Backstage Pass

Leave it to Jay-Z to create a catch phrase that summed up the country's mood.

After years of flash and hype selling as much in musical product as, you know, musical talent, 2006 was the year when the consumer demanded "show me what you got."

In music, as in politics, spin was no longer enough this year. Hype-dodging consumers wanted results, going for tried-and-true veterans such as Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan (who each had their first No. 1 album in decades this year) as opposed to buzzed-about newcomers Arctic Monkeys or gossipmongers Paris Hilton and Kevin Federline.

The album charts looked like they came from the '70s (Neil Young, Barry Manilow, Rod Stewart) or the '80s (Bruce Springsteen, Prince, Red Hot Chili Peppers), not 2006.

Continue reading "2006: The year in review" »

1. Nas, “Hip Hop Is Dead” (Def Jam). Not only does Nas call out the hip-hoppers who rap about nothing and brag for the sake of bragging, he provides an album full of examples of what they're doing wrong. It's a history lesson and a manifesto, but it's also a thrill to listen to him work, rhyming and preaching over old-school soul (“Hold Down the Block”), hot new beats (“Money over --”) or even Nat King Cole's “Unforgettable” (“Can't Forget About You.”)

2. Jenny Lewis and The Watson Twins, “Rabbit Fur Coat” (Team Love). Stepping away from her band Rilo Kiley, Jenny Lewis mixes Laura Nyro soul, Lucinda Williams alt-country and Emmylou Harris sweetness for an impressive collection that provides dreamy idealism (“Happy”) one moment and studied protest (“Rise Up With Fists”) the next.

3. Dixie Chicks, “Taking the Long Way” (Open Wide/Sony). Once you get past the stunning statement of “Not Ready to Make Nice,” the sweeter, peaceful-easy-feelings come into focus - the Bonnie Raitt bluesiness of “I Like It,” the wistful “Favorite Year” and the gorgeous simplicity of “Lullaby.” Sure, the kiss-off “Bitter End” is fun (and deserved), but the Everywoman charms show The Chicks are uniters, not dividers.

4. Taking Back Sunday, “Louder Now” (Warner Bros.). Bigger, broader and deeper than ever, Taking Back Sunday makes the leap to arena rock without losing its personal touch, offering more clever rock (“Miami,” “20/20 Surgery”) that fans can sing - or scream - along with. And once radio gets a load of TBS's softer side next year (“Divine Intervention,” “My Blue Heaven”), the band will find itself with a whole new legion of supporters.

5. Bob Dylan, “Modern Times” (Columbia). Macroeconomic theory (“Workingman's Blues #2”), post-Katrina empathy (“The Levee's Gonna Break”) and an Alicia Keys shout-out (“Thunder on the Mountain”) come together for another classic from the master.

6. Joseph Arthur, “Nuclear Daydream” (Lonely Astronaut). A gorgeous, inviting album that swirls Joseph Arthur's avant garde songwriting with Rolling Stones-y blues and Neil Young folk to create irresistibly soulful rockers “Slide Away” and “Automatic Situation.” His palette of sounds is so warm and friendly that even condemnations of American excess (“Enough to Get Away”) sound upbeat.

7. Tom Waits, “Orphans” (Anti-). Unexpected, craggy beauty leaps out of the shadows and creaky nobility stands tall in the daylight as Tom Waits tours country, blues, gospel and early rock on the three-disc set, subtitled “Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards.” The “Brawlers” will show you a good time (“Lie to Me”) and the storytelling on “Bastards” will keep your mind whirring (“Nirvana”), but the “Bawlers” will break your heart (“You Can Never Hold Back Spring”) over and over again.

8. My Chemical Romance, “The Black Parade” (Warner Bros.). Fusing emo and glam rock to build an uplifting Broadway-styled musical about terminal illness never looked so easy. My Chemical Romance opens with a powerful anthem, the sprawling, ambitious “Welcome to the Black Parade,” and only gets better from there with the T. Rex-ish “Teenagers” and the dizzying “Dead!”

10. Prince, “3121” (Universal Motown). Prince brought back the synth-funk that made him rock royalty in the '80s, with squiggly dance numbers “Black Sweat,” “Lolita” and “Love,” while showing off his soul singer side on the falsetto-filled “Satisfied.”

[Albums 11-30 on the jump]

Continue reading "2006: Albums of the Year" »

Most of 2006 was dominated by dance singles, especially from Timbaland and collaborators Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake, and Mary J. Blige's R&B ballad "Be Without You" (Geffen), but there were still plenty of surprises in all sorts of genres. Here are some of the year's best:

1. Gnarls Barkley, "Crazy" (Downtown/Atlantic). With Cee-Lo's sweet soul vocals sliding smoothly over Danger Mouse's sleek, innovative beats, "Crazy" was simply bobbing head and brawny shoulders above the rest of the year's songs. A diverse group - from Furtado to Ray Lamontagne to Twilight Singers' Greg Dulli - was so captivated by the song that they all added it to their sets while the original still was climbing the charts, just because they wanted to sing it. Millions of music fans know exactly how they feel.

2. Twilight Singers, "Forty Dollars" (One Little Indian). No one sings about the dark end of the street better than Dulli, especially when he's got his con-man groove on, as he does here, boasting, "I've got love for sale. Come on, get some before it gets stale."

3. Dixie Chicks, "Not Ready to Make Nice" (Open Wide/Sony). It's a rallying cry for standing up for your beliefs, as well as a shot at their detractors, that is so well-crafted, it is nearly impossible to attack and almost just as impossible to resist.

4. Beyoncé, "Irreplaceable" (Columbia). We knew Beyoncé could be clever, but she's downright scheming on this song, a blunt kiss-off dolled up in acoustic guitars and sweet-sounding choruses designed to fake out casual listeners and boyfriends dumb enough to cheat on B.

5. Ghostface featuring Ne-Yo, "Back Like Dat" (Def Jam). It's "Irreplaceable" from the male perspective, with Ghostface rapping about how far is too far in a breakup over old-school R&B beats and Ne- Yo's wounded croon.

Continue reading "2006: Singles of the Year" »

James Brown, the "Godfather of Soul," the pioneer of funk and the rhythmic backbone of hip-hop, has been swaddled in his signature bejeweled fur cape for the final time.

Brown, known for his raucous stage shows as much as his bold hits "Sex Machine," "I Got You (I Feel Good)" and "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," died Monday morning at Emory Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta, where he had been hospitalized Sunday with pneumonia. He was 73.

"James Brown changed music," said the Rev. Al Sharpton, who was part of Brown's tour entourage in the 1970s. "He made soul music a world music. What James Brown was to music in terms of soul and hip-hop, rap, all of that, is what Bach was to classical music. This is a guy who literally changed the music industry. He put everybody on a different beat, a different style of music. He pioneered it."

Concerts from the self-proclaimed "Hardest working man in show business" are the stuff of legend -- from his multiple spins, his swiveling hips and constantly twitching feet to the traditional ending, where Brown swoons from exhaustion, only to bounce back again.

Legendary singer James Brown dies [Newsday]

Nas may be a little early with hip-hop's obituary, dubbing his new album "Hip-Hop Is Dead" (Def Jam). But he's not that far off.

Hip-hop isn't dead, but it is certainly under fire.

For years, many record labels have run hip-hop like strip miners, willing to promote almost anything in the name of getting paid, regardless of its effects on the music or the culture at large. But like land that has been stripped of all its resources, fan interest in hip-hop hasn't been renewed with much either, as sliding sales and diminishing influence this year show a growing been-there-done-that attitude.

Now, the music industry is inclined to fix the problem by pushing boundaries: more sex, more drugs, more violence surrounded by more Cristal drunk in larger SUVs on bigger rims by rappers with more bling backed by women in less clothing.

Nas offers a different idea. On "Hip-Hop Is Dead," he not only points out the holes in many rappers' games, he shows how his game is airtight.

Continue reading "DROPS: Nas" »

"How on earth did we get so mixed up?" sings Brandon Flowers in The Killers' new holiday single "Great Big Sled" (Island). Good question - not just in terms for the world in general, but The Killers in particular. The Las Vegas band went from synth-pop underdogs to bombastic rockers in the course of one album. But "Great Big Sled" suggests a bit of rehab for The Killers' reputation. It's clever and self-deprecating ("Little boys have action toys for brains," Flowers sings. "I'm living proof it can last a long time") without giving up the big, rock-anthem feel they try to create on the "Sam's Town" album. It has that Phil Spector "wall of sound" production that rocking holiday songs always go for, while still sounding current. And, to top it off, "Great Big Sled" is a charity single, part of the (RED) campaign (http:// joinred.com) to raise money to buy medicine for Africans with AIDS. For The Killers' career, it all adds up to a giant leap back in the right direction.

Listen to "Great Big Sled" here

Ahmet Ertegun, the music executive who brought rhythm and blues to the mainstream and pushed the artistic boundaries of soul and rock as the founding chairman of Atlantic Records, died yesterday at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. He was 83.

Ertegun had been hospitalized since Oct. 29, when he fell backstage at the Beacon Theatre during a Rolling Stones concert. "He was in a coma and passed away today with his family at his bedside," Dr. Howard A. Riina, Ertegun's neurosurgeon at Weill Cornell Medical Center, said yesterday in a statement.

In a career that spanned nearly six decades, Ertegun was instrumental in building the careers of Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding, signing them to Atlantic and producing their records. Later, he would sign Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Cream, Bette Midler and Sonny & Cher.

"The music community has lost a pioneer and an icon, and we have lost our father," Atlantic Records chairman and chief executive Craig Kallman said yesterday. "Ahmet changed the course of modern music and culture and he will live on through the timeless legacy of work that was created under his direction and care. Musicians loved him, because he truly loved them and spoke their language."

PHOTO: Ahmet Ertegun by Norman Jean Roy / Atlantic Records

Continue reading "R.I.P. Ahmet Ertegun" »

There was a moment in Corinne Bailey Rae's "Put Your Records On" where the band stopped and the British singer-songwriter paused, looked up and let a smile spread across her face before belting out, "Girl, put your records on."

Bailey Rae sold the line with such force that she makes you buy the song's self-empowerment premise and such joy that she offers a slice of the same musical healing power she's singing about.

Yeah, that's right. Don't let her fresh-faced beauty or her best new artist Grammy nomination fool you.

This Corinne Bailey Rae, she is a ringer.

The laid-back neo-soul from her "Corinne Bailey Rae" (EMI) debut may lean toward the quiet and pretty, but she is no shrinking violet. She may be Norah-adorable, like that Jones singer she is so often compared to, but there is a fire beneath Bailey Rae's cool exterior. [More...]

SETLIST: Call Me When You Get This / Trouble Sleeping / Breathless / Enchantment / Till It Happens to You / Since I've Been Loving You / Like a Star / Put Your Records On / Butterfly / I'd Like To // ENCORE: Choux Pastry Heart / Seasons Change

Continue reading "Corinne Bailey Rae @ Town Hall, 12.13.06" »

The animated version of Taking Back Sunday's "12 Days of Christmas" is kinda hilarious.

Watch the non-animated version here

One of my favorite concert moments of the year came last night at Damien Rice's first show at the Beacon Theatre.

FAN: "DAMIEN!!!!!"
DAMIEN: "PETER!!!!!"
[Much laughter]
DAMIEN: "Is there something you needed?"
FAN: "I'm Dan from Long Island and a little bit of 'Elephant' would be nice."
DAMIEN: "Your wish is my command"
[Rice then launches into "Elephant," which morphs into "The Blower's Daughter."]

Full review

SETLIST: Women like a Man / Insane / I Remember / 9 Crimes / Elephant -> The Blower's Daughter / Cannonball / The Professor and La Fille Danse / The Animals Were Gone / Coconut Skins / Amie / Eskimo / Volcano // ENCORE: Rootless Tree / Me, My Yoke and I / Accidental Babies

Continue reading "Damien Rice @ Beacon Theatre, 12.12.06" »