Customer Reviews

Wicked Grin

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The vault of Tom Waits' back-catalogue has been smashed open, 13 songs wrenched from it, beaten within an inch of their lives and brought, screaming, into the light.

With the help of a gloriously raw production by Waits himself, John Hammond has spawned the blues album of this, or any other year.

13 tracks of gravel, needles, broken glass, smoke and sweat distilled by the deep velvet growl of Hammond, who has never sounded better, he was born for this.

Can't get the CD off the player. One of those albums that makes you close your eyes, grit your teeth, grimace and crank the amp up one notch louder. Tough to pick out a favourite.....maybe Heartattack & Vine or Clap Hands. Only shame is that it will be filed under 'John Hammond/Blues' which may deprive a larger audience of a true gem.

BUY IT, BEG IT, BORROW IT, STEAL IT....BEFORE IT LEAVES TOWN ON THE 2.19

This is one of the best blues albums of the past 20+ years, combining John Hammond's gutty vocals and guitar with the quirky settings of producer Tom Waits (who also wrote or co-wrote all but one of the songs). It's a dirty concoction of mean streets and gutted dreams, yet elevated by the power and redemption of the blues.

The song most emblematic of the album's superiority is Track 2, "Heart Attack and Vine." This is an almost unbelievable recreation of Muddy waters' Chicago blues, thick with deep, raw, Boomy guitars and Hammond's Louisiana vocal accents. Wonderful lyrics, and an incredible sound; it has the ambience of a live set... somewhere in Chicago 45 years ago! It also features great work on the Hammond organ by Augie Meyers. I haven't heard anything like this in years.

Tracks 1 and 3 also merit special praise. Hammond's quick and cutting riffs on "2:19", coupled with Larry Taylor's thundering bass is head-shaking stuff. His playing somehow combines the power of electronic sound with the intimacy and personal touches of acoustic.

Track 3, "Clap Hands" fills a blues groove with the sinister spirit of a church with secrets, due, in large part, to Charlie Musselwhite's sinewy harmonica brewing darkly underneath. (It's so good to hear Musselwhite and his buzzsaw sound reminiscent of James Cotton.) The other songs take various blues routes and are uniformly excellent, including the John Lee Hooker flavor of "16 Shells...," Hammond's steel guitar on the country blues " Buzz Fledderjohn," the soulful "Shore Leave," and Musselwhite on "Big Black Mariah" Of special note is the gentle "Fannin Street," a folk-songish acoutic piece which, for some reason, reminded me of some of Traffic's (rock group) acoustic work.

There are annoying too-kewl liner "notes' by T. Bone Burnett, but no matter: This is a must have for all blues lovers.

Oh, man! I've been waiting for this disc for nearly a decade. Back in 1992, Tom Waits gave John Hammond a song, "No One Can Forgive Me But My Baby," which Hammond put on his "Got Love If You Want It" record. It's been one of my favorite tracks ever since. On "Wicked Grin," Hammond visits Waits' neighborhood--a cold, dark, rainy place, somewhere in the Midwest, where the trains clatter nearby all night long--and makes himself right at home. He runs a comb through his pompadour and lets his freak flag fly on a dozen Waits' tunes and one tasty, groovin', hand-clapped gospel song, in which ol' Tom himself joins in on a verse. Along for the ride are Stephen Hodges on drums and percussion; Larry Taylor on bass; Charlie Musselwhite on harp; and Augie Meyers on keyboards and accordion. Meyers' music-making really shakes this record. His Hammond organ slinks behind the guitar fuzz of "Heartattack and Vine." On "Shore Leave," he lays down a carny-style Vox organ, while Hammond croons about squeezing all the life out of a two-day pass at a moonlit Chinatown fair. By the time, the record reaches "Murder In The Red Barn," Meyers is chilling with plum-perfect notes on an upright piano. I just hope I don't need to wait another nine years for Marla Hammond and Kathleen Brennan to bring Tom and John (and Augie, too!) together again. I'm already assembling a wish list of songs for their next record. I can't wait to hear John walk Spanish down the hall, fall in love with a Gun Street girl or pull on Trouble's braids. Until then, I've got a wicked grin, too, listening to Hammond and Waits on this shakin' disc.

I've been an Amazon customer almost since the start-up, and this is the first time I've ever been moved to post a review. And this after only the first hearing! I've never, to my knowledge, heard John Hammond before, though I'll certainly be on the lookout now - but I'm a BIG Tom Waits fan. Big, big, big. But I have to admit that there are times when I'm just not in the mood for that (yes, incredible, but) that...VOICE. Even when he's being funny or having fun, he still makes me feel like the world is coming to an end. This CD, presumably as a result of his production/musical contributions, does an I-would-have-thought impossible thing - combines the clearer and more straightforward (though still bluesy-as-hell) tones of Hammond with the world view and musical vocabulary of Waits, and isn't a mess, or a pale imitation of anything. It's its own glorious, rooted and FUN thing, though still undeniably part of the Waits canon.

If you're a Hammond fan, I imagine you'll love this - Waits' songs are rightly renowned for their lyrics, and the instrumentation is flawless. If you're a Waits fan, never fear! This ain't no stinkin' "tribute album" - it's a living, breathing piece of music that you can play right along with "Heart of Sat Night," "Mule Variations," or whatever your current favorite is.

That is exactly what this disc did to me when I first heard it. I have not stopped grinning yet. John Hammond has taken songs that most of us thought only Tom Waits could do justice to and made them songs that you cannot get out of your mind. From the first cut "2:19" to my favorite cut "16 Shells from a Thirty-Ought 6," these songs take on the personality of Hammond. With help from some great musicians like Charlie Musselwhite, Augie Myers, and Tom Waits as well as superb production from Waits this is one of the finest recordings of Hammonds in his now 5 decade long career. If you are a fan of Hammonds, this recording will please you. If you are a fan of Waits, you will wonder what took him so long to have Hammond record his songs. If you like the blues, you will have a hard time taking this out of your cd player. If you do not know if you like the blues, this will put a "Wicked Grin" on your face.

The recent collaboration between long time veteran musicians, John Hammond and Tom Waits is guaranteed to insure grins. Wicked Grin is unique in that John Hammond performs songs solely by producer Tom Waits. Hammond lends a heavy blues tone to the edgy and often twisted images of Waits' lyrics.

Hammond, son of talent scout John Hammond has reached the milestone of singing the blues for 40 years and performing in 10,000 live shows. He has ever shown great reverence for the classic blues songs and been influenced by artists as Robert Johnson, Blind Boy Fuller, Bukka White and Son House. In describing Hammond's many talents and abilities, Waits says "He has a blacksmith's rhythm and the kind of soul and precision it takes to cut diamonds or to handle snakes."

Tom Waits, of course is a singer and song writer of repute and note. He hails from southern California and is noted for his quirky storyteller lyrics. His lyrics contain a dark humor and are laced with strange nightmare images. He sings of "preachin' about hell and damnation," "always find a millionaire to shovel all the coal," and "Scarlet gave him 27 stitches in his head." Waits' lyrics are filled with odd combinations of symbols and imagery found in the delta (stills, floods, mules, and cane breaks), a school playgrounds (clapping hands and ladybirds), and the seedy underside of cities( guns, knives, drifters and bourbon).

Hammond's voice which runs from velvet to broken glass, skilful guitar playing, impeccable timing and deep sense of the blues lend credence and meaning to the vision and harsh reality of Tom Waits lyrics. In combination with Hammond is a fine crew of musicians whose skills add to the pleasure of listening to Wicked Grin. Noteworthy are Augie Meyers on keyboards, Steven Hodges on percussion, Charlie Musselwhite putting in a guest appearance on the harp and Tom Waits joining in with guitar on several songs.

The songs themselves are wonderful. In "Heart Attack and Vine" delivered with a slow steady beat Hammond sings "You'll never recognize on Heart Attack and vine." In "Clap Hands" Waits has introduced a strange and twisted dimension to children's playground songs. "Shore Leave" a plaintive song about a lonely sailor who has left his papers on the Ticonderoga has an exotic feel to it. "Fannin Street" written for this cd has a country ballad feel to it. The CD finishes with a gospel type song which Tom Waits lends his voice "I Know I've Been Changed."

Thirty years ago watching sweat drip off Hammond's nose, I fell in love with blues music. I continue to be impressed with the depth and diversity found in this musical form. I have had the opportunity to see John Hammond on a number of occasions and have never failed to be impressed by his abilities. This seemingly odd "marriage" between two diverse musicians is a combination which is appealing and interesting. It works.

I'm not that familiar with Wait's or Hammond's previous work, but this album is outstanding. The songs have a dark, smoky, (even spooky) late-night feeling. Hammond's delivery wisely doesn't try to imitate Waits' distinctive vocal style, and he makes these songs his own. This is the kind of performance you rarely find with cover material - Hammond not only plays these songs, he inhabits them. There are no weak tracks, although I have my favorites: 'Heart Attack and Vine', with those wonderful guitars lurking in the dark; '16 Shells...', where Hammond's vocals somehow conjure up a slow hip-hop groove (to my ear, at least); the gritty gospel-blues of 'I Know I've Been Changed'. This is highly recommended stuff.

If you're familiar with both John Hammond and Tom Waits, you've probably guessed (correctly) that this album was not going to contain the average coverage of Waits' song catalogue. It's the bizarro bluesy side of Tommy the Cat that gets covered here, as opposed to Waits the jazzbo or Waits the down-and-out saloon crooner. Hammond and band give a earthy kick to such Waits growlers as "2:19," "Get Behind The Mule" and "Buzz Fledderjohn." With Waits himself in the producer's chair (and adding guitar and, on one track, a harmony vocal), Hammond makes these sound as earthy as Howlin' Wolf (city) or Charley Patton (country), and gets you as psyched about his interpretations as, hopefully, you'd get about Wait's own versions. The only less-than-stellar track is "Shore Leave," which doesn't cut it put side-by-side with Waits' version on his album, SWORDFISHTROMBONES. But that's a minor gripe with the rest of the album to consider. I hope Hammond will think about a sequel to this album, as there's lots of Waits in them thar hills just waiting for the right kind of venue. This album is a good start

Since getting Wicked Grin just a few weeks ago I have listened to it continuously - it is simply one of the most amazing, interesting, inspiring, all-time great pieces of music that I have ever heard, with dangerously clear lyrics, vocals, arrangements, and musicians. I have been talking everyone's ears off about this - even forcing colleagues to drive around the parking lot with me as I try to mimic Augie Meyers staccato accordion attack on Jockey Full of Bourbon on my steering wheel!

Amazingly, I was able to catch Hammond in Philly last weekend - it was the last night of the Wicked Grin tour. He did the entire CD, plus some extras (e.g. Gun Street Girl). Clap Hands and Shore Leave were suitably edgy and brilliant. Amazing. And I even got to meet Larry Taylor after the show. Augie was there as well as Stephen Hodges. I hope they do it again. And again after that.

Wonder if someone could convince Hammond and Waits to record the entire Waits repertoire? This is not that crazy - how about the conductors who insist on re-recording all of Bach's works whenever they switch orchestras? I'd buy an 18-CD boxed set of Hammond/Waits anytime.

If you have tried to turn someone on to Tom Waits and they can't get past the vocals(or are too short sighted to)then this is the one.Waits art has always astounded me and John's execution is brilliant. I've waited a long time for this one. John announced at a show last year that this one was coming. I got it on release day. You can tell Waits produced it, however none of the songs sound like the originals and that shows you how varied of artists both of these gentlemen are. This is the best release by far so far this year.( The Catfish 3 CD Charley Patton is next) In other words...GET IT!!!You won't be disappointed.