Arts & Culture - Music

 *Undoubtedly there are other worthy albums. But these records will lift your spirits for the holidays and in the coming year.

By Jim Morrison

Don't call this a best of 2008 list; I've not had enough time to digest everything. Instead, consider these discs worth adding to your collection or someone on your gift list.
 
Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal (Back Porch Records). The Texas rocker has released his best album in years, fronted by the engaging, rollicking opener, "Always a Friend." The disc is both ruminative, looking back at his early days as a rocker in the "Chelsea Hotel," and hard rocking looking forward on "People (We're Only Gonna Live So Long)." There's a little bit of everything, including some nice string arrangements. Think Sixties Stones married to Springsteen-style storytelling. For a bonus, pick up the iTunes copy of Escovedo dueting with Springsteen and the E Street Band on "Always a Friend." Buy Real Animal

Jonatha Brooke - The Works: Lyrics by Woody Guthrie, Music by Jonatha Brooke.  (Bad Dog Records). What a revelation. Brooke is the latest artist given entree to the Guthrie archives. She's chosen well, showing another more personal side to him. And she picked superb collaborators, notably jazzmen Joe Sample, Steve Gadd and Christian McBride. Keb Mo duets on the wonderfully sexy, "All You Gotta Do Is Touch Me," the album's best cut. But there are no bad choices here from the opening "My Sweet and Bitter Bowl" through the propulsive harmonies of "There's More True Lovers Than One," the simple ballad "Sweetest Angel," and the cinematic scope of "Madonna On the Curb." A must-have.  Buy The Works

James McMurtry - Just Us Kids (Lightning Rod Records). In the two decades since he debuted on a major label album produced by John Mellencamp, McMurtry has carved out a career as perhaps our most observant, acerbic political songwriter—backed by a band that lays down a thick rock groove. "Just Us Kids" picks up where the superb "Childish Things" left off, telling tales of the voiceless pushed aside as the decider pursued his agenda. "God Bless America" is heavy blues that lays bare greed and prophecies the current recession. "Hurricane Party" and "Fire Line Road" are good stories and incisive commentary. There's not exactly a sensitive side to McMurtry, but the title cut does take a sympathetic look at what it's like to be facing midlife choices while also looking back at where you've been.   Buy Just Us Kids

Tift Merritt - Another Country (Fantasy).  Merritt moves strikingly from the roadhouse soul of her last, "Tambourine," to coffehouse country pop on this quiet, graceful album. After her last album was nominated for a Grammy, Merritt was dropped by her label.   She retreated to a flat in Paris where she sat at a piano and wrote the songs for "Another Country," which echo the best of Seventies singer/songwriters. The emphasis in on words and feelings, not sing alongs. The disc is a self portrait of an artist at a crossroads. "Another Country," a lyrically brilliant look at love, and "I Know What I'm Looking for Now," a serious self-examination, are two of the intimate highlights. "Morning Is My Destination" would have fit on a Dusty Springfield disc. There's a nod to "Tambourine" with the driving, horn-fueled "Tell Me Something True," but "No Country" is largely quiet, rewarding close and repeated listening. Bonus: Merritt's show at the Attucks as part of the Discovery Series was one of the year's best.  Buy Just A Little Lovin'
 
Shelby Lynne - Just a Little Lovin'  - Inspired by Dusty Springfield" (Lost Highway). Give Lynne credit for tackling an iconic album, but giving it her twist,  something signaled from the outset with "Just A Little Lovin', " the first cut from "Dusty in Memphis," Springfield's legendary critical success (though a commercial flop that only hit 99 on the Billboard chart). The Springfield version opens with lush strings, her aching voice forward in a version that covers only a little more than two minutes. Lynne's five-minute interpretation opens with a soft cymbal strike and understated guitar. Throughout Lynne's voice is cool, understated and controlled, but still burning with emotion. The accompaniment is skeletal, never soaring into pop music. If Springfield made records equally suitable for cruising in the car or sitting by the fireplace, Lynne's disc is intended only for candlelight and wine.  Buy Just A Little Lovin'

Al Green - Lay It Down (Blue Note). Who thought the 62-year-old Satin Soul singer could come up with a disc that both recalls his 1970s best and sounds contemporary, thanks to tasteful guest turns by Anthony Hamilton, Corinne Rae Bailey and John Legend. Green sets a groove from the beginning with the title track and never lets up plunging into the celebration of "You Got the Love I Need," "No One Like You," with its signature Green chorus and on through "Take Your Time," a slow burner with Bailey. Green's voice remains heavenly, gritty and super smooth. The arrangements, featuring horns from the Dap Kings, keyboard work by co-producer James Poyser and guitar by the late Spanky Alford, are impeccable. Buy Lay It Down
 
Teddy Thompson - A Piece of What You Need (Verve Forecast). Thompson covered country standards for his last disc, but this one is fully modern, a pop rock record with the best three song opening sequence in recent memory - "The Things I Do," the propulsive stuttering "What's This" and the warm, mid-tempo melody of "In My Arms." Thompson has a warm, emotive voice (thankfully he got more of mom Linda's genes than father Richard). So this is an engaging disc throughout, one that was in my car for months. Buy A Piece of What You Need
 

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals - This Is Somewhere (Hollywood Records). Ok, so this disc is more than a year old, but Potters incendiary show at the Attucks this spring sent me back to it again and again. Pop it into the player and it sounds like a classic rock and roll album mixing driver rockers, the occasional nod to pop and blues and a few change-up ballads. Think Janis Joplin, Lone Justice and Bonnie Raitt. The sound is hardly surprising given that Potter has never outgrown her parents' record collection populated by artists like Little Feat, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Scottish belter Maggie Bell, and the Stax and Sun records. "Here's to the Meantime" would have fit on an Allman Brothers record, while "Falling or Flying" nods to Sheryl Crow and Bonnie Raitt.  Buy This Is Somewhere
 
George Duke - Dukey Treats (Heads Up). Duke is both jazzy and funky, though mostly funky, on this surprising return to form. Think Seventies when you pop this one in the player. There's a little Sly Stone, a little George Clinton and a few soft jazz asides. Duke draws on past collaborators including Sheila E., Jonathan Butler, Howard Hewett and Rachelle Ferrell to make a confection that tastes just right time and again. Buy Dukey Treats

Here are a few songs worth downloading:

Fleet Foxes' eponymous disc got raves, but I didn't think it had staying power beginning to end. However, the opening cuts are two of the year's best songs. "Ragged Wood" and "Winter White Hymnal" feature stunning harmonies, catchy melodies, driving drumming, and intriguing time changes. I've not tired of them.
 
James's "Hey, Ma" is the best post 9/11 anthem since "The Rising." Smart, reflective and sounding just a tad like a U2 protest song, which is plenty good enough for me.
 
Dennis Wilson's 1977 album, "Pacific Ocean Blue and Bambu," was reissued this year and it features his soaring harmony exercise, "River Song" that pairs Wilson's sometimes scratchy lead vocal with stack after stack of Beach Boys harmonies.
 
REM's "Accelerate" was a welcome return to form and there are several worthy cuts, including "Hollow Man," which builds in classic form, and "Until the Day Is Done," a fitting addition to their mid-tempo canon.
 
Beck changes styles as easily as he does clothes and "Gamma Ray" is him at his surf rock grooving best, a perfect car cruise concoction.

Horse Feathers - "This Is What" and "Curs in the Woods." Horse Feathers are part of an intriguing group of minimalist folk acoustic acts that harken to the bare bones style of Whiskeytown, but take it a step deeper, darker and stringier, for lack of a better description. Not something you'll hear on the radio, but worth playing on a quiet winter night.