Stephen Grimstead, Editor
Lori Carson, Everything I Touch Runs Wild (Restless)
LIKE SYD STRAW, LORI CARSON IS a songstress who is probably best known for her involvement with the Golden Palominos, the ever-changing supergroup cooked up by poly-legendary Anton Fier (Feelies, Pere Ubu, Lounge Lizards). Fier produces here, with an emphasis on ambience, which should give you some idea of the sort of timeless torch singing Carson is up to. Everything I Touch Turns Wild is her third solo album and her second since the Palominos' albums This Is How It Feels and Pure.
Fier's production aside, Everything I Touch Runs Wild is lackluster and often undisciplined. Carson's you-can't-always-get-what-you-want wistfulness doesn't conceal the fact that most of the songs here are largely devoid of structure. She whispers and coos through meterless laments, attempting to force them onto the arrangements. The effect, however, is one of choppy hesitation and a deadly slow pace. Maybe it's all an intentional ploy to break from the strictures of songwriting, but, if so, this moody somnambulism is an unsatisfying alternative.
There's a nice, swanky beat and a well-placed trumpet solo in "Something's Got Me," and the Suzanne Vega swoon of "Souvenir" is worthwhile. Otherwise, it's telling that the best song on the album is "I Saw The Light." Todd Rundgren wrote that one. -- Jim Hanas
Gram Parsons and The Fallen Angels, Live 1973 (Rhino)
WHEN GRAM PARSONS JOINED Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman in the Byrds, rock music changed forever. The August 1968 release of Sweetheart Of The Rodeo goes down in history as the first true country-rock record, beating out Dylan's Nashville Skyline by a year. Parsons, a Southern-born, Harvard-educated musical visionary, found a willing musical ally in Hillman, a former bluegrass player, and McGuinn brought his 12-string guitar along for the ride. Parsons' tenure in the Byrds was short-lived, however. He left before Sweetheart was released and went on to form the Flying Burrito Brothers, with Hillman joining him soon afterward.
Sweetheart is a legitimate landmark in rock music, with its guitars, pedal steel, mandolin, and fiddles heralding a country-rock revolution. The tunes draw deeply on Parsons' broad knowledge of Southern music, and include traditional country numbers ("I Am A Pilgrim"), a tune by the Louvin Brothers ("The Christian Life"), the honky-tonk "You're Still on My Mind," Woody Guthrie's "Pretty Boy Floyd," and Merle Haggard's "Life in Prison." Two Dylan tunes opened and closed the original record, with a pair of Gram Parsons selections ("Hickory Wind" and "One Hundred Years From Now") highlighting the set.
Columbia's repackaged, remastered reissue cleans up the original sound quality while adding seven bonus cuts. Due to bizarre contractual circumstances, four tunes on the original album featured McGuinn's lead vocals on songs that were slated to have Parsons at the mike. Four of the bonus cuts feature the rehearsal versions of these songs, with Gram on lead vocals. Parsons purists will finally feel redeemed.
Here's another treat for Parsons purists: Rhino's reissue of the legendary (and relatively obscure) Gram Parsons and The Fallen Angels: Live 1973 brings a hot live set back into circulation. Recorded in March 1973, between the release of GP, his first solo album, and Grievous Angel, his second and final album, Live 1973 features Emmylou Harris on background vocals. Emmylou has remarked that she found her voice with Parsons, and her delivery is raw, young, and pure.
Parsons' genius at assimilating various aspects of Southern music rings true throughout this disc, on both covers and Parsons originals. The recording quality isn't great (Neil Flanz's pedal steel is undermiked), but this is essential stuff, nonetheless. Not long after the recording of Grievous Angel, Parsons would die at the age of 26, a victim of his own fast living. (As an aside, Warner Brothers repackaged both GP and Grievous Angel as a single CD back in 1990, collecting two essential masterpieces on one disc.)
The synthesis of country and rock is taken for granted now -- spend a few moments with the country top-40 and you'll know this is so. Sweetheart Of The Rodeo got this twangin', rockin' ball rolling, and things haven't been the same since. -- Gene Hyde
IT'S GOTTEN TO THE POINT THAT each new Joe Lovano release is a milestone of sorts for this excellent tenor saxophonist. He dazzled the jazz world in '95 with Rush Hour, his brilliant collaboration with Third Stream meister Gunther Schuller. Marked by unique and challenging arrangements and diverse orchestration, Rush Hour gave Lovano room to display his facile and creative improvisational style. Changing tacks a bit, he released another stunning disc later in '95, Quartets: Live At The Village Vanguard. Featuring two groups -- one a piano-based unit with Mulgrew Miller, the other a piano-less band with trumpeter Tom Harrell -- Quartets showcased Lovano's ability to blow like hell within two established genres: in a Coltrane-like setting with Miller, and in an Ornette fashion with Harrell. He also managed to take "Best Tenor Saxophonist" award from Down Beat several times.
What's next for this wonderful musician? Why not take on the Sinatra songbook? Celebrating Sinatra once again finds Lovano stretching creativity and musical setting to wonderful lengths. Using classic Sinatra tunes like "One For My Baby" and "I've Got You Under My Skin" as touchstones, Lovano teams up with arranger Manny Albam to create a lush and melodic disc of standards. Featuring both a solid quartet with bassist George Mraz, drummer Al Foster, and pianist Kenny Werner, as well as a strings/brass/winds section, Celebrating Sinatra evokes Rush Hour's feel in its arrangements and settings. But there's one key difference, and that's the distinct and unmistakably lyrical approach of Lovano's tenor voicings. Just as Ol' Blue Eyes' singing style put his own unique stamp on these tunes, Lovano's exquisite saxophone style also works to render these selections into creations that are uniquely Joe Lovano.
From the duet with Al Foster on "Chicago," to the full orchestra treatment on a number of tunes, to the excellent reed section work on "I've Got the World On a String," Celebrating Sinatra is packed with memorable moments. Soaring alongside and above it all is Lovano's lyrical, highly inventive, and melodic tenor playing. Like Rush Hour and Quartets, this disc reveals Lovano as one of the most creative and exciting saxophone players today. Don't miss it. -- G.H.