Episode 84 Bruce Springsteen & Barry McCabe

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Get Beyond the Tears Here

Bruce Springsteen and the Decemberists - Episode 49

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORDWBNZipvo&w=560&h=349]



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It's also on Vinyl

TJR Reivews Ryan Bingham - Roadhouse Sun - Music Worth Buying 07/08/09

Artist: Ryan Bingham
Album: Roadhouse Sun
Worth Buying: Every song
You might be interested in this album if you are fan of: Springsteen, Mellencamp, Tom Petty, Michael Ubaldini, Americana Rock, Southern Rock

Tell Me More: It's no secret within the music industry that most new albums are way over compressed. New recordings are compressed and
compressed in an attempt to make them louder. The reason for making albums louder, is that everyone is afraid that if there album isn't as loud as everyone else's, no one will notice them when the first note starts playing. This is not relegated to just Rock, Pop, and Hip Hop. Even a soft acoustic ballad will be compressed so that it is just as loud.

The downside to this, is that there is no dynamic range to a lot of today's music. The softer parts of a song are just as loud as the.....louder parts of the song.

Studies have shown that louder will get the listeners attention...for a moment, but that if every song and every part of the song is at the same level of loudness, the listener starts dismiss it all as background.

So that is why it was such a surprise to hear dynamic range on the latest album by Country/Roots/Americana/Rock Singer Songwriter Ryan Bingham.

The albums first track "When The Day is done" opens with a quiet refrain. So quiet that I turned up my car stereo for a moment to hear it better, suddenly The Electric guitars came bursting into chorus and suddenly I was turning my car stereo down....I had to laugh, because It's been some time since an album or song fooled me like this, and then I realized.....There is some dynamic range to this album......What a novel idea.

The next thing I noticed about Mr Bingham's album is that on Amazon he is listed as Country, but when I put the CD into my itunes he is categorized as Rock.

My take: If this album had come out in the 70's, Ryan Bingham would have categorized somewhere between the Populist rock of Springsteen and the Southern rock of Skynnard.

There are definite country influences and some songs are definitely more legitimately country than most of the Pop disguised as country that has turned me off of Country radio....but for my money this is a rock album.

What about the packaging? The CD comes in a standard 4 panel digipak. Lyrics are not included.

NOTE: The amazon mp3 store version comes with an exclusive bonus track

2ND NOTE: Right now the CD version is only 6.99 at Amazon!....This could change at anytime.

listen to samples and get in mp3 version (with bonus track) here

CD Version

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXFc-OTNbxM

Music Worth Buying 02/23/09 Bruce Springsteen

This review was submitted by Robert Kinsler 

Artist: Bruce Springsteen

Album: Working on a Dream

Worth Buying: Yes

You will be interested in this album if you are a fan of: Bruce Springsteen's The Rising and Magic albums from this decade.

Tell Me More: It took only a play or two for me to fall completely in love with Bruce Springsteen's latest album, the aptly-titled Working on a Dream. A strong follow-up to the New Jersey rocker's excellent 2007 effort Magic, Working on a Dream is the first album released by Springsteen since the death of E Street Band member Danny Federici and the disc is dedicated to the keyboardist. 

Federici is remembered here on "The Last Carnival," a song that reminds us how truly gifted Springsteen is with words when he sings: 

“We’ll be riding the train without
you tonight/The train that keeps on movin’/Its black smoke scorching the evening
sky.”

But it is the miraculous way the Boss fuses lyrics and music that is so special and keeps discerning audiences welcoming each new Springsteen release. Across Working on a Dream moving songs are delivered amidst the emotive backdrop of the E Street Band in a guarantee that this is another masterwork. "Kingdom of Days" may be my favorite song, with its authentic and confessional description of a love that stretches on past youthful innocence, but highlights abound on this 13-song album.

The propulsive pop of "Surprise, Surprise," the hard-charging "My Lucky Day" with its celebration of love, the Delta blues blasting "Good Eye," and a sonically-lush romantic fantasy that comes to life in "Queen of the Supermarket" are immediate favorites.

Springsteen continues to stretch his musical universe, as evidenced by "This Life," which boasts lush vocals that continue to build and are used to good effect around an amazing Clarence Clemens sax solo. Produced by Brendan O'Brien, Working on a Dream is sure one of the best releases of 2009.

 What about the packaging? I recommend the limited edition version, which includes the full-length album, as well as a 40-minute, behind-the-scenes DVD and a fully-illustrated booklet that features lyrics, photos and illustrations, as well as a wonderful eulogy for Daniel Paul "Danny" Federici (the E Street Band keyboardist/accordion player who died on April 17, 2008).

 Listen to samples and buy in mp3 format here

CD Format

Recommended tracks to download: Kingdom of Days ,The Last Carnival and My Luck Day

Music Worth Buying 02/10/09 - The Subdudes

Artist: The Subdudes

DVD: Live at the Ram's Head & Unplugged at Pleasant Plains

Worth buying: Yes

You will be interested in this DVD if you are a fan of:  Sonny Landreth, Bruce Springsteen's "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions" album


Tell Me More:  THE SUBDUDES – LIVE AT THE RAM’S HEAD & UNPLUGGED AT PLEASANT PLAINS offers the perfect opportunity to see, hear and delight in the music of one of the most talented and original groups to emerge out of New Orleans’ thriving music scene. Filmed over the course of three days in Annapolis Maryland, the Subdudes’ first-ever DVD collection chronicles 15 songs delivered over two nights on disc #1. The second disc includes 70 minutes of interviews, an unplugged set and footage of the troupe in the studio working on their 2007 “Street Symphony” album with producer George
Massenberg in Nashville Tennessee.

Check out the Subdudes here

UPDATE: A just-released companion 2-disc CD features 19 recordings and is
also available at the site.

This review was contributed by Robert Kinsler

Music Worth Buying 11/24/08 Michael Ubaldini

Artist: Michael Ubaldini

Albums: Acoustic Rumble & Street Singin' Troubadour

Worth Buying: Yes, Both Albums

You will be interested in these albums if you are a fan of: Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp, Brian Setzer, Johnny Cash, Roots Rock'n'Roll, Americana

Tell Me More: When Bruce Springsteen first hit the music scene there where those who called him a poor man's Bob Dylan. When John Mellencamp first hit the music scene there where those who called him the poor man's Bruce Springsteen. But when Micheal Ubaldini released Acoustic Rumble in 1999, LA Times critic Mike Bohem wrote "Better then Springsteen at probing the national soul".

As a musician working the local scene, I wasn't aware of any of this. But people would say to me "Have you heard Micheal Ubaldini?". No I would reply, figuring that I better start.

That start began with Acoustic Rumble. The title implied that this would be a stripped down acoustic album. It also implied that it would rock. It didn't dissapoint on either count. Starting with the album first track The Seventh Trumpet with it's mean rock groove and lyrics shouting out at me:

Well it's a death sentance if you have sex in the morning time

You wanna be a celebrity or a hero? commit a heinous crime!

Where we gonna go, yeah where we gonna go, when the 7th trumpet blows

Before this song even  ended I was thinking, "This guy could be the next Bob Dylan".

Acoustic Rumble is sparse with usually just two acoustic guitars playing together, some occasional lead guitar, some subtle bass guitar, and light percussion. But it rocks. It rocks with conviction, It it rocks like a young man who is hungry and anxious to get his message out.

I am not always sure if he always intended it to be an acoustic album. Sometimes I wonder if he just didn't have the resources to record a full band album, or if he was just in a hurry to get his musical statement out and doing it acousticly was the best way to achieve that. Either way it worked. Because when I listen to Acoustic Rumble, it feels like the band is there. Rocking right alongside him.

Now almost 10 Years later (and after releasing several albums with songs ranging from Rock, Blues, Rockabilly, Country, and Roots) He appears (at first glance) to be returning to Acoustic Rumble with his latest CD Street Singing Troubadour. Like Rumble, Troubadour is an acoustic album, but the similarities end there.

Troubadour is quieter. It is the quietest album he has ever done. It is also the darkest album he has ever done, and a whole helluva lot more reflective. This time it's just one guitar, one voice, and occasionally a harmonica. If Rumble is stripped down, then Troubadour is the skeleton. For all I know, he might have recorded each one of these tracks live, and if he did, so much the better, because the performance is startling. And even though this is very much a folk album, it is still able to convey feelings of anger and outrage at society's ills, and tell stories about life, as well as any rocker could. But then Ubaldini is a Rocker, and this is his folk album in the tradditional sense of the word.

Acoustic Rumble is an acoustic album that rocks you. It rocks you physically and intellectually. Street Singin' Troubadour does not rock. But take the time out from your busy schedule to really listen to it, it will move you in quieter more subtle ways that will surprise you.

I will close out this review with first lines of lyric from the first song from Street Singin' Troubadour

Kingdoms are slowly falling The sky's fire evil and despair

River waters overflow with anger

Winds of Fire Burn Terrain everywhere

The voice of anger is rising with the sonnets of the sage

The voice of truth the four winds rage

ringing out with the sound of the age

Listen to (and buy) Acoustic Rumble

Listen to (and buy) Street Singin' Troubador

To order in the CD format click here

Music Worth Buying 09/01/08 Nils Lofgren

Artist: Nils Lofgren

Album:  The Loner - Nils Sings Neil

Worth Buying: Yes, this album is definitely worthy buying

You might be interested in this album if you are a fan of: Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen

 

Tell Me More: "The Loner - Nils Sings Neil" is as beautiful an album that lovers

of acoustic folk will hear. Nils Lofgren, whose big break came in 1970 when Neil

Young recruited him to participate in the making of the "After The Gold Rush"

album, knows these songs well. And the love of Neil Young's sonic style is clear

as Nils offers up sparse and compelling versions accompanied only by an acoustic

guitar or baby grand piano. The highlights are the majestic Birds, romantic power

of Like A Hurricane and confessional I Am A Child. This is clearly one of the best

albums of Nils' career and one of the best releases of 2008.

 

This review was contributed by music writer Robert Kinsler

Music Worth buying week of 09/01/08 Michael Ubaldini

Artist:Michael Ubaldini

Single: Talkin'  High Gas Price Blues

Worth Buying: Yes

You will be interested in this song if you are a fan of: Blues, Folk, Country , Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Protest music, Satirical music

Tell Me More:You know, I've always said that it's great if you want to write a song with with a "message", or a "protest song", or a song about something "topical" (God knows I've done it). But often I find that artists who write these kinds of songs forget that no matter what your message, you still have to write a good song, and you still have to entertain the audience: Well,  Roots Rocker Micheal Ubaldini didn't forget this and he has hit the proverbial nail on the head with his latest single "Talkin'  High Gas Price Blues". There is no one driving a car in the US right now who won't be able to relate to his latest single release. This song definitely vents, but it's also fun. It's humor and anger are in all the right places. Once you hear this song, you will want to tell your friends about it (that's what I'm doing right now).  Give some love to a hard working indie artist by spending only 99 cents.

listen and purchase in the mp3 format here