Meredith Brooks, Bobby Brown, & Butterfield Blues Band

You've probably noticed that I'm listening to our music collection in alphabetical order. That's 'cause I live with a neat-freak and also because I don't have opposable thumbs, so I have to rely on her to open the CDs. Today, we finished off the rest of the "B" shelf.

Meredith Brooks is yet another in the "Angry Women of the '90s" collection that wreaks a lot of havoc around this house, so I was surprised that the first track of her Blurring the Edges album was "I Need." Seems like a weak beginning for a woman who goes on to sing "Bitch," which was nominated for a Grammy Award as Best Rock Song in 1998 and is one of the seminal songs of Second Wave Feminism. By the time Meredith got to "What Would Happen (If We Kissed)," I'd stopped trying to figure her out. If you think understanding female humans is tough, try understanding female cats. Another time, I'll tell you what I have to go through with the other cat I live with. Anyway, I love, love, love Meredith's "what would happen if we kissed" lyric, because everyone knows what happens when you kiss a dog (they lick you with that slimy tongue), but a cat kiss is vastly different. Try it sometime. I'll bet Meredith has.
The video is cheesy, but the song is bitchin' at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ivt_N2Zcts&ob=av2n

I'll also bet that Bobby Brown has done his share of kissing, since his Don't Be Cruel album is chock-full of lovey-dovey songs. Actually, at first I thought I was listening to Michael Jackson, because there were so many synth beats and eeks and uhs, and "oh girrrls." If I had one piece of advice to give musicians like Bobby, it would be to lay off the synthesizer and the drum machine.  Too monotonous. However, my favorite cut on the album is "My Prerogative," which is a well-known cat anthem. We cats always assert our prerogative.
Watch a very young Bobby dance, sing, and assert his prerogative at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cDLZqe735k&ob=av2e

As catchy as Bobby Brown's "Every Little Step I Take" is, what a gigantic relief it was to dive all-four-feet-first into The Butterfield Blues Band's album, The Resurrection of PigBoy Crabshaw. The title refers to Elvin Bishop, who met Paul Butterfield in Chicago and played lead guitar with the band before forming his own group. This is bold Chicago-style blues that also pays homage to the blues' Delta roots. Everything about this album is perfect, especially the horn section. 
"Driftin' and Driftin" is 9 minutes and 9 seconds of delicious saxophone and harmonica call-and-response wailing. Also featured is the best rendition of "Born Under a Bad Sign" since Albert King's 1967 release of the song written by William Bell and Booker T. Jones. And that's a fact, not just my humble cat opinion!
Peace Out!
Here's BBB at Woodstock in 1969: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j9iNV_e1Yw

Blues Traveler & Michelle Branch

Today, we started off with Blues Traveler's Four. I must have misunderstood the album title, because it turned out to contain a lot more than just four songs, but that was good, because this was some chirpy, zippy music to listen to on a Sunday morning.
I sat out on the porch to catch the winter sun rays, but my person had the volume turned way up so I could hear that perfect harmonica. It sounded like a whole chorus of birds and made me quite hungry.
Blues Traveler seemed overly concerned with accidents, because they kept singing, "It's a long way to fall." I guess they haven't mastered the cat-art of landing on your feet. When I saw their photo, I understood why: that chubby guy in the middle would probably drop like a stone before he had a chance to execute even a stage-one mid-air body swivel.
I'd also heard about Blues Traveler's scat singing, but my excitement faded a bit when I realized it wasn't about cats at all, like the word implies, it was just some sounds that didn't make much sense. Interesting, though, even if you're unlucky enough to not be a cat. 
Listen to some Blues Traveler at http://www.last.fm/music/Blues+Traveler

Next up was Michelle Branch's Hotel Paper album. Michelle is a member of my person's extensive "Angry Women of the '90s" collection (see January's Fiona Apple review, for example), so I tucked my tail in close, to keep it from getting stepped on during the ruckus that usually follows when she listens to these songs.
To my surprise, I got a little teary when Michelle sang "Find Your Way Back," because the lyrics reminded me of all the cats in the world that are abandoned or get lost and have to find their way back home. 

Even though she was only a few feet away, I suddenly missed my person, so I gave her the signal that I wanted to come back in the house. Then we cuddled while listening to Michelle sing, "Love Me Like That," "Where Are You Now," and "It's You."
This is music meant to be shared by a cat and his person!
Michelle seems eager to connect with cats, 'cause on YouTube, she lists many ways to "find your way back" to her. Connect with Michelle at:
http://www.michellebranch.com, http://www.facebook.com/michellebranch, and http://www.twitter.com/michellebranch
Michelle sings "Are You Happy Now" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1vjRu3WUEE&feature=artistob&playnext=1&list=TL2QYxGT06BUk

May you enjoy the day in the arms of your person.
Peace Out!

The Black Crowes

Normally, I avoid crows. The ones in my neighborhood are big, aggressive, and noisy. They bully the smaller birds and steal food that my person puts out for the squirrels.
My GramCat warned me about crows. She said, "They look small and tasty from a distance, but as you creep up closer, they get much bigger. Trust me, and leave them alone." GramCat was very wise, so I've always taken her advice. I write all this to explain how nervous I was when I saw the pile of Black Crowes CDs. My person has all their albums, and she's always going on about "Chris Robinson this and Chris Robinson that," so I feared it would be a long, difficult afternoon.
I stopped worrying about two songs into the first album, Shake Your Money Maker, and by the time we got to the gospel-flavored "Seeing Things (For The First Time)," I was hooked, and it just got better and better.

Check out this Three Snakes and One Charm cover. 

I love snakes!

I did worry a little about Chris Robinson's voice, because he always sounds like he's getting a sore throat, and right in the middle of "Remedy", there's a growl that sounds pretty painful. 
Hear "Remedy" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qD72NCJSkk and watch Chris Robinson channel Mick Jagger on stage.
You know when we cats run through the house like mad and then stop and crouch down and look around sorta paranoid-like? These lines from "Cursed Diamond" convinced me that The Black Crowes know all about that. 
          I lose myself
          I forget myself
          Sometimes I fault myself
          I might fight myself
          But then I make amends
And, oh sweet goddess Bastet! The harmonica on "P. 25 London," mewls just like a basketful of kittens! Take a listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6PK29LWG6I 
The Black Crowes have been recording for 20 years (their most recent release, Croweology, came out in 2010). If you're not already acquainted with them (like if you were just born this year), start with their Amorica album; it'll show you what they can do. 
I say The Black Crowes are the best of the new-wave Southern Rock bands, and I think that my GramCat would agree.
Peace out!

Jeff Beck

Just spent a great evening listening to Jeff Beck. What a wonderful jazz guitarist he is, although to my furry ears, sometimes there were almost too many things going on: all kinds of drums and swirly guitars and rhythm changes and modulations that came zooming out of nowhere. Overall, though, I really dig this music.

One of my favorites was "People Get Ready." I found that I was slowly swishing my tail in time to the music. I don't know what "the train's a-coming" means, unless it's somehow related to Gravy Train, but isn't that for dogs?

"Beck's Bolero" reminded me of those TV westerns where the cowboy is riding his horse across the desert, although I prefer the parts where the mountain lion gets in a fight with a bobcat. Nothing like a good old fashioned catfight to spice up a movie!

If you're a hungry cat, I should warn you that "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" (Beck's rendition of a Charlie Mingus tune) has absolutely nothing to do with pork or pie. And on one track, I sang along to "Got my head out the window and going meow-meow-meow-meow-meow," until my person told me the correct lyric is "going down-down-down-down-down." Embarrassing!

You can go through a whole range of emotions with Beck. I felt bad for my person when Jeff made her and his Stratocaster cry during "'Cause We've Ended as Lovers." You can hear this song at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msPiKYuuRiQ&feature=related

A guy named Vernon Reid wrote about Beck's music that its tone is "warm, defiant, biting, subtle and tender...yet just as often unapologetically brutal, cool." He could easily be talking about cats! He also wrote that "Beck's relationship to the guitar is one of choice...He stays because he can leave." Hey, that's the way I feel about my person. Hmmm...makes me suspect that Vernon Reid is a cat, rather than a person.

Get some Jeff Beck, give it a listen, and decide for yourself. Peace out!

Observe Jeff's technique on his cover of The Beatles' "A Day in the Life": at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uwvBizKAwc