In addition to some Squarepusher and the new Gorillaz album that I've picked up recently, there are three CDs that are just burning my ears up all day and night. Each of them are four out of five stars, and I thought you should know.
I'm Free
Ray Parker Jr. has been to the desert on a horse with no name and he's come out smiling. If you listen to 'The Guitar Man' his new album 'Im Free', you might think that you're listening to America, not the country, the group. But you are listening to a new Ray Parker and realize that this is the man with an ear for the kind of pop that used to rock the nation sweetly. Ray Parker sings about sex in a way that's almost embarrassingly honest. It's grown up, not 'adult'. The most sexy word he uses is 'sex', but not in a George Michael kind of way, rather in a forgive me father for I have sinned kind of way. In fact, I don't think that before this album I've ever heard the word 'fornication' sung. But that's not half the beauty of this album which has three cuts that sound destined for the Smooth Jazz Hall of Fame, and two more that are anthems for party cruises. On I'm Free, Parker comes off as a combination of Jimmy Buffett meets Billy Dee Williams, but never far from the Ray Parker of old who was never ashamed to admit that he was in love with the other woman. Does it come off as a Mid Life Crisis album, unabashedly so, but one with a happy ending. There's nothing bitter about it, and it basically goes to show that you cannot keep a good man down. Every pop star ought to have the maturity and fun loving triumph that Parker shows. It's good listening. I hope it hits.
A Tale of 3 Cities
One of the best rap albums of all time was cut back in 1994 by a jazz prodigy and four rappers you never heard of before. I don't know how to express how slammin' and funky is Steve Coleman and Metrics album 'A Tale of 3 Cities'. But if you haven't heard it, then you owe it to yourself to know what hiphop might have been in the hands of artists rather than pop stars. You don't need to be so very prepared for this venture into verbal ballistics and sonic excellence, but it will help you get your bearings if you know The Roots, Buckshot LeFonque and The Freestyle Fellowship. That's the level we're talking here. I dug this one out of the archives and it took me back to the last days of real inspirational hiphop - of Broun Fellinis and that new group called the Fugees who did more of what you liked Digable Planets for. Its got all of the raucous without the raunchy, and did I mention lyrical devastation? This is destined to be a classic - it slams even these 12 years later, and I still want to listen to it. That's practically a miracle in the hiphop world and almost unheard of with rap lyrics you haven't even memorized.
Beautiful World
I don't know why but there is nothing quite so annoying as Sting reinterpreting his own music. It is almost the very definition of pretense. Better he follow Rod Stewart and record some standards. On the other hand, there is nothing that shows the genius of Sting's ample songwriting skills quite like other reinterpretations of his songs. If you want to hear a perfect rendition of 'Fragile', then you need to run, don't walk and get your hands on Take 6' 'Beautiful World'. You will find there a gorgeous set of covers that not only do justice, but go one better. Bill Whithers, Donald Fagin, Stevie Wonder, Michael McDonald have never sounded so good. Take 6 takes a short sidetrip from their usual devotional music into the realm of smooth R&B and rip it up. I can't decide which cut I like better between their remake of Donny Hathaway's 'Someday We'll All Be Free' with Lalah Hathaway, or of Lovely Day the classic Bill Whithers cut. Maybe it's the funky rendition of 'Loves in Need of Love Today', or maybe it's 'Takin It To The Streets'. You just gotta hear it all, over and over.
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