Album Review- Cody Jinks- Mercy (2021)

I have heard Cody Jinks described as the biggest independent musician on the planet. Now, I don’t quite now what that discussion looks like, or where it starts or ends, but it seems that he is in that conversation. Which is amazing given he has a booming voice and a head for country lyrics that he hasn’t made a clearer path for himself. But here he is, trailblazing his path until signing with Rounder Records to release Lifers, as realized as an album as one could reasonably expect. Going back to independently produced and distributed route, he released two albums in 2019. Now, two albums in two weeks is the kind of thing that trips up even the Bruce Springsteens and Princes. As a critic, I would have suggested less is more but who am I to criticize (and there were some strong songs in that mix). In 2021, Jinks didn’t slow down. He recorded an acoustic version of his 2015 Adobe Sessions album and in November, new music in the Mercy album. Mercy kind of cements that previous feeling of cutting the disc down to a smaller set of songs. It at least sounds that way. Jinks’s background is metal, and his voice seems like an affectation at times- a swaggering figure that is as much Toby Keith bravado as it is Merle Haggard attitude. But can just as easily criticize Hank Williams for playing up his image. Songs like Like a Hurricane (not the Neil Young song), Hurt You and All it Cost Me was Everything are stompers. The irony of Jinks is that you hear the slower numbers (it applies to the fast ones too) like Dying Ain’t Cheap and like Steve Earle’s first two records, you can’t say where there is any difference in them and 90s radio country. Just the Rehnquist “ I know it when I see it”, there’s something magical about Jinks. Unlike the group you would call his peers, Jinks doesn’t try to sound like Merle or Waylon. He fully embraces what I would call the Mike Ness side of Country. Like Hank 3, Cody would just as soon play metal. I suppose that’s an aesthetic that comes through. But Mercy doesn’t sound like an artist who has walked away from the industry and is doing things on his own to diminishing returns (think Glenn Danzig recently), he’s just putting out Nashville quality product without anyone telling him what to do. Jinks is surely headed into the conversation of the best in Outlaw Country. He already has a strong enough catalog to prove it and enough potential that it doesn’t look like he will stop soon, which makes Mercy a hard album to categorize. For me, it’s a worthwhile addition that does what it’s supposed to do. It adds a few songs to anybody wanting to make a best of compilation. It does likely benefit from a shorter run time. But I have seen negative reviews which argue the production isn’t that good or that is trying to be too much like Radio Country. I generally disagree (the title track does seem like evidence for the latter, though). I won’t argue it’s a perfect record or even his best, but it’s a winner and another milepost for one of the more interesting musicians today.

Album Review- Brian Setzer- Gotta Have the Rumble

One of my favorite albums of 2021 was Lee Rocker’s Gather Round. As a rockabilly fan, I hold Rocker in the highest esteem- musically, vocally, lyrically, etc and is one of my favorite musicians. So, saying that I feel like I’m giving an unintentional slight to Brian Setzer. That is not my intention. For one thing, Rocker is pretty free of the critical and commercial expectations of Setzer. I also don’t intend to criticize Setzer’s career direction of the last quarter-century, but it doesn’t fit my preferences. But that’s not up to me. Setzer’s Big Band career has surely satisfied - if not artistically (and I’m not saying it wasn’t) certainly financially. There are some great moments there and even some surprises- Brian’s album of classical pieces performed as a Big Band (from 2007) is better than you might expect. Nor would I dare say Setzer wasn’t the perfect frontman for his more famous band (every bit of the iconic well-coiffed blonde as Sting and Billy Idol). In any case, Gotta Have the Rumble is Setzer going back to make a rockabilly record. You probably can guess what it is like. Like the Stray Cats reunion disc from 2019- it’s all been done before. Still, it’s a fun listen. Setzer really doesn’t push himself out of fairly traditional rockabilly - pretty much Gene Vincent or Everly Brothers kind of stuff. Not psychobilly. Not horrorbilly. Not punkbilly or trashabilly or gothabilly. But at this point, you either know Setzer or you don’t, and at the end of the day, you probably do; and while you know exactly what you are getting, when he throws in some nuance like the slow dance Drip Drop, you buy in.

Album Review- Baba Ali Memory Device

Baba Ali is one of my favorite “new” artists. Championed by Danger Mouse and Jamie Hince of the Kills, the UK-via-New Jersey artist is hard to describe. Skimming through his Last FM “Similar Artists” profile, I see a ton of legendary artists, none who do a good job of describing Ali. I suppose there is something in mentioning Amy Winehouse- a pop artist with indie sensibilities seeped with funk and R&B history. Nick Cave, Fela and Stevie Nicks pop up in Ali’s byline but that is because he mentioned them as influences. Elsewhere, it’s Prince, Alan Vega, and New Order. You might get closer to pinning a label when you realize producer Al Doyle was a member of Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem. If indietronica is a thing, then Ali is a great purveyor of it. If Dance Punk is a thing, then Ali is in the lineage.

Album Review: Jason Ringenberg- Rhinestoned

It wasn’t that long ago that I was talking about Jason Ringenberg (best known as lead singer of Jason and the Scorchers) but he does have a new album out. I enjoyed 2019’s Stand Tall and Rhinestoned feels like an appropriate follow-up, even if Jason attributes it to Covid downtime. I realized with Stand Tall, that he’s a bit of an acquired taste. He has a voice that you don’t really hear except on the fringes of the radio (think Jimmie Dale Gilmore). Many of his songs are stories and told in a way that generally only exists in Bluegrass or pre-WW2 country music. But if those things don’t bother you, you will be richly rewarded. Rhinestones are the prevailing theme here on two songs. As in Stand Tall (and not that far removed from his Farmer Jason kids singer persona), he digs into history- most specifically on The Freedom Rides Weren’t Free” and “I Rode With Crazy Horse”. That last song is one you might steer away most artists from attempting, but Jason takes the take of the famed Lakota’s cousin and gives it a furious build up. Elsewhere, you might have some songs that are to be expected. “Keep that Promise” sounds like a Scorchers classic. Jason records his version of the oft covered “You Win Again”. Then there’s “Christ, the Lord is Risen Again” which is kind of both. It’s a traditional hymn and it also veers a bit into Scorchers territory. Even in an environment where terms like Americana and Outlaw Country are well established, Ringenberg is still a bit of a hard to define outsider. He is still making interesting music and long May he play.

Album Review- Black Pistol Fire

When I was a teenager, we lived in the country and a main outlet for music for me was Canada’s MuchMusic. Yes, the easy explanation was Canada’s MTV but due to Canadian content laws, there was a lot of homegrown music. There were some great bands I discovered and they fill the spectrum of hitting fame in US to being nearly completely obscure here (Crash Test Dummies, Barenaked Ladies, The Pursuit of Happiness, Tragically Hip, Blue Rodeo, Moist, Northern Pikes, Grapes of Wrath and many many more) Now over two decades later, one of my sources for new music is also Canadian- and that is the alt-rock and alt-country channels on SiriusXM. Which of course, I find hilarious since they are listed as ‘Canadian’ like it’s a genre like jazz or R&B or Country or Opera. In any case, a band that gets quite a bit of AirPlay there that has caught my ears is the Austin based (via Canada) band Black Pistol Fire. Which like the bands I mentioned above, surprise me that they aren’t huge here. (Some other artists that I have been turned on to are The Beaches and Dan Mangan). The band that immediately springs to mind is the Black Keys. It’s that same mix of garage punk and Southern rock. (Oddly though they seem perfectly post-Auerbach, besides the Black Keys you can probably draw lines to the Black Pumas, not that far away in their ability to make a noise like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and this is probably a stretch but the similar aspects of the Black Crowes is close enough for the Black superfecta.) They do seem an obvious choice for the current American alt rock scene (the Arctic Monkeys comes up repeatedly in comparison in reviews, the vocals for sure. Queens of the Stone Age as well and the Kings of Leon if more in spirit than execution). Yet they probably could easily fit in this slightly more mature folk rock/blues rock group of recent-year bands like Nathaniel Ratliff and the Night Sweats, Kaleo and the Record Company. You could probably make an argument that they’re too polished, but the talent is there. Their success in Canada is no joke, but with radio being what it is, I’m not sure what a breakthrough looks like for this band in America. But this is a pretty solid alt rock record - perfect for radio but a rewarding listen. One can only imagine that the band is on a trajectory to break American radio, but such things are never guaranteed. In any case, this is a record that should be heard if Modern Day FM Rock Radio is your thing. 2021 - Black Hill/ Round Hill

Album Review- The Specials

I rate 2019’s Specials reunion album Encore highly. It got mixed reviews (the three-star review on Allmusic qualifies it for inclusion on my ‘underappreciated’ list.). While a reunion album can sometimes start off with excitement vibes (the Damned’s “Evil Spirits” for example), I think Encore really stands up as a standout record. Covid changed plans for millions, and so the Specials follow up was not what it was supposed to be. Instead, the band decided to do an album of covers with a focus on protest songs, and specifically staying away from Dylan and Lennon and Guthrie for more obscure choices. But even then, Protest Songs 1924-2012 is not an expected album. The Specials have largely been defined by their debut album and that is a sound that is absent here. After that initial shock, one realizes that the listener should move on. Terry Hall expanded his sound in Fun Boy Three and the Colourfield and artists change and grow. Secondly, the band’s core is Hall, Lynval Golding and Horace Panter. In a world of dubious reunion lineups, no doubt this is the core of the Specials. The album’s concept recalls Chumbawamba’s English Rebel Songs 1381-1984 but that album was quite different from anything else- largely a capella or at least minimal in instrumentation and largely pre-19th Century. Most of the Specials’ selections tend to the obscure, even if the artists referenced are not- Staples Singers, Leonard Cohen, Talking Heads, Big Bill Broonzy, Frank Zappa, Rod McCuen, and Bob Marley, for example. I suppose that the criticism of lead single Freedom Highway holds for the album. A poppy sound throughout with a lack of gravitas. On Everybody Knows, the band mimics Cohen to little positive or negative effect (and from the reviews I read, no one is particularly fond of the original either, which I strongly disagree with. I love the original). Black Brown and White is strong and would have fit on Encore. It is a bit sing-songy, but like the best songs here, it sticks in the listener’s ear. It should be no surprise that the song’s biggest impact is pushing the listener to Broonzy’s original. Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Us Around is one of the stronger song - bridging 60s protest and gospel and modern sensibility, though the a capella song may recall the Housemartins more than punk rock. The album has a couple of more highlights. - My Next Door Neighbor which is almost old time late 50s Jump Blues and Soldiers Who Want to Be Heroes- which is an anti-war song that could have been written in 1971 (as it was) or 2007 or 1917 for that matter and these songs are probably the closest the band gets to Chumbawamba’s agit-prop non- traditional pop. Critics don’t generally like (or at least “get”) the former, but somehow it works. The latter is perhaps more shocking 50 years later -saved by two things- released in perhaps the height of anti-war sentiment in the US and written by Rod McKuen, as strong tunessmith as anyone. The album ends with “Get Up Stand Up”. Now, I would warn most artists to avoid Marley (and Dylan and Bowie), but I doubt I will find too much criticism on this cover. The band brings it to a crawl and Golding performs the lyrics in such a way, the listener is hanging on his every word. For those who are diehard fans of that first Specials record, I would be remiss not to mention that Neville Staple has continued a solo career that is largely grounded in 2-Tone style ska for Cleopatra Records. He has a new record as well, which isn’t particularly boundary breaking but worth a listen if you fit the description of the listener above.

Album Review- Duran Duran

I could probably write a book about Duran Duran and my fandom, but perhaps I should keep it simple here.

I really dug 2007s Red Carpet Massacre- a mostly ballyhooed collaboration between the band and a group of hit artists like Justin Timberlake and Timbaland. Three albums later, my first thought on Future Past is that it is Duran Duran trying to modernize their sound. Then I realized for all the highs and lows, DD has always tried to meet the times with whatever new material that they have.

Having said that, the plaudits that go with the new album are good evidence of the band nailing that connection here.

One can’t help but notice the cameos here- Giorgio Moroder, Mark Ronson, Tove Lo, longtime Bowie sideman Mike Garson and the Japanese rock band Chai.

Of course, guests don’t make an album like this (not that these aren’t generally inspired additions) but I think there are a couple things worth noting. British DJ/Remixer Erol Alkan seems to be credited as main producer here with the band and he undoubtedly knows what to do with them.

The other is Blur’s Graham Coxon filling in the guitarist role that had been Andy Taylor’s ( and later Warren Cuccurullo’s). I think that is a welcome addition whereas the band split out duties over multiple guitarists last album.

I think it works because it fits the band, whereas recent attempts sound like the band “trying” to sound contemporary.

I think the best place to start analyzing is “More Joy”. The song combines elements of early oughts House, Shonen Knife style punk, 80s synth, 70s glam stomp and maybe even a bit of 90s Parklife. It is at once, almost so over the top that it is preposterous, and at the other, a realization that it works. “Tonight United” follows a same pattern and is a highlight because of the simplicity - anthemic pop. It is the sound of a band that sounds like they are living in a music video- which fittingly is the sound who recorded Girls on Film and Rio.

“Anniversary” is another track that sounds like a single and would slip in unnoticed on a Duran greatest hits disc.

It’s the same formula that they use when they slow things down on Nothing Less with its repetitive effect. There’s no bum tracks here though the collaborations you expect the most of (the hit singer Tove Lo and Aladdin Sane’s keyboardist Garson aren’t bad, but I find the two songs generally unremarkable). Critics and fans tend to be harshest on the Ivorian Doll collaboration rap-infused Hammerhead but I think it fits in place nicely.

Still, to its benefit, LeBon’s vocals are strong, as is John Taylor’s bass work and it seems like you can draw a straight line from the Arcadia album 35+ years earlier. Coxon as guitarist is a difference maker as well.

Duran Duran albums at this point reminds me of Blondie- a combination of trying to catch the past while eyeing modern pop charts. The album credits filled with guests all over the musical spectrum. Like the last Blondie album (and unlike the last couple of Duran albums) there seems to be someone in control steering the ship. Then you add the fact that everyone sounds like they are having a blast.

Ironically, the reasons people might not like this record are those given for not liking the original Nagel-and-yachts Fab 5, which is mindless synth pop. But on Future Past, mindless synth pop sounds like the bands choice and fans are likely to love it.

Album Review- Jubilee by Japanese Breakfast

You know I constantly make fun of the more popular Indie Music review sites. At the end of the year, their Best Of lists nearly all match. That doesn’t happen when my friends do the same. That’s because these sites don’t want to be left out of their popularity contest. But, of course, sometimes they do get things right, and when Jubilee by Japanese Breakfast gets put on those lists this year, well, she/they will definitely deserve it. Also typical of the music industry, JB has been nominated by the Grammys as best new artist (5 years and 2 albums after their debut). In any case, I will make a case that “Paprika” is the best song of the year. While I don’t think another song on the record hits that mark (surely an impossibility anyway) it’s a good album that really hits my buttons. Think of dream pop like Alvvays mixed with Beach House and a touch of confessional rock a la Mitski with even a bit of baroque pop, similar to say, Beirut. “Be Sweet” is probably as close as a hit as one gets in the fragmented radio world of today. It’s hard not to ponder how big it really might have been in an atmosphere 15-20 years ago. If “Be Sweet” is too commercially tinged for people brought in by “Paprika”, then “ Kokomo, IN” swings the listener back, and “Slide Tackle” straddles a line between the poles While one can find room for criticism - it’s perhaps too short (under the rather standard 40 minutes) and as is often the case, front loaded with strong songs but a weak back half-it is an album that deserves the many plaudits soon headed this way, and will still be an enjoyable listen years from now when Pitchfork et al., have moved on to the next thing.

Album Review- Limbo by Clan of Xymox

I’ve spent some time talking about A Clan of Xymox, the long running dark wave band led by Ronny Moorings and last year’s Spider on the Wall album. Limbo is the newest album and the follow up to last year's Spider on the Wall. In some ways, it is better in that musically, this is a great beginning to end listen, recalling late 80s dark wave and the early 00s dark wave revival. That absolutely presses all my right buttons. But the album lacks the variety and ambition of its predecessor, so while it’s a great listen, it’s not a particularly memorable one. Vocals are pushed into the background in preference of atmosphere. Ironically, I think the albums theme works against it. Five years ago, dystopian themes might propel a dark wave album like this. But with titles like “Lockdown”, “Big Brother”, “Brave New World” and even yes, “Dystopia”, the track listing sounds at worst, like a loony conspiracy theorist, and at best, unimaginative. Still, this far into their career, CoX have nothing left to prove, and it’s unlikely Limbo will be many people’s introduction to the band (though if it is, it’s a very accessible one). But for an audience accustomed to Xymox and their musical descendants, this is a pretty good genre-style record.

Album Review- Prince

 Everyone knows the legend. Prince has an endless amount of music that has never been released. I will say I have been very happy with Piano and Microphone 1983, Originals and Welcome 2 America and at this point, I would be pleased with one new Prince album a year for the next half century, which seems possible.

Now, although we picture some lost treasure lode, we know all about lost tracks, right? There are rarely classics that never left the shelf. What we may find is some extra songs from an artist’s fertile period (“Scarlet” by the Stones comes to mind). But the process of discovery is exciting.

I would add that even if there is a stigma around otherwise half-baked songs, there probably shouldn’t be. While not considered in serious discussions, I am a huge fan of Bob Marley’s “Iron Lion Zion” and the Beatles “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love”

21st Century Prince isn’t particularly fruitful. Not his fault, of course. Almost every artist with that many albums has used their bag of tricks. Expectations are too high for reality. It is bad enough that we want it to be as good as Dirty Mind or Sign O The Times or Purple Rain, but also as good as Stankonia or Let Love Rule or The ArchAndroid

Like Bowie and Lou Reed, we as fans almost immediately realized how hard we were on the artist, and would give anything for even a new three star album of material. Pitchfork recently did a feature where they re-reviewed albums (an exercise that made me like them less than more) and they bumped up 3121.

I’m not quick to name any 21st Century Prince as essential, but you may already know I particularly love his Plectrum Electrum collaboration with 3rd Eye Girl. I also rate Musicology over the slightly more loved 3121 as towards the top of the Prince album list.

Welcome 2 America gets big points for feeling like a record that Prince would write in 2021. Although, the idea of a theme is a bit overplayed in reviews, it does generally feel like what one would imagine Prince writing circa Black Lives Matter, George Floyd and related news headlines.

So we can quickly mark that this isn’t as good as his 80s albums and not as good as his 90s albums, but W2A is better than most of his recent output.

I think a point in favor is that this seems to be shaped with the purpose of an album. A bit of conventional wisdom is that the album was recorded with Tal Wilkenfield with a power trio in mind, but when she couldn’t tour to support, it was shelved.

I’m not sure how much to credit Wilkenfield or Morris Hayes, but I tended to think even though Prince could do everything on his own, he often sounded more inspired when working with collaborators. Nor do I know what shape the tapes were when Hayes got them, though the sound is contemporary and full, surely this is at least partially to his credit.

I suspect the parts make the whole better. The opener is what you might expect to set the theme, followed by Running Game and Born 2 Die -none of which might stand up as singles but coalesce as a strong political statement. All three song mostly spoken as much sung, Born 2 Die is the apex of this three song start- a bit more light jazz than you might hope for, at least at this point, Prince has your attention.

The album continues the next two tracks with its vibe with Prince sharing center stage with his three NPG singers. Hot Summer is too short to reach Classic Single status as well but it’s got the right feeling.

At this point, the album peaks with one of Prince’s strongest late-career songs Stand Up and B Strong. Like another late classic Anotherlove, this song ironically is a cover. As many great original songs as Prince wrote in his long career, at the end he knew how to find a great song and make it his (as others had done to his songs).

While one might not be surprised that Prince covered a Minneapolis artist, picking what is basically a Bon Jovi-esque anthem from a band’s ninth album is an unlikely pick, he (and quite frankly the band) really make it something transcendent (the original song is better than my description makes it out to be, but it pales in comparison).

The album’s back end is less notable, even if the songs are catchy, they don’t necessarily stand out. Despite critics claiming otherwise, the social thread does manage to flow through the entire record. These songs do fit in, though, which goes to recommending the album.

As someone who anticipated every new Prince album and usually felt slight disappointments, Welcome 2 America ultimately is on the list of better albums in the latter part of his career. I would to think Prince would be happy with it.

Album Review- Crocodiles

 I’ve been following the Crocodiles for awhile. Going back to the core of the band’s previous incarnation as the jazz punk (think Black Flag) band The Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower. During a low point in the local scene, I was lucky to catch them at all a places, a botanical center.

In 2009 and 2010, Crocodiles were near the top of the indie world, with two albums for Fat Possum. The name change (think Echo and the Bunnymen) was a clue to where their influences were coming from.

For me, the scene that they were affiliated with- influenced by shoegaze and otherwise lo-if noise pop sounds- is among the greats. Many of the band members that either funneled through The Crocodiles or shared a stage with them- make a list of some of the best bands of that era- Dum Dum Girls, Blank Dogs, Cold Cave, Wavves and A Place to Bury Strangers.

The band has remained busy, if no longer in the indie limelight. In 2020, they released three cassettes (yes, and digital downloads) consisting of cover songs.

What I never expected was that these recordings (collected this year as the nsfw-titled The Complete Sh-tty Times) would be one of my favorite recordings of the year.

There are two things to consider. One is that the duo really nails a certain sound. It’s that sound that made them big a decade ago- certainly influenced by the Jesus and Mary Chain (dipped in the same 60s pop influences the Chain would show) and next door to the Pixies, the Velvet Underground and the second gen Jesus and Mary Chain influenced bands that immediately preceded the Crocodiles like BMRC and the Raveonettes.

The second is that the 18 covers are certainly not the normal. They are very obscure. Even the most recognizable songs are fairly unknown- Freda Payne’s Band of Gold, Hanging Around from Lou Reed’s Transformer, a song off of the first Love album, and early Madonna single “Burning Up”. From there it seems to get exponentially obscure - Robyn Hitchcock, East River Pipe, Henry Badowski, Zounds and a list of great lost punk bands and great early 80a “lost” singles.

It is the perfect covers album for those two reasons. Sending the listener across the internet for the originals, while digging some addictive covers.

Album Review- Lindsey Buckingham

 I’m a big fan of Lindsey Buckingham and maybe not because why you think. You see, growing up, I loved the handful of Lindsey’s solo radio hits which were a bit more esoteric than standard pop fare.

Like many other creative types, I think Lindsey is sometimes his worst enemy. His production tricks, in my mind, often overshadow his work. But in the framework of Fleetwood Mac, he usually is forced into restraints that work for his benefit.

I’m a big fan of 2003’s Say You Will (the Fleetwood Mac album without McVie) and 2017’s Buckingham/McVie ( the Mac without Nicks) but although it’s “interesting”, I’m not as excited by 2011’s solo Seeds We Sow.

The new self-titled album is infamous (though it pales in legend to other Buckingham records of course) as leading to a irreparable rift between Buckingham and Nicks.

It has been met with some very positive reviews. It probably should- Buckingham was always a talented writer. Is what you might expect? Yes and no. At its best, it recalls FMac, but it also has its introspective side.

On the Wrong Side is an example of a song that is as good as anything he ever wrote. It is surrounded by strong songs like I Don’t Mind and Swan Song. The second half of the album has some mellow moments in Time and Dancing. They’re well chosen enough (Time is a 60s Folk tune) but not as attention grabbing. House of Blue Light is fairly throw away but succeeds in that it’s fairly typical Buckingham.

But as always Lindsey tends to overdo it. Power Down wouldn’t be so bad, but the overtracking is too much and turns it into a throw away tune.

I tend to classify this record as I would so many recent records of established artists that are getting outstanding reviews. At the end of the day, this is still a niche record. I like it quite a bit, but I’m a fan. I do think if you like Lindsey even just a little, you will be happy with this. But it’s still a Lindsey Buckingham record. I doubt this record in off itself will make you a fan if you weren’t leaning that way already. Still, that’s okay. Fans, go enjoy the record.

Album Review- The Killers

 The Killers have always been a chameleonic band (less kind critics might use harsher words). It started with a debut that imagine some kind of New Wave Duran Duran/Smiths/Depeche Mode amalgam. They would quickly morph into an imitation of Joshua Tree-era U2. The band went into some wilderness years but having a guest appearance from Lindsey Buckingham was a clue to what they were trying to do.

You don’t have to listen to Pressure Machine for very long to know who they’re mimicking. If one didn’t know any better, one would insist that this must be a band of 19 year olds who recorded the album after a weekend of listening to nothing but Nebraska and The River.

Now, wanting to write songs like classic Springsteen isn’t a bad thing (to me, anyway. Others may want to avoid this album just because of that). It was a cottage industry in the 80s (and sadly despite loud critical plaudits, I doubt many of those artists have much familiarity within the under 40 crowd). The Boss not only looms over even some very successful artists (Mellencamp, Ethridge, Earle to name three) but much of the 21st Century Indie crowd. Brian Fallon (to name one artist) has had a Springsteen-esque career both solo and with the Gaslight Anthem. Even Bruce’s career seems to be defined by his legacy, and every new album confined by those parameters.

So that element is not necessarily a deal breaker for me, but I can understand why it might be for some. Ostensibly, it is a concept album about Brandon Flowers childhood and teenage years in Nephi, Utah. It could be, as Flowers suggests a mix of Sherwood Anderson’s Winesberg, Ohio and NPR’s This American Life. Flowers no doubt has the conviction to pull this off and co-writer Sam Rado has genre-hopped plenty in the band Foxygen.

Working against them is that Flowers has chosen 30 second snippets to open his songs to tie the concept together. That isn’t great for repeated listening. These would be better as separate tracks or perhaps at the end of the song.

Another strike is the album starts off weak. Opening track West Hills doesn’t quite hit the mark. Second track Quiet Town starts with some clunky lyrics and pales in comparison to the Born in the USA deep cuts it riffs off of. But things are turning around by song's end, and now we are at Terrible Thing- an “Atlantic City” without nuance- but as a listener, you begin to be drawn in.

Now, I don’t think it reaches transcendent levels until Track 7 “In The Car Outside” sounds like a Killers anthem. There’s elements of the Boss in there, sure, but they are no longer out front. Track 8 “In Another Life” follows and is as good as (or better).

Most everything else falls somewhere between. Things often don’t quite reach the level of “Glory Days”, but the small town stories generally connect more often than not. “Runaway Horses” adds Phoebe Bridgers to such a good effect, you might not tell it’s otherwise a rewrite of “Free Fallin”. “Desperate Things” definitely has a “Johnny 99” feeling- it’s slow pace builds tension though it may not help repeat listening.

Overall, it’s more good than bad, with the album’s high points putting it over the threshold. At this moment, it stands as a worthy follow up to last year’s Imploding the Mirage and its ambitions more positive than not.

2021 - Island