About the only reason why I still bother to watch awards shows is to catch the sequence of people who have died since the last show (and of late successive shows have contrived to fuck that up by going for “artistic” camera angles which don”t hep the TV viewer in identifying dead people). Here is my In Memoriam section, with mix-tapes, for 2009, including only musicians, in three parts. The second will run next week, and the third early in the new year to accommodate late entries. so please don”t shout at me for having failed to pick up that the little singer of the Jackson 5 has died; he”ll feature in the second instalment. Feel free, however, to shout at the Grammys for omitting many of the departed musicians I will highlight.
The order of musicians does not run in the chronology of death, but is dictated randomly by the requirements of mix-tape sequencing “” and the total aptness of leading with the Jim Carroll song as the theme of the mix. The songs featured on the mix should remind us what a debt we owe to those who have gone, and in some cases how much we are going to miss them, or cause us regret that we did not get to know them better.
Rest in Peace, y”all.
*Â *Â *
Jim Carroll, 60, post-punk musician and writer of The Basketball Diaries, on September 11.
The Jim Carroll Band – People Who Died (1980) Read more…
Categories: In Memoriam, Mix CD-Rs Tags: Al Martino, Buffalo Springfield, Christmas, Ellie Greenwich, Gale Storm, Ink Spots, Jay Bennett, Jim Carroll, John Martyn, Kenny Rankin, Koko Taylor, Mary Travers, Mink DeVille, Peter & Gordon, Review, Ronettes, Rusty Wier, Sweet Sensation, Taylor Mitchell, The Dells
On Let It Go, Tim McGraw (who is, I must confess, an occasional guilty pleasure, albeit in small doses) does his usually mix of cowboy-hatted shtick and thoughtful, often surprising material.
Opener “Last Dollars” is discouragingly aimed at the line-dancing beer-swilling Good Ole” Boys, and Let It Go ends with a song that cringingly refers to “cowboys” and “shotgun riders” (presumably even a country singer aspiring towards seriousness has to keep the redneck audience happy).
So it is a relief that in between things get progressively better with a clever mix of songs that will satisfy McGraw“s various constituencies.
One of the surprises is “Suspicions”, a very good cover of “˜70s adult-rock semi-mediocrity Eddie Rabbit (whom one may file under the label Guilty Pleasures as well). “Kristofferson“ is an obvious and suitable nod to the country legend of that surname (second perhaps only to Johnny Cash in the genre), while “I Need You” is the obligatory duet with wife Faith Hill, this time dispensing with the customary treacle.
The title track, with its “oh-woo-woh-oh-woo-woh” chorus is hardline formulaic, but a catchy bastard nonetheless. The stand-out track is “Nothing To Die For”, this year’s “Live Like You Were Dying” moment, which kicks off like a rock song and settles in with a kick-ass singalong chorus.
Within its genre of mainstream radio-friendly country music, this is a mostly pleasing album.
Tim McGraw – Nothing To Die For.mp3
Tim McGraw – Kristofferson.mp3
And here’s the real deal:
Kris Kristofferson – Loving Her Was Easy.mp3
Kris Kristofferson – Josie.mp3
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