Music Short Takes For 13 November 2021

Suavemente - Elvis Crespo (1997 Sony) Elvis Crespo's first solo release is still as fresh, fun, and energetic as it was when it was first released in 1997. The title track, Suavemente, opens with Crespo's a capella call to celebrate that cuts right to the heart of what can make merengue one of the more passionate genres of Latin music. It's all good, but my favorite tracks are Luna LLena and Tu Sonrisa. The former ticks all of the right boxes for a perfect merengue song. The lyrics, the instrumentation, and the backup vocal arrangements are original and yet stay true to what makes this musical form distinctive. Tu Sonrisa makes brilliant use of the kind of call and response I have heard used before in Central American music. Apologies for not knowing the correct term. Whatever the correct name, it is goosebumps inducing. 4.5/5

Let's Face It - The Mighty Mighty Bosstones (1997 Big Big/Mercury) This is really going to show my tree rings. I've loved Ska since Two-Tone's heyday in the 80s'. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones was the late 90s' callback to those bands. While some Boston-based outfits were developing their special blend of Celtic/Shanty/Punk, The 'Tones were dominating the airwaves with singable, danceable tunes that were fusions of Metal screaming, sunny horn arrangements, and lyrics that offered smiling through disaster nihilism that seemed to be created to be screamed along at college beer nights and tailgates before everyone went inside to watch the late nineties vintage Predators or the Post-Ottoman Empire/Pre-2016 Cubs. Those days when we cheered the laundry regardless of the outcome? Zen Dixie remembers. 4/5

Storied Lives - Richard Berman (2000 Aries Records) Berman's fables for our time take on e3verything from parental grief to the cultural differences when it comes to what makes a good life. This collection of soliloquies provides powerful peeks into the lives of the people Berman sings about. It's a little ironic that the songs with the most specific source material are also the most emotionally resonant. Broken Wings is told from the standpoint of Daedalus, whose son, Icarus, fell to his death in an attempt to escape prison. The image of a young man who flew too close to the sun and paid dearly for it could have been toold by any parent who has lost a child to youthful misadventure. Oedipus shows our hero wagging his tale of woe on a therapist's couch. This tongue-in-cheek version of Sophocles' classic puts the fun in dysfunctional. Berman's heroes' range from the classical variety to modern day fallen demi-gods of the gridiron and the arena to a dissatisfied partner to the sage advice of a motivational speaker. To use a trope from old movie trailers, come for the emotion, stay for the bright flashes of wit. 4/5

Memory Almost Full - Paul McCartney (2007 MPL/Hear) Memory Almost Full is my favorite of McCartney's post Wings releases. This is where my criticism gets undisciplined. I could dissect each track and say hot it fits in the genre or the late-oughts' zeitgeist or somesuch. These are quick hot takes, so deal with it. I love this disc because McCartney is in great voice. He sounds happy. The songs feel so effortlessly good. Yeah, I know better. You Tell Me sounds almost like Beatles era McCartney, complete with an acoustic guitar doing most of the melodic heavy lifting and backup singers punctuating key phrases in minor keys. In fact, the last half of this disc would have fit in The White Album just as easily as it does this solo effort four decades later. For those of you still trying to tease this from your personal attic of pop references, here is the video for Dance Tonight, directed by Michel Gondry and featuring Sir Paul, McKenzie Crook and Natalie Portman. You're welcome! 5/5

Legal stuff to make you very sleepy (binaural beats not included.)

All original content on this blog is the property of the blog owner and protected by U.S. and international copyright laws and cannot be stored on any retrieval system, reproduced, reposted, displayed, modified or transmitted in any form, electronic or otherwise without written permission of the copyright owner except as noted below. A brief excerpt of content may be quoted as long as a link is provided back to the source page on this blog and this blog owner is noted as author or source. DISCLAIMER This is a personal website for the owner of Zen Dixie. The content within it is intended for personal use. The views and opinions within this blog represent the owner. It does not represent the opinions and views of other people, institutions, or organizations the owner may be affiliated with individually or as a group unless stated explicitly.

And furthermore...
Zen Dixie is a sole proprietorship owned and operated by Jas Faulkner. Any attempts to conduct business or procure money, credentials and other perks, or publish using this name by anyone other than the owner of this site, domain, and trademark will be dealt with swiftly and to the full extent that legal intervention allows.

Unless otherwise stated, the material published within this website and/or linked to this website is copyright of Zen Dixie and/or Jas Faulkner. No part may be reproduced in whole or in part without the specific written permission of Jas Faulkner (sole proprietor of Zen Dixie) first hand and obtained.