Mose Allison, THE WAY OF THE WORLD

[Joe]

Did not know about this until about 15 minutes ago...

http://www.anti.com/catalog/view/148/The_Way_of_the_World

Any early reports?

[brownie]

Big fan of Mose Allison here. Waiting to listen to his new album.

A review in this week's New Yorker.

[etherbored]

imho, mose' (mose's?) finest studio effort in decades. far more realized and empathetic than any of the blue notes. precise, sharp, well-recorded. i was skeptical as i'm not usually a big fan of his non trio sides, but this record is superb.

[Tom Storer]

I'm excited about this one! I love Mose but since "Gimcracks and Gewgaws" in 1997 there's only been the live in London things, which I felt were disappointing.

Incidentally, etherbored, I love two of the Blue Notes: the aforementioned "Gimcracks and Gewgaws" and the superb "Ever Since the World Ended" from ten years before that. Both of those sounded great and had memorable new songs.

[Shawn]

I'm interested in this as well, glad to see Mose still in action.

[jlhoots]

I'm told it's very short duration which, I suppose, isn't necessarily bad.

[etherbored]

no disrespect to mose' blue note sides at all. frankly, i find mose catalog to be one of the most consistent. the differences in his records are actually rather subtle when compared with many others. if you're interested at all, here's a link to a short piece that aired on yesterdays fresh air on npr in which mose and producer joe henry are interviewed. the gem of the piece is the part where mose discusses the first song he ever wrote as a 14 year old; "the 14 part palmolive plan". it's here; My link

[jeffcrom]

A few more details: Yes, it's short - just over 35 minutes - but it seems "complete." There is one instrumental, "Crush," and if you have heard any live Mose you'll have an idea of what that track sounds like. In addition to new material, there are two standards, one sung as a duet with daughter Amy, and a couple of older Mose songs. Luckily these are not songs that he has performed to death, and they're two I've always liked: "Let It Come Down" and "Ask Me Nice." There's one (okay) song written by Amy (sung by Mose), and a couple of blues written by others - I really like this version of Roosevelt Sykes' "Some Right, Some Wrong." The best of the new songs, in my opinion, is "Modest Proposal." Maybe I like it so much because it seems to indicate that Mr. Allison and I have similar ideas about how the universe works; those who are more traditionally devout might not like it very much.

Mose's 82-year-old voice does show its age to an extent. But it was always an unusual, personal singing voice, anyway. The overall sound of the album is what you might expect from a Joe Henry production - it leans more Americana/pop, rather than being overtly "jazzy." I'll have to live with this album a while before I have a feel for where it stands in the Mose Allison canon, but it's certainly a worthy addition. It doesn't quite sound like any Mose album, and you get the impression that's what Mr. Allison wanted.

[GA Russell]

I see that this new album is up on lala:

http://www.lala.com/#album/360569445168255940/Mose_Allison/The_Way_Of_The_World

[RJ Spangler]

I liked Joe Henry's production of the last Allen Toussaint CD, so this bode well IMHO.

[brownie]

Interview with Mose Allison

Interesting interview... and also interesting to see the Fourth International surviving in the USA!