CD Reviews for Sept. 19, 2008
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James still shows great skill at crafting songs
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James
HEY MA
From that great music city, Manchester, England, James, the band, enjoyed much success in its homeland and some stateside popularity during the ’80s and ’90s thanks to such tuneful pop-rock songs as “Laid” and “Born of Frustration.” Disbanded in 2001 and reunited in 2007, the band delivers an album of elegantly crafted new songs that are uniquely James.
Opening song “Bubbles,” inspired by the birth of singer Tim Booth’s son, flashes back to the James of the ’90s that was so appealing. The band’s gift for melody is undiminished. In “Bubbles,” lovely melody plays alongside an ethereal, reaching pop arrangement capped by grand crescendos. Ostensibly moving to less personal matters, title track “Hey Ma” is lyricist Booth’s unbridled anti-Iraq War song. It’s got big dynamics and, unlike much topical music, it’s a good song.
The band’s songcraft soars again in “Waterfall,” with its big, smacking drums, horn riffs and Booth’s Mark Knopfler-ish singing. Reverb sweetens Booth’s singing in “Oh My Heart,” a song that stretches through musical decades by recalling both U2 and the Kinks.
Hey Ma also has a winning variety of songs, from the slower “Semaphore,” featuring melancholy of the kind that inspired the James gang’s fellow Mancunian, Morrissey, to proclaim himself a James fan, to the Midnight Oil-level rage of “Whiteboy.” All of which makes Hey Ma a welcome return.
Steve Wynn
CROSSING DRAGON BRIDGE
Steve Wynn’s lengthy discography includes recordings by Dream Syndicate, his influential, guitar-centered ’80s band; Gutterball, a raucous ’90s group that featured members of House of Freaks and the Silos; his latest band, Miracle 3; and, with the arrival of Crossing Dragon Bridge, 14 solo albums.
Crossing Dragon Bridge, mostly recorded in Slovenia, is characteristically guitar-based, but it also features a Czech string section and Slovenian choir. And in this atmospheric disc, that old but effective studio device, reverb, is an instrument unto itself. Wynn and producer Chris Eckman liberally apply reverb to the singer-songwriter’s occasionally Lou Reed-like vocals and his guitar, too.
Droning rhythm guitar adds to the record’s Reed-Velvet Underground-like moments. Wynn’s moody, quieter songs plus Eckman’s mellotron playing and the Apollon Chamber Orchestra echo the early work of another classic rock act, the Moody Blues. On the rockier side, “Annie & Me” recycles a chord progression from one of Wynn’s Gutterball songs, “Sugar Fix.” Wynn cranks the distortion up for “I Don’t Deserve This,” giving such fawned-over younger acts as the Raveonettes a run for their noise.
Wynn’s latest disc shows his continued creativity and relevance.
Terrence Howard
SHINE THROUGH IT
Terrence Howard, of course, is a movie star who’s appeared in such popular and acclaimed films as Iron Man, Crash and Ray. In 2005’s Hustle & Flow, Howard plays a Memphis pimp who hopes music will turn his life around. The actor also joined Three 6 Mafia for Hustle & Flow’s Oscar-winning song, “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp.”
Shine Through It, Howard’s album debut, is not about rapping or pimping. Howard and bassist-multi-instrumentalist Miles Mosley co-produced and co-wrote the disc, a sweeping musical endeavor boosted by brass and string sections and backup vocalists.
Howard applies a Latin-tinge to “Mr. Johnson’s Lawn,” revisits brass-and-piano-based ’60s pop in “I Remember When,” turns to big-band swagger in “War” and pleads and rages through the break-up song, “No. 1 Fan.”
Howard, like his fellow actor, Billy Bob Thornton, made music in his youth but then acting, rather than music, happened for him first. While he’s no golden-voiced crooner, Howard delivers dynamic vocal performances of the kind that contain more reciting than singing. Stylistically, he’s a mix of dramatic ’60s soul stars and such explosive rock vocalists as Greg Dulli (Afghan Whigs) and Adam Duritz (Counting Crows). On one hand, Shine Through It is a big surprise. On the other hand, it’s pure Terrence Howard
HEY MA
From that great music city, Manchester, England, James, the band, enjoyed much success in its homeland and some stateside popularity during the ’80s and ’90s thanks to such tuneful pop-rock songs as “Laid” and “Born of Frustration.” Disbanded in 2001 and reunited in 2007, the band delivers an album of elegantly crafted new songs that are uniquely James.
Opening song “Bubbles,” inspired by the birth of singer Tim Booth’s son, flashes back to the James of the ’90s that was so appealing. The band’s gift for melody is undiminished. In “Bubbles,” lovely melody plays alongside an ethereal, reaching pop arrangement capped by grand crescendos. Ostensibly moving to less personal matters, title track “Hey Ma” is lyricist Booth’s unbridled anti-Iraq War song. It’s got big dynamics and, unlike much topical music, it’s a good song.
The band’s songcraft soars again in “Waterfall,” with its big, smacking drums, horn riffs and Booth’s Mark Knopfler-ish singing. Reverb sweetens Booth’s singing in “Oh My Heart,” a song that stretches through musical decades by recalling both U2 and the Kinks.
Hey Ma also has a winning variety of songs, from the slower “Semaphore,” featuring melancholy of the kind that inspired the James gang’s fellow Mancunian, Morrissey, to proclaim himself a James fan, to the Midnight Oil-level rage of “Whiteboy.” All of which makes Hey Ma a welcome return.
Steve Wynn
CROSSING DRAGON BRIDGE
Steve Wynn’s lengthy discography includes recordings by Dream Syndicate, his influential, guitar-centered ’80s band; Gutterball, a raucous ’90s group that featured members of House of Freaks and the Silos; his latest band, Miracle 3; and, with the arrival of Crossing Dragon Bridge, 14 solo albums.
Crossing Dragon Bridge, mostly recorded in Slovenia, is characteristically guitar-based, but it also features a Czech string section and Slovenian choir. And in this atmospheric disc, that old but effective studio device, reverb, is an instrument unto itself. Wynn and producer Chris Eckman liberally apply reverb to the singer-songwriter’s occasionally Lou Reed-like vocals and his guitar, too.
Droning rhythm guitar adds to the record’s Reed-Velvet Underground-like moments. Wynn’s moody, quieter songs plus Eckman’s mellotron playing and the Apollon Chamber Orchestra echo the early work of another classic rock act, the Moody Blues. On the rockier side, “Annie & Me” recycles a chord progression from one of Wynn’s Gutterball songs, “Sugar Fix.” Wynn cranks the distortion up for “I Don’t Deserve This,” giving such fawned-over younger acts as the Raveonettes a run for their noise.
Wynn’s latest disc shows his continued creativity and relevance.
Terrence Howard
SHINE THROUGH IT
Terrence Howard, of course, is a movie star who’s appeared in such popular and acclaimed films as Iron Man, Crash and Ray. In 2005’s Hustle & Flow, Howard plays a Memphis pimp who hopes music will turn his life around. The actor also joined Three 6 Mafia for Hustle & Flow’s Oscar-winning song, “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp.”
Shine Through It, Howard’s album debut, is not about rapping or pimping. Howard and bassist-multi-instrumentalist Miles Mosley co-produced and co-wrote the disc, a sweeping musical endeavor boosted by brass and string sections and backup vocalists.
Howard applies a Latin-tinge to “Mr. Johnson’s Lawn,” revisits brass-and-piano-based ’60s pop in “I Remember When,” turns to big-band swagger in “War” and pleads and rages through the break-up song, “No. 1 Fan.”
Howard, like his fellow actor, Billy Bob Thornton, made music in his youth but then acting, rather than music, happened for him first. While he’s no golden-voiced crooner, Howard delivers dynamic vocal performances of the kind that contain more reciting than singing. Stylistically, he’s a mix of dramatic ’60s soul stars and such explosive rock vocalists as Greg Dulli (Afghan Whigs) and Adam Duritz (Counting Crows). On one hand, Shine Through It is a big surprise. On the other hand, it’s pure Terrence Howard
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