New album: Band Of Brothers
Artist: Willie Nelson
Label: Sony Legacy
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
People who don’t even particularly like country music like Willie Nelson, and anyone who has ever like him should love “Band Of Brothers.”
Willie Nelson will forever be identified as a country music artist, but by this point he’s a genre unto himself. Truck drivers, stock brokers and every demographic in between appreciates Nelson’s artistry. With “Band Of Brothers,” Nelson turns in a batch of predominantly original material that will no doubt be blared from an 18-wheeler or BMW near you.
Nelson’s co-writer/producer for “Band Of Brothers” is Buddy Cannon, a man who has worked with everyone from Cab Calloway to Hank Snow. Cannon’s quirky CV has proven him to be a good match for Nelson’s off-kilter sense of timing, and thankfully he didn’t try to turn Willie Nelson into Eric Church.
Willie Nelson’s music has traditionally fared better when presented in a stripped down, fluff-free manner. These new songs — particularly “Guitar In The Corner” and the hysterical “Wives And Girlfriends” – prove Nelson still has the most idiosyncratic sense of timing this side of John Lee Hooker, but Cannon finds a way to keep everything in the pocket. Longtime Nelson sideman Mickey Raphael’s soulful harmonica playing in particular helps keep everything between the lines.
“We’re a band of brothers and sisters and whatever, on a mission to break all the rules,” Nelson sings on the title track, and for a guy that inspired many of them to be written, he seems content with the notion of staying on the road till he’s called home. The album closes with the upbeat “I’ve Got A Lot Of Traveling To Do,” which is somewhat of a play cousin to “On The Road Again.” Hopefully Nelson has a few more albums in him, but if “Band Of Brothers” ends up being his final statement he’ll be going out in style.
Classic album: Moods of Marvin Gaye
Artist: Marvin Gaye
Label: Motown
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
When “Moods Of Marvin Gaye” was released in 1966, singles were still a big market but LPs were slowly becoming the new vessel of choice.
In the early days of pop music albums were nothing more than a few hit singles surrounded by a half dozen or so sub-par filler tracks. Eventually artists such as Frank Zappa, The Beatles, The Who and The Kinks started making entire albums that kept the listener’s attention. Seeing that a change was coming, Motown chief Berry Gordy and Marvin Gaye decided to craft “Moods Of Marvin Gaye” as a full album experience.
While Gaye wouldn’t peak as an album artist until a few years later, “Moods...” is an unheralded classic in his cannon. Where else are you going to hear Marvin Gaye cover Willie Nelson (“Night Life”) and material associated with Frank Sinatra (“One For My Baby”)? “Hey Diddle Diddle” and “I’ll Be Doggone” never really catch fire, but it’s interesting to hear a Marving Gaye song every now and again that hasn’t been run into the ground by radio.
“One More Heartache” is interesting in that it is eerily similar to “Ain’t That Peculiar.” What’s more interesting is that “Ain’t That Peculiar” — possibly Gaye’s greatest R&B single — follows “One More Heartache” on this album. Whether this happened due to design or happenstance is unknown, but they’re both great songs.
Marvin Gaye’s radio hits have been anthologized from here to the moon and back, but “Moods Of Marvin Gaye” marks the point when he became an album-oriented artist. If you want to look beyond the four Marvin Gaye songs that are still making the rounds on oldies radio, this album is as good a place to start as any.
Jon Dawson’s album reviews appear every Thursday in The Free Press. Contact Jon at 252-559-1092 or jon.dawson@kinston.com. Purchase Jon’s books at Amazon.com.