Marianne Flemming III Chords & a Bridge (Mermaid Records) Despite the album’s title, Marianne Flemming’s acoustic-guitar driven music, at its best, surpasses the usual rock and roll formula. At the deep end it can touch and chill you, as on the beautiful “Out to Sea”; at the other side of…
Funny, they don’t look like brothers. Self-described “South Carolina redneck” guitarist-vocalist Sean “Birdman” Gould stands a smidgen under six-foot-five in green Chuck Taylor hightops with red and yellow laces and the words Right and Left scrawled across their respective toes. A profusion of freckles dots his face and limbs. The…
Twelve years ago, during the all-star ARMS Concert (Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, et al.), a benefit for Faces bassist Ronnie Lane and others stricken with multiple sclerosis, a lone figure marched solemnly through the aisles of Madison Square Garden holding aloft a handmade sign. It read: “Plant and…
In the 1960s, Brazilian musician Tom Ze took part in founding the polemical popular culture movement tropicalismo, with a group of like-minded compatriots that included Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, and Gal Costa. But while his collaborators emerged from a period of political strife to achieve international fame, Ze, the story…
James Cotton’s voice has always been cottony. Whether pouring out his soul on a Jimmy Reed heartbreaker or wailing Wolflike, the bluesman sounds as if he has a mouthful of grits, a lungful of smoke, and a jones for some whiskey to wash it all down. Unfortunately, the years haven’t…
Little Axe The Wolf That House Built (Okeh/Epic) Shimmering synths…blues masters mumbling…annoyingly Steve Millerish riffs. Depending on the quality of your chiba, this curious little record is either an intriguing fusion of traditional blues and industrial ambiance, or a nauseating corruption of Howlin’ Wolf and his ilk. (Warning: Please don’t…
“The Bee Gees were possibly the greatest pop songwriters of all time.” If Dennis Davison intends ironic effect, he doesn’t betray it in his voice. Speaking over the phone from Los Angeles, the singer-songwriter-guitarist for that city’s pop-psychedelic band the Jigsaw Seen sounds serious. No, earnest. “I obviously prefer their…
Our intrepid solo act leaves Mr. Microphone for the major leagues By Jim Murphy A couple of months ago I wrote a piece for these pages about my then-soon-to-be budding career as a singer-songwriter. Predictions of musical greatness and visions of grandeur were based upon a highly successful debut appearance…
The Goods Mint (independent CD) One more time I’ll offer my humble and honest impression of a band I’ve raved about for years. The title is a chewy triple-entendre: as in to make, or mint, an album; as in this thing should make a mint for the lucky record label…
Apart from the obvious tools of the trade — cables, guitar picks, a really good head of hair — musicians often require something more likely associated with downtown businessmen. An organizer, the kind that lets you keep track of your schedule and store important notes, can be critical to the…
This is a story about Jolynn Daniel. I repeat: Jolynn Daniel. It is not about Mary Karlzen. I repeat: not about Mary Karlzen. Some confusion is inevitable. Daniel has been more or less operating in Karlzen’s shadow ever since Daniel fled Des Moines, Iowa, less than a year ago with…
“Whoever is famous at the moment is who I’m compared to,” says Ani DiFranco, clearing her throat early one morning after spending most of the previous night driving from Toronto to New York City. “I’d like to compile these articles where they say I have a style like Joni Mitchell,…
Johnny Cash came to town the other night and killed a myth, perhaps just to watch it die. Johnny Cash is not seven feet tall. His music (not to mention the Man in Black image) always has made him seem so imposing, the way he takes simple rhythms and melodies…
Duke Robillard Temptation (Virgin/Pointblank) If you rushed out some years ago to pick up Robbie Robertson’s first solo album expecting it to sound somewhat like the Band, you were probably mighty disappointed. That is, until you listened to it a few more times, shrugged off your preconceptions, and dug it…
Like a neon sign flickering FREE BEER-LOOSE WOMEN, there’s something about the sound of the baritone sax that announces a party in progress. Conjuring up images of Louis Jordan, Big Joe Turner, and other kings of good-time swing, the bari sax provides the bottom for the soaring brass section, squonking…
The songs Mary Karlzen’s new album are instantly likable, much like the singer-songwriter herself.
Even one listen to his My Love, Sex, and Spirit CD reveals James Hall to be another moody British pop auteur, crooning and posing in decadent affectation. But in fact Hall is a Nashville-bred Southern boy currently living in New Orleans, an appropriately steamy, seamy place for his brooding tunes,…
The selection of flamenco recordings in local music stores tends to be limited to a choice between the venerable Paco de Lucia’s classic albums and Eurohits by the dubious Gipsy Kings. Duende, a recently released three-CD box set with 48 pages of illustrated liner notes, substantially fills the gap: This…
On September 24, a Saturday, record stores across Ontario reported an odd but encouraging trend: People were lining up around the block to get into their outlets. Lining up, it might be noted, in freezing cold weather. That should come as little surprise to fans of the supermegacool band R.E.M.,…
Culminating with the release of Eric Clapton’s eagerly awaited roots return From the Cradle — the first straight blues record to hit number one on the Billboard charts — the blues has enjoyed a healthy year. The strength and diversity of recordings available in 1994, from the most electric to…
Now that self-proclaimed “fanatical music fan” Quentin Tarantino has been enshrined as America’s rock and roll arbiter of taste, he needs to be called on his musical pretenses (before his next film comes out). There’s been more pulp written about Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction than anyone — even the filmmaker himself…
Maggie Estep No More Mr. Nice Girl (NuYo Records) Concrete Blonde Still in Hollywood (IRS Records) Luscious Jackson Natural Ingredients (ERG Records) I have a tendency to annoy politically correct people by referring to a certain subset of music, unironically, as chick music. While it may not be the worst…
