From: owner-the-landing-digest@smoe.org (the-landing-digest) To: the-landing-digest@smoe.org Subject: the-landing-digest V2 #299 Reply-To: the-landing@smoe.org Sender: owner-the-landing-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-the-landing-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk the-landing-digest Saturday, December 25 1999 Volume 02 : Number 299 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Andy Harman's Samsara Review [Jessica Brandt ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 24 Dec 1999 17:02:56 -0500 From: Jessica Brandt Subject: Andy Harman's Samsara Review This is from Andy, even tho he's off the list now... Tom Maxwell's SAMSARA - Complete Review Well now seems like a good time to write a full track by track review of the whole album now that the first official copies are now shipping via Tom's web site. I was fortunate to obtain a sneak preview of this album about two months ago and while I'm used to hearing good stuff from Squirrel Nut Zippers brethren, this one just knocked me over. I got it on a Thursday night and about midnight my brother dropped by on his way home from work and was going to listen to one or two tracks and ended up staying for the whole thing. If that can be called an endorsement, then my feeling is that anyone who appreciates good music will indeed stick around for the whole thing. Tom embarked on this project in early 1999 while SNZ was on an extended hiatus, and contrary to some of the stories going around the entire album was completed before Tom left SNZ in June. There are aspects of Samsara which will bring back memories of SNZ's platinum album HOT. And with good reason… five of the seven SNZ members who recorded that album are present for Samsara, as well as a number of other talented musicians which give this album an utterly unique sound. In addition to Tom, fellow SNZ expatriate Ken Mosher plays the saxes, and SNZ's regular drummer/percussionist Chris Phillips and bassist Stu Cole are also present. The first of many pleasant surprises was hearing Duke Heitger back on trumpet again. IMO this guy is one of the best living trumpet players. He actually makes it sound easy, which I assure you it's not having been blowing my brains out trying to learn any kind of sound on trumpet myself. Duke was they guy who was hired in cold to record HOT after Stacy Guess dropped out, and according to an interview with Jim Mathus, he learned the tunes in a couple of days and blew some fabulous licks on the album. He literally won me over not with virtuossic licks but with one note… that fabulous falloff in the final bars of "Got My Own Thing Now". His presence on Samsara immediately told me all was right with the world. In addition to the above names familiar to SNZ fans, Tom recruited piano player Tom Loncarec, a new vocal Holly Harding-Badour, and Julius McKee of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band on Sousaphone. Yes, Sousaphone, not tuba. In case anyone reading this doesn't know the difference, the Sousaphone is a circular, marching tuba designed by John Philip Sousa… lighter and more managable than an orchestra tuba, it has a huge, forward facing bell and a bit of a louder, gruffer sound than a tuba. If you've seen a marching band on a football field, you've seen Sousaphones but may have called them tubas. Anyway, Julius adds a fat bottom to the tunes he plays on and finishes off that New Orleans sound. And like many great albums before it - including SNZ HOT and Sheryl Crow/Sheryl Crow, Samsara was recorded at Kingsway Studios in New Orleans. What does Samsara mean? As described on Tom's web site, Samsara" is an ancient Buddhist term. The opposite of Nirvana, it describes the endless cycle of desire and dissatisfaction. Every song on this record represents some aspect of this condition." I will try to interpolate this meaning for each of the tracks as best I can as we go along here. Now, on to the tunes! 1) INDICATIF - a short, wacky intro with Tom soloing on the sona… whatever that is. Sounds like a cross between a bagpipe and a snake charmer's horn. Maybe that's what it is… dunno, haven't been able to find a picture of one. What immediately came to mind was Robin Williams' ad-libbed "Shakespeare" play from his first, manic comedy album - the off-stage intro he blows in the microphone. Like Robin's intro, this one sets the stage for a lot of fun and often wacky stuff. 2) SIXES AND SEVENS TO ME- Familiar ground at last! This is probably the most Zipper-esque tune on the album, with the same single horn voicing (Dixieland style) that SNZ helped revive. I'm a really big fan of this style of arranging, rather than the giant horn sections so favored by many 'big band" enthusiasts. Full section playing has it's place but the sound of the various instruments jumping in and dropping out on point and counterpoint is what gets me going the most. This one is really a solid, straightforward number… borrows some old cliché's (One for the money two for the show, etc). As to its application to Samsara, it's almost a direct analogy… what better illustration of desire and dissatisfaction than the ritual of gambling? And Chris' answer to Tom's overextended guitar solo is worth the price of the whole record J 3) THE UPTOWN STOMP - Please bear with my while I undulge in some unmitigated gushing here… this song is arguably the best on the album, maybe even my favorite song in the world right now. It starts out with Duke Heitger demonstrating in no uncertain terms why I consider him the best living trumpet player… so easy to listen to. Then as the rest of the band joins in the Sousaphone takes over the bottom line and it just gets better and better. Like many of Tom's songs, it has a long instrumental intro before getting to the vocals. This song also features Mark Mullins on trombone, and almost everybody gets a little solo time. But no one player really "owns" this song, it's a great team effort all the way. As to Samsara… I constantly desire to hear this song, and I'm dissatisfied that I can't play anything nearly this good myself!! 4) CANT SLEEP - Now we shift gears here into a hard electric gospel blues… but waitaminnit… that's not a blues guitar leading off… it's Ken, blowing the keys off Tom's vintage Selmer Super Balanced Action tenor sax! You have to listen very carefully to see where the sax leaves off and Tom's guitar (which is there) picks up. Add to that a Gospel quartet (which I understand comprises most of the civil servants of Chapel Hill NC) and we're off and running. Samsara? Can't sleep? I have spent many wee hours listing to this song and the whole album. 5) THE MOOCHE - an old Duke Ellington tune, one of the few covers on this record. I recently got a copy of Ellington's original recording and was surprised how true to the original Tom's version is. This is some of Duke's earlier work from the 20's and has more swing & jump to it than his later (and more familiar) "big band" stuff. Right down to the low clarinet solo, tempo - this rendition is a loyal tribute to Duke yet has just enough of Tom's influence to blend it in well with the rest of the album. 6) IF I HAD YOU - We switch gears again, to the smooth and rich vocal of Holly Harding-Badour singing probably the most beautiful melody Tom has written. This song brings tears to my eyes for some reason… the lyrics are yearning and happy/sad all at the same time. I probably listened to it 30 times before I realized that the "you" she is wishing she had doesn't exist. It's a yearning for that which can be everything - "I have dreams every day but I would throw them away just to have you". I can relate to this on a level that's hard to describe. All I know is that playing along with it on the tenor sax helps me get closer to the feeling. At times, especially during the piano interlude, this almost sounds like the old Mama Cass song "Dream a Little Dream". But when I play that song today, it sounds dusty and dated compared to this fresh stuff. 7) CAVEAT EMPTOR - This is the kind of number that defies all categorization. I recommend just sitting there and letting your head and facial muscles twitch to every bizarre change and kick with a stupid grin on your face and enjoy. If you're not giggling out of control by the time Pink Floyd wakes you up in time to hear strains of John Lennon's "Revolution 9" drifting out backwards to the accomaniment of a squeaky-toy, well you just are a humorless clod . As to the Samsara aspect… heck this song switches chords so fast you'd swear half the band is a bar behind… no wait.. they are! The predominate tenor sax lick, simple though it is, was astonishingly difficult to learn… because it took me about 20 minutes to find the starting note. Off the wall, nuts, insane, I love it. 8) SOME BORN SINGING - Oddly enough, of the various people I've played this album for, this song is the one most likely to be disliked. Or as one guy put it, "Lose the Chinese, the rest of it's great". I understand somewhat, but don't agree. Holly sings Tom's adaptation of a traditional Oriental melody, and before you start screaming "Oh No! Yoko Ono!" check out the lyrics… I don't know if they are original, translated, adapted by Tom, or totally written by Tom. But like everything on this record, it makes you ponder and scratch your head. 9) DON'T GIVE ME THE RUNAROUND - Tom sings this adaptation of an old T-Bone Walker number, and it has a very traditional feel to it. Very nicely executed slow ballad with piano accompaniment and a lovely tenor sax solo by Tom. I don't have the original recording to this one to compare it to, so I can't say what kind of influences are at work here. 10) FLAME IN MY HEART - This song is one of the many pleasant surprises on SAMSARA. Tom and his wife Melanie cover an old George Jones / Bernard Spurlock tune. Again I lack reference to the original but the sound is so authentic that at first it almost sounds like a parody, but Tom's music (as was SNZ's) always had an undenyable country influence. This is the kind of country music I think of first when I hear the word, not the boring big-buck Nashville glam of today. 11) NOBODY LIKES YOU - Along with CAVEAT EMPTOR, it's hard not to just bust out laughing at the sheer audaciousness and sense of humor on this album. This is a 45-second song that makes its point quite easily in that space. Like many lyrics it sets the imagination going as to what may have inspired the song. And it's beautifully executed, with both Toms…. You'd think it's a soft little love ballad until you listen to the lyrics. The only other song I can think of that gives me the same feeling of sarcasm and short-stroke wit is "Through With Buzz", a 90-second slam from Steely Dan's "Pretzel Logic" that always left me grinning… and wondering. 12) THREE FIRES BLUES - Tom on the solo guitar, probably the most "serious" work on the album and I use the term lightly… seriously! J Just good traditional delta-kinda blues showcasing Tom's picking and composition abilities nicely. 13) ROLL THEM BONES - We return to the gospel vein once again, with the chorus all in gear on yet another Maxwell composition that you swear was written 60 years ago. This number also features a different piano player, Warren Williams. I'm beginning to run out of adjectives in my limited vocabulary to describe what it's like running through these tunes 2-3 times in a row and over the whole album again. 14) YOU'LL ALWAYS GET WHAT'S COMING - Tom and Ken teamed up for this incredible duo of pipe organ and vocal, with Tom L. on the former, Tom M. on the latter, and Ken on the eclectic changes. I don't know how long it has been since anyone used a pipe on jazz, but it has a distinctly different sound from the standard jazz keyboards like the ubiquitous Hammond B3 and others. The pipe organ is one of the few instruments whose very core is both religious and yet threatening at the same time. It's also quite an accomplishment to play a pipe in sync with a small combo since they usually involve distance problems and keyboard delays. The lyrics are very much in line with my life philosophy - I tend to disagree with Mick Jagger (Can't always get what you want, but you might get what you need). I tend to believe neither… you get what you get, and this song's lyrics are right on for the times. The organ plays the role of the Grand Arbiter. For some comparative (and wonderful) sounds, see if you can find the CD "Fats Waller and his Buddies" with Fats on the pipe organ for a number of tunes including my favorite, "Savannah Blues". 15) SAMSARA - The title song is saved for last, just the lonely vocal of Holly with varying accompaniment including a harp. Nicely sums up the theme of the album, and is a lovely song in its own right, it's almost baroque ending fading but leaving the thoughts behind. It alternately expresses sadness, wistfullness, and gratitude in such a way that one might realize how closely all our emotions are intertwined. That's it! In the 8-odd weeks I've had my hands on this album, I've probably played it all the way through 40-50 times, and played a few of the songs here and there. HOT MUSIC LIVES! Andy Harman 12/22/1999 12:16 AM ------------------------------ End of the-landing-digest V2 #299 *********************************