Van Morrison from Versatile 2017 to Accetuate The Positive 2023

It hasn't been easy keeping up with Van Morrison these last few years. He's been cranking out records like crazy. Since Roll With The Punches in 2017, he's released no less than nine records, including three in 2023.

Versatile 2017 is mostly a jazz album with a few Morrison originals that shows Van to be, well, pretty versatile. It is a solid record with plenty of jazz classics, and Van's originals fit nicely. I wasn't wowed by it, but it was enjoyable, and it pretty much lived up to the title. There are better versions of most of these chestnuts for sure, but Van certainly holds up his end quite well.

You're Driving Me Crazy and The Prophet Speaks, both from 2018, feature Joey Defrancesco's quartet with his Hammond B3 and trumpet plus guitar (Dan Wilson), drums (Michael Ode), and saxophone (Troy Roberts). Both feature Morrison originals as well as jazz and R&B compositions, and both are very good. Morrison seems thrilled/motivated by a different, and jazzier band, than his usual highly skilled accompanists. You're Driving Me Crazy has a more interesting song selection, especially the Morrison originals, all songs that had been recorded previously over the years.

2019 saw Van return to his own band for Three Cords And The Truth. The record features the bluesier side of R&B, and Van writes all the songs for the first time since Keep Me Singing in 2016 (which contained one cover song). The "three cords and the truth" quote from Harlan Howard refers to country music, but thankfully the record has nothing to do with country music. It is merely another very good record from Morrison along the lines of Magic Time 2005 or Keep It Simple 2008, both examples of Morrison's late career resurgence.

I reviewed Latest Record Project Vol. 1 2021 and What's It Gonna Take? 2022, both generally good music dragged down by Van's Covid and divorce inspired whining and bitching. I also reviewed Moving On Skiffle 2023, a relief after the previous two, but not a terribly exciting record.

And that brings us to the other two 2023 Van Morrison records. The first, which is available from Van's web site, is Beyond Words: Instrumental. Other than the pretty awful scatting that is the first song, most of the record is mildly enjoyable. An archival release of instrumentals recorded in the 1970s and 80s, it is mostly studio jams on generally minor musical statements, but it makes nice easy listening (in a good way). It is probably best left to the devoted.

And finally, there's Accentuate The Positive 2023. As with the previous skiffle outing, this one is all covers, except this time it's old time 50s rock and roll with a few country, R&B and pop tunes thrown in. I have mixed feelings about the record. The band is the usual stellar line-up that Morrison assembles, and many of them have been with him for a while now. They take the punch out of some of these oldies, but mostly they sound highly skilled and engaged in the material, and maybe even just having fun. Morrison sings these gems with reverence and genuine excitement and joy. In fact it is remarkable how well Van Morrison still sings. But it is an oldies cover record, and like most of those things, only one or two songs will compete with the originals.

I did a career overview back in 2011, and I have now reviewed or at least mentioned the fourteen records he's made since then in one or more of these Morrison related entries.

Zappadan 2023

It's Zappadan 2023. It might not be the biggest deal it has ever been, but there are quite a few acknowledgements of the festival.

I've reassessed my love of Frank's music this year, and have found that I have less tolerance for his juvenile, misogynistic, let's-push-the-envelope humor, and that reduces my love of at least some of his music. I also feel that his eighties xenochrony method of building songs around isolated guitar solos is evidence of his remarkable editing skills, but not evidence of his best songs in many cases.

But that still leaves a lot to love. If you are new to Zappa and want to know the best place to start, I'd say it's One Size Fits All from 1975. It is one of Frank's best bands playing some of his most accessible material. After that, you could explore any of these:

Freak Out! 1968

We're Only In It For The Money 1968

Hot Rats 1969

Burnt Weenie Sandwich 1970 

Weasels Ripped My Flesh 1970
The Grand Wazoo 1972
Apostrophe(') 1974
Orchestral Favorites 1979
The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life 1991
The Yellow Shark 1993

 

Some of my favorite Zappadan material comes from the wonderful piano player Fred Handl: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsi7u7DmVE0&t=55s

https://www.youtube.com/@FredHandl/videos

 

Here's some other recent Zappadan posts on the intertubes:

The Association for the Recognition and Celebration of Zappadan

https://www.zappanews.co.uk/

https://united-mutations.blogspot.com/2023/12/happy-zappadan.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sySJTjKePZc 

 

And you can also check out my own past Zappadan efforts: 

https://kleaveburg.blogspot.com/search/label/Zappadan

 

Ted Gioia Music: A Subversive History 2019

Ted Gioia has written extensively on music and is clearly well versed in delivering a theory and supporting it with extensive research. 

This is an interesting take on music history that postulates music as a subversive element, challenging the status quo and involving violence and societal change, and not just recently, but from the beginning of civilization. Once the upheaval is over, these new musical trends become subsumed and made profitable by mainstream society. Furthermore, musical change/new musical expression/progress comes exclusively from those marginalized on the fringes of society. 

That's a pretty big theory, and Mr. Gioia backs it up with a ton of research. Clearly an academician, his writing occasionally shifts from engaging to pedantic, but not too often. Most of the time the book is quite readable, and the historical episodes he uses to support his theories are interesting in and of themselves.

Like most academic research, data that doesn't support the hypothesis is mostly ignored, or explained away as somehow actually in line with the premise. Still, the book does a good job of digging deep into the subject and Gioia is a skilled writer and explainer of things. 

It is not a holistic history of music, so you should not expect that. It is an alternative to the musical history told by those who have subsumed and monetized radical musical elements into the mainstream. As such it is a fascinating read, and quite unlike anything else on the topic. 

Mr. Gioia has written quite a few interesting sounding books about music. If those other books are as good as this one, you might be reading his work for a while.

Warren Zevon Warren Zevon 1976

I've written a couple of "Perfect (Or Near Perfect)" entries, and there's been plenty of lists of things I love. Nothing can really atone for the omission of this Warren Zevon record from among those lists.

Zevon had a varied, and mostly unsuccessful (commercially, not artistically) career. After the debut Wanted Dead or Alive that sold maybe 500 copies in 1970, this was for most of us, our introduction to Warren Zevon. Produced by Jackson Browne with Waddy Wachtel hanging around, and featuring guest appearances from everybody: Browne, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Phil Everly, Jorge Calderon, Rosemary Butler, Bonnie Raitt, Glenn Frey, Don Henley, and Carl Wilson, the record sounds great. And the songs, oh my, the songs.

There are so many great songs. Hasten Down The Wind, with a beautiful harmony from Phil Everly, outshines even the excellent Linda Ronstadt version. I can't say this enough. Listen to Everly's harmony. It is breathtakingly gorgeous. 

Mamma Couldn't Be Persuaded, Poor Poor Pitiful Me, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead and Join Me In L.A., all rock hard with super arrangements, killer playing, and whip smart, often sardonic, lyrics. And then there's Mohammed's Radio (an ode to the power of music), Carmelita (a sad ode to heroin addiction), and Desperados Under The Eaves (a sad ode to alcoholism), three beautiful ballads on side two.

Frank and Jessie James is a sympathetic spin on the outlaws, Backs Turned Looking Down The Path is a gentle love song, and The French Inhaler is a scathing put-down of an ex lover. There really isn't a bad (or even middling) song.

The music is performed by A-list SoCal professionals brought together by Browne and Wachtel. It's as close to perfect as anything needs to be, and closer than Zevon ever came, although Excitable Boy 1977 is almost as good.

True Love Travels On A Gravel Road

 

 

One of my favorite songs ever. Great melody, beautiful lyric, and several fine performances. Written by the songwriting team of Arthur Owens and Dallas Frazier, the first performance was by Duane Dee, and it's a good version that made it to #58 on the country charts. 

In 1969, Elvis Presley recorded it on his fabulous comeback record From Elvis In Memphis, and it is certainly the definitive version. The Memphis guys play it perfectly, and Elvis is fully invested in the lyric, and sings it straight from the heart. A highlight of what is arguably Elvis' best record.

Next up was a soul version by Percy Sledge, taken maybe a little too fast, but Percy sings it big like he usually does. Another solid interpretation, but nothing beats Elvis.

In 1992, The Afghan Whigs covered the song, and it is a different interpretation for sure. I haven't warmed to it much. Not great, not terrible.

In 1994, both Nick Lowe and The Highwaymen covered the song. Nick Lowe's version is a lovely, heartfelt take, and the Highwaymen do a decent job even with the four of them taking vocal turns.

Ultan Conlon, an Irish singer-songwriter did a nice version featuring Katie Theasby in 2020.

Louis Cole Quality Over Opinion 2022

Here's something you don't see on this blog very much these days. It's a new record by a contemporary artist that doesn't sound like it could have been made years ago. It's actually heavily synthesized, with treated and/or falsetto vocals, some spoken word/rap lyrics, and mostly electronic drums. That's four things I usually don't care for. It's modern, and surprisingly, I like it very much. I never would have picked it out myself - my son-in-law sent it to me. We both love music, and our tastes in music are approximately 180 degrees apart. I try to find stuff he might like and he does the same, but it doesn't work every time for either of us.

The record opens with the title track, a spacey synth orchestra piece with a spoken word/rap lyric that has a lot of words that are interesting. It's good. I should mention that on most of this record, I wouldn't get any of the lyrics without the lyric sheet, so thank goodness they included it. Next up, Dead Inside Shuffle has great funky beats, treated vocal, horns, and sounds a bit like a Prince tune. Not Needed Anymore has a fast monotone beat, and guitar that I would not have identified as guitar without the credits, and another good lyric. Shallow Laughter uses more spacey synthesizer plus violin and cello and incomprehensible lyrics. Bitches follows with another hot beat and fast tempo. Message is a sad ballad with interesting instrumentation. And that's only side one of four.

Side two opens with Failing In A Cool Way, a highlight for sure, with great drums, funky rhythm, and another great lyric. Disappear is a mellow ballad with more obscure vocals. I'm Tight is another great one featuring fast and hot drums, a trance-like beat, and a lot of wordy lyrics. True Love gets a synth sound from treated guitar and has a nice, almost discernible lyric.

Four of the five songs on side three feature more great funky drumming. Planet X is another Prince-like fast rap, Let Me Snack goes from a quiet start to a hard rock/metal section and more squiggly synths, Forgetting has a nice lyric, Park Your Car On My Face makes the best use of horns anywhere on the record and has some naughty lyrics, and Don't Care has a fine guest vocal that you can hear and a nice jam with bass, drums, and synth. 

Laughing In Her Sleep is a beautiful love song. Outer Moat Behavior is mostly groove, and it's a good groove. When is another love song featuring a nice guest guitar at the end. Let It Happen is a slow building beauty with a big sound, and Little Piano Thing is sweet and simple to close the record.

Of the twenty songs, ten are outstanding and the rest is almost as good. There are no songs that spoil the party, and that's impressive. The lyrics are interesting, sometimes funny, and occasionally downright charming. The falsetto voice he uses most of the time is fine. His synthesizer work and the compositions themselves are very good, and interesting. But the highlight, at least for me, is when he's behind the drum kit. He's a really great drummer, creative, sometimes jazzy, always funky, and consistently hot.

Wow, something really new that I really like.

The James Gang The Best of the James Gang Featuring Joe Walsh 1973

Joe Walsh made three records with the James Gang, a formidable power trio with Jim Fox on drums and Dale Peters on bass. None of those three records was great, but they all included great moments, which is what this record is about.

The hits are here (Funk #49, Walk Away, Must Be Love) but so are a nice set of album tracks that show the band as more than just a power trio. Walsh had a ballad side that almost lives up to his rocking.

Walsh went on to a lengthy solo career and of course joined the Eagles and made a ton of money while raising that band from country-rock status. That's him and Don Felder rocking the twin guitar parts on the title track of Hotel California. I know plenty of people are sick of that song, and for good reason, but it is an outstanding guitar duet.

This one isn't available on CD, and the available CDs have too many other songs on them to really be called "best of". A great find for a vinyl hunter, and an excellent example of why Pete Townsend admired Walsh as a guitar player.