"Oh yeah. Let's all go buy this one. Right-o."
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"Oh yeah. Let's all go buy this one. Right-o." |
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Texas Tornados 4 Aces (Reprise) I feel a little silly writing this review since I know nothing about Tex Mex music, but I love this record so much I just could not resist. For weeks this occupied the #1 slot in my car cd player and I'd sing at the top of my lungs "A little bit is better than nada; sometimes you want the whole enchilada" and I'm sure that everyone else on the road thought I was a complete lunatic. Not that there's anything new about that.
There's an accordian, there's fast songs, there's slow songs, there's perky songs and songs with sad, sad lyrics. Hey, it's like 4 albums rolled into one, yet it's definitely cohesive, with a rockin' good-humored Tex Mex beat, which is sort of like Polkas for people from Texas. There aren't songs you were wishing they'd left off, which is something you can't say about too many records. My choices are: Little Bit is Better Than Nada, Amor De Mi Vida, and 4 Aces, but all the songs are good. Pepper this with a little chipotle salsa from Albuquerque, and you're all set. And, most importantly, one of the guys sort of looks like Cliff. Who can argue with that?
Alt: Altitude This is a very vocal-heavy record, and they're relying alot more on the strength of the lyrics than they are on the music. I don't mean this to sound scary. I like this record. It really intrigues me. But the lyrics vs. music thing reminds me of the first time I heard the Grateful Dead. It was in Tim Allen's folks' new Audi with the little fans in the heat vents that went back and forth automatically.....anyway, we'd just been to see Gremlins; it was Christmas Break after our 2nd or 3rd year in college and Tim had transferred to Cal Arts, to the film program. It was there that he discovered the Grateful Dead; it was in that car at the Castleton Square Multiplex (the one in the rear, not the one in the mall proper) that he played a live tape (what else) for me on the tape deck. I listened. I listened very carefully. After all, I'd been in radio for several years, and I'd heard so much about The Dead....and if Tim liked them, well, they had to be great. So I listened. I listened hard. Very hard. "I don't get it," I say. "They must be really relying on the lyrics here, 'cos it's not the music that grabs me," I say. "Well, not really," Tim says, "It's the experience, mostly." That's when I knew that you had to be really, really careful about the music that you listen to on acid. Once you listen to music on acid, you like it forever. So be very, very careful. My friend Lee listened to The Left Banke, and the rest is history. The song "Penelope Tree" absolutely rocks, although how it got its name is beyond me. Actually, all of this record is interesting. It's the kind of record you'll go back to over and over, challenging enough to hold your interest but likeable enough to not be something you listen to 15 times and then use it to prop up a shelf (i.e. Wonderstuff). I am grasping desperately to compare this to something so that you can get an idea of what I'm talking about but I cannot. The only thing I can say is that it's sort of like that Was Not Was record with "I'm in Jail" on it, and I make this comparison because it's sort of mainstream sounding but it's really really different than anything else I've heard, like that Was Not Was record was (is) but this doesn't sound anything like that record. Does this make sense? Buy this one; pay full price. Even if it does have members of Hothouse Flowers in it.
Brian Cuthbertson: Secrets Ouch. Ouch ouch ouch. That's all I can say about this 'lil record. The liner notes brag about "the new sound of smooth jazz" and all I can say is that it's sort of like Cleveland, Ohio--a great place to live if you don't have any interests. This is a great record if you don't have any taste. Shouldn't this be on Windham Hill? For those of you out there who like e-z listening music, I've got to admit that there's nothing technically wrong with this record. Heck, it's pleasant enough to listen to, but this poor CD has no soul. My guess is that Atlantic threw together a bunch of studio musicians and guys with no other gigs and made a little formula band to cash in on DINKs (double income no kids) who have great stereo equipment and no taste. There's no way these musicians sit around together on Wednesday night and jam for fun in somebody's basement. This record gives me the creeps for that very reason..... And if the sound of this record was not enough, Mr. Cuthbertson is all cute and pouty looking--a real Sensitive New Age Guy, to be sure. I could barf.
Daniel Belanger: Quatre Saisons Dans Le Desordre Well, stuff written in French always sounds good, 'cept maybe for this record. This is everything that the Brian Cuthbertson record was, except it's in French. The title translates to "4 Seasons in Disorder" and that's about as deep as this 'lil baby gets. You know, the French are not known for their rock bands, so why should they be known for their Windham Hill rip-off bands? Heck, if you can't sell Johnny Halliday or Telephone, what're you doing putting out this stuff? To give you an idea, let me use my high school French to translate some of the lyrics on "les deux printemps" (The Two Springtimes): her eyes are two springtimes that make me smile and make me laugh her games are torrents and mine bathe themselves but it's yet worse her heart is a party mine doesn't want to leave she's the most beautiful season of my life the most beautiful season of my life.Oh yeah. Let's all go buy this one. Right-o.
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Hollow Ear copyright 1997 Cliff Furnald |
It's bright, it's perky, it's enough to put you in a good mood even if you
still have to have a day job. One of the singers sounds just like Freddy
Fender (I do not mean this unkindly), and know what? Now that I look at the
liner notes (after like 6 months of listening to this record) I find that it
IS Freddy Fender. Gosh, no wonder! 3 years of graduate school obviously did
nothing for me! Frankly, while that really isn't my favorite sound, it's so
good natured on 4 Aces that it's hard to be critical. The music is in English
and Spanish, and while I'd normally be bothered by lyrics I cannot understand
(the Spanish, not the English) the dual language thing works perfectly on this
record. I don't feel left out at all.
