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Sugar Minott – The Roots Lover 1978-1983 (Moll-Selekta/Forced Exposure)
Minott, who will turn 50 this May 25, has long been among the musical giants of Jamaica (Bob Marley said the sweet-voiced Sugar was one of his favorite singers). After establishing himself as a star talent starting in 1976 on the powerhouse Studio One label, in 1978 Minott started his own labels, Black Roots Production and Youth Promotion Company. This new two-CD set (from a German label that’s done great work in the field of reggae compilations) draws on his first six years on his own, mostly using the extended versions of his singles, including some fine dub work, making it easier for the listener to achieve deep immersion in Minott’s Afrocentric ethic. The added musical space is especially welcome because the supporting musicians, mostly the Roots Radics Band and the Black Roots Players, include many of the island’s best sessionmen. This material belongs in any reggae collection.
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Sonny Sharrock – Black Woman (Water)
Believe it or not, this 1969 album – very much of its time – was produced by Herbie Mann (who happened to be Sharrock’s employer at the time, which explains how it originally was issued on an Atlantic Records sub-label even though Sharrock was the first free-jazz guitarist, his wife Linda Sharrock wails and screeches without pronouncing a word (except on a wild adaptation of an Auvergne lullaby that would only wake up the baby), Ted Daniel stands out on trumpet, Dave Burrell plays piano on much of the album, and bassist Sirone and drummer Milford Graves boil and roil underneath – not exactly playing to the commercial masses. The music often uses chant-like material as the launch pad for freer excursions. The first appearance of Sharrock’s “Blind Willie” is played solo on acoustic guitar, emphasizing its drone underpinning and relationship with country blues a la gospel singer Blind Willie Johnson. Reissued last year, this cult classic may never sell the amount a major label expects, but it will always be in demand among lovers of the unexpected.
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Julian Priester – Love, Love (ECM)
Another cult classic reissued late last year, Love, Love is a 1974 LP much loved by fusion aficionados. And it’s not the flashy, all-technique-no-heart kind of fusion, but the raw, questing sort. Priester, known primarily as a trombone player, has horns, whistle flute, percussion, and synthesizers in his expanded arsenal here, joined on synths by Patrick Gleeson, who had already made his mark on Herbie Hancock’s most adventurous albums (in Herbie’s anything-goes Mwandishi group, not the dumbed-down stuff Hancock went for later). Hadley Caliman adds color on flute, saxes, and bass clarinet and Bayete Umbra Zindiko throws in cross-rhythms and cross-textures on electric pianos and Clavinet. Side one builds on a funky 15/8 groove (you try being this funky with that asymmetrical a rhythm!) kept strong and steady by drummer Eric Gravatt and Fender bassist Ron McClure, with Bill Connors scorching on electric guitar. On the freer and more fragmented but still energetic flipside, Henry Franklin and Leon Chancler take over rhythm duties and David Johnson’s added on flute and soprano sax.
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Marc Ribot – Don’t Blame Me (DIW)
Not the easiest album to find; the Japanese jazz label DIW hasn’t had U.S. distribution for awhile now. But it’s well worth tracking down for Ribot at his jazziest. Of course, given who’s playing, that hardly means bebop changes as, on this 1995 solo guitar CD, he deconstructs standards including “I’m in the Mood for Love,” “Don’t Blame Me,” “Body and Soul,” “Dinah,” “These Foolish Things,” Albert Ayler’s “Ghosts,” Duke Ellington’s “Solitude,” and Charlie Haden’s “Song for Che.” The three originals are fine as well. The level of concentration required to follow the subtle logic of Ribot’s standards terrorism sometimes makes this challenging listening if you want to grasp exactly how deep a musical thinker he is, and certainly despite the repertoire it’s as far from easy listening as can be, but there’s also humor and emotion here.
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Richie Beirach – Sunday Songs (Blue Note)
This solo piano disc is one of the few albums to successfully use largely familiar classical music (by Chopin, Debussy, Schumann, and Mompou) in an improvisatory context. Beirach compromises neither jazz nor classical integrity, instead sounding natural and unforced, improvisations and altered harmonies seeming to flow organically from the original pieces. There is also an affecting take on Bill Evans’s “Peace Piece” (which certainly fits in this context) as well as Beirach originals and bassist George Mraz’s “Wisteria.” It’s a shame that Blue Note has let this 1992 album lapse from their catalog.
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Au Pairs – Playing with a Different Sex (RPM)
This import reissue of the half-female quartet’s 1981 debut includes another eight single tracks from ‘79 to ‘81, making it almost 72 minutes of thoughtful yet danceable punk fun. British bands of this style and vintage were inevitably compared to Gang of Four, and though this Birmingham band featured the female vocals and perspective of Lesley Woods and the music was generally sparer, the rhythms are similarly jerky, and the political outlook, if not nearly as radical and pervasive, is also left-leaning. It’s a style that’s become popular again, and this is one of the best places to hear it.
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Bush Tetras – Boom in the Night: Original Studio Recordings 1980-1983 (ROIR)
Speaking of great dance-punk, this quartet was one of NY’s finest and still sounds fresh and daring. Built around Laura Kennedy’s rubbery basslines, drummer (and sole male) Dee Pop’s rough rock adaptation of African rhythms, the dissonant, razor-sharp slide guitar riffs of Pat Place, and the tough vocals of Cynthia Sley, it fit into New York’s No Wave scene. This includes all their singles, most famously “Too Many Creeps”; all of Rituals, a six-song EP produced by Clash drummer Topper Headon; and various demos.
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Yo La Tengo – Painful! (Matador)
Hoboken’s finest reverted to its trio lineup and its noisy side on this magnificent 1993 album, as if to show a world obsessed with grunge the proper way to play grungy. The vocals float over the squalling guitars in a very MBV way, but I like this better (heresy, I know). Feedback is rarely this beautiful; ethereality is rarely this aggressive; the painful rarely so pleasurable. It’s a debatable point, and certainly I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One is right up there, but Painful! is my favorite YLT album.
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aMiniature – Murk Time Cruiser (Restless)
John Lee’s band was one of the great unheralded bands from the often overlooked San Diego scene, and this was my favorite rock album of 1995 (produced by Mark Trombino of Drive Like Jehu, another SD fave). The hooks are all knockout punches, and the sound – building off early Wire, among others – was distinctive and instantly classic.
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Raspberries – Greatest Hits (Capitol)
For aficionados of power pop, this is the touchstone, full of early ‘70s radio classics. Their first and biggest hit, “Go All the Way” (which peaked at #5 on the Top 40 in the summer of ‘72), showcases all their virtues: a prototypical opening guitar riff with plenty of raunch and energy, some of the prettiest harmonies ever on the chorus, and a “come on” bridge paying explicit tribute to their role models – not for nothing were they always called Beatlesque. “Don’t Want to Say Goodbye” (with just enough soul in the vocals to make them sound sincere), “Tonight,” “I’m a Rocker,” and the über-anthem “Overnight Sensation” are equally unforgettable, catching your ear immediately with well-written verses rather than waiting until the choruses to deploy the irresistible hooks – and the choruses are great too.
