Album and Reissue Roundup, 11/08/2019

Albums released on 11/08/2019 that I enjoyed:

Luke Combs—What You See Is What You Get

It seems like a 40-minute record struggling to escape an hour-long CD, but it's hard to tell what to cut from What You See Is What You Get. Everything on Luke Combs' second album is the product of high-grade Nashville professionalism: the songs hit their marks precisely, the production is never too fussy, and Combs is passionate without being overwrought. Some of his restraint could be due to some studio trickery--there are moments that feel slightly cooked with AutoTune--but the precision execution is also the chief appeal of the album: it's just fresh enough to make its 90s vibe not seem nostalgic. 

FKA twigs—Magdalene

I haven't spent enough time with the second FKA twigs album to give a proper assessment, but it's also possible that multiple listens wouldn't dispel the mystique of the dense, elegant Magdalene. 

Taylor Hawkins & The Coattail Riders—Get The Money

As the leader of the Coattail Riders, Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins indulges in all his classic rock fantasies. He plays with Roger Taylor, the drummer for his beloved Queen, and brings in Joe Walsh, Chrissie Hynde, and Steve Jones to jam alongside Dave Grohl and Duff McKagan. What makes Get The Money fun is that Hawkins doesn't seek to re-create the sound of '70s and '80s FM rock, he mixes up elements so there are several surprises among the straight-ahead rockers. Best moment: the fuzzy glam stomp of "Middle Child."

Reissues:      

Gene Clark—No Other [Deluxe Edition] 

It's been a few years since I've listened to No Other, the 1974 album from former Byrd Gene Clark, so I didn't think I quite counted myself as part of the record's cult. 4AD's new Deluxe Edition--available in a variety of formats, most loaded up with alternate takes (the big box also has a 5.1 mix)--nudges me closer toward being a true believer. It's not so much that the outtakes are a revelation but rather I listened to the album again and fell under its sway. Overblown in its execution and intimate in its scale, No Other contains a curiously tense emotional undercurrent but its high-end studio gloss gives the album an enveloping warmth. It's little wonder it was a bomb upon its release--not only does it have no singles, it doesn't fit any radio format--but it only could've been made in the mid-'70s, when '60s survivors were given the time and budget to get further out than common sense would allow. 

Also Ran:

John Fogerty—50 Year Trip: Live At Red Rocks

At one point, John Fogerty avoided Creedence Clearwater Revival's catalog but in 2019, he's celebrating the 50th anniversary of their first record. Recorded this past June, this live album is tight, professional and just a bit dull: the kind of professional set that sounds better in person than on record.

George Michael—Last Christmas [Original Soundtrack]

I haven't seen Last Christmas, so I can't speak to its apparently bonkers ending but I can say that the soundtrack's unreleased George Michael song "This Is How (We Want You To Get High)" feels utterly disconnected from the rest of the record. Strip this away, it's a pretty good collection of George Michael standards--a few are missing, including "Father Figure" and Wham!'s "Freedom"--that fit the bill for a soundtrack for a romantic comedy, but "This Is How (We Want You To Get High)" doesn't quite jibe with the other tunes. Its Latin-tinged rhythms are deceptively limber, camouflaging a lyric that finds Michael reckoning with coping mechanisms passed down through the parents and society. It's a heady blend with a bittersweet undercurrent: listening to it, it's hard not to wish Michael completed a full album like this.

Some Nice Things I've Missed:

American Tunes: Songs By Paul Simon

I've been a huge fan of Ace's songbook collections for more years than I care to remember but the new American Tunes: Songs By Paul Simon is one of the better recent entries in this series. Most of the collection is devoted to versions cut during the 1960s and 1970s, when British beat groups, R&B vocalists, folk-rockers and pop crooners cut Simon's songs with a regularity that rivaled covers of Dylan and the Beatles. By having the Tremeloes and the Hollies sit alongside Emmylou Harris, Aretha Franklin, and Willie Nelson, the compilation illustrates how malleable the original songs are. There are some great leftfield surprises too, such as Peaches & Herb's psychedelic-soul interpretation of "The Sound Of Silence."

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