Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop
I'm a fan [of Neko Case], but am I the only person who doesn't like the new album as much as her earlier stuff?
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I assume you're talking about
Furnace Room Lullaby and
Blacklisted for her earlier stuff.
The Virginian (her first) is a good album, but pales before her later offerings. It's also the most "country" of her albums, so if you're not interested in alt. country, but want to hear her belt out some tunes, this might be the one for you.
I think the issue for you might be Neko's songwriting. On each successive album, her songs hew less to pop and country conventions and traditional song structures. Her voice has all the power it ever did, but she's not particularly interested in writing a 3 minute pop song. On her previous albums, she usually did a couple of covers. She always made good choices and performed them brilliantly. She might be one of the few contemporary artists who could actually cover Aretha Franklin on "Runnin' Out of Fools" and hold her head up high afterwards.
I preordered
Middle Cyclone (her latest) from Amazon, but I haven't listened to it enough to determine where it should be placed in the pantheon. I will admit that it took me a while to get into the deep metaphor of
Fox Confessor Brings The Flood, and that was even more lyrically dense than
Blacklisted. Now, I think "Star Witness" and "Hold On, Hold On" are two of her best.
For those of you who would like a Neko Case primer, I offer the following playlist:
- Thanks a Lot - The Virginian
- Rated X - Making Singles, Drinking Doubles (Bloodshot Records compilation)
- Set Out Running - Furnace Room Lullaby
- No Need to Cry - Furnace Room Lullaby
- Furnace Room Lullaby - Furnace Room Lullaby
- Andy - Canadian Amp (this used to be tour-only, but I think it's been re-released. If you prefer covers, this is your album)
- Knock Loud - Canadian Amp
- Favorite - Canadian Amp
- The World is Waiting for a Sunrise - Steel Guitar Air Show (a great album by Jon Rauhouse, who plays steel guitar for Neko. Most of the album is instrumentals, but the vocal tracks are nails.)
- Deep Red Bells - Blacklisted
- Look For Me (I'll Be Around) - Blacklisted
- I Wish I Was The Moon - Blacklisted (no nitpicking about whether it should read I Wish I Were the Moon, grammar timmies)
- Runnin' Out of Fools - Blacklisted
- If You Knew - The Tigers Have Spoken
- Train From Kansas City - The Tigers Have Spoken
- Margaret vs. Pauline - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
- Hold On, Hold On - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
- Buckets of Rain - Live From Austin, Texas
- This Tornado Loves You - Middle Cyclone
- People Got a Lotta Nerve - Middle Cyclone
Having said all that, "Marais La Nuit," the 30-minute field recording of chirping crickets that ends
Middle Cyclone was unnecessary. It's one of the few tracks from anyone that I have de-checked on iTunes. Maybe if I lived in TCOTU and needed some nature sounds to fall asleep, but I haven't had insomnia since college.
You might want to check out Kelly Hogan. She sings backup for Neko Case. If I owned a record label, I'd give her an advance to make a covers/standards album. Her voice isn't as big as Neko's (though few are), but her voice has a sweetness and a versatility that more than makes up for that. She does a great, straightforward cover of the Magnetic Fields "Papa Was a Rodeo" and does a version of "Rubber Ducky" that, quite frankly, is too sexy for the children's album it's on. It's sad and wrong that she hasn't put out an album of her own since 2001's "Because It Feel Good."
Another option would be Kelly Willis' 1999 release
What I Deserve. Before being reduced to doing Claritin commercials with husband Bruce Robison, she put out a smart country album, where she covered Nick Drake's "Time Has Told Me" and had a number of good original songs.
Easy was the follow-up, and her cover of the Kirsty MacColl song "Don't Come The Cowboy With Me Sonny Jim!" puts the twang in what should have been a country song from the start.
Surely, you own Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins' album
Rabbit Fur Coat. If you don't already, click that amazon.com link right now and buy it immediately. The Watson Twins have two releases of their own that are worth a listen - their EP
Southern Manners and last year's
Fire Songs. The latter starts off with a countryish cover of The Cure's "Just Like Heaven," but they do a better job covering Spoon's "I Summon You." That's not an album track, but you're using a computer, you can find it online.
Plus, they're six-foot tall twins from Louisville, what's not to like?
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