THE VERY BEST OF MICK JAGGER (seriously...)

Here's a few things that should never go on an album with the words "very best of" in the title:

1. If a song features Mick Jagger, Pete Townshend and Bono, and it's still awful, it doesn't belong on a "best of." Sorry, "Joy" should never have made the cut.

2. Some unreleased songs should stay unreleased. Others fit on rarities collections. The remix of the previously unreleased "Charmed Life" certainly falls into one of those two categories.

3. Mick Jagger's "Let's Work" does not belong on any "best of" collection. I've been trying to forget about that one ever since I heard it. It's been nearly two decades, it still makes me wince.

OK, I'm being a bit too snarky. Someone told me that I gotta do it on occasion, or I lose my blog union card.

But really, a few clunkers aside, The Very Best Of Mick Jagger has some incredble moments. There's a few tracks from his 1993 Rick Rubin-produced album, Wandering Spirit , an album that I love (and the only solo Mick album I would really recommend owning). Mick's duet with the late, great Peter Tosh on "(You Got To Walk And) Don't Look Back" (a Tempations cover) is worth the price of admission. Ditto for 1970's "Memo From Turner," which he actually co-wrote with Keith Richards: the song was from the film Performance, which Mick starred in. A collaboration with L.A. blues band The Red Devils from the Wandering Spirit sessions, a cover of Sonny Boy Williamson's "Checkin' Up On My Baby" makes a great argument for releasing all of the Jagger/Red Devils sessions. The real gem, of course, is 1973's "Too Many Cooks (Spoil The Soup)," was produced by John Lennon and featured ex-Cream guy Jack Bruce on bass.

Like Paul McCartney, Mick ends up looking like the second coolest guy in his band, partially he actually has decent business sense (often seen as "uncool" in rock and roll), and partially because of his naff solo albums (which is his own fault). With a few really bad missteps, this compilation makes a great case that Mick can create cool music without the Stones.

And like Sir Paul, I doubt that Mick loses much sleep over this anyway. But if you're reading this, Mick, sorry to be snarky at your expense. But I don't want to lose my licence to blog. And don't worry, I'm working on a post about the new Rolling Stones DVD box set. Which will be totally positive.

MY KIND OF REVIVAL (part 2)

I've said it before: John Fogerty is one of the greats. And he's still great. His new album, Revival, is one of the best things I've heard all year, and might be the best thing he's done since Creedence Clearwater Revival. I am a fan of his Blue Moon Swamp and Centerfield albums, but I think this one is better, and will really hold up as his best post-CCR work.

I wrote about the first single, "Don't You Wish It Was True," before the album came out, but now that I've lived with the album, I can certainly say that the whole thing is great. "Creedence Song" is a great statement, saying that he has finally made peace with his past. "River Is Wide" is different than anything he's ever done, it's a gorgeous song. "Long Dark Night" and "I Can't Take It No More" are great protest songs in the vein of "Fortunate Son" and "Deja Vu (All Over Again)." Some people feel that rock stars should "shut up and sing," to quote The Dixie Chicks. Personally, Fogerty's protest songs make me even more proud to be a fan. (Plus, John has a fairly conservative fan base: I really think he's putting himself out there by criticizing the president in a song.) "Broken Down Cowboy" is great too. The only one I don't dig is "Summer Of Love": we know, the summer of love was great. Thing is, I thought John wasn't into the whole hippie scene anyway. I think that stuff is best left to Crosby, Stills & Nash.

There's been a bit of noise on the web about clear channel not playing certain new records, notably Bruce Springsteen's Magic as well as Revival, and the insinuation has been that it's politically motivated, as clear channel is a very pro-bush conservative company. I think the truth of the matter is a bit different: it's not politically motivated, it's cut-and-dried ageism. Bruce is 58, Fogerty I think is 62, cc doesn't think that anyone wants to hear their new music. I think it's just more of a dumb/timid-radio mentality thing than an evil republican thing.

Anyway, last night I got to see opening night of Fogerty's tour at NY's Hammerstein Ballroom. Pretty amazing. It started off a bit weird. Doors were supposed to be at 7:30, they didn't let people in until almost 9, even though you could hear John and the band rocking from outside. Apparently it was a last rehearsal/show for friends and family. That was weird. Then, before he went on, they played a bunch of Fogerty songs on the PA. You don't usually hear that. Then, John entered the stage via a hydraulic lift from below, on a background that created the effect of his album cover: John's silouette against an orange sky. He doesn't usually do that kind of production thing. The beginning of the show was a bit rough for me: the floor of the Hammerstein Ballroom is awful if you're not tall, and they totally oversold tickets. If you're on the floor, you really can't see, and if you move back by the bar, the ceiling is lower, so it messes up the sound. it was a few songs before my friend and I found a spot where we could see and hear.

Anyway, it was a great show. John's band, anchored by the awesome drummer Kenny Aaronoff, did the material proud - and then some. John sounded amazing, and played some songs that I'd never seen him do, including "Bootleg" and one of my favorites, "Ramble Tamble." I was surprised that, before "Creedence Song," he talked a bit about the band - he famously hates his former bandmates, and couldn't even make peace with his brother Tom (CCR's other guitarist) on his deathbed. But last night, he discussed how, these days, he only thinks about the good times. That's a big change for him. He is such a talented musician, and seems to be a great guy (I've had really cool experiences interviewing him), it's good to see him leave his anger in the past. Maybe he's also realized that bush is worse than all the ex-bandmates in the world combined. I'm glad he's moved on to a positive space in his life. Anyway, I highly recommend the album, and if you're a fan, you should definitely see this tour.

Funny moment from the show: watching Paul Schaeffer (in a private balcony box) playing air guitar to one of the songs).

ROBERT PLANT: THE NEXT CHAPTER

I really love Robert Plant's new album with Alison Krauss, Raising Sand. More importantly, he loves it. How much? Enough to turn down multi-million dollar offers to do stadiums with Led Zeppelin. Now some may think the guy's on crack, and others may resent him for not doing what they want him to do, or just for going in a direction that they don't "get." But do you really want to see a sixty-something year old guy act like he's in his twenties - particularly if that's not where he wants to be?

I thought it was pretty cool when I heard that Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones were going to do a gig as "Led Zeppelin" with Jason Bonham on drums. (I wrote about it here.) They seem to be doing it for the right reasons: paying tribute to Ahmet Ertegun, the guy who signed them to Atlantic Records, and to raise funds for The Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund. (Mr .Ertegun's widow, Mica, said this about the Fund: "Ahmet attributed his success to his excellent education, and his ability to recognize innovative artists that touched us all. It was his wish to endow music scholarships that would enable gifted children to reach their highest creative potential. The Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund was founded with that goal.")

Apparently, they originally had been approached about just doing five or six songs, but Plant/Page/Jones decided to do a full on concert. It's a lot of work for those guys to put together an entire set, and then just do it once. Add to that the MILLIONS they are no doubt being offered to tour, and you've really got to give them credit for turning it down. I imagine that credit should go to Robert Plant. As he's said in interviews, he wants to do this show for Ahmet, and also because two of the band's reunion performances (at Live Aid and at Atlantic Records' 40th Anniversary) were god-awful. (The other two - one at Jason Bonham's wedding, and the other at their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - were better, but weren't as high profile.)

I'm sure John Paul Jones, dissed when Page and Plant reunited in the '90s, could easily be talked into a tour. Page would probably do it in a second. But Plant follows his muse, and it doesn't lead backwards (although he does nod to the past, and there's nothing wrong with that).

I'm a fan of his solo albums - I listened to The Principal Of Moments and Pictures At Eleven all the time in high school, and Now And Zen was a big album for my freshman year in college. I thought his album of covers, Dreamland, didn't get the attention it deserved, nor did his last record, The Mighty Rearranger. I always did sense that he sort of needed a collaborator of some kind - I think it was his guitarist Robbie Blunt on his first few solo records, more recently, it's been the guys from his band Strange Sensation. On Raising Sand, it's both Alison Krauss and producer T-Bone Burnett, who famously produced the excellent O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack, and has also worked with Elvis Costello and the great jazz singer Cassandra Wilson, among others.

Raising Sand is pretty egoless, considering the magnitude of the stars involved: some songs Plant stays in the background, or you can't hear him at all. On others Alison Krauss - who is 36 but has 20 Grammys to her name - plays backup. It's like a band where everyone is comfortable with each other, to the point where they only worry about the song, not thier personal "stamp" on the song.

With all due respect to the almighty Led Zeppelin, I'm happy to watch them on the Led Zeppelin DVD, and on The Song Remains The Same when it's re-released in a few weeks. But I can't wait to see Robert and Alison if they tour. And, with all due respect to Robert Plant: yes, I hope you'll play some Zeppelin songs... albeit ones that make sense in this context. But if it will make you feel better, I'll yell out a request for Alison to sing "Whiskey Lullaby."*

P.S. on another Plant note, give the man props for two lesser-hyped collaborations he's been a part of this year. He does a moving cover of Fats Domino's "Valley Of Tears" with The Soweto Gospel Choir for Goin' Home, the Fats tribute album that raises funds for Katrina victims that I wrote about. It's just Robert, a percussionist and the other singers. On the same album, Robert and The Lil' Band O' Gold (featuring a obscure Cajun guitarist-singer-songwriter named C.C. Adcock who released an awesome self-titled album in 1994 that I gotta write about someday) did "It Keeps Rainin'." It seems like the guy is doing exactly what he wants to these days. Which is exactly what he should be doing.

* "Whiskey Lullaby" was a mainstream country hit that Alison had, it was a duet with Brad Paisley.

BLACK SABBATH VS. HEAVEN & HELL?

A few weeks ago, Ozzy Osbourne did a press conference promoting his upcoming tour, and he mentioned that he would - as far as he knew - be headlining Ozzfest in the summer of 2008; this past summer, he played on just a few of the gigs. He also mentioned wanting to (maybe) finally do a reunion album with Black Sabbath.

I know that the Sabs - Ozzy, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward - have toyed with working together again in the studio. The results have been OK: two studio tracks on the live Reunion album, plus a pretty cool -but quiet - song called "Scary Dreams" that they were playing live for a while. A song called "Who's Fooling Who," on Tony's solo debut featured Ozzy and Bill, and Ozzy and Tony did a collaborative track with The Wu-Tang Clan that was, well, OK.

The reality is, it's hard for a band to come together after decades apart, and come up with material that approaches thier earlier stuff. I don't think that The Stooges achieved it with thier reunion album (although The New York Dolls' reunion album was quite good). It's just really hard to imagine them coming close to their early material. But since they seem to be getting along well ever since they reunited 10(!) years ago, they've toured a lot.

I saw their first reunion tour, which was really a 75% reunion. It was Ozzy, Tony and Geezer with Ozzy's drummer, Mike Bordin (formerly of Faith No More) at the first Ozzfest tour in 1997. It was one of those reunions that no one thought would happen: it almost happened in 1992, after the band played at Ozzy's two "final" gigs, but then plans totally fell apart. But, in 1997, they pulled together for Ozzfest - and it was awesome. I was at the Giants Stadium show, I couldn't believe how great it was. Ozzy actually did a solo set followed by the Sabbath set. I met him backstage after the gig, and he looked pretty "knackered" as the Brits say, but, man, the Sabbath set was incredible. And Mike Bordin did an incredible job.

Two years later, Sabbath did Ozzfest again, this time with Bill, and on this tour, Ozzy didn't do solo sets, so it was a pretty powerful performance. Of course, they've done Ozzfest a few times since then.

But earlier this year, Tony and Geezer reunited with Ronnie James Dio (who replaced Ozzy in Sabbath) and Vinny Appice (who replaced Bill), and called themselves Heaven & Hell. I've always thought that it was pretty remarkable that Sabbath, back in the day, were able to evolve and survive the departure of a frontman like Ozzy, and a lot of that should be credited to Dio. Personally, I'm not nearly a huge fan of any of the post-Ozzy Sabbath lineups, but the Dio one was impressive. I always thought that it was kind of a different band, especially as Dio took over as the lyricist as well (Geezer wrote most of the lyrics during the Ozzy era). But I was happy for Tony and Geezer when the Heaven & Hell thing happened: it gives them something to do when Ozzy is out doing his solo thing, and gives them a chance to play some of the music from their past that they don't get to do with Ozzy.

But now, Geezer and Tony are saying that they're going to do a studio album with Heaven & Hell. Good for them, I guess. I kind of wanted to see the original Sabbath one more time: it's hard to imagine it happening again if they do a new Heaven & Hell album, and then promote it with another tour. Ozzy, Tony and Bill will all be 60 next year; Geezer is a year younger. Are they going to do a Black Sabbath tour at age 63?

If the original Black Sabbath never ride again, maybe it's OK. I spoke to Geezer about this a while ago: he said, after doing a few reunion tours, he was happy if that was it (and they've toured a few times since that conversation). He felt that it was important that all four guys were friends again, and they got to tour together again, after all those years apart.

I guess that there's a chance that Sabbath's final appearance may well end up being their (overly late) induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They decided not to perform, just to show up. Of course, Metallica performed for them, which I thought was fitting. If that's the last page in the Sabbath book, it's a good ending for four guys who traveled, as they put it, "A Hard Road." I'm glad they lived to enjoy the spoils of thier work, and to see how many millions of people they influenced, and how many lives they affected.

A CLASSIC ALBUM

I remember when U2's The Joshua Tree came out. I was a senior in high school, and there was a real sense that this was a special album. U2 had been an "alternative" or "new wave" band, but on thier Unforgettable Fire album tour, all of the sudden they were headlining multiple nights at arenas, and singing huge anthems about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. They met the mainstream in a big way, but strictly on their terms. I don't know if people felt that they were the "last great rock band" (not a description that I agree with, but I've heard it), but you certainly had the sense that this band was only going to get bigger, and that they were here for good. There weren't many new-ish bands making the jump to arenas that point, it just seemed like a big moment in the career of an awesome band. I seem to remember my hometown newspaper doing a two page record review of the album; I'd never seen that kind of fanfare for an album before.

That said, when I heard the first single - "With Or Without You," I wasn't really digging it. But I think I can now chalk that up to my age: I was bummed with the fact that they were coming up with a ballad, it wasn't even uplifting like "Pride (In The Name Of Love)," which was the first song from Unforgettable Fire that I'd heard. At any rate, I soon heard "Bullet The Blue Sky," which was as Hendrixian as The Edge ever got, and so I was happy to get the album the day it came out.

I have never really tired of the album, and it only sounds better and better with each passing year. "Where The Streets Have No Name" is so uplifting. I've heard Edge say that even if the energy at a U2 concert is lagging a bit, that song brings the whole place to their feet. "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" is another one that I didn't love at the time - now I love that one too.

I really love the lesser-known songs on the album: "Trip Through Your Wires" (which they did on their most recent tour, which was one of the highlights of the show), "Red Hill Mining Town," "One Tree Hill," and especially "Exit," which I think is maybe the most underrated song in the U2 catalog (and I feel that there's a lot of competition for that title). It is SUPER intense. But, unfortunately, on CD it begins with the gospel-ish ending of "One Tree Hill," then a few seconds of silence, before the song begins.

So, I hear that U2 is reissuing the album - surprising news, as U2 seems to kind of shun too much looking back, and they've released three compilations in the past few years. But I'm glad they're doing it, if only to fix "Exit." I have most of U2's b-sides from the era, but on Amazon's tracklisting, there are a few things that I don't recognize: something to look forward to. It looks like it will have two versions of "Silver And Gold" - the band's b-side version, and the version that Bono recorded with Keith Richards and Ron Wood for the Sun City compilation.

Sometimes I feel a bit weird about extended reissues of certain albums and films. I'd argue that The Joshua Tree is absolutely perfect the way it came out, it really was a perfectly realized vision. But, the fact that the extra stuff is on a seperate disc makes it OK for me. I know I'll be picking that one up.

LIVE EARTH!

I'm glad that they're going to be releasing a DVD and CD of Live Earth. I thought it was a cool event, it was really well thought out by Al Gore and his team, and, oh yeah, global warming is a real concern, as much as flat-earthers want to deny it.

Of course, there are lots of people who have a problem with rock stars talking about politics. To which I'd point out that the enviornment is not a "political" issue, it's a moral one. And what are you supposed to sing about, if not your enviornment. Do these guys ever complain about The Nuge's political commentary? And does it bug them when country stars play affairs for Bush?

I recently read an interview with Dave Grohl, whose Foo Fighters were one of the highlights of Live Earth. His take on it was basically, his daughter is the most important thing in the world to him, and he's concerned about the world she's going to live in. And he said, "Anybody that has a problem with me playing an event like Live Earth has a problem with me doing something for my daughter... My greatest concern is what happens in the future for my family, and anybody who has a problem with that can fucking say it to my face." The Foo Fighters have worked with Future Forests for a few years anyway.

I thought most of the concert was kind of unremarkable, though: it was like a bunch of samplers for other summer tours. One exception was Alicia Keys joining Keith Urban for "Gimme Shelter." I thought that that was an incredible moment, and I wished there were more moment like that. I'm a big fan of Alicia's - she is one of the few big pop artists today that I think will be around for decades to come. I'm glad that "Gimme Shelter" will be on the DVD, but it's a bummer that it won't be on the CD. Which means people are just going to go to filesharing sites to get it on thier iPods or whatever.

HELP!

I've never seen The Beatles' movie Help!, so I'm looking forward to the release of the film on DVD.

Of course, the soundtrack, like nearly all of The Beatles' catalog, is classic - it has great songs like "I've Just Seen A Face," "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away," "The Night Before" and the title track.

But, like a lot of Beatles fans, I was too young to experience them when they were around (they broke up the year I was born). I never get tired of watching footage of them: I have A Hard Day's Night on DVD, as well as The Beatles Anthology. There's just something really cool about seeing them back then: it's like watching Jimi Hendrix - a guy, or group of guys, who you will never actually get to see in real life, but you've seen so many pictures, and of course heard the music... but to see them is just a different thing. It's seems so far removed from today's world, that it almost seems like a cartoon.