Trax
By Bliss 07/24/2008
CATHERINE RUSSELL, Sentimental Streak (Harmonia Mundi/World Village) (3 stars out of 5)
Stylist Russell draws from the don’t-mess-with-me songbooks of Alberta Hunter, Bessie Smith, Ella Fitzgerald, Pearl Bailey, Nellie Lutcher and Willie Dixon. Recording at Levon Helm’s Woodstock studio with invaluable guitarist/producer Larry Campbell and a small combo, she delivers her spirited, N’Awlins-flavored set with an easygoing balance of sass and swing plus horn arrangements adapted from her father Luis Russell’s charts for Louis Armstrong and King Oliver. At Levitt Pavilion in MacArthur Park on Friday. www.catherinerussell.net
JOHN MELLENCAMP, Life Death Love and Freedom (Hear Music) (3 stars out of 5)
Fraught with introspective honesty he’s often accused of lacking, the heartland veteran’s newest album, produced by T-Bone Burnett, boasts no summertime anthems like “Hurts So Good,” yet he’s once again tapping into a zeitgeist — of dreamers angrily staring down mortality and fading dreams (both for themselves and society), clueless as to what’s next or how to resolve existential dilemmas. Relatively subdued instrumentation suits Mellencamp’s themes, most affectingly expressed on “Longest Days,” “If I Die Sudden,” the gospel-ish “A Ride Back Home,” snarling “John Cockers” and Louisiana-inspired “Jena.” At the Greek Theatre with Lucinda Williams on Thursday, July 31. www.mellencamp.com
PACIFIKA, Asunción (Six Degrees) (3 stars out of 5)
A repackaged reissue of a limited 2007 release by this Vancouver trio recently billed at Hollywood Bowl with Feist and Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, this Latin-flavored and electronic-hued collection is ear-pleasingly eclectic. Onetime West End Girl Silvana Kane sings mostly in Spanish, while music flows easily from Caribbean and flamenco rhythms to trip-hoppy pop dressed with crisp, mostly acoustic guitar (the bottom-heavy accompaniment on “Más y Más” a reverb-shaking exception). Recommended for Cibelle fans — and anyone with a taste for refreshing new sounds. www.myspace.com/pacifika
KAREN DALTON, Green Rocky Road — Pine Street Recordings (Delmore) (4 stars out of 5)
Intensely admired by Greenwich Village cohorts like Bob Dylan and Fred Neil (and, later, Nick Cave and Devendra Banhart), part-Cherokee blues-folk singer Dalton sadly released only two proper albums. These unearthed home recordings are even more raw and haunting than last year’s live “Cotton Eyed Joe” collection. Dalton, who struggled with addictions until succumbing to AIDS in 1993, combines the bruised, aching phrasing of Billie Holiday with rich, Maybelle Carter-like alto tones over long-necked banjo. The keening edge drawn on traditionals like “Katie Cruel” and “Nottingham Town” raises chillbumps. www.myspace.com/karendaltongreenrockyroad
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