Excellent ****
Good ***
Fair **
Poor *
ROCK: ****Paul McCartney --Run Devil Run (Capitol) Released October 1999
Wow! Sir Paul of Liverpool really gets it rocking and rolling on his most recent release, Run Devil Run, one of the best recordings of his solo career.
There are two major surprises surrounding this disc. The first is that a musician owning a reputation as one of rock's most elite and innovative composers of the 1960's achieves this level of excellence covering 12 songs by other artists from the 1950's. The second surprise associated with this disc is that it comes from a man who has been in mourning, devastated by the loss of his beloved wife. Instead of the drippy tribute album we all expected from him, the knighted one issued the first party album of his career.
All of the music heard here is loud, raucous, and done in an updated 1950's style with cleaner production and more modern, harder rocking arrangements. If you are a fan of The Beatles "I'm Down" or their version of "Long Tall Sally," Paul's best Beatles screamer, this album is for you. Fans of Little Richard should also sit up and listen. If Paul considered Little Richard a teacher, he learned his lessons well. Note for note, this is the only totally rock and roll album McCartney has ever recorded, with The Beatles, Wings, or as a solo act. No maudlin McCartney ballads exist anywhere.
Most of the covers, except for Elvis's "All Shook Up" and Rick Nelson's "Lonesome Town" are lesser known songs from the same era which help to keep things interesting since the tunes do not sound like retreads to most listeners. In addition to the cover versions there are three new songs by Paul that fit right in with the style of this album.
The band features David Gilmore of Pink Floyd on guitar and Ian Paice of Deep Purple on drums.
For a Beatles fan like myself, it is good to see McCartney still has the ability to make really good rock and roll music. After years and years of "Silly Love Songs" it is a welcome relief.
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ROCK: **The Beatles -- The Yellow Submarine Songtrack (Capitol) Released September 1999
The original release of the 1969 cartoon film soundtrack had one full side of orchestral music composed by legendary Beatles producer, George Martin. The rest of the album contained a couple of previously released Beatles oldies that appeared in the film and only four new original songs by the band. This CD contains those four songs plus eleven previously issued tracks The Beatles recorded spanning the period of time from Rubber Soul through Magical Mystery Tour. All appear in the film, and for this disc, all have been remixed from the original versions. None of the re-mixes add anything to the superior originals, and in some cases the differences are barely noticeable. If you still need these four songs ("It's All Too Much," "Only A Northern Song," "Hey Bulldog," and "All Together Now") to complete your Beatles collection, buy it. Otherwise this CD is a waste of money.
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JAZZ: ***Benny Green -- These Are Soulful Days (Blue Note) Released June 1999
Thirty-seven year old jazz pianist Benny Green has assembled a trio for this release with an instrumental lineup identical to Nat King Cole's great trio of the 1940's. In both groups the leader plays piano while accompanied only by electric guitar and bass, no drums are to be found. But, the similarities end there. Green's group is strictly instrumental and plays hard bop from the late 50's and 60's while Cole's played light swing, had a more pop feel, and relied heavily on his magnificent vocals. (I always preferred Nat King Cole's singing to Frank Sinatra's, but that is getting off the subject).
The lack of a drummer does not stop the versatile Green and his sidemen from generating a great beat. The listener does not even notice these recordings lack drums, and it is the belief here that their presence would not add anything to the proceedings. The eight tunes are melodic and varied enough througout to keep the disc from sounding redundant. Not strictly a piano recording, guitarist Russell Malone and bassist Christian McBride get plenty of room to shine.
This disc was recorded as part of Blue Note's 60th anniversary celebration. Other Blue Note artists previously recorded all of the music heard here. Fans of piano jazz should enjoy the trio's excursion through the renowned jazz label's archives.
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COUNTRY: **Kim Richey --Glimmer (Mercury) Released 1999
After 1997's terrific Bitter Sweet, Kim Richey's second album, I extolled the virtues of her singing, songwritng, and live performances. Richey's third album, Glimmer, is both a departure from her first two albums and a major disapointment. Her earlier work hinted she considered herself a member of the contemporary country sound. Instrumentally, her music featured clean sounding rock and roll arrangements with a beat, and great musicianship that exhibited little of the country twang disliked by more urbane rock and pop music lovers. For those unfamiliar with Richey's music, her first two CDs remind one of a more conservative Mary Chapin Carpenter with a sweeter sound and less edgy lyrics. While Carpenter's personality tends to have a bit more of a wild streak that comes through in her music, Richey's does not.
What went wrong on this disc? Most of the rock and roll is gone. Only on "The Way It Never Was" and "Strength In You" does she approach the style and quality of her earlier work. Both would fit in nicely on either of her first two discs. Most of the rest is bogged down with synthesizers, strings, and glossy production. Despite the fact that all of her albums are thematically centered around songs about lost love, the earthier music of Bitter Sweet made her sound like she was down but not out, and full of hope. Glimmer makes Richey sound like one of folk music's sensitive, self-pitying, depressed troubadours. Let's hope this change in direction is an aberration and not a step toward refashioning herself as a slick singer-songwriter.
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COUNTRY: ****Doug Sahm -- SDQ '98 (Watermelon) Released 1998
The late, legendary Doug Sahm, who died at the end of 1999, will be missed by anyone who enjoys country-rock, Tex-Mex, or Progressive Country. Sahm first came to prominence as the leader of the Sir Douglas Quintet in 1965. Oldies fans may remember the band's two big hits "She's About A Mover" and "Mendocino."
Sahm's last release, SDQ '98, demonstrates how much fun his music can be. Combining a rock and roll attitude with country guitar, electric organ, accordians, saxophones, and a great beat, he and his band, which still includes Augie Meyers from his original quintet, tell people that are too serious to "Get A Life." Sir Doug writes in SDQ '98's liner notes that "Get A Life" is the most commercial song he ever wrote. That may be true, but the tune still manages to make a point and be hysterical at the same time. He really means it when he sings a rocking love song about his favorite city in the whole world in "Goodbye San Francisco, Hello Amsterdam." He even turns the "Ballad of Davey Crockett" into a country rocker you can dance to all night long. I never heard a band that can make you feel good while listening to songs about love gone bad, but Sahm and his men manage to accomplish this feat on "Give Back the Key to My Heart."
There is not a bad track out of the eleven songs featured here, and boredom never sets in as the whole disk clocks in under forty minutes. Sahm is far more than the two hit wonder of the '60s. He has an extensive catalog dating back thirty-five years, including sessions with the Texas Tornadoes that should be sampled by anyone who enjoys this disc. Play this CD in your car, open up your sunroof, turn up the volume, and enjoy.
ROCK: ***Billy Bremner -- Bash! (Gadfly Records) Re-Released 2001, originally released 1984
Bash! is a great CD by Squeeze, Marshall Crenshaw, Rockpile, Paul McCartney and Nick Lowe. I know your ears have perked up considerably at that statement and I can hear you asking, “What! “How could all of these artists appear together on one CD?” Well the answer is easy. They are all performing here under the stage name of Billy Bremner! OK, now let’s get serious. Scottish rock guitarist, singer and composer, Bremner has played with a lot of these folks and their influence on his music is so great that at times he can pass as any one of these rocker’s clones. He has also played with Elvis Costello, Little Richard, Johnny Cash and many, many others. Bash! was originally released in 1984 and was one of the great lost albums of the decade. It was released again in June 2001 with five bonus tracks added, all from singles Bremner released around the same time.
First, for the uninitiated, and there are a lot of you, let us start with Bremner’s pedigreed rock and roll family tree. He is a thoroughbred rocker through and through. He played with both Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds, contributing mightily to their solo albums. From there he was asked to join Lowe and Edmunds in their band, Rockpile, and was an integral part of their famous classic LP, Seconds of Pleasure. The two Rockpile frontmen even allowed Bremner to sing lead on two tracks. It was after Rockpile split up in acrimony after just one album that Bremner recorded Bash!
Next Bremner joined the Pretenders. It is he that plays lead on their hit “Back on the Chain Gang” and its fabulous B-side “My City Was Gone.” His axe work on the latter track makes it one of my favorite electric guitar rock songs of all time. He continued to work all over the planet well into the 90’s, and in 1998 he finally released a second solo album A Good Week’s Work.
Bash! is a fun album from start to finish. Even Bremner’s downer songs make you want to party because they don’t wallow in self-pity and they express the “That’s life, so I’ll just go get drunk” attitude found so often in his mentor Lowe’s music and exemplified in his song “I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock and Roll).” “ The disc opens with the Lowe sounding “Fire In My Pocket” which is followed by “Losing My Touch,” a song that would have fit in nicely on Crenshaw’s 1983 album Field Day. Squeeze's Difford and Tilbrook could have written the third track, “Shatterproof” and did write “When Love Goes to Sleep” which Bremner covers here. It’s the Lowe sound again on “Love is Stranger than Fiction,” “Perfect Crime” and “Tired and Emotional (and Probably Drunk).” It goes on and on this way for all 16 tracks. Bremner’s “devil may care” attitude is further exemplified by his use of cars to express his feelings toward life. “Loud Music In Cars” and “Look at that Car” are prime examples. In the latter the composer lets everyone know about his lust for a particular set of wheels as he describes how he will pay for and maintain his dream machine while cruising all over town.
Bash! proves Bremner is the leader of a really cool sounding four-piece band, which includes the standard guitar, bass, drums, keyboards and an occasional sax solo. He is a better guitarist than Lowe and the band is top notch all the way. This disc is perfect for playing loudly in your car or while crying in your beer. But Bremner wants to make sure you are drinking that beer too!
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ROCK: ****Phil Cody -- Mad Dog Sessions (Tiny Head Records) Released 2002
What a pleasure it is to listen to Mad Dog Sessions, folk-rocker Phil Cody’s third CD recorded in 1996, mixed and mastered this year, and released to a world that should demand this music be played in heavy rotation on every adult alternative and college radio station in America.
While not blessed with the greatest set of pipes, Cody’s voice nevertheless fits in nicely with the music he plays and his singing should offend no one. The band functions mostly as an ensemble and there are a few notable solos throughout while everyone playing on the sessions turns in a professional job. Standout performances include Duncan Aldrich’s sax solo on “I Am A Thief,” lots of electric organ and piano by Rami Jaffe, keyboard player for The Wallflowers, and Andy Kamman’s drum work.
Cody wrote seventeen of the twenty songs on this album. The disc was culled down from a total of 34 songs he and the band recorded over a three-day period. Clocking in at 71:50, a CD of this length would qualify as a double album in the days of the long lost LP. At a time when too many artists fill an entire CD because they can, and include stuff they should leave on the cutting room floor, Mad Dog Sessions is a wonder. One may think that this may be too much Cody at one sitting but rest assured he could justify releasing every one of these tracks. No two arrangements sound the same, not an easy feat with a work of this length.
But the real stars of this album, and the primary focus of any folk-rock work, are Cody’s lyrics. With songs that alternate between cynical, humorous, and sad, Cody succeeds at setting the proper mood. The disc opens with Woody Guthrie style social commentary on the historically accurate banjo and harmonica piece “Orphan Train,” continues with the upbeat country song “Joe’s Neck of the Woods,” and moves on to “Six Diamond Baguettes,” about a broken love affair which is the CD’s best rocker. On “1984” he reminisces about his childhood without getting maudlin or syrupy. There is even little electronic music on the introduction and fade of “I Was A Stepping Stone.” A little psychedelic organ and similar lyrical sensibilities decorate “She Chases Rainbows” in which Cody sings, “She carved her name inside my soul.”
Even Cody's taste in cover songs is impeccable. He sings Warren Zevon’s “Splendid Isolation,” a serious song about the protagonist’s demand for solitude in a very busy world, which ironically is my favorite track on the disc, then shows us another side of himself closing the CD with a slowed down, mostly acoustic guitar and bongo version of Elvis Presley’s “Viva Las Vegas.” His eclecticism is the hallmark of this album.
There is only minor quibble with the entire project: no lyric sheets is attached, a must with a work of this sort. At times, the arrangements tend to bury Cody’s vocals in the mix and you will miss lyrics that are important to fully experiencing the song. But even this oversight works in his favor because the words you do comprehend are so interesting you listen far more closely to this CD than you would to one with printed lyrics because you are demanding to take it all in.
This CD will finish very high on my list of the best discs of 2002.
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BLAST FROM THE PAST (An occasional look back at older releases worthy of your reconsideration).
ROCK: ***Chicago -- Hot Streets (Columbia Records) Released 1978
Hot Streets is an album I was completely disappointed with and had no respect for when it was first released in 1978. I couldn’t believe what happened to my guys! Was it too much too soon after Terry Kath died or was it Chicago just didn’t care anymore? While the album hasn’t changed with the times I have, and I now view Hot Streets in a completely different light than I did in 1978. While I will never consider this album high art and it will never show up on lists of their great works I now view it as a fine "pop" album.
If there is a problem with Hot Streets it is the songwriting, not the musicianship. I find the musicianship on this disc to be impeccable throughout the entire album and it is the reason why I like it. The band’s "chops" elevate mostly ordinary songs. I think Danny Seraphine on drums & Laudir deOliviera on percussion are superb. Anyone who enjoys percussion will love these guys here. The horns are crackling too! Newcomer Donnie Dacus, who replaced Kath, turns in some fine guitar work, especially with his solo on the title track. Of course I miss Kath, whose lead solos and rhythm guitar would have added more punch and given the songs a harder edge, but there is nothing we can do about that. "Alive Again" and "Hot Streets" are two songs I loved off the album twenty-six years ago and I still do today. The opener is one of the finest songs Chicago ever recorded after they made their decision to go mainstream and in my opinion it is trombomist Jim Pankow’s last great composition. Robert Lamm's title track is a perfect throwback to earlier times with it's jazz-rock vibe and a really fine Walt Parazaider flute solo. "The Greatest Love On Earth" is an unpretentious ballad. Dacus's "Ain't It Time" is another favorite. I still have trouble with the singing robots at the end of "Show Me The Way" and I still question Peter Cetera's motives and lyrics to "Little Miss Lovin" but in 2004 I find Hot Streets to be very listenable.
One should note that Hot Streets is also the first album Chicago recorded with new producer Phil Ramone after the firing of James William Guercio who guided their career until then. It was also the first not to feature the famous Chicago logo on the cover. Instead there is an awful picture of the band prancing around and jumping into each others arms. Ugh!
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JAZZ: **Diana Krall -- The Girl In The Other Room (Verve) Released April 27, 2004
Diana Krall always has a great voice, always has a great band, and she plays very cool jazz piano. Her readings of jazz standards from The Great American Songbook and covers of more modern fare are top drawer. In short, I like her. On her current release, The Girl In The Other Room she shows her usual good taste in covers which includes a Mose Allison original, a slow but bluesy "Stop This World." She also is great covering Tom Waits's "Temptation." On the highlight of the CD, Chris Smither's "Love Me Like A Man" a song made famous by Bonnie Raitt, Krall gives the Smither/Raitt classic more of a jazz interpretation than a blues reading. She even does a nice take on Joni Mitchell's "Black Crow." I could listen to Krall sing material like this all day long. On all of these tracks she uses her aforementioned talents to the best of her ability.
Unfortunately there is a downside. For the first time Krall has recorded songs she has co-written. All six were composed with her husband Elvis Costello and here is where the CD falls to the ground. Most of the Krall/Costello songs have no melody and no beat, two ingredients that are essential in all good jazz works and have always been missing in most of Costello's songwriting. I don't know who wrote what here so I am going to blame this problem on Costello who is a master at writing songs no one can sing or hum. I know he is a semi-god to critics because of his songwriting abilities because it certainly can't be due to his vocal prowess. I don't have a problem with cerebral or inward looking lyrics. The singer/songwriter genre is full of them but the works of Costello seem out of place on a jazz album where listeners are looking for vocal and instrumental virtuosity, especially when the songs are so devoid of melody and beat that Krall's top notch band can't do a thing with them. Since four of these songs come all in a row at the end of the disc I find my mind wandering out of boredom, craving for something else to listen to.
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JAZZ: ****Madeleine Peyroux -- Careless Love (Rounder) Released September 14, 2004
Madeleine Peyroux has finally released her second CD,Careless Love, a long eight years after her stellar debut and it is even better than its predecessor.
Just as on 1996’s Dreamland, Peyroux still sounds a lot like Billie Holiday but with out the gruffness, and her band still features the same sparse arrangements that allow her voice to be the star because, after all, her vocals and the mood she sets with her voice are what this CD is all about. Even though her few detractors say she sings too much like a Holiday clone Peyroux is still one of the best pop and jazz singers in business today.
This time around there is only one self-penned tune which allows Peyroux to choose some excellent cover material. The CD starts off with a bang with Leonard Cohen’s “Dance Me To The End Of Love. Her reading of Bob Dylan's "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go," originally found on his Blood On The Tracks album, is superb. She also covers Hank Williams, as well as the title cut by W. C. Handy, and the old jazz standard “the Lonesome Road.” “Don’t Wait To Long,” the only original song, shows Peyroux has great taste in collaborators because her co-writer here is none other than Jesse Harris who wrote a lot of Norah Jones first major label release.
Peyroux's terrific band never overwhelms her vocals but they make their presence known with occasional flourishes and solos that standout because of the sparse arrangements. The band is capable of offering an up-tempo beat without any bombast and on the mellow songs the soft accompaniment is very appropriate.
Peyroux can’t wait another eight years for a followup. Not only is it a bad career move it isn’t fair to her growing legion of fans because she has too much to offer the music world.
