Tulip Frenzy

It happens every year: Tulip Frenzy publishes its Top 10 list, and within days, some new band or album turns up on someone else’s list, and we go, “Damn, how did we miss that one?”  Uncut Magazine has just come out with their Top 50 list, and honestly, there is no way we would revise ours to feature Portishead as the Best Album of the Year. (Portishead?  Oh, come on.) But the Felice Brothers, yeah, how did we miss their eponymous sophomore offering?  It’s a beaut.  The Felice Brothers sounds like a lost recording session in Big Pink with the Rock of Ages horn section visiting the Band for a cloudy weekend fortified by beer and hearty stew.  That the Bros. hail from Woodstock way makes it even better.  We have long since accepted that Uncut‘s taste in British music doesn’t jibe with ours — hence the Portishead and Elbow kisses — but they do have a knack for unearthing prime Americana, from The Willard Grant Conspiracy to, now, the Felice Brothers.  These guys are so good, they just knocked Ry Cooder out of the #10 spot.  Honestly, given The Felice Brothers’ authenticity, we don’t think he’d mind.