JOHNNY CASH - “AMERICAN V: A HUNDRED HIGHWAYS”

CD: JOHNNY CASH - "AMERICAN V: A HUNDRED HIGHWAYS"

Review: The fifth installment in Rick Rubin’s “American Recordings” series of Johnny Cash albums (a sixth and final one will be coming out next year), is, unfortunately, the first to be released posthumously. While not quite up to the standards of the last set (or the first), A Hundred Highways nevertheless presents another fine example of the voice and artistry that have made Cash a truly legendary figure in music for over half a century. Like the other albums in this series, the focus is placed squarely on THAT VOICE, a little weaker and more cracked than we have heard it previously, with some songs consisting only of Johnny accompanied by an acoustic guitar, while others add minimal backing consisting of drums, keyboards, and additional guitars. Perhaps too fittingly, six of the first seven songs, including two Cash originals, center squarely on the concept of death and the Lord. Indeed, two of the songs, one by Cash and the other by Hank Williams, invoke the same image of a casket on a train. Further. the text of “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” is evident from the title (e.g., “You can run a long time, but sooner or later God’s gonna cut you down), and Cash infuses Bruce Springsteen’s “Further On Up The Road” with a foreboding about who that meeting is to be with that is largely absent from Springsteen’s own version. However, and again like the other albums in the Rubin/Cash discography, not all is darkness and gloom. Cash’s cover of Gordon Lightfoot’s “If You Could Read My Mind” is brilliant and affecting in its longing for connection, and four of the last five songs on the album similarly invoke the beauty and importance of love. Of course, given the context, Rubin closes the album with a final meditation on death, “I’m Free From The Chain Gang Now,” with this one being more a celebration than a lamentation about the end everyone eventually faces. While there is nothing to rival the power of “Hurt” on his previous album, Cash’s voice, however weakened it may be, nevertheless conjures up the experience and emotions of a life passionately lived. This is something that is rarely heard in contemporary “pop” music, and indeed was rarely heard in much of Cash’s own work throughout the 70s and 80s. Let us thank Rick Rubin for creating the environment that allowed Cash to reconnect with his artistry over the last years of his life. We are all the richer for it.

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YEAH YEAH YEAHS - “Show Your Bones”

CD: YEAH YEAH YEAHS - "Show Your Bones"

Review: Springing out of the gate in 2003 with their debut album Fever To Tell, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs quickly became a phenomenon among those “in the know” in the rock world. With a supremely charismatic and confident frontwoman in Karen O singing or shrieking out her clever phrases in front of a slightly artier than usual rock/punk musical background, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs stood out from the pack both for their brashness and their talent. Oh, but how do you recapture that “band of the moment” feeling when it comes time for that difficult album number two? Wisely, Karen O and company turn their focus away from trying to recapture their “buzz band” status and instead place it squarely on trying to outdo their previous work in terms of songwriting and arranging. And they succeed mightily. Opening with a simple drum beat and strummed acoustic guitars, first track “Gold Lion” signals their intentions immediately, providing us with both a catchy melody and “ooh oohs” as a hook. While the arrangements leave ample space for the guitar riffs, and drum beats to come to the fore, Karen O’s lyrics and, as important, her delivery are still the main attraction of the band. She ignores the usual ”come hither” or “I’m so vulnerable” approaches of female singers in rock in favor of a more aggressive tack, but on this album she works within the songs rather than placing herself on top of or outside of them. Tellingly, on “Cheated Hearts,” she sings, “Sometimes I Think I’m bigger than the sound” over and over, but what is impressive is that, on this album, she isn’t, lending the “sometimes I think” phrase an element of self-doubt that, unlike on the band’s debut effort, is present throughout this record. It is this lyrical and musical maturity that makes this album such a treat to listen to, while also serving notice that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs look to be a band worth attending to over the long haul.

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JAMES HUNTER - “People Gonna Talk”

CD: JAMES HUNTERâ€"People Gonna Talk

Review: Sam Cooke had one of the mellowest, smoothest and most emotion-filled voices of the late fifties and early sixties across a variety of pop and soul confections. Ray Charles, his contemporary, was certainly his vocal equal, although with a grittier, more bluesy tone. James Hunter, a white boy from England, has somehow channeled both voices to perfection on his debut CD, “People Gonna Talk”. Recorded entirely live and with no overdubs at Toe Rag Studios in England, famed for its use of vintage analogue equipment, Hunter’s debut is one of the most self-assured introductions to a new artist in recent memory. But it’s not just that his voice makes him sound like a Cooke/Charles progeny on the fourteen self-penned tracks presented. Also in the mix are baritone and tenor saxes taking solo and background turns throughout, as well as delicate, almost subliminal string arrangements, both of which help to echo the era of fifties/sixties soul and blues performers. The added kicker, which propels the disc into its own unique territory, is that Hunter is an excellent electric guitar player, injecting short, stinging solos and embellishments throughout his tunes. Whether he is taking a funky, soul tack, as on “No Smoke Without Fire,” a tougher r&b approach, as on “Riot In My Heart,” or giving us smooth pop-soul nuggets such as the title track, the production is flawless, his singing superb, and the music perfectly arranged and played. In short, this album will certainly be in my year-end top 10 listâ€"and right now it stands at number one.

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RICHARD HAWLEY - “COLE’S CORNER”

CD: “COLE’S CORNER”â€"RICHARD HAWLEY

Rock/Pop $15.98 (list price), Mute

Basic Story: This is Hawley;s third solo album after stints as a sideman and group member in a long string of British also-rans of the 80s and 90s.

Example: “Loneliness hangs in the air/No one there real waiting for me/No smile, no flower, nowhere.”

Review: Calling up the ghosts of Phil Spector, the Righteous Brothers, Scott Walker, and even Hank Williams, “Cole’s Corner” is a lush, acoustic and orchestra-laden dose of the kind of melancholy, romantic balladry balladry beloved in the sixties but rarely heard today. Some songs swell into grandiose choruses of longing and regret, but most of the material here keeps a soft and subdued focus perfect for Hawley’s gorgeous, deep baritone. This is grown-up music for grown-ups who appreciate the beauty of a good tune and a well-crafted lyric over the projection of “attitude” and whatever musical sounds are currently “in”.

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