Local Music Blog: What's New at Kiss the Sky—Nov. 22 New Releases

If it wasn’t for Kate Bush’s, 50 Words for Snow, this would have been yet another same old stuff in new packaging week. Record companies seem to have discovered they can make more money remastering and re-releasing old stuff that by promoting anything new.

Although, in the case of the Rolling Stones 1978 classic, Some Girls, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. To this day, it’s my favorite Glimmer Twins effort and, Beast of Burden, rife with Keith Richard’s amazingly expressive “less is more” guitar riffs, remains my favorite Stones song.

Written by primarily by Richards, it’s a love letter to Mick and the boys for having to deal with his decade-long battle with drug abuse.

From, the disco influenced Miss You, to the soul on steroids cover of the Temptations’ Imagination, to its swansong New York City dirge Shattered, this is a classic album among classic albums. Listening to Jagger croon Far Away Eyes in that faux southern accent still cracks me up.

The best news is, while most remastered classic rock reissues come with demo versions that hit or miss at best, this one comes with essentially what turns out to be a long lost Stones album. That’s right! Disc two contains 12 songs that may not have made it onto Some Girls, and while none rise to the Beat of Burden level, there isn’t a clunker in the bunch.

As usual, this reissue comes in various incarnations ranging from a super deluxe set (which I avoided because it didn’t include the vinyl) to a CD/DVD combo. Given the modern mastering technique treatment, I have to say these songs really do jump right out at you.

So even in this latest re-release form, this must have album retains that loftiest of all ratings. You won’t be disappointed.

On to Soundgarden/Temple of the Dog/Audioslave lead singer Chris Cornell’s stripped-down solo live album Songbook. Cornell reprises his entire 27 year career on this 16-track effort armed only with an acoustic guitar and his amazing voice.

Though it takes a couple of times through the CD to get accustomed to standards like Black Hole Sun and Doesn’t Remind Me without all the electric guitar distortion, Cornell’s plaintive yet powerful voice makes Audioslave’s Like a Stone a completely new experience. You truly believe he’ll “wait for you there, like a stone.”

Whenever I catch my wife watching American Idol, I chide her that those contestants need to be more circumspect about their musical choices. Covering a classic song is always fraught with peril. Though John Lennon’s Imagine is best left alone, Cornell’s take on his call for world peace is incredible.

And the sound of this CD is phenomenal, too. Some live albums leave you wondering what the heck they were sonically thinking, but not this one. It’s almost as if you’re sitting in the front row at the show.

Given the retrospective nature of this effort, I’ll highly recommend this one to Chris Cornell fans and recommend Songbook to everyone else.

Next, we have the biggest disappointment since the inception of this blog, 50 Words for Snow, the first new music from British siren Kate Bush in six years. While most reviewers are falling all over themselves to celebrate this one, I’m afraid I’ll have to take the road less traveled.

The first problem is this album really oughtta be called Duets, because that’s what it is. While that kind of thing works well for Tony Bennett, it doesn’t work for Kate Bush.

As I listened to the first track, Snowflake, I found myself raising an eyebrow while thinking, “that doesn’t sound like her!” And the reason it doesn’t sound like Kate Bush is because it isn’t. The actual vocalist was her 12-year-old son Albert with his mother providing backup vocals.

You know, if I wanted hear a 12-year-old old sing, I’d simply ask my seventh-grade son to do his Operaman impression. Albert does a fine job, but he’s certainly not the one I paid to hear.

Then we have a duet with Sir Elton John that falls apart on so many levels. First, her soaring soprano and John’s deep baritone clash far more than they complement. Then there’s the fact that hearing Reg sing “I don’t want to lose you” to a woman is a lot like Richard Simmons and Lady Gaga performing a karaoke version of Don’t Go Breaking My Heart. By the time they’re finished you’re more confused than ever.

Worse yet is the tedious 50 Words for Snow, where she and guest vocalist Stephen Fry literally count down fifty possible words for snow with Bush incessantly and irritatingly reminding him of exactly how many terms remain.

Despite winter’s onslaught having yet to begin in earnest, after that having to hear that one, I’m already longing for spring.

Since there are redeeming tracks and I can’t bear to give any Kate Bush effort a dreaded “avoid,” we’ll settle on the mediocre at best “only if you’re a fan.”

We were also supposed to cover Noah Gabriel this week, but his Ghosts of Tomorrow CD is so good (available at ), I want to devote most of a column to it. So next week, with no new releases at all, we’ll cover some of my favorite Christmas songs (Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer is an existentialist masterpiece) and then we’ll move on to Mr. Gabriel.

Until then, you’ll probably find me at Kiss the Sky trying to convince Steve that duct tape isn’t the answer to everything and KTS might want to purchase a new behind-the-register chair.