Brad - United We Stand

It's always nice to see some new product from Shawn Smith & Co. After a prolonged period of inactivity, the gents have come through a couple times in recent years, most recently behind their pretty aces return Best Friends? This new one is called United We Stand and comes courtesy of Razor & Tie. It pretty much picks up where the last Brad left off, with eleven soulful solid mid-tempo tracks. Bound In Time is very probably the best track, with Shawn on piano and singing his diminutive ass off, although Needle And Thread does come out on top sometimes. If anything, United We Stand may be accused of being a little middle of the road. Not that Brad were ever The Replacements, but things here are very crisp and just-so, maybe to the point of a wee bit of overproduction. I'm not a young dude, and these guys are older, so I don't think there is much shame in hat game. If I had my druthers, things would be perhaps a little more rough around the edges, but lovers of past Brad will find much candy for their ears on United We Stand.


They will be in town in the next couple of weeks, oddly enough on the same night as the Afghan Whigs. I would venture logistics will preclude Shawn popping up on stage with Ohio's finest, but nerds should set to picking their battles, as tickets for both seem to be a premium.

Keep track of Brad here.


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Greg Dulli - Live At The Triple Door

Maybe it just the day I've been having, but its currently pretty hard to think that the Afghan Whigs dropped Gentlemen fifteen years ago. A lot has changed since then. For one, the Whigs are no more and Dulli has founded The Twilight Singers as his primary musical focus, with his Gutter Twins project batting clean-up. Much like The Hold Steady is an older, less sleazy Lifter Puller, The Twilight Singers reflect more of a post-snowstorm Dulli. There is still a fair amount of darkness, but there's a little bit less of the self-destructive nihilism.

Dulli released his first official solo record, Amber Headlights, in 2005. The record had been recorded in 2002 and shelved in the wake of the passing of his dear friend Ted Demme, but was released to a fair amount of success. Live At The Triple Door isn't so much a solo record as it is a solo recording, if I may split a hair or two. Various Twilight Singers and long-time cohorts like Shawn Smith and Petra Haden back Dulli up, but this acoustic set is pretty Greg-o-centric. If you are into such things, Shawn Smith sings a couple tunes with Greg. It's great to hear them singing together again. The Brad shows at Highline earlier in the year were a nice tease, but I'd sure like to see more of SS on this side of the country.

Live At The Triple Door was recorded over two days in Seattle as a benefit for local youth charity The Vera Project. The recording is available as a download only via Dulli's own Infernal Recordings. Check I-tunes and your favorite digital retailers. The set goes as far back as the AW chestnut, Tonight and along with a dozen or so other favorites spanning the last decade or so, including that Jose Gonzalez cover that all the young kids dig. If there is any shortcoming to this release, it's that there's not all that much Dulli stage banter, but I trust the average listener will live. I'd like to see a DVD of the set, but in the interim, download the set here. You can keep up on all the other goings on in the world of The Twilight Singers here.