Editorial Reviews Music Review:
Music Review
80's, Vol. 1 [Box set] [Import]
Rimsky-Korsakov: Trio in Cm; Borodin: Trio in D
Music: Under A Big Bright Yellow Umbrella
Stravinsky: Rite Of Spring, Fireworks, Petrouchka / Ozawa, Tilson Thomas, Chicago Symphony
Swing the Heartache: The BBC Sessions [Live]
Amazon.com
Imagine an old, dimly lit cabaret, the kind of place where you can always hear rock singers with a taste for dark, romantic songs. It's the sort of boîte that might have featured Jim Morrison in the '60s, David Bowie in the '70s, and Nick Cave in the '80s. But sometime in the late '90s, the Black Heart Procession took over as the house band. The San Diego group likes to savor its gloom: slow to medium tempos and lengthy, atmospheric intros abound on Three. Piano is the key instrument here, but a plethora of noises create sonic webs throughout the disc. Organ stylings, the haunting tones of bowed saw, and occasional trumpet parts further color the songs. Three drumless tracks, "Till We Have to Say Goodbye," "Never from This Heart," and "The War Is Over" are standouts. But drumming features prominently on "On Ships of Gold," the CD's powerful closer. This depressed march, with eerie backup vocals by Kazu Makino of Blonde Redhead, possesses a delightfully odd and spooky vibe. --Fred Cisterna