tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357001616333664522.post647030382769832295..comments2024-03-29T02:23:55.741-07:00Comments on Burning Wood: 2014 Reader Faves: Pt. 2Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357001616333664522.post-14237645833850776012014-12-08T16:29:48.729-08:002014-12-08T16:29:48.729-08:00Not since 1955 have I listened to less new music ...Not since 1955 have I listened to less new music than this year. This is my shortcoming -- I haven't listened to 90% of the albums that have been listed so far. Only two new CDs have stuck with me: one was the New Pornographers' album, which has been name-checked more than any other so far.<br /><br />The other might not be popular among your readers: Family Crest's "Beneath the Brine." I don't usually go for symphonic pop, but this album feels fresh to me, just as the Left Banke did almost 50 years ago. It's a little all over the map, but I'll take too much ambition over not enough any day. Thanks to Al Kooper's column, "New Music for Old People," for recommending this. <br /><br />Dave F.Davehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03743825684303825072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357001616333664522.post-12548203056548196972014-12-08T08:01:39.077-08:002014-12-08T08:01:39.077-08:00While the best of 2014 may not quite compare favor...While the best of 2014 may not quite compare favorably to the best of recent years, and while it's difficult to find releases that represent the artist's best work (Dr. John, Chrissie Hynde, Joan Osborne, Leonard Cohen, and Beck come to mind), there was still a lot of fine music, much of it well off the commercial boulevard. In no particular order:<br /><br />Rosanne Cash - The River and the Thread<br />Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives - Saturday Night/Sunday Morning<br />Nicole Atkins - Slow Phaser<br />Naomi Shelton - Cold World<br />St. Vincent - St. Vincent<br />Robert Plant - Lullaby and the Ceaseless Roar<br />Neneh Cherry - The Blank Project<br />Leyla McCalla - Vari-Colored Songs<br />Jorge Drexler - Bailar en la cueva (The Uruguayan Caetano Veloso)<br />Sean Rowe - Madman<br />The New Basement Tapes (maybe - haven't listened to it enough yet)<br /><br />Just missed: Chrissie Hynde, Sylvan Esso, Nick Waterhourse, TV on the Radio, Rodney Crowell, My Brightest Diamond, Glen David Anderson, Curtis Harding, and Templesm'bonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357001616333664522.post-67677931895690951212014-12-08T06:03:55.387-08:002014-12-08T06:03:55.387-08:00I've always had a problem with Lucinda William...I've always had a problem with Lucinda Williams' vocal phrasings. Not always -- since Car Wheels or so. She just seemed to take way too much pain and effort in how she came across vocally. I recall stories at the time of her re-doing vocals one line at a time to make sure she had each one "right."<br /><br />She's always been a little nuts. I kind of like her latest album, but of course, weird vocal phrasings don't age well ... she now sounds old and weird. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing in country music. I write a lot of this down to a negative cultural influence: the refusal to age gracefully. Dolly Parton's face, Emmylou Harris' indescribable hair color (blue/gray? I don't know). Used to be women could be their age in country music, but along with everything else in music, it's just grown weird. At least country male artists have been afforded the freedom to do this (although I suspect following generations will not have this luxury).William Repsherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16690181505790748431noreply@blogger.com