Top Songs / 2010

Excellent year for music.  This is the 1st year in a long time I had to leave songs off my year-end disc, so any year I can find more than 35 songs I really enjoy I consider a good one (music-wise anyway).  In no particular order:

• Bodega - Eric Lindell
• You Can Dance - Bryan Ferry
• Heart of Steel - Galactic (feat. Irma Thomas)
• Moneygrabber - Fitz & The Tantrums
• Coma and Get It - Eli "Paperboy" Reed
• The Trip To Pirates Cove - Tome Petty & The Heartbreakers 
• Susanah - 30db
• Beggarman - Smoove & Turrell
• Rock Dust Light Star - Jamiroquai
• Slow - Rumer
• The Sweetest Thing - JJ Grey & Mofro
• I Learned The Hard Way - Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
• Love Lives - Black Dub
• How To Become Clairvoyant - Robbie Robertson
• Soldier of Love - Sade
• All My Bridges Burning - Los Lobos
• Cold Boy Smile - The Black Crowes
• Shaky - The Duke & The King
• As We Enter - Nas, Damian Marley
• Beautiful Place - Sean Carey
• Blood Like Lemonade - Morcheeba
• I Need A Dollar - Aloe Blacc
• Stylo - Gorillaz
• The Sound of Sunshine - Michael Franti & Spearhead
• The High Road - Broken Bells
• Cotton Was King - Widespread Panic
• You Are Not Alone - Mavis Staples
• Chance - James Maddock
• Beg Steal or Borrow - Ray Lamontagne
• Do You Love Me - Guster
• Rocksteady - Big Head Todd & The Monsters
• Shaky Ground - Jackie Greene
• I Didn't See It Coming - Belle & Sebastian
• Window Seat - Erykah Badu
• F@#k You - Cee-Lo

Duke & The King

New band formed by the drummer (Simone Felice) from the Catskills-based band The Felice Brothers.  Excellent acoustic based folk-rock that actually has some soul.  Their music has influences as diverse as Neil Young and Smokey Robinson, and they are on the mellow side.  They've released 2 discs in the past 2 years ("Nothing Gold Can Stay" and the recently released "Long Live...") and both are very strong.  They were supposed to play Mountain Jam this past June but Simone had heart trouble and had to have emergency surgery.  From their Facebook page:  The Duke & The King are a soul-folk-glam ensemble from the sticks of New York founded, produced, and created by Simone Felice and Robert Bird Burke, featuring the sensational Simi Stone and Nowell" Reverend Loveday" Haskins, and like any traveling theatre troupe there's bound to be a growing cast of bewitching characters. Named for the traveling Shakespeare hustlers in 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'.
An excellent new band, look forward to seeing them live.  Here's their website:http://thedukeandtheking.co.uk.

Fitz, the Flavor of the Month

Fitz & The Tantrums is a new band from LA.  Inspired by Stax and Motown, the band sounds like a bit like the band ABC sounded to me back in the early 80's.  A caucasian approach to soul music, it relies heavily on organ and horns to provide gravitas to the songs, which are good, but not great.  The band is led by Michael Fitzpatrick who sings vocals (and has a disconcerting shock of white in his hair), and he had the good sense to hire Noelle Scaggs as the female vocalist, who's got a really great voice.  You can't get away from their song "MoneyGrabber" lately, it's even being used in a T-Mobile commercial.  I got into them after seeing them on "Live at Daryl's House", where they did an amazing set. http://www.livefromdarylshouse.com/currentep.html?ep_id=48  Their latest disc "Pickin Up The Pieces" is very good, and a nice addition to the blue-eyed soul niche.  But I've got a problem when a band suddenly comes out of nowhere and all of a sudden are everywhere.  The disc is very good, but by no means a classic.  (There are 3 or 4 very good tunes on the disc).  Maybe they could've waited until their 2nd disc to have sold out, but I also understand that there's no guarantees that a 2nd disc would materialize so "take it while you can".   Seeing them at Bowery Ballroom in a few weeks, they're supposed to be very good live.  

Black Dub / Bowery again

Very good Black Dub show last night at the Bowery Ballroom.  Here's a link to a review http://www.spinner.com/2010/11/18/daniel-lanois-black-dub-live/
I thought the band was very good, but a few of the songs, particularly "I'd Rather Go Blind" fell flat.  
And I couldn't believe it, but Lanois introduced "The Messenger" as a song off his 1st solo album "Acadie", which it is not....it's on "For The Beauty of Wynona", his 2nd disc.  I guess that motorcycle accident rattled his noggin a bit.

some new music Nov

Lots of good new music recently released.  The new Jamiroquai has a few good singles off their (his) new disc, "Rock Dust Light Star" (also the name of the album) and "White Knuckle Ride", which are the first 2 songs on the disc.  I think it's amazing that the guy is still actually making relevant music, albeit from the same acid-jazz based template he's always used, but now it's a bit more disco.  He looks a bit like Mark Wahlberg in this clip from the great Jools Holland show "Later".


The new Bryan Ferry album "Olympia" is great, his best disc since "Boys and Girls". He's got many guests on the disc, including pretty much everyone from Roxy Music (Manzanera, Mackay, etc), David Gilmour and more, but the sound is late-period Roxy Music, a la "Flesh & Blood" and "Avalon".  Languid, well-orchestrated and heavily produced, it sounds like a return to form for Ferry.  The songs are consistently good, and you'd think the record was made 20 years ago, it could be a follow-up to any of the late-period Roxy albums and early Ferry solo records.  Great stuff.

Gregory Isaacs R.I.P.

The Cool Ruler, Gregory Isaacs, one of the greatest reggae singers of all time died today at 60. (The cause was cancer of the liver that spread to his lungs).  His voice is instantly recognizable, and there's no way to underestimate his importance in the reggae world.  He was one of the originators of the classic roots reggae sound, and also the best purveyor of "lovers rock" reggae ever.  Along with Dennis Brown, they were the best voices ever to sing reggae music.  (You could add Jacob Miller, Marley and a few other to the list, but the 2 best were Isaacs and Brown).   He had way too many albums to list, but some of his best singles are collected on the "One Man Against The World" compilation.  Isaacs became huge after his "Night Nurse" album in 1982, although he was much loved and well-known prior to that release.  I got to see Isaacs perform at Reggae Sunsplash at Radio City Music Hall in 1985, and saw him walk thru the airport (dressed all in white) in Kingston, Jamaica in 1991 or so.  I started to listen to reggae in 1981, and Gregory Isaacs was one of the 1st artists I heard.  Roots reggae was the primary style I enjoyed (and was very popular then) and everyone listened to Isaacs.  He was often backed up by the Roots Radics, the best reggae studio band ever.  Another reggae giant, and one of the last, is gone.

live Rads

Saw The Radiators at Mexicali Live last night.  They are a prototypical bar band, and have been touring steadily for over 30 years.  Last night's show was typical Rads, some good covers, some well-known, some obscure.  The 2nd set was very good, with some songs from their self-titled disc from 2001, along with a good cover of "Domino".  Not a packed house...it poured last night and I think it kept some people away.  The place was less than 1/2 full for the 2nd set.  Good show nonetheless.  These guys play every type of music, and Camille (lead guitarist) is a jack-of-all-trades player.  The Rads are a true workingman's band.   (I recently bought a new ipod, which has a camera that also takes video.  I've got to learn how to actually use it...the videos I took were either sideways or upside down, and the photos were horrible.  It would be great to find a good quality compact video camera that's fairly idiot-proof.  The video below makes it look like I'm standing far way, but I'm actually about 15 feet from the band.)