Medleyville

Star guests contribute to uplifting results

Soul legend Al Green always has put his best foot forward in the recording studio. He's an institution for his songs of positivity, spirituality and just plain heart and soul.

With his latest offering, Lay it Down (Blue Note), the Rev. Green gets a little help from some contemporary R&B powerhouses to collaborate and pay reverence to his legacy.

Some of the stars along for the ride include singers Anthony Hamilton, Corinne Bailey Rae and John Legend, plus project co-producers Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, the drummer for The Roots, and pianist James Poyser, one of hip-hop's most high profile session keyboardists. But with all the star power onboard, does the material hold up?

The album coasts in with some smooth guitar and organ interplay on the lush title track. Green delivers his verses with his usual tender touches and playful vocal phrasing. Hamilton is front and center as part of the chorus vocal choir and allows Green to pull off some pretty impressive vocal runs as the songs fades out. Hamilton pops up two tracks later on "You've Got the Love I Need" and gets a bit more showcasing by trading verses with Green, basically doing his best Green impersonation.

Another fine collaboration involves the The Dap-Kings horn section; the group received well-deserved praise last year for their work with Amy Winehouse and Sharon Jones. The Dap-Kings Horns take center stage in many of the album’s arrangements, adding subtle punch to "What More Do You Want From Me." It's that soft presence behind the lead vocal that livens up the rest of the mid-tempo cut's jazzy flourishes and is a clear highlight on the album.

One clear setback on Lay It Down is repetitiveness. About halfway through, the tracks begin to sound very similar, mainly because the tempo never changes. Adding to the repetition is the general theme of love.

Legend does a great job with his contribution to "Stay With Me (By the Sea)," taking a basic duet with Green and making it his own by tackling the high parts with his velvety delivery. He does such a good job that one could make the argument that Legend can use the track on one of his albums; it's too bad this was his only partnering on Lay It Down.

The album ends with its most lively track, "Standing in the Rain." It’s another fine, uplifting song with some peppy handclapping and Green out front testifying as only he can. You can imagine credits rolling at the happy ending of a romantic comedy or the old folks dancing it out one more time at the family reunion. Ultimately, that's what Lay it Down is all about -- feel-good moments.

-- By Mike Madden

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HALF PAST LIVE: THIRTY YEARS SINCE I SAW MY FIRST SIMPLY SAUCER

It really is difficult to recall just how, well, dire popular music had gotten in the dregs of those dreaded late '70s.

For example, no sooner had Peter Frampton come alive than those once mighty Bee Gees kept stubbornly somehow stayin' alive, thanks to a wicked strangle-grip atop global play and sales lists, which spanned the better part of an entire calendar year (I kid you not).

Now despite, or more likely because of the above-mentioned audio scourges, valid, vital new sounds already were festering worldwide up and out of (barely) the literal underground via various Ramones, Saints, Pere Ubus and Sex Pistols. Why, even my hitherto genteel homeburg of Toronto was at this very time busy producing more than its fair share of severely alt. rock combos: Anyone remember, for instance, Canada's homegrown Ramone brothers Teenage Head? How about those North country proto-Go-Go's, The B-Girls? Not to even mention them dapper darlings of the Ontario College of art-rock scene, The Diodes.

In fact, it was at just one such way-back art college anti-shindig that my Pig Paper photographer John Pinto struck up a most timely discussion on The Kinks with an intense young guitarist/songwriter (and then some) named Edgar Breau, who sooner than you or I for that matter could say "I'm not like everybody else" invited us over to Canada’s most musical of all towns (Hamilton, by the way) to hear his very own band belt out a cacophony or two.

That band, it transpired, turned out to be none other than Simply Saucer.

Already together several years, having unsuccessfully shopped a demo tape (recorded in Daniel Lanois' mother’s basement!) to puzzled Canadian record execs between being thrown off the stages of Southern Ontario's high school prom circuit, Simply Saucer were circa '77 looking to make one last, do-or-die stab at post-teen sonic immortality.

I, of course, responded, as I usually do. However, I could by immediately booking the band wherever and whenever semi-possible (opening for The Viletones one minute, invading the Jerry Lewis telethon the next) then shepherding them into a local 8-track "studio" to cut two quickies that, on June 8, 1978, became Pig Record #1. Seven inches of pure, semi-monophonic Troggs-rock titled "She’s a Dog" and "I Can Change My Mind," for all you compiling indie discographies out there.

Alas however, within a year of said release, Simply Saucer unceremoniously crashed to the ground, splintered into a million broke-down pieces, and an apparently defeated Breau responded to it all by turning off, unplugging, and hanging up his electric guitar -- for the next quarter of a century.

But all good tales -- even Canadian ones -- seem to have quite happy endings indeed. Thanks to unending interest in the band's Lanois demos (officially released several years back at long last as Cyborgs Revisited), Breau has regrouped, reformed and relaunched the Saucer with a more-than-able assist from guitar/theremin/drum backline Steve Foster, Dan Winterman and Joe Csontos. Thirty years ago, the three were fans of the original band. Now they have joined Breau and veteran bassist Kevin Christoff to produce the long-sought sequel to those original Cyborgs.

Half recorded under the microphones and half in front of a specially invited studio audience, the aptly labeled Half Human/Half Live mixes vintage numbers with a slew of new/old songs that never ever did get properly recorded back in the day. What results is a 30-years-in-the-making collection that somehow sounds both familiar and fresh, traditional and pioneering, comforting and cantankerous. Just as Simply Saucer always has and, it looks like, always will.

For more information, go to www.simplysaucer.com.

Simply Saucer on tour (schedule subject to change):

* June 20: Bohemian National Home -- Detroit

* June 21: Subterranean -- Chicago

* June 22: Mellwood Arts Center -- Louisville, Ky.

* Musician/writer Gary Pig Gold is the co-founder of the To M’Lou Music label.

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Allen Hill talks classic tunes and summer's appeal

Across the greater Houston area for more than a decade, an Allen Oldies Band performance has generally meant an instant party, thanks to the combo's Lone Star Beer-fueled hijinks, its impressive chops -- when not paying tribute to '60s pop classics at their own headlining shows, they semi-regularly back such legends as Roy Head and Archie Bell -- and its mission to keep dance floors full.

With the release of their new CD, Ride the Wild Surf (Freedom Records), Allen Hill and his expansive backing band provide a spirited -- and portable -- soundtrack that is tailored for a summertime bash.

The 17-track set includes a host of Allen Oldies Band live staples with an emphasis on summer-centric numbers, but the boundless energy of the performances throughout the disc makes it clear that these guys find the oldies to be a wave worth catching all year long. With that in mind, Medleyville recently caught up with Hill to chat about the new record and find out, among other things, why summer is the prime season for enjoying the oldies -- and life in general.

Medleyville.us: Ride the Wild Surf is chock-full of obviously summer classics like "California Sun," as well as good-time tunes that don't necessarily convey images of summer but make sense in the context of the CD, such as "Hanky Panky." In your mind, what makes a favorite oldie also a bona fide summertime song?
Allen Hill: "The whole idea of this record was to create a summer soundtrack for people who love to have all sorts of fun during the finest season of the year. The beach is mandatory to summer fun, but so is playing in the sprinkler, going to a few dances, doing cannonballs at the swimming pool, cooking on the grill and having a few umbrella drinks.

"Song titles and themes created obvious choices. The gems that found me during the process were 'Down on the Beach' by Ernie Maresca and 'Summertime Love' by Roy Head and the Traits. I also did a lot of digging to find out when a lot of the songs became hits. "Hanky Panky" hit the top of the charts in July of 1966, so while it does not mention summer, the timing of the initial release was right on – plus, it features knockout lead guitar by the one and only Davey Schoenbaum!

" 'Little Bit of Soul' has a line about fishing so it also made the cut. The biggest stretch was if a song sounds like summer. This is where I took the most liberties, reached into the bubblegum vault and recorded 'Yummy, Yummy,Yummy' and 'Gimme Gimme Good Lovin.' "

What is your favorite all-time summertime anthem?
Hill: "With the exception of the version by the modern 'country' singer [who] spells my name wrong, I’m a sucker for just about any other version of 'Summertime Blues.' "

What summertime non-oldie might you be tempted to take a stab at? Personally, I'd love to hear what the Allen Oldies Band could do with "School's Out" by Alice Cooper.
Hill: "We'd have to have some pretty odd circumstances on our hands to consider playing a nonoldies tune. If someone was going to stab us unless we took a stab at a nonoldies tune, we’d take the first stab with 'Walking on Sunshine' by Katrina and the Waves. This tune totally sounds like summer to me. Plus, it has tremendous
one-hit wonder credibility.

"I do love 'School’s Out' because it’s a perfect song -- lyrics, main riff, chord changes, groove, sound of the record and vocal delivery all say the exact same thing in a different way that make for a very exciting listen. It totally captures the excitement of the final bell ring on the last day of school."

In the CD's liner notes, you mention how to school kids, summer is a symbol of freedom and of having free time for fun stuff. Where or when would you say the love of all things summer began for you?
Hill: "I was in a swimming pool in McGregor, Texas, watching my grandfather do a cannonball off the diving board. Just about everyone there except my grandfather and I were horrified, but the two of us laughed like crazy the whole time. It was probably the precise moment when I realized it was possible to stay a kid forever. This set the tone for a life time of really, really fun summers.

"Years later, my other grandfather pulled the same stunt at one of those old folks swimming parties where the women get in the pool but refuse to get their hair wet. I know it made a huge impact because he won’t talk about it in front of my grandmother! So it’s in my blood to celebrate juvenile behavior. Fronting an oldies band/circus is an excellent way to practice extremely juvenile behavior and play some great rock 'n' roll music."

Did you have any interesting summer jobs as a kid?
Hill: "I created a pet-sitting service so neighbors could leave their pets at home and have someone water their plants, take in the mail and check on their houses while they were on vacation. It was the first of many no-budget start-up endeavors. I had the idea, made fliers on a manual typewriter, and fliered the whole neighborhood. The phone started ringing and I was in business. Anything is possible if you have a flier!"

What is your personal philosophy on maximizing one's summer enjoyment?
Hill: "Start now."

You are cruising to a huge summer beach party. What is your vehicle of choice to make your grand entrance in: your Oldiesmobile or your Ford Fairmont?
Hill: "The Oldiesmobile gets the call for the huge summer beach parties. [It’s] equipped with a dance floor, throne, cooler full of water-based beverages and, more often than not, the Dancing Sisters. Driving and announcements by [Hill's "personal limo driver"] the Dazzling Pete Gray make it all the more appropriate. You can also see it from at least a mile away.

"For the record, my 1981 Ford Fairmont station wagon had a very high standard for party entrances as well. It was used to kick off the oldies experience many years ago at a show we played in an alley behind a club. The Allen Oldies Band made our appearance by speeding in behind the gear, slamming on the brakes and jumping out to run to our instruments. We had 'Double Shot of My Baby’s Love' [on cassette] blaring at top volume, and when it ended, we jumped straight in to 'That’s Cool, That’s Trash' since we were set up next to the trash bin.

"The Fairmont died in the line of duty. On the way to a gig [band members] David Beebe, Jim Henkel and I were in the front seat, and the gear filled the back of the car. Some chump ran a red light and nailed us. We arrived at the gig late with a wrecker pulling the Fairmont, unloaded the car for the last time much to the chagrin of the valet parking guys and proceeded to play the gig. The Fairmont always got us where we were going in style."

With summer almost upon us, I hate to ask, but what is your least favorite season and why? It's hard to imagine the Allen Oldies Band not having a good time all year long.
Hill: "Yes, we do have fun all year long. I’m not a big winter fan because we don’t get to play too many outdoor shows during this time of the year. The Farfisa gets even fussier than usual if the temperature drops below 40 degrees. The upside about outdoor winter gigs is that we don’t need a cooler to keep the Lone Stars cold."

I couldn't help but notice that "Beach Baby" by First Class did not make the cut on the CD. Does that mean we can look forward to Volume Two?
Hill: "We’ll just have to see where the wild surf takes us next."

-- Introduction and interview by George Henn

-- Photo by Jay Lee

The Allen Oldies Band on tour (schedule subject to change):

* May 16: Hemlock Tavern -- San Francisco

* May 31: Cactus Music -- Houston

* June 20: Continental Club (record release party) -- Houston

* Aug. 29: Oldies Fest @ Continental Club -- Houston TX #

* Aug. 30: Oldies Fest @ Continental Club -- Austin, Texas #

# featuring Roy Head, Archie Bell and Barbara Lynn

Posted by Medleyville at 08:18 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Traffic-esque effort adds to impressive body of work

Steve Winwood's ninth solo album, Nine Lives (Wincraft Music/Columbia Records), is a strong set of musical arrangements featuring songs that confront an uncertain world. Musically, there also is more than a passing echo to Traffic, Winwood's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band.

The opening track, "I’m Not Drowning," is a gripping acoustic blues number that places the listener right on the front porch of a shack in some timeless Southern town. The music (Winwood plays all the instruments on this number) and the lyrics ("Keep running/don’t matter if the highway’s lost" and " Clouds are breaking/I’m not drowning now/drowning now...") are all too reminiscent of the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe and its victims.

With the second cut, "Fly," Winwood is joined by his core band, and the result is a trademark Winwood tale of starting over, turning pages and moving on with hope ("there is hope/if you can see/I give it all to you/you give it allto me"). Paul Booth's soprano sax playing and Jose Pires de Almeida Neto's guitar save the tune from falling into the lite-FM category.

With "Raging Sea," the album kicks into high gear. This time, the narrator is an explorer/soldier (heading to Iraq?) leaving home with hopes of a return. "Dirty City," which features an edgy guitar solo by Eric Clapton, could be subtitled "Back in the Low Life Again." The father in the song sees his son turned into a street thug by a local gangster; it's a bleak tale whose moral has too often repeated itself over the years. Winwood's ubiquitous Hammond organ blankets the arrangement with a heavy, funereal tapestry of grim inevitability.

"Hungry Man," one of the album’s highlights, could have been written by John Steinbeck in between chapters of "The Grapes of Wrath." It’s an obvious grass-roots anthem, and the chorus ("I’m just one/one more poor hungry man") is driven home amidst a swirling cascade of melody that would have found a place on any Traffic album produced during the '70s.

Richard Bailey's drums and Karl Vanden Bossche's conga and percussion (reminiscent of Rebop Kwaku Baah's eclectic contributions to Traffic) lay the groundwork for Jose Neto's and Tim Cansfield's guitars.

Fine things also can be said of Booth's saxophone and flute playing (which recalls original Traffic member Chris Wood's stellar work). Peter Godwin, Winwood's co-lyricist on these songs (along with Neto on most) is a capable (but at times unoriginal) complement to Winwood's style of songwriting (and a far cry from late Jim Capaldi of Traffic, one of his best collaborators).

Winwood's production is first-rate. His vocals are a bit fragile, but nonetheless effective. Nine Lives is a fine addition to Winwood’s oeuvre and one of his strongest, most consistent works in years.

-- By Donald Gavron

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Prolific would be one way to describe Matthew Ryan. Given his background, calling him a working-class musician would suit the 36-year-old singer/songwriter just as well.

Matthew Ryan Vs. The Silver State (00:2:59), which arrived April 1 in the United States, is Ryan's 11th release since 1997. The album marks only the second time the blue collar-raised rocker originally from Chester, Pa., has worked with the same label for two consecutive releases. In this case, it's the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based 00:2:59, which issued Ryan's From a Late Night High Rise in 2006.

His latest tour, which begins May 1, is sponsored by the outdoor lifestyle clothing company Gramicci. Ryan recently discussed the Gramicci partnership, his new album and the importance of the artist/audience bond.

Medleyville.us: Your backing band is Vs. The Silver State, but those unfamiliar with you might conclude from the title of your new album that you have a beef with Nevada. Is there any chance that you do, and if so, why?
Matthew Ryan: "No, I have nothing against Nevada. It's a beautiful and strange state, with all its Martian landscape and beauty and, of course, Las Vegas. I'm employing symbolism. And in my mind, Nevada represents everything that we do with our lives. We build and gamble with our futures. We get lost and we approach bright lights and boulevards out of nowhere. Sometimes we have to insist on regaining our romanticism and our idealism -- that's what this record is about."

On your Web site, you say there's a lot of yourself in the new album. Was that a conscious thing, or did it happen naturally and you came to the realization later on?
Ryan: "There's always a lot of myself in my songs. I don't think I'm capable of experiencing anything that anyone hasn't experienced. I believe that I may be able to offer a language and melody to it so that maybe these things and events we experience won't daunt, overwhelm, isolate or depress as much as they can when you feel alone in the weather living brings. Above all, I want to inspire activism in lives, and I mean with in one's own life. We're all leading men and women."

What song or songs on the new album were particularly difficult to write, and why?
Ryan: "They were all very easy to write. I don't really craft songs; I may get stuck on a line or a verse. But mostly I only write songs that present themselves to me. It's almost like a sense of deja vu. But sometimes it's vertigo. 'American Dirt' would represent vertigo. 'They Were Wrong' would represent deja vu."

Your output has been very steady over the past decade-plus. Is that a byproduct of your working-class background, a tip of the cap to the way the music industry used to be, or something else entirely?
Ryan: "I approach things with the philosophy that it must be earned. That's definitely part of the blue collar story. My family was, and is, hard-working, honest people. I'm grateful for that. I've become my own engine."

How did the Gramicci partnership come together, and did you wrestle with the idea of having a company sponsor your tour?
Ryan: "My friend Wade put us together. He's a smart guy, and he knew the people [who] run Gramicci. I liked the clothes and what Gramicci stood for, and above all, that meant everything to me to entertain the notion.

"I wanted to bring my band on this tour, and I feel it's time to offer the entire cinema in a live show. For years now, my guitar player, Brian Bequette and I, have worn paths across the country slowly building an audience with every release. I feel it's time to get nuclear -- and that all costs money. Gramicci and Wade helped to make that possible."

You're including a copy of Matthew Ryan Vs. The Silver State with every ticket sold for your May shows. Do you see that kind of a tie-in becoming an industry standard in the future?
Ryan: "We're giving away copies of the record to everyone who comes to the show. This is a dangerous notion for an independent record company. And I'm grateful that they're willing to go with me on this idea. We can only afford to do it for the first run in May. But I thought it was important, very important.

"My friend Thad Cockrell actually showed me the idea. . . . I guess we just want to make a case for the physicality of music: the design, the words, the entire experience on a proper stereo in your car or home. The digital world is beautiful, but it's also chaos and static and an endless list of names and hype. The anonymity is overwhelming. And there's little loyalty from listener to artist and visa versa. I want to give people this music so that it really exists, so that it's real, and maybe the presence of the artwork will provoke more than a passing listen."

"Listeners and artists together are a powerful thing -- it's the stuff of cinema. But right now, we're living in an instant judgment society, and we're floating around without much real intimacy. I want to make the case for more intimacy and physicality. That's always what I felt made music mean more -- as a lover of music, for me, the best music requires two, maybe three listens before its true beauty opens wide. That relationship connects us, all of us."

-- Introduction and interview by Chris M. Junior

Matthew Ryan on tour (schedule subject to change):

* May 1: The Grey Eagle -- Asheville, N.C.

* May 2: Eddie's Attic -- Atlanta

* May 3: The Evening Muse -- Charlotte, N.C.

* May 4: Berkeley Cafe -- Raleigh, N.C.

* May 6: The Iota -- Arlington, Va.

* May 7: The Living Room -- New York

* May 8: World Cafe Live -- Philadelphia

* May 9: Thursday's -- Pittsburgh

* May 10: Sam's Saloon -- Indianapolis

* May 13: Schuba's -- Chicago

* May 14: Beachland Tavern -- Cleveland

* May 15: The Ark -- Ann Arbor, Mich.

* May 16: Come2Go -- Fort Wayne, Ind.

* May 17: Mercy Lounge -- Nashville, Tenn.

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