For his second album, Brett Young follows up his Platinum debut with a more modern country album, Ticket to L.A., available on LP/CD from Big Machine. He borrows conceits from pop (quiet verses and explosive choruses) and safely remains in the confines of slick ’80s production. "Ticket To L.A." solidifies the California ease to his Nashville country/pop.
Van Morrison
The Prophet Speaks
[LP/CD](Caroline)
Van The Man's latest continues his association with organist Joey DeFrancesco, whose smooth B3 really provides a great counterpoint for the venerable Van. "The Prophet Speaks" collects six new songs and several revitalized covers including tracks from Sam Cooke, Muddy Waters and Solomon Burke.
COLDPLAY
Live in Buenos Aires
[LP/CD](Parlophone)
To accompany their documentary "Head Full of Dreams," Coldplay recorded the last night of their momentous world tour in 2017. The 23 song set is a career retrospective compiling tracks from their seven albums. This show is not the one featured in their film (that was the night before in Sao Paulo) and has never been released before.
THROWBACKS OF THE WEEK
Yellow Magic Orchestra
[LP/CD] (Sony)
Japan's Yellow Magic Orchestra is almost as important to the genesis of synth pop than their inspiration, Kraftwerk. Much like the German quartet, YMO look to completely embrace electronic technology to make their music. Ryuichi Sakamoto was studying electronic music and showed the ear of a true composer. Haruomi Hosono was in one of Japan's most popular ’70s bands Happy End only to depart in favor of making very tropical yet haunting exotica.
Yukihiro Takahashi was a skilled musician and vocalist. In 1978, they joined forces for a one-off that became a career. On their debut album, their melodies flowed freely as "Firecracker" and "Cosmic Surfin'" tantalized with computer game sounds and striated rhythms. Their single nearly went Gold in the U.S., so A&M Records signed them and rolled out the red carpet. While they were looking to build on Hosono's exotica, they found that making the listeners feel like they were inside of a video game was the most successful. As you listen, you will hear Chinese melodies ("Tong Poo") and even flirtations with disco.
However, the real Magic of YMO is that this trio of players will pre-date the storm of Synth-Pop bands on their way in the Eighties where Sakamoto will win an Academy Award for scoring the late Bernando Bertolucci's "The Last Emperor," Hosono will score films for Hayao Mizayaki, and Takahashi will collaborate with musicians from all over the world.
The Long Ryders|
State of Our Union
[CD](Cherry Red)
Long ago in Los Angeles from out of the Paisley Underground that gave us The Bangles, The Three O'Clock, The Dream Syndicate and Rain Parade, Sid Griffin and his bunch of country punks returned to another Sixties sound: Folk Rock. Their songs were scrappy like punk (the classic shouter "Looking For Lewis and Clark") but still chiming and resonant like The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and leader Sid Griffin's main influence Gram Parsons. Their years on indie Frontier paved the way for Cowpunk to lead Alt.Country like The Old 97's. Then signed to a major label, 1985's "State of Our Union" picked up where the mighty X left off on "More Fun In The World" with a powerful, political rock that would lead their being handpicked to open for U2 on their next tour.
