Continued from page 32 the album, occasionally relieved by Gary Louris of the Jayhawks. Jason Victor of the Dream Syndicate and Steve Wynn’ s band the Miracle 3 shines as well on songs like“ The Searcher,” his art-punk guitar stoking the memory of earlier Sweet albums featuring Television guitarist Richard Lloyd. Sweetly singing slide guitar is provided on songs like“ Come Correct” by Val McCallum of Jackson Browne’ s band, as Sweet sings about resisting the negative energy of someone bent upon dragging him into a dark headspace. All of this power-pop royalty and the bevy of cherrypicked songs make Sweet’ s 12th album a lush feast for the ears, and one of his finest. Appearing 7 / 13, 7 / 14 City Winery, Chicago
– Jeff Elbel
8
SADIE & THE STARK Ghosts
( Self)
On“ Ghosts,” a six-song EP follow-up to the 2016 debut EP Witches, Chicago’ s Sadie and The Stark continues to be a band that reaches listeners on a visceral level. Of the six tracks,“ Wait For Me, Sansa,”“ Rip” and“ Crawl” employ the most aggressive guitar-bass-drums instrumentation that draws upon an elemental post-punk style to boost the raw and powerful vocal delivery of Sadie Rogers. It’ s as if Shirley Manson were fronting Joy Division.“ Riders” and“ Wild In The Caves,” with its Native American-like wails of“ Woah! Woah!”, highlight Rogers’ considerably powerful vocal style backed by more subtle instrumentation. But“ Vampire Love Song”--featuring pedal steel guitar and a folksy rhythm and melody--might be the most surprising and interesting in lyrical content with Rogers singing:“ Crush my soul, rip my skin off / after all, this is the end of the world.” Appearing 7 / 16 at Quenchers, Chicago
– Jason Scales
7
GEORGE HARRISON The Vinyl Collection
( Universal)
IMe Mine- The Extended Edition
( Genesis)
The " quiet Beatle " would have been 74 this year. The Vinyl Collection gathers all of the former Beatle’ s solo records beginning with 1968’ s Wonderwall Music and concluding with 2002’ s posthumous release Brainwashed. In addition to a dozen studio albums, the set includes 1992’ s Live in Japan and two 12” picture-disc singles taken from 1987’ s Cloud Nine. Harrison may only have gotten a track or two on most Beatles albums, but the consistency of his solo output suggests that he may have been somewhat unjustly restrained by his gifted bandmates Mssrs. Lennon and McCartney. Presentation of the albums is faithful to the original releases, including the heavy cardstock box for the chart-topping 1970 triple album All Things Must Pass and its poster of copiouslybearded and silhouetted George in the entryway of his home. All albums were remastered for vinyl from original stereo master tapes. For this review, comparison was made between the original pressing of Cloud Nine and the fresh master. The sound of songs including“ Devil’ s Radio,” # 1 single“ Got My Mind Set on You” and the Magical Mystery Tour callback“ When We Was Fab” is faithful overall. Although benefitting from a bit more fullness in the lower midrange that helps Ringo Starr’ s drums to sing on the latter, the new masters don’ t suffer from over-compression or other dramatic changes. Similarly reverent treatment is evident throughout the other catalog entries reviewed. All Things Must Pass includes a bevy of essential tracks, including the country-folk“ Behind That Locked Door,” shimmering worldwide hit“ My Sweet Lord,” rocker“ What is Life” and more. Phil Spector’ s famed wall of sound towers on“ Let it Down.” Wonderwall Music is well worth rediscovering by those who have never heard it in this format, with its explorations of traditional Indian music sounds in tracks like“ Microbes” and“ In the Park” featured alongside the whimsical music-hall pastiche“ Drilling a Home.” Ample gems are scattered among Harrison’ s less-heralded records, including the winsome“ Crackerbox Palace” from 1976’ s Thirty Three & 1 / 3, soft-rocker“ Blow Away” from 1979’ s self-titled release, and fond memorial to John Lennon“ All Those Years Ago” from 1981’ s Somewhere in England. The Wilbury-esque“ Any Road” and ukulele shanty“ Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” both appear on Brainwashed. Written“ Somewhere in England,” George Harrison concludes the foreword to his
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44 illinoisentertainer. com july 2017