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In Step

By lytspeed Posted in Music, Opinion, Reviews Leave a reply

In Step

By: Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble

Type: Blues with touch of rock

Hot Tracks:

  • Crossfire
  • Travis Walk
  • Scratch-N-Sniff
  • Riviera Paradise

This is Stevie’s last studio album with Double Trouble and his first full-length recording after completing rehabilitation for drug and alcohol abuse. It is unfortunate that he didn’t get a chance to make more albums with Double Trouble in this style.

In Step marks a change in direction and energy for Stevie. This album has more of a rock feel than any previous Double Trouble album, but that does not mean Stevie neglected the blues in any way. All of the solos are still very blues based, with plenty of his trademark flash and Strat growl, but new songs like “The House is Rockin'” and “Scratch-N-Sniff” reveal a rock and roll energy that did not appear on earlier albums.

A couple of the album’s songs reflect Stevie’s struggle to get clean. “Tightrope” talks about what life on the edge was like, and how grateful he is for the people who helped him pull back from it. “Wall of Denial” is a call out to others who are suffering from substance abuse, telling them that the way out is through truth, love and facing their fears.

Of course, Stevie makes his obligatory nods to his heroes in three sixties standard blues tunes, Buddy Guy’s “Leave My Girl Alone,” Willie Dixon’s “Let Me Love You Baby” and “Love Me Darlin'” by Howlin’ Wolf. The best of these is the Buddy Guy tune, a slow, painful blues about a conversation between a man and his wife’s lover. Immediately after that, Stevie rescues us from the depths with a short, staccato instrumental called “Travis Walk,” which has a strong zydeco flavor. Uncharacteristic of his style, Stevie plucks almost every note, abandoning his slippery legato style for a brief time. Reese Wynans gets in a fine piano solo in this piece, too.

The crowning achievement of this album comes at the end, in “Riviera Paradise.” Arguably the best slow song Stevie ever wrote, it came to replace “Lenny” in concert as his audience address number. He often spoke about the dangers of drugs and alcohol during a quiet pause in the song before launching into the real meat of his solo. Occasionally, he would add emphasis to the song by preceding it with “Voodoo Chile, Slight Return” in concert as well. The contrast between the pyrotechnics of “Voodoo” and the smooth clean jazz of “Paradise” brought the crowd through a wide range of emotions in a short time, as well as showing off his range and technical expertise. Again, Wynans plays an excellent solo to complement Stevie’s melodic playing and chord comping. Hints of this song can be heard on live bootlegs as far back as 1982, as well as on the posthumous release “Live at Carnegie Hall,” so Stevie obviously worked on it for a long time before he felt he had the right combination.

It is a damn shame we no longer have Stevie’s playing to marvel at. When he died, he was still young by blues standards, and this album holds indications that the best was yet to come. Fortunately, there is a fairly large body of legitimate and bootleg recordings out there for us to love.

Rating (out of a possible five):

Hot

By lytspeed Posted in Music, Opinion, Reviews Leave a reply

Hot

By: Squirrel Nut Zippers

Type: Retro style jazz

Hot Tracks:

  • Put a Lid On It
  • Hell
  • Memphis Exorcism
  • Flight of the Passing Fancy
  • The Interlocutor

I’m trying not to tap my feet while playing this CD. I can’t do it!

The energy level of the band on this CD is unbelievable. I think this is partially due to the fact that it was recorded live in the studio, rather than being layered with overdubs. As one of the band members remarks on the the included multimedia computer track, this disc captures the live sound of the band, right down to the slight mistimings that often drive live performances.

The vocals, with the exception of Katharine Whalen’s, are mediocre. More than anything else in the group, her keening voice is reminiscent of what New Orleans jump joints must have sounded like in the 1920’s. Though all of the songs on this disc are original material, it is obvious that Whalen, Jim Mathus and the other members of the band have studied old 78s and jazz standards. Duke Heitger (cornet), Andrew Bird (violin) and Tom Maxwell (you name it, he plays it) stand out particularly for their talents, weaving solos around each other with practiced skill. The contrast of baritone saxophones to cornet is handled particularly well.

The production quality is not exceptional, though this kind of live recording comes across better on CD than it would have on LP. The compact disc’s extended dynamic range allows a clear live sound, as opposed to muddy reproduction. Without it, I don’t think this album would be as listenable. It would be too polished if done as a studio album, and that would take the fun out of it, so I think the production quality is appropriate for the music.

There are no lyrics on this album that will save the world, no socially-conscious words of deep meaning. Having fun is what this disc is all about, and if you have any tolerance for prohibition jazz at all, you will find that your feet just won’t stop tapping.

Rating (out of a possible five):

Guitar Slinger

By lytspeed Posted in Music, Opinion, Reviews Leave a reply

Guitar Slinger

By: Brian Setzer Orchestra

Type: Big Band Rockabilly

Hot Tracks:

  • Rumble in Brighton
  • Ghost Radio
  • Town Without Pity
  • (The Legend of) Johnny Kool
  • Hey, Louis Prima

I’ve long felt that Brian Setzer was one of the most underrated guitarists out there, and it’s great to see him succeeding with his new big band. This release has more energy than his previous one, starting immediately with a cover of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “The House Is Rockin’.” There are only about three songs on this twelve song CD that really allow the listener to take a breather, and they are placed strategically close to the beginning and the end, allowing the middle of the CD to fly high and fast.

The best of the mellow songs is his version of “Town Without Pity,” which slows down enough to allow Setzer to show off his Sinatra-like vocals before jumping straight into the high-energy “Rumble in Brighton,” which could have been a hit for the Stray Cats if Setzer had pulled it out back then. The high-speed fretwork at the end of the song is nothing short of amazing.

Setzer gets a little help from former Clash member Joe Strummer on two songs, most notably “Ghost Radio,” a rockabilly ballad about a stormy trip across the Texas plains and how the ghost of Bob Wills helps to save a bus trapped on a bridge. Setzer is good about acknowledging his influences, and this tribute to the Texas Playboys is his most ambitious reference yet. Later in the album, he pulls off a Chet Atkins/Jerry Reed style guitar break in “Hey, Louis Prima” as another tip of the hat.

The last song on the album, “Sammy Davis City,” (again penned with the help of Strummer) is a little strange. It is worthwhile, though for the chance to hear how Setzer can make an acoustic guitar sing. He shows his knowledge of chord movement clearly in this slow, sparse arrangement and leaves us wondering why the CD is over already.

There really is not a weak track on this album. People who enjoyed the mellow ballads of his first outing with the orchestra may be a little surprised at the wake up call this album gives, but I think they will adjust. There’s too much good music not to!

Rating (out of a possible five):

Four

By lytspeed Posted in Music, Opinion, Reviews Leave a reply

Four

By: Blues Traveler

Type: Counterculture Groove Rock

Hot Tracks:

  • Stand
  • Fallible
  • The Mountains Win Again
  • Hook

It’s about time Blues Traveler started getting the talent recognition they deserve. Interestingly enough, the songs on the album that are becoming hits are not the ones that I feel deserve the most recognition. Of the tracks that I listed above, only one has become a nationwide hit (“Hook.”) “The Mountains Win Again” has a strong following in the Denver area, for obvious reasons, but does not seem to be quite as popular in other cities. There are other tracks that I would list before the big hit, “Run-Around,” but I wished to limit the list to four tracks.

John Popper’s intelligent cynicism makes for excellent lyrics, especially in “Hook.” I suspect that this is the best treatise on the music business since Billy Joel penned “The Entertainer” — but this time the focus is more on the purchasers than the record companies. I wonder how many people blindly repeat the lyrics without realizing that they are the subject of the song.

The airplay tracks seem to follow the formula of “put John Popper in the spotlight since he’s such an incredible harp player and a good vocalist to boot.” I wish they would give Chan Kinchla, the band’s guitarist, a little more room to stretch and show off too. He can hold his own trading solos with Popper and provides a very solid backing for Popper’s Hohner pyrothechnics when the time comes. Several of the tracks on this album feature Kinchla, including “Stand,” “Fallible,” “Freedom” and “Crash Burn.”

A note on jamming: I’m glad to see bands like Blues Traveler, Dave Matthews Band, Phish and Big Head Todd coming to the fore. The music industry in recent years has been dominated by bands that, in general, don’t jam. Even jazz in recent years has seemed canned, rather than alive and full of improvisation. I’ve missed the extended jams that sixties and seventies rock music produced, but the above named bands are bringing it back. Phish and Blues Traveler especially are capable of improvising jams in a live situation, and to me this shows more talent and attention to musicianship. I should point out as well that I feel this style of jamming is far beyond the Grateful Dead jam style, in which there seemed to be no sense of timing or form. All of these bands give careful attention to form and timing in their jams and this has the effect of letting us enjoy the jam without becoming bored, as the Grateful Dead jams often did.

<Ducking various objects thrown by die-hard Deadheads>

Rating (out of a possible five):

Boston

By lytspeed Posted in Music, Opinion, Reviews Leave a reply

Boston

By: Boston

Type: Classic Rock

Hot Tracks:

  • More Than a Feeling
  • Smokin’
  • Rock and Roll Band
  • Foreplay/Long Time

No CD collection is complete without this classic album. Though it’s been out for over twenty years, it remains a staple of classic rock radio, and even the most technology-friendly bands of modern music are hard pressed to match the legendary Boston sound.

Tom Scholz is one of the best minds in the rock and roll world even today. We don’t hear a lot about him, but his musicianship, mixing skills and electronic wizardry are especially evident on this album, which came out well before electronic guitar effects processors were common. Scholz, more than any other musician out there, knows how to use equipment to get exactly the sounds he wants and often invents equipment to make the sounds that he can’t get. He has built a successful business, Scholz Research and Development, out of the manufacture and sale of guitar effects processors and pedals.

But all this talk about electronics has nothing to do with the music. On this album, you will find a strong commitment to melody and harmony, as well as plenty of straight-ahead rock and roll. Songs like “Smokin’,”Foreplay/Long Time” and “Rock and Roll Band” showcase the instruments while “More Than a Feeling” and “Something About You” put a little more emphasis on Brad Delp’s soaring vocals. All of the tracks are high-energy and the sounds fill the room (or your headphones) well when you crank up the volume. This album also makes good driving music, though it is too short for significantly long trips.

Boston’s productivity has been hampered by record contract problems, personnel changes and fairweather fan reception since the beginning of the eighties, but Still, Scholz occasionally finds the time to a new batch of guitar driven, synthesizer free (mostly) rock and roll with the same killer sound and songwriting style.

A friend of mine used to say, “Boston is the sound the electric guitar was born to make.” I tend to agree. The tone Scholz was able to pull from his Les Pauls back in 1976 was every bit as fat and good as today’s advanced equipment can produce; in fact, most guitarists have a very difficult time duplicating that sound without some of Scholz’ equipment. It just goes to show you where a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering can take you.

Rating (out of a possible five):