The Daniel Glass Trio, Billy, Dropline, Damone
By Bridget Hall
The Daniel Glass Trio: Something Colorful
I’ve
never been a huge fan of jazz but once I listened to this debut record
from Royal Crown Revue’s
drummer, Daniel
Glass, I’ve become a believer. For me, this album is the audio
version of visual art deco. The full colorful notes of the tropical-sounding
vibraphone create the ethereal melody that intertwines itself with the
sharp staccato drumbeats and resonant bass – “Lotus Blossom”
is the perfect marriage of these exotic and familiar sounds. When the
vibraphone travels on one of its many musical tangents, you’re wonderfully
powerless to float along with it; you’ll be dancing happily with
the rest on “Dance of the Infidels.” Each time you think you’re
going to soar away, the drums – especially with those cymbals –
pull you back in, keeping you grounded for the next trip into space. When
the drum and bass take center stage on “The Crippled Waltz”,
you’re stirred with the earthy sounds jangling through your head.
The album is remarkably mellow, which would normally consign it to the
gray limbo of “background music.” If you banish it to this
void, you’ll discover the music will refuse to stay there –
it will gradually and subtly squirm, pry, and slink through your thoughts,
in order to crash into the foreground of your awareness. I suggest listening
to this album while sipping your martini – you’ll be left
wonderstruck and breathlessly ecstatic.
Compilation: Billy: Volume One (Hepcat Records)
Thank
you for purchasing your “How To Be A Rockabilly” starter kit.
Included you’ll find each of the following: one can of pomade, comb,
wallet chain, indigo blue pre-cuffed jeans, and Hepcat Records’
compilation CD: “Billy: Volume One.” It’s disappointing
that this is the best collection Hepcat Records could compile. It’s
a decent sampling of some of the best modern rockabilly/psychobilly bands
out there, but it could have been so much better. Strike one: each song
was as “fast and rockin’” as the next; not a slow song
or ballad to be found anywhere. I love rockabilly but that wore out even
my ears. Strike two was only two of the twenty-one tracks were from female-fronted
bands – Marti Brom and Josie Kreuzer. There are some fabulous female/female-fronted
rockabilly/psychobilly bands – like The Donettes or The Blue Flames;
hearing more of them would have been equally fabulous. The third strike
was if Hepcat wants to title the album “Billy”, implying any
music with a “–billy” suffix, why limit it to pure rockabilly
and psychobilly? Why not throw some twangy western-swing-hillbilly into
the mix for a nice reprieve from all this fast-paced rockin’? The
closest could have been Big Sandy and the Fly-Rite Boys or James Intveld,
but even with these two artists, the sample songs are still solidly “rockabilly.”
There is diversity within every musical genre and compilation albums should
offer listeners this variety. Hepcat’s “Billy: Volume One”
falls depressingly short of that objective. [Note to listeners: Inside
the jacket, Hepcat kindly provides you with the name of the artist’s
album from which each song is taken. There is an error for track #5: James
Intveld’s “Cryin’ Over You” is from his self-titled
first album, NOT from his second, “Somewhere Down the Road.”]
Dropline: You Are Here (Warner Bros.)
After
listening to Dropline’s debut album about twenty times, I’ve
decided it’s frustrating at best. Listening to this album is like
having sex without an orgasm. You fool around, you get excited, and then…nothing.
You’ll keep going back because you like it and you’re hoping
you’ll finally get to climax. You’ll be disappointed each
time, but it makes you want more and you’ll go back again. “Mellow”
is the catch-word of this album and just when I’m starting to like
it for that fact [as on “Fly Away From Here” and “Understand”],
it steps up the beat and I’m left frustrated because I’m wanting
to rock out and they fall just short of providing that [as on “Best
Thing” and “Whipping Boy”]. There was a weird sense
of déjà vu that plagued me every time I listened to the
first track, “No Time At All”; eventually, I realized I was
singing the lyrics to Sugar Ray’s “Falls Apart” [yes,
I know the lyrics]. With the music meandering in limbo, emphasis seems
to play on these lyrics – and it’s akin to being beaten over
the head with uninspired sensitive schmaltz [“You were the best
thing I ever had/ You were the best thing that happened to me/ You were
the best thing I ever had baby, baby” from – you guessed it
– “Best Thing”]. I like the album enough to not throw
it under the wheels of my car but, just as with sex, a lack of fulfillment
will quickly make me stop going back.
Damone: From The Attic (RCA Records)
Are
they punk? Are they pop? Nope, they’re Damone. This album from the
female-fronted band is the epitome of teenage-angst pop-punk. You’d
think that right there would make any self-respecting adult punk cringe
but the album’s surprisingly catchy. It’s true that it’s
nothing more than fluff – the lyrics, written by guitarist Dave
Pino, abound with references to puppy love, BMX bikes, and working at
a car wash and the music relies too heavily on distortion and echo-effects
– but it’s delivered with such conviction, it’s impossible
to not sing along with the harmonized “whoa-oh” choruses sprinkled
throughout all the tracks. Trust me, after the first song, “Frustrated
Unnoticed”, you’ll find yourself bopping along with the rest
of the punk and skater teenagers who – no doubt – listen to
this album, yowling, “And it’s no whoa-oh whoa-oh whoa-oh.”
And don’t think this is Avril-Lavigne-Part-II; these kids seem to
actually know what punk and old-fashioned rawk-n-roll are all about. Chances
are, this will be their only album and if it’s not, then the second
one will probably sound just like this one – but does it really
matter? Sure, they’re young; sure, there’s more talent out
there; but they sound like they’re having such a gosh darn good
ol’ time, it makes you want to jump on your own BMX bike and do
wheelies around the park.