Monthly Archives: April 2011

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Paul Simon – So Beautiful Or So What

I’ve reviewed two albums in the past week by artists on the other side of 50, ancient by rock-and-roll standards. One was Lucinda Williams’ Blessed and the other was R.E.M.’s Collapse Into Now. Both represent the best work those performers have released in years.

And now I have the privilege of reviewing the latest release of another elder statesman, Paul Simon, who is less than a year away from his 70th birthday. To mark the occasion, his new album So Beautiful Or So What is receiving some of the best reviews of his career.

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Song of the Day #1,023: ‘Everyday I Write the Book’ – Ron Sexsmith & Elvis Costello

The Elvis Costello Weekends have ended, but I’m asking Mr. Costello’s help in introducing his successor. Ladies and gentlemen, the series nobody saw coming: Ron Sexsmith Weekends.

Why, you ask, on the heels of weekends dedicated to such luminaries as Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, The Beatles and all of Motown, would I choose to shift my focus to a little-known Canadian singer-songwriter?

For a couple of reasons.

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Lucinda Williams – Blessed

Befriending Lucinda Williams might be hazardous to your health. Her albums are littered with songs about loved ones lost to suicide and disease. She mourns beautifully.

Williams’ newest release, Blessed, features two such tracks. The first is the wistful, poetic ‘Copenhagen,’ describing the moment she learned, while traveling abroad, about her manager’s sudden death. The second is ‘Seeing Black,’ an angry response to the suicide of her friend Vic Chesnutt.

Elsewhere, in ‘Soldier’s Song,’ she contrasts the experiences of an enlisted man in a war zone with that of his wife and child back home. It doesn’t end well for the soldier.

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Song of the Day #1,022: ‘Don’t Give Up’ – Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush

With all of the great songs on Peter Gabriel’s So (‘Sledgehammer,’ ‘Red Rain,’ ‘In Your Eyes,’ ‘Mercy Street’… wow!), it’s easy to forget this inspirational track.

Teaming up with Kate Bush, better known for her avant garde songwriting than this sort of lush balladry, Gabriel recorded a grand ode to perseverance, a precursor to ‘Everybody Hurts.’

Though ‘Don’t Give Up’ isn’t a love song in the traditional sense, I find it achingly romantic. That’s due in large part to the interplay of Gabriel’s and Bush’s vocals, not to mention the video of them hugging throughout the performance (must have been an interesting shoot).

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Song of the Day #1,021: ‘Whiskey Lullaby’ – Brad Paisley & Alison Krauss

Brad Paisley can do so many things so well.

He’s perhaps the best songwriter around at composing straight-forward love songs (quick, name a more effective recent love song than ‘Then’ or ‘She’s Everything’). He has a great sense of humor that shines through in his albums as well as onstage. He’s a peerless guitar player who surrounds himself with excellent session players to record albums that rock and swing like crazy.

But even given all that, Paisley can still surprise from time to time, and today’s SOTD is a fine example.

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