‘Adios’ from Glen Campbell
Glen Campbell “Adios” (Universal Music)
Now in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s, the Angeleno says farewell in the title track to his final album. Penned by seminal Los Angeles songwriter Jimmy Webb, whose “Wichita Lineman” and “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” Campbell propelled onto the charts, “Adios” is a bittersweet goodbye.
It’s the last song on the album, which comes out June 9, and Campbell delivers it with impressive emotional depth. “Going up north where the hills are winter green / I got to leave you on the California Coast,” he sings. “Going where the water’s clear and the air is cleaner / Than the California Coast.”
Elsewhere on the album, Campbell offers last takes on classics of American song including Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright,” Dickey Lee’s country weeper “She Thinks I Still Care” and “Funny How Time Slips Away,” on which the singer duets with its writer, Willie Nelson. Too, Vince Gill helps out on a version of Roger Miller’s “Am I All Alone (Or Is It Only Me).”
‘The Music of “Bob’s Burgers” ’ Various artists (Sub Pop)
songs from the Fox animated series delivers so many plot-propelling ditties and oddball sing-along songs that only Max Bialystock wouldn’t take that meeting.
The 107 songs, recorded at various locations including L.A. Studios in Hollywood, are culled from seven seasons of the series and feature guests including Kevin Kline (“Electric Love”), Cyndi Lauper (“Taffy Butt”), Jordan Peele (“Nice Things Are Nice”), Bill Hader (“Parakeet in Your Hat”), Megan Mullally (“Oil Spill,” “Gravy Boat” and others), Fred Armisen (“Sex Sex Sex Sex Sex”) as well as a St. Vincent cover of “Bad Girls”.
Series regulars H. Jon Benjamin, Kristen Schaal, Eugene Mirman and others deliver many gems. “Not Bad for Havin’ Three Kids” celebrates post-partum desire. “Bad Things Are Bad” moves with quirky drama that parodies Kurt Weill. “The Diarrhea Song” is self-explanatory.
Lyrics, composed by series creator Loren Bouchard and writers including Kelvin Yu, Steven Davis (a.k.a. Deerflesh) and Nora Smith, are typically hilarious: “When I close my eyes and cover my ears / It’s almost like you’re not here / It’s a silent muffler,” sing Holly Schlesinger, Smith and others as a melody bounces along. Once heard, you’ll be singing it all day.
Starcrawler “Ants” (Rough Trade)
Step back, mopey indie rock singers, because a wild young lead vocalist named Arrow de Wilde has been tearing through the city, kicking up rock ’n’ roll dust with the force of the Tasmanian Devil.
As the whirling center of rock band Starcrawler, De Wilde rules the stage in the first video from their forthcoming first album, which was produced by Ryan Adams and will see release in late 2017 or early 2018. Recalling the spazzed-out energy of seminal rock vocalists including Lux Interior of the Cramps, the Runaways’ Cherie Currie, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O and punk icon Iggy Pop, in the “Ants” video De Wilde loses herself inside the downtuned riffs and punk-fueled momentum.
Led through the crowd of Echo Park rock club the Echo in a straitjacket, the singer has a natural ease onstage and conveys crazy charisma and energy across the two-minute song. Her confidence in front of the camera stands to reason: She is the daughter of Los Angeles rock photographer Autumn de Wilde and the granddaughter of West Coast hippie chronicler Jerry de Wilde.
While constrained, Arrow bemoans the titular insects, which seem to have consumed not just her pants but her entire being. She’s got them in her home, in her bones, when she’s eating, when she’s dreaming, when she won’t and when don’t. “I’ve got ants on the chair — they bite like a bear!”
Halfway through, the song moves to half time as De Wilde and band explore Black Sabbathesque doom. “It gets harder to be me every day,” bemoans Our Hero, who has shed her straitjacket and ripped open her satin cowboy shirt to reveal a red bra. Her mouth is awash in (fake) blood. She shimmies and shakes, lost in music, her legs as antsy as Elvis Presley in his prime.