Rock legends break ground in releases
Courtesy of Virgin
“Live at the Hollywood Palladium:
December 15,1988"
Keith Richards and the X-Pensive
Winos
Virgin Records
It has been said repeatedly that on
any given night, any band can be the
world’s greatest. To apply a perma
nent tag to a particular band is to
ignore those nights when they’re not
exactly together, and more impor
tantly, it is to forget those rare nights
when young, hopeful groups hit upon
the elusive vibe of joyous musical
communion.
On Dec. 15, 1988, the Rolling
Stones’ own Keith Richards and his
raggedy band of smiling stalwarts
supposedly claimed the heavyweight
title. It could be that there weren’t
many bands playing in the world that
night, or it could mean that the rock
legend delivered the goods better and
more assuredly than he had in years.
Bel on the latter.
On this wondrous disc you pick up
all the adrenaline, smiles, mistakes,
smoke, aches, sweat and glee of a
ripping performance by what ol’ Kccf
thinks to be “the second ace band” of
his career. All the cogs of the live
band machinery are working in deli
cate sync, and the virtuoso players at
hand arc clearly enjoying the fact.
Most of the material from the show
draws from Keith’s 1988 solo ven
ture, the vastly underrated “Talk is
Cheap.” (From that album alone it
was plainly discernible who was the
driving groove in the Rolling Stones.)
The music is classic three-chord
Tclccastcr, booming bass, and some
tight trap work courtesy of Richards’
invaluable collaborator Steve Jordan.
The material translates better than
expected to the live situation, as in
the dead-on JB workout “Big Enough”
and the churning “Struggle.”
Vocalist Sarah Dash comes to the
party with a touch of grace amid all
the gruff, adding real sensuality to the
slow burner “Make No Mistake” and
taking over lead on the Stones’ own
“Time Is On My Side.” Guitarist
Waddy Wachtcl keeps a tasteful
rhythm and lead going over Charley
Drayton’s nasty bass and Ivan Nev
ille’s fat, prickly organ, while long
time ‘Stones cohort Bobby Keys jabs
in the air with his tenor sax’s dirty
work.
Then there’s Keith. The voice that
smoked a thousand Camels is in top
condition (well, considering how he
usually sounds), and he is clearly
enjoying this night out with the boys,
away from carrying the mantle of
rock god, just being one of the guys;
pouncing on the crunch and punch of
classic rock’n’roll. It’sa rhre moment
in history when something along those
lines occurs. The thing is, it may
never happen again.
As Kurt Lodcr puls it in the exten
sive liner notes,
“What’s captured hcrc...is the surge
and flow of music itself, and the
charting of complex routes through
what arc sometimes thought to be
shallow musical waters. It’s about
getting into music, and getting off on
it.”
That sums it up nicely.
—Paul Winner
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I Music fiRMrWie Motion Picture Soundtrack
Until The End Of The World
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Courtesy of Warner Bros Records
“Until The End of the World”
Music from the Motion Picture
Soundtrack
Various Artists
Warner Bros. Records
Premier film director Wim Wen
ders is about to release his latest film,
and naturally there is a hum of excit
able anticipation in thccincma world.
There arc a few fragmental ideas
floating around pertaining to what the
plot of the movie is: something about
1999, desolation, desert images, two
hearts finding each other across an
endless, bleak sea of dust. Pretty heady
stuff
No mailer how ihc film turns out,
what should be noted is that it boasts
one of the best soundtrack albums to
come along in quite a while. Fourteen
brand new songs by highly respected
artists (from U2 to Dcpcchc Mode to
Nick Cave to CAN) all strangely seeped
in the same images that “Until the
End of the World” supposedly pos
sesses: bleakness, emptiness and iso
lation. If the film didn’t exist, this
could still be a soundtrack for some
body’s serious depressive blue funk.
• Sparse arrangements abound, where
brushed snares snuggle with strummed
electric guitars, tribal rhythms, off
key violins and plucked chamber
instruments. (Any analogy is going to
be strained, but this just might be
Cole Porter meets Joy Division, in
troduced via Lou Reed). You could
either wish for average standard from
these artists, or allow the collabora
tive efforts of all of them to over
whelm you with striking originality.
Talking Heads get things rollick
ing with their first new song in five
years, “Sax and Violins.” The song’s
stutter-step drum pattern and twangy
guitar picking and idiosyncratic David
Byrne s singing set the mood for the
rest of the album. It is essentially a
sad song, and it’s probably the happi^_
cst tunc in the whole bunch.
R.E.M. and Elvis Costello both
venture into more baroque shadings
of their signature work, and the re
sults arc well rewarded. Similarly, T
Bonc Burnett funks up his usually
linear rock leanings with the eerily
witty “Humans From Earth,” and k.d.
lang joins songstress Jane Sicbcrry
See WORLD on 19
igi
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