Classic Albums: Rush - 2112 & Moving Pictures

Written by Dos Cervezas

2010 is turning out to be a very good year for Rush fans. So far we have been treated to the first in-depth documentary film about the band, Beyond The Lighted Stage, and a sold-out tour that is receiving rave reviews. And now the great VH1 series Classic Albums has stepped in to honor them. I think you would be hard pressed to find anyone who disagrees with the two albums spotlighted here, because 2112 and Moving Pictures are two undeniable classics.

When it came time to record album number four, Rush were really feeling the pressure from their label. In fact, they were almost dropped, until the managers stepped in and promised that the new music would be much more commercial this time around. One of the things Rush fans like so much about the band was their response to all of this. Since they knew there was no way they could compete for Fleetwood Mac or Doobie Bros. listeners, they went all the way the other way, with the side-long suite “2112.”

During the new interviews that were conducted for the program, it is fun to watch the three of them talk about the time. Neil Peart in particular mentions how angry the whole commercialization business made them, and how they were able to channel that into what became 2112.

2112 was a huge turning point for Rush, they went from perennial openers to headliners, and started selling records in large quantities for the first time. But their 1981 LP Moving Pictures was the one that broke them wide open. It remains their biggest seller to date, and contains their anthem “Tom Sawyer.“ They even played the album in its entirety on this year's tour. As long time manager Ray Daniels put it, “After Moving Pictures, we knew we were never going back to where we came from.“

Released just five years after 2112, Moving Pictures was a quantum leap forward for the band. Now they were writing songs that were being played (and still being played) on radio. In fact, it is almost wall-to-wall hits, including the aforementioned “Tom Sawyer,” plus others such as “Limelight,” “Red Barchetta,” and the show-stopping “YYZ.”

The extras on the DVD add up to an additional 54 minutes of interviews with the band that were not included in the broadcast. In these segments, the three talk about a variety of subjects including discussions of their influences, Neil’s reasons for writing “Red Barchetta,” and how the “2112 Overture” came about.

While Classic Albums: 2112 & Moving Pictures is nowhere near as ambitious as Beyond The Lighted Stage, it provides some fascinating insights into how each of the records came together. It goes without saying that the hardcore fans will want it, but I think the DVD will appeal to the casual listener as well. The Classic Albums people have done another superlative job with this one.

Framing Hanley - A Promise to Burn

Written by Pirata Hermosa

The second album from the five-member band from Nashville, Tennessee will be in stores on July 6th. Having spent the last few years touring with bands like Saving Abel, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Hinder, and Hollywood Undead, the band has had plenty of time to mesh together and come up with a more refined sound with new guitarist Ryan Belcher who took over for Tim Huskinson in 2008.

After just one listening of the album, two things immediately stand out. The first is that the band has a good sound and overall it’s very enjoyable. The second is that you can’t recall what any of the songs actually sounded like. There doesn’t appear to be anything with a real hook, nothing that leaves you humming any of the melodies. In fact, with many of the songs it’s difficult to determine what was the chorus and what were the verses. Thankfully, I was taking notes the first time I played it so I could go back later on and see what my first experience was and if anything changed over subsequent listenings.

"Intro" is just some creepy piano music. It doesn’t really add anything to the album and could have just as easily been the start of track #2. After hearing this a few times, it’s just as easy to skip over it. There has never been an "Intro" that was worth listening to more than a couple of times. "The Promise" is sort of a cross between a Coheed & Cambria song and Fallout Boy but a little slower. It is very guitar-oriented and doesn’t seem to have much of a chorus.

"Wake Up" is finally the first song on the album that has some kind of life. It’s a little more commercial than some of the others and has good vocal harmony. It has a little bit of a Rooney flavor to it. "Bittersweet Sundown" is a decent song, but seems to have an overwhelming large amount of chorus compared to the verses and leaves the song somewhat unbalanced. But after a number of hearings, you might actually find yourself humming this in the grocery store.

"Warzone" is the best song on the album. It was the only song that stuck out even slightly at first. It has a standard verse, bridge, and chorus formation and has lots of stops, starts, and changes throughout. This song just seems to get better and better the more you listen to it. "You Stupid Girl" starts off with a slow, almost whispering style voice where the music sounds darker and could have used a deeper more sinister vocal arrangement. But the tempo quickly picks up and other than the initial vocals, ends up being one of the best songs on the album.

"Weight Of The World" is a little schizophrenic as initially it’s a piano ballad song mixed with acoustic guitar as lead singer Kenneth Nixon sings a love ballad. However, the chorus saves the song when all the electric guitars and drums kick in. It also ends up having the only catchy chorus on the album. "Fool with Dreams" comes across as a really sappy ballad. It’s not a bad song, but there is an added sound effect on the track that sounds like a helicopter throughout the entire song. And that helicopter just seems to stand out more and more each time you listen to it.

"Back To Go Again" sounds like it was written by the Jonas Brothers. It has a very pop sound to it, and when the line “This isn’t a song about candy, but we’re still suckers the same,” is sung you can’t help but think of bubblegum pop music. "Livin’ So Divine" just gets lost on the album. By the time you’ve gotten this far, you really need something to stand out, and it just doesn’t. The only surprise is that you hear the first and only real scream on the album.

"You" is the worst song on the album. It starts off with an acoustic guitar and Nixon singing after he drank a bottle of scotch and gargled some razor blades. The beginning is incredibly painful to listen to. And it doesn’t get better when he decides to sing in his normal voice because the song is very whiney. After just a couple of times of listening to this song, you’ll skip this track every time.

"Photographs and Gasoline" has an interesting flavor to it. It’s got a good sound, a little bit of techno mixed in and if not for its placement between too crappy songs, it might be a little more memorable. Of course, the fact that they tack on a goofy intro for the final song of the album doesn’t help at all either. It’s the sound of someone flicking a lighter, then some piano comes in, and the lines “Jack be nimble/ Jack be quick/ Jack sent to Hell with a candlestick/ oh it will be/ oh it will be a hot time in the old town tonight,” is recited over it.

After listening to the ridiculous intro to "The Burn" and it’s over-the-top orchestral beginning, this song is a huge disappointment. It just comes across as some super-egotistical, pompous song about burning Hollywood to the ground. It leaves you with such a bad taste in your mouth that it’s only bearable to listen to the first couple of times. And it’s too bad, because there is some really good guitar work on it.

The DVD that comes along with the new album says that it’s going to be about the creation of the album and their experience sequestered in Soundmine Recording Studios in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. After watching just a few moments of the band saying that they have nothing to do up there and are just playing some of the songs with no kind of insight or real commentary from anyone, it appears that the DVD is a huge waste of time. But thankfully just as you are about to turn it off it suddenly changes and focuses on the band’s history, previous tours, and even does a short spotlight of each member.

Compared to the first album, it’s obvious to see that the band has come a long way. The music is tighter and much more professional, but at the same time something is lost as it sounds almost over processed and the songs themselves really lack the initial hooks to draw in listeners quickly.

And in the music industry it’s crucial to have that immediate draw. The music is good and the songs will grow on you, but most of the time people give it one listen, and if they aren’t captured by something right away they are going to toss it in the pile and never listen to it again.

Article first published as Music Review: Framing Hanley - A Promise to Burn on Blogcritics.

Classic Albums Makes Paranoid Fun

Written by Sombra Blanca

It’s hard to believe the song "Paranoid" was an afterthought for Black Sabbath. The title track from their seminal 1970 album was also the last to be added, created in 20 minutes and, along with "Iron Man," has come to define the four lads from Aston, England. Band members Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Bill Ward and Terry "Geezer" Butler all share the tale of the creation of "Paranoid", both the song and the album, during the Classic Albums documentary series.

A wonderful concept, the series lets those who created some of music’s most important modern albums — Dark Side of the Moon, Songs in the Key of Life, The Joshua Tree and Graceland, for example — give in essence a play-by-play for the origins of each song. Series producers also bring in the assorted cast of critics and musicians for praise of the music and its place in history.

One of the great things about the Black Sabbath documentary, compared to some of the others, is all four original band members are still around to discuss Paranoid, giving even dedicated "Sabbath-teurs" some new insight into a band that changed rock 'n' roll, and arguably created heavy metal.

With the band’s now 40-year influence still present, so much of what they created seemed to just materialize out of thin air, or perhaps fermented liquid and pungent herbs. The documentary provides just enough discussion about the band’s history, which of course started with an emulation of the Beatles, as well as their self-titled first album. That’s key because the viewer hears about gigs at the Star Club, where the Fab Four got their start. Black Sabbath had eight 45-minute time slots each day, but only eight songs, so each set was a 45-minute jam of one song.

One could, and perhaps should, be punched in the face for calling Black Sabbath a jam band. Yet it was that experience through which the band not only became a four-piece juggernaut, but also developed much of the material for the first two albums. "It just flowed out with the riffs," Geezer says. "We all played together like each of us knew what was coming next."

The documentary takes us into the studio with the band and sound engineer Tom Allom, who worked under producer Roger Bain. Bain had seen the band live and wanted to recreate that sound – all in two 12-hour sessions.

But it’s mainly awesome for two reasons: each of the three bandmates, except for Ozzy, all play their parts at one time or another while discussing the songs. We watch and listen to Iommi on the origin of the "Iron Man" riff, and Geezer gets his due, showing how "Mars" from Holst’s The Planets suite evolved into the bassline for the song "Black Sabbath."

The other reason is Allom, who mans the production boards and singles out instruments with some of the songs – playing each individually on "Paranoid", for example. That includes Ozzy’s vocals – and not the ones you hear on the album.

The funniest part of this documentary is listening to Ozzy adlib "Paranoid" while trying to figure out how to compliment the music. But it’s nice to hear Geezer talk about Ozzy’s contribution when, even though he didn’t write the lyrics, Ozzy had a knack for coming up with harmonies on the spot, or singing exactly in tune with the guitar and bass.

As far as the outsiders’ perspective, it adds the most to "Iron Man" mainly because of what Henry Rollins has to say, especially about recreating the riff at the end of the song. While Rollins is his usual eloquent and just-plain-cool self, it’s unfortunate he’s the only musician brought in to discuss the album. The rest are historians and music writers and editors. It would’ve been nice to see those influenced by Sabbath talking about Paranoid, even if it’s the stoned-to-"Planet-Caravan" kind of stories.

As the band members and Allom explained, the song "Paranoid" sprung from the need to fill the last three or four minutes of the album and came together on a dime after the band returned from the pub. Iommi picked up the guitar, plucked the strings for the now-legendary riff, and "we all started scrambling for our instruments," Ward said. The song not only went to the top of the charts, but was also the second and final choice for the album title.

What some times gets lost in the power of the music itself — several used the word "menace" — is the overtly political and social lyrics mainly written by Butler. As he explains in his soft-spoken, always smirking style, the peace movement and the hippies had mostly overrun popular music. Although I’d disagree with Butler that nobody was really singing about the war and other, occasionally controversial issues, it was important to the band to bring that element into their music. So the documentary puts Geezers lyrics into a context fans of classic rock radio might not yet understand.

These were four guys from middle-class homes in working-class neighborhoods outside of Birmingham, and their environment didn’t inspire flower power. Butler, at the same time, developed an interest "in the occult and astral planing and all that cobblers," and his interest spread to the other band mates. He was quick to point out there was no Satanism, other than Walpurgis, the satanic Christmas that was changed to "War Pigs." The lyrics that evolved delved into politics and war, drug abuse and a celebration of drugs, and even racism — the latter creeping into "Fairies Wear Boots" after Ozzy’s confrontation with a skinhead gang in England. What makes the Classic Albums series unique, though, is hearing Geezer and Ozzy explain how there weren’t enough skinhead lyrics to finish the song, so the singer just made something up about LSD.

Again, these are tales coming straight from the band members, and that is the best part about the documentary. The critics and historians, nuts to them. It’s just fun to hear Ozzy talk about his first royalty check, and Paranoid is full of those fun moments.

The special features really could be called deleted scenes, because it’s more background told by the same people. But the band does talk about its first U.S. tour and the difficulties of moving across the pond, and expands on their influences aside from The Beatles.

Not every band deserves this type of treatment, to delve into their lives and music. But this is Black Sabbath. Enough said.

Article first published as DVD Review: Classic Albums Makes Paranoid Fun on Blogcritics.

Vince Guaraldi - Peanuts Portraits: The Classic Character Themes

Written by Fantasma el Rey

When Charlie Brown and the rest of Charles M. Schulz' Peanuts gang hit television for the first time in December 1965, Vince Guaraldi’s music was their theme. As A Charlie Brown Christmas animated our comic friends, Guaraldi’s music further brought life to those characters. Schulz and Peanuts had been ruling comic strips since 1950 and now with Gauraldi’s help they began a successful run with T.V. specials. Now available from Concord Music is Vince Guaraldi’s Peanuts Portraits.

Vince Guaraldi had his own style of jazz by the time he ran into the Peanuts gang. His cheerful piano, plucky bass and steady, easy-does-it brush drumming with slight Latin overtones were mellow, cool and very playful. All those elements made up his signature sound and would breathe further fantastic life into the characters we all love and know so well.

The eleven-track set kicks off with the very familiar “Linus And Lucy,” which has become the "Peanuts" theme song over the years. This catchy little ditty was based on the Van Pelt siblings. His blue blanket always at his side, Linus is most known as Charlie Brown’s best friend. Meanwhile Lucy is a “fuss budget” who constantly refers to Charlie as a blockhead and swipes the football as he attempts to kick it.

Cool, jazzy blues plays a major part in these portraits. “Sally’s Blues” is a playful, mellow blues named after Charlie’s baby sister and long admirer of Linus. Good ol’ Charlie Brown is himself represented in two blues pieces, both variations of “Charlie’s Blues.” The first is “Blue Charlie Brown (Version #2),” which is a bit slower than the slightly more upbeat “Charlie’s Blues,” presented here in a variation of the original version.

Two other girls in the "Peanuts" gang are represented on disc here as well in “Peppermint Patty” and “Frieda (With The Naturally Curly Hair).” “Peppermint Patty,” the tomboy of the bunch who fancies Charlie, is captured here in the dreamy tune of here own name. “Frieda” is a lively run that illustrates the bounce in the natural curls of a little girl. An odd note is that while Frieda the character had a relatively short life in the comic strip her song clocks in at the longest at just over six minutes.

Rounding out the tracks are “Joe Cool,” “Schroeder” and “Little Birdie.” “Joe Cool” is the up-tempo horn-filled rant about Snoopy, the mischievous beagle loved worldwide, in one of his classic roles. “Little Birdie” features Guaraldi on vocals and is a funky jam centered on Snoopy’s friend the little yellow bird, Woodstock. Then we have “Schroeder,” a beautiful piano piece that no doubt the character himself would have played on that toy piano of his with ease and grace.

Closing the CD are two Gauraldi tracks played by George Winston, “The Masked Marvel” and another version of “Linus And Lucy.” “The Masked Marvel” is another tune Guaraldi put down with Snoopy in mind and is playing in the background when Snoopy licks Lucy’s face to win a wrist-wrestling match.

Peanuts Portraits also contains great liner notes filled with info on the music and the classic character that inspired the songs. A great CD with great music from the man who captured the Peanuts gang like no one but Schulz did.

Texas Tornados - Esta Bueno!

Written by Fantasma el Rey

The Texas Tornados have touched down for the first time in over a decade and the result is Esta Bueno! Surviving members Flaco Jimenez and Augie Meyers have teamed with the son of Doug Sahm, Shawn, and have managed to keep the Texas Tornados' Tex-Mex flame burning bright. The new album boasts five previously unreleased Freddy Fender songs and the last vocal recording by Doug Sahm, which keeps the album popping with the original Tornados' flair.

The original line-up of Doug Sahm, Freddy Fender (both sadly gone from this world), Flaco Jimenez, and Augie Meyers come about in early 1990. The band's brand of Tex-Mex music was catchy, quirky and all-out fun. Sahm and Meyers had been playing together since their days in Sahm’s Sir Douglas Quintet, a Chicano-flavored counter to the British invasion. Fender was long known for his Mexican/American rock ‘n’ roll and country hits while Jimenez had been turning out conjunto hits on his accordion for decades.

The “old guys in the street” earned a Grammy in 1990 for best Mexican/American performance and continued until the passing of founder Doug in 1999. In 2006 Freddy Fender also passed but all the while Shawn was preparing to put something together by the remaining members. So fours years and many hours of fine-tuning later, we have the finished, fantastic result that is Esta Bueno!

The album opens with “Who’s To Blame, Senorita” a tune by Shawn and Doug that carries the vibe of the Tornados' early hit “Who Were You Thinking Of,” with more polished-sounding harmony vocals and lead by Shawn. Listen closely to the end of the song and you can hear a nod to the Sir Douglas Quintet in the organ. The song selection by Shawn is perfect as the album eventually closes with the last recording by his dad, “Girl Going Nowhere.” It's a beautiful ballad filled with strings as well as the classic vox organ and Doug’s plaintive, Chicano-flavored vocals.

Freddy Fender's five songs are classic Fender, Chicano rock ‘n’ roll with Texas roots. His “If I Only Could” sounds like a classic 1950s grinder and clocks in at just over three minutes. Horns and piano à la the Fats Domino band abound as Flaco cuts through with his accordion to remind you that it’s a Tex-Mex tune, and you should grab your girl and dance! Fender shows his rockin’ fun side with the instant classic “They Don’t Make ‘Em Like I Like,” which highlights the Tornados' comic side. This track is Fender’s look at the modern girl from a 1950s kid’s viewpoint. The song is total fun and stays clear of being offensive; never losing the fact that it’s a joke and the band is having a blast.

“Ahora Yo Voy” is an all-Spanish tune that has Fender and the boys in rockin’ tribute to the Sir Douglas Quintet. In a way, the tune is a true tribute to the missing founding members and a great choice to include on the disc. “Another Shot Of Ambition” is a song Fender has cut on a previous album but Shawn had the “old guys” spin it Tornados' style and gave it new life. The sensual salsa track “Llevame,” written by guitarist Louie Ortega is Fender’s final performance on the album and he nails it with his passionate vocals.

Augie Meyers lends a hand with his fine writing turning in the hard rocking tunes “My Sugar Blue,” “Velma From Selma,” and the title track “Esta Bueno.” Augie’s lighthearted comic gift shines through on the latter two. The kicker on “Velma” is how Augie can sing about getting his ass kicked by his girlfriend’s father in perfect harmony and timing. Like a true Mexican corrido, he can sing of tragedy and violence and make it seem a fun, rockin’ good time. “Esta Bueno” is three and a half minutes of laugher at the pain of Augie’s eating too many powerful jalapenos that come back to get him in the “end.”

Flaco Jimenez not only provides the kick-ass accordion throughout Esta Bueno! but also turns in some fine vocals to boot. Taking leads on Doug’s “Chicano” which the two had originally recorded back in 1973. Flaco’s broken English is perfect as he sings the verses in both English and Spanish. Flaco’s second turn at the mic is the wonderful duet with Augie, “In Heaven There Is No Beer,” which finds Flaco tearing the house down with that accordion of his.

For forty solid minutes, Esta Bueno! brims with all the life and love that the Texas Tornados bring to anything they play. The vocals from our missing friends, the humor from a prolific pen, and the energy from the accordion make this a perfect fit into the Texas Tornados' catalog. Each original member’s style shines bright throughout the CD. Shawn Sahm has done a wonderful job taking the production reigns and has turned out an album that would have made his dad and Freddy Fender proud. Fans of the Texas Tornados won’t be let down at all by this one.

Elvis Presely - Elvis 75: Good Rockin' Tonight

Written by Fantasma el Rey

Elvis Aron Presley would have been 75 years rocking on January 8th 2010 and to celebrate RCA has issued Elvis 75: Good Rockin’ Tonight through their Legacy series. The four-disc box set contains 100 songs from Elvis’ hit-filled career, spanning 1953 to1977. The set is a good overview of Elvis’ music and includes well-known hits and some album cuts that many folks may have never heard or knew existed, all remastered for superior sound. An 80-page booklet provides photos and track information that make the set an even better chronicle of the work put out by the “king of rock ‘n’ roll.”

Disc one covers the years 1953-57 and looks at his early rockabilly days and rise to all out rock ‘n’ roll star. We get some of his first recordings on the Sun label, which saw Elvis lay down some killer rockabilly versions of blues and country classics, “That’s All Right,” “Blue Moon Of Kentucky,” and “Good Rockin’ Tonight.” Disc one then moves into his early records for RCA and covers his frantic rock ‘n’ roll hits like “Jailhouse Rock” and “I Got A Women,” and the tender ballads “I Was The One” and “Love Me Tender.” Elvis began to record original material on RCA with help from the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller as well as Otis Blackwell among others. Well covered ground here for most fans but some may have never heard “My Happiness,” the tune Elvis says he made for his mama. Disc one also gives us a taste of the gospel songs Elvis loved all his life, such as “(There Will Be) Peace In The Valley,” and includes his holiday classic “Blue Christmas.”

Disc two takes us from 1958 to1962 and provides big hits from solid rockers, “Hard Headed Women” and “Little Sister” to rocking ballads “Return To Sender” and “(Marie’s The Name) His Latest Flame.” These are the years that produced the heartfelt love songs we know so well, “(Now And Then There’s) A Fool Such As I,” “It's Now Or Never,” and “Can’t Help Falling In Love.” Elvis also covered “Reconsider Baby” and “I Feel So Bad,” good blues/R&B tunes that show his continued interest in what other artists put out. Some songs not heard so often are the doo-wop inspired “Thrill Of Your Love” and “Doin’ The Best I Can,” the rocking “Judy,” the quiet “There’s Always Me,” and the “Suspicion”-like “Pocketful Of Rainbows.” Some nice gems mixed with major hits make this disc enjoyable.

Disc three spans 1963-69, the years that Elvis spent concentrating on making silly movies instead of turning out solid music, but some of those movie tracks stand out and are included here, “Bossa Nova Baby” from Fun In Acapulco and of course “Viva Las Vegas.” Lucky for us, Elvis 75 avoids too many soundtrack songs and instead pulls tracks that were buried on those albums or released as B-sides. Bob Dylan’s “Tomorrow Is A Long Time” stands tall as does Elvis’ version of Chuck Berry’s “Too Much Monkey Business” and covers of “Guitar Man” and “Big Boss Man.”

The last half of disc three highlights the strong material that came from Elvis’ ‘68 Comeback Special and the albums he made in ‘69, where his focus was turned back to music. His song selection took a more somber tone and shows more depth than the throwaway stuff he’d done for films. Songs like “If I Can Dream,” “Memories,” “Don’t Cry Daddy,” and “In The Ghetto” announce that the artist is growing and his vocals are getting stronger. His songs “Stranger In My Own Home Town,” “Kentucky Rain,” and “Only The Strong Survive” carry a Memphis soul vibe complete with horns, solid drums, and thick bass lines.

Disc four, 1970-77 takes us through Elvis’ live recordings and right up to his last hurrahs before his sad passing in August of ’77. Swamp rock crept into his songs alongside the Memphis soul around this time too as “Polk Salad Annie” and “Promised Land” display. From “I Just Can’t Help Believing” and “An American Trilogy” we get just a taste of the kinds of songs he was doing in his live act and the kind of stage show he put on and the humor he possessed. “Always On My Mind,” “T-R-O-U-B-L-E,” and “Way Down” represent the kinds of rock that an Elvis album consisted of at that time. “The Fool,” “Funny How Time Slips Away,” and “Steamroller Blues” display the fact that Elvis never lost or strayed too far from his country or blues roots.

The last two tracks represent the parody the man became on one hand and his lasting power and influence on the other. The sadly operatic “Unchained Melody” brings to mind every jumpsuit-clad, bad, fat Elvis impersonator that would spring up to pay “tribute” to the fallen king. To counter this “A Little Less Conversation” the JLX remix proves that the world still loves Elvis and that his music will last as that mix became a worldwide hit in 2002, over twenty years after his death.

Most everyone knows Elvis’ general story and history: the poor country boy who became “king” of a new music genre that set the world on fire in the mid 1950s. His distinct looks, generosity, and the controversy he stirred with his hips is legendary and well documented as is his music in more in-depth, multi-disc sets but here we have a chronological breakdown of the songs that stand out the most and represent his career best.

From his early primitive, greasy rockabilly to his over-the-top operatic vocals Elvis 75 has it all for you to sample and decide which phase of the man’s career you like best. Elvis may not have written his songs but the songs he selected fit him well as he made them his own and he could speak through them, whether rockin’ hard or pining for his love. He’s our raucous party buddy, wise old pal offering advice, and a friend that picks us up when we’re down. Listen again and you can hear the distinct vocal phases and hear the punk kid become a strong, powerful-voiced man in whose music and sincerity we find comfort, hope, and inspiration.

Norah Jones – The Fall

Written by Fantasma el Rey

Norah Jones has thirteen new songs to offer on her latest release The Fall, which marks a change in direction for her and features a different sound as she works with a new cast of musicians. Norah plays more guitar on her fourth album and less piano, but fear not, her vocals remain as beautiful and sexy smooth as ever. One more change is that Miss Jones’ hair is now short, but again she remains stunning, which goes to show that new looks, sound, and musicians can’t take away from true brilliance.

“Chasing Pirates” opens with synth vamps, mellow bass and guitar, a steady drum snap, other percussion, and the Wurlitzer swirling in the background. The mix of instruments with Norah’s sublime vocals and lyrics has me reeling and lost instantly in the eerie, dreamlike darkness. The lyrics are great and illustrate how one text message can send the mind spinning: “In your message you said/ You were going to bed/ But I’m not done with the night/ So I stayed up and read/ But your words in my head/ Got me mixed up so I turned out the light/And don’t know how to slow it down/ My mind’s racing from chasing pirates.” The lyrics move on and there’s “an ambulance scream,” “impossible schemes,” and drowning insanity, back to mind racing, chasing pirates, a line which is delivered masterfully by Norah. There’s also the slightest Caribbean feel, like Blondie’s “The Tide Is High,” slowed to a crawl and buried in the sand so its barley audible.

“Even Though,” “Light As A Feather,” and “Young Blood” continue down the road of darkness set up by “Chasing Pirates.” The bass lines and drums remain a steady, driving factor and can be related to certain gothic, new wave sounds of the early- to mid-1980s. Norah’s lyrics shine and along with the music remain a bit heavy even as she has some writing help from Jesse Harris (“Even Though”), Ryan Adams (“Light As A Feather”), and Mike Martin (“Young Blood”). “Young Blood” contains great lyrics about gunning down werewolves, “Our fears are only what we tell them to be,” and “Young blood/Young bones/Old ghost,” not in that exact order but strung together well and in a way that makes them work wonders.

“I Wouldn’t Need You,” “Waiting,” “You’ve Ruined Me,” “Stuck,” and “Tell Yer Mama” break things up a bit. They have that country vibe Norah has displayed here and there on her past recordings. “Wouldn’t Need You” finds Norah’s piano work brought to the front and tells of how if she could do certain things on her own and feel a certain way on her own she “wouldn’t need you.”

“Waiting” finds her doing just that, wondering why and will she ever learn and will waiting at all ever get “you” to return. “Stuck” brings in some scratchy, heavy electric guitar and the play of the bass, piano, and string synth remind me, in a slight way, of the chorus to Lou Reed's “Satellite Of Love.” Call me "crazy," but I hear it.

“Tell Yer Mama” finds Jesse Harris and old friend Richard Julian helping with the songcraft on this mid-tempo country romp. The bass thumps out solid plunks as the drums pound an Indian bop hop beat. The clavinet provides an interesting sound twist to this tale of someone who just can’t see that the girl is waiting for him to come around.

“It’s Gonna Be” is the thunder-and-lighting track as its three minutes of heavy, rumble drums; thick bass grooves; mean guitar; and a “tuff” sounding Wurlitzer set the stage for Norah’s assertive vocals. She pushes you back telling how its gonna be: “Aim at the ones who’ve really hurt us/ They should be arrested for murders.”

“Back To Manhattan” and “December” are the jazzy/country tunes that could have been pulled from her previous recordings. “Manhattan” is a quiet piece about going back to something or someone you’d thought you could simply ride away from. “December” scales things back more as this one is only played with acoustic guitar, some light programming and synth, and of course Norah’s piano and sublime vocals.

“Man Of The Hour” is the album closer and finds Norah alone at the piano telling of her “man” of the hour: a dog. After listening to this witty little ditty, it makes you wonder and rethink the focus of some of the others songs' lyrics. Then there is the album cover with her in a furry-looking wedding gown with a top hat and a Saint Bernard at her feet while the CD insert has her in the same dress surrounded by dogs.

Norah Jones’ The Fall is mostly set to a different pace for her. Some fans may be a bit taken back at first, but Norah is the same talent overall and can still make you think and sing along with her poetry and wit set to wonderful music.