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LEX GREY AND THE URBAN PIONEERS
DID SOMEONE SAY BLUES??? [Note: the following review of Lex Grey was commissioned and originally published by the good people at The Night Guide.]
Lex Grey is stunning proof that the blues are alive and healthy.
It's not because she's a fine blues singer, though she is. It's not because her band, the Urban Pioneers, plays with skill and soul, though it does. Nor is it her Joplinesque rasp or her modern, seemingly effortless melodic sense (shades of John Mayall and Robert Cray), though those contribute.
No, it's because - as the best tracks on this album make clear - within the blues idiom she creates music that's almost as interesting as it is heartfelt.
The straight-ahead barroom brawler "Dirty, Sleazy Blues" seems to promise a raunchy good time, but "Gospel (of Modern Times)" quickly proves that Grey is going for more than that. Its sophisticated blued-eyed soul is easily worthy of Procol Harum, Joe Cocker, or late-era Janis Joplin. And Grey doesn't let up, following this tour de force with the transfixing
"Only Love," which lays a sweet tune over an unusual chord structure that carries several layers of emotion. As the song builds to its final climax Grey wails like a love child of Etta James and Leon Russell. Then, its simple melody echoing both "American Woman" and "L.A. Woman," the blues-rocker "Rather Die" mounts another full-frontal vocal attack across a moody Allmanesque drone.
"Lawless," from an earlier session, lays Allman-smooth changes over a grunge beat. Though pretty, it lacks the punch of the stellar tracks just before it. The album picks up steam again with an unexpected yet appropriate cover: though I'm told she doesn't like to be compared to Janis Joplin, listening to Grey's rendition of James Brown's "It's a Man's World" shows beyond a shadow of a doubt her deep absorption of Joplin's effects and mannerisms. And the soulful, mid-tempo "Hold On" could have been a breakout hit for a 1960s San Francisco band that never was.
The album closes with two forgettable blues-rockers. But the latter, "Shoot 'Em Up," shows the high level of energy Grey and her band can pump into even a throwaway number when they do it live.
It's easy to lose your balance when you dance on the cutting edge. Unlike her contemporary Melissa Reaves, Lex Grey doesn't put herself in that kind of danger. Instead, clearly feeling the blues to the very depths of her soul, she takes it, and us, for a satisfying ride that touches both the heights and the depths of the living blues.
Artist website: | ||
 photo by Linus Gelber |
MARLY HORNIK
IS EVERY DAY IS THE SAME OLD STORY? Getting my pet peeves out of the way first: Can we finally get over the Natalie Merchant lockjaw vocalizing? It worked for Natalie because it was interesting and different; it doesn't work any more. And on the credits: Jane Scarpantoni!! You'd think she was the only cellist around; I really think popsters who want cello on their albums should think about hiring someone else, just out of fairness. And a note on the packaging: the catchphrase Marly Hornik wants us to associate with her is (shudder) "singer-songwriter-storyteller-angel"!!!
Ick. Strike Three, Marly, you're out. Or you should be, anyway.
But of course the CD was sent to me so I could review the music, and fortunately there are songs, not just signifiers, on Say You Do. They're not all songs you'd be likely to remember, but they're nicely made pieces. The CD starts out strong with the aforementioned title track (think Tori Amos's "Tear In Your Hand" with the angst removed) and the almost as good "Just the Thought of You." The rest are album tracks. The arrangements vary but Hornik maintains an easygoing smooth jazz-pop vibe throughout. "Less a Man" has some interesting piano-guitar interplay, while "Bluestone Baby" and "True Love Song" sport sweet jazzy harmonies.
Hornik's mostly affectless voice, when she's not auditioning for 10,000 Maniacs, is plain and unchallenging but pretty. Indeed, a major element of Hornik's appeal is the juxtaposition of relaxed lead vocals with boppy arrangments - something akin to Peggy Lee. For that reason, the ballads work less well. "Chains" with its guitar effects and gentle jazz sensibility is something of an exception, a piece to enjoy washing over you, though probably not to remember.
This is well-crafted, modestly sophisticated coffeehouse music. Conjure yourself a latte and give Marly Hornik a try.
Artist website: WWW.MARLYHORNIK.COM
YES, EVERY DAY IS THE SAME OLD STORY Except for the fact that they're both white women who work in the blues genre, it's fair to say that everything Lex Grey is, Tracy K isn't. Where Grey plays the blues, Tracy K just plays at them. If Lex is a hearty peasant loaf, Tracy is Wonder Bread.
As with all art, when music works, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Tracy K has gathered a lot of the parts: the familiar blues changes and beats, the studied fills and stops, the time-honored guitar and harmonica riffs, the carefully cultivated vocal rasp, the "mojo mamas" and "honky-tonk men" exchanging sexual innuendo, and of course the tastefully professional (but alas, bored-sounding) musicians. She's even got "Slow Dance," a loving minor-key tribute to Janis Joplin's "Ball and Chain," complete with direct quotes from some of Joplin's most famous vocal performances. But all these parts are like the clothes on a doll: cut from the same cloth as yours and mine, but with nothing inside to animate them.
Welcome to My Fantasy is a good title for this project in a way Tracy K probably didn't intend. Thanks to, I guess, a dearth of authentic blues singers in the Winnipeg area, and obviously some cash, Tracy K is getting to live out her fantasy: write a batch of songs, gather pro players and record a blues album. But the fantasy remains just that.
In my daily life I'm not one to point an accusing finger at artists who sincerely attempt to make a kind of music they love, but achieve poor results because they just don't have what it takes. Music is, after all, a great healer for those who practice it as well as for those who merely stand and listen. And the blues certainly deserve to be kept not only alive, but lively.
But in this space my goal is to give coverage to worthy independent artists who don't have the major-label promotional machine behind them. And I believe that if writers don't cast the same cold critical eye on independent projects that we would on major label product; if we are known to exaggerate the good we hear, and temper (or keep to ourselves) our criticisms of the not so good; then we aren't doing much for the independent projects we do find deserving of praise.
A final note: it is, of course, not Tracy K's fault that her CD rose to the top of my pile just in time to become a "case in point." And if it seems a bit unfair for me to load her review with general comments about my "reviewing philosophy," rest assured it feels that way to me too.
But hey. It's my website. :-)
Artist website: WWW.TRACYK.CA
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