Like most people, I’ve spent the last little while dodging the metaphorical bullets of the modern age: climate change, a health pandemic, global economic instability and social unrest. But I did manage to get through the “the year that shall not be named” mostly unscathed and was able to crank up the seasonally appropriate furnace or air conditioning and ponder the same old subject that has been on my mind for many years now: Does rock ‘n’ roll have any significance in today’s pop culture?
I’d love to report that I’ve reached some kind of insightful conclusion in this regard, but sadly, that isn’t the case. It’s just too easy to mistake ephemeral musings for insightful epiphanies, especially in isolation, either voluntary or enforced. So, in this edition of Shadows in Stereo, you can draw your own conclusions as to the meaning of it all.
AC/DC – ‘POWER UP’: At some point early last year, I decided it would be a good thing to listen to a whole lot of something or other. I started with Jethro Tull, as I realized I had almost all of their albums – including multiple reissues, remixes and compilations, and the few I didn’t have were easily available for streaming. As Tull has gone through at least a few different stylistic approaches, it’s possible to listen to a lot of their music without it sounding repetitive.
Next up: Motorhead. Listening to Motorhead in bulk is a different exercise. I remember Lemmy passed away in late 2015, but somehow it didn’t register to me that Motorhead – also featuring guitarist Phil Campbell and drummer Mikkey Dee – had a consistent line up on about their last dozen albums, all of which just as fine as anything in the first half of their back catalog.
Which brings me to AC/DC and their newest album, Power Up. At the time, I had mused about 2014’s Rock or Bust being their last, and it seemed like it might actually be the case after the band members seemed to be falling by the wayside for assorted reasons on the subsequent tour.
Well, for those about to keep score – this album is really good. Personally, I think Back in Black is in high enough rotation on rock radio playlists for me to never have to play that particular album again, and the Bon Scott material feels like a different vintage altogether. But until someone goes back and compiles a true best of AC/DC album (and there’s a lot to from which to choose), Power Up distills the essential ingredients of all that has gone before.
TOM PETTY – ‘WILDFLOWERS AND ALL THE REST’ (DELUXE REISSUE): At the time of his passing in 2017, Tom Petty was supposedly prepping a reissue of 1995’s Wildflowers that would include many of the songs which had been left off the original album in order to keep it down to the length of a single compact disc.
Now this might sound like heresy, but it’s an album that never really did it for me. In all fairness, I wasn’t a big fan of Damn the Torpedoes either, despite it being the home of such key songs in the catalog as “Refugee” and “Don’t Do Me Like That.”
This 2020 deluxe release, retitled Wildflowers and All the Rest, with additional tracks, home demos and live versions won’t change anyone’s mind if they think it was always one of Tom Petty’s most immediately intimate and heartfelt albums. In that sense, it very much fits the definition of timeless.
I dunno. I guess I’ve always preferred albums that don’t make their point right away. Most of the time, I’ll play Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ sophomore effort You’re Gonna Get It! before the aforementioned Torpedoes or the self-titled debut with the early career highlights “Breakdown” and “American Girl.”
ALL OVER THE PLACE
NEIL YOUNG – ‘HOMEGROWN’; BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN – ‘LETTER TO YOU’; and DEEP PURPLE – ‘WHOOSH!’: Some new albums by old rockers – sort of. Homegrown is the album Neil pulled in favor of releasing the much different Tonight’s the Night. Bruce Springsteen’s new album is mostly new material, with a couple of unreleased songs from the early days of his career, and Deep Purple just keeps rolling along with their new album, which like the previous two is again produced by Bob Ezrin.
RANDOM SHOUT OUTS
SPIRIT, for The Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus – a great 1970 album that I missed back in the day, like so many other great albums … and ZEBRA, another great U.S. rock outfit from the late ’70s/early ’80s that I never even heard of at all until last year … and WEDGE – a heavy psych/rock trio from Berlin, if I’m not mistaken. Been around for a few years now apparently. Brand new album out in early 2021 called Like No Tomorrow. Like, wow.
And finally, ROCK DOCS. Another great pandemic activity is watching TV (yeah, I said it). Just let me additionally say if one is getting tired of the big budget biopics like Queen, Elton John, etc., one can’t go wrong with any of these, some of which I would never have seen had I not been on lockdown: Creem: America’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Magazine (2019); Suzi Q (Suzi Quatro documentary, 2019) Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me (2012); and finally, in the oldie-but-goodie category, The Decline of Western Civilization (1981).
Is there still time to rock … or maybe not? I guess we’ll all find out, hopefully sooner rather than later. In the meantime, here’s good rock ‘n’ rollin’ to you, wherever you find yourself.
- How David Bowie’s ‘The Next Day’ Stripped Away All of the Artifice - March 15, 2023
- Why Deep Purple’s ‘Who Do We Think We Are?’ Deserves Another Listen - January 11, 2023
- In Defense of the Often-Overlooked Mott the Hoople - November 10, 2022
