New Release Tuesday 7/30/13

July 30, 2013

MUSIC RELEASES

Alela Diane – About Farewell (Rusted Blue)
Hailing from Nevada City, Calif., but currently based in Portland, Ore., the folk singer-songwriter spent a year putting finishing touches on her latest album, which serves as a firm goodbye to former lovers, including her experiences in a recent divorce. Needless to say, the songs are somber, yet there is beauty in her complete truthfulness as evidenced in the black-and-white video for the title track. The stripped-down tracks are ideal for showcasing her emotional vocals. About Farewell served as her ultimate catharsis and can help listeners let go of their own pasts as well.

Buddy Guy – Rhythm & Blues (RCA)
It's no secret that Buddy Guy is one of my all-time favorite guitarists, and the Chicago bluesman celebrates his 77th birthday today with the release of a new double album. He co-wrote most of the tracks with drummer/producer Tom Hambridge, save for standards like "Poison Ivy," "Well I Done Got Over It" and "Messin' with the Kid," which is a duet with Kid Rock. Rhythm & Blues also contains guest appearances by Keith Urban, Beth Hart, Gary Clark, Jr. and Aerosmith's Steven Tyler, Joe Perry and Brad Whitford. Guy's shows are always amazing, so make sure not to miss the debut of some of these songs when he plays at the Hollywood Bowl on Aug. 21.

Robin Thicke – Blurred Lines (Interscope)
Even if you don't listen to Top 40 radio, it's been quite hard to avoid the title track from the R&B singer-songwriter's sixth album, Blurred Lines. The single, which features T.I. and Pharrell Williams, hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 back in June and has remained in the top spot ever since, propelling the crooner to worldwide superstardom. The album also boasts tracks produced by Timbaland and will.i.am, as well as a collaboration with Kendrick Lamar, the heavily electro club banger "Give It 2 U," that is admittedly not one of my favorites. However, longtime fans will enjoy "Ooo La La, "Ain't No Hat 4 That," and "The Rest of My Life," a love letter to his love since age 16, his wife Paula Patton.

T. Hardy Morris – Audition Tapes (Dangerbird)
The co-founder of Dead Confederate and Diamond Rugs unveils his debut solo album, a collection of songs that he spent the past year crafting from his experiences over the past six years of touring. The singer-songwriter traveled from his home base in Athens, Ga. to producers Adam Landry and Justin Collins' studio in Nashville to record Audition Tapes, which Morris says is "largely about the hometown me and the other guys in Dead Confederate grew up in and the way a lot of the friends we had down there slipped away into their vices." You hear traces of country and new Southern Rock in the album's 10 tracks, from plaintive opener "Lucky" to the straight-forward beauty of closer "Own Worst Enemy."

Also available – AlunaGeorge's Body Music; Backstreet Boys' In A World Like This; Chimaira's Crown of Phantoms; Emblem3's Nothing to Lose; Five Finger Death Punch's The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 1; Fortune Howl's Earthbound; Happy Hollows' Amethyst; Heaven's Telepathic Love; Joan of Arc's Testimonium Songs; Kendra Morris' Mockingbird; The Mallard's Finding Meaning in Deference; Michael Franti & Spearhead's All People; Missing Monuments' self-titled; Moreland & Arbuckle's 7 Cities; Pastor Troy's The Streets Need You; Robin Nolan's Gypsy Blue; Russell Howard's City Heart +; Tech N9ne's Something Else; Vince Gill & Paul Franklin's Bakersfield

DVD RELEASES

Film – With a screenplay by Mark Duplass, Black Rock stars director Katie Aselton, Kate Bosworth and Lake Bell, as three childhood friends whose girls' weekend on a remote island turns into a deadly fight for survival; Julia Stiles, Melissa George, Taye Diggs and David Harbour in Between Us; G.I. Joe: Retaliation, the sequel to 2009's G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, stars Dwayne Johnson, Channing Tatum, RZA, Adrianne Palicki and Bruce Willis.

TV – The Angry Beavers: The Complete Series; Banshee: Season One; Don Matteo: Set 5 & 6; Kendra on Top: Season 1; Touched By an Angel: The Eighth Season

Music – Bee Gees' One Night Only; Scorpions' Moment of Glory

Also available – 55 & Older; An Awkward Sexual Adventure; Assault on Wall Street; Blaze You Out; Dark Minds; The Demented; Filly Brown; Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox; Flying Lessons; Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh; Night Across the Street; A Night for Dying Tigers; Robert Williams: Mr. Bitchin'; Rushlights; Space Warriors; Teen Beach Movie; Under the Bed; Unlucky Charms; War on Whistleblowers: Free Press & The National Security State

SHOW REVIEWS: Buddy Guy 8/7/12

Buddy Guy (Derrick Santini)

 

BUDDY GUY

Aug. 7 @ Greek Theatre

I sometimes fantasize that Buddy Guy is related to me. I imagine that one of these Thanksgivings he's going to show up at our door with a grin and one of his custom Fenders asking, "When do we eat?" He would tell us stories about growing up in Louisiana, his years in Chicago and playing with Muddy Waters. Sigh … I just have to be satisfied with going to see him perform every chance I get.

This particular night began with a set from former teen prodigy Jonny Lang. While he's definitely got some impressive guitar chops, what really blew me away was his voice. Lang got down low with the raspiest of them, and his falsetto raised the hairs on the back of my neck. By the time he closed with the title track from his breakout multiplatinum album Lie to Me (1997) – with an acoustic intro –  the crowd was on its feet.

Then the first strains of "Goin' Down" filled the venue, and the master took the stage. Guy has been called the bridge between the blues – Chicago pioneers Waters and Howlin' Wolf – and rock 'n' roll – Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, and Jimmy Page. It always frustrates me when I mention his name and people don't know who he is. Besides being a living legend, he is the consummate showman, a true entertainer.

He professed what a shame it is that the Blues isn't played on the radio anymore, but promised to school the audience in the genre tonight. The crowd just ate it up: Guy had to stop at the first chorus of "Hoochie Coochie Man" because the crowd was too riled up and started chiming in too fast. He said that he had just performed the song in Tokyo, with one difference: "They didn't fuck it up like you just did!" Guy's next lessons were about satisfying a woman ("She's Nineteen Years Old") – complete with a display of his motorboating skills; cheating hearts ("Someone Else Is Steppin' In (Slippin' Out, Slippin' In)"); and getting to keep his shoes on at the airport security checkpoints because of his age ("74 Years Young," with his age updated to 76).

More of the evening's highlights were when Guy paid homage to Albert King, strolling through the audience with his guitar and when he invited two up-and-coming guitar prodigies to the stage. The first was 13-year-old Quinn Sullivan, whose technical skills were amazing. The other, a slightly younger Angeleno by the name of Ray, had the personality and charm to match his stellar guitar playing. Eventually, Guy called Lang back to the stage for a final jam session (of Cream's "Strange Brew") with the two youngsters. He summed up the entire evening by proclaiming that these children prove to him: "The Blues are not dead yet!"