Playing together for over 40 years now without any band member changes, Los Lobos is still going strong. Very strong. With family ties to Watsonville, this East LA band remains a perennial Monterey Bay favorite with an upcoming 2 night local appearance in October. Gates of Gold is their latest album and their 22^nd. On this one, The wolves recall their guitar fueled Slash Records days and strike another golden bullseye kicking off with the first track, “Made to Break Your Heart”.

Contemplating life

Gates of Gold finds Lobos guitarists David Hidalgo, Cesar Rojas, and Louie Perez in superb form, leading bassist Conrad Lozano and sax-keyboard player Steve Berlin down very familiar roads with inspired energy, wicked guitar playing and a lot of brotherly love. The title track sets the theme for the entire album. The band members who are now in their early 60’s are pondering what’s behind those Golden Gates as well as reminiscing about their past – “When We Were Free”- and looking to the future, “Gates of Gold”.

Los Lobos still are: (Left to right) Louie Perez, Steve Berlin, Cesar Rojas, Conrad Lozano, and David Hidalgo.

Every Lobos album has at least one canción en español and there are two, one written and sung by Rojas – “Poquito Para Aqui”. And a couple of his blues pieces highlight by some excellent guitar playing particularly on “I Believed You So”.

Strong tracks

It’s the Hidalgo/Perez compositions that gives Gates of Gold it’s real luster. Check  out “There I Go”.  Anchored by Hildago’s polished guitar playing which ranges from jazz-to jam and rock to bluegrass and Perez’s innovative arrangements, their 7 tracks are the standouts.

Gates of Gold by Los Lobos is their best album of all new material in years. A fine testament from a band that continues to be one of California’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll bands four decades on. –Eric Berg

A Lobo Question: Anybody out there remember the long defunct Albatross night club on Portola Drive where the Live Oak branch of the Santa Cruz Library currently is?  I recall – I think – Los Lobos and The Blasters played there one night in 1982. All I remember about the night was that the acoustics in the place stunk and the sound was beyond ear piercing loud.  If so, let me know if you were there or did it even happen?  eberg@kusp.org

Live Video: “Gates of Gold”

For the most part the premise works, but Neil does stretches his credibility with a few “you can see it coming” groaners like rhyming “GMO” with “Monsanto” on the whistling-snappy “A Rock Star Bucks A Coffee Shop”. How’s that for a title?

Nelson Brothers Rock

Young, who will be turning 70 this year, has long championed the family farmer and protested the use of GMOs, donating money to various causes and years of gratis performances at Willie Nelson’s Farm Aid concerts. Young’s new five piece backup band is called Promise of the Real, featuring guitar singer brothers, Lukas and Micah Nelson, sons of Willie. These young’ns are the perfect foil for Young’s style of frenzied guitar grunge and sense of urgency. The Promise certainly seems to be drinking their elder’s kool aid because they rock every bit as solid as Young’s old band Crazy Horse and seem just as upset about these earthly matters.

Young lets no one off the hook with stinging lyrics about Walmart, Safeway, Starbucks and consumers alike who all get their britches toasted on several songs such as “Big Box”, where the people “line up for more” at the expense of Main Street’s mom and pop small businesses.

In many ways, Neil Young and Promise of the Real have made  “The Monsanto Years” his most energized political rock album since “Ragged Glory”.  Despite the over all raucous, snappy hard driving rock and all eco-politics aside, not everyone wants to “realty check” along to four songs about Monsanto and 5 more targeting other corporations. And Young is fully aware of this and says so on “People Just Want to Hear About Love”.

American Gothic?

Is Neil Young’s “The Monsanto Years” just an aging geezer’s rant or a rallying call for action? It’s both. What Young is saying loud and clear, is that we need to pay attention to what’s going on with the world’s food chain right now instead of  later.  Or there will be no more Harvest Moon.

- Eric Berg

Additional notes: Check out the album cover which is a takeoff of the “American Gothic” painting with farmer Neil and his current flame, actress turned eco-activist, Daryl Hanna, holding the pitchfork. The cd version of “The Monsanto Years” includes a very good dvd of Young and The Promise rocking out in a studio setting.

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Will Butler is the lead guitarist for Montreal’s indie rock band Arcade Fire and the younger brother of the lead singer.  The guitarist has just released his first solo effort “Policy” and it’s a slam dunk, innovative breath of rock n roll fresh air. A short, but jam packed  28 minutes of exhilarating, humorous, quirky pop and gospel tinged tunes.

A multi-instrumentalist who can play just about anything, the thirty something Butler recorded “Policy” aided by only a single drummer, two saxophonists and a set of great background singers that include his wife, Jenny. Butler claims the policy of this album reflects his broad musical tastes, which appear to be all over the place as evidenced by “Anna”.

Sense of Humor

Butler certainly expresses a funny sense of dark humor in the songs he’s written here punctuating by stabbing synths and guitars, rockabilly beats and terrific girl group back ground vocals. Butler uses them to great effect on his humorous  poke at the notion that the end of the  world is near on “Something’s Coming”. (Check out the video below.) And “What I Want” is about a hilarious tongue twisted guy who can’t express himself romantically and totally misses the boat.

Zippy 28 Minutes Long

At a zippy 28 minutes long, “Policy” is a terrific first solo album from Arcade Fire’s Will Butler. It’s upbeat and percolating smart- snappy pop from a guy who knows his music, Butler ends the album with the gospel influenced “Witness”, that would make Marvin Gaye chuckle. One of the best albums of the year. – Eric Berg

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Huge Smash

Written and performed by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, “Wooly Bully” was a worldwide smash in 1965. Recorded by Sun Studios founder, Sam Phillips in Memphis, the song spent 14 weeks on the US top 40 charts despite overall domination by what was then called the “British music invasion”.”Wooly Bully” was named “Single of the Year” by Billboard Magazine and was the title of the Pharaoh’s first full-length record and the opening track.  So… what about the rest of it album? Listen to my audio piece at the top of this article and find out.

Sam the Sham is Memphis R&B singer Domingo Samudio. He was one of the first musicians to incorporate pop rock with Tex-Mex rhythms. Samudio also had a penchant for humorous novelty tunes that gave him five more hit singles including “Little Red Riding Hood”.

What a Sham!

Samudio supposedly came up with the name “Sam the Sham” after somebody joked he couldn’t sing. Sham had a hipster beard and always sported a turban and a shiny dinner jacket and played organ. He dressed his band in Middle Eastern outfits and, if the tour warranted it, employed a trio of backup singers dressed like Aladdin princesses.  The singer also owned a 1950’s hearse and used it to lug his organ and the band’s equipment to gigs.  Despite the shtick and novelty hits, this Wooly Bully version of Sham and the originals Pharaohs were a solid Tex-Mex R&B band that mixed Memphis blues with soul punctuated by Butch Gibson’s wailing saxophone.  By second album, the Pharaohs were gone, Sam the Sham having replaced them all.

Learn to Dance

What the heck is a “Wooly Bully” anyway? As Hattie tells Mattie in the lyrics, it’s the latest dance craze. Word had it that Samudio wanted to knock off the then popular “Hully Gully” twist dance with a dance of his own and just needed something to call it.  He’s always claimed it was the name of his cat. Whatever a “Wooly Bully” is, those two words are a permanent part of classic rock lexicon. Just ask Ry Cooder. - Eric Berg

PS: If you’re wondering whatever happened to Sam the Sham, well… Salmudio started a street ministry years ago and has his own thing going called “House of Sham”. You can find some of his “sermons” on YouTube.

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Blue Mood

The first track, “Don’t Explain” sets the melancholy mood that meanders throughout Wilson’s channeling of Holiday all the way to the final cut on Coming Forth By Day. The blue light is definitely on. On the first listening, I imagined myself wandering thru an alleyway back door into some smoke filled jazz joint and There’s Lady Day herself lost in a vocal haze, backed by a group of present day rock and jazz musicians that sounds so now.

Many listens and days later, I finally got around to reading the album’s liner notes by music author, Ashley Kahn. He had the exact same reaction.

Holiday Re-Imaged

This is Billy Holiday re-imaged. On Coming Forth By Day, Wilson has taken an edgy, updated approach in collaboration with producer Nick Launay who’s works with rock groups Nick Cave and The Seeds and Arcade Fire. It’s Launay who created this album’s almost surreal sonic atmosphere of dark shadows and blue moods that compliment Wilson’s subdued but husky delivery. An eerie clarinet snakes in here and there, slide electric guitars mix with traditional sax and piano, digital loops and effects highlight tones and clever string arrangements by non other than Van Dyke Parks ( on“You Go To My Head”) further expand this back to the future jazz project.

It’s to Wilson’s credit that she has so successfully succeeded at crawling inside Billie’s head to breathe new life into these thoroughly modern reinterpretations of 11 familiar songs we think we know so well.  Her stark delivery of the lyrics make them sink in as if we are hearing them for the first time.

Cohesive Tribute

Coming Forth by Day ends with an original piece that Wilson and her band members composed called “Last Song For Lester”.  It’s words Billie Holiday might have sung in tribute at the funeral of her longtime mentor and musical pal, saxophonist Lester Young, whose family banned the jazz singer from attending.  The lyrics of which are just one of many things that make Wilson’s contemporary and cohesive tribute to Lady Day on Coming Forth so revealing. - Eric Berg

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Her rendition of  “Waterboy  floored the audience with in 2013 at the “Another Day, Another Time” folk concert honoring the Cohen Bros movie “Inside Lewyn Davis”.  Giddens caught the ear of T-Bone Burnett who asked to record with her and produced “Tomorrow Is My Turn” which features her percussive but strikingly updated version of “Waterboy”, a song most famously associated with Odetta.

Operatic background

Giddens , a classically trained opera singer seems quite at ease covering all genres of music. For this album, she purposely chose tracks that didn’t fit the Chocolate Drops’ M.O. picking out songs written or at least interpreted by women singer who inspired her like Elizabeth Cotton, Nina Simone, Patsy Cline. Her version of Dolly Parton’s “Don’t Let It Trouble Your Mind” is absolutely stunning and so is her gospel prowess on Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s “Up Above My Head”.

The group of musicians Burnett picked to back Giddens on “Tomorrow Is My Turn” are also outstanding, notably fiddle player Gabe Witcher from the Punch Brothers. Chocolate Drop bandmates Hubby Jenkins and Adam Matta are also present.  The only fully composed song  is the self revealing “Angel City” penned by Giddens that gives closes the album.

Future bodes well

Rhiannon Giddens debut “Tomorrow Is My Turn” shows she has a voice to be reckoned with and the potential to become a legendary singer in her own right.  Can’t wait to see what Giddens does next. – Eric Berg

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It’s been 50 plus years since a young teenage guitarist Larry Parypa and brother Andy started Tacoma’s legendary proto-garage band, the Sonics, in the family living room. And they have inspired endless punk and garage bands ever since. Now it’s 2015 and the group is back in action going full throttle with all amps cranked to 11 on their new album, called “This Is the Sonics”. Recorded in gorgeous mono that demands to be played loud, the Sonics blast through 12 tracks of high energy, hard edged rock n roll in a quick 34 minutes.

No Doctors Needed.

To prove they mean business, the five Sonics blast off starting with the first track, a kick ass cover of “I Don’t Need No Doctor”, a clever start to the band’s first new record in 4 decades. These senior citizen thrash rockers, who are now in their late 60’s-early 70’s, certainly sound like they don’t need one.

It wasn’t until lead singer and keyboardist Jerry Roslie joined the popular Pacific Northwest band in 1964 that the Sonics burst upon the scene with their first album  “Here are the Sonics’’  that featured fired up teen-age hits like “Psycho”, “The Witch”, “Boss Hog” and “Strychnine”.

Current Lineup

Many players have come and gone in the Sonics over the last 50 years but three original members of the are still in the current incarnation of the band’s five man lineup. Rob Lind, the Sonics’ wildman on bleating sax and harmonica, is up front and present on every track. Larry Parypa’s lightning bolt guitar sounds better than ever thanks to the great mix, and singer Jerry Roslie bellows out vocals like it was 1964 all over again. They absolutely shred on the old Kink’s tune, “The Hard Way”.  Never thought I’d consider asking a bunch of senior citizens to turn it down a notch.

Since 2008, the three Sonics have been joined by drummer Dusty Hill, who’s played with Agent Orange, Dick Dale, The Supersuckers just to mention a few, and Freddie Dennis on bass and vocals.

Relentless Rock n Roll

“This Is the Sonics” is welcome, relentless rock n roll, loud from beginning to end. That’s what makes album so much fun. Today’s Sonics play with so much urgency and vitality, it’s astonishing as well as invigorating.  A lot of today’s young bands could learn a thing or two from these guys, if they haven’t already. Good to have them back. – Eric Berg

VIDEO PROOF:

The Sonics today, April 2015

The Sonics then.  Although this vid does not actually show them, it’s still killer and no filler.

Last summer my 30 year-old niece mentioned that she had a great time singing with this really famous old folk singer from the 60’s at an after hours jam at the Kate Wolf Festival. Some guy she said named Tom Paxton. Had I heard of him?

“The Last Thing on My Mind” is probably one of Paxton’s most popular songs that can be found on his classic first album “Ramblin’ Boy” released in 1964.  The prolific Paxton was one of the first folksingers to write his own songs pre-Bob Dylan and performed frequently at the legendary Gaslight Café in New York’s Greenwich Village during the era that Dave Van Ronk coined The Great Folk Scare of the early 60’s. His vast catalog of songs have been recorded by hundreds of artists and he’s inspired generations of  new folk singers since.

Many albums later

61 albums later, Tom Paxton has released a new album, “Redemption Road”. He’s still going strong at age 77. The recording is highly enjoyable and pure  Paxton – a mix of humor, love songs,  and a traditional piece like the Celtic Prayer “The Parting Glass” and some biting political statements. In particular one track that criticizes how our country treats its homeless titled “The Poor Don’t Matter”.

Long Inspired by Santa Cruz humorist and songwriterT om  Lehr, Paxton says he always enjoys a silly song and this is truly it. “Skeeters Will Get You”,  A duet with John Prine.

Paxton says his favorite song on “Redemption Road” is the lighthearted “Susie Most of All” because he had such fun writing quote “nonsense verses that somehow mean something”.

Final Tour

This year marks Paxton’s last time out on the road and he plans retiring from touring once and for all.  This is your last time to see him. The songwriter has partnered up with another folk legend, Janis Ian is currently on tour. The pair sing the title song from Tom Paxton’s fine new album “Redemption Road”.  –Eric Berg

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Tracks like “Wanna Be Your Man” sound like they were recorded 75 years ago with lyrics to match but believe it or not, most of the tunes here on “Something in the Water” were penned by LaFarge last year. On the cover, this 32 yr old St. Louis singer -songwriter is a dead ringer for the Clash’s Mick Jones circa ’77,  but inside, the music is a total throwback to the early jazz, ragtime and country blues of the 20’s and 30’s. Not that we haven’t heard any of this musical nostalgia before re-imagined by a host of other performers. LaFarge is a bit different because, he writes his own slightly humorous lyrics and sets them to the familiar tones and melodies made popular by Mid-West bands, pre WWII.  He’s clearly influenced by the likes of Milton Brown and his Brownies, The Mississippi Shieks , the original Skillet Lickers and Bob Wills.

He’s not Normal

32 yr old Pokey LaFarge  – Andrew Heissler is his real name- grew up Normal, Illinois – yes that town does exist – but this guy’s far from it!  Thanks to Jack White who produced the singer’s early records on his Third Man label, LaFarge has garnered considerable hipster buzz in the last couple of years. His music has been featured on “Boardwalk Empire”.  The question is whether LaFarge is the real deal or just another tiresome retro poser born under a pile of Leon Redbone albums?

First class musicianship

To be sure the arrangements and the caliber of the musicianship sound spot on authentic and first class thanks to Chicago producer Jimmy Sutton,  a sidekick of JD McPherson.  The bottom line is, Pokey LaFarge’s “Something in The Water”, teeters dangerously close at times to sounding… dare I say it… hokey.  – Eric Berg

Where:  Pokey LaFarge and band plays Don Quixote’s in Felton, on Thursday, July 23, 2015.

Video: This is the album’s goofy title track – “Something in the Water”.

Last year marked the 50th anniversary of the Who. 2015 finds the band’s original founders, guitarist Pete Townshend and singer Roger Daltry, staging one last worldwide tour, but we’ve heard that before.  The Who’s final swing through the Bay Area stops in Oakland this October. This last February, all seven Townshend’s solo albums were given the deluxe treatment and re-released with bonus tracks. The real gem in this bunch is “Rough Mix”  which Townshend recorded with the late Ronnie Lane in 1977.

Small Faces

Ronnie Lane was the bass player and vocalist with UK’s Small Faces. The band shortened their name to The Faces in 1969 when Rod Stewart and Stones guitarist Ronnie Woods came on board.

Lane and Townshend circa 1976

Lane had originally approached Townshend about producing a solo album for him but that project became “Rough Mix”, a collaboration between the two with help from a stellar cast of musicians including Eric Clapton, Charlie Watts and the original Who bassist, John Entwistle. The Who and the Small Faces were close friends during London’s mod era. Except for some of Townshend’s guitar solos, “Rough Mix”, doesn’t sound like either band. Listening to the album today, it almost seems like an early precursor to what we now label as “Americana”.

Laid Back

During the recording sessions for “Rough Mix”, Lane was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which led to his early death in 1996. Although the two did not co-write any songs for this album and each wrote their own tracks,  Townshend and Lane – with his laid back street busker style – are a perfect pair both vocally and musically.

“Rough Mix” is a perfect collection of solid, foot tapping tracks that sounds more up to date today then it did 38 yrs. ago. There are three bonus tracks included on the new remastered version.  It’s well worth revisiting. –Eric Berg

Video:  There appears to be no  footage of the sessions for “Rough Mix”  nor was there a tour, so here’s Ronnie Lane singing “Ooh La La”.