By Brian Wise
SHORT NOTES – AUGUST 9, 2016
Emma Donovan’s great album of interpretations, Take Me to the River, is still on constant play. Emma did a sold-out show in Melbourne the other week and the album deserves much wider recognition, I reckon. Ruby Jones’s album, Souvenir, is also terrific and well worth checking out. It is impressive for an indie release. Don Walker’s new album, ironically titled Love Songs, is another masterclass. Don has a very distinctive voice – both vocally and in his writing. The fantastic, epic and cinematic ‘Darwin’ (14’16”) closes the album and ranks with ‘Harry Was a Bad Bugger’ as one of Don’s great stories.
I have been enjoying the new Rolling Stones album, Foreign Tongues, which is, pleasingly, good. I was going to say ‘surprisingly good’, but after more than 60 years they should know what they are doing. Producer Andrew Watt has done a praiseworthy job and there are a couple of songs that sound like classic Stones material. The album went to No. 1 in the UK and reached No. 2 on our own ARIA album chart and, more importantly, is on our own Rhythms chart! There is a rumour that they might be doing some shows next year in the form of residencies in a few places (Las Vegas?).
An interview with Texas legend Ray Wylie Hubbard about his new album was a highlight a couple of weeks ago. Reel2Reel4Real is as gritty as always and Ray was his usual, very entertaining self. Speaking of legends, Terry Allen has released an album with his family under the moniker of Blood Sucking Maniacs – perhaps not the most enticing band name. But, like all of Allen’s work (he wrote ‘New Delhi Freight Train’), it is fascinating.
One album that has me entranced is composer Dylan Mattingly’s The Wild Heart (Complete), performed by Contemporaneous and conducted by David Bloom. It also features the vocals of Iarla Ó Lionáird (of AfroCelt Sound System). While it might initially seem that this is one for fans of Philip Glass, Terry Riley and Steve Reich, it offers much more, and the song ‘Notes for Another Life’ got a huge response when I played it on my radio show. Which reminds me that a few years ago I saw Terry Riley appearing with Laurie Anderson and John Zorn at The Chapel in San Francisco. As the lady sitting next to me said after the show, “I am not sure what just happened, but it was amazing.”
IT’S A FREE FESTIVAL, MAN!
If you listen to the On the Record podcast from July 24, you’ll hear me waxing lyrical about the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. This FREE festival takes place in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park in the first week of October each year, and this year the dates are October 2–4. This is preceded by a star-studded tribute to Steve Earle at the Masonic on Thursday, October 1.
The lineup for Hardly Strictly is always incredible and I think it’s the best Americana/roots music lineup of just about any festival anywhere. So far, artists announced include Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Old Crow Medicine Show, Jessie Welles, A Tribute to Joe Ely, Hiss Golden Messenger, Molly Tuttle, Kathleen Edwards and My Morning Jacket. That should be enough to whet your appetite. There will be many more artists announced between now and mid-September.
The festival is spread out over six stages, which operate until 7.00pm, and it attracts between 150,000 and 200,000 people each day, which sounds a lot worse than it is, as the festival site is quite large. What could be hard work is assisted by the fact that it never gets really hot there at that time of the year. The vibe is always quite mellow and, if you have been to San Francisco, you will know why that is. Of course, the best strategy is to arrive early, grab a good spot at your preferred stage (depending on the lineup) and then explore.
I’ve always said to friends that if they had to choose just one festival overseas, then this should be the one they go to. Unfortunately, due to some recent health concerns, I am unable to undertake my usual trip to Americana in Nashville, which would have allowed me to return via San Francisco this year, so please feel free to do this trip for me!
WATCHING
The excursion to Fountain Gate shopping centre to see The Odyssey in IMAX the other week was almost as long as the odyssey itself! The film is undoubtedly spectacular and, unlike some of Christopher Nolan’s films, it does tell a coherent story. But the more I think about it, the less certain I am about my opinion. I think I need to see it again to fully appreciate it. Amazingly, I didn’t fall asleep during the nearly three-hour epic, but I did glaze over around the two-and-a-half-hour mark.
One of the most powerful pieces of television that I have seen this year is Believe Me, streaming on ABC TV. This is a story that involves some shocking events in London in the early 2000s and the battle women faced in getting police to believe their stories.
Colin Farrell features as a Los Angeles-based private eye in the very noir Apple TV series Sugar, now in its second series, which heavily references classic films of the genre. It is one of Farrell’s better roles, but he is nearly outshone by the 1966 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray convertible that he drives. I should warn you that there is a twist towards the end of the first series that is totally weird; however, there are some clues in earlier episodes that I now know I missed. The twist remains inexplicable to me and seems superfluous to what would have been an okay series anyway.