শুক্রবার, ২৫ জানুয়ারী, ২০১৩

Nine Volt Heart ? Reviews | canada.com

Aaron Neville: My True Story

Blue Note 2013

Aaron NevilleSo the a cappella fellas from the old neighbourhood gather under a bridge around a fire in a trash can, taking jolts from a bottle of Thunderbird, smoking ciggies, eyeing the ladies and belting out their favourite doo wop to try and impress them with their style. It?s all Wildroot, finger snaps and dad?s Old Spice fusing with the ghosts of Frankie Lymon and The Five Satins singing contrapuntal harmony in a background purple with the ache of lost love.

Here, one of music?s greatest voices pays stirring tribute to the music that informed his youth and underscored his entire oeuvre. With his rich falsetto soaring, ?Aaron Neville not only covers classic doo wop but manages in the end to convince us how much we miss impassioned and innocent ballad crooning while our acne healed and our hearts broke.

As a member of the Neville Brothers he understands a thing or too about groove. So he brings a crackerjack band to the fore including the punchy guitar of co-producer Keith Richards and keyboards from Benmont Tench of The Heartbreakers. What results is a shimmering and singular paean to the glory days of The Del-Vikings, Dion & The Belmonts and The Cadets.

Neville?s take on Ruby Ruby, Under The Boardwalk, Be My Baby and Gypsy Woman for starters, are nothing less than arresting. This collection of? twelve songs is timeless at the same time that it?s fresh and exhilarating.

So the question arises ? Do we need another CD of doo wop covers? Probably not. But do we need an album of heartfelt, immaculate, masterful, passionate songs from one of the most elegant voices around? Absolutely.

Classic, soulful and elevating.

Shelf Life Rating: ?????

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Gary Allan: Set You Free

MCA Nashville 2013

Gary AllanThere?s been a passel of gunslingers through these parts before all claiming to be the undisputed outlaw king of hurtin? tunes. They drift into town all slack-jawed and woebegone, red eyed with whisky stink and a six day growth of beard as though that lent credibility to their claim. Bad hombres. Tougher?n twenty miles of sagebrush and rattlers.

But there?s only one head honcho of hurt and it ain?t them. They only know the one way to say it. This?un?s got a better way and when he draws he aims for the head and the heart and never misses, never wastes a bullet.

He sings like he was born in a honky tonk and there?s a certain sawdust on the floor savvy to this song cycle about failed romance and the late nights all alone aftermath. Gary Allan doesn?t sound much like Nashville. Instead, he?s as much a bluesman as a jazz-ophile with a lean towards a certain reggae-ocity in places.

Suffice to say then that this as country as it gets. Check out ?It Aint? The Whiskey? for the epitome of the heartbreak song, or ?Sand In My Soul? about picking up the pieces and moseying on that?s only topped by the closer ?Good As New?.

He?s a bad hombre. He?s neo-traditional at the same time he?s old school but here he wrangles up a concept album that leans hard on a life less lonely for the wisdom gleaned from its travails. Gary Allan?s best.

Smart, savvy, assured country.

Shelf Life Rating: ?????

Fred Hersch: Alone At The Vanguard

Palmetto Records 2011

Fred HerschIn which the ghost of Thelonious Monk strides along New York?s Seventh Avenue hoping to catch a set at the jazz Mecca where legends still come to play. He?s thinking of Bud Powell, Art Tatum and Erroll Garner and hoping whomever?s on the bandstand can evoke some of those memories and that great art.

What he witnesses leave him awestruck. The craftsman at the keyboards even reworks the jabbing staccato of his own ?Work? turning it into a flowing elegant cascade and the lush down tempo ?In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning? makes him weep.

Tearful ghosts aside, this nine song set captured live at the erstwhile Village Vanguard from a week long run is brash, unpredictable, ebullient and rife with enough chordal flourishes and two-handed runs melding seamlessly into each other to make even the homage to Robert Schumann feel like jazz.

Fred Hersch is a genius. He lays out varied textures with an imagination and a dexterity that makes even the more abstract statements seem masterful and grand. His is a supple talent and the proliferation of grace notes, ?rubato; the sometimes angular harmonies working through every register of the keyboard elevate the very idea of jazz piano.

This seventy minute set is an artist at the height of his powers and is an indisputable must have in any jazz collection.

Gracious, big-hearted and impeccable.

Shelf Life Rating: ?????

(Shelf life rating reflects the enduring quality and relevance of a title or simply, How much will you still want to hear this title in oh, say, 30 years?)

For these and more titles go to:

http://www.sonymusic.ca

http://www.universalmusic.ca

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Source: http://o.canada.com/2013/01/24/nine-volt-heart-reviews-3/

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