Irv Rosen Poop 01


What I Listened to in 2001

There seemed to be a gap from mid-September on, but this is what I remember listening to and enjoying, of course, in no particular order:

Nick Lowe – The Convincer
• Having turned his attention from rock to sweet-sounding quiet tunes, Nick turned out an outstanding set. I still dig his mood.

Dave Edmunds – Hand Picked
• The other half of Rockpite self-reteases an eclectic set of (mostly) acoustic songs raging from classical to Elvis to Mason Williams. With a new replacement heart valve, Dave is in good form

Bob Dylan – Love And Theft
• I really did not expect (or even want) to like this but I keep going back to it. Maybe ifs the moustache.

The Trifecta:
0 Brother, Where Art Thou
Down from the Mountain (cd)
Down from the {Mountain (concert movie)
• I know the album has been played to death but… There is not one song I do not like.The movie concert (and cd) are great, especially (surprisingly) the late John Hartford.

John Hammond – Wicked Grin
• Faux bluesman does an entire album of Tom Waits, produced by Mr. Waits. Great songs, more listenable (but not necessarily better) than the orignals.

Lucinda Williams – Essence
• She keeps getting better. Like it more each time I hear it.

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings – Time (the Revelator)
• What a crime that David does not get co-billing with Gillian. Take away his sweet harmonies and all of her work is diminished. Took time but love it.

Patty Loveless – Mountain Soul
• A revelation. From hack country star to rootsy bfuegrass queen.

Hasidic New Wave & Yakar Rhythms – From the Belly of Abraham
(Adventures of the Afro-SemiticBiaspora)

• A joint effort of a new wave klezmer band and a Senegalese percussion group.

V.A. – Avalon Blues: A Tribute to the Music of Mississippi John Hurt
• This tribute thing is getting tired but t like this – probably mostly because I did not know the songs before so that there was no need to compare to the originals.

Buddy &Julie Miller
• Although the first official collaboration, I like it better than either one’s so-so work.

Takashi Hirayasu & Bob Brozman – Nankuru Naisa
• One plays sanshm, the other National bottleneck guitar – can you guess who plays which instrument? A totally delightful collaboration (with other musicians as well). Impossible to describe this Okinawan/American hybrid.

Buddy Guy – Sweet Tea

Honorable Mentions:
Orlando Cachaito Lopez – Cachaito – Buena Vista Social Club codger goes
modern.
Odetta – Lookin for a Home -songs of Leadbelly
New Pornographers – Modern Romantic
0ld 97’s – Satellites
V.A. – Truck Driver’s Boogie – Big Rig Hits Volume 1
Jim White – No Such Place
Continental Drifters – Better Day
Beachwood Sparks – Once We Were Trees
John Hiatt – The Tiki Bar Is Open
Burlap Palace – A Tribute to the Muscle Shoals Sound
David Thomas Roberts – American Landscape – modem ragtime piano

Next year,
Irv Rosen
Philadelphia