Bob Marley & the Wailers/Catch a Fire: Deluxe Edition 1973's
Catch a Fire was the first step in Bob Marley's rise to international superstardom. It was the group's debut album for England's Island Records, whose owner, Chris Blackwell, saw in Marley an image he could sell to the worldwide rock market. Up to that point, Jamaican music was singles driven; Catch a Fire was very much an album statement, replete with renegade social commentary that became so central to reggae.
It would be three years until Rastaman Vibration stormed into the American psyche. In fact, Catch a Fire's only Marley standard turned out to be Stir It Up, although it also housed such vital songs as Concrete Jungle, Slave Driver, Midnight Ravers, and Peter Tosh's 400 Years and Stop That Train.
What makes this reissue essential is the inclusion of the previously unreleased Jamaican mix, which the Wailers turned over to Blackwell to make more rock-friendly with the help of guest studio musicians. The differences are evident from the first song, Concrete Jungle, which was doctored with a dreamy intro featuring a splash of Allman Brothers-styled guitar interplay. The original mix is leaner, with more emphasis on the spiky rhythm guitar part, a deeper bass line and more urgent percussion.
It's pretty much that way throughout: the Jamaican mix's punch softened up and made dreamier in Britain. It would be critically fashionable to say that the original mix trumps the British version — that the Jamaican tracks were what Marley intended the music to be. But the liner notes stress that Marley and company willingly forked over their master tapes to Blackwell in hopes that his touch could take them to the next level. Besides, each mix has its distinct appeal, and that makes for an altogether worthy two-disc set.
—Eric Snider
Alejandro Escovedo/A Man Under the Influence
The man named by No Depression magazine as its artist of the '90s sends out another collection of sincere songs that capture the sort of threadbare emotionalism that most singer/songwriters can only wish to achieve. Somehow, the ability to viscerally connect with listeners via simple truths comes naturally to Alejandro Escovedo. Perhaps no other Austin denizen has managed to integrate styles so seamlessly. Pedal steels don't make the music country; acoustic guitars don't make it folk; cellos don't make it arty; the occasional rockabilly guitar lick doesn't make it roots — yet Under the Influence is all of this and more. Escovedo's rough-hewn, everyman's voice — unassuming though it is — is a terrific communication tool, deftly rendering the sentiment at hand, be it heartbreak, frustration or rapture. My only complaint is that the disc is a bit laden with mid-tempo numbers that, taken as a whole, can become a bit dirge-like. (Bloodshot, www.bloodshotrecords.com)
—Eric Snider
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci/The Blue Trees
On their latest outing, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci (pronounced "monkey") go extremely mellow and almost entirely acoustic, bringing their whimsical, relentlessly melodic Welsh magic to ballads and back porches. Instead of hyper pop like "Poodle Rockin'" (from 1999's Spanish Dance Troupe) we get the gorgeous love suite "Lady Fair" — a far more sincere cousin to Dan Fogelberg's treacly "Longer" — and gooey ambiance in the guise of "Foot and Mouth '68." The disc opens with the title track, actually an overture to "This Summer's Been Good from the Start." "This Summer …" is the most upbeat original on The Blue Trees (though there's a quick-stepping cover of The Honeybus' "Fresher than the Sweetness in Water"); Euros Childs' fingerpicked guitar capers gently with the winking violin of his sister Megan, shortly before their voices take up the soft charge. Much like the work of Badly Drawn Boy and Nick Drake, the contemplative Blue Trees will easily please indie-rockers and folkies alike. (Mantra, www.mantrarecordings.com)
—Stefanie Kalem
Kevin Seconds/Heaven's Near Wherever You Are
When 7 Seconds released their New Wind LP in '86, it was such a departure from the band's previous '80s hardcore stuff that my friend Howard thought it was so lame he winged it out his car window. The band had gone emo before emo had a name, and its direction wasn't appreciated by the hard-line contingent. Me, I salvaged the scratched album, listened to the side that hadn't raked over the asphalt. Don't know what Howard would make of Heaven's Near Wherever You Are, 7 Seconds singer/guitarist Kevin Seconds' second solo album. It's simple, straightforward, head-bobbing pop. Recorded on a 4-track in Seconds' Sacramento home, this 13-song CD is on the other end of the musical spectrum from just about everything 7 Seconds ever released. And it's better, too. Better written, better played. The chorus to "Chin," the first song, contains "la la la la la la ," and it is sung, not shouted. It's almost like Seconds is putting his chin out there for the arbiters of punk to take their best shot. If Howard throws this one out the window, he's a retard. (Headhunter/Cargo Music, cargomusic.com)
—David Jasper
Enon/Believo! Bands that truck in found sounds and aural collage generally forget, or ignore, a crucial little something: Songs. That's why Enon — led by former Brainiac singer/guitarist John Schmersal — stands out amid forward-thinking, genre-bending indie acts. Believo! brims with irrepressible hooks that the band then subverts with judicious amounts of static, hiss-and-scratch, skronk and samples, and the blurts, grinds and wheezes from analog keyboards, all of which meld into a remarkably cohesive whole. Enon pushes the dissonance just far enough, and tempers it with the melodies and conventional instrumental parts (organic drums play a particularly important role). When he's not doctoring his voice with effects, Schmersal proves a capable singer, delivering a soulful, Prince-ish falsetto on "Rubber Car." The 11 tracks clock in at just under 33 minutes, providing a quick-and-dirty listen that dodges self-indulgent wankery. (SeeThru Broadcasting, www.seethrubroadcasting.com)
—Eric Snider
This article appears in May 10-16, 2001.