| The
Crossing - February 2007 Edition
Hello. Welcome back. When
I mentioned in the January edition that it would be a banner year for music
in 2007, I wasn’t kidding. But, I also made
that statement based on
the idea that there would be, included in all that is to come out this
year, a new album from U2. Since I made that statement I have heard conflicting
reports on whether or not there will actually be a new U2 album this year.
Of course, they did just finish up
their tour for their last
album in December in Hawaii, so it stands to reason that the band members
would like a break of sorts before they head
into working on another
album, but there have also been reports of the band having been in the
studio over the last few months as well. Of course, we all know that they
recorded two new songs for the recent Best-of compilation, but according
to the @U2.com website, there are reports of
other song titles surfacing
as well. Maybe a relatively quick followup to ‘Atomic Bomb’ will happen
just as ‘Zooropa’ was to ‘Achtung, Baby”. We’ll
have to wait and see on
this for further developments. Either way, it should still be a banner
year...a new U2 release would just be the cherry on top.
ARTISTS of the MONTH:
I remember it relatively
well. It was the Summer of 1996 and one of the local Borders stores was
having an in-store appearance by three (at the
time) new artists. Canadian
Jann Arden was receiving some airplay for her moderate hit ‘Insensitive’
and she was to be the main act of this
trio. I thought I’d go up
to the store and check out what was going down. Now, coming on just before
Jann Arden was a guy named Billy Mann. And just before him was a then,
completely unknown, Patty Griffin serving up a slice of her debut album
Living With Ghosts. Now, I’m no talent scout, but I know talent when I
hear it, and after Patty Griffin quietly, (read...not so quietly, loud
voice, acoustic guitar.) but very assuredly laid
down the smackaroos via
five or six cuts from her latest, I knew when and where the real show took
place. People were still waiting for Jann to
come on and perform the
big hit, while I was looking around and thinking, it ain’t gonna get better
than what just happened. Of course, Billy and
Jann eventually came on
and they performed fine if unmemorably. For me, the real show had already
happened. I waited for the participants to
finish and beelined to the
autograph table and got a copy of Patty’s debut signed. It reads, ‘Chris,
nice to meet you. Thanks for listening. Peace, Patty Griffin.’ Are you
kidding? I thought this was and still think, this was so cool. ‘Cause I
had discovered a great new talent. It’s always great
when you discover new people...new
to you, that is. Anyhow, eleven years and five albums later, Patty Griffin
is about to release her sixth album,
“Children Running Through”
on February 6th. I’ll be among the first at the checkout counter.
Out a week later, on February
13th, is Lucinda Williams’ latest entitled “West”. You might describe her
as Patty Griffin’s big sister as she has
been recording for a longer
period of time and she’s every bit the real deal. I’ve already been reading
that this may be her best album yet, which
is saying an awful lot considering
she already has ‘Car Wheels on a Gravel Road’ released back in 1998. That
album won a Grammy and is still seen as her benchmark album and all of
her albums have been compared to it since then. Apparently the new album
works really well as a whole with a lot of dynamics in sound, as did ‘Car
Wheels...’, so hopefully Lucinda will continue down the path of quality
songwriting she is so well known for. You can bet it will be well worth
checking out.
Now, if only we can get Lucinda
Williams, Patty Griffin and maybe, Gillian Welch to tour together. How
great would that be??!!
There’s always new people
to discover. Who will the next new person be? New to you, that is.
Let’s take a look...
Recently released and not
mentioned in last edition:
* Nellie
McKay - “Pretty Little Head” (2 CD set.)
* Matthew
Ryan - “A Late Night High Rise”
* Bo
Ramsey - “Stranger Blues”
* Kimmie
Rhodes - “Small Town Girl”
* Kelly
Keaggy - “I’m Alive” (Drummer and singer of Night Ranger.)
* Jesus
Camp - DVD
* Employee
of the Month - DVD
2/6
* Patty
Griffin - “Children Running Through”
* Over
The Rhine - “Discount Fireworks: a Collection”
* Barenaked
Ladies - “Barenaked Ladies are Men”
* Apples
In Stereo - “New Magnetic Wonder”
* Fall
Out Boy - “Infinity On High”
* Sondre
Lerche - “Phantom Punch”
* Loney
Dear - “Loney Noir”
* Peter
Bjorn & John - “Writer’s Block”
* Joe
Ely - “Happy Songs from Rattlesnake Gulch”
* Eleni
Mandell - “Miracle of Five”
* Backyard
Tire Fire - “Vagabonds and Hooligans”
* Goldfrapp
- “Ride A White Horse”
* Bloc
Party - “A Weekend in the City”
* Ruthie
Foster - “The Phenomenal”
* Jann
Arden - “Uncover Me” (Covers project.)
* Belinda
Carlisle - “Voila” (The Go-Go’s leader goes french.)
* Stevie
Nicks - “Best of” (New date.)
* Nickelback
- “All The Right Reasons” (CD/DVD.)
* Flags
Of Our Fathers - DVD
* Hollywoodland
- DVD
* The
Science Of Sleep - DVD
* Trust
The Man - DVD
* Flicka
- DVD
* Running
With Scissors - DVD
* The
Grudge 2 - DVD
2/13
* Lucinda
Williams - “West”
* Danny
Vaughn - “Traveller”
* Elisabeth
Ames - “Anytime”
* Audrey
Auld Mezera - “Lost Men and Angry Girls”
* The
Young Dubliners - “With All Due Respect: the Irish Sessions”
* The
Departed - DVD
* Marie
Antoinette - DVD
* Half
Nelson - DVD
* The
U.S. vs. John Lennon - DVD
* 13
Tzameti - DVD
* Cave
of the Yellow Dog - DVD
* Infamous
- DVD
* The
Quiet - DVD
* Zoom
- DVD
2/20
* Jesse
Malin - “Glitter In The Gutter” (Guests include Bruce Springsteen, Ryan
Adams and Jakob Dylan.)
* Kaiser
Chiefs - “Yours Truly, Angry Mob”
* Peter
Himmelman - “My Green Kite”
* Tommy
Womack - “There, I Said It”
* Charlie
Louvin - “S/T”
* Jill
Cunniff - “City Beach”
* Eddi
Reader - “Peacetime”
* M.
Ward - “To Go Home”
* The
Frames - “The Cost”
* Dolly
Varden - “The Panic Bell”
* The
Silos - “Come On Like The Fast Lane”
* Southern
Culture On The Skids - “Countrypolitan Favorites”
* Tommy
Shaw & Jack Blades - “Influence” (Covers project.)
* The
Magic Numbers - “Those The Brokes”
* The
Rainravens - “Garden Rocket”
* Dolorean
- “You Can’t Win”
* Erasure
- “On the Road to Nashville” (w/DVD.)
* Kittie
- “Funeral For Yesterday”
* U2
- “Achtung, Baby: Classic Album under Review” (DVD.)
* Shut
Up & Sing - DVD (Dixie Chicks documentary.)
* Babel
- DVD
* The
Prestige - DVD
* For
Your Consideration - DVD
* Man
Of The Year - DVD
* Keeping
Mum - DVD
* A Guide
to Recognizing Your Saints - DVD
* Flushed
Away - DVD
2/27
* The
Skids - “The Saints Are Coming: Best of” and “Masquerade, Masquerade: Live”
* John
Denver - “Essential” (2 CD set.)
* David
Bromberg - “Try Me One More Time”
* Willard
Grant Conspiracy - “Let It Roll”
* Nine
Inch Nails: Beside You in Time - DVD
* The
Last King of Scotland - DVD
* Stranger
Than Fiction - DVD
* A Good
Year - DVD
* Tideland
- DVD
* Conversations
With God - DVD
* The
Return - DVD
* The
Heart of the Game - DVD
* Harsh
Times - DVD
* Tenacious
D in the Pick of Destiny - DVD
3/6
* Arcade
Fire - “Neon Bible”
* Son
Volt - “The Search”
* Mary
Chapin Carpenter - “The Calling”
* Lucy
Kaplansky - “Over The Hills”
* Over
The Rhine - “Live from Nowhere, Vol. 2”
* Bright
Eyes - “Four Winds” (EP.)
* Wheat
- “Everyday I Said a Prayer...”
* Wolf
& Cub - “Vessels”
* Sevendust
- “Alpha”
* The
Fall - “Reformation Post T.L.C.”
* Ry
Cooder - “My Name Is Buddy”
* Air
- “Pocket Symphony”
* Greencards
- “Viridian”
* Gary
Allan - “Greatest Hits”
* Vusi
Mahlasela - “Guiding Star”
* Michael
Penn - “Palms and Runes, Tarot and Tea: a Collection”
* Guns
N’ Roses - “Chinese Democracy” (Still penciled in here.)
* Borat
- DVD
* Fast
Food Nation - DVD
* Requiem
- DVD
* Peter
Pan - DVD (Disney.)
3/13
* The
Innocence Mission - “We Walked In Song”
* Rosie
Thomas - “These Friends of Mine”
* Amy
Winehouse - “Back to Black”
* Roddy
Hart - “Bookends”
* Graham
Parker - “Don’t Tell Colombus”
* The
View - “Hats Off to the Buskers”
* Good
Charlotte - “Good Morning Revival”
* Finger
Eleven - “Them vs. You vs. Me”
* Neil
Young - “Live at Massey Hall”
* The
Corrs - “Dreams: a Collection”
* The
Queen - DVD
* Casino
Royale - DVD
* Shortbus
- DVD
3/20
* Modest
Mouse - “We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank”
* Joss
Stone - “Introducing Joss Stone” (Hasn’t she already been introduced?)
* The
Stooges - “The Weirdness” (Iggy Pop & company’s first album in 33 years.)
* Ted
Leo & The Pharmacists - “Living With the Living”
* Andrew
Bird - “Armchair Apochrypha”
* Bryan
Ferry - “Dylanesque”
* Megadeth
- “United Abominations”
* Low
- “Drums and Guns”
* Tracey
Thorn - “Out of the Woods”
* Willy
Mason - “If the Ocean gets Rough”
* The
Willowz - “Chautauqua”
* The
Zincs - “Black Pompadour”
* The
Ponys - “Turn the Lights Out”
* The
Roches - “Moonswept”
* The
Nativity Story - DVD
* Bobby
- DVD
* The
Holiday - DVD
* Come
Early Morning - DVD
* Everyone’s
Hero - DVD
3/27
* Coldplay
- “The Singles: 1999-2006”
* Jack
Ingram - “TBA”
* Macy
Gray - “Big”
* Grant-Lee
Phillips - “Strangelet”
* Magnum
- “Princess Alice and the Broken Arrow”
* REO
Speedwagon - “Everyone Loves a Happy Ending”
* Happy
Feet - DVD
* Deep
Sea 3-D - DVD
4/3
* The
Waterboys - “Book Of Lightning” (Import w/DVD; Mike Scott returns with
his 12th album.)
* Fountains
Of Wayne - “Traffic and Weather”
* Kings of Leon - “Because of The Times”
* Brandi Carlile - “The Story”
* Jarvis
Cocker - “Jarvis”
* Saxon
- “The Inner Sanctum”
4/10
* Bright Eyes - “Cassadaga”
* Blonde Redhead - “23”
* Grinderman - “S/T” (Nick Cave band.)
* Love of Diagrams - “Mosaic”
4/17
* Nine Inch Nails - “Year Zero”
* Robert Pollard - “Silverfish Trivia EP”
* Avril Lavigne - “The Best Damn Thing”
* Joseph Arthur - “Let’s Just Be”
4/24
* Marillion - “Somewhere Else”
* Cowboy Junkies - “At The End Of Paths Taken”
* Golden Smog - “Blood on the Slacks”
* Mando Diao - “Ode To Ochrasy”
* The Veils - “Nox Vomica”
5/1
* Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - “Baby 81”
* Dinosaur Jr. - “Beyond”
* Linkin Park - “TBA”
5/8
* Travis - “Boy With No Name” (Import.)
* Dolores O’Riordan - “Are You Listening?” (Leader of The Cranberries.)
* Keren Ann - “S/T”
* The Sea and Cake - “Everybody”
* The Mystery Jets - “Zoo Time”
* The Brakes - “The Beatific Visions”
5/15
* Wilco - “Sky Blue Sky”
* Satellite Party - “Ultra Payloaded” (New Perry Farrell band.)
LYRICS of the MONTH:
When I first heard Patty
Griffin, this was the song that hooked me. And considering Valentine’s
Day is this month, I thought this to be an
appropriate song for those
who haven’t cracked the combination yet.
We were drinking like the Irish but we were drinking Scotch
Bartender turns on a movie, everybody turned to watch
And every eye was gleaming when they reached the final scene
Well at least mine did, here’s looking at you kid
You know it’s a mad mission under difficult conditions
Not everybody makes it to the loving cup
It’s a mad mission but I got the ambition
Mad, mad mission, sign me up
I think I’ve seen the look before, yes, it’s kind of non-committal
It says come hither baby but then he’s hard wood to whittle
He says it don’t mean a thing but still somehow it does
He’d like you to join the club that likes to say
There’s no such thing as love
It’s a mad mission under difficult conditions
Not everybody makes it to the loving cup
It’s a mad mission but I got the ambition
Mad, mad mission, sign me up
Sometimes you find yourself flying low at night
Flying blind and looking for any sign of light
You’re cold and scared and all alone
You’d do anything just to make it home
It’s a mad mission under difficult conditions
Not everybody makes it to the loving cup
It’s a mad mission but I got the ambition
Mad, mad mission, sign me up.
Patty Griffin, the song “Mad Mission” off of the album Living With Ghosts.
See you in March! Doesn’t that sound nice?
Chris Barlow
For more info on February's
Artists of the Month, check out:
http://www.pattygriffin.com
http://www.lucindawilliams.com
Chris Barlow
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