My Amazon Reviews: Donna Summer "Bad Girls"

Toot Toot, Hey, Beep Beep
5 Out of 5 Stars

Disco was always a producer's medium. Most of the records were based on a single, often made by studio musicians and just as often, not being capable of following things up. Donna Summer was part of that machine for her first few albums, which often seemed lackluster in comparison to her vibrant, catchy hit singles. But then came "Bad Girls." Summer was still teamed with a simpatico producer (the trendmaking Giorgio Morodor), but she had become the closest thing Disco had to a reigning star (quick, other than Village People, name one disco act with a lasting and recognizable career), and for the first time, an album that hung together as an entire piece. And not just a single disc, either. "Bad Girls" roared out of the box as a double disc collection.

Donna Summer's "Bad Girls" took all the tropes of disco (throbbing beats, swirling strings, catchy hooks) and made it into more than just the hits. Summer also pushed the medium by going outside the dance floor with ballads ("On My Honor"), straight ahead pop ("Dim All The Lights") and electric rock meld with the dance material (Jeff Baxter's red-hot solo in "Hot Stuff," preceding Eddie Van Halen with Micheal Jackson by a decade). Tie it to a concept about creatures of the night and the whole city scene, and you had disco's first bona fide ground-breaker. Summer helped by having the chops to carry the album vocally, while Morodor jumped effortlessly from dance to his patented Euro-sound and the poppish ends of the album.

There was much more than the classic singles. "Sunset People" would have been a hot had the times been concerned about over-exposure for albums (same with "Walk Away," a minor hit nonetheless), while closing the album's concept about waking up on the strip and seeing a new day dawn with promise. "Dim All The Lights" continued the new idea of starting a dance-floor smash with a slow into and hitting the meat of the song with a blast (think "Last Dance" and "On The Radio"). "Like everybody else," she belts on the title track, "they want to be a star." So did Summer, and "Bad Girls" said it all across two long players. Perhaps her artistic peak as a singer and writer, it's also her best album overall.

     

My Amazon Reviews: America "Back Pages"

All Come to Look for America
3 Out of 5 Stars


In an irony of chance, America's "Back Pages" CD of cover songs was issued and, within a month, former founding member Dan Peek passed away at the age of 60. Founding members Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Beckley have been recording and touring as a duo since the late 70's, even having some singles without Peek and maintaining the trademark harmonies. Still, for those nostalgic for the trio harmonies of "Horse With No Name" or "Sister Golden Hair," this CD is a reminder of a past that can not be revisited.

That said, "Back Pages" stands alone nicely as a covers/tribute type of album, as Bunnell and Beckely chose to go to Nashville and used selected studio perfectionists and special guests to make this into the kind of lite-folk-pop they've always specialized in. Time has coarsened the still recognizable harmonies, and producer Fred Mollin frame the duo with perfect backing. The selections are both typical (Paul Simon, Brian Wilson, Dylan) to surprising (Gin Blossoms, New Radicals). Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger (who co-produced America's last album in 2007) gave them FoW's "Road Song" before issuing on his own album, and America actually sound better with it. Dewey and Gerry take the archness from the FoW version and actually sound sincere when they sweetly chirp "between stops at Cracker Barrel, and 40 movies with Will Farrell..." while dropping a sly nod to "Sister Golden Hair" in the process.

Which is the key to how much you'll enjoy "Back Pages." America are still a sweet confection that has gained a nostalgic burnish as time has passed. On covers like "Caroline, No," which was Brian Wilson's 'old before his time' moment of lost innocence, they pull the song into the future for which it was written. Same for Dylan's "My Back Pages," which closes the CD with the immortal lyric "I was so much older then, I'm younger then than now." When Dylan and The Byrds sang these words, they were rebelling. Sung by a pair of men that were likely taken by the original's force, America sound both understanding of their years and aware of the present. With the loss of Dan Peek, the enjoyable "Back Pages" becomes a memento of past glories and firm statement of present potentials.

My Amazon Reviews: Cher "The Very Best of Cher"

When you turn back time, this is what you should find
 4 Out Of 5 Stars

By far the best of Cher's many hit collections, this single disc "Very Best Of" takes the bulk of her top tens (even with Sonny) from assorted labels (Warners, Geffen, MCA, Casablanca) and packs the CD to its running limit. As Cher is one of the few performers to have managed a multi-decade run of chart toppers (she's been in the Top Ten every decade since the 60's, lastly in 2002), this is a testament to her longevity. She's also the oldest woman in rock history to top the charts, when "Believe" did so in 1998.

What makes Cher such pop flypaper? It's that she's such a force of personality that she could adapt to changing trends and genres, and still sound like herself. While some may find this facile, when pop is concerned, it is pure gold. It means you can get the hippie vibe of "I Got You Babe," the pure camp of "Gypsies Tramps and Thieves," the Casablanca Disco of "Take Me Home" and one of the first of the huge Auto-Tune hits in "Believe." Behind it all is Cher's deep, resonating vibrato of a voice, plowing into each song with both her skill and the song's need. Who else could take the sweet-syrup of Diane Warren's ballads and the lit-rock of Bob Dylan and claim them as her own?

More than anything else, Cher is a great song stylist. There are 21 songs here, and I can easily think of another half dozen that could have come on board. (My best choices would have "Walking In Memphis," the Marc Cohn hit and "We All Sleep Alone," or some of the Black Rose or Gregg Allman album tracks.) However, for pure pop history and chutzpah, "The Very Best of Cher" takes the prize for Cher collections.

My Amazon Reviews: John Mayer "Battle Studies"

Heart Scars  
4 Out Of 5 Stars

John Mayer is making mature music these days, which is to say that "Battle Studies" is an adult album that plays it easy. Having jumped off the hot-shot guitarist train, he now sounds more like the Eric Clapton of "Unplugged" than the EC of "Slowhand." Or more to the point, Mayer now sounds like he's intent on being the new Phil Collins.

Not that being Collins is a bad thing, as Phil's best work in the 80's still sounds terrific. The lead track, "Heartbreak Warfare" is almost the kind of divorce song Collins specialized in for his first two solo albums, minus the landmine sounding drums. Having Taylor Swift on "Half Of My Heart" is the equivalent of Collin's duets like "Separate Lives." The finale, "Friends, Lovers or Nothing," is one of the songs that merits the Clapton comparisons, and that's in a good way. Although Mayer brings these comparisons on himself by pulling readily identifiable covers out of the box, like the way he funkifies "Crossroads." While the song belongs to Robert Johnson, its most recognizable version was EC's (who even had a box set under that title, fer crying out loud).

Mayer made himself into his own performer with the albums "Try" and "Continuum," which makes "Battle Studies" a slight step back. "Assassin" is the most individualistic song here, delivered with guitar firepower and subdued voice, and is the one song that sounds like it came in from the "Continuum" sessions. "All We Ever Do is Say Goodbye" is a terrific radio record, but someone should have told Mayer that "Who Says" is the kind of novelty that wears out quickly. He's long past the point in his career where trifles like that should be on solid albums; if Mayer wants to keep holding himself to the standards of Clapton, BB King and other guitar greats he claims he wants to emulate, he needs to study their battles more in depth.

"Battle Studies" is a sturdy album, ultimately. It sounds like a sharp left from the the more intense previous album, with Mayer aiming for adult-pop without getting mired in the saccharine. He still needs to concentrate on being John Mayer as opposed to a composite of his heroes. While he loves to rub shoulders with the greats and does so with much skill, he will ultimately need to decide if he wants to rub against the great ones or stand alongside of them as an equally talented artist.