Prodigious Liner Notes - The Sky is Open

My best of 2006 "The Sky is Open" is now available. For those lucky recipiants here are the promised notes, for the rest if it sounds like something you'd like feel free to use it as a template-there's no charge.

"Silver Bell" Patty Griffin

This is the cheater one. "Silver Bell" is the title track of Patty Griffin's missing record, the follow up to "Flaming Red" that was lost in a label switch. Some of the best songs, like "Making Pies" and "Long Ride Home", were recycled for "1000 Kisses" but I had never heard it until 2006. It's uneven and I'd say its loss was for the best but I do like this song although, of all the things I thought "Silver Bell" might be about, a skanky motel was not one of them.

"No Kind of Life" "It's Getting Light Outside" Clearlake

I heard on NPR not to buy the Arctic Monkeys because Clearlake was better so I did. (It turned out I liked the Monkeys too.) I don't know if either will stand the test of time but they're good for the straight up rock and roll. I like Clearlake's use of strings and other orchestral flourishes, like the timpani on "It's Getting Light Outside".

"Feb 14" "A World of Hurt" Drive By Truckers

DBT's "A Blessing and a Curse" is such a good record it was hard to choose which song or even to limit myself to only two. "Feb 14" has some great lines ("take your chocolates and go home") and a driving beat whose only appropriate dance is to jump up and down in place repeatedly, a dance I was able to do when we saw the Truckers live (finally!) in October. "A World of Hurt" sort of became an unofficial theme for 2006. Its bittersweet hopefulness never fails me, so much so I used some words from it on my holiday cards.

"Better Than Broken" The Bottle Rockets

"Zoysia" is a good Bottle Rockets record, the two new members fit and the sound is tight. It's not as stellar as "24 Hours a Day" or their live record from Germany but nevertheless a fine addition to the Bottle Rockets canon. I was pleased that EW columnist Stephen King chose it as one of his faves too (even if he didn't know what the hell zoysia was).

"The Sky is Open" "Honest" The Long Winters

One of my two favorite records of the year, The Long Winters' "Putting the Days to Bed" was a rollicking good time I could hardly play enough and I played that one a lot. I love the funky guitar bridge in "The Sky is Open" and the lyrics of "Honest"- "to hear him say so plainly/what your heart can vouch is true/means something is connecting you". I mean, really, what music fan hasn't felt that way about a beloved artist? Damn, John Roderick, are you me?

"How We Operate" Gomez

This Gomez record, unlike the Drive By Truckers who also have three singer/songwriters, sounded like a great mix CD instead of one thematic whole which perhaps kept it from favorite status. But this song is terrific, I love the banjo bit at the beginning especially.

"Crazy" Gnarls Barkley

I know I wasn't the only one digging this one last summer, I read a lot of best of lists that said the same. No matter how many listenings it still sounds fresh and fun. I had one customer describe it as sounding like Motown which at the time made me wonder but if she was speaking of the intricate layering that makes you wanna dance I guess I get it after all.

"World Container" The Tragically Hip

My boyfriend says this Hip record (coming in 2007 in the States) is the first I came to on my own, that wasn't shot through his musical prism first, which is very true. The first couple of days we had it we were both vying to listen which was fun. We also watched the special edition of the Canadian show "The Hour" devoted to the new record which was a fine introduction. My secular humanist self glommed on to this song as my pick because of the line "we're all songs of one song/and that song is don't forget" except I later discovered, when I could pry the lyric sheet out of Joe's hands, that the line is actually "where all songs of one song/and that song is don't forget" which isn't quite the same. But I still like it. A lot.

"Singular Girl" Rhett Miller

Rhett Miller's second solo effort, the first for Verve, was a bit of a disappointment to me. As the front man for the Old 97s he's great and yes, he does have those dreamy male model looks but their attempt to package him as a crooner didn't really play to his strengths as I see them. "Singular Girl" was about all I could salvage from it, mostly for the great line "talking to you girl/is like long division". I can't speak for any other girls listening but I simultanously want to be that girl and fear I already am that girl. The title would also make a fabulous Neighborhoodie, especially one presented as a gift.

"Rise Up With Fists!!" "You Are What You Love" Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins

My friend Marla gets all the credit for this one. I hadn't ever listened to Lewis' band, Rilo Kiley so I was completely floored by her voice and keenly sharp lyrics. I clearly remember riding in her car and thinking 'what is this?' "Rabbit Fur Coat" is my other favorite CD of 2006. I am a sucker for any of the "grace of god songs" and if you have two exclaimation points you get my attention for sure. I adore "You Are What You Love" because of the idea that you tell more about yourself, your true self, in your romantic failings and flounderings than in your successes. I feel that is true even if I never thought it till I heard the song which is one very valid song yardstick in my book.

"Not Ready to Back Down" the Dixie Chicks

Kinda like with the Rhett Miller I was disappointed in the newest Chicks. I have found the other Rick Rubin produced stuff so interesting and wide open I was excited by the match which probably added to the disappointment. Outside of this song, which, with its dramatic peaks and valleys (and great strings) seems a perfect encapsulation of the whole anti Bush brouhaha, the songs are lackluster at best. Call me hardhearted I couldn't even like the Katrina fundraiser song. If this is what it's like for them to write (or at least cowrite) all their own material I vote for more songwriters.

"Not California" Hem

I like the Hem, I've said it before and I'll say it again. They speak to me like no others do. When we saw them Dan, the pianist who wrote this one, said it was inspired by his wife's TV habits. The contrast of the perfection of "The OC" and her other favorites and their own messy life in Brooklyn apparently got to him one night and I'm so glad. His defiant yet pleading lyrics are a great match for Sally's vocals in this one.

"The Ring" "I Am Aglow" Sarah Harmer

Some day I'd like to have to give an acceptance speech so I can crib shamelessly from "The Ring" I think it is that fine a thank you. And because Sarah Harmer is so overlooked in this country I could totally get away with it because only you, loyal blog readers, would know and you would have long ago been won over by her and would cheer lustily for me and my good taste. As for "I Am Aglow" it (almost) makes me wish I was single again and twitterpated so I could say (or live) the line "you're a map of a place/maybe someday I'll go". It also has a stunningly beautiful video which I saw once late on a sleepless night and haven't been able to find since.


Happy Listening!