Bozo Mark's Hot Pix In The CD Player For Summer (June, July, and August)

1. Various Artists	Ska Wars	Castle Communications
Madness	TOTAL MADNESS...The Very Best Of...	Geffen
The Specials	The Singles Collection	Chrysalis

The casuals version of BOZO allegro played a Legal Aid convention, and I wrote what I thought was a reggae version of "I Fought The Law (And The Law Won") for the event. When we played it, Kevin our drummer said, "It sounds like ska!" Well, I wasn't exactly sure what that meant (I'm still struggling to figure out the difference between house, hip-hop, and rap...), but when I saw the four-volume box set Ska Wars for $9.98, I knew I wouldn't pass it up. Later, after liking it so much, I picked up the Madness and Specials best-ofs as well. Ska, if you ask me, is a bouncy sort of reggae, usually with horns, one of which seems to always be a trombone. (The Jazz Jamaica recordings reviewed in one of the first couple of CD picks on this site are ska too...I think.) I like it alot. The box set has a bunch of people I never heard of - Bad Manners, Judge Dread, The Selecter, Potato 5, The Riffs, et alia (maybe those of you into ska know these folk) - but it's all pretty cool stuff. Great rhythm section work, happy hopping horns, more often than not skewed senses of lyrical humor...if this is ska, it's okay with me. One caveat about the set: the fourth album is all live, and isn't quite as good as the other three, but spiralling through the four takes care of that. Look for it used - I've seen it three or four times. I had the first Madness album on vinyl, and I'd never heard The Specials before, though I'd heard of them. Madness is a little slicker, more pop-ish, and The Specials seem much more proud of and interested in flaunting their working class British backgrounds (ska, if not born in England, certainly seems to have developed and flourished there). I like spiralling between the two of 'em (I never knew multi-disc CD players could be so fun). So, there ya go, the story of Bozo Mark meets ska - THE END.

2. Ticket To Ride

The Swingle Singers

SwingCD

A lovely new addition to the Beatles' tribute album collection. Ward Swingle started his group back in the 60's with a simple concept - sing the music of Bach and Handel, as written, but with a jazz accompaniment of walking bass and brushes on snare drum. It was a huge success, and worth checking out - I can personally recommend both their first couple of albums (probably available on CD) and a collaboration with The Modern Jazz Quartet. I saw this album in one of the many a cappella catalogs I receive, never heard of it, ordered it, and love it. It's all a cappella, which pleases me enormously. The arrangements are great - some, like "Revolution", "Birthday", and "I Am The Walrus", are a cappella transcriptions of the original recordings; others, like "Ticket To Ride", "Lady Madonna", "Drive My Car", and a wonderful intertwined medley of "Blackbird" and "I Will", are more idiosyncratic arrangements. The singing is lush and lovely, and this would have to be my pick for the summer. If you can't find it anywhere else, go online and find the website of any a cappella catalog house - Primarily A Cappella is a good one. Also see the Fab Four Tribute Album page)

3. Frankly A Cappella

The Persuasions

EarthBeat

Whadda know? Another a cappella tribute to another one of my favorites! This just has to be my kind of month! Here's the background story: The Persuasions were a struggling East Coast a cappella group when someone sent a tape of a concert of theirs to Frank Zappa, who produced their first album. They are today - rightfully - legends of the a cappella world. On this album, they repay their debt to FZ by recording (mostly) a cappella versions of tunes from all eras of his career. There are early things like "Any Way The Wind Blows", "Electric Aunt Jemima", mid-period stuff such as "Find Her Finer", "Harder Than Your Husband", and later material like "Hotplate Heaven At The Green Hotel". There are a couple of cool collaborations with Zappa band vets: Bruce Fowler trades licks with Persuasion scat trombonist Jimmy Hayes on "Cheap Thrills", and Mike Keneally takes a cool acoustic wah-wah (!) guitar solo on, of course, "My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama". They even end the album with a talking-in-the-piano track, a'la "Lumpy Gravy" and "Civilization: Phase III". My only quibble would be that, although they open the album with a great rendition of the main theme from "Lumpy Gravy", that's the only instrumental track they sing. I would have loved to hear them work their way through "Peaches En Regalia" or "King Kong". That aside, though, this is a loving tribute to a great composer.

4. Eponymous & Island Stories

The Caribbean Jazz Project

Polydor

I went looking for this band because guitarist Steve Khan, who's featured on the upcoming BOZO allegro album Relentlessly Cheerful, now plays with them. However, I couldn't find any albums with the new line-up (Steve, flutist Dave Valentin, and founder vibest/marimbaist Dave Samuels), but I decided to try these, the first two releases by the original group of Samuels, saxist Paquito D'Rivera, and steel pannist Andy Narell. If the new stuff sounds anything like this, go get it all! This is wonderful music, all Caribbean based, with wonderful tunes and great grooves. The instrumentation is particularly interesting, with the unique combination of colors making for some beautifully distinct sounds. The sax of course is a very warm instrument, as is the marimba, but the vibes and especially the steel pans balance them with a cooler, more detached timbre. There's a rhythm section of piano, bass and drums on most tunes, an added percussionist here and there, and it all adds up to a delightful listening experience. Everybody composes, and there are tribute tunes (for Dizzy Gillespie, Cal Tjader, and Antonio Carlos Jobim), a couple very fine slow things, including a lovely waltz and a tango, and lots and lots of hot latin corkers. And one of my favorites is "Cafe Espana", the last tune on the first CD, wherein just the three leaders play as a trio. Highly recommended.

5. Dracula

Kronos Quartet/Philip Glass

Nonesuch

This is Glass's score to the 1931 Tod Browning/Bela Lugosi movie, played by probably the best contemporary string quartet in existence today. Some of my pals don't think this sounds all that much like the minimalist's usual work, but I don't agree. Most of his hallmarks are here - the repetition, the simple shifting chord patterns, and the hypnotic melodic fragments. The 26 tracks are short, averaging two-three minutes each, but when I listen to it I hear it all as one big work. Now the only question is: Can I get a copy of the movie with this score attached? I'd really like to see - and hear - that: "I never dvink... vine..." (doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo...)

Have a great summer! See ya in September!