Sep 232024
 

Silver Patron Saints Jesse MalinYou’ll know Jesse Malin possibly best from his address book, stuffed full the big names who are more than happy to sing alongside him. This does him a disservice, as his four-decade-plus career, two-plus of which have been as a solo artist, has produced a glut of well-received albums, nine in the studio and two live. So, regardless of heavy friends, you could say Jesse Malin can stand perfectly well on his own two feet.

Except now, tragically, he can’t. Malin sustained a spinal stroke in May of last year, effectively severing his spine, decimating any use below the level affected. He is now paralyzed from the waist down. He is 57, so still in his prime, as an exponent of muscular heartland rock and roll music.

Time to put that address book into use. Actually it was they that came to him, so as to enable Silver Patron Saints: The Songs of Jesse Malin to exist. This package serves as both benefit and tribute, and it has quite the roster, with a list of the great and the good rubbing shoulders with the simply celebrated.

So we got Bruce Springsteen, always one of Malin’s biggest champions, side by side with Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day. There’s also representation from some of the seers of urban “rawk”, Willie Nile and Alejandro Escovedo. Lucinda Williams (who produced one of his albums) appears, as do a number of Brits, including Elvis Costello and Graham Parker. In fact, given it has always been the UK that has given Malin some of his staunchest support, his releases often on or for record companies based there, there is also support from a younger wave of UK artists perhaps less acknowledged this side the pond, artists like Frank Turner.

How do you begin best to describe the sort of music made by Malin, without just listening those who provide similar? My best bet is to suggest it the sort of music you would enjoy listening to in a bar, with, preferably, a bevy of electric guitars, pounding piano bolstered by an organ backdrop, impassioned vocals and, perhaps, some cheese cutter sax. That the bass and drums are driving should come as a given. So far, so E Street band, but they weren’t the first and certainly not the last. And with Silver Patron Saint boasting 27 tracks (available on triple vinyl or two CDs), where to begin? Continue reading »

Sep 082011
 

In the past few months, True Blood has established itself as the television show most likely to deliver unexpected covers. Last night’s Sons of Anarchy season premiere indicates there might be another gritty drama making a run for it. Almost five million caught the show (setting an FX record) and heard a sensitive new performance of Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” from Alison Mosshart (the Kills, the Dead Weather). Continue reading »

Apr 012011
 

There are some genres that are inherently difficult to cover – folk, blues, reggae, so on and so forth. It’s not necessarily that they’re technically any harder than any other genres; quite the opposite, really. These genres are part of a tradition that thrives on covers and predates the very concept of the cover, just like the standards that everyone sang fifty years ago in their attempts to be Frank Sinatra. Continue reading »

Feb 242011
 

The opening words to the latest Sucker Punch trailer, punctuated like they’re spoken: I lost everyone I’ve ever loved. Then they locked me away. With nowhere to hide. From the pain. Just when you think all hope for this film is lost, though, Led Zeppelin’s “When the Levee Breaks” kicks in. Sure, they keep blathering about escaping from some asylum that apparently only holds gorgeous teens (and they want to escape why?), but at least music supervisor Tyler Bates seems set to deliver. Continue reading »