Greatest Hits – Songs From The South Volumes 1 & 2
Paul Kelly
Paul Kelly is a national treasure. He’s an Australian Bob Dylan but can actually sing and he has a back catalogue, seen in this context (two almost 80 minute long discs) that shows amazing depth as a songwriter.

As points of reference, not many folkies have a snarling beast of a song (Nothing On My Mind) or tracks with as much humour as Every Fucking City in their song-writing dossier. And while this generous set visits the obvious reference points like From Little Things Big Things Grow, Before Too Long, Dumb Things and To Her Door, it also takes the time to focus on some lesser-known classics.   

Every Kelly fan has their personal favorites. Mine include Sweet Guy and Careless or basically anything from So Much Water So Close To Home and from later albums Love Is The Law and Won’t You Come Around are just a few of the faves. No one collection can accommodate everyone’s wishes but when heard in its entirety, this set does a remarkable job of coming close.

Like all worthwhile compilations, this set impresses initially with its depth and variety but also makes you want to dig back into your well-worn set of early works and then travel again through the entire catalogue.
Rob Hudson
www.paulkelly.com.au



Blackbird: The Music Of Lennon & McCartney
Katie Noonan
How can you miss when you mix a charismatic singer with a beautiful voice, some of modern jazz music’s heaviest hitters and one of the best back catalogues of song in rock music history? But be warned if you are looking for carbon copies of the fab fours tunes, you should look elsewhere as this is more jazz reinvention than slavish reproduction.

A number of the songs clock in at near twice their original length and that extra time does not go to waste. When you have a band at your disposal this good, it would be criminal to have them just read standard charts. Like most good jazz versions of popular songs, the song’s original melody form the guideline and the band’s improvisational expertise flushes it out.

Guitarist John Scofield and saxophonist Joe Lovano trade off each other with taste and economy. They never resort to mindless riffing and Katie Noonan’s vocals are a marvel of elegance and charm. She consistently shows a love and understanding of the material while never resorting to needless vocal gymnastics.

The tracks covered come from all stages of the Beatles’ recording career and once again reaffirm their genus at writing such timeless material. Hearing songs so well known reinterpreted through a jazz sensibility give them a surprising resurgence quality.

The end results of a project like Blackbird show that all involved came to the work with an affection and respect for the material. This was a passion play and not a financial excursion.
Rob Hudson
www.katienoonan.com



Somewhere Back In Time
The Best of 1980~1989
Iron Maiden
Unlike the torture device the band was named after, this music spikes you in the head with a most pleasing pain. Must be something about rainy weather keeping you inside and working on your musical chops because the British arguably do metal (a genre that relies on instrumental prowess) better than any other country in the world.

This compellation focuses on the band’s ascendant period in the eighties when they finally settled on lead vocalist Bruce Dickinson after a succession of other lead singers. They also became synonymous with the term ‘New Wave of British Heavy Metal’ but unlike a lot of the bands from that time that have long since disappeared, Iron Maiden thunder on to this day.

There is a heavy irony (pun intended) in a music form that is so popular with macho guys that features men in tights singing about dragons, devils, pixies and castles. Iron Maiden however, leaves most of those other pretenders for dead by being louder, crazier (what other band has as cool an icon as Eddie?) and having tongue more firmly in cheek. Not many bands could pull a straight face while singing lyrics from tracks like The Number Of The Beast. It’s this sense of absurd humour you need to really enjoy metal.

If you’ve never been a particular fan of metal, Somewhere Back In Time is a good place to start because if the charms of these UK lads don’t get under your skin, you just weren’t destined to ever be a metal head.
Rob Hudson
www.ironmaiden.com



Dig Out Your Soul
Oasis
First, let’s get past all the easy comparisons. Yes, this is the best album the band has done since those mammoth first two works, unfortunately that’s not saying all that much as their work since then has been infuriatingly inconsistent, especially for a group so vocal about their accomplishments. Taken as a stand-alone baggage free rock record, it’s a nice step forward.

On Dig Out Your Soul, all the parts seem to click into place, the electric guitars chug with just the right amount of grit and the harmonies are fluid and pleasing to the ear. The album’s pacing also never drags. They seem to have wasted little time in the studio and the level of production on the songs is restrained and purposeful. There is an encouraging lack of studio gloss.

The album plays with a welcome exuberance that seems to come from a place of solid song writing credentials and not from empty posturing. It’s like they needed to get into the studio to bring some great songs to life and not just to answer contractual obligations.

Weather this is a group setting aside false bravado and knuckling down or just a band rediscovering their inner rocker, it matters little when the end results is a collection of songs this strong.
Rob Hudson
www.oasisinet.com



That Lucky Old Sun
Brian Wilson
That Lucky Old Sun (the album, not the 1949 song) is a mostly pleasing work that showcases an artist that still has a golden touch with vocal arrangements and harmonies. It’s a testament to those arranging skills that help these songs transcend their limitations.

If it seems strange to hear a sixties something man who hasn’t been in the real surf in over forty years sing about surfer girls and the blue pacific, any qualms you may have are quickly forgotten when those heavenly harmonies kick in.

It’s a good thing too that the music is so lush sonically because reading the song lyrics reveal quite a few short comings. As an exercise in nostalgia and a remembrance of a time when long and labor free days were spent in the sun and on the water, it hits the mark.

Its uneven nature is added to by the conversational interludes between songs provided by Wilson’s long time writing partner (and one whose increased lyrical assistance would have helped) Van Dyke Parks. But all that is splitting hairs as the album does provide a carpet of beautiful voices layered with great skill and able to transport the listener into a simpler and better time. Just don’t rely on the lyrics to help sustain the moment.
Rob Hudson  
www.brianwilson.com



Do 5
Mahogany Frog
There is something pure about music made with little or no concern for commercial considerations. Done well, it can take the musician and hopefully, audience on a flight of fancy unavailable to those that follow the constraints of commerciality. Nowhere is this theory more exemplified than in the world of prog-rock.   

Prog-rock or progressive rock came out of a period of time when the acceptance of unusual music was at its height. In the late sixties-early seventies, true music fan’s collections were on average very diverse with albums by Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Santana grouped right alongside works by Mile Davis, The Temptations, Simon & Garfunkel and Johnny Cash.

This fertile time also gave birth to bands that played music with more complexity and instrumental dexterity than average commercial units. Bands like King Crimson, Yes and Gentle Giant were breaking ground with albums that presented a music that challenged audience members to enjoy or even keep up with what was going on.

In today’s commercial times, any band that plays anything out of the norm can rely on limited sales and exposure. So a band playing prog-rock today can only be doing it for the sheer exhilaration of producing music that challenges player and fan alike. Mahogany Frog is just such a band.

Coming out of the frozen tundra of Winnipeg, Canada, this is a band that has spent a large portion of their time fighting off the cold sequestered in a warm studio or practice room getting very familiar with their musical instruments and each other.

The music of Do 5 is a blast of musical intensity that is equal parts early synth sounds and modern day guitar pyrotechnics. There are wild sweeps of dynamics and sound levels and nowhere is there a drop into commercial predictability. If it’s been awhile since you’ve heard music that surprises, this is a raw and undiluted source.

In a perfect world, all this effort and expertise would be rewarded and the members of Mahogany Frog would be driving around in limos and flying to gigs in private jets but in reality they are probably right now in a Tarago packed to the brim with travel cases and on the road to another gig. And when they get there they will deliver a set that scorches ears and fingers tips. So please help them out of this meager existence by buying their latest record, they make great stocking stuffers and will please your neighbours to no end. Available in Australia by Planet Distribution.
Rob Hudson
myspace site



The Bright Lights Of America
Anti-Flag
This Pittsburg, Pa. punk band have created in The Bright Lights Of America, a great right of passage album. It’s one of those works that reduces complex political and social dilemmas into simple three chord rock songs with transparent lyrics and heavy usage of the f word. In short, it’s a glorious raised middle finger for the kids to get behind and an album that will help many get beyond the merely consumable.

It’s topics range from the plight of broken home youth (The Bright Lights Of America) to youth incarceration (Modern Rome Burning) to self loathing brought on by abusive parents (Vices). There is even a hidden 13th track that features an acoustic ditty that takes a swipe at Christianity. 

All these heavy topics are delivered with a punk’s sense of fury but this is a modern day version, so the production is pretty spit and polish. It does have an undeniable energy however, that is only enhanced by the seriousness of the subject matter.

There are albums that come along from time to time to help advance young listeners sense of musical adventurism and social responsibility. This latest work by Anti-Flag could become quite the signpost to the right listener and hopefully lead them on to the real heavies in that canon.
Rob Hudson 
www.anti-flag.com



Blue Note Trip: Maestro
This is edition number seven of the Blue Note Trip compilation series. It’s a testament to the outstanding consistency of the Blue Note back catalogue, that this far along the line, they are still able to make double disc sets of songs that are still relevant to modern day ears.

There is something so cinematic in scope about listening to this type of jazz, that almost every track instills in the listener a kind of cool visual mental image of suburban sophistication. The sharp creased lines of a pressed zoot suit, the shimmering glow of fine female fabrics or the clink of long stemmed martini glasses raised in toast, these songs bring to mind a time of social endeavor sadly missing in the present. A present when people wearing tongs and tee shirts to public functions is acceptable.

This kind of vibe isn’t a dusty rehash of past glories as much as it’s a wish for future cool. A future where people dress to impress and funky groove based sonic explorations are what fuel party soundtracks and intimate gatherings and not the bland and faceless sounds that backdrop so many public functions.

This time out, the songs are compiled by jazz aficionado and Dutch DJ, Maestro and in his world; groove is the foundation that all good times are built on. He pulls out tracks by Horace Silver, Stanley Turrentine, Donald Byrd, Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers, Duke Peason among others from the Blue Note vault and succeeds in crating a seamless selection of works that would fit any fine social gathering, even if it’s just a party of one.
Rob Hudson
www.bluenotetrip.nl

Two Men With The Blues
Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis
Being a jazz fan in the modern day isn’t easy. Jazz music’s golden age is long past (hard to believe now that it was the populist music of its time) and present day practitioners have to fly way under the commercial radar, so far under that it’s probably the hardest form of music to make a living playing. It’s become an almost underground pursuit, that and you have to put up with Wynton Marsalis.

Is there anyone in jazz that so successfully turns something that is a rich emotional experience and turns it into a dry intellectual endeavor? His pontificating about how important an art form jazz is has turned more people off jazz than the music of Kenny G. So when I head about the pairing of Marsalis and Willie Nelson, I was more than intrigued.

Would Willie smoke out Wynton and get him so under the influence that he forgets all his overblown intellectualism and relearns how to just groove? Would the country wheeze sufficiently offset the clinical note progression to produce a pleasant response?

I’m happy to report that Nelson’s influence is strong enough to make their meeting a successful one. This live setting has an earthy flow and a surprisingly equal exchange of ideas. If jazz will ever be able to reclaim that time of popular acceptance, a time when jukeboxes were actually filled with jazz tunes, it will take a combination of the cerebral and the emotional like the tracks that make up Two Men With The Blues.
Rob Hudson
www.willienelson.com
www.wyntonmarsalis.org



Seeing Things
Jakob Dylan
As many doors as the last name Dylan may have opened, it must have also raised expectations to an extraordinarily high level. If this was of any concern to Jakob (son of Bob), it hasn’t shown. His new solo album, Seeing Things is an assured success, and one that has little to do with Dad.

Stepping away from The Wallflowers and releasing his first work under his own name, things are less pop and more personal. The pace is relaxed and inviting, while the timbre and warm appeal of Jakob’s voice puts these tracks on a path completely their own.

The wordplay, while being articulate, stays away from the grand statement. If there are politics involved at all, they are of a personal nature and the acoustic approach of the song’s production reinforces this laid back appeal.

Producer Rick Rubin continues with his ability to work with just about anyone, genres be damned, and helps Jakob to realize a voice that is inclusive and accessible. By being unafraid to be called a singer/songwriter, Jakob has produced his strongest work yet.
Rob Hudson
www.jakobdylan.com



Conor Oberst
On this self-titled album, Conor Oberst takes a break from Bright Eyes and his other projects to get his country on. The instrumentation is front porch friendly and this approach, with its minimal surround, places the lyrical content at the forefront.

Oberst uses this canvas to deliver words that are at turns clever, literate and engaging. His mates back him up with good taste and the occasional exuberance; see the rolling roadhouse piano of Nate Walcott on I Don’t Want To Die (In The Hospital) or the energetic electric guitar of Nik Freitas on Souled Out!!!

And in a contrast to some of his back catalogue efforts, there is a lessening of seriousness and in its place is a looseness and freedom from structure that makes this work slightly inconsistent but more surprising.  

When an artist like Oberst, who has a quite prodigious output, puts only his name on the project, you know you are in for quite a special journey and in that way, this album delivers.
Rob Hudson
www.conoroberst.com



Rarities, B-Side, and Other Stuff
Sarah McLachlan
As the album title states, this is one of those packages that most artists do to fulfill contractual obligations, it says a lot about the kind of artist that Sarah McLachlan is that this work can transcend the term sell-out.

As a career retrospective, this collection of songs comes up way short but then it was never intended to be an overview but more a window into an artist’s wandering muse. There are numerous tracks here that would never fit within the confines of a structured album. Instead what you get is an eclectic view of a singer that has something to add to most musical circumstances.

Some of the choices are safe; McLachlan’s angelic voice was always going to work with a track as beautiful as Lennon and McCartney’s Blackbird. While some are more daring but less successful, like the eleven minute misfire, Silence. Elsewhere her duets rise and fall with your like or otherwise of her vocal partner, Time After Time with Cyndi Lauper works, Just Like Me with DMC doesn’t.

It’s a set of songs very much intended for established fans but listeners unfamiliar with her work will find food for thought as well.
Rob Hudson
www.sarahmclachlan.com



Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
Sigur Rós
The English translation of the title of the new Sigur Rós album is ‘With a buzz in our ears we play endlessly’ and in line with that title, this Icelandic band continues to produce head buzz inspiring music and has done so for over ten years now.

Their music exists in a world where melodies float in and out of aural consciousness and traditional pop music structures are given little value. It’s best to put on a set of headphones, turn it up and get lost in the unique experience.

Speaking of unique, the new album incorporates a number of features that the band is unfamiliar with. The have used an outside producer, Flood (Nine Inch Nails, U2, PJ Harvey), feature a track with an assertiveness largely absent in previous works (the onward march of Gobbledigook) and even sing a track in English (the album closer All Alright).

To say that this is an out right commercial effort is only true for those with an open mind to the musically adventurous and people in that category have already been into this band for some time. For those with little on no experience with the joys of listening to Sigur Rós, this is a great pace to start.
Rob Hudson
www.sigurros.com



Evil Urges
My Morning Jacket
American rock band My Morning Jacket has never comfortably fit into any one musical category. So Evil Urges, the follow up to the expansive double live album Okonokos, comes with an open-ended offer of what’s in store. Fans of the band trust the boys to remain consistently interesting, while the newbies will be given a bit more to digest.

From subtle to bombastic, this is a band that knows they can peel off in many directions and have followers stick around for the ride. This can lead in equal parts to accomplished endeavor or misplaced deeds. This time out the extremes are polished relatively smooth and the album has a decidedly accessible flow.

This is not to say that a few favorite destinations are not visited. The southern rock of I’m Amazed or the falsetto funk of Highly Suspicious point towards the familiar but with MMJ, it always sounds like more a sense of wandering muse than outright schizophrenia.  

Even with the variety on hand here and the continuity by virtue of no real stand out track, the album has a flow that makes it easy to like. Existing fans should be satisfied and new fans enamored.
Rob Hudson
www.mymorningjacket.com



Catch The Wind
Damien Leith
When it comes to covers albums, the two most important criteria are song selection and execution. On Catch The Wind, Damien Leith plays it safe on both counts with pretty good results. His choice of tracks to cover is as comforting as a warm blanket on a cold winter’s night and his performance of those tracks is workmanlike and consistent, although at times maybe a bit too predictable.

The song selection heavily favors those with memories of hanging out in coffee shops (the old ones located in dark basements, not the nouveau corporate crap of today) and ingesting more than just cups of Joe. Covering tracks by heavyweights such as Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens, Neil Young and Donovan would be a daunting task if the main idea was reinvention but this time out it’s not.

The songs are reproduced almost note for note but with the sharp edges worn down to a smoothness that the original writers probably didn’t have in mind. This makes for a jukebox type journey where execution is unobtrusive and familiarity is all, especially if you came of musical age during the sixties and seventies.

Having never watched any of the talent show television in Australia or America and taking this collection of songs on its own merits, it’s a pleasing 18 track excursion in the mind and record collection of a bit of a folk music freak but one who knows how to sing and play with respect to the originals.
Rob Hudson
www.damienleith.com.au



The Best Of
Radiohead
After an acrimonious departure from their longstanding record label EMI, it was inevitable that said record label would release a greatest hits package as a way of final word. I’m sure the boys in the band are not pleased; neither will they be particularly enamored with the almost condescending liner notes. This project has profit written all over it.

Radiohead always seemed to have a love-hate thing going with their songs being taken as singular entities and always made sure that the tracks on their albums flowed into each other with a real thought behind it, so how do these tracks sound isolated from their album brethren? Damn fine actually.

Taken as a complete piece of music, who ever selected the tracks and their running order did a good job. Slightly straying away from a chronological order has given the album a flow and direction that suits the material. It also keeps you at attention without side stepping into the aural experiments that the Oxfordshire lads always liked to throw in the mix.

There are no real surprises with song selection and all the tracks that got substantial radio play are included. Paranoid Android, High And Dry, My Iron Lung and even Creep (a track the band long thought as an albatross around the neck) are present and now after many years have passed since radio flogged them to death, they form a welcome return.

As a greatest hits package the album works both ways. It’s a good listen by itself and it makes you want to go back and reacquaint yourself with the source material. It’s a completely commercial outing and still quite entertaining, sorry guys.
Rob Hudson
www.radiohead.com

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