MERLE HAGGARD
If Only I Could Fly
(Epitaph)
***1/2
With the release of last year's brilliant Tom Waits album Mule Variations, and now with the latest Merle Haggard, punk label Epitaph seems to be on a mission to accrue the masters of American music. The freedom inherent with Epitaph's ethic befits both of them. If Only I Could Fly shows the maverick country legend at his brilliant and purposeful best. There are eddies in the musical flow, but the production sticks to the sound Haggard has cultivated over the last decade: stripped-down, slow ballads and a little Western swing that is simple yet profound, recorded in his own California studio far from Nashville's mass-market production. Haggard's voice is time- and drug-ravaged, but still charged and tremulous, moving from craggy to expressive. The songs are about the way he thinks and lives more than about the way he loves. Haggard sings of the simple pleasures and small comforts, of his continued struggle to resist drugs and alcohol, and, in "Bareback," of surviving the road long after the thrill and glamour of it is gone. It is a tough and tender song cycle full of clear-eyed observation and self-acceptance from a true American original. NATE LIPPENS
THE SORROWS
Take a Heart
(Sequel)
****
My Lord... on diggin' this, you gonna be stunned speechless. In fact, the Sorrows, a relatively unknown '60s U.K. R&B/Freakbeat band, have damn well made my record collection unfuckin' listenable. Seriously. Their playin' flawlessly supports frantic, slap-yer-ass-stupid, dynamic songs. These "dynamics" ain't the clichéd "quiet-to-loud" gimmick... the quiet bits make you squirm, too! Uh, if I gotta "compare"... they're like the Kinks blocked up on pills... er, "speed," then overloaded with reverb. And this collection ain't no "teaser" either... it's a nearly complete anthology, with liners (xoxoxo Mr. David Wells), the impossible to find LP, and all the 45s! Take a Heart is "hot, very hot"... like in Sixteen Candles. MIKE NIPPER
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Afrobeat No Go Die
(Shanachie)
***
The title Afrobeat No Go Die says exactly what this album wants to prove: Three years after the death of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti, the movement he started is alive and well. Fela, as he was popularly known, was a West African superstar, and his Afrobeat vision was a combination of Bob Marley's musical Zionism and James Brown's universal slickness. This album traces the complex legacy of Afrobeat by ranging in style from the melancholic tribute "Fela," by trumpeter Hugh Masekela, to the crossover club hit "Beng, Beng, Beng," by Fela's son, Femi Kuti. Although a couple of the longer songs inspire more tedium than trance, the Afrobeat of this album is clearly a superior alternative to America's current wave of suburban groove music. NATHAN THORNBURGH
ORANGER
The Quiet Vibration Land
(Amazing Grease)
***
San Francisco's Oranger are back with a second helping of sunny, semi-psychedelic pop. Their new album, The Quiet Vibration Land, summons the spirit of the carefree '60s with 14 tunes that reference the Beatles and the Beach Boys as much in attention to sonic details as with pop hooks and harmonies. Slightly more laid back than its predecessor, Doorway to Norway (which contained the bitchin' single "Mike Love Not War"), The Quiet Vibration Land still finds Oranger doing what they do best--turning their musical obsessions into pop art. While most indie rock suffers from its slackness, Oranger are professionals, and their new record is a total delight. BARBARA MITCHELL
DAMIEN JURADO
Ghost of David
(Sub Pop)
***1/2
Damien Jurado uses his angelic voice to spin tales of roasted anguish. Ghost of David is his fifth album to date, and opens with "Medication," a song about a man with an insane brother and a lover whose husband is a cop. As his lover leaves a foreboding note on his back door, his brother is strapped, screaming, to a table and connected to electrodes. "December" is the portrait of a murderer, the sad winter month itself. Told in hypnotic rhythm and layered with electric washes, this tune could be a modern rendition of Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." The album ends with "Ghost in the Snow," a sleepy instrumental dusted with airy guitar. As Ghost of David passes through insanity and death, Jurado's voice turns these necrotic Polaroids into something sadly beautiful. In this way, it becomes medication itself. KREG HASEGAWA
RUBEN GONZÁLEZ
Chanchullo
(Nonesuch)
**
Rubén González, the piano player for Buena Vista Social Club, is a superb musician. At around 80 years of age, his fingers still fly across the keyboard with a definite grace and skill. Add to that the flavor and flair of Cuba, and one would think González couldn't miss. On his new CD, Chanchullo, he misses in a big way. The first track is fluid, beautiful, and exciting, giving the impression that this will be the best new CD since Buena Vista's first one. But after four or five songs the disc falls flat, becoming mere background noise. Out of respect for a great musician, one finally has to simply turn it off. Although this album may be a lasting example of his mastery at the keyboard, it is, sadly, not a gratifying investment. In fact, there is very little to keep one listening after the first tune. CHARLES REDELL
