Million Star Hotel - Jeffrey Dean Foster

Getting on for four years since I first heard this. Still as magical and arresting, still hidden, still waiting to be discovered.

"Million Star Hotel is like a multi-faced diamond reflecting light into a hall of mirrors. A classic pop album from North Carolina that unashamedly mines past glories. Made by someone whose teenage years were spent in the 70s in cars with radios. You hear late Beach Boys, Neil Young, Bolan, and of a time when music and romance were inextricably mingled.

Put together over a number of years, it comprises 14 songs and nearly 70 minutes. Adventurous well-made songs illuminated by those million stars but created like sculptures, with always something more. Always another teasing little sound in the corner.

Lynn Blakey, Don Dixon and Chris Phillips help out. Mitch Easter plays guitar and co-produces, but it’s Foster’s album. His strengths define it. His warm tenor voice is always entrancing. He writes a memorable lyric: “she bet on a bobtail loser”. He takes classic lines and makes them new; we know where titles like ‘Long Gone Sailor’ and ‘All I Do Is Dream’ come from.

The start is a gentle ambience and a whisper that grows into the tale of a ‘Lily Of The Highway’. The major motifs are all here: girls, cars, growth, loss. Its variance is the promise of what’s to follow, redeemed by ‘The Summer Of The Son Of Sam’. 1977, when Elvis and Skynyrd both fell to earth. Over six minutes the song rises, from a quiet meditative night with cicadas, into an epic.

Memorable moments persist; ‘Little Priest’ begins like glam rock, and becomes a California surf ballad. ‘Don’t Listen To Me’ channels Danny Whitten. ‘Long Gone Sailor’ seems part-written under the influence of Holland. Yet every second of this remarkable album cries out to be listened to. Everything here does its part; these songs will never let the careful listener down. Always they’ll inspire, and always they’ll reward."

Rock'n'Reel 2007

(www.jeffreydeanfoster.com)

What's Kickin' Vol 4

It's that tine again. Another compilation, out on Stove Pony, from the East London combination of What's Cookin' and Mule Freedom. I've had the CD for a couple of weeks and I think it' possibly the best so far.

From the alt.ska of Smokey Angle Shades' 'Don't Leave Me' to the magical 'Mildsensations' from The Mild Sensations nineteen tracks later it's all strong stuff. There's our old buddy, Barracuda, and Bucketfull scribe Jeremy Gluck with 'Buried Not Dead', The Ugly Guys, with former Kursaals Paul Shuttleworth and Vic Collins on board, and Graham Larkbey with his splendid neo-pub rock revisiting the glory days of Ducks Deluxe and the late-70s Groovies.

Then there's 'Mercy II', an as-yet unreleased track from everyone's current faves The Wolf People, and 'If Your Lips Move You're Lying' from Matt Hill aka Quiet Loner. Not to mention Stove Pony's own Lucky Strikes with 'Morning Light' from their just-released The Chronicles Of Solomon Quick album.

Wednesday night there was a launch party over at the Sheepwalk in Leytonstone. Eight of the artistes did short sets in the packed and sweltering upstairs room.

The bluegrass trio Ghost Town Showdown kicked off showcasing their murder ballad 'Little Glass Of Wine'; the tale of a particularly disastrous fit of pique and its aftermath. Matt Hill then hushed the room with 'Get Me Johnny Cash On The Phone', and then had everyone laughing at 'Lips Move, as witty as John Wesley Harding we thought.

Andrew Mueller then played 'Do You Have A Sister?', one of the stand-outs on the album but a little diminished sans band. Lance Baldock of Cusack and Matt Boulter turned out to be The Midsensations and their beautiful instrumental sounded just as fine live as it does on the record.

Then a little vignette, and probably the set of the night, from Graham Larkbey And The Escape Committee. Their ‘Won’t Wait Forever For You’ took us straight back to 1978 and closing your eyes you could almost conjure Chris and Cyril. The Henry Brothers recalled radio hours of yesteryear with their dead-accurate and ever-enjoyable Louvin/Stanley Brothers invocations. Dan Raza did a speedy solo slot, and then Smokey Angle Shades ended up the proceedings with a slightly longer set. I guess after carrying their piano upstairs Stephen was going to get his money's worth out of them.

Some good nights coming up there soon too. Wolf People on July 1st and Barry Melton on 16th.

Hungry Dog Brand & Will Scott at the 12 Bar Club

Sunday night took me to the 12 Bar Club to catch a couple of bands put on by Martin Dowsing. Martin,of course, performs as The Hungry Dog Brand, and has been putting on eclectic nights at venues all over London for a few years now.

A few months ago he spent some time in New York and played as the guest of Will Scott and tonight he was returning the favour. Scott hails from Indiana but is now based in Brooklyn and some mean guitar. His set featured a mix of originals and readings deep in the tradition but lively and innovative. A couple of Son House tunes, 'Preachin' Blues' and Grinnin' In My Face', 'See That My Grave Is Kept Clean'(on which he was joined by Jan Bell), and his own 'Stain Lifter'. “Living proof that white men can play the blues” said Mr H Dog.

He was followed by the latest incarnation of The Hungry Dog Brand. Since I last saw them they've found a fine young guitarist in AJ Dehany who was set up stage right with a fair array of pedals and effects that he wasn't shy of using; he looks like a fellow worth pursuing in his own right. A mixture of songs - 'Leprosy' and 'Say Hello To My Idiot Son' from 2007's Boy Meets Dog album - and 'Stranger On The Third Floor' and 'The Old Ghost Train' from more recent times. It was good to see Martin still retains his raw edge; no-one's ever going to find him easy listening but why would they want to. mental note made to catch another gig soon.

(Did see that he's scheduled to play the 12 Bar Club's Phil Ochs tribute night on 16th September.Put that in your diary.)

See We're Back

Actually we’ve been back for two months now. At least that’s when the first copies of #72 started creeping out. The relaunch is something of a long, slow process in which we concentrate on keeping our nerve, and beginning to produce a regular flow of information through our varying formats.

Apart from the print magazine we’re here – and many of these posts will also turn up in our My Space. We also are tweeting in an eccentric and spinning-off fashion; uncertain entirely of the virtues but having gained enough positives to see it worth persisting with. That I’ve learnt of Dag Juhlin’s mightily amusing reports from SXSW this year is justification in itself.

The new mag is mainly available directly from us. It is for sale in select emporia across London and various other places but the safest way to get it is to order from us. We finally lost patience with our final distributor after The Only Ones issue (#71) which left us personally out of pocket for a long time . Despite their name which indicated they were able to place the magazine all the way around the world it transpired they only managed to get it into three of the 26 or so Borders shops in the UK, in none of the US Borders, and priced the title so prohibitively that folk like Miles Of Music and Not Lame who wanted to sell it couldn’t.

Obviously I would say this but it is crucial that people do buy the magazine. We are kicking against the pricks in our customary cussed fashion and it’s not costing as much as it used to but it still requires a turnover. So literally every copy sold makes a difference.

Don’t feel it’s too late to buy #72. Stories about Jesse Hector, The Sonics, and Steve Wynn aren’t nine days wonders. We’ve been writing about Steve since he and us were in short trousers and it’ll continue like that while one or other us is still breathing.

#73 is well on the way. Who’ll be in it? Wouldn’t you all like to know? I’d look towards a list that leads off with Lucky Soul, John Wesley Harding, and The Drones and you won’t go far wrong.

Meanwhile keep a weather eye in our direction. It’ll be worth it.

Case Hardin - Some Tunes For Charlie Spencer

Here's a review of Some Tunes For Charlie Spencer the new Case Hardin record.

"On first hearing Charlie Spencer registers undeniably as a superior Americana album. Case Hardin, based around the pairing of Del Skinner and singer-songwriter Pete Gow and augmented by former Cotton Mather drummer Dana Myzer, deliver a batch of well-crafted songs very much in the lineage of Steve Earle and Jay Farrar. There’s a deal of twang, of steel, and on one track, some very nice fiddle. For these reasons alone it’s worth seeking out.

On closer examination it proves more; a finely-wrought writer’s album. Gow is a journalist who has spent a lot of time recently in Iraq, and he clearly has both the writer’s eye for detail and an assured capacity to juggle words and meanings. Knowing titles like ‘Three For The Road’, ‘Sweethearts Of The Radio’, and ‘Dead Lines’, plus a host of lyrics referencing the creative process, demonstrate his acuity.

This is in no way pretentious. It’s not trumpeted, it’s just waiting there to be found. The songs, especially the ‘Tune For Charlie Spencer’ with a gorgeous vocal contribution from Sophia Marshall, in themselves provide more than ample reward, but Gow here has certainly given notice of a singular talent, and there must be more to come."

Released on Ugly Nephew

Bucketfull Show at The Worlds End this Sunday

Bucketfull of Brains in association with Turning Worm presents:


EILEEN ROSE AND THE HOLY WRECK + CASE HARDIN
At The Worlds End, Camden Town

Sunday 17th AUGUST - 4.00 onwards, first band at 5.15

Legendary magazine Bucketfull Of Brains and top promoters Turning Worm bring
great bands to the afternoon thing at the World End.

Another in the series of Bucketfull afternoons on the third Sunday of each
month.

AND IT'S FREE


EILEEN ROSE AND THE HOLY WRECK

Eileen Rose has just released her fourth album At Our Tables through Evangeline Records. Opening a new chapter in her already impressive career, she has now taken her music to Detroit, tracking down the city's deep-rooted musical Soul and making it all her own. Aided by seasoned producers Al Sutton (Sheryl Crow, Kid Rock, Detroit Cobras, Electric Six), and Eric Hoegemeyer (Charm Farm, Kid Rock, Uncle Kracker), plus members of Sponge, Detroit Cobras, and her own band the Holy Wreck, Eileen has recorded her most accomplished record, yet. A joyous celebration of the accidents of Life, Love, and Human Nature.

She currently tours with her new line-up of the Holy Wreck, featuring guitar virtuoso Rich Gilbert (Frank Black, Throwing Muses, Tanya Donelly) and bassist, Nicholas Giadone Ward.

"Dirty, drawling interpretations of the country she loves. It’s Nashville with attitude for the 21st century. Not Sheryl Crow, in other words." – NME

http://www.myspace.com/eileenrosemusic


CASE HARDIN

Reading band, Case Hardin skilfully draw elements from rock, americana, country and folk. The core band of songwriter Pete Gow, also a member of Southern Tenant Folk Union, (guitar, harmonica) and Del Skinner (guitars, bass, mandolin, pedal steel), are joined by ex- Cotton Mather drummer Dana Myzer. Formed back in 1999, Case Hardin take their name from the female lead in Boston Teran's noir thriller God Is A Bullet .

Their new album Some Tunes For Charlie Spencer is just out on Ugly Nephew.

http://www.myspace.com/casehardin

Dave Graney in Brixton

Dave Graney is back in London for the first time in seven years. He, Clare Moore, and Stu Thomas played for a select audience in the convivial surroundings of the Windmill. See if you can work out exactly what he played from the setlist. I was especially pleased by 'Rock'n'Roll Is Where I Hide' and 'Night Of The Wolverine' plus Stu's take on 'Big Spender'. Tonight he's at the 12 Bar.