Midweek Music News Roundup 10.14.09: What's Your Name? Who's Your Daddy? Is He A Musician Like Me?

Posted by Lucas Wesley on 10.14.2009

Sonic Youth appear on Gossip Girl, Bob Dylan will appear on NCIS, Oasis is done, Radiohead isn't, MCA is recovering, Brian Wilson updates Gershwin and Disney, Public Enemy needs your help, Tom Waits has fun on stage, Philles records get reissued and we take a look at the pros and cons of a strong musical lineage. Interested? Read all about it in the Midweek Music News Roundup!

So, I just got off a four day mini-break for Columbus Day, so this is the first bit of work I've had to do for a few days. I'm totally feeling it, though. Just to clear up a little controversy from last week's comment section, and to prove I really do appreciate each and every comment, apparently I got some information about South Park Mexican wrong. I'm not going to take either side on this one, because I admit I've only read one side of the story. All I'll do is apologize; I didn't even know the other side existed. Anyone interested can do the research on his or her own, because as always I used him only as an example of something that affected me. Right or wrong, that doesn't change the context in which I used it. However, it is rather important given what we're talking about, so I do implore anyone interested to found out right and wrong in this situation. It simply isn't something I have time to do. Anyway, moving on. The news.

- In addition to SPM, last week there was a little Oasis news that lead to some confusion in the comments section. To answer the question, Liam is the lead singer and Noel is the lead guitarist. Or, well, was and was, since Liam re-confirmed the breakup. But we used to get that confirmation on a daily basis, so keep tight, Britpop fans. Liam and Noel both claim they'll continue as musicians, but in what capacity is not known. The assumption is solo albums.



- Last Monday, Sonic Youth finally appeared on Gossip Girl, as reported weeks ago. I didn't watch it, but I can tell you that Kim Gordon played a prominent role in the episode. In news I know more about, yesterday, in honor of the appearance, the group released the acoustic version of "Star Power" created for the show as a single with "Antennae" as the b-side. In limited numbers, it can also come with a "Star Power" poster and t-shirt, or some combination of the three.

- Fear not Radiohead fans, Thom was merely misunderstood (I'm sure he loves reading that)! According to Ed O'Brien, the band will indeed be making more albums, starting recording as early as this winter. The band is apparently letting the fans decide when it gets released. Just kidding, but we'll see about those costs.

- First Billy Bragg and Wilco tackled Woody Guthrie. Then reports were Bob Dylan and Jack White were taking on Hank Williams. The next "finishing the works of a legendary artist" project? Brian Wilson finishing George Gershwin. Wilson is very excited about the project, and knowing him, he can make an entire album out of one or two lost songs. In addition to this, both artists have other upcoming projects: Gershwin's estate is also planning a tribute album produced by Phil Ramone sometime next year, and Brian is working with Disney to "Brian-ize" some of their classic songs.

- Cancer stricken Beastie Boys MCA appears to be doing well. Says MCA, he's been receiving Tibetan medicines and is hopeful that he's beaten cancer. However, "time will tell." As for the album, there's no new release date, but he's hopeful about that, too. We continue to wish him well in his recovery, and out of respect, I will refrain any jokes about the last part of Man on the Moon.



- Fellow Public Enemy fans, your help is requested. Chuck D and the gang have requested that fans donate money to help fund their next album. Formation on how to donate can be found here. It kind of makes me sad that PE apparently don't have money to fund their own album considering their latest was one of their finest, but at the same time I hope it starts a trend for younger artists who otherwise wouldn't have a chance.

- Rest in peace to Robert Kirby, string arranger for Nick Drake. 1970's Bryter Layter remains one of the all time prettiest albums, and Kirby's strings had a lot to do with it. He also worked with Vashti Bunyan, Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, The Strawbs, John Cale and Elton John. More recently he worked with Linda Thompson and Vashti Bunyan again, this time for her comeback album. His works will be forever appreciated and he will be missed.

- A little bit more news on that Beck/Charlotte Gainsbourg collaboration: it will be titled IRM and the first single is now available for free download on Charlotte's web site. I feel kind of bad. We went from weekly Beck news for the first ten weeks then I kind of dropped off on him. Well, it's back for now. We'll see if he keeps it up.

- As promised, a previously unreleased Michael Jackson song, "This Is It," has been released on his official web site. File it under the slow ballad section of his discography, as I think we all pretty much assumed it would be. It's not bad, although the whole time it feels like it's building to some kind of "Man in the Mirror" type epic and it never quite gets there. My main fear is that this will start a trend of a yearly or every other yearly or sectional (...etc) greatest hits release with one new/lost track. Well, I guess this wouldn't be the start, but you know what I mean. As one of the people that shelled out $50 for Hello Motown, I promise you there's tons of fans who would be far more willing to pay the big bucks for one big outtakes comp as opposed to dozens of special one or two tracks. Oh, I'm getting cynical and assumptive. Enough of that. Go listen to the track, if you wish. Oh, don't forget it was apparently co-written by Paul Anka, too. So there's that.



- Are you one of the millions of Americans who loves Tom Waits but has never seen him live? Well, worry not, person who has a poor understanding of just how many people are in America! On November 24, Glitter and Doom will be released. Based on whether or not you count certain albums, this is either his second or third live album (Big Time being the definite one, Nighthawks at the Diner being the questionable one). Either way, this looks to be pretty great. Disc one is a compilation of songs throughout the tour, in the order they appeared on any given night. The second is the Tom Waits version of Having Fun with Elvis on Stage, called Tom Tales. For many, this will be the buying point.

- Bob Dylan is still finding new ways to release old music. The November 3 episode of NCIS is set to feature the unreleased "California," recorded all the way back in 1965. Take that, Sonic Youth, and yr...yr. "Gossip Girl." For fans that want to hear the song but don't like NCIS, it'll be on Volume 2 of the soundtrack, due November 3. This is pretty huge, actually, since I believe Dylan hasn't released any "lost" music from the 60's since 1991, so even fans that complain about him today might be able to find something new to love. Dylan's latest, Christmas in the Heart, was released yesterday.

- Back To Mono fans that want more Phil Spector, your dreams are coming true: Philles Records, in collaboration with Sony and EMI, are in the planning stages for a massive re-issue series, working both with original CDs and singles. Starting the set off, A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector, also known as a strong contender for the greatest Christmas album of all time, will be released next week.

Star Power

16-year-old Benjamin Presley is a hot new talent that was recently signed to a $5 million contract with Universal. That is to say, they be givin' him a lot of money. The logic may stem from the fact that he is Elvis Presley's grandson, or perhaps that he is the one-time stepson of Michael Jackson. But that all gets shot when you realize the biggest influence on his life was Lisa Marie Presley. Now, I know nothing of her parenting skills, I'm sure she was a fine mother. However, we can't look at half of his musical lineage and ignore the other half. That doesn't work.

However, all this thought has me thinking about the idea of musical lineage. Every time a famous musician has a child that thinks, hey, music, maybe I should try it, expectations are unfairly high. And almost every time, they fail to live up to those expectations. So for this week's Star Power, we'll look at a few examples of children (or in some cases, grandchildren) of musicians and see how they did.

The first cases to examine are the most famous cases. Not necessarily the best known, but literally the cases of the most famous people. For this, our primary sources of study are Jakob Dylan (and the Wallflowers), Julian Lennon and Sean Lennon. For posterity, their fathers are Bob Dylan and John Lennon, respectively. Sean has the added bonus of Yoko as a mother. Jakob had the privilege of a band; I admit that in my youth, before I knew much about music, I was unaware the connection between those One Headlight guys and the Zimmer Man. I was young, I don't know how the rest of the world reacted. I do know, however, that Jakob wouldn't mention it in interviews, and in fact shied from the topic. And who could blame him when you look at Julian? His first album came four years after his father's death, and it's impossible to find a review or mention of it without noting that fact. Every person who's heard Valotte, myself included, heard it in reference to John's work, wondering whether or not it stood up. If it does or doesn't is unimportant, the unfair part is that no other artist in history needed to come out of the gate with that burden.



Well, I guess, except Sean. After laying low for a while in bands like Cibo Matto and doing a variety of projects for his mother (such as a guest star laden, charity re-version of Give Peace a Chance and backing her fantastic album Rising as IMA), Sean's first album finally came in 1998. While Julian went the major label route with Atlantic (son of Warner Music), Sean picked the Beastie Boys' personal label, Grand Royal. According to Sean, the Beasties were the only ones uninterested in his heritage, choosing him solely for his music. Of course, it doesn't matter who signs you, the public still saw him as John's son. The fact he keeps working with Yoko, even putting her work first these days probably doesn't help. Regardless, he's managed to release two albums that I call fantastic, and I see him apart from John. Whether or not the rest of the world does is questionable.

But John Lennon was a major pop star. From my studies, it seems that other genres treat their famous families a little differently. Take for example the Hank Williams family. I rarely see the family compared to one another, past the obvious fact that they are related. Perhaps it's the fact that no one's music is quite similar to Hank Sr, and Hank III has separated himself to the point where such comparison is impossible. However, the case of Roseanne Cash presents the possibility that it is a genre issue, as I rarely see her directly compared to Johnny. Then again, it could be a reluctance to compare genders. I didn't even mention Holly Williams up there, because no one compares her to Hank.

In fact, even in the pop world, cross-gender familial comparison rarely happens. Wilson Phillips, daughters of Brian Wilson and John Phillips respectively, rarely get compared to either the Beach Boys or the Mamas & the Papas, past that basic acknowledgment (at this point I'm going to throw out the fact that I admit I'm a young person, I didn't hear the initial hype around these artists. Perhaps it was completely based on lineage. But I will point out that in 2009, we still see Sean and Julian compared to John, so ex post facto, the argument stands). I don't know if it's the typical separation of genders in musical taste and expectation or if it's a deeper issue of marginalizing the female heirs: the public gives them a break because they don't believe they could possibly live up to their fathers. I don't believe that's the case, but men are valued over women in music (as other places in life) so that may be the case. But let's not get into some social statement right now, I already did some of that a few weeks ago with Yoko.



Let's move on entirely. It isn't just the parents. Sometimes it's the brothers or sisters or uncles or aunts. This is certainly the case of all the Jacksons not named Michael or Janet (or for a while Jermaine, I guess). Always compared to their famous siblings, the other Jacksons never quite had a chance at solo success. How can you make an album that compares to a Thriller or a Rhythm Nation? You can't. The family members with the worst end of the stick where Tito's sons, also known as the band 3T. Some may know their minor hit, "Why," aided by Michael's vocals, but they disappeared as soon as they hit the popular consciousness. They simply couldn't compete.

Invariably, in one way or another, nearly all of these artists faced the same criticism: they sound too much like their famous familial predecessor. It's obvious that they would; who influences you more than your parents? However, one artist takes this to the ultimate extreme: Dweezil Zappa, of Zappa Plays Zappa. Doing nothing more than cover his father, Frank's songs, Dweezil found a way around the clichés, by cutting directly though them. He can't be blamed for sounding like his father; that's the entire point. Of course, it prevents the creation of any new music, but that's when the criticism would begin.

The same can be noted of Dhani Harrison and Jay Weinberg. Sons of George Harrison and Max Weinberg respectively, the two both achieved their biggest fame performing in the names of their fathers: Dhani at the tribute Concert For George, Jay with the E-Street Band. Both received great reviews, likely because they were continuing the family name, as opposed to "stealing" from it. The only way to escape this is to be so incredibly different from your parents that no one could possibly make the comparison. The only example of this I could think of is Arlo Guthrie, son of Woody. Alice's Restaurant is so different from say, This Land Is Your Land, that you'd need to be Pete Seeger to honestly complain that he isn't living up to his father's name.

Lastly, let's note a few rare cases. These are the three cases I could think of where the child is more famous than the parent. The three cases are Nas, Common, and the big one, Rufus Wainwright. Each of these cases is vastly different from the others. First, there's Common. By no means is his father truly a musician, he just provides a spoken word track on each of his son's albums. Therefore, it's obvious there would be no musical comparisons, and Common would be the better known. Nas is slightly different, in that his father was a somewhat famous musician before Illmatic. A jazz sideman, Olu Dara appeared on records by David Murray and Art Blakey. But it wasn't until his son became a legend that people really knew his name and he released a solo album. However, this can be chalked up to choice, and thus it isn't that spectacular an occurrence.



The Wainwright family is the oddity of it all. Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle both had relatively successful musical careers, Loudon solo and Kate with her sister Anna. Then they had Rufus and Martha. Again I point out that I wasn't alive at the time, so I can't tell you the exact level of Loudon's fame. And I was alive later, so I do know that much of the initial Rufus hype was based upon the fact that his parents were famous. But it's pretty telling that a few years later when Martha had her big debut that the selling point shifted from who her parents were to who her brother is. Why exactly Rufus took over the family name when no other artist quite could, I can't quite answer. I can speculate that perhaps it has something to do with the gay community and the general changing times, where Rufus speaks to his generation in a way that Loudon apparently speak to enough of his. Or maybe Rufus is just better, but that implies that none of the other artists are better than their parents. Then again, maybe they aren't. Nepotism can get confusing.

And with that, I'm confused enough that this must be the end of another Star Power. Even clear cut topics like this, I can confuse myself in the end. Oh well, I hope you learned something from it, as I always do.

Farewell Song

We're at 1974, and I tried really hard to cheat on this one. Don't get me wrong, there were a lot of great singles and albums released this year. Tom Waits, Stevie Wonder, Willie Nelson, Elton John, Richard & Linda Thompson, Randy Newman, Leonard Cohen, John Lennon, David Bowie, Brian Eno, Neil Young, Gil Scott-Heron, James Brown, New York Dolls, Bob Marley, Big Star and surely many others all released brilliant albums. However, the song that I originally was going to deem the best was a live medley from Gram Parsons, combining Cash on the Barrelhead with Hickory Wind. My logic was that the set was released on the 1974 album, Grievous Angel. For whatever reason, I eventually decided against choosing this as the best song of the year. Instead, I'm going with one of those many greats listed above. I don't really know how fans feel about the song, because all the current talk is about how the song once appeared in House. But that's not important. That it is a lovely song, simple as it is beautiful, is all that matters. The band is Big Star, the song is "I'm In Love With A Girl."



The album of the year is as different from Big Star as possible. Well, it's still a little poppy I guess, but in the exact opposite way. Whereas Big Star are the inventors of power pop, this comes from an acerbic lyricist who uses Tin Pan Alley pop to spread his messages. Seen both as racist and overtly liberal, the album in question is Good Old Boys by Randy Newman.

That does it for this week, friends. Hope to see you next week for another Midweek Music News Roundup!