Black Country Blues Bluegrass Classic : Carolina Chocolate Drops : Leaving Eden

Carolina Chocolate Drops' album before this was called Genuine Negro Jig and that seems to sum up the bands agenda.  Bringing back old style music you can believe could have been played 100 years ago.    In these politically correct days I was surprised that a band would have the balls to call itself Carolina Chocolate Drops - but they do and do so with proud.

Leaving Eden has become one of my favourite acoustic albums. A great mix of hoedowns, jigs, blues and bluegrass sympathetically produced by Buddy Miller.   The title track is a rare ballad dealing with the impact of the closure of the only factory in a small town. Read 'em John has the sound of a field holler while Country  Girl is great bluegrass party song.  There is more of the same on the album.

Recommended

New Zealand Favourites : The Eastern : Hope and Wire

Sam saw Lyttleton band/duo The Eastern open for someone in Christchurch and thought I would like them so he bought their self titled CD at the show for me.  Thoughtful Lad.  I played it a few times and to be honest it did not really grab me.  Solid but not great.  Sounding a bit too much like latter day Steve Earle (which ain't no bad thing) and not quite individual enough.

We were in Christchurch between quakes and I was in Radar Records in Cashell St and the guys recommended that I pick up a copy of Little Band o' Golds' current CD and see if I could catch them that night as they were in town.  So I bought the CD and three tickets and Sam, Jan and I found ourselves later that night in a (now long gone) old warehouse listening to The Eastern open for the Little Band o' Gold. They played a great set in what was one of the best nights of music I have had.

A few years later I read a few reviews of their then latest release, a double CD Hope and Wire - I think it was this one  or maybe this one and I thought it would be worth checking them out again.  So we were in Singapore and buying their CD at HMV was not an option - so I asked Sam to pick me up a copy.

Never regretted it.

This is a great album by any measure.  It would happily rate alongside the best of the rootsier Springsteen, Steve Earle and even some Pogues. Too often we apologise for New Zealand music (sometimes we have to!) but this is world class stuff.


The cover with its Waterfront strike gives and indication of what you are in for.  To me the album is also infused with the impact of the Christchurch Earthquake.  The songwriting which is shared but dominated by Adam McGrath is heartfelt, folk based and  occasionally pointed and political.   Whether it is the mournful strains of North Wind or State Houses By the River, the jauntiness of turn it round, Set a Signal or Four on Floor. This is an album that deserves an audience beyond NZ.

Journey Through the Past 21 : Gene Clark : No Other

While Roger McGuinn and David Crosby were the most recognised and recognisable faces of The Byrds, many maintain that Gene Clark was the real heart of the band.   Initially he was certainly their best songwriter contributing Eight Miles High, I'll feel a whole lot better and She don't care about time.  However like much in history it is the victors that get to wrote the "true history".

He left the band in 1966 and spent the rest of his life seeming to sabotage his career with what at the time were seeming wild swings in material and focus, his reluctance to travel or his drug and alcohol problems.

When you read about his career it is easy to wonder how so much talent could have failed to really get the recognition that the music deserves.  There is a documentary available in small pieces on Youtube

Over the years I have picked up many of his post Byrds albums.  All the ones I have are excellent with great songs and terrific musicians.  However No Other is the one I keep coming back to.  When I first started listening to him it was a bit of a holy grail and difficult to find.

Originally released in 1974 it was released to poor reviews and worse sales - sinking almost without a trace.

It was re-released on CD in 2003 and I picked up a copy then.  It was both worth the wait and disappointing that I had not been able to listen to it for longer.

I do not often use the term masterpiece but I really think this album deserves that title.  Not a bad song and great production.   Some absolutely gems of songs including Silver Raven Strength of Strings Life's Greatest Fool, From a Silver Phial and of course No Other.

The album has recently been toured with a collection of current Americana singers and players.  Here is Robin Peckfold's (from The Fleet Foxes) version of Life's Greatest Fool  and Strength of Strings.


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Highlights from this mornings' iPod shufflle selection

Prince - Sign of the Times
John Boutte -  Two Bands Rollin'
The Pretty Things : Progress
Phil Cody : Orphan Train
Dexy's Midnight Runners - I couldn't help it if I tried

Favourites 8 : Calexico : Feast of Wire

I first became aware of Calexico in about 1999 when I was beginning to listen to Giant Sand and Calexico were still a part time side project for Joey Burns and John Convertino.  I was beginning to listen to a lot of Alternative Country had a number of the New Sounds of the Old West compilations on the Loose Label (a small specialist label run by the a kiwi in London) and it seemed every one had a Calexico track on it. 

Calexico is an extremely aptly named band - immediately apparent on first listen - a mix of Southern Californian rock infused with the sound of Mexico.  Think Ennio Marricone's sound tracks for A Fistful of Dollars combined with Fleetwood Mac. They even name check Stevie Nicks in Not Even Stevie Nicks

Feast of Wire

At the time I was making a few business trips to our Melbourne Office and that posed a few problems for me as there were two great CD stores downstairs that proved effective at hoovering money out of my wallet. So in 2003 I finally bought a full length album by Calexico.  The excellent Feast of Wire.   An album that immediately brings images of the Californian and Mexican border to mind.

This has been a constant favourite since then. I have bought a few others by them but this is the one I come back to.  From the opening moments of the Sunken Waltz that flows straight into Quattro (World Drifts In) .

Other stand out tracks include Black Heart and  Attack El Robot Attack.

I don't know much about Jazz but I like ................. Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colosus

I have a few albums by Sonny Rollins.  Way Out West, Sonny Meets Hawk and the mighty pairing of Thelonious Monk And Sonny.  I was sorry I missed Sonny when he played in Auckland last year.

However last year I picked Saxophone Colossus up on Vinyl and since then it has become a firm favourite and one of those LPs that never really gets put away.  Side two is particularly good with his interpretation of the Theme to the Threepenny Opera (Moritat) with its familiar refrains from Mack The Knife and You Don't Know what Love is - one of jazz's great standards.  As a bonus check out this version of the same song by Chet Baker and Elvis Costello

Paint it Black : I hate coloured vinyl

In the late 70's and early 80's when coloured  and special vinyl started to appear I picked up a few. Graham Parker's legendary The Pink Parker and Split Enz' laser etched True Colours come to mind. However I was always more interested in the music than the medium and so collected lps for the music not the colour of the vinyl.

New vinyl releases these days frequently come with limited edition coloured vinyl releases.  I do not seek these out but have picked up a few almost accidentally through Amazon and other online purchases.  When the new record arrives there is a brief feeling that maybe this limited release may become a valuable collectible.  Then I quickly realise that I will not be selling it so will never realise that $20 profit and have to put up with the bloody awful colour every time I play it.  I will admit to having paid an exorbitant amount about 10 years ago for Ryan Adam's part time band The Finger's bloody awful We are Fuck You album on red vinyl - and that has appreciated very nicely (currently selling for about $500) especially as I have never played it.

I also think that coloured vinyl has some pretty big limitations which I see or perceive as;

1. You can not see dust on the record so have to brush each record every time
2. If it is "see through" you have the added disadvantage that you tend to walk away from the turntable dizzy everytime but maybe that brings back the feeling of listening to music in the 70's
3. I suspect that the vinyl is also not as good a quality as they seem to be noisier. 

In the last 4 years I have added probably 10 of these frustrating little buggers to my collection - the latest yesterday when I received a copy of The Both.  The worst of which in terms of visual appearance would be The Hold Steady's gold vinyl teeth dreams.  However the worst offender would be Preservation Hall Jazz Band's bluegrass effort American Legacies which comes in see through green and that leaves your head spinning every time. Enough to stop me playing it!