HARRY DEAN STANTON
Partly Fiction
years
between
Slipknot
and
Mushroomhead fans is certainly water
under the bridge by now. The Cleveland
nonet, consisting of drummers Skinny,
Robert Diablo and Stitch, vocalists J Mann,
Jeffery Nothing and Waylon, guitarist
Church, keyboardist Schmotz, and bassist
Dr. F, carved out its own niche beginning
in 1993, two years before Slipknot's formation. On its eighth album, The Righteous &
The Butterfly, its first in four years,
Mushroomhead has created its most definitive album to date. The album's title is
dedicated to deceased original guitarist,
J.J. Righteous and the band's former photographer Vanessa Solowiow. Its 14(!)
"back to its roots" tracks are a mixture of
their trademark old school formula and
modern metal elements. The band's Mr.
Bungle/Faith No More influences are decorated with alt-metal and industrial overtones. Creating a rumbling rhythm section, trademark vocal variations, underlying swirling samples mixed with heavy
chugging riffs with nice transitions is what
Mushroomhead does so well. The band is
further bolstered by the return of vocalist
Jmann after a nine-year absence. Even
with 14 tracks, the album flies by without
losing any of its intrigue factor or memorability.
– Kelley Simms
'
8
(Omnivore)
On this soundtrack to the 2013 documentary of the same name, Stanton doesn't sing "The Pilgrim, Chapter 33," the Kris
Kristofferson song that inspired the title.
But he does sing--and sometimes add
poignant harmonica and insightful commentary to--"Danny Boy," "Blue Eyes
Crying in the Rain," "Everybody's Talkin',"
"She Thinks I Still Care," "Blue Bayou,"
"Help Me Make It Through the Night,"
"Canción, Mixteca" (the theme from Paris,
Texas, in which he starred 30 years ago),
and five other songs close to his weatherbeaten, 88-year-old heart. Stanton's sweet
tenor voice, meanwhile, sounds at least
three decades younger, and it's as pliant as
a well-used baseball glove. Jamie James
accompanies on acoustic guitar, Don Was
on occasional bass. Casual, beautiful,
autumnal, and frail, in that order.
--Arsenio Orteza
7
GLASS WANDS
Glass Wands
(Self)
Bespeaking the fragility implied in ther
name, Glass Wands turn delicate synth
and piano-driven songs into magical,
melodic moments. Much of the album
plays like an extended, worldless lullaby,
the gently tumbling notes evoking softly
falling snow, or rain sluicing down a window. "Death Of The Shining Symbols"
blossoms as keeing strings swell and sparkle
(Columbia/Legacy)
To take these live sessions