Having said that, there were a few notable highlights that earned my obsessive attention. Here’s a rundown:

Favorite Albums

Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More

This aggressive bluegrass/folk quartet out of London has landed on countless “best of” lists already, and for good reason – this is a great album. Alternating between raucus and hushed, the songs on Sigh No More routinely reach triumphant sonic and emotional heights. The music chugs and churns, and the group harmonies are exquisite. Mumford & Sons are the new heroes in a category of left-field folk and bluegrass outfits like Fleet Foxes and local heroes Trampled by Turtles. My personal favorite from this year.

The Hold Steady – Heaven is Whenever

Though this collection doesn’t reach the transcendant heights of their previous albums, it is still a very strong release for the Brooklyn/MPLS indie favorites. Once again, the songs describe well-studied characters, bone-weary but hopeful, and are full of the literary left turn lyrics that have long made Craig Finn my favorite contemporary lyricist. Musically, these songs trade a bit of sonic blast for some increased melodiousness. This is a great group – Bruce Springsteen mixed with Arcade Fire mixed with whatever sloppy band is playing the 7th Street Entry tonight.

Greg Laswell – Take a Bow

A few years back, my wife came home with Greg Laswell’s debut album after she heard a song on The Current, and I quite enjoyed it – he’s got a pretty baritone, the production was slick but tasteful, and the songs were tight. I picked up his next album ostensibly as a favor to Bridgette, but also because I had listened to it and it was pretty great. Now that we’re on Laswell’s third album, I’m officially a fan of the guy. There’s nothing groundbreaking here, and it’s not much different than his earlier stuff, but it’s quality pop-rock that sticks in your head and makes an emotional impression. This is probably the easiest album to like on my list.

Storyhill – Shade of the Trees

I’ve already written about this album at length, and my prior review (great, but somber as hell) stands. For you production wonks, there’s an excellent interview with producer Dan Wilson here about how the album was recorded and mixed.

Other Strong Albums

Ray LaMontagne & the Pariah Dogs – God Willin’ and the Creek Don’t Rise: I resisted the charms and talents of Mr. LaMontagne for too long for reasons I don’t remember. I was misguided. This is a gorgeously produced, beautiful album. The only reason it wasn’t featured with my top albums is I didn’t end up listening to it enough. Recommended.

Jars of Clay – The Shelter: An album of and about Christian community recorded with a wide variety of other artists. It features a number of tremendous songs and some killer lyrics, but it’s also a bit overcooked at points and has a few too many filler tracks (the latter is my critique of every Jars album).

Neil Diamond – Dreams: When I read that Neil was releasing a covers album, I sighed to myself that he was re-entering a paycheck-cashing era of his career like the middling Barry Manilow or Rod Stewart. But I’ll be damned if he didn’t turn in a tuneful album of tasteful simplicity (that was well-received by the critics, no less!). Nice production by Diamond himself, as well. Good way to cap a year in which he received his overdue induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Disappointments:

eels – End Times AND Tomorrow Morning: Hard to complain too much when a favorite band releases three albums in 16 months (counting 2009′s Hombre Lobo), but Mr. E would probably have done better to sacrifice the idea of doing lyrically-themed albums and just released one great album of the 14 best songs instead.

Caedmon’s Call – Raising Up the Dead: Boring. Derek Webb’s spiced-up production can’t salvage a lousy set of songs. It’s been years since he’s been involved with anything has maintained much of my interest. Too bad.

David Gray – Foundling: Releasing a double album of songs that didn’t make the cut from his last release? Who thought this was a good idea? The end result is exactly as good as it sounds.

Some Favorite Songs
For those of you inclined to download free music, I’ve made available a mix of some of my favorite songs of the year. [I've taken down the link, but if you email me and ask nicely (see link on sidebar) I can pass along the download link to you.]

Here’s the tracklisting: (Links will take you to quality YouTube clips of the songs or performance videos):

1. Doves: Andalucia
2. Tom McRae: Please
3. The Hold Steady: The Sweet Part of the City
4. Ray LaMontagne & the Pariah Dogs: Like Rock & Roll and Radio
5. Storyhill: Caught in a Mess
6. Neil Diamond: Feels Like Home
7. Mumford & Sons: The Cave
8. Jars of Clay: We Will Follow
9. Jeromy Darling: Son of God
10. Greg Laswell: In Front of Me
11. Keane: My Shadow
12. Original Mark Edwards (OME): Soul on Fire
13. eels: I Like the Way This is Going
14. Low Stars: Mexico (technically from 2007, but I came across their awesome album this year)
15. Trampled by Turtles: Separate
16. Sarah McLachlan: Forgiveness

Enjoy!

(See also my musical roundups for 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, & 2005)

This week marks the release of Shade of the Trees, their 8th studio album by my count (read my reviews of all their albums here). Recorded live in studio by producer Dan Wilson (Semisonic, Dixie Chicks), it’s a somber, beautiful collection.

Being part of a duo as spare as Storyhill requires a remarkable level of self-surrender. For two musicians as passionate and opinionated as Cunningham & Hermanson, this must be no easy feat. Shade of the Trees is the sound of these two men fully sublimating their music into the identity of Storyhill. In the past, their albums (while often wonderful) had the feel of alternating between a “Chris song” and a “Johnny song”. This release instead sees the two regularly singing in unison, swapping vocal lines, and trading guitar figures. Individual fingerprints are few and far between – this is a disciplined, restrained approach that pays off.

Several songs on the album use potent historical allegories, most notably “Better Angels”, a hymn about America built around a collection of poetic quotes from the Civil War era (the album’s title comes from the dying words of Gen. “Stonewall” Jackson). This all might sound heavy, and it is. The thoughtfulness and weight of the album are immediately evident.

A favorite track of mine is “Caught in a Mess”, a breakup song etched in the language of American tragedies. Chris and Johnny trade off vocals and team up for some truly heartbreaking harmonies. Another standout is “Well of Sorrows”, with its snappy fingerpicking and catchy hooks.

“Avalon”, the haunting opening track starts the album on a sober note. To me, what’s most striking about this song are Cunningham’s careful harmonies. I’m a serious lover of harmony (having grown up on the Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel) and I’ve long admired his ability to support a song with his backing vocals. There’s nothing typical about his performance on this song, the way he switches from thirds to fifths to jumping an octave below the melody to amplify that verse’s emotional content. It’s a beautiful recording. (Enjoy a free download: Storyhill: Avalon)

I have only minor criticisms. To my ears, “Town Talks” is a dopey, stupid song. The spare, live aesthetic causes the album to sag a bit in the middle, but this is leavened by the short overall running time (just over 30 minutes). The heavy tone of the songs, especially through the first 6 or 7 tracks is unrelenting, but even that serves to make the warm closer “Pieces of Love” all the more rewarding.

Highly recommended.

Storyhill performing “Dangerous Weapon” and sweating live in studio:

Favorite Albums

Avett Brothers – I and Love and You

This was my most enjoyable musical find of the year. This rootsy, North Carolina-based trio has been around for a while, but their new album received a lot of attention because it was produced by the bearded zenmaster Rick Rubin. The album sounds gorgeous and organic, and I just couldn’t believe how many songs I loved the first time through. The album felt familiar, yet its warmhearted themes and tight brotherly harmonies were punctuated with plenty of unexpected left turns that kept me guessing.

Doves – Kingdom of Rust

Doves were a moody British band I loved back in the early aughts who I thought had started to slide with their last album. Happily, they rebounded this year with what I felt was their best effort. Doves’ best material has a melancholy sweep to it and is able to build and crest under Jimi Goodwin’s beautiful alto. This album has no shortage of such cinematic loveliness. Kingdom of Rust is definitely worth checking out and giving a bit of time to let it seep under your skin. (Incidentally, this seemed to be Bridgette’s favorite of the new albums I got this year.)

U2 – No Line on the Horizon

Read my full review from earlier in the year here. Many listens later, it’s still a great album with tons of layers. I’ll only add that the album’s elusive, slow-burning songs have gained stature in my mind while the middle stretch of radio-oriented material feels a bit more out of place.

Wilco – Wilco (the Album)

My brother in law and I are each big Wilco fans, but this is an album we disagree on. He’s inclined to favor Wilco’s fractured, dissonant, “challenging” material from earlier this decade like Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (which I also dig) and A Ghost is Born (not as much). A few years later, lead singer Jeff Tweedy is apparently in a happier, more contented mental space and he’s produced another straightforward “mature” album. While its heights aren’t as towering as 2007′s Sky Blue Sky, this is a great album with warmth, wit (see “Wilco [the Song]“), and impeccable craftsmanship.

Runners Up:

EELS – Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs of Desire
E sacrificed some melodic consistency for thematic purity on this album. It’s probably destined to be a worthwhile curio in the EELS catalogue, but it doesn’t stand up next to their last effort.
Mark Knopfler – Get Lucky
Same as Knopfler’s last three albums: expertly-performed, authentic, and relaxed.
Michael Bublé – Crazy Love
A wonderfully tuneful, tasteful album for any pop-jazz vocal afficianado. I’m honestly not sure how much of the artistry is his though, so I can’t put it on my most-recommended list.
Joshua James – Build Me This
Singer-songwriter’s inevitable band-oriented sophomore effort. Good stuff, but bigger isn’t always better.
Peter Bradley Adams – Traces
This guy keeps making the same album, but who cares when they’re so damn good?
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers – The Live Anthology
Rocking and revelatory.

A Disappointment:

Derek Webb – Stockholm Syndrome
The controversial album from this important Christian artist was a mixed bag for me. The daring production style (see: Yorke, Thom) was great and created a freshness to the material, but the songs just weren’t strong enough musically. Christian reviewers (especially those with more progressive inclinations) bent over backwards praising the album’s sometimes ham-fisted lyrical content. On the other hand, I just couldn’t get past the fact that a lot of melodies felt undercooked. It’s a fine album if you’re the type to read and reflect on the words without ever desiring to sing along.

Favorite Songs:

Doves – “Kingdom of Rust”: A dark, textured epic.
EELS – “Beginner’s Luck”: Catchy and deserving to be heard.
Rocket Club – “One More Day”: Local country-rock effort written by a father who lost his daughter to a fatal illness. Always gets me a bit misty-eyed, like “Christmas Shoes” but better. (FREE DOWNLOAD)
Wilco – “One Wing”: Great mix of Wilco’s beautiful and artistic ambitions.
Derek Webb – “What Matters More”: The best and worst of Webb’s album is distilled into this pretty remarkable track that his record label refused to release.
Jars of Clay – “Headphones”: A stirring call to Christian love.
Avett Brothers – “I And Love And You”: A wonderfully broken, rootsy ballad.

(See also their hilarious video for “Slight Figure of Speech”)
U2 – “Moment of Surrender”: For me, this was the best, most beautiful, most movingly-performed song I came across this year.

(See also my musical roundups for 2008, 2007, 2006, & 2005)

Handing my sweaty, saved-up cash wad to the cashier, I scurried out the door to the safe confines of my car where I unwrapped Revolver popped it in the CD player. Safely within the conservative confines of my Hyundai, the droning blast of “Tomorrow Never Knows” blew back my hair and tickled my tender underbelly. The sounds were crisper, clearer, and Paul McCartney’s basslines wrapped themselves around me like a python in heat.

It was as if I was transported back in time to Abbey Road studios. I could close my eyes and witness George Harrison’s glowering mutters, McCartney’s smiley bossiness, and Yoko Ono’s atonal screams from a bed positioned in the corner of the studio for unexplained reasons. I could even inhale deeply and smell the foul mixture of weed and John Lennon’s beard. Despite these things, the remastered album experience was great.

Speeding home at 85mph in my maroon Korean steed to the raunchy swirl of “Helter Skelter”, I rolled down my windows and screamed obscenities at passing vehicles like Michael Richards on the last day of school. In recognition of what I was experiencing, several drivers of other vehicles similarly rolled down their windows and shouted, “BEATLES NUMBER ONE!” and drove their cars off a bridge.

So the remastered albums are worth checking out. I recommend listening to them in a Hyundai. I doubly recommend listening to them in a Hyundai while groping a loved one, but maybe that’s just me.

Yes, I know about the sparkly shirts, I’m aware of his extended detour into schmaltz from 1977-2000, and I’m aware that he has the hair of a Jim Henson creation. However, I’m also appreciative of the fact that he’s a remarkably expressive singer who has written an incredible number of quality songs and huge hits (though the two often weren’t mutual). Like a spear-fisher with a gleaming brass trident, he stabs his songs into existence and bellows the haggard shout of life.

Don’t bother to analyze that last sentence.

Diamond was the longtime victim of snobbish disparagement by music critics, but recent years have seen a welcome re-evaluation of his gifts as a songwriter and showman. A cursory cruise through his copious catalog reveals a cornucopia of catchy choruses: Cherry Cherry, Cracklin’ Rosie, I’m a Believer, Sweet Caroline, I Am…I Said, Brooklyn Roads, Forever in Blue Jeans, Love on the Rocks, etc. A celebration of these songs is not what this blog entry is about, however. Like my Paul McCartney post a few weeks back, this entry is here to direct interested listeners to a few lesser-known Neil Diamond gems. These songs might suprise you with their quality, or maybe they’ll make you hate me. Either way, the important thing is that I’m making you read this.

The Boat That I Row (1967):
This track has all the appeal of Diamond’s early hits like Solitary Man, but without their over-familiarity. It allows the listener to hear him for the miner of high-quality pop nuggets that he was. This song’s subject matter was also prescient, noting that he didn’t fit in well with any musical category (nor would he ever – whose career does his parallel?).

Lordy (live, 1969):
For all the dippiness his studio recordings occasionally demonstrated, Neil Diamond has a longstanding reputation as a remarkable live performer. This early live recording is shocking in its intensity – the reserved, polite audience gets a growling, howling performance by a lean band. It certainly ain’t The Who, but it’s pretty good nonetheless. (Check out a fun cover by Nine Inch Neils, a metal tribute band, here.)

Captain Sunshine (1972):
For my money, Diamond’s peak years were 1968-1972, when he began asserting a measure of creative independence and maturity but hadn’t yet descended into AOR schlock (albeit well-crafted, occasionally worthwhile schlock). This track is an example of the understated, wonderfully melodic quality of much of his work in those peak years. It’s California-influenced, country-twinged pop – doing the Eagles thing when they were just getting started. While his albums are notoriously scattered affairs, there’s a few from this era worth investigating for their lesser-known tracks like this one.

Gitchy Goomy ; Porcupine Pie (both 1972)
Neil Diamond is a part-time purveyor of goodtime nonsense songs – instantly likeable, singalong tunes that mean absolutely nothing at all. These are two of my favorites in this category. The lyrics are genuinely head-scratching, but if they catch you in the right mood, you’ll be tapping your toe in seconds.

Here’s a great, goofy video I found online for one of these songs by a couple high school kids. I got a real kick out of it.

Hooked on the Memory of You (1988):
Here is this list’s sole representative of Diamond’s schmaltz years. The song is a pretty, affecting ballad notable for its (relatively) understated production – no dramatic key changes here. There’s an audience for this material (i.e. moms), and I can appreciate it in bite-sized portions. I like this song a lot, and it demonstrates that for all the producers he handed over the musical reins to, he never lost his touch for writing melody.

Hell Yeah (2005):
After the chart hits died out in the mid-1980s, Neil Diamond spent the 90s churning out greatest-hits packages and Christmas albums (notable because he’s Jewish). There were sporadic sparks of life, but most Diamond fans simply assumed his best was now clearly behind him. 2005 marked the release of 12 Songs, an album produced by uber-producer Rick Rubin (Metallica, Beastie Boys, Johnny Cash). Diamond and Rubin also partnered on 2008′s Home Before Dark, with yet another album in the works for next year. The albums are sparse affairs – the instrumentation is primarily organic and acoustic but the spark was back. Their work together hasn’t been flawless, but it is regularly excellent. This track, Hell Yeah, demonstrates the verve and potency of these albums. It was Neil Diamond re-introducing himself, and not apologizing for anything.

Delirious Love (2005):
This was the first single from 12 Songs, notable for the involvement of Brian Wilson. As a result, the studio version sounded like a mash up of Diamond’s 60s-era style with the Beach Boys. It’s a fun, infectious tune. When he performs it live, it’s more of an intense, churning style built on chugging acoustics.

Another Day That Time Forgot (2008):
This is a brooding rumination of a song performed as a duet with Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks. The lyrics are somber but captivating, and the performance itself it haunting. He sticks with the minor chords here, feeling no need to oblige his mom-audience with a chipper resolution. Notably, many of his latter-era songs like this demonstrate qualities in his songs that weren’t evident until this point; clear evidence that he was no longer on autopilot.

If I Don’t See You Again (2008):
Here’s a startlingly honest break-up song that demonstrates that, when he picks his moments carefully, Neil Diamond is the king of the dramatic buildup. If this song had been around back when I was dating and breaking up with some regularity, this would have been a tune I would have held on to. At the same time, it’s a strange song – it’s over seven minutes long, there isn’t really a chorus, and no lyrics repeat except for the title. It’s a hell of a thing.

Here’s video of him performing the song with the Rubin’s session men, including Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench from the Heartbreakers.

By the way, I should apologize. I know that 1,000 words on Neil Diamond probably wasn’t what you were looking for when you visited my blog today. Come back tomorrow for a post on mule hoarding.

For years, McCartney struggled to garner much critical respect; most critics dismissed his work as slight and throwaway. This was due to two factors: McCartney’s own inconsistant output, and the effort to canonize and mythologize John Lennon at the expense of his former songwriting partner. The last ten years has seen a welcome critical re-evaluation of Paul McCartney’s solo work. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and his bold, creatively-vital albums this decade have led people back to an appreciation of his career highlights since the Beatles ended. Now he headlines Coachella festivals and collects stellar reviews for new albums. How do you like him now?

Over the past few years, I’ve been poring over a lot of his work. Certainly not all of it is great, but it’s a pleasure uncovering more hidden examples of his effortless melodies and playful song suites. You don’t need this blog to tell you that “Maybe I’m Amazed” or “My Love” are gorgeous, or that “Jet” and “Live And Let Die” kick ass. Instead, I wanted to point you toward ten lesser-known tracks you won’t find on any brief greatest hits album. A couple of these were singles, but none were massive hits. Most of them are album tracks that have worn well. Think of this list as a multicolored buffet of sweet ear-pudding.

1. Junk (1970): McCartney’s first solo album was a homemade batch of songs that initially didn’t sit well with fans or critics expecting a sound on par with the superb production of the Beatles. “Junk” is a lovely little tune about a lonely antique shop, and its homespun, snapshot charm is part of its appeal.

2. Big Barn Bed (1973): This is a bizarre tune with an infectious groove. Like a lot of these tracks, McCartney played every instrument himself, and the production is strong (Jeff Tweedy nodded to this era McCartney and Wings as partial inspiration for the sound of the last Wilco album). The song is about life on his rural Scottish farm with wife Linda and their kids.

3. Rock Show w/ “Venus & Mars” intro until 1:10 (1975):
McCartney has a reputation as a balladeer, but his rock output is regularly awesome. “Helter Skelter” and “Jet” are his most celebrated songs in this vein, but I’d put “Rock Show” up with any of them. In it, he turns the tables, singing about the excitment at a big concert, the moment before the band takes the stage. The tune is fun puzzle with odd little side sections and a drug reference or two. It’s a bummer he doesn’t seem to pull this one out in concerts anymore – he tends to rely too heavily on the crowd-pleasers these days.

4. Goodnight Tonight (1980)

Here’s a song from the late disco era with hooks galore. It’s a clever little tune, with the singer pleading with his date to stay with him, while the countermelodies offer her replies of “I gotta go home”. Great singing, catchy melodies, and offbeat instrumentation make this a fun song to uncover. The 1920s-themed video has a goofy charm to it as well.

5. Tug of War (1982): This is the title track to an acclaimed album McCartney put out in the wake of John Lennon’s death. There are allusions to his relationship with Lennon in this song, which adds an emotional heft to it that isn’t always present in his work. The song itself is fine, but for me the real payoff is the bridge (at about 2:05 of the song) – it’s a soaring, yearning moment that can give me goosebumps if it catches me in the right mood.

6. Calico Skies (1997):

With a few exceptions, the late 80s and early 90s were creatively barren years for McCartney (and most of his generational peers). He seemed to break out of his slump with 1997′s Flaming Pie album. This track displays his deft acoustic guitar skills (similar to “Blackbird”) and the lyrics are a lovely ode to his wife Linda. He wrote it when she was dying of breast cancer, making it all the more touching.

7. Your Loving Flame (2001): Here’s an excellent late-period ballad from McCartney – just a beautiful, lovely song. The key to the song for me is the switch into the minor chords for the chorus. It adds enough bitter to the sweetness to make it a song worth returning to.

8. Friends to Go (2005): This is from Chaos & Creation in the Backyard, an excellent album produced by Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Travis) and again featuring McCartney playing every instrument. I could have picked 5 or 6 songs from this album, but I chose this midtempo rocker with a sturdy groove and catchy hook. He said he felt like he was channeling George Harrison when he wrote it, which definitely comes through.

9. That Was Me live (2007): This is a fun autobiographical tune, like his memories being run through kaleidoscope. Again, the hooks are plentiful in this song, tossed out offhandedly with supreme confidence.

10. Sing the Changes (2008): This was released last year under the pseudonym The Fireman, a name he’s used for some of his past experimental electronic projects. This track, however, is a gorgeous, swirling song that soars beautifully. Written and recorded in a day, it demonstrates that McCartney, even at age 67, still has some magic left in him.

I’ve been a pretty massive U2 fan since 1991’s Achtung Baby, so the fact that I’m about to give a positive review of the album should come as no surprise. However, not all U2 fans are the same. In my case, my fervor for the band probably peaked with 1997’s much-maligned Pop, and while I hold a fond affectation for the songs on All That You Can’t Leave Behind (2000) and How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004), I never felt that those albums were transcendent in the way their best work has been.

So here are my obligatory thoughts on the new U2 album, after having listened to it a half-dozen times or so since downloading it (don’t worry, Mr. McGuinness, I’m still buying the physical copy for display):

Overall, the album is great. Really great. Maybe even transcendent. Certainly the mainstream press reviews have been excellent (Rolling Stone, Blender, Entertainment Weekly). Produced (and co-written!) by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, it is not the classicist’s U2 from their last two albums, but an assured, darker, looser band. Not many tight song structures or obvious hooks to be found here, and the album is better for it.

Thoughts on various tracks:

No Line on the Horizon: As I sat at my kitchen table, listening to this song the first time, I kept expecting the huge, chiming U2 from their last few albums to show up. Instead, I got this churning, layered song with an understated chorus and great bassline. My first reaction was a touch underwhelming, but repeated listens have really melted my initial feelings away. This song is an epic, swirling table-setting tune, like Zoo Station or Zooropa from their early 90s output.

Magnificent: Okay, HERE’S your classicist’s U2. Heck, this song might as well be Pride, 2009-style. It seems to me that this could be a massive single.

Moment of Surrender: This is my favorite song on the album to this point. For a band that spends 18 months recording and re-recording tracks, this is a song that they only performed once for tape. By all accounts, the moment was too magical to go back and tinker with, and I can’t disagree. It’s a song about giving in to something greater than ourselves, and it’s gospel-tinged chorus is the most moving moment on the album for me. It’s like a subtler version of One, recorded by a band uninterested in making it a hit.

Unknown Caller: This is an odd one. A chanted chorus reciting operating software shorthand sounds like a recipe for a Radiohead song, but in this case (unlike Radiohead) there’s a heartbeat at the center of the lyric, urging the listener to “shout for joy if you get the chance.” Despite the un-hummable melody, this song features a gorgeous (and extremely rare) extended guitar solo by the Edge, worth the price of the album for a Edge-o-phile like myself.

I’ll Go Crazy if I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight – Remember everything I said about this album not stretching itself for a hit single? Well, ignore all that in the case of this song. This is a paint-by-numbers U2 single, with Bono belting out a set of charming non-sequiturs and a fat, happy chorus. I’ve already heard this on Cities 97, and I suppose that’s fine, but it isn’t one I’ll return to often.

Get On Your Boots – Read my thoughts on this song here. Within the context of the album, this song is part of a 3-song halftime party that just barely fits in with the rest of No Line on the Horizon.

Stand Up Comedy – Everything that I said about I’ll Go Crazy if I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight probably holds true here, except for the fact that this song kicks ass. I love the hugeness of this song, and the cleverness of the lyric takes the edge off the preachiness. Apparently this song was inspired by an upcoming documentary film that featured the Edge woodsheddin’ with Jimmy Page – a listen to the first 15 seconds of the song bears that influence out.

White As Snow – This song sounds like an old western song, but from a backdrop of the Middle East. It’s a quiet, haunting tune, with excellent harmonies and backing vocals from the Edge and co-producer Daniel Lanois. As a matter of fact, this album features a softer, more delicate bed of harmony vocals than any previous U2 album.

Cedars of Lebanon – As U2 is wont to do, they wrapped up this album with a highlight. This sparse, haunting meditation is delivered in a gravelly whisper, and ends with an exhortation to “choose your enemies carefully, because they will define you.” This is the sort of disquieting tune that makes it difficult to step right back into your life once it’s over.

Like I said earlier, it’s too early to tell if this album is one of their best. Certainly, it’s excellent to an unprecedented degree for a band in its 33rd year of operation. Unlike their last few albums, it’s no collection of hits. Instead, it’s a challenging, cohesive slow-burner, beautifully performed and immaculately crafted. It’s definitely worth picking up and lingering over for a while.

Setting that issue aside for the moment, here are my favorite albums of 2008:

The Hold Steady: Stay Positive

These ex-Minnesotan rockers now stationed out of Brooklyn just keep getting better and better. Like Bruce Springsteen crossed with American Movie’s Mark Borchardt, singer/songwriter Craig Finn pens lyrics that examine waning youth, Midwestern adolescence, and defiant Catholicism and chemical dependency. Despite the fact that none of those themes has any personal resonance for me, I find my ears straining to catch the next great line out of my favorite rock lyricist (my favorite from this album was the logical conundrum, “If one townie falls in the forest, does anyone notice?”) Meanwhile, the rest of the band rocks along like the greatest bar band in purgatory. This was my favorite album of 2008. Everybody should own at least one Hold Steady album, and I hope that Barack Obama will make this vision a reality.

Fleet Foxes: S/T

I don’t know much of the backstory of this group, but judging from the band’s sound and appearance, five Appalachian hill people wandered into a time-travel vortex in 1911 and were transported into a 2008 Seattle recording studio. The songs are rustic, melodic, and otherworldly – strikingly pretty and familiar while remaining unconventional. The four-part chamber harmonies don’t hurt either.

Coldplay: Viva La Vida

Whether it be the momentous hype that heralded the album’s arrival, the pedestrian first single, or just nine years of Coldplay fatigue, I heard a few friends express a resigned ambivalence about this album. Whether the album is what they wanted is one matter, but I think it’s a confident step in a new direction for this great band. Producer Brian Eno seems to have really stretched them to take some of the air out of the songs and go for smaller, less obvious pleasures. Whereas X&Y felt like A Rush of Blood to the Head, only with a longer runtime, Viva La Vida is elusive, and rewards repeated listens. Song fragments dip in and out, and structures are much more untraditional. The title track is one of the odder hit singles in memory – a rock band putting out a song with only a string section and timpani, yet the song flies out of the speakers. (The excellent addendum EP Prospekt’s March only heightened my esteem for the album by showcasing the beautiful songs they intentionally left off.)

Elbow: The Seldom Seen Kid

Yes, this was about the same as 2006’s Leaders of the Free World, but it’s still a damn good album. The thing about Elbow is that the absolutely gorgeous singing and stirring melodies distract from the fact that the musical textures they create are wholly original. They sound more conventional than they actually are. Haunted instrumentation, oddball production flourishes, and patient buildups mark the Elbow sound, yet it’s never hard work to like them.

The Hopefuls: Now Playing at the One-Seat Theatre

These Minneapolis rockers (formerly The Olympic Hopefuls) feature the tandem talents of my two favorite local musicians, John Hermanson (Storyhill) and Darren Jackson (Kid Dakota). Their brand of power pop features a slippery bed of guitars and tinkling percussion, sweet synth like the Cars, and classical songwriting like Fountains of Wayne. The eleven songs don’t let up to take a breather and leave you with a sugar headache by album’s end, but it’s worth it.

(Download a free mp3 of Stacey, by the Hopefuls, compliments of the John Larroquette Project!)

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Other solid albums from this year:
Snow Patrol: A Hundred Million Suns
Pretty much like their last two albums – solid, agreeable stuff with a few great singles.

Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago
Rural Wisconsin dude retreats to a hunting cabin to record a haunting lament in multitracked falsetto. Tough to return to repeatedly, but compelling stuff.

Neil Halstead: Oh! Mighty Engine
Mojave 3 frontman records a pretty solo album indistinguishable from Mojave 3, but that’s fine with me. This guy shits wistful.

Peter Bradley Adams: Leavetaking
L.A. songwriter’s second solo acoustic album is tastefully written, produced, and performed. I keep it at my desk at work – it’s background music, but it’s legitimate.

Oasis: Dig Out Your Soul
Now in their late 30s, these guys dug out some dirty grooves on this album. Some of it is filler, like it always is with them, but some of it is turn-up-your-speakers great.

Neil Diamond: Home Before Dark
Second stripped-down album helmed by uber-producer Rick Rubin. The law of diminishing returns was perhaps in play here, but Diamond’s eternal skills as a songwriter are still sharp, and that’s good to hear.

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Disappointments:
Ben Folds: Way to Normal
Dude, looking down on the characters in your own songs starts to turn people off after a while. You’re a talented, witty songwriter – how about saying something positive instead?

Travis: Ode to J. Smith
In an effort to shake up the doldrums, our Scottish friends wrote and recorded an entire album in a few weeks. The sound is refreshingly rough, but the songs just weren’t there.

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Favorite songs of 2008, for you chronically impatient downloaders out there:

Oasis: The Shock of the Lightning
Best rock song of 2008, hands down.

Bon Iver: RE: stacks
A haunting heartbreaker of a tune.

Fleet Foxes: Ragged Wood
A great, beautiful, otherworldly tune.

The Hold Steady: Magazines
The Hold Steady: Constructive Summer
Two favorites from an excellent album

Ben Folds: Cologne
Amid a snarky, coarse album lies this gem of a song for saying goodbye to someone dear.

And lastly, though this song isn’t technically from 2008, here’s a free mp3 for you: Nels, by aging Minneapolis hipsters Kubla Khan, perhaps the most inexplicably awesome song I came across this year.

We went down to the IMAX theater at the Minnesota Zoo and saw U2:3D.

The title more or less explains the the movie was about. National Geographic Films has come up with a new technology for 3D, and this is its first use in a live action film. From the moment the concert began and the Edge appeared to walk 4 feet from me and play the guitar riff for “Vertigo”, we were blown away. I spontaneously uttered, “holy crap…” and smiled for the next 85 minutes.

My problem with “3D” movies in the past is that
a) the colors always seemed to look a bit messed up, and
b) the image didn’t look three-dimensional, it looked like multiple “planes” of two-dimensional images.

This technology suffered neither of those problems. It felt so real and lifelike that it gave me the actual kinetic rush that you feel when you meet somebody famous. The sense memories of the U2 concerts I’d attended in the past came rushing back, except this time I wasn’t stuffed in amongst sweaty men and people obnoxiously texting their friends. Instead, I was sitting there, transfixed by the intimacy and sweep of the film, and counting the hairs on the Edge’s forearm. It felt like what people first must have experienced when sound movies premiered in 1927, and I’m being totally serious about that.

Checking out some review sites this morning, I noted that the film has a remarkable 94 rating on rottentomatoes.com, and USA Today writes:

It’s U2 writ XXL, not just visually and sonically but emotionally and theatrically. In keeping with the band’s tech-savvy tours, high-def never overwhelms high drama, nor does the razzle-dazzle drain the ritual of its intimacy or fraternal spirit.

Now, some of you might be saying to yourself, “Sure you loved it Peter, you’re a huge U2 fan.” Yes, that no doubt played a big part of it, and the strength of those songs added an emotional wallop that made the experience that much more remarkable. However, that could have been Dexys Midnight Runners on that screen, and they would have become my new favorite band. As a matter of fact, the prospect of seeing “Come On, Eileen” being performed in lifelike 3D is enough to make me shit down my pants.

The movie is playing at the Apple Valley IMAX for the next couple weeks – consider checking it out there. If not, it will be opening at a number of other conventional theaters on February 15th. I would be happy to accompany you, so long as you do not tell my wife about this, as she would yell at me again.

Wilco
Sky Blue Sky
When I picked this album up, it wasn’t at all what I expected. It didn’t at all resemble the dissonant, fractured experimentation of their last two albums (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was great, A Ghost is Born, not so great). Instead, what I heard was a relaxed, rehearsed-sounding band running through some great choppy tunes that could have been recorded in 1971. It sounded like a band, not a barn in outer space. Some great guitar work, scraggly harmonies, and hopeful lyrics helped this album bloom after repeated listenings. It also boasted my favorite song from 2007 (see below). Definitely worth picking up.

Dan Wilson
Free Life
Dan Wilson is the lead singer for Semisonic (currently on hiatus), and fresh off a Grammy-winning stint as co-songwriter on the last Dixie Chicks last album. While I haven’t loved everything Semisonic’s ever done, I’ve always enjoyed his songwriting and the local angle is a strong pull for me. He recorded the album with producer Rick Rubin, and it features a ton of great musicians: Nickel Creek, John Hermanson, Gary Louris from the Jayhawks, and Sheryl Crow, among others. The tracks are pretty organic – lots of piano, acoustic guitars, slide guitar, and harmonies, and most of it was recorded live. The album is probably 2 or 3 tracks too long, but it’s an otherwise refreshing, rootsy run through some very pretty songs. (On a side note, this is probably the lamest, most dull album artwork I came across this year.)

Collective Soul
Afterwords
This is not a great or important album at all. It is, however, solidly produced and catchy as hell. It’s likely that this ended up getting popped in on my drive home more than any other album of 2007. There just aren’t that many song-oriented rock groups around anymore who aren’t pushing some hipster angle. As odd as this sounds to say, I really dug the new Collective Soul album.

Radiohead
In Rainbows
I’m sure this ended up on a lot of “best of ’07″ lists as almost a knee-jerk reaction in what was otherwise a shallow musical year, but I was really pleased with this album. Like most people, I downloaded it from their website for cheap ($5), and spent the next couple days with it on my headphones. I was blown away by a couple of the tracks right away (Bodysnatchers, Jigsaw Falling Into Place), but some of the slower songs took a while for me to wrap my ears around. At this point, there really isn’t a track I don’t dig. Like all of their work post-1999, it’s a haunted, atmospheric collection, but unlike much of their recent work, the lyrics are relatively straightforward, sometimes disarmingly so. I would definitely recommend picking this one up and living with it for a while. It’s their best since Kid A.

Little Massive
Vincent of the Wild West
This one requires a bit of a backstory. Back in 1998, I got turned on to an obscure British trio called Arnold. Through a bit of online research, I learned that two of the former members of that group had formed a similar spin-off band called Little Massive. I found some audio samples, and was happy to hear that the essence of what I loved about their music was still alive – a hazy, unforced beauty that didn’t stress the flubbed notes and didn’t overplay its hand. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a way to get the album delivered to me in the States. I eventually found the email address of Rob, one of the members of Little Massive, and asked him how I might procure a copy. He was nice enough to send me the disk (along with a solo album of his) for free. This blew my mind, and was certainly my favorite music moment of ’07. In the interests of free publicity for this guy, I’m making mp3s of my two favorite tracks available for a short time only. Both are heartfelt and unfocused in the best way possible.
The Light
If You’re Going to Cry

My Favorite Songs of 2007
(for you impatient, iTunes-addled jerks who don’t understand that the album is the true musical artform)

Arnold: Down (free download!)
Derek Webb: This Too Shall Be Made Right
Patty Griffin: Trapeze
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss: Your Long Journey
Travis: My Eyes
Paul McCartney: That Was Me
Dan Wilson: All Kinds
Radiohead: Bodysnatchers
Jars of Clay: Winter Skin
Fountains of Wayne: I-95
Trampled By Turtles: Valley
Collective Soul: Adored

And my favorite single song from 2007…

Wilco: What Light- A beautiful, uplifting gospel song from a broken man. Pick it up now and thank me later.

Fortunately for me, my wife was feeling exhausted and a bit under the weather last night, and so she headed off to lay down by 8:30. After tenderly laying her head down amidst our fluffy pillows, warm blankets, and cuddly cats, I went downstairs and popped in the DVD. My hands clammy with anticipation, I cranked up the volume knob of my stereo and let the thunderous impact of the music rattle my rib cage and penetrate my essence.

When my wife complained to me that the volume was far too loud for her to be able to rest, my skin flashed red and I beat our end table in rage, proclaiming, “I AM A MAN! YOU WILL LISTEN TO ME! I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO EXPRESS MY FRUSTRATION AND ANGST!” I then overturned a bookshelf and began eating leftover candy corn with unreasonable speed and zeal while looking Bridgette squarely in the eyes. “WATCH, AS I PERFORM MY AUTO-DESTRUCTIVE ARTFORM!” My unhinged shouts and squeals echoed across the vacant streets of my neighborhood as I jumped spread eagle from the top of our television set to the unforgiving wood floor below and welcomed the warm darkness.

When I woke up this morning on our back step dressed in rags and soaked in candy corn vomit, I raised my eyes to the heavens and thanked the good Lord for that DVD. There is truly something magical about the fragmented memories I have of last evening. As I hid in the bushes waiting for Bridgette to leave so I could sneak back into the house for some cereal, I knew in my heart that my actions had been as pure as a 16 year old Amish bride.

I have no regrets.

Buy the album HERE! (Or, if you go to the Rock, just pick it up from him tonight in person.)

The disk is filled with solid, heartfelt songs, strong melodies and excellent guitar work. Recorded over the period of 3 or 4 years, it occasionally runs into issues created by such a prolonged process (eclectic musical styles, wonky rhythms, padded running time, etc), but I was really touched by a number of the songs. There are some quality tunes on this album that I think people will really enjoy. “Carolina” is a great, straight-shooting song about home, and songs like “Who Are You” talk candidly about faith in a way that leaves the door open to the listener. “My Heaven is You”, meanwhile, would sound great blasting out of any small-town bar across the Midwest.

Nice work, buddy.

In the wake of my recent post extolling the virtues of the new Storyhill album, I had a few people email me and ask about them, wondering what other albums of theirs worth checking out. I did a bit of research, and found no other online resource that delved into this issue, so I thought I’d do it myself. This post isn’t really intended for most of the JLP’s regular readers – it’s just something that might be helpful for some people to have online.

So here you go, reviews of every Storyhill album. The good, the bad, and the dippy.

Excellent Albums

Miles & Means: Simply put, this album has 3 or 4 of my favorite songs of all time. The sound is immaculate and clear, the guitar work is sharp, and the singing (while at times a bit soft) is outstanding. The album would be helped by cutting about 3 songs, but for an effort by a couple guys just out of college, it’s pretty amazing. This, for me, is the quintessential music for driving and reflecting on days gone by.

This Side of Lost: Released in 1996 at the height of their touring (and subsequent interpersonal conflict), this album pulsates with tension, nervous energy, and difficult questions. This was the first album of theirs that I picked up, and it initally took a while to soak in. At the time I got the sense that a lot of their older fans didn’t dig it as much, because the material was a bit more difficult than their previous work had been. That’s precisely why it holds up so well, in my opinion. “Good Rain”, the album’s heartbreaking closer, is perhaps the best song in their catalogue.

Dovetail: Their first studio album recorded after their breakup, this 2002 effort is a wonderfully recorded collection of strong, heartfelt songs. Tunes like “Angel”, “Homeland”, and “Honesty” flow beautifully with the help of the tight harmonies, steel guitars, mandolins, and solid band performances. Hermanson produced this album, and if there is a criticism to be had, it would be that perhaps his sonic fingerprints overwhelmed Chris Cunningham’s musical input. This minor point aside, this is a great album that started to get Storyhill noticed more prominently in the local music press.

Self-Titled: Read my thoughts here.

UPDATE: 2010′s Shade of the Trees is perhaps their finest work. Read my review here

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Strong Albums

Clearing: This 1995 follow-up to Miles & Means has some of the best songs they’ve ever recorded. “Somewhere in Between”, “Steady On”, and “Stillwater” are excellent tunes, and the production choices are tasteful. They were branching out, using mandolins, violins, and other rootsy touches. Unfortunately, the sound of the album is a bit distant and muddy – like you’re listening to it through a layer of gauze. Basically, it’s great as long as the volume is turned way up.

Live: This is a gorgeously-recorded live album from 1996, with a tracklisting aimed at their fans. A few rare gems, some dramatically different versions of older songs, and strong performances throughout.

Reunion: Released in 2001 in response to pent-up fan demand, this is a double-album of their reunion show. I was at this show, and it was a fun, emotional night. It’s worth checking out, as it’s a great representation of what their live shows are like. Not as nicely recorded as the Live disk, but plenty more material.

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Albums to Be Avoided by All But the Most Ardent Fans

Shapeshifting & Different Waters: Both of these were recorded while Chris and Johnny were in college at St. Olaf. While the albums have their fans, I’m not one of them. The recordings are too saccarine and precious for my taste, like their name should have been The Perfect Boyfriends. Some of the better songs from these albums have lived on in superior live versions.

Echoes: This double-album documents their “final” concert before their 4-year breakup in 1997. Because of tension, nerves, or whatever, the performances are sloppy, and John’s voice is shot. I remember him at one point telling me that he thought the album was unlistenable. I agreed.

Duotones: This album was a suggestion by the owners of the company who distributed Storyhill’s albums before their new record deal. It’s a collection of covers from 1970′s recording duos (Simon and Garfunkel, Seals & Crofts, Neil Young & Stephen Stills, etc.). There are a few good nuggets here (“Long May You Run” is a gem), but generally, the album feels a bit overproduced and overly overdubbed. It just fits awkwardly with the remainder of their catalogue.

Note: I have not reviewed “Live at the Grand” because:
A) it is out of print, and
B) I’ve only listened to it once.

The album kicks butt, and it’s been getting great reviews. Here’s what I wrote about it back in December (I was lucky enough to have a pre-release version) in my best music of ’06 post:

Now in their thirties, they have signed their first contract with a record label to put out their new self-titled album. This new record was produced by Dan Wilson (Semisonic) and I was blown away by how beautiful it was. Listening to the opening track, I was stunned by the intimacy of the vocals and guitars, but was pleased that the recordings aren’t precious with the songs. The album features plaintive lyrics, sweet guitar work, and amazing harmonies throughout. Definitely my favorite of the year. Be sure to pick it up when it comes out nationwide on February 13th.

Storyhill – Storyhill

This album actually hasn’t technically been released yet – I was lucky enough to pick it up at one of their shows this fall. Storyhill, for those who don’t know, is an acoustic duo from Montana who have put out a number of albums over the years. Now in their thirties, they have signed their first contract with a record label to put out their new self-titled album. This new record was produced by Dan Wilson (Semisonic) and I was blown away by how beautiful it was. Listening to the opening track, I was stunned by the intimacy of the vocals and guitars, but was pleased that the recordings aren’t precious with the songs. The album features plaintive lyrics, sweet guitar work, and amazing harmonies throughout. Definitely my favorite of the year. Be sure to pick it up when it comes out nationwide on February 13th.
CLICK HERE to watch Storyhill performing “Give Up the Ghost” live!

Embrace – This New Day

This was a fine album from one of my favorite British bands. The only problem with it is that it isn’t as strong as 2004′s fantastic Out of Nothing. Huge songs, singalong choruses, great guitar work, and a real sense of urgency help propel this album along. The second half gets bogged down a bit with a few filler tracks, but the initial 6 song rush more than makes up for that failing.
CLICK HERE to watch their video for “I Can’t Come Down”

Beatles – Love

This album just came out of leftfield for me. The only problem I really have with the Beatles is that, in growing up with them, I’ve listened to their albums so many times it’s hard to hear them with fresh ears. Then this album of remixed, chopped up Beatles tracks dropped in my lap. Produced by the Beatles producer George Martin and his son Giles, this album takes hooks, guitar licks, harmonies, and beats from the Beatles catalogue and throws them into a blender. The end result is an exhilarating sprint through their finest work. It’s like hearing their talents for the first time. Even when Martin and his son are cautious with the material and don’t change much, their remix draws out the bass and drum tracks, adding muscle and urgency to the songs. Listening to this album was more fun than any musical experience I had this year.

Keane – Under the Iron Sea

This album took a few weeks for me to make a connection with it. I was such a fan of the huge melodies of their debut album, and I initially felt like they had abandoned what they did best. Under the Iron Sea is darker, subdued, and I have to admit that I never liked their choice of “Is it Any Wonder” as the kickoff single. After I had set it aside as a disappointment, my wife turned me back onto it, and by then its songcraft and melodicism were more apparent to me. I’ve continued to return to this album throughout the year.

Favorite Songs of the Year
Colin Hay – Waiting for My Real Life to Begin
The Hold Steady – Southtown Girls
Mark Knopfler and Emmylous Harris – This is Us
The Who – Mike Post Theme
Embrace – I Can’t Come Down
Mojave 3 – You Said it Before
Kubla Khan – Skate With Me
Keane – Atlantic

eels: Blinking Lights and Other Revelations – a haunting, beautiful and moving double album from the recovering kings of melancholy. Ostensibly this is an album of songs about recovering from deaths (plural) in his family and learning to be okay again, but this is an epic album for anybody who is aquainted with heartache.

Neil Diamond: 12 Songs – This was perhaps the most anticipated album of the year for me. My all-time guilty pleasure matched up with Rick Rubin, probably the finest rock producer working today to create an album of weighty acoustic gems that rumble and sparkle. While this collection drops a dud or two, it remains a truly remarkable, outstanding album from a unique talent. If you at all liked the sound of Johnny Cash’s last few albums, you need to think about picking this one up.

Coldplay: X&Y – Sure it wasn’t as good as their last one, but it was close, and that means that it’s still a damn fine album full of heartfelt songs and solid craftsmanship.

Paul McCartney: Chaos and Creation in the Backyard – A surprisingly darkly-toned album filled with left turns from the master of pop craft and melody. Producer Nigel Godrich wisely commanded McCartney to handle nearly every instrument heard on the album, since there are so few musicians in the world who could match him in both ability and importance. The songs here are fully-baked beauties – it’s fun to hear a former Beatle so invigorated by the muse again.

Elizabethtown Soundtrack: While I enjoyed the movie (for the most part), the soundtrack might have ultimately been more fulfilling. Littered with bluegrass-tinged acoustic nuggets from Tom Petty and Patty Griffin, the music evokes the sadness and nostalgia that so much of my favorite music done. In addition, there’s some fine stuff from small space-rock outfits like Helen Stellar as well as underappreciated later works by Lindsay Buckingham and the Hollies.

Honorable mentions:
Bruce Springsteen: Devils and Dust
Ben Folds: Saving Silverman
Halloween, Alaska: s/t
ODYC: Black Sun Rising

Suggested songs to download (in order of preference)
eels – Things the Grandchildren Should Know
Neil Diamond – Hell Yeah
ODYC – Goldmine
Paul McCartney – Friends to Go
Derek Webb – I Want a Broken Heart
Coldplay – Swallowed in the Sea
Helen Stellar – io (This Time Around)

All joking aside, that’s pretty awesome.

I’ve long been a fan of Minneapolis musician/producer extraordinaire John Hermanson, from his emotionally potent stuff with acoustic duo Storyhill to the melody-laden power pop/rock group Alva Star, his songs are invariably resonant, unique, suprising, and gorgeous.

Hermanson worked as producer for the Welmore Mile debut album, and it was a real blast spending those few weeks working with him in the studio. During that time, he was nearing completion on Alva Star’s second album, but he mentioned that he had grown weary of spending weeks recording the songs he had written years ago and that Alva Star had been honing on the road for months.

Now, a year later, Alva Star’s new album “Escalator” has emerged, and not a single one of those old songs appears anywhere 0n the album. Turns out that he shelved their nearly-finished album and began recording an album of songs in something of a stream-of-consciousness experiement. The track order on the album reflects the order with which the songs were written and recorded. The entire album was effectively written in the studio and recorded at the same time, making for a startingly original listening experience. It is a stream-of-consciousness album, if you will. The themes of the songs have to do with being the “hero of a big small town” recording a new album amidst the annoyance and chaos of record labels, the press, and booking agents, but more than anything, the lyrics are notable for their raw honesty. Where Alva Star’s first album, “Alligators in the Lobby” was comprised of taut, compact pop-rock in the school of Fountains of Wayne, this album’s songs are better understood in the context of Radiohead or the Flaming Lips – layers of melody and sound complimenting and contradicting each other, slowly revealing themselves to the ears of the listener. There isn’t much for song structure here, mostly alternating song sections that intersect and overlap one another, undoubtedly shaped by the creative methods chosen for the project coupled with the late nights and long hours put into recording with the band.

What’s most interesting is that unlike other “concept albums”, this one seems isn’t strange for the sake of being strange, and more importantly, it isn’t depressing. It just feels like a great musician opening his soul and sharing the experience with the listener.

And the hooks are really good too.

Click here to listen to the title track!

Click here for a great review of the album.

One of my favorite things about his best work, both solo and with The Who, is that is has virtually no appeal to women whatsoever. His music is the sound of frustration, of being misunderstood, of being ordinary, and unable to communicate with girls. His songs are very open and honest while musically thundering and complex. His early songs were about the pain of adolescence and his confessional style continued through the years to document his drug and alcohol addictions in the 70′s.

Today, he is still playing some remarkably fierce guitar with The Who, and his songs still have all those great qualities.

I picked up their new greatest hits album today, and it featured a couple brand new songs on it. One of them was called “Real Good Looking Boy”, and I couldn’t help but smile and be affected by it, rembering growing up and wanting so badly to be cool. I think that part of the reason why the song touched me the way it did has something to do with where I’m at in life at this point, but the song really hit close to home for me in a great way.

When I think back to the
first time in my childhood
When I saw that face
I thought right then,
‘That’s a real good looking boy.’

I saw myself in the mirror
in profile for the first time
I thought,
‘Hey! That’s a real good looking boy’

So I went to my mother
I said,
‘Hey mom – take look at me’
Have you ever seen a teen
Fly so high?

That’s a real good looking boy

She said,
‘Son, well, you know,
you’re an ugly boy.
You don’t really look like him.

In this long line
There’s been some real strange genes
You’ve got ‘em all
With some extras thrown in

That’s a real good looking boy

Now I’m here with you little darling
And you say, ‘You’re beautiful as you are’
And I’ve managed somehow to survive

You arrived in my life like a fragrance
And helped me find a way to laugh
And I know now so-called beauty lies

God gave me a face
Then he gave me something above
God gave me grace
Then he gave me your sweet, sweet, sweet love

You make me feel like a real good looking boy
I feel like a real good looking boy
That’s a real good looking boy

E writes songs about the underdogs in life, and he clearly views himself as one of them. He’s a rock star with an underbite and an affection for dorks. His songs alternate between Beck-style funk-noise and really sweet, affectionate miniature pop songs. Each variation is very unique and endearing, and his songs are often genuinely touching.

Many EELS fans would name Electro-Shock Blues as their favorite album. It was written after E’s mother’s death and his sister’s subsequent suicide, so it’s a heavy album. The music is very melancholy and the lyrics are remarkable in that they stare grimly into the darkest emotions yet still somehow manage to inspire beautifully and remain hopeful about life. This dynamic is found in a lot of their best work.

My personal favorite album of theirs, however, is probably their newest album SHOOTENANNY!. I think that it’s probably E’s strongest, most concise collection of songs. There isn’t necessarily an overarching concept behind this album, but it represents all of his strengths well. My favorite tune on the album is probably a catchy, touching little song called “Love of the Loveless”. It’s sort of E’s own sermon on the mount, saying that it’s easy to love people who are already loved – the trick is loving those who nobody else will.

Click here to listen to it!

Lastly, one of my favorite parts of the EELS website is a little feature called “Dear Uncle E”, where fans write in needing advice, and E offers back strange little nuggets that generally don’t make much sense, but garner a confused laugh. Enjoy a few of my favorites:

Dear Uncle E,
I am a fairly levelheaded young lady who happens to be a big fan of the EELS. However, recently I have found that my love for the EELS is becoming too much for me to handle. It all started when I saw them on their Tour of Duty in Birmingham. Since then I am unable to let go of the wonderful experience that overcame me that night. When I shut my eyes all I can see is Mr. E signing my T-shirt or Koool G smiling. I have lost my appetite for anything but the EELS. Uncle E, what can I do?

Sincerely,
A

Dear A,
You see? This is the burden of being an EEL. It’s not as easy as you might think. Believe me, we’d like to systematically make love to each and every one of you, but due to the sheer number of you, and the constraints of time, the best we can do is make love to a few hundred of you and the rest have to settle for the music. But we like to think that playing music for you is a form of making love. Really. Think about it.

Dear Uncle E,
I’m thinking about getting a tattoo (‘Maybe it’s time to live’ because that whole part in ‘PS You Rock My World’ is so relevant to me.) But everyone says I will regret it (the tattoo in general -I haven’t told them what I’m getting). What do you think?

Thanks,
S

Dear S,
This is one area where I wish I could be a little quicker with the advice. Sure, I’m flattered that you would put one of Uncle E’s lyrics on your body, and maybe a little excited at the idea of being a permanent part of your skin. But trust me, one day you will be an eighty year old with skin hanging off your arms like a turkey neck, wishing to God you hadn’t been so stupid as to put the lyrics from a band you liked in the 1900s on your body. And no tongue piercing, OK? If I’m too late with my advice and you’ve already got the tattoo: Wow! Looks great! I’m honored!

Dear Uncle E,
My cat died. I think his spirit has returned in the body of the goat that lives next door. What should I do?

A

Dear A,
Invite the goat over for tea and talk about the good times you had in his previous life. Maybe check to see if he enjoys cat food. Perhaps a little catnip. Bundle up on the couch with him and see if he purrs. Knit him a nice goat coat.