Old Drift

Anybody who has cut a standard like "Drift Away" can hardly be called unappreciated, but a hit of that magnitude can tend to overshadow the rest of an artist's career. Such is the case with Dobie Gray, who not only had a huge number five hit with "Drift Away" in 1973, but had a number 11 hit eight years earlier with "The 'In' Crowd." Two big hits, both widely known, which is more than most artists get, and Gray continued to chart throughout the '70s, albeit in the lower reaches of the R&B charts. All of this suggests that Gray was a minor talent, but that's misleading, as Hip-O Select's excellent four-disc box set Drift Away: A Decade of Dobie (1969-1979) proves. Chronicling the music Gray made after "The 'In' Crowd," it illustrates that Gray wasn't just a powerful yet nuanced soul singer, but that he restlessly tried different sounds and styles. The first tracks on this set collect his singles for the L.A. soft pop label White Whale, where he cut versions of Joe South's "Rose Garden" and Paul Williams' "Do You Really Have a Heart" that perfectly fit the label's breezy, lazy style while retaining a soulful edge. After that, it moves to his Drift Away album, recorded for Decca in 1973.

Keith Richards once said Mitch Ryder was "among the most exciting singers to ever emerge on the music scene."
In the more than 50 years of his musical career, Mitch Ryder has celebrated great successes and suffered some setbacks, but the soon-to-be 78-year-old "with the lurking vibrato in his voice" has never lost his bite and vision, and today he is as agile and popular as ever. Mitch Ryder's 2023 album, "Georgia Drift," is, as the title suggests, inspired by Southern soul, so it's earthier and more laid back than his earlier albums. Ryder himself, who moved his center of life from Michigan in the north to Georgia, in the deepest south of the U.S., some time ago, calls the album "a reflection of my musical direction since my move." And so "Georgia Drift" contains wonderful songs influenced by gospel and blues, such as "Lord" in typical Georgia style, the gospel-inspired "Salvation", where even banjo and violin can be heard discreetly, or the touching ballad "Jack", where Mitch's voice is accompanied only by piano and violin. That Mitch Ryder still has the groove, on the other hand, is proven by tracks like "Mask" and "Soul" that animate you to immediately bob along, while pieces like "Beautiful" or "Naked" are prime examples of grandiose rhythm & soul songs.

Appalachia (a native American word for North America) is a set of variations based on a slave song about the tragedy of the cotton planters ‘being sold down the river’. Delius heard the song when teaching the violin in Virginia, but the primary inspiration was his formative experience of the semi-tropical beauty of Florida’s Solano Grove where he had managed an orange plantation. In Sea Drift Delius absorbed a further American influence in the nature mysticism of Walt Whitman. The symphonic poem, one of his greatest works, is a song of love and death in which the baritone soloist is both a participant in the drama and offers a commentary upon it.

Rustin Man aka Paul Webb has announced his return. Webb, formerly the bass player in Talk Talk, will release his new album Drift Code via Domino. Webb has released one record under the moniker Rustin Man so far, the superb Out Of Season in 2002 - a collaboration with Beth Gibbons of Portishead.

Duende Libre is an energetic trio of Seattle musicians utilizing the American jazz tradition as a jumping off point for exploration of global musical forms. The creative vision for the band is perhaps that of pianist/composer Alex Chadsey, yet it is his two mates, drummer/percussionist Jeff Busch, and uber bassist Farko Dosumov that bring his musical vision to life.

After last year’s album ‘Love & Devotion’ the husband and wife duo of Mike Paradinas and Lara Rix-Martin follow up with ‘Weird Drift’. The album shows just how much their ability to write confident and thoughtful pop songs has developed, while still being able to retain the sleepy cushion of steamy synth pop that made the first record so rewarding to listen to.
This time album features the vocals of a Vezelay, a.k.a. French singer and producer Matthieu Le Berre, who brings a gentle poised falsetto to the duo’s productions along with a delicate but hopeful angst.