You Don’t Know Jack ... But You Will

A couple of months ago a friend gave me a CD that he’d been involved in. He asked for my feedback, with the unspoken hope that I would write something good about it on this blog. Because I respect his musical skill and sensibilities, I agreed to listen to it and give him my opinion, though I doubted I’d publish anything about it since his description as he handed me the CD (“kind of in the vein of Dave Matthews or Jack Johnson”) suggested that it wasn’t particularly my cup of tea music wise. Nevertheless, he assured me that it was quite good, especially given the tender age of the players, some of whom have a ways to go before they’re out of their teens.

The CD in question was Generation of Need, by Jack Babineau, a young Rhode Island singer/songwriter. When I got down to listening to it, the Dave Matthews influence was evident right away, less so with the Jack Johnson sound. I did also hear some shades of Ben Harper (sans the gritty pedal steel) and John Mayer in the tracks. However, I was most struck by the maturity of the songwriting and the well-defined, sophisticated sound of the recording.

Instruments are subtly interwoven, yet crisp and well-defined. Most songs are built around a foundation of layered guitars, starting with Babineau’s driving acoustic and the frequent interjection of electric guitars of various hues. Solid bass and surprisingly adept drumming (compelling, but not over-busy) flesh out the sound. Understated, but essential, keyboards add nuance and distinction to most of the tracks.

It certainly doesn’t hurt that the young star and his band mates’ raw talent is featured in the refined setting of Emerson Torrey’s accomplished production and juiced by the guest appearances of other renowned local music industry vets such as James Montgomery (adding resonant blues harp), Mark Cutler (on country-blues style slide guitar) and Richard Reed (whose keyboard skills seem to grace all of the album’s best tracks), as well as Torrey’s guitar and piano contributions. (Torrey’s teenage son, Jake, is one of the three guitarists in the band.)

Babineau’s lead vocals are band-leader worthy and effective in delivering his catchy and thoughtful lyrics. The song arrangements are tight and the playing is sharp throughout. But the secret weapons that really give this release a major label sound are the well-executed harmony vocals and the production – studio effects are adroitly employed, never over done.

While the whole 30-minute CD is easy to enjoy, the standout tracks are the title track, a muscular song in which potent electric guitars are juxtaposed against an acoustic foundation; the funky “Love Now,” in which the soulful backing vocals and driving beat recall The Rolling Stones in their glory years; and “Keep It On,” which elicited some nostalgia for me, harkening back to the short-lived early 1990’s collection of local studio pros and an acoustic duo from Maine known as The Walkers (beneficiaries of Atlantic Records’ brief infatuation with New England bands at the time, which saw The Raindogs, Young Neal and The Vipers and The Walkers all signed to the label).

So what I originally considered kind of an obligatory favor to a friend turned out to be an unexpected gift. I will continue to give Generation of Need the occasional spin in the CD player and keep an eye on what these young fellows do in the future with their budding talent and benevolent mentorship.

Jack Track-by-Track

No Excuses – The most Jack Johnson-esque song on the CD; not one of my favorites, but it has grown on me with repeated listens. With a decent chorus, a mildly shuffling beat and bouncy acoustic guitar, it provides a fitting lead in to the rest of the affair.

From the Outside – One of the more Dave Matthews-esque songs on the CD, and a good one at that. A funky, buoyant beat is fleshed out with meaty organ fills and soaring lead guitar lines – all complementing the assured verse vocals, a strong chorus and outstanding harmony. This was one of my 15-year-old daughter’s favorites – she, like her dad, being of impeccable musical taste. :-)

Blossom Street – The tempo slows a bit for this more predominantly acoustic tune. Tasteful acoustic guitar glides over subtle electric guitar and piano. The sound builds in instrumentation as it progresses, but it maintains its simple clarity. A heartfelt love song and another superb production.

Generation of Need – Undoubtedly the best song on the CD, the title track is still acoustic driven, but things get considerably more funky and heavy. The electric guitars rock up the chorus, while the Dave Matthewsy vocal phrasing works particularly well on this ode to the age of anxiety, miscues and greed. Multi-layered electric guitars cut loose amid a swirling frenzy of effects to create a satisfying climax. Fun time for all, no doubt!

For Today – This piano-driven ballad is the other Jack Johnson moment on the CD. Nicely restrained vocals are well-suited for the romantic lyrics. Eventually, it evolves into Power Ballad Land, with a big chorus and arena rock guitar. Overall, my least favorite song on the CD, but one that shows the musicians’ ability to tackle different styles.

Keep It On – This bluesy, Walkers-esque, acoustic tune, sparked by James Montgomery’s harp and Babineau’s staccato R ’n’ B flavored vocals, is another stand out track. Quite good, indeed.

Love Now – The funkiest tune on the CD is my second favorite. The acoustic guitar takes a back seat to the funky bass, slick wah-wah guitar and soulful vocals, including potent female harmonies. “We need the love now,” indeed.

Conformity – The CD closes on a strong note with another upbeat acoustic guitar-driven song (with understated R ’n’ B guitar and piano). Tasteful slide guitar added by Mark Cutler, along with more soulful female vocals and a relatively unadorned blues-rock electric guitar solo near the end make this track another vivid homage to the vintage Stones sound.

FURTHER:

• JackBabineau.com

• MySpace.com/jackbabineau

Designs on Humor

Art geek parenting ...

Two Legendary Guitarists ... From Opposites Ends of the Spectrum

This month, I finally got a chance to see two renowned 1960’s era English guitarists in concert. Both shows were very impressive, and while there were some similarities – most notably respectful nods to the late guitar legend Les Paul – the differences were more noteworthy.

First up was Jeff Beck and his band at the Bank of America Pavilion on Boston Harbor on June 2. The 5,000 seat amphitheater generally has surprisingly good sound for such a venue and good sightlines. As expected, Beck put on a show of incredible guitar dexterity, coaxing impeccable tone out of his white Fender Strat. In general, the show was not as riff heavy as his albums of the last decade or so might suggest. And while there were some funky moments, he leaned more heavily on the tasteful mellow melodies of the kind featured prominently on his most recent release Emotion and Commotion (not among his better albums, but nevertheless including a few interesting moments).

“Brush with the Blues” from the 6/3/10 Boston show I attended.

Highlights of this Boston show included “Led Boots” from 1976’s landmark Wired l.p.; a funked up cover of blues standard “Rollin’ and Tumblin’,” featured on Beck’s 200o CD, You Had It Coming); the sublime slow bluesy takes on the Celtic tune “Mna na h”Eireann” and “Angel (Footsteps),” from 1999’s Who Else?; the evening’s most hard rock moment, on the automobile ode “Big Block,” from 1989’s Guitar Shop; and a brief romp through Les Paul’s 1951 classic, “How High the Moon.”

I was disappointed by the rather anemic instrumental rendition of “People Get Ready” (historically one of my favorite Beck interpretations), as well as the slightly hurried and disjointed take on The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life,” which Beck has much more impressively executed on record in the past. Not that I really expected it, but it would’ve been nice to hear one nod to Beck’s early career, perhaps a Yardbirds tune or 1968’s “Beck’s Bolero,” which he has been playing in recent years. Alas, that was not to be.

Those complaints aside, Beck can make sounds on guitar unlike anyone else on the planet. His unorthodox fingerpicking, fretting and manipulations of the whammy bar, volume and tone controls are unparalleled. He can riff hard on a groove or make the guitar weep plaintively. What he doesn’t do so much, however, is play songs. Chords and rhythmic playing (aside from the funky riffs) are non-existent. Of course, he has a superlative rhythm section behind him in bassist Rhonda Smith and drummer Narada Michael Walden, and keyboardist Jason Rebello plays a key role, too. But you seldom find Beck rhythmically driving a song the way, for example, his fellow Yardies alums Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page do.

Nevertheless, you can’t help but be impressed – awed, in fact, especially if you’re a guitarist – by Beck’s playing.

That said, I was a little surprised to find myself even more impressed by the other guitar legend I saw this month: Albert Lee, the flashy country-picking Brit who appeared a few weeks later at the much more intimate Showcase Live club in Foxboro, Mass.

To be fair, the different venues created somewhat of an apples-to-oranges scenario between the two concerts. I was 25 yards or so from Beck in the big venue, while I was about 25 feet from Lee in the 500-capacity club. The relatively new club’s sound system is state of the art.

Lee is certainly not the guitar hero that Jeff Beck is, but in guitar-playing circles he’s highly reputed and has been since his days as a session player in the late ’60s. Since then, he has performed with the Everly Brothers, Emmylou Harris and Eric Clapton, among

others. The June 18 gig was his first show fronting a band in the United States in a couple of decades.

I came to hear Lee’s twangy country bends and lightning-quick chicken-picking. I was not disappointed (though he didn’t play a Fender Telecaster, as I had expected, instead invoking his twangy tones from a custom-made, whammy-bar outfitted, red Music Man guitar). What I did not expect, and was pleasantly impressed by, was his confident vocals (must’ve been all those years with the Everlys) and his adeptness on piano (which he played on about six songs). Most notable of all though, and the key point of distinction from Beck’s performance a few weeks earlier, was his focus on the songs – some of his own composition, but mostly covers.

Overall, the tunes were not as countryish as I anticipated. Yes, there was some country hoedowns (“Two-Step, Too,” “Travelin’ Prayer” and “Country Boy”), but also a fair amount of rockabilly (with the Everly Bros. influences never far from the surface) and some tasteful pop (Lee’s own “Song and Dance” and a powerful rendition of The Beatles’ “Oh Darling” ). At times it reminded me of the kind of set George Harrison might play – only with better guitar playing.

Other highlights included the Brian Setzer-esque “Barnyard Boogie,” which opened the second set, Ray Charles’ “Leave My Woman Alone,” which brought to mind Alison Krauss and Robert Plant’s recent work together, and the previously referenced cover of Les Paul’s “The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise.” (Side note: Both Beck and Lee followed up their Boston area gigs with guest appearances a few days later with the Les Paul’s backing band at New York’s Iridium club.)

This old clip offers a brief sampling of Albert Lee’s tasty, twangy chops.

Both guitarists sailed along buoyed by top notch-backing bands. Lee’s cast, dubbed Hogan’s Heroes after pedal steel guitarist Gerry Hogan, fleshed out the songs and added strong vocal support. The liquid twang of Hogan’s pedal steel ensured the country flare was never too distant and gave good chase to Lee’s fancy picking. Keyboardist Gavin Povey added alternately gospel and boogie-woogie embellishments, while drummer Peter Baron proved a formidable lead singer on several tunes.

In summary, June was a good month for guitar. And don’t get me wrong about the Jeff Beck concert, I enjoyed it very much. Perhaps, as a guitar player, I could simply better relate to Albert Lee’s playing. Not that my guitar chops are anywhere near Lee’s, but at least I can imagine (OK, fantasize about) myself playing some of those lines. Beck’s approach, on the other hand, is so other worldly that apart from his occasional forays into straight blues, I can’t even conceive of playing like that.

POSTSCRIPT: The Derek Trucks Band with Susan Tedeschi (Derek’s wife and a long-time formidable blues guitarist and singer in her own right) opened the show for Beck with a very impressive country-tinged blues set that conjured up strong echoes of Delaney and Bonnie circa 1970. I’ve long known about Derek’s stunning guitar abilities, particularly his Duane Allman-channeling slide playing, but I was so impressed with Tedeschi’s bluesy vocals that I half expected her to join Beck for his set, assuming some of the lead vocal parts done by Joss Stone and others on his recent records. That didn’t happen, but it would’ve been a good fit.

SET LISTS

Jeff Beck at Bank of America Pavilion,

Boston (6/3/10)

Eternity’s Breath / Stratus

Led Boots

Corpus Christi Carol

Hammerhead

Mna na h’Eireann

bass solo

People Get Ready

Rollin’ and Tumblin’

Never Alone

Big Block

Over the Rainbow

Blast from the East

Angel Footsteps

Dirty Mind

Brush with the Blues

I Wanna Take You Higher

A Day in the Life

ENCORE:

How High the Moon

Nessun Dorma

Albert Lee & Hogan’s Heroes at Showcase Live,

Foxboro, Mass. (6/18/10)

FIRST SET:

Just Didn’t Understand *

Restless

Song and Dance

Travelin’ Prayer

Runaway Train

Glory Bound

Wheels

I’ll Never Get Over You

The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise

Rad Gumbo

Highwayman

Breathless

SECOND SET:

Barnyard Boogie

Two-Step, Too

I’m Coming Home

Luxury Liner

You’re Only Lonely

The Times We Share *

On the Verge

Let It Be Me

Oh Darling

Leave My Woman Alone

’Til I Gain Control Again

Country Boy

ENCORE:

Skip Rope Song

Tear It Up

* Not sure of title

No Exception

Much ado (as seen here in the Columbia Journalism Review) has been made in journalism circles over the last day or two about Politico’s mysterious editorial deletion of a paragraph in a report about General McChrystal’s controversial, career-ending comments to Rolling Stone.

The excised section in question reportedly opined that freelance writer Michael Hastings, a relative journalistic outsider (i.e., unbeholden) to high-ranking military command in Afghanistan, may have been quicker to print some of the general’s loose-cannon comments than more militarily entrenched reporters, who are more reticent to burn bridges and compromise future access by indiscriminately printing such controversial and, perhaps, off-the-cuff comments. The outrage in the media world is over the suggestion that some entrenched reporters play this game.

Hello!? Is this news? A surprise to anyone? Like it or not, that is how the world works, and journalism is no exception. To think differently is naive. Even Woodward and Bernstein made compromises to ensure future and further access to presumed valuable sources.

W.B. Yeats: The Artifice of Eternity

In honor of today’s 145th anniversary of renowned Irish poet and playwright William Butler Yeats’ birthday, below are links to two interesting videos featured on the New York Times site (hence, not embedded here) from the National Library of Ireland’s current exhibition.

The first is a 4-minute segment on Yeats’ life as a public man and as an “authentic genius.” It concisely emphasizes the majesty of Yeats’ literary achievements – typically viewed with regard to his poetry, but also including his nationally-defining plays, noteworthy essays and criticism – as well as his artistic ambition and willingness to change and reinvent himself throughout the course of his life.

The second is a 10-minute video detailing the creation of one of the poet’s most famous verses: Sailing to Byzantium. The clip highlights Yeats’ routine of repeatedly revising even his most famous works and sheds light on the complex, multi-level symbolism of the piece.

The 1926 poem in full ...

Sailing to Byzantium

I

That is no country for old men. The young

In one another’s arms, birds in the trees

– Those dying generations – at their song,

The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,

Fish, flesh or fowl commend all summer long

Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.

Caught in that sensual music all neglect

Monuments of unaging intellect.

II

An aged man is but a paltry thing,

A tattered coat upon a stick, unless

Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing

For every tatter in its mortal dress,

Nor is there singing school but studying

Monuments of its own magnificence;

And therefore I have sailed the seas and come

To the holy city of Byzantium.

III

O sages standing in God's holy fire

As in the gold mosaic of a wall,

Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,

And be the singing-masters of my soul.

Consume my heart away; sick with desire

And fastened to a dying animal

It knows not what it is; and gather me

Into the artifice of eternity.

IV

Once out of nature I shall never take

My bodily form from any natural thing,

But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make

Of hammered gold and gold enameling

To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;

Or set upon a golden bough to sing

To lords and ladies of Byzantium

Of what is past, or passing, or to come.

Further interpretative notes on the poem are available here.

Happy birthday, Willy!