Silks &Spices by Finest KindReview by: Rick AndersonNotes, Second Series, Vol. 60, No. 4 (Jun., 2004), p. 1017Published by: Music Library AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4487287 .

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Sound Recording Reviews 1017

Finest Kind. Silks & Spices. Fallen Angle Music FAM 05, 2003.

A Canadian folk trio that deserves far more international recognition than it has received so far, Finest Kind consists of singers Ian Robb, Shelley Posen, and Ann Downey, all of whom play various instru- ments as well. The group's repertoire is weighted toward songs of the British Isles, but also includes new and traditional folk songs of Canada and the United States as well as the occasional pop or country song arrangement. Finest Kind's third album (following 1996's Lost in a Song [Fallen Angle Music FAM 02] and 1999's Heart's Delight [FAM 03], both CDs) offers no sur- prises, just more of the same: songs both familiar and obscure, selected tastefully, arranged skillfully, and sung by turns with blood-stirring power and delicate beauty. Silks & Spices does seem to focus a bit more than the previous albums did on the unac- companied vocal trio settings that are this group's particular strength. From the hair- raisingly lovely a cappella renditions of the traditional Sussex song "Bright Shining Morning" and of an obscure Christmas carol titled "Shepherds Arise" to surpris- ingly effective similar treatments of Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are a-Changin'" and the Marty Robbins country weeper "At the End of a Long, Lonely Day," the pure vocal numbers are the album's clear highlights. But there are excellent accom- panied versions of the nineteenth-century song "Sweet Forget-Me-Nots" and the Appa- lachian ballad "Blackest Crow" as well (the latter featuring Downey's fine clawhammer banjo playing, Robb's concertina, and a viola part played by James Stephens). Highly recommended (along with Finest Kind's earlier albums) to all traditional music collections.

Tower of Power. Oakland Zone. Or Music OR 803022, 2003.

Few bands have forged quite as intimate a connection between themselves and their home towns as has the legendary funk crew Tower of Power with its beloved Oakland, California. Primary architects of the sound now known as "Bay Area funk," the various members of Tower of Power (particularly its world-famous horn section and the great bassist Francis "Rocco" Prestia) are in con- stant demand for studio and live work, and have contributed to hundreds of important recordings over the past three decades while keeping up an impressive touring and recording schedule of their own. Some critics have bemoaned a falloff in the qual- ity of Tower of Power's studio work since its heyday in the early 1970s, but Oakland Zone does not offer much support for that char- acterization. The horn section is as punchy, crisp, and powerful as ever; Prestia (recov- ered from a liver transplant and only re- cently returned to the band) is playing as inventively and fluidly as he ever has, and apart from one soggily generic moment (the requisite slow number "Remember Love") and one or two lyrically superfluous celebrations of the East Bay's good old days, Oakland Zone offers nothing but the finest quality old-school funk-it is difficult to imagine anyone sitting still while listen- ing to this music. If you only need one Tower of Power album, it should probably be the Rhino label's two-compact disc ret- rospective What Is Hip?: The Tower of Power Anthology (R2 75788, 1999). Oakland Zone would make a fine addition to any col- lection that covers this musical area more extensively.

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