AOVE: It felt like 2008 began when the Hinchliffs of Edmonds, Washington USA and Durham, UK celebrated their ancestry by frosting cows for the Xmas Cookie Party.
BELOW is my annual Best Rock & Pop list – more haphazard than usual! Please send your list, and have as much fun as you can in 2008 without hurting anyone.
ROCK SONG OF THE YEAR
* ‘Radio Nowhere’ by Bruce Springsteen. Turn it up. Take that - ClearChannel! Everyone likes ‘Girls in their Summer Clothes’, but boys need rockers.
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
* Magic by Bruce Springsteen. The more I listen, the more I hear.... some anger, too.
ROCK SONG OF THE YEAR
* ‘Radio Nowhere’ by Bruce Springsteen. Turn it up. Take that - ClearChannel! Everyone likes ‘Girls in their Summer Clothes’, but boys need rockers.
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
* Magic by Bruce Springsteen. The more I listen, the more I hear.... some anger, too.
SONG OF 2007
* Annie Lennox ‘It’s a Dark Road’ …and smiles galore before we sleep.
BIG BAND
* Michael Buble. This Canadian is no 2nd-rater. He can belt any kind of song like the Rat Pack – or Bobby Darin. I’d love to hear him cover Paul Anka’s cover of Kurt Cobain’s ‘Teen Spirit’.
LATIN
* Enrique Iglesias: ‘Tired of Being Sorry’. This caballero sure sings a lotta songs about crying.
DOWNLOADABLE MUSIC MOMENT
* www.dailymotion.com/video/xe5w0_ray-charles-jerry-lee-lewis
TURN YOUR SPEAKERS UP, STRAP YOUR SELF TO YOUR CHAIR AND BOOGIE….Brace yourself! Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis & Fats Domino - TOGETHER! Directed by Paul Schaeffer and a cameo by Rod Stewart. Carl Perkins (Blue Suede Shoes) is also here. Sit back and enjoy something we’ll never see again, 3 playing pianos on the same stage at the same time. Ron Wood (Small Faces, Rolling Stones) and others on guitar! Thanks to Chris 4 this!
SOUL
* Beverly Knight: ‘No Man’s Land’. She is Britain’s Aretha Franklin.
FOLK
* Amy MacDonald: ‘This is the Life’, even better than ‘Mr. Rock and Roll’ earlier in 2007. Strong songs that stick in your mind like old ones by Canadians Gale Garnett or Gordon Lightfoot.
HIP-HOP, R & B
* Craig David. ‘Hot Stuff’. Makes even me dance, and not just because it samples David Bowie’s (1983) ‘Let’s Dance’: www.djbooth.net/index/tracks/review/craig-david-hot-stuff/
* Runner-up: Justin Timberlake’s ‘Cry Me a River'.
* Runner-up: ‘Apologize’ by Timbaland? Sorry I'm so hazy on hip-hop.
* Runner-up: Rhianna: ‘I love you so’. Good song & she does some even better. Def Jam’s Jay Zee (‘American Gangster’) says breaking talent like her makes him feel like Clive Davis. And she was special on Dick Clark’s American Music Awards in November.
POP
* Mika: 'Relax, Take It Easy'. Freddie Mercury has a talented, light-hearted successor.
* Goldfrapp. She's magic in a rock frock!
* Goldfrapp. She's magic in a rock frock!
WOMEN WHO ROCK
* Kylie Minogue. ‘Too Hot’. Good to have her back. And front. She could sing the phone book and I’d buy it. Nice Liz II gave her an OBE. See: www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/288564
* Gwen Stefani's 'Been a Real Bad Girl'. Maybe an artist too. Great 2007 trajectory!
ROCK
* Kaiser Chiefs: ‘Love’s not a competition (but I’m winning)’. These guys have depth!
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
* Amy Winehouse ‘Valerie’. Amy covers the Zutons’ song like it was written about her. And I don't even like the song. See: www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=53657. Too bad Amy’s a real drama queen, a la Billie Holliday. Pray for her. Meanwhile, buy her first album, Frank. It's better than her newest Back to Black with 'No-no-no'.
ROCK: So many good bands out there!
* Arcade Fire, Athlete, James Blunt, Hoosiers, Kaiser Chiefs, Killers & esp. Snow Patrol.
SONG OF 2007* Annie Lennox ‘It’s a Dark Road’ …and smiles galore before we sleep.
POLITICAL SONG
* Rufus Wainwright ‘Going to a Town' (I’m so tired of America)’. His excellent album Release the Stars reminds the listener of his travelling dad Louden Wainwright III, and perhaps Herman Melville... and of course Walt Whitman. His 2007 album is worth buying too - like marzipan, you wonder when Wainwright’s voice will become cloying. But so far, this box of bittersweet treats bears repeating.
FUNK ROCK* Prince ‘Love My Guitar’ #1 funk rock. Is this guy talented? The guitar is an ensemble piece with a little red Corvette.
ROCK SINGLE
* Bruce Springsteen – ‘Radio Nowhere’ Best rock single.
* Kaiser Chiefs: ‘Love is not a Competition (but I’m winning)’. Special guitar and vocals on this song cross a fine line between the 1965 shouting of Dosey, Desey Mick & Tick to the wistful competence of the Zombies’ ‘Time of the Season’.
LOVE SONG
* Regina Spector ‘Samson’ – love ballad.
* Natasha Beddingfield – ‘Where’s My Soulmate?’ Embarrassingly listenable.* Katie Melua ‘Charlie Chaplin’. Was Katie born 9 million talkies too late?ANSWER SONGS* Regina Spector ‘Samson’ – love ballad. Runnerup* Plain White Tease – ‘Delilah’. Talented, penniless youth seeks to hold damsel.
COMEBACK
* Led Zeppelin were good in London with Jon Bonham's son Jason on drums.
* The Eagles How Long album. 95 minutes of proof Phil Spector doesn’t understand country rock. Wags say the good thing about the Eagles is that they haven’t changed in 28 years. The bad thing about the Eagles is that they haven’t changed in 28 years. One might buy this record for the Joe Walsh songs - he's still a guitar god writing beautiful songs.
* The Eagles How Long album. 95 minutes of proof Phil Spector doesn’t understand country rock. Wags say the good thing about the Eagles is that they haven’t changed in 28 years. The bad thing about the Eagles is that they haven’t changed in 28 years. One might buy this record for the Joe Walsh songs - he's still a guitar god writing beautiful songs.
* Runnerup: Paul McCartney ‘Party Tonight’. Paul could write songs in his sleep. Funny that Michael Jackson recently cut his credit on ‘Ebony & Ivory’.* Seal ‘Amazing’. Hello, my name is Seal and I’m a pop star.
VOCALIST FEMALE
* Joss Stone. Since she began recording songs she likes, she’s closer to the heights she’ll attain. Most of her songs are still wrong – tho' her cover of Janis' 'Piece of my Heart' is good.
VOCALIST MALE
* David Gray ‘Baby, You’re the World to Me’. He might never equal ‘White Ladder’, but his singing on just about all his songs is too good to overlook.
COUNTRY VOCALIST
* Richard Hawley, a session guitarist with Jarvis Cocker’s Pulp (‘Common People’, etc.). Richard’s got a big voice halfway between Roy Orbison and Scott Walker. Enjoy his cover of Rick Nelson’s ‘Lonesome Town’: www.richardhawley.co.uk/
* Runner-up: Teddy Thompson. Richard & Linda's son has the best country voice since Hank Williams. He was stunning with Lucinda Williams in Newcastle in 2006. Listen for him.* Runner-up: Cherry Ghost, with vocals that can be mistaken for Richard Hawley. In Blighty they call this pop, but it’s country to me.
COUNTRY DUET
* Robert Plant & Allison Krause ‘Killing the Blues’ from the album Raising Sand EPK, with T-Bone Burnett. Their harmonies on the Everly Brothers' "Gone, Gone, Gone" remind us that good music is always around us, if only we could perceive. ‘Im Gone’ also a chart-topper. 'Please Read the Letter that I Wrote' will tear your heart out. & gets the lead out of country music: http://www.rollingstone.com/videos/video/16314251/raising_sand_epkLook for Allison’s music with her band Union Station.
FUNK ROCK
* Prince ‘Love My Guitar’ #1 funk rock. Is this guy talented or what? The guitar seems to be an ensemble with a little red Corvette.
LOVE SONG
* Regina Spector ‘Samson’ – love ballad.
* Natasha Beddingfield – ‘Where’s My Soulmate?’ Embarrassingly listenable.
* Katie Melua ‘Charlie Chaplin’. Was Katie born 9 million talkies too late?
ANSWER SONGS
* Regina Spector ‘Samson’ – love ballad. Runnerup
* Plain White Tease – ‘Delilah’. Talented, penniless youth seeks to hold damsel.
COMEBACK
* Led Zeppelin were good in London with Jon Bonham's son Jason on drums. Stay tuned.
* The Eagles How Long album. 95 minutes of proof Phil Spector doesn’t understand country rock. Wags say the good thing about the Eagles is that they haven’t changed in 28 years. The bad thing about the Eagles is that they haven’t changed in 28 years. One might buy this record for the Joe Walsh songs - he's still a guitar god writing beautiful songs.
* Runnerup: Paul McCartney ‘Party Tonight’. Paul could write songs in his sleep. Funny that Michael Jackson recently cut his credit on ‘Ebony & Ivory’.
* Seal ‘Amazing’. Hello, my name is Seal and I’m a pop star.
VOCALIST FEMALE
* Joss Stone. Since she began recording songs she likes, she’s closer to the heights she’ll attain. But most of her songs are still dead wrong – a waste of talent.
VOCALIST MALE
* David Gray ‘Baby, You’re the World to Me’. He might never equal ‘White Ladder’, but his singing on just about all his songs is too good to overlook.
COUNTRY VOCALIST
* Richard Hawley, a session guitarist with Jarvis Cocker’s Pulp (‘Common People’, etc.). Richard’s got a big voice halfway between Roy Orbison and Scott Walker. Enjoy his cover of Rick Nelson’s ‘Lonesome Town’: www.richardhawley.co.uk/
* Runnerup: Paul McCartney ‘Party Tonight’. Paul could write songs in his sleep. Funny that Michael Jackson recently cut his credit on ‘Ebony & Ivory’.
* Seal ‘Amazing’. Hello, my name is Seal and I’m a pop star.
VOCALIST FEMALE
* Joss Stone. Since she began recording songs she likes, she’s closer to the heights she’ll attain. But most of her songs are still dead wrong – a waste of talent.
VOCALIST MALE
* David Gray ‘Baby, You’re the World to Me’. He might never equal ‘White Ladder’, but his singing on just about all his songs is too good to overlook.
COUNTRY VOCALIST
* Richard Hawley, a session guitarist with Jarvis Cocker’s Pulp (‘Common People’, etc.). Richard’s got a big voice halfway between Roy Orbison and Scott Walker. Enjoy his cover of Rick Nelson’s ‘Lonesome Town’: www.richardhawley.co.uk/
* Teddy Thompson. Richard & Linda's son has the best country voice since Hank Williams. He was stunning with Lucinda Williams in Newcastle in 2006. Listen for him.
* Runner-up: Cherry Ghost, with vocals that can be mistaken for Richard Hawley. In Blighty they call this pop, but it’s country to me.
COUNTRY DUET
* Robert Plant & Allison Krause ‘Killing the Blues’ from the album Raising Sand EPK, with T-Bone Burnett. Their harmonies on the Everly Brothers' "Gone, Gone, Gone" remind us that good music is always around us, if only we could perceive. ‘Im Gone’ also a chart-topper. 'Please Read the Letter that I Wrote' will tear your heart out. & gets the lead out of country music: http://www.rollingstone.com/videos/video/16314251/raising_sand_epk
Look for Allison’s music with her band Union Station.
HIP-HOP/ R&B/Pop
* Craig David. ‘Hot Stuff’. Could make even me dance, and not just because it samples David Bowie’s (1983) ‘Let’s Dance’: www.djbooth.net/index/tracks/review/craig-david-hot-stuff/
* Runner-up: Justin Timberlake’s ‘Cry Me a River'.
* Runner-up: ‘Apologize’ by Timbaland? Sorry I'm so hazy on hip-hop.
OBITUARIES
* RIP: Lee Hazlewood. Never forget ‘Some Velvet Morning’ (1967), or ‘Going to Jackson’ (1968) with Nancy Sinatra. Hit: http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/timeline.aspx?csid1=114
* RIP: Ike Turner. Some respect is due to the man who with Jackie Benstrom mighta fathered rock & roll in ‘Rocket 88’ in Sam Phillips’ Sun Studio in 1951. I saw the Ike & Tina Revue at least 3 times, maybe 5. The first was at the UW’s Hec-Edmundsen in autumn 1969, where skinny psychedelic white students always found the revue pace too fast, treating even ‘River Deep’ as another shouter. Was Ike glaring at me? Maybe he thought my daddy was in the lynch mob that killed his daddy. But he did lots of good stuff too. Since his death we've heard quotes from Ike on BBC Radio 2 – his voice was so good. He didn't deny being a bastard to Tina, but he did say he was unable to recover from their break-up which is why he ‘went on a 15 year party'. Eventually he returned to music and earned respect for what he'd done lately -as well as that Rocket 88 Oldsmobile: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbfnh1oVTk0
* RIP: Tony Wilson. Mastermind of Manchester’s electronica sound which nurtured bands like Joy Division/New Order. Listen to New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’ (1983). It’s a dark counterpoint to the eUrythmics’ 1984 period.
BEST SINGLES OF ALL TIME
* Tornados (1962) ‘Telstar’
Produced by Joe Meek, nemesis of Sputnik and landladies.
* K.D. Laing. 'Constant Craving'. Roy Orbison understands.
BEST ALBUM OF ALL TIME
Wrecking Ball (1995) by Emmylou Harris.
BEST DJ
* Bob Dylan on his Theme Time Radio Hour on BBC Radio 2 (via XFM satellites?)..
No one opens the great American songbook better than Uncle Bob. He's put me in touch with my Dad's Ur-country & rockabilly music, completing a circle.
BEST TV
* Californication. At last David Dukovny earns his money.
* 30 Rock. Yep.
* Grey's Anatomy. How can a sad woman look so good?
KUDOS
* The Ventures. The Sea-Tac band are slated for admission to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2008, with Madonna, John Mellencamp, Leonard Cohen and the Dave Clark Five. Guitar god Joe Walsh (James Gang, Eagles) said: ‘I don't really know if it's a solo or not, but I'd have to say that “Walk, Don't Run” (1960) by The Ventures changed an awful lot of guitar players' lives.’
* Runner-up: Cherry Ghost, with vocals that can be mistaken for Richard Hawley. In Blighty they call this pop, but it’s country to me.
COUNTRY DUET
* Robert Plant & Allison Krause ‘Killing the Blues’ from the album Raising Sand EPK, with T-Bone Burnett. Their harmonies on the Everly Brothers' "Gone, Gone, Gone" remind us that good music is always around us, if only we could perceive. ‘Im Gone’ also a chart-topper. 'Please Read the Letter that I Wrote' will tear your heart out. & gets the lead out of country music: http://www.rollingstone.com/videos/video/16314251/raising_sand_epk
Look for Allison’s music with her band Union Station.
HIP-HOP/ R&B/Pop
* Craig David. ‘Hot Stuff’. Could make even me dance, and not just because it samples David Bowie’s (1983) ‘Let’s Dance’: www.djbooth.net/index/tracks/review/craig-david-hot-stuff/
* Runner-up: Justin Timberlake’s ‘Cry Me a River'.
* Runner-up: ‘Apologize’ by Timbaland? Sorry I'm so hazy on hip-hop.
OBITUARIES
* RIP: Lee Hazlewood. Never forget ‘Some Velvet Morning’ (1967), or ‘Going to Jackson’ (1968) with Nancy Sinatra. Hit: http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/timeline.aspx?csid1=114
* RIP: Ike Turner. Some respect is due to the man who with Jackie Benstrom mighta fathered rock & roll in ‘Rocket 88’ in Sam Phillips’ Sun Studio in 1951. I saw the Ike & Tina Revue at least 3 times, maybe 5. The first was at the UW’s Hec-Edmundsen in autumn 1969, where skinny psychedelic white students always found the revue pace too fast, treating even ‘River Deep’ as another shouter. Was Ike glaring at me? Maybe he thought my daddy was in the lynch mob that killed his daddy. But he did lots of good stuff too. Since his death we've heard quotes from Ike on BBC Radio 2 – his voice was so good. He didn't deny being a bastard to Tina, but he did say he was unable to recover from their break-up which is why he ‘went on a 15 year party'. Eventually he returned to music and earned respect for what he'd done lately -as well as that Rocket 88 Oldsmobile: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbfnh1oVTk0
* RIP: Tony Wilson. Mastermind of Manchester’s electronica sound which nurtured bands like Joy Division/New Order. Listen to New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’ (1983). It’s a dark counterpoint to the eUrythmics’ 1984 period.
BEST SINGLES OF ALL TIME
* Tornados (1962) ‘Telstar’
Produced by Joe Meek, nemesis of Sputnik and landladies.
* K.D. Laing. 'Constant Craving'. Roy Orbison understands.
BEST ALBUM OF ALL TIME
Wrecking Ball (1995) by Emmylou Harris.
BEST DJ
* Bob Dylan on his Theme Time Radio Hour on BBC Radio 2 (via XFM satellites?)..
No one opens the great American songbook better than Uncle Bob. He's put me in touch with my Dad's Ur-country & rockabilly music, completing a circle.
BEST TV
* Californication. At last David Dukovny earns his money.
* 30 Rock. Yep.
* Grey's Anatomy. How can a sad woman look so good?
KUDOS
* The Ventures. The Sea-Tac band are slated for admission to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2008, with Madonna, John Mellencamp, Leonard Cohen and the Dave Clark Five. Guitar god Joe Walsh (James Gang, Eagles) said: ‘I don't really know if it's a solo or not, but I'd have to say that “Walk, Don't Run” (1960) by The Ventures changed an awful lot of guitar players' lives.’
BOOKS
* Tearing Down the Wall of Sound: The Rise and Fall of Phil Spector (2007) by Mick Brown. Knopf: 464 pages. ISBN 978-0-7475-7243-5. London: Bloomsbury.
Must artists suffer for art? No, but their friends do. This is necessary rock history from a good writer. Phil Spector? Yes, I idolise him too. But he’s a self-confessed neurotic who cheats his own kid at Monopoly - and probably murdered a B-movie actress of excellent character. Napoleon complex writ large!
Spector's first serious interview in decades was conducted by Brown in Dec. 2002 - in Phil’s Alhambra Castle. Months later the alleged murder occurred, and the interview became a poignant Telegraph Magazine piece - and this book rich in detail on Dick Clark, Ahmet Ertegun, Darlene Love, Ronnie Spector, Jack Nitszche and many others. Ever wonder why [Ike &] Tina Turner’s ‘River Deep – Mountain High’ wasn’t a #1 smash? Because so many people hated Spector. It must be said, Phil drinks too much.
* John Harris (2005) The Dark Side of the Moon: the making of the Pink Floyd masterpiece. London: Fouth Estate. In 186 pages he barely mentions pot, but it's good book indeed.
* David Buckley (2004) The Thrill of it All: The Story of Bryan Ferry & Roxy Music. ISBN 0-233-05113-9. Liverpool: Andre Deutschh. Group cover shot by Mick Rock. This good biog paints a mural from the Beatles to prog rock to glam to punk (enter Roxy) and post-punk. Buckley depicts Ferry is unsatisfied with his status as a sub-Bowie rock icon. I’d argue Ferry has a fine spot in the pantheon – to me Avalon was his apotheosis. Much of the book correctly examines the feud and repprochement of Ferry & Brian Eno (in 1972 a fine collaborator with Leon Russell, in 1992 the reinventor of U2 in Achtung Baby! and in 2007 Eno was named a cultural minister for the Irish government!).
To me, neither this book nor the super Ferry family’s pro-fox-hunting activities in the Countryside Alliance (or clothing adverts for Marx & Spencer) are the last word on Ferry & Roxy Music. But about Bryan Ferry one can surely say: not bad for a Geordie from Newcastle. If you listen to Ferry's 2004 solo CD Frantic, you might buy it. Check 'In Every Dream Home a Heartache' and his Dylan covers.
* Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman (2007) Long Way Down.
A great read! The movie-set refugees ride BMW dirtbikes from John O'Groats, Scotland, to Capetown, South Africa. We were at Riders Day of Champs 2007 (at the British MotoGP at Donington) when they did a satellite TV simal-cast from a Riders clinic in Kenya. Info: http://www.riders.org/
KUDOS TO:
* Red Robinson, still broadcasting Canada! See: www.redrobinson.com// Red, you're great!
* To Martha's Hinchliff cousins for their visit and great chat about music (breakfast pic above).
Happy 200! - Bruce
Happy 200! - Bruce
