Album Reviews

CAIRO
Time of Legends
(Magna Carta)
For years, Bay Area prog combo Cairo have been plagued by comparisons to dinosaur act Emerson Lake & Palmer. While keyboardist Mark Robertson dominates the trio's sound, he's not nearly as concerned with showing off as ELP's Keith Emerson. He takes plenty of solos, sure, but he's overall much more interested in pushing the melody forward and providing texture than in flash for flash's sake. While Cairo have been prone to ELP-style bombast in the past (check out the apocalyptic potboiler "Angels and Rage," from 1998's Conflict and Dreams, for a lesson in vein-popping, eye-rolling anthemry), Robertson's newfound sense of restraint checks their more melodramatic instincts. Stripped down to a trio (Robertson, singer Bret Douglas and drummer Jeff Brockman, with guest guitarists), the band wisely scales back the theatrics and concentrates on tune enhancement. The results are surprisingly catchy, with winning melodies and dynamic arrangements carrying the day. The songs are still a bit lengthy, especially the 10-minute epic "The Prophecy," but they're essentially pop songs at heart. Even the nine-minute instrumental "The Fuse" works because of its insistent riffs, not Robertson's frenzied ivory-tickling. (The lush synth instrumental "Scottish Highlands" belongs on a Yanni record, however.) Hardcore prog snobs may disagree, but the shift from prog monsters to progressive pop tunesmiths suits Cairo well. Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of: Saga, Spock's Beard, the Rocket Scientists

KITTYMONKEY
Satellites For Animals
(Kittymonkey)
Boston combo Kittymonkey heads straight for the proverbial heart of darkness on their debut album Satellites for Animals. Oh sure, they sound well-adjusted on the surface, reveling in catchy hooks, tasteful electronic seasoning, a bright production sheen and frontwoman Heidi-Louise Margocsy's fetching vocals. But they do it just to draw you in, like a Venus flytrap attracts insects. Before you know it, their minor chords and the contrast between Margocsy's soulful trill and bassist Eric Michael Cohen's frazzled rasp drops hints of profound unease hiding behind the protestations of love. They try to soothe themselves with hard-driving anthems like "Pouch" and "Belikeu," but unsettling slowburners like "Harder Place" and "Glue" keep leaving fresh wounds. The chains that bind tend to chafe, and Kittymonkey rather happily pop the blisters. Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of: Garbage, Morcheeba, Portishead

THE LOST KIDS
Belle Isle is On Fire [EP]
(Gold Standard Laboratories)
An offshoot of indie rock stars-in-training the Starlite Desperation, Detroit's Lost Kids pound it out like the Doors on bad acid, rocking out as if possessed by speed freak ghosts from the 60s garage rock era. Singer Dante White has an edge to his wailing that conveys how desperate he is to make you hear what he's saying, and guitarist Jennifer Pearl cranks out efficient rock/punk licks that drive the songs like a fine-tuned GM motor. There's no pretension to the four tracks here—when White bleats "I'm spinning around for you" in "Whirling Dervish," it may sound like a glib line, but he's not kidding. "Explode" and "Alive in the Snow" come off as the kind of unabashed rock anthems indie kids aren't supposed to like, and White's unhinged delivery and Pearl's six-string firepower give them an edge that cuts like a switchblade. Exciting stuff. Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of: the Gun Club, the Go, James Hall

THE DEL MCCOURY BAND
Del and the Boys
(Ceili Music)
When you hear the word "consistency" used in relation to music, it's usually a euphemism for "competent but uninspired," even "boring." For the Del McCoury Band, however, the word should be seen as an advantage. The bluegrass quintet has been releasing consistently excellent records for a decade, with nary a qualitative lapse, and Del and the Boys is no exception. Singer/guitarist Del and his crew (mandolinist/son Ronnie McCoury, banjoist/other son Robbie McCoury, fiddler Jason Carter, bassist Mike Bub) follow the precedent set by previous masterpieces like The Cold Hard Facts and The Family on their fifth album. There's some gospel ("Recovering Pharisee"), some honkytonk ("Count Me Out"), some storytelling ("The King's Shilling"), a musical celebration ("The Bluegrass Country"), a fiery instrumental ("Goldbrickin'"), a bluegrass interpretation of a rock tune (Richard Thompson's "1952 Vincent Black Lightning") and, of course, the blues ("Learnin' the Blues," "Unequal Love," "Travelin' Teardrop Blues"). There's not a subject the band can't tackle without sensitivity and grace or a song they don't treat with utmost respect. Even though the individual members consistently (there's that word again) garner accolades from their peers for their virtuosity, they never use the songs as mere excuses for instrumental flash. The song itself is all-important to this band. The best of this particular batch may be "All Aboard," which takes the tired train-as-death metaphor and gives it, if you'll pardon the expression, new life, with a damn-the-torpedoes arrangement and an urgent, soulful vocal from the patriarch. The Del McCoury Band has been called the best bluegrass band in the world, but that's doing them a disservice. As Del and the Boys clearly demonstrates, this is one of the best bands of any kind anywhere. Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of: Rambler's Choice, Bill Monroe, Ricky Skaggs

CARLOS SANTANA/BILL LASWELL
Divine Light
(Columbia/Legacy)
Having "reconstructed" the electric music of Miles Davis on the surprise hit Panthalassa, producer/provocateur Bill Laswell takes on the music of Carlos Santana. Rather than fiddle about with the Latin guitarist's more famous works, however, Laswell instead works with music from Santana's early 70s collaborations with his fellow Sri Chimnoy devotees John McLaughlin (the 1973 tribute Love Devotion Surrender) and Alice Coltrane, John Coltrane's widow (1974's Illuminations). Divine Light is a suite of spiritual jazz fusion, as Laswell takes tracks from each record and seamlessly stitches them together into a beautiful, beguiling tapestry. Aided by a dozen musicians drawn not only from his band but also the jazz world, Santana and his compadres, as interpreted by Laswell, create dense, busy but always clearly delineated meditations of beauty ("Angel of Air," Coltrane's "Naima") and fire ("Angel of Sunlight," Coltrane's "A Love Supreme"). While the Latin shadings of Santana's mainstream work are largely absent here, the music is still some of the guitarist's best, with gorgeous melodies, atmospheric textures and some of his most soulful, passionate playing ever. Divine Light is a successful prayer for light in the darkness. Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of: early 70s Miles Davis, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Michael Brook, Ekstasis