Search - Terry Callier :: Speak Your Peace

Pieces of A Man-- Pieces inna Puzzle, it ALL fits..

Peppino | 07/21/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Terry Callier's "re-birth", thanks to overseas fans has been a welcome treat! (Mr Callier has a running Monday night gig in Chicago again, shades of his quiet night days of over 30 years ago!).An additional treat, as of this writing-This new cd is affirmation again that Mr Callier belongs in that rarified air that transcends the "singer-songwriter" tag- he is a powerful and expressive vocalist who effortlessly sings ANY style , be it doo-wops to scatjazz-- funk/soul to folkloric. In my opinion, his songwriting FORTE lies in his ability to make the English language sound as beautiful as any Romance language(NOT an easy task) .
HE plays with his frasing and caresses the lyrics and melody, but also he makes me WANT to listen to what he is saying-- EVERY recording I have listened to from the Callier catalogue features some great wordplay and vivid imagery in the lyrics!
(Only "TC", Shawn Phillips, Nick Drake,Jimmy Webb, and a handful of others not mentioned touch me that way "em Inglés", as Vinícius or Aldir Blanc do in Brasilian musics. )This magical cd has 3 centerpiece compositions,
the haunting and affectionate "Tokyo Moon"
I think MR Callier realized that this song had the same feeling as Brasilians will feel when missing home, or any beloved place---"infinito saudades"--
TC enlisted his percussionist to open the song with a small soliliquy "em Portugues". I found that very moving and appropriate.
I imagine possibly Mr C.had this in mind-- brigadão, Terry Callier!"Chelsea Blue" tugs the heartstrings, as TC laments both his inability to assist an unrequited love in her troubles, framed by some *beautiful* Fender Rhodes piano accompaniment to TC's fingerstyle guitar..My heart "flutters" every time I hear this song.Mr Callier has been keeping some time on the "planeta SUN RA", as 2 compositions- "Monuments of Mars" and "We Are NOT Alone" are traveling the spaceways lyrically, while rendered in an "earthy" neo-funk groove. As a fan of jazz, and the style "pioneered" by Gil Evans , Teo Macero,(w/Miles) and others, the secret KILLER track is a cover of the Temptations "pop/R&B "classic", "Just My Imagination".
Done beautifully with Brass/Woodwinds choir---I could write many words just on the imaginative "de-composition" of this song!
It is FRESH and exhilarating, strange unfortunate his cover of the Isley's "Caravan of Love " is as pedestrian as this Motown hit song "Imagination"is innovative. Go figure THAT one out!The other tune I have no time for is a "duet" with the English fellow, Paul Weller "Brother to Brother", ufffffffffa!
Stale and saccharine, TC, I guess since the English jumpstarted your career, ya owe em one , nè não??
(Much like David Byrne gettin in the way of alla his "discoveries", ih! This has GOTTA STOP!!)Cerebral, spacey, funky and more, Terry Callier has delivered a 1 million stars piece of musical enjoyment! "Sierra Leone" and "Darker than A Shadow" are eloquent songs of protest and outrage, but not in the classic weak-kneed "Hippy" 60s mode, but with SOLID imagery and bold words.Viva Terry Callier"