Trax
By Bliss 01/07/2010
ELVIS PRESLEY, Elvis 75 — Good Rockin’ Tonight (Legacy):
(4.5 out of 5 stars)
Has anyone done a definitive count yet of the seemingly endless number of repackaged Elvis releases on the market? No matter. In tribute to what would have been his 75th birthday, this four-disc, 100-track box set rounds up his legendary Sun Records cuts (and before) through Hollywood musical numbers like “King Creole,” his ’68 comeback and beyond. Disc 4 is the slightest, in length (only 19 tracks) and quality — although, with cuts like “Burning Love” and “Unchained Melody,” it’s hardly a throwaway — but overall this is a splendid celebration of the King’s musical life and legacy. elvisthemusic.com.
ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK Nine (Geffen):
(3 out of 5 stars)
There’s been much tsk-tsking about how this cinematic interpretation of the Arthur Kopit-Maury Yeston musical was cast with actors — not, with one notable exception, with professional singers. (The exception is the usually unremarkable Fergie, who acquits herself robustly on “Be Italian.”) Yet the real weakness here isn’t the artists but the material. Yeston’s songs illuminate the characters delivering them, but they aren’t melodically enticing or memorable. That many are compellingly rendered is testament to the performers, notably Dame Judi Dench (the delicious “Folies Bergère”), Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz and Kate Hudson. nine-movie.com.
JEN MURDZA, Good Little Worker Bees (ButterflyGirl):
(3 out of 5 stars)
Still rooted in Boston when she recorded this sophisticated set of light soul-pop, singer-songwriter Murdza, now based in Los Angeles, impresses with her confidence and style while swinging between upbeat romantic exhortations and bluesy ballads. She’s strongest when riding insistent, bluesy rhythms, as on “All These Little Voices” and the jazzy “Thank You.” It would be good to hear her take on songs with meatier lyrics. At Café Cordiale in Sherman Oaks Jan. 20. jenmurdza.com.
RAY WYLIE HUBBARD, A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment (Bordello):
(4 out of 5 stars)
Hubbard’s latest advances the patent on his thoroughly Texan blues-country-rock sound with driving rhythms that send you back for more — and to listen more deeply. The Rumi quote on the jacket isn’t mere decoration. Over the resonant tones of slide guitar and Dobro, harmonica and all manner of stomping percussion, Hubbard’s hookers, preachers, poets and opium lovers take lyrical measure of spiritual and existential divides on gospel hand clappers like “Whoop and Hollar” and spectral ruminations like “Black Wings” and the fascinatingly twisted “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.” raywylie.com.
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