Down Every Road

オーセンティックな'60sディープ/サザン・ソウルの世界を奇蹟的に再現したネオ・ヴィンテージ・ソウルの天才児、ELI PAPERBOY REEDがアメリカのレジェンド、カントリー・シンガーMERLE HAGGARDの曲をアレンジして制作された待望の新作アルバムをYEP ROCからリリース!!

Throughout his career as an R&B revivalist, Eli "Paperboy" Reed has centered his attention on the soul made in the back half of the 1960s and the early years of the 70s -- a period that happens to coincide with Merle Haggards ascension to the upper echelon of American music. During this period, country and soul intermingled in a variety of fashions, but Haggard didnt quite partake. He sang blues and jazz, he wrote a pioneering song about interracial romance called "Irma Jackson," but he didnt delve into the gritty, funky sounds emanating out of the south. Despite this, Reeds decision to record a full-length tribute to Merle Haggard not only seems right, it seems logical. Haggards music encompassed so many different sounds, styles, and emotions that they could easily be rearranged into retro-soul numbers, which is precisely what Reed does on Down Every Road. Sticking with the material Haggard wrote and recorded for Capitol -- all but one of the songs here can be found on the landmark 1996 box set Down Every Road 1962-1994 -- Reed recasts these songs as slow-burners and ravers, anchoring his interpretations on funky backbeats, dressing them in reverb and tremolo, then delivering them with potent efficiency. The 12 songs here have the punch of a stack of old 45s: most of them clock in well under three minutes, which gives the album a swift momentum. Despite its rapid clip, Reed packs a lot of imagination into this record, turning "Mama Tried" and "Its Not Love But Its Not Bad" into insistent soul romps while teasing out the blues in "If We Make It Through December" and "Today I Started Loving You Again." Keeping things succinct means that Reed places equal emphasis on his vocals and guitars, making sure to keep the melody and message of the songs in the forefront and letting Haggards songbook shine through. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

間にはハイ・リズムを迎えたシングルもあったが……3年ぶりの新作はアウトロー・カントリー界のレジェンド、マール・ハガードのトリビュート・アルバム。とはいえ直球のカヴァーではなくサザン・ソウルのリズムやホーン・セクションも導入して再構築されており、主役もいつもより力を抜いてナチュラルに歌い上げる。彼がプロデュースしたハーレム・ゴスペル・トラヴェラーズも要所で援護するほか、レイラ・マッカラの妹サビーヌもゲスト参加。
bounce (C)狛犬