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clever snd flawed, collecting 10 oi
SRVs best slow blues numbers from
throughout fits career One can defi
nitely not fault the quality of me music.
While he made his mark as a barn
stormer and hard blues stomper, SRV
had an incredible sense of touch and
tone on the slow burners most of his
followers and contemporaries—one
could hardly call them peers—lacked.
Tunes like Kenny Burrell's ‘Chitlins
Con Came’ from The Sky Is Crying,
Buddy Guy’s ‘Leave My Girl Alone*
from to Step and SRVs own Ain’t
Gone ’n’ Give Up On Love’ from Soul
To Soul are phenomenal instances of
blues guitar at its best. Quite simply,
no one could play like this man. No
one played with this much passion,
feel, talent, and, most importantly, love
for the music.
Unfortunately, the re-rek ising of
these tunes is pari of the problem. Six
ot the 10 tracks a.^ readily available on
the original releases, all of which are in
print, so the question is whether
Vaughan tans are willing to plunk down
$15 for four numbers that are either
unreleased or a bit tougher to find. The
answer is. yes. of course, especially if
the listener’s a hardcore SRV fan. The
previously unreleased version of
F.lmore James’s classic ‘The Sky Is
Crying’ from the Couldnl Stand the
Weather sessions isn’t remarkably dif
ferent from the version found on the
posthumous album of the same name.
However, a live version of ’Texas
Flood,’ previously only available on
video, simply smokes, blowing away
the original... which is saying some
thing. Also. SRV shares time with two
of his >do!s on a couple of songs: the
late Johnny Copeland on ‘Tin Pan
Alley (AKA the Roughest Place in
Town)’ and primary influence Albert
King on a scorching live version of
King's ’Blues At Sunrise ’
For the SRV fan, those four songs
aione make Blues At Sunrise a must-
liave, and for the rest of us. the sheer
beauty of the rest of the music makes
the album worth picking up. Have no
illusion*. SRV was a blues-rock gui
tarist. not a blues gurtarist. The distinc
tion is slight, but important. However,
no man loved the music like he did and
no man played it like he did.
Ultimately, we’re all poorer for his loss.
(550 Madison Ave, NY. NY 10022)
Matt Thompson
MARAH
Kids In Philly
Artemis/E-Squared
First things first: don't listen to
music critics: they don’t know a damn
thing If a music critic lauds some band
as the ‘next big thing’ or some record
as a cant-miss hit. you can pretty much
bank on something so unlistenable and
so out ul whack musically it aim even
funny We can’t help it; music critics are
strange like that.
So with that in mind, one musl
approach the new disc by Philadelphia’s
Marah, titled appropriately enough Kids
In Philly, with a bit of trepidation. Why?
Critics love it, that’s why They went
gonzo over the band’s first disc, Lets
Cut The Crap And Hook Up Later
Tonight, and are equally goofy over this
disc. With comparisons to Springsteen
and The Replacements and laudations
by artistic big dogs like Steve Earle and
Dave Fricke—and maybe, just maybe,
this'll be the disc that cracks the wftoie
American/alt-country/roots rock thing
into the mainstream—get them hip
waders out 'cause itls getting pretty
deep.
Still and ail. critical fawning aside.
Kids In Philly is a pretty fun disc, with
the quintet adeptly updking traditional
sounds with a modem post-grunge
ciunch. Singer-songwriter Dave
Bielanko's vocals are raw and raspy, yet
incredibly emotional and engaging. The
ba ;d rocks it out harder with man
dolins. banjos and accordions than
mosi bands can with Marshal stacks
and all manner of foot pedals. Why?
Because the songwriting's pretty damn
sound, this's why. Imagine that.
Sure. thereS a miss here or there.
‘Point Breeze’ is a fairly dull, by-the-
book roots rocker and the DJ jive
talking that opens ‘Christian St.’ gets
extremely annoying after the first listen.
Beyond that, though, Marah hits on all
four cylinders. The opener ’Faraway
You’ swirls and dips with incredible
urgency, and once you get past the jive
talking, ‘Christian St.’ is a knockout
rocker. “My Heart Is The Bums On The
Street’ uses clever metaphors as the
title would suggest, and “The History Of
Where Someone Has Been Killed*
struts and swings.
The album’s standout track, how
ever. is the unmercifully rocking
"Round Eye Blues.’ From the opening
drum salvo to the ’hellhound on my
trait’ banjo, the tune simply slays.
Juxtaposing '60s soul and rock classics
like James Brown, Little Richard and
Otis Redding with the raw fear of war,
‘Round Eye Blues’ is one of those
songs that’ll wear out the Repeat button
on the CD player
. Kids In Philly is a good record from
a promising young band. And music
critics love them, how about that? Hell,
even a blind horse will find water now
and again, and Marah is a long, cool
drink of roots rock. Dig that. (130 Fifth
Avenue NY. NY 10011)
Matt Thompson
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Oxford American: Southern
Sampler 2000
Oxlord American
What I learned from the fourth
annual Oxlord American “Southern
Music’ Issue and CD Sampler
i Dolly Parton can. if called upon,
wax my ass
2. Doc Watson is not only a better
person than you or me, he’s also a
better guitar player and much more
congenial.
3. Martin is better than Sinatra
4. O Brother, Where Art Thou will
be a good movie.
5. The two of us should get
together and give Kevn Kinney the
deserved ass-kicking Jonathan
Richman's too nice a guy to dish out.
Listen to Kinney’s “Dirty Angels’ and
yer dander will stand proud with my
own.
6. The Oxford Amencarfs writing is
going steadily downnitl.
7. On the otner hand, the
’Sourhern Music issue’ has done in
lour years what most things never do:
it's become important. (P. O. Box 1156,
Oxford. MS 38655)
Paul Kiltebrew
DePalma's - where you always get
a seat at the grown ups' table -
Downtown or on the East Side
Downtown Weekly
Specials
Baked Ziti with
Grilled Chicken
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Cheese Tortellini with
Chicken Sausage & Tomato
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Shrimp Stuffed Peppers
with Risotto, Shrimp A
Goat Cheese Stuffing
Shrimp & Sea Scallops
Primavera with Lemon
Pesto Cream Sauce
Chicken Marsala *
Grilled Chicken &
Portabello Mushrooms
Spaghetti with
Picked Toe Crab Meat
DIPALMA'S
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THU 9/7
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j TUE 9/12
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