ROUNDUP reviews
Joy Askew George Clinton Greg Laswell
The Pirate Of Gangsters Of Love Three Flights From
Eel Pie
Shanachie
Alto Nido
Red Parlor
SHANCD5165
Vanguard
RPJA0808
CW
VCD79854
GC JHS
20 years before P-Funk, George Clinton began
Joy Askew’s biography informs that the
his musical odyssey as lead singer of a doo-wop
Greg Laswell, lyricist, multi-instrumentalist
Newcastle-born musician once toured as
vocal group, The Parliaments. Here he revisits
and producer now presents his third volume
keyboardist for Joe Jackson, Peter Gabriel and
- with wry amusement, quirky arrangements
of a trilogy on the theme of heartbreak and
Laurie Anderson and has held down a residency
and an oddball sense of genuine affection - a
redemption. An eminent song writer who
at Ronnie Scott’s. Not a bad CV!
dozen ‘Oldies But Goodies’ that were R&B/Pop
has had songs featured in Greys Anatomy,
hits for others during those two decades (plus
Smallville and One Tree Hill here delivers an
Now a US based singer-songwriter, Askew’s
three originals), variously accompanied by
aural masterpiece showcasing eleven new
training has left her willing to take chances
equally zany chums Sly Stone, The Red Hot Chili
compositions on the tuneful end of the lo-fi
– the sound here, while lead by Joy’s voice and
Peppers, The RZA and others, including Carlos
spectrum.
acoustic guitar, is shaped by a collage of looped
Santana playing his familiar ethereal guitar
sounds and some very plangent jazz bass.
dance on George’s version of The Impressions’
The album opens with It’s Been A Year, a
Askew is such a confident, distinctive musician
1961 classic Gypsy Woman - one of the more,
lament on the theme of lost love and yet
she plays most of the instruments and layers
ahem, ‘normal’ tracks on the album,
realising that the time is right to move on,
her vocals so harmonising with herself. delivered in a hushed, intimate vocal. That
Other artists’ old hits reconstructed include
It Moves picks up the beat and volume, the
Joy is a distinctive songwriter, unafraid of
Dean Martin, Johnny Ace, Little Willie John, The
writer directly addressing his muse with a clever
stealing a title from Sam Cooke (A Change Is
Heartbeats, Marvin Gaye and Barry White. Full
lyrical twist about writing the song. His lyrics
Gonna Come) for her own tune or observing
marks if you spot the references to George’s
have the complexity of Michael Stipe, oblique
how a bad boyfriend falls apart (Jimmy’s Gone
own back pages. It’s whacky, it’s weird and it’s
yet charged with truth. Sweet Dream, Days Go
Now). On Jack Kerouac she uses the doomed
ultimately great fun if you’re not too uptight
On and Farewell are further testament to his
writer as a metaphor for looking for truth on
about the sanctity of the original versions.
exquisite style. Fans of Wilco’s oeuvre should
the American road. In a market crowded with
tune in immediately.
female singer-songwriters Joy Askew stands out.
www.georgeclinton.com
www.myspace.com/greglaswell
www.joyaskew.com
Neil Ardley’s New
Jazz Orchestra
Johnny J &
Mutter Slater
The Hitmen
Camden ‘70 Band
Louisiana Rockabilly
Dusk Fire
Riding A Hurricane
DUSKCD105
Thoroughbred Music
Blue Viper
TBRED9001
BV004 SN
KS
CP
This previously un-released concert by the
New Jazz Orchestra directed by Neil Ardley is
Welcome back Michael Slater! Background;
Legendary Dale Hawkins, who uses Johnny
a wonderful slice of British jazz history. The
- heretofore, a freshly-moved-in Mr B. Bragg
J & The Hitmen as a backup band, produced
ensemble is substantially the same as the one
called in for a lime and soda at his new West
this terrific CD and it features some of the best
that recorded one of the lost classics of British
Dorset local when his ears were pricked by
rockin’ music ever to come out of Louisiana.
jazz, Le Déjeuner Sur l’Herbe in 1968, and
local band Little Dixie, led by the ex-frontman of
This is high voltage rockabilly from a three-piece
draws on several compositions from that album.
1970/1976 legendary quirky, hard-to-categorise
band that has been blowin’ the joint apart since
the mid-80s.
So included are Rope Ladder to the Moon,
rockers Stackridge. (Openers: first Glastonbury
Study, Dusk Fire and the title track which acts
Festival: reformed in 2007)
Among the twelve obscure songs are all-out-
as a rousing climax to the concert recorded at
Billy’s encouragement and production skills
rockers from Al Ferrier Let’s Go Boppin’ Tonight,
the Jeanette Cochrane Theatre in London during
have resulted in this essentially acoustic trio
country boogie from Johnny Horton I’m A One
the 1970 Camden Festival. Effectively powered
album – Chris Lonergan on bass and slide,
Woman Man, black rock’n’roll from Roy Brown
by Jon Hiseman’s drums, the members of
Ady Milward, drums, complement our hero’s
Diddi-i-Diddi-O and a frenetic train boogie
his iconic progressive rock band Colosseum
vocals, guitar and flute and a sensible shoes,
from Dale Hawkins Bang Bang. They get a nice
were also NJO stalwarts and from the opening
no-nonsense sound results. It’s a rare treat. The
shimmering Dave Alvin-ish feel to Tony Joe
Stratusfunk through memorable versions of
sound is stripped-down, live, and immediate
White’s I Want My Fleetwood Back and they
Mike Gibbs’ Tanglewood ’63 to a brilliant
but Mutter’s husky, brit-blues voice, the best this
show you what rockabilly is about with their all
Ardley arrangement of Nardis, the album bursts
side of Paul Rodgers, is what makes it special.
out manic attack of Jerry Byrne’s Light’s Out.
with rhythmic energy.
His songs tell of regret, compromises, trains,
As you’d expect with Hawkins at the desk,
With fine solos from the likes of Henry
juke boxes, dangerous liaisons. Pick of the
you get excellent authentic rockabilly that’s
Lowether on trumpet and Dick Heckstall-Smith
bunch is arguably the rousing Moth To A Flame.
guaranteed to get the dance floor shakin’ within
on saxes, Camden ‘70 captures your attention
Coming soon, to a muddy field near me?
seconds. Five star stuff indeed.
from the first note and does not let go until the
I Hope so.
www.johnnyj.net
band end a memorable night with a version of
the National Anthem that somehow manages
www.mutterslater.com
to mutate into a Tango.
“This is a little slice of history, of that
Win every CD featured in this issue enter
marvellous period in British jazz when
our completion at www.properdistribution.com it danced with Rock music, as if the
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two were made for each other”
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Jazzwise
23 Properganda 10
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