Alan Jackson, “Good Time”
History books often explain that country music is about Saturday night and Sunday morning. It’s about lust as well as faith. On his new album, Alan Jackson addresses matters of the heart, the soul and the loins.
Although co-writing is the standard practice in Nashville today, Jackson is the sole composer of all 17 tracks on “Good Time.”
Fans won’t be surprised to hear Jackson sing about religious faith on this CD. But Jackson’s 13th studio album offers something new from him — a touch of naughtiness. In the double-entendre-laced “Country Boy,” the protagonist urges, “Climb in my bed and I’ll take you for a ride.” In “Nothing Left To Do,” Jackson sings about a couple who will “use different names” in the bedroom to spice things up. “Laid Back ‘n Low Key (Cay),” another song about a long-term couple, features a dude who enjoys the sight of the “sun reflecting off that tan on your breast.”
These few corporeal comments are complemented by a slew of sentiments about being steadfast and remaining faithful, both to God and to one’s partner. At 71 minutes, this is a long CD, but there’s hardly any filler here. The musicianship is superior throughout, with flavoring provided by crisp mandolin runs, aching pedal steel guitar and even a quirky jaw harp in the title track.
Jackson triumphs alongside Martina McBride on the upbeat duet “Never Loved Before,” gets nostalgic for the 8-track era with “1976” and shows his bluegrass acumen with the indelible “Long Long Way.”
In the closing track, he asserts that if Jesus were around today, he’d be sporting a tattoo of a cross. Listeners don’t necessarily have to agree with every aspect of Jackson’s world view in order to appreciate his artistry, but it probably helps. Jackson’s discography already includes a few country classics, and this disc is yet another one.
Bobby Reed
ROCK:
Shawn Mullins, “Honeydew” (Vanguard)
Atlanta singer-songwriter Shawn Mullins, who scored a top 10 hit a decade ago with “Lullaby,” changes from cool, laid-back alt-rocker to a storyteller with plenty to say right before our ears with “Honeydew.” The album is filled with vignettes of places that Mullins has visited or created and characters who’ve crossed his path. It has a deep personal meaning, without the lame sentimentality that often afflicts such projects.
He has assembled a crack studio team, including guitarist Peter Stroud, on hiatus from Sheryl Crow’s band, and vocalist Francine Reed, who backed up Lyle Lovett early in his career. The best songs are “Cabbagetown,” about a cotton mill on its last legs, and “Homeless Joe,” an ode to a street musician. The sound is minimalist and gimmick-free, all the better for Mullins to spin his yarns.
Jeff Johnson
SOUL-BLUES:
Al Basile, “The Tinge” (Sweetspot)
This early disciple of East Coast guitar wizard Duke Robillard has been in the business for 35 years, starting as the first trumpet player for the revered swing ensemble Roomful of Blues. Basile’s last album, 2005’s “Blue Ink,” was wall-to-wall Robillard, who served as producer and axman.
His new disc, “The Tinge,” has a Roomful swing-time feel to it, not surprising considering half the band’s original lineup is on board. The album showcases Basile’s prowess on the cornet and as a songwriter, with “Not the Wrong Woman” and “Too Slow” among the more recognizable tunes he rehashes.
The album also harkens back to the Kansas City swing era, with Basile using his early experiences working for Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson and Joe Turner. It’s a smoky, back-room vibe that makes you want to get up and dance — or take up tobacco again.
Jeff Johnson
PUNK-ROCK:
The Loved Ones, “Build and Burn” (Fat Wreck Chords)
Philadelphia punk rockers The Loved Ones tear into “Pretty Good Year” with amps set to 11, and their energy builds and burns for 33 minutes. The album’s “build and burn” concept is first captured in “The Bridge,” which describes a tendency to struggle toward creation of lasting monuments to ourselves, while the human bonds that truly make a life deteriorate. Later during “Brittle Heart,” ragged and powerful vocalist David Hause confesses to destruction by neglect of such a relationship. “You built me up inside your brittle heart,” Hause howls, “but I just burned down everything.”
At least one band spouse contributes background singing to the track, suggesting that the guys may fare better than the characters they imagine. “Louisiana” is a righteous anthem for reconstruction and solidarity that would have made folk hero Woody Guthrie a “populist punk” believer. The song features a guitar solo from guest Tad Kubler of The Hold Steady. New bassist Chris Gonzalez adds a richness to rockers like “The Inquirer” that wasn’t present on the band’s 2006 effort, “Keep Your Heart.” His vocal harmonies augment the strength of a band with a better melodic sense than most in its genre.
Jeff Elbel
ROCK:
Mike Doughty, “Golden Delicious” (ATO)
With songs like “Navigating by the Stars at Night,” former Soul Coughing frontman Doughty again creates oblique word pictures where consonants and cadence are subservient to the beat. Though his lyrics remain consistently crafty, they’re just as often inscrutable. “I wrote a song about your car. I wrote it with your hips in mind,” he deadpans during “I Wrote a Song About Your Car.”
Doughty is a shade less impressionistic during “Fort Hood,” named for the Texas Army base sustaining the most casualties in Iraq. He imagines war’s collateral damage upon friends, family, and children. “You should still believe in an endless world,” he tells a bereaved teenager, mourning her lost innocence.
Former Cake drummer Pete McNeal offers the perfect combination of slacker pop and ramshackle funk on “Put it Down,” accented by Doughty’s percussive rhythm guitar and John Kirby’s sparkling electric lounge-piano. Though it plays to the organic strengths of Doughty’s live band, “Golden Delicious” falters more than 2005’s lushly produced “Haughty Melodic.” A mocking synthesizer solo (a la Van Halen’s “Jump”) quickly wears out its welcome during the otherwise grooving “27 Jennifers.”