Cassara's Corner: CD and DVD reviews

Occasionally we'll turn this space over to our farflung arts correspondents, including my friend James Cassara from Asheville, NC, who shares some reviews on music CDs and DVDs... enjoy!

The Clash, Rude Boy - DVD
It's the economically depressed, racially volatile English spring of 1978, and heavy-boozing Ray is a roadie for the Clash at the height of their powers. While this deliriously flawed film lacks any real narrative (or even much in the way of cohesion) it’s pumped up by massive jolts of adrenaline as the Clash storm from one night to the next. It’s the performances which save the day and Rude Boy, as uneven as it is, makes clear why the initial surge of punk rock was as much a social as a musical imperative. In a few short years the band would achieve global acclaim via London Calling, but here, captured in the nascent years, lies a rough hewn eloquence the world has yet to again witness. ***

Chuck Berry, Hail, Hail, Rock and Roll! Expanded DVD
During the explosive birth of rock and roll as we know it, Chuck Berry was the man-lean and mean, with a string of self-penned hits that reinvented our conception of what a music performer should be. Elvis might have had that sneer but Berry had the swagger; his animal sexuality was as menacing as it was enticing and you‘d better watch out because his music might just as easily draw you as a moth toward the flame. In 1986, in honor of his sixtieth birthday, a concert was assembled at St. Louis' Fox Theatre-the very place where Berry had been turned away as a boy during segregation, and blocks from the courthouse where, as Berry says, "my forefathers were sold." In front of a ready-to-riot crowd, the concert brilliantly captures Berry's unflagging power as a guitar virtuoso, as well as his audacity in literally duck walking circles around a bemused Linda Ronstadt. But what makes this a great film are the before the show happenings: Keith Richards, musical director of the celebration, nearly driven to tears by Berry's ball-breaking insistence that Richards bend a note just right; Jerry Lee Lewis' admission of his own mother telling him Berry was the true king of rock and roll; and a still-heroin addicted Eric Clapton’s glassy eyed confession that he “didn‘t know a thing about Black men until Chuck Berry."

Equally fascinating is watching Berry handle his own business-traveling without backing band or entourage, demanding to be paid what he's worth-thus proving he also pioneered rock and roll's potent do-it-yourself work ethic. Given the royal status of its’ participants director Taylor Hackford still manages to keep this an intimate affair, giving us a revealing document of an original rock and roll immortal. Released in expanded format (addition concert footage and backstage interviews) Hail! Hail! is the real deal, setting a standard that will likely hold for years to come. ****1/2

Johnny Cash, Live In Denmark - DVD
Iconic singer and songwriter Johnny Cash was in the midst of an early 1970’s Scandinavian tour when he was invited to star in a concert special for Danish television. Taped on a simple (and admittedly tacky) set, before a small but enthusiastic audience and without the announcers or production numbers that often dogged his shows, the broadcast preserved Cash's road performance as it was presented at the time. With appearances from his touring partners June Carter Cash, The Carter Family, Carl Perkins and The Statler Brothers. Man In Black — Live In Denmark 1971 features Cash at his most exposed and assured, perfunctorily performing such crowd pleasers as "A Boy Named Sue", "Sunday Morning Coming Down", and "I Walk The Line. The end result might be a bit predictable but the obvious affection between participants, not to mention loving duets with Perkins and June Carter, preclude this being merely another document of a time gone by. ***


Ronnie Milsap, Columbia/legacy
While there has been no scarcity of Ronnie Milsap collections over the years (in fact they nearly outnumber his albums of original material) until now there has yet been a compilation that wisely balances the chameleon like phases of his long career. Given how many are out there-all of which are cataloged in the liner notes to this volume-the obvious question is “Why one more?” The natural response should be that while this collection can hardly be dubbed essential, it is quite welcome. It's an expertly chosen and sequenced collection of Milsap's best work, from 1973's "(All Together Now) Let's Fall Apart" and running all the way to 1989's "A Woman in Love." Most of this material was on 40 #1 Hits, so if you already own that, there's not much need for this. Still this set has a slight edge over the previous compilation, largely because it has a greater concentration of his prime material making it an extremely listenable affair; its non-chronological sequencing works for it, since it emphasizes the consistently high quality of his top selling singles at a time when most country artists were scored mega-hits with some of the worst rubbish Nashville had to offer. So, even if there is a surplus of Milsap collections out on the market, this outstanding set indeed proves that, for the right buyer, there's always room for another good one. ***1/2

The John Doe Thing, For The Rest of Us (reissued) - Yep Roc
In 1997 John Doe was without a record deal and seemingly at odds with the music industry which, as the former leader of X, he’d once helped breathe new life into. Rather than retreat, he did what he’d always done best; gather together a few friends, dig up some new material, and make music. With Smokey Hormel on guitar, Joey Waronker on drums, and Pete Way serving as producer Doe cut a batch of songs, releasing five as an EP. Eight years later, he’s has reissued the material in expanded form with five unreleased tracks from the same sessions, essentially filling it out to a full album. The added songs are very much in the same vein as the original EP material; these tunes are at once tough and intelligently expressionistic, with a flinty beat poet influence in the lyrics and music that's lean and raw even when it's pretty. On numbers like "Zero" and "This Loving Thing" (the latter co-written with Dave Grohl) Doe shows off his temperate side, reminding us that love lost is still the most powerful love of all. He also isn't afraid to lean into some good old pumped up and abrasive punk rock, with "Bad, Bad Feeling" and "Come Home" ranking alongside the most vital stuff he's released since X called it a day. A thread of weathered introspection runs through these ten songs and if this isn't the most finely crafted music of Doe's solo work it comes close. It has the brave and adventurous spirit of a man putting his heart and soul on tape, with little concern about who might hear it or how they'll react. Ragged but right, For the Best of Us ranks with the most actual and affecting music of John Doe's solo career. ****

David Ross McDonald, Knuckle, Brass, and Bone
While best known as the drummer for the Australian band The Waifs McDonald has continued to churn out distinct and likeable music on his own. Drawing from the indigenous sounds he heard as a youth Knuckle, Brass, and Bones tenders up an inviting set of sparsely arranged and anthropologically intact tunes that explore the inevitable conflicts between culture and commerce, progress and displacement, and (mostly) forgiveness and ego. His own singing is effectual and direct while McDonald’s guitar skills continue to improve with each new offering. Wisely wanting to spread the word McDonald offers up free downloads from his web site at DavidRossMcDonald.com. Once you’re hooked his albums are easily obtainable via various links on his site. Needless to say each is worth seeking out.


Dave Alvin, West Of The West - Yep Roc Records
Dave Alvin is a Californian through and through, and nowhere is this more evident than on the pair of discs he has recorded for Yep Roc. He’s built a career out of creating tunes which brilliantly reflect the cultural melting pot of his home state, fusing blues, rockabilly, folk, country, jazz and R&B influences with the passion of an archivist and the fire of a born rock and roller. He’s no doubt a better songwriter and guitarist than a singer, but here he’s opted to play the role of interpreter, playing homage to a dozen other tunesmiths from the Golden State while tossing in one of his own compositions for good measure. Beyond geography one might wonder what Tom Waits, John Fogerty, and Brian Wilson have in common but in some way each offers a thumbnail sketch of one side of California. Merle Haggard's "Kern River" is a compassionate but rough and tumble memoir of life in the West Coast labor camps while Jackson Browne's "Redneck Friend" is a witty portrait of the decadence and ennui of 1970s Los Angeles. The dichotomy of such tunes matched against Wilson's "Surfer Girl"-with its innocent daydream of the beach as a place where summer vacation never ends and true love is always rewarded-works surprisingly well. Thematically this is heady stuff, even a bit too much so, but Alvin has the wisdom not to force the issues too hard, wringing an understated passion out of even the least likely material. While in many respects he’s still best described as a songwriter who sings, Alvin knows how to tell a story, and he's picked some dandies for this album. It's hard not to wish he’d had a whole album of new songs to offer (his lone original stands tall among some very distinguished company here), but West of the West finds him honoring a stellar pantheon of California songwriters while showing that, on a good day, he can easily stand side by side with them with any of them. ***1/2