Cd Reviews
The Sunday Age
Sunday August 29, 1999
Woodward & Sitsky
PIANO CONCERTO, 22 PATHS OF THE TAROT
Under Capricorn
****
Sitsky reinvents the piano concerto as program music. Twenty-two brief passages inspired by teachings linking Tarot figures with Jewish mysticism suggest images from the major Arcana. The Magician is mysterious, the Devil loud and exultant, the Star melancholy and distant. Sitsky relies on the soloist's judgment and sense of drama to group the passages into three movements. Woodward is dazzling, Porcelijn gives the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra appropriate bite and the result is spine-tingling and full of surprises. -- ANDREW SCOTT
Chris Whitley
DIRT FLOOR
Elastic Records
***
Big things were expected from Whitley's early 1990s debut, Living With The Law, on which the singer-songwriter's husky voice was framed by his open-strung steel guitar and Daniel Lanois' unmistakable imprint as producer. But he seemed determined to frustrate expectations on his next outings. With this simple, mostly acoustic album, Whitley returns to his strength. He is joined by his daughter at one point (he chides her for stealing the show on Alien) and reprises the title of his first album as if to show he's back on track. -- LARRY SCHWARTZ
Burning Spear
LIVING DUB
Heartbeat/Shock
****
The dub is a Jamaican studio art form known for its echoing, entrancing, rhythms. Reggae legend Burning Spear and studio wizard Barry O'Hare turn the famous Appointment With His Majesty into a catchy dub format. Rather than straight instrumentation, Burning Spear's vocals are added sparingly. The mixed-down chorus and the loping, syncopated rhythm of Jah Dub make it the dominant track. But the skeletal Dub Appointment recedes and rises around the clipped words of the original title. -- TERRY REILLY
***** Not to be missed
**** Highly recommended
*** Good
** Tolerable
* Tragic
© 1999 The Sunday Age
