You Roy Orbison haters need a box of Q-Tips....

2013 Review

Overall, it was an OK year.  I thought it was a lot wider than it was deep.  Many albums I heard had 2-3 great songs and not much else going on.  Cutting my disc to 75 minutes was a lot tougher than putting together top 10 albums. 

Because we don’t do honorable mentions, I can’t talk about Josh Ritter or Kentucky Knife Fight.

10) The Mavericks – In Time

9) Kacey Musgraves – Same Trailer, Different Park

8) Superchunk – I Hate Music

7) GRMLN - Empire

6) The National – Trouble Will Find Me

5) Mikal Cronin – III

4) Purling Hiss – Water on Mars

3) Elephant Stone – S/T

2) J Roddy Walston and the Business – Essential Tremors

1) Jason Isbell – Southeastern

Hall of Fame

Approval Submissions:

Chuck Berry

Little Richard

Jerry Lee Lewis

Roy Orbison

Johnny Cash

Carl Perkins

My automatic 2 (The St Louis wing)

Johnnie Johnson

Uncle Tupelo

Jan/Feb Reviews

Patti Smith – An artist who I would like to have a ghits of.  On every PS album I’ve ever listened to, there are 2-3 really good songs.  Unfortunately, there is never any more than that, and this is no exception.  Toss out the opening cut and “Pissing in a River”” and what’s left is overblown pretentiousness which does nothing for me.  2.5 stars

Bronze Radio Return – An album that tries hard to walk that line between Americana and pop music with some success.  The title track and a few others have that sunny bop-a-bility that sounds breezy and effortless.  Ultimately though, too much of this falls into the Mumford & the Lumineer Brothers no rough edges blandness.  Its difficult for a band to distinguish itself playing such homogenized music.  The talent is here, but they need to take some sandpaper to the gloss.  2.5 stars

Deer Tick – Might have made my top 10 had I heard it in time.  Really like the mix of rock, blues and country and I’m a sucker for well written lyrics.  The title is apt when examining those lyrics up close and personal, but they get offset with copious up-tempo rocking.  Could have gained a ½ star by cutting a couple of tracks.  Highlight for me was the Vanessa Carlton duet.  3.5 stars

Mark Lanegan – 6 or 7 times through and I still don’t know what to make of it.  Some good stuff like “Head” and “Driving Death Valley Blues” get waylaid by slow acoustic drivel like “Bombed”.  The songs I liked, I really liked, and the songs I didn’t like were terrible.  Wish Poobah would submit something clearly great or clearly shitty next time, this one was a lot of work.  3 stars

The Wonder Stuff – Enjoyed this collection of a band I’d never heard of.  Heard a lot of the Waterboys influence, and a little of the Byrds at times.  Definitely has that late 80’s / early 90’s sound to it which dates it somewhat, but this was a keeper from start to finish.