The Best of…Cracker; a greatest hits compilation

Posted on May 2, 2011 by VocalsOnTop

This is one I am going to regret. When a band is so endeared to you, it becomes hard to do a project like this because it is simply too hard to cut songs. Early on it looked like around 16 or 17 was going to be the number of songs this disc was going to handle. My first draft came in around 34 songs, so there was a lot of cutting to be done.

First I marked the essentials, in the case of Cracker I came up with about 11, I think. These were songs that simply could not be cut. This list included the usual suspects; Low, Euro Trash Girl, Something You Ain’t Got, etc.

To select the next about four songs would be increasingly difficult as I went on. There is also a small worry I had that I would like every album to be represented as well. In Cracker’s case, they have 8 proper albums, so that is eight songs and overall I would have to average about 2 songs per album.

Inevitably there are long songs that if they were to get cut it would be much easier but I simply do not want to make a cut based on the running time of a song. In this case the song happens to be “Another Song About The Rain.”

I narrowed the tracklist to 17 songs and needed to cut 3 more minutes, this means one more cut would do it but it will be the toughest. I decided to cut “Friends” off of Cracker’s latest cd “Sunrise In The Land of Milk and Honey.”

This meant that the albums; Sunrise, Golden Age and Greenland would only get one cut on this disc. Truly sad.

Here is the list that I am sure I will soon regret and want to change:

1. Brides of Neptune

2. Duty Free

3. Low

4. The Good Life

5. Something You Ain’t Got

6. Get Off This

7. Been Around The World

8. Mr. Wrong

9. Lonesome Johnny Blues

10. Shine

11. Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out, With Me

12. Teen Angst

13. Big Dipper

14. Euro-Trash Girl

15.Ain’t Gonna Suck Itself

16. Another Song About The Rain

Alright so the final tally is: Kerosene Hat=4 songs, Cracker=3, Gentlman’s Blues, Countrysides and Forever=2 each, and Sunrise, Golden Age and Greenland=only 1 song.

That is just the way it worked out; I could have gone a much different direction. I can imagine people thinking that Anther Song About The Rain, Ain’t Gonna Suck Itself and Lonesome Johnny Blues could get cut. Some songs are painful to cut but I could always make a 2-disc set to appease myself.

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New Pornographers setlist from The Waiting Room, Omaha, NE 4/21/11

Posted on April 22, 2011 by VocalsOnTop
New Pornographers setlist from The Waiting Room, Omaha, NE 4/21/11

New Pornographers setlist from The Waiting Room, Omaha, NE 4/21/11

Myriad Harbor was played instead of Up In The Dark during the encore.

For the actual full setlist, go here: http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-new-pornographers/2011/the-waiting-room-lounge-omaha-ne-7bd39aa8.html

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The Best of… The Decemberists

Posted on April 21, 2011 by VocalsOnTop

This will be the first installment of likely several custom greatest hits tracklistings I make available on this site. Many bands have greatest hits or best of albums but many bands don’t for different reasons. Most reasons involve a record label. Some bands that have best of packages are flawed for one reason or another. Examples of this are the tracklist isn’t updated or they just plain did a bad job picking songs.

I like making these “Best of” packages for my car, as I’m sure many people do. Because of this, all my tracklists should fit onto a regular blank cd if anybody is interested in making one of their own. The term “Best of” works much better than “Greatest Hits” for these collections I feel. Many of the bands I will do this for don’t really have hits anyway. Hits are for Lady GaGa, I’m interested in good music.

For my first collection I have chosen the Decemberists. Why? They just released a new album; I am currently liking the album quite a bit; They have never had a best of collection. So here is the tracklisting for the album.

1. Oceanside

2. July, July

3. Los Angeles, I’m Yours

4. We Both Go Down Together

5. Eli, The Barrow Boy

6. 16 Military Wives

7. The Mariner’s Revenge Song

8. The Island: Come & See/The Landlord’s Daughter/You’ll Not Feel The Drowning

9. Yankee Beyonet

10.  O Valencia!

11. The Perfect Crime #2

12. The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid

13. The Rake’s Song

14. January Hymn

15. Down By The Water

16. This Is Why We Fight

A few notes:

I chose to do this in chronological order, most times I don’t do this but for this album I felt it was appropriate.

I only took one song from their first two records. I know this will likely enrage longtime Decemberists fans who think those first records are the best things they have ever recorded. The bottom line: they aren’t, their new stuff is much better.

Songs from albums are as follows:

5 songs ep: 1

Castaways and Cutouts: 1

Her Majesty: 1

Picaresque: 4

The Crane Wife: 4

Hazards of Love: 2

The King Is Dead: 3

FYI, the last cuts I made were: The Hazards of Love 1, Billy Liar, Valarie Plame and Shankhill Butchers.

I would love any feedback on this list or anything else on the site. Post a comment or send me a direct email. wiederholt8@yahoo.com

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Listen To… Centro-Matic

Posted on April 21, 2011 by VocalsOnTop

Centro-matic is a Texas band led by Will Johnson. Johnson is a folk hero of sorts. He is not like a Arlo Guthrie folk hero, he is more like a Paul Bunyan type folk hero. Centro-matic in many ways is the central ingredient in a small family of bands.

Will Johnson has several projects going on simultaneously.  Johnson is the lead singer and guitarist for Centro-matic, and the lead singer and guitarist for the more low-fi South San Gabriel. Johnson also tours solo and has released numerous records under his name alone. He is half of the duo Johnson & Molina. Johnson’s strangest role may be as drummer for Monsters of Folk. Monsters of Folk is a supergroup made up of Jim James(Yim Yames, My Morning Jacket) Conor Oberst(Desaparecidos, Bright Eyes, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band) Mike Mogis(Bright Eyes) and M. Ward(M. Ward, She & Him) and of course Will Johnson(Will Johnson, Centro-matic, South San Gabriel)

Here is a great chance to expose yourself to the music of Centro-matic and South San Gabriel; They have generously posted a compilation on their website of 24 songs as a sampling for the bands. The download can be found at: https://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=batch_download&batch_id=UFhzT2pPZDVKV05jR0E9PQ

centro-matic-sampler
This is the cover art for the 24 song sampler provided on Centro-matic’s website.

The band is really a unique talent. The core of the band is Will Johnson and drummer Matt Pence. Johnson is such a unique singer that no other band really sounds anything like them. I have never seen a singer in a band use his proximity to the mike as a weapon as Johnson does. Johnson is also bafflingly prolific. Centro-matic  just announced the release of their 10th record, that doesn’t even count Johnson’s many other projects. Do yourself a favor and check out the sampler.

There you go, now LISTEN TO CENTRO-MATIC.

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Listen To… Jason Collett

Posted on April 21, 2011 by VocalsOnTop

This is the second entry into my “Listen To” posts, it focuses on Jason Collett.The only free music to get people to listen Collett that I know of is a very strong Daytrotter session featuring songs from 2010’s Rat A Tat Tat.

Jason Collett's daytrotter session
Click the picture to get to Jason Collett’s daytrotter session

 

Jason Collett is a singer/songwriter from Canada. He is a one-time member of Canadian supergroup Broken Social Scene. His solo material is much different than his work with Broken Social Scene however. Collett is on the same record company as Broken Social Scene as well, Arts & Crafts. He is not “famous” and I doubt his record sales are all that impressive. He doesn’t tour much, I’m sure this has a lot to do with both his family and financial demands in touring. He rarely comes south of the border to the United States and has never played a venue close enough for me to attend.

His Career started with the 2003 release of Motor Motel Love Songs and has spanned a total of four proper albums of new material, one “stripped down” album of mostly old material and two eps. In 2010 he released two albums and one ep.

I must discuss how I came across Jason Collett’s music before I go into his albums. I was at a Cracker/Jason Isbell concert in Lawrence, Kansas back in 2007 when I first heard him. Of all places to hear new music it was the choice that night of the sound man to play Collett’s Idols of Exile for the bar while waiting for the bands to go on. I obviously didn’t know who it was but was impressed enough to ask the sound man and amazingly I retained the information. At first listen I actually thought it was Jeff Tweedy of Wilco/UncleTupelo/Golden Smog fame. Collett’s music is similar to Tweedy’s but looking back the connection is now hard to point out.

At the time I had not heard Tweedy’s work with Golden Smog and thought that it may be that album that I was listening to. I then heard the lyric “I love it when my girlfriend calls me a cocksucking faggot…” at this point I ruled out Tweedy and asked the sound man. I picked up that Collett album a few weeks later.

Now I will briefly run through Collett’s discography:

Motor Motel Love Songs:

Collett’s first release is a smooth listen and a good album but is overshadowed by every other record in his catalog. One song on the record, Blue Sky, was featured on “The L Word” soundtrack, gaining Collett some exposure. The albums better tracks are It Won’t Be Long, Blue Sky and Tiny Ocean of Tears.

Idols of Exile:

Collett’s first in a trio of fantastic albums. Features some of the strongest material in his catalog. The fantastic “Hangover Days” features vocals from fellow Broken Social Scene members Leslie Feist and Emily Haines who are each successful on their own with Feist’s solo career and Haines’ band Metric. In a perfect world this album would have had a ton of great singles on it. It features songs that will stick in your head all day and don’t get stale on repeated listens. The strongest songs on this record of strong songs are; Fire, Hangover Days, We All Lose One Another, I’ll Bring The Sun and These are the Days.

Prodigals EP:

This digital ep is a good listen but it nowhere near the quality of Collett’s other releases. It features older songs that should see the light of day but are not high quality enough for albums in most cases. The best song is the outright dirty Diggin’ In The Carpet.

Here’s To Being Here:

Sometimes I am amazed how much an artist can say without actually saying a lot. This is what strikes me about Here’s To Being Here. Certain albums work really well as a whole and this is definitely an example. While Idols of Exile seemed to have the big choruses and radio friendly sounding songs, this record is a collection of songs that seem to fit together and form a fantastic album in the end. The songs don’t seem rushed, they play out as they should. The songs are not particularly slow or fast, it is a smooth mixture the begs for the repeat button to be pushed. The best songs are the Stones sounding Out of Time, the rocking Papercut Hearts and the fantastic duo at the end of the album, Nothing To Lose and Not Over You.

Rat A Tat Tat:

I recently listed this as my top album of 2010. While not as strong as Here’s To Being Here in my opinion, it is still another great listen and was obviously good enough to be my favorite album of 2010. It features another great radio quality song in Love Is A Dirty Word that should have been one of the best songs of the year. Love Is A Chain may be the best ’70s song not recorded in the ’70s. Other great songs on the record are Rave On Sad Songs and Cold Blue Halo. The album is best listened to with its companion ep, To Wit To Woo.

To Wit To Woo:

The songs on this ep are every bit as good as the songs on Rat A Tat Tat. They were presumably recorded in the same sessions and fit together very well with the album. It is a 6 song set that features two brilliant songs in my opinion Rainy Day Rain and Love Song To Canada.

Pony Tricks:

This one is tricky, no pun intended. It features 11 tracks, two of them new and 9 re-recorded, stripped down versions of their originals. A couple re-recorded songs are drastically different and very interesting listens although I don’t know if any top their original versions. The most interesting songs are Hangover Days and Papercut Hearts. The best track from the record is the newly recorded My Daddy Was A Rock N’ Roller.

There you go, now LISTEN TO JASON COLLETT.

 

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Listen To… The Ike Reilly Assassination

Posted on April 21, 2011 by VocalsOnTop

You should listen to the Ike Reilly Assassination, you really should. I’ll get you started; here is a link to download 10 FREE Ike Reilly songs form amazon.com.

Ike Reilly

A brief background on Reilly:

Over the course of the last 10 years Ike Reilly has released 6 albums and 3 eps. That is a pretty productive 10 years. Some musicians want you to listen to their music, others need you to listen to their music. Ike Reilly belongs to the latter group. Ike and his band don’t tour much because they can’t really afford to. The last album, the spectacular Hard Luck Stories, was funded, in part, by the fans. The album was funded by a loan from the bank and Ike’s now good friend Max. Then the music was released in the fall of 2009 digitally. The money from this, I assume, was funneled to help release a hard copy version of the album in late winter of 2010.

Reilly really tried hard to promote this album, not so much with touring but through the internet. He started doing a series of greatly entertaining podcasts and promotional videos through his website.  He also started being accessible through facebook and doing live webcasts on stickam. It is hard to judge whether this promotion was a success or not but it really couldn’t have hurt.

I discovered Ike Reilly right before his second album, Sparkle In The Finish was released. My favorite band Cracker covered one of Reilly’s songs on their 2003 album Countrysides. I saw the the Ike Reilly Assassination listed in a local concert listing. The listing was in St. Joseph, Missouri, a place not a lot of bands comes to play. My brother and I went to the show not knowing really anything about Reilly and his band. The cracker album featured covers of work from Dwight Yoakam and Mearle Haggard, so I thought the Ike Reilly may well have a strong country influence. Not really true. Country influence? Yes. Country sound? No.

So let me set the scene; September 23, 2004 at The Bone in St. Joseph, MO. The Assassination comes out as a five man band, the crowd featured my brother and I, another table of three people and the sound guy. So essentially; five on stage, five in the crowd. On the plus side the special was $1 PBRs. The show was great, the band didn’t phone it in because of a small crowd and didn’t shorten the show either. It featured a heavy scattering of Reilly’s first two releases and a few covers. The covers I remember were; The Clampdown(Clash) From A Buick 6(Bob Dylan) and Dick In Dixie(Hank Williams III) He would return to the venue five months later to a much better reception, a crowd of about 40 people.

From that point, I was a devoted fan, buying every album and patiently watching concert listings. I would recommend picking up his third album Junkie Faithful if you would like to start with an album after the free sampler I posted a link to. Here is a brief summary of his recorded career.

Community #9:

I don’t have it and have never heard it. It is a release from the early ’90s that I have seen one copy of in the seven years I have been listening to Reilly. I don’t know how many copies exist but it is not a lot. It sold for around $55 on eBay, I was sniped but that is beside the point.

Salesman and Racists:

Reilly’s only major label release. Republic/Universal released the album in 2001 to critical praise, apparently it didn’t pay too many bills for Universal because Reilly was dropped. The album features many Reilly classics including: Commie Drives a Nova, My Wasted Friends, Last Time and Duty Free(the song Cracker covered)

Cars and Girls and Drinks and Songs EP:

Five song EP sold at shows around the time of Sparkle In The Finish. Featured four songs from the album including a different version of I Don’t Want What You Got Goin’ On and a EP only song Farewell To The Good Times Pt. 2(later released on a b-sides album.)

Sparkle In The Finish:

A bold rocking album and his first on Rock Ridge music which is still his label. Loaded with concert staples including I Don’t Want What You Got Goin’ On, Whatever Happened to the Girl In Me, The Boat Song and It’s All Right To Die.

Junkie Faithful:

In my opinion, Mr. Reilly’s best album. Not as much as a rocking album as Sparkle In The Finish but the songwriting got better and the album is stronger as a whole. Best Songs are God and Money, The Mixture, Kara Dean, Suffer For The Trust and I Will Let You Down.

Sparkle In The Finish; The B-Sides:

Features four unreleased songs that are really strong and would have fit well on the album they were intended for. It was the first of two digital EPs released by the band. The best song is by far Trainbomber.

The Last Demonstration EP:

Another digital EP; features 6 songs, four of which appear on the Junkie Faithful album. They repeat songs are dramatically different and worth listening to. They sound almost like demos or solo performances. Has great songs on it including the short and powerful Lust Song ’78 but the true gem is the version of Suffer For The Trust that ranks high among my favorite songs of all time.

We Belong To The Staggering Evening:

Great album of new material featuring two old songs that had been played live for years. I still remember the excitement of reading the email in the library while I was in college when it said that “The Work Song” might just be on the tracklist. The Work Song is “Fish Plant Uprising” and is one of Reilly’s standout songs of his career. The other older song is 8 More Days ‘Till The 4th of July. The song had a video on Reilly’s website of Reilly playing it solo electric with a lit sparkler in his guitar while he ripped through the song. Other great songs on the heavily front-loaded album are When Irish Eyes Are Burning, Valentine’s Day In Juarez and It’s Hard To Make Love to An American.

Poison The Hit Parade:

A B-Sides album is the best way to describe this one. Of course, artists like Reilly don’t really have B-Sides but the album features EP tracks and alternate versions of album cuts. The two new songs are the highlight; Poison The Hit Parade and Janie Doesn’t Lie. The album also features Duty Free with the alternate lyrics that were featured on the 2003 Cracker album, Countrysides.

Hard Luck Stories:

I spoke a little about Hard Luck Stories earlier in this post. It is a strong album and perhaps his most “accessible.” Reilly gives a nod back to his friends from Cracker for covering his song by letting them guest on this album. David Lowery sings on The Ballad Of Jack & Haley and Johnny Hickman gets to play guitar on Girls In The Backroom. The shining songs from this album are 7 Come 11, Good Work and the duet with Shooter Jennings The War On The Terror and the Drugs.

There you go, now LISTEN TO IKE REILLY.

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10 Best Albums of 2010

Posted on April 21, 2011 by VocalsOnTop

This post was originally posted in January of 2011.

I am a list nerd, I like to make lists. This is my top 10 albums of 2010. It is by no means the autority of albums for 2010. I didn’t hear every album, nor would I want to. Is Kanye’s album better than these? Maybe but I don’t care and don’t want to listen to it. These are the top 10 albums I bought of the year.

Jason Collett Rat A Tat Tat
My #1 album of the year: Jason Collett’s Rat A Tat Tat

1. Jason Collett – Rat A Tat Tat

Jason Collett is fantastic. He has little fanfare but writes some of the best pop-rock songs around. Collett is part of the Broken Social Scene family from Canada. He was a guitarist for them for a while and has released a few great albums. The best of his albums is probably 2008’s Here’s To Being Here. This record is almost as good. Few albums can hold up to repeated listens as this does. “Love is a Dirty Word” was the lead single and is probably the strongest song on the album. Collett also released an EP named “Too Wit To Woo” simoltainiously with this album. It is a great companion piece to Rat A Tat Tat and I would encourage giving both albums a spin.

Key Track: “Love Is A Dirty Word”

2. Eels – Tomorrow Morning

The Eels are interesting band that makes very catchy music. They have some great songs and records. They also have some records and songs that are not quite as strong. This is a good one. It is the Eels second release of the year. “End Times” preceded it and it seems as if almost all the best songs were saved for this record. Like Jason Collett’s album, I don’t feel this is the Eels strongest of their career. If you want to get one Eels album I would recommend “Hombre Lobo.” If you want some of the best music of the year pick up “Tomorrow Morning.”

Key Track: “Baby Loves Me”

3. Black Keys – Brothers

You’ve probably heard this one. It got a decent amount of airplay and deserved every bit of it. It is great blues-rock. The Black Keys have a stomp to their music that is unparalleled in modern music. This album is a career highlight and is a great listen every time.

Key Track: “Howlin’ For You”

4. Ike Reilly – Hard Luck Stories

This is an interesting album for the Illinois act. It was released digitally in 2009 but the hard copy came out in 2010. It is more commercially freindly that his previous efforts. Reilly has released some great records in the last decade and is one of the better live acts I have seen. He also borrows the talents from the band Cracker for this album, Johnny Hickman and David Lowery. Cracker covered Reilly’s “Duty Free” on their Countrysides record and that is how I, along with many others I imagine, discovered Mr. Reilly’s music. Hard Luck Stories is exactly that, the hard luck story of Ike Reilly.

Key Track: “Lights Out”

5. Bruce Springsteen – The Promise

I’m not going to be able to say anything about this double album that hasn’t already been said a hundred times but I’ll say it is really good. Springsteen’s music is all good but his early music has a little more “life” to it. This album was recorded back in 1978 in the sessions for Darkness on the Edge of Town. It is a great glimpse of what was baffelingly not good enough to make the Darkness album.

Key Track: “One Way Street”

6. Zeus – Say Us

I bet you haven’t heard of this one. Jason Collett is obscure enough, this is Collett’s backing band. They released their first album in 2010 and it great. Great pop songs that have a great scope of sounds for your listening pleasure.

Key Track: “Marching Through Your Head”

7. Spoon – Transferrence

Spoon makes music that has a sound all of it’s own. Late in 2009 they released the single “Got Nuffin'” off this album and I knew it was going to be great. Transferrence has the best song of their career on it as well: “Written In Reverse”

Key Track: “Written In Reverse”

8. Brandon Flowers – Flamingo

When I heard the lead singer of the Killers was releasing a solo album I was less than excited. I think the Killers’ Sam’s Town album is fantastic, one of the best records of the decade actually. They then released Day & Age after that and it is a pile of crap. The song “Human” is maybe the worst song a band I really liked has ever put out. Back to Flowers; Flamingo to me had very low expectations because I thought it would be more of the same, maybe even worse. It wasn’t, it is Flowers having fun and writing modern arena rock anthems while not sounding like crap as the Kings of Leon did in 2010. Get the deluxe edition for the extra bonus tracks.

Key Track: “The Clock Was Tickin;” (Deluxe Edition only)

9. Justin Townes Earle – Harlem River Blues

Justin Townes Earle is the offspring of Steve Earle, there is no hiding that. He does still make records with a sound all of their own. Each of JTE’s full length records has a sound all of it’s own in fact. Harlem River Blues’ sound? Think O Brother Where Art Thou? With one important additions. Lead Guitar is played by the incredible Jason Isbell. His electric guitar on top of this smooth folky music makes for a fantastic listen.

Key Track: “Harlem River Blues”

10. Jenny and Johnny – I’m Having Fun Now

Jenny and Johnny are Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley and Jonathan Rice. This record is exactly what the title advertises; fun. The two share songwriting and singing duties throughout the album creating a very smooth sound that is like pop bliss.

Key Track: Scissor Runner”

Okay, that’s the list for this year. Next year looks promising and I can’t wait to make the list for it. I do have a couple of small quick notes:

Honorable Mentions:

Broken Hearts and Dirty Windows: John Prine Tribute

Vampire Weekend – Contra

A couple of these albums are available autographed on Newbury Comics website. For the regular price of the cd you can get the album still sealed with and extra booklet that is autographed by the artist. I picked up Jenny and Johnny and Brandon Flowers off the website. While you are there be sure to preorder the new Cold War Kids album that I think might just make next year’s list.

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Old 97’s Live at the Bottleneck, Lawrence, KS 1/28/11

Posted on April 21, 2011 by VocalsOnTop

The Old 97’s swung through Lawrence, KS last weekend and put on another classic show. I have seen the band live three times now and every time I am shocked at the enthusiasm the band displays. They are four of the nicest musicians I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. It is rare to see a band that looks genuinely happy to be performing in a club with about a hundred or so people. The Old 97’s are that band, not only that but after the show they all made themselves very accessible to the fans.

They were supporting their very strong new album, The Grand Theater Vol. 1. They hit it rather hard, playing 9 of the 12 tracks from the album. It was a sold out show and the band didn’t disappoint mixing in several old songs with the new album while blasting through a 26 song set.

The setlist:

Lawrence, KS – The Bottleneck 1/28/11

The Grand Theatre
Here’s to the Halcyon
The Dance Class
Dressing Room Walls
You Smoke Too Much
Salome
The New Kid
Champaign, Illinois
W. TX Teardrops
A State of Texas
Stoned
Question
You Were Born To Be in a Battle
Barrier Reef
Let The Whiskey Take The Reins
Murder (Or a Heart Attack)
Mama Tried (Merle Haggard cover)
Big Brown Eyes
Please Hold on While the Train Is Moving
Four Leaf Clover
encore:
Come Around (Rhett Miller solo)
Valentine (Murray Hammond solo)
The Other Shoe
Won’t Be Home
Every Night is Friday Night (Without You)
Timebomb

As I mentioned, the band was very approachable and I was able to get the spread on the inside of their new cd autographed by all four members of the band. So I’d like to thank Rhett Miller, Murray Hammond, Ken Bethea and Philip Peeples for coming through on the tour and I can’t wait for the next time.

The Old 97's The Grand Theater Vol. 1 cd inside spread autographed by (from left to right) Ken Bethea, Rhett Miller, Philip Peeples and Murray Hammond.
The Old 97’s The Grand Theater Vol. 1 cd inside spread autographed with a nice silver sharpie by (from left to right) Ken Bethea, Rhett Miller, Philip Peeples and Murray Hammond.
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Justin Townes Earle Live at the Bottleneck, Lawrence, KS 4/14/11

Posted on April 21, 2011 by VocalsOnTop

Justin Townes Earle in Lawrence

So I missed a day posting anything on the website and this is why. Lawrence, KS is a comfortable 75 minute drive from St. Joseph, MO so I decided to go see the Justin Townes Earle on a Thursday night. The Bottleneck in Lawrence is a great venue for the music I listen to which can be summed up this way as put by Matt at TruerSound:

Q: What kind of music do you listen to?

A: The kind of shit they play in bars.

The Bottleneck is a bar. It has several publicity photos on the wall of the now legendary names including Soundgarden, Wilco, Foo Fighters, Spoon, Cake and this list goes on a while. It is a roomy conformable venue for shows. It’s size is properly suited for an artist such as Justin Townes Earle.

I first heard Justin Townes Earle when he opened for Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit a few years ago at Knucklehead’s in Kansas City which is a horribly uncomfortable place to see a show by the way. I only knew that Justin was as he puts it; his father’s son. Son of Americana legend Steve Earle, he didn’t mention his father on that night but since has furthered himself as a legitimate performer in his own right. He made a believer out of me on that night, I now spin all his records so the Lawrence show was all but a must attend.

Earle came on stage about 10:10 and pounded through an 80 minute set spanning his three records. The new(and brilliant) Harlem River Blues was hit very hard by Earle, and appropriately so. I don’t have a complete setlist of the show but I can confirm the setlist contained among many others; South Georgia Sugar Babe, Midnight at the Movies, They Killed John Henry, Mama’s Eyes, Can’t Hardly Wait, Halfway to Jackson, Harlem River Blues, I Don’t Care, One More Night In Brooklyn, Learning To Cry, Ain’t Waitin’ Cadallac Blues and Racing In the Streets.

The songs from the new album were slowed from the album versions. They were simplified from the brilliant Jason Isbell guitar on the album and made to fit just Earle’s acoustic guitar and single violin accompaniment. Cadallac Blues, Racing In The Streets and Can’t Hardly wait were covers Earle mixed in throughout the evening. The last two songs composing Earle’s Encore that left the crowd happy and satisfied.  An encore of songs written by Bruce Springsteen and Paul Westerberg will always get my approval. Justin Townes Earle Live at the Bottleneck in Lawrence, KS on 4/14/11.

Earle was upfront about his thoughts on his father and his issues with as he put it “problems with chemical dependence and incarceration.” Both subjects can be summed up by Earle’s comment about what his father once said about him, something along the lines of: I’m a hard dog to keep under the porch.

The highlights of the evening for me were a great singalongs of “They Killed John Henry” and “Harlem River Blues.” Always great was hearing Earle’s brilliant reading of  the Replacement’s “Can’t Hardly Wait.” Earle’s banter may have been the highlight of the evening. he was funny, charming and honest in his between-songs banter. The guy is a great performer and should have a future of many great albums and shows. My ears will likely be involved with each.

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Vocals On Top: A music companion to “A Hair Off Square”

Posted on April 21, 2011 by VocalsOnTop

So this is a blog about music; It stems from the blog “A Hair Off Square” where I posted a few music posts in addition to sports related posts. I didn’t like how the two mixed. I had success with some music posts and with some sports posts.

I did more sports posts and had some success(website views) with my custom baseball and football cards. This was largely due to the large amount of posts. For a couple months(since spring training began) I had posted every day but about two and many days would do multiple posts. This led to some comments on the site about liking what I was doing and getting a few incoming links.

I felt these incoming links didn’t want to see any music posts. I still wanted to post about music though. So I decided to start “Vocals On Top” to have an outlet for music posts. Among these posts will be concert reviews, album reviews, greatest hits recommendations for bands that don’t have them and other projects.

I am going to transfer my music posts from “A Hair Off Square” to this site and devote that site to totally custom cards and this one totally to music posts.

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