The last two years have seen some significant and unexpected losses – a poignant reminder that the era of rock and roll is growing old. It’s an ongoing journey, “a long, strange trip”, as the Grateful Dead sagely observed and there’s always going to be more. Let’s look at some enjoyable sounds of the past year. This isn’t a best of list; it’s some standouts of 2017.
Gregg Allman: Southern Blood
Southern Blood is the swansong of the late singer/songwriter, Gregg Allman, who felt the album was a summing up of his life. The posthumous release is full of hard to ignore restrospection and bittersweet reflection. One of the great blues singers, Allman’s expression is laid bare in the brave tradition of the final farewells of David Bowie and Leonard Cohen. The blues/rock/soul sound of Allman’s world weary voice adds a deep layer of poignancy to the music and tracks like Willin, Song for Adam and My Only True Friend are Allman laying out his life story in song, “Because you and I both know the road is my only true friend.” Southern Blood is brave and revealing and its soul is in its honesty.
Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton: Choir of the Mind
Toronto based musician Emily Haines’ second solo recording, Choir of the Mind is a haunted, ballad driven album, heavy on piano and whispery vocals. On the ace track, Legend of the Wild Horse, Haines conjures a vanished era and diehard romantics like Sandy Denny and Kate Bush. The poetic album is a sound out of time and a marked departure from her work with Metric. Haines moves away from her stance as a sloganeering lightning rod, finding expression as a haunted texturalist.
Beck: Colors
Beck Hansen shifts his retro folk visions onto the dance floor with this sprawling album of beautiful beat driven pop rock. It’s his strongest vocal album to date.
Chris Stapelton: From a Room: Volume One
The second solo album from singer/guitarist Chris Stapleton is a deep take on soulful country-based sounds. A long listen to From a Room reveals his roots in southern blues rock and old school Memphis sounds. His vocal presence can get scary but is also warm.
Widowspeak: Expect the Best
American indie rock band Widowspeak wrests the psychedelic focus from the West Coast to Brooklyn on this direct and dreamy record. They reveal how garage and surf rock merge with folk to make psychedelia. Expect the Best is an altered listening experience that doesn’t demand total immersion.
Valerie June: The Order of Time
On her fourth album, June’s gumbo of soul, folk and gospel morphs into a textural blues sound without the traditional signposts (or soundposts). Songs like If And and Shakedown recall revved up revival hymns and Appalachian breakdowns. She writes new music from eterna.