Outstanding one-off album is re-released together with an album of live tracks from the tour that accompanied the album, plus a new song (on vinyl and CD).
case/lang/veirs was released in 2016. In keeping with the lowercase, surnames-only, self-titled approach, it came to the market without significant fanfare, except perhaps for the musical literati, but it was very highly rated by music critics. A modest tour was arranged in support of the album; it became a very low-key commercial success, and there was no follow-up album.
The protagonists in this low key supergroup are: Neko Case, an American singer-songwriter who has flirted with various genres of music including country, folk, pop and indie rock, kd Lang, a highly successful multi-award winner Canadian singer-songwriter who has patrolled country and pop genres with the outer edges of jazz, folk and lounge music, who was the most famous of the trio at the time, and Laura Veirs is an American singer-songwriter who is mostly known for her folk-inspired and alt-country music.
The women had all gathered one time when Case and Lang appeared on Veirs’ 2013 album Warp and Weft, and Case had worked with Veirs’ husband, the esteemed producer Tucker Martine. But nothing much was going on recording-wise; indeed, Lang was on the verge of calling it a day, having experienced considerable success in the 90s and noughties. On a whim, Lang sent the other two an email inviting them to make an album together, which, in her mind, would be a kind of punchy girl group, pop-punk album. In fact it turned out to be an unqualified American masterpiece; great songs, gorgeous singing and exquisite harmonies, and flawless production by Martine, giving the songs, the singers and the players immense space in which to weave a magical spell of genre-busting music; there’s rock (though only a little), there are torch songs, folksy and alt country musings, some country sounds and the most adventurous and gorgeous string arrangements that you could wish to hear.
Kicking off with Atomic Number, featuring all three women trading lines as a way of introduction, with soaring strings and a fine rhythmic chug of bass and drums, this sets the scene for the amazing vocal gymnastics and harmonies that follow throughout the album. It’s difficult to pick out highlights; they are all so good, but Lang’s Honey and Smoke (track 2) is an early contender – a romantic torch song with a 1960s vibe, as Lang watches others fawn over the person she loves. So is track 3, Song for Judee, Veirs’ superb tribute to Judee Sill, with sad, mournful strings sweeping across the track. And what about track 4, Blue Fires, a monumental crooner from Lang about unrequited love, piano-led and with startlingly good harmonies from the others, and some lovely earthy electric guitar from Veirs’ guitarist Tim Young – who gets a song in tribute to his talent on Veirs’ upbeat Best Kept Secret, which starts in Constant Craving territory but then rocks out. Or how about Case’s Supermoon, with atmospheric strings and gorgeous rumbling bass, with sweet guitar fills on a song that Veirs originally wrote but which Case transformed into a song about venture capitalism. And then there is Veirs’ magnificent Greens of June, where the to-and-fro background vocals are almost churchlike, a gentle rocker with bouncy strings fronting some fine keys and soft percussion; perhaps the highlight of them all.
You get the picture. The other seven tracks are all up there to complete a wonderful 43-minute listen, with each track just long enough to leave you wanting more. Listeners may have their favourites among the others – Down I-5 is a great tribute to said highway and its ability to make one feel alive; Why Do We Fight? is another Lang ballad with pedal steel adding a country feel, and 1000 Miles Away explores emotional distance in a relationship. This ranks as one of the best albums of the last twenty years. What makes it so special? I’ve touched on the arrangements, the songs and the harmonies. The great thing is the chemistry where no one tries to outdo the others – sometimes one sings lead, sometimes two sing in harmony, with the third on backing vocals, and sometimes they sing three-part harmony. And much kudos goes to the session players: Wilco’s drummer Glenn Kotche is outstanding, as is Sebastian Steinberg on bass, who has played with any number of bands, while Rob Burger on piano and keyboards has played with more than 40 artists, including Veirs on her earlier solo albums and notably with Iron & Wine.
And now we have a 10th Anniversary reissue; the original album remains as before (because of the superb production and sound, it probably did not require remastering); instead we have a whole new 13-track album of live recordings taken from the 2016 concert tour that accompanied the album release (half in Toronto and half in Austin), plus one new studio recording of a track that was only recently written and recorded. That track is the beautiful Accidental Tattoo, largely written by and lead-sung by Case, who explained that it is a song about what happens “if you listen past the words and make them about you.” Driven largely by producer Larry Goldings’ electric piano and accentuated by the golden harmonies of Lang and Veirs, it is a gorgeous track that kind of bridges the gap between the original album and the more rocking live tracks.
These are divided between a) the songs on the original album (a swampy version of Veirs’ Greens of June (beautiful bass lines) and an organ-driven mid-tempo rocking version of Best Kept Secrets, and Case’s rewrite of Veirs’ original song Supermoon (turning it into a polemic about corporate greed) and b) songs taken from the women’s solo albums. And there are some great songs, the most famous of which is Lang’s Constant Craving, an atmospheric pop ballad with subtle accordion and multi-layered acoustic guitars in the original, converted into a swinging organ-and-electric-guitar rocker on the live version. Lang’s songs tend to dominate if only because of their familiarity – her version of Neil Young’s Helpless (on the CD only) is met with cheering from the audience, and has a great rhythmic start and lovely bass lines from Lex Price. Lang’s other contribution is the organ-driven Sorrow Nevermore from her Sing It Loud album, on which she plays banjo. Veirs’ contributions are taken from her album July Flame (2010): the title track has a rumbling guitar and bass driving the upbeat song along, and there are the usual great harmonies; then Laura Veirs’ subtle ballad I Can See Your Tracks, about avoiding bad choices. The Case contributions: Margaret v Pauline (about disparity in the American class system) and Hold On Hold On (apparently the first autobiographical song she wrote) from Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (2006), and Man from The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, The More I Love You (2013) have a more upbeat sound. The album ends with a powerhouse version of Patty Smith’s 1988 political harangue People Have The Power, as relevant today as it was then.
So, overall the live album has a completely different tone to the original album; it lacks the string accompaniment of the original but rocks out gently with some outstanding playing by Steve Moore on piano and keys (part of Veirs’ band), guitarist Johnny Sangster (from Case’s band) and a driving rhythm section of Lex Price on bass (kd Lang) and the formidable Bobby Druska on drums. It naturally features the harmonies of the three singers but ultimately lacks the subtlety and atmosphere of the original recorded album. It does, however, cement the chemistry between them; there are some nice little on-stage exchanges. As a combination piece, this is an indispensable release (the original album that should be in everyone’s collection and the piece of live history that will very likely not be repeated). Veirs and Case have gone on to further success with their subsequent album releases, whereas Lang allegedly “no longer feels a great urge to make music” and instead focuses on her private life and her Buddhism, though perhaps this re-release will change her mindset.
