RAVE ON BUDDY HOLLY

I know that a lot of people hate the idea of tribute albums.  I don't.  In the pre-downloading age, I bought tons of them, even if there was just one artist I liked on the album. I really like the idea of artists paying tribute to other artists, I always have. It's hard to overstate Buddy Holly's importance.  He was there at the beginning of rock and roll.  He influenced The Beatles. The Rolling Stones covered him on their first album. I remember watching Bob Dylan talk about a Buddy Holly concert when he was accepting his Grammys in 1997.

I think it's important to our culture to keep reintroducing this kind of classic music to younger generations (or "demographics").  Rave On Buddy Holly does a good job at putting together a great list of diverse artists.   Do any of them improve on the original songs?  No, of course not. But there are lots of great versions of these classics, and if Rave On turns some new people on to Buddy Holly's music, then mission accomplished.

I think my favorite songs on the album are Paul McCartney's "It's So Easy," Karen Elson's "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" and Cee-Lo Green's "You're So Square (Baby I Don't Care)." Sir Paul sounds like he  is harnessing the excitement that he felt when first hearing Buddy's music as a kid. It's actually kind of shocking hearing him rock out so hard!  No Expiration readers know that I really like Karen Elson, and I love her take on "Crying, Waiting, Hoping."  It's hard not to imagine that she was thinking about her soon-to-be-ex-husband (who produced the track and plays drums on it) when she was singing this.  Even still, it's a bit more upbeat than her most of the stuff on her excellent debut album The Ghost Who Walks. Cee-Lo Green? He just sells it so well.

There's a lot of other great moments: The Detroit Cobras (props to the producers for including them) on "Heartbeat," The Black Keys' "Dearest," Justin Townes Earle's "Maybe Baby," My Morning Jacket's "True Love Ways," She & Him's "Oh Boy!" and even Kid Rock's "Well All Right." It's not all good.  The singer from The Strokes and Modest Mouse both do pretty boring takes on Buddy classics.

But even the songs I don't like may serve a purpose.  If popular artists like the singer from The Strokes or Modest Mouse can attract some new people to the amazing and timeless music of Buddy Holly, then well done.

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: CEE LO GREEN, KANYE WEST AND MORE

For those of you who are new to No Expiration: every Wednesday morning at 9 am ET (ish), I contribute to the SiriusXM OutQ show The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick, where I talk about music. This week, I will discuss some of the last releases of 2010, also known as "Q4" records.  These are often albums that record labels have huge commercial hopes for.

First off is Cee Lo Green's The Lady Killer, his first solo album since forming Gnarls Barkley with Danger Mouse. I think there were high expectations for this album, based on the popularity of Gnarls, and also the huge success of the first single, "Fuck You," a huge viral hit over the summer. It doesn't seem to be doing that well, unfortunately.  I like it, but don't love it - there certainly aren't any songs as catchy as "Fuck You," and that song obviously isn't an easy hit.  Although it was nominated for a bunch of Grammys.  One great song on the album other than the single: his cover of Band Of Horses' "No One's Gonna Love You." That was one of my favorite songs of the '00s, but Cee Lo owns it now.

I wish I liked Cee Lo's album as much as Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.  Kanye's album is one of the best things I've heard this year. It is an incredible album. 

Also on the list for tomorrow: new albums by Kid Rock, Rihanna, Shakira, My Chemical Romance, Black Eyed Peas, Robyn and The Zac Brown Band.

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: POP!

Tomorrow morning on SIRIUS XM OutQ show The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick, I'll be talking about some of the big pop records of the season. And by "pop," I mean big records.  Sonically, these records don't have much in common, but they all feature really catchy songs. 

I've only heard one song, "Well, Well, Well" from Duffy's new album, Endlessly, but I love it. Her album was produced by Questlove and features the guys from The Roots playing on many of the tracks (I'm told). I'm really looking forward to hearing the rest of this album. Larry was one of the first people in America to play Duffy's debut album, and she knows that, which is really cool.

Kings Of Leon just released their latest album, Come Around Sundown. I've never bought into them the way so many others have. I saw them on one of the small stages at the Austin City Limits Music Festival a few years ago (maybe 2003).  They were hyped, and I liked their sound and the way they looked. But their songs didn't stick with me.  A few years later, I saw them open for U2, and I was bored. But on their new album, they're really swinging for the fences, and there are some good songs there.  For my money, I prefer The Drive-By Truckers by a long spell.

Larry kind of told me about The Zac Brown Band last year.  I'd read about them, but on Larry's recommendation, I checked them out.  I think this Zac guy is pretty talented.  He's kind of mainstream country, but also appeals to the jam band crowd.  I think he could end up being like Jimmy Buffett. His new album You Get What You Give could be a really big album.

Bruno Mars is kind of outside my usual arena, but he is a talented kid.  He co-wrote and produced one of the best songs of the year, Cee-Lo Green's "Fuck You," as well as hits for other pop artists including Ke$ha, B.o.B., Flo Rida and Travie McCoy. He just released his own album, Doo-Wops and Hooligans, and I dig a few of the songs, "Grenade," "The Other Side" (which features Cee-Lo and B.o.B.) and "Liquor Store Blues" (featuring Damien Marley).

We may also talk about P!nk's new song "Raise Your Glass," which I didn't like... until I saw the video.  It's really a celebration about people who don't fit in.  Say what you want about P!nk, but she has the spirit of rock and roll in her.

Oh, and also, we'll talk about Mark Ronson's new album Record Collection, which I just wrote about.

THIS WEEK ON OUTQ: FUNK AND SOUL

For those of you who are new to No Expiration, every Wednesday morning at 9 am ET (ish) I am a guest contributor to the SIRIUS XM OutQ channel show The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick.  Every week I discuss music (surprise!) and this week I'll be talking about some new funky and soulful releases.

I have written about Brad before: the band features Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard, along with the great singer Shawn Smith. Smith also sings for Satchel (who Stone has produced), and for the electro music project Pigeonhed (the Lo-Fidelity Allstars remix of their song "Battleflag" is probably Smith's biggest "hit"), and has done solo albums too (as well as some other projects). He is one of the best singers you haven't heard. The band's drummer is Regan Hagar (also of Satchel, he used to be in Malfunkshun with the late Andrew Wood, who went on to form Mother Love Bone with Stone). Jeremy Toback used to be the bass player (he's also done some cool solo albums) but now Mike Berg is the bassist (he's also in Satchel). Enough family tree stuff, Brad is a really soulful band. At first they both benefitted and suffered from the Pearl Jam association: they certainly got more press because of Stone, but they sound nothing like Pearl Jam, they have a much more funky and soul music-based sound. Smith is the star of the band. If you can find the first album, 1993's Shame, check it out. But Best Friends?, their forth album which just came out, is very good too, although it did take me a few listens.

Street Sweeper Social Club just put out their second release, The Ghetto Blaster EP. It rocks! It has a bunch of new songs, a remix of "Promenade" from their debut, a new version of Boots Riley's other group, The Coup's "Everythang," and covers of M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" and LL Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You Out." Plus there's a few new songs. I think Boots is going to do a Coup album next, and I guess Tom Morello will do another Nightwatchman project (and maybe some Rage Against The Machine shows), before the next Street Sweeper full length.

Michael Franti has had such an interesting career. In the late '80s, he was in this angry industrial/hip-hop group The Beatnigs. After that, he had a very Public Enemy influenced hip-hop group called The Disposable Heroes of Hiphopricy (I saw them open for U2 at Shea Stadium, pretty bizarre). In 1994, he started Spearhead, which combined hip-hop with live music, soul, R&B and reggae, and he's been doing it for years without too much commercial success - but the band gets lots of respect in the jam band community. All of the sudden, last year, they had a hit with the very poppy "Say Hey (I Love You)," which is a classic hit single. A wonderful song. Franti's new Spearhead album, The Sound Of Sunshine, comes out September 21, and it sounds like it has a simlilar vibe to "Say Hey."

A couple of other things I'll be bringing: new songs by Cee-Lo Green (his viral hit "F*** You," and another new song "Georgia"), some Robert Randolph & The Family Band (featuring Ben Harper) and a preview of the John Legend/Roots album.

WHAT THE... SANTANA'S SUPERNATURAL TURNS 10!

Man, time does fly.  Next week, Sony Legacy is releasing the tenth anniversary edition of Santana's Supernatural. It isn't remastered, I don't think - it came out in 1999, I doubt they could improve the sound! Disc 1 is the entire original album, and disc 2 includes some tracks that didn't make the original (including a second collab with Dave Matthews and Carter Beauford, "Rain Down On Me," remixes of "Corazon Espinado" (the song that featured Mana, the Mexican rock band) and the huge hit "Maria Maria" (produced by Wyclef Jean and featuring his then-protegees The Product G&B), an extra jam with Eric Clapton and some other stuff.

The album was a pretty stunning comeback for Carlos Santana. At that point, he was pretty much an "oldies" classic rock type artist.  This not only made him a rock star, it made him a pop star and even saw him crossing over into hip-hop and R&B. Yes, people can bitch that a lot of it was contrived marketing on the part of co-producer and record mogul Clive Davis (who originally signed him to Columbia after Woodstock, and signed him to Arista thirty years later). But the fact is, these "all-star" type albums that are supposed to bring a legacy artist to a new generation hardly ever work, and I can't think of many, or any, that have worked this well (with the exception of Ray Charles' Genius Loves Company). It connected Carlos with the jam band scene that he had such a huge influence over via the Dave Matthews collab ("Love Of My Life" - the first single, although it didn't really become a hit), the alt-rock scene with "Put Your Lights On," featuring former House Of Pain MC turned singer/songwriter Everlast (and that song was a pretty huge hit), hip-hop and R&B with "Maria Maria" as well as "Do You Like The Way" produced by Lauryn Hill and featuring Cee-Lo Green (then with Goodie Mob, now more famous for Gnarls Barkley). The song with Mana reminded folks that he was the first big Latino rock star (or one of them), and the Clapton song was a nod towards classic rock. But it was his biggest pop hit ever, "Smooth," a collaboration with Rob Thomas of matchbox twenty that really made the album a monster. I've written about how people really hate on the guy, but this is a good song, and as far as I'm concerned, bringing Carlos Santana to new audiences is a great thing.

Anyway, the extras on the album are cool, but not essential. Amazon is selling the album for $13.99, which is good for two cds, but if you have the original, it may not be a totally necessary purchase.

VH1'S HIP-HOP HONORS

I was glad to see one of my favorite groups of all time, de la soul, get their due at the Hip-Hop Honors. It took Q-Tip, Estelle (John Legend's protegee), Cee-Lo, Public Enemy with Mos Def and EPMD to pay tribute to them. The only problem was that each segment was too short (no pun intended).  It's just too bad that PE and Mos Def's collab was like, one minute long. 

And they need to honor EPMD next year! They are way more influential than some other artists who have been honored. But it was also great to see Cypress Hill and Slick Rick get honored.  I wasn't as big of a fan of Naughty By Nature or Too $hort. 

Anyway, great show, I remember working at the first Hip-Hop Honors, and there was some initial skepticism about Video Hits 1 doing a hip-hop awards show. But it was awesome, and they've done a great job on all the subsequent ones. (Although tough to beat the original lineup, which included PE, Run-D.M.C. and KRS-One). 

THIS SUMMER'S BANGER

I was wondering if the summer of 2008 would produce a classic hit on the level of "Spider-Pig," from last year's Simpsons movie.

I think I have the answer: School of Rock prof/frontman and one half of Tenacious D, Jack Black is teaming up with Gnarls Barkley's Cee-Lo Green (aka "The Love Machine") for a version Carl Thomas' classic "Kung Fu Fighting."

Just thought I'd let everyone know. I think the Black and Green team will dominate the pop charts this summer.

GREAT SONGS FROM 2007 - part 3

Q-Tip : "Work It Out" Tip deserves a post of his own, actually, and I'll have to get to that. I've written about how much I like his former group, A Tribe Called Quest, and I just think he's one of the best MCs out there. I didn't love his solo debut, Amplified, although "Vivrant Thing" is a classic record. His next two albums were shelved by their respective record labels. Not one album shelved. Two. In a row. But here's hoping that his next one will come out in 2008 as planned. "Work It Out" is the lead single, and it's a great one. Will "the streets" think it's "hott." Who knows.

Black Eyed Peas featuring Q-Tip, Talib Kweli, Cee-Lo and John Legend: "Like That" Actually this came out in 2006, but I only heard it last year. BEP are about as criticially reviled as you can be in hip-hop without calling yourself "vanilla ice." I remember interviewing the editor of a high profile magazine in the hip-hop/R&B world, and when I asked about Black Eyed Peas performing at the Democratic National Convention, and did that mean anything for hip-hop, my interview subject got all Excorcist on me. Eyes changing color, a hot wind started blowing, levitation, etc. "THEY'RE NOT HIP-HOP!" What do you say to that? I liked BEP's albums when they were a backpacking "alternative" hip-hop group. Of course, they went "pop" when Fergie joined and they started collaborating with people like Justin Timberlake. I've liked some of thier songs from this era, but for sure not all of them. This one, though, is great. And if Q-Tip and Talib Kweli are on your album, does it matter whata magazine editor says?

The Hives: "Tick Tick Boom" The Hives kind of took things by storm in the U.S. in about 2002 when their single "Hate To Say I Told You So" was a hit. By their next album, people were over them. The truth is, they're a great garage band who don't care about trends. This is a great song, I have to listen to the album a bit more though.

Arctic Monkeys - "Brianstorm" It's pretty amazing how huge these guys are in thier native U.K. I don't consider them one of the best bands of all time, but I've enjoyed both of their albums so far. This is a cool song from their newest, Favourite Worst Nightmare.

Still more great 2007 songs to come.