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 JORMA KAUKONEN |
 KEREN ANN |
 WILCO |
 ZOMBIES |
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TIM FINN
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JORMA
KAUKONEN
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EASTER Dynamico (125)
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KEREN
ANN Keren Ann (Metro Blue)
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WILCO Sky Blue Sky (Nonesuch)
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THE
ZOMBIES Live (Rhino)
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Just
about thirty years ago Tim Finn was the leader and lead singer of Split
Enz. Working with guitar god Phil Manzanera and Enz guitarist Phil Judd
the Enz sculpted a series of rock albums that were never equaled by
later period Split Enz or the band’s offshoot Crowded House. Finn
has been quite busy with his solo career these past years and he caps
off his most impressive history with the 2007 release of Imaginary
Kingdom. Recording in Nashville with producer / drummer Bobby
Huff, the pair are backed up by some great players including guitarists
Dale Oliver and Robbie Huff. Regarding Imaginary Kingdom
Finn says, ‘The songs kind of came along and tumbled out.’
In the six years since his last solo album, Finn has worked with his
brother Neil Finn on a duo album and staged a Split Enz reunion in Australia.
Even with so much music on his plate, it’s evident, even for long
time fans, that Imaginary Kingdom is one of the finest albums
Finn has worked on. And regarding that planned compilation that got
shelved in favor of his new solo album Finn adds, ‘It’ll probably
be the next thing. In the back of my mind I ‘m sometimes running
through the kind of songs I’d like to se on it.’ 
Anyone
who thinks Jorma Kaukonen was just a burnout from the Summer of ‘67
should give a good listen to his 2007 CD Stars In My Crown. Released
on the folk based Red House line, the 14 cut CD follows in the footsteps
of hi 2002 country blues tribute Blue Country Heart and continues
to find the guitar pioneer digging deep into classic Americana, with
a laid back mix of country blues, gospel and reggae. Echoing the rock
and roll legacy of his years with Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna, Stars
In My Crown features a host of hot players including guitarists
Greg Leisz and Ed Gerhard. A vet of the rock, blues and
folk music world for decades, Kaukonen, at age 66 continues to mesmerize
audiences with his inimitable voice and his finger style guitar playing
simply shines on his 2002 Gibson Advanced Jumbo and his ‘93 J-35.
Back
in the mid ‘80s guitarist Mitch Easter was producing R.E.M. and
hanging with greats like Don Dixon and Marti Jones as well as formulating
his own pop spectacle with his band Let’s Active. Easter’s
first album in eighteen years gets back to what he does best—combining
catchy pop hooks with a dynamic rock performance. A triple threat singer-songwriter,
multi-instrumentalist and studio wiz, Easter was influenced early on
by the mid ‘60s Brit-rock invasion bands and he layers it with
a love of post-Beatles psych-pop all presented within a self-produced
rockin’ package. Easter coaxes some truly Syd Barrett inspired
guitar tones here and there and his legendary prowess as a producer
gives the sound extra impact and underscores the fact that he’s
playing everything. 
Twenty
five years ago a gifted singer named Anna Domino appeared on the music
scene mixing pop, jazz and Euro style cabaret melodies. Israeli-Dutch
singer Keren Ann takes a similar tact as Ms. Domino but with Blue Note
backing her fourth album, its more likely that Keren Ann will rise out
of the kind of obscurity that made Ms. Domino such a cult icon. Both
singers were/are great and Keren Ann takes her soft psychedelic-jazz
sound to new heights with her 2007 self-titled Blue Note CD. Adept on
bass, guitar and B-3, Keren Ann is abetted by some excellent players
including guitarist Thomas Senence with occasional drums of Regis
Ceccarelli. Recorded in Paris, New York, Tel-Aviv and Iceland, Keren
Ann is a fabulous late night spin—with pastoral musical washes
over Ms. Ann’s dreamy female vocals punctuated by some well recorded
strings, piano and guitars. 
There’s
so many memorable tracks and cool musical atmospheres on the 2007 Wilco
CD that it’s impossible not to like it. The addition of guitarist
Nels Cline and keyboardist Pat Sansone really puts some
hefty musical meat on the song lines of Wilco main man Jeff Tweedy.
Tweedy’s Wilco cofounders John Stirratt (bass), Glenn
Kotche (drums) and Mikael Jorgensen (keyboards) fill in the
spaces on a record that’s surely going to please long time Wilco
watchers and turn the heads of newcomers and the unconverted. Commenting
on Sky Blue Sky, Tweedy adds, ‘In a lot of ways, Sky
Blue Sky is our first record. This lineup of the band is probably
the closest to ideal I’ve ever been lucky to experience. If we
all lived together, it would be like The Monkees.’ 
The
Zombies remain one of the greatest and most progressive minded bands
to emerge in the wake of Beatlemania and the early ‘60s British
invasion. Contemporaries of The Kinks, Moody Blues and other first generation
bands of the era, The Zombies featured the cool, calm and collected
vocals of Colin Blunstone and keyboard legend Rod Argent.
The late ‘68 Zombies album, Odessey & Oracle
remains in the top 10 Lp classics of ‘68 but, just as the album
was about to take off—courtesy of the late release of the album
closing “Time Of The Season”—all was lost and the band
split. With Argent, primping out his own moniker, heading up a prolific,
prodigious keyboard based prog-rock band with the great Russ Ballard,
Rodford with Zombies coconspirator Chris White in tow, Colin Blunstone
took off to an acclaimed solo career. It would be 30+ years before Argent
and Blunstone would kick start their Zombies legacy again—releasing
a 2004 studio comeback album on Rhino called As Far As I Can See.
Rhino fulfills their Zombies reunification mission with an audiophile
quality double live CD set and accompanying DVD entitled The Zombies
Live At The Bloomsbury Theatre, London. Filmed and recorded
in 2003, the CD and DVD combine sight and sound for a fine comeback
performance by Blunstone and Argent backed here by the legendary Argent
bassist Jim Rodford, son Steve Rodford on drums and the
guitars of Keith Airey. The 25 track double CD set is scaled
back on the DVD, which pares the show down to 16 classic Zombies and
Argent songs. Both the CD and DVD are vivid pop artifacts well worth
the time of Zombies / Argent fans and those who missed them 40+ years
ago. Who says history never repeats? 
