Baby
THE DETROIT COBRAS
Bloodshot
These Motor City rockers have found a fun niche: covering obscure R&B and rock 'n' roll songs from the '50s and '60s, giving them a bourbon-infused swagger, stripping away the horns and finesse, and uncovering the inner garage rock in each.
The quintet, obviously excellent diggers, have appropriated material by such lauded songwriters as Dan Penn, Spooner Oldham, Steve Cropper, Isaac Hayes, Allen Toussaint, Bobby Womack, Hank Ballard and others. But none of the selections has made the slightest dent in the mass psyche — and because they've been so radically redone, they might as well be originals.
The effect, while campy to a point, is definitely not an exercise in all-out kitsch. Two naughty chicks front the band — singer Rachel Nagy and guitarist Mary Ramirez — and are backed by three dudes on guitar, bass and drums. Nagy, who plays the tarted-up blonde, sings with the strut and sigh of early Chrissie Hynde; while she doesn't attempt to cop black vocal styles, her singing has a rugged soulfulness. (She's definitely no off-key punk-rock caterwauler.)
The two guitarists don't just lay down a barrage of distorted power chords, but instead factor in single-note lines, arpeggios, ringing chord melodies and other tricks from the R&B guitarist's handbook. This approach adds authenticity to the band's overall concept.
Ironically, the jokiest tune on Baby is its only original, a bawdy slice of double entendre called "Hot Dog (Watch Me Eat)" that, at least sound-wise, fits stylistically with the rest of the album.
To keep the disc from lapsing into tedium, The Detroit Cobras mix up tempos and feels. The ballad "It's Raining" is, especially, a lovely change of pace, with its loping beat and subdued guitars. Overall, though, these songs have found new life as hard-charging rockers, making Baby one of the year's better house-party albums.
The disc is heavy on bonus material, including all songs from the band's 2003 EP Seven Easy Pieces, making 20 tracks in all. (www.bloodshotrecords.com) 4 stars.
ERIC SNIDER
Original Greatest Hits
B.B. KING
Virgin/EMI
Before he became the ambassador of the blues, B.B. King was another struggling artist grinding out miles on the road, playing to almost exclusively black audiences and putting out singles confined to the "race music" charts. Original Greatest Hits collects 40 B.B. singles recorded pre-"Thrill is Gone" — from 1949-1964. Aficionados will likely have most of these songs in one form or other. But newbies shouldn't look to this twofer as a gateway into the blues. King's artistry sounds half-formed, many of the tunes are generic. His guitar work — always overvalued, in my opinion — carries a nice, biting tone, but is too often predictable and formulaic. 2.5 stars.
ERIC SNIDER
The Family Myth
TANGIERS
Frenchkiss
Tangiers is a Canadian foursome that's got quite a knack for fast, spiky pop-rock that references British imports such as The Kinks and Elvis Costello. They combine their influences with a healthy dose of funny lyrics and complex arrangements that never seem to be striving too hard. Bright, stylish and concise, The Family Myth flashes past you, packing as many hooks as possible into its 39 minutes. 3 stars.
COOPER LANE BAKER
The Funky Side of Life
SOUND DIRECTIONS
Stones Throw
Hip-hop wunderkind Madlib follows up his previous jazz-rap fusions with this disc. While on previous projects he played every part of a whole jazz band by himself (as Yesterday's New Quintet) or remixed selections of his choosing from the Blue Note catalogue, this time around there's a real band at work. He's recruited a group with a deep appreciation for both blaxploitation grooves and serious jazz blowing. Funky Side sounds a little bit like noodling at times, but it's never uninteresting. Right now, Madlib is the artist most capable of fusing jazz and hip-hop, without selling either genre short. 3.5 stars.
COOPER LANE BAKER
Broken Social Scene
BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE
Arts & Crafts
The third album from this Toronto group arrives like a sprawling summation of every trend in indie rock. Folk-pop over loungey rhythm experiments? Check. Shambolic electric guitar workouts? Check. A punky new wave track with a guest rapper? Check. Child-like album art? Check. The Scene tries so much out that there's never a wasted minute, even with a running time — 63 minutes — that would normally be far too much. And while the band certainly has antecedents, its incorporation of such a wide variety of influences is entirely its own. 4 stars.
COOPER LANE BAKER
Feats Don't Fail Me Now
LITTLE FEAT
Warner Bros.
Three decades ago, Little Feat was one of the best, most creative, bands on the planet. The six L.A. rogues mixed funky, New Orleans-influenced grooves, a rich tapestry of interlocking instruments, elliptical tunes and soulful vocals into an idiosyncratic but listenable whole. The entire package comes together best on Feats Don't Fail Me Now, the group's fourth LP. Of course, this was when Feat's founder and creative nexus, the late Lowell George, was still alive and kickin'.
ERIC SNIDER
This article appears in Dec 21-27, 2005.