CD reviews (Feb 2010)
“Preservation” by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band is a collection of ragtime and traditional jazz songs with guest vocals by Richie Havens, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Steve Earle, Ani DiFranco, Tom Waits, Dr. John, Angelique Kidjo and others. Jazz is not my area of expertise, but this is just plain fun. Grade: A minus.
“Close Up, Vol. 1, Love Songs,” the first of a four-CD series by Suzanne Vega of acoustic re-recordings of her old songs. Most of them were stripped down in the first place, so what’s the point? (A better buy is “Retrospective,” her 2003 greatest hits set.) Grade: C plus.
“Fixin’ the Charts 1” by Everybody Was in the French Resistance … Now. This is a side group by Eddie Argos of Art Brut. This band’s gimmick is taking old pop songs and retelling the story. “My Way” becomes “My Way (It’s Not Always the Best Way).” It’s not as rocking as Art Brut, but has the same mix of cheeky and tongue-in-cheek humor. Grade: B
Massive Attack makes party music that isn’t really party music. It’s for after the party, when the ecstasy has worn off, and you’re trying to wake up the people who fell asleep on the couch so they’ll go home and you can go to bed, for Pete’s sake. But you have to have something to listen to then, something with beats, but a little ominous. “Heligoland” has its moments (guest spots by Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio and Damon Albarn of Blur/Gorillaz) but isn’t Massive Attack at its best. Grade: B minus.
“Odd Blood” by Yeasayer sounds like Duran Duran on acid, which surprisingly, is a good thing. Grade: B plus.