Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis - Two Men with the Blues

Blue Note/EMI

While you would expect two individuals of this caliber to be battling it out on this album for attention, we are all sorely mistaken. Two Men with the Blues is not a struggle for the spotlight: it's a hang out session.
These two individuals, who revolutionized their particular music in their own rights, come together to create something new for both of them. I think it's fair to say blues is the middle ground between country and jazz...it just works.
The album is pretty typical in that respect: Nelson sounds like Nelson, and the music sounds like Marsalis. Well written, high energy performance, and nothing more needed to make a stellar live album.
***Shelton's Single Of The Week: "Night Life"***

2 Pistols - Death Before Dishonor

Justice League/Universal Republic

Gangster rap requiem from 2 Pistols, a man who is legitimate in his strides for stardom. Nothing short of beats, mean lyrics, and solid bumping flow. His tumultuous past only makes his persona that much more legitimate. It's good to see gangster rap still alive and kicking.

Beyonce - I Am...Sasha Fierce DOUBLE CD

Columbia/Sony BMG

Beyonce, lead in the now mostly-defunct R&B pop group Destiny's Child, has separated her personalities into two separate entities: Beyonce, the more emotional, self-conscious, and human, who is contrasted against Sasha Fierce, the stage personality stuffed to the brim with sass, make-up, and a thirst for spotlights. This is by no means a new concept, but creating two albums based off the schizophrenic musicianship is a creative endeavor if nothing else.
As always, Beyonce brings a flair of both catchy pop songs and great vocal abilties. The first disc, by Beyonce, is more quiet and ballad-esq: lots of slow, emotional love songs (single "If I Was A Boy" is a solid number about how much better she would treat women if she was a man...a perspective on patriarchy which rarely gets addressed in the mainstream).
Sasha Fierce takes on disc two, adding a more party atmosphere: lots more electronics, a lot more empowerment, and more flavor than 99% of what is out there. Perhaps their best works to date.

Lindsey Buckingham - Gift of Screws

Reprise/Warner Bros.

I think calling this "singer/songwriter" would be most accurate, but that does not explain a thing about this. Bizarre, dreamed out personal songs, exclusively with vocals and guitar, and occasional synth track. What makes this, though, is the insane guitar playing: lightning fast finger picking layer behind another track of lightning fast guitar playing. I would call this masturbatory if it wasn't so good.

EDITORS NOTE: Anyone who was the lead guitarist for Fleetwood Mac, and had to deal with people like Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, and Christine McVie, and was cheated on by Stevie and Mick, broke up with the band who then reformed, went on a humongous tour, and has still survived, is a legend as far as I'm concerned.

Rebecca Cline and Hilary Noble - Enclave Diaspora

En(jazz)Clave/North Country

Decent Afro-Latin influenced jazz. Quicker tempo, interesting progressions, and yes, even some fun thrown into the mix, just to make it interesting. I wouldn't say this is my favorite, but it isn't bad.
Heavy on the percussion and piano, a little bass hanging out on the side, and you have Enclave Diaspora clearing the way for the jazz-minded folks of the world.

Taylor Swift - Fearless

Big Machine

Pop country. Taylor Swift makes a point to let the "pop" shine through stronger, but doesn't deny her country roots, despite her Pennsylvania upbringing. Her voice is far beyond her age (she's still 19), and her craft of a musician is not that of a teenager.
While it's a bit soulless, that doesn't stop it from being great for what it is: a really perfect pop-country album. What you see, as the old saying goes, is what you get.

Various Artists - Hard + Heavy: Up All Night

Time Life/Rhino/Warner Bros.

Another disc in the Hard + Heavy series, this time with more songs about partying until the sun comes up. You know what is on here: Judas Priest, Scorpions, Quiet Riot (of course), Warrant, and Slaughter, just to name some of the gems contained on this disc. Beer, hair, and partying: that's all this CD needs.

Rosa Passos - Romance

Telarc/Concord

Incredible jazz singing from Rosa Passos. Latin in tone, Fitzgerald in style, and perfect in...well, everything else. Fairly slow, with typical instrumentation (piano, upright bass, a horn or two, and percussion), but it comes across as so much more. Everything is essentially there just for Passos to shine as bright as she can, which is pretty bright. Bright, bright album.

Styles P - Phantom Gangster Chronicles, Volume 1 CD/DVD SET

D-Block/Koch

Brand new mixtape from Styles P, member of legendary The Lox, the group which helped fuel Puff Daddy to his current fame. Styles P's approach is not one that fits simply into any category of hip hop: it's not gangster, and it's not really bling either, not crunk or hyphy, nor all that old school.
It's full of elements of all, but doesn't at all come across like the man can't make up his mind on what he wants to sound like. Great flow, interesting and fun beats, and lyrically intelligent: more great hip-hop for the era.
***MIGHTY MIGHTY***

Colleen Mcfarland - Let It Shine

9th Child/HighHorse

Now this is straightforward. Not in the bad way, it just is what it is: singer/songwriter performance with a serious country edge to it all. Not bullshitted, not pretentious: just Mcfarland and her songs, played how she wants them.
You can hear the songs as her own, strongly backed by her voice and guitar, with everything else as backup and periphery. Heartfelt songs, for the most part incredibly positive in nature, make for a great release. Hopefully Mcfarland will keep at this, because she's onto something!

Bireli Lagrene - Electric Side

Dreyfus/Now Forward

Slightly masturbatory jazz-fusion guitar playing, which, if you are a guitar player, may just love. The music is not so self-indulgent that it is unlistenable, but definitely enough to take about 3 minutes to get to any solid part of the song. If you are into this sort of thing, this is incredible. Otherwise, steer clear.
***LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL***

Born From Pain - Survival

Metal Blade

Metal-hardcore crossover band Born From Pain are pushing the boundaries between the two genres, finally coming into their own sound. On previous releases, it sounded like they listened to a Bolt Thrower album right after a Madball LP and thought "Let's do this, but better!".
Now, they took that idea, and just decided to cut both bands out and do their own thing. It's great. Metallish riffing behind hardcore shout outs makes Survival the crossover record of the year.

Guy Davis - Legacy

Red House

Legendary Guy Davis holds on his seventh album some of the best hip-hop infused blues that the world has heard. Honest, artistic tracks about racism in the U.S.A. and dealing with the difficulties of living in a capitalist society.
All organic instruments played in a hip-hop fashion makes Legacy both original and all-so-pleasing to the ears. Fun, serious, and nothing short of gold; this is relevant solid blues fusion.

EDITORS NOTE: The Davis household consisted of Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, friends to Dr. Martin Luther King. Ossie was the eulogist at the funeral services for slain activist Malcom X. Among the esteemed guests that graced the Davis home were folk legends Pete Seeger and Harry Belafonte, Malcom X, Black Panther leader Huey Newton, and Paul Robeson. Ossie said of him "He was just so very poltically and culturally aware."

Jeff Beck - Performing This Week Live At Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club

Eagle

Rock legend Jeff Beck will tear your head off with monstorously huge solos for the full house of Performing This Week... Beck is doing what he does best: rock-influenced blues, solo after solo.
He leaves in his wake his influences, a bit of jazz, a bit of pop, and definitely some reggae, to push forward with his endless shredding stature. Live, yes. Bad recordings? No.

The Bodies Obtained - From The Top Of My Tree

Find You Attractive

Electronic music is a very hit or miss for me. The Bodies Obtained, a no wave-goth-Joy Division-worship-of-a-car crash, manage to strike the "hit" button. Gloomy, over-used keyboards make for a bit of a high cheese factor, but none the less creates the goth aura that everyone should be loving. Lots of odd love songs, with almost exclusively electronic instruments layered behind blunt vocals, From The Top Of My Tree is a step in the right direction for electronic music.

Trouble Andrew - Self-Titled

Capitol/EMI

I know nothing about this band, so I will give this the best I got. Trouble Andrew, post-punk in nature but pop in sound, is an electronic conglomeration of fast paced spouted lyrics, catchy synthesized melodies, and a serious hipster tone. Fun and poppy, this is a dance party waiting to happen.

Levon Helm Band - Merlefest 04/26/08

FestivaLink

Big Band rock from the Levon Helm Band. FestivaLink, a website dedicated to bringing the best live performances to audio, have done a great job at capturing this event: solidly clear recordings, with perhaps one of the best mixes of a live concert I have heard in a long time.
Music is bluesy rock, with a serious Big-Band feel, with a lot of concert atmosphere. Interesting stuff, and a great gift for anyone who is into this genre.

EDITORS NOTE: Levon Helm was the great drummer of The Band, and a great singer as well.

Sleepy John Estes with Hammie Nixon - On 80 Highway

Delmark

Straight from the reel in '74, On 80 Highway documents two of the best blues/country writers in history, playing their ever-so-perfect brand of country blues that embodies the idea of soul. This dead genre is the kind that can bring tears to any eyes: solidly heartfelt music.
While not always musically perfect, the embodied emotion in the sloppy guitar playing, off timing vocals, and generally slurred lyrics just makes the album that much better. While both Estes and Nixon have left since this recording, the dream of great blues rests awake in these gems from yesteryears.
***So Nice, Gotta Do It Up Twice (Created by the Original NYC DJ, Jocko, 1955)***

Orchestra Baobab - Made In Dakar

World Circuit/Nonesuch/Warner Bros.

Taking the title of the premier "Afro-Pop" act, Orchestra Baobab is the band you need to give your friends who claim to not like "world-music" (we don't need to go into why we here at JSITop21.com hate the term. If you want to know, go look at any back issue).
Musically, it is American pop, but so strongly drenched in African, Cuban, and Caribbean flair that it is not something you can hear on the radio. While I think it is mostly through similar origins, there are certainly hints of traditional ska that shine through here and there. Endless amounts of amazing percussion is, for me, what really makes this album.

Cory Crowder - Gold and the Sand

Tooth & Nail/EMI

Taking the worst parts of alternative rock and southern blues, we have Cory Crowder: soulless as soulless gets. Taking notes from bands like Nickelback but without the edge, southern blues without the heart, and any alternative rock band with everything forgettable, Gold and the Sand is just boring. By the numbers country rock. Meh.

Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip - Angles

Strange Famous

Little bit of electro-trash, little bit of art-hop...Angles takes a new look at hip-hop, perhaps not for better or for worse. Catchy electronic songs with just full-blown dance beats make up the primary focus of these recordings. Not bad at all.
The rapping on top of the noise would have to be considered back-packing at best. Euro-accent, which is pretty awesome, and adding the MC's complete lack of flow actually adds to the whole thing. Pretty weird, but pretty awesome. center>

***If You Like Music, You're Gonna' Love This!***

Don't wanna hear the noises on TV,
Don't want the salesmen coming after me,
Don't wanna live in my father's house no more.
Don't want it faster, I dont want it free,
Don't wanna show you what they done to me,
Don't wanna live in my father's house no more.
Don't wanna choose black or blue,
Don't wanna see what they done to you,
Don't wanna live in my father's house no more

'Cause the tide is high,
and its rising still,
and I don't wanna see it at my windowsill.

Don't wanna give 'em my name and address,
Don't wanna see what happens next,
Don't wanna live in my father's house no more.
Don't wanna live with my father's debt,
You can't forgive what you can't forget,
Don't wanna live in my father's house no more.
Don't wanna fight in a holy war,
Don't want the salesmen knocking at my door,
I don't wanna live in America no more.
'Cause the tide is high,
and it's rising still,
And I don't wanna see it at my windowsill.

MTV, what have you done to me?
Save my soul, set me free!
Set me free! What have you done to me?
I can't breathe! I can't see!
World War III,
when are you coming for me?
Been kicking up sparks,
we set the flames free.
The windows are locked now,
so what'll it be?
A house on fire, a rising sea?

Why is the night so still?
Why did I take the pill?
Because I don't wanna see it at my windowsill!

Don't wanna see it at my windowsill!
Don't wanna see it at my windowsill!
Don't wanna see it at my windowsill!
Don't wanna see it at my windowsill!
Don't wanna see it at my windowsill!
Don't wanna see it at my windowsill!
Don't wanna see it at my windowsill!
Don't wanna see it at my windowsill!
Don't wanna see it at my windowsill!
Don't wanna see it at my windowsill!
Don't wanna see it at my windowsill!
Don't wanna see it at my windowsill!

Political Article: License to Steal: $50 Billion Con Rocks Wall Street By: Danny Schecter Back To Top Every era has its bad guy, its high profile criminal who flames into public view through media circuses and tabloid headlines. In the 1930's, there was Al Capone brought down by the taxman. In the 40's, Willie Sutton was a big bad guy who once said he robbed banks because "that's where the money is." In the 1950's the Mafia seized our attention while here in New York, we had George Metetsky, the mad bomber. In the 60's, well you know the saying, "If you can remember that era, you weren't there..." Many of these larger than life gangsters were anti-social outlaws robbing banks and the like. Now the banks are robbing us. Until he is outdone, we now have a new poster boy for Wall Street excess and larceny: the bland personage of Bernard Madoff, the consummate Wall Street insider, philanthropist and pillar of the financial community. He has now been credited in this credit crisis for the biggest theft in history. Madoff seems to have won the gold medal for absconding with the most gold. His take: $50 billion and counting. It was, he admitted, all a Ponzi scheme. He was a reverse Robin Hood: he took from the rich and enriched himself in a life style festooned with many houses, boats and stays at $5,000 a night hotels. The Notice Go to The Madoff.com site today and there is this notice that thousands of investors are reading while holding back tears and outrage. On December 15, 2008, the Honorable Louis L. Stanton, a Federal Judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, appointed Irving Picard as Trustee for the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investments Securities LLC ("BMIS") pursuant to the Securities Investor Protection Act ("SIPA") as set forth in the attached order. Mr. Picard supersedes Lee S. Richards, the previously appointed Receiver for BMIS and all claims by customers of BMIS will be processed by Mr. Picard as SIPA Trustee. Customers and claimants should refer to the website of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation for information about the processing of claims. SIPC.ORG Mr. Richards continues to serve as Receiver for Madoff Securities International Ltd. pursuant to the attached order. The Trustee Irving Picard has engaged Lazard Fr�res & Co. LLC to assist in the sale of the trading operations of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. Should you have further questions, please contact the Trustee at the following number: 888-727-8695. In short: Good Luck at Getting Any Of Your Money Back. Whistleblower Rebuffed Of course this dry legalistic language doesn't tell the whole story, the story of the failure of the Regulators to act, or about the submission to the SEC on November 7, 2005 of a 19-page detailed document. This document was written by financial expert Harry Markopolos and sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission with a request for deep confidentiality. He exposed the the man now being called "Made-off." The title of his report: "The World's Biggest Hedge Fund is a Fraud." It projected scenarios including this one: "(Very Likely) in bold, "Madoff Securities is the World's largest Ponzi Scheme" He believed that "this would be another black eye for the brokerage industry." Bingo! Victims We Can Relate To That black eye punch was never thrown. Instead, it was three years before Madoff went down. He continued to operate his con game, defrauding customers worldwide. At the same time, the 'celebrity' investors he ripped off (like Steven Speilberg) later became "sympathetic victims" - as opposed to subprime home borrowers who were often demonized as schemers and told they were na•ve and should have known better. A CNBC "documentary" showcased a parade of wealthy Madoff victims. Bernie was a high flyer, a part of a clubby and incestuous elite world of golf clubs, resorts, and philanthropy with tax benefits.. He was a leader of the Wall Street world, at one point the Chairman of NASDAQ. Universities invited him to lecture on how markets work. He was admired, considered a role model, a genius. His firm handled l0% of all Stock Exchange trades. His niece married an SEC regulator. Mary Schapiro, Barack Obama's pick to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), previously appointed one of his sons to a regulatory body that oversees American securities firms. Madoff himself said he had often visited the SEC where he complained of over regulation. Bernie was in until he was out! Soon he was wearing an electronic bracelet and under house arrest, a further sign of privileged treatment by the way. Imagine what secrets he could spill. Already the NY Times is reporting that this theft problem went much deeper with all the Wall Street firms posting phony profit reports and then giving themselves juicy bonuses. A financial blogger wrote that the Times was still obscuring the story because the practice constitutes nothing less than looting, a word they never use. Unfortunately, Madoff was not unique, not alone, and shrewder than the people who trusted him to make earn a good return. One financial analyst said that some of his investors assumed he was doing something illegal - perhaps insider trading - which is why they wanted him to manage their money. They thought they would make more money that way without taking normal risks. Funds of Funds Subprime speculators targeted low and middle-income people. Madoff marketed to the wealthy. Editor Steven Pearlstein of the Washington Post explained that he specialized in "funds of funds" hedge funds: "These are hedge funds that raise money from pension funds, university endowments and wealthy individuals and, for a fee of 1.5 percent a year, invest it in other hedge funds, which charge even higher fees. In return for paying double fees, these middlemen claim to offer investors access to the best hedge funds, which can be selective about whose money they accept. They also offer the peace of mind that goes with knowing that the funds have been thoroughly checked out. Now it turns out that some of these funds of funds had parked billions of dollars of their clients' money with Madoff without asking how he could so consistently produce returns in up market or down, or demanding to know why his books were audited by a three-person firm that nobody ever heard of operating out of a broom closet on Long Island. It doesn't take a PhD in finance to see the pattern here: Accounting firms and rating agencies are too easily compromised by the fact that they are chosen and paid by the management of the companies whose books they are auditing and securities they are rating. There are simply too many built-in conflicts of interest. And Madoff took advantage of them. As a result he had a license to steal, and steal he did. "Disintermediated" Investors James Hedges IV of LJH Global Investments, says those that went with Madoff chose faith over evidence. "You've got people who were disintermediated [i.e., didn't have a professional representative], or unsophisticated, or went in through a personal relationship. That's what a con man is - a confidence man is somebody that engenders a relationship and then subsequently lures somebody into doing something that they shouldn't do." In the aftermath, the small gesture speaks volumes. A friend was staking out Madoff's former offices for a major news organization. No one would talk to her including investors who could be seen through the window on their cellphones moaning about losses.. They looked grim. Some were wiped out. When they left the building, some hid their faces, perhaps in shame, like criminals photographed on "perp walks." A philanthropy expert said the consequences will be "Catastrophic." An Israeli newspaper said many Jewish organizations will be hurt, some irreparably. The anthropologist Lionel Tiger writes in Forbes about how incidents like this undermine all respect for the business world: "The invisible hand lurches between clenched fist and begging palm, and the new Greenwich Mean Time is in Connecticut. Suddenly, the only thing taken for granted is a government grant." You could never make this up even though Wall Street history is replete with earlier versions of this Sultan of Sleaze. Around the world, it is not just the supercrook Bernie Madoff who is seen as the guilty party but the whole American system of free market finance. There will be a reckoning.

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