The “it” boy of early-’00s roots-rock, former Whiskeytown leader Ryan Adams has responded to the mountain of hype surrounding him with an arrogance worthy of his idol, mid-’60s Bob Dylan. Accordingly he follows his stripped-down solo debut with a two-disc, fully produced set that finds him grasping for the mantle of alt-country messiah. GOLD picks up where Whiskeytown’s swan song PNEUMONIA left off; a step removed from the country-rock hard line but still full of rootsy, organic, Band-like warmth.

The up-tempo opening tune “New York, New York” recalls vintage Steve Forbert, while “Answering Bell” sounds like David Gray fronting the aforementioned Band on a rewritten “The Weight.” The epic, acoustic guitar-based ballad “Nobody’s Girl” is one of the more overtly Dylanesque pieces here, and while trying to overshadow Zimmy is a fool’s errand no matter how big your britches, one has to admire Adams for the considerable chutzpah necessary to even take up the task. Whether you believe he’s the Gram Parsons of the 21st century or not, its that undeniable spirit and ambition that lay at the heart of GOLD’s appeal.

Tracklisting
1. New York New York
2. Firecracker
3. Answering Bell
4. La Cienega Just Smiled
5. The Rescue Blues
6. Somehow, Someday
7. When The Stars Go Blue
8. Nobody Girl
9. Sylvia Plath
10. Enemy Fire
11. Gonna Make You Love Me
12. Wild Flowers
13. Harder Now That It’s Over
14. Touch, Feel & Lose
15. Tina Toledo’s Street Walkin’ Blues
16. Goodnight, Hollywood Blvd.

Professional Reviews
Entertainment Weekly (9/28/01, pp.71-2) – “…This sprawling tour through American music…is like a dinner full of comfort food…” – Rating: B+

Q (1/03, p.54) – Included in Q Magazine’s “100 Greatest Albums Ever”

Q (10/01, p.117) – 4 stars out of 5 – “…Adam’s freewheeling nature remains irresistible. He’s a magpie, flitting between people, places and influences with equal enthusiasm…”

CMJ (9/17/01, p.4) – “…Sparkles with its creator’s shaky roots on the West Coast…with a slow, syrupy pace…”

No Depression (9-10/01, pp.129-30) – “…These songs are filled with hot emotion….There are more hooks here than at a pirate’s convention, and Adams’ gift for melody is so strong it’s almost scary…”

Mojo (Publisher) (1/02, p.69) – Ranked #9 in Mojo’s “Best [40] Albums of 2001″.

Mojo (Publisher) (10/01, p.114) – “…A beautiful trip…”

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Recognized as one of Young’s (and hence one of rock & roll’s) finest albums, HARVEST put the singer on the mainstream map with the mega-hit “Heart of Gold,” which defined a soft folk-rock style frequently revisited by lesser artists throughout the 1970s. It also features some of his darker compositions, like the entropy-obsessed “Old Man” and the junkie eulogy, “The Needle and the Damage Done,” one of Young’s most haunting and compelling songs.

Deceptively laid-back-sounding country-rock plaints like “Out on the Weekend” and the title cut caress the ear unassumingly, pulling you into the more ominous subtext that is present even in the rollicking “Are You Ready for the Country.” As always, Young has an ear for contrasts, laying down heavy rock (”Alabama”) beside his balladry, and even employing the London Symphony Orchestra on the excellent confessional “A Man Needs a Maid.” Due to back troubles, Young recorded much of this material while wearing a brace, a fact that seems audible in the tension and unease that underlies the friendly, acoustic surface of this superb release.

Tracklisting
1. Out On The Weekend
2. Harvest
3. A Man Needs A Maid
4. Heart Of Gold
5. Are You Ready For The Country
6. Old Man
7. There’s A World
8. Alabama
9. The Needle & The Damage Done
10. Words (Between The Lines Of Age)

Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p.114) – Ranked #78 in Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums Of All Time” – “…Americana – steel, guitar, slide guitar, banjo – stripped down and rebuilt with every jagged edge exposed…”

Q (7/00, p.141) – Included in Q’s “The Best Male Angst Albums Of All Time” – “…The showcase for [his] most affecting artistic devices…”

Mojo (Publisher) (11/01, p.150) – “…If he was laid-back at this time it was simply because spinal surgery had made him literally so…”

NME (Magazine) (10/2/93, p.29) – Ranked #60 in NME’s list of the ‘Greatest Albums Of All Time.’

NME (Magazine) (9/18/93, p.19) – Ranked #22 in NME’s list of the ‘Greatest Albums Of The ’70s.’

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As the title implies, this is Gene and Dean Ween’s Nashville move. And for those familiar with the duo’s flexible and comedic musical nature: no, they’re not faking the cowboy swagger or shedding counterfeit tears in their beers just for the sake of digging through the one genre their previous records didn’t excavate. Backed by a who’s who of Music City session players, Ween has produced an authentic update of the late-’60s/early-’70s countrypolitan sound–weepy pedal steel, footloose harmonica, boogie piano, the Jordanaires crooning in the background, pristine production, pretty much all the fixins.

But if you’re looking for a collection of cornball breakup songs and half-baked cowboy tales, well, as Judas Priest says, you’ve got another thing coming. Gene and Dean, after all, have their own standards to live up to; and they’ve never above lowering them. So the breakup song (”Piss Up A Rope”) is viciously upbeat; the sinner’s repentance is titled “Help Me Scrape The Mucus Off My Brain”; and even the one serious song, the Lennon-esque “You Were The Fool,” contains the kind of cosmic couplets country fans would normally have to reach pretty far afield (toward, say, Gram Parsons) to find. Such Ween-foolery allows Gene and Dean to have their country, in a most heartfelt way, and eat it too.

Tracklisting
1. I’m Holding You
2. Japanese Cowboy
3. Piss up a Rope
4. I Don’t Wanna Leave You on the Farm
5. Pretty Girl
6. Powder Blue
7. Mister Richard Smoker
8. Help Me Scrape the Mucus off My Brain
9. You Were the Fool
10. Fluffy

Professional Reviews
Spin (8/96, p.103) – Reasonably Good – “…What makes 12 GOLDEN COUNTRY GREATS a decent Ween record is its transposition of real country into the world of post-indie-rock smart-asses…”

Q (9/96, p.124) – 3 Stars – Good – “…mimicking a myriad of country styles and stereotypes while lyrically tipping the stetson towards the stoned yoof of alternative America…”

Alternative Press (10/96, p.108) – “…Not only have Ween gone country, but they’ve done it up right….The results are as perverse as ever, juxtaposing fairly mainstream musical arrangements…with bizarre lyrics and imagery…”

Melody Maker (8/3/96, p.50) – Recommended – “…Bitter, nerdish misogyny was never conveyed with such tender beauty as on this album…”

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When the first volume of Johnny Cash’s AMERICAN series appeared in 1994, it would have been difficult to predict its critical and commercial success, much less the fact that an illness-beset Cash would be turning out a powerful fourth installment of the series eight years later. Like its three predecessors, AMERICAN IV is a home-recorded, bare-bones Rick Rubin production wherein Cash tackles old classics by other writers as well as more contemporary tunes by artists from the rock world, with a smattering of his own new compositions thrown in. It’s also arguably the strongest since the first volume.

Now that the novelty of hearing the Man in Black tackle tunes by the likes of Depeche Mode (”Personal Jesus”) and Nine Inch Nails (”Hurt”) has worn off, we can get past the gimmickry to fully appreciate the power of Cash’s soul-baring interpretations. He brings an equal amount of gravitas to old country and folk tunes like “Streets of Laredo” and “Give My Love to Rose.” To hear Cash’s worn, husky, lived-in voice inhabit the world-weary narrative of the Beatles’ “In My Life” and the graphic, almost spiritual romance of the Ewan MacColl-penned ballad “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” is to be led directly to the heart of these songs’ deepest meanings.

Tracklisting
1. Man Comes Around
2. Hurt
3. Give My Love to Rose
4. Bridge over Troubled Water
5. I Hung My Head
6. First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
7. Personal Jesus
8. In My Life
9. Sam Hall
10. Danny Boy
11. Desperado
12. I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry
13. Tear Stained Letter
14. Streets of Laredo
15. We’ll Meet Again

Professional Reviews
Entertainment Weekly (9/26/03, p.34) – “…Cash stares down death here, yet when the man comes around, you have little choice but to go….It’s a blunt, unsentimental farewell from a man who made a life and art from never flinching.”

Q (01/01/04, p.80) – Ranked #16 in Q’s “The 50 Best Albums of 2003″

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“Year In The Kingdom” unravels some kind of galactic wilderness. J.Tillman’s sixth album lyrically borders on the mystic; proffering a transcendent union, an effortlessness. Strange and honest, this song cycle inhabits it’s own idea-scape; one seemingly obsessed with wrestling death. These are afterlife dialogues of a mysterious future. Celestial badlands.

Unknown to just about everyone, Tillman started recording in April, tracking most of the instruments during the two week session himself. Hammered dulcimer, banjo, recorder, cymbals of varying size and wheezing air organs all feature heavily and lend Year in The Kingdom it’s bizarre scale, conjuring tidal shifts with tiny movements. The string arrangements, performed by Jenna Conrad, as well as transposed from Tillman’s sung direction, were intended to rest on chords almost counter-intuitively, bringing to bloom complex, de-contextualized tones. Most noticeable upon first listen, however, is the production itself. While most of Tillman’s records evidence some shambolic home recording, YITK is undisturbed throughout. Out up front of the mix, and dry as a bone, Tillman’s voice is featured in a way unlike any of his previous records.

Year In The Kingdom sounds liberated; it is far and away Tillman’s most joyful work. Created with little input or context, it is seemingly disinterested in communicating much else than a meditation for the few who allow themselves to listen with an open heart.

Tracklisting
1. YEAR IN THE KINGDOM
2. CROSSWINDS
3. EARTHLY BODIES
4. HOWLING LIGHT
5. THOUGH I HAVE WRONGED YOU
6. AGE OF MAN
7. THERE IS NO GOOD IN ME
8. MARKED IN THE VALLEY
9. LIGHT OF THE LIVING

Professional Reviews
Spin (p.88) – “[H]is arrangements — solemn, intimate, dulcimer-fortified — sound suited for a campfire in a cathedral.”

Q (Magazine) (p.117) – 3 stars out of 5 — “[A] sombre affair….[With] Tillman’s quiet, quivering voice carrying the song cycle about the death of love, and well, just death.”

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Fleet Foxes – Self Titled

When M. Ward, Mike Mogis, Jim James, and Conor Oberst announced plans to record together, fans were quick to link the supergroup to the Traveling Wilburys, who blazed a similarly star-studded path 20 years prior. Truth be told, Monsters of Folk’s emphasis on harmony vocals and atmospheric arrangements has just as much in common with the work of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, even if the political concerns that grounded the latter group are largely absent here. Instead, the self-titled MONSTERS OF FOLK tackles religion, nature, love, and lust, with all four songwriters sharing vocals and songwriting duties. Mogis, who rose to prominence by playing a central but somewhat surreptitious role in Bright Eyes, receives slightly less screen time than the others, preferring instead to remain behind the scenes as producer and sideman. Even so, his guitar solo during “Say Please” is one of the album’s loudest, rawest moments, and his production helps draw connections between the album’s slew of songwriting styles and genres. “Folk” is defined broadly here, as the album encompasses everything from trip-hop to roots-rock to homely, homespun pop. Spread over fifteen tracks, the combination wears thin at several points, and several songs feel more like their creator’s solo work than a composite product. MONSTERS OF FOLK has moments on undeniable beauty, though, and when the musicians pitch their voices atop one another–as they do to notable effect on the gorgeous “Slow Down Jo”–the benefits of teamwork are more than clear.

Tracklisting
1. Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.)
2. Say Please
3. Whole Lotta Losin
4. Termazcal
5. The Right Place
6. Baby Boomer
7. Man Named Truth
8. Goodway
9. Ahead Of The Curve
10. Slow Down Jo
11. Losin Yo Head
12. Magic Marker
13. Map Of The World
14. Sandman, The Brakeman And Me
15. His Master’s Voice

Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (p.65) – 4 stars out of 5 — “James’, Oberst’s and Ward’s voices meld beautifully in a variety of styles…”

Spin (p.84) – “Oberst, Ward, and James trade lead vocals on a few tunes and weave haunting harmonies throughout, but it’s not difficult to discern who the lead actor is on each cut.”

Entertainment Weekly (p.59) – “James is the goofball genius here, dishing out hilarious nonsense…” — Grade: B

Alternative Press (p.106) – 4 stars out of 5 — “The most interesting songs show off how surprisingly well Oberst’s unrefined warble melds with James’ liquid-smooth falsetto…”

CMJ – “[T]he music on their self-titled debut is powerful and consistent, highlighting everything we love about the four individuals in a fresh, new package.”

Billboard (p.36) – “When viewed less as a hipster supergroup and more of an old-fashioned song swap, Monsters of Folk live up to their hype and then some.”

Q (Magazine) (p.109) – 4 stars out of 5 — “[T]he barroom rollicking of ‘Say Please’ and ‘Losin Yo Head’ evoke a real sense of all-for-one rock romance.”

Record Collector (magazine) (p.92) – 4 stars out of 5 — “MONSTERS OF FOLK seems to have encouraged a raising of the group’s collective game.”

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One of the best of Van Zandt’s early albums. Like all his late-’60s/early-’70s recordings for the Poppy label, it’s full of ostensibly incongruous overproduction. As on the early albums of Leonard Cohen and others, though, these light arrangements gain in hindsight, via their earnest elegance and the contrast they provide to the songwriter’s dark visions. It sounds as though Townes’ handlers were intent on marketing him as some strange combination of Bob Dylan, Glen Campbell and Bob Lind (not an entirely unjustifiable assessment), but the occasionally ominous, visionary songpoetry is too powerful too be pushed under the table by futile stabs at a hit single.

Van Zandt was an artful chronicler of the chronic depression he constantly struggled with, seldom expressed so well in song as on “Kathleen.” Van Zandt’s laconic country drawl keeps the dark sentiments from sounding overwrought. On “St. John the Gambler” and the Dylanesque “Why She’s Acting This Way,” he looks outward to describe other, equally star-crossed characters. It’s not all gloom though. “Be Here to Love Me” and “Second Lovers Song” show Van Zandt’s perennial but little-noted way with a tender love song.

Tracklisting
1. Be Here To Love Me
2. Kathleen
3. She Came And She Touched Me
4. Like A Summer Thursday
5. Our Mother The Mountain
6. Second Lover’s Song
7. St. John The Gambler
8. Tecumseh Valley
9. Snake Mountain Blues
10. My Proud Mountains
11. Why She’s Acting This Way

Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (4/1/71, pp.54-56) – “…if there were any justice in this world, he’d be a star, not just the property of a tiny band of followers who count his records among their most prized possessions…”

As with their first two albums, YOUTH AND YOUNG MANHOOD and AHA SHAKE HEARTBREAK, BECAUSE OF THE TIMES finds Nashville alternative rockers Kings of Leon recreating the majesty of 1970s southern rock for the emo generation. Sounding like they were raised as much on a steady diet of Neil Young, the Faces, and the best of Capricorn Records as they were on Pentecostal preaching–the father of the band’s three brothers is himself a noted preacher–the Kings of Leon create classic-sounding but demonstrably modern alternative rock that appeals to both the vintage 1970s AOR audience and its kids.

Lyrically, songs such as “Knocked Up,” “Camaro,” and “My Party” sound like diary entries from an archetypal bad-boy teen, a persona that’s deepened by more thoughtful tunes such as the epic closer, “Arizona,” and the near-ballad “True Love Way.” A solid follow-up to their earlier albums, BECAUSE OF THE TIMES cements the Kings of Leon’s place as the Allman Brothers Band of the new millennium.

Tracklisting
1. Knocked Up
2. Charmer
3. On Call
4. Mcfearless
5. Black Thumbnail
6. My Party
7. True Love Way
8. Ragoo
9. Fans
10. The Runner
11. Trunk
12. Camaro
13. Arizona

Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (p.69) – 4 stars out of 5 — “['Knocked Up'] is the Tennessee band’s big album-opening saga, building from quiet to loud with guitar licks that sound like the Edge fried in okra, with ominous thunderclap drumroll…”

Rolling Stone (p.113) – Included in Rolling Stone’s “50 Top Albums of the Year 2007″ — “[The album shows] them exploring the dynamics within garage-quartet basics with pop-sonic flair.”

Entertainment Weekly (p.75) – “[T]he result is an epic wide-screen movie of a CD and the band’s best to date.” — Grade: A-

Q (p.119) – 4 stars out of 5 — “[P]roper, crafted tunes and a man unafraid to sing. Good things both.”

Alternative Press (p.152) – 4.5 stars out of 5 — “The guys have never been afraid to embrace a wide range of rock , while throwing whiffs of psychedelia, spaced-out guitar noodling, good ol’ boy jams and more into the stew.”

Magnet (p.104) – “[T]heir once tentative Southern-rock leanings devolve into zig-zaggy fits of blues-boogie ambling, garage-crud frenzy and heavy-lidded balladry.”

No Depression – “[A] fierce record built on hypnotic grooves that simmer and seethe until they explode into a riot of snarling guitars and anguished vocals.”

Q (Magazine) (p.87) – Ranked #07 in Q’s “The 50 Best Albums Of 2007″ — “[I]ts haunting ‘True Love Way’ and spiritual lead single ‘On Call’ sparkled with a stadium-sized epic rock sheen.”

Mojo (Publisher) (p.108) – 4 stars out of 5 — “[I]t’s an artful, personal and hugely human album, full of life’s problems, fears, fascinations and absolutions.”

Clash (magazine) (p.77) – “Sonically, it saw their palette expand from chugging guitar riffs into soundscapes infused with ambient sounds and effects.”

EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME is the debut release on Sub Pop from Seattle’s Band of Horses. Matt Brooke and Ben Bridwell have abandoned the melancholic slow-core of their previous band Carissa’s Weird for a brighter, more straightforward indie rock sound with obvious roots in Neil Young’s ragged folk and progressive indie bands like Built to Spill.

EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME benefits from strong songwriting, and the winding, yearning tenor of Bridwell, while the synthesis of introspective folky intimacy, immediately accessible melodies, and button-pushing rock elements is very appealing. Moreover, the album is beautifully produced, with layers of shimmering guitars and a warm, full backbeat, making for an impressive and highly promising first effort.

Tracklisting
1. The First Song
2. Wicked Gil
3. Our Swords
4. The Funeral
5. Part One
6. The Great Salt Lake
7. Weed Party
8. I Go To The Barn Because I Like The
9. Monsters
10. St Augustine

Professional Reviews
Uncut (p.107) – 4 stars out of 5 — “Band Of Horses specialise in melodic melancholy with a sheen of hope. Bridwell’s plaintive voice lends the songs a shade of Neil Young.”

The real challenge of this second release from Nashville singer/songwriter Josh Rouse is to identify its weakness. Throughout these 10 tracks, Rouse sings in an affecting, androgynous confluence of tones and timbral colors, weaving tales of heartache and loss across smartly deployed hook-rich instrumental backdrops. In his voice, one can make out the sweetly torn world-weariness of Whiskeytown’s Ryan Adams, the goosebump-inducing glissando flourishes of Jeff Buckley (see the exquisite “100m Backstroke”), and the smokiness of an aged female jazz singer.

Subtle instrumental shadings add grace, warmth, and beauty to the arrangements. There’s the clarion trumpet melody that emerges from the chorus of “Marvin Gaye,” the subtle female backing vocals of “Directions,” and the warming cello of “Parts and Accessories.” Fuller instrumentation enlivens “And Around” and “Little Know It All,” both of which recall the more down-tempo and de-funkified incarnations of Lambchop (with whose principal, Kurt Warner, Rouse collaborated for the CHESTER EP). One almost imagines the former, which is perhaps the highlight of the set, to be a lost Jimmy Scott track reconstituted with pedal-steel guitar–the perfect accompaniment to a darkened early-summer drive across Nebraska.

Tracklisting
1. Laughter
2. Marvin Gaye
3. Directions
4. Parts And Accessories
5. 100M Backstroke
6. Hey Porcupine
7. In Between
8. And Around
9. Afraid To Fail
10. Little Know It All

Professional Reviews
Entertainment Weekly (3/31/00, p.70) – “…Inventive arrangements…with power-packed drumming energizing the acoustic instruments….it’ll provide consolation should you find yourself alone when the dancing’s done.” – Rating: B

Q (4/00, p.99) – 3 stars out of 5 – “…gently countrified a la Neil Young but echoing Rouse’s teenage love of The Smiths and The Cure….there’s something quietly evocative here with plenty of homespun charm.”

CMJ (4/00, p.55) – “…draws upon a rich and varied palette….with pleasant, trancelike tunes….There’s no denying that Rouse is a smart pop craftsman and any of his tunes is certainly catchy, engaging, and plaintive on its own…”

NME (Magazine) (3/11/00, p.33) – 6 out of 10 – “…a peculiar gig….there are swooning pedal steel guitars and occasional licks that locate the music at the country end of the spectrum, the easy definitions don’t work….a fascinating rationale…”