High Bias aural fixations
May 5, 2002

THE BEATIFICS
In the Meantime
(Bus Stop)
Singer/songwriter Chris Dorn leads the Beatifics in Minneapolis, a city known for its quality power pop. Dorn's ensemble is no exception to that rule, as this neat little 5-song EP demonstrates. "This Year's Jessica (Again)" and the title track put jangle in your crunch (or crunch in your jangle, as the case may be) with the best of them, while "Different Stars" and "Outro" provide the requisite beautiful ballad goodness that's a nutritious part of every breakfast. The brief record ends with the pure-pop nugget "Longest Days of Summer," the latest of a grand tradition of sunny-on-the-outside, melancholy-on-the-inside shoulda-been hits. Three of these songs will appear on the forthcoming full-length The Way We Never Were, but the two that won't ("Jessica" and "Summer") make this disk worth owning anyway. Michael Toland

For fans of: Velvet Crush, the La's, Tommy Keene

MARK EITZEL
Music For Courage & Confidence
(New West)
When the notion of a covers album comes up, Mark Eitzel is not the first person that comes to mind. Not that Eitzel can't sing—indeed, over the course of his career he's developed into one of the most soulful, moving vocalists in modern rock. But the former American Music Club frontman is better known for his songs than his singing, especially since the confessional tone and intimate performances of his own work makes his art seem more like something he has to do than something he does for fun (or employment). Maybe that's why he's made Music For Courage & Confidence, so he can sing without being judged by what he's allegedly revealing.

Of course, some might argue that one's choice of covers is just as revealing as performing one's own material. Aided by Beck bassist Justin Meldal-Johnson, session drummer Joey Waronker, former The Soundtrack of Our Lives guitarist Bjorn Olsson and longtime keyboardist Marc Capelle, among others, Eitzel molds various soul, jazz, pop and MOR tunes to his own shapes. Anne Murray's "Snowbird" becomes a beautifully intimate meditation, Culture Club's "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" transforms into a nearly unrecognizable electronic, anguished ballad and the Andrea True Connection's disco anthem "More More More" floats along an atmospheric cloud of repressed desire. Eitzel does fairly straightforward versions of Billie Holiday's "I'll Be Seeing You," Kris Kristofferson's "Help Me Make It Through the Night" and Curtis Mayfield's "Move On Up," but it's the reinventions that have the most impact. Music For Courage & Confidence is no substitute for a batch of original Eitzel songs, but it's still its own kind of artistic statement. Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of: Joe Henry, Tom Waits, Congo Norvell

HALFWAY TO GONE
Second Season
(Small Stone)
Though it hails from New Jersey, this muck-encrusted power trio behaves as if it just rose up from the swamp, moonshine in hand. Seeking that perfect blend of Sabbath swill and Skynyrd hooch (a noble goal), Halfway to Gone cranks up the guitars to whiskey coma level, stomping all over the Southern rock melodies and scraping them back up off the floor with a rusty shovel. Guitarist Lee Stuart brandishes a bluesy feel like a club by burying his ax in sludge, howling away with a bottleneck like a werewolf in heat; he also blows a mean harp. Bassist Lou Gorra snarls his backwoods poetry ("Great American Scumbag," "Whiskey Train," "Escape From Earth") with nicotine-fueled gusto, and you'd better be listening, 'cuz Gorra wouldn't hesitate to feed you to the 'gators, if there were any in Jersey. From the tank-heavy crunch of "Lone Star Breakout" and turbocharged rocket flight of "Thee Song (Slight Return)" to the straight blues licks of "Outta Smokes" and pure rawk fury of "Already Gone," this band encompasses everything ZZ Top wishes it ever was. (Never mind the bonus track, a faithful cover of the Marshall Tucker Band's "Can't You See.") Prepare to get your ears dirty. Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of: Raging Slab, Alabama Thunderpussy, Dixie Witch

HAYSEED DIXIE
A Hillbilly Tribute to Mountain Love
(Dualtone)
This Nashville parody bluegrass band's last album was a tribute to hard rock legends AC/DC and was a mixed success at best; too many AC/DC songs just don't fit the format well. For A Hillbilly Tribute to Mountain Love, though, the trio (led by drawling guitarist/fiddler Barley Scotch) doesn't restrict itself to one artist, which allows it to find rock tunes that can be adapted to banjo rhythms, fiddle glides and mountain harmonies more smoothly. The Cars' "My Best Friend's Girl," Bad Company's "Feel Like Making Love" and Joan Jett's "I Love Rock & Roll" make the transition with little awkwardness, and it's amazing how well the J. Geils Band's "Centerfold" works as a hillbilly breakdown. Best of all, Hayseed Dixie nods to its obvious spiritual forefathers by covering Spinal Tap's "Big Bottom" with a walking bass and lascivious mandolin. The record also includes, for the first time, a couple of Barley Scotch originals, "The Perfect Woman" and "I'm Keeping Your Poop" (which isn't nearly as disgusting as the title indicates). But the real story here is how even the hoariest classic rock dinosaurs can get a new lease on life through the magic of mountain music. It remains to be seen how long the Dixies can keep this schtick going, but for now they can still induce a chuckle or two. Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of: early Bad Livers, Southern Culture on the Skids, the Gourds

JACINTHA
Lush Life
(Groove Note)
It's not that often that a performer is really all that his or her press material claims. On Jacintha's third CD, though, she lives up to the hype. Lush Life consists of ten vocal jazz standards cushioned by strings, flugelhorn, and even accordion. Paired with Jacintha's gorgeous alto, the results are addictive.

Considering how many renditions of these songs we've heard over the years, it's a pleasure to hear how smart and fresh the arrangements and vocal interpretations are. The Gershwins' "Summertime" is presented as an ethereal meditation, devoid of the bluesy characteristics that mark so many versions. "Black Coffee" is also given an elegant immediacy that's not apparent on, say, kd lang's belted interpretation (from 86's Shadowland). "The Shadow of Your Smile" is beautifully subtle to the point of melancholia. "Harlem Nocturne" is almost whispered, with complex rhythms and smooth flugelhorn.

Pianist/arranger Bill Cunliffe can be credited for the sterling presentations of the songs, as the piano and strings augment the material without overwhelming it. And Jacintha, unlike some gifted vocalists, doesn't drench these songs in hair-raising histrionics. Bravo. Brian Briscoe [buy it]

For fans of: kd lang's Shadowland, Patsy Cline, Billie Holiday

MARY LOU LORD
Live City Sounds
(Rubric)
Songstress Mary Lou Lord took her shot at the major-label brass ring with the slick, accomplished Got No Shadow a couple of years ago; while an artistic success, it didn't scale the commercial heights her label expected and she was dropped. So she went back to where she came from: busking in the Boston subway. Literally—Live City Sounds was recorded in the subway hall at Park Street in Harvard Square. There are those who would argue that this simple solo acoustic presentation is the way she's meant to be heard. Regardless of whether you're pro- or anti-studio production for Lord, you'll find much to enjoy here. As usual, Lord downplays her own songs to interpret those by her favorite writers. Tunes by her favorites Nick Saloman ("She Had You") and Shawn Colvin ("Ricochet in Time") are here, as well as two cuts from Richard Thompson ("Beeswing" and a remarkably accomplished "1952 Vincent Black Lightning"—she's obviously been practicing). She covers the Pogues ("Sayonara"), Big Star ("Thirteen"), the Magnetic Fields ("I Don't Want to Get Over You"), Heatmiser ("Half Right") and the Green Pajamas ("She's Still Bewitching Me") in addition to Dylan ("You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go"), Springsteen ("Thunder Road"), Sandy Denny ("By the Time It Gets Dark") and Billy Bragg ("Ontario, Quebec and Me"). She's thankfully catholic in her tastes—a good song is a good song is a good song, no matter who wrote it or how cool s/he is, and her stripped-down, heartfelt delivery puts them all on equal footing. It's also to her credit that "His Lamest Flame," the lone Lord original, stands up quite nicely to tracks by legends. She deserves to join those ranks, but until she's willing to come up with a full album's worth of songs of her own, her fine renditions of others' tunes will certainly do. Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of: Shawn Colvin, Joni Mitchell, Suzanne Vega

RAIN FELL WITHIN
Refuge
(Dark Symphonies)
It's hard to pin down a solid description of Rain Fell Within. The Virginia sextet incorporates heavy metal riffing, classically-inclined keyboard arrangements, misty Goth atmospherics and operatically trained soprano vocals into songs that compare love's dissolution to universal apocalypse. It sounds like a familiar formula for female-fronted Goth metal, but RFW stands out from the pack. The guitars are mixed further in the background than is usual for this style, and the writing draws as much from progressive rock as from Goth and death metal, giving the band its own distinct sound. The truly amazing thing about RFW is that despite all its dark romantic melodrama, it somehow pulls back from bombast. Even with the synths stacked like string sections, the guitars grunging in the background, the minor chords thrust dramatically forward and vocalists Dawn and Laurie swooping around each other like hawks while singing lines like "Joy doesn't exist here at all/Tell me where it lies/Without pain without sorrow," the band never ventures over the top, even though it's well-equipped to do so. But somehow tunes like "Save Your Soul," "The Child Beneath" and "Burned Away" stay within the bounds of taste, becoming all the more emotionally powerful as a result. Non-fans of this particular worldview may find the clouds in this sky tedious, even oppressive, but if you like your insular dramas writ large, you won't bother with an umbrella to enjoy Rain Fell Within. Michael Toland

For fans of: Nightwish, Lacuna Coil, 3rd & the Mortal

Copyright © 2002 High Bias