Music — Top 10/Year In Review

Published 11:02 pm Thursday, December 25, 2008

(So only two or three are even vaguely “new” artists. So I’m old; so sue me)



By Bliss Green

special to The Star



David Byrne/Brian Eno – Everything That Happens Will Happen Today: Not a sound-sculpture like their 1981 collaboration, but instead art-pop of a very high order. Hard to believe they worked on their parts separately, as the sounds and words mesh seamlessly, with Byrne giving forth his most precise dissection of our mad world since, well, primo Talking Heads. Eno didn’t tour with him, but the band was sharp and flexible: when they busted out four (count ‘em, four) songs from Remain in Light, I was in heaven. (Oh, wait, that one was from Fear of Music.)

R.E.M. – Accelerate: Punky speed, precise political attack (“Houston” and “Until the Day is Done”), humor (“Death is pretty final / I’m collecting vinyl / I’m gonna DJ at the end of the world”), this is their best since Monster, and a major comeback from the snoozefest that was Around the Sun. Also of note: the 2-disc Murmur special edition features a whole concert from 1983, blown notes and all, and is glorious. As they moved on, even they didn’t try to repeat the ineffable tribal-dance/jangle-rock synthesis they somehow invented. Now where’s that live version of “Moon River”?

Radiohead – In Rainbows: Ok, so it came out last fall, but I saw ‘em in Atlanta with Bryan this spring, and they’re still the best argument for progressive/depressive art-rock going. (Have been for 10 years now — so let’s hope no one gets Roger-Waters-bighead and busts up the group. P.S. Richard Wright R.I.P., and will the other three please let me pay them $150 to see one show?)

Portishead – Third: The trip-hop vibe of the ’90s is gone and the dissonance (and krautrock and disorienting production) is upfront, but Beth Gibbons still wails the 2(1st) century techno blues like nobody else. Do not play when feeling suicidal (or looking at your 401k … what 401k?).

TV on the Radio – Dear Science: Prog-space-soul from NYC, less murky / more funky and fleet than their generally excellent last one, Return to Cookie Mountain.

Foo Fighters – Echoes, Patience, Silence and Grace: Yes, also late last year, but modern, melodic hard-rock is hard to come by these days, with all the emo-metal-pop Nickelback’s and Hinder’s and Pitiful Me’s. (Ok, I made the last one up, but it should be the subtitle of most of those bands’ names.) The lyrics are generic in a positive old-school/classic-rock way, and the sound is just a beast.

Lucinda Williams – Little Honey: The title track is so strong (‘n’ nasty) that I remembered it clearly from a concert until this record came out eight months later. Has a full, rich sound (courtesy of her ace road band — you don’t even miss Gurf Morlix!), unlike the widescreen-sound of the half-great West, goes in for some sweet Dusty-Springfield moments, and closes with…wait for it…an AC/DC cover! Rockin’ folkin’ ROLL!

AC/DC – Black Ice: With recent Springsteen producer Brendan O’Brien, they totally recapture their classic sound, with little nods to The Who and ZZ Top thrown in for flavor. Less talk, more rock. No ballads. More fun than a barrel of monkeys. As good as Ted Nugent’s Intensities in Ten Cities, and the title of the album is less stupid!

Pretenders – Break Up the Concrete: Living in dilapidated old Cleveland again, her best since Learning to Crawl (with an interim nod to Last of the Independents), this rocks good, but also takes some Lucinda-like turns on the quieter tunes. Except that she was a voter in it, there’s no excuse for Chrissie Hynde not being in Rolling Stone’s 100 Best Singers list.

The Ravonettes – Lust Lust Lust: In lieu of any new Sonic Youth this year, I’ll take this Danish husband/wife team and their gnarly pop-go-the-Velvets. Better than Jesus and Mary Chain because they less randomly slather the skronk over the tunes. David Lynch: call them.



Worst Trend of the Year



Auto-Tune, the vocal-correction device used to warp the vocals of rappers T.I. and Kanye West. As a gimmick, it’s basically a techno-Frampton-voicebox. Will date faster than “Show Me The Way”.



Still Missing



A breakthrough style of music. Lotsa good stuff around, but when you consider Elvis’n’Chuck; Beatles/Hendrix/Stax/Atlantic; singer-songwriter/prog/funk/disco/punk/outlaw country/FM-rock (my beloved ’70s); nu-wave/hip-hop/indie, and then grunge, this decade has had no defining sound. (I refuse to consider Disney/Britney as defining anything—they’ve been making that kind of junk since the ’50s.)



Still Waiting



Neil Young’s 10 DVD or Blu-Ray or whatever box set. I’m really gonna have to get a second job. Probably should have before plunking down for…



Best Boxset



Genesis 1970-1975. I’ll freely admit that there were always irrelevant musical flourishes in their early music (the tightest their art-rock approach ever got was Duke), but it peaks high on every LP, including the inexplicable — even to Gabriel — concept-opus The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Haven’t even listened to the surround-mixes yet, but the prize is the long interviews (all members accounted for) and French-TV concerts on the DVDs. Two complete live takes on “Supper’s Ready,” where Narcissus (Peter) turns into a flower and the Pied Piper takes his children underground.



Pretty Good (Not Bad)



Moby, Last Night; Charlie Louvin, Sings Murder Ballads…; Shelby Lynne, Just a Little Lovin’; Drive-by Truckers, Brighter than Creation’s Dark; Black Keys, Attack and Release; B.B. King, One Kind Favor; Mercury Rev, Snowflake Midnight, Sigur Ros [title: Icelandic for “With a Buzz in our Ears We Play Endlessly”]; My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges, and M.I.A.–Kala — I know, I know. Prog-stylee hip-hop from Tamil [Indian] singer. Doesn’t sound like your cuppa tea, or mine either. But it’s good, hypnotic and dense, like riding through Mumbai in a taxi.

See where all my expendable income went? Have a Funky New Year.



Bliss Green is a 1979 graduate of Meridian High School. He teaches

English at University of Alabama

Birmingham and says he spends entirely too much time with records, books and movies, “some of the few things in this life you can count on.”