Chicago Sun-Times
http://www.suntimes.com/output/rock/sho ... ins20.html
Pop/Rock
Spin Control
November 20, 2005
ALEJANDRO FERNANDEZ, "MEXICO-MADRID: EN DIRECTO Y SIN ESCALAS" (SONY BMG) ****
After an incredible year that has seen him performing with the Three Tenors and then with "Los Tres Grandes," Latin ranchera-pop star Alejandro Fernandez manages to surpass even those stellar achievements.
Recorded live this June in Madrid, Spain, "En Directo y Sin Escalas" finds him striking a perfect balance between his traditional and contemporary personas, an accomplishment that sometimes eludes him in concert (where the switch from ranchera to full-out pop can seem jarring). Furthermore, he and his band revitalize longtime concert favorites such as "Abrazame" and "Tantita Pena" by subtly altering the arrangements.
For "Como Quien Pierde Una Estrella," flamenco star Diego "El Cigala" joins Fernandez, and the song takes on an appropriately Andalusian flavor, with El Cigala warbling out the choruses like a Moorish muezzin.
Equally outstanding are Fernandez's covers of songs by iconic Mexican composers Juan Gabriel and Armando Manzanero. On a medley of Gabriel's "Ya Lo Se Que Tu Te Vas"/"La Diferencia"/"Te Sigo Amando," Fernandez showcases his interpretive skills (when are these two going to record an album together?). And his intimate take on Manzanero's bolero "Contigo Aprendi," popularized by Luis Miguel, easily eclipses Luismi's version.
Throughout, Fernandez remains in spectacular voice, blending the power of a ranchera belter (like his famous father, Vicente) with the technique of an operatic baritone (witness his sustained closing notes on "Mexico Lindo y Querido). If you somehow skipped Fernandez's tour with Marc Anthony and Chayanne this summer, where he more than held his own against his fellow Latin superstars, here's a chance to hear how much you missed.
Laura Emerick
DOUG COX & SAM HURRIE, "HUNGRY GHOSTS" (NORTHERNBLUES) ***
Some of the best Piedmont-style front-porch blues is being played far from its origins by Canadian pickers. Veteran acoustic guitarists Doug Cox and Sam Hurrie bring an infectiously likable old-timey slant to the seven originals and six covers on "Hungry Ghosts."
Their songwriting is clever and insightful, and their interpretations of favorites such as Tommy Johnson's "Canned Heat Blues" and the Rolling Stones' "No Expectations" often venture far afield from the originals.
One of the best recorded segues in recent memory is Cox's "Beware of the Man (Who Calls You Bro)," followed by Son House's "Grinning in Your Face." Taken together, the tunes represent a social declaration of independence.
Jeff Johnson
HANSON, "THE BEST OF HANSON (LIVE AND ELECTRIC)" (3CG) *1/2
In an interview earlier this week, Taylor Hanson said something rather audacious -- and he was completely serious. As he described his frustrations with music critics who "just don't get us," he promised that for the next Hanson record he and his brothers (guitarist Isaac and drummer Zac) were going to "kind of dumb ourselves down to make our message unmistakable."
I have defended Hanson on numerous occasions in attempts (a) to educate others on the history and virtues of their brand of bubble-gum pop and (b) to hold out for the groundbreaking artistic statement I've been sure Taylor had in him. But I give up. Here they are releasing yet another greatest-hits romp (in eight years, Hanson has issued three national albums of fresh material -- and five compilations) while embarking on a crusade against all that is wrong with the music industry ("Strong Enough to Break" is their whiny new documentary film). And this stale run-through of the boys' catalog before an adoring audience in Melbourne, Australia, begs the followup question: Could it get any dumber?
Taylor himself is a smart kid ... but there's the trick: He's a married father, and I keep calling him a "kid" and a "boy" because nothing in his repertoire convinces me he's grown up. His singing is overstylized from years of copping licks from soul records, but where's his own soul? Cruising the boulevard with "Penny and Me"? Acting tough by brandishing a dull "Rock 'n' Roll Razorblade"? In the U2 and Radiohead covers? Snore. Wake me in 2015 when Hanson is featured on VH1's "I Love the Aughts."
Thomas Conner
BURT BACHARACH, "AT THIS TIME" (COLUMBIA) ***
Strange. Most of the negative criticism about this album is coming from disgruntled consumers targeting Sony's copy-protection software that renders the disc nearly unrippable. Translation: You won't be hearing this album via free downloads to your iPod anytime soon. Even more strange -- the usually subdued Bacharach is really upset, too, but for very different reasons, as he lets loose a firestorm of angry lyrics peppered throughout the disc's 11 new songs.
Much of the lineup is jazzy, or breezy bossa nova, sumptuously caressed by a 35-piece orchestra accompaniment. But Bacharach has a serious message he wants to get out, as he tackles everything from hatred/ politics (the blistering "Who Are These People") to desperate hope ("Go Ask Shakespeare"). Along for the collaborative ride are Elvis Costello, Chris Botti and surprise, Dr. Dre. At 77, the lovey-dovey Bacharach is all about empowerment and taking a stand. Say a little prayer for him.
Miriam Di Nunzio
MOTHER BLUES WITH GERALD MCCLENDON, "SLEEPING WHILE THE RIVER RUNS" (SLEEPING DOG) ***
Gerald McClendon can sing a slow, deep blues number or a Robert Cray-type done-somebody-wrong song and then conjure classic Stax-era soul-blues, all with equal conviction.
He's helped mightily on this album by the songwriting of Steve Bramer, the guitarist for Mother Blues, a band of veteran Chicago players. "Sleeping While the River Runs" is further proof that they're still writing good blues songs -- 17, in this case.
The broad stylistic range might sound like the recipe for a mishmash that leaves fans of every blues subgenre feeling vaguely unsatisfied. But here it's all woven together skillfully enough that it comes off as a seamless, cohesive project.
Jeff Johnson
JACOB FRED JAZZ ODYSSEY, "THE SAMENESS OF DIFFERENCE" (HYENA) ***
BRAD MEHLDAU TRIO, "DAY IS DONE" (NONESUCH) ****
These two intriguing -- and surprisingly subtle, for both trios -- discs find hot young jazz gents doing what hot young jazz gents used to do back when jazz reigned supreme: crawling inside standards and covers and eating them alive, digesting the melodies and bridges into something infinitely more fertile and pungent. Granted, occasionally such efforts lean toward the more scatological side of that metaphor, but mostly we're dealing with enriching stuff here.
Jacob Fred are three guys from Oklahoma who started 13 albums ago as a raucous, occasionally sophomoric collective mixing hip-hop and Thelonious Monk. They quickly evolved into a lithe, spiritual trio noodling through impressive originals. Here, they get outside their own heads for more than half the record, and it lightens their touch. They've never been softer or more mature.
It's only troubling when, in the Flaming Lips' "The Spark That Bled," Brian Haas' piano veers dangerously close to a Ramsey Lewis kind of irony. But on Mingus' "Fables of Faubus," pianist Haas and drummer Jason Smart perform a beautiful Broadway stage dance -- running away from each other in manic moments, only to swing back into an embrace and kick through swingin' moments that sound like a jazzed-up finale to "A Chorus Line." The explorations are understated but quite dramatic.
Mehldau, who's established more of a rep as an interpreter, turns in only one of his own works on "Day Is Done." He opens with Radiohead's "Knives Out," introducing new drummer Jeff Ballard as a skittering, nimble swinger. Mehldau's broken-Chopin stagger through Lennon & McCartney's "Martha My Dear" is a drunken delight, and the way the whole trio coalesces to lift the title track out of its mopey doldrums is one of the most joyous things I've heard in jazz in a long time. If Nick Drake had heard such possibilities for his tunes, he might not ... well, let's just call it an important reminder to relish every moment.
Thomas Conner
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