Gibby Haynes and Jack White Expertly Marry Punk and Blues on Third Man Blue Series 7-Inch

Jack White's Nashville-based record label Third Man has a series of 7-inch 45 rpm vinyl singles called The Blue Series that brings in varied musicians to the Third Man recording studios to cut two tracks, usually all covers. Each Blue Series release puts a unique spin on familiar and not so familiar songs and really showcases the uniqueness and innate talent of both the featured artist and White's production ability and musical taste. The Blue Series entry from Butthole Surfers frontman Gibby Haynes is no different, though it features original songs written by Haynes.

Side A of the 45 starts off with the wonderfully demented punk ditty "Paul's Not Home," originally by hardcore band Adrenalin O.D. The song is structured around a person ringing the doorbell and asking questions like "Is Paul in rehab?" followed by one line repeated over and over again, like "Paul's on dope!," very fast with a jackhammer downstroke-heavy repetitive punk riff led by Jack White on guitar. The song ends in a typically punk sputter of disjointed notes and random vocalizations. Also in typical punk fashion it's very short, clocking in well under two minutes.

The second track on Side A is a Gibby Haynes original, "You Don't Have To Be Smart." Naturally, it sounds a bit like Butthole Surfers but with a bit more of a blues thing going on. The song also has some Stooges vibes in the tones and a blistering, frenetic James Williams-like guitar solo from Jack White in the middle that actually takes up most of the short song.

Side B is another Haynes original, "Horse Named George," which is an overt Chicago blues boogie, presumably about a guy's adventures with his horse, that nearly verges on parody simply because Gibby exudes tongue-in-cheek. However, it's still a rocking song with the classic Muddy Waters-like call-and-response structure but explosive guitar and drums that recall Jack White's many bands as well as Led Zeppelin.

Not every Blue Series release is a winner but this one from Gibby Haynes is. It manages to capture the unhinged weirdness he has but also showcases it in a way that's enjoyably different than what we've heard from him before.

Jack White Stands On His Own

As great as the band was, Jack White proves on Blunderbuss that he doesn't need The White Stripes. While he also has The Dead Weather and The Raconteurs, being free from a band setting comprised of supposedly equal parts and a set sound style has freed White up for other types of songwriting, while still keeping the garage rock/blues vibe he's become famous for.

This album has an interesting background. RZA of The Wu-Tang Clan was going to record with Jack White but he never showed up so Jack used that time to begin his first solo album instead. He also alternates between two completely different backing bands, one all female (besides himself of course) and one all male. There's also a lot more piano and organ and less guitar compared to most of his other music.

The first single, "Love Interruption" is best described as acoustic soul but, though it has some great vocal harmony, is a slow burner that never really reaches a satisfying crescendo. "Missing Pieces" has a similar problem and has staircase-patterned organ lines doubled by reverb-tweaked guitar.

"Sixteen Saltines" is one of  only a few out and out rockers on the album. It's reminiscent of The White Stripes' "The Hardest Button To Button" it it's treble-heavy buzzsaw guitar riffage. But unlike the aforementioned Stripes song, a distorted electric organ mirrors the guitar.

Oddly but interestingly electronica-tinged "Freedom at 21" has some frenetic drumming that's really the most distinctive part of the song. Most of the guitar playing has a '90s grunge feel though the massive outro solo takes a page from the herky jerky Whammy pedal style of Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello.

"Blunderbuss" and "On and On and On" have country flavors, especially the former. It features prominent acoustic guitar and pedal steel. Plaintive piano fleshes out this ballad. The later song also has pedal steel but this has a mournful sound akin to the Chinese erhu. The warbling organ, thanks to a Leslie rotating speaker, and the reverb-soaked other instrumentation, brings to mind images of a meandering river.

The guitar and piano compliment each other well on "Weep Themselves To Sleep." The intro is a bit like The White Stripes' "Doorbell." But the more intricate piano playing throughout most of this song has a bit of tango feel.

"I'm Shakin" is straight up rockabilly/call and response blues. The song's written by Rudy Toombs, the doo wop and R&B songwriter most known for "One Mint Julep." Reverb is king here as is the playfully jagged guitar riff.

"Take Me With You When You Go" flies into the stratosphere. It has an expansive, '60s Woodstock kind of vibe to it. Violin flourishes and quick beats Mitch Mitchell (of Jimi Hendrix's band) style drumming help this along. The piano provides the main riff with the guitar used  mostly for a solo in the middle of the song.

If The Raconteurs is analogous to Led Zeppelin, than Blunderbuss is analogous to Robert Plant's solo work of the past decade. Jack White takes bits and pieces of various genres and glues them together in his own unique way to create some great, fresh sounding music that is in turn deeply respectful of the triumphs of the classics in blues, rock, folk and country. Jack's other bands have, for better and for worse, more rigidity in sound and style. The newness and lack of rules of a solo musical persona helped him create a great album that doesn't simply coast on the past.

White Ghost Shivers Share The Love With Studio Album Reminiscent Of Their Live Show

The White Ghost Shivers return in fine form for their sophomore release Nobody Love You Like We Do. The tightly intertwined yet playful nature of the band's live show really comes through in the songs. The seven musicians in this bawdy band have some serious chops. No cheap novelty act here.

"White Trash Fast Food" begins with minor key tenor banjo strumming and that great style of upright bass playing that sounds like the strings are being hit with drum sticks. This song has an overall gypsy jazz feel and has guitar, clarinet and violin solos. The warbled vocals are harmonized well between Cella Blue and Hot Thomas. "Short Haired Girl" has a similar formula but with a frenetic speed.

Conjuring up the vibe of a 1920s dance hall or a sleepy riverboat cruise, "Nobody Loves You" tells the familiar story of someone who's been done wrong by their lover. The newest Shiver, piano player Babyface Gray really shines here with some great ragtime-like playing.

"Too Easy" definitely has the feel of the album's cover, a wild train barreling down the rails. Poppiticus' bass playing, like in "White Trash," drives the song forward. This is augmented by some great undulating up and down clarinet.

Staring with a smoky, melancholy clarinet intro, "Some Things A Girl Can't Give Away" picks up into a bluesy number with some great nuanced, lush vocals from Ms. Blue. A great piano solo brings to mind great bluesman Roosevelt Sykes. A nearly overblown (nearly to the point of squeaking) clarinet solo adds some raucousness.

"Sweet The Monkey" is about a terrible and sneaky criminal who may or may not be an actual monkey. Deep saxophone, probably a baritone, augments the ominous feel the band is going for, as does the percussive piano. Professional beanpole Shorty Stump provides dramatic lead vocals, augmented by Cella Blue.

A staple of White Ghost Shivers, "Sweet Banana," now has a studio version. This is a calypso-inspired song with a lot of ukulele (banjo-uke and otherwise). A jagged violin solo bridges the song. For good old-fashioned double entendres and innuendos, this song is one of the best in the Shivers' bag of tricks.

"Murder In The Big Top" could be considered a Halloween song. It has a spooky tone thanks to undulating clarinet and the ghostly sounds of a musical saw. The violin solo, thin, muffled and crackly, interestingly sounds like it's being played through a transistor radio. The deep vocals that accompany the line "murder in the big top" bring to mind Lonesome Wyatt from goth-country duo Those Poor Bastards.

"Maybe Mary Might Marry Me" is a great ballad of unrequited love, somewhat in the dance style of "Nobody Loves You." Lilting clarinet and violin and a steady tenor banjo strum drive the song. There also might be a slide whistle solo here, though it's hard to distinguish from the clarinet and saxophone.

Almost a minor key sea shanty, at least for the music, "We Never Mention Aunt Clara," is about a preacher having an affair with the titular aunt. The song features one of the best double entendres on the album with "pumping her organ." Interestingly, the chorus is kind of an upbeat waltz that's almost children's song like, which doesn't fit with the theme very much. This song also has some of Cella Blue's best vocals on the album.

There are many more instrumental breaks on the album than on the band's debut Everybody's Got 'Em. A lesser band might have fallen into a repetitive trap with this but The White Ghost Shivers shine in their ability to weave everything together in a skilled and lively manner that feels spontaneous. Each member of the band is just as adept at being a rhythm player as they are a soloist. Of particular note is horn player Saturn, who really excels all over this album. The band also clearly have a unique sound but are unafraid to mingle multiple styles to create a good song. If this album doesn't make a listener want to see a White Ghost Shivers live show than said listener must just not like fun.

Blues And Ballads Flavor Tom Waits' Bad As Me

Bad As Me is the first album of all new material from Tom Waits in seven years and it is well worth the time spent. Waits tries on a myriad of hats, pulling styles from all parts of his forty year career for this music while following a path of blues and ballads.

"Chicago" has a rhythm track like a gyrating factory machine. It helps to accentuate the lyrics that appear to be about the great Southern migration from the farms to the more Northern factories. An interesting mix of banjo and saxophone achieves this. Rolling Stone Keith Richards provides those Chicago blues guitar riffs he's so good at. Waits employs one of his many voices, the one like he's guzzling gravel.

Another interesting mix of sounds, Indian tabla drums, played by Waits, and spiky electric organ, played by Augie Meyers (Sir Douglas Quintet, Texas Tornados, Bob Dylan), provides the main rhythm on "Raised Right Men." A Chicago blues shuffle played with these instruments is certainly odd but it works. The drums sound like industrial machinery or metal trashcan lids, a style that has become synonymous with Waits and, as of late, played by his son Casey. Waits is wailing and moaning urgently here. Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers plays bass but it is not distinguishable.

An undulating Eastern European gypsy rhythm meets the old west meets 1920s jazz on "Talking At The Same Time." Waits uses his falsetto here but think more delta bluesman Skip James and less Robert Plant. Meyers provides some bluesy piano. The guitar playing has a lonesome surf/country echo. "Face To The Highway" is similar but slower and doesn't stand out as much. The percussion stomps but softly. Clean, jazzy little guitar fills give a slight Steely Dan meets Chris Isaak feel in parts. Bells and a somber violin break add dirge elements.

"Get Lost" has that '50s rock n' roll thing going for it. Waits yelping vocals overlay a simple but solid rhythm backbone with some sax flourishes. A great, bright energetic guitar solo with bite is played by either longtime Waits axeman Marc Ribot or David Hidalgo (Los Lobos), who plays on almost every track.

"Back In The Crowd" is a romantic ballad with a Mexican feel. The acoustic guitar riffs and the waltz-like rhythm help to achieve this. Brush drums and electric guitar fills complete the song.

Two songs have an Italian ballad feel. "Pay Me" uses accordion, vibes and violin to get this. Waits uses his "real" voice. Some piano adds to a melancholy feel. "New Year's Eve" is a fitting bookend to the album. This is a story-song in the best Tom Waits tradition, recounting the tale of imperfect family and friends on an imperfect holiday fraught with disaster.

"Back In The Crowd" is a love ballad with a Mexican feel. Acoustic guitar plucking and a waltz-like rhythm help to achieve this. Brush drumming and occasional electric guitar fills complete the song.

The title track, "Bad As Me" definitely seems like one that a record company would put out as promotion. Waits is being the quintessential howling madman that people expect him to be. His vocals invoke Screamin' Jay Hawkins' here. The instruments, jagged guitar, undulating sax and piston drumming, sort of roll off each other in waves. Chicago by way of Mississippi blues harmonica player Charlie Musselwhite gets a solo.

"Kiss Me" has an appealingly sparse arrangement. The upright bass, piano and vocals structure invokes the smoky after hours jazz club and coffee house feel of Waits' early '70s music. "Last Leaf" is similar but feels like a song friends would sing together after having had a few at a dark Irish pub. Lyrically, it has an obvious but appealing metaphor about staying true to who you are. Keith Richards provides slightly ragged but earthy background vocals.

On "Satisfied" Waits channels his inner Howlin' Wolf and once again, Richards brings the blues. Les Claypool (Primus) plays bass on this song but like with Flea on "Raised Right Men" you can't really hear it.

In the beginning it might appear as if Waits is attempting to rap on "Hell Broke Luce" but its nothing so pedestrian. This song imitates the "left, left, left, right, left" military march. Lyrically the song is about how war is hell and for many soldiers, the hell is carried with them when they come home. This song has a hammering rhythm and blues guitar fills.

Tom Waits has always made music about the seedier side of life, the ne'er-do-wells, the misfits, and the scalawags and thankfully that hasn't changed on Bad As Me. Even his love songs aren't maudlin. In the world of a Tom Waits song, you can't know happiness if you haven't first experienced sorrow first. The only downside to this album is that at times the tracks vary too wildly so a cohesion is lost.

His cigarette and alcohol flavored voice is also in fine form. Unlike some other gravely-voiced singers, Waits clearly recognizes that his is an instrument unto itself and has taken care to cultivate it as such as opposed to fighting it. He has also never been a flavor of the month type of musician. Fleeting trends do not enter his equation. He is a genre unto himself, which is why his records continue to be significant achievements amidst a cookie cutter landscape.

Petty Sings The Blues

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers are back with their first new album in eight years, Mojo and it's a mess of blues. The band has moved as far away from the signature Petty sound as possible. Most of the time this experimentation helps the music but there are a few instances where it'd be better to stick to what they do best, honest to goodness American classic rock.

"Jefferson Jericho Blues" is driving, repetitive energetic Chicago blues in the vein of Muddy Waters. Wailing harmonica is the lead instrument while the guitar snakes around underneath, sometimes with a raw crunch and other times liquid.

The band channels their inner Pink Floyd on "First Flash of Freedom." Huge atmospheric, drawn-out notes inform this song with a David Gilmour meets Stevie Ray Vaughan quality. Vocals don't show up for well over a minute.

"Running Man's Bible" is a pretty standard electric blues song but the recording technique makes it sound live. There are hints of Albert King in the short bursts of lead guitar. Another live-sounding song, with its room reverb-soaked vocals is "Takin' My Time." It also features Hendrix-like lead guitar and a heavy thud drum pattern.

The sleepy "The Trip To Pirate's Cove" is reminiscent of post-Cream Eric Clapton meets Steely Dan. The song is cool and collected with clean blues-based guitar licks.

Petty has often shown his playful side but "Candy" is plain goofy. Full of half-baked blues cliches in the lyrics, its ultimately boring.

"No Reason To Cry" mostly continues the tradition of Petty's country-flavored solo songs. But this time around its almost too mellow, although the steel guitar is a nice touch. The song could use a memorable chorus hook.

Taking a page from Led Zeppelin, the first single "I Should Have Known It" has an infectious heavy riff throughout. Even the drumming cascades like an avalanche John Bonham-style.

"U.S. 41" is pure Skip James acoustic blues with some southern swamp rock thrown in. Petty even adopts a slightly dissonant falsetto like James. Employing a raw production value, it sounds like everything is filtered through the natural distortion of a "green bullet" harmonica microphone. Resonator slide guitar and piston-like drumming leads add to the effect.

In the tradition of Eric Clapton's cover of Bob Marley's "I Shot The Sheriff," the band attempts reggae on "Don't Pull Me Over." The experiment mostly succeeds, although it takes a bit to get used to Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers playing swirling, echo-filled dub.

"Good Enough" is full of biting lead guitar that proves Mike Campbell is a highly underrated player. Benmont Tench's organ really shines as well, starting as shimmering texture in the background than emerging triumphantly as the guitar dies down.

Like all the best bands of the 1970s, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers play blues-based rock and roll. However, Mojo is the most straight-ahead blues that's ever been heard from the band on a studio album. While most of the songs show an excellent blues band has been inside them all these years, others suffer from Petty's voice. His distinctive nasal drawl is part of what makes the band's classic hits so great but the blues needs something meatier. Depending on the point of view, Mojo could be seen as a failure or a success.

Iggy Pop Goes Solo Again With A Radical Change In Musical Direction

At age 62, Iggy Pop continues to buck trends. Abandoning the punk sound he helped create, his new solo album, Preliminaires, ventures into the territories of jazz, blues and even French romantic balladry. This new mix of sounds has created music that's just as unique and refreshing today as The Stooges were when they exploded on the scene in the late '60s.

"Les Feuilles Mortes," a song recorded by French singer Edith Piaf, among others, opens and closes the album. Pop's version has him using a deep baritone croon a la Leonard Cohen. But the mix of electronic-sounding percussion and bright acoustic guitar brings to mind David Byrne's "Like Humans Do."

Once more featuring deep baritone singing, "I Want To Go To The Beach," expertly captures the mood of the song's lyrics. With reverb-drenched low-key guitar and piano and a gently rolling rhythm, the image of a lazy day at the beach with waves crashing comes to mind.

"King Of The Dogs" is pure classic New Orleans jazz, complete with trumpet leads. Pop's vocals take on a raspy quality here. The song could be described as an appealing mix of Preservation Hall and Tom Waits.

"Je Sais Que Tu Sais" is swamp rock at it's finest. This song would easily find it's way on the soundtrack for TrueBlood. Driving drums move the rhythm along with some bluesy acoustic slide guitar. Pop's vocals are mixed low and sound distorted, possibly even sung through a "green bullet," a microphone often used for blues harmonica. Airy female vocals provide and interesting contrast with his as well. This song shows up again near the end of the album with the English title "She's A Business."

Though "Nice To Be Dead" is definitely a rock song it has no similarities to Pop's previous work. Despite crunchy, chugging guitars the urgency of punk isn't there. The rhythm is like a snake biding it's time before it's prey moves within striking distance.

Originally a bossa nova song, "How Insensitive" is re-worked by Pop with a space age lounge croon, backed by soft electronic undulations. In this way there are similarities to Pop's past collaborator David Bowie.

Though the title of "Party Time" suggests dumb rock, the song is actually quite schizophrenic, taking elements of funk with it's angular bass slapping and elements of '80s gothy new wave with a continuous synth haze in the background.

"He's Dead, She's Alive" is pure acoustic Mississippi blues. An atmospheric drone gives the song some depth. Pop stays away from the deep croon of much of the other songs. The lighter vocals fit this type of song well.

"A Machine For Loving" is essentially a book reading set to music, with the story being about a dying dog. The melancholy, minor key acoustic guitar goes well with the overall somber quality.

The English translation of the word "preliminaires" is "foreplay." In a sense it's an accurate title. While it's a wonderful listen, you're left not entirely satisfied in the end. It feels as though Pop tried to cram three or four albums into one. Without a defining musical direction, besides the obvious departure from punk, this album loses focus. However, that doesn't stop the music itself from being fantastically eccentric and entertaining, like Iggy Pop himself.

Watermelon Slim Delivers His Blues with a Country Twang

Although his stage name sounds like a blues parody, a la Mashed Potato Johnson from the cartoon Metalocalypse, guitarist and harmonica player Watermelon Slim (real name Bill Homans) has been churning out some of the best Chicago-style blues in recent memory, built on his working class background. It's his time spent as a trucker hauling watermelons that define the lyrical theme of his new country-flavored album, Escape From The Chicken Coop.

"Caterpiller Whine" has a barreling roadhouse rhythm. Percussive piano and urgent electric slide guitar define the song. Slim's gummy, worn vocals fit the style perfectly.

Many great blues songs have a double entendre and "Skinny Woman and Fat Cigars" is an obvious but entertaining example of this. The song has a laid back feel, also invoking Southern staples such as sweet tea.

"You See Me Like I See You" is an example of the classic Nashville country duet, basically Slim playing the part of George Jones and Jenny Littleton playing the part of Tammy Wynette. Steel guitar and soft, simple drumming abound.

"Wreck On The Highway" takes a cue from classic bluegrass. The lyrical and vocal structure is clearly influenced by people like Ralph Stanley. Acoustic slide guitar and mandolin fill out the song.

"Hank Williams You Wrote My Life" may just have the best song title on the album. The vocalization has a drawn-out bluegrass quality but the rest is pure country, including the catchy chorus hook.

"It's Never Too Hard To Be Humble" has acoustic slide guitar fit into a waltz-like rhythm. Tinkling piano in the background gives the song another interesting element.

Slim leaves the truck driving stereotypes, which actually might have some truth to them since he lived that life, towards the end of the album with "Truck Drivin' Songs" and "18, 18 Wheeler." The first has a Lyle Lovett feel, that place where country, blues and swing intersect. The second has speedy drums and fiddle breaks.

Blues purists might be put off by this album but there's a fine line between classic country and blues. Both genres are famous for detailing the tough times life throws at you and the joy music can bring. And an album about "truckin'" wouldn't be complete without some country flavor. Despite a few bland songs, Watermelon Slim delivers this music honestly without too much of the modern mainstream Nashville country sheen.

The Dead Weather Rocks the Blues with Mixed Results

It might be safe to say that Jack White has music ADHD. The White Stripes and Raconteurs leader is not content with being in just one band, or two for that matter. But the upside to that is that listeners get to hear many facets of his talent. With The Dead Weather, White returns to his first instrument, the drums. Taking more of a back seat like this gives his band members, Alison Mosshart from The Kills, Jack Lawrence from The Raconteurs and Dean Fertita from Queens Of The Stone Age, more of a spotlight and it shows on the band's debut album, Horehound.

"60 Feet Tall" begins like a rehearsal warm-up, a rolling drum beat from White and disjointed guitar licks from Fertita. But the song soon morphs into a slow burning, Zeppelin-like bluesy groove with Mosshart's sultry but earthy vocals invoking Patti Smith. Unfortunately, the percussion is cymbal-heavy and that bleeds all over the track in certain sections.

One of two songs released as a vinyl .45 on Record Store Day, "Hang You From The Heavens" takes much of the electro-blues of The Kills with it's geometric and intricate drumming. Fertita's guitar lays thick slabs of fuzz.

Whether it was intentional or not, "I Cut Like A Buffalo" has a lot of reggae flavor. This has most to do with the prominent electric organ, played by Fertita, and the regular echo flurries. White sings lead here and it sounds filtered through a megaphone.

"So Far From Your Weapon" begins with a similar intro to "60 Feet Tall" but with call-and-response vocals, reminiscent of classic blues. Again, the drumming is cymbal-heavy. Oddly enough, the defining element of this song is a weird warble from an indistinguishable instrument lurking in the background.

"Treat Me Like Your Mother" is aggressive from the outset with driving drums and crunchy fuzz guitar riffing. The tempo increases towards rollicking rollercoaster standards halfway through the song with pummeling drums and fast slide guitar lines. Mosshart and White trade lead vocals. You could even call White's vocals in this song rap.

"Will There Be Enough Water" is a departure from the overall sound of the album. White's only guitar contribution, it takes much from early John Lee Hooker, specifically minor key elegies like "It Serves Me Right To Suffer." The heartbeat drumming and nearly inaudible piano in the background help to create a true blues emotion.

While Horehound is bookended perfectly, nearly half the album is unremarkable, a mess of odd rhythms that are abrasive rather than interesting. However, the majority, even if it is a small one, does save the album and makes it worth listening to and owning. Once again, Jack White has found a new way to interpret the blues while staying faithful to traditions. But when all is said and done, Mosshart's contributions are what make this album unique.