Music at Elsewhere
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Elvis Presley: The Complete '68 Comeback Special (SonyBMG)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read
By 1968 the man who had almost single-handedly created rock'n'roll culture just a decade previous was all but irrelevant: Elvis hadn't sung live since a concert in Hawaii in 1961; his last top selling single had been Good Luck Charm six years previous; and his recent single Guitar Man had failed to enter the Top 40. He hadn't been on television since a Frank Sinatra special in May 1960.While... > Read more
Elvis Presley: Baby What You Want Me To Do (rehearsal)
China Forbes: '78 (Inertia)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read
To be honest, I don't like this as much as everybody who has heard it when it has been playing at my place. I put it on and thoroughly enjoy the lightweight pop-rock quality of it (mid-period Sheryl Crow, after she lost the edge, comes to mind) and can certainly appreciate that this singer from Pink Martini has assured pop-pipes.But it lacks a certain something. Kick, I think.The many songs of... > Read more
China Forbes: One Less Word
Bannerman: The Bannerman EP (Nice Like Pie/Rhythmethod)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read
Bannerman is not former Sneaky Feelings/Dribbling Darts frontman Matthew Bannister as I assumed on seeing this EP, rather it is Richard Setford who was the mainman behind Auckland's large soul-funk outfit One Million Dollars and its offspring Batucada Sound Machine, two party-large bands that had punters up and dancing.Time for a sitdown though folks because this lo-fi, seven song collection is... > Read more
Bannerman: Head Like a River
Malcolm Holcombe: Gamblin' House (Borders)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read
Your first response to this gruff-voiced, whisky-stained singer-songwriter may be, "how come I haven't heard of him sooner?"Well, diligent Elsewhere listeners may well have: he appeared on the massive and ambitious Songs of America triple set which appeared here some months back. He sang The Old Woman Taught Wisdom, a song which dates back to the 1800s -- and Holcombe can sometimes... > Read more
Malcolm Holcombe: Goin' Downtown
Cassandra Wilson: Loverly (Blue Note)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read | 1
More so than her Blue Note labelmate Norah Jones, vocalist Wilson (along with violinist Regina Carter on Verve incidentally) has redefined the parameters of what we know as "jazz" in the 21st century.Jones may be a superb jazzy singer-songwriter with a country heart, but Wilson can turn her attention to material from all across the musical spectrum (not unlike what used to happen in... > Read more
Cassandra Wilson: Gone with the Wind
Joan As Police Woman: To Survive (Liberator)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read
Joan As Police Woman certainly has an arresting name (sorry!) but it is her remarkable voice that will capture you (and sorry again!).Joan Wasser's debut album Real Life of two years ago was a remarkable album and was hailed at Elsewhere and elsewhere. The Guardian said of her voice that it was "so wondrous and moving that it makes everyone else's seem ordinary and mundane".That... > Read more
Joan as Police Woman: To Be Loved
The Clean: Mashed (Arch Hill)
25 Aug 2008 | <1 min read
What can you say? The Clean recorded live during their '07 national tour.Really, enough said: David Kilgour's guitar just gets more mercurial and expressive over time (if sometimes pulling back from the edginess of previous decades) and Hamish and Robert create and ride these often oceanic surges of sound. But nuance is everywhere also.Magic at high volume -- and the version of Point That Thing... > Read more
The Clean: Point That Thing Somewhere Else
Jakob Dylan: Seeing Things (Sony/BMG)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read
This son of Bob will be 40 next year and has a substantial career behind him with the Wallflowers (five albums) plus some high-profile guest spots. But with this debut under his own name you have to ask, "Aren't you a bit young for this?"That's because the album is a stripped-back (mostly) solo affair produced by Rick Rubin who is widely known these days for reviving the careers of... > Read more
Jakob Dylan: Something Good This Way Comes
Krista Polvere: Here Be Dragons (Inertia)
25 Aug 2008 | <1 min read
This Adelaide singer-songwriter may sound a little weak in a couple of places here but that hasn't stopped some high-power friends lining up in a New York studio to help out on these delicate and somewhat stately alt.country songs: Ryan Adams (who co-wrote Let's Go), cellist Jane Scarpantoni, Adam Snyder and Grasshopper from Mercury Rev, and Emmylou/Dylan producer Malcolm Burn are all here. And... > Read more
krista polvere: crying out loud
Brett Dennen: So Much More (Rhythmethod)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read
This great album came out so long ago that I had it at Elsewhere about a year back and then deleted it because I just assumed it was lost to all (except me) and I needed to free up some space.Lord knows why it has now reappeared in a different cover and with "PRIORITY RELEASE!" emblazoned (three times) across the top of a promo flyer.I guess -- because this new version comes with six... > Read more
Brett Dennen: Darlin' Do Not Fear
Ry Cooder: I, Flathead (Warners)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read
Right, I'm not going to pretend this is easy to follow, but it's Ry Cooder so it's worth the effort.This album apparently completes the trilogy of Californian albums Cooder started with Chavez Ravine and My Name is Buddy, but this one is slightly more problematic in that it comes from the perspective of an imaginary musician called Kash Buck (ho ho) who plays roadhouses and bars with his band... > Read more
Ry Cooder: Steel Guitar Heaven
Bonnie Prince Billy: Lie Down in the Light (UKSpin)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read | 1
After establishing himself as the downbeat and somewhat gloomy singer-songwriter living in a half-lit corner of oldtime Americana, Will Oldham (aka Bonnie Prince Billy, Palace, Palace Brothers etc etc) sounds like he has changed his listening habits and maybe gone into a sun-soaked cornfield.Some will find this disappointing and it does need to be said that this feels very lightweight in... > Read more
Bonnie Prince Billy: Keep Eye on Other's Gain
Tyler Ramsey: A Long Dream About Swiming Across the Sea (Shock)
25 Aug 2008 | <1 min read
In equal parts drawing from early acoustic Neil Young, ambient Brian Eno and a touch of the Jackson Browne singer-songwriter tradition, this album by the guitarist in Band of Horses (an Elsewhere favourite) redefines understatement.With a small and often barely present band (upright bass, drums, violin, cello, pedal steel etc) he eases his way through a dozen songs notable for his deft... > Read more
Tyler Ramsey: These Days
Hacienda Brothers: Arizona Motel (Southbound)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read | 1
A sad shadow hangs over this album by a traditional country outfit whose two previous albums have found a place at Elsewhere: singer-songwriter and frontman Chris Gaffney died of liver cancer in April after this album was completed.With his musical partner Dave Gonzalez, Gaffney formed the Hacienda Brothers six years ago and their exceptional debut album What's Wrong With Right was produced by... > Read more
Hacienda Brothers: Used to the Pain
The De Sotos: Cross Your Heart (Ode)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read
If CDs are dead as we keep being told you do wonder why people not only keep making them, but also why record companies put so much effort into their expensive packaging -- like this from an Auckland-based band which shaves off a generous slice of Americana country rock (a mighty crowded genre) and wrap it up in an attractive package with a lyric sheet.Well, I guess Ode heard these crisp,... > Read more
De Sotos: '59 Cadillac
The Black Leaf: Dusty Road (Waht Records)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read
And here is part deux of the Howden/Waht picture: an acoustic mini-album (29 enjoyable minutes) written while he was in Brazil for four months and there is a chronological flow here of his travels, encounters and impressions.A concept album, I guess?Again what works is the modesty, understatement, layered musicality (guitar/vocal line/subtle embellishments from keyboards I think I hear)... > Read more
Black Leaf: Hook Around
Brian Wilson: That Lucky Old Sun (Capitol)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read
In what sounds like another step in his on-going recovery programme, this album from the former Beach Boy doesn't much change that well-established formula of layered vocal harmonies, uplifting or reflective melodies, and classy orchestrations.What makes this of interest though isn't that it is a kind of song-cyle about his beloved California (complete with B-grade post-Beat spoken words bits)... > Read more
Brian Wilson: Midnight's Another Day
James Yorkston: When the Haar Rolls In (Domino/EMI)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read
For someone who makes the only kind of alt/indie.folk music I like and respect, I'm astonished this Scottish singer-songwriter with all the right connections for me (Beta Band, KT Tunstall, Bert Jansch, John Martyn, opening for Turin Brakes, Lambchop and Tindersticks) seems to have largely gone past me.He has released three studio albums (some live ones too I think?) and prior to this I'd only... > Read more
James Yorkston: Tortoise Regrets Hare
John Mellencamp: Life, Death, Love Freedom (Universal)
25 Aug 2008 | <1 min read | 1
John Mellencamp's last album Freedom's Road was so good -- a grounded, raw and uncompromising look at America in the hinterland and heartland -- that this similarly conceived new one should attract immediate attention.Mellencamp -- who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year -- somehow falls below the sight lines in New Zealand, despite a long and creditable body of... > Read more
John Mellencamp: Longest Days
John Hiatt: Same Old Man (Elite)
25 Aug 2008 | 1 min read
It has been two decades since John Hiatt hit a high profile with the albums Bring the Family and Slow Turning. But despite some fine albums since (and a few duffers) he seems to be missed by the spotlight and has now become one of those rock-country journeymen who is more respected than actually listened to.His Crossing Muddy Waters at the start of the decade gained him some good reviews (I... > Read more