Reviews

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Miles DavisSketches of Spain Legacy EditionCOLUMBIA/LEGACY

Miles Davis was certain-ly on a creative roll dur-ing 1959-60, recordingback-to-back albumsthat would go down as

jewels in his own discography (and asjazz essentials in general), both consid-ered significant enough to invite studydecades later. Kind of Blue (with JohnColtrane, Bill Evans and other heavyhitters) is simply one of the most indis-pensable albums in jazz history, butSketches of Spain was no less of anachievement. Working witharranger/conductor Gil Evans for thethird time, Davis assembled an orches-tra (among whom were such stars asdrummer Elvin Jones and bassist PaulChambers) to pay tribute to theirshared love of Spanish song forms. Theoriginal five-track LP neither catered toprevailing Latin music, nor stayed with-in the lines of contemporary jazz,owing as much to classical motifs. Theoriginal Sketches is augmented here bya second disc, which is anchored byalternate takes (and snippets of others)of the album’s showpiece, JoaquinRodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez(Adagio)”—plus a rare, live 1961 versionof the same number. Other includedbonus tracks are taken from sessionsonly tangentially related. Some listen-ers, especially newbies, might find theextras to be overkill, but those alreadyinfatuated with the landmark albumwill no doubt take pleasure in hearingthe bits hidden away till now. Jeff Tamarkin

Grateful DeadRoad Trips Vol. 2, No. 3: Wall ofSoundGRATEFUL DEAD PRODUCTIONS

This Road Trip culls6/16/74 (Des Moines)and 6/18/74 (Louisville)onto two discs. The Wallof Sound, the Grateful

Dead’s notorious 75-ton sound system,is fully operational—and driving someultra-fine quality music. The grooving“Loose Lucy” is seminal. But this is theDead of the soil and the wheatfield andthe waters —both takes on “Eyes of theWorld”—still new—are epic, and loamy.“Playing in the Band” on 6/16 is oceanic.And the 55-minute “Weather ReportSuite”> “Jam”> “The Other One”> “It’s aSin Jam”> “Stella Blue”—now that’s seri-ous, serious business. With only onedrummer and the greatest sound rein-

Widespread Panic Huntsville 1996WIDESPREAD RECORDS

Every great touringband has a show likethis. For Widespread

Panic, it was Huntsville,4/3/1996. The perfect

storm: the band hitting its strideonstage and its fanbase coalescing onthe ‘96-era Internet. So one day youwake up, check the previous evening’ssetlist and say to yourself “Oh, no theydidn’t!” and those days being what theywere, with the Maxell XLII in your mail-box shortly thereafter, you could con-firm that yes, yes they did. The mes-sage of the third archival release fromWidespread Panic is “rememberMichael Houser”—not just the man, butremember his music at its finest. Fromthe intergalactic grease-fire cover ofFunkadelic’s “Maggot Brain” throughthe premier of the Houser/John Bellduet “Sandbox” to the pre-drums “TieYour Shoes”> “Arleen”> “Vacation” jam-gasm, it’s that vintage Mikey guitar lead-ing the way, screaming through a pris-tine new mix. This is Panic at itsabsolute finest. Aaron Stein

Miles Davis

forcement that the planet had everknown, this band is peaking—the giantsilver spaceship with a jazz combo atthe helm. Richard B. Simon

Zigaboo ModelisteFunk Me Hard—Live JZM RECORDS

It’s hard to overstate theimportance of drum-mer Joseph ZigabooModeliste. In the drumchair for The Meters, a

group that defined New Orleans funkin the ‘60s and ‘70s, Modeliste is themodel of funk and groove drummingfor each succeeding generation of NewOrleans musicians. This five-song EPfeatures Modeliste with his bandGaboon’s Gang recorded live at NewOrleans’s Saenger Theater in 1980.Culled from a long-lost live film project,the 24-track recording is crystal clear,capturing all of the nuances and ener-gy of the set. Highlights include “I Don’tKnow Why” and the hard-hitting“Standing in the Funk.” With few releas-es under his own name, here’s achance to truly give the drummersome. Tad Hendrickson

Times New VikingBorn Again RevisitedMATADOR

Vivian Girls Everything Goes WrongIN THE RED

Times New Viking andthe Vivian Girls (andWavves and PsychedelicHorseshit and the OhSees and a whole posseof comrades) pose athoroughly modernquestion: is it the songs,or is it the noise? Theanswer, gloriously, is

both. On Born Again Revisited, its fourthfull length, Times New Viking—aColumbus trio—crams 16 songs into 31-minutes of explosive fuzz, silveryorgans, distorted vocals, and buried,clanking drums. They use it in arrange-ments on the dynamic opener, “MartinLuther King Day,” as well as a tool, blur-ring harmonies more colorfully thanAuto-Tune in “(No) Sympathy.” It’s some-times a crutch for throwaways, like thecenterless “Little World,” but the triofares better on its longer numbers, espe-cially the nearly three minute “Move toCalifornia.” Everywhere the combina-tion is integral and used creatively. TheVivian Girls, meanwhile, tone down theimpenetrability on its own secondalbum, Everything Goes Wrong, but stillplace its 13 songs on guitar sheetpedestals. The distant vocals of“Tension” are alluring, “When I’m Gone”is decent surf-pop, and the call-and-response of “I’m Not Asleep” showsgrander structural ambitions, but theVivians’ noise merely blurs songs intoone another. It is distortion with one set-ting, more of an affected accent than adialect. Jesse Jarnow

Wildbirds and PeacedrumsThe SnakeTHE CONTROL GROUP

It’s entirely possible tomiss the point of what aparticular band is doing.And sometimes musi-cians just reach too far.

The Snake could very well be a case ofeither one. The album feels as if you arewitness to some sort of avant-gardepow-wow performed by Swedish hus-band-and-wife percussionist/vocalistduo Wildbirds and Peacedrums.Vocalist Mariam Wallentin exploressome interesting melodies and showsher mastery of many different pitches,and Andreas Werliin’s unique drum-ming is wild and explosive at times. Butthere is nothing here to glue whatWerliin and Wallentin are trying topiece together—it’s just all over theplace. Then again, perhaps it’s just notfor everyone. Mike Thomas

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