Parks Goes Deep on Retro-Soul Album
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ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2021 NEWS/FEATURES 13 People & Places Books ‘Blood Grove’ grips readers An ode to strength, ferocity of mothers By Molly Sprayregen he Four Winds,’ by Kristin Hannah (St. Mar- ‘Ttin’s Press) It’s 1921 in Texas, and 25-year-old Elsa Wolcott is considered by her own parents to be an ugly, unmarri- able spinster. Elsa’s family is wealthy, but she is hor- ribly unhappy. She dreams of a life where she is loved and where she also feels brave. One day, Elsa becomes entangled with a young man named Rafe, who she is forced to marry when he gets her pregnant and her parents disown her. They build a comfortable life and family together on Rafe’s family farm. But then the Great Depression hits, and so does the Dust Bowl. The family is broke and miserable, and it falls to Elsa to fend for her two children. It breaks Elsa’s heart to abandon the land she loves, but as the dust storms worsen, she knows the family must leave. They travel to California in search of a better life, but there, they fi nd even more hardship, even more poverty. Through it all, Elsa refuses to stop fi ghting for her family — no matter what. Hannah “The Four Winds” by Kris- tin Hannah is a captivating, heartbreaking tale of a family who will do anything for each other — and everything to survive. The strength of Hannah’s prose brings the characters to life in a way that will make you unable to tear yourself away from them. You will celebrate their triumphs, mourn their tragedies, and commend their bravery. Through it all, it is easy to feel Hannah’s desire to This cover image released by St. Martin’s Press shows ‘The Four Winds’ by Kristin This cover image released by Mulholland Books shows ‘Blood Grove’ by Walter honor those who lived and fought through this devas- Hannah. (AP) Mosley. (AP) tating time in history. “The Four Winds” is also an ode to the strength and ferocity of mothers, and a declara- tion that sometimes, love is the only thing that holds us together. Above all else, “The Four Winds” is merely a really Music good story, one that hits you in all the right places and will keep surprising you until the end. ❑ ❑ ❑ “Blood Grove,” by Walter Mosley (Mulholland CNCO gives fans swanky ‘Déjà Vu’ on covers album Books) Walter Mosley’s Los Angeles detective, Easy Raw- lins, has always invited comparisons to the original hard-boiled Southern California gumshoe, Raymond Parks goes deep on retro-soul album Chandler’s Philip Marlowe— but never more so than in “Blood Grove,” Mosley’s 15th and latest install- By Scott Stroudi In the fi rst lines of the closing song pop ballad “Tan Enamorados” fi nds its ment in his series. “Portra 400,” she practically declares sensual side. The surface similarities are obvious. Both detec- rlo Parks, “Collapsed in Sun- her mission as “making rainbows out The album beckons you on, one tives work what Chandler called LA County’s “mean Abeams” (Transgressive) of something painful.” seduction at a time. It may have been streets.” Both are seldom in the good graces of the au- This cover image released by Trans- The fi rst full-length album by Arlo By this time, 12 songs in, she’s done love some time ago, but the reggaeton- thorities. And both sometimes meander through ram- gressive Records shows ‘Collapsed In Parks delivers on the promise of the that over and over again. adjacent beats lead on with lust, and bling plots that are diffi cult to follow. Sunbeams’ by Arlo Parks. (AP) intriguing pieces that have led some ❑ ❑ ❑ CNCO re-ignite a different kind of In “Blood Grove,” as with Chandler’s “The Long to tag her already as the voice of a magic within these nostalgic songs. CNCO, “Déjà Vu” (Sony Music ❑ ❑ ❑ Goodbye,” the plot is so byzantine that it borders on generation, riding a gentle R&B retro- Latin) incoherent. And that’s OK. soul groove that soars with cinematic Imitation is the sincerest form of Ani Di Franco, “Revolutionary Both Chandler and Mosley amply reward readers imagery. fl attery and a covers album is the most Love” (Righteous Babe Records) with the beauty of their prose and with the world views A 20-year-old child of West Lon- earnest form of vocal fl exing. What Pioneering folkie activist Ani Di of their iconic heroes, men of honor struggling to do don, Parks counts an eclectic range better way to prove you’re not a run- Franco is a standout instrumentalist right in an unjust world. For Marlowe, that meant try- of infl uences, from Nigerian Afrobeat of-the-mill boy band than go for those whose guitar could kill fascists. Alas, ing to earn an honest living and stay alive in the cor- artist Fela Kuti to Otis Redding, but a hard to hit notes in those hard to forget on “Revolutionary Love,” her six- rupt, cultural wasteland of late 1930s to 1950s Los more tempting comparison is Sade, the songs? string doesn’t play a major role — or Angeles. For Easy Rawlins, it has meant trying to do British artist whose exotic looks, bass- “Déjà Vu,” the third album from many notes. the same with the added complication of being a Back driven melodies and smoky, accented Latin American sensation CNCO, Not that Di Franco has gone mel- man in race-torn, post-World War II Los Angeles. vocals set her apart, mostly before takes on the challenge of reimagining low. With characteristic passion on “Blood Grove” opens in 1969 when Easy, an aging Parks was born. some of the greatest Spanish hits from her fi rst studio album since 2017, she World War II veteran, is approached by a Vietnam vet Pacheco Tyson That’s good company, and Parks has the ’80s up to the early 2000s with makes the personal universal, and the with a wild story. The young vet thinks he may have the elegance to pull it off. But typecast- aplomb and a little aid from that con- political personal. killed a Black man in a fi ght over a white woman, but ing has its limits, and Parks fi nds her temporary reggaeton bassline. Her title cut is a seven-minute he’s not sure because he got knocked out and was Variety own way on “Collapsed in Sunbeams.” The quintet take 13 romance songs pledge to propel social movements alone when he came to. Could Easy track down the Her depth lies in lyrics that grapple that made hearts and ears swoon before with love and forgiveness, the mes- missing man and woman and fi nd out what happened? fearlessly with complicated subjects, they learned how to speak and they sage underscored by a slow-burn soul Easy fi gures the story is hooey but takes the case out an artist’s gift for imagery and a poet’s NEW YORK: Salsa idol Johnny Pa- make them sing. While a compilation groove. Elsewhere Di Franco quotes of solidarity with a fellow vet. Soon, he fi nds himself eye for detail. album of those original hits would Michelle Obama, skewers an ex- trapped in a bewildering maze of double-crosses, mul- checo, who was a co-founder of Fania A song called “Caroline,” for exam- Records, Eddie Palmieri’s bandmate make for a nostalgic, monster romance president and calls for resilience in the tiple murders, sex clubs and armed robberies. ple, is built around an argument over- playlist, this album weaves a love story wake of depressing news headlines. As always, Easy carefully calibrates his every move and backer of music stars such as Rubén Bladés, Willie Colón and Celia Cruz, heard at a bus stop. “Eugene” explores in catchy modern rhythms more suit- Such topics are mixed with couplets in a city where a Black man is perceived as a threat died Monday. He was 85. unrequited love for a longtime friend able for the dance fl oor. about personal pain and bliss, some- whenever he steps into a nice hotel or drives a good He had been hospitalized in New York with devastating, put-you-there preci- Enrique Iglesias’ “Hero” gets the times within the same song. looking car down the street. a few days earlier for pneumonia, his sion. least obvious makeover, keeping on The best of “Revolutionary Love” is “The Civil War had ended more than a century be- wife, Maria Elena “Cuqui” Pacheco, “I hold the Taco Bell and you cried the acoustic guitar but adding a rich- very good. Di Franco’s acoustic guitar fore,” Easy thinks as a cop holds a gun to his head, said on the artist’s Facebook account. over Eugene,” she sings. “He was ness of ranges to the vocals. The piano is most prominent on “Metropolis,” “but the remnants could still be felt, still killed over on Fania Records tweeted that the musi- mean.” from Ricky Martin’s “El Amor de Mi and it’s beautiful — a love ballad with any street corner in the country.” cian was “the man most responsible On “Black Dog,” a meditation on Vida” is replaced with a Latin rhythm shimmering reeds that evoke her de- ❑ ❑ ❑ for the genre of salsa music. He was depression, Parks invites you to share and traces of guitar in a modest but scription of “fog lifting off the bay.” a visionary and his music will live on in the ache of trying to lift the spirits Robert E.