Steve's Best of 2009-2

Get Lucky: Steve’s Best of 2009: Disc 2

Mark Knopfler, who first won my heart during the 1978-1985 classic Dire Straits years, still produces unique-sounding heart-warming classic Americana (though he’s British). “Get Lucky” is the title track off a very solid album by the same name . . . The next two songs are about as sugary pop as I’m going to get, but I love these tunes, and I never tired of them. It’s really hard to classify Donora, but the band’s debut album is infectious, to say the least. It’s only $7.99 on iTunes. Get it. . . . I have to say “Bow to the Middle,” by The Rosebuds, is the first song I can remember about square dancing. Just great fun, as is the entire album, Life Like. . . . Bruce Springsteen has done it again. “The Wrestler” was written exclusively as a favor to Mickey Rourke for the movie of the same name. The song won Best Song for the Golden Globes, then wasn’t even nominated for an Academy Award. Go figure. Anyway, when it comes up during the credits at the end of the film, you’ll understand how perfectly it captured the feel of that outstanding movie . . . . The couple from the movie and album Once -- Glen Hansard and Margita Iglova -- put out their followup in 2009, and, while no longer a real-life couple, the music on The Swell Season’s Strict Joy is as emotional as ever. Tell me you can’t feel “Two Tongues” . . . John McCauley’s throaty, beer-soaked vocals reminds me of The Allman Brothers, if Axle Rose had fronted that band. Deer Tick took over the indie-country mantle in 2009, thanks to the outstanding Born on Flag Day. . . Wilco keeps re-inventing itself on each album, but Wilco (The Album) combined a stellar career in one, highly listenable soundtrack. “Country Disappeared” stood out for me . . . I just loved Low Anthem’s second album, Oh My God Charlie Darwin, and especially “To Ohio.”. . Slaid Cleaves kinda sneaks up on you and “Cry,” off Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away is the kind of song you can’t get out of your head . . Leslie Mendelson is consistently solid, in the Edie Brickell, Rickie Lee Jones mold. “Turn it Over,” from Swan Feathers continues that trend . . . Jason Karaban isn’t exactly a newcomer, but he is to me, and I really liked Sobriety Kills, which made choosing just one song difficult. “Perfect Falling Out” is what I picked . . . Harper Simon is the son of, guess who, Paul Simon, and his debut album (though he’s in his late 30s) switches between sounding like his father, or Art Garfunkel, or a combination of both. “Berkeley Girl” stood out for me . . . And while we’re on legacies, there’s Crosby Loggins, son of Kenny. On “Time to Move” he uses John Mayer, but this is a great song off his self-titled debut album . . . Anjulie is just fun. “Love Songs,” off her self-titled debut album, shows a maturity beyond her years. . . One Last Century isn’t The Damnwells first album, but you probably never heard of them (I hadn’t). The album is full of catchy tunes, like “Like it Is” . . . Green Day returned in 2009 big with 21st Century Breakdown. The emotional, political “21 Guns” picked up right off where the monstrous American Idiot from 2004 left off . . . Landon Pigg, who scored with my selection from last year (and this year, a commercial) “Love in a Coffee Shop,” returned with “Blue Skies” off The Boy Who Never. And if you missed 2008’s “Love,” there are two versions of it on this album . . . The Avett Brothers zeroed in on the alt-country scene in 2009 and hit it big. “Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise” off I and Love and You made it really hard to pick one song . . . Russian-American Regina Spektor collaborated with four different, very high-profile producers (including Jeff Lynne of ELO and Traveling Wilbury’s fame) to produce her fifth studio album, Far. “One More Time With Feeling” captures a great talent at her peak . . . The song “Fly Me to the Moon” is almost 60 years old (popularized by Frank Sinatra), but Joshua Radin made it sound as fresh as last June. I had to include it here . . . Pearl Jam returned to classic form in 2009 with Backspacer. “The End” finished off the album, and seemed a fitting finish to my 2009 collection, since it reflects on the mortality we all face. Thanks Eddie Vedder.

Steve Martarano, Dec. 2009

Check out Steve’s Best of 2009 blog at http://stevebestof.blogspot.com/