Freelance Piece
Review by Ryan Fergus
November 2007
Herbie Hancock had made a career of zig-zags and left turns- veering from a 60’s era Miles Davis sideman to excursions into funk, electro and even pop. On his latest, River: The Joni Letters (Verve), Hancock pays tribute to another legendary maverick. Dissecting the broad repertoire of Joni Mitchell (with the help of longtime Mitchell collaborator Larry Klein and a slew of guest vocalists), Hancock manages to stage dramatic reinterpretations that focus heavily on fleshing out the lyrical mood of each piece.
The surprises that flow through River are plentiful; Tina Turner sounds every bit as fierce as one would hope on “Edith and the Kingpin,” while Ms. Mitchell herself shows up for a subdued reworking of “The Tea Leaf Prophecy (Lay Down Your Arms).” Leonard Cohen’s gravelly grumble even turns up on “The Jungle Line,” turning Mitchell’s synthesized world beat into a spoken-word tone poem (resulting in perhaps the album’s sole misstep).
As the guests frequently come and go (including the requisite Norah Jones guest vocal), Hancock’s piano acts as an eloquent host to the proceedings, backed by a crack band including Wayne Shorter on both soprano and tenor sax, and the multi-dimensional session legend Vinnie Colaiuta on drums.
Make no mistake; the track selection here is varied. There is no “Big Yellow Taxi” to be found and only one cut off of Mitchell’s seminal 1971 masterpiece, Blue, made the cut (a soulful version of “River” featuring songbird-of-the-moment Corinne Bailey Rae).
That said, don’t be scared off by the unconventional palette Hancock has chosen to work from. He knows as well as anyone that Mitchell’s career has never been about hit singles, or genre-specific consistency. Instead, it’s been a journey of lyrical depth, varied emotion and a restless urge to consistently unearth new ground.
In other words, traits that Hancock himself is all too familiar with.
Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
"Fracture" Film Review
“Fracture” Film Review
Published in Elmhurst Leader
March 2007
By Ryan Fergus
It’s hard not to be a bit wary walking into a new Gregory Hoblit film. The dubious filmmaker is best known for shlocky adult thrillers such as Hart’s War, Fallen and most famously, his 1996 courtroom thriller Primal Fear. With Fracture, starring Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling, Hoblit doles out more of the same. Everything you’d expect is here, from dramatic courtroom face-offs, a laughably tacked-on love story and a twist at the end that aims to rival Ed Norton’s psychopathic reveal at the end of Primal Fear.
Gosling, fresh off his Oscar-nominated role is last year’s Half Nelson, plays Willy Beachum, a young hotshot D.A. who takes on one last case (isn’t it always?) at his old firm before moving on to greener pastures an attorney for the Mayor’s office. The case, involving an engineer (Hopkins) who purposefully kills his cheating wife, should be a slam-dunk. Naturally the plot thickens, and Hopkins, recalling the sinister scenery chewing of his most famous methodical maniac, positions himself (through a series of incomprehensibly coincidental events ) into a battle of wits against the young lawyer. This of course paves the way for tense confrontations in both the courtroom as well as the detention block, with Gosling managing to hold his own against Sir Anthony, who clearly seems to be relishing another chance to unspool cryptic clues from behind a jail cell and lock horns with a young and worthy adversary.
Unfortunately, any time these two aren’t battling it out head-to-head is when the movie falls apart. Hoblit inexplicably shoehorns a romantic subplot involving Beachum and his soon-to-be boss (played with a mock-carnality by relative new-comer Rosamund Pike) that is not only offensively unbelievable, but threatens to bring the movie to a screeching halt every time the two characters are on screen together. Only when Hopkins’s scorned husband ghoulishly returns to the frame does Fracture retain any sort of emotional resonance.
Although the film breaks no new ground, you can bet it will appeal to fans of the genre, as well as adults who want to go to the movies on a Friday night and see a familiar name on the marquee. While the ever-brilliant Hopkins seems to have found a comfortable niche in which to play out his twilight years as an actor, one hopes that with his newfound slingshot to the Hollywood A-list, Gosling doesn’t get too bogged down in mire like this. For a fat paycheck and chance to square off against Sir Anthony, we’ll let you slide kid. But we’re keeping an eye out.
Published in Elmhurst Leader
March 2007
By Ryan Fergus
It’s hard not to be a bit wary walking into a new Gregory Hoblit film. The dubious filmmaker is best known for shlocky adult thrillers such as Hart’s War, Fallen and most famously, his 1996 courtroom thriller Primal Fear. With Fracture, starring Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling, Hoblit doles out more of the same. Everything you’d expect is here, from dramatic courtroom face-offs, a laughably tacked-on love story and a twist at the end that aims to rival Ed Norton’s psychopathic reveal at the end of Primal Fear.
Gosling, fresh off his Oscar-nominated role is last year’s Half Nelson, plays Willy Beachum, a young hotshot D.A. who takes on one last case (isn’t it always?) at his old firm before moving on to greener pastures an attorney for the Mayor’s office. The case, involving an engineer (Hopkins) who purposefully kills his cheating wife, should be a slam-dunk. Naturally the plot thickens, and Hopkins, recalling the sinister scenery chewing of his most famous methodical maniac, positions himself (through a series of incomprehensibly coincidental events ) into a battle of wits against the young lawyer. This of course paves the way for tense confrontations in both the courtroom as well as the detention block, with Gosling managing to hold his own against Sir Anthony, who clearly seems to be relishing another chance to unspool cryptic clues from behind a jail cell and lock horns with a young and worthy adversary.
Unfortunately, any time these two aren’t battling it out head-to-head is when the movie falls apart. Hoblit inexplicably shoehorns a romantic subplot involving Beachum and his soon-to-be boss (played with a mock-carnality by relative new-comer Rosamund Pike) that is not only offensively unbelievable, but threatens to bring the movie to a screeching halt every time the two characters are on screen together. Only when Hopkins’s scorned husband ghoulishly returns to the frame does Fracture retain any sort of emotional resonance.
Although the film breaks no new ground, you can bet it will appeal to fans of the genre, as well as adults who want to go to the movies on a Friday night and see a familiar name on the marquee. While the ever-brilliant Hopkins seems to have found a comfortable niche in which to play out his twilight years as an actor, one hopes that with his newfound slingshot to the Hollywood A-list, Gosling doesn’t get too bogged down in mire like this. For a fat paycheck and chance to square off against Sir Anthony, we’ll let you slide kid. But we’re keeping an eye out.
Bloc Party Record Review
Bloc Party “A Weekend in the City”
Record Review
Appeared in the Elmhurst Leader
February 2007
By Ryan Fergus
The term “post-punk” has been tossed around pretty liberally within the rock community in the past five years or so, largely due to the commercial success of New York bands such as Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Interpol. The genre’s mix of aggressive melodies, angular guitar riffs and danceable beats has had the music press touting it as the “next big sound” almost ad nauseam throughout the decade. One of the breakout superstar bands of this movement (think rock music that you can actually dance to) has been Bloc Party, who’s debut, Silent Alarm, arrived from England in 2005 with all the subtlety of an East London rugby match. The record showed a young band that was able to combine the isolation of post-modern indie-rock with the hyperactive rhythms of the U.K. club scene that they had been exposed to growing up. The resulting record made them one of the few groups within the genre that actually managed to live up to their hype, both critically and commercially.
The new record, A Weekend in the City (Vice Records), is the band’s attempt to expand on the “isolated urban living” theme of Silent Alarm, while managing to pull away from their competitors and imitators with a more mature sound (and judging from the production, a much bigger recording budget).
They very nearly pull it off.
Just as The Killers did late last year with Sam’s Town (their own overblown mess of a second record), A Weekend in the City attempts to compensate for a distinct decrease in catchy hooks with production tricks and layer-upon-layer of guitars, back-up vocal harmonies and random electronic bleeps and blips scattered throughout the disc. The songs here lack the more straightforward pop structures of Silent Alarm; yet soak newer tracks such as “The Prayer” in glossy, radio-ready production. So, while Weekend may not boast an obvious hit such as “Banquet” (the breakout single off of Silent Alarm), at the very least the new songs sounds absolutely massive blasting from a home stereo system.
On a more positive note, lead singer Kele Okereke’s lyrics seem to be of a more personal and vulnerable nature this time out. Amidst (perhaps not coincidentally) the pre-release publicity blitz for A Weekend in the City, Okereke vaguely dropped hints in several interviews all-but-confirming his bisexuality; in fact several of the songs on the record (“I Still Remember” and “Kreuzberg”) deal with the homosexual lifestyle. Recurring themes such as conformity and urban isolation still abound on tracks such as “Uniform” (“there was a sense of disappoint as we left the mall; all the young people looked the same”) and the shouted climax of the blistering opener, “Song For Clay (Disappear Here)” (“East London is a vampire; it sucks the joy right out of me”).
Ever the driving force of the group, Matt Tong’s drumming remains a revelation. His ability to mimic electronic drum ‘n’ bass beats, as well provide the jittery yet thundering rhythmic base of A Weekend in the City makes his contribution alone a reason to check out the record.
All in all Bloc Party has a crafted an ambitious second record that barely escapes the dreaded “sophomore slump” that so many young bands fall into. While short on the memorable hooks that made their debut such a success, A Weekend in the City’s rhythms, lyrics and overall mood make it worth checking out.
Record Review
Appeared in the Elmhurst Leader
February 2007
By Ryan Fergus
The term “post-punk” has been tossed around pretty liberally within the rock community in the past five years or so, largely due to the commercial success of New York bands such as Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Interpol. The genre’s mix of aggressive melodies, angular guitar riffs and danceable beats has had the music press touting it as the “next big sound” almost ad nauseam throughout the decade. One of the breakout superstar bands of this movement (think rock music that you can actually dance to) has been Bloc Party, who’s debut, Silent Alarm, arrived from England in 2005 with all the subtlety of an East London rugby match. The record showed a young band that was able to combine the isolation of post-modern indie-rock with the hyperactive rhythms of the U.K. club scene that they had been exposed to growing up. The resulting record made them one of the few groups within the genre that actually managed to live up to their hype, both critically and commercially.
The new record, A Weekend in the City (Vice Records), is the band’s attempt to expand on the “isolated urban living” theme of Silent Alarm, while managing to pull away from their competitors and imitators with a more mature sound (and judging from the production, a much bigger recording budget).
They very nearly pull it off.
Just as The Killers did late last year with Sam’s Town (their own overblown mess of a second record), A Weekend in the City attempts to compensate for a distinct decrease in catchy hooks with production tricks and layer-upon-layer of guitars, back-up vocal harmonies and random electronic bleeps and blips scattered throughout the disc. The songs here lack the more straightforward pop structures of Silent Alarm; yet soak newer tracks such as “The Prayer” in glossy, radio-ready production. So, while Weekend may not boast an obvious hit such as “Banquet” (the breakout single off of Silent Alarm), at the very least the new songs sounds absolutely massive blasting from a home stereo system.
On a more positive note, lead singer Kele Okereke’s lyrics seem to be of a more personal and vulnerable nature this time out. Amidst (perhaps not coincidentally) the pre-release publicity blitz for A Weekend in the City, Okereke vaguely dropped hints in several interviews all-but-confirming his bisexuality; in fact several of the songs on the record (“I Still Remember” and “Kreuzberg”) deal with the homosexual lifestyle. Recurring themes such as conformity and urban isolation still abound on tracks such as “Uniform” (“there was a sense of disappoint as we left the mall; all the young people looked the same”) and the shouted climax of the blistering opener, “Song For Clay (Disappear Here)” (“East London is a vampire; it sucks the joy right out of me”).
Ever the driving force of the group, Matt Tong’s drumming remains a revelation. His ability to mimic electronic drum ‘n’ bass beats, as well provide the jittery yet thundering rhythmic base of A Weekend in the City makes his contribution alone a reason to check out the record.
All in all Bloc Party has a crafted an ambitious second record that barely escapes the dreaded “sophomore slump” that so many young bands fall into. While short on the memorable hooks that made their debut such a success, A Weekend in the City’s rhythms, lyrics and overall mood make it worth checking out.
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