Album Reviews

Whether covering Robert Johnson, Joni Mitchell, Hank Williams or The Monkees (Boyce and Hart), Cassandra Wilson’s sultry, commanding voice has always worked effectively set against spare, moody backdrops.

In this collaboration with Wilson, T-Bone Burnett freshens and clarifies the setting but he doesn’t tinker with that winning formula established by Craig Street on Wilson’s startling 1993 debut, Blue Light ‘til Dawn (Blue Note 81357).

While the press blurb suggests a shift to keyboards provided by co-producer Keefus Ciancia, when your first play of this moody set ends, the percussion and dry-gulch slide guitar will be what you remember. Only after a few go-rounds will Ciancia’s subtle, sympathetic contributions percolating beneath the surface, make their presence known.

The opening tune, “Go To Mexico,” built upon a sample from “Hey Pocky A-Way,” taken from The Wild Tchoupitoulas’s eponymous 1976 Allen Toussaint- produced LP (Island ILPS 9360), sets the album’s percussive mood. If you come upon a copy of that Neville Brothers/Meters tracked, NOLA infused album, don’t pass it up! If you know the sampled tune, you’ll marvel at what Burnett and crew have built upon a snippet. But even if you don’t, you’ll be immediately sucked into the funk.

Jakob Dylan’s sultry “Closer To You,” gets a Jim Keltner-anchored, percussive treatment, in an arrangement that’s reminiscent of something playing on my musical subconscious but I can’t finger it. I could swear it’s a track by Spoon (Ciancia’s keyboard bleeps, in particular)! From whatever ether it’s been inhaled, if your system does serious bass and images like a champ, you’ll be rewarded by a deep listen. Wilson adds some tasty acoustic guitar lines that can get lost beneath the drums and Reginald Veal’s limber, supple acoustic bass. In a better world, this track could be hit single.

Sounding as if was pulled from the “Paris, Texas” soundtrack, Wilson and guitarist Colin Linden rework the traditional “Easy Rider,” in a parched, slide guitar-punctuated arrangement (also featuring Marc Ribot) that could crack cement. Keltner is joined by Bill Maxwell on drums (the two mixed hard right/left), giving the tune a dual drummer, slide guitar, Allman Brothers kind of vibe.

Wilson and Linden put an equally effective, and even sparer and more languid frame around “Red River Valley,” which may remind old hands of Wilson’s “I Can’t Stand The Rain” encounter with the late Chris Whitley on the aforementioned Blue Light ‘til Dawn.

Another standout is a double drumming, slide-guitar drenched take on Willie Dixon’s “I Want to Be Loved” that was probably tracked while the mikes were set-up for “Easy Rider” (or vice-versa).

The album takes a break from the southwestern vibe for a trip back to Tin Pan Alley on Burnett’s “Lost,” which sounds as if it could have been written by Irving Berlin, backed sympathetically by Marc Ribot on a hollow bodied electric. Les and Chet would approve.

“Strike A Match,” a songwriting collaboration between Burnett and Coen brother Ethan (and additional lyrics from Wilson), has an appropriately dramatic, unsettling “noir” character, augmented by synth strings and crackling, tom-heavy drums from Maxwell and Jay Bellerose. The arrangement lurks and jerks mysteriously before fading to black.

I didn’t mean to give you a play by play; it just came out that way. I cannot imagine what damage an MP3 rendering would do to this eclectically arranged, superbly crafted,and skillfully mixed recording. Those predicting, and almost gleefully calling for the end of the CD era, ought to hear this at full resolution on a real audio system before rubbing their hands in anticipation of that day.

I don’t know how Mr. Burnett produced this album but even if it’s been assembled digitally (if it was tracked digitally, the digits have certainly improved over time), I’d sure go for a vinyl edition of this musically and sonically enticing set.

The production gives clarity, purity and dimensionality to every instrument, and when you have musicians who can play like this, anything else would be a waste. As a demo of what deep bass brings to the sonic 'table, I can't imagine a better contemporary disc than this.

Dynamics are permitted to assert themselves, allowing the pure physicality of plucked and struck instruments to be savored, while Ms. Wilson's charcoal voice offers up bone-chilling textures, that could have easily been left on the recording studio floor, captured by lesser engineering talent.

As for Ms. Wilson’s performance, she projects a dark, brooding, cool and commanding sensuality that demands your full attention. You’ll comply willingly.