Matador at Fifteen
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Matador
When Utopia arrives (and, in case you haven't noticed, the prospects are slightly dim right now), and radio and music video channels actually function how they're supposed to, collections such as this will be made happily obsolete. Until then, label samplers like Matador at Fifteen work quite well in their role as substitute for left-of-center broadcasters.
The set consists of one CD of "Greatest Hits 1999-2004," one of rarities, and a DVD of the label's videos over the past five years. The usual big (in indie terms) names are here: Pavement, Guided By Voices, Yo La Tengo, Interpol, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Mission of Burma, etc. Where this set really impresses, however, is in its exposure of those artists that don't get the attention they deserve. Thalia Zedek's "1926" is a disarming ballad led by a strolling piano; Pretty Girls Make Graves kick-start the whole thing with the elastic "This Is Our Emergency"; and Matmos lovingly manages the ambient and the rustic on "For the Trees."
The rarities deliver surprises as well: a remix of Mogwai's "Hunted By a Freak" actually improves it; Yo La Tengo shifts "Deeper Into Movies" from the fiery chaos of the original into an acoustic lullaby recorded live; and M. Ward's "Duet for Guitars #1" is nothing but love.
The videos on the third disc go from inspired but cheap (Stephen Malkmus' "Discretion Grove") through cheap but inspired (the home video of the Wisdom of Harry performing "Ladies & Gentlemen") to full blown cinema (Cat Power's ominously gorgeous "He War"). Like I said before, if the world were just, we'd all have already heard this music before. But the world ain't right, so this will have to do for now. 
—COOPER LANE BAKER
Lumpy Jazz
JEFF BERLIN
M.A.J. Records
Easily among the most famous electric bass players in jazz, Bay area resident (and founder of Clearwater's Players School of Music) Berlin is as likely as not to have the term "soloist" attached to his status as bassist. His latest disc of flowing, fusion-informed bop certainly shows why. But perhaps the term carries too many negative connotations of showboating to be truly accurate: After the admittedly over-the-top fretboard gymnastics of sub-par opener "Brooklyn Uncompromised," Berlin settles into a slightly subtler (but still mobile and technique-laden) role that drives the tunes, providing countless instrumental highlights while only occasionally overpowering the material. Lumpy Jazz's piano-bass-drums trio format — ably rounded out by Richard Drexler and Danny Gottlieb — radiates a vibe that's both deceptively loose and ambitiously agile. The energetic romp of "My Happy Kids" provides a highlight, as do the comparative instrumental restraint of "Lien on Me," mellow cool of "Almost Dawn" and galvanizing, entertainingly manic "Everyone Gets Old (If They Have The Time)." The coreless, meandering "Have You Met Mischpucha" falls prey to over(self-)indulgence, but it and the exhausting first track aside, Lumpy Jazz largely provides an engaging listen that's at least as much about song and mood as it is about chops. (www.jeffberlinmusic.com) 1/2—SCOTT HARRELL
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
DEREK AND THE DOMINOS
Polydor
Burned out after spending the latter '60s in Cream, the prototypical jam-rock power trio, and the failed supergroup Blind Faith, Eric Clapton cast his lot with a group of American southerners. They christened the ensemble Derek and the Dominos, part of Clapton's feeble attempt to hide from rock stardom. This band did not last long either, but it did create a true rock classic in the double LP Layla, released in late 1970 and reissued here on Super Audio CD, where it fits handily on one disc. Layla is a near-perfect meeting of songs — "Bell Bottom Blues," "Key to the Highway," "I Looked Away," "Tell the Truth," the title track — and musicianship, artfully balancing roots consciousness and rock power. It's also Clapton's coming-out party as a vocalist; he and keyboardist Bobby Whitlock blend voices in loose harmonies akin to The Band. Clapton discarded the thick, processed tone of his acid-rock period in favor of one tighter and tinnier and more in line with genuine American blues. He also enlisted a six-stringer partner, none other than Duane Allman, whose work (mostly on slide) jibes brilliantly with Clapton's. Occasionally, the album's layered solos lapse into a kind of chattering, but in all, this is a minor quibble about a uniformly terrific album. 1/2—ERIC SNIDER
Old Friends: Live on Stage
SIMON & GARFUNKEL
Warner Bros.
This double-CD concert set was put on store shelves during the holiday shopping season in hopes that baby boomers in business suits, milling around a record shop for perhaps the only time this year, might buy it on impulse. Don't do it. While Old Friends contains myriad S&G standards — "Mrs. Robinson," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "I am a Rock," "The Sound of Silence," "The Boxer," et al — the vocal chemistry so central to the duo's long-term partnership has turned comparatively coarse — even, at times, ragged. The backing band skews toward heavy-handedness. In all, few of the songs exude the introspective grace of the originals. 1/2—ERIC SNIDER
Violence in the Snowy Fields
DOLOREAN
Yep Roc
Neil Young may be fading creatively — he was never known for being too consistent throughout his career anyway — but as long as Dolorean is around, we'll never have to wonder what the old guy would've become had he stuck to the Harvest model. Violence in the Snowy Fields, the second album from this four-piece Portland group, takes its cues from the big singer/songwriters of the early '70s, paying homage to the Band, Young and Townes Van Zandt without irony or pretension. It's a well-trodden path, which makes it all the more difficult to keep things interesting. Dolorean does it fairly well, with simple harmonies (such as on opening track "The Search" and mid-album depressant "Holding On"). Frontman and principal songwriter Al James' vocals are an in-progress heartbreak, complemented by cavernous organ reverb and occasional strings reminiscent of Dirty Three's Warren Ellis; the effect is soothing without being tepid. A little brevity is needed, though, as some tracks are so stripped and slow that the effect is dissipated by the second or third minute of the song. James gets points for being so heartfelt, but if the lyrics were a little more engaging, there might be fewer moments of tedium. That said, there are enough tracks on Violence — ranging from amiable to nearly transcendent — to compensate. —MARK SANDERS
This article appears in Dec 15-21, 2004.
