Trax
09/27/2007
VARIOUS ARTISTS, The Roots of Chicha: Psychedelic Cumbias From Peru (Barbès): Roll back the rug for this seductive platter of indigenous dance grooves from Peru, which spotlights six ensembles from the early 1970s. Using percussive Colombian cumbia as a rhythmic springboard, Peruvian musicians of that time incorporated elements of Cuban son, Andean folk and psychedelic American and British rock (electric surf guitars, synths, Farfisa organs) into dance tunes they churned out for working-class audiences who'd left the hills for jobs in the city. Not unlike bar bands here in the states, musicians playing the beat-focused chicha received little respect, and the music was largely confined within Peru's borders. Not so now. www.barbesrecords.com
ARTHUR ALEXANDER, Lonely Just Like Me: The Final Chapter (Hacktone): Ben Vaughan's lovingly produced 1993 album for undersung R&B/soul hero Alexander — whose songs had been recorded by the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and Elvis Presley — got dust-binned when Alexander died shortly after its critically hailed release. Resurrected here with four hotel room demos, one live track and an illuminating eight-track interview/performance from NPR's “Fresh Air,” this new package gives Alexander just props. His warm tenor lacked the explosive passion of contemporaries like Ray Charles and Otis Redding, but it's pliant enough to invest relatable pathos in his heartbreak tales, which are models of dignified, melodic songcraft. www.hacktone.com
JOHN FOGERTY, Revival (Fantasy): Domestic contentment's mellowed the fire-breathing Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman of yore, who sounds downright pastoral on the single “Don't You Wish It Was True,” which bounces images of laughing children and a world with “no more armies/ no more hate” over an infectious guitar riff and Julia, Maxine & Oren Waters' three-part harmonies. Even the swampy beat of the consciously nostalgic “Creedence Song” sounds sweet. The seething “I Can't Take It No More” unfortunately lacks the poetry of the “Fortunate Son” it references, but the celebutante-slamming rockabilly romp “It Ain't Right,” “Somebody Help Me” “Summer of Love” and Iraq- and Katrina-referencing “Long Dark Night” bristle with Fogerty's trademark brio (“Georgie's in the jungle/ Knockin' on the door/ Come to get your children/ Wants to have a war”).
In stores Tuesday.
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