by Duane RodriguezTiming couldn’t be better. Hot off the heels of his Golden Globe win for Best Original Song for the Motion Picture The Wrestler, knocking out a set at this year’s Super Bowl and booking dates for an upcoming tour, here comes Working on a Dream (Columbia), Bruce Springsteen’s 24th released album.
Is it any good? Yeah, it really is. Here’s a warning though: If you’re expecting another Born to Run, Nebraska, Born in the USA or even a follow up to 2007’s Magic, you’re out of luck. Springsteen pretty much changes everything up each time out.
Initiated during the sessions for Magic and finished during his world tour (two Milwaukee stops), the 13 tracks here touch on a variety of musical genres. There’s ’60s pop, gritty guitar work, swamp like blues and even a slight return to his story-telling days on tracks like “Outlaw Pete.”
That’s what makes this album a good one – make that a great one. Springsteen is not handcuffed by age or his past, he’s as present and current as any artist today who can look past the bull and see society as it really is.
Standouts include “What Love Can Do,” “Working on a Dream,” “Life Itself,” “My Lucky Day” and my favorite track on the record “Good Eye” a footstompin’, harmonica-driven wonder with a growling distorted Springsteen vocal.
It’s the start of a new year, a new semester, a new President and a great album in Working on a Dream. Let’s see where 2009 takes us.
An excellent, though monotonous, compilation is Motown: The Complete #1s (Motown). It consists of 10 CDs that have 192 vintage Motown recordings that hit number one on either the R&B or pop charts. The set also includes 10 bonus tracks whose covers by other artists were #1s.
Much of it is great, great stuff. If you’re socially motivated, this is the music that changed white America’s pre-conceived idea of what African-American music was about. If your musically motivated, this is the music that changed everything.
While Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” or Stevie Wonder’s “Living for the City” are frozen snapshots of our society at that time, other silly stuff like “Last Time I Saw Him” by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie’s “Truly” have one wondering if these opposite ends of the spectrum were actually recorded in the same building?
That being said, this is an amazing testament to the style of writing, producing, arranging and recording of music that is unprecedented around the world and will never be matched. Motown founder Barry Gordy really created a hit machine and it seems that’s all they did was crank out hits.
Everything here is amazing, though not much is new. The Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” is still three minutes of joy, though the UK version of “Tears of a Clown” by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles is a US first.
Raphael Saadiq set the neo-soul bar pretty high with last year’s Grammy nominated, The Way I See It album. While Musiq Soulchild is not as retro in his approach to soul music as Saadiq, he definitely leans that way.
His fifth album Onmyradio (Atlantic) is just OK. An old saying that would really fit Soulchild well is “keep it simple, stupid.” When he straight out sings, he’s a wonder. When he tries to be too artistic, he stumbles.
I don’t understand why artists believe they can self-produce themselves. It’s like watching a local car dealer doing his own TV commercial. He feels that just because it’s his dealership he should be the guy on TV even though he has no on-air presence, which translates into he and his business looking silly.
Not everyone can do everything, that’s why guys like Stevie Wonder are considered geniuses and the Musiq Soulchilds in the world are not. Standouts include “Someone,” “If You Leave” and “Back Again.” The rest is useless.
Can’t argue about his background. Derek Trucks was considered a musical prodigy on the guitar at the age of 9. His uncle, Butch Trucks, is a founding member of The Allman Brothers band, and he brought his nephew into the band at an early age. He’s also played alongside the likes of Eric Clapton and Buddy Guy.
He formed The Derek Trucks Band at the age of 15 and has pretty much never looked back. His latest is Already Free (Columbia). On each of his six studio albums he’s grown, maybe not so much as a musician but more as a band leader, choosing the right material, selecting the right guest musicians, tight production.
His guitar work is special. He’s the perfect example of what separates the thousands of guitarists walking the streets unemployed and the ones that get it. His guitar is an extension of personality. He plays with emotion, humor and gusto.
Surrounded by great players all around him, Trucks has the ability to stretch and touch the boundaries that separate rock, R&B and southern blues with a jazz band’s attitude of experimentation and exploration.
Standouts include “Already Free,” “Back Where I Started” with guest vocalist Susan Tedeschi, the Bob Dylan classic “Down in the Flood” and “Maybe This Time.
Derek Trucks (Nathaniel Martin)
