Rodrigo Leão "Cinema" 2004****

If I knew that Rodrigo Leão was a founding member of Madredeus I'd be better prepared for what I listened when I slipped this in the CD player of a used records shop in Lisbon. The name of Portishead's Beth Gibbons on the cover sticker had me thinking this'd be some kind of Portuguese trip-hop, but opener "Cinema" welcomed me with soft keyboards and lyrical strings that did indeed seem to belong to an arthouse movie rather than a pop CD. Follower "Rosa" continues in the same mood, with dreamy vocals by Brazilian singer Rosa Passos giving it a bossanova flavour. "Lonely Carousel" is a smoky, sensual tango with Gibbons on vocals, "Jeux D'amour" is a soft ballad and "La Fête" a sweet waltz, both sung in French by the Belgo-Portuguese Helena Noguerra. The album justifies its title by containing many instrumentals that sound as if they've escaped from the soundtrack of Amelie or some other equally stylish European film. Of those, "A Comédia de Deus" and "A Estrada" are lively quasi-tangos with strings and accordeon, "Memórias" and "Uma História Simples"' strings will make you feel warm and fuzzy, while "A Cidade Queimada", "O Último Adeu" and "António" (featuring Ryuichi Sakamoto on piano) are stark and melancholic piano pieces. The Gift's Sónia Tavares takes the lead vocal for the Portishead-like "Deep Blue", jazzy torch song "Happiness" and Americana-waltz "L'Inspecteur" (think Calexico in French). This is an album I can listen to countless times back-to-back. It's not pop, classical, jazz or folk, just beautiful introspective music - perfect for relaxation and daydreaming. I feel stingy for only giving it 4* but I'm convinced it's an objectively fair rating.

***** for Lonely Carousel, Jeux D'amour

**** for Cinema, Rosa, A Comédia de Deus, Memórias, Deep Blue, Happiness, La Fête, A Estrada, L'Inspecteur, António

*** for A Cidade Queimada, Uma História Simples, O Último Adeus

Tav Falco & The Panther Burns "Shadow Dancer" 1995***

I've written about Tav Falco before: much more than a psychobilly singer, he's a writer, dancer, actor, photographer and all-around renaissance man. He came to rock after witnessing the extreme live show of The Cramps, in which he recognized something of Antonin Artaud's theatre of cruelty. Next to the primitive energy of The Cramps and boorish hooliganism of The Meteors, Tav Falco's Panther Burns expressed psychobilly's stylish artistic side, approaching each concert as a theatrical performance. While still spontaneous and lo-fi in true punk spirit, they gradually softened their sound and included various musical styles like jazz, tango, country and blues. With the exception of their their latest, "Conjurations...", their albums are mostly comprised by covers. Their choice of songs here displays impeccable taste and wide musical knowledge. He touches on rockabilly (Wanda Jackson's "Funnel of Love"). jazz/lounge (Dean Martin's "Sway", Tommy Dorsey's "Music Maestro Please"), rhythm n' blues (Jimmy Witherspoon's "Lotus Blossom", Bobby Bland's "I'll Take Care of You") and 60's pop (the Honeycombs' "Have I the Right?" and Dion's "Born to Cry"). He even applies himself to two of his self-confessed all-time favourite Italian retro pop hits: Little Tony Ciacci's upbeat ye-ye "Cuando Vedrai la Mia Raggazza" and dramatic ballad "Guarda Che Luna" (by Fred Buscaglione). He does admirably well on the Italian songs - or maybe I only think so because I'm not familiar with the originals. The band is certainly proficient enough (this album's players include veterans Alex Chilton and Jim Dickinson as well as Jim Sclavunos from The Cramps and Nick Cave's Bad Seeds), but Falco's singing ability is quite limited. Attitude and confidence serve him well in "Funnel of Love", but he comes up short when faced with classics like "Sway" and "I'll Take Care Of You". Generally, while his covers are well chosen and performed, they neither improve on the originals nor add an extra dimension to them. His own compositions are more interesting, flirting as they do with tango ("Born Too Late", "Shadow Dancer") and cinematic Morricone-esque balladry ("Love's Last Warning"). Supposedly they're from a movie called "Shadow Dancer" but I can't tell if it's a real film or a hoax. In any case, a pleasant but inessential album. 

**** for Funnel of Love, Quando Vedrai la Mia Ragazza, Born Too Late

*** for Invocation of the Shadow Dancer, Sway, Love's Last Warning, Born to Cry, Guarda Che Luna     

** for Lotus Blossom, I'll Take Care of You, Have I the Right?, Music Maestro Please!, Shadow Dancer (reprise)

Maraveyas Ilegal "Ston Kipo tou Megarou" 2014****

I just returned to Athens from vacations in Tinos, a beautiful island in the Aegean archipelago. Serendipity had it that one of my favourite Greek performers was there at the same time, touring the islands like so many artists do in the summertime (islanders are then promptly forgotten for the next 10 months and remembered again come next July). Kostis Maraveyas and his band the Ilegal played an open theatre at the tiny mountain village of Koumaros in Tinos on the 4th of August, drawing a big crowd from throughout the island - including tourists from around the world, most of whom had never heard of Maraveyas before. People filled all the stands, some sat on the rocks around the small amphitheatre and some watched the whole show standing up. A couple next to me sat on an anthill, with unpleasant results for everyone around. Yet we all had a great time, singing and dancing along to the songs. The singer played his heart out, interacting with the audience and often telling amusing stories about the songs. Now,I've followed Maraveyas from his first concerts with Ilegal (early 2007, I think) until I left Greece, in December 2009. Last time I saw him before I left, he was playing at the garden of the Agricultural School, in a festival organised by a small Marxist party. In music and politics, Maraveyas is very similar to Manu Chao, as he stands politically very much to the left and often makes that apparent in his songs, but never gets preachy or depressing, always focusing on giving his audience a good time. Which is why he had old villagers, small children and German tourists happily clapping and dancing along to his music in Koumaros and why in the last years he's often appeared on TV and shared the stage with some of the most popular Greek singers. He's now made 4 CD's with Ilegal, the latest being this one, a live recording "from the Mansion's Garden". The Mansion of Music in Athens (a non-profit cultural space ran by one of the country's oligarchs) contains a big concert hall and various other structures but this concert was advertised as a picnic with music in the mansion's garden, much more appropriately for this kind of music - an upbeat mix of Greek folk, Latin music and retro swing.

Maraveyas Ilegal at the open theatre in Koumaros, Tinos 4/5/2015

This double CD contains live versions of almost all of Maraveyas' hits and constitutes a great introduction to the artist. At 27 tracks, it's a bit too long for a track-to-track presentation, so I'll only confine myself to the highlights: The album opens with "Diktator Des Marktes" sporting a ska/punk tone and uncharacteristically angry anti-troika lyrics: "This here is no Amsterdam/ this is no Berlin/ mores here have changed/ your past I will erase/ Down with your head!/ No more of your mess!/ Stop saying they lied/ Stop saying you're a victim/ Just work, slave, work!/ Money is your crime/ Don't seek God/ Don't ask who's to blame/ just walk straight without looking or I'll turn on the siren...". A lighter song with a similar subject follows: "Welcome to Greece" celebrates (or mocks?) the Greeks' carefree attitude in the face of the financial crisis "Have a nice holiday/ lie under the sun on the hot sand/ and don't worry about debt-filled tomorrow". Now that he's established the party atmosphere, he continues in Italian with "O’ Sarracino" (a 1958 hit for Renato Carosone) and English with "I'm Going Away". His own accordion-led "Pare Chroma" is played as a medley with "Clandestino", a staple from the early days when Ilegal were actually a more multicultural mix, true to their name. "Kato apo ton pato" (under the bottom) is a multilingual call for revolution, immediately followed by a swinging take on the classic rebetiko "Partides" by bouzouki legend Manolis Chiotis. Another 50's Greek folk hit "O Minas ehei ennia" aka "Mia zoi tin ehoume" (we only live once) gives way for his own "Den zitao polla" (i don't ask for much) about a girl that only shows her love at night or when she's drunk. Girl trouble is a recurrent theme here, most notably on the infectious "Lola". Disc 2 opens with a bit of syrtaki introducing a ballad lamenting the state of modern Greece ("Tsalapatas" - You tread on me). Maraveyas' international side is further evidenced by a couple of tango songs, "Rue Madame" and "El Tango Del Rio-Antirrio" and another Italian song, "Fila me akoma" (Jovanotti's "Baciami ancora" with translated Greek lyrics). Retro music hall number "Na to pareis to koritsi" (You have to marry the girl) is played in an upbeat jazz manouche style, dispensing laughs and good humour, while the album ends among cheers with ballad "Den Stamato" (I'm not stopping). Listening to this CD again after the Tinos concert brought a smile to my face because it took me back to the jovial mood of that night, but under any circumstances it's a fun record, brimming with positive energy. I do believe you'll be able to enjoy it, even if you don't speak Greek. 

***** for Welcome To Greece, O Minas ehei ennia-Den zitao polla

**** for Diktator Des Marktes, I'm Going Away, Pare Chroma-Clandestino, Partides, Lola, Rue Madame, Na To Pareis To Koritsi

*** for O Sarracino, Ase Me Na Mpo, To Kalokairi Efyge, Kato Apo Ton Pato, Pes Mou Mia Leksi, Sto Kalo, Arkei Na Eimaste Mazi, Tsalapatas, Kyriaki Ekdromi, Pou Na Vro Mia Na Sou Moiazei, Dyo gynaikes, Trelo apo Hara, De Stamato

** for Feugo, Stin Kataigida, El Tango Del Rio-Antirrio, Fila Me Akoma, Pote Ksana Mazi

Tav Falco & the Unapproachable Panther Burns "Conjurations: Séance For Deranged Lovers" 2010***

Tav Falco is a curious one. He is a proud son of Memphis Tennessee (Elvis' town) but has been living in Europe for more than 20 years. He formed his band, The Panther Burns, in 1979 together with veterans Alex Chilton and Jim Dickinson and has been leading that band (with an ever-changing line-up) all these years, but he's not content with just being a musician: He's also a cinematographer, performer artist, actor, tango dancer and writer. I used to think of Panther Burns as a psychobilly group (maybe because of their close connection to The Cramps). On the basis of this album, that's an  obvious oversimplification. "Gentleman in Black" is psychobilly but he also plays jazz, tango and psychedelia. "Ballad of the Rue de la Lane" is jangly psych-folk (Is it just me or does it really sound like Dylan's "It's All Over Now Baby Blue"?). "Sympathy for Mata Hari" reminds me of Billy Childish's lo-fi garage blues. Two tango numbers "Tango Fatale" and "Secret Rendezvous" combine beautifully the bandoneon with stinging rockabilly guitar licks. "Chamber of Desire" and "Garden of the Medici" are neo-psychedelic ballads with some nice harpsichord flourishes. The latter kinda reminds me of The Fuzztones while "Conjuration of Masques" sounds more like Calexico. This is an ambitious record by The Panther Burns. They display their competence at various genres, the production is rich, arrangements well thought of, sound is clean and crispy. Not what you'd expect from such an "underground" artist. I wanted to like this record but unfortunately I can't warm up to Falco's voice. He still seems an interesting character though, and I'll be sure to check him out live if I get the chance.

**** for Ballad of the Rue de la Lane, Gentleman in Black

*** for Tango Fatale, Secret Rendezvous, Garden of the Medici, Conjuration of Masques

** for Sympathy for Mata Hari, Chamber of Desire, Administrator Blues, Budapest, Lady from Shanghai, Phantôme Demoiselle