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2012 remaster of a Christmas classic with two Thanksgiving bonuses
Vince Guaraldi’s soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas did as much to define the Peanuts gang as it did to capture what Charles Schulz wrote in his strip. In the same way that the television special literally animated the characters, Guaraldi’s music provided an emotional soundtrack to which they moved and danced, fleshing out a whole new dimension of the characters’ personalities. Every song on the soundtrack, even the traditional tunes adapted by Guaraldi, quickly become sense memories of the special, and a few, such as “Linus and Lucy,†“Skating†and “Christmas is Coming†were indelibly wed to their animated sequences. Like the television special, the soundtrack is a perennial. It’s been reissued on CD twice before, initially in 1988, and as recently as 2006, the latter being the subject of mastering mistakes, changes from the original album and much heated discussion.
The 2012 edition features a new re-master by Joe Tarantino that returns to original stereo album master, including its mix and edits. The piano arpeggio that opened “O Tannenbaum†on the 2006 reissue is once again removed, the end of the instrumental “Christmas Time is Here†is once again faded, and the end of “Skating†once again fades before the bass solo. The bonus “Greensleeves,†which had been added to the original CD reissue is retained and augmented by two more bonuses: “Great Pumpkin Waltz†and “Thanksgiving Theme.†These latter two seem to have been drawn from the mono television soundtrack, rather than master tapes, sounding the same as they do on Charlie Brown’s Holiday Hits. Unfortunately, the 2012 release drops the alternate takes that appeared on the 2006 edition, despite there being room left at the end of this forty-five minute CD. Audiophiles can argue the merits of each remaster (the piano here feels as if it’s pushed forward to the point of harshness in spots), but what can’t be disputed is the beauty and lasting emotional resonance of Guaraldi’s music. [©2012 Hyperbolium] 
Stirring live set from two Americana masters
Tim O’Brien and Darrell Scott first met on a publisher’s songwriting appointment, but their musical careers have since intersected in many more organic circumstances. Their second collaboration (the first was 2000’s Real Time) finds them playing together as a live duo at the Grey Eagle in Asheville, N.C. Recorded in 2005 and 2006, the set list includes original songs (including Scott’s “Long Time Gone,†which was a hit for the Dixie Chicks) and covers of titles by Hank Williams (“House of Gold,†sung a cappella), Townes Van Zandt (“White Freightliner Bluesâ€), Gordon Lightfoot (“Early Morning Rainâ€), Keith Whitley (“You Don’t Have to Move That Mountainâ€) and Lefty Frizzell (“Mom and Dad’s Waltzâ€). What makes these performances truly exciting is the unrehearsed vitality of players sharing a country music heritage and the improvisational skills of masters. The performances are fresh and surprising not just to the audience, but to the pair themselves as they build harmonies and fuel the songs with guitar and mandolin. Given how artfully the two intertwine and play off one other, it’s hard to imagine they could really be much better than this. [©2012 Hyperbolium]
Thirty-five years of exquisitely crafted pop
For those who lucked into following Shoes from their earliest self-produced living room recordings though their major label stint on Elektra and back to self-production (including this year’s superb hiatus-breaking Ignition), this collection provides a pleasant, albeit non-chronological, whirlwind through numerous catalog highlights. For those who latched onto Shoes during their major label days, the band’s DIY origin will remain murky, as the set includes only one track from the seminal Black Vinyl Shoes, neither side of their single for Bomp, and none of their earlier self-distributed work.
That band’s early aesthetic is heard most fully in the Black Vinyl Shoes version of “Okay,†while the other early song, “Tomorrow Night†is taken from 1979’s Present Tense, rather than the more primitive 1978 Bomp A-side. Still, those two songs are a roadmap to everything that’s great about the band: winsome lyrics, hummable melodies, tight harmonies and deftly constructed layers of guitars, bass and drums. Half the collection focuses on the group’s three albums for Elektra, including the power-pop gems “Too Late,†“In My Arms Again,†“Curiosity†and “The Summer Rain.†Selections from their later albums for Instant, New Rose and their own Black Vinyl label show that the spark of their living room recordings was amplified by ever-improving home studio technology.
Given the length of the group’s career, it’s a reasonable compromise to omit most of their formative material, along with the odds and sods that have dribbled out over the years. As a record of the band, this is a good overview for less ardent fans. But one might still wish they’d saved the adjective “Definitive†for an all-encompassing box set that gathers their compilation appearances, non-LP singles, live appearances, demos, outtakes and sundry special projects. Perhaps they’re saving “Complete†for that one. In the meantime, you can pick up many of the obscurities in the band’s store, and start your pitiable, unknowing friends with this anthology of the group’s core commercial releases. [©2012 Hyperbolium]
Sample of Brubeck’s pre-Columbia work on Fantasy
When fans think of Dave Brubeck’s golden era, they usually focus on the quartet of Brubeck, Desmond, Morello and Wright that solidified in 1958 and began a string of memorable albums with 1959’s Time Out on Columbia. Brubeck’s earlier work on Fantasy had set the table with a trio that included Cal Tjader (heard here on drums and bongos, but not vibes), and later with a quartet that introduced Paul Desmond on alto sax. The pre-Desmond pieces are pleasant, though mostly uneventful, sounding a bit like the jazz-inflected easy-listening prevalent in the 1950s. Even here though, the contrast between Desmond’s alto sax and Brubeck’s heavy hands was immediately compelling. The time changes that would become the later quartet’s calling card can be heard in early form on “Frenesi†and other tracks, but not yet with the free swinging joie de vivre later brought to “Take Five†or “Blue Rondo Ala Turk.†Brubeck’s use of classical motifs is also in evidence early on. Concord’s reissued Brubeck’s Fantasy material in a number of forms, including original albums such as Jazz at Oberlin, and compilations that include The Definitive Dave Brubeck on Fantasy and Concord and Telarc. This single disc collection is a good introduction to Brubeck’s pre-Columbia sides, but not the place to start your appreciation of his catalog. [©2012 Hyperbolium]
Much more than just “Linus & Lucyâ€
San Francisco jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi would have been remembered in the popular music conscience for his 1962 hit “Cast Your Fate to the Wind,†had he not redefined his legacy three years later with the soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas. The animated special’s annual broadcast turned Guaraldi’s score, particularly the instrumental “Linus and Lucy,†into an indelible musical signature. The two bouts of popular acclaim obscured the rest of Guaraldi’s career, which began in the 1950s backing Cal Tjader, blossomed into his own trio and first struck pay dirt with his tribute, Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus. It was from this latter album that the Guaraldi original “Cast Your Fate to the Wind†sprung onto the airwaves as the B-side of his cover of Luiz Bonfa’s “Samba de Orfeu.†Though the latter isn’t included here, another of the film’s themes, “Manha de Carnaval,†shows off Guaraldi’s interest in Latin rhythms, as well as the contemplative side of his playing.
Brazillian music played an on-going role in Guaraldi’s repertoire, as he covered the bossa nova “Outra Vez,†and collaborated with guitarist Bola Sete on the gentle “Star Song,†the rush-hour “Ginza†and a live recording of “El Matador.†The latter shows how easily Guaraldi transitioned back and forth from straight to swing time, much as he does in “Linus and Lucy,†his left hand beating out boogie-woogie as his right hand picks out melodies. 1964’s “Treat Street†attempted to follow-up on the commercial success of 1962, but the swinging, Latin-tinged single failed to click with fickle radio programmers and record buyers. It wouldn’t be until the 1965 Peanuts breakthrough that Guaraldi’s music would again seep into the broad public’s consciousness. Even then, it didn’t make a mark on the singles chart, though the soundtrack albums have been perennial sellers.
In addition to writing originals, Guaraldi, like his contemporaries, also reinterpreted standards, including Frank Loesser’s “The Lady’s in Love With You†and Oscar Hammerstein’s “Softly as in a Morning Sunrise.†The collection closes out with three pieces from Guaraldi’s Peanuts repertoire, including “Christmas is Coming†(the theme to which the gang dances) and a six-minute instrumental version of “Christmas Time is Here.†The two-disc Definitive Vince Guaraldi, issued three years ago, provides a deeper helping of Guaraldi’s sound, and the A Charlie Brown Christmas Original Soundtrack is a must-have. But for those wishing to taste Guaraldi’s music beyond what you’ve heard on TV, this is a good place to start. [©2012 Hyperbolium]
Bluegrass-tinged progressive folk from former Long Ryder
The Coal Porters are often billed as an alt.bluegrass band, and while there’s bluegrass to be heard in their harmonies and acoustic picking, their loose-jointed joy rings more of the 1960s folk revival than of modern-day bluegrass festivals. Band leader Sid Griffin has been widely quoted as wanting to make acoustic bluegrass-styled music lyrically relevant to current audiences, but the album’s themes – simple joys, forsaken relationships, biblically-inspired stories and historically rooted dramas – are more timeless than contemporary. The album’s two covers – a fiddle and harmonica take on David Bowie’s “Heroes†and a harmony-laden version of the Rolling Stones’ “Paint it Black†– may be modern in sentiment, but they’re nostalgic in form. The Porters’ music is influenced both by the progressive folk of Griffin’s adopted England and the bluegrass of his native Kentucky; which makes sense, since both bluegrass and blue grass (that is, poa pratensis) have roots in Scotland, Ireland and England. The enhanced CD edition of this release includes a short video documentary about the band, providing a glimpse of Griffin as a bandleader, and the band as an ever-evolving outlet for his musical interests. [©2012 Hyperbolium]
Soulful album of singer-songwriter folk, country and rock
“Singer-songwriter†usually labels someone who sings their own songs, but in Jimmy LaFave’s case, it describes someone who’s as talented at originating material as he is in lending his voice to others’ songs. His first studio album in five years balances eight new songs with five covers, three of the latter selected from the catalog of Bob Dylan. Perhaps the most surprising reinterpretation is his resurrection of John Waite’s “Missing You†from its 1980s chart-topping power-ballad origin. As a writer of emotionally-laden songs, LaFave could hear the finely-tuned angst of Waite’s lyric, and reconstruct it into rootsy rock ‘n’ roll. The production’s guitar adds a touch of Southern soul, and the emotional choke in LaFave’s voice mates perfectly with the song’s mood.
The Dylan covers “Red RiverShore,†the oft-covered “Tomorrow is a Long Time,†and Empire Burlesque’s “I’ll Remember You.†LaFave adds something special to each, reading the first in slow reflection, and warming the latter from the chilly production of its original version. The album’s fifth cover is Bruce Springsteen’s recently released (though earlier written) “Land ofHopes and Dreams.†LaFave strips the song of its E Street bombast to better reveal the tender heart of its inverted allusions to the gospel-folk classic “This Train.†LaFave uses the covers as a launching point for his original songs, weaving a continuous thread through expectation, melancholy, sadness and second chances.
There’s aNew Orleansgroove to “Red Dirt Night,†gospel devotion in “Bring Back the Trains†and righteous grief in “It Just is Not Right.†The latter ruminates on the numbness society often displays towards its most helpless members, and the album closes with a farewell whose metaphor neatly twines people and places. Throughout the album, LaFave sings with deep soul, harboring a waver in his notes that may remind you of Steve Forbert. He takes his songs at tempos that provide room for thought and expression, as befits the songs he writes and covers. This album will appeal to your ears on first spin, and grow in your thoughts over time. [©2012 Hyperbolium]
Dion’s teen-idol and comeback solo sides for Laurie
Dion DiMucci is one of the few first-generation rock ‘n’ rollers to fruitfully navigate the cultural twists and turns of succeeding decades. He had doo-wop hits fronting the Belmonts in the late ‘50s, teen idol solo hits in the early ‘60s, a resurgence in the ‘70s, and a string of albums running through 2008’s Giants of Early Guitar Rock and this year’s Tank Full of Blues that still find him making vital music. Real Gone’s 2-CD set reaches back to Dion’s breakout as a solo artist on the Laurie label, and catalogs all thirty-six of the sides he released as singles. He hit as a solo in 1960 with “Lonely Teenager,†and scored a 1-2 punch the following year with “Runaround Sue†and “The Wanderer.†He reached the Top 10 with “Lovers Who Wander,†“Little Diane†and “Love Came to Me,†but in late 1962 departed for Columbia. Laurie had enough material in the vault to issue singles into 1964, charting with the originals “Sandy†and “Lonely World,†and covers of “Come Go with Me†and “Shout.â€
He returned to Laurie in 1968, and at the label’s suggestion recorded “Abraham, Martin & John,†a song that resounded strongly amid the year’s social upheaval and the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy. The record’s forlorn mood was just right for the times, and the single charted to #4 in the U.S. Dion’s stay at Laurie proved short-lived, as he moved to Warner Brothers the following year, but before going he released several more singles, including covers of Fred Neil’s “The Dolphins,†Joni Mitchell’s “From Both Sides Now,†a nearly unrecognizable folk-rock arrangement of “Purple Haze,†and a soulful take on the Four Tops’ “Loving You is Sweeter Than Ever.†He also recorded a few originals, including the heavy “Daddy Rollin’ (In Your Arms)†and socially charged “He Looks A Lot Like Me.†Dion’s songwriting had clicked as early as “Runaround Sue,†and it continued to sustain him through the rest of his career.
The thirty-six sides collected here represent nineteen singles released by Dion as a solo act for Laurie (two of the singles shared B-sides with other singles, hence the disparity between the number of sides and number of singles). All thirty-six sides are remastered from the original single mixes. Missing are Dion’s earlier releases with the Belmonts, as well as his sides on Columbia (which included the hits “Ruby Baby,†“Donna the Prima Donna†and “Drip Dropâ€). Lining up all the A’s and B’s, listeners will hear the tug-of-war between the label’s belief in pop songs, Dion’s love of gutsier blues and rock, the fast pace at which the music scene changed in the 1960s, and an artist’s ability to expand and reinvent himself. The 20-page booklet includes photos, picture sleeve reproductions, and extensive liner notes by Ed Osborne that feature generous quotes from Dion. [©2012 Hyperbolium]
Not necessarily what’d we’d usually review, but it’s funky and the video is a killer.