Flogging Molly
Live at the Greek Theatre
SideOne Dummy
CD/DVD

This two-CD-plus DVD set was recorded and filmed during a rousing hometown show in L.A. from Flogging Molly last September. It’s loaded with rebel songs, drown-your-sorrows tunes and joyous bursts about rising above the muck.  Front-man Dave King is his ever-cheeky self, and the set covers all of the band’s album, the songs including the rave-up “Swagger,” ramshackle “Requiem for a Dying Song,” sing-alongs like “Drunken Lullabies,” “Rebels of the Sacred Heart” and “If I Ever Leave This World Again,” plus more songs for jigging, bouncing and arm-in-arm swaying too. Banjo, fiddle, electric guitar, accordion and stomping rhythms in crashing waves of boisterous energy. The DVD taps into the energy with visuals that offer a taste of what it’s like to join in the Flogging Molly celebration live — the way this band is always best experienced.

Marley’s Ghost
Ghost Town
Sage Arts

A load of fun, Marley’s Ghost (as in Scrooge, not Bob) offers up an Americana sampler of sounds and styles, produced by Nashville legend Cowboy Jack Clement overseeing the band of all-star players. The selections include the opening, light-rail bounce of “Travelin’ Teardrop Blues,” the two-steppin’ and spry “My Love Will Not Change” with fine harmonies, and jazzy “Should I Be Singing the Blues” which recalls the still-so-missed Walter Hyatt.  There’s also a heartbreak cover of Warren Zevon’s “She’s Too Good For Me,” hopeful mid-tempo country of “Light in the Forest” and more whimsical “Goin’ Back to Bowling Green.” The closing “Don’t We All Feel Like That” isn’t commercial calculation but truly deserves a shot on country radio – or at least the braver stations who’d like to break a sleeper hit. A wonderful record waiting to be discovered — not a Nashville product at all but instead songs and musicianship that’s more timeless and lasting.

Midlake
Courage of Others

Playing folk-entrenched prog, Midlake offers up mist-shrouded-like tales of fantasy and soul-gazing coming out of another place and time now lost to us. The Courage of Others comes three years after the Texas group’s 2006 album Trials of Van Occupanther.  While one touchstone is Jethro Tull – not just the flute but the keyboard layering and guitars, somewhat – the band lacks the Tull dynamic and a forceful, commanding Ian Anderson-like personality.  Singer-songwriter Tim Smith has a haunting voice but doesn’t challenge as much as invite nicely.  At times, the band recalls the much lower key Pentangle of the ‘70s and also Tull offshoot Wild Turkey.  Stand-outs include the eco-hymn, “Acts of Man,” equinox waltz of “Winter Dies” and quite lovely “Children of the Grounds,” as well as the lush title track.  Midlake lacks oomph and punch, but the sounds are often soothing and from the heart.

Bobby Charles
Timeless
Rice ‘n’ Gravy

Cajun songwriter Robert Charles Guidry, aka Bobby Charles, gave us hits like Bill Haley’s “See You Later, Alligator” and Fats Domino’s “Walking to New Orleans.” Just prior to his death in January at 71, Charles had completed this album for Fats’s 82^nd birthday at the end of February. The set opens with a birthday song for Fats and then moves on to tunes that range from dashed romances to social observations and life musings, including “Where Did All the Love Go,” “Clash of Cultures,” and “Before I Grow Too Old.”  Produced by Dr. John, who also contributes his Big Easy piano styling, this is a fitting epitaph, though also rings with much sadness when once considers the additional albums Charles might’ve made.

Jets Overhead
No Nations
Vapor

Think of Pink Floydish atmospheric guitar-based workouts that recall some of the shoe-gazing jamming bands of the early ‘90s, such as Ride.  Canada’s Jets Overhead conjures up dream-scapes and wishes in songs like the title track’s no borders vision (with hand-clap beats too) and the psychedelic grind of “Fully Shed.”

Santana
Supernatural
Legacy

Is ten years too soon to celebrate the album that finally brought Carlos Santana the Grammys he deserved?  Maybe.  Supernatural found the legendary guitarist and bandleader teamed with contemporary artists at the time.  The results were actually quite good, including the big hit “Smooth” with Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas, to collaborations with Everlast, Dave Matthews, Lauren Hill, Eric Clapton and others. The album brought Santana to a new generation (which still may have known him for his versions of “Black Magic Woman” and “Oye Como Va,” perhaps).   The Sony BMG Legacy edition adds previously unreleased tracks on a second disc, alternate takes and mixes, plus other recordings, the best of which is a medley of Bob Marley’s “Exodus” and “Get Up, Stand Up.”  But is this version essential if you have the original?  Not really.

Lucy Schwartz
Help Me, Help Me!

An appealing introductory EP from a 20-year-old singer and songwriter who’s already placed some tracks in feature film. Lucy Schwartz is a little brash, a little winsome, and also turns in an off-kilter take on “Respect.”

Maia Sharp
Echo

Maia Sharp has been part of the L.A. music scene for more than a dozen years now, and this later album continues her unique vision, self-assured, emotionally far-ranging in songs such as “The Girls on Her Way,” “Angel on My Shoulder” and the ballad “Where Do I Begin.”  If you haven’t checked her out yet, Echoes is a good starting place, then work your way back.