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Ely’s musical depth is more than apparent on “Little Blossom,” which begins as a loping accordion waltz that I could hear Dolly Parton covering—before it changes course midstream and becomes a galloping Buddy Holly number. A full horn section complements “River Fever,” a rocking ode to Austin nightlife, and “Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes.” A favorite Ely theme is outlaws, and here the ne’er-do-wells include “Jesse Justice,” a pool-hall hustler; the aptly titled “Hard Luck Saint”; and “Miss Bonnie and Mister Clyde,” an alternate lyric set to the music of his earlier “Me and Billie the Kid.” At only 11 songs and 49 minutes, Happy Songs seems a bit stingy, especially as it’s subtitled Pearls from the Vault Vol. XX. That said, it’s a fine introduction to the many charms of Joe Ely—and the perfect soundtrack to reading Bonfire of Roadmaps. GRINDERMAN Grinderman RECORD REVIEWS —Leland Rucker Anti- ATI-86861-2 (CD). 2007. Grinderman, prods.; Nick Launay, prod., eng.; Matt Lawrence, Dom Morley, James Aparicio, engs.; Tim Young, mastering. AAD.? TT: 36:51 Performance ★★★★ 1 ⁄2 Sonics ★★★★ Viewed from the peanut gallery, Grinderman seems more a midlife crisis than a new band. Led by 49-year-old Nick Cave and featuring members of his longtime outfit, the Bad Seeds, Grinderman is a foray into the primal rock- ’n’roll swampland. Cave has been here before, but not since he was a vampiric young man leading Australia’s goth-noisy Birthday Party, or the early, more murderous version of the Bad Seeds in the 1980s. In recent years, Cave has positioned himself above all the grime: He’s become a Bible scholar (seriously), published a novel and two volumes of poetry and essays, written the script for Outback-Western film The Proposition, and released well-mannered albums with such titles as The Lyre of Orpheus. So it’s not surprising that Grinderman is precisely what Cave needs to get back into black. The real shock is how sharp and caustically funny the band’s first album is. The two opening tracks, “Get It On” and “No Pussy Blues,” feature some of Cave’s raunchiest preacher-man ranting—the latter title says it all—and the stark separation of the vocals from blasts of deathmetal riffing and static guitar noise allows for maximum dynamic impact. The Stooges-style rockers “Love Bomb” and “Honey Bee (Let’s Fly to Mars)” are more loosely played and muddily recorded, and this is the album’s main flaw: the lack of a consistent approach behind the boards. Otherwise, the different songwriting styles on Grinderman hang together with thematic ease, from the electric-bouzouki-powered “Electric Alice” to the blues shuffle “Go Tell the Women.” Even the syrupy “Man in the Moon”—a kind of “Rocket Man”–style ballad about an absent father—seems to fit; what bad-ass, renegade rocker doesn’t have daddy issues? But perhaps the best thing about Grinderman is that Cave’s evil side gets some sonic fangs. Listening to The Best of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds—the definitive CD survey, spanning 1985–1997—is a trip through some painfully thin-sounding drums and too-trebly guitars. So welcome back, Nick. Dr. Jekyll seemed a respectable, well-educated fellow, but we’d much rather have a night of sex, drugs, and violence with Mr. Hyde. —Matthew Fritch NORAH JONES Not Too Late Blue Note 3 74516 2 (CD). 2007. Lee Alexander, prod.; Tom Schick, eng. AAD. TT: 45:29 Performance ★★ 1 ⁄2 Sonics ★★★ With this title, it seemed that perhaps the moment for Norah Jones to break out and put her surprisingly muscular talents on display was finally at hand. No such luck. The strollers-and-coffeehouse crowd need fear not—Jones remains nice to a fault. Not Too Late is more of the same, only this time the creative pulse is even pinker and more cotton-candy-like. Now that the late Arif Mardin is no longer at the helm, Jones and boyfriendproducer Lee Alexander decided to make an album of Jones originals instead of pop covers, to establish her cred as some kind of alt-jazz singer-songwriter. To go with their homemade project, the sound has a fairly spare, demo kind of vibe. Earning your spurs as a songwriter is no easy task, and for the most part Jones is too timid in this first attempt. Hooks like those in her 2002 hit, Jesse Harris’ “Don’t Know Why,” are hard to come by, though the groove in the obvious single here, Jones’ “Thinking About You,” goes for a reasonable facsimile. While there are still relationship songs among these 13 tracks—“Be My Somebody,” “Little Room”—what’s most interesting is that Jones has also penned message songs. The problem there is that she’s too sweet to say what she really thinks. In “My Dear Country,” she sings, “nothing is as scary as election day,” but when it comes to “the one we hate” (ie, Bush), she waffles, hoping “maybe he’s not deranged.” Besides her being afraid to swing the axe (and piss off the Young Republican portion of her fan base), the problem is that the feathery, laid-back vocal style Jones favors on her own records (but, interestingly, not on other projects, such as the NYC glam-rock band El Madmo) is colossally ill-suited to this kind of assertion. Her sultry, soothing, often very expressive coo does not lend the words enough gravitas. Musically, the tunes are mostly genial, undistinguished ballads, the only departure being “Sinkin’ Soon.” With M. Ward on harmony vocals, Jones ventures into Madeleine Peyroux retro territory in an arrangement that features pots-and-pans percussion and a trombone given an almost human voice by a plunger mute. No law says that being loud, rockin’, or wildly experimental makes for better records. And while snoozy is nothing to aspire to, being pleasant is no sin either. Listening to Not Too Late, it’s hard not to wonder—particularly if you’ve seen Jones live—what would happen if she dumped the dreaminess, pulled out of the slow lane, and pushed her talents into a faster, more ambitious universe. —Robert Baird NRBQ Ludlow Garage 1970 Sundazed SC 11082 (CD). 2006. Rick Lemker, Dan Britt, engs.; Bob Irwin, mastering, AAD? TT: 62:15 Performance ★★★ 1 ⁄2 Sonics ★★★ NRBQ & THE WHOLE WHEAT HORNS: Derbytown: Live 1982 MVD Visual DR 4524 (DVD). 2006. TT: 42:44 (plus extras) www.Stereophile.com, May 2007 123
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MAY 2007 VOL.30 NO.5 48 61 FEATURES
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