Cream & Creedence Clearwater Revival

Okay. You'd expect a group called Cream to have at least one cat in it, right? Wrong. I couldn't find one actual cat listed in the credits on this album, which contains some of the most significant recordings of the 1960s. Sure, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker are all cool cats as far as hipness goes, but I was a bit disappointed, all the same. Then, I remembered that my GramCat loved Cream--the kind you listen to, as well as the kind that comes in a saucer--and listening to this album, I could see why. 

First of all, even as young as Clapton is on these early cuts, he makes his guitar serve as a whole ensemble of different instruments. He even uses feedback like a master, especially on "SWLABR." Although I didn't understand some of the references ("Anyone for Tennis," for example), I felt sure that "Tales of Brave Ulysses" was about a hero-cat.

"Spoonful" was especially fun to purr along with, and I couldn't help but fantasize about my own favorite kind of spoonful (pictured at right).
Finally, Clapton's rendition of Robert Johnson's "Crossroads" is sublime! He's played it several times since this early recording, but I'd venture to say never better than this. Lap up some Cream and decide for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdwVVI4B3oY

Almost every song of Creedence Clearwater Revival's Chronicle album is surely written for cats. Consider these examples: "Run Through the Jungle" (about our wild ancestors), "I Put a Spell on You" (now massage my ears), "Lookin' Out My Back Door" (at all the pretty birds I'm going to eat), "Long As I Can See the Light" (it's still naptime), and "Someday Never Comes" (because today is always the only day). 
No wonder this is another of my GramCat's favorites. This music just doesn't go out of style. Whether you're an old cat or a kitten, CCR will revive you and set all 16 of your toes a-tappin'.
Peace out!

Cowboy Junkies & Robert Cray

I'm not personally acquainted with any junkies, but I've seen them on TV, and they don't seem to take their duties toward cats very seriously. Can you imagine how hard it would be to get your strung-out person to fill the kibble bowl or scoop the poops out of the litter box?

I do live across the way from a cowboy who has five cats that he takes good care of, although his attempts to herd them are always futile. Quelle suprise!
The Cowboy Junkies are neither cowboys nor junkies, but Canadians, and their music does have a country flavor.
Wikipedia confirms this: "Although it didn't originally have anything to do with their sound, the Cowboy Junkies' name wound up seeming pretty accurate: their music was grounded in traditional country, blues, and folk, yet drifted along in a sleepy, narcotic haze that clearly bore the stamp of the Velvet Underground. The vast majority of their songs were spare and quiet, taken at lethargic tempos and filled with languid guitars and detached, ethereal vocals."
I was lulled into my own cat-nip-enhanced haze by the band's best-known song, "Sweet Jane." Unfortunately, I was immediately jarred out of my slumber by my person, who insisted on singing along with "Blue Moon Revisited (A Song for Elvis)" not once, but three times in a row! Hear "Blue Moon Revisited" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ6EGsZdxpE
When you're ready for your own cat nap, try this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4XVJj4jER4

Before I could doze off again, my person put on Robert Cray and commenced an embarrassing air-guitar routine. I just shut my eyes and concentrated on the music.
Cray's Strong Persuader is aptly named, but then, I don't really need much persuading when it comes to blues guitar. I'd heard Bettye Lavette's version of David Walker's "Right Next Door"--which is where this album's title comes from--but it's sung from the cheatin' woman's perspective. (By the way, I'll be reviewing Lavette, if we ever get to the L section in our music collection.) Cray plays and sings the song as the seducer, which seems to be the better approach, but then, I'm a cat, and our whole gig is about persuading our people to give us what we want.
Every cut on Strong Persuader is executed well, but my favorite is "New Blood." When Cray sang, "I hear that night wind howling: time to find new blood," I decided to go outside and do a little mouse hunting. But first, I hunted up a little Robert Cray for you to check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra2Qndv_xeE 
Peace out!

Concrete Blonde & Shemekia Copeland

My person tells me that "Concrete Blonde" is a derogatory term for heavily-lacquered big blonde hair, but it's used ironically on this album, because Johnette Napolitano, the singer-songwriter-bassist, doesn't look anything like that. It's a mystery to cats why humans mess around with their hair so much. Just lick it clean and leave it alone!

Anyway. I hear that after forming and reforming, the group is now permanently disbanded, which is too bad. Concrete Blonde's Bloodletting is the best of their albums. Napolitano's voice--especially on "Caroline," is throaty but pure, and "Joey," their most widely-known song, is their anthem to empathy ("Joey, if you're hurtin' so am I."). The only song on the album that seems out of step with the others is "I Don't Need a Hero." It just doesn't have the same punch as the rest. The first cut, "Bloodletting" (AKA "The Vampire Song"), is my favorite, because I'm interested in vampires and bats. I caught one once (a bat, not a vampire), and it was fun to play with, but its wings were a bit too chewy.
If you've read my other reviews, you know that I'm a fan of a hard-working drummer. Apparently, Concrete Blonde had drummer problems in the past, and kept trading out percussionists. On Bloodletting, the drummer is Paul Thompson, who gives his sticks a fine workout, especially on "The Sky is a Poisonous Garden." I'm not even going to try to figure out what that song title means; I just enjoyed Thompson's giving his skins a good, hard thrashing.
Here's a link to the "Bloodletting" video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOn1037ZLwA

Speaking of hair, on Talking to Strangers, Shemekia Copeland sings about the joys of getting her hair done at "Sholanda's" (House of Beau-tay). Sounds like so much fun, I might actually consider going for a pedi-pedi sometime. Termed an electric blues vocalist, Copeland has been officially crowned the new "Queen of the Blues," an honor previously held by Koko Taylor. Copeland does sound a bit like Taylor, although I thought more of Thelma Houston while I was listening to Talking to Strangers. Whoever her influences are, Copeland has a wide repertoire of blues stylings, and she's been singing professionally since age 16. Another of her albums, Wicked, won Shemekia three different blues music awards, and she's obviously just getting started.
Shemekia turns the heat up at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65nDprifGek&feature=related
Here's to turning the heat up on better hairball control. Peace out!

The Commitments Soundtrack, 2 Vols.

"The Irish are the blacks of Europe. And Dubliners are the blacks of Ireland. And the Northside Dubliners are the blacks of Dublin. So say it once, say it loud: I'm black and I'm proud." --Jimmy Rabbitte, Jr. (Robert Arkins), Band Manager of The Commitments

The Commitments (1991), based on a novel by Roddy Doyle, is one of my favorite movies. The two-volume soundtrack of the film contains some of the best American soul music ever created by artists such as Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, and Isaac Hayes. The surprise of the movie and the CD is that you don't expect this music to be so well rendered by young, unknown, Irish musicians. But it is.

The film's large cast includes pretty much 

every breed of Irish cat.

The Commitments is a coming-of-age/romantic comedy/concert movie, and the CDs are a translation of classic soul music into the consciousness of a new generation. Soul music purists may not approve of this, but I say that whatever moves music across generational, ethnic, national, species, or any other kind of barrier is a good thing for everyone.

Sixteen-year-old Andrew Strong plays Deco, the lead singer, and his vocal style reminded me of Joe Cocker. Stray cats everywhere will be able to relate to Strong's renditions of "The Dark End of the Street" and "Try a Little Tenderness." 

Natalie (Maria Doyle, left) and Imelda (Angeline Ball, foreground) won my little cat heart with "I Never Loved a Man" and "I Can't Stand the Rain." Lovely ladies, take me in for a saucer of milk!
Hear Doyle at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zASDQq2zsM


The movie includes some really funny musical moments:

During tryouts, Jimmy Rabbitte, Sr. (Colm Meany), channels Elvis Presley at the dinner table.

Startled by the drums, Bernie's (Bronagh Gallagher) little brother screams all during rehearsal.

Joey "The Lips" Fagin (Johnny Murphy) teaches the Nipple Method of playing sax.

Good film, great music. I give both of them four paws straight up!Peace Out!

Paula Cole, John Coltrane, & Albert Collins

I used to really like this album, but now, it just doesn't work for me. Despite the fact that Paula Cole's "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone" was on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1997, and she won a Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1998, somehow the music doesn't stand the test of time, and Cole often just sounds shrill. Of course, this is one of my person's extensive collection of "Angry Women of the '90s" CDs, so maybe it's that. The third cut on this album, "Throwing Stones," does still get me all excited because the drummer, Jay Bellerose, sounds like he's going to break his sticks in pieces. And of course, "Feelin' Love" is a make-out classic. Whether you're a human or a cat, you'll get to feeling all romantic with this tune. Here's a link to the song, although--because of the photos--humans have to be over 18 to watch it (cats, that's about 2 cat-years)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSf6-CGEOb8&oref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fresults%3Fsearch_query%3Dpaula%2Bcole%2Bfeelin%2Blove%26oq%3Dpaula%2Bcole%2Bfeelin%2Blove%26aq%3Df%26aqi%3Dg2%26aql%3D%26gs_sm%3D3%26gs_upl%3D117l5403l0l6154l17l15l0l4l4l0l421l1100l0.1.2.0.1l4l0&has_verified=1

Next up was sax-master John Coltrane's My Favorite Things. This album has only four songs on it, but they run anywhere from 5 to 14 minutes each. If you're still training your ear to jazz, this album is a good tutorial. John's all over the place with his tenor and soprano saxophones, and you can hear his multi-tonic jazz system and harmonizing technique, now called "Coltrane changes." If you want to learn more about this, here's an example of Coltrane's "Giant Steps": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kotK9FNEYU

Cool cats, listen up: Albert Collins had many nicknames, such as "The Ice Man" and "The Master of the Telecaster," and he earned them all. You can hear his influence in the music of other blues musicians: Coco Montoya, Robert Cray, Gary Moore, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jonny Lang, Susan Tedeschi, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, John Mayer, and many others.
Every song on this album is my favorite, even those with lyrics that, being a cat, I don't quite understand, such as "When the Welfare Turns Its Back on You" and "Master Charge." I think these have something to do with money, but since I never have any cash on me, my person always picks up the check.  
Collins has a keen sense of humor; he made a cameo appearance in the 1987 movie, Adventures in Babysitting, forcing the kids to make up a song and saying, "Nobody leaves this place without singin' the blues." Made me laugh so hard I almost choked on my catnip.
Lots of stories are told about Collins jumping off the stage during performances and wandering through the crowd, sometimes even leaving the club--attached to his amplifier with a very long cable--and playing outside on the sidewalk.
Here's a good example of the Iceman with his smoking hot guitar: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihvvf1R_vWo
Many of Collins' song titles have to do with ice: "Ice Pickin'," "Frostbite," "Cold Snap," "Don't Lose Your Cool," and "Frozen Alive" are just a few, but I found one on YouTube that's about a cat!
Listen and chill: "My Woman Has a Black Cat Bone": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_6yq_wNNHE&feature=related
Peace out!