| SoundStage! Music Online Editor's Pick
Archives July/August 2000 Ray Condo and his Ricochets - High & Wild SnapShot! Rating:
Masters of the Steel String Guitar SnapShot! Rating:
Bad Livers - Blood & Mood SnapShot! Rating:
Paul Simon - Greatest Hits: Shining Like a
National Guitar SnapShot! Rating:
Copyright © 2000 SoundStage! |
More western than
swing or vice versa? The decision is yours to make with High & Wild, the
mixed-marriage product of Ray Condo and his Ricochets, who infuse their twang with plenty
of rockabilly energy and jazz improvisation -- and some smokin' playing. Lester Young,
Mose Allison and Cole Porter supply tunes -- the whole thing is a collection of covers --
that get admiring workups, Condo on sax and vocals, the band providing upright bass, steel
guitar and drums. Highlights include the infectious "Done Gone" and "I
Can't Find the Doorknob," both of which you can dance to. The sound is a bit distant
and soft, all the better for turning the music up. I bet these guys would be a hoot
live; you'd want to dance, but you'd rather not miss the show. But there are always CDs,
which you can find out about (concert dates too) at 
Not enough guitar in
your life? This CD will cure what ails you. Masters of the Steel String Guitar
chronicles a live performance of accomplished but little-known musicians (at least to me)
whose feel for their idiom is what Nashville could use a lot more of these days. If
you're a technique, genre or instrument hound, you'll find flatpicking, fingerpicking,
country, bluegrass, blues, dobros and lap steel all represented. The performances are
uniformly good, but Eddie Pennington steals the show, first with his audience-engaging
playing and playfulness on "Lost John" and then on "Eddie's Medley,"
which manages to be bouncy and dreamy, recognizable in spots and exploratory throughout.
The recording could have benefited from some added intimacy and a little more snap to the
strings, but this is a CD for guitar lovers and not necessarily audiophiles....Marc
Mickelson
Ex-SoundStage!
music writer Craig Schilling first told me about Bad Livers, but it's their musical
schtick that hooked me. Imagine crossing Doc Watson with the Clash and then sprinkling the
product with a bit of Sublime and They Might Be Giants and you get an idea of what Bad
Livers are about -- bluegrassy punk with an urban edge and some
too-smart-for-their-own-good attitude. Blood & Mood is the Livers third release
on Sugar Hill, and I can't say it's their best or worst -- it's just theirs.
"Fish Magnet" is hip-hoppy and wry, a collection of bemused observations, while
"I'm Losing" sounds like Devo via George Jones. "Itty Bitty Town"
tells a story about small-town life -- and it's bor-ing. Bad Livers would get run out of
Nashville, but they're perfect for Austin, Texas, the only town I know of where a song
like "The Legend of Sawdust Boogers" and its radio clips would be appreciated. Blood
& Mood is a great choice for the musically adventurous....Marc Mickelson
Paul Simon has been
one of the 20th century’s most prolific and consistent pop singer/songwriters, and
this single-disc greatest-hits package is a fitting tribute to his talent and will appeal
to a wide audience. Spanning 1972 to 1997, crossing various musical styles, there’s
"Graceland," "Mother and Child Reunion," "Slip Slidin’
Away," "Kodachrome," "Loves Me Like a Rock" and 14 others that
most will know well. The sound is exceedingly clean with an abundance of detail, perhaps
just sliding to the side of being a tad too crisp, but splendid overall. If you’re a
fan of Paul Simon but don’t necessarily want to buy all his albums (or a boxed set),
or perhaps you just want to own the latest remastering of his work, this is a must-have
disc....Doug Schneider