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This Week: John Cale, Jack DeJohnette, and Black Pearl  John Cale - Fear Island (1974) By now we all know who John Cale is. No? Really?!? Ok, some background: he was one of the brilliant musical minds behind the legendary Velvet Underground before embarking on his semi-successful solo career in 1970. He and Lou Reed were co-songwriters in Velvet Underground, John playing mostly bass, keyboards, and some viola. From the beginning of his solo career, John has been all over map stylistically, ranging from pop to experimental noise. Cale released Fear in 1974, and with some help from Roxy Music heroes such as Brian Eno and Phil Manzanera, this album really kicks some musical ass. Buffalo Ballet and Emily feature wonderful piano parts and Barracuda show off the mighty drumsticks. Cale also wrote a beautiful ballad entitled You Know More Than I Know and the unforgettable Ship of Fools with probably one of the prettiest choruses of the 1970's. Overall, Cale is pretty hit or miss, but the stuff he did in the early 70's is proto-punk weirdness mixed with great song-writing that shouldn't be missed.  Jack DeJohnette - Sorcery Prestige (1974) Hmmmm, two great records from 1974 in this review, how about that?!? DeJohnette is without a doubt one of the best drummers and percussionists the wacky world of jazz has ever seen, having played with all the greats including Coltrane and Miles Davis. Like other jazz musicians from the 70's, DeJohnette probably started smoking a lot of grass in these times, and Sorcery is a testament to his "experimentation." For this album, Jack got together with other hopheads, Dave Holland, John Abercrombie, and the druggiest of all, Bennie Maupin, who was still recuperating from recording Bitches Brew with Miles Davis. So you've probably guessed by now that this record is weird. But it's also great. I found it at an antique fair in San Mateo from this older couple who were selling off their sons' stuff who was in prison. Awesome. The title track is hot, with some psychedelic horn playing and a crazy drum build. The Rock Thing is the last song on the 1st side and does not disappoint. The last song on the album entitled Epilog is freaky and funky. Jack really flexes his drumming biceps on this cut. Half Tortoise, and half something else. It's one of the best songs from the hard-bop genre which included others the likes of Herbie Hancock and Eddie Harris. A strange and rare jewel.  Black Pearl - Self Titled Atlantic (1969) Black Pearl is a great band that you've never heard of. But don't worry, this is understandable because they only put out two albums, one live album and their self-titled studio album. Black Pearl was a five-piece band with an amazing lead singer named Bernie B.B. Fieldings who essentially idolized James Brown and tried to emulate his persona as a front man. And guess what? Black Pearl were from where else but San Francisco you bitch-asses! I guess I'm kind of on a drum binge today, because Black Pearl crank out some hard rockin psych music with the most ferocious drumbeats you've heard in a while, I guarantee it. When you see song titles like Crazy Chicken, White Devil, Mr. Soul Satisfaction and the lovely Bent Over, you know you're in for a treat. On a quick side note, their live album from the Fillmore contains a 12 minute version of James Browns Coldsweat. Very very hott. As always I will be spinning these records along with others at the dark and dirty Radio Bar located in scenic downtown Oakland at 435 13th street from 5pm until 8pm every Friday. I am also in a band called The Jim Yoshii Pile-Up that may be playing soon in a city near you! See you there! Frankie reviews The Stooges, Stanley Cowell, and Silver Jews Frankie reviews Polvo, Neil Young, and Idris Muhhamad |
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