Possibly not the snappiest of album titles, but if you know, you know, and it is everything, much more, that it says on the tin. Which is a long winded way of saying party time. Sorry, PARTY TIME! And there won’t be a better party this year, that is for sure, with Valcour Records hoovering up about as stratospheric a line up you could ever imagine, in support this timely celebration of Chenier, the coolest man to ever tote an accordion in the name of rock and roll. And blues. And soul. For that is, loosely, what zydeco is, a defiantly idiosyncratic mixture of all those musical forms, cooked up in the swamps of Louisiana. Often sung in French. Lead instrument accordion. Continue reading »
So, you are a London based acoustic Americana band. What are you going to come up with to stand out from the crowd? If you’re the Wandering Hearts, the answer is Déjà Vu. And if that doesn’t sound familiar, keep reading.
The subtitle of this intriguing release is a lyric from the title track: “We Have All Been Here Before.” To me, that’s either a musing metaphysical or a tad presumptuous. I mean, really–how many of us have actually sat down and decided to make a song by song cover album from one of the premier vocal bands of all time? If they had elected to cover, say, the debut by the original three-piece that may have made better sense, being a more acoustic arrangement, by and large.
But they didn’t. Déjà Vu was, arguably, the release of 1970, as Messrs. Crosby, Stills and Nash bestrode the world, adding the trump card of Neil Young into the brand. Very much of its time, hippy dippy lyricism aplenty, somehow it remains timeless. There are few 50-year-old records that can raise the neck hairs like this one can. Each and every song comes with an instant flashback to the day first heard, whether you were hurling down the highway in an open top car or (like me) headphones on, under the bedcovers. A wonderful record, we gave it the Cover Me badge of honor a year or 5 back, with our own specially compiled covers compilation.
So who the Hearts, Wandering or otherwise? Tara Wilcox, Chess Whiffin and AJ Dean Revington is who. They have been on the UK country circuit long enough to have gained plaudits from most who have encountered them, sharing stages with big hitters like Robert Plant, Tom Petty and more. Indeed, no lesser than Lissie chose them as her support band for her US tour of 2024. This is album number four, the third as a trio, founding member Tim Prottery-Jones having left after their 2018 debut. All three are strong and confident singers, gelling well for the harmonies that are their trademark.
The earlier releases suggest that this record would be a milder confection than it actually is, the trio electing to go for the full-on electric assaults that characterize the release. Which, given the axe-wielding credentials of Young and Stills, might be considered brave or even foolhardy. We’ll get to that, but suffice to say it is their regular band they employ to provide the surprisingly faithful instrumental heft of the full fat rock songs that fill out the recording, along with the additional input of producer Michael Rault. That the set was recorded at Taurus Rising Studios, Joshua Tree, CA, may have something to do with the atmosphere of authenticity, too.
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The late Bernie Marsden seems universally acknowledged as one of the good guys. Possibly best known for his time in and in association with Whitesnake, he spent time also with a dizzy array of bands: U.F.O., Wild Turkey, Babe Ruth, Paice, Ashton & Lord before that, and any number of solo or semi-solo enterprises afterwards. He was a reliable provider of rock guitar, just on the more tactile and friendlier shores of metal, closer to blues rock than heavy rock. As well as being a masterful player, able to bleed notes from any of the many guitars he collected over his lifetime’s playing, he also possessed a no-nonsense meat and potatoes rock holler. He died, in 2023, having caught bacterial meningitis.
His later recordings were often made in the form of collections of songs by artists or studios influential to him: the “Inspirations” series. 2021 saw “Kings” (a tribute to B.B., Freddie and Albert, the trifecta of regal blues) and “Chess” (a tribute to the studio of Marshall Chess and the artists who were there nurtured) come out, while “Trios” (a little more self-explanatory) was issued in 2022. In similar sleeve design, the posthumous release Icons is the fourth of his last five records in the same vein. (The album between, “Working Man”, released shortly after his death, was all Marsden originals, thus breaking the pattern.)
Albums featuring the “favorite tracks” by guitarists have a vexatious history. At one end of the spectrum, in, arguably, the blues from which rock was born, there is a long tradition of recycling and repeating the same riffs and repetitions, whether acknowledged or otherwise. At the other you get the deeply divisive “superstar plus friends” sessions, pumping out easy listening lite derivatives. Carlos Santana’s “Guitar Heaven” must surely here be the nadir, and this listener’s hell. Thankfully, Icons is not that, as it it comes over just so darn genial. Indeed, such is the choice of material that anyone with longer teeth in the game, and perhaps out of touch with the current playing field of rock guitar, will get a warming flashback to their more formative days, when this sort of ticket was just the job for any red-blooded boy with a denim jacket to embroider and satchel to stencil.
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If you have an abiding interest in Neil Young, or regularly check in on this site, you have heard it by now: the new Neil Young tribute album is out. Heart of Gold: The Songs of Neil Young, Volume 1 has got some big names on board, and a confident, semi-official vibe about it (thanks in part to the subtitle, A Benefit for the Bridge School). Volume 2 is officially unannounced but said to be forthcoming from Killphonic Records.
We’ve been spreading the news of the project in recent months by looking at each of the singles released ahead of the album. But enough teasing: the record is here, and it’s time to opine.
Let’s jump right to the point: Volume 1 is a solid collection to kick off the series. Long may it run.
Is there room for improvement in Volume 2? Of course, and we’ve got some suggestions.
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Willie Nelson continues to, if not dominate, at least figure large on these pages, certainly the most prolific nonagenarian we have ever featured. Hot on the heels of Amy Irving’s quirky take on a number of Wilson and Wilson associated standards, Always Will Be, the maestro himself is turning out a tribute of his own. With form here, a lot of form, Wilson has taken to interspersing his own new material with offerings dedicated to old friends along the way, both living and dead. Harlan Howard was one recent recipient, but it is the turn now for Rodney Crowell to get some love, in a set of 12 by and large deeper cuts, occasionally songs written or made successful by others, rather than from his own not infrequent chart forays.
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Jackson C. Frank is one of those names that just insists on being investigated. He’s a near mystical/mythical figure from the 1960’s, with a back story that shreds any other to ribbons, so wracked it is with tragedies both accidental and self-inflicted. Golden Mirrors: The Undiscovered, Series 1, from erstwhile Bad Seed Mick Harvey, sees him again team up with Amanda Acevedo, a singer, artist and film maker from Mexico to pay tribute to Frank. The pair put together a melancholic album of orchestrated noir in 2023, Phantasmagorian Blue. This is the first in (what the title suggests is) a series of uncovering artists who influenced them, while residing possibly under the radar of many of their audience.
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