Heather Myles, "Sweet Talk and Good Lies" (Rounder) Those of you who have been paying attention (don't make me kick your ass) know that I am a bit obsessed with Tammy Wynette. I think she sang with more pathos and reality than any singer I ever heard, even Billie Holiday. And I think she was a brilliant interpreter: among other things a true master of dynamics and phrasing. People hear her now as campy or kitschy I guess. I never will. But Tammy did not live well with fame. She tried to get sophisto, and perhaps we may be forgiven for speculating that she developed various substance abuse problems. Anyway, Heather Myles doesn't have to worry about the Queen of Country syndrome, much as she deserves the title. She's the best girl singer in the world. But as she laments here in "Nashville's Gone Hollywood," it's too late to be great. There are a number of absolutely perfect country songs here in the Tammy/Loretta tradition, notably "Homewrecker Blues" and "One Woman Man Again." The plot of the latter is too country: he leaves her; she spirals downward and becomes a streetwalker; he buys her and they both pretend she's his one man woman again. Oh my fucking God. "Highways and Honkytonks," her last album, was a classic. This is just as amazing. To keep her going, we've got to make sure she never gets too famous. On the other hand, we've also got to buy her albums. Do.

Longview, "Lessons in Stone" (Rebel) Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, "The Hard Game of Love" (Sugar Hill) The bluegrass world is a fairly small world, and in its upper reaches (like the bands who record for Rounder and Sugar Hill), everyone is amazing. Everyone can play. Everyone can sing. Everyone can play the whole tradition upon request. And so the differences tend to resolve themselves into what seem to be fairly minor matters of taste and emphasis. Some bands sound more old-timey than others. Some favor the mandolin. Some are dominated by baritones over tenors. Longview and Quicksilver are certainly bluegrass royalty. In fact DLQ were my favorite bluegrass band circa 1985-95, though I was under the impression that they had broken up or something. They were mostly gospel during that period though. Anyway, this reunion finds them doing original love songs. The performances are understated, truly beautiful, perfect but real. Longview is a kind summit meeting that includes Dudley Connell, the singer from the great Johnson Mountain Boys. Like Quicksilver, the band favors mid-tempo songs that simply allow them to revel in perfection. I guess I preferred the previous Longview albums slightly to this one, which seems a bit stilted or forced at times for some reason. But there are incomparably lovely songs here, including the title cut.

Gruk, Gruk (Gruk) Gruk. You know what I love about the original wave of harDCore bands, esp Minor Threat (of course)? They managed to sound utterly unmendiated, like what they were doing was an absolutely pure upwelling of what they were. (Of course, that has to be in some ways a delusion: they did not entirely invent their own vocabulary.) But that has been missing to a large extent in hardcore ever since, and is missing now. In fact, hardcore is about achieving that immediacy, but precisely in its devotion to that moment it makes that moment impossible to itself. Hardocre is a style of music, and you're trying to play in that style. It's a style that tries to find primal immediacy, and so you try to find primal immediacy. And at this point you are reverting to a vocabulary that is twenty years old, through various strata of performers and performances. See? the consciousness with which you're trying to get primal makes the primal impossible. You're losing what you're pursuing precisely in virtue of pursuing it. Enough lecture. Gruk, a band from Chico, CA, somehow takes me back to DC, 1980. They obviously like Minot Threat, but by the same token they're not just out here imitating or emulating MT. They play with melody and snarl, intelligence and ferocity. And somehow, they just come off sounding straight up: like it's coming straight from the gut. Cool to have a girl singing hardcore, too, and she does it damn well. 935 w. 4th ave. #17. chico, ca 95926. gruk@blackvault.com

The Selby Tigers, The Curse of the Selby Tigers (Hopeless) Okay, when you hear the Minnesota punk band Selby Tigers, you might think of X, because they're roughly at the same tempo and the 2 singers in the Tigers sound a bit like John Doe and Exene. The main difference is that X sucked and the Selby Tigers do not. I was living in London in '83 and writing for Melody Maker. I interviewed X at their hotel. I have never met a more insufferable, stupid, and stoned group of fools in my life. Pretentiousness is annoying, but when it is conjoined to idiocy, it merits homicide. Actually John wasn't too bad. But Exene and Billy Zoom were beyond insufferable. They made fun of every question I asked, and I tell you I was just trying to do my job, asking questions like "who do y'all listen to?" But nice or nasty they sucked anyway. Exene's "poetry" was moronic. Billy Zoom was about half as good a guitarist as most folks thought he was, and only infinitesimally as good as he himself thought he was. The music was boring. But the Selby Tigers do something a lot better, with a lot more momentum, more focus, and infinitely more intelligence. I especially like "Punch Me in the Face (With Your Lips)."

Joey Ramone, "Don't Worry About Me" (Sanctuary) I've seen several critics who called this album depressing. They're fucking idiots. Like a lot of stuff that Joey recorded over the years, it's a celebration of life, this time made utterly true and poignant by the fact that he recorded it while he was dying. The version of "What a Wonderful World" is lovely, and the idea of recording it in the face of death is perfect. "I Want My Life" is one of the most honest songs ever written about death. You know, Joey always had this love of existence thing going, as in the great song from the mid-eighties"I'm Not Afraid of Life." Musically, this album is less punked-up than most Ramones albums, and shows Joey doing what he loved: crystalline, melodic, girlgroup-type rock. A beautiful testament to music and life.

V/A, Alpha Motherfuckers (Bitzcore/Hopeless) The greatest rock 'n roll band in the world is the insanely rockin Norwegian deathpunk band Turbonegro. Or if it's not, it's Nashville Pussy. Or if it's not, it's the Supersuckers. Unbelievably, you don't have to choose, because this disc is a tribute to Turbonegro by, among others, Nashville Pussy and Supersuckers. Also: the Dwarves, Queens of the Stoneage, Scared of Chaka, Hot Water Music etc etc: 26 cuts. On this greatest band thing: The title has been held with dignity by, among others, the Rolling Stones, AC/DC, the Ramones. And if you mention U2 in this context, I will beat you like a bitch with my ASP extendable baton. Turbonegro makes incredibly vital, direct rock 'n roll that has all these other bands on board (except U2). Now you have to wonder about these people, cause their songs are like "Midnight NAMBLA" and "Rendezvous with Anus." I might be totally screwed in the head but i think I'm hearing these words: "So you think you've had some pepperoni. Well not like this. So you think you've had some calzone. Well not like this. Gonna make some motherfucking pizza tonight." Shit is deep baby. One of the masterworks reproduced here - by Satyricon - is "I Got Erection," and though and American would say "I got *an* erection," or alternately "I got wood," you're not going to miss the point. "I think of love; I think of blood; I got erection." There's something about lighting churches on fire, too, which also extends the baton. Then they'll turn around and do "Rock Against Ass." But whatever their perverse sexual proclivities may be, and whatever "deathpunk" may be, these people flatout rock. And "Alpha Motherfuckers" has some of the rockingest motherfuckers in the world rocking out to some of the rockingest songs ever written. hopeless records

Chuck Prophet, No Other Love (New West) I swear to God, sometimes the future becomes audible. I heard it the first time I heard the Ramones, the Pretenders. And now I hear the future of country music. This is somewhere between Bob Dylan and Beck. It's smart, it's hip, and it's actually beautiful. The arrangements are perfectly contemporary (hence the Beck), and the songs display great traditional craft as well as a willingness to emerge. My favorite song in the world right now is "That's How Much I Need Your Love," which sounds like a less self-consciously cool Chris Isaac, but in the new millennium. You need this fucking record. Try miles of music

Porter Hall Tennessee, Welcome to Porter Hall Tennessee (Slew Foot) This is an extremely country record. The promo shit says that Porter Hall Tennessee used to be a punk band. And even though that seems stylistically unlikely, I can well believe it. Because when you get down to it, punk music is country music for suburban teenagers, and country music is punk for rural oldsters. But they have the same essential values: rawness, truth, intensity of expression. And of course there are the actual overlaps, like Screeching Weasel doing "I Fall to Pieces" or Social Distortion ripping the hell out of "Ring of Fire." Now all we need is like Patty Loveless recording "Rendezvous with Anus." Anyway, PHT is so damn good. I particularly like the girl singer, Molly Conley, though the guy, Gary Roadarmel, is also excellent. Maybe we could say they sound like Dwight Yokum but not quite as smooth. But you just can't do a whole lot better than "Screwed Blue" or "Golden Chain of Hate." Plus it's slowly dawning on me that Slew Foot records puts out a lot of great music.

Fabulous Disaster, Put Out or Get Out (Pink and Black) When I first got hold of this I thought it was okay, but kind of derivative of the various giants of girlpunk, especially the Go Gos and Hole. Well I still think that Fab Dis might come more into its own voice, but I also think this is a really good album. It rocks without snarling, and there are some great lyrics and great melodies. What we need is a whole lot more stuff like this: intelligent pop punk made by girls with good tattoos.

Fall Silent, "Drunken Violence" (Solid State) Curlupanddie, "Unfortunately We're Not Robots" (Solid State) These days, you need a scorecard to tell the Christians from the Satanists. I think these are both Christian hardcore/heavy metal bands, but it's awful hard to tell because they both sound like they're pretending to be possessed by demons, and because they both cuss and talk about Jesus. Plus "Fall Silent" includes enough gory-crucifixion art to make you wonder about the whole thing. Maybe it finally doesn't matter anymore whether you're a Christian or a Satanist. Maybe some Christians are Satansists and some Satansists Christians. Maybe, when you get right down to it, Satan and God are the same bizarre, annoying dude. Maybe I'm just gatting sick of this kind of music. Maybe...aw fuck it.

Over the Rhine, Films for Radio Axiom: never sneer at good pop music. You know? you've even got to admire the craft of the people who make Britney Spears albums. Well Over the Rhine (terrible name) make stuff that's easy to listen to, slides down your throat like milk. But on the other hand tghe lyrics are unusual and intelligent, and the melodies, which appear simple at first, reveal layers of complexity. Some music is hard to listen to. Case in point: Crispus Attucks, below. That can be a good thing. And some music is easy to listen to: it draws you instead of bludgeoning you. Mozart is fun, but Beerthoven is profound. Well my point is that Over the Rhine is easy but interesting. Really lovely female singer with a deft run at the lyrics, backed by a neo-folk laidback rimshot-type instrumentation.

the rest of what we're hearing

Crispus Attucks, Red Black Blood Attack (Soda Jerk) It's nice to know someone in DC still thrashes. This is the most extreme, serious hardcore punk imaginable. I bet straight up that you can't listen to whole thing at one sitting, even though it's not that long. The "singer" sounds possessed in the contemporary manner. But what sets CA apart is the really unbefuckinglievable drummer. Gene Krupa was into speed, and you can see why: the sheer amount of energy a drummer puts out in a performance can be immense. But Lord knows what this guy's on. Possibly powerful gasoline, a clean windshield, and a shoeshine.

Turbonegro, Darkness Forever (Bitzcore) Alright, I think these people are from Denmark. Make that Norway. They talk German and French with various heavy accents between the songs of this live album. They sing in English. But total rock 'n roll is a universal language. Turbonegro rock the fuck out this motherfucker. They play fast but blues-based punk, like pissed off Ramones. Other references include the Misfits and AC/DC, and you can't say better than that. I'm not sure they themselves understand the lyrics they write. On the other hand, words are for wimps. Part of the material here is from the last gig they ever played. Oops I take that back. Their website says they're going to regroup and tour this summer. That's good, cause this might just be the best rock band in the world.

1.5 an unprecedented crisis

The Jack Palance Band "Get This Shit Under Way" (Attention Deficit Disorder) Is this rock? Pop punk? Hardcore? Emo? Yes. And something else too: it's at play in the fields of punk, so that it amounts to a clever deconstruction of the whole thing. Like you can hear the art, know what I mean? Like you can with Fugazi, with changes of mood, tempo, timbre. But on the other hand it really does rock, and it never stops. It's smart, but not too damn smart to be good. It's not too scared of its own power to attack. "Take another piss on the underdog." add records

Gurf Morlix, "Fishin' in the Muddy" (Catamount) There's something to be said for guys, know what I mean? Let us briefly contrast Lucinda Williams and Gurf Morlix. I bow to no one in my admiration of Lucinda, the Tammy Wynette of alt.country, the Queen of Us. And I know you feel the same. But you have to realize that in the long run it might not be the best thing to hang out with her, wonderful though she be. She's just a trifle . . . overwrought. Emotional. Ecstatic, then in despair. Suicidal, then dancing at a bar. Alt.menopause is liable to be long and hard. Gurf makes the same kind of music, but he's a guy, get me? He has simple needs, simple insights. His hormones are perhaps no less importunate, but they are steadier. He's humble, less "interesting" than Lucinda, but in the long run more tolerable. You love Lucinda's songs, but you love them in part in relation to obsession, her unbelievable emotional intensity. That what takes Lucinda's art and makes it transcendent: she has a hyperreal presence in her music. So what you get on "Fishin' in the Muddy" is something that sneaks up on you a bit more, something without the emotional fireworks, but still with the astonishing songcraft. In fact, there's one masterpiece here that might be directed straight between Lucinda's eyes: "(Tell Me What It's Like at the) Center of the Universe": "Tell me what it's like to carry that kind of curse." But every song here is liable to stalk you with a great lyric. If Lu's transcendence is achieved in intensity, Gurf's is achieved in imminence, calm, basic intelligence. He's been a studio and tour musician for everybody, and the playing is perfect and spirited. If Johnny Cash recorded this suite of songs, you'd have one of the fundamental documents of American music. But the effect of Gurf's own performance is manly, baby: steady and direct.

Lonesome Bob, "Things Change" (Leap) At first, this seems like a novelty record, and a great one. It features fine and funny country songs such as "I Got Away With It," "Heather's All Bummed Out," and "It'd Be Sad if it Weren't So Funny." But then you begin to realize that these songs are beautifully constructed, and that there's actually something touching under the humor. And then the real songs on here begin to kick in, songs like "Dying Breed," which are as beautifully written and movingly performed as country music has ever been. Allison Moorer sings beautiful harmony vocals, and shivers start running up and down your spine. I think the name "Lonesome Bob" is a bit unfortunate, though funny as hell, because it will tend to get him dismissed. But he could be played on mainline country radio or on Americana, and he can definitely be played on your car stereo. And as he is, you will realize that country music is still something true.

11.25 drive-by truckers and their magnum opus southern rock opera

The Deadlines, Fashion Over Function (Tooth and Nail) Well! When was the last time you listened to a great new rock 'n roll record? The way to think about the Deadlines is as a a mating of the Stones and Billy Idol, with just a hint of the contempo poppunk roar underneath. The songs are fucking great. In its way, this is a concept album on the theme broached by the title, and the insert is a hilarious parody of the fashion spread. I'm pretty enamored of the opener - "I Want a Stalker" - but the whole thing is damn good. This sucker should be all over the pop radio, though I doubt it will be. order from amazon