Adam Salsman [dot] com

With apologies to Charles Dickens:

Billy Joel is not a great musician, to begin with.

Some of his works are sloppy and pander to the pop-music of the time. With the exception of “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” everything after 1986’s “The Bridge” can be forgotten. But in 1973, Billy released this album, “Piano Man”: two sides of vintage Joel that showcases why he actually deserves to live on in our pop culture memory.

It’s surprising, when you listen to these vintage tracks in context of the album as opposed to the Greatest Hits collection (which, shut up, that’s how almost everyone knows them), how the title track is not the shining star. Yes, we all love “Piano Man;” Yes we all raise our drinks when it’s on at the pub; yes, we all sang it on the bus rides back from whatever school event we were at.

Side A (labeled “One Side”) kicks off with “Travellin’ Prayer,” an upbeat, down-home tune that shows off the fiddle and banjo far more than the piano, Joel’s signature instrument. And that’s not a problem; in fact, it seems to sandwich the album nicely, with the album’s final track “Captain Jack.” But we’ll get there.

Side A finishes off with “The Ballad of Billy the Kid,” a 50’s-western-movie-feeling tune that, not really biographically, follows the life of, yes, Billy the Kid. Pop music is rarely truly accurate, and we accept this, provided what we’re listening to is good. And, I won’t lie, it really is.

Side B (aka - “Another Side”), is largely tunes that have gone unheard, in this day and age of greatest hits packages. “Worst Come to Worst” manages sound very generic-pop, in terms of the time frame, and does little to impress or move. “Stop In Nevada,” on the other hand, does what I expect of earlier Billy Joel tunes: it’s up and down, showcases Joel’s quieter sound with his raucous pseudo-rock’n'roll sound.

The album is finished off with one of my favourite, lesser-heard Billy Joel tunes: “Captain Jack.” It’s a longer tune, painting a vivid picture of these directionless people helping to made happier by Captain Jack. He’ll “get you high tonight, and take you to your special island.” Really, this may be superficial, but the entire tune is made worth it for me with the lyric referring to your “New English Clothes.”

In the end: This is Billy Joel. This is Billy’s first major label release (Cold Spring Harbor got a re-issue in 1984 on Columbia), and it shows why we allow Billy Joel to tour around every other year, with no new material. He wrote everything he needed to along time ago. He is the “Entertainer,” after all. If you’ve not listened to this, front to back, then your missing out on why we, as a people, love this guy.

I’ve been listening to the last 3 albums of Joe Strummer & the Mescalaros, and I can say, with a level of certainty, that they were working toward perfection. The first of the 3 albums, Rock Art & the X-Ray Style I found difficult to get through, and even boring at points, while Streetcore may be close to musical perfection. Sandwiched in between those two albums is Global A Go-Go.

To be honest, I may not have even taken notice of this fairly average album if it weren’t for HBO’s John From Cincinnati and it’s opening theme, which is the first track off this disc, Johnny Appleseed. Which, to be honest, I adore equally for it being a great song and being associated with a great show.

The rest of the album proceeds along with more hits than misses, but those hits are mediocre at best.

Of the 11 tracks (coming in at 73 minutes), Johnny Appleseed, Cool ‘n’ Out, Bhindi Bhagee, and Mega Bottle Ride are the ones that really seem to reach a little higher; seem to want to aspire to more. And, they mostly do.

The last track, Minstrel Boy, is what pushes this album WELL over the hour mark, by being a mostly instrumental composed of drums (of the marching variety) and stringed instruments (sounding mostly in the violin/fiddle area). It’s a beautiful song, but I feel like it doesn’t do much to end cap the record.

In the end: Fans of the Clash will want to continue to follow Strummer’s career, to his penultimate album; fans of Streetcore may be a little let down, but may still get some enjoyment; fans of John from Cincinnati will check in to see what the rest of the album is about.

Technorati Tagged: Joe Strummer | 2001 | Rock | The Clash

The year was 1994. I didn’t know a thing. Some would say I still don’t.

My grandmother (a brisk 15 years younger than my grandfather) had suggested we all go to some special presentation at Andover High featuring this band who “imitates” the Beatles. Who the hell are the Beatles, my 14 year old mind wondered.

That night, I saw an impressive show. These four guys up there playing fun, if soft, pop tunes. I went home with stars in my eyes. Over the next year, I began gobbling up Beatles CDs, making my mother take me to Lechmere to get the Anthologies as well as any of the other albums I could find. I had to have them all.

Since then, I’ve collected much of their solo works, projects, etc. Word of Love came down from the “blog-o-sphere” a few months ago, and I won’t deny I was a bit giddy. The thought of the Beatles Producer, George Martin, as well as his son, mixing and remixing tunes from the orginal source material seemed genius. But I was also hesitant.

That brings us to now. What the producers Martin have done is mesh 36 Beatles tunes into 25 tracks of musical bliss. The cross fades, the joiners, the edits, they are all perfect.

Love runs a full 78 minutes, with 2 “track breaks,” and takes the audio from all released material. I’ve yet to find any audio I don’t actually recognize, but with the layering of music and effects, I’ve not gotten through it all yet.

Saying “listen to these tracks” on a Beatles album is like picking apart a Monet. You just don’t. The album works as a whole, and that is how it should be taken.

In the end: Do I need to say anything? The Beatles Love is genius in it’s composition (even if it may feel a bit like a grab for cash) and respectful to the source material. Overly obsessive purists may be upset, but just about everyone else will be in Love.

And, yes, I made the joke.

On the web: The Hype Machine may be a bit hit-or-miss as everyone loves Beatles tunes, but some digging will get you some of the tracks.

Technorati Tagged: The Beatles | Remixed | Classic Rock | 2006

Something happened in 2001 to Bob Dylan. It’s called Love and Theft.

Bobby’s fans all cried, and many, like myself, thought “Hmmm, this could be it for Mr. Dylan,” and then went back to looping Blonde on Blonde and Highway 61 Revisited so we could remember Bob in a good way.

This year, however, we were surprised. A blog post somewhere had audio from this disc (specifically, Thunder on the Mountain) and I took a listen. Bob has died. Bob has risen. Bob is come again.

Rising from the ashes of Love and Theft, Modern Times is the Dylan-Phoenix. 10 tracks, coming in just over an hour, Times has already cracked into my unorganized Top 10 of the year.

The moment you hear Thunder on the Mountain, the lead off track, you know Bob “Visions of Johanna” Dylan is back; Spirit on the Water is musically and lyrically beautiful; Rollin’ and Tumblin’ just screams half of the tracks of Highway 61 Revisited, which may make it his least original track on Times, but it’s so damn good; the last track, Ain’t Talkin’ ends the album on a down note, but it’s still an amazing track.

In the end: Dylan’s back, folks. He may have lost his touch live, but hot damn, he’s proven a) why you show respect to Dylan and b) why you can’t keep good musician down. Do yourself a favour and get this album.

On the Web: The Hype Machine has so much Dylan, it hurts.

Technorati Tagged: Bob Dylan | Top 10 | Folk Rock | 2006