Disc-ussions -- Jay Dunner E-mail: [email protected] On the Web: www.onceuponafullmoonnight.com

QUOTE OF NOTE: “I went out with my ukulele at night; instead of selling papers, I stood out and walked the streets and people would stop me and ask me to play something for them. I was 7.” (George Benson, jazz guitarist)

RODRIGO Y GABRIELA METTAVOLUTION (ATO)

The powerhouse acoustic duo offers six driving, percussive instrumentals very similar to their 2012 smash “Rojo Diablo” from the Puss in Boots soundtrack. Skittering nylon-string leads dance over muted and scraped strings, finger-drummed and hand-clapped guitar bodies, and enough strummed Latin rhythms to make Santana retire. I dare you to keep your feet still! But this is all just a prelude for the showcase track “Echoes.” RYG take on the side-long, psychedelic suite from Pink Floyd’s 1971 classic Meddle. Save for vocals, it’s all here – the mournful main melody; the phantom-of-the-opera, half-step guitar riffs; the soaring Gilmour-esque leads; and even the spacey slide rise toward the suite’s close. Viva la Mettavolution! ****

MISS BIX BITTERSWEET: AN ADULT CONTEMPORARY FIX (Amazon)

Anyone remembering Leslie Letven’s enchanting, haunting “Bittersweet” from her 1990 Sin-Drome debut Make It Right will likely flip over the prospect of new material from this reclusive, and undeservedly obscure, artist. Ah, well, don’t get your hopes up. Letven’s catalog remains sparse, with mainly blues-oriented material recorded as Miss Bix (a moniker likely inspired by Bill Bixler, Letven’s songwriting / performance partner since Make It Right). Bittersweet: An Adult Contemporary Fix is simply a digital repackaging of Make It Right – same songs, different order, perhaps with a little punch- up in volume, but not even one new song or additional out-take. Granted, the songs and performance remain as enticing as 30 years ago, like a cross of Carly Simon, Laura Nyro, and Anita Baker. The Fender Rhodes, funky bass, and sexy sax of “I Think I’ve Seen Enough,” “Slip Away,” and the title track will take you back to pre-auto-tune days, when music production required actual musicians. If you missed Make It Right the first time, make it right now, purchase the download, embrace “Bittersweet,” and then join the ranks of us still awaiting new pop-jazz from the long-lost Letven line. ****

IMELDA MAY 11 PAST THE HOUR (Decca)

The stiletto heels standing abandoned beside the bed on which May is perched, camera in hand, are a subtle symbol of May’s stylistic shift that began with 2017’s Life Love Flesh Blood. The rockabilly raven of Tribal’s “Wild Woman” and Love Tattoo’s “Johnny’s Got a Boom Boom” has revamped herself into . . . Sybil? The title track is the model here; it begins with a noir-ish, tremeloed keyboard figure and May’s vocal in a torchy whisper, but 2½ minutes in, a squalling guitar solo erupts, rips apart the pre-midnight mood, and then disappears. But what’s the point? “What We Did in the Dark” is half- baked Benatar. “Just One Kiss” and “Made to Love,” with guest guitar from Ronnie Wood, sounds – surprise! – like a Rolling Stones rehearsal. One track that is effective in matching lyrics, mood, and vocal is “Never Look Back,” straight from a Concrete Blonde playbook; May’s Johnette Napolitano is uncanny in its mystery. In sum, though May may not play her old rockabilly way, she’s yet to rebound with a consistent new sound. ***1/2

***** Outstanding. **** Excellent. *** Good. ** Meh. * Ecch!

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