John Wetton, is a name you can’t forget. His work with
Family, Mogul Thrash, King Crimson, U.K., and Asia to name a few, he has been around in the music industry from day
one. Not to mention his work as a solo artist also which will be talked about
later on with his 2-CD set, The Studio
Recordings Anthology: Volume 1. But let’s get to the live album. This was
recorded on October 14th 2013 at the jazz club, The Iridium in which
it was home to the late great Les Paul. And listening to this live performance
entitled, New York Minute, shows
Wetton at his best.
The reason he is performing at the Iridium is raising
awareness on prostate and testicular cancer. Alongside John Wetton, the Les
Paul trio considers Nikki Parrott on Bass, Rodney Holmes on Piano, and Lou
Pallo on Guitar. Listening to these covers along with his work on Asia and one
of his compositions from his solo-era, you can imagine yourself being at the
club and showing love and support of not just as an artist, but a man who can
at times nail these songs in a laid-back and jazzier groove.
The up-tempo moderately take of The Beatles Lady Madonna, shows Rodney his chops
very well on the piano to get into the soul-like groove and Wetton nails it
well on the vocals, but the vocal harmonies on the “ba-ba-ba-baaa” line, didn’t
capture my momentum. It dragged a little bit in the vocalizations in that midsection,
but it is a fine take.
Steely Dan’s Do It
Again in which it opens the set, brings Holmes to a powder punch on here as
Wetton sings amazingly to take it out of the park with a chugging guitar line
to go with it. But it is the beautiful take of Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On that brings a lukewarm
touch to Wetton’s soul-like voice. Lou Pallo brings the power of Wes Montgomery
and George Benson on his rhythm and not to mention the background vocals by
Nikki Parrott and it is such an uplifting cover that will make your heart melt.
Wetton can nail the harmonies on his vocalizations on the
Beach Boys God Only Knows. Nikki and
Rodney help out with the ballad-like warmth and relaxing take of the song that
shows John’s roots in his musical background. I love the mid-funk driven tempo
of Dylan’s All Along the Watchtower
in which Lou brings a chugging rhythm to the beat and Rodney capturing the
drama through his playing.
The ballad comes right back into the swing with a romantic
touch of Asia’s Heat of the Moment as
you can imagine the audience being moved by this rendition of the classic hit
that shows his softer side and the closer, Battle
Lines, it has a folkier sound in the acoustical touch on his composition.
It is a perfect way to end the live album off with a warm applause to say
farewell as before the fade-out you can tell they wanted more of him to sing.
I have to admit, I’m not that crazy on John Wetton’s solo
career, but this live album shows me how much appreciation I have for him.
While he is under chemotherapy back in August of this year, it shows he will
fight it and continue hopefully, to make more music. New York Minute is not a bad live album. Some hits, some misses,
but John nails it down well.
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