Spin Control: CD reviews of recent releases

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

Blues

Big Joe and the Dynaflows, “You Can’t Keep a Big Man Down” (Severn) ★★★

Big Joe Maher was at the peak of his career in 2001, with a pair of well-received albums on Severn Records, “I’m Still Swingin’ ” and “All Night Long.” Then the big man had a great fall that “almost took me out of commission for good.” The title song to “You Can’t Keep a Big Man Down” is both a reference to his physical comeback and an ode to an indefatigable spirit that should make it a fixture at sporting events.

Maher, a veteran of the Washington, D.C., blues and jazz scene, is an engaging performer, fine in-the-pocket drummer and talented songwriter with a particular talent for swing music. The half-dozen self-penned songs on “You Can’t Keep a Big Man Down” are generally more enjoyable than the six covers.

Besides the title track, “Property Line” is a tongue-in-cheek, don’t-mess-with-me anthem that should be played on big speakers placed in the windows adjacent to a particularly annoying neighbor. “Evangeline,” written in honor of a cousin’s 2-year-old daughter, is a Bourbon Street R&B tune in the Fats Domino vein, and “Nothin’ but Trouble” is an Earl Hooker-style grinder about the sorry state of the economy. The best of the non-originals are B.B. King’s “Bad Case of Love” and “What the Hell Were You Thinkin’?,” written by Delbert McClinton and a pair of his regular collaborators. Kevin Mc­Kendree, a co-writer of the latter song, also co-produced “Big Man Down” and plays keyboards.

Jeff Johnson

Pop

Herb Alpert and Lani Hall, “I Feel You” (Concord) ★★★

It’s been almost 10 years since Herb Alpert and Lani Hall stepped into a recording studio to make music, and this outing was so worth the wait. Glorious phrasing, smart improvisations and that instrumental-vocal symbiosis that has been the couple’s trademark for more than 30 years all contribute to a lush, funky, musical journey through some pop classics and standards.

Highlights (and there are more than a few) include a completely reinvented and reinvigorated “Moondance” with a serious dose of hand-drums; the Caribbean breeziness of “Cast Your Face to the Wind,” and the samba-driven “Blackbird.”

Bassist Hussain Jiffry (in a band of standouts) finds the perfect groove at every turn to caress everything Alpert so eloquently dishes out. Close your eyes and just feel the rhythm of this very special musical journey.

Miriam Di Nunzio

Folk-pop

John Popper & The Duskray Troubadours, “John Popper & The Duskray Troubadours” (429) ★★

Sixty years after homespun Hoosier humorist Herb Shriner introduced mainstream America to the joys of the harmonica, a husky Easterner named John Popper is carrying on that mission with his group Blues Traveler. Popper may court a more specialized audience of alt-rock and blues fans than the eclectic Shriner, but a lot of Blues Traveler’s audience probably has spent little time listening to other harmonica players.

You’d think that with Popper given his freedom to cut loose on a solo project, he’d take the opportunity to pay homage to one of the harp-blowing Walters, or Sonny Boy Williamson I or II, or possibly Junior Wells and James Cotton. But the dozen tunes that make up this self-titled Duskray Troubadours album, seven of which he had a hand in writing, are an altogether tame lot. The writing is mostly of the “moon in June” variety, with bouncy melodies to match the lyrics. Even those who credit Blues Traveler’s leader with being a blues missionary would have to admit there’s not much about Popper’s album that will attract a new audience — unless he’s aiming at recent purple dinosaur converts.

Jeff Johnson

rock

Disappears, “Guider” (Kranky) ★★★

Disappears has an interesting approach to the now popular lo-fi, garage rock aesthetic. The Chicago quartet does use the genre’s foundations of chugging guitar, driving bass and machine-gun drum beats. But instead of exploding into chaos, their songs are steady and slowly build to the big payoff.

On its latest record, “Guider,” Disappears even goes one step further in that direction. While not huge step away from its 2010 release, “Lux,” the new album finds Disappears and its music much more focused.

The biggest difference between the two records is the guitars. Where as on “Lux” the riffs flailed wildly, the guitars on “Guider” are more subdued and add to the music’s atmosphere rather than taking center stage. Album opener “Superstition” rumbles to a start with a rapid strumming that sounds as if it’s going to erupt into something heavier, but rather than a quiet-loud-quiet dynamic, the guitars pull back and bassist Damon Carruesco takes over with a pulsating lick. “New Fast” locks in with tight bass and drum groove quite early and gets extra spooky from the chant-like singing of guitar and vocalist Brian Case.

“Guider” is quite the energetic album, even if the music isn’t completely out of control. The 15-plus minutes of “Revisiting” are repetitive and droning, but the echoing guitars shift and bend, resulting in something hypnotic.

Last year was tough for Disappears as the departure of drummer Graeme Gibson left the new record and the band in limbo. But 2011 is looking better as it’sadded one heck of a replacement drummer in Sonic Youth’s Steven Shelley, and released its most engaging set of songs.

Richard Giraldi