The San Francisco Symphony and PBS (among others) have created a fun, educational website called Keeping Score. You can learn about music through interactive, multimedia presentations of Beethoven’s Eroica symphony, Stravinsky’s riot-inspiring Rite of Spring, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, and the musical biography of American composer Aaron Copland. As a student of music, I can assure you that my classes would have been much more interesting and fun if these resources had been available!

If you like Toby Lightman, you may enjoy “Butterflies” by Saving Jane, released to AC radio a couple weeks ago. This non-album single is a cheerful pop love song from a very diverse band. Top 40 listeners may already be familiar with their 2006 single “Girl Next Door”, which reached #20 that year; country fans may recall Julie Roberts’ recording of the same year.

Butterflies – Saving Jane

I drove to Atlantic City this past weekend to see David Cook perform from his self-titled album at The Music Box at The Borgata. As an avid American Idol viewer, I already consider myself a fan of the Season 7 winner. I arrived a few minutes late and quickly went over to his merchandise table to grab a t-shirt. When I went inside the Box, I heard his opener, indie rock singer and songwriter Ryan Star, already a few minutes into his set list. I’m not too familiar with Ryan having never watched Rock Star: Supernova. My first impression of him was that he was surprisingly pretty good. I enjoyed the rest of his set especially “Breathe” and “11:59”. I decided to purchase his album Songs from the Eye of an Elephant on the way out and met him in the lobby after the show, where a long line had formed because he was signing his CD.

After a twenty minute break so David’s band could set up, the lights went out and the sold-out crowd rose to their feet waiting for a glimpse of the main event. David was on stage with his guitar and he opened with “Heroes”. David was wearing a black and white patterned short sleeve button up shirt with black pants and boots. He had on an orange bracelet, and it doesn’t seem like he is traveling with a hairstylist as his hair looked like he just got out of bed. Next he sang a song he co-wrote called “We’re Only Honest When We’re Sleeping”, with these lyrics:

You’re a broken thing
Your cracks are showing through
Your best attempts
At making nice with the world
So keep on dreaming
Cause someday soon the things that keep you up late
Will fade away
Or so I’ve heard

I really like the lyrics for this song and as he co-wrote 10 out of the 12 tracks on his latest album, I am very impressed with his song-writing ability. Now is clearly his time, but it is a little hard to fathom why we hadn’t heard his name before this reality show. He went on to sing four songs not on his new album, including the Collective Soul cover “The World I Know.” He paused to let the crowd know that the next song was very close to his heart, and he started to sing “Permanent”, which he co-wrote about his brother Adam who is currently battling brain cancer. It was now incredibly quiet as the crowd focused on him and the words seemed to pour right from his soul.

He picked up the mood a little and sang “Declaration,” his newly released single “Come Back to Me” and his first single off the album called, “Light On”. He asked the crowd to help him with the words to “Light On” because sometimes he forgets. He got a few sympathy laughs and everyone seemed happy to oblige. He asked if anyone in the audience had been at the Friday night show and it seemed by the cheers that at least half of them had been. There were glow sticks galore in the crowd and he had a brief conversation with a nine year old girl in the front row who was smiling from ear to ear after he signed her CD. Someone threw a dog collar onto the stage and he went over and picked it up. He explained to people that were seeing him live for the first time that he now has a collection of collars and he really has no explanation for why this started happening. He thanked everyone and said Goodbye and threw out some guitar picks, but everyone seemed to know he wouldn’t be gone for long.

He came out again after a very brief absence and sang “Barbasol.” His band was just incredible and they seem to have great chemistry. Before the next song, “Hot for Teacher” a Van Halen cover song, he introduced them all and they waved to the crowd. He finished for real this time with “Daily Anthem”, which he mentioned was written before his Idol experience. If I had to sum up the whole night in one word it would probably be “effortless.” He came on that stage and just did was seems so natural to him. His album has gone platinum already and if you decide to go and pick it up, you will be glad you did. I plan on going to see him again this summer when he takes part in Musikfest in Bethlehem, PA in August.

Amadou & Miriam have been making music together since 1976. Their latest release, “Welcome to Mali”, dropped today. Their sound is a mix of Afro-folk melodies and rhythms and pop beats. Lyrics are a mix of English and French, but you don’t need to understand the words to enjoy the music! See amadou-mariam.com for more information (French only).

I have long enjoyed my copy of The Fireman’s 1998 release Rushes, which is relaxingly ambient and a bit sexy, so when I discovered last December that they had a new release, I put it on my Christmas list. Santa obliged me, and I found Electric Arguments under the tree.

To my surprise and pleasure, vocals are to the forefront on Electric Arguments. To be specific, they are mostly Paul McCartney’s vocals; he has worked with UK musician Youth as The Fireman since 1993. The tracks are also in a more traditional “song” format than in previous releases. As a longtime McCartney fan, I get the distinct feeling that he is now using The Fireman to release songs he doesn’t feel confident releasing under his own name (even though everyone who listens to The Fireman knows it’s him), as they might not fit what longtime pop-Paul fans like. They are, overall, experimental as compared to his recent solo releases; however, as far as quality, Electric Arguments is at minimum on par with Chaos And Creation In The Backyard and completely blows away Memory Almost Full.

The first single, “Sing the Changes”, is easily my favorite track. The somewhat exotic intro gives way to what I can best describe as a “pop chant”. There is almost no melodic movement, the lyrics are repeated ad nauseam, but it is catchy and I always find myself bopping along to the beat. The video is at right. “Sun Is Shining” is more dynamic but still gives me the same happy feeling. There is a lot of uplifting on this album.

The Fireman have used a bit of harmonica in this release as well, not an instrument that I can recall McCartney using previously (maybe on “Run Devil Run”, a retro rock album). It lends a bluesy tone to “Nothing Too Much Just Out Of Sight” and “Highway”. Where “Nothing Too Much” is a more ambient jam, “Highway” is a blues-rock number that reminds me of several popular early-80s blues bands. The exploration of American niche genres continues with “Light From Your Lighthouse”, a jugband hymn that could easily be re-arranged into a modern worship song.

For those who do love a little dance and/or ambient, skip to the end of the album. “Is This Love”, “Lovers In A Dream”, “Universal Here, Everlasting Now”, and “Don’t Stop Running” are quite enjoyable and make an excellent backdrop for a run around the neighborhood (totaling over 26 minutes, they’re perfect for my short laps). “Don’t Stop Running” actually contains a “hidden” track after a lengthy pause; the last two minutes consist of a bit of spacey synthesized fun.

Overall, there isn’t a track on Electric Arguments that I don’t like. This isn’t going to be for everyone, but if you’re up for a bit of trip (the acid kind) it’s definitely worth checking out.

I am, it seems, the very last fan to hear Taylor Hicks’ new record, The Distance. I deliberately chose, after hearing the early-leaked “What’s Right Is Right” and “Nineteen”, to not listen to any other tracks until the album was released last Tuesday. I did, however, skim some reviews and read the track listing, so I do not come to the record entirely devoid of some idea of what is on it.

After completing my first play-through, in some mixed-up order thanks to iTunes being weird, I can say with confidence a few things. First, which I knew beforehand, the tracks brush several different genres, occasionally within the same song. Second, Hicks may become one of those artists (I am fond of several) whose music far exceeds their lyrics in quality; however, what is cringe-inducing today may become (like many of Paul McCartney’s lyrics) a cause for fondness in the future. Indeed, I already look back on much of Hicks’ Under the Radar in this state of mind.

My challenge in writing this review, as I will gladly confess, will be to strike a balance between forgiving the album’s various sins based on my fan status, and condemning Hicks based on any expectations I may have harbored over the past two years. Should anyone feel I have done either of these things, please feel free to call me out in the comments! On to the tracks…

“The Distance” immediately twangs country at me, the sort of bass-heavy alt-country that I actually listen to. The chorus rings 1970s anthemic. The verse lyric demands attention, a plea for neighbors, countrymen, and all peoples of Earth (here’s where the 70s anthem comes in) to realize we are more alike than not, and thus “The Distance between us fades away.” I do find it entertaining that these sorts of songs are always very musically jingoistic– I rather don’t expect to suddenly hear Arabic melodies and Czech rhythms– but I’m certain it’s meant to be uplifting, and indeed it is. My only question is about the short drumroll at the end. Huh?

“What’s Right Is Right” was the first single, released a month ahead of the album. As noted above, I did listen to it as soon as it was “leaked” (in quotes because it was a marketing strategy). It’s a MOR love ballad with a sax solo in the middle that doesn’t stray too far from the melody. There are some odd vocal phrasings that I am pretty certain are the result of digital splicing in the studio, and they can be jarring to my ear, although I have not seen any other such reactions, so maybe it’s just my hypersensitivity to that sort of thing. What I really like about this track is the Wurlitzer/B3 combo (I am a keyboard geek) and Nathan East’s bass line that seems to be more mobile than in most MOR arrangments.

“New Found Freedom” will be a sing-a-long song at concerts. Again we’re reaching into the anthemic, with a driving gospel chorus. At this point, I feel it necessary to point out that while the song has a lot of energy (may I say I am in love with Nathan East? The bass lines on this album are the shit), Hicks’ vocals only join in that energy occasionally. I realize that his strength is in live performance, and it has been said that he’s some kind of energy vampire that feeds on the audience, but he seriously needed a fire lit under his butt while recording. I’m getting more joy out of the (uncredited) backup singers.

The other early leak, “Nineteen”, is a story about a football player who gets a college scholarship, then joins the Army after 9/11. The last verse, ambiguous in lyric (the soldier he saved gives a speech in his honor, but it is uncertain whether it’s a eulogy, as the Purple Heart may be awarded for either being wounded or being killed in the line of duty), becomes less ambiguous with the slowing-down of the music and the plaintive “He was only nineteen” that ends the song. The song is quite definitely country and should play well on those stations despite our new era of Hope. (For a fascinating read about “cancer country”, which I think needs a co-genre of “soldier country”, try this 2007 Slate article.) It’s a good song, but I won’t be playing it often, since this stuff always makes me cry.

A tame, distant piano intro belies the pop-Latino-Caribbean syncopation of “Once Upon A Lover”. Anyone familiar with Hicks’ concert version of “Hold On To Your Love” will not be surprised at this attempt; however it will certainly confuse the uninitiated. The vocal highlights of this song are the trilled R in “Senorita” and Hicks’ largely sustained high range and falsetto. I also adore Brian Gallagher on flute. There seems to be (and this may just be the digital format) a lack of dynamic range in the vocal, and I hope there will be more along the lines of purring in live performances.

“Seven Mile Breakdown” will likely be familiar to denizens of the Birmingham music scene. A country blues jam co-written by Hicks and good friend Wynn Christian of Spoonful James, “Breakdown” has driving rhythms and a very familiar female backup vocal (Sharon White, as on most of the album, but it reminds me of Sheryl Crow and Kid Rock’s “Picture”). Here is where I finally hear the energy that I know lies latent in Taylor Hicks at all times, perhaps because he has such a strong bond to the song.

“Maybe You Should” is a modern yet timeless broken-hearted piano ballad. It has some absolutely gorgeous chord changes behind a pretty static melody. Lyrically, it is the first-person story of a man who thought he had true love, but perhaps does not. I would rather have seen this as the first single; misery sells, and it’s just a much better song– in terms of songwriting and in terms of recording– than “What’s Right Is Right”. I look forward to hearing it in concert; if Hicks learned to play the piano for it, I would probably die happy.

“Keepin’ It Real” is a fun New Orleans stride piano tune that (finally!) briefly features Hicks’ harmonica and sends up Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, O.J. Simpson, and the celebrity culture in general. One can conclude that it reflects Hicks’ desire to stay either under the paparazzi radar or above the superficial fray, although he rarely likes to actually clarify such things, letting his songs speak for themselves. This one could easily stand on its musical merits, bringing little new to the genre but reviving it for a new generation.

One starts to think, around the time that “I Live On A Battlefield” begins, that Hicks has rarely had a good relationship in his life. This funky groove is an exercise in metaphor, comparing a (mutually) destroyed love to a post-apocalyptic landscape. Hicks’ over-attack of the T’s in the phrase “Now shattered lord and battered/Lie scattered all around” lie in stark contrast to his lazy treatment of the line “My new home is a shell hole filled”, which I could not figure out until I read the lyrics, thankfully included in the booklet. (And he was doing really good on the enunciation until that point!)

If you’re looking for the goofy Hicks, you may almost find him in “Wedding Day Blues”. The enjoyable narrative finds our hero stealing a bride away from her own wedding– well, from the reception, booting the groom from the getaway limo and ravishing the bride…. but not before getting drunk and eating the cake, presumably before it was cut since he was then “asked… to leave”. While I wouldn’t recommend this as a way of getting your girl back, it does make for a good song, and the bluegrass fiddle playing the wedding march in the middle is a nice, if obvious, touch.

Rounding out the “official” album is “Woman’s Gotta Have It”, a tag-team remake of the Bobby Womack song featuring Hicks’ American Idol classmate Elliott Yamin. This old-school R&B slow jam shines, in my opinion, because of Yamin’s presence. Hicks has mentioned in interviews that he had Yamin come into the studio and they recorded together, and you can feel the way they played off each other. Hicks’ voice is more lively, and he graciously takes backing vocals while Yamin takes the lead on the second verse. Their harmonies are engaging and their voices complement each other quite pleasurably. Hicks has mentioned wanting to perform this song live with Yamin; my suggestion would be a co-headlining tour next year.

Hicks has annoyed his dedicated fans by releasing three “bonus tracks” to three different outlets. My download from iTunes included “Yes We Can”, an Allen Toussaint song that coincidentally echoes President Obama’s campaign motto. While I have no doubt that Hicks truly feels all of these happy “come together now” mottoes, and that is why he has included so many such songs on this album, the theme does get a bit repetitive. There is nothing wrong with the song, and the track is actually an old all-star recording over which Hicks has laid his vocal so I can’t complain about the musicianship. However, barring a USO tour (not a bad idea, actually, since Soul Patrollers have been inundating our troops with Hicks’ albums for years now) or a festival involving Willie Nelson or Bono, I can see little but fraternity fatigue for these songs in the future.

I’ve also managed to acquire the Target exclusive bonus track, “Indiscriminate Act of Kindness.” I can only assume that I’m broken, because while everyone on the fan boards seems to be emotionally devastated by this song, I started falling asleep before the first chorus. It stretches on for more than seven minutes. In an attempt to stay awake, I did some research on Foy Vance, the songwriter. “IAOK” was a B-side; the A-side was “Gabriel and the Vagabond”, which was used on Grey’s Anatomy, probably for one of those interminable montage sequences. I’ll grant that Hicks seems to be engaged with the source material, but that’s not enough to interest me.

Finally, I will not be reviewing the WalMart exclusive track at this time, because apparently none of the CDs actually made it to any of the stores. There is a rumor that people who pre-ordered the CD on WalMart.com will be getting their copies complete with “Hide Nor Hair”, but if things do not clear up soon, we may have to consider this a lesson learned about releasing four different versions of the same album. Apparently, I did hear “Hide Nor Hair” at the Baltimore shadow show last month, but I was sick throughout the performance and couldn’t tell you a thing about it. So my impression of the final bonus track will have to wait until A2M and WalMart get their act together.

For those who really didn’t like what I had to say here, please stay tuned for Mac’s review…

House of Heroes is an Ohio-based alt/Christian rock band that’s been around since around 2003. Their album The End Is Not The End dropped today. For a limited time only, you can get an EP of the same name containing three of the album tracks for FREE from Amazon.com.

The EP includes “In The Valley Of The Dying Sun”, which has a delightful bass line. The middle is heavy in a way not often heard in modern music, then goes into church choir harmonies and a lighter melodic section, reminding me of the Beatles “She’s So Heavy/Golden Slumbers” for a moment.

“If”, another EP track, has a bouncy feel and prominent organ. It’s the first non-whiny love song I’ve heard in a long time, a catalog of all the things the protagonist would do or be or be capable of if she were his.

If – House of Heroes

If you like what you’ve heard here, download the EP or full album (free EP only available at Amazon).