Closer to Home

（不足10人评分）

0人收藏

共13首歌曲

艺人: Jango
语种: 英语
厂牌: Samson Music
发行时间: 2000年07月11日
专辑类别: 录音室专辑

专辑介绍

by William Ruhlmann

Good studio musicians are, by definition, talented players whose occupation requires them to be able to play in a variety of styles. Given the tendency in pop music for any popular success to be followed by a raft of imitations, studio musicians are often called upon to ape other people's signature sounds. Unfortunately, this very versatility can work against them when they try to make their own music; the work of studio musicians turned recording artists in their own right often turns out either faceless or suspiciously similar to something else.

And that brings one to Jango, the group formed by studio musicians Steve Nieves, Steve LeGassick, Nick Kirgo, Leon Johnson, and Dave Beyer. Their intentions were signaled by their signing to Samson Records, the independent label run by Steve Barri, who signed Donald Fagen and Walter Becker to a song publishing contract at ABC Records in the early 1970s and helped them form Steely Dan. And sure enough, Jango's recordings, starting with 1999's Dreamtown, have been unabashed in their imitation of Steely Dan's pop-jazz sound. At a time when their predecessors hadn't made any new music in a long, long time, that was more welcome than it was when Jango's second album, Closer to Home, was released in the wake of Two Against Nature, Steely Dan's return to action. But either way, writing and performing music so close to Steely Dan's sound is simply too distracting to permit independent enjoyment. True, the band takes occasional side trips, launching the album with "Soul Casserole," which is closer to the Meters, and including the ironic folk-rock song "What Your Heart Tells You," its lyric touting independence, while some of the instrumentals constitute anonymous smooth jazz. But the bulk of the material on Closer to Home employs the electric piano/horn interplay characteristic of Steely Dan, while the vocals, slightly smoother than Donald Fagen's, are nevertheless phrased like him and augmented with harmonies noticeably similar to Steely Dan's. In such a context, it is especially noticeable that the lyrics don't come near Fagen and Becker's wry wit.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Steely Dan should feel very flattered by Jango and Closer to Home. And, in a sense, you've got to hand it to them: While Steely Dan is frequently cited as influential, few musicians have actually tried to play like them, if only because it's so hard. You have to be a really good musician to even begin to approach the band's funky, yet complex style. That said, there was little reason to play this album in the same year that Two Against Nature was current, except perhaps to have fun trying to fool your friends.