This month I’m featuring a trio of high profile releases, a nice retrospective of a somewhat neglected great, and a couple of odds and ends. Enjoy the comments, savor some good music, and be sure to support our local independent record stores.
The Decemberists
What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World
Capitol Records
If 2011’s The King Is Dead found the Decemberists channeling their inner R.E.M. (and in doing so landing their first number one chart album) it simultaneously alienated those longtime fans who wondered if the band were permanently abandoning the baroque rock roots for a more accessible and commercially viable sound. No worries; with What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World the band manages to have their cake and eat it too, combining irrepressibly bright hooks with a darker and slightly more serious tone.
It may be hook-loaded pop but it’s the most intelligent, cultured, and thoughtful dose of such you’re likely to hear anywhere. It also returns the band to their melodiously adventurous roots, replete with unexpected sonic shifts, lavishly adorned arrangements, and the sort of musical gutsiness that few bands would even attempt, let alone pull off.
The melodies may be more direct then you’d find on Picaresque or The Crane Wife – a little of this album approaches the narrative sweep of those two masterpieces – but the overall affect is no less exhilarating nor demanding of your attention. What “Lake Song” and “Till the Water Is All Long Gone” lack in adornment they more than compensate for in easy to miss details, subtle changes in tone and tempo that catch you off guard in the best of ways.
And while much of The King Is Dead (an album I’ll go on record as adoring) felt like Colin Meloy and company were striving for a hit, the twin upbeat joys of “The Wrong Year” and “Philomena” (the latter being a celebration of teenage lust that few bands could muster) shows how casually they’ve mastered the art of making singles, even If the heyday of 45 rpm platters is long since past.
There’s also a bit of self retrospect; “The Singer Addresses His Audience”, the stunning opening track, finds Meloy ruminating on the fleeting nature of fame, our cultures tendency to embrace and discard artistry, and how one keeps their sanity in light of such. Most impressive of all is how What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World feels like the work of a band complimenting and challenging one another to up their game.
Sure the Decemberists remain Colin Meloy’s platform, and its precise and mannered texture certainly reinforces his reputation as a control freak. But the contributions of Chris Funk, whose supple guitar work has never been put to better use, or the swaying keyboards of Jenny Conlee coupled with the twin rhythms of bassist Nate Query and percussionist/drummer John Moen are no less complex, vital, or appreciated.
There’s a sense of creative unity that lifts all boats while perhaps subtly laying down a challenge to other bands: It’s the Decemberists at their intuitive and inspired best, ready and willing to take on all comers. *****
Tony Joe White
The Complete Warner Bros. Records
Real Gone Music
According to the oft spun urban legend, the year was 1969 and Tony Joe White was on his way to Memphis hoping to sell his songs; he misread the map, took a wrong turn and “ended up in Nashville.” It’s a great story, likely as much fiction as fact, but one that nicely sums up the journey that was his, an unlikely success story if ever there was one.
That fortuitous miscalculation eventually landed him a songwriting and recording contract with Monument Records, yielding a series of hits best known, but by no means limited to, the notorious “Polk Salad Annie.” The recordings he made for that label have already been anthologized on Rhino’s terrific now out of print and nearly impossible to find 2006 box set. But thanks to the good folks at Real Gone, White’s brief but brilliant stay at Warner Brothers Records is equally highlighted.
White made only three albums for Warner Brothers – the label was in a state of flux and in truth they seemed unsure as to how he should be promoted – but all three are killer and, augmented with six non LP tracks, fit nicely onto this two CD set. Besides the songs-a rare mix of intuitive and introspective storytelling set to swamp rock music-the detailed recording information and comprehensive notes (including a current interview with White) make this a first rate package.
1971’s Tony Joe White was produced by Peter Asher, who would soon find a better calling as super producer for James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt, and while Asher might seem an odd choice, he made it work, moving White to Memphis, enlisting the Memphis Horns, and tacking on some tasteful and evocative string arrangements.
There’s a nice rootsy feel to the music, best exemplified in the autobiographical “A Night in the Life of a Swamp Fox” while the British born Asher seemed surprisingly sensitive to White’s country pedigree. Legendary producers Tom Dowd and Jerry Wexler – fresh off a string of hits with Aretha Franklin – produced 1972’s “The Train I’m On” with equally strong results, pushing White to fully explore his dusky baritone and mixing it to the front where it should be.
The blues rocker “I’ve Got a Thing About You Baby” might have been a hit but the slightly sinister nature of the lyrics (he was stalking his lover long before The Police!) likely turned off more than a few radio stations. Stranger still is “Even Trolls Love Rock and Roll” a spoken word bit of beat poetry set to a simmering soulful backing track.
Dowd returned for the following year’s “Homemade Ice Cream” a more laid back effort in the view of Don Williams. Recorded in Nashville it employed the cream of Music Cities’ studio musicians but failed to dent the charts. It remains among White’s most sadly neglected gems.
Thanks to Real Gone for bringing these releases back in with the care they deserve. All three are strong examples of a period in which White was trying to reclaim his early success while expanding his creative forte. He may not have created Swamp Rock – its antecedents pre-date him by at least three decades – but he damn sure made it his own and brought it to the forefront of American music.
Now in his 70s White is still at it, touring and occasionally recording. Here’s hoping this fine effort brings him some of the recognition he richly deserves. ****
Diana Krall
Wallflower
Verve Records
A companion of sorts to her 2012 release Glad Rag – on which the amazing Ms. Krall paid tribute to her father’s extensive collection of 78-rpm records – Wallflower finds her revisiting her own teenage roots, radio friendly hits that garnered a bit of snobby ridicule in their day but have gained, with the passage of time, a certain critical acceptance.
Weaving her way through the songbooks of such 1970s heavyweights as Jim Croce, Gilbert O’Sullivan, Elton John, and The Eagles, Krall relishes in the presence of retro culture and her particular place in it. She’s a classically trained jazz musician who loves pop music and happens to be married to a world famous Rock and Roll Star.
Expanding her definition of 70s soft-rock, Krall gives, with slightly uneven results, Paul McCartney’s “If I Take You Home Tonight” – a “Kisses on the Bottom” era outtake – a sultry feel that he’d never attempt. She further recasts 10cc’s “I’m Not In Love” as an understated torch song, trading its bombastic (in a good way) production technique for a more modest one.
The title track, a 1970s Dylan song originally written for and recorded by Doug Sahm, isn’t particularly well suited for her style but Krall imbues its lazy about country waltz tempo with a bit of much needed sprightly oomph. As for the rest, it’s hard to mess up such beloved classics as “California Dreamin” and “Don’t Dream It’s Over” (a song that seems ideally suited for Krall) and while parts of Wallflower feels as if Krall is slumming a bit, keeping things too safe and sound, her love for these middle of the road standards is evident.
Wallflower isn’t the sort of adventurous album Krall has demonstrated she can make but it’s a more than pleasant diversion, a slight detour from her already impressive catalog that, while not truly adding anything to the reputation of either the singer or the songs, serves to remind me why I so dearly love both. ***1/2
Rhiannon Giddens
Tomorrow is My Turn
Nonesuch Records
While it might be unfair to think of The Carolina Chocolate Drops as “Rhiannon’s band” there’s no denying that early on she became the band’s focal point. With her gorgeous voice – equal parts powerful and delicately restrained – and her stunning visual persona, Giddens is certainly a promoters dream. That she has talent and musical chops to spare is even more of a blessing.
Again teamed with producer T Bone Burnett and fresh off their collaboration on Lost in the Flood (with Giddens as a member of The New Basement Tapes) Giddens continues to broaden her fascination with roots music, expanding upon such as she time and genre hops throughout the last century or so of Americana.
But what separates her from the pack, and elevates much of this record, is her ability to coalesce the old and the new; far more than an adherent, she has, much like Burnett himself, become a keen student of the music upon which much of our culture was built. She’s respectful of the material and its consequence, but unafraid to tamper with convention. Thus a standard such as “Black Is the Color,” best known as a vehicle for Nina Simone, is recast with a hip-hop vibe that casts it in an entirely new light.
On Patsy Cline’s “She’s Got You” Giddens blends the country ethos with a nice bit of southern soul, evoking the sort of juke joints Cline likely played before hitting it big. When she plays it closer to the bone, as she does in more straightforward renditions of Elizabeth Cotten’s “Shake Sugaree” and Dolly Parton’s “Don’t Let It Trouble Your Mind” she still manages to inject a bit of playfulness, dropping a syllable here and stuttering a tempo there; understated swings that are a joy to discover.
Gidden’s informal approach (perhaps a bit too much so) is nicely balanced by Burnett’s sense of artistry mingled with instruction while the sometimes frosty tone of his overly precise production tastes is in turn balanced with the inherent warmth of her voice, making the pair an ideal match. And while she’s committed to future recordings with The Chocolate Drops – a summer tour is rumored to be in the works – it is evidently clear that despite the title of her debut effort, Rhiannon Gidden’s turn is here and now. ****
Tim Mahoney
Peace of Winter: Instrumental Piano Live at MacPhail
While he first came to notice on the television show “The Voice” (which I’ll admit to having never seen), Tim Mahoney was more than a singer, but rather an accomplished songwriter and musician.
Peace of Winter highlights his nimble and confident (the cover photo reveals a “Superman” logo tattooed on his left hand) piano work; captured live on stage with no other accompaniment. It’s a complex work, tracing the season from its arrival (“I Am Here”) into “Rain” and culminating in “Snow.”
The seven tracks are sequenced accordingly, which settles nicely into the mood of the season, building steadily upon itself in tone and tempo. It tilts itself toward the category of “new age” and I suppose comparisons to the Paul Winter Consort are inevitable though inaccurate; it’s more classical in style while occasionally engaging a certain modest pop groove. “Imagine If” adapts the John Lennon song in ways that are both surprising and wholly sensible.
As I listen again to Peace of Winter the temperature outside is hovering near zero and a light snow has fallen. As Mahoney states in his spoken introduction “I just love simple notes” and it’s amazing how much he can do with them. ****
Michael Jefrey Stevens
(with Eliot Wadopian)
Mountain Song
In a similar vein to the above, Asheville based jazz pianist Stevens continues his string of excellent releases, this one in tandem with fellow area resident Eliot Wadopian on bass. After spending much of the past few years abroad, Mountain Song, (recorded back in 2012) is a travelogue of sorts, citing specific locales (“12 Chatham Road” actually references upstate NY, not Asheville!) and the broader sweep of regional geography (the title track and “The River Po” composed while Stevens was in Italy). “What About the Future” and “Raga” are more freely formed expansive numbers, allowing the playful interaction between Stevens and Wadopian to strut out a bit.
One can easily imagine the smiles and nods that took place during the recording! Stating the obvious, the musicianship is top flight; Stevens and Wadopian are seasoned professionals who know their instruments in and out, helping to fuel and sustain our area’s resurgent jazz landscape.
Stevens seems to be in constant motion, recording and performing at a staggering rate. Be sure to check michaeljefrystevens.com for news and updates regarding his local appearances. Sample a few tracks and I’ll guarantee you’ll want to hear more.****