THE GRAMMYS: MY TAKE

I love talking about the GRAMMYS; I've written about it often on my blog, talked about it on the radio, and covered the show for VH1 and, this year I'll be covering for Radio.com.  As longtime readers also know, I'm a voter. Except this year, I'm not - I forgot to pay my dues.  Duh! Normally I keep my votes a secret - I know NARAS frowns upon anyone sharing their votes. But since I'm not voting this year, I figured I'd share what my ballot would have looked like (and why). Enjoy, because I'm never forgetting to pay my dues EVER AGAIN.

Record Of The Year
Black Keys - "Lonely Boy"
Kelly Clarkson - "Stronger"
fun. - "We Are Young"
Goyte + Kimbra - "Somebody That I Used To Know"
Frank Ocean - "Thinkin' 'Bout You"
Taylor Swift - "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together"

Really tough category. The Black Keys are my favorite artist in this category, and I love the way their whole El Camino album sounds. Is a stripped down garage rock sound the work of a great producer?  Well, to be minimal is a production choice, and in their case, it's the right one. I also love Kelly Clarkson's "Stronger" - straight up, great pop song. fun. I don't buy into them as much, and I actually think their song "Some Nights" is a better song and a better sounding song than "We Are Young," so that gets eliminated. "Somebody That I Used To Know" is an incredible production. It's like a Peter Gabriel song, it's amazing.  Taylor's song is great, too, and the production made it her biggest hit yet.  Just when you thought she couldn't get any bigger, she got bigger, mostly because of the production on this song.
My Vote: Frank Ocean Like I said, minimalism is a choice, and in the case of this song, it really brought out the heart, and the hurt, in this song.  I don't buy into Frank Ocean the way everyone else does - I think his Channel Orange is a bit overrated - but "Thinkin' 'Bout You" is probably the best song of the year (and I can't believe it wasn't nominated in that category).

Album Of The Year 
Black Keys - El Camino
fun. - Some Nights
Mumford & Sons - Babel
Frank Ocean - Channel Orange 
Jack White - Blunderbuss 

First off, I produced a series of "Inside The Album Of The Year" video packages around these albums. See them all here, or follow the above links. Secondly,  Bruce Springsteen got ripped off. This isn't as egregious as 2007, when Bruce's Magic wasn't nominated, but lesser albums by Vince Gill and Herbie Hancock were.  All of these albums figured heavily into the conversation about pop music this year.  fun. was a huge band this year, but they feel more like a singles band than an album band. As I mentioned, I don't think Frank Ocean's album is a classic, but I'm in the minority there. And I didn't think Mumford & Sons' album held up to the first one.  But whatever.  For me, it breaks down to the Jack White/Black Keys rivalry. Blunderbuss  was my second favorite album of the year, after Bruce's Wrecking Ball. El Camino was my 4th favorite album of 2011 (it came out in December of that year).
My Vote: El Camino by a teeny, tiny margin. It just felt like it was The Black Keys' year.

BEST OF 2012 - #1 - BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN "WRECKING BALL"

I wrote about Bruce Springsteen's Wrecking Ball when it was released.  I wondered if it would be seen as the classic that The Rising is;  I still wonder about that. I think it will be.

The album seems inspired by the financial crisis, and what so many Americans are going through. That's part of the album's story. Of course, there's also context: Bruce did a lot of campaigning for President Obama the first time around. Like many Americans, he probably felt that there were going to be huge changes in the country after the election.  "Hope And Change" was a powerful slogan, and may have given people super high expectations. And while The President accomplished a lot, it still felt like a lot of things didn't change: no one was prosecuted in the financial crisis.  More time and money was spent on trying to figure out if Lance Armstrong did steroids or not. Stuff like that made it feel like Bush was still president. That thought seems to haunt this album.

I think those are the kinds of things that inspired the album, but it's not what the album is about, per se.  I believe Springsteeen was trying to write a modern folk album.  Not the way he did on Devils And Dust or The Ghost Of Tom Joad, by playing quietly, but by writing songs that are easy to get into and sing along to.  This is more like a modern version of his Seeger Sessions album. This isn't chin-stroking folk, but fist pumping folk.   He not only used rock instruments to record these songs, but also had some even more modern touches, like loops and samples, and on "Rocky Ground," a guest MC rapping a verse.

I've listened to this album a lot since it's release, and I've seen Bruce in concert twice on this tour (in April and in September). I've decided that I think Wrecking Ball is a classic: "We Take Care Of Our Own" is amazing.  But I also love "Death To My Hometown," "Shackled And Drawn," "Easy Money," "This Depression" and "We Are Alive; they are all amazing songs.  There's also the previously released songs:  I actually don't love the title track, but it's grown on me, as has "Land Of Hope And Dreams," a song that I never felt really "worked" but is also starting to grow on me.  But one of the bonus tracks, "American Land," is one of his top 25 songs in my mind.

I was surprised and pleased to see that Rolling Stone agreed with me, and named it their number 1 album of the year as well. I'm just sorry that the Grammy Awards only gave him three nominations, and none in the major categories.  But this album is bigger than awards and polls.  I don't know how Darkness On The Edge Of Town did with the critics or at the Grammys and it doesn't really matter anymore.

GUEST POST: PASTOR CHRISTOPHER B. WOLF REVIEWS BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND

Christopher is a family friend and a fellow New Jersey resident. So when he told me that he was going to Bruce's show at MetLife Stadium, and it was going to be his first Bruce show, I asked him to write a review for No Expiration and he graciously agreed to do it. Also, he's a published author! And a Pastor.  So when he says "Bruce is a preacher and a very effective one," he knows what he's talking about.  Anyway, thanks for sharing this Chris.  By the way, how have you lived in NJ for so long and never saw Springsteen before last week?

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Worth the wait.

 I finally saw my first live Bruce Springsteen concert last week - and it was the first one at MetLife Stadium for Bruce and the E Street Band. I've always heard about the energy, the duration, catalog breadth, and the atmosphere of a Bruce concert. It was all there Wednesday night.

 As a concert, it truly is an amazing event. Nearly four hours of almost continuous music. Even the encore breaks don't last for more than three minutes. The music itself is something to behold. The arrangements, the brass section, the back-up singers (who frequently sounded like a church choir), Bruce's singing and his interaction with the crowd. Bruce's early guitar solo was impressive as well as later in the concert when Bruce and "The Professor" Roy Bittan on the piano collaborated on an extended guitar and piano duet - just a beautiful serenade.

 In particular, crowd singing and participation seemed to peak with “Waitin' on a Sunny Day,” “Dancing in the Dark,” “Born to Run” and “Rosalita.” The audience responded affectionately nearly every time the Big Man's nephew Jake Clemons had a solo; as well as during the tribute to the Big Man himself during "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out."

Thematically, Bruce spoke often about ghosts throughout the concert. Prior to “Spirit in the Night,” and other songs; as if to honor Clemons but also to acknowledge that the ones we love are always near. Continuing with the spiritual, Bruce spoke of the E Street Band "consecrating" the proceedings, as well as prior to “Spirit,” leading a near musical revival along with his back-up singers.

 In particular, spiritual or not, Bruce's music continues to move the faithful. I couldn't help but weep when he sang "The Rising" knowing that within view of the stadium outside the new One World Trade Center rises and sparkles in the night. To live in North Jersey, one can't help but think of September 11th when we hear the lyrics, "Sky of love, sky of tears...Sky of glory and sadness...Sky of mercy, sky of fear."

Whether he would admit it or not, Bruce is a preacher; and a very effective one. You see, too often today, it's very easy to preach all good news. But real, true preaching includes, as Bruce said Wednesday night, "The good news and the bad news and all the rest of it." Because, in Gospel terms, it's bad news before it's good news...we're lost before we're found, we're hurting before we're healed. And this is perhaps the essential quality of Bruce's work and catalog, it's not trivial pop music, it's angrier and louder than folk, and it's deeper than rock; yet it somehow mixes elements of all these. Because for nearly 40 years Bruce has been articulating and speaking for you and me. The pain, the struggle, the loss, the lament - the truth about life in America; “Death of My Hometown,” “My City Of Ruins” and more. This is why stadium-sized audiences keep coming out to hear him.

 But fortunately and appropriately, he doesn't leave it there in lament and tears. The last 40 minutes of the show were just pure party and celebration. Perhaps that it is no coincidence that the last four songs could rightly be considered New Jersey anthems – “Thunder Road,” “Born to Run,” “Dancing in the Dark” and “Rosalita.” And for me, who admittedly favors earlier titles, the highpoint, what made it worth the wait of thirty some years to hear Bruce live - was to sing “Born to Run” with Bruce and 50 thousand of my fellow "tramps." Bruce and E Street Band have been all over the world. But being at a stadium in the Meadowlands, listening to a Jersey guy so poignantly sing about us and for us on many levels makes it not just a rock concert, but part community, part sacred.

Christopher B. Wolf is a pastor and author living Saddle Brook, NJ.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: MY BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN @ IZOD REVIEW

Photo by Maria Ives

I've been a bit behind on my blogging, but I couldn't NOT review the Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band show that I recently saw. Actually, I did review it for my day job -- but I wanted to give my more personal account.

I went to the show a bit apprehensive.  I've reviewed lots of Bruce shows at my blog, and they've pretty much always been glowing.  One of the things that I respect about Bruce is that he always makes it matter. Unlike so many of his peers,  he doesn't simply glide on his greatest hits, and he still has something to say. His new albums (generally) feel important. I also always have gotten the sense that he will know when to call it a day.   After Clarence Clemons passed away, I thought that it might be time to retire The E Street Band. I was really surprised to find out that he was bringing them out on tour, and even more so when I found out that Wrecking Ball isn't an E Street Band album.  But I think Clarence's passing - and Danny Federici's - reminded Bruce that time is passing, and a five year break between tours might be too long of a break to return from.

Still, I wasn't sure if this would be one tour too many. How long can this band - most of whom are over 60 years old - continue to be the best band in the land?

Well, it turns out that they can hold on to their collective crowns a bit longer. They kicked ass, and Bruce has lost none of his power.  And - importantly - Wrecking Ball is great, and it goes over well in concert.

As I mentioned in my CBS piece, all eyes were on Jake Clemons, nephew of Clarence, and one of two sax players in the newly installed horn section. He did great, playing iconic solos on "Badlands," "Promised Land," "Out In The Street" and "Dancing In The Dark."

The emotional center of the show, for me, was "My City Of Ruins." The song was originally written for Asbury Park, but Bruce played it, famously, at the post-9/11 telethon, and at that point it became about 9/11. But now, it's more personal. During the song, he takes a "band roll call," introducing everyone in the group, and noting the absence of Clarence and Danny. When he said, "If you're here, and we're here, they're here," there may have been some dry eyes in the house, but my eyes weren't among them.  I could only think of my boss and dear friend Allyson, who took me to two Bruce shows over the past few years. I did feel like she was there.

The setlist was great - it didn't feel like a retro show, they played a lot of Wrecking Ball, and although they skipped Working On A Dream (fine with me), Magic and Devils & Dust, they also played four songs from the now-classic Rising album. Because it's not a greatest hits revue, that gives the hits that they play - "Born To Run," "Badlands," "Thunder Road" - even more power. And it was cool to hear real rarities like "So Young and In Love" and "Seaside Bar Song."

Judging by the setlists and reports on Backstreets, the shows have gotten even better... so I'm glad I have tickets to see the band two more times in the fall when they play Metlife Stadium.

STORIFY VERSION OF BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN TOUR OPENER

I'm new to Storify, and I'm using this to experiment with it. I wasn't able to go to opening night of Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band's tour for Wrecking Ball, so I have been following the show on Twitter and Instagram. Storify allows you to use people's public social media posts to tell a story, so this is how I'm telling the story of the concert I wish I'd attended tonight!

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN "WRECKING BALL"

Bruce Springsteen's Wrecking Ball is, I guess, to the financial crisis as The Rising was to 9/11. Does it hold up to The Rising?  Tough to say, time will tell.  This Rising is a classic.  It also dealt with an event that was much more cut and dried than the meltdown. We were attacked by terrorists, people died that day. Despite that, Bruce sounds a bit angrier on Wrecking Ball, because, of course, this time we were attacked from within.  This time the attackers aren't on the run hiding in a cave; they're giving themselves bonuses, paying non-union workers to clean their yachts, bending the rules, and generally being celebrated by a large portion of the country.

I just painted in broad stroke, and that's what Bruce is doing on this album, he's not being too subtle. "Wherever this flag's flown/We take care of our own" is very slogan-y, but it works for me. We need rallying cries right now. And, in this era where people are calling basic heath care and retirement benefits "entitlements" (while arguing against any government regulation to any business, regardless of the harm certain businesses do to the environment, economy or our health)... I think reminding people that in America, some of us do want to take care of our own is a lovely, strong and ballsy sentiment. It's one that might have been echoed by a pretty high authority, as Bruce points out on "Jack Of All Trades": "We'll start caring for each other, like Jesus said that we might."

When I listen to the album, I think of the guy from "Factory," off of Darkness On The Edge Of Town. In that song, there was no real sense that things could get better, but it's shocking how much worse that they've actually gotten.  I think that that is sort of the theme of the album.   The mansions of fear and the mansions of pain are tough enough, now you're tellin' me they might not be here tomorrow, because you can get someone to work the working life for even less money? And if I get cancer, I'm out of luck?

Throughout the album, fat-cats steal money and party. It's not too thinly veiled, and it seems like some critics lament this lack of nuance.  I get it: but at the same time, sometimes you fight with finesse, and other times you're just so enraged you go for the roundhouse punch.

I do love that he ended the album with "American Land," which he first started playing on the Seeger Sessions Band tour, and is the one song from that era that he's brought to the E Street Band. It's one of my favorite Bruce songs, and, in my mind, a modern day folk classic. It ends the LP on a somewhat upbeat and optimistic note, which I think we needed.  It reminds me of "Reason To Believe" closing Nebraska.

Sonically, the album is a bit different for Bruce.  I was surprised that he didn't make the LP with producer Brendan O'Brien, who produced The Rising, Devils & Dust, Magic and Working On A Dream. Instead, he went with Ron Aniello, who produced one of Patti Scialfa's albums, and is more known for mainstream pop like Guster, Sixpence None The Richer and Jars Of Clay. Bruce and Ron recorded most of the tracks themselves, with a number of musicians helping out, including some members of The E Street Band. Max Weinberg plays drums on three tracks, Little Steven plays mandolin and sings on "American Land," Patti is all over the album, and there are even two solos by Clarence Clemons (on "Wrecking Ball," which the band performed towards the end of their last tour, and "Land Of Hope And Dreams," which they've been playing since the 1999 reunion tour). Extended E Street Band members show up: keyboardist Charlie Giordano is on a number of tracks (but Roy Bittan isn't on the album at all) as is violinist/singer Soozie Tyrell.  There are other familiar names including Steve Jordan, Lisa Lowell and even Bruce fan #1 Tom Morello. Bruce combines the big-band-party-like-it's-1939 sound of the Seeger Sessions Band with the anthemic power of E Street.  I suspect that if this was 10 or 15 years ago, he may have thought about using a different band on the road, but with the passing of Clarence and Danny Federici, I don't think Bruce wants to take another band on the road, and push back the next E Street tour a few more years.

He knows that to bring his most powerful messages to the people, he needs the E Street Band. Doesn't matter if the band didn't make the music, they are the best band to deliver it.  And really, who else is bringing it the way Bruce does, and has been doing, for decades?

These days, "selling out" and not "selling out" are almost antiquated ideas.  The very idea of worrying about it seems quaint. But I'm glad Bruce is still out there not selling out and keeping the faith. Since he did "41 Shots" on the reunion tour, Bruce has been expressing his beliefs and standing behind them, no matter what the cost in fans, dollars or headaches, and I'm glad he's still doing it.

MY FIRST BRUCE SHOW: CRISTINA PALUMBO

I've seen Bruce Springsteen in concert 20+ times, and it's still exciting every time.  On his last tour, two of my friends went to see him for the first time. I thought that it was so cool, after hearing people rave about Bruce for decades, that they finally got around to seeing him.  So, on this tour, I'm looking for people who are going to see Bruce for the first time to guest blog, and write about the experience.

First up: a former SiriusXM colleague Cristina Palumbo. She is a on-air sidekick on two SiriusXM shows: The Alex Bennett Program (hear it weekdays 7-10am ETon SiriusXM Left)
and The Jay Thomas Show (weekdays 3-6pm ET on SiriusXM Stars Too). You can follow her on Twitter (and I recommend that you do) and follow her hijinks on Facebook. First time I met Cristina I was producing a shoot where people were trying out to be on a reality show on Playboy TV. Everything Cristina said in the control room was hilarious. She's made me laugh many times since then, and one of these days, someone is going to give her her own radio show.

Anyway, she was fortunate enough to attend Bruce Springsteen's concert at the Apollo Theater last Friday night and was generous enough to offer to review it for No Expiration.  So, here's what she said:

"By no means have I ever considered myself a die hard Springsteen fan. If I had to choose sides of the never ending new jersey battle I was always half way there and living on a prayer. All that changed Friday night when I saw Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band live at the Apollo for the 10th birthday of SiriusXM. I've been to a handful of concerts in my life including two of Cher's many farewell tours (go ahead and laugh but you haven’t lived until you have partied in a stadium filled with gay men in sailor hats) but I have never seen a show like this before.

Growing up my parents were fans of different types of music and exposed me to all of it. As an only child I kept myself occupied by 'choreographing' dance routines and 'hosting' radio shows in my bedroom for hours. I would tap into my parents collection of music which introduced me to Bruce for the first time. I can remember spotting the iconic Born in the USA cover art preserved behind the cloudy cassette plastic cover. I put it in my duel cassette player, envisioned myself in a stadium at halftime and performed the number of a lifetime. At 31 years old I remember this like it was yesterday, and Friday night's concert put my awesome bedroom performance to shame.

Once I got over the fact that I was getting drinks from the same bar as Paul Rudd I found my seat and was prepared to sing 'Born in the USA' louder than any real Springsteen fan. To my disappointment it's not 1984. No 'Born to Run' or '57 Channels (And Nothin’ On)' either. To be under the same roof doing the same thing as Tom Hanks only 5 rows behind him was an experience in itself. Turns out there is way more to Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band than terrestrial radio ever told me. Only a few songs rang a bell, I only knew four of them. I know, that’s a total disgrace, but my appreciation for Bruce and the band has certainly changed dramatically!

The energy in the room was electric. The space at the Apollo was so intimate that the sound from the horns bounced off the walls and into my intestines. Bruce was up every aisle, hanging from the balconies and at one point basically singing in Ben Stiller’s lap. The energy coming out of this 62 year old man makes me want to drink green vegetables three times a day. From start to finish the show was incredible and at times inspirational as Bruce told little anecdotes of how the band got their start, through the years of being on the road and giving people along the way a chance to show their talents. If I don’t leave my seat at least once to use the restroom, chalk it up to awesome.

I can honestly say I walked into the Apollo with the appreciation any regular person would have of someone with a very real gift. I left the Apollo a fan.

P.S.  iTunes, you're welcome for my most recent purchases."


So there you have it!  Thank you Cristina for taking the time, and hopefully there's a couple of more accounts of first-time Springsteen concert goers to come.   (and by the way, the photo is Cristina's as well.)

DEAR BONO: I APOLOGIZE (SORT OF)

A couple of weeks ago, I had a post called "Dear Bono: Shut up." I was kind of bummed about a quote of his cited to UK publication The Sun where, in an interview about  the 20th anniversary of U2's Achtung Baby, he said, "We've been on the verge of irrelevance for the last 20 years, dodged, ducked, dived, made some great work, I hope, along the way – and the occasional faux pas."

 I had a problem with that statement, as U2's music from the past twenty years means a lot to me, up to and especially including "Moment Of Surrender" from their latest album, No Line On The Horizon.

But in a cover story with British magazine Q, Bono had a similar quote (maybe The Sun nicked it?). The rest of the quote says "Lots of people have U2 albums -- why they would want another one is a reasonable question.  I don't know if it's possible for us to make something current that is meaningful, not just to our audience but to the times we live in. But that's kind of the job for me and I'm not ready to give it up.  I think it's unlikely that we'll pull it off, but then, so has the last 20 years been unlikely."

For some reason, I feel a little less annoyed by seeing his quote in this context.  I can understand wanting to transcend the fanbase to do something that resonates with everyone.  On the other hand, if Bruce Springsteen retired because he'll (probably) never match the reach of Born In The U.S.A., we would never have gotten The Rising, We Shall Overcome or Magic.  Or look at Bob Dylan: he doesn't care at all what the larger culture likes or doesn't.  If he did, and retired because he didn't have any more songs like "Blowin' In The Wind" or "Like A Rolling Stone" or "The Times They Are A' Changin'" or "Hurricane" or "Subterranean Homesick Blues" in him, we would never have gotten Time Out Of Mind or "Love and Theft" or Modern Times or "Things Have Changed" or Together Through Life. What a shame that would have been.

In the Q feature, the band touch on the different albums they are working on, and I really look forward to hearing what they do with Danger Mouse. Based on the stuff that he has done with The Black Keys, I think he has to potential to craft a great, funky album around some cool songs.  Of course, U2 has to come with the songs.  Hopefully DM will be able to tell them to return to the drawing board if the songs don't measure up.  I have faith that they've got at least another great album in them.  And what is U2 about, if not faith?

P.S. Q put together a great Achtung tribute, Ahk-toong Bay-Bi.  It was available with the magazine in Europe, and is available to buy on iTunes. With artists like Nine Inch Nails, Garbage, Depeche Mode, Patti Smith, Damien Rice and Jack White, it's really worth a listen.

THE NIGHTWATCHMAN AT CITY WINERY: A (GLORIOUSLY) IRONY-FREE ZONE

I'd seen the great Tom Morello in concert a number of times - with Rage Against The Machine, Audioslave and Street Sweeper Social Club.  But this was my first real Nightwatchman show (other than a brief appearance at Pete Seeger's 90th birthday concert).  At that show, Tom and Bruce Springsteen did an acoustic duet of "The Ghost Of Tom Joad," a song that Rage surprised people with when they covered it in the '90s.  These days, it makes a lot more sense. Tom's dedication to sticking up for the less fortunate, and his outrage at the evils of society is similar to Bruce's (he's even more "left" than Bruce, I think).  But performing as The Nightwatchman, Tom makes a compelling case as a guy with two different and legit musical personas.  One - the guitar shredder from Rage and Street Sweeper, and, two, The Nightwatchman either solo or backed by a band. The Nightwatchman is something he can always do, whether or not he is with a band. Or whether or not he has electricity.

There's a bit of a misperception about Tom doing The Nightwatchman.  Because his debut album, 2007's One Man Revolution was a bit sparse and dry, people probably think his shows will be slow and boring.  I think on some level, even Tom realized that he could be playing to bigger audiences by, well, having a bit more fun.  If you listen to "The Iron Wheel" (a duet with Shooter Jennings) from his second album, 2008's The Fabled City, it's a great sing-along tune. Some of Woody Guthrie's songs were fun, I think Tom caught on to that.  I think his earlier tours were like Bruce's first solo acoustic tour for The Ghost Of Tom Joad. I saw that show twice: it was good, but demanding, and it felt like fun was not allowed. You can pull that off if you're, like Leonard Cohen or something. But Woody, Pete Seeger, even Steve Earle, they have fun at their shows.  I think Tom realized this. This tour was more like Bruce's Devils and Dust tour: he realized that it's ok to do serious solo acoustic shows and still have a good time. Everyone walked out of the show with a smile on their face, but also charged up.

So last night's show was a solo acoustic deal, but he was joined by Carl Restivo from his backing band (Carl is also in Street Sweeper Social Club).  It was an incredibly powerful show.  Like Bruce, Tom lets the audience know when to be quiet, and those moments provided some of the most powerful moments of the night. One was "Battle Hymns," which he dedicated to Iraq Veterans Against the War (learn more about them here). He also did a version of Pink Floyd's "When The Tigers Broke Free" from The Wall (about how the main character's father died in the war), updating the lyrics for 2011.  

But those songs had greater weight, because, as Tom put it, he brought the "heavy metal thunder" on many other songs.  "Save The Hammer For The Man" from his new album, World Wide Rebel Songs, was incredible (the original is a duet with the great Ben Harper, Carl did his best to sing Ben's part, and he did so ably).  "The Ghost Of Tom Joad" was mindblowing - Tom switching to an electric in the middle of the song to melt faces.  Maybe the most rockin song was "This Land Is Your Land." Tom added the "censored" lyrics, which make it much more radical (see the lyrics and a historic performance of that song by Seeger and Springsteen here). He had the whole room jumping - explaining that everyone HAD to jump, as his show was "an irony free zone" even though it was in New York City.  You can see a bootleggy video of the performance here.  It's obvious he has taken notes from Springsteen, but he's clearly doing his own thing.  He finished up by inviting the audience on stage for "World Wide Rebel Songs," instructing one woman in the audience to film the show for YouTube, and demanding that the rest of us stop tweeting and filming and live in the moment.

I was fortunate enough to be invited to the after-party (and this is a good place to mention that I got complimentary tickets, in the interest of full disclosure).  I met some nice folks from Tom's management team, and even introduced my wife - who took these excellent photos, and who is a public school teacher and a proud union woman - to Tom.  She got to thank him for his support.  It was a great moment.

One moment that I wish he had was "The Iron Wheel," one of The Nightwatchman's greatest songs.  Shooter Jennings was there, I couldn't believe they didn't perform together! Maybe next time.

On a final note, I'll mention that I got to chat with Mr. Morello the day before - I filmed him for SiriusXM's E Street Radio.  We discussed a recent quote of his from Rolling Stone magazine, where he said that he's the last man in America who thinks Bob Dylan sold out by going electric. So, I'm here to say that Tom has at least one stance that I totally disagree with.  "Hurricane" is way better with a band than it would be without, and ditto for "Lovesick." That's just off the top of my head. But anyway, thank you Tom for a great show, hope to see you again soon. (Tom will be on E Street Radio on September 5 and 6, for listings and rebroadcast times, go here).

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.

THE "DISCO SUCKS" MOVEMENT

The other day, I happened upon an article on a radio trade site, where a fairly well-known radio consultant talked about being a part of a "rock" station that orchestrated a big "disco sucks" night at Chicago's Comiskey Park in the summer of 1979.  It was a stunt that turned into a sort of cultural moment, drawing more people to a White Sox game than anyone could have reasonably expected. The White Sox were having a bad season, and weren't selling huge amounts of tickets, but this game sold out.

Here's the context: a DJ who got fired from a local station that went from rock to disco was hired by a different rock station, 'The Loop." He was leading the fight against the perceived threat of disco. Was disco really a threat?  Or was it the people who listened to disco?

The idea for this stunt was that you could get into the game for a dollar if you brought disco records that would be destroyed during the radio station's event, to be held between the two games of a double header.  The record burning got out of control, people rushed onto the field, and the second game was cancelled. It was a well-publicized event, and was seen as the beginning of the end of the disco era.

I can appreciate people being sick of an all-encompassing trend, as disco certainly was at that point in time.  And I can appreciate the "tribe-building" of uniting fans by rallying them against something else.  And I can admire being able to conceive of and actually pull off a cultural event.  But....

In the article I cited above, the radio consultant says "It was all very military in strategy, as disco was looked upon as the enemy, and Loop was the army that would liberate Chicago from this menace. Rock listeners viewed this with the same fervor as Europeans looked at the liberation of their countries by the American GIs in WW2. Some viewed this as a 'book burning,' but c'mon! It was radio theater at its best. It was all tongue-in-cheek. "

I'll first point out the obvious: annoying music is annoying.  I'm pretty passionate about music, but come on, you can't really compare the "oppressiveness" of having to hear music you don't enjoy to having your country invaded by Nazi Germany. That's an irritating overreaction, but I guess some people in the media are prone to overstatement and paint in broad strokes. That's a pretty broad stroke though., I'd be curious to ask  England's post-war babies - like the members of classic rockers like The Beatles or Black Sabbath - what they think about that analogy.

But writing off the "book burning" vibe of the whole thing, and saying it was "radio theater" is a bit disingenuous to me. I don't think that people showing up *only* because they didn't like the music. You can deny it, but there was a hell of a lot of racism and homophobia fueling the anti-disco sentiment, no one working in media during that era could have been blind to that.  To harness intolerance to promote a radio (or TV "news") outlet... who would do that (cough)?

Let me put it another way: if there had been a huge event where non-white people, or gay people, were destroying records by say, Supertramp and Styx (probably staples of "rock" radio in 1979), how would *that* have gone over?

I don't have a lot of disco records.  But I love the Chic and Bee Gees music of that era. Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" is one of the sexiest records ever. And, more to the point, it holds up at least as well as whatever Foreigner or Doobie Brothers records "rock" radio stations were championing at the time. But a big part of rock and roll is rebellion and upsetting your parents. I think "I Feel Love" had more of that spirit than most Foreigner songs. I'm not trying to rip on anyone here too much.

A lot of rock fans decided they hated Rod Stewart because his "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" was seen as a "sell-out" to disco, but other artists had much cooler disco influenced songs, like The Rolling Stones ("Miss You"), Queen ("Another One Bites The Dust") and Paul McCartney ("Coming Up").

A funny thing to point out about the disco era is this: Chic, arguably the most influential disco group (as a band and as producers, they had their hands in many disco hits of the day), started out as a rock band... but they couldn't get a record deal. As the story goes, the labels didn't feel they could sell a band with all African American members to a rock audience. So Chic changed their style.  In a weird way, if that story is true, the same racism behind the "disco sucks" thing is what led to the creation of a good amount of disco music. It is a funny thing that a form of music that came almost totally from African-American influences, has so few black artists on its playlist. That's true even to this day. Other than Jimi Hendrix, Santana, and maybe War, there are very few people heard on rock radio who aren't white.  To me, if you're playing Journey and The Eagles but not James Brown or Otis Redding, you're not really rocking.

A final thought: I wonder how some of the artists played on "rock" radio felt about the record burning thing.  Bruce Springsteen's reaction to the inherent and not-subtle racism of the "disco sucks" nonsense?  He wrote "Protection" for Donna Summer.

MY FAVORITE JULY 4TH SONG - BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN "AMERICAN LAND"

(this image is from Wikipedia commons, anyone is allowed to use it, so I'm using it!)

It's hard to write about America and do a good job at it.  Obviously, it's easier to rebel about things that you don't like than it is to celebrate America, and that's often the rub with art. Rebelling is easier than celebrating. But I think that July 4 is a good time to be thankful to live in the U.S.A., without getting too flag-wavvy about it.

In recent years, there's been a few attempts at writing what could be referred to as "The Great American Song." U2 wrote "The Hands That Built America" for Martin Scorsese's 2002 film Gangs Of New York. Good song, but not a great one.  Bruce Springsteen took a few whacks at it: "This Hard Land" from his 1995 Greatest Hits album felt like an attempt, as did "Land Of Hope And Dreams" which he started playing on the 1999 reunion tour with The E Street Band. The latter stayed in Bruce's setlists for a long time, but I didn't feel the song was as good as he seemed to think it was.

During Bruce's tour with The Seeger Sessions Band for the 2006 album We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, he started playing a new song "American Land."  I felt he nailed it. Bono has talked about how America isn't just a place, it's an idea. I don't think the idea of America has ever been better expressed in a rock song than in "American Land." He romanticizes the idea from the perspective of immigrants ("There's diamonds in the sidewalk the's gutters lined in song/Dear I hear that beer flows through the faucets all night long/ There's treasure for the taking, for any hard working man /Who will make his home in the American Land?") in a way that can make all of us proud that we do call this place home.  It also points out that a fair immigration policy is one of the things that made us great. At the same time, he expresses some of his core values: the plight of blue collar workers ("They died building the railroads worked to bones and skin/They died in the fields and factories names scattered in the wind/They died to get here a hundred years ago they're still dyin now/The hands that built the country were always trying to keep down").  And also the fact that everyone deserves a shot, no matter their race or color ("The McNicholas, the Posalski's, the Smiths, Zerillis, too/The Blacks, the Irish, Italians, the Germans and the Jews /Come across the water a thousand miles from home/With nothin in their bellies but the fire down below").

That's why I choose the above photo for this post.  No matter what you think of The President, when Bruce was growing up, or even when *I* was growing up (I'm much younger than Bruce), the idea of an African American president seemed unlikely to say the least.  The fact that Bruce worked so hard for President Obama - who campaigned on a platform of hope and change, some of which has arguably been fulfilled - makes this photo really powerful.

Bruce has nothing to prove anymore. The fact that he still works so hard to fulfill what he sees is his responsibility to himself, his audience, and his country, is inspiring.  Like any other great artist, sometimes his reach exceeds his grasp, but on "American Land" he hit a grand slam.  It's not just a classic that stands up next to his catalog, it also stands next to Woody Gurthrie's.

("American Land" was the only song from The Seeger Sessions that Bruce played with The E Street Band, and you can see their version - played in Hyde Park, in England, here. )

CLARENCE CLEMONS - R.I.P. TO THE BIGGEST MAN YOU'VE EVER SEEN

I was waiting for Eddie Vedder to take the stage tonight when I heard the awful news that Clarence Clemons passed away.  It wasn't a huge surprise: he had a stroke last weekend. But still, really, really sad news.

I don't know what makes a good sax player from a technical standpoint. But I do know that his playing added something to Bruce Springsteen's music that added even more heart, soul and excitement. Listen to "Jungleland," "Night," "Secret Garden," "Pink Cadillac." Of course "Tenth Avenue Freezeout."

Clarence tried lots of other stuff outside of E Street: his solo career, playing with other people, smooth jazz, acting, writing.  I think he'd admit that things never clicked for him more than when he was onstage with Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band. I remember seeing the reunion tour in 1999, it was just electric.  Seeing those guys onstage together, it was larger than life.

I remember I interviewed Clarence during the long years between the breakup and the reunion.  I think it was around the time of Bruce's first solo acoustic tour for The Ghost Of Tom Joad. I told him that my prediction was, after that tour, he would reunite with The E Street Band. That made him perk up, and he asked me why I thought that.  I said that I thought that he just wanted to try playing with other people (the band he used in the mid-'90s), and, by appearances, he seemed to have been wanting to do a solo acoustic thing for a long time, and now he'd done that also.  I knew he'd go back to rock and roll, I doubted he would reassemble his '90s band, and I didn't think he'd put together a new rock band. So, my feeling was, his next project would be The E Street Band. That seemed to make The Big Man happy and he thanked me for sharing my theory.  I'm glad I was right and I'm glad I had that bit of time with the man.

It's weird that his last performance was playing sax for Lady Gaga on American Idol, but life is weird sometimes.  The fact that he played with Gaga turned a new generation on to his talents and he was probably grateful for that.

I wonder if Bruce can possibly have the E Street Band go on without Clarence. I guess it would be a shame if those guys never played together again, on the other hand, how do you replace a guy like that.  My suggestion: use an entire horn section, but retire "Jungleland" and "Freeze-out."

TOMORROW ON E STREET RADIO: THE BEST SPRINGSTEEN COVERS

Tomorrow at 4 pm ET on SiriusXM E Street Radio, I will be part of a panel discussion about the best cover versions of Bruce Springsteen songs. E Street Radio's Jim Rotolo is hosting, and the other panelists include Ben Lazar (also often heard on E Street Radio), Nick Masi from Brooklyn Vegan (he also hosts Sirius XMU's Blog Radio one day a week) and singer/songwriter Jesse Malin. The event is to promote "Cover Me," a weekly show of Springsteen covers that Nick is going to host on E Street Radio. It was a lot of fun to be on this panel, I hope you can tune in.

In honor of that, here are some of my favorite Bruce covers, in no order:

• Bettye Lavette's "Streets Of Philadelphia" (which I was turned onto by Nick Masi)
• Rage Against The Machine's "The Ghost Of Tom Joad" 
• Chris Cornell's "State Trooper" and "Atlantic City" from the concert I attended a few weeks ago
• Johnny Cash's "Johnny 99," "I'm On Fire" and "Further On Up The Road" 
• Eddie Vedder's "My City Of Ruins" 
• Steve Earle's "Nebraska"

There are probably many more, but those are the first ones that come to mind.  What are your favorites? And by the way, if you don't have SiriusXM, what are you waiting for? Sign up for a free online trial here and tune in tomorrow. 

CHRIS CORNELL AT THE WELLMONT - AWESOME

Chris Cornell’s local solo acoustic concerts – two at New York City’s Town Hall and one at Montclair’s Wellmont Theater – sold out almost instantly. When I went to a ticket re-sale site, the cheapest seats were twice as much as the list price. I decided to take the gamble – I’ve seen some great performances by Chris (notably on his tour for his 2007 solo album Carry On, and with Audioslave on Lollapalooza in 2003) and some that weren’t so good (most of the Soundgarden shows I saw). 

I’m glad I spent the bucks, tonight’s show blew me away. It was a great mix of Soundgarden, Audioslave, Temple of the Dog and solo songs, and a couple of incredible covers, including two Bruce Springsteen Nebraska-era tunes. 

The show was over two hours, but he only played four Soundgarden tunes – probably because he’ll be playing them in July, when the band finally tour. 

He opened with the great Audioslave song “Be Yourself,” and then went into “Ground Zero,” from his most recent (and much-maligned) solo album, Scream. Scream, of course, was slammed in large part because it was produced by Timbaland, and while I thought it was an interesting idea, it just didn’t work. Timbaland treated Chris like any other singer in his assembly line of hitmakers, and a lot of the songs just sounded forced. But “Ground Zero,” and the other Scream tunes, "As Hope And Promise Fade" (a B-side) and "Scream," came off a lot better stripped down of the huge arrangements. I'd love to see an acoustic version of that album ("Long Gone" is definitely a great song). 

He played lots of "hits" (Soundgarden's "Fell On Black Days," "Burden In My Hand" and "Black Hole Sun," Audioslave's "I Am The HIghway," "LIke A Stone") all of which took on a new life without the hugely muscular bands that he played with on those songs.  There were also lots of fan favorites, Temple Of The Dog's "All Nite Thing," "Call Me A Dog," "Say Hello 2 Heaven," his Singles solo tune "Seasons," and "Sunshowers" from the film Great Expectations. And some really unexpected selections, like Soundgarden's "Mind Riot" from Badmotorfinger (inspired by the first Gulf War) and Audioslave's "Wide Awake" from their final album Revelations (inspired by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina). Back in the Soundgarden days, Chris seemed not to enjoy being onstage, and while he has always been really charismatic, he was never what you'd call "warm." Seeing him tonight was an altogether new experience: it was fun listening to him talk about the songs, and discuss politics a bit. I remember reading that when he hooked up with the Rage guys to form Audioslave, one of his conditions would be that it wasn't a political band. But it seems that maybe he was influenced by his former bandmate Tom Morello, he was getting a bit political at points, which I'm totally cool with. At some points, he seemed as engaging as Eddie Vedder on a good night, or even Bruce Springsteen. And speaking of... 

About an hour into the show, he strapped on a electric guitar and played a familiar riff. When he sang "New Jersey Turnpike..." people went nuts.  He covered the Nebraska era classic "State Trooper!" And funny enough, it was the most Soundgarden-y moment of the night, and even veered on being Sonic Youth-ish. He looped his riff and started soloing over it, and then just played with feedback for a while.  It was intense and totally awesome. And that wasn't enough Springsteen for him, he closed the show with another Nebraska tune, "Atlantic City." Unbelievable.  Who even knew he was a fan? 

There were a few other covers: Led Zeppelin's "Thank You" (which was funny, I remember the guys in Soundgarden claiming that they weren't influenced by Zeppelin at all, which sounded hard to believe... and "Thank You" kind of makes up for Chris' "Whole Lotta Love" debacle with Santana), John Lennon's "Imagine," MIchael Jackson's "Billie Jean" and Mother Love Bone's "Man Of Golden Words." 

I remember last time I saw Chris, thinking how much pressure his band must be under to be able to play like Soundgarden, Pearl Jam (on the Temple songs) and Rage Against The Machine (in the Audioslave songs). To me, it makes much more sense for him to tour solo acoustic, and I hope he does more of this between Soundgarden albums and tours, if they are in fact back as a semi-full-time thing. 

I have to mention Chris' opening act, William Elliott Whitmore. Amazing. Do yourself a favor and check him out. Right after he finished, I went right downstairs and bought his album (for $20!  But I had to have it).  I'll be writing about him more in the future, I think. 

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.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN - THE DARKNESS BOX SET

It's worth every cent.

Well, let me mention that Bruce Springsteen is one of my favorite artists of all time, and Darkness On The Edge Of Town is probably my favorite album by him. But the box set is really worth the bucks if you love the album like I do. Here's what the deluxe version contains:  first of all, the album remastered.  Bruce has never allowed a remastering of his catalog, other than Born To Run which got the box set treatment a few years ago.  Two more discs contain all songs that didn't make the album - this collection is called The Promise, and is available seperately as well. And there are some great things on that, including Bruce's previously unreleased studio versions of "Because The Night" and "Fire."

One DVD (or blu-ray disc) features the documentary on the making of the album which really enhances your appreciation for the record (much like the doc in the Born To Run box set did). Another disc shows a stripped down version of the E Street Band performing the album, in order, to an empty theater.  It's Bruce, Little Steven Van Zandt on guitar, Gary Tallent on bass, Roy Bittan on piano, Clarence Clemons on sax and Max Weinberg on drums with Charlie Giordano on organ. Basically the guys who played on the record, plus Charlie sitting in for the late Danny Federici.  No Nils, Patti or Soozie, no backing singers. It's a lean, mean, rock album. The performances on this disc, beautifully shot by Thom Zimmy (who also shot and directed the documentaries, and most of Bruce's video stuff in general) show how well the music has aged, and how well the band has aged.  This was shot a few months after the last tour ended. Hopefully it's not the last thing they do together. The disc also features archival footage of the band from '78. And another disc features a full concert from the Darkness tour.

The package is a replica of Bruce's notebook from the era. It really feels voyeristic going through all of this sometimes. But what I learned from it is that, on top of everything else, Bruce has great instincts. Yes, there are great songs on The Promise, but none of them would really fit in on Darkness. Yes, "Because The Night" is one of the best songs he ever wrote... but the truth is, Patti Smith's version is better. "Fire" is awesome, but The Pointer Sisters did it better! All the extra stuff on this box set just proves how perfect Darkness was without anything more than those ten songs! And still, going through all this stuff is a great trip. I imagine Bruce's next move will be a new album (I'd bet it will be without The E Street Band) before he hits his vaults again. But I hope we don't have to wait five years for The River box set (or ten for Nebraska!).

HOW "BORN IN THE U.S.A." INFLUENCED "KILLING IN THE NAME"

Yes, it's true. In the above video, Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello (who of course also records as The Nightwatchman, is a member of Street Sweeper Social Club and a former member of Audioslave) explains how Bruce Springsteen's "Born In The U.S.A." influenced Rage's "Killing In The Name" (yes, the "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me" song). He's talking to Jay Weinberg, son of E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg. This is part of an E Street Radio roundtable discussion that is airing on the channel this week: I was lucky enough to be in the SIRIUS XM studios in New York (Tom Morello was in the Los Angeles studio).

GASLIGHT ANTHEM VIDEOS: PEARL JAM COVER, ACOUSTIC ORIGINAL

This week, The Gaslight Anthem released their new album, American Slang. It seems like this is their moment.  I read that they recently sold out a gig at New York's Irving Plaza, and thier next NYC date will be headlining Radio City Music Hall. Frontman Brian Fallon also appears on a track on Bruce Springsteen's upcoming live DVD, London Calling. The band is actually from New Jersey, and have gotten the Bruce comparassions a lot, which is tough to live with, but at least it means that people have a high opinion of them.  Anyway,  I bought the new album today, so I have to listen to it a bit before I have anything to say.  For now, I'll post thier cover of Pearl Jam's classic "State Of Love And Trust" from Jimmy Fallon's show, and Brian Fallon (no relation) doing a solo acoutic version of the title track from the SIRIUS XM studios.

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).