Word: lyrical
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Bennett's masterstroke is to perform the songs in a way that Sinatra almost never does: in a trio setting. The tunes take on an unburnished immediacy, an instant intimacy that taps straight into Bennett's gift for making a lyric seem like a conversation and a melody like the true rhythm of the heart. With the Ralph Sharon Trio playing suavely behind him, Bennett can even make over Nancy, an early and particularly personal hit that evokes the memory of Sinatra's first wife, into a singular valentine to first love. Working...
Which is why the omission of a lyric sheet from his latest album,Your Arsenal, is a little unsettling. It's the first suggestion that something's amiss on Gloomland. The opening track, "You're Gonna Need Someone on Your Side," offers little consolation for the skeptical listener. Over the loud but unremarkable guitar crash, Morrissey offers lyrics that sound as if they're lifted from a Debbie Gibson single: "Give yourself a break before you break down ," he snivels. This from the man who created the "Hairdresser on Fire" and put a Walkman on Joan...
...moments hint at Morrisey's former greatness. "The National Front Disco" is a vaguely catchy tune about a small-town teen lost in the wilds of the nightclub scene, and Morrissey delivers the tale with relish. He also proves he's still capable of knocking off a diverting lyric with "You're the One for Me, Fatty." In this song he beseeches his obese sweetheart to "say if I'm ever in your way..a-hey,-a HAAAAY." He really wallows in the line, and the song offers hope that his old languid wail may not be gone for good...
...Souljah makes clear in a liner note thanking Sony for "acknowledging my artistic freedom," she not only wrote that lyric but set it in a context that she chose for herself. The eye-for-an-eye message is unmistakable...
...there anything wrong with this? Not exactly. Battle is our reigning lyric coloratura soprano, and Marsalis, a prodigy who continues to grow as both a classical musician and a jazzman, makes a worthy collaborator. It is hard not to be dazzled and delighted by the pyrotechnics they provide in these predominantly bright, florid selections from Handel, Scarlatti, Bach and others. Yet the album, like its predecessors, seems an event built as much on personality and packaging as on musical impulses. And the limitations of its formula are exposed by the nature of most soprano-trumpet duets: the nonstop bravura finally...