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By Lucinda Williams's exacting standards, Essence (Lost Highway),
only her fifth album since 1981, came fast--just three years after
Car Wheels on a Gravel Road finally translated her critical renown
into a sustaining audience. So she may kick herself when she
realizes that it has a few missteps on it, notably a closer that
mentions Pontius Pilate. Nevertheless, Williams remains one
perfectionist who's generally perfect. Refusing to waste a word or
a melodic flourish, she mines the musics of the South without
settling for one, her cracked drawl all breath and yearning, sweet
with a dry finish. Hardly a babe or a geisha, Williams packs a
sexuality so intense you feel you'd best meet it halfway for
safety's sake. Even so, the likes of I Envy the Wind, Steal Your
Love, and Essence may make you wonder whether all that passion is
worth the emotional cost--and then shrug and figure you only live
once.
Cuba's Orlando Lopez is the nephew of expatriate bassist
extraordinaire Israel Lopez, a/k/a Cachao. But it's chops, not
nepotism, that's made him the bass player on every Buena Vista
Social Club-related track yet released. And now Cachaito
(Nonesuch) shows he's got ideas of his own. Shot through with compositional
devices from classical music to drum 'n' bass and lots of avant-friendly
jazz, Cachaito leaves Buena Vista traditionalism behind.
It's the most exciting new album the current Cuban wave has yet
tossed up.
Just for including both the title track's beatmastery and the
party-starting freshness of the long-unavailable old-school classic
Zulu Nation Throwdown, Afrika Bambaataa's Looking for the Perfect
Beat 1980-1985 (Tommy Boy) would be a recommended hip-hop buy. The
other nine tracks make it a must.
Playboy, May 2001
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Apr. 2001 |
June 2001 |
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