Best of What’s New

When my weekly look at newly released music is delayed, it’s usually for one of two main reasons: Work has kept me pretty busy (not a bad thing!), or I had a hard time finding new music that sufficiently grabbed me to highlight it in a feature cheerfully titled “Best of What’s New.” This time, it was a combination of both. But, occasionally good things take time, and ultimately, I think I found a pretty solid and diverse set of new music, including Americana, shock rock, indie rock and funky soulful organ-driven jazz. Let’s get to it!

Nate Fredrick/Be the One

I’d like to kick things off with Nate Fredrick, a Nashville-based Americana singer-songwriter. According to his website, the native Missourian learned to play guitar as a 12-year-old and started writing songs 10 years thereafter. In 2015, he relocated to Nashville and wrote more than 100 tunes during the two following years. Fredrick’s website characterizes his music as “bluesy Americana style”, citing Guy Clark, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Van Morrison as some of his influences. Well, it might have taken him a while to transition from playing the guitar to writing his own songs, but the results are certainly compelling. Be the One is from Fredrick’s great-sounding debut album Different Shade of Blue released yesterday (February 26). “Somewhere in trying to figure out how to craft a good song, I figured out how not to just write a pile of sad songs,” he said about his album. “It’s not that my situation is different or even better, but I’ve found a different way to perceive my personal circumstances.”

Alice Cooper/Drunk and in Love

If you happened to read my February 14 Sunday Six installment, you may recall it featured a tune from Alice Cooper’s then-forthcoming album. Mr. Shock Rock’s 21st solo release Detroit Stories appeared yesterday. With 15 tracks and a total length over just 50 minutes, it’s a solid effort. Except for three covers of tunes by Lou Reed, Fred “Sonic” Smith (MC5) and Bob Seger, Cooper co-wrote all other tracks. Here’s Drunk and in Love, a slow burning bluesy rocker. The other co-writers include producer Bob Ezrin and Dennis Dunaway, the original bassist of the Alice Cooper rock band. “Romeo and Juliet is a great love story, but so is a love story about a guy that lives in a box under a bridge with a bunch of other people standing around big oil cans trying to keep warm—and he’s in love with the girl who lives in another box,” Cooper told Apple Music about the tune. “So it’s a very touching little love song. And just the fact that their situation is different than a normal one doesn’t mean their love is any less intense.” Check out Cooper’s cool harp solo that starts at around 1:25 minutes into the song, harmonizing with the lead guitar – pretty neat!

Hoorsees/Get Tired

Hoorsees are an indie rock band from Paris, France. The members are Alex Delamard (lead vocals, guitar), Thomas (lead guitar, backing vocals), Zoe (bass, backing vocals) and Nicolas (drums, backing vocals). Unfortunately, there is very little public information on their background. Get Tired, written by Delamard, is from the band’s eponymous full-length debut album that came out on February 19. Based on a somewhat measly artist page on the website of their U.S. label Kanine Records, the album is a follow-on to a previously released EP, Major League of Pain. No word about its release data, not to mention when Hoorsees were founded – jeez, so much for effective artist promotion!

Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio/Hole in One

Wrapping up this installment is a find I’m particularly excited about as a huge fan of the Hammond B-3: Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, which blend organ jazz with soul and funk. Here’s how their website describes it: Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio—or as it is sometimes referred to, DLO3—specialize in the lost art of “feel good music.” The ingredients of this intoxicating cocktail include a big helping of the 1960s organ jazz stylings of Jimmy Smith and Baby Face Willette; a pinch of the snappy soul strut of Booker T. & The M.G.’s and The Meters; and sprinkles Motown, Stax Records, blues, and cosmic Jimi Hendrix-style guitar. It’s a soul-jazz concoction that goes straight to your heart and head makes your body break out in a sweat…The band features organist Delvon Lamarr, a self-taught virtuosic musician, with perfect pitch who taught himself jazz and has effortlessly been able to play a multitude of instruments. On guitar is the dynamo Jimmy James who eases through Steve Cropper-style chanking guitar, volcanic acid-rock freak-out lead playing, and slinky Grant Green-style jazz. From Reno, Nevada is drummer Dan Weiss (also of the powerhouse soul and funk collective The Sextones). Dan’s smoldering pocket-groove drumming locks in the trio’s explosive chemistry. Hole in One, co-written by Lamarr (credited as Delvon Dumas) and James (credited as Jabrille Williams), is the groovy opener of the band’s third album I Told You So released January 19. More than Booker T. Jones, I can hear Steve Winwood in here. To me, it’s one of those rare tunes where you only need to hear the first few bars to realize you love it!

Sources: Wikipedia; Nate Fredrick website; Apple Music; Kanine Records website; Delvin Lamarr Organ Trio website; YouTube

The Sunday Six

It’s Sunday again and hope everybody is doing well. I think I’ve put together another fairly eclectic collection of songs. Like in previous installments of The Sunday Six, I’d like to start things nice and easy, before hitting the accelerator and going a little bit more rough toward the end. I also spontaneously decided to throw in a bonus.

Sting/Fields of Gold

Let’s kick it off with one of my favorite tunes by Sting, Fields of Gold, a perfect song for a Sunday. It appeared on his fourth solo album Ten Summoner’s Tales from March 1993. I’d consider that album to be the Mount Rushmore of his solo catalog. Like most tracks on Ten Summoner’s Tales, Sting wrote Fields of Gold all by himself. The song also appeared separately as a single in May of the same year. Unlike the album, which peaked at no. 2 in the UK and the U.S. and topped the charts in Austria, Fields of Gold only made it to no. 16, no. 23 and no. 85, respectively, on these countries’ single charts.

Lou Reed/Caroline Says II

Why a tune by an artist I admittedly do not know as well as I probably should? Coz I came across it the other day and I like it. Now you know what oftentimes ends up driving my picks for The Sunday Six – hence the subtitle Celebrating music with six random songs at a time. Penned by Lou Reed, Caroline Says II was included on his third solo album Berlin released in July 1973. The lyrics that appear to be about physical spouse abuse are rather grim:…Caroline says/as she gets up from the floor/You can hit me all you want to/but I don’t love you anymore… The album also includes a track titled Caroline Says I. Both of these tunes came out as a single in 1973 as well. BTW, Reed had some notable guests on Berlin, who apart from producer Bob Ezrin (piano, mellotron) included Jack Bruce (bass), prolific drummer Aynsley Dunbar and Steve Winwood (Hammond, harmonium). To the mainstream audience, Reed, who passed away from liver disease in October 2013 at the age of 71, is probably best known for Walk on the Wild Side, his biggest single chart success.

The Jayhawks/This Forgotten Town

I love this tune by American alternative country and country rock band The Jayhawks. In fact, I previously featured it last August in a Best of What’s New installment. The Jayhawks were formed in Minneapolis in 1985. After seven records, they went on hiatus in 2014 and reemerged in 2019. Their current line-up consists of original co-founders Gary Louris (electric guitar, vocals) and  Marc Perlman (bass), together with Tim O’Reagan (drums, vocals), Karen Grotberg (keyboards, backing vocals) and John Jackson (acoustic guitar, violin, mandolin). This Forgotten Town, co-written by Louris, Perlman and O’Reagan, is from their most recent album XOXO from July 2020. I still stand behind what I said in August 2020. I dig the warm sound, and there’s some great harmony singing as well. And now that I’ve listened to the tune again, it does remind me a bit of The Band.

Lenny Kravitz/Fields of Joy

Lenny Kravitz entered my radar screen in France in late 1991 when his sophomore album Mama Said, which had come out in April that year, happened to play in the background in a restaurant I was visiting. I immediately liked what I heard. So did my brother-in-law, who asked the waiter about the music. After my return to Germany, I got the CD. I’ve since continued to listen to Kravitz who has faced all kinds of criticism. Some of the clever commentary, especially early in his career, included “not sounding Black enough” (no idea what exactly that’s even supposed to mean!) and being too close to some of his ’60s influences, such as Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles – jeez, how horrible to have been inspired by two of the greatest music acts of all time! Anyhoo, Fields of Joy, co-written by Michael Kamen and Hal Fredricks with musical arrangement by Doug Neslund and Kravitz, is the opener of Mama Said. It also became one of the album’s seven singles.

Alice Cooper/Rock & Roll

“Mr. Shock Rock” is always good for some kickass music. Rock & Roll is the opener of Alice Cooper’s upcoming studio album Detroit Stories scheduled for February 26 – based on Wikipedia, it’s his 21st, not counting the seven records released with the band that had been named after him between 1969 and 1973. Written by Lou Reed (there he is again!), the tune was first recorded by The Velvet Underground for their fourth studio album Loaded from November 1970. I think Cooper does a nice job giving the tune more of a rock vibe. I also like how he’s dialing up the soulful backing vocals. In addition to Rock & Roll, two (original) tunes from Detroit Stories are already out. Looks like we can look forward to a fun album.

The Byrds/Eight Miles High

Okay, admittedly, a pattern seems to emerge for The Sunday Six. After doing five tunes from other decades, it suddenly occurs to me I just cannot leave out the ’60s, one of my favorite decades in music. Not sure whether this pattern is going to continue, but I just noticed it myself. The Byrds and probably also this tune need no introduction. Co-written by Gene Clark, Roger McGuinn and David Crosby, Eight Miles High is from their third studio album Fifth Dimension  released in July 1966. It remains one of my all-time favorite ’60s tunes. I think it’s pretty cool how the band combined their jingle-jangle pop rock a la Mr. Tambourine Man with psychedelic influences – simply a great song!

And just as I was about to wrap up this post, I came across this instrumental live version of Eight Miles High. Did I mention I dig this tune? 🙂 Apparently, this footage was captured at New York’s Fillmore East in September 1970 – kinda feels like The Byrds embracing the jam style of The Grateful Dead. Okay, do we really need an almost 10-minute instrumental of Eight Miles High? I’m leaving it up to you to decide. I think it’s pretty cool, showing the band’s impressive instrumental chops.

Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube