retroblog.net

After listening to Bill Champlin’s latest album No Place Left to Fall, I think I now understand why he left Chicago. Champlin sounds so free and alive on this record. Chicago had become creatively stagnant, releasing only two albums worth of new material in the last twenty years. I’m sure the steady income from touring was nice and all but playing the same set year after year probably took its toll on Champlin. The new album is full of energy and ideas and it’s an absolute joy to listen to. It’s Champlin at his finest, running the full gamut of styles from laidback funk/R&B (Total Control, Tugging at your Sleeve) to acoustic pop (Look Away), gospel (Looking for You) to Chicago-esque ballads (Never Been Afraid, All Along).

The musicianship here is top notch with Champlin on keyboards & Hammond B-3, Bruce Gaitsch on guitar, Billy Ward on drums and George Hawkins Jr. on bass. The standout track for me is “No Place Left to Fall”. It’s tastefully restrained with Champlin and band holding back and keeping things at its bare minimum during the whole track. I love that tension that is built during the song and really serves the track well. It takes a truly mature musician to know not to “play out” on every song.

other favorites include: “Total Control”, “The Truth”, “Looking for You” and “All Along”.

retroGrade: A
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Bill Champlin – No Place Left to Fall
released in the U.S.: August 2009
record label: Dreammakers
official website: BillChamplin.net

TRACKLIST:
1 Total Control (Champlin, Graydon) 05:19
2 Tuggin’ on Your Sleeve (Caruso, Champlin, Champlin) 05:53
3 The Truth (Champlin, Gaitsch) 04:16
4 No Place Left to Fall (Caruso, Champlin, Champlin) 04:10
5 Lover Like That (Champlin) 05:39
6 Lookin’ for You (Champlin, Matkosky) 04:24
7 Never Been Afraid (Carlsson, Champlin) 04:56
8 Angelina (Champlin, Gaitsch, Hawkins) 06:16
9 Look Away (Warren) 06:34
10 I Want You to Stay (Burnett, Gaitsch) 04:51
11 Never Let Go (Carlsson, Champlin) 04:25
12 Stone Cold Hollywood (Champlin) 04:41
13 All Along (Champlin, Gaitsch, Hawkins) 06:41

listen to a sample of “Total Control” via Lala.com

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When a band catches that mercurial wave of mainstream popularity, the modus operandi for most is to NOT rock the boat and keep riding the wave. And that basically sums up Paramore’s latest release, brand new eyes. The followup to their hit album Riot! is pretty much more of the same which will please most fans and will most likely continue to broaden their appeal. They’ve got that hook-laden pop/punk formula down pat.

Paramore sounds confident and comfortable in their role as a female-fronted Green Day clone. The one-two punch of album openers “Careful” and “Ignorance” feel like an overeager attempt at proving to their fans that they haven’t gone soft just yet. But things begin to click by the third track “Playing God” which features a great chorus with the memorable lines: Next time you point a finger I might have to bend it back or break it, break it off. Next time you point a finger I’ll point you to the mirror.

It’s a bit unfortunate that producer Rob Cavallo (Green Day, My Chemical Romance) and the band chose to master this sucker “loud”. Granted the brick-walled, in-your-face sound is standard for this genre, but man, it’s brutal on the ears. Ear-fatigue is a given when listening to this album for an extended period of time. But even so, the band is poised to widen their already massive fanbase with radio-ready hits like “Where the Lines Overlap”, “Looking Up” and “All I Wanted” which features Hayley Williams channeling her inner-diva (think: Kelly Clarkson).

retroGrade: B+

Paramore – brand new eyes
released: September 2009
record label: Fueled by Ramen
produced by: Rob Cavallo

TrackList:
1 Careful (Farro, Williams) 03:50
2 Ignorance (Farro, Williams) 03:38
3 Playing God (Farro, Williams, York) 03:02
4 Brick by Boring Brick (Farro, Williams) 04:13
5 Turn It Off (Farro, Williams) 04:19
6 The Only Exception (Farro, Williams) 04:27
7 Feeling Sorry (Farro, Williams, York) 03:05
8 Looking Up (Farro, Williams) 03:29
9 Where the Lines Overlap (Farro, Williams) 03:18
10 Misguided Ghosts (Farro, Williams, York) 03:01
11 All I Wanted (Williams, York) 03:45

watch Paramore at the mtvU Ulalume Festival performing “Brick By Boring Brick”:

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On their way down the east coast, Journey made a stop at the Greensboro Coliseum this past friday night. Honestly, I wasn’t that enthused about this show since I saw them last summer on a better bill (Cheap Trick & Heart). When they announced that Night Ranger was opening the show a couple months back, I was very disappointed. But with third row seats, my disappointment in the lineup quickly faded away as the music started to play friday evening. The two pronged lead guitar attack (Night Ranger’s Brad Gillis and Joel Hoekstra) made things fun to watch and Kelly Keagy’s vocals sounded strong throughout the set. Jack Blades on the other hand needs to just shut up and play. His between song ramblings brought the momentum to a screeching halt and not knowing where they were (“It’s great to be here in GreensBURGH, North DAKOTA”) didn’t help things either. But songs like “When You Close Your Eyes”, “Sister Christian” and “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me” went over quite well.

As for Journey, I simply had a blast being so close to the stage and having such a great view of the band. Friday night’s setlist was pretty similar to what they had played last summer but it was obvious that Arnel Pineda is now so much more comfortable on stage with the band. I enjoyed his energy, his jumps off the drum riser and his interaction with the audience.

They performed the usual crowd pleasers, with “Open Arms”, “Separate Ways” and “Don’t Stop Believin’” receiving the biggest reactions. I personally enjoyed hearing songs that weren’t played the last time around including “Send Her My Love”, “Keep On Runnin’” and “Still They Ride”. I was also hoping for “Be Good To Yourself” and “Why Can’t This Night Go On Forever” but I guess ya can’t having everything.

From what I saw, “Higher Place” didn’t go over well with the arena-sized crowd along with “Wildest Dream”. I honestly don’t know why they keep “Wildest Dream” on the setlist because it’s not strong melodically and there are better choices off of Revelation, in my opinion, including “Where Did I Lose Your Love” and “Turn Down the World Tonight”.

Another thing they should lose in the set is Jonathan Cain’s harmonica jam. It’s definitely a time waster in my book. Also the “Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin’” encore is just lame. A good chunk of the crowd headed for the parking lot during that song including yours truly.

But overall, I still enjoyed the show. Pineda is a joy to watch and Deen Castronovo is just a monster on drums. Oh and Castronovo sounded phenomenal singing “Still They Ride”. and of course I could just go on and on about Neal Schon. He’s simply amazing.

I do have to admit though that the band performing these songs a half-step lower is sort of jarring at times. I’m not sure if the general audience notices that they are performing these classic songs in a lower key but it’s definitely noticeable to me. Is this because I’m a musician and I can hear the original notes in my head or do fans also notice this too? I totally understand the need to lower the key to help preserve Pineda’s voice but some of the energy or spark gets lost when things get tuned down. maybe it’s just me?

Not sure if I’d see them again next summer. Will they have new material ready by next summer? and will they go out with a stronger “packaged” tour like they did last year? I’ll be interested in seeing what they decide. …but I can tell you this.. if the setlist stays the same, you can definitely count me out.

**UPDATE: 22Sep09**: According to Neal Schon’s blog – the band will be working on new material in 2010 and won’t be back on the road until 2011!! So, catch Journey live while you still can! There are only a few more dates left on the 2009 tour.
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Since I was one of the many that wasn’t able to physically make it to one of the 7 U.S. AWATS shows, I had to settle for watching the shows online via live webcast. I was initially a bit wary about plunking down money for a “glitchy” feed or other streaming-type issues but thankfully the live webcasts were very well done and practically glitch-free. Kudos to Todd (along with Todocast and NewTek) for providing fans an alternative way to see the shows.

Now that I’ve seen it, I can understand why he arranged for the broadcasts. The man went the extra mile this time around in terms of stage presentation. After years of seeing him on low-budget-no-nonsense tours, the AWATS shows were a refreshing surprise. Not only were there multiple costume changes but also video screens, smoke-machines, lasers and a stellar backing band. OK, OK, this is nothing when compared to something like U2’s 360 Tour but STILL a truly welcomed treat for us Todd fans.

I caught the two Chicago gigs via webcast this past weekend and it was well worth the $20. It featured multi-camera views of the concert and good sound right off the soundboard. Todocast also provides the webcast as an archive so for those that didn’t catch the show live can still watch the shows after the fact. I haven’t personally checked out the archives but from what I understand, a “1 meg” archived stream is available for viewing which is an even better quality stream than the initial live broadcast (which was at 700K).

Both shows were great to watch but if I had to pick, I’d say the Sunday show (Sept 13) was the stronger of the two. Todd had some guitar issues at the end of the AWATS set on Saturday that sort of dampened the mood a bit. No guitar issues on sunday plus the opening Utopia set was tighter as well.

So if you haven’t seen it yet, you still have time to watch the pay per view from TodoCast. I believe the “1 meg” archive just got posted today and will be available “on demand” for approximately a week.

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Even though I miss the experimentation that Wilco was known for before 2007’s “Sky Blue Sky”, I have to say that their latest release, Wilco (the Album), is still pretty enjoyable to listen to. One may wonder what really goes on inside Jeff Tweedy’s head but it seems pretty clear that Tweedy & company wanted to focus more on songcraft than the production or the performance end of things this time around. In other words, there are no extended guitar solos or complex layering of instrumentation on this record. It’s “back to basics” for the band and it definitely does place the focus back on the song itself rather than on a jarring guitar solo or a dissonant instrumental jam. and thankfully for the most part, the songs here are strong enough to bear the scrutiny. I do have to say though that there are a few moments on the album that are a bit too relaxed or underdone at times but overall the good definitely outweigh the few misses here. The highlight for me is the song “Bull Black Nova” which is more complex in arrangement than the other songs and features some interesting guitar work by Nels Cline. The song is a dark and twisted snapshot of a murderer. “It’s in my hair, there’s blood in the sink. I can’t calm down, I cannot think. I keep calling, there’s blood in the trunk, I can’t calm down. Pick up! oh pick up!” It’s disturbing and full of tension and it’s simply Tweedy at his best.

RetroGrade: B

Wilco (The Album)
label: Nonesuch Records
released: June 2009

TrackList:
1 Wilco (The Song) 2:59
2 Deeper Down 2:59
3 One Wing 3:42
4 Bull Black Nova 5:39
5 You and I 3:26
6 You Never Know 4:21
7 Country Disappeared 4:02
8 Solitaire 3:04
9 I’ll Fight 4:23
10 Sonny Feeling 4:13
11 Everlasting Everything 4:00
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Here’s Wilco’s performance of “You and I” (with Feist) at the David Letterman Show:

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You have to admire Mandy Moore for sticking to her guns and creating the music she wants to make. I’m pretty sure Moore had some opposition when she decided to turn her back on being a “Britney-clone” to immerse herself in the retro-realm of 70’s singer/songwriters like Joni Mitchell and Harry Nilsson. You could just imagine all of her advisors setting up meetings with pie-charts and graphs displaying the vast decrease in media exposure by not going the pop-princess route. I personally thought it was some sort of gimmick when she released her Coverage album back in 2003. I really couldn’t fathom someone who sang the pop tune “Candy” would be so into the works of Todd Rundgren, Joe Jackson and Elton John. But after Wild Hope in 2007 and now her most recent album, Amanda Leigh, she has proven to me that she has been pretty sincere about her influences.

I’ve been listening to Amanda Leigh for a month now and I’m taken by how effortlessly melodic the songs are. I believe a lot of the credit has to go to Mike Viola. The melodies, the chord progressions and instrumentation are very well done here. The album is a full-on homage to all those 70’s artists Moore seems to love so much, right down to the sound of the recordings and even the use of the harpsichord (which you don’t hear much on recordings these days). The album opens with what I’d consider the best song in the set, “Merrimack River”. The song is so strong, Viola and Moore decided to include a reprise of the melody later on in the album. It’s good to hear Moore’s voice having more depth and nuance than in previous efforts. She still doesn’t have the vocal chops of others in her field but I’m glad to see the development nonetheless. As a big Todd Rundgren fan, I can hear the Todd influences (intentional or not) in songs like “I Could Break Your Heart Any Day of the Week” and “Indian Summer”. Other highlights include “Fern Dell” and her collaboration with Lori Mckenna, “Everblue”.

RetroGrade: B+

Amanda Leigh by Mandy Moore
released: May 2009
label: Storefront

TrackList:
1 Merrimack River (Moore, Viola) 4:26
2 Fern Dell (Moore, Viola) 3:02
3 I Could Break Your Heart Any Day of the Week (Moore, Viola) 2:50
4 Pocket Philosopher (Moore, Viola) 3:15
5 Song About Home (George, Moore, Viola) 3:57
6 Everblue (Mckenna, Moore) 4:13
7 Merrimack River (Reprise) (Viola) 0:58
8 Love to Love Me Back (George, Moore, Viola) 4:14
9 Indian Summer (George, Moore, Viola) 2:23
10 Nothing Everything (Moore, Viola) 4:23
11 Bug (Moore, Viola) 2:16

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Merrimack River live for Walmart Soundcheck

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It really boggles the mind why Hot Leg’s Red Light Fever never got an official release in the United States. This is probably one of my favorite albums of the year and from what I can tell, you can’t purchase the CD anywhere in the U.S. except as an import. WTF? The album is a great comeback effort by Justin Hawkins and the songs are pretty much an extension of what he was doing with his former group the Darkness. All the hard rockin’ elements from the Darkness are present here – crunchy guitar riffs, catchy hooks and Hawkins’ trademark falsetto. Thankfully fans outside the U.K. can at least purchase mp3 downloads from the band’s website. But it’s sad to see that the band never got the promotional backing they certainly deserve here in the States. According to their website, the band is planning on recording their second album and then releasing it in early 2010. Hopefully they’ll find a U.S. record label to back them this time around. Come on, this is *Man-Rock* at its finest!

RetroGrade: A

personal favorites off the album include: Trojan Guitar (fantastically epic!!), Whichever Way You Wanna Give It (reminds me of the Darkness’ “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” ), You Can’t Hurt Me Anymore and Ashamed (love Hawkins’ take on reality TV)

Artist: Hot Leg
Album: Red Light Fever
Released in the U.K.: February 2009
Label: Universal UK
official website: Team Hot Leg

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It takes a special breed of performer to be able to pull off a solo acoustic show in front of a large audience. When you strip away all the spectacle of a full live production (which usually include lights, band, sound reinforcement, etc.) and bring it all down to just an acoustic guitar and vocal, today’s typical singer/songwriter might not be able to keep an audience engaged for a full set of songs. Can you imagine any of the auto-tuned pop princesses on the radio these days having the cajones to stand in front of a packed crowd with just an acoustic guitar and no backup dancers, light show or a bank of computers to rely on? Something like that takes some old-fashioned talent in order to keep a crowd’s attention for more than a couple songs especially in this day and age of ADD. An artist like Shawn Colvin would be one that I’d place on the short list of performers who can successfully pull of a solo show like that. As a matter of fact, Colvin has recently released a 15-song live album simply titled Live that’s a perfect example of what it takes to do a live acoustic show.

In my opinion, Colvin brings three things to the table that keeps audiences enthralled. First off, she’s got a fantastic voice that is capable of conveying such a wide range of emotions. She’s got great control and her expert use of dynamics really shines through in this setting. Second, Colvin is a fantastic guitar player. Obviously, it takes more than just simple strumming to keep people’s interest and Colvin utilizes a variety of techniques that ultimately keeps each song fresh and unique. She also uses various alternate guitar tunings that pleasantly augment her sound with richness and depth. What surprised me when first seeing her live is the fact that she changes her tunings on-the-fly which can be very difficult to do while all eyes are waiting and watching. Other artists in a live setting usually bring along several guitars that are already tuned differently for convenience but Colvin is such a veteran of the stage, she simply changes tunings as she goes. Impressive, indeed!
and lastly, Colvin has written some strong material over the years. Her confessional-style lyrics have touched many and are so unique compared to the cliche-ridden manufactured fluff on the radio these days. Where else are you going to hear heart-breaking lines like -
“I can pack myself up in a matter of minutes, leave you all far behind. All of my old world and all the things in it are hard to find, if they ever were mine…”
or
“..wished hard enough to hurt, drove fast enough to catch the moon but I must have been dreamin’ again ’cause there’s nothing around the bend except for that flat fine line, the Wichita skyline…”

Colvin is truly a gifted artist and the new CD is just another testament to her talent and her work.

Personal favorites off the disc include – “A Matter of Minutes” (hits me down deep as a parent of young kids), “Tennessee” (I absolutely love the jazz-flavored chord she plays during the chorus), “Wichita Skyline” (love that signature percussive playing she does on the guitar), “Diamond in the Rough” and “This Must Be the Place” (I absolutely love her take on this Talking Heads tune).

retroGrade: A

Shawn Colvin – Live
Produced by Shawn Colvin and John Leventhal
Released: June 2009
Label: Nonesuch Records
Official website: ShawnColvin.com

TrackList:
1 Polaroids 5:05
2 A Matter of Minutes 4:31
3 Shotgun Down the Avalanche 4:01
4 Twilight 3:07
5 Trouble 3:55
6 Tennessee 4:01
7 Nothing Like You 3:38
8 Sunny Came Home 4:10
9 Fill Me Up 3:28
10 Wichita Skyline 3:42
11 I’m Gone 3:25
12 Ricochet in Time 4:10
13 Diamond in the Rough 4:04
14 Crazy 4:18
15 This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody) 4:44
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It was hard for me NOT to just CUT and PASTE my last Hillsong review for this review of a_CROSS//the_EARTH: Tear Down the Walls, especially since the majority of their releases are *SO* cookie-cutter like. I know, I know, praise & worship music inherently limits the songwriters to basic chord progressions in order for congregations the world over to be able to sing-along during services. But even so, I expect a little more from Hillsong United, who are touted as the most popular youth worship band in the world. The new live recording just feels like they’re filling an obligation. The songs don’t feel inspired and are pretty much by-the-book. All the elements of a Hillsong recording are here: upbeat rockers (check!), introspective contributions from Brooke (Fraser) Ligertwood (check!), bland mid-tempo strum-alongs (check!, check!), and futile attempts at another “Shout to the Lord” mega-smash (check!). Two songs from last year’s This is Our God needlessly appear here in this collection – “Desert Song” and “Your Name High”. Both songs were performed better on the previous CD. Brooke Ligertwood as always delivers the standout cut, this time called “Soon”, arranged in a low-key manner which is pretty unusual relative to Hillsong’s bombastic tendancies. Other songs that have potential to catch on with congregations hungry for new material include: “Freedom is Here”, “Tear Down the Walls”, “More Than Anything”, “You Hold Me Now”

retroGrade: C+

a_CROSS//the_EARTH: Tear Down the Walls
Hillsong United
released: May 2009
label: Hillsong/Integrity

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It’s a bit sad to see that the gorgeously animated Dragon Hunters didn’t find a wider audience. I guess that’s what separates indie films with the marketing power of the majors like Disney and Dreamworks. My kids watched the DVD last week and I noticed that the kids were going back for third and fourth viewings. Usually, they’d be satisfied with a movie after maybe a second run-through so it was a bit surprising to me to see them wanting to watch this particular movie over and over again. So, I sat down and watched Dragon Hunters with them and realized how breathtaking the visuals are. The unique look of the various dragons in the film as well as the detail that went into the landscapes and castles are fresh and inventive and not the typical fare that one would normally see in a children’s animated film.

The film is a CG-animated adaptation of a french TV series which follows a gentle warrior named Lian-Chu along with Gwizdo and a rabbit/dog type creature named Hector. They encounter a little girl named Zoe who’s home is being threatened by the World Gobbler dragon. I’ll admit that the storyline and dialogue are a bit weak here but my take on this is that the movie just HAS to be seen and not heard. People, give this NON-Pixar movie a chance!
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retroGrade: B
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