For Manhattanites, “bridge and tunnel” is a term of superiority if not annoyance, directed at the millions who come in from the ‘burbs or the outer boroughs every day to work, play, eat, or see a show. For those suburbanites, however, the gateways to the big city – particularly when they’re jammed with traffic – symbolize their position on the outside looking in, a gauntlet to be run in order to get Where the Action Is (or to get away from it).
Singer/songwriter (and onetime Manhattanite) Linda Draper now lives in not-so-glamorous Woodside, Queens, but she titled her new album Bridge and Tunnel as a matter of metaphor more than fact. In the song of the same name, they represent light and darkness – two possible options for a girl struggling to figure out her next move. As an allegory for her own career, “bridge and tunnel” represent Draper’s own options – to continue the struggle for commercial success as a recording artist, or to pursue a livelihood with less glamour but better odds.
So far, she’s chosen both. Even as she released Bridge and Tunnel this month – it’s her sixth album overall, and her third on Virginia Beach-based Planting Seeds Records – she’s finishing up a long-delayed degree in Music Therapy at Molloy College on Long Island. Indeed, the new album’s release was timed to give it a few weeks to build awareness while she prepares to graduate next month, at which point she’ll set out for a few weeks of touring before returning home to begin job-hunting … and to get married in August.
Draper’s new songs speak to everything that’s going on in her life — sometimes abstractly, as on “Bridge and Tunnel,” and sometimes with a more straightforward voice, as on the hopeful “Sharks and Royalty.” In a recent interview, however, she spoke with clear-eyed realism about her prospects both personal and professional – which is to say, she’s keeping expectations for the new album in check. (more…)
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to see David Byrne live in concert. It was purported to be a celebration of the work he did with Brian Eno, famed producer and musical renegade, encompassing Eno’s production on classic Talking Heads albums as well as their collaborations like My Life In The Bush of Ghosts and a new, currently digital-only release Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. The show was composed of Byrne, a backing band, a trio of backup singers and a trio of interpretive dancers, and while that sounds like a bad, pretentious idea the whole thing came off very entertaining and ended up being a fine night of live music.
Another big plus was the lack of squirrels in the road. Come on, if you go to see bands with an extensive and memorable back-catalog you know about the squirrels. A pace is building, the classics are rolling out and the audience is having a grand old time, then suddenly the performer announces, “We’d like to play something from our new album” and suddenly it’s all screeching brakes and momentum sliding to a halt. Damn squirrels, they’ll do it every time.
That’s what’s so great about the new collaboration: nary a squirrel to be found. All the songs, even if they’re not immediate attention-getters, are very good and surprisingly song-like. I hesitate to use the word ‘conventional’ because it would tend to paint Everything That Happens… as by-the-numbers, which it definitely isn’t. These songs sat side by side with tunes like “I, Zimbra,” “Once In A Lifetime,” and even “Help Me Somebody” and never interrupted the flow, never incurred massive pee-breaks and beer raids. The album is an album, and not an excuse to tour based around weak product, thank God.
The story goes like this: Byrne found himself in the company of Eno unexpectedly, as both hadn’t co-created in awhile. Eno, over the years, made his bones by becoming an ambient artist as well as the big-time producer of several classic albums, including U2’s The Joshua Tree. Byrne mixed his sound with massive multiculturalism and founded the Luaka Bop label. Now here they were in the company of each other and the inevitable happened: one asked the other if they were up for doing something. The result? Eno sent Byrne some instrumentals he had worked up, yet these frames were distinctively song-based. (more…)
Chicago – Stone of Sisyphus (Rhino)
Fifteen years after Warner Bros. rejected Stone of Sisyphus, leading to Chicago’s departure from the label and kicking off over a decade of crass, fan-bilking compilations, the band’s “legendary lost” album finally sees the light of day…on Warner-owned Rhino! Hey, why is the record industry in the tank again?
Coldplay – Viva La Vida (Capitol/EMI)
Speaking of “in the tank,” here comes EMI’s great white hope for the second quarter of 2008! Are garish artwork and echoes of U2 enough to keep the label’s top shareholders from having to sell off their third chateaus? Judging from the second single (and title track), the answer is an unqualified “yes.” Judging from most of the rest of the record, on the other hand…
Jason Falkner – Bedtime With The Beatles 2 (Adrenaline)
In which the terminally underrated power-pop superhero follows up his wonderful (and stupidly out of print) Bedtime With the Beatles, offering nine more lullaby renditions of classic tracks from the Fab Four, including “Norwegian Wood,” “Penny Lane,” and — oddly — “Here Comes the Sun.” My daughter can’t wait! (more…)
For Manhattanites, “bridge and tunnel” is a term of superiority if not annoyance, directed at the millions who come in from the ‘burbs or the outer boroughs every day to work, play, eat, or see a show. For those suburbanites, however, the gateways to the big city – particularly when they’re jammed with traffic – symbolize their position on the outside looking in, a gauntlet to be run in order to get Where the Action Is (or to get away from it).
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to see David Byrne live in concert. It was purported to be a celebration of the work he did with Brian Eno, famed producer and musical renegade, encompassing Eno’s production on classic Talking Heads albums as well as their collaborations like My Life In The Bush of Ghosts and a new, currently digital-only release 
