Author: John Morthland
Record Review from web archive December 29, 2008
Ersi Arvizu
Ersi Arvizu is best-known for her stint with El Chicano, a jazz-inflected East Los Angeles rock band of the early 1970s, but she sang in several other Chicano soul groups both before and after that, and also worked as a boxing trainer who herself went 4-0 in the ring. She’d been out of music for [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #75 May-June 2008
Michael Doucet – From Now On
Even by the standards of Michael Doucet, who has extended the traditional Cajun and Creole fiddle styles of his personal heroes such as Dennis McGee and Canray Fontenot into the future, this one’s a wild card. Playing octave violin, guitar and accordion in addition to fiddle, working solo or with fiddler Mitchell Reed or guitarist [...]
Not Fade Away - Reissue Review from Issue #75 May-June 2008
Willie Nelson – One Hell Of A Ride
Someday, somebody with great taste, and no desire to be all things to all markets, is going to put together a Best Of Willie Nelson box. Because nobody’s taste is absolute, fans like me and you will question some of the selections, and complain about what’s been left out. But the box will not contain [...]
Not Fade Away - Reissue Review from Issue #74 March-April 2008
John Anderson – Just Came Home To Count The Memories/All The People Are Talkin’/Eye Of A Hurricane/Tokyo, Oklahoma/Countrified
First charting in 1977 and coming on strong by 1980, John Anderson was a harbinger of the New Traditionalist movement that hit Nashville in the mid-’80s, a young man with an old man’s voice — his unfettered, adenoidal baritone tore like Lefty and Haggard and swooped like Jones. These, his third and fifth through eighth [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #74 March-April 2008
Eli “paperboy” Reed & The True Loves – Roll With You
Here’s the main thing separating Eli Reed from all those other blue-eyed soul (and blues) poseurs: even though he’s so obviously working a black musical form, he does it with such a combination of knowing restraint and unabashed enthusiasm that there’s not a whiff of minstrelsy or blackface affectation in him. He just sounds like [...]
Not Fade Away - Reissue Review from Issue #73 Jan-Feb 2008
Preservation Hall Jazz Band – Made In New Orleans: The Hurricane Sessions / Various Artists – City Of Dreams: A Collection Of New Orleans Music
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, much of the concern centered around the flood’s impact on the local music heritage. But little of the discussion was prepared to acknowledge that the scene was mostly just that: heritage. Sure, New Orleans was still home to countless fine singers and musicians, some of whom were once huge [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #73 Jan-Feb 2008
Lurrie Bell – Let’s Talk About Love
The first solo album in eight years by the eternally troubled Lurrie Bell was worth the wait. Man, was it worth the wait. The 49-year-old Lurrie, whose career has been derailed in the past by mental and alcohol problems that left him living on the street, lost both his father Carey Bell (the Chicago blues [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #73 Jan-Feb 2008
Brave Combo – Polka’s Revenge
Here’s a musical manifesto for you: “We live our lives wild and free/Visualize the world we want to see/We never settle for second best/No, no, no/Not at the polka fest.” Are these people serious? You bet they are, though there’s no harm in also messing with listeners in a good-natured way. More than 25 years [...]
Not Fade Away - Reissue Review from Issue #72 Nov-Dec 2007
Various Artists – The Cosimo Matassa Story (4-disc set)
Yes, yet another New Orleans box. But this one’s a little different. It’s not built around pianists, or guitarists, or a label or producer, but rather an engineer. Because Cosimo Matassa’s J&M Studios was pretty much the only show in town, this four-disc collection provides a great overview of everything that was going on in [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #72 Nov-Dec 2007
Bubba Hernandez & Alex Meixner – Polka Freak Out
This disc pairs Pennsylvania accordionist Alex Meixner, who specializes in various eastern European styles, with former Brave Combo bassist Bubba Hernandez and a Tex-Mex rhythm section. The result is, if not a full-fledged freak-out, a mighty spirited and often weird time just the same, recommended to anyone who shares the Brave Combo penchant for good-humored [...]
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