Columbia’s
Legacy branch has pulled together a 34-track, four-CD box set from Herbie
Hancock that is as avant-looking as the jazz piano master has been avant
musically over the two decades the set spans. The Herbie Hancock Box
includes a track-by-track summary by the artist himself that takes up much of
the included booklet. In the pop world, Hancock is best known for his ‘80s eccentric
jazz techno fusion masterpiece, "Rockit," (which appears here) but
his prowess and combos that have included Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, Lee Ritenour
and more have pushed at the boundaries of pure jazz circles throughout the ‘70s
and ‘80s period that this box covers.
Rhino Records has continued to reissue the phenomenal Elvis Costello catalogue.
One of the amazing things about the label’s Costello reissues has been that
each re-issued album includes a full CD of additional material recorded during
the general time that the album was recorded and released. Thanks to the prolific
Costello, many of these "bonus" discs include more songs – ranging
from live cuts to B-sides to demo versions of the album tracks – than the actual
albums included. The latest Costello discs to receive the re-issue treatment
are 1979’s smash Armed Forces, 1982’s Imperial Bedroom, and 1991’s
Mighty Like A Rose. The bonus disc with the Armed Forces album
(which includes "Accidents Will Happen," "Goon Squad," and
"What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love and Understanding?") includes live
versions of "Alison, " "Watching the Detectives," "Accidents
Will Happen" and "You Belong To Me," along with alternative versions
and extra non-album tracks. The second disc of Mighty Like A Rose (which
featured the deceptively upbeat hit "The Other Side of Summer") includes
a number of unplugged and home demo versions of the album’s tracks as well as
collaborations with Mary Coughlan and The Chieftains. Imperial Bedroom
found Costello branching away from his usual manic pop flair into soul and country,
and landed him a minor hit with "Man Out of Time," which is included
in two different alternate takes on the second CD of bonus tracks.
Epic’s Legacy
branch has worked with Capitol to pull together The Essential Heart,
a two-disc retrospective from Heart that shows the band’s evolution through
the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s. The first disc includes the band’s first incredible
phase, when sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson penned rock masterpieces like "Crazy
On You," "Magic Man," "Dreamboat Annie," "Barracuda,"
"Kick it Out," "Love Alive," "Heartless," "Even
It Up," and more. It also includes live versions of "Unchained Melody"
and Led Zeppelin’s "Rock and Roll." The next disc is all about the
band’s "second coming" that began in the mid-‘80s when synthesizers
and outside songwriters like Diane Warren overshadowed the guitars and internal
songwriting talent that Heart made its name on originally. Included are the
hits "What About Love?," "Never," "These Dreams,"
"Nothin’ At All," "Alone," "Who Will You Run To,"
"All I wanna Do Is Make Love To You" and more.
Jason Mraz
Waiting For My Rocket To Come
(Elektra)
Smart,
romantic, funny, catchy – Jason Mraz strums a funky guitar and slips from reggae
to Bo Diddley beats as he offers song after song of singular pop. "You and
I Both" leads off with a gorgeous pop melody and a bittersweet breed of loss
and love. The album’s centerpiece track comes in the funky bass and banjo plucks
of "Curbside Prophet." Atop the banjo picking, Mraz manages to perform
a singsong white boy rap that’s infectious and fun and even manages to mention
Space Ghost, of all things, before leading into a singalong chorus: "I’m
just a curbside prophet/with my hand in my pocket/and I’m waiting for my rocket
y’all."
"The Boy’s Gone" has that jazzy guitar and lightly tapped drum that
people associate with hepcat clubs of the ‘60s, while in "The Remedy"
he offers a slick, singsong groove with a verse that borders on rap and concludes
in typically breezy patter: "I won’t worry my life away."
Sounding a lot like Jude (remember his 1998 cheeky hit "Rick James"?)
with the occasional pure pop harmony sense of Crowded House’s Tim Finn, Mraz
offers a wonderfully easy, breezy debut album of solid folk-pop. Recommended.
Jason Mraz will open for the Dave Matthews Band at the United Center on December
13.