PBNSOTW

Let’s not look too far into the lyrics of Julian Lennon’s Breathe—don’t read the lyrics the first time you listen. The fact he called the album Jude tells you all you need to know about the themes of family, abandonment, love, and loss. Breathe has a fantastic chorus, Julian has a great voice. Leave it at that.

More jazz than usual this week. I’m In a Mess is one of those typical smartass lyrics from the early fifties (1951 to be exact) with funny word juxtapositions like “awful stew” and “what can I do”. The album is by Pasquale Grasso, great vocal by Samara Joy. Just guitar, bass, drums, and vocal. It’s really fun to listen to how masterfully Pasquale negotiates the transitions between solos and comping under the vocal.

Open Doors also features the guitar/bass/drums foundation, but the sax entrance changes the whole thing. Stan Killian’s tenor is great throughout, but no disrespect to Stan, the stars of this tune are guitarist Paul Bollenbeck and bassist Corcoran Holt. They spend the whole tune in a single-note dialog that never gets tiring. Listen to how they spell all the chord changes through their intertwining lines.

De-dah is another old tune that I’m not going to check out the original of until I have the chance to listen Tigran Hamasyan’s new version another half-dozen times. I just love this thing sonically—it’s blocky, angular, argumentative, insistent—it just paints a unique emotional picture.

This week’s problem child isn’t really that much of a problem. “Next to you in shades of green/If I drive in four days time” The lyric is thoughtfully disconnected. The band is called Momma, the album is Household Name, and it’s quite good. It’s soooo close to having a hit on it. I confidently expect them to craft a real one soon.