If the World Was You

by

J.D. Souther

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Put simply: I love this collection. That comes as no surprise, since I consider Souther to be one of the finest songwriters of the late 20th (and now 21st) century. This album is not exactly indescribable--I shall endeavor to describe it--but it is uncategorizable. JD's new one will baffle the music industry because the industry has become so pathetically narrow in its niches. That it will be baffled is a good thing!

The album is not exactly groundbreaking; it is, in fact, grounded in the past. It is not exactly trail-blazing because it follows not only the road not taken but the road unlikely to be taken by anyone else. We have seen great song writers like Danny O'Keefe and Randy Newman dabble around the edges of this untapped genre, and Souther himself, especially on his album Black Rose, had his toes in the water of this approach, but here it comes at us full blown (brass pun intended). Lieber and Stoller meet Mongo Santamaria and Bill Monroe at Chet Baker's house down in Cuba.

Souther's Texas drawl, even more pronounced than in the past, croons and smoothes and squeaks and slides in and out of the melodies, while horns and banjos and pianos take the place of lead guitars and the brushes shush the snare. The description of his voice may not sound flattering, but it is; it has become what it he intended it to be: a beautiful, jazz instrument. The co-founder of the cool, LA country/rock school has graduated.

The lyrics are typical Souther, only more so: Literate, complex, catchy, clever, and even, dare I say it, occasionally profound. Compare that to anything on any of the pop, country, hip hop, or R&B charts of today. There is truly nothing like this uniquely Southerian amalgam. It has tinges of bluegrass jazz, but it's not "dawg" music. It has old school, 50's rock rhythms with Amiri Baraka-style meticulously crafted, improv sounding jazz combo accompaniment, but it's not exactly jazz. It has country and folk essences, but it is neither. And it is all of the above.

If you care about songs and songwriters, this one is a must have.

I love JD Souther, in fact he is one of my greatest musical heroes of all time, and I have a vinyl of everything he ever did in the past. So, I really looked forward to this one. I've gotta be honest. The songwriting is not there, like it once was, with the possible exception of In My Arms Tonight. His voice is sure on track,though. When I closed my eyes, I really couldn't tell the difference in vocal timbre from when he was much younger. Same delicate, melodious quality. But the songs really didn't move me. Most of them are blues based or minor modal things with jazz instrumentation, but the songs are not really jazz, at least harmonically. The supporting musicians are all great players, and I've seen Jeff Coffin in other contexts where he's amazed me, but really on this venture they are not playing very cohesively at all, and a few of the tunes don't feel "right" due to a vague noodling effect that seems to recur, nearly like they're trying to find a groove but don't quite get it. The soprano sax "scoops" are downright annoying, and I am a lover of free jazz, but this was just plain grating. The Secret Handshake of Fate, the final track is one of the poorest pieces of music I've ever heard from him, and I'm disappointed that Mr.Souther would put this on a recording, let alone allow himself to record this mess. It left me with a bad taste. So, yes I miss JD Souther, and I am thrilled that he is once again playing and recording, but please, next time, let's just hear the wonderful voice and guitar; some folk ballads, and some real emotion. Sorry, I can't give this more than 2 stars, and if it wasn't JD, I might not have given it that much.