The Fabled Automatic

Kevin's album of the year: Old School-Nils Lofgren I read an interview about this album on Backstreets and decided to give it a try. I’ve been listening to Nils since his power pop , guitar slinging days of the early 70s, way before he joined the E Street Band. What intrigued me from the interview was that a lot of the album was recorded “live” without overdubs and post production.  Lay down the track and let ‘er rip. I certainly wasn’t disappointed.  His guitar craft is better than ever and his voice has matured. The album is a great blend of rockers, ballads and  blues with some old school Nils ala the Grin days, the power pop of Love Stumbles On and Just Because You Love Me thrown in to tie it all together.  To top it all off, I can relate the titles: 'Old School' , 'Sixty is the New Eighteen' (I can only hope!) and ' Ain’t Too Many of Us Left'. My favorite song on the album is ' Miss You Ray' , Lofgren’s tribute to Ray Charles.   “I poun

Other recommended listening from 2011 The Damnwells – No One Listens to the Band Anymore.   I picked up this band from the guys at the Popdose podcast . They share my tastes and generally steer me in the direction of good music. I don’t really know how to describe this band and can’t pinpoint exactly what I like about them, but I listened to this album a lot this year.  It is great music for work; upbeat and very catchy so that you don’t have to pay attention all the time to enjoy it, but well written so it is worth really listening when you do. Lots of good rock and roll on this record, but the slower ‘Werewolves’ is a standout and really showcases frontman Alex Dezen’s voice and songwriting ability.  --SCB Alison Kraus and Union Station - Paper Airplane   Union Station is everything that’s right about bluegrass.  This is a group of very talented musicians and Alison Krauss sings like an angel. The album opens with her soaring soprano on the title track and closes with my favo

Happy New Year from the Fabled Automatic.  Sorry for the month long hiatus, holidays and all that.   But we are back and hopefully better than ever with lots of great music to look forward to in 2012.   Look for a dual post this weekend about our favorites of 2011, it was a great year for the artists we love and for new discoveries. Speaking of music to look forward to in 2012....  We FINALLY get the news today of the new Springsteen release entitled "Wrecking Ball".  www.backstreets.com   The first single "We take care of our own" is out today.  Lots has been said about the new record. Of note from manager John Landau. "Bruce has dug down as deep as he can to come up with this vision of modern life. The lyrics tell a story you can't hear anywhere else and the music is his most innovative of recent years."   It has been described as "very rock, and very angry" using a wide range of influences.  Regardless of whether you agree with h