Old faded family pictures that tell the stories of generations lost but remembered: progressive British pop band It Bites has made a gorgeous 11-song album called Map Of The Past (InsideOut Music) about just such nostalgia (their first since 2008’s The Tall Ships). It starts and ends with the sound of someone flipping through radio stations. At first, the radio seeker settles on the opening “Man In The Photograph,” where guitarist and singer-songwriter John Mitchell (who also plays cello and violin) laments, “I’ve seen you before but I just don’t know where.” It ends with a news report of the Titanic being lost at sea before “Exit Song” signals the demise of the listen (“we were friends in a photograph so long ago and all that you left me is lost in the past”).
Consistently evocative with strong capable prog that flexes considerable muscle around the interplay between Mitchell’s chording/soloing and the swirling liquid keyboards of John Beck that spill all over the tight bass/drums rhythm section of Lee Pomeroy/Bob Dalton, Map Of The Past has to be the career album for It Bites. This is a band that started in 1984, took a 16 year break from 1990 to 2006, and has traversed the rocky musical terrain of alternative pop, progressive rock and art rock. Mitchell’s the key. His voice is a stunning beautiful instrument that combines vocal elements of bands like Squeeze, Yes and 10cc. He makes you believe.
Speaking of beauty, Stephane Wrembel’s voice is his acoustic guitar and on Origins (Water Is Life Records), it’s put to heavenly use on 14 exotic instrumentals featuring bassist Dave Speranza, rhythm guitarman Roy Williams, drummer Nick Anderson and percussionist David Langlois. But make no mistake: this is Wrembel’s show. Many first heard this Frenchman in Woody Allen’s Midnight In Paris, where his romantic stylings gave that movie part of its Euro panache. Wrembal learned his craft amongst the gypsies of Fontainebleau like his hero Django Reinhardt (1910-1953). But the now-Brooklyn-based axman differs from Django due to his eclecticism of dabbling in blues, flamenco and rock. Consider Origins (his fifth album) like an impressionist painting of many colors.
Humanity Volume #1 (CEN/RED) by i-Exist is the Indianapolis band’s debut EP. Brian Lenington (vocals/synth/guitar), Buddy Jackson (guitar, vocals), Cameron Bailey (drums, vocals) and Jon Bolotte (bass) plan on releasing three more Humanity volumes during the course of the year. Part metal, part ambient, the lyrics are thought-provoking, the message purposely ambiguous.
Lenington conceived the project while living by himself in a cabin for over a year. His introspection resulted in a rugged individualism that informs the sound and direction of i-Exist. Within Imagination was the 2010 debut from which “Fire Fly” landed on the Saw 3D soundtrack. Now, with the first part of his ambitious Humanity, that year in solitude seems to be paying off.
Aah, Willie. My man. I’ll never forget when he went to pass me a joint backstage at Farm Aid one year. I refused it (I’ll never know why) but when I tell the story to family and friends of how I smoked pot with Willie Nelson, I leave that small detail out. This reverie was brought on by the recent release of Willie’s 67,859th album, Heroes (Legacy Recordings). It’s a beauty. Out of 14 tracks, there’s a high percentage of brand new Willie classics (producer Buddy Cannon’s “That’s All There Is To This Song” atop the list).
John Prine once pleaded “please don’t bury me in the cold hard ground/I’d rather have you chop me up and pass me all around.” Willie goes one step further when he says “roll me up and smoke me when I die,” a song he sings with Snoop Dogg (surprisingly effective as a country singer), Kris Kristofferson and Jamey Johnson.
He shares the spotlight with son Lukas Nelson, a promising singer-songwriter who sounds hauntingly like his dad, only higher pitched and packin’ a few more notes in each syllable. Lukas wrote one wherein Willie’s angel is back but instead of “flying too close to the ground,” she has “No Place To Fly.” It bodes well for the son to continue the family business for generations to come.
In his usual eclectic fashion, Willie covers Tom Waits (“Come On Up To The House” with Sheryl Crow), Pearl Jam (“Just Breathe”) and Coldplay (“The Scientist”), actually besting the originals in two out of three cases.
Aah, Willie. My man. May you live forever.
