Rancid - Let the Dominoes Fall

I was a huge fan of "...And Out Came the Wolves" in the 90's and probably gave it as many spins as an other album that decade. It's follow-up "Life Can Wait" had some good songs but was relatively disappointing in comparison. On the next self-titled album, they removed all the ska and played a much more abrasive hardcore punk that just isn't my thing. I didn't really care for the albums from before "...And Out Came the Wolves" either so I stopped paying much attention to them. It seems strange in retrospect that my almost ten years of ignoring them made me miss one album. Tim Armstrong's solo ska album renewed my interest in them so I pre-ordered the expanded edition of this. I like it but it's not nearly as good as "...And Out Came the Wolves" or the Armstrong album. I expected it to be a staple of summer listening but it never really worked its way into high rotation which maybe says as much about my current desire to listen to hard rock/punk rock as its quality. I think I had this either at the tail end of my top ten or just missing my top ten. If I were to re-do my list, it would probably either just make or just miss the top 20 today. Its pretty consistently good but there aren't any songs that I think are that great. East Bay Night, Skull City, and a couple of the more ska oriented songs probably come the closest. The expanded edition seemed like a nice idea at the time but I don't like the acoustic album much and have never bothered to even watch the dvd.

i totally missed that Joe Henry album, will have to check it out. as an aside, i hear he is producing the next Over the Rhine album.

Cracker - Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey

I don't have much interesting to say about this but since I am looking back at everything I heard in 2009, I need to make some token post about this. David Lowery plays in LA a few times a year either with Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven, sometimes with both in the same show. I stopped buying the albums years ago but I've been to a few shows the past few years and have liked some of the material I had never heard so I decided to give this a shot. I didn't hate it but nothing grabbed me in a few listens. It seem pretty average reg rock without much to distinguish it. My laptop was stolen after a few listens so i lost the mp3s and didn't bother to replace.



Loudon Wainwright III - High, Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project

I used to assume Loudon Wainwright was a second or third tier 70's singer songwriter, one maybe worth checking out but not someone I should make a priority. I saw him in concert a few years ago with Joe Henry playing each other's songs and the songs they wrote together for the soundtrack to Strange Weirdos. I went in as a Joe Henry fan and came out even a bigger Loudon Wainwright fan. I first heard of Charlie Poole when the box set "You Ain't Talkin' to Me: Charlie Poole and the Roots of Country Music" came out a few years ago. I bought, listened a few times, and quickly forgot it about. I have a weird, inexplicable habit of wanting to listen to my albums all the way through so my box sets some times get ignored if they are a tedious listen in that fashion. Loudon Wainwright has been a long time fan though and had always intended to do some sort of tribute to Poole. Last year, he scaled back his ambition from a movie to this two disc set which takes 21 of songs from the Poole catalog (popularized by Poole but not written by him) and reinterpreted them while adding 9 songs written by he and Dick Connette in the spirit of Poole. Its a really great listen. There's great playing with wonderful banjo, mandolin and fiddle and Loudon really breathes new life into the material. The new songs sit so well beside the Poole songs that you often have to check the liner notes to determine which are which. Maybe this shouldn't be that surprising for I can't think of a modern artist who is so equally at home singing or writing tender heartfelt songs about love and family and lighter, humor filled songs about boozin' and ramblin.' I had this at 3rd in my year end rankings but it could have been 1 or 2 on a lot of days. The only thing negative I can say about it is that notwithstanding the excellent liner notes, the packaging sucks and my discs have been scratched up terribly as a result. Now I need to revisit that Poole box and check out some of Dick Connette's other material.

OK last one and my top album of 2009:



Build An Ark - Love, Part I

"Love, Part I" (to be followed up with "Love, Part II" in 2010) is the third album by Los Angeles based collective, Build An Ark. Build An Ark were formed in 2001 by Composer, Producer and Musician Carlos Niño with multi-instrumentalist and arranger Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and Jazz Vocalist Dwight Trible (who often performs with Pharoah Sanders). The organizational template for the band was provided by Sun Ra Arkestra and Horace Tapscott's Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra but Build an Ark have found their own sound which is a blend of Improvisional Spiritual Jazz, California Soul, and the 70's Laurel Canyon folk rock sound. With "Love, Part 1," the collective has grown to 45 members representing a wide range of races, sexes, nationalities, and ages. About half of the collective are Jazz Musicians including Tribe Records Founder and Trombonist Phil Ranelin, Violinist Michael White (known for his work on Impulse in the 60's and 70's), Carmen Lundy and Trible. Others have backgrounds in rock, soul or eschew categorization at all. The result is an amazing musical stew with fantastic orchestration and arrangements, group singing, and amazing solo instrumental performances. In addition to the ten original songs here, the album includes an instrumental re-work of Van Morrison's "Sweet Thing," a Pharoah Sanders cover, and a rework of Phil Ranelin's "How Do We End All This Madness?" Its a truly great record, proof that jazz isn't dead, and should appeal to anyone who is a fan of the early 70's recordings of Archie Shepp, Eddie Gale, or recordings on Strata East, Impulse or Tribe Records. I can't recommend it highly enough.

That Cracker album should have been called The Meh Project or Cracker By Numbers. Not much there that moves the meter.

good. that was my impression but Derris almost had me convinced to track it down again.

glad to have finished this. I picked a bad time to do it. I still haven't listened to any of those 20 cds I picked up at the amoeba garage sale and i've gotten about 5-10 other things in the mail since i started too. doubt i'll have the patience to re-engage with that waits listening party now though.

I never put it in my favorites. I put it in a group of 3 albums by older bands that I felt put out solid effort given their circumstances and past history. Certainly a few throwaways but I still stand by about 4-5 songs on that record. To me, it just comes down to if you like the band Cracker or not. It's no better or worse than their last 4 records.

Hmmm, I didn't take it that it was a huge favorite of yours but you seemed a little more enthusiastic than that at first blush. I like Cracker but they lost me with "Gentlemen Blues" way back in 1998. I stopped paying attention until I went back and bought "Countrysides" which I really like. I didn't like this one nearly as much as "Countrysides" but this could be as good as the last four albums of primarily Lowery penned songs. I wouldn't know. I consider myself a Cracker fan. I enjoy them live and I like the first 2-3 records and Countrysides but I'm not sure I need any of the other recent albums.

After looking back at my Best Of 2009, there's no doubt I would shift some stuff around, but this one being at the top wouldn't change, no matter what. Wainwright knew just where he was going from the opening note, and got there in a straight line. Roots music with VERY deep roots. Beautifully recorded, as well.

I agree its really good album and definitely my top "tentozian" album of the year. I'd probably bump it up to 2 but I wouldn't put it above that Build An Ark which is really a special album. I didn't find as many albums I liked as in some years last year but my top five was one of the strongest top fives in any recent year. This year I'm not sure I've really even found an album that I would say I like much. Nothing's really wormed its way into any regular listening yet.

I've been meaning to up the debut Randy Weeks for some of you guys that seem interested in checking him out. I'll try to get around to it this weekend.