June – 2014 – Music New to You from the Past and Present

“Looking Into You: A Tribute to Jackson Browne” was released in April. The two disk set features a dazzling array of artists including the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Lyle Lovett, Keb’ Mo’ and Bruce Springsteen. But honestly, doing Jackson Browne songs anywhere near as well as Jackson Browne is tough even for these titans. So, covers of lesser known songs are among the most enjoyable. Two tracks from Browne’s fourth album “The Pretender” get that treatment: Sara and Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek covering “Your Bright Baby Blues”, and Springsteen accompanied by his wife, Patti Scialfa, covering “Linda Paloma”.

Just last week a 40th Anniversary Reissue of Browne’s third album “Late for the Sky” was released. We featured the title track from that album in an earlier post, so here’s “The Late Show” which provides the “early model Chevrolet” lyric that ties to the album’s cover art. The song has all the ingredients: deep lyrics, pure Jackson Browne voice, beautiful vocal harmonies and David Lindley steel guitar, found in so much of Browne’s work.

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Bob Mould just released “Beauty & Ruin”, the 11th solo album from the frontman of the influential punk band Hüsker Dü and the 90’s band Sugar.

The video for “I Don’t Know You Anymore” puts you through about two minutes of concept set-up with Colin Meloy of The Decemberists, but rewards you with an enjoyable tune reminiscent of Mould’s earlier work.

Sugar only lasted for a few years in the early 90’s, but produced a few albums that made the top 10 on the UK indie album charts. A favorite song form their second album is “Your Favorite Thing”. The sonic connection with Mould’s brand new work is pretty clear

Hüsker Dü gets credited as an important American punk band of the early 80’s, and as one of the bands that pushed American music down the alternative rock path – integrating a bit more melodic sense into its fast and powerful sound. See what you think of Hüsker Dü’s “Makes No Sense At All” from the band’s fourth album “Flip Your Wig”. And if you hang in till the 2:30 mark, Hüsker Dü pays homage to a TV show that put their hometown of Minneapolis forever on the sitcom map.