New Orleans, Paris, Nashville, Glasgow, Monk John Goodman This Week Editor Jobng@nsnews.com kkk The Wild Magnolias — Life is a Carnival (1999 Metro Blue 7243 23737 8) Meet de boys on de battlefront. Everybody wants a piece of the Wild Magnolias. Big Chief Bo Dollis and his Wild Magnolias are joined by a cast of thousands on their latest CD. Robbie Robertson and Bruce Hornsby sit in on a Mardi Gras Indians’ rewrite of Life isa Carnival produced and arranged by Cyril Neville. Other tracks include Allen Toussaint, Wardell Quezerque, guitarist June Yamagishi, the Black Bottom Brass Band from Osaka, Japan and Meters’ alumnus Russell Batiste to namie just a few. Dr. John is all over the music — he wrote four new songs and contributes piano on several others. Only in New Orleans could you hare so many cooks in the kitchen and still come up with such a delectable gumbo. Not everything works — Yamagishi’s metal guitar forays sound completely out of place in the organic funk. There are about 20 Mardi Gras Indian tribes currently active in New Orleans includ- ing Bo Dollis and the Wild Magnolias, Monk Boudreaux and the Golden Eagles, the Creole Wild West, Golden Star Hunters, Original Yellow Jackets, Fi Yi Yi, Guardians of the Flame and Yellow Pocohontas. The Wild Magnolias are probably the most recorded group with a couple of albums out on Rounder in the °80s and a 1974 out-of-print session on the French label Barclay. Life is a Carnival stands up with their best work anchored by Bo Dollis’ commanding presence as lead vocalist. ; The wadition of African-Americans dressing up in elaborate Indian costumes goes back cen- turies. “Few in the ghetto could ever partici- pate in the typical Mardi Gras parade. Black neighborhoods developed their own style of celebrating Mardi Gras. They named their “Krewes” for imaginary Indian tribes. Alllegiances were fe termined by the streets of their ward or gang, and Indian processions were often secretive, and violent. With police distracted by the general confusion, Mardi Gras was a day to settle scores.” (from an article in the on-line Bead Bugle e-zine ). The tribes create claborate beaded costumes for their parades with street confrontations no longer violent but competitive displays of craftsmanship. Allen Toussaint writes that “a long time ago they used to crack some head, now they knock ’em dead with a needle and thread.” All the groups are organized around certain key positions (Big Chief, Second Chief, Spy Boy, Flag Boy and Wild Man) with a “second line™ of supporters which can number in the hundreds. The music is based on traditional call and response with polyrhythmic drumming. Norwood “Geechie” Johnson leads the Wild Magnolias percussion on the street and in the studio. The full-band funk sound is a studio creation which owes its origins to the Meters, and their collaboration with The Wild Tchoupitoulas in 1976. That Island recording is still available on CD and is a masterpiece of the genre. Life isa Carnival lets everybody know thar Bo Dollis and the Wild Magnolias are ready to take on all challengers. B xkx«x Pills — Electrocaine (1999 Wax Trax! Records TVT 7280-2) Paris’ Techno Parade drew 100,000 peo- ple on to the streets last Sept. 18 with an even larger event planned tor this vear. The organizers behind the event, Technopol, are active on the political front negotiating with the Ministry of Culture on behalf of DJs and rave parties. Pills present themselves as electronica punks from the techno underground. Sort of the cutting edge of cutting edge Faris music. Anthony Sandor’s songs use an incred- ibly furious funk dub approach with the help of singers Alix, Anton, Karim and Mohamadou Balde. Think lo-fi punk vocals (Slits, Raincoats) over manic machine street beats. Détroit techno meets détroit funk. Pills have sold 90,000 copies of Electrocaine in Europe and another 200,000 singtcs from it and their first CD Fonndation. They also have a compi- fation out Pills Collector 91-98 Foundation to bring everybody up to scratch on their origins. Chicago’s Wax Trax Records is releasing the hard-to-find Efectrocaine in North America almost two years alter its initial release in France. They are also bringing the band over for performances this summer on the label’s Mastermix tour. Pills have already completed their next assault on the Bastille — Music Soldia will be out this month in France, mixed by Ali Staton (Tricky, P.J. Harvey) and featuring guest shots from Rachid Taha, MudBone Cooper (Funkadelic, Parliament) and Lee Scratch Perry. Si xkx* Chely Wright — Single White Femaie (1999 MCA Nashville MCAD- 70052) Young singer Chely Wright learned from the best at Opryland and brings them on board to he!p out with her new solo effort produced by Tony Brown. Veteran songwriter Gary Burr contributes Friday. June 4, 1999 ~ North Shore News — 23 Metro Bive NEW Orleans’ Wild Magnolias tribe: knockin’ ’em dead with needle and thread. several songs and adds background vocals along with Vince Gill, Patty Loveless, ‘Trisha Yearwood, and Alison Krauss among others. The band keeps everything sharp with blue- grass stalwart Stuart Duncan a standout on fiddle and mandolin. Wright wrote two songs, “Picket Fences” and “Some Kind of Somethin’” and sur- rounds them with excellent new material from Nashville writers. The first hit “Single White Female” (Carelyn Dawn Johnson, Shaye Smith) is also the lead track on the CD. There are several other songs ready to follow it on to radio playlists later this year. Chely Wright will be performing two con- certs in Washington state in September: in Spokane on the 14thand in Puyallup on the 15th. Country fans should also look out for a new Delbert McClinton greatest hits collec- tion on Hip-O Records. The Texas native’s music has always been lost between the lines of country, blues and rock. Legend has it that he taught John Lennon to play harmonica — your own cars will tell you he’s a country boy that can sing like Bobby Blue Bland. The 18-track set includes a few songs from his brilliant 1970s albums on the ABC label that have been long out of print. The Murfreesboro, Tennessce sessions produced by Chip Young are state of the art. onky-tonk. The rest of the material is from his stint on Capitol. MORTGAGES Have Your ek Texas — The Hush (1999 Universal 314 538 989-2) The Star Wars soundtrack, Ricky Martin and Tim McGraw CDs al} cracked the Top 30 CNN world music chart in their first week —— but they were left in the dust by Glasgow’s Texas. The follow-up t01997's hugely successful White on Blonde (four-mil- lion plus units sold worldwide) went straight into the top 10. In past efforts the band have developed a: connection with American soul music (cover- ing Al Green’s “Tired of Being Alone,” working with Sly’s sister Rose Stone) and they continue this approach on The Hush. They move cftortlessly from a Motown homage on “When We Are Together” (where Sharleen Spiteri gets Diana Ross down . perfectly) into a Willie Mitchell/Memphis Hi groove on “Day After Day.” Despite some great songs the CD has to be considered a disappointment. Texas scems to be trying to imitate others instead of creating their own music. They have the talent to do much better. Docked a notch for playing it safe. @ xxkkx Andrew Hill — Point of Departure (1964/1999 Blue Note 99007) Remastering of classic March 31, 1964 jazz session produced by Alfred Licn with an essay by Bob Blumenthal and three alternate takes. Post-bop pianist Hill is joined by Kenny Dorham, trumpet; Eric Dolphy, alto sax, flute and bass clarinet; Joe Henderson, tenor sax; Richard Davis, bass; and Anthony Williams, drums. This is one of the great doc- uments of early 760s jazz. Born in Haiti in 1937 Hill’s family moved to Chicago when he was four-years-old. He uses the music of Thelonius Monk as his point of departure. Then he goes wide. Cake And Eat It Toa! Reaching your financial goals shouldn't have to mean making a choice between paying down debt or saving for your future. At NSCU you can have your cake and eat it too with a unique mortgage that lets you save while you borrow! Ask our financial advisors how you can qualify for a rate discount of up to 3/4% that can be applied to your mortgage* or used as an investment in your children's education or your own retirement. 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