.Spins

Editor’s Choice


The Beat Goes On: Allen Ginsberg’s spoken-word
CD tops the year’s best.

A world without Celine Dion

By Greg Cahill

OK, IT’S NOT EXACTLY earthshaking news–for the most part, pop and rock stiffed in 1997. U2’s Pop fizzled. The Stones’ Bridges to Babylon led to a creative dead-end. Canadian ugly duckling pop phenom Celine Dion just wouldn’t go away. And the biggest rock act of the year–Fleetwood Mac–dazzled crowds with recycled 20-year-old material cashed in for big profits.

Indeed, it’s hard to find anything of major interest on the Billboard Top 200 Pop Chart. Yet, it was a good year, for those willing to hunt. Here are a few faves that did strike a chord:

Allen Ginsberg
The Lion for Real
Mercury/Mouth Almighty
TWO BEAT GENERATION icons bailed out of this mortal coil this year: Poet Allen Ginsberg and writer William S. Burroughs. Before his departure, the impish Ginsberg teamed up with producer Hal Willner (the man responsible for the whole tribute- album craze) and a bevy of avant-rock and jazz artists (including guitarists Bill Frisell, Arto Lindsay, Marc Ribot, and Marin bassist Rob Wasserman) to create a wondrously delightful spoken-word piece. Often playful, always tuneful, it features Ginsberg’s fanciful poetry and musical accompaniment that is alternately baroque and fringy–all set to lines like “I remember the time I sat on the toilet naked and you powdered my thighs with calamine.”

Various Artists
NovaBossa: Red Hot on Verve
Verve
THE COMPANION disc to the star-studded (and not without its own charm) Red Hot + Rio (Verve)– compiled original versions of classic Brazilian jazz by Antonio Carlos Jobim, Stan Getz, and others. A steamy sampler of great Brazilian pop.

Charlie Haden & Pat Metheny
Beyond the Missouri Sky
Verve
A SEAMLESS SERIES of laid-back, acoustic duets featuring jazz-, folk-, and country-influenced impressions. This graceful journey through a minimalist landscape reunites guitarist Metheny and bassist Haden for the first time in seven years. Straight from the heartland.

Ry Cooder
Buena Vista Social Club
World Circuit/Nonesuch
THERE’S A LOT of great Cuban music out there right now, and this is one of the best. Celebrated roots guitarist Ry Cooder, who has released several acclaimed world-music recordings in the past few years, has rounded up many of the island’s best players for a refreshing, sensuous set that is some of the best Latin music around.

Lurrie Bell
700 Blues
Delmark
THIS CHICAGO-BORN blues guitarist is possessed with the spirit of the late Albert King informed by a savvy knowledge of country & western, R&B, jazz, and rock. More rewarding than on Lurrie’s acclaimed 1995 debut Mercurial Son, the taut, angular riffs on 700 Blues show that this up-and-comer is hitting on all six red-hot steel cylinders.

Various Artists
Kama Sutra
TVT
THE SOUNDTRACK to Mira Nair’s erotic drama weds Indian and Western instruments and music into a seductive set of sex and sitars. Who could resist a song titled “Come Paint My Breasts with Sandlewood”?

Various Artists
Reconquista! The Latin Rock Invasion
Zyanya/Rhino
GUERRILLA ARTIST and rock documentarian Ruben Guevara–a man committed to the notion that rock can serve as a tool for social change–compiled this visceral, passionate 17-track anthology charged with the blistering anthems by bands from throughout the Spanish-speaking world. Stimulating. Stylistically diverse.

Kathleen Battle
Grace
Sony Classical
CROSSOVER CHIC is very trendy in the classical music scene these days, as few people are buying straight-ahead classical recordings anymore (thus the wave of CDs from comely, scantily dressed female violinists; and long-dead German abbesses; and cellist Yo Yo Ma with his new tango recordings). This collection of sacred music by Bach, Handel, Mozart, et al. is simply divine, spotlighting the old-fashioned coloratura soprano talents of 49-year-old opera star Kathleen Battle, a prima donna blessed with a delicate, bell-like tone.

Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra
Blood on the Fields
Columbia
STEEPED IN Ellingtonia (particularly the Duke’s 1943 masterpiece Black, Brown, and Beige), this ambitious 3-CD opera details the life of a runaway slave and relies on such jazz fundamentals as blues and ballads, call and response, swing, and Afro-Caribbean. It breaks no new musical ground, but name one other living jazz artist who would even dare tackle a project of this magnitude.

Various Artists
Klezmer Music: A Marriage of Heaven & Earth
Ellipsis Arts
PASSIONATE PRAYER tunes and riotous dances abound on this collection of East European klezmer music, a compelling hybrid of traditional Jewish/Gypsy folk songs and modern jazz. The sweet sound of violins blends with the clarion call of the clarinet to beckon lovers of the eclectic and the ecstatic.

Lavay Smith & Her Red-Hot Skillet Lickers
One-Hour Mama
Fat Note
RED-HOT RETRO blues diva from Baghdad by the Bay purrs and growls through a jumping set of sexy, sassy swing. Highly recommended.

From the Dec. 18-24, 1997 issue of the Sonoma County Independent.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

spot_img
North Bay Bohemian E-edition North Bay Bohemian E-edition