You'll Fall For These Autumn CDs

What better time than the official beginning of fall to suggest CDs likely to bring a smile to your face? Bill Flanagan of VH 1 suggests some of his favorites as the new season unfolds.

Let's start with the headliners: Paul McCartney has a strong new album called Chaos and Creation in the Backyard that emphasizes his art-song side, the side of him that came up with "Eleanor Rigby" and "Here There and Everywhere." That's a side we all like.

McCartney's old friends and rivals, the Rolling Stones, are getting back to basics with the rootsy and raucous A Bigger Bang.

And there is both a soundtrack album for and a DVD release of Martin Scorsese's documentary Bob Dylan: No Direction Home. This is the greatest living American filmmaker documenting the greatest musical period in the career of rock's greatest talent. That's three "greatest"s! Hyperbole? You won't think so after you get done with this.

Let's face it, as long as the baby boomers have breath and credit cards, we will still want our Beatles, Dylan, and Stones.

Now, if you ask my 17-year-old daughter, she'll tell you that all those old '60s guys are fine, but in this century, the king of the hill is Kanye West. You saw him on the cover of Time magazine, you heard him lambaste the president on the hurricane telethon; perhaps you've even heard his music. He has the talent to back up his mouth: Late Registration is hip-hop at its best, and is probably already the front-runner for Album of the Year at the 2006 Grammys.

OK, you say, enough with the millionaire superstars: tell me something I don't know. I will. Laura Veirs. A Seattle singer-songwriter who has made a beautiful album called Year of Meteors that is delicate and haunting and on which every musical piece falls perfectly into place. Nothing this good happens by accident. Clearly, Laura Veirs' "Year of the Meteors" is evidence of intelligent design.At the other end of the demographic ellipse is a stunning new record by the great soul singer Bettye LaVette. That's one of those names that rings a bell, but might be hard to place. Bettye LaVette has recorded for about a dozen labels over the last 40-plus years. She had a couple of R&B hits in the '60s, "Let Me Down Easy," and a disco hit in the '70s, "Doin' the Best That I Can." She's one of those singers everybody knows is great, but no one was ever quite sure what to do with.

Well, someone figured it out. Producer Joe Henry put Miss Lavette in the studio with songs by songwriters such as Lucinda Williams, Joan Armatrading, and Aimee Mann, and came out with the kind of smart, tough country soul album everybody loves, but it seems like no one can make anymore: I've Got My Own Hell to Raise.

You know, sometimes these "Older-singer-doing-younger-songs" projects come off as forced. Not this one. When Bettye grabs hold of Lucinda Williams' "Joy," man, it makes a sound that would drive the snakes out of mussel shoals.

And speaking of soul, I know I'm running over but this is worth it. Who ever had more soul than Sam Cooke? He wrote incredible songs such as "A Change is Gonna Come" and "Havin' a Party"; he was a brilliant singer who inspired everyone from Marvin Gaye and Smokey Robinson to James Taylor. He was handsome as a movie star and, just to assure the legend, he was murdered at the height of his fame in very mysterious circumstances.

Cooke is a fascinating figure and finally, someone has told his story the way it deserves to be told. Peter Guralnick, who wrote the definitive biography of Elvis Presley, has a new book called Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke, and it is a gem. Not only is the subject matter remarkable, but the book is a page-turner. Start it at supper and you'll be up all night.

I worked with Peter Guralnick on a documentary about Cooke a few years ago and I'll tell ya, I thought I knew a lot about this subject. "Dream Boogie" told me things I couldn't have imagined.

Oh look, we ended up back with the old guys again. Well, it's autumn. With the kids back in school, we might even get a crack at the stereo.

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