BEST OF 2012 - #7 - NORAH JONES "LITTLE BROKEN HEARTS"

I think that Norah Jones' Little Broken Hearts is one of the most "slept-on" albums of 2012.

I loved her collaborations with Danger Mouse on the Rome project last year, and I thought it was cool that they decided to do a full Norah album together.

It's an interesting choice for her; when she started out, she was kind of the torch-bearer for more traditional music when she debuted with Come Away With Me in 2002, covering standards and Hank Williams and Bob Dylan. Of course there was her Grammy winning collaboration with Ray Charles on his final album, and she's worked with Willie Nelson a number of times.

On the other hand, she's collaborated with younger artists including Ryan Adams, Q-Tip, the Foo Fighters and Talib Kweli.

Anyway, you look at the album cover and you realize that this isn't really the same Norah.  Image-wise,  musically and lyrically, its an evolution.  To me, the standout track on the album is "Miriam." It's a deceptively gentle sounding song in which Norah sings to a woman who had a fling with her man. Check out the video.

Even if they play Norah's early songs in Pottery Barn... don't mess with her!

The first single, "Happy Pills," is funkier than most of what she'd done in the past.  When I listen to this album, it sounds like (a) someone who has been hurt and is writing about the sad and painful experience and (b) someone who has gotten a bit tired of her image, and maybe the way she is perceived.  I give Norah a lot of credit for this album, but more importantly, I think it's a really good album.

It's worth mentioning that she also did a great roots music album this year with The Little Willies, a band she is a member of. For The Good Times is great also, but Little Broken Hearts is what caught my attention this year.

BEST OF 2011 - #4 - THE BLACK KEYS "EL CAMINO"

The Black Keys are becoming one of my favorite bands.  Last year their amazing album Brothers was my #7 album of the year, and this year El Camino does a bit better: it's #5 on my list.

The Black Keys, famously, are a guitar/singer + drummer duo from the midwest.  So it was never any surprise that they were compared to that other band fitting that description.  The bands are as different as, um, black and white (ha ha).  Both groups may have a fair obsession with vintage songs, sounds, equipment, etc. but the Black Keys aren't as strict with their limitations. Working with Danger Mouse, who produced 2008's Attack and Release and the song "Tighten Up" from Brothers, gives them a bit more of a modern sheen. On this album, he seems a bit more of a band member (in fact, he received co-writing credits), making the Keys a temporary trio.

I’ve read that The Black Keys were inspired by The Clash on their new album, El Camino.  I get it: like The Clash, they take lots of American music forms and deliver them in short, smart powerful punches with no fat on them.  But there’s a lot of other influences going on here: definitely Led Zeppelin, and I’d even add ZZ Top for their crunchy, bluesy, boogie swagger. I don't have all of their albums, but I would say that this album is a bit less blues and a bit more '70s rock and funk.

I have been listening to the album a lot lately, and at one point I tweeted, “I love how @theblackkeys somehow tricked indie kids into listening to cool music.” As I mentioned when I wrote about them last year, they don't relate to most of today's indie rock any more than I do.  I know that they are now popular enough to play arenas, and I hope to catch them in 2012.

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.

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: BEN HARPER, RAPHAEL SAADIQ, ROME, BOOKER T, BLIND BOYS

Longtime readers of No Expiration know that on Wednesday mornings at 9 am ET, I go on SiriusXM OutQ's Morning Jolt with Larry Flick to talk about music. Sometimes I have a theme: tomorrow the theme is cool new music.  I know, that's a bit vague.

First off is the new Ben Harper album, Give 'Till It's Gone. I wrote about that the other day: I like it a lot, and I prefer it to his last album with Relentless7 (R7 is the backing band on this one, and they are credited with co-writing songs, but for some reason the album is being referred to as a "solo album").  Ringo Starr and Jackson Browne both guest on the album... Ben is slowly entering the classic rock echelon of artists, and rightfully so.

I am digging Raphael Saadiq's new album, Stone Rollin'.  He is such a talented musician, and I give him a lot of credit for doing an album like this.  There's almost no imaginable context where this could be a hit in 2011.  Shame on us: it deserves to be a hit. He kind of splits the difference between classic Motown and classic Chess here, with maybe a bit of Stax thrown in. He plays most of the instruments, and there are very few guest stars on the album, and I have a feeling that this is going to be a hard one to sell.  So do your part as a music fan and go BUY it.

Rome is a very cool project that I just wrote about: it features producer Danger Mouse and Italian film composer Danielle Luppi paying tribute to spaghetti western scores. Jack White (him again, uh oh) and Norah Jones are the featured singers on the album. It's a score to a film that hasn't been made yet.

Booker T Jones just released his second solo album in a row (I guess he doesn't want to make records with The MG's again?). On his last album, Potato Hole, he used The Drive-By Truckers plus Neil Young as his backing band, and the album was all instrumental (which is fitting, because his Hammond organ playing is so lyrical). This time, on The Road To Memphis, he uses The Roots and Questlove co-produces.  There are a couple of cool guest singers, including Sharon Jones, Jim James of My Morning Jacket and even Booker T himself.

Finally, Take The High Road, the new album by The Blind Boys Of Alabama. It has a bunch of country collaborations on it (including one with Willie Nelson) and the album was produced by Jamey Johnson. It's a good album!

Hey, if you're a reader and haven't gotten to hear me on the radio (and if you want to), why not get a free online subscription trial, at www.siriusxm.com/freetrial .

DANGER MOUSE + DANIELLE LUPPI + JACK WHITE + NORAH JONES = ROME (A COOL PROJECT)

I've been looking forward to this Rome project for a while now. Producer Danger Mouse, who has worked with Cee-Lo Green in Gnarls Barkley, with James Mercer of The Shins in Broken Bells and the late Mark Linkous in Dark Night Of The Soul has a new project, Rome.  It's a collaboration with Italian composer Daniele Luppi, and it's a tribute to spaghetti western soundtracks.  The featured singers on the album are Jack White (for once, doing a project that he's not in charge of) and Norah Jones.

Much of the album is instrumental pieces, and they're pretty cool.  In some places, I thought maybe someone should send this stuff to Quentin Tarantino, in case he starts working on Kill Bill 3.

Jack White wrote and sang his own lyrics, but he didn't compose the music and doesn't play any instruments.  But because of his unique lyrical style, it sounds like a Jack White project (although the music doesn't sound like anything he's done before).  Danger Mouse wrote the lyrics for the Norah songs - but when she sings a song, I feel like she almost rewrites it.  She's one of the best collaborative singers out there today. The album plays like a soundtrack in search of a film, but I'd love to hear Jack and Norah perform their songs with their day jobs on their next tour.

You have to admire Danger Mouse: besides all of his projects that I mentioned above, he's produced Gorillaz, Beck and The Black Keys and is producing the next U2 album. He is an artist who had led us to understand that every time he does something new, it will be much different from what he's done before. I don't love everything he's done, but you have to respect the fact that he's a very successful modern artist who really can't be boxed in.

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: *BOLD FACED* GUEST STAR ALBUMS

For those of you who are new to No Expiraton, every Wednesday morning at around 9 am ET-ish, I go on the SIRIUS XM OutQ channel's The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick (also featuring co-host and professional comedian Keith Price) to talk about music. This week, I'm going to be talking about a bunch of albums that are filled with "star studded" guests.  Sometimes these albums kind of work: Santana's first foray into this, 1999's Supernatural, obviously connected with a lot of people and achieved that ever-elusive goal of "introducing an icon to a new generation." Ray Charles' 2004 Genius Loves Company seemed to be very successful as well. Last year, one of my favorite albums was N.A.S.A.'s Spirit of Apollo, which had guest stars galore. What's more, I bet none of them were in the same room when they were recording.  Generally, I think people should be together when they record together, it provides a "vibe," for lack of a better term.

Jerry Lee Lewis just released Mean Old Man, his second album in a row of "all-star collaborations." 2006's Last Man Standing featured some cool collabs and this is like the sequel. I don't get the sense that too many of these were done in the same room (most of the songs credit an "overdub engineer") and many of them sound like they were literally phoned in. But there are some great moments. Kid Rock (sounding like Steven Tyler) and Slash are both on "Rockin' My Life Away," which is pretty rockin'. If Kid wants to join a band, he could make everyone forget about Weiland if he joined Velvet Revolver. I generally don't like updates of songs featuring the original artist, but on Jerry's last album, he did Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll" with Jimmy Page, and I dug it. This time around he takes on two Rolling Stones classics: "Dead Flowers" with Mick Jagger and "Sweet Virginia" with Keith Richards, both of which work (but I like "Dead Flowers" better). Another great moment here (available only on the deluxe edition) is the spiritual "Railroad To Heaven" with Solomon Burke. There are great moments with Gillian Welch and an interesting take on "You Are My Sunshine" with Sheryl Crow. This album isn't where I'd start out if I had no Jerry Lee in my collection, but it's fun.

Ronnie Wood was originally going to do an album of duets with the likes of Eddie Vedder and Amy Winehouse. But his new album, I Feel Like Playing, doesn't feature any duets. Amy is nowhere to be found, and Eddie Vedder co-wrote "Lucky Man," but doesn't actually sing on it. Not to say that there aren't a lot of guests here: Slash, Flea, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, Bobby Womack and Ian McLagan of The Faces are some of the guests who help out. "I Gotta See" is a sweet soul ballad that prominently features the vocals of Bobby Womack. I think Ronnie is really underrated as a songwriter, singer and frontman, but I guess that's what happens when you are in bands with Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart!

Herbie Hancock's The Imagine Project is his third Supernatural type collaboration album in a row, after 2005's Possibilities and 2007's The Joni Letters, which shocked everyone by winning the Album of the Year Grammy Award. The Imagine Project is all covers and collaborations. I checked out his take on the Peter Gabriel/Kate Bush classic "Don't Give Up" by John Legend and P!nk. It's nice, but isn't classic (the best version I've heard other than the original is a Willie Nelson/Sinead O'Connor duet version). Much more interesting is "Timitant Tillay/Exodus." "Timitant Tillay" is a Tinariwen song, and "Exodus" is the Bob Marley classic. It features Tinariwen, an amazing band of nomads from the Sahara Desert. I need to write a bit more about them, they're excellent. It also features K'naan, a Somali-Canadian rapper and also Los Lobos. Really cool.

The idea of David Byrne and Fatboy Slim collaborating on an album interested me: Byrne is a contrarian from the rock/pop world, while Fatboy Slim (alias Norm Cook) comes from the supposedly hipper world of electronic dance music, but loves to make music for football stadiums. Here Lies Love is a double album about former First Lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos, and features lots of guests including Florence (of + The Machine) Tori Amos, Sharon Jones, Steve Earle and Cyndi Lauper. It is interesting, but as is often the case with concept albums, the songs often get weighed down by the lyrics and the storyline. There are some cool parts, especially Sharon Jones' song, "Dancing Together."

Dark Night Of The Soul is a creepy and sad album. It is a collaboration between Sparklehorse and Danger Mouse. Sparklehorse, aka Mark Linkous, was most likely experiencing that around the time of the album. Tragically he committed suicide soon after recording the album. The album was sort of a collaboration between both musicians and film maker David Lynch, who put together a book of photos to accompany the album. In fact, they released the book first, due to problems with the record label - and included a blank CD with it ("someone" leaked the album online). Guest on the album include The Flaming Lips, Frank Black, Iggy Pop and Lynch himself.

Mark Ronson's solo albums are always guest-star packed affairs. He's a great DJ, producer and musician, but he doesn't sing. His albums are always really interesting, but on this one he seems to be more influenced by '80s new wave than horn-covered '60s and '70s soul. The one song I've heard is "Bang Bang Bang" featuring Q-Tip (who has been on both of Ronson's prior albums) and Amanda Warner from a new group called MNDR.

Santana is about to release his fourth guest-star-studden album in a row. This one, Guitar Heaven, features him covering some of Rolling Stone magazine's "greatest guitar songs ever" with guest vocalists. The only song I've heard is The Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" with Yo-Yo Ma and india.arie. I really like thier take on it, but most of the album is taken up by guys who I am not a fan of: Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots, Gavin Rossdale of Bush, Scott Stapp of Creed. I am kind of looking forward to hearing Chris Cornell's take on "Whole Lotta Love" and Joe Cocker's "Little Wing."

Next week: some great new records from dude singer/songwriters.

AWESOME ALBUM ALERT: THE BLACK KEYS "BROTHERS"

Well, The Drive-By Truckers' The Big To-Do may finally have some competition for my favorite album of 2010! I am really into the new Black Keys album, Brothers.

I'd actually been listening to a bunch of older Black Keys albums (including their last one, the excellent Danger Mouse-produced Attack & Release), because I thought I was going to see them open for Pearl Jam (it didn't happen, because I had to work late). Luckily, I did get to see part of thier in-studio performance at the offices where I work.

I've really enjoyed the band's progression from gut bucket blues duo (kind of like Hound Dog Taylor, but with one guitar instead of two) to something a bit more modern (but not too modern) and with a different kind of funk to it. This album kind of reminds me of the late great Chris Whitley, if he had been a bit funkier. I wish he did an album like this when he did Rocket House (although I love that album).

There's a profile of the band in a recent Rolling Stone (with either Mick Jagger or Keith Richards on the cover). At the end, there's a funny part, where they mull over other popular artists of the moment, including Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber (who neither of them are familiar with), Bo Bice and Band of Horses (who also opened for Pearl Jam on this tour). 15 seconds into Band of Horses' album, the dude complained it was boring. That made me laugh, even though I kind of like BOH.

I realize at this point that if you are one of No Expiration's readers who isn't as familiar with post-'80s music as I am, you might be getting lost. So, let me break it down for you.  If badass dirt-floor blues with '70s style funk appeals to you (and it should), you should check out this album.  You'll like it.  If you do, just start going backwards and pick up their older albums, starting with 2008's Attack & Release. You'll thank me. Here's a video of the singer, Dan Auerbach, peforming at the SIRIUS XM studios last year. These guys are a great band, and I think they will be around for a long time, so pay attention.

DANGER MOUSE PRODUCING NEW BECK ALBUM

I think it was kind of inevitable that Danger Mouse would end up producing a Beck album. I'm not as ga-ga over either artist as many seem to be, but I do have all of Beck's albums, and lots of stuff that Danger Mouse has worked on. This could be one of the best albums of the year. Supposedly it's got a '60s British psychadelia vibe to it. The first song is now streaming at Beck's web site.