A Concert and CDs Worthy of Attention

By Steven Rosen

Ponderosa Stomp
House of Blues, New Orleans, LA
April, 2008

If you could stop dancing to the sinewy, organ-pumping, garage-rock rhythms of Question Mark & the Mysterians' "I Can't Get Enough of You, Baby," "Girl (You Captivate Me)" and "96 Tears" long enough to stare at 62-year-old Mr. Mark himself, you might want to ask him directions to the Fountain of Youth. His ageless, creaseless face hidden behind shades and a giant cowboy hat, he brought the seventh annual Ponderosa Stomp in New Orleans to a thrilling and very late-night conclusion. Once again, this festival organized by anesthesiologist/record-collector Ira Padnos and dedicated to "unsung heroes of rock 'n' roll" proved its point—musicians over 50 (heck, over 80!) can still rock.

Rockabilly dominated the first night: an exuberant Dale Hawkins tackled his classic "Suzie Q"; Roy Head powered through "Treat Her Right"; the Collins Kids' Larry Collins played the fastest double-neck guitar this side of Les Paul while sister Lorrie beamed as she sang "Hoy, Hoy." On the second night, Ronnie Spector belted out Ronettes' classics with a tight, large band. "Isn't she beautiful," one lady cried, standing on a staircase to see 65-year-old Ronnie sing the Students' immortal "I'm So Young" in a voice full of youthful, melancholy longing. Yet another of the endless highlights was Austin garage-rock god Roky Erickson, his mental instability under control, playing ragingly with the Explosives.

Honoring Louisianans, the Stomp featured Dr. John on piano, reprising his earliest songs, while the now-blind old man who produced/arranged him, Wardell Quezergue, ecstatically conducted an accompanying band. Bluesman Lazy Lester showed up to play his "Ponderosa Stomp," the instrumental that gave the event its name. There was so much excellence that the exhilaration could be exhausting—except everybody felt too young to get tired.

From Elmore Magazina

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Neil Diamond
Home Before Dark
Columbia Records

Neil Diamond’s Second Coming on his Rick Rubin-produced albums, first 12 Songs and now Home Before Dark, owes as much to Diamond as to the producer’s ability to coax sensitive, subtle musical approaches from his older artists. Diamond toned down his own earnest (and sometimes bombastic) overemoting in favor of real singing, with real warmth, and also started writing less obtuse lyrics that address his maturity in a positive but not vacuous way.

“The Power of Two” is upbeat and engaging; “Another Day” (a duet with Natalie Maines) exudes shadowy, dreamlike mystery. On Home, Diamond and Rubin favor fairly sophisticated arrangements – strings, horns and woodwinds – but also welcome a bedrock, folk-rock-values band that includes Benmont Tench on keyboards and Mike Campbell and Smokey Hormel on guitar and bass. Diamond’s own acoustic guitar allows you to hear the connection between this work and his Bang Records hits of the 1960s– the urgent, sometimes-foreboding romanticism of “Cherry Cherry” or “You Got to Me” creeps through in the gorgeous “If I Don’t See You Again” or “Don’t Go There.”

Diamond could have been content to remain the Jimmy Buffet of wealthy older romantics; instead he’s stretching for musical relevance.

Standout Tracks: “Another Day (That Time Forgot),” “Home Before Dark”

From Blurt Online

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Jonathan Richman
Because Her Beauty Is Raw and Wild
Vapor Records

When a friend learned Jonathan Richman does Leonard Cohen’s “Here It Is” on his new Because Her Beauty Is Raw and Wild, he said that was perfect – the man who never grows up covers the man who never was young. And there is something about Richman’s goofy wide-eyed innocence – and the openhearted earnestness of his singing – that makes him eternally childlike. But that doesn’t mean his subject matter is juvenile. Or that at age 57 he isn’t a perceptive man of sensitivity and conscience.

Proving that point is his album’s extraordinary closing song, so sad and wise. “As My Mother Lay Lying” is a gentle ballad about spending time with his dying mother. There’s not a touch of maudlin sentimentality or false witness to it, just honest observations uncorrupted by clichés or adult self-consciousness. It’s hard to take; yet it’s also – in its humanistic profession of love – sweet. I can’t think of another songwriter who could face this subject so frankly, yet remain so optimistic about life.

Elsewhere, while there is some filler and the overall sound is familiar to Richman’s fans – nylon-stringed acoustic guitar accompanied by Tommy Larkin’s drums – the songwriting is deeper than usual. Richman seems preoccupied with confronting darkness and life’s disappointments without giving in. “Our Party Will Be on the Beach Tonight” flirts with a muted but scarily discordant arrangement and “Our Drab Ways” and “Time Has Been Going By So Fast” are Richman’s way of pleading for us to stop to appreciate pleasure. Richman thinks so much of “When We Refuse to Suffer” he has recorded two versions – acoustic and a rare electric take. It’s his philosophy of living with eyes (and heart) wide open, and it rocks.

But I have to quarrel with a point he makes: People don’t necessarily take anti-depressants because they “refuse to suffer.” Sometimes they do it because they suffer too much. By the way, his take on “Here It Is” is straightforward but melancholy, featuring his musical simplicity applied to Cohen’s lyrical complexity. And it works – it becomes a slightly unusual folk singer’s Kaddish-like tribute to family. Jonathan Richman is growing up, indeed, in a way that could serve as a role model for his generation.

Standout Tracks: “Our Drab Ways,” “As My Mother Lay Lying”

From Blurt Online

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Emmylou Harris: All I Intended to Be
[Nonesuch]

The 1995 album Wrecking Ball towers as the Mount Everest of Emmylou Harris’ recording career. Before that, she was a very hip country neo-traditionalist—like Dwight Yoakam—with a connoisseur’s taste in folk music and rock ‘n’ roll, thanks to her internship with Gram Parsons. Following it, she was a white-haired pop goddess.

Surrounded by Daniel Lanois’ cosmic wash of a rock production, singing ethereally as if wandering through a David Lynch-directed dream, she established a hierarchy of our greatest living singer-songwriters (plus Jimi Hendrix) by whom she chose to cover.

Harris has been amazingly prolific since Wrecking Ball, especially singing with others or as part of multi-artist projects. But she’s been cautious about solo albums with new studio material; All I Intended To Be is just her third major-label effort in that vein, following Red Dirt Girl and Stumble Into Grace.

It’s been hard telling where she wanted to go on her last two records, which were nevertheless musically strong. Would she continue with Lanois-style sonic mysticism, develop her own voice as a songwriter, or step back a few steps into being a more traditional-sounding interpreter? Turns out she gets the balance just right on All I Intended. Produced by Brian Ahern, the record recalls doesn't try to recreate Wrecking Ball, while also being earthy and more direct.

There is still the sense of nature-inspired awe that carries a spiritual dimension, as on Jack Wesley Routh’s “Shores of White Sand” and Patty Griffin’s “Moon Song.” But there are also songs (like Harris’ own “Broken Man’s Lament,” about a lonely auto mechanic whose wife left him to sing like Patsy Cline) that simply exhibit strong Americana storytelling in the John Prine tradition. Elsewhere, she opts for the soulfully spare, like a duet with John Starling on Billy Joe Shaver’s “Old Five and Dimers Like Me.”

For a while now, Harris has been moving toward the rock-tinged folk aesthetic of Montreal’s Anna and Kate McGarrigle, whose songs seem somehow both ancient and contemporary. Here, Harris becomes an honorary third McGarrigle sister on “How She Could Sing the Wildwood Flower” and “Sailing Round the Room,” which the trio co-wrote and on which the McGarrigles provide enchanting harmonies.

It’s hard to imagine better compatriots for Harris. Both songs are melodically gorgeous and lyrically substantive, with singing that is wistfully romantic but never sweet. Here's hoping they continue working together, and that Harris continues her intriguing evolution as an iconic artist.

From Paste Online