MUSIC
Section By Jeb D.
100 MILES FROM MEMPHIS
Sheryl Crow
Here’s another reminder that you sometimes have to separate the artist from the art: for a hot millionaire rock star, Crow’s actually known her share of tough times, from initial rejection of her music to being a cancer survivor. Combine that with her time spent singing with Michael Jackson and The Rolling Stones, and you’d expect the woman to be a natural with the grit and emotional intensity needed to put across a batch of soul music, some originals and some covers; unfortunately, this is a well-intentioned album of near-misses. Crow may have grown up loving the music of Otis and Aretha, but that’s not the same thing as understanding how it works: substituting her laid-back seduction for the urgency that drives the best R & B has the effect of Muzak-ing the sound, and while Crow may have grown up near Memphis, her band sounds like they’d need a road map to get near the place. Songs like “Summer Day” and “Peaceful Feeling” drift away without leaving an impression, and “Say What You Want” is an awfully confused-sounding statement on patriotism from an activist as prominent as Crow. Keef shows up, but you wouldn’t know it if it wasn’t in the press release, and she goes out on a cover of “I Want You Back” that is so lifeless it makes it hard to believe that she ever listened to Jackson, let alone sang with him.
FUNSTYLE
Liz Phair
The question is not whether this is an act of commercial suicide: that’s already established; Phair’s determination to release this music has already cost her her label and management. Of course, when you call out one of your label execs in one of the songs… well, what can you expect? I’ve seen the album characterized as a giant middle finger in the direction of several groups: music biz execs, which I can certainly see, though the infantile jokes on songs like “Smoke” and “U Hate It” aren’t going to outrage anyone: they’d have to be funny for that to happen. She’s also supposed to be flipping off M.I.A. for being “pretentious” (“Oh Bangladesh”), and music critics (“You Should Know Me”), and I guess those are at least open to personal interpretation. But why are some critics gleeful to claim that she’s extending a middle digit to her fans, as well? I mean, she probably is: most of the funk here is half-assed, her rapping is flat and without much style, and even songs like “Satisfied” and “Bang Bang” rely on the kind of rock and roll cliches she once tried to subvert. But why’s she pissed off at her fans? Let’s face it, any Phair fan who bought a copy of Somebody’s Miracle has already gotten a good slap in the face: why she needs to toss them the bird, too, is beyond me. Actually, what Phair is reminds me of more than anyone else is Frank Zappa at his most curmudgeonly. There’s a big difference, though: Zappa may have been an old crank who hated his audience, but he was a formidable musician to balance that out. Phair’s principal gifts have never been as lofty: more than anything, she used her confessional introspection to invite us to identify with her, not push us away. But not even honest sentiment can redeem a lyric like “I think I’m a ge-ni-us / I think you’re a pe-ni-us… colada”. For all that, though, I’d suggest you give it a try: the album’s only six bucks, and pretty much all of that goes straight to the artist when you order it from her website: no middlemen, no label taking their skim. Even bad art can have a positive effect on the business side of things.
IT’S A GOOD DAY
Asleep At The Wheel With Leon Rausch
If you’re Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel, the question is: how do you follow up one of the best albums of your 40-year career: 2009’s collaboration with Willie Nelson, Willie
and the Wheel? You go back to the source, and dig up legendary Bob Wills frontman Leon Rausch, who anchored the final version of Wills’ Texas Playboys for a couple of decades. Now 83, Rausch has lost a step or two, but he was never in Willie’s class in the first place in terms of nuance or phrasing. What he brings to the party is the easy knowledge of the material, inside and out, a sense of having been there at the creation. Things like “Route 66” and the title song are the obvious meat here, but the sly fun of “Mean Woman With The Green Eyes” and “Sugar Moon” are the kind of treat that only comes when the music’s in your bones. And when he actually duets with Willie on “Truck Driver’s Blues”, it’s the sound of a couple of kids having one helluva time with the music. Highly recommended to fans of country, jazz, Western swing… and just plain fun.
ROCKSTEADY
Bighead Todd and the Monsters 
Summer’s the perfect time for light, disposable pop music,
and about half this album would sound great coming out of your radio at the beach. But given its Jamaican connotations, the word “rocksteady” seems an odd way to describe anything about this band, and it evidently confused them enough to attempt a cover of “Smokestack Lightnin’.” Fellas, we’ll
happily groove our summer away to “Beautiful” or I Hate It When You’re Gone”, but from now on, let’s leave Howlin’ Wolf to the professionals.
Other Noteworthy 7/20 Music Releases
Rick Ross, Teflon Don. You know, John Gotti was a damned unpleasant human being, but he made a lot of dough, which I guess is as good a reason as any for Ross to cop his nickname. Jay-Z, Kanye West, Chrisette Michele, and Raphael Saadiq join in the fun.
Paul Hardcastle, Jazzmasters VI. I had no idea that Hardcastle was “BILLBOARD Magazine’s 2008 Smooth Jazz Artist of the Year.” Entirely believable; I’m only surprised it wasn’t spelled “Smoove.”
Brian Setzer Orchestra, Don’t Mess With A Big Band: Live. Enough, already– what is this, live album number fourteen?
Lillian Axe, Deep Red Shadows. Says here that “Deep Red Shadows contains five brand new Steve Blaze written songs along with four acoustic versions of fan favorites from the vast Lillian Axe catalog of songs…” Or maybe they mean “half-vast”?
David Garrett, Rock Symphonies. More entertaining than Sting’s recent marriage of rock and symphonic music, but only because it’s funnier. Helps that he doesn’t sing. Honestly, wasn’t “Master of Puppets” always meant to sound like this?
Impending Doom, There Will Be Violence. I’m fairly certain these guys are not In This Moment or Vanden Plas. The question is: would it make any difference if they were?
Emerson Lake & Palmer: A Time and A Place. Four (count ’em, four!) disks of previously unreleased live bombast from the prog-rock kingpins. Haven’t we all just been waiting for another version of “The Enemy God Dances With The Black Spirits”?
Honor Bright, Action! Drama! Suspense!. I suppose if Vegas can produce its own brand of heartland rockers in The Killers, there’s no reason that Syracuse, New York, can’t do the same. Plus, these guys are funnier: “Welcome To New York, Now Get A Job.”