BEST OF 2012 - #4 - BOB DYLAN "TEMPEST"

One of the first big releases of 2012 was a 4 CD Bob Dylan tribute Chimes Of Freedom put out by Amnesty International.  It had legends (Elvis Costello, Joe Perry and Pete Townshend) younger acts (Band Of Skulls, Gaslight Anthem) and pop stars (Ke$ha, Miley Cyrus).  It was a great tribute and showed the man's far reaching influence.

But as if to remind us of his continued relevance and greatness, a few months later Bob released his latest album, Tempest. It's not a huge departure from what he's done lately:  he takes a lot of influence from pre-rock and roll Americana (a lot of the music that he used to play on his satellite radio show Theme Time Radio Hour), adding his distinct lyrical touch.

I don't love Tempest as much as his last album -- Together Through Life was my favorite album of 2009. Still, its another incredible addition to his untouchable cannon of songs.

I love the first single "Duquesne Whistle" (which, like all of Together Through Life, featured lyrics co-written with The Grateful Dead's lyricist Robert Hunter). The video kind of set the scene for the album, which turns out to be kind of violent.

My favorite song on the album is "Pay In Blood" ("... but not my own!").   There are other songs haunted by death.  The title track is about the Titanic, and even references James Cameron's famous movie.  And "Roll On John" is about John Lennon.  In the very Chess bluesy "Early Roman Kings" he says "I ain't afraid to make love to a bitch or a hag."

It's kind of shocking that this guy who is seventy-something, doing his thirty-something-est album, still has so much edginess to him.  But as he says in the aforementioned song, "I ain't dead yet/My bell still rings/I keep my fingers crossed/like the early Roman kings."  No doubt!

Other than the above video and one very contentious Rolling Stone cover story, he didn't promote the album too much, which is too bad.  On the other hand, it's fine and very Bob.  I guess the deal is, if you're a fan you have it already, and if you're not, it's probably not a good starting place for you.  But there's not a clunker here, the album is great from start to finish.

One other thing I have to mention: David Hildago of Los Lobos, who played on Together Through Life and Christmas In The Heart, joins Dylan again on this album.  He definitely adds a vibe to the album, and I hope Bob uses him again in the future.

"CHIMES OF FREEDOM" - THE BOB DYLAN TRIBUTE

Amnesty International recently released Chimes Of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honouring 50 Years Of Amnesty International. I wonder if it started out as a single CD.  It's a 4 CD set.  And you could probably fill four more CDs with amazing songs that aren't on this one, and artists who couldn't have been included.

I really dig it, and was glad to discuss it today on The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick -- it was my return to the show after more than a month away.  It was great to hang out with Larry and Keith Price again.

Anyway, I'm not reviewing Chimes right now: instead, I'm going to tweet a review of a different song each day for the next 72 days.  Follow me at @noexpiration, or search the hashtag #chimesoffreedom.  I'll probably aggregate all of them in a post when I'm done.

TIE FOR #11 - "THE LOST NOTEBOOKS OF HANK WILLIAMS"

I usually don't include compilation albums on my year-end best-ofs, but I'll make an exception for The Lost Notebooks Of Hank Williams. The album started out as a Bob Dylan project: he was given some "lost" notebooks with lyrics that Hank Williams never put to music.  Bob ended up doing one song, "The Love That Faded," which is excellent.

So, it went from being a Bob album to a tribute of sorts... with a number of big name artists creating new songs out of Williams lyrics.  The lineup features Alan Jackson, Norah Jones, Jack White, Lucinda Williams, Vince Gill with Rodney Crowell, Patty Loveless, Levon Helm, Holly Williams (with her father, Hank Williams Jr. on backing vocals), Jakob Dylan, Sheryl Crow and Merle Haggard.

I imagine that these days, people are more likely to download individual tracks rather than buy compilations.  In this case, it's worth it to pick up the whole thing.  First of all, the entire album is great.  Rock fans may not be hip to, say, Alan Jackson, but his song "You've Been Lonesome Too" is excellent. On the flipside, mainstream country fans may not be too interested in (Nashville resident) Jack White.  But his song "You Know That I Know" is also amazing. Hank's granddaughter Holly has a great voice... and hearing Hank Jr.'s backing vocals almost made me forget about his insane comments on Fox News about The President.

Besides all of that, the CD includes extensive liner notes about Hank, and gives the history of the notebooks that provided the source material for the record.

Hank Williams is surely one of the greatest songwriters of all time, in any genre. This album gives us some of his lost lyrics, which is a gift.  And if the inclusion of any of these artists turns their fanbases on to Hank's music, that's an even greater one.  So big props to producer Mary Martin: I'm sure this was a really long project, but I'm glad it's out.

TIE FOR #11 - JIMMY CLIFF "SACRED FIRE EP"

Having Tim Armstrong of Rancid produce Jimmy Cliff was a stroke of genius.  Mr. Cliff's full length LP comes out next year, but the Sacred Fire EP is a preview of what it will be like (except that most of the album will be new songs, and there are three covers on this EP).

Tim is a huge fan of The Clash (and signed Joe Strummer to his Hellcat Records label in the '90s) so it's no surprise that the EP includes a cover of "Guns of Brixton," originally sung by The Clash's bassist/reggae fanatic Paul Simonon (the song also references The Harder They Come, the classic film that Cliff starred in).  It's a perfect song for Jimmy to cover.

Another cover is Rancid's "Ruby Soho," one of the band's ska-influenced tunes.  It's a song about being on the road, so it's something that the 70-something legend can relate to. Also covered: Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall," which I bet Dylan has heard and probably loves.

There's one original, "Ship Is Sailing," and that's the one that makes me most optimistic about the LP coming out next year.

I can tell you from first hand experience that Jimmy is still vital and passionate.  I filmed this performance that he did at the SiriusXM Studios a few weeks ago.  I never even knew that he played guitar.  He came and performed a solo acoustic set for us while being interviewed by The Joint's boss, Pat McKay. It was one of the highlights of my career and life to be in the room during this performance.

THE BIG LEBOWSKI SOUNDTRACK

The other night I watched The Big Lebowski for maybe the 50th time.  I lent out my DVD, so I bought it on iTunes so I always have it on my computer. It's a perfect film on every level: it's fun, funny, holds up to repeated viewings, has a great story, it's quotable, the acting is great. Even Tara Reid shines.

But it struck me how great the music is. The Coen Brothers definitely know their music (further proof of that is O Brother Where Art Thou). The often use T-Bone Burnett to be music supervisor, and he did an incredible job here.

Bob Dylan's "The Man In Me" which opens the film sets the tone perfectly.  Kenny Rogers & The First Edition "Just Dropped In" during the freakout sequence: genius. The Gipsy Kings cover of "Hotel California" during Jesus' bowling scene: awesome. Especially given that The Dude hates The (fuckin') Eagles. Also the choice of fairly obscure artists: Captain Beefheart, Moondog and Meredith Monk is cool.

The Dude's music choices make sense: he loves Creedence Clearwater Revival. He's listening to Elvis Costello at the doctor.  But sometimes he just listens to tapes of bowling.

The movie rocks even more with its choice of cameo actors. Aimee Mann as the nihilist who cuts off her toe. Flea, another nihilist with a ridiculous accent.  Jimmie Dale Gilmore as Smokey, did he really step over the line? Jeff Bridges as The Dude is just perfect, and he's a rocker in his own right (he actually releases his second album tomorrow. It's produced by... wait for it... T-Bone Burnett).

I've often talked of my respect for music supervisors who do their job really well.  So, I have to tip my hat to the Coens and T-Bone for this one.

THE GREATEST ALBUMS OF NO EXPIRATION'S LIFETIME

This is my 2,000th post! It feels like a big deal to me.  I've really enjoyed doing this blog, reading your comments (both here and on the No Expiration Facebook page) and occasionally meeting people who read the blog in person.  Thanks for your support, I'm going to continue doing No Expiration, and maybe add a video element to it at some point. I am in my early 40s, and love music as much as I ever did.

It was difficult to decide what to write about for my 2000th post.  I decided to do a list of the best albums that have come out since I launched this blog in the fall of 2007.  Some of my friends have a laugh over the fact that so many of the artists I listen to are "old" (which is silly and ageist), but in fact there are some newer artists, some who are celebrated by the hipster elite.  In fact, one of these albums topped the Village Voice "Pazz & Jop" album list!

1. The Drive-By Truckers - The Big To-Do was my favorite album of 2010, and also my favorite album of the past few years.  The DBTs is a band I was hardly aware of until a few years ago.  It was basically listening to SiriusXM's Outlaw Country that turned me on to them, and for that, I'm grateful. Once I started hearing a couple of songs, I started buying albums, and then attending concerts.  I'm in: I'm a fan for life. The Big To-Do is one of their best albums.  If my peers ask me about "new" bands to get into, I'll mention the Truckers.  They're not new, but they're new to a lot of people.

2. Bob Dylan - Together Through Life was my favorite album of 2009. It's amazing to me that Dylan still is adding to his unbelievable body of work. He was 68 (I think) when this came out.  How many 68 year olds are still putting out classic LPs? Well, I guess you can't compare anyone to Dylan anyway. The songs on this album were incredible - instead of writing them all on his own (as he usually does), he collaborated with Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter.  But the secret sauce here is in the musicians he assembled for this record: Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell and Los Lobos multi-instrumentalist David Hildago.

3. Bruce Springsteen - Magic He's as relevant as he ever was, and he drove that point home with this album. By this point, he'd driven away lots of his politically conservative fans, and goes hard at the bu$h administration.  And he did it with some of his best songs ever.  I love "Long Walk Home." The line "The flag flying over the courthouse, certain things are set in stone: who we are, what we'll do and what we won't."  The song has one of Clarence Clemons' last great sax performances.  Actually, the live version is even better than the one on Magic, it has great vocal performances by Steve Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren. On the same album is "Girls In The Summer Clothes" which is pretty self-explanatory. This was around the time that lots of younger acts, from Arcade Fire to Gaslight Anthem, were citing Bruce as a major audience.  For a long time you didn't have young artists referencing Bruce that much, around Magic that started to change.

4. Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals - Lifeline My favorite album of 2007.  It was an album that they recorded in Paris over a (I think) two week period while touring for 2006's Both Sides Of The Gun, but it it totally a different album. The Innocent Criminals were really gelling as a band at this point... so it's weird that this is the last that we've heard of them (Ben has recorded either with Relentless7 or Fistful Of Mercy since then). I really hope we hear more from Ben and The Innocent Criminals in the future (I love R7 and Fistful though).  The album has a laid back but really soulful sound.  It's one of my favorites by Ben (who is one of my favorite artists ever).

5. Cocktail Slippers - Saint Valentine's Day Massacre There are two bands that I won't shut up about when people ask me about good relatively recent bands: The Drive-By Truckers and The Cocktail Slippers. Saint Valentine's Day Massacre is just a classic rock record, it actually blows my mind that more people haven't heard of them.  Little Steven, who produced the album, said it is one of the best albums he has ever worked on.  Think about that for a second.  By the way, I agree with him.  This album would be considered a classic and they would be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame if this came out in the '60s, '70s or '80s.

OZZY OSBOURNE 12-3-2010 : HAPPY 62ND OZZY!

Last night I went to see Ozzy Osbourne with Rob Halford at New Jersey’s Izod Center, hosted by SIRIUS XM Liquid Metal dude Jose Mangin (a friend of mine, I work there also). It was a special occasion – other than the fact that two of the most timeless icons of heavy metal were performing, it was also Ozzy’s 62nd birthday. What a great time.

The last concert I went to was Bob Dylan at Terminal 5, and in some weird way, last night’s show reminded me of that one. Here’s why. Bob Dylan, who was never a great singer in the classic sense of the word, has a voice that takes some getting used to. Some would say it hasn’t aged well. The Wall Street Journal, a respected publication in the world of the arts, suggested that Bob’s recent shows haven’t been very good (although their recent Bob article ends with someone blown away by the same Terminal 5 shows that I went to). Do I think Bob’s singing voice sounds great? No. But it’s what he sounds like at 69. The reason his shows are great, other than his ridiculous catalog of timeless songs, is that he happens to have a band that loves that catalog and does it justice.

Back to Ozzy. Ozzy also has never been a great singer in the traditional sense, and really, who cares. I don’t want to hear some opera trained metal show-offy singer doing those classic Black Sabbath songs (I hated hearing most of the post-Ozzy Sabbath singers doing his songs, no disrespect), or the songs from Blizzard Of Oz or Diary Of A Madman. Ozzy is the perfect singer for those songs, and for my money, they are some of the greatest songs of all time. As I said on TV – on Bio’s Black Sabbath documentary – Sabbath’s “War Pigs” is as good a protest song as anything Dylan did (credit goes to Geezer Butler, who wrote the lyrics). Another way Ozzy reminds me of Dylan is that, OK, his voice isn’t as strong as it used to be. But back off, he just turned 62! I appreciate and respect the fact that he’s singing live, not using autotune, etc. My seats last night were so good, I was watching carefully to see if anything wasn’t kosher. Ozzy didn’t hit everything perfectly, but he had a lot of heart, that’s what *I* care about. And he wasn’t faking it.

The last way I’ll compare Ozzy’s show to Bob’s is the backing band. Like I said, Dylan’s band loves his songs and they kind of carry the show. Dylan mostly stands behind his electric piano for most of the night. Ozzy does more heavy lifting, so to speak, but his band reveres him, and the material, just the way Dylan’s band does with Bob’s songs. Gus G. is a great guitarist, albeit not totally my style: he is totally a lightning fretboard pointy guitar guy. I’m glad he used a Les Paul for the Sabbath songs! I have to give it to him, he was great. Blasko (formerly of Rob Zombie’s band) has been with Ozzy the longest, and he is a badass bass player. The “new guy” is drummer Tommy Clufetos, who was an absolute demon on the drums. He also used to play with Zombie, as well as Alice Cooper. He looks like a young Bill Ward and is just a sick player. The band is rounded out by Adam Wakeman (son of Yes’ Rick Wakeman, and he also plays in Yes these days) on keyboards and guitar. The band love Ozzy, and they love his songs and bring real power to the performances.

The performances were great. I haven’t seen a solo Ozzy performance in years, I think it was Ozzfest 2000 (featuring another great band: Zakk Wylde, a pre-Metallica Rob Trujilio and Faith No More’s Mike Bordin), but he was way more intense last night. I think he is healthier than he has been in a long time. He opened with one of my favorites, “Bark At The Moon,” and the crowd was going crazy from the first few notes. He only played one song from the new album, Scream, the title track. I actually would have loved to have heard “Let It Die,” which opens the album, and maybe another song also. I was surprised that he skipped the new album, especially since it wasn’t an all “greatest hits” type set: he played some unexpected things, like “Fire In The Sky” and “Killer Of Giants” (both of which I could have done without – I also wish he played some more stuff from Diary Of A Madman), I would have loved to hear something from Black Rain and I also really dig “Gets Me Through,” which is one of my favorite Ozzy tracks. Of course for me, the highlights were the Sabbath songs, and I’m always interested to hear how Ozzy’s band interprets them. Since Gus G. put down the pointy guitar for the Sab tunes, I was cool with it – plus, they did some stuff I was surprised to hear: “N.I.B.,” “Fairies Wear Boots” and “Into The Void.” As well as “War Pigs” and “Iron Man.” It was a great show.

I have to mention Rob Halford, who opened with his band Halford. Last time I saw Halford, it was kind of Rob’s return to classic metal after the more modern metal sound of Fight and the techno-y sound of Two. Halford were playing his classic Judas Priest songs. But since Priest is now back together, Rob avoided any original Priest songs – sticking with Halford material, plus two songs that Priest have covered: Joan Baez’s “Diamonds and Rust” and the original Fleetwood Mac’s “The Green Manalishi.” It was a great performance, and Rob’s voice hasn’t lost any of its range or power. By the way, I know I sometimes criticize operatic metal singers, but Rob is a different deal. Yes, he probably could sing for the opera if he wanted to, but he sounds so scary when he sings, it appeals to me, where many other technically proficient metal singers don’t. He was the perfect opener for Ozzy, I had a blast.

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: REISSUES AND BOX SETS

Polish your debit cards, ya'll!  Later this morning on SIRIUS XM OutQ's The Morning Jolt With Larry Flick, I'll be talking about great gift ideas: namely reissues and box sets. 

Three of them I wrote about earlier tonight: Bruce Springsteen's Darkness On The Edge Of Town box set, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' deluxe reissue of Damn The Torpedoes, and David Bowie's deluxe reissue of Station To Station.

Also:

* The new Jimi Hendrix box set, West Coast Seattle Boy. A lot of it seems to be live and alternate versions of stuff. But it also has lots of recordings of Jimi as a sideman, before he went solo.  So you get to hear Jimi with The Isley Brothers, Little Richard and more. That's worth the price right there.

* R.E.M.'s reissue of their classic Fables Of The Reconstruction. Classic album, no question. But the bonus disc contains demo versions of the album.  Nice to have for fanatics, but for everyone else, the regular album should suffice.

* The latest installment of the Bob Dylan Bootleg Series, Volume 9. The Whitmark Demos features imperfect demo recordings from 1962-1964.  Some pretty cool stuff there, but not essential (I much prefer Volume 8, which covers 1989 - 2008).

* An Introduction To Syd Barrett is a single CD collecting Barrett's stuff with Pink Floyd and as a solo artist.  It's a great gift for people who don't know who he is - anyone who likes Floyd should be familar with this stuff, and if they're not, get this and help them out!

* And two Duran Duran dexlue reissues: they've re-releeased their Notorious and Big Thing albums, both with tons of extra stuff.

BOB DYLAN BLOWS MINDS AT TERMINAL 5

Unbelievable.  A few montths short of his 70th birthday, Bob Dylan rocked a club right off of New York City's West Side Highway, Terminal 5. T5 doesn't make it easy - if you don't get there early enough to get a great spot, you have to work hard to see the stage. It's no secret that Bob has a spotty live reputation, and in fact, I stopped going to see Dylan shows at some point in the '00s, after seeing some "eh" Dylan concerts. But in the summer of 2009, I caught a show that renewed my faith, and a few months later, I went to see him again, and was knocked out again.  Tonight it was the same deal. He and the band made it worth the effort.

Like last time, he opened with a rocking version his gospel classic "Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking," and he and his excellent band never let up.  Guitarist Charlie Sexton rejoined the band about a year ago now, and he definitely brings a new energy to the shows. I could take some flak for this, but I think Bob's current band is one of his best ever. Sexton is amazing, and bassist Tony Garnier is badass. I love the way Bob makes his setlist: lots of '60s classics, but lots of music from the past decade (Bob was one of my favorite artists of the '00s). "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall," "Masters Of War" and "Like A Rolling Stone" work alongside "Things Have Changed," "Rollin' and Tumblin'" and "Jolene" (I actually wish he played more songs from my favorite album of 2009, Together Through Life).

Bob only played sixteen songs, and there were so many highlights: "Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking," "This Wheel's On Fire," "Rollin' and Tumblin'," "Things Have Changed," "Workingman's Blues #2," "Thunder On The Mountain," "Jolene" and "Like A Rolling Stone." My favorite parts, though, were his impassioned vocals on "Hard Rain," "High Water (For Charlie Patton)," "Masters Of War," "Highway 61 Revisited" and most of all "Ballad Of A Thin Man." The fact that it's so hard to come up with a highlight of a 16 song set by a nearly 70 year old performer kind of speaks for itself. Well, I hope this tour really is "neverending" - I'm definitely on board next time the man comes to town.

MOJO TURNS 200, TOM WAITS EDITS

I'm a bit behind on this, but you should look for the latest issue of Mojo, it's the 200th issue, and to celebrate, they let Tom Waits edit. And why not? Tom interviews Hank Williams III in the issue, and Joe Henry interviews Harry Belafonte. There's also lots of historical features from the magazine's history, including stories on the making of Nirvana's In Utero (the magazine's first "album of the month") and Radiohead 's OK Computer. My favorite was the story behind Bob Dylan's Time Out Of Mind, where many of the players on the album (but not Dylan, nor producer Daniel Lanois) give the behind-the-scenes story of the album. It seemed like Dylan didn't like Lanois' ideas, and neither did most of the musicians, but the tension between Bob and Lanois led to a classic album (as it did years earlier when they did Oh Mercy together).

Anyway, as always, a great read.

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: VAMPIRE MUSIC!

For those of you who are new to No Expiration, every Wednesday morning at 9 am ET, I go on the SIRIUS XM channel OutQ to talk about music on The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick. Tomorrow, I'm talking about vampire music!  Because nothing says "summer" like pasty faced white kids dying their hair jet black, wearing all black, and avoiding the sun at all costs!  Ha ha, I kid!

First off is the new True Blood soundtrack.  I am a huge fan of the show, and I don't even have HBO! We watch it on DVD.  Anyway, with season 3 having just started, they've just released the season 2 box set and also the soundtrack. I have to express admiration here for the people who decide what songs make it to the show. They are really well chosen, they aren't done strictly as marketing, and it doesn't seem to matter what genre they are in, what era they are from, or if they are exclusive to the soundtrack. While I'm watching the show, I'm not distracted by the music, but I'm always amazed how it seems to fit, whether it's a song from the '50s like Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "Frenzy" or a newer song like Bob Dylan's "Beyond Here Lies Nothing" (used in the season finale, it was also that episode's title).  Jace Everett sings the show's theme song "Bad Things" - a choice of sheer genius by the producers, it was an already existing song. That song is available on Volume 1 and iTunes, but Everett returns this time with swamp blues dude C.C. Adcock (his self titled 1994 album is great by the way) with a cover of Howlin' Wolf 's "Evil." One of my favorite indie rock dudes, M. Ward, also covers Wolf with "Howlin' For My Baby." There are also great songs by Beck and eels.  I was actually disappointed with a Lucinda Williams/Elvis Costello song, and a Robbie Robertson song. But overall, it is a great listen.

This weekend the new Twilight film opens.  I haven't seen any of the films or read any of the books. About a year and a half ago, Larry and I discussed the original Twilight soundtrack, comparing it to The Crow films and soundtracks in the '90s. Twilight actually seems to have more legs, and is seen as a really important soundtrack to be on, three films in.  I see the soundtrack as more of a marketing thing - and I don't say that in a mean way, it's just true.  All the acts are probably familiar to hipper high school and college kids.  And the big names line up to be on the soundtrack: Muse makes their third Twilight appearance, plus Dead Weather, The Black Keys, Beck (him again!), Florence + The Machine and Cee Lo Green are all on the album, which is pretty solid, I must say.

Finally, The Cure just reissued a three CD deluxe edition of their classic album, Disintegration. Disc 1 is the album remastered (and it sounds great), disc 2 is demos and rehearsal versions (only for the obsessives, of which there are many) and disc 3 is all the songs on the album played live in concert.  I put Disintegration on my list of the best albums of all time, but of course it isn't for everybody.  But unless you need to hear every note Robert Smith has committed to tape (again, I realize many of you are out there) you really just need to listen to the main album. One misconception that people had, and maybe still have, about The Cure is that they are  a "wimpy" synthy band.  Not true: Smith is a badass guitar player, and Hendrix was a huge influence on him.  Check out "Fascination Street" from this album if you don't believe me. 

40 REASONS TO GET EXCITED ABOUT MUSIC

So, as promised, I'm posting my "40 Reasons To Get Exicted About Music," in response to Rolling Stone magazine's recent cover story. It turns out that I agree with half of theirs.  Here, then, are twenty of my reasons to be excited.

Bob Dylan. Not including his recent Christmas album, he has released four classic albums in a row: 1997's Time Out Of Mind, 2001's "Love & Theft," 2006's Modern Times and last year's Together Through Life, which was my favorite album of 2009. Plus, his concerts are getting good again. It's just inspiring how great he is, as he approaches the big seven-oh. Plus, he's been allowing Sony Legacy to put out great releases from his vault.

Speaking of approaching the big seven-oh, there's also the legend, Solomon Burke.Two weeks ago, I talked about Solomon's latest album, Nothing's Impossible, on The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick on SIRIUS XM OutQ, and people loved it. The man still makes incredible albums, and has been doing so since his 2002 record, Don't Give Up On Me.

The Underground Garage. Anyone who reads No Expiration, anyone who listens to me on OutQ, or anyone who talks to me about music ever, knows my love for the Underground Garage, which I write about often. As someone who has not been interested in music radio for decades, the Underground Garage got me back into it. You can hear new and old music, famous bands, obscure bands, brand new bands that haven't gotten to the pop culture radar yet, well know songs, rare tracks, and it doesn't discriminate by race or sex. In fact, I don't think you'll hear more female fronted bands, or all girl groups, anywhere else. The Underground Garage, in fact, introduced me to one of my favorite bands, The Cocktail Slippers. Other bands it turned me on to: The Boss Martians, The Hawaii Mud Bombers, The Jessica Fletchers, The Woggles, The Chesterfield Kings, The Charms, The Contrast, The Grip Weeds, and more. These are some of the best bands you haven't heard of. I hear tons of great new music on this channel all the time.

I need to mention The Cocktail Slippers again. Their last album, Saint Valentine's Day Massacre was one of my favorite albums of last year. I can't wait to hear what they will do next.

Everyone knows that Little Steven Van Zandt runs The Underground Garage, but he is also the force behind Outlaw Country, a truly awesome channel, that combines every generation of country music, with a sort of rock and roll spirit. It seems pretty crazy that there aren't radio stations that play Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Loretta Lynn, Steve Earle and Lucinda Williams in high rotation. Luckily, Outlaw Country does. They've also introduced me to some great artists, including Reckless Kelly, (DJ) Elizabeth Cook and one of my favorite bands, The Drive-By Truckers.

The Drive-By Truckers deserve their own entry! Their new album, The Big To-Do, is my favorite album of 2010 so far. They've been doing their thing for over a decade now, and I'm glad that people are starting to notice.

Speaking of the Truckers, they played on Bettye Lavette's last album, The Scene Of The Crime. What an inspiring story this lady has. She's been working for decades, almost having breaks a few times over the years, and finally in the mid-00's, Anti- Records (owned by Epitaph, they have also put out records by Tom Waits, Solomon Burke and Joe Henry) gave her a deal, and now the world is starting to get to know her. Better late than never: what a voice. She is a great song interpreter.

Another great singer/song interpreter with an inspiring story is Miss Sharon Jones. She started getting her first break in her 50s! Her new album I Learned The Hard Way is really great. She loves old-school sounds so much, it's like the last few decades haven't happened, but her songs are great, so it's cool (the same could be said of Jack White).

And yet another great singer/interpreter with a great story is former Band drummer/singer/mandolin player Levon Helm. A couple of years ago, Levon was on the brink of bankruptcy, foreclosure and was staring down cancer. Today, he is healthy, does really popular concerts at his home (which wasn't foreclosed), tours, and has made two great albums.

The Stooges. One of the best bands of all time. They are finally getting the credit they deserve. And they are touring. They will destroy bands one third of their age.

Robert Plant. For years, his ambition seems to outreach what he was capable of as a solo artist. Then he let go of a bit of control, worked with Alison Krauss (and, it must be said, producer T-Bone Burnett)and put out a true classic with Raising Sand. Now he's working on a solo album (he doesn't rule out another album with Alison though) but he's sticking in the Americana vein: he's got Buddy Miller and Patty Griffin in his touring band, and Buddy is producing his next album.

Bruce Springsteen. Although I didn't love his latest album, Working On A Dream, I thought that Magic was a classic. I think Bruce still has classics in him. His latest tour was maybe his best yet. The E Street Band is one of the best combos in the world. And Bruce can still turn around and so something great with his other group, The (Seeger) Sessions Band or as a solo acoustic artist.

Talib Kweli. I think he is one of the best MCs around, I like his solo music, I like what he does with Hi-Tek in Reflection Eternal, and I hope that he and Mos Def do another Black Star album that lives up to the first one. Honestly, I don't care if Jay-Z retires, I hope Kweli makes music for a long time.

Two more reasons together: Aimee Mann and Ben Harper. Two of the best songwwriters in the world. They are always honest, make no concessions to anyone, and keep putting out great albums. Actually, I'll add Steve Earle to that.

Jack White: I write about him often, and it is a running joke on Larry Flick's show that I keep coming up with ways to play his music on the show (Larry isn't a Jack White fan). For all three of his bands, and for his great label, Third Man Records. Jack was my "Artist of the '00s."

Kanye West: he is a commerical hip-hop artist whose music I sometimes like and he keeps things interesting!

Roger Waters taking The Wall on tour. I wasn't old enough to go to concerts when Pink Floyd toured for The Wall!

Green Day: because they can rock Broadway, do a guitar hero game, tour stadiums and still do club shows as Foxboro Hot Tubs.

Those are my reasons: here are the Rolling Stone reasons that I was down with: U2's tour, LCD Soundsystem, concerts sound better than ever today, Them Crooked Vultures, Chuck Berry still performing, concert tickets are sometimes under $50 (I have to look for more sales like that!), T.I. is out of jail, M.I.A., "cloud based music," Tom Morello still fights the power, great tribute bands (I'm kind of iffy on this, I don't really see too many tribute bands, although I kind of want to check out The Fab Faux), Keith Richards is writing an autobiography, Mike Campbell rocks out on the new Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers album, The Gaslight Anthem (cool young punk rock band), The Roots, country newcomer Jamey Johnson, vinyl sales tripled since 2006, R-Bone Burnett's productions and artist vaults with lots of great stuff in them (Dylan, Springsteen, Young).

"HEY, BOB, IT'S TOM!"

Even if I wasn't a SIRIUS XM employee, I'd be a huge fan of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour show.  It is awesome. There's so much to love about it. But one of the highlights is when Tom Waits calls in. The man can talk about any topic imaginable.  I loved when he talked about Jewish curses. The great great blog Aquarium Drunkard has posted a bunch of Tom's calls for you to check out. And trust me, check out Dylan's radio show, it is one of the best listening experiences you will ever have.

CHINA BLOCKS BOB DYLAN

Bob Dylan had scheduled a tour of China, but the Chinese government decided not to allow him to play Beijing and Shanghai, according to The Guardian. They were worried about his past as a counter-culture icon. Not too surprising, but weird.

BOB DYLAN: CHILDREN'S AUTHOR?

This summer, I was listening to Bob Dylan's Slow Train Coming album, and marveling at how good it was.  I thought that the song, "God Gave Names To All The Animals" would be a great children's book or cartoon. Well, Twenty-Four Bit reports that I'm not the only one! Sterling's Children's Books and artist Jim Arnosky will be putting out a children's book based on the lyrics to the song. The book will come with a CD containing the song.  But would a kid have done with a CD even ten years ago?  Nowadays, you might as well give it on 45"! But really, this sounds like a great idea.

CONGRATULATIONS LEVON HELM

No secret that I'm a huge fan of Levon Helm, and I'm glad that his Electric Dirt album won the first ever Americana Grammy. Tough category: he was up against two of my other favorite albums of 2009: Bob Dylan's Together Through Life and Willie Nelson and Asleep At The Wheel's Willie and the Wheel. Lucinda Williams and Wilco were also nominated. It's Levon's second Grammy, his first was in 2007 for Dirt Farmer.

SMOKEY, DYLAN, LEGEND PAY TRIBUTE TO THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

In honor of Black History Month (February), The White House is hosting "A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement" on February 11 at 8 pm ET. President Barack Obama and The First Lady will be there and performers include Smokey Robinson, Bob Dylan, Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, John Mellencamp, The Blind Boys Of Alabama, and more, with Morgan Freeman and Queen Latifah hosting (c'mon, Queen, you're not gonna do "U.N.I.T.Y."?).

THE ORIGIN OF BOB DYLAN'S TOGETHER THROUGH LIFE

Earlier this week when I discussed my favorite albums of 2009 on SIRIUS XM show The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick, I mentioned my favorite album of the year: Bob Dylan's Together Through Life.  I mentioned that Dylan started the album when a film director asked him to write a song for his movie. That director was Olivier Dahan, and he wrote and directed the film, My Own Love Song, which stars Renee Zellweger and Forest Whitaker. Apparently, Dahan asked Dylan to write a song, and he came up with "Life Is Hard," and that somehow led to Dylan writing the entire album (and also doing the score and incidental music for the film).  Supposedly, the movie will hit theaters on September 24, 2010.

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: MY FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2009

For those of you who are new to No Expiration, every Wednesday morning at 9 am ET I go on the SIRIUSXM channel OutQ. I am a weekly contributor to The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick. People love lists, and debating over them. So tomorrow, I'll be armed with some of my favorite albums of 2009. I'm sure Larry will bring some of his. Our tastes in the '09 definitely intersect at a few points, like Florence & The Machine and Muse. I think he tweeted asking listeners to request some of their favorites. My favorite album of the year is Bob Dylan's Together Through Life. But I'm sure we'll discuss The Cocktail Slippers' Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, N.A.S.A.'s The Spirit Of Apollo, Care Bears On Fire's Get Over It! and Miranda Lambert's Revolution.

MY FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2009

Yeah, every single magazine, website and blog has already posted their "Best of '09" list already.  I was just waiting for them to get out of the way, so mine doesn't get lost in the flood. I'm not great at this. It takes me a few listens and sometimes a few months to really come to a decision on this kind of thing, but as of now, here are my favorite albums of the year that was. They're not really in order... except for the first three.

Bob Dylan's Together Through Life, and not Christmas In The Heart, is my favorite album of the year. It's like if Bob took a Tex-Mex band to the Chess Records or Sun Records studio in the late '50s. If it was Sun, the air conditioning was broken. If it was Chess, it was in August, and the air conditioning was broken. "Beyond Here Lies Nothing" is one of my favorite Dylan songs (ok, that list is over 100 songs long, but still).

The Cocktail Slippers' Saint Valentine's Day Massacre is the one album you should buy on my recommendation, if there was just one. They should be the biggest thing, and no one knows who they are! I have to thank Little Steven Van Zandt, who signed them to his Wicked Cool label, produced their record, played on it, and plays their records on his Underground Garage channel. They would be great without him, but I have heard of them thanks to him.

I didn't expect to love Rancid's Let The Dominoes Fall as much as I do, I didn't love their last two. But it's just great. I remember a few years ago, VH1 did some documentary on punk rock, and the interviewer asked Lars Fredericksen if punk rock was dead, and he nearly flipped out. He was like, "I live punk rock, punk's not dead!" These guys bleed punk rock, they are the real deal and they are one of my favorite bands.

Speaking of "the real deal," Levon Helm's Electric Dirt is another great album. Whether it's blues, gospel, R&B, rock, country or anything in between, this guys sings (and plays) it with total authority. But it ain't a museum piece: dude rocks the party.

Speaking of rocking the party, check out N.A.S.A.'s The Spirit Of Apollo. It's two DJ/producers: DJ Zegon and Squeak E. Clean (aka Sam Speigel, also known as brother of Where The Wild Things Are director Spike Jonze, which explains the sick guest list). It's like a party on a spaceship that has been boarded by Tom Waits, Method Man, M.I.A. and John Frusciante (to name some of the many contributors to the album).

Also rocking the party, albeit in a more old school way: Willie Nelson and Asleep At The Wheel on their collaboration, Willie and The Wheel. It's party music, but from like 60 or 70 years ago. It always amazes me that Willie Nelson keeps coming up with new things to do, and they work (not always, but when they do work, they work well).

Another great collaboration is the long-standing (and very inspiring) one between married couple Buddy & Julie Miller. I love their Written In Chalk album. It's a real shame that more people don't know who they are. But No Depression did (rightfully) name Buddy their Artist Of The Decade.

The Dead Weather's Horehound... well, I guess it's no secret to No Expiration readers that I'm a huge fan of Jack White's various projects. Part of it is his talent: but a big part is that he is a great collaborator. It works with Brendan Benson in The Raconteurs, and it works with Allison Mosshart (also the singer for The Kills).

Laughin' and Cryin' With The Reverend Horton Heat may not make anyone cry, but it can make you laugh, and at some points, it makes you think (but without realizing it). Check out "Rural Point Of View." Nice reality check for us progressives. Like with Rancid, I didn't love the last few albums by The Rev, but this one knocked me out.

Ben Harper making an album with a new group, Relentless7, and going back to the clubs was a big gamble, right as he was starting to play big venues. But it worked out. It took me a few listens, but I really dig his latest, White Lies For Dark Times. It is his most "rock" album ever, and it's a great one. Well done, Ben.

Muse. The Resistance. Get it. This will be their year. They're huge all over the world, rightfully so, and this should be the album to make it happen here. They opened for U2 in stadiums, and acted like they owned the stage. They definitely kept U2 on their toes.

Four honorable mentions that I feel I have to add: Miranda Lambert 's Revolution, Florence & The Machine's Lungs, Pearl Jam's Backspacer and Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown.

A few more: Rosanne Cash's The List, The Avett Brothers ' I And Love And You, Norah Jones' The Fall, Maxwell's BLACKSummer's Night, Them Crooked Vultures' self-titled debut, Alice In Chains' pretty great comeback Black Gives Way To Blue, and Care Bears On Fire 's debut Get Over It!