The Bad Plus One Awful Vocalist

FOR ALL I CARE The Bad Plus (with Wendy Lewis)

D- and A For Awful








I never thought I will ever write a negative review of a music cd by my favorite jazz band the bad plus. I own almost all of their albums and I love them all. Not this new release of covers of songs by Nirvana, Stravinsky, The Flaming Lips, Heart, etc. which I absolutely hate! The songs lack imagination and they sound lifeless, uninspired, and utterly boring. It is so puzzling to me that they allowed this crap to be published, as if they have a career death wish or something.

I was skeptical when I heard they will be joined by a vocalist but I am a die hard fan and bought the cd anyway. HUGE.DISAPPOINTMENT. She is awful, awful, awful. She can't sing, period!! I don't care if she is a friend of David King, the drummer, but they should have chosen someone with good pipes and style if they really want to add vocals. The reason I love them is because of the absence of vocals and I would probably have forgiven them if she has a decent voice and a singing style that suits their wild, unpredictable, and sometimes passionate interpretations of covers.

Out of 12 songs only 4 tracks are okay because I get a headache when she comes on and recites, yes, she doesn't sing, she mouths or mumbles lazily the lyrics. Her emo-wannabe style doesn't fit her age and the music of The Bad Plus at all. She single-handedly ruined the whole CD but hopefully not TBP's future.

Tracks with Wendy Lewis
1. Lithium - has the opposite effect, she drives me into depression
2. Comfortably Numb - uncomfortably numbing
4. Radio Cure - iPod curse
5. Long Distance Runaround - give her the runaround
7. How Deep Is Your Love - how mediocre is her voice
8. Barracuda - more like a fry or pupfish
9. Lock, Stock And Teardrops - I can cry a river
10. Feeling Yourself Disintegrate - feeling myself break down and pull my hair out

I am mad as hell for all I care. Oh, well.

the bad plus prog review

I've been listening to this cd prog by my favorite jazz band the bad plus for the past four months now. It's time to write what I think of the songs. I rate this cd A++.

the bad plus is:

• ethan iverson, piano
• reid anderson, bass
• david king, drums
  

1. everybody rules the world (tears for fears) - a wonderful and sweet cover of one of tff's best songs. hushed but beautiful.
2. physical cities (reid anderson original) - very original and exciting music, a jazz purist perhaps will not like it but I LOVE IT! the pounding of all instruments in perfect sync is just magnificent.
3. life on mars (david bowie) - my favorite of the four covers. the bad plus playing a david bowie song = perfection.
4. mint (ethan iverson original) - playful and fun, I wish it's longer than 5:20.
5. giant (reid anderson original) - what can I say, this song makes me hum along with it, which is extremely difficult to do when there are no lyrics and the tune varies. I just love love love this song.
6. thriftstore jewelry (david king original) - easy on the ears with a slight latin beat, I thoroughly enjoy the drum solo, brilliant as well as entertaining.
   
7. tom sawyer (rush) - always a crowd pleaser at live performances. I didn't know this song but when I first heard it live I instantly liked it (I listened to the original song several times after the concert). excellent deconstruction without losing the original tune.
8. this guy's in love with you (burt bacharach) - my least favorite but does not mean it's bad. I just don't like the tune itself.
   
9. the world is the same (reid anderson original) - oh my god! my current favorite song. this starts very very slow, building up as it goes, quickening the pace, becoming more urgent towards the end of this most beautiful song, and the conclusion is almost orgasmic, further emphasized by the fade out of drums and bass, then the coda.
   
10. 1980 world champion (david king original) - what an ending to david's trilogy of medalists (this one is for ski jumping) and anchoring this cd. the song is so lively and fast paced, I can't help but tap my foot or hands each and everytime I listen to it. it has a good mood feel and the champion's speech near the end of the song is a nice touch. I imagine myself right there when the champion made his jump and won. this song makes me happy, want to dance or ski jump.
    

I am in a dilemma right now because the bad plus is coming to Washington, DC in late October but my daughter and I also want to see La Boheme this month. La Boheme is a bit expensive, the cheapest is $100 for a not-so-ideal-seat and I'm sure the tickets for tbp will also be higher than the normal they charge because of the venue. And there is a tribute concert to Jimi Hendrix also in October. Sigh, can't decide.

Florante Aguilar

I just received the 2 CDs by a Filipino classical guitar player based in California, Florante Aguilar. I read about him in Market Manila's blog and 3 days later here I am, for the first time in my life, enjoying Filipino songs. The all Filipino song CD is called Tipanan A CELEBRATION OF THE PHILIPPINE GUITAR. It has familiar tunes like Ikaw and Bayan Ko, the folk song Sing Sing (a brilliant interpretation of Atin Cu Pung Singsing) and children's song Sitsiritsit. The other CD is a compilation of suites for 2 guitars, with the music of The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and The Police played classically, exactly the kind of music I listen to. Eleanor Rigby played a la Baroque, She's Leaving home in waltz, Purple Haze a la Bartok, these are just a few of the songs in this wonderful CD.

Speaking of Filipino musicians I also have a few CDs by Susie Ibarra, a Filipina born and raised here in the US. She plays drums/percussions and has a group called The Susie Ibarra Trio (drums/violin/piano), their music is categorized as avant jazz. She is very good and got excellent reviews in Amazon.com and several New York papers. One of her CDs is a tribute to the Filipino migrant workers Folkloriko. In one of the songs, she plays the Philippine wooden kulintang. The CD is great and she has become one of my favorite artists.

Unrelated to Filipino music and musicians: the song Bayan Ko reminded me of the EDSA people power rallies and it's just a coincidence that the Washington Post today has on its front page a story on the new means to assemble a protest rally in Manila: cellphone text messaging. The reporter followed one person, a 25 year old male college graduate mobilizing people through texting and concluded it is very effective because a thousand people came to attend the protest without the police's previous knowledge of where and when exactly they will assemble. The article also pointed out that the Philippines is now the texting capital of the world. I myself have a Philippine Globe sim that I use to text my parents and relatives. I got it because my mother is hard of hearing and prefers to text. It is also very cheap (piso) for her to communicate with me, and fast (no operator to deal with), in fact she already ditched her landline and uses her cell most of the time.