Scroll down for the latest releases by Doug Gillard, Andrew, Cheese, Barry Holdship and The Detroit Cobras

Doug Gillard
Salamander

(Pink Frost/Big Takeover)

bigtakeover.com

Doug Gillard has spent time in Death Of Samantha, Cobra Verde, Gem, and, most famously, Guided By Voices. That's a damn fine resume for a guitar slinger. His first full length solo record doesn't really sound much like any of the bands he's played in. By that, I don't mean that he's made a foray into electroclash or world music. Certainly, you could find some similarities between his prior work and this swell slab of tunes. Still, this record shows that Gillard has a lot of ideas that weren't proper for any of his other projects.

Let me reemphasize – a lot of ideas. One thing that becomes readily apparent is that Gillard had to have a blast playing in Guided By Voices, since he obviously shares the deep appreciation for great ‘60s rock that Robert Pollard has made clear in so many interviews. This is mixed with, of course, extremely expressive guitar playing and solid, though not overwhelming, vocal skills. There are moments on this album where I think of other guitar aces who could craft great economical pop and rock songs – Tom Verlaine is a fine example, and for those readers who may have been college radio DJs around 1984 to 1986, Jeff Waryan (and his band Figures).

If you are a Guided By Voices fan, you may want to pass Go and immediately proceed to track 7, "Give Me Something". This is the most GBV-ish track on the whole disc. It's not just that wonderful guitar tone that we all know and love from Gillard's work with Pollard and Co. The song even has a melody that has the same heft as one of Pollard's. His vocal is a bit more low key, and the middle eight doesn't sound quite like his most recent band. And it's a great middle eight. Even though this song, had it been on any of the last 52 Guided By Voices records, would have ranked among the highlights, and is a highlight here, it is far from the best track.

That might be the spartan and elegant "Present". Gillard here constructs a song with the haunting romantic tones of The Zombies. It starts with Gillard's stark acoustic guitar, recorded so you can hear the strings squeak as he runs his fingers across the fretboard. A second acoustic colors the track, joined by the pulse of the drums and bass guitar. Gillard multitracks his vocals for the chorus as he sings of a woman who is long gone but always with him. Joshua Pollock adds some ethereal violin, only adding to the considerable atmosphere created by Gillard.

This song is followed by "Momma", which has a similar doleful aspect to it. Here, Gillard really reaches into himself and gives his best vocal performance. And no wonder. This is an emotional song, with Gillard singing to his dying mother: "I can feel you momma/slipping away/goddamn this, I can't be there/your last days, that I can't share." Right before his simple and beautiful solo, he lets out an audible "ahhh" with Pollock's violin in the background. This song is reserved enough that it's not a grab for sympathy, but an honest and direct song that is incredibly heartfelt.

On "Symbols, Signs", Gillard retains the beauty of the other acoustic tracks, while adding a solid rock power, in a manner similar to some of Bob Mould's best work. If you loved Sugar's "Panama City Hotel", then here's a first cousin to that track. This seems to be an impressionistic take on touring, riding the highways while "the traveled-in vehicle fills/with paper, plastic and leather." The song is both celebratory and a wee bit sad.

The power on "Drip-Nose Boy" comes from the rocking guitar riff being joined by a circular bass line and a rock solid drum beat. This song is just one big rhythm hook. Yet that doesn't compare to the poppy and sublime "Fate, Say it Again". This song has an unbeatable combo – a static verse built on a tense guitar part, a melodic bridge and a jangle happy chorus. "(but) I See Something" is a nice change up, and a great finale. It's a really complex composition, mixing a bit of ‘60s soft pop, slight bits of country rock, Motown, and a few dozen other inspirations. He makes carries it off seamlessly.

To top it all off, on most of these songs, Gillard plays everything (except for the violin parts). On a few tracks, Superchunk's Jon Wurster plays the drums, but Gillard does an adequate job. And that's the slightest praise he will get from me as far as this disc is concerned. Otherwise, he gets high grades across the board.

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Andrew
What's It All About

(Avebury)

aveburyrecords.com

There is a saying that most rock writers are merely frustrated musicians. If you are a songwriter who truly appreciates the craft and artistry of making a great song, it has to be daunting at times. If you are a songwriter who also happens to be a walking rock encyclopaedia, like Andrew Sandoval, competing with the legacy that you yourself have chronicled must be an awesome task.

Which is why I really admire every record I've heard by Sandoval. This is my favorite yet. The flipside of the pressures of living up to the gods you elevate is that, hopefully, you really know what makes a good song. And Sandoval proves this on track after track.

Moreover, he knows what he can and can't do with his voice, which is not very rangy, but does quite nicely in the higher range – one comparison would be Housemartins/Beautiful South singer Paul Heaton. Andrew's voice is pretty soulful, when you get down to it. His ability to showcase its strengths results in gems like "I Can't Be Lonely". It is one of many songs that have the nice subtle R & B touch that was so much a part of light pop in the ‘60s. Sandoval uses dynamics in a clever and effective way, as he begins each verse leaving his voice out there in the open, unaccompanied, and then bringing in a wash of triumphant backing vocals, along with guitar, drums and bass (with Ric Menck leading things with his decisive stick work). Then he flows into the chorus, joined by Probyn (Wondermints) Gregory on a variety of horns. The middle eight is a melodic aside, worthy of Elvis Costello at his poppiest.

On "Round and Round", Gregory again provides assistance on horns, while Kristian (Mumps, Swinging Madisons) Hoffman plays tack piano. This song finds a place between soft pop (a la Bacharach or...The Turtles?) and basic Lennon/McCartney. This is another song where the verses, chorus and middle eight are all finely tuned and put together in a way that it seems like Sandoval figured out the only way for them to fit together. (Note: If any of The Lackloves are reading this, you ought to cover this tune).

Sandoval tugs at the heart on a few numbers. "Another Way of Life" is a delicate acoustic number. The song is contemplative, as Sandoval ponders if how people live their lives the right way: "Those who run for the sun/just may find it there/those who hide it away/may find their dreams have blown away." There is a splendorous string interlude in the middle that puts a fine point on the unanswered questions he poses. The album closer, "The Golden State", is a sappy love letter to California. And by sappy, I'm not putting it down. Don't we all sometimes get gooey when we talk about something we love? The song is about more than California though, it's also about being in that perfect frame of mind. In that sense, the song is a facile but extremely pretty metaphor: "I feel the sunshine/when it rains". It's a place we'd all like to be.

Much like we'd all like to find that one true love. Many songs have been written about this, and many more shall be, because our hearts and minds demand it. Sandoval's contribution is a fine one indeed. On "Where I Want to Be", Sandoval directly and plainly tells his love that he's through looking, he's found someone who understands him and he's not going anywhere, anymore, with anyone. The instrumental interlude, with strings and harpsichord, is as lovely as the love Sandoval is singing about.

This album, even at its quieter or less than happy moments, is affirmative music. It shows both a joy for the great music that inspired Sandoval, and a love for what music can do, and how good it is for stating feelings of love or emptiness.

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Cheese
Enlarge Your Johnson

(Pink Hedgehog)

pinkhedgehog.com

The last Cheese record was a compilation of tracks that showed a fine ear for the pop hook, classic British wit, and the occasional resemblance to other great British acts like XTC. The album crackled with energy, managing to balance its pep with its pop.

This new full-length has many of the same charms, but it's an entirely more subdued and sophisticated take on pop. The vestiges of XTC are still there, and while that band has dabbled in jazzy and lounge music sounds, Cheese goes full bore on some tracks. This is a very effective melding of styles that results in Cheese carving out a bit more distinctive identity.

Four songs into the disc, this identity crystallizes on "Underworld". Lilting and lush music with a tinge of unease that befits the mildly disquieting lyrics. This is Sergio Mendes spiked with a hint of psychedelia and a twist of Jimmy Webb. Lead Cheese-man Marco Rossi begins the song with a shimmery acoustic guitar playing a downbeat part. As the song moves on, strings come in and Rossi adds accents with tres-‘60s guitar fills. The middle eight leads to a pithy acoustic guitar solo. The song has a dreamy quality and instantly grabbed my attention.

This is followed by "Nothing to See". This is cut from the cloth of Paul McCartney, Andy Partridge and likeminded writers. In listening to this song, I was struck by how there may be a finite number of note combinations, yet all it takes is finding the right one to trigger a pleasure spot in the brain. Here, the pleasing pop becomes sublime when Rossi conjures up a brief rise and fall melody when he sings the title phrase – yes, you'll have to hear it for yourself. But it's one of those moments pop fans live for. The song itself is a melancholy contemplation, about emptiness, pain and avoidance: "And people still recycle pain/you wear them out/to use again." There's also a fiery guitar solo that leads into a psychedelic string interlude. And after the final verse, the song heads out on more strings. It's quite something.

Yes, these are layered pop songs. At their core, most of these are simple tunes that would sound swell with Rossi on his acoustic guitar. But these are built up so that they can sound as wonderful as possible. Not that everything is drenched in marzipan and frosted roses. One of the most compelling tracks is the spartan "Sea Fret". The song is a simple metaphor – a lost love is like a pearl that has fallen to the ocean floor. Rossi's strong acoustic guitar playing is augmented by guest Tom Hughes on Hammond Organ and Cheesemate Alan Strawbridge adding some backing vocals. It is pretty and powerful.

There are quite a few other top notch tunes. The closer "Wax Museum" is another song with a hint of sea breeze and bossa nova cool. This song has two or three different hooks, one from the melody, one from a neat guitar fill by Rossi, and the rhythm of the refrain: "Place your hands/where I can see them/we'll take a cast for the wax museum's/gallery of shame". "Zero And Counting You Down" is a shiny pop song that sounds like an Indian summer day, with a hint of fall to come wafting in the background. It's happy with something else going on underneath. "Fallen From the Sun" is one of the more muscular songs, with a full band and some robust guitar playing, yet it still has a characteristic pop touch.

This is sophisticated British pop of the sort that I can never get enough of. It was a long time coming, and the care and attention to detail show.

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The Detroit Cobras
Baby

(Rough Trade)

roughtraderecords.com

This album contains one earthshattering, cataclysmic development. The Cobras actually include an original composition on what is otherwise another set of R & B chestnuts. This is a Cobras first on a full-length, though I haven't accounted for every piece of product from this Detroit (as their name spells out) rock band. Even better, it's co-written by kindred spirit Greg Cartwright of Reigning Sound, one of the best garage rock bands working right now.

I wish Cartwright had also produced the record. Although the Detroit Cobras are musical vets and did a splendid job producing their breakthrough second LP, Love, Life And Leaving, they are a little less successful here. It isn't that the recording here is flat. But I think an outside pair of ears, particularly good ones like Cartwright's, may have resulted in some hotter recordings on some tracks. Because this band is capable of being pistol hot.

Now, this isn't a terrible impediment to appreciating this album, because it focuses a bit more on slower material. All the better to showcase their spectacular lead vocalist, Rachel Nagy. On "Baby Let me Hold Your Hand", the song starts with Nagy, accompanied only by some quiet blues guitar notes. Hear her swoop up and down the melody, caressing some of the notes a bit more than the others. If you could cross Chrissie Hynde with a top flight ‘60s soul singer, that approximates what Nagy sounds like. After the quiet opening, the song gets into its mid-tempo stride. The song sounds fine, but in the middle eight, I wish the band would crank it up just a notch or two. I realize that the band doesn't want to undermine the essential swing of the tune, yet I think it could have picked things up just a bit without any harm. I must note that this is a minor complaint.

Nagy shows off her torch side on "It's Raining" and "Weak Spot". The former is simply a pure soul ballad. The band just provides basic support and lets Nagy do her thing. Her voice has so much nuance. This is a great recording. "Weak Spot" is R & B with dynamics. The verses are sultry, quiet and insinuating, with everything welling up in the chorus, Nagy loudly proclaiming that "the man is my weak spot." This is basic and so right.

The self-penned number, "Hot Dog (Watch Me Eat)" is a silly double entendre, with lyrics like "you bring the drinks/and I got the buns." The song is bouncy, with drummer Kenny Turdick defying you to dance, and sounding so snappy. The song even has time for a little jump rope style chanting. "Cha Cha Twist", as befits the title of the Hank Ballard (i.e., the guy who invented the Twist) composition, is impossible not to move to. The song has a nifty back-and-forth rhythm, and an equally nifty refrain which requires a chorus of voices to carry out. Nagy really plays it cool on this number, instead of turning up the intensity, and that works very well, making a piece of dance craze fluff sound really damn sexy.

Detroit meets New Orleans on "Mean Man", an Allen Touissant tune. The dual guitar work of Mary Restrepo and Steve Nawara is precise yet loose. And this song has a killer bridge, which provides a melodic lift in the otherwise rhythm based tune. Meanwhile, things get a bit dramatic on "I Wanna Holler (But the Town's Too Small)". This song was waxed by Gary U.S. Bonds, among others, and sounds like it could be a Gene Pitney epic. It even has a vague Western feel -- early ‘60s rock and roll meets Marty Robbins? This is another top track, as no other band around now pulls off material like this with utter sincerity.

Having listened to this a dozen times, I still stand by my comments at the beginning of the review. I wish that the up tempo numbers were a bit more rocking. Yet, I would also have no problem if the Cobras decided to go in the direction of more bluesy material, particularly ballads, where Nagy could wallow in anguish in her own special way. Putting aside what I wish, this is a good record from a great band that does a fantastic job of keeping classic R & B alive.

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Barry Holdship
Ruff Trax

(Bad Axe)

bholdship@yahoo.com

Barry Holdship was born to sing ‘50s style rock and roll, with his big voice that is perfect for swooning, pining and, sometimes, hurting. He really knows his strengths and writes songs to highlight them. If you're a fan of Billy Swan, Chris Isaak, Henry Gross, Rocky Burnette or just good old rock and roll, you will likely be in heaven. Another good reference point would be some of the rock oriented work of The Mavericks. While I wouldn't say Holdship is as good a singer as Raul Malo, it's certainly not an unfair comparison.

The songs here are so classic. "Nothing Means More Than This" is one of the tracks that makes me think of the aforementioned Mavericks. It's a bouncy mid-tempo jaunt, and Holdship belts out blissfully. The song is economical, both lyrically and in how quickly it moves from verse to bridge to chorus. This song could have been penned in 1958 or 1964 or during the rockabilly revival in the early ‘80s. The middle eight is killer -- Holdship knows this, so it crops up twice, book ending a terrific guitar solo (with a hint of twang): "Cause I've been aching just to be/I've shaking all those things/that died inside of me."

On "We'd Be Good Together", there's a mild Tex-Mex feel. There's some horns (they may be artificial, but they sound like horns) and another buoyant rhythm. This song really shows how Holdship takes advantage of his vocal prowess. The melody swoops and soars, and drops at points, just so he can take off again. He sounds so joyous on this song. While I don't think that giving mix tapes or CD-Rs in an effort to get a woman to love you has ever really worked, this song stands as good a chance as any of turning unrequited love into real love.

Another cool twist (that you might be able to twist to, though I'll leave that up to you) is the murky ska tinged "Walking in My Dreams". The song also has an organ part that gives it a little garage rock flavor, which is hammered home by guest Robbie Rist's spooky cool guitar solo. This song really sounds like a lost gem from the New Wave era, and it's only flaw is that it could have run another minute or two. How often can you say that a song is too short?

There's an undercurrent of real old school R & B on some songs. "Give Your Heart to Me" is a ‘50s ballad that is as much in the tradition of The Platters and The Drifters as the dewy eyed pleas for love from Roy Orbison and Gene Pitney. On "Hearts Won't Lie", a lilting groove is laid down in the verses, mixing a Rascals vibe with Holdship's patented ‘50s style.

The basic message I'm trying to convey here is that while Holdship's music has a very specific foundation, he finds different twists and textures to keep this from being the same song over and over again. The consistency comes in the performance and the character of the songs. Even when lamenting a broken heart, Holdship exudes a joy -- he seems to be a glass half full kind of guy. This makes the record an uplifting piece of entertainment.

Now, there are 15 tracks on here, which may be a few too many. But much like the most recent Fountains of Wayne album, it would be very hard to come up with a consensus as to what tracks to cull, since there are no obvious duff tracks. Let's see -- a few of his songs are good enough that I wish they were longer, and the album could be a bit more concise, though there are no bad songs. Yes, I'm really stretching to find anything less than positive to say about this disc. This glass is way more than half full. Holdship is keeping some rock tradition alive. Alive and kicking.

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