Bentley’s Bandstand: November 2024
By Bill Bentley
Jeremie Albino, OUR TIME IN THE SUN. Sometimes there is a musician who walks into the front of the crowds and makes their presence well-known on the first verse of the opening song on a new album. It’s instantaneous, and can’t be plotted. It’s because the artist has a strength of soul which is overwhelming. Even if it’s a quiet power, it’s obvious there is no going back. Which describes Jeremie Albino to a T: the man is in a class with a long list of North American greats, from Neil Young onward. There’s a way Albino’s songwriting and vocal style comes together that gets through the opening of eternity. His music feels like it was meant to change listener’s lives, and luckily producer Dan Auerbach realized that when the recording sessions started, and never wandered from that honesty. There is a way that the openness of Canadian singer-songwriters are able to keep their eye on the bullseye, like they’re respecting the long history of American music and build on that to get to their own sound. When Jeremie Albino joins writing with Auerbach, Pat McLaughlin, Joe Allen and Bobby Wood, it feels like a past era has been brought into the present for something brand new. It’s not easy to get there, and only a few songwriters do. But Albino’s recent single, “Rolling Down the 405” is an example of just how strong the man’s music is. It’s going to be an exciting time to see if the modern airwaves and highways have room for a musician like this. Soundwise he has it all. Next will be the moment to see if the media can deal with an unknown newbie who writes from the center of the heart and sings like their life depends on it. The sun rises.
The Blasters, OVER THERE: LIVE AT THE VENUE LONDON–THE COMPLETE CONCERT. Once upon a time there was a duo of brothers living in Downey, Califonira, not too far from Disneyland, that dreamed of playing the kind of music that makes bones grow strong and hearts become full. The sounds come from all kinds of places, but each and every one is nurtured by reality. There is a street-wise poetry that becomes part of the mix, and a feeling that today is the one real day that counts, and unless it’s lived to the fullest there is no point to any of it. The brothers, Phil and Dave Alvin, got guitars, collected records of all styles and ages, books that taught them there is a true purpose to life that needs to be learned, and maybe most of all, a joy to understanding how humans should all open up to each other and respect reality. The Blasters started playing around Los Angeles and by 1980 looked like they had a shot at having their music heard across America. Once the band began touring around America and then England it was realized: this is going somewhere. In early 1982 the group made it to England and hit plenty of monkey nerves. Six songs from the Blasters’ 1982 London show at the Venue became a live EP and the race was on. More albums and acclaim rolled in and it looked like there was a bigger shot at success. And then things changed in the Blasters lineup and the group splintered and went their ways. But the live show the group recorded in London in 1982 has been put together as a whole, and all 23 songs recorded live that jumping night in 1982 are together, like a big family, and kicks up a dust storm from beginning to end right there in the motherland. For those who saw the band live in the first part of their run for the money, this will bring back sizzling memories. And for those who missed the Blasters then, there is absolutely no excuse to pass them by now. For a few years in the first half of the 1980s the Downey Dynamite had a chokehold on rock & roll, and weren’t afraid to apply strongly wherever they went. Hear it now, turn it all the way up and thank the lucky stars the tapes were rolling and didn’t get lost in the Pacific Ocean one crazy night in California. Co-producers with the band Chris Morris and Antone DeSantis, along with associate producer Art Fein, should all be super proud. They did it. Boogie or bust.
Jimmy Carpenter, JUST GOT STARTED. There are dozens of saxophone players walking the front and back roads blowing their horns, but there is only one Jimmy Carpenter. Produced by Christoffer “Kid” Anderson, this is the kind of collection of music that was made on a higher plane. Carpenter is one of the most celebrated horn players in blues. He has won two first-place medals for “Best Instrumentalist/Horn” at the Best Blues Music Awards annual contest in Memphis, and with JUST GOT STARTED you can take this vet at his word. This is a recording that puts Jimmy Carpenter on a whole path. That’s because the sax man has turned the corner on a whole new level of virtuosity. For this set, too, he was able the very best blues players in America to play on the dates, joined with technical best working in the studio. Covering original songs by Jimmy Carpenter along with valued veterans like Willie Dixon, Alllen Toussaint, King Curtis, Mike Bloomfield & Nick Gravenites, Glen Clark, Gary Nicholson, Leo Graham and Paul Richmond, the set list alone is unbeatable. In the end, though, it’s always about what goes on the tape and this time Jimmy Carpenter and Kid Andersen put all the parts together like the truly timeless blues records always do. And while the album is JUST GOT STARTED, Jimmy Carpenter is on a ride of his lifetime. Blow your horn.
The Fleshtones, IT’S GETTING LATE (…AND MORE SONGS ABOUT WEREWOLVES). When it comes to mid-’70s rock credentials, there might be no band higher on the flagpole than the Fleshtones. The band began during 1976 in Queens, New York, not long after the Ramones had lit the genre on fire. Led by frontman Peter Zaremba, the Fleshtones knew where the center of rock’s new spirit was, and nailed it to the wall with charging sound, cocky attitude and a no-holds barred ability to write searing songs that were honest and hard-boned. There was a snaggle of groups like this roaring around the East Coast, but none with more power than the Fleshtones. The aggregation got hooked up with indie filmmakers, and soon had a regular slot on MTV’s ultra-cool program “The Cutting Edge.” Because that’s how the band presented themselves: out on the edge of whatever young rockers were being called: punk, new wave, whatever. The adults in charge of the music business were scared of appearing old and straight–because most of them were–so they were playing the cool-by-association game that always had a prominent place in the record label halls. And guess what: the Fleshtones were tre cool, and really didn’t mind getting into the weeds and out on their own. And even if they never really burned down the cornfield, they were not square and always available to cause some trouble. Now, almost 40-odd years later, this is a raging band that sounds and feels as fueled-up as they did at their beginning, and that is indeed a mighty fine feeling. On jacked-up songs like “The Consequences,” “You Say You Don’t Mind It” and “Way of the World,” the boys were often thrown out of class into the school hall, ready for whatever needed doing. They play rock & roll like they want to, and it’s obvious to the ears and eyes they aren’t kidding. If there is an award for those musicians who stick to their true guns, the East Coasters deserve one immediately. Accept no substitutes.
Kyra Gordon, TRAVELER. It’s always amazing how many great singers there are, no matter where you look. Kyra Gordon is based in the Bay Area, but her full-fledged vocals and wondrous songs could be from several areas of America. The strength in her voice comes across from the very first notes of the opening song on her powerful new album TRAVELER, sounding like this is her collection to put through her power. There is a strength to these songs that the woman has pointed to previously, but TRAVELER she has definitely delivered. The way she can highlight a folk-fledged song like “Balloons on Your Grave” and still keep the dynamics a full-tilt shows a degree of beauty that isn’t heard that often. And that’s true on all the eight original songs Gordon has written for TRAVELER, which takes a lot of ambition these days. But that is one of the real achievements Kyra Gordon has been displaying her entire career: ambition. Her vocals and keyboards can float through folk-filled deepness to rock-edged kicks. There is no way this woman is going to be boxed in. California has always been the land of new artists and new sounds, and Young is here to show it will hopefully always be that way. Songs like “Nashville You Fooled Me” to “F U Cancer” show a new arrival who is making up her own rules. It’s all here.
Charles Lloyd, THE SKY WILL STILL BE HERE TOMORROW. Great jazz is magical. There is something about the way the notes are played and the rhythms offered that takes the sound into the stratosphere, and susceptible listeners with them. It’s like there are tuned-in humans who are open to this music of the spheres, and there is nothing they can do about it. They’re going there. And even while jazz is almost impossible to describe in a way that captures the mighty results, that’s not what matters. Rather, it’s the ability to fall under the effect that counts. For more than the past 100 years, jazz has been there to offer its journey to those who can go. Here’s hoping it never ends. And if saxophone king Charles Lloyd has anything to do about it–in his years left on planet Earth and all the incredible recorded evidence he will leave us–his effect will always be here. Since Lloyd’s beginning in Memphis, then all the live dates and recordings sessions right through to when he was one of the first jazz people to become part of the revolutions in San Francisco’s counterculture of the mid-1960s and all that came after, it’s been an astounding evolution. If Charles Lloyd’s latest undeniable masterpiece–The SKY WILL STILL BE HERE TOMORROW–has anything to do about it, there will always be a tingling feeling in the atmosphere whenever these 15 songs are listened to. With fellow players pianist Jason Moran, drummer Brian Blade and bassist Larry Grenadier, the quartet has moved beyond words right into the ozone. Of course, that’s where jazz has always strived for, and there is no stopping now as one of the latest leaders of modern jazz looks at his past and his future and steps right into it, wherever that may take him and his righteous cohorts. This is for forever.
Corky Siegel’s SYMPHONIC BLUES NO. 6.Talk about amalgamations, try this. Longtime Chicago blues harp player, bandleader, composer and stone cold innovator Corky Siegel has recorded a blues/classical symphony. Yew, symphony. For someone who broke into the Southside Chicago scene in the early 1960s with Paul Butterfield, Nick Gravenites, Michael Bloomfield, Charlie Musselwhite and other blues whizzes, Siegel is someone who’s come a long way. And Symphonic Blues No. 6 is sure to set this record straight that this composer is still playing outside the fence and creating music that really hasn’t been tried before. It also just happens to be the first symphonic blues recording since Corky Siegel’s albums recorded with Maestro Seiji Ozawa and San Francisco Symphony in 1973 and 1977, started at half-century ago. That’s persistence. There are all kinds of ground-breaking sounds on these recordings, and since its earlier live performances in 2008 Corky Siegel has been pushing at all ends to bring this to completion now. Included in these compositions are “Wrecking Ball Sonata,” “Opus 11” for solo violin and, get this, the man’s audio book-style reading of Siegel’s unique history breaking into the Chicago blues scene at the start of the 1960s. This is true-blue living history recollections of how the music of the South and West Side of Chicago was first shared with the world thanks to musicians like Corky Siegel, and then thanks to his virtuosity and beliefs, classical elements were merged with the blues. As they blues audiences used to yell at harp blowers back in the start of electric blues: “Blow your face off.”
Mindy Smith, QUIET TOWN. Twenty years ago Mindy Smith released her debut album, ONE MOMENT MORE. In many ways, it seemed like the big doors had opened for the young woman who had grown up in Long Island. But, in other ways, it was just a beginning for a twenty journey to today, when QUIET TOWN arrives to deepen the intriguing history she’s lived and the arrival now of one of the most enthralling voices in America. It’s a story that some of the best artists live through to finally come out as a true hero. Adopted at birth by a minister and a mother who was their church’s choir director, in 2014 Mindy Smith connected with her birth parents, living in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southwest Virginia. The child also found out then she had several relatives who were also musicians and songwriters, which expanded her horizon immediately. It’s clear by these 11 songs that Mindy Smith was meant to live her musical pursuit. There is such a timeless feeling on QUIET TOWN that it doesn’t seem like there was any other way for the young singer-songwriter to go. Producer Nielson Hubbard frames the powerful new songs with a light but inescapable structure, one that highlights Smith’s voice perfectly in front of the songs. It’s almost a glass-like feeling that brings the lyrics to life with exactly the right touch of instrumentation. They say the hardest thing in recording can be what to leave out and what to accentuate. QUIET TOWN is quiet, but not empty. That’s the biggest difference between the pros and the beginners. Smith has the strength of voice that immediately finds its feet, and never looks down. The album rises to the front of the best of 2024, and also marks a way for Mindy Smith to keep moving to the top on Giant Leap Records. And true that.
Dwight Yoakam, BRIGHTER DAYS. After 40 years of recording music of breathtaking depth and unending soul, Dwight Yoakam returns now with such a sweeping sound and unending emotional essence that little can be said except to listen. In many ways, the days now absolutely feel like they are on the start of another sonic breakthrough. There is something so exciting about the 14 songs offered on Yoakam’s new album that a kick-ass wonder takes hold in his world. Again. After the six songs on Yoakam’s debut recording GUITARS, CADILLACS, ETC. ETC. burst into life in 1984, a different day in country music arrived. It was very much like the young man from Pikeville, Kentucky had kick-started his destiny. The same excitement has arrived again for Yoakam, in a whole new set of sounds that feels like he has found a fresh way to knock down the walls. From the album-opening song in the set, “Wide Open Heart,” there is a total freshness in what begins a clearly all-time accomplishment. While the man has delivered a panoramic feel for well-rooted country music, he’s also brought in other fresh styles for surprises that make the songs brand new. Now, cranked to the max, Dwight Yoakam has kicked down the walls completely to deliver an excitement that is so contemporary, it seems like the world is a brand new place. Over and over on this album it’s like we’re being given irresistible styles and heart-charging feelings. Dwight Yoakam sounds like he’s discovered music promising a new land. He has a family life now that lets him ride a souped-up rocketship through the years and he’s clearly not going to miss a minute of it. It’s all built into spirit-rising songs like “A Dream That Never Ends,” “Time Between” and, fantastically “I Don’t Know How to Say Goodbye (“Bang Bang Boom Boom)” featuring modern mega man Post Malone. BRIGHTER DAYS is not only brighter than any other contemporary country music, it’s well, better. Best of 2024.
Lucinda Williams, SINGS THE BEATLES/FROM ABBEY ROAD. One of the all-time greatest attributes about singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams is that she takes her own road wherever she wants to go. The woman doesn’t listen to others about what’s ahead, that’s for sure. She writes what she wants, sings what she wants, delivers when she wants. In fact, she does whatever the hell she wants. Thank goodness. A half-century ago she stood in the cold winter winds on Austin’s outdoor street nicknamed the Drag, where they sold everything from incense to peyote buttons, and played the songs she was just starting to write and others that caught her fancy. Watching her then was a mesmerizing time. Austin was opening up and groovers were moving in. It was obvious listeners were walking right into greatness whether they could tell it then or not. Still, there was no doubt the world was awaiting this woman and her music. It was in the air–even then no one had snapped to it. Now today her latest album arrives with thrilling vibrations. It’s a collection of Beatles’ originals, all recorded at the legendary London studio Abbey Road. On top of that, it’s the first collection of the British band’s songs that have ever been recorded at Abbey Road by anyone other than the Beatles themselves. The mind is starting to boggle. And, yes, these are instant winners. They just are. From the crashing “Don’t Let Me Down” and “Yer Blues” to the heart-tugging “Something” and “The Long and Winding Road,” the dozen tracks are chillbumpers that go even beyond expectation. Producers Ray Kennedy and Tom Overby know exactly where Lucinda Williams’ sweet spots are for recording, and with her ideas open are opened so her truest strengths shine. Wisely, nothing is taken beyond necessary, and neither are they held down less than their possibility. That’s because no one else really sings like Lucinda Williams. When she takes on a song, everyone is going on a ride they won’t forget. And they won’t forget those here. This is Volume 7 in Williams’ journey through her favorite songbooks, and it is unforgettable. Let It Be-atles.
Song of the Month
Joachim Cooder, “DREAMER’S MOTEL.” There is a somewhat quiet giant making their way around America, Europe and a few other territories that isn’t always noticed, but when he is there, there is no way to ever overlook his music. Joachim Cooder is one-of-a-kind. That is all there is to it. He plays a variety of instruments, writes songs that seem to come from a slightly different universe and is unforgettable once seen and heard. Cooder has a handful of recordings now, and every one is absolutely unforgettable. Which isn’t hard to understand once it’s clear what kind of musical discoveries he’s had in his life, and one he continues to chase with the kind of energy of a champion athlete. One of Cooder’s true calling cards is how his music is able to float in air. He is not tied to the tyranny of a snare drum or any other one instrument. What the man is able to do is a blend of percussion, strings, vocals and other wonders without names into a breathing animal all its own. This really is popular music for people beyond popularity. People that live in a time of their own. Do not fear.
Reissue of the Month
Ray Charles, BEST OF COUNTRY & WESTERN. One of the greater stylistic broadenings of modern music was when jazz and soul singer extraordinaire Ray Charles walked over to the country & western record store aisle and started selling millions of records. In the early 1960s, the man that ruled the R&B charges now moved into Number 1 on the sales chart of country & western. How could he not, with songs like “Here We Go Again,” “Together Again,” “Crying Time,” “You Don’t Know Me” and more. Charles’ ability to make that growth is one of the most compelling stories of American sounds. This new compilation of 13 or Ray Charles’ so-called country & western smash hits is absolutely irresistible. There is something about the singer’s vocal sounds that feels like life itself, capturing the pain and the happiness of what love feels like. At its best and at its most painful, the songs are a total study in emotional atomic bombs. There is no way to hear them and stay unmoved. By the last song, a duet with Willie Nelson of “Seven Spanish Angels,” there is no way to miss a moving of the heart into a new place, one that feels wide open and ready to feel what being alive is all about. Brother Ray rules.
Book of the Month
Douglas K. Miller, WASHITA LOVE CHILD: THE RISE OF INDIGENOUS ROCK STAR JESSE ED DAVIS. There are a handful of truly all-time guitar players that the highest legends of the instrument know about that still haven’t broken through to the bigger public. And one of those is Jesse Ed Davis. The man who played on some of the most popular records of all-time still languishes with the general public of record buyers. Davis’ life is mostly a mystery to music lovers of the past 50 years, and for many decades it looked like it would stay that way. Now, thanks to the thorough and endlessly absorbing book WASHITA LOVE CHILD by Douglas K. Miller, it looks like the mystery of the Native American raised in Oklahoma and a veteran of the studios and mansions of the West Coast and Hawaii, who Jesse Ed Davis really was and the incredible staircases he took to the top of the music business may finally be told. His life is one of almost total mystery, but those that know the story and the accomplishments often shake their head in wonder at all the musician created, but how little attention or success he achieved. In many ways, the musician is a man of mystery, and finding out the facts along with the legends goes a long way on understanding how it ended like this with Davis’ death in 1988. The way the book is able to convey the life of a Native American crossing over into musical legend is in itself one for the ages, and almost completely unique in rock & roll. But beyond that, all the chances the guitarist had but really wasn’t able to make a lasting success from is heartbreaking as well. In the end, Jesse Ed Davis went to the top of the musical world, but ended his life inside a broken-down washateria in Venice, California. It is all in this classic rock & roll biography, told by an incredible writer who found out why sometimes success is the toughest song to play.
Bentley’s Bandstand: November 2024
