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Pop
and Contemporary Music |
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Debbie
Davies - All I Found
Telarc Blues CD83626 Reviewed by AH
Debbie Davies has been around some real blues heavyweights on her rise
to stardom, but none more influential or inspiring than the legendary
Iceman, Albert Collins.
“Working with Albert has definitely affected my playing’ she
remembers fondly, ‘what I learned from him is that everything that
comes out has to be wired to your soul". You can hear Albert's influence
quite distinctly in Davies' guitar tone and the effortless control she
administers over her instrument.
On All I Found, her eighth album as front woman, Davies offers up her
most accomplished set yet, playing with a fluidity and burning intensity
that singes the ears and tugs the blues strings around the heart. She
coaxes a rich, fat sound out of her strat on the funky instrumental ‘So
What’ and chops it up wickedly on ‘Comfort Zone’, which
also highlights her ever-improving singing. The rhythm section of Noel
Neal ( bass ) and Per Hanson ( drums ) keep the beat rock solid, and the
addition of Shemekia Copeland's rhythm guitarist Arthur Neilson enhances
the sound without cramping Davies’ style. This is a well honed unit,
a band in every sense of the word who know what's required of them and
who attack it not as a job, but as a labour of love. Sometimes recordings
sound a little forced but not this one; they're all in it to have fun
and that comes across loud and clear. |
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Kasey
Chambers - Wayward Angel
EMI 7243 8 60923 2 8 Reviewed by RP
Chambers’ unconventional image – her pierced lip and gothic
style spiky jewellery and chains – throws down an immediate visual
challenge to dyed-in-the-wool country music fans. So will unsettling songs
such as ‘Pony’. It combines her deliberately girlie vocals
and a child’s eye view of the world with the slightly disturbing
fantasy that when she’s all grown up this little girl not only wants
“a pony” but then in the next breath “a baby”
and finally “a cowboy” as well. The strolling baritone guitar
and those classy country lap steel licks from Bill Chambers musically
taps into the tradition but at the same time with these vocals Kasey’s
lyrics become an ironic undermining expression of that burning lack of
ambition found out on the farm. It gives this song a unique edge.
Though from here on in this album works really hard to rebuild its “cowboy”
credentials with powerful songs about heartache, two timing lovers, love’s
hard earned lessons and some sad reflections on life. The song writing
drips with intelligence and the playing by family members, friends and
session musicians is impeccable. A revealing Nash Chambers production,
sparse arrangements and the Bob Ludwig mastering at Gateway lovingly recreates
Kasey’s quirky voice and a variety of instruments including mandocello,
banjo, mandolin, hammond, piano and guitars |
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A - Teen
Dance Ordinance
London Records 50467-8585-2 Reviewed by MC
A have been making harmonic skate-punk records for a good while now, but
have somehow managed to remain out of the media spotlight whilst simultaneously
building up a huge fanbase. If you’re not familiar with their previous
albums A blend American punk with close harmonies and superb melodies;
think Green Day meet the Beech Boys.
Their last album was heavily criticised for relying too heavily on American
culture and influences, taking them too far from their roots. This album,
their fifth, keeps a lot of the good parts of this foray into pure Americana,
but pulls their influences closer to home. Teen Dance Ordinance is something
of a rarity these days: it’s just a rock album; twelve songs and
no gimmicks. In audio terms the album is, at times, overly compressed
to produce a wall of sound with almost no dynamic at all, but don’t
let that put you off. The production makes the songs full and broad, but
tempers what would otherwise be a seriously heavy album. With the dynamic
controlled more attention can be paid to the harmonies and melodies, producing
something more akin to pop than metal. But all this is simply skirting
round the main point, this album is easily their best, easily their most
coherent and easily their most consistent.
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Tab
Benoit - Fever On The Bayou
Telarc Blues CD83622 Reviewed by AH
Flicking through Billboard one day, I happened upon an advert for Tab
Benoit's debut album Nice and Warm on Justice Records. I was attracted
by the sleeve’s tapestry of images, in particular the one of the
beat up Fender Stratocaster. I took the plunge and purchased it and was
flat out, bowled over by the contents, especially the guitar sound.
I must have played the title track six times before I listened to the
rest, such was the impact it had on me. I fell hook, line and sinker and
have purchased everything Benoit's done since, and I've yet to be disappointed.
Fever On The Bayou carries all his usual trademarks; fizzing guitar solos,
that unique voice and excellent self--penned songs sitting comfortably
alongside some hoary old chestnuts. True to form, opener ‘Night
Train’ gets you reaching for the repeat button. Over a thumping
beat Tab reels off some stinging lead, his voice spitting venom - it's
a song in a serious hurry and a great way to start an album. ‘I
Smell A Rat’ is seven minutes of earthy slow blues and the title
track dishes out a heady Zydeco flavour, which more than hints at his
roots. The recording is up to Telarc’s usual high standards but
I'm loathed to say it's Benoit's best album because he's just so damned
consistent.
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Mark
Gillespie - Supersonic Wednesday
Chocolate Factory Records 04CF002 Reviewed by RP
Live, Mark Gillespie is certainly something special. On Wednesday the
9th of June 2004 in front of their adoring fans he and his seasoned band
of like-minded performers (including the brilliant percussionist Jose
J. Cortijo) gave their all in one of those atmospheric and quite memorable
evenings that those lucky German audiences have come to expect. Mark’s
powerful, rugged and emotion-filled vocals for Supersonic Sunday have
soul. While the skilful arrangements for ‘Roses’, ‘Easy’
and ‘Mindless People’ reinforces that passion he feeds into
a lyric. ‘The Road’, a song about how other people will try
to rule a musician’s life if he lets them, chooses its targets and
knocks them over in a contemporary display of artistic individualism and
assertiveness – themes musically underpinned by an enduring Peter
Herrmann bass line and the euphoric Thomas Dill guitar that closes out
the groove. ‘I Miss My Mummy’, a laconic crowd pleaser to
end with, not only finds generous solo opportunities for Herrmann but
also for keyboardist Ralf Erkel as well. He is another rare talent drawn
into Mark’s inner circle. But it doesn’t quite stop here.
Three minutes into the silence and there’s a terrific buried track
encore. The DVD too is worth having for the documentary insights and a
brilliant live “busking in the street” version of ‘Give
It Time’.
Supplier: www.gillespie.de
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Augustine
- Acorns Up!
Reviewed by AH
Quality pop albums are like buses, you hang around for ages waiting for
one to turn up and then two come along at the same time. Firstly the Sequoia
album restores faith in the art form, to be swiftly followed by this gorgeous
slab of harmony inflected brilliance. The history of Augustine's members
covers a rich spectrum; The Blue Aeroplanes, Wushcatte, The Slits, Cousteau
and Grand Drive are a few of the bands to benefit from their considerable
skills. John Douglass and Steve Hogg, Augustine's principal songwriters,
have worked together for years but this is the first time they've pooled
their collective song writing skills, and it's been well worth the wait.
Right from the offset it becomes clear this collaboration has the hallmarks
of perfect pop heaven, from the crispness of the melodies to the sweetest
of sweet harmonies. If the mark of a priceless pop song is measured by
its ability to stick in the head then 'Acorns Up!' scores a perfect 10:
'Phrase Of Angels', 'I Won't Be There', `...To Be Sad', `Drift Away'-
all of them contain the necessary magic ingredients.
Messrs. Cowell and Louis whatsname can carry on with their nonsensical
quest for talent, me, I prefer to satisfy my pop lust with the real thing.
Top marks, guys.
Available from www.sons-of-art.com |
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Warchild
- Help: A Day In The Life
Independiente ISOM59 Reviewed by MC
Ten years ago Warchild set out to make an album in a week. That speed
gave the album a superb sense of reality: this was music at its most raw,
capturing the moment in a way few albums can. A decade on they set out
to do it all again, but with today’s technology they wanted to do
it in just one day. Help: A Day In The Life, released the same day as
recorded to download and then on CD a few weeks later, is a collection
of covers and original songs by a wide variety of artists. Just like its
ancestor it has all the benefits of being sparsely produced and quickly
recorded, with the true sound of the instruments much more obvious and
with no extraneous backing tracks. As might be expected, this formula
works best when it is combined with artists that can use it to their advantage.
Hard-Fi and Maximo Park producing particularly good tracks. Belle and
Sebastian and The Manic Street Preachers take this to its extreme and
turn in tracks that sound almost like demos, and each make one of their
best songs yet in the process.
Twenty tracks ensures a good body of work that will be familiar with a
handful of tracks to stretch your tastes. Help: A Day In The Life is everything
a good album should be.
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Mary
Gauthier - Mercy Now
Lost Highway B0003570-01 Reviewed by RP
This is one of the finest country blues albums of recent memory. Drawing
heavily on her personal life, Mary Gauthier’s unflinching music
faces down its demons with beautiful but often quite dark imagery, all
of which is underpinned by a smokecracked and weathered voice permeated
by the kind of raw emotion that is only learned from having lived through
these torrid and tempestuous experiences. It is hard to believe that Gauthier
did not write her first song until the age of thirty five when such a
gritty and uncompromising track as ‘Falling Out Of Love’ opens
with the lines “It’s a cheap hotel, the heat pipes hiss. The
bathroom’s down the hall, and it smells like piss” to concisely
uncover a lurid vision of the world. Painting pictures of a fractured
family life, the crushing relationships and all the emptiness and loneliness
one could imagine is such a brave and deeply honest step to take that
because it exposes Mary to the closest of examinations. This is compelling
storytelling that in many ways with her inimitable vocal delivery going
far beyond singing in its normal sense, keeps you totally engrossed whether
its reflecting upon failure and frustration in ‘Mercy Now’
or making wry observations on alcoholism for ‘I Drink’.
Supplier: Vivante - www.vivante.co.uk (44)(0)1293-822186 |
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Kathleen
Edwards - Back To Me
Zoe Records ZOE 1047 Reviewed by RP
This follow up to 2003’s album, Failer, brims over with more of
those finely gauged and powerfully lyrical Kathleen Edwards songs. More
“Americana” than country, with a rugged rock strewn groove
thrown down for tracks like ‘In State’ that so memorably recalls
a woman’s love which is ridden rough shod by her man’s habitual
life of crime.
Underneath it all though there is the old country wardrobe of washed out
denim and faded sundresses to evoke an atmospheric and often nostalgic
past in a softly enunciated ‘Pink Emerson Radio’ or ephemeral
‘Summerlong’. Kathleen has that uncommon and uncanny knack
of combining those memories of peeled paint and clapboards with the kind
of tenuous relationships that teeter on a knifeedge.
Edwards is one of those sensitive yet strongwilled singer songwriters
whose style of reflection takes its scalps but does so intelligently through
its tactile imagery. With lines such as “All the words you had planted
seeds inside your head” from ‘What Are You Waiting For?’
or “I’ve got ways to make you strange – drug you up
and drag you home” lifted from the title track ‘Back To Me’,
she develops themes and emotions that you can taste, smell and touch.
Great musicianship including Edwards on acoustic, electric, six and twelve
string guitars completes another excellent release in the new wave of
North American music.
Supplier: Vivante - www.vivante.co.uk (44)(0)1293-822186 |
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Sequoia
- Ebb And Flow
Reviewed by AH
We like to put things in their place and categorise or label them, especially
when it comes to music. I'm no different to any other reviewer and use
the comparison thing liberally, mainly so people can gain an idea of what
a band sounds like before they part with their hard earned cash.With Sequoia
the task becomes a little more precarious because they don't fit comfortably
into any particular field.
To call them a pop band doesn't fit the bill as it might suggest they
write throwaway ditties that no one will remember 24 hours after hearing
them, and that's certainly not the case. These songs are definitely pop
songs but finely crafted ones, songs with longevity which have a way of
creeping into your psyche and remaining there like the memories of a perfect
summer.
According to lead vocalist Andy Stedman the song always comes first, there
isn't room for overinflated egos and the less is more approach always
takes precedence over everything else. The lyrics are crafted in the same
manner too; they have substance and eloquence and a beautifully poetic
way of getting the message across. No point in a track by track breakdown
because all the songs shine with a zestful brilliance. Sequoia have the
credentials to fill the aching pop space left by Crowded House - they
really are that good.
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Sonny
Landreth - Grant Street
Sugar Hill Records SUG-CD-3994 Reviewed by RP
Slide/blues guitarist Sonny Landreth with David Ranson on bass and drummer
Kenneth Blevins produce a big and compelling sound at the Grant Street
Dancehall, Lafayette – a regular gig for them in front of an enthusiastic
audience – that holds us to ransom with its vibrant and blistering
zydeco styled guitar playing on grooves like ‘Blues Attack’
and ‘Pedal To Metal’. A trade off for all this inspired interplay
is a live recording that doesn’t really stretch out in the same
way as the performances it hopes to capture. The engineering has muscle
but lacks a certain delicacy and refinement when reproducing those moments
of perfect and intuitive music making that this trio effortlessly delivers
with some regularity in ‘Broken Hearted Road’, ‘Wind
In Denver’ and a smartly titled ‘U.S.S. Zydecoldsmobile’.
Rising above it is Landreth, a fantastic guitarist and formidable vocalist,
one who can and does have the capacity to rip it up in a time-honoured
fashion that has wooed audiences worldwide. The chemistry and raw power
is there for all to hear and it only takes just a few bars from an opening
‘Native Stepson’ to ensure that any sonic reservations you
may have are overhauled. |
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Rodney
Crowell - The Outsider
Reviewed by AH
In the 80's and 90's Rodney Crowell released some fine country rock albums,
as good as anything around at the time. His song writing skills are undeniable;
he's had many tunes recorded by artists as diverse as Emmylou Harris and
The Grateful Dead, and his standing in Nashville is as high as any artist
could possibly wish for, but Rodney's an artist who refuses to stand still.
He took the art of song writing to new levels with 2001's The Houston
Kid and 2003's Fate's Right Hand and has unbelievably raised the bar a
couple of notches with The Outsider, 11 songs of quite breathtaking diversity
offering proof (if it was ever needed) that he remains one of the most
expressive wordsmiths working today. The guitars play a big part on this
album, crashing and burning when called for but also stripped back and
sensitive too, as they are on `Beautiful Despair' and the tender ode to
prejudice `Ignorance Is The Enemy', with its spoken chapters by Emmylou
Harris and John Prine. Crowell likes to dip his toe in the political pot
occasionally ('Don't Get Me Started' ) but the real jewel here is `Glasgow
Girl', conclusive proof that you can take the ring roads, Camden Town
and the cities of Sheffield and Glasgow and romanticize the crap out of
them. Brilliant. |
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The
Subways - Young For Eternity
Infectious Records 2564624842 Reviewed by MC
The Subways put out a handful of superb singles last year, and toured
almost non-stop. Having played as an unsigned band at Glastonbury they
picked up a contract and set out to conquer the world. Their previous
singles had sounded like demos, recorded in a garage, lacking body but
driven by pure adrenaline and determination.
Onstage the chemistry between their female bassist and male guitarist
(both take vocal duties) gives the band an electric tension and their
obvious glee to be performing makes them a must-see. But a fulllength
album is a different matter. Could they really take on a long player and
do it justice? Young for eternity is a beast of a record. It would be
natural to expect their sound to be fuller, harder and with more body,
but this record is something else.
They’ve gone back and re-recorded their previous singles, and the
change is unbelievable. But it’s the title track where they really
show their full power. Perhaps the most surprising thing about the album
is its production. The hard, fast garage songs are deeply compressed and
solidly recorded, but the acoustic numbers are handled with a more delicate
touch and sound just superb. This may be an album of pure garage rock,
but it’s well produced, with techniques appropriate to the individual
songs and you can’t say fairer than that.
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Jazz
Music |
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Nina
Simone - And Piano!
Speakers Corner/RCA LSP-4102 Reviewed by RG
Few would argue that Nina Simone divides opinions; defies categorization.
As surely as she isn’t jazz, she really doesn’t sit comfortably
in any other generic pigeonhole either. Various producers have dressed
her up in different musical clothes but none has managed to disguise or
obscure the uniquely offkilter musical heart that beats within. Trained
as a classical pianist, it is Simone’s singing for which she is
most renowned. Yet her playing informs her vocals and underpins their
wilder excesses. And Piano! Is a Nina Simone solo-album; just her and
piano (and an occasional overdub). This is as close to her musical essence
as you are likely to get.
Recorded in 1969, with Simone at her most confident and popular, the sound
is big and direct and straightforward. With no arrangements to clutter
events, the full expressive range of her soulful, blues voice is all the
more apparent, the security of her rhythmic wanderings rooted in the structure
and easy formality of her playing. The relaxed ease with which she shifts
from one song to the next, treating each in a different (and often surprising)
way, is never more apparent than on familiar material like a meltingly
beautiful ‘I Get Along Without You Very Well…’ From
spiritual to blues to jazz standard, she brings her own special touch.
Whether you are a committed advocate or simply wondering "Why?"
this is an album that will provide new answers.
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Art
Blakey And The Jazz Messengers - Keystone 3
Pure Audiophile Records PA-008(2) Reviewed by DDD
Art Blakey’s Keystone 3 has always been one of my favorite releases
on the Concord Jazz label. The Messengers were a breeding ground for young
talent, and this version featured Wynton Marsalis on trumpet and his brother
Branford on alto sax, amongst others. This is not the Wynton you are familiar
with from his own later records, but a fresh and aggressive bebopper version.
The session cooks and it cooks on high heat. It was recorded live at the
now defunct Keystone Korner in San Francisco in 1982. Blakey’s Concord
albums reflect a comeback for the Jazz Messengers after more than a decade
of decline, and they belong on your shelf alongside the earlier Blue Note
releases.
This was a demonstration quality record in its original release, which
I liked to pull off the shelf to show friends what could easily be found
for a few pounds. Is the improvement reflected in the new release worth
the cost of this deluxe re-issue?
Pure Audiophile has released the original album, plus one bonus track
from New York Scene, spread across two 180 gram red vinyl discs, half-speed
mastered by Stan Ricker and pressed at RTI. The results are impressive.
An already great sounding album now sounds spectacular. I encouraged Pure
Audiophile to release this album and I love what they’ve done.
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Gene
Krupa, feat. Anita O’Day and Roy Eldridge - Drummer Man
Speakers Corner/Verve MGV-2008 Reviewed by RG
Recorded in ’56, this album reunited the principal players from
the halcyon days of the Krupa big band. Thumping, jumping and swinging
their way through a well-chosen collection of established Krupa favourites,
mainly arranged by Quincy Jones (eight of the 12 tracks, including high-point
‘Wire Brush Stomp’). But don’t go getting the wrong
idea; driven rhythms aside this is not a drumming album. Indeed, Krupa
is quite happy to sit back and let O’Day’s vocals and the
sublime trumpet of Roy Eldridge hog the limelight. Every so often he pops
in a quick, almost apologetic break or a salvo of signature, thudding
beats. Like Anita says "nobody kicks those skins quite like him".
But this session is about the whole, a big band operating as one, players
familiar in each other’s company, able to propel the loudest tutti
or relax into the gentle smooch of ‘That’s What you Think’
– backing another beautifully judged vocal from O’Day. The
sound is glorious mono, its drive and substance perfectly suited to this
high-energy music and the powerful band delivering it.
A brilliant encapsulation of Krupa’s style and command as a band
leader rather than a spot-lit soloist, you’ll enjoy playing this
music as much as the band enjoyed making it. Fabulous.
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Charles
Mingus - Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus
Candid 9005 Reviewed by DD
I can think of no other label that produced such a consistently great
records as Candid Records during the years 1961 to 1963, and the three
Mingus Candid albums with Eric Dolphy are among the best of the best.
These albums memorialize the end of the relationship between Mingus, Dolphy
and trumpet player Ted Curson, and what a creative and fiery musical relationship
that was. This record is required listening for any lover of jazz, even
those who are generally shy of the more avant-garde sound of Dolphy mixed
with the creative genius that always defined Mingus. It is a classic that
deserves a place on the shelf along side of more accessible and better-known
Columbia classics Mingus Ah Um and Mingus Dynasty. In addition to first
rate Mingus, the record throws in some of my favourite Dolphy and Curson
at the top of their game.
Bravo to Tony Hickmott and Pure Pleasure Records for bringing the Candid
catalog back to life in living vinyl. This second Pure Pleasure Mingus
album joins Abbey Lincoln’s Straight Ahead in the Jazz arena, along
with the several fine blues titles that have been released. Like everything
coming out of Pure Pleasure, the mastering of this disc is of the highest
level, and the pressing from the Pallas record plant is as good as anything
being done today. The mastering of this disc was by Graeme Durham at The
Exchange in London, and his efforts are on a par with the handful of first
class mastering labs in Germany, California and elsewhere in London.
The original Candid pressings were first rate, and this re-issue combines
all the strengths of the original with a better mastering chain and superior
vinyl.
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Chet
Baker - Picture Of Heath
Pacific Jazz PJ-18 Reviewed by DD
This album was originally issued as Playboys in 1957 and re-issued in
1961 as Picture of Heath (one of the song titles). I suspect that the
magazine, which shared the original title’s name, had more barristers
than Pacific Jazz and convinced the label to switch titles. Like all Pacific
Jazz recordings, this is "West Coast" jazz, but with a more
star-studded line-up than was sometimes the case for that label; Baker
is joined by Art Pepper on alto sax, Phil Urso on tenor, Carl Perkins
on piano, Curtis Counce on bass and Lawrence Marable on drums.
A record with titans Baker and Pepper should sell itself and no one that
buys this LP will be disappointed. While it may not be the very best that
either performer left us, it’s certainly in the front rank. Baker
had yet to descend into his lifetime drug habit, and Pepper was recently
back from doing prison time after a drug bust.
The participants’ personal problems do not intrude on this session,
which almost defines the smooth sound of the "West Coast". The
sonic quality of this LP is outstanding, largely due to the unstinting
efforts of Pure Pleasure for whom this is a first re-issue from the Pacific
Jazz label. They have done a fine job. Pacific Jazz records typically
have an up-front honest sound that, while not quite the masterpieces of
recording sound turned out by competitor Contemporary Records, are well
recorded time capsules of a jazz style that I cannot get enough of. This
was an inspired release on the part of Pure Pleasure. Originals of Playboys
are rare and bring serious money on the used market.
This re-issue should satisfy any collector who values music and sound
more than original cover artwork.
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