New album: Wooden Aquarium
Artist: Mazes
Label: Fat Cat
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
After releasing a noisy, motorik homage to krautrock that was preceded by a slamming garage rock record, Mazes have produced a third album that sounds like the child of the first two.
Aside from being an early front runner for album cover of the year, Wooden Aquarium pulls off the neat trick of sounding ramshackle yet tight. Sounding like Neil Young’s band Crazy Horse after being fed a steady diet of Red Bull and sugar for a week, Mazes blast through intelligent guitar rockers “Salford” and “Astigmatism” like a runaway train.
If there is any point of departure from previous Mazes albums it would be in the subtle psychedelia of “It Is What It Is,” which recalls the hazy soul of the Charlatans U.K.’s “Can’t Get Out Of Bed.” The track “Vapor Trails” lumbers along with a fuzzy Crazy Horse stomp in the verses before easing into a lilting chorus reminiscent of The Zombies or Donovan. “RIPP” is a trippy jam in the Syd Barret-era Pink Floyd tradition.
Mazes don’t break a massive amount of new ground on Wooden Aquarium, but they are shaking things up enough to keep things interesting. With a deceptively simple sound and writing chops to burn, Mazes have positioned themselves as the preeminent guitar rock band of the new breed.
Classic album: Dusty In Memphis
Artist: Dusty Springfield
Label: Atlantic
Rating: 5 stars out of 5
Dusty Springfield was surrounded by an astounding team on “Dusty in Memphis” — the same producers and musicians who helped Aretha Franklin create some of the most memorable soul music of all time.
While great production and great musicians are key ingredients for any great album, it’s obvious from these results that Dusty Springfield was no slouch herself. Springfield may not have been a self-contained artist in the Carole King tradition, but she brought a heavy dose of herself to every song she performed. The fact that “Son of a Preacher Man” is still used to sell movies today proves that there was something magic in these sessions.
While “Preacher Man” is the enduring mega-hit from the album, the album is chock full of southern-soul classics. “Don’t Forget about Me,” “I Can’t Make It Alone” and “Breakfast in Bed” are all mini-masterpieces in their own right. “The Windmills of Your Mind” is a Spanish ballad that could be a hit today if re-released in a shiny new package with Britney Spears’ face on it.
Sometimes too many cooks in the kitchen can ruin a good meal, but in the case of “Dusty in Memphis,” all of the right people were in the right place at the right time. Although “Dusty In Memphis” isn’t as deep as Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks,” both albums exude a certain spiritual mist that gives the music an inert personality.
This is an essential album for any connoisseur of great soul music.
Jon Dawson’s books are available at jondawson.com. His reviews appear here every Thursday.