CD Review: The Alan Parsons Project

The Alan Parsons Project
The Turn of a Friendly Card (1980)
Ammonia Avenue (1984)
Stereotomy (1985)
Gaudi (1987)
Arista/Legacy
By David Chiu


Gambling is theme of the Alan Parsons Project’s excellent 1980 album The Turn of a Friendly Card. Certainly it’s more a commentary about the sport as evident on tracks like “Snake Eyes,” “Nothing Left to Lose,” and “I Don’t Wanna Come Home.” While certainly it falls under the genre of progressive rock, one can hear the Project aiming for a broader mainstream audience at the time—the album’s two most popular tracks are the driving rocker “Games People Play,” sung by Lenny Zakatek; and the lovely ballad “Time,” wistfully vocalized by lyricist Eric Woolfson. Tuneful with the usual exquisite musicianship from Alan Parsons and the backing musicians, Turn… ranks up there with I Robot and Eye In the Sky as one of the Project’s best works.

In contrast the final three ‘80s albums certainly didn’t have much of a concept driving theme, nor a sense of identity to distinguish them apart. Some of the music on Ammonia Avenue, Stereotomy and Gaudi certainly reflected that decade’s sensibilities with the glossy production values, hi-tech synths and electronic drums. But to their credit, each of those albums had some strong tracks. The best song hands-down on Ammonia Avenue is “Don’t Answer Me,” a homage to Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound; that album’s title track comes in a close second. The highlights of Stereotomy are “Limelight” (featuring Procol Harum’s Gary Brooker) and an uncharacteristic rocker “In the Real World.” Gaudi has some interesting moments as the title track references the legendary Spanish architect’s grand work; on a few cuts Woolfson delivers some strong vocal performances particularly on “Closer to Heaven.”


Watch "Don't Answer Me" by the Alan Parsons Project on YouTube:

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Live Review: Hotel Lights/Jennifer O'Connor

Hotel Lights/Jennifer O’Connor
Southpaw
Feb. 14, 2009
Review by David Chiu

The performances by indie pop/rock acts Hotel Lights and Jennifer O’Connor were the perfect cure for those who hated or despised Valentine’s Day. The songs by those two were refreshingly non-cheery material. Thus in some sense they made the disaffected feel somewhat hopeful.

Darren Jessee, the former drummer of Ben Folds Five, leads Hotel Lights. Accompanied by a keyboardist and guitarist, Jessee, on vocals, guitars and keyboards, played a very brief set that included tracks from his latest album, the very solid Firecracker People. The music was very lush- and romantic-sounding as it is also reflective certainly on songs like “Runaway Happy” and “Blue Always Finds Me.” The one exception to the subdued nature of the set list was the charming and poppy “Amelia Bright."

The headliner, singer and guitarist Jennifer O’Connor, brought more of an electric rock sensibility to her performance. But certainly like Jessee, she also tackled matters of the heart. Her show drew a considerable amount of tracks from last year’s album Here With Me that began with the driving “Daylight Out,” followed by the poppy title track and others. With a drummer and bassist, O’Connor also played a couple of the standout tracks from Over the Mountain… such as “Exeter, Rhode Island” and “Century Estates”; and older tunes like my personal favorite “Sister” and “Driving Through.” O’Connor and Hotel Lights brought a satisfying down-to-earth capper to a Valentine’s Day evening for cynics of the holiday.

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CD Review: Bee Gees

Bee Gees
Odessa
Rhino
By David Chiu

There are two well-known sides of the Bee Gees: there’s the very romantic pop side emphasized in their late ‘60s output, and of course there’s the wildly-popular disco days of the the ‘70s. The group’s Odessa, however, falls somewhere in between as something quite different. Originally released as a double album 40 years ago, it’s one of pop music’s conceptual masterpieces up there with the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper and Love’s Forever Changes. The lush airy harmonies and orchestral backdrops are definitely signature of the early Bee Gees sound on Odessa, especially tracks like “Melody Fair” “Lamplight,” and “First of May.” But the record is not exactly conventional pop, especially the epic-length title track, the very folkish-sounding “Marly Purt Drive” and instrumental asides like “The British Opera” and “Seven Seas Symphony.” The album’s stand out is “Sound of Love,” an underrated track that could have easily been a hit single. It’s no wonder that this album has garnered a cult following—it’s pop in one sense but yet not in another with its quirks. This 40th anniversary edition features both mono and stereo versions of the album, and another disc of demos and alternate mixes.

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From the Vault: Britta Phillips interview

Loungin' with Luna's Britta Phillips
by David Chiu

Pop music has its memorable share of famous male-and-female pairings: Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood, George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Marvin Gaye and Tami Terrell, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Paul and Linda McCartney, Sonny and Cher, and Eurythmics' Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart (we won't count Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley). What makes these pairings so memorable is the chemistry between the principals that conveys a sense of true romance or conflict, like actors engaged in a love scene or going through the motions.

Joining that illustrious company are Britta Phillips and Dean Wareham. Alternative music fans will immediately recognize them as one-half of the band Luna. They are readying the June release of their solo record from Jetset called L'Avventura, a record that recalls mid '60s to early '70s lush and orchestrated pop records (think of French pop star Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin). It could also be considered a Valentine's of sorts to lovers and the broken-hearted, with a few ingredients of regret, angst, and desire thrown in.

How would one of the principals describe the sound of this record? "Somebody said it was beautiful and sick," recalled Phillips with a slight laugh. "Sick compared to what? It's romantic, lush, mellow, pretty, and all that stuff. More intimate than Luna.

On the record, Wareham and Phillips debut a few originals such as the lovely "Night Nurse" (which recalls the aforementioned Sinatra-Hazelwood records) and even a surprising dance-styled track in "Ginger Snaps." "I love that song," commented Phillips, "pre-isco early '70s sound, and it's got some '80s in there too."

No doubt L'Avventura's retro atmospheric and orchestrated sound was due to producer Tony Visconti, who helmed those classic David Bowie and T.Rex albums from the '70s. "He's great easy to work with, a fan of the music," Phillips described working him. "That's very confidence building. He did some great string arrangements, played guitar and a little bass, and keyboard. He was very organized; he liked accidents or mistakes the good ones."

Originally L'Avventura was going to be a Dean Wareham solo project of all cover songs, with Phillips only appearing as a session player. It gradually developed into something more. "He had some new songs," Phillips remembered, "and I had some songs, and he said, 'Let's do it together.'"

Aside from some material penned by Wareham, Phillips also contributed two compositions to L'Avventura: the dreamy, ethereal "Out Walking" and the jazzy "Your Baby." Those songs brought Phillips' sexy voice and romantic yet introspective lyrics to the fore. "I actually started writing ["Out Walking"] about ten years ago and I dragged it out a year ago and revamped it. "Your Baby"--I based it on a Lee Hazelwood chord progression from a song called "Your Sweet Love." Phillips relished the opportunity on the record to showcase more of her lead voice as compared to Luna in where she sang backing vocals and maybe the occasional duet. "This is giving a lot more singing opportunities that 's for sure," she acknowledged. " I love to sing."

Although he is Luna's chief songwriter, Wareham has been known to indulge in a cover once in a while-for example, the band tackled a sleepy-version of Guns N'Roses' "Sweet Child O'Mine"; when he was in Galaxie 500, that band covered works by the Modern Lovers, Yoko Ono, the Velvet Underground, and even the Rutles. On L'Avventura, he and Phillips tackle songs by Native American folksinger Buffy St. Marie (the trippy "Moonshot") Madonna (the folkish-tinged "I Deserve It"), and the Doors ("Indian Summer"), all of them rendered in a dreamy, atmospheric sort of way comparable to Luna.

Phillips couldn't offer a concrete reason for Wareham's fancy for some those covers. "He had chosen ten that he was going to do for that album originally," she said. " I don't know what his criteria really. I guess just songs that he likes [and ] I felt we could bring something to. They just seem to lend themselves."

Not only is there a sophisticated mod lounge air to the record, but there is also, musically-speaking, genuine heat between Phillips and Wareham in both their duetting and harmonies on some of the album's tracks, such as on the sly "Night Nurse." On this record and on the last Luna album Romantica, Wareham has found in Phillips someone a musical partner in crime who can accentuate his songs of yearning and somber meditations. "I think it's just a natural sympatico musically," she explained about their collaborations. "We both respond to the same kind of things. It's kind of just really natural and easy. I love his taste in music and we have similar ideas about things."

Of the two people on L'Avventura, Dean Wareham might be the more recognizable name having been a founding member of legendary '80s indie group Galaxie 500 before starting Luna in 1992. However, one may be surprised that Britta Phillips had been involved with music for nearly fifteen years before joining the band in 2000. How she got to where she is now is a story of interesting career turns and perseverance.

Phillips hails from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, the daughter in a musically-inclined family; her father played the piano and trombone and her mom sang. "Elton John was probably my first record," she remembered about her early musical tastes," and later Blondie, Television, and Talking Heads. And I lived in England in the early '90s I got into the shoegazing stuff."

Early on Phillips wanted to pursue a career in music though professionally she started out acting. One of her first forays in entertainment was being the singing voice of the cartoon character JEM in the mid '80s. Soon after in 1988, she got the part of Billy Swan, the blonde guitar player in the film Satisfaction. At the time, it was Phillips first major acting break. "I had a manager at the time. He told [the agency] that I was a good actress which was just totally made up. I hadn't done anything. This was actually my first audition and I got it."

Fans of those goofy '80s comedies might remember that flick about a young mostly girl band who lands a summer gig, and the film boasted an impressive cast in Justine Bateman, Trini Avarado, Blondie singer Deborah Harry, and soon-to-be Hollywood heavyweights Julia Roberts and Liam Neeson Although the movie added precious little to the cinema, Phillips looked back at that experience somewhat fondly. "It was a blast--really fun. We knew the movie was going to be really silly once we started doing it, so we didn't worry about it too much." Other acting gigs for her included appearances in the short-lived '80s TV dramas Crime Story and Nightingales.

In an ironic way, life imitated art because shortly after her brief acting career, Phillips did end up joining a real-life band called Belltower where she moved to London at the height of the shoegazing sound pioneered by My Bloody Valentine and Lush. "Music was something I wanted to do before [acting] but I hadn't actually played with a band. It was mainly jingles and home recordings." Belltower won critical kudos in the British music press ("...a sound that inspires the mind and pleases the body," raved Melody Maker) and recorded an album Popdropper before they broke up in 1996. Shortly afterwards she joined another group called Ultrababyfat, which released Silver Tones Smile in 1998.

Then Luna's longtime bassist Justin Harwood announced his departure from the band, during the release of their record The Days of Our Nights in 1999. "I had done a tour with Ben Lee," Phillips said, "and Ben's guitar tech also techs for Luna. And he knew that they were looking for someone to replace Justin on the tour and recommended me. I got a call and auditioned for a couple of times. They had me for the tour, and after the tour was over, they asked me to stay on."

Phillips officially made her recording debut with the band on the Luna Live disc from 2001, but it was on the all-original Romantica where she was credited as a full member. Although considered the new guy (or gal) of the group, Phillips made her presence known, adding honeyed vocal harmonies on the record, bringing a pop element to the band and a contrast to Wareham's melancholy.

Admittedly, Philips had heard of Luna though admittedly she wasn't entirely acquainted with their catalog. "I heard a couple of songs but I wasn't really familiar, much to my chagrin," she said. "Sometimes when you are busy doing your own thing, you just don't take the time to really listen to something. So I really wasn't familiar, which is kind of good in a way. It made me a little less nervous. I'm a big fan now, and of Galaxie 500 too."

Though music is now her full-time profession, Phillips still has the acting bug and has involved herself again in some film and television projects. "Having been back in New York for the last three years, I do have an agent who signed Dean and I up, and who has been sending me out on voice-over auditions. I actually did a Nestle's commercial on camera for just the UK only." Even Wareham has done some work on the silver screen such as on the upcoming indie film Piggy.

Depending on whether L'Avventura meets any varying degree of success or not, Phillips admitted she would love to do another of this sort with Wareham. Later in the year the two plan to tour behind the record and play in the major cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. How are people going to perceive this retro, ultra cool record in this environment of prefabricated, bland corporate pop music? "I want them to fall in love it with it," the singer/bassist said with a tinge of joking glee. "As long as it is something good no matter what. Hopefully Luna fans will like it as well as people who aren't familiar with Luna."

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From the Vault: Nellie McKay interview

NewBeats.com will be celebrating its 10th anniversary this April! Throughout the year we'll post some previously ran features and interviews. Kicking off is an interview from a few years ago with singer/songwriter Nellie McKay, before she had a record deal.

Nellie McKay
by David Chiu

Most rock and pop stars, especially the established ones, are usually ambivalent and cynical towards celebrity. Artists like Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder have been known to regard such things with disdain, while other stars like Madonna have celebrated the notion of fame in a cheeky yet mocking way.

However if you bring up fame with Nellie McKay, she genuinely loves the trappings of celebrity unapologetically, almost shockingly, as a means to promote herself and to impart social change.

"The more fame and money you acquire, it gives you more power," says the engaging singer, "and there are a lot of things, I'd like to change about this world. Celebrity and wealth are some of the biggest weapons for social change because most people who have them don't use them for anything but Versace."

If you haven't heard of Nellie McKay, you probably will soon. McKay is a 19- year-old singer-pianist-songwriter whose musical instincts lie more in Tin Pan Alley pop, Kurt Weill, and Randy Newman than the pop songwriting teams of the Matrix and the Neptunes. Her melodic pop and jazz-styled tunes make her sort of the anti-Norah Jones; while Jones makes romantic stately music, McKay's approach is more quirky, sarcastic, and sometimes scathing. On stage, McKay performs solo on piano tackling her original material and covers from the past like "Body and Soul," "These Boots are Made for Walking," and "San Francisco."

"I was influenced a lot early on by the women of the big band era," she says of her musical inspirations. " I really liked the spirit of the '60s and the pop music of that era. If you mix that all up and you throw in politics and nostalgia and being generally a kid growing up, yeah-that's basically it. McKay says that she is influenced by classic pop and jazz music more than contemporary music. "I really haven't gone much beyond 1970. I listen to a little Eminem, [and] stuff like [the Bangles'] "Walk Like an Egyptian." I've been trying for a while to write my own "Walk Like an Egyptian."

McKay is like no other artist, especially in terms of songwriting. Some of her songs provide a soapbox of her views such as in the political and social realm. Proof is a song of hers called "Sari" (a jazz-meets-hip-hop hybrid of a song) in which she rails against things in the news and in pop culture such as the Oxygen Network and the memorial service of the late Senator Paul Wellstone (and not to mention, herself). "I feel everything is political--love, sex, life. I don't see how people can be unaffected by politics or the current events of the world. I get impatient with love songs, especially when they are written in a more modern style."

Another song of hers "I Wanna Get Married," is a sad ballad laced with self-deprecation and irony. It begs the question whether McKay is already thinking about the ball and chain even when her career is just getting started. The singer explains that the song was born out of her her perception of romantic and domestic bliss via television shows like Bewitched. "I just wanted to have a nice normal life, and that's never going to happen for me. At the same time you can't help romanticizing especially the further removed you are from it. Basically I'm mocking my own infatuation with matrimony.

McKay's music is sophisticated and smart, but the artist herself is very self-deprecating about her approach to songwriting, especially when it comes to the words. McKay is not ashamed to admit she borrows from contemporary pop music in the process. "I write the melody first and usually before the melody is done, I'm copping chords from an N'Sync CD, then I'll make the bridge from a Shania Twain CD. Then I'd write a melody over it and then I try to decide what's it going to be about."

A dazzling pianist who possesses a cool and seductive vocal delivery, McKay had played at the Antihoot, an open stage Sidewalk Café. The newcomer impressed many folks in attendance, most notably Lach, who runs the Antihoot. It would set the wheels in motion for her burgeoning career. "He proposed 'manage' to me," cleverly puns McKay. "We get a long really well. I really like it when people encourage me."

McKay's mannered, articulate, and slightly-accented speech might be due to the fact that she was born in London. During her childhood, she has traveled around when she emigrated with her mother to the States, first to California, then living in New York City's Harlem; then moving to Olympia, Washington and later Pennsylvania, and then back to New York again. In New York, she studied jazz voice at the Manhattan School of Music before dropping out (she admits has no regrets). Surrounded by Columbia University students in the area, she is now on her own and in debt like every other artist living in the Big Apple. "I really think the reason I'm 19 is that in some ways I'm 40 and a toddler. I had to boil water the other day-my mother never taught me how to cook or clean or do anything. Emotionally I'm totally a baby."

For someone who has yet to release a full-length record. McKay has already garnered praise. A recent Time Out New York piece on her says she is fast proving to be one of New York's most intriguing performers. Jason Trachtenberg of Trachtenberg Sideshow Players called her an absolute phenomenon. Lach himself has dubbed McKay as one of the most important artist of today. Does such attention and kudos fazes this wunderkind? "I take it as a compliment," she says. "Seriously they're expecting that much from me, and I'm going to try to fulfill it."

When asked how would she change things once she has fame and money, McKay threw some memorable examples, one of which included the state of carriage horses-yes, the ones you see riding the tourists around Central Park. "They're there for no reason. I don't see why they can't be in a field somewhere. I don't think that it's beautiful in New York when you got a cold wet horse picking his hoof out of his own manure. I don't think that's charming."

McKay continues on the topic of social issues and is not afraid to speak her mind. "People are complaining about celebrities getting involved in politics," says McKay. "I'm trying to find a benign way you can do that without people criticizing you for that.

"It's unbelievable the political infrastructure in this city. Or like the homeless. Why would you cut education? There's so many things I want to change, and there's no way I'll ever do it."

The singer/songwriter is having a great last couple of months playing live to people and getting noticed by the record labels, several of which are trying to covet her. Although she loves the attention, she hates the whole tug of war nature of the biz. "I feel like I'm suddenly the popular kid in school who's gonna like be my partner. I just want to take everyone home with me. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. My manager Lach is enjoying this very much." (As of this writing, McKay recently inked a deal with Columbia Records; her major-label debut is scheduled to be released this fall).

The ultimate goal for McKay, with the exception of her desire to achieve fame and fortune, is to bring happiness through her music. "If everybody tried to be happy in life, then the world would be a better place. My concept of happiness is to make other people feel content.

"If you can achieve change I think that's the greatest happiness you can have. There's no great pleasure. If I can have Mother Theresa with my hedonistic streak, than that's what I like to do with my life."

While other emerging artists might have an inner struggle in dealing with fame and the problems that comes with it, McKay has absolutely no problem in handling them-her attitude is 'bring it on!'. Part of her ambition to make it comes from having worked menial odd jobs that included being a secretary and a stint at the supermarket Gristedes, which she disliked. "I have a great respect for teachers but everyone says, 'Get a college diploma so you'll be able to teach and have security.' I think I would rather live on the street. There's nothing worse than working for pennies for the boss man."

However, when this interviewer mentioned wouldn't that be the same scenario working for a corporate record label, she acknowledged that fact with a wry sensibility that makes her all the more endearing. "But you are doing work that you love for the boss man. That's a very good point. Even if you are a product, it's so much less dehumanizing than checking bags. I get a great pleasure out of what I do."

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CD Review: Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen
Working on a Dream
Columbia
By David Chiu


Like Bob Dylan’s last several albums, Bruce Springsteen’s own recent works starting with The Rising gets better with every release. Working on a Dream, his latest album with the E Street Band is no exception: Most of the 12 songs seem to shimmer with a romantic glow and positive uplift as indicative on the joyous “My Lucky Day,” “What Love Can Do” and the title track. Of course the album showcases the Boss’ story songs such as the cowboy-esque “Outlaw Pete,” “Queen of the Supermarket,” and the moving track “The Wrestler,” from the movie of the same name. And “The Last Carnival” is a poignant closer about loss, and it features Jason Federici on accordion, the son of E Street organist Danny Federici, who died last year. The ‘60s-ish “This Life” sounds like a long lost song from “The River,” and Good Eye is rough-hewn blues. It’s too early to say that Working on a Dream is Springsteen best to date because he’s probably got another one or two excellent albums on the way. However, it’s safe to say that this is finest.


A clip of “My Lucky Day” by Bruce Springsteen

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CD Review: Miles Davis

Miles Davis
Kind of Blue: Legacy Edition
Columbia/Legacy
By David Chiu

Released exactly 50 years ago this year, Kind of Blue is a cornerstone work not only in jazz but also in music in general. And the group behind the record was a virtual super group: Cannonball Adderley, John Coltrane, and Bill Evans along with Jimmy Cobb, Paul Chambers and Wynton Kelly. You would be hard pressed not to find something beautiful and sublime throughout the original album’s five tracks, from the bluesy bop of “So What,” with its recognizable melody, through the subdued grace of “Blue in Green” and “Flamenco Sketches.” For fans of Kind of Blue longing for some additional music from the era, this special edition of the album features studio sequences of tracks; and a second disc of additional songs recorded around the Kind of Blue sessions and a live performance of “So What.” Those looking for an introduction to jazz or those who never cared much about the genre should seek this essential album as a starting point. Kind of Blue is a classic that never gets old from repeated listening.


A clip of Miles Davis’ “So What”

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CD Review: The Jacksons

The Jacksons
Destiny
Triumph
Epic/Legacy
By David Chiu

After leaving Motown, the Jacksons (sans Jermaine) asserted artistic control when they signed with Epic Records, resulting in two of their strongest albums from the late ‘70s, Destiny and Triumph. On those records the brothers assumed all of the songwriting and production duties on their funk and disco-laden songs—the albums, along with Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall recorded in between—represent old school R&B at its best. Destiny’s “Blame It On the Boogie” and “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)” are infectious dance pop numbers accompanied by lush ballads It’s surprising to learn that “Can You Feel It?” wasn’t a Top Ten hit upon its initial release because its Triumph’s best song, and the accompanying video is quite memorable. Accompanied by ace session players, the wiser and mature Jacksons proved on those records that they could do just fine on their own.


The video of “Can You Feel It?” by the Jacksons
Jacksons

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CD Review: Marykate O'Neil

Marykate O’Neil
Underground
71 Recordings
by David Chiu


Just like Marykate O’Neil’s previous two full-length albums, Underground continues to mine some strong melodic power pop/folkish hooks. It’s a very lush album with some tender ballads, such as “Mr. Friedman” and “Me, the Bee, The Miner,” complemented by the hooky country-pop of “Nashville.” In addition to having a strong voice, O’Neil is a gifted storyteller as evident on tracks like the nostalgic “Green Street” and the poppy adieu of “So Long.” She also turns in a nice, shimmering cover of Joe Jackson’s “Different for Girls.” Despite the underlying lyrical sense of yearning, Underground is a charming and winning old-school pop record.

A video of “Nashville” by Marykate O’Neil

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