What's cool - GZA, "The Mexican"

Updated and appreciated, a classic made over: restated

First of all, a shout out to my oldest friend Vince, who recently gifted me with the Fantagraphics Hip Hop Family Tree. It's been great to learn more about the street side of the culture and how familiar artists fit into the narrative, as well as names I hadn't come across before. Even though "The Mexican" by Babe Ruth (1972) shows up as #17 on the "Breaks and Beats" discography in the back of Volume 1, I had never heard this unlikely influential track. It's fitting that this British prog band did their own version of sampling by incorporating Ennio Morricone's "For a Few Dollars More" into the song, but that's not really how they became so relevant to the budding hip hop scene. For that, you can thank DJs like Jellybean Benitez who keyed into the Latin beat and turned it into a freestyle/disco club hit and B-Boy favorite. Benitez went on to remix/record his cover of the song in 1984 to top the dance charts.

Now Wu-Tang Clan's GZA has taken the tune on and expanded it with his own lyrics. The original version laid out the bare bones story of Chico Fernandez, who signs on with Santa Anna's army and presumably dies in the siege of the Alamo. GZA digs deeper, painting Fernandez as an outlaw player, gunfighter and hustler. It should come as no surprise that GZA's flow maintains the edge that fans expect with taut imagery, relentless rhythm, and a compelling rhyme scheme.



Jose "Choco" Reynoso's arrangement also updates the piece. It sounds like he's pulled in elements from both the original and Jellybean's cover, but he adds his own twists, starting with layering Janita Haan's first sung line into the classical introduction as a foretaste just before it rushes into the beat and GZA's rap. Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine) steps in with a guitar solo that provides the real musical treat. The first time around, he plays with some spaghetti Western riffs, but the second pass rips into some wicked glitched out jams before taking it home.

GZA continues working on his next release, Dark Matter, but this gem is apparently just a side gift to fans to keep us patient. Thank you, Sir. May we have another?

Recording review: Beatallica, Abbey Load (2013)

Metalloid covers rather than full-on mashups

Like Dread Zepplin, Beatallica has always been clear about their musical mission: blending the Beatles and Metallica into a powerhouse mashup. It could be argued that they're a one trick pony, but both source bands have a rich enough back catalog that Beatallica hasn't exhausted the possibilities. Their 2009 album Masterful Mystery Tour (review) was well crafted, packed with songs like "Everybody's Got a Ticket to Ride Except For Me and My Lightnin" and "The Thing That Should Not Let It Be". These songs showed real ingenuity, finding common ground between their sources and coming up with lyrics that fit thematically with both groups. I came to Abbey Load looking for the next installment, eager to hear how they'd marry late-era Beatles with Load's bluesy metal sound. I imagined a mutant "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window", supercharged with DNA from "King Nothing".

Instead, the band has settled for metalloid covers of an assortment of Beatles songs. The album is anchored by "Come Together" and the medley from Abbey Road, and filled out with a hodge-podge of miscellaneous tracks. Dropping songs like "Oh, Darling" and "Octopus's Garden" seems reasonable, but "Something" could have had potential. By substituting songs like "I Saw Her Standing There" and "Please, Please Me", the project feels more like a random collection.

Of course, Masterful Mystery Tour wasn't a slave to a tracklist either, but the crucial difference is that Beatallica has abandoned their mashup home-base to make a less interesting cross-genre cover album. Each of the songs maintains the original Beatles' melodies and lyrics. This places them more squarely into Dread Zepplin's camp. Sure, Jaymz Lennfield still dials his James Hetfield impression up to 11 and the riffs are heavy as ever, but it's a let-down from the band's earlier work. The familiar musical references, like "For Whom the Bell Tolls" embedded within "Michelle" or the "Four Horsemen" intro for "Mean Mister Mustard" don't make up for the missing spark.

In an interview with Metal Assault, Lennfield blames the creative decision on their distribution channel, Sony International. "...he basically strong-armed us into either shutting the whole thing down or doing the next record by using the Beatles lyrics and the Beatles vocal melodies. So those were our choices..." That explains why they didn't include their song "Ktulu (He's So Heavy)" (from 2007's Sgt. Hetfield's Motorbreath Pub Band), which would have fit in perfectly. Evidently, Beatallica has already come up with real mashups based on this material, but was blocked from releasing the songs. Knowing that we could have listened to "Mean Mister Mustaine" is a bitter pill.

Lennfield seems philosophical about the situation and stands by Abbey Load. He's also mentioned that the band idoes include their more interesting interpretations in their live show. Even without that incentive, I'd recommend catching them if they ever tour nearby.

Concert review - Easy Star All-Stars with Passafire

13 September 2012 (Fox Theatre, Boulder CO)

The Fox Theatre built up a good crowd. The all-ages show had a strong youth contingent that seemed to know both bands very well. There were a lot of the same people I see when the Flobots play.

Passafire

I wasn't familiar with Passafire before this show. Based on the band name, I expected a solid reggae groove. That would have been welcome, but Passafire's sound turned out to be much richer than that.

Their music followed the jam band path of Phish, Widespread Panic and others. Songs skipped across genres, melding a hard rock solo into a ska groove or merging a Zappa-esque experimental sound into a reggae rock groove. Sharp rhythm and tempo changes signaled the song section boundaries, as well. Unlike those other bands, though, the songs didn't melt into a long running mass. That kept their set tighter with a stronger punch, even when they drifted into a spacier zone. The other difference is that Passafire seemed to center on reggae and ska beats as their natural foundation. At the time, I thought they might have been tailoring their set to fit better with Easy Star All-Stars. But after tracking down more of their music today, I can hear how central those rhythms are to their sound.

All four players were adept at changing up their approach to fit the sound in the moment. The band tours constantly and that showed in their performance. Bass player Will Kubley was particularly impressive. His playing on the reggae sections provided the solid anchor the style calls for, but he could also bounce it into a bubbly groove. His extended intro solo on Kilo had a laid back virtuosity.

Guitarist Ted Browne dominated the stage, driving most of the lead vocals. He favored a heavy echo on his voice that fit well with Kubley's close harmonies. His guitar was tasteful. He had plenty of chances to show off some flash technique, but he generally reined that in to support the song. His soft-spoken laid back persona was forward enough that he wasn't shy.

Mike DeGuzman keyboard accents were fine, but he really stood out for the stunt touches: strapping on a guitar to contribute 30 seconds of glory or whipping out a Roland keytar (it looked like a Lucina) to step to the stage front. The theatrical moves worked; the whole band had a good stage energy.

There were a lot of great songs and I'll have to track down more of Passafire's music. Along with the rest of the crowds, one of my favorite songs was Dimming Sky. The old school R&B start shifts into an uptempo ska beat backing a lazy vocal. "Other fish go swimming by, they say good night / And I wish the dimming sky would stay so bright".

Easy Star All-Stars

It's been three and a half years since I last saw Easy Star All-Stars, but it still stands out as an amazing show that made my top five of 2009. After reviewing Thrilla, their new tribute to Michael Jackson's Thriller, I had unreasonably high hopes for this tour because Jackson's music would kick up the pop energy for the show. Even so, Easy Star All-Stars exceeded my expectations, delivering a well rounded show: high energy jams, sweet reggae grooves, spacy dub excursions, and sentimental moments.

The band started the show with a vamp build into their lazily drifting version Radiohead's Airbag. That got the audience moving but they really woke up when the band followed up with Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'.

The setlist was nicely constructed to take the crowd through the history of the band's work. They hit the high points and kept the flow moving. The new album, Thrillah, was well represented, while there were only a couple of tunes from Easy Star's Lonely Hearts Dub Band. The Pink Floyd section, with Breathe and Time was a treat. The dynamic shift from a trippy, reflective mood to heavy rhythm focus and then Ruff Scott's exciting rap delivery made it a long adventure ride. This segment rolled perfectly into the dark and moody sound of Radiohead's Lucky. With perfect timing, the All-Stars lightened the vibe with an a capella singalong start to With A Little Help From My Friends.

Like the setlist, the band's roles were also well balanced. Kirsty Rock and Ruff Scott were like sweet and spicy. Rock's sassy attitude and strong pop voice were perfect for tunes like P.Y.T. and Thriller. Scott's raspy growl and toasting style was a strong, earthy counterpoint. He was a charismatic performer, too, owning the front edge of the stage as he challenged people to sing along or exhorted them with his rap. His riff on Money was strong and he also covered DJ Spragga Benz's spoken word part from Thriller.

Guitarist Shelton Garner Jr was a solid player, able to shift from chank to serious rock solo work with ease. But his singing was a real treat. On The Girl is Mine, he had a strong R&B sound that gave a hint of Michael Jackson, but with a deeper tone. His real moment to shine, though, was the encore. He came out alone and performed a solo arrangement of Bob Marley's Redemption Song. The guitar arrangement had a light Hendrix chord melody touch, but his voice was strong and soulful. It was a truly moving moment. The last notes hung in the air before the rest of the band stepped up to continue the encore.

Bass player Ras I Ray, though, was the true heart and soul of the band. Like a ringmaster, he was at the center of it all. His playing was phenomenal: fluid and melodic, then throbbing and deep, whatever the moment called for. Through it all, he kept in constant motion. One moment, he'd march in place, crouched down in a power stance. Soon after, he'd grin infectiously and dance with joyous energy. His presence and charisma anchored the band. Even his stage patter had a confident humility that showed off the band's open spirit.

Easy Star All-Stars throw an amazing concert. Without an ounce of drag or waste, they still create a loose party atmosphere. They take these incredibly well-known songs and rebuild them to create a truly original sound. They show off their phenomenal musical talent and still seem more interested in making a connection with the people at their shows. I only regret that I couldn't see their other two shows in the area this tour.

More photos on my Flickr.

Recording review - Easy Star All-Stars, Easy Star's Thrillah (2012)

Inspired by the King of Pop, it's another classic reggae reinvention

As the house band for Easy Star records, the Easy Star All-Stars have made some great original music (review) and reinvented classic albums by Pink Floyd, Radiohead, and the Beatles. While reframing these great albums as reggae might seem like a gimmick, Michael Goldwasser and the All-Stars take the arrangements seriously and they have a knack for maintaining a respectful connection to the original.

I wasn't sure how to feel about their latest target, Michael Jackson's Thriller. I'm ambivalent about the King of Pop and it wasn't obvious that the reggae context would open up the songs. When I cued up Easy Star's Thrillah, it didn't seem like a big leap. Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' featured a good ska influenced intro that might have signaled a radical departure. Instead, it almost immediately transitioned into a funky, Afrobeat groove. The arrangement felt like a small step from the original's horn line and the vocals weren't too far from Jackson's smooth, high tenor. But that subtle shift was significant. Easy Star's horns had a richer role and masked the slightly slower tempo.

Thriller's more soulful tracks seem more straightforward. The reggae beat on Baby, Be Mine doesn't get too far from Jackson's pop soul original. Similarly, Human Nature adds a more interesting horn and synth line along with the reggae beat, but the dreamy pop soul feel remains. The more radical transformations come on the bigger, high energy tracks.

Beat It served as a big rocker on Michael Jackson's Thriller. He used the speedy beat and punchy vocals to pump up the tension and express frustration at the inevitability of violence. The All-Stars turn that on its head. The drag tempo opens space for dubby echoes and a brooding darkness. The trippy solo breathes organically in direct contrast to Eddie Van Halen's fluid flurry of notes. Easy Star's cover emphasizes the frustration in the lyrics, especially Michael Rose's expressive vocal. By contrast, Jackson's original seems too blithe.

My favorite track by far is the title track, Thriller. While the band opens with similar spooky sound effects, this reggae version is anchored by a smoothly reworked bassline. It's a largely stripped down down with lots of room to appreciate the dub spaces, the moody bass, and haunting melodica fills. Like Beat It, this version drops the tempo to get a more laid back, dream groove that creates the perfect tension the song calls for. Every note sounds completely natural rather than a reinvention. DJ Spragga Benz's vocal on the spoken section is no substitute for Vincent Price, but it fits the arrangement well enough. The slower pace and extended jams drags the song out by another minute and a half. If this isn't enough, Close to Midnight, one of the extra tracks provides a 7 minute dub jam that catches the vibe of the All Stars' Pink Floyd dubs.

Listening through Thrillah reminded me how many huge hits were crammed into Thriller. Without being much of a Michael Jackson fan, I still knew every track. Easy Star's reggae treatment didn't put the original on a pedestal, but showed what an inspiration it could be.

So far, the band has only shared Billie Jean with Luciano on vocals. But their album teaser gives a taste of their cover of Thriller.

Site review - The Voice Project

I got turned on to the Voice Project when I heard about Peter Gabriel covering Tom Waits' In The Neighborhood.

It's a fairly straightforward interpretation. Gabriel doesn't have the world weary rasp that Waits brings to this song, but I really appreciate his conversational intro to the piece. He gives an elegant explanation of what the Voice Project is all about.

A lot of the ways that people communicate are cerebral, they go through the head. And one of the interesting things about music is it seems to plug directly into the emotion. So, I wasn't at all surprised when I heard that these Ugandan mothers couldn't get to their sons in normal ways, but when they started singing music, it somehow touched them in a place that nothing else could reach. Music can do that and if we can make the chain and make the link here, I'm sure we can help to make a difference.

Gabriel goes on to set up the song. His appreciation for the words comes through in his phrasing as he emphasizes his take on the hymn-like nature of the song.

Peter Gabriel » Tom Waits from The Voice Project on Vimeo.

The point of the Voice Project is a response to a grassroots effort in Uganda. Child soldiers, refugees, a land torn by war -- these are all things that are far removed from our more privileged lives. The idea of mothers trying to sing their children back home from their exile with a message of forgiveness is a powerful idea. The site hosts videos of numerous artists covering songs by other artists as a way to raise money to support these Ugandan women with sustainability grants, educational programs and rehabilitation programs.

At its root, though, the Voice Project is also a cool musical idea. There are some great musical selections and interesting combinations. Mike Mills from R.E.M. covers Billy Bragg's Sing Their Souls Back Home, Har Mar Superstar plays Out of the Blue by Julien Casablancas (the Strokes), and Steel Train has a couple of false starts before getting through Bulletproof by La Roux. This last is quite a contrast to the original.

The site also includes some of the Ugandan women singing. The front page includes them singing Western songs, like their short version of Joe Purdy's Suitcase. They also have a touching page of Ugandan songs like Akello Miriam's simple song that focuses on healing the community and the Youth Forgiveness Song. These all end in a high pitched ululation that seems to punctuate the hopefulness of the songs. The thing that I really like here is that there is a sense of the universality of music. They use music to reach out, to communicate, and to initiate an exchange with the wider world.

Whatever you drink, raise a toast to this worthy cause. Visit the site and check out the covers. If you find any you like, donate a bit.

CD review - The String Quartet Tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd - This Sweet Home (2006)

For those who appreciate Southern Rock, there is a schism between fans of the Allman Brothers and fans of Lynyrd Skynyrd. I have always been an Allman Brothers fan: I respect Duane's slide work and loved the jazzy changes that the band could jam through. Lynyrd Skynyrd, though, always had more fans, with simpler songs and a better feel for the popular pulse. Maybe that's why I didn't care for them as much -- I had heard all of the songs far too many times: Sweet Home Alabama, Gimme Three Steps, and the major offender, Freebird. To be fair, they do have some decent tunes, they just don't come to mind as readily.

For the holidays, my siblings-in-law decided to torture er, bless me with this tribute album. To be fair, it was a gag gift, so I can't complain too much. Vitamin Records has developed a business (over 180 albums) recording string arrangement cover albums for a wide variety of artists and styles. Looking at their site, I saw their versions of Warren Zevon, Tool, and Slayer among others. I may well check out some of those in the future. As I started playing the disc, I hoped it might be as interesting as Kronos Quartet's Purple Haze.

The album leads off with Gimme Three Steps. Unfortunately, it was a straight, if slightly stiff, cover, with the violins playing fiddle licks. This song has especially weak lyrics, so an instrumental version was a slight improvement:

I was cuttin' the rug down at a place called The Jug With a girl named Linda Lou When, in walked a man with a gun in his hand And he was looking for you-know-who He said, "Hey there fellow with the hair colored yellow, What you tryin' to prove? Cause that's my woman there and I'm a man who cares And this might be all for you"

The opening line is contrived enough, but the fellow/yellow rhyme is just awkward.

Still, though, This Sweet Home did improve. One More Time is a pleasant enough arrangement that hints at a chamber music approach, but still stays fairly close to the original. A high point was their arrangement of Tuesday's Gone. The original is a decent sentimental song and this version thickens the treacle a bit, but the multi-part harmonies and cello/violin parts fit together nicely.

Comin' Home also worked well in this format, in part because Skynyrd had a more interesting melody and some good dynamics. The pizzicato intro echoes the original's guitars. The sparse first verse builds into a richer chorus. The beginning of the bridge takes on a more chamber music sound before descending into a closer cover of the guitar solos. The last verse builds up more of a fugue arrangement than the earlier verses. This piece stands well enough on its own, as well as being an interesting cover.

The liveliest song was an original , Gonna Fly Again Someday, which was inspired by Lynyrd Skynyrd's music. The melody sounds quite familiar, but it works. It's more playful than the rest of the disc, which makes it more fun to listen to.

On the whole, this was an interesting album, which worked best when the violins didn't slip into fiddle riffs.

By the way, their version of Freebird was tolerable. I recommend some sour mash and a splash of white wine when you listen to This Sweet Home.

CD review - The Kleptones, 24 Hours (2006)

I've been meaning to review the Kleptones for quite a while. DJ "Eric Kleptone" creates mashups of pop, rock, and rap songs, with generous amounts of movie and TV sound thrown in. While there are tons of talented, witty mashup artists, the Kleptones stand out as unique, especially for their album focus.

My introduction to them was through Yoshimi Battles the Hip-Hop Robots, which was a song by song mashup of the Flaming Lips' Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots mixed with artists like 50 Cent, Blackalicious, and the Beastie Boys. A Night at the Hip-Hopera did a similar thing with music by Queen. This review will focus on their most recent disc, 24 Hours, which is a concept album where the songs represent the course of a day. Running through the hours, the collection tells a whole story, ending as it began in a dream state.

This is a double album (day and night) with 33 tracks, which is a bit more than the Moody Blues used for Days of Future Past. So, there are so many hot tracks that it's difficult to narrow down the list. The source songs cover a good 40 odd years of music, including artists from John Lennon to White Stripes. There an undercurrent of subtle self-deprecation and irony, with references to theft ("...even if it's for a worthy cause") and lame DJs ("...anybody could whip (this) up in 10 minutes with GarageBand). Sound bites from the movie Waking Life provide another common thread.

Here are a few highlights: 0810 - Down on Bennies is beautifully assembled with the vocals from Elton John's Bennie and the Jets paired with Rage Against the Machine's Down on the Street. The chords are nothing like Bennie, but they work with the vocals perfectly. I'll never listen to Elton John the same. 1100 - Casbah Ain't Easy layers David Bowie's It Ain't Easy onto Rock the Casbah by the Clash. The peak of disc one is 1600 - War of Confusion, with pieces of Stevie Wonder's Superstition, a couple of Peter Gabriel songs, and Edwin Starr's War. Except for the sound bites strewn through it, this sounds like it's of one piece. It's heavily political with bits of George W Bush's State of the Union address.

Disc 2 moves into the evening with a stop at the bar. Stevie Wonder's Uptight (Everything's Alright) rocks over Jet's Get What You Need to create 2100 - Uptight Jet. Things turn darker later on when 0205 - Drunk Machine crashes to an end leading to 2245 - If Not For the Ambulance Driver. The latter is a sweet balance of George Harrison and the Flaming Lips. Near the end, 0610 - We All Fall Through the Air provides a nice dreamy groove, bringing back Elton John, this time with Air.

Even if you're on the fence about the whole mashup thing, give the Kleptones a listen. Because of intellectual property issues, Kleptones CDs are not available in stores but you can download them for free from their site. If you like what you hear, you can contribute to them as you see fit.

What to drink? Black and Tan, of course.

Essay: Mix and mash

I talked briefly about DJs and mixing in my Pretty lights review. I want to talk a bit more about mashups in particular, in preparation for my review of the Kleptones' 24 Hours. A mashup is a mix of two or more songs in the same track, where the intent is to create a musical hybrid. Since this usually entails heavier usage of the source material than a simple sample, each of the original songs is still largely recognizable. Oftentimes, this is structured by mostly using music from one song and vocal tracks from another: think Stairway to Gilligan's Island, except maintaining the original Gilligan tune for the vocals. Genre hopping between the songs is also common.

Much like my preference in cover tunes, I really like creative mashups. There's something really satisfying about a clever combination. At its best, a good mashup balances between a novel experience with something familiar. The familiar song(s) raise associations that can provide a sense of deeper meaning and increase my appreciation of the originals while I enjoy them in their new context. In contrast, songs like P Diddy's I'll Be Missing You, with its straightforward lift of the Police's Every Breath You Take, seem non-creative and dull.

Of course, that raises the question of whether a mashup is truly a creative work. If the DJs didn't play any of the music they're putting together, are they just stealing art from real musicians? This may seem like a new, particularly egregious case of appropriation, but it's really a standard practice throughout the history of creative arts. Great painters and sculptors have stolen techniques and visual elements from one another. Classical music has used folk melody themes and jazz has a long history of reinterpreting classic tunes. Musique concrète, a musical/artistic approach based on found sound, is even more closely related to today's mashup. If information or meaning is added by the musical juxtaposition, then this is a creative work. Keep in mind, too, that, though there are mashup tools (e.g. ACID Pro), creating a mashup is a challenging technical task. The DJ has to unite rhythm, musical key, and create a balance between the sources. Even if the keys match between two songs, the chord changes of one song may not meshwell with the melody of the second.

The ethical question is more interesting (and harder) to answer. There has been plenty of debate over the use of short samples in hip hop music. In the case of mashups, much more of the source material is used. This seems to be analogous to cover songs. In that case, live performances are addressed through BMI/ASCAP fees paid by the venue and CD sales pay publishing royalties. Live performances aren't really an issue, as most mashup DJs don't focus on live shows. Most mashup artists do offer recordings, though, and they don't tend to pay royalties, which is an issue. That's why many of mashup artists give away their tracks and rely on donations and other sources. The holders of the publishing rights do their best to shut down the mashup DJs with varying suucess (look at DJ DangerMouse's Grey Album). The few mashups that develop a cult following usually find a legal path to capitalize on the fan base.

Coming up next is my review of the Kleptones, who are one of my favorite mashup artists.

Concert review - Glass Ceiling, Lez Zeppelin

18 June 2009 (Aggie Theater, Ft Collins CO)
You might remember my earlier article about cover songs, with its mention of tribute bands. Given that, it's a fair question to ask why I'd go see a tribute band like Lez Zeppelin. As I mentioned in that article, the art and artifice of an entertainment event are the main draws. The two bands I saw last night played a lot of cover songs between them and the whole point was to just immerse myself into the groove of the moment.

Glass Ceiling

This local trio plays a diverse set of cover songs. Like Lez Zeppelin, it's an all female band, but I'm not really sure how relevant that is. They're all supremely talented musicians that filled out the room with the sound of a much larger band. They bounced around classic rock, funk, blues, and hip hop. Drummer Audree D keeps a steady beat without sounding overly simple. She also sings lead on many of the songs. Hilary is a fairly showy bass player, with a nice melodic approach. Linda, the guitar player, has an understated stage presence, but some tremendous chops. She also sings many of the lead vocals.

The band kicked off with Stevie Wonder's Superstition, which powered right into Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Chile. Even though these were covers, Glass Ceiling made them their own, emphasizing the soul of the Superstition and updating the sound of Voodoo Chile to have more of a metal grind. A trio is always a good test of musicianship: there's room to fill out the parts, but it can be tough to keep things tight. Glass Ceiling had no problem here. The fluid joy of the guitar riffs were easily tracked by a dirty bass sound, with it all anchored by the rhythmic pounding of the drums. Aside from playing some Jimi, my other favorite moments were Carlos Santana's Smooth and a funked out version of Sugar Hill Gang's Rapper's Delight. Great leads and energy, some nice breaks, what more could you ask for?

Coming back to the gender issue, it's an interesting question. For the most part, I didn't think it mattered. They simply rocked and that was enough. The only thing that gender might have affected was my interpretation of Linda's stage presence. Although she plays with confidence and has incredible technique, she didn't make much eye contact with the audience and she seemed to fold into her guitar. This was a stark contrast to the stereotypical hot guitarist. Sure, plenty of shoe gazer bands do the same thing without being feminine, so it's probably more of a bias on my part. And this is not to say that the band was shy and reserved. The stage show had some flashy elements, like Audree drumming on the guitar while Linda fretted and Hilary helping out on a lead guitar part. So, it was fun to watch.

Catch Glass Ceiling if you get the chance. You won't be disappointed.

Lez Zeppelin

I've heard that Steph Paynes doesn't like to call Lez Zeppelin a "tribute band". She prefers the term "she-incarnation". Certainly she does her best to evoke Jimmy Page on stage: she's got the clothing and all of the mannerisms. But better than that, she burns up the guitar. The rest of the band doesn't go quite as far to capture the original personalities, but it's still an homage to Led Zeppelin's memory. At some level, it's impossible to recreate the old Led Zeppelin experience because the scene itself was a big contributor to the mythos, much like with the Grateful Dead. Still, the band does their best to reach for a spontaneous feel within the constraints of the Led Zeppelin's style. This is an important difference between a tribute band and a cover band.

This was my first time to see the band and it's not the original line up. Paynes replaced her other bandmates starting with this tour. Everyone has settled into their parts, so there weren't any rough edges showing, but I'm sure it has affected the verisimilitude. Lead singer PJ Flowers sang more like Janis Joplin or Linda Perry, but sometimes Robert Plant could even sound a bit like Janis. Leesa Squyres couldn't beat the drums as hard as Bonzo, but she made a good effort. Jessica Fagre does a decent job on bass and keyboards, nailing the parts.

Even though I think they missed their own target a bit, it was still a rocking show. They kicked off with Immigrant Song, which immediately got the crowd going. The band played more or less non-stop for the rest of the night. They hit much of what you could ask for except for Stairway to Heaven, which they've apparently banned from their setlist. A drawn out version of No Quarter, Good Times, Bad Times, and Whole Lotta Love were the high points of the show. Steph Paynes had all of the expected guitars, including a Gibson double neck. Like Jimmy, she even played the theremin on a couple of songs. The only thing missing was playing the guitar with a violin bow, but that's just nitpicking.

They closed out their encore with Ramble On and came out to greet the fans. The audience was wrung out but happy as they headed out. Though it wasn't the same as seeing Led Zeppelin, it was a serious rock and roll show. The band demanded our attention and Steph stalked the stage, posturing like the Rock God she aspires to be. The songs sounded both right and alive in a way that some cover versions miss. Kick back some whiskey and Coke and let the head banging commence.More photos on my Flickr.

Concert Review - Dub Skin, Easy Star All-Stars

March 15 2009, Aggie Theater (Ft. Collins CO)
I haven't been to a reggae show for a while and here was the perfect remedy. In any case, a chance to catch the Easy Star All-Stars should never be missed. As it crept past 9pm, the crowd was enthusiastic but thin. This was probably because it was Sunday night and spring break has started. Still, this filled out over the course of the opening act. By the time the Easy Star All-Stars hit the stage, the place was hopping with a decent turn out.

Dub Skin

Before the All-Stars came out, Dub Skin came out to play a set. They are based here in Ft. Collins but they've toured around a fair amount, playing with some big names in reggae, like Burning Spear and the Itals. This is a 6 piece group that plays some very competent reggae. The drummer (Yroc) is particularly good. He plays with a fair amount of rhythmic complexity without losing the basic underlying groove. Just by shifting where he's playing (e.g. moving from the snare to rimshots), he can change the feel of the section and signal the band. Sure, a lot of drummers do this, it's part of the job. But he is smoother than many I've heard.

The rest of the band is good, too: solid bass (6 string!) and bouncy keys, etc. The lead singer, Ificial, has a strong stage presence, delivering conscious raising lyrics against a roots reggae groove. Some of their music is fairly reminiscent of Burning Spear or Black Uhuru. They throw in enough samples to update the sound a little, though. They played about 8 songs, with the high point coming in the middle of the set. I'll guess the title is African. "Before the European...even before the Arabian...we were African" The crowd loved this - the steady rolling delivery built up the energy to a high pitch.

This was followed a couple of songs later by a cool trippy dub groove (lots of each, thick guitar that sounds like the Cowboy Junkies): "Revolution is real, love revolution is realer." They wrapped with a ska number that reminded me of Madness or English Beat - a real late 70's/early 80's thing.

I looked on YouTube but couldn't find much. There are only two concert outtakes, one is a decent length but bad sound. The other sounds great but is very short. Ah well.

Easy Star All-Stars

I've briefly mentioned the Easy Star All-Stars before, when I talked about cover songs. They got their start with a carefully engineered version of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. This was a dub and reggae version of the whole album and timed it out to match the original. So you can do the sync with Wizard of Oz if you want to. This was the brainchild of Lem Oppenheimer, executed by Michael Goldwasser and Victor Axelrod, who were two producers for Easy Star records. They've followed up with a cover of Radiohead's OK Computer and an original CD. Their latest is a cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band which is due out soon. It's hard to believe but this is not played for a cheap laugh. It's all in fun but the music is serious and sincere. So ban all thoughts of Dread Zepplin . When you listen to these covers, they are completely natural. You'll find yourself asking, "wasn't there a little bit of a backbeat in the original Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds?"

The band is a rotating group of group of musicians, so the actual cast for any gig might change, but they are all tight players and great entertainers. The energy was strong and the they got everybody dancing right from the beginning. They started off with a couple of original reggae songs, including a dance hall groove, Bed of Roses, from their EP, Until That Day. It's a big touring band, with sax, trombone, keys, drums, guitar, bass, and two singers. Except for the horns, the lineup reminded me of my old band, Cool Runnings. Especially because of the interaction between singers Kirsty Rock and Menny More: they had some of the same dynamic that Lisa and Keith had in our band. Menny (seen at left) provides a brash Jamaican DJ sound, whether he's throwing out counterpoint vocal parts, toasting, or singing soulfully. Bass player Ras Iray (you can see a glimpse of him there) has more of an R&B/Stevie Wonder sound when he sings. Kirsty (see below) has a sultry voice and delivery that hints of Sade but she can also kick in a straighter pop sound like Gwen Stefani.

After those first couple of songs, the band dove right into the new material, playing a run of songs from their upcoming Sgt. Pepper cover album. Through the course of the night, they played everything except Getting better, Good Morning Good Morning, and A Day in the Life. As I said, this all sounded so natural. My favorite moments were Shelton Garner Jr.'s trippy sitar work (via guitar synthesizer) on Within You Without You and the horns on She's Leaving Home. The dub jam on When I'm 64 was also a lot of fun.

Of course, they also played a lot of songs from Dub Side of the Moon and RadioDread. Money was energetically up tempo. Great Gig in the Sky was a chance for Kirsty to reprise her part from the album - it was good, but I think her recorded version was a little looser, which is what makes that song work both here and in the original Pink Floyd. I hadn't heard any of the Radiohead material yet (although a review will be forthcoming). From the show, my favorites here included Paranoid Android, where the horns were fundamental to the arrangement along with a smooth guitar synth. Karma Police, in the encore, was also so much fun, with Menny More giving us a taste of Jimmy Cliff.

I was quite impressed with how the band could shift gears between the different groups they covered and still maintain continuity. They did tend to play clumps of songs by the same artist but it was still intermixed quite a bit. So Paranoid Android leading to Within You Without You worked in a way I wouldn't have expected.

The night reminded me of good German Hefeweizen: crisp, bubbly, a little bit of spicy clove, and a tiny tang from the wheat. This was a great show and well worth sleeping in for the next morning.

CD Review - The Squirrels, The Not-So-Bright Side of the Moon

Thank you, Cheesus. No, really. After I posted my entry about covers, Cheesus recommended this to me. He had already written his review at the Electric Lounge of Aural Ecstacy, where he compared three different covers of Dark Side. Anyway, I gave this a listen and now you can get my take, too.

The Squirrels are a band out of Seattle that make what I'd call "blender rock". They pull together a number of disparate pieces and mix and match them until it's art. Their myspace page has a wonderful stream of consciousness description of the band with great lines like, "It is what it is, and BOY what an 'IS' it is am be ARE". I'm going to have to get some more of their music. Should I Stay or Let it Snow? Brilliant.

So, let's move on to the actual review. The cover art alone should give you an idea of the band's sensibility. This is a warped, humorous take on a classic that's more of a tribute than just a cover version. And it begins with a hiccup. Instead of the heartbeat that begins the original version of Speak to Me, this version has various odd sounds to set up a similar but different loop. Between the hiccups, the mooing, and the Tickle-Me-Elmo impression that provides most of the conversational snippets from the original, you know that you're going to be taking quite the strange little jaunt.

The music flits along from style to style, with a nice upbeat jazzy groove for Breath, R&B funk for Us and Them, and bluegrass, disco, Zappa-like jams for Brain Damage. This is all well crafted music, too, although some sections are a little grating. The vocals in many parts remind me of Stan Ridgeway from Wall of Voodoo (although my guess is that it's Tortelvis from Dread Zepplin).

There's all kinds of inspired madness, from looking behind the curtain for the synthesizer reboot on On the Run and the missing singer reference for The Great Gig in the Sky ("Okay, let's get the girl in there" "The girl didn't show up" "Ahh, sh*t. Well...okay, hey Joey, give it a shot") to the great sound effects. They blend it up good, too. Money uses music from the old Motown hit, Money (That's What I Want), with the original Pink Floyd lyrics. The Great Gig in the Sky includes a chunk of Zappa's The Torture Never Stops.

Bottom line, if you're a Pink Floyd purist who hates the idea of messing with greatness, then this album is a direct poke in your eye. You need to listen with a full sense of humor and appreciation of the odd to get the most out of this.

Pair this with some Nyquil and absinthe and strap yourself down. Headphones are encouraged.

Thanks again for the recommendation, Cheesus.

What's under the covers?

How do you feel about cover songs? I have a few different thoughts about them. First of all, as a musician, I’m conflicted. There are songs I love to hear so much that I get great pleasure from playing them myself. On the other hand, I hate covers. You see, when I was first learning guitar, I had painstakingly learned Stairway to Heaven. This is a normal rite of passage for all guitarists of my vintage or so, along with Sweet Home Alabama, Iron Man, and Satisfaction. Anyway, I forget who I played it for, but their reaction still echoes in my brain: "That’s not how the record sounds." Years later, I came up with the right response, "Well, I’m not Jimmy Page and he doesn’t have to play a beater like my old Crestline either." Still, my visceral reaction was to stop playing any recognizable covers. This was a patently passive-aggressive attitude but it did drive me into developing my own voice as a writer and my playing style.

I eventually overcame my problems with covers, but I suspect this still fuels my attitude about them as a listener: I really prefer cover versions that drift significantly away from the original, like Jimi’s version of All Along the Watchtower or Kronos Quartet’s version of Purple Haze. Many of the covers I perform have their own drift, albeit not quite so drastic, like my acoustic arrangement of Purple Haze or my take on Dire Straits’ Romeo and Juliet. This is sort of like the folk tradition of making an old song your own.

I would split the world of covers into three groups: the drifters that reposition the song in a fairly significant way; the precise, note-for-note approach, staying as close to the original as possible; and the default approach, which generally follow the arrangement but don’t quite aspire to obsessive imitation. This last case is not so interesting but the first case has the greatest potential.

Lots of performers have made the big leaps. The two I mentioned above are good examples. The problem is that it’s really easy to slip from a great re-imagination of a song into a cute joke. Sure, Dread Zeppelin doing reggae influenced Led Zeppelin or the Austin Lounge Lizards covering Pink Floyd’s Brain Damage are both entertaining, but they’re not really great art.

Two of my personal favorites that do transcend are Nouvelle Vague and Charlie Hunter. I’ll also throw an honorable mention to Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé (more on this in a moment).

Nouvelle Vague is a concept group by Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux, which favors Latin versions of punk/new wave songs.Give a listen to this excerpt from their version of Guns of Brixton by the Clash. They’ve really turned this piece on its head – the distant vocal delivery contradicts the drive of the lyrics to create a wonderful sense of cognitive dissonance. At the same time, the sparse arrangement echoes something of the punk ethos. Even though some have dismissed this work as the kind of camp I mentioned above, I really think there’s something cool here, whether intended or not.

Charlie Hunter’s example is his jazz version of Bob Marley’s Natty Dread. He covers the whole album, with each song taking the original melodies and arrangements as a starting point to showcase Hunter’s jazz sensibilities. Compare Charlie to Bob with these samples of Lively Up Yourself. Hunter stays true to the original, but pulls a totally different feel.

Coming back to Steve and Eydie, their cover of Black Hole Sun is a case where camp grows into art somehow. By no means was this a labor of love (a brief interview about this song with Steve Lawrence is here) and yet it really works for me.

I know I’m skipping plenty of other great examples, like the Easy Star All-Stars version of Dark Side of the Moon or Henry Kaiser’s work on Those Who Know History Are Doomed to Repeat It or that other one that you’re sure I should have mentioned. I’ll leave you to track those down on your own.

The other two classes of covers (the precise and the standard) are not quite as interesting to consider, but I personally prefer the latter. The note-for-note covers tend to be found mostly among tribute bands. Here’s a YouTube example of Rico Pereira from Surfing With the Cowboy playing the Stevie Ray Vaughn song, Lenny. This is a great technical achievement, but it's ultimately an artistic dead end. There’s a lot to be learned from working out a piece this way, but performing it live is like dusting off the original 8-track for yet another play. A serious tribute band, be it an Elvis, Beatlemania, or the Joshua Tree (U2 tribute) is striving to deliver a real sense of the original. So, the entertainment part trumps art for art's sake. Still, for me, there’s always a jokey element to this. I know that what they do is technically challenging, but I don’t quite get it.

The standard approach to covers is to more or less deliver on the original song. The arrangement is roughly the same, but often it is constrained by the natural style of the performer: the Beatles covering Roll Over Beethoven, the Blues Brothers, or that band playing down at the corner bar. Ultimately, most of my own covers fall into this range, even though I wish they were a little further out.

As a musician, I’ll step back for a moment and ask the non-musicians out there: Do you like cover versions? How close should they be to the originals?

If this whets your appetite, drop by the Covers Project.