ShareThis"SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS," Pink Martini (Heinz)
Pink Martini is talented enough to deliver a fine classical album yet much too twisted to do anything so straightforward.
The 12-piece act from Portland, Ore., hops into a time/travel machine for "Splendor in the Grass," its fourth release since 1997, and drops in on at least four different continents and a half dozen decades.
Songs are performed in five languages and fused with elements of big band, cabaret, jazz, pop and classical, and the mood swings in an instant from serious to goofy. Despite the act's ample lineup, there are guests ranging from 90-year-old ranchera singer Chavela Vargas to Dandy Warhols guitarist Courtney Taylor-Taylor, to NPR correspondent Ari Shapiro to the guy who plays Luis on "Sesame Street" (Emilio Delgado). Also, vocals are fleshed out with everything from a barbershop quartet to a choir, and the standing instrumental lineup of horns, piano, guitar, harp, bass, strings and percussion is augmented with sitar and even more horns.
Surprisingly, an overriding Pink Martini vibe emerges to unify the jumble, and "Splendor in the Grass" makes sense -- at least in the same way that a showy musical makes sense.
Listeners will be swept into another world where "ba-ba-ba" backing vocals enhance the exotica of "Ohayoo Ohio" and singer China Forbes loses her head in the French cha-cha-cha of "Ou Est Ma Tete?" Meanwhile, Forbes harnesses the histrionics of "And Then You're Gone" to declare, "You had your chance, now just be gone," only to be answered by Shapiro, in the role of a playful manipulator, on the subsequent "But Now I'm Back." There's also lush romance in "Over the Valley" countered by the campy cross-dresser song "Bitty Boppy Betty" countered by the solemn "Piensa en Mi" featuring a preternatural-sounding Vargas.
Ultimately, what Pink Martini serves is quirky cocktail music. And by no means is that an indictment.
Rating (five possible): 4
"LOS LOBOS GOES DISNEY," Los Lobos (Disney Sounds)
The notion of a venerable Mexican-American band like Los Lobos covering a bunch of classic Disney songs sounds like a brilliant marketing scheme. But even if the family friendly "Los Lobos Goes Disney" does indeed deliver key demographics to both the band and the company, the group has too much integrity and the material is too solid for the collection to be a mere mercenary ploy.
Los Lobos' first new release in three years features thoughtful arrangements that preserve the playful nature of the songs while taking them in sometimes-dramatic directions. The "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" song "Heigh-Ho," for example, is flung through a sped-up, festive swing, while in contrast, "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" (from "Song of the South") is slowed down to a charismatic sway.
These songs don't feel dashed out. And they don't even seem aimed exclusively at children: Adults will revel in the romantic serenade "Bella Notte" (from "Lady and the Tramp"), the fuzzed-out guitar on the raw-romping "The Ugly Bug Ball" ("Summer Magic"), the melancholy sincerity of "I Will Go Sailing No More" ("Toy Story") and the simmering horns and smoldering guitar of the incendiary "Cruella De Vil" ("101 Dalmatians").
"The Jungle Book" is represented twice -- with a high-stepping "The Bare Necessities" and a swaggering "I Wan'na Be Like You" -- as is "Robin Hood" -- with the country-western storytelling of "Oo-De-Lally" and the fireside ballad "Not in Nottingham."
Even Disneyland attractions get their nods. The theme from the It's a Small World ride is mashed up in a manic instrumental with "When You Wish Upon a Star" ("Pinocchio"), and The Enchanted Tiki Room song "The Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room" is delivered as an endearing sing-along. Perhaps best of all, Los Lobos captures the spirit of the Haunted Mansion theme, "Grim Grinning Ghosts," with the right balance of humor and chills.
"Los Lobos Goes Disney" may be disposable, but it's also fun of the first order.
Rating: 4
"MO BEAUTY," Alec Ounsworth (Anti-Records)
If Alec Ounsworth tried out for "American Idol," he would be a sensation: one of those absurdly bad singers who gets bounced at the auditions and then laughed at by America. Of course "American Idol" routinely gets it wrong, rewarding generic over-singers, but Ounsworth deserves ridicule.
The lead singer of, and biggest problem with, Clap You Hands Say Yeah, the Philadelphia native employs a ridiculously affected vocal that combines irritating pitch, grating nasal intonation, slurred enunciation and about anything else that might make a voice unpleasant to hear.
To his credit, on his new solo debut, "Mo Beauty," Ounsworth surrounds himself with fine musicians for his New-Orleans-recorded release. His supporting band is fleshed out with guest performers from the Crescent City, and the arrangements are diverse and inspired.
The fruit-basket-turnover method of "Modern Girl (... With Scissors)" suggests a carnival of sorts, while "Bones in the Grave" could be from a hipster musical. More traditional strains surface in the rumbling rock of "Me and You, Watson," the dirty blues of "Idiots in the Rain," the big band swing of "This Is Not My Home (After Bruegel)" and the pedal-steel swirl of "When You've No Eyes."
But Ounsworth shows up with his disturbingly cartoonish voice and enigmatic/indecipherable lyrics, and the listening experience becomes a challenge. On a few of the more complicated tracks, the singer passes as a quirky diversion -- and on "Me and You, Watson," he sounds relatively clear.
More often than not, though, Ounsworth simply ruins the song: On "Holy, Holy, Holy Moses (song for New Orleans)," for example, he sounds like a strung-out heroin addict who pops in to make a mess of a stately arrangement of piano, acoustic guitar and strings. Meanwhile, he sounds like a deranged interloper invading the campfire cut "What Fun." (So perhaps Ounsworth's target demographic is psychiatrists.)
The singer is his own worst enemy for the duration of "Mo Beauty." And if you check it out, he might be yours, too.
Rating: 2
(E-mail Chuck Campbell of The Knoxville News-Sentinel in Tennessee at Campbell(at)knews.com.)
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