{"id":28478,"date":"2024-11-24T05:30:19","date_gmt":"2024-11-24T10:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=28478"},"modified":"2024-10-29T11:21:54","modified_gmt":"2024-10-29T15:21:54","slug":"music-blurbs-vol-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/24\/music-blurbs-vol-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Music Blurbs, Vol. 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

More of my capsule commentaries.<\/p>\n

Alejandro Escovedo<\/b>
\nAlejandro Escovedo may not be a household name, but he\u2019s lineage of musical royalty. Big brother and percussionist Coke Escovedo was a key member of Santana in the early 1970s; he co-wrote the hit \u201cNo One to Depend On.\u201d Brother Pete was in the group, too; later the two co-led pioneering Latin rock band Azteca. Another brother, Phil played with jazz vibraphonist Cal Tjader; Mario Escovedo led The Dragons for fifteen years. Javier Escovedo fronted The Zeros and released a superb solo album in 2016, Kicked Out of Eden<\/i>. And perhaps best the best-known Escovedo is percussionist Sheila E, Pete\u2019s daughter. But Alejandro is a hero of punk- and alternative rock; he first came to some renown as a member of pioneering Bay Area band The Nuns, then as a member of alt-rock heroes Rank and File. After some work with Whiskeytown, he embarked upon an acclaimed solo career, one that combined all of the aforementioned musical textures plus a healthy dose of thoughtful, rough-hewn Americana. The acclaimed singer, songwriter and guitarist\u2019s latest album, 2024\u2019s Echo Dancing<\/i> has received the same kind of critical plaudits that followed his more than 15 previous albums.<\/p>\n

Richie Furay Trio<\/b>
\nIn the ongoing history of popular music, one criteria applied to measure artist notability is their role in the creation of important or influential groups. Guitarist and songwriter Richie Furay checks that box not one but twice: he co-founded both Buffalo Springfield and Poco. Both groups were pioneers in establishing and popularizing the hybrid musical form known as country rock. Furay got his professional start as a member of the house band at New York City\u2019s legendary Cafe Au Go Go; from there he moved to the West Coast and launched Buffalo Springfield. Today, the membership of that group reads like a rock who\u2019s who: Furay, Stephen Stills and Neil Young were founding members. After that band split, Furay and Jim Messina teamed up with other like-minded musicians to form country rockers Poco. With that group, Furay wrote many classics including \u201cKind Woman,\u201d \u201cPickin\u2019 Up the Pieces\u201d and \u201cGood Feelin\u2019 to Know.\u201d Leaving Poco in 1974, Furay scored a Top 40 single with \u201cFallin\u2019 in Love,\u201d a hit for the Southern Hillman Furay Band. After releasing a string of solo releases, Furay retired from music and took on a new role as pastor of a church in Denver. In the years since, Furay has balanced both music and spirituality. Buffalo Springfield was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, and a career-spanning documentary, Through It All: The Life and Influence of Richie Furay<\/i> is nearing completion.<\/p>\n

Ben Folds<\/b>
\nCombining musical virtuosity with a punk sensibility, Ben Folds emerged on the scene during the \u201890s alternative rock era. Fronting the playfully-named Ben Folds Five (they were in fact a trio), he introduced a style of music he dubbed \u201cpunk rock for sissies.\u201d Notably lacking a guitarist, Folds and his band mates crafted a sound that nonetheless had all the energy of guitar rock, with intelligent (and often sardonic) lyrics to match. \u201cBrick\u201d was a deeply emotional ballad, and \u201cThe Ballad of Who Could Care Less\u201d and \u201cKate\u201d were rousing singalong tunes with a strong pop foundation. The trio went inactive (with occasional reunions), paving the way for Folds\u2019 solo career. His solo debut, Rockin\u2019 the Suburbs<\/i> had the misfortune of being released on September 11, 2001; it contained the sharply humorous (and knowingly self-aware) title track; an inspired music video was also released. As a solo artist, Folds has traveled a path in which he is freed \u2013 when he chooses \u2013 from BF5\u2019s guitarless format. His brand of intelligent rock with bratty undertones has won him critical acclaim and an ardent following. He has also moved seamlessly into orchestral work, and is currently Artistic Advisor to the Kennedy Center\u2019s National Symphony Orchestra. Folds\u2019 fifth solo studio release, What Matters Most<\/i> was released in 2023 to predictably positive reviews.<\/p>\n

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Photo \u00a9 Indulge Images<\/p><\/div>\n

GWAR<\/b>
\nChristopher Guest\u2019s Nigel Tufnel character in This is Spinal Tap<\/i> coined and immortalized the concept of \u201cgoing to 11\u201d more than 40 years ago. But GWAR starts<\/i> at 11 and goes from there. This Virginia-based collective of artists and creative types set out to create the most outrageous, over-the-top spectacle known to music. And they clearly decided the only way to achieve that goal was to devise a show that incorporated all elements in their most absolutely extreme, and then use that as a starting point. The music is roaring, unrelenting metal. But it\u2019s the visual element that sets this band apart. Musicians are clad in elaborate, garish monster costumes and armed with fearful weapons. Lots and lots (and lots) of liquid \u2013 fake blood or simulated ooze of another variety \u2013 will forcefully emanate from injured monsters. And the ruddy stream will soak those crowd members foolish (or calculating) enough to have positioned themselves up front. The GWAR ethos is more, faster, louder. More than perhaps any other contemporary concertgoing experience, a GWAR show is all about being there. The spectacle, the volume, and the songs about death and hate are all so ludicrously outrageous as to be very, very funny. You have been warned.<\/p>\n

Hoodoo Gurus <\/b>
\nThe Hoodoo Gurus have long been one of the best bands that seemingly only college students know about. Staking out a spot at the tuneful and hooky end of the \u201880s college rock vanguard, Sydney, Australia\u2019s Hoodoo Gurus roared out of the gate with a searing debut, 1984\u2019s Stoneage Romeos<\/i>. With two instant classics (\u201cMy Girl\u201d and \u201cI Want You Back\u201d) the group got off to a strong start. That record scraped the lower reaches of the mainstream U.S. album chart (#209) but soared all the way to the #1 place on the college radio chart. That latter feat would be duplicated on each of the band\u2019s subsequent three albums; their fifth LP (1991\u2019s Kinky<\/i>) made it to #2. Guitarist, songwriter and lead singer Dave Faulkner soldiered on, creating critically-acclaimed albums that were full of great songs, humor and rock attitude, yet inexplicably the band has never quite broken through to the mainstream here (In Australia, every single one of their albums has charted.). The Hoodoo Gurus\u2019 most recent album, 2022\u2019s Chariot of the Gods<\/i> displays the same winning garage-rock influenced tunefulness that has long defined the band. Covid-era tour dates were scrapped, but now the Hoodoo Gurus have scheduled a run of U.S. concerts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More of my capsule commentaries. Alejandro Escovedo Alejandro Escovedo may not be a household name, but he\u2019s lineage of musical royalty. Big brother and percussionist Coke Escovedo was a key […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28414,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","cat-27-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28478"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28480,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28478\/revisions\/28480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}