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Consumer Guide: Greatest Whatevers
Just because you can spell 'forbearance' correctly doesn't mean
you'll get a gold star
RAHIM ALHAJ: Iraqi Music in a Time of War (Voxlox)
Last February, mild-mannered Iraqi matinee idol Kazem al-Sahir played
a sparsely populated Beacon. His 17-piece orchestra was exotically
anodyne to me, painfully nostalgic to the attendant Iraqis. But either
way it was steeped in denial. Recorded April 5 at Manhattan's Sufi
Books, with Baghdad under attack, this solo oud recital is the
opposite. The conservatory-trained AlHaj is a Saddam torture victim
who escaped in 1991. Yet he is appalled by the destruction of his
homeland. And yet again he betrays no rage: however uninspired as
"concepts," the "compassion, love, and peace" he preaches are
courageous as music. With little knowledge of oud or taste for
classical guitar, I'm struck by how unexotic he seems--how his sound,
melodicism, and note values bridge East and West while remaining
Iraqi. I'm impressed by how modest virtuosity can be in a classical
tradition that honors simplicity. And I'm drawn in by the historical
context, which implicates me in that tradition. B PLUS
THE BOTTLE ROCKETS: Blue Sky (Sanctuary)
The Drive-By Truckers having jumped the Bottle Rockets' claim as the
social-realist Lynyrd Skynyrd, volunteer producer and neoswamp axeman
extraordinaire Warren Haynes avoids a dick-size contest by
accentuating their strength--Brian Henneman's Midwestern
declarative. Since as border staters they've never defined their roots
regionally, Haynes is free to nudge them folk here and rock
there. "Lucky Break," about a disabled construction worker who's
finally getting his government cheese, sets the tone. And if on one
song Henneman enjoys a little wallow in gender-role truisms that have
lost their laugh value, the very next track he's got it down: "Came
home drunk looking for a fight/She was sober and calm, does that make
her right?" A MINUS
THE DANDY WARHOLS: Welcome to the Monkey House (Capitol)
MTV babies say this is the Dandys' early-'80s record, and who am I to
demur? Someone who was too busy back then with X and juju and
Grandmaster Flash to internalize whatever musical materials the band
has purloined, and who would prefer said materials in this context
even if I had. Better Nick Rhodes producing alt sellouts than Nick
Rhodes claiming alt himself, and better alt sellouts embracing
electropop detachment than alt sellouts aping rock and roll
abandon. Clever and droll but also hypnotic and mysterious, with odd
noises buried in the luscious mix and Zia McCabe's keyb bass as
pleasurable as any explicit hook, they make their big statement in
"Plan A," which goes "All of us sing about it" for quite a long while
before positing first a planet and then a message that aren't
there. A MINUS
MILES DAVIS: The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions (Columbia/Legacy)
Fewer than half of the 42 tracks are previously unreleased--dark magus
Teo Macero broke up and relocated most of the others onto
Live-Evil, Big Fun, Get Up With It, the obscure
late catchall Directions, and, yes, A Tribute to Jack
Johnson, the landmark album that climaxes this five-disc
collector's indulgence. Outfitted with the usual pricey packaging and
elaborate notes, it's "complete" only if the four missing "Duran"s, 15
missing "Nem Um Talvaez"s, etc., were false starts. But it's a mother
of a motherlode. I'm glad Macero imposed his sense of form on Miles's
'70s experiments, and definitely don't need the Bitches Brew
box. But though the "Go Ahead John" Macero pieced together for
Big Fun gets the good bits, I'd rather listen to the raw
material that takes up 45 minutes of disc two. Though the multiple
Hermeto Pascoal takes add up to a quiet disc four, they're as soothing
as they wanna be. With major input from John McLaughlin and the bass
tandem of Dave Holland and Michael Henderson, these jams were why
electric jazz was once a thrilling idea--and still is
sometimes. B PLUS
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FESTIVAL IN THE DESERT (World Village)
Ali Farka Toure aside, the Mali we know is southwestern Mali. Bamako
and Wassoulou, Keita and Sangare and Tounkara, all look west to Dakar
and the Francophone world outside. This three-day festival takes place
well north of Timbuktu, deep in a Sahara where the sand is as fine as
flour and Algeria-identified Berber Tamasheks bore arms against Bamako
for 30 years before they were finally placated a decade ago. So though
Oumou is the soul of grace and kora master Ballaké Sissoko duets
nicely with an Italian pianist, though European groups and even some
Navajos check in, most of the artists are locals who arrived by Toyota
or camel, and most I'd never heard of--not even the rapturous,
woman-dominated Tartit. Lots of male gutturals, lots of female
ululations, lots of hard chanting, lots of drums, lots of stringed
instruments that might as well be drums--and yes, a few blue
notes. A MINUS
AL GREEN: I Can't Stop (Blue Note)
His midrange less creamy, he shouts a lot and relies on falsetto to
make a point. Although Smokey Robinson and Seth Swirsky songs perked
up his last pop move, he takes composer's credit for every shining
star and pledge of love, generally leaving a share for his new old pal
Willie Mitchell, who for his part proves all too willing to put
subtlety behind him and get bumptious with the horns. So don't believe
kneejerks crying comeback. But don't believe regular jerks whining
hype either. Material has never been a big deal for a singer whose
arrangements always play second fiddle to his inventions, and that
singer has retained plenty of voice and the guile to know what to do
with it. Give these performances time and they cohere, not as classy
modernizations or returns to a form he never lost, but as artistic
statements from someone with no history of taking his talent for
granted. New classic: "The Problem Is You," all 6:28 of
it. A MINUS
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THE HANDSOME FAMILY: Live at Schuba's Tavern (DCN)
Until now the most efficient way to acquire a taste for Rennie and
Brett's weird tales was the Ireland-only Down in the Valley
comp. This night of greatest whatevers is longer, cheaper, and
better. Since they make what little music there is themselves, they've
got no production values to lose. Brett's deep monotone loosens up
live. And the onstage bickering about magic crystals of overpriced
kitty litter and the correct pronunciation of "Vienna sausage"
normalize their obsession with the grotesque, the doleful, and the
other side of eternity's divide. Sounds like they drive around America
picking up gossip at roadside attractions, filling stations, ice cream
socials, and bars serving 3.2 beer. Does "Here in the bipolar ward/If
you shower you get a gold star" reflect personal experience? So I'm
led to understand. But if they weren't past that experience, Rennie
wouldn't write about it so well, and Brett wouldn't sing about it at
all. A MINUS
TELEVISION: Live at the Old Waldorf (Rhino Handmade)
Featuring four fewer songs and a slightly tamer performance than its
long-standing ex-bootleg competition The Blow-Up, which sells
for just a buck more, it more than compensates with superior sound. If
the presence and detail of the vocals plus the definition and muscle
of the guitars don't make a Tom Verlaine fan out of that theoretical
dude who's always telling you they weren't kickass enough, show him
how a real dweeb kicks ass: Take your iPod and go
home. A MINUS
Dud of the Month
TED LEO & THE PHARMACISTS: Hearts of Oak (Lookout)
He abjures the slick. He honors the hook. He reckons the wages of
imperialism. He spells forebears and forbearance
correctly in the same sentence. So of course he's an Indie Hope. But
his literate lyrics rarely hang together or hit home, and unless you
miss Kevin Rowland more than Eileen ever did, his penchant for
signifying commitment by vaulting up the scale is an annoying
convention at best, an unlistenable tic at worst--namely, yoked to his
limited melodic capacity on "Dead Voices," which has Indie Lifer
stamped on its copyright notice. B
Additional Consumer News
Honorable Mention
- Mali Lolo!: Stars of Mali (Smithsonian/Folkways):
Use as a sampler, swearing faithfully to explore the artists you glom
on to (Oumou Sangare, "Ya La"; Les Escrocs, "Pirates"; Super Rail
Band, "Mansa"; Neba Solo, "Vaccination").
- The Strokes: Room on Fire (RCA): Narcissism repeats
itself ("Between Love and Hate," "What Ever Happened").
- The Handsome Family, Singing Bones (Carrot
Top): Holding the mysteries of death in this old land to a (temporary)
draw ("The Bottomless Hole," "Gail With the Golden Hair").
- RZA, Birth of a Prince
(Wu-Records/Sanctuary): Franchise-holder as franchise, his beats
stronger young-and-thug than grown-and-numerological ("Drink, Smoke
and Fcuk," "Chi Hung").
- Chris Knight: The Jealous Kind (Dualtone): It's a
lot easier to write the wild side than to live it, but not a lot
smarter ("The Jealous Kind," "Carla Came Home").
- Rod Stewart, As Time Goes By . . . The Great
American Songbook Volume II (J): No Sinatra, but also no
Ronstadt, plus he knows the difference between Nelson Riddle and
Gordon Jenkins ("Until the Real Thing Comes Along," "As Time Goes
By").
- Frank Black and the Catholics, Show Me Your
Tears (SpinArt): You show me yours and I'll show you mine
("Horrible Day," "Everything Is New").
- Baby Gramps Trio, Hossradish (Grampophone):
Long-winded coot does Dylan, Gershwin, and Davies well enough, plays
word games better ("Oxymorons," "Skillet of Snakes").
- Tulear Never Sleeps (Stern's/Earthworks): Tsapiky from
Madagascar's wild southwest, milder than advertised in true Malagasy
fashion (Saïd-Alexis, "Mahareza"; Tsy an-jaza, "Tsy an-jaza andao
tsika holy").
- The Fugs, The Fugs Final CD (Part 1)
(Artemis): Too poetic for anyone who doesn't love Ed Sanders plus too
wacky and didactic for proper poetry equals you gotta hear it to
believe it ("Septua-genarian in Love," "Advice From the Fugs").
- Yo La Tengo, Today Is the Day (Matador):
Remix, cover, instrumental, great Summer Sun reject, ordinary
Summer Sun reject, judicious Summer Sun reject ("Styles
of the Times," "Needle of Death").
- Yo La Tengo, Merry Christmas From Yo La Tengo
(Egon): Three Xmas songs you don't know is miracle enow ("Santa Claus
Goes Modern," "Rock N Roll Santa").
- Aesop Rock, Bazooka Tooth (Definitive Jux):
Fathomless beats an adventure, impenetrable lyrics a drag ("Babies
With Guns," "Limelighters").
Choice Cuts
- Television, "Little Johnny Jewel," "Untitled Instrumental"
(Marquee Moon (Elektra/Rhino)
- Television, "Adventure" (Adventure,
Elektra/Rhino)
- The Rogers Sisters, "Zero Point"; The Strokes, "New
York City Cops (Live in Iceland)" (Yes New York,
Wolfgang Morden)
- Beaver Nelson, "Government-Sanctioned Hayride"
(Legends of the Super Heroes, Freedom)
- Sullen, "No Sleep," "All Fall Down" (Paint the
Moon, Thick)
Duds
- Corey Harris, Mississippi to Mali (Rounder)
- Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, Tell Balgeary, Balgury
Is Dead (Lookout)
- John McLaughlin, Thieves and Poets (Verve)
- Najma, Vivid (Mondo Melodia)
- New York City Rock N Roll (Radical)
- Yo La Tengo, The Sounds of the Sounds of Science
(Egon)
Honorable Mention and Choice Cuts in order of preference.
Village Voice, Nov. 18, 2003
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Oct. 28, 2003 |
Dec. 2, 2003 |
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