Bart Davenport -Game Preserve (2003)
Bart Davenport's 2003 sophomore effort GAME PRESERVE surely stands out as an example of a work of overlooked genius. The genius of Bart is that he loves the music. His taste is eclectic (ringing Spanish guitars, Bachrach /CSNandY/LoveSong/Rascals Harmony/Morricone, Georgie Fame vocals) and yet distinctively Bart. Unlike, say, Lenny Kravitz, the "spot the influence" game is quickly evaporated by the beauty of the tunes and the wit and wisdom of the lyrics ( "Intertwine" the final track stands out) which combine Tom Wolfe pop culture observations ("...I could never be you no matter how many Snickers Bars I eat..") to a winsome Jonie Mitchell-esque , elegiac melancholy. Bart is fearless; he takes his bass clarinet voice deep into soulful territory without ambivalence. There is sincerity , not the "look at me ma, I'm being hip" kitsch of Beck at his self-indulgent worst. Bart has the chops --rooted in the unsurpassed Mod (yes I said it) blues of Oakland, California's finest, The Loved Ones. That great, unheralded, group's fingerprints are all over this offering. Xan McCurdy (now of Cake) has such a distinctive playing style that you can spot his brilliance shimmering across the tracks, the steady backbeat and flourishes of the inimitable John Kent --these guys are genius in their own right -- and dyed-in-the-wool Mod. True Mod: with its roots in U.S. blues and soul morphed into heavy rock (such as Humble Pie and The Faces) while other elements branched into Disco/funk of Rod Stewart's "Do You Think I'm Sexy?" era and the murky combo of both genres in the "Some Girls" heyday of The Rolling Stones. Bart ties it all together in the singer-songwriter genre. If The Loved Ones were 1966, Bart Davenport is somewhere in the Ford Administration with this offering. The influence of Terry Jacks ("..We had Joy we had Fun We had Seasons in the Sun") and the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid era of Bachrach as well as Miles Davis "Sketches of Spain" are here in equal parts with the music any red-blooded American loves. If you long for the Edwin Hawkins Singers early '70s hit "Oh Happy Day," Shirley Caesar's soulful vocals, Sly and the Family Stone's incomparable orchestration, Andre' Crouch, The Watts 110th street Band, then this is for you! Gorgeous harmony, no synthetic "Britney" beats to mess up the purity of the Hammond organ's warm tones. Oh, it is an awesome record. Yes, Bart has "matured" but that statement seems to connote that all that which went before was somehow incomplete - and that would be misleading. (One can LOVE the Rubber Soul album and still get Wings Over America as a latter work of maturity without diminishing the wonder of the former.) Bart gives music to listen to --to pay attention to -- the soulful vocals and, yes, the lyrics.
Posted by elvisnixon.com at 8/15/2009 2:46 PM 
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: music popular culture bart davenport rock pop folk review overlooked Loved Ones Bart Davenport Xan
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: music popular culture bart davenport rock pop folk review overlooked Loved Ones Bart Davenport Xan
Comments