Whooping Llama

Music projects released by people already famous for things other than music always scare me a little. You just never know what to expect. I mean, sure, there’s the all-time Patrick Swayze classic “She’s Like the Wind”…but for every such musical gem we get a Paris Hilton cover of Rod Stewart’s “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy.”

Fortunately, She & Him’s debut CD, Volume One, is nothing like any “celebrity album” I’ve ever heard. Comprised of Zooey Deschanel (of Almost Famous, Elf, and Bridge to Terabithia fame) and her singer-songwriter pal M. Ward, She & Him sounds like something Phil Spector would have made if he’d been born in Nashville, raised in Portland by two rabid Beach Boys fans, and fell into an indie rock scene while studying at UC Berkley. Volume One has walls of sound, steel guitars, solid songwriting, infectious melodies, and harmonies galore…and I love it.

Forgive my gushing, but songs like “Sweet Darlin’” restore my faith in modern music. First of all, it has hand-claps. Modern music needs more hand-claps. Second, there are girl-group harmonies. The Beatles and Brian Wilson loved them, and so do I. Third, there’s Zooey Deschanel’s voice. It’s sweet and smooth, almost crooning, and it works wonderfully with Ward’s backing tracks.

Any of the songs on this disc would fit perfectly on any AM pop radio forty years ago. Deschanel wrote most of the album’s lyrics, and it turns out she’s a promising talent in this area as well. Her songs are tightly written and fun…just like the Brill Building pop that inspired this CD. Neil Sedaka would be proud.

Deschanel and Ward also do two great covers on this debut. “I Should’ve Known Better” (originally performed by the Beatles) and “You Really Got a Hold On Me” (originally performed by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles)…the latter being the better of the two.

The song is broken down to two voices and a clunky-sounding acoustic guitar is just a little out-of-tune. This sparse arrangement could have easily made the song seem out-of-place on the record, but instead it shows off the talents of these two musicians in a way that no other song on Volume One does. She & Him doesn’t need walls of sound to sound good…all they need is a Sears-Robuck guitar, a cheap microphone, and a Smokey Robinson song.

I do have one complaint about this CD, however, and it’s purely aesthetic. I purchase most of my music from iTunes anymore, but I made an exception with this disc because I figured it would have all kinds of cool pictures and stuff in the CD booklet. It did not. I should have saved four dollars and just downloaded it.

I recommend She & Him’s debut for anyone who wants to hear the next big thing in indie pop. Frankly, I can’t wait for Volume Two.

Neil Young had it right—only love can break your heart. There’s no feeling like heartbreak and it sucks any time of the year…but when Valentine’s Day rolls around (with all the flowers and chocolate and heart-shaped Tums) it’s practically unbearable. So, for those who’ll spend the 14^th all by their lonesome, I’ve compiled my top 5 list of the unrequited love songs. Turn ‘em up, sing along, and let it out. President’s Day will be here before you know it.

1. Bob Dylan – “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright”

Bob Dylan is the king of unrequited love songs, at least in the rock and pop world. When he went through a nasty divorce in the mid-‘70s, the man wrote an entire album of them (1975’s Blood on the Tracks). Still, this one is his best. Recorded for The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan and written about the girl that appears on the front cover of the album with him, this song finds Bob acting indifferent. His words betray him. Deep down he’s bitter, he’s hurt, and he’s leaving.

2. The Rolling Stones – “Love In Vain”

I had to include at least one blues tune. Written by Robert Johnson (you know, the one who sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads), “Love in Vain” is chock-full of loneliness and heartbreak…like all good blues songs. Add to that Mick Jagger’s vocals and Keith Richard’s serpentine slide guitar and you’ve got rock and roll gold. 

3. Derek and the Dominoes – “Layla”

Everybody knows the song, but I doubt many know the story behind it. George Harrison was married to model and photographer Pattie Boyd, and Eric Clapton fell in love with her. Clapton, a good friend of Harrison’s, stole a name from a Middle Eastern folk tale about two lovers kept apart by another man (in the story, the girl’s father) and proceeded to dedicate an entire album to his “Layla.” Clapton eventually got the girl, though…and George was the best man at the wedding.

4. The Band – “It Makes No Difference”

“It Makes No Difference” breaks my heart every time I listen to it. The Band was blessed with three killer lead singers: pianist Richard Manuel (my personal favorite), drummer Levon Helm, and bassist Rick Danko. Danko takes the majority of vocal duties on this one, and his trademark warble lends a desperation to this song that is unsurpassed. In a world of Avril Lavine, Shania Twain, and Nickelback, it’s sometimes difficult to remember that Canada once produced good music.

5. Hank Williams – “Half as Much”

And what would a list of unrequited love songs be without at least one country song? Incomplete, that’s what. I almost picked the Hank Williams song about the wooden Indian that pines for another inanimate Native American…but come on, aren’t we all tired of hearing that same old story? This Curely Williams song has been covered tons of times in a bunch of different ways, but the original performance is the definitive one. Order another round and put this one on.

Ahh…the holiday season. It’s a time for family togetherness, good times with good friends, presents, tacky lawn decorations, overpriced boxes of sausage and cheese, fruitcakes, and overplayed Christmas carols. Bah humbug.

I like Christmas music just as much as the other jolly fat man but when radio stations play the stuff 24/7 from Thanksgiving until New Year’s Day…it brings out the Grinch in me. And not only that—these stations play the same fifteen songs over and over! Can anyone honestly say they enjoy Michael Bolton’s cover of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, played every hour on the hour? I sure don’t.

So in the spirit of the season, this is my gift to you—a top 5 list of top-notch holiday music to get you out of your Bing Crosby-induced doldrums.

1.      Bruce Springsteen – Santa Claus is Coming to Town

This song, first performed in November of 1934, has been recorded by so many artists that I could reach my 500-word limit by just listing them all. None of those covers count, though. Nobody beats the Boss. This is what Christmas sounds like on Thunder Road—big, blaring rock and roll belted in that famous Jersey rasp. Oh, and let’s not forget the ho ho ho-ing provided by E Street sax man Clarence Clemons. Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus…and he plays tenor.

2.      Ray Charles – Winter Wonderland

Brother Ray could have sung the phone book and made it soulful. This tune has it all—great keyboard work, funky rhythms, and so much soul your head might just explode…a typical Ray Charles track.  Fun fact: Back in the day, traveling evangelists were known as parsons so the mysterious Parson Brown is probably just a generic name the people in the song gave to the snowman they want to officiate their marriage.

3.      Merle Haggard – If We Make It Through December

December’s a difficult month for many, Merle Haggard included. You see, he got laid off down at the factory and their timing ain’t the greatest in the world. Heaven knows he’s been working’ hard, and he wanted Christmas to be right for daddy’s girl.  This country-downer might have you cryin’ in your beer by the time the jukebox stops playing, but I guarantee you’ll be humming it for days.

4.      Louis Jordan and Ella Fitzgerald – Baby, It’s Cold Outside

Okay, this isn’t technically a Christmas song…I just like it, especially when it’s snowing outside.

5.      Vince Guaraldi Trio – Christmas Time is Here

If I was picking my top five Christmas albums, the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s soundtrack for A Charlie Brown Christmas would be my #1 pick. I’m a Peanuts fan from way back and I just can’t imagine a holiday season without Snoopy and the gang. “Christmas Time is Here,” my favorite track on the album, is the perfect song for the Christmas Eve drive home from Grandma’s house…soft and a little melancholy, but still fun thanks to the horribly out-of-tune kids singing the vocals.

 BONUS TRACK: Mona Abboud – The Pretty Little Dolly

If you want to creep out your party guests this holiday season (and who doesn’t?) you need to add this cut to your playlist. Recorded live on the Johnny Carson Show back in the ‘60s, this little ditty tells about the most realistic doll ever. I’ll stop my explanation there.

I love Buck Owens. I love Dwight Yoakam. I love the classic recording of “Streets of Bakersfield” they did in 1988. It would just make sense, then, if I love an album full of Buck Owens songs performed by Dwight Yoakam. I do not.

Buck Owens was a true visionary when it came to country music. He, along with Merle Haggard and a few others, melded rock and roll and more traditional hillbilly music into a totally unique sound—christened the “Bakersfield Sound” in honor of the scene’s Californian epicenter.

Owens’ music is legendary. Even the Beatles were fans (they covered his hit “Act Naturally” on their Help! album). Songs like “Who’s Gonna Mow Your Grass” and “I Don’t Care (Just As Long As You Love Me)” turned Nashville on its ears and made lots of Music City fat cats very uncomfortable. Buck Owens was the leader of a country counterculture. Buck Owens was cool.

So why can’t that kind of work stand on its own? Well, it could…and should.

I do understand Yoakam’s logic: Buck was a lifelong hero and longtime friend. And, to his credit, Dwight has made a solid collection of Buck Owens covers. The album’s not horrible, not by a long shot. Dwight Sings Buck is, however, tired.

Yoakam, God bless him, tried to spice things up. He reinterpreted a couple of Buck’s bigger hits (his weird reading of “Only You” turns the country ballad into some strange R&B/gospel thing). He included some relatively obscure Owens tunes—even making one, “Close Up the Honky Tonks” the album’s first single. He bought a guitar with the words “Buck ‘Em” emblazoned on the pick guard.

Still, I don’t get the sense that Mr. Yoakam put a whole lot of energy into this release (especially its title). The performances are top-notch, but little remains of the vigor found in Yoakam’s other records like his first, Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc. Etc., or even his last, Blame the Vain.

The problem here is that Dwight knows these songs too well. They’re not fresh to him anymore (I’d be afraid to know how many times Yoakam has sung “Together Again” in his lifetime). These songs are like an old t-shirt for Dwight: comfortable for sure, but not something you’d wear on a date.

Leonardo da Vinci’s disciples didn’t do cover versions of the Last Supper. They took the stuff the master showed them, used it in their own work, and built thereon. That’s how a legacy is constructed. Dwight Sings Buck isn’t fine art. It’s a cheap lithograph. Yoakam should have stuck to what he does best—making Buck-inspired music.

In the same way that Johnny Cash will be remembered as the idiot savant played by Joaquin Phoenix in Walk the Line, tribute albums like this one tarnish an artist’s work. They create a caricature of the art that the uninitiated take as a self-portrait.

If you need some Buck Owens in your life, and everyone does, buy the new greatest hits collection. You’ll get 21 original recordings by Buck and the Buckaroos, and you won’t regret the 15 bucks (heh) it’ll set you back. If you want a Dwight Yoakam album, buy Blame the Vain. They’ve got it at Wal-Mart.

As for Dwight Sings Buck…just hit the skip button.

The most memorable part of a movie is usually the big climactic scene towards the end. You know, where Jimmy Stewart’s neighbors pay off his debt to the old wheelchair-bound curmudgeon, or where Bogie gives his “if you don’t get on that plane” speech, or when the Nazis get their faces melted off because they opened the Ark of the Covenant. Well, if you go to see Jamie Foxx’s newest film The Kingdom (which also stars hometown girl Jennifer Garner), you’re going to witness one of the memorable events in the movie right after the trailers end.

Never before have I witnessed opening credits this stirring. For those of us who skipped the lectures on modern Middle Eastern history, these credits teach you everything you need to know about Saudi Arabia’s past in just under four minutes (at least, everything you need to know as far as the movie’s narrative is concerned). If there are awards for such things, I nominate the opening credits from The Kingdom for “best timeline in the history of the world.”

Then we get to the movie itself. Here’s the plot synopsis: an extremist Muslim organization (think mini-Al-Qaeda run by a wanna-be Bin Laden) detonates a couple bombs inside a Saudi housing compound largely inhabited by Westerners. FBI special agent Ronald Fluery (played by Foxx) assembles a crack team of investigators to find the murderous cell leader and stop him before more attacks occur. The catch: the U.S. State Department doesn’t want the FBI investigating the bombings for fear of damaging their delicate relations with the Saudi Royal Family…and the Saudi’s aren’t too keen either.

Pretty standard stuff, I have to admit. Still, The Kingdom isn’t one of those shoot-‘em-up-kill-all-the-bad-guys-ooh-rah movies. Although the film takes a wholly understandable “terrorism is bad” stance, the writer and director made sure to show the humanity of both sides of the conflict. The screenplay doesn’t allow the viewer to sympathize completely with the film’s terrorists, but at least these men are shown as real people with families and belief systems instead of cardboard cut-outs who are as dispensable as Dixie Cups at a frat party.

These sympathies climax at the end of the film, when a rather disturbing parallel is revealed (I won’t give it away; it’s the cornerstone of the movie’s message). The resulting product is one that will engender a sense of patriotism, only to dash it all in the next scene. For all its blood, gore, and explosions, The Kingdom is an action movie with a heart. radiating an emotional complexity not often found in the genre. It’s as schizophrenic as Middle Eastern politics, and probably won’t be named the feel-good movie of the year, but it’ll definitely make you think.

And in this day and time, that’s certainly not a bad thing, is it?