PJ Harvey, Uh Huh Her, Island Records
As a recent reviewer in the UK’s Guardian pointed out, PJ Harvey, often touted as the greatest new American songwriter of the ‘90s, either makes albums you like, or ones you feel you should. Sometimes, this ballad croonette, is funny, witty, and uplifting. Other times, she’s black...very black.
Uh Huh Her has uplifting moments, but is mostly darker than the back of a Jakarta bus. Her love songs are the kind that made you glad you broke up with whats-er-name and many of her alt-blues ballads could be used to market Prozac. The opening track, the Life and Death of Mr Badmouth, sensibly suggests a guy wash his mouth out with soap, while simultaneously sounding like a funeral dirge. The Desperate Kingdom of Love is mixed to sound as though PJ is right up against your face and not too happy about it.
Another track is a recording of seagulls. That’s right. Nothing but seagulls. Elsewhere, she has deliberately left tracks as they sounded on the demo tape. Overall, this album could be useful for playing to that over-perky officemate you wish would cheer down and no doubt some reviewers will hail it as yet another masterpiece. Not this one.
Beastie Boys, To the 5 Burroughs,
Capitol Records
This album was the perfect antidote to the funereal PJ Harvey (see above). In To The 5 Burroughs, the almost 40-something boys, pay tribute to their hometowns, the five burroughs of New York City – the album cover is emblazoned with a pen-sketch of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.
The boys only get better with age. With their first album in six years, the Beasties return to their classic sound and even re-sample a few of their older tracks. Since their last album, Hello Nasty, and single, Intergalactic, the lads have been pretty quiet. When MCA – one of the Beasties – became a monk (no kidding), the band disappointed many fans by releasing their dual DVD video collection with all the swear words bleeped out.
Fortunately, for many of the childish boys who like the Beasties (including this reviewer), To the 5 Burroughs, sees them return to their old habits. A warning to parents: the Beastie Boys aren’t exactly Sunday school types when it comes to language. The first track on this album Ch-Ch-Check It Out dispels any fears old fans might have had that the Beasties had grown up.
As they approach middle age, the Beasties are as musically innovative as ever. They intertwine old beats with new, revealing a mature ability to mix samples and sounds without sliding towards white noise. Five Burroughs also shows a lifetime’s accumulated knowledge of American TV and rap trivia. This album would test the most dedicated TV-junkie/rap-fan/couch potato. (Not Potatoe)
Despite all the foul language, they remain as witty as ever, delivering political messages with so much polish most coke-guzzling US teenagers wouldn’t even notice. Also in An Open Letter to NYC, the Beastie Boys address the September 11, 2001 attack.
To the Five Burroughs, is gritty enough to please die-hard Beastie fans and even win a few more devotees amongst current MTV watchers.
Brad Mehldau Trio, Anything Goes, Time Warner.
Purists might complain that Brad Mehldau and his two colleagues are too smart for their own good. In Anything Goes, their sixth album in seven years, the uber-clever Mehldau, returns to his schoolboy habit of mixing trendy literary theories with good old fashioned modern jazz. Fortunately, the Trio is good enough to pull it off. “Pulling it off” is exactly the kind of thing they seem to be doing when they translate passages from books like Dr Faustus into a jazz context. One reviewer even called it a “context through which to discuss humor and metaphor, irony and sincerity.” The Trio also does Jazz versions of hits by bands like Radiohead; another nerdy attempt at art-imitating-life-imitating art.
Even so, the Trio, including Ahmah Jamal and the talented Keith Jarret have produced a strong, experimental album. Mehldau maintains his trademark haunting, dissonant chords in Radiohead’s Everything in its Right Place. The eight tracks glide effortlessly over Radiohead and Paul Simon covers, linked by group’s melodic natural chemistry. Mehldau and his mates are still young, all in their 20s and 30s. They can be forgiven a little cockiness and still have plenty of time to make up for it.
Charlie Mingus, Tonight at Noon, Atlantic Recording
This 38 minute re-release of classic Mingus tracks from the late 1950s And 1960s by Atlantic Records is a tour de force of the old master at his finest. Tonight at Noon demonstrates the qualities that earned Mingus a place in the eternal pantheon of Jazz gods.
Mingus repertoire seems to combine the trademark strengths of his contemporary greats. Miles Davis’s was perfectly timed notes, Charlie Parker’s phrasing, balancing layers of rhythm, Thelonius Monk was a Master of harmony. Mingus somehow combines all of these qualities as a composer. 23 years after the death of this giant, this recording is a tribute to the timelessness of Mingus at his height. The LP, originally released by Atlantic in 1964 was pieced together from tunes left over from the Clown (1957) and Oh Yeah (1961).
Most of what Mingus recorded in the period has since been considered a masterpiece, the compositions here included. The title song is a variation of the better-known Haitian Flight Song. Mingus pays tribute to old-time great Duke Ellington in Invisible Lady, creating trombone solos for his star performers the way Duke did. On a couple of tracks, Mingus briefly puts aside his double bass, taking up the piano, for poignant solos in Peggy’s Blue Skylight and Pussy Cat Dues. Despite his adventurousness as a composer, Mingus never forgets Jazz’s roots in blues. Tonight At Noon will be challenger for newcomers to 1950s Jazz, but a fine addition to a mature collection.
