A gorgeous re-issue has recently been released and as we’re in the middle of Black History Month, it’s inclusion here is a must. The 50th Anniversary Collectors Edition of Kind of Blue by Miles Davis (Columbia) is more revered today than when it was released back in the day.If you’re unfamiliar with jazz, stop listening to people’s opinions and simply play Kind of Blue. It’s revolutionary on many levels. Recorded in two short sessions that totaled just ten hours, the five tracks here encompass everything needed in recorded music.
It has passion, intelligence, improvisation, humor and brilliance. Also, it was recorded by the greatest supergroup of all time with Miles Davis on trumpet, John Coltrane and “Cannonball” Adderley on sax, Bill Evens on piano, Bill Chambers on bass and drummer Jimmy Cobb.
It went on to became the largest selling jazz album of all time.
Besides all that, it had Miles. Miles Davis was it. He was the first example to me that no matter how much money I had, what clothes I wore, what woman I had on my arm, whatever I did, I would never be as cool as Miles Davis.
Everyone who ever picked up an instrument probably feels that way as well, which is good because it gives serious musicians a level to reach that they might not otherwise have the motivation to obtain.
This collector’s edition is two CDs which include the original album plus everything recorded for those sessions, as well as false starts and studio chatter.
The dvd has both a thorough documentary about the album including the likes of Herbie Hancock, Carlos Santana, Ron Carter and Q-Tip offering their insights and Robert Herridge Theatre: The Sound of Miles Davis, a CBS television program shot in 1959 in its entirety. Also included is a 60-page hard cover book with essays and session photographs, production stills, a huge poster and a reproduction of Columbia Records’ original promotional booklet. It’s an amazing collection and very much worthy of an album this great and a man who was greater even still.
Well, this is a bit of a disappointment. The Von Bondies are a hip little Midwestern group originating from nearby Detroit. They started by contributing a track to Jack White’s (White Stripes) compilation of Detroit rockers, Sympathetic Sounds of Detroit.
That led them to a record deal which produced two previous records, the latter being 2004’s awesome Pawn Shoppe Heart, produced by Milwaukee’s own ex-Talking Head Jerry Harrison. So now finally, five years later, comes Love, Hate, Then There’s You (Shout).
It’s a disappointment because the band has undergone many personal changes as well as trying to pick up where Pawn left off. There are a couple problems with this, first being that the energetic almost skittish garage rock that the band specialized in is sort of extinct.
I mean there’s always room for a good guitar rock band but not when it’s dated, which a lot of this is. In fact you can make the argument that The Von Bondies sound like a Saturday Night Live parody skit. It seems the new band members don’t match the enthusiasm for this music, whereas the original lineup seemed to almost breath it.
The result is an album who’s first impression offers a certain flair about it, but upon further listen loses its integrity. True vocalist Jason Stollsteimer has a very unique approach which is more stylistic than commonplace, but it really isn’t enough. The album just seems dated.
If you must give this a listen, the better ones are the album’s opener “This Is Our Perfect Crime” with its big drum sound and nifty guitar hook, as well as “She’s Dead To Me” that is right to the point at only 1:25 in length, but it leaves the listener wanting more of the better stuff which simply isn’t there.
Elvis Perkins is a very talented singer-songwriter whose 2007 debut, Ash Wednesday, was pretty darned good. Though it was on the dark side dealing with death and such, Perkins showed an uncanny flair in his vocals and guitar work.
He was handed a pretty rough deal when his father, actor Anthony Perkins (Psycho), died of AIDS in 1997 and his mom, photographer Berry Berenson, was killed in the attacks of 9/11, and the material on that first album reflected it.
This second offering was recorded with his newly-formed band, and the new album bares their name: Elvis Perkins In Dreamland (XL Recordings). Worked on while he was on the road touring for his previous effort, Dreamland has a bit more punch to it.
Produced by Chris Shaw (Bob Dylan, Ween) it’s still acoustic guitars, drums and bass, but it has a better focus to it. The band seems driven toward the same musical goal. Compared to Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohan, Perkins is really his own guy.
Everything here is good, and for those in his rabid following, this is not going to disappoint them. Will Elvis Perkins In Dreamland be the album that makes him a household name? Probably not, but this is an album that is one of the better albums of 2009 and a step in the right direction.
Derek Trucks (Nathaniel Martin)
