DC Improvisers Collective

DC Improvisers Collective

Triangulation (Improv Arts Inc.)

While the DC Improvisers Collective might be best known for working as Fugazi bassist Joe Lally's backing band in 2007, these guys throw down a scattered and shrieking mix of jazz, rock and noise on Triangulation. Fans of improvised music will love the rapport this trio (guitar, drums and reeds) seem to share as disconnected puttering and moaning suddenly locks into a groove before slowly starting to fray at the edges. The issue here seems to be that the boys in DCIC are keeping improv as a fringe genre, and while current fans of the style would want nothing less, it makes accessibility to newcomers or casual listeners very difficult.

Maybe it's the improvised status of the band, or maybe it's a testament to the talented musicians who form its ranks, but Triangulation features an eclectic, albeit often bizarre, set of sounds. See the Arabian Nights soundtrack written by freeform jazz artists sound of "Then Don't Listen," the scratchy, screaming fuzz of artsy rocker "Punk Jazz," and the nightclub shuffle of "Mourning in America," for example. It's the kind of stuff that makes improvisation so exciting in the first place, even if that experimental nature is also what turns so many people away. - Matt Whelihan

Van Morrison

Keep It Simple (Lost Highway)

At a young age when most people are mapping out their futures, Van Morrison had already been entertaining Belfast audiences for half a dozen years and was in the process of influencing generations of musicians with his groundbreaking blues-rock band Them. And now at an age when most men are contemplating their options for a quiet retirement, Morrison is looking back on a lifetime of important musical achievements (last year saw the release of an unbelievable three separate hits collections from the Irish superstar) and still looking ahead to new challenges and establishing new parameters to amaze and guide his peers.

At first blush, Keep It Simple, Morrison's latest, doesn't seem to venture into new territory as he accentuates the bluesy groove that's underpinned his sound across five decades. More focused listening reveals the sinewy and transcendent soul that has informed the heart of Morrison's genius and constitutes the elemental reason his appeal has never waned through dozens of hits and any number of phases and style shifts. The spartan arrangements and lyrical directness of blues-drenched tracks like "How Can a Poor Boy?," "School of Hard Knocks" and the swinging melancholy of "Don't Go to Nightclubs Anymore" are compelling evidence that Morrison's estimable songwriting and performing gifts remain as potent and moving as the days when he set his earliest and most high-profile benchmarks. The cover of Keep It Simple features a shot of Morrison looking timeless and immutable, like he should be the fifth chiseled face on Mt. Rushmore. - Brian Baker

Dead Boys

Return of the Living Dead Boys DVD (MVD Visual)

Dead Boys

First the good news: The NYC 1986 reunion concert documented here shows Northeast Ohio's own Dead Boys in top form. Atop Cheetah Chrome's sweltering guitar, the band's unified energy yields nonstop, nuclear punk. Stiv Bators bristles with charisma, unwaveringly belting out the tunes, plus he manages to be pretty damn funny in between songs. Because the songs were so dense and intense, the set's 50-minute length feels not brief, but satisfying. And a short but sweet intro by Joey Ramone seals it as essential punk history. The sound quality ain't lousy either, although the alternate "Surround Sound Mix" sounds a bit squirrelly and out of phase.

The bad news: The video looks like third- or fourth-generation bootleg VHS. It's dreadfully pasty and fuzzy with periodic dropout, noise and wavy horizontal banding. And although the camera work is commendable, it was only shot with one camera from the back of the crowd. Fortunately, given punk's raw aesthetics, it holds up in a way that, say, a fourth-generation Yanni video wouldn't. And while it's a drag that this seemed to be the best footage anybody could find, the performance was so hot as to make fans happy that it's preserved at all. There's also a terrific bonus feature of a 1980 interview with Bators on the Good Morning Youngstown TV show. It's monumentally priceless but its video quality is even worse. - Michael David Toth

The B-52s

Funplex (Astralwerks)

Nearly 30 years ago, the B-52s roared out of Athens, Georgia with a sound that steered the visceral jackhammer fist of punk straight into the sugary solar plexus of new wave, a sonic punch to the heart that was infectious and fresh, giddily danceable and oddly compelling. The quintet's three-lead-vocalist signature - the Chiffons-on-mescaline warbling of Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson and the idiosyncratic yelp of Fred Schneider - and punk/pop carnival soundtrack made them international superstars, a position they maintained and even magnified after the tragic AIDS-related death of guitarist Ricky Wilson and the ascension of drummer Keith Strickland to a multi-instrumentalist role.

For those who think the B-52s may have lost their relevance or passion over the years, one listen to the pulsating ecstasy of "Pump," the first track from Funplex, the band's first album in 16 years, should dispel that notion in an ass-shaking nanosecond. Drawing on all their patented '60s/'70s influences while throwing in elements of contemporary electronic dance music, the B-52s once again effortlessly synthesize genres by bending them to their uniquely goofy will, from the insistent guitar grind and club sweat of "Hot Corner" and "Ultraviolet" and the delirious Farfisa-rock throbster churn of the title track, to the expansive dance prowl of "Juliet of the Spirits" and "Eyes Wide Open." Funplex's closing song could almost be postered at B-52s corporate headquarters as the band's mission statement for three decades: "Keep This Party Going." Long may their wild planetary joy ride continue. - BB

Morrissey

Greatest Hits (Decca)

Even avid Smiths fans have to admit that the band's former frontman has had a spotty solo career. So it makes sense then that Moz would (finally) issue a "best of" that collects the good stuff. He does a decent job of picking the winners here, but then all these songs really were hits (each tune was a top 20 single in the UK and nine cracked the top 10). The collection commences with a remix of "First of the Gang to Die," perhaps the best song from his last solo album, 2006's Ringleader Of The Tormentors. Seems Moz was pretty comfortable writing with Alain Whyte, who shares a songwriting credit on "First of the Gang to Die" and also contributes to the stellar "Irish Blood, English Heart."

Morrissey is also in top form on the dreary "Everyday Is Like Sunday," a song co-written by Stephen Street that so exquisitely marries Morrissey's maudlin sensibilities ("come Armageddon, come," he croons) with an ornate arrangement, it could have very well been a Smiths tune. And the same goes for "Suedehead," another Stephen Street number. The sole new songs, "All You Need Is Me" and "That's How People Grow Up," aren't notable additions to the singer's catalogue, but they're not atrocious, either. The remixed cover of Patti Smith's "Redondo Beach" is simply an oddity that doesn't really fit with the rest of the collection. But that's a minor misstep on an otherwise terrific compilation. - Jeff Niesel