CD Reviews

By: North County Times - | Wednesday, July 6, 2005 1:10 PM PDT ∞

Blues, Hip-Hop, World, Country, Jam

BLUES

B+ "145th Street Deluxe Blues Band"

145th Street Deluxe Blues Band

Self-issued

There was a time ---- OK, about 40 years ago ---- when the blues was everywhere, even on the rock scene. Heck, particularly on the rock scene. From the barely distilled blues of Savoy Brown and Fleetwood Mac to the distorted sounds of Robin Trower or Foghat to the psychedelia of Jimi Hendrix, the blues permeated everything that the white kids were listening to. And while the blues remains the basis for just about everything in popular music today, both the influence and the acknowledgement get further and further from us.

Unless you're San Diego's 145th Street Deluxe Blues Band. This electric blues-rock quintet is so steeped in the blues they practically drip the music. Like Savoy Brown or Humble Pie (two obvious influences), the music of 145th Street Deluxe Blues Band is a full-on homage to their blues heroes.

Their first studio CD contains a cover of Lowell Fulson's "Reconsider Baby" and Muddy Waters' "Walking Through the Park" ---- both songs being straight-ahead versions that not only serve as credit to their composers, but to the band as well. Lead singer Steve Bulger has a strong voice that handles both covers and originals with ease and personality; his harp playing is its equal. Guitarist Marc Marrewa has that cocky bravado one wants in a blues guitarist. Doc Holladay's organ is the perfect foil for Marrewa's guitar. Rollin Rodgers' bass playing is upfront and lends the band's music much of its muscle, while drummer D.J. Jackson has the full arsenal of blues beats down cold.

Nothing to set the world on its ear here ---- just solid, joyful blues that reminds us why this music once appealed to an entire generation of kids.

The 145th Street Deluxe Blues Band plays 6 to 8 p.m. July 8 at The Blvd in San Marcos; the band's CD release party is Saturday evening from 8 to 10:30 at Blind Melons in Pacific Beach.

---- Jim Trageser

Staff Writer

HIP-HOP

"United State of Atlanta"

Ying Yang Twins

TVT

If nothing else, the Ying Yang Twins' latest album, "United State of Atlanta," serves as a welcome antidote to the sugary sellout sounds of the Black Eyed Peas and the like. Crunk-style pros D-Roc and Kaine keep it gritty with lurid tales about women struggling to quit the strip club and fellows waiting in the wings to scoop them up for a raucous night on the town.

That's not to say this release is without a heart. In between the shoot-em-up plot lines, there's a hardened heart still beating here.

"Long Time" has a nice gospel-infused theme. It's about repenting for living a life too close to the edge. The refrain "Me and the Lord's been friends for a mighty long time" is well-sung, well-intentioned and memorable.

But then it's quickly back into a party mode for Atlanta's hot rap duo. Slick production from the ColliPark Music crew makes tracks like "The Walk" glisten. You can't deny an uptempo dance rap song with a classic passage imploring the listener to move to the right-left-front-back and finally, "Take some baby steps / Now take some baby steps!"

That's worth the price of a bloated club admission right there.

Setting aside a few oversexed tracks and their hackneyed skit interludes, this is solid listening that lives up to every bit of its parental advisory sticker.

There's also a cool song called "23 Hr. Lock Down," which serves as a cautionary tale about breaking the law and paying the price. Ying Yang offers a glimpse of life behind prison bars that comes off like a rap version of the documentary "Scared Straight."

You'll come away vowing to keep your nose clean ---- because the Ying Yang Twins say so.

---- Ron Harris

Associated Press

WORLD

A "Chavez Ravine"

Ry Cooder

Nonesuch/Perro Verde

Using both real and fictional characters, archival recordings and new versions of vintage Latin pop, jazz, conjunto, corrido and R&B songs, Ry Cooder takes the listener on a mythical ride with "Chavez Ravine."

"Chavez Ravine" sets out to tell the story of the hilltop Los Angeles Chicano neighborhood known as Chavez Ravine that was ripped apart in the 1950s to make room for Dodger Stadium. Baseball, McCarthyism, urban renewal, racism, community and history all play a part in what may be Cooder's crowning achievement.

Surreal in spots, seductive throughout, "Chavez Ravine" is a magical mystery tour to a time and place long gone but still alive in stories, memories and now, in song ---- in both Spanish and English.

Two of the main collaborators on the album are no longer around. Chicano music legend Lalo Guerrero died in March, while Don Tosti, who created the Latin "Pachuco" sound of the 1940s-era zoot suit culture, died last year.

Their presence only adds to the ghostly nature of "Chavez Ravine," which grabs you on the first listen and keeps whispering for you to listen again and again, revealing itself slowly over time but forever remaining out of reach.

---- Scott Bauer

Associated Press

"Di Korpu Ku Alma"

Lura

Escondida Music

Following in the footsteps of Cesaria Evora, who put the archipelago nation of Cape Verde's Sao Vicente island on the map, the fresh-faced and honey-voiced Lura brings us the musical style of one of the islands to the south, Santiago, on "Di Korpu Ku Alma (Of Body and Soul)." Santiago would be hard-pressed to find a worthier musical ambassador.

The CD/DVD package features 11 tracks, many of them originals, plus a nearly hour-long video of a live concert at Paris' Grand Rex, where she opened for Evora. Lura's voice has the depth and sultriness of Toni Braxton with a much more refined delivery and broader range of expressions. Her elegant stage presence is matched by her top-notch band ---- equally skilled at conveying the Portuguese and West African influences that are the bedrock of the music. Also included on the DVD is a brief profile of the artist, two music videos and a photo slideshow.

---- Aimee Maude Sims

Associated Press

COUNTRY

B+ "Somewhere Down in Texas"

George Strait

MCA Nashville

While country trends (most of them regrettable) come and go, George Strait has varied little from the buttoned-down traditionalism that's earned him more than 30 No. 1 hits, including "Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind" and "The Chair."

Strait's latest, "Somewhere Down in Texas," won't change that. On weepers like the Lee Ann Womack duet "Good News, Bad News," his unaffected tenor allows stock lines like "But I'm in love with you / With all my heart" to land without so much as a smirk. Other songs, such as "If the Whole World Was a Honky Tonk," feature twin fiddles and more imaginative rhymes ("We'd tell our troubles to the bar / Over cryin' steel guitars).

Coming at a time when country seems self-consciously hip, "Somewhere Down in Texas" keeps things on the straight and narrow.

---- Paul V. Griffith

Associated Press

JAM

"One Step Closer"

The String Cheese Incident

SCI Fidelity

The String Cheese Incident's "One Step Closer" is a giant leap forward.

Recorded in a private studio at a friend's home in the mountains of Colorado, the album features the band unwaveringly in sync ---- a quality not often found on albums from bands who are immensely successful in their live performances. Too often, they fall flat when attempting to conjure up the same electricity in the studio.

Not with the String Cheese boys. The jam band of aging hippies has reached deep into the well of bluegrass-infused rock and pulled out a formula for songs that rely on memorable hooks and abbreviated improvisation to carry them.

The process of making the album must have been important to the band, too. The first 50,000 copies of the album include a 30-minute DVD called "The Big Compromise," which details making of the album in a never-before-seen look at the band's inner workings.

But even if you don't care about that, "One Step Closer" is the kind of album that you can put on, sit back, and let it do the work for you. It's refreshingly comfortable that way.

---- Ryan Lenz

Associated Press

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