BEST OF 2012 - #2 - JACK WHITE "BLUNDERBUSS"

It is probably no surprise that Jack White's debut solo album, Blunderbuss, placed so high on my Best of 2012 list.

Why did he finally do a solo record?  I think that this is his "divorce" album. I don't generally look too deeply into lives of artists, but this one was hard to miss:  Jack and Karen Elson sent out invitations to their 6 anniversary/divorce party.  So while it seems amicable, I'd imagine that every divorce has it's pain and that pain comes out in this album (which Elson provides backing vocals on, by the way).

Although he's the spotlight of every project he works on, I think he sees his bandmates as peers and friends.  I think that this time around, he'd rather just hire musicians, and not explain the songs.

Jack White being Jack White, his story is that he'd set up a session at Third Man Studios with The RZA; RZA didn't show up, and Jack started bashing out songs with the musicians that he hired.  But these songs don't sound like they were just cranked out on the spot.

The tour was really interesting:  he had an all-male band, and an all-female band, and each morning he'd announce who would get to play.  It's amazing that he still can manage to have some weird mystique to what he's doing, all these years after he started.  And that he'd go to such far lengths to bother to do so.  It was fun to hear him play White Stripes songs again (although a full band didn't seem to make up for Meg White missing), and cool to hear different takes on his Raconteurs and Dead Weather songs.

Anyway, the album is a classic: pretty much every song works.  A lot of them sound like they could maybe fit into his other bands.  "Hypocritical Kiss" and "Sixteen Saltines" remind me of The White Stripes for sure. I would love to hear Alison Mosshart singing "Freedom At 21."   "Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy" reminds me of The Raconteurs.  But they still have a fresh, different sound.  In the 2010's, I don't know any other artists who are this consistent, and this interesting.

TRUE BLOOD VOL. 3 (THE MUSIC)

First off, I'll say that as a big fan of the True Blood series, I thought this past season (season 4) was bad.  Really bad.  Embarrassingly bad. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know I'm more likely to like things than to not like them.  And I'm much more likely to write about things that I like than things that I don't like.  But from the awful season premiere (when they went to fairy land, I thought that sleestaks were going to start running around) to the finale ("can you let us down, we're getting a bit crispy," Sookie breaking up with both vampire dudes in one of the cheesiest scenes I've ever sat through on any show), it was just bad. And taking Lafayette - one of the show's best characters, mainly because of his dislike/distrust of anything supernatural, and making him into a conduit for the ghost of an evil spirit... well, I guess it could have been a cool idea, but it came off corny as hell. 

Of course, this is not a TV blog, it's a music blog, and right now, as I'm giving out candy to trick or treaters, I'm listening to the latest installment of the True Blood compilation series. And as annoyed as I am at the show's producer Alan Ball, I have to give it up  -- again -- to music supervisor Gary Calamar. Last year, I wrote about the second CD in the series, and expressed serious admiration for True Blood's music team, and I still feel the same way. They come up with songs that fit the mood, regardless of era and genre (it's the same reason why I love the greatest radio station in the world, the Underground Garage).

The album has a number of new tracks, which I imagine were recorded specifically for the show. I don't know if you could say that being on True Blood is the adult equivalent of being on a Twilight soundtrack, but I guess it is comparable.  Regardless, there are some really great tracks here. The opener combines stuff I love with stuff I don't:  Karen Elson (whose debut, The Ghost Who Walks, was one of my favorite albums of 2010) covers Donovan (who I've never been a fan of) with "Season Of The Witch."  Karen's ex-, Jack White produces and Donovan himself sings on the track.

The late Gil Scott-Heron covered Robert Johnson's "Me and The Devil."  Obviously a classic, and Mr. Scott-Heron brought his own thing to it. I guess this is one of the last things he ever recorded. 

Hipsters must be melting over the union of Neko Case and Nick Cave covering The Zombies' "She's Not There." But they should, it's pretty great, and I remember thinking that as it aired over the credits of one of this season's episodes. 

PJ Harvey and Gordon Gano of The Violent Femmes' "Hittin' The Ground" is the title track from Gano's debut solo album from 2002. It's a really fun song, and PJ sounds like she's really getting her Patti Smith on. It's not a new song, but it's new to me, and probably is to a lot of other people.

And in a combo made in Americana heaven, Jakob Dylan and The Jayhawks' Gary Louris do "Gonna Be A Darkness," which they co-wrote.  There are so many good songs here!  A group called The Heavy cover Larua Nyro's "And When I Die," and there's a cool Blackroc song (Blackroc is The Black Keys in hip-hop mode) called "What You Do To Me."  Then, there's some older songs, like Slim Harpo's "Te Ni Nee Ni Nu," Massive Attack featuring Hope Sandoval "Paradise Circus," and Siouxie & The Banshees' "Spellbound."

Here's hoping that the next season of True Blood makes up for this one, but I know that the music will always be on point.

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.

DEAD WEATHER - SEA OF COWARDS - TIE FOR #11

Some of the members of Dead Weather are already included in my Top 10 of 2010 list, as musicians on Karen Elson's debut album, The Ghost Who Walks.  But I can't forget how rocking their own album, Sea Of Cowards, was. I didn't expect them to do a new album so soon: I figured drummer/singer Jack White would do another White Stripes or Raconteurs album before coming back to Dead Weather. I loved Dead Weather's first album, Horehound, which came out last year, but I wondered if it was a project or a band. It's a band.

The new album benefits from time spent on the road, they sound even tighter now than they did before. And having caught them live over the summer, I'll say that they're one of the best live bands around, even better than The White Stripes.  Jack White clearly leads the ship, but singer Allison Mosshart is really the star of the group. She's one of the best frontpeople I've ever seen.  I have downloaded some songs with her other band, The Kills, but I have to pick up some full albums.

Bassist Jack Lawrence is now back with his original band, The Greenhornes, so I guess we won't hear from Dead Weather (or The Raconteurs) any time soon, but I look forward to hearing more from them in the future. I know Jack White is working on the Wanda Jackson album that comes out soon, and Dean Fertita has just put out a solo effort (that Brendan Benson contributed to), called Hello = Fire (read about it in this Billboard interview), and will work on the new Queens Of The Stone Age album this year.  But I definitely hope to hear more Dead Weather in the future.

BEST OF 2010 - #9 - KAREN ELSON "THE GHOST WHO WALKS"

Yes, she's Mrs. Jack White.  But I don't want to insult Karen Elson by suggesting that her debut album, The Ghost Who Walks, is great because of her husband, but it's easiest to get that fact out of the way first.

She has an eerie, dusty voice that sounds like it's coming from decades in the past.  She reminds me at times of Margot Timmins of The Cowboy Junkies or Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star. And she's a great songwriter. It's worth mentioning that she wrote most of the songs on her excellent debut, and the ones she co-wrote were not with her husband.  That said, he produced the record and plays drums on many of the songs, and it sounds like it.  But without the great songs at the core of the album, it would be a great sounding, but not memorable album.  That's not the deal, this one sticks with you. Here's a great review of the album by Bill Bentley, who knows what he's talking about.

Check out: "The Ghost Who Walks," "The Truth Is In The Dirt," "Pretty Babies," "Stolen Roses"

NOW I CAN WRITE ABOUT KAREN ELSON

Those of you who listened to my weekly report on The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick on SIRIUS XM OutQ this morning heard me sort of pull a fast one on host Larry. I was playing new releases from some well known singer-songwriters: James Taylor, Carole King, Jackson Browne, Jakob Dylan and Jack Johnson. I also came with some music from a new singer-songwriter, Karen Elson.  Larry, who has been known to get annoyed at my bringing in any record that Jack White has any part in (apparently Larry isn't a fan!) asked me, so who is she? He liked the first song, "The Ghost Who Walks."

So I said, "I was hoping you wouldn't ask." Larry immediately knew what was up and asked, "What's her relation to Jack White?!?"

"She's his wife..."

"@#$%^!!!"

But Larry had to admit that "The Ghost Who Walks" is a really good song. I have to admit, I was a bit worried about how *I* would like Ms. Elson's music. I mean, model-turned-rock-star-wife-turned-artist doesn't sound so promising.  That's not fair, and it's not right to prejudge, but I can't help it.  And anyway, in some interviews I've read with her, she's pretty much said the same thing, so I don't feel so bad. The fact is, the record is really, really good.  Jack doesn't write any songs on the album: he did produce it at his Third Man Records studio (so it sounds great) and he plays drums on lots of tracks, but that's it. The other guys from The Dead Weather are on the album, but it's not his project at all. She wrote her own songs, they are very confident and fully realized.  I bought two songs on itunes when they were released a few weeks ago, and was knocked out by how much I liked it. I bought the album, Karen Elson, and I think it's great. It's kind of like somewhere between Mazzy Star and PJ Harvey's quieter material.  So, it's another album that I recommend.

By the way, a few months ago, I mentioned that she sang on a remix of Robert Plant 's "Last Time I Saw Her" (the only original track off of his 2002 covers album Dreamland).  I just realized that it's available on his Nine Lives box set, and you can buy the track on iTunes.  It's a better version than the studio version, and Karen's vocals are cool - albeit really different than what she does on her record.

Here's a video of her performing with her band:

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: SINGER-SONGWRITERS

For those of you who are new to No Expiration, every Wednesday morning at 9 am ET I go on the SIRIUS XM channel OutQ. I am a weekly contributor to The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick. Tomorrow I'll be talking about some great singer-songwriters, including one of Larry's favorites.  

A while ago, I wrote about James Taylor's tour with Carole King. It turns out that it is one of the hottest tours of the year! In the early '70s, James and Carole shared a backing band and did gigs together.  They actually did a few shows at the Trobadour in L.A. a while back, and have just released an excellent live album from the shows. It's easy to make fun of this and call it boomer soft-rock or whatever.  But James is an incredible songwriter and in my opinion, Carole is even better. She is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - as a "non-performer." For her career as a songwriter for other people (along with her former songwriting partner and ex-husband, Gerry Goffin). I would argue that she should be inducted for a second time, this time as a performer. 

Speaking of Carole King, Sony Legacy has just released The Essential Carole King. It is a bit different than the many other releases in the Essential series, in that one disc is Carole performing her own songs, the other disc features other artists, including Aretha Franklin, Little Eva, The Cookies and Billy Joel, performing her songs.  Before she was a performer, she worked as a songwriter in the Brill Building (Neil Diamond worked there as well). She wrote a lot of great songs for other people: but her own album Tapestry is a stone cold classic. 

A lot of people classify Jackson Browne along with James and Carole: a singer-songwriter who came of age in the late '60s and early '70s who seemed to be the drier next movement after the hippie era. And like James and Carole, he was never part of a band to reunite with.  James and Carole had both done some stripped down and solo tours, and without a band to reunite with, they reunited with each other (and their former backing band). Jackson has also done the stripped down thing in recent years, but for this live album, he reunited with his multi-instrumentalist collaborator David Lindley.  Their live album was recorded on a tour of Spain in 2006, and features some collaborators from Spain. I'm not a huge Jackson fan.  I love his politics, but I'm not totally into his music.  He is one of Larry Flick's favorite artists though. I interviewed Jackson once, and he was very cool.  

Jakob Dylan just released his second solo album, Women & Country.  His first one was produced by Rick Rubin and was stripped down a la double R's productions of Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond. This time around he worked with T-Bone Burnett who produced his most successful album, The Wallflowers' Bringing Down The Horse. Women & Country is great. I think Jakob is always going to be underrated. First of all, there's dad. Second, that Wallflowers album was so big, he isn't likely to get another album that is that popular. But you have me, so you don't need hype!  Trust me, get this album. 

Jack Johnson has just released his latest album, To The Sea, which apparently had one of the best first week sales numbers of 2010.  Of course, that doesn't mean as much as it used to, but good for Jack. I think even he is surprised at how successful he's been.  I've interviewed him, and he seems to be such a good guy. People think he doesn't have any edge to him, but he grew up listening to Fugazi and Metallica.  It's just not his thing to make that kind of music. Anyway, I like a lot of his songs (I don't know if I'd go to a concert, but I've enjoyed seeing him open for other people and at festivals), and I really like his new song, "You and Your Heart." 

Finally, Karen Elson a new artist who took me totally by surprise. I promise to write more about her pretty soon.  I really like her self titled debut album. 

JACK WHITE RECORDED A TRACK WITH JAY-Z?

In an interview with the British version of GQ magazine, Jack White said that he recently recorded a track with Jay-Z. I am definitely curious to hear this one. I don't go crazy over Jay-Z like, well, nearly everyone else who writes about music does. But I've warmed to him a bit, and there are definitely a lot of good songs with his name on them. I dig "Run This Town," "Swagga Like Us," "Money Ain't A Thing" and his remake of Ice-T's "99 Problems."

In other Jack White news, today The White Stripes' Under Great White Northern Lights doc was released on DVD, and the accompanying live album is out also. I picked it up right after work, I can't wait to check it out.

Also, Jack's wife Karen Elson just released her debut single, "The Ghost Who Walks" on Third Man Records.  Did you know that she sang backing vocals on a remix of Robert Plant's "Last Time I Saw Her"? I gotta find that remix. But anyway, her debut album comes out this summer. Yes, Jack produced it.