Category Archives: Free Stream

The Zombies: R.I.P.

Previously unreleased final album sees the light of day

One might say that this final, previously unreleased Zombies album is something of a Frankenstein’s monster. Constructed after the band’s dissolution in 1968, the six previously unreleased Zombies tracks and six new tracks recorded by a prototype of Argent were meant to satiate an American market that had been late to discover “Time of the Season.” But the album’s pre-release singles (“Imagine the Swan” and “If it Don’t Work Out”) failed to ignite any commercial interest, and the album was shelved by the American label that had requested it in the first place. The tracks dribbled out on singles, compilations (most notably the double-LP Time of the Zombies and Ace Record’s omnibus Zombie Heaven box set) and bootlegs, but an official issue of the original running order from the original master takes had evaded fans until now.

The album, as the last-remaining-Zombies-standing Rod Argent and Chris White conceived it, was neatly split in two: side one was written by Argent and White, and performed by Argent, White, Russ Ballard, Jim Rodford and Bob Henrit, in a line-up soon to be known as Argent; side two was assembled from previously unreleased tracks that had been recorded years earlier by the original group, and brushed up by Argent and White (notably with backing vocals and orchestral touches) for the album. There’s a musical seam between the two sides, but the new recordings aren’t a complete departure. In fact, they sound like what they actually were: a follow-on to the progressive end-times of the original line-up’s Odyssey and Oracle, heavily influenced by the band’s keyboardist.

Listeners familiar with the Zombies’ hits will immediately resonate with Colin Blunstone’s lead vocals and the group’s harmonies on side two. These earlier songs also have beat and baroque pop touches that are closely associated with the Zombies original sound. Argent and White’s material on side two, sung by Argent, including an organ jam, “Conversation Off Floral Street” (a track that was apparently mislabeled with “of” on the singles of the time), and slinky piano-led “I Could Spend the Day” that speak to the jazz inflections of “Time of the Season.” Both album sides have material that is as good as anything the Zombie released during their hit-making tenure, including the singles “Imagine the Swan” and “If It Don’t Work Out,” featured here in both stereo album and mono single mixes.

Zombies fans probably have most or all of this material on compilations and box sets, but it’s still worth hearing the original stereo mixes, in the original sequence, from the album’s master tape. The mono single mix of “Don’t Cry For Me” (the flipside of “If it Don’t Work Out”) is offered here for the first time in a digital format, and the mono mix of “Smokey Day” makes its first-ever appearance. Despite the album’s cobbled-together origin, this is a volume that belongs on the shelf right next to Begin Here, The Zombies and Odyssey and Oracle, extending the criminally under-rewarded brilliance of the Zombies. [Â©2014 Hyperbolium]

The Zombies’ Home Page

Janiva Magness: Original

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Blues-soaked soul

Though Janiva Magness began her music career in the 1980s, she didn’t move to Los Angeles and start recording until the 1990s. By that point, radio had fragmented, and the opportunities for soulful blues-based vocalists to break into the mainstream were a great deal more limited. Had she jump-started her career a decade (or two) earlier, she might have ridden the wave of popular blues that found Bonnie Raitt establishing herself commercially. But even with that ship having sailed, it’s surprising that none of Magness’ work broke through alongside the popular neo-soul success of Amy Winehouse, Adele and others. Her award-heavy career has made her a star in the blues world, though, and perhaps that’s the best place for someone who wants to have a long career that stays true to their soul.

Magness picked up a lot of life’s grit at an early age; orphaned in her teens, she spent time on the streets and became pregnant at 17. But she was saved by the blues, and working in a recording studio she graduated from technical work to background singing and eventually to the spotlight. She turned out performances that were tough, sultry and soulful, retooling other people’s material (often surprisingly, such as her version of Matthew Sweet’s “Thought I Knew You“) to meet her artistic needs. But with her latest, she’s dug into the emotions of recent turmoil (divorce, the deaths of friends, family and pets, and a neck injury that almost ended her career) to create her first full album full of original material.

Magness doesn’t spare herself in the analysis, opening the album with an admission of fault and a quest for solid ground. She gives pep talks (“Twice as Strong” and “The Hard Way”), most likely to herself, but still feels loss and longing (“When You Were My King” and “I Need a Man”). The album’s steps towards recovery include hard truths, commiseration and the slow return of trust. There are moments of bargaining (“Mountain”) and recrimination (“Badass”), but the songs are surprisingly light on bitterness. The closer, “Standing,” is sung with a vocal waver whose aching vulnerability brings to mind Ronnie Spector and Patty Scialfa.

Producer Dave Darling frames Magness’ earthiness in arrangements that recall the warm instrumental voices of classic soul, but with a few production touches that lend a modern air. The music seems to buoy Magness willingness to expose herself firsthand, rather than through interpretation. It’s a big step for someone who’d long-since talked themselves out of writing, a step that began with 2012’s Stronger for It, but became a necessity with the past few years’ personal trials. Perhaps she was too busy living her life to think about it as subject matter, but as she demonstrates on this new album, there’s a unique connection to be found with one’s own story. [Â©2014 Hyperbolium]

Janiva Magness’ Home Page

The Farewell Drifters: Tomorrow Forever

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Superb melding of acoustic roots, folk-rockÂ and pop

Nashville’s Farewell Drifters are often likened to the Avett Brothers, Fleet Foxes and Mumford & Sons, and though there’s merit in these comparisons, lead vocalist Zach Bevill’s earnest tone often has more in common with the uplift of Tim DeLaughter’s Polyphonic Spree than acoustic roots acts. The group’s anthemic unison singing, and the addition of drums and electric guitar, bring to mind the Spree’s larger productions, and the Farewell Drifters’ citation of Brian Wilson as a primary influence is heard in touches of 1960s harmony, such as the opening chorale of “Starting Over,” and the instrumental production.

The opening “Modern Age” spins up from its plaintive start to a rousing mid-tempo awakening, with group vocals and an orchestral chime for extra lift. The acoustic strums of “Bring ’em Back Around” similarly build into a full-on rock song (with nostalgic lyrics that press many the same emotional buttons as Jonathan Richman’s “That Summer Feeling“), and “Motions” turns from spare piano into a drum-and-strings crescendo, transforming the lyric’s pessimistic premise into an optimistic expectation. The productions aren’t as grandiose as Art Decade‘s orchestral rock, but they draw inspiration from the same pop-rock well.

The group’s harmony singing and Americana roots show in the Band-like “Brother,” as well as the martial drum and banjo of “Tomorrow Forever.” The album’s forward motion – both musical and lyrical – is often stoked by backward glances. The chime added to the shuffling drum of “Tennessee Girl” adds a modern sound to a classic rhythm, just as the protagonist’s advance is connected to his past. There are threads of disappointment and hope throughout the album, suggesting that growth comes more often from studied failure than a safe lack of trying. It’s an empowering message, and one the Drifters communicate winningly in both words and music. [Â©2014 Hyperbolium]

The Farewell Drifters’ Home Page

NRBQ: Brass Tacks

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Terry Adams’ latter-day NRBQ keeps chugging along

The discussion no doubt rages on, as to whether founding member Terry Adams’ reconstituted lineup should be using the NRBQ name. Even Adams wasn’t so sure back in 1989. But with the band’s long-time lineup starting to fray in 1994, and an official hiatus ten years later, a number of interrelated projects took the group members in various directions. Adams, who turned out to have been dealing with throat cancer, returned to full-time music-making with the Terry Adams Rock & Roll Quartet in 2007, and four years later, with the rest of NRBQ still dispersed in other bands and projects, reapplied the NRBQ name to his quartet for the album Keep This Love Goin’.

Is it NRBQ? Many of the original band’s fans would probably say ‘no,’ but Adams, guitarist Scott Ligon, drummer Conrad Choucroun and bassist Casey McDonough, certainly carry on the NRBQ ethos of musical taste, deep knowledge and an irreverent sense of adventure. You need a pack full of hyphens to describe their mosaic of R&B, jazz, sunshine pop, country, folk and rockabilly, and their topics range from sweet (“Can’t Wait to Kiss You”) to loopy (“Greetings from Delaware”) to fantastical (“This Flat Tire”), and their music even stretches to a cover of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Getting to Know You” that’s more California sunshine than old Siam. Call them what you will, just make sure to call their music really good. [Â©2014 Hyperbolium]

NRBQ’s Home Page

Tom Freund: Two Moons

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Former Silos bassist extends his catalog as a singer-songwriter

Tom Freund is a songwriter who’s something of a musical chameleon. His latest release opens with “Angel Eyes,” a tune whose sharp edged lyric, “funny how when you leave L.A. you gotta drive into the desert / out of the frying pan and into the fire,” is worthy of Randy Newman. Freund’s lap steel further echoes Los Angeles with its David-Lindley-esque tone, and his guitar complements Al Gamble’s organ on “Heavy Balloon” with atmospheric notes and a meaty solo that builds the track to its close. The latter is a fitting background to a lyric that graduates from ambivalence to skepticism to possibility to hope.

Such sophisticated, and often contrasting, shades of emotion are central to Freund’s songwriting. “Happy Days Lunch Box,” ostensibly a nostalgic tribute to childhood, is freighted with adult hindsight, and the anti-love song “Next Time Around” paradoxically embraces the missing embrace of a partner and wraps it in a 20s-styled tune. The album’s bittersweet closer “Sweetie Pie” is an appreciation of a love that’s ended, sung to acoustic guitar and bass. Freund has a nasally voice that suggests Dylan, songwriter Moon Martin, and on the riff-driven “Grooves Out of My Heart,” Joe Walsh, with a nod to Led Zeppelin in the fadeout for good measure.

Freund phrases like Paul Simon on “Same Old Shit Different Day,” and his plea for acceptance “Let Me Be Who I Wanna Be” provides the same sort of rallying flag as Sonny Bono’s “Laugh at Me,” but with a tone that’s satisfied rather than reactionary. In addition to the deft songwriting and wide-ranging musical palette, Freund’s production includes well-placed touches of strings, horns, ukulele and vintage keyboards, guest harmonica from Stan Behrens, and backing vocals from Ben Harper, Brett Dennen and Serena Ryder. Freund’s imagination as a songwriter is matched by his reach as an arranger and producer, making this collection both varied and cohesive. [Â©2014 Hyperbolium]

Tom Freund’s Home Page

Mount Carmel: Get Pure

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Ohio power-trio riffs on heavy ’60s and ’70s blues-rock

This Ohio power-trio’s got the riffs, chops and swagger to make you wish for a triple bill at the Agora. Rock may no longer be popular music’s prevailing tide, but Mount Carmel’s heavy bottom end, powerful drums and scorching lead guitar sound like a day hasn’t passed since Cream, Grand Funk, Rory Gallagher, Blue Cheer, Ten Years After, Mountain and others ruled the hard rock roost. Even with tasty guitar solos, the songs are concise (only two weigh in at over four minutes) and the playing is tight. Matthew Reed fronts the band without overdoing the machismo, and his guitar playing is supported by a solid rhythm section that features his brother Patrick on bass and James McCain on drums. There’s a hint of hippie-jam in their instrumental passages, but no twenty-minute Fillmore excess – at least not in the studio. If today’s popular music doesn’t have the muscle and grit to get you moving, this is one to check out. [Â©2014 Hyperbolium]

Mount Carmel’s Facebook Page

Jonny Two Bags: Salvation Town

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A compelling country-rock voice emerges from a punk-rock guitarist

Despite a resume that includes Youth Brigade, U.S. Bombs, Cadillac Tramps and Social Distortion, guitarist Johnny Two Bags (nee Wickersham) turns out to have a few country bones to pick. His solo debut is full of twanging guitar rather than power chords, forlorn realizations instead of reactionary anger, and it’s all played in tempos that linger rather than thrash. The mood replaces his customary O.C. punk with a vibe that’s Los Angeles country rock, magnified by guest appearances from Jackson Browne, David Lindley and David Hidalgo, and a wonderfully versatile rhythm section anchored by Pete Thomas and Zander Schloss.

Two Bags’ vocal suggests Browne’s on “Forlorn Walls,” and Browne joins him to sing “Then You Stand Alone,” but it’s Lindley’s guitar that evokes the strongest memory. Greg Leisz provides his customarily fine pedal steel, and Joel Guzman’s accordion adds border accents. Two Bags’ voice is surprisingly sweet, but he sings of a life that’s not always been smooth. His songs are populated with loneliness, regret and, unlike a lot of Americana, physical danger. The productions are lived in but not overly polished, providing a feel of performance rather than studio craft. Producer David Kalish was spot-on in pushing Two Bags to write and record a solo project, and together they’ve realized a complete and completely unanticipated musical vision. [Â©2014 Hyperbolium]

Jonny Two Bags’ Home Page

Moot Davis: Goin’ in Hot

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Fine Nashville twang born of a broken heart

Davis’ fourth album, his second in partnership with producer Kenny Vaughan, expands upon the Nashville twang of 2012’s Man About Town. The influences are similar – Dwight Yoakam, Big Sandy and Raul Malo – but there’s also a helping of the Derailers’ Bakersfield hybrid and NRBQ’s irreverence. Guitarist Bill Corvino and steel player Gary Morse add plenty of twang to Davis’ songs of marginal finances, slender experience, waning sobriety and wounded hearts. Especially wounded hearts, as Davis wrote the album in the aftermath of an emotional breakup that brought forth tears, regrets and painful reminders. He croons with Nikki Lane on “Hurtin’ for Real” and struggles with the painful aftermath of “Love Hangover” and unfulfillable desires of “Wanna Go Back.” The band, which also includes bassist Michael Massimino and drummer Joey Mekler, moves easily between mid-tempo blues, country two-steps and second line shuffles, and really tears it up for the roadhouse rock of “Midnight Train” and “Ragman’s Roll.” Their flexibility recalls Commander Cody’s Lost Planet Airmen, and is a perfect match for Davis’ broadened songwriting. [Â©2014 Hyperbolium]

Moot Davis’ Home Page

Fearing & White: Tea and Confidences

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Striking collaboration between Irish and Canadian singer-songwriters

Singer-songwriters Stephen Fearing and Andy White have released numerous albums under their own names and in groups (notably Blackie and the Rodeo, and ALT), but this turns out to be only their second as a pair. Now living on opposite sides of the globe (Fearing in Halifax, White in Melbourne), the album was written in a two intense face-to-face sessions and recorded six months later with Gary Craig on drums. The material ranges from strummed folk songs to mid-tempo pop and to surprisingly heavy guitar rock, with moments that recall the Warren Zevon, Eric Clapton and Rockpile.

The duo’s songs are rife with accumulated wisdom and the craft that comes from practice. Their experience as performers is evident in the multiple ways their music supports their words. The strummed guitars and confident vocal of “Secret of a Long-Lasting Love” remain buoyant as the lyric’s loneliness and desire lead to reunion and consummation. A sense of optimism sees failed relationships as pauses rather than endings, and lost souls find paths back home. The funky shuffle “We Came Together” opens with riffs that suggest both T. Rex and the Everly Brothers, and the growling electric rhythm riff provides bedrock for “Sanctuary.”

The album’s ballads suggest the bittersweetness of Nick Lowe’s solo material. “Another Time Another Place” (which seems to give an unconscious nod to Bob Seger’s “We’ve Got Tonight” with its opening vocal hook) meditates on missed opportunities, “Think of Me Like Summer” and “Save Yourself” are pained in their separations but generous with their wishes, and the heartache of leaving in mirrored by the possibility of a new start in the “Emigrant Song.” Fearing and White are each sophisticated troubadours in their own write, but there’s extra magic in their collaboration. [Â©2014 Hyperbolium]

Fearing and White’s Home Page

X-Ray Harpoons: Get Attuned to Our Tyme

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Terrific throw-back garage fuzz psych

Though they’ve been kicking around in one lineup or another for eight years, this Bonn-based quintet has only now recorded and released their debut LP. That’s given them plenty of time to hone their fuzz guitar, whining organ and solid garage rock beats. The band cites vintage touchstones in the Music Machine, Brogues and We the People, as well as the sounds of 80s revivalists like the Fuzztones and Gravedigger V. The strong organ presence also brings to mind Country Joe & The Fish, the Doors, Lyres, Rain Parade and Chesterfield Kings. The band’s eleven originals mix easily with two finely crafted covers (the Daybreakers’ “Psychedelic Siren” and Sonny Flaherty and Mark V’s manic “Hey Conductor“), as the band plays Eastern-tinged psychedelia, buzzing garage punk and organ and drum-driven rave-ups. The vocals are swaggering, snotty and with the Mellotron effect of “City of Light,” trippy. The album is well stocked with catchy melodies, sharp hooks, fuzz-powered riffs and inventive production touches that will really please garage and psych aficionados. [Â©2014 Hyperbolium]

The X-Ray Harpoons’ Bandcamp Page