Jayhawks: S/D, C/D

I will definitely check it out. I saw Mark a few months ago play with just a bassist and a guy on fiddle and it was outstanding, one of the best shows I've seen all year. There were only fifteen people there, natch. Ugh.

Forapper, did you like the Olson / Louris album on Ryko? Thought that was way underrated, didn't seem to get any attention at all.

I have mixed feelings about it. I love the songs, but I find the album hard to listen to, as an album. Everything on it is fragile and tentative, and the ghostly production* reinforces those feelings of fragility and tentativeness, to the point where it sounds almost like a couple of abuse survivors got together and decided to put out an album together, or like it's set in a haunted <s>house</s> church. Saturday Morning on Sunday Street, in particular, is just this incredibly creepy song. I think it's a beautiful album, but I'm not always in the mood to be haunted, so I rarely put it on, and I can understand why it didn't take off. I think it got some decent exposure, though, from the usual supporters (Minnesota Public Radio, NPR, Paste Magazine, No Depression).

I think I read somewhere that they were inspired put it out after "rediscovering" some old demos from 1992 - the same ones that show up on the Tomorrow the Green Grass reissue bonus disk. This makes sense to me, because those are some pretty intense demos, if you know what I mean.

All in all I think I prefer the approach on the new record. There's this mostly-acoustic song, for instance, called "Pouring Rain at Dawn". It's mostly a very reasonable-sounding song about an adult relationship with boundaries - "I don't want to be ungrateful, I don't want to be unfaithful, I just want to be the one you call" - but then it veers unexpectedly into this kinda intense section where the singer** says he never should be breaking your heart again, punctuated by about 5 seconds of sad French chanteuse music... and then the song goes back to sounding reasonable again, as if nothing had happened. XD Well, I might be editorializing a bit here, as far as what's actually going on in the song, but the point is, darkness is still very much present, but it's a bit more contained. (Although I guess another way of looking at it is that the reasonableness is all on the surface, while the crazy neediness is still there underneath.)

*kind of reminds me of Pete Doherty's solo record, actually
**actually two singers, but for the sake of argument

Absorbing the new album, but while the songs sink in the first thing that strikes me is how much I love their harmonies. I haven't heard the Olson/Louris, I need to track it down. I knew they'd been playing a lot together but honestly had lost interest. But the two of them singing together is really the key. For me they're more a sound band than a song band.

olson/louris is good. a lot more spare. it's good to hear these two sing together again

Yeah I prefer the Olson / Louris album to the new one, but both are good.

I was eating fried chicken for lunch today and "nothing left to borrow" came on

I heard that one the other day too, on satellite radio. Still a great song.

If there's anyone who is still interested in them, the first track on the new album is good: "quiet corners & empty spaces"

Oh wow I had no idea they had a new album out, thanks for the tip-off calstars *tips hat*

New album out today. Not breaking any new ground at this point but it's nice.

Thanks, it’s hitting the spot at the moment

This has wormed its way into my head now that I’ve listened to it a few more times. This might be my favorite of their late-period stuff.

OTM!

Gary Louris continues a humble late-career resurgence. Last year’s Jayhawks album has really stuck with me. Now he’s got a solo album out and it’s quite nice!

I need to revisit everything post-Smile and reconfirm my thoughts on those records (solo and Jayhawks). I recall them all being hit-or-miss, but maybe it’s me that’s changed?