Album Review: Various Artists, “Songs, Bond Songs – The Music Of 007”

By no stretch of the imagination was the James Bond film series the first to understand the marketing power of popular music. You’d have to go back as far as silent movies, where a score was played live for the audience, to see how the two mediums — movies and music — first got tangled together. But it is safe to say that few film franchises have become as well-known for its theme songs as the Bond series has.

After all, what’s the conversation like whenever a new entry is announced? Who will be the Bond Girl(s)? What will the Bond gadgets be? Who is doing the Bond title song this time? Just as one can expect anticipation for the song, one can also expect that there will be debates about it, and who does it. (Are you pro-Sam Smith or pro-Radiohead?) But for a few exceptions, each entry arrives as a new composition with a new celebrity performer behind it.

There are some things that remain consistent. Primarily — and I don’t mean this to sound derogatory, but I’m guessing it will — most Bond themes sound like they’re written by pubescent males. Over the top lyrics typically illustrate big ego, big drama, big sex, and big paranoia, and in order to complete the task successfully, the performer needs to play this game straight. You can take liberties with a Bond song, but you cannot have “fun” with it. This is life or death stuff, after all.

Songs, Bond Songs – The Music Of 007 is the fourth release from Andrew Curry’s label Curry Cuts, and the third which features unique versions of well-known tracks (the previous material being ’70s Lite Rock and ’80s Brit Rock and Pop). By and large, Curry has scored another winner but, as you can guess, the remit must have been the most difficult of all.

It comes down to the conviction of the performances and how far you’re willing to go. The most successful reinterpretations are willing to rewrite the parameters, but not the rules. Freedy Johnson’s take on “For Your Eyes Only” as an acoustic ballad strips away the soft pop enlargement of Sheena Easton’s original, and the intimacy works perfectly. Lisa Mychols’ version of “The Man With The Golden Gun” brings all the pow and zap of the late-’60s and early-’70s, arguably the era where James Bond held the greatest sway with pop culture, without reducing the song to a parody.

That’s a tough job. No one on the compilation had a more difficult assignment than Jaret Reddick (Bowling For Soup), but by all accounts, he personally signed up to do the theme for “Thunderball.” The original is an overwrought piece of nonsense that came as a last resort. Other songs had been commissioned. Dionne Warwick recorded one, the equally absurd “Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.” But producers Harry Saltzman and Albert “Cubby” Broccoli disputed the value of having a theme that doesn’t directly namedrop the movie title (subsequently selling said movie on pop radio stations). “Thunderball” was written. Tom Jones was enlisted to sing it, and he did with all the conviction of a man fighting off the armies of SPECTRE with one hand and holding three bleach-blondes with the other. Like I said, the songs readily and unabashedly courted adolescent fantasy and machismo. 

The tracks that do not work best — and I suppose this is strictly a case of personal opinion rather than an empirical determination — either play too loose with the ground rules or are way too beholden to the originals. The former neglects the narrow parameters of what a Bond song is and, therefore, misses the target entirely. The latter…well, you might as well go back and listen to the originals instead, right? As with any Various Artists compilation, tastes run the range, and the aspects that don’t suit me might be exactly what you’re looking for.

Of the tunes that do it for me, multi-instrumentalist Joe Seiders, drummer for The New Pornographers and heard here as Big-Box Store, takes one of the least-effective latter day Bond themes, “Die Another Day,” and gives it new life. Jeff Litman and Andi Rae Healy layer “You Only Live Twice” with a gauzy, hypnotic frost, providing unexpected and much-needed weight to lyrics that weren’t very complex from the start. The combination of these with John Barry’s descending chords — a progression he’d revisit for the “Theme from Midnight Cowboy” — make a great impression.

At a total of 26 tracks, the odds are in your favor that you’ll find a lot to love about Songs, Bond Songs – The Music Of 007. Andrew Curry’s winning streak appears to be unbroken, and the only question now is, what can he possibly do to top himself?

More information about Songs Bond Songs – The Music Of 007 is available here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/444321026/songs-bond-songs-the-music-of-007

Popdose Premiere: Mike Errico, “Here’s to the End of the World”

Anticipating the release of his new album, Minor Fits, Mike Errico is teasing out songs from his eighth release. Popdose is thrilled to share one of them — “Here’s to the End of the World” — with you, but in typical fashion, we’re given an inch and grabbing a mile. Seeing an opportunity to find out more about the song and project, we backed Errico into a corner and threw the light on him. “Tell us more about this, Errico, or else things could get…you know…complicated.”

I don’t think he minded, to be honest.

“Here’s to the End of the World” is scheduled for release on Thursday, May 25. Thanks for letting Popdose be a part of the rollout for the tracks from Minor Fits. It’s striking that this track is so topical, and yet you suggest that’s a fortunate occurrence of unfortunate circumstances?

“Here’s to the End of the World” is noteworthy in a few ways: First, It’s a singalong drinking song about the apocalypse, and though it was written well before 2016, it’s feeling weirdly topical. It owes debts to the Pogues, the Beatles and my ample time spent singing at bars.

Clearly we are living in those accursed “interesting times” someone once wrote about. So tell me about the process when you did write it and, perhaps, if you had the foresight then to see where we are now in 2017, what would you have changed about it?

I wrote it long ago – it must be a decade or more. I never released it, but it stayed with me all these years, as if it were waiting for the properly apocalyptic moment. I thought it was weird to go so far back like that to retrieve a song, but I was inspired by Radiohead, who put out the 20-year-old “True Love Waits” on A Moon-Shaped Pool just last year. If a song works, I guess it doesn’t matter when it was written. But I wouldn’t change anything about it. I think the fact that it doesn’t mention a specific news peg works to its advantage. And the song’s overall message of camaraderie makes it a universal drinking song that’s versatile enough to plug into whatever apocalypse you might be going through. That’s about all you can ask out of a song, really.

You are a songwriting professor who’s taught at Yale, Wesleyan, and NYU’s Clive Davis Institute. As a songwriting professor, you have a different view of construction and structure than others might have. I’m sure it helps in many ways, but could you articulate how that knowledge might have helped you create this song and the album in full?

Well, in the big picture, teaching has sharpened my ability to focus on what, exactly, a song wants to say. The biggest issues I see in my classes is that students are either unclear about that, or they’re trying to tell two stories at the same time, negating either one.

I start the semester with a piece of wisdom I lifted from author George Saunders: Art is kind of like a box, and the job of the artist is to have people to walk into that box, and walk out having experienced something that is both “undeniable” and “nontrivial.” Song form – where the chorus goes, what a bridge is for, etc. – ultimately has to pass that smell test. From there, the debate is how to balance one’s imagination with the writer’s tools that put that imagination in appropriate lighting. If that sounds both vague, yet pretty specific, then you get what I mean.

At the same time, were there moments during writing and/or recording where you needed to suspend the analytical side, that perhaps the process was getting in the way?

For sure. And I did my best to keep my own balance, though I consciously decided that, if I was going to err on a side, it was going to be that things don’t go off on enough tangents and “jams” that some people love. But honestly, I didn’t worry about it, because the songs came very quickly, so the unconsciousness is, to me, baked in to the writing itself. They’re taut, but they also flow. Live, I open the solos up, and let things breathe a little more, but then, live performance is a completely different medium.

What comes first typically: the lyrics or the music, or are they interchangeable according to the feeling of the moment?

I take whatever comes, whenever it comes, with hands outstretched and tears of gratitude. Sometimes the music arrives, but doesn’t want to hang out with words: I make those instrumentals, and save them, or use them for TV and film work. Sometimes the words can’t be bothered with music, and I make those short stories, essays, lectures, or rants that live in a notebook and sit on a shelf until they’re ready to play nice.

The future of music — versus, I suppose, the future of the industry is a topic that fascinates me. Personally, I believe there will always be major labels and they will always dominate the business…but at the same time, that’s becoming an entirely separate business (or business entity) than what we once knew as “the music biz.” I’d like to get your read on these…

It’s so funny, because I was initially inspired, on all levels, by Ani DiFranco’s DIY ethic, so the concept of “major label” doesn’t ring to me the way it does to some artists. There will always be a version of major labels, I guess, but I don’t assume that I, or my students, require one. There are so many definitions of success, now.

A friend gave me a great piece of advice in putting this record out. He said, “Consider your audience, however big it is, and think about what would be fun for them to be on the other side of.” I mean, what else is there? I’ve been releasing singles, videos, stories, and I have a Pledge Music campaign that has all kinds of interesting offerings that orbit music, but are not necessarily musical. It’s about making conversation more than making a killing. And I’m cool with that.

Getting back to “Here’s to the End of the World,” there’s another special aspect to the song that ties both your recording and teaching worlds together.

The “gang vocalists” that sing along with me at the end are friends and students of my classes. (Through) teaching, I’ve come in contact with many noteworthy individuals who are now alums of my classes: Maggie Rogers; Overcoats; Michael Blume; Mree; Tor Miller; Jil; Sarah Solovay; and more. I keep in touch with all former students through an online community called, “The Hang,” and a group of them came to the studio to help me out. I think I’m building a special community, there.

Minor Fits is currently a part of a Pledge Music campaign. You can find out more about it and about Mike Errico at: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/mikeerrico

POPDOSE PREMIERE: Chantal Monté, “Everything”

At the risk of sounding totally trite, it is Monday, and we’re all still in need of some major weekend vibes to get us through the start of another week. Wherever you are, even if you’re sat behind a desk, take a second to relax, unwind, and spend a few minutes with Chantal Monté.

A product of post-‘1960s San Fran, Monté translates the power of meditation, sexuality, and transcendence through her music. Her new single, “Everything,” from her upcoming EP Syrup, embodies the kind of cool, sensual sound that lures listeners into a peaceful place. Combining her soft, mantra-like vocals with a bare-bones arrangement from collaborator Nuno Meneses, Monté pairs the studio-created background track with her words — recorded from her own bed.

Here, in its Popdose premiere, take a listen to Chantal Monté’s “Everything,” the ideal track for yoga, meditation, or, ya know, other things. And be sure to visit her website to learn more about her music.

ALBUM REVIEW: THE BAYONETS, “Crash Boom Bang!”

Once upon a time, you had a thing called “rock and roll”.  Happy to say, it’s still alive and well and thriving in the sounds of The Bayonets.  Put together all the best elements – a little Stones, a little Ramones and a little garage thrust to make the motor go – and you have The Bayonets.  Fronted by Paul McCartney’s guitarist and bassist (for the last 15 years!), Mr. Brian Ray, along with his drumming cohort, Mr. Oliver Leiber (three guesses who his father was) have been making this glorious and melodic racket for the last few years and now, their first release on Jem Records, Crash Boom Bang! will be exploding out of your headphones on May 17th. Rounding out this rollicking musical aggregate is Lucrecia Lopez Sanz and they make a glorious racket.

With the mid-’60’s garage/rave-up “Like She Does” kicking things off, you know you’re in for a swinging, good time – crisp production; upbeat and catchy and instantly memorable; “I Feel Love” is a full, organ-driven piece with a damned melodic chorus and easy to sing along with and stomp your foot in time to and “So Easy Rider” has a great, dense sound with a build up from the verses to the chorus, which makes this one of the absolute standouts.  “Voodoo Doll” has some delicious slide guitars to give it a slightly sinister, swamp feel and choogles along nicely; “Vagabond Soul” which, with its horn section and gentle, opening guitar figures, harkens back to Stax, circa ’66, ’67 and features Aerosmith legend Steven Tyler (!) and is easily my personal favorite; “Whatcha Got” is another guitar twang/riff fest and picks up steam with Ms. Lopez Sanz’ vocals on the bridge and “Last Man Standing” closes out the collection back in the garage; Ms. Lopez Sanz delivers convincing emotion on the verses.

You’re left slightly breathless by the time this album concludes, which is a good thing.  It’s a 100-miles-an-hour joyride.  Pure, classic rock & roll joy.  This band has got it right on all levels, so it wouldn’t be off the mark to say it’s time to let your musical senses be pierced by The Bayonets.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Crash Boom Bang! will be released on Friday, May 19th, 2017

http://www.thebayonets.com/index.php/home

Chesney Performs at Stagecoach Festival

On Sunday night, Kenny Chesney headlined the Stagecoach Music Festival in California.

No Shoes Nation was in full force Sunday night and while Chesney led off the night with “Have Another Beer in Mexico,” the beer was being raised high all night in Indio.

Chesney wasted no time at all, going from song to song, unleashing one number one hit after another with songs like “Somewhere with You,” and “I Go Back.”

There was no time for small talk as Chesney rolled out an hour and a half of nothing but his greatest hits.

One of the most memorable, and arguably the cutest moment of Chesney’s performance was the duet of “Setting the World On Fire.”

No, Pink didn’t make a surprise appearance, but rather, Chesney pulled a young girl from the audience to help sing along and with the support of the crowd and Chesney, she absolutely nailed it.

Watch the Video Debut of “Rich and Miserable”

Kenny Chesney released an extended music video today for “Rich and Miserable”:

“We climb the ladder, but the ladder just grows,” Kenny Chesney sings in “Rich and Miserable.”

The country music star debuted his extended music video today for the track off his latest album Cosmic Hallelujah, which was released October 28, 2016.

The video features a college professor, played by John McGinle, asking his student to think about who they are and what makes them happy. Essentially, to look beyond the “rich and miserable” belief fed to them throughout their lives and seek out what they really want from life.

You can watch it now at Radio.com

Chesney Reflects on Loss of Jonathan Demme

If you’re aware of who Jonathan Demme is, it’s probably as the director for movies like ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ and ‘Philadelphia,’ but he also directed the Kenny Chesney production “American Express Unstaged” in 2012. Demme passed away on Wednesday:

“Jonathan Demme understood how to capture music on film in a way that kept the heart and the energy intact,” Chesney tells Rolling Stone about working with the legendary filmmaker. Demme died on Wednesday (April 26) from cancer and heart disease. He was 73.

“I learned so much watching him work when he shot our show in Wildwood, N.J., about songs I already knew — and his love for how music looks when it’s being played live has stayed with me,” Chesney adds.

The country star’s Unstaged show was live-streamed on YouTube from Wildwood Beach, N.J., and reached people globally, but even more impressive, 20,000 fans showed up to see the concert in person. Chesney, a 2017 Country Jam headliner, performed almost 30 songs from his expansive catalog, including classics like “You and Tequila,” “Somewhere With You” and his early hit “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy.” The release of the film was in partnership with the launch of Chesney’s 2012 album, Welcome to the Fishbowl, which topped Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart and includes the two Top 10 singles “Come Over” and “El Cerrito Place.”

Watch a clip from the “Unstaged” show that Demme directed:

Chesney Plays Tourist in Europe

Kenny Chesney isn’t doing many shows this year, and he’s taking the chance to play tourist:

The superstar from East Tennessee most recently engaged his wanderlust on an excursion to Europe.

“There’s a lot of places that I’m curious about,” Kenny says. “I love being a tourist. I went to Italy this past year and I loved it because I love to eat,” he laughs.

“I love red wine so it was a lot of fun. I grew up loving cheese, tomatoes,” the notorious fitness buff goes on. “All that’s in Italy. I love it and… I love being a tourist when I can be.”

Chesney Nabs Billboard Touring Nominations

Nominations for the 2017 Billboard Touring Awards have been announced and Kenny Chesney nabbed three nominations:

Top Country Tour

  • Luke Bryan
  • Kenny Chesney
  • Dixie Chicks

Top Country Song

  • Kenny Chesney Featuring Pink, “Setting The World On Fire”
  • Florida Georgia Line, “H.O.L.Y.”
  • Florida Georgia Line Featuring Tim McGraw, “May We All”
  • Little Big Town, “Better Man”
  • Keith Urban, “Blue Ain’t Your Color”

Top Country Collaboration

  • Dierks Bentley Featuring Elle King, “Different For Girls”
  • Kenny Chesney Featuring Pink, “Setting The World On Fire”
  • Eric Church Featuring Rhiannon Giddens, “Kill A Word”
  • Florida Georgia Line Featuring Tim McGraw, “May We All”
  • Chris Young Featuring Vince Gill, “Sober Saturday Night”

The Billboard Music Awards will air on May 21 at 8PM on ABC.