Records

Rip It Up, Issue 108, 1 July 1986, Page 24

Records

Miles Davis Blue Christmas CBS Duke Ellington Greatest Hits CBS Thelonius Monk Greatest Hits CBS Billie Holiday Lady in Satin CBS These four albums belong to the / Love Jazz series, an 18-album collection for which CBS deserve plaudits galore. All the material involved is from the company’s extensive back catalogue, and so helps provide a rich background for new listeners as well as a source of replenishment for established fans. Only six months ago anyone wanting to purchase this stuff needed to find twice the price for import copies, if and when they became available. Of the albums under consideration here, three are compilations and the Billie Holiday is a straight reissue. All are valuable in one way or another. The Miles Davis LP is named after a 1962 track featuring a wry but strictly conventional vocal by one Bob Dorough. The number is pleasantly enjoyable and intriguing for the rarity of its format, if not much more. However elsewhere on the album the tracks are all instrumental, and range from the first-rate to the masterpiece. The latter term definitely applies to two film themes recorded with the stellar line-up Davis would later use on his classic Kind of Blue. The date was in May 1958 (not April ’56 as given on the album sleeve). Pianist Bill Evans was as capable of rich, brooding understatement as the trumpeter himself, while in John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley he had two

effusive and energetic soloists. A perfect complement of styles. Virtually all the tracks on Blue Christmas have only ever been available on compilations, so anyone newly converted to Davis by this wonderful music needn’t fear later duplication by starting a collection here.

Nearly all the great jazz musicians rework their material over time and with different musicians. Blue Christmas even includes two versions of ‘Stella by Starlight’ recorded three years and two band members apart. Duke Ellington was also no exception to this policy, and his Greatest Hits includes material he continued to record for much of his half-century long career. However, all bar one of these tracks were recorded in the 50s, and while two betray the occasional histrionics his soloists were given to in live performance, at least twice that number are as exquisite as you’d want. Listening to, say, Johnny Hodges on ‘Prelude to a Kiss’ or the master himself ruminate in ‘Solitude’ will melt your heart away. If you don’t own any Ellington this album is an excellent beginning. The only thing to recognise is that no single album could do more than scratch the surface of his best work. This one hasn’t even got room for such obvious standards as ‘I Got it Bad,’ ‘Creole Love Song,’ ‘Do Nothin’ ‘Till You Hear From Me,’ ‘Rockin’ in Rhythm’.... Wasn’t it Miles Daves who said that on one day each year all jazz musicians should get down on their knees and thank God for Duke Ellington?

Thelonius Monk recorded what are often considered the best of his many reworkings of his classic Greatest Hits during his early years on Blue Note. The versions here come from a decade or more later — his mid-60s period with Columbia. While the general recording quality is better, the quartet recordings add little to the originals. But it is always fascinating to listen to the pianist. Monk’s spiky, iconoclastic playing can find new nooks and crannies in tunes we

thought we knew by heart. Try this solo rendition of the perennial ‘Round Midnight’. Billie Holiday recorded Lady in Satin a little over a year before her death in 1959. Many purists dismiss this, her last album, completely, insisting that Holiday’s reputation rests on her small combo recordings of 1936-42. Granted, her voice on Lady in Satin is only a husk of its former glory. And granted, the backing arrangements contain too many violins for their own good. But together the worn out voice and unctuous orchestrations make a bittersweet combination, giving a special poignancy to a shrewdly chosen selection of torchy ballads. While listening to this album it’s difficult not to wallow a little in the myth of Holiday’s tragic life. Nonetheless, tracks such as ‘You’ve Changed’ and Tm a Fool to Want You’ genuinely resonate with heartfelt emotion. And isn’t that a prime ingredient of good jazz? Peter Thomson

Aretha Franklin Yeah!!! CBS This could be the start of something: Aretha “in person with her quartet’’, live in a New York club one night in 1965. The 22-year-old Aretha is coming to the end of her directionless days at CBS — not knowing whether she was a pop singer or a jazz singer, the producers made her a black Barbra Streisand. The quartet, which includes Ted Harris on piano and guitarist Kenny Burrell, is a light jazz “combo’’ and consequently the arrangements of the standards are uninspiring: competent but characterless. Aretha’s voice is remarkably mature — not overflorid, but there is some pointless ornamentation. She’s singing well, but not saying much. Because she never has to push it at all, there’s no tension in her vocals. The upbeat tunes are better: ‘More) ‘Muddy Water’, and the blues classic ‘Trouble in Mind’, but the Roberta

Flack-style elongated ballads just meander about. A curiosity is an upbeat ‘lf I. Had a Hammer; one of three tunes with Aretha on piano. All credit to CBS for releasing Yeah!!! as part of their budgetpriced 18 LP “I Love Jazz” series; they seem to take better care of their Aretha back catalogue than WEA, who own the classic material. Admittedly a double LP compilation is on its way — but how about re-releasing some of the great albums: Spirit in the Dark or Young, Gifted and Black. Chris Bourke

Robert Palmer Riptide Island After a career spanning over 20 years and eight mostly excellent solo albums, Robert Palmer has finally cracked the elusive worldwide hit single, not before time I might add, with the highly infectious Addicted to Love’ off this new Riptide album. Apart from the daft opening title track, which lends itself more to Peter Skellern than himself, the album is typical Palmer — uptempo, funky, rhythmic, tight as the proverbial duck’s ass. Never afraid of experimentation, he sticks to a fairly proven formula on this outing, powerhouse drumming courtesy of Tony Thompson, a token appearance by Duran’s Andy Taylor (the Power Station influence is strongly evident, and obviously opened up a whole new world.of

punters to him). As a longtime Palmer devotee I find it quite ironic to be bombarded by him aurally via our wonderful commercial radio system, but I still love the single, a sure test of its class and worth!

I wouldn’t like to pick a follow up single, but I’d love to hear the old R&B classic ‘Trick Bag’ over the airwaves; Palmer gives it his slinky, sinuous best — another hit, I’m sure. And maybe the Rollingstone Record Guide might rethink their abysmal putdown of him — the fraud of funk indeed — you must be kidding! Greg Cobb

Marshall Crenshaw Downtown Warner Brothers Marshall Crenshaw began his career playing in the musical Beatlemania and it seems he’ll never be able to shrug off his memories of Beatles for Sale. But that’s the album on which the Beatles most obviously displayed their influences, and you can’t go wrong imitating the masters. Downtown is a fine, if derivative, pop album, far more immediate than the heavier Field Day, which Steve Lillywhite produced three years ago. This time Crenshaw coproduces with the aid of T-Bone Burnett, and they’ve come up with a strong, moody sound behind the melodies and musical signatures. Buddy Holly’s hiccup is there, on ‘Shake Up Their Minds’, while the multi-tracked vocals point to another influence — the Beach Boys. But Crenshaw’s passions are more intense, he’s more aggressively hurt, so his ‘Yvonne’ is a ‘Barbara Ann’ for the 80s. It’s still party music though, and seems perfect for this winter — what the Jan and Dean did when they couldn’t catch a wave. Nothing from the Class of ’65 is left out: on ‘Blues is King’ Mitch Easter takes the helm, and points Crenshaw towards Roger McGuinn, adding a drifting, dreamlike vocal and Rickenbacker guitar. There’s even George’s sitar on ‘Terrifying Love; and

a couple of McCartney slowies (‘Like a Vague Memory’ and ‘Lesson No 1’) that serve the same purpose And I Love Her’ and ‘Follow the Sun’ once did...

Why is such a derivative LP so satisfying? For the same reason the originals were: the LP is full of melodies, and the sound was great then, so why not now? Downtown is more than a pastiche pizza, but I have a feeling that when spring comes, and I want to sing, dance, and reminisce, it’ll be back to Rubber Soul. Chris Bourke Mantronix

The Album 10 Records Hip-hop purists will grab this record and ring every last beat and scratch from it. Mantronix, a New York team made up of rapper MC Tee and Jamaican-born DJ Mantronik, deliver an album that’s high on dance and dangerously paced, an offering that British critics hailed and clubgoers split their track pants over.

It’s old hip-hop, like the days of Pac Man and Al Naafiysh; when hip-hop was young and the bleeps and blurs of the video arcade fed the beat. There’s none of the heavy metal and human beatbox sounds you’ve come to expect from New York style.

‘Bassline’ and ‘Needle to the Groove’ which kick the album off, are furious beats, mad arsed with black noise, chanting jumble-sale rhymes in an indistinct haze commanded by beat. It’s infectious, with snippets of acapella songs and scratch dramatics, hard and insistent. Hip-hop purists will say “Say What?” You can hear some of Flash’s ‘Larry’s Dance Theme’ influencing the fanfare cut-up of ‘Hardcore Hip-hop’, and maybe Alice, I Want You’ creeps into the ‘Ladies’ bassline.

That adds up to terrific dance stuff, but analysts might be left clutching their kangols wondering if there’s a story in all that rap — is it glib, or is that the way it is?

Peter Grace

Martin Plaza Plaza Suite CBS

Singer, songwriter, guitarist and one-fifth of Mental as Anything, Martin Plaza has squeezed this, his first solo album in between the often fabulous Fundamental and the next Mentals long player. It’s safe to say that any of the 10 songs on Plaza Suite would’ve been at home on a Mental’s album but 10 of them would have been a bit excessive so Plaza was given leave to go on his own. His pedigree as a pop tunesmith has already been certified with the likes of ‘The Nips are Getting Bigger’, ‘Come Around’, ‘lf You Leave Me, Can I Come Too’ and 'I Didn’t Mean to be Mean’. And for further proof of his knack at crafting a tidy tune check out the middle eight of the otherwise ordinary ‘I Could Be So Good’, or the sheer class of ‘Use Me All Over’, which has just that touch of country, or the rock of ‘Rollerina) a tale of how the Mentals and the Dynamic Hepnotics drew only 600 people to the 4000 capacity Rollerina in Camptown last year.

For the serious side, that other dimension Mental as Anything are trying to develop (but not too hard), Plaza has reserved his two best songs; ‘Out the Door’ is a very natural, compassionate factual account about a three-year-old girl who died of malnutrition as a result of a water diet; and ‘Bats and Balls’ is a shimmering, heatoppressed melodic squint from beneath the sunglasses at Aussie beach life.

But no way is Plaza Suite a brilliant album of unforgettable stolen moments, there’s too many routine work-outs like ‘Pit Stop’ and ‘Chalk and Cheese’ for that. But its best songs vindicate its existence and Plaza’s rise as a songwriter. George Kay

John Niland Inside Eelman

With a pedigree that includes the Hulamen, Rodents and Tombolas, one would expect John Niland’s solo piano album to be R&B influenced. But the flavour is light jazz; the two sides of the album reflect two different approaches. Side one is cocktail hour, on which Niland is ably helped out by Ross Burge on drums and Rob Mahoney on dou-

ble bass. This side doesn’t bear too much concentrated listening, but that’s not the point. All three musiciansjust ooze feeling; Niland has the lightest of touches, though his rhythms can be jerky. Occasionally they get a groove going and you can feel them relax.

On side two Niland is more creative. At its best, the influences are Jarrett and Nock, at its worst, Elton John. While his right hand is adept at improvisation, his left is the weak link — as evidenced by ‘Birth of a Fantail’. ‘Too Triumph’ leans too heavily on its opening riff, there are some acoustic dabblings with the sound-board and strings, and an intrusive dud note in the middle section. ‘From the Boatshed’ highlights Niland’s strengths: it’s a lyrical Debussian piece, with a lovely simple theme. It works because it's not trying to do too much. It will be interesting watching John Niland’s piano work mature. Chris Bourke

Red Guitars Tales of the Expected Virgin

The Red Guitars emerged from Hull, of all places, with three singles on their Self Drive label in 1983. Those initial salvoes, ‘Steeltown’, 'Good Technology’ and ‘Fact’ and their first LP the following year, convinced people that a tough, incisive and intelligent guitar band had at last arrived on the English side of the Atlantic. Last year’s single ‘Be With Me’ which starred new singer/guitarist Rob Holmes and. trickled through here on 12” import, was an impressively assured loved song which didn’t do their reputation any harm. Tales of the Expected, their first release on a major label, doesn’t quite.deliver their initial potential. With three guitarists on the paybooks you’d expect them to whip up a storm but Holmes, Hallam Lewis and John Rowley are only ever let loose on ‘Suspicion and Fear’ and ‘House of Love’ and even then they're confined within the strict limits of two weak songs. So Tales of the Expected is about songs first and guitarists second, and it’s got to be noted that ‘National Avenue’, ‘Storyville’, their current single ‘Baby’s Got a Gun’, and the Tom Verlaine beauty of ‘Love and Understanding’, are all fine songs. But there was no need to re-work a song as good as ‘Be

With Me’ and there’s too many likeable but anaemic fillers like ‘Sweetwater Ranch’ and ‘Marianne’ to pack the punch that this band should have delivered. With a name like Red Guitars the average guy expects anarchy but what you get here is taste, restraint and some nice numbers. Is that gonna change the world? George Kay

Various The Colour Purple Qwest

Just as the film The Colour Purple wallows in two-and-a-half hours of good intentions, so does its soundtrack sprawl over two records. Now no-one with any suss expects a double album to be all good, let alone one that’s a film score. But given such low expectations, much of this stuff is surprisingly acceptable. Which is largely due to the range on offer. For a start there’s some old jazz, including a 1925 Sidney Bechet blues, a 1930 Louis Armstrong Hot Five, and Coleman Hawkins’ wonderful 1939 ‘Body and Soul'. Then there are a few good vocals, both traditional and written for the film. Tata Vega and John Lee Hooker are each ably supported by a combination of studio aces and blues masters. A rocking new version of ‘The Dirty Dozens’ is an album (and film) highlight. We also get a couple of inspired uptempo -gospel numbers from a 30-piece choir led by Andrae Crouch. It’s a pity the marvellous sequence of ‘Maybe God is Tryin’ to Tell You Somethin” appears so late in an already overlong movie. Nearly all the other music is orchestral, and much of it is predictably lush. In the film its use is usually either obtrusive — a com-, mon Quincy Jones fault — or else further glossing Spielberg’s already cute photography. However, alone on record, a few sequences are rather beguiling. There’s never, say, the pomposity of a John Williams score, and when the strings are held under (relative) restraint this theme or that arrangement can be warmly attractive. So, like the movie, the soundtrack contains some fine moments interspersed with passages of sticky sentimentality. But at least on record the proportion is better. And besides, you can always lift the needle on the really purple passages.

Peter Thomson