BAC K BEAT Reviews Métier, but Their Rhythmic Approach Differs Cake Or a Chocolate Devil's Food; Fred Slightly
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
BAC K BEAT Reviews métier, but their rhythmic approach differs cake or a chocolate devil's food; Fred slightly. Bebop licks sometimes slip into a Schneider worries about sweat ruining his solo, and the tenor tone is a little edgier and expensive clothes, and he ruminates about brighter due to Coltrane's influence and to the runes in Mesopotamia. the more frenetic atmosphere of the Sixties. So there's no lack of nonsequitor idio- The "paterfamilias" of this more recent syncracy, but there is an undercurrent that generation's tenor -sax household was Gene the B -52's' music hasn't had before, and Ammons. Appropriately, his Hittin'the hadn't needed before. Their Tinker -Toy Jug leads off the set and shows his amazing musicianship and wittily detailed lyrics car- control of tonal inflections on the instru- ried them for two LPs, but by "Wild Plan- ment. Sonny Stitt, one of the bebop greats, et" they may have been wondering how to proves on 'Nother Fu' ther that he could be keep the party from running out of steam as nitty-gritty on a blues shuffle as anyone. without bringing out a reheated platter of Red -Eye Special features Rusty Bryant, an the same hors d'oeuvres. With Byrne's Ohio -based tenor player with a marvelously multilayered bag of tricks-more presence snide tone and cutting attack; it also con- to the percussion and bass, some opportune tains a startling trumpet solo by a twenty- horns and atmospheric effects-the festivi- one -year -old Jon Faddis. Willis "Gator" ties are revived. The band's scope has also Jackson's fiery sound and absorption of Illi- been broadened by its members. Their nois Jacquet's high -harmonics technique songs are more impressionistic and less fans the flames of Tu' gether, while Hous- gimmicky, and their performances are more ton Person's more gospel -based, declama- dynamic. Wilson has taken over most lead tory style brightens Goodness. Wade in the vocals, and she moves from whispers and Water shows mainstream jazz giant Johnny pleadings to shrieks and chortles with admi- Griffin playing the blues with a direct -drive rable aplomb. force that's pure funk. Stanley Turrentine, Some of their past delightful specific- still a major pop/jazz tenor player today, is ity of image-the names of the dances on the most modern soul -based stylist here. Dance This Mess Around, the scene -setting His version of Walkin' is utterly contempo- of Rock Lobster-is missing from "Meso- rary yet still neatly in the tradition and con- potamia." But neither of their full albums text of the collection. has a piece of rapidfire rock as tight as Nip Reissue producer and annotator Bob It in the Bud or anything as sexy as Love- Barton: let's -wreck -this -place abandon Porter was a staff producer at Prestige and land. Even the songs that most resemble the worked on some of the later sessions here. original B-52 sound are filtered through His notes are effortlessly insightful, his Byrne's perception and come out sounding like McClinton, she has been hanging out informed enthusiasm for these players and different: Throw That Beat in the Garbage with the famed Muscle Shoals sessioners- their various nuances lending variety and Can has a break that owes a lot to free -form Barry Beckett, David Hood, Roger Haw- coherence to both packages. The tenor sax avant-garde jazz, and the high -caloric Cake kins, et al.-who, on "Old Enough," pro- is the most vocal -sounding of all modern features soul revue horns. "Mesopotamia" vide their trademark swirling, funkified instruments, and the blues is ultimately a is an off-the-wall enterprise, the union of musicianship. Additional top -pedigree sup- vocal -based form. So both of these compi- new rock's resident southern flakes and the port comes from Eagle Glenn Frey and gui- lations have far more than just historical master of cerebral body music. Its approach tarists Jimmie Vaughan (from the Fabulous significance. The music is, after all, from could have come from a linein Cake: Thunderbirds), Duncan Cameron (ex - the fairly recent past and the players were, "Let's get this thing in the oven!" This Amazing Rhythm Aces), and Wayne Per- and are, masters of the blues in all its hues. thingCOOkS. -MITCHELL COHEN kins. As such they bring a timeless fluency and Barton and coproducers Wexler and eloquence to the music. HF Lou Ann Barton: Old Enough Frey have chosen some wonderful material. Glenn Frey & Jerry Wexler, Scottish blues-belter Frankie Miller's I'm producers. Asylum E 1-60032 Old Enough and his deliriously upbeat The The B -52's: Mesopotamia Doodle Song are rowdy party tunes that David Byrne, producer What's this? Has Delbert McClinton had a highlight the singer's raspy growl of a Warner Bros. Mini 3641 sex change operation? Has Rickie Lee voice. On the former, Perkins offers a sear- Jones dropped her hip -cat shtick and started ing lead guitar line, while Beckett and "Mesopotamia" goes beyond the B -52's' singing real honky-tonk blues? Has Bonnie Clayton Ivey play off each other on organ percolating cultural -junkyard pop to whip Raitt been slumming? No, Lou Ann Bar- and piano respectively. On Marshall Cren- up a dense form of dance music. Their first ton-yet another find from the trusty ears shaw's crisp, hand -clapping Brand New two albums, "The B -52's" and "Wildof veteran record producer Jerry Wexler- Love and the country -gospel crooner The Planet," were silly -putty exercises in pri- has arrived. "Old Enough," twenty -eight - Sudden Stop (once popularized by Percy mary colors and plastic pastels. This bar- year -old Barton's debut disc, is one of those Sledge), Barton sings like some winsome gain -priced six -track disc-almost an al-shamelessly inspired affairs, a rocking, bird, bending notes backwards with a keen, bum's worth of music at a $5.99 suggested bluesy collection of tunes delivered with the quirky sense of phrasing. Then she goes list price-maintains the beat while deep-kind of seemingly offhanded, lets -wreck - sultry as she breaks into Naomi Neville's ening the shades. Working with producer this -place abandon thatall rock records It's Raining, managing to sound coy, David Byrne of Talking Heads, the band aspire to and few achieve. moody, and lonesome allat once. (Al has encorporated his leanings toward voo- Like great white r&b shouter McClin- Garth's sax solo adds even more fuel to the doo rock -funk synthesis while sacrificington, Barton hails from the Lone Star state, fire.) She also covers a pair of Sixties hits: very little of their oddball personality. Cin- where she has been cutting her teeth on a Maybe, a bit of doo-wop from the Chantels, dy Wilson and Kate Pierson have a right - succession of blues/rock roadhouse bands, and Hank Ballard's soul strut Finger Pop - channel -to -left -channeldiscussionabout singingeverything from heartbreaking pin' Time, which sports Greg Piccolo's whether to bake a pineapple upside-down country ballads to Memphis soul. And, also appropriately frantic tenor sax break. 70 HIGH FIDELITY.