CD reviews for Oct. 16, 2009
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Barbra Streisand
LOVE IS THE ANSWER
Not many 67-year-old singers release No. 1 albums these days. Sharing the charts with artists old enough to be her grandchildren, Barbra Streisand’s latest album, Love Is The Answer, made a No. 1 debut last week. It’s classic Streisand. Accompanied by silky orchestrations and jazz pianist Diana Krall and her quartet, Streisand performs standards and Broadway tunes that have stood the test of time. Johnny Mandel, composer of “The Shadow of Your Smile,” does most of the conducting and arranging and Krall serves as co-producer.
Streisand, Mandel, Krall and the dozens of talented players combine with songwriters such as Mandel (“A Time For Love”), Luiz Bonfá (“Gentle Rain”), Jacques Brel and Rod McKuen (“If You Go Away”) and Jule Styne (“Make Someone Happy”) for an album that glows throughout its 13 tracks. Singing with beautifully round tone and artful expression, Streisand’s instrument is remarkably intact. Her seasoned artistry compensates for any lack of the thrilling high notes she once performed. Love Is The Answer likely will put this winner of 10 Grammy awards, two Oscars, five Emmys, etc., in line for more accolades.
Big Star
KEEP AN EYE ON THE SKY
Chris Bell
I AM THE COSMOS
River city Memphis was home to Sun Records and its rockabilly stars; the blazing Southern soul of Stax Records; Al Green and his creative partner at Hi Records, Willie Mitchell; and Chips Moman’s hit factory, Sound Studios.
Another Memphis studio, Ardent, produced pop-rock band Big Star. The band’s 1972 album debut, #1 Record, impressed critics and underground radio upon its release but didn’t sell. Big Star — featuring singer-songwriters Alex Chilton, the current New Orleans resident who came to fame with the Box Tops hit, “The Letter,” and Chris Bell, shined brightest only after it ceased to exist.
Rhino Records chronicles cult fave Big Star with Keep An Eye On The Sky. The set’s four CDs include the group’s output and Chilton and Bell’s other work. It’s a treasure chest of trebly guitars, melody and harmonies.
Tunesmiths Chilton and Bell learned their lessons well from such ’60s inspirations as the Beatles, Byrds and Kinks. The pop-oriented Bell pays affectionate homage to the British with “All I See Is You,” featuring Moog synthesizer and Ringo Starr-modeled drums. Big Star co-writers Chilton and Bell, apparently fans of both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, also inject Stones-like swagger into Big Star songs and the Stones occasionally meet the Beatles in Chilton-Bell collaborations.
“Country Morn” and “The Ballad of El Goodo” show Big Star’s influence upon such future groups as Wilco and the Jayhawks. The profusion of guitar-and-voice demos on this four-CD set may be too much, but they also make Keep An Eye On the Sky the most exhaustive view of this great American band that never caught a break.
If Big Star is the ultimate cult band, Big Star founder Chris Bell must be the definitive cult solo artist. Devastated that the first Big Star album failed, Bell attempted suicide. During the next few years, the solo Bell recorded and performed in Memphis, France, Berlin and London. In London, he worked with Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick at Beatles producer George Martin’s AIR Studios. Emerick was a natural choice for Bell, as heard in the songs of I Am The Cosmos, a two-CD collection of Bell’s exquisitely Beatles-esque work.
Title track “I Am The Cosmos” originally appeared in 1978 as a 45-rpm single. Shortly after its released, a single-vehicle auto accident killed the 27-year-old Bell. Other than the single, Bell’s often dreamy, poignant songs weren’t commercially released until 1992. The new Bell collection expands the 1992 collection through 13 unreleased recordings, many of them obvious gems in which Bell sounds forever young, forever sad.
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