David Gray, Conor Oberst, and RYAN ADAMS at CSUN last night...

Adrienne surprised me with her Christmas Date yesterday (we do dates instead of gifts). It started at Dr. Hogly Wogly's Tyler Texas BBQ, which honestly was so damn good that I would have been stoked already. Then we went to see David Gray, Conor Oberst, and Ryan Adams at CSUN. It was awesome to show her the music building and the MT room (unlocked, of course) where I spent those 'other' two years of grad. school...The venue is absolutely stunning and it was a real thrill to finally go inside it after all of those hours I've spent reading and studying near the fountain and in the trees out front and all the performances were great. I was really excited to see Conor solo because I've only seen him with MOF at the Greek (Insano Show, too). He played a couple of his 'classics' and ended with a kick ass John Prine cover...but... Ryan just outperformed both of them hands down. Very cool to see him with a full band after the amazing shows in Big Sur and at Disney Hall a few years ago. The reworked songs in electric form were done really well (Dirty Rain, Dear Chicago) and the setlist was a nice mix of "hits" and the last two records, of which I prefer Ashes and Fire, but the new one keeps growing on me with it's 80s sensibilities. He did his nice cover of "She's Not Me," by Jenny Lewis, which springs from him producing her record and continuing to play some dates with her including tomorrow night in SF. The performance of "Magnolia Mountain," (see above video if you aren't familiar with this tune) was quite exceptional. This is an old video, but it's still got mainly the same vibe with the Cardinals. I would argue that the backups were superior last night and that the spacey instrumental section (which makes this a Furthur favorite) was more compelling, but the track stands alone since it's release on Cold Roses back in '05. The full setlist was:Gimme Something Good, Let it Ride, Stay With Me, Dirty Rain, Magnolia Mountain, Dear Chicago, Lucky Now (solo acoustic), She's Not Me, When the Stars go Blue, Sweet Carolina, La Cienega just Smiled, I Love you, but I don't know what to Say, Come Pick Me Up. Thank you babe for the amazing date night and Christmas gift. You have really set the bar high for me this year. I love you and I don't know what to say ;)

RVOW: Elvis Costello’s 1982 Record; Imperial Bedroom

Random Vinyl of the Week is a new installment on the NewbLog. The first record re-visited was Warren Zevon’s Excitable Boy, from 1978. This week I am spinning Elvis Costello’s 1982 release, “Imperial Bedroom,” which peaked at #30 in the U.S. charts and hit #6 in the U.K....

In 1982 Elvis Colstello teamed up with Geoff Emerick, engineer from Abbey Road studios and thus veteran of nearly every Beatles session post 1965, to record an album that was marketed with a single word: “Masterpiece?” Many didn’t feel that Imperial Bedroom was a masterpiece right away, but it did receive some great press including great reviews from Rolling Stone, The New Musical Express, and the Village Voice. Costello was starting to act more and more like the Elvis we know today, polite, witty, access-able, and less like the angry stand-offish “punk” who tore through the states with his entourage beating back reporters and photographers (literally) just a few years prior. The album’s peak track is generally considered to be “Man out of Time,” which I admit is the one I cued the needle up to for about two weeks after first buying this LP. “....And In Every Home,” might be my current favorite, however, with the full orchestral scoring of Steve Nieve; complete with brilliant fanfares and string flourishes. This album is a beauty and is also claimed to be the first album where Costello branched into too many genres on one record to capture the full “popular” audience and thus pleased the die-hards and buffs more than the masses. The b-side ballads including “Boy with a Problem,” and “Town Cryer,” certainly contribute to said sentiment and also help round out this effort. The album’s most memorable refrain, however, might belong to the song “Pidgin English,” on which Costello explains that: “There are Ten Commandments of Love.”
Imperial Bedroom definitely represents the era it was made in and certainly sounds more like a “Beatles-esque,” record than any of his previous releases, but it is still distinctly Elvis and possibly a Masterpiece. Most artists would easily boast it as their proudest effort, but Elvis has a few wall-to-wall ear-magic endeavors. It has certainly withstood the test of time- which cannot be said of many records from 1982- listed as number 166 in 2003’s “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time,” by Rolling Stone.