Winter 2012 Review Roundup

Jim and Greg kick off 2012 with reviews of some big winter releases by Amy Winehouse, The Roots and The Black Keys.

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The numbers are in for 2011, and not surprisingly Adele has come out on top. Her album 21 sold over 5 million copies, as did her digital single "Rolling in the Deep." It's this combination of being able to push physical product and digital downloads that makes the British singer so desirable to the music industry. Number two of the year was kind of a surprise to our hosts: Michael Buble’s Christmas. Over on the live music side, U2 is the touring winner with worldwide ticket sales totaling $231.9 million.

Move over Nina Totenberg, Jim and Greg have also become legal eagles. Increasingly, music trends are being affected by the courts, and according to Variety, there are a number of cases coming up in 2012 that will impact not just the record industry, but the habits of average fans. Here are a few to keep your eye on:

Notable 2012 Court Cases

  • FCC vs. Fox Television Stations
  • Viacom vs. Google/YouTube
  • Disney et al. vs. Hotfile
  • Scorpio Music vs. Victor Willis

Want more on the copyright time bomb?

You've probably been wondering what happened to Peter Frampton's beloved guitar, right? Well after 31 years it's been reunited with the '70s icon. The Gibson Les Paul Frampton played on Frampton Comes Alive, as well as sessions with George Harrison and John Entwistle, did not burn in a fiery crash in 1980 as previously thought. Rather it was saved from the wreckage on the island of Curacao where it remained with a local musician until a guitar repairman recognized it. Now, at long last, the Gibson is back with its rightful owner.

Lioness: Hidden Treasures Amy Winehouse

Lioness: Hidden Treasures

Amy Winehouse fans didn't have to wait long for her first posthumous release. Lioness: Hidden Treasures is a collection of covers and a couple of original works. But the title is completely misleading according to Greg. Are these really the late singer's treasures? If so, that's sad. Greg calls out the people curating Winehouse's estate for allowing this material to be released-material that features Winehouse blurry and slurry. Jim calls the album grave robbing, pure and simple. Lioness gets a double Trash It.

The Dreamer/The Believer Common

The Dreamer / The Believer

After taking a few years to focus on his acting career, rapper  Common is back with a new album called The Dreamer/The Believer. He reunites with producing partner No I.D. and subsequently with an earlier sound. Jim is impressed with Common's ability to rap from the heart and be honest about his personal failings. He had no great expectations for this record after the "turd" that was Universal Mind Control, but now he's happy to recommend listeners Buy It. Greg hears The Dreamer/The Believer as a reconciliation record-both with hip hop and with his former style. It's so "90s" that some listeners might dismiss the album. But, while it's not a masterpiece, Greg calls it a strong return. He concurs: Buy It.

Let's Go Eat the Factory Guided By Voices

Let's Go Eat the Factory

Eight years after the band broke up, Jim and Greg are listening to a new Guided By Voices record. Let’s Go Eat the Factory comes to us from GBV's 1993 "classic lineup" including the band's main songwriter Robert Pollard and guitarist and songwriter  Tobin Sprout. Back in the '90s this prolific indie band rode the alternative wave, finding mainstream success with their brand of Brit-pop inspired post-punk. What've they got for us this time? No surprises here, Greg says. This is a classic GBV record with the band's trademark mix of arty experiments and proto arena rock. There are a lot of songs here, and they're not all good, but the great ones are really great. Greg credits Sprout and says Burn it. Jim agrees; there are a few good songs on this album, but he's tired of wading through all the filler and failed experiments to get to them. It's about time GBV started self-editing. He says Trash it.

El Camino The Black Keys

El Camino

Hard rockin' Ohioans The Black Keys are back with their seventh studio album, El Camino, a collaboration with hip hop producer  Danger Mouse. Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney signed to Mississippi's bluesy Fat Possum label a decade ago, but Greg notes the duo's since expanded their sound. Jim never thought he'd say it, but this record is "a masterpiece." He'd never been a fan of the band's live performances and called them "White Stripes wannabes" on record. But suddenly here they are with an exquisite wall of sound with the songs to match. He says Buy It. Greg always enjoyed the band's jammy live performances but never thought they quite captured it on record. He credits the band's collaboration with Danger Mouse for tightening up their songwriting on El Camino. The emphasis is on the break beat, the choruses come faster, and hooks abound. Greg seconds the Buy it.

Undun The Roots

Undun

After over a decade of music-making, Philadelphia quintet The Roots have earned a reputation as the best live band in hip hop. They've put out ten studio records, backed artists like D’Angelo and Erykah Badu, and rule the airwaves every night as Jimmy Fallon’s house band. Has this caused the quality to drop off on the group's latest release Undun? Greg says not a bit. He named the record his second favorite of 2011 and he's not backing down. He especially wants to call out DJ Black Thought for some overdue props; Greg ranks him up there with Jay-Z. He says Buy it. Jim agrees, but unlike Greg, he's not loving the four-part classical suite that closes the album. It's beautiful, but out of place. In fact, the self-consciousness of the whole story underlying Undun - the rise and fall of a street kid - puts Jim off. It's a Buy It album, but not the band's best.

Greg

The great Chicago  blues  guitarist  Hubert Sumlin died last month and Jim and Greg didn't get a chance to send him off with a full obit. With his turn at the Desert Island Jukebox, Greg now has his opportunity. Sumlin was twenty-one years younger than Howlin’ Wolf when he joined the elder bluesman's band in the 1950s. Wolf was like a father to Sumlin, and Sumlin eventually became his right-hand man. Sumlin was briefly booted from the band in '56 for playing over Wolf's vocals (no one plays over the Wolf!), but adapted his style by dropping his pick and plucking with his fingers. This signature style would make him an icon to later guitarists like Clapton and Hendrix. The 1964 track "Killing Floor," Greg says, is Sumlin at his best-like a second voice in the song.

Dear Listeners,

For more than 15 years, Sound Opinions was a production of WBEZ, Chicago's public radio station. Now that the show is independent, we're inviting you to join the band and lend a hand! We need your support more than ever because now we have to do all the behind-the-scenes work that WBEZ handled before (like buying insurance and paying for podcast hosting, ugh). Plus, we have some exciting ideas we'd like to try now that there's no one to tell us no!

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