Bill O Writes

“Preservation” by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band is a collection of ragtime and traditional jazz songs with guest vocals by Richie Havens, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Steve Earle, Ani DiFranco, Tom Waits, Dr. John, Angelique Kidjo and others. Jazz is not my area of expertise, but this is just plain fun. Grade: A minus.

“Close Up, Vol. 1, Love Songs,” the first of a four-CD series by Suzanne Vega of acoustic re-recordings of her old songs. Most of them were stripped down in the first place, so what’s the point? (A better buy is “Retrospective,” her 2003 greatest hits set.) Grade: C plus.

“Fixin’ the Charts 1” by Everybody Was in the French Resistance … Now. This is a side group by Eddie Argos of Art Brut. This band’s gimmick is taking old pop songs and retelling the story. “My Way” becomes “My Way (It’s Not Always the Best Way).” It’s not as rocking as Art Brut, but has the same mix of cheeky and tongue-in-cheek humor. Grade: B

Massive Attack makes party music that isn’t really party music. It’s for after the party, when the ecstasy has worn off, and you’re trying to wake up the people who fell asleep on the couch so they’ll go home and you can go to bed, for Pete’s sake. But you have to have something to listen to then, something with beats, but a little ominous. “Heligoland” has its moments (guest spots by Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio and Damon Albarn of Blur/Gorillaz) but isn’t Massive Attack at its best. Grade: B minus.

“Odd Blood” by Yeasayer sounds like Duran Duran on acid, which surprisingly, is a good thing. Grade: B plus.

Due to some technical difficulties, my blog was vaporized in February. I’ve retrieved a few posts, which you can read below. And I’ll be adding new ones. Feel free to visit my Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/billowrites, where I post quick thoughts and mini reviews.

Kind of funny how I started and ended the month at the Island Merchant in Hyannis. I celebrated New Year’s Eve (and the first hour of Jan. 1) with some friends, watching my favorite local band, the Greenheads. Last night I couldn’t get there until 11:30, but I was there until closing time (the first hour of Jan. 31), watching my favorite new local band,What Would Johnny Do?

WWJD is a pretty good reggae band, but they’re a great cover band. I’ve seen way too many bands that take songs we’ve heard a zillion times and play them just the way we’re used to hearing them.

WWJD does not do that.  The quartet takes classic songs by Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson and other, and gives them a reggae arrangement. That’s clever.

It wouldn’t work if the band didn’t have the skill to pull it off. Carl Hedin on bass and Lucas Ferreira on drums are a tight rhythm section, an essential for any reggae band. Josh Ayala can play mellow grooves on guitar and he can rock out when it’s needed. And then there’s the sultry Melissa Barbosa on vocals. She’s known as a soul belter from her previous bands, but she also can deliver a smooth ballad.

Last night the band played a bunch of Bob Marley songs, in honor of the upcoming anniversary of his birth (Feb. 6, 1945). Randy Frost of the Somers Frost Band was sitting in. It’s easy to take this guy for granted, because he doesn’t try to call attention to himself. He’s like a receiver who makes an incredible touchdown catch, tosses the ball to the ref and jogs off the field without a dance or a trademarked gesture. But while he may be low-key in his style, Frost is one of the best players on the Cape. Any band is better with him in it.

I got there in time to see a Marley tribute (”No Woman, No Cry,” “Wait in Vain,” “Exodus”). They followed that with “Me and Bobby  McGee,” starting it slow and soft and building to a ska frenzy. Next up was Johnny Cash’s “Orange Blossom Special,” with some Chuck Berry-style guitar riffs thrown in.

Next up was my favorite song by the band, a cover of Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me, Babe.” In the hands of WWJD, it’s dark and stormy, a bad storm on the horizon. After that came Marley’s “Hammer” and Willie Nelson’s “Whiskey River.”

Check out the band’s MySpace page for a list of upcoming shows.

Published in the Cape Cod Times on Dec. 26, 2009.

By BILL O’NEILL

In 2000, we’d never heard of iPods, blogs or You Tube. By the end of the decade, if you didn’t have a computer, you weren’t keeping up with pop music.

There was sorrow mixed with the innovation. The music world lost Johnny Cash, James Brown, Ray Charles, George Harrison and other giants. One hundred people died in 2003 when a Great White concert turned into an inferno at the Station, a rock club in West Warwick, R.I.

As far as the music, there’s more of it than ever, as production equipment becomes cheaper and simpler every year. The quality? There will always be those who say pop music was better in the ’60s or ’70s, but if you opened your mind and your ears, there were plenty of classics to be heard in the 2000s.

1. “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot,” Wilco (Nonesuch; 2002) – Wilco leader Jeff Tweedy’s previous band, Uncle Tupelo, helped launch the alternative-country movement, a loose tag for bands that bring some punk attitude to songs with twang. In making “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot,” Jeff Tweedy and his band messed around with song structure and used imaginative blendings of instruments. Listen closely and you can hear that these songs start out as straightforward country-rockers. Then the band deconstructed and reconstructed the songs, at times replacing passages played by traditional instruments with weird electronic sounds.

The CD of the decade almost never came out. Reprise Records refused to release it because one executive thought it had “no commercial potential.” When Nonesuch released it, the disc sold more than half a million copies. Is it any surprise that the music industry is struggling?

2. “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not,” Arctic Monkeys (Domino; 2006) – The same week that Arctic Monkeys’ debut CD was released in England, a British rock magazine’s writers voted it the fifth best British album of all time, putting it ahead of the Clash’s “London Calling’” (No. 8 ) and the Beatles’ “Revolver’” (No. 9). OK, the CD isn’t quite that good, but the band delivered – in concert, in videos and, yes, with its debut disc.

The quartet’s petty thievery of past British bands (the angular guitars of the Gang of Four, the put-upon weariness of the Smiths, the giddiness of Adam and the Ants) results in some of the catchiest songs of the decade.

3. “O,” Damien Rice (Vector; 2003) – Most of the songs feature only Rice’s occasionally creaking voice, his guitar, a little flurry or two from a cello or violin and maybe some breathy backing vocals. The simplicity is deceptive, as Rice’s songs are rich in their emotional payoff.

4. “The College Dropout,” Kanye West (Roc-A-Fella; 2004) – He won’t get any awards from Miss Manners, but Kanye West made some of the decade’s best hip-hop CDs. His debut was innovative, funny, romantic, a little bit thuggish and frequently inspirational.

5. “Kid A,” Radiohead (Capitol; 2000) and “Amnesiac,” Radiohead (Capitol; 2001) – Radiohead’s first two CDs of the decade were released separately but recorded at the same time. Pair them and you have the decade’s best double album, a collection of trippy alternative-rock experiments.

6. “Southern Rock Opera” by Drive-By Truckers (SDR; 2001) – A true double album, this 20-song set revisits the mythology of Lynyrd Skynyrd with a three-guitar Southern-rock attack that would have sounded just as great coming out of a Plymouth Roadrunner’s 8-track player.

7. “Stankonia,” OutKast (LaFace/Arista; 2000) – OutKast hit the Billboard jackpot in 2003 with “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below,” but “Stankonia” is a tighter effort that also shows off the duo’s brilliance in extending the borders of hip-hop.

8. “Extraordinary Machine,” Fiona Apple (Epic/Clean Slate; 2005) – Apple boldly expanded her musical eccentricity on her third CD. Her definition of pop music seems to incorporate inspiration from artists ranging from Cole Porter and George Gershwin to Tori Amos and Tom Waits.

9. “St. Elsewhere,” Gnarls Barkley (Downtown; 2006) – A reinvention of ’70s Philly soul, with the old-time silky grooves and passionate vocals backed by modern samples and hip-hop attitude. Veteran soul singer Cee-Lo supplied the vocals and DJ Danger Mouse built the beats for one of those rare records that brought multiple generations to the dance floor. The highlight is “Crazy,” the best song of the decade.

10. “Back to Black,” Amy Winehouse (Universal; 2007) – One of the saddest stories of the decade was Amy Winehouse’s decline into tabloid fodder after the smash success of this CD, a triumphant re-creation of ’60s soul.

Honorable mention: “Kids in Philly,” Marah (E-Squared; 2000); “Truth Is Not Fiction,” Otis Taylor (Telarc; 2003); “New Wave,” Against Me! (Sire; 2007); “Everyone Deserves Music,” Michael Franti and Spearhead (Bob Boo Wax/iMusic; 2003); “The Woods,” Sleater-Kinney (Sub Pop Records; 2005); “Pieces of Me,” Lori McKenna (Catalyst; 2001); “Sky Blue Sky,” Wilco (Nonesuch; 2007); “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below,” OutKast (Arista; 2003); “The Grey Album,” Danger Mouse (Internet bootleg; 2004); and “Bring Me the Workhorse,” My Brightest Diamond (Asthmatic Kitty; 2006).

Best local CDs: “Red = Luck,” Patty Larkin (2003); “Dance Hall,” the Greenheads (2005); “Small Is Tremendous,” Zoe Lewis (2004); Chandler Travis’s 25-CD “Radio Ball” series (2000-2005); “Careful,” P.J. O’Connell (2006); “Nature Calls,” Incredible Casuals (2005); “One Girl Town,” Sarah Swain (2006); “Cape Cod Covers, Vol. 2: the Beatles,” various artists (2007); “The Elbows,” the Elbows (2006); and “A Christmas Miracle,” various artists (Plimro; 2009).

Best live CDs: “Kicking Television: Live in Chicago,” Wilco (Nonesuch; 2005); “Out There Live,” Dar Williams (Razor & Tie; 2001); Prodigal Son bootlegs, the Greenheads (2003); and official bootlegs, Seattle, Pearl Jam (2000).

Best movies about music: “High Fidelity” (2000) and “Almost Famous” (2000).

Best soundtracks: “High Fidelity,” various artists (2000); “Into the Wild,” Eddie Vedder (2007); “I’m Not There,” various artists (2007); “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” Nick Cave and Warren Ellis (2007); “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” (2000).

Best music videos: “Hurt” by Johnny Cash (2002); “Fell in Love With a Girl” by the White Stripes (2002); “Weapon of Choice,” Fatboy Slim (2001); “A View From the Afternoon” by the Arctic Monkeys (2006) and “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” by Beyonce (2008).

Best songs of the 2000s:

1. “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley (2006)

2. “Jesus Walks” by Kanye West (2004)

3. “Hey Ya” by OutKast (2003)

4. “Daft Punk Is Playing at My House” by LCD Soundsystem (2005)

5. “There There” by Radiohead (2003)

6. “Out of Touch” by Lucinda Williams (2001)

7. “The Seed (2.0)” by the Roots (2002)

8. “Pink Sweater” by Lori McKenna (2001)

9. “A Million Tears” by Kasey Chambers (2002)

10. “Handshake Drugs” by Wilco (2004)

Best CDs of 2009:

1. “Middle Cyclone,” Neko Case (Anti)

2. “Playing for Change: Songs Around the World,” various artists (Concord)

3. “The Sun Came Out,” 7 Worlds Collide (Sony)

4. “Easy Star’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band,” the Easy Star All-Stars (Easy Star)

5. “Together Through Life,” Bob Dylan (Columbia)

6. “Mouth to Mouth,” the Vivs (thevivs.com)

7. “Backspacer,” Pearl Jam (Island)

7. “Troubador,” K’Naan (A&M/Octone)

9. “Change Your Mind,” Julie Clark (Great Big)

10. “BLACKsummer’snight,” Maxwell (Columbia)

"Yankee Hotel Foxtrot"

Santogold

Twenty worthy CDs that merited consideration for the top 10 list:

“Pneumonia,” Whiskeytown (Lost Highway; 2001)

“A Ghost Is Born,” Wilco (Nonesuch; 2004)

“Hard Times in Babylon,” Eliza Gilkyson (Red House; 2000)

“Speaking in Tongues,” the Holmes Brothers (Alligator; 2001)

“Into the Wild: Music for the Motion Picture,” Eddie Vedder (J; 2007)

“Santogold,” Santogold (Downtown; 2008)

“The Hardest Part,” Allison Moorer (MCA Nashville; 2000)

“Global a Go-go,” Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros (Hellcat; 2001)

“Red = Luck,” Patty Larkin (Vanguard; 2003)

“Don’t Give Up on Me,” Solomon Burke (Fat Possum; 2002)

“Late Registration,” Kanye West (Roc-A-Fella; 2005)

“Loose Fur,” Loose Fur (Drag City; 2003)

“The Marshall Mathers LP,” Eminem (Interscope; 2000)

“I’m Not There” soundtrack, various artists (Columbia; 2007)

“I Just Want to Be Held,” Nathaniel Mayer (Fat Possum; 2004)

“One Moment More,” Mindy Smith (Vanguard; 2004)

“Bittertown,” Lori McKenna (Signature Sounds; 2004)

“Love the Cup,” Sons and Daughters (Domino; 2004)

“Dear Science,” TV on the Radio (4AD; 2008)

“In Search of …,” N.E.R.D. (Virgin; 2002)

And here are 10 songs that just missed my list of the best 10 songs of the decade.

“Home” by Patty Larkin (2003)

“99 Problems” by Danger Mouse (2004)

“Hurt” by Johnny Cash (2002)

“Killer Parties” by the Hold Steady (2004)

“Lose Yourself” by Eminem (2002)

“Rehab” by Amy Winehouse (2006)

“Heavy Metal Drummer” by Wilco (2002)

“I Will Possess Your Heart” by Death Cab for Cutie (2008)

“Jumpers” by Sleater-Kinney (2005)

“I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor” by the Arctic Monkeys (2006)

Last night’s Christmas Cavalcade for the Homeless was a smashing success. This is an event I’ve wanted to go to since it began, but always managed to be out of town or tied up with some inextricable family commitment (there ya go, family getting in the way of debauched fun).

Highlights: How about the Ticks covering the Chipmunks’ Christmas song? Or Rikki Bates turning into Elvis? Or Cape Cod legend Rock King getting two standing ovations? The Incredible Casuals turned “Summertime” into “Christmastime,” Bruce McLean made a holiday song out of the Flintstones theme song, and Greg Greenway reworked the Talking Heads “Psycho Killer” into “Santa Killer,” a song about the kid who wrecked the myth. A new band, the Flakes, rocked the Ramones’ “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want to Fight)” and Darlene Love’s “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” and made an instant fan out of me; can’t wait to see a full set by that band. Steve Wood of the Greenheads played slide guitar using his tie … now that’s something you don’t see every day.

And all that’s not to slight the other performers: the Chandler Travis Philharmonic, Crabgrass, Sarah Burrill, Stephen Russell, Toast and Jam, the Shook Fambly Singers, the Athol Thingerth, Randy and the Oak Trees, the Rip-It-Ups and the Spampinato Brothers. (Apologies if I missed anyone.)

But some nights there’s a moment when you get a chill during a performance and that helps make the night extra special. For me it happened last night when Monica Rizzio of Tripping Lily was singing “Santa Will Find You,” the band’s contribution to the recently released “A Christmas Miracle” compilation. A beautiful rendition of Mindy Smith’s song, which is on its way to being a Christmas classic.

Thanks to Chris Blood for the excellent sound, Chandler Travis for pulling the whole shindig together, Greg Waagner and all the staff at the Jailhouse Tavern … and all the bands who helped turn this into a successful fundraiser for the NOAH Shelter for the Homeless. See ya next year … no matter what the family’s doing.

Before I get to a list of my favorite movies of the decade, I have to point out that I see many more movies on DVD than in the theater, which means I’m usually about six months behind. So I’ve yet to see “Up” or “The Hangover,” not to mention two well-reviewed films, “The Road” and “Up in the Air,” which aren’t even in Cape theaters yet. And I don’t keep up with movies like my buddies Tim Miller and Ken Capobianco (check to the right where it says “Bill’s picks” for links to their blogs). So these are my picks for the best of what I’ve seen. I welcome recommendations about films I may have missed or comments about movies you think I overlooked or over-praised.

1. “Memento” (2000) – A mind-messer so clever I saw it two nights in a row.

2. “Angels in America” (2003) – I’m not going to limit this to movies that were made for the theater, because then I’d have to leave this HBO epic version of Tony Kushner’s play off the list.

3. “Punch-Drunk Love” (2002) – A love-it-or-hate-it romantic (black) comedy that convinced me that Adam Sandler can act when he wants to.

4. “Y Tu Mama Tambien” (2001) – A buddy flick, a road movie and a beautiful love story all rolled up in one.

5. “No Country for Old Men” (2007) – The decade’s creepiest villain in a movie that provided yet more evidence that the Coen Brothers are among the best directors ever.

6. “The Girl in the Café” (2005) – Another HBO film. The first hour, in which a couple awkwardly courts, ranks among the best acting performances by a duo I’ve ever seen.

7. “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” (2005) – It’s just so damn funny. Plus Catherine Keener’s in it.

8. “The Departed” (2006) – An incredible display of ensemble acting by Nicholson, Damon, DiCaprio, Baldwin, Wahlberg, Sheen and even all the henchmen.

9. “High Fidelity” (2000) – Look, if they made a movie based on one of your favorite books, you’d love it too.

10. “The Lives of Others” (2006) – A creepy look at life under a leadership that thinks nothing of violating its people’s privacy (and it’s not about the Bush administration).

Honorable mentions: “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” “Touching the Void,” “Chicago 10,” “Crash,” “Brokeback Mountain,” “District 9,” “The Pianist,” “28 Days Later,” “Shawn of the Dead,” “Almost Famous,” “Adaptation,” “Good Night and Good Luck,” “The Incredibles,” “Shrek,” “Traffic,” “Lost in Translation,” “Finding Neverland,” “Bad Santa,” “Cast Away” “Slumdog Millionaire,” “Sideways,” “Man on Wire,” “Whale Rider,” “Pride and Prejudice” and “A Serious Man.”

Here’s a tip of Santa’s cap to DJ Cat, host of WCIB’s local-music show, “The Cheap Seats,” and Mark Bryant of SeaSound Recording Studio in Plymouth, who came up with an idea in late October, recruited 19 bands, got them into a recording studio in mid-November and had CDs ready for distribution by the end of November. Kind of makes you wonder why it took Axl Rose 17 years to make “Chinese Democracy.”

The result of Cat and Bryant’s whirlwind effort is “A Christmas Miracle,” for which 19 Cape, New Bedford and Plymouth performers recorded new and old holiday songs. The disc also includes three bonus songs, previously recorded tracks by Entrain, Three Day Threshold & Summer Villains, and Chandler Travis Philharmonic. Jason Hart of Raspberry Productions came up with some nifty cover art.

There’s a nice mix of traditional songs (Cheryl Devaux’s version of “We Three Kings”), newer songs (Tripping Lily’s lovely cover of Mindy Smith’s “Santa Will Find You”) and originals (The Ticks’ “Xmas Song”).

The genres range, too, from Liz Solomon’s soothing treatment of Joni Mitchell’s “The River” to Randy and the Oak’s rockabilly version of the theme from “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” to Meat Depressed’s Ramones-like delivery on “Hooray for Santa Claus” (the theme song from the classic B-movie “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians,” which is best-known for two things: being a really bad movie and being Pia Zadora’s film debut).

Other acts contributing a song to the CD are Brian Hitchings & Jim Calandrella, Funktapuss, Jupiter Ray, the Jackson Wetherbee Band, the Sardonics, Sara Leketa, Scott Dangerfield & the Reindeer Riders, McCarthy & Legge, the Juicebox Graduates, the Greenheads, the Gobshites, the Jonee Earthquake Band, and Tex, Mad Dog & Cat.

Thanks to Bryant’s recording efforts and the mastering by Chris Blood of Sonic Trout Studios, this is a sharp, crisp-sounding disc. You’d never know that it was put together at record speed and on a tight budget, since part of its mission is to raise funds for Cranberry Hospice and Palliative Care at Jordan Hospital and Fragile Footprints, a Jordan program for children undergoing treatment for life-threatening illnesses.

The CDs are available at Pizza Prima (Route 28, Cotuit), Spinnaker Records (Main Streets in Falmouth and Hyannis) and Instant Karma Records (Route 6A, Orleans). They are $10 each with $2 going to charity (there may be a small retail handling fee).

There will be listening parties for the CD at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday (Dec. 2) at the Island Merchant, 302 Main St., Hyannis, and 5 p.m. Thursday (Dec. 3) at T-Bones Roadhouse, 22 Main St., Plymouth.

What’s Thanksgiving without some music? Here are some songs to get you from start to finish.

“Thanksgiving Day” by Ray Davies

“Stuff the Turkey” by Alien Sex Fiend

“Stuffy Turkey” by Thelonious Monk

“Be Thankful for What You’ve Got” by William DeVaughn

“Ode to My Family” by the Cranberries

“Too Much Food” by Jason Mraz

“Little Wing” by the Jimi Hendrix Experience

“Peas and Carrots” by Michael W Proud

“Pass the Peas” by the J.B.s

“Sweet Potatoes” by Geoff and Maria Muldaur

“(Do the) Mashed Potatoes” by James Brown

“Gravy” by the Monkees

“Good Gravy” by Sonny Boy Williamson

“Pass the Gravy” by Plas Johnson

“More Gravy” by Willis “Gator” Jackson

“Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie” by Jay & the Techniques

“Sweet Potato Pie” by James Taylor

“Leftovers” by Millie Jackson

“I Don’t Want No Leftovers” by Koko Taylor

“One Man’s Leftovers (Is Another Man’s Feast)” by 100 Proof (Aged in Soul)

“Cold Turkey” by John Lennon

“Nap Time” by Frank Zappa

“Snooze” by Toots Thielemans

"The Wire"

I just confirmed that I’ll be writing a “best CDs of the ’00s” article for the Cape Cod Times. That will run in late December, and as I’m prepping it, I’m sure I’ll have some extra commentary that will end up here.

In the meantime, I’m refining a Top 10 movies list that I’ll also post here.

But I’m kicking things with off my picks for the 10 best TV shows of the decade. “The West Wing,” “The Simpsons” “Once and Again” and “Chappelle’s Show” are among the near-misses, while “Arrested Development” didn’t come close (much to the wrath of some of my friends, no doubt).

10. “Rescue Me” (FX) — Raunchy and riveting, Denis Leary’s show about a New York City fireman sometimes was too soap opera-ish, but always left you wondering just where — and how far — it would go next.

9. “Six Feet Under” (HBO) — This look at life — and death — at a family-owned funeral home shifted from morbidly funny  to deadly serious.

8. “Mad Men” (AMC) — Three seasons in, this show about an advertising agency in the early ’60s is great and getting better.

7. “The Shield” (FX) — With his twisted sense of morality, LA detective Vic Mackey was one of the decade’s most compelling characters.

6. “The Colbert Report” and “The Daily Show” (Comedy Central) — A two-fer in this spot on the list. Both shows used comedy to speak truth to power.

5. “The Office” (NBC) — Yes, I’m going with the U.S. version. The funniest show of the decade.

4. “Lost” (ABC) — A mind-bender of a show that was always the talk of the office the morning after. Let’s just hope that the producers manage to give us a satisfying finale.

3. “Survivor” (CBS) — I can see why some hate it, but I love it. Heroes, villains and unpredictable outcomes … what more can you ask for?

2. “The Sopranos” (HBO) — Like Vic Mackey, mob boss Tony Soprano was a bad guy that you found yourself rooting for — some of the time. The series concluded with one of TV’s most controversial finales. What next?

1. “The Wire” (HBO) — I thought I’d never see a show better than “Homicide: Life on the Street,” but David Simon, the man behind “Homicide,” outdid himself by creating a sprawling series that unflinchingly looked at life in a big city. His view of Baltimore was bleak, but allowed the chance for a few characters to achieve some form of reinvention and, maybe, even happiness.