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Rock 'n' Roll Roundup
 The Fleshtones – Take a Good Look (Yep Roc, 2008)The deans of New York City garage rock, The Fleshtones, Keith Streng guitar, and vocals, Peter Zaremba, harmonica and vocals, Bill Milhizer on drums, and Ken Fox on bass, play fresh, fun and completely unpretentious rock and roll. This album is consistently good and filled with enjoyable and reliably entertaining songs, and simple but effective playing. The raucous and funny "Shiney Hiney" and strutting "Never Grew Up" set the tone for the record, with juvenile lyrics and in your face music. "Jet Set Fleshtones" and "New York City" strut with good natured humor and the ironic "Back to School" proves that they aren't afraid to laugh at themselves. While other bands may be looking to make grand statements with their music, the Fleshtones have a more more modest, but still noble goal of playing straightforward guitar based rock 'n' roll and having fun with it. The perfect soundtrack to a summer afternoon, it's shallow but never stupid, flaky but always fun. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig Lazarus Dig! (Anti, 2008) Speaking of grand statements, a rock and roll album about the biblical story of Lazarus rising from the grave might seem like a pretty heavy subject for a rock band to take on, but when it is from a songwriter as good and pleasingly warped as Nick Cave, it is a blessing indeed. In the first song alone "Larry" comes back from the dead to cruise Los Angeles and San Francisco only to end up strung out in a New York City soup kitchen. The religious themes are always delivered with a skeptical sly wink, like in "We Call Upon the Author to Explain" where answers are demanded from God, but none are forthcoming. It's not all deep navel gazing, "Lie Down Here (& Be My Girl)" is a pulverizing rocker that sounds like an outtake from last years Grinderman project, and "More News From Nowhere" taps a great melodic feel with some excellent wordplay. This is an excellent album, deep but never pretentious, it's a thinking man's rock record. |
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Willis Jackson & Pat Martino - Willis... With Pat (32Jazz, 1998)
 Tenor saxophonist Willis "Gator" Jackson and guitarist Pat Martino performed together quite a bit in the 1960's and 70's in organ groove bands that were popular at the time. This album collects the highlights of the music they recorded for the Muse label, mostly under Jackson's leadership. The music on this CD is made up of R&B flavored cookers and slow jam ballads that would not be out of place in the Newark and Philadelphia taverns where the band plied its wares. "Gator Whale" which plays off of Jackson's nickname, and the storming "The Goose Is Loose" is indicative of the former, with the saxophonist peeling back layers of ripe melody like the layers of an onion, while Martino and a cookin' organist lay down a massive pocket and then take fine solos of their own. A version of Eric Dolphy's "Miss Ann" is something of a surprise for a groove based group, but they handle it with aplomb. The slower "Bolita" and the standard "My One and only Love" both play to the groups strength as ballad players, both Jackson and Martino are willing to take their time and let the music come to them and this patience is well rewarded with fine slow groove performances. This is a collection of very good bluesy jazz from a team whose time together was sadly cut short due to health problems. But while it lasted Jackson and Martino were a potent combo which produced enjoyable and accessible jazz.
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Lionel Loueke – Karibu (Blue Note, 2008)
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 Guitarist and vocalist Loueke came to the attention of Blue Note records while playing in Herbie Hancock's touring band. He is joined on this record by Massimo Biolcati on bass and Ferenc Nemeth on drums. Pianist Hancock and tenor and soprano saxophonist Wayne Shorter guest on the record and their sheer uniqueness tends to steal some of the available thunder. Hancock in particular is just spectacular on “Seven Teens” where his unique piano style is thrown into sharp focus by the open and spare accompaniment. Shorter plays on the John Coltrane classic “Naima” and his pointillist approach to improvisation gives a new spin to this oft-performed standard. Loueke finally gets an excellent and inventive solo spot of his own near the end of the record on “Agbannon Blues.” This is a record that is a little unsure of whether it wants to examine African, jazz or pop music, and while it does each of those pretty well, the overall effect is diffused by a lack of focus and tends to be overwhelmed by the star power of Hancock and Shorter. Hopefully Blue Note will hive this unique musician a chance to shine on his own, either with a solo recording or with a trio recording sans guests.
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Elmore James – The Classic Early Recordings 1951-1956 (Ace 1993, 2007)
This three disc collection takes an extended look at the first half of the lamentably short recording career of the great blues slide guitarist and singer Elmore James. Disc one begins with James' most well known song, an adaptation of Robert Johnson's “Dust My Broom.” Propelled by a stinging slide riff and the swooping harmonica of Sonny Boy Williamson II, it became an unexpected hit and launched not only his career, but was the seed of many blues and rock 'n' roll ands to come. Many of the songs he was to record in the future were based upon this riff as producers tried to recapture the magic of that hit. But he was far from a one-trick pony, as shown by the likes of the fascinating instrumental “Hawiiian Boogie” where adapts aspect of the Hawaiian style of slack-key guitar playing to his own electric delta blues foundation. Other notable tracks on the first CD are the strong shuffle “My Baby's Gone” and the deeply emotional slow blues “I Held My Baby Last Night” As impressive as his guitar playing is, his vocals are eually important and hair-raising in their intensity. Some singles featuring James as a sideman are also included, with him sitting in with saxophonist J.T. Brown on some jump blues, and The Bep Brown Orchestra on the ironic “Dumb Woman Blues.” The multiple takes and breakdowns found on discs two and three can be a little repetitive, but that is natural in order to pad out such a large collection. The vast majority of the music found here is electric blues of the highest order, like the scalding up-tempo boogie “Elmo's Shuffle” and the hyper-emotional ballad “Sho' Nuff I Do.” The discs come with an excellent forty page booklet of essays, photos and discography. While this big set might not be the easiest way for a newcomer to discover James' great music, once you have fallen under his spell, it is a great place to dig deeper.
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Elvis Costello - Momofuku (Lost Highway, 2008)
.jpg) In his notes to this new record, Costello writes "Some rock and roll music is better if you don't think too hard on it." Seriously fed up with the business of music, he had threatened to either quit recording, playing live or both.Thankfully a guest role helping out alt-country singer Jenny Lewis rekindled his love for music and sparked him to go back to his rock 'n' roll roots and make one of his best latter day records. For all of Costello's genre experiments, he is much like fellow lifers Neil Young and Van Morrison. They keep coming back to the basics to make their best statements. When he sings about his "gunslinger swagger" on the snarling "Go Away" he really means it. This is the EC that made his mark with short, sharp and witty songs; and it where he has his most success. "Stella Hurt" with the great refrain of: Blues song! Red Alert! Who made Stella Hurt? is another excellent winner in an album filled with small gems of inspired songwriting and tight performing. One of the things that has dogged him over the past twenty years is a propensity for maudlin ballads. In this case only the sentimental "My Three Sons" approaches this trap, with the other ballad, "Flutter and Wow" is a truly inspired piece of allegory and song craft. Fans who have fallen away over the past few decades may be surprised how inspired and modern the music sounds, and this album is very highly recommended. |
Tim Niland
Tim Niland is a lifelong jazz and blues fan, who began blogging about music five years ago. In real life, he is a public librarian living in New Jersey.
Tim Niland is a lifelong jazz and blues fan, who began blogging about music five years ago. In real life, he is a public librarian living in New Jersey.
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