Five albums and five more musical noteworthy listens during 2007.

As originally posted to samizdat, our private chat and literary discussion group.

ALBUMS

Crowded House – Time on Earth
Idiosyncratic eighties pop now yielding to bittersweet middle aged musings on the meaning of life, loss and endurance, owing primarily to the suicide of drummer Paul Hester, with sufficient doses of Neil Finn’s trademark subversive lyricism to inspire thought even if the pop isn’t nearly as bouncy as during the group’s Reagan Era heyday. No ground is broken, but great melodies are proffered, packaged with understated yet suitably intense performances.

The Feeling – Twelve Stops and Home
Youthful and expert Brit borrowers of every trick in the pop music playbook, chock full of hooks and melodies (apply alcohol to create ear worms) and schlock-cocked-eyebrow lyrics about love and loss. That’s enough for me, and yet it should be noted that the results hardly can be classified as bubblegum: “My love is stronger than you think/Much stronger now I’ve had a drink.”

Bruce Springsteen – Magic
At first, the Boss’s latest collection of songs didn’t strike me as overtly political or daring; in fact, in spite of the energetic backing of the E Street Band, the project almost seemed pedestrian, but a half dozen listens revealed a depth that has continued to impress ever since. The song “Magic” provides half the epitaph for the clueless supporting the failed Bush regime, with John Fogerty’s live rendering of “Fortunate Son” supplying the other (see below).

Manic Street Preachers – Send Away the Tigers
Commended by critics as a return to form, although my preferences continue to lie with the dark and elegiac Lifeblood (2004). Spare production accenting a classic power trio, minimal embellishments, with emphasis on short, succinct pop anthems, but bassist/lyricist Nicky Wire still manages to name drop Lee Harvey Oswald in what is ostensibly a love song (“I am just a patsy/the Oswald in Lee Harvey”), guitarist James Dean Bradfield is in fine voice throughout, and Sean Moore finally is permitted to play drums in a manner that would elicit at least a drunken leer of approval from the late Keith Moon.

Radiohead – In Rainbows
It’s fairly obvious that this latest stage in Radiohead’s artistic growth melds the experimentation of post OK Computer with excellent songs. Oddly, not one piece stands out, and yet I hear something different and tasteful each time I listen. A nuanced and rewarding effort.

NOTEWORTHY LISTENS (VARIOUS)

LIVE: John Fogerty in Louisville and Bruce Springsteen in Cologne, Germany
By sheer happenstance, these two performances by rock legends occurred a scant ten days apart in December, and on two different continents. In both cases, it was the first time I’d seen the performer in question live. Elderly pros Fogerty (two hours) and Springsteen (two and a half) provided memorable bang for the buck. Crack musicianship included Kenny Aronoff on drums and Billy Burnette on rhythm guitar (Fogerty’s current traveling band) and the E Street Band’s familiar and stellar lineup (nine people can make big noise, folks). See: This is what will be: The Boss, live in Cologne.

LIVE: Snow Patrol at White River State Park in Indianapolis (August 3)
The band’s Eyes Open album landed in 2006, but I didn’t get around to buying it until 2007. Fortunately there was a live show in Indy, which turned out to be on my birthday. Clever road weary stage banter was some of the best I’ve heard, and the outdoor venue at White River has good acoustics, pristine sound and is highly organized. A wonderful experience all around.

DVD: U2 ZooTV Live from Sydney
The final show of one of the most renowned tours in rock’s modern era is admittedly uneven, having been scripted for a worldwide satellite television broadcast. It doesn’t matter, because my chronological Irish contemporaries have simply never been in as thunderously fine a form as during the show’s seven opening songs, all taken from Achtung Baby, and played with skill and fury that is positively riveting. During the two hours that follow, the usual set list suspects are happily accented by the presence of three seldom performed cuts from Zooropa, including “Stay (Faraway, So Close)”, but unfortunately sans “The Wanderer.”

WEB: Wolfgang’s Vault
On-line repository for four decades of streaming audio concerts, many of which originally were King Biscuit Flour Hour broadcasts back in FM radio days when so little content was available to poor schmucks in places like New Albany. Everyone from Miles Davis to Elvin Bishop, and entirely free of charge.

BOOK: Groovin' High: The Life of Dizzy Gillespie, by Alyn Shipton
While not the most arresting biography I’ve read, Shipton nonetheless has I important and plausible things to say about the position of Gillespie in the development of bebop, and I was inspired to listen again to the recordings that I have for proof of the trumpeter’s genius.

Speaking of jazz geniuses, there was also a memorable time during my recovery from shoulder surgery when I bonded again with Mr. Beiderbecke: Quality time with Bix.

And, finally, a local musical event made a big impression: In the Mood: Saturday at the Speakeasy with the Glenn Miller Orchestra ... and more than a few ghosts.