Various artists, RARE ON AIR: Live Performances Vol.
I
(Mammoth)
This cd
of
live performances from radio station KCRW in Santa Monica, Ca., opens
with
a Leonard Cohen poem then launches into a Tori Amos mellow spirit-fest
for
voice and piano. This collection would be thirtysomething
soundtrack
music if it weren't for the quirks and twists injected by cuts like
Nick
Cave and the Bad Seeds rollicking "God's Hotel," or Beck's Gen X
folk
fable satire "Mexico." John Cale adds operatic angst with "Corboda"
(he
says Cordoba, but all the liner notes say otherwise), an edgy pop
piece
with piano and voice.
Too much sticky sweet fluffy stuff, though. Like
Peter
Himmelman's "Always in Disguise," which sounds overproduced even
though
recorded live in a radio station, Michael Penn's "Coal," and Mark
Isham's
precious Miles Davis knockoff "The Moderns." All in all, a mixed
bag.
Also with Evan Dando & Juliana Hatfield, X, Los Lobos, Lindsey
Buckingham
(who sounds spent re-doing Fleetwood Mac's "Never Going Back
Again"),
others. (Jay Huber)