22 - Wednesday, February 8, 1989 -

music Feyig

Berry

North Shore News

CHUCK BERRY is cele- B

‘ su brated with definitive &

collection released by MCA.

MCA produces great package of R&B hits

BERRY !S boxed; Cowboy Junkies take shadowy excursions; Small is a big talent. Cuack Berry — The Chess Box, MCA/Chess Records 1988

“The blues hed a baby, and they called it rock ’n’ roll’? — Muddy Waters.

The blues were kicked into overdrive when Chuck Berry fizst

MICHAEL BECKER

music reviewer

duck-walked into the Chicago of- fice of Chess Records in 1955 and put down the tracks for Maybellene with the assistance of blues master Willie Dixon on bass.

Betry was counting on the clari- ty of his diction to distinguish him from other black R&B-rock 'n’ roll artists attempting to crack the pop market. :

But the lurching guitar runs,

MCA’s rummage through the Chess vault of recordings is pro- ducing some great packages. The Berry box of 71 songs includes a nicely put together 56-page booklet losded with vintege pictures, Statis-ics and history.

The sound quality is good, with each cut digitally remastered from Chess mono and stereo masters. The tunes are presented chronolog- ically. Sandwiched in between the familiar are previously unreleased numbers including some unex-

pected blues ballads and twangy guitar instrumentals.

Cowboy Junkies — The Trinity Session, BMIG/RCA 1988

**Country had a baby, and they called it the blues’’ -—~ Me.

The tracks are haunted by the whispering, mournful voice of Margo Timmins. Her deliberate phrasing works as a bridge for the band’s shadowy excursions into musical melancholia. As with the introspection-inducing originals, songs from Lou Reed, Patsy Cline, Hank (I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry) Williams and Rodgers and Hast are explored and mined for the forlorn motherlode at the core of cach.

The collection was recorded live at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Toronto during 1987 and was released fast year. A new album is in the works for this year. The band appears live with Michelle Shocked March 1 at the Com- modore. gaudy Small — Home Frost, Red- wood Records 1988

Vancouver Folk Music festival followers will be familiar with Small’s work. For those not in the know, Small is a top-notch folks- inger-songwriter from Australia.

On Home Front, Small gives full range to her natural ability as a story-teller with an unerring sense of getting to the nub ef moral truths.

Nationalism, racism, war- mongering and globe-straddling gokien arches are among the targets of her well-honed wit. In an especially poignant song, How Many Times, Small celebrates the common person soldiering on through a lifetime of unsung triumphs and setbacks.

Small appears at the Vancouver Bast Cultural Centre, Feb. 19.

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