RIYL52

Let's make this quick, we've got had T-ball tonight!

Cowboy Junkies At the End of Paths Taken Hey, somebody woke up the Cowboy Junkies! I love Margo Timmins' voice as much as the next guy, but her band's sound has been suffering from some serious sameness for the last, what, nine years? I don't think there's been much to get excited about since Miles From Our Home came out in 1998. But the few songs from this new disc the Junkies are sampling at their myspace page sound really good. Crashing cymbals, grinding guitars, a little distortion, and Margo's sweet, sweet, voice sounding very strong.

Golden Smog Blood on the Slacks Just last July this supergroup side project ended an eight-year absence with the uneven Another Fine Day. Now - just nine months later - they're already back with another disc (this one's just an EP, but it's an eight-song EP). Golden Smog has always had a somewhat flexible lineup, but it usually included some Jayhawks, some Soul Asylum, and Wilco's Jeff Tweedy. Tweedy wasn't on much of Another Fine Day and isn't on this EP at all. And Golden Smog without Tweedy sounds exactly like you would think it would sound, like a mashup of Soul Asylum and the Jayhawks. Frankly, I'd rather just have another Jayhawks disc, but since that hasn't happened for a while I guess I'll have to settle for this. See what you think over at their myspace page.

Patti Smith Twelve The only song from this disc of covers that's getting any kind of radio play is her take on the Stone's "Gimme Shelter," but some of Smith's other choices are look too interesting not to hear at least once. Neil Young's "Helpless"? "Everybody Wants to Rule the World"? "The Boy In the Bubble"? "Smells Like Teen Spirit"?!?! Calling Smith an acquired taste might be an understatement, but if any of these songs hits the mark like her cover of "Gloria" did, it'll be worth sitting through the one's that don't. Unfortunately, "Gimme Shelter" is in the latter group, and it's the only new song playing on her myspace page.

Arctic Monkeys Favourite Worse Nightmare I never bought the buzz that the Arctic Monkey's debut was the best album of 2006 (or the new century, or of all time). I might have been turned off by the hype, but I just never got into their first album. I think this one, which is being streamed this week over at AOL, sounds much better - more focused and less annoying. I don't think it's a stretch to say that this album solidifies the band's position as the greatest musical artists since the beginning of time, if not earlier.

This week's list:

1. PETER BJORN AND JOHN Writer's Block
2. ROSIE THOMAS These Friends of Mine
3. THE ROSEBUDS Night of the Furies
4. BRIGHT EYES Cassadaga
5. MY MORNING JACKET Okonokos
6. COWBOY JUNKIES At the End of Paths Taken
7. FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE Traffic and Weather
8. ANDREW BIRD Armchair Apocrypha
9. MODEST MOUSE We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
10. KAISER CHIEFS Yours Truly, Angry Mob
11. GRANT LEE PHILLIPS Strangelet
12. PATTI SMITH Twelve
13. TRACEY THORN Out of the Woods
14. SON VOLT Search
15. THE SHINS Wincing the Night Away
16. THE POSTMARKS The Postmarks
17. KRISTOFFER RAGNSTAM Sweet Bills
18. GOLDEN SMOG Blood on the Slacks
19. ARCTIC MONKEYS Favourite Worst Nightmare
20. THE AUTUMN DEFENSE The Autumn Defense
21. ERIN McKEOWN Sing You Sinners
22. ALBERT HAMMOND, JR. Yours To Keep
23. JILL CUNNIFF City Beach
24. PATTY GRIFFIN Children Running Through
25. MARK KNOPFLER & EMMYLOU HARRIS Real Live Roadrunning
26. OVER THE RHINE Discount Fireworks
27. THE DECEMBERISTS The Crane Wife
28. BRYAN FERRY Dylanesque
29. MATT & KIM Matt & Kim
30. THE PERNICE BROTHERS Live a Little

Dropping off the list this week:

• VARIOUS ARTISTS Endless Highway: the Music of the Band
• BAND OF HORSES Everything All the Time
• AMY WINEHOUSE Back in Black
• CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH Some Loud Thunder

RIYL for the week beginning April 23, 2007. Backstory here.

Comments

[Karen]

Patti:

http://www.stereogum.com/archives/005143.html
http://inhouseradio.blogspot.com/2007/04/in-house-1854-new-patti-smith-joni.html
http://siart.blogspot.com/2007/04/twelve.html
http://www.donewaiting.com/archives/2007/04/patti_smiths_twelve.php

[The Velvet Blog]

I have to admit I'm not all that familiar with Patti Smith's work. Where should one start? (I do like her cover of the Byrds' "So You Want to Be a Rock and Roll Star," though.)

[TwoBusy]

I loved "Miles from our Home," but stopped picking up new albums because of reviews that basically said what you just did. If the new one has a little life to it, however...

(getting sucked back in)