Category Archives: MP3 Review

Bill Evans: The Definitive Bill Evans on Riverside and Fantasy

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An overview of Bill Evans’ sides on Riverside and Fantasy

This two-disc set bookends Evans most productive years, offering key sides from his initial stay on Riverside (1956 through 1963) and later work on Fantasy (1973-1977). The collection opens with a piece from his first album, 1956’s New Jazz Conceptions, and really kicks into gear with the formation of his first stellar trio (featuring Scott LaFaro on bass and Paul Motian on drums) for 1959’s Portrait in Jazz. With LaFaro’s death in a 1961 car accident, Evans withdrew from performing for several months, finally forming a new trio with bassist Chuck Israels and releasing two new albums (Moon Beams and How My Heart Sings!), from which the original “Very Early” and the Dave Brubek composition “In Your Own Sweet Way” are drawn. Paul Motian surrendered the drummer’s throne to Larry Bunker for the last of Evans’ albums on Riverside, Live at Shelly’s Manne-Hole, after which the pianist move over to Verve.

Evans’ years on Verve (which can be sampled on The Best of Bill Evans on Verve) included some remarkable experiments, such as the overdubbed Conversations with Myself, and it was while on Verve that he connected with bassist Eddie Gomez. Gomez was still part of the trio (along with drummer Marty Morell) when Evans landed at Fantasy, opening his run with 1973’s The Tokyo Concert. When Morell departed, Evans and Gomez recorded as a duet on 1974’s aptly-titled Intuition. Though Evans recorded the majority of his catalog with a trio of piano, bass and drums, this set includes several interesting non-trio sides. 1958’s “Peace Piece” is a terrific solo performance that foreshadows other pianist’s 1970s improvisations, a date backing Cannonball Adderly yields a soulful take on Evans’ “What What I Mean?” and fruitful collaborations with Kenny Burrell, Lee Konitz and Tony Bennett are featured.

Disc two picks up where disc one left off, opening with a quartet featuring Zoot Sims and Jim Hall, and a remarkable solo recording that pairs the love theme from “Spartacus” with Miles Davis’ “Nardis.” Though these tracks were recorded for Riverside, they were lost in the shuffle of Evans’ switch to Verve, and left unissued until the early ‘80s. Evans’ years at Fantasy were spent mostly with the trio of Gomez and Morell, though by the end of the run the latter had given way to Eliot Zigmund, featured here on the closing “I Will Say Goodbye.” As on any cherry-picked collection, once could debate whether the track selection is “definitive,” but the span of these two CDs gives a fair view of Evans’ time on Riverside and Fantasy, and with the original albums still available, this is a useful roadmap guide for newcomers and an enjoyable summary for fans. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

Albert King: The Definitive Albert King on Stax

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Prime Stax material from a blues legend

Albert King had been bouncing around various blues scenes for over fifteen years when his 1966 signing to Stax led to both the label and artist achieving new levels of commercial success. King’s earlier sides for Parrot, Bobbin, King, Chess and Coun-Tee had found mostly regional success, though 1961’s “Don’t Throw Your Love on Me So Strong” did manage to crack the national R&B top twenty. But it was the sides he cut for Stax, many with Booker T & the MGs as his backing band, that would rocket him to stardom and mint an indelible catalog that included the classics “Crosscut Saw” and “Born Under a Bad Sign.”

King’s career at Stax caught fire at precisely the right moment to have maximal impact on the growing American and British blues-rock scenes. His playing was not only a primary influence on Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and other rock guitarists, but the advent of multi-act ballroom shows gave King a stage on which he could play directly to an audience outside the roadhouses and blues clubs; his 1968 performance at the Fillmore West, heard at greater length on Live Wire/Blues Power, is excerpted here in a shortened single version of “Blues Power.” The stinging notes of King’s guitar fit perfectly against the soulful vamping of the Stax house bands (including the Bar-Kays and Memphis Horns), offering continuity with the label’s other acts and differentiating his records from those of other blues guitarists.

King’s decade on Stax provided varied opportunities, including a tribute to Elvis (“Hound Dog”), a session with fellow Stax guitarists Pops Staples and Steve Cropper (the former singing John Lee Hooker’s “Tupelo, Part 1” and the latter singing his original “Water”), sessions at Muscle Shoals (Taj Mahal’s “She Caught the Katy and Left Me a Mule to Ride”) and with John Mayall (“Tell Me What True Love Is”), and an opportunity to wax covers of blues and rock classics, including Howlin’ Wolf’s “Killing Floor,” the Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk Women,” and Elmore James’ “Dust My Broom.” The 34-track set comes with a 20-page booklet of photos, album cover reproductions, session data and detailed liner notes by Bill Dahl. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

Booker T. & The M.G.’s: McLemore Avenue

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Booker T. & The M.G.’s salute the Beatles

This 1970 album pays tribute to the Beatles studio swan song, Abbey Road. The original album’s tracks (save “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer,” “Oh! Darling” and “Octopus’s Garden”) are arranged as instrumentals in three medleys and a solo spotlight of George Harrison’s “Something.” Booker T’s organ and piano, and Steve Cropper’s guitar provide most of the vocal melody lines. The results are interesting, if not always particularly inventive. Many of the songs find resonance with the group’s soulful style, but neither the arrangements nor the performances offer the last-gasp creative dominance the Beatles poured into the final work.

By this point in Booker T. & the M.G.’s career, the soul grooves that had backed Stax’s great vocal acts and launched iconic instrumental hits were second nature, and perhaps that’s part of the problem. A few of the performances, such as “Here Comes the Sun” and “You Never Give Me Your Money,” fail to strike any new sparks, and sound more like the uninspired cover versions churned out by faceless studio groups in the ‘60s than the high-octane output of the era’s most famous instrumental soul combo. In contrast, Al Jackson kicks up sparks with his resonant tom-tom lead in to “The End,” Booker T and Steve Cropper cut winning solos on “Something,” and the four parts of “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” fits the four instrumentalists like a glove.

Concord’s reissue reproduces the original album cover – a Memphis-based pastiche of the original – and adds liner notes by Ashley Kahn. The album’s original tracks are augmented by five additional Beatles covers drawn from the group’s albums, all remastered in 24-bits by Joe Tarantino. Among the bonuses are an unreleased alternate take of “You Can’t Do That” and an unlisted radio ad delivered as an “Her Majesty” like coda at the end of the last track. Interestingly, this was the next-to-last album recorded by the MGs for Stax, mirroring Abbey Road’s place in the Beatles’ recording history; but it was the group’s terrific last LP, Melting Pot, that was their own proper swan song. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

Gardens: Gardens

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Driving Detroit rock spiked with punk and psych

Detroit may have taken a body blow from the recession, but it only seems to have intensified the city’s music. This Motor City quartet has the aggressiveness of a ‘70s punk band weaned on the Stooges, Amboy Dukes and MC5 and the range of a band that’s listened through the transitions from garage to psychedelia and punk to post-punk. Things fall apart, Velvet Underground-style, on “Ideas to Use,” but snap back together for the driving bass-guitar-drums riff of “Safe Effect.” Touches of organ and a low-key lead on “River Perspective” down shift momentarily, as does the experimental “Poems,” but it’s the mid-tempo, hard-strummed numbers that will move you and make you move. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Safe Effect
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Burns & Poe: Burns & Poe

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Nashville country duo sings with terrific passion

Keith Burns (previously of Trick Pony) and Michelle Poe form this unabashedly mainstream Nashville duet, but beneath the grooming, market trending and AOR production, you can hear real passion in their vocals. Burns sings with the husked edge of Don Hensley (and the chiseled looks of a model) while Poe has a clear, soulful tone that works both as a lead and harmony voice. Their material doesn’t break any new ground – sunny days, broken hearts, the healing power of love and a man’s love of trucks – but their talent and enthusiasm are truly infectious. Beyond the singles (“Don’t Get No Better Than That,” “How Long is Long Enough?” and “Second Chance”) there are many rewarding album tracks, including the sharp kiss-off “Life’s Too Short” and the bluesy rocker “Gone as All Get Out.” The fourteen tracks are split between two CDs, with the second disc given over to duet arrangements. The latter disc opens with the conversational back-and-forth of “Second Chance” and culminates in a live medley that salutes Kenny & Dolly, David & Shelly and Sonny & Cher. Producer Mark Oliverius balances the interests of radio and roots, mixing big guitars with quieter twang (including some chiming 12-string on “Move On”), showcasing the vocalists on everything from power ballads to gentle weepers. Burns and Poe are talented singers with an artistic vision that’s polished, but not subverted, by Nashville’s commercial demands. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Second Chance
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The Norvins: Yoga With Mona

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Retro 60’s garage from France

For their second album (their debut was 2009’s Time Machine), this French quintet continues to create garage and beat sounds that echo the R&B of the Animals and Small Faces and revivalists like the Miracle Workers, Fuzztones, Lyres and Chesterfield Kings. The driving bass, reverbed guitars, hard-blown harmonica and whining organ will be familiar to fans of the Nuggets/Pebbles/Boulders series, even without the scratchy patina of original 45s.  You pretty much know what you’re getting when there’s a pentagonal Vox Phantom guitar pictured on the album sleeve and the band has the taste and knowledge to cover the Gentlemen’s Texas punk classic “It’s a Crying Shame.” The Norvins make good their vintage equipment and give you the soundtrack for the hottest yoga session of the year. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

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Tara Nevins: Wood and Stone

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Nevins explores her country and Cajun roots

Nevins’ second solo album (her first since 1999’s Mule to Ride) hangs on to the rootsy underpinnings of her musical day job with Donna the Buffalo, but cuts a looser, more soulful country groove than does her long-time group. Without a co-vocalist sharing the microphone, Nevins’ voice carries the album, and without a second writer, her songs stretch out across all her influences, including fiddle- and steel-lined country, second line rhythms and the Cajun sounds of her earlier band, the Heartbeats. The latter appear together on the energetic fiddle tune “Nothing Really,” and individually on several other tracks. Additional guests include Levon Helm (drumming on two tracks), Allison Moorer (tight trio harmony with Teresa Williams on “The Wrong Side”) and Jim Lauderdale (harmony on the acoustic “Snowbird”).

Producer Larry Campbell fits each song with a unique groove and adds superb electric and pedal steel guitar. The girlishness in Nevins’ voice and the layering of double-tracked vocals add a hint of the Brill Building, which is a terrific twist on the rustic arrangements. The lyrics cast an eye on relationships that refuse to live up to their potential, with music that underlines the certainty of a woman who will no longer suffer others’ indecision, inaction or infidelity. Three deftly picked covers include the standard “Stars Fell on Alabama” (from the film 20 Years After), the traditional “Down South Blues,” and Van Morrison’s “Beauty of Days Gone By.” Campbell and Nevins work some real magic here, creating a musical platform that often feels a more crafted fit for Nevins’ singing than that of her long-time group. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Wood and Stone
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Owen Temple: Mountain Home

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Country, folk, bluegrass and blues from talented Texas songsmith

Owen Temple’s last album, Dollars and Dimes, took its concept from the socio-political ideas of Joel Garreau’s The Nine Nations of North America. Temple wrote songs that explored the regional ties of work and cultural belief that often transcend physical geography, zeroing in on the life issues that bind people together. With his newest songs, he’s still thinking about people, but individuals this time, catching them as a sociologist would in situations that frame their identity in snapshots of hope, fear, prejudice, heroism, and the shadows of bad behavior and disaster. As on his previous album, his songs are rooted in actual places – isolated communities that harbor dark secrets and suffocating intimacy, a deserted oil town lamented as a lost lover, a legendary red-light district, and the Texas troubadours in whose footsteps he follows. The album’s lone cover, Leon Russell’s “Prince of Peace,” is offered in tribute to a primary influence.

Temple’s songs are sophisticated and enlightening, offering a view of the Texas west that’s akin to Dave Alvin’s meditations on mid-century California. He writes with a folksinger’s eye, observing intimate, interior details of every day life, and painting big, mythological sketches of Sam Houston and Cabeza de Vaca. The latter, “Medicine Man,” was co-written with Gordy Quist, and recently recorded by Quist’s Band of Heathens. Temple’s music stretches into country, bluegrass, gospel and blues, and he sings with the confidence of a writer who deeply trusts his material. Gabriel Rhodes’ production is spot-on throughout the album, giving Temple’s songs and vocals the starring roles, but subtly highlighting the instrumental contributions of Charlie Sexton, Rick Richards, Bukka Allen and Tommy Spurlock. Temple has made several fine albums, but taking intellectual input from Garreau seems to have clarified and deepened his own songwriting voice. This is an album that ingratiates itself on first pass, and  reveals deep new details with each subsequent spin. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | One Day Closer to Rain
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Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs: No Help Coming

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Country and blues reflected in a cracked funhouse mirror

Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs (comprised of Golightly and multi-instrumentalist Lawyer Dave) continue to mash the hard-charging folk dynamic of Richard & Mimi Farina with a primitive (rather than the oft-labeled lo-fi), live-sounding recording aesthetic. The percussion prevalent on 2008’s Dirt Don’t Hurt continues to add punctuation, giving several of these tracks, such as the exotic “Burn, Oh Junk Pile, Burn,” the off-kilter feel of mid-period Tom Waits. But these blues are more hill-bred than Bowery, and the jittery twang of the title track will make you wonder what the Feelies would have sounded like if they’d grown up in Tennessee instead of New Jersey. Golightly croons a few tunes, and though it gets low and dark for “The Rest of Your Life,” the girlishness in her voice lightens what could be a Screamin’ Jay Hawkins track. Lawyer Dave hollers his tale of a summertime DUI, “You’re Under Arrest” and the duo comes together for a cover of Bill Anderson’s “Lord Knows We’re Drinking.” The album closes with a psych-tinged, foot-stomping take on Wendell Austin’s bizarre country novelty, “L.S.D. (Rock ‘n’ Roll Prison),” which may just explain the uniqueness of the Brokeoffs’ cracked country and blues sound. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | No Help Coming
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David Cassidy: The Higher They Climb the Harder They Fall

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Pop idol flies free and becomes an artist

The genuine artistry of this album is a lot more clear thirty-six years distance from its 1975 release. With the bright lights of Cassidy’s teen idolatry having faded, the album can be viewed on its merits, and is left to stand on its own as a truly terrific pop statement. Still, part of what makes it so interesting is the relief of Cassidy’s earlier work and the infusion of his hard-won artistic freedom. These are the sounds of an artist finally charting his own musical course, rather than a pawn buffeted by the demands of his young fans and the needs of his record company. Freed from his post-Partridge Family contract with Bell, Cassidy moved to RCA where he was paired with Beach Boy Bruce Johnston as producer. Johnston delivered Cassidy first crack at “I Write the Songs,” and though the single was a chart-topper in the UK, it was withheld in the US in favor of Barry Manilow’s subsequent hit.

The failure to market “I Write the Songs” is only one of the label’s misfires, as the album’s superb take on the Beach Boys’ late-60s hit “Darlin’” was also allowed to flounder without a proper push. Cassidy’s originals – he wrote or co-wrote half the album’s songs – are more mature than the things he’d written for his earlier albums, and the demise of his teen idol fame provides introspective grist for the songwriter’s mill. Johnston provides sophisticated, varied and dramatic arrangements that are substantially more soulful than Cassidy had been previously afforded, and the singer rises to the challenge with strong vocals that shed the bubblegum style he’d adopted for the Partridge Family. Among the album’s most startling moments is a take on Gene Vincent’s “Be-Bop-A-Lula” that’s surprisingly fresh and original.

The album’s loosely structured concept has Cassidy dreaming of rock ‘n’ roll stardom, reveling in the music’s roots, contemplating himself as a songwriter and the possibilities of success, and facing the fall. Cassidy must have known that the tide of his former success was more likely to pull him back under than swell into a successful adult recording career, but he remains hell-bent on proving that he’s more than a television show’s fabrication. Much like Ricky Nelson two decades earlier, Cassidy’s innate talents as a singer and songwriter had been thrown into question by his media-fueled success, but with this album he proved that he was more than a prefabricated star. The listening public may not have been ready for that revelation, but thirty-five years later, the proof of his talent is still here to be heard. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]