Frank Zappa – The Freak-Out List
(Sexy Intellectual via MVD Visual)
4
Frank Zappa's comprehensive knowledge of musics both scholarly and street-level was rather impressive (to say the least), as this unauthorized look at the man's influences covers basically what amounts to a history of 20th century musics.
So, in effect, this DVD is, in itself, a good history lesson. From the early modern classical and avante-classical inspirations of Edgard Varese and Stravinsky to doo-wop, early blues, R&B, and along the path to free jazz and fusion, Zappa always had his fingers on the heart of sound itself.
The man was literally one of the century's greatest artistic minds, and when he left this mortal coil in 1993, he left a legacy of always-smart, often silly, and sometimes outright weird recordings, many of which attest to the genre-bending capabilities of Zappa himself. He brought in a number of since-became-legendary musicians (George Duke, Adrian Belew, Steve Vai, Terry Bozzio, and others) to realize his projects.
Some of these players, peers, writers, and Zappa fans are allowed their say here, and it comes together rather well. The Freak-Out List isn't only for avowed Zappa fans... it will make non-fans curious to hear more of this man's seminal works.
-- Todd Zachritz
Chely Wright –Lifted Off the Ground
(Vanguard)
4.5
Chely Wright made her way into the hearts of country fans with such songs as “Shut Up and Drive” and “Single White Female.” In 2005 she released The Metropolitan Hotel with 11 of her own original songs that all have a kick to their lyrics; Lifted Off the Ground is no different.
Lifted Off the Ground straddles the line of traditional country and an indie-folk feel with beautiful guitar pickings and a soft singing voice. “Snow Globe” gives the image of a song someone might sing while sitting around a campfire late at night with lyrics like “Oh, is this a bad dream/Or the best dream/That I’ve ever had/And, Oh/What is waiting/ Beyond the mirror/Beyond the curtain/Beyond what fades into the black.”
The album continues with “Notes to the Coroner” about a woman who has, most likely, committed suicide and left notes of the how and why of her demise. The songs steady drum beat and up-beat rhythm put a twist on the lyrics, almost as if the woman singing is happier now that she is dead.
The song “Broken” is a typical song about a woman who tries her best at life, at relationships, but just doesn’t seem to be able to get to where/what she wants.
The album’s depressing lyrics may get some people down, but surprisingly, the songs are addictive not only because of the beats of the music, but because the lyrics really catch your heart. Wright says and talks about touchy subjects in such a blunt way that you just can’t turn her off.
(Suggestion: Listen to the song “The River” by Chely Wright, released on her last album The Metropolitan Hotel which consists of 11 tracks of her own original music and lyrics.)
-- Kristina Kercher
John Nemeth – Name the Day
(Blind Pig Records)
4.5
"Retro" is a word that gets thrown around a lot when folks discuss clothing, home decor, and especially music. It's hip to be retro, but often, artists can get pigeonholed for having a retro sound, making it difficult for listeners to accept anything outside of that quirky, old-school groove. Then, there are those artists that embrace those classic sounds. John Nemeth stands in the latter category with groups like Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings and James Hunter as torchbearers for a form of music performance and production that has fallen by the wayside in the last 30-plus years.
You wouldn't typically think of Blues music being an export of Boise, Idaho, but John Nemeth drew lots of attention there when national acts rolled through town. Guitarist Junior Watson remarked "His (Nemeth's) voice is a national treasure." In 2004, Nemeth relocated to San Francisco, spent time as a vocalist for both Junior Watson and Anson Funderburgh & the Rockets, was signed by West-coast Blues imprint Blind Pig Records a short time later, and began building his dedicated fanbase from there.
John Nemeth's third release on Blind Pig, titled Name The Day, is filled with beautiful sonic layers that call to mind the sounds that eminated from Soul and R&B hotbeds like Memphis, Tennessee and Muscle Shoals, Alabama. And, Nemeth, the dual threat singer/harmonica ace, brings his "A-Game" for the new disc, combining a whole host of musical styles including Soul, R&B, Blues, and Funk.
The album opens with the fast and funky "Breakin' Free," which calls to mind elements of James Brown as Nemeth and the band call out to one another before John launches into a blistering harmonica solo. Somebody throw a cape over this man!
The horn section is fantastic throughout the album, with standout arrangements on the title track, "Name the Day" and "You Know." Nemeth's tenor vocal is smooth, but powerful. It calls to mind classic singers like Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson, who could soar above the band like a silk kite. John Nemeth can at times belt, croon, growl, and cast a falsetto that makes you wonder how all of the album's vocals can be coming out of the same body.
John Nemeth wrote all of the songs on Name The Day, save for one: "Home In Your Heart," the Solomon Burke classic written by Otis Blackwell and Winfield Scott. Although, songs like "Tuff Girl," and the disc's two amazing ballads "Why Not Me," and "I Said Too Much" all sound like they could have easily come out of the 60s Soul songbook. Perhaps what's more interesting to note is that Nemeth produced his last two albums, including Name the Day. This fact makes Nemeth's sound all the more impressive, because it's genuine. It isn't manufactured in the studio by label reps and producers as a gimmick.
Equally as impressive is that Name the Day is Nemeth's second release in as many years, following 2009's smash Love Me Tonight, and there's no letup. Name the Day is just as beautiful a sonic gem, if not more so. It's "Blue-Eyed Soul" at its best!
-- "Johnny Full-Time" John Luttrell • www.fulltimeblues.com
The Quick & Easy Boys – Red Light Rabbit
(In Music We Trust)
2.5
The Quick & Easy Boys’ second album, Red Light Rabbit, has been described elsewhere as "an amalgamation of funk, psychedelic rock, and garage soul with a slight pinch of honky tonk." That eclectic description is a very exciting prelude to what turns out to be a very average album.
Once the impact of the various genres wears off, there really isn't anything special about the music itself; the band lacks that "wow" factor that more accomplished bands all have. Yeah, it's a little bit funky with some country thrown in along with a touch of “jam band,” but that's not enough to get crazy over. At times it comes close to being standout music, but not quite.
The disc features eleven songs that seem to fall into a disappointing repetition of theme. Each song opens with a killer riff that has the potential to develop into a standout song. The tempo of the music is designed to grab the listener's attention, the verses themselves offer lyrics that draw you in, but the choruses generally consist of bad pick up lines and kill whatever energy the songs have developed.
Like most house bands, The Quick & Easy Boys do their best work live, when they can feed off the energy of the crowd. Perhaps a live recording would capture them in a more creative environment and seem less formula driven.
-- Kate Grimm
Eli “Paperboy” Reed – Come and Get It
(Capitol)
4
Don’t let the look of this baby-faced white boy fool you. Reed’s got soul – soul that works all the right parts of the body and spirit, soul that a person is simply born with; there ain’t no way to fake it. And here, on his major-label debut, which was largely self-penned, Reed can rightfully stand next to the likes of some of the finest modern soul singers like Sharon Jones and Black Joe Lewis.
The young Mr. Reed was a sophisticated listener of a wide range of the good stuff: Buddy Holly; Chuck Berry; The Coasters; Ray Charles; Howlin’ Wolf… and country music, too. Somewhere along the way, during a high school assembly, he belted out a version of “A Change is Gonna Come,” which tore the place apart.
Reed’s story gets a bit murky here (some publicists prefer to keep things that way) – a rabid music lover, Reed left his Boston home after high school for Clarksdale, Mississippi. He immediately started gigging in bluesy juke joints, and was mentored by old-timers who apparently knew a good thing when they heard it. Eventually, Reed made his way to – where else? Chicago’s South Side. When not picking over the record shops there, he made his way as a keyboardist and singer in a local church.
His hometown beckoned, and soon Reed was back in Boston with a new band and a couple of well-received independent albums. It was the second of these, Roll With You, that got him noticed by Rolling Stone as a “Breaking Artist” and a MOJO Award in the United Kingdom for Breakthrough Artist of the Year.
This all brings us here, to Reed’s first release with a major. What’s on this album, anyway, and why do I like it so much? Come and Get It is 12 tracks of pure, timeless, playful, emotional, delightful and infectious soul music; Reed’s voice is the main instrument, sounding like a top shelf blend of Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding shaken and poured into a glass as modern as Autotune. Reed’s band is absolutely tight, with a deep-pocket groove that can shift from slow-dance sexy to up-tempo funk in a heartbeat.
If there’s a demerit here, it’s that at times Reed sounds too much like the singers he reveres. Reed could take a cue from Eric Clapton, who imitated his favorite blues singers until he found his very own and distinctive voice.
Fans of vintage or modern soul (like the above-mentioned Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears) should delight in Eli “Paperboy” Reed’s Come and Get It – already a sensation in the UK, its official release date in the United States will be in August.
-- Dylan Gibbs
Mondo Drag – New Rituals
(Alive Natural Sound)
3.5
Like a modern-day Hawkwind, Mondo Drag fall from the cosmos with the spaced-out 60s psychedelia of the title track. It's the sound of UFOs visiting an outdoor rock concert with an audience of stoned bikers and damaged post-Pink Floyd space travelers. That is to say, it's great!
Moving on from there, "Love Me (Like a Stranger)" dares to meld Black Sabbath with early Syd-era Floyd, to wondrously lysergic sludge-rock effect. "Come Through" is on a similar flight path as the Brian Jonestown Massacre, with its laid-back, blissed-out vibe.
"Serpent Shake" revs it up with a driving riff mantra. These are the true children of the bong, and "New Rituals" is a powerhouse stoner-rock album that reaches back to the past and brings it back to the future, bleary-eyed and on a whole different kinda trip.
-- Todd Zachritz
Harvestman / U.S. Christmas / Minsk – Hawkwind Triad
(Neurot Recordings)
5
Perhaps unjustly ignored here in the States, longtime sci-fi space-rock group Hawkwind have inspired literally hundreds of willing space-travelers throughout their 40+ year journey on this planet. And, they gave Lemmy Kilmeister (later of metal legends Motorhead) his beginning.
That aside, this is a tribute album, with 3 present-day psychedelic/post-rock/intelligent metal acts performing their favorite classic Hawkwind cuts. What's it sound like? Well, it's a respectful and reverential set, with faithful covers of freak-out heavy rockers like "Masters of The Universe" and "Orgone Accumulator," as interpreted by Appalachian psyche-blues act U.S. Christmas.
Neurosis frontman Steve Von Till (as Harvestman) contributes four tracks, with his gruff, weathered vocals and stark arrangements, but I find this material less energetic than his bewilderingly intense Harvestman LP of last year. Minsk's lumbering and majestic 12-minute behemoth "Assault And Battery/The Golden Void," however, shows that Hawkwind may've have been the Pink Floyd of the heavy music scene, and this may be the highlight for me.
U.S. Christmas returns with the deep trippers "Psychedelic Warlords" and the frenzied "You Shouldn't Do That," both complete with driving mantric riffs and far-out synth scribbles. I dare you to listen to this and not commit heinous acts of synesthesia.
A powerful and spaced-out set of heavy rockers, here. Monumental.
-- Todd Zachritz
Overmaster – Madness Of War
(Cruz Del Sur Music)
3
The debut album of Italy's Overmaster examines the absurdity and ramifications of armed conflicts across the world, using a musical template rivaling the classic German metal outfits of the 80's. Most striking are Gus Gabarro's power metal vocals, which remind me slightly of a heavier (but less operatic) Bruce Dickinson (not a bad thing).
Precision riffage, a tight rhythm section, and perfect production make the stunning "Marble King" an early highlight. "Spartan Warriors" is even more intense, showing elements of thrash alongside the band's ultimately melodic metal attack.
As veterans of power metal bands like White Skull, these guys aren't new to the scene, and that professionalism shows brightly here. With few concessions to modern metal trends, Overmaster's powerful and dramatic sound harkens back to the days of yore, where leather-clad warriors ruled (but forgive the guys' cheesy promo pix). Superb old-school metal to pump fists and nod heads to.
-- Todd Zachritz
