Capt. Al's 21st Century (Part V): Special "It Takes Two, Baby" Edition

[As attentive readers will recall, our old friend (and more important, Friend of PowerPop©) Allan Rosenberg, aka Capt. Al, has been toiling on a series about his fave recent artists for a while now. The fourth installment of these musical musings -- dedicated to Rhiannon Giddons -- appeared here on Sept. 12. Now, as promised, here's episode Le Cinquième! Take it away, you old sea doggie!!! -- S.S.]

Welcome to the “Best Rock 'n' Roll Music of the 21st Century, Part 5”, by Captain Al

Shovels & Rope are an example of the 21st Century trend of 2-member bands (think of The White Stripes as an example of how this works). Me, personally, I think S&R are the best current example of this configuration.

Both Cary [Ann Hearst] and and Michael [Trent] are multi-instrumentalists; live, they switch off to the needed instruments throughout their performances, creating a continually varied musical palette way beyond what you would expect from merely two performers. Even cooler, their songwriting is topflight and their vocal blend is simply wonderful.

The short version -- when they create their music together, the combination of the two of them creates a third entity, i.e. “Shovels & Rope”. Which is its own unique thing, taking the music far beyond what you would expect just the two of them to be able to create.

PS: In the studio, of course, they multitrack, which gives the results a totally different flavor than their live work. They’ve created quite a few top studio albums, including their brand new Something is Working Up Above My Head.

But live? They totally kick ass. And if you don’t believe me, check these clips out.

BTW, While researching this piece, I remembered a favorite Lovin Spoonful song -- “Bes’ Friends,” from their masterpiece Hums...

I swear it sounds like a sixty year old prototype for Shovels & Rope.

Hey -- everything is new & everything is old.

Okay, Al -- here's the Spoonful song in question.

You know, I think you're right on the money about this, but our readers can make the call.

In any event, Shovels & Rope -- who I knew nothing about prior to you hipping me to them -- are indeed terrific.

So thanks for the music, pal, and I'm looking forward to future episodes at your leisure!!!