Karrin Allyson - Round Midnight

Karrin Allyson - Round Midnight
2011, Concord Jazz

Karrin Allyson gets back to the roots of vocal jazz on her latest album, Round Midnight, due out May 5, 2011.  Allyson offers up twelve intimate portraits in song in understated yet emotionally vibrant fashion, recalling an era where small jazz clubs flourished and a sense of refinement enveloped the stage.  Allyson sings from the blue heartbreak of the speakeasy, covering both classic jazz vocal selections and modern songs in what may be the three-time GRAMMY nominee's most personal work to date.

Round Midnight opens with Bill Evans' "Turn Out The Stars", offering up a melancholy and emotionally heavy reading that brings out the sad nuance of Gene Lees' lyrics.  Allyson slows things down significantly and allows the emotion pool in perfectly articulated lines with her fashionably understated vocal style.  Paul Simon's "April Comes She Will" might seem out of place on the track list, but both the memorial of the passage of time and the depth of the human heart and Allyson's handling of the song are spot on.  "Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most" is a great, bluesy number about being stuck in the shadow of a love lost.  Allyson is expressive and refined here in what may her best vocal performance on the album. 

Charlie Chaplin's "Smile" gets the royal treatment; heartfelt and warm and full of palpable emotion.  Allyson stays very much true to the spirit of the original.  "There's No Such Thing As Love" features a toughness in the delivery that's a perfect spoil to the vulnerability and heartbreak underneath.  Johnny Mandel's "The Shadow Of Your Smile" is delivered in much the same fashion.  The flute solo here almost steals the show.  Stephen Sondheim's "Send In The Clowns" is a wonderfully nuanced and blue mood piece.  While not as dynamic as some of the famous renditions of this song, Allyson's take captures the emotion of the piece from a place that's dark and reserved.  Allyson closes with the epitome of loneliness in song.  "Round Midnight" (Thelonious Monk) is presented here with just Allyson and an upright bass for accompaniment.  Allyson's subtle and understated vocalization mixes perfectly with an almost free-form style in the bass part to capture hope maintained in spite of the loss of same.  This is a 'wow' moment almost in spite of itself.

Karrin Allyson sings at soundtrack of atmosphere, to be partaken of over a glass of whatever the bartender is pouring on the outskirts of desolation.  The refined and classy beauty that Allyson brings to the dregs of human emotion is refreshing.  With a touch for phasing and a voice full of quiet beautiful, Karrin Allyson will remind listeners of a time when it wasn't so much the singer as the song that mattered.  While she is in front on Round Midnight, Allyson is often an equal part of the ensemble that simultaneously documents the tragedy of human suffering in song, while soothing the hearts of those who seek an oasis in spirit and song.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Karrin Allyson at www.karrin.com or www.facebook.com/karrinallyson.  Round Midnight drops on May 3, 2011.  You can pre-order the album from Amazon.com on CD or as a Download.

The Belle Brigade - The Belle Brigade

The Belle Brigade - The Belle Brigade
2011, Reprise Records

Brother and sister Ethan and Barbara Gruska are the heart of The Belle Brigade.  Releasing their self-titled debut today via Reprise Records, the pair have earned comparisons to Simon and Garfunkel and Fleetwood Mac.  The Belle Brigade displays a band with a distinct sense of melody, but moreover a pair of voices that blend in nearly supernatural fashion.  It’s no surprise, music runs in Ethan and Barbara Gruska’s genes.  Their father is composer Jay Gruska, and their father is non other than the incomparable film composer John Williams.

The Belle Brigade opens with "Sweet Louise", a catchy, low-key folk rocker with country accents.  The song is a simple declaration of love you won't be able to shake, full of great harmonies and driven by the exceedingly pleasant vocals of Ethan.   "Where Not To Look For Freedom" is a catchy rocker reminiscent of early Elton John in style and energy.  It's a vibrant, active tune that grabs your attention.  "Losers" shows off a notable skill at orchestration, but the incessantly repetitive chorus wears thin.  "Shirt" features Ethan and Barbara in a distinctive duet.  Barbara stands out for pure sound, but when the two voices combine they wrap around each other like lovers.  This blend is sonically appealing and helps build the song from into an urgent and edgy rocker.

"Lucky Guy" follows the series of lucky rolls that grow out of an inauspicious beginning of life.  The active folk/rock arrangement is appealing, and The Belle Brigade offers it up with great energy without going over the top.  You won't be able to sit/stand still through this song.  "Lonely Lonely" features the sort of great pop chorus that turns into chart gold.  The Belle Brigade changes things up with the moody and introspective "Punch Line", exploring feelings of being forgotten as a child.  Ethan delivers a highly emotive vocal here that drives the weight of the song home.  Barbara takes the mic on "Rusted Wheel" in a memorable performance aided by a brilliant melody line.  Listeners will want to hear more of her.  The Gruskas combine again on "My Goodness", blending their voices once again in a low key but ultimately accessible number that's likely to be a fan favorite.  The Belle Brigade bows with "Fasten You To Me".  Barbara brings listeners to the door with an exquisite performance in the surprisingly mellow closer.

The Belle Brigade is surprisingly subtle and nuanced on their eponymous debut.  Rock n roll, pop and folk music influences inform the songwriting on The Belle Brigade, driven by a distinctive ear for melody and interplay and the fine voices of Ethan and Barbara.  The Belle Brigade don't create the initial impression of a band who will catch fire right away, but rather an act that will warm up slowly and burn for a long, long time.  The intricacies of the songwriting process are very much alive on The Belle Brigade, but this is a band that is still figuring out just what they are capable of.  This is a great start.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about The Belle Brigade at www.thebellbrigade.com or www.myspace.com/thebellebrigade.  The Belle Brigade is available from Amazon.com as a CD, on Vinyl or as a Download.  The album is also available via iTunes.

Sufjan Stevens - All Delighted People EP

Sufjan Stevens – All Delight People EP
2010, Asthmatic Kitty Records

Look up the world eclectic in the dictionary and you’re likely to find a picture of Sufjan Stevens.  Stevens is truly a jack-of-all-trades musically; a multi-instrumentalist who is fearless in the face of changes in genre, meter and style.   Stevens’ musical output is prodigious, accounting for ten albums in eleven years as well as appearances on numerous compilations.  While working toward the release of his newest album The Age Of Adz, Stevens was moved by his muse to release the All Delighted People EP in 2010, an intriguing and elaborate musical sidebar that makes the label “dreamy folk-pop” obsolete.

All Delighted People opens with the title track, and eleven minute-plus concoction of dreamy post-pop with electronic orchestration.  Stevens writes in an incredibly complex rock symphony style while infusing lyrical references drawn directly from Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound Of Silence”.  “Enchanting Ghost” is eclectic, shoe-gaze dream folk.  There’s an almost impressionistic, run-on style in the song construction, blending disparate melodic parts into a musical whole.  Stevens seems to have a talent for taking musical components that shouldn’t work together and turning them into something you would never have imagined.  “Heirloom” plays more to the ethereal folk side, done in a Simon & Garfunkel style with modern accoutrements. 

“From The Mouth Of Gabriel” ventures into Stevens’ electronic musical proclivities, but is centered around what sounds like a children’s tinkling piano and layered vocal harmonies.  The result is charming and pretty and obscure.  “The Owl And The Tanager” plays like a run-on fable told in a loose musical format.  The vocal harmonies here are something quite beautiful here, and highlight the haunting nature of the song.  “All Delighted People (Classic Rock Version) takes a divergent path to the opening track, substituting rolling guitars for the electronic dress-up applied to the opening track.  The classic rock version is a bit more coherent than the original, but also loses some of the magical complexity in the process.    “Arnika” sounds like a suicide note in song.  The subject here is weary and bereft of hope; delivering a last soliloquy over a stilted banjo with layered instrumentation and chanting vocals accompanying the creak of a rope.  All Delight People closes with “Djohariah”, an undulating electronic/organic experience that sounds simultaneously structured and random.  There’s an element of genius playing about between the lines here.

Sufjan Stevens has built a career out of musical exploration and experimentation.  The All Delighted People EP is no exception.  The musical and emotionally complexities that roil about beneath the surface of the songs presented here could be the EP’s downfall, but it is the singular genius of Sufjan Stevens to create magic out of chaos.  Stevens finds beauty in even the most disparate moments of human existence, blending history, faith and insight into arrangements that are as messy, and ultimately beautiful, as life itself.  All Delighted People is truly art mirroring life.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

 Learn more about Sufjan Stevens at http://www.sufjan.com/ or www.asthmatickitty.com/sufjan-stevens.  All Delighted People was released digitally in August, and drops on CD on December 7, 2010.  The album is available from Amazon.com as a CD, Double LP or Download.

Queensryche - Empire: 20th Anniversary Edition

Queensryche - Empire: 20th Anniversary Edition
2010, Capitol/EMI

Formed in 1981 in Bellevue, Washington, Queensryche has achieved record sales surpassing twenty million while generating numerous chart hits.  Queensryche toiled for most of a decade before the 1990 album Empire catapulted them into the international limelight.  This week Capitol/EMI released an expanded 20th Anniversary Edition of Empire, featuring 3 bonus tracks plus a bonus CD capturing a November 15, 1990 performance at London's Hammersmith Odeon. 

Empire is presented in re-mastered form, the re-mastering having occurred in 2002.  The upgrade is marginally notable and won't make a great deal of difference for those without high end sound-systems (and practically none to those who listen to digital files).  Also includes are "Last Time In Paris", which originally appeared on the Ford Fairlane soundtrack, "Dirty Little Secret" and the band's cover of the Simon & Garfunkel classic "Sound Of Silence".  This last is a real gem, one of the better rock covers of a Simon & Garfunkel tune of the past two decades (second perhaps to Yes' version of "America").  Most of this material is available elsewhere, particularly in a digital age.  The real reason to buy the 20th Anniversary Edition of Empire is the second disc, which captures Queensryche at the height of their creative and performance arc in a ten-song set that includes "Jet City Woman", "Best I Can", "Empire" and "Silent Lucidity".

It's fair to look on "anniversary" editions of classic albums with a certain level of skepticism.  The release is, of course, an effort by the record label to get you to buy something you probably already have.  The question becomes whether the effort includes enough of value to get you to part with your money.  Very often this is not the case, but Capitol/EMI get this one right.  The non-album tracks included on the 20th Anniversary Edition of Empire are worth laying out for (particularly "Sounds Of Silence"), and the live set is worth the price of admission.  Empire: The 20th Anniversary Edition will make Queensryche fans very happy, and perhaps introduce a new generation of fans to a classic album and a live band at their best.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Queensryche at www.queensryche.com or www.myspace.com/queensryche.   Empire: 20th Anniversary Edition is available from Amazon.com as a CD or Download.  Digital copies are also available via iTunes.