Sept. 23 is one of those rare days for me, as a music fan. Four fine new album — among many good ones — were released by some of my favorite artists, and it is the birthday of not just one, but two of my personal musical lode stars.
What follows attempts a brief summary of the day:
Happy 65th birthday to Bruce Springsteen.
It’s hard to imagine, but I’ve been listening to Bruce Sprinsteen for nearly 40 years (his career spans 41 years) and have seen him 10 times (plus once when he made a surprise appearance at the Stone Pony). The Boss has, in many ways, been as influential to my writing — as poet and journalist — and my political philosophy as William Carlos Williams, The New York Times, The Nation magazine and Howard Zinn.
Here is an interesting piece on Springsteen and history — thanks to Eric Alterman for posting it to his Facebook page, which is where I first saw it — that makes a strong case for The Boss’ cultural and historical importance.
Here is a video of Bruce — on the Born in the U.S.A. Tour — performing my favorite of his songs, “Backstreets.”
Happy birthday, John Coltrane.
The great saxophonist was the first jazz artist to capture my attention, and his magnum opus, so to speak, the brilliant A Love Supreme, remains a touchstone and foundation for my sense of sound and of spirituality.
New music:
Leonard Cohen (who turned 80 on Sunday) has released another understated poetic collection. Popular Problems may not be his best recording, but it is quite good and, as The Guardian writes, hopeful evidence that Cohen has more to say and will continue saying it well into his ninth decade.
Imelda May has released another rockabilly-jazz-punk hybrid, Tribal, one that crackles so energy (and features a ukelele version of Blondie’s “Dreaming,” of all things), thanks to one of the better bands in the business.
I love Chuck Prophet and I love his latest, Night Surfer, because it rocks and because his voice reminds me a bit of Iggy Pop on this one.
Tweedy is the side-project of Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy, and while the band takes his last name as it’s own, it is not designed as a vanity project. The band features Tweedy’s 18-year-old son Spencer on drums (he’s damned good) and its debut album, Sukierae, was conceived and created as a family affair and is thematically centered on the cancer diagnosis of Tweedy’s wife, Susan Miller — listen to the Sound Opinions interview or read Greg Kot’s Chicago Tribune piece for more on that.
The album, of course, is reminiscent of Wilco — as with Wilco, Jeff writes and sings all the songs — though it has a different sonic feel. Based on my first listen, it is one of the better releases of the year so far.
Hank Kalet 