TUESDAY, MARCH 30, 2010
MUSIC
Black Tambourine
BLACK TAMBOURINE
The current glut of
MARK J. TERRILL/ASSOCIATED PRESS
OUT OF GAS? Given Alan Jackson’s track record, “Freight Train” is all the more disappointing.
Jackson’s derailed ‘Train’
Country superstar touches all the bases but never hits home
by Joe Heim
A decade ago Alan Jackson teamed up with fellow country music superstar George Strait to deliver “Murder on Music Row,” a brilliant jab at the Nashville music industry for watering down its product, get- ting rid of “drinkin’ and cheatin’ songs” and cutting out “its heart and soul.” It may be time for Jackson to
go listen to that song again. The 51-year-old Georgian’s just-re- leased “Freight Train,” his first since 2008’s “Good Time,” is a sluggish, mostly soulless effort. And coming from one of coun- try’s more dependable tradi- tionalists and clever hook writ- ers, it’s especially disappoint- ing. There are none of his trademark turns of phrase. There’s zero boundary stretch- ing. There’s no great storytell- ing. There’s nothing that can be called anything other than ordi- nary. Instead, almost every one of the dozen songs on this lazy- feeling record sounds as though it has been focus-grouped: Workingman song? Check. Gonna-love-you-forever song? Two checks. Wait, make that three. Coming-of-age track? Got it. There’s even the dreaded country-singer-goes-sailing song, a seeming requirement on every record out of Nashville for the past few years. Appar- ently a lot of country singers want to be Jimmy Buffet. Let’s examine the dreck: The album opens with “Hard
Hat and a Hammer,” and even though it’s a cliche-riddled paean to working- men, it bounces along agreeably, culminating with a chorus that ends: “God bless the workingman.” That would be fine, but for some rea- son, after singing that line throughout, at the end of the song Jackson half mutters “and woman.” It’s such an embar- rassed throw-in that it makes Jackson sound as if he’s trying to thwart being criticized for not including workingwomen. It’s a bad solution that only makes the song worse. And there’s more not to like.
“After 17” is a far too obvious look at life between girlhood and womanhood, with few good lines and fewer insights. “The Best Keeps Getting Better” is a dreadful hackfest that has Jackson comparing love to an aging fine wine. Oof. And “It’s Just That Way” may be the most boring profession of everlasting love put to music. “The ocean’s wet / The desert’s dry / Don’t ask me why / Cause I can’t say / It’s just that way.” At least Jack- son didn’t pen that track. What makes all of this so la- mentable is that Jackson has had an illustrious career, owns more than 30 No. 1 country hits and possesses a honeyed twang that is the envy of every country singer out there. He writes au- thentic songs that land con- vincingly on country’s sweet spots: humor, hell-raising, heartbreak and tragedy. “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning),” a re- sponse to the 9/11 attacks and Jackson’s biggest crossover hit, was mocked by some for its geo-
Badu delivers her vintage vibe
badu from C1
Lauryn Hill” and D’Angelo’s “Voodoo.” More than a decade later, an interesting post-neo-soul tem- plate is beginning to take shape — dreamy, elliptical records where potent melodies are gin- gerly tucked into deceptively complex arrangements. It’s a trick that Maxwell pulled in July with his sublime comeback disc “BLACKsummers’night” and Badu is up to something similar here, unspooling her fe- ver-dream funk in strange new codes.
She tries to push us away
with “Fall in Love (Your Funer- al),” waving a cautionary finger, “You don’t wanna fall in love with me.” Behind her is what sounds like an Alicia Keys song flipped inside out, with key- boards squeaking where you’d expect them to chime. For the refrain, Badu recycles a couplet from the late Notorious B.I.G.’s “Warning”: “There’s gonna be some slow singing and flower- bringing if my burglar alarm starts ringing.” And on and on she goes, tip-toeing over the beat for six funky minutes. Her B.I.G. worship continues
with “Turn Me Away (Get MuN- NY),” an interpolation of Junior M.A.F.I.A.’s “Get Money,” the 1995 chart-topper from Biggie’s then-young acolytes. Badu graces this version in a rubbery voice, offering multi-tracked
harmonies that feel pliant and light. It has the charm of a spring day but still feels pleas- antly amiss — like a freakish midwinter spike in tempera- ture.
And while Badu’s voice has a perennial warmth, “Gone Baby Don’t Be Long” is the coolest tune in the bunch. Her syllables are flash-fried in psychedelic vocal effects, the drums are a rickety metallic gallop, and the bass lurks so low, it’s practically imperceptible. This is Badu at her retro-futuristic best, sum- moning blaxploitation and sci- ence fiction in the same breath. There’s something unhurried and aloof about “Return of the Ankh,” but 39-year-old Badu still sings with a magnetism that compels us to follow her to and fro. Old-school fans vexed by such meandering will likely flock to the album’s lead single, “Window Seat.” It’s vintage Ba- du: gentle melodies, a twin- kling harp, rim-shots click- clacking at an easy, Sunday morning tempo. Don’t mistake it for a mo- ment of clarity. Badu seems to have found her true self deep in the fog.
richardsc@washpost.com
Recommended tracks:
“Gone Baby, Don’t Be Long,” “Umm Hmm,” “Fall in Love (Your Funeral),” “Turn Me Away (Get MuNNY)”
graphical inexact- ness but captured the national mood like no other song of that time. Per- haps he’s a victim of his own achieve- ments, but one simply expects bet- ter from Jackson.
There is one standout song on the album, a cover of “Till the End,” a classic country bal- lad on which Jackson duets with Lee Ann Womack. It is the sort of unadorned, sap-free ex- pression that suits Jackson best. A gem of a song that feels and sounds honest and soulful. Too bad there weren’t more like it.
heimj@washpost.com
Recommended tracks:
“Till the End”
reissues, remasters and deluxe editions flooding the album market is just another symptom of an industry obsessed with selling the old as new. “Black Tambourine,” the self-titled complete retrospective of D.C.’s finest noise-pop act of the ’90s, is a noteworthy exception. It collects the short-lived quartet’s hard-to-find output ( just 10 songs), some crucial outtakes and even adds four brand-new songs to create an essential package for one of the city’s best and most-overlooked bands of the past two decades. The capital’s hard-core and punk history is rightfully revered and well documented, but while aggression and angst ruled the day there was also a lighter side to the underground rock scene. Black Tambourine’s influence has seeped into the current indie-blog scene, with Archie Moore’s fuzzed-out guitars and Pam Berry’s coolly delivered, reverb-drenched vocals serving as a template for any number of Brooklyn bands. Aesthetic was vital but songwriting never took a back seat; “Throw Aggi Off the Bridge” and “For Ex-Lovers Only” stand as genre touchstones landing at that perfect midpoint where the noise and pop meet.
An unreleased demo version
of “Aggi” is the real revelation here:Moore’s guitar is coated in distortion, ferociously strummed, overpowering everything else in the mix and giving off a serious Velvet Underground “White Light/White Heat” vibe.
—David Malitz
Recommended tracks:
“Throw Aggi Off the Bridge” (First Demo), “For Ex-Lovers Only,” “By Tomorrow”
Recommended tracks:
“Lil Freak,” “Okay” “Pro Lover”
Recommended Tracks:
“Hope Child,” “Free Energy,” “Dream City”
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SINGLES FILE
A weekly playlist for the listener with a one-track mind
Flying Lotus featuring Thom Yorke: “. . . And the World Laughs with You”
The Radiohead frontman does a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it turn on this trip- py new track from Southern California producer FlyLo.
The Splinters: “Dark Shades”
Serpent metaphors, ’50s girl-group pop and ’60s garage rock combine on this probably-unintentionally-“Aqualung”-evoking track.
Joker: “Tron”
The latest dub-step stunner from the (other) Purple One probably has nothing to do with the upcoming “Tron” sequel, although that would have been almost unbearably awesome.
Low featuring Intuition: “Breaker”
On his new mix tape, “I Ruined These Songs for You,” interloping rapper Intuition inserts his own verses into a vari- ety of pop and indie rock songs, including this sludgy ’07 track from Low.
Girls: “No Surprises” (Ra- diohead cover)
The heads of last year’s freshman class take on the “OK Computer” bal- lad during a show in Sweden earlier this month.
— Allison Stewart
Thom Yorke has a brief cameo with FlyLo.
GETTY IMAGES
Iván Fischer Returns
J.S. BACH Mass in B minor
“A connoisseur of sound…unlocking
Iván Fischer, conductor Dominique Labelle, soprano Marie-Nicole Lemieux, contralto Michael Slattery, tenor Thomas Bauer, baritone
University of Maryland Concert Choir, Edward Maclary, director
Iván Fischer
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Punk icon Jello Biafra of Dead Kennedys fame brings his new band, the Guantanamo School of Medicine, to the Black Cat tonight. Click Track speaks with him about censorship.
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THE CLASSICAL BEAT
Post critic Anne Midgette offers her take on the classical music world at voices.
washingtonpost.com/the-classical-beat.
CLICK TRACK
For more pop music news, reviews and features, visit ClickTrack, The Post’s pop music blog at blog.washingtonpost.com/
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QUICK SPINS
Usher
RAYMOND V. RAYMOND
Usher’s 2004 “Confessions”
was the best kind of breakup album: Assumed to detail the singer’s relationship with TLC member Chili, the drama was juicy, and the moving on was fun, thanks to plenty of models, bottles and dynamic production. The singer’s new “Raymond v.
Raymond” also explores a romantic parting of ways, but this time the inspiration is Usher’s split from wife Tameka Foster, which involves lawyers, children and other intense grown-up things. If Usher were a country singer, the themes would serve him well, but things often get a little heavy for the pop universe. Songs about the trials in Usher’s marriage can be a bit tedious. Celebrity gossip is a lot more comprehensive than when “Confessions” came out, so many of the details aren’t revealing so much as a rehash. “Papers” is catchy enough, but most listeners already know Usher “damn near lost my mama” and has “been through so much drama.” “Guilty” has a fresh, burbling synth line and a T.I. feature, but also the not-so-startling revelation that a relationship can be taxed when one of the parties involved really likes to party. Still, Usher manages to make some great music, especially when he appears to be getting his bearings back as a single man and heartthrob. “Pro Lover” is a crackling player’s anthem — “Guilty” without the guilt — and “Okay” is a fast-paced ride. Seems every R&B album needs a track about threesomes these days — here it’s “Lil Freak.” Producer Polow da Don creates a twisty, slightly off-kilter beat, Usher provides the come-hither vocals, and Nicki Minaj takes the edge off with her cartoon voice — and offers the important reminder that everybody loves Raymond.
— Sarah Godfrey
Free Energy
STUCK ON NOTHING
Philadelphia
band Free Energy won the hipster lottery when LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy signed on to produce its official debut, “Stuck on Nothing.” “Nothing” sounds like what 2010 musical savants with very large record collections think roller derbies sounded like in 1978. It’s compact and speedy and free of irony, with hand-clap beats and cowbells and a carefully applied layer of nostalgia, its songs perfectly constructed for inclusion on the soundtrack to “Whip It” or “The Runaways.” All of which is another way
of saying: It’s pretty great. Everyone involved seems to have been more interested in finding different ways to assemble old ideas than in actually coming up with any new ones. As a result, “Nothing” is a black hole consuming every influence it comes across: The Ramones, ’70s AMradio rock acts such as Cheap Trick and Thin Lizzy, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, the Strokes (most emphatically), Spoon, even vaguely remembered acts like Superdrag. “Bang Pop” seems not to
have been suggested by Weezer so much as channeled directly through it; “Young Hearts” sounds like the result of a one-night stand between the Ramones and Steely Dan; and “Free Energy” carries on a great, long-neglected tradition in which bands named songs after themselves. “Free Energy” isn’t a statement of purpose, exactly, but because it’s cheery, hook-y and doesn’t seem to make much sense (something about making out with the wind?), it couldn’t be more appropriate.
—Allison Stewart
C3
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