When we’re brought into this existence, we’re guaranteed little other than death and taxes. We joke and make light of it, but it’s a disturbing reality. For those of us fortunate to be brought up, cared for and experience a great amount of love, we still wander often trying to find the road make that will define our existence. My life has been augmented by art in indiscernible ways. Whether it’s a film, a book, a painting or a song, I have always found that art exists in this world to remind us of its beauty when we’re continually surrounded by the horrors of the world. Some may find it ironic that I’ve often utilized the music of Metallica as my guide. They have created a series of speed demon masterpieces that have helped unearth my fears. Despite having their music be a part of my life for several decades, in recent years I still find great solace and wonder in their music, specifically their sophomore record Ride the Lightning, a rapid-fire scorcher whose sting becomes more and more tangible as I age. Ride The Lightning shows an immense leap forward from the youthful exuberance of their debut, it reflects a mature side concealed in thrash metal up to that point. As the band prepares to perform the album in its entirety for the first time at the Orion Festival, I look back and am flabbergasted by the freshness of the album and how it hasn’t appeared to age a single day. This is why its performance at Orion is truly a once in a lifetime experience and one I hope I can be there to witness.
At their core, Metallica has always created what I like to call “bedroom records”. These are the albums which we retreat to in our darkest hours where we find a place of solace and turn to the music for answers. On the surface, Metallica’s music may instigate aggression and serve as a funnel for pain, but their music is more spiritual than anyone gives them credit for. One of the keys to the lasting legacy of Lightning is how the band gently wrapped melodies around an impenetrable thundering wall of music. Over time I found myself returning to this record as new mysteries are unveiled and the songs guide me. There's a ferocious side to the record and an equally composed yet superbly solemn side as well. The key to being truly innovative and creating great art is to take chances and to wear your heart on its sleeve. Metallica did this with arrangements that had shadows of orchestral arrangements, an acoustic guitar and even dare I say it, a ballad, "Fade To Black". Beneath the destruction and death, "Fade To Black” is a song fans wrap themselves up in. People put the headphones on in their bedroom, they grab their vinyl, stare at it and somehow they hope that the circular disc can make sense of their inner tribulations. I’m not sure if there is anything more gripping than Hetfield soulfully singing “I was me but now he’s gone” and the lyrics leave us with the impression that the story ends in tragedy but musically, it radiates positive reinforcement simply by the empowering performances. Particularly interesting are the wailing orchestral solos provided by Kirk Hammett adding a texture to the band that would be mimicked time and time again along with the monolithic accompaniment that late and great Cliff Burton’s bass provides under Lars Ulrich’s gallant drumming and James Hetfield’s unremitting rhythm guitar. “Fade To Black” has the poetic splendor of U2, the bedroom intimacy of Springsteen and the raw aggression of Black Sabbath and AC/DC. Metallica managed to create epics that wouldn't just let you bang your worries away, but you could also crawl inside of to find shelter and no song on Lightning does this better than “Fade To Black”.
On Ride the Lightning Metallica provided a road map of possibilities for an entire generation of music fans allowing the metal genre to become something more than a fly by night fluke; they helped metal become art. Metallica didn't just spin the metal world on their heads; they showed us that heavy metal could compliment one’s life forcing us to not just make sense of our scorn but to overcome it as well. Art is capable of tinting your world into unexpected colors and opening your mind to new experiences. If “Fade to Black” (and “The God That Failed” from 1991’s Metallica) has taught me anything, it’s to not stand down in the face of fear. In our existence as we roam the Earth, we will be confronted by inconsolable tragedies and inconceivable shadows but we can learn from them, challenge ourselves and with the ammunition of knowledge through their music, we will be well equipped for future battles. During these times, it’s easy to retreat and let the pain get the best of you, but listening to the serene and strapping arrangements on “Fade To Black” completely complements the ominous lyrics inducing a sense of strength and clarity. At my darkest moments, I have found myself returning to this song time and time again. It’s not that I ever thought about ending my life, but it consoled me the way best records do. Quite simply, it made me feel that I was not alone in this existence. Hearing this song meant Metallica had to experience the same trials and tribulations but somehow they made it through somehow. The song to my ears has never been pro-suicide, but a telling tale to its listeners. One has to remind itself that every great success story in life has come about because that given person didn’t give up when their back was pushed against the wall. Through heartache, loneliness, aching, career dissatisfaction and personal tribulations including death, I know I am not alone.
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The Rolling Stones- ‘Some Girls” Deluxe Edition Album and Reissue Review ***** (5-Stars)
By Anthony Kuzminski
[Published in partnership with antiMUSIC]
When Mick Jagger performs on Saturday Night Live later this week, most people will not realize that he has released two records of new material in the last nine months. Last September his Superheavy project (including Dave Stewart and Joss Stone) hit stores. The super group album with worldly eclectic aesthetics is far better than anyone gave it credit for when released. However, the true jewel in Jagger’s crown is the Some Girls two disc special edition released last November. When the Rolling Stones mined their vaults in 2010 for the deluxe reissue of Exile On Main Street, the bonus material leaned towards the die-hard contingent with unfinished songs completed by the band in 2009 and a few alternate and early versions of songs. Being given the key to any archive release by the Stones is a gift and the leftover material on Exile was justified and rightly unleashed, yet one couldn’t help but feel they had truly mined the best for that record. When the announcement of Some Girls came, many were cautious as they believed the best outtakes from these sessions were used on 1980’s Emotional Rescue and 1981’s Tattoo You. The twelve songs included on the second disc of Some Girls aren’t early versions, throwaways or even rough takes; they’re fully realized songs which should have been unleashed much earlier than now. In all honesty, this collection of outtakes from the Some Girls sessions represent the best record the Rolling Stones have made since Some Girls.
One should never use the phrase “return to form” when it comes to the Rolling Stones. Between 1968 and 1972 they set the mark so high for the LP, that few acts, including themselves have ever been able to really capture the enormity found in those four career (and genre) defining records. I’m also not of the school that believes everything post-Tattoo You is subpar. In fact, I find each of the records to house extraordinary tunes paired with some really distinctive albums that deserve more credit than anyone dares to give them. That being said, the bonus disc that comes with Some Girls is a Five-Star affair that has largely silenced even the band’s harshest critics. There is not a single throwaway among the bunch. It staggering to think the band sat on these for the better part of three decades. Musically, these outtakes are not flashy and don’t fully encompass the dance beat drama of “Miss You” or Emotional Rescue but it houses pure songs that are timeless. No one member dominates these songs but as a collective whole, the Rolling Stones have never sounded better as you truly hear a band performing on the record as if they’re in a small room right in front of you. Recording much of Some Girls and their outtakes as a band live in the studio helped matters as this is the most fully formed they have sounded since their first four records. The band perfectly captures the essence of the band as they were in the 60’s. They sound like an indomitable entity you wouldn’t dream of messing with.
Some Girls has endured for the better part of three decades because of a variety of reasons. First and foremost, there is the music. The album’s ten songs cover a kaleidoscope of genres and yet none of them feel out of place on the record. Even “Faraway Eyes” feels right next to the grit of the title cut, the punk passion of “Lies”, the unyielding force of “Shattered”, the balladry of “Beast of Burden” and the disco-blues hybrid “Miss You”. Even the cover of the Temptations “Just My Imagination” injected with the swagger of Bill Wyman’s bass and Charlie Watts drumming makes it feel like a new song and not a cover. Besides the sheer plethora of top-tier songwriting, the performances by the Stones evoke stormy doom (“When the Whip Comes Down”), hostility (“Some Girls) and serene enlightenment (“Beast of Burden”). This was Ron Wood’s first full length album with the Stones after assisting on assorted recordings going back to 1974 and being the rhythm guitarist on tour since 1975. Looming over the band was the potential Keith Richards potential incarceration in Canada for his infamous drug bust in 1977. Some acts would flounder under such a dark cloud, but the Stones and particularly Richards flourished in their richest spell of creativity since the early seventies. Set up inside a Paris recording studio, the band tore through dozens of songs in a variety of styles, straight-up rock, soul, country, rhythm and blues and the Stones unleashed their venom inside the respective genres. Other acts who try and merge these dissimilar styles of music end up in an awkward marriage headed for instant divorce, but the Stones make it sound effortless. If the Some Girls recording sessions had taken place three decades later, the Stones would have released two records to two different markets; the pop market and the country one. Fusing steel-pedal guitars, twangy vocals and a doubled headed monster of barn burning guitars is no easy feat, but the Stones make it sound easy.
For the reissue, the band went through their vaults and found a dozen tracks to finish and touch up. What no one expected was for the songs to be so strong. Opening the bonus disc is “Claudine” with its beat-brush drums it tips the hat to the rockabilly tones of Buddy Holly from the 50’s. Complimented by a strapping vocal by Jagger, his intensity matches the flash-riffs of guitarists Keith Richards and Ron Wood. The song gets it name from Claudine Longet, a French-actress who was jailed in 1977 for shooting her skier boyfriend to death. With the headline still fresh, the song was left on the sidelines until now. “So Young” originally appeared as a b-side to a Stripped single in 1995, however here it feels like a soundtrack to a barroom brawl with the band swinging and swaying like it’s 1971. The piano solo by Chuck Leavell is not flashy but binds the band together. “Do You Really Think I Really Care” stands out from the never ending consistency of Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts. In a driving and inexorable performance, the country-flavored song is an aural joy. “When You’re Gone” is a quivering number infected with perfect blues staccato riffs with the cold fury of Jagger’s harp acting like a rhythm machine in the background. Acts spend their whole lives trying to capture the lush blues harmonies the Stones manage with ease and they still let it sit in a vault for more than three decades. The acoustic ballad “No Spare Parts” has some wicked slide guitar and was one of the tunes Jagger completed in 2011. Written from a first-person perspective, Jagger wrote it about a time when he drove from San Antonio to Los Angeles to meet a woman. When asked how it ended, Jagger wryly replied in an interview with Mojo, “Well, it’s a lovely drive, dear, you shouldn’t miss it”. “Don’t Be A Stranger” is a wonderful hybrid with flamenco/reggae rhythms, some robust guitar work, a hidden yet considerable harmonica and brush beat drums. The song is a revelation as it houses classic Stones elements but I can’t say there’s any song in their catalog quite like this one.
“We Had It All” is a forlorn Keith Richards ballad, heavy on inexorable darkness in a wondrous vocal that is ragged and worn. The harmonica solo is an added bonus (performed by Sugar Blue) and ripples with desperation. Waylon Jennings had originally recorded it and when Jagger heard it a year ago, producer/archivist Don Was had to tell the Jagger that it wasn’t an original by Richards. Written by Donnie Fritts and Troy Seals, the song is most welcomed addition to the Rolling Stones songbook. “Tallahassee Lassie”, made famous by Freddy Cannon, is a top-tier clear-cut rocker that evokes the spirit of Chuck Berry. Jagger growls over a band supercharged with unrelenting thrust that drives the song sprinkled with some exhilarated piano playing by the late and great Ian Stewart. Aside from handclaps (partially supplied by John Fogerty), this one remained untouched. Take away the improved recording conditions and this could have come from the Stones early Abcko years. Jagger’s voice has never been throatier and the band has rarely ever sounded so merciless in their musical drive on their highway to hell.
“I Love You Too Much” highlights the harmonizing vocals of Jagger and Richards on this resolute garage rocker whose recipe includes everything you love about the Stones; pinpoint rhythm, street fighting guitar chords, and harmony vocals showing a partnership in full bloom. Fans who have never forgiven the band for abandoning their blues past on more slick post-80’s numbers will be delighted with “Keep Up Blues” which will evoke smoke and shots as soon as Jagger’s killer bluesy harmonica begins to wail. The final cover is an old Hank Williams song, “You Win Again”, a country ballad that could have easily slipped onto Some Girls in the place of “Faraway Eyes”. For a band that grew up in post-war England, they have an uncanny ability to not just mimic certain types of music, but wholly embody them as if they’re the creators. Most acts who attempt to channel the spirit of what came before come off as mimics whereas the Rolling Stones come off as masters of the genre’s domain and they sound as tight as the best musicians in Nashville and channel the whiskey heartache as well as anyone. “Petro Blues” closes out the record, which works as a hidden track which features a raw Jagger vocal with minimal percussion along with two pianos singing about the blues of high gas prices.
They’ve continued to make great music, but as this reissue reminds us, Some Girls is one of the Rolling Stones most striking, straightforward and superb records. In their arsenal of two dozen studio albums, there’s no single album that can be ignored. However, when the walls close in around them, as it did right before they hooked up with producer Jimmy Miller in 1968 and again from 1970-1972 where their freedom from Alan Klein came at a price that almost destroyed them financially, they rise to the occasion. Some Girls contains ten tracks delivered with cold fury fueled by uncertainty and turmoil, yet the free wheeled glee that is associated with their first four records in the sixties is on full display. The bonus disc takes this record and the 2011 reissue over-the-top. This is one of the greatest reissues ever released. Only Bruce Springsteen’s 2010 The Promise which mined outtakes from another 1978 record, Darkness on the Edge of Town comes close. The band relies on the passion of their performances instead of bombast. Within the walls of the Paris studio, the Rolling Stones live up to the title of the world’s greatest rock n’ roll band. While the outtakes may not be as robust as the original album, the twelve outtakes come off as a brother from a different mother where the shades and hues are different but the animal instinct with which they are delivered is the same. Some Girls is the sound of band delivering music as with inhuman concentration where every song is performed as if it was their last breath and captures each of the Rolling Stones at the peak of their powers.
Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network. His daily writings can be read at The Screen Door. He can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com and can be followed on Twitter
Counting Crows: Still Burning When the Bar Lights All Go Out The Riviera Theater – Chicago, IL April 22, 2012 By Anthony Kuzminski
Originally published on antiMUSIC Picture Credits
Counting Crows drummer Jim Bogios is seated behind his kit to the far left of the stage as his bare-knuckle drumming is full of force, vigor and cohesiveness in an awe-inspiring display. Bogios’ terse assault on his kit is bolstered bassist Millard Powers whose four strings are exhilarating and euphoric as the five other band members follow their steadfast lead. Front and center is lead singer Adam Duritz whose arms are spread open as he sings “Hospital”, a new song from their covers record Underwater Sunshine. “Hospital”, originally done by Coby Brown, was an ace in an already loaded deck and the Counting Crows delivered it in a way that was beatific, tuneful, pressing and downright masterful. It was a gripping as any song I’ve seen the band convey. Watching the band’s urgency explode off the stage was eye-opening if for no other reason than it wasn’t an original song but you assumed it was. The Counting Crows are currently touring the most intimate venues the band has performed in since their debut nearly two decades back. The ability to see their fans faces up close is liberating as the band tears through ever changing set lists night-to-night. The tour is in support of their new record label with the first release being Underwater Sunshine an eclectic covers record that is much more than it appears on paper but a living and breathing work of art that will live on long after this tour cycle completes.
Encompassing a peculiar concoction of songs spanning nearly five decades of musical depth, Underwater Sunshine isn’t your standard covers record. Most records contain copycat versions of well known songs to reignite interest for a summer tour but the Crows have curated a collection of songs that embody the spirit of the band. The carefully chosen songs are distant cousins to the Crowes originals because they contain the same emotional pull. Some of these records give fans an insight to where the band stole their tricks from and while Underwater Sunshine does this, it houses several songs from the last decade on it, giving them an audience they otherwise never would have found. Listened to top-to-bottom it feels like a wholly original body of work rather than a footnote in their discography. In concert, the songs were more muscular as the band delicately sprinkled the songs in between well known hits and lost album cuts. The collective effect was inspirational as the band gave their all to each and every song. The Gram Parsons song “Return of the Grievous Angel” featured a three-guitar attack of David Bryson, David Immergluck and Dan Vickrey which coalesced and marvelously took hold and could have been one of their own. “Like Teenage Gravity” (by Kasey Anderson) received its tour debut under a shadowy red light reminiscent of a scene from Oliver Stone’s The Doors with an explosive guitar solo at its conclusion. The Bob Dylan classic “You Ain't Goin' Nowhere” featured a jangly sing-a-long the crowd ate up and danced the night away to. In concert, these songs weaved in and out of the set like long lost friends and stood next to the band’s deep cuts. The covers are fragile but are infused with playfulness and are anything but disposable. There is immediacy to the new material, whether they wrote it or not doesn’t seem to matter on the concert stage. The songs yield the same truths housed within the Counting Crows musical catalog. Listened to in the context of the high-spirited musicianship, they’re indecipherable to more than 90% of the audience which is a testament to their talents in interpreting and delivering these charming songs.
The rest of the set shifted between fan favorites and forgotten album cuts that for whatever reason never received the consideration they deserved when first released. The album cuts appeared to penetrate the deepest, notably a lamenting “Recovering the Satellites”, the title cut from their sophomore record which had everyone in the audience singing along with it. Listening to “Colorblind” on 1999’s This Desert Life is harrowing with its recurring and exposed piano chords but in concert the isolation melts away as the crowd partakes one-by-one before the end where the song’s resolution becomes communal as the crowd tenderly whispers “I am fine” along with Duritz and Matt Malley’s subtle piano playing. A soul searching moment on record can be a singular incident but amongst a sold-out crowd, it became a therapeutic mantra. “I Wish I Was a Girl” may be cut from a mellower mold, but the concentration of both the crowd and band was something to behold. Standing in rapt attention, the crowd hung on every word that took flight from Duritz, and they absorbed it wholly reflecting on their sense of purpose and where they need to go. The Hard Candy cut “Black and Blue” felt like a new song despite being a decade old. Hidden towards the back of the record, it was lost to me as it was smack dab in the middle of bigger and sexier cuts, but onstage at the Riviera it spread its wings to fly. “St. Robinson in His Cadillac Dream” reflects the deep waters the band has entered on this tour. It jogged my memory for a song that I have no shame in admitting I had forgotten despite being the closer on This Desert Life and on their 2006 live album. It had passed me by until this buoyant musical display. Despite each record yielding it’s fair share of radio hits, the band’s followers have always taken note of the whole album as evidenced by the elated response to these songs throughout the show. This is what differentiates good bands from great bands; many acts have made careers of writing hits but how many have a bottomless, rich and piercing catalog that continues to resound?
The most endearing music acts have always found a way to simultaneously express themselves while having a direct pulse on their audience. The Counting Crows have made a career out of writing acutely personal stories that bring issues to the surface. The cumulative effect of their Chicago concert was one of true elative release. The wounded and fragile place we may have been when the lights went out feels distant and removed when the last note rings off the stage. It’s a spine-tingling experience to have your past, present and future appear crystal clear through the words and sounds of seven individuals. Art at its most transformative takes someone to a higher mental plain-it’s penicillin to the pain of life and for others, it urges and inspires them to take the road less traveled. The misfits inside the songs of the Counting Crows reverberate powerfully within the hearts of the audience in a way few other acts did. At their best, the Counting Crows live out anxieties and nightmares onstage amidst dreamy tempos, eclectic arrangements and enlightening performances.
As the Counting Crows strove toward the finish line, they delivered one knock-out after another as they took hold of the anguish from within and channeled it through their instruments. Duritz’s vocal inflictions of “Mrs. Potter's Lullaby” pulled at you as the nearly ten-minute cut built momentum verse-after-verse. “A Long December” was full of cinematic bluster and “Mr. Jones” supercharged the crowd into a tizzy. The encore took the ever swelling intensity to the next level with blistering takes on “Rain King” and “Holiday in Spain”. “Rain King” featured a slightly rearranged chorus with a thunderous chorus breakdown while David Immergluck’s wondrous mandolin achieved a sense of majesty. As the eight-minute version strode towards its climax Duritz stood onstage with his arms spread singing with all his might and once again, letting us peak inside his psyche thus allowing us to dismantle our own. If the Counting Crows had never recorded another note after August and Everything After their music would still matter to this day. August and everything that has followed contains a yearning desire to be heard, understood and loved. The Counting Crows have largely created instinctive portraits of the human existence through timeless hymnal folk rock music over their two decade career. At its core is a yearning to be understood which is as irrefutable as the need to breathe. Their portraits of unfulfilled desires paired with an insatiable yearning to be heard. Whether it’s their debut record, their follow-ups records, a covers record or under the lights of a concert stage the Counting Crows sincerely liberate themselves and their fans a rigorous set of high octane rock n’ roll delivered with blissful conviction few can match.
Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network. His daily writings can be read at The Screen Door. He can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com and can be followed on Twitter
