Posts by Doug Collette

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 upon which this release is based. The threesome have culled its selections from various larger projects, including multi-media presentations, commissioned works and educational initiatives and […]

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.

The Allman Brothers concluded their short autumn tour of theatres with three sold out shows at The Orpheum in Boston that simultaneously re-affirmed  their own passion for their music and justified the loyalty of their fan base.

The best moments of Soulive’s last visit to Vermont, in April of ‘08 occurred when the core trio had the stage to themselves and ripped it up without interruption for over thirty minutes, reminding what a powerful band they’d become in their (close to a) decade together. The high points of the Halloween run at Higher Ground exceeded even that altitude.

In terms of musical culture, the Roman calendar could not accurately document when the 70's turned into the 80's. The explosion of experimentalism that ran through rock, jazz and pop during the latter part of the 60's morphed into strange and not always so wonderful things in the two ensuing decades. Still, there were those artists who confronted that stance, often in marked contrast to their previous efforts, offering work that’s still worth listening to (and reissuing on compact disc) today.

Public Domain (Spire Artists) is the follow-up to Charlie Hunter’s first such album, 2000’s Solo 8-String Guitar, now long out of print on disc from Contra Punto Records (though still available as a download). As indicated by its title, this new work consists of largely familiar tunes, all of which have been around long enough for their copyrights to expire (as stipulated by law, after seventy years). In doing justice to the material in his own imitable fashion, however, Hunter insures the songs will retain their indelible mark on contemporary culture.

Steve Berlin talks frankly and to the point about the creative process in general and in specific, dispelling any misconceptions about the means by which Los Lobos has created such memorable works as This Time and The Town and The City. In this age of iTunes, he may betray an old school mentality in referencing the concept of sequencing an album, but there’s no denying his passion for the process and the end result of music-making, especially when it comes to his bond with the other band members.

Hill Country Revue are at the vanguard of a new generation of Southern rockers and, like their illustrious forebears The Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd, the band blends blues and country music with hard rock hearkening to 60’s icons The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream. HCR’s no-nonsense attitude makes the mix work without allowing themselves to slip into the caricatured stance that afflicted generic Dixie rock of the Seventies.

Boasting the presence of Wynton Marsalis and Allen Toussaint, Clapton does carry the distinction of impeccable craftsmanship, but without the famous name(s) attached to it, the album might not command much attention at all.

Anyone lucky enough to see Jackie Greene while he fronted Phil Lesh & Friends in 2007 and 2008 had to wonder if the young Californian could command the stage with his own band and exude the same charisma. Greene’s October 7th appearance at Higher Ground answered the question…and emphatically.

The bulk of his conversation with Doug Collette is devoted to the latest Soulive project, their homage to The Beatles, Rubber Soulive. Interestingly enough, considering the freshness and economy of the recorded work, the concept has been in discussion for years.

The title of Peter Case’s new album sounds more like a command the more you listen to it. A raucous rock and roll affair (in a mini-lp package right down to CD sleeve) Wig! is decidedly different than the generally low-key, folk-styled recordings Case has done over the last few years, but it’s no less credible.

Few archival releases are as revelatory as this 25th Anniversary edition of R.E.M.’s , so it’s perfectly appropriate the packaging recalls nothing so much as a limited edition, designed by the band itself. Replica LP sleeves, individual portraits of the four men as well as a booklet and a large foldout poster are all extensions of the original artwork.