Records -- David Bromberg

RECORDS

David Bromberg

David Bromberg: Wanted Dead or Alive

Col. KC32717.

Saturday, midnite, and I'm sitting around trying to make sense of the new David Bromberg album. Every time I've heard a new Bromberg album my mind boggles a bit: there's so much that's good about them -- and so much that's just horrid. "Wanted Dead or Alive" is no exception.

First of all, I ought to point out that Dave Bromberg can't really sing. He does have a very distinct way of vocalizing the lyrics to songs -- it can't be called singing, but it sure ain't talking either. Only on Dylan's tune "Wallflower" does Bromberg come close to really singing, and Neil Rossi's harmony helps him out tremendously on that one.

But although he can't really sing, Bromberg does have considerable vocal talent. There is something about the way he delivers a song that lessens the weight of his inability to sing. Somehow he manages to convey his own feelings vocally (rather than lyrically). There is a special tone in his voice that reaches out to grab.

Another of Bromberg's problems is that he can't really write songs. All of his albums are combinations of older, bluesy songs and his own compositions. usually about half and half. On "Wanted Dead or Alive" there are some classic Bromberg versions of some great old tunes (all of which he did when he was here last year at the Power Center and the Ark) like "Send Me to the 'Lectric Chair," "Statesboro Blues," and "Kansas City." You put some of those old tunes in front of Bromberg and his guitar and he'll sing them right back at you in a new and often enlightening way. But when Dave takes one of his own songs there just isn't a spark there. On the new one only, "The Main Street Moan" almost makes it. The rest of his songs get hung up in his humor, which is too forced, almost banal. One of these days he is going to stop writing such memorable lines as "I don't owe any money/all my cavities are filled ..." and his music will be better off for the sacrifice.

Bromberg has some really fine people playing behind him on this new record. For most of the first side his back-up band consists mostly of the Grateful Dead and friends, while on the second side the people are mostly from the band he tours with (including Ann Arbor's own Tony Markellis). The music itself (disregarding his "voice") is always well-mixed and controlled, while Bromberg's always excellent guitar does not steal the show. in that everybody gets their solo. The music has its tasty points. which make the glaring faults just that much worse.

-- Lauren Jones