** Patricia Kaas @ The Copernicus Cultural Cntr (773/777-8898) Apr. 11
Just when you get to the point where you think that you have a grasp on a song you hear a new or different version of it and your opinion undergoes a complete revision. Many of the songs on Cover The World: World Music Versions of Classic Pop Hits (Putumayo) succeed in that way. Take 'No Woman, No Cry,' performed by Nenes, an all-female vocal quartet from Okinawa. The combination of the heavily accented vocals on the chorus and the instrumentation (including the plucking of the sanshin), make this a version that will be hard to forget. 'El Lado Mas Bestia de la Vida,' Albert Pla's cover of Lou Reed's 'Walk On The Wild Side,' shines a bright Catalonian light on a song I previously associated with the darkness of backrooms. Mo' Horizons' Brazilian '60s pop placement of 'Hit The Road, Jack,' made me want to take it to the swinging streets. I was never a fan of Toto (the band, not the dog), but the Senegalese setting of the song 'Afrika (Africa)' made me appreciate the composition in a new way. Both of Ladysmith Black Mambazo's contributions, covers of Curtis Mayfield's 'People Get Ready' and Bill Withers' 'Ain't No Sunshine,' feature female guest vocalists, Phoebe Snow and Des'ree, respectively, and are exceptional. Angelique Kidjo's interpretation of Jimi Hendrix's 'Voodoo Child (Slight Return)' is simply haunting.
An undeniable reverence permeates most of the songs on Cover The World and the same can be said for the performers paying homage to Joey, Jonny, Dee Dee and Marky Ramone on We're A Happy Family: A Tribute To The Ramones (DV8/Columbia/Radioactive). In fact, some of the versions are so reverent that the performers' identities get lost, and that's not necessarily a good thing. Red Hot Chili Peppers pay their respects while maintaining their perspective on 'Havana Affair.' Like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rob Zombie's style of performance is so dominant that he comes through loud and clear on 'Blitzkrieg Bop.' While I thought it was clever of U2 to cover 'Beat On The Brat,' it was hard to take peace-loving Bono seriously. Other interesting interpretations include 'Return of Jackie & Judy,' 'The KKK Took My Baby Away' by Marilyn Manson and 'Daytime Dilemma (Dangers Of Love)' by Eddie Vedder and Zeke.
Veneration is the order of the day on Lonesome, On'ry and Mean: A Tribute To Waylon Jennings (Dualtone). Fifteen performers tip their 10-gallon hats to the king of 'outlaw country' with some surprising results. I almost didn't recognize Nanci Griffith's voice on 'You Asked Me To,' because it had a husky quality that Jennings would have appreciated. Recent multiple-Grammy Award winner Norah Jones, a Texan like Jennings, does a lovely rendition of 'Wurlitzer Prize (I Don't Want To Get Over You'). John Doe and Henry Rollins pay their respects to Jennings on 'Only Daddy That'll Walk The Line' and the title tune.
The re-release of the 1995 disc Come Together/America Salutes The Beatles (Capitol Nashville) couldn't have come at a better time. With the country at war, an echo of the '60s, Beatles tunes remain a source of hope and peace. While I was disappointed not to find 'All You Need Is Love' on this country compilation, there are still plenty of reasons to listen, including 'I'll Follow The Sun' by David Ball, 'Something' by Tanya Tucker, 'We Can Work It Out' by Phil Keaggy & PFR, and 'All My Loving' by Suzy Boggus & Chet Atkins.
Personally, I find gospel music rife with problems, including its exclusivity, which often makes it seem like music sung in a language I don't understand. I can certainly appreciate the sound of gospel music. Few musical styles inspire such heartfelt and soulful readings. I just wish that kind of energy was turned towards music protesting unnecessary wars, keeping abortion safe and legal, promoting human rights, and loving one another without all the trappings of religion. When Bob Dylan went through his religious phase, he released three albums (Slow Train Coming, Saved, Shot of Love) on which he explored his temporary Christian leanings. Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan (Columbia) features roof-raising performances by gospel artists, including Shirley Caesar, Sounds of Blackness, Aaron Neville, Mighty Clouds of Joy, and Mavis Staples (on a duet with Dylan), sings selections such as the title track, 'I Believe In You,' 'Solid Rock,' 'Saving Grace,' 'Saved,' and 'Gonna Change My Way of Thinking.'
Not for the lactose intolerant, Tuxicity (Ideatown) by Richard Cheese and Lounge Against The Machine, takes 18 modern rock tunes and ferments them in the lounge renditions of the pinky-ring-wearing Cheese himself. A novelty that still makes me laugh on the third listen, Richard Cheese (a.k.a. Mark Jonathan Davis) has been at this for a while and his selection of material and his delivery give his shtick legs. His finger-snapping illuminations of The White Stripes' 'Fell In Love With A Girl,' Disturbed's 'Down With The Sickness,' The Hives' 'I Hate To Say I Told You So,' Linkin Park's 'One Step Closer,' and System of A Down's 'Chop Suey,' will have you downing martinis like a lush. His frankly Sinatra-esque covers of hip-hop tracks such as Cypress Hill's 'Insane In The Membrane,' Sir Mix-A-Lot's 'Baby Got Back' and Mystikal's 'Shake Ya Ass,' are practically worth the price of admission.
Still looking tasty at almost 52, Tony Danza, the star of Taxi and Who's The Boss?, sings his humpy heart out on The House I Live In (Sindrome/ The Music Force Media Group), an album of well-worn standards. A more authentically heartfelt effort than Rod Stewart's Grammy-nominated throwaway from 2002, The House I Live In includes Danza's vibrato-drenched rendition of Liberace's trademark tune 'I'll Be Seeing You,' which was also covered by Stewart. The whole effort feels like a campy wink at the material, which includes a jingling and swinging cover of 'Pennies From Heaven,' a snappy reading of 'I'm Gonna Sit Right Down & Write Myself A Letter,' a finger-snapping rendering of 'L-O-V-E,' and a restrained, but downright patriotic interpretation of 'God Bless America.' This is one of those CDs to put on during a dinner party and let your guests kill a little time trying to guess who is singing.
In February, Broadway actress and vocalist Linda Eder released Broadway My Way, a CD of her interpretations of classic Broadway tunes, notable for including several previously sung by male characters. On her debut CD Blue Like That (Manhattan), Melissa Errico, who also established herself as an actress in Broadway musicals including My Fair Lady and Les Miserables, presents her versions of contemporary tunes by songwriters such as Joni Mitchell, Rickie Lee Jones, Shawn Colvin, Randy Newman, Don Was, Wendy Waldman, Amanda McBroom, and her brother Mike Errico. Some of the selections, including Newman's Oscar nominated 'When He Loved Me' (from Toy Story 2) have a contemporary theatrical quality, and are a nice fit with Errico. I admire Errico for covering Mitchell's 'Night Ride Home,' and while the jazz-pop setting took a little getting used to, it eventually grew on me.
Heralded as the next Harry Connick Jr., young (19) and exceptionally good looking, Peter Cincotti is taking the jazz and cabaret worlds by storm with his self-titled debut disc on Concord Records. Of the disc's dozen songs, nine are covers of standards such as 'Comes Love' (a Billie Holiday number revived by Joni Mitchell a few years ago), the Latin-influenced 'Sway' (on which Cincotti's piano playing shines), a 'Fool On The Hill/Nature Boy' medley, a dizzying piano-only version of Blood, Sweat & Tears' 'Spinning Wheel,' and a colorful version of 'Rainbow Connection.' The three Cincotti originals are pleasant, but do little to disguise his youth.
Canadian crooner Michael Buble re-imagines a baker's dozen standards, new and old, on his self-titled debut album on 143 Records/Reprise. There are the usual songs you might expect, including 'Fever,' 'For Once In My Life,' 'Come Fly With Me' and, as on Peter Cincotti's disc, 'Sway.' What sets this album apart are the surprising song selections, such as George Michael's 'Kissing A Fool,' The Bee Gee's 'How Can You Mend A Broken Heart,' and even Queen's 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love,' and Buble's creative, yet considerate renditions.
Patricia Kaas, hailed as France's most beloved chanteuse, has been linked romantically with actor Jeremy Irons, whom she met on the set of the Claude Lelouch film And Now … Ladies and Gentlemen. Her new CD Piano Bar (Sony Music International) is being touted as her 'first English-language album,' although the number of selections sung in French combined with my copy of her 1996 disc Café Noir has me begging to differ. In any event, Kaas's smoky vocals (think a less dramatic Ute Lemper with a French accent) offer another way of thinking about and listening to such familiar fare as 'My Man,' 'What Now My Love,' 'I Wish You Love,' 'The Windmills of Your Mind,' and 'If You Go Away,' which appears twice, including a cool remix at the end.
'Singing policeman' and tenor Daniel Rodriguez's second album From My Heart (Manhattan) is a more romantic effort than his previous patriotic and spiritual debut disc. The selections are of a more theatrical nature. Rodriguez also tries his hand, with success, at a pair of contemporary pop tunes.
If contemporary operatic vocalists, such as Daniel Rodriquez, Josh Groban and Andrea Bocelli, performing non-operatic tunes are your thing, soprano Heidi Grant Murphy's Times Like This (Koch) may be to your liking. Singing songs from Broadway musicals spanning the years 1945 ('If I Loved You' from Carousel) through 1991 ('Clusters Of The Crocus/Come To My Garden' from The Secret Garden), Murphy hits the high notes on the works of Stephen Sondheim, Frank Loesser, Lerner & Loewe, Harnick & Bock, Flaherty & Ahrens, and Maury Yeston.
For an album titled Songs of Jason Robert Brown (PS Classics), a man known for his compositions for Broadway, I was somewhat surprised by the modern bluegrass arrangement of the opening 'And I Will Follow,' the front-porch stomp of 'Pretty Music,' and the contemporary Christian pop of 'Christmas Lullaby.' I was expecting something more along the lines of the drama of 'Letting You Go' and the amusing story song of 'I Can Do Better Than That,' and 'I'd Give It All For You,' the duet with the songwriter himself, and vocalist Lauren Kennedy doesn't disappoint, applying the suitable amount of theatricality to those songs.
