Music Reviews by Glenn Ricci

August 15, 1995

When I Woke / Rusted Root / Mercury

Now that The Dead are very likely dead, which bands are likely to take up the slack for the neo-hippy movement? Probably Phish for one, but smart money might also be on Rusted Root. If you haven't heard yet, Rusted Root is the hot new group that everyone should be listening (or at least dancing) to. Their worldly tribal rhythms went on tour last year with The Horde festival and opened, oddly enough, for Plant and Page. They've received more help from a new, revamped video for their cheery single "Send Me On My Way," that has slightly increased their rotation on MTV. It would seem that the Root is poised and ready to become the next big new age hippie band to be followed around the country by devotees, and the first really big band to originate from Pittsburgh.

While their live shows don't have the same what-will-they-play-next? variation as Phish or the Grateful Dead, they do consistently crank out powerful performances. Their multi-layered rhythm section bangs away on a variety of odd-shaped percussion instruments, while the bass drum holds it all together by thudding away every single beat. On top of this, you'll hear some grooving bass and raw acoustic guitar as well as some merry penny-whistling. Lead singer Mike Glabicki chants and growls out melodic mumblings backed up by two female fellow-chanters. Their family-like appearance and meditative intensity create a charismatic visual groove as well.

Capturing this on CD is no small feat, so the album can at best be considered a companion to their live shows. However, it is definitely a refreshing and enjoyable listen. If you have already worn out the last couple albums from Paul Simon and David Byrne and would like more of that infectious, percussion-centric stuff, you should get this. The biggest flaw revealed by the recording is the lack of discernible lyrics. Hearing them perform live, you figure that while the words are not coming through, they must be singing about something incredibly heavy. The album lets you know what you're not missing. If you can put that aside, all the lively percussion and quasi-spiritual vocalizations should easily lift you into a higher level of cosmic awareness (or at least get you dancing).

MTV Unplugged Collection / Various Artists / Warner Bros.

In an apparent attempt to create a CD that would appeal to the broadest possible age group, the Unplugged people threw together this 16-song collection of artists that bridge several generational marketing demographics. The result is a disc that sounds a little more like something you'd get from VH-1, rather than MTV. Lumbering dinosaurs like Elton John, Eric Clapton and Rod Stewart smack up next to mediocre new artists like Lenny Kravitz and Soul Asylum, with a few transitional middle-agers like Elvis Costello and Annie Lennox filling the gaps.

Every track, while definitely different from its studio original, is hardly a bold revision or creative breakthrough. This album finds its strength in its consistent ability to not shock, surprise or otherwise challenge the listener. For that reason, it just may be the ideal album to avert family arguments during those long car trips to the beach.

Gettin' To It / Christian McBride / Verve

Christian McBride, the wonderboy bassist who it seems has played with nearly every jazz name worth mentioning, finally (at age 24) comes out with an album of his own. "What took him so long," you may ask? Well, out of the ten songs on the album, more than half of them are original compositions. While nobody will be rushing to declare McBride to be a surprise compositional genius, he certainly demonstrates a grasp of the form.

The "form," in this case, would be slick 5 to 7 minute tunes with quick, poignant solos and tight arrangements. Whether he's going for a lilting ballad ("Sitting on a Cloud") or an up-tempo big band-like number ("In a Hurry"), McBride wishes to waste no time wandering around in sonic uncertainties. This album breaks no new ground, nor carries any pretension of doing so. (Although there is an amusing bass trio rendition of Neal Hefti's "Splanky" with McBride playing alongside Ray Brown and Milt Hinton.) Rather, McBride shows off the comfort he feels in the musical genre he calls home. A large part of his ease comes out in the trust he gives his fellow personnel (including Joshua Redman on sax, Cyrus Chestnut on piano, and Lewis Nash on drums), rather than hogging up the arrangements for himself. For a bass player's album, there is very little showboating on the lower end. McBride keeps it spare and tasteful, plucking and bowing out subtle phrases rather than just flying up and down the fretboard in the hopes of breaking a land-speed record. Gettin' To It shows that Christian McBride deserves to be where he's at, not only for his bass chops, but for the competency of his vision and taste.

- Glenn Ricci