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LOST TRACKS : Good CDs We Overlooked Last Year
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Johnson -- who moved from Chicago to Seattle, where he recorded this album in 2004 in band member Dan Strack's basement studio -- delves into the natural world with this CD, sounding a touch like Henry David Thoreau as he exhorts in one upbeat tune, "Let your pollen lie on the legs of bees/Through the pines, through the briars/And down to the briny sea."
While he initially intended to write a darker CD, most of the songs sound as if Johnson and his crew are about to embark on a cheery, slightly psychedelic road trip.
Johnson includes one little homage to Prince, as he has on every one of his records. This time it's the words "raspberry beret," which don't quite make sense in the context of the song in which they appear, "The Earthquake of '73."
But as Johnson's voice, with its echoes of George Harrison, spins its tales of love and angst, you can gloss over the details.
-- Juliet Eilperin
ANDREW BIRD & THE MYSTERIOUS PRODUCTION OF EGGS
Andrew Bird
Truth be told, the production of eggs isn't terribly mysterious. It is, however, sublimely strange, as is Andrew Bird, whose method of creation pairs the aura of Olde Tyme America with the just slightly shy of ironic tinge of the contemporary.
Combining these opposite but oddly complementary poles of inspiration, expert violinist, whistler and all-around multi-instrumentalist Bird has released his strongest record yet, an album whose intriguing ingenuity -- chiming percussion and quivering whistling that sounds like a musical saw on "Sovay," plucked string ostinatos and twangy guitar noir on "Banking on a Myth" -- draws you into an alternately appealing and perplexing melange of straight melody and sideways wordplay.
