Jack Oblivian, American Slang (Sympathy For The Record Industry)
THE
OBLIVIANS HAVE BEEN spawning side-projects like crazy lately. A month or
so ago, Greg Cartwright played the Bon Ton with a trio calling themselves
the Tip Tops, and now Jack Yarber comes through with this disc. In both
cases, they seem to be chipping a few of the rougher edges off their Oblivians-style
material and settling into a slightly more melodic version of the blues-all-rocked-up.
Of the nine tracks on Yarber's American Slang, more than half are minimal home-tinkering sorts of things that sound like a radio scanner picking up cellular calls from Beck to Jon Spencer.
Not bad. But if you're into it, chances are you already have the record.
The first three songs are the real unqualified rockers. On a cover of the Rolling Stones' "2,000 Man," Yarber reminds you of Johnny Thunders as he whines over a wall of guitar that just conceals a boogie piano riff that, once noticed, appears to be the backseat driver of the whole thing. "Hustler" continues the drive with a swanky feel from the hum of an electric organ that finally decides to show itself at the bridge.
The best one of the lot, however, is the lead and title track, "American Slang" (which appears again in a stripped-down version as the final song). Commencing in a spasm of power chords, it smooths right in to a beach-party swirl, perfectly punctuated by the occasional guitar flare and someone pounding away at the ivories Jerry Lee-style. Guaranteed to make you shake and shimmy and whatnot. And with the "I can't hang with the American slang" chorus, somebody smart should quick put it to work as an anthem. -- Jim Hanas
René Fleming, Soprano, Christoph Eschenbach, Conductor, Houston Symphony Orchestra
(RCA Victor Red Seal)
HUMANS ARE FASCINATED BY other humans' final utterances, whether those utterances take the form of a deathbed confession, words of wisdom, or parting words of love. We expect the dying one to reassure us (the survivors) that everything is okay, and that life really is worth living after all, and that the death within view need not be feared.
Whatever we might expect from near, dear, mere mortals, we expect yet more from revered personages and esteemed artists like German Romantic composer Richard Strauss (1864-1949).
Strauss, in composing what were published posthumously his Four Last Songs for soprano and orchestra, seems to have been fully conscious of the significance of his final creative efforts, and these pieces -- "Spring," "September," "Upon Going to Sleep," "At Sunset" -- settings of poetry by Hermann Hesse and Joseph von Eich-endorff, certainly exceed the most rigorous requirements one might establish for any human's final utterances. Profound, spiritually mature works, they demand much from their performers. Soprano René Fleming and conductor of the Houston Symphony Orchestra Christoph Eschenbach together ably meet those demands with consideration and artistic competence and conviction.
Fleming, possessing a beautifully vibrant and lustrous voice that seems to flow effortlessly from her, saturates each phrase with color and warmth. She does not allow her voice to veer out of control or become steely and strident, though all are real possibilities in a voice that is so obviously unfettered and penetrating. Harnessing her voice, Fleming rides the often steeply arching phrases of Strauss with ease, delivering a moving interpretation that is full of intelligence and drama, but unencumbered by neurotic gestures and manners.
Fleming and Eschenbach move through each phrase with such apparent spiritual synchronicity as to imply an ageless religious ritual. Eschenbach is vigilant in not letting the orchestra cover up Fleming's rendering of the poetry, even though the vocal line is fully integrated (even submerged at times) within the overall compositional textures.
Eschenbach misses a couple of opportunities for tonal color and contrast by emphasizing the strings at the expense of the woodwinds, particularly in "September." As always in Strauss, the French horns are featured; and the HSO horn section seems to relish the occasion, playing with precision and tender feeling.
Four Last Songs would predominate any anthology they were a part of. That noted, Fleming and Eschenbach are just as unstinting with their artistry in performing the five other Orchestra Songs on this recording. Fleming is in especially fine voice on "Sylvan Happiness." Rounding out this generous and well-produced Straussian musical offering is a galvanizing performance by this first-rate orchestra of the virtuosic Rosenkavalier Suite, arranged anonymously and approved by Strauss, based on material of the 1911 opera. -- David Smyth