My Amazon Reviews: Various Artists "I'll Scratch Yours - A Tribute to Peter Gabriel"

Mutual Scratching Society
3 Out Of 5 Stars

Although it took him three years to pull it together, Peter Gabriel at last put his "Scratch My Back - And I'll Scratch Yours" out as a whole piece. Initially designed to be a collaborative project, Gabriel gets 10 of his "Scratch My Back" artists to add their voices to a select Gabriel song, with varying results. (You may also quibble about Bryan Eno subbing for David Bowie, but it does up the collabs; the missing links are Neil Young and Radiohead.) If you don't already have "Scratch My Back," I highly recommend getting the limited edition two CD issue.

One of the things that held my rating back of the initial album was that Gabriel had set all his choices to orchestral arrangements (he did the same to himslef on "New Blood"), which kept the album's pace to a crawl. Fortunately for "I'll Scratch Yours," the collaborators had no such imposition. It varies the album considerably and offers a few surprises. For starters is the realization that anything Randy Newman touches sounds like Randy Newman, from the dry wit of the vocals to the piano playing, and he turns "Big Time" from the ironically pop MTV hit into the biting commentary that the lyrics had posited all along.

My other favorite here is Lou Reed turning "Solisbury Hill" from Gabriel's gathering of courage in a pastoral setting into a dingy echo laden guitar look into the mean streets of New York City (and may be one of Reed's last recordings). The criminally underrated Elbow take one of my all-time favorite Gabriel songs, "Mercy Street," and do an uncanny sound-alike version. Stephin Merrit (Magnetic Fields) stamps the paranoia out from underneath "Not One Of Us" and makes it sound like a bubbly synth-pop record from the 80's. And finally, Paul Simon turns "Biko," a song I thought I was tired of, into an acoustic folk anthem.

Those are the hits. There are a couple of misses; Brian Eno doesn't do anything to make "Mother Of Violence" interesting. Bon Iver tries as hard as he can to sound interesting, but remains a bore to listen to. David Byrne uses his falsetto on "I Don't Remember" to make you remember what nails on chalkboard sounds like. But that's only three real duds. The remainder of the songs, from the likes of Feist, Arcade Fire and Regina Spektor at least show that Gabriel hasn't lost his taste for new artists and that his songwriting transcends formats. Taken together, "Scratch My Back and I'll Scratch Yours" is a good pair of bookends and a fine tribute to Gabriel's multi-decade career.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Iain Matthews "Pure and Crooked"

In a voice both pure and crooked
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Ian Matthews got a surge of creativity after the success of his Jules Shear tribute album Walking a Changing Line. Shortly after, this album of mostly new folkish material was released, and it is, in my estimation, one of his best solo albums. "Pure and Crooked" (which happens to be a line from one of Shears' songs on the prior album) is a richer sounding set that WaCL, in as much as the instrumentation no longer favors the keyboards that dominated. "Dominoes" kicks the CD off with a poppy number, something also missing beforehand.

He also sounds deeply entwined to the material, be it the nostalgic mourning of "Busby's Babes," the snarling lyric of "New Shirt" or even a terrific cover of Peter Gabriel's "Mercy Street." I even thought he outdid Gabriel's original. Given that Matthews was usually heavy on outside songwriting in the past, it makes the eight self-penned numbers here all the more exciting. This is great stuff, lost when the Gold Castle label went out of business. While Amazon only offers downloads at this page, used CD copies are going cheap. I can recommend putting "Pure and Crooked" in your library.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Peter Gabriel "New Blood"

Transfusion Confusion,
3 Out Of 5 Stars

Like so many older artists, Pater Gabriel has ideas about his older works. For some reason, those wonderful, ingrained and intensely personal songs from your life (and his career) need to be re-imagined. "New Blood" takes 13 songs, orchestrates them (think the "Scratch My Back" CD), and submits them for our consumption. It's pretty grand sounding music, cinematic and broad. But when you think of how a song like "In Your Eyes" wove such a spell the first time you heard it, this version will leave you with a tepid feeling.

So let's look at the songs that gain from the treatment. "Mercy Street" and "San Jacinto" gain in scope, while "Intruder" becomes a whole new menace. That's three. Then there's the songs that give you a serious dose of WTF. "Solisbury Hill" was as perfect a song as Gabriel has ever written, and the new version all but made me grind my teeth. "The Rhythm Of The Heat" has the word 'rhythm' in the freaking title, so taking away the drums functionally neuters that song. Same for "Red Rain" - all the drama is sucked out.

Which leaves the rest of the album in a holding pattern, with a bonus point for not forcing us to listen to "Biko" one more time. Also, "Up" is already a ten year old album. "New Blood" is making me wonder if Gabriel, like David Bowie, has hit a dry well. Bowie is at least sitting his time out, "New Blood" is mediocre enough to make me think maybe Peter Gabriel should give consideration to a similar spell.

   

My Amazon Reviews: Kate Bush "50 Words For Snow"

Winter Music
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Grey skies, swirling flakes, choir-boy son. In "50 Words for Snow," her first new collection of songs in eight years, Kate Bush pulls herself in a cold cloak of moody introspection that seems perfect for brooding on the shortest days of the year. The CD clocks in at a dreamy hour, with songs stretching as long as 13 minutes. Themes drift in and out, establishing themselves but never pulverizing you. "The World is so loud," she quietly intones on the opening song, "but keep falling, I'll find you." This is no "Running Up That Hill." "50 Words for Snow" takes its time to accumulate.

That may make it tough going for some listeners. Some of the songs here take on a classical, even operatic quality (comparisons to Tori Amos' recent "Night of Hunters" sprang to mind on my first listen) to many of the songs. There's also nothing here that ropes you in on a first listen. Kate is exploring a sensual world here, and it moves in slowly. Still, there are two moments of pure oddness here. On "Snowed In At Wheeler Street," Kate may have drawn the absolute weirdest vocal performance out of Elton John's career, and on the title track, Stephen Fry drily keeps giving his 50 words, each phrase becoming increasingly odder as the song goes on. All the while, Kate is egging him on, singing "come on now, you've got 32 to go!" With its bubbly synth gliding underneath, it's the most likely song to become remixed into a single.

Then again, despite the melancholy, cold feeling to the disc, "50 Words For Snow" contains songs about making love to a snowman ("Misty") and possibly getting it on with Bigfoot ("Wild Man"). Chilly or not, you never know what to expect when it comes to Kate Bush. I'm more than willing to sit by with a cup of hot cocoa and see where the seasons take her.

   

Passings: Michael Been of the Call

The Call made three albums of fervent rock in the early eighties that caught some notice for their nervy energy and passionate lyrics. When I was in college, my college station began discovering the intense "War Weary World," and the song caught on with our listeners so strongly that the local rock station was forced to add it to their rotation...that's how strong it resonated with those that heard it. (And this was a station that had Ozzy's "Crazy Train" in a heavy rotation at the time.)

That first album, represented here by 6 songs, was as dramatic a statement made by any band of the period (U2 always sprang to mind when I listened to the album). From the deadpan "Yeah, we've seen it all before" line behind lead singer Michael Been's righteous vocal on "War Weary World" to the stark questioning of "Doubt," The Call were obviously a band to be reckoned with. By the time the second album came out, they'd toughened up enough to hammer out an MTV anthem with "The Walls Came Down." They had begun forming a fan base of such luminosity that Garth Hudson (of The Band) had become a member by this time. His keyboards helped give The Call some diversity and propelled such numbers as the instrumental "Destination." Been's songwriting was also quickly turning more and more pointed, with "Turn A Blind Eye" continuing the political acuity that "War Weary World" delivered on the debut.

Unfortunately, internal turmoil made 1984's "Scene Beyond Dreams" a transitional record. You can hear the focus shift on such tracks as "Tremble" and "Delivered," which sport a dated sound and feel less like a band than the first two albums' songs on this collection. It is also the album where Been began his spiritual journey that would gel on the albums to follow. Struggling with conflicts between Christianity and a formidable dose of rock cynicism (much like U2, Bob Dylan, Bruce Cockburn and Peter Gabriel), The Call had begun crafting songs that explored this rift with sincerity and power.

Despite the indistinct production, these five songs from "Scene Beyond Dreams" are still powerful statements about the human condition. By this time, however, there was enough tension that the band went dormant for two years, switched labels and stormed back with the incredible "Reconciled" in 1986. A singer as forceful and passionate as Been just could not be relegated to video pabulum. He and his bandmates always understood that rock, for many of us, could still make the world shift on its axis, if for only three and a half minutes. This early document of a largely unsung band is a must for those who respect deeply personalized, spiritual rock. That's pretty much the second half of The Call's noteworthy recording career, covering their stints with Elektra and MCA records, plus a few unreleased tracks and some from Michael Been's "On The Verge of a Nervous Breakthrough." 

On this set, the proof is in such songs as "Everywhere I Go." The passion is laid out, heart on its sleeve style, as Been wails away with such an earnestness that you wonder if he's looking for his lover or salvation from God (which are possibly in their eyes, one and the same). As for a one-on-one love song, Been's solo recording, "Us," addresses issues of trust and companionship in a manner that rivals some of this particular disc's contributing musicians. They include such luminaries as Bono, Peter Gabriel and Bruce Cockburn. The tone here is often one of hope, be it the wistful sort of "What's Happened to You" or the anthem "Let The Day Begin." And there is never a caving in to the banality of what frequently passes for rock rebellion.

As I posted in my review of "The Walls Came Down," Been and his bandmates always understood that rock, for many of us, could still make the world shift on its axis, if for only three and a half minutes. If you find this CD intriguing to you, pick up "Reconciled" and though they are not in print, seek out "Red Moon" and "Let The Day Begin" as well. If you only want one Call disc, than this document of a largely unsung band is a must for those who respect deeply personalized, spiritual rock.

Been is also the son of Robert Been of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and was doing sound for BMRC when he had his fatal heart attack. Michael Been was 60.