Riffs For Organ

In sailing terms, a 'broad reach' is achieved when the wind is nearly full in the sails and this album encapsulates that feeling. It features both a hi and lo-fi approach with studio takes blended with potent ‘in the moment’ performances. The backbone of the album uses both crunchy electric and driving acoustic guitars, including Spencer’s inimitable cross-flat-picking. There are two different bass players who find endless inspiration within Lewis' minimalist sound structures; full out organ and wild synthesizer passages, biting mandolin, and finally drums both steady or hanging by a thread. Soaring over the top is Lewis’ iconic violin, cutting through like the bow of a boat in high seas. A very different album for longtime fans of Lewis' work.

Stanley Clarke stretches his muscles and comes up with a mostly impressive, polystylistic, star-studded double album (now on one CD) that gravitates ever closer to the R&B mainstream. Clarke's writing remains strong and his tastes remain unpredictable, veering into rock, electronic music, acoustic jazz, even reggae in tandem with British rocker Jeff Beck. Clarke's excursion into disco, "Just a Feeling," is surprisingly and infectiously successful, thanks to a good bridge and George Duke's galvanizingly funky work on the Yamaha electric grand piano (his finest moment with Clarke by far). The brief "Blues for Mingus," a wry salute from one master bassist to another (Mingus died about six months before this album's release), is a cool acoustic breather for piano trio, and the eloquent Stan Getz can be detected, though nearly buried under the garish vocals and rock-style mix, on "The Streets of Philadelphia."

One of the most energetic bands in the business, The Fleshtones will celebrate their 40th anniversary with the release of their 21st album, The Band Drinks For Free. Featuring 12 songs about love, deceit, and death in classic Fleshtones style, the album carelessly (to the purists) tosses together the fuzz-guitar and Farfisa organ riffs of so-called "garage rock" with rockabilly, soul, and surf. And, yes, the band still drinks for free. Dubbed "America's Garage Rock Band" and "The Kings Of Garage Rock," The Fleshtones have been the subject of books (Sweat by Joe Bonomo, Continuum Press 2007) and movies (Pardon Us For Living But The Graveyard's Full, 2009) as well as amazement from fans and detractors alike. The Fleshtones are well into their fifth decade of making believers out of the most jaded naysayers with their mongrel stew known as "Super Rock."