Adam Haworth Stevens Scores with Solo Debut "We Live On Cliffs"

I don't usually cover alt folk-pop but today I have something. It's the first solo album by the singer-songwriter of Two Gallants, Adam Haworth Stevens. We Live On Cliffs (Saddle Creek) has some nicely quirky folk-rock songs with plenty of interesting acoustic and electric accompaniment, lyrics worth thinking about and the good vocal presence of Mr. Stevens.

Comparisons don't come readily to mind, which argues for his originality. His is a new voice on the scene and the music has just enough edge to it that it blows away the slick pop that is so all-pervasive out there. Thank you Saddle Creek for putting out this worthy music. And thanks Adam for coming up with it.

MIJ and the Musical Flowering of 1969

Originally posted on September 15, 2008

Freeze frame to January 1969. Folk-rock was going pretty strong, with much of the emphasis on originals, and not much in the way of the traditional songs folk was defined by earlier. ESP Records brought an obscure dude into the studio, one MIJ, aka Jim Holmberg. The album recorded that day hardly revolutionized the music scene. In fact it passed almost unnoticed, the audience and the record missing a rendezvous like ships in the night.

And yet there is something about that music, just reissued (The Yodeling Astrologer). It’s Mr. MIJ’s voice and 12-string acoustic, nothing else. You could call it folk-rock without the rock. It’s rather out in its lyrics, a set of quirky originals that could only have been made back then. Tim Buckley, early Donovan, early Al Stewart are certainly contemporaries that resonate with what he was doing. After a few hearings, at least for me, the music begins to grab you. Here we have a surprise that will appeal to anyone with a liking for the summer of love music of the period. And the 12-string adds a texture that blends nicely with his vocals.

Holy Modal Rounders Reissued

Originally posted on June 11, 2008

And then there were the fringe lunatic groups in 1967. The Fugs were perhaps the most notorious, starting with several albums on ESP that shocked kids like me back then. The music was crude and the lyrics? I sure was not ready for their brand of Village satire. Nor was my friends' father, who broke my copy of the second album in half (no easy task) when he heard what his son was listening to. Steve Weber and Pete Stamfel were charter members of the group, providing much of the instrumental grounding for the first few albums.

They spun off as The Holy Modal Rounders, releasing Indian War Whoop in ’67 on ESP. It has just been reissued and it sounds as off the wall as it did then. There are traditional string band songs, old risqué blues numbers and some downright bizarre moments. I don’t think anyone would call it a classic. Still, it may amuse you, if you appreciate what was on the edge during that era. Otherwise, best to stay away!