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Tyrell pays tribute to Cahn on new album

Steve Tyrell
“It‘s Magic: The Songs of Sammy Cahn”
(Concord)

Late blooming crooner Steve Tyrell burnishes his reputation as one of the finest interpreters of the Great American Songbook with this tribute marking the centennial of the birth of Sammy Cahn, the lyricist who gave voice to Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack in the early 1960s.

Tyrell’s rough-hewn baritone - with the slight twang of his native Texas - gives him the swagger to put his own stamp on such Cahn-Jimmy Van Heusen tunes as ``Come Fly With Me‘’ and ``The Tender Trap.‘’ His voice also has a world-weary vulnerability that serves him well on the romantic torch songs Cahn penned with Jule Styne such as ``I Guess I‘ll Hang My Tears Out to Dry’‘ and ``I Fall In Love Too Easily.’‘

Tyrell draws on his background as a record producer to present himself in optimal settings by using top-flight arrangers and soloists. Don Sebesky adds bold brassy blasts to his arrangements of such tunes as ``Ain’t That A Kick In The Head,‘’ while Alan Broadbent uses strings to lushly accent ballads like ``All the Way.‘’ Saxophonist David Mann contributes a sultry solo on ``It‘s Magic,’‘ while Lew Soloff’s growling trumpet complements Tyrell‘s gruff vocals on ``It’s Crazy,‘’ one of the last songs Cahn wrote.

(AP)

Chapman runs hot, cold on ‘Blaze of Glory’

Marshall Chapman
“Blaze of Glory”
(TallGirl Records)

An opening duet cooks to a Bo Diddley beat. Next comes a searing Rolling Stones-style rocker, and then Marshall Chapman does a slow burn on Hoagy Carmichael‘s ``Nearness of You.’‘

After that, Marshall Chapman loses steam on new album ``Blaze of Glory.’‘

The 6-foot singer nicknamed the Goddess of Tall has been rocking out for a loyal following since the mid-1970s, but the new album suffers from too many plodding tempos and not enough strong material. Sequencing and jarring mood swings are a problem, too: Chapman sings mostly about affairs of the heart before offering up a lame novelty number (’‘Call the Lamas’‘), and then closes with back-to-back tunes that contemplate death, which leads to buzz kill.

The best songs here are very good, however, and at age 64 Chapman’s still in fine voice. Her soft South Carolina accent drops to a near whisper on the Carmichael tune, and she nails the other cover, too, with a jazzy approach on the Delmore Brothers‘ ``Blues Stay Away from Me.’‘

``Love in the Wind’‘ is an exuberant duet with Todd Snider, and ``I Don’t Want Nobody‘’ benefits from her Mick Jagger swagger. But elsewhere the Goddess of Tall comes up short.

(AP)

QOTSA goes for the jugular on sixth album

Queens of the Stone Age
“Like Clockwork”
(Matador)

Opening to the sound of breaking glass and riddled with lascivious intent throughout, Queens of the Stone Age‘s new album ``. Like Clockwork’‘ is the soundtrack to the B movie of your dreams.

In the six years since the release of the band’s critically acclaimed ``Era Vulgaris,‘’ Queens founder Josh Homme has moonlighted with the Eagles of Death Metal and super group Them Crooked Vultures. Now, the California native sounds energized back in his day job.

The credit list for ``. Like Clockwork‘’ reads like a who‘s who of modern rock, with appearances from the band’s frequent collaborators Dave Grohl and Mark Lanegan, as well as Homme‘s former bandmate Nick Oliveri, Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor, Artic Monkeys‘ frontman Alex Turner and, perhaps surprisingly, Sir Elton John _ who lends backing vocals and piano to ``Fairweather Friends.’‘

Thankfully, ``. Like Clockwork’‘ isn’t overwhelmed by its roster of guest stars, as Homme and his cohorts create merry hell as Lucifer‘s house band. The 10 tracks range from piano-led laments about solitude (“The Vampyre of Time and Memory’‘) to loose-limbed desert-funk (”Smooth Sailing’‘) in a collection that represents a welcome expansion of Queens of the Stone Age’s sonic template.

(AP)