Music review
The title translates to songs normally sung in an old style (sean-nos) but given a contemporary (nua) fillip. It’s an exquisite collection of story-songs about romance, lost sailors, and childhood games. In one of two cuts sung in Gaelic, O’Connor infuses ferocity into a song about a noblewoman-turned pirate. It’s underwritten, with drums, electric guitars, and penny whistle. The spectacular treatment of the “Lord Baker” ballad, sung with the enchanting vocals of Christy Moore, has mesmerizing music and poetry. Accompanied by a spare organ line, the song is almost 12 minutes, but not a moment too long.
Instruments, including accordion, whistle, mandolin, fiddle, banjo, quanun, and bodhran bass, provide beautiful underpinnings and are brilliant in their restraint.
“Up,” Peter Gabriel
Gabriel’s first studio disc in a decade is many things: It is challenging, creative, at times disturbing, and occasionally beautiful. One thing it most definitely is not is “up.” From tales of grief to meditations on how quickly life passes, “Up” is thoughtful and personal, but ultimately more to be admired than enjoyed. It begins with the aggressive rock of “Darkness,” some soft vocal passages contrasting with others given a “Walrus”-like distortion. The angry musical tone continues on “Growing Up” set to an electronica/dance-style arrangement.
The disc does have alluring moments, such as the melodic and atmospheric “Sky Blue” featuring the Blind Boys of Alabama.
“Up” is intense but, overall, hardly a pleasure.
“Radio Nights,” Cannonball Adderley
“Radio Nights,” mastered from tapes made during live 1967/68 broadcasts by Adderley’s quintet and sextet at New York’s old Half Note, reveals the audible magic created by musicians unencumbered by studio sterility or the shenanigans and pressures of a “live” recording.
The price for this is a little choppiness between tracks, inconsistent recording dynamics, the chattering of the audience throughout a set, and the tendency for soloists to turn away from a microphone and fade away. But all of these are outweighed by the excitement and energy of the band on fast numbers, and the light, plaintive cry of Cannonball’s sax and brother Nat Adderley’s cornet on the ballads.
As an addition to seven music tracks, Cannonball’s role as an entertainer and raconteur was culled for the eighth track from undated appearances at San Francisco’s Keystone Korner. But it is the music, first and foremost, which is compelling.
Cannonball takes the verse at blistering speed and hits the chorus in perfect stride with his brother’s cornet.
Contrasting with this cut is the soft but punchy ballad, “Stars Fell on Alabama,” which is handled swing-band style rather than in the hard-bop idiom.
This disc is documentary taping, something never meant to be mastered and sold. It is a window to the jazz club scene which has, in many ways, left us.
– LARRY ROBERTS
DRESSED IN BLACK: A TRIBUTE TO JOHNNY CASH, Various Artists (Dualtone)
If you’re a Johnny Cash fan – and even if you’re not – this generous collection of 18 country
ock standards by the Man in Black is worth owning. Unlike most tribute albums with new versions of old hits, these are fine numbers in their own right. They are true to the mood and feel of the originals, but not just carbon copies, as they let the talents of each contemporary star shine through.
Besides, mimicking Cash in voice and delivery would be an exercise in futility. Nobody can match that distinctive, deep bass, slightly nasal voice of his. What we get here is a genuine tribute to Cash’s sassy, mud-in-your-eye attitude that rose up on almost every number. The songs, too, are knockout music, many of them with a heavy rockabilly beat and all with very fine instrumental work.
Several tracks are not as good as the originals, but the differences in interpretation make them entertaining nevertheless. Highlights include “Jackson” by Mandy Barnett and Chuck Mead, “Ring of Fire” by Billy Burnette, and “I Still Miss Someone” by Earl Poole Ball.
– KEN ROSENBAUM
IN MEMORY OF MICHAEL BLOOMFIELD, the Ford Blues Band (Blue Rock’It)
In the 1960s Michael Bloomfield was the hottest white blues guitarist in the U.S. His stinging leads were featured on Bob Dylan’s first electric recordings and, along with his Chicago cohort Paul Butterfield, he established himself as a blues zealot of the highest order.
Drugs, booze, a mediocre singing voice, and a disdain for touring short-circuited his career and his life. He died in 1981 at 38, but his legacy lives on, and The Ford Blues Band pays loving homage to it on this disc. Along with Robben Ford, they plunge into Bloomfield’s catalog, firing up a blazing set of Chicago-style blues.
Guitarists Ford, Chris Cain and Volker Strifler mime Bloomfield’s leads perfectly, breathing life into them with their own stylistic flourishes. And horn-heavy cuts like “Groovin’ Is Easy” are vintage ’60s soul with a modern edge.
Importantly, this release stands on its own. If you’ve never heard of Bloomfield, it doesn’t matter – this is classic blues.
– ROD LOCKWOOD
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.shns.com.)