2… roots-rock artist Dave Alvin had a vision to re-do 60s underground psychedelic and blues-rock songs by going into the studio with no rehearsals, pick a song and see what happens… and maybe some cool originals would result too… he assembled some like-minded veteran musicians and the result was this, their stellar second album (not sure how I missed the first one since I’m a longtime fan of Alvin)... Alvin says vocalist Jesse Sykes “sings like Sandy Denny meets Grace Slick” which is spot on (have CD of her 2011 album, Marble Son, with her band The Sweet Hereafter and it’s a hidden alt-country gem)... led by Sykes’ vocals and the creatively superb guitars of Alvin and Camper Van Beethoven/Counting Crows’ David Immerglück they breath new life into songs by the Electric Flag and Paul Butterfield Blues Band, among others… my favorite is the 10 minute “Sally Go Round the Roses” a song originally done in 1963 by one-hit wonders, the Jaynetts, and later covered by Grace Slick’s pre-Jefferson Airplane band, The Great Society…
BARRENCE WHITFIELD & THE SAVAGES - Glory… wildman vocalist Whitfield & his band The Savages are longtime members of the Boston music scene… they have been putting out consistently excellent albums since the 80s and they hit the mark once again with Glory… honkin’ sax men Spencer Evoy and Tom Quartulli are standouts on this 12-song, 30 minute blast of soul-rockin’ R&B…
DOLLY PARTON - Rockstar… after being inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll HOF in 2022, Dolly asked the HOF to reconsider, saying she’s not a rock ‘n’ roll artist… they said “no” and inducted her anyway… so she decided to embrace it and have a go at this sometimes fun but way too long (30 songs!) collection of familiar rock classics, plus, some originals… while I definitely wouldn’t recommend sitting thru the entire album, there is an A to Z special guest list so jump around and check out the songs and artists that pique your interest…
Playlist: Scattered Nuggets - Rock and Roll, Vol. 14
Back to Rock ‘n’ Roll for the latest featured playlist… we start off with Bob Dylan rocking out on “Man of Peace” from his 1983 classic, Infidels… seems like a great concert song but Bob hasn’t played it live since 2000… next up is West Coast singer/songwriter, Chuck Prophet… Chuck can rock and is also a master of clever, witty lyrics as is evident with this nugget, “Jesus Was a Social Drinker”... Eels is a band that has been around since the 90s but after listening to ONE song I didn’t like many years ago, I wrote them off… this great catchy rocker turned up on my weekly Spotify “Discovery” playlist and led me to explore further and - yeah I’ve been missing the boat on Eels! Lots of great songs in their catalog… Steamhammer was a late 60s British blues-rock band that formed at a time when the competition for this kind of music was stiff, making it hard to stand out… they broke up after a few years but did produce this nugget, “Junior’s Wailing”... the Raspberries are best known for their 1972 power pop hit, “Go All the Way”... on their next album, Side 3, they decided to fire up the guitars and rock out, resulting in this excellent tune… Denver psych/country band, Last of the Easy Riders, put out an EP (2016) and album (2018) and have not been heard from since (as far as I can tell)... but they did leave behind this driving rocker featuring some wailing guitar work… Blues Traveler is a popular long-running jam band that I have never listened to… no idea why… but after hearing this tune from 1997’s Straight on Till Morning featuring some great interplay between John Popper’s harmonica and Chan Kinchla’s guitar, I might have to check them out… after you hear the next song, you will probably find it hard to believe that those wailing vocals on this crunching rocker are the one and only Paul McCartney! The Fireman was a collaboration that produced three albums with former Killing Joke bassist and ambient house pioneer, Youth… overall, the album also features a lot of experimental, ambient music so not everyone’s cup of tea…
Never heard of the Surreal McCoys before I came across this VERY cool mash-up of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison” and Led Zep’s “Whole Lotta Love”... it definitely works and I need to check out the rest of this album… Australian bluesman Lloyd Spiegel sounds like he came right out of a Texas roadhouse with a sound reminiscent of Dave Alvin (see The Third Mind review above)... Big Maybelle was an influential R&B singer in the 50s & 60s but here she does a great job covering garage-rock classic, “96 Tears” by ? & The Mysterians… next up is Vancouver band, Lions in the Street, with this relentless rocker that roars out of the gate and doesn’t let up… interestingly, the band has been around for over 20 years but only has a 5-song EP to show for it… they were burned early on by a bad record deal and then walked away from several notable producers who wanted to work with them… kind of weird… seems like a case of cutting off your nose to spite your face… anyway, we move on to William the Conqueror, an English trio that per AMG combines “bluesy grunge, classic rock-tinged Americana and anthemic British alt-rock” into their own compelling sound… I highlighted one of their albums in a 2021 issue of SMM and they put a new one out in July I haven’t got around to yet… Tami Neilson grew up in Canada playing music with her family’s band and eventually relocated to New Zealand where she has recorded several highly-acclaimed albums… Neilson combines country, rock and R&B into a vibrant mix and sings with a confident swagger… an artist definitely worth checking out…
Finally, the playlist concludes with the tale of Stevie Wright, considered by some to be Australia’s first international pop star based on his 60s work with the band, The Easybeats, and their big hit, “Friday on Your Mind”… the band was led by guitarists Harry Vanda & George Young (older brother of AC/DC’s Angus and Malcolm Young)... after they broke up, Wright reunited with Vanda & Young and launched a solo career… the playlist song is the title song of his 1975 album, Black Eyed Bruiser, and it is a killer track with an AC/DC guitar riff and vocals that sound so much like AC/DC vocalist, Bon Scott, that it could be a great “lost” AC/DC song (the vocals are SO similar I double-checked to make sure it wasn’t Scott sitting in)… interestingly, AC/DC’s debut album came out 6 months before Black Eyed Bruiser and both were produced by Vanda & Young so maybe they were trying to capitalize on AC/DC’s early success with this track… anyway, due to heroin addiction Wright’s career fizzled by the late 70s… he never really got it going again and he died in 2015…
BBC Radio6 Music: Iggy Confidential with guest, Tom Waits
Music legends Iggy Pop and Tom Waits teamed up for this episode of Iggy’s BBC show, Iggy Confidential… these VERY grizzled veterans exchange great stories and play some of their favorite songs that are the definition of eclectic musical taste… there’s spoken word, gospel, opera, surf music, rap, TV theme songs, blues, rock ‘n’ roll and a lot of general weirdness… check it out if you’re in the mood for something completely different! (NOTE: replay is available until Dec 31)
Concert Notes: Blues-Rock Comes to Brooklyn!
Date: December 4th, 2023
Act: GA-20, Black Joe Lewis
Venue: Baby’s All Right, Brooklyn, NY
I love a great band playing an epic arena show as much as anyone but I also love seeing a great, but lesser known, band for $25 in a small club filled with their dedicated followers with a cold beer in my hand… two great bands is even better and that’s what we got at Baby’s All Right on a chilly Monday night in Williamsburg, Brooklyn…
The club is right down the street from the renowned steakhouse, Peter Luger, just over the Williamsburg Bridge from Manhattan… this was the first time I had been to Baby’s All Right and I really liked the layout and vibe… you enter into a small barroom and a doorway on the side leads to a modest dining section… swinging doors to the left of the bar lead into the concert room which was a fairly narrow space with a stage at far end… it is definitely one of the smaller venues I have been to… capacity is listed at 280 which definitely seems a bit on the high side… there appeared to be around 100-150 people in the room and it was filled… there was a very small, VERY convenient, bar at the back of the room which is where we comfortably stood rather than wading into the crowd… the view was great, no need to get any closer!
Texas bluesman, Black Joe Lewis, and his band opened the show… we had previously seen Lewis and his original band, The Honeybears, open for Okkervil River at Terminal 5 in 2013… at that time, he was a rising star in the blues-rock world but he had faded from view in recent years… the Honeybears are gone and he now tours with a stripped down trio of bass, drums and himself on guitar & vocals… wasn’t sure what to expect but it was an excellent, entertaining 45 minute set and Lewis definitely had a dedicated following there… he has a solid back catalog of songs to work with and the set built momentum as it went along with Lewis amping things up on the last few songs with some fiery guitar work…
Boston blues trio GA-20 was up next… the band was founded in 2018 by guitarist Matt Stubbs while on a break from his regular gig playing guitar in bluesman Charlie Musselwhite’s touring band… their bio states the band “finds inspiration on the edges of the genre, where early electric blues first converged with country and rock ‘n’ roll”... they write original songs that reflect that inspiration and sound like old nuggets from the Chess blues catalog… the band configuration duplicates the template of legendary blues band, Hound Dog Taylor & The Houserockers, using two guitarists and a drummer and no bass guitar (they have an album of all HDT covers)… Stubbs and fellow guitarist/vocalist Pat Faherty take turns laying down the rhythm/bass lines and playing lead with Faherty focusing mainly on slide guitar (like Hound Dog)... Faherty handles most of the vocals and is a great showman, moving about the stage and even heading out into the audience and all the way to the back of the room where I was standing to play while sitting on the bar!
Overall, this was a dynamic entertaining show… the band feels they are part of a “new traditional blues revival” and I could see them breaking out bigger in 2024… if they are playing near you, I highly recommend checking them out! — SL