James Taylor, “One Man Band”
(Hear Music, out Tuesday)
Sometimes you need to ask the question: Do we really need another James Taylor live disc?
The answer is yes and no, leaning more toward the no.
Taylor is a master of repackaging his work – and touring it – making the new CDs seem essential when, really, most of them aren’t. But with a project like this, it’s best to break it down to the good and the bad.
The good: This 19-song collection is a CD-DVD set, and the two-hour DVD includes more of Taylor’s down-home interstitial stories. Larry Goldings’ piano is a nice addition to familiar tracks “Country Road” and “You’ve Got a Friend” – two old-
dog songs badly in need of a makeover – and the unfamiliar “Mean Old Man.” Even the location is very specific to the New Englander: These were recorded July 19-21 at the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, Mass.
The bad: Taylor’s never been the most visual performer, so a DVD is unnecessary for most. And the setlist – outside of a fun “Steamroller Blues” and a moving “Sweet Baby James” – is disappointing and heavy on Taylor’s lesser-known work.
Ricardo Baca
The Caribbean, “Populations”
(Hometapes)
The Caribbean crafts maddeningly singular records that freeze-frame the band’s weird evolution, making it difficult to pin down the D.C.- based group’s sound.
To be sure, this is melodic stuff – crisp, chiming avant-pop with nonsequitur lyrics and squiggly background noises – but the melodies hit you like sideways rain. Opener “Do You Believe in Dinosaurs” sets the stage with Michael Kentoff’s nasal, spoken-sung vocals, Matt Byars’ clipped percussion and more fuzzy layering than a Chicago traffic cop in February.
“The Go From Tactical” trades jazzy chords and breeze-directed structure for one of the most accessible, memorable songs the band has recorded, capturing Kentoff’s facility with (and seeming disdain for) traditional melodies.
Discs like “Populations” seem rare these days – rewarding repeated listens with no hint of ever stopping.
Ricardo Baca
The Wheel, “Desire and Dissolving Men”
(Public Service Records)
Like Nathaniel Rateliffe’s main project, the Wheel took its sweet time releasing a full-length album. And that’s a good thing.
Rateliffe, head of local indie kings Born in the Flood, moonlights as the Wheel, a venue for his more hushed, acoustic tunes. A handful of tracks on “Desire and Dissolving Men” should be familiar to anyone that’s seen the Wheel over the years.
Like Born’s “If This Thing Should Spill,” “Desire and Dissolving Men” benefits from its extensive live testing. These recorded versions ooze a muscle memory and intuition that’s breezy, melancholy and intimate – helped by the fact that Rateliffe recorded these at home on an 8-track.
The finger-picked nylon strings and plinked piano of “Slow” recall Rateliffe’s preferred reference points of Nick Drake and Leonard Cohen, humming with an energy that avoids overt self-indulgence.
The same can’t be said of closing track “When We Were Towers,” a pleasant enough song that eventually falls prey to its own self-importance. Mostly, though, “Desire” is as strong as any Born offering, a strikingly personal companion to Born’s widescreen projections.
John Wenzel
