Road

Chris Rea is not alone in the company of musicians who found fame later in life – think Jarvis Cocker, Leonard Cohen – and indeed it is interesting to note that he didn’t achieve UK Top Ten single status until the release of The Road To Hell (pt2), a record that was actually his eighteenth chart entry. Artist and painter, blues aficionado and self-confessed motoring nut, filmmaker and Italian-influenced classical music composer, eclectic and maverick are two terms that hardly come close to describing a man who has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide for just being himself. Road Songs For Lovers is beautifully nuanced and a record that regularly tugs at the heartstrings and is arguably Rea’s best album to date. The album, Road Songs For Lovers, continues Rea’s obsession with travel and motion and includes songs with titles such as Happy On The Road, The Road Ahead, The Last Train as well as Road Songs For Lovers itself.

The gargantuan, galumphing Super Active Wizzo band out of his system, Roy Wood returned to the light, sunny oldies of Eddy & the Falcons with 1979's On the Road Again. As the title makes clear, On the Road Again is Roy Wood's version of a road album, the kind of record that was created on the road to be played on the road – that would be true if Wood were a conventional musician, but he's not, as this was not supported by a large tour and didn't even see a release in his native U.K. Therefore, this record is merely the yin to Super Active Wizzo's yang, a record that is about pop songs instead of instrumental interplay.

Conventional wisdom holds that the Beatles intended Abbey Road as a grand farewell, a suspicion seemingly confirmed by the elegiac note Paul McCartney strikes at the conclusion of its closing suite. It’s hard not to interpret “And in the end / the love you take / is equal to the love you make” as a summation not only of Abbey Road but perhaps of the group’s entire career, a lovely final sentiment. The truth is perhaps a bit messier than this. The Beatles had tentative plans to move forward after the September 1969 release of Abbey Road, plans that quickly fell apart at the dawn of the new decade, and while the existence of that goal calls into question the intentionality of the album as a finale, it changes not a thing about what a remarkable goodbye the record is.

Conventional wisdom holds that the Beatles intended Abbey Road as a grand farewell, a suspicion seemingly confirmed by the elegiac note Paul McCartney strikes at the conclusion of its closing suite. It’s hard not to interpret “And in the end / the love you take / is equal to the love you make” as a summation not only of Abbey Road but perhaps of the group’s entire career, a lovely final sentiment. The truth is perhaps a bit messier than this. The Beatles had tentative plans to move forward after the September 1969 release of Abbey Road, plans that quickly fell apart at the dawn of the new decade, and while the existence of that goal calls into question the intentionality of the album as a finale, it changes not a thing about what a remarkable goodbye the record is.

Conventional wisdom holds that the Beatles intended Abbey Road as a grand farewell, a suspicion seemingly confirmed by the elegiac note Paul McCartney strikes at the conclusion of its closing suite. It’s hard not to interpret “And in the end / the love you take / is equal to the love you make” as a summation not only of Abbey Road but perhaps of the group’s entire career, a lovely final sentiment. The truth is perhaps a bit messier than this. The Beatles had tentative plans to move forward after the September 1969 release of Abbey Road, plans that quickly fell apart at the dawn of the new decade, and while the existence of that goal calls into question the intentionality of the album as a finale, it changes not a thing about what a remarkable goodbye the record is.

Though this album may disappoint those hoping for a hard rocking Savoy Brown kind of time, "Nowhere road" still wins you over on Youlden's unique but likable vocals and charming musical roads that are taken here…

Mike Westbrook Band - Off Abbey Road (1990) {Enja Records R2 79640}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 448 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 177 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 33 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1990 Enja Records | R2 79640
Jazz / Contemporary Jazz / Progressive Jazz

"Westbrook's faithful and wonderfully good humored rendition of The Beatles' 1969 album 'ABBEY ROAD' underscores its music-hall whimsy and ravishing melodies. The Beatles purists I have played it for are as delighted as I am." Gary Giddins - Village Voice. "John Lennon, the most progressive of The Beatles, would have been delighted … a real adventure on the borderlines between pop and jazz." Manfred Schmidt - Stereo Magazine, Germany 'CD of the Month'. A quirky marriage of rock, vaudeville and jazz improvisation… Westbrook finds unexpected depths in over familiar songs.’ Clive Davis - The Times.

The DVD has two parts. The first is a concert given in 1977, which is a rare opportunity to see how Boney M recreated their hits live on stage, assisted by backing singers and a live band. Compared to the carefully crafted studio records we're used to, the live sound is a bit rough in places, but that's true of most artists…