High Bias aural fixations
June 23, 2002

THE BOTTLE ROCKETS
Songs of Sahm
(Bloodshot)
Missouri's finest breaks its three-year silence with Songs of Sahm, a tribute album to the late Texas iconoclast Doug Sahm. The Bottle Rockets don't experiment with the originals' arrangements, choosing instead to do straight bar-band versions of the Texas Tornado's classics, plus a few obscurities. Highlights include rocking takes on "Floatway" and "I'm Not That Kat Anymore," soulfully sung moves through "Sunday Sunny Mill Valley Groove Day" and "Be Real" (one of Sahm's finest ballads) and bassist Robert Kearns' bemused run through "Lawd, I'm Just a Country Boy in This Great Big Freaky City." But there's little here that could compete with either the originals or any of the quartet's best songs. And let's face it, do we really need yet another soundalike version of "She's About a Mover," a song not aging particularly well to begin with? Rockets frontman Brian Henneman's vocal resemblance to Sahm on some of the tunes seems to be discouraging the group from pushing the envelope, but at least the band never embarrasses itself. Still, a new batch of Rockets originals would have been more welcome. As it stands, Songs of Sahm is a better bet for fans of Doug Sahm than for the Bottle Rockets. Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of: Doug Sahm

CORDELIA'S DAD
What It Is
(Kimchee)
Boston's Cordelia's Dad started out a decade ago as an electric folk power trio, playing traditional American folk tunes in a punked-up rock & roll style. After a couple of albums in that vein, leaderTim Eriksen decided to make Dad an all-acoustic affair, while continuing the electric explorations with original songs in a band called Io. Dad has since become a well-respected institution in the folk underground, while Io seemed to just fade away. Only in nomenclature, apparently, since Eriksen revives the songs and sound under the Cordelia's Dad banner for What It Is. Though the general sound recalls the band's earliest days, to say this is a return to former glories is a mistake. Eriksen isn't the same musician now he was then, and his tunes are a slightly odd combination of the early American folk music he's been trafficking in for years and guitar-based indie rock. Power chords and unconventional melodies carry his impressionistic poetry, and his thick-toned guitar and droning vocals (the main influence on which seems to be bagpipes) lead the way. Bassist/singer Cath Oss and drummer Peter Irvine offer dynamic support. Seriously rocking tracks like "Brother Judson," "Song of the Heads" and "Little Speckled Egg" are balanced by ballads like "Leave Your Light On," "Hammer" and "Eyelovemusic." There are a couple of folk songs present in "Dark and Rolling Eye," "Despair" and "Brethren Sing," the latter two of which come from the a cappella shape-note tradition. The band sounds equally comfortable with both approaches, setting the stage for future blendings of both sides of its personality. With What It Is, Cordelia's Dad makes a genuine breakthrough. Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of: the Tragically Hip, Throwing Muses, Buffalo Tom

JERRY GRANELLI/JAMIE SAFT
The Only Juan
(Love Slave)
Drummer Jerry Granelli has played with everyone from Vince Guaraldi and Ralph Towner to various free-jazzers; he's also a music professor of long standing. Keyboardist Jamie Saft has spent time with John Zorn, Groove Collective, Bobby Previte, Marc Ribot and composer John Adams. The Only Juan is a live-in-the-studio, improvised duo date that encompasses groove ("Baby San," "Soloduet"), reggae ("Difficult Dread"), ambient minimalism ("Gong"), melancholy balladry ("Club Date," Joni Mitchell's "Rainy Night House"), avant-garde weirdness ("Short," "Jerry Jerry Woo") and pretty much any other musical notion that floated across the musicians' brainpans at the time. There's even a stripped-down cover of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'." The Only Juan is basically the sound of two musicians enjoying each others' presence, sounding each other out, throwing ideas back and forth as if playing catch. The duo's interplay is friendly enough to make you want to hear them work together again, especially on something a bit more structured. That these improvs never fall into complete chaos is a testament to the talent and experience at work here. Adventurous music fans may want to get to know The Only Juan. Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of: Circle, Sun Ra, Golden Arm Trio

KAIPA
Notes From the Past
(InsideOut)
Led by keyboardist/songwriter Hans Lundin, Swedish progressive rock combo Kaipa is best known as the band from which Flower Kings leader Roine Stolt emerged. Lundin and Stolt reunite for the first time since the late 70s on Notes From the Past, the first Kaipa album in 20 years. It's a very traditional progressive rock album, with grand, sweeping melodies lifted from classical and pop sources and carried by Lundin's orchestral keyboards (Hammond organ, synths, piano, that all-important Mellotron) and colored by Stolt's muscular guitar. The duo enlists singer Patrik Lundstrom for most of the record, and he has the kind of clear, soaring tenor you'd expect to find in music of this stripe. For non-fans of prog, this album may very well be agony. But for enthusiasts, it will be a treat. Lundin has just the right touch for this material, hitting all the prog sweet spots without being ostentatious about it. (It helps that he keeps the epic-length tracks to a minimum.) It's obvious where Stolt learned his own style of prog composition. Lundin is also a tuneful, tasteful keyboardist, paying as much attention to texture and atmosphere as solos. Stolt, perhaps reined in a bit playing someone else's gig, lays down fiery but concise solos, ironically demonstrating exactly why he's revered among prog guitar aficionados by playing less. Songs like "Mirrors of Yesterday," "Leaving the Horizon," the instrumental "Morganism" (which features a middle breakdown straight out of a blaxploitation soundtrack) and the two-part title track are what prog rock is all about. Fans of the traditional 70s prog style need to take Notes From the Past. Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of: Camel, Yes, Spock's Beard

ERIC LICHTER
Palm Wine Sunday Blue
(Hidden Agenda)
Out to prove that Jeff Kelly isn't the only member of the Green Pajamas with the talent to have a solo career, GP keyboardist/secondary songwriter Eric Lichter presents his debut album Palm Wine Sunday Blue. Lichter's music isn't that far removed from the Pajamas', fitting easily into the psychedelic pop arena, but there are differences. Lichter doesn't have Kelly's Celtic folk leanings or obsession with Gothic literature, which makes him more apt to compose brighter and less melancholy tunes. For the first third of the album, catchy, upbeat tracks like "Papa Quale," "Wildly Polite" and "Haley [sic] Mills" rule the roost, as guitars jangle, keyboards tinkle and Lichter sings warmly. Darkness starts to seep in by the second third, however (see "Bag of Rice," "Dumbox" and the deceptively bright "Cloth of Time"), then Lichter finds himself firmly in Pajamas territory with the downbeat baroqueness of "Mist Maureen" and "Homely Ghost." His voice isn't as strong as his bandmates' in the Pajamas, which might explain why he doesn't take more leads, but it's serviceable enough to get his songs across with a minimum of wincing, especially on the rainy-day tracks. Palm Wine Sunday Blue not only underscores Lichter's contribution to the Green Pajamas, but also successfully makes the case for its author's talents on his own. Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of: the Sneetches, Beulah, Simon & Garfunkel

THE RESIDENTS
Demons Dance Alone
(Cryptic/ESD)
San Francisco's pop art avant gardists the Residents have pushed, prodded, poked and occasionally punched the hell out of popular music for nearly 30 years now. (That's three decades. Take a moment to think about that. Go ahead, we'll wait.) The quartet (or trio, or duo, or solo, or whatever the hell permutation they've been in all this time) has done just about everything you can do to music while still keeping it in the general area of actual tunes. While they've done some experimentation with melody on stray tracks here and there, they've never gone as whole hog with it as they do on Demons Dance Alone. The prominent guitars introduced on the Wormwood tour feature here, augmenting the usual electronics, and the vocal melodies—sung by both the regular, scratchy Skullface and the female voice also from Wormwood—follow established patterns of pop tuneage, instead of ranting or screaming (though there's some of that, too—see "Betty's Body"). Tunes like "Life Would Be Wonderful" and "Honey Bear" are—dare it be said—catchy, and the sentiments expressed might even be considered positive. Of course, with this band, you never know—there probably isn't another artist on the planet, in any genre, who plays its intentions as close to the vest as the Residents. Superficial listeners can take pleasure in the flowing, pleasant melodies and fanatics can spend the next few years trying to figure out what the group is satirizing this time. Everybody goes home happy. Michael Toland

For fans of: Air, Pere Ubu, They Might Be Giants

WINFRED E. EYE
A Bottle, A Dog, Some Milk, A Bottle
(Luckyhorse Industries)
Winfred E. Eye plays hangover music. It's quiet, miserable and sounds like it's gingerly nursing an awful headache on A Bottle, A Dog, Some Milk, A Bottle, the band's first full-length album. Leader Aaron Calvert mutters and moans over the sedate, mostly acoustic country-pop arrangements from his five bandmates, his craggy voice finding the emotional truths hidden in the aftermath of boozy bad behavior. He sounds like Bill Morrissey after a serious bender, needing to pour out the tales of the night before into a tape machine but wary of waking the neighbors. "Better Not Be Here Tonite," "Dog" and "Keep the Bed Warm" act as a warm bath on a shivering body, even as "Riding the Rails" is that first telephone call pounding on the nerve endings. If you're craving that morning-after taste in your mouth, you don't have to go through the excessive drinking to acquire it. Winfred E. Eye's already coated your tongue. Michael Toland

For fans of: Giant Sand, Lambchop, Songs:Ohia

Copyright © 2002 High Bias