Dead.
Oh, how I'll be mocked! I submitted my Top Ten Albums of 2007 list to the Star yesterday. It includes a blues release that is certain to cause guffaws of disbelief from hipsters and purists. But it's actually an exceptional document that serves as the last hurrah of several elder statesman. Against all odds, it doesn't contain a single Blues Hammer moment (relevant footage from :20-1:05). It's immensely encouraging that- even at this late date- the blues can still surprise. Before the blues was ossified into predictable formula, Willie Dixon's band recorded a couple dozen free-ranging sides that might seem totally foreign to contemporary fans of "the blooze." They include the delightfully hokey "Don't Let That Music Die" from 1949. It's found only on this exemplary out-of-print compilation, but Dixon's Poet of the Blues looks like it's almost as good.
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This set of Darkness On the Edge of Town songs by Patterson Hood significantly improves the quality of my life. The Drive-By Trucker gets deep inside Bruce's anthems. I imagine the jerks ignoring this brilliance as they blab at the bar were waiting for the Sonic Youth tribute act on the same bill. (Found via Aquarium Drunkard.)
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I wax nostalgic over one of my old haunts at Plastic Sax.
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Kansas City Click: Dead Rock West and The Knitters are at Davey's tonight. The last time I saw Exene perform in a venue this small was at a poetry reading.
1 comment:
Thanks for the Patterson/Bruce link. I like Patterson just for having a cool Dad like David who has played on scores of my favorite rekkids.
He really does a swell job saluting Springsteen's spirit and material.
Bgo
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