WRAPPING UP THE SOUNDS OF THE SEASON - 2007

Each year that great body of work known as "Holiday Music" grows, as contemporary artists offer new Yuletide tunes or try their hand at traditional favorites. Here's a round‑up of some of the notable new entries in the Christmas music cornucopia for 2007.

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ARTIST: Mindy Smith
TITLE: My Holiday
LABEL: Vandguard
STYLE: Intimate, country flavored, alternative folk
TRY IT IF YOU LIKE: Dolly Parton’s Home For Christmas or Aimee Mann’s Another Drifter In The Snow
NOTABLE: Smith’s sweet, feathery voice charms familiar songs like “The Christmas Song,” “Away In A Manger,” and “Silver Bells.” An excellent songwriter, originals like the inspiring title track, the rocking “Come Around,” and especially the warm and cozy “Santa Will Find You” might become perennial favorites.
HIGH POINTS: Smith adds a backbeat and rock guitar to “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” for an unusual but effective version.
LOW POINT: Smith is a fine singer, but she’s not a vocal powerhouse.
GRADE: A-

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ARTIST: Raul Malo
TITLE: Marshmallow World & Other Holiday Favorites

LABEL: New Door
STYLE: Americana Christmas
TRY IT IF YOU LIKE: Brian Setzer’s Christmas albums, or anything by the Mavericks
NOTABLE: Malo, lead singer of the Mavericks, lends his rich, warm vocals, and unique arrangements to a collection of both well known (“Jingle Bells, Silent Night, White Christmas) and obscure (Bobby Vee’s “Not So Merry Christmas”) holiday songs.
HIGH POINTS: Malo gets your feet tappin’ with fresh but familiar takes on “Jingle Bells” and “Feliz Navidad.”
LOW POINT: Turning “Silver Bells” into a tango/swing number was an ambitious idea, but it just doesn’t work.
GRADE: B+

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ARTIST: Lonestar
TITLE: My Christmas List
LABEL: Cracker Barrel
STYLE: Harmonious, modern Country Christmas
TRY IT IF YOU LIKE: Lonestar’s This Christmas Time
NOTABLE: Songs feature Lonestar’s new lead singer, Cody Collins, who ably fills the role. The group’s trademark harmonies remain intact.
HIGH POINTS: A fine, prayerful “Silent Night,” a rockin’ “Up On The Housetop,” and the excellent title track – which revisits the theme of “A Grown-Up Christmas List.”
LOW POINT: Collection is only available at Cracker Barrel restaurants, or on the company website: http://www.crackerbarrel.com/
GRADE: B+

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ARTIST: Rick Springfield
TITLE: Christmas With You
LABEL: Gomer
STYLE: Acoustic pop-rock
TRY IT IF YOU LIKE: James Taylor’s At Christmas
NOTABLE: Springfield’s collection is dominated by religious Christmas songs, presented in traditional, mostly acoustic arrangements. Title track is a well-written original update on the “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” theme.
HIGH POINTS: Excellent vocal arrangements highlight the traditional material. Springfield has fun with a surf-rock version of “Deck The Halls” and wears his Beatles influence on his sleeve with a string arrangement in “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” that recalls the one in “Elenor Rigby.”
LOW POINT: Springfield and his band sound like a quartet version of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra on the electric guitar-driven “Carol of the Bells.” Overall, Springfield’s approach to the material is almost too conservative.
GRADE: B

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ARTIST: Emmy Rossum
TITLE: “Carol of the Bells” (single)
LABEL: Geffen
STYLE: Classic vocal Christmas
TRY IT IF YOU LIKE: Enya’s version of “Silent Night”
NOTABLE: Rossum is the 21-year-old beauty best known for her role as Christine in the film version of “Phantom of the Opera.” This three-song single also includes “Oh Holy Night” and “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.”
HIGH POINTS: Blessed with a lovely, powerful voice, Rossum’s performance is restrained and spot on. Her wonderful version of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” is one of the few that uses the song’s original, more melancholy lyrics. Judy Garland would be proud.
LOW POINT: This one will be hard to find in stores. Download it from Rhapsody or I-Tunes.
GRADE: A

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ARTIST: Josh Groban
TITLE: Noel
LABEL: 143/Reprise
STYLE: Orchestrated, Classic Christmas
TRY IT IF YOU LIKE: Michael Bublé’s Let It Snow
NOTABLE: Groban’s big, powerful voice is well-suited for dramatic Christmas music. Guests include Brian McKnight, Faith Hill, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
HIGH POINTS: A poignant “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” features actual audio messages home from troops stationed in Iraq. “Little Drummer Boy” starts quietly and builds to a dramatic conclusion. Brian McKnight duets nicely with Groban on “Angels We Have Heard On High.”
LOW POINT: Faith Hill has a tough time matching Groban’s vocals on “The First Noel.” New original song “Thankful” is cut from the same cloth as Groban’s Polar Express theme, “Believe.” Unfortunately it’s not as good.
GRADE: A-

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ARTIST: Various
TITLE: Monster Ballads Xmas
LABEL: Razor & Tie
STYLE: Head-banging Holiday Rock
TRY IT IF YOU LIKE: Hair Metal
NOTABLE: Rockers like Skid Row, Queensryche, Winger, and Twisted Sister take on well-known holiday tunes and serve up a few Christmas originals in ’80s-metal style.
HIGH POINTS: Originals by Enuff Z’Nuff (“Happy Holiday”) and Billy Idol (“Christmas Love”) aren’t bad, and some of the songs (“Run Rudolph Run,” “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town”) are geared for rockin’ arrangements.
LOW POINT: Worst version of “Silent Night” (by Faster Pussycat) I’ve ever heard.
GRADE: C+

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ARTIST: Various
TITLE: A Looney Tunes Sing-a-Long Christmas LABEL: Immergent
STYLE: Cartoon Christmas
TRY IT IF YOU LIKE: Christmas with the Chipmunks, Kidz Bop Christmas
NOTABLE: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and the rest of the Looney Tunes gang are joined by a chorus of kids to sing holiday favorites. Kids will love it, and any adult needing relief from the Chipmunks and Kidz Bop will welcome it.
HIGH POINTS: Some typical Looney Tunes high jinx keeps listeners smiling.
LOW POINT: The upbeat “Jingle Bells”-type material works fine, but it’s a bad idea to have Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd croon “Silent Night.”
GRADE: For kids: A

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ARTIST: Patti LaBelle
TITLE: Miss Patti’s Christmas
LABEL: Def Soul Classics
STYLE: Soulful, R&B Holiday
TRY IT IF YOU LIKE: Aaron Neville’s A Soulful Christmas
NOTABLE: Lesser-known tracks (the gospel gem “Jesus, Oh What A Wonderful Child” the Richard Marx / Luther Vandross composition, “Every Year, Every Christmas”) and new originals dominate the collection.
HIGH POINTS: LaBelle remembers the reason for the season on a variety of religious and gospel-flavored songs, including the funky “Christmas Jam,” and “Holidays Mean More To Me.”
LOW POINT: The lack of familiar material might be off-putting for some. LaBelle’s tendency to over-sing is in full effect on an overblown, “Do You Hear What I Hear?”
GRADE: B

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ARTIST: Hall and Oates
TITLE: Home For Christmas
LABEL: DKE / U-Watch
STYLE: Rock ’n’ Soul Holiday
TRY IT IF YOU LIKE: America’s Holiday Harmony
NOTABLE: Originally released last year, this is a fine collection of traditional (“Oh Holy Night,” “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear”) original (Hall’s title track and Oates’ “No Child Should Ever Cry On Christmas”), and a few lesser known covers (Robbie Robertson’s “Christmas Must Be Tonight”), all performed in the duo’s trademark Philly-soul style.
HIGH POINTS: The aforementioned originals are quite good, and Hall’s powerful take on “The First Noel” is one of the best modern arrangements of the song ever.
LOW POINT: A new version of “Jingle Bell Rock” isn’t quite as good as the one Hall and Oates had a hit with in the mid-80’s.
GRADE: A-

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ARTIST: Michael Bublé
TITLE: Let It Snow
LABEL: 143 / Reprise
STYLE: Traditional vocal Christmas
TRY IT IF YOU LIKE: Christmas albums by Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como
NOTABLE: Who says they don’t make them like they used to? This five-song EP is proof they do. Newest song on this retro collection is “A Grown-Up Christmas List.”
HIGH POINTS: Swinging version of the title track is Bublé at his best. Restrained production throughout showcases Bublé’s silky vocals nicely. LOW POINT: Should have been a full-length CD. GRADE: A-

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ARTIST: KT Tunstall
TITLE: The KT Tunstall Holiday Collection
LABEL: EMI
STYLE: British Pop Christmas
TRY IT IF YOU LIKE: Cyndi Lauper’s Merry Christmas… Have A Nice Life
NOTABLE: This is one of four Christmas EP’s being sold exclusively at Target stores. Tunstall’s collection of modern pop features some obscure (for American audiences) hits by British artists.
HIGH POINTS: Tunstall’s duet with Ed Harcourt on “Fairytale of New York” is as good as the original. She also rescues Mud’s “Lonely This Christmas” from obscurity. Toy pianos work well on a lively “Sleigh Ride.”
LOW POINT: “2000 Miles” sounds too much like the Pretenders’ original.
GRADE: B+

City to City: Suzanne Vega Makes Her Atlantic City Debut

It’s poetically appropriate that Suzanne Vega will make her Atlantic City debut as part of a tour supporting Beauty & Crime, her brilliant new album in which New York City plays a starring role. While the specifics are different, the paradox of a city in which, as Vega sings, “You were dazzled by her beauty and her crime” could refer to either town. The themes of change, rebirth, and even some of the characters (“Frank and Ava”) that Vega writes about on the album are common to both New York and Atlantic City.

However, once you get past the broad generalities, it's clear that the town that permeates the songs of Beauty & Crime is Manhattan. Vega, who performs Saturday, December 1 in the Club Harlem Ballroom at the House of Blues, has always been known for her succinct narrative songwriting style. Throughout Beauty & Crime a variety of New York City locations (West End Avenue, Ludlow Street, Ground Zero) serve as backdrops to her songs.

In a recent telephone interview for Atlantic City Weekly, Vega joked that she could offer a bus tour of all the locations mentioned on Beauty & Crime. She says the song “New York Is A Woman” was inspired by conversations she’s had with first-time visitors to the Big Apple.

“I have a lot of conversations with first-time visitors and sometimes I'm even there with them when they're in New York for the first time,” she said. “The guys from DNA (the British producers who worked with Vega on the hit remix of “Tom's Diner”) came to New York to do some work with me on some other projects. They had never been to New York, and they were flipping out. It was a lot of fun to watch their reactions. Everyone's always impressed by the steam that comes out of the sidewalks, and everyone seems to say the same thing – that it's just like what they've seen in the movies and on television.”

Vega was born in Santa Monica, California, but her family moved to New York City when she was two and a half. She started writing poems when she was nine, and wrote her first song when she was 14. She taught herself to play the guitar, and studied dance at New York's High School of Performing Arts.

While majoring in English literature at Barnard College, she started performing in clubs and coffehouses on New York’s Lower East Side. In 1984 she was signed to A&M Records, and released her self-titled debut album a year later. Featuring the modest hit, “Marlene On The Wall,” it was warmly received by both critics and fans.

Vega hit her stride when her 1987 sophomore effort, Solitude Standing, garnered critical and commercial success worldwide. The album featured two unlikely hit singles – the a capella version of "Tom's Diner," (which was an even bigger hit again in 1990 in DNA’s club remix version) and "Luka,” a disarmingly catchy, uptempo song about, and written from the point of view of a battered child. The song raised awareness of a social issue in a way that hadn’t been done in pop music since the 60s. “Luka” became an international hit, and it’s video an MTV staple.

Released last July, Beauty & Crime is Vega’s seventh album overall, and her first since 2001’s Songs In Red and Gray. Six years is a long time between albums, but the 48-year-old Vega kept herself busy in the interim.

In addition to touring, Vega hosted the public radio series “American Mavericks,” wrote an occasional piece for the New York Times, and participated in “The Vigil Project,” a collection inspired by the events of September 11, 2001. She changed managers and record labels; and went from adjusting to single life (she was divorced from producer Mitchell Froom in 1998) to re-adjusting to married life (she married lawyer and poet Paul Mills in 2006).

When it came time to record Beauty & Crime, Vega says she had a very specific idea of how she wanted the album to sound.

“I try to make each record exciting and a step in a new direction,” she says. “I didn’t want to do just a regular old folk album [with] guitar and your basic four-piece backup band. I couldn't help but think that strings would be really gorgeous on some of the songs, like ‘Pornographer’s Dream,’ which just seemed made for that kind of lush sound.”

British producer Jimmy Hogarth helped Vega balance traditional and modern elements during the recording process.

“The album was recorded using analog equipment, and then fed digitally so that we could have the technology of cutting and pasting, but maintain the warm sound of the analog recording,” Vega says.

Many of the songs on Beauty & Crime are based on Vega’s real-life experiences: “Bound” is a love song for her husband; “As You Are Now” is a dedication to her daughter; “Zephyr & I” revisits old haunts with an old friend; and “Ludlow Street” mourns the loss of her brother. Vega says that knowing the back-story of a song can enhance a listener’s appreciation of it, but she believes her best work can also stand on its own.

“In a song like ‘Angel’s Doorway,’ I don't think you have to know that it's my cousin, but it helps to know that it's about a cop,” she says. “A song like ‘Luka’ works regardless of whether you know it's about child abuse or not. It was a hit before people knew what it was about, and then people started talking about what it was about. So the best songs will work no matter. You shouldn't have to have the Cliffs Notes on it to know what's going on. But to get the full benefit of the song, sometimes it really does help.”

Vega says that over the years she’s become a more deliberate songwriter. When writing for an album, she considers how a song will translate to live performance.

“I record once every few years, but I'm constantly touring and constantly performing,” Vega says. “It's much more useful to me if the song works live, because if I can make it work live, I know I can make it work in the studio. If I can only make it work in the studio, then it's less useful to me. I also like a show to be entertaining, and so I try to make sure there's enough up-tempo, major key songs, because I tend to write minor key songs. If I'm singing too many sad songs in A-minor, I'll say, ‘Lets see if I can write a song in A-major. Or let's see if I can do a whole song with just major chords.’ I like to have a balance.”

Fans who come to the House of Blues on Saturday can expect a well-balanced show of both old and new material.

“I do want to play a lot of the new album because I don't know how else people are hearing it,” Vega says. “It's not something that Top-40 radio is going to jump all over, so I really want to make sure that the audience does get a chance to hear it. But I'm also playing quite a bit of older material – ‘Luka,’ ‘Tom's Diner,’ ‘The Queen and the Soldier,’ ‘Gypsy,’ ‘Caramel,’ ‘Marlene on the Wall”… so it's a really nice range of songs.”

Linda Eder - Back to the Beach

There was a time when singer and Broadway star Linda Eder could stroll down Atlantic City's Boardwalk on a crowded summer evening and go unnoticed. In fact, it happened on a fairly regular basis in the mid 1980s. Back then, Eder was a recent transplant from Minneapolis, building a reputation and fan base performing her show four times a night, six nights a week at Harrah's.

In the years since, Eder's celebrity profile has risen considerably. In 1987, she tried out for the television talent show Star Search, and won a spot on the first episode of that show's 1988 season. She proved unbeatable for an unprecedented 12-week run. The Star Search appearances led to a record contract and her big break; she was cast as Lucy in a new musical version of Jekyll & Hyde.

The show debuted in 1990 at the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas. In April 1997, Jekyll & Hyde made its way to Broadway. That year, Eder was nominated and won a Theater World Award for her performance as Lucy. Since then, she's appeared on stage in Beauty and the Beast, The Civil War and Camille Claudel, and has released eight solo albums, including her most recent, 2005's By Myself: The Songs of Judy Garland.

Eder has performed in Atlantic City numerous times since her lounge act days. While she considers herself a mid-level celebrity at best, her days of going unnoticed in a crowd have passed. In February 2006, she returned to perform two shows with singer and pianist Michael Feinstein at the Atlantic City Hilton.

"It's a new show — an idea that we've wanted to do for a while," Eder said at the time in an interview for Atlantic City Weekly. "We put it together last year and did five shows to try it out. It was so much fun, and the response was fantastic, so we've got a lot more booked."

Eder and Feinstein are on stage together for the entire show, with the exception of two short solo segments where each performs two or three songs apiece. The duo is accompanied by Eder's seven-piece touring band, under the direction of John Oddo.

Touted as an evening of "masterpieces from the American songbook," the show includes songs by legends like Irving Berlin and Duke Ellington, as well as more contemporary artists.

"It's everything from Steve and Eydie, to Sonny and Cher, to Joni Mitchell, to more current material," Eder says. "My definition of a standard is anything that is written well enough so that it stays around as the years go on. New standards are being created all the time."
Eder says she enjoys the variety afforded by successful careers as both a stage performer and recording artist. At this point in her life, however, family considerations have kept her from committing to another Broadway show.

"I want to do it again, but I'm not in a big rush," she says. "It's a wonderful experience and great fun, but it's also the most work. I know the hours that it involves. I have a six-and-a-half year-old son who's now in school, and I know that if I were in a show on Broadway, I really wouldn't see him that much. So I'm very tempered by that.

"There is a piece in the works being especially written for me that I really like, so we'll see…. We're progressing with that, but it would be at least two years before it would be ready to come to New York."

Train Keeps Rollin' On

Train has been one of the most successful bands of the last 10 years. The five-piece group, which formed in San Francisco in 1994, has enjoyed a string of melodic, acoustic-based rock hits that began with 1998's "Meet Virginia," and includes radio favorites like "Drops Of Jupiter," "Calling All Angels" and "When I Look To The Sky."

The band's fourth studio album, For Me, It's You was released by Columbia Records in January, 2006. If you've heard the single "Cab" playing on the radio, you can probably still hear its catchy chorus — "The days are better, the nights are still so lonely / Sometimes I think I'm the only cab on the road" — playing in your head.

In a telephone interview, guitarist Jimmy Stafford said that while the band is proud of its chart success, singles don't tell the group's whole story. He wants fans to know that Train can, and does, rock.

"Typically the songs that end up making it on the radio are the ballads, or the more pop-oriented material," Stafford said. "But when we play live, you get to hear the rest of our stuff. When you add in the live setting, and the adrenaline of the band and the crowd, the material comes off with a lot more energy than it does on the record."

In a separate interview, lead singer Pat Monahan (who released a solo album entitled Last of Seven in September 2007) said that Howard Stern is a big Train fan.

"Not because he loves [ballads like] 'Drops of Jupiter' or 'When I Look To The Sky,' but because he knows that beyond all the songs that people hear on the radio, we're a great rock band," says Monahan. "I think you have to see us live to really appreciate us."

In concert Train has never been a group of stool-sitters or shoe-gazers. The band — which includes drummer Scott Underwood, keyboardist Brandon Bush, and bassist Johnny Colt — is known for wearing its classic rock influences on its sleeve, from its big stage production values, right down to the Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin covers that have been featured in Train's setlist for years.

"We're not insulted by comparisons to classic rock bands," Monahan says. "You're talking about a bunch of guys whose lives changed when they saw classic rock bands. I love being the band that carries that torch, because if you ever saw Aerosmith or Van Halen in concert, your life was different when you walked out of that building."

For Me, It's You has been the most critically acclaimed Train album since the band's self-titled debut. It's also the group's most diverse collection yet. Like its predecessors, it contains its share of reflective ballads (including the poignant "Always Remember" and the single, "Give Myself To You"), but it also captures the band's harder edge on tracks like "Am I Reaching You Now," the catchy "All I Hear," and an energetic cover of Bob Mould's "If I Can't Change Your Mind." Train even shows its soulful side on "I'm Not Waiting In Line" and the title track.

Monahan believes the band was revitalized when Colt (formerly of the Black Crowes) and Bush joined three years ago (replacing guitarist Rob Hotchkiss and bassist Charlie Colin) for the My Private Nation tour. That tour was recorded for 2004's Alive At Last CD. For Me, It's You is the first studio album for the current line-up.

"When we went into the studio to work with [producer] Brendan [O'Brien], we didn't know that we were going to make a complete record," Monahan says. "We were just planning to record a few songs. We wanted to see where we were musically. After about six hours of recording, Brendan pulled me aside and said, 'Man, this is the best it's ever been. Let's make a record.'"

The band had approximately 40 songs to pick from. Band manager Jon Landau chose the 13 that make up For Me, It's You.

"Jon could tell that there was a very clear distinction among the songs that made sense together," Monahan says. "He would call it 'focus.' This album has focus."

The album was recorded in only eight weeks, in a collaborative spirit that Monahan says had been missing from the group for some time.

"We're just a higher-level band now," he says. "We've got a bunch of guys that really mean business. We are more confident. One of the things that bothered me a bit about the My Private Nation record is that everything from the artwork to the songs was a reflection of where the band members were personally," he says. "I think it was more of an album by five individuals than it was by a band. Now the band is healthy, and this is a real band album."

While For Me, It's You has yet to match the platinum sales levels of Train's prior studio albums, Monahan feels true success can only be measured over time.

"There aren't a lot of bands left from the days when 'Meet Virginia' first became a hit," he says. "I've been telling people since our first album came out that we weren't always going to be the fashionable, hot item. But we are going to be around for a long time, so you just have to get used to us."

Mode Music

British band Depeche Mode took its name from a headline in a Paris magazine. French for "fast fashion," its choice suggests that the band hoped to have an immediate, if short-lived, impact on the music scene. But after 25 years as one of the world's top techno-rock groups, Depeche Mode has proven itself to be anything but a flash-in-the-pan act.

The group - guitarist/keyboardist and primary songwriter Martin Gore, lead vocalist Dave Gahan, and keyboardist Andy Fletcher - has sold over 50 million records and played to over 10 million fans worldwide. Along the way, they've survived personnel changes, substance abuse, a suicide attempt, and the ever-fickle tastes of the music-buying public. Depeche Mode's 11th studio album, Playing the Angel, was released in October 2005, and was been hailed by both critics and fans as one of the band's best.

Playing the Angel received favorable comparisons to earlier Depeche Mode albums like 1990's Violator, and with good reason. The new album is not only similar in style to classic Depeche Mode; it's also similar in sound. Gore credits producer Ben Hillier with helping the band connect to its past.

"Ben is on the Internet every day hunting down old analogue synthesizers," Gore said in a recorded interview released to the media. "He brought a whole array [to the recording studio], so that was one of the things that helped define the sound of the record. The predominant sound [on the album] was from the analogue synths, which gave us a kind of direction, and which I think references old Depeche Mode stuff more."

Then there was the persistent rumor (bandied back and forth on various fan Web sites) that Playing the Angel would be Depeche Mode's final album and tour, hence the allusions to the band's history. Of course, that same rumor has been floated out ever since the release of 1993's Songs of Faith & Devotion, when four-year gaps between new Depeche Mode albums became the norm.

"I think you feel after every album it might be the last, and after every tour it might be the last," Fletcher says, "but … I think we're still making good records and still performing well, so it's quite natural that we've made another one, but you never know how much longer this is going on. We're getting old now."

Getting old[er] together is something Fletcher, Gore, and especially Gahan should welcome, considering the rocky road they've traveled together. The roots of Depeche Mode go back to Basildon, England in 1976, when keyboardists Vince Clarke and Fletcher formed a band called No Romance in China. It lasted only a few years, and by 1979 Clarke had formed French Look, another duo featuring Gore. Fletcher rejoined, and the trio renamed itself Composition of Sound. Initially, Clarke handled lead vocals, but in 1980 Gahan came on board as the lead vocalist and completed the lineup.

With Gahan's arrival, the band underwent its most significant transformation. They abandoned all instruments except for synthesizers, creating a slick, techno-based sound to showcase Clarke's catchy melodies. The final name change, to Depeche Mode, capped the group's stylistic makeover. The band met with quick success. "Just Can't Get Enough," the third single from their debut album, became a Top Ten U.K. hit. But just as Depeche Mode seemed poised for a major commercial breakthrough, principal songwriter Clarke left the band.

Gore took over as the band's songwriter, and keyboardist Alan Wilder was recruited to fill the void created by Clarke's departure. Gore's penchant for darker subject matter meshed well with the group's increasingly ominous instrumental textures, and laid the groundwork for the band's trademark industrial sound.

With albums like 1986's atmospheric Black Celebration and 1987's Music for the Masses Depeche Mode was hitting its creative and commercial stride. It reached a peak in 1990, when the band released Violator, a Top 10 smash which spawned the hits "Enjoy the Silence," "Policy of Truth," and "Personal Jesus."

The planets seemed to be lining up in the best possible way for Depeche Mode. Rock radio had shifted away from the heavy metal and grunge sounds that had dominated the late '80s, and began embracing alternative rock. Depeche Mode's 1993 release, Songs of Faith & Devotion, debuted at No. 1 on both British and American album charts.

Then, at the height of the group's success, things began to fall apart. Wilder left the band in 1995. Shortly thereafter, Gahan slashed his wrists in a failed suicide attempt. A year later, he nearly died of a heroin overdose. Fortunately, he later entered a drug rehabilitation clinic to battle his addiction. He has been sober ever since.

Perhaps the residue that remains from his experience is what Gahan uses to give voice to the dark subjects explored in many Depeche Mode songs. Appropriately, Playing the Angel is subtitled "Pain and Suffering in Various Tempos."

Ironically, while their songs focus on the negative, Gore, Fletcher, and Gahan say the group is the happiest it's been in years.

"We're very, very privileged 25 years on," Fletcher says. "We still think we're making great records. We still think we're a good group, and it's a very privileged position to be in. So will there be more Depeche Mode albums? Probably."

Tower of Power Rocks On

With a career spanning 39 years and 21 albums, the Bay-area soul-funk band Tower of Power is a true musical institution.

In fact, founding member Emilio Castillo who plays tenor sax and sings background and lead vocals, compares the group to an institution of higher learning.

The ten-man group includes original members Castillo, and baritone saxophonist Stephen “Doc” Kupka. Notable alumni include saxophonist Richard Elliot, trumpeter Lee Thornburg, Saturday Night Live musical director Lenny Pickett, and saxophonist Steven Eugene Grove (Euge Groove).

“It's kind of like a college – people come in and they're really good players and they leave even greater, and along the way we help each other out,” he said last week in a recent telephone interview. “Afterwards, it's always a source of pride to say [they] played with us.”

It's also a source of pride to Castillo to name some of the artists that he and Kupka, as the Tower of Power horns, have toured and recorded with. The list includes the Monkees, Santana, Elton John, John Lee Hooker, Rod Stewart, Jefferson Starship, Heart, Spyro Gyra, Aerosmith, P. Diddy, and many others.

When asked to list some of his favorites, Castillo says, “I'm very proud of the work we did with Little Feat. And certainly, Huey Lewis and the News…. I [toured] almost four years with them in the ’80s. They were an excellent musical group and we saw eye to eye musically, and Huey promoted my band at every turn. He was pretty responsible for getting us back on track in our career. I also enjoyed playing with the Rolling Stones, and the Eurythmics.”

Tower of Power is about halfway through recording its latest album, a collection of covers of both well-known and obscure soul classics. Because of exposure on the Internet and through first-generation fans, Castillo says the band's audience is getting younger, especially in Europe and Japan.

After nearly 40 years, Castillo says he still loves what he does.

“We stay at nice hotels, eat great food, play really nice places, and we travel all over the world…. I'm totally blessed. I love the job.”

Irish Kisses

Along with the leprechaun and the unicorn, the Pogues are creatures of Irish myth and legend. Unlike the diminutive, bearded pranksters and the horny, winged horses however, the Irish folk/punk pioneers really do exist.

As anyone familiar with the band's volatile Guinness and whiskey-soaked history will tell you, it's best not to look too far ahead when the subject is the Pogues. The Pogues' recent fall U.S. tour consisted of only 11 dates on the West Coast. The band's management knows better than to keep the group on the road for too long. In the past, marathon tours led to alcohol abuse, which led to infighting, which led to a breakup.

As to the band's current state of health, different storytellers tell different stories. Some reviews of Pogues concerts talk of shows of unparalleled power and elegance, others of performances marred by incoherent drunkenness. Guitarist Philip Chevron is currently on "medical leave" and not performing with the group. The focal point of contradiction is always Shane MacGowan — singer, songwriter, and enigmatic leader of the group — the man who's equally responsible for the Pogues' greatest achievements as well as its occasional downfalls.

MacGowan is considered by many critics to be one of the greatest rock lyricists to ever live, but recent profiles portray him as a blathering old drunk whose talent has long since been sidelined due to drugs and alcohol. As the very least, he is an intriguing figure, a man who at 49-years-old apparently enjoys embodying all the excessive clichés of the drunken Irish romantic/philosopher/poet.

MacGowan's drinking is mentioned in, if not the focus of, nearly every article and review ever written about the Pogues. One wonders if it could all be a ruse — the mischievous MacGowan playing the part, and delighting in how many people fall for it. There's no doubt that alcohol and drugs were a problem for MacGowan in his youth, but recently he's argued that tales of his ongoing inebriation are exaggerated.

"It's a story," MacGowan said in a November 2004 interview for British newspaper The Guardian. "Every time I pick up a drink there's a photographer and it becomes, 'Oh look, Shane's pissed again.'"

Still, he doesn't always fight preconceptions — in the 2006 Johnny Depp film, The Libertine, MacGowan has a bit part playing a drunken minstrel.

Amidst the boozy distractions, it's easy to forget the music — vivid, politically charged lyrics set to a unique blend of punk rock and traditional Irish folk — that established the Pogues in the first place.

By the early '80s, MacGowan and his friend Peter "Spider" Stacy (tin whistle) had been kicking around London's punk scene for a few years, achieving moderate success in various bands. In 1981, they joined with James Fearnley (accordion) to form Pogue Mahone, which is an Anglicization of a Gaelic phrase that translates to "kiss my ass." The trio began playing traditional Irish tunes in London pubs and streets, eventually adding Jeremy "Jem" Finer (banjo, guitar), Andrew David Ranken (drums), and Cait O'Riordan (bass) to round out the band.

The group began performing more and more of MacGowan's original songs, and used traditional instruments like the mandolin, concertina, dulcimer, and bodhran to further distinguish its sound. The unique combination of Irish folk instruments played with punk attitude clicked, and the band soon earned a reputation as an exciting live act.

Shortening their name to the Pogues, the group released an independent single, "Dark Streets of London," in early 1984 and supported the Clash on a summer tour. Later that year, they signed with Stiff Records and released their critically acclaimed debut Red Roses for Me.

Early in 1985, the band added guitarist Philip Chevron and recorded Rum Sodomy and the Lash with producer Elvis Costello. The album was an underground success and helped broaden the Pogues' fan base in the U.S., where they were becoming college radio staples.

By 1988, O'Riordan, who had left the band to marry Costello, was replaced by Darryl Hunt, and banjoist Terry Woods had joined the group. The Pogues signed to Island Records and released the Steve Lillywhite-produced If I Should Fall From Grace With God. The album remains the group's best-selling, and contains their only bona fide hit single, "Fairytale of New York," a melancholy Christmas themed duet featuring the late Kirsty MacColl.

The Pogues recorded two more albums (1989's Peace and Love and 1990's Hell's Ditch), but the drinking and drugging of MacGowan, Stacy, and other band members was taking its toll on the group. Depending on which version you believe, MacGowan was either fired or quit the band in 1991.

The group carried on, with Stacy taking over vocal duties. Two post-MacGowan albums met a lukewarm response, and other members fell away from the group. MacGowan formed another band, the Popes, with which he released three albums. In 1999 singer Sinead O'Connor reported MacGowan to the police for snorting heroin. It was a wake-up call that helped him kick his habit.

The classic eight-man line-up of the Pogues reunited in 2001. While there's been no new music from the group, they've matured enough to stay together for six years, even if just for the occasional tour.

For his part, MacGowan says he still enjoys performing, and despite the rocky road he's traveled, he has no regrets.

"I like the pay. I like performing on stage. I'm a poser," he says. "I took a 10-year break and it is exciting again. I mean, you are as young as you feel. I don't wish I had done anything different."

The Police: Back on the Beat

“Well, if the Grand Canyon were to rejoin itself, maybe there would be a possibility. We got back together for my wedding. It made me firm in my belief that it’s best to let sleeping dogs lie.”

— Sting in a July 2000 Webchat for JAM, on the possibility of the Police reuniting for a tour.

“We started 30 years ago, so it would be nice to do something to celebrate. We don’t quite know what, but we’re talking about it. I’m very proud of the band we were in.”

— Sting, 2007

The Police, featuring lead singer and bassist Sting, drummer Stewart Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers were one of the true supergroups of the 1980s. From their punk-pop origins, the trio became one of the most popular and critically acclaimed bands of the decade. Their hits include “Roxanne,” “Message in a Bottle,” “Every Breath You Take,” “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” and “King of Pain.”

Although there was no official breakup, the band had not toured since March 1984. On Saturday, Nov. 3, thousands of fans will pack Boardwalk Hall to welcome the Police back to Atlantic City for only the second time in the group’s history (their other concert here was in 1984). Tickets range from $50 to $350. Fiction Plane (featuring Sting’s son, Joe Sumner) will be the opening act.

“The reunion they said would never happen” is a line often used to hype the reunion tours of supergroups. However, the “they” is usually not a member of the band itself. Before this year, Sting’s stock response to reunion questions was, “What would be the point?”

It wasn’t that Sting, who was born Gordon Sumner, felt the Police had done everything artistically that they could do. Simply put, Sting was disliked by his bandmates, and vice versa.

Things were especially testy between Sting and Copeland, who were rumored to have come to blows on more than one occasion. During the making of Synchronicity, the band’s fifth and final studio album, things got so bad that Sting would record his parts during the day and Copeland would record the drum parts at night. Remarkably, not only was the album completed, but it went on to become the group’s first No. 1 album in the United States, and its biggest seller worldwide.

Over the years friction between the band members subsided and they became, if not friendly, at least less adversarial. The trio performed an impromptu set at Sting’s wedding to Trudie Styler in 1992, and played a three-song set at their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2003. Today, Copeland says the stories of constant fighting are overblown.

“We used to read in the papers about how we were fighting all the time,” he said in a recent interview for the New York Post. “I don’t know what we were doing, but it wasn’t fighting. When we did argue, it wasn’t about petty stuff, it was about the music, because we’re passionate about what we do.”

Copeland formed the Police in England in 1977 along with Sting and original guitarist Henry Padovani. Copeland and Sting had strong backgrounds in jazz, but Copeland envisioned a power trio to join the burgeoning London punk scene. Padovani lacked musical skills, but he brought punk credibility to the group.

Sumner joined shortly thereafter, and the Police performed briefly as a quartet. After an attempted recording session exposed Padovani’s weakness as a guitarist, he was asked to leave the band. The group decided to continue as a trio.

Realizing that they were too old to play straight out punk rock, they developed a sound that combined the energy of punk with a strong reggae influence and even some jazz overtones. Over the years, even as the group became a commercial success, it never abandoned its experimental nature.

Early this year, when it was announced that the reunion tour would take place, there was much speculation as to whether the trio could actually pull it off. Thus far, the tour has received almost unanimously positive reviews.

To their credit, Sting (56), Copeland (55), and Summers (64) are all in great shape, both physically and musically. Rather than a lot of bells, whistles, and backing musicians, the tour features just the three musicians performing on an uncluttered, half-circle stage. The trio plays all the hits in a generous, 20-song set. While some arrangements have been updated, most of the songs sound just like you remember them.

While some critics have dismissed the Police reunion as an attempt by the aging trio to cash in on their legacy, most fans are happy to have the chance to see the group perform at least one more time. Other bands notorious for internal fighting have let bygones be bygones. If the Eagles, Kiss, and three-fourths of Van Halen can do it, why not the Police?

___________________________________________________________

The Police Files: Things You May Not Know:

• Copeland chose the name, “the Police” because his father was a CIA officer and his mother served in the British intelligence.

• Stewart Copeland’s brother Miles Copeland, who managed the Police, also started I.R.S. Records in the ’80s, home to the Go-Go’s, R.E.M., Squeeze, and others.

• Sting got his nickname while he was a member of a group called the Phoenix Jazzmen. He once performed wearing a black and yellow jersey with hooped stripes, and bandmate Gordon Solomon told him he looked, “like a bumblebee.”

• Sting’s love for literature found its way into his lyrics: “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” includes a reference to Nabokov’s Lolita, and “Tea in the Sahara” includes a line about The Sheltering Sky, the title of a Paul Bowles novel. Ghost in the Machine is a book by political writer Arthur Koestler; “Synchronicity” a well-known essay by Carl Jung.

• Each of the band’s five album covers featured some representation of the three members’ faces, from the straightforward portraits on Outlandos d’Amour, Reggatta de Blanc and Zenyatta Mondatta, to the three colored stripes on the cover of Synchronicity. The cryptic cover of Ghost in the Machine is actually digital clock-style depictions of the three faces, with spiky-haired Sting in the middle.

• After one of the early reunion concerts in Vancouver, British Columbia, Copeland posted a satiric review trashing the show on his Web site (http://www.stewartcopeland.net/). For example, Copeland about one of Sting’s mistimed stage moves, “The mighty Sting momentarily looks like a petulant pansy instead of the god of rock.” Many in the media took Copeland’s post seriously, and predicted that tempers were already flaring among the band members.

• Prior to the reunion tour, the last official shows performed by the Police took place in June 1986, when the band reunited to play three concerts for the Amnesty International.

• The bleached-blonde hair sported by the trio on the cover of their debut album, Outlandos d’Amour was not a marketing ploy. The band members all dyed their hair blonde so they could do a Wrigley Doublemint Gum commercial.

Macy Gray's "Big" Return

Before Macy Gray released her current album, Big, earlier this year, more than a few music industry insiders had closed the book on her music career. The singer, best known for the Grammy Award winning hit “I Try,” had not released an album since 2003’s commercially disappointing The Trouble With Being Myself, and had since parted ways with her record company.

Four years between albums is a lifetime in the music business. But Gray, who performed at Atlantic City's Borgata Music Box along with opening act the Brand New Heavies in September, says she always knew she would rebound.

“I was definitely confident [that I would wind up on another major label],” Gray said in a telephone interview in advance of the Borgata show. “I thought about my next album a lot. [The break between albums] gave me time to figure out what I was going to do next, and how I was going to do it.”

While the time away from music allowed her to further pursue her acting career (she’s appeared in such films as Training Day, Domino, Shadowboxer, and Idlewild), and start her own clothing lines (the high-end Natalie Hinds Collection for women, SNAC for men’s fashion, and HUMPS, for “voluptuous women”) she eventually signed with will.i.am Records, headed by and named for Black Eyed Peas leader and in-demand producer William James Adams Jr.

Soon after, Gray recorded Big with an elite group of producers and guest artists, including will.i.am, Ron Fair, Justin Timberlake, Fergie, and Natalie Cole. Released in March 2007, and featuring the singles “Finally Made Me Happy,” “Shoo Be Doo,” and “What I Gotta Do,” Big has become Gray’s most critically acclaimed and most commercially successful album since her 1999 debut, On How Life Is.

Born Natalie Renee McIntyre in Canton, Ohio, Gray studied piano at an early age, but never envisioned herself as a performer, much less a singer. She moved to Los Angeles to attend USC’s film school in the hope of becoming a screenwriter. While there, she became friends with a group of musicians who convinced her to try her hand at songwriting, and eventually, singing.
“I was shy about doing music because kids used to make fun of my voice when I was younger,” Gray said in a 1996 interview for the All Music Guide.

“Squeaky,” “raspy,” “scratchy,” and about a dozen similar adjectives — none of which begin to do it justice — have been used to describe Gray’s distinctive, soulful voice. Gray has heard them all, and recently added her own description to the mix.

“You know what? I think my voice is better now than it has ever been,” she said in an interview for You Magazine. “It sounds like raspberries — like ripe raspberries — and I like raspberries a lot.”

Gray says the songs on Big came together in a variety of ways.

“Every song is different,” she says. “On some songs I had an idea and I would sing it to my piano player. I always come up with a hook line and a melody first, then put it together. With people like Will and Justin, they build the track first, and then they come up with the hook. Everybody does it a different way.”

Lyrically, the album covers familiar territory.

“It’s always ... talking about life and love and all the things that everybody goes through,” Gray says.

While Big boasts its share of old-school instrumentation and lush production, executive producers will.i.am and Ron Fair manage to add a modern edge to the proceedings while maintaining Gray’s distinctive, somewhat retro sound.

“Musically, there are a lot of beats. At the same time, there’s a lot of production on it, a lot of strings, horns, keyboards. So it’s a really built album,” Gray says. “It varies from one song to another. I wanted it to be different from everything else that’s out there. So we took our chances.”

The approach seems to have worked. Besides overwhelmingly positive press, Big has already attracted a more diverse audience than Gray’s previous albums.

“Up until now my audience was mostly white females,” Gray says. “On my first couple of albums I didn’t really have a black audience. I wasn’t embraced by black radio at all. But for this album [my audience has been] very mixed — I get a lot of black people, a lot of guys, even a couple of kids.”

Fans at Gray’s Borgata show witnessed a performance that appealed to the eyes as well as the ears. Gray and her eight-piece band performed nearly all of Big, as well as over a half-dozen songs from her first three albums in a highly polished, 75-minute set.

“Besides the music, there are a lot of visual dynamics going on. The set list has a storyline,” Gray says. “We crafted every minute of our show. We don’t have revolving stages and a bunch of dancers. It’s just me and my band, but I think it’s just as much a show as anybody else’s. It’s pretty hot. You have to see it.”

Counting Crows' Appeal Soars With Critics and Fans Alike

Generally speaking, rock stars don’t enjoy giving interviews. Most consider them a necessary inconvenience that helps sell CDs and concert tickets.

There are exceptions, however. Case in point — Adam Duritz, lead singer, songwriter, and founder of the San Francisco Bay area-based rock band Counting Crows, which performed two sold-out shows at Atlantic City's Borgata Music Box September 7 & 8, 2007.

“I actually kind of like talking about [the band and the music],” Duritz admitted in telephone interview prior to the show. “My willingness to say the truth has gotten me in a lot of trouble, but I’m more than willing to get into it again with you today.”

Having interviewed more than a few artists who offer little more than well rehearsed responses to even the most innocuous questions, Duritz’s honesty is refreshing. For Counting Crow’s fans, it’s part of the group’s appeal. Duritz has a reputation for expressing what’s on his mind at any given moment — whether in an interview or on stage. As a result, no two Counting Crows shows are exactly the same, as lyrics and arrangements are often changed mid-song.

“I never think of the recorded version [of a song] ever,” Duritz explained. “I sing the song like I’m feeling the song, which doesn’t mean it won’t be just like the recorded version. I just think of it as ‘this song is happening right now.’ I think that’s why our concerts are emotional. We could play the same set list three nights in a row and it will be a completely different show all three nights.”

The band, which also includes Dave Bryson (guitar), Jim Bogios (drums), Charles Gillingham (keyboards), David Immergluck (guitar), Dan Vickrey (guitar), and Millard Powers (bass), completed a summer tour in 2007. Along with supporting acts Live and Collective Soul, they played in minor league baseball parks across the country. Duritz says the tour provided the opportunity to visit smaller towns that many bands overlook.

“I think bands make a huge mistake in their careers by forgetting that America is made up of a lot more than just 10 major cities,” he says. “You can have a hit and sell a lot of records from the radio or MTV, but you keep a fan by what you do live.”

From the start, Counting Crows earned a reputation for great live performances. The band enjoyed success with its 1993 debut album August and Everything After, and the hits “Mr. Jones” and “Round Here.” Subsequent hits include a Top-10 cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” and “Accidentally In Love,” from Shrek 2. A live album, New Amsterdam: Live at Heineken Music Hall 2003, was released last year. In all, the band has sold over 20 million records worldwide.

Duritz says this summer’s tour allowed him to push the limits of what his band was able to do musically. He continually kept the group from becoming complacent by adding new songs (from the recently recorded Saturday Nights, Sunday Mornings — due in November) and rarely-played older songs to the set, often after only one rehearsal.

“I think we’ve added like 18 or 20 songs this summer that we haven’t been playing in recent years,” Duritz says. “It’s made the band fearless. I wanted them to get used to the idea that there is nothing they can’t do — and also that there is no such thing as an excuse. If you have a gig that night, you’d better go out there and be great.”

Duritz admits his approach caused some conflict and frustration in the band, but he believes the group is stronger as a result.

“When you aren’t sure what songs are going to be played, you’re forced to be involved,” he says. “As a result, we’ve gotten great this summer — to the point where friends of mine who have seen us a million times are shocked by how good we are.”

Duritz says that his on-the-edge approach to performing has also been a source of misperception regarding his on-stage sobriety.

“I want a Counting Crows show to be like walking a tight rope,” he says. “I’m always jumping on risers, walking around, and balancing on things — just because I like the sensation that I might fall — literally. I have reviewers all the time writing about how I’m drunk on stage. I’m not high, I’m just gone. If I’m on stage, I’m gone. It is a popular perception that I’m wasted on stage. It’s mostly not the case. And for this past tour, it was never the case.”

“I’m not promising anything for Atlantic City,” he adds. “That’s a fun town.”

The Classic Soul of Ryan Shaw

A few weeks ago I happened to hear a song called "Do the 45" playing on Internet radio. I thought I was listening to an obscure soul classic from Wilson Pickett, Junior Walker, Sam and Dave, or some lesser-known soul artist of the same era.

I was only half right.

"Do the 45" is an obscure soul classic originally done by a group called the Sharpees in 1966. But the version I heard was recorded over 40 years later by a soul prodigy named Ryan Shaw. If it weren't for the improvements in sound recording that have been achieved over the past 40 years, Shaw's version could pass for an undiscovered chestnut.

That's a compliment.

Of the 12 slices of retro-soul featured on Ryan Shaw's debut CD, This Is Ryan Shaw, nine are covers of lesser-known hits originally made famous 30 to 40 years ago by Wilson Pickett, Jackie Wilson, Bobby Womack, and others. The remaining three are original songs written or co-written by Shaw. If you're not well versed in your vintage soul, however, you might have a hard time figuring out which are originals and which are covers.

That's also a complement.

Since the release of This Is Ryan Shaw earlier this year, the 26-year-old Decatur, Georgia native has received his fair share of media attention. The press is fascinated by his retro-sound. Critics write about his powerful and mature singing style. Reviewers praise his dynamic stage presence. But what is mentioned most often, in article after article, is the fact that Shaw never heard Wilson Pickett, Jackie Wilson, Bobby Womack, Donny Hathaway – or any other secular music – until he was 18.

Shaw, who performs Thursday, November 8 at Collingswood, New Jersery’s Scottish Rite Auditorium opening for the Derek Trucks Band, grew up in a deeply religious Pentecostal family. Music was an important part of his life from an early age, but it was strictly gospel music played in church, not the pop, soul, hip-hop, rock or R&B played on radio and MTV. He began singing in church at the age of five, and later formed a family group with his four brothers called the Shaw Boys. Shaw's early musical influences all came from the gospel world – singers like Darryl Coley, Keith Brooks, James Moore, and the Pace Sisters.

The first time he heard music that wasn’t gospel was when he left home for college. After briefly attending Georgia State University, he successfully auditioned for the gospel musical A Good Man Is Hard to Find (Part II). In 1998, he joined the cast of I Know I've Been Changed, written and directed by Tyler Perry (Diary of a Mad Black Woman). Shaw moved to New York with the production and performed to sold-out crowds at the Beacon Theater.

After the closing of I Know I've Been Changed, Ryan joined the resident cast of the Motown Café on West 57th Street where he performed Detroit soul favorites by the Four Tops and Marvin Gaye. Later he found another steady gig with a group that he says played “just about anything from the Fifties and Sixties that you could dance to – Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole, Stax and Motown, Dion & the Belmonts, you name it.”

In a recent telephone interview, Shaw said that he gravitated toward soul music from the 60’s and early 70’s because many of those artists also started out singing gospel music.

“Those singers came out of the church, so I’ve been singing like them my whole life,” he said. “We all sang the same music growing up. I just didn’t know about their secular side. But it’s all based on traditional gospel music. It wasn’t a big switch for me, or anything I had to study. When I heard Wilson Pickett, and Sam and Dave – I said, ‘that was the same song I sang in church last Sunday, only with different words.’”

When he first decided to pursue a career in music, he considered becoming a gospel artist.

“Being born and raised in the church, you think that’s your only option,” Shaw says. “I’ve considered it. Even when I was first signed to the label, they talked about doing a gospel album. My third album might be a gospel album, I’m not sure.”

Shaw says the follow-up to This Is Ryan Shaw won’t be a gospel album, but it won’t be another collection dominated by covers, either.

“The next one is going to be pretty much all original,” he says. “The purpose of the first album was to establish me as a singer; hopefully the next album will establish me as a writer and as a more complete artist. There’s a possibility that there might be a few covers that I really love on the album, but they’ll be even more obscure than the stuff I covered on the first record.”

Since his album’s release last March, Shaw has toured the country as both a headliner and a support act. He’s opened for a variety of R&B, jazz, and blues artists, including John Legend, Buddy Guy, Joss Stone, and Los Lonely Boys. He’s even appeared at Lollapalooza.

Shaw says that even though “it’s more work to win over an audience when you’re opening for somebody,” he hasn’t met an audience yet that he couldn’t win over.

“There hasn’t been a bad show yet,” he says. “I think the strangest one was when we opened up for [jazz instrumental group] Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Their crowd is a different group of people, but they still love real music. When I first came out, it was like blank faces and crickets chirping. But halfway through the second song, they were with me. By the end of the show, they were going crazy.”

Shaw acknowledges that given the strong musical statement he made with his debut album, the industry has already labeled him as a soul singer. While he’s comfortable with the label, he’d like to establish a career in which he’s known as a singer who can handle any style of music.

“You go back to someone like Aretha Franklin – Aretha did two or three jazz albums, then she did the Rock Steady album, she did a little bit of everything. People just loved her. It wasn’t about the song, it was Aretha. No matter what Aretha was doing, people loved her and they knew what she brought to the table.”

“I think a great song is a great song whether it’s sung by a country artist, or a soul artist, or a rock ‘n’ roll artist,” he adds. “I think people love real music. I think what attracts people to what I do is my interpretation of it all. Not necessarily the song, but what I bring to the table.”

"Girl Power" Concert In Wildwood, NJ

Since opening in 1986, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has inducted only a handful of the influential girl groups of the 1950s and ’60s. On Saturday, July 7, 2007 original members of three of those groups — the Supremes, the Ronettes, and the Shirelles (“Will You Love Me Tomorrow?”) — performed along with the Angels (“My Boyfriend’s Back”) and the Dixie Cups (“Chapel of Love”) at the Girl Power concert at the Oceanfront Arena at the Wildwoods Convention Center.

In exclusive telephone interviews, Mary Wilson of the Supremes, and Nedra Talley Ross of the Ronettes talked about their careers, how the Girl Power concert came together, and recalled stories of performing in and around Atlantic City in the early ’60s.

Mary Wilson has the distinction of being the only Supreme who remained in the group from its beginning in 1959, when it was known as the Primettes, until it was dissolved in 1977. As a member of the Supremes, Wilson (along with Florence Ballard, Diana Ross, and later, Cindy Birdsong) enjoyed 12 U.S. No. 1 hits, including “Where Did Our Love Go,” “Stop! In the Name of Love” and “Baby Love.”

Wilson has never stopped performing, averaging over 100 appearances each year. Most recently, she has been playing a series of intimate club shows she dubbed “Mary Wilson Up Close.”

Wilson says the idea for the Girl Power show originated back in 2002 while she was working on a project that honored 12 different girl groups of the ’50s and ’60s, including the Ronettes, the Shirelles, the Angels, and the Dixie Cups, with commemorative postage stamps.

“We had the unveiling of the stamp collection at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland,” Wilson says. “So we had all the groups there, all the girls there, and we had a weekend of tremendous fun. We did a small concert where we did a few songs. We said it would be so great if we could do this more often, and since I had organized that particular event, everyone said, ‘OK Mary, you do it.’”

Original Ronette Nedra Talley Ross said the idea moved forward for her two years ago, when the Ronettes were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame at a ceremony held in Wildwood. Ross said that performances by the inductees that weekend turned into a friendly competition between the boy groups and girl groups, and made Ross realize that the time was right to take the show on the road.

“I think everyone’s at this stage in our lives where we’re like, ‘If you’re going to do it, do it now,’” she said.

While they had fewer hits than the Supremes, the Ronettes, featuring Ross and her cousins, Estelle Bennett and Veronica “Ronnie” Bennett (later Spector), may have had an even bigger stylistic influence on music. The multiracial New York City natives were young, stylish, and sexy. They wore long, matching hairstyles, heavy eye makeup and slit skirts. And they sang to the boys (“Be My Baby,” “Baby, I Love You”) instead of about them.

The Ronettes became known as the first “bad girls of rock ‘n’ roll,” which is ironic considering Ross walked away from the group in 1966 to become a wife and mother, and has been happily married for over 40 years. Today she is heavily involved with Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network.

Ross says that at the time she didn’t realize how revolutionary the Ronettes were.

“But I did know that we were making an impression,” she says. “We stood out, because we weren’t the black group, we weren’t the white group — people didn’t know what we were, but everyone could relate to us and claim us as their own. We all dressed alike. We all had long hair. We wore skirts with slits, because we danced. People thought we were wearing the slits just to be sexy, but the truth was, the slits allowed us to dance.”

While the involvement of producer Phil Spector has often overshadowed the group, the Ronettes are finally being recognized for their contributions to popular music. In addition to being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last March, the group was honored by the Library of Congress when “Be My Baby” was added to the National Recording Registry the same month.

For the Wildwood show, Ross will sing lead, performing with daughter Heather Ross and two backing singers. It won’t be the first time Ross has sung lead for the Ronettes. When the group was signed as the opening act on the Beatles’ final U.S. tour in 1966, an insecure Phil Spector wouldn’t let Ronnie go on the road with the Fab Four, so Nedra took over lead vocals and another cousin, Elaine, was brought in to sing Nedra’s part.

Both Wilson and Ross recalled performing in Atlantic City in the early ’60s. Ross’s story involves local music legend and Atlantic City Weekly columnist, Jerry Blavat:

“Coming from New York City ... we regarded ourselves as good dancers,” she says. “We had just done Dick Clark’s American Bandstand, and it was fine, but it didn’t have what we considered great dancers. ... And then we went to do the Jerry Blavat Show, and all these kids — with Jerry leading the way as the host — had routines. They could really dance! We were like ‘Oh my gosh, they’re tearing it up!’ That show had a vitality that I’ll always remember. It really stuck in my head.”

Wilson remembers performing with Dick Clark’s Caravan of Stars tour at the Steel Pier.

“One of the things I’ll always remember about Atlantic City, was when we played the Steel Pier, there was only one way in and one way out,” she says. “At the end of the show, when we wanted to get back to the hotel, we’d have to walk all the way back through the Steel Pier. Many times we’d have to run because we’d have so many fans chasing us. We were like Pied Pipers — by the time we got to the entrance, we’d have hundreds of people following us.”

Besides her solo career, Wilson is involved in a wide variety of charitable and humanitarian causes. She says she would welcome a Supremes reunion with Diana Ross and Cindy Birdsong (original Florence Ballard died in 1976).

“If it were to come about in the right way, I would be more than willing to do it. In fact, I hope it will happen,” she says. “But I believe those things should happen with the best intentions, and everyone involved should want to do it. ... Now that we’re a lot older, and we’ve gone through our own personal trials and triumphs, maybe the time is right.”

CD REVIEWS

Secret Journey; Omar Akram (Real Music) – Fans of smooth jazz and new age music may already be familiar with the music of Omar Akram, who was known simply as Omar on his first two albums, 2002’s Opal Fire and 2004’s Free As A Bird. On his new release, Secret Journey, Akram continues to explore exotic musical textures, weaving strong melodies around multi-cultural rhythms and once again challenging the notion that new age and smooth jazz are best suited for elevators and long naps.

In fact, Akram might be the perfect artist for those who appreciate the soothing, uplifting aspects of the genre, but find themselves frustrated and bored when the music meanders for too long, or abandons all rhythmic foundations. Akram is a skilled composer, and has learned to anchor his melodies, whether soaring (as in lead track “Run Away With Me”) or tranquil (as in “Shimmering Star”), to distinctive rhythms.

Secret Journey also benefits from its unifying theme. In addition to the title track, all of the tunes were inspired by what might be seen or felt on a special trip. The approach allows Akram to incorporate exotic musical flavors from around the world. The son of a U.N. diplomat, Akram spent decades living around the globe, soaking up musical influences from far flung locales such as Afghanistan, Cuba, France, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.

“I look around me and see people who are bored, restless, stagnant,” he explains, “and I know they often take ‘secret journeys’ in their mind as they daydream about other places they could be. The lucky ones get to take an actual trip where they escape from the pressures of their lives. They see new places and have uncommon experiences. I like to think the music on my album can serve as the soundtrack for their journey, whether it is a mental or a physical trip. Everyone needs to get away sometime.”

Akram is accompanied by a group of world-class musicians, including keyboardist Gregg Karukas, and guitarist Ramon Stagnaro, who shins especially bright on the standout track, “Passage of the Heart.”

Secret Journey is a wonderful album with tremendous cross-over potential. Like the work of Kenny G, Kitaro, John Tesh, it will appeal to both devotees of the genre as well as to those who would rarely listen to new age or smooth jazz. Both camps will find many pleasures on this Secret Journey.

Seal With A "Kiss"

Seal, the British-born singer-songwriter of Brazilian and Nigerian heritage, burst on the music scene in 1991 with a self-titled album that presented a unique fusion of soul, folk, pop, dance and rock, and immediately brought him success on both sides of the Atlantic. Although he’s only released three albums since — six, if you count two live recordings and a 2004 hits collection — Seal continues to attract a large and intensely loyal international following.

Despite his relatively sparse recording output, the 44-year-old singer, whose real name is Sealhenry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel, has managed to remain in the public eye. He’s released enough new music to remind listeners of his distinctive soulful voice, including a Grammy-nominated cover of Burt Bacharach’s “Walk On By” on Best 1991 – 2004, and the song, “A Father’s Way” (from the film The Pursuit of Happyness), which received a 2006 Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song.

With a lean, muscular 6’4” frame, Seal’s sheer physical presence has always been enough for him to garner media attention. Growing up in the image-conscious MTV era, Seal has been savvy enough to take advantage of it. He might have gone into modeling, but was initially discouraged by the facial scars he carries as a result of a childhood bout with lupus. But when he decided on a performing career, Seal became convinced that the half-moon scars under his eyes were an omen of future stardom.

“I got really depressed about [the scars] at first, as you can understand,” he said in an interview with Rob Tannenbaum of Rolling Stone magazine. “Now I really like them. If I could design something, I don’t think I could do it better.”

He did design the rest of his look, which at one time featured long dreadlocks, but now sports a clean-shaven head.

“True beauty is internal and eternal — it doesn’t matter what’s only skin deep,” he has said.

Apparently, his view of female beauty tends to be more traditional. Seal dated supermodel Tyra Banks in the mid-90s, and married supermodel Heidi Klum in 2005. The couple has two children.

Seal began his performing career singing in London clubs and bars. He joined an English funk band called Push, which was successful enough to tour Japan in the mid-’80s. From there, Seal took advantage of his time abroad, immersing himself in a variety of musical cultures, and perhaps influencing his own eclectic style of pop music. While in Asia, he joined a Thailand-based blues band. After a short time with that group, he traveled throughout India on his own.

When he returned to England, Seal started collaborating with artists on the local dance music scene. He wrote and independently recorded a song called “Killer” with keyboardist Adamski. Its balance of dance and rock, coupled with Seal’s emotional singing and lyrics, took it to the top of the U.K. charts.

The song caught the attention of producer Trevor Horn (Tina Turner, Pet Shop Boys, Yes), who signed Seal to his ZTT label and produced his eponymous debut in 1991. The album was positively received by both critics and fans, and the singles “Crazy,” “Future Love Paradise” and a new version of “Killer” all performed well on the charts.

But it was Seal’s second album, also self-titled, that established him as one of pop music’s top artists of the ’90s. The 1994 album was also produced by Horn, and featured guest appearances by Joni Mitchell and Jeff Beck. It included the singles “Prayer for the Dying” and “Newborn Friend,” and received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. A third single, “Kiss From a Rose,” performed modestly when initially released, but later became a worldwide smash hit when it was featured in the film Batman Forever. “Kiss From a Rose” went on to win Grammys for Record of the Year and Song of the Year in 1996, and became Seal’s best known song.

Sales of 1998’s Human Being failed to match those of Seal’s first two albums, and the singer went through a difficult period, both personally and professionally. He had a falling out with Horn and left ZTT Records for Warner Brothers.

Seal returned to form for 2003’s Seal IV. Again produced by Horn, the album was a critical and commercial success, and included the singles “Get It Together,” “Waiting For You” and “Love’s Divine.”

In blog posts on Seal.com, his official Web site, Seal has talked about his new album (no, it's not called Seal V - it's called System) which hits the streets November 13, 2007. He says it will reflect a return to his roots as a club singer. Some of the song titles include “Amazing,” “System,” “Wedding Day” and “The Right Life.”

Hoping for a fresh sound, the album will be produced by Stuart Price, known for his work with Madonna, No Doubt, and Coldplay.

“The new record is really shaping up and is turning out to be much of a dance record,” Seal said in a recent post. “Over the years I’ve somehow become more known for my ballads, which I also love doing, but dance music has always been close to my heart. Make no mistake, there will also be a killer ballad or three on this record, but at this point in my life I really want to make something that is more dance-directed.”

ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN: THE EAST VILLAGE OPERA COMPANY BRINGS CLASSIC ARIAS INTO THE 21ST CENTURY

Since the late ’60s, dozens of bands have recorded rock operas – from grandiose concept albums like the Who’s “Tommy,” to stage musicals like Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Jesus Christ Superstar,” to the recent work of the Trans Siberian Orchestra. While the music usually rocked, it often had little to do with true opera.

The same can’t be said of the East Village Opera Company, which might be the first band to perform real opera that rocks.

On its self-titled Decca Records debut, the eleven-piece group uses electric guitars, bass, drums, and keyboards combined with a string quartet, and two lead vocalists to breathe new life into classic arias like “Habanera,” “Un Bel Di,” and “La Donna E Mobile.”

Keyboardist and arranger Peter Kiesewalter believes that today’s rock and yesterday’s opera share many similarities.

“These opera composers were just the rock stars of their time,” he said in an October 2005 interview for the News Journal. “They were often poorly behaved guys that infuriated a lot of people and really pushed the envelope of what was happening in popular music.”

While opera may be considered highbrow music today, Kiesewalter says that wasn’t the case 200 years ago.

“It really wasn’t for the upper classes, it was for everyday people,” he says. “It was music that people would sing in the streets the day after a premiere. It was the pop music of its day.”

The Ottawa, Canada native is a classically trained instrumentalist who considers himself “a rock guy” at heart. He put himself through school playing everything from Top-40 to rock to country to big band music. Eventually he moved to New York, where he became the music director and arranger of “The Downtown Messiah,” an annual presentation of Handel’s “Messiah.”

In 2001 he was hired by director Derek Diorio to write the musical score for “The Kiss of Debt,” an independent film featuring Tyley Ross as an aspiring opera singer. “The director told me that he wanted Tyley to sing fifteen opera arias in the movie, and I could arrange them anyway I wanted, as long as I didn’t do them traditionally,” Kiesewalter explained. “So I was given carte blanche to do whatever I wanted.”

A low-budget comedy with a very limited release, “The Kiss of Debt” never found an audience. Kiesewalter and Ross didn’t want their collaborative musical effort to suffer the same fate.

“At the end of the process, we decided to put the music out on an independent CD,” Kiesewalter says. “We thought nothing much would come of it, but the response right off the bat was a bit overwhelming.”

With success of the independent release, “La Donna,” Kiesewalter and Ross began drafting a permanent roster of musicians for live performances. The group established a home base at an East Village club called Joe’s Pub. The 2005 road trek marked the first time the group toured extensively.

“With eleven people in the band, it’s economically stupid, but I just couldn’t think of another way to break it down and make it cost effective,” Kiesewalter says. “We’ve been asked if we could go out as a four or five piece, and turn the string quartet into a synthesizer, but I just couldn’t do it. No matter how great the sample is, you just don’t get same the dynamic, or breath of expression that you do with real strings.”

The eclectic nature of the group’s music attracts an equally diverse audience, from rockers and hipsters, to working professionals and college students. Kiesewalter says a large number of traditional opera fans have embraced the group’s approach.

“A fair amount of older people who are subscribers to the Met, or traditional opera fans are definitely digging it,” he says. “I’m sure there are some horrified purists out there, but it’s good to know that some of the real fans are coming out and agreeing that the classic arts need a drastic reinvention in order for them to survive. We’re not trying to replace the originals, but I think for something to remain viable, it needs to be reexamined and turned on its head.

“If Mozart or Puccini were alive today, there’s no doubt in my mind that they’d be using microphones, and Pro-Tools, and samplers, and drums and electric guitars. We try to imagine what the composer would be doing with his music if he were alive today.”

While the East Village Opera Company does take a few liberties in its repertoire – like blending the keyboard and drum opening of the Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again” into the “Overture” from “Le Nozze di Figaro” – the group adheres to musical tradition more often not. For example, the overwhelming majority of the material is sung in the original Italian or French.

“The lyrics just don’t translate gracefully into English,” Kiesewalter says. “It’s like going to see Shakespeare in Swahili. It does not have a flow, and it sounds extremely corny. The language of this poetry is so much a part of the aria. We were very adamant about sticking to the original text, and also to sing the aria in its entirely. When artists contemporize these songs, they’ll often do the most recognizable bit. In our approach, we do every section of the tune from start to finish, not just the most recognizable eight or sixteen bars.”

However, the group felt it was important to use material that would be familiar not only to opera buffs, but to the average well-rounded music fan as well.

“We weren’t shy about choosing the obvious greatest hits from the opera repertoire. The fact that we’re doing something that’s recognizable gives us context,” Kiesewalter says. “If people recognize the tune, then it defines what we do that much stronger than an unknown aria. It immediately puts a context and a framework around what we’ve done with it.”

Kiesewalter says that given the theatrical nature of the music, he’s looking forward to performing on larger stages. “With Tyley’s stage background, and the dynamics of the music, there’s never a dull moment,” he says. “We really haven’t worked out anything in terms of ’70s arena rock stage antics, but we embrace the pomposity of that style of rock much like we embrace the pomposity of opera.”