INXS - Switch (2005)

You don’t like this album, at least you’re not supposed to. Every bone in your body tells you this album, on general principle should sound only moderately more pleasing than fingernails on a blackboard.

Michael Hutchence is irreplaceable. It goes without saying, and that very fact is reason number one why this album should be ignored, cast aside, and generally avoided. But for several weeks this summer, thousands of Americans watched Rockstar:INXS like Gapers at the scene of a grisly auto accident in morbid fascination as Dave Navarro and Brooke Burke hosted INXS pompous and generally overblown search for their new front man.

As the field narrowed we found ourselves left with Marty Casey and J.D. Fortune, two very different singers with very different styles, both quite talented vying for the impossible and unenviable job of filling Michael Hutchence’s shoes. We watched knowing that the 2 choices would take INXS in two very different directions. J.D. was a Hutchence clone, a budget-Michael if you will. Marty Casey, the bolder of the two choices would have taken the band in a new direction, it would have shown the world that the band wasn’t going to replace Michael so much as honor him and strike out in a different direction and take some chances.

In the end, they played it safe… and that choice is reason number two why this album should have gone straight to the cut-out bin, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars, go directly to that purgatory of all music stores—branded with that ever so undesirable “Nice Price” sticker.

But much like the show, which was supposed to have been a ratings train wreck, being shuffled into ratings purgatory of Saturday night and quickly forgotten, this album is a surprise. The unexpected and unprecedented success of the show is the very reason INXS is selling out their 2006 World Tour and the very reason why this album is actually selling well.

In going commercial—INXS exposed themselves to a whole new audience, they did the ultimate PR move in giving the fans a say in their new lead singer, and it surprisingly paid off in spades.

Michael Hutchence will spin in his grave, die-hard INXS fans will throw tomatoes at me, they’ll accuse me of blasphemy, and condemn me to the stocks—so I’ll only say this once. This is the BEST INXS album since their smash hit, Kick. That’s right, as much as I want to hate this album, I find myself falling in love with it.

Despite all of the reasons not to like this album, if you listen with an open mind rather than with pre-conceived notions and the long list of reasons you’re not supposed to like it—if you actually give it a chance, you might find yourself reacting the same way I did—pleasantly surprised that it IS actually that damn good!

Chicago - Live @ Park West 8-6-1982

After Terry Kath’s death in January 1978, Chicago had a bit of trouble finding themselves. While the 1978 tour with former Steve Stills side-man, Donnie “Hot Licks” Dacus on guitar and vocals was full of the fire and energy of a band embarking on a new beginning with a new producer and guitarist. The 1979 disco follow-up XIII saw a significant drop in sales and the departure of Dacus.

After departing longtime label, Columbia Records. Chicago found resurgence with their new guitarist, Chris Pinnick, keyboardist/vocalist Bill Champlin, and svengali producer David Foster.

This bootleg captures the energy of that new beginning. For the first time since Terry’s death, the band had someone to cover Terry’s soulful vocals on songs like Make Me Smile in Bill Champlin.

While this soundboard recording is exceptional, the performances seem to be sped up, as if the band had gotten caught in the cocaine infused blur of the late seventies and early eighties. Kicking it up from 33 to 45 RPMs—even their prom-fodder; If You Leave Me Now and Hard to Say I’m Sorry sounded a bit more frenetic than on their studio releases.

There are some interesting flourishes like the organ intro replacing the normally instantly recognizable piano intro to Saturday In the Park and Chris Pinnick’s hard driving guitar solo on Follow Me—one of Chicago’s most underrated songs. The drum solo which in recent years has been performed by Tris Imboden on the tail end of Beginnings is found instead being performed by original drummer, Danny Seraphine, at the end of the Spencer Davis Group classic I’m a Man. Another interesting addition to the set is Spencer Davis Group’s Gimme Some Lovin’. While I’ve always enjoyed the song, it doesn’t quite sound right with Peter Cetera’s tenor vocals. Bill Champlin’s more soulful baritone would have done much more justice to this classic.

One of my disappointments of this set is the lack of vocal interplay between Peter Cetera and Bill Champlin. Part of what made Chicago 16 and later Chicago 17 so appealing was the combination of Champlin’s soulful baritone and Cetera’s soaring tenor. Their vocal styles complimented each other in a way Chicago had not experienced before and has not really experienced since. It’s to Chicago’s detriment that they did not take advantage of the vocal chemistry the two vocalists shared.

Despite the shortcomings this is an excellent set from an all-too-brief period in this band's long history.

Trillion (1978)

In 1978 keyboardist Patrick Leonard and vocalist Dennis “Fergie” Frederiksen and a small handful of other musicians formed Trillion. Recorded in the studios at the Caribou Ranch owned by former Chicago producer, James William Guercio, in remote Nederland, Colorado their debut album hearkens back to a different era. Their brand of hard rock is strongly reminiscent of much of the better work of Blue Oyster Cult.

Frederiksen’s tweeter-scorching tenor graces all but one track on the 8 song release. The album starts with a bang on Hold Out with Fergie not only contributing vocals but also playing the tubular bells. Tubular bells?!?! Yes, oddly enough, tubular bells being used in 70s hard rock. The bells are subtle and you may not even notice them at first listen but they accent the song nicely.

Hold Out segues into Big Boy which has a very similar vibe. Both tracks have catchy grooves fun to tap on your steering wheel or coffee table to.

For all its cheese glory, Give Me Your Money, Honey is a regrettably catchy song… Regrettably catchy because, really, you don’t want to be caught dead singing it to yourself in public… but after only a few listens, unfortunately you may find yourself doing just that.

You Never Had It So Good will never win any awards for having clever lyrics. But it has a rather enjoyable guitar solo by Frank Barbalace and Fergie has the kind of voice that could make even the yellow pages sound compelling.

While his keyboard/synthesizer theatrics are present on all the songs on the album, Patrick Leonard’s keyboard playing is most evident on May As Well Go.

The whole album is enjoyable and fun, it doesn’t take itself seriously (unless you consider a song titled Fancy Action to be high-art that is), but perhaps what makes this album so enjoyable is knowing that vocalist Fergie Frederiksen would go on to sing lead for bayou rockers, LeRoux, and south California studio rockers, Toto. And Patrick Leonard would go on to produce the likes of Madonna, Peter Cetera, and Michael W. Smith… not to mention was ½ of the sadly overlooked and critically acclaimed, Toy Matinee with the late Kevin Gilbert.

While their musical seeds weren’t sown until later, this album shows where Frederiksen and Leonard’s musical seeds were initially planted and where they initially cut their musical teeth.

Chicago - What's It Gonna Be, Santa? (2003)

In 2003, Chicago re-released their 1998 Christmas album XXV with 6 “bonus” tracks. This 20 song Christmas CD is the result. In addition to adding 6 tracks, the band opted to shuffle the order of songs, in some cases, to the album’s benefit, and in other cases to its detriment.

While its predecessor started with a bang—Little Drummer Boy, this version starts with Winter Wonderland. While it’s a fun track, it doesn’t have quite the same punch as their exceptional arrangement of Little Drummer Boy. And maybe it’s just me, but towards the end of Little Drummer Boy the horn chart sounds like it was lifted from Joy to the World—and when I say Joy to the World I don’t mean the classic carol. I mean the Three Dog Night seventies mega-hit about everyone’s favorite bullfrog named Jeremiah. Whether this is tip of the hat to Chuck Negron and company, a subtle jab at Three Dog Night, a silly coincidence, or my overactive musical imagination is beyond me.

One of the surprises of the original release was Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow, which did so well for the band back in 1998, they even opted to record a Spanish version, Navidad, Navidad, Navidad. Trumpeter Lee Loughnane’s rare vocal appearance (his first turn on lead vocals since This Time on Chicago XI, way back in 1978) was truly a delight for the die-hard fans who have been waiting to hear more of his underrated vocals.

Much like the original release, this re-release features another vocal surprise. “Newbie” (well, he’s been in the band since 1995, but in a band that’s been around since 1967, I think that still warrants being referred to as a “newbie”) guitarist, Keith Howland takes a turn on lead vocals for Jolly Old St. Nicholas, one of those six aforementioned “bonus tracks.” Their upbeat, rocking arrangement of Jolly Old St. Nicholas is an interesting departure from the otherwise “safe” Christmas album. Howland sounds confident both behind the microphone and on the guitar.

While a nice addition, to this re-release, This Christmas may fail to disappoint, but it also fails to excite this listener. Despite Jason Scheff’s pleasant vocals, this arrangement plays it a bit “too safe” and fails to do anything that sets it apart from any other version of the song, making it otherwise forgettable.

Much like the original release, the low-point of this re-release is Feliz Navidad. The original is a rollicking, catchy, and fun song. When I first heard Chicago had opted to cover the song I was excited and really looked forward to hearing it. When I finally heard it, I couldn’t have been more disappointed. The once vocally adventurous Robert Lamm has grown quite boring indeed. This arrangement of Feliz Navidad sounds like how Wayne Newton might sound singing a funeral dirge. The re-release could only have benefited from the exclusion of this musical abomination.

One of the other bonus tracks, Bethlehem, an original tune written by vocalist/keyboardist, Bill Champlin and his wife Tamara is a catchy tune which would have the potential to become a Christmas standard if not for better publicity and promotion. The song is from the perspective of the 3 wise men journeying to Bethlehem. The vocals are shared by Champlin, Jason Scheff, and trumpeter Lee Loughnane taking another turn on vocals. Each vocalist sings from the perspective of a different wise man which makes the song that much more interesting and memorable. Of all the additions to the re-release this one is probably the most welcome.

Robert Lamm takes another turn on vocals for The Christmas Song, his lounge singer-esque vocals complement this song far better than the aforementioned Feliz Navidad. The horn arrangement and uptempo rhythm also help prevent the song from regressing into a funeral dirge.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is given the same gritty soulful performance that Santa Claus Is Coming to Town was given on the original release. While I normally can’t stand either of these songs as they are obnoxious and probably some of the most overplayed secular carols ever conceived by the human imagination, Bill Champlin at least makes Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer listenable—no small feat by any stretch of the imagination. Unfortunately, even as much as I love Champlin’s brand of blue-eyed soul, not even his gritty soulful performance can rescue Santa Claus Is Coming to Town—another track whose absence would only have served to benefit this re-release.

O Come All Ye Faithful is sung with a soft and gentle reverence by Jason Scheff. His soft tenor is an excellent match for this traditional hymn. The way it’s performed seemingly as a duet between Scheff and Walt Parazaider’s flute adds to its charm.

Chicago’s arrangement of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas has made it one of my favorites, not just on this CD—but a favorite of the entire season by ANY artist. Bill Champlin, who has a tendency to oversing many songs puts just the right amount of soul into this song. He refrains from the vocal theatrics which he has come to be known for during many of Chicago’s live shows in recent years and keeps it simple letting Keith Howland and James Pankow’s arrangement speak for itself.

Sleigh Ride, yet another of the 6 “bonus tracks” to grace the re-release is one of the most fun and upbeat arrangements I’ve heard of the song. The juxtaposition of Lee Loughnane’s vocals on the verses and Jason Scheff’s vocals on the choruses keep the song upbeat, fun, and interesting.

Gathering their children, Chicago formed a “children’s choir” to perform 2 songs on the original Christmas release. While the novelty is fun at first listen, generally people are only truly interested in children’s choirs if they are somehow related or have some vested interest with at least one of the children in that choir. Generally, the lack of bass and baritone vocals in a children’s choir causes them to come across at a pitch which is at best annoying, and far too often, painful to listen to. The 2 songs featuring the children’s choir, Child’s Prayer and One Little Candle fall into the latter category. Without a vested emotional interest in the children’s choir I found those tracks worthy of only a single listen. They’ve fallen victim to the “skip” button each time since.

On the whole this is a solid Christmas album. While many Christmas CDs come across as “same ol’, same ol’” with only the occasional diamond in the rough—this offering features far more diamonds and much less rough than much of the other holiday fodder offered to the masses in the ever growing Christmas holiday season. Despite my strong negative feelings towards certain tracks, I truly enjoy the album as a whole and recommend it to anyone looking to expand their holiday music collection.

Top 5 New Releases of 2005

My musical tastes lean more towards the old than the new, but that being said, I do listen to some current releases as well. Here's my Top 5 for '05:

1. Dream Theater Octavarium - This band still doesn't fail to impress or amaze me. This, their 8th album, is a step back in the right direction after 2003's nearly pure metal misstep, Train of Thought. The band has gone back to implementing various different musical styles from progressive to metal to hard rock, and even contains hints of pop on a few songs. The lyrical content of the album is also quite diverse ranging from recovery from alcoholism (The Root of All Evil, a sequel to 2002's The Glass Prison and 2003's This Dying Soul), 9/11 (Sacrificed Sons), to the 24 minute title track which is full of clever turns of phrase and has 5 sections, each section written by a different member of the band-- truly a "group" effort if ever there was one.

2. Ben Folds Songs For Silverman - At first I wasn't as impressed with Songs for Silverman as I was with 2002's Rockin' the Suburbs. But there's a lyrical majesty in Songs For Silverman that was lacking in its predescessor. While Rockin' the Suburbs had a bit more of cynical bite to it, Songs for Silverman is a bit more sentimental for the characters in the tales Ben sings about. Landed is an excellent song that struck a nerve with me as I've been "that guy"-- the one who was in a relationship with a girl and lost contact with all former friends in the process, only to come back to my friends, like the prodigal son, upon "escaping" from the controlling and suffocating relationship I'd been stuck in before.

If you wrote me off
I'd understand it
I've been stuck on
Some other planet

A sentiment common to any of us who have ever been in that situation! Other highlights include Jesusland and Late. The latter of which is a stirring memorial for the late singer/songwriter Elliott Smith.

3. James LaBrie The Elements of Persuasion - Dream Theater lead vocalist's 3rd solo endeavour. LaBrie's previous 2 albums under the moniker "Mullmuzzler" had a hard rock bite and at times sounded like homages to the musicians and bands which inspired LaBrie. The Elements of Persuasion is LaBrie being his own man. This isn't the hard rock album its predescessors were-- no LaBrie turns it up a notch and goes full bore, straight ahead heavy metal. While his voice isn't for everyone, one can't argue that his vocal style is best suited for this kind of music.

4. Dream Theater When Dream & Day REUnite - On the 15th anniversary of the release of their 1989 debut album, When Dream & Day Unite Dream Theater performed their debut in its entirety with their current line-up. They were joined for their 2 song encore (To Live Forever and Metropolis Pt. 1) by their former lead vocalist, Charlie Domenici and keyboardist Derek Sherinian. This is probably the first and only performance you will ever hear of Metropolis Pt. 1 as a duet with both Charlie Domenici and current lead vocalist, James LaBrie. Due to some shady dealings with the label which released their debut, Dream Theater gets NO money from the sale of their debut album. This live performance, released on their own label, Ytsejam Records, allows them to actually earn money for the material on their debut album. This release would have placed higher, but for Jordan Rudess keyboard playing on Ytse Jam. Normally the keyboard theatrics of the Julliard educated, Rudess, are a treat to listen to. But Rudess interpretation of this fan favorite (originally played by former keyboardist, Kevin Moore) is a bit over the top and really made me miss the more restrained performance from the original studio album.

5. Queen & Paul Rodgers Return of the Champions - Paul Rodgers, easily one of the most underrated rock vocalists to come out of the 70s pays homage to his late friend, Freddie Mercury with his performances of Queen classics. There's an intense energy on this album, not heard on a live album since Queen's Live @ Wembley 1986 release. While Rodgers may seem like an unusual choice-- it's that very novelty which makes his voice work. Rather than try to find a "Freddie clone" to perform the classic Queen material, Brian May & co. opted to go with someone with his own distinct and established style and gave him the opportunity to put his own stamp on the songs. So, rather than sounding like a cheap attempt to make a few extra bucks, this performances sounds like a tip of the hat to Freddie.

Here's to hoping 2006 brings even more musical treasures to savor and enjoy!

The Time Traveler's Wife & The Confessions of Max Tivoli

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer

A dual book review with comparisons/contrasts

In less than a year I’ve read two remarkable books which pit man against time in very different ways. In Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife Henry de Tamble is a man with a remarkably quirky affliction. He’s a time traveler. In The Confessions of Max Tivoli, the title character suffers from the unusual affliction of aging in reverse. Time travel stories are far from new. Many an author has tackled time travel, as far back as Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and H.G. Wells The Time Machine we’ve seen man in a constant struggle to conquer time, to visit time’s past, or those yet to come.

The Time Traveler’s Wife was the first book I've ever read that portrayed time travel as an affliction, an unwanted disease. See, unlike the protagonists in most time travel novels, Henry de Tamble has no control of when he time travels from and when he travels to. It’s only through the budding friendship of a young girl, Clare, who later becomes Henry’s wife, that he is able to gain some semblance of control over his “chrono-displacement” affliction. While difficult to follow at first, once I got into the book I couldn’t put it down. It was so refreshing to read a book which portrayed time-travel in such a different light than it had been portrayed in countless other novels and films. Part of the charm of this book is that the relationship between Henry and Clare feels so real. It’s not overly flowery or sentimental. It’s a relationship that any of us who have ever experienced love would feel familiar with. This realistic portrayal actually makes the time travel aspect seem that much more real to the reader. After all, all relationships have their problems… but not too many people can say the first time they met their mate they were eight or ten and their mate was in his forties, but when they married they were roughly the same age as each other.

The Confessions of Max Tivoli is not a time-travel story in the traditional sense, but once again, time is the enemy. Max Tivoli ages in reverse. Born withered like a raisin, resembling more an old man than an infant, as he grows older he appears younger. Greer’s writing style is a bit more flowery and poetic than Niffenegger’s but not to the point of distraction from the plot. Set in turn of the century San Francisco, Greer includes several specific details that make the San Francisco of his novel, feel like home to the reader.

At age 17, appearing to be a man in his 50s, Max falls in love with a 14 year old, Alice, and through some interesting misunderstandings gets into a romantic dalliance with Alice’s mother. Guided throughout his life by his love for Alice and the lengths he’s willing to go to be with her and his near unwavering resolve to keep his secret from her, Max goes to some rather extraordinary lengths and sacrifices under the guise of love. At one point he goes so far as to “disappear” and ignore all of the people who know his secret, so as not to let Alice discover the truth. But The Confessions of Max Tivoli isn’t just a love story—it’s two love stories and with that, I leave you, the reader to discover these well-told tales for yourself.

Steve Lukather - Santamental (2003)

The very title of his 2003 Christmas CD, Santamental, immediately tips Steve Lukather’s cards so you know he's not dealing from the same deck as dear old dad. The picture of Lukather in a straightjacket with Christmas lights wrapped around him on the CD sleeve only reinforces that message. The best part about this CD, Lukather brought some of his “friends” over to “play.” Friends like Eddie Van Halen (on Joy to the World), Edgar Winter (on Greensleeves and Winter Wonderland), Steve Vai (on Carol of the Bells) and Michael Landau (on Look Out for Angels) augment and complement Lukather’s vocal and guitar stylings throughout the CD.

If you’re looking for a “safe” Christmas CD, reminiscent of Burl Ives, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Nat King Cole, you really ought to keep looking—you won’t find that on this CD… Well, that’s not entirely true. Lukather does an amusing “duet” with the late Sammy Davis Jr. on the Christmas classic, Jingle Bells.

Lukather seamlessly shifts from instrumental to vocal tracks showing off his guitar chops on songs like Angels We Have Heard On High and Silent Night and his raspy vocals on Broken Heart for Christmas, Look Out For Angels and Winter Wonderland.

What makes this such a stand-out Christmas CD is that Steve Lukather is able to take each of these songs and make them his very own. While the songs are still recognizable as Christmas songs, they have an extra chutzpah (okay, so maybe “chutzpah” is a word better reserved for a Hanukah CD) that also makes them distinctly Lukather songs.