«Cassandra Wilson has garnered a deserving reputation for her soulful, visionary reads of songs by legendary composers old and new, from Robert Johnson to Van Morrison. On Glamoured, Wilson composed half the album, and her songs are as provocative and deserve the same weight of grace critically afforded her covers. She uses her trademark fluid, smoky delivery to redefine songs such as the old soul nugget "If Loving You Is Wrong"; the poignancy it was written with tells of a woman lost in the delirium of a forbidden love with a married man. The ache and euphoria in her voice shot through with producer Fabrizio Sotti's stunning acoustic guitar interplay is nearly overwhelming in its emotion. Her Afro-Caribbean read of Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay" is a different – and perhaps better – version than the original. It doesn't weep and it doesn't get bogged down in its melody; it is shot through with a smoldering drone and eclectic polyrhythms that reinvent it harmonically. Willie Nelson's "Crazy" is kissed with the same elegance and soul that her version of "Tupelo Honey" was. But it is on Muddy Waters' "Honey Bee" and Abbey Lincoln's "Throw It Away," which closes the album, that Wilson offers her greatest gift: that of an improvisational blues and jazz singer who understands these songs to be living embodiments of still developing traditions. Recorded in Jackson, MS, her hometown, these songs are shot through with mischief; a controlled, winking sensuality; greasy, rollicking, and syncopated rhythms; and melody lines to kill for. Wilson's songs, particularly "I Want More" and "What Is It?" with their funky backbeats and jagged verses, are seemingly new forms for the pop song, while "Broken Drum," "Sleight of Time," and "Heaven Knows" could have been written for Nina Simone, such are their out-of-the-ages, folk-infused jazzy cadences, but Wilson makes them unclassifiable in terms of any time but the present and she is working out new forms for color, phrasing, and rhythmic interplay for her voice. Glamoured, like its Gaelic definition, is the sound of the supernatural in a human being.» (AMG)
"Fallen fallen fallen is Babylon the Great" sang Demis Roussos in Aphrodite's Child's masterpiece, "666". But we all know that this is true only of the historical Babylon. For a new Babel is born, it's all around us, we spend in it every day of our lives. We all know that the global village has many facets, some good and others bad. I personally believe that the best way to fight the Big Brother is to help grow his Great Sisters, cultural biodiversity and cross-cultural hybridisation. Music is perhaps the form of expression whose language is accessible to the widest range of people, so it will be my main focus. In particular, I will take in great consideration those fruitful experiences which build bridges between different musical traditions and genres, or between old and new. So, what are you still waiting for? Just relax and enjoy your ride through the crowded streets of Babe(b)logue!... DJ Radu
Note
Please, before asking me to reupload a file, check all the host sites – one or two links could still be active, even if the others are not. Thanks, Radu
If you like the works posted here, please buy'em if they're available! Support the artists! If any copyright owner objects to the inclusion of their music (video or audio) in these pages, we'll immediately remove it. Simply write an e-mail to: babeblogue@tiscali.it. Unless otherwise noted, all the photographs posted on Babe(b)logue are from the author's private collection.
Questo blog non rappresenta una testata giornalistica in quanto viene aggiornato senza alcuna periodicità. Non può pertanto considerarsi un prodotto editoriale ai sensi della legge n. 62 del 7.03.2001. Si declina ogni responsabilità per contenuti, commenti e collegamenti ad altri siti.
They Say About Babe(b)logue
"Well, my favorite blog in the category World Music is Babe(b)logue. True to the category, the blogger Radu is virtually covering the entire world. He would always find interesting reviews and other informative sources on the music, and delights the visitor with beautiful photos and other art snippets. This is the perfect starting point for everyone who wants to discover new music from neglected regions. And the box.net-box on this blog enables the listener to listen to many many songs, before deciding what to download."
4 comments:
http://sharebee.com/73e8d360
looks great. thanks for this!
Thanx Radu
a very enticing description- looking forward to the listening...
thanks,
d
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