“Featured Guests” have long been a ubiquitous part of pop music, but in 1999, Clive Davis took it up a notch with an all star line up of then marquee names to introduce a new generation to Santana. While the ‘Smooth’, the mega smash with Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas, is what people mainly remember, Supernatural also featured Dave Matthews, Eagle Eye Cherry, Eric Clapton, and Lauren Hill. That year, Clive’s magic wand didn’t help life Prince’s underwhelming Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, but six big albums this year mark the form Clive was kinda going for.
Ian Hunter • Defiance Part 2: Fiction
In this timely sequel, ringleader Ian Hunter (Mott the Hoople) reunites with cast members from last year’s Defiance Part 1, including Joe Elliott (Def Leppard), Johnny Depp, Billy Bob Thornton, Dean and Robert Deleo (Stone Temple Pilots), and the late Jeff Beck and Taylor Hawkins. Just hearing those latter contributions makes these albums absolutely essential, but that gratitude is an after thought because what hits you first are the songs themselves. These two albums rank among Hunter’s best work, as he remains vocally ageless at 85. Part 1 also featured Duff McKagan and Slash (GnR), Ringo Starr, Todd Rundgren, Robert Trujillo (Metallica), and Mike Campbell (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers). Part 2 says “hold my beer” by bringing these ringers to the party: Lucinda Williams, Brian May (Queen); Cheap Trick’s Robin Zander, Robin Taylor Zander, Tom Petersson, and Rick Nielsen; Phil Collen (Def Lep), Waddy Wachtel, and Benmont Tench. Like the original, Part 2 is an absolute celebration of kinship, friendship, and the joy of making music. In addition to a standard album, the Record Store Day vinyl adds three songs, including ‘Needle Park” with Chris and Rich Robinson (The Black Crowes), and ‘How’d ya Like to Meet Henry’ featuring Mike McCready and Matt Cameron (Pearl Jam). Hopefully these exclusives find their way to a CD deluxe someday, or perhaps they’ll land on Part 3 which Hunter promises is in the works.
Silver Patron Saints: The Songs of Jesse Malin
Among the biggest tragedies to hit the music scene in the past year or so were strokes suffered by legends Matthew Sweet and Jesse Malin. Malin’s recovery was recently chronicled in an NBC New York feature before an all-star benefit show to celebrate this record. Perhaps not as well-known as Sweet, Malin has been playing to a loyal audience for some 30 years now, first with D-Generation and then as a solo artist. His inaugural Bruce Springsteen collab, ‘Radio Radio’, features an incredible b-side that serves as the unofficial sequel to Night Ranger’s ‘Sister Christian’. The Boss is back for this 2CD all-star tribute album, joined by a wide range of royalty including Billie Joe Armstrong, Susanna Hoffs, Counting Crows, Steven Van Zandt, Elvis Costello, Jack Antonoff’s Bleachers, Rancid, Gogol Bordello, Agnostic Front, Graham Parker, and Spoon. Each artist makes Malin’s compositions their own. The set is impeccably sequenced to feel like a cohesive album. Even the one act here you may not know, The Walker Roaders, is made up of musicians you do: James Fearnley (ex-The Pogues), Ted Hutt (ex-Flogging Molly), Marc Orrell (ex-Dropkick Murphys), Brad Wood (producer, Exile in Guyville), and drummer Bryan Head.
Orville Peck • Stampede (Vol #1)
A South African drummer moves to Canada, joins a punk band, and then conquers the USA as a masked queer country superstar. There’s a movie in here somewhere, and Peck’s baritone certainly brings to mind the biggest, boldest, and most iconic singer of our generation and every generation, Dewey Cox. Mickey Guyton, Teddy Swims, Diplo, Kylie Minogue, and Elton John are among the ringers for this all-star jam session – kicked off a Willie Nelson duet of the most MAGA-rattling queer cowboy anthem of all time, ‘Cowboys are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other’. Meanwhile ‘Death Valley High’ is perhaps the best Beck single in a decade and could easily be the theme song to a really cool new teen series on Disney+
Charli XCX • brat and it’s completely different but also still brat
Later on in the series, we’ll discuss Brat Summer, starring Charli XCX, among the year’s best omnichannel pop cultural experiences. In the weeks that followed the May release of the proper Brat album, Charli steadily dropped remixes featuring a who’s who from the A-list, including Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Lorde, Dua Lipa, Robyn, Bon Iver, and tour mate Troye Sivan. Most of the remixes and bonus tracks were collected on the October surprise, brat and it’s completely different but also still brat, except for Ke$ha’s guest on ‘Spring Breakers’ which dropped on digital platforms soon after those vinyls and 2CD sets hit store shelves. I’ve been a die-hard Charli XCX fan since her major label debut, True Romance, became one of my Top 10 Albums of all time, so it’s a delight to finally see her conquering the mainstream.
Duff McKagan • Lighthouse
Slash • Orgy of the Damned
When these albums dropped earlier in the year, I was too full of hope and sunshine to take in smoke filled blues club records from two iconic GnR alums. Now that we’re in the post-apocalyptic socio-political thunderdome, they really scratch an itch. Duff sticks to originals, while Slash focuses on classic blues covers, and Iggy Pop guests on both records. Slash guests with Duff, as does Jerry Cantrell. Back on Slash’s record, Chris Robinson, Chris Stapleton, Billy Gibbons, Paul Rodgers, and Brian Johnson stop in, as does Demi Lovato and Dorothy.
Duff has already followed up his album with an expanded digital deluxe, and a live album recorded a mile from my house, Live at Easy Street Records.
Up next: 2024’s Best New Albums by 1990’s Icons
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