Metro Pulse/Music/Eye on the Scene

Local CD review
Gran Torino
The One and Only

Metro Pulse readers voted Gran Torino Knoxville's 2002 Best Rock Band. And there's nothing wrong with that—except that it's too limited. Gran Torino's influences and styles go far beyond the limitations of two-guitars-bass-and-drum groups. The nine-member ensemble packs those staples of straight-ahead rock, plus a variety of horns, keyboards, and who knows what else into an 11-song set that rocks, grooves, and choogles.

The result, their latest CD, The One and Only, showcases the group tearing through some incredibly tightly performed and produced music, ranging in style from rock to funk to R&B and evoking some great sounds of previous eras, and yet somehow managing to sound new. As Mike Gibson wrote in a recent profile of the band, without losing the "'70s funk savvy, the downtown rhythms and uptown brass, the shrewd appropriations from bell-bottom rockers and soul synthesists from Carlos Santana to Parliament...the group has finally crafted a sound that's truly Torino, brashly and smoothly melding retro roots with hip-hop sensibilities."

He couldn't be more right. "Sick and Tired," the first song on the CD, wouldn't be entirely out of place on a record by Sly & the Family Stone. And Earth, Wind, & Fire, if they're still together, should probably cover "Streetlight." (Those are compliments.) And yet, the whole performance has a definite '90s sensibility, anchored by Chris Ford's growly vocals.

About the only negative that could be said of the record is that the wall-of-sound effect of so many instruments occasionally overwhelms the differences in styles the group can clearly achieve, lending a certain sameness to some of the numbers. But really, that's a minor quibble. This is the sort of disc you can enjoy for the individual instrumental performances, or take to work to bob your head to while doing your 9-to-5, or better yet, to take home with you after doing some serious bootie shaking at Gran Torino's CD release party.

Gran Torino will be at Disc Exchange South 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 24 to autograph their new CD. Their CD release party is at Blue Cats on Friday, Sept. 27, at 10 p.m.

He's Your Pusherman

We reported in Eye a couple of months ago about the Bitter Pills love of and dedication to producing vinyl. Well, Pills singer and keyboardist Nathan Moses has been proselytizing about the old format to a new generation.

Move over Jay Nations (former owner of Raven Records and Knoxville's penultimate vinyl champion), because there's a new kid in town.... Well, we're not exactly talking about a new face here. Moses has been an outspoken pusher of the vinyl narcotic for years. The owner of the Old City's late Modern World Records, Moses has also worked for years at Lost & Found Records, traveled far and wide to wheel and deal at record conventions, and even made appearances at local schools to demonstrate the "ancient" vinyl disks to kids who've never experienced non-digital recordings.

But what Moses does that is (as far as we know) unique to Knoxville is spin his collection of mono soul 45s at The Pilot Light, Java Old City, private parties and even at weddings. Moses prefers not to call himself a DJ, because he's not mixing and cutting sounds.

"I usually just pancake the 45s and play them one after another—kind of like a record hop," says Moses, who sports the coolest hairdo in town. "My 45s are usually the mono mixes, and I really prefer that sound. I also like to spin records because that gives me a chance to hear all the stuff in my collection." In keeping with the spirit of the endeavor, Moses' vintage Sears Silvertone 8-Track player is the machine that brings the sounds to the people.

The Pills have released two 45s on Moses' label, Domesticity Records. For more info write to Domesticity Records at PO Box 763, Knoxville, TN 37902.

The band's been touring extensively lately and opening for some of their favorite artists, including a Cleveland show with members of The Zombies and an upcoming Chicago show opening for UK psychedelic rockers The Creation, who reached the height of their fame in the halcyon years of 1966 and '67.

Go.

Thursday: Well, your best bet is either Kenny Garrett's good jazz (at $20 a seat at Clarence Brown) or Corey Harris' good blues (free in Market Square).

Friday: Hey, it's another concert in Market Square, this one with the bluesy rockers the North Mississippi Allstars. It's free but $10 donations to Sexual Assault Crisis Center are being solicited.

Saturday: Give Dixie Dirt a warm welcome home at the Pilot Light after their month-long tour. You'll also get to see Glossary, a great bluesy honky-tonk Murfreesboro act.

Sunday: Go wish the Jodie Manross Band good luck as they become the new Sunday night house band at Barley's. Hey, and why not drink a pint or two while you're there? Then check out something a little heavier with Party of Helicopters at the Pilot Light.

Monday: Fight the Monday doldrums at the free noon vocal recital at St. John's Cathedral, with Nancy Love Owens, Alan Eleaszer and Brenda Goslee.

Tuesday: Rest.

Wednesday: A reliable source says one of the Impotent Sea Snakes once got a blowjob while on stage at the Mercury. We have no proof, but that's the kind of atmosphere these guys create. If it's your kind of thing, go to Blue Cats.

—Emma "Put that thing back in your pants" Poptart with Scott McNutt and John Sewell