It’s been a wonderful time for new music – so much so that I’m only barely keeping up with the new stuff I’ve gotten. Of course I’m handicapped by a dying ipod (“I’m not quite dead yet…”), and add to the fact that in my new department I really can’t listen to music, so getting to everything is a slow process. But start for a second with the premise that I didn’t expect this to be a very good music summer. I based that assessment on a couple of “Summer Preview” music podcasts. The music they previewed, with few exceptions did not excite me. Far from it.
But here it is, the height of summer and great music abounds! I have a lot to talk about but I’m going to mention just two serendipitous finds: Minnie Driver’s new cd, “Sea Stories,” and Suzanne Vega’s “Beauty and Crime.” I want to focus on these two because a) I discovered their release at the same time, and b) just by virtue of finding them I had high hopes.
In the interest of full disclosure, I will admit I have an enormous crush on Minnie Driver – always have. So, when she released her first album, “Everything I’ve Got In My Pocket,” I would have bought it if it contained her yodeling. Fortunately there was no such yodeling. In fact, it was quite good in an alt-country kinda way. The melodies are wonderfully lush with gorgeous instrumentation, and Driver’s voice is not bad at all – I’d go so far as to say it’s pretty good. The only unlistenable track on the disc is her cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Hungry Heart,” which has begged to be covered for years. After this cover, the begging stops – it’s crumpled in a corner whimpering now. She slows it down, and that’s it. That is it. Yeah, yeah, there’s that great instrumentation I mentioned earlier, but so what – this is a cover of a great song. Note: when covering a great song, you must make it greater than the original in your own way. Sound tough? It is, so seriously consider whether you bring anything to the table when you’re going to cover a tune. Driver doesn’t bring anything to “Hungry Heart.”
Wow, that’s a lot to say about her first album. The back story is actually pretty important because it makes my review of her new album much more succinct: it sucked. I still love Minnie Driver – make no mistake. But her band from the last album, which featured some of the Wallflowers and Peter Yorn and his band, are absent here. While her lyrics are… passable, and her voice (as I mentioned) is fine, without the structure that the instrumentation gave her songs, they collapse into mediocrity. As one review put it, her songs and voice are adequate, but adequate artists don’t get album deals – unless they also happen to be movie stars.
If you only know Suzanne Vega from Luka, I’m sorry for you. If you only know Luka and Tom’s Diner, I’m even sorrier. I don’t have time to extol her virtues, but I recommend picking up a copy of her “Retrospective” album – that’s a good primer, and the last release from Vega; we’re talking about half a dozen years at least since we’ve heard from her. Not that her music has developed incredibly in the meantime. “Beauty and Crime” is very much the same Vega, which is to say clever, quirky lyrics, imaginative arrangements, with a very understated, demure delivery. This album won’t blow you out of your seat, but it’s a nice glass of lemonade in the middle of summer.
Wow, long winded much? I’ve still got the new Smashing Pumpkin’s disc on my zombie-pod, as well as a whole slew of new indie stuff. But that can wait! :)