Biggest Letdowns of 2010: Pete Yorn and Liz Phair

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So what good is reviewing all this if I couldn’t rant about the two albums that disappointed me the most:

Pete Yorn “Pete Yorn”
Pete Yorn has been a victim of his own success, never quite reaching the highs of his debut from 2001. Like a lost soul trying to find himself, he’s trying stuff to see what “sticks” I guess. Last year he did a duet with actress Scarlett Johansson titled Break Up and while it had it’s moments (“Relator” is a great tune), it seemed a pale imitation of M.Ward and Zooey Deschanel’s She and Him. His latest self titled album was produced by Pixies frontman Frank Black. The opener “Precious Stone” and “Rock Crowd” are distinct enough, but his persona is swallowed whole by Black’s style. Yorn literally becomes a mini-Pixie most of the album after the first few tracks. After “Badman” you forget who you’re listening to. If you liked Black’s old band, then you’ll like this album, otherwise you’ll ask “Pete who?” I’d rather listen to the weary Back & Fourth instead, but even that lacks the memorable hooks that made Pete such a good songwriter. Right now he’s the musical version of Zelig.

Liz Phair “Funstyle”
Much has been written slamming this album for a variety of reasons. Fans of the Exile in Guyville Liz don’t want to hear the horrid rap “Bollywood” and “Smoke,” a whine about how the mainstream music industry is filled with wannabes and slimy corporate shills. This is like your grandma telling a corny joke and explaining the punch-line – it poisoned many listeners first impression of Funstyle. Truth is, the good songs lie a few tracks deeper, but how much muck are you willing sift through? “Miss September” and “Oh, Bangladesh” prove Liz still knows her stuff. And the Liz I love comes through on “Satisfied,” but too much here is full of cliched crap that I expect from your average Beyonce clone. Liz seems to expect the critical response with the satiric “U Hate It” but it’s about as subtle as neon sign. That’s not so say it’s terrible, and some critics have bent over backwards to praise her light-hearted humor. True, this album is more honest and confessional than her last one, but that doesn’t mean it’s that good either.

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Happy New Year 2011

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I’d like to wish all my readers a great 2011. As the years have passed on this blog, I realize as music aficionados we are bombarded with more new music every year – and I promise I will do my best to keep up. I will STILL be reviewing 2010 albums that didn’t make it to my ears till recently. As a way to usher in the new year – let me direct your attention to a FREE download of “Walk Tall” by Ziggy Marley & Paul Simon.

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Ice Cutters and Courtney Murphy

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Ice Cutters “s/t”
The Ice Cutters are the alter ego of musician Guy Latham from Abergele, North Wales. Guy writes a series of compelling songs on the self-titled album and although he claims many influences, the gentle vocals and mid-tempo guitar strums recall The Zombies and Gilbert O’Sullivan primarily. The baroque compositions are impressive on the memorable “Carry The Dream Away” and breezy ballad “Coming Home.” Heavier guitars come in on “ZX81” and the rant “This Is A Job” prove this isn’t a lightweight performer. Piano leads the melody on a few songs (“Taking Over”) but these aren’t as strong as the albums impressive start. Another great standout is The Left Banke like charms of “Mary Morphine.” Overall most of these tracks are pretty good, and I look forward to more from Ice Cutters.

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Courtney Murphy “Big”
After making one of the final three on Australian Idol in 2004, Courtney continued to hone his show biz chops and prepare this album. Comparable to Dan Fogelberg and Go West in style, the opening single “Salvation Jane” is a radio ready hit. Murphy’s got a great melodic streak in his songwriting and his soulful vocal impresses on “Thinking About You Naked.” With big horns and harpsichord, it’s got an ELO like flair and surprises. The “Second Best” is a modern pop standard blessed with great key shifts, and really awesome lyrics. The remaining album has a more traditional pop approach, with inspirational ballads (“Warning To You”) and soulful contemporary (“Margarita”). So how many former “idols” can sing great AND write a kick ass song by themselves? No matter, Courtney’s already done it and I’m impressed.

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Stuff I somehow missed: The Autumn Defense, Bleu and The Silver Seas

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The Autumn Defense “Once Around”
The Autumn Defense, led by Wilco member John Stirratt and joined by Pat Sansone have embraced the 70’s West Coast sound with a gusto that makes the opener “Back Of My Mind” a stunning and unforgettable single. This is manna for fans of Bread and The Eagles at their mellow finest. The production and musicianship here is flawless, and the songwriting is lovingly ernest on the title track and the up-tempo “Swallows of London Town.” Echoes of early Fleetwood Mac and Neil Young are visible in most of these tracks, but nothing comes close to that dynamic first single.

Bleu “Four” 
Bleu returns after last year’s “Watched Pot” to this self funded fourth album. “Four” does not disappoint in that it hits many highs starting with the catchy “Singin’ In Tongues,” the man is in his element. The anthemic “B.O.S.T.O.N.” is a loving tribute to his favorite college town, and “How Blue” is a beautiful LEO ballad that demands repeat listens. It feels like Bleu crammed everything he wanted to do here and every track has a compelling melody. The cherry on top is the Roger Manning Jr. collaboration “Everything Is Fine” making this my favorite “missed” classic of 2010.

The Silver Seas “Chateau Revenge!”
Along with Autumn Defense, The Silver Seas also knows how to mine the 70’s mellow rock style. But the band doesn’t have a slavish devotion to one aspect of the era’s sound and spreads it around. Lead vocalist Daniel Tashian’s soothing croon on “Another Bad Night’s Sleep” dovetails into “Jane” perfectly here. “What’s the Drawback?” is a note perfect companion to ELO’s “Evil Woman” (it even mentions the band). “Candy” sounds like a Beach Boys track off of “Sunflower.” You’ll hear echos of many bands here (Chicago, Seals and Crofts, Steely Dan, etc.) and yes it could be considered one of the year’s best.
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DC Cardwell "Some Hope"

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DC Cardwell creates a heart felt acoustic gem here, full of wonderful melodic hooks and a Ray Davies styled vocal. The gentle minor chords and harmonies that open “I Am Still The Same” are both brilliant and poignant.  Digression: I think the decades most overlooked instrument on recent casual classics is the xylophone, I mean it’s on every good easy listening hit from Pampelmoose to iphone commericals.

Anyway, “Birthday Present” is another example of solid composition and a revelatory Harrison styled guitar break. The pace picks up with the bouncy “Peace and Love” at it’s most Kinks-like and then it veers to Dylanesque territory the next bunch of tracks like “Way With Words” and “Meet The Author.” The country-like pop bounce returns on “A Minute Of Your Time” and “We Fell” has that smooth guitar jangle. A few miss, but most here hit the mark and with a whopping 16 tracks to go through, you’ll find several favorites here. Some of the  mid-tempo ballads (“The Quiet Ages”) are like magical combinations of both Paul Simon and McCartney.  Fans of David Mead and John Southworth should also flock to this release like ants to a picnic. And yeah, it’s a belated 2010 top rated album. This is a perfect year ending release, so put away your “Auld Lang Syne” and play this.

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