The Rural Minority

I know it’s a few weeks late, but one of my co-workers [and 80s music buff], Jon Abelack, put together his Top 10 Studio Album List of 2009 followed by his Top Five Live Albums of the Year. This is not a fly-by-night list like many already out there, but a very thought out, well put together piece by one of the best ears out there. Without further ado:

1. Alice in Chains—Black Gives Way to Blue—  Wow, after a 14 year Hiatus, Chains are back and  in true form.  The new singer William Duvall(not Robert duvalls’ brother) sounds just enough like Layne Staley but still different enough so you never think you’re listening to an Alice in Chains cover band, the music is great, couple of nice slow songs on the album, great riffs and all, fav (4) song on the album is Lesson Learned. A very well put together album.

2. Them Crooked Vultures- Self Titled—Damn Rock and Roll as I live and breathe and almost lose my breath again!  Supergroup comprised of John Paul Jones who is god on bass, Dave Grohl god on drums and Josh Home from QOTSA on guitar and vocals a solid musician in his own right.  The songs rock and are always changing tempo, never know what you’re going to get kind of like a james Cameron movie but not nearly as bad as how he looks now!  Great grooves and moves on this album, solid debut effort… it puts the R in rock and the L in roll….  4 song(fav song)—is  Gunman, kind of dancey, funky song.

3. Bob Dylan— Together Thru Life— The first Bob Dylan original CD that I actually have the others are copied—just a great mix of all different sounds, voice sounds good, band is solid,  4 song(fav song) is Forgetful heart… as long as it doesn’t stop beating!!!

4. U2—No Line on the Horizon—   Well, call it a comeback as in my opinion this is their best album since the classic achtung baby,, Pop and Zooropa have some great songs on the albums but I don’t think those albums are so great overall..  The ballads on this album are about as smooth as drinking a strawberry milkshake, singing is good, Edge is in top form, and the half instrumental song Fez being born is a very creative song… 4 song(fav song) on the album is Magnificent….

5. Dream Theater— Black Clouds and Silver Lining—After a couple of subpar records DT bounce back with a solid effort, long epic songs, god on guitar, great music, good singing, tempo changes and all… fav song(4)—is Rite of Passage.

6. Pearl Jam—Backspacer—Well, not as good as the album that preceded it but still very good, some of the songs have a good pop rock style to them, singing as always is great, songs at times are a bit short… still a must have for any pearl jam fan to keep up with the catalog—4(fav song) is Got Some, ironically enough the first time I heard this song was on a late night tv show at linus’s place and I thought it was just okay but on the album it has the best drumming on it and good punch to it, not the kind you drink!

7. Chicken Foot—Self titled—Another supergroup with Chad smith or is that Will Farrell on the drums from chili pepers, satriani on guitar, michael Anthony on the bass and the one and only Red Rooster Sammy Hager on the vocals— Chad Smith shows another side of his drumming on this album which is just great, stead bass and fraternity boy looks by Michael Anthony, god on guitar by Satriani he’s like a Lamborghini just can’t stop it! And vocals that have never changed in over 30 years by sammy hager.. some corny lyrics at times but I think the music is so great it compensates welll… 4(fav song) is Running Thru… awesome guitar solo in this song.

8. Air–  Love 2–  well, I enjoyed their last album more than walkie talkie which fans tend to like more, this is their best album since the classic I’d take this disc on me to a desert island to be stranded with Moon Safari… great mix of electronic and 70s sounds blended in, some but not much singing, feel like I’m on another planet when I listen to it… Fav song (4) is Missing the light of day.

9. Peter Yorn–  Back and Forth—Coming off a solid album the album before this one, Pete Yorn returns with what he does best a good blend of acoustic and electric sounds, lyrics are good, singing is in top form… 4 song (fav) is Paradise Cove…

10. Jarvis Cocker- Further Complications—Just hitting the top 10 close race with Depeche Mode’s album—for his second solo record Jarvis returns with a slightly more rock oriented sound, catchy hooks, his first album is def better but this is a good listen.. fav (4) song is Sludge.

Fav live Albums that came out in 2009.

1. The Doors—Live at the Felt Forum 1970— Wow, this 6 cd set is a must get for any Doors Fan, crystal clear recording, great singing, music is solid, many different versions of lightmy fire and others and all sound so great..

2. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers—Live Anthology 4 cd set—as always, does a great job of adding to and mixing up songs live, proof is it’s good to be king where he takes a good song and makes it outstanding with guitar solos etc, and woman in love, it’s not me sounds better than ever on this record with the great lead in on keyboards by benmont tench (sp?)… I dig it, dug it and want to keep listening….!

3. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club—live from last tour—solid psychedelic rock by these rockers,songs are crisp and fast, like a rollercoaster in the dark.

4. REM- Live at the Olympia—Can’t go wrong with REM live, singing keeps getting better, music is strong, downside not as much jangly pop rock sound that’s their tradermark, songs are more rocking which is good and sometimes not as good… 4 songs(fav) is These Days.

5. The Cult- Love Live—and let’s be flippant about 9 11 in concert!  I think it’s good but the rhythm section we saw live is def better than this album but its still very good.

I am told it really doesn’t say much, but the lineup has been posted:

A lot of the bands that have been discussed in the previous few “best of 2009″ are playing and a lot of the rumored Bonnaroo 2010 that Paulie brought up are.

It’s kinda tough to read, so here is the breakdown.  I put in bold the ones that I would be pumped about:

FRIDAY APRIL 16: Jay-Z, LCD Soundsystem, Them Crooked Vultures, Vampire Weekend, Deadmau5, Public Image Limited, The Specials, Grizzly Bear, Passion Pit, Echo and the Bunnymen, Benny Benassi, Fever Ray, Grace Jones, She & Him, Erol Alkan, The Avett Brothers, Calle 13, The Whitest Boy Alive, The Cribs, La Roux, Yeasayer, Lucero, DJ Lance Rock, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Proxy, Ra Ra Riot, Deer Tick, Wolfgang Gartner, Aeroplane, Iglu & Hartly, Sleigh Bells, P.O.S., Baroness, Hockey, Little Dragon, White Rabbits, Wale, Kate Miller-Heidke, As Tall as Lions, Jets Overhead, Alana Grace, Pablo Hassan.

SATURDAY, APRIL 17: Muse, Faith No More, Tiësto, MGMT, David Guetta, The Dead Weather, Hot Chip, Devo, Coheed and Cambria, Kaskade, 2Many DJ’s, Major Lazer, Dirty Projectors, Gossip, Z-Trip, The xx, John Waters, Les Claypool, The Raveonettes, Mew, Sia, Camera Obscura, Tokyo Police Club, Porcupine Tree, Old Crow Medicine Show, Aterciopalados, Bassnectar, Frightened Rabbit, Dirty South, Flying Lotus, Corinne Bailey Rae, Pretty Lights, Shooter Jennings, RX Bandits, The Almighty Defenders, Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros, Craze & Klever, Zoe, The Temper Trap, Portugal. The Man, Band of Skulls, Girls, Beach House, Steel Train, Frank Turner.

SUNDAY, APRIL 18: Gorillaz, Pavement, Thom Yorke????, Phoenix, Orbital, Spoon, Sly and the Family Stone, De La Soul, Julian Casablancas, Plastikman, Gary Numan, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Sunny Day Real Estate, Yo La Tengo, MUTEMATH, Deerhunter, Infected Mushroom, Club 75, Matt & Kim, The Big Pink, Gil Scott-Heron, King Khan and the Shrines, Florence and the Machine, Yann Tiersen, Little Boots, Miike Snow, Talvin Singh, Ceu, B.o.B., Babasonicos, Owen Pallett, The Glitch Mob, Mayer Hawthorne, Local Natives, Rusko, The Middle East, Hadouken!, The Soft Pack, Kevin Devine, Paparazzi, Delphic, One EskimO.

Thoughts?  Any of you west-coasters planning on going?

BTW, I got this info from HERE

According to the web site Consequence of Sound, here are some educated guesses on who may be heading to Bonnaroo next year (and yes, pumped about the first one, if it’s true):

Bonnaroo (June 10-13; Manchester, TN):

• U2 - It’s beginning to appear more and more that Bono and Co. will be making their way to Manchester.

• Roger Waters performing The Wall - Word on the street is that The Who isn’t happening. Roger Waters seems like a suitable replacement.

• The String Cheese Incident – This year’s Phish.

• Guns N’ Roses – If Axl were to play any music festival this summer (and we know he wants too), then it would have to be Bonnaroo.

• Jay-Z - Might be a bit of a stretch considering he already has a date in Europe that weekend, but Bonnaroo does need some hip-hop and it only makes sense that the world’s biggest festival would tap the world’s biggest rapper. Late night set? Thank goodness there are things such as airplanes.

• Pavement - Exclusivity won’t matter by then. Why not have them?

• Pixies - Keeping the reunion going.

• My Morning Jacket – My Morning Jacket and Bonnaroo belong together.

• Others: The Flaming Lips, Them Crooked Vultures, She & Him, The Whigs, Deftones, The National, Rufus Wainwright, Drive-By Truckers, STS9, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros