I love Edie Brickell. Something about her voice, its creamy texture, dreamy illusion of lazy days, summer rays, and sexy allure just kills me. Heavy Circles is the joint collaboration between Brickell and Harper Simon, and it's one of my favorite albums of the year. It's old fashioned music with touches of Rickie Lee Jones, Neil Young and Crowded House. It's about the songs, about life, about Edie's gorgeous vocals. Sigh....

I don't know what Edie Brickell looks like. But the folks at the label (Dynamite Child) that released her and Harper Simon's Heavy Circles decided against putting her picture on the CD cover. Perhaps they wanted to avoid the associations fostered by her and Simon's million dollar pedigrees. She -- the wife of Paul Simon and former face of the platinum selling New Bohemians; he -- the son of Paul Simon, and thus, her stepson. It may sound odd, but the music they make is timeless. Of course, if Edie's unique voice doesn't suit you, perhaps Heavy Circles sounds like pop fluff or folk foolishness. Be gone!

Heavy Circles features a heavyweight cast including Sean Lennon (on the original sessions), Yuka Honda, Martha Wainwright, drummer Matt Johnson, Money Mark, Miho Hatori and string arranger Joan Wasser.  The songs, penned by Brickell, Simon and Rene Lopez, are heavy on surreal, imaginative scenarios that seem to float above the clouds. Guitars bend and sway, synths float and gurgle, all of it grounded by Edie's flowing vocal wonder.

Opener "Henri" looms over spidery, spooky guitar and Edie's ghostly chant chorus of "Henri, Henri, Henri." The song reminds me of another duo with historical connections, the Webb Brothers. "Henri" could be a soundtrack option for Psycho set in Transylvania. "Better" is more happy shiny, a jaunty Ringo-ish beat and a plunking, driving groove recalling "Instant Karma" with Badfinger joining in on the big, badass chorus. "Ready to Play" is situated somewhere between "Bang A Gong," The Kinks, and Steeler's Wheel. Yes, you punk, it's retro, but what isn't?  "Confused" is more Elizabethan, less '60s/'70s, more a grand jazz waltz with thumping drums and romantic imagery, more Thom Yorke in love, less Jimmy Webb lost in isolation. Edie's voice raises the song to dream state reverie. "Wait and Wait" continues in that mode, pulsating strings and an oozing bass riff practically mashing "Blue Jay Way" with The Dramatics' "In The Rain."  Heavy Circles missteps with the reggae addled "Need A Friend," and fall over stoopid on slime rocker, "Dynamite Friend." "Oh Darling" tries to revive the fantasy with buzzing synths and funky beats, but it's too late, the dream is over.

The Heavy Circles: "Better"  (MP3, 3:10)

Tim Fite's Fairness Doctrine: In 2007 Tim Fite released Over the Counter Culture, a hip-hop treatise on a world obsessed with sex, greed and rampant materialism. To prove his point, Fite gave the album away for free via your local internet connection. For Fair Ain't Fair, Fite does that rare thing -- he totally switches grooves and tactics. Proving that he is no one note wonder but a brainy social commentator in the making, Fite replaces hip-hop with simple Americana. Dropping dime store samples for organic instrumentation he sings over happy jigs and near beer beats. Fite's post hip-hop country folk is the calm after the deluge, the sound of a scratched up little boy looking for something familiar in the wreckage.  "Yesterday's Garden" is a taste of Tim's world.