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Uriah Heep: Wake the Sleeper

September 18, 2008 / R. David Smola

Wake the Sleeper, the first new album from classic rock dinosaurs Uriah Heep, is a solid but unspectacular and ultimately unnecessary record from a band desperately trying to prove they can still rawwwwwk! This new effort by Deep Pur-…um, it sounds a lot like a Deep Purple record due to the excessive use of a Hammond organ and the Ian-Gillan-with-a-touch-of-David Byron vocals of Bernie Shaw, the longest-tenured singer and sixth overall (but only the fifth to appear on record). The first track, “Wake the Sleeper” is a noisy song that features a bunch of sound crammed into a small space blasting into your ear. The organ, the noodling guitar, the kinetic drumming accompanied by some ominous background vocals all seem to be competing for the spotlight, as opposed to individual instruments complementing each other. The other songs are decent; the problem is in the mix. The record suffers from ‘too much in too small of a space’ syndrome with the mid range so crammed your ear has no room to breathe. Producer Mike Paxman did not harness the band into a cohesive unit – instead it sounds like a bunch of competing parts. On the bright side, new drummer Russell Gilbrook carves out his own identity in taking over for longtime drummer Lee Kerslake. They are excellent musicians and a fine unit, it just doesn’t translate through the material and production. The Sleeper should go back to its slumber until a better producer can be located. (Universal)

Uriah Heep My Space page

CD Reviews, External Music

Ry Cooder: I, Flathead

September 17, 2008 / Lee Zimmerman

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Ry Cooder’s artistic ambitions have always driven him to be an archivist of sorts, from his earliest days as a session player serving a wide array of A-list artists, to his initial solo efforts retracing the blues and on to his later forays into world music, including the groundbreaking collaboration with Cuban musicians that birthed the universally acclaimed album by the Buena Vista Social Club. More recently, Cooder’s musical explorations have veered closer to home while remaining no less eclectic. Consequently, I Flathead completes his so-called California trilogy that began with Chavez Ravine and My Name Is Buddy, an album cycle which spans the underlying influences that steered the state’s native sounds, from rock ‘n’ roll and rockabilly to the feisty sounds emitted from its barrooms and barrios. Country still claims the most attention here – as evidenced in the titles “Johnny Cash” and “5000 Country Music Songs,” each of which references initial influences – but rock, ragtime and mariachi music also add to the mix. The deluxe edition adds a 96-page narrative that further underscores the premise (a group of guys racing in the salt flats and a fictional band of vintage variety) but whether the songs serve the story or vice versa is really no matter. An album driven by ambitious intents, I, Flathead is a new milestone on Cooder’s journey of rediscovery. (Nonesuch 2008)

“Ry Cooder MySpace page“

CD Reviews, Country, External Music, Folk, Rock

Gus Black: Today Is Not the Day

September 16, 2008 / Lee Zimmerman

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Gus Black has always purveyed a terse subterfuge, a sound that has its foundation in singer/songwriter tradition and blanketed by thick atmospheric ambiance. This is, after all, an artist who pared down his handle to Gus for his first couple of releases, dressed an early album cover almost entirely in black and then drove the point home by including a cover of Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid.” If Black’s last album, Autumn Days, suggested an idyllic aside, his latest, Today Is Not the Day enforces the fact that dark days are indeed here again. Black could make Elliott Smith and Jeff Buckley seem positively radiant by comparison, and, title aside, a cover photo of him emerging from the shadows, gun pointed towards the listener, offers no small hint of foreboding. These are songs cloaked in hushed, haunted circumspect and nocturnal rumination, melancholy, shoe-gazing melodies from a dark cellar where the sun rarely intrudes. It leaves the listener on the fringes, although a pair of songs – “Blood And Belonging” and “Little Prince Town” – suggests Black could be a little more embracing if he wasn’t so bent on introspection. (Cheap Lullaby 2008)

Gus Black MySpace page

CD Reviews, External Music, Pop

Emily Wells: The Symphonies: Dreams, Memories & Parties

September 15, 2008 / James B. Eldred

According to her official biography, Emily Wells walked away from a major label deal when she was still a teenager because she wanted complete creative control over her music. And by complete creative control, she meant “complete creative control.” Not only does Wells write all of her own music, she also produces, mixes and records it on her own, in her own studio that she built by herself (and she walked barefoot in the snow uphill both ways to buy mixing boards, most likely). She’s really pushing it with her “I’m my own artist” image, and she should take it down a notch because her music can’t compete with it, not yet anyway. On her debut album The Symphonies: Dreams, Memories & Parties, Wells proves that her demand to write and perform her own songs was right; she is a great songwriter, unique singer and competent violin player. Unfortunately, though, she’s not a very good producer or mixer. When she lets the songs speak for themselves, they’re great, but she rarely lets them. Instead she buries them in overdub after overdub, creating a dizzying echo effect so powerful that anyone listening to the album on headphones might pass out. Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound production has nothing on Wells and her homemade, self-taught production methods. For her, a single wall isn’t enough, and tracks like “Fair Thee Well & The Requiem Mix” and “In The Barrel of a Gun” are surrounded with a Dome of Sound, assaulting the listener nonstop from all sides. Wells’ has potential as a songwriter and performer, but she has to let someone else take the reigns behind the scenes, or she’ll bury herself alive in her own music. (Creative Control)

Emily Wells MySpace page

Alternative, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Pop

The Submarines: Honeysuckle Weeks

September 15, 2008 / Mike Farley

Crafting good songs is not as easy as it looks. But crafting mostly happy, upbeat songs that just scream to be placed on film and TV is another level of difficulty altogether. That is, unless you are the Submarines. The male/female duo’s second album, Honeysuckle Weeks, already sounds like a movie soundtrack – and the music is bouncy electro-pop with solid arrangements and melodies that are unique and compelling at the same time. There is also a nice balance of vocals between lead singer Blake Hazard with the harmonies of John Dragonetti. If you can imagine this, think modern iPod commercial fare such as Orba Squara meets ‘80s new wave icons such as Siouxsie and the Banshees or anything from “Sixteen Candles.” Tracks like “The Thorny Ticket” or “The Wake Up Song” are as catchy as anything ever recorded, the latter showcasing the duo’s lush harmonies. But these two know how to get down and dirty too, as they do on the dark and haunting “1940” and “The Fern Beard.” And “Brightest Hour,” with Hazard’s dreamy vocals and sparse piano key hits, is a movie trailer away from bigger things for this duo. (LABEL: Nettwerk)

The Submarines MySpace page

Alternative, Ambient, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Electronica, Pop