| THE ROOT OF THE MATTER
When it’s done right, there is nothing like driving roots-rock. Reminscent of the debut album from Cracker, The Silos’ When the Telephone Rings (Dualtone) is a rough-and-tumble 11-song collection. Crisp acoustic guitar, smooth electric leads and pretty back-up vocals all support Walter Salas-Humara’s drawling croon. With its lumbering, crunchy ballads and simple arrangements, the band is better when they lean more towards rock than roots, but the album proudly avoids the cliche of gutless alt-country bands.
I gotta admit, the idea of Buddy Holly covers, even when they are played by his original backing band The Crickets, makes my skin crawl. They were pretty much perfect the first time, so why mess with them? Oh I know, so you can enlist the help of crappy over-the-hill artists to make tepid, soulless copies of the songs. Vince Neil, Rodney Crowell and Waylon Jennings all take a crack at Holly on The Crickets & Their Buddies (Soverign Artists). Even a performance by John Prine can’t save this album, and how could it? Eric Clapton does a song, too.
Today The Flatlanders are legends, but back in 1972 they were lucky to draw more than a handful of people to a show in someone’s living room. Captured in raw glory at an intimate show three decades ago, their Live at The One Knite, Austin, Tx, June 8th, 1972 (New West Records) delivers a hissy, old-timey portrait of Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely and Butch Hancock as they leisurely work their way though their set using a variety of odd stringed instruments. Not a great place to start, but fans will no doubt love this long-lost gem.
While Ruben Blades’s name on anything isn’t usually a seal of approval (anyone remember Disorganized Crime?) mercifully he lets the Spanish Harlem Orchestra do most of the work on Across 110th Street (Libertad). He handily covers vocal duties while the 13 members of the orchestra deliver some solid Afro-Cuban rhythms. Not at raw as the Buena Vista Social Club or as powerful as the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, the Spanish Harlem Orchestra effortlessly make you want to rumba – how can you say no to that?
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