Every year it’s the same, and it always seems to take me by surprise. Some of you good readers – there are a few of you out there, right? – have noticed by now that I usually post three or four pieces a month at UCNews, with the aid and help of my editor and friend, Gregg Brekke, often a record review or two each time out. Then there are the extras, the discs and concert reviews and rants about the odd praise song that I throw up here on the blog. Expect for the occasional vacation, I’m pretty consistent about it because that’s how I’m wired.

Since I first dabbled in music journalism, back in Seminary writing for The Progressive Pacer, in the early 80’s this has been how I work to make sense of one of the things in life that has given me pure joy, rock & roll music. While preparing for ministry in St. Paul, MN, I found that finishing up my studies to review a disc by Bruce Cockburn, or Daniel Amos, or Larry Norman for that small fan ‘zine, was just the right amount of diversion. Plus, it gave me a creative outlet, and kept me in touch with music, and let me imitate my heroes, music writers like Lester Bangs, and those 70’s rock critics at Rolling Stone, folk like David Fricke, Parke Puterbaugh, Cameron Crowe (before he made movies) and many, many others.

Over the years, I had many wonderful writing opportunities, and I’m grateful to get to continue that here. As a brief avocation to my main work and calling, writing about music has always provided me a bit of solace in a medium that gave me pleasure and a connection to the larger culture as something other than “pastor.” All clergy need that, I believe. As a writer and critic, I got to be more than a fan. I loved both what rock musicians did in making the music, and I loved how a great wordsmith and music writer with a smart ear would write about it. It helped me make sense of the world and my place in it. But I often forget at times like Advent and Lent, just how demanding my day job can be…

So now, I’ll go back (hopefully, briefly) to look at a couple of shows that took place right in the heart of the busy holy season of Lent, and then some record reviews of recent releases that I listened to with the intention to review. I’m not entirely OCD, at least that’s my story, but I do like to finish up a few things before moving firmly into the present. And so it goes.

Guided By Voices

At the Dublin Pub, Dayton, OH

March 16, 2011

The hometown reunion show of a beloved band always creates a special energy. Not only has the music often become more beloved over-time, but in retrospect the legends grow, and folk who equate your music to their unencumbered youthful days can give the music a mythical importance. It felt that way when I traveled back to St. Louis to see a reunion of Pale Divine. And, now a relatively new resident in Dayton, I did not want to miss what was advertised as the “classic line up reunion tour” of Guided By Voices.

Of course, this hometown show’s proximity to St. Patrick’s Day would be no accident – if ever there was a band whose music has become associated with drinking, for good and for ill (and as the evening wore on, we saw more of the latter than the former) that would be GBV. Bob Pollard’s songs and the band’s history celebrates the worldview of one looking at life’s challenges from the inside of a bottle, and the crowd that filled the large tent raised outside the downtown Dublin Pub for the weekend seemed willing and able to live into that, or should I say, those spirits.

Hitting the stage with bottle in hand, Pollard & Co. was greeted like long lost friends by a crowd that was eager to dive in and sing along. The brief opening “#2 in the Model Home Series,” from the “Vampire On Titus” album, which announces joyously that “now the fun begins,” before launching their traditional set opener “A Salty Salute,” with it’s invitation “c’mon, c’mon, the club is open.”

“Jane of the Waking Universe” followed, a song that was a bit longer than the previous two, with a musical pattern emerging. Quick bursts of punk energy, catchy pop hooks surprise in the midst of buzz-saw low-fi rock & roll, and then, almost unexpectedly, Pollard’s keen social commentary, ironic self-awareness and comic self-deprecation makes the songs feel more poignant and relevant than you had come to expect. There’s nothing all the erudite about “Pimple Zoo,” which came next, you think, but there’s something truthful and bracing in the simple expression that “sometimes I get the feeling you don’t want me around.”

And so it goes, Pollard makes a quirky, at times indecipherable comment about a song, placing it in the band’s vast early catalog of albums, EP’s and vinyl singles, and the band leaps in to bring it to life—with Pollard supported by two guitarists, Tobin Sprout and Charles Mitchell, bassist Greg Demos and Kevin Fennel—often with more energy than precision, but after all these are blue collar drinking songs, and it’s St. Patties for goodness’ sake.

At times, the band recalled a bit of the Irish roots, but mostly these were just good old basement (or garage) rock and rollers, the kinds of songs you’d expect from fans of The Kinks, The Who, The New York Dolls and science fiction, comic books and fantasy. Titles like “Kicker of Elves,” “My Valuable Hunting Knife,” “Cut-Out Witch,” “Bright Paper Werewolves” and “Gold Star of Robot Boy,” all suggest that this is music created by a guy with a lot on his mind. Somewhere in the middle of “A Good Flying Bird” or “Expecting Brainchild,” you ask yourself, maybe this guy drinks to quiet the voices in his head, and then you remember the band’s name and you smile.

And perhaps, as you often suspect, there’s more here than meets the eye. In the song “Lethargy,” Pollard asks “are you happy, happy today?” But during the songs strange lengthy live intro he does a stream of consciousness rap about being a band that practiced and drank in “a basement in ’82,” eventually learning to play instruments, and finding an “instruction book” that explained how they were to become Guided By Voices.

Playing close to 30 songs in under 90 minutes takes real stamina, but songs like “I Am a Scientist,” “Game of Pricks,” “Smothered In Hugs,” and “Don’t Stop Now” require very little, as the fans are more than willing to push that stone up to the top of the hill. Still, although the band was more than willing to come back for numerous encores, the waits were long, and the crowd was getting… well, let’s just say restless.

Without a doubt, Guided By Voices have reached legendary status by not self-destructing, at least not yet. It’s their sense of irony, and funny comfort with where they’ve landed in the music business foodchain, which is to say in that place where survival is the best revenge. On the way out, when the band was returning for the third set of encores and the second fight appeared to be breaking out near the margins of the tent, I left. But I have to admit, I was tempted to buy yet another band t-shirt I’d have no place to wear, when I saw the one that said simply on the front: Guided By Voices,” but on the back added “What shitty band are you in?” Got to love that.

“The King of Limbs”

Radiohead (TBD)

By Brian Q. Newcomb

When Radiohead launched in the mid-90’s with “Pablo Honey” with it’s surprise hit song “Creep,” and the much praised sophomore outing, “The Bends,” they were viewed pretty much as the heir apparents to follow in the wake of U2 and R.E.M. But for singer Thom Yorke and company, the band is more inclined to go the path less traveled.

By the release of the band’s “OK Computer,” which was received well enough to earn a Grammy for Best Alternative Album, Radiohead had begun to explore more ambient, electronic and other influences. In the end, the band moved over the course of a number albums to embrace an approach the deconstructed their songs, allowing a nearly avant garde appreciation of minimalism and “noise” to overwhelm their music’s innate pop sensibilities.

The electronic explosion in music, however influential, has often begun with artists/bands that understand computers better than guitars. Radiohead reversed this logic, something that has become a natural process for this enigmatic, profoundly artful band. Well, it sounds far from natural and “organic,” but that’s often the fruit of a listener’s limited palette. Radiohead insists we hear the blips and bleeps of electronica with all of it’s musical potential intact. Something required, more and more, with each successive release.

“Kid A,” “Amnesiac” and “Hail to the Thief” have found the band winning critical praise for their inventive, out of the box approach, while constantly pushing the limits of the commercial expectations of the gatekeepers at rock radio and elsewhere. “Thief,” appearing in 2003, had a strong anti-American political message, opposing the US led war in Iraq, although Yorke denied that reading, claiming the record was not political.

2007’s indie released “In Rainbows,” with it’s name your own price digital download campaign found the band working completely outside the record company oligarchy, making their own way artistically and commercially. The fans and critics followed, having embraced the band’s surprising mix of conventional and more high-tech instrumentation, counting on Yorke’s soulful soaring, near falsetto melodies to hold the thing together.

On the all-to-brief (under forty minutes) 8 songs that make up “The King of Limbs,” the groundwork has been laid, and the sounds feel more familiar and accessible. Of course, once you acclimate your mind to the loops and bells & whistles, you’ll also hear the acoustic guitars and bass in “Little By Little,” the battered piano of “Codex,” electric guitars that insinuate themselves in “Morning Mr. Magpie” and “Separator.” But mostly, as before, the dominate sounds give a haunting otherworldly vibe of white noise, or the repetitive blips and beeps of a machine.

But just as one can imagine the intensity and breadth that Radiohead can bring to these songs, when they reanimate, reconstruct them for live shows, as they did with power and elegance on the “Thief” and “In Rainbow” tours, like all great music, “The King of Limbs” finds numerous connections as you absorb it’s crisp, at times stark aural landscape.

Lyrically, the impressions Yorke leaves feel vague yet evocative. In “Give Up the Ghost” he sounds haunted yet peaceful as he prepares to give up what ever it is that keeps me from rest “in your arms.” “Separator” seeks to be woken up from the “long and weary dream.” Is Yorke asking to be woken up to life, or woken up from it to something other, something more? Who can tell. In “Codex” he invites us to jump into the clear water of life, of a lake, but to what end? In the inverted funky loop that is “Lotus Flower” he invites us to “Listen to your heart,” from the “empty place inside my heart, where the weeds take root, I’ll set you free.” Again, such optimism about the ability of art to free us, to break us out of our ruts, is this not what what we come to art and music looking for? Is that not what keeps us returning to music, the idea of liberation, clarity, a bit of inspiration, an affirmation that someone experiences life as we do, and we can connect in this moment?

Radiohead is rare in that they seem uniquely possessed by their commitment that art can and will do that, that we don’t have to sweeten it, that it’s more real and substantial when we make it as crisp and artful and as interesting as we can. “The King of Limbs” will standout in 2011, simply because it takes this leap of faith, this willingness to risk it all, in a brief yet poignant 8 songs invitation.

New CD from pop/rock Texas family band, Eisley

By Brian Q. Newcomb

“The Valley”

Eisley (Equal Vision)

I shall now attempt to get through this entire review of this third disc from the sibling quintet (one of them is a cousin) from Texas without making a reference to “chick rock,” the musical offspring of “chick lit” and “chick flicks,” or making the obvious Partridge Family joke. Really, I think I can do this.

Eisley is sisters Stacy (keys) and Sherri (guitar), who share lyric writing and singing lead vocals, and (lead guitarist) Chauntelle DuPree. They are joined by a rhythm section consisting of brother Weston on drums and cousin Garron on bass. Drawing their name from a Star Wars character (Mos Eisley), they started out playing the coffee house in their parents’ church in Tyler, Texas when Stacy the youngest was still counting her years in single digits.

When they started out, they played opening slots for traveling Christian rock bands like Waterdeep, Ester Drang, and Midlake. While they were likely to be courted by Christian music A&R folk, there was clearly an early decision within the band to remain a mainstream act, speaking of their faith in the kind of poetic, enigmatic language that one might find in one of C.S. Lewis’ children’s stories.

I first encountered the band, playing a major venue at Austin, TX’s amazing music showcase, SXSW in 2005. The youngest Stacy was 15, the band was set to launch their Reprise Records full-length debut, “Room Noises,” and was set to open shows for Coldplay in the U.S. and England. They were young, fresh, and quite the innocents, while appearing altogether centered and clear headed. In the interim there has been another studio record (“Combinations,” Reprise, 2007), there were tours with Snow Patrol, Brand New, New Found Glory, Hot Hot Heat, Taking Back Sunday, as well as Christian rockers like Switchfoot, Bleach, The Fray and MuteMath. And along the way the young women of Eisley were linked romantically with members of bands they had toured or worked with off and on, the odd engagement, some broke off, Sherri was briefly married and then divorced, but these days they are all settled into family life and marriage.

Amid all the emotional drama and along with all that touring, Eisley never had a breakout hit. In ’09, the people at Warner/Reprise tested the waters one more time with a four-song EP, including “The Valley” and “Ambulance,” which are the opening and closing tracks here. One imagines they were dropped from the major label, and have found a home with the indie, Equal Vision Records.

Produced in their hometown Rosewood Studios, with the aid of Gary Leach and Austin Deptula, the songs that make up “The Valley,” mark personal low points for the women who give Eisley it’s focus and energy. One recently divorced, the other two recovering from break-ups, the songs are darker, more complex, but by no means do they sound defeated.

The guitars are more aggressive, and the lush layers of guitars, keys and vocal harmonies build with energy and momentum, in the disc’s most winning track “Better Love.” While songs move through emotions of anger, loss and grief (“Sad”), and the women fight to regain a positive self image, asserting that “I am smarter than you think.”

And assault on the “narcissist” lover, the painful memory of that “apocryphal wedding,” but the energy gets turned in a positive direction on “I Wish.” We “Watch It Die,” but more than grief, Eisley sings of drying the tears to live and love again. There are broken, painful memories of course (“Please”), and that “Ambulance” was needed, but there is a commitment to rise above it all. To remain “Kind,” to not succumb to easy acts of revenge, but to turn one’s energy toward that “Better Love,” where “we’re gallant, we’re strong, we’re safe.”

Musically, Eisley has grown, so that these lushly orchestrated pop/rockers can carry the weight of all this emotional baggage. The sisterly harmonies connect as the band steps up with more engaged and intense, musically compelling backing tracks. The guitars ring out, the vocals soar, it’s a fine third album, sure this one’s the charm.

It’s that time again, friends… Let’s talk about the Grammy’s

By Brian Q. Newcomb

Later tonight, as the 53^rd Annual Grammy Awards are broadcast, I’ll be watching and writing comments here below. Feel free to come back, comment and interact. As they say, opinions are like elbows, everybody’s got one (or two). Okay, that’s not the saying, but my blog is carried on my church’s denominational website. And there are just some words I’m not going to print here.

Which has made for an interesting juxtaposition, this year especially. Those of you, that looked closely, for instance, at my list for the 25 best pop/rock CDs of 2010 (www.ucc.org/news/music-reviews-the-25-best.html) may have noticed that with the exception of only few there are links to the reviews that I had written and posted, either at UCNews or here on the Quincessentials blog. The three that didn’t are Eminem’s “Recovery,” Kanye West’s “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” and M.I.A.’s “Maya,” hip-hop album’s all, although M.I.A. brings lots of world music influences to the mix. Obviously, along with works by the Roots (one with John Legend), I thought they were some of the better works of 2010, but because of the vast and repetitive use of the word you hear people call the “F-bomb” it was almost impossible to describe the album’s strengths, musically and poetically, without having to warn folk constantly that the language, and a fair number of the metaphors are… well, let’s say unseemly.

But now, Eminem is nominated for 10 different Grammy awards at tonight’s event. And, to add injury to insult, there’s Cee Lo Green’s nomination of “Song of the Year,” “F*** You.” Now, when Gwyneth Paltrow sang that song on “Glee” they artfully changed the words so that it became “Forget You.” Still, when people gather around their computers to laugh and groove along with Cee Lo, they’re not laughing because Paltrow got the words wrong, their laughing because Green has tapped the inner angry zeitgeist of American’s fascination with “naughty” words, one of George Carlin’s famous “Seven Words You Can Never Say on T.V.”

Plus, and you have to admit, Cee Lo’s song is great Motown flavored pop from the golden era of Top 40 radio, made all the more real and fun by his great voice, smart, funny lyrics and the engaging video. But be warned, that tune is totally contagious. I got the disc for my wife for Christmas, and for several mornings I’ve heard my son getting ready for school to it’s golden tones. If you’re not careful, someone will exclaim something at work, and your subconscious response will be “ain’t that some…” well, you know. And I work in a church office. So be warned, it could happen to you too.

But back to the Grammy’s. Let me just go on record saying, yes of course the show will be too long. And yes, of course, this Award show thing is more often based on sales than musical quality, artistic integrity and all that. Of course, both of those are true. But I love that the show does try so very hard to be inclusive of music from a broad spectrum of genres – some I’ll care about more than others, but I like that they’re trying to cover a lot of bases, even though the show would be more fun to watch at 90 minutes rather than 3.5 hours.

And of course, these Awards are far from objective, they represent commercial appeal, record company investment, radio airplay, and sometimes the popularity of the artist’s past work that may have been overlooked. Like so many things in life, these Awards are often not fair; remember when they finally included a category for metal and then gave the big award to Jethro Tull? Or the decade or so we waited for hip-hop/rap to get the recognition it deserved? No, these Awards are like signposts, a sampling of what mattered in music this year, why some music mattered more than others. I can say that one revelation this year, is that more and more bands on indie labels, like Arcade Fire, are competing along side major label acts. That’s certainly a good sign.

Performance wise, we’ve been promised that Bob Dylan will join with Avett Brothers and Mumford & Sons for a salute to acoustic music. Dr. Dre will perform for the first time at a Grammy Award presentation, joining Eminem on stage. Anyone want to guess how many times they have to censor the words? There will be a celebration of the music of Aretha Franklin, featuring Christina Aguilera (not singing the national anthem this time), Yolanda Adams, Jennifer Hudson and more. We’re expecting to see performances by Mick Jagger, Barbra Streisand, Rhianna with Drake, Arcade Fire, Muse, Lady Gaga, Lady Antebellum, Cee Lo Green, and Justin Bieber with Usher, and more. This show is sounding so 2010.

I’d be a fool to make predictions, and besides if you look at my Best 25 CD lists, it’s pretty clear who I’d be voting for, but there’s some time before the show starts so here’s a few of my thoughts.

Record and Song of the Year should really go to “Cee Lo Green.” That song, no matter what you think of that word, is outrageous and contagious. It’s totally catchy, totally fun, and subversive in a strangely bright, positive way. Something it feels weird to say, about a song with that word and sentiment about a woman who broke his heart. Just for that, and the fact that it’s melody gets totally up in my business and won’t quit, I think it should win. But I could see the Jay-Z and Alica Keys duet “Empire State of Mind” taking the Record nod, as well as the Eminem/Rihanna pairing on “Love the Way You Lie,” which like Cee Lo is up in both categories.

Obviously my vote for Album of the Year, from this list of nominees, would give it to Arcade Fire for “The Suburbs.” But it’s a weird category, mixing genres, and it could easily also go to any of the contenders. I’d put my money on Eminem or Lady Gaga.

Best New Artist is likely going to Justin Bieber, and there’s just nothing we can do about it. I have recently turned on to Mumford & Sons, on the advise of a kind reader, and they’re very good, but they won’t be getting a 3D movie anytime soon.

Moving down a few categories. I’d love to see Elton John and Leon Russell pick up the Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for “If It Wasn’t For Bad.” The Imagine Project also includes some music greats: Herbie Hancock, Jeff Beck, India.Arie, Seal, Pink and more, but they’re all more likely to lose to the younger, fresher artists.

Of course, some winners have been announced prior to the broadcast. Michael Buble won Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, and all I can say is, maybe now Rod Stewart can go back to making decent rock albums. And at this point you just don’t want to see Barry Manilow or Barbra Streisand any encouragement, IMHO.

Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance has strong contenders. I like the Robert Plant track, but would have picked a livelier number from “Band of Joy” if anyone had asked. “Run Back to Your Side” is classic Eric Clapton, but I’m hoping Neil Young picks up the award for “Angry World.” And, Neil should also pick up “Best Rock Song” for “Angry World.”

Similar competition in Rock Performance by Duo or Group with Vocals. The Arcade Fire song is great, but I think of it as an album track. Jeff Beck & Joss Stone ring out some classic tones on “I Put a Spell On You,” but my first choice would be “Tighten Up” by The Black Keys. My pick for Best Rock Album, based on my Top 25, would of course be “Mojo” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. But it could go to Neil Young, maybe even Pearl Jam.

Best Alternative Album would be a toss up for me between “The Suburbs” by Arcade Fire or “Brothers” by The Black Keys. Best Hard Rock is mostly older artists, Ozzy, Alice In Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden. Them Crooked Vultures is Dave Grohl’s other, other band, and I love how raw they sound. But STP’s “Between the Lines” gets my vote.

I would hate to see John Legend & The Roots not pick up Best R&B Song for “Shine” and Best R&B Album for “Wake Up!” but I’ve not heard all their competitors, so it’s just that I love everything that the Roots touch.

Already winning the Best Gospel Performance is Winans siblings BeBe & CeCe with “Grace,” and they picked up Contemporary R&B Gospel Album with “Still,” while Best Gospel Song went to Kirk Whalum & Jerry Peters for “It’s What I Do.” The Christian rock album category is called Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album, and it went to Switchfoot for “Hello Hurricane,” a very deserving record. Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album went to “Love God. Love People” by Israel Houghton. Best Traditional Gospel Album went to another from my best of the year list: “Downtown Church” by Patty Griffin.

Okay, tune in later, during the show… and let’s chat about what we see, who plays and who wins.

“Science & Faith”

The Script (Epic)

By Brian Q. Newcomb

This bright, crisp pop trio from Dublin, Ireland, has been reminding me of an interview I once did with Del Amitri, a similar sounding band from Glasgow, Scotland. It was the early 90’s and America was pretty much all grunge all the time. Nirvana had a huge hit with “Nevermind” and we were tuned in to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane’s Addiction, Smashing Pumpkins and the like. But Del Amitri was cracking the Top of Pops in England and breaking through on MTV (remember when they used to play music videos?) and pop/rock radio (remember listening to music on commercial radio?) with singles like “Kiss This Thing Goodbye,” “Always The Last To Know” and “Roll To Me.”

I asked Del Amitri guitarist Iain Harvie about the difference between UK and American tastes. There it still seemed cool to write great pop songs, while here commercial pop was anathema to the all too cool alternative fan base. He explained that the great British rock bands had all had pop radio hits – The Beatles, The Stones, The Kinks, The Who. Americans, he said, have over reacted against melodic pop sounds because they are viewed as bald attempts to gain commercial success; they call that music a “sell out.” But many acts in the English isles, he said, came out of poverty and have no problem with the idea of selling out a club or theatre, that pursuing popularity and economic success was never viewed as anything less than artful. Besides he pointed out, if it’s so very easy to write a pop hit, why doesn’t everybody do it?

Writing, performing, creating a great song, something that’s accessible and popular with an entire cross-section of music fans, well it’s harder than it looks. But on “Science & Faith,” the second album from The Script, these Dublin pop-rockers are amped up to deliver the goods. It’s a fun, crisp, catchy set of songs that, in another time, would no doubt guarantee the kind of airplay that would promise single sales. These days, I’d suggest, you can expect a measurable glut of digital downloads of “For the First Time” (in the video, acting the part of the female love interest is Eve Hewson, daughter of U2’s Bono), as well as “You Won’t Feel A Thing,” “Nothing” and the title track.”

Of course, on the surface the title “Science & Faith” sounds perfect for the kinds of things I often write about here, but that song and throughout this disc, the focus is on love relationships and the tensions that make the work or not. Actually, the song by that title has some cute wordplay around ideas like “science” and “evolution,” but it’s the chorus that gets to the heart of the matter: “You won’t find faith or hope down a telescope/You won’t find heart and soul in the stars/You can break everything down to chemicals/But you can’t explain a love like ours/It’s the way we feel/Yeah, this love is real.”

Ultimately, that is one way of talking about religious faith, but that’s clearly not the point of the song. Similarly, “You Won’t Feel A Thing” plays with words about being “disgraced” and “excommunicated for every holy place” – you could stretch the promise that “I’ll take every blow for you” so that you can “lay your cuts and bruises over my skin” as a description of the lengths that God will go to show love, like the suffering servant of Isaiah, but again that’s not what the songwriters appear to mean.

Mostly, these guys are thinking about love and meaning through the lens of romantic connections. In “For The First Time” they acknowledge that the global economic challenges have real consequences on our lives and loves. Speaking of the struggles that come when “lost my job, I didn’t lose my pride,” it’s clear that it’s going to take a lot to “make it work” when one’s new job is standing in the unemployment line. Is this “God’s test,” the ask, a common query among the dispossessed. But no easy answer presents itself.

Musically, The Script – Danny O’Donoghue, Mark Sheehan and Glen Powers – deliver a pop record that hints at growing up in the shadow of British pop’s greats. There are hints of U2’s textured mix, there’s a modern R&B/soul vibe as if Van Morrison was conspiring with Timbaland, but ultimately finally it’s the sing-along chorus, the unmistakeable hook that keeps things fresh and engaging. Atlanta’s B.o.B adds a rap on one version of “Walk Away” and there’s a hip-hop meets the Police with rap coda for “This = Love.” If there’s a message to celebrate here, it’s in that last one: “Love is why we do it.” Yep, that’s the very best motivation ever.

Two acoustic releases from David Wilcox & The Choir

By Brian Q. Newcomb

“Reverie”

David Wilcox (What Are Records?)

Folk singer/songwriter David Wilcox first came to my attention back in the early 90’s when signed to A&M Records, a name often uttered in sentences that included other folkies like Pierce Pettis and Kate Campbell. He has made some great albums in the 20 plus years of his career, but as he become more of an indie artist, with the shrinking of rosters on major labels I’d lost track of him. I’d last seen Wilcox about 11 years back, so last April, when the invitation came to attend an intimate concert with the artist at The Monastery studio in Cincinnati, that would be recorded for a new album, I was eager to become reacquainted with his music. (I included my concert review of that evening on my blog, and I’m attaching the link at the end of this review.)

“Reverie,” he explained at the show, was to be a live recording of new songs in front of a small, supportive audience familiar with his music. But it was not a concert album, we were asked to sit very quietly as we listened and save our applause until he signaled that he was finished, and the sustained tones of his guitar had stilled to silence. During the recording I became conscious of every creek and noise, a child that was restless, someone shifting in their seat. But you’ll hear none of that on this disc, recorded and co-produced by Ric Hordinski (formerly of Over the Rhine). You also won’t hear the times he stopped and restarted, trying to get the tempo right on songs that were sometimes only days old, or repeated a verse to correct a mistake, something he said would be fixed in the mix thanks to Pro-Tools and modern recording wizardry.

What you do hear on “Reverie” is exactly what Wilcox & Co. had hoped for, an album where the songs sound fresh and accessible, recorded as if playing in the living room for friends, which it turns out it sorta was. But during the show, I was struck, and at one point Wilcox expressed his dawning awareness that many of these songs were not like many of his more personal songs, reflections on his own life and experiences, but that he was channeling some cultural engagement with folk who, very much unlike Wilcox’s public persona, are trying to force reality to fit their on plan and vision. Which is to say, I don’t think “Reverie” is a title that leads you to expect songs like “Shark Man” or “We Call It Freedom” or “Little Fish.”

“End of the World (again)” opens the disc with some reflection on our culture’s compulsive interest in the end times and a final destruction of our planet, whether it’s the “Left Behind” books threatening tone of an angry God demanding judgment or the Mayan’s calendar running out, we generally find it hard to live responsibly in the here and now. But it’s the songs above that grab you viscerally, “Little Fish” about folk who are willing to use their religion as a blunt object to force cultural conformity on the rest – I find the line “I like the part where they despise us for our righteousness,” sings the protagonist, a scary but accurate portrait of those who take that text about the “fear of the Lord” very literally. (here’s a link to hear this one, recorded on that night back at the Monastery, http://www.youtube.com/?v=s6QtVZ1hjbM&feature=player_embedded!)

No less scary is the protagonist in “Shark Man” the online bully who uses words to chew up those who might disagree with their position, which has a companion in another guy looking for a fight in “Piece of Me.” “We Call It Freedom” takes a look at what liberties and values we are willing to sacrifice as a nation, when we espouse torture and abandon our civil rights in pursuit of security. “Cast Off” is a delightful metaphor for a spiritual practice that is willing to step beyond the safe confines of institutional religious orthodoxy, the way a child must give up their cast so that their mending broken limbs can regain its strength. Other great songs also show up, a look at the denial of relationships on thin ice in “Dynamite in the Distance,” a song about a heroic dog named “Buster” rescuing its owner from predatory banker,” “Ireland” about the land and wood, and lineage, and making music.

Wilcox has a fluid vocal style and plays his guitars in unique tunings that give the songs a rich full, balanced foundation of fine playing. He’s a true folk troubadour, an artist in word and song, not to be overlooked. And here’s my review of that night out: http://community.ucc.org/blogeditor/app/nf/entry/editentry.aspx?BLIID=818d5681-4ff1-4dd8-8d67-c47d080f7b8e&blid=%7bDBBD8C6F-62B7-4145-B91A-084CAF798B41%7d

“Deplumed; Laid Bare; Exposed; Featherless”

The Choir (Galaxy21)

There’s a simple rule of thumb about good music, songs built to last, that you should be able to break it down to its lowest common denominator, say play a big loud fully produced rock song on a simple acoustic guitar, and have it work. The melody, composition and lyrics should be able to stand on their own, devoid of hip productions sounds, studio gimmicks and full band energy and noise. Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but the MTV “unplugged” series (back when they played music on that channel) brought disparate electric artists like Eric Clapton, Nirvana and The Cure back to basics. Here on a career spanning collection, The Choir brings it’s effects laden alternative rock back to acoustic guitar and voice, with only a modicum of instrumental support of rhythm instruments, plus the occasional cello, played by Sixpence None the Richer leader and occasional Choir substitute bassist, Matt Slocum.

Featuring one song from each of the band’s 12 studio albums, including their two EP’s “Shades of Grey” and “Kissers & Killers” and this year’s surprising return to recording for “Burning Like the Midnight Sun.” If you have heard The Choir’s fine alternative rock sounds, leaning heavily on Derri Daugherty’s effected guitar sounds and delightful lead vocal, and Steve Hindalong’s metaphorically potent lyrics, you already understand why this band is believed to be one of Christian rock’s best kept secrets. Unfortunately. Here, the turn things down, and draw the listener into the songs intimate leanings. Best here for me, are “15 Doors,” “A Sentimental Song,” “Hey Gene,” a tribute to the late Gene Eugene, leader of the band Adam Again and a member of the Lost Dogs with Daugherty, and to my great surprise, the latest one, “A Friend So Kind.”

For long-time Choir fans, “Deplumed” is a must have, of course. But for those who are less inclined toward alternative rock’s noisy excesses, here the beautiful melodies and Derri’s gorgeous voice serve the heartfelt songs with nothing in the way of distractions. But of course, I love the loud, distracted versions even more… but maybe that’s just me.

Friends, the first reviews from this year's new Christmas music releases can be found back on UCNews -- where I covered Brian Setzer's Orchestra live, Dan Hicks, Indigo Girls and Shelby Lynne... the reviews continue here... but at the bottom of this column you'll find links to reviews of last year's releases and comments about some of my all-time must hear Christmas releases... including the Chieftains, Blind Boys of Alabama, Over the Rhine, The Choir and my friends at the Broken Records label... some of these need to be reissued... but now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

“Gift Wrapped Vol. II: Snowed In”

Various Artists (Warner Bros.)

Of course the standard for Christmas all-star projects has been established by those early albums to benefit the Special Olympics, “A Very Special Christmas,” which featured classic covers of holiday fare from U2, Bruce Springsteen, The Pretenders, The Pointer Sisters, Tom Petty, Run D.M.C., and lots more. But it’s admittedly hard to care about the later releases in the series—“Vol. 7” came out last year—given the archetypal quality of the early ones. Last year’s “Gift Wrapped” included contributions from Brian Setzer (see above), My Chemical Romance, R.E.M., Relient K. (see below), R.E.M., Regina Spektor, The Flaming Lips and lots more.

This year’s “Vol. II” is but a shadow of those earlier efforts, with occasional moments of light, energy and joy. Cavo starts out just fine with “Home for Christmas,” which moves awkwardly into “Les Trois Cloches” by Ben Keith but it’s an awkward folk song rendering dominated by Neil Young, as if to declare the awkward shifts in tone and mood that would dominate “Snowed In.” There are other worthy efforts: Oasis on “Merry Christmas Everybody,” American Bang doing “Christmas Song,” “Better Days” done acoustically by Goo Goo Dolls, and a somewhat standard but reliable reading of “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” by The Dirt Drifters.” Devo offers up a song to the mythological nature of folks’ beliefs, “Happy Something to You” and Foxy Shazam dives headlong into the wildly challenging “Heaven On Their Minds,” from “J.C. Superstar.” But overly earnest and overtly weird attacks by David Foster, Regina Spektor, Flaming Lips and more fail to make this a necessary addition to most collections.

“O Come All Ye Faithful; A Christmas Album”

Various Artists (BEC Recordings)

“The Essential Christmas Collection”

Various Artists (Essential)

“‘Tis The Season to be Gotee”

Various Artists (Gotee)

For years and years, I was a part – a strange, black sheep relation, but a part nonetheless – of the Christian music industry. While I heard claimed again and again that it was all about the ministry, often decisions were made for sound economic business reasons not driven by a desire to share the Good News with those who needed to hear it most, or to make music that was creatively and artistically of the highest order. Nothing wrong with that, but the lack on honesty about the bottom line created false expectations. So, it’s an obvious thing to watch a variety of Christian music labels cashing in with Christmas music product, it’s “a natural synergy” (I’m sure somebody said at a sales convention in Nashville last spring), but curiously many of the “new” releases this year feature material found elsewhere previously.

BEC Recordings jumps into the fray with “the most played Christmas song” from last year, worship artist Jeremy Camp’s version of “O Come All Ye Faithful,” presumably “most played” on Christian radio outlets. Amy Grant, who has three – at least – Christmas albums of her own, has her version of “Silent Night” included here, but strong pop rock renderings from Seventh Day Slumber, Kutless, Bebo Norman and others give the collection a fresh appeal. I particularly like the way Jadon Lavik gives a nice acoustic guitar kick to “O Come O Come Emmanuel.”

The “Essential Christmas Collection” is anchored by a solid versions of Christmas hymn standards, generally rocked up in the sound of Third Day, Casting Crowns, Building 429 and Jars of Clay. Michael W. Smith contributes “All Is Well,” from an older Christmas project of his own (as is the Third Day take on “Angels We Have Heard On High”). Rebecca St. James wraps up a solid offering with “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”

TobyMac’s Gotee label aims for the fun in Christmas music, and is the one CCM industry project skewed toward youthful music tastes. There’s a trio from pop/punkers Relient K (although most of their fans probably picked up these songs on their own full-length Christmas album “Let It Snow, Baby… Let It Reindeer”), and a trio from House of Heroes, including their version of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” which appears also on the “Gift Wrapped II” collection. Female rocker Stephanie Smith offers up Relient K’s Matt Theissen’s “I Celebrate the Day” and “Jingle Bell Rock,” but the real connection here is R&B belter Ayiesha Woods on funky takes on “Jingle Bells” and “Merry Christmas Baby.”

Like I said, there’s not a lot of fresh ground broken this time of year. No news there. We like what we’ve always liked, we tell the same stories, sing the same songs, we just want fresh, fun reinventions often, but generally we like what we know we like. So, if you like the Christian band Newsboys, then you’ll want to pick up “Christmas! A Newsboys Holiday” EP… nothing I said would matter, one way or the other. If you could care less about this band, you’ll not care to put out your limited holiday cash for five songs you can find elsewhere from an artist you do like. So, enough… you get the point. But before I sign off two with a new, but traditional tact.

“Very Merry Christmas”

Dave Barnes (Razor & Tie)

While Dave Barnes arrives as a singer/songwriter with established cred in the CCM marketplace, he’s pretty much an unknown quality. And while there’s a couple traditional nuggets – Mel Torme’s “The Christmas Song” and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” – mostly he’s written a series of personal piano singer/songwriter songs that offer personal thoughts on traditional, often universal seasonal happenings. He’s got a better voice than Michael W. Smith, but brings similar studio sense, aided no doubt by co-producer Brown Bannister, one of the folk credited with discovering Amy Grant. Whether sentimental or romantic, whether looking for a larger or more personal meaning, it’s comforting to know folk like Barnes are working this familiar territory with fresh results.

“Once Upon a Time… Christmas”

Randy Creath (www.krethtunez.biz)

And in the spirit of shop local and supporting grassroots artists and musicians, here’s one from a friend that dates back to seminary… a long, long time ago in a land far, far away. Randy Creath, minister of music at First United Methodist Church of Franklin Park, IL, where his wife is the pastor, is a guitarist and composer, who has arranged a collection of Christmas standards. He sings with a warm baritone, and plays with a sense of wonder and joy, creating personal, yet universally appealing tones. He looks a bit like Jerry Garcia these days (but who doesn’t) but he sounds more like a contemporary worship leader than a Dead Head, as he mixes comfortable melodies with gentle improvisational playing that invites the listener to join him on the journey.

As we all know, some of the best Christmas gifts are found in unexpected places, like a homey kitchen, a candlelit sanctuary on a snow evening, a manger surrounded by animals where a poor expecting couple might find a little protection from the weather. Some of the best music this season will be the same, not in stores or big studios, but around pianos in homes, and at church caroling parties, and on Christmas eve in the candles glow.

Reviews of 2009 releases from Bob Dylan, Bill Mallonee, and “Gift Wrapped,” a various artists project: http://www.ucc.org/news/new-christmas-music-from-bob.html

Favorite Christmas music that I return to year after year, is discussed here: http://community.ucc.org/post/BrianQ/blog/past_christmas_music_favorites.html

And here, all the things that should have made that list, but I forgot due to a quickly developing form of “old-timers”: http://community.ucc.org/post/BrianQ/blog/archives/12-01-2009.html