1.11.07
John Vanderslice - Emerald City - BARK66
John Vanderslice is a one-time producer of, and a collaborator with, The Mountain Goats but he has a string of solo albums to his name as well. He's a good story-teller, with a distinctive voice, and original arrangements. The reviews, and there aren't many, of this album all focus on the fact that it was written after his French girlfriend was refused a US visa. In fact, it seem much more about 9/11 and the reaction to it, which he seems to blame for the rejection. The album isn't preachy, or political, and he uses some wonderful images of the twin towers and minarets before turning to his loneliness and despair about the visa in the last two songs, Numbered Lithograph and Central Booking.
I should say that I nearly didn't get past the first track. It's amazing how one line in a song can put you on edge and I always brace myself when listening to Dylan's Street Legal for "can you cook and sew, make flowers grow." It's just so corny. Well, Vanderslice comes up with something about kookaburras and frangepani trees which is equally bad but, once that's out of the way, you're in safe hands.
29.9.07
Linda Kekama – I am an African – Gallo Jazz CDGURB035
I'm most impressed by Dhlamini and, particularly, by Sello Manyaka, who doen't seem to me to have anything more to do to be a great jazz saxophonist, in the Kippie Moeketsi tradition.
Most of the songs are originals, the words by Linda, the music by her husband, Ephraim Kekana, who doesn't appear on the record. The exceptions are the title track, which is a speech by Thabo Mbeki, recited and sung over an old Abdullah Ibrahim tune, the title of which eludes me for the moment; and "Senanapo" which has original music set to a traditional story.
Linda seems to me to occupy a similar kind of space to Ursula Rucker, the Philadelphia rap artist whose work is a lesson to everyone about Hip Hop and the world. Indeed, a couple of the tracks on this album are every bit as painful to listen to as some of Ursula's raps; the world CAN be a beautiful place, but often it is almost too terrible to believe. But, of course, the music is different; what you get here is the same kind of Mbaqanga influence turned into jazz via Abdulah Ibrahim, but carried into a different area. The way Linda uses her voice reminds me a bit of Abbey Lincoln; but I don't like Abbey much - I do like Linda, so it ain't the same.
This is on sale cheap at Sterns UK. You can listen to samples of all the tracks here. But I wouldn't advise listening to either Loss Of a Childor Newsflash as samples. And U Could Be Happy Too is untypical of the album, as it's a slow Salsa number. If you're interested in SA Jazz, make a grab for this. If you're interested in unusual and meaningful music, grab this - AM
4.9.07
Lambchop - Damaged - SLANG1041092
It's taken me a while to get the hang of Lambchop. I first tried Awcom and was baffled, mainly by the corny instrumentals, but then I was introduced to Is A Woman, which made more sense. Now Damaged has got me hooked.
Kurt Wagner's fractured vocals blend particularly well with the smooth, almost orchestral backing and, although most of the songs are as calm and quiet as those on Is A Woman, the album holds your attention. The opening song, Paperback Bible, celebrates the small things - an old birdbath, a recliner and a prom pageant dress - being offered for sale on an American radio programme, presumably a forerunner of eBay. There is a real pathos in all these old possessions being cast out into the world to find a life with a new owner. I Would Have Waited Here All Day is the voice of a disappointed wife, dragging out her day, waiting for her husband to come home. It's not clear things will get any better when he does. The final track, The Decline of Country and Western Civilisation, raises the temperature with its reference to Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest and its refrain of "damn you're looking ugly to me."
I'm a convert now.
27.8.07
Houston Person & Etta Jones - Don't Misunderstand, Live in New York, 1980
Oh my, on my, this is some recording!!!! OK, I LOVE these two together. So I AM biased. They are great live. When I saw them in 1990, they put on a wonderful show at the Blue Note. But I never saw them like this.
Houston, Sonny and Frankie take the lion's share of the CD. But Etta's performances are really there - particularly the title track, which is another object lesson in how Etta can GET you! It is almost in a different galaxy to the version she recorded about three years before on the "My mother's eyes" LP. But Etta and Houston are kind of known factors.
THERE IS A REVELATION IN HERE - it's SONNY PHILLIPS.
I've got everything Sonny recorded, but he never really CONNECTED with me 'til now. His playing here is awesome; no guitarist, so he is taking the load. And he plays really so much MORE than I've ever heard him before. Maybe, simply because he's taking the load, what he's playing is so much more in your face than usual. He also takes a bass solo, which not too many organists have tried (only Lou Bennett, I think, and that was on a trick machine).
All organ fans should have this album!!!!! End of story - AM
Allan's review originally appeared on Organissimo - Ed
19.8.07
Interpol - Our Love to Admire - Capitol
Between those two lows, and Pioneer isn’t half-bad, there’s much to admire. The Heinrich Maneuver is as good as anything on the two previous albums, and I remain happily baffled by the reference to seven ancient pawn shops on Mammoth. Wrecking Ball is slower and sadder and a great piece of song writing, as is Rest My Chemistry, but there isn’t really a bad track apart from the final one.
Expect the usual guitar-drenched Interpol sound with a few extras and best listened to on the excellent LP you can buy from Diverse Vinyl.
11.8.07
Seasick Steve - Dog House Music B000JU7ITW
31.7.07
CoCoRosie - The Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillborn - TG314CD
They return to their previous Grimm ways with Bloody Twins, with a wind in the background and a spooky music box. Japan is pretty straightforward, apart from the howls and the fact that it turns to near opera at one stage. Oh, yes, and the fact that it’s sung in a Shirley Temple-like voice and refers to being taken home and raped by queens in drag.
Why should you buy anything as apparently deliberately strange as this? Well, because you won’t be getting the same old, same old, or even the worse than same old. You’ll be getting something fiercely original and intense that broadens the meaning of music. You might not like it, but that’s another matter entirely.
9.7.07
Bat For Lashes - Fur And Gold - B000HC2OLE
8.6.07
Joanna Newsom - Ys - B000I2K9M4
Joanna Newsom's sophomore album has all of these things, but it's difficult to get the full scope of this album across because there's so much going on. Be it her voice, cooing, crooning and dramatising each song, the fantasy-themed stories presented throughout, as in 'Monkey And Bear', or the quality of the playing, as in the stunning 'Sawdust And Diamonds', in which an unaccompanied Newsom plucks for almost 9 minutes at dizzying speeds, singing lines such as "I wasnt born of a whistle or milked of a thistle at twilight". That's not mentioning the highly intruiging cover, or the 'blimey!' factor achieved whilst listening.
Don't worry if you perceive this album to be mental, because in all fairness, it is. But it's also intensely listenable, accessible and absorbing. It's length can be a bit of a crutch at first, but after repeated listens the full majesty of this album eventually flourishes into one of the most ambitious and original records I've heard. I'd suggest giving it a go just on the strength its identity and character alone, because it's truly unlike anything you're likely to have heard before.
4.6.07
Reuben Wilson, Bernard Purdie and Grant Green Jnr - The Godfathers of Groove - 18th & Vine 18V1048
A word of explanation: Grant Green Jr (whose real name is Gregory – his younger brother is Grant Jr) does have a remarkable tendency to play like his father (and damn near as well). Well, you would, wouldn’t you? But he does also have a bit of his own thing going within that framework. In this album, he even sings on a couple of tracks – and he has a good voice; I’d much rather listen to him than George Benson (oh, I know that’s not saying much). Oh, and GG Jr writes nice tunes, too.
Second word – the headliners are joined by Jerry Jemmott – refugee from the old King Curtis band – on bass. It’s not clear to me why, because Reuben has a great bass line. But Jerry doesn’t get in the way - AM
28.5.07
Mavis Staples – We’ll Never Turn Back - Pinnacle
The two strongest songs are Down in Mississippi and In The Mississippi River, for the horror of what they relate and the strength of the arrangements. Atmospheric though the arrangements are, it’s Mavis’ voice, full of strength and depth and drawing on personal experience of fear and prejudice, that carries the album.
Civil rights and spirituality were inseparable for Mavis and the other Staples Singers once Pop Staples saw Martin Luther King speak in 1963. They still are for Mavis: “A lot of people would rather hear a message in a song than listen to a preacher.” But really, she’s a singer and a preacher.
19.5.07
Various Artists - Ghana Soundz - Soundway SNDWCD001
I haven’t paid a great deal of attention to Ghana in the past; after I got this, I am beginning to regret that oversight. Of 14 tracks (in 72 minutes), only one is kinda duff. All the rest are highly pyracoustic – and inventive with it. They really are what the sleeve says – a fusion of Afro-beat, heavily influenced by Fela Kuti, jazz and funk, clearly aimed at the dance floor, but equally, as ever in Africa, with something political to say.
One of these tracks Bukom Mashie, by Oscar Sulley & the Uhuru Dance Band, has been included in the soundtrack of the film The King of Scotland – an adventure film about Idi Amin – yet another glorious example of the movie business’ geographical “who gives a fuck?” – well, they both have a G and two As and an N. But if you see the film you can get a good sample. The rest of the album is well up to this standard.
There’s a volume 2, as well, but I haven’t got round to getting it yet - AM
13.5.07
Joan Armatrading - Into The Blues
12.5.07
Björk - Volta - tplp460cd
This was baffling. The Amazon review cleary states that 'Volta' is a 'return to the more commercial, upbeat sound of her early work.' Well, maybe for the opening tribal drumming pop of 'Earth Intruders', but afterwards we're surely confronted by Björk's most difficult and challenging record yet.
That's not to say it isnt good, far from it. There are some great songs here, like the deliciously gentle 'I See Who You Are', the relaxed beats of 'Hope' and closing 'My Juvenile', one of two good duets with Anthony Hegarty from Anthony and the Johnsons. But on the flipside of that we have an album popping up with ships sounding together (yes, you read right), and the simple, repetitive horn instrumentations that dominate the dramatic 'Vertebrae by Vertebrae' and the quieter 'Pnuemonia'. At times, these two songs in particular get a bit.....well, annoying. Couple that with 'Declare Independence', a loud techno number, which is the Icelandic songstress' harshest and surely most unlistenable song to date, then you really do have an album with two faces.
There is a good album within 'Volta' (well, half a good album at the least), but as with 2004's 'Medulla', I'm left thinking that at times she's becoming too self-indulgent in her conquest for originality. As with Björk last few albums, it's a challenging listen and it's her longest album to date, but please dont expect a return to her more commercial days with 'Volta', because you really will not get it.
8.5.07
Willy Mason – If The Ocean Gets Rough – 094638390329
Mr and Mrs Mason were folk musicians and Willy’s pretty much in that tradition, with a fine line in melody and mostly acoustic backing, but don’t hold that against him. He’s also been described as the new Bob Dylan but his songs are much less sparse than early Dylan, his lyrics far less opaque, and his voice fuller, though it does crack and break at just the right moment.
The album is rich and varied, starting with the up-beat and catchy Gotta Keep Walking, then moving into The World That I Wanted, with its lilting refrain and story of lives wasted, and turns sinister on Simple Town. He always sounds as though he’s relishing his lyrics, which he should, with lines like: “when the disillusioned are cleaned off the streets/will you clean my shirt and hide me from police” from When The Leaves Have Fallen.
His brother, Sam, plays the drums which are nearly always forward in the mix and which drive the whole thing along; it’s over too quickly.
30.4.07
The Doctor Is In – Crash feat Dr Lonnie Smith – Cellar Live CL090603
Crash is a Canadian band, working in Vancouver. Personnel is Corey Weeds (alto), Jerry Cook (tenor), Dave Sikula (guitar), Mark Humeniuk (bass) and Bernie Arai (drums); not a bunch of names to conjure with, but those guys can play! Apparently, they are Lonnie Smith’s backup musicians of choice when he’s in the area.
This is a record of one such gig, from September 2003, at the Cellar Jazz Club, owned by Weeds (as is the record label). And the night was pyracoustic! Crash support Lonnie like I’ve never heard any other band - really. The opening number – Nick’s Kick – a feverish groove that would kill you if you tried to dance to it for its 12 minutes – but how can you help it? – sets the tone for the whole set. All the tracks are long and give Crash members plenty of space to show their stuff, as well as featuring Lonnie. All the tunes are Lonnie’s (except maybe Nick’s Kick), and include a prototype of Your Mama’s Got a Complex which Lonnie recorded in the studio a few months later.
Phew! Only obtainable from CD Baby- Allan Moss
26.4.07
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible - URA210
Amid all the impending doom tracks, you’ll find Antichrist Television Blues which is, I think, about a father preparing to exploit his daughter as a child singer. It’s quite chilling in its calculations. Perhaps the disaster has already happened.
28.3.07
Koop – Koop Islands – K7 B000I2JKX8
21.3.07
Jon Redfern - May Be Some Time - Reveal
18.3.07
Neil Young - Live at Massey Hall 1971
Review Caveat - I am a huge Neil Young fan. I've read his biography twice (which if you look at it you'll recognise as an achievement in itself) and have almost everything he's recorded. So when I say this album is the best thing I've heard in years, it's in that context. Recorded five years after he left Canada and between After the Goldrush and Harvest, he's at his peak introducing some of his greatest songs as "something I just wrote" and with equally laconic introductions to the rest. The quality of the recordings is great. It stands along Live at the Fillmore - the Crazy Horse archive album he released a year ago. Listen out for an acoustic Cowgirl in the Sand, Needle and the Damage Done and Old Man.
26.2.07
Lucinda Williams - West (Lost Highway records)
11.2.07
Jerry Lee Lewis - Last Man Standing (Artful Records)
He started his career with Sun Records alongside Elvis, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Buddy Holly and others - but is, as the album says, the last man standing. He's certainly not on his last legs however judging from this. I predict you won't hear a more rockin' album this year. One turkey of a track - skip the "execrable" Honky Tonk Woman cover with Kid Rock (adjective courtesy of Threshold Record's recommendation of the week review. My local music store is right about this as so much else...)
8.1.07
The Mountain Goats – Metro Theatre, Sydney – Saturday, 6 January
For this Australian tour, the Goats are John Darnielle (of course) and bassist Peter Hughes, with current producer, John Vanderslice, lending a hand for the closing songs, and also acting as the support act.
That first song swept away all doubts about whether a band whose songs travel such dark and often depressing territory could engage such a big audience. Quite simply, they communicate, though it was sometimes hard to tell whether Darnielle was expressing savage glee or deep torment when he delivered classic lines like “I hope you die/I hope we both die” from the classic No Children or “I am going to make it through this year if it kills me” from This Year.
Either way, it worked, not least because he clearly now has a huge following who embrace the lyrics like old friends. The Goats generate a huge sound from just two guitars and as much emotion and excitement. I’m an even bigger fan now.
2.1.07
The Be Good Tanyas – Hello Love – Nettwork
But then the music isn’t likely to get you too worked up, either. It’s all slow, dreamy and beautifully played, ranging from the traditional, like What Are They Doing in Heaven Tonight, through John Hurt’s Nobody Cares for Me, on which Jolie Holland makes an appearance as a former band member, to Neil Young’s For the Turnstiles and the Tanyas’ own songs. I think the dreaminess is part of the problem, coupled with their quiet, slurred delivery that makes it hard to make out the words. I’ve enjoyed the album every time I’ve played it, rather like a walk on a familiar beach – you’re glad you went but you didn’t see or hear anything new.