In the Mix

There's another new Springsteen song, "My Lucky Day," out there from the forthcoming Workin' On A Dream, due January 27th. You can get it on Amazon.com or at MySpace.

Odetta, the folk singer who was an essential part of the soundtrack to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, died of heart failure yesterday in Manhattan. She was only 77, which is remarkable considering she seemed such a monumental, grown-up presence in contrast to youngsters like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez who knelt at her feet during the '60s folk revival. Here she is in a clip from the Newport Folk Festival, and below that, from Tavis Smiley's show in January.

Odetta played her last Philadelphia-area show in January at the Keswick Theatre in Glenside, when she took part in a benefit to raise money to buy a gravestone for Sister Rosetta Tharpe's resting place in Northwood Cemetery. Inquirer reviewer David Stampone had this to say:

The regal Odetta, 77, followed, seated in a wheelchair but in full vocal command, accompanied by Seth Farber on piano (taking time off from his musical duties in Broadway's Hairspray). Odetta got the house singing along on "This Little Light of Mine" and charmed the crowd with earthy observations about the less dangerous sex back in the day, before doing her stately medley "Careless Love/St. Louis Blues. "

John Legend is town at the Tower Theater on Friday, with Raphael Saadiq. Here's the interview from today's Inquirer. Half of Legend's new Evolver is on his MySpace page. Below, he's singing explaining the importance of "Nutmeg" to Stephen Colbert.

(In other Colbert music news, the Comedy Central hosts' "Operation Humble Kanye," out to prove that he, and not Kanye West, is "the voice of this generation of this decade," has been partially successful. The Colbert Christmas CD is now #3, on iTunes, ahead of West's 808s & Heartbreak, at #4. But both Britney Spears' Circus and Akon's Freedom are now above it, which means there are two new targets of Colbert's wrath.)

Do Hollywood biopics owe anything at all to their subjects, and their audiences, when it comes to accurately depicting the events that inspire them?

I hate to play the persnickety blues purist card, and I understand that dramatization requires taking liberties with everyday lives to tell a story that will hold people's attention for two hours.

Still, Cadillac Records gave me agita. Where to start? Leonard Chess, who's played by Adrien Brody, had a brother named Phil who was a full partner in the Chicago blues label brought to the world such monumental artists as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and Sonny Boy Williamson. But like Williamson, the harmonica virtuoso and sly songwriter who was the third great W on the Chess roster, Phil Chess is nowhere to be found in Daniel Martin's movie. Streamlining, they call it.

Cadillac's got a lot going for it. A real appreciation for music, for one thing, and a willingness to allow performances play out from beginning to end, both rarer than they should be in music biopics. There's excellent acting, from a deeply empathetic Jeffrey Wright as Waters, a fierce Eamonn Walker (from Oz, and a BBC adaptation of Othello a few years back) as Wolf, and Columbus Short as Little Walter. Mos Def makes a goofy Chuck Berry, and Beyonce comes closer to emboying Etta James that you might expect. The clothes are real nice, too.

(But where's Bo Diddley, I wonder? I guess the late great rock pioneer didn't give permission for his music to be used in the movie. Presumably, he's a focal point in Who Do You Love, the other Chess Records movie, starring Alessandro Nivola that screened in Toronto in the fall and promises to make Leonard Chess the Truman Capote of 2008-09.)

Among other troubles, however - see Carrie Rickey's review here - Cadillac Records has a chronology problem. The movie means to make a point about white artists getting paid - and not giving credit - to innovations made by Chess men like Walter and Berry. As well it should.

The argument is botched, however, by its jumbled execution. The issue first comes up in connection to the Beach Boys' "Surfin' U.S.A.," which Mos Def as Chuck Berry correctly notes is a total ripoff of his own "Sweet Little 16." "Surfin'" came out in 1963. Next, the Rolling Stones show up at the Chess headquarters and tell Waters that they named themselves after one of his songs. That happened, in 1964, and the results are on the Stones second album, 12 X 5, including the instrumental "2120 Michigan Avenue," which was the address of the Chess studio.

Then, at a later point in the movie, it turns out another white boy is going to the bank on the blues, specifically by covering Little Walter's 1955 Willie Dixon-penned hit "My Babe." Trouble is, that white boy is Elvis Presley, who's shown in a mid-'50s film clip on TV. From watching Cadillac Records, you'd think the Beach Boys were the original Kings of rock and roll, the Stones followed in their footsteps, and then some pompadoured fellow from Tupelo, Miss. joined the party.

One more gripe and I'll stop. Waters first traveled to England, with pianist Otis Spann, in 1958. That visit had something to do with the British discovery of American blues, and the Stones adoration of the blues giant born McKinley Morganfield. In Cadillac Records, though, he doesn't go until 1967, with Cedric the Entertainer as Willie Dixon, at the behest of the Stones. His landing in London, with photographers waiting for the famous "Mr. Waters" makes for a happy ending after all the troubles Muddy has seen. But it gets the story wrong, and calls into the question the veracity of much else that goes on.

For instance: Little Walter was an undeniably brilliant trailblazer (rightfully inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year). But in Cadillac, he's portrayed as irreplaceable in Waters' band, when in fact he was replaced by a number of superb players, from Junior Wells to the Walter "Shakey" Horton (also known as Big Walter) to James Cotton. In the movie, Little Walter encounters a identity thieving musician on the side of the road, so he stops the car, goes up the pretender - and blows his brains out. Did that really happen? Somehow, I'm not buying it.

The movie's most positive contribution will be to bring attention a time period when the post-World War II migration of Southern blacks to Northern cities resulted in some of the most electrifying and emotionally powerful pop music ever made.

That music is not on the Cadillac Records soundtrack album, but the newly recorded versions are better than you might expect. Wright and Mos Def unembarassingly sing their songs in character, and Beyonce takes hold of "At Last" and "I'd Rather Go Blind," without successfully wrestling either out of James' hands.

Beyonce also throws her executive producer weight around and gets her sister Solange an undeserved spot on the soundtrack, singing her own out-of-place Mark Ronson-produced "Six O'Clock Blues." Little Walter is the only original artist included, but there are some other interesting throw-ins that have little for nothing to do with the movie, like Raphael Saadiq's R & B strut "Let's Talk A Walk," and more intriguingly, a Nas track called "Bridging The Gap," in which he teams up with his jazz-blues troubadour father, Olu Dara. It was was originally on the rapper's 2004 Street's Disciple double CD.

Needless to say, the companion volume, The Best Of Chess Records: Original Artist Recordings of Songs in the Film "Cadillac Records" is superior. It's 16 songs offer but a soupcon of of the big, brawling Chess sound, but it's a tantalizing taste - Waters' "I Can't Be Satisfied," Wolf's "Smokestack Lightnin'," Berry's "Nadine," Walter's "Juke," James "I'd Rather Go Blind."

Other recommendations: Pick up some Sonny Boy (holding the harp), whose real name was Rice Miller and is often known as Sonny Boy Williamson II. (It's a long story.) The Real Folk Blues and More Real Folk Blues are available as one budget priced package, and include well knowns cut like "Checking On My Baby" and "One Way Out," which was covered by the Allman Brothers.

Hopefully, Cadillac Records will kick off a Muddy Waters renaissance. The 50 song Anthology, 1947-1972 is a good place to start, and Robert Gordon's 2002 biography, Can't Be Satisfied: The Life And Times Of Muddy Waters gets the story straight.

Fianlly, there's also a new Howlin' Wolf live album, called Rockin' The Blues: Live In Germany 1964, that captures the life force born Chester Arthur Burnett (pictured above) in his onstage glory. Pianist Sunnyland Slim, bassist Willie Dixon and still-touring guitarist Hubert Sumlin are in the band. Get that, and watch the 2003 DVD The Howlin' Wolf Story: The Secret History of Rock 'n' Roll.

Here's a Chess sampler, with a few tracks from the soundtrack thrown in. And below that, videos of Waters, Wolf and Williamson.

Neil Young never stops moving forward musically, but lately the 63 year old force of nature has been on a journey through his past as well. The first volume of the long time coming Archives set is allegedly due out early in 2009, and the latest live set to be pulled from the vaults is the new Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House 1968, which was recorded when he was 22, and is a stoner-era acoustic marvel. He'll be at the old Spectrum tonight, with Wilco and Everest. Here's a Harvest-era "Old Man" video clip, and the entire Canterbury album can be heard at npr.com.

Update: Here's the set list from last night's show. And the review is here.

Love And Only Love
Hey Hey, My My
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Powderfinger
Spirit Road
Cortez The Killer
Cinnamon Girl
Oh, Lonesome Me
Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)
The Needle And The Damage Done
Light A Candle
Unknown Legend
Heart Of Gold
Old Man
Get Back To The Country
Just Singing A Song
Sea Change
When Worlds Collide
Cowgirl In The Sand
Rockin' In The Free World

Encore:

A Day In The Life

Here are ten videos to go with my Top Ten list, in Sunday's Inquirer A & E section. It all begins with Lil Wayne...

1. Lil Wayne, "A Milli."

2. TV On The Radio, "Golden Age"

3. Santogold, "L.E.S. Artistes"

4. My Morning Jacket, "I'm Amazed."

5. Girl Talk, from Feed The Animals

6. Hayes Carll, "She Left Me For Jesus"

7. Erykah Badu, "Honey."

8. Vampire Weekend, "A Punk."

9. She & Him, "Why Don't You Let Me Stay Here"

10. Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis, "Caldonia."

Here's a player to go with my 2008 playlist. An explanation is here. That's Estelle in a funny dress, with Kanye West, and M.I.A., below them.

Here's a Christmas playlist to go with the one in Thursday's Inquirer. It's not an exact replica: There are a few different selections, and additional cuts from Rosie Thomas, Brian McKnight, Rahsaan Patterson, and B.B. King, plus that Fountains of Wayne song that's in a L.L. Bean commercial.