Burning Wood: If It's Tuesday, It Must Be Street Date: 9/14/10

Two records by two legends are released today, and both feel like strong contenders for my year end Top Ten list.

Mavis Staples' "You Are Not Alone" has not come off of the turntable since I received a beautiful vinyl copy last week. Produced by Jeff Tweedy and featuring members of Wilco, this record couldn't be a more perfect match of artist and producer.

There are some Tweedy originals, traditional gospel songs, and some inspired covers of Randy Newman, Little Milton, Allen Toussaint, John Fogerty and the Rev. Gary Davis. And while I loved Staples' last release, 2007's Ry Cooder produced "We'll Never Turn Back," there were no real surprises there. It was a solid gospel effort, with all involved delivering big time. What more could you ask for?

It's here though, where Jeff Tweedy opens up a few more doors for Mavis. CCR's "Wrote A Song For Everyone" almost rocks, the Reverend's "I Belong To The Band," has turned into a Northern Soul rave up, and Tweedy's mesmerizing title cut will bring you to your knees.

Robert Plant's new effort is yet another display of reinvention, and dare I say it, may even be better than his Grammy winning collaboration with Alison Krauss.

The model for the Buddy Miller produced "Band Of Joy" is similar to "Raising Sand," with Plant choosing some fairly obscure covers and turning them into an almost, cosmic country collection. But like Jeff Tweedy did with Mavis Staples, Buddy Miller expands a little bit more than T-Bone Burnett did on 2007's "Raising Sand." The addition of Patty Griffin, Bekka Bramlett and Darrell Scott on backing vocals, adds some brightness to this record, that at times seemed too obviously missing from the T-Bone production.

Plant's voice is aging wonderfully, and his continued efforts to abandon the Zep sound should not discourage the old fans from checking this record out.

MAVIS STAPLES- YOU ARE NOT ALONE

BUY IT--->http://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Alone-Mavis-Staples/dp/B003RDPYCG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1284462625&sr=8-1

3 comments:

Noam Sane said...: The new Justin Townes Earle is out? Awesome!

But seriously. Nice to see Mavis getting the kind of support she deserves; one of a kind.

She did a version of "Gotta Serve Somebody" on a Dylan tribute album several years back that I think is my favorite record of all time. Well worth digging out on ITunes, it's there somewhere.

I guess it's not out yet, but I hear Eric Clapton's gonna release a new album! Oh yeah - the title:
(are you ready?) "Clapton".

It will feature a song called: "Rocking Chair".

How can it miss?

Thanks Sal, enjoyed chapter 7 yesterday very much.; September 14, 2010 at 9:42 AM
Big Jim Slade said...: GRINDERMAN!!!
I love how one critic described their first release, something about middle-aged men aging badly. I took it as a compliment to them. When they kick it out you can just see Nick Cave kicking over garbage cans, then proclaiming from his pulpit whatever story comes to him, just because he can.

I look forward to this new one.; September 15, 2010 at 2:48 PM
Anything Should Happen said...: Before I head to see what I can imagine is the carnage of How Dare You's on the Clapton thread......

Can I just say that Robert Plant's album gobsmacked me with it's pure listenability if that's a word, it's great.

Weezer and I'm a big fanboy, is really disappointing, as they have been for some time.

I keep buying and keep hoping, which leads me to the Clapton post which I browsed quickly and your gist was similar to my Weezer point, but I'm sure that'll get lost in how relevant Clapton is to every kid who has ever picked up a guitar.

I'm off there now.; September 16, 2010 at 5:39 PM

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

If It's Tuesday, It Must Be Street Date: 9/14/10

3 comments:

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