Nancy Wilson’s “How Glad I Am” is taken fairly straight, until the slightly discordant fade, which sets up the trip-hoppy effects that derail the Beach Boys’ “Caroline, No”, otherwise taken in a torch style. “I’m A Fool To Want You” and “I Get Along Without You Very Well” are more reverent treatments, and she seems to only wail along with the trumpet on “Meditation On A Pair Of Wire Cutters” by Charles Mingus. One might expect her to tackle an Astrud Gilberto vocal, but instead she goes for the earlier Jobim composition “Once I Loved”. Meanwhile, her “Wild Is The Wind” follows closer to David Bowie’s version than that of Nina Simone or Johnny Mathis. (She does the bridge just once, preferring an extended ending that will make you nostalgic for Portishead.)
Trip-hop effects also color “You Don’t Know What Love Is”, and while we’re intrigued anytime someone covers Nick Drake, Bred Mehldau set the bar for “River Man”. Still, the ending nicely segues to “Absent Minded Me”, which she heard from either Julie London or Barbra Streisand, although this is also taken over by factory sounds by the close. We can’t hear her anywhere on Coltrane’s “Naima”, which also gets the effects treatment, but luckily “Hello, Young Lovers” isn’t too ornate. She tackles an obscure Kinks song for the first time in decades, but the already bossa nova “No Return” could have stayed out of the rainforest, especially when the traffic jam runs through it. “Que Reste-t-il De Nos Amours?” shows she can still slay us in French, but we did not need a minute of sampled dialogue from a French film. Maybe we’d feel different had we learned the language.
As should be clear, Valve Bone Woe is best when it’s not so busy. Even her voice can’t compete with all the treatments; co-producer Marius de Vries is likely to blame for those. That said, she still knows how to pick ‘em.
Chrissie Hynde With The Valve Bone Woe Ensemble Valve Bone Woe (2019)—3
This will probably sound odd coming from somebody who will be drawing his first Social Security checks in the very near future. However, somewhere under all the decrepitude there’s still a remnant of the teenager who objects to his rock heroes doing “old people’s music” (in other words, music that my parents might have liked). Wasn’t rock supposed to demolish all that? I guess we must thank Linda Ronstadt and PBS showing endless reruns of Lawrence Welk for that not happening.
ReplyDeleteWell, if someone decides to sing this sort of stuff, he or she should at least have a voice for it. Ronstadt did. So did Nilsson. But Ringo? Sinead? Five CD’s of Rod? Five more CD’s of croaky, old 21st century Dylan? I’m sorry, but I just cannot go there.
This is different, because THAT VOICE was back. That was especially reassuring after the somewhat wobbly “Alone”. Gorgeous, as ever, on every single track. I like the production, too. The key is that the producers are European jazz fans, rather than Americans. That meant they decided not to be entirely bound to trad arrangements. The electronics enhance, rather than distract from the acoustic instruments and her voice.
As for the song selection, I only knew a few, myself. The opener, “How Glad I Am”, finds Chrissie in a rare sultry mood. It’s the one where the right duet partner might have been interesting. I didn’t know Nick Cave, but that song was utterly transformed. Being half French-Canadian, I’m also a sucker for the last track. She certainly must have taken a lot of time perfecting her pronunciation.
I had forgotten that she experimented with bossa nova on “Alone”. It’s not my favorite genre, so “Once I Loved” and “No Return” don’t totally thrill me. I also knew “Wild is the Wind” from David Bowie. When I saw “Caroline, No”, I initially thought that we really didn’t need another cover of that one. But I like the weirdness, and she sings it wonderfully. Perhaps she intended the songs as tributes to both Bowie and James Honeyman-Scott, respectively. The latter was a big Beach Boys fan.
The only tracks I could have really done without are the two instrumentals. “Space Invader” not withstanding, when I listen to a Hynde album, I’m there for her voice. This did, however, lead me to the original version of the Mingus piece, which has some great playing.
This is a unique, one-of-a-kind album. Quite a beautiful achievement. I don’t think we’ll ever hear another one like it.
I also really love the "Time Out" style cover art. Each of the tracks has its own individual painting, as well. A couple of those were even done by Chrissie herself. They can be seen when the songs are stremed. A vinyl boxed set with album-sized versions is definitely needed!
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