I am on record as not being a grunge fan. I find most of that music quite dark and depressing, or just overly-caffeinated when they try to do hard rock without much melody, harmony etc. However, this new album by Eddie Vedder which harks back to classic rock in various ways is just excellent, at least in 8 of its 12 songs. The first seven I play over and over again. It’s well done, inspiring, well played, the tunes are memorable, and they are varied from ballads to real rockers.
A second album I can recommend after a long wait, is the new Tears for Fears lp— Tipping Point. The problem with doing some really memorable classic style songs like Tipping Point, or Rivers of Mercy, or Break the Man is that the other tracks are bound to pale in comparison, and they do. And frankly the lp starts out strangely with a very slow tempo traditional ballad. Just odd as a first track on an album. Not a bad song, but the ordering of songs on a album matter. I love Tears for Fears, both when Smith and Olazabal are together and when they are doing solo stuff. They were clearly one of the best and most creative 80s artists, and I’m very happy they are back together and doing music again. And they are even touring this Spring— Hooray. Most of the top songs on Itunes are not rock n’ roll at all. But it is not an accident that its the 80s and 90s artists who are still doing creative rock music. There are not many 60s and 70s artists who could still do that. A couple of years ago I went to see One Dog Night (aka one singer left from 3 Dog Night). It was depressing in several languages.
While Funk and Soul music deserves its own category and not be seen as a subheading under rock music, the recent hommage lp to the Chi-Lites, the O Jays, the Delfonics, Parliament Funkadelic and before that Little Anthony and the Imperials to mention but a few great artists by Silk Sonic, including both their original tunes, and their covers, see below, are just excellent. Beautifully crafted and so richly melodic. Bootsy must be proud.
At the harder end of rock is Dave Grohl’s outfit— Foo Fighters, and their recent lp Medicine at Midnight is consistently good. Check it out…
A little tip about this album. Don’t listen while driving. You’ll end up getting a speeding ticket.
And now for something entirely different, check out the recent Pat Metheny lp Side Eye. A live album recording in NY not long ago. Especially the new songs, and not the revised forms of older Metheny tunes are fantastic. In many ways they sound like the Metheny and Mays peak years in the 70s and 80s– I love It’s Starts When we Disappear, the first qand 13 minute long track. Just classic. And one of the keys here is Pat found a keyboard player who is of the same ilk as the dearly departed Lyle Mays, as well as percussionist/drummers that are just as good as the classic line up. Other great new tracks are Zenith Blue, and Lodger. And some of the lyrical ballads like Sirabhorn are excellent too. I prefer this new line up of Pat with considerably younger players to the Unity Band line up for the most part. I did also love his lp from 2020 with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, From This Place which is just excellent.
Sting has always been one of my favorite solo artists, ever since he and the Police broke up. Ten Summoner’s Tales is one of the great albums of the whole classic rock era. After some interesting forays into duets, and other ventures (including renovating an Italian villa and getting its viticulture going) Sting’s latest offering is very upbeat on the whole and a return to that form which sold so many records. The title of the album is The Bridge, and it has numerous excellent tracks including the following:
If you like classic rock, some harder rock, and good jazz fusion, these are the albums for you and hooray to artists from the 70s to 90s who are still making great original music.
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