MUSIC

Some of my favourite songs of 2004 (in no particular order):

Sometimes you can't make it on your own - U2
Each coming night - Iron & Wine
I wanted to be wrong - REM
Everybody's gotta learn sometime - Beck
Go On 1 - Chris Brown & Kate Fenner
Danko/Manuel - Drive-by Truckers
Twilight - Elliott Smith
One evening; Mushaboom - Feist
Tomorrow on the runway - Innocence Mission
Static on the radio - Jim White & Aimee Mann
Knock yourself out - Jon Brion
Muzzle of bees - Wilco
Just in time - Nina Simone
Shame - PJ Harvey
Everything is everything - Phoenix
Such great heights - Postal Service and Iron & Wine
From now on - Ron Sexsmith
Pendulums - Sarah Harmer
Gone for good - The Shins
Go - Sparklehorse and Flaming Lips

NEIL YOUNG

Neil Young's albums are far too good to require condensing into a greatest hits, but for those who buy these compilations, this tracklist is decent. The cover is one of my all-time favourite Neil pictures. First a review and then my greatest hits list for Neil.

pitchfork's review:

Neil Young
Greatest Hits
[Reprise; 2004]
Rating: 8.0

Neil Young is the kind of man that appreciates albums in the traditional sense: cohesive beginning-to-end statements, occasionally thematic if the mood suits him, and preferably experienced through big analog speakers on crackly old vinyl. His resistance to digital music has been well-documented, and until recently, several of his releases-- including 1974's classic On the Beach-- had never been made available on compact disc. So one can imagine him in an A&R office upstairs at Reprise Records, year after year, continually shooting down the concept of a compilation that attempts to condense his entire history onto a single disc. He's already been compiled once anyway-- with the 1977 double-disc retrospective Decade.

Regardless, we're now being offered Greatest Hits, although Young does seems begrudging: Its only liner notes are the obligatory song credits and one line from Young himself that simply states, "Greatest hits inclusion based on original record sales, airplay, and known download history." These criteria are not only anathema to his aesthetic (since when does the man behind "This Note's For You" care about airplay?), but here they comprise a collection that only skims the surface of his catalog: The tracklist features 16 songs from his 35-year career, ranging from 1969's "Down by the River" to 1991's "Harvest Moon".

Young's stubborn integrity extends beyond his politics-- which inform all of his songs, but only define a few like "Ohio" and "Rockin' in the Free World"-- and saturates his music. His catalog is riddled with sharp contrasts and sly contradictions, not least of which is the fact that this bearish-looking man sings with such a fragile falsetto. More crucially, Young moves from ragged guitar epics to jangly country ballads with impressive agility. He's also not one to rein in his songs, so they may often run for only two intense minutes ("The Needle and the Damage Done") or sprawl to upwards of nine ("Down by the River", "Cowgirl in the Sand").

These extremes make for a strange and strangely compelling Greatest Hits. Conceptually, it shouldn't work: Young has played many roles over 3½ decades, but indeed, he's never been a singles artist. In fact, he has only a passing acquaintance with the pop singles chart-- "Heart of Gold" went to #1, but he's had only two other solo top 40 singles-- and many of his most popular songs run much longer than the typical single's three minutes.

The disc begins, perversely and brilliantly, with the one-two punch of "Down By the River" and "Cowgirl in the Sand", which together total almost 20 minutes. This seems less an act of rebellion than a simple stroke of luck, as the compilation is sequenced chronologically. Even so, the songs illustrate clearly that Young and the hits format aren't exactly perfect for each other, while still constituting an impressive introduction for newcomers. Which is precisely what this record is designed to do.

Greatest Hits is obviously intended mostly for curious initiates or casual listeners (although the remastered tracks will likely attract hardcore Young fans, too), and it achieves its goals sufficiently. Those unacquainted with his work will learn that Young was a tremendous guitar player who gave himself ample room to range; that Crazy Horse understood the need to provide a good backdrop for his solos and knew how to churn a drag-the-river momentum; that Young was an able songwriter who could craft a killer line like "The Needle and the Damage Done" clincher "every junkie's like a setting sun." What they won't learn is the difference between Young's work with Crazy Horse and Crosby, Stills & Nash: All 16 tracks are presented as Young's solo work, which is misleading. Historical liner notes could have cleared this up and even introduced Young's collaborators. Instead, the package leaves it to listeners to infer these distinctions from the song credits.

Fittingly, Greatest Hits skews to Young's early material: Eleven of these tracks represent his 1969-71 output, and only two songs postdate the 1970s (and, therefore, the still-in-print, two-disc Decade). The implication is that Young more or less faded away, and that his first few albums far outshine his subsequent material. But such a view is surely reductive: Young has not only been actively releasing albums throughout the 90s and into the 00s, but several of them been unexpectedly solid as well. The sadly missed "Cortez the Killer" and "Tonight's the Night" are the set's most obvious exclusions, but the dismissal of late-era tracks like "This Note's for You", "Fuckin' Up", or even "From Hank to Hendrix" is unfortunate, too.

Of course, it's all too easy to nitpick any greatest-hits tracklist-- any of them could be said to carry grievous omissions or curious inclusions. On one hand, this type of cursory overview isn't supposed to give us a detailed portrait of the artist, only a general sketch; on the other, Young is too complex a musician to be adequately represented by a mere 16 songs. The music on Greatest Hits holds up undeniably well, but the concept itself-- perhaps inevitably-- falters, failing to capture the essence of one of rock's sturdiest and most ragged voices.



Alternative Greatest Hits List

Expecting to Fly
Everybody knows this is nowhere
Helpless
Only love can break your heart
I believe in you
Harvest
Old man
Alabama
Love in mind
See the sky about to rain
Ambulance blues
Tired eyes
Albuquerque
Cortez the Killer
Pardon my heart
Will to love
Hey babe
Goin' back
Lotta love
Thrasher
Powderfinger
Piece of crap
Too far gone
Over and over
You and me
I'm the ocean
Razor love




VANCOUVER: WHAT'S HAPPENING THERE, RIGHT NOW?



RECIPES FOR A WINTER WEEKEND DINNER

Braised Lamb Shanks with Wine and Herbs
Makes 8 servings servings

Ingredients

8 lamb shanks, trimmed 8
salt and pepper
2 tbsp olive oil 25 ml
3 onions,coarsely chopped 3
12 whole cloves garlic, peeled 12
2 cups dry red wine 500 ml
1 28oz/796mL tin plum tomatoes with juices 1
1 tbsp fresh thyme (or 1/2 tsp/2mL dried) 15 ml
2 tbsp fresh parsley, coarsely chopped 25 ml

Method

1 Pat lamb dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot. Brown lamb well on all sides-in batches, if necessary. Remove from pan. Add onions and garlic. Cook a few minutes. Add wine. Bring to a boil and reduce by half.
2 Add tomatoes and bring to a boil. Break up tomatoes with a spoon. Add thyme. Return the browned lamb shanks to the pan. Cover and cook in a 350F/180C oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours or until very tender.
3 Remove shanks from pan. Skim any fat from surface of the sauce and discard. Puree sauce in a food processor or blender. Return sauce to pan. Remove lamb from bones in large chunks or leave whole and return to sauce. Heat thoroughly.
4 Garnish lamb shanks with parsley leaves.

Candied Carrots
Makes 6 servings servings

Ingredients

2 lb carrots, cut into 3/4"(2cm) chunks 1 kg
1/3 cup sugar 75 ml
3 tbsp vegetable oil 45 ml
3 tbsp lemon juice 45 ml

Method

1 Cook carrots in boiling water for 10 minutes. Drain well.
2 Place carrots back in saucepan and add sugar, oil and lemon juice. Bring to a boil and cook 1 1/2 hours, partially covered over low heat, stirring gently occasionally.

Golden Harvest Mash
Makes 8 servings servings

Ingredients

1/2 lb parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks 250 g
1/2 lb carrots, squash or turnips, peeled and cut into chunks 250 g
1/4 cup butter 50 ml
2 tsp salt 10 ml
1/4 cup hot milk or cream (optional) 50 ml
1 small bunch chives 1
2 lb sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks 1 kg
1 lb Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks 500 g

Method

1 Cook sweet potatoes in a large pot of boiling, salted water until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain well. At the same time, cook potatoes, parsnips and carrots in another pot of boiling, salted water, 20 to 25 minutes until tender. Drain well and add to sweet potatoes. Add butter and salt and mash coarsely.
2 If mixture is too thick, add hot milk or cream. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Spoon into a serving dish and cut chives in 2"(5cm) pieces over mashed vegetables.

White Chocolate Pavlova
Makes Serves 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients

1 tsp pure vanilla extract 5 ml
3 egg whites 3
1 cup granulated sugar 250 ml
1 tbsp plain white vinegar 15 ml
1 tsp pure vanilla extract 5 ml
1 cup coarsely chopped white chocolate 250 ml
Topping
1 cup whipping cream 250 ml
2 tbsp icing sugar, sifted 25 ml
2 tbsp orange liqueur 25 ml
4 cups fresh berries 1 l
Fresh edible flowers

Method

1 Preheat oven to 250F(120C). Outline a 12 inch(30 cm) circle on parchment paper and place on an upside-down baking sheet.
2 Beat egg whites until light. Add sugar gradually and beat until firm. Beat in vinegar and vanilla. Fold in chocolate.
3 Spread meringue mixture onto the circle. Bake for 1-1/2 to 2 hours or until outside is crisp and barely beginning to color, if at all. Remove from oven and cool. (Freeze if not using immediately.)
4 Whip cream until light and beat in icing sugar, vanilla and orange liqueur.
5 Just before serving, place meringue on a large flat platter. Spread cream mixture over meringue. Top with berries and scatter with flowers. Serve immediately.

ART

Visit the Modigliani exhibit (AGO)



Terry Fox should have been voted The Greatest Canadian.