Lucinda Williams Lucinda Williams Sings The Beatles From Abbey Road 2024

Lucinda has been darn busy since recovering from her 2020 stroke. During 2021/2022 she released six Lu's Jukebox recordings of cover sets featuring an individual artist or a thematic thread. All six were recorded live in studio during Covid days. I discussed them all here. Then last year she came out with Stories from a Rock n Roll Heart, a solid outing that compared favorably with her recent work.

And now comes Lu's Jukebox In Studio Concert Series Vol. 7. Covering the Beatles is pretty ballsy, but hey, she did a good job on the Rolling Stones on Vol. 6. This time, and for the first time in the Lu's Jukebox series, she has her core touring band with her, and they are smoking hot. David Sutton bass and Butch Norton drums are as good as any rhythm section. The guitars of Doug Pettibone and Marc Ford are tremendous. Richard Causon organ and Siobhan Kennedy background vocals make generous and talented contributions. 

Not everything works, but most of it does. Song selection is mostly good but a few don't seem to be right for Lucinda. Don't Let Me Down opens the record, and why not - it's perfect for her. With hot organ and guitars, it's a great version. Next, I'm Looking Through You starts with just guitar and vocals, and then Bam!, it rocks out. Nice quick tempo, and more of Causon's fine B3 work. Can't Buy Me Love seems an odd choice, but an interesting guitar break and good backup vocals from Pettibone and Kennedy help a bunch. A better fit, Rain is a pretty straight cover, but it misses the studio effects of the original. Then the guitar monster of While My Guitar Gently Weeps comes, and Lu and the boys tear it up. The guitar interplay is great, Pettibone and Ford rock it hard. The dirge-like Let It Be follows, and it's a pretty straight cover that's almost saved by the guitars. 

Side two kicks off with Yer Blues, another great fit for Lucinda's voice and attitude, with lots of reverb on her vocal, and it is big stomping blues. I've Got A Feeling holds true to the original, and the guitars and organ stand out again. After that I'm So Tired should be the perfect fit, and it is. Something is taken a little fast, and it's good, but it could be anybody's version. There's a million versions of this lovely Harrison song, but none better the original. Lucinda does a melancholy take on With A Little Help From My Friends, and surprisingly it works. Big hot arena guitar rock doesn't hurt. To close the record, they do The Long and Winding Road, a little fast again, and while the band is super, Lucinda's vocal seems almost perfunctory, which is odd.

Twelve songs, three that are a bit weak or odd choices, five that are must-hear excellent, and none of it at all bad. I can't say enough about Pettibone and Ford, they are consistently great. Butch Norton is also stellar all the time. Not surprisingly, Lennon's songs work better for Lucinda than Paul's, but the odd or less ideal choices are all Paul songs. The more times I listen to it, the better it gets. For a Beatles cover record from an artist that would never be the first person you'd think would cover Beatles songs and do it well, she and the band pull it off. A late arrival for the best of 2024.

The Best of 2024

I really shouldn't call it the "Best of". Maybe "My Favorites of 2024" would be better. I've looked at the lists on most of the major music publications, and there's a lot that I haven't heard. I actually got through Charli XCX's Brat, and Beyonce's Cowboy Carter (Beyonce was mildly entertaining). I couldn't make it through Sabrina Carpenter's Short n' Sweet. Hey, I don't really like music that is manufactured rather than performed, so there's that. I did appreciate a few songs from contemporary popular artists on a stroll through The Best Songs of 2024 from a mainstream publication, but not enough to run out and buy or bookmark anything. So, here's the one's I liked a lot this year:

The Lemon Twigs A Dream Is All We Know

New York's finest power-poppers come through in spades. Beatles, Beach Boys, Byrds, Raspberries, they do it all and make it sound fresh and new.

Fantastic Cat Now That's What I Call Fantastic Cat

An indie rock "super group" of singer songwriter multi-instrumentalists makes a rollicking fun record with a positive attitude. Only slightly more rocking than power-pop, think Rockpile, Cheap Trick and a touch of Americana.

The Weeklings Raspberry Park

This one forms a great power-pop triumvirate with the two previous. Weeklings have made their mark as a Beatles cover band, and a really good one. The originals are all solid pop/rock. Super covers of She's Leaving Home and I've Just Seen A Face, and a mash-up of Satisfaction and Mr. Soul that is brilliant.

Nick Lowe Indoor Safari

Not really a new record, but a collection of singles and EPs from the last ten years or so, all done with Los Straightjackets. It's nice to have it all in one place, and they have really become a great band together. The excellent Trombone and Don't Be Nice To Me are standouts, but it's all solid Nick Lowe after ten years since his last LP. 

Bill Charlap Trio And Then Again

Just one great jazz trio doing standards. But with Charlap and his talented sidemen, it is inventive and spontaneous jazz with what Downbeat magazine calls "seamless interaction and extrasensory communication". Great jazz.

Jenny Scheinman All Species Parade

Scheinman has been making interestingly unique jazz for quite a while, and almost all of it is easy to approach and yet challenging in it's own way. Featuring a cast of greats that Scheinmen has worked with before, everything comes out very fine. The sound of a mature artist with ideas to spare.

The Palomar Trio The Song In Our Soul

Hearkening back to the early swing jazz of the 1920s and 1930s, and featuring songs from that era, this record is just a joy. Tap your foot, sway in your chair, and smile, smile smile. 

Louis Cole nothing

Jazz fusion/pop/funk/ electronic/orchestral music. When have you heard that combination before? Louis Cole teams up with the Metropole Orkest jazz orchestra to produce a great record that is a genre to itself.

Continental Drifters White Noise & Lightening: The Best of Continental Drifters

A "best of" from a band that last recorded in 2001. I really loved everything they did (all four records). One of my favorite neglected bands of all time.

Shelby Lynn Consequences of the Crown

We've been waiting for twenty years for I Am Shelby Lynn #2. This isn't quite that, but it is closer than she's ever come, and one heck of a great record. 

St. Vincent All Born Screaming

Another solid outing from Ms. Clark, with great songs, killer vocals, and scary aggression. What can't this woman do with a guitar? 

Vampire Weekend Only God Was Above Us

The smartest indie rock band around gives us a great one, the best since Contra. If you were a little disappointed with Father of the Bride, they are back in spades.

Willis, Carper, Leigh Wonder Women of Country

A six-song EP that lives up to the title. Everything's good, and there's two new ones from Kelly Willis' pen. Carper and Leigh hold up their end of the bargain just fine.

Lance Cowen So Far, So Good

A respected Nashville publicist makes his first record in his sixties. A little bit like a new Guy Clark album sometimes, and of course that is high praise. He can sound a bit like John Denver, and he can get a little twee, but there are lots of great songs and beautifully recorded acoustic instrumentation.

Wings Band On The Run (Underdubbed Mixes)

Often considered McCartney's best Wings/solo effort, it sounds even better stripped of the orchestration. The live-in-the-studio One Hand Clapping from the same time period is big fun too.

John Leventhal Rumble Strip

After producing a gazillion great records, Leventhal steps out on his own. Gentle, lovely, mostly instrumental acoustic gems with two vocals by wife Rosanne Cash. Relax and listen to some darn good music. 

Mark Knopfler One Deep River

Craftsmanship. Since 1996, Knopfler has made one subtly great record after another. Yes, he's a wonderful guitarist, but he's also an equally gifted songwriter, and his singing has a heartfelt and well-worn comfort to it. You can get just over Dire Straits by now. 

Zappadan 2024

It's Zappadan again. The celebration of the life and art of the iconoclast Frank Zappa.

There's Zappadan on Facebook, Instagram, X, Reddit, and of course in the blogosphere.

Zappadan can be found around the blogosphere at Mad Blog Media, Arts Meme, And Now It's All This, eVille Times, You Call That News?, Cirdec Songs, Ketchup Is A Vegetable, We're Only In It For The Music, and archival posts at Fried Green al-Qaedas, Mark Hoback's blog. Mark was there at the beginning, along with Blue Gal when Zappadan was birthed.

I've written extensively for the celebration in the past. It's all right here. There's even a few Zappa posts in addition to Zappadan content, and that stuff is included here.

You can listen to my personal favorite Zappa record at YouTube.