I can't say that I ever truly loved any of the Style Council albums that I bought during the eighties, but I kept buying them because they had style, a few great singles and the desire to produce a variety of smooth suppertime soul music that was rich in potential and possibility. To say that the Style Council fell short of their goals is an understatement, but I still return to their erratic records, and I still love the way that never-fully-fulfilled promise shines through their coffee-soaked grooves. It makes their failures more fascinating and fun than most group's successes.
Only time will tell if the latest from His Name Is Alive will supplant Style Council as my favorite suppertime soul. If artistic success factors highest into the equation (that would also factor in personality, style, uniqueness and, undoubtedly, nostalgia), it definitely will; musically speaking, Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth is the record Weller always wanted to make for his wife Dee. It's consistent, it's classy and it's very personable; you feel like you're sitting on a sofa, holding hands with the singer and she's singing to you about love and, well, more love.
The ever-changing group, consisting this time of Warren/Warn Defever and Lovetta Pippen, is an act of love from Warren to Lovetta. His aim was to construct subtle songs that showcased Pippen's beautiful voice without stealing attention from it. Both blues -- the Besse Smith-sounding "Happy Blues" and the more modern "Karin's Blues" -- and the exquisite drum march in "Write My Name in the Groove" give the music pride of place, but overall, Warren got what he wanted. Pippen's vocals are, as Warren believes, quite mesmerizing and beautiful; "Our Last Affair" is one of the prettiest, best-sung songs in recent memory. Pippen captures all of the myriad emotions surfacing through Defever's lyrics ("If you had one year to live/Do you know who you'd like to spend it with?"), whether he's copping Pere Ubu ("Wish you would stop playing the same old song/It's driving me crazy") scripts, or just being heartfelt and sincere.
Its three standouts ("Our Last Affair", "Nothing Special", and "Write My Name in the Groove") are great enough to make Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth an easy recommendation. I've found few things in recent memory to be as aesthetically pleasing as hearing this man's love for a woman expressed so grandly through the woman's voice.
|
