STACK #144 Oct 2016

visit stack.net.au

MUSIC REVIEWS

NORAH JONES

Keb' Mo' Live: That Hot Pink Blues Album Blues singer/guitarist/songwriter Keb' Mo's new 16-track album is a snapshot of his 2015 US tour, featuring a mix of his song catalogue from the past 20 years. His postmodern blues style, influenced by many genres including folk, gospel, funk, jazz and rock, leaves plenty of room for his outstanding road band – keyboards, bass, drums and at some venues a string section – to improvise. They move skilfully around Mo's always tasteful acoustic and electric guitar solos, which require no posturing, no histrionics. Versatility has always been this great musician’s strength. Listen and enjoy. (Planet/MGM) Billy Pinnell

Beth Hart Fire On The Floor Among the great singers of her generation, Beth Hart's new album – the most musically varied of her two-decade career – was recorded in three days with an all-star band that included guitarists Waddy Wachtel, Michael Landau and Dean Parks, drummer Rick Marotta and keyboardist Ivan Neville. Gritty, soulful and totally believable, Hart runs the gamut of genre, jazz on Coca Cola , a nod to Billie Holiday, salsa (the horn-driven Let's Get Together ) blues on Love Is A Lie and the revealing title track: "Love is a fever and it's burning me alive..." (Mascot/Warner) Billy Pinnell

Because her debut album Come AwayWith Me (2002) sold over 25 million copies, smart folks and cynics wrote Norah Jones' music off as polite MOR. But it was a canny distillation of country and cool jazz, and her new album Day Breaks – originals and covers of material by Duke Ellington, Horace Silver and Neil Young – takes her back to those roots. Here are some pointers where it comes to her catalogue...

Feels Like Home (2004) Given those massive sales, we assume you've got her debut. But this follow-up – where she went even more country by duetting with Dolly Parton and writing lyrics for Ellington's Don't Miss You At All – was its musical equal. You don't have TomWaits and Kathleen Brennan write a song for you, or have Levon Helm and Garth Hudson from The Band as guests, if you ain't doin' something right. The Little Willies (2006) This band was her breathing space away from the solo spotlight, and with friends she sang country songs (by Hank Williams, Van Zandt, Nelson and others) alongside originals. The closer about Lou Reed is very funny and shows this project to be a relaxed, quiet spot in her high- profile world. The Fall (2009) By this fourth release, many had decided Jones was just making the same album over and over, although that was far from true. Again she had interesting guests (guitarists Marc Ribot and Smokey Hormel among them), and co- wrote with Ryan Adams and Okkervil River's Will Sheff. Darker, more brooding and steamy in places. The lost Jones album? Featuring Norah Jones (2010) Something of a career stopgap compilation which collects her guest appearances with everyone from the Foo Fighters, Outkast and Talib Kweli to Ray Charles, Willie Nelson and Herbie Hancock. More shapeless than previous outings, but if we judge someone by the company they keep...

Deborah Conway and Willy Zygier Everybody's Begging Twenty-five years after her solo debut, String Of Pearls – one of the great Australian albums – Deborah Conway releases her ninth album, the fourth that’s also credited to her husband, Willy Zygier. It’s a compelling meditation on art and struggle: “The path to salvation’s one long battle,” Conway sings in the title track. Few songs have conveyed the frustration and joy of making music as beautifully as This Song Has Got Me : “Once I did it for rebellion, for the poet in my soul,” Conway confides. “Now I do it for the money, but I try to get it right.” And she gets it wonderfully right with this release. (Intercorps/MGM) Jeff Jenkins

Jordie Lane & The Sleepers Glassellland Jordie Lane’s new album features a song called America, Won’t You Make My Dreams Come True? The Melbourne singer-songwriter is clearly pitching his Americana at the source, and he certainly has the songwriting smarts to become a star. Glassellland – which takes its title from the L.A. suburb, Glassell Park, where Lane recorded – is filled with superb story songs. Produced by Clare Reynolds, who also provides backing vocals, Lane comes across as an old-school troubadour. “I’m stuck in a dream on a yellow brick road,” he sings, “blowin’ in the wind like an old scarecrow.” (BloodThinner Records/ MGM) Jeff Jenkins

And also... Norah Jones puts herself about a bit – check her numerous guest appearances on a couple of dozen albums – but her most unexpected pairing was with Billy Joe Armstrong of Green Day for the 2013 album Foreverly on which they covered the Everly Brothers' 1958 album Songs Our Daddy Taught Us . It is surprisingly good.

For more interviews, reviews and overviews from Graham Reid visit www.elsewhere.co.nz

OCTOBER 2016

24

jbhifi.com.au