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Wes Montgomery: The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery – Keepnews Collection

July 18, 2008 / Michael Fortes

It’s all too easy to forget what someone like Wes Montgomery meant to the guitar itself, and not just jazz guitar specifically. Concord’s Keepnews Collection, spotlighting milestones in the career of jazz producer Orrin Keepnews with 24-bit remastered sound and new liner notes from Keepnews himself, slips out a reminder with the series’ entry for The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery. Traditionally cited as Montgomery’s best studio album, it’s easy to hear why. Unlike his later recordings for Verve and A&M, which were often bloated by strings and other extraneous elements for a more pop-friendly sound, this landmark 1960 session finds Montgomery backed by a crack rhythm section – pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Percy Heath and drummer Albert Heath – and nothing more. The quartet storms through six originals and two standards, and Montgomery’s trademark flying octaves are all over the place. His leads always sound effortless and simple, but just try playing them yourself with the style and grace with which Montgomery applies. He was one of a kind, and an inspiration to countless jazz guitarists for reasons that Incredible Jazz Guitar articulates clearly, succinctly and enjoyably. (Riverside/Concord 2008)

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Jazz

Sunny Day Sets Fire: Summer Palace

July 11, 2008 / David Medsker

You can usually tell everything you need to know about a band by their name – Staind, Crystal Method, Motorhead, etc. – and then there are bands like the inexplicably named Sunny Day Sets Fire, who will likely turn off the very people who will love them before they’ve heard a note because of their name alone. For the record, they are far more about sunny days than setting fires, and Summer Palace, the debut album from the UK-based band – their members are from Italy, Hong Kong, Canada and England – is one of the year’s finest, a delirious mix of New Pornographers-style smart pop and psychedelic tinges that bring to mind Flaming Lips and Polyphonic Spree. “End of the Road” sports a spaghetti western guitar hook, while “Stranger” is straight-up bouncy power pop, and “All Our Songs” will make A.C. Newman green with envy. To carry the New Pornographers comparison a step further, some songs sound like Newman-written songs while others, namely “I Dream Along” and the (annoying) “Map of the World,” could have been the work of Dan Bejar. It all adds up to one of the most adventurous and rewarding pop records you’ll hear all year. More, please. (IAMSOUND Records)

Sunny Day Sets Fire MySpace page

Alternative, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Pop, Rock

Dan Craig: Skin Grows Thin

July 11, 2008 / Mike Farley

Technology has afforded so many singer/songwriters to release albums in the last few years that it’s practically unfathomable. So how do we sift through everything and find the music that’s actually worth listening to? We rely on things like satellite radio, film/TV artist launches, and publicists. Of course, this stuff has to pass our ears and make us stand up and take notice, and Denver’s Dan Craig is doing that to more than a few ears. His third album, Skin Grows Thin, is 13 mostly acoustic offerings that are dreamy, ethereal Damien Rice-like fare that is performed with precision and emotion as if Craig truly believes every word he’s singing. To pull off the acoustic thing well, you have to have a remarkable voice, and Craig’s smoky tenor is just that. The opening track, “Further to Fall,” is money in the bank, but there really isn’t a bad track on here. Other notables are when Craig smartly uses strings and sweet harmonies to deliver his message, as he does on “Breaking Hearts Tonight” and “All Break Down.” Dan Craig’s music might be a music supervisor’s dream, but more than that, he’s a dependable singer/songwriter in a crowded genre. (Dan Craig Music)

Dan Craig MySpace Page

Alternative, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Pop, Rock

Seabird: ‘Til We See the Shore

July 11, 2008 / Jeff Giles

The next time he’s in the shower, Chris Martin may want to take an extra minute to check his family jewels, because it sounds like his left nut has gone off and made itself an album. On its full-length debut, ’Til We See the Shore, Seabird presents itself as an incredible facsimile of Coldplay, copping every facet of their sound – swirly guitars, pensive keyboards, melancholy vocals – and adding nothing of their own, except perhaps the vaguest of CCM overtones. There’s nothing inherently wrong with being Coldplay for the Christian set, of course – just as there’s no crime in swinging for the fences with press kit quotes like “We hope this record will be an oasis for those who were left thirsty by years of heartache.” But dammit, if you’re going to swing for the fences, you’d better at least be holding a bat – not depending on such unintentionally hilarious couplets as ”So put this steak on your eye / It’s much better for you than rice / It’s your bread, water and rice.” It’s all very pretty, of course, but even on your debut, you’ve got to hope to provoke something more than unfavorable comparisons to Keane. (Credential Recordings 2008)

Seabird MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Pop

Your Highness Electric: The Grand Hooded Phantom

July 11, 2008 / James B. Eldred

David St. Hubbins said it best; “It’s such a fine line between stupid and clever” and frequently it call comes down to presentation. Take a group like They Might Be Giants; a good majority of their songs don’t even make sense. They’re filled with non-sequiturs about human/alien lovemaking, evil puppets and deviant cyclopes. However, they present their lyrics in a musical format (college/indie rock) that is equally quirky and oddball, so it works out for them. Your Highness Electric, on the other hand, wrap their decidedly odd lyrics around generic, paint-by-numbers cock rock on The Grand Hooded Phantom. And since they aren’t going over the top with it a la The Darkness, it must be assumed that they want to be taken seriously. But when lines like “I know what the little babies need/They think ‘I want to suck on breasts all day long” are accompanied by bluesy rock riffs and a vocalist who sounds like he wants to make love to the microphone, it’s hard to wrap your head around it. Maybe if the music was a little bit better, it might work. Many songs, such as the hilariously named “Bob. Sugar. Sex. Magic.” and “Bearskin Love,” sound like boring arena rock that would have been embarrassing and boring if released 10 years ago, albeit with exceptionally out-there lyrics. It’s hard to hate Your Highness Electric because they are so damned odd. But it’s hard to like them because they are so damn boring. There has to be an audience somewhere for this weirdness; maybe philosophy majors who are into Skid Row. (LABEL: Longhair Illuminati 2008)

Your Highness Electric MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Rock