Album Reviews

French minimalist acoustic musician Colleen has established an unlikely strong international cult following in the wake of releasing four full-length albums, three of which were available in limited edition vinyl.

Don Sebesky’s glib big band charts for “California Dreaming” and for a few other tunes on this 1966 Creed Taylor Production may exude almost comical “action television series” theme music swagger (I’m thinking “Mannix”), yet Wes Montgomery’s physical daring and sense of lyrical beauty quickly overcome any reservations you might have about being seen enjoying a blatantly commercial enterprise like this.

The arranger Gil Evans was on a roll when this cool, yet raucous big band set of standards was recorded in New York City back in 1958. The California native and big band veteran had already arranged Miles Davis’ Miles Ahead and the cool and deep Porgy and Bess. Featured soloist Cannonball Adderley’s Blue Note classic Somethin’ Else had also hit big by then (okay, it was really a Miles Davis album, but Cannonball’s playing heated up Miles’s cool show).

Natalie Merchant’s first solo outing after leaving 10,000 Maniacs, issued in 1995, was among her finest records. For those who may have found her earlier work overblown and precious, the understated, acoustic setting, provided by a trio of then relative unknowns, proved ideal for a set of introspective set pieces dealing with issues of loss, jealousy, escape, sacrifice, loneliness, stardom and martyrdom delivered with cozy intimacy. No wonder it became a big seller.

This is a weird, squooshy, watery record. The music is soft and squooshy, the lyrics are soft and squooshy. Songwriter Art Halperin’s voice is particularly squooshy, the background musicians play softly and squooshily, and even the veteran recording and mastering engineer Barry Diament has captured it squooshily in real stereo in a pleasingly reverberant church using a pair of carefully placed microphones.

A young James Taylor arrived on the crowded late ‘60’s musical scene a mature, fully formed artist. His voice was unique, rich-sounding and immediately identifiable, as was his acoustic guitar playing. His songwriting was accomplished both lyrically and melodically well beyond his 20 years.

If you buy only one LP this year on faith because of what you read on this website, please make it this one that comes from so far out in left field, it’s in the bleachers.