COVER -> POWERSSOUND
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"The Cape Godfather" (Arbors Records) has the special added attraction in that the jazz veteran has room to explore and explode. There's no prettier sound in jazz than that made with such seeming ease by Braff.
This time around, four of the six selections give Braff and company plenty of room for investigating avenues and byways of these marvelous old warhorses.
The album opens with an up-tempo version of "My Melancholy Baby," which runs nearly eleven minutes and contains superb work by Braff, backed by Kenny Davern on clarinet, Tommy Newsom on tenor sax, John Bunch at the piano, Howard Alden on guitar, Michael Moore on bass, and Kenny Washington behind the drum kit.
Other songs include "Love Is Just Around the Corner," which clocks in at 15:30, and a brief but charming "Orange," an original tune from Braff. It's less that four minutes, but who's counting.
Also given the special Braff touch are "If Dreams Come True," ""Tain't So, Honey,' Tain't So," and "As Time Goes By." Braff, 73, shows no evidence of any decline in his power. He should be a national treasure and his albums deserve room in any discerning listener's collection.
Rock'n Roll Rules
Speedealer, that little ole band out of Lubbock, Texas, has a new label, Rykopalm. First action taken by the company is to reissue the band's second album, "Here Comes Death," which had a brief outing in 1999 before its original record company went out of business.Speedealer consists of founder/singer/guitarist Jeff Hirshberg, bassist Rodney Skelton, drummer Harden Harrison, and guitarist Eric Schmidt. Formerly named REO Speedealer, the band dropped the REO at the insistence of attorneys for a certain band with the word "wagon" as part of its moniker.
How good is Speedealer? Very professional, exciting, and worth a listen. The CD, clocked at 37 minutes, gives the listener a quick jolt of unadorned rock that should bring smiles and nodding heads to many listeners. With 17 songs on what's a relatively short package, there's no chance of nodding off. The music soothes in its own head banging way. Try it, you just might like it.
The Other Crenshaw
You may have heard of Marshall Crenshaw, but I'd be willing to wager a few coins that you don't know his brother Robert. The new Gadfly release, "Victory Songs," offers ample opportunity to hear some delightful lyrics and serviceable melodies from the pen and voice of the youngest of the Crenshaw clan.This is as good as it gets in the pop/rock category. There are good candidates for radio attention, especially "Missing You More," and "Eatin Crow and Drinkin' the Blues."
The folkie crowd will nod their heads in unison when the title song starts up. And "Take It to Heart" is another winner in an album that should be in heavy rotation in the homes of all pop/rock devotees.
Film Review: "Almost Famous"
Since the beginning of the rock era, Hollywood moguls have tried to capture rock in its totality. Few movies have reached the lofty goals of their makers. "Woodstock" remains one of the best documentaries ever made in its depiction of that gathering in upstate New York some three decades ago.The early 70s also brought "Easy Rider," which graphically showed how rock fueled a revolution. Now, in what's being called the best film of 2000, author/director Cameron Crowe has produced what will be seen as a masterpiece of sorts.
"Almost Famous" tells the almost-true story of Crowe's precocious entry into the world of rock journalism at the age of 15. Crowe received an assignment to write a profile of a struggling rock group. The editors at Rolling Stone had no idea of the youth of their new writer, dealing entirely with him by phone.
Sparked by brilliant acting, especially by youngster Patrick Fugit and Kate Hudson --- who plays a groupie with a set of personal standards that make sense to her if not to others, "Almost Famous" lays down two hours of compelling drama, some big laughs, and excellent music of the era.
Fugit seems made for his important role and you'll never think of him as an actor. He's completely believable. Hudson, daughter of the irrepressible Goldie Hawn, is not only gorgeous, but wields a command of her art that demonstrates the importance of good genes. She's impossible not to watch. Glimpses of her mother's oh-so-familiar tics and body language make her even more delicious.
With seldom even a hint of a false note, "Almost Famous" deserves to be on the "must see" lists of anyone who ever heard a rock song. If you're a movie buff, this is one to treasure.
