Asleep at the Wheel continues to turn adult lyrical themes, and "maturity" is fle late last year, but it's simply too fine out some of the most inventive and evoc- the watchword. The album zigs and zags to let slip away. The recent release of ative music of the western -swing genre. autobiographically from the rough ter- "Any Kind of Lie" by his wife, Marti Still led by the long-haired, lanky Ray rain of his days as an unrepentant rock - Jones, is a good excuse to slip in a Benson (who has survived the numerous and -roller to the spiritual quest that con- reminder about "EEE," because the personnel changes through the years), in stitutes his current mind set. two albums complement each other "Keepin' Me Up Nights" the group In a blindfold test, "Brent Bourgeois" nicely. Together, they constitute an on- mixes Texas dance -hall fare, boogie- could pass for the work of Utopia, Todd going dialogue between male and female woogie, ballad, jazz, rock, and r -&-b to Rundgren's exercise in band democra- points of view on the sometimes comi- move through a well -paced and sophisti- cy. Like Rundgren, Bourgeois elongates cal, often hurtful, and always confusing cated set. The album finds the band pop forms into rhythmically decentral- battleground of love and war between seeking mainstream acceptance without ized chants and swirling melodies. His the sexes. sacrificing its dignity or compromising voice recalls the boyish tenor of Uto- In "EEE," Dixon serves up tantaliz- its free -roaming style, and while it still pia's Kasim Sulton yet also takes on a ing snatches of Sixties -style Top 40 and suffers somewhat from the departure of soulful, low -end vibrato. Starbursts of beach music while employing thorough- singer/guitarist Leroy Preston, a found- vocal harmony illuminate such songs as ly modern approaches to the studio and ing member who wrote some of the Dare to Fall in Love.Exotic touches pop -soul songcraft. The Uptown Horns provide soulful punch in John Hiatt's muscularLove Gets Strangeand a pro- pulsive stomper calledRoots of Truth. Elsewhere, Dixon scuffs up the dB's' Bad Reputationand pulls off a snappy little barroom weeper,Calling Out for Love at Crying Time,co -written with Marshall Crenshaw. He alsotackles Brenton Wood's beach classicGimme Little Sign,sung as a duet with Jones, and James Carr's hauntingDark End of the Street.The best song, however, is Dixon's ownI Can Hear the River,a grand, gospel -style number that ought to be covered by Aretha Franklin or Al Green. P.P. DJAVAN:Puzzle of Hearts.Djavan (vo- cals, guitar); other musicians.Corisco; Being Cool; Cigano; Puzzle of Hearts; Vida real; Amazon Farewell;and four others. COLUMBIA © CT 45435, @ CK 45435 (41 min). Performance:One of Brazil's hest Recording:Very good The two albums by Djavan previously released in the U.S. skillfully combined his awesome natural talents with state- Djavan: the truth of an older heritage of-the-art production techniques, earn- ing him immediate acceptance by those band's more commercial tunes, the in- abound, from the Eastern modality of more accustomed to the easy accessibili- clusion of such upbeat numbers as Pres- My Little Island to A Long Way from ty of North American pop than to the ton's ownThat's the Way Love Isand the Home'straditional Irish -folk styling. A sweet subtlety of Brazilian song. For Ray Charles -like title tune almost makes lushly harmonized remake of the Zom- "Puzzle of Hearts," his third outing on up for the loss. George Strait may have bies'Time of the Seasonwill probably Columbia, he returned to Brazil and has made the western -swing revival cool, attract the most attention, yet "Brent come up with an album that's much but Asleep at the Wheel keeps it honest Bourgeois" is best approachedin totoas closer to his original style. While it re- as sagebrush and loose as tumbleweed. an extended meditation on morality and tains the punch and directness of pop, it Superb musicianship, sparkling songs, transcendence. P.P. resonates with the rich rhythms and tex- and an all-out "fun" approach add up to tures of his native land. The result is his an exemplary album of the kind of music CARLENE CARTER: /Fell in Love(see most artistically satisfying effort since he sometimes referred to as "hillbilly's an- Best of the Month, page 131) emerged as a major figure in what is swer to jazz." A.N. called World Music. DON DIXON:EEE.Don Dixon (vocals, Like Milton Nascimento, the stan- BRENT BOURGEOIS. Brent Bourgeois guitar, keyboards, bass); other musi- dard-bearer of the modern Brazilian (vocals, drums, keyboards, bass, accor- cians.Oh Cheap Chatter; Silent Screen; sound, Djavan is a master singer, guitar- dion, acoustic guitar); other musicians. Love Gets Strange; I Can Hear the ist, and composer, though he has more of The Real Things; Compromise; Dare to River; Dark End of the Street;and seven an affinity for lean, edgy pop rhythms. Fall in Love; Can't Feel the Pain; Scene of others. ENIGMA © 73356-4, @ 73356-2 This characteristic is most apparent in the Crime; Wild Child;and five oth- (45 min). the openers,CoriscoandBeing Cool,but ers. CHARISMA/ATLANTIC 1-91364, © 4- most of the music here rings with the Performance:Soulful and assured 91364, @ 2-91364 (46 min). truth of an older heritage, as inAmazon Recording:Very good Farewell,where pulsating percussion un- Performance:Intriguing Don Dixon is best known as a producer, derscores his commentary on the burn- Recording:Very good but he is a commanding vocalist, musi- ing of the Amazon rain forest. The Brent Bourgeois, late of the group Bour- cian, and songwriter as well. His fourth brightest gem of all is the haunting title geois-Tagg, has made an album based on solo album, "EEE," got lost in the shuf- track, which Djavan sings twice, in both 140 STEREO REVIEW NOVEMBER 1990.