Music Listening Habits(and favorites) of 2012

It’s the end of yet another year and the beginning of a new one too. Music lovers, writers and critics always put together a list of their yearly favorites.  As I was mentally preparing my list this past week, a friend of mine sent me a message to ask what my top 3 albums were of the year. They had to be new material. So, no live albums or re-issues.  I used to dislike lists like this. Most lists in magazines, newspapers and websites don’t usually match up with what I consider my favorite(or best). I really don’t like using absolutes like “best” or “greatest”  For me, there are no “bests” just “favorites”. When I wrapped up my favorite albums of 2011, I was looking forward to the new releases by Van Halen, Aerosmith and Rush.  Those three along with a host of others were on my radar and heavy rotation on my MP3 player in the past year.

The new Van Halen album A Different Kind of Truth was dissected and examined by myself and fans all over. As I said in my initial review and listen, I did NOT want to like it. But, the overall playing by the 3 guys with the last name Van Halen(Edward, Alex and Wolfgang) won me over.  The core band stepped up to the plate and knocked it out of the park with a freight train of power with that musical talent they collectively possess and express.

While watching a lot of the live videos and reading interviews, It’s become clear that Ed’s son Wolfgang pushes this band with a youthful exuberance that propels them from a “can they do it?” scenario to “Doesn’t the new stuff kick some serious tail?”  I found myself lit on fire by the instrumental interplay between Alex, Eddie and Wolfie on tracks like She’s the Woman, China Town, HoneyBabySweetieDoll, The Trouble with Never and Outta Space.  As for DLR, I felt his vocal performance on the CD was well done. I just wish he would step up his live game to match his studio performance (and his bandmates) onstage.  That’s another rant. I won’t go into it. In short, the band that inspired me to play drums and make music in my teens has continued to stimulate that urge that still lies within me.
The other band that continues to inspire me is that 3 man band from the Great White North.  Rush had another great year with their 20th studio album in their (almost) 40 year career – Clockwork Angels.


The album had some preemptive buzz around it because the band had recorded and released the first two tracks – Caravan and BU2B back in 2010 and was featured on their 2010-2011 Time Machine tour.  As a fan, I had downloaded those two songs and had listened to them. But, of course, (like most Rush fans) I just wanted more than a couple new songs. I wanted an entire new album. Like their 2007 release Snakes & Arrows, I wasn’t initially blown away by the album. I believe that Rush albums are so complex that they take multiple listens to fully appreciate them. There are so many nuances and intricacies in a Rush album that I can’t just say after one listen “Wow I love this album!”  That being said, there were moments of elation for me with some hard cracking drums, distorted guitars and loping serpentine basslines that won me over. Among those songs that just lit me up from this album is Headlong Flight. 

As I listen to this album more and more(and I have been) I am blown away by the creativity of this band. There is no way to categorize this band.  There is Neil’s creative drumming and timekeeping along with his intelligent and intellectual lyrics. There is also a novelization of this album written by Neil Peart’s friend Science Fiction novelist Kevin J Andersen. According to Andersen, the album’s concept is:

In a young man's quest to follow his dreams, he is caught between the grandiose forces of order and chaos. He travels across a lavish and colorful world of steampunk and alchemy, with lost cities, pirates, anarchists, exotic carnivals, and a rigid Watchmaker who imposes precision on every aspect of daily life

The band continues to be a creative force. There are songs that are pleasing to the pre-80’s heavy guitar loving fans. There are songs that stoke the fans of complex arrangements and time changes. Along with the Sci-Fi concept, this is a well rounded Rush album.
Finally, in late 2012, it was announced to the joy of Rush fans everywhere that the band would (finally) be inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013.  After several years of disgust that they hadn’t been inducted yet, I was elated to hear the great news.
Also being inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013 is the Seattle band Heart featuring sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson.  I recently wrote a blog on their debut album Dreamboat Annie that was released in America in 1976.  Here it is now in 2012 and the band is still making new music. They’re always making new music and (for me) they still make compelling music. This year, they released the album Fanatic along with a Biography and a career spanning compilation box set.

The new album is really well done. It’s Heart for the 21st century with many current production sounds and techniques. They have a lot of current sounds. But, it has moments of passionate rockers and heartfelt acoustic ballads too. After listening to Dreamboat Annie lately, I’m secretly wishing that Ann would bring out her flute again and play some woodwinds on a current album like she did on Sing Child Sing.  This is more of a hard-rocking album in 2012. The band has its folk roots along with rock.  I went back and forth whether or not I wanted to include this of my 10 albums of 2012. I chose to keep it on my list because I have been consistently listening to this since it was released earlier this Fall. As I said at the beginning of this blog, these are albums I’ve been listening to this year and I keep coming back to it. 

On December 26th, 2012, CBS aired the Kennedy Center Honors and among those being honored was Led Zeppelin.  At the end of the broadcast, Ann and Nancy came out and performed Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven with an orchestra, a large choir and drummer Jason Bonham(son of Zeppelin’s late drummer-John Bonham)  This performance not only excited me more about Zeppelin. It also stimulated my ever existing love for Heart and the Wilson sisters.

I don’t usually watch live network TV. But, I was glued to my TV for this tribute. I was excited to hear Ann Wilson singing Stairway to Heaven and I have followed Jason Bonham and his career so I knew he’d been sitting on drums for this performance too.
I’ve been a longtime Zeppelin fan. But, even when I barely knew about Led Zeppelin, I started to follow the career of Jason Bonham way back when he was only 17 and in a band called Airrace. I had read about this band through an article in Hit Parader magazine. I was interested in this up and coming drummer who was close to my age(he’s almost a year older than me) and was the son of the fabled Zeppelin drummer John “Bonzo” Bonham.  I followed him from Airrace and Virginia Wolf to Jimmy Page’s Outrider album and the 1988 Zeppelin reunion to his band- Bonham and Paul Rodgers to UFO and Foreigner. In 2010, he formed a supergroup with Glenn Hughes, Joe Bonamassa and Derek Sherinian that called themselves Black Country Communion.  In 2012, that “Supergroup” released their 3rd album in 3 years titled Afterglow.

 I don’t like to compare an artist's work to their past work. But, since Black Country Communion only has 3 albums, it’s been refreshing to hear how this band has grown and matured as a band. Much like the Hard Rock bands of the 70’s (that many feel like they sound like),  They are a band that has grown over the arc of 3 full-length albums.  When I heard the first two albums, I would pay attention to mix of the various instruments and vocals. I was very critical of every little bit on each album. When I listened to the new Afterglow album, I was keyed into the songs and band’s full input into everything. They are a strong band now and this album is a strong example of well oiled unit working as one cohesive machine.  I felt that the first two albums were some kind of outlet for Glenn Hughes to attain some kind of greatness he once experienced in his days with Deep Purple. He was exercising his vocal chops so much that it was bordering on excessive. This album has all the instruments equal in the mix. But, at the same time, you can pick out the individual instruments and character of each musician. Glenn Hughes sings and performs and emotes through the songs of this album. Joe Bonamassa comes up with great riffs and melodies and contributes his own bluesy vocals (both lead and backing). Derek Sherinian takes the keyboards and conjures the same magic that the late Jon Lord mastered with Deep Purple in the 70’s.  Finally, Jason Bonham takes everything he had learned from his father and every drummer he’s heard after that and applied to some of the most solid timekeeping out there. The songs have light and shade.  The songs range from all-out riff rockers to bluesy British shuffles to introspective ballads.  I was impressed with this album from the first listen.

Unfortunately, there has been some question concerning the future of the band. When the band had finished the album and Glenn Hughes was doing some press for the album, He made some comments that this may be the last album for the band.  Jason Bonham, Hughes and Sherinian are ready to tour behind this album. But, guitarist Joe Bonamassa has his calendar booked with dates for his solo band. So, there were words and rumors circulating online about the future of the band. The last I heard was that Bonamassa and Hughes got together to talk and ironed out any problems.
Bands like Black Country Communion are called a “Supergroup” because the individual members come from a rich history of musical success and notoriety. Another Supergroup that made a debut in 2012 was a group (and album) known as Flying Colors. 

I found out about this band from following the activities of former Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy.  Portnoy is a musician’s musician. From the multitude of interviews I’ve read with him in Modern Drummer magazine, he loves music…both listening to it and making it. For several years, He has played in various side projects (OSI, Transatlantic, Neal Morse) and tribute bands (Beatles, Zeppelin, the Who and Rush).  In 2010, he filled in for the late Jimmy “the Rev” Sullivan of the band Avenged Sevenfold. Shortly after his gig with Avenged Sevenfold, he announced that he was leaving his longtime gig with Dream Theater.  In both 2011 and 2012, He definitely kept busy. He recorded with 2 different groups. One was a band called Adrenaline Mob which was more of a Heavy Rock/Metal band. The other band was a progressive pop group called Flying Colors featuring the talents of guitarist Steve Morse(Dixie Dregs, Deep Purple), bassist Dave LaRue(Dixie Dregs, Steve Morse Band), keyboards Neal Morse(Spock’s Beard) and vocalist Casey McPherson(Alpha Rev).
I had been familiar with Steve Morse and Dave LaRue and I had actually met them back in 1993 at the Ranch Bowl in Omaha when the Dixie Dregs played there.  I found out about Neal Morse through his association with the band Spock’s Beard and he sings a lot of the John Lennon parts in the Beatles Tribute band-Yellow Matter Custard.  The only one I hadn’t heard of was singer Casey McPherson.  Portnoy had described this album as a Prog band with pop style songs.

I gave it a listen and I was hooked.  I would listen to it after a day of working in a retail atmosphere where my fellow employees were content to listen to the current format of Top 40 radio where artists like Lady Gaga and Niki Minaj are considered “good”.  All I could think of was that this music and musicianship was so good and if they ever let loose with what they could do on their respective instruments, the average Top 40 fan’s head would literally explode by sheer talent they possess. I hate to sound like a music snob. But, this album makes me feel like I’m on to something really really good and I’m just a little superior than the people who aren’t listening to it. Of course, I feel like that when I’m tuned into a great jazz album or something that’s really good but not mainstream anyway.
One band that’s filled with great musicianship and yet connects with the Country music mainstream is Zac Brown Band. 2012 was a year for this band to explode once again with their album Uncaged.

The Zac Brown band continues their down home Southern feel of Jam band hootenanny and bluegrass rocking.  If Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews and Jimmy Buffett went to a party with the Charlie Daniels band and the Allman Brothers Band, I would think it sounds something like the Zac Brown Band.  If there were two country bands I’d love to play drums with, that would be Brad Paisley’s band and the Zac Brown Band.  Whenever I listen to the Zac Brown band, I’m inspired to set up my drums and just play along.  This album features the addition of percussionist Daniel de los Reyes and the addition of this added “flavor” to their musical “recipe” makes this album very….delicious.

There is such a great groove to a lot of the songs like Jump Right In and the title track Uncaged. There are ballads of love lost(Goodbye In Her Eyes) that I feel a deep resonation to. The Wind is a heated up hoot and holler bluegrass burner that leads into a reggae inspired Island Song.  There’s even a song for that intimate time together they talk about in those Cialis commercials called Overnight.  The song only lasts less than 5 minutes. So, no need to worry about things that may last longer than 4 hours.
The songs of Uncaged fulfill so much in my love of music. It has rhythms that get me moving. It has vocal harmonies that get me singing and it has songs that resonate with me emotionally.  Another album that calms my mind is the 2012 release of John Mayer and his album Born and Raised. 

I wrote a quick write-up on this blog for this album back in May.  I have continually come back to this album for some solace. A day after I wrote that blog in May, I was “terminated” from the job I had been working at. So, I struggled with what direction to go from there.  My son moved to Texas in late November with his mother(my ex-wife) and I’m planning to move there as soon as I find a job in the same area as them and be a continuing presence in the life of my son. I miss my son very much and I have continually applied for many jobs already.  I’ve had communication from some of those jobs that they’ve chosen someone else for those jobs. So, it’s been tough and discouraging and my own self-doubt tends to sink in. So, I go to the song Shadow Days for my own self affirmation.

Hard times let me be
I’m a good man with a good heart
Had a tough time, got a rough start
And I finally learned to let it go
Now I’m right here, and I’m right now
And I’m hoping, knowing somehow
That my shadows days are over
My shadow days are over now

This album has a very earthy acoustic feel that soothes my troubled mind and lets me sit back and breathe. It’s a laid back Sunday afternoon album that grows on me with every listen.
There’s time to sit back and relax, decompress after a day at work. There’s also music that’s aggressive and drives a person to move a little faster with an added confidence and swagger.  When I first heard the new album from the reunited Soundgarden, King Animal was the new driving album for me.

Almost 3 years ago, Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell alluded to a Soundgarden reunion via his writing: "The 12-year break is over and school is back in session. Sign up now. Knights of the Soundtable ride again!"  This was actually posted online on New Years Day 2010. For me, I found it really cool to wake up that New Years to find that one of my favorite bands of the 90’s was reforming and making new music.  They released a compilation that year and then toured for a couple years. I began to wonder if an album of new material would happen soon.  They released a new single called Live to Rise this past summer that was on the soundtrack for the Super Hero movie – The Avengers. This definitely whet my appetite for more Soundgarden. 

The new album was released in mid November.  The album was available for streaming on iTunes for a week prior to it’s release. So, I took advantage of that opportunity to give it a listen.  I eventually downloaded the album and have been hypnotized by all aspects of this album. It’s aggressive and complex. As a drummer, I’m automatically tuned in to what the drums sound like and what kind of rhythms are incorporated. This is what hooked me on this album.  I believe Amazon had the album at really good download price when it was released. I felt the need to share this information on my Facebook page. When I did, a couple of my friends made comments asking “how is it?” and another feared that it was more Chris Cornell(vocals) and not enough Kim Thayil(guitar).  As I listened to it, I was pleased with all band contributions to the album. The guitars are strong in the mix and bassist Ben Shepherd keeps the low end heavy and churning. Drummer Matt Cameron is solid and loose.  His playing slinks and slithers in this magical mayhem and (along with his gig as Pearl Jam drummer) continues as THE powerhouse drummer of the Pacific Northwest.  In short, I find this album very satisfying to my musical tastes.
If there was one album that I didn’t think I would pay any attention to this past year. That would be a “country duets” album with 80’s icon Lionel Richie called Tuskegee.
 
I had read and heard little bits of news regarding this effort from Lionel. My longtime friend Bob mentioned something on his Facebook page about this album and expressed some curiosity.  Bob had opened my eyes to his tastes years ago and I have always respected them. So, I dialed up this album one night on Spotify and gave it a listen.  I was surprised with a refreshed and intimate interpretation of music from one of the great songwriters of the 80’s.  I have tried over this past year to write for two different blog websites. So, I posted my review for Tuskegee on HubPages.  This album was just an absolute joy to listen to and sing along to….even if I'd never owned a Lionel Richie ever in my life.

In my review I said if you have an appreciation for this music and the songs that came from this time, give this album a listen. I had no intentions of giving this album a listen, a sample of even a chance. But, I'm glad I did. Lionel Richie really is a great songwriter. These songs still sound great 25-30 years later. That's the sign of really great songs. When I listen to these albums that resonate with me and touch something deep within me, I am happy to share that with my friends and with the fans of the music that we enjoy as part of our daily lives. This one's worth it!
The 10th album on my list is was one of the albums that I was looking forward to this year.  I’m talking about Aerosmith’s supposed comeback album– Music from Another Dimension.  I listened to it and then I made the mistake of reading some cynical reviews and listening to some podcasts where they dissected this album. I went back and forth about whether I wanted to add this to my list for the year.

Before it was released, it was reported that producer Jack Douglas had returned to produce this album.  Because Douglas had produced the band in the 70’s, there was now a buzz that this album would be a return to the classic Aerosmith sound of Toys in the Attic and Rocks.  One thing that can be said about Aerosmith is that the band is one of the tightest and most solid bands in Rock.  The rhythm section of Joey Kramer on drums and Tom Hamilton on bass is a locomotive force drives this band.  It’s no surprise that one of the band’s classic songs in concert is Train Kept a Rollin’.  The band continues to blast through these new songs. It’s so infectious. It gets my toe tapping and my heart pumping.  I love the opening track LUV XXX (that’s actually ‘love 3 times a day’) and then there are some just down n’ dirty rockers that harkens back to the days of those dangerous “Bad boys from Boston” like Oh Yeah and Beautiful.  There are funky rockers like Out Go the Lights that have that low cowbell make me wanna dance around as I my head starts bobbing up and down.  Legendary Child, Street Jesus and Lover Alot are all great songs that have an aural onslaught that pleases my ear.

The one complaint that I’ve read in a lot of reviews have been the power ballads on this album. There is also a duet with country star Carrie Underwood.  Automatically, people slam this pairing as “Aerosmith doing a country song”.  I think that if Carrie Underwood had not even been mentioned on this track, it would be a more of a mid-tempo rocker with a great female harmony vocal. Because(to me) that’s exactly what it is. Back to the ballads… Aerosmith’s big 80’s comeback happened with the album Permanent Vacation in 1987. That was 25 years ago. To some people that are younger than 30 years old, this may be their version of a “classic Aerosmith” sound.  Truth is that this album celebrates both the classic 70’s, comeback 80’s and mainstream 90’s sound of Aerosmith.  I was a big fan of what was to be their 1985 comeback album Done With Mirrors.  Sadly, that album didn’t light the mainstream audience on fire and it would be another 2 years before Aerosmith would start seeing the resurgence that has continued to carry them through the past 3 decades.  I read a review that said if Done With Mirrors had done better in sales, we probably wouldn’t have seen these guys recording the pop ballads they’ve been chastised for by longtime die-hard fans.
There you go. That’s 10 albums I was listening to in 2012. As the year came to a close, I started listening to a few more albums that really perked up my ears. I had heard about a couple of these and some of these I knew came out and I curse myself for never giving them more of a serious listen this past year.
Among those would be:
Gary Clark Jr. – Blak and Blu    Rival Sons – Head Down
 

ZZ Top – La Futura                      S.U.N. – Something Unto Nothing
 

The Sword – Apocryphon         Dave Matthews Band – Away from the World
 
These 6 are ones that I heard something that caught my ear within the first 3 or 4 songs as I listened.  I probably would have given them a more thorough listen. But, chances are I was listening intently to one of these other albums. 
When I started formulating this blog in my head, I had a couple of other CD’s in mind for this list too. But, since I had made it specific that these would be studio releases only, I left off a couple of live recordings. Those two would be the Tedeschi Trucks Band – Everybody’s  Talkin’ and the long awaited CD/DVD of the 2007 live reunion of Led Zeppelin at London’s 02 Arena titled Celebration Day. 

This was a big event for Zeppelin fans when it originally happened in 2007.  This was one of the most anticipated reunions ever.  At the time, Jimmy Page made the comment that the concert had been recorded for a POSSIBLE DVD release.  Fans waited and waited. There were bootleg videos compiled and posted on YouTube.  There was lots of talk of how great it was. Jason Bonham filled in for his late father – the late John Bonham.  As a fan of both Zeppelin and Jason Bonham, I was in deep anticipation for it too.  Jason Bonham has often been criticized online for not being as good as his father.  That’s very unfair for Jason because over the past 32 years his father has become one of the biggest drumming icons of all time.  So, I was happy to see that Jason stepped up and removed all doubt. He can do it and he did it.  As for the rest of the guys in Zeppelin, they were also at the top of their game. There’s been a lot of talk yet again that they should reunite and tour. As a longtime fan, I’d love to see them tour. Alas, I don’t see it happening.  The band has had the integrity to say “It’s not the same without our late drummer, bandmate and FRIEND. So, we’re not going to do it.”  So, here’s a live CD and DVD that shows that they can do it and we should be happy with that.

2012 was a good year for my self confidence in creativity.  I have continually been inspired to write for this blog. This not only fuels my love of music. It also fuels my own vocabulary and need to express myself.  Musically, I played with as much as 4 different groups of musicians with varying styles from Country, Classic Rock and Oldies Rock to Contemporary Christian, Funk and Jazz. This not only fulfilled my love of playing. It also built up my confidence to say that I am versatile enough to play drums with various styles and I can certainly hold my own in those different arenas.
I am looking to move to the El Paso Texas area in 2013 so that I may be closer to my son and be a continuing presence in his life.  I look forward to using my creative talents down there as I continue on this crazy journey through life. I like playing music. I like listening to music. I like writing. I like writing about music...and I will continue to do so into 2013. That being said……….
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!