Inversion Music :: Pop Music 101: reviews in brief

John Peel, the most vocal and most famous champion of obscure and under-appreciated music of all varieties, died at the age of 65 in October, 2004. In his home of Great Britain, Peel was a household name. In the States, he was known largely through the series of Peel session recordings, issued through the 1980s, which did a great job of introducing punk and independent bands to an American audience. But most Americans never had a chance to hear his amazing and eclectic radio show.

Peel was a massive fan of music before anything else, one that happened to get in on the inside. He was probably the most influential person in music who never actually recorded an album. Some have pointed out that the BBC would never hire his likes now, the proof being they’d recently marginalized him with a later time slot. They took him for granted, it’s true, and the minute he died the accolades started. What other radio DJ anywhere would be remembered with so many tributes, missed by so many fans? Music message boards all over the internet are filled with remembrances and pure shock at his passing.

It is indeed sad and it’s hard to know what to say beyond that. Any person who has spent an unhealthy amount of time in a record store has probably been touched by Peel. His love of music knew no boundaries – from folk and country to reggae and punk to African and house to electronic and noise and on and on. Peel could find something to like in almost everything, though he could also be a severe critic as well. There’s a danger in saying too much and lapsing into maudlin sentiment – this he wouldn’t stand for it – but the need to say something is great. He will be missed by many.

The Fall
The Real New Fall LP, Formerly Country on the Click
Narnack Records, 2004

Twenty-seven years in existence, way more than 27 albums, and enough compilations and members to make for a dozen bands. If you’re considering this new release with diminished expectations, look at where the Rolling Stones were after 27 years: Steel Wheels. Aheeem. Well, first, The Fall surpasses this at a slow walk. But now consider The Real New Fall LP starting with more than zero, and in the context of their own career. It’s not only impressive, it’s better than most of their work through the ‘90s and ‘00s, some of which was very good. There are even a few songs here that are as great as anything they’ve ever done. The Fall were John Peel’s all-time favorite group and with good reason. In his words: “Still the yardstick by which all other bands must be measured.” The Real New Fall LP proves there’s still something to that.

Not a new recording per se, but new to almost everyone but her. This is the debut that will hopefully reach more ears. Jolie is self-taught and plays a number of instruments: guitar, ukulele, violin, piano. You can hear the influences – imagine Karen Dalton recording at home with a few non-showy folk musicians – yet you’re not likely to mistake her for anyone else. This isn’t music to pull you from your seat and into the aisle – it’s blue, but in the brightest shade. She scat sings, she moans, she mumbles, she whistles, whatever it is it always sounds beautiful, especially at 3 a.m. She probably sounds good ordering dinner. Hell, I’ll call this my favorite record of the year.

John Cale
Hobosapiens
Emi, 2003

Few have created the high expectations over the course of their career the way John Cale has. From his stint in the Velvets to his post-Velvets career that left former band mates blushing, he’s always been a musical power. This album, made in his sixties, is surprisingly modern. There’s barely a hint that he’s a hero from another era. “Reading My Mind” is pure pop and would be at home on his classic “Paris 1919,” while the acoustic strummed “Things” is infectious on first listen. But Cale’s insistence on staying relevant is sometimes the problem. “Magritte” sounds like a song constructed around cool beats and “Archimedes” wanders away like an unedited experiment. Hobosapiens has moments of greatness but, here and there, is sadly average compared to the sounds he tries to emulate. Cale’s strength is in his songwriting and voice. Let Bjork be Bjork.

This is Mekon Sally’s fourth album and without question the most fascinating, conceptually and musically. On the last one she imagined herself a cowboy and made a great, if musically conservative, country album. Now she imagines herself a man and runs through a set of completely reworked covers written by men. One subject that appears repeatedly, appropriately so in a world of men, is war. On “139 Hernasel Gurtel” Timms sings: “Oh what a wonderful war it was / So slick and artificial / Every uniform a meaningless waltz of detail.” And on “Bomb”: “An accident sits down with you for breakfast / Things are better, now we have the bomb.” Elsewhere, we hear the agony of love suffered calmly expressed. Is there anything a Mekon, with or without the clan, can’t accomplish?

A friend thinks she’s a party trick, and this isn’t meant as a total dismissal. I didn’t want to immediately consign Peyroux to the copy bin, but you can’t simply compare her to Billie Holliday when she could very well could be the giant herself; Peyroux’s vocals are too carbon copy to make you think of much else. Here it’s Billie taking on the American songbook this half of the 20th century: Dylan, Cohen, Hank. The band is good, don’t get me wrong, she is too, but maybe they’re too good, too polished and, most importantly, too familiar. A song in a mix would make you sit up and perhaps you should leave it at that. Highpoint: Her cover of Dylan’s “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome” is grand.

Who says Satan has all the good music? Show that person Isaiah Owens, a seventy-two year old man of the church. This is his first album, and it’s only him (and God) guiding the guitar and vocals and Ann Colbert lending vocals and testimony. Strictly speaking it’s a gospel album, although I imagine most gospel-leaning fans would be puzzled by it – the sound is muddy, and Owens’ guitar playing messy, sometimes jarring. But it reaches great heights on inspiration and personality. Parts of this album are downright beautiful, other parts downright danceable. Every block in every city and town contains a genius like Owens. Thankfully this one’s been captured in history. Ok, ok, I’ll say it – thank you, Lord.

Wolf Eyes are three guys from Ann Arbor, MI, and one of the more noticed groups to emerge from the always-underground noise movement. Noise, as performed by Wolf Eyes, means assault and battery with guitars, loops, hisses, and various unidentifiable sounds. Be afraid at first, you have a right, but tell me after four listens if your brain hasn’t found the songs in this mess of sounds. Songs that it remembers and spits back to you on your walk or drive to work. Work because you’re a slave and secretly desire to make music like this. There’s something going on here that’s not as abnormal as “noise” suggests. Godspeed Wolf Eyes into the mainstream!

This release compiles everything from this Toledo, OH, band that in its existence only released one single. But that single, “Goin’ Back to Memphis,” eventually found its way onto Late Night With Conan O’Brien when channeled through the White Stripes. Goes to show sometimes a little modesty and underachiever attitude can lead to good things. Now if only the Stripes’ fans would track down the source. (Are they generally the type of fans that do that?) Herein are also demos and live recordings that all hint at the promised greatness if only they hadn’t broken up on the eve of their superbowl victory. What are they doing now? One half turned Soledad Brothers, the other half Boogaloosa Prayer, and so the story has a happy ending yet.

She’s not my Queen of Country, but now more than ever do I see why she holds that title for so many. The voice, the songs, they seem to jump out here like never before. The opener, a new Case original sounding like an instant classic country love song, sets the pace: “If you knew what I know / You wouldn’t go to see her / At least not believe her when she says that she wants you.” A mix of originals and covers, and with backing from the Sadies, she plays one number slow and the next fast, and is always in control. Tigers is a live recording, perhaps suggesting Case’s greatest strength.

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Adrienne Casey writes from New York City. Her Pop Music 101 column appears regularly on Inversion.

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