_.6>.1 "t • i. \\'I , \~ jfiJ !.1! ' .! . c: ?. i '· Itt (:H ~ l. • VII I l PAGE"94 . .,.lf<5f:tlN'G"StoNE/SEPTEMBER 27', 19'

< Maria Muldaur . Wn~n the good old songs Reprise MS 2148 were new, Songs that ma.y no longer BY JON LANDAU 'pJease us, _ This is it: One of the half- . 'Bout the darldes, A-bout dozen. best albums of the year, Jesus, the kind of glorious brt:ak­ Mississippi minstr.els, the through tllat reminds me why I color of mol~sses, fell in love with rock & roll-. Strumming on their even · though there isn't much banjos to entertaiv, . ,tJle~r '· straight rock here. Maria Mul­ massahs, , Some said garbage, &orne daur's ~rt is mature, sophis­ ticated, sensual and wise. She said art, moves among . the genres of You couldn't call it soul, . you had to call it heart· jazz, Dixieland, jug band, country, pof an!i rock (I> lues while .she enlivens the follow­ are inexplicably missing) as if ing with her greatest display .of they were flowers in a garden, warmth: each worthy of her tenderest · Backs broke bending loving care.-She handle's humor digging holes to plant with an earnest undercurrent, the seeds, seriousness with a · sense of . The owners ate_the cane necessary detachment, pain and the workers ate the with an openness that ejevates weeds. rather than diminishes, and Put mud in the stove musical style.s with a pr~cision . · and water in the cup, that is the p'roduct of years 'of r ou work so hard you patient hard work 11nd study. · died standing up. The material (drawn from At the conclusion of this ut­ both contemporary and stan- terly magnifice'nt performance . dard works) revolves around' I don't know whether to laugh either historiCal themes or·as­ or cry. She has grasped some sumed personai autobiogra­ irreducible, cosmic feeling for phies. As. a whole the album America reminiscent of the looks to the "past as a source force of Bob Dylan's "It's Al­ of strength. to face the present. right, Ma,"· Randy Newman's Consequently, Maria sidesteps "God's Song," and Robbie Ro­ bertson's "The Night They the easy_ tap .of campin~ss­ Prove Old Dixie Do)Vn" and whicli is as far from her style as the. overt assault on a lyric "King Harvest." If "The Work Song" stands of an R&B ~nger-and ~ubsti­ tutes an affection and affinity as her most grandiose effort, the final cut, Wendy ' so deep that she.. creates an im­ Wald­ man's "Mad Mad Me," stands mutable li~ between past and as her·simplest and most fright­ present; the artist and her art. ening. This eloquent statement Her most immediately acce~­ • The · re~o~d is. organized' · found as Randy Newman's is o~sly resistant to modification · about the existence of redemp­ sible trait is a crystal , clear around clusters of material­ as a writer, anc! she holds and Maria's straight· ·apd un­ tive pain, suffering and love is voice that, in its fluid and dar­ some Dixie-arranged tunes, a · · ., "Midnight" together by walk­ sentimental, rather than idyllic, the perfect conclusion to a mel­ ing charges up and down the couple of Jazz-and-pop num­ ing a tightrope-:-singing its cra­ interpretation of the lyrics ancholy, controlled and com- register, . continually suggests bers, string-dominated straight · ·"· zy IYfiCS deadpan .. She· also again reveals her inclination . plex albufl'). Ms. Muldaur's vo­ more than first IJleets the ear. pop songs, and then som~ eli~ wraps her·voice ~round~- mind- ·. to distill .. the deepest level of cal iciness is integral to its ef­ No matter how 'gay ~he may mactic contemporary· original · shattering guit!lr solo from mas- . meaning from ~ny song, ' , fectiveness; if she merely sang sound, we. sense· the presence material by two new sm1gwrit­ ter Amos Garrett. (His work With so much fine 'root rna.: it .with abandon the shock of tulll)oil beneath the surface; · ers, Wendy Waldman and the ·· here;" is' only a·notch shor~ of his _ terial I was surprised that my would be too much to with­ no matter how melancholy, we Cambridge-based }(ate Mc­ spot on her earlier recording of . favorite 'cuts are all recently ' stand. sense some residual joy and Garrigle. As_ an exa,mple 'of the "Georgia on My Mind." Wood­ composed. Wendy Waldman's She is aided by Greg Pres­ satisfaction. She has been that first-mentioned style, she de- · stock legend has it that J: Rob- · "Vaudeville Man" is in the topino's deliberately simple, way since the first time I livers Jimmie Rodgerf ''Any hie Robertson put that perfor­ Dixie vein but with a richly shattering piano (an excep­ heard her in the early Sixties - ~ Old Time" witn near ' supper­ mance .on a tape loop so he . melodious · chorus. _The track ~ional singer, he will be heard (she began a deqtde ago .with club sophistication while sur­ . could listen to it continpously.) · sports Bill Keith's superb ban­ from again in his own right) the Even Dozen Jug Band, , rendering none of th~ song's · Mea.nwhile, · on "Walking" . jo, Andy Gold's oh-so-pretty and a small-scaled string ar­ followed by the years with JiJ? humor. She does more than that · Maria steps ·out, pushing the' finger-picked ·guitar, a .horn ·rangement. But the album's Kweskin's Jug Band, and. then for Doctor John's· "Three Pol­ disting~ished Messrs: Shaugh­ arrangemen~ by The Doctor ·greatest moment belongs to Jar Bill," ' ~ nilariou~ . trifle:' she I nessey and bassist Roy .Brown that punctuates the verses with blues and jazi albums with her her alone. She avoids self-pity husband Geofi) .. dignifies with a gr11·ceful de­ in.to place while , Richard soul riffs, . and the chorus with in the face of- inevitable and And on she livery, where a· lesser· artist ' Greene reminds us how he got easy-on-the-ears whole notes. Ma;;a Muldaur irreversible tragedy and con­ has the help of proc;lucers (Joe would have reached for ·a lusty his reputation for fiddle play­ The last song on either .side· verts sorrow into strength, com- . Boyd, with whom she has W()rk- . grqwl. "Don't You ·Feel _My ing. : Maria does all the voices, clinches· the album-they will pressing into two minutes and Leg" is ·. New ' Orleans , porno and :. I don't miss the Pointer ·­ reach you if nothing else does. ed before, ~nd Lenny Waronk­ 45 seconds a level of' intensity 'er) and session· men (includ­ and has a static· arrangement, ·sisters . .' Kate McGarrigle's ''The Work that stretches capacity for un­ ing Ry C90der, Jim Keltner, but Maria · p1aintains her.~ inef- Song" is about plantation life, Her two. performances in a derstltnding. Intensity and Chiis I;:thridge, Mac Rebel')- . . fable ability ~o 'balanee . con- · the birth of black music and a lush pop · vein.,.,-"Long Hard pride-for beneath the sadness nack, his drummer John Bour­ -flicting emotions; in . thjs ~ p.ase, lot of· otlier things, _l&lld fuses ''Climb" and -"I Never Did . I glimpse a sense of satisfac­ dreaux, · Ri!-!hard . Greene, Cla­ desire and 9lelan<;holy. :· ' ''. · hilarious verses with a ' power"' 'Write ·You a Love Song".,-are . tion in her own triumphs, both rence White, Amos Garrett •. fully righteous It would "Midnight at the Oasis" and ' well performed · but I find the ~:horus. · personal and musical: After a Tonig!ll Show drummer Ed be easy for the artist to play Dan Hicks's ·~walking One and · ' genre less appealing. The. lat­ decade of work, she has this Shaughnessey !lnd pop tradi­ the former for laughs and the 1 Only" move the album jnto , a· . ter tune ·is superior for its cut­ ma~terpiece to show for it and latter for tears, but Maria sings · tionalist arranger Nick De­ · jaz,z-pop feeling, and we a·re ting edge: of a lyric: Maria's · she somehow seems to know it. it all with tremendous sincerity; Caro) suffi~ently sympathetic . again aware of wnat she a,voio~: 'desire to display all facets of Long after Maria Mul(l.aur lending a nearly tragic quality to· her emotional 'and musical Maria .· doesn't bpwl ' q8 . aver _. .: her talent no ·doubt accounts ends, I can still hear her fi nat, to the funniest lines and a feel- . range. The personnel continu­ with the complexity and skill .· ·for their presence as well as ·tense, perfect weodins of voice ing of gai~ty .to the most mili­ ally varies to .suit ,the ~hifting of her technique, nor proclaim Dolly Parton's country stan- ·and lyrics. "Oh, baby, how I tant. Hence, her-reading "of the moods of the album's II cuts, the sophistication of the. :ar-. '· 'dard, "My Tennessee Mountain love you, mad as I think you are/ · followiri~ -. is remarkably . am~ and it is another proof of her rangements, nor compromise · · Home~ (with "Three Dollar Guess you think I'rp crazy too, strength that she domina~es the material to . mak;e it more . · Bill,~ her. · bes~ single prospect). biguous, . . , , '· ..· but mad mad me, I love you." such prodigious talent wHir generally appe~ling. As a sing- , 'Jim Keltner's bass drum ! Back beforethe,blues ... · · Listen to it-it may haunt you ease. er her sense of irony is as pro- : punches up an idiom notori. were blues, ... '. -. too. '-·