The Continental Drifters are drifting into the spotlight more than two decades after they disbanded, thanks to a flurry of September releases. First came the 15-track White Noise & Lightning: The Best of Continental Drifters, which features material originally issued by the indie rock outfit between 1992 and 2001 plus a previously unreleased 12-minute live number. Also out in the same month are the multi-artist We Are All Drifters: A Tribute to the Continental Drifters and White Noise & Lightning: The Continental Drifters Story, a 242-page band history. The latter is by musician, producer, and Drifters fan Sean Kelly, who wrote liner notes for the compendium and co-produced the tribute album.
The group’s sound is difficult to categorize – not surprising given the disparate musical backgrounds of the players who were members at one time or another. They include such performers as Vicki Peterson from the Bangles, Mark Walton from the Dream Syndicate, Peter Holsapple from the dB’s, Gary Eaton from Giant Sand, and Susan Cowsill from the Cowsills. Nearly a dozen people joined the band at one point or another, and by the time they called it quits, only Walton remained from the original lineup. Despite all the personnel changes, they consistently made passionate, sometimes-pop-inflected rock that deserved a much wider audience than it garnered.
One reason the music is so powerful is probably that many of the compositions limn the real-life experiences of the group’s members, whose history of inter-band romances is about as rich as Fleetwood Mac’s. One standout on White Noise & Lightning is “Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway,” a Bangles-styled rocker by Peterson that recalls a difficult road trip with Eaton, her soon-to-be-ex-romantic partner. (Peterson later married Cowsill’s brother John, who appears on We Are All Drifters.) Cowsill, who married Holsapple and then Drifters drummer Russ Broussard, delivers the emotive “The Rain Song,” which reportedly represents her kiss-off to her former boyfriend, the late power pop singer/songwriter Dwight Twilley.
Covers of most of the songs on the anthology, including both of the aforementioned numbers, are among the compositions that resurface on the tribute album, which contains 25 tracks on two CDs and features such Continental Drifters aficionados as Marshall Crenshaw, Steve Wynn, Rosie Flores, and the Bangles’ Debbi Peterson (Vicki’s sister). Though neophytes should start with the band’s compendium, there are many strong performances here, such as Rob Laufer’s melancholy reading of “The Rain Song”; “Dallas,” by Bangles co-founder Annette Zilinskas; and Garrison Starr’s reading of Vicki Peterson’s “Mixed Messages,” another song about her relationship with Eaton.
After hearing all these tracks, you’ll likely wonder why the Continental Drifters – who have reunited occasionally in recent years for one-off performances – never achieved commercial success. The answer has a lot to do with their focus on music rather than the music business. For more on that, as well the personal chemistry that rendered the group’s work so compelling, you can turn to Kelly’s well-researched and skillfully written biography.
It’s an affectionately told tale – “I was a fan from the first song,” Kelly writes – but also a clear-eyed one that details the Continental Drifters’ warts as well as their wins. The book, which draws heavily on interviews with all the group’s full-time members, delivers a tale that makes you want to explore the music listed in its discography.
Also Noteworthy
Phil Alvin, County Fair 2000. This is a 30th anniversary edition of the sophomore solo album from Phil Alvin. The singer and guitarist, who is best known for co-founding the Blasters with his brother Dave, features that band on four tracks and garners additional support from such artists as Los Lobos’s Cesar Rosas and New Orleans’s Dirty Dozen Brass Band.
The album never charted in 1994, but it should have. It’s an impressively wide-ranging hat-tip to assorted American musical genres. “The Terror,” for example, finds Alvin resurrecting a 1930 jazz gem by Cliff Jackson & His Krazy Kats, while “County Fair” is a rockabilly-influenced number reminiscent of Commander Cody, and “That Thing” updates Delta blues a la David Bromberg. If that’s not enough variety for you, there’s also a Sun Ra cover (“Ankh”), which Alvin performs in a medley with “Didn’t He Ramble,” the jazz standard.
John Surge & the Haymakers, Maybe You Don’t Know Me. You’ll want to crank up the volume on this infectious five-song EP from the Los Angeles–based John Surge & the Haymakers, which sounds as if it was recorded live in the studio.
Tracks include “You Don’t Know Me,” a country rocker that’s reminiscent of New Riders of the Purple Sage; “Marisol,” a Tex-Mex-styled, accordion-spiced rocker; “Barstool,” a midtempo tale of a bar encounter that led to “three kids, a house, and a dog and a future looking bright”; “Gold,” a catchy cover of the John Stewart number; and “Stand My Ground,” a breakup song that makes good use of guitar and pedal steel.
Bento Box Trio, Somehow I Lost My Way. Need a break from your fast-paced life? Pour a glass of wine, light a candle, and immerse yourself in this exquisite sophomore release from Bento Box Trio. The group includes three young jazz musicians from Norway and Iceland: violinist Tuva Halse, pianist Benjamin Gisli Einarsson, and drummer Oyvind Leite. Here, they are joined on three tracks by upright bassist Mats Eilertsen and on another three by Sissel Vera Pettersen, who adds sax and vocals.
The album’s 10 selections – all by one or more of the group’s members – are mostly contemplative, effusive, and as gently delivered as a George Winston album. However, the trio does vary the mood occasionally, such as on “Zwei Bar Strasse,” a free-jazz excursion that seems like something Anthony Braxton could have written.
Jeff Burger’s website, byjeffburger.com, contains five decades’ worth of music reviews, interviews, and commentary. His books include Dylan on Dylan: Interviews and Encounters, Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon, Leonard Cohen on Leonard Cohen: Interviews and Encounters, and Springsteen on Springsteen: Interviews, Speeches, and Encounters.
