John Wesley Harding New Album Coming

Now 19 albums and three novels into a compelling career, John Wesley Harding is about to release The Sound of His Own Voice. Recorded at the Type Foundry in Portland, Oregon, the album was produced by Harding and Scott McCaughey (The Minus Five, The Baseball Project, R.E.M.) and mixed by Tucker Martine (My Morning Jacket, The Decemberists, Spoon).

It features the all-star King Charles Trio (John Moen, Chris Funk, Jenny Conlee and Nate Query), all members of The Decemberists, Peter Buck of R.E.M. and McCaughey.

Rosanne Cash, Laura Veirs and John Roderick (The Long Winters) also lend their vocal talents to the record.

John Wesley Harding is an inveterate and ingenious multitasker, combining twin careers as an acerbic and articulate “gangsta folk” (his term) singer-songwriter and an acclaimed novelist. On his CDs, he juggles musical styles that include sharp, witty originals, traditional folk songs, even his own convincing imitations of old ballads. Acoustic, electric, a cappella, solo or with full band, the man known as “Wes” has covered a lot of territory with no signs of slowing.

He started out as Wesley Stace (and remains so for his writing duties), born in Hastings, England, in 1965 to a mother who taught singing and a father who was a classics scholar. Then there was pop music – the Beach Boys, David Bowie – for him to listen to. And then there was Bob Dylan, whose songs changed 14-year-old Wes’s life (and future performing name).

After completing his degree in English Literature at Cambridge University, Wes yielded to the call of songwriting and performance, crafting his own music and pomposity-puncturing stage presence. A subsequent move to London thrust him before larger audiences as the opening act for such diverse artists as John Hiatt, Hothouse Flowers and Ted Hawkins.

Signed by the UK’s Demon Records, ironically the home of Elvis Costello, to whom Harding was initially compared, Wes and his manager made the strategic “mistake” of his recording his first album, It Happened One Night, at a live show: “I’d done a total of about thirty gigs before I recorded my debut album; the songs were live, so no one wanted to play them on the radio; I was writing a lot at the time, so I was bored of these songs by the time it came to record Here Comes the Groom (his first US release and second CD overall, described in the L.A. Times as “the first great rock album on the ’90s”).

It Happened One Night did serve to establish Harding as a worthy link in the chain of personally aware, politically conscious, and painfully observant modern songwriters that connects Dylan, Springsteen, Costello, Bragg and a shortlist of others. Critics were quick to notice: “His eloquence can be gut-wrenching. [The album] captures something you won’t find . . . almost anywhere else: the sheer joy of performing” (Creem)

 

Collapse Into Now – R.E.M. (Warner)

Much will be written about how this is “the best R.E.M. album since (insert reviewers favorite R.E.M. album here)”, and that’s fine. But in the end that’s going to be more about the reviewer’s view of the back catalogue and their personal point of entry into it, rather than this actual album.

This actual album is a cracker – and it would be a cracker whether the band had a hallowed history or not. It was probably made possible by its predecessor Accelerate, an urgent, punk rock type album of spitfire vocals and discordant guitars – and album that served the purpose of reminding the band that they were still a “rock n’ roll band” rather than an aural art project. (of course, there’s a strong argument that suggests every album is an ‘aural art project’, but I think you know what I mean).  That point defiantly (and definitely) re-established they were able to take a breath and flex their hard earned musical and emotivational muscles on this more broadly landscaped collection. But if you are falling in love with this band all over again via Collapse Into Now, I suggest you go back and re-visit Accelerate and thank it for services rendered.

There’s a lot to love about this album. Yes, there are songs that fans will joyously note remind them of glorious moments from previous moments on previous albums – and indeed that exactly what I thought on having a ‘one listen’ preview several weeks ago – but the longer I live with this album, the more I realize that its more than a collection of (albeit, brilliant) self tributes. Collapse Into Now is cogent and coherent, it takes you on a ‘journey’ more detailed and exhilarating than that completed by a network full of reality contestants (who seem to have stolen that word!).

The members of the band seem to be entirely focused in the making of this album. Peter Buck seems to be re-invigorated in his playing, summoning the best, more tasteful parts he can find whether they are gentle arpeggios or frantic power chords. He even brings out the mandolin both for effect and affect. Any thought that he was saving some of his most inspired parts for his plethora of side-projects is washed away by his work here. Mike Mills provides the vocal parts that feature on many of the best R.E. M. songs his contributions making a song like Mine Smell Like Honey and That Someone Is You, vintage R.E.M. songs.  That former song is almost a perfect encapsulation of the sum of the parts that make this band so beloved, while the latter reminds us that even the most revered of bands shouldn’t be taken too seriously all of the time. That latter quality is something often overlooked when measuring R.E.M.’s appeal. As is Mills. He’s a very white bass player but on songs like All The Best his relentless groove is intoxicating and he provides the platform for Scott McCaughay’s, small but important, keyboard spiral.

Michael Stipe provides us with lyrics (in print!) and a performance that brims with confidence and zest. Even on Walk It Back, an emotive ballad, and one that could have been maudlin, he sounds like it matters more to him than it has in several albums.  Yet on Alligator_Aviator_Autopilot_Antimatter he channels his inner punk and matches it with the chaotic guest vocal of Peaches in a wonderful slice of controlled mayhem. Stipe revisits a couple of his favorite lyrical constructs on Uberlin – namely flying and nocturnalism – and he seems to be relishing the melody of this song that recalls Drive from Automatic For The People, a melody which itself had been partially borrowed from David Essex (or Pylon, or both)

The only song on the album, not having is lyrics printed is Blue, a spoken word beat poet piece that Stipe clearly requires us to listen to, not read. Here he weaves his words around an ethereal Patti Smith vocal contribution that eventually segues back into Discoverer. In a way, it’s the title track, and Stipe’s benediction for this album and the bands place in the world. “I want Whitman proud/Patti Lee proud/My brothers proud/My sisters proud/I want me/ I want it all/ I want sensational/ Irresistible/This is my time and I am thrilled to be alive/Living/Blessed/I understand.”

He couldn’t have summed up the impact of Collapse Into Now better, even if that had been his intent.

The Baseball Project Hits A Home Run

The Baseball Project is a part-time band consisting of Steve Wynn (Steve Wynn & The Miracle 3, The Dream Syndicate, Gutterball, Danny & Dusty), Scott McCaughey (The Minus 5, Young Fresh Fellows, R.E.M.), Linda Pitmon (Steve Wynn & The Miracle 3, Golden Smog) and Peter Buck (R.E.M.). This stellar group of musicians formed The Baseball Project as a vehicle for songs about…you guessed it… baseball.

Following the success of the outfit’s first album Vol. 1: Frozen Ropes & Dying Quails – the band performed on The Late Show with David Letterman, was featured in the official World Series Program and Sports Illustrated among others – baseball’s sardonic rock chroniclers are back with an even more detailed look at the stories behind the stories of America’s Favorite Pastime. The album Volume 2: High and Inside, its second album of baseball-themed rock n’ roll is released in the US on March 1^st via Yep Roc.

But don’t think you need to be a baseball fan to enjoy this album. The music is some of the best rock n’ roll you’re likely to hear all year – no surprises given the identity of its creators – but even the lyrics will have appeal to any sports fan, or even anyone who likes a good story, well told.

Baseball fans may have already heard select tracks from the album during the 2010 playoffs. “Don’t Call Them Twinkies,” with lyrics & vocals by Craig Finn of The Hold Steady and music by Steve Wynn, made the internet rounds and rocked Target Field during the Twins’ ill-fated run, becoming the unofficial battle cry of the team’s playoff hopes. The McCaughey-penned “Panda & the Freak” accompanied the S.F. Giants’ more successful bid, following the team all the way to its World Series win. But Craig Finn isn’t the only rock royal (and baseball geek) to grace the tapes of Volume 2. The album also features guest appearances by Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie, Steve Berlin of Los Lobos, Yo La Tengo’s Ira Kaplan, Chris Funk and John Moen of The Decemberists as well as longtime friend and musical collaborator Robert Lloyd.

While legends of the game like Pete Rose, Reggie Jackson (“The Straw That Stirs The Drink”) and Roger Clemens (“Twilight of My Career”) certainly get their due,Volume 2 finds band members drilling down even deeper into the Byzantine, lore-laden annals of baseball history. On their sophomore effort the band examines growing older via fallen phenom Mark Fidrych (“1976”), details a tragedy of near-Greek proportion (“Tony”) and exposes the real story behind an infamous play (“Buckner’s Bolero”) – all while laying down riffs that stand alongside anything they’ve done in their myriad other projects.

The Baseball Project will devote much of 2011 to touring in support of this new release, including multiple shows during this year’s SxSW Music Conference in March.

Tired Pony – The Place We Ran From (Fiction/Shock)

This album is the first from a collaboration instigated by the lead singer of Irish band Snow Patrol, a guy named Gary Lightbody. Apparently Snow Patrol are rather big, primarily as a result of a huge hit called Chasing Cars which achieved recognition via being on a television shows named Grey’s Anatomy.

All of this information is stuff that I was vaguely aware of but I have to admit that the music of Snow Patrol is not something that I’ve had much exposure to. I actually became interested in this album due to the identity of some of Lightbody’s collaborators, most notably Peter Buck (of R.E.M.) and fellow R.E.M. alumni, musician Scott McCaughey and recent producer Jacknife Lee. They are also joined by Richard Colburn of lauded Scottish band Belle & Sebastian.

While Buck has a tendency of popping up just about anywhere there is a studio light on he rarely appears on anything less than interesting and so his involvement here certainly made it worth investigating. It seems as though Lee is a common thread being the producer of both R.E.M.’s vastly under-rated Accelerate album and Snow Patrol’s last few releases.

I’ve read a couple of reviews that suggest that this album was intended to be Lightbody’s nod of country but it ended up sounding not that far removed from Snow Patrol, (presumably without the big hit single)

So…that’s the contextual prologue dealt with!

The musical reference points that seem to leap out at me include The Waterboys, The Decemberists and Coldplay, three bands that at first appearance have in common a sweeping approach to their songwriting tempered by an intelligent use of interesting organic instrumentation and impressionistic lyric writing.

Tired Pony cleverly avoid taking most of these songs into the epic realm and keep the grand gestures to a minimum even though a couple of the songs are almost begging for them. Held In The Arms Of Your Words is one example of this. In the less restrained hands this song could have built into a crescendo but instead it burns slowly to better effect.

Dead American Writers is almost a single with it’s buoyant up-tempo swing while the album’s opener NorthWestern Skies manages to capture the spirit of it’s lyrical content superbly – feeling claustrophobic and a threatened. It’s also one of several songs where Buck’s mandolin is a subtle but effective contributor. Iain Archer (a longtime collaborator of Lightbody’s ) takes lead vocals on I Am A Landslide which becomes the album’s ‘folkiest’ tune but one that inherited some Southern Americana flavour from another subtle Buck contribution, this time on banjo.

The Deepest the Ocean Is is a brooding and very gentle song that it one of the best on the album, and is also notable for having instrumental credits for the respective players of “feedback”, “noise”, “rubber duck” and “typewriter”. I can actually imagine this song on an R.E.M. album circa Reveal or Up.

The album closes with Pieces. This song does take the liberty of building to a more panoramic, sweeping climax and it’s final couple of minutes are more cacophonous with a mass of electric guitars creating a harsher and more abrasive sound. But it does this well and as the album’s closer it is well excused the less restrained approach.

This is an album that gets better each time you play it. There is a lot to take in both lyrically and instrumentally and it certainly manages to avoid the feeling of being an indulgent side-project. I’m not sure what the intentions are for the future of Tired Pony, but if it does transpire to be a once-off project it will have been a completely worthwhile one.