"(AHK-TOONG BAY-BI) COVERED" REVIEWED

There were so many great releases towards the end of 2011, so if you have missed this gem I'll give you a pass.  But it's time to catch up!  (Ahk-toong Bay-bi) Covered is a tribute to U2's classic Achtung Baby LP from 1991. The original is one of my favorite albums ever, so I was a bit worried about this... but the talent lineup on it is incredible.

By the way, this was originally available only in the UK, it came with an issue of Q magazine. In the US, you can download it at iTunes, with proceeds going towards Concern, an organization dedicated to working with the world's poorest people to improve their lives.

The album starts out with Nine Inch Nails covering "Zoo Station," which is surprising on several levels. One, I thought Trent Reznor was done with NIN.  I guess not?  Second, I thought he didn't like U2, although I guess if he liked any of their albums, it would be this one (when it came out, I thought it sounded like U2 were influenced by NIN's debut, 1989's Pretty Hate Machine). Third, NIN's versions is so different.  It's much more subtle, and a bit creepier than U2's.

Patti Smith, one of U2's biggest influences, honors them with her piano based cover of "Until The End Of The World." Accompanied by her sons on piano and guitar, and a bass player, it's much different and more sober, and maybe more sad, than the original.

Garbage, who opened for U2, makes their return to active duty with "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses?"  Like U2 during this era, Garbage wrestle with getting soul into the intersection of humans playing instruments and programmed computer music.  Few do it well, but U2 and Garbage both did. I look forward to hearing Garbage's comeback album.

Depeche Mode, a peer of U2's, picked the perfect song for themselves with "So Cruel." It's interesting to hear them cover something from this era, since Achtung Baby (and Zooropa and Pop) are the closest U2 came to Depeche Mode's electronic sound. I've always thought that this is one of U2's most underrated songs (if I remember correctly, it's the only song from the album they didn't play on the tour).  Depeche Mode really put their own spin on it.

Friend of U2 Gavin Friday takes one of my favorites, "The Fly," and makes it sound a bit sneakier.  It's a bit more electronic, and like NIN's "Zoo Station," mostly strips The Edge's badass riff from the song.  It almost sounds like he's covering a remix. It's very cool though.

One of my favorite artists, Jack White closes the album with a very emotional "Love Is Blindness," the closest thing to a blues song U2 has ever done.  The Edge wrote that one when he was going through a divorce, and sadly, Jack just went through one. He brings a lot of sorrow to the song,  it's the highlight of the album for me, and one of the best songs of 2011.

I don't love every song on the album, and of course you can just buy the songs you like, but because the money goes to a worthy cause, I downloaded the whole thing.

TOMORROW ON THE MORNING JOLT: NEW YEAR, NEW MUSIC

Tomorrow morning on SiriusXM OutQ's Morning Jolt with Larry Flick, I'm going to be talking about some music that you may not have heard yet.  Of course, most of it sounds like it's old, even though it's new.  Larry is on the air weekdays from 7 am - 11 am ET, and he hosts a music show Feel The Spin Sundays at 2 pm.  If you don't have a SiriusXM subscription (yet), go here and get a free online trial .


First off, Vintage Trouble.  Even though they are from L.A.'s famed Laurel Canyon, their music isn't available here in the U.S. (although it is available in the U.K.).  I don't know why. They are a classic soul band.  I read about them in Mojo magazine, which is where I discover most of my music.  These guys have an amazing video for "Nancy Lee" (shot on iPhones and featuring one of the Pussycat Dolls). I really think that this band will make a lot of noise in 2012, but I don't care if they do or not: I'm buying their album and telling people about it. The singer, Ty Taylor, has a great voice (apparently, he was a contestant on the show Rock Star, which attempted to find a new lead singer for INXS).

Jonathan Wilson is also from Laurel Canyon, and seems to be the center of the new scene there.  Apparently he has built guitars for the likes of Jackson Browne, and has worked as a studio musician for Elvis Costello, Jenny Lewis and Jonathan Rice. He's also produced records for Dawes.  It's not just that the guy is from Laurel Canyon, he sounds like he's from the Laurel Canyon of the late '60s and early '70s: like he could have been jamming with Jackson Brown and Crosby Stills & Nash back in the day.  I "discovered" him in either Mojo or Uncut. 

Michael Kiwanuka is a British singer (but he's from Uganda).  As much as the two artists above don't sound like they're from this era, MK really doesn't sound like he's from the 2010's.  He sounds like the '60s or '70s.  I don't know how to describe him. He sounds like Bill Withers but also like Otis Redding, if they were making an album like Van Morrison's Moondance.  Another Mojo discovery.  I think he's great, but I don't know if he'll catch on here. But Adele loves him: he opened for her in the U.K.

Gary Clark Jr.  Well, if you've been following me, you know of him.  I talked about him last week on Larry's show, his Bright Lights EP was my 5th favorite release of 2011. I am really looking forward to his full length album that comes out this year.

We may also get to some other new(ish) names tomorrow, if we do, I'll write about them at a later time.

TIE FOR #11: MIRANDA LAMBERT "FOUR THE RECORD"

I like a lot of contemporary country singers, but Miranda Lambert is one who I am an actual fan of. This chick is a badass.  The cover of the album kind of says it all.  Cute girl walking (not running) away from a car on fire as the sun is rising (or setting). Her latest solo album, Four The Record, nearly made my Top 10 of 2011.

"Fastest Girl In Town," co-written by Miranda and Angaleena Presley (from Miranda's group The Pistol Annies), is my favorite from the album. It is a rockin' track that I could hear a metal gal, or a female R&B singer, pulling off. It's not about the genre, it's about the attitude.  Another song that she didn't write, but seems perfect for her, is "Mama's Broken Heart," where she explains that when her heart gets broken, she doesn't fix her makeup like her mom would have done.  Nah, she cuts her bangs with a rusty scissor, numbs the pain "at the expense of my liver" and is "holding the matches when the firetrucks show up."   On the other hand, she writes and sings "Safe," a lovely ode to a guy (likely her husband, country singer Blake Shelton).

One of the things I like about Miranda is that she can totally rock out (as on "Fastest Girl"), she can do traditional country ("Dear Diamond," "Same Old You") and then go into left field (playing with autotune on "Fine Tune").

As I mentioned, Miranda also has a new group, Pistol Annies, with Angaleena Presley and Ashley Monroe (who has collaborated with The Raconteurs and also worked with Jack White on Wanda Jackson's album). I like them also, and I hope it's a long term thing, not just a one-off.  I just liked Miranda's solo album better, but both records are definitely worth hearing.

"THE YARDBIRDS ULTIMATE!" - YOU NEED TO HAVE IT

It's crazy to think that Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page were all once members of the same band, The Yardbirds. Not at the same time, of course!

Clapton actually replaced original lead guitarist Anthony "Top" Topham early on in the band's career. The material they did with Clapton is among the best rock/blues/R&B you'll hear ever, their covers are up there with what the Stones were doing at the time. For my money, it's some of the best stuff Clapton has ever done. Clapton split after the band's big hit "For Your Love" (which he claims not to have played on) because it was too commercial (ironic, when you consider some of the things he's done in his solo career!).

He was replaced by Jeff Beck, ushering in a much more creative era for the band. This is when the band began moving in more jazzy and psychedelic directions.  It's my favorite era of the band.  Soon, Jimmy Page joined - as the bass player - but soon moved to guitar.  And then, Jeff was canned. Page's version of the band was pretty cool, but pretty much overshadowed by what he turned the band into - The New Yardbirds, later known as Led Zeppelin.

For years, The Yardbirds' legacy wasn't well tended, it was hard to figure out what albums to get, and even which guitarists were on which album.   But in 2001, Rhino combined all the eras of the band's career into one very well annotated collection, The Yardbirds Ultimate! I recommend this so highly.   I just listened to the whole thing, and was amazed, once again, by how great this band was.  What a tragedy that frontman Keith Relf is no longer with us - a Yardbirds reunion with Beck and Page, with Relf singing, that would have been amazing.

BACK IN THE DAY: ANTHRAX "AMONG THE LIVING"

I've been listening to Anthrax' Worship Music lately, their reunion with singer Joey Belladonna.  To me, it was the best metal album of 2011, and I know a lot of other people feel the same way.

It got me listening to what is probably the band's best album, Among The Living, which was released in 1987, the year I graduated from high school, a time when I was really into thrash metal. This album blew my mind. As everyone knows, they were part of the "Big 4" of thrash metal, along with Metallica (the album was actually dedicated to the then-recently departed Cliff Burton), Slayer and Megadeth. But those other bands were from the west coast, Anthrax definitely brought a lot of east coast flavor and culture. I wasn't familiar with hardcore punk at the time, but the New York's hardcore scene was definitely an influence on the group, as was hip-hop music, which was exploding in New York at the time, and in my opinion (I know, I'm old) was much cooler back then.

They seemed really different from other metal bands: they kind of had more of a sense of humor (as seen in their "NOT" mascot), they dressed differently (Run-DMC style training jackets, boarder shorts) and had really cool lyrical influences that I definitely related to: comic books (I knew that Scott Ian was a bit fan of Frank Miller's Batman Returns) and Stephen King. There were also songs with some kind of consciousness to them: "Indians," like Iron Maiden's "Run To The Hills" was about how Native Americans got screwed over. As I mentioned, I didn't know much about punk rock at that time, so the idea of having a social consciousness in heavy music was a new concept to me.  Also, "N.F.L." about the stupidity of John Belushi's death: not many metal bands sang about the real pitfalls of drug abuse like that. In "One World," they sang about "Russians - they're only people like us!" and "Americans: stop singing 'Hail To The Chief!'" A lot of the metal audience is more politically conservative today, I wonder how it would go over.  But man, what a ballsy move. Even "Imitation of Life" really resonated with me.  It was about phony people, and it also ripped on hair metal bands (even though years later, Anthrax would agree to open some shows for motley crue).

The above is all well and good, but when I listened to the album, it still sounded so great, so powerful, and that's what matters. I'm not always the biggest fan of Joey Belladonna's voice (I prefer John Bush, who replaced him), but I had to admit, he sounded great on last year's Worship Music, and he's perfect on Among The Living. The other thing that separated Anthrax from the other Big 4 bands was that their singers didn't sing, they were shouters.  Which is fine.  But Belladonna gave Anthrax a connection to other metal legends with great singers, like Maiden and Judas Priest.

I always felt that Anthrax didn't ever really get their due, but they have achieved a kind of legendary status.  This album explains why.  By the way, I was listening to the 2009 expanded reissue, not a bad package.  The liner notes by metal fan/comedian Brian Posehn make it worth the price of admission.  The bonus tracks really don't.  But the bonus disc is the "home video" (as they called it back then) Oidivnikufesin (N.F.V.) on DVD, which is cool.

TIE FOR #11 - THE BEASTIE BOYS "HOT SAUCE COMMITTEE PART TWO"

I was so happy to hear that The Beastie Boys will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year. What makes that more amazing is the fact that they are still putting out great records, as evidenced by Hot Sauce Committee Part Two.  Unfortunately, the album didn't get much attention. A lot of that is because they couldn't do too much promotion, since Adam Yauch is still battling cancer. But you really wouldn't have guessed that by listening to the album.

It's a straight up hip-hop record. There's no instrumental funk jams (which they probably got out of their system last time, on the instrumental album The Mix-Up). There's no hardcore punk, or hard rock jams.

That's a risky move for a bunch of guys in their mid to late 40s.  The current commercial hip-hop community probably aren't paying attention to them (although they get respect from the people who have a sense of history... and the fact that Nas guests on "Too Many Rappers" doesn't hurt either).  The production doesn't sound like it has an ear to 2011, or even 2001.  It's kind of timeless: on one hand, it sounds like old-school electro hip-hop.  On the other hand, it's very futuristic, but not in the Black Eyed Peas Euro-rave-Blade Runner way. They don't work with outside producers - they produce the tracks themselves.  Not many other hip-hop acts produce their own albums.

One thing that hasn't changed is that they still make great videos.  There's a half hour video "Fight For Your Right Revisited" (which is based on the banger "Make Some Noise") and also a Spike Jonze directed clip starring action figures for "Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win." You can catch them here.   But as for the album itself, it's a great one.  I'm sure some people will say that they aren't "relevant to the hip-hop community" anymore.  But shit, I'm 40+, I don't care about "relevant" I care about "great," and this is a great album.

TIE FOR #11 - CHARLES BRADLEY "NO TIME FOR DREAMING"

Charles Bradley's debut album No Time For Dreaming has a great story behind it. First of all, he's over 60 years old... probably one of the oldest people to release a debut. He spent much of his childhood in the streets, his life was changed when he saw James Brown in concert in 1962. He started singing after that, but didn't get his big break until recently, courtesy of Daptone Records (home of Ms. Sharon Jones).  You can read his whole bio at his website.

As I often say, context is great, but how's the music?  Well, on No Time For Dreaming, the music is great. Daptone Records kind of fetishize the soul music of the '60s, but can you blame them?  It was a great era.  Mr. Bradley is perfect for the label: he isn't just a James Brown disciple, he also has a lot of Otis Redding in his voice as well.

The album's main single, "The World Is Going Up In Flames," is a song for 2011 (or 2012), and it would have worked equally as well in 1962. But there's lots of other great songs on the album.

The backing band on the album is phenomenal, and I have to give a lot of credit to the label for signing Mr. Bradley, and really getting behind him. This is a soul album. It's not R&B, and it doesn't make any references to hip-hop.  Which makes it a tough sell in 2011 and 2012. If you put some of these songs on a playlist of Stax songs from the '60s, they would fit in. It's not just the sound, it's the songs.  If you love soul music, check this album out.