CD Reviews

By: Staff and Wire reports - | Wednesday, October 4, 2006 1:00 PM PDT ∞

A "Lochloosa"

Mofro

Swampland Records

The press materials accompanying this release describe it as Florida swamp blues. Hailing from neither swamp nor Florida, your loyal correspondent can only say the music here is a wonderfully charming bit of mostly acoustic roots music with a groove somewhere between Delta blues and deep gospel. Guitars, Dobros, harmonicas, organ and more come together in a slowly simmering stew that reminds, more than anything, of the little-known but deeply intriguing 1994 Little Axe (Skip McDonald) album "The Wolf That House Built," which fused modern urban rhythms with traditional acoustic blues.

The vocals by JJ Grey (who also wrote all the songs) are as intense as a young Greg Allman's; Daryl Hance's slide guitar bites like Buddy Guy's. Old-school cats for comparison, to be sure ---- but there is a certain '60s sensibility at work here. A looseness of feel, perhaps, or a kind of a hippie vibe. Maybe it's just the sense of possibility arising from the loosening of any real stylistic restrictions: that the music can be whatever they want it to be.

Whatever it is giving this album its sense of magic, the combination of strong songs, stellar playing and rousing spirit makes "Lochloosa" one of those rare discs that never quite leaves your CD player.

Mofro performs Sunday at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach.

---- Jim Trageser

Staff Writer

B+ "Graveyard Jones"

Jake La Botz

Charnel Ground Records

Inhabiting the same dark recesses of the blues as the late Screamin' Jay Hawkins or John Campbell, Jake La Botz's gravelly growl of a voice creates a funereal sound that evokes satanic fears and can make your skin crawl. His new, third CD, "Graveyard Jones," at times is as much a Halloween soundtrack as blues exploration. It's the sort of music one might expect to hear while visiting a voodoo priestess in a back alley of the French Quarter.

With a minimalist approach to instrumentation (acoustic guitar, bass, drums, keyboards), the focus on each song is mostly on La Botz's singing. He's an adequate guitarist (and employs former Rod Piazza sideman Rick "L.A. Holmes" Holmstrom on electric guitar on most tracks), and besides, the songs (he wrote all 14 of them) are really written around the vocal part.

Despite the rough edges to his voice, La Botz is actually a tremendous singer. Expressive, passionate, and with an innate melodicism, La Botz more than holds his own on the tracks where Janiva Magness provides harmony vocals.

If you like your blues served up raw without a lot of window dressing, Jake La Botz has the recipe you've been looking for.

Jake La Botz performs Tuesday at Absolute Tattoo in San Diego (8055 Clairemont Mesa Blvd. #10).

---- JT

A- "The Longest Meow"

Bobby Bare Jr.'s Young Criminals Starvation League

Bloodshot Records

Son of the late country legend of the same name, Bobby Bare Jr.'s muse is far too curious to be contained by a single style of music. He's generally classified as alt-rock, but even that rather nebulous description is too narrow to properly describe the range of music found on Bare Jr.'s latest release, "The Longest Meow."

"Back to Blue," for instance, is as much Mexican norteno as anything else. "The Heart Bionic" is a cross between late '70s Kinks and early '80s British ska. "Sticky Chemical" is ---- actually, it's hard to say just what that one is. Sounds like a tuba providing the rhythm, but none is listed. Baritone sax, maybe? Then the horns kick in and you stop trying to classify it and just sit back and enjoy how utterly captivating it is.

But providing a sense of continuity is the quality of each of these very different songs: They're all well-constructed melodic little gems.

In that blending of wonderful melodies and offbeat styles, Bare Jr.'s newest is more reminiscent of Frank Zappa than anything his father did.

Bobby Bare Jr.'s Young Criminals Starvation League performs Monday at The Casbah in San Diego.

---- JT

B "The Fall of Ideals"

All That Remains

Razor & Tie Records

After its mid-1980s gussying up into a mainstream style that valued polish over passion and then disappeared from the national stage, the idea that heavy metal might become popular again still seems a bit far-fetched. But bands like All That Remains show that the music continues to evolve to reflect the tastes of subsequent generations. Melding the anger and nastiness of '90s death metal with the accessibility of '80s hair metal, All That Remains takes sweetly melodic songs and wraps them in a barbed-wire edginess that keeps the music from ever appearing too mainstream.

The band's new album, "The Fall of Ideals," doesn't have a break-out song to get metal back on popular radio, but it does feature some great twin guitar work and some hard-to-forget songwriting. Most impressively, vocalist Phil Labonte regularly switches gears from bestial growling to a well-trained baritone as he goes from verse to chorus and back again.

Nothing breathtaking or particularly new here, but an interesting enough mix for metalheads of all ages.

All That Remains performs Friday at the House of Blues San Diego.

---- JT

Country

B "It Just Comes Natural"

George Strait

MCA

George Strait, despite a career packed with highlights and new plateaus, won't forget 2006.

In August, he was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame at the relatively young age of 54. In September, he broke the record for the most No. 1 hits in country music history with his current single, "Give It Away." And, to extend his big year, he releases "It Just Comes Natural," one of the most adventurous and artistically satisfying albums of his career.

Sounding looser than ever, Strait uses the 15-song album to explore the array of musical styles he excels at and to show off the flexibility of his vocal range. Along the way, he takes a couple of great underrated Texas songs and makes them sound like the country standards they should be. Bruce Robison's "Wrapped" features an elastic arrangement that brings out the joy of a man who willingly admits he'd do anything to please the woman he loves. Just as good is Guy Clark's "Texas Cookin'," which is kicked up into a Western swing workout that uses food to celebrate the different cultures that merge to make Texas one of the most colorful, and most richly culinary, states in America.

From the sublime romance of "That's My Kind of Woman" to the wise and sensitive twists of "He Must Have Really Hurt You Bad," Strait's new album disproves those who mistake his consistency for predictability. Over a 25-year career, he's repeatedly found fresh ways to enliven his material while staying within the parameters of what he does best. "It Just Comes Natural" is a perfectly timed reminder of why Strait is the one of the most successful American music artists of all time.

---- Associated Press

Rock

"Bar 17"

Trey Anastasio

Rubber Jungle

Former Phish frontman Trey Anastasio seems to feel much more at home in "Bar 17," his second solo release since his famed jam band called it quits.

"Bar 17" is an inconsistent effort, most notably sporting some weak lyrics. But compared with his very pop-oriented previous effort "Shine," this one comes off as a much more comfortable fit.

He finds the most success with quieter, introspective tunes like "A Case of Ice and Snow," a haunting track punctuated by a beautiful organ melody.

"Goodbye Head" could have fit on any Phish record while "Let Me Lie" comes off as a Syd Barrett-esque, early Pink Floyd ditty that has much more going on beneath the surface than a cursory listen may reveal.

"Bar 17" was three years in the making, and the variety of songs and musical styles ---- orchestral, full-out rock, acoustic ---- exemplify the influence of the 40 musicians who are credited with playing on its 13 tracks.

Unlike "Shine," which felt heavily produced and packaged, "Bar 17" feels much more airy and a better fit for Anastasio's guitar-playing style. It's another step in his evolution as a solo performer and its one that Phish fans and those new to his music should pay attention to.

---- Associated Press

R&B

D "Mr. Brown"

Sleepy Brown

Virgin

Like fellow singers Nate Dogg and Akon, Sleepy Brown has made a name for himself by smoothing out hard-edged hip-hop songs with soulful choruses. After his thin falsetto washed over OutKast hits like "So Fresh, So Clean" and "The Way You Move," a solo spin-off seemed inevitable. But years of record biz red-tape threatened to doom Brown to perpetual hook-singer status, albeit with arguably rap's most talented duo.

Now the long-awaited "Mr. Brown" is out. Unfortunately, the soulman hasn't made the strongest case for being regarded as more than a rap accessory. The album's Neptunes-produced first single, "Margarita," features Big Boi of OutKast, Pharrell, and a Latin-tinged beat that skips along to rhythmic bongo slaps and sprightly chord progressions. But it's a troublesome sign when the song's two guests outshine Brown on his own coming out party.

"Mr. Brown" isn't overloaded with cameos, just songs that focus mainly on old-fashioned romance. Over church-style organs on "Sunday Morning," Brown oohs and ahhs like a low-rent Marvin Gaye. On the string-propelled "Me, My Baby & My Cadillac," Brown extends the love metaphor to include his pimped-out ride. And "One of Dem Nights" recalls Barry White, with its sweeping synths and Brown's trite, whispered lyrics: "These insatiable acts that you're about to witness/Girl ain't no turning back."

Too often Brown's hushed come-ons place more emphasis on manufacturing moody moments than asserting his personality. The result is that his loverman croon gets lost in the sonics, making it hard to connect with Brown as more than another R&B lothario with friends in high places.

---- Associated Press

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