THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME (NEW RELEASES) By Michael McDowell

FUNNY FEATHERS:  Veteran composer and vocalist MARIA MULDAUR salutes her legendary mentor, Victoria Spivey in her latest Nola Blue Records release, One Hour Mama.  Editor / Publisher Michael McDowell professes solidarity below. (Click on above image to enlarge).

CDs AND VINYL - NEW RELEASES

(REVIEWS ARE POSTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER BY ARTIST)

MAN'S BEST FRIEND -

Sabrina Carpenter (Island)

Humor is in the eye of the beholder.

Witness Manchild, the recent instant classic single by composer, vocalist and Quakertown, Pennsylvania native Sabrina Annlynn Carpenter. Therein, Carpenter laments her circumstances with a curious mixture of disconcertment and subtle resignation borne of a cavalier reaction with regards to the failure of others to live up to expectations. 

Carpenter dismisses such concerns out of hand at first with several pejoratives  (stupid, slow, useless) before taking a slightly more charitable high road with the less abrasive Manchild before reasserting her upper hand with, "Why you always come running to me?"

The reaction to Manchild among the rank and file to date has been anything but united. Many have dismissed it out of hand, only to be admonished by some to engage in a bit of introspection before passing judgement.

Conversely, Manchild has received glowing accolades from others. It has proven to be one of the most successful singles of the year to date.

For those who perhaps do not have such a vested interest in the subject matter and who maintain an art for art's sake perspective, Manchild stands out as a sterling example of the return to form that has blessed the overall musical landscape throughout the past year. Its strong verse, chorus and bridge template and inventive turn of phrase is in keeping with that which has long graced the best of the most impacting musical movements. 

Indeed, Carpenter shines in that respect throughout the remainder of Man's Best Friend, which was recorded at Electric Lady Studio (once the venue of choice of Jimi Hendrix). While her stark lyricism remains the predominant theme, the musical settings therein (aided and abetted by John Ryan and Jack Antonoff, who served as co-producers with Carpenter) most encouragingly suggest anything but genre myopia. 

To wit, the album's second single, Tears treads the fine line between Patrice Rushen's Forget Me Not and Debbie Gibson's Shake Your Love. My Man On Willpower stays the course in that respect, with a relatively more lavish arrangement worthy of Donna Summer's Love's Unkind. We Almost Broke Up Again Last Night brings it full circle, with a brief aside to the victim as anti-hero perpsective championed in recent years by Taylor Swift. 

Conversely, Nobody's Son offers a pleasant turning of the corner with its mid-tempo arrangement in the spirit of Led Zeppelin's D'yer Maker. In turn, When Did You Get Hot? (a variation of sorts on Carpenter's 2024 Bed Chem single) provides an amusing adjunct to the 1978 monster classic Luv' hit, U.O. Me. Carpenter brings the musical diversity full circle with a good natured, tongue in cheek sing along in Go Go Juice (a term that became a permanent part of the landscape via its use by the great Jerry Reed's charismatic Cledus Snow character in the 1977 motion picture, Smokey And The Bandit) before wrapping it up with the matter of fact opulence of House Tour and the operatic in a Bohemian Rhapsody way of the album's closer, Goodbye.

However, there persists an ongoing concern within some circles with regards to what is perceived as an impasse in terms of the methodology of the lyrical approach. The reasoning stems in part from a particular interpretation of Ephesians 4:29 about the uplifting nature of words.

That perspective is largely championed by a well intentioned contingent that (for example) most likely has first person experience of the mixed reactions to the lyrical approach of such singles as the Kingsmen's Louie, Louie and the MC5's Kick Out The Jams.

But what is often overlooked in such sectors is that there is an entire demographic (of which Carpenter is a part) that has no such cultural baggage in that respect, and which simply does not view such matters from that perspective. From their point of view, such verbiage no longer produces such an impact and is generally accepted within the the scope of everyday vocabulary. 

Nonetheless, for both camps, Man's Best Friend is a win-win solution. On one hand, that perspective has enabled Carpenter to soar as an inventive lyricist. Meanwhile, those who continue to remain true to certain linguistic guidelines can at least do so with an element of optimism for the future of the art, especially in light of the return to form that has blessed music overall in recent months. In the words of one of Carpenter's earlier triumphs, Man's Best Friend allows for all concerned to persevere with their Eyes Wide Open.

ONE HOUR MAMA:

THE BLUES OF VICTORIA SPIVEY -

Maria Muldaur (Nola Blue)

The work of true visionaries tends to pay itself forward.

To that effect, in the late 1960s, one time Imperial Records executive and cutout king, Ken Revercomb (whose clientele included the vaunted Arlans Department Store chain, which boasted a world class record department that was second to none) featured prominently in its delete bins the December 1963 Elektra label debut album by the ambitious Even Dozen Jug Band. Although the album had gone out of print by that time, it nonetheless earned a whole new audience by virtue of the subsequent successes of some of its storied alumni. Among them were the Blues Project's Steve Katz, prolific solo artist Stefan Grossman and Lovin' Spoonful cofounder and mastermind, John Sebastian.

Also among the Even Dozen Jug Band's ranks was the ambitious vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, Maria D'Amato. An avid student of the works of the early blues pioneers, D'Amato went on to an enormously successful solo career as Maria Muldaur.

To her considerable advantage, Muldaur at that time counted among her inspirations and mentors the vaunted composer, vocalist and Houston, Texas native, Victoria Regina Spivey. An instant success upon signing with the OKeh label in 1926, Spivey had also made her mark in film, as an entertainment industry journalist and as a church choir director. Spivey saw tremendous potential in Muldaur, and mentored her in a multi-faceted capacity.

Nearly a half century after Spivey's 1976 passing at age 69, Muldaur has returned the favor with this sublime twelve-track salute to her mentor's legacy. Joining forces with such like minded colleagues as Elvin Bishop (for What Makes You Act Like That?)  and Taj Mahal (on Gotta Have What It Takes), Muldaur herein soars with an all too rare combination of the seemingly incongruous attributes of whimsy and mastery.

Spivey's command of the verse, chorus and bridge template is celebrated impeccably by Muldaur's takes on No, Papa, No!, T-B Blues and Don't Love No Married Man. But by far the most magnificent moment comes from Muldaur's Spivey-inspired Any-Kind-A-Man. The latter track was composed in 1929 by Spivey's much loved colleague, fellow visionary and OKeh labelmate, the great Hattie McDaniel. McDaniel, who would of course go on to tremendous acclaim as an Oscar-winning film superstar (including landmark roles in Gone With The Wind and Thank Your Lucky Stars) and television pioneer, provided Spivey with one of her finest moments in the studio, enabling Muldaur to bring the process full circle nearly a century later.

One Hour Mama: The Blues Of Victoria Spivey is not the first project to champion the work of the early blues masters in recent months. In 2024, virtuoso guitarist Sue Foley paid tribute to a number of Spivey's like minded colleagues in her One Guitar Woman album for Stony Plain. And with this latest project, Muldaur not only pays her mentor's legacy forward, but (like Foley), brings it full circle. To invoke one of the many Spivey triumphs feted here, it is a Down Hill Pull that nonetheless finds one and all on a decidedly upward trajectory.

I'M THE PROBLEM -

Morgan Wallen

(Big Loud)

"Keep it Barbershop".

That simple admonition became an ad hoc mission statement for the late, great Richard W. "Dick" Briel. A tireless champion of the vocal harmony genre known as Barbershop, Briel was a lead vocalist with the San Gabriel Valley Harmony Statesmen during much of the second half of the twentieth centuy. Adamant in his resolve to keep the group's repertoire within that framework, Briel underscored his point by delivering unwaveringly as the consummate showman; augmented by his genial persona and impeccable sense of comedic timing.

Ironically, during its prolific run as the focal point of music's last collective gasp of consequence (the so called New Traditionalist movement of the late 1980s and early 1990s), country music found itself facing a similar dichotomy in some circles. While by definition the New Traditionalist contingent championed a return to form that in part saw some of the genre's most beloved pioneers (including George Jones, Johnny Cash, Buck Owens and Waylon Jennings) enjoy a late career renaissance, it also brought with it a faction that sought to take the genre to the next level via the incorporation of classic rock into the mix. Reactions among the hardcore faithful were mixed, to put it mildly. 

In a sense, composer, vocalist and Sneedville, Tennessee native Morgan Cole Wallen herein finds himself at a crossroads of sorts between those two perspectives. The beneficiary of extensive media exposure at the onset of his career in the mid-2010s, Wallen was rewarded at the onset with substantial mainstream acclaim.

But with I'm The Problem (a somewhat tongue in cheek profession of self-depreciation that was inspired in part via its use in Taylor Swift's October 2022 Anti-Hero single), Wallen finds himself at his own impasse of sorts between the multi-genre red carpet afforded him via his substantial media platform versus his innate leanings towards the purist perspective. 

To his considerable credit, Wallen herein draws from the best of both worlds and emerges triumphant. To wit, the thirty-seven originals in this collection (recorded over a two year period) find Wallen steadfastly walking in solidarity with the basic precepts of the country music experience and its prerequisite periphery. Wallen's resolve is perhaps best showcased in Revelation, in which he professes the need for salvation in the wake of listening to Billy Graham sermons after a disillusioning encounter with Jim Beam. 

Conversely, Wallen's consistent mainstream exposure has afforded him the opportunity to join forces with artists whose own musical visions espouse a multi-genre perspective. His recent projects with Tate McRae (What I Want) and one-time Taylor Swift collaborator Post Malone (I Ain't Comin' Back) were both successful singles and are included here. Each provided a catalyst of sorts for Wallen's propensity towards a broader mission statement. That attribute is showcased quite well herein by his solo single, Love Somebody, as well as such standout tracks as Working Man's Song, Where'd That Girl Go and Leavin's The Least I Could Do.

Interestingly enough, Wallen brings the first half of I'm The Problem together as a thematic medley of sorts, in a manner similar to that executed in 1968 by the Amboy Dukes on the second side of their Journey To The Center Of The Mind album for Bob Shad's Mainstream label. Wallen further drives the point home by augmenting partially developed concepts with dreamscape interludes, as did the Rationals on their debut album for the Crewe label. 

All told, I'm The Problem is a best of both worlds endeavor that ultimately allows for the growth and expansion that has been indigenous to the genre all along. As Wallen himself somewhat prophetically observed in 2023, it is a methodology that is best realized One Thing At A Time.