What the Creative Loafing music team is jamming to break through the Monday malaise and rocket launch the work week… Click here to check out previous entries.
– Paul McCartney, Band On The Run Deluxe (1973 originally, 2010 remastered)
Deluxe, lavishly packaged remastered reissue of Macca's classic album. A second disc of rarities and outtakes and a DVD round out the package. Still sounds as fresh and lively, and " Jet" and " Helen Wheels" still rock as hard as ever!
Scott – Pantera, Vulgar Display of Power (1992)
"Walk" came on my Pandora metal station the other day, sending me straight into the Dallas groovecore juggernaut's back catalog. This, their second full-length featuring frontman/hairless chupacabra Phil Anselmo, is a high point for both the band and the genre; it laid the foundation for later (and sometimes wholly unnecessary) "refinements" by everybody from Korn to Killswitch Engage. RIP, Darrell.
Deborah – Freelance Whales, Weathervanes (2010)
I heard "Broken Horse" this morning on WMNF, and instantly thought it was something from Michigan-era Sufjan Stevens. Totally understandable, as Freelance Whale's debut album is full of softly understated vocals, banjos, mandolins, harmoniums and glockenspiels. They back this elaborately layered gorgeousness with dream-like and wistful lyrics, which (according to the band's website) tell the story of a man falling in love with a ghost. In an unusual twist, though, the album is equally full of songs with a Postal Service style electro-pop. I'm not quite sure how I missed this album, but in only an hour or so, it's become one of my favorite releases of this year; though I do prefer the folkier songs.
After the jump is a live recording of "Broken Horse" filmed in the dark at the NYC Farm Colony, an abandoned poorhouse in Staten Island. It gives the song a suitably eerie overtone, considering the theme of the album. This version is pretty different from the album version and just full of "oh-my-god awesome" moments.
This article appears in Dec 2-8, 2010.