This Week: Roxy Music, Matthew Sweet and Steely Dan resurface
Roxy Music
Live (Eagle Records)
Roxy Music succumbed to the reunion bug in 2001, as 18 years absence had apparently made the hearts of Bryan Ferry, Phil Manzanera, and Andy Mackay grow fonder of their chapter in British rock history. Augmented by a crack supporting cast (including original Roxy drummer Paul Thompson, a real coup), they toured the happy theaters with a celebration of their past. It's an odd history: they had emerged in 1972 in intergalactic garb, offering avant-gardish paeans to Bogart and beauty queens, among other things; 10 years and several unclassifiable records later (Was it Art-rock? Lounge muzak from some forgotten future?), Avalon saw them out in a blaze of polite pop sophistication. Frontman Ferry's debonair persona was the main constant throughout, and it spurred his solo career even before Roxy disbanded.
But scratch the history—a fair synopsis of it is on this document of said tour, which taps all the Roxy albums in its top-drawer song selection. No scrimping on the early stuff either, as "Virginia Plain," "Ladytron," "Remake/Remodel," and others are faithfully resurrected, right down to the primitive synth effects that a certain Eno had contributed back in the day. Ferry's recitative "In Every Dream Home a Heartache" remains a chilling bit of psychosis, and the country/prog/soul triptych "If There is Something" is an inspired choice. This music barely shows its age, partly because Ferry's songwriting was never indebted to any immediate genre, and partly because these performances spout vigor and enthusiasm. Even later material like the impossibly suave "More Than This" benefits. Manzanera features well—and Mackay's reeds lend their metropolitan connotations as needed.
The band finds spiritual communion (and a tasty groove) in "Mother of Pearl," the one track that best summarizes Roxy's off-center musical juxtapositions and romantic lyrical bent. Closing the set is the hymnic "For Your Pleasure," with the band exiting one by one during its ghostly sound field. The past thus remade and remodeled, the question pops itself: when's the new material due?
—Chris Mitchell
The Thorns
The Thorns (Columbia Records)
Oh Matthew Sweet, where art thou? Well, apparently, he's been spending a lot of time with alt-country heroes The Jayhawks (co-writing/backing vocals on their excellent new album Rainy Day Music). In fact, he's spent so much time that he's joined forces with one-hit wonder boys Shawn Mullins and Pete Droge to form a vocal harmony group called The Thorns.
Long-time Sweet fans will probably pick up this record just to see what he's up to. Not a bad idea, just don't expect anything close to his 1990 masterpiece Girlfriend. The Thorns definitely recall an updated version of Crosby, Stills & Nash and even America. The Jayhawks influence on the band is made more obvious by the fact that they cover the 'Hawks crossover hit "Blue".
Sweet's voice is definitely high in the mix on most of the songs, with Mullins and Droge complimenting nicely. The problem is, these guys aren't CS&N or The Jayhawks, and it becomes apparent in the second half of the album when the material becomes fairly weak. "Runaway Feeling," "I Can't Remember" and "Think It Over" are strong enough to keep you interested and maybe even warrant the relatively cheap price of the CD. The rest of the album seems to fair better as background music.
The Thorns have been referred to in the music press as a "supergroup." It's hard to think of Mullins and Droge as "super" and even Sweet has enjoyed only moderate success in his day. You have to give these guys credit for bringing back good old-fashioned vocal harmony to the scene. The Thorns create pleasant music your Mom would be proud of, and hey, at least we know where Matthew Sweet is now!
—Josh Staunton
Steely Dan
Everything Must Go (Reprise)
"I love the music/Anachronistic but nice," sings Donald Fagen in "Green Book," his vocal backed by jazzy chordal passages, retro synth fills, a mid-tempo funk groove...why, it sounds just like those old Steely Dan records. As did Two Against Nature, the 2000 comeback album that found Fagen and partner Walter Becker recapitulating the slick subversions of 1980's Gaucho. Theirs was and is a crafty songwriting modus, slipping advanced jazz harmony and black-humor lyrics under the cover of crisp arrangements and radio-friendly studio perfectionism. Everything Must Go grabs the baton from Nature and runs a similar lap—musical echoes of past hits are everywhere—but its stride is stronger, indicative that Dan's return might last longer than expected.
This album is a volte-face for Becker and Fagen in that essentially the same personnel appears on every track, a practice they abandoned back during the Nixon administration. Perhaps the ensuing years of wrangling top instrumentalists left the duo with a DIY sensibility, and in any case there's no denying the rightness of Becker's basslines or Fagen's Rhodes and synthesizer work. A song like "Pixeleen" is as well-written and played as anything they've ever done; Carolyn Leonhart's support vocal is the main hook in this funny ode to a digital heroine. Also worthy is the divorce lament "Things I Miss the Most," with its chorus punchlines ("the Audi TT...the comfy Eames chair") and improbable chord changes. "Lunch With Gina" is the best track, cloaking its stalker/stalkee narrative in an edgy funk atmosphere, and the lazy R&B vibe of the title tune complements a slyly naughty tale of corporate dissolution.
Some of the other songs pass by with less effect, but there are no duff moments, save for Becker's inexplicable and karaoke-ugly vocal on the otherwise anonymous "Slang of Ages." Everything Must Go is half-brilliant, half-acceptable, and at the very least, it shows that Donald and Walter have lost none of their smart-arse touch. Anachronistic, perhaps, but I'd hand these guys a Grammy any day.
—Chris Mitchell
July 10, 2003 * Vol. 13, No. 28
© 2003 Metro Pulse
| 
