Freak Scene #69: Jon Carroll Stands Up on New Album
Plus, a preview of the first album from New Haven-area band Missed Cues.
A Guide to Music in Western Mass. (and sometimes Connecticut)
This week in Freak Scene, we discover a local connection to a 1970s chart-topper you’ve definitely heard, and we hear the title track from Don’t Turn Off the Lights, the upcoming first album from Connecticut band Missed Cues.
Here’s something you probably didn’t know: Jon Carroll, a founding member of Starland Vocal Band — that’s right, of “Afternoon Delight” fame — lives in Easthampton, and just released the new solo album Can’t Afford Not To. (I met him by chance through a mutual friend a few weeks ago at Miss Florence Diner.)
Though Starland had fizzled by 1981, a couple of reunions notwithstanding, the Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, producer and arranger has kept busy ever since. He’s a longtime member of Mary Chapin Carpenter’s band on keyboards and backing vocals (local show Aug. 10 at the Academy of Music); he’s toured with artists including the Chicks, Rodney Crowell and Peter Wolf; and Linda Ronstadt had a Top 40 hit in 1982 (and scored a Grammy nomination in 1983) with Carroll’s song “Get Closer.” More recently, he also offers music lessons at the Prindle School in Easthampton.
Can’t Afford Not To is Carroll’s first new studio effort since Love Returns in 2007. Considering the 18-year interval, it’s understandable that he packs the album full, spilling over the hour mark with 14 songs that showcase his considerable abilities as a singer, songwriter, arranger and producer. There’s a classic ’70s soul and lite-funk vibe on many of these songs, which build arrangements around Carroll’s work on keyboards (he played many of the other instruments, too).
Carroll wrote or co-wrote 12 of the songs on Can’t Afford Not To, which tend to fall into one of three categories. There are the message songs, like opener “(You’ve Gotta) Stand Up,” an exhortation to hold fast in the face of, well, creeping authoritarianism, set to a rollicking piano vamp with gospel-like backing vocals. (Carroll wrote that one for the XM Radio show Stand Up! With Pete Dominick.) Then there are the groove songs, where what he’s singing is important than how he’s singing it. “Your Hook” is indeed a hook fest, with a bold vocal melody, layers of keyboards and a popping bassline that makes it impossible to sit still. Some tracks manage both feats at once: the title track bobs along on a breezy reggae beat while Carroll sings about the karmic value of unlooked-for acts of kindness. His melody is so tuneful and sticky that you’re likely to find yourself singing the refrain while, say, you’re walking through the grocery store parking lot (true story).
His own songs on Can’t Afford Not To stand taller than the two covers. The first, “Color Him Father,” was originally recorded by the Winstons in 1969, and it shows. Carroll tones down the syrupy, string-slicked musical arrangement of the original, and sings in a soulful tenor, but the lyrics have the outdated feel of an After School Special from back in the day. The closing track, a version of Jimmie Rodgers’ “Waiting for a Train (All Around the Water Tanks),” is finely rendered with acoustic guitars, subtle organ, piano and a whistling interlude, but the track feels out of step with the funkier fare that proceeds it. That said, if Carroll wanted to lay down a whole album of songs like that, Freak Scene would be first in line to listen.
Missed Cues Track ‘Don’t Turn Off the Lights’ Previews First LP
What do we know about Connecticut band Missed Cues? Not much beyond the fact that the group comprises two Matts, a Tim and a Marty, and they come from the New Haven and Middletown area. Also, they have an album on the way.
The first track, “Don’t Turn Off the Lights,” is also the name of the album, which comes out July 25. It’s an old-school garage-rock tune, lo-fi with chugging power chords, solid bass and a steady beat anchoring bright lead guitar fills and a catchy, pleading vocal refrain. The track fits into the Connecticut punk-rock tradition of bands like the Reducers and other acts from the 1987 compilation The Towers of New London Vol. II.
Upcoming Concerts
Julian Lage plays a pair of dates indoors Oct. 21-22 at Tree House Brewery in South Deerfield (tickets for night one, and night two).
Sasha Velour performs Nov. 16 at the Academy of Music in Northampton (tickets).
The Iron Horse in Northampton hosts Ron Sexsmith Sept. 9 (tickets), Veronica Swift with Cat Ridgeway & the Tourists Sept. 28 (tickets), Max Creek on Oct. 31 (tickets) and Nov. 1 (tickets) and Socks in the Frying Pan Dec. 10 (tickets).
Water from Your Eyes plays Oct. 7 at the Drake in Amherst, with Her New Knife (tickets).
College Street Music Hall in New Haven presents Garbage Sept. 21 (tickets) and comic Ali Siddiq Dec. 12 (tickets).
District Music Hall in Norwalk hosts Asleep at the Wheel Aug. 14 (tickets), Indigo de Souza Oct. 25 (tickets) and Atreyu with Unearth Nov. 22 (tickets).
Who knew the devil was doing rooms so intimate? Space Ballroom in Hamden has Satan Aug. 25 (tickets), Catbite Sept. 11 (tickets) and Bill Orcutt, Steve Shelley and Ethan Miller Nov. 4 (tickets).
Wizards of Gridlock present “a night of Downtempo, Synthpop and more” June 20 at the Marigold Theater in Easthampton, with Deep Seize, Rival Galaxies and St. Intel.
That’s it for this week, but Freak Scene is always seeking submissions. You can send music for coverage consideration to erdanton at gmail or reply to this email. Check out these guidelines first.
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