RNYK: You have covered Dylan in the past (notably the brilliant version of “Hard Rain” on your solo debut). Why an entire album of Dylan covers at this point in time?

Ferry: I had always thought it would be a good idea to do a complete album of Dylan songs, and now felt like a good time to do it. The words on the songs are so great to sing and the band I used had a great feeling for the material.

RNYK: Your rendering of “Gates of Eden” on the new album is particularly striking, very hushed, and (to my ears) reveals a whole new side to the original. It sounds like the cut may have been recorded live in the studio. Can you tell us about your approach to this song and the particulars of this recording?

Ferry: It was one of those tracks that just happened spontaneously in the studio, where all the elements just fell into place. I wish it was always like that!

RNYK: How did the collaboration with Brian Eno come about on this album and what was working with him again like?

Ferry: I called Brian and asked if he’d like to come over to my studio and perhaps add something to the tracks I’d just recorded. He liked “If Not For You” and did some effects on the drum track.

RNYK: Are there plans for touring this album in the States? What tunes from your back pages ( Roxy & solo) will you be playing?

Ferry: At the moment there are no plans to tour the States, but we are touring through the rest of the world until December. We are doing a fairly comprehensive selection from all my solo albums, plus 2 or 3 Roxy tracks.

RNYK: Did you have any contact with Bob Dylan about the making of this album? Have you met him previously?

Ferry: No. No, but I saw him perform last year in London —– he was really good.

 

Anyone who knows anything about rock understands the power of David Lee Roth. I present you these two simple equations:

1. VH w/ DLR = Greatest Hard Rock Band Ever 2. VH w/out DLR = Lamest Hard Rock Band Ever

Now, this is not to downplay the input of Messrs. Van Halen, Van Halen and Anthony. It’s just stating that without the bad-boy shouting, keen wit (“Reach down / between my legs / Ease the seat back”), acrobatic leaps, trademark yelps, hilarious asides (“I don’t feel tardy”) and general Rockinroll Je Ne Sais Quoi, Eddie’s finger-tapping genius and Alex/Michael’s muscle seem like a lot of tedious hokum.

And I’m not even going to get into the transgressions of The Red Rocker. They are too many and life is too short. Suffice it to say, the post-DLR Van Halen releases (aka “Van Hagar”, aka “Sam Halen”) were not worth the plastic they were pressed on. And the post-Sammy versions of VH were even more deplorable. Does anyone even remember those farm-leaguers names? I certainly don’t. . .

Plus, DLR is a rockinroll poet. Really, truly. Up there with Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Brian Wilson and everyone else who could throw some good rhymes about cool cars and hot chicks. Consider this exemplary passage from Woman & Children First’s “Everybody Wants Some!!”:

You can’t get romantic on a subway line.
Conductor don’t like it, says you’re wastin’ your time.
But ev’rybody wants some.
I want some too.
Ev’rybody wants some.
Baby, how ’bout you?
I seen a lotta people lookin’ for a moonbeam.
Yeah, ya spent a lot. Ya got lost in the jet-stream.
But ev’rybody wants some.
I want some too.
Ev’rybody wants some.
Baby, how ’bout you?

Kinda gets to the heart of the matter, no? So, let’s thank the rock gods for bringing Brother Dave back from his forays into muzak schlock, emergency services and talk radio, and placing him exactly where he was intended to be: fronting the powerhaus rock quartet that is VH.

Now, as far as Wolfgang (Eddie’s fourteen year old son) taking over for Michael Anthony on the Four String Beast, one can only see this as a classic slap in the face. . .

Eddie VH: Hey Michael! You wanna tour w/ the VH boys and Diamond Dave?
Michael A.: Ah man, I don’t think so.
Eddie VH: Ok that’s cool. The bass parts are so easy I’ll have my fourteen year old son play them. See ya!

I mean, let’s face it, “Runnin’ With Devil” is not exactly Jaco Pastorius. One question remains, will Lil’ Wolfie do the old “pound a quart of Jack Daniels and break the bass in half” schtick? One can only hope so. . .

PS. Required Reading

 

This week’s new CDs & DVD releases: Allright, this is definitely not much of “New York” album but sometimes even Real New Yorkers fancy a shot of Jack and a does of Skynard-style alt-rock. The Drive-By-Truckers, seven albums and over a decade into their career, have hit full stride with A Blessing And A Curse. If you are not familiar with DBT, they’re kinda like The Outlaws if Raymond Carver wrote the lyrics. They’re kinda like .38 Special with only one drummer. They’re kinda like The Allman Brothers without the noodly jams. They are literate southerners who rock like hell. The album (at 11 songs) and the songs themselves are a bit tighter, a bit more focused, a bit less epic than previous stabs. It’s pretty much the same sad tales of love & loss, the road & the game, served up with a healthy dose of Muscle Shoals boogie and fat Les Paul guitar, just slightly more refined (if Southern Rock can ever be called “refined”). Without a doubt, one of the best straight-up rock bands in the US of A at this point.

Out this week on DVD: the Quentin Tarantino produced gore-fest Hostel, and Mrs. Henderson Presents starring Judi Dench.

 

This week’s new CDs & DVD releases: A couple significant releases this week. . . First off, Capitol Albums Vol. 2 covers all 4 US Beatles releases for 1965. Needless to say, it was quite a year for the Fab Four. The box contains mono & stereo versions (some never before released) of The Early Beatles, Beatles VI, Help!, and Rubber Soul. Beatles completists — this is for you. . . . Ok, on to something “new” new: the latest from Built To Spill, Doug Martsch’s Idaho indie-rock outfit. You in Reverse was five years in the making is well worth the wait. After 1997’s pop-perfect “Perfect from Now On” and 1999’s guitar-o-rama “Keep It Like a Secret”, 2001’s “Ancient Melodies of the Future” was a somewhat staid disapointment. No worries, B2S is back on top of their game.
Casual yet beautiful vocal melodies? Check. Textured arrangements that give Brian Eno a run for his money? Check. The best guitar jam-outs since Crazy Horse? Check. “Reverse” has a slightly more live, improvisational feel than previous efforts. For fans of serious indie guitar rock, that’s a bonus.

Jim Carrey & Tea Leoni star in “Fun with Dick & Jane” a remake of the 1977 heist movie featuring George Segal & Jane Fonda. The story is cleverly updated to take on corporate greed, white-collar crime and suburban living. Carrey is in fine slapstick form and Leoni adds a subtler comedic edge. The screenplay lacks teeth but it’s this light touch that gives the flick it’s enjoyable appeal.

 

This week’s new CDs & DVD releases: The Flaming Lips are an anomaly: a 20 year old rock band that hit its stride 15 years into its career; a “one hit wonder” that has only grown in popularity since the hit faded; a bunch of psychedelic-punk-goth freaks from Oklahoma that have taken to writing perfect pop odes that often read like Zen koans. Their latest, At War with the Mystics, doesn’t so much pick up where there last two albums left off (the symphonic psych-pop masterpiece The Soft Bulletin and it’s much wiggier epic-rock cousin Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots) as much as pick up strands from previous albums (fuzzy guitars, power trio playing, rock drums) and, adding a good dose of R&B groove, run with the ball. I’ve read comparisons to Beck’s material, but that seems simplistic. The Lips are no more likely to emulate Beck than The Beatles were to lift tricks from the Monkees. . . ok, ok, that was a little harsh. . . than The Beatles were to lift tricks from Badfinger. As they prove here once again, the Lips remain one of the most forward-looking, creative bands in all of rockdom. . . Also out this week: Now 21, Pink: I’m Not Dead, Cassandra Wilson: Thunderbird, Morrissey: Ringleader Of The Tormentors.

The Disney adaptation of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe more than lives up to C.S. Lewis’s magical children’s novel. The right combination of story, special effects and sheer grandeur is struck in this battle of ultimate good vs. ultimate evil (um, kinda like Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots). In fact, the movie is almost as good as the rap video. Btw, order the DVD now at J&R and get a free Narnia keychain. . . Also out this week: Ang Lee’s Oscar® Winner Brokeback Mountain.

 

This Tuesday features a new release from Brooklyn’s finest post-punk trio, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Show Your Bones, the band’s sophomore effort, finds Karen O & crew fleshing out their sound (Squeak E. Clean’s production adds all manners of studio tasties) since their breakthrough debut Fever to Tell. What the band has perhaps lost in fierceness, it has gained in depth of songwriting, maturity of production and a more restrained approach to arrangements. But is that what you want from this decade’s most compellingly confrontational Top 40 Band? We’ll let you decide. . . Also in the store: Ghostface Killah Fishscale, Tim McGraw Greatest Hits Vol. 2, Rob Zombie Educated Horses.

NYC’s favorite ape is back! Peter Jackson’s epic remake of Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack’s 1933 classic borrows most of the plot and many of the same depression-era settings. Where this version stands out is in the LOTR Director’s eye for visual spectacle. His Skull Island (stocked with Dinosaurs, natch) is a special effects bonanza. His 1930’s Manhattan is jaw dropping in it’s attention to detail. Think you didn’t need to see Kong break the shackles and shimmy up the Empire State one more time? Think again. Stars Naomi Watts, Jack Black & Adrian Brody. . . Also out: Memoirs of Geisha, Six Feet Under: The Complete Sixth Season, Get Rich or Die Tryin’.

 

Today is Tuesday and you know what that means: new CDs & DVD releases. . . Have you heard “Black Sweat” yet? The first single off of Prince’s new 3121 finds the Purple One back in top form (ok, ok, he’s always been in top form). The rest of the CD lives up to the promise of the cut’s stripped-down funk. Robert Christgau writes in Rolling Stone: “the beats get pretty wicked here — wildly canted, eccentric, exciting.” Other notable CD releases: Ben Harper Both Sides of the Gun, My Chemical Romance Life on the Murder Scene, Chicago XXX.

Everyone from Oscar® on down agreed that Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s turn as the brilliant writer, social gadfly and mid-century heavyweight cocktailer in Capote was the year’s best. Insightful, nuanced, controlled — acting at its finest. If you haven’t seen this flick yet, what are you waiting for? Also out today: Chicken Little, A History of Violence.