|
|||
CASTLE
PENTANGLE/The Time Has Come: While Pentangle’s original catalog has finally gotten it’s reissue due, if this box were a collection of these original recordings, it would be quite a special box, but this collection, focusing on that period goes deeper. There’s a flock of rarities for all quadrants on board whether unreleased tracks, life stuff, BBC tracks that didn’t make the BBC collection and more. Purveyors of timeless music that sounds fresh and relevant today, with a Bert Jansch career bounce under way, the time for this to come around is more than appropriate. The band’s “real”period was the best of all their incarnations and this is something much more than a curio for completeists. The mix of guitar/folk/jazz/rock/Celtica this crew made is among the best the genre has to offer. It’s not far off to say they were the Beatles of their corner of the world. Real fans won’t have to be told twice to check this out, others might take the head’s up under serious advisement.
36272
ECM
JOHN ABERCROMBIE/Third Quartet: Abercrombie has always been like a jazz hipster version of Leo Kottke. ON this outing, he takes his art to some amazing place. Leading a crew of leaders, Abercrombie simply offers up a tour de force guitar date that almost needs to be hung up on the wall and admired for the art that it is, even if it’s organic, breathing art that will take your breath away. Displaying chops that don’t look, feel or sound like chops on display, this is going to be the touchstone guitar date that tyros slow down and listen to in the dark to try and emulate the technique. For those who don’t have such geek tendencies, they are going to have an adult listening session that simply raises the bar for all comers. Hot stuff throughout.
8584
MOTIAN FRISSELL LOVANO/Time and Time Again: Ah, a blessing and a curse. Getting back together recently after a twenty year lay off, this trio returned older, wiser and more powerful than before. This is one of those aggregations that don’t play music so much as they play color, white space and other artsy conceits. This is a curse because they do it so well, they inspire manques to try and emulate with a plethora of disastrous results. Stick to the real thing. Not many have the depth to play music in such artistic terms that inspire description in anything but musical terms. Very much the front runner in the jazz as art kind of sound, this is not a precious record where a little goes a long way. Tasty, tasty, tasty. You have to be ready to receive music like this, but if you have the adult kind fo ears in this groove, the rewards will be endless. ECM has probably birthed a perennial here.
8585
RAZOR & TIE
ANGELIQUE KIDJO/Djin Djin: Perhaps Kidjo’s most wild set. At once, it seems like she’s going all the way back to her original Mango roots, but at the same time, shoe rolls out highly diverse, contemporary guest stars, corrals Tony Visconti for production showing he keeps his chops fixed on tomorrow and serves up club anthems like never before. A completely stunning work that goes around the bend and comes back again, this ear opener practically posits Kidjo as a new artist despite the years of hard work and great music under her belt. Old and new fans can meet in agreeance on the bridge here as they rally behind a potent, new force in world music, club music and good music. Anyone that’s been waiting for Kidjo to break out with an across the board monster is going to feel justified in flashing this to their peers. The funny thing is that feels like a great adult record for Starbucks, but it’s way too hip for Starbucks.
82967
Volume 30/Number 155
April 4, 2007
MIDWEST RECORD
830 W. Route 22 #144
Lake Zurich, IL., 60047
CHRIS SPECTOR, Editor and Publisher
(c)2007 Midwest Record
No comments yet.
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI