Tamara Champlin - You Won't Get to Heaven Alive (1995)

A career session vocalist and songwriter, Tamara Champlin, has only released one solo album-- You Won't Get to Heaven Alive.  For years her voice has graced her husband, Bill Champlin's, solo albums. 

Why Tamara was never a bigger star remains a mystery.  She can sing like no one's business, not to mention she's very attractive-- oh wait the mainstream music industry only cares about one of those two things-- and it's not her actual singing talent they'd look at, unfortunately.

At the same time, listening to Tamara's one (and thus far only) solo album however it could be argued her lack of mainstream success could be due to timing.  As good as the material on her solo album is that even at the time of its release it sounded three to five years too late.  Had this album been released in the late eighties or early nineties it likely would have been met with considerably more fanfare.

So let's pretend this album was actually released in the late eighties or early nineties and look at it through that prism instead...

Tamara tackles an impressive variety of styles with tremendous pop sensibility.  There are horns on a few of tracks: Backstreets of Paradise, Rock and Roll Tragedy, and Crawl - the horn charts have an attitude, a swagger to them that sets them apart from many of the horn charts featuring other rock and pop songs of the era.  Roll the Bones features some great harmonica playing by Chicago drummer, Tris Imboden, showing his talents aren't limited to his drum kit. 

Lyrically, Tamara tackles several themes and issues.  Purple Black and Blonde is a not at all subtle stab at domestic violence: "Miss Misery regrets she'll be unable to attend, The fall she took last evening left a nearly fatal end, Her husband talks in circles, He insists she was alone, But the neighgors say the house is like a military zone." 

All of the material also shows hints of the blues that seems to suggest Bonnie Raitt.  Whether it's the aforementioned harmonica on  Roll the Bones, Tamara's vocals on Stone Cold and Only Love an undercurrent of the blues ripples under the surface of the entire album. 

The only real drawback to the album is it's dated sound-- largely due to the guitar parts that sound like trademark eighties guitar solos.  The material is, for the most part, quite strong, re-visiting the material with a more contemporary eye for arrangement might spell greater success.  (*** out of 5)

Related Links
Tamara Champlin (facebook)
Tamara Champlin (myspace music site)

Forgotten Music Thursday: The Cruel Sea - The Honeymoon is Over (1993)

When I was a senior in high school I received a sampler cassette from Polygram Records featuring recently released and up and coming material from their stable of artists/musicians.  Much of the material fell flat with me.  Only two songs really impressed me.  One of which by a band I'd never heard of, The Cruel Sea.  Their single,  The Honeymoon Is Over, instantly caught my attention.

Fast forward a few years to about 1997 or 1998.  I was scanning the shelves of the Sandusky library and stumbled upon this CD, The Honeymoon Is Over by the Cruel Sea. I immediately signed out the CD and furthered my familiarity of this band beyond just the title track.

But first a little background.  The Cruel Sea started out as an instrumental group performing in a Sydney pub so small their guitarists would have to move around to afford the pool players the space to take their shots. 

Handling the lighting for many of their shows was Beasts of Bourbon vocalist, Tex Perkins who took a liking to many of their instrumental arrangements.  Perkins approached guitarist/band founder, Dan Rumour about putting lyrics to some of their instrumentals.

Initially, due to scheduling obligations with the Beasts of Bourbon, Perkins was only able to perform with the Cruel Sea ocassionally.  In 1993, when the Beasts were on hiatus, Perkins was able to devote more of his time to the Cruel Sea and finally became a full member of the band.

Perkins timing was fortuitous, in 1993 the Cruel Sea released their Australian smash hit album, The Honeymoon Is Over.  Which is the only of their albums to receive much notice in the United States. 

The Honeymoon Is Over mixes instrumental roots rock with tracks featuring the gravelly voiced Tex Perkins.  The instrumental and vocal tracks are equally enjoyable making this album an excellent soundtrack for summer parties and grillin' out on the barbie.

The album opens with the fun and somewhat whimsical Orleans Stomp which suggests hints of instrumental sixties surf music.

The title track is the ultimate in break-up songs with lyrics like: I'm gonna send you back to wherever the hell it was you came/then I'm gonna get this tattoo changed to another girl's name.  The groove is infectious and of all the songs on the album it's easily the most radio friendly.

Delivery Man features a killer groove and a smooth but raspy vocal by Tex Perkins.

But all of the songs are thoroughly enjoyable with an easy-going, laidback vibe.  While they would find continued success in their native Australia with Three Legged Dog, Over Easy, Where There's Smoke, and finally capping off their brilliant career was the 2CD live set We Don't Work We Play Music this album marked the beginning and end of their impact on the US market.

While The Honeymoon Is Over was not The Cruel Sea's debut album it is easily one of their most accessible albums and I'd venture the best place to start if you want to explore The Cruel Sea and get to better know their catalog.

Related Links
The Honeymoon Is Over live

The Cruel Sea (allmusic)
The Cruel Sea (wikipedia)
Dan Rumour & The Drift
Tex Perkins

The Cat Empire - s/t (2003)

If you were to look "Party Band" up in the dictionary you'd find a photo of The Cat Empire performing live.  These guys are the epitome of what a party band should be. 

Take a bit of ska, a pinch of funk, a few hints of funk, a cup of reggae, a teaspoon of rap, and a tablespoon or two of jazz toss it in the blender, set it to puree... and you'll get The Cat Empire.

The band is comprised of Felix Reibl (percussion & vocals), Harry James Angus (trumpet & vocals), Ollie McGill (keyboard & backing vocals), Will Hull-Brown (drums), & Jamshid "Jumps" Khadiwhala (decks & percussion).  The band is often backed by the brass duo, The Empire Horns (Kieran Conrau/trombone, Ross Irwin/trumpet flugelhorn & backing vocals, & Carlo Barbaro/tenor sax).

As a lover of horns, I'm especially pleased that The Cat Empire does not skimp on the horns when the songs warrant a good solid wall of brass but also know when to show restraint when the material doesn't warrant any brass. 

One might not expect such an eclectic mix of different styles would mix well, but The Cat Empire mixes various different genres with a deft skill that speaks volumes to their musical talent and overall creativity.

Their 2003 debut album starts out with a festive, catchy bang with How to Explain which remains a staple of their live shows to this day.  Days Like These is a catchy fun romp as well, although not quite as fun as How to Explain. 

The album picks up speed again with The Chariot with catchy, upbeat lyrics and an infectuous beat that is near impossible to avoid dancing to.  The band would re-visit this song with a slightly different arrangement on their 2nd album, Two Shoes, but this version has a catchier groove than the more recent updated 2005 arrangement.

The lyrics are at times at empowering and other times downright amusing:

And my knees were shaking
And my jaw was dropping
And my eyes were squinting
And my smile was growing
And my pants were bulging
And my hands were sweating
And my chest was beating
So I cry 'excuse me,
What is the secret to your song?'

Cause when you're walking along
When you're walking along:

Your legs are a melody my hands
Would like to play
And your hips are a note
That does take me away
And your face and your eyes and your hair
And your waist and your smile
Drive me to distraction - excerpt from The Rhythm

After The Rhythm the album downshifts and borrows more from the band's jazz influences.  The material is no less enjoyable and it puts on display the full breadth of their musical talents.

While The Cat Empire has released several more exceptional albums, and their 2005 follow-up Two Shoes is easily superior to this debut.  The album is the best place to start as it whets the appetite for the even better music that was yet to come.

Related media & Links
How to Explain video

The Rhythm video

The Chariot video

Days Like These video

Hello video

The Cat Empire (official website)
The Cat Empire (wikipedia)
The Cat Empire (CD) (wikipedia)
Felix Reibl (wikipedia)
Harry James Angus (wikipedia)
Ollie McGill (wikipedia)

Robert Lamm - Subtlety & Passion (2003)

The fourth time was the charm for Robert Lamm.  While he'd had success as a member of Chicago, writing hits and fan favorites like Beginnings, Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?, 25 or 6 to 4, and Saturday In the Park; his solo material was rather uneven. 

His debut, Skinny Boy, was overly self-indulgent and generally pretentious.  The only tracks worth listening to at all, let alone repeat listens were the title track which was also found on Chicago VII and Fireplace & Ivy.  And with his solo version of Skinny Boy the horn chart had been removed making it somewhat lacking compared to the Chicago version.

The material on Life Is Good In My Neighbourhood was a substantial improvement.  The lyrics were what his fans had come to expect given the material he had composed for Chicago.  However, due to an over-reliance on synthesizers the album ended up sounding more like a collection of demos than a finished product. 

In My Head saw 3 duets with Phoebe Snow.  Now Ms. Snow is a fine singer and her voice complements Mr. Lamm's quite nicely.  However including 3 duets with her on one album was a bit of overkill.  Not all was lost as there is some strong material on the album; Watching the Time Go By featuring Gerry Beckley from America and the late Carl Wilson from the Beach Boys is at least as good as the version included on the 2000 Beckley/Lamm/Wilson trio project, Like a Brother a year later, Love of My Life features some of Robert's best vocals since he was in his vocal prime in the late 60s/early 70s and the alternate arrangement Robert includes on Sleeping In the Middle of the Bed Again from the then unreleased Stone of Sisyphus album, while not as good as the Chicago version, is certainly still worth listening to. 

But finally with Subtlety & Passion Robert was firing on all cylinders.  This is the solo album his fans have been waiting for for years.  Considering that all of the then current members of Chicago performed on this album in some capacity or another and Lamm even wrote a song around an unreleased guitar solo by the late Terry Kath (Intensity) it could be argued that Subtlety & Passion was much more a Chicago album than Chicago XXX ended up being a few years later with its over-reliance on session cats standing in for members of the band. 

Most of the songs feature horns and most of the horn parts are played by Chicago's horn section giving even greater credence to this being more of a Chicago album than Chicago had recorded in a long time.  And what makes the songs so enjoyable is that they sound like Chicago SHOULD have sounded in the years since the passing of Terry Kath and departure of Peter Cetera.  There's an easy-going and likable familiarity to the material which makes it reminiscent of Chicago's long string of hits throughout the seventies.

Some of the standout tracks include the I Could Tell You Secrets, Another Sunday, Gimme Gimme, The Mystery of Moonlight, and the aforementioned Intensity.  The album, from start to finish, is a bit of a return to form for Lamm whose material in the eighties left a bit to be desired-- especially when compared to the brilliance of Chicago's early years when he was largely the band's principal songwriter. 

This, not Chicago XXX, is the Chicago album that their fans had been waiting for for years.  And unlike XXX, most of Chicago actually performed on the album and it wasn't over-produced to the point of sounding completely sterile.  If you are or were a fan of Chicago, skip Chicago XXX and pick up Subtlety & Passion.  The former will leave you scratching your head wondering what happened to this once great band, the latter will put a smile on your face and make you believe that they've still got it... well at least one of them does.

Related Links & Media
Somewhere Girl live

Another Sunday live

I Could Tell You Secrets live

Intensity live

Gimme Gimme live

The Mystery of Moonlight live

Robert Lamm (Blue Infinity)
Robert Lamm (wikipedia)

Toto - Turn Back (1981)

If reviews could be crystallized into single words "ambivalence" would likely be the most appropriate word to describe Turn Back.  The material is considerably more consistent in its quality than on 1978's Hydra.  However the production is somewhat muddy and at least one of the performances is a bit of a head scratcher.

Having heard a live bootleg of A Million Miles Away from 1996 sung by Steve Lukather not by Bobby Kimball as was done on this album, Lukather's voice was much better suited to the song leaving this listener wondering why Kimball was given the nod on the vocals on the studio release all those years ago. 

There really is a lot to like about the music on this album, however given the muddiness of the mix (at least on the US released versions of the CD) it makes the album largely unlistenable and thus it makes the album largely frustrating.  Here are eight songs of quality varying between merely good and thoroughly enjoyable but being mixed so poorly the listener really has to struggle to enjoy the songs. 

Given better production and mixing this album really could have been much much more and considerably better than it ended up being.  Luckily Toto would work out the kinks in the studio for their multiple grammy winning smash follow-up, IV, just a couple years later.

Kimball's vocals are easily better than they had been on Toto's first 2 albums and arguably even better than on IV, Lukather's guitar work and vocals are also easy on the ears the keyboard tandem of David Paich and Steve Porcaro is in top form and the rhythm section-- Dave Hungate on bass and the late Jeff Porcaro on drums-- fuhgeddaboutit. 

Some of the standout tracks include If It's The Last Night, English Eyes, and the rather unusual love song I Think I Could Stand You Forever (note to the lads having trouble with the lasses-- this is NOT a line to use on a girl you may be interested in and thus this is not a song to be used to try to woo the object of your affections). 

I've read that the Japanese release is a considerably better/less muddy mix but I've not heard it so I can't vouch for that.  If you find or get your hands on a better mix of this album chances are you'll thoroughly enjoy it.  And heck if you can get past an album sounding like it was recorded in one of the bathrooms in Grand Central Station you might even enjoy the sub-par US released mix of the album.

Related Links
Toto (official site)
TotoNetwork.com
Toto (wikipedia)
Steve Lukather (official site)
Steve Lukather (wikipedia)
David Paich (official site)
David Paich (wikipedia)
Jeff Porcaro (wikipedia)
Steve Porcaro (wikipedia)
Bobby Kimball (official site)
Bobby Kimball (wikipedia)
David Hungate (wikipedia)