Ry Cooder, “My Name is Buddy”
FOLK/ECLECTIC|Nonesuch, released today
Ry Cooder has long been one of America’s most versatile, distinctive songwriters, so it’s no surprise his sprawling new disc reinforces that status. “My Name Is Buddy” spins the tale of Buddy Red Cat, a Depression-era drifter Cooder created after a mysterious letter arrived in his mailbox two years ago.
The full package is impressive: 17 songs in 70 minutes (most written by Cooder), a story and Vincent Valdez illustration for each, and sterling guests Mike and Pete
Seeger, Van Dyke Parks and others. The music is great too, with Cooder showcasing his guitar virtuosity and attention to the vernacular. Knowing Cooder’s lefty politics, it’s easy to project Iraq-war unease onto the lyrics of “Cat and Mouse,” a sprightly piano-and-guitar led number. “It’s your country too, Buddy, which side are you on? It’s time to take a stand,” he sings.
Folk music has often taken on political issues, but Cooder is more oblique here, preferring to weave backroad tales that find Buddy Red Cat learning hardship and triumph as he explores vintage country and Americana melodies. Percussion is sparse (see the Zydeco-tinged “Footprints in the Snow” or the blues rock of “Sundown Town”) and the energy level sometimes dips. But “My Name Is Buddy” proves that Cooder’s considerable gifts never flag. |John Wenzel
Le Concert d’Astrée, Emmanuelle Haïm, conductor, “Combattimento”
CLASSICAL MUSIC|Virgin Classics, Jan. 16
Haïm deserves to be much better known in the United States. The top-flight French harpsichordist and conductor has injected new energy and vision into the original-instrument movement since the 2000 establishment of her chamber ensemble, Le Concert D’Astrée.
She has a talent for unearthing little-known masterpieces of the past and bringing them so powerfully to life that one wonders how they could ever have been neglected. She has done just that in this latest album, which combines art songs and duets by the great composer Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) with his madrigal, “Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda.”
This is not the first recording of the latter, but it is hard to imagine another topping this electrifying version. It features Mexican tenor sensation Rolando Villazón, who is ideal as the narrator, evocatively relating the violent, touching story of two lovers who unknowingly meet in battle.
Propulsive, responsive accompaniment from Haïm and Le Concert round out the performance. |Kyle MacMillan
Arcade Fire, “Neon Bible”
INDIE ROCK|Merge, released today
What’s so impressive about Arcade Fire’s second full-length album is that it arrives less than three years after the group debuted as a fully realized chamber-rock outfit.
Leading this master class in nailing the sophomore album, this Montreal collective’s music is still about joy, sweat, celebration and wailing in unison. Emotion and melody meld uniquely in their songs, and this record – fronted mostly by Win Butler – is a series of giant inhales and exhales. The band goes big like nobody else, and “Keep the Car Running,” “No Cars Go” and “The Well and the Lighthouse” explore that register with thoughtfully composed orchestrations and admirable exuberance.
But “Ocean of Noise” and the title track are understated, meditative and elegantly plain. The Arcade Fire could never be boring. Its quest in this operatic chamber-rock revolution is both noble and intoxicating. |Ricardo Baca
Other releases today:
Mary Chapin Carpenter, “The Calling” (Zoë) Carpenter matches her intense songwriting with burning instrumentation on this mostly electrified, full-on rock album.
The Notorious B.I.G., “Greatest Hits” (Bad Boy) This compilation disc won’t quell naysaying about Big Poppa’s seemingly endless posthumous “career,” but the 17 tracks here are some of his best.
