Actor Jeff Bridges performs during his sound check ahead of his concert at Troubadour club in West Hollywood, California, June 28, 2011.
"You can have a mansion; you can have $20-million in the bank. You can have a 12-car garage; golden fixtures and a marble sink." Jeff Bridges sings that on his new, fine-enough self-titled album, out Tuesday. The song, a slow steel-guitar shuffle, is written by John Goodwin, who may have had his long-time friend Bridges in mind, in respect to the bankroll and bathroom luxury and such.
I have no idea how many cars The Big Lebowski actor owns, but I do know one thing: The Dude, if you'll excuse me, can buy. He can afford the best in album producers (his pal T Bone Burnett) and the ace repertory players that come along with him, with keyboardist Keefus Ciancia, guitarist Marc Ribot, bassist Dennis Crouch, pedal-steel guitarist Russ Pahl, and drummer Jay Bellerose showing up for roll call. Backup singers? Give Rosanne Cash, Ryan Bingham and Sam Phillips a ring – put it on the tab.
Bridges, who often stars in major motion pictures, doesn't skimp when it comes to songwriting help either. Stephen Bruton and Gary Nicholson, for example, contribute What a Little Bit of Love Can Do to the project. The tune sounds typically Burnettish: cozy yet roomy, with a touch of retro reverb – Buddy Holly in a dream.
All fine.
But the star names his major-label follow-up to 2000's Be Here Soon after the name that appears on his credit card, Jeff Bridges. That's who I wish to hear. The Nashville specials composed by others don't mean much, though they do sound great.
Bridges's own material is more special, charismatic. I would call them art songs. Falling Short is spindly and reflective – about making paths, dodging wraths and leaving the math to God – with sympathetic harmony from Phillips. Tumbling Vine is set in Phillips's own cinematic cabaret vibe.
As a singer, Bridges, an Oscar-winner for his portrayal of a downside country singer in Crazy Heart, is serviceable. On the Bruton ballad Nothing Yet, he is tender and warm along side the higher, sweeter Cash. On the offbeat blues of Greg Brown's Blue Car, he talk-sings with character.
Again, though, I come back to Bridges's own handiwork. Slow Boat, co-written with Burnett, is a lowly-lit psychedelic dirge. It recalls the manners of Leonard Cohen and Lucinda Williams, and it would be in the wheelhouse of Krauss and Plant.
More of that, please, Jeff Bridges, if time affords.
COUNTRY
Jeff Bridges
- Jeff Bridges
- Rounder/EMI
- **1/2
MORE NEW DISC RELEASES
FOLK/COUNTRY
The Greatest One Alive
- Sarah MacDougall
- Rabbit Heart
- ***
Female singer-songwriters often get compared to one another, but if you can't hear the Johnny Cash in Sarah MacDougall you're not listening very hard. "Some people put their lives into a dream," the Swedish-born Vancouverite coos resolutely on Sometimes You Lose, Sometimes You Win, "I put my life inside a song." MacDougall's life, lyrics suggest, is thoughtful, strong and spiritual. Her songs are acoustic and assured, with touches of steel guitar, piano and organ, but her voice – earthy and bluesy like Karen Dalton – is up front, usually with her own harmonies accompanying. On It's a Storm! (What's Going On), she rhymes No. 1 with Saskatchewan and wishes to "find the heroes inside you and me." MacDougall, you see, doesn't believe in legends; she knows the greatest ones are those still alive.
Sarah McDougall has a string of Ontario dates in August. Info at sarahmcougall.com. Brad Wheeler
POP/ROCK
Tripper
- Fruit Bats
- Sub Pop
- ***1/2
On a magical record of indie pop that often concerns departure, Eric D. Johnson – he is Fruit Bats, essentially – takes his own trips, moving on from the sunny folk strums of his previous releases toward sounds more atmospheric and arrangements more artful. So Long is Lennon-esque, with harp strings twinkling and synths shimmering over Johnson's quirky tenor. It's about a woman at the crossroads: "She should dance if she wants to dance." The Banishment Song is minor-key falsetto-soul. Elton John used to sing that high; Mayer Hawthorne still does. Lovely stuff all around, with no duds at all among the 11 cuts.
Fruit Bats, with The Decemberists, play Vancouver's Malkin Bowl, Aug. 23. B.W.
ROCK
Deformer
- Dog Day
- Fundog
- ***
At first glance, the latest incarnation of Halifax's Dog Day looks a lot like the White Stripes, a husband-and-wife team in which she plays drums while he handles the singing and guitar. Dig into Deformer, however, and it rapidly becomes apparent that the differences outweigh the similarities. Where the Stripes strove for bluesy primitivism, Dog Day is all about pop minimalism, with catchy, evocative melodies in stripped-down arrangements that evoke the Velvet Underground more than garage rock. They are not above overdubbing extra parts or switching instrumental roles, and while their instrumental amateurism can be wearying at times, their song-craft is nothing if not polished.
JAZZ
Azoy Tsu Tsveyt
- Joel Rubin/Uri Caine Duo
- Tzadik
- * * * *
Because the klezmer movement originally meant to resurrect as well as preserve the past, it's only natural to expect klezmer scholars to be a bit on the conservative side. As a clarinetist, Joel Rubin certainly fits the bill, taking a classically ornate, heavily vocalized approach to Yiddish folk melodies. But what he does on Azoy Tsu Tsveyt is anything but old shul. With jazz pianist Uri Caine providing an inventive harmonic backdrop to these deeply traditional compositions, the duo lends a post-modern frisson to pre-modern melodies. It's a lovely lesson in the ways traditional culture can co-exist with contemporary life.
J.D. Considine