Quick Hits, Vol. 126 (Eric Johnson, Travis Green, Jim James, Lou Reed)

Eric Johnson - EJ.  I know I've mentioned this before, but when Eric Johnson's Ah Via Musicom came out in 1990, the local radio stations (likely KLBJ) were playing "Cliffs of Dover," sometimes with the "Ah Via Musicom" intro song (like "Eruption" leading into "You Really Got Me," which is the appropriate way to listen to that song), and I was smitten entirely.  I'd never been much for the guitar God heroics of some of the purported masters, beyond SRV and Eric Clapton (but who wasn't in to those dudes?).  But that track was freaking molten hot fire and I spent an entire summer with it on a loop in my head until I could finally buy the CD.
So this is the same guy, a local Austin fella who I have seen giving away his time for good causes in the recent past, but this album is not electric whiz-bang, but instead showcases his skills on the acoustic guitar.  I thought I was in for a long slog with the first second of the first track, a hyper-technical instrumental version of "Mrs. Robinson," that starts out pretty brash and twangy in the ear (like the levels were up a little high at the get go), but then he goes into originals that are solidly built and well played.  A few other covers in here as well, but the best bits are the originals like "Wrapped in a Cloud," the vaguely Spanish instrumental torrent on "Once Upon a Time in Texas," or the Hendrix cover "One Rainy Wish."  The most popular track, by a long ways, is the album closer, "Song for Irene," with almost 1.2 million streams on Spotify.

I keep expecting David Wilcox to start singing over that riff.  Really nice acoustic instrumental there. This guy is just so very talented.  I like this album well enough to keep it going.

Travis Green - A Little Too Late.  I met this guy not too long ago while out walking my dog. Supremely nice guy who is trying to make a go of it in the crowded Austin world of bluesy rock guitarists.  He's got a solid voice and these tunes all have a good Austin-centric mix of country flavor with the bluesy rock sound, and lyrics that lean more towards the singer-songwriter's way of telling you a story (usually sad).  And then "Everybody Knows" comes on, and I have to turn the CD off in the car because the kids are going to have questions for me about why Travis keeps calling someone a bitch.  I especially like "Please Don't Cry" and the guitar fireworks on "Salt and Sand."  None of his tracks have more than 1,000 listens on Spotify, so I can't give you the popular one, but I'll just give you my favorite, "Salt and Sand."

Its that last minute or so that really draws me in there, when he's showing off a little bit with the guitar.  I like where that is coming from and could do with some more of that.  The next step is for me to get off of my butt and go see this dude do it live.  He plays loads of shows around town, so I just need to make it happen.

Apparently this edition of quick hits is going to be devoted only to those folks that use their first and last names as their performing names.

Jim James - Eternally Even.  Weird, I thought I had already reviewed this one.  I guess once I had listened enough to make it one of my top 10 albums of last year, I figured I was done with it.  Well, it has come back up in my new stuff playlist, so its time to talk about it some more.  First off, screw the creepy ass cover of this album.  He is holding some sort of blurry mask in front of his face, but all I can think of is that is has pineapple rings over his eyes and then some creepy gold melting his face off.  I do not like the cover of this album. 

But the music is some classic chilled out fuzzy My Morning Jacket sounding grooves.  I'm a fan of MMJ and enjoy this one as well.  The most popular track, with almost 2.5 million streams, is called "Here in Spirit."

The emphasis on the last letter of each line in the opening is cool sounding.  And the message is a good one as well.  "If you don't speak out, we can't hear it."  This whole album is a good one - I think I prefer the full-band MMJ experience, but I'll take this while its the new thing available.

Lou Reed - Transformer.  Rolling Stone did a list the other day of the essential Lou Reed albums to listen to in order to appreciate the man.  I've tried to enjoy Velvet Underground for years, and I just really can't get behind it.  I don't know why I'm not cool like everyone else, but it just doesn't do it for me.  On the other hand, this album is excellent.  Obviously, like everyone else, I know "Walk on the Wild Side," which is the clear top hit from this album. That song is amazing - great imagery, cool as hell sound - it just hits on all cylinders.  Oh, and Marky Mark.  But this album also boasts great tunes like "Satellite of Love" (which sounds like Bowie should have been on it) and "Perfect Day."  Hard to chose the best between those two, but I think I'll go with "Satellite." 10 million streams, another 5 million YouTube views of this static "video."

Pretty solid.  What!?  I just read about that song to see if I could get some help on figuring out what it was about, and Wikipedia notes that Bowie not only produced this album but was singing the backup vocals on that track.  I am an idiot savant and stuff.  Oh, and this was on the Million Dollar Hotel soundtrack, which means I've heard it a number of times (as I found that album on Napster a million years ago because U2 was on it and I listened to it a ton). Anyway, sometimes when you go back to the old classics (this album is from 1972) you find some good stuff.