Down With Wilco
The Minus 5
Yep Rock Records
(out of 5)

Scott McCaughey doesn’t hate Wilco. In fact, The Young Fresh Fellows frontman named the latest album from his second band The Minus 5 Down with Wilco because Wilco, in fact, got down with The Minus 5 for the two recording sessions that produced this record.

Jeff Tweedy and company, who hit a peak with last year’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot after an already impressive career, joined singer and instrumentalist McCaughey (pronounced McCoy) and his longtime Minus 5 cohorts Peter Buck of R.E.M. on guitar and Ken Stringfellow from The Posies on backing vocals, organ and some wacky instruments to produce the delightful pop that McCaughey is known for.

The sound continues in the same direction as the band’s last album, Let the War Against Music Begin, which was distributed as an economically priced double album with The Young Fresh Fellows’ Because We Hate You. The obvious addition is Wilco, and the band members bring some of the experimentation and pop goodness of their album Summerteeth to the mix.

Tweedy joins McCaughey with producing duties, and the two add nice textures to the songs, written mostly by McCaughey with Tweedy co-writing a few. The backing tracks are varied from verse to verse, giving some songs more musical variety than many entire albums have. The music combines traditional guitar, drums, bass and keyboard with some unusual and/or electronic noises.

The whole album is solid pop, but a few tracks stand out. In “What I Don’t Believe,” a raspy voiced McCaughey sings a haunting waltz to erratic drumbeats. And Wilco fans craving Tweedy’s cigarette-stained voice can hear him on “The Family Gardener,” which he co-wrote. “Retrieval of You” is a solid and infectious pop number and showcases McCaughey’s eccentric lyrics, as does “Dear Employer (The Reason I Quit),” which morphs a letter of resignation into what sounds like a suicide note.

Perhaps the title should have been Down With Shallow Songs. Long live The Minus 5! Vive Wilco!
-JM

 

Standard Of Language
Kenny Garrett
Warner Bros.

With a quartet comprised of Charnett Moffett (bass), Chris Dave (drums), Vernell Brown (piano) and himself, seasoned wind player Kenny Garrett’s (Alto & Soprano Sax) jazz troupe continues to deliver astounding and thought-provoking modern jazz.
The album opens with the upbeat Garrett arrangement of Cole Porter’s, “What Is This Thing Called Love?” Garrett opens the song with joyful phrases on the sax and soon has accompaniment by Dave on drums and the rest of the band falls in with complex comping on the piano and a walking bass line that sounds like it’s jogging to maintain the quick pulse. Garrett continues to solo and the music maintains an intense edge that doesn’t quite let the listener in on what will happen next. After soloing for the first three or four minutes of the song, Garrett steps aside to let Brown pound out a solo on the keys only to return to Garrett’s quick and expressive soloing.
Even though the first cut is not a Garrett original, it’s indicative of the work on the rest of the album—good compositions, well arranged with lots of room for musical thoughts. The album is an important step in modern jazz.
“Native Tongue” is the only weak song on the album. Coupled with a lack of intensity in playing, the song just sounds emotionless, like the band wanted another five minutes of music on the album—plus it sounds kind of cheesy.
“Doc Tone’s Short Speech” explores a syncopated time signature—almost rhythmically Latin, but not quite. The soloing is laid back and the song grooves from start to finish.
“Just a Second to Catch My Breath” is a beautiful ballad that reeks of heartfelt emotions of love and joy, demonstrating the musicians’ ability to communicate through their instrument and Garrett’s intense virtuosity. The tempo is subdued enough to slow dance to and the band really establishes a laid-back mood.
One cool feature of the album is that they didn’t filter out the voices of the players as they grumble during their solos, as they do at times. It gives the album a life-like quality.
The title track is a three-part musical journey that ends the album—it’s a little over 11 minutes long. Each part is separated by a rolling high hat while the accompanying music changes.
On Garrett’s 14th album, it’s a surprise that such a seasoned player continues to put out such fresh material. He truly stands on his own and has retired from the sideman position to occupy a place way up front.
-LMV