SUPERHEAVY = MICK JAGGER + DAVE STEWART + DAMIEN MARLEY + JOSS STONE + (NOT ENOUGH) A.R. RAHMAN

When I heard that Dave Stewart had put together a "supergroup" with Mick Jagger, Damian Marley, Joss Stone and A.R. Rahman, I was intrigued. Of course, it could be a trainwreck, but it could be cool.  Stewart, of course, has worked on some good records, both as a member of The Eurythmics, but also producing other artists like Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers ("Don't Come Around Here No More"), Mick Jagger ("Old Habits Die Hard") and Stevie Nicks ("Secret Love").

But Superheavy doesn't really work for me, although it does have it's moments.  I know that the idea was to have all of these cultures coming together, but in many places it comes off as very mainstream rock with tinges of reggae and Indian music. I would have been curious to hear it if A.R. Rahman produced more of the songs.  It sounds like he sort of just added some touches to the songs, but he is an Oscar winning musician who is one of the hugest stars in India.  I would rather have heard an album co-produced by Stewart and Rahman.

Still, if they ever do another album I would check it out, the record shows lots of potential.

TOMORROW ON THE MORNING JOLT: GILLIAN, FLORENCE, IMELDA

Tomorrow on SiriusXM OutQ's The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick I'm bringing in some of my favorite albums of 2011, but the theme is that all of these records feature lead vocals by women.


Gillian Welch's The Harrow and The Harvest is definitely one of my favorites of the year. I'm not the only one who feels that way: Mojo magazine gave it a five out of five star rating. Whenever I listen to it, I find it odd that it's just her name on the cover: it seems that her and her partner David Rawlings are equally vital to the music.

Florence + The Machine's Ceremonials is an "epic" album.  That word gets overused these days, but everything -- the songs, the performances, the arrangements -- it's a work of art.

Imelda May's Mayhem came out in Europe last year, but in the U.S. this year. She is really talented: a great singer, very charismatic, great sense of style, and she writes great songs.   You may have heard her singing on Jeff Beck's recent albums Emotion & Commotion and Rock & Roll Party. In fact, if *I* wanted to have a rock and roll party, I'd never be able to afford Jeff Beck, but one day if I'm pretty successful, I might call on Imelda May and her great band to rock my party!

Other records I hope we'll get to: Shelby Lynne's Revelation Road, Allison Moorer's Crows (which actually came out last year), Joss Stone's LP4 and The Tedeschi Trucks Band's Revelator. (That band features married couple Derek Trucks of The Allman Brothers Band and singer-songwriter Susan Tedeschi.) And maybe I'll give another shout out to The Make Out, who have one of my favorite songs of 2011, "I Don't Want Anyone Who Wants Me."

TOMORROW ON THE MORNING JOLT: FUNK!

Two weeks ago, I returned to SiriusXM OutQ's The Morning Jolt With Larry Flick after being on the disabled list for a while.  Last week, I had to miss it again (for scheduling reasons, not heath ones). Tomorrow I'm back, and I'm bringing the funk.

Well, maybe not funk by the strictest definition of funk purists. But all the music I'm bringing in will be funky.

First up, is the Red Hot Chili Peppers' new album, I'm With You. I wrote about it recently, and I wish I liked it more than I do. That said, it has some great moments, like "Monarchy Of Roses" and "Brendan's Death Song."  More importantly, the new lineup, featuring guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, does show a lot of potential.

Primus is one of my favorite bands, and I really dig their new album, Green Naugahyde, which I just wrote about.  "Tragedy's A'Comin'" is one of my favorite songs of the year.

Fishbone is one of the most underrated bands of the past few decades.  But I haven't enjoyed much of their new music since 1993's Give A Monkey A Brain... And He'll Swear He's The Center Of The Universe.  They've just released The Crazy Glue EP.  I like it.  I'm really looking forward to the documentary about the band, Everyday Sunshine. Anything that gets them to a wider audience is cool with me!

When it comes to Lenny Kravitz, I'm a singles guy.  I have his best-of, and I'm cool with that. But the songs I've heard from his new album, Black And White America (the title track and "Superlove") are pretty cool and very funky. I may have to check this one out a bit more.

I wrote about Trombone Shorty about a year ago, and now he's got a new album, For True. I recently filmed a performance by him at the SiriusXM studios, and he was great (see it here).

Sly Stone actually has a new album, but sadly, it's mostly his old hits re-recorded.  There's no point to doing that: they were perfect the first time, and frankly Sly doesn't sound as good as he used to. There's a good new original song though, "Plain Jane."

I think that a lot of today's funk music is done by DJs, not bands, and David Guetta is one of the biggest DJs. I produced this shoot at The Electric Zoo festival in 2009 and I kind of "got" it.  Although dance music isn't my thing as much as rock and roll, I get it.

I haven't written about Superheavy yet, but any band with Mick Jagger, A.R. Rahman, Damien Marley, Joss Stone and Dave Stewart is worth paying attention to. Also worth paying attention to is the Jay-Z/Kanye West album, Watch The Throne.  So, if time allows, we'll discuss all of these albums tomorrow on the show!

MICK JAGGER AND KEITH RICHARDS RECORDING...

... uh, well... they *are* recording.  The rub: they are recording separately.  The new issue of Rolling Stone (not the one pictured here, the new one with Lady Gaga on the cover) has two separate blurbs about upcoming projects from Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Both mention a rumored 2012 tour.

A small feature on page 18 discusses Mick's new project, a supergroup of sorts that features Dave Stewart of The Eurythmics, Joss Stone, Damien Marley and Oscar winning composer A.R. Rahman. Mick has worked with Dave before in his solo career, notably on songs to the soundtrack of the 2004 film Alfie ("Old Habits Die Hard" is one of his best non-Stones moments). Joss and Mick did a duet on that soundtrack as well.

Mick has always expressed a bit of boredom with doing things the same way with The Stones, but his attempts to do different music projects outside of the band haven't done well.  His last full length solo album, 2001's Goddess In The Doorway, got a five star review in Rolling Stone, which only called attention to the fact that it was far from being a five star album.  (It did have one of his finest moments: his excellent collaboration with Lenny Kravitz, "God Gave Me Everything"). Anyway, it didn't sell well and I remember it being laughed at in the press (and by Keith). I guess his new "super-group" is an interesting project to him.  I have to admit, I'm interested to hear it. In the article, Mick says he doesn't have any Stones plans to announce at the moment.

Meanwhile, an "In The News" item on page 20 says that Keith is finally working again with his former backing band, The X-Pensive Winos. Unlike Mick, Keith seems to love working in the Stones' blues/country/R&B/rock style, which the Winos did so well.  So it's surprising to me that he hasn't done a real solo project in nearly 20 years. I saw the Winos twice (once on each tour) and they kicked ass.

So who knows what this means for The Rolling Stones. They can't wait too much longer to do another album and tour, can they?

Anyway: I know that conventional wisdom says that Keith's solo career is better than Mick's, but I'm planning (planning!) on writing about both men's careers outside of the Stones this week.  Feel free to weigh in, right here in the comments section.

JEFF BECK: NEW ALBUM, NEW BAND

Jeff Beck has a new album coming out on April 13, Emotion and Commotion. I don't always love Jeff Beck's new music, but I appreciate that it's never lazy or contrived.  He does what he wants to do, not what is commercial, and he doesn't put out an album simply because he hasn't put one out in two years or whatever. He still really pushes boundaries, which you really can't say about many of his peers (and even former bandmates). The album features Jeff using an orchestra on a few songs, and working with a few different singers: Joss Stone, Imelda May (who sang with him at the Grammys) and Olivia Safe. After spending his entire solo career on Epic Records, this one will be on Rhino.  He also has a new touring band, which, surprisingly includes a former collaborator: drummer Narada Michael Walden. Walden is interesting: on one hand, he's done some really complex musical things, including working on Jeff's Wired album, but also records by Robert Fripp and Jaco Pastorius.  On the other hand, he produced #1 singles for Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and and Starship. Anyway, the rest of Jeff's band includes keyboardist Jason Rebello (who has been in Jeff's band for a few years), and bassist Rhonda Smith, who has played for Prince, Beyonce, Justin Timberlake and Little Richard.

As I've mentioned, Jeff will be touring with another ex-Yardbird, Eric Clapton, and then going on his own tour.

RINGO STARR TO RELEASE Y NOT IN JANUARY

Ringo Starr's new album, Y Not, due in January, has some exciting points about it, but none more than this: there are a few songs with Paul McCartney. Paul and Ringo have played on each others albums over the years, but there's still something cool about the idea of them still working together. Who knows, maybe it will lead to another performance together - I doubt it, but it's nice to be able to hope!

Ringo's last album, Liverpool 8, had a great song on it, the last song on the album, "R U Ready?" Hopefully there will be more great songs like that. On this album, other than Paul, guests include Ben Harper, Joss Stone and Joe Walsh. It's also the first time Ringo has produced one of his albums. I'd heard a rumor that Ben Harper & Relentless7 was the backing band on a lot of the songs (they backed him at a benefit concert in April). That would be cool!

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: SOME VERY TALENTED LADIES

For those of you who are
new to No Expiration, every Wednesday morning at 9 am ET I go on the SIRIUSXM channel OutQ. I am a weekly contributor to The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick. Most weeks I bring a theme, and since "female singers," or "divas" seems to always go over well, I decided to go with that one again, particularly because there are lots of relevant
albums out right now.

First off is Larry's #1 favorite album of the year, Lungs, by Florence & The Machine. He's been talking about it for months, and I only just listened to it for the first time. It's a pretty powerful album. In some ways, Florence reminds me of Tori Amos, but I can't back that up with much, so I'll probably keep it to myself, as Larry is no fan of Tori! My wife Maria grabbed the CD from me, and she loves it. So, I'm glad to say that I like it also. I may even add this to my Best Of '09 series.

Leona Lewis has just released Echo. Larry and I disagreed about Leona last year, he thought she deserved the Record of the Year Grammy, last year, and I thought it rightfully went to Robert Plant & Alison Krauss. Sorry, Larry, I paid my NARAS dues and you forgot to pay yours! Larry felt that Leona's debut was an event on the level of Mariah Carey's debut. I disagreed with that - I almost think it is impossible for someone to dominate pop music the way Mariah did. (I also didn't think a Mariah-level-event would be a positive thing, anyway, as I don't like Mariah.) I did think Leona's "Bleeding Love" was a great pop song, and I don't hate on her because of it. I have only heard one new Leona song, "Happy," which I thought was really good. But she doesn't dodge comparassions to Mariah, that's for sure.

Norah Jones has been a favorite of mine since I heard her debut album, Come Away With Me, in 2002. I just got her new album, The Fall, tonight, and I think it's great. She broke up with her long time boyfriend/bass player Lee Alexander, which pretty much broke up her band. So she started working with new people, including producer Jaquire King, who worked on Tom Waits' classic Mule Variations. I think it is a really successful progression for her.

Finally, Joss Stone has just released Color Me Free!, which sees her fighting with her record label, which, sadly, doesn't usually end well for the artist. I got to interview her before her debut, 2003's The Soul Sessions EP when I worked for VH1. I think it's a good record but not a great one. She has so much talent, it's almost frustrating that she hasn't clicked with audiences in the way that she should. Maybe she needs a new record label. I hope they just don't slut her image up too much.

So call in if you want to weigh in! We'll probably do another week of female singers next month, when Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige and Shakira have released their new albums. Next week: crack. Um, I mean box sets. The Rolling Stones, Dolly Parton, Hall & Oates, AC/DC and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.

BOB DYLAN: THE ROAD NEVER ENDS, NEITHER DOES THE VAULT

Since the late '80s, Bob Dylan's tour has been referred to as "The Never-Ending Tour," although Bob scoffed at that title in a recent interview (I think with Rolling Stone). But he does tour really frequently, regardless of whether or not he has an album out, which is cool.

As I've mentioned, guitarist Charlie Sexton has just rejoined Dylan's band, he left in 2002. According to Rolling Stone and fan accounts, Dylan's L.A. show last night lasted nearly two hours (which is longer than most Dylan shows that I've seen) and was incredible. The chemistry with Sexton was supposedly great, and the setlist was a cool one: he opened with his Christian-era rocker "Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking," played "Shooting Star," one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite albums (Oh Mercy), My favorite song from the new album Together Through Life (probably my favorite album of the year), "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'" as well as "I Feel A Change Comin' On" and "Jolene." The set list also included "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right," "Cold Irons Bound," "Most Likely You'll Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)," "Stuck Inside of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again," "High Water (For Charlie Patton)," "Highway 62 Revisited," "Nettie Moore," "Thunder On The Mountain," "Ballad Of A Thin Man," "Like A Rolling Stone" and "All Along The Watchtower." Perfect mix of old and recent, "hits" and "album tracks." Man, I wish I was at that show. But he's playing three nights at the United Palace: I wasn't sure I wanted to pay the money to go, but between this and the great time I had seeing Bob over the summer, I think I'm there!

In other Bob Dylan news, a song called "California," recorded during the Bringing It All Back Home sessions but never released, will see the light of day on the "Vol. 2" soundtrack to the TV show NCIS (apparently the most popular TV drama?). The soundtrack will also have exclusive tracks from John Mellencamp, Sheryl Crow, Norah Jones and Joss Stone.

Finally, this week, Bob released his first Christmas album, Christmas In The Heart.

SMOKEY ROBINSON'S NEW ALBUM

Smokey Robinson releases a new album, Time Flies When You're Having Fun this month. It has collaborations with Carlos Santana, Joss Stone and india.arie, and features a cover of "Don't Know Why" (made famous by Norah Jones). I got to interview Smokey last year and it was an honor and a privilege. I hope to get the chance again.

THE WHO GET SOME "SWEET-ASS RECOGNISH" FROM THE KENNEDY CENTER!

At this year's Kennedy Center Honors, The Who were one of the artists who were, well, honored. George Jones, Twyla Tharp, Morgan Freeman and Barbra Streisand were also honored. (I would have loved to have seen Babs being congratulated by Bush; I heard she said that it would have been nice to get the honor next year).

The Who were paid tribute with a lineup worthy of this summer's VH1 Rock Honors: Chris Cornell sang "Won't Get Fooled Again," Bettye LaVette did "Love Reign O'er Me," Joss Stone did "My Generation" and Dave Grohl sang many "fucks" in "Who Are You." Plus Jack Black did the speech about the group, saying that "It's about time they get some sweet-ass recognish." Apparently, some folks were offended by the whole thing. That's fine: I'm glad The Who and thier followers can still stir up "the man."

COOL NEW MUSIC

I always say that I am a big fan of the album format: a bunch of songs recorded together, released in a specific order. But I also love the freedom that singles offer. Back in the day, I used to love 45"s, then "cassingles," then CD singles. These days, I love iTunes, and being able to just buy a few songs here and there. Here are some singles that I recently purchased that I've been enjoying.

The first two are from Randy Jackson's Music Club album. Yes, that Randy Jackson. Back off, son, he played with Bob Dylan. OK, it was on Under The Red Sky. And with Bruce Springsteen. On Human Touch. Both underrated albums, stop hating. Anyway, his album features him producing (and probably playing bass on) tracks for other artists. One is with Joss Stone: "Just Walk On By" (not to be confused with "Walk On By"). People also hate on Joss, I like her, and this is a nice pop song. The second track is a cover of "Wang Dang Doodle," written by blues god Willie Dixon. It features keb'mo, whose voice I always love hearing, Angie Stone, who I'd love to hear more blues from, and Sam Moore of Sam & Dave (Randy produced his comeback album two years ago). Not the grittiest version, but still fun.


Next: Duffy. I first read about her in Mojo, which is the most credible music publication in the world, in my opinion. She is a soulful, white British girl from Wales, whose record has a very modern-slash-retro feel. Like a certain Ms. Winehouse. But Duffy is better looking and less angst ridden: better for the record label, but it automatically puts her at a big disadvantage when it comes to music critics. People are definitely gonna pile on. I just heard this one song, "Mercy," offered as the free single of the week on iTunes. I like it.

Jim White's "Crash Into The Sun": this one makes me want to hear more of this guy. He reminds me a bit of James McMurtry.




Kaki King's "Pull Me Out Alive": I know of her because NPR Radio stations play her a lot. And she played guitar on on the new Foo Fighters album's "The Ballad Of The Bakersfield Miners." This one also makes me want to hear more.




Ashton Shepherd's "Taking Off The Pain": Very mainstream country. She has her wedding ring in one hand and a beer in the other. You can figure out the rest. I don't love modern country's conservativism - politically and musically - but on the plus side, most of the artists are just about songs. Even the most mainstream country singer can land a great song, and this is a good example.


Kathleen Edwards reminds me (and probably other people) of Lucinda Williams. That's as much of a double edged sword as being called "The New Dylan." Big compliment, impossible to live up to. She has written some great songs, though. I love "In State" from her last album. She just released a new album, Asking For Flowers, and I like the new song "Buffalo."



I bought two tracks from an album by a guy named Jeffrey Lewis, 12 Crass Songs. In this case, "Crass" is a noun, not an adjective. Actually it's both. The album is 12 covers of songs by anarchist punk band Crass. "Do They Owe Us A Living?" and "I Ain't Thick, It's A Trick" are worth hearing. I don't know much about Crass, but the album's folky sound delivers the lyrics in a much different way than the originals (I've heard a few of the original versions). It's at least thought provoking.


The Black Keys' "Strange Times": They're a dirty sounding gritty blues/rock duo, but they sound nothing like The White Stripes. Apparently, Danger Mouse used them on some Ike Turner recordings that he was producing, and then they decided to have them produce thier new album. Pretty cool song. Speaking of Danger Mouse...


Gnarls Barkley has a new album, The Odd Couple, and I got "Run" and "Going On." I tend to think that Danger Mouse is a bit overrated. That said, that "Crazy" song was pretty great, as was their cover of The Violent Femmes' "Gone Daddy Gone." I like both of the new songs that I picked up, but I don't know if I'd buy the album based on them.



The Kills' "Cheap And Cheerful" makes me want to hear more from this duo.






Justin Townes Earle's "Far Away In Another Town": Yes he is you-know-who's son. Sounds a bit like him. As if that wasn't enough pressure, he's also named after Townes Van Zandt. That's like being named "Jakob Marley Dylan" or something. Anyway, this song is pretty cool, and I'll be checking out more of his music for sure.



That's it for now. I'm looking foward now to hearing the new R.E.M. which comes out next week, along with the latest live album from The Rolling Stones. But if you trust my musical taste and want to check out some lesser known artists, you should try some of the above (not that Randy Jackson is lesser known, but you know what I mean).