Short Cuts

Many of my friends of recent vintage are often surprised to learn that I really do like and enjoy listening to new music, not just the wealth of classics from the past that I frequently review here on AP. In fact, there are a number of new releases that have crossed my musical universe of late in different ways, each of which share some amazing and often heartfelt aesthetics across a variety of genres, dance music-infused sounds, personal identity, and artistic freedom.

I am also sensing some long-overdue light at the end of the excruciating, tired tunnel that was the Auto-Tune production movement, which makes me very happy. Accordingly, I’ve been celebrating new and recent releases by my current favorite female singer Lady Blackbird, as well as the wonderful debut LP by Billboard chart-maker Chappell Roan — both of which feature fantastic vocals sans overbearing special effects — plus a newly expanded live 1979 concert classic from legendary dance music pioneer Sylvester. Let’s get right to them all!

LADY BLACKBIRD
SLANG SPIRITUALS
1LP (BMG)
MUSIC: 10
SOUND: 9

Lady Blackbird’s sophomore release, Slang Spirituals, is arguably one of the most anticipated new releases of 2024 — at least it is for me. Her 2021 debut on Foundation Music, Black Acid Soul, was my favorite album that year, and the wonderful expanded 2LP edition Foundation issued in January 2022 added many magical bonus tracks to this mix — and you can read more about why I loved that collection in my Best LPs of 2022 roundup that posted here on AP back on December 30, 2022. All of this points us toward appreciating the directions Lady Blackbird has moved into on her new sophomore LP Slang Spirituals, which was released via BMG on September 13, 2024.

Slang Spirituals pulls you into Lady Blackbird’s timeless universe very quickly and with an emotional “1-2-3” punch, beginning with the hopeful album opener “Let Not (Your Heart Be Troubled),” a beautiful, gospel-fueled rocking anthem replete with a big choir singing the chorus. This is followed by the driving “Like a Woman” (Side A, Track 2), which feels like a song Bettye LaVette should cover soon.

As we heard on the expanded edition of Black Acid Soul, this new release has some tracks that are more dance-oriented in their production styles. This is not a bad thing, mind you, as it reflects the artist’s growth and maturation. But Slang Spirituals isn’t all dance grooves. “Reborn” (Side A, Track 3) is a catchy, upbeat, soul-leaning disco-fied dance track with some nice bluesy changes and a groovy psychedelic bridge.

“Man on a Boat” (Side A, Track 4) is a gorgeous, dramatic folk ballad that could have easily appeared on Lady Blackbird’s debut, but it fits perfectly in this new collection. “If I Told You” (Side B, Track 3) feels like a loving homage to Elton John and Leon Russell with a “Benny and The Jets”-like piano riff, a glorious chorus that will be great as a concert singalong, and a cosmic bridge that ascends to the stars.

The clear vinyl Slang Spirituals LP sounds surprisingly very nice. It is quiet, well-centered, and doesn’t seem to be adding any significant harshness to the music (the latter of which being an issue I’ve had with some other clear and translucent vinyl pressings). This standard-weight LP was manufactured in France, and may have been pressed by MPO (a detail I sleuthed from reading about Lady Blackbird test pressings from that facility, as posted on Discogs). The SRP is $31.99.

While Lady Blackbird’s voice is generally presented clean and clear on the LP’s more upbeat songs, there is some periodic compression effect added to her vocals that I could do without if I had a choice. On quieter tunes like “Someday We’ll Be Free” (Side B, Track 5), we hear her near naked voice in all its pure, rich glory, set against a plaintive fingerpicked acoustic guitar and atmospheric piano touches. The final track, “Whatever His Name” (Side B, Track 6), is a near-psychedelic epic that rises and builds, bringing the album to a dramatic instrumental conclusion.

I guess you have probably figured out by now that I am loving Lady Blackbird’s Slang Spirituals, and it is certainly going to be getting regular play on my turntable. This vibrant new LP is already well on its way to becoming one of my favorite albums this year.

LADY BLACKBIRD
SLANG SPIRITUALS
1LP (BMG)

Side A
1. Let Not (Your Heart Be Troubled)
2. Like A Woman
3. Reborn
4. Man On A Boat
5. When The Game Is Played On You

Side B
1. The City
2. Matter Of Time
3. If I Told You
4. No One Can Love (Like You Do)
5. Someday We’ll Be Free
6. Whatever His Name

CHAPPELL ROAN
THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIDWEST PRINCESS
2LP (Amusement/Island)
MUSIC: 9
SOUND: 8

I first heard Chappell Roan’s debut album at a beach party on July 4, 2024, as it streamed — probably via Spotify from someone’s iPhone over a wireless Bluetooth portable speaker. That Roan’s voice stood out as being really great, even in that harsh open-air listening environment, intrigued me.

Though Roan’s debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, was initially released by Amusement/Island on vinyl a full year ago on September 22, 2023, I felt it warranted inclusion in this month’s installment of Short Cuts for a number of reasons. Notable is the fact that Roan’s non-LP smash hit single “Good Luck, Babe!” (seen in all its 45 glory, below) has recently triggered a wave of album sales, pushing this album back into the Billboard charts anew. Also, Roan just won for Best New Artist at the recent 2024 MTV Video Music Awards on September 11, 2024. So, I thought, there’s no time like the present to delve into 21st century pop music made by and for a new generation.

I will admit that, going into this review, I more than half-expected The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess to fall pretty far from an audiophile listening experience. I was thus pleasantly surprised when I took the standard-weight black vinyl pressing out of its plastic-lined audiophile-grade inner sleeve and put the LP on my turntable to hear a pretty great-sounding album! So much for my preconceptions and judgey audiophile-baggage expectations. (My bad, as they say.)

Actually, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess sounds better than Miley Cyrus’ musically fine but sonically disappointing March 2023 release on Columbia, Endless Summer Vacation, an otherwise very enjoyable album that I reviewed here on AP back on March 29, 2023.

Now, my duly designated “Popstar Edition” black vinyl copy of The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess was not perfect, as there was a teensy bit of surface noise at the intro on Side A. But, in general, the three-sided 2LP set is pretty clean-sounding overall. (Side D is blank.) The SRP for that black vinyl Popstar Edition is $32.99, and if you want to go for the color vinyl and/or limited-edition version, the SRP jumps to $59.99.

Likely pressed in the Czech Republic at GZ, in general, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess is not a bad release, from a purely technical standpoint. The discs are well-centered and the music jumps out of the speakers, allowing you to forget you are listening to an LP.

While the album leans toward electronic dance-pop music, I was pleasantly surprised at how many acoustic instruments I heard on tracks like the super-fun “Red Wine Supernova” (Side A, Track 2), with its big guitars. Also, the rich piano on the remarkably mature-sounding “Coffee” (Side A, Track 4) sounds quite lovely. Even dance-pop tunes like "After Midnight” (Side A, Track 3) and “Hot to Go!” (Side B, Track 2) sound fun at loud volumes where you can hear a bit of processing on Roan’s voice, but it’s not getting in the way of her delivery (as it kind of does on Miley Cyrus’ aforementioned Endless Summer Vacation LP). The production here is not overdone — and she doesn’t need it. Roan’s voice is that strong.

Even though there is quite a bit of synthesized instrumentation on The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, I’m pleased how full and round it all sounds — much of it played by producer and co-songwriter Dan Nigro, with many supplemental players and backing vocalists, along with a small army of engineers and such. The recording is remarkably warm and at times feels a bit old school, in that sense.

Part of what makes The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess work as an album listen is its sequencing and diversity. Just when you think you might be getting tired of the dance aesthetic, Roan and friends mix things up. This was never more impactful than on the country-western tinged "Picture You” (Side B, Track 4), which feels like a cross between Linda Ronstadt and k.d. lang. (And I’m dead serious about that, folks!) This is followed by the gorgeous ballad “Kaleidoscope” (Side B, Track 5), which again shows off Roan’s very serious vocal skills! And then there’s “California” (Side C, Track 3), which is a cinemascopic anthem with some wonderful rolling drum sequences.

Make no mistake: Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess is indeed a fine debut album. This is an artist who is very much deserving of the attention she is getting, and I’m looking forward to watching Chappell Roan’s career unfold further — as well as hearing whatever music she releases on vinyl next.

CHAPPELL ROAN
THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIDWEST PRINCESS
2LP (Amusement/Island)

Side A
1. Femininomenon
2. Red Wine Supernova
3. After Midnight
4. Coffee
5. Casual

Side B
1. Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl
2. Hot To Go!
3. My Kink Is Karma
4. Picture You
5. Kaleidoscope

Side C
1. Pink Pony Club
2. Naked In Manhattan
3. California
4. Guilty Pleasure

Side D
Blank – no music

SYLVESTER
LIVE AT THE OPERA HOUSE
3LP (Craft Recordings)
MUSIC: 8
SOUND: 7.5

On March 11, 1979, disco and dance-music icon Sylvester had a homecoming, career-peak moment at San Francisco’s esteemed War Memorial Opera House, performing for several thousand adoring fans backed by his appropriately named Hot Band and a 26-piece orchestra. Some of these recordings had been issued back in the day as a condensed 2LP set —1979’s Living Proof, on Fantasy — but a newly expanded, complete version of those recordings has recently been unearthed from the archives and released in full as Live at the Opera House, a 3LP set released by Craft Recordings on September 6, 2024.

From the official press release for this new 3LP collection, we learn: “Now, for the very first time, Sylvester’s legendary concert can be re-lived in its entirety through Live at the Opera House. Previously only available in heavily edited excerpts (via 1979’s Living Proof), the new album presents over two hours of AAA-mastered audio, including all 13 songs from the performance — “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” and “Dance (Disco Heat)” among them — plus a recording of the mid-concert ceremony where Sylvester was awarded the Key to San Francisco. [. . .] The 3LP edition (which is pressed on purple vinyl, and housed in a gatefold jacket) [. . .] include[s] recently discovered photographs from the evening, plus new liner notes by Joshua Gamson, author of The Fabulous Sylvester: The Legend, The Music, The Seventies in San Francisco (Henry Holt/Picador, 2005).”

The SRP for the 3LP Live at the Opera House set is $64.99. Note that, in some listings out there on the interwebs, the album title is actually given as Live at the Opera House: The Complete Recordings, but the latter phrase does not appear anywhere on the actual LP packaging itself.

Now, I don’t pretend to be the world’s great authority on disco, but I have come to appreciate it much more as an adult than I did during its heyday (i.e., my teenage years). Especially reconsidering this music in light of the highly regimented and sequenced computer-driven recordings of the ’80s drum-machine era and beyond, I can now hear the underlying musicality of “classic” disco, particular when played by a live band in front of thousands of adoring fans.

Indeed, one of the great things about Live at the Opera House is we get to hear Sylvester backed by a whip-tight band that is as funky as it is chic. The Hot Band includes synth pioneer Patrick Cowley, who, along with Sylvester, helped shape the sound of modern disco and hi-NRG dance music.

At that time, Sylvester was enjoying a Gold-certified album (1978’s Step II, on Fantasy) and he had two Top 40 hits: “Dance (Disco Heat)” and the enduring hi-NRG anthem, “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real).” According to the official press materials, both tracks hit No.1 on Billboard’s Hot Dance Club Play chart, while the latter song also broke into the UK’s Top 10. Sylvester played to sold-out houses in London and toured the U.S. with The Commodores, Chaka Khan, and War.

That road-tested tightness is particularly apparent when you get to spinning those hits. “Dance (Disco Heat)” runs the entirety of Side E, while “You Make Me Feel (Might Real)” takes over most of Side F. These folks could jam madly! If these tunes hadn’t been split up by those two album sides, they would have combined into one massive 26-minute sequence, mirroring that sort-of nonstop groove 1977-era Grateful Dead aspired towards at times.

Sylvester (who sadly passed away at the relatively young age of 41 in 1988) wasn’t just all glitz and bright disco lights, as he also delivers some heartfelt ballads along the way, including a lovely cover of the jazz-blues classic “Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)” (Side C, Track 1), which had been made famous by Billie Holiday in the 1940s and ’50s. I could go on, but I think you get the idea that Live at the Opera House now fully captures a great artist in all his glory at an unusual venue.

Sonics-wise, the LPs sound pretty nice, given the inherent limitations of recording a big dance-oriented band in a concert environment. Part of the sound of this album, I suspect, is simply a reflection of what was captured that night on tape — the sound of the hall itself (which was designed more for classical-oriented operatic music), the microphones used, their placement, etc. There is a sort of midrangey feel across this recording — which isn’t particularly bad, but it does have a distinct presence.

At any rate, you should go into Live at the Opera House expecting some imperfections, as there are a few recording anomalies. Don’t be surprised to hear periodic dropouts from the tapes used to make the album — one of the downsides of an all-analog mastering process, as there is no opportunity to correct for those problems as might be possible in the digital realm. (AAA is not always perfect, remember.)

Perhaps more bothersome is simply the fact that, despite its beautiful purple/pink color — which is officially designated as being “translucent purple” on the hype sticker — the vinyl pressing of my particular copy of Live at the Opera House was not the greatest. I found it fairly noisy, which is more apparent in the quiet sections of the show. Sadly, some of the LPs in my copy of this collection were somewhat warped. Don’t get me wrong — everything played just fine on my turntable, but it did have to navigate some of those sort-of tightly spaced “bumpity-bump” warps. One of my discs even had a bit of an “edge” warp issue. It also would have been nice if these 3LPs were housed in plastic-lined audiophile-grade inner sleeves instead of the black paper cutout sleeves that were provided. (I, of course, swapped mine out accordingly.)

Wherever these LPs were made (something we don’t currently have confirmation of in hand), there may be some QC issues. However, my copy may only have been an anomaly in the pressing run, as AP editor Mike Mettler thankfully tells me that none of the LPs in his copy of Live at the Opera House were warped, nor did they have any edge issues or noise-related annoyances. Whew! Hence, our cumulative Sound rating, as seen at the top of this review, is a 7.5 (though I would give my own copy a 6).

Other than that, this new tri-fold package is quite beautiful, and, ultimately, Live at the Opera House is an important recording that shines fresh light on the late great Sylvester, a super-influential musician, composer, and performer. Despite the slight annoyances I mentioned, Live at the Opera House is worth checking out if you’re a fan of the promise of disco and an artist who knew how to make everyone have fun and dance.

SYLVESTER
LIVE AT THE OPERA HOUSE
3LP (Craft Recordings)

Side A
1.Overture: a) Grateful / b) You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) / c) Dance (Disco Heat)
2. Body Strong
3. Medley #1: Everything Must Change / You Are My Love
4. Medley #2: Could It Be Magic / A Song For You

Side B
1. Blackbird / Sylvester Day Proclamation
2. Happiness / Intermission

Side C
1. Lover Man (Oh Where Can You Be?)
2. Sharing Something Perfect Between Ourselves

Side D
1. I (Who Have Nothing)
2. You Are My Friend

Side E
1. Dance (Disco Heat)

Side F
1. You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)
2. Overture (Reprise)
3. Never Can Say Goodbye

Mark Smotroff is an avid vinyl collector who has also worked in marketing communications for decades. He has reviewed music for AudiophileReview.com, among others, and you can see more of his impressive C.V. at LinkedIn.