Rating: NNNNN
A weekly dig through the crates for the stuff you really need to hear.
All Finnish
Anyone who thought the jazz dance days of Eero Koivistoinen were over for the innovative Finnish fusion saxophonist should check the Five Corners Quintet ‘s brilliant new Trading Eights ( Ricky-Tick ) 10-inch EP. This isn’t quite the twin-bass, double-drums blast of Wahoo! but the flame-throwing Koivistoinen is still charging hard as he leads his swinging acoustic band through two swank floor-fillers that should help jazz-sussed DJs keep clubs cooking this summer.
Magnificent Morricone
The third and final instalment of the sexcellent Mondo Morricone CD series documenting the cult film soundtrack excursions of maestro Ennio Morricone, Molto Mondo Morricone ( Royal Ear Force ) focuses on his lesser-known themes from the 70s, gathering elegantly orchestrated cues from crime dramas and erotic thrillers like Weak Spot, The Burglars, Let’s Make Love, The Cat O’ Nine Tails, Dirty Angels and Blood In The Streets. The suggestively breathy cooing of Edda dell’Orso adds to the intrigue.
Where’s the Beefheart?
A reunion of latter-day alumni of Captain Beefheart ‘s Magic Band – namely Gary “Mantis” Lucas , John “Drumbo” French , Mark “Rockette Morton” Boston and Denny “Feelers Reebo” Walley – revisiting the Captain’s classics on the Back To The Front ( ATP ) disc proves much more entertaining than the live-to-tape rehearsal recording concept might suggest. Forget about nostalgia. These are master musicians, and their raunchy rips through stuff like Abba Zaba, Hair Pie, The Floppy Boot Stomp and Click Clack are a pure delight. Get booglarized, baby!
Blues in the house
If resourceful producers can kick out house revisions of garage rock tunes, can radically reconstructed blues joints be far off? Not very. Street Corner has just put out a bangin’ version of Robert Cray ‘s Phone Booth, grafting his soulful vocals and stinging guitar lines onto a galloping 4/4 thump. It should be interesting to see if the dancers get up should Cray decide to haul out Phone Booth during his upcoming Toronto Bluesfest gig at Exhibition Place July 27. Perlich’s picks
