Greatness Trumpeted From the Heavens

Last Friday evening, my brother and I made an outing to our local Target so I could purchase some new CD's (I don't like downloading; it destroys the work and the effect of the album. That's right; album, not a collected group of singles to be bought on a whim because you heard the song in the new Gossip Girl episode.). The ones I wound up purchasing were Neko Case's Middle Cyclone and M. Ward's Hold Time. I am going to review them in the space below and it will be my first crack in reviewing things. In the future expect music, movie and book reviews. The "stars" that most reviewers use are replaced by asterisks. *****= Awesome; ****= Great; ***= Pretty good, I guess...; **= Not so great; *= Don't bother picking it up

Neko Case Middle Cyclone-****1/2

Case's last album Fox Confessor Brings the Flood was one of the strangest albums I had ever heard when I bought it last year on a bit of a whim. It was a departure from previous albums, abandoning all semblance of "pop" song structure in favor of a freewheeling Americana patchwork that resembled nothing in it's structure and flow. She still retains some of that here on Middle Cyclone, her latest release on ANTI- Records, but the summery pop seems to be coming back into play, a little at a time. Case seems to be treating the "pop" song much like a person whose pet runs away and comes back months later; of course she's happy to see the scruffy thing, but she's somewhat wary as it could flip out and bite back at any sudden move to welcome it home. You can see it especially in "This Tornado Loves You", "People Got A Lot of Nerve", "Red Tide" and the two covers represented here, "Never turn Your Back On Mother Earth" and Harry Nilsson's haunting "Don't Forget Me". All the catchiness and hooks are there, but something's still a little off. Not that that's a bad thing. It's the idiosyncrasies of this album that keeps me glued to my stereo.
As usual, the instrumentation on all of Case's albums are incredible, but this one especially so. Some familiar players fill the ranks, such as past collaborator Paul Rigby, singer Kelly Hogan and ex-the Band member Garth Hudson on the keys, but some new surprises are in store, such as guest appearances from M. Ward on guitar, Steve Berlin of Los Lobos on the saxophone and Lucy Wainwright Roche who helps sing back up and also helps create such beautiful harmonies that would make the likes of Brian Wilson blush.
All in all, this album is one of the best I've heard in a while, but it does lack some of the immediacy and epic-ness of Fox Confessor Brings the Flood. Some of this feels a little like reheated B-sides from that album, although, I'll take Neko's leftovers over some people's new material any day.


M. Ward Hold Time- *****

I can sum up M. Ward's new album in one word; astonishing. It's like while producing and quietly collaborating with Zooey Deschanel on their equally astonishing album last year, he was secretly bottling up his best stuff to serve at a later date. One over-used bit of praise bestowed upon Ward is the adjective "timeless". True, some of Ward's songs could have been sung by the likes of Leadbelly or Hank Williams, and, equally true, his voice sounds like the ghost of a long-lost dust bowl era crooner, but Ward is a modern singer living in a modern world and is perfectly capable of adapting and expanding (Are those keyboards I hear on "To Save Me" and "Stars of Leo"?).
As every song on this CD is awesome, as all songs on albums should be, let's take a short peek at all of them.

1. For Beginners- A nice, laid-back way to start an album. This song doesn't explode out of the speakers, but that's only because it's setting you up for later. Let Ward's Beatles-esque rhythm guitar line take you away, while he seamlessly delivers knockout lyrics about the original sinners and how we all seem so innocent when we first start off in life.
2. Never Had Nobody Like You- A barn-burning collaboration with Zooey Deschanel, the raven haired beauty seen in film's like Elf and The Happening, who turned to Ward last year for help on releasing songs that she had written herself and eventually germinated into the She & Him project Volume 1, which received many accolades from indie press. This song is about a love gone right and sounds like a summer pop song out of the mid-60's. Hats off to Zooey for the totally groovy backup vocals. "Yeah, Yeah" indeed.
3. Jailbird- Another laid back ditty about a jailbird, i.e. some guy who got locked up and who regrets the decisions made in his life.
4. Hold Time- The emotional centerpiece of the album, including gorgeous strings, arranged by Ward himself. The vocals are somewhat meandering, but the sadness behind his words comes through just fine.
5. Rave On- An amazing cover of the Buddy Holly tune, again including Zooey Deschanel on backup vocals. Ward claims he tried to envision this song if British folkie John Fahey had covered it. I have unfortunately not heard John Fahey's music, but if this is anything at all what he sounds like, I want all of his albums, like right now. Kicked off by the coolest acoustic blues lick I may have ever heard and kudos again to Deschanel for the heavenly vocals.
6. To Save Me- This weird number could have been a huge hit in the 70's. What with the righteous piano, the doo-doo-doo back up vocals provided by Granddaddy frontman Jason Lytle and the trippy keyboard riffs, this could have been on a Yes album.
7. One Hundred Million Years- This song could have been a Carter Family traditional. You could mistake it for a cover easily, but that's what is so cool about Ward; his old soul combined with modern tastes for the strange and idiosyncratic.
8. Stars of Leo- A psychedelic downer, if that's possible. For some reason, this song, lyrically, reminds me of "Tambourine Man" by Bob Dylan. I always think of someone totally down on their luck, like Dylan's junkie in "Tambourine Man", when listening to this song.
9. Fisher of Men- A boom-chicka-booming song that reminds me of early Johnny Cash on Sun Records. This version sounds something like what would happen if Cash sang this song with Superchunk as his backing band. Truly inspired lead guitar lines and lyrics about a predatory fellow who is a relationship destroyer fishing for real human beings.
10. Oh Lonesome Me- A Don Gibson cover and a duet with alt-country goddess Lucinda Williams. No greater wallflower anthem will ever be written.
11. Epistemology- A grand offering to some woman of Ward's dreams. This song could easily be covered by Bruce Springsteen. It sounds just as good as anything from Born to Run.
12. Blake's View- A lament for someone who has lost someone. Comforting not only lyrically, but sonically with Ward's hushed acoustic as accompaniment.
13. Shangri-La- A cool folkie song about a far off place just within reach. Sounds even better when juxtaposed against the previous song, all about death. This song seems like a celebration of life.
14. Outro (I'm A Fool To Want You)- On the CD package, this song is listed only as "Outro", but on the inside of the album booklet you find out it's an instrumental version of the Frank Sinatra tune "I'm A Fool To Want You". It's a sage pick and an excellent album closer.

Sorry, that wasn't so short. But what do you expect? Greatness like Ward's must be trumpeted from the heavens. Let's all join Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes in making M. Ward our next president! Let his economic policy be as grand as Hold Time!!!