PELICAN
Nighttime Stories BERNARD FOWLER
Inside Out
(Southern Lord)
There might not be a more thrilling
trio of instrumental hard rock songs than
three found on Pelican's new full-length
album, the first since 2013. About three
minutes into "Midnight and Mescaline"
through the end of the song, the post-
metal pace slackens and allows the band
to explore stunted power-chord riffing
amid a groovy, repetitious beat. It's that
rough, groovy texture that Pelican has
honed like no other band over a near two-
decade career. The mesmerizing end to
that track quickly transitions into the
bouncy pop rhythm of "Abyssal Plain,"
which soon transitions into grindcore and
then to wide-open mid-tempo jamming of
layered guitars and headbanging time
changes--and back to grindcore again.
"Cold Hope" finishes the trifecta--a bot-
tom-heavy and relentless burner with
even bigger grooves and riffage than the
previous two. It closes out the trio with
air-raid siren guitar solos. The six other
tracks help cement this offering as the
band's best, most complete album: the
title track ups the ante on the dirty-sound-
ing, distorted riffage, and "Full Moon,
Black Water" shows the band's widest
range of hard rock styles over its eight
minutes in length. At the four-minute
mark of this track the band once again
breaks it down into the muted and frantic
riffing for which it is best known, only to
end with a shoe-gazing passage that
evokes the pleasurable feeling of awaken-
ing after a long night of dreaming.
– Jason Scales (Rhyme & Reason)
To say this album defies expectation is
an understatement. Bernard Fowler pos-
sesses one of the finest, most skilled and
powerful singing voices in all of rock ‘n’
roll or R&B. In addition to his solo output
and countless collaborations, he has
deployed his strengths for three decades
supporting no less than Mick Jagger of the
Rolling Stones. In recent years, he has also
been the featured voice for A Bowie
Celebration concerts helmed by veteran
David Bowie pianist Mike Garson. During
performances at the Vic Theatre, Fowler
has delivered knockout performances
ranging from the moody and tremulous
“Bring Me the Disco King” to the glam-
tastic “Diamond Dogs,” while taking
“Heroes” to ecstatic heights. A closer-to-
home collection of Stones favorites seems
like a no-brainer. Or is it? Fowler surpris-
es on multiple fronts. Firstly, he eschews
Stones staples in favor of statement,
unreeling eight songs from the Stones’
canon as a string of nightmares, fever
dreams, cautionary tales, and outright
warnings. Certainly, most listeners will be
familiar with “Dancing with Mr. D,”
“Sister Morphine,” “Undercover of the
Night,” and “Sympathy for the Devil.”
But “Tie You Up,” “Time Waits for No
One,” “All the Way Down” and “Must Be
Hell” are inspired choices for the grim
and gritty, noir-ish portrait that Fowler is
painting. From such shadows, these songs
cast blinding daylight onto uncomfortable
topics of mortality and personal, societal
and global ills. “Sex, drugs, regret, pain,
prejudice and injustice” contain only two
of the three cornerstones typically associ-
ated with the music of Jagger and Keith
Richards. The sum is riveting.
Furthermore, the singer puts his barrel-
chested baritone to surprising use,
because one of rock’s most in-demand
voices doesn’t sing a note on Inside Out.
“Tie You Up” launches the album with the
delivery of avid beat poet and expressive
character actor, a picture completed by the
accompaniment of conga, bongo and myr-
iad other percussive colors. The chapters
may have come from Jagger and Richards,
but the overall story and musical compo-
sitions are Fowler’s own. The songs are
rooted in Latin percussion, jazz, deep
funk grooves, and affection for The Last
Poets. The strident “Time Waits for No
One” recalls Gil Scott-Heron and restless
blaxploitation soundtrack rhythms. The
9
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28 illinoisentertainer.com july 2019
alent filling out the arrangements is testa-
ment to Fowler’s esteem among his musi-
cal peers. Steve Jordan drums, Ray Parker
Jr. plays sharp guitar, and Stones bandmate
Darryl Jones plays bass, to name only a
few. Keyon Harrold’s trumpet punctuates
the low smoke of “Sister Morphine.”
“Hoo-hoo” background vocals and
Garson’s piano tether “Sympathy for the
Devil” to the Stones’ familiar tones from
1968’s Beggars Banquet, until Garson takes
avant-garde flight reminiscent of Bowie’s
“Aladdin Sane” – with a dash of salsa. Ron
Dziubla’s saxophone twists “Undercover”
into something dark and urbane that
nonetheless seethes with jungle heat.
Fowler’s liner notes describe the origins
of this album in Rolling Stones sound
checks during 2015’s Zip Code tour. He’d
start early to practice conga. As the other
players came onstage, keyboardist Chuck
Leavell would call the tune and Fowler
would recite the lyrics beatnik-style.
“Bernard, I’ve heard Rolling Stones songs
played in many different ways, but I’ve
never heard it like this before,” he remem-
bers Jagger saying. Fowler promised to
record. Once your expectations are set
aside, you’ll be glad he did. Inside Out is
captivating and irresistible.
– Jeff Elbel
7
BARONESS
Gold and Grey
(Abraxan Hymns)
Baroness's glorious new double album
wastes no time announcing what it is all
about: perseverance. Singer/guitarist and-
songwriter/artist John Baizley declares in
the opener "Front Toward Enemy" – a
hard-charging, bass-driven rocker--"we're
headed for disaster...we can only fight
front toward enemy." It's a frantic start to
what turns out to be one of the most heart-
felt hard rock albums of its time: this is
about survival, hope and desperate meas-
ures, a theme that makes sense in the
band's timeline after a near-death and life-
changing bus accident in 2012. The second
album since that accident, 17 songs in
length, establishes Baroness (Baizley as the
only original member) as survivors.
Baizley wails on the ever morphing rocker
"Seasons," "we fall, we rise, we bend, we
break, we burn, but we survive" before
breaking into thrash riffage along with
new guitarist Gina Gleason, Baizley's nim-
ble foil whose interplay meshes perfectly
with the band's uptempo and emotive
instrumental aesthetic. Short, free-form
instrumental explorations bridge the gaps
between sprawling compositions, a high-
light being "Tourniquet": "Somebody
throw me a tourniquet, I'm openhearted."
Once again, a thudding bassline provides
the backbone to Baizley's wear-it-on-his-
sleeve, full-throated singing. "Throw Me
An Anchor" ups the hard-rock tempo and
furthers the theme: "This is an emergency."
The mid-tempo tracks on the album
showcase the band's subtlety best: On the
sprawling "Borderlines," the band's tight-
ness is on display--evidenced by the duel-
ing guitar solos and Baizley's plaintive
realization: "Borderline, get me out
alive...When it rains, I am right where I
belong."
Appearing 7/23 at Durty Nellie's in
Palatine.
– Jason Scales
9
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Soul Explosion
(Stax/Craft)
In celebration of the collection’s 50th
birthday, Stax and Craft are reissuing the
2LP Soul Explosion set. The collection fea-
tures a broad cross-section of Stax’ soulful
post-Atlantic Records stable circa 1969. As
such, the compelling selections aren’t
always the obvious ones to contemporary
ears. For starters, house band Booker T &
the MG’s are represented by four fine cuts,
but immortal 1962 instrumental “Green
Onions” isn’t among them. Instead, the
band’s reimagined Western theme for
“Hang ‘Em High” displays the chops that
made the band coveted players for so
many other Stax artists. Johnnie Taylor’s
effervescent Hot 100 #5 single “Who’s
Making Love” is the signature song of this
collection at side one, track one. The
album’s first platter includes 14 of the
label’s best-known singles from its new
era. Highlights include Carla Thomas’ ver-
sion of “Where Do I Go” from the 1967
anti-Vietnam War musical Hair. Eddie
Floyd’s breezy “I’ve Never Found a Girl
(To Love Me Like You Do)” shared the
beatific piano pulse of The Rascal’s 1967
single “Groovin’.” Albert King’s “Cold
Feet” adds witty and self-referential talk-
ing blues to the set. “Private Number” was
a hit duet for William Bell and Judy Clay.
Bell’s stirring “Bring it On Home to Me” is
also present. The Mad Lads infuse “So
Nice” with doo-wop sweetness, and The
Staple Singers’ “Long Walk to D.C.” over-
flows with riveting Civil Rights-era protest
passion.
The second platter includes deeper
tracks. Exclusives to this collection include
the Bar-Kays’ “Hot Hips” and Ollie & The
Nightingales’ “Heartache Mountain.” As
part of the label’s “Made in Memphis” reis-
sue campaign, the album was cut and
pressed true to Stax’ roots in Memphis,
Tennessee.
– Jeff Elbel
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