Supergrass have confirmed a spring
reunion tour in Europe, as well as shows
in Los Angeles and New York. Quinn
recently performed at the Bottom Lounge
as bassist for Swervedriver. Afterward, he
confided that he hoped to talk his old
bandmates into a bus tour of North
American cities to include Chicago. Plow
through The Strange Ones in the mean-
time, and keep your fingers crossed.
– Jeff Elbel
9
THE MAGPIE SALUTE
High Water II
(Eagle)
Created during fractious splits with
Georgia-based roots-rockers the Black
Crowes, the Magpie Salute finds guitarist
and songwriter Rich Robinson forming a
soulful new legacy alongside former
Crowes bandmates Marc Ford and Sven
Pipien, joined by former Moke singer
John Hogg. The band made a strong start
with a live debut album and 2018’s High
Water I. Songs like the swaggering
Memphis-Zeppelin fusion of “Send Me
An Omen” reveled in the band’s com-
mand of blues-based psychedelia, south-
ern rock, and soul music. New album
High Water II completes the band’s initial
manifesto. The collected work suggests
that the group has the goods to build its
tower of songs apart from earlier success-
es (i.e., the Crowes), while still respecting
what the band’s roots mean to people
who have followed Robinson’s path.
Crashing opener “Sooner or Later” takes
classic cues from both sides of the pond,
with familiar echoes of both Led Zeppelin
and the Allman Brothers. Robinson trades
stinging guitar with Matt Slocum’s
sparkling piano. Hogg’s optimistic chorus
declares that despite hard knocks, he’ll be
on his feet again before long. “Gimme
Something” is a muscular Muscle Shoals
stomper with whiffs of Wilson Pickett,
propelled by Joe Magistro’s whip-crack
snare. “Leave it All Behind” is a Memphis
riff-rocker a la Booker T & the MGs,
underpinning Hogg’s soulful shout. “In
Here” swings with southern swagger,
punctuated by Matt Holland’s horns a la
classic Delaney & Bonnie. The country-
blues twang of Robinson’s acoustic guitar
adds gentle charm to “You And I,” build-
ing to an energetic coda while Hogg
unleashes emotive vocal riffs like Joe
Cocker. Hogg and Robinson blend their
voices for acoustic-based folk-rocker
“Mother Storm.” Pipien’s loping bass
glides along blissfully while providing the
foundation for Ford’s swampy slide gui-
tar solo. The descending psychedelic
swamp-pop of “A Mirror” reflects abiding
love for the Faces. Pipien channels Paul
McCartney circa “Getting Better” for the
British Invasion foundation of the encour-
aging “Turn it Around,” while Robinson
and Ford create a joyful cacophony in
opposing speakers. The bulk of the album
is either written by Robinson alone or co-
written with Hogg, but Ford submits the
worthy “Lost Boy.” The song’s downtem-
po but warm-hearted drawl is reminiscent
of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ “Into
the Great Wide Open.” Ford hints at per-
sonal trials leading to an understanding
and abiding affection for a younger loved
one who feels like an outsider. “Doesn’t
Really Matter” is a late-album highlight
that gathers the strengths of the Magpie
Salute into a taut riff-rocker that features
the band’s intuitive interplay. The effect
fuses the James Gang and Faces with Sly
& the Family Stone.
Black Crowes fans will hear much to
love on High Water II, but the Magpie
Salute are earning (and deserving) fans of
their own. Listeners with turntables, take
note: The band’s foundation in '60s and
‘70's rock and soul connects with a life-
long love of vinyl, and High Water II is
well-suited to its double-LP, gatefold
presentation. The LP master bristles with
energy.
7
– Jeff Elbel
THE POLICE
Reggatta de Blanc,
Zenyatta Mondatta,
Ghost In The Machine,
Synchronicity
(A&M)
Just over a year ago, A&M released a
vinyl box set called Every Move You Make:
The Studio Recordings. The collection fea-
tured all five studio albums by the Police,
plus a bonus platter of career-spanning B-
sides that told the full story of the band’s
powerful blend of pop, punk, and reggae.
Now, fans without a need for the entire
run can choose from four individual LPs.
If you want to pick up Outlandos d’Amour
for a remastered “Roxanne,” you’ll have
to wait for another day. But you can start
with “Message in a Bottle” on Regatta de
Blanc and keep going. Your humble corre-
spondent is fan enough and sufficiently
aged to have original vinyl LPs for com-
parison to the new heavyweight vinyl
24 illinoisentertainer.com february 2020
pressings.
Regatta’s opening salvo including
“Message in a Bottle,” the wordless title
track, and the frenetic fan favorite “It’s
Alright for You” are well served by the
makeover. There are no drastic changes,
and the sonic breadth of the master is
intact with air in Stewart Copeland’s hi-
hat, thump in the kick drum, presence in
Sting’s vocal, and rumble in his bass. Andy
Summer’s guitar bites shimmer and glide.
The album doesn’t succumb to the com-
mon pitfall of smashed dynamics from
additional limiting and compression. If
anything, the new master is a couple of
decibels quieter than the 1979 pressing.
“Walking on the Moon” remains chiming
and otherworldly, but benefits from an
augmented sense of spaciousness around
Summers’ guitar and Copeland’s rim
knocks.
1980’s Zenyatta Mondatta ushered in the
decade when the Police ruled the world
and featured three of the trio’s enduring
hit singles. The tense and angular “Don’t
Stand So Close to Me” reveals a tale of illic-
it and inappropriate desire that sent count-
less teenagers to their local libraries in
search of books by Vladimir Nabokov.
“Driven to Tears” is a plea for social
responsibility that was reflected by 1985’s
global appeal to support victims of African
famine at the Live Aid concerts. “De Do Do
Do, De Da Da Da” was the Police’s closest
thing to a silly love song on the surface, but
underneath were statements about the
abuse of language and the power of simple
communication. Possibly reflecting the
higher-quality source material afforded by
the band’s evolving status, the new master
is true to the original but a bit more trans-
parent – as if a thin veil was lifted from the
old one. This album and the pair that fol-
low include replicas of the original inner
picture sleeves.
1981’s Ghost in the Machine added the
philosophical reggae-pop of “Spirits in the
Material World,” and the self-conscious
romance of the pensive-then-jubilant
“Every Little Thing She Does is Magic.”
Sting’s lyric for the downbeat “Invisible
Sun” was sparked by the hunger strikes in
war-torn Ireland, and also reflected ten-
sions and turmoil in Copeland’s boyhood
hometown of Beirut. Notably, the new
master restores Copeland’s opening five-
stroke drum fill to “Spirits in the Material
World” that was missing from some early
pressings (including this writer’s copy).
Finally comes the globe-conquering
Synchronicity, an album that might have
stood as a best-of album by itself if the
other Police records weren’t already such
tremendous fun. If you watched MTV
when the M stood for music, you could
name the pile of singles. Billboard Hot 100
#1 single “Every Breath You Take,” with its
oft-misunderstood stalker’s confession; the
embattled and despairing “King of Pain,”
the table-turning “Wrapped Around Your
Finger,” and the star-crossed rocker
“Synchronicity II.” Like the original LP
release, Sting’s masterpiece of political crit-
icism, “Murder by Numbers” is not includ-
ed on the remastered LP. However, classic
status is well-deserved on Copeland’s
world-music percussion features during
Sting’s environmental cautionary tale
“Walking in Your Footsteps,” and the arid
story of misplaced hope and broken prom-
ises “Tea in the Sahara.” Summers makes
his peak performance of understated and
atmospheric guitar soundscapes on the lat-
ter song. The fresh master reveals every
shimmer, swell, and echo.
fresh master reveals every shimmer, swell
and echo.
– Jeff Elbel
8 Regatta de Blanc
7 Zenyatta Mondatta
7 Ghost in the Machine
10 Synchronicity
U2
Three EP
(Island/UMC)
The limited-edition 40th-anniversary
reissue of U2’s 1979 debut EP recalls the
days when the world-conquering Irish
rockers were scrappy post-punks from
Dublin. The EP includes rough-and-ready
versions of pub favorites “Stories for
Boys,” and “Out of Control,” which were
re-recorded for the band’s 1980 debut LP
Boy. “Out of Control” in particular is rawer
and more visceral, peeling layers of reverb
and delay from The Edge’s guitar. The set’s
third track is “Boy/Girl,” sporting confi-
dent vocals and a hiccupping chorus by
charismatic teenaged Bono, alongside
brash and slashing riffs from the Edge. The
assured rhythm section of bassist Adam
Clayton and 17-year-old drummer Larry
Mullen Jr. are hard-driving at the song’s
frenetic tempo. The pair also add stormy
propulsion and fire to “Stories for Boys,”
while Edge’s guitar wreathed in flange
effect. Can you hear the band that domi-
nated 80s radio with the Gospel-etched “I
Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking
For” or the plaintive voice that delivered
the measured and sublime performance
during “One” in these tracks? It may be
tricky, but the group was nonetheless clear-
ly a tight unit brimming with attitude and
ready to join the ranks of their heroes in
bands like Wire, Television, and The Ruts.
The EP is remastered on 180-gram vinyl.
– Jeff Elbel
7