SINGLES GOING STEADY: "BLUE MOTEL ROOM" BY JONI MITCHELL

Joni Mitchell

It gives me chills every time I hear it.  "Blue Motel Room," the eigth track on Joni Mitchell's 1976 album Hejira is a jazz ballad performed on both acoustic and electric guitars that feels like it came straight out of a lonely, smokey bar. Joni Mitchell is the quintessential tortured artist and this song is one of the best examples of that due to lyrics like "I've got a blue motel room/ with a blue bedspread/I got the blues inside and outside my head/will you still love me when I'm down."  

Those are some heartbreaking words.  But the music is even more heartbreaking.  Utilizing one of her hundred (or so) alternate tunings, the chords are unpredictable and the voicings sound equally unreal and unheard of.   Meanwhile, the song features one of Mitchell's most vulnerable and effective vocal performances.  It's funny when you compare Mitchell to some of her contemporaries and collaborators like Stephen Stills and James Taylor.  While both of those artists had written respectable and sometimes landmark compositions, by 1976, neither could hold a candle to Joni''s sophistication and brilliance.  In the end, "Blue Motel Room"  is so unbelievable that it makes most songs sound ordinary.  In fact, most songs are ordinary compated to it.  It's no surprise that just a couple years after the song's release, Charles Mingus asked to collaborate with Joni Mitchell.  Genius loves company, I guess. 

"Blue Motel Room" by Joni Mitchell 

Hejira by Joni Mitchell

STRAIGHT AHEAD BY ABBEY LINCOLN (I LOVE THIS!)

Straight Ahead by Abbey Lincoln

Here at "The Music Lab" at www.jamiedoesmusic.com—you know I love saying that, right?—I discuss all sorts of music. Sometimes I'll review something I like. Then, from to time, I'll review something I dislike.  But, every now and then, I'll review something I absolutely love.  The other day I discovered Straight Ahead, a 1961 Jazz album by Abbey Lincoln and I absolutely love, love, love it.  What a gem!

It shouldn't fascinate me so much.  Vocal jazz albums are common.  Furthermore, Abbey Lincoln can't sing as well as someone like Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holliday or Sarah Vaughan.  But, neither of those vocalists ever made an album like Straight Ahead.  

There's a certain kind of album that those aforementioned artists tend to make.  Usually they sing Jazz standards written by the likes of Jerome Kern ("All The Things You Are" and "A Fine Romance",) Cole Porter ("I've Got You Under My Skin" and "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye") or George Gershwin—I could go on and on.  Those albums are usually heavily orchestrated and are sometimes arranged by a dude named Ray Ellis.   On such albums, the musicians feel sort of invisible or anonymous and they're playing directly off of sheet music.  It's very professional, polished and intentional sounding, often sans improvisation.  There's nothing wrong with those works and I'm fond of many of them.

What's different about Abbey Lincoln's Straight Ahead is—well, it's completely different.  Many of the songs are co-written by Lincoln who is a tremendously emotive vocalist.  Then there are the musicians.  I'm sure a lot of you have heard of one or two of them.  They include Booker Little, Eric Dolphy, Art Davis, Max Roach, Coleman Hawkins, Julian Priester, Walter Benton and Mal Waldron.  That may sound like a lot, but the backing actually feels very small.  

Then there are the songs.  They are idiosyncratic and truly incredible displays of talent, humility and heartbreaking honesty.  There's not a whole lot of imagery or metaphors here.  For the most part, the lyrics are direct and topical.  In a way, Straight Ahead is a concept album.  The concept is struggle—the struggle of finding love, being poor and trying to carve out a niche in a racist and oppressive society.  There's no romance and nothing is romanticized.  

The most spellbinding track is "Left Alone," an absolutely brilliant and devastating ballad written by pianist Mal Waldron and Billie Holliday in which Lincoln sings "Maybe fate has let him pass me by/ or perhaps we'll meet before I die/ hearts will open/ but until then/ I'm left alone."  It has to be heard to be believed.  That also goes for "In The Red," which was co-written by the artist and "African Lady" whose lyrics were written by Langston Hughes.

Since there is so much Jazz out there, I fear that few will hear Straight Ahead.  But, you must hear it. 

Straight Ahead by Abbey Lincoln

PAUL BURCH IS A "FOOL FOR LOVE

Fool For Love by Paul Burch

Paul Burch is an interesting artist who mixes elements of Country, Folk, Blues and British Invasion to make very likable music.  Although melodically his tunes are derivative of those by pioneers like Hank Williams, Charlie Rich, Gram Parsons and (sometimes) John Lennon, Burch is imaginative lyrically—enough to make these songs feel totally original.  Released in 2003, Fool For Love is not a knock-out, but it succeeds simply because Burch has an arsenal of many influences and isn't afraid to use them.  And since most people won't be able to pin down any specific inspiration, they are likely to be moved by the diversity the album presents and Paul Burch's sugary vocal, which has just enough vibrato to make an okay voice sound pretty good.  

If you only have fifteen minutes to kill, listen to "Lovesick Blues Boy," "Bad Girl Like She Used To Be" and "Time To Cry."   

Fool For Love by Paul Burch