If the measure of a good autobiography is the extent to which the writing reflects the progression of the life under inspection, then Keith Richard’s Life is an exceptional piece of work. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a stunning read all the way through, but only that it reveals the true nature of its subject, blemishes and all.
Jason Moran & Bandwagon/Ten (Blue Note): Pianist Jason Moran and his Bandwagon trio are busy from the very outset of this CD and that’s a reflection of the ambitious career
Not nearly so memorable as his Higher Ground show of 2006 nor anywhere near as spectacular as recent shows with his Allman Brothers, Gregg Allman’s performance in the Green Mountains nevertheless suggested he brought a definite sense of self-renewal with him from his home in the Deep South.
Tom Petty & the Heartbreaker’s Damn the Torpedoes was the band’s breakthrough album, launching an ascent to rock icon status via a painstaking (and often painful) creative process. The combination of the band’s third album in an expanded package with a simultaneously released DVD would’ve made for a truly deluxe edition.
The Promise consists of material Bruce Springsteen wrote and recorded in 1977 and 1978 in the process of preparing Darkness on the Edge of Town. In his essay in the accompanying booklet, Springsteen tries to explain why he’s gone to such lengths in revisiting this album but he ultimately misses the point in describing the significance of the most musically and emotionally pure work he’s ever recorded (this side of Tunnel of Love).
There was a Mule Marathon at the Beacon Theatre on December 30th and 31st during which evenings Warren Haynes and co. celebrated not just the turn of the years but the history of their band. The first night in particular illustrated why The Mule has developed such a staunch following over its sixteen year career. Perhaps buoyed by the thought of the impending semi-hiatus in 2011 (postcards for Mountain Jam festival on the seats of the venue), the quartet played loose and free but with a clarity and purpose.
The Original Mono Recordings of Bob Dylan are almost as much of a revelation as those of The Beatles, albeit for different reasons. The Bard from Minnesota never took recording as seriously as the Liverpool quartet, but his music lends itself better to the vintage recording technique. A fifteen-track collection culled from his first eight albums illustrates why.
The four CDs and one DVD in West Coast Seattle Boy seek to dispel the shadows cast over the late guitarist’s legacy by the spate of questionable releases that flooded the marketplace in the wake of his untimely death in 1970. Containing more than a few extended and/or complete recordings that previously appeared in truncated form, this box set also compiles, in rough chronological order, a plethora of song sketches and unfinished master takes that presents what is perhaps the most accurate portrait to date of Jimi Hendrix’ working methods in the recording studio.
Of all the extraordinary aspects of Bob Dylan’s flair for composing early in his career, the prolific nature of his writing may be the most awe-inspiring. As demonstrated by The Witmark Demos, Dylan’s output reached and remained at a prodigious level not just in terms of quantity, but in the scope of the writing.
Mary Lou Sullivan artfully interweaves excerpts from a series of interviews for her biography of Johnny Winter. In doing so she depicts the albino Texan bluesman’s career in such matter of fact terms, she almost but not quite undercuts the implicit sensationalism of the book’s subtitle.
