RAY CHARLES
GENIUS LOVES COMPANY
2004 – CONCORD / HEAR
Produced By JOHN BURK & PHIL RAMONE
1. Here We Go Again (with Norah Jones)
2. Sweet Potato Pie (with James Taylor)
3. You Don’t Know Me (with Diana Krall)
4. Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word (with Elton John)
5. Fever (with Natalie Cole)
6. Do I Ever Cross Your Mind? (with Bonnie Raitt)
7. It Was A Very Good Year (with Willie Nelson)
8. Hey Girl (with Michael McDonald)
9. Sinner’s Prayer (with B.B. King)
10. Heaven Help Us All (with Gladys Knight)
11. Over The Rainbow (with Johnny Mathis)
12. Crazy Love (with Van Morrison)
Genius Loves Company is the final album by Ray Charles, released 2 months after his death in 2004. The album features all duets with well known singers, some of which make sense, some of which really do not. It reached number one, making it his first chart topping album in forty years. It also swept the Grammys, winning 8 out of the 10 categories it was nominated for, including Album Of The Year. But one has to wonder how well this would have done had Charles lived to see its release. There are some fine moments here. “Sinner’s Prayer” (with B.B. King) and “Here We Go Again” (with Norah Jones) are definite highlights, but for the most part, Charles sounds like what he was – old and tired.
Questionable duet partners like James Taylor and Michael McDonald don’t help matters. And “It Was Very Good Year” (with Willie Nelson) sounds closer to a Sinatra version than anything else. But then he balances that with fine duets with Gladys Knight and Elton John. In the end, this ends up being a grab bag, with a handful of really good tracks, and an equal handful of less than stellar ones. It IS Ray Charles, and there is plenty of historical significance here, but ultimately, it’s a slightly above average collection. Ultimately, though, it’s Ray Charles, one of America’s greatest musical treasures. So while not his best work, there’s still enough for you to enjoy.
Link _________________ May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...
ORNETTE COLEMAN
SOUND GRAMMAR
2006 – SOUND GRAMMAR
Produced By ORNETTE COLEMAN & MICHAELA DEISS
1. Intro
2. Jordan
3. Sleep Talking
4. Turnaround
5. Matador
6. Waiting For You
7. Call To Duty
8. Once Only
9. Song X
Saxophonist Ornette Coleman was one of the leaders of the avant-garde and free jazz movements of the 1960’s. He explored funk in the 1970’s and experimented with electric instruments. Coleman, who was often misunderstood by his peers, was still highly regarded. Over his career, he played with the likes of Eric Dolphy, Yoko Ono, Jerry Garcia, Pat Metheny and Bobby “Blue Bland, among many others. Sound Grammar is a live album released in 2006. It was recorded in Germany the year before, when Coleman was 75 years old. It was also his first album in a decade. And, as is usual with Coleman’s recordings, it’s an absolute frenzy. Which is why his music has never been for the masses.
The band that accompanies Coleman here is a three man rhythm section, with his son Denardo on drums, and a pair of bassists in Gregory Cohen and Tony Falanga. Coleman plays not only saxophones, but also bits of trumpet and some magnificently eerie violin solos. The finale, “Song X”, is a ten minute excursion into some truly frightening, yet also beautiful music. This album shows that Coleman never did lose his adventurous spirit, and he still had that wild energy even well into his seventies. Again…the music of Ornette Coleman is not for everyone. Experimental jazz never has been. But if this kind of music is your thing, there’s plenty to enjoy here. A fine show by one of the great misunderstood kings of modern jazz.
Link _________________ May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...
TONI CHILDS
UNION
1988 – A&M
Produced By DAVID RICKETTS, DAVID TICKLE & TONI CHILDS
1. Don’t Walk Away
2. Walk And Talk Like Angels
3. Stop Your Fussin’
4. Dreamer
5. Let The Rain Come Down
6. Zimbabwae
7. Hush
8. Tin Drum
9. Where’s The Ocean
Toni Childs knocked around Los Angeles in the early to mid eighties after filling in on some shows for Terri Nunn with Berlin. After spending some time in London, she returned to the US and sang backup vocals on the excellent David & David album Boomtown from 1986. This led to a romantic and professional relationship with one of the two David’s, David Ricketts, which led to her debut album, Union, which was released in 1988. It was a minor success, but it did include some excellent tracks, written by Childs and Ricketts. The sound is very much rock, pop and a strange infusion of world music that helps to keep things interesting. The relationship between Childs and Ricketts was not the steadiest, which brings a palpable tension to the mix.
Four singles were released from the album, which was nominated for a pair of Grammys. The most successful was “Don’t Walk Away”, but the best song here is the upbeat “Stop Your Fussin’”. “Zimbabwae” and “Walk And Talk Like Angels” are also highlights. Ricketts plays a bunch of instruments here, but the real star is the somewhat unconventional singing of Childs, who brings an air of seriousness to even the more pop moments on the album. Union remains her highest charting album…declining sales of the next two efforts, House Of Hope and the very good The Woman’s Boat led her to be dropped by A&M, and she hasn’t been heard from much again. But Childs is always interesting, and Union is a great place to start with an artist who got close…but not close enough.
Link _________________ May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...
JOHN HIATT
WALK ON
1995-CAPITOL
Produced By DON SMITH
1. Cry Love
2. You Must Go
3. Walk On
4. Good As She Could Be
5. The River Knows Your Name
6. Native Son
7. Dust Down A Country Road
8. Ethylene
9. I Can’t Wait
10. Shredding The Document
11. Wrote It Down And Burned It
12. Your Love Is My Rest
13. Friend Of Mine
14. Mile High
Waiting for John Hiatt to finally turn that corner and become the truly great artist you know he could be is like waiting for Paul McCartney to make that one great solo album. Folks, it just ain’t gonna happen. Hiatt spent the 70’s and 80’s on the verge of being truly great, but he could never quite turn that corner. He made a series of almost, but not quite, amazing albums…Slug Line, Riding With The King, and Slow Turning were almost, but not quite, those albums. And by the time the 90’s rolled around, Hiatt seemed resigned to being what his career had become: almost, but not quite. After Slow Turning, Hiatt slipped into somewhat of a musical coma, putting out marginal albums trading on the same sound over and over again. There were always great bits on his albums, as demonstrated by the impressive list of artists who have covered his material over the years. The best album of this later period is, by far, 1995’s Walk On. His thirteenth album, released 20 years after his debut, it finally garnered him a Grammy nomination, but it was still not that “over the hump” album that his fans had waited so long for.
The highlights of Walk On are the rocking “Good As She Could Be”, the beautiful “You Must Go” (which features Gary Louris and Mark Olson from The Jayhawks), and one of his best pop songs, “Shredding The Document”. But as good as the album can sound, it also suffers from what plagues most of Hiatt’s albums: as good as it sounds while you’re listening, it’s also pretty much forgettable. It sounds comfortable, pleasant and nice, but when you’re done, you won’t remember much of it. The problem with Walk On is the same thing that has kept his career from being what it could have been: inconsistency. Hiatt weaves together a small handful of great songs with the thread of a lot of forgettable ones to make albums that are never bad, but that are also never close to great. He’s also never strung good albums together, which makes him a little more frustrating: Walk On was preceded by the forgettable Perfectly Good Guitar, and followed by the even worse Living A Little, Laughing A Little. It’s been over 40 years now…this is what you are going to get with John Hiatt. Enjoyable, but not memorable.
Link _________________ May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...
LINK WRAY
RUMBLE! THE BEST OF LINK WRAY
1993 – RHINO
Produced By RAY VERNON, CHUCK SAGLE, RICHARD GOTTEHRER & LINK WRAY
1. Rumble
2. The Swag
3. Raw-Hide
4. Dixie-Doodle
5. Ramble
6. Ain’t That Lovin’ You Babe
7. Jack The Ripper
8. The Black Widow
9. Big City After Dark
10. Run Chicken Run
11. The Shadow Knows
12. Deuces Wild
13. Hang On
14. Ace Of Spades
15. I’m Branded
16. Batman Theme
17. Hidden Charms
18. Climbing A High Wall
19. Switchblade
20. Jack The Ripper (Live Version)
Once again, God bless Rhino Records. Link Wray, a Native American guitar player, gained fame in 1958 with his instrumental hit “Rumble”, and spent the rest of his life melting faces with his heavy and mostly instrumental surf rock, rockabilly and awesome guitar abilities. Playing solo or with his band The Wraymen, Link was right there with the other gods of instrumental rock, Dick Dale, The Ventures and the rest of the surf rockers. Wray relied on distortion, and pretty much invented the power chord, which means that rock and roll would have not been the same without him. The tracks on the excellent Rhino compilation showcase his career from “Rumble” through his glory days of the sixties, as well as three monster tracks from the seventies.
Listen to the tracks here…you’ll understand why he is revered by guitar players from Jimmy Page to Neil Young to Pete Townshend. Before everyone else was heavy, Link Wray was the heaviest. He wasn’t the flashiest, but that sound…the distortion, the absolute rock that he was grounded in. Man. This is twenty tracks of sheer greatness by one of the unsung guitar heroes of the rock world. He is one of the greatest and most influential guitar players of all time, and if there was a real Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, he’d be in it. Wray died in 2005 at the age of 76. This exceptional compilation serves as a reminder of how great this man was. You play electric guitar? You like to rock? Then you at least owe this album a listen. One of the true rock & roll greats.
Again...there is no rock and roll hall of fame without Link Wray.
Link _________________ May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...
MOJO NIXON & SKID ROPER
ROOT HOG OR DIE
1989 – I.R.S.
Produced By JIM DICKINSON
1. Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant With My Two-Headed Love Child
2. (619) 239-KING
3. This Land Is Your Land
4. Pirate Radio
5. Chicken Drop
6. Tennessee Jive
7. Louisiana Liplock
8. I’m A Wreck
9. Legalize It
10. Burn Your Money
11. Circus Mystery
12. She’s Vibrator Dependent
13. High School Football Friday Night
If you’ve ever listened to Outlaw Country on Sirius radio and heard some crazy guy yelling that “George Jones sings so good, he’ll make your dick hard”…that’s Mojo Nixon. Known best for his 1987 hit (with musical partner Skid Roper) “Elvis Is Everywhere”, his brand of California psychobilly is largely driven by his strange sense of humor and his over the top delivery. Nixon, who retired from singing in 2004, was always at his best when taking aim at someone famous. Aside from Elvis (who he also wrote (619) 239-KING about), he also has songs called “Don Henley Must Die”. “Orenthal James (Was A Mighty Bad Man)”, “Bring Me The Head Of David Geffen”, and his ode to MTV’s Martha Quinn, “Stuffin’ Martha’s Muffin”. You get the idea.
His biggest targets here are Debbie Gibson and Rick Astley, for whom he penned “Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant With My Two-Headed Love Child”. But Mojo is more than that…he’s a pretty creative dude, and he’s not as crude as you might think. Of course, he’s not for everyone, and his schtick can run thin, but he is entertaining, and he flirts with enough different musical styles (punk, soul, country rock, rockabilly) to keep it entertaining. “Chicken Drop” is an interesting romp, his take on Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” is unique, and the playing of Roper is pretty fine. The pair split up after this album, and Mojo moved on to record solo and with his later band, the Toadliquors. If you have to have some Mojo, get this one or Bo-Day-Shus!!! from 1987. Just don’t expect it to be great.
Link _________________ May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...
JOHN COLTRANE
A LOVE SUPREME
1965 – IMPULSE!
Produced By BOB THIELE
1. Part 1: Acknowledgement
2. Part 2: Resolution
3. Part 3: Pursuance / Part 4: Psalm
Just amazing. Not just one of the greatest jazz albums ever made…it’s one of the greatest albums ever made, period. Coltrane is the greatest player of the instrument I played from 7th grade until the time I figured out that being the sax player and the singer in a band wasn’t going to work, but I still love it…Coltrane plays tenor and soprano sax here, and he’s magnificent. The members of his quartet are Jimmy Garrison (bass), Elvin Jones (drums) and McCoy Tyner (piano). The original album consists of three tracks, and is the ultimate peak of Coltrane’s career. There are later reissues of A Love Supreme with up to three discs of alternate and live takes…I don’t need all of that. Give me the original and I’m just fine.
The opening track includes Coltrane chanting the album’s title. The portion of the final track titled “Psalm” is what Coltrane referred to as a musical recitation. It’s a poem, with the words played on his saxophone rather than being orally spoken. Throughout this record, the genius of Coltrane shines through, making this his most lasting and memorable work. He was moving ever closer to an avant-garde sound, and it was also believed that he was starting to dabble in psychedelic drugs. But just two years after A Love Supreme was released, Coltrane died of liver cancer at the young age of 40. He is still regarded as one of the greatest jazz players…one of the greatest saxophonists ever, and A Love Supreme is his ultimate masterpiece.
Link _________________ May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...
NORMA JEAN
BLESS THE MARTYR AND KISS THE CHILD
2002 – SOLID STATE
Produced By ADAM DUTKIEWICZ & NORMA JEAN
1. The Entire World Is Counting On Me, And They Don’t Even Know It
2. Face:Face
3. Memphis Will Be Laid To Waste (Feat. Aaron Weiss)
4. Creating Something Out Of Nothing, Only To Destroy It
5. Pretty Soon, I Don’t Know What, But Something Is Going To Happen
6. The Shotgun Message
7. Sometimes It’s Our Mistakes That Make For The Greatest Ideas
8. I Used To Hate Cell Phones, But Now I Hate Car Accidents
9. It Was As If The Dead Man Stood Upon The Air
10. The Human Face, Divine
11. Organized Beyond Recognition
In the world of misleading band names, Norma Jean has to be a frontrunner for King. Taking their moniker from Marilyn Monroe’s given name, this metalcore band from Georgia is a strange animal all the way around. Originally known as Luti-Kriss, they changed their name after a single album and proceeded to have so many members come and go that there is not a single original member left in the band. Bless The Martyr And Kiss The Child is their debut album as Norma Jean, complete with some fairly outrageous song titles and a deeply heavy and disturbing sound. Metalcore is music that combines extreme metal and hardcore punk…so if you don’t like your music hard, fast, loud and in your face, then this might not be for you.
Bless The Martyr And Kiss The Child is the only Norma Jean release to have not charted anywhere. They began having notable sales with their next album…including a strange run of top 3 albums on the Christian charts. The centerpiece here is “Pretty Soon…”, which really shows the band’s instrumental prowess. “Face:Face” and “Memphis Will Be Laid To Waste” are both excellent, and give a glimpse of how bright the future was going to be for this band. And even though they began losing key members after this release, Norma Jean was still able to grow into a formidable force of metal. This album simply rocks, so if that’s what you’re hoping for, you’ll be most pleased with this one.
Link _________________ May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...
NAKED EYES
BURNING BRIDGES
1983 – EMI
Produced By TONY MANSFIELD
1. Voices In My Head
2. I Could Show You How
3. A Very Hard Act To Follow
4. Always Something There To Remind Me
5. Fortune And Fame
6. Could Be
7. Burning Bridges
8. Emotion In Motion
9. Low Life
10. The Time Is Now
11. When The Lights Go Out
12. Promises, Promises
Hey…remember the 80’s? Of course you do, if you’re old enough. And you’ll remember Naked Eyes, who momentarily graced the charts in 1983. To their credit, they were not a one-hit wonder. Naked Eyes scored two big US hits (although they were nobody in their native UK), a Bacharach and David cover of “Always Something There To Remind Me”, and their best original song, “Promises, Promises”. This British duo was seen as quite promising, with this album doing quite well in the US (it was released here as Naked Eyes). But their synth pop was pretty lightweight after their pair of hits, and it wasn’t long before they were both gone and forgotten.
And really, outside of that pair of hits, there’s not a whole lot of Naked Eyes to hang your hat on. The synths are everywhere here, without much else to balance things out. The result is music that sounds very dated today, and with them unable to produce any real hooks outside of “Promises, Promises”, there’s not much point. This album was unreleased on CD until 2012, and understandably so. The hits have always been available elsewhere, and there’s really no need to own the rest. Naked Eyes lived to make a second album…1984’s Fuel For The Fire sank like a stone, and the duo promptly and quietly split. But there are always those two hits that seem to still work. Otherwise…not so much.
Link _________________ May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...
DAVID BOWIE
BLACKSTAR
2016 – ISO
Produced By DAVID BOWIE & TONY VISCONTI
1. Blackstar
2. Tis A Pity She Was A Whore
3. Lazarus
4. Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime)
5. Girl Loves Me
6. Dollar Days
7. I Can’t Give Everything Away
Blackstar is the 25th and final album by David Bowie. It was released on Bowie’s 69th birthday, and the artist died two days later of liver cancer, leaving the album as a farewell to his fans. His death was a shock worldwide, and Blackstar shot to number one all over the world. For many, Bowie had been unheard for a long time…his last real popular period had been the mid 1980’s. Blackstar wasn’t just lifted by Bowie’s death. It’s a truly beautiful album, and although you can hear the age in his voice, you can also hear that he never lost his gifts for experimentation, musical exploration and melody. The genius of Bowie was that he was able to wrap those things into single albums…and he does that here. Blackstar is magnificent.
The standout tracks here are “Lazarus” and the excellent closer, “I Can’t Give Everything Away”. But the real winner here is the title track…stretching to almost ten minutes, “Blackstar” is an amazing journey, and the perfect gift from Bowie to all of us. It’s a great and touching album…and it was, surprisingly, his first and only number one album in America. To celebrate the life and career of David Bowie, you’ll want copies of Low and Heroes and Ziggy Stardust and Alladin Sane…but be sure to bring Blackstar to the party as well. It’s a beautiful and powerful album from a man who had played so many characters in his life…here is he being the man who stood behind them all and made them real. This album shows why he was so great.
Link _________________ May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...
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