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| Liner notes 2006 -- Dr. Reptile's Greatest Hits | | Date Created: Jan 16, 2007, 09:03 AM |
 Well the Christmas tree is down and we’re half way through the first month of the year. It’s time to get around to the liner notes for the 2006 Dr. Reptile’s Greatest Hits. Carrying on the proud tradition of the writing on the back of lp records, we have some disjointed, erudite, opinionated, obtuse, and generally interesting but strange comments on the music scene and the songs selected for the 23rd edition of Dr. Reptile’s picks for the best songs of the past year or so.
For those new to the format, these are the best songs, not the best CD’s of the year. The CD that took over for the lp record is nearly dead. Everything is headed back to songs and away from expensive CD’s. But this time it won’t be top 40 hits. People can put their songs together in their own collections or shuffle their collection. It’s not clear how music will be best distributed and who will control the access to music, but there will still be a place for turning people on to new music, putting it together in listenable forms, and sequencing it so that it plays well. Thus the reason for Dr. Reptile, critic-without-a-portfolio, who knows something of five decades of music including what’s coming out now.
And what’s coming out now continues to deteriorate. It seems that something like the Beatles has to come along and revitalize music, but it sure hasn’t happened yet. Perhaps the powerful and long lasting genre of rock music has run its course. That’s certainly happened to sub-genres of rock and other genres in the past. Old genres like country or jazz haven’t taken over either. Time for something new? But who’s going to do it? Where’s it going to come from? What form will it take?
The same thing has happened in film. How many truly great movies came out last year? There was hardly a way to pick a best picture last year at the Oscars and it would be tough to choose a number of great CD’s either. But the entertainment industry still has to push product and critics still have to go on about something or there’s no reason for their existence. So we muddle along with what we have and wait for something better.
Movies get remade, sequelized, made from popular books or even comic books, follow PC trends, use pyrotechnics, or generally get highly produced, well acted, and well directed but mediocre films. Same thing happens with CD’s. Some great musicians outlive their usefulness or take the easy way out and just get into knee-jerk politics — Neil Young and Springsteen come to mind. Some old warhorses keep on trucking, but just don’t have anything really new to get across even though they’re still trying — Paul Simon, Tom Petty, and Donald Fagen’s CD’s last year fall in this category. Not bad, just nothing to get excited about.
And then there’s Dylan. The guy really does know how to reinvent himself. Several folks whose opinion is well respected thought something from Modern Times should be on the Greatest Hits. Although all the songs are listed as written by Bob Dylan, it would seem that at least a few like Rollin’ and Tumblin’, Someday Baby, and The Levee’s Gonna Break should have been on the bonus CD of favorite cover versions. This was truly a great CD for a guy in his 60’s. If you were going to buy a CD this last year and you’re a Dylan fan, this would have been one to buy.
Expectations were too high for the Mark Knopfler/Emmylou Harris collaboration. The JJ Cale/Eric Clapton collaboration was also underwhelming although it sounded better if viewed just as a JJ Cale album. The Elvis Costello/Alan Toussaint collaboration was another interesting experiment that didn’t quite make it to great. The Dixie Chicks (Ditsy Chix?) soldier on and aren’t bad, just not enough for a great CD. The greatest American band extant, Los Lobos, also soldiers on but didn’t get anywhere near previous heights. The most successful experiment was a rap producer teamed up with a hip hop singer that came up with the song of the year and another song to add to the Crazy theme compilation. And the most interesting potential to watch this year and the future were Paolo Nutini and KT Tunstall.
Lots of bands put out live CD’s last year — another thing to do when you don’t have anything new or worthy to put out. Old 97’s, Ozomatli, My Morning Jacket, Counting Crows. There were a number of other relative disappointments — Bare Naked Ladies, Flaming Lips, Guster, Chip Taylor, Jay Bennett, Calexico, Gin Blossoms, and Joan Osborne. Over-hyped or overrated were Cat Power, Raconteurs, Decemberists, and Neko Case. This doesn’t mean they’re worthless, just not as good as the hype.
This was the first year where several of the songs arrived without the CD they came from and made the Hits without the benefit of a CD copy. It’s basically become impossible to keep up with all the output, particularly when most of it is mediocre. It takes time to give CD’s an adequate listen and often it takes multiple listens to find a worthy cut or two.
Roughly half of the songs on the 2006 Greatest Hits wouldn’t have made it in previous years. But still there are songs to enjoy while waiting for the revolution. Or you can just go to the bonus CD and listen to great covers of old great songs, many of which were on previous editions of the Greatest Hits. How many of the originals can you name without looking them up?
So the Pipettes were a suggestion from a young Reptilian who has a network of 20-something music friends who are generally from the Guster and Weezer side of rock. Their video reminded Dr. Reptile of the famous Addicted To Love band backing the late Robert Palmer. And part of the fun was that the hook of “pull shapes!” sounded like “bull sh*t!” Lots of fun doing a Euro-female-rock band thing.
Golden Smog is a rotating supergroup project that is just a studio collaboration but comes up with some great stuff occasionally. Corvette would make a nice set with Prince’s Little Red Corvette and maybe a Beach Boy car song like Little Deuce Coupe.
Too Tough to Die was just too cool to leave out. Betty Lavette made a big comeback in ‘06 and Martina Topley-Bird seems to be from the same line.
Crazy was hands down the song of the year. Not the first attempt at mixing soul, hip hop, and rock but a very innovative effort. The band put together to take advantage of the studio collaboration was fun to watch too. And speaking of hot performances, Robert Randolph and the Family Band had a CD out last year but it didn’t capture their live sound and performance. Some good songwriting is needed perhaps.
Dr. Reptile’s personal fave was KT Tunstall’s Suddenly I See. Great song, great lyric, powerful voice and performance. The rest of the CD, Eye To The Telescope, was worthy too. Black Horse and the Cherry Tree almost made it to the Hits as well. Keep watching this KT.
New Shoes arrived in a compilation of new music from Paste mag (probably the best US music mag left standing). The name Paolo Nutini stuck out as did the song. Then KCUV started playing it. Hard to resist that. Other stuff by Nutini who’s a true multi-national, sounded interesting too. We’ll see.
Fatboy Slim is another example of an artist that can do something with rap, hip hop, and rock. How could we not follow New Shoes with That Old Pair of Jeans? Nice hook in the latter too.
Tears, Tears, & More Tears first made it to the “TEAR” compilation. Then it seemed to have legs and eventually made it to the Greatest Hits in the hybrid category of musical backgrounds. Costello is a rock chameleon and the mix with New Orleans’ Allan Toussaint doesn’t always work but this was a great one.
It’s not at all clear how Too Much Stuff got on the Greatest Hits of ‘06. Delbert released another best of compilation in ‘06 but his last studio album was from ‘05 and this tune seems to be from ‘97’s One of the Fortunate Few. Oh well. McClinton, Prine, and Lovett together needs to get on a Greatest Hits collection and Too Much Stuff certainly characterized ‘06.
Ride the River is actually a great JJ Cale song with or without Eric Clapton. Do we have a RIVER compilation? We should. Oh we do? Yeah. It’s called MANY A RIVER TO CROSS. Looks like we’ll have to redo it.
OK, The Road to Gila Bend isn’t up to the standards of Emily or other Los Lobos greats but give it a few listens. It will grow on you and these guys have been together for 30 years or more. They may not have outlived their usefulness.
Like Todd Snider, Shawn Mullins has a keen eye for relationships and can put them in a very good song. The CD was so-so but Beautiful Wreck stood out. Snider did put out a CD last year but it escaped review — maybe in ‘07.
The Dixie Chicks are on here for one reason. If you make stupid political statements and get ripped for it whether you deserved it or not, this is the way to respond. Write a great song and sing it with conviction. That’s what you’re supposed to be doing anyway.
And speaking of conviction, Lynn Miles is another in a long line of female singer-songwriters who come up with the occasion feminine angst gem. Here’s the chorus:
You can read a lot of books
That don't make you smart
Kiss a lot of fools
Don't mean you've got a heart
Walk a million miles
Doesn't mean you've travelled
You can make a perfect plan
And watch it unravel
Don’t know anything about the Mountain Goats. They sound like Ben Folds. I had to agree with their line, “I’m going to make it through this year if it kills me.”
Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris are two of Dr. Reptile’s all-time favorite musicians. Putting them together sounded like musical heaven. Unfortunately it still takes great songs and not all male-female voices in duet work even if they’re wonderful separately. This Is Us was the best of this experiment. Nice lyric too — reminds one of John Prine and Iris Dement doing (We’re Not) The Jet Set.
Boy Least Likely To is another one of those quirky bands found by Miss E. Reptile. Very nice little CD. Another cut, Be Gentle With Me, almost made the grade and other titles include, Sleeping With A Gun Under My Pillow and I See Spiders When I Close My Eyes. You might check it out if you liked Apple Wagon.
Tilly & The Wall is another find on a Paste compilation disc. Seems like they go well with The Pipettes and Boy Least Likely To. Their CD is remarkably good as long is Tilly is singing.
And what is it with this Gomez s**t? Dr. Reptile has been waiting a long time to ask that question regarding the group. They must have six CD’s at least and have been around for years but finally got some attention this year with How We Operate. Unfortunately even with a tie-in like the title song, the rest of the CD wasn’t that great but See The World and Tunstall’s Suddenly I See really made the theme compilation SUDDENLY I SEE. Turns out there are a lot of great songs about seeing.
And subbing for Susan Cowsill this year is Neko Case who got too much attention for Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, but Hold On Hold On was enough to get on the Greatest Hits. Old folkies never die.
Oh, and BTW, the award for best CD title this year went to Yo La Tengo:
I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass. Unfortunately the A&R man said, “I don’t hear a single”.
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