Artist: The Budos Band
Title: Budos Band III
Label: Daptone -DAP020
Release Date: August 10, 2010
Genre: Afro Beat; Funk & Soul

It takes until Track No. 7 rolls around on Budos Band III for a tune entitled “Budos Dirge” to make its appearance. Frankly, this track should have been the title cut. The third album by this NYC-based Afro Beat outfit, the cover of which bears the visage of a coiled cobra, finds the group locked into a sound that should catch the attention of the guy planning the soundtrack to that next sequel to Conan the Barbarian. Thing is, it works! The offerings here are nothing if not disciplined, and it makes little sense to review individual cuts. Predominantly, the tracks range from three to four minutes. The bass and guitar, often doubling, lay down a minor key rhythm figure that is countered by a Fela-inspired unison horn riff. The drums pound out the deliberate– err – dirge– like tempo, and a Farfisia-sounding keyboard adds a third layer of minor key interest. Add a fierce, but economical solo by one of the horn players, and the ensemble is rolling onwards in its irresistible, relentless groove. And groove is the word here. I’ve not seen the Budos Band live, but I have to believe that the brew they’re dispensing is intoxicating to many denizens of the dance floor. The Ramones made a living in clubs for many years playing two minute installments of same sounding songs played at breakneck tempo. The Budos boys take a page from the same book, at a slackened but still driving pace. The band shares a laugh with its audience when, on the album’s final cut (“Reppirt Yad”), it tackles – and thoroughly Budosizes – the Beatles’ mid-60’s hit, “Day Tripper.” It’s as if they’re saying, “See? Even Lennon & McCartney can be enslaved to our designs.” As can we all. Easily, the Budos Band’s best outing.

Artist: Devo
Title: Something For Everybody
Label: Warner Brothers 53975
Release Date: June 15, 2010
Genre: New Wave

“What we do / Is what we do / It’s all the same / There’s nothing new.”  Those are some of the lyrics from the track, “What We Do.” There is some truth to those lyrics and it is also an understatement.

This album does have elements of vintage Devo; the stiff geeky beats, pop hooks and social commentary. There’s nothing new. But there is a brilliance to admitting that what they do is what they do, and have it sound still fresh but yet capture their prime sound. “It’s so fresh it almost makes me want to cry.” Sings Mothersbaugh on the opening track. The song immediately pulls you into the album with the stuttering delivery of the lyrics and the snotty new wave guitar riff.

“Don’t Shoot (I’m A Man)” features the paradoxical lyrics of devolution. It pits the miracle of life against our need to work everyday and the risks we take dealing with a society that has gone mad. But yet in true Devo form, they make it sound fun not didactic or preachy.

Devo sends the same message of warning about the direction of our culture, much like the message of a folk song, but they also include a new wave twist of the Emma Goldman quote, “If I can’t dance – I don’t want to be part of your revolution.”

It’s been about twenty years since there was a truly new Devo record. It is not  a perfect record but it is a damn near perfect representation of what Devo is. Devo gives us a rhythm to rally around and if you open your mind, they offer something for everybody.

Artist: Quincy Jones et al.
Title: In The Heat of the Night – soundtrack to the motion picture
Label: United Artists 91256
Release Date: 1967
Genre: Soundtrack

Purchased: Exclusive Records, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 17, 2010
Price: $5.99
Vinyl Condition: Very Good

I first rented the VHS of In The Heat Of The Night in the early 80s. Being a Ray Charles fan, I immediately searched my 30 or so Ray Charles records looking for the title track on some compilation or late 60’s ABC-Tangerine release. But I found nothing.

This was before the days of eBay, and even before the days of CDs. This was back in the days of the Phonolog. And it, the Phonolog, the grand yellow and black bible of music at the time, told me it was out of print. To get a copy of In The Heat of the Night, you had to find a used copy of it at a record store, thrift store or garage sale.  Along with other Holy Grails, the “In The Heat of the Night” soundtrack was filed away in some abscess of my brain.

In 1997, Rhino Records released the box set, Beg, Scream & Shout: The Big Ol’ Box of  60’s Soul. It was 144 songs by 144 different 60s soul artists. The one song they chose to represent Ray Charles was, “In The Heat of the Night.” It was the first song that I listened to upon purchasing the box set.

A vinyl repress came out in 2004, but I pad no attention to it, satisfied with what I had.

On a recent visit to Milwaukee for an old friend’s wedding, I paid my first visit to Exclusive Records. There it was, in the recent arrivals bin, a used copy of the original pressing of In The Heat of the Night. I looked around the record store, like I had found a stack of hundred dollar bills and then clutched the record him my arms, holding onto it until it joined other used records in a pile that I would buy and take home.

My wife commented that it was too bad I didn’t bring my portable turntable, (which is actually pretty monstrous compared to today’s portable music players) then I could have listened to my records in the hotel room. I told her if I had brought it along, I might have missed the wedding, opting to hole up in my room with my new stack of vinyl.

Two days later I’m home and I set the Quincy Jones produced slab of vinyl on the table. Ray belts the blues and I get happy.  It’s the only number he sings on the record but he does add a piano solo on another track, “Mama Caleba’s Blues.”

The album tracks into soundtrack music that leans more towards jazzy blues with a lot of tension. I’m very impressed with how free the jazz is for a mainstream film. I pick up the record to read the liner notes and I find out that it is Roland Kirk blowing the flute. Of course it had to be Roland Kirk. No other flautist sounds like him.

With my preoccupation with the Ray Charles sung title track, I never knew about Roland Kirk’s contribution to the album. Or Glen Campbell’s for that matter.

Film director Norman Jewison wrote, “Quincy then added the unique and startling Roland Kirk, the blind flautist from Chicago who talks through his amplified flute with a language all his own.”

Quincy added, “I need his anger, man, and his loneliness.”

Kirk’s sound really does bring the album to another level. His jazz is emotion. It’s an abstract of the human element. And what compliments that is a guy named Don Elliott.

Elliott has a varied background in jazz from being a swing mellophonist to a vocalist, the brains behind the Nutty Squirrels – a Chipmunk-styled band that actually predated the Chipmunks in music and animation – to a jingle composer, and soundtrack composer. But on this soundtrack, he provides vocal percussion, sounding a perversion of Mingus grunts and howls. Those two effects, Kirk’s and Elliott’s, complete the soundtrack, taking the genius of Quincy Jones to a higher plane.

As for Campbell, Glenn picks his banjo on various cuts and sings a song called, “Bowlegged Polly.” The number sounds as if it was written for Roger Miller, but Glenn pulls it off.

The other countrified cut is called, “Foul Owl,” preformed by Boomer & Travis. “Foul Owl” appears in the film as a jukebox selection by one of the characters under suspicion. The song that was supposed to be selected was, “Little Red Riding Hood” by Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs, but apparently Sam’s selling price was too high. So what we have is a song sounding remarkably like “Little Red Riding Hood.” Also, Boomer and Travis was a pseudonym for the country duo Lewis & Clarke, which was also another name for Owens Boomer Castleman and Michael Martin Murphy.

If I wouldn’t have been so focused on the search for the Ray Charles title track, and had a greater awareness of the Roland Kirk and Don Elliott contributions, I would have pursued to obtain this album more intensely. Instead it was Christmas in July in the heat of Milwaukee.

Artist: Dee Felice Trio
Title: In Heat
Label: Bethlehem BS-10000
Release Date: 1969
Genre: Soul Jazz
Condition: Very Good

First thing I noticed was the “James Brown Production” logo in the upper right corner. James might say it best in the liner notes, “The music in this album is a “mixed bag,” whether your “Stroke” is Soul, Rock, Blues, Folk or Bossa Nova – it’s here to hear AND ALL WITH AN UNDERLYING Jazz Beat.”

Apparently the Godfather of Soul fell in love with these guys after hearing them in Cleveland, and produced the album for them. Apparently they have some session credit on a few other James Brown cuts from this time period too.

To me, it sounds like another version of the Ramsey Lewis Trio, piano, bass and drums, running through contemporary standards and a couple of originals. It’s not funky like a James Brown record, but rather safe. It wouldn’t insult a jazz head but would also be fine for a cocktail party.

The version of “Wichita Lineman” was another reason I bought the record. I’ll buy any album with that Jimmy Webb number on it. All and all it’s a decent buy, nothing mind blowing but nothing too stupidly insulting.

The blue James Brown label was one I hadn’t seen before. I’m guessing it’s a repress because it seems to be in too good of shape to be an original. Plus, projects associated with James Brown, generally go for more money.

James Brown concludes on the Liner notes, “I personally feel that Dee, Frank & Lee are three of the “Strongest” Musicians around today. It took me three years to find time to hear the Dee Felice Trio, you can Do It Now – just put the record on the box, turn up the volume and Dig, Baby, Dig.”

Artist: The Bird & The Bee
Title: Interpreting the Masters, Vol. 1: A Tribute To Daryl Hall & John Oates
Label: Blue Note 26234
Release Date: March 23, 2010
Genre: Pop

Our little bird, Inara George, told me that she and her musical partner Greg Kurstin believe that Hall & Oates are masters of their art. I first took it as a rather tongue in cheek statement in regard to other musical masters like Bacharach & David or Goffin & King.

But then again, George (the daughter of the late Little Feat vocalist, Lowell George) and Kurstin are children of the 80’s and what duo dominated early 80’s pop radio more than Hall & Oates?

I’ll admit to being a closet Hall & Oates fan, sneaking in Lou Rawls’ version of “She’s Gone” and the Dramatics take on “Do What Ya Wanna Do” at DJ gigs, but rarely did a true Hall & Oates song grace the tables. I never thought of them as masters.

Now, having the chance to revisit these songs through the voice of The Bird & The Bee, Hall & Oates crafted some fine pop numbers. They have nice hooks, catchy accessible lyrics and a touch of soul. And what George & Kurstin do to them isn’t too far from the original, but more or less of an electronic updating.

The radio-ready light pop voice of George is a perfect match for these compositions. Kurstin’s programming and keys combine with George for a sixties-cum-new millennium tropicalia feel. Her voice overdubs are breezy and Kurstin’s keys buoyant.

I’m not sure if the “Vol. 1” in the title means that there will be another interpretation by this duo of another band or they’ll do another Hall & Oates record, because there are room for both. They barely scratched the surface of the Hall & Oates catalog, choosing eight rather obvious hits and adding an original, “Heard It On the Radio,” a number about hearing Hall & Oates songs on the radio.

And they stick to the radio very closely, covering the radio edit version of “She’s Gone” and never going into a deep album track. “One On One” displays a depth in George’s voice, providing more soul than I thought the little bird could dish out. Other tracks include “I Can’t Go For That,” “Rich Girl,” “Sara Smile,” “Kiss Is On My List,” “Maneater,”and “Private Eyes.”

Hall & Oates were masters of radio pop in the late seventies and early eighties and George & Kurstin confirm and expand that.

Artist: The Rolling Stones
Song: “Plundered My Soul”
45 rpm / Bonus track from Exile On Main St.
Release Date: April 2010
Genre: Rock

HE SAID (DJ FATHERTIME):

“I hate quittin’ but I’m close to admittin’ I’m a sorry case.” And it took Jagger three verses into “Plundered My Soul” to tell us that. “Plundered My Soul” was supposedly a lost track / outtake from the original Exile sessions. But as information has seeped out and as Jagger hints throughout the song, was “Plundered My Soul” an actual gem from the Exile sessions?

No it wasn’t. Maybe it was a diamond in the rough, though.

What existed of the song was the basic lazy rhythm. There was no title. There were no vocals. There were no lyrics. There wasn’t even Mick Taylor. So Mick Jagger summoned Mick Taylor to the studio in 2009 and Mr. Taylor laid down some new rhythm tracks as well as new riffs. Jagger wrote the lyrics and sang them with Bob Clearmountain mixing it, trying to make it sound like the Mick of ’72. Now add Cindy Mizelle and Lisa Fischer singing background, and you have a new old Stones number.

Along with “Plundered” there are six other unreleased Stones numbers from the session included on the new Exile remaster as well as alternate takes of “Loving Cup” and “Soul Survivor.” But there is some public outcry that “Plunder” is fraudulent because of its limited lineage to the original sessions.

I say, “So what.”  It may have not been the best choice as a single to represent the re-issue. “Dancing In The Light” would’ve made more sense. Nonetheless, “Plundered My Soul” is a great song. One of the better tracks the Stones have recorded since Tattoo You. (And if I recall, Tattoo You included some “older” songs.) The song has Mick grappling with the identity of the number, the identity of the band and the identity of Exile On Main St.

Mick opens with, “Can you believe it? / I’ve won more medals in this love game /I’ve been resting on my laurels / I’m a bad loser / I’m a yard off my pace.” He’s openly admitting he’s been riding his fame and now he’s up against one of the most fabled records in rock history, and it’s his own. 38 years later he’s questioning can he ever hit that mark again.

“My indiscretions made a bad impression / Guess I was misunderstood.” Is this Mick projecting the backlash he’s going to get for messing with Exile or just a broader comment on his past. Either way, it’s a pealing away of the brashness of his character.

“Plunder” hints to Ronnie Wood’s recent backslide (“I heard some gossip, you’ve become an alcoholic, you’re dryin’ out./ So I phoned every clinic in the yellow pages, not a trace I found.”) Or is that a reference to Keith’s new direction?

Whatever it all means is open for interpretation, like great art is. It’s a song of self-reflection about a career in music. It’s an ode to Exile On Main St. It’s an anthem to rock and roll. And ladies and gentlemen, it’s the Rolling Stones, in all their newfound old glory.

Grade: A

SHE SAID (VERITY WELLS):

Exile’s exile.  Something has been plundered, to be sure.  Whether or not it’s Mr. Jagger’s by now splintered soul,  I cannot say with certainty.   I’ll ask him tomorrow at breakfast.  I love Exile On Main Street.  For all the reasons that rock historians love to rhapsodize about…Atmosphere. Lore. Soul. Murk. Mayhem. Excess & Exile.  Lots and lots of exile. It also has some of the most beautiful, life-preserving bridges ever erected in song.  Ever.  And it’s THE STONES!The flipping Rolling Stones.

I want to love this song.  I want to believe it could, some 38 years later, recapture that period of their lives for us to vicariously contemplate and get lost in.  Had they not gone into exile, they might have settled into semi-retirement writing songs about the bucolic joys of the countryside, replete with odes to their livestock.  Instead they finish off what is possibly the holy trinity of all their studio recordings.  The finest, most fully realized, most definitive Rolling Stones albums:  Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street.  The previous were just them finding their feet after kicking off the boots of their heroes.  And a bunch of great songs, of course.  Plundered My Soul doesn’t inspire or transport and nor can it be expected to.   Technically this song should hold up and technically some of  the others on Exile should not.  But what makes Exile a wonder has nothing to do with such things.   It is another fine example of how the creative process can perform an alchemy of sorts when elements that can’t be charted are at play.

The opening guitar on Plundered My Soul is weak and sad, but it does fall into a more contagious rhythm as it goes along.   I like the splashiness of the cymbals and how the vocals almost lag behind them.   The piano should be higher in the mix, if you want to get all Jimmy Miller on it.   It is ultimately second rate, but better than anything they’ve done recently.  It is interesting to hear Mr. Jagger imitate his  70’s self, who was  imitating Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters…And yes, the lyrics reveal a more vulnerable Mr. Jagger than we’ve come to expect, but is this his attempt to write what he thinks the song and it’s inherent mythology demands?   Or something drawn from personal experience?  It’s hard to say.

Points for trying to keep it real and for the restraint and respect given it on the mixing board, which can be the cruelest of abattoirs.  Watch the excellent and fascinating Stones in Exile or read Robert Greenfield’s book on Exile or his more recent, A Day in the Life, for a glimpse into this period, both micro and macro (and macabre) , rather than a half baked song salvaged from it.

Grade: B-

Artist: The Bad Plus Joined by Wendy Lewis
Title: For All I Care
Label: 2009 Heads Up International Recordings
Release date: November 5th, 2009
Genre: Jazz

I remember working once at a music store with drummer Dave King and he said, “I have the worst taste in rock music.” Well, I don’t know if I’d go that far, Mr. King.

If you’re not familiar with King and his cohorts (Reid Anderson; bass, vocals, and, Ethan Iverson; piano, bells) in the jazz trio, The Bad Plus, they’ve earned a reputation for jazzing up some radio rock standards. On For All I Care they’ve added vocalist Wendy Lewis to augment the trio and their character.

In Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” Lewis sings,

“When I was a child I caught a fleeting glimpse out of the corner of my eye.”

But when they turned to look it wasn’t gone and they did put their fingers on it. These are the melodies stuck in their heads from their past and this is how it is now processed.

Anderson underlying piano flourish during “Numb” is the equivalent of a morphine drip. During Nirvana’s “Lithium” intro, it starts as a rather straight read, until Anderson’s piano punctuates with dissonance. And Wendy Lewis’s shouts are primal releases playing off the non chalant delivery of the verses. Their combinations are disturbingly beautiful.

From Roger Miller to the Flaming Lips The Bad Plus venture into forays of discord, but always hold it all together. For All I Care should be the new benchmark for all jazz artists who attempt to cover rock songs.

A song like Heart’s “Barracuda” I never thought would work in a jazz arrangement, but it does. And even if King claims to have bad musical taste, “No right no wrong, you’re selling a song.” Selling and recreating the beasts.

Artist: Toots & The Maytals
Title: Flip & Twist
Label D&F Music 52722
Genre: Reggae

I love Toots and I’ll buy everything he puts out, with or without the Maytals. But this one, I have some regrets. The saddening aspect of this is that this CD could’ve been great by employing a horn section. Instead, we get a wash of outdated synth noise where the punch of brass should be. Toots still sounds great, the songs are good, sometimes better than good, but that synths just scream of budget cutting.

“Almighty Way” opens the CD with great promise. It’s a gospel driven number and Toots sounds sincere in his delivery.  Track two, “Perfect Lover,” another Toots original, is a warm authentic soul number. And when he finally kicks into a reggae beat, it’s on a cover of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, “Hope That We Can Be Together Soon,” featuring guest vocalist, Latoya Hall Downer. But then it appears, that awful synth sound where the horns should be. Why? Why? Why? And in the following track there’s a real sax augmenting the fake horns but it cannot hide what is really going on.

“Jungle” features cartoon sound effects and a sampled feline growl. It’s an attempt at club music and it’s corny as Hell. “Fool For You” has nice intentions but the arrangement lacks imagination and the the production on the background voices sounds tinny. “Bye Bye” is just plain strange. I’d like to hear a George Jones cover of that number.

“What Kind of Woman” reminds me of the same attempt Galactic did with Irma Thomas on the track “Heart of Steel.” The difference is, Irma’s works. “There Is A Reason” samples “Time Tough” and it works but good luck getting through the remaining four numbers.

Stylistically, it’s all over the board, from club to disco to gospel to very little reggae. My recommendation is to download “Perfect Lover” and “There Is A Reason” and forget about the rest. Sorry Toots. I still love you, but this isn’t working.

Artist: Johnny Moeller
Title: BlooGaLoo!
Label: Severn Records 0049
Released: April 2010
Genre: Blues

Johnny Moeller was billed as the next guitar phenom by club owner, Clifford Antone. Fifteen years later, with a history of live dates with Gary Primich, Darrel Nulisch, Doyle Bramhall II, LouAnn Barton, Guy Forsyth and the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Moeller has the credits but I wouldn’t say he’s a household name. His latest CD, Bloo Ga Loo! is his third solo album and it exhibits a very credible blues based effort.

What shines through most of all is the tasteful phrasing Moeller incorporates on his licks. It is evident that it is based in Texas blues, very prominent in the shuffles, but I wouldn’t pigeon-hole his style there. The stand out tracks, “Shufflin’ Around, “Theme From the One-Armed Swordsman” and the title track, are coincidentally all instrumentals. Johnny doesn’t claim to be a great blues singer and is best letting his guitar do the talking. He has enlisted a couple of guest vocals to boost the album, including Shawn Pittman, Kim Wilson and LouAnn Barton.

Pittman, like Moeller is better off with this mouth shut and his amp turned up, Kim Wilson professionally strolls through the numbers like he does on a T-Birds album. Barton has always seemed a little on the edge which isn’t always as professional, but it makes it a helluva lot more interesting. Moeller duet with her on “I’m Stuck On You”is the vocal highlight of the album until somebody decided to had a ton of reverb to Bartons closing lines? What the Hell was that?

And whose decision was it to add baby talk to Earl King’s classic, “Trick Bag.” That is unforgivable. And speaking of Mr. King, Barton sings on “Everybody’s Got To Cry Sometime,” a song King did in his early days under the name of Handsome Earl. If it’s on purpose or not in respect to early Earl King recordings, Moeller’s solo is slightly off-key in a couple of spots.

This patchwork of blues is held together by a strong rhythm section of bassist Steve Gomes and the anchor, drummer Rob Stupka. Matt Farrell’s keys are a good compliment, he too shows the ability to work within various blues styles. I like the band and it shows that the guest vocas aren’t necessary. I’d happily welcome an all-instrumental album by Moeller and his men.