Musical Ramblings

Maybe August - A Fine How Do You Do

This may sound like a surprising statement, but there is no such thing as an established corpus of rock harmonica. Of course, there’s plenty of harmonica in rock, from the Beatles to the Stones, via Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin. But when you listen to what they are actually playing, well, it’s blues, isn’t it? Maybe on a different, heavier backdrop, but it remains blues riffs. Apart from John Popper, no one, to my knowledge, has developed a rock vocabulary on the diatonic harmonica.
 
That’s one of the reasons why I had high expectations for Maybe August’s debut album. The other is that I had heard Rosco Selley’s harmonica work in his previous band Blues Controversy, and I knew he was both a skilful player and an explorer, not shy of using the instrument in different ways.
 
Now, having listened several times to A fine how do you do (and I’m listening to it as I write this), I can’t help but feel a little disappointed. It’s hard to pin down exactly, but the album is too neat, too clean, as if it had been processed through a radio-friendly filter. Of course, that’s not only an understandable move for a first album, but it’s a savvy one too. It’s just that I like my musical stuff raw, and on my first listen I felt that all the rawness had been filed away on this one.
 
This explains in part why it took me so long to review this record. There’s nothing I can fault in the album’s production (except perhaps that the harmonica is sometimes a little drowned in the mix, but then I think that of most records…), the musicians and material are objectively very good. It’s just not my bag. That being said, I listened to it several more times recently, and there are interesting things emerging, that point towards Rosco actually developing a rock vocabulary, albeit one radically different from Popper’s (thank God for that: I love Popper, but we don’t need two of him !)
 
For example, Maybe August use vocal and instrumental harmonies quite a bit; their writing is generally a lot more structured and elaborate than what most rock bands do. And although the vocal harmonies sometimes contribute to the smoochy feel, the instrumental harmonies, on the other hand, are an interesting alternative to repetitive improvisation. On Bell Tower, there’s a long instrumental break with the guitar and harmonica playing a theme in harmonies that is both interesting and different. It’s been done, of course, one only has to listen to the Allman’s Hot Lanta, but the guitar/harmonica combination gives the harmonies a different feel.
 
Also, repeated listening suggests that the band live is likely a lot less ‘polite and clean’. This is evident on a few pieces like Dear Carissa, and especially Wish List, which begins by a gritty harp theme (which I’m pretty sure is a quote of something but I can’t seem to find out what…) which is later harmonised. The song’s syncopated funky riff is also a lot spunkier than the rest of the album. Other signs are more subtle and can be perceived through some excess of distortion here or somewhat non politically correct lyrics there.
 
Rosco’s playing is altogether excellent. His technical proficiency on the instrument is discreet rather than blatant, and it expresses itself through the accuracy of his bending (indispensable if you want to play harmonies with another instrument) and occasional bursts of speed. He's one of those clever cats who masters a huge vocabulary (overblows, etc.) but doesn't use it unless it contributes something to the music. On the whole, apart from my slight frustration with how the harmonica is mixed mentioned above, there’s nothing but good stuff in there.
 
So, there you have it. I can’t honestly say that I liked the album, but I can’t honestly say it’s a bad album either. If you’re a harmonica fan and you like soft rock, you’re a lot more likely to enjoy it than I am. If you’re a soft rock fan, harmonica or not, you’ll probably like what you hear in A fine how do you do. As for me, I hope I get the opportunity to hear Maybe August live (maybe when they’ve made it big and start touring Europe!) because I suspect they will be a lot more interesting to me on stage than on record.

Buy Maybe August's 'A Fine How Do You Do' from www.freshtracks.com

Pat Metheny Group - The Way Up

I’m not a usual customer of Pat Metheny’s stuff. I’ve heard some of his records, and I recognise him as a talented and tasteful jazz guitarist, but nothing I heard really blew me away. Additionally, I’m in a phase in my musical explorations when I’m interested in structure over improvisation. That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy listening to straight ahead jazz or blues, but endless looped improvisation over the same chord structure tends to put me to sleep these days…

Two things led me to purchase Pat Metheny’s latest release The Way Up: an interview I read in a French magazine which presented the record as a one-track 68 minute composition, and the presence on said record of harmonica player Grégoire Maret. And, in truth, this second motivation was incidental compared to the first.

I didn’t know quite what to expect, but I nabbed the record in the first few days after its release. I don’t regret it. It’s an odd piece of work, for sure, but it combines superb composition with wild improvisational moments and a general uplifting mood that felt strange at first, me being used to the rather sombre tone of all the progressive rock I tend to listen to these days, but is nonetheless very powerful. Despite the fact that there are four actual tracks on the CD, these are not songs, they are more like movements of a classical composition.

The CD opens on a lively interweave of keyboard and guitar  patterns punctuated by trumpet and harmonica riffs that sets a positive urban mood. This seamlessly blends into a quieter first “movement” structured by a recurring theme played at different moments of this long section by various instruments, with different harmonisations and varying intensity. There’s a long, hard, swinging section in the middle of this movement with a definite jazz-rock flavour. This gives much space to most musicians, especially Metheny himself to stretch their improvisational chops. The first “movement” ends on a driven, intense part that crashes down into a drum solo leading the way for the second “movement”.

The second “movement” emerges as the wild drumming subsides with quiet acoustic guitar and piano that pave the way for a very sweet guitar and harmonica theme. This mutates slowly into a more  improvisational section - especially a long muted trumpet solo with a tone and atmosphere reminiscent of Miles - which gradually picks up in intensity until all the instruments join in, the guitar heavily saturated, with a general feel more akin to heavy rock than anything else. In the aftermath of this very powerful moment, things quieten down and Grégoire Maret is given a free reign to improvise in his turn. Although it’s apparent from the harmonica’s contributions in the themes and more structured parts that Metheny approach in writing was based on sonority rather than capability, Maret gets a real chance to shine here.

This relatively loose section gradually gives way to a third and final “movement” that is much more chartered. Several interlocking themes, often played by the guitar and one of the other instruments, open the way to successive waves of progressively greater intensity that support these themes. Again, this generally joyful mood is omnipresent, and it’s hard not to feel the optimism that is clearly stated in the record’s title. After these intense moments, the record winds down towards a quiet, meditative ending. Lots of slow trickling notes on the piano, and for the first time, very simple, floating moments.

The Way Up is richly textured, in part due to the cast of musicians that Metheny has gathered : piano, guitar, drums, bass are the classic backbone of jazz and rock, but in addition we find harmonica, trumpet and voice with a touch of electronica. Of particular note is Antonio Sanchez’s  drumming, driving, insistent, subtle. The harmonica player in me expected perhaps a bigger role for Grégoire Maret, but in truth, the composition is such a collective effort that I can’t honestly say it would have been better if he’d been more present.

Although The Way Up is hard to describe (I guess I haven’t reviewed enough classical) it really is impressive. It takes guts for an artist in this day and age to go against the grain both musically, by writing a very structured piece that blends many influences, from classical to rock to jazz, but also  commercially by releasing an oeuvre that is by definition not easily accessible and will certainly get very little airplay because of it’s format. I’m glad Metheny went through with it though, because he and the stellar cast of musicians he has assembled bring forth something different that remains both accessible and uplifting.