Music on TV - Week of 10.10.11: Ryan Adams, Chavez, The Moody Blues

Ryan Adams performs on Conan on Monday, October 10.

This week marks the return of the prolific alt-country star Ryan Adams to the idiot box. Having released some 14 albums since the turn of the century, it's strange to think that Adams is actually returning from a bit time off. Between his marriage to Mandy Moore and the trying onset of Ménière's disease, Adams ended his relationship with the Cardinals and stopped performing live for nearly 18 months -- a period of time that must have seemed like a lifetime to a songwriting machine like Adams.

Since one of Ménière's disease's symptoms is ear crippling tinnitus, it's no surprise that Adams return to solo material is largely made up of ballads. That's always been in Adams wheelhouse, though, so the quietly constructed Ashes and Fire (For a limited time, listen to the a stream of the album via NPR) might be his most focused solo effort since he first broke away from Whiskeytown with the now classic Heartbreaker (2000).
Adams performs on Conan Monday, October 10.

Elsewhere, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon has a couple very different reunions on tap: Chavez and The Moody Blues. 90s noise rockers Chavez had reunited to play at Matador Records anniversary music festival in Vegas (Matador 21) late last year, but it was going to be a one off kind of thing, that is until they got tapped to play this year's All Tomorrow's Parties in Asbury Park, New Jersey. There was no way Jersey born singer/guitarist Matt Sweeney (Guided By Voices, Zwan, Superwolf, Neil Diamond) was going to pass up a chance to play in his old haunts. The band helped open the festival with a spirited 49 minute set, which in turn got them an appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, playing Wednesday night. This will be their biggest TV appearance since a certain Beavis and Butthead episode that featured the awesomeness that is the "Break Up Your Band" video:


Meanwhile, The Moody Blues stop by Fallon the next night (Thursday), fresh off their North American tour. The core trio of Justin Hayward, John Lodge and Graeme Edge have been together now for 45 years, helping sew the seeds of prog-rock with their breakout album, Days Of Future Passed, which featured the now classic "Knights in White Satin." The band has no qualms with relying on their oldies to get by, so we should expect some "White Satin" when it airs.

Picks for the week
Monday, October 10
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Two Door Cinema Club
FUEL: The Daily Habit: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Amos Lee
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Yo Gabba Gabba
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Atmosphere (REPEAT)
TBS: Conan: Ryan Adams
Tuesday, October 11
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Peter Bjorn & John
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Dropkick Murphys
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Imelda May
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Ra Ra Riot
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: The Joy Formidable
TBS: Conan: Merle Haggard
Wednesday, October 12
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Chris Cornell
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Deer Tick
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Cake
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Black Tide
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Fountains of Wayne
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Chavez
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Portugal. The Man
Thursday, October 13
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Evanescence
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Pepper
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Gloria Estefan
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: The Moody Blues
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: The Kills, Justin Townes Earle
TBS: Conan: Dropkick Murphys
Friday, October 14
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Beirut
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Dropkick Murphys
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: The Game
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Foster the People
Saturday, October 15
BBCAMERICA: The Graham Norton Show: Hugh Laurie
NBC: Saturday Night Live: Drake
PBS: Austin City Limits: Widespread Panic

Breakup your band (and put this one back together)

Chavez has to be one of the most underappreciated indie bands from the 90's. How else do you explain their two albums on Matador going of print... this for a band that outsold their labelmates during their prime (even Pavement.) Well, the albums are back, albeit in different packaging - a box set of all their recorded output called Better Days Will Haunt You.

Album: Chavez - Better Days Will Haunt You

What made Chavez great was the crunchy dual guitar work from Clay Tarver (Bullet Lavolta) and Matt Sweeney (Skunk) and rhythmic changes from the James Lo (Live Skull) on drums, keeping the listener on their guard. Offsetting this was Sweeney's honey-dipped vocal lines that kept the anthemic rock within pop's large stadium. Songs like "Pentagram Ring" and "Top Pocket Man" are great examples of this juxtaposition.

Many folks don't know the band's connections to the television industry. Bass player Scott Marshall is the son of Gary Marshall (Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley,) and Clay Tarver directed the Jimmy the Cab Driver MTV spots (featuring a young Donal Logue - see video) and even directed a few of the "Got Milk" ads of the mid-90s.

They also made one of the funniest music videos ever (below,) for the great song "Break Up Your Band."



tags: album review, music, chavez, jimmy the cab driver, indie rock, rhapsody