WILCO, WILCO

Genre(s): Alternative, Rock, Folk, Experimental.

Preamble: Wilco, the band releases Wilco (The Album), which contains “Wilco”, the song. Confusing? Perhaps. Although, a dense fog of confusion has always played a major role (metaphorically) with our favorite Alt-Country-innovators-turned-superstars.

Look: A desert workhorse is cheekily adorned with a party hat at a rooftop party devoid of guests. I’m gonna sit here and decipher some sort of meaning, that’s usually how I work. Here it goes!

Long-winded: Children’s birthday parties, at least the thematically poignant ones we dream of, would include a pony, right? My parties growing up involved piñatas, carne asada, and a full keg of beer for the adults. My cultural differences are a bit skewed but can’t escape something any echelon of society knows: the feeling of being “the odd man out”. Wilco, for all its triumph, could never really reach the level of a U2, REM, or band-that-both-fans-and-critiques-adore. Wilco’s not a band for the masses, as much as you’d like to think so. They, take some getting used to, are an acquired taste per se. Our desert friend could represent the “odd” kids getting together to throw a party of the rest of us, by the rest of us, for the rest of us.

Short And Sweet: Why not have a camel at a birthday party? Take the damn picture already! The camel wrangler’s gonna be here any minute!

Listen: “Common children, you’re acting like children/every generation thinks it’s the end of the world,” Jeff Tweedy sings with jesting concern on “You Never Know”. He follows that with a catchy-as-hell chorus saying “I don’t care anymore, ‘cause you never know”. On 2007’s Sky Blue Sky we listened to Tweedy dealing with the woes of adulthood. This time around could we be hearing insightful words of wisdom that only come from old age?

“I’ll Fight”, is a song so chivalrous it could be passed off as romantic; well, as romantic as any man can get without exposing his soft underbelly. Before you get all gushy, “Bull Black Nova” takes us into pitch-black. Building greater tension than anything Hitchcock could produce, we are painted a picture of a man who has just committed homicide. He sits on the hood of his car contemplating his fate, reminiscing all the blood left at the scene of the crime.

The two humps on our party attendee are perfect symbolism of what this album feels like: peaks of very successful songs and valleys with songs that could’ve used more attention. My personal dislike for “You And I” (featuring singer-songwriter Leslie Feist) goes a long way, but this tune will have no problem deflecting my negativity with its radio-friendly coating. Tweedy presents the theme of the album as "acceptance of things you cannot change". 12 step program? Anyone? Acceptance of more commercial sounding music is a direct effect of that.

Speak: “Wilco”, the album’s opening track exclaims “Wilco, will love you, baby”. Bands whom have achieved cult status usually travel a two-way road, appreciating their fans as much as their fans appreciate them. All be it the road less traveled, Tweedy and company reinforce that admiration by letting us know they have our unbroken back.

http://www.wilcoworld.net/

ALBUM: B-
ARTWORK: B-
DO WE HAVE A FIT? NEUTRAL

THE ROLLING STONES "EXILE ON MAIN ST."

GENRE(S): Rock 'n' Roll - Country - Soul - Blues

PREAMBLE: Escaping their home country of England (avoiding mounting taxes), The Stones settled into a chateau in southern France to finish up four years of work. In the midst of Keith Richards' and Producer Jimmy Miller's daily heroin habit, Jagger and company manage to pull off the 7th Greatest Album Of All Time: Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time.

LOOK - A collage of black and white pictures of Sideshow Freaks graces the cover of The Stones' tenth studio release. The Rolling Stones, always sticklers for the provocative and raunchy, are well represented by these Carnies. Each of these pictures could be a visual for each of the eighteen tracks on Exile... perhaps I am over-stretching my interpretation? Truth be told, this fits the band, and it's not literal; that is always nice to see. My only complaint, the title and name of the band almost camouflages into the high contrast of the photographs.

LISTEN - Mick Taylor, now a full member of the band and lead guitarist, lays down just as many memorable guitar riffs as Brian Jones could have. "Rocks Off" opens the album with one of these riffs; coupled with a sharp snare beat, and Jagger's signature soulful growl, you'll have no choice but to crank the volume to 10.

Always the template for what a lead man should be, Mick Jagger's easy-come attitude on "Shake Your Hips" takes innuendo farther than it ever would have liked. With Producer Jimmy Miller sidetracked, Jagger took control at the sound board once in Los Angeles. Though Exile deploys some of The Stones' best arsenal, Jagger's inadequate production skills is unmistakable with barely audible lyrics and a rhythm section with no punch.

"Tumbling Dice" and "All Down The Line" strut through with the signature Stones sound you've come to know and love. Tracks like "Ventilator Blues" and "Turd On The Run" show how deep-down, blue, and dirty the delta can get. Nashville isn't far down the highway with "Shine A Light". There is no lack of soul here; "I Just Want To See His Face", makes The Rolling Stones one of the few bands who can just as easily write a song about Jesus as they can about Lucifer.

Exile On Main St., in my humble opinion, is a bit fat, and could have been reduced to a very good single album instead of being an better-than-okay double album. Then again, what do I know? George Martin said the same thing about The Beatles' White Album.

SPEAK - The Rolling Stone were never perfect. Who could be when constantly compared to The Beatles? Exile is not the starting point but the hight of The Stones finding their own niche in the history of Rock 'n' Roll. Giving into one's flaws might make you a freak, but I'd rather be a freak than pander to what-have-you. Inperfection is the truth.

www.rollingstones.com

ALBUM GRADE - B-

ARTWORK GRADE - C+

DO WE HAVE A MATCH? YES!

THERESA ANDERSSON "HUMMINGBIRD, GO!"

GENRE: Indie - Folk - Singer Songwriter - Soul

PREAMBLE - They say women are better at multi-tasking than men... I never doubted it for a minute. Theresa Andersson has only served to put this statement to shame.

LOOK - This image 'aint nothing if not pretty; a fitted glove for Miss Andersson's beautifully crafted album. A hand-painted image of what looks to be mountains graces, Hummingbird, Go! Its "cute" whimsy may not be worthy of white museum walls, but sure sells the idea of carefully instrumented love and beauty. Theresa's hummingbird must go, maybe it's destination is depicted in this 4.75 X 4.75 square. Above the heartwarming color pallet of the these mountainsides is the only problem I see with this design, a problem that arises for many designers (including myself): the type doesn't belong, and isn't part of the design; it looks like it was squeezed in last-minute before it was emailed out to the manufacturer.

LISTEN - Swedish signer songwriter, Theresa Andersson came to New Orleans in 1990. After a decade-long stint of playing the Ragin' Cajon scene, she quickly developed and honed her multi instrumental talent into a package that astonishes.

"Birds Fly Away's" beautiful harmonies and layered instrumentation makes you picture a room full of musicians, back-up singers, and technicians. It's hard to believe that Hummingbird, Go! was cut entirely out of Andersson's kitchen (where she practices her amazing live performances). Equipped with peddles galore, drums, an acoustic guitar, a violin, and samples, Theresa makes what she does not look easy at all. View a performance here! Or here.

Title track "Hummingbird, Go!" is a good example of the two minute little snippets of beautiful experiments Andersson sandwiches in between bouncy, stomping, chic-barn-performances you could square dance to ("Japanese Art"), and songs that will have you remains about your old hopeless romantic ways ("The Waltz").

My favorite song on the record "God's Highway", with its refreshing, honest, all-be-it-painful lyrics, is a great contrast to upbeat tracks like "Na Na Na". From the highs to the lows, to the romantic and personal, Theresa Andersson hits almost every single note within our psyche.

SPEAK - Hummingbird, Go!, at first listen is just a better-than-average offering by a very talented singer songwriter. The strength of Theresa Anderson's song-writing isn't disputed. What can be disputed, for me, is whether or not she is the fine line between Musicianship and Performance Art. It's easy to see how this all could be taken as a novelty act, but these songs are too good, too perfect, too intricate, too gosh-darn pretty to be an "act".

Theresa Andersson's Myspace

ALUBM GRADE - B

COVER GRADE - C

DO WE HAVE A MATCH - YES!

PANIC AT THE DISCO "PRETTY. ODD."

GENRE(S): Emo - Indie - Baroque Pop - Rock

PREAMBLE - The taboo of Pop Music has withered away and has all sorts of kids wishing they could cut a record at Abbey Road Studios.

LOOK: Panic At The Disco's choice of artwork for their second album, in leaps and bounds, is a step up from the High-School-Photoshop-project of an album cover they put out for A Fever You Can't Sweat Out. Victorian-styled illustrations in a Victorian Era frame highlights this whimsical album well.

LISTEN: Modern Pop songs are miles, if not light years away from the cornerstones set in the first half of the 20th century. Not afraid to slip their hand itno the sticky mess Pop has become, Panic At The Disco reflects on the past. Problem: their experimentation has them imitating sounds they've heard elsewhere without having a shred of their own.

The Kids meandering your local mall were tickled pink to pick up this new offering. Poster Children for the Emo Scene, Panic At The Disco is applauded for taking a daring chance, away from their Punk-Disco sound. Brush the bangs from your eyes, boys and girls, this Vegas quartet feverishly spent over a year doing nothing more than appropriating The Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Pretty. Odd., from the get-go, has Panic personally addressing a crowd in waiting. "Nine In The Afternoon's" A-Day-In-The-Life pounding piano chords, "Mad As Rabbits'" Good-Morning-Good-Morning horns, and every other song laced with George Harrison-esque guitar riffs, has you wonder if PATD stumbled across scrapped Paul McCartney tunes.

Do or don't get me wrong, some songs on this record are catchy as hell. "When The Day Met The Night" will snag you with its Baroque Pop style, but you still can't help but reference "Penny Lane". These songs are good because Panic At The Disco did their homework, and thus mastered the art of mimicking.

SPEAK: Your typical 15-year-old with skin-tight jeans, teased hair, and liquid eye liner (boys and girls included) live within an umbrerlla, inside a "scene", never having been exposed to anything but Paramore and Taking Back Sunday. Our sense of history has been lost. Educate yourself to find the roots that sprung your favorite artists.

www.panicatthedisco.com

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ALBUM GRADE: C

ARTWORK GRADE: B

DO WE HAVE A FIT? YES

GREEN DAY "21st CENTURY BREAKDOWN"

GENRE(S): Punk - Rock

PREAMBLE - Green Day's second attempt at Rock Opera. Why try to reproduce what you could only get right once?

LOOK: Two star-crossed lovers are stenciled onto Green Day's 8th release. I assumed the graffiti look had lost it's potency since its exposure through Mainstream Hip-Hop and over-exposure with turn-of-the-21st-century Rock. The artwork, credited to Chris Bilheimer, mirrors artists such as Banksy; originality is nowhere to be found here.

LISTEN: The massive success of American Idiot (2004), caused a wave of enthusiasm amongst longtime fans happy to see our favorite Bay Area Trio take the limelight once again. Backlash: a new generation of fans who don't have the luxury or retrospect of growing up with Dookie (1994). If you're pushing 30, like myself, I'd steer clear of any Green Day concert, least you want to spend the night amongst a sea of 13-year-old kids and their I'm-still-cool or grumpy parents.

Clocking in at over an hour, 21st Century Breakdown is the longest release in Green Day's catalog. Who's responsible for not equipping Billie Joe Armstrong with the butcher's cleaver for a little fat-trimming? Tracks 4 through 7 are intended for character development in this Punk Rock Opera, but only serve as filler before you get to the juicy plot-thickeners. "East Jesus Nowhere" (protesting organized religion) shines through with a real sense of Anti-Establishment attitude. The fast-paced "Peacemaker", primarily driven by acoustic guitars, adds a much-needed extra dimension in a style we haven't seen from the boys since 2000's Warning.

It takes 13 tracks before we get the album's best track, "Horseshoes And Handgrenades". Armstrong's growling vocals and signature Power Chord guitar riff are sure to make it a head-bobbing crowd-pleaser. Track 16, "21 Guns" is something to look forward to, but by then you've realize 21st Century Breakdown's so-called concept has drowned in a slew of songs that are far too similar to one another. "I don't want to loose my sights", Armstrong sings on "See The Light"; I'd hate to break it to you, Billie Joe, but I think this time around you have.

SPEAK: Have I been spoiled by Swiss Modern Design (design at its purest and most minimal form)? Minimalism is a backlash to gaudy ornamentation, ornamentation revolts against the elite of minimalism, destruction breeds creation, and around and around we go. Chris Bilheimer and Green Day implore too little too late; nothing new or surprising from either artist.

www.greenday.com

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ALBUM GRAD - D

ARTWORK GRAD - F

DO WE HAVE A FIT - YES

THE WHITE STRIPES "ICKY THUMP"

GENRE(S): Rock - Blues - LO-FI - Garage

PREAMBLE - The Stripes slide back into basics.

LOOK - Decked out in Mariachi-sequenced suits, Jack and Meg White are photographed into their stubborn M.O.: a black, white and red color pallet. A bit out of focus, inside a ragged frame, and topped with a red sticker, this image isn't anything to write your Art School Teacher home about.

LISTEN - "Icky Thump" (the song) serves as opener and delivers the catchiest guitar riff, umm, I don't know, in the past ten years; get that air guitar ready, my friends. Truth be told, at first glance, or should I say listen, "Icky Thump" comes off as a typical White Stripes staple but on your hundredth listen you realize just how far Jack White has come as a songwriter. Straight from this opening scorcher to the ultra radio friendly "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do What You're told)", The Stripes have come to know the power of a good song.

Like any White Stripes album, Icky Thump suffers from the repetitive simple song-writing style Jack White has mastered. But despite its expected formulas, I.T. has a higher Shining Moments Per-Capita than most with tracks like "Rag and Bone" (anthem for the proud Second-Hand junkie), "Effect and Cause" (containing the cleverest lyrics Jack White has ever written), and "Baby Brother" (a silly story of an adopted Martian child).

"Conquest" (originally by Corky Robbins) blasts through with Mariachi trumpets and brings the south-of-the-border sound you were promised; do Bull Fighting events put out their own sound tracks? A whole new genre was just created here; Cha-Cha Punk, or something along those lines. Interspersed with trips from Latin America to the Scottish Isles ("Prickly Thorn, But Sweet Worn"), I.T. appropriately veers off its destination (Lo-Fi Blues Rock) but always finds its way home.

SPEAK - Looking like they are about to take on "el toro", Jack and Meg have mislead us. Sure, we're used to the Whites twisting and turning their signature sound into different genres but on this album we're given only one "spicy" track.

www.whitestripes.com

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ALBUM GRADE - B-

ARTWORK GRADE - D

DO WE HAVE A MATCH? NO

BOB DYLAN "BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME"

GENRE(S): Rock - Folk - Blues

PREAMBLE - Part II of my continual series: Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Coming in at #31, this LP took Dylan in a new direction and ostensibly got him rejected by the very Folk community that elevated him to stardom.

LOOK - 1966: Bob Dylan and his Manager's wife, Sally Gorssman, are photographed by Daniel Kramer. With fisheye lens in hand, Kramer captures a time capsule. Surrounded by the records that inspired him (Robert Johnson and The Impressions to name two), a Fallout Shelter sign, and an January's issue of Time Magazine (L.B.J. on the cover) we peer straight into the social heart of America at the time.

LISTEN - Ditching the acoustic guitar on half the tracks, Bringing It All Back Home delivers a lighting bolt of electricity. First, "Subterranea Homesic Blues" kicks in the door startling the living daylights out of any Beatnik folk enthusiast. But before you ditch the black turtle neck and red wine and head off to the backwoods Rock Jamboree, Dylan reminds us of his thoughtful side with "She Belongs To Me". By the time "Maggie's Farm" (Chain Gang rock 'n' roll) and "Outlaw Blues" (dirty swampy blues) comes around you start to wonder when you'll hear an acoustic guitar take center stage.

Cryptic, string of conscience lyrics are masterfully interwoven in with the first half of the record's schizophrenic sounds-cape, but the second half brings it all back home (sorry, I couldn't resist). "Mr. Tambourine Man", a staple found on any Bob Dylan hits mix, leads the path for songs we've come to expect. The record's curtain call "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue", a heartbreaking final bow song, brings us to our final conclusion: Bob Dylan is just as comfortable behind an electric as behind an acoustic.

SPEAK - Dressed in a Mod black suite and cufflinks (a present from Joan Baez), Dylan, always the elusive character, has a look on his face making us wonder what's on his mind. We assume Bob Dylan always has, or had, an askew view of the world, that's just one element we've lumped in with his mystique. Does this album cover reveal to us how Dylan's perception of things funnels through to him, or is this just what happens to you when you stare too long at Mr. Zimmerman?

www.bobdylan.com

ALBUM GRAD - B+

ALBUM ARTWORK - B

DO WE HAVE A FIT? YES