DEVO, The Complete Truth about De-Evolution, DVD

The myth out there is that the '60s were totally key to Euro-American culture, especially for music. That's fine. But there are those who either remain silent about the '70s, or actively claim that the '70s were retrograde, destructive or somehow backwater. The fact is that the '70s musically played out some of the implications of the '60s and took new turns into artistic-semantic territories as well, whether it's in rock, new jazz or avant classical. It was not obvious because much of what was good was on the fringe of media coverage, even then, and not always well-known to most. But it was there if you looked for it.

I wont touch the larger issue of "everything" here on a Monday morning. I'd never finish. But only looking to rock there was much going on. New Wave in my experience then was personified by Talking Heads. Hey they did much and I am a New York sort of guy so it was natural that I was hipped to them. Frankly what I knew of DEVO was in the context of all the other things we were bombarded with then--which, looking back, was partly their fault. Anyway "Whip It" I did not get. Their videos, or what I saw of them. . . I didn't get.

I watched the DEVO DVD The Complete Truth About De-evolution (MVD 6054D) in two evenings (there's a lot to digest) lately and I GOT IT! DEVO were a new wave outfit that in different ways were as artsy and, hmm, as subversive as Talking Heads. Just in different ways.

The DVD puts together twenty of the their best videos (with the music obviously) along with optional narrative by key group members, an interview with their video creating partner-collaborator Chuck Statler and a bunch of extras.

The point of the group was that they reflected Mid-Western Middle America as much as Talking Heads represented the NY Metro-Burbs. DEVO was all about American normalcy in the '50s-'60s-'70s as a kind of retro-futuristic nightmare dystopia. Humans were de-evolving is the theme, as shown in that fantastically dada ridiculousness of the band itself and the entire backdrop they so effectively created in their videos--which watching now I see they were poking fun at rock-pop itself and their audience, making a meta-mockery of rock-pop significance in the face of the great hype-creating machine. What's perhaps doubly ironic is that the imagery and feel of their videos were widely imitated in the later flowering of MTV's peak era, and even today.

The music is almost secondary, though it doesn't sound as dated, if you will excuse my ironic slippage, as some of the more seminally toted groups of the time.

All I can say is that if you watch the videos in sequence and then listen to the commentary by band members a second time through, you will get something that might not have been obvious then. The Evil Clowns mega-metal group sarcastically referred to in one of the videos was all too alive and real then. Big money was running much of the scene and DEVO made fun of the whole empire, which is still with us I suppose, only it's even more superficial than it was. The days of video for a short while were wide open enough that DEVO could slip into rotations and the so-called counterculture still had a presence in the media. Not now.

And that's why you should see this today.

Jake Hertzog, Throwback

Jake Hertzog plays an infectious, brash kind of jazz-rock on his album Throwback (Zoho 201314). It's jazz-rock that takes on electric and acoustic components naturally, with style. The ensemble is excellent, with Jake on electric guitar, Randy Brecker on trumpet and flugel, Harvie S on bass and Victor Jones on drums and electric drums.

The material is original Hertzogian and has rock-jazz melodiousness and changes or riff chord rock things. Both modes work well for high-voltage burning and some quieter balladisms.

Randy sounds excellent as always but seems to rise to this music--not surprising because he came up and thrived in this sort of zone. Harvie S and Victor Jones kick it like crazy.

And Jake Hertzog comes across as a very versatile player who can chord it with real grace or solofire in ways that burn but originally, not like somebody else really.

It's a lot of good music to be heard. And Jake has a vision that comes across. The fire of rock, the finesse of jazz. Good going.

The Last Tribe, Dialeto

You can count on Leonardo Pavkovic to come up with interesting and even great international prog jazz-rock. He is an international guy to begin with and he's all over the world working with bookings and tours so it's only natural that he'd be up on the world and who is coming up anywhere at any time.

So we get a band today of his, the Last Tribe, doing it in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Their album Dialeto (Moon June 054) gives them space to unfold their prog metal power trio drama. And it's a real kick to hear them do so because they are very good.

Nelson Coelho plays electric guitar with a big, big sound. He writes the music, which advances the cause of mind-over-metal in a great way. Jorge Pescara on touchguitar (that includes the bass) and Miguel Angel on drums have all the toughness and power Nelson needs to make things pop.

This isn't about 90-miles-an-hour licks so much as it's about making big music that moves in big ways. It's not that the solos are technically less than stellar--it's that the emphasis is on the music and its POWER. And that it's Brazilian is mostly something you pick up on if you already know to listen for it. It's there in subtle ways.

What this is comes down to what? It is excellent power rock with the sophistication of jazz and smartness of nice compositional delivery.

So I am totally happy to have it to listen to lots of times. I look forward to more!

Will Lee, Love, Gratitude and Other Distractions

Will Lee. The bassist. The bassist you probably first got to know as part of the Late Night Band on David Letterman? He's been busy in the studio and has a nice album after a somewhat lengthy silence: Love, Gratitude and Other Distractions (Sinning Saint SSLOI7).

It's his first album as a leader in 20 years. And it gathers a pretty impressive cast of sideman, including Pat Metheny, Steve Lukather, Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top), Peter Erskine, Steve Gadd, Narada Michael Walden, Allen Toussaint, Paul Shaffer, you get the idea.

The album is a game combination of nicely reworked covers, pop and progressive originals (and some remind me pleasantly of Steely Dan and the Police, but in a vague sense) with Will singing in an engaging way (he's good), of course playing the electric bass like he does so well and everybody in excellent form.

His parting bass solo on the old standard "Smile" is something else and it all works. Hard to believe he was the bassist on one of my only two early recording sessions as a player-producer-arranger around 1975. I doubt if he'd remember it. He's come far!! Nice album!

Sound Liberation, Days

Gene Pritsker's Sound Liberation holds in a kind of stylistic liquid suspension rap, hip hop, r&b, rock and modern composed classical elements. The new album Days (Composers Concordance 0013) continues the development we've heard in the earlier albums (type the group's name in the index window box above to access the other reviews). The voice of Chanda Rule is back, thankfully, because she is really good. And Gene's song-compositions are ever-strong. There is no flagging.

So we have songs adapted from Gene's operas, mostly Money but also The Varieties of Religious Experience, we have the single cuts Sound Liberation came out with a while back, "Days" being especially haunting.

It's rap that gives you a streetwise view of life in the rough--well rhythmed, worded and articulated by Gene himself and David Gotay (who also plays cello here!). It's hip hop in all you imagine. Gene adds heft with his guitar and there is a small string ensemble and other classical-associated instruments that give you another world yet it's all the same world, at least where Sound Liberation is concerned.

It all hangs together in ways you remember as you listen a few times. It's not just that things are combined that don't ordinarily come together, it is that they do so with a musical result that grabs you and does not let go.

It's probably their very best. Pritsker and Sound Liberation go where nobody else goes before, like Star Trek only we ARE in space now, in a very personal space, all of us, seeking community. You can find it in this music. Check it out!

Zevious, Passing Through the Wall

Zevious is a power trio with the usual guitar-bass-drums thing happening. But the music is anything but usual. On their album Passing Through the Wall (Cuneiform) it's even- and odd-metered trance repetitions done blisteringly and then some very heated jamming with all hell breaking loose.

They have a way of worrying figures that is post-minimalist in that they hit them so hard that you groove-trance more than you do the "floating in heaven" thing.

By now the whole gol-dangered world has reviewed this album. Some of the writers even got paid (I mean by their publishers)! So what have I to add? Nothing. Except to say that they are right. It's hot Crimsonic controlled chaos the way it oughta be. Jazz-rock? Yeah but these folks are possessed! Recommended.

John Hebert Trio, Floodstage

When a bassist of the stature of John Hebert steps out as a bandleader with his own album, his sheer inventiveness means you should not assume what to expect. As it turns out, not surprisingly, you get something worthwhile, and that is a given, but it is not in any way routine either.

This outing, Floodstage (Clean Feed 290), is for piano trio. Benoit Delbecq is on piano but also spices things up with the addition of analog synths on the first two cuts and also the last one. Gerald Cleaver turns in a strong performance on the drums. And of course John is on double bass.

It's a free-wheeling open trio sound they get, with some nicely turned compositions by Hebert, one by Delbecq and a spiritual.

There's plenty of room for Hebert's magnificent bass obbligatos, which are worth listening to alone. Delbecq gives us a post-Paul-Bley harmonically rich outness that's a pleasure to hear with this trio.

Beautiful, subtle balladry mixes with some rock-tinged acoustics, some very cool muted-prepared piano on "Saints" and "Sinners" and the whole thing ends with a free, uptempo corker with excellent space for Gerald, "On the Half Shell".

You go away from this one smiling. Because, hey, this is high art!