Music for Grownups Reviews: The Baseball Project, Alison Moyet
By: Richard Gehr | Source: AARP.org | 2008-07-08
Richard Gehr is a veteran music critic based in New York City. His reviews for AARP.org appear every Tuesday; his columns on Thursdays.
The Baseball Project
"Vol. 1 Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails"
Yep Roc
It's exciting when great rock songwriters dive into a topic of consuming interest that doesn't happen to involve either love or life on the road. That what Scott McCaughey (The Minus 5, R.E.M., Young Fresh Fellows) and Steve Wynn (The Dream Syndicate) have accomplished, with the help of R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, in the Baseball Project.
Arguably the richest, most obsessive (remember Harvey Haddix, who pitched 12 perfect innings in 1959 – but lost?), and most tuneful album ever devoted to ye olde national pastime, "Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails" knocks tunes dedicated to Ted Williams, Satchel Paige, Curt Flood, Jack McDowell, and other lesser-known legends out of the park. "Pastime, are you past your prime?" asks the Project in the album's opener. Not if these super fans have anything to say about it. More than a great baseball album, it's great rock record, period.
Alison Moyet
"The Turn"
Decca/Universal
Alison Moyet is a big-voiced British pop singer in the tradition of Anthony Newley and David Bowie. Like Moyet's other six solo albums, "The Turn" is deeper, darker, and sounds more mature than her work in electro-pop super duo Yaz. (Moyet reunites with Depeche Mode member Vince Clarke for a U.S. tour that begins July 11 in Los Angeles.) A cavalcade of styles the 47- year-old songwriter recalls from her childhood, "The Turn" includes smoldering balladry in "The Man in the Wings", and moody French “chanson” style in "Home" and "One More Time" (this last is the showstopper that opens the album), among many other dusky delights.
"Vol. 1 Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails"
Yep Roc
It's exciting when great rock songwriters dive into a topic of consuming interest that doesn't happen to involve either love or life on the road. That what Scott McCaughey (The Minus 5, R.E.M., Young Fresh Fellows) and Steve Wynn (The Dream Syndicate) have accomplished, with the help of R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, in the Baseball Project.
Arguably the richest, most obsessive (remember Harvey Haddix, who pitched 12 perfect innings in 1959 – but lost?), and most tuneful album ever devoted to ye olde national pastime, "Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails" knocks tunes dedicated to Ted Williams, Satchel Paige, Curt Flood, Jack McDowell, and other lesser-known legends out of the park. "Pastime, are you past your prime?" asks the Project in the album's opener. Not if these super fans have anything to say about it. More than a great baseball album, it's great rock record, period.
Alison Moyet
"The Turn"
Decca/Universal
Alison Moyet is a big-voiced British pop singer in the tradition of Anthony Newley and David Bowie. Like Moyet's other six solo albums, "The Turn" is deeper, darker, and sounds more mature than her work in electro-pop super duo Yaz. (Moyet reunites with Depeche Mode member Vince Clarke for a U.S. tour that begins July 11 in Los Angeles.) A cavalcade of styles the 47- year-old songwriter recalls from her childhood, "The Turn" includes smoldering balladry in "The Man in the Wings", and moody French “chanson” style in "Home" and "One More Time" (this last is the showstopper that opens the album), among many other dusky delights.
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